LEONARDO (UNDERCOVER) PROJECT# 447 CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT/CUSTOM BASE FIGURE: DON, THE UNDERCOVER TURTLE MATERIALS USED: HOBBY KNIFE, ENAMEL PAINTS FIRST APPEARANCE: "TURTLE TRACKS" "Who are you supposed to be?  Humphrey Bogus?" Preamble:  During the final years of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line, Playmates Toys finally produced a long-awaited assortment of Undercover Turtles, showcasing our favorite heroes in a half-shell in their familiar hardboiled disguises.  The toys were equipped with real cloth outfits, which added a degree of authenticity but were reportedly much more expensive to produce than the regular plastic toys.  (I can't imagine why this was such an issue, since all four toys were just recycled versions of Toon Turtles Raphael with Undercover Don's head, so they were able to utilize existing production molds.  Even their weapons and accessories were all recycled from previous toys, so the trench coats were the only new things they had to produce.)  Anyway, either due to the flagging sales of the toy line or the inherent cost in producing this specific assortment, the Undercover Turtles weren't in stores for very long and command a very high price on the secondary market.  I found two of them at retail, back in the day, and snagged the other two years later on eBay—but even having a complete set, they don't look like the disguises actually worn by the Turtles in the television series.  I decided I really wanted to make my own, so I bought up four spare Undercover Don action figures and went to work. Construction:  In addition to cutting away at the not-very-cleverly-hidden knife and wiretap, I also patched the hole in the sleeve of his trench coat (I get that the Turtles have bulging biceps, people, but really, c'mon).  I also cut the elbow pads off the outsides of his sleeves and made some minor tweaks to his hands (so I could get him to hold weapons without having to wedge them in there too tightly) as well as the shape of his front shell (which had that ridge around the outer edges that the Turtles didn't have in the show) and his feet (which were oddly flat-footed).  Most of the original TMNT toys had ball-and-socket construction for their legs, but this figure is different because the legs are mounted on swivel joints.  This meant I had to paint carefully around the legs so the paint wouldn't scrape off when I posed them.  I equipped him with a pair of swords from the original Leonardo toy that I custom painted.   Comments:  The Turtles were not entirely consistent about their undercover disguises.  On at least one occasion, they wore the fedorah hats but took off their eye masks ("during "The Ninja Sword of Nowhere," one of the few instances in which we see them unmasked).  Also, it's interesting to note that sometimes, particularly in the early episodes, the Turtles only wore the trench coats and hats.  It was only later that they started wearing pants underneath.  Little perverts. This Page Created: 2/18/2010 Last Updated: 7/8/2010 Page Content ©2010 Inspiration Studios Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® is a trademark of Mirage Studios You hit the nail right on the head, Shweetheart.