TMNT Leonardo Action Figure

In 2008, NECA presents the first series of all-new action figures based on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics published by Mirage Studios. Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the Turtles continue to be one of the most popular comic book franchises of all-time, spawning numerous spin-offs, film adaptations, and leaving an undeniable impression on pop culture over more than two decades.

Note: final product may differ from item shown.
Item Number: 54001
Item Number w/ Check Digit: 54001-5
UPC #: 6-34482-54001-5 (634482540015)
Release Date: 04/2008

The wait is OVAH! Since NECA first announced this line of comic-authentic figures, myself, and nerds over the internet have been counting down the very seconds for their release - well no more. NOW we just have to wait for the B&W versions, April O’neil, and then hopefully news on more figures like Shredder and Casey Jones!

FYI - this review will be covering the set of figures that come with the display bases and full extra accessories, vs the boxed set and the tubed figures (which don’t come with the bases, extra hands etc).

Before I’ve even gotten Leo here out of his plastic tomb, I’m loving this. The packaging features logo and artwork from the first issues of the old comics, and you can see that the sculpt and design here matched against it perfectly. Each of the four turtles sport their original red masks, instead of the color-signifying red/blue/orange/purple ones given to the cartoon characters so kids could tell them apart. Getting Leo (and all the boys too) out of the plastic shell was a bit of a hassle, I tend to prefer boxes in case I ever want to repack, and in general with any merchandise that is packaged this way takes a bit of work to get open, not to mention you pretty much destroy the case in the process. If it wasn’t for the fact this set came with the full accessories, I’d maybe have gone for the more attractive (and easier to open) box set, which was also about 10 dollars cheaper overall. And speaking of accessories, you can see Leo comes with a few - obviously his swords, the standing base with fire hydrant, 2 extra hands with climbing spikes, and a pre-mutated baby turtle Leo - awwww!

Each of the four turtles are essentially identical, other than facial differences and weapons/accessories, all coming in at about 5 and a half inches tall. The standing bases are pretty cool, with each of the four brothers coming with one (which can attach to each other to make a little diorama sidewalk set - but more on that later!), with a peg to stick into the bottoms of the turtles feet for added stability. Although it’s not really needed, Leo here was pretty sturdy, good center of balance, and his big feet help him keep a variety of poses. Leo has his sword sheathes molded into his shell, the only of the 4 who actually has a place to store his weapons (unlike the old Playmates TMNT toys who each had slots in their belts, as well as their first initial to keep track of who was who), although technically Mikey and Raph can still stick their respective wares into the sides of their belts.

Like I said, for poses, they are pretty much limitless. There’s about 20 points of articulation on these guys, they even bend forward on a hinge in the stomach, as well as rotate at the waist, with the front pad of the shell being a softer rubber allowing for the movement. Each of the knee and elbow pads are made from the same softer, rubbery material, which also allows for more movement than if they were actually sculpted into the joints. The neck moves forward and back pretty far and the head can move all over the place as well. Other than scratching the backs of their shells, there isn’t much these guys can’t do as for range of motion.

The weaponry is especially impressive here, and on all the guys. The finer details are really there, and not skimped out on by using cheaper plastic or by not painting them etc. The plastic used for the bodies on the figures is a bit soft, almost rubber, which allows for the hands to open up a bit to hold their weapons - but without causing any stress fractures in the plastic or outright breaks. Not that you couldn’t break them if you tried, but for holding swords, these sure do beat the old Playmates toys, and even GI Joe for that matter. And because of the softer plastic, after you’ve put the weapon in hand it snaps back down and holds it snug.

The final accessory, as mentioned earlier, extra hands with climbing spikes. Each of the turtles comes with them, but for some reason, Leonardo here had the most trouble keeping them in his sockets. It’s a simple POP-N-SWITCH move, but Leo’s hands would occasionally fall out for no reason while I was taking all the pictures for these galleries. Not sure what the means, other than maybe I got a bum Leo, eh? Anyways, the hands look pretty cool, but are really useless as far as holding items. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Finally, here are the four stands connected, forming the sidewalk diorama/set thingy. It’s kind of cool, and makes for a good little gimmick overall, although the scale on the items like the fire hydrant and manhole cover would make our boys here about 8 feet tall in real life I guess, but what are you gonna do?

In the end, I’ve got nothing really bad to say about any of these. The finer details on the paint apps each figure sports makes me think these were mostly hand-painted. Sometimes that can be a drawback, but here it’s fine. My Raphael has a splotch of white dripped onto his mask, but other than that, I didn’t see too much slop-work here. The posability, and just the look of the molds themselves really sell this line for me though. Had these not had the range of movement they do, I probably still would have liked them on their looks alone, but after spending some time with them I think we may have a serious contender for toys of the year here. They’re really just amazing all around, even if it took us over 20 years to get comic accurate versions of the toys.

I’m thinking it might have been worth the wait though.