Cool Stuff: NECA's Animated 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Figures Get A New Wave

A couple years ago, NECA released an exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles box set featuring the animated versions of the characters from their own series that ran from 1987 through 1996. It was a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, but NECA eventually released the figures as two-packs that you could only buy at Target. They've been a little difficult to get ahold of in stores, never listed on Target's website, and the secondary market has a mark-up of about 50% (if not more) if you try to find them.

Thankfully, NECA has released a second wave of animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures as two-packs that you can get only at Target. They repackage the heroes in a half-shell, with a slightly different paint job, and there are two new villain two-packs this time, including the dimwitted mutant duo Bebop and Rocksteady and a couple Foot Soldiers. And the best news is that they're actually available to buy online.

If you compare the new two-packs of the turtles to those included in the previous four two-packs where each turtle was paired with a villain (Shredder, Krang, and two different Foot Soldiers), you'll notice the new turtles have a lighter green skin color. The darker skin is a more accurate representation of the TV series, but the light skin has been seen in plenty of illustrations of the characters too. This time the turtles also come with more pizza accessories, something I wish there was more of in the other packs.

Meanwhile, one of the villain two-packs offers to entirely new additions to the line-up. Bebop and Rocksteady come with their weapons and a communicator where they get their orders from Shredder and Krang. The paint jobs on them are perfect, and it makes me excited to see the rest of the villains that NECA puts out in this line. As for the other villain pack, if you bought all the previous TMNT two-packs, then you already have these Foot Soldiers and all their accessories, because they came with Raphael and Michelangelo.

The only downside is that since these figures have been in-demand for awhile, they're currently sold out at Target's website. You might have some luck in stores as they've started to arrive on shelves this month, but if not, you can always sign up to be notified when they're back in stock so you can snag them right away.

As for the other upcoming figures, NECA has already shown off allies like April O'Neil and Casey Jones, along with other villains like Metal Head, Leatherhead, Roadkill Rodney, Triceratron, Slash, and a variety of different Foot Soldiers. You can get a good look at all of them from New York Comic-Con 2019 over at ToyArk.