Hello again, guys! I know it been a bit, but I needed some extra me time. Recovery just takes too @#$%in' long, you know what? *sigh* Anyway, back with another of my pre-accident triumphs, here's the mutant fly, Baxter Stockman!

This isn't radically different from any other attempt at the character that I've seen before here on the realm (and in some cases, done even better), but I wanted a balance of "high articulation, NECA style" and "cartoon accuracy," but also wanted to add just a touch of "keeping the original toy design" flair. As such, unlike some of the slightly better efforts I've seen on Figure Realm, I decided to keep a lot of the original Playmates figure while still MOSTLY sticking to the cartoon look.

For example, the head, while modified from the original figure's more elaborate sculpt to be more cartoon-accurate, is still predominantly factory original. Likewise, I did not give him articulated secondary arms, and simply kept the back pair from the original toy, only removing the extra third claw for cartoon accuracy, but leaving the lumpy texture. And the feet, of course, no longer with pronged toes, but retaining most of the more complex chitinous bug texture of the toy, even though they're now rounded like the cartoon model.

The rest was just finding the right parts and sculpting the details. The wings are, of course, from the excellent Marvel Legends Wasp figure. The primary arms and torso come from the pudgy little ToyBiz Doctor Octopus from the early '00s Spider-Man Classics line (with rotate joints in the biceps). And the waist and legs came from the DC Universe Classics Starman (the younger, with the black jacket and khakis), heavily resculpted to fit Baxter's slightly chubby body.

While the figure itself isn't super unique, I had a load of fun with the accessories! Because Baxter is a sporadic recurring character in the cartoon (after he turns into a fly, anyway), and his gimmick is so specific and iconic on its own (he's a mutant fly, what more does he NEED to do?), I wasn't sure if he should have any extras, or what they might be. However, after going through his episode synopsis' on Turtlepedia (the TMNT Wiki, of course), I found that he did have one iconic weapon and one recurring ally!

The gun is a "Muta-Zoo Ray," a weapon with a ridiculously large dial on the back that allows the wielder to turn his target into one of six animals: ant, turtle, gerbil, cat, fly, and donkey. No, I am not making this up, and yes, that gun in the picture is exactly what the gun looks like! *LOL* I simply modified an old sci-fi rifle (pretty sure it came from a Marvel figure, not sure what era, probably a Cable gun or something) with Loctite epoxy putty, full paint job, and it looked just about spot-on to the gun in the cartoon.

The ally comes from the same episode as the Muta-Zoo Ray gun, but did not appear in his iconic form in that episode. It wasn't until his next appearance that he had his most memorable and "proper" look. You see, Baxter found himself on an ancient alien ship, buried under New York, and the onboard artificial intelligence befriended him and gave him the blaster to help Baxter chase off both Shredder and the Turtles. Hijinks ensued, Baxter took off with the ship, the ship broke down, and Baxter salvaged his digital friend in a stand-alone computer module. He named it Z, and together, they roamed the dimensional void together. They eventually returned to New York to get revenge on Shredder and the Turtles and the rest of the city that had wronged and mistreated them.

Z here is 100% sculpted from Loctite Epoxy Repair Putty, and he looks PERFECT, front to back, EXACTLY as he appeared in the cartoon (if, perhaps, a bit smaller . . . in the cartoon, I think he was twice the size of Baxter's head). As I have before, I'm kinda lamenting how well I pulled off this sculpt, as I'm not nearly as skilled at present, thanks to my accident. Nevertheless, I'm so glad he came out so well!

For various reasons, Baxter here isn't QUITE on the same par as the rest of my NECA style '87 cartoon figures, but the differences are all intentional. I just like the more organic look of the classic Playmates figure to the strictly smooth features of the cartoon character. And in any case, I think the awesome and relevant accessories more than make up for any off-model changes. I couldn't be happier with my little fly guy!

Check out and comment on my other figures, if you haven't yet. I really like hearing from people who like my work, and it gives me the encouragement and motivation to push myself to recover faster, and get building figures again! :)

TURTLE POWER!!