Turtle Mutant Pirate (Papo)

One of the most valued and feared members of any pirate crew, the boatswain’s job was to keep the ship seaworthy. He would maintain the anchor, the riggings, the sails, the magazine, and the larder, and the supplies, and see to it that the decks are swabbed. The burden of his responsibilities tended to give him a short and rather violent temper. 

Here we have the Papo turtle mutant pirate, the third such sea scallywag courtesy of the kind folks at Happy Hen Toys. Standing around 8 cm tall, he is sculpted leaning forward with his legs spread well apart and weapons at the ready. Whereas the shark captain and the octopus quartermaster look to be in fairly fit and trim form, this terrible testudine is more misshapen, with wiry limbs, a potbelly, and a hunched back. Not that he looks physically weak, mind you. On the contrary, he looks like a rough, ruthless character, well-suited to the position of boatswain.

Being a mutant turtle, our boatswain has grey-brown skin washed over with black. His plastron is dark brown and his carapace is dull green with dull yellow markings. His head is grey-brown with blue eyes and a black moustache and goatee. Yes, despite being reptilian, he does have facial hair. And external ears to boot. At the same time, his visage is distinctly turtle-ish, with a large, beaky upper lip and a pronounced chin. Plus there’s his long, wrinkled neck. His arms and legs are scaly and his shell is covered in grooved patterns.

Unlike the captain and the quartermaster, the boatswain is not dressed fancy. He wears no shirt, only a dark blue belt with gold and silver buckles. A pale yellow and blue-striped sash is wrapped around his waist. His medium blue short pants are ragged, but his dark brown boots with gold buckles are fairly impressive. Instead of a hat, he has a blue bandanna wrapped tightly around his head, and his ears feature large yellow hoop earrings.

The turtle pirate is wielding two deadly weapons. In his left hand is a cutlass with a jagged, metallic silver blade and a royal blue guard. And in his right hand, ready to fire, is a double-barrelled blunderbuss painted brown, silver, and gold. Both weapons are firmly fixed in his hands and cannot be removed or adjusted.

Oh, and we mustn’t forget the gold and brown boarding axe that’s embedded deep in his carapace! One wonders if he’s even aware that it’s there.

The Papo turtle mutant pirate is yet another cool corsair, one that goes perfectly with the first two. It is available now on Happy Hen’s website. Kudos as always to them for this review sample!