Ninja Turtles Mutations Giant Turtles, Roll-N-Punch Turtles and Turtle Talkin' Turtles Review
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After finally getting around to reviewing the eleven inch figures from the Out of the Shadows movie recently, it seems like I should probably get
around to covering all of the other eleven inch figures that Playmates has released over the last year and a half. (And it is only partially about
clearing another large chunk out of the 'to do' pile.) While the OOTS figures have dominated the shelves for most of the last year, Playmates has
released a three new pairs of eleven inch figures based on the 2012 cartoon style as well. The pairs include mutating versions of Leonardo and
Raphael, versions of Leo and Mikey in training gear as well as talking versions of those two as well. So if you're a Donatello fan... well, better
luck next time. In the mean time, lets see how these other figures turned out.
Packaging - Talkin' Turtles 7/10, Mutating & Roll-N-Punch Turtles 5/10The Roll-N-Punch Turtles and Turtle Talkin' figures have the same packaging design as previous eleven inch figures. The packaging for the Mutating Turtles has a similar physical design but shares its graphics with the other Mutations figures and vehicles. Generally I like the packaging design. But it has a significant drawback here. A big part of the reason for this type of design is to get the actual toy in the hands of kids to make them more likely to want to buy the figures. That works fine for the Turtle Talkin' figures since their action feature can be used while the figures are in the packaging. But for the mutating Turtles and Roll-N-Punch figures, you can't actually try their features out while the figures are strapped down in the packaging.
Sculpting - Turtle Talkin' Turtles 6/10, Mutations 5/10, Roll-N-Punch Turtles 4/10The sculpting for the Turtle Talkin' figures are the best of the three series. They do have the 2012 style head sculpts. But they don't really match the sculpting style of the rest of the figure. The Mutations figures at least have a consistent style across the entire figure. But as always with Playmates' mutating figures, the bodies have to be made considerably larger to hide the arms in the pet turtle form. The Roll-N-Punch figures have comically over-sized feet, hands and pants. The feet are not too bad. But the pants look like they are either wearing about five layers of sweat pants or their sweat pants are about an inch thick. And their hands are huge! they look more like Turtle hand shaped boxing gloves or they are wearing foam Hulk hands.
Paint - Turtle Talkin' Mike 4/10, Roll-N-Punch Turtles 6/10, others 5/10The paint work for most of the figures is pretty basic but well executed. The one exception for the six figures I have is Turtle Talkin' Mikey who has some stray white paint from his finger wrappings on his elbow pad and along the edge of his shell. The Roll-N-Punch figures may appeal more to younger fans thanks to their brightly colored trunks and gloves.
Articulation - Roll-N-Punch 3/10, Turtle Talkin' Turtles 4/10, Mutations Turtles 6/10The Roll-N-Punch Turtles have eight points of articulation, most of which is in their arms. They have double jointed shoulders and rotating wrists in each arm. They also have a ball jointed neck and rotating waist. They have no articulation below the waist at all. The Turtle Talkin' Turtles are a bit better with fifteen points of articulation. They have the same articulation for their arms and neck, but add rotating and hinged joints at the hips and knees. The range of motion for their knees is quite limited and the lack of elbow joints is annoying. The Mutations Turtles have the most articulation with hinged and rotating joints at the ankles, knees, and elbows, ball jointed hips, shoulders and neck and rotating wrists. If not for their bulky bodies getting in the way, they would be nearly perfect.
Accessories - Roll-N-Punch 0/10, others 5/10The Roll-N-Punch Turtles have their weapons sculpted into their hands. So they don't have any separate accessories. The other figures come with a pair of their signature weapons. they are a bit chunky, especially Michelangelo's nunchuks. But at least his nunchuks have plastic chain attaching them.
Feature - Roll-N-Punch 2/10, Mutations 4/10, Turtle Talkin' Leo 5/10, Turtle Talkin' Mikey 6/10The Roll-N-Punch Turtles have a unique feature. Each figure has a wheel embedded in each foot. By pushing the figure along the ground the top half of the figure rotates around in complete circles. Setting aside the anatomical issues with this, the Turtles are trained ninjas. Swinging their arms around wildly like this seems like something a five year old would do. And then just to rub some salt into the wound, the feature doesn't even work all that well. The upper portion of the figures is just too heavy for the mechanism to easily spin.The Mutations Turtles use the same design as Playmates has been using since the early 90's for the mutating Turtles. But it seems like they didn't do a very good job of designing all of the parts to fit together this time around. In their pet turtle forms, the shells don't want to snap closed. And the rear legs are way too long. Instead of hugging the front legs like they have in past versions, they stick out almost an inch from the body and flop around. It's nice that a new generation will have a chance to play with these. But it's too bad that this latest interation is the worst one so far. The Turtle Talkin' figures have a button on the front of their belt. When the button is pressed, the figures will play a random phrase. It's not my favorite action feature. But it works and it is unobtrusive if you don't want to use it. And for once it seems like they actually used clips of the actual voice actors from the show or found someone who does a much better impersonation of them. Mikey sounds really good. But either the recording or the speaker quality is pretty poor because it's hard to recognize the voice.
Value - Roll-N-Punch 2/10, Mutations 5/10, Turtle Talkin' 6/10The eleven inch figures sell for $20 in most stores. If you have a younger Turtle fan, the Roll-N-Punch figures may appeal to them due to their bright costumes and simple to use action feature. The Mutations Turtles are a nice idea and a very traditional TMNT feature. It's just too bad that this modern version didn't turn out better in the pet turtle form. The Turtle Talkin' figures are the better all around figures of the three and have the best built-in feature. Though if you already have the interactive electronic Turtles, these will probably seem rather superfluious.
Happy Hunting:The Mutations Turtles, Roll-N-Punch Turtles and Turtle Talkin' Turtles are all part of the same assortment and ship together. But the Mutations Turtles were released early in 2016. So find them could be a bit of a challenge. The Roll-N-Punch Turtles and Turtle Talkin' figures are all a bit more recent. So they should be esier to find in stores for now.
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