LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2013
 

LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

UPDATE:
Press Release and new images added.

Cool idea, not sure I'm sold on the execution yet. Need to see the mini figures in better pics.

EDIT:
Speak of the devil. Updating the above story with press release a full image gallery.

Ok, a bunch of new pics and press release added. And now I'm sold. The Turtles all look awesome.

Must resist....need money for Masterpiece...and Generations.... toys....gahhhh!

*Sigh.* The only time my wallet has ever seen money is the day I bought it.

Aww hell, there goes all my money again... Minifigures look fantastic, gonna wait to see how the other sets look 'cus that van's a little derpy looking.

I have never wanted a shredder more...and I wanted new shoes as well

Overpriced is one thing, but that's absolutely ridiculous...I am liking the look of everything, but I can't honestly say that the Shellraiser set is worth sixty bucks. I'll definitely be getting at least one of the cheaper sets. The minifigures are too good to pass-up. Most especially Splinter, Shredder, and the Kraang. Who knows, maybe the Shellraiser set will win me over in the end. Dogpound is pretty cool.

I look forward to seeing the other sets they have in the works, and hope this series lasts quite a while.

Edit: While it's cool to see Master Splinter with a sword, I'm kinda hoping they pack-in a translucent green staff for him too.

Wondering if the battle damaged Krang is also a NYCC exclusive, looks like the "stealth" turtle with board is

I hope they do a Shredder Hero Factory-style set like they did with Marvel and DC. That way I can have Super-Shredder and re-enact the ending of "Secret of the Ooze".

and put the armour on a Kevin Nash figure?

I always said I would reserve my excitement until I saw them... now I've seen them and I'm so glad Lego didn't halfass them like I was afraid they would!

For those who don't like the looks of the shellraiser, don't forget these are legos and they don't *have* to be the "suggested" set option. ;P
The shellraiser looks like it can be reworked into the Turtlevan.

Well this is an easy pass. Can't believe I was ever excited for these.

Neat idea, but I've long grown weary of the lego minifigs.

I wish there was a way to combine the best of all building block sets.
Megablock has kickass minifigs, and Kreons are addictive as all hell too.
But lego does more often than not have the better building sets. They just tend to have the crappier minifigs that only have that iconic/nostalgic push from being the same for over 20 years now.

Might just be me, but I like the megablocks spartans/marvel poseability and the Kreon cuteness over the lego minifigs.

I can't say I know anything about Megablock minifigs, but I think given the fact Hasbro launched Kreo with TFs, the kreons are likely the most adaptible of all.
However, Lego has so many decades behind them, they have the most customizable accessories for their minifigures.
Waspinator is, to date, the only kreon I have. And it's so close to being a great, but Kreo's lack of intuitive accessories totally botches it.

Anyway... Lego minifigures are great for simple humans like Harry Potter, Indianna Jones, and Luke Skywalker. But they sometimes tend to halfass other things, and I could have easily seen the turtles ending up being halfassed with only painted details (instead of having a removable shell and new heads), like the Kraang. For that reason, I'd wanted to see Kreo get the lisence originally. I'd thought Kreos would have likely been more willing to alter their "iconic base figure."

All that said, I think that the UK's Character Builder has the best minifigures. Anyone who;s never heard of them, google Character Builder Doctor Who.
There's actual sculpting going on.

The Who ones are neat, though really I only want a building set tardis and Daleks. I have the Galvatron Kreon, so I'm pretty happy about Kreons.
The thing I love about Kreons and Megablocks though, they have ball jointed legs and arms. So wider poseability.

Megablock in particular goes all out though. Most of my minifigs from them have elbows, knees, balljointed heads, waist swivel, and the ball jointed legs and arms. So it's almost like having a mini MU figure really. That's what I'm tired of with lego, especially on the turtles. Turtles need those sculpted details and poseability. They're turtle ninjas! I'll give em credit for cutifying it, but eh, hasbro has proven you can cutify and still give poseability.

Limbs that only go one direction is just boring to me. Especially now that I'm hooked on the sculpted detail of megablocks or the detailed accessories that came with Galvatron.

I've heard that the CB sets suck as badly as Megablocks. But I'm about to get a few of them, so I'll know first hand. (Getting all the troopbuilders, the Tardis set, the Dalek ship, and a UK friend is giving me the Tardis Consol megaset. The few minifigs I have look absolutely smashing with the TF Animated toys. About perfect scale, too)

I don't disagree that Lego's minifigs are outdated. But I don't think articulation is a make or break deal on figures this small. Adaptability is, though. Kreo doesn't have enough pieces to make the kreons as adaptable as their lego counterparts. Give them five or ten years and they may be, but I think many of them, like the microchangers are more ambitious than the pieces they have available will allow... especially when hasbro won't cast parts nessisary for them.
It would not have taken anything to make Waspinator one of the most awesome versions of Waspy ever, yet they got cheep, stuck an out of place jazz helmet on him which covers the cool painted Wasp face, instead of making a new bracket that attached to his neck peg for his wings to mount, they stuck a vest over him which covers the neat painted wasp chest. And instead of casting a new piece to attach to his waist for his wasp abdomen, they toss it aside. Looking at the others in that set, they're all equally dissapointing to me. (Though I think the "transformation" gimmick is weak to start with and shouldn't be bothered with, on the minifigure scale)
To me, they just all feel halfassed.
Kreons have a lot of potential, but they have a long way to go. So, articulation aside, as of now they're no better or worse to me than Lego minifigures. Unnessisary articulation doesn't impress me nearly as much on the kreons, as the forthought to put peg holes in their legs, and make their arms capable of having accessories clipped to them.

To me, TMNT figures that are block based, and barily more than an inch tall don't need elbows or knees. They need swappable animal parts. Like I've said before, so you can "mutate" April into a cat, or Shredder into a wolf, or give Splinter a turtle shell.
What I was afraid of, as I stated earlier was that Lego was going to cop out, and just paint on these details, like shells. They didn't go as far as I'd like, but they went as far as they needed to to get my interest, at least.
But, all that said, I still wish Kreo had gotten TMNT over lego.

But, I'm hoping Kreons will reach their potential, soon. I think Kre-O as a whole is the one that has what it takes to leave the "not lego" catagory, and become true compitition for Lego USA. They need to get away from relying on namebrand lisenced franchises to do it though, and create their own "generic" themes.

The mini figures look legit. The sets are waaaayy to expensive IMO.