Heroes In A Halfshell

Being an American male of a given age I am naturally a fan of the Ninja Turtles. I grew up watching them, both the cartoon and the movies. Of course I had a favorite. Everyone did. Supposedly your favorite TMNT says something profound about your personality. If that’s true, then what does liking Raphael say about me? Or, more importantly, what does it say about those of you who chose wrong and like one of the others?

At Historicon I picked up all four Ninja Turtles from the Flea Market. They were resin, possibly 3D printed. If they were privately printed, they were very well done. My 3D printer wasn’t that good. Assuming they weren’t privately 3D printed it’s not clear what game they were from. These are perfectly scaled for 28mm figures and are well made. There are other Ninja Turtle options out there but many of them are over sized. These are slightly short compared to standard 28mm miniatures, but the Ninja Turtles were shorter. They’re turtles. What do you want?

For colors, I had to avoid cartoonishness. Why? No strong reason, I just don’t like the minis I’ve seen that look like the Saturday morning cartoon. It is what most people are familiar with, but I don’t think they would fit well with other minis I have on the table.

That leaves the original comic books. I expect most people know that the Ninja Turtles didn’t originally wear different colors. They were all in red masks. I’ve always like that look so that’s the route I went. We will all continue to ignore the problem of over sized turtle-men thinking that they need masks. Or that they derive any benefit from the masks. Ooo, well done. No one will figure out who you are now, giant f-ing turtle.

Gaming is the goal, so how will they be used? Two options. I do have a surprising number of fantasy themed turtles. Maybe a Frostgrave unit, though why turtles would invade a frozen city is an open question. More interesting is the 7TV programme guide for TMNT. I don’t have the bad-guys, but that’s a problem i can overcome.

In all, there can be no harm in having the four turtles. I have plans on a more kid friendly game; simpler rules and less violence. TMNT, the Scooby-Doo cast, a few other cartoon casts will help with that plan.

What was really nice about these was that they were so easy to paint. And fun too. A quick enjoyable set of miniatures to get me out of that ennui.

2022 Count:
202 figures painted (0.802 per day)
19 figures printed
174 figures purchased
4 terrain painted