Custom TMNT MOVIE STAR TURTLES figures with Sewer Diorama!

I vividly remember walking into Kay-Bee toys in Greece (Rochester, NY) on a special annual trip one summer; when we were 7-11 years old, my Grandmother would take us out shopping for the toys we might want for Christmas. We had a great time looking at things together, and then we would wait outside the store with my aunt while she bought what she was going to buy.

At this particular Kay-Bee circa 1991, the Movie Star Turtles had appeared. I hadn't known anything about them previously, as I was about 7 or 8... and I lost my mind. I did buy one that day (Michelangelo), and I can still smell the fresh rubber / carcinogenic plastic lubricants that wafted up as I popped off the bubble. The paintwork, the sculpt, THE RUBBERY LIMBS!!! I was in love.

Years went by, and my collection of Turtles was bought and sold several times, but the Movie Turtles have always been some of my favorites. Of course, as I aged I became more jaded and cynical; I realized that there was some wonky-ness in some of the paint work. Leo had some 'wack' spots with bright yellow outlines... it was distracting, and possibly something he should see a turtle dermatologist about. And then I noticed the new Movie Turtles showing up on eBay from China- someone making these figures again, but in hard plastic! The paint work was of course shoddy, and most of the turtles looked like they were cross-eyed and suffering some serious complications from their ooze mutation. (This might actually be more accurate in terms of a mutated end product.) BUT, these being HARD PLASTIC, I wanted to take them and paint them more realistically, and more durably than if I tried painting on the vintage rubber figures, which are cool enough anyway.

I ordered the set and got all four turtles, Splinter, and a Movie Footsoldier with a ton of great accessories! Very pleased. I washed all the pieces, primed them, and then spent an entirely unreasonable amount of time applying layers of paint to bring out muscle and pore definition. The turtles ended up with real leather belts, and as Leo's swords were all warped and soft, I cut thin pieces of metal to make him legit Katanas.

It took a really long time.

Then I made a sewer diorama for these turtles, for someone to proudly display them forever. The diorama is wood, hardware, carved foam, finish, acrylic paint, metal, Sculpey Clay, and paper.