I have another Rage Toys Samurai Force figure to talk about today, and just as the previous one I looked at was NOT Donatello, this one is NOT Master Splinter. Just Master. Lets take a look at the old rat.
What’s in the box?
- Master Figure with 7 hands
- Magnetic Hat and pauldrons.
- Cane and twin blades with sheaths
- Scroll, canister &Back harness
It was the release of this 3rd Party TMNT inspired figure that brought my attention to this line. Forgetting about any Turtles nostalgia, I just thought he looked like a great anthropomorphic rat samurai toy. I quickly of course realised the link to my childhood faves and that sealed the deal.
Master comes adorned in robes made with soft goods that give him a real premium feel. His bamboo styled swordsman hat and shoulder pauldrons combine with the robes to really make this figure stand out and feel sort of authentic. Well as authentic as a mutant ninja rat based on Asian martial arts stereotypes can be.
The hair on the body of this big bipedal bandicota is beautifully sculpted, especially in and around the head area. his hands too, with their realistic fleshy toned palms, look superb.
Accessories wise, the wise sensei comes with 7 hands, a cane, twin blades, a scroll, a canister, a backpack and… his tail. I’m counting his tail as it comes separated in the box and I had to attach it. I found this tricky and had to apply heat. Once I got it in I found it didn’t quite stay in as well as I would have liked. Not a big issue though and the fact it is fully bendy is nice for posing.
The scroll is made of a slightly cloth like material and looks great. The martial arts poses reminded me of pages from Splinters journal in The Last Ronin: Lost Years series from IDW.
The canister of ooze is another fun accessory and looks great strapped up on the rats back with the scroll.
Articulation wise splinter has his ups and downs (pun not intended). Arms are double jointed and give just enough motion. the knee (well strangely it’s his shin but somehow still looks good) is single jointed and the feet have a small range of motion on a ball joint. I’d have liked more from the feet but appreciate everything else is as good as you can get without harming the aesthetic of the rats legs.
His head movement is better than that of the NOT Donatello Turtle figure in most ways though his left and right tilts are a bit restricted.
From the add on “Custom kit” I decided the four youngster turtles belonged to Master. In this alternative NOT TMNT universe I’m assuming NOT Splinter purposely mutates these 4 reptiles with his cannister of ooze.
As with the other figures in this line the scale is smaller than 1:12 with Master standing just over 5”. Although because they are mutants maybe they are just a little small.
This old Japanese martial arts Master is an amazing looking figure. His sculpt and paintwork are exceptional with lots of simple but very effective detail. The soft good enhance the overall look though I do have some concern about how well the soft goods, especially the ropes holding the sword sheaths and acting as a belt, will hold up.
That minor concern coupled with some frustration over the tail staying attached are my only real negatives to this figure.
Overall it’s a fantastic looking figure with better articulation than I was expecting and a nice mix of accessories. It would have been nice to get a more expressive head but if we could only get one then the neutral expression is probably most fitting for this character.
Master Splinter from Rage Toys is easily my favourite representation of the teen training rat in action figure form so far so I am turtley happy to have him on the shelf. I made a funny! Ha Ha Ha.
FREETHEFIGURES 