Final Turtle, 2012 Raphael!!

Saving the best for last, it’s my favourite Ninja Turtle the angry scrapper Raphael.  Much the same design as the other Turtles I have looked at, but yet again a new sculpt.  Let’s have a look at what makes Raph different as well as similar to his reptilian brothers shall we?

 

 

So he has the usual blister pack and you can see from his bio pic that he likes a fight.  Behind him in the box is his weapons tree.

 

The sides are about the same as the others as well.

 

 

His blister looks like that.  OOoh he looks nice and angry with his arms in the air.

 

Mmmmm, look at that.  He looks so tough.  Raph isn’t the tallest of the four, but he is the bulkiest and about the same height as Leo.  Unlike other Raphaels his sai are stored on the back of his shell.  I can see why for this toy as it isn’t very tall.  If they were stashed on the front of his belt, they would definitely be in the way of pretty much everything.

 

Raph has a great face sculpt, unlike the Michelangelo and Leonardo he doesn’t have the smile on one side and tough on the other, Raphael is ALLLLL angry!  It’s cool!  His head isn’t smooth, it is full of scratches, which might be from dodgy moulding processes (unlikely) but I prefer to think that it is scratches gained from fighting!

 

 

What I really love about this Raph is not only the scrapes on his noggin’ but his shell has the largest crack up by his shoulder!    Plus he can kick rather well.  He also has different toe prints to the others as well!  He comes with the same articulation as the other Turtles, ball jointed neck, hinged and swivel jointed shoulders, elbows, hips and knees and swivels on his wrist.  The knee and elbow joints are hidden well by the knee and elbow pads.

 

Now onto his weapons!!!  Woooo.

 

He has been sculpted with one hand that has slightly separated fingers so he can (inaccurately) hold his sai with the middle point sticking  out, or in the more traditional way of holding it by the handle.

 

You can have him hold the sai more authentically, with the blade on the forearms and the handles pointing forwards, but it is a tenuous grip at best and a tad awkward.  This way you use the base of the handle for ‘punching’ and the middle point which should be aligned along the outer side of the forearm as a blocking tool.  Or he can just hold it like a knife.

 

Of course sai are used mostly for bludgeon hitting or blocking.  He works well when set up against Leonardo.

 

 

 

So, does it remind you of the Training trailer on youtube?

 

 

Who’s going to win this match?

 

Raphael’s other weapons are probably the best of the lot I think.  I originally ordered the Classic TMNT figures and then saw the extra weapons this Raph came with and thought they might work with the classic versions, so I nabbed the 2012 Raph as well.  Then I thought, if these 2012 versions suck, they would be less sucky if I had all the Turtles and so now I have all four.  I haven’t yet tried the weapons with the classic Turtles, but I am glad I got the 2012 Turtles regardless.

 

His extra weapons consist of two throwing stars, a pair of half handled sai (on the left) and a couple of awesome looking sickle doohickies.  These were the ones I really liked!

 

I love the sickle ones, they looks so nasty with a blade protecting the fingers and the sickle parts on the top, I can see Raph going nuts on some foot soldiers, or even Shredder himself with those babys!!  And then he has the half sai things.  I think the equivalent of the police force in feudal Japan was armed with these, probably more as an article denoting station than a weapon.  They aren’t as impressive, as his normal sai are probably better weapons.  No do it yourself modifications required for Raphael’s weapons.

 

So as you can probably tell, I really like Raph.  Well he is my favourite Ninja Turtle (immediate bias) and these toys are rather well designed.  My only complaint would be that he has no ankles or hinged wrists, which would have worked well.  The other Turtles manage to avoid really needing them as they have longer ranged weapons, but Raph would have to get in close to make contact using his sai, so the ankles would be great for making him crouch and the wrists I’d like just so he could point his sai at someone without having to stick the main ‘blade’ (but it isn’t actually a blade…) through the gap in his fingers.

 

It’s great to see such an angry and battered interpretation of Raphael and I think that this toy manages to capture the explosive personality incredibly well.  Now who’s the better fighter?  Leo or Raph?

 

Groupshot

Man they look so good together.

 

 

I must admit, I can’t wait for this cartoon!!!