2008 – Page 2 – GoGreenMachine.Org

The Spindly Return of SPYDER BYTEZ; well kinda

–>> ‘The Daily Show’s Lewis Black guest starred in Saturday’s third episode of Nick’s new TMNT Toon : “Turtle Temper“.

Black played the portly & cantankerous Vic just can’t get a buyer for his exclusive cell phone camera coverage of the Teens fighting Kraang Droids. But the Kraang have more than enough hankering to provide Vic with a healthy dose of Mutagen ooze; by way of Raphal and his “Frog” brothers. Next thing ya know, Vic’s a real spider,Man !! Can’t wait for a Kraang alien to put the video of that incident up on YouTube.

Spyder Bytez harkens back to just a matter of years ago actually to the tail end and Pre- TURTLES FOREVER final season of the TMNT 2003 era; “BACK TO THE SEWER”.

Cyber Shredder was on the loose, Splinter was missing in the cyber-verse ( if you recall ), mad digital-mutants, Baxter’s goopy dinosaurians, and good ol’ fashioned demons were all the rage for the Teen’s blow-out season !!

In TMNT:BTTS episode 147 – “The Engagement Ring”..::

“Casey and Raphael head to Chinatown to find an engagement ring for April. They are given a ring that turns April into a monster. After successfully turning April back to normal, the man gives her the real engagement ring and she and Casey are engaged.”

The terrifyingly possessed April ( serious.. she was creepy n’ freeky in this ep ) summons some twisted creatures from the evil ‘RING OF YIN’ to go after & Raph and Casey with her mistakenly new found powers.

The creatures the Ring had manifested were two massive flying ‘Spider’ -like demons called the SPYDER BYTEZ, apparently post production. Tho’ they are never mentioned by name in the episode.

Hence the origin’ ( at least of the name ) of the Turtle’s bouncy arachno-enemy & Mutant Menace in the new show !!

Tho’ i guess calling Black’s character a “Return” – technically is only kinda,sorta, not-really, partly true sorta.,kinda. Uh – –

Also on a nerdy note: the flying Spiders in the BTTS ep were two demonic manifestations or so from an evil ring unlike Vic’s toxic mutant transformation.

April also managed to call upon a giant Mole Mutant thing initially dubbed by one of the coolest bad-guy names i’ve ever heard :Metalliclaw. His name was changed to the less than catchy and i suppose the less COPYRIGHT – infringing name ; Metal Klawz.

Yeh i guess you wouldn’t want to get a certain iconic Metal Band’s lawyers thrashing all over you. But hey the guy is cool & he really digs, and really digs the sewers, and really digs the Ring of Yin and ringin’ Raph’s neck !!

** View LARGE On Black **

Toy versions of the Ring’s creatures were supposed to be offered as part of the somewhat season accurate TMNT SUB SEWER figure line in 2008.

Unfortunately .. and i mean VERY unfortunately, only the Turtles in their Monster-Catching guises were released from this line. By the time SUB-SEWER hit stores, The Turtles toys as a whole were already struggling to make sales quotas. This line itself, even the Turtles were a little tricky to get hold of as older “TMNT” branded merch was still hanging on pegs in many stores. Stores were also dropping the toy line so it really was a tricky time to get Turtle figures in brick n’ mortar retailers.

I recall only getting like one or two Sub-Sewer Turtles early on.Way late in the game, like as of LATE 2009 & early 2010 did i get the rest of the Teens.

SUB-SEWER Leo was offered extremely late in the 2009 TMNT 24th anniversary year as part of the TOYS R’ Us exclusive ‘SLUDGE RUNNERS’ vehicle combo-pack. The other Turtles were supposed to come out in deluxe combo-packs too – but only Leo was released.

But alas the Spider Bytez & Metalliclaw toys were dropped from the SUB-SEWER wave altogether , apparently victim to the sagging sales of the “TMNT” toy line in that 2008 – Early 2010 time-frame. Bad decision if you ask me.

And unless you are some weirdo who hates really – REALLY COOL looking toys, you can’t tell me that’s kind of not a tragedy taking a look at that freekin’ cool prototype of Klawz !! !!

So we never got the Spyder & we never got the Naked Mole and that kinda BYTEZ !!

Yeh yeh.. ya see what Tokka did there !!

~ t

NECA TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: “LEONARDO” Tube Pack (( 2008 ))

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–>> Purchased to replace an original 2008 NECA Leo which after too much play, fell into disrepair and now is fodder for Customs.

The packaged tube was sent in less than stellar condition and was a bit smooshed which is fine because i bought this one to open anyway.

The ironic thing is that for the past 4 years Tokka’s been trying to track down one of the “TUBE” pack Turtles just to have one to keep in package.

They did not sell these locally in my area ( well except by special order thru’ the comic shop, and you had to order by the case ).

O well. Wasn’t meant to be.

** View LARGE On Black **

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** View LARGE On Black **

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** View LARGE On Black **

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It seems the paint on Leo .. particularly his plastron appears slightly more vibrant than on the carded versions purchased years back.

..dang, these figs still looks so good.

Arguably the best comic Turtle figures ever created ( some say the best overall TMNT toys of all time ).

i’m a little jaded about the topic at this point after trying to remain optimistic about this line, i.e. series 2 ( Shredder and Foot ) and beyond. Guess Tokka was delusional.

After 4 years now, we are on the dawn of new TMNT T.V. show toys, and a new wave of collector toys ..particularly focusing, at least initially on the classic cartoon show as you may know.

It appears NECA has given up on the TURTLES all together, and it’s likely that no more TMNT comic figures will be put out by them. I feel pretty sad even after they told me directly that they still had the license after the Viacom transition. So hardcore Turtle Toy fans like my friend Vaughn were right, this is it.

With Playmates back at the controls entirely of all TMNT figures, they will really have to ratchet it up to mark the quality of the NECA line in their upcoming collector line.

The price on those toys coming out in the fall will be a little higher similar to the effect of MARVEL LEGENDS, so they just might be at a higher quality point. That’s more than likely a good thing, fingers crossed.

~ t

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KURT S. Adler :: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES “RAPHAEL” NUTCRACKER (( 2008 ))

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–>> .. interestingly, this Raphael has a tail that serves as the lever. As you may know, traditional nutcrackers have a lever that when lifted ..the character’s mouth will open & metaphorically or literally a nut can be placed in the jaws of the figure and it can be cracked ( .. a ‘nut’ cracker :p ).

Obviously, this is no traditional nutcracker and the “cracker” portion of the figure is underneath Raph’s fully sculpted head and chin & above his plastron. The head feels like a hard resin, plastron is a painted vinyl strip, and the rest is a mix of wood and fabrics and metal name plaque.

When you move the tail up, the central part of Raph’s chest barely moves down a quarter of an inch. You couldn’t really put anything in there to crack ( not that you’d want to.. this is not a functional item but for decor, durr. XD ) let alone a nut.

Hmm.. well maybe a small sunflower seed.

~ t

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