Growing up in the early 90's, I was of course obsessed with the Ninja Turtles. Looking back on the toys now though, they leave alot to be desired. Even worse, the toys that Playmates has been putting out even in this modern era of action figures haven't been much of an improvement. So I decided I'd update at least one. At first, I was going to do a Raphael, because he's been my favorite in these latter years, however, I can't deny that when I was a kid, with out a doubt my favorite was Leo. Dude was the leader and had a couple of swords, making him something of a no brainer. So I assembled the pieces I thought i would need, and set out on what I thought would be a quick parts swap. I was mistaken. Alot of work had to be done just to make the limbs fit. Since this is a site dedicated to TFs, I'll assume that most people here aren't terribly familiar with the inner workings of regular action figures, so I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that the limbs did not just fit on their own. Once that was done I had to do quite a bit of sculpting because his neck looked too long, his legs too spindly, and his face too much like he had down's. The biggest amount of work went towards his legs, which were almost entirely resculpted. Good practice though. After all that, he got a citadel paint job, and now he's done. I'm very satisfied with the way he turned out. His paint looks very cartoony, and at 28 points of articulation, he has 21 more than the original figure. I don't know if I'm going to do the other three, cause he was kind of expensive, as well as being a huge pain in my ass, but who knows. If I do, I'll probably make a tutorial on it, if there was any interest in such a thing. (The picture with bullseye is for scale, as anyone who owns any Marvel Legends most likely owns at least one iteration of that mold)
Awesome work man! I'd love a tutorial of some sorts. I have the playmates versions, but they are still not what i have in my head as being the turtles that i grew up with. i've always wanted to have all the turtles, and their van, something about that silly van always caught my attention. Randy!
Dude! That's just awesome! And you have to do the others, cause if you tango with one of them, you get them all!
man thats a pure win!! i love what u did here those small bastards r a pain in the ass to scuplt on . now send it over here -ASAP!!
Wow, this is amazing. I'd definitely like a parts list and/or tutorial. I got a big box of Marvel Legends just aching to be chopped, never even thought about making Ninja Turtles characters out of them.
Hey guys, thanks so much. Funny thing, I've gotten a ton more comments here, a transformers site, than on other more action figure oriented sites. As far as the recipe its really simple. His head, torso, shells, hands, toes (including the back one), belt, and weapons are from the 2k3 Playmates Leo. His hips, legs, feet (minus the toes), shoulder sleeves, shoulder, and arms are from the ML AoA Weapon X. Really, you could use any of the ML Wolverines though that are based on the Series 6 body though. However, I feel like the Weapon X ones work the best because they have the plainest lower legs. Not that it really matters since I sculpted over them anyways. One thing, if you use Weapon X, you have to cut a slice off of the left arms stub, as it goes down a little longer than the right arm. If i did another, which Turtle would you guys rather see next? I'm leaning towards Raphael, but I'm open to suggestions. The Leatherhead idea isn't a bad one either.
I vote Raph! my favorite as a kid, but when i became older I liked Leo, which I've seen I say Raph of Mikey, doesnt matter to me. any would be awesome. are u thinking of doing shredder or splinter?
Sweet. I was hoping people would be asking for Raphael. Also, I do plan on doing a Shredder. He's in the building stage right now. @Encline: Yeah, I'm selling him. He'll be on ebay starting tomorrow.
