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It's Christmas time, and Jakk's Pacific is back for the third year with their Colossal Ninja Turtles. I already reviewed the original, Colossal Michelangelo when he was released as well as last year's
follow up of Colossal Leo. But Jakk's isn't done with the giant Turtle
figure concept yet. This year Colossal Leonardo is back as well as an updated version of Colossal Michelangelo. I must admit, I was hoping
to see the line continue and see either Raph or Donatello get the Colossal figure treatment. But considering all the problems that the original
Colossal Michelangelo had, seeing him reissued with the improvements they made for Colossal Leo was a welcome sight as well. But since
this version is just the same figure as Colossal Leo with a different head and no shoulder strap, I'm not going to bother with a full review
and just give a quick run down of any changes.
Packaging - 6/10
They went back to having the figures feet planted in an open-top box again this year. I don't know that it really makes much of a difference.
But I prefer the boxes. They should help prevent scuffing of the figure's feet while they are on store sales floors. And they just give the
figures a more traditional, retail look. It's also worth noting that the boxes themselves are greatly improved over the original Colossal
Michelangelo. The new boxes actually have some graphics and a nice gloss finish. I can't really say that the addition of the boxes really
improves the figures. But I like them better.
Sculpting - 6/10
The new version of Colossal Michelangelo is the same figure as Colossal Leonardo, but with a different head and the shoulder strap removed.
That isn't much of an issue yet. But if the line expands to all four Turtles, I hope they make a few more cosmetic changes to make Donatello
taller and set the Turtles apart a bit more.
Paint - 6/10
The biggest change is that they managed to get their act together with the paint work on the wrappings this time. The paint work for the
wrappings on the fingers is clean and neat this time around. Of course, that is still the only paintwork on the four foot tall figure.
So the lack of detail work is going to be a turn off for collectors.
Articulation - 5/10
No changes here. The joints still seem nice and tight to hold a pose at least.
Accessories - 5/10
Like Colossal Leo and the first version of Mikey, this one comes with two nunchuks. And as with both of those figures, they are visually unimpressive
to put it gently. At least this time I did get two sets as I was suppose to. (Though Jakk's did send me the missing set for the first Colossal
Michelangelo that I bought. That was nice.) And to be fair, these came out much better than the originals. They seem to be the same mold. But
where as the 2014 version had a very cheap look and feel to them thanks to very thin plastic, excess flashing left along some of the seams and seams
that were splitting apart, this version's weapons at least feel like a product made by a major toy manufacturer. But if I'm ever going to display
Colossal Mikey with a weapon, it's going to be one of the many role playing weapons that Playmates has produced over the years.
Value - 6/10 (10/10 on sale)
The price tag for these figures hasn't changed much. They still sell for $100 when not on sale. But when they are on sale, WOW! Target was offering
them for half price on Black Friday. And when I combined that sale with the BOGO 50% on all TMNT toys, that brought the per figure cost down
to $37.50 each! And that wasn't even the best possible deal. In the days following Black Friday, many of the Target stores I saw reduced the price
even further. Dropping $100, even for a figure this large is a bit hard to justify. But when the price drops that low, the only thing that
should be holding you back from buying one is a lack of space.
Happy Hunting:
From what I have seen, Target seems to be the best and possibly the only option for Colossal Michelangelo ver. 2. Colossal Leo is
still listed online at Toys R Us, and I have seen a few of them still around at the local Toys R Us store. But I have only seen the new version
of Michelangelo at Target and on their web site. But based on the quantities I saw in stores around Black Friday and the fact that they didn't
seem to be selling very quickly, you may want to wait for another round of sale prices. Unless they have the option of sending unsold inventory
back to Jakks because every Target I have visited has more than a few of these to clear out of inventory at the end of the Christmas season right now.
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