itsalltrue.net Presents: 2012 TMNT Shredder Review

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– Posted on September 27, 2012
Vault is the primary reviewer over at itsalltrue.net along with NoisyDvL5, and he’s provided The Daytime Ninja a great review for the 2012 TMNT Shredder!

 

Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line has quickly become one of my favorite modern toy lines.  It started out with just Leonardo.  After seeing how well designed his figure was, it didn’t take long for me to pick up the other turtles.  But what are heroes without their villains?  So Shredder and a couple of Foot Soldiers weren’t far behind on my buying list.

Shredder has had quite a few different designs over the years, and the Nick Turtles line is adding one more to the pile.  This is definitely one of the more beefy versions of his character, and his overall design reminds me a bit of Super Shredder from the original line.  Along with the bulky look, Shredder is also the largest figure in the line so far.  He easily dwarfs the four turtles and his own Foot Soldiers.

Shredder’s breast plate is sculpted onto his torso with four straps that reach around and connect to a circle on his back.  His hip armor is also sculpted onto his legs.  The rest of his armor (shoulder pads, bracers, and shin guards) are all separate pieces.  Unfortunately the pieces are all glued or attached to the figure, making removing them impossible without doing some customizing.  I don’t mind that his armor can’t be taken off, but it would have been cool to have the option to put it on other characters.

I have two issues with the figure’s sculpt.  The first one is personal preference, but I really wish he came with blades for his hands.  His forearm blades look large and complicated, but not nearly as menacing as the long spikes that other Shredder designs have extending from the back of their hands.

My second complaint is a production issue.  When I went to buy this guy I discovered a lot of Shredder figures have their helmet glued on crooked.   Hopefully I just got a bad run at my Target, but it’s something you definitely want to watch out for if you’re looking to pick this figure up.

Shredder’s paint job is very basic.  He’s mostly molded in the dark colors of his ninja suit, while the painting is used to accentuate his silver armor.  The effect is so simple that it really downplays some of the sculpted details.  The most interesting painted area on Shredder is his eyes, which are entirely white with no iris.  I haven’t seen the Nick Turtles’ show yet, so I don’t know how accurate this is.  But the picture of Shredder on the back of the box does have irises.

 

Articulation on this line varies heavily between figures.  Shredder has swivel joints for his neck, wrists, and waist.  The rest of his joints are composed of swivel/hinges at his shoulders, elbows, and hips.  One nice addition is a hinge joint to his shoulder pads which allows for greater arm movement.

Shredder’s biggest disappointment is a lack of any kind of knee joint.  This doesn’t ruin the figure, but it does make dynamic posing a bit more difficult.  I was also disappointed to discover that his head was a swivel and not a ball joint.  The four turtles have ball joints sculpted onto the top of their necks, and I really don’t understand why this practice wasn’t extended to the rest of the figures in the line.

Shredder comes with three accessories.  There’s a silver version of the sword that comes with the Foot Soldier.  This piece works well with the Foot Soldiers, but it’s really too small for Shredder.  For a weapon to truly look imposing on Shredder, it needs to be a hulking as he is.

He also comes with two new throwing stars.  Out of all the shuriken I’ve seen in the line, I think these are my favorite design.  They have a definite techno feel to them, and the eight blades make them much more dangerous looking than all the others.

It’s difficult to come to a conclusion about this Shredder figure.  On one hand I love his imposing size, tank-like armor, and upper body articulation.  On the other, the figure could definitely use some better weapons and articulation below the waist.  Overall I think he has good play factor and fits in great with the rest of the turtles when it comes to that aspect.  But for a collector, he’s not quite up to par.  This Shredder is definitely a good starting point for Playmates to make improvements, and hopefully the Nick line does well enough that we’ll see more advanced versions of his character over time.

-Vault

The Daytime Ninja

Full-time student, part-time reviewer. You'll find me on thedaytimeninja.com reviewing things I don't need. @thedaytimeninja