classic TMNT action figures discussion thread

Muhtasin

New member
I thought it'd be nice to start a thread about the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. I had many of them, though I'm not quite sure whether I still have many of them in my house or not (I know that I do still have my Technodrome, though), and I'm pretty sure that many of you whow ere fans of the classic series had some as well.

These were great. Many characters from the show were made, including some characters who were quite obscure. I remember having a figure of some pizza chef villian who I knew nothing about and still know nothing about (and I forget his name), but I didn't really care. The figure line featured such seldom-seen characters as Casey Jones and a Mouser. But there were some choices that I find odd. I could be wrong, but it seems like Gengis Frog was made, but not any of the other frogs. I am a bit puzzled that Baxter Stockman in fly form was made, but not the human version (it's a shame that Baxter Stockman wasn't included in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutations line of figures). I really wanted figures of the Roadkill Rodneys. It may have been hard for figures to shoot ropes and tie up other figures, and these robots may have only appeared in one episode, but the mousers were also in only one episodes, and both Roadkill Rodneys and Mousers were featured inthe various video games.

Another thing I found interesting is that Krang was initially released on his own first, and it seems like it took forever for Krang's robotic body to become a figure. I think I recall seeing a mega-sized figure of the body once or twice, which I guess would have been great for those wanting to re-enact The Shredder Gets Splintered, but I can't believe that it took so long before a figure of the body in scale of the regular-sized figures was made, after many of the more obscure ones were made (that figure came out around the time I stopped buying toys).

I think an Irma figure was made, but I can't really remember whether figures of Vernon or April's boss were made. I never owned the April O'Neil action figure.

The playsets and vehicles were cool. I already mentioend owning the Technodrome, but I also owned a turtles helicopter (I never owned the blimp), and I think I owned a playset resembling the sewer.

And there were many different action figure lines (or... sub-lines?). There was the regular action figure collection. There were variants where the turtles heads could come into their shells (I think I had them all). There was a collection of talking Ninja Turtles figures (I never owned any of them). There was the Mutations line, where characters could transform into their original non-mutated forms (it sure was hard to transform them and get it right, though!), and later on there were sucky variants of them in certain job attire which could transform into related vehicles (I only recall a fireman variant of one turtle, which could transform into a firetruck). There was a collection of Turtles figures designed to look like they did in the live-action movies, and then a Ninja Turtles III collection which also resembled their movie counterparts (keep in mind this was many years before Palisades started it's line of Muppets actiion figures, which were done in similar detail). There was a weird line of Ninja Turtles Troll dolls.

SO, anybody else have any memores to share of the TMNT action figures from the early 1990s?
 
This should probably be on the entertainment board or maybe even the Platypus Comix board...

Then again, I have no clue where discussion of action figures would go on Toon Zone. I just know that the General Animation board isn't the place.
 
I loved this line and had almost all of the first few waves, only giving up when the line became nothing but variant after variant after variant. I could deal with TMNT figures that made sense, like the figures based on the movie line and animated versions of the characters, but then we started getting them in unreasonably silly outfits.
 
I owned a lot of the Turtles but not so many of the bad guys.
I remember that some of the toys freaked me out a bit when I was little, and after looking at them now as an adult I think I can see why.
http://www.bogleech.com/scrapbook/tmnt.html
Just take a look for yourself, they are very bizarre characters. Some of these designs are just completely insane. One have to wonder what they were smoking when they thought them up.
The pizza chef monster Speedy mentioned is on that site as well, seems like he was made especially for the toy line cause he was never in the cartoon.
 
I recieved a massive collection of these from my cousin when I was really young, he had dozens upon dozens of these figures and they soon became mine, it was cool too because he kept all of the original accessories and weapons in a small box and he gave me tons of vehicles and playsets with them. I had pretty much all of the main cast as well as some of the more obscure characters including people like Triceritops, Rat King, Leatherhead, the two alien kids who rode around in a car, multiple rock monsters and more. I also had a technidrome, the sewer playset, the turtles van, turtle blimp and another air craft of some kind.........I may have had the drill machine thing too.

I also had some of the TMNT figures where they dressed up in sports wear and other stupid outfits, but I never played with those, lol. I eventually sold them all to a flea market for like $50 for the entire lot, I wish I had kept them and sold them on eBay......:sad:
 
Actually, I'm pretty sure he was a human, not a monster. Though now that you mention it, it's a shame that the killer pizzas from Case of the Killer Pizza weren't made in figure form.

I found that wikipedia has a page about the action figures, which hasexternal links to a few TMNT action figure sites. I looked through one, which seems to have every figure made, most (if not all) of which are in the original packaging.

That pizza guy's name was Pizza Face. There were quite a few characters I forgot about (though I still forget the names). There were many characters I don't remember. Now, I'm not really a hardcore Ninja Turtle fan. I was a fan when it was popular, I've seen all four movies, I've played five of the video games and completed three of them, and I know a lot about the classic series, though I don't know every episode (I proably only remember 20 offhand). So maybe certain ones were in episodes that I didn't see.
 
They made a figure of Napoleon Bonafrog as well, but he looked nothing like his animated counterpart. He had spiky scales all over his body.



Those were the worst figures ever. They voices were completely unintelligible.



No, he was a mutant. According to the back of the box he wanted to become the world's greatest pizza chef so he tried to bake himself in his oven and it mutated him into a...a...something...

Anyway, I found this funny video on Youtube that makes fun of how ridiculous the toyline became: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wOAK9fFCVk
 
Yeah, I can't recall having ever seen any humans with neon green drool or a pizza-cutter for a leg. If that isn't monstrous, I don't know what is.

That video is awesome. It's incredible that a lot of those ridiculous toys seen in the second half of the video got made.
Also kinda odd how characters like Ace Duck only had a three second cameo on the show but the the toy makers for some reason thought he was famous enough to get his own toy.
 
Ace Duck never appeared in the cartoon for even a single frame...

Which was weird, because he was one of the first figures (second wave?) and he appeared in a LOT of the toyline's artwork. Yet, with a 193 episode series, he couldn't even make a cameo...
 
Attack of the Big Macc, Season 3. At the start of the episode, the turtles are watching an Ace Duck film festival. In the brief snippet, he appears to have a Donald Duck like laugh.

He's mentioned somewhere else in the series, but I can't recall where.
 
I'm disapointed that they turned wingnut and screwloose into villains on the show. There was potential to do a great superhero parody with those two.
 
After searching through some figure sites, it seems I was correct that there was a large 11-inche figure of Krang's android body, made years before one in normal action figure scale was released. I wonder if that was a limited quanity item. I only recall seeing it in stores a few times, and I don't recall any of my friends (well, those that had Ninja Turtles figures) having one.

Still, it seems disapointing that the exact same Krang figure that was sold seperately was included with the large android. I guess Playmates should get points for having both android body figures include removable Krang figures (it might have been easier for Krang to be permaneantly sculpted into the figure) like on the show. But I recently read that this line rarely reused any figure sculpts, and despite the large amound of ridiculously silly variants not inspired by the actual series this was a quality line.
 
Wow. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure line. Good times. Good times.

I had so many of these dang things, including just about all the figures made until around '91 and a few made after. The Wacky Action figures, the head dropping Turtles, the storage shell turtles, the talking turtles, etc. Up until a certain time (I'd right around the time my Godzilla collection obsession really started up) and I had all of this stuff, and most of the vehicles and playsets, including the blimp, Turtle Lair playset and the Technodrome.

Again, good times.
 
I have a collection of at least two hundred heroes and villains of the classic Ninja Turtles toy line, and I am proud of my collection.

Something always amazed me, though. They made toy replicas of General Traag, but not Granitor the Stone Warrior (Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - the Arcade Game), and also of Genghis Frog and Napoleon Bonafrog (they made him look like a toad!), but not the other two punk frogs, Attila the Frog or Rasputin the Mad Frog. They should have also put in Baxter Stockman in the "mutant" toy series, you could have changed him from being human to being a fly.

Good toy series, though.

Looneytunes/Disneytoons
 
Quality? I'm not sure about that. They always seemed to break. Despite the box for Baxter stating that his wings "Come off, just like the real thing!" mine broke off permanently with no way to reattach them. Bebop and Metal Head's armsbroke off as well. A few of the turtles had pieces of their bandanas break off. And I think just about all of the turtles had their weapons break. I think the only one that managed to stay intact was Donatello's bo. I don't remember having many problems with other action figure lines.



I think they did make a figure for Granitor very late in the line.
 
No, I do not think they have. You might be confusing this with a toy someone made, which can be seen on the internet, for equality. They definitely made one for General Traag, though, I have it.

Looneytunes/Disneytoons
 
Well, I don't remember any of mine breaking. And I never actually owned a Bexter Stockman action figure. I heard somewhere (and forget where) that Playmates eventually changed some of the materials used for the figures, I think to save some money.
 
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