NECA Mirage Comics line

KOs or not, those are, to this day, still my favorite mold of NECA TMNT. That’s where it started, and where I thought it would end for years. I love their goofy proportions and bold colors. And to my knowledge, that was the first Raphael available that could hold his sai with the blade between his fingers. Love love love this set.
 
You could do the middle sai grip with the Playmates movie star figures, but only because the material was so soft. I can't think of any other figure that could do it pre 2008, but I also didn't go deep on the 2003 line.
 
Did Mercenary Karai ever go up for actual sale on Target’s site?


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I own the new KO’s and once upon a time owned the original NECA versions, but it’s been so long since I sold them that my memory can’t do a 1:1 comparison. But I will say they are, I think, as good as what I remember the originals being. NECA got a lot better over the recent years, and the originals, while great, did feel a bit fragile and had some paint goofs. I think there is a video on YouTube comparing the new bootlegs to the originals that I found when considering buying them, but not entirely sure.

That said I don’t know how or why the new bootlegs started using the original packaging or suddenly made bases and the extra accessories. Maybe it’s because the last wave of KOs got so bad that a different factory wanted to differentiate themselves as sales declined. Funny enough, for a while the actual good KOs were going for a pretty penny on eBay, since the recent wave at the time were so bad.

I suppose it is possible someone in China found a crate of original product that was lost or stolen, but it seems unlikely. It’s been so long and they could theoretically sell them for more than $20-$30 a pop
 
AgentGreen said:
I own the new KO’s and once upon a time owned the original NECA versions, but it’s been so long since I sold them that my memory can’t do a 1:1 comparison. But I will say they are, I think, as good as what I remember the originals being. NECA got a lot better over the recent years, and the originals, while great, did feel a bit fragile and had some paint goofs. I think there is a video on YouTube comparing the new bootlegs to the originals that I found when considering buying them, but not entirely sure.

That said I don’t know how or why the new bootlegs started using the original packaging or suddenly made bases and the extra accessories. Maybe it’s because the last wave of KOs got so bad that a different factory wanted to differentiate themselves as sales declined. Funny enough, for a while the actual good KOs were going for a pretty penny on eBay, since the recent wave at the time were so bad.

I suppose it is possible someone in China found a crate of original product that was lost or stolen, but it seems unlikely. It’s been so long and they could theoretically sell them for more than $20-$30 a pop
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The earliest NECA figure I own is the 1989 7 inch Batman that came out as Toys R Us exclusive in 2014 I think. It’s definitely better quality than these Turtles.

They actually kind of remind me of 2005/2006-ish Marvel Legends in terms of quality.


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NECA was barely doing articulation when those Turtles were announced. They mostly did movie figures that were practically statues. I still have the original Beetlejuice figure (black and white that they reissued), Slimer from Ghostbusters. They did other horror figures and Alien, Predator, etc. The articulation levels of the TMNT were unheard of from this company. I thought the articulation on these guys was more than suitable, considering where and when they were coming from.
 
I looked more closely at some of the authentic packaged ones on eBay. It looks like they had more twist ties, one at the waist and then some around the arms. The knock-offs only had the base with a twist tie. The figures were just in the tray without being secured.


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Got this ad in my IG feed. What’s the Donatello on the bottom? When I clicked on it, it took me to an Alf figure product page.


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Just finished the second Mirage TMNT compendium, which goes up to issue 37. Not going to lie — it was a much tougher read than the first one. The Return to New York story was great, and some of the clear filler issues were pretty engaging, but a lot of it was not great. There were a lot of one-off issues from guest creators that were pretty bad and straight-up confusing. A couple barely had anything to do with the Turtles and seemed to be more about some indie creators hawking their own characters.

It’s wild that in what was the height of Turtlemania in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, the original title was just made up of weird filler stories by guest creators.

Anyway, I have the third compendium and will start reading it. I hope it gets much better.


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I think a lot of that was the result of Eastman and Laird spending more time managing the monster than working on the creative side. I have the earlier released IDW compendiums of just the stuff they wrote and all of annotations after a certain point are basically just "We were so busy with licensing that we barely spoke about this story to each other," and so on. And it's apparent in the writing. I felt like a lot of their storylines start in a solid place and then just sort of fizzle out.
 
This is where I admit to the group that I've never really liked the Mirage comics all that much, having only first read them a year or two ago. They were pretty rough art- and writing-wise, imo, and I admire them more for what they set up and created more than for the stories themselves. It's fun when later media references and pulls from it, but it's not my favorite version of the franchise. And of course, all the fill-ins don't help.

I will say, though, that a while back I started (and need to get back to) reading the so-called "Mirage volume 4" issues and they seem to be more consistent and cohesive. I believe IDW is republishing them right now under the title TMNT Journeys or something?
 
I find the rough around the edges nature of the original run adds a bit of charm. They took a wacky premise and ran with it. It's definitely not high art or even something I'd classify as among the greatest works in the medium. Almost all of the adaptations of these stories are better than how they first appeared in the comic, which is fine.
 
I like it just because it's so independent and punk rock. It's just what they wanted to do and they were putting it out there. That's inspiring and I respect it. How many people you ever met that that want to be in a band or have ideas for a movie and don't do anything about it always crutching on the lack of resources or talent or time or whatever.

I think it's cool when people just make this stuff and it's rough but authentic.
 
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