Reviewing ‘Turtles Of Grayskull’– The Crossover Every 80s Kid Has Waited For, Part 2: Donatello
by Tony Thornley
Every 1980s cartoon had them. The heroic sword-wielding leader and the nerdy but capable number 2. For the Masters of the Universe, that was Man-At-Arms, and for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it was Donatello. In a crossover between the two, of course Donnie and Duncan would get along. Look, their names even alliterate!
After part one of our reviews of the Turtles of Grayskull sub-line from Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins, we had to continue on and take a look at the Turtle that does machines.
When I was young, I had a boatload of action figures, but outside of Masters of the Universe, it was often just a single figure from a line, maybe a second. That meant most of my heroes would come to Eternia for a visit- that included Peter Venkman, several GI Joes, and Leonardo. Donatello was the first of the brothers to join my Leonardo, and was probably my second favorite of the batch. Naturally he and Man-at-Arms got along well in my imaginative play as well, so this just makes sense.
Right off the bat, I love the design of this figure as much as I did Leonardo. It’s a great looking figure for both in-box and out-of-box collectors. The only downside upon initially opening it is that the mini-comic is exactly the same as Leonardo’s (but really, in the long run, it was probably to be expected).
Some of the problems Leonardo had are the same here but many of them are fixed. Once again the shoulder pauldron is too big and doesn’t fit well on the bicep, but in Donnie’s case, he only had one, with an arm band on his other upper arm. The chestplate is slightly unwieldy, and cannot be removed without removing his shell.
In downsides unique to Donatello, I found two. The combination bo staff/mace is a little too short to truly be held in both hands. If there had been a grip further up to the mace’s head, the length would have been fine. And while the preview images of Raph and Mikey show they both have Eternian headgear as well, both of them can remove their helmets. Donatello cannot, with the Man-at-Arms helmet being molded onto his head.
Otherwise, he’s pretty great. The mash-up elements enhance the figure, and outside of the helmet he’s clearly and distinctly a Ninja Turtle design with added Eternian gear. A couple more accessories would have been nice, considering Donatello’s role as the tech-Turtle, but it didn’t feel like he was totally lacking.
Donnie didn’t feel as top heavy as Leonardo, despite having very similar, if not identical, body molds. Having one less pauldron made him easier to pose, and I was able to get some slightly more dynamic posing out of him. Just like Leonardo, I would have preferred a shell molded onto the figure, with an added shell shield accessory. Also, the shell is identical to Leo’s, meaning that the scabbard isn’t customized to Donnie’s mace-staff, and can’t fit onto the shell.
Overall though, this figure is still great. I enjoy the mash-up with Man-at-Arms, and I wonder if they could have gone a little further without increasing the price point. Compared to Leonardo, I’d say this figure is slightly better, but not really by much. Both are really good action figures, and build up anticipation for Raph and Mikey when they come.
