Super 7 Ultimates TMNT 2003 Utrom Shredder & Casey Jones review

The second half of TMNT 2003 Wave 2 is now in my hands, and it's time we go over some brief bios for Shredder and Casey Jones. The Shredder we have here is actually an alien known as Ch'rell, who took the form of the original Shredder, Oroku Saki, when the Utroms made it to Earth and disguised themselves as humans with alien technology. He was the more prominent enemy of our heroes, and for anyone wondering why he would have his alien heritage as a twist, it was a decision made by one of the franchise's co-creators, Peter Laird, and some could see it as a nod to the classic cartoon character Kraang, even though the Utroms were from the Mirage comics. As for Casey Jones, he's been a regular side character in plenty of TMNT media, but for the 2003 version specifically, he became the vigilante we know him as after his father was killed by Hun and the Purple Dragon gang. Not only that, but he also got to be friends with the Turtles when they were kids (though the Turtles disguised themselves as human kids). It's great to have my favorite versions of these characters in my collection, but even if I used a lot of gift cards to pay far less, I'm still going to have to judge these as normal toy reviews.

Here we have Shredder in-hand, looking pretty badass in terms of sculptwork for the most part; the colors are unfortunately pretty bland, and it's not because of the monochrome deco he has. See, the nature of Super 7 is their approach to being faithful to the color schemes of the cartoons rather than having some artistic license and using some metallic paint apps where needed. As a result, while the matte finish on most of the plastic is nice, most of the grey ends up appearing flat and prototypey in comparison. And it sucks, too, because the figure could benefit from using silver paint to keep him from looking unfinished, or at least have those light grey parts cast in a darker shade so they could blend in better with the rest of the colors. The bluish grey and black are fine; just do something with that lighter grey so he won't appear cheap! I've seen Super 7 do this with some figures in the past when they think show accuracy = no metallic paint, but surely something would help it look better? On the flip side, those two cloth goods behind him are comparable to bendy wire capes, which is great if you want to pose him dramatically as if the wind swept. Proportions are generally good for him, and the surface area, despite being simple to match the art style, is at least pretty good but could be sharper. As it stands, he's a mix between being badass and needing improvements, visually.

Head sculpt is mostly good, but I feel the spikes should be slightly less curved inwards to the helmet if I'm being honest. Maybe it depends on the angle of the show, but it does vary on how straight the three points on the helmet usually appear. I wish the paint for the mouthplate were more refined, but at least the red eyes are applied without any weird misalignments. Articulation consists of a double ball-jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, slight rotation for said elbow joints, wrists that rotate and hinge in and out, he has a ball joint in the diaphragm as well as a ball joint for the waist, pseudo ball-jointed hips, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot.

One of his accessories is the Sword of Tengu, a powerful weapon he used to rule Japan before it was lost over the years, and he uses it in the show because his exosuit protects him from potentially taking a severe shock. The sculpt is fine, but he should be able to grip it better. The blade is dull grey like the crescent, and the yellow paint, while accurate to the sword, looks a little cheap. He also has an alternate head representing Oroku Saki, or a disguise version of the original Tengu Shredder that Ch'rell took the name from. Sculpt could be a little sharper, especially if you're going to paint the skin to make it less plasticky. 

He also includes his true form, the actual Ch'rell, who again could use some deco beyond the eyes and scar. A wash would help his sculpt pop better than it currently does, especially if it's going to represent the skin of an alien instead of just trying to be slavish to the cartoon's digital animation colors. While not physically possible, it would be cool to see this guy inside the mech suit.

As for Casey Jones, this guy is a huge contrast to what we got with Shredder and the Foot Soldier in terms of proportions, and it's more than just him wearing less than the others. I'm getting a similar vibe to the Raimi Green Goblin figure where the torso appears somewhat tiny compared to the arms, which almost gives Jason a small bit of a kiddy toy look from slightly larger arms and huge shoes. He is meant to be stylized as with everyone in the show, but I almost get a sense of a Playskool-style toy with larger hands and feet than we should usually get with figures meant for older fans. Not helping is that his elbows are unable to straighten fully, so he kind of has that pre-posed arm bend that we see on kiddy action figures. Also, while his skin tone has a bit of a tan to it, I don't think it was meant to appear that orange. In the flip side, this is always one of the coolest versions of the character, and at least the paint apps for the pants and shoes are well applied. I also appreciate that the shirt is sculpted properly instead of doing the Hasbro trope or painting clothes over a blank body without any distinction between the fabric and the skin it's covering.

His head sculpt is also pretty good, and I like that the mouth and eyes are peering through. It could use a wash to make this look more worn from constant battles instead of looking kike it was made of paper. I also like that the hair has some shading applied to make it layered while still matching the color used in the show. That would work better than leaving flat coloring for the figure. His articulation is mostly the same as Shredder's, but with a bit more range due to him not being armored up. That said, his grip on the hockey stick varies from decent to awkward depending on how well it's wedged in there.

Some of his other accessories include alternate fist hands, open palm hands, a golf club, and a pair of baseball bats. Deco is fine for most of them, though the grips on those weapons also vary in tolerances. His unmasked head looks pretty good, though as I got older, he now comes off like a way cooler John Redcorn in a way. The sharpness of the sculpt could be tweaked a little better, though the akin color makes it a bit easier to see than the face of Oroku Saki.

This wave has its own preorder bonus, most of which is meant for this wave specifically. We get a yelling Ch'rell, an alternate Casey head with his hair flowing in the wind while looking to the side, a gauntlet meant for holding the Sword of Tengu, and said sword with a glow-in-the-dark feature. These should have been included with the figures anyhow, but hey, gotta get people to spend full price when these figures don't deserve it (even if I like them when they're heavily discounted)

For a size comparison, here we have the second wave completed with our example Turtle in the form of Leonardo. While it's said that Casey Jones is 6'2", what does that make the Shredder when some official sources have the same height for him? I guess it would work fine if we remember he is a robot suit, but he should be slightly taller than Casey and the Foot Soldier, or Splinter and the Turtles should be slightly shorter. Overall, Shredder is a case where a good sculpt, mostly solid articulation, and his accessory count combined with his height save him from getting a lower score considering he costs $60. As for Casey, he's sort of equal to the Foot Soldier in terms of pros and cons, but my main issue has to be his slightly off physique as well as the lack of paint and whatever is going on with the grip he has for his weapons. At least he has a cool selection of things to swing at bad guys. Only get these if they are discounted, sold by anyone willing to charge less, or if you have gift cards.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Shredder)

⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Casey Jones)