SH Figuarts Turtle figures

[Gloworm]

They look fine for what they are.... That said, for the love of jeebus, someone please make a fully articulated Master Splinter I can pose in the lotus position... Getting tired of countless reiterations of the 4 turtles and Splinter gets forgotten...

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Gloworm

They look fine for what they are.... That said, for the love of jeebus, someone please make a fully articulated Master Splinter I can pose in the lotus position... Getting tired of countless reiterations of the 4 turtles and Splinter gets forgotten...

Yes, we definitely need a Splinter figure!

[Powder]

Originally Posted by EddieNES

What is this "Toon Accurate" unicorn everyone is talking about?

They based the figures on stock art, not the style of the Fred Wolf series.

They look like this:


But they're supposed to look like this:


Which is to say with darker skin, an olive/brown colored carapace, farther apart/circular eyes, a chocolate colored belt with grey buckle, a stockier build, no rim around the plastron, & pads that don't have the comic/film inspired "ribbed" look.

[raph27]

These look really good. I'll have to see the price before I make a decision.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by Powder

They based the figures on stock art, not the style of the Fred Wolf series.

They look like this:
http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/ima...ja-turtles.jpg

But they're supposed to look like this:
http://i62.tinypic.com/b8a3ia.jpg

Which is to say with darker skin, an olive/brown colored carapace, farther apart/circular eyes, a chocolate colored belt with grey buckle, a stockier build, no rim around the plastron, & pads that don't have the comic/film inspired "ribbed" look.

^Would be nice right?^

[theassassin]

Well these are pretty good, but yet again I'm left disappointed, as they could be better.

-Belt buckles need to be silver/grey toned, like they are in the cartoon.
-Shells should be brown, not green, like they are in the cartoon.
-Face sculpts are very mediocre and seem generic. We need 4 unique facesculpts based on their cartoon personalities, basing them off poor-quality artwork and reusing the same face is not good enough.

It's things like this that just make me facepalm. They're clearly supposed to be cartoon based, so WHY NOT DO YOUR RESEARCH PROPERLY AND GET THEM RIGHT??!! Why are all these companies so lazy and incompetant, it's not that hard to put a DVD of the show on or even find a clip on youtube, rather than just googling "TMNT cartoon" and using the first random image you find, which is what I assume they've done.

So hoping they improve these issues (though they probably won't) and of course we need a properly scaled Shredder, Splinter, April, Bebop, Rocksteady, Foot Soldier, etc as well. And FFS KEEP THE STYLE CONSISTANT. Don't want to see them getting cocky like Playmates and First Gokin and thinking because their first figures sold well they can start "stylizing" the next ones and putting in their own random quirky ideas in there - STICK TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL!!

[Miles]

The idea is exciting, but yeah - I'm not really loving the execution. They look like Hallmark ornaments, and I'd rather have my turtles out of the actual cartoon if I'm going the Fred Wolf route. I also don't expect them to push the line past the four turtles; which is crazy because why would you want a bunch of poseable turtles if there aren't any other characters for them to interact with? It's like they're destined to become cubicle decorations for that 'funny guy down the hall.'

[grungethemovie]

Originally Posted by Powder

They based the figures on stock art, not the style of the Fred Wolf series.

They look like this:
http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/ima...ja-turtles.jpg

But they're supposed to look like this:
http://i62.tinypic.com/b8a3ia.jpg

Which is to say with darker skin, an olive/brown colored carapace, farther apart/circular eyes, a chocolate colored belt with grey buckle, a stockier build, no rim around the plastron, & pads that don't have the comic/film inspired "ribbed" look.

i came here just to quote powder

[psychturtle]

Powder stated it perfectly.

[sdp]

Wow, what a surprise announcement, I'm definitely getting Mikey. I won't get all 4 of them because there's some small flaws about them but the biggest reason is I don't have the space not to mention the price doesn't help. I think a "one of each incarnation" rule that I plan to follow is good until I find the perfect set of turtles that i'm sure will eventually come out.

There's definitely something off about the turtles, I can't quite put my finger on it. I love figuarts and can vouch for their quality, I started collecting SHFiguarts when they only made Kamen Rider figures, now they make just about everything. I'm thinking they will have different headsculpts, this might've been rushed to make it on time for NYCC, I think the final package would include various headsculpts for each turtle. I'm also hoping that Mikey's nunchucks are eventually metal. But yeah in general the turtles are funny looking and I don't know why. With that said they totally blow away Playmates terrible attempt. I hope they scale nicely with the Figuarts, I'm guessing they'll be a bit taller but in general SHFs are usually smaller than other 6" lines not to mention they do follow scale.

[theassassin]

Man I wish someone passionate and knowledgeable could one day be put in charge of making some TMNT "cartoon accurate" figures, so that they would do their research properly and care about making them ACTUALLY cartoon accurate. Seriously it is like they're just using vague memories or a random google image, and thinking that is sufficient research. Then when people complain, they're just like "lol, nerds... what's for lunch?".

And part of the problem is a lot of people who buy these are casual fans who WON'T NOTICE the inaccuracies, and will think they're great. Because they're basing their judgement off of vague memories and will just assume professional companies would do their jobs properly. So the company gets praise and profit that they don't deserve, and the people who are passionate and knowledgeable enough to notice the errors and spend time providing constructive criticism to help the companies improve the figures will be most likely ignored and/or mocked.

And of course then we come to the more laid-back "fans" online who will attack the criticisms and defend the company, saying things like they never promised they'd be 100% accurate (as though these errors were a creative choice - yeh right!), or saying people have no life if they care about the small details (no matter how amazing someone's life is it doesn't make these errors any less wrong!), or saying we should be greatful they are making anything (yeh because these companies are making them for charity?). But the simple truth is "fans" like that would be happy with almost anything.

Anyway I'm rambling, but the point I'm trying to make is that the TMNT cartoon was such a loved property, and the companies who are lucky enough to license products should show more respect to the franchise and take more responsibility in their research, or else they don't deserve to work on these things. Don't get me wrong, these Figuarts Turtles are probably the most cartoon-accurate figures we've seen so far. But due to these careless errors, they're gonna wind up just being "good" when with a few tweaks they could have been "great"! It's so frustrating...

[sdp]

What's the big difference between the "retro" look and how they actually looked? As an OT fan, I've only ever noticed the differences on this forum when users post comparison shots. The differences are fairly small and there are no big deal breakers. I mean the differences between the "Retro" art and the in show turtles is small when compared to say the differences of the in show OT turtles when compared to the OT opening/intro turtles or the Red Sky episode turtles, now there I can see the difference without any comparison shots.

This isn't like the Playmates classic line, I remember when it was announced I was so hyped but all that died down when we actually saw pictures, it was this vintage toys/OT hybrids and it didn't work since they were neither and failed at appealing to either design. I remember here in the forum they were still getting praised it wasn't until somewhat recent that the general consensus is that they suck.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by sdp

...the OT opening/intro turtles...

What I wouldn't pay for an accurate version of those.

[sdp]

Opening turtles or updated vintage turtles would be the perfect turtle toys for me to own. The Mondo turtles came close but they were too big.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by sdp

Opening turtles or updated vintage turtles would be the perfect turtle toys for me to own. The Mondo turtles came close but they were too big.

Mondo has the proportions wrong - but once you get into 1/6th -1/12th leaves you feeling cold.

[Splinter]

Some info that was posted over on The Fwoosh about the line....

Russ over at Gundam Planet just got to interview Bluefin and gosh darn:

Turtles will be web exclusives in Japan as they are aimed at the american market. The 80's cartoon is THE most popular version of the character in either market though so it's beneficial to both parties. Plan is to construct them with diecast parts. They're currently exploring what other characters from that series to make in this line, taking suggestions.

[sdp]

It's worth noting that the American market kept the DBZ line alive not to mention the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers figuarts only came out for that reason. It's not out of the question. I'd love some accurate Henson turtles but I'm guessing they'd do other villains? Not sure I want anyone else from the OT, 5 years ago I would've been all over the news but my newfound lack of space can't handle it anymore.

[Commenter 42]

It would be nice, at some point in time, to see an OT April and Shredder - Aside from the sweet job done by grungethemovie, I don't think it's ever been done.

[TheBlueTurtle1]

I think these look fantastic! The only thing that is off is the colour, besides that, these are the most toon acurate figures to date.

I will have to see price and how easy they are to get hold of here in the UK, but if all that is good, I may well splash out on a set.

[Candy Kappa]

I wonder if we'll get any extra accessories besides main weapons, extra hands and extra head. Turtle Communicator or some Shuriken would have been nice.

Personally I don't mind too much basing the figures from the Retro art, it's FW-ish enough. I'd be much more interested in a vintage figure update, like Mattel did with MOTUC. Taking the vintage figures and update them to the modern collector's standard, imagine if 4H had sculpted those.

Another thing I wish was done. I know being based off FW certain inaccuracies will happen, since FW, and let's be honest all TMNT incarnations had wildly inaccurate representation of martial arts, Shinobi ninjutsu, Japanese and okinawan weaponry. So I think it's a damn shame they kept the inaccuracies such as Leo's swords and Raph's Sai seems to be make to look like its a bladed weapon.

The one good thing about the Playmates Classics was that Raph actually. And with more proper looking Sai. And even if SH Figuarts Leo comes with curved blades (no such thing as a straight katana or "ninjato") the handles should have had room for two hands since a katana is a longsword and a Daisho is 1 katana and 1 wakishashi not 2 katana, only a idiot would dualwield two katana sword...