Now that we took a better look at the final product I would like to talk about it a bit, if you haven't seen them check this out before keep reading: http://toynewsi.com//news.php?itemid=22671. So here we go.
For Starters
- As always the Turtles are the best articulated figures in the Playmates toyline, so I'm not mentioning that as there's no need.
- One thing I noticed with Raph and Donnie is that they seem to have molded in pupils ,but they're painted in white, which I think is a much better look as Playmates sometimes have a hard time painting the eyes.
Leo the Knight
The Good
It's the first time we seen one of the nick series figures' final product being better painted than the prototype, Leo now has the blue details on his helmet and his shoulder pads, which were painted as actual stop signs in the prototype, now are painted in blue with white stripes, the stop sign paint didn't look bad, but now it's more screen accurate and looks much better, as it matches Leo's mask, cape and helmet. Although it's painted blue now, the word "stop" is still molded in there, which is a really nice touch and gives more the DIY look to it.
The Bad
- The cape has that baby duck logo molded in, unfortunately it's not painted.
- Leo's shell is totally unpainted, all the details are just molded in green plastic, but it doesn't bug me that much, as you can only see it by removing his cape, and let's be honest, why would you remove his cape?
- His shield is much smaller than the cartoon, and also, it's unpainted, in the cartoon
Donnie the Wizard
The Good
"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" that alone is a good reason to get this figure, Donnie looks amazing in his wizard suit, and most of the pait apps from the prototype are still there, including the awesomely painted wizard staff.
The Bad
- Donnie doesn't seem to have the "Glenn" badge molded on his robe and the details molded in Donnie's (Glenn's) robe are not painted anymore. But that's about it.
Raph the Barbarian
The Good
The molding on Raph's furry outfit looks amazing and although they've removed the silver details from his belt, they gave some black wash to the fur on his legs which brigs out the nice sculpting and makes it look even better.
The Bad
- As I said they've removed ths silver paint, but at least added the nice black wash to his legs.
- I wish this black wash was applied to the whole outfit, not just the legs.
- Raph doesn't come with an extra (turkey) head... It's not a bad thing, the figure itself is great, but if they went an extra mile to give him that it would be awesome.
Mikey the Elf
The Good
Mikey looks simply adorable as an elven thief, but that's about it, this figure has much more serious down sides than all the other turtles combined.
The Bad
- HE DOESN'T COME WITH THE PLUS ONE RING OF AWESOME. It was such a iconic piece in the Mazes and Mutants episode, it was just frustrating to see the figure wouldn't come with Mikey's "my awesome".
- It doesn't come with arrows... Seriously? He's an archer, he shoots arrows, he has a bow, but no arrows. Sure there are plenty of arrows in his removable quiver, but the arrows themselves are not removable.
- Let me say that again, he arrows in his quivers are NOT removable.
- Mikey's quiver buckle is not painted silver, that's the only paint issue in the figure that made me feel like something was missing.
And Casey Jones (that is, the verdict)
Leo is without a doubt the best figure in this wave, his armor paint apps just feel right to me, the molding is great, Leo looks beautiful (as long as you don't lift his cape), the biggest down fall for me is the Shield, but "meh", not that big of a deal. Next is Raph, he has the best molding, but the lack of a black wash on the rest of his fur kinda bug me, not that much, but it does. Donnie's accessories are the best, the staff is awesome (first time Playmates paints Donnie's staff) and the gandalf beard with wizard hat are great, both have great golden details, which I'm surprised Playmates kept in. Now ~sigh~ Mikey... My personal favorite turtle and my least favorite figure of the wave, I can live with the fact that he doesn't come with the +1 ring of awesome, it's a small piece, kids would lose it, but I can't believe he doesn't come with a single arrow, now he's just going to seat there on my shelf holding hisn bow shooting nothing.
Yeah, I'm still getting Mikey, after all you can't have only one ninja turtles, they're a family and you have to keep them together, as I really liked the other three brothers I gotta sacrifice a bit more cash to complete the team, or should I say, the party.