NECA 1:4 Scale Movie Raphael in Disguise and Baby Turtle Accessory Set Review
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NECA made a huge splash on the Ninja Turtle collectors market with the release of their 1/4 scale figures based on the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
movie in 2017. And the line certainly seems to have been a success because NECA isn't ready to let the line end with just the four Turtles. So while
they went back to the design shop to start working on 1/4 scale versions of both the movie Foot Soldiers and Shredder as well, they have also done their
best to keep fans' attention with a new version of Raphael, complete with his trenchcoat from the movie and an accessory set featuring all four Turtles
in their partially mutated, baby Turtle forms and a variety of other accessories.
Packaging - Accessories Set 7/10, Raph in Disguise 8/10The packaging for the new version of Raphael and the acceesory set is the same as they used for the first four Turtles. They are packaged in a large window box which uses the cityscape from the first movie poster as the background. The back of each box has a trio of photos showing off the figure or accessories as well as a brief description of the figure/accessories. The design looks great. But as I wrote in my first review of NECA's 1/4 scale TMNT movie figures, the design doesn't show off the actual figure and accessories well. It isn't as big of an issue with Raphael since the addition of his trench coat is the biggest selling point and that is clearly visible in the window. But I'm not even sure exactly what is included in the accessory set from looking at the box.
Sculpting - 10/10Raphael in Disguise appears to use the same body as the rest of the 1/4 scale Turtles. That is no great surprise. They did at least give this version of Raphael a slightly different head sculpt with a fully closed mouth. It would be nice if there was a great difference between the two figures. But the silent, sullen expression of the Raphael in Disguise figure is so appropriate for his scene in the movie when he wore this coat that any other would just look out of place. The Baby Turtles Accessories Set includes all four Turtles in their partially mutated form. All four seem to share the same body and legs. But their do appear to be very slight differences in the heads and arms. And I do mean slight. It took quite a bit of staring at them to decide if the differences really were there and were intentional or just the result of variances during production. Part of me wishes that there was more to distinguish them from each other. But they were all almost identical in the movie, so it makes sense for the figures to be very similar too.
Paint - 9/10The paint work for both Raphael in Disguise and the Baby Turtles accessory set turned out well. I do wish that they had used the paint to vary up the markings on the baby turtles a bit more. But that would just make them less screen accurate. Raphael in Disguise has a full paint job despite the fact that the majority of the figure is completely covered by his trenchcoat.
Articulation - Raphael 5/10, Baby Turtles 2/10Raphael has all of the same articulation as the rest of the 1/4 Turtles. (That should be no surprise, since it is the same figure under the coat.) But it also still has the same short comings as before with extrememly limited range of motion for those joints as they favored the overall looks of the figure over the range of motion. The baby turtles suffer from that same limited range of motion. But they only have half a dozen points of articulation to start with. They have rotating and hinged shoulders, a ball jointed neck and a hinged jaw. But the jaws barely move. The shoulders can't even allow the arms to rest along each figure's body. Even the neck joints which can rotate completely around have very limited lateral movement.
Accessories - Rapheal 9/10, Baby Turtles 5/10Raphael in Disguise comes with a decent assortment of traditional accessories: a pair of sais, a bat, a spare set of hands and a slice of pizza. That's a fairly decent set of accessories. But the real highlight are the pieces of his disguise which includes a trenchcoat, hat and backpack. NECA put some serious effort into Raphael's outfit. The coat is fully lined and sewen. It even has actual buttons and a belt. It's a very impressive piece. They even went so far as to replicate the damaged lining that the coat had in the movie. The coat does have two minor drawbacks. The inclusion of the lining was a nice effort. But that extra thickness prevents the coat from draping properly at the bottom. Instead it billows out more like a dress than a coat. The other issue I have with it is simply that the coat is far too clean. The figures have great paint applications to replicate the dark and slightly gritty look of the movie. But the coat is completely clean and looks brand new. The effect is even more pronounced when you add Raphael's hat and backpack which are shaded with paint washes.The Baby Turtles set is labeled as an accessories set, so I suppose you could count all of the included pieces as accessories. But as I've been referring to the four baby Turtles as figures for the this review, I'll do the same here. Even discounting the baby Turtles, the set still includes four slices of pizza, a pizza box, a bag of snack food, and a replacement hand with a pair of nunchuks that can spin on the tip of one of the fingers. The additional accessories are nice, but none of them is all that impressive. And the spare hand and nunchuks are really only useful if you also have the 1/4 scale Michelangelo figure. It would be nice if the set actually had enough slices to make a full pizza, and if the pieces would actually fit together properly. But ultimately the five existing 1/4 scale Turtles already covered most of the accessories you might want. So there wasn't a lot left to be included in this set.
Value - Raphael 5-10/10, Baby Turtles 8-10/10The value for both of these items really depends upon which of the previous NECA 1/4 scale Turtles you do or do not own. Raphael in Disguise sells for $100 to $125 depending upon the store. If you didn't already buy the regular Raphael, that is a terrific price with the addition of the coat, hat and backpack. But if you already own the regular Raphael, it's a fairly steep price to pay for a few accessories, even if they are really well made. Assuming that the line continues past the already announced Foot Soldier and Shredder, I would guess that one of the next logical inclusions would be a Casey Jones figure. If they do produce a Casey Jones figure to go along with Raphael in his trench coat disguise, that would definately improve the value of this figure. The Baby Turtles Accessories Set has a similar issue. The four baby Turtles and the pizza are enough to justify most of the $50 price tag. But if you don't have Michelangelo, the extra hand and spinning nunchuk are pretty worthless.
Happy Hunting:NECA's 1/4 scale Turtles have proven to be quite popular. Thanks to that, more and more specialty retailers seem to be carrying the line. Big Bad Toy Store has both listed for the lowest prices I have seen. (Though Raphael in Disguise is out of stock pending a restock.) They also have low cost shipping options which can make a big difference with figures this large and heavy. Entertainment Earth also has both listed for a preorder, but they charge a bit more.
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