[AlanThCollector]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearjew

That Mondo Gecko is awful imho. However it makes me realize just what fuels peoples collecting and I am afraid this is where NECA or Super 7 may start losing customers and support for these lines that they need to continue. I know scalper and resale value alone will probably keep the lines alive but I don't like Gecko, I didn't like Leatherhead either. Upon my further research though they are cartoon accurate. I like Playmates accurate so I think I will lean toward Super 7. People who prefer cartoon accurate may lean toward NECA. I HAVE TO BE HONEST THOUGH BOTH OF THE APRIL VERSIONS LOOK PRETTY BAD.

To be fair Super 7’s updated April rendition is based off her look for the original playmates toy line NOT the cartoon. Plus Super 7 is offering an alternate head that will likely be more appealing to appease everyone who doesn’t like what this line is aiming for. Now if you still don’t like it that’s one thing, but it has nothing to do with Super 7 ability to sculpt a decent looking head.

NECA’s version on the other hand either suffers from licensor approval issues or tooling errors that caused the final product to be way off model from the original prototype and they were likely too far into production to change it. April’s head really doesn’t bother me much, but if had to pick I’d say Super 7’s attempt is superior only because they nailed precisely what they are going for like it or not.

The only thing aesthetically I don’t like about NECA’s entire cartoon TMNT line is the two-tone paint job which I think especially in the case of Mondo Gecko or Leatherhead really throws off their look. In the cartoon the characters were drawn with two-tones in order to simulate shadow, lighting and depth. NECA’s paint job only makes sense with simple poses and is easily broken up with anything dynamic. In my opinion it comes across even worse on the toy because in the real world there is real light which casts shadows on objects so the two-tone look from a practical point of view will never make sense. That and the fact that Mondo Gecko’s secondary that really clashes with the figure.

I also don’t like the bold black sketch lines as that gives their figures a more comic aesthetic, but I’d take that any day if NECA would just ditch the two-tone look.