I was the target audience when these came out. Had most of these. The cartoon and these toys are 1000% responsible for the success. Without that, there is no original movie either. As a kid I had no clue there was a comic originally.
Man I'm 40 years old and I remember this like it was yesterday. I played all of the video games and my cousin had most of the toys. So many great memories.
Loved this toy line. It’s amazing how much the Turtles ruled the late 80’s and all of the 90’s. I loved how much variety they had with the different turtle variations.
I've tried to explain to my niece what it was like being a kid at the height of 'Turtlemania' in the early 90s. But unless you were actually a kid at the time, you'll never really understand. TMNT (or TMHT here in the UK, as 'Ninja' was deemed too much and was replaced with 'Hero') was EVERYWHERE. I remember my friends and I at primary school pretending to be the Turtles on the playground. Bringing to school coloured scarves into which eyeholes had been cut. Of course because it was so popular we'd end up playing with 4 Leonardos, 8 Michelangelos, a few Raphaels, and MAYBE one Donatello (he wasn't as popular). The TMNT arcade game was one I'd always seek out in arcades. Four kids could crowd around the cabinet to play as the four Turtles. There is SO MUCH TMNT merch coming out still to this day. TMNT is still wildly popular... but will never recapture the FEVER of its early 90s peak. If you lived it, you know what I'm talking about. Toys, t-shirts, lunchboxes, bedding, backpacks, stickers, coins, books, tv, posters, magazines... the Turtles' visages were on everything and anything you could think of. I'm lucky. I was a kid during, what I believe to be, THE best time to be a kid. The 80s and 90s were amazing times. At a time of a cartoon-driven pop culture explosion few things would have the lasting impact of the Teenage Mutant Ninja (or Hero) Turtles. As my favourite Turtle Raphael would say: It was radical.
TMNT was up monumental and encapsulated the late 80s, where we it felt like it put together my own love for gross-out stuff like Garbage Pail Kids with the craze for the martial arts, mutants...it hit at the right time for so many kids. The early 80s giants either felt like the older kids stuff, or for me as an older kid at the time, the next novelty as I gradually lost interest in Transformers and COPS didn't stick around for long.
it really was an excellent time to grow up 60s kids had like, a bunch of life experiences and interesting movieworthy stuff to do, and great music, but we had nonstop electronic and plastic entertainment of the highest caliber. And by the time more cerebral nerd pursuits came out, anime, digital art, internetting in general... we were mature enough to get it. Just.. really wish we could have held onto that a while longer, because all of it's ruined now.
Know that in that time in a different part of the UK, I experienced the TMHT (no ninja for us) hype just as you did. You literally had to live them days to understand how popular they were. Great days. 🫡
What a great comment.. it’s all so true. It was a wonderful time and nobody can understand unless you lived it. My four year old wanted me to find this specific scene so he could watch it. He went from Ghostbusters crazy to Turtles crazy so I think he’s being raised pretty ok.
im 40 but i still remember this fantastic era of the tmnts. Had a couple of figures, Donatello and Leonardo. It was a great time to be alive. Now its all about paying bills and work :(((
Even as a kid, the comparisons to MOTU in design and packaging stood out to me. Another great memory I had was when my grandma was visiting from Japan and knew all the names of the Turtles' weapons. It helped so much that the accessories and playsets were so damn cool too. I remember my friends and I taking cardboard boxes to cut up and build our own playsets for days
Fred Wolf was ABSOLUTELY responsible for making the Turtles a billion dollar franchise. Most artists hate it when business makes their creation 'more marketable'. It takes away from their vision, but I'm positive the Turtles would have stayed very niche and underground without the changes. I used to play the old TMNT RPG, based on the gritty comics, so I do prefer them, but there's no way they would have been popular with children without Wolf. You get older, you read the gritty stuff, like Last Ronin, but you love them nonetheless.
Loved it so much as a kid. Thank you mom for spoiling me. From the first line up ive got the 4 turtles, splinter, footsoldier, rocksteady and the cheapskate. Oh i loved that skateboard. From the other line ups ive got leatherhead, a duck with wings, the rabbit, a blue hoovercraft vehicle for the footsoldier. A trap where you put slime/acid on top and a turtle is captured on a bench, a catapult that throw slime and oh i loved this one. A vehicle that shoots pizza. That was awesome. Those were the best years to be a kid. Nowadays toylines suck, cartoons suck, the world suck
In the Reagan years, I don't know if there was ever one clearly dominant action figure franchise. He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron: everyone had their favorite. But in the Bush years, there was never any question as to which toyline reigned supreme; TMNT just eclipsed everything else. It united the kids who were into violence (i.e. martial arts) and the kids who were into silly humor in a way that no other toy did.
Ahhh the fond memories I have of this franchise and its toy-line. Aside from Transformers, this was the one toyline I was hyped to get my hands on every toy I could, or at least attempted too. Being born the year Transformers hit the air and toyshelves, I missed a chunk of Gen01 by the time I was old enough to be allowed to play with the toys. I mostly got the vintage goodness via hand-me-downs from my brother or stores carrying plenty of back stock from other retail chains, while enjoying the latter half of Gen01's final run (alas I never got my hands on Fort Max, or Scorpinok). With Ninja Turtles I was there from the start of the line, and ready for Turtle-mania. When the vehicles and playsets started rolling out from 1988 and onward, I was jazzed that my four heroes finally had stuff to interact with, and it was fun running over Foot Soldiers, or BeBop and Rocksteady with the Party Wagon/Turtle Van. Christmas 1989/1990 the Sewer Den playset was the perfect gift from Santa, only to be topped by the Technodrome in 1991, and boy I could go on. Thanks for helping me relive the goodness from back then Michael!
I definitely think the cartoon had a hand in the turtles becoming icons. Although the comics were definitely excellent, i think it would have taken much longer for the popularity to grow without the cartoon.
TMNT started my lifelong obsession with Pizza. I would have Pizza for every meal. Now 40 years later, I have High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Diabetes and a Heart Attack. I want to be a Turtle when I grow up. Thank you Turtles! 🙂
I am always so ridiculously grateful that turtle mania was something that I got to live through as a kid. I am from the OG generation. And for many years, I was protective of my generation of ninja turtles. So much so that for many years, I didn't give the more modern movies a fair shake. One day, I was watching the 2014 movie and I just came to this realization that the same way kids of that era viewed that movie was the same way I did in 1990. And it just made me feel glad that other kids after my generation had that same feeling. I even watched and enjoyed the Mutant Mayhem movie. I'll never be able to control entertainment. But him happy knowing that kids today get to vibe out to things that mattered to me as a kid. I wish that I could wave a wand and make people feel the turtle mania atmosphere that was everywhere in the very early 90s. There was so much anticipation because you couldn't just google everything in the world. You had to be lucky enough to catch a commercial, or some magazine advertisement for a new line or action figure or merchandise or whatever. And here was the absolute most euphoric feeling of mania you could have experienced as a kid: Just being at the store with your parents and finding some strange character that you didnt even know existed because you never saw the episodes with them yet. That's how I discovered Ace Duck and Metalhead. I found a Shredder in the playground soundbox one day. My brother once found the orange Ratking belt. We found Krang's walker in a box my parents got at an auction one day. Like 7 of my mom's girlfriends got me and my brother a Casey Jones, so we'd the extras to kids who didnt have him, or if they had a trade- Got Muckman by one of my spare 7 Casey Jones'. My brother got Yasagi Jimbo in a trade, but our other brother cut the ears off when he got mad one day. My eldest brother got Slash one Christmas. I don't mean to ramble but this video was a very happy walk down memory lane for me. Thank you for creating this. If only laughter could ride in the vehicle of time.
I’m amazed how at the age of 7 I was in love with this. I then take my son to the movies to see them. Then my son, grandson and myself watch them eating pizza! Generationally perfect cartoon, movies and toys.
Great retrospective video. These were my favourite toys for a long time. When the show first hit the UK, the four turtles would sell out everywhere. I eventually got them all and was very happy. I remember making a playset out of cardboard with a removable sewer hatch, ladder and pipes sticking out of it. I wanted to extend it, have the entire living room as an underground sewer for the turtles but my parents weren't so enthusiastic.
Turtle Power was massive and no individual can take credit for TMNT worldwide success. it was a group effort. if anything, us kids back then is why creators made so much money
when i was a little kid i had the original shredder Acton figure that when they was poplar back in I had a splinter the rat King and rocksteady I just love this video take me back to my early days when i was a little boy back then what good memories of on my childhood memory 🤪
best one i seen so far, so in depth and easy to get into, displaying the music, action figures, cartoon, character design and character mentality beautifully.. kids watching this will instantly know they missed out
I am huge fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as your channel! I always appreciate the effort you put into these "History of" videos! I have been a TMNT fan for most of my life, and I have never realized the meaning behind their weapons. That was very interesting to me! I also didn't acknowledge the connection with Daredevil. Keep up the great work!! Cowabunga!!
I really wish you would do a short video on that odd audible anomaly heard in the original TMNT intro where the singer says "Heroes in the half shell TURTLE POWER" and try to explain wtf it was that made it sound like that or why it sounded like that?
The presentation is awesome, it’s like being in that kid’s head and see how its brain perceives the action. Just gives even more understanding why these toys were so great!
how about the colors of the original shredder figure. I had this figure (which also had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles print in the Netherlands. Strange because the other figures came in Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles packaging) and a Shredder figure that you could wind up with a button on the side. The figure I was able to wind up was much more fun to play with and looked a lot more like Shredder from the cartoon and live action movie.
This and Bat mania in 89 made every other big pop culture fad afterwards seem weak by comparison. Such a massive force of pop culture to get to experience. How lucky we were and didn't even know it.
Finally!!!!!! I've been waiting for you to review the Classic Ninja Turtles Toyline,like, forever. I even had some of these when I was a kid. Awesome review, as always, Michael.
As a child of the 80s. I found out about tmnt like the majority of other kids my age... Through the cartoon. I have to say without the cartoon i doubt it would have kick start that amount of merchandise and other medias.
Your history videos are so dang good its crazy, and this was my second favorite toyline to transformers. This is for sure going to be a great video. Much appreciated.
I loved groing up with these toys. They were just as amazing as the show itself. I just met the very artist behind the show at a signing at my local game shop. He even did the comics when they first went to color instead of being just black & white. And even worked on the original live action films. Appearently they based michelangelo's character in the cartoon/movies. After meeting him in person I can believe it. LOL Thanks for another fantastic review. It brings back alot of fond memories of those days.
I got the Cheapskate and Rocksteady ages before I could get a Turtle as they were constantly sold out/unavailable in the UK. They were in catalogues like Kays and Argos (0:42), so you could spend hours staring at them, but you just couldn't get them; orders were backed up for months. The second phase Turtles with movements were being advertised (again, 0:42, and they were available but no one wanted them) before you could even get the first phase ones. I remember the day one of my school friends brought in a Donatello they'd got on a family trip to London the weekend before and it was the first one we'd seen in the flesh - it was almost unreal.
Favorite toys as a kid ever! I loved the mid 90s. My mom would take me to second hand thrift shops and these stores are where I got half my figures and toys. And cheap. Got so many TMNT and Batman and Street Sharks. Had a big 4ft by 5ft toy box right full. Then when we moved, the entire toy box with every toy I ever had, destroyed by kids where my parents kept some of our stuff. Broke my heart. And there's no way TMNT would be as big without the cartoon. No way in hell.
When I moved out of my childhood house I threw away all my toys and regret it every day, I had at least 60-70 tnmt figures with many vehicles etc. seeing the original line up at 7:11 brought a tear 😢 I had every single one of those plus many more in the future as more got released.
THANK YOU for doing this! TMNT went on for so many years with so many figures so can't wait to see the next one and find out why I always see like a $5,000 figure now and then!
My introduction to the heroes in a half-shell was not the cartoon nor the toys, it was the first two NES games by Koonami! I couldn't have been any older than 6 when I first saw my older brother and his friend play those games, especially the second one which was a NES port of the Arcade game. From that moment on, the Turtles were in my brain 24/7! My older sister must've had to hear "Cowabunga" at least a thousand times every day, lol. So yeah, even though I'm much more interested in retro video games and LEGOs, I always have a soft spot in my heart for the green teens. 🐢🐢🐢🐢
I remember being in second grade in the fall of 88 when these things caught on. Those next three years were insane. Eventually their popularity diminished due to X-Men and Batman taking over but holy shit they dominated the late 80s and very early 90s. I think the 1990 movie is one of the top 3 greatest superhero films of all time.
I think TMNT definitely would have survived without the cartoon and such, but it wouldn't be NEARLY as big as it is now. It'd be a more niche and subdued franchise.
TMNT and masters of the universe were my jam for sure.i was a little late being born in 83.but they were definitely still around when I was old enough to request toys for Christmas and birthdays.
I had virtually everything TMNT. What I still find hilarious is how the turtles adopted four entirely different dialects, despite being a byproduct of a single human from Japan, raised in a single location.
Perfect timing! I picked up some vintage figures (re-releases) from my local Walmart. Very affordable, brought back the childhood nostalgia. Enjoyed this review on top.
Such an excellent well researched video. I loved the similarities with the A-Team!! And how do you have so many toy lines in your collection? Great effort.
7:36 Those same figures recently got another release with better articulation. Also Super 7 made these same figures but they are taller than the original versions and also have better articulation. If you want the original sized ones i would get the ones walmart just released earlier this year that had improved articulation. Only issue with them is they switched Don and Leo's heads for some reason. Not sure if that was a factory mistake or was done on purpose for some reason?
Just a few characters shy of everything you see here at that time…sears wishbook..watsons..toys r us…children’s palace..and showbiz pizza…man what a time…the blimp bombs done it for me…
A friend in school gave me Bebop and Rocksteady from the toy collection he and his older brother assembled. By then the peak of the Turtlemania was already over, but the show still aired non stop. I got my own Turtle figures from a later 90s collection, thought of new episodes and played til I was sweating😂😅 I absolutely love the look of Bebop and Rocksteady. Today Rocksteady, missing all accessories and a hand, still is around me sitting in a flower tub on the balcony looking like the gnarly badass he is😂
My first exposure to TMNT was the 2003 4Kids series, but I was introduced to the original TMNT when I was given some of the toys from my grandfather. They used to belong to my mom and her brothers back during the '80s. I was even given the Technodrome. I still have it, but it's in rough shape. Some pieces are missing or broken, most of the stickers have peeled off, and the grey plastic has yellowed. Still, it serves as a great playset for all off the figures that I have. Plenty of TMNT stuff can be found at Sylvania Toy Company (a retro toy store that sells tons of 80s and 90s merchandise), including original animation cels used to make the cartoon!
Much fun, thanks for making this! Yes the parachute was an excellent way to drop your figure off the stairs and near free-fall speed :) I have to admit, when folks think TMNT, they sing the song, and the song is from the cartoon...
I wasn't ever a big toy fan. But I was the right age and I fell for the turtle mania. The turtle van was the biggest and most expensive toy i ever had apart from Nintendo. I had to get straight A's on my report card to get it. Was the only time I got straight A's
I've never owned the original turtle figure designs, I just prefer the storage shell ones. Sure, the originals are classics, but the storage shells had a place to store weapons, more detailed head sculpts, and the belt wasn't removable so you couldn't loose it! Anyways, I can't wait until the history of the kenner ghostbusters 1987 edition!
Is radical that Playmates reissue them... I've recently managed to grab the reissue party wagon.... The seller have the reissue Turtle Blimp as well but i noticed it's glider is totally different from the original vintage... So I pass....
Buddy of mine introduced me to TMNT with three mint issues of ‘first’ print (since originals prints were lost) of issue one. Thought the concept was weird. Then a few years later they exploded! Love to have one of those first issues…
The reissue of the original Raph is a darker duller green. My 3 year old just got into Ninja Turtles which is a dream for me being born in 84. Something told me the color wasn't right. I found this video to confirm. Wild how our memory works!
I have an older brother that froze my Raphael in a block of ice and threw him as hard as he could against a brick wall, he shattered into a million pieces that day and so did my heart that was along time ago and I'm still not over it.
I was the target audience when these came out. Had most of these. The cartoon and these toys are 1000% responsible for the success. Without that, there is no original movie either. As a kid I had no clue there was a comic originally.
Man I'm 40 years old and I remember this like it was yesterday. I played all of the video games and my cousin had most of the toys. So many great memories.
Loved this toy line. It’s amazing how much the Turtles ruled the late 80’s and all of the 90’s. I loved how much variety they had with the different turtle variations.
They had an awesome rogues gallery, especially the toy line and the comics. Creative designs with detailed molds made for a nice combo.
I've tried to explain to my niece what it was like being a kid at the height of 'Turtlemania' in the early 90s. But unless you were actually a kid at the time, you'll never really understand. TMNT (or TMHT here in the UK, as 'Ninja' was deemed too much and was replaced with 'Hero') was EVERYWHERE. I remember my friends and I at primary school pretending to be the Turtles on the playground. Bringing to school coloured scarves into which eyeholes had been cut. Of course because it was so popular we'd end up playing with 4 Leonardos, 8 Michelangelos, a few Raphaels, and MAYBE one Donatello (he wasn't as popular). The TMNT arcade game was one I'd always seek out in arcades. Four kids could crowd around the cabinet to play as the four Turtles.
There is SO MUCH TMNT merch coming out still to this day. TMNT is still wildly popular... but will never recapture the FEVER of its early 90s peak. If you lived it, you know what I'm talking about. Toys, t-shirts, lunchboxes, bedding, backpacks, stickers, coins, books, tv, posters, magazines... the Turtles' visages were on everything and anything you could think of.
I'm lucky. I was a kid during, what I believe to be, THE best time to be a kid. The 80s and 90s were amazing times. At a time of a cartoon-driven pop culture explosion few things would have the lasting impact of the Teenage Mutant Ninja (or Hero) Turtles.
As my favourite Turtle Raphael would say: It was radical.
TMNT was up monumental and encapsulated the late 80s, where we it felt like it put together my own love for gross-out stuff like Garbage Pail Kids with the craze for the martial arts, mutants...it hit at the right time for so many kids. The early 80s giants either felt like the older kids stuff, or for me as an older kid at the time, the next novelty as I gradually lost interest in Transformers and COPS didn't stick around for long.
it really was an excellent time to grow up
60s kids had like, a bunch of life experiences and interesting movieworthy stuff to do, and great music, but we had nonstop electronic and plastic entertainment of the highest caliber. And by the time more cerebral nerd pursuits came out, anime, digital art, internetting in general... we were mature enough to get it. Just.. really wish we could have held onto that a while longer, because all of it's ruined now.
Know that in that time in a different part of the UK, I experienced the TMHT (no ninja for us) hype just as you did. You literally had to live them days to understand how popular they were. Great days. 🫡
What a great comment.. it’s all so true. It was a wonderful time and nobody can understand unless you lived it. My four year old wanted me to find this specific scene so he could watch it. He went from Ghostbusters crazy to Turtles crazy so I think he’s being raised pretty ok.
i had tmnt pogs, remember those?
im 40 but i still remember this fantastic era of the tmnts. Had a couple of figures, Donatello and Leonardo. It was a great time to be alive. Now its all about paying bills and work :(((
Thank you for treating the TMNT with respect and detail.
RIP Legend Shredder(1st) VA, and Uncle Phil's Actor.
James Avery, yes indeed
Rest in pace Peter Renaday, the voice of Splinter and Vernon.
Even as a kid, the comparisons to MOTU in design and packaging stood out to me. Another great memory I had was when my grandma was visiting from Japan and knew all the names of the Turtles' weapons.
It helped so much that the accessories and playsets were so damn cool too. I remember my friends and I taking cardboard boxes to cut up and build our own playsets for days
It’ll always be “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles” to me. Thanks for the memories, dude
Fred Wolf was ABSOLUTELY responsible for making the Turtles a billion dollar franchise. Most artists hate it when business makes their creation 'more marketable'. It takes away from their vision, but I'm positive the Turtles would have stayed very niche and underground without the changes. I used to play the old TMNT RPG, based on the gritty comics, so I do prefer them, but there's no way they would have been popular with children without Wolf. You get older, you read the gritty stuff, like Last Ronin, but you love them nonetheless.
Loved it so much as a kid. Thank you mom for spoiling me. From the first line up ive got the 4 turtles, splinter, footsoldier, rocksteady and the cheapskate. Oh i loved that skateboard.
From the other line ups ive got leatherhead, a duck with wings, the rabbit, a blue hoovercraft vehicle for the footsoldier. A trap where you put slime/acid on top and a turtle is captured on a bench, a catapult that throw slime and oh i loved this one. A vehicle that shoots pizza. That was awesome.
Those were the best years to be a kid. Nowadays toylines suck, cartoons suck, the world suck
I love how you recreated the scenes with the action figures. 👍
In the Reagan years, I don't know if there was ever one clearly dominant action figure franchise. He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron: everyone had their favorite. But in the Bush years, there was never any question as to which toyline reigned supreme; TMNT just eclipsed everything else. It united the kids who were into violence (i.e. martial arts) and the kids who were into silly humor in a way that no other toy did.
Ahhh the fond memories I have of this franchise and its toy-line. Aside from Transformers, this was the one toyline I was hyped to get my hands on every toy I could, or at least attempted too. Being born the year Transformers hit the air and toyshelves, I missed a chunk of Gen01 by the time I was old enough to be allowed to play with the toys. I mostly got the vintage goodness via hand-me-downs from my brother or stores carrying plenty of back stock from other retail chains, while enjoying the latter half of Gen01's final run (alas I never got my hands on Fort Max, or Scorpinok). With Ninja Turtles I was there from the start of the line, and ready for Turtle-mania. When the vehicles and playsets started rolling out from 1988 and onward, I was jazzed that my four heroes finally had stuff to interact with, and it was fun running over Foot Soldiers, or BeBop and Rocksteady with the Party Wagon/Turtle Van. Christmas 1989/1990 the Sewer Den playset was the perfect gift from Santa, only to be topped by the Technodrome in 1991, and boy I could go on.
Thanks for helping me relive the goodness from back then Michael!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Muck Man was my favorite action figure ever. The detail of his sculpt was awesome.
I definitely think the cartoon had a hand in the turtles becoming icons.
Although the comics were definitely excellent, i think it would have taken much longer for the popularity to grow without the cartoon.
Another Masterpiece video from Mr. Mercy. Loved your narration and the cartoon clips reminded me of just how awesome the show was.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
TMNT started my lifelong obsession with Pizza. I would have Pizza for every meal. Now 40 years later, I have High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Diabetes and a Heart Attack. I want to be a Turtle when I grow up. Thank you Turtles! 🙂
I grew up in Connecticut about two hours from NYC so pizza essentially became our religion lol.
You just brightened my day with this
🌞
Whenever I’m a little down, I just type in “Michael Mercy TMNT” and then I’m good!
I am always so ridiculously grateful that turtle mania was something that I got to live through as a kid. I am from the OG generation. And for many years, I was protective of my generation of ninja turtles. So much so that for many years, I didn't give the more modern movies a fair shake. One day, I was watching the 2014 movie and I just came to this realization that the same way kids of that era viewed that movie was the same way I did in 1990. And it just made me feel glad that other kids after my generation had that same feeling. I even watched and enjoyed the Mutant Mayhem movie. I'll never be able to control entertainment. But him happy knowing that kids today get to vibe out to things that mattered to me as a kid.
I wish that I could wave a wand and make people feel the turtle mania atmosphere that was everywhere in the very early 90s. There was so much anticipation because you couldn't just google everything in the world. You had to be lucky enough to catch a commercial, or some magazine advertisement for a new line or action figure or merchandise or whatever. And here was the absolute most euphoric feeling of mania you could have experienced as a kid: Just being at the store with your parents and finding some strange character that you didnt even know existed because you never saw the episodes with them yet. That's how I discovered Ace Duck and Metalhead. I found a Shredder in the playground soundbox one day. My brother once found the orange Ratking belt. We found Krang's walker in a box my parents got at an auction one day. Like 7 of my mom's girlfriends got me and my brother a Casey Jones, so we'd the extras to kids who didnt have him, or if they had a trade- Got Muckman by one of my spare 7 Casey Jones'. My brother got Yasagi Jimbo in a trade, but our other brother cut the ears off when he got mad one day. My eldest brother got Slash one Christmas.
I don't mean to ramble but this video was a very happy walk down memory lane for me. Thank you for creating this. If only laughter could ride in the vehicle of time.
I’m amazed how at the age of 7 I was in love with this. I then take my son to the movies to see them. Then my son, grandson and myself watch them eating pizza! Generationally perfect cartoon, movies and toys.
Great retrospective video. These were my favourite toys for a long time. When the show first hit the UK, the four turtles would sell out everywhere. I eventually got them all and was very happy. I remember making a playset out of cardboard with a removable sewer hatch, ladder and pipes sticking out of it. I wanted to extend it, have the entire living room as an underground sewer for the turtles but my parents weren't so enthusiastic.
Turtle Power was massive and no individual can take credit for TMNT worldwide success.
it was a group effort. if anything, us kids back then is why creators made so much money
when i was a little kid i had the original shredder Acton figure that when they was poplar back in I had a splinter the rat King and rocksteady I just love this video take me back to my early days when i was a little boy back then what good memories of on my childhood memory 🤪
Man, what a phenomenon the TMNT were. Have we ever seen such a thing since?!? Great video, thanks for the epic walk down memory lane 🙏
Thanks Xazyl, glad you enjoyed it. It really was a phenomenon, right up there with the Cabbage Patch craze.
best one i seen so far, so in depth and easy to get into, displaying the music, action figures, cartoon, character design and character mentality beautifully.. kids watching this will instantly know they missed out
I loved these action figures in the early 90s. They reproduced them in 2010s.
They've been reproducing them now too lol
42 years old and it’s awesome to see your video on the turtles! Wonderful video keep up the good work!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
I am huge fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as your channel! I always appreciate the effort you put into these "History of" videos! I have been a TMNT fan for most of my life, and I have never realized the meaning behind their weapons. That was very interesting to me! I also didn't acknowledge the connection with Daredevil. Keep up the great work!! Cowabunga!!
Thanks David! They take a lot of time and work but lots of fun too. Glad you enjoy them! 🤜🤛
Best memories of me and my older brother playing with all our turtles.
Now I collect Mirage-Neca-Hasbro and admire them from a shelf.
Still love them.
I really wish you would do a short video on that odd audible anomaly heard in the original TMNT intro where the singer says "Heroes in the half shell TURTLE POWER" and try to explain wtf it was that made it sound like that or why it sounded like that?
The presentation is awesome, it’s like being in that kid’s head and see how its brain perceives the action. Just gives even more understanding why these toys were so great!
how about the colors of the original shredder figure. I had this figure (which also had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles print in the Netherlands. Strange because the other figures came in Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles packaging) and a Shredder figure that you could wind up with a button on the side. The figure I was able to wind up was much more fun to play with and looked a lot more like Shredder from the cartoon and live action movie.
Awesome Micheal, great memories 😊
Thanks Paul!
This video is awesome and the editing is amazing. Great video, made me want to go back and watch the whole 80s tmnt show
This and Bat mania in 89 made every other big pop culture fad afterwards seem weak by comparison. Such a massive force of pop culture to get to experience. How lucky we were and didn't even know it.
I'm 42 and I definitely remember Batmania and the TMNT craze occurred simultaneously.
Finally!!!!!! I've been waiting for you to review the Classic Ninja Turtles Toyline,like, forever.
I even had some of these when I was a kid. Awesome review, as always, Michael.
Me too! 😁 Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
As a child of the 80s. I found out about tmnt like the majority of other kids my age... Through the cartoon. I have to say without the cartoon i doubt it would have kick start that amount of merchandise and other medias.
4:14 What Philco tv model is that?! That is the exact one I had as a kid watching TMNT!
No idea.
Your history videos are so dang good its crazy, and this was my second favorite toyline to transformers. This is for sure going to be a great video. Much appreciated.
Thank you for watching, glad you enjoy them! 🤜🤛
really interesting and well-made video. great job!
Thank you! 🤜🤛
I loved groing up with these toys. They were just as amazing as the show itself. I just met the very artist behind the show at a signing at my local game shop. He even did the comics when they first went to color instead of being just black & white. And even worked on the original live action films. Appearently they based michelangelo's character in the cartoon/movies. After meeting him in person I can believe it. LOL
Thanks for another fantastic review. It brings back alot of fond memories of those days.
Thank you, happy that you enjoyed it.
I saw they were selling the old edition toys in target the other week, i was surprised.
I got the Cheapskate and Rocksteady ages before I could get a Turtle as they were constantly sold out/unavailable in the UK. They were in catalogues like Kays and Argos (0:42), so you could spend hours staring at them, but you just couldn't get them; orders were backed up for months. The second phase Turtles with movements were being advertised (again, 0:42, and they were available but no one wanted them) before you could even get the first phase ones. I remember the day one of my school friends brought in a Donatello they'd got on a family trip to London the weekend before and it was the first one we'd seen in the flesh - it was almost unreal.
It's about time you reviewed these radical dudes! COWABUNGA!
Favorite toys as a kid ever! I loved the mid 90s. My mom would take me to second hand thrift shops and these stores are where I got half my figures and toys. And cheap. Got so many TMNT and Batman and Street Sharks. Had a big 4ft by 5ft toy box right full. Then when we moved, the entire toy box with every toy I ever had, destroyed by kids where my parents kept some of our stuff. Broke my heart. And there's no way TMNT would be as big without the cartoon. No way in hell.
When I moved out of my childhood house I threw away all my toys and regret it every day, I had at least 60-70 tnmt figures with many vehicles etc. seeing the original line up at 7:11 brought a tear 😢 I had every single one of those plus many more in the future as more got released.
I did something similar with my NES collection. Luckily that was not too challenging to replace recently
THANK YOU for doing this! TMNT went on for so many years with so many figures so can't wait to see the next one and find out why I always see like a $5,000 figure now and then!
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it.
Perfect way to end my Father's Day. Watching now, not done yet, but loving every minute. And perfect timing for me I've been loving TMNT lately!
🤜🤛
TMNT was, together with GI JOE, the main line of toys to me at my childhood here in Brazil. Love this vintage vibe of the 1980s line until today.
i love these history videos you do
Thanks for watching!
My introduction to the heroes in a half-shell was not the cartoon nor the toys, it was the first two NES games by Koonami! I couldn't have been any older than 6 when I first saw my older brother and his friend play those games, especially the second one which was a NES port of the Arcade game. From that moment on, the Turtles were in my brain 24/7! My older sister must've had to hear "Cowabunga" at least a thousand times every day, lol.
So yeah, even though I'm much more interested in retro video games and LEGOs, I always have a soft spot in my heart for the green teens. 🐢🐢🐢🐢
I remember being in second grade in the fall of 88 when these things caught on. Those next three years were insane. Eventually their popularity diminished due to X-Men and Batman taking over but holy shit they dominated the late 80s and very early 90s. I think the 1990 movie is one of the top 3 greatest superhero films of all time.
Amazing video! Thank you so much for making this!
My 2 older brothers and i had so many of these. We had the giant 18-20 or so inch tall 1s.
These Ninja Turtles are almost as cool as the Hero Turtles we watched over here ☘️😊
😁 Would that make Storm Shadow a Cobra Hero?
As a vintage TMNT collector I love this video!
I think TMNT definitely would have survived without the cartoon and such, but it wouldn't be NEARLY as big as it is now. It'd be a more niche and subdued franchise.
TMNT and masters of the universe were my jam for sure.i was a little late being born in 83.but they were definitely still around when I was old enough to request toys for Christmas and birthdays.
I had virtually everything TMNT.
What I still find hilarious is how the turtles adopted four entirely different dialects, despite being a byproduct of a single human from Japan, raised in a single location.
Perfect timing! I picked up some vintage figures (re-releases) from my local Walmart. Very affordable, brought back the childhood nostalgia. Enjoyed this review on top.
Thanks Terri!
i have the classic line up and must i say its very satisfying to see a video on these
fantastic, glad to see TMNT get the MM treatment.
🤜🤛
R.i.p. James Avery voice of Shredder, what a great voice and acting talent.
Such an excellent well researched video. I loved the similarities with the A-Team!! And how do you have so many toy lines in your collection? Great effort.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. It took many years and being straight edge definitely helped with funds (no drinking, no smoking, no drugs).
They were such fun colourful toys.
Finally! I’ve been waiting ages for this!
Oh boy i've been waiting for this video for so long
Tubular show! I had never considered that the turtles had weapons to test their character weaknesses. 8 slices out of 8 for this masterpiece 🍕
Thanks for watching! And for the pizza. 🤪
Poor Menasor haha ...he can't take a few expertly delivered katana strikes from Leo without turning into pieces. Fun history video :)
Thanks for watching!
Great video, you make these so fun to watch!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed.
7:36 Those same figures recently got another release with better articulation. Also Super 7 made these same figures but they are taller than the original versions and also have better articulation. If you want the original sized ones i would get the ones walmart just released earlier this year that had improved articulation. Only issue with them is they switched Don and Leo's heads for some reason. Not sure if that was a factory mistake or was done on purpose for some reason?
Sorry if anyone else has asked already, Michael, but what did you use for the surveillance gear in your party wagon? Very clever idea.
It's from the McFarlane Batman '66 Batcave. Lots of equipment from that set that fits well in the Party Wagon.
Fridays at 5:30pm on Network 2's The Den in Ireland. I loved Fridays because of it. TURTLE POWER!!!
Just a few characters shy of everything you see here at that time…sears wishbook..watsons..toys r us…children’s palace..and showbiz pizza…man what a time…the blimp bombs done it for me…
A friend in school gave me Bebop and Rocksteady from the toy collection he and his older brother assembled. By then the peak of the Turtlemania was already over, but the show still aired non stop. I got my own Turtle figures from a later 90s collection, thought of new episodes and played til I was sweating😂😅 I absolutely love the look of Bebop and Rocksteady. Today Rocksteady, missing all accessories and a hand, still is around me sitting in a flower tub on the balcony looking like the gnarly badass he is😂
My first exposure to TMNT was the 2003 4Kids series, but I was introduced to the original TMNT when I was given some of the toys from my grandfather. They used to belong to my mom and her brothers back during the '80s. I was even given the Technodrome. I still have it, but it's in rough shape. Some pieces are missing or broken, most of the stickers have peeled off, and the grey plastic has yellowed. Still, it serves as a great playset for all off the figures that I have. Plenty of TMNT stuff can be found at Sylvania Toy Company (a retro toy store that sells tons of 80s and 90s merchandise), including original animation cels used to make the cartoon!
That show was a true gem.
Much fun, thanks for making this! Yes the parachute was an excellent way to drop your figure off the stairs and near free-fall speed :) I have to admit, when folks think TMNT, they sing the song, and the song is from the cartoon...
Thanks Bob, glad you enjoyed it.
Great video Michael! The original tmnt toyline and tv series is my all time favourite from when I was a kid and still to this day! Great job! 😄
Thanks for watching!
I wasn't ever a big toy fan. But I was the right age and I fell for the turtle mania. The turtle van was the biggest and most expensive toy i ever had apart from Nintendo. I had to get straight A's on my report card to get it. Was the only time I got straight A's
I really enjoyed this one. Excellent work.
Thank you!
Bro I see them cops toys in the background. Awesome collection man
The 80s was great I remember going to stores and buying them, I had alot of them.
I've never owned the original turtle figure designs, I just prefer the storage shell ones. Sure, the originals are classics, but the storage shells had a place to store weapons, more detailed head sculpts, and the belt wasn't removable so you couldn't loose it! Anyways, I can't wait until the history of the kenner ghostbusters 1987 edition!
I didn't have the storage shell versions back then but picked up the reissues a few years ago. I love how they all come with pizzas for the shell. 🍕
Is radical that Playmates reissue them... I've recently managed to grab the reissue party wagon.... The seller have the reissue Turtle Blimp as well but i noticed it's glider is totally different from the original vintage... So I pass....
Very well done. Excellent work
Thank you.
I found all of my old tmnt figurines including the technodrome in my parents attic during Covid. Glad my parents never threw them out
Your parents rock.
Buddy of mine introduced me to TMNT with three mint issues of ‘first’ print (since originals prints were lost) of issue one. Thought the concept was weird. Then a few years later they exploded! Love to have one of those first issues…
The reissue of the original Raph is a darker duller green. My 3 year old just got into Ninja Turtles which is a dream for me being born in 84. Something told me the color wasn't right. I found this video to confirm. Wild how our memory works!
This line existed after I was past my “playing with toys” days, but it’s hard deny the impact this line had on the toy industry at large.
Saw a lot of where the Tick cartoon got its inspiration from when I rewatched those early Turtles episodes. Now that would be an amazing crossover!
@@MichaelMercy it would be sublime lunacy 🤣🤣🤣
I have an older brother that froze my Raphael in a block of ice and threw him as hard as he could against a brick wall, he shattered into a million pieces that day and so did my heart that was along time ago and I'm still not over it.
I Liked How TheStorageShell Turtle-Line Looked.
(I Used to Have "SLASH" as Well.)
I didn't have a lot of TMNT toys back then. Michaelangelo is my favorite turtle though. Great video. Thanks.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
This video was really well done.
Thanks!
These aren't Battletoads! 😂😂
Great video as always from quite possibly the best variety of characters of the 80s!
History of Battletoads will definitely happen some day. 😁 Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome video, mate!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
I love the fact that they don’t know how to keep their vehicles in control 😂
Like real teenagers 😜
This was awesome talk about back to my childhood
Thanks Buck! 🤜🤛