Review: Ninja Turtles 2014 movie figures

Once upon a time in the late 80s/early 90s Playmates made a load of Turtles toys, most of which never reached the shores of the UK. The situation was repeated during the early 00s. These days (the early 10s for those reading in the future) it's not quite so bad and, as far as I know, we're getting most things in a reasonably timely fashion, including the 2014 movie toys which arrived over the summer.

Of course, the movie itself won't be out here until later this month. It was out ages and ages ago everywhere else in the world but we're having to wait. I presume this is so that we'll have forgotten about all the bad reviews it received elsewhere.

As such, during this review I'll be able to tell you absolutely nothing about how these toys relate to their counterparts on the big screen. Instead, I'll talk simply about the toys themselves.

Due to the Argos '3 for 2' offer, I currently only have three of the characters: Michelangelo, Raphael & Donatello. Leo was left out as I noticed they have the 'evolution' 3 pack in Smyths.

They definitely don't look like any turtles that have gone before. The nostrils...well, I can live with them. The hunchbacks are my main problem. I just don't see how they can do martial arts with such awkward physiology.

All the turtles have very different sizes and shapes. Michelangelo is the shortest, Donatello is very lean and Raphael much bulkier. They're all semi-clothed, with hoodies and other bits tied around their waists. This doesn't cause too much of an articulation problem and they can all be put in sitting poses...of a sort. The arms are more free to move around, though Donatello's right arm does rub against the shell.

The turtles retain the pupil-less eyes of almost all the previous turtles figures. One big annoyance is that they didn't bother to paint Mikey's front shell below his chin, which looks, quite frankly, rubbish. There's also none on the back of Don's legs where the bindings are. As (almost - the Classics figures aside) always with Playmates figures, the weapons have nothing in the way of paint. They are in a fairly appropriate colour of plastic, however.

I do like these figures, and so do my boys. I especially like that they're under £10 (just!) when these days you're lucky to get much shorter figures for that price. Now I just have to wait and see if the film is as bad as I've heard...