This Ninja Turtle Giant Robot Is the Best, Weirdest Toy Collaboration of the Year

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Photo: James Whitbrook/Gizmodo

Few things are not improved by the presence of giant robots. So when you take something known for totally radical excess like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and transform its heroes into their own giant-sized mechanical selves, it’s hard to imagine it going wrong. And yet, taken to just the amount right of excess, it’s easy to see how right it can go too.

That’s really the case for Chinese toy manufacturer Heat Boys’ new official collaboration with Nickelodeon to bring Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and even Shredder to life as a series of new “Alloy” posable mecha figures. Kicking off with team leader Leo, the debut of the clunkily named TMNT HB0012 Leonardo recently has given us a simple answer to “What if TMNT but giant robots?”, and it’s a resoundingly positive one.

Photo: James Whitbrook/Gizmodo

On cracking open the deceptively small box for Heat Boy’s debut TMNT toy, you’re presented with layers of density—from trays of weapons and accessories, to the metal-and-plastic body of this almost 10" tall mecha that weighs the best part of two pounds once you’ve strapped the aforementioned accessories all over him. And yet, for as brick-like as Leo can be, the attention to detail in everything from paintwork to articulation and movement is deceptively delicate. This is a figure you don’t have to have price-induced anxiety about bending a joint too far or something snapping off if you don’t handle it just so. It’s stable even in the most dynamic of poses, and every joint moves smoothly and yet firmly enough that you can be relatively rough with it (although Heat Toys’ own instructions for the figure repeatedly stress trying to avoid scraping the paint on the figure’s myriad metal-on-metal parts).

What this leaves you with is an incredibly posable figure, one dedicated to not just being faithful to the classic TMNT character design but in its mechanical design too. Seeing little pistons and pieces of joint armor expand and contract as you move an arm or bend a knee isn’t just a great little treat but keeps Leonardo’s silhouette intact no matter how far you push a pose. After spending most of a day manhandling him, each joint still felt as tight—but not uncomfortably so—as it did when I took Leo out of the box, and ready to pose as if he’s either a hulking, stomping giant robot or a graceful, balletic Ninja teen.

Photo: James Whitbrook/Gizmodo

And Heat Boys gives you plenty to play with to keep posing the figure over and over. In the world of NYC’s sewers Leo might be best known for his dual katanas in combat, but his mechanized counterpart comes with enough firepower for long and close-ranged combat to make a Gundam blush. Aside from his katanas—mountable on articulated sheathes attached to Leo’s “shell”—the figure can wield dual daggers, an ooze-powered assault rifle and shell-shaped shield (which itself can be broken down into either extra armor parts or a wrist-mounted weapon, for either the daggers or a series of included shurikens), or two revolvers. With hardpoints on the figure’s shell, shoulders, forearms, waist, and lower legs—the latter two sets capable of being hidden up by paneling if not in use—Leo can hold pretty much every weapon he comes with all at once.

Attached to either the aforementioned hardpoints or to pegs in each of Leo’s hands—themselves having articulated figures—you’re rarely not going to have a solid grasp on whatever you want to kit mecha Leo out with. Combined with a sturdy stand for dynamic aerial posing that even has a base you can store most of the optional attachment clips or other small parts in, Heat Boys have crafted a mech toy you’ll want to fiddle with over and over, and appreciate every detail. From the LED eyes lit up by a battery-powered slice of pizza, to the little Leo pilot figurine (in both plain black and a translucent “ooze,” amping up the Evangelion LCL vibes if you got in on the first order run) that sits within the shell itself, there’s plenty of those details to appreciate too.

At around $170 depending on where you import from, it’s a big ask—and an even bigger one if you were hoping to build out the entire Turtle team. But if you’re a diehard TMNT fan, or even just someone who appreciates unique mechanical designs, there’s very rarely a moment spent futzing with Heat Boys’ first crack at the heroes in a half-shell that makes it not feel worth that price. The TMNT HB0012 Leonardo is beginning to ship worldwide now—click through for a bunch more photos of the figure!