So, just this last week I finally got a Fugitoid figure to go with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s collection.  Here’s a picture of what he looks like:

Fugitoid

Now, for those of you who don’t know, Fugitoid was a one-off comic (comic slang “intended to only be a single issue”) released by Mirage Studios in 1985.  Mirage is an independent comic publisher who owned the Ninja Turtles up until just last year (Nickelodeon now owns it, but that’s another story.)

At the end of Fugitoid, his path crosses with the Turtles and the story continues on in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 and that’s why I ended up needing a Fugitoid figure. (For a full plot synopsis click here.)

Anyway, I was reading on Peter Laird’s blog, and I found some interesting information on the history of the Fugitoid figure.  It seems that Peter had wanted a Fugitoid action since around 1988 or 1989, and he had always wanted it to have a metallic finish (a process known as “vacuum metalizing.”)  Playmates (the dudes who make TMNT toys) decided it would be best to hold off on the expensive process of “vacuum metalizing” since Fugitoid hadn’t even made his cartoon debut yet.  What Playmates came out with was a C-3PO coloured Fugitoid:

Fugitoid C-3PO

It was an okay figure, and his chest opened up to reveal several robo-parts, but I don’t think it did the original design justice.  Through-out the years, it became a running joke between Peter Laird and the Playmates rep that Peter wouldn’t stop asking for figures to be vacuum-metalized.  Even when they finally did another Fugitoid figure years later, he was painted in a silver matte-finish.

Fugitoid Matte Silver

Then something happened!  Basically on the eve of the Nickelodeon sale of the Turtles, Laird finally got his wish, and a vacuum-metalized Fugitoid finally came out.  He even decorated his tree with about 50 Fugitoids!  As for a review of the toy, this is an essential toy for any TMNT collector.  I only wish it was pose-able and the packaging wasn’t just a white box.  It does make a nice desk decoration, though.