Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Metalhead

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series (Amazon.com search*) continues to be fun, and after a bit of hunting through stores I finally managed to find Metalhead, the robotic turtle. And while he’s not as articulated as the four turtles, Metalhead has enough points of articulation to make a fun little robot action figure.

Sensational Sculpt

Playmates really put some work into the entire line and Metalhead is one of the better sculpts in the series so far. A manhole cover for the shell, wires across the belly — kinda like a turtletastic C-3PO — and a flat robot head are just some of the cool details. Oh, and I almost forgot those skull-like kneepads. Basically, the sculpt’s top notch and I can’t see how kids won’t love a robotic turtle action figure.

Adequate Paint

I know Playmates has targeted the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series (Amazon.com search*) at kids, but I do wish they could find a way to spend just a little more on the paint. Metalhead’s only real weakness (we’ll get to the articulation, which I personally don’t see as a weakness) is his paint, with the worst mistake (in my opinion) being the mask which is painted on the front but not the sides.

Other than the missing paint apps on the mask the other painted details are decent. The gray plastic has the same toy-like feel as the other action figures in the line, and the paint covered the plastic a lot better than I expected it to. That yellow’s some pretty good stuff. The paint edges are a bit fuzzy; click any of the photos for a closer look.

Articulation

So Metalhead has a ball-jointed neck, swivel shoulders and wrists, swivel-hinge hips, hinge knees, and swivels just below the knees. A swivel waist would have been nice, and I know some people have complained about the lack of hinged elbows, but as a robot I can accept the jerky movement and I still say this is enough articulation for kids.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about action figures and kids and I’ve gotta say that both the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series (Amazon.com search*) and the Power Attack Batman (Amazon.com search*) are fantastic toys for kids. I know older collectors complain about the articulation, but if we look at these for toys I think we can agree that there’s enough articulation in both lines to be fun.

Blast Effect

Metalhead comes with a single accessory that slots into a socket in his right hand. The red blast effect is pretty simple and my only complaint with it is that it’s not spring-loaded; the missile-like accessory just slides into the socket and looks neat. I’m torn on whether or not this was a good accessory; for me it’s not all that great, but I suspect that it was a cheap enough addition not to really impact the rest of the design much. (Though the money spent on the accessory would have been better spent on the paint.)

Closing Thoughts

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series (Amazon.com search*) is fast becoming my top series of 2012 and Metalhead elevates the rest of the line. This would make a great Christmas gift this year, or you can rush out right now and hunt for one if you like the way he looks. This one’s recommended if you’re able to get past the weak paint and toy-like quality of the action figure.

Philip Reed looked at the sewer playset at TRU yesterday and is wondering just where he would display something that big.