TMNT Playmates Shredder and Foot Soldier 1988 Soft Head Hard Head Review And More!

[@powerpack9514]

The foot soldiers and shredder are hunched over in order to fit the blister. The designers (Eastman, Laird, and playmates) didn’t want to sacrifice the original height of the figures so they made them hunched instead.

[@razrentals8897]

Awesome, I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know!

[@charlesltk2099]

I read that time, Playmates were rushing to released TMNT figures in 1988 after the five pilot episodes were debut that is... So they didn't have time to paint him properly, which why he's shirtless with blue armor... Is what I read that is, not sure this reason are true.... Also according to 'The toys that made us' the reason they made him crouch like that to fits in the blister pack, They want to keep him tall as the Mirage comic that is...

[@strokeraceventura2550]

“Aw, Donnie!” Literally made me laugh out loud.

[@MrKersey]

Great reviews, thanks for the upload. Apart from the weird stance,I believe the 1988 Shredder still could be saved and made into a representable piece. The wrinkled part of the face you noted, should have been the part of the face mask, but why he was so oddly painted in the first place will probably stay a mystery. I never wanted to buy the 1988 vetsion, since he hand no similarity to the cartoon version, but now, I think I will get a used figure, totaly strip the paint off, remove all the seam lines including the eyebrows molded onto the helmet, add a few parts (i.e. the shoulder armor straps that are clearly missing) and totaly repaint the figure. The whole procedure won't be able to help with the figure's troublesome anatomy, but it could vastly improve the overall looks from the original.

[@robd1329]

I remember as a kid im the 80s when wave 1 of tmnt figures came out the heads were soft rubber...and later switched to hard heads. I still remember buying them at Toysrus..its was fresh line for toys!

[@razrentals8897]

I only had hard headed ones. I don’t think I found out until around 1996 when I started to buy toy fare magazine and they’d have a separate listing for them. Then I got some when I bought a friends childhood collection in high school.

[@pizzamorte666]

8:58 Fun Fact. Foot soldier and Shredder were sculpted like this to fit into the plastic Blister. Source: The Toys That Made Us

[@razrentals8897]

Interesting. I watched that show awhile back, but I must have forgotten that. I'll have to watch it again.

[@chevy-is-a-good-boy]

Great upload, enjoyable musings. The oddball design of the OG Shredder are what drew me to him as a kid. The creepy sunken face, exposed scrawny (old man body) musculature & extreme crouching pose all served to intrigue my weird little mind. I feel the TMNT toy designers did an amazing job of capturing our imaginations with their design choices.

[@razrentals8897]

I agree. Even if I didn’t like some of those things it still left a very memorable impression on me. I could still tell you what the Shredder toy looked like even if I hadn’t seen it in 20 years. We were spoiled as kids with such amazing toys. It’s probably why so many of us still collect in adulthood.

[@penmanovicxxxxxx2694]

The spots are mould in the plastic. Happens a lot with Kenner STar Wars toys as well. Great vid!

[@razrentals8897]

Thank you!

[@mitchfletcher2386]

Actually, Fred Wolf Shredder wasn't featured in plenty of episodes. In fact, he wasn't the main villain for some episodes of Season 8, and he didn't appear even once in Season 9!

[@TLC21]

Great review, i believe playmates used certain colors that was more appealing to kids especially blue

[@razrentals8897]

@@TLC21 thank you! That makes a lot of sense. Cartoon Shredder is kind of bland with all the grey. I don’t know either if a lot of kids would have passed on him if he was pinkish like the mirage color version.

[@dazedesign24]

The first release foot soldiers did not have a soft head variant so that is probably a first Release foot soldier 😊

[@puppymolly123]

I just picked up the 88 shredder at a thrift store and tbh I thought it was a bootleg at first. If I hadn’t looked it up online I would have walked away without it…

[@razrentals8897]

Haha I don’t blame you!

[@teddybeer6206]

I'm pretty sure the Foot ninja in the 2003 TMNT were human during the entire run of the show.

[@AnxiousAbstractifier]

nice job using necas figures and combining the vintage ones!

[@razrentals8897]

Thank you!

[@AnxiousAbstractifier]

@@razrentals8897 im not sure if you could answer this but where did you get your vintage tmnt?

[@AnxiousAbstractifier]

the foot soldier and shredder really look like an ape figure from the 99cents store with a bad paint job!

[@razrentals8897]

@@AnxiousAbstractifier I bought a lot of my initial figures from my tee fine stuff way back in 2005-2007. Last year I bought an entire childhood collection off of someone local. It was pretty much every toy from 1988 - 1991 so I was able to fill in everything I didn’t have originally and replace a lot of my figures that had paint wear. It was pretty pristine. The guy took really good care of his toys when he was a kid. Picking up everything I didn’t have really inspired me to start talking about everything so I started to make videos. The Super7 ultimates really pushed me in to it because I could really compare everything to the originals.

[@gramslab569]

I'm curious if you ever figured out what the A on the foot soldier butt means. I recently bought one and can't find anything about it.

[@razrentals8897]

No I haven’t been able to find out.

[@Pokehon]

I need some foot soldiers but they are expensive complete.

[@razrentals8897]

I know. I think out of the 6 I have I’d only have 2 complete. Only 1 if you consider the weapons rack essential. A few of them I just found at yard sales or in bundles so I’m happy just to have loose incomplete ones.

[@robd1329]

Ibought like 16 of the Neca foot soldiers... no way im buying the classic version of super 7! From the 80s playmates line..i have like a dozen from years back mint for display!..im glad i was quick on army building..they are a bit expensive to start now.

[@razrentals8897]

@@robd1329 so far my count is 6 playmates, 1 2003, 3 Neca movie, 6 Neca cartoon, and 1 Super7. I ordered two extra Super7 foot soldiers at my comic shop, but they never came in. I haven’t done an ultimates foot soldier review because I wanted to wait until I got the other two. I have a problem with my Super7 foot soldiers bicep joint. The peg has bent a little bit so I’ve been trying not to move it so much out of fear of breaking it. When Super7 rereleases series 1 I’ll order a second one.

[@razrentals8897]

@@robd1329 I think I only ordered 1 playmates foot soldier off of the internet complete 12 or so years ago. The other ones I found at a comic store, yard sales, and online local lots.

[@No1.OriginalTrilogyStarWarsFan]

Great video mate.

[@razrentals8897]

Thanks!

[@No1.OriginalTrilogyStarWarsFan]

@@razrentals8897 Have been army building with Foot Solders over the past year, have 25 now

[@trash44gzgigasmashkaza50]

They needed give him grabing hands too hold the weapons

[@seanmichael8744]

I believe the very first wave of 1988 all said "Made in Macao" and then they said "Made in China" untill they switched to hard heads...this includes the foot soldier even though he always had a hard head...I also believe the A on his butt is for Anniversary but I could be mistaken on that

[@razrentals8897]

Thank you!

[@gatchywatchyentertainmentb2090]

Ah yes blue and purple shirtless Shredder in a wicked dump pose. JESUS WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!?

[@razrentals8897]

I have no idea haha

[@went2jared]

Please do Krang next. 🧠

[@razrentals8897]

Will do!

[@Symphonia30]

I always found the shirtless Shredder to be pretty lame looking

[@cooltaylor1015]

It's pronounced "muh-cow".

[@Openthemeyes]

Never watch tmnt once the villains and turtles get wacky and dumb, much like dont watch the real ghostbusters after season 3. Its all down hill from there.

[@razrentals8897]

There's a few good episodes late in Real Ghostbusters, but Dave's puts me off. I still like Flip Side, The Brooklyn Triangle, Follow That Hearse, The Grundel, and Poultrygeist. I have a hard time getting past the new voices though.

[@teddybeer6206]

@@razrentals8897 Same here. Those late RGB episodes wouldn't be as painful to watch if Lorenzo Music had stayed on as Venkman

[@razrentals8897]

@@teddybeer6206 agreed!