My Faves: Figure Collection TMNT Edition

I have a fairly big collection of loose figures from the 80s & 90s. I would like to share a few of my faves with you at this time and since I have deemed August 2019 "The Month of the Turtle", this is an all TMNT edition of My Faves!!! Here we go!

Nightwatcher Raphael (Playmates, 2006)

I really enjoyed the 2007 Imagi Productions TMNT movie! The cast was great and included Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Patrick Stewart. The animation was pretty good. The fight scene with Leo and Raph on top of the NYC buildings in the rain was a highlight for me. I also loved the way they were able to make this a standalone movie, but still tied it in to the original Ninja Turtles movie trilogy. Anyway, the Nightwatcher character was pretty cool and when I saw this figure at a second hand store for less than a dollar, I immediately made it part of my collection. Yes, he is missing his helmet, but Raph is still a cool piece in any collection! 

Krang Mini-Vynl (Funko, 2014)

The look of these figures is pretty cool. They look cartoony, but that is the charm of this series from Funko. I picked up 4 or 5 of these blind boxes at Barnes and Noble for around $2 each. They were in their discount bin and I couldn't pass up that deal. Usually I don't like buying blind boxes, but for that price it was worth the gamble for these sweet TMNT figures. In addition to Krang I got Casey Jones, Michelangelo and April. 

Venus De Milo (Playmates, 1997)

First off, I have to say that I absolutely do not care for the TMNT: Next Mutation series from Saban. It looks cheaply made, the stories are weak and the dialogue is extremely dated. That being said, I thought the idea of adding a new Turtle to the family was a cool idea. The way it was done was pretty awful though. This can be done well as we have recently seen with the mutation to Jennika in the latest issues of the IDW Ninja Turtles comic, it just wasn't done well in this series.

Donatello LEGO Key-chain (LEGO, 2013) 

I went crazy when I heard that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were going to have their own LEGO sets! I loved LEGO as a kid and I still love them today. It was like a mash-up of two great things coming together to form one awesome toy! The first items I saw released were these TMNT keychains and so I bought my favorite Turtle Donatello when we were in the LEGO store while on vacation in Orlando, FL. I bought a few of the smaller sets and put them together with my kids. We had fun working together, but like most of our other sets they are now broken apart and in buckets with hundreds of other LEGOs waiting to be built again!

Tokka & Rahzar (Playmates, 1991)

The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is one of my all time favorite flicks, but I would have to rank Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze a little higher. TMNT 2 was a little bit closer in tone to the cartoons I knew and loved, Vanilla Ice gave us "Ninja Rap" and it introduced us to 2 new mutant menaces, Tokka & Rahzar! These guys were freakin' AWESOME, but as a kid I always wondered why they didn't use Bebop and Rocksteady? It was years later that I found out it had to do something with the licensing rights of those characters. That turned out okay in the end though as we all grew to love these vicious, muscle bound, BABIES!!! I bought the Tokka action figure right off the rack in 1991, but Rahzar had to wait a few decades before I added him to my collection. I found him in a loose figure bargain bin at a vintage toy store for around $1.50! On a side note: Did we ever figure out which one was the ugly one?

A Trip To Bones Arcade

Every now and then I like to take my son out on what we call a "Dude's Day". This is a day for just me and my son to go out without the girls and do the things he wants to do. Last week he planned the day out for us and off we went! The first thing we did was stop at the Lego Store. While we were there my son picked out a few pieces to make a Lego volcano and a Lego Shark to put in the volcano!

The next stop was to a place we had been wanting to go to for a while! It was a new arcade that opened a few months back. They had so many games in that place from Mario Bros. to Raw Thrills' Walking Dead game!

There was also a place in the back called "Pinball Alley" were they had at least 20 different pinball games to play. My son played the Jurassic Park game and he picked the South Park game for me, but the one I wanted to play the most was...

the Back To The Future Part II table! Unfortunately this one was out of order, but that didn't stop me from drooling over the artwork on this thing. They got Doc pretty close, but Marty...not so much!

After playing around in Pinball Alley, my son and I had a few cheeseburgers with fries and Root Beer for lunch at the arcade. It was pretty good. Then it was back to the games! We hit up the "Classics" section and played some Dig-Dug, Donkey Kong and one of my fave old school cabinets...Centipede with the track ball controls! I remember playing this same cabinet every time we had to go to the dentist. Yes, our dentist had video games in his waiting room and it was AWESOME!!!

We played a few more games of Crossy Road, Pac-Man and Mario Kart we hit up our favorite games in the place. Mine was Turtles In Time! Yes, I have played this game many times over the years, but not on a stand-up arcade cabinet. There is just something about playing a game this way that makes it 100 times better. My son's favorite game was a huge version of Space Invaders. This game was incredibly fun. It was like original Space Invaders with a twist. Each level had it's own unique challenge and there were mega power ups to use against the never ending rows of alien intruders. We made it to level 6 together and had a blast doing it!

We finished up our defense of the Earth and then we hit up the candy store and grabbed a bag full of delicious Gummy Sharks. We needed the candy because next we were off to the movie theater to see...

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle! Myself and my son both enjoyed the movie and he hasn't stopped talking about it since. If you havn't seen it yet, I would recommend checking it out. There are nods to the original film in the movie, but if you haven't seen the Robin Williams flick, don't worry, the story holds up on it's own just fine! We left the theater happy with our movie choice and my son requested we make one more stop...

GameStop that is! I got a gift card from my parents for Christmas and my son has been on a huge Sonic The Hedgehog kick lately so he picked out the Sonic Lost World game and I grabbed a used copy of Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition for $9.99. It was a great day and we had tons of fun. This weekend I'm taking my oldest daughter out for a daddy/daughter day. We'll see where she leads us. I'm sure it will be fun!

Tomorrow is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2017!

Saturday, May 6th is Free Comic Book Day! You can go to your local comic shop and choose from a variety of great comics from publishers like Marvel, DC, Darkhorse and more! If you want more info or need to know what shops are participating, check out the Free Comic Book Day website. Every year I take my kids out and make this day an event. It's something we look forward to every year. Here are my top five comics for the 2017 FCBD:

FCBD 2017 TMNT PRELUDE TO DIMENSION X

Prequel to the upcoming TMNT: Dimension X 5-week event this August! Krang was defeated by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and now awaits trial in Dimension X. Little do the Turtles know that Krang hired an assassin to destroy everyone who might testify against him, including themselves! This issue introduces a deadly and weird new villain, and begins the biggest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adventure in space ever! [ALL AGES]

FCBD 2017 BONGO COMICS FREE-FOR-ALL

Get in line for the foremost Free Comic Book Day four-color giveaway of the year! When Bart injures his back and has to use a rolling backpack, he turns weakness into strength as the "Leader of the Backpack Pack." Then, Homer and Bart pull an all-nighter and put themselves on high alert to prevent a potential home invasion. Rod and Todd Flanders get separated from Ned Flanders in downtown Springfield and find themselves on an odyssey fraught with many mostly imagined dangers. All that and much, much more, and it's all free! [ALL-AGES]

FCBD 2017 VIZ LEGEND ZELDA TWILIGHT PRINCESS OCARINA TIME

Once upon a time, wizards tried to conquer the Sacred Realm of Hyrule. The Spirits of Light sealed the wizards' power within the Shadow Crystal and banished them to the Twilight Realm beyond the Mirror of Twilight. Now, an evil menace is trying to find Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm, and the fragments of the Shadow Crystal to gain the power to rule over both the Twilight Realm and the World of Light. This FCBD special features excerpts from the manga adaptations of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. [TEEN]

FCBD 2017 DC SUPER HERO GIRLS SUMMER OLYMPUS PREVIEW

DC Super Hero Girls is an exciting new universe of superhero storytelling that builds character and confidence and empowers girls to discover their true potential. This special FCBD issue features an exciting, action-packed story from the upcoming original graphic novel DC Super Hero Girls: Summer Olympus that readers of all ages will enjoy. [ALL AGES]

FCBD 2017 THE TICK

The Tick celebrates FCBD 2017 with 32 pages of full-color fun! In the all-new 15-page lead, "Happy Birthday, Tick!", The Tick throws himself the ultimate super-party! But he invites both good guys and bad guys, figuring everyone can be pals in the interest of birthday celebrating! Party plans may go awry when The Terror attends along with his ninjas! Backup story: the presidential election saga, "Civic Duty", previously only seen in a limited convention special. 29 pages of FCBD fun! This is going to be a BIG year for The Tick with the new Amazon TV show! [ALL AGES]

After we grab our free funny books, I'll load the kids in the car and we are heading to Toys R Us for a FREE LEGO Star Wars Building Event! Kids get to build their own LEGO Princess Leia to take home. TRU does events like this pretty frequently. If you are interested in free LEGOS, Pokémon Cards or other fun stuff to do with the kids please visit their "In Store Events" page on the Toys R Us website by clicking HERE!

After all that free fun, we'll need to recharge! Every year I take the family to McDonalds for lunch and I am happy to see that they will have Super Mario Bros. Happy Meals when we make our annual FCBD visit.

My kids love the Mario games for Wii & WiiU almost as much as I loved playing the original trilogy on the NES back in the 80s. I wonder if they will have the same type of great memories with these toys as I have from the Super Mario 3 Happy Meals?

How will you be spending your 2017 Free Comic Book Day? Let us know in the comment section below and HAVE FUN!

Retro Lines at Toys R Us Today: Part 2!

A few weekends ago I took my kids to our local Toys R Us for a FREE Mega Construx build! We had time to kill, so we looked at all the awesome toys at the store. I was surprised to see so many toy lines from my childhood still available on the shelves. Here's part 2 of a few of the cool things I found:

 

Ultimate Electronic Voltron ($39.99)

I loved Voltron as a kid! It was such an awesome premise for a kids show. Five robot lions come together and form one giant robot that uses a blazing sword to protect the universe from giant monsters. I was sold! With the success of the latest DreamWorks revival of Voltron on Netflix came a new line of toys. This "Ultimate" version has lights, sounds and the Green Lion can shoot out a laser projectile!

 

Star Wars Millennium Falcon iHome & Alarm Clock ($49.99)

Star Wars has been around for a long time and it's great to see that the franchise is still as popular as ever! My 5 year old son had one wish for his last birthday...a Millennium Falcon Alarm Clock! His wish was granted and every morning at 7am he is awoken by the sweet sounds of the Falcon taking off into space. He also uses the clock to listen to the radio while he is playing in his room.

 

Ninja Turtles Mega Bloks sets ($1.99 - $99.99)

These kind of caught me by surprise. Yes, I had known that Mega Bloks was making these sets but I didn't know they were being put on clearance at such great prices. You can pick up the individual mini-figs for under $2 each and the Krang set was only $16.95! I bought a few for future gift giving holidays and birthdays. Also, that Raph in human disguise is amazing!

 

Smurfs: The Lost Village Figures ($3.99 - $5.99)

Another Smurfs movie and another toy line by Jakks. The Smurfs were one of the first things I really remember loving as a kid. I had all the figurines and when I was 3 my mom made me a Smurf blankey that I carried everywhere with me. When I moved I made sure that blankey came with me. It served me well for decades and when my daughter started having nightmares, I passed it on to her to keep her safe at night.

 

Sonic The Hedgehog 2-packs ($9.99)

I was always a Nintendo kid, but as an adult I can respect what Sega had done with Sonic back in the 90s. The games were simple, fast and fun. Even though Mario was my choice for platformers back in the day, I did read a Sonic comic or two. Each of these 2-packs includes one of those original comics from Archie publishing. 2 figures and a comic for $9.99, not bad! Did you know that Sonic comic is still being published today?

 

Legos ($4.99 - $150)

Every kid has had Legos at some point in there life and mine are no exception. Lego has put out some really great sets in the last few years, but the Superhero lines are the ones that have stood out most to me. This Clay Face set from the Lego Batman Movie is on the top of my boy's wish list this year!

Now try to get that song from the Lego Batman Movie out of your head! Thanks for reading!