Jakks Pacific Colossal Leonardo
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I've said several times over the years that I'm a sucker for large toys. Whether it's the giant Balrog from NECA or one of the giant Godzilla figures,
I love giant monsters/figures. Of course a giant Ninja Turtle would be even better. And they don't get any bigger than the
Colossal Michelangelo figure that Jakk's Pacific released last year. When it
was released Jakk's spokes people said that they had plans to release more of the Turtles if Michelangelo sold well. While it's true that Colossal
Michelangelo had issues, he seems to have done well enough because Jakk's Pacific is back with a second Colossal Turtle, Leonardo.
Packaging - 6/10Last year's Colossal Michelangelo was intended to be packaged with the figure standing in a large cardboard box/tray. The box didn't look that great and didn't really have any useful information. And the box often just fell off if you lifted the figure up. As a result, many stores just threw them out and relied on the hanging tag that was attached to the figure's wrist and the sticker on his shell to provide the UPC and other necessary information. With Colossal Leonardo they learned their lesson and discarded the box. Colossal Leo does still have a hang tag strapped to his left arm and a sticker on his shell. Obviously with so little packaging, there isn't much information or graphics used. But considering that by the time that you see them, there will be a four foot tall Turtle figure right in front of you, if you need more than that to decide if you want to buy Colossal Leo, I don't know what that would be. The hang tag and sticker aren't the most impressive but they are the most practical option.
Sculpting - 6/10Colossal Leonardo reuses most of the same parts as Colossal Michelangelo. He does get a new head, hands and shoulder straps across his chest. The new head is nice. It is quite accurate. And by giving him a longer neck, they did manage to make Leonardo slightly taller than Michelangelo as he should be. The hands have been replaced, eliminating the finger wrappings that were constantly falling off with Colossal Michelangelo. That is a big improvement. But the new hands have gaps in the fingers between the two fingers. The gaps aren't too noticeable. But it is the one way in which Leonardo is inferior to Colossal Michelangelo. The shoulder straps are made of flexible material and even have a real, albeit plastic, loop in the middle of each strap. They do not go all the way over his back though. That makes sense, you wouldn't be able to open the shell if the straps were covering it. But I know a lot of fans have complained about that. Personally I don't mind it. I just wish they had given him his sheaths to carry his swords. But in the end, Colossal Leonardo looks pretty good.While the sculpt is pretty good in terms of the visual appearance, anyone who dealt with Colossal Michelangelo knows that the biggest drawback to that figure was that it was so fragile. The plastic used for his limbs is so thin that in direct sun light you can see through it. And even if you exercise extreme caution so as not to break anything, his hands and feet would still just fall off at the slightest provocation. Thankfully Jakk's Pacific seems to have rectified that with Colossal Leonardo. The plastic used for him is much thicker and the wrists and ankles seem much more secure. I still wouldn't drop him down a flight of stairs. But at least now you don't have to worry that he will break if your child even tries to move him.
Paint - 4/10The paint work on Colossal Leo is sparse, just his eyes and finger wraps are painted. The eyes are well done. But the paint work on the finger wraps are pretty sloppy. There are wrappings where the paint is not thick enough, stray paint marks and to top it off, the wrappings aren't even painted within the hands. Fortunately the sloppy paint work is limited to the wrappings and the rest of the figure gets all of its color from the color of the plastic. But assuming you are buying Colossal Leonardo in person, you should take a moment to try to find the best looking paint work.
Articulation - 5/10The articulation for Colossal Leonardo is the same as Michelangelo, five rotating joints at the neck, shoulders and wrists. It would be nice if they could give these figures some leg articulation. But given their size and weight, I can understand why that is impractical. On the the positive side, the shoulder and wrist joints seem fairly tight so the arms will hold a pose well.
Accessories - 3/10Colossal Leonardo comes with a pair of katanas. And just as with Colossal Michelangelo, the weapons are designed to double as role play weapons for children to use. Colossal Leonardo's katanas have some well sculpted and painted handles, but in order to keep them short enough to fit in his shell, the blades had to be made much too short. The foam Dojo sword from Playmates is a better alternative if you don't mid investing a little extra money to buy a pair. (The soft foam handles are a little larger but should still fit in his hands.) But of course they won't fit in his shell for storage.
Value - 6/10 (8/10 on sale)Colossal Leo is a vast improvement over Colossal Michelangelo from last year. Unfortunately he also carries a slightly higher price as well. Where Michelangelo had a suggested retail price of $90, Leonardo's price has crept up to $99. Given all of the improvements that they made in terms of quality, that seems like money well spent. Of course, if you are tight on funds, this time of year stores will be offering a number of sales in one form or another. I managed to get mine when Target was offering $25 off any toy purchase of $100 or more. At 25% off, the price becomes pretty attractive.
Happy Hunting:Colossal Leonardo is a clear improvement over his younger brother in almost every way possible. And that includes his availability. Where as Colossal Michelangelo was sold by both Toys R Us and Walmart, Leonardo is also available from Target as well. And for an item like this, having as many options as possible means more opportunities to get it on sale and get Leo for a good price.
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