Radical Retro Turtle Toy Talk: Ace Duck
Suine Hallock returns with his second installment of Radical Retro Turtle Toy Talk! Today, he takes a look at that plucky pilot from Peking: Ace Duck! Click through to check it out!
RADICAL RETRO TURTLE TOY TALK! #2: DUCK AND COVER!
Welcome, dudes and dudettes, to the second installment of RADICAL RETRO TURTLE TOY TALK! I want to thank everyone from That New Toy Smell for giving my column and me a chance, as well as the folks on the VGLosers.com forum for all of their feedback! You guys are all aces!
Speaking of Aces, that brings us to this week’s featured figure. The Foot Clan had better be afraid when this fine-feathered friend of the Fab Four takes flight. Don’t you dare call him Launchpad McQuack, because he is the plucky pilot from Peking, Ace Duck!
Ace Duck originally came out in 1989 in the second ever wave of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures from Playmates. While he did have very brief cameo on an episode of the original 1987 Turtles cartoon, Ace Duck was never a featured character on any of the television shows. Ace appeared a few times in the Archie TMNT Adventures comic as a professional wrestler from another planet, which is a far cry from the pilot occupation of his action figure. Ace Duck’s figure from the original Playmates toy line has been his only appearance in toy format so far.
Like most of the figures from the original Playmates line, Ace Duck’s appearance is that of an anthropomorphic animal. In this case, a yellow duck. He wears a pair of blue pants which are rolled at the ankles and show a slight bulge on the seat, presumably caused by his tail feathers. He also dons a brown pilot’s jacket with pockets and patches. On the back of his jacket is a hole for the peg of his Plug in Wings, as well as the painted-on logo of his buddies, the Turtles.
Ace Duck has seven points of articulation that most of the line’s figures have. Both of his shoulders and hips are ball-jointed, enabling an acceptable amount of flexibility for what the figure is. Additionally, his two wrists and neck rotate in a circular fashion. All things considered, he’s no more or less physically dynamic than most other Turtle toys from the time.
A major part of what made me love the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures so much were some of their absolutely ridiculous, yet aptly fitting accessories, and Ace Duck’s accessories do not disappoint. What’s great is that with Ace, we have accessories that go perfectly with each half of him. For his human pilot side, there is his Service .45 Pistol, his Weapons Belt, and his Pilot’s Cap. Now, my Ace Duck figure is one of the later ones released which had a hole on top of his head and a peg on the inside of his cap to better hold it on. The earlier releases of Ace lacked this feature, which I imagine might have made keeping his hat on his head a lot harder.
For Ace’s duckier side, he comes with a pair of Plug in Wings and four Egg Grenades. The Egg Grenades can fit fine in either of his hands or in his Weapons Belt. I usually stick with the latter option, as these kinds of parts are really easy to lose. The Plug in Wings are a mixed bag. While the Wings look great and make perfect sense for Ace Duck, they make standing up on his own almost impossible. His feet are bit flimsy and not extremely supportive, thus making him stand up and stay up isn’t easy anyway. Getting him to stand with those big bulky wings though is pulling teeth. That said, I use his Plug in Wings when playing, but for posing, I stash the wings elsewhere.
If this is your first time meeting Ace Duck, I hope you enjoyed getting to know him because he is definitely a worthwhile addition to any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection. If you have any questions, comments, or criticisms about Ace or about my column and me, I can usually be found on the VGLosers.com forums. This has been Suine Hallock and many thanks to you for joining Ace and me for RADICAL RETRO TURTLE TOY TALK!
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