Casey Marie Jones

Remember what we said in the first review? "The Last Ronin is secretly Casey Jones." You thought that was just a joke. Upon sneaking into the walled city of future New York, the Ronin decides the best way to stealthily get to his target - Shredder's tower fortress - is to steal a parked motorcycle and rip through the streets. Idiot. He had no way of knowing it at the time (and I don't think either of them ever learned it), but the bike he stole belonged to the daughter of April O'Neil. When Casey Marie Jones is introduced, she seems like a simple street punk; as the series goes along we learn that the "gang" she hangs with are dedicated to fighting against the forces policing New York City, meaning she obviously cares more about things than she seems to. Heck, one of the first things we see her do is lie to a cop to protect someone she doesn't even know - if that's not intrinsic heroism, then what is? Of course, that's at the start of the series, and this is her at the end. It took them a while to settle on what her design would look like once she was ready for battle, but this toy captures it well. Her ninja battle suit is simple, just a black suit with a few simple armor plates and some purple accents. She's got a belt made of two rows of tiny pouches, and the shoulder pads and little scarf thing around her neck are molded as a single piece that's held on by the head. It's a great sculpt, womanly in a natural way without being an exaggerated cartoon person. Technically she could have had purple stripes down the front of her boots, but that changes from page to page anyway. It seems NECA wants this figure to be based most on issue #5 anyway, judging by one of her accessories. In a bag behind the tray is a hooded coat, made from real fake leather, and that's something she only ever wears in that issue. It's a cool look, but probably wouldn't have been missed if they hadn't included it - so the fact they did make it shows how interested in the property NECA is. But it's clear they also aren't expecting to get the chance to make another Casey in the future, thanks to the alternate heads. Right out of the box, Casey has her battle look: short, choppy hair, a black mask over her eyes, and a big snarl on her lips. Perfect choice, no notes. That's exactly what she looks like when wearing this suit. However, we also get two heads from both before and after this look. First is a smiling head, with slightly longer hair and a big smile; that's from issue #3, when she's going on a mission with the Resistance; however, she pairs that with a fitted white tank top, a leather jacket, and leather pants - a much different look than this toy. The third head has a neutral expression, and wears a red headband around her forehead, holding her hair out of her face. This os how she looked after the final battle, honing her skills in the team's dojo. With that, she wore a full, loose-fitting martial arts gi rather than anything fitted. So while the toy has three different heads with distinct and accurate looks, only one of them actually belongs on the body we're given. The articulation for Casey is on par with all the other Last Ronin figures: swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, swivel waist, barbell chest, swivel/hinge wrists (on all four pairs of hands - fists, open, and two sizes of holding), double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a barbell head. It's noteable that she doesn't have any kind of shin swivel; considering this is a set that includes a motorcycle, you'd think they'd want her to have the easiest time possible riding it. Her weapons are all things she used in issue #4's big battle: a kama sickle, a pair of escrima sticks, and a grenade. Considering the one other accessory we still have left to speak about, it's surprising she got even this much. The sticks can fit into holsters (or sheaths? I'm not sure if there's any ontological difference between the two or if we just call them different names arbitrarily) on the back of her belt. Like we said, The Ronin steals Casey's bike in issue #1, and she never gets it back: in what is possibly an intentional reference to the opening scene of The Matrix Reloaded, he sacrifices it as a weapon - or in his case, as a catapult. The bike's design is a mix of classic and future. The central body of it - the seat, the gas tank, the engie - could be a stylized, comicbooky version of any motorcycle you might see on the road today, while the forks and axles almost look like a Tron lightcycle. The wheels actually do turn on this toy, but not easily, and not smoothly; that is, you can manually spin them, but don't expect them to actually "roll." It has flip-down kickstands on both sides, but there's also a clear display stand that plugs into a balljoint socket on the underside, so you can get some more dynamic poses. And since there's nothing specific to Casey about the bike, any appropriately scaled figure could ride it, including the Last Ronin himself. There's something funny about the fact that NECA has now done two Casey Jones figures with a motorcycle: this version, Casey Marie Jones, from The Last Ronin, amd also the live-action Casey Jones with John Connor's dirtbike for no clear reason. Unlike the movie toy, this one is pretty cool, and I was pleasantly surprised to spot it right there on the shelf at Target. The $70 price tag is hard to take, but they certainly did their best to come close to being worth that much. (Though I wouldn't be too shocked if we saw another release of Casey Marie by herself in the future). -- 06/12/25 If they do a second Casey, should she have different clothes, or just this again without the bike? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.