Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dogpound

On my way out of Orlando on Saturday I stopped at a ToysRUs where I found a new toy from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series (Amazon.com search*), Dogpound! I searched the pegs for a Metalhead, but the only new figure in the store was this guy. And he was just too massive and cool for me to leave him behind. And even though he has the reduced articulation we’ve seen in the non-Turtles figures in the new series he’s a great design and a lot of fun.

Too Big for the Package

The first thing that makes Dogpound stand out on the shelves is just how massive he is; if you look at the above pics you can see that the toy barely fits inside the package. And this is even more obvious when you get him open since his hunchbacked fur piece and tail are separate items that must be snapped into place. And it’s not the height that gives this guy his bulk — he’s about the same height as the taller Turtles — but it’s his width and depth that makes him feel so big.

And big he is, as wide as he is tall and so hefty that Playmates was forced to make his legs hollow. The hollow legs don’t seem to affect his balance, though, so I’ve got no complaints with this cost-savings approach to toy design. You can’t even tell the legs are hollow until you pick the figure up and look underneath so this is a non-issue for me. Others, I know, may be bothered by his hollow legs.

Sculpt

A mutated and massive dog/man, Dogpound continues the excellent sculpting work that we’ve seen in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure series (Amazon.com search*). The claws, back fur, and big, toothy mouth are my favorite parts of the toy sculpt, but overall the design is fun and fantastic. No complaints at all with his sculpt.

Articulation

Why the non-Turtles get reduced articulation is something I’ll never understand, and Dogpound continues the practice. Running through each piece of the toy we find:

• Head – Swivels at the neck, but since the neck attaches horizontally to the chest the toy cannot look left or right.
  
• Torso – A swivel waist. Unfortunately, the tail wants to fall out every time that I grab the waist and twist so posing the toy also involves re-attaching the tail.
  
• Arms – Swivel-hinge shoulders and swivels at the elbows. The inability to bend the arms at the elbows is annoying, but realistically this guy is so meaty that hinged elbows likely would have negatively impacted the look of the arms.
  
• Legs – The same type of swivel-hinge joint that we get at the shoulders appears at the hips. And with the legs hollow there was no way to add any other articulation to the legs.

This guy’s not gonna win any posing competitions, but he’s got enough joints that kids should find him fun. I think the heft of the toy adds a lot to the fun value and offsets the limited articulation. (And, realistically, all we should care about is how fun a toy is, so Dogpound is doing just fine.)

Paint

And now we get to Dogpound’s weakest point, his paint apps. The airbrush work on the fur is neat, but the detail work is kinda sloppy in spots and the toy really needed a dark wash to help bring out the details of the sculpted fur. And the snap-on back fur and tail look especially bare without any paint; I suspect this guy already cost Playmates a lot more than any other figure in series — even with the hollow legs there’s a lot of plastic in this thing — but a dark wash would have done wonders for the toy and made it really spectacular. Maybe I should take a shot at giving it a wash with a dark brown just to help out what’s already a fun toy.

Closing Thoughts

The instant I spotted Dogpound in ToysRUs I got all excited about finding Metalhead, and while I’m sad that the robotic Turtle wasn’t there I’m happy that I went ahead and grabbed Dogpound. Playmates really has done a fabulous job with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure series (Amazon.com search*) and this toy just helps demonstrate that the designers behind the line are loving their work. A very good addition to what’s turning into my choice for best new action figure series of 2012.

For more on the series don’t miss my earlier reviews:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Raphael
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Night Shadow Leonardo
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shellraiser
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Michelangelo
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Donatello

Philip Reed is starting to think about that sewer playset . . . but where would he put it?