Mutant Tots Bebop & Rocksteady

There are still Mutant Mayhem toys coming out. Good for them! Among those are two-packs showing the boys when they were just little kids, which is something we've had before. But something we've never had before? Baby versions of other characters! Characters like Bebop and Rocksteady. Bebop always has the latest tunes and the greatest tatts - even if they're not so permanent yet. This mutant's ink may be temporary, but this style will last forever. When I grow up: a DJ Likes: Crayons The Baby Mutants did appear in the film, for about five seconds, when Superfly was regaling the Turtles with his story of growing up. It's not exactly the most memorable thing ever, but the designs are cute and they mean we get something new and fun. Change approved! If you compare the toy to the movie's art, you can see what they were going for, but also where they went wrong. Baby Bebop is squat and round, with a large head and an adorable, innocent smile. His body is covered with thick hair, and he has a tall pink mohawk. If you look at the design art, it's clear the other bits of pink are supposed to be nascent sideburns, but whoever sculpted this didn't understand and instead attached them to his shoulders rather than his cheeks. Commensurate with its small size, the figure has swivel/hinge shoulders, a swivel waist, and a balljointed head that, due to how close it sits to the body, is barely even a swivel. He's meant to have splotches of color all over him, but since Playmates hates paying to paint its toys, all we get are two gree spots and one blue; one of his accessories is... well, judging by the bio quoted above, it's a crayon, with the suggestion being that he's drawing on his own tattoos. The problem is, you can't draw on skin with a crayon; at the bare minimum, it would have to be a marker. He also gets a simple blue boombox, presumably because he's the one shown pushing "play" on a stereo in the movie. Be careful, this mini mutant may lack mindpower, but he makes up for it in muscle. Despite his small body (and brain), Rocksteady still delivers a killer kick and powerful punch. When I grow up: a bodybuilder Likes: Birds The thing that set Mutant Mayhem Rocksteady apart from every other version there's been was the way his head emerged from the front of his torso, rather than sitting up on top of the shoulders, and his toddler form continues that trend. It looks goofy, sure, but at this size it's also quite cute. Unlike Bebop, Rocksteady wears some clothes: his design gives him a big clunky pair of brown boots, contrasting with his otherwise-bare grey skin. His eyes are a bit more front-facing than the design art, and he's not as hunched. The way the head is attached mean he doesn't have any neck articulation, leaving him with just the waist and shoulders. Without wrists, his left hand is forever relegated to facing downward in an unusual way, suggesting perhaps he's the one meant to hold the boombox? Rocksteady's accessories include a yellow baseball bat (or more likely wiffleball, considering his age and size) and a brown bird. The bird is something from the concept art, not the movie, and its paint makes it look more like an Easter chocolate than an actual animal. There's no way it can sit on Rocksteady's shoulder, like the art would have it, but it could sit on his forearm or head if you balance it carefully. (There's no way to actually attach it to him anywhere.) Like we said, all the evil mutants had baby versions in the film. They were designed by Woodrow White, and all that work might have gone to waste if not for Playmates deciding to try something fun. Here's hoping we get the rest of the gang. -- 08/22/24