The TMNT ReAction line by Super7 is interesting. The whole ReAction Figure conceit is that it’s supposed to emulate action figures from the early 1980s, specifically Kenner’s Star Wars line, by taking familiar characters and intellectual properties, and “de-evolving” the figures to their most basic.
But what happens when you do that with a property that is licensed by another company?
From what I understand, Playmates Toys has the full TMNT toy license, and has licensed Super7 the ability to make new toys based on Playmates’ old Ninja Turtles toys from 1998-1996. So we end up with things like Shredder as he appeared in the first TMNT toy line, but not any of his other media appearances: Shirtless, in blue-and-purple armor, and just kind of a weird thing to behold, overall.
But, y’know, as a child of the 1980s, I grew up with the original Shredder, and this design still hits me in the nostalgia feels.
One of the nice things about Shredder, though, is that while his colors may change from iteration to iteration, the 80s and early 90s saw him keep the same basic silhouette and design. For example, he wore red-and-brown gear in the First Publishing colorized versions of the original TMNT comics:
and he wore grey-and-purple in the original 1987 TMNT cartoon:
I thought, well, why not repaint the ReAction Shredder to make one of those? Or, better yet, why not make BOTH of those?
So, over Christmas break, while recovering from illness, I did:
Other than removing the cape from the Mirage Comics-style one, the only major detail I had to change was that the cartoon shredder had a loin cloth. I rectified this by just painting most of the lower waist area grey, but leaving a black strip on the bottom. It’s not perfect, but it simulates the loin cloth look well enough for something that’s just going to stand there on a shelf.
The two figures use two different shades of silver, with the Mirage (red) Shredder having a slightly darker, grittier shade of silver, and the cartoon one using a lighter silver that I mixed with some white to get a brighter, more cartoony appearance. The final result ended up being more subtle than I had intended, but both are recognizable as each iteration of the character, so that’s fine. I also painted the cape a brighter shade of purple, to more closely resemble the cartoon.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Shredder were created by Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird, and are currently owned by Nickelodeon.