Jakks Pacific Colossal Michelangelo
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When the Ninja Turtles were at the peak of their popularity back in the early 1990's, every company wanted to cash in on
the gravy train. But back then, Playmates had a fairly comprehensive master license for toys based on the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles. Or the license was already pulling in so much for Laird and Eastman that there was no need to try to get
more companies in on the action to increase their licensing fees. But while the current popularity of the Turtles is
close to what it was at it's peak in the 90's, either due to differences in the licenses or the change in ownership and
this time around, Viacom is doing their best to give every interested company a chance to cash in on the current wave of
popularity. Those other companies still can't violate the terms of Playmates' license. But by skirting the terms of the
contract, companies like Kidrobot and Funko have been able to produce articulated figures without calling them "action
figures." And now Jakks Pacific has decided to get in on the action. And they have decided to get around the license
issues with pure girth. Plenty of companies have been producing large PVC figures in the last few years. They usually are
roughly three feet tall. But either that was not good enough for Jakks Pacific or not enough to get around Playmates's
license. So their first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle product is a figure standing a whopping four feet tall! Collectors clear
out a spot because Colossal Michelangelo is here!
Oh and apologies that the photos are not quite as good as normal. No surprise, a 4 foot figure doesn't exactly fit in the area I normally take photos.
Packaging - 2/10The packaging for Colossal Michelangelo is quite minimal. That's to be expected. You can't exactly package a four foot tall figure in a blister pack. Instead, his packaging is closer to that of a refrigerator or other major appliance. The figure stands in a cardboard tray that wraps around his feet. I assume that there was a large box that slid over the top of the figure and the tray for shipping. But that is removed and disposed of when the figure is put out for display. The box is dull, both for lack of interesting graphics and in its finish. It is a small issue, but given the scale of the product, literally the largest TMNT figure produced, I would expect them to splurge a few extra pennies for a glossy finish on the box. But the bigger issue is that it doesn't stay on the figure! I was actually a bit surprised to see any packaging as photos I had seen online only showed the figure itself. And when I picked up the figure I found out why. The box fell off the figure's feet almost immediately. I suspect that is why all of them that I had seen online no longer had the box, they probably fell off right away and were thrown out. The figure does have a sticker on the back of the belt and a circular tag on his left wrist which contains all the necessary legal small print and another copy of the UPC in case the box is thrown away. So the largest and one of the most expensive TMNT figures produced has packaging that is neither attractive nor durable. The figure doesn't really need packaging. But as long as it is there, it would be nice if it was as impressive as the figure it is attached to.
Sculpting - 3/10Colossal Michelangelo is... well, colossal! He's huge! He stands just over four feet tall. And he is less detailed than Playmates' basic Battle Shell Michelangelo. So the figure needs to be viewed from at least a few feet away or its flaws start to become obvious. And there are flaws. Colossal Michelangelo seems to have a slight pot belly. And his shoulders extend too far over the plastron shell and are almost perfectly flat across both shoulders and through the neck joint. It makes him look more like a giant sized Lego Mini-figure or Playmobile figure than a realistic version of a modern, Ninja Turtle. (I wouldn definitely buy a giant sized Lego TMNT figure. But that isn't what this is suppose to be.) Colossal Michelangelo is also unusual in the way it is constructed. Unlike typical giant figures, he isn't a large, rotocast vinyl figure. Colossal Michelangelo is actually made of hard plastic. The arms and legs are two part molds that are then clamped together by the pads, wrist straps and feet. The construction is impressive. But the gaps in some of the seams are really ugly. And the parts are not connected all that securely. My figure has a tendancy for the feet and the hands to just randomly fall off. They will pop back on without a problem of course. But they shouldn't have to be put back together at all. On theback they advertise that the shell opens and the nunchuk accessory is inside. I was expecting a hinged shell cover and a means of hanging things inside. Instead you get a cover that slides off to reveal nothing but the empty cavity in the torso into which the nunchuks are dumped. It does become clear just how complex the construction of the figure is when you see all of the parts connecting on the inside though. But just putting a lot of parts together doesn't mean the final product will look better for the effort. Jakk's deserves points for their ambition. But the results just don't measure up to the hopes.
Paint - 2/10There is very little paint work on Colossal Michelangelo. In fact, Jakk's Pacific seems to have gone out of their way to avoid having to paint things on the figure. They even went so far as having the finger wrappings be separate pieces that slide onto the fingers of the figure. That was a lot of work. But just painting them would have been just as effective or better if they had bothered to do any detail work. And there would be no risk of them falling off as the wrappings on one of the thumbs of my figure did. And then there are things that they just didn't bother with such as Michelangelo's freckles. They're present on his face. But Jakk's didn't bother painting them. So once again, I can't fault them for lack of trying. But the final product is far too lacking in detail.
Articulation - 5/10Colossal Michelangelo has five points of articulation: rotating joints at the neck, shoulders and wrists. That's not a lot. But this figure is so large that making it highly posable was never a feasible option. And by eliminating the articulation in the legs, they ensured that the figure can stand easily and be fairly stable despite its size. And Colossal Michelangelo needs all the help he can get. Even with the large feet and no articulation in the lower body, he still has a very hisgh center of mass which makes tipping him over fairly easy for a small child or a pet. He is particularly prone to tipping if the arms are both extended out in front. If it becomes an issue, I may eventually pop his feet off and add a couple of small weights in each one.
Accessories - 2/10Colossal Michelangelo comes with a pair of nunchuks that can double as role play weapons for a child to play with. And when you are done with them, they can be stored in his shell. That sounds great. But the reality is that these are the cheapest pieces of junk I have ever seen. They look nothing like Michelangelo's weapons in the show. Actually they look nothign like anything. They are completely generic which already make most of the nunchuks you can get as Halloween props this time of the year a better option than what the figure actually came with. But then to make it worse, his nunchuks are also designed to taper towards the chain in the center rather than being a consistent thickness, like say the size of the space in the figure's hands. So Colossal Mike can only hold his weapons from the ends and can never really hold them very firmly. At first I was annoyed that he only came with one pair. But that pair is of such poor quality that I wouldn't even want a second pair at this point.
Value - 4/10Colossal Michelangelo sells for between $70 and $90 depending upon where you buy him. I paid on the low end which helps the value out a lot here. Even so, I have to admit that it isn't a very well made toy. It's only real selling point is the wow factor due to its' sheer size. And in that one respect it does live up to expectations. Sadly in almost every other regard, Jakk's Pacific's ambition outstripped their abilities.
Happy Hunting:I purchased my Colossal Michelangelo from Walmart here in Madison, WI. I have also heard of them showing up at Toys R Us stores. I would suggest avoiding online options to buy Colossal Michelangelo unless it is through a site that offers free shipping. (Again, this is a four foot tall toy we are talking about. Shipping it won't be cheap.)For fans of the other three Turtles, or anyone with enough space and money that would like to have all four, there is some hope. Only Michelangelo is available now. But it sounds like Jakk's is producing a Colossal Leonardo (hopefully in time for Christmas of this year) and have plans for Raphael and Donatello if these two do well. I'm going to need a lot more livingroom space!
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