Half-Shell Heroes Leatherhead G1 Mod

This past weekend I came across a Half-Shell Heroes Leatherhead at a garage sale and picked him up for a quarter. In fact, I spent a whopping fifty cents at that particular garage sale, (I bought a toy for my intern) after finding a dollar on the grass, and afterwards found sixty seven cents in the gutter. So basically I got his guy for free and walked away with a net profit of a dollar seventeen.

Anyways, Leatherhead is definitely a solid stand-out figure in the Half-Shell Heroes lineup, but still, I do prefer me some G1 Leatherhead over the modern iteration (which is much more in tune with the original Mirage comics version, but I digress.) So I cut out a vest for him from a piece of craft felt we had lying around the house, and gave him a Playmobil shotgun (sadly I don't have a double barreled shotgun in my Playmobil bits and bobs.)

The closest I could come to his hat is this Playmobil Aussie style hat. I suppose I could also fashion one out of felt or something until I find something more perfect, but even with just the vest and without a hat I think this Leatherhead is a vast improvement over the already pretty spiffy modern version.

The Mighty Mutanimals!

I recently found some Mighty Mutanimals comics at the Flea Market and was impressed by the insanity of those early nineties Archie comics that took the TMNT and supporting characters and, well, pretty much went as looney as they could with the storylines presented therein. Seriously, that stuff is plain nuts!

The Mighty Mutanimals are a groups of, well, mutant animals that have all sorts of weird space adventures saving the world while flying around in a giant talking cow's head and stuff like that there. The team in the comics included two characters that never made it to toy form: Jagwar, a Brazilian Jaguar-man, and Dreadmon, a Jamaican wolf-man. The team also consists of the four individuals you see above, who did make it to toy form during the classic TMNT Playmates action figure run.

I've had most of these guys in my TMNT collection for some time now, but after reading their mad-cap adventures I wanted to get the whole gang together (or at least all the gang that made it to toy form!) 

My team collection was missing Ray Fillet (aka Man-Ray in the comics) for a long time, but a recently completed trade with Derek of Goodwill Hunting for Geeks finally netted him for me (get it? Netted - Because he's a fish!?!? HAHAH!

Mondo Gecko is also a member of the Mighty Mutanimals. I had this guy with his skateboard a while ago, but I think I got rid of him. Thankfully I found him again and although he doesn't have the skateboard he was released with, I did have another TMNT skateboard just lying around for him to borrow.

Probably my favorite member of the Mighty Mutanimals is Wingnut and his partner Screwloose. Wingnut's wings and belt are removable, and often lost when you find him second-hand. His partner Screwloose is also an integral member of the Mutanimals and not just a throw-away accessory. So even though I see incomplete Wingnuts at the Flea Market from time to time, this was one I had to have complete. A few years ago I bought this guy MOC off eBay and tore him open immediately. He's such a cool Batman analogue. The comicbook version of Wingnut looks very different from this guy, and honestly I much prefer the toy version. I'm sure there were copyright concerns, or they just wanted to move this guy's characterization further away from the visual Batman joke he is in his toy form.

And last but not least there's...hey...where'd he go?

Oh, apparently Leatherhead was in need of some dusting.

Lastly but not leastly: Leatherhead! In the cartoon, Leatherhead was a villain. In the Archie comics, he began as a confused 'villain' manipulated by Shredder et al into battling the Turtles, but soon became a heroic force for good and joined with the Mighty Mutanimals. I have always loved this Cajun Gator-man; he's such a fun toy with his alligator like posture and chomping maw. I much prefer considering this guy a hero and not a villain. The Mighty Mutanimals are glad to have him in their ranks!

Well there you have it, my Mighty Mutanimal collection. If you want to read a bit more about the Mighty Mutanimals and how they nearly became a cartoon, check out TMNT Entity's blog post, which includes proposed animation designs and some cool looking villains and vehicles that would no doubt have eventually become toys had the cartoon come into existence.

Two Leatherheads are Better Than One

'And who you think you be, son, if'n I may be so bold to ask? Speak up! Wassamattah, boy, is your mouth glued shut?'

This feller here is the newest incarnation of the mutant Alligator Leatherhead. He's pretty neat, all things considered. I really like the character design, it makes for a nice all purpose mutant alligator.

That said, he lacks the personality of design that the original Leatherhead has. New Leatherhead could have used a leather motorcycle jacket or a hat or something to distinguish him a little further from a generic mutant gator.

He comes with no accessories, which is a disappointment considering how accessory laden most TMNT figures have been thus far. He really should have some sort of sewer related weaponry! As the character develops in the cartoon, it wouldn't surprise me if he gets more depth and that is carried through in his design - but for now, we get a mutated alligator just learning to make his way in the world.

He has ball swivel articulation in his hips and shoulders but that's it for his appendages - well, his tail rotates but that's not of much use. His head also rotates. Funny to think that the original Leatherhead action figure has more articulation - new Leatherhead could have used a hinged jaw!

Like with TMNT's previous release 'Dogpound' paint apps are a bit spartan. Which is ok since he's an alligator, but a better wash over his top/back would have been nice instead of the speckled white paint they did apply. He's smaller in scale than his cartoon appearance, but that doesn't bother me too much, although if Mattel can make a humongous Killer Croc for around the same price point, Playmates could have done a little better...

'Hey, shorty!'

'That boy ain't right, y'hear me? Sumpin bout im just gives me the willys. Hold on, I know what it is -  it be the lack o' pants!'

'Lissen here, boy, you needs to get y'self some trousers! T'aint right, goin' round with yer gatorbits in the breeze like 'at. People'll start talkin!'

'Okay okay, I'll cover my crockadoodle noodle. Hey tinjaws, think you could point me in the direction of the nearest Montgomery Wards?'

I do recommend Leatherhead for TMNT fans and for others who just like mutant alligators (and who doesn't? Communists, that's who!) He's a neat action figure for your display and of course a solid toy for kids to enjoy too, I gua-ron-tee!

Snakeweed and Leatherhead-ing to a store near you!

Someone on eBay has the new Leatherhead and Snakeweed action figures from the Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline in hand! I won't link to them, because I think spending triple+ retail instead of looking a bit and waiting a week or two is stupid, but I do like to keep my readers informed so they know when to focus their finely tuned toy hunting skills!

Leatherhead, the 'Giant Mutant Sewer Alligator' and Snakeweed the 'Mutant Botanical Bruiser' (and good Poison Ivy goon stand-in too) are out there somewhere - good luck, toy hunters!

Late Night with David Leatherhead

Leatherhead is another recent flea market acquisition that set me back about a dollar and has quickly become one of my favorite toys ever! I found mine sans accessories but including his belt. Not too shabby!

This guy is just so much fun to look at and play around with! The detailing on his sculpt is top notch. He's covered with gator goodness from head to toe, and has a hinged jaw to boot!

I really appreciate the attention to detail in Leatherhead's design, which is true with most first run TMNT toys. They all just oozed (pun intended) personality and charm!

Leatherhead is a mutated back-swamp swamp-billy, so in addition to his alligator choppers he even has a pair of buck teeth up front! I love it!

I also love the fact that he is designed to stand with the posture of an alligator. Most TMNT toys stood upright regardless of what animal they represent, but Leatherhead was designed to stand low against the ground like an alligator on two legs, which makes him pretty unique among the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crowd.

"Hey, you aren't Killer Croc!"
"But you is breakfast, I guarontee!"

Flea Market Finds

I've got a big backlog of toys and things I need to blog about, and I just keep on getting myself further behind! I've received some stuff in the mail that I need to give shout outs to and about, but I keep getting distracted by new Flea Market acquisitions. Damn this California year-round flea market weather!

So I figure I best just bunch today's...bunch...together in one post (and maybe focus a little closer on individuals later.)

Leatherhead and Midshipman Mike from TMNT, along with four mini-figures from various TMNT toys as well. Midshipman Mike is almost a Popeye Turtle, so I had to have him! The bulldog(s) (Biting Bulldog Buddy) went with Raph, the Green Teen Beret. The machine gun wielding seagull (Sewer Sea Gull) goes with Midshipman Mike, and the green monster is named Joe Eyeball and belongs to Muckman. The TMNT lot set me back three bucks.

On the OG Star Wars front, I found a Jawa and a Tusken Raider for three bucks each. I am not really focusing my collecting habits on Star Wars at the moment, yet I can't pass certain ones up when I see them, especially the Jawa whom I had as a kid and have always wished to re-attain. I never owned an original Sand Person but did want one as a kid, so here he finally is after 30 plus years.

Finally, Mirror Master from JLU. I actually found this guy at a baby store that sells used baby stuff today after we left the flea market. Baby clothes shopping isn't so boring after all! I simply couldn't pass up a cheap JLU figure, I think he was a buck.

So that's how I spent half a Saturday and ten bucks. Not a bad day at all!