Nick TMNT: They Call 'Em Leo 'Cause Nard Just Didn't Sound Right

Hehe...nard.  Anyway, here's the real leader of the group, Leonardo!  Ya'll know him as the guy with the swords, but this figure's extra accessories really tailor to the name "ninja."  This guy may be my favorite of the four!

Leo follows the turtle standards and comes in at about the same height at Raph (maybe a tiny bit taller) and shorter than Don, but taller than Mike.  His bandanna is nice 'n neat but his chest is scared up more than Raph!  Granted, Raph's is more pitted and there's a chunk taken out of it, but Leo has all the sword slashes of a duelist, so perhaps they're even in different ways.

As I said in the Raph 'n Don review: I am loving the individual differences of these guys!  So simple, but these little things make them masterpieces in a line that usually just copies and pastes the body of the turtles.

Now, the head is something that has always been different between the brothers, and the sculptors always work in that different sneer on each turtle.  Most of the time it goes from TEETH to smirk or vice versa or no teeth, etc etc.  Leo here is kinda...two-faced.

That's not a bad thing, though!  It's kinda cool to get a different look depending on how he's facing.  Anyway, as you can see, one side is a definite smirk, while the other is a sneer.  Usually it's a sneer or a grimace no matter how you look at it, but Leo can display two different emotions depending on the side!

Now lets move on to accessories:

First off, Leonardo comes with his classic swords, though now one is shorter than the other in the katana-and-wakizashi paring of a classical samurai (one sword being shorter than the other).  They fit very well in their respective sides (if they're in correctly, then you won't see a blade sticking out of the bottom).  These will not be falling out, nor will you have to worry about the sheaths bending the blades, as they are soft and rubbery.  They also pop in nicely on his back with no worry of falling off.

Next are the exciting bits, and what makes me say that Leo has the best extra items out of all four turtles:

Granted, there's a superfluous sword in there, but somehow the simplicity of the sword versus his normal ones makes me see it as a training sword, or perhaps his very first sword, so it is sorta special to him.

 

Then of course, the little knives are just awesome.  They're classic ninja weapons (at least in popular culture) and you can stick 'em in the belt across his chest.  And they're good for climbing!

The ninja stars are standard, of course, and take another classic form you've probably seen before.  They're the lowest on my list of interesting accessories, but cool all the same.  They look good for posing, but otherwise they're pretty much there to get lost as you toss 'em.

Last item is strange, but I've been able to assume a few things about it.  It's obviously a little knife, but the unique design makes me think that it's supposed to come out of the hilt of the sword.

As you can see, the bottom of the knife matches the pommel of the sword exactly, so I gotta assume that's what it's supposed to be; I just wish they could have worked it in that way.  Otherwise, you could shove it in the bottom of the sheath:

...but sadly you can't fit a sword in there at the same time.

So overall, Leonardo is friggin' awesome.

He poses well, holds all his weapons perfectly, comes with awesome weapons to boot, and has my favorite face sculpt next to Donatello.



If for some reason you're only getting one, I'd highly suggest Leo as he is the most ninja that any ninja turtle has ever been (save for maybe the black 'n white originals). 

So cool!