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Mega Bloks treasures for LEGO TMNT fans

The LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme only lasted a couple of years, covering both the Nickelodeon TV show (based on the comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird) and the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, with 14 sets in total (plus a few small promotional sets). While some of the sets – especially the larger ones – were well designed, I always felt that LEGO’s commitment to the franchise was half-hearted. Also, while the TV show based minifig turtles were very cute and collectible, the ones based on the film looked dreadful. A lot of TMNT fans were hoping that LEGO will continue the series, but unfortunately no more sets were released.

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 6

After LEGO stopped producing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based sets, Mega Bloks stepped in, and embraced the franchise with full enthusiasm. They released three different TMNT collections; one for juniors, one for kids, and one for collectors. Here I’m focusing on the collectors TMNT sets, because – as you will see –  LEGO fans can find some very unique treasures in them, but if you want to check out all three versions, you can do so here: TMNT.MegaBloks.com

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 2

The collectors series is a fairly new endeavor for Mega Bloks, and in my opinion they are fantastic. Mega Bloks building bricks are still inferior to LEGO’s, so I won’t recommend their building sets, but they have found a niche for themselves in small, highly detailed, high quality, collectible action figures. And because the size of these figures is similar to LEGO’s and the building blocks used with the sets are also standard LEGO size, you can find some really interesting and excellent quality accessories.

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 3

The Mega Bloks collector series includes some popular brands, like Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, Halo, Terminator, and TMNT. Star Trek and Destiny based sets are coming later in 2016. Again, here the focus is on the highly detailed collectible action figures, although some of the larger sets come with some vehicles, buildings and other add-ons. You can find all the collector sets at Collectors.MegaBloks.com

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 1

For the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme they currently have seven collector series sets; four with the turtles, and three larger ones with badguys. I spotted these sets recently when I was casually strolling down the LEGO isle at Wal-Mart. I was instantly attracted to them (the turtles are in blister-packs so you can see them through the box), and picked up all four of the smaller sets with the turtles. They were less than $8 each.

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 4

The turtles themselves are very high quality and super cute, with great articulation at all their joints. The color-coded arm-bands, wrist-bands and knee-pads, as well as the belts, are all additional pieces made of a softer, rubbery plastic. The belts have various loops for attaching weapons. And for whatever reason the turtle shells are metal. I don’t know what’s the purpose of the metal shells, because they basically just look like plastic with paint over them, but Mega Bloks sometimes does strange things. 🙄

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 14

The weapons are excellent. They all have two colors (silver and brown for the nunchuks, the ninja swords, and the sais, and tan and brown for the bo-staff). You also get a throwing star with each character. All of the weapons are perfectly sized for LEGO minifigures, and they fit just fine in their hands.

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 11

And then look at these 4×4 stud gorgeously printed tiles with images from the comics – the main reason I wrote this article! They all have brilliant colors, and are exactly the same size as a regular LEGO 4×4 plate (LEGO doesn’t make 4×4 tiles). Each of the small sets with the turtles includes two of these printed tiles, and the larger sets have even more! The printing on them is vibrant, shiny, and high quality. Just beautiful!

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 10

There are other interesting pieces in the sets as well; like the copper piping, the manhole covers, and some small bits that you can add to the piping. Also included are some translucent-green bricks and a 6×6 plate to build a base, but those are just standard lower quality Mega Bloks pieces. Not too bad, but not as good as LEGO. The four displays can be connected together with the copper clips attached to the piping.

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 12

I’m really happy with the turtles, the manhole covers, the copper piping and other little bits. So I built them this little display with regular LEGO bricks and plates, an added the Mega Bloks figures and elements. I think they look fantastic mixed in with LEGO!

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 8

Later this year Mega Bloks is releasing a series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Eastman and Laird Figure-Packs, based on the very first TMNT comics! True to the classic comics, the turtles in this series are going to be black-and-white with red bandanas, and the printed tiles are also black-and-white with a splash of red! 😀

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 5

These are the kind of set that really appeal to fans of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, and LEGO should have given us – but they didn’t. So if you are not totally against using another brand, you might want to check out these collector series sets from Mega Bloks – at least for those beautiful tiles! You should be able to find them at all Mega Bloks resellers, and you can also get them at Wal-Mart’s website at the following link: WalMart.com/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles

LEGO and Mega Bloks Ninja Turtles 7

So what do you think? Are you as excited about these TMNT comic tiles and other pieces as I am? Would you consider adding them to your collection? Did you try any of the other Mega Bloks collector series sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and own review in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also lake to check out the Other Large Brands section for reviews of other brands and interesting items for LEGO fans:

{ 22 comments… add one }
  • rainey March 11, 2016, 10:23 AM

    The MegaBloks Minions are fantastic too. They’re adorable on their face but I also like how poseable the arms and feet are since they’re pivots with 360˚ of motion.

    Here are 2 of mine and I think just that bit of angle at one foot joint gives them a lot of life and personality. https://www.flickr.com/photos/75667634@N00/23085530552/in/dateposted-public/

    • admin March 11, 2016, 10:37 AM

      Yes, the Minions are very cute. Love your picture! Also the Smurfs are another nice theme, with cute minifigs and great accessories. 🙂

  • jabber-baby-wocky March 11, 2016, 1:10 PM

    These are rad! Really really really like those tiles! Thanks for sharing this. I wasn’t aware of them, but will definitely pick up at least the smaller sets. They look great on your wall!

    • admin March 11, 2016, 1:15 PM

      Yeah, I think you will be very happy with them. The tiles are top quality. 😀

  • rainey March 11, 2016, 5:01 PM

    Congrats to you, admin, for not being so precious about Legos that you can’t recognize and appreciate another excellent product.

    I agree with you completely that the bricks may leave things to be desired but the characters can be super.

    • admin March 11, 2016, 5:21 PM

      I love small action figures and minifigs accessories. So yeah, I do check out other brands from time to time. Oxford is the only brand that has the same quality as LEGO bricks, but as far as interesting accessories, even lower quality brands can offer some nice options. 🙂

      • Håkan March 11, 2016, 5:42 PM

        Yeah, that piping looks rather sweet…

        • Håkan March 11, 2016, 5:47 PM

          And I own some Polish Cobi, which is quite okay, despite a few specialized pieces, and the fact that I’m really not much of a military fetichist…

          • admin March 11, 2016, 8:07 PM

            Cobi has some very interesting sets. I particularly like their Romans vs. Barbarians line. I don’t care for their minifigs and horses, but their accessories are nice! 🙂

  • YTjedi March 12, 2016, 12:31 PM

    There are collectors sets with Bebop and Rocksteady also. Each comes with similar bases and tiles and three foot soldiers. It sets up a nice villian army for the turtles. Those run about $15 a piece

    • admin March 12, 2016, 12:41 PM

      Yeah, I have those pictured above as well. I only got the ones with the turtles though. 🙂

  • Brad March 12, 2016, 9:32 PM

    I got a set of the turtles. I like that the manhole covers are 4×4, because that’s the same size as the plates in the newer display cases, so as long as you add a 2×4 plate and a 1×2 plate on the included (or swapped out, like mine) 4×4 plates, you can put them in there with no problem. On a related note, I figured out how to use three jumper plates to center a 2×3 jumper plate that most of the Mega Bloks blind packs come with, so I can display Mega Bloks figures easier in the new cases.

    • admin March 13, 2016, 11:03 AM

      How are those blind bags? I never got one, but I have been eyeing them.

      • Brad March 14, 2016, 1:02 PM

        I actually don’t have any, I just got the plates off ebay. Sorry.

        • admin March 14, 2016, 1:29 PM

          I see. I will check them out myself one of these days. 🙂

          • Cody July 10, 2016, 8:08 AM

            I got the blind bags yesterday at TRU I got a transparent shredder,Leonardo,kraang and mikey all of the turtle figures in the sets have no paint down at there feet and all of them have printed eyes on the bandanas except for Leo all the turtles have a diffrent unique look but Leo is kind of basic and boring not really a big expression but there good for the price of £3:50 where I got mine I can’t wait for series two to hit my local Toys R us because they have slash and they even have a spike but the slash looks just like the same size as the rest of the figures which is really a bummer but hopefully the do him In another set and I would like if he could be quite big like the tmnt movie kraang ever figure.

  • Eric May 2, 2016, 10:03 PM

    This was a great article, and these are pretty cool figures. I really like the setup you created with Lego bricks. Can you post the parts list? I could probably figure it out by looking but can’t tell if anything is going on behind to keep it sturdy. Thanks.

    • admin May 2, 2016, 10:25 PM

      Eric, the base is 6×24 studs made of two layers of LEGO plates (three 6×8 plates on the top and two 2×12 plates on the bottom). The back is simply made of regular LEGO bricks and masonry bricks, with eight 1×4 LEGO bricks with studs on the sides to accommodate the graphic tiles. The wall is only one stud wide, but quite sturdy – it won’t fall over or come off easily. The MB pipes are connected by standard 1×1 LEGO clips attached to the base, and the ends of the two pipe sections are connected with Technic pins. All the other parts (like the control wheels and levers) are simply added as decoration.

      Ideally I would have made the wall taller so both rows of the decorated tiles are above the pipes, but my shelf can only accommodate this shorter version. And there are so many other ways this diorama could be arranged. The pipe pieces are really fun to work with, have unlimited attachment points, and are completely compatible with LEGO elements.

      When the black & white versions of the turtles become available later this year, I plan to expand this setup with the colored turtles and graphic tiles on one side, and the black & white ones on the other, with the wall in between them. 🙂

  • Eric May 10, 2016, 10:36 PM

    Thanks for the build info. Can you also tell me how many mason bricks tall it is? I think 7 but can’t quite tell.

    • admin May 10, 2016, 10:44 PM

      Eric, the wall is 7 bricks tall, but there is also two layers of thin plates in between the fourth and fifth row of bricks. This is so that there is space separating the bottom and top row of graphic tiles. Plus there is a layer of smooth tiles on very top of the wall. So the wall is made of four row of bricks on top of each other, than two rows of plates, then three rows of bricks again, then one row of tiles. You can of course do whichever way you want to build your own wall, but this is exactly the height of my shelf. 😉

  • Cody LCD July 10, 2016, 8:20 AM

    I got the bags at TRU it was series 1 and I got Mikey Leo transparent shredder and a kraang

    Kraang

    Kraang is a good figure he is exclusive so far unless you count the classic one from the collector series and the movie figure but this is the Nick kraang and the figure just looks awesome and it has a kraang in its chest that you can put out its very squishy but the articulation on the figure is quite a bummer as it can only move its arms up and down and its legs only go up and down aswell the head is ball jointed so that can move all around

    Transparent shredder
    The transparent shredder looks awesome in its red armor but it really doesn’t have any use just for display purposes really It has lots of articulation and it armor is removable

    Turtles

    Mikey is a cool fun figure he has pizza all over his chest and he has these really cartoony cute eyes sorta thing he comes with a slice pizza and nunchuck mikey has printed eyes on his bandana which means that there is no paint behind the bandana for eyes

    Leo is an accurate figure but is a bit just too plain he doesn’t have a big expression like mikey is happy Donnie is in love raph is angry but Leo just has a little smile he comes with a comic and his kattanas and his bandana does not have printed eyes unlike the other 3 turtles

  • james September 2, 2022, 11:05 AM

    i love all the ninja turtles lego sets all of them

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