Ninja Turtles Animation Cel

I would always see this advertisement to purchase authentic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animation cels in the pages of the Archie published Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics. I always wanted one, but never could find them in any store near me. I just accepted defeat as a youngster and moved on with my life, until I was doing a search on eBay and stumbled upon some listings for TMNT animation cels.

I made a few bids on some of the cels, but only won one of the auctions. It was a scene with April calling from a phone booth. I know it's not the greatest example of animation art, but it is from one of my favorite properties of all time and it's mine!

Here is a closer look at the artwork. This is the first animation cel that I have purchased and I can really see myself starting a collection of these one of a kind works of past pop culture. Next on my list is an actual cel of the Turtles themselves!

I didn't pay much more than what these were actually going for back in the 90s at your local Toys R Us store. I'm glad the price sticker is still on this piece. The price tag itself is now a piece of pop culture history since we will never see these again on any toy packaging again!

The April O'Neil piece did come with a Certificate of Authenticity from Murakami Wolf Swenson Inc stating that this cel was used exclusively in creating the animation for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series! 

I love the packaging for this item. It has this great illustration of Mikey drawing the Shredder! Pretty cool! I will probably have this framed, so I can add it to my TMNT collection. Right now I am working on putting together a specific section in my basement dedicated to only the Mean, Green Machine and this will be a nice addition to my medley of mutant merriment! TURTLE POWER!