Armaggon

Remember a couple years ago when NECA tried to bring Lootcrate back, but it was comically overpriced, lacked the fun little extras, was marketed in the grossest way imaginable, and kind of turned into an utter scam by the end? Good times, good times. Anyway, this is one of the figures you could only get in a crate. Or by trawling eBay for years to find someone who wasn't trying to sell it for $80. While previous Arcade Colors figures were based on Turtles in Time or the original Konami cabinet game, this one comes from TMNT Tournament Fighters. Tournament Fighters was released in three different versions, for the original NES, the SNES, and the Sega Genesis, and all three of them had different character lineups! That's how we know for certain this figure is based on the Super Nintendo version. Armaggon was introduced in the Archie comics - specifically, in Mighty Mutanimals #7, where he fought Man Ray. He wasn't a mutant, but a highly evolved shark from the future, and he'd time-travelled back to the present to collect resources he needed to help him take over the world. In the videogame, he's just another fighter who's entered the inexplicable fighting tournament that seems to be sponsored by Channel 6? That's in the Challenge Mode; in Story Mode, he's working for the game's ultimate villain, who surprisingly is not Shredder (he's just another fighter), but Karai, making her first-ever appearance outside the Mirage books. Neat! In his first comic appearance, Armaggon bragged about his large brain and his strong arms, but made absolutely no mention of the fact that he seems to have organic turbines or missile launchers or something growing on either side of his head. That's what we call "burying the lede," Maggy. When the character was adapted for the 2012 cartoon series, he had to carry those on the armor he wore, but in the '90s there they are, growing straight out of his skin. Weird! Armaggon's design demands new molds; his head slopes smoothly into his back, he's got a tail, his forearms have fins on them, the bands around his ankles are sculpted... this is Armaggon and no one else. The videogame sprites had a few differences from the comic, like fewer mechanical tubes running along his limbs, or the fact he has distinct feet instead of just formless flipper-things. Like Leatherhead, the original plan was for the character to be very horizontal, matching the animal that inspired him, but the final thing was much more vertical. The bands around his waist, biceps, and left thigh are fairly smooth and undetailed, but they're separate pieces - should NECA ever decide to do a comicbook version of Armaggon, they'll be easy enough to change. As a videogame figure, Armaggon gets the blocked, pixellated, "8-bit" paint, even though the Super Nintendo was way above 8 bits at that point. Tournament Fighters had two colors for every playable character, for that inevitable round where you have to fight yourself, but this is the default grey version - the other would be more blue. The highlights are done in two lighter shades of gray, which has to be tough to design, so good work, Geoffrey Trapp and Mike Puzzo. The stuff he wears is mustardy yellow while his fins, eyes, mouth, and the bumps on the sides of his head are a nice dark red, with lighter spots creating pupils in the eyes. The design of the head means Armaggon doesn't have any kind of neck articulation, but they made up for it by giving him a hinged jaw. The tubes that connect his torpedos to his armbands and belt mean the arm articulation is limited: they're soft enough to flex, but you can't do anything too wild. Still, it's surprising that he can lift his arms almost all the way up, and that the torso turns about as far as a human's normally would. It's too bad they didn't design some kind of "slider" joint that would allow the head to tip back, for swimming poses. The tail will need to be assembled onto its barbell joint after you open the figure, and the figure's only extras are alternate hands: he defaults to fists, but there are also an open pair, a left hand that could hold an accessory, and a right hand that's either pointing or ready to shoot a gun, and ther all swap in at the wrist. This figure was announced for a 2021 release, but its Crate didn't ship until 2022. Considering how unique these molds are, I'd have expectd NECA to announce a comic version by now, and had been holding out for that rather than having to buy multiples like I did Slash. So now that I've finally broken down and paid eBay prices for one, watch them announce Archie Armaggon next week. -- 11/27/25 Nintendo, Super Nintendo, or Genesis? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.