5 Reasons to be Excited for Mondo's TMNT

In case my post last week didn't make it obvious - I'm ridiculously excited for Mondo's upcoming 1/6 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line!  I've never bought anything from Mondo before but I've been a Turtles fan nearly as long as I can remember.  I was TMNT crazy as a kid but it was discovering the original Eastman and Laird comics in my teens that hooked me for life and I'm so glad it's that version of the Turtles that's serving as the primary inspiration for Mondo's line.  I literally can't stop thinking about these awesome figures and the massive potential this line has!

If you're a TMNT fan like me there's so many reasons to be excited for this line;

1) They look like they stepped right off the comic book page. Seriously they look absolutely perfect.  And as an added bonus they're based on Eastman and Laird's later work together.  NECA's brilliant but short lived 6" line was based on their first appearance but it was around issue 4 before they really refined the look of the characters, so even if you have the NECA figures there'll be more than just a scale difference as both looks are unique.

2) The selection of accessories is fantastic.  Whilst most companies would likely have been content to give the Turtles their signature weapons and call it a day but Mondo went back to the source material and added plenty of extras from Triceraton blasters to Mikey's Orphan Alien.  And like Turtles themselves the extras look like they just stepped right from the comics.  Just check out the pre-mutated Splinter that comes with Leo - posed perfectly like his comic book counterpart!

3) Mondo's planning for success.  TMNT fans are used to their collector's lines not taking off.  Both NECA's comic based line and Playmates' own Classics line never made it past the Turtles and 2 other characters.  Neither of them even released Shredder despite plans for him to be in both lines before they were cancelled.  At SDCC Mondo revealed they hope to include Shredder, a Foot Soldier and fan favourite Casey Jones in the second wave if the first wave sold well.  Judging by how things went last week I'd say we've a good chance of Mondo going ahead with their plans!  But before that though, Mondo will be releasing a 2-Pack of Mousers sometime after Raphael (maybe as a wave 1.5 to tide us over between the main waves?)

4) They're drawing influence from all sources.  Whilst the main influence for the Turtles is the comics Mondo are also taking inspiration from the cartoons (the alternate heads with the colour masks) and Playmates original toylike (the varied skin tones) to create the ultimate versions of these characters.  Which is good, at these prices you don't want a lot of variants!

5) The sky's the limit.  Whilst the first figures are comic influence Mondo aren't limited to just Mirage comic characters and they're confirmed that characters like Bebop and Rocksteady are available to them even if they aren't planned at the moment, so this really could be the ultimate Ninja Turtles line!

It Begins!!

 

I'd barely clicked post on my hopes for SDCC last night when 2 of them happened before the conventions even started!

 

Harrison Ford as Han Solo with Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 Last night StarWars.com officially announced that Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (The Lego Movie) will direct the second Star Wars Anthology movie - Han Solo!  Lawrence Kasdan (co-writer The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens) and Jon Kasdan are writing the script which will focus on how the young Han Solo "became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina at Mos Eisley".
As Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy rightly observes "It's not just any filmmaker who can tell the story of such a beloved icon like Han Solo".  The creative team is extremely strong and I'm sure they will do Han's story justice.  Ultimately though, this film will rest on the shoulders of whoever is brave enough to step into Harrison Ford's shoes and take on such an iconic role.  I wish whoever that ends up being the best of luck!  Personally I'm hoping this film is set at least a decade before A New Hope to make the re-casting a little easier for fans and creative alike.

I have to say I didn't see this announcement coming.  With the reports that there won't be a new trailer for The Force Awakens at SDCC, the announcement of the second Anthology seemed like one of the big things they could do at the panel.  To announce it now really makes me excited to think about what Lucasfilm must have up their sleeve for Friday's panel!!

Elodie Yung, photo by Getty Images

Marvel also started their pre-con announcements last night, confirming that Elodie Yung is joining the second season of Marvel and Netflix's Daredevil as Elektra!!  I loved the first series and was hoping to see Elektra in season 2 so I'm loving this announcement!  I've not seen Elodie Yung in anything but she certainly looks the part!

1/6 Scale Kevin Eastman TMNT by ThreeZero

And TMNT co-creator took to Facebook to share some images of his designs for ThreeZero's upcoming 1/6 scale Ninja Turtles figures.  ThreeZero did excellent work on the movie figures even though I wasn't a big fan of the designs so I'm excited to see how these look when they come out.  I still prefer the classic look Mondo is doing but if the price is right then these will definitely be tempting!



Kevin Eastman's Leonardo

Kevin Eastman's Raphael

Kevin Eastman's Michelangelo

Kevin Eastman's Donatello


And it's still six hours until the doors open for Preview Night!  This is going to be one awesome Comic Con!

 

Mondo Reveal 1/6 Scale Leonardo!!

Ok, being a TMNT fan and a 1/6 scale collector this is just awesome news for me (if a little scary for my wallet) as Mondo have today revealed their 1/6 scale Leonardo based on the original Eastman and Laird comics!!

According to Mondo's website the figure will be approximately 11" tale and feature 25 points of articulation along with multiple accessories, interchangeable hands and the choice to display him with either his classic red bandana from the comics of the blue bandana made famous in the class cartoon series.

Price is still TBD and pre-orders will be opened up at a later date but all four Turtles will be on display at Mondo's booth at SDCC next week (can't believe it's Comic Con time already!)

I'm really glad I held off buying the ThreeZero movie versions now as this is definitely a must buy for me!  Can't wait to see the full team when the Comic Con pictures come out next week!!