Buzzer x Rocksteady

Even the sidekicks get in on the fun. Buzzer was an extreme left-wing sociology don who visited the Technodrome to research the mutant gang phenomenon only to be mutated into the very object of his research. Years of intellectual deficiency cause chaotic anger, manifested in an intense desire to chain-claw apart Ninja Turtles with the other outlaws of mutant society. Specialty and M.O.*: A scavenger of the streets, Buzzer can cut through steel, wrought iron and any material (except Turtle shells) with his diamond-toothed chain claw rifle. *Mutant Operandi Buzzer being the smartest of the Dreadnoks doesn't really jibe with Rocksteady being the dumbest of Shredder's mutants, but the design does an impressive job of merging them. Like, obviously we have Rocksteady's full rhinoceros head, but he's wearing his army helmet so the goggles on it can be painted like Buzzer's trademark silver glasses. Neat! They even have a yellow ponytail sticking out the back. He's got that squat, blocky Rocksteady body, with grey rhino skin, but instead of a tank top, he's wearing a shirt with the sleeves torn off, a bandolier of ammo and grenades, and jeans with armor padding on the thighs. In case there's any question about his loyalties, he has a big Cobra logo scarred onto his left shoulder (though shouldn't it really be a Dreadnok symbol, instead?). The grey of the skin looks great next to the colors of the clothing. The dark khaki shirt, forest green bandolier, and pale blue jeans each stand out nicely. The armor he's got on over his pants is black, and painted with clean edges, though the crossbones behind the skull on his belt buckle need a little more silver to adequately stand out. But then again, considering this is a Playmates toy, it's already surprising they bothered to paint the individual bullets he's got strapped across his chest - even the ones in the back! The figure stands a little more than 4¾" tall, on par with the vintage '90s TMNT figures, but the articulation is far better. Buzzer Rocksteady has a balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders and elbows, swivel wrists, swivel/hinge hips, hinged knees, and swivel boots. Because of the size of his arms and the width of the torso, the arms stick out at an angle instead of hanging straight down. Also, doing the hips this way is kind of weird, but it makes sense when you see how big and square he is; nothing else would have worked right. The figure only gets two accessories, and they're both GI Joe-based rather than TMNT-based, because all the old Rocksteady came with was a knife and a rifle. Okay, giving this figure a belt with turtle shells hanging over his hips would have been kind of cool, admittedly. But instead, it's just the "chain claw rifle" and "serrated axe" - in other words, the chainsaw-on-a-gun from Generation 1, and circular-saw-blade-on-a-stick from Classified. The blending of these two properties is very smooth, with the combination of Buzzer and Rocksteady just looking like a proper character, rather than an awkward mashup. Nicely done! -- 08/14/26 How did we get to the Dreadnoks so fast? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.