Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 reissue review

The 2003 version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains a favorite of mine, even to this day. It was the right balance of being gritty like the Mirage comics and cartoony like the old series, resulting in one of my Top 5 favorite action cartoons of all time. Further more, the franchise greatly benefitted from not being as toyetic as the earlier show, and the aesthetics gave the turtles a badass look to them while still retaining their teenage attitude. We got these reissues a while back to celebrate the many different versions of the franchise, as the 2012 show had its own line of reissues as well, so let's see how these hold up over 20 years later!

Here we have Leonardo as the base figure we'll look at. All of the Turtles have a specific stepping pose to simulate them in action, which was a common trope for most older toylines where figures aren't sculpted to be standing straight if they're articulated. While the proportions are a little more stylized to fit the engineering utilized on the toyline, the general strokes for the TMNT 2003 artstyle is still consistent, from the comic-like proportions to the signature Turtle sneer that is refined with better sculptwork than the old toys combined with not appearing basic like the original show. The paint apps are applied mostly well, though I swear the bands on the wrists, elbows, and knees should be a little more opaque unless they are meant to simulate paint rub for some nostalgia. The pre-posed legs make standing him a bit annoying, though it isn't impossible.

His articulation consists of a neck swivel, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, rotation at the elbows (but no bends), wrist rotation, and hips that move front and back as well as rotate via the pegs used to attach onto the waist. While poseability has varied from kids toylines at the time, this was a bit of a standard for the TMNT line, yet they make up for it with the accessories. In addition to the twin katanas, which are a bit flexible due to the PVC they're made of, he comes with some suction cups to help him climb up walls or windows depending on how well they stick on there. All four Ninja Turtles come with the same throwing stars.

Up next, we have Michelangelo, who has his legs sculpted in a different stepping pose and appears to have some noticeable paint rub. He comes with his nunchucks that are thankfully flexible enough to be stored in his holsters, as well as a grapnel hook that he can use whenever he is set to go up a building.

As for Donatello, he comes with his signature bow staff as well as two weapons he normally wouldn't wield: a sword and a battle axe! Thankfully, the sword is a different sculpt from Leo's katanas, and both weapons can attach onto the ends of the staff to make a longer, deadlier combo of sorts.

And finally, Raphael comes with his twin sais, which bend pretty easily on the belt and are probably not recommended. He does come with a handlebar for when he zips down the line of Mikey's grapnel launcher.

For anyone wondering about sizes, they are part of the old style of scale associated with TMNT toys, making them incompatible with the 1:12 scale and even with the scale of the cartoon. That being said, they are meant to be for nostalgia and not for a modern display. I mean, 20 years ago, we had reissues of G1 Transformers to tap into the nostalgia while modern articulated lines make more sense for crossovers and display ability. 

Overall, these figures are highly recommended to anyone who loves getting some old TMNT figures in their collection and are huge fans of the 2003 series like I am. It's great to see this show get some attention after mostly getting stuff based on the 1987 cartoon when it comes to bringing back older lines, an it says a lot when this and the Super7 lines are giving the 2000s their due for once. Speaking of, I look forward to giving the Super7 Ultimates a shot, even if the reputation is mixed.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐