First off, Merry Christmas to all our Christmas celebrating people out there! We’ve scheduled this in advance to give everyone a Christmas day treat, and maybe some ideas on what to go looking for with all that gift money. :)
Today we have a real treat, something I’ve personally been waiting for since I first saw them back at Toy Fair 2014 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates! These are done up with the same fun, articulation, and attention to detail that Minimates mimifigs are known for. They are currently out in 3 forms – blind bags with a keychain at K-Mart, 2 packs with a keychain at Toys R Us, and blind bags without a keychain at comic shops. We’ve got the comic shop variety today.
Generally they are all the same, as the keychains can be removed, but each distribution point has it’s own exclusive. K-Mart has a clear Mutagen Michelangelo and the Kraang figure. Toys R Us has the clear Mutagen Leonardo. And comic shops have a clear Mutagen Raphael. No word yet on Mutagen Donatello, but I’m sure he’s coming in Series 2.
We’ve done up over 100 images of these little guys in action, check out our gallery and thoughts after the break!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates Series 1
Pros
Great likeness to the Nick show (for a minifig)
Weapons are accurate and able to be holstered
Case distribution makes sense
All come with stands, Turtle ones are manhole covers
Cons
Blind bags
Blind bags
Blind bags
Blind bags
Blind bags
Blind bags
Blind bags
Blind bags
Overall
I. Hate. Blind bags. Now, I got a case, so who’s complaining right? Well, after getting most of wave 1, I went to K-Mart and tried to feel out for a Kraang or Mutagen Michelangelo. The strip it was on was already half empty, and I really couldn’t tell wtf I was feeling for, so I gave up. If I had to build out the wave one by one like that, would not do it. And probably would not pay a mark up for a complete open set either. So, that whole situation sucks. NOW – TRU has them in 2 packs on a bubble card and that’s awesome. But if you want to be complete you have to play that blind bag or eBay game. So boo.
Aside from all that – the wave is awesome. The Turtles are dead on with their individual green tones and goofy faces. Their weapons are there and functional. Tiny details like Mikey’s freckles and Raphael’s cracked shell is there. The turtle’s stands are standard Minimates stands, but painted to be a manhole cover, which was a nice touch. The Foot Soldiers come in 2 varieties, standard and Footbots. The Footbots come with extra arms which attach to the back via a waist ball joint piece, and all 4 arms have different weapons, G.I. Joe BAT style. They also come packed with standard fists, so you could remove all that and have a standard Foot Soldier instead. It will be slightly different tho, as the regular Foot Soldier has a waist mounted sheath, knife and sickle. Rounding out the wave is Shredder and April. Both are well done, standard figures. Shredder’s face under the removable helmet is well done, showing his scaring.
Overall, these are really well done, and are a welcome addition to my growing Turtle shelf space. They tuck in nicely with the larger Nick Playmates, Classics and Revoltech figures. Grab em if you can. Make a statement and get them from TRU, maybe they’ll drop that blind bag mess.
Case breakdown:
Leonardo x 2
Michelangelo x 2
Donatello x 2
Raphael x 2
Mutagen Raphael x 1
Foot Soldier x 3
Footbot x 2
Shredder x 2
April O’Neil x 2
Check out all our images below (100 of them), and make sure to check the last 10 or so for some surprise guests in the big battle!
Disclaimer: Diamond Select Toys provided these figures for review purposes.
CompaniesDiamond Select Toys
CharactersLeonardoRaphaelMichelangeloDonatelloShredderFoot SoldierApril O'Neil
Scale2 Inch
Sub-LineTMNT Minimates