Baxter Stockman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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Baxter Stockman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time) Review

Baxter Stockman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (Neca)While NECA’s done quite a bit of good with TMNT so far this year, especially with the Turtles in disguise 4-pack I have yet to get my hands on, but there’s a couple fans plenty excited for the return of the Mirage line. That’s how NECA got their start with the license years ago, and I’m more than eager to see what they have in store. Until then, we still have a few Turtles in Time figures to get out of the way. Aside from restocks of previous figures, the ultimate Baxter Stockman made his way to retailers last month. I was lucky enough to find him a while ago and now it’s review time.

The packaging is similar in artwork to the regular figures, but the box type is the fifth-panel one used on NECA’s ultimates. On the front, we get some nice artwork of Baxter himself, with the nice campy early-90’s CGI look, and it looks to be new artwork as well. The box is collector-friendly, as long as you don’t mind having to cut off all those plastic ties.

The figure is undeniably Baxter, but it’s not exactly how he looks in-game. In the game, he was bulky, a bit short, and had messy hair. The figure, on the other hand, is tall, slender, and has combed hair. Not to mention he has reused parts from the toon line’s Vernon, specifically the upper arms, pelvis, and upper legs. Still, Baxter’s Baxter, and he looks pretty nice, but I wish the proportions were better.

The paint’s more on the positive side, however. Yes, it’s pixel deco like with previous releases in the arcade line, but it’s some of the cleanest paint I’ve seen on a NECA Turtle figure, and the colors are accurate as well. The paint does crack a bit around the pelvis, but it’s not as bad as on the Rat King. The figure stands about 6 ¼” tall, much more than the 4” toon Baxter, and like him, the fly arms are placed on the back inside of the sides of the torso, as to not hinder the arm articulation.

Speaking of articulation, there’s a lot of it here. Fly guy has a ball-jointed head, swivel-hinge neck, shoulders, elbows (double-type), wrists, wings, and fly arms, ball-jointed chest and hips, swivel waist and thighs, double-hinged knees, and rocker-hinge ankles. All of the joints move well, with nothing stuck tight or needing to be heated up. The head-neck combo works great, and let’s not forget the hinged jaw, which helps add more expression to him.

Ultimate figures tend to get a good chunk of accessories, and Baxter is no exception to this. There’s gripping and closed hands to go with the relaxed pair he comes wearing, and they swap out easily. His two firearms are included as well, one is an uzi and the other is a small revolver. The big energy arm he uses to attack the Turtles with is included as well, scaling about 7” long and has a ball-joint on the hand. It’s designed to plug into either of the guns, and has a support post to keep it and Baxter upright. Be careful with that post though, you have to put the thinner end of the arm in it then slide the post forwards. I was careless with it and the broke. Fortunately, the included dynamic stand works just as well.

Oh, did I forget? NECA’s dynamic figure stand is included here as well, and it’s been updated. The “arm” of it has been updated to have an extra hinge by the grip, meaning that while you can’t adjust the length of the arm anymore, you can use that extra hinge along with the adjustable height to make Baxter fly up higher. The accessories here included are great, but they missed out on the opportunity to throw in a firing effect for the uzi.

I didn’t think NECA could top the Baxter they did for the toon line, but they managed to do so, and quite well. Sure, the sculpt on this guy is all sorts of off, but the pros outweigh the cons, thanks to great articulation and accessories. The pirate Bebop & Rocksteady two-pack is supposed to be out soon, so I’m holding out hope I can get my hands on it.