2-Bopsteady

So are they now twice as smart, or twice as dumb? Accidents happen when you mess with mutagen. In the case of Bebop and Rocksteady, it can happen more than once. When Shredder's bickering lackies crash into the Ooze Pit, they fuse together to form the massive, muscle-headed 2-Bopsteady. I get that the "2" in the name is to more strongly identify this figure with Two-Bad, but it's really not needed: the design is plain enough to understand, and "Bopsteady" by itself would carry the idea just as well. Also, there must be something special in the Eternian mutagen: one of the consistent things in all the various TMNT stories was that mutagen had no effect on anyone who had already been mutated. It's like getting chicken pox. Except you might actually become a giant chicken. In order for the combined name to be Bopsteady and not RockBe, the two characters had to be aligned in this order. Unfortunately, that means the design had to cheat slightly: on the original, Tuvar (the blue one) had three fins over the top of his head, while Baddhra (the purple one) had a single one; Bebop already has a purple mohawk, matching Baddhra's head, but they had to invent three rows of spiky hair(?) for Rocksteady. That's not a bad choice at all, but the order of the name demands that they both be on the wrong side from where they should be - their haircuts demand they be swapped horizontally! So close to greatness! The heads seem to owe more to the 2012 Classics designs than anything else - but maybe I'm just imaging that because of Bebop's weirdly light skin. The vest wrapped around their shared torso is a separate piece, rather than being sculpted on - an extremely weird choice that provides no immediately obvious benefit. There's a turtle shell shoulder pad on the Bebop arm, wide bracelets on both arms, typical furry He-Man trunks, a bit of armor strapped to the Bebop leg, and a harness across the chest (separate from the vest) with some small throwing daggers in it. The leg armor is sculpted to have a fur pad behind it, but since it's just a single molded color with no paint, it just ends up looking like metal that was cut up with a can opener. The colors are overall very muted: it's not just Bebop's pale skintone, either, but all the clothes are earthtones as well. Is the vest they're wearing supposed to have been Bebop's? Then why is it rusty orange instead of red? Why is the Bebop leg brown instead of black? Why is the Rocksteady leg black instead of camo green? It all blends, but it doesn't "pop." This is like the opposite problem that Mouse-Jaw had, with his oversaturated colors. Bopsteady moves at the ankles, boots, knees, hips, waist, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and necks. The barbells the head are on are slightly loose, giving them a distinct wobble when you even pick up the toy. And although their shoulders swivel at an angle, just like the vintage Two-Bad, the arms aren't long enough to continually punch the opposite head in the face. Boo! Instead of any traditional weapons from either the TMNT or MotU side of this mash-up, he's armed with a big sword that can store on his back, and a mace on a chain that can replace his right hand. The figure also includes a bunch of pieces for the ToY-Award-winning Metal-Boto Build-A-Figure: the left arm, with its alternate hand, drill, and radar dish, plus both lower legs. Rather than try to find two different ideas for how to "MotU-ize" Bebop and Rocksteady, jamming them into one toy and homaging a classic He-Man character was a brilliant choice. This is a fun figure even if all you care about is the Turtle side of the equation, something you could imagine happening in some little-known story. Honestly, the weakest part of all of it is the number 2 in the name 2-Bopsteady, and you can easily ignore that if you feel like it. -- 02/06/25 Is there a better combo of characters in this line than these? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.