New Additions to the TMNT Collection III

Over the last few months I have succumbed to the addiction that is on-line shopping. Seriously, once you start you find so many other cool things and you just can't stop...that is until your wife reminds you that you have children and bills to pay. This realization led me to be pretty selective of what I've purchased recently and as a huge fan of the Green Machine there are a ton of options. So without wasting anymore time, here is part 3 of the newest additions to my TMNT collection!

TMNT: The Incredible Shrinking Turtles Book

I had some of these books as a kid, but never this one. This book came as a gift in a package from the ultra-cool Hoju Koolander! If you want to check out some of his radical retro flavored articles or videos you can check them out at RetroDaze.org or on the WIZARDS! Podcast on Youtube.

TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze VHS Tape

I have extremely fond memories of owning this VHS tape as a youngster. Me and my brother would watch this movie daily. This copy is a special one though. It comes from the Mirage Studios Archives and was in the collection of TMNT Co-Creator Peter Laird! Don't believe me?

I bought it off the Mirage Studios website and it came with this sweet Certificate of Authenticity! It only cost me about $10 and I love it! If you would like to own a piece from Mirage Studios, they typically hold weekly ebay auctions. You can view the items available by clicking HERE.

TMNT Party Wagon: Hot Wheels

I kept seeing this mini version of the Turtles' Party Wagon pop up in my Twitter feed. People were finding it everywhere. I searched my local Walmarts, Targets and Dollar Tree stores, but had no success. Instead of continuing the trend of disappointment, I decided to buy this off ebay for $5. After I made that purchase, I began finding these all over the place. I picked up a few extras and gave my son one, Ieven sent one to a collector in Canada who was having trouble locking one down. I really like the details and for $1 or less, you can't beat the usual Hot Wheels quality of this toy!

Funko Pops!

My wife scored me the Target exclusive Metalhead figure for Christmas. This was a big surprise for me and she was really proud of herself for tracking him down. She's a keeper. The Casey Jones, I found in a clearance section at Walmart. This was odd to me since they had just recently came out. I didn't have a Casey in my Pop! collection yet, so I took advantage of the possibly mislabeled figure and now he stands proud next to my Turtles on the shelf in the basement!

TMNT Valentines

I found the vintage looking TMNT Valentines on clearance for around $1 and my wife found the other 2 boxes for me. Of course the kids wanted to use some of these for my friends and I let them go to town. I remember what a thrill it was to receive a Ninja Turtles Valentine. I received a card featuring something I loved on the biggest love day of them all and it was AWESOME! Who am I to keep another child from experiencing that same thrill?

Thanks for bearing with me and checking out some of the latest additions to my TMNT collection. I gotta say, I'm running out of room and may have to expand my basement collection area because I'm sure there is more to come for this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fanatic! COWABUNGA!!!!

New Additions to the TMNT Collection

 

Over the last few months I have succumbed to the addiction that is on-line shopping. Seriously, once you start you find so many other cool things and you just can't stop...that is until your wife reminds you that you have children and bills to pay. This realization led me to be pretty selective of what I've purchased recently and as a huge fan of the Green Machine there are a ton of options. So without wasting anymore time, here are the newest additions to my TMNT collection!

Hot Wheels TMNT Surfin' School Bus

I had seen these pop up on some of the blogs I follow, but I had been unable to locate them in person. Then one day on a trip to Walmart, I spotted them in the toy car aisle. I grabbed the Surfin' School Bus because the packagin features all 4 Turtles and the design most closely looks like the original Party Wagon from the 80s Playmates toy line.

IDW Comics

If you are a Turtles fan and have not read this comic book series by IDW, then you are missing out on some very cool stuff. The artwork is excellent, the stories are solid and the fact that this series is building it's own universe is AWESOME! The owner of my local comic shop knows that I am a die hard TMNT fan, so any time he gets any of the variants or Retailer Incentive covers, he sets them aside for me. He's a pretty cool guy and I appreciate him helping me build my TMNT comic collection.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dorbz

I really enjoy these cool little figures put out by Funko. When one of our local Hastings stores was closing years ago, I was able to grab Leo, Donny & Raph for around $2.50 each. It wasn't until a few weeks ago where I would make the family whole again and picked up Mikey off ebay for about $8. Now there is no stopping these Ninja Teens!

TMNT II Signed Film Presentation

This item was something I discovered on the site for Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman. He was offering up these radical items that feature a reproduction mini poster, film strip and autograph mounted as you see above. I had a discount code and got this fairly cheap. When the item arrived at my home I was excited to check it out, but when I opened the package, the item was scratched and some of the ink on the mini poster was smudged. I contacted Team Eastman and they replaced the item immediately and let me keep the damaged item. Excellent customer service from an all around nice dude. If you want to see more of what is available from Kevin Eastman Studios, you can check out his store by clicking HERE.

There are still a few more TMNT items I recently picked up that I would like to share with you, so check back next Friday for "New Additions to the TMNT Collection: Part II"!

Labor Day Weekend Car Show 2017

Every Labor Day weekend one of the local charities hosts a classic car show as a fund raiser. My kids get so excited for this event, even though in my mind it symbolizes the true end of the Summer season. We always have a great time, see some cool cars and enjoy delicious ice cream. This year was no different. Here are some of the cool cars we saw at the show!

 

This custom painted 70s Ford van sported a recreation of the artwork from the 1977 animated Ralph Bakshi film "Wizards". On the other side we had some more crazy artwork...

This side featured the artist shooting lines out of a paint sprayer at a Dragon who was holding a crystal ball! My son thought it was very cool!

 

This was a custom made Ford Rat-Rod. A rat rod is a hot rod that is built to look like the style from the 40s-60s. The signature look of these Rat Rods is to make them drivable, but still keep up an "unfinished" appearance. The artwork on the side of this Rat-Rod made it one of my favorites!

 

The one car my kids always seek out is the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner! These cars were specifically built with Warner Bros., so Plymouth could use the name, likeness and even sound of the Road Runner character on their cars! In years past the owner would let my kids honk the horn to hear the iconic "Beep, Beep" sound of the Road Runner. This year we had no such luck!

 

Any car with Rumble Seats or the engine in the back is a draw to my kids. They are so interested in the history of these machines and I am happy to talk to them about it. Even though the weather reached close to 100 degrees that day, it was a great show. The only issue we had was that the booth that usually sells Hot Wheels cars was only selling model kits this year! What the heck Hot Wheels guy! Maybe next year?