Shredder

It's time for a new era. Shredder based his armor on that of medieval samurai. He added dozens of blades to his shoulders, helmet, arm guards and particularly his gauntlets until he could look like a terrifying vision of death... or in the Turtles' minds, more like a walking can-opener. That text comes not from NECA (who have put generic info about TMNT as a whole on their packaging) but from Playmates - specifically, from the 2013 SDCC exclusive, which took the Series 6 Shredder with the removable helmet (our second choice for whose text to copy) and chromed his armor. For the little kiddies who grew up with '80s/'90s cartoon Shredder, the 2012 version was something completely different, something threatening and intimidating. It's like how Transformers Animated made even a single Decepticon a match for the entire Autobot team, as a way of increasing the stakes. Nickelodeon Shredder was scary! 2012 Shredder is more heavily armored than previous versions. Mirage and animated and Archie and live-action all just wore plain cloth, and even if that's a breastplate he's wearing in 2003, it still looked like anatomy more than steel. 2012, though, has what looks like oversized scalemail protecting his chest, little plates over his hips, and the stuff that holds his blades on his arms and legs is way way bigger than ever before. The remainder is all fabric, so it's not like he's wearing a mech suit, but this is still a new look for the character. The reason we debated using the Playmates Series 6 figure's bio was because, like that figure, this one has an unmasked face. Two, technically: the helmet is a separate piece able to fit onto either of the included heads, allowing us to see the burned face that made him so hate Hamato Yoshi. The right side is pink and scarred, and it's a crueler red right down the center - his forehead, nose, and mouth/chin. Only his left eye is intact, with the right being blank white. The heads look nearly identical when the helmet is on, but when it's off, he'll either have his mouth closed or open slightly to snarl. What makes a Shredder a Shredder, though, are his blades. Blades on the helmet, blades on the shoulders, blades on his forearms, blades on his shins... so many sharps! One of the shin blades was rattling around loose inside the box when I opened him, but that was a glue thing; they're not meant to be removable. Unlike the long, extended blades that can be plugged into the gauntlets to stick down past his hands. Or the broad, spade-like blade that plugs into the center and hovers above the back of his hands. Fun stuff! That's all he's got for accessories, though it's not like he used anything else in the cartoon. They could have given him a mutagen canister or something, I suppose, or a sword and shurikens like the Playmates Series 1 figure had, but being able to change the blades is nice. You can also change his hands, trading between fists or open or gripping, all with small metal studs on his knuckles. He's plenty articulated, so that's good! There's a barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinged wrists, a balljoint chest, balljoint hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/hinge ankles. The chest armor is soft PVC, so the fact it hangs down over the torso joint won't be a problem. Sculpt and fabrication are credited to Daniel Katcher, Richard Force, and Kushwara Studios. He has a softgoods cape so it won't get in the way of any of those joints, and the black enshrouds him visually just as much as the cape does physically. His outfit is classic Mirage/Movie maroon, though Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo have actually assigned him subtle differences in shade, so the straps holding his armor on and some of the wraps around his arms will be slightly different than the body they're laying on; it's not strong enough to be aware of at just a glance, but even subconsciously you'll notice he's not one solid color behind that silver armor. Since there are no accessories, there was room in the budget to make this a two-pack. So let's go back to the Playmates toys for another bio: Creepy, controlling and vicious, the Kraang are extra-dimensional, multi-tentacle, brain-like conquerors set on colonizing Earth! So yes, instead of just one Krang, the 2012 cartoon had a whole race of Kraangs. [the extra "A" is for extra "adversaries"! --ed.] It was eventually revealed that they were technically just an enslaved group of Utroms corrupted by the evil Kraang Prime, and got their name from him. This Kraang is a very good representation of the 2012 cartoon design: the body looks like a big pink brain, but it comes to more of a point at the top than any prior Krangs or Ultroms have ever had. There are six smooth tentacles sprouting from the around the base, with the three on the left side stretching out horizontally and the three on the right hanging down more. That does make it hard to find a way to display it, honestly. There are dark spots to keep it from just looking like a wad of chewed gum, the slightly gaping mouth is black, and the eyes are yellow with green outlines. It's kind of wild to see NECA doing throwback Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures to a show that came after they had started making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. With Super7 doing 2003 Turtles, it's a big time for retro. Shredder's a great first figure for the 2012 line, and we hope these are successful enough that we get into some of the wilder characters who were never done right under Playmates. -- 12/11/25 Which 2012 characters do you hope NECA gets to make? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.