Mega Bloks released their new line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures and playsets on January 1st of this year. The company has released designs and sets based off of the new Nickelodeon cartoon, along with the “Collector Series” toys, which are based off of the classic 1987 TMNT cartoon.
Today we are going to have a look at Series 1 of the Nickelodeon TMNT Micro Action Figures. These figures come in blind bags and run right around $2.99 a piece ($2.97 at Walmart).
Yesterday, I brought home a nice haul from Toys R Us, Target and Walmart: 9 Mega Bloks TMNT blind bags and all 4 Collector Series individual turtles (I’ll be posting these later). Here are three videos of me cracking all 9 blind bags, followed by a full review of the figures themselves!
My first stop: Toys R Us
My second stop: Target
My third and final stop: Walmart
Now that you know what figures I scored, let’s discuss and have a look at them.
Each figure comes packaged in the blind bags above. We get artwork on the front and back, which features all of the characters included in Series 1. There is a mystery figure as well. The mystery figure has been revealed as being a Robotic Foot Soldier (a quick google search will bring up an image).
Every blind bag, in addition to the figure and their specific accessories, includes a leaflet that has a checklist of all of the figures from the first series. Each figure is color coordinated, indicating its rarity.
Blue = Common: Kraang, Foot Soldier, Donatello and Raphael
Purple = Rare: Michelangelo and Leonardo
Orange = Ultra Rare: Ruby Holographic Shredder
Red = Secret Rare: Robotic Foot Soldier
Honestly, the only figure that I had trouble finding was the “Secret Rare” Robotic Foot Soldier. All of the other figures seemed pretty easy to find in my area. Additionally, the leaflet includes instructions on how to build each figure. This really makes things easy, breezy.
I wanted to give everyone a look at what each figure looked like right out of the bag. That way, you knew what you were getting yourself into. These figures are very easy to put together and I found it to be extremely fun. So now that you have seen all four turtles out of the bag, below are three of the villains and how they will first appear.
Shredder probably has the most pieces to put together but again, this is very simple to do and enjoyable.
I am going to split this review up into two sections: The TMNT figures and the villains. First, I will start with the boys in green.
The Good: As you can see, each figure comes with its own block to stand on. There are pegs on each block that fit nicely into the openings on the bottom of the figures’ feet. I am always a fan of stands being included with figures. They add a nice, sturdy option for posing in case there is a lot of movement going on in the room that could knock the figures over.
The turtle accessories are great! Leo comes with katanas and a Space Heroes comic book. Mikey comes with a nunchuk and a slice of pizza. Raph comes with a water bottle and sais. Donnie comes with a bo staff and a picture of April. Each turtle comes with a brown belt that can hold their signature weapon as well.
I love that Mega Bloks gave each turtle character specific details too, along with the character specific accessories, rather than just making basic TMNT figures! We see the fire eyes on Raph’s figure, a heart on Donnie’s plastron and a lovestruck look on his face, pizza sauce and pepperoni all over Mikey’s plastron and for Leo we get an expression of excitement due to his comic book.
While I was putting on each turtle’s bandanna, I thought that it would be cool to have the eyes painted underneath the bandannas, due to the eyes already being somewhat sculpted on. Then I opened Leo and realized that Mega Bloks used that feature specifically for Leo. I don’t know why but I have always liked seeing a Ninja Turtle without the bandanna on so I was pumped about this (see Leo before I built him for what I am referring to)!
There are some unpainted parts, which I will get to in a bit, but the parts that are painted are done well without smudging or carelessness. The turtles also have a nice amount of articulation, especially for mini figures! The articulation is as follows: head/neck, shoulders, wrists, hips and knees.
Here is a posterior look at the four brothers. The weapons all fit nicely into their holsters and we get an opening on the shells that I assume would snap onto some features present in the playsets. The spray painted “Mikey” on Raph’s shell is hilarious too and a very nice touch by Mega Bloks. Speaking of Mikey, this seriously might be the cutest Mikey figure that I have ever seen.
You’ll also notice that each block has a code on it. These codes are character specific and usually vary by store. When I say vary by store, I mean that Toys R Us will have different codes than Target. However, most Target stores (if not all) seem to have the same codes from everything I have been gathering. Obviously the codes won’t help you much after you have opened the figures but I will discuss the codes, their location on the packages, and how they work after the full review.
As mentioned, there is one more villain in this first series but I was only able to get a Foot Soldier, Shredder and a Kraang android. The articulation is very similar on Shredder and the Foot Soldier. Both feature head/neck, shoulder, knees and hip articulation. However, Shredder features wrist articulation similar to the turtles, while the Foot Soldier has his arm articulation in the elbows, which turns his wrists. Kraang is not very articulated but I am OK with that because he is a robot body and shouldn’t be super flexible. We get the basics: up and down articulation in the arms, legs and a swivel head.
The villains come with accessories as well but not as many as the four turtles. Shredder actually doesn’t come with any accessories but he comes with removable claws on his hands so I guess that could kind of be an accessory? I love the way this ruby Shredder looks too, by the way. He was one of the figures that I was really hoping to pull and one that sparked a lot of excitement about this line. Kraang comes packaged with two accessories: a blaster and the squishy Kraang brain that fits nicely into the android body. The Foot Soldier comes with one katana, which is the same as both of Leo’s.
Everything that should be painted on these guys is indeed covered. Shredder, obviously, is a solid ruby but has a lot of detail in his sculpt. This includes his symbol that has three lines with a slash through it on his belt.
Now for the villain back view. Nothing crazy here but again, I do like the sculpt for Shredder. You can see even more detail including the straps on his back. Kraang’s block stand is also longer than the other characters. The villains, like the turtles, have codes on their stands too.
Now that you have heard the good, here is the not so good.
The Not So Good: Some of what you are about to hear are not necessarily bad things but merely suggestions. On the other hand, others will be some of my complaints.
The first negative thing that stuck out in my eyes was that the wraps on the turtles’ feet were left unpainted. I am fine with the sides of the knee pads going unpainted, but I would have really liked to have seen the wraps on the feet drenched in white or brown paint. The elbow pads are also unpainted but they are not as noticeable as the feet.
The Kraang brain is also lob sided and poorly sculpted when viewed by itself. Perhaps mine was just a factory error? The wrists on Raph were also a bit loose and fall out if I try to re-position them.
My next complaint is more of a suggestion than anything else. Although I love the Ruby Holographic Shredder, I kind of wish that he would have been an additional “Secret Rare” figure. I would like to have had a regular looking Nick Shredder in the blind bag series as the common Shredder. I wouldn’t want the common Shredder to replace the ruby Shredder, both would be preferable. I do believe that there is, or will be, a Nick Shredder packaged with a playset though. My problem, I don’t plan on buying the Nick playsets and want to just collect the figures. We could see him in series 2, which my fingers are crossed that we will get at least one more series (hoping for many more though!).
Sure there will never be a perfect figure and I will always find something, no matter how small or large, to complain about (including the orange paint drip on Raph’s foot). But for $2.99 a piece, these figures are well worth it and pack a nice punch. Mega Bloks added a lot of great features to this line including the accessories, designs and selection. The blind bags make them fun figures to chase as well!
Below you will find some information about the codes on the packaging and how they may help you locate the characters that you want. Also be on the lookout for my review of the Collector Series TMNT toys in the coming days. Thank you for reading and be sure to pick up some of these fun Mega Bloks TMNT micro figures!
For more information: Mega Bloks TMNT
There was some confusion on where these codes were located on the packaging. Therefore, I took a picture that indicates where you will find each code.
The codes are found on the back of each blind bag on the left side of the package. Each code is engraved on, rather than stamped, so you will have to move the bags on occasion to allow the light to hit them just right for a full view. You’ll also have to turn the package sideways, with the left side on top, in order to view the code from left to right.
Obviously, each code represents a specific figure. Now be careful as some codes have been known to produce two different characters. In this case, you will need to feel the figure/accessories to be certain but this doesn’t take as much skill as it might sound.
The shells are very obvious to feel so finding the turtles is the easy part. Another hint for you is that the Kraang brain is very small but it is so squishy that once you feel it, you will not have any doubts. I made the mistake of feeling for a larger brain and didn’t realize how small and squishy the brain was. That’s why I screwed up in the second video above and pulled another Shredder.
It is also important to note that the codes seem to be different at every store. For example, the Target codes won’t work at Toys R Us. However, the Target code at one Target store has shown to be the same at multiple Target stores. The following are the codes featured on the figure blind bags that I picked up yesterday (TRU = Toys R Us).
Leo: A25095MM (TRU)
Don: A24095MM (TRU)
Raph: A26095MM (TRU)
Mikey: A29095MM (TRU)
Foot Soldier: A06105MM (TRU)
Shredder: A12095MM (Target), A30095MM (TRU)
Kraang: A05105MM (Walmart)
I saw some codes online for the Robotic Foot Soldier “Secret Rare” figure. However, I wasn’t able to locate one yesterday. Once I do, I will be sure to pass along the code on here. It did seem that the Robotic Foot Soldier shared a code with Donnie, from what others were saying. Therefore, it is important to feel for a shell or an axe in order to verify what character it is. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message on Twitter or Instagram. Thanks!
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