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It seems pretty clear at this point that the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line is dead at retail. While it is
unfortunate to see any line end, with multiple collector focused lines from NECA, Super7 and others, I can't say that my
wallet has missed all the extra releases. But there have still been a few late releases for the line that still deserve
their day in the sun or under the microscope depending on your view point. So to start with, let's look at the Mutant XL
versions of the Rise of the TMNT figures.
Packaging - 5/10
The Rise of the TMNT Mutant XL figures come in fairly standard window box packaging with a decent size window on the front
showing off the figures. The packaging is the same basic design as the previous Mutant XL figures. But graphically, these
are just dull. They doin't really match the designs of the other figures and vehicles in the line. They look like they
should be housing a generic chocolate bunny for Easter, especially with a small price sticker in the top left corner of the
window. Even on the back of the boxes where they show all four of the figures, they are posed standing straight up holding
their weapons. But they still look stiff and not particularly fun to play with.
Sculpting - Raphael 4/10, Others 6/10
The sculpting on three of the Mutant XL figures is decent, though fairly basic for such large figures. They even did a decent
job of keeping the figures in scale. The issue comes with Raphael. Evidently the packaging design was going to be too small for
a properly scaled Raphael. So he had to be narrowed down. And it's a strange look. He looks like he is trying to fit through a
doorway that is too narrow so he is drawing in his shoulders and arms.
Paint - Raphael 4/10, Leonardo 2/10, others 3/10
the paint work for these figures is pretty minimal. In particular, Leo, Don and Mike have the areas for their skin markings sculpted, but
none of them are painted. They actually painted the plastron on their chest and the details there. But no skin was painted.
With Leonardo this means his belt goes from painted on the front, to unpainted and then back to being painted in the back. On the
positive side, there aren't any significant quality control issues. Raphael's bandage on his chest has a couple of small nicks in
the paint, but that is the worst issue out of the four.
Articulation - 3/10
Each of the Mutant XL figures has just seven joints. And all of them are simple rotating joints. Each figure has rotating neck, shoulders,
wrists and hips. Seven points of articulation hasn't been all that impressive since the 80's. And then to make things worse, they gave all four
Turtles "V" cut hips. This renders the hip joints basically worthless as the only useful postion they can take is standing straight up.
Accessories - Raphael 5/10, others 4/10
Each of the three smaller brothers come with a single weapon. They are surprisingly well sculpted. But they also lack any paint which
could have really helped alot. Raphael does at least benefit from having a pair of tonfas instead of just one. But they are still unpainted.
Value - 6/10
The Mutant XL figures are an interesting piece of the Ninja Turtles toy line. Mainly that is because they don't fit in the TMNT toy line. There
are already better, slightly larger large scale Turtles in the form of the Giant figures. And the line has never gone far enough to even provide
a single enemy figure for the Turtles to face off against. So have have to wonder who the audience is for these? I would have to assume it kids who
are already getting figures from other licenses in this same style. But that seems like a very small niche. (Or do those Marvel Titan Heroes figures
really sell that well?) But if these are of interest to you, the good news is that they didn't carry a hefty price tag at just $10 each.
Happy Hunting:
The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant XL figures were released last year during the holiday season. I don't believe they are technically
exclusives, but the only store I know of that carried them was Walgreens. Of course, by this time they seem to have disappeared from regular retail
shelves. But there is a healthy supply still available on the secondary market as of the writing of this review. So they may still be circulating at
closeout and liquidation stores.
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