TMNT Wind Up Walkin' figures
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Playmates has really been cranking out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles products. In addition to the dozens of figures and
vehicles they are producing as a part of the regular action figure line, they continue to come up with additional ideas
such as the Turbo Bashers and mini figures. During the Christmas season last year they came up with something new to
offer as stocking stuffers, super deformed turtle figures with motorized walking action. And thus we have the Wind Up
Walkin' TMNT.
Packaging - 2/10The Wind Up Walkin' figures are package on smaller, six inch square cards. the front of the card is dominated by the bubble with the figure inside holding its weapons. What little space is left around the bubble is used for a small TMNT logo and the figure's name. Unfortunately the card doesn't use the new design style, so we are stuck with the old, ugly background pattern. The backs of the cards are just a step up from being a generic toy. They are printed entirely in gray scale with a line art drawing of the figure and its weapons. They did at least include a small profile card for each character. The packaging isn't very durable either. Many of the figures I saw on the pegs had a lot of bends and creases in the cards or bubbles. My Leonardo figure's bubble was half detached from the card by the time I got home.
Sculpting - 4/10All four figures use the same sculpt. It follows the general pattern of Japanese, super deformed style figures meaning that the head and to a lesser extent the feet and hands are enlarged while the body is shrunk. The face has a very chubby look to it. The fact that there is no neck whatsoever annoys me. The body and arms turned out well. But even super deformed, you can see that they aren't really based on the accurate cartoon designs. The hands are sculpted in a grasping position to hold the included weapons. They are sculpted with the fingers tapering in so that they hold their weapons snugly by simply moving the weapons towards the finger tips. The feet are extremely large to provide stability for the action feature. But they are lacking in detail, especially compared to the detailed texturing of the back.
Paint - 5/10The paint work on the figures is extremely simple. But all four of the figures turned out well with almost no sloppiness, nicks, or stray marks. They also used a different tone of green plastic for each figure which does a lot to differentiate the characters despite the identical sculpts.
Articulation - 4/10Each figure has rotating wrists and shoulders for articulation. Of course the legs move as well, but only as a part of the action feature. A neck joint would have been nice, but I suspect they needed to use some of the space in the head for the mechanical parts. The shoulder joints actually do provide a decent range of motion, but they could have used a ball joint instead.
Accessories - Raph 4/10, 5/10Each figure comes with a scaled down set of their signature weapons, or a single on in the case of Donatello and his bo staff. Raphael's sais are a bit smaller than they should be. The handles in particular could stand to be thicker to fit the hands better. The weapons are not anything exciting, but it is certainly a big plus that they are included.
Action Feature - 4/10The name should give it away, but the Wind Up Walkin' TMNT figures have a wind up walking action feature. There is a small knob protruding out of the shell to wind up the figures. Once wound, the feet will slowly plod along. The feature works well on a smooth surface, but not on soft surfaces like carpet. Even on hard surfaces, the range is pretty limited. On a full winding, they will go about eighteen inches. That's not horrible, but certainly not impressive.To see Michelangelo in action Right click and select "Save Target As".
Value - 3/10The Wind Up Walkin' figures were originally $2.99 each. That is certainly cheap for an action figure, but rather pricey for a wind up toy. If you were lucky and patient, the price eventually dropped to around a dollar each at Christmas and even lower afterwards.
Happy Hunting:The only reported sightings of the Wind Up Walkin' figures I've seen were at Target stores. That is were I found mine. Unfortunately they were only available for a short time as a part of Target's seasonal Christmas toys. They may still surface elsewhere such as dollar stores or liquidator stores. But for now it seems like the secondary market will be your only chance to find them. And it is a slim chance at that.
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