Donatello does machines, that part of the song always comes
into my mind whenever I pick up a Donatello figure. After Raphael he is my
favorite Turtle. When the plan was to get two figures and wait for the rest he
was the third on my list. However giving in to impulse, I am so horrible
shopping, I picked all the figures up. And I am glad I did because having the
TMNT all together just looks awesome.
When I look at this figure I see a turtle that looks mature
and wise, a turtle that thinks things through before acting, the sensible one.
I also see a turtle that doesn’t take his training as seriously. Which is
awesome because that is what we have been told about the show. That Donnie will
be the tallest and kind of lanky because he spends more time studying machines
then training.
Sculpt
The sculpt for Donatello is another original sculpt. I can’t
say enough about Playmates making different molds for the Turtles. I think the
only parts that get recycled are the hands and feet. This makes each of the brothers unique and fun in their own
right.
For the most part Donnie has some texture on his skin but
remains fairly scar free. He has a couple scratches in his plastron. Yet
overall the sculpt gives him a gangly clean look. It fits him well.
One thing this sculpt does not do is show the gap in his
teeth. All the other Turtles have their teeth showing, except Donnie has a very
serious look on his face. Now if this was deliberate because showing the gap on
a figure would be hard or Playmates thought this look was better who knows. I
personally would have liked to have seen it.
Paint Application
Like all the figures in this line the paint application on
this figure is really well done. Mutant turtles don’t have many colors but
finding the right green, yellow, and brown that work together is no easy task.
Then on top of that you have to have the bandanna match too. It’s a lot of
thought to make these figures look good.
In the past Donatello has always been one of the darker
turtles. This time around he is the lightest. The change of pace really works
for the figure. The green used as the base is soft green, almost a soft pea
green.
The light tannish wraps accent the figure and stand out. The color is very reminiscent of real
leather. Another outstanding choice based on the color scheme.
Donnie’s plastron is a darker yellowish green. This is in
contrast to his soft green color and light brownish wraps, making for another
feature of this figure that pops. His shell is a lighter yellow green between
his plastron and his skin. In all the colors work really well together and
whoever came up with the color scheme did a great job.
His mask is of course purple, but nota dark purple like
Donnie’s past but a softer purple. Again it plays off the softer color pallet
they went for with this figure.
Articulation
The shoulders have a ball joint that lets them move completely around as well as a hinge that lets them move up and down giving the figure a wide range of posses with the arms. The elbows also have a hinge that allows them to move up and down and also swivel from side to side. Along with this the wrists rotate. This makes posing the figure a lot of fun, as you are not stuck with the pose they put him in.
His head is on a ball joint so it goes up and down and completely around. Again this lends to some interesting posing options.
His legs appear to be on a swivel joint at the waist so the move forward and back mostly. Yet with a little moving about you can move them side-to-side. It takes a bit but it is possible. His knees are on a hinge and move forward and back with a swivel joint so you can move the position of his foot.
Playmates did a really good job when it came to articulating the Turtles themselves but seem to have dropped the ball on the rest of the line.
Accessories
Now this is one figure where the accessories bug me. Not that they aren’t painted, because honestly they look fine as just plastic, but because the Bo Staff he comes with is to short. The Staff that comes with April is longer and just looks better. This is very disappointing that his weapon gets shafted.
He also comes with a weapon rack and a couple extra weapons. The bladed staff is actually a little shorter then the one he comes with. Which to me makes little since.
Again they are just molded plastic. They are a darker brown about the color of wood. It works for the Turtle who’s weapons are primarily wood.
Final Thoughts
This is another great figure in this line. In honesty the more I look at this line and spend with it the more it becomes my favorite line. It takes a lot to knock out some of the others, but this line brings the goods overall.
If you are a Donatello fan this is a great figure and you would be remised to pass him up. I would recommend this to anyone thinking about getting this line. Again though I’d start with your favorite Turtle as they are all fantastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment