Raphael

Looks like somebody failed to mellow with age. Hot-headed and stubborn, Raphael sets out on a mission of revenge, of which there may be no return. At some point between the present (ie, when all the normal TMNT stories take place) and the past of the future (ie, the earliest point shown in The Last Ronin's flashbacks) tbe Foot Clan and the Turtles agreed to some kind of truce. As these things do, the truce eventually began to break down, and the Foot ambushes the good guys. With Splinter mortally wounded and Raphael thinking he was dead, the team's unhinged violent loner did something violent and unhinged all by his lonesome. Who could have predicted! One roaring rampage of revenge later, scads of Foot are dead, and Raph is ready to face the Foot Clan's leader in an ultimate showdown. Considering that one quarter of TMNT's DNA is Frank Miller, it's no surprise The Last Ronin is their Dark Knight Returns, but that comparison is even truer than you'd think; the germ of the story came from an idea Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird started noodling on back in 1987, just one year after DKR came out. Only three years since their big break, and they were already looking for an exit! It's not specified how far in the future Last Ronin takes place (although the 1987 idea notes said "some 30 years," the published comic itself doesn't get even that specific), but it seems likely that even by the time of this flashback, the modifier "Teenage" probably wouldn't apply to the Turtles anymore. Presaging a theme we'll see more of going forward, as Raph has grown up, he's stopped going into battle nearly naked. His elbow pads are still a simple style, but while he still wears kneepads, they're stiff, studded armor instead of thick cloth. There are wraps around the ends of his limbs, including what appear to be tiny bits of armor on top of his feet? Maybe so it hurts more when he kicks you? I don't know. Apparently deciding that having a shell was not protection enough, he wears a custom-made tactical vest over it. That has various pouches on it, storage on the back for his sais, and a single plate on the left shoulder. Finally, there's a big thin pad strapped around the left thigh. Like the Ronin himself, Raphael's colors are muted. The colors were picked by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo, who aimed to match the comic's art just as much as Gurjeet Singh did with the sculpt. Surprisingly, although he was also the guy behind the "Battle Damaged" Last Ronin figure (aka, "the one that's almost completely bare of any costume details") the sculpt of Raphael's body underneath all those separate pieces of armor and such is not the same; good on you, NECA, that's more than we expect from toy manufacturers in this day and age. Raph's skin is bluer than the Ronin's was, and there are a few black outlines to give the muscles a comicbooky look. Although the broad strokes of the 1987 version of this story were the same, there were still some definite changes. For instance, in the original concept, Raphael was the one who attacked and hurt Splinter, going into exile in his shame. Wow! There's no explanation for why he did it, but it certainly fits the character's constantly-boiling-with-barely-contained-rage personality! While this toy's normal head just has its teeth gritted, there's also a second with the mouth open in more of a furious yell. Raphael's got plenty of articulation, and no surprise it all moves smoothly. He has a barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists (on all four pairs of hands: fists, chopping, open, and holding), balljointed hips, swivels at the top and bottom of the thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/​hinge ankles. Plus the ties on his mask(s) swivel around. One of the thigh joints would have been enough, we don't really need two, and adding swivels where the shins meet the wrappings would have been welcome, too. He may have a chest or waist joint, but since it's under the shell (the front, back, and the straps for his vest are all molded as one piece of PVC slipped onto the body during assembly) it really doesn't serve any purpose. When I tried to get the leg hinges going, both knees popped out at the upper swivel joint; pushing them back in was simple, nothing was broken, it's just something to be aware of. Raph's accessories are his sais and a comically wide kunai that can be stored on his leg, as well as a single arrow shot by the Foot Clan. When I first opened this figure, my initial reaction was "I thought he was supposed to come with a bunch of them, which you could stick into his shell and even through his leg?" It turns out that, no, the one with all the arrows and some extra blood paint apps is "First To Fall" Raphael, a variation of this figure sold on NECA's online shop. (So, spoiler: The Last Ronin is not Raphael.) They've apparently said it's not an exclusive, just available there first, and will be at other retailers eventually, but I have no idea when "eventually" is; I've certainly been looking for one, but no one's had it yet. I even held off on reviewing this figure as long as possible, in the hopes the better one would show up. Like I've said before, I'm not one to pay an equal price for a figure that's less complete. Last Ronin Raphael is a good figure, but "First to Fall" Raphael comes with all the same accessories and then some, so why would you want this one over that one? At first I thought the plan was to make all the Turtles at the end of their individual roads; then I figured out the "it's a variant" situation and decided maybe NECA would be making "plain" and "dying" versions of all of them, getting two uses out of every mold; but all the others are out already, and there's no sign of any of them getting similar treatment; so it's just Raphael by himself that gets weirdly shortchanged this way. Unless the bloody paint apps turn you off, we say pass on this Raphael and wait for the First to Fall to get its mass market release. -- 11/28/23 Would you rather wait for "First to Fall" Raphael, or is this one good enough? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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