This post is part of The League of Extraordinary Bloggers, a weekly series of blog posts started by Brian over at Cool and Collected. Make sure to check out his site and join in the conversation if you run a blog!

This week’s challenge from The League fit in nicely with TMNT Week. Things that are green? I’ve been seeing green all week.

I was going to do an elaborate group shot of all the Turtles I could find laying around my office, but I thought I would keep it simple and show off how awesome the new Nickelodeon Turtles look together. Four different shades of green, and four completely different sculpts. Well done Playmates.

Posts from the League

• Newton Gimmick at Infinite Hollywood rounded up a bunch of green action figures
• Jaime at Shezcrafti took a much better TMNT group shot than me
• Shawn at Branded in the 80s just did that on television
• Mr. R over at The Man Who Stares at Toys rounded up even more green toys

Well, TMNT Week is finally over, and even though I have a few more things left to review, today is it for the Turtles’ new action figures. Next week I’ll post some reviews of Splinter, the bad guys, and the Shellraiser, but for now it’s time to give Raphael some attention.

Raphael is a lot of people’s favorite Turtle, and I’ve always liked him a lot. He’s not my number one, but he’s close. Raph is being voiced by Sean Astin of Goonies, Rudy, and Lord of the Rings fame in the new cartoon. That’s an interesting choice, but from what I’ve seen he sounds good.

Donatello is my favorite action figure from this new line, but Raph is a close second. I love his dark shade of green, and if he had a little bit more subdued expression on his face, he might be my favorite.
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It’s the third day of TMNT Week and today the spotlight is on the Party Dude himself, Michelangelo. We’re going to take a look at the new Nickelodeon Michelangelo and the TMNT Classic Collection Michelangelo action figures in the same post, because I’ve written a lot about these lines this week and I don’t want to sound like a broken record.
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Yesterday I reviewed the TMNT Classic Collection Leonardo action figure, and in a way I reviewed the whole series. Rather than gush about this awesome homage to the 80s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles four days in a row, I’m going to post photo galleries for each Turtle from now until Friday. That way I don’t ramble on and cover the same points four times.

Donatello looks great, just like his brothers in this series, but he suffers from a horrible case of lazy eye. Most people have reported their figures being the same way, and my Leonardo even seemed a little cross-eyed. But, that’s the only complaint I have on an otherwise perfect incarnation of Donatello. He’s huge, super detailed and articulated, and looks amazing.

He can even lift up two Foot Soldiers and stay balanced. That’s impressive.
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TMNT Week continues with a look at the Nickelodeon cartoon version of Donatello. I’ve always liked Donatello, but over the past few years he’s become one of my favorite Turtles, if not my number one favorite. The reason is pretty simple. He’s a geek.

In any team there’s always the brainy member, but Donatello always seemed a bit more than that. He was smart, sure, but he could still be funny and he could sure as hell kick your ass. I never understood the Bo Staff as a kid, but now I see it’s the perfect weapon for Donny. I never picked Donatello when I played TMNT video games, but now he’s always my first choice.

I’m excited to see the new version of Donatello, because he seems like the Turtle they’ve put the most effort into evolving. He has a crush on April (who’s the same age now), and he’s voiced by Rob Paulsen, who was Raphael in the Fred Wolf cartoon. I think Rob will give Donatello a great sense of humor but still be able to get the geeky side across.
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