There was almost a literal avalanche of TMNT figures released this year for Haul-a-thon at Target and I hope everybody was able to score what they were after. Today we’re taking a look at a set of characters from the ’87 animated series, Chakahachi and Lotus!
The box is what we’ve come to expect from the Ninja Turtle line with a big window showing off the figures and accessories and lovely illustrations on the front and clear photos on the sides and back. I especially like seeing the crisp and clean illustrations of less celebrated characters like these two.
The set comes with the two figures, three sets of hands for each figure, three blast effects for Chakahachi, three swords, three sheathes, a bow, an arrow, a lotus flower and the scent analyzer.
The scent analyzer is one of those wacky Macguffin devices, this time it’s a super-sniffing device that Lotus uses to track down the Ninja Turtles while working for Krang. I love the little lights and buttons are outlined in black and the super weird human nose at the end of the hose is right out of the cartoon. The lotus flower is Lotus Blossom’s trademark in the episode and it fits perfectly into tiny holes in Lotus’ fists.
The blast effects are meant to depict Chakahachi’s magic blasts from the show and are cast in a translucent pink. In the show he uses the blasts to transform modern day New York into feudal Japan, but they make for cool Street-Fighter like power effects in conjunction with his claw hands.
Two of the swords and sheathes go into the loops on Chakahachi’s belt. The swords fit well into his grip hands and have a sharp look to them but unfortunately, I put a bit too much strain on one and snapped the blade right off the hilt, so I recommend caution.
Lotus’ sword and sheath attach to a loop on her back and they sculpted the hair to allow for movement with the sheath on her back. I really like how much paint detail they worked into the hilt of the sword.
The bow has a real string and the arrow is notched, so you can set it up in a firing pose, but it takes a little work as the grip hands aren’t really designed for an arrow hold.
Lotus also comes with a masked head option as she did in her first appearance on the show fighting Shredder and it does a great job representing the specific look, but could also be a great generic Ninja too.
The sculpting on these two is fantastic and represent the cartoon looks well. I especially like the contrast of the armored bulk of Chakahachi and the lithe ninja Lotus.
The articulation is similar in both figures including:
- Ball and socket head, waist, and Lotus has an additional ball and socket in the neck
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Bicep and thigh swivels
- Double hinged knees and elbows
Lotus moves better than Chakahachi due to being quite a bit thinner. Lotus also has a really expressive range of movement in the head because she has ball joints where the neck attaches to the body and where it attaches to the head. Lotus also has swivels at each end of the double elbow which helps in two-handed sword holding poses.
The paint on these is in the usual style for these figures and is beautifully solid with clean separations and black outlines for details.
Overall this is a nice set. While these two are fairly obscure (Lotus with two appearances and Chakahachi with one), they are also just cool looking iconic samurai and ninja designs in the great ’87 ‘toon style that appeal to me on that level.
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Source: The Fwoosh
