Remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? From the age of 7 to 11 they were my obsession, my reason to live, the thing that I looked forward to the most after school.
However, by the time I had moved on, they had just gotten ridiculous. As I recall there were new ones coming out almost monthly, but when ‘Glam Rock’ Turtles and ‘Troll Doll’ Turtles made their debuts, I knew it was time to move on to other things. Seriously, when I went out and picked up a Raphael that sported a purple shirt and zebra print pants, I knew it was time to find a new obsession.
Like many of you, I would never have even heard of them if not for the cartoon and the toys, but as I would later find out, they were based on a comic book.
This comic book inspired several cartoons, one live action series, concerts staring the ninja turtles that had them saving rock and roll from The Shredder, three live action movies, and one computer animated movie, as well as dozens of toy lines featuring their likeness.
As luck would have it, they’re back in action figure form. This time, sporting a look that closer resembles
their original rendition from the comic books that inspired the unholy machine that would drive parents crazy until Power Rangers came along to become the new obsession of the early - mid 90s.
I like the looks of these new toys. They look more articulated and look like it’s easier to stand them up. I remember it being a real balancing act to get them to stand up without falling over. I also seem to remember having a couple dozen of these that I’d try to set up perfectly on that old sewer play set(that never seemed to fit together properly), and if you didn’t stand one up properly, they’d all come crashing down like dominoes.
I’m also a fan of the way they look like the reference material, and not awkward multicolored chunks of plastic.
I never was too certain as to why they decided to give each turtle his own color. I imagine it was to make it easier for the viewers to tell the turtles apart. I think the show would have been a lot better(at my current age anyway) if they would have just done it exactly like the comic, but that’s the geek in me talking. Back then I loved the show more than anything else. I didn’t care about food, water, education, or sleep. I just wanted my next fix of mutant reptiles. Classifying this as an obsession is to put it mildly, but thankfully I wasn’t the only one.
Now there’s a whole new generation that’s dealing with these four mutated turtles, and their rat master….mostly due to the fact that their parents were ravenous fans of the show when they were the same age…. It just doesn’t seem to be as popular as it once was, and I really don’t think it ever will be again. Still, for the sake of nostalgia, I’m happy to see they’re still around…and I think those figures pictured above look incredibly cool!
You can learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know(and then some) about TMNT, by visiting the official website over at http://www.ninjaturtles.com
