#937 BANDAI - TURTLES CHARACTER MINI-MACHINES - PARTY VAN (1990)

With the Ninja Turtles craze came many related articles, some of them from Bandai directly, other from other brands that acquired the rights to put the characters in their products.

I recall seeing these in a shop back in the early 90s in Spain, also coincident with the micro cars trend started by Galoob´s Micro Machines. Note that the car is advertised as a "Mini Machine"!

This van is slightly bigger than a Micro Machine, but considering it is a van, it would still display nicely together. The van comes with a motorised pull-back motor. Such a toy is, of course, very cheap to produce, by the stickers that simulate the Turtle-wagon add a lot of money to the final retail price. Considering the price tag, this is an expensive toy, I guess they did not sell many of it.

The van came is a small blister card, with some interesting indications on the back. The toy seems to have been imported to Europe by Bandai UK, and then to Spain by Bandai Spain and has the rights from Mirage Studios directly to reproduce this van (copyright from 1989). The blister card comes in English and German, but there are several errors in the German text.

Apparently a complete series of Mini Machines with famous characters was planned, but I only found this one and another one with Postman Pat. The toys are made in China. Remember that Bandai actually distributed the turltes figures in some European countries, so they maybe made a move to offer other related products as well in addittion to the ones made by Playmates.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: TURTLES CHARACTER MINI-MACHINES - PARTY VAN
• Scale: 1:150 (approx.)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Bandai (Japan)
• Size: approx. 2’’ or 5 cm

#929 BULLY - TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1989)

The Ninja Turtles were a real phenomenon, and they still are. Beside the action figures, there were several series of plastic figures, like those made by Yolanda, the small chewing gum premiums or this series made in Germany by Bully.

There are two interesting facts about them. First they depict rather slim characters, compared to the more muscled ones we were familiar with. Long legs, long arms, thin shells make them look like something between Eastman and Laird´s and the cartoon turtles.

The second interesting fact is that some characters have magnets in their backs (all except the four main characters), maybe they were intended to be put in the fridge.

The series is complete except for four turtle figures coming out of a manhole cover. These are represented only from the waist up, and are so different to the ones I present today, that could actually be considered as a different series. I do not own any of these, they probably sold much worse than these.

Something remarkable is that the characters also include Splinter, Shredder, Bebop, and a Foot Soldier, which is something unique to all plastic PVC series of TMNT. To my knowledge, this is the most complete regarding the number of characters, despite missing Rocksteady.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: LEONARDO, RAPHAEL, DONATELLO, MICHELANGELO, SPLINTER, SHREDDER, BEBOP and FOOT SOLDIER
• Year: 1989
• Company: Bully (Germany)
• Size of the figures: Around 7 cm

#887 TMNT - BREAKFIGHTIN´ RAPHAEL and SWORD SLICIN´ LEONARDO (WACKY ACTION SERIES) (1989 and 1990)

Ninja Turtles representing the four heroes and other main characters (like April O´Neill, Splinter or Shredder) had many versions. I do not know how well they sold at the time, but the fact is that if you have the figures from the first wave, all the other are not necessary.

Maybe because of this, most turtle (Raph, Don, Mike or Leo) figures made after 1988 are not very expensive and very easy to find. These are also the first figures I got to complete, because of their reduced number of accesories. The Wacky Action in particular are among the easiest figures in the whole collection.

They have an action feature consisting of a small clockwork mechanism that can make  the turtle do some kind of movement. Raphael can twist on its back and leonardo moves its arms up and down. Of course without batteries, just by loading the mechanism.

Interestingly, the line was splitted in two waves (wave 2 from 1989 and wave 3 from 1990), I don´t know the reason for that.

Wave 2 included:

• Rock 'N' Roll Michaelangelo
• Sewer Swimmin´ Donatello
• Breakfightin´ Raphael
• Mouser

Wave 3 included:

• Sword Slicin´ Leonardo
• Creepy Crawlin´ Splinter
• Slice 'N Dice Shredder

Note the very interesting release of Mouser, which is the only figure made of this nice little robot in the whole original toy line. The problem is that the Mouser is clearly oversized in comparison to the ones shown in comic books, video games and so on.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BREAKFIGHTIN´ RAPHAEL and SWORD SLICIN´ LEONARDO (WACKY ACTION SERIES)
• Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) (Waves 2 and 3)
• Year: 1989 and 1990
• Company: Playmates (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3.75’’ or 9,75 cm

#872 TMNT - ROCKSTEADY (SOFT HEAD) (1988)

I got this figure by chance in a bigger lot. I was very surprised to find that the head of the figure was not like every other TMNT figure I have, but made of soft plastic, like some Masters of the Universe, if you know what I am talking about.

Apparently, soft-head turtles were the very first toys produced. To minimice risks, Playmates decided to make a first run keeping production costs as low as possible. The line may flop, as many other toylines have, so they took this decision. Of course, when they notice the big sale numbers, and the amazing success of the toyline, there was green light to produce hard, more qualitative plastic heads for all figures that had soft plastic heads. These were all figures except April.

*April also had a first version with a different paintwork (no stripes in the trousers), which is also quite difficult and expensive to find.

Hard Head (left) and Soft Head (right) Versions

These are more scarce, and more expensive to buy. They also came with lower quality accesories and a poorer paintwork.

Apparently, there are some figures which are rarer than others. According to the eBay's subtlethinker's Guide To Collecting Classic TMNT, the four turtles and Shredder are more difficult to find than Splinter, Bebop and Roksteady. And among the turtles, Donatello seems to be the rarest.

The soft-head TMNT figures were packaged with a Turtles Fan Club form, so even if they are MOC, they can be identified without opening the blisterpack. Well, the head looks slightly different, so I guess an expert could even identifiy one of these even in a picture.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ROCKSTEADY (SOFT HEAD)
• Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Playmates (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3.75’’ or 9,75 cm

#842 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (V)

See more of these entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/TFTP

See you next month!

Important notice: The items on display are NOT for sale.

#827 TMNT – ANNUAL BOOK 1990 (1990)

I found this book a few months ago in a second hand shop. It was very cheap, so I took it home. The book includes several activities for children (pastimes mostly) and also a short story/adventure with the ninja turtles and a few pages comic book, plus drawings of the main characters.

I am not familiar at all with this type of annuals (or yearbooks), I never had one as a kid, so I don’t know if they are supposed to be some kind of best-of, or just a book to gather every bit here and there that was not used before (kind of waste bin). Reading the stories, I would rather chose the second option, because they are terrible, but the pastimes are really nice, and I am sure I would have loved to have those pictures to copy, or those draw-by-points stuff.

The book was edited by Xenos in Germany and probably Austria and Switzerland, and by Copyright Promotions Ltd. In England. As the TMNT were very popular in the days, probably this book was made very quickly and that would explain the low quality of the contents.

#721 TMNT - MICHELANGELO vs. FOOT SOLDIER (1988)

Because we need to catch up, I am presenting two more TMNT figures today, again one turtle and one villain: Michelangelo vs. Foot Soldier.

As I mentioned in the previous entry, Michelangelo was the children's favorites. In the cartoons, he used to make a lot of jokes and was the funniest of all 4 brothers. In addition to that, he used the nunchuks, which, at the early 90s (times of many ninja-exploitation movies) was like the pinnacle of coolness. I remember that in the arcade machine, it was placed in the center-right position, and was also a turtle that many people would choose to play with (the arcade was revolutionary, because it allowed four players simultaneously). The favorite in the arcade, however, was Donatello (center-left position).

I also think Michelangelo was probably the figure that sold best during those first years, or at least, the favorite figure to start a collection with.

Every turtle in the first wave came with the same set of weapons: wooden frame, 2 shurikens (ninja stars), 1 strange straight and curved double sword (what's that?), a triangular knife and a small pick. Additionally, each turtle came with two specific accesories: Raphael came with two sais, and Michelangelo with two nunchuks. These specific accesories could be attached to their straps either on the back side or in the front. Most people simply ignored the strange set of weapons, and played only with the "official" ones. As a matter of fact, the wooden frame, with is a defense weapon was disposed thinking it was the plastic tree to which the rest of weapons attached. It was quite difficult to find the only one I currently own, and until new notice, I will consider all my turtles complete even if they do not have that frame.

The second figure today is the Foot Soldier, the standard trooper of the foot clan. There are literally hundreds of them, and they are supposed to be skilled ninjas, but they never knew much success in the battle, being mostly anihilated by the turtles and their allies. It comes with the foot clan colours, which are dark and not very common in children toys, but personally I love the combination of black, grey, blue and purple. The position of the legs and head is also remarkable, kind of crouching, and it has very long arms, almost like an ape. This figure came with a series of amazing weapons, including that strange stab with a jaw at the end, a machete and a mace. This figure also included the wooden frame, only in grey. This last accesory is missing.

Something more, now we are talking about accesories, is that the same figures from 1988 were reissued several times since then including the same package (with vey subtle differences) and the same accesories. The figures are marked on the back with the year of each reissue, and the accesories suld be the same, but, I have noticed differences in the colour and also other differences in the cast, like in the following picture were the Foot Soldier staff is slightly shorter than the original (I assume the upper one is the original, maybeI am wrong).

 

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MICHELANGELO and FOOT SOLDIER
• Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Playmates (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3.75’’ or 9,75 cm

#720 TMNT- RAPHAEL vs. BEBOP (1988)

If you follow my blog, you were probably wondering where I hid the ninja turtles. I have been postponing this entry because I like presenting toys which are complete (with all original accesories), and for TMNT, it is quite difficult to find 100% complete figures, especially if you do not collect them seriously. Let me explain this... I have maybe 40 figures or so, but all of them bought at flea-markets for very little money. I also have some accesories (most of them traded for other figures and accesories) but they belong to many different figures. Consider that, in this series, each figure had unique accesories that no other figure shared, and if you really want to complete figures, you have to spend a lot of money either in 100% complete figures or loose accesories.

So here’s my first entry about this great toyline from the 90s, one of the most famous of all times and also one of the vintage toylines that has a better health today, still being rebooted every back an then and being made into movies.

I should write something about the TMNT here, but I am feeling kind of lazy, because I already wrote everything I could for an article in the magazine F.E.A. nr. 9 together with my friend Pablo (you cand a link for this magazine in entry #361).

There we wrote around twenty pages running around the creation of the TMNT by Eastman and Laird, about the comics in which they are based, of course, about the toys, but also about Playmates as a company and many other toys rather than figures and merchandise made over the years. The article is in Spanish, but if you cannot read it, I assume there are thousands of web that can tell the history of these turtles better than I could ever do.

I will focus now on the first two toys I am presenting today: Raphael and Bebop. Raphael was the first turtle that was created, and many people's favorite. At least in the early days (I do not follow the TMNT since a few years), Raphael was the rebel of the group, and usually lose his temper during the fight, becoming more violent than the others. Interestingly, I would say, that among children in the late 80s, Raphael was the least favorite of all 4. People were especially fond of Leonardo, for being the leader, and Michelangelo and Donatello for their cool weapons, but Raph somehow was seen as the less interesting hero. For people who read the comic, Raphael is often ranked as the favorite turtle, probably because of his attitude towards life, being a rebel, sarcastic and several problems he had during the first issues of the Mirage comics.

Bebop, on the other side, is a character that didn´t exist in the original Eastman and Laird´s universe, but was created for the toyline and cartoons. Maybe there were not enough characters to start a proper toyline, and Playmates invented Bebop and Rocksteady. In the first comics, only Shredder and Foot Soldiers appear, together with other characters that would be available in further waves, like, for example, Krang. Curiously, Bebop was my favorite character when the line came out, for many reasons: because it is a pig, for its colour combination, for that strange drill-weapon, for the nice details casted in its clothes and body... I still appretiate the nice toy it is, but I would now preffer the Foot Soldier or Shredder.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: RAPHAEL vs. BEBOP
• Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Playmates (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 3.75’’ or 9,75 cm

#295 YOLANDA – TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1991)

No way! 295 entries and not a single TMNT yet? I’m really sorry. I have a couple of Playmates’ figures but none of them is complete, so I am waiting until I find the missing accessories to show the figures here, in a proper entry.

Meanwhile, I’ll show these other ninja turtles, which are also very nice toys, and have many things we could comment right now.

We already talked about Yolanda/Comansi in other entries. As said in those entries, Yolanda used to buy licenses to reproduce children’s favourite characters in plastic PVC figures. Since the TMNT was the most important toy collection by the beginning of the 90s, it was just a matter of time for Yolanda to get those licenses. The figures in the pictures are all copyrighted by “Mirage Studios”, the comic book company founded by Eastman and Laird (the creators of the characters).

Although the copyright of the figures is from 1988, I guess these figures were first sold in shops around 1991, maybe 1992.

As the Saint Seiya figures were (I showed in entry #174), these are hand painted, so the colours of the turtles might be mistaken. In this case is not the color, but the cast… can you find the error? 

In the picture with all four turtles, left to right, we see:

Raphael (red), Leonardo (blue), Donatello (purple) and Michelangelo (orange), the letter in their belts tells the initial of the name, so every character is correctly painted. 

However, it would have been more appropriate to cast each turtle with its preferred weapon:

Raph: Sai; Leonardo: Sword; Donatello: Bo and Michellangelo: Nunchakus , but Leonardo and Michelangelo seem to have changed weapons.

This series is not complete. Apart from the four turtles, there were more characters made: A second version of the turtles in “Mutant Military” outfits, plus Bebop, Rocksteady, Shredder and Splinter. 

These “Mutant Military” figures were released in 1991, and with that we can date Yolanda series from 1991 on.

Yolanda made turtles' figures in at least 2 different sizes. The ones I am showing here are the bigger ones. In the picture below, I offer a size comparison between the big and the small ones. The smaller size series also included many figures, at least, 8. These will be shown in future entries.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LEONARDO, RAPHAEL, DONATELLO and MICHELANGELO
• Toy Line: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size of the figure: Around 8 cm.