Mutations Shredder

Height: 12cm to top of head as Oroku Saki; 13.5cm to top of helmet as Shredder.

Articulation: 5 joints in all- swivel head; swivel shoulders, ball-joint hips. Various other joints associated with transformation.

Accessories: Kwan Dao.

Colors: Molded black, fleshtone, silver, and brown. Painted silver, black, gray, red, gold, and black ink.

Release Data: Remolded from the original Mutatin' Shredder released in 1993. Released in 2003 for an MSRP of $7.99. Rereleased in 2004 in a two-pack with Mutatin' Raphael for an MSRP of $14.99. This item is no longer in production as of this writing. (March 30th, 2005)

Gallery: 7 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

Mutatin' Shredder doesn't, technically, mutate into anything. He does turn into Oroku Saki, but unless you're speaking of Super Shredder from the second Ninja Turtles movie(which was the basis for the original Mutations toy), Shredder isn't a mutant- he's Saki in a suit of bladed armor. Still, it's better not to pick the concept to death- it's a fun toy. And like Raphael, this version has been improved quite a bit in terms of style.

Oroku Saki

Saki is dressed in a black kimono. His new head sculpt is very nice, with a much better face. It has a simple swivel joint, which is really only fully useable by Saki, due to Shredder's helmet design. The arms are simple swivel joints as well, with no additional joints or elbow swivels. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible to use any two-handed weapons correctly.

Saki does have legs, but due to the kimono they're really only useable as Shredder, so I'll cover them in the Shredder section.

Paint and Detailing

The paint job is very good, though most of the paint is only visible as Shredder. The helmet is particularly notable, being fully painted. The problem there is that the transformation mechanism poses a serious risk to the helmet's paintjob- though in a nice touch, the helmet has been given a weathered look to begin with, so the inevitable scrapes won't look terribly out of place. Again, the fact that the weapon is painted is really spectacular to someone who's only familiar with the original line- the paint is nice and clean, too.

Articulation gets 5/10

Sculpt and Deco gets 8/10

The Shredder

All of Shredder's armor is newly sculpted to match his modern looks, even the bladed plates on his forearms and shins. Shredder looks really great- the front flap of Saki's kimono folds up to become Shredder's breastplate and shoulder armor, and the forearm armor is hidden inside the sleeves. The breastplate's detailing makes it look more like a plate of armor than, well, another layer of Shredder's chest, like the original did. The shoulder armor has soft rubber pegs that are supposed to plug into the shoulders, but the helmet interferes somewhat. The original didn't have this problem as it had hard pegs and a smaller helmet.

The helmet comes out of Saki's back- as I said, it's really a great sculpt, but the fact that it's stored in the back means that the rubbery helmet has to be pressed into the back for Oroku Saki Mode. This isn't helped by the fact that the new helmet mold is significantly larger than the original- the helmet has to be placed just so to get the back to close. But as I said, it's awfully nice-looking.

Shredder's legs are ball-jointed at the hip, but they don't have much of a range and they can really only be in one or two positions for the figure to stand. As with many transforming figures of old, and unlike the Mutating Turtles themselves, the transforming mechanism hinders articulation instead of helping it. A pity. However, the leg armor is more secure than the original version's- the right shin guard fell off of its own accord on day one, and I was never able to glue it satisfactorily.

Shredder gets 8/10

Accessories

-Kwan Dao

The original Mutations came with weapons that transformed too- Shredder had a staff or cane of sorts that hid two swords- a nifty accessory. Here, Shredder has a Kwan Dao, which is a traditional Chinese weapon named for the famous general Guan(Kwan) Yu, who made it his weapon of choice. It's nicely molded, and very well-painted, though as I mentioned above, it's not possible to have Shredder hold it two-handed as was intended. It's a really nice weapon, though, and I like it a lot.

Accessories get 7/10

Closing Remarks:

Mutatin' Shredder does what he was intended to do pretty well- which is have two different forms and look neat. The helmet worries me, and I'm glad I'm photographing its current appearance for posterity. Even so, I doubt I'll be "Mutating" Shredder very much once the photo shoot is complete. It might help to carefully cut the helmet loose from the rubber strip that holds it to the figure- but then again, it might trap the helmet in the back forever, since it's such a tight fit, so attempt that at your own risk.

As Mutatin' Raph's packmate, I paid roughly $7.50 for Shredder, and I'm pretty pleased. I liked the original toy, and in many ways this figure's better-looking than its `90s predecessor. On a purely technical basis the toy could've been better, but if you like TMNT, or Shredder in particular, you'll probably call it a Good toy, as I do.

-RAC, Revenge of the `90s Week