The Last Ronin comic is a great story with a lot of toyetic designs, so I’m glad NECA is taking the plunge into another Ninja Turtle sub-line and kicking it off with armored and unarmored versions of the titular character. Let’s take a look at these two versions of The Last Ronin!
I love the beautiful artwork on both of these boxes. There are key comic moments on the front and it looks like they are going to build a cool mural on the side with the different characters. There is also a nice big window box under the opening flap and cool figure photos inside and on the back.
Both figures come with a grip of stuff. Armored has a katana with sheathe, sai, nunchakus, bo, four ninja stars, a grenade, goggles, removeable hood, claw on a rope, two heads (yelling and gritted teeth), two removeable bandana parts, three sets of hands (fists, grip, and open) and a tonfa.
The unarmored version comes with three sets of hands (fists, grip and open), a pointy hand, Splinter’s diary, a sai, a broken katana, four knives, nunchaku, two heads (closed mouth, slightly open mouth), a metal tonfa, and a futuristic mouser.
The hood and the bandana piece both plug into a hole in the back of the head and can be swapped between the two heads. I love the way the hood works as it moves well with the head and sits on there perfectly. The goggles have an elastic band and can be worn on the eyes or look great around the neck.
The unarmored figure comes with two more somber portraits and the same two bandana pieces. The nice thing is if you get both, the four heads swap between the two figures and the two more somber portraits fit in the hood and the angry heads look great on the unarmored version.
The longer weapons store on the unarmored figure on loops on a ring on his back. The Sai and nunchaku can fit on loops on the belt. I was able to squeeze the metal tonfa into the biggest loop in the back of the belt, but it didn’t feel quite right there.
The belt is the same across both figures, so the unarmored Ronin can store a bunch of the weapons in the belt.
The grip hands on both figures are super tight, but they help the figure hold super tiny accessories like the ninja stars, knives, and bomb. The knives from the unarmored figure actually fit in a little slot in the fist.
The Sai and Nunchaku and tonfa are the same between the two figures and they have great detail and when there is metallic paint it has a great shine to it and some lovely detail enhancing washes. I did feel like I needed to heat up the hands a bit to get some of the weapons in there. The pointing hand from the unarmored version can also hold the sai in a cool way.
The sword is different between the two figures because it gets damaged as part of the story. It’s also got fantastic metallic paints and a nice wash on the handle.
Splinter’s diary has nice detail, and I especially like the leathery texture on the cover, but to fit it in the hand, I had to really heat and stretch the hand open.
The open hands on both figures add a nice variety. The flat open hands especially make me want to make some bandanas for the unarmored figure to hold.
The mouser is surprisingly cute. I had seen this design prior to reading the comic, so I assumed it was a robot pet for the Ronin rather than a new flying version of the mouser. It has some clean paints and sharply sculpted details, but limited articulation with just a neck swivel.
Sculpting on both of these figures is so great and capture the spirit of the comic perfectly. The level of detail and beautiful textures are highlighted with great washes. There was a lot of attention to detail paid on this figure and even the soles of the feet have a texture similar to how it was drawn in the comics. The figures share a lot of parts with the same lower body.
These guys have a really great bulk to them and at around 6.5 inches, I was initially unsure of the scale. Part of that is because I hadn’t read the book and in that they explain he’s continued to grow and mutate, so he’s larger than the turtles usually are.
The articulation for both figures is pretty typical for a NECA Ninja Turtle with:
- Ball and socket head and waist
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, hips, elbows, wrists and ankles
- Swivel thighs
- Double hinged knees
The elbows are those floating pieces that hinge and swivel on both sides, but due to the bulk of the biceps and the forearms only gets about 90 degrees of movement. The bulk of the legs and the sort of rubbery crotch piece does make kicking poses a little challenging and I couldn’t quite get the unarmored figure in exactly the kneeling pose I wanted.
Overall these are a fantastic couple of figures that capture the feel of the comic perfectly. The bulk and grittiness of the character overall is spot on for the very Dark Knight Returns vibe of the story. I’m looking forward to more figures from that book in the future, especially some robots for this guy to fight!
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Source: Fwoosh
