Last year was great for the NECA TMNT ’87 Cartoon line and they are roaring out of the gate in 2022 with a cool new two-pack of villains, Antrax and Scumbug! Antrax is Krang’s Executioner from Dimension X and Scumbug is a mutated exterminator. These two appeared on the show once in one of the more memorable episodes, Night of the Rogues, where Shredder hired a group of villains to take out the Turtles. Let’s take a look!
The box is almost classic at this point and I always love seeing the new illustrations of these old cartoon characters. One thing I forget to feature on here sometimes and something NECA does that I’d like to see more companies do is the bottom has credits so you can see who helped create these toys.
The set comes with Antrax and Scumbug, an acid gun, a taser net thrower, three roaches, an axe, two knives, a club, and a techno-doohicky.
Antrax has four arms and he’s also well armed with two knives, a club, and a battle axe. The weapons all have that great cartoony feel to them, but the spikes on the club and knife guard are pretty sharp. I like the skull motif on the dagger that goes in the scabbard on his back and the battle axe, it is perfect for an executioner.
Scumbug’s acid gun is attached to a hose that is attached to his pack which is attached to his back. It’s on there pretty good, so I don’t think it is meant to be removeable, but the hose is flexible and allows for posing. The vivid green on this weapon and the tank looks fantastic contrasting the purple and light blue on the body. The little purple bug looking thing is a device Scumbug uses in the show to throw an energy net around the turtles. Always getting caught in energy nets, those turts. It also kinda looks to me like it could be used as a taser.
The roaches are something the old Scumbug figure came with, so it’s nice to see them here too and they actually get a really nice paint job for such tiny little slug figures. The device is pretty elaborate, with a lot of detail and clean paint packed into the scope and keys and whatnot. I want to know how they got those little black lines on there so cleanly! I honestly can’t remember which techno Macguffin of the week this one is, but I will never turn one down as every episode seems to have some device that drives the plot.
Sculpting is again wonderful on these two. They capture the designs of the cartoon and translate them to 3D really well, but also make them a little cooler somehow. I could see why maybe Scumbug didn’t make a return to the show, his design is fairly complex with lots of different colors and details. I especially like his exposed brain at the top of his head and bloodshot bug eyes. Antrax has a great grimace that dominates his face and I love how each tooth is cleanly sculpted and outlined for emphasis.
Articulation on these two is fairly typical for the line with:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Double hinged knees and elbows.
- Mid-torso wobble joint
- Ball and socket head
- Waist swivel (Antrax only)
- Bicep swivels
- Mouth hinge (Scumbug only)
- Ant tail swivel
The articulation moves fairly well, though Scumbug’s head movement is a little limited and he doesn’t look up well due to the design and the mid-torso wobble is more swivel than tilt. One issue I had with my figures is the biceps did not want to move at all out of the package, so a heat bath was needed to free them up.
Paint is fantastic too with some lovely vibrant colors and I’m just in awe of how well they do the black outlines on these figures now, especially on the smaller accessories and I love the quality of the finish.
The TMNT will never run out of villains to fight thanks to this line. These guys are a little obscure, but Night of the Rogues is one of the better episodes and I want to complete the whole villain crew. Antrax and Scumbug also had old figures in the original toy line, so if you were looking to complete your old toy line up in toon style this set gets you a little closer.
Thanks again to NECA for sending this set along for an early review and I hear that the preorders of this set should be shipping soon.
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Source: Fwoosh
