Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Comic Version – Michelangelo Review

I thought I’d review something different today. Hands up those who used to be into Ninja Turtles as a kid? Unfortunately I was one of those poor misguided kids who were swept up in the Ninja Turtle craze >_>;;

I was in my local model store earlier this week when I spotted one of these in the corner. So, it being pay week, I was more likely to purchase something I would otherwise have no intention of buying. Well, it looked cool in the package! And, and Michelangelo was my favourite Ninja Turtle!

I think I must have been around 9 or 10 or something at the time the TMNT craze hit. And hooked badly I was. I played the Ninja Turtle arcade game every day after school. Talked all day with fellow primary school friends about turtles.

However, my older sister’s boyfriend at the time was a mature 17 or 18 year old. He in his infinite wisdom told me that the TV show turtles “sucked” and that the comics were much better. Me being the impressionable lad at the time believed everything he had to say. And then he showed me some of his comics, and wow! Blood! Awesome violence! (spoiler lol) Shredder falls off a building all cut up, and gets blown up by a grenade!

Therefore, immediately, comic Turtles were the “best” and I snapped up all the graphic novels somehow. I think I still have them somewhere in a box. They never did make toys of the comic turtles (there was no way they would have marketed this more violent TMNT to kids), so I was left with getting the whole set of the “inferior” cartoon Turtles. Eventually my whole set which was stored in a large garbage bag was stolen by some evil kid during one of my birthday parties however.

20 years later, they finally come out with these “comic” toys. I must admit they look pretty good, and I would’ve probably wet myself if these toys were out back then. However I’m now more spoiled by anime Figmas.

Here is what you get in the package. 2 extra hands in a different pose, one with a spike band thingy. 3 Ninja Stars (where one of them lost a bit of paint because it was stuck on sticky tape – bad packaging design!). 1 plastic base, which looks like Pikachu crapped all over it. And 1 pet turtle.

Unfortunately no Figma stand, so I can’t put Michelangelo in a pose like he is in the back of the packaging without 3rd party assistance.

Articulation as follows:

• Head turns 360, moves forward and back, up and down
• Arms in and out, up and down, rotates at the bicep. Elbows up and down. Hands turn 360 and hinge up and down at the wrist
• No waist articulation
• Legs in and out, up and down, rotates slightly at the pelvis. Double-jointed at the knee. Feet up and down at the ankle

The chest is made of soft pvc, and it seems like you can rip it off if you have a mind to. The top bandanna is also soft like pvc.

It might be unfair to compare to a figma, but figma articulation is much much better.

Overall, a good figure, for an American made one. The accuracy to the comic design is very high. And the actual chains on the Nunchuks are actually pretty damn good. I remember the Nunchuks on the cartoon version of Michelangelo were plastic, and they broke after a few bendings.

However … those of us used to Figmas will now judge every articulated figure against them. And sad to say that the measuring stick has grown a lot larger. Overall I give Michelangelo a score of 7 out of 10. If only this had come out 20 years ago!