Hands-On Review: First Gokin Oroku Saki AKA The Shredder

For those of you unfamiliar with First Gokin they are a 3rd party collectibles company that previously released the Android Krang figure (review of that here) which in short is an excellent toy overall. They continue with the new release of Shredder or as they title him, Oroku Saki.

Saki was released late last year and can be had for around $100 USD these days give or take. I purchased mine via eBay from TFSource who had a solid deal and really do an excellent job shipping their collectibles if anyone is wondering (also note this site does not have sponsors, but kudos where kudos are due).

This guy is BIG. He would tower over most of the turtle figures in just about any line with the one exception being the Playmates Classic Turtles which put Shredder almost in scale. For me judging the looks and size of this toy I am just going to label this as “Super Shredder” as the title fits the toy to a T.

He comes with a bunch of accessories mostly comprised of the 4 turtles’ weaponry which can be stored on an included rack (note the top portion is meant to hold his helmet but I find it much more suited as a place to rest his wig). Shredder also comes with 3 sets of hands and a unique sword of his own. Pretty solid overall. Added bonus of some bendable pieces on his cape for the extra touch when posing, it’s all in the details.

Once you crack open the mountain of plastic this toy is placed in you first will notice it is darn heavy. This is because there are a few pieces, much like Android Krang, that are diecast metal! Pretty sweet feature and was a key aspect of Krang that made it stand out.

Here is the thing though, the diecast makes Shredder a bit too heavy. His helmet and boot are the 2 diecast pieces and while the boots does make sense in balancing the figure when standing the helmet makes the whole thing a bit tough to pose. One last detail about the diecast is that the helmet is SHARP. Handle with care and keep out of the hands of kids.

Yeah it is a fun figure without a doubt. Everything about this screams quality and I couldn’t find a single fault in the manufacturing, so big props to First Gokin for continuing to produce high quality collectibles.

Here is the caveat, this guy is not easy to pose.

Being about 9″ tall and weighing a substantial amount combined with the diecast pieces Saki has a hard time with a lot of dynamic poses. He easily topples over under his own weight and it is a huge bummer seeing how well Android Krang was to pose even with his size. This is my one big drawback of this figure and quite frankly was a bummer which soured the experience a bit.

The second small gripe is that his head is sort of small, which is why I am labeling him as Super Shredder. he is a bit Hulked out with his enormous body and tiny head which makes some poses look a little…off. Again, Super Shredder syndrome.

Short answer: Yes.

This is a fine collectible and one of the few true 3rd party collectibles available for the TMNT-universe. It offers a lot of great things including a pretty amazing sculpt, articulation, and accessories. It falls short in its ability to be posed but with some patience or a posing stand it can be done.