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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Michelangelo sixth scale action figure
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Mondo
Date Published: 2017-08-28
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3 out of 4

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TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Introduction

Mondo continues their line of sixth scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on the comic books (and to some extant, the old cartoon) with their release of Mr. Laid Back himself, Mike! This is the third, with both Donatello and Leonardo already on the shelf, and Raphael coming soon.

With each release there's a regular and an exclusive. The exclusive was available only through Mondo's site, and was slightly more expensive. I'm covering the exclusive version tonight, which includes a couple additional accessories, was limited to just 500, and cost $160. The regular was around $150, depending on the retailer.

Click on the image below for a Life Size version
TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Packaging - ***
The package is very sturdy, with a heavy card stock and solid design. I love the exterior artwork, and the exclusive sticker stands out nicely on the front cover. There's no edition numbering or Certificate of Authenticity however.

Inside is a double layer plastic tray, and it's largely collector friendly. They do use some of the sticky film to cover a few of the accessories and ensure they stay in place, but it's a minor issue. Even with this stuff in place, I've had some sort of accessory floating around loose in the package with all three I've received. This time it was the grappling hook.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Sculpting - ***
Each release has included two portraits. Like Don and Leo before him, Mike's portraits are identical except for the color of the bandana - red for the comic, orange for the cartoon. He has a gritted teeth expression, but the shape of the mouth and eyes are very different than what we got with Leo.

As mentioned before, they are trying to cover both the comic books and the old cartoon with these designs, and I think they've done a great job. He stands just shy of 10" tall, and fits in perfectly with the other two of course. Perhaps the biggest issue with the heads is the flashing that's apparent around the nose and mouth. At this price point, you'd expect them to clean these up right out of the mold a bit better.

The body has some reasonable texturing and hatching, designed to create a 'drawn' look. It works well enough, and the internal proportions of hands, feet, limbs, torso, and head to each other works for me.

The hands are fairly tight and stiff, but they do work with the majority of the accessories quite well. Swapping is tricky, but more on that in the Articulation section.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Paint - ***
Most of the paint work is clean, but it's also fairly broad with not much detail. The two heads are differentiated through the bandana color, but otherwise identical. The eyes are a tad sloppy for a figure at this scale, but the wash on the body seems to be less extreme with Mike than it was with Leo and Don.

Mike is a darker green, and this color seems to fit in better with the color of the discs at the elbow and knee joints. There's still some variation, but it's not as obvious as it was with Don.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Articulation - ***1/2
There's all the same joints, but I found working with them on Mike was a little easier.

The head just pops on and off a true ball joint at the top of the neck. This was much easier this time, and there was plenty of mobility as well.

There's a lot of rotating hinges here - shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles. There's a cut bicep too, and the knees are double pin. And don't forget that both the tail and ends of the bandana are a ball joint. You can pop them off as well, useful for those looking to remove the tail in particular.

The ankles have some nice rocker movement, and I found working with the joints overall to be a simpler process this time.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Accessories - ****
All the turtles have been well outfitted, but I liked what we got here with Mike the most so far.

There's the extra head of course, and swapping was easier and cleaner this time. There's also three extra hands to go with the set of gripping hands he comes wearing. One set is the climbing hands, while the final hand is his unique extra, posed in a shaka sign, or at least the best shaka you can do with just three fingers.

It's a bit trickier swapping the hands than it is the head, and I'd recommend using a little heat, either with hot water or a hair dryer, to soften up the arm first. Don't put a lot of heat on the hand though, since that can weaken the post and disc.

He has some other re-used accessories, including the grappling hook with rope, original turtle version of himself, and four throwing stars (two four point, two eight point).

There's more unique here though than usual. Along with his unique hand, he also has signature weapons, nunchuks. These have a real metal chain connecting the two handles. His Triceraton blaster is also new, and fits nicely in his gripping hands.

Each of the figures comes with a smaller unique character, and for Mike it's the Little Orphan Alien. The paint job could be better - those spots are pretty inconsistent - but the sculpt is terrific.

The exclusive includes two more extras - a slice of cheese pizza, and a slice of pepperoni pizza. The sculpt on the cheese is a bit thick and heavy, but overall they're a nice addition and worth the extra ten bucks.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Fun Factor - ***
Swapping the hands takes some care, and you'll need to work the joints a bit before you can get the full range of movement. But he's still very posable, and all the extras make it possible to pose and re-pose to your heart's content. Once you have all four together, the fun factor will increase as well, since you'll have all the more incentive to create cool, dynamic group poses.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Value - **
This is a tricky one. Clearly, $160 is a lot for what really amounts to a large action figure. There's no cloth outfit, and it's a cartoon character, not a real person.

But sometimes we don't give enough credit for the complexities of capturing a simple animated or comic book look in three dimensions. The source material changed from panel to panel, cel to cel, and the sculptor has to do their best at creating a general look that speaks to us all. My point is simply that creating a great looking cartoon figure can be just as difficult as creating a spot on realistic likeness.

I'm also grading the exclusive here, where the small edition size of just 500 figures makes the price slightly less onerous as well.

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. I'd use some heat to swap the hands, but you should be good otherwise.

Overall - ***
I almost boosted Mike to ***1/2, outdoing either Leo or Don by a half star. He is my favorite so far, due in large part to the extras.

But I have to be honest - the price point is still a killer. Add in the flashing and mold lines, as well as some paint work that could have been better (really, what's up with those spots on Alien?) and he stayed at the *** star score of his predecessors. Perhaps Raphael can break the sewage ceiling...

I do know that once I have all four, my appreciation of the whole will be greater than my appreciation of any one figure. That's the beauty of a great team like this - they each make the whole better.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - ***

TMNT Michelangelo sixth scale action figure by Mondo

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Where to Buy 
Mondo was the place to pick these up originally, where you could get this exclusive for $160. The regular sold through them for $150. Online options include these site sponsors:

- has a good price on the regular at $135.

- has the regular for $150.

- Entertainment Earth is at $150, but they have free shipping as well.

- or you can search ebay for a deal on the exclusive.

Related Links -
I've covered the previous two figures - Donatello and Leonardo, as well as the Mousers. The greatest small versions of the comic Turtles were done by NECA, many years ago. Playmates recently did their own take on the Eastman versions. And don't forget Mondo's 'First Turtle' figure, released earlier this year.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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