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The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie was decent, but the toys... well, the toys are Playmates, so you know there's going to be a certain level of quality. And that level isn't as high as we expect, which is why we haven't bothered reviewing any of the toys. But this set couldn't be ignored.
Party with the Turtles! When the Turtles hear that April's classmate has intel on Superfly, they swap out their ninja gear to go stealth mode at a costume party. Get ready for some shell-shocking news, dudes!
Yes, this four-pack features all the boys in alternate costumes. And all those costumes are references to the 1990s Playmates line, and its many variations. Like a sports team wearing throwback jerseys!
Cowabunga, dude!
Beach Bum Mikey is an update of "Beachcombin' Mike," from 1992's "Sewer Spitting Turtles" subline. They all had a water-squirtin feature (thus the theme), but that has thankfully not been carried forward here. He's wearing a pink Hawaiian shirt with yellow flowers on it, and yellow Bermuda shorts. His shell is sculpted like the shorts go under it, but it's the same yellow they are, rather than being brown. Gotta love those Playmates paint apps! At least they painted his sandals this time, which is more than they could be bothered to do 30 years ago. The camera hanging around his shoulder is a separate piece now, but his lei is still simply sculpted. He's wearing a straw hat, and sunglasses that look like regular glasses because they don't have any lenses.
Any water-shooting toy needs a reservoir,
and for Beachcombin' Mike that was the guitar slung on his back; without the play feature, this time the guitar is free to be its own loose accessory. It's just molded in orange and not given any paint apps of its own. It's difficult but not impossible for him to hold it, but it also has a loop on the back so you can hang it on his camera strap, really referencing the old look.
This sewer ain't big enough for the both of us!
Cowboy Leo is the only one in this set who doesn't get his own old suit. He's instead an update of another 1992 figure, the "Wacky Wild West Turtles"' Crazy Cowboy Don. Oh, really, Playmates? You didn't want to go with Chief Leo in his indian headdress? I wonder why? Other than the Turtle inside it wearing a blue mask instead of purple, it is a very direct update: black boots with silver toes (but no paint on the spurs? come on, guys), pale blue jeans, tan chaps with red patterns on the upper legs, a giant silver belt buckle, black vest with sculpted pattern on the back and a silver sheriff's badge on the front, a red bandana around the neck, and a tan cowboy hat. It's all nice, but he had to raid Donnie's closet to get it.
His accessories include two pistols and a rifle. All three guns are blue (because Leonardo) with red tips (because safety). His hands aren't shaped to hold any of them, unless you want him to be pistol-whipping somebody. You can fit the pistols into the holsters on his belt, but his body's so wide, they'll get bent if you leave them in there.
One giant leap for mutantkind.
We go back to 1990's "Disguised Turtles" for one of the earliest alternate costumes there is, "Raph, the Space Cadet," aka "Rahpael in a spacesuit." This is about as direct an update as a direct update can be: pale gray suit, silver boots, red pads, black gaskets on the shoulders. They even still did the stuff on his chest as a sticker instead of sculpting or painting it! The biggest change is that the fingers on his gloves are a slightly different color than the rest of the suit, like a real one would have. A yellow tube runs from his chest to the silverair tanks on his back, and just like back in 1990, a blue harness holds those tanks on, and a green octopus alien clings to his back.
The accessories are precisely the same as the original: a detatchable helmet, a Satellite-slicin' Space Sword, and a Lucky Laser Luger. The two weapons are a darker silver plastic, this time, but the same shapes: the sword is surprisingly technological, for somthing that really only needed to be "piece of metal that's kind of sharp on one side," with layered panels and a row of serrations on the top. Or, well, what we declare to be the top. Like most sci-fi guns, this one looks like a real enough gun that has a bunch of other stuff added on.
Live long and prosper.
Now that's some high quality vertical integration! In 1994, when Playmates did the Star Trek Turtles, TMNT was still owned by Mirage; now they're owned by Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Paramount, who also own Star Trek. Despite all four toys back then clearly being based on specific Trek characters, they were only given rank names: that's why he was "First Officer Donatello," not "Donnie as Spock" like we get today. He had the haircut, the pointed ears, the Vulcan salute hand... but not the name. Weird. The back of this figure is sculpted like shell, not like shirt, but gets the same light blue as the rest of the uniform. He's wearing his glasses over his mask, but since they're black and it's dark purple, they tend to get lost, visually.
Donnie has a tricorder pouch slung over his shoulder,
and is armed with a nicely detailed phaser that he can hold in his left hand. Only his left, because his right hand is open. Yes, obviously that's supposed to be the Vulcan salute gesture, but it doesn't really mean much when the hand doing it only has two fingers to begin with. He could be waving, or just letting his hand hang relaxed. It's all about context.
All the boys have the same articulation: swivel ankles, swivel/hinge knees, swivel/hinge hips, swivel wrists, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a balljointed head. The hips are the sort that go up into the body instead of sideways into the pelvis, which are seldom great from any company and certainly no better here. Good luck ever getting therir feet flat on the ground! Also, it can be tough to tell which direction the elbows are facing. Paint is above average for a Playmates product, but still not as good as you'd want it to be.
This set is a Walmart exclusive, and while nothing like it happened in the movie, you could totally see it being a thing. The Turtles in Disguise Party Pack is a cute homage to the elder days of the line, and these four bros would make fun counterparts to their vintage ancestors.
-- 10/05/23
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