Jul 3, 2024

The "noir" detective variants:

 Super7, where's my official Don the Undercover Turtle? But in any case, I'll pretend that we got him and list some variants based around him.

Newsie Michelangelo:
Mikey dressed as a Newspaper vendor/informant.
Orange shirt with rolled up sleeves
Dark Olive green pants held up by brown Suspenders,  Brown shoes
Heads:
Neutral expression with brown Newsboy hat
Surprised expression with Newsboy hat

Accessories:
Newspaper Nunchucks
Klunk the cat
Pile of newspapers
Snub nose squirt gun with removable squirt effect.

Detective Leonardo:
Leonardo dressed as a police detective.
White shirt and blue tie with police badge on the left breast pocket, soft goods trenchcoat (light grey) head sporting a fedora. Pants with gun holster on the right hip.
Heads:
Reuse fedora head from UC Raph
New Fedora head with heroic smile.
Special hand:
Pencil holding hand with presculpted pencil
Accessories:
UC Raph Revolver
Police Baton
Detective notepad

Detective Raphael:
Raphael dressed as a Detective.
Similar to Leonardo but Red Shirt and black tie, black fedora with red stripe and trenchcoat.
Heads:
Reuse UC Raph Heads
Special hands:
Fists with brass knuckles
Flask holding hand

Accessories:
Tommy gun
UC Raph revolver
Pair of slappers
Soda flask

Barkeeper Genghis:
Genghis Frog dressed as a 1940s Barkeeper.
Bowtie, shirt, vest, apron, arm towel, the whole shebang.
Heads:
Serious Genghis head
Screaming Genghis head

Accessories 
Mixing bottles with removable molotov effects
Soft goods arm towel
Drink glass
Shotgun

Casey the Enforcer:
Casey wearing a 1940s outfit: Blue Shirt without tie, with suspenders. Rolled up sleeves with both hands covered in wraps, grey suit pants and green loafers.
Heads:
Masked
Unmasked

Special hands:
Brass knuckles fists.
Accessories:
Baseball bat
Golf club 
Cricket paddle
Soft goods trenFists.

Femme Fatale Irma:
Just picture Irma dressed like Cruella... in Irma colors, of course. 
Heads:
Neutral Irma
Flirty Irma 
Angry Irma
Special hands:
Smoking hands

Accessories:
Derringer gun
Amethyst Rat statue
Long cigarette holder/stabber

Star reporter April O'Neil:
April in an outfit similar to Lois Lane's from the Fleischer Superman cartoon.
Heads:
Neutral
Surprised
Special hands:
Pencil holding hand

Accessories:
Reporter notepad
Typewriter
Photo camera
Purse

Mild Mannered reporter Vernon Fenwick:
This is Vanilla Vernon but wearing brown loafers and a removable blue blazer. Think a nod to Fleischer Superman's Clark Kent.
Heads:
Neutral
Scared
Fedora wearing while winking
Special hands:
Pencil holding hand

Accessories:
Photo camera
Reporter notepad
Typewriter

Temptress Karai:
Kara in a Black sexy Chinese dress (I know she's Japanese, but film noir put all Asian ladies in Chinese dresses)
Heads:
Karai with an Asian updo hairstyle
Normal Karai
Long haired "Lotus" head
Special hands:
Poison needle hands (hands holding poison needles between the fingers.)

Accessories:
Fan (open and closed)
Small Knife
Small box of contraband that fits inside a two armed octopus statue
Two armed octopus statue (it's meant to be a nod to Krang)
Don Pancetto:
Bebop dressed like a Mobster. Black Zoot suit
Red Shirt with purple tie. Black fedora with purple band, black sunglasses with purple trim.

Heads: 
Normal Bebop head with purple rimmed glasses and purple hair.
Fedora head

Accessories:
Knife
Revolver
Shotgun
Stack of cash

Don Ceronte:
Mobster Rocksteady sporting a brown Zoot suit with yellow shirt and olive green tie. Left hand has multiple rings.
Heads:
Fedora and Cigar
Fedora

Accessories
Tommy gun
Sledge hammer
Knife
Dynamite stick

Il Trituratore:
Oroku Saki dressed like a Mobster. Dark purple Zoot suit pants with grey stripes black shirt with grey tie and purple suspenders. Soft goods black trenchcoat.
Heads:
Oroku Saki
Oroku Saki with fedora
Special hands:
Fists with bladed gauntlets

Accessories:
Saturday night Special
Bladed garrote
Dagger 
3 cement shoes: human female, human male, tuetle sized

Il Sacco di Terra:
Dirtbag in dark olive green pants with light green shirt and dark olive green suspenders. The shirt has his sleeves rolled over and he sports red fingerless gloves. His fedora has a miner  lamp on it.
Heads:
Lamp on
Lamp off

Accessories:
Pickaxe
Shovel
Knife
Shotgun

Don Bovino:
Groundchuck dressed in a blue Zoot suit but with a bolo tie. He sports a 10-gallon hat with horn holes that keep the hat from flying off.
Heads:
Grinning
Screaming

Accessories:
Cattle Prod
Red hot Cattle branding iron
Crossbow
Texas-sized Six-shooter

Since Donatello is supposed to be a private investigator, I made the rest of the cast trying to fit in some serotypical characters from film noir experience. With the setting being New York york I had to lean heavy into the Italian mafia.  But I guess this completes the Crazy variant Idea of taking each of the disguised turtles and giving them supporting characters. And no I will not make groupie variants of April, Irma and Karai.

Jul 2, 2024

Action figure related thoughts:

Sometimes, we get some crazy ideas regarding toys. Sometimes we get logical ideas. So let's get cracking!

-Aside some Asian bodies with very little variety and a bit smaller than true 1:12, we rarely see blank bodies for customization. At best we get Figures Toy Company to make some custom bodies, but they're very limited and feel as flimsy as those Asian bodies I've mentioned. I may have to look at these to make a Pizzaface, since it might be highly unlikely we get an official one. So, it would be easier for me if I had access to fat bodies... to make Pizzahead... or other civilians. 

-playsets have been turning into Cardboard display pieces with a few plastic bits... we need more Plastic Playsets that have DisPlay and This Play elements. Also, I'm not necessarily talking Huge ass playsets like Grayskull, Cat's Lair, or USS Flagg. You can have smaller playsets that work for play features AND Display features.

-Remember the Original Marvel Legends/Spider-Man Classics Dioramas? We need more stuff like that. I know SpAcE iSsUeS, but being Able to display Spider-Man hanging from a webline is far cooler than using a black or clear stand. The X-Men would look badass on a Danger Room set of display stands. How come Hasbro hasn't made Iron Man Hall of Armor pods to display your Iron Man armors? Something semi generic like the 2008 NECA TMNT STREET Stands that came with the turtles themselves. Something like that could work on so many lines. 

-pets... for action figures... and other 1:12 or 1:10 animals. Sure.I could get random onpossible snakes at a dollar store. I'd have my fill for a snake pit if I were doing Indiana Jones or something regarding Snakemen. I once bought a The Spirit figure for his cat. It's somewhere in the toy chest or I lost it during the move. I used it for a small TMNT strip that is now dead thanks to Photobucket attempting to extort me... I'm talking moderately Articulated 1:12 animals.
Lions, tigers, and bears... oh my! But seriously, 1:12 rats, we need those. Alley cats, service dogs, pigeons, stray dogs, just to name a few. Not going to mention a 1:12 Harambe...

-circling back to displaysets. I mentioned the NECA Mirage TMNT 2008 "diorama stands" well. Let's expand on that. Backdrops... plastic backdrops that look like buildings. But the beauty is that these backdrops are modular and you can print out signs  to use on doors, windows etc. What on a Batman themed Display would be the Entrance to Wayne Tower, on a GI Joe Display would be a Bank, and so on. Metropolis PD could be NYPD for Spawn. Ninja Pizza on a TMNT Display could be the HISHE Coffee shop on a Mattel DCUC, etc. The idea is to have options without requiring a 3D printer or a degree in Arts and Crafts.

-this idea is an even CRAZIER version of the Displaysets... Are you ready? 
Pre made Themed Display Unit:
72 cubic feet with 24 of those being storage area for extra accessories.

For example: Gritty City theme has some street level buildings,  a skyline backdrop, and a Sewer section. The Tropical Jungle theme has a jungle with a tree canopy and an underground cavern area. The Frozen landscape would be, well frozen, etc.

Modular elements could be bought separately like: Futuristic Space station that you could combine with Mansion and have your X-Men display, or City with Volcanic Cavern to have a Spawn display, etc

-selfie series was a good idea badly executed. We need it to return.

Jul 1, 2024

Konami allegedly wants to work again with Hideo Kojima

 Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, I'm a bit biased against Hideo Kojima and his 3 inches of doom. It's mostly because of his own ego. He acts like he's the best thing that ever happened to videogames, but After he left Konami, he failed to deliver anything revolutionary. His "magnum opus" after leaving Konami was 
"We got Metal Gear Solid at home"... but with QWOP Amazon Prime. Sponsored by Monster Energy. 

His other two planned games are a sequel to Death Stranding (which is an MGS clone but with tar monsters instead of mechs) and Physint, which is a stealth game in the veins of Tactical Espionage Action games... in other words "the Mighty No.9 of Metal Gear games."

I want to make a joke at Zack Snyder's expense with his "Star War Killer" but 

Unless it's the Full game teased by the infamous P.T. then, there's nothing for Kojima to collaborate with Konami. It wouldn't work. Then again, Konami has only done sports games or ports of older games like Cowabunga collection and some Yu-Gi-Oh! Stuff. Well they made a shitty Contra game. But that's about it. The last real game they made was the shitty contra game. The last AAA Game they made was with Mr. 3 inches of doom and now I see where this is going. Konami needs a Triple A game to not be the joke they currently are and are trying to entice Mr. Money Pit in order to kiss some D-list celeb ass to make a game for them... But is Kojima fit or willing to make a Metal Gear Solid game again?

We're supposed to believe that he's  been wanting an out from Metal Gear ever since MGS2: SOL. So, why would he go back to Konami unless they let them do a Snydercut of MGSV?

Oh god no...