#0405: Footbot

FOOTBOT

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

Time for part two of my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates reviews. I have to admit, after the Comic Turtles last week, I kinda figured I’d be taking a break from TMNT. It’s not like they make up a particularly large portion of my collection. But, alas, Diamond had other plans. I can’t turn down Minimates, right? Today, I’ll be looking at one of the Turtles’ foes, the Footbot.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Footbot is a variant of the Foot Ninja, which is the quintessential TMNT army builder. He was released in the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. This figure is specifically from the K-Mart Blind Bag assortment, which means he’s got one extra piece to differentiate him. The Footbot is about 2 ½ inches tall and he features 20 points of articulation (those extra arms sure do help!). He’s based on the character’s design from the current cartoon. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body with non-standard upper arms, upper legs, and hand attachments, as well as an add-on belt piece with two duplicate arms attached. All of the sculpted parts are new to this figure (though the upper arms and legs are shared with the standard Foot Ninja) and they all work very nicely. Each of the hand attachments is different, which certainly adds some variety. Where the paint on Raphael was a bit of a disappointment, the paint on the Footbot is nothing short of exceptional. There’s plenty of detail work, and all of the lines are clean and crisp. The eyes in particular are a fantastic example of conveying dimension through creative paint. The Footbot includes a sword, a sheath and strap, and a spare set of hands, allowing him to be converted into a standard Foot Ninja, as well as a clear display stand and the K-Mart exclusive-ish keychain attachment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Raph, the Footbot was purchased from K-Mart. He’s actually the only one I knew I was getting ahead of time, as the package was slightly opened. If I’m honest, he’s my favorite figure in the series by far, and he may very well be one of my favorite Minimates, period. About the only downside of this figure is that the extra pieces kind of make the normal Foot Soldier redundant, but I’m hardly complaining!