Master Splinter

I see naked Master Splinters with various levels of wear at the flea market quite often. They vary from decent shape to chew-marked with missing limbs to everywhere in between. I generally pass them over if they're robeless, but found a real nice one the other day at the flea market and since I was already bundling a handful of figures together I decided to add him to the pile.

I was pretty sure I had a spare robe and was 100% sure I had a spare belt from a previous TMNT accessory acquisition, so I figured it was worth a shot to try and get him back to his non-HBO level nudity basics.

Fortunately I did in fact have an original robe, so here he is all dressed and ready to hang out at the Playboy mansion.

I didn't really look Splinter over too closely when I found him, beyond confirming he was in darn good shape. So I was really excited to discover he is the first-release 'soft-head' version! As you probably know, when the original TMNT toyline was first released waaay back in 1988, Playmates had manufactured the first wave of figures with cheaper rubber heads, not knowing if the line would succeed. Once they realized the hit they had on their three fingered hands, they started making the figures' heads out of a more solid plastic.

I already own a Master Splinter, but he's the 25th anniversary re-release, so I am overjoyed to now have a fully clothed original in my collection - and a soft-headed original to boot!