I admit. Since we have seen the early previews, stills, and even the action figures, I wasn’t too terribly excited about the Teenage Mutant Turtles 2014 movie. I guess the movie is called Ninja Turtles (or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but whatever), which should be because in this new movie the Turtles aren’t teenagers anymore, but adults.
Now that I have seen several trailers and have the TMNT 2014 Basic Action Figures in hand, I am pretty excited about the movie. The new Turtle designs have grown on me and the movie looks to be full of humor and action, which is always welcome in my book.
Playmates Toys was generous enough to send me almost all of the TMNT 2014 Basic Action Figures for review, minus Shredder. I’ll have to hunt down Shredder in the stores… Please note that even though these figures were given to me, all text and opinions about the toys are my own.
The Review
Most of the action figures are very similar, so instead of boring you with eight different reviews for each different figure, I have decided that it would probably be best to review them all in one spot. On with the review!
Each of the figures comes packaged on a blister card, which is Ninja Turtles themed of course. The cards are very similar to the Nickelodeon TMNT packages that have been taking up toy aisles for the past few years.
On the back of the card, you get a short blurb about the movie and there is also a cross-sell area for some of the other Basic Action Figures that are available. The only figure that is missing from the card back is the Raph in Disguise figure. Overall I love the packaging, as it’s themed very nicely to the movie.
April O’Neil:
Most people are probably going to be hunting down the April O’Neil action figure so that they can add a Megan Fox action figure to their collection, but I was mostly excited about her accessories. She comes with a camera, camera bag, and 2 sai, which are actually the same weapons that Raphael comes with. Each of the accessories fit pretty good in her hands, but you may have to some playing around to get the right fit.
She isn’t the most articulated action figure that you have ever seen, as she is only articulated at the waist, shoulders, wrists, neck, and hips. With such limited articulation, it’s pretty hard to get a decent pose with any of her accessories, but with enough patience, it can be done.
Paint on this figure wasn’t perfect, but you can’t really expect much better with such a low-priced figure. Her hair has a couple of brushes of white paint, which I assume are meant to depict blonde highlights.
Donatello:
Out of all of the new Turtle designs, I could probably say that I don’t like Donatello’s the most. He’s wearing a mixture of Samurai gear and high-tech spy gear. He still has his signature staff weapon for an accessory, which is nice.
He features decent articulation, with joints at his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. He is lacking any sort of wrist articulation, which would make posing him much easier, especially with his weapon. He, and all of the other Turtles are lacking a waist swivel.
Paint again isn’t perfect on this guy.
Foot Soldier:
The Turtles aren’t the only ones getting a new design for the TMNT 2014 movie. The Foot Soldier also received a makeover too! His new look reminds me very much of a G.I. Joe.
He comes pretty loaded with accessories, as he comes with a rifle, knife, pistol, and what appears to be a taser. The best part about these accessories is that they are able to be placed in the holsters on his body. The taser and rifle don’t have a holster, but the smallest accessories do, which is always welcome to me. He also features some sort of a clear mask, which I don’t know anything about since I haven’t seen the movie yet.
The Foot Solder is one of the most articulated action figures in this assortment, with joints at his neck, shoulders, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. You should be able to get some pretty good poses out of this guy.
This figure is only packed one per case, which kind of sucks because some people are going to be army building Foot Soldiers. It’s understandable, though, as a figure with this much articulation probably cost much more to produce that some of the other figures in the wave.
Paint on this figure was actually pretty good.
Leonardo:
Leonardo has one of the more normal designs that any of the Turtles got in their makeovers, well, minus the weird chest plate that he has. He still has his signature Katana Swords, which fit perfectly into the removable sheath. The sheath is made of a rubbery plastic, which really helps to hold his accessories in the sheath.
He and all of the other Turtles have the same articulation, with joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. I will note that the head articulation isn’t the best on any of the Turtles. You can pretty much only turn their heads like a clock.
Michelangelo:
Apart from Donatello’s new design, I think that Michelangelo has the second worst out of all of the Turtles. He’s wearing bike pants? Even though he’s wearing bike pants, he still has his signature nunchuckus. He also comes with some kind of 3 part staff thing, which I believe is one of the most pointless accessories to ever come with an action figure. Since the “rope” pieces between the 3 staffs are hard plastic, you are just stuck with some weird ‘S’ that looks bad no matter what you do with it. I would have liked for the accessories to be more bendable, especially the pieces that should bend.
Raph in Disguise:
Now again I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know how Raph in Disguise is going to come into play. With that being said, the figure is actually pretty cool looking all dressed up in his trench coat, hat, sunglasses, and scarf. All of the accessories are removable, except for the coat. You could probably take the coat off if you really wanted to, though. The Raphael body underneath is unpainted, though, so I don’t know why you would want to do that. All of the accessories stay on the figure very good.
Because he’s wearing that thick trench coat, his articulation is pretty limited. You can slightly move his legs and more his arms pretty freely.
Raphael:
Raphael has always been my favorite Turtle, so I am very glad that he didn’t get a ridiculous makeover. He comes with his signature twin sai for accessories. There isn’t really a place to store his accessories, but with a little bit of motivation you should be able to stick them in his waistband.
The leather/cloth on his waist is pretty flexible, making Raphael one of the most articulated Turtles in this line. Raph and the other figures also feature peg holes in their feet, but the are pretty big.
Splinter:
Finally we have master Splinter. He comes with a katana and a sheath for accessories. His sheath can’t be attached to the figure, which I was pretty disappointed about. Though, I don’t think he attaches it in the movie. Like with Leonardo’s sheath, Splinter’s sheath is made of a rubbery plastic so it stays in pretty good.
For articulation, Splinter has joints at he neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips. He’s not the most articulated figure, but he’s Splinter and he’s fragile. Or is he?
Overall
Overall I have really enjoyed these TMNT 2014 Movie Basic Action Figures. At first, I was very skeptical about Playmate Toys’ action figures and even the movie, though after seeing all of the trailers and playing with the toys, I’m excited.
Playmates Toys’ Basic Action Figures aren’t the most articulated or best painted toys, but you also need to understand who the were actually made for – kids. I think they are great for kids, as the allow them to recreate scenes from the movie pretty good.
Collectors are also probably going to be attracted to this line if they want to get a pretty full cast of characters from the movie. The Deluxe figures that are also being made don’t feature nearly as many characters as this Basic line.
With that being said, the hunt is on! I need Shredder!
Where to Buy?
If you are interested in picking up any of the TMNT 2014 Movie Basic Action Figures, you should be able to find them at stores like Target, TRU, Walmart, etc. Though, if you prefer to shop online, you can currently buy them here. They are in stock and ready to ship.
If you feel like getting a good deal, you can always try your chances on eBay.
UPDATE: These figures are now sold out at most retailers. You can still find some on Big Bad Toy Store, and you can find them on Amazon. You can also jump onto eBay and see if you can find these TMNT 2014 movie basic action figures.
