Mega Bloks Casey Jones TMNT 2 Minifig

I hit up Toys R Us this weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find a wave of Mega Bloks NOT blind boxed (Fully Disclosed Boxed?) minifigures for the upcoming TMNT 2 Out of the Shadows movie; and the wave includes Casey Jones!

The wave also includes a pirate Mikey, paratrooper Raph, stealth (translucent) Leo, camo Don and two different types of Foot Soldiers.

Honestly, I am excited to see TMNT 2 Out of the Shadows even though the first movie was only ok. With the introduction of Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady and Casey into this new cinematic universe, how can it be anything but epic? (Sarcasm alert!) But seriously, I'm sure it will be full of explosions and Megan Fox butt shots and slo-mo action scenes and massive 8 foot tall ninja turtles, but whatever. I'll still at least see it on DVD.

Back to the minifig: for the size, this is a pretty good representation of Casey Jones. The mask could use some black eyes and mouth vents, and I will probably add that with a sharpie. But otherwise this isn't a bad figure and could pass for the comic version given the fact that the mask is pretty accurate to the original art. So even if you hate the movie but love Casey Jones you can't hate this figure based on it's own merits.

Casey Jones comes with a hockey stick accessory and is constructed like any of Mega Bloks' movie/comic book based minifigures to date, so if you are familiar with them you know what you are getting. If you aren't familiar with them they have a ton of articulation in such a tiny package, and they link into/hold onto your standard 'building brick' and other related components.

Toys R Us was selling these figures for the same price they charge for their LEGO minifigures ($3.99) which seems pretty par for the course nowadays. There was a full display box and no figure seemed short packed or limited, but I suppose any one figure's popularity or lack thereof may make your mileage vary.

So in conclusion: if you are a fan of Casey Jones, TMNT, Steve Amell or massive 8' tall humanoid turtles in general, you should get yourself one of these mini vigilantes! He's keen! (Now if I only had a LEGO cricket bat!)

What'chu Tokka 'bout, Willis?

I had a great birthday yesterday and I will get to some of the swag soon. But before I do I still have a few 'older' toys to get through.

I mentioned Tokka in my previous post about his cronie Rahzar. And here he is:

Although Tokka is mostly a repainted Slash (with a new head, new shoulder 'pads,' new belt (buckle only) and new forearm/hands) I really love him. Maybe it's because he's mostly a re-painted Slash, as Slash was and still is my favorite TMNT toy of all time. Tokka even came with the exact same weapons as Slash, fortunately they are black and not nineties neon!

And even though he is a repaint he's a damn good one. All the details of the sculpt pop with the color he's molded in and the shading/details added on.

The new head sculpt is also very movie accurate and has some nice toothy details.

It's amazing Playmates didn't re-purpose more of their parts than they did. Especially when you consider the fact that parts re-purposing is #1 on the Mattel 'How To Make an Action Figure Line' list.

"People let me tell you 'bout my best friend,
He's a warm hearted person who'll love me till the end."

My assistant tried to give Tokka an extra weapon for this shot - bonus points to anyone who can guess who it actually belongs to before it's posted!

Tokka is a great action figure and it's nice that, although 'Secret of the Oooze' was more like 'Suck-fest make you Snooze,' there were at least a couple fun action figures to come from it that fit perfectly into your classic TMNT toy collection.

Rahzar's Edge

I count the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie as one of my all time favorite films ever. And I admit to having seen 'The Secret of the Ooze' in theatres when it was released. But for some odd reason or another I hadn't seen it again since then. I don't recall hating it, but I don't recall loving it either. So before I made this post I re-watched it.

Not a fan.

The Secret of the Ooze loses all the charm and grittyness of the first in favor of a more cartoony (in a bad way) Turtles movie. Dumbed down for kids, I don't think Leonardo unsheathed his swords or Raph his sai even once. Because...sharp?

In summation:

1) Shredder living for Part II negates the end of the final scene of the first movie. I know this is a movie trope, but it was so poorly handled for the second film. Shredder is in the garbage, alive, his pals meet him in the junkyard, all baddies back again. Lame.
2) No Casey Jones?!?! Not even a mention. Lame lame.
3)I had forgotten how much I hated that 'karate kid' wannabe Keno. Why the hell was he in the movie anyways? Lame lame lame.
4) Vanilla Ice: Yuck and Jeezus Crimeny WHY?!?! Lame times infinity.
5) Instead of Bebop and Rocksteady, whom everyone kind of expected to see, we got villainous versions of a snapping turtle and a wolf, for no reason in the world. I do recall this being a disappointment during my theatrical viewing.

But all disappointment aside, said 'also ran' villains Tokka and Rahzar at least make for neat looking toys.

Unlike Tokka (whom we'll see here at Toyriffic very soon!) Rahzar is/was an all 'new' sculpt/figure with no parts re-use for his action figure. He looks great and is the perfect amalgamation of movie look/Playmates Tmnt toy design.

I had to rewatch the movie for Rahzar's garb to make sense - it looks like his shoulder pads are made of hubcaps and tires and his chestplate is a grill from an old car. Because he was mutated in a junk yard, see?

Actually that's pretty cool!

Of note: not that Shredder isn't free to dress his mutant dog any way he pleases, but the torn 'shirt' suggests Rahzar may have originally been conceived as a man transformed, and that he was wearing a shirt before transformation.

Also: broken shackles. He doesn't have shackles in the movie, so this might also suggest an early concept design or character decision that was left on the drawing board.

Rahzar originally came with accessories that had little if nothing to do with his movie appearance. I don't have them and don't care too much, as Rahzar is a perfectly fine figure without them.

Rahzar is a fine classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy that I honestly never really thought I needed (Tokka is my favorite of the two) but I am glad to own him now that I have him - thanks to Brian at Cool and Collected for the trade- and stay tuned for my look at his pal Tokka coming soon!