Leonardo
After reviewing Donatello, it really didn’t take too much for me to go back and grab another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle from the shelf. This time I decided to pickup the elder brother, Leonardo.
One thing I was expecting from this toy line, was to see a fair amount of mold re-use, at least in regards of the Turtles themselves. After all, the characters are very similar and it would have made sense for Playmates to maximize the return investment of the tooling.
Guess what? Playmates went the other way and developed individual molds for each and every Turtle, something that is not immediately evident unless you get more than one of the amphibian brothers and put them side-by-side.
The one thing that immediately stands out is that Leonardo is slightly shorter than Donnie, explaining why none of them could share pieces.
Other than that, Leonardo is every bit as detailed as Donatello, with similar wrinkles and scuffmarks on the protective gear and a good amount of textures sculpted onto the skin, turtle shell and wrist and ankle wrappings. The face expression is also entirely different, as Leo display a half grimace and a less furrowed brow than his brother.
In terms of articulation, Leonardo has the same standard design Playmates used on Donatello, consisting of:
• Ball jointed neck.
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Pegged hinge elbows.
• Swivel wrists.
• Pegged hinge hips.
• Pegged hinge knees.
Again, the torso shell piece is made of a pliable rubber, so Leonardo can sit and adopt rather deep stances without a problem.
The paint applications on Leo are very simple and reasonably well applied. There might be some wavy lines here and there, and possibly the odd splotch out of place, but the overall look is actually quite nice.
Leo is molded pretty much in the final colors of plastic, although Playmates selected a brighter color palette this time around.
Head, body and limbs are made from a medium green plastic while the front torso shell has a brighter shade of orange brown. The back shell has a light olive color that matches that on Michelangelo and Donatello
The leather gear on Leo is very similar to Donnatello’s, but only the scabbards can be removed and put back in quite easily, facilitating Leo to interact with the planned vehicles and playsets within this same line.
The scabbards are made from a very pliable plastic and the provided swords fit rather snuggly in them. These swords are katana-shaped and have differing lengths, but the shorter one is not quite the right size to qualify as a wakizashi, I think.
Leonardo also comes with a plastic sprue with extra weapons: a larger katana sword (daikatana), a small tanto knife, a couple of shuriken and three kunai throwing blades. The weapons in the sprue are made from the same silver plastic used for the loose swords.
Overall, I am quite impressed with the work Playmates is putting into this line, and Leonardo is certainly a very good example of the things they are doing right.
Errex Score: 93/100
Category: Featured, Other Television, TMNT, Toy Reviews