TMNT "Shogun Showdown" mini figure play set

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Shogun Showdown” mini action figure play set, based on an NES/Atari ST exclusive level of TMNT II: The Arcade Game. Sculpted entirely from scratch in thirteen (non-consecutive) days. Donatello stands 2.1 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation; Shogun stands 2.6 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation.





And here's an animated .GIF of the play set's two action features in action (that or Shogun has a serious poltergeist problem):





Lastly, you can see lots more pictures, read background info/trivia, find out about the dimensions/materials used/articulation rundown, etc., at my website for this project:

http://kramwartap.fortunecity.com/shogun_playset.html

That looks great, MmM. The candles are a really nice touch.

And the gif is very Neverhood-esque.

I like the shape of everything and the proportions and all, but the texturing seems just off. If there was anyway to apply a shiny top layer to the whole thing, to make it all level and smooth, I think it would look a whole lot better. I hope I'm making sense.

Haha, man, that's amazing.

cool. one of my fave levels and bosses in the game. like all the little touches, like the bamboo stakes and revolving wall. shogun figure is very nice.

Very cool set, and it was cool that you included a gif of the working devices.

Somehow I was always under the impression that Shogun had a freaky skull head. Then again, I was, like, eight...

Impie: If you look at Shogun's game sprite head closely, it definitely looks mechanical, rather than skeletal. I actually did consider giving him an organic, skeletal head, as that'd be more in line with the traditional Japanese imagery he's obviously based on, but that wouldn't be accurate, so I didn't. He is most definitely a cyborg (when you kill him in the game, he leaves behind a robotic lower body, similar to a Terminator's).

Bank: I guess I'm not quite understanding what you're trying to get at in your post. Are you talking about the play set, the figures, or both? Paper mache does have a texture to it; I can eliminate much of it by smoothing things out with a woodburner/painting, but not all. There are also some rough edges/asymmetry present in the play set, and while that's entirely my fault, I don't think that'd be too inconsistant with an ancient wooden Japanese castle (I did collect and study numerous photographs of the interior of several real Japanese castles, in different states of repair, as part of my research for this project). Part of the problem there comes from warping when I paint the cardboard (i.e., if I paint a large square of cardboard, it usually curls at the edges while it dries, due to the porous material absorbing some of the fluid).

Well, you have the sprite comparison on your webpage, so it's pretty obvious to me now. Evidently my eye for detail wasn't all that great when I was a kid.

Well I think you just about hit it, really the whole idea of having smooth paper mache is a bit much, but I just think the figures AND the set could benefit from a more plasticky appearance. That is, if you're trying to get similarity to action figures and toys, as replicas and miniatures I think paper mache's texture is great.

Something about Donatello's nose/smile does not sit well at all with me. Great work otherwise, though.