Toy Review: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X G.I. Joe’ Shredder Gets So Much Right

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ crossover lines have been and continue to be some of the most fun toy lines of the last three years. As Playmates’ time with the franchise comes to an end, it’s going all out with this crossover with G.I. Joe and we’re still here for it with the latest figure we got our hands on — Shredder.

Combining the Shredder and Cobra Commander is just the most natural and obvious of the entire series. In the 1980s cartoons, they both started as semi-competent, but loud and over the top, caricatures of villainy. They both descended into incompetence and laughing-stocks, with their minions and partners often proving themselves to be more of a threat.

Yet, in the comics (and later cartoon adaptations), both villains were absolutely frightening. Matching his comic book versions, Shredder was a hyper-competent leader, conqueror, and — most importantly — fighter, becoming a highlight of both the 2003 and 2012 series. Cobra Commander didn’t get as many iconic adaptations, but G.I. Joe Renegades and several of the comic book series, including the current Skybound Energon Universe, have all shown him as a terrifying force of nature.

So yeah, natural fit.

I’m right away stricken by how good this design is. It balances all the design elements of the two villains, finds the common ground, and then creates a look that is such a perfect balance between the two that it seems natural. The full face mask of Cobra Commander is such a gimme with Shredder’s helmet, that I’m stunned we’ve never gotten that before anything. The armor pieces and cape go perfectly with the fascists’ uniform. I really think the only thing it’s missing is a little touch or two that TMNT used to be known for, like maybe a small snake curled up his leg.

The accessories were mostly good, outside of the shuriken, which were so small, I immediately lost one of them. Maybe it could have used one more G.I. Joe-style weapon like a rifle, or a combination, like a cobra-headed Naginata or Kusari-gama. Regardless, generally speaking, they nailed it.

As far as posing, I love this figure so much. The only problem I ran into was that the shoulder blades limited the shoulders slightly when coming up against the cape. Otherwise, he posed pretty much exactly how I hoped he would. Even better, the cape is one of the better ones I’ve seen, with exactly the right amount of flexibility.

Now, on top of all of this, the figure was barely over $15. In an era where even the cheaper figures can run at least $21, but closer to $30, this is exceptional, matching if not exceeding the quality of the more expensive figures.

That’s probably the most important feature a good figure can have right now.