Here’s a particularly creative way to encourage kids to “collect them all” in a figure wave — sell the figures with mixed-up pieces! From the upcoming Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series coming to Paramount+, the new Playmates action figures include Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Metalhead, Mechazoid, and Bishop in mech. Or rather the figures as sold in stores include pieces of each, assembled into a Frankenteined (Stockman’d?) creation.
Break Them Up, Break Them Down
Here’s the parts breakdown:
● Leonardo includes Metalhead’s head, Splinter’s right arm, and Leo’s weapons
● Donatello includes Metalhead’s head, Mechazoid’s left arm, and Donnie’s weapons
● Michelangelo includes Mechazoid’s head, Bishop’s right arm, and Mikey’s weapons
● Raphael includes Splinter’s head, Metalhead’s left leg, and Raph’s weapons
● Splinter includes Leo’s head, Raph’s right arm, and Splinter’s weapons
● Bishop in Mech includes Raph’s left arm, Donnie’s right leg, and Bishop’s weapons
● Mechazoid includes Donnie’s head, Mikey’s left arm, and Mechazoid’s weapons
● Metalhead includes Raph’s head, Leo’s left arm, and Metalhead’s weapons
The designs look like those from the Mutant Mayhem movie for the Turtles and Splinter, with new characters in that same art style. With the pull-apart feature, they have less articulation than the movie figures, but they remain an allowance-friendly $9.99 apiece. As for the show, all the press release for the toys will reveal is that, “a fearsome new foe emerges in New York City.” Possibly robot related, if the character selection is any clue. Shredder will presumably be held for the movie sequel.
When all eight figures are fully collected and put together, they make these base figures:
In stores, however, they’ll look more like this:
That’s one way for kids and collectors with actual prosthetic limbs to make the heroes look more like them. Even if mixing and matching characters isn’t somebody’s thing, making some characters more representative might be. Expect to see these mixable, matchable mutants in stores around August.
