Tiger Claw

Hello, kitty! Part man, part tiger, Tiger Claw is the most feared assassin in all of Asia. Hired by Shredder to assist the Foot Clan in capturing Splinter, Tiger Claw proves to be even more than the Turtles can handle. With extreme martial arts and weapons to back him up, does he have the skills to challenge and take down Master Splinter? Again we turn to Playmates to provide the bio NECA won't. That figure was released in 2014's Series 11, alongside the "Mirage" Turtles that were eventually repainted for that four-pack. In the cartoon, Tiger Claw was originally a human named Takeshi, who was mutated by the Kraang after he and his sister went through a portal to Dimension X. When they returned to Earth, they felt like monsters, and so needed to turn to whatever means necessary to survive. If an unsourced claim on the TMNT fan wiki is to be believed, Tiger Claw is, like Johnny Silverhand, based on an original tabletop roleplaying game character. Allegedly, head writer of the 2012 Nickelodeon TMNT show, Brandon Auman, had played the 1985 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness game, where he used the extensive character creation options to make a tiger bounty hunter. Then, when the cartoon decided to introduce a "cat" as the natural rival to Splinter's "rat," he thought of his old character and made it official. If that's true, though, why is the original concept design done by Ciero Nieli? Tiger Claw gets two heads, both sculpted by the man whose head is made out of rubber and bottom is made out of springs, Paul Harding. Tiger Claw debuted in a two-part mid-season finale, and at the end of that, he was seemingly dead. When he returned a few episodes later, he revealed he'd simply been lost in alternate dimensions, and had to battle his way back. The fight wasn't easy, which is why when he got back he'd lost an eye and had a chunk taken out of one ear. The normal head is stoic, but the battle damaged head has the teeth bared slightly as he growls at you. Both have six nylon bristles poking out of his snout to be whiskers. For a guy who's supposed to be "the most feared assassin in all of Asia," Tiger Claw sure does dress like a cowboy. A vest, a neckercheif, bandoliers of bullets over the chest, holsters hanging from the belt. bit wide pantlegs... the only thing missing is a hat, and they probably only didn't do that because it would really have shattered the "Asian" illusion. He even has gigantic buckles immediately above his heels, exactly where spurs would be on a Western character. TMNT 2012 was a great series, but Tiger Claw is one of its highlights, and this is the best toy he's ever gotten. The colors are vibrant, with the black stripes applied crisply on top of the orange and white. Every little silver detail on his clothing is picked out cleanly, and there are even extra paint apps at the base of every claw so they're not just plain black. The stripes on his face aren't patterned like real tigers', but he does get black dots on the snouut to suggest more whiskers than he actually has. The soles of his feet get black paint apps, but they're just a generic shape, not anything that suggests a cat's paw pads. NECA's articulation is way way better than Playmates' was. Tiger Claw has a barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed chest, balljoint waist, balljoint hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/hinge ankles. Everything moves smoothly, and the bodyparts swap smoothly: not only the head, but also your choice of three pairs of hands, either closed into fists or open to hold different accessories. Hiding the chest joint behind the bandoliers was a clever move, because it creates a natural, seamless look while still maintaining the full range of motion. In the Season 4 episode that gave us Tiger Claw's orgin, the enemy who took his tail comes back for more, and this time he ends up losing half his arm. He got a robotic replacement, which this toy does as well. It swaps in at the elbow, and although the wrist is only a swivel with no hinge, the back of the hand has sculpted little pistons and other techy details sculpted and painted on. And since he has the ability to switch his hand to different weapons, we get an Enter the Dragon-style metal claw, and a small blaster. As far as weapons go, Tiger Claw has a sword that can't stow anywhere, and two pistols that fit in his holsters. One is basically an Earth revolver with a high-tech thingy on the barrel, while the other is a narrow the laser pistol. None of the hands are really shaped to hold any of this, but you can kind of wedge them in place well enough. In the cartoon, his guns can fire lasers or ice bullets, so we get energy flares in both blue and pink that can plug into the guns. And since the barrels are two different sizes, so are the blasts. The thinner versions also fit into the blaster hand. Tiger Claw wears a jetpack to get around the battlefield, so we get a third "large" blast in yellow to show that firing. It's kind of sad that NECA didn't start doing 2012 figures sooner. With Mattel getting the TMNT master license starting in 2027, there aren't going to be any more NECA Turtles any time soon, meaning Tiger Claw and Shredder are going to be pretty lonely. Still, though: to borrow a phrase from another human tiger, this action figure is grrrrrrrreat! -- 09/17/26 Which 2012 characters do you most wish NECA had gotten to? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.