Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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MEMORIES:
kendra remembers...By the time these guys became popular,my brother,the one closest in age to me,had moved on from toys.There were no ... More »
Posted on 09/03/08
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were everything kids loved in the late 80s and early 90s. Then again, once upon a time, kids were pretty easy to figure out. Throw together things kids like and you’ve got a mega hit, and better yet, you’ve got an opportunity to make comics, movies, TV shows and much, much more, and that much, much more came in the form of… you guessed it… action figures.
Our heroes in a half shell, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello, were introduced in a small comic created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The foursome lived in the sewers of
By the end of 1987, they had their very own Saturday morning cartoon, and a quick few months later our cartoon heroes (and a few of their enemies) showed up on toy store shelves. Much of the Turtles’ commercial success is owed to the business deals struck by Eastman and Laird’s licensing agent, Mark Freedman. He landed a deal with Playmates Toys that would eventually include a wide range of merchandise, from skateboards to PEZ dispensers, school supplies, toothpaste and even breakfast cereal! The coups de grace for kids desperate to act out the scenes of their animated heroes, of course, were the miniature versions of their favorite action heroes.
Each came with their weapon of choice and in their signature color as a mask; for a while they were even distinguishable by skin tone. Michelangelo wore orange and carried nunchaku (that would be nunchucks to the rest of us). The ever-brainy Donatello wore purple and carried his bo (staff). Raphael wore red and carried a pair of sai. Last, but certainly not least was Leonardo who wore blue and carried his katana (swords). Next to the four turtles were usually a few April O’Niels, Shredders, and Splinters. Rubber and plastic came together and kids got to play right along to their favorite cartoon
Just a couple of years later and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were on the big screen and more characters started popping up. Even Casey Jones, Bebop and Rocksteady got action figures. The Turtles even got new varieties and accessories – armored Party Wagon, floating Sewer Party Tube, “Sewer Sports All-Stars,” “Rock Turtles” and even a big-haired Trolls version were all out on the market. You name it, TMNT was doing it!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remained a marketing powerhouse throughout the earliest parts of the 1990s; at least until the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers showed up. Though the next generation wouldn’t know the Turtles as they were during their glory years, they did get a dose or two with a handful of cartoons, including the latest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. It was never really the same, however, and the latest ninja turtle flick in early 2007 did little for a massive revival of the series. But who knows? Throw enough things back into the proverbial marketing blender and we may see another rise of Turtle Power!
