Wednesday 9 March 2016

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heroes 02

When I first saw the My Way Miniatures 28mm scale figures of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle heroes on Andy's blog site here I immediately liked them. They were so well sculpted and beautifully animated. I mentioned to Andy that I already owned figures of the four Ninja Turtles but that mine were in a smaller scale. He wanted to see them, so for Andy, and everyone else, here they are.
These figures were made by Dark Horse many years ago (mid 1980's) and are no longer available. They are 20mm scale metal figures and are extremely rare. I read that Dark Horse had a lot of troubles casting them with as many as one in two figures being miscast! They are very nicely sculpted and I like how they are all scowling angrily. These are not the fun-loving heroes from the cartoon TV series. They came with integral bases and I have glued them to pieces of plasti-card and filled in the surrounds with Milliput. In the days before slottabases were invented, this was how I based most of my figures. They are also painted in simple block colours with no highlighting, shading or ink washes, which just goes to show how much I have developed as a painter over the years.
I'm sure you can recognise them all but they are arranged alphabetically from left to right with Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. I'd seen them in the very first comics they appeared in and to be honest, back then I had no idea how tall they were meant to be in real life. So, I was happy to use these figures in games using 25mm scale and later, 28mm scale figures. How times have changed.
I knew that there was no way I could write this post without showing you some size comparison photos of the Dark Horse Ninja Turtles and the My Way Miniatures Ninja Turtles. So, to begin with here are the two versions of Donatello and the two versions of Leonardo. Note that I painted the flesh of the Dark Horse Turtles a lot darker than on the My Way Turtles. I also used different shades of brown for the belts, elbow pads and knee pads. Incidentally, when I dug them out for this post I noticed they all wore the same coloured red bandana. This is how they originally appeared but I decided to bring them more up to date so I repainted the bandanas for Donnie, Leo and Mikey.
Finally, here are the two versions of Michelangelo and both versions of Raphael. Another thing to notice is the difference in height between the bases. I am not a fan of slottabases but I have so many figures glued on them it would be a nightmare to change them now. My preferred bases are either flat plastic or wooden MDF bases and you'll see more and more of my figures glued on them in the future. It is highly unlikely I will ever use my Dark Horse Ninja Turtles in a game, although a scenario in which some mad scientist villain has a shrink ray may be a good way to use them. There is no way I'll be getting rid of them, because they must be worth a nice sum nowadays.
Incidentally, I forgot to mention that the My Way Ninja Turtles cost 11 Euros each or you can get all four for 36 Euros, which is what I did. An alternative is to get all four figures plus a scenic sewer base for just 40 Euros. You can find details of their complete range here - http://mywayminiatures.com/
I have just placed an order for the Ninja Turtles' ally, Casey Jones, as well as the main villains of the Turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady and a horde of Foot Clan Ninjas, all based on Andy's recommendations, i.e. figures from Greebo Games and Crossover Miniatures. As soon as I get them they'll be jumping to the front of my painting queue. Turtle power!

20 comments:

  1. Turtle power indeed Bryan, and a great follow-up posting. Those guys are cute and dinky and very well painted. A "7TV2" game where the Turtles keep getting shrunk would be a scream ;-) I see you have truly succumbed to temptation with some additional purchases and I look forward to seeing those when done, and how you got on putting them together etc.

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Andy has a lot to answer for with his enthusiasm for all things TMNT related. I can't grumble because I like them almost as much as he does and it makes a nice change with me spending money based on other blogger's recommendations.

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  2. Hmm, I think you might even be able to use those Dark Horse turtles with 15mm people. Nicely obscure miniatures, for sure :-) .

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    1. Quite possibly, Hugh, but I suspect they'll look a bit too big.

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  3. Turtle Power oh yer. Love the turtles, who doesn't, I remember the roleplay game from way back in the day. Only played a few times as GW's fantasy roleplay was the game played more than any other

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    1. Cheers, Damon. Yes, who doesn't love the Turtles?

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    2. "Yes, who doesn't love the Turtles?" - You could say the same about the film "World War Z" Bryan ;-)

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    3. NO! You could but I would never tell such an outright lie! I have been thinking about doing a blog post on 100 reasons why the film "World War Z" is such a massive pile of shite. Believe me, I DO have 100 reasons and more. Can you give me ANY reason to counter my belief?

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  4. I love Simon's suggestion of a 7TV2e game with these guys shrinking!!

    They're little crackers though aren't they the sculpts are very much like the original drawings, all snarly and stuff, Bryan you're right they were all clothed identically in red bandanas but at some point changed over in time for the cartoons. I still like the differences hence why I painted them the same as your good self. Look forward to the support cast showing up!

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    1. The comparison photos are great, they look like the MyWay figs are the parents to some troublesome kids!!

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    2. Many thanks, Andy. I think the reason they changed to different coloured bandanas was precisely because of the TV cartoon series. Probably a marketing ploy, I guess. I'm looking forward to getting the supporting cast and painting them.
      Yes, the My Way Turtles do look like parents to the little guys.

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  5. Awesome teeny weeny turtles Bryan! Cowabunga Dude!

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  6. 20mm hmmm, I have no use for them in any scale at all yet I am strangely attracted to them. Will I try to get them, no! Will I contemplate getting them-Of course!

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    1. I think you will struggle to get them, Clint, assuming you REALLY wanted them. They're as rare as hen's teeth!

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    2. I will not try too seriously to get them. But if I see tham and If they are a good price then yes.

      But generally no as I have no use for them.

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  7. Excellent TMNTK's They had babies! lovely paint work Bryan. I hear there are some Clix versions coming out at some point both 80's versions and the more recent release.

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    1. Thanks, Simon. Yes, there are Heroclix versions available. They're not too bad, either.

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    2. It all depends on what the final versions look like really. The renders are all i've seen so far.

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