Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Night Shadow Leonardo

After reviews of the excellent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo (review here) and Raphael (review here) action figures it’s time to take a look at the SDCC exclusive Night Shadow Leonardo*, a toy that is actually more statue than it is action figure. Maybe I should have posted this review before I posted my “Night Statue Leonardo” comic (posted here), but regardless of order I’m standing behind my question: Why did Playmates produce this statue-like toy instead of a repaint of the fun Leonardo action figure?

Packaging

Not as bright or as fun as the retail packaging being used for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line (Amazon.com search*), Night Shadow Leonardo comes in a fairly simple box that protects the statue but doesn’t do much to get us excited. But it works for an exclusive since most people buying this would do so regardless of the look of the box.

Sculpt

As with the turtles action figures the Night Shadow Leonardo* has a nice sculpt. I find it weird that the toes are unlike what we see on the retail turtles, but maybe this design is from an earlier stage of the new toy line and what we have here is an unrefined stage of the action figure design process. Still, it does look nice.

Paint

Night Shadow Leonardo* is painted to look as if he’s cloaked in the shadows, with large chunks of the statue decorated in black spots that are meant to represent shadows. But it makes it look like the toy has been swimming in tar; it’s still a neat look, but I get the feeling that to really make this paint design look great you need to find a way to display the piece so that it’s actually in deep shadows. Maybe on the far back section of a display shelf that doesn’t have its own lighting?

It’s a neat look. It’s just not at all for everyone.

Articulation

And by now everyone out there knows that this is a statue and not an action figure. I suspect some enterprising customizer will snap one of these apart and give it working joints, but as the Night Shadow Leonardo* toy is sold it has no articulation at all. I’ve seen some reviews mention that there’s a little movement, but if there is then mine is lacking any of it because every part is locked in place. The head almost feels like it could move, but I am pretty sure that attempting to move the toy would result in a broken chunk of plastic. This is clearly the big stumble in the line’s launch; this should have been an action figure and not a plastic statue.

Closing Thoughts

Night Shadow Leonardo* is one big mistake in what has otherwise been a (so far) fantastic launch for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line (Amazon.com search*). I like the look, and the included display stand is neat, but the lack of articulation makes me really wonder just what the planning meetings at Playmates must have been like to result in this as a convention exclusive.

This is a failure of a piece and no matter how much you’re loving the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures I say give this a pass. I’ll display it on the shelf, but if I ever find out that this thing is selling for big bucks on ebay I’ll happily dump it. I doubt that will ever happen, though, because it’s just too soft to be a good statue and too stationary to be a good action figure.

It’s a mistake of a product. And that is all.

Philip Reed is still love the rest of the line and will (hopefully) soon post a review of the awesome Shellraiser.