So it's been about 3 weeks since Wave One was "officially" released by Gamestop/EB Games Canada, and while I've waxed poetic here about how good Evil Lyn is, I've still to actually see these figures on retail shelves, and it's not like I've seen Fall resets in stores awaiting stock.
With the generally dismal state of the retail toy world here, I guess it's no wonder that many individuals have started side hustles bringing in their own figures from suppliers and selling for themselves. If you look close enough, you'll find the ones that sell at MSRP,, which is basically the reason I have Teela from Wave Two probably I'm guessing.... 2 months ahead of the curve.
Packed in what is going to be the universal blue box for what will be at least four lines (as per Powercon '21 photos), the contents of the Teela figure are both understandably and at the same time disappointingly low compared to Evil Lyn. Understandably there's only one portrait, as this particular character model only has the one look (so far), but what I don't get is why she only comes with two extra hands, none of which are a matching pair of closed fists or open palms. Her weaponry is pretty much what is expected, consisting of her multi weapon in concealed TMNT Ooze container form, as well as either spear or sword mode.
As on screen character models have shown (and general Mattel reuse history), Teela's new form pretty much features the same general muscular look as Evil Lyn does. Much like Evil Lyn, her overall adherence to accuracy is pretty good, particularly for a $30 CAD toy, though there will always be little nit picky things here and there. I think they made her a bit too broad in the shoulders, as the show model doesn't have the white shirt coming out the sides of the chest armour.
Speaking of Evil Lyn, here's the two of them side by side. They're basically the same height, and I imagine that they probably have the same base torso with different window dressing. The limbs themselves are definitely different, as Teela features thicker legs and larger biceps.
Both, however, feature an impressive set of guns.
Face sculpt wise, I feel Teela misses the mark. I mean, it's in line with the rest of the Masterverse releases thus far in that they've all been kind of off the mark, leaving Evil Lyn as the sole figure that has been in the right area. There's something off about the eyes... not sure if its the shape, or the spacing of the eyebrows. The hair was bothering me for a while until I took a closer look at the animation model, and it appears that the hair is supposed to rise above the rest as opposed to continuing along the same sort of trajectory. Her on screen model also seems to feature a more dominant jawline.
Finally we have our usuals - Articulation, Paint and Build Quality. Articulation wise, she's outfitted with the same points of articulation as Evil Lyn, which s fantastic news.... except for the part where unlike Evil Lyn, Teela's outfit works against here and limits range of motion, specifically for forward stepping range, and the upper body rotation at the mid torso point. It's also unfortunate that she didn't come with hands that feature an angled hand, allowing her to point with her weapon of choice.
Overall, you'll do fine in terms of posing, but there'll always be that one pose you JUST can't nail because of these little nagging limitations.
Paint wise again, minimal, but that's not exactly surprising or new. As for Build Quality, no issues with parts being torn apart due to my handling, poses hold, and there was no need for a hot water bath out the box, which is always a huge plus with me.
So yeah. If you're looking for a Mercenary Teela figure, well, this is pretty much the only game in town. It's not a bad figure, but I feel its lacking from an accuracy perspective. Powercon '21 reveal photos have indicated that a Royal Guard Teela will be released, which I'm hoping will be at least Evil Lyn levels of awesome - at the very least, it comes with two head sculpts. Being in Canada, however, who knows how long before we see it.
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