When it comes to some figure lines, your mileage may vary - my first interaction with Shredder was his arm falling off in the package. His left shoulder had a loose socket (the same happened with Snout Spout) and I have no idea how one fixes this - but at least he looks cool. The figure's arm can rotate, at least on my sample it just tends to slide out with play.
Each of these figures tends to borrow some motif from MOTU, and the Shredder puts Oruku Saki in armor that borrows from the Horde. THere's a Foot Clan logo on his armor, cape, and axe, with Horde logos hidden on his shins behind new clip-on armor. I also assume this figure could provide the basis for some kind of Gene Simmons KISS-ters of the Universe line some day, but no such license has been signed that I know of.
While Donatello got Shredder-stlye armor, Duncan got turtle-style upgrades to his armor with a new back piece that doubles as a shell, a shell-inspired pauldron, plus a new shell cap on his mace. The painted armor pieces look great - the blue is applied nicely to the orange plastic - and it all has a slight samurai influence. It would have been awesome if this was a new character entirely, but odds are it would be tougher to sell New Eternian Guy or Spector than it would be to have a main character on the shelves.
The figure borrows heavily from the Mutagen-powered Super Shredder (as seen in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze or, "The one with Ninja Rap") by maknig him even beefier with more spikes and a hint of monster eyes behind his mask. This one really cranks up the monster factor with Hordak-flavored red eyes and dark skin under the helmet, which itself adds a Trap Jaw-esque underbite to the lower face mask. The helmet seems to be a new design that has hints of Tri-klops' drone buddy from the 2002 line, with bony armor that looks a bit like that of the old Hordak figure. It makes for a figure that looks incredibly familiar while being new.
I appreciate the new armor, although the three-toed feet are a little weird. It isn't explicit in the mini-comic if Shredder is mutated or not, nor why he has raided the Horde closet for a recolored gray crossbow. It clips on his wrist with no real fuss, while his hand can hold the new giant axe.
It's also worth noting the add-on bits, like a really nicely sculpted cape that feels neat and looks like fabric, or the wrist blades, or the shoulder blades, or the clip-on leg armor. Mattel gave this line a heck of a lot more parts and pieces than most of their normal Origins figures, which bulks them up. That's good! They also may get in the way of fitting in vehicles - which I'm not crazy about, particularly since I am unsure who the core audience for these guys is. Is it for children of the 80s generation? Kids in general? Collectors? I'm not sure, but the few stores around here that got any of the first wave didn't last. I haven't seen wave two in any shops as of my writing this - it's a compellingly neat figure.
This figure - indeed, this whole line - is the kind of thing I would like to see more often. Not only is it a good entry point for lapsed fans, or for kids, but it's something long-haul collectors won't cry if they miss since it isn't part of the DNA of their beloved franchise(s). Odds are you weren't pining for an Eternian-flavored version of Shredder, but if you were? Here he is. The comic is pretty neat too, and I would love to live in the alternate universe where someone made a SoulCalibur mod with these characters. Until such things are possible, I'm just going to enjoy these goofy figures between now and the time they hit the "just different enough to make you mad" phase. With the scuttlebutt saying a Two-Bad made out of Bebop and Rocksteady may not be for everybody, it's the kind of thing I would buy. I may never buy another TMNT Shredder, but maybe I'd change my tune if Mattel made a "standard" version of the head of the Foot Clan later. Until then, I'm going to enjoy fussing with this weird mutant one.
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