Robotic Bebop Robotic Rocksteady
The Metallic Maniac with the Ugly Mug The Sinister Steel-Jointed Thug
Released in 1993 Released in 1993
I’m going to be honest here, these next two figures veer dangerously to crossing my no variants rule for these retrospectives, but they are based on characters seen in the original animated series. Appearing in an episode that I’ve never seen called “Super Bebop and Mighty Rocksteady”, Bebop and Rocksteady’s robotic counterparts both lack a lot of the same characteristics shown in the animated series.
While the figures do have a very nice coat of chrome paint and block looking sculpts, the figures themselves lack a lot of the same articulation and charm as the rest of the figures in the line.
While Chrome Dome was also a robotic “variant” of the Shredder, he was still very menacing looking, where Robotic Bebop and Rocksteady look very bland by comparison. Even their stance is just okay compared to other figures. There’s nothing dynamic about them at all. While their feet are flat, making them easy to put on display, they always kind of look like they’re just standing there waiting for something to happen. Maybe they’re just downloading a new software update. While they do have the occasional burst of color on their bodies (mostly red or blue), they really are just silver figures that don’t seem to have much character of their own. Maybe if they had been more faithful to their animated counterpart, they would have stood out more, but as they are, they’re really just kind of there on my shelf.
One thing that really does stand out with these figures is their head sculpt. Playmates really did a great job emulating the facial features of “normal” Bebop and Rocksteady, but all that does is remind of other figures, and that is not necessarily a good thing.
Turtle Trivia: I am very sorry to be such a downer on this review. I know you can’t win them all, but still, they’re so shiny!
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