DAY 08- Mousers (TMNT 2012)

January 8th, 2015. Day 8 of 365

Ever since the franchise was revived in 2012, the Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline has remained a fantastically selling toyline as well as one of the toylines with constant ups and downs in quality. While the basic Turtles themselves remain some stellar pieces of toy product, the highlight of the line came from an unexpected place for me: the Mousers.

Even up to the very point where I messed with them at a convention, I was super unsure about the release of this seven pack; super weary of the poseability of these nearly one inch tall robots, thinking they were merely a set of statically posed figurines to be merely a display option for any collection.

Ooooooh man was I so glad to be wrong.

So hey, let's just get this right of the way: These things are all the same exact mold in the packaging. The only thing different about them is the color (A set of three silvery gray Mousers, two darker grey, and two black) and a slight paint application change (The set of two Black Mousers have their inner mouth detailing lined in red paint.)

Each set shares the same articulation structure, as well. The legs of each Mouser are on simple swivel joints allowing for only the most basic of movement, and each neck of a Mouser is on a ball joint with plenty of room. While both points of articulation by themselves would be underwhelming, combining the two axises of movement together can be used to move the Mouser's torso around giving a greater range of expressiveness to each Mouser.

See? Red Paint! I wouldn't lie to you, readers. Not unless you've crossed me.

But then... Then comes the cherry on top. As you could probably tell by the photos above, each Mouser ALSO has a opening jaw hinge. Thanks to this neat little extra, the Mousers can assume all sorts of poses and styles of body language to bring even more personality to the little guys. Thanks to a surprising range of motion, and some well done (but minimal) sculpt and paint work, the Mousers might just be my favorite entry into the TMNT line.

Day 8 Complete. 357 Days Remain.