If you're a fan of the original Ninja Turtles comic from Mirage, then it's almost a prerequisite that you're also a fan of Fugitoid. Fugitoid was first seen in his own Mirage comic (which I believe was a one-shot), then his path crossed with that of the Turtles in the now-classic Transmat story arc of TMNT #4-7. I'm not sure if he was in the classic cartoon, but in the 200x cartoon he appeared in an adaptation of the Transmat arc, "Turtles in Space". Throughout it all, Fugitoid remained my favorite auxiliary TMNT character. So, this classic Fugitoid figure from Playmates should be a no-brainer for me, right? We'll see!
Stats
Year Stamped: 1990
Company: Playmates
Size: 4 1/2"
Price: $1 loose complete on eBay. The figure's in C7 condition, though.
Packaging: Carded
Looks:
Playmates apparently thought that Fugitoid needed a bit more oomph, adding lots of little technological details to the classic Mirage design. And I guess Playmates wanted to envoke Threepio, as they changed his color scheme from silver to black/gold. At first the changes were totally repugnant to me, but I've grown to appreciate them for what they are. The additional detailing is admittedly pretty interesting.
His chest opens up, revealing cool droid-like inner workings. It's a nice touch, but I would have liked them to take it just a bit further with some sort of a recognizable inner organ, like a robo-heart.
Articulation:
Fugitoid sports 5 points of articulation: swivel neck, shoulders, and waist. Usually, TMNT figs also have a swivel wrist/elbow and ball-socket hips, so Professor Honeycutt got the short end of the Electro-Stun Stick.
Accessories:
Speaking of which, Fugitoid comes with said stick, as well as a Grappling Claw, a Metal-Melting Machine Gun, and a Skeletal Scanner. I like the ray gun and the Skeletal Scanner (which looks totally cool attached to the inside of his opened chest), but the others are meh. They can be attached to pegs on his body, if you want to make Fugitoid look ridiculous. But none of the accessories really scream "Fugitoid" to me. I'd be ecstatic if he came with the electrocuted corpse of Professor Honeycutt, but of course Playmates wouldn't allow something so graphic.
Value:
A loose complete figure for $1 is a great price... but this sample is a bit worse for wear. At least I know a kid thought the figure to be as cool as I do. You can get a loose complete version in presumably better condition for under $5.
Coolness:
Let's face it, the coolest robot figures have opening panels. I always thought that the Playmates Data was super-cool because you can open up his body for diagnostics. Similarly, Masterpiece Prime's chest opens to reveal the Matrix. And now, I've expanded this illustrious group of open-panel robots to include Fugitoid.
Robots, as Leo would say, make my skin crawl.
Overall:
Fugitoid isn't bad, but he's not nearly as good as he should have been. It seems like Playmates just didn't understand the character, needlessly changing-up the design. The changes aren't necessarily bad, and this figure remains an interesting interpretation of one of the coolest characters in the TMNT universe. But looking over Peter Laird's original plans, this Fugitoid is a pale imitation of Peter's vision.
An old-school action figure interpretation of the first page of TMNT #5!
5 out of 5 - Simply incredible!
4 out of 5 - Pretty awesome!
3 out of 5 - Cool enough, I suppose.
2 out of 5 - Not quite good enough.
1 out of 5 - Pretty horrific!
0 out of 5 - No redeeming quality at all.
8 comments:
nice job! i had fugitoid when i was a child, i remember admiring his accessories and the cool open chest feature. he's definitely not as cool as pizza face, though.
Fugitoid was one of our staple characters back then. I even found more of his accessories at the fleamarket, so we had twice the fun. So not only did I always equip him with weapons in hand, but also had claws and lazers sticking on all his pegs. :) Definitely one of the most memorable figures we had. I'm not sure if he was in the vintage show, but I swear I remember seeing him in there. And my brother made it a solid point to pick him out when he hit stores. But I can't seem to find any pics or images of him in the show.
A very cool figure in my opinion. Great choice I think! It's really too bad you missed out on the TMNT line originally, as I'm sure you will never be able to appreciate them as much as most of us who did have them do. But I can see that your going to have a pretty solid collection before you stop buying all the crazy characters that you like. :D 3 more recommendations before i chime out. Leatherhead, Napolean BonaFrog, and Ghengis Frog. :P Well... I liked them, but I liked most of my TMNT figures.
Fugitoid was one of my least favorite "Turtles" toys that my brother and I owned. Not bad, just bland, especially when compared (inevitably) to Metalhead. I don't remember those accessories though (besides the stick), nor do I remember him having all those attachment pegs. I guess they were lost immediately.
I agree, I think I liked Metalhead better as well. As far as looks and cool factor. The only problem...and a major one to boot, was that the straps on his back pack and the nunchuk hand attachment were extremely prone to breakage. I recall finding replacement parts a number of times for our Metal Head, and needless to say they continued to break from minimal play.
Yeah, mine broke too. Cool figure, poor accessories.
A Metalhead review would be great. ; )
Fugitoid is one of the coolest figures in the old TMNT line. I really loved the line in that era when they were making cool figures of guys that were Mirage but not part of the original toon.
Metalhead is definitely on my want-list! I'll do a review of him as soon as I get a complete loose figure.
-->> ..i thought the Gold Fugi - was just the crankier, bitchier version.
all in al .. he is kinda cute for what he is.
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