Toybox REVIEW: JoyToy TMNT Shredder

Release Date: November 2024

RRP: $25.99

Even though JoyToy’s Warhammer 40,000 range has been incredibly expansive, when the company revealed they would also be tackling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1/18 scale fans still probably weren’t prepared for just how many characters they planned to release. Since the release of the main four Turtles the line has successfully dived into the realm of villains and side-characters, naturally starting with their greatest foe – the leader of the Foot Clan himself, the Shredder. JoyToy TMNT Shredder is another interesting release that clearly has design cues from previous iterations of the character, but also a fresh take unique to this toy line.

JoyToy TMNT Shredder comes in packaging that matches up perfectly with the previously Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles releases, with the focus on the front being the figure itself via the large window section. Around it is a nice big image of the figure and the character name as well as the Nickelodeon, modern TMNT and JoyToy logos. One side of the box is simply plain, but the other sports a very nice bookend-style image that would look great on display behind the figure. On the back of the box is a variety of images showing the figure off in various poses, and then inside the figure and accessories are safely stored on their plastic tray.

For their take on the iconic villain JoyToy have looked to the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, mirroring all-silver armour with completely disguised face and flowing belt sashes. However one element from the 1987 cartoon they just couldn't resist adding was that flowing purple cape, which adds a nice bit of colour to what's otherwise a fairly plain looking figure colour-wise. JoyToy have added their own little touches into the mix though, the main one being extra textures and moulding to give the figure a more realistic look. The black undersuit is all textured, while the armour has raised sections to mirror that of actual samurais. One really nice touch that could easily be missed though is all the little bits of battle damage across the armour, such as all the scratch marks carved into the torso and shoulder pads. This is definitely a Shredder who looks like he means business.

But despite all that armour Shredder still packs in all impressive-for-its-size articulation, altogether consisting of;

- Ball jointed head, torso, waist, wrists and hips

- Swivel hinge shoulders, elbows and ankles

- Double hinge knees

- Thigh swivels

JoyToy have clearly put a lot of thought into the materials used for the figure and how they will affect articulation, with soft plastic used on the helmet and skirt armour in addition to the cape and sash. Although the shoulder pads are made of harder plastic, they are attached to the cape rather than the shoulders - giving them some wobble movement and decent clearance from the arms. The end result is a Shredder that poses really well, with only a few obvious points of restriction. Swivel hinge elbow joints may not work quite right on 6" figures, but they feel right at home here. The torso joint has a great range of movement but the sword sheathes can get in the way of certain poses, while the hips have quite limited forward movement despite the aforementioned soft skirt pieces. They're the kind of kinks that would probably be ironed out on a larger scale figure, but even so JoyToy have done a fantastic job here.

And of course much like the Turtles, Shredder is also packed with lots of great accessories - or in this case, weapons. Possibly making a bid to be the most heavily armed version of Shredder ever, the figure comes with a standard pair of accessory-holding hands, a pair of bladed fists, katana, wakizashi, hilt pieces for the two swords so that they can be displayed sheathed, a pair of double-bladed swords and finally two shuriken. The shuriken are meant to be held in the figure's default hands, which aren't the usual closed fists but rather hands with a slightly tighter grip. While admittedly there might not be a lot of colour amongst the accessories (they're all silver and black), as expected the moulding on them is fantastic and the darker silver used is a great match to Shredder's armour. The swords are all really fun, but it's those bladed hands that feel like the star of the show - the perfect Shredder accessory. When not being displayed holding the swords the hilts can be simply popped into the sheathes - both simply slot in and can be removed easily despite not feeling too loose when attached (moving the torso about will probably make them pop out, but they can easily be repositioned).

Finally Shredder also comes with two different display bases, both of which are designed similarly to the ones included with the Turtles but slightly different in execution. First up is a basic circular logo, which proudly features the Foot Clan insignia rather than the classic TMNT logo. While the series logo would have arguably worked across the board for these figures, I do like that JoyToy have instead decided to give them ones more unique to the characters themselves. Finally there’s the connectable street diorama display stand – once again featuring a quarter of a manhole cover in the centre. Though that may sound identical to the one included with the Turtles, the base itself is slightly larger (featuring three pegs rather than two) and sports a much cleaner paint job. Due to the larger size it’s incompatible with the smaller ones, but will work with other villain releases such as Bebop, Rocksteady and the Foot Soldiers. The larger size also allows for better posing than the Turtles’ ones, making it a great display piece and a brilliant way to round off the set.

While the smaller size might not be to everyone's tastes, figures like JoyToy TMNT Shredder illustrate exactly why JoyToy are arguably the kings of this scale. As with the Turtles themselves JoyToy have really made their mark on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when it comes to design - echoing the past but at the same time very much delivering their own take on these iconic characters. Shredder looks every bit as imposing as he should, and the use of soft plastic for certain areas helps alleviate some of the articulation issues brought about by the design. Even though these aren't necessarily the easiest TMNT figures to get a hold of due to being Asian-exclusive (but even then there are plenty of options online), if this is a scale that interests you then they are well worth checking out.