The year was 1990 and "Turtlemania" was in full swing. The Ninja Turtles had a crazy successful action figure line from Playmates, the Ninja Turtles animated cartoon was must see TV and the comics by Mirage and Archie were fire! The next major hurdle for the boys in green to conquer was the big screen! I remember finding out about this mind blowing movie while reading the BK Kids Club magazine that was given out at Burger King in the 90's. We got our "1st Degree Ninja Badges" in our meals and poured over the single photo featuring one of the Ninja Turtles in all his live action glory!
When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie dropped on audiences in March of 1990, my Dad took me and my brother to see this cinematic masterpiece and we loved every second of it. That year and many years after we were fully immersed in the Ninja Turtle marketing machine. We played the video games, ate the cereal, slept under the warmth of the bedsheets and of course rocked out to the official motion picture soundtrack!
We never did call that 900 number in the ad above, but we did own the soundtrack on cassette tape. I still have my original copy and the exclusive sticker that was included inside the packaging still holds a special spot in my old sticker album right next to some other radical renderings of the Turtle Boys.
I never did own the CD version of the TMNT soundtrack when I was a kid, but a few years ago I remedied that situation and bought a brand new copy off ebay for around $5 and yes, it came with another copy of the exclusive sticker!
Since you're all here, we might as well take a peak inside the CD booklet and see what's within it's pages. Here we go!
I loved when CDs or cassettes would include the lyrics to songs. It was a great way to sing along and learn the words for yourself. I can still see myself and my brother sitting in what we dubbed as our "Nintendo Room" playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game on our Nintendo Entertainment system as we listened to the Ninja Turtles soundtrack on our Walkman cassette players. We would swap the NES controller back and forth. While one of us was playing, the other was jamming out to tunes by M.C. Hammer, Hi-Tek 3 and Partners In Kryme while reading the soundtrack insert. Those were fantastic times spent with my brother and that is one of the main reasons why I love this soundtrack so much. It is filled with personal nostalgia and it also features some bangin' 90's jams!
Do you have any memories of owning or listening to the TMNT movie soundtrack? Do you have a favorite song on the album? Let us know in the comments below and as always...Thanks For Reading!
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are probably my favorite characters from my childhood. Close by are the Masters of the Universe, Thundercats and Ghostbusters, but none of those stand up to my passion for collecting all things TMNT. Recently, I've been scouring the internets for any great deals I could find on merchandise featuring the Mean, Green Machine in an attempt to recoup some of my childhood collection. I did find some more cool stuff that I would like to share with you. Hopefully it brings back some great memories from that time in life where animals in bandanas were everything to us. Here we go!
I had been wanting one of these collectible ice cream vinyl figures for quite a while. I thought it was the perfect way to display one of my favorite childhood frozen treats without any of the mess! These were on sale at the Culture Fly website and I had wanted to get the vinyl of my favorite Turtle, Donatello, but they were sold out!
I ultimately decided on getting a Mikey since he was the last TMNT frozen treat that I had ingested. Pretty close resemblance to the real thing, huh?
Henry Gordy International TMNT Watergun (1988)
Here is another one of those rack toys I have talked about. I wasn't actively seeking this water gun out, but it came with the TMNT Flash Gun I had wanted. Not a bad throw in though! Still love the crude, early TMNT artwork on the packaging. I like the looks of the Shredder on this one!
Henry Gordy TMNT "Puffy Stickers" (1988)
These stickers may be one of my favorite items in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection. Me and my brother would beg my Mom for any spare quarters she may have had in her pocket book any time we went to the local A&P supermarket. Usually she would break us each off a quarter if our behaviors were good enough during the shopping trip. It was a great way to make sure we were on our best behavior and while she was checking out, we were checking out the machines at the front of the store. More often than not, we would spend those quarters on globs, mini football helmets or those tiny, translucent Masters of the Universe figures. Then Turtlemania hit and we pumped quarters into those machines for the chance to get a complete set of these very TMNT stickers! So many great memories are attached to these pieces of sticky perfection!
I never had any of these Mighty max style playsets from the Nickelodeon show, but I saw this in a bin at my local Goodwill for $2 and since it was a depiction of my favorite member of the Green Machine, I picked him up. He now sits on one of the desks in my office as a proud member of my TMNT collection.
IDW Usagi Yojimbo Comic #20
This was a book that I had wanted, but my local comic shop didn't order any shelf copies. I searched ebay for copies, but most were out of my price range. Finally, while purchasing some My Little Pony comics off the IDW website, I saw this book for sale at the shelf price of $3.99. The reason I wanted this book is because it introduces a new recurring character to the Usagi Yojimbo story by the name of Yukichi Yamamoto. Yes, it is the second print, but I'm glad to have this book in my collection. I know it's not technically a TMNT book, but Usagi is a friend of the TMNT and that makes him part of the family to me!
Thanks for checking out some more great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles items from my collection. I hope you enjoyed it.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are probably my favorite characters from my childhood. Close by are the Masters of the Universe, Thundercats and Ghostbusters, but none of those stand up to my passion for collecting all things TMNT. Recently, I've been scouring the internets for any great deals I could find on merchandise featuring the Mean, Green Machine in an attempt to recoup some of my childhood collection. I did find some cool stuff that I would like to share with you. Hopefully it brings back some great memories from that time in life where animals in bandanas were everything to us. Here we go!
Henry Gordy International TMNT Flash Gun (1988)
I loved these "Rack Toys"! You know the kinds of cheapish toys that were always in grocery stores or drug stores back in the day. They featured some of our favorite cartoon characters on seemingly strange products that really didn't relate to the characters. This is one of those. I remember seeing this on the racks and honestly wanting it! I don't know if it was the fact that this was a toy gun with a built in flash light or if it was the incredible card art that really drew me in. Anyway, for a couple of bucks it is now in my ever growing TMNT collection
Mello Smello Glow in the Dark TMNT Stickers (1990)
I remember having quite a few TMNT Mello Smello stickers in my collection back in the early 90's, but I don't think I ever had these glow in the dark versions. The artwork on these is fantastic and look at that seemingly random Ace Duck sticker in the middle. TMNT merchandise rarely included characters like him. The back of the sticker pack is also a nostalgia trip in itself. Who didn't collect stickers back in the day?
TMNT Lenticular Motion Cards (1991)
I have no idea who created these cards, but I do remember pumping quarters into the machines at our local A&P Grocery store in NJ in an attempt to complete the set! We never did complete the set. Luckily I was able to buy it for about what i would have paid back in 1991. The cards say to "Collect All 24!" cards, but in all honesty, there are only 12 cards. Each card features 2 characters which are revealed when you tilt these mini sized marvels in an up & down motion. This set has a real mixed bag of characters and features everyone from Mondo Gecko to Tatsu! Did anyone else call these "Flicky Cards" back in the day or was it just me and my older brother?
The backs of each of these cards breaks us off a little TMNT trivia for each character. Who knew Krang's favorite phrase was "Home is where you hang your hat!" or that Shredder's favorite food is "Anything Raw". These cards shed a lot of light on the inner thinkings and likes of these rad dudes!
IDW TMNT "Inside Out" Director's Cut Comic (2017)
This book is from the recent run of TMNT comics published by IDW. I must say, I really have enjoyed reading these books. This hardcover "Director's Cut" features issues 1-5 of the TMNT Universe series and is a limited edition that is signed by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman and TMNT writer Tom Watlz. I actually stumbled upon this book while I was helping my daughter purchase some My Little Pony books from the IDW website to fill some gaps in her collection. The book was only $14.95 and I am glad I found it when I did!
Thanks for checking out some more great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles items from my collection. I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for "New Additions to the TMNT Collection VI" coming next Friday!
While visiting my family back in New Jersey this past October, I took it upon myself to wander into my Mom's attic to see if some of my old stuff was still up there. To my surprise, she had not thrown anything out! So away I went, searching through bins and boxes looking for things that I could take back with me or at least get pictures of to share with you guys. One of the things that was uncovered was my old sticker album. Let's stop this chit-chat and continue with part 3, which will be the final look at these old stickers...shall we?
Nintendo Puffy Stickers
Puffy stickers were AWESOME and these are no exception. I really dig the old school Mario, Zelda and Punch Out artwork. Look at King Koopa from the early days of Nintendo. One could argue he is even more cool looking than the version we have today!
Random Holiday Stickers
The vast majority of the stickers on this page were compiled from stickers that were placed on worksheets or tests that I did well on. Teachers used to spoil us with neat stickers when we did well back in the day. Now when my kids come home with good grades they get drawn on smiley faces or stars. Appreciated, but not as exciting as stickers!
Ghostbusters II and Skateboard Candy Stickers
The top Ghostbusters II logo sticker came from a Troll book order. It was rare that we got to order from these school issued order forms, but I'm sure I convinced my Mom to get something, just so I could get the free Ghostbusters II sticker. I am trying to remember, but I think the smaller stickers on this page came from a candy in the 90s that had a skateboard shaped container? I believe it came with these stickers so you could customize it your way. I may be totally wrong on this one, so please feel free to correct me in the comments below!
Simpsons Stickers
Here are more Simpsons stickers from the same trip to Showbiz Pizza with our Aunt. They are fantastic and remind me of a time when the Simpsons was still fresh, funny and new.
Ninja Turtles Prism Stickers
Speaking of that epic trip to Showbiz Pizza...here are the real winners from the sticker machine. Yes me and my brother got rolls of quarters to play games and remember I told you in the last post that we spent the majority of that money on a single game? Well that game was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game! We plunked down quarters while kids watched over our shoulders until we defeated the Shredder and became local legends! Then the remaining quarters went to stickers, glorious prismatic TMNT stickers!
Random Stickers Page
The stickers on this page are represented by a sweepstakes Ace card, Dinosaur stickers, an extra TMNT metallic machine sticker from the A&P supermarket and a freakin' Rude Dog Sticker! This Rude Dog sticker came with some shirts my Mom had bought us and lived on our bed headboards for a while until I decided to rip it off and post it into this book for posterity! So glad I did that so I can share it with you today!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sticker Sheets and Bookmark
Yes, that is my original sticker sheet that came with my Mondo Gecko action figure back in the early 90s. His skateboard already came with the skull sticker on it, so I saw no need to add anymore. The other sticker sheets, I can't really remember where they came from, but there are 3 sheets still in the pack. Finally, the bookmark was actually supposed to be a gift for my brother, but I decided to keep it for myself. I just couldn't give away this great piece of TMNT merchandise!
Well, that's it! We are done taking a look at this sticker book and let me tell you, it was AMAZING to relive all the memories that came from these colorful pieces of my childhood. Thank you for taking this journey with me, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. See you next week with something non sticker related!
While visiting my family back in New Jersey this past October, I took it upon myself to wander into my Mom's attic to see if some of my old stuff was still up there. To my surprise, she had not thrown anything out! So away I went, searching through bins and boxes looking for things that I could take back with me or at least get pictures of to share with you guys. One of the things that was uncovered was my old sticker album. Let's stop this chit-chat and continue with part 2 of this look at old stickers...shall we?
Looking back now, I think me and my brother may completed the whole set of the metallic Turtles stickers? We got all the characters available to us, but we wanted to collect both the Silver & Gold versions. Even back then I was a hardcore completist! Also, if you look to the bottom left corner of the page you'll see the sticker that was included with the TMNT movie soundtrack tape that I purchased in 1990 when I was 10!
Simpsons Stickers
I remember getting these stickers while me and my brother were being baby sat by our Aunt. She took us to a Showbiz Pizza in NY and gave each of us several rolls of quarters. Most of the money was spent on one video game and the rest was spent on the shiny Simpsons stickers you see above. The Lisa and Marge stickers at the bottom of the page were taken off of a few sports disks we won at the fair. They were carefully removed and placed lovingly in this book for generations to enjoy.
Batman Stickers
These stickers, like a majority of the stickers in this book, came from a vending machine at our local A&P grocery store. My Mom would have to take us when she did the shopping and if we were good, we got to chose a machine prize as our reward. I vividly remember spotting that Batman logo sticker on the ground of the parking lot at the A&P and picking it up for myself. It looked like it had been run over a few times, but hey, Batman was huge back then and it had to be mine!
Topps Ghostbusters II and Desert Adventure Stickers
The Ghostbusters II stickers came from packs of Topps Ghostbusters II cards, but the Desert Adventure stickers were given to me by my 4th grade teacher as a reward for helping tutor another student in English. She wanted to give me a Charms Blow Pop, but I wasn't having it, I wanted those stickers!
More Nintendo Stickers
These all came from random places. Some from friends, some from vending machines and some were bought. Those Mario vending stickers are pretty cool though as they included a scratch off Tic-Tac-Toe game. Looks like I won one and lost the other.
Darkwing Duck Sticker Sheet
Included in the sticker album were a few sheets of unstuck stickers. One of those sheets was of Darkwing Duck. I believe these were given out to subscribers of Disney Adventures Magazine as part of a "Thank You" pack that came with your first issue? Not sure on that one, but I am sure that Darkwing Duck was AWESOME!
That's it for Part 2 of a look through my old sticker book. Stay tuned for Part 3, coming next week!
While visiting my family back in New Jersey this past October, I took it upon myself to wander into my Mom's attic to see if some of my old stuff was still up there. To my surprise, she had not thrown anything out! So away I went, searching through bins and boxes looking for things that I could take back with me or at least get pictures of to share with you guys. One of the things that was uncovered was my old sticker album. Let's stop this chit-chat and get to looking...shall we?
The first and last pages in this album were dedicated to this old NBC Saturday morning lineup advertisement. There are some great things going on here from Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel how to karate chop wood to Smurfs sharing a campfire with John Candy, but the main reason I taped this into my album was the appearance of Captain N! Coming up on the next few pages, you will see that I tried to keep these stickers in some kind of order. Each page has it's own theme. On to page 1!
The World of Nintendo featuring the Super Mario Bros. & Legend of Zelda
Back in the late 80s & early 90s Nintendo was everything! It was that one common bond that all kids had (except the ones who owned a Sega Master System). We would talk about high scores, what level we made it to and the latest cheat codes. Sure we all bragged about what we accomplished and some of us made up a bunch of crap about our victories. These stickers and their early art design really take me back to those days of the new and outstanding NES system.
Hockey Stickers I am by no means a hockey fan. I've been to 1 New Jersey Devils game in my entire life and I never collected hockey cards outside of Pro Stars alum Wayne Gretzky. I was given these stickers by one of my grade school teachers for achieving some kind of high score on a test and I turned them into the wacky game of shoot the puck that you see above.
Garfield Stickers Let me start off by saying Garfield and Friends was tha shiznit. We loved that cartoon in my house and watched it every weekend. That is probably what led me to buy these stickers.
Ninja Turtles Stickers from TMNT Magazine and TMNT Pies Yes, I had a subscription to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Magazine. That is why I have these awesome stickers in my collection. It really bugged me that they all had red bandanas when I was a kid. I wasn't aware until a few years after getting these stickers that in the original Mirage comic all the Turtles wore red bandanas. It wasn't until the cartoon came out in 1988 that the different colors were introduced for each Turtle. Not much to say about the TMNT Pie stickers except they were AWESOME and I thank my Dad for packing them in my lunch all those years ago!
Mello Smello Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Stickers Not too much to say about the TMNT stickers. Me and my brother were huge fans of the Mean, Green Machine and I bought these at the local Hackettstown, NJ Mall with my allowance money. I doremember it being quite a hard decision picking which sticker sheets would come home with me though. Those are were true real world problems!
Vending Machine Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Stickers
We tried so hard to collect the whole set of these and begged my Mom for quarters when she took us shopping at our local A&P grocery store.. Me and my brother came close, but alas the machine was changed out before we could complete it!
Stay tuned for My Old Sticker Book: Part 2, coming soon!
