So, here we are at last with my final pre-accident NECA '87 cartoon-style TMNT action figure. I will be posting MANY more in this series (I had big plans for this line from the very beginning, and I've been working on continuing the series, already have several simple figures finished in the last few weeks! Yay recovery!), but every figure from this line, here on in, will be post-accident. It's been a wild ride, let me tell you. And while I'm not 100% yet . . . I'm feeling way better. :) Anyway, here's my latest Figure Realm submission . . . The Rat King!

I've honestly never been super fond of this character, despite his origins going all the way back to the original Mirage comics. Amusingly, much like Shredder, he was a one-note villain killed off in his very first appearance, who managed to get a substantial upgrade for the animated series. Unlike Shredder, he wasn't promoted to anything even close to "main villain" status, instead only appearing in about half a dozen episodes of the classic cartoon's run. Given that the comic character had almost no characterization (some manner of crazy half-dead homeless man turned "swamp monster" who fought the Turtles over turf), it's no wonder the '87 cartoon character had precious little more development. Now a crazy but substantially less zombie-esque man turned "lord of all rats," with a side of "Pied Piper" and "sewer MacGyver," he was exactly the kind of utterly absurd villain you'd find in a typical '80s cartoon, and I always found him even more two-dimensional than every other animated character on the show. (I will say, the 2012 CGI cartoon did him MUCH better, to the point that I was actually intrigued by the character and his story . . . especially his epilogue with Splinter).

Nevertheless, in spite of my distaste for the guy, he is an iconic villain of the franchise, and he absolutely was getting a figure. And thankfully, he wasn't terribly challenging to put together. Marvel Legends Prowler provided the lower body, WWE Basic Kofi Kingston provided the upper, with forearms from a WWE Elite Big Boss Man (the legs of which I used for Leatherhead, and the upper body I used for ANOTHER figure that I'll be posting here in coming weeks . . . stay tuned!). I really wanted to get ahold of a Cletus Kasady head from the recent Marvel Legends Carnage figure for the red hair and lunatic smile, but it was prohibitively expensive . . . but as it turned out, the similarly recent Marvel Legends Punisher head with a headband was an even more perfect fit! Rat King also has a headband, and while Frank had an angry grimace, some minor cutting on one side of his mouth gave him a sinister smirking sneer . . . and as a bonus, his face expresses a different emotion depending on the angle you view him!

Everything else was just sculpt and brushwork! Well . . . the little knots on all his rag strips are made from your basic action figure twist ties, but all the rest was putty and paint. Don't let the photo-flash fool you, the brown paint matches the brown skin tone of the original upper body perfectly, any variation is invisible to the naked eye. As for his accessories, his "rat control" flute and his orange smoke bomb are likewise entirely sculpted from Loctite epoxy putty, as are the bombs on his bandolier, the belt coming from an older TMNT figure. The knife is just weapon fodder, and his rat minions are Reaper Bones miniatures.

Whether or not I care for the character, my version of The Rat King looks like he walked right off the cartoon screen! I think he's just about perfect, and possibly the most accurate custom figure of the character ever produced, exactly as intended!

TURTLE POWER!!