Heroes in a half shell!! Legos - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I am by no means a Lego expert.  I will preface that by saying that while my interest in minifigures and sets has been renewed I've had and played with Legos since I can remember.  I don't think there's really any other toy as great for an over active imagination and there's absolutely nothing better for a kid on a rain day.  But growing up one of my other loves was TMNT, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I was 12 or 13 I think when I first found out about them in Eastman and Lairds comics and then they hit big with their first cartoon and then Archie comics run too.  So when I saw that Lego was offering TMNT exclusive mini figures at New York Comic Con I had to find out what was going on.and soon found out that Lego would be releasing a line of TMNT themed Lego sets and minifigures based on the new Nickelodeon cartoon.  I was pretty excited.  These literally were just released and living in Alaska I'd be lucky to see these on the shelf sometime in January.  But lets have a look at the first wave.

Like all Lego themes there are varying price points, from entry level sets under $15 to mega expensive sets that could set you back hundreds (although none in this series so far).  Let's look at the 6 new sets from cheapest to most expensive as prices set from the Lego website

All my price estimates are from what the sets sell for on Lego.com and therefore should be close to what you would find on the retail end.

 First up we have set 79100 - Kraang Lab Escape.  If you remember any of the old cartoon or comic books Kraag was that little brainy octopus thing that was in cahoots with Shredder.  A cool little entry level set that should be right around $12.99 and you get 3 minifigures if you count Kraag.

Minifigures - Michelangelo, Foot Soldier (with ball and chain), and Kraang

79102 - Stealth Shell in Pursuit

It seems that every episode or issue of the old series had a new anthropomorphic character in it.  Here we have Fishface.  I'm not sure if he's good or evil, but since it looks like Raphael is chasing him I'll say he's bad.
This one should be about $19.99.

Minifigures (3) - Raphael, Fishface, and another Foot Soldier (with ninja stars)

79101 - Shredder's Dragon Bike
I always like the villains.  A great villain makes a story and in this set you get the main TMNT villain Shredder!.  This one should retail around $24.99.

Minifigures (3)  Shredder, Donatello, and another Foot Soldier (with sword)

 79105 -Baxter Robot Rampage

I would think that this set would be a lot more expensive than the $39.99 retail price, especially with 5 minifigures if you include the mouser.  Interestingly enough, the Mousers made their first appearance in the second issue of the original comic back in the early 80's.  Sorry for the crappy box photo.

Mini-figures (5) Donatello, Raphael, April, Baxter, and Mouser mini-robot.

Plus look how cool this set is!!

79103 - Turtle Lair Attack -
Another great set under $50 (barely)  $49.99.  And you get 5 more minifigures.

Minifigures (5) Splinter, Leonardo, Raphael, Dark Ninja, and another Foot Soldier (with bladed bo staff and  ninja star)

And lastly 79104 - The Shellraiser Street Chase.

This is currently the most expensive set retailing for 59.99.  You get 5 mini's and it makes 2 big vehicles. This set features the Kraag body.  Check out the chest and you can see the Kraang in his belly.

Minifigures (5) - Leonardo, Michelangelo, The Kraang, Dogpound, and another Foot Soilder (with gold/yellow sword and the only one with Red legs!).

Price on Amazon and Ebay are already almost triple what you can get this stuff for ordering on Lego.com or what you can expect to pay in a retail store.

I'm almost positive that there will be more to come.  And there is one glaring omission on the minifigure side. There is no Casey Jones!  I more than likely will end up picking up at least one set in this series and it'll more than likely be one of the two cheaper ones.  I'll do a full review when  I  get a set in hand.

cb out