Apr 29, 2022

TMNT and Army builders: a rant

 For the most part, NECA has done a decent job on TMNT Army Builder. The only "questionable" choice was pairing a Rock Soldier with a Fake Ninja Turtle Gang member.

That leader kinda sounds like someone who'd say: Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang, Roll Out!

You need far more Rock soldiers than Fake NT gangbangers...

Playmates doesn't do army Builder packs, but characters that can army build are relatively easy to find, not to mention that Playmates TMNT tend to be rather cheap, so it's easier to army build... or used to. Since now Playmates only does is overpriced rereleases of late 80s-early 90s toys... we don't speak of TMNT vs Cobra Kai.

And we've reached the B-Flynn Elephant in the room.
How can we army build with $55 figures!? 
I may have 4 Foot Soldiers, but that's because I ordered 2 from Super7 when they came out and mamaged to snag 1 from BBTS and when the "Wave 1 redeco" came out on preorder through BBTS, I ordered 1 Foot Soldier. 

It's really hard to Army Build when the army building ioption not only is a bit too expensive, but is a one time limited offer.

I understand that having "evergreen Foot Soldier figures" or "evergreen Putties" or "evergreen Cobra Troopers" is nearly impossible for a smaller company like Super7.

Hell, I don't know if they can pull off a Hasbro and put the figure in a polybag and on a tight box and sell it slightly cheaper like say: $80 for a 2 pack 
2 Foot Soldiers, no extra hands, only the unpainted rack. 

For the Mousers just the Mousers, zero accessories, polybagged in a smaller box just like the Thundercats and Comic Conan "Sorry we fucked up" extras. 

But most importantly, when throwing Army Builders, not adding an entire wave that competes against them. 

Using wave 1 as an example:
I'd rather have 1 of each (Raph, Foot Soldier, Splinter, and Baxter) than buying 4 Foot Soldiers. Now if the Foot Soldier was released on its own, I can easily justify getting more than 1.

I know I will trigger some folks by saying that Foot Soldiers should get a solo rerelease...
Calm your tits! I also have your back. No, I will not promote the idea of the Mutatin Foot Soldier now. It COULD be an option, but not the one I'm gonna push now.

You know the plain vanilla Foot Soldier? Well, rerelease That exact same figure, but with Different Accessories! Instead of the guns, mace, and knife that the normal Foot Soldiers come with, Super7 should look at multiple sources for ideas. Ninja Weaponry  is an obvious start. Personally, I would prefer a set of Ninja Weapons looking more high tech, but in a worst case scenario reusing Shredder's weapons could work in a pinch.

IF we could get Rock Soldiers, I would prefer them getting a rifle and an I Beam as a nod to the games as their weapons.

But speaking of Rock soldiers, NECA could release the TURTLES IN TIME version of the rock soldiers. Maybe paired up with a videogame redeco of a mouser or a Roadkill Rodney. Or maybe do like the Triceraton army builder that had 2 Roadkill Rodneys but with a VG Rock Soldier, then do a pack of VG Mousers.

The point is that Army Builders SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE and AFFORDABLE ENOUGH TO ALLOW ARMY BUILDING. 

For what I spent in 4 Foot Soldiers 
$90 from the 2 I got from Super7 $100 on the extra Foot Soldiers from BBTS (2 different orders) I got a lot more from others. 

Meanwhile back when Mattel was doing MOTUC, I spent $150 on 6 Horde Troopers in addition to the $104 on 2 Horde Trooper 2 packs from Mattycollector. So, I spent $254 on 10 Horde Troopers. Compared, with Super7 stuff I'm roughly paying DOUBLE what I'd pay from Mattel. I'm well aware of the whole Mattel and Hasbro are much bigger than Super7, therefore they can offer lower prices. 

Having A SINGLE Foot Soldier is like having a Mary-Kate Doll without Ashley. But Super7 is pushing people to pick between Mary-Kate and Ashley while putting the rest of the Tanners on sale... now I want an Ultimates Danny Tanner, Joey Gladstone, and Becky Donaldson... of course DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle Too... but no uncle Jesse... A John Stamos action figure could start a toy war...
Army building Michelle Tanner to use like a bunch of Toddler Terminators... that spit Michelle lines as they kill people... and I just figured out how a Michelle Tanner cameo for Fuller House could've worked... with Elizabeth Olsen as Michelle and the Olsen twins as well...
Michelle supposedly was working for the OTwins, so having a picture of Elizabeth as michelle taking a selfie with the Olsens... boom! But Fuller House is deader than Pamela Tanner.
Oh, how did the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rant became a Full House rant?

Optimal numbers for a foot soldier army is 15:
3 per Turtle and 3 spares for attacking random characters. More would be better, but being realistic, 15 7" figures can bena tad overwhelming.

The smallest acceptable number is 4: 2 foot soldiers flanking the sides of Shredder. Less than 3 is UNACCEPTABLE!!

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