I’m known as a Ninja Turtle guy. THE Ninja Turtle guy, to some. And it wasn’t planned. Yes, I’ve liked TMNT since they first came out as toys (I was too young for the bloody, violent, EXCELLENT comic book by Eastman & Laird’s Mirage Studios in 1984. As soon as I became aware of it, I became a huge fan, which I still am to this day.
I remember getting my first figure, Donatello. I was in 2nd grade and these Ninja Turtle toys just came out. I brought it to school and hid it in my desk, only sporadically taking it out secretly and showing friends behind me what I got the previous day at Toys R Us. Some of their eyes bulged out of their heads in jealousy. Some couldn’t have cared less. That’s fine. I knew what I had…
Over the next few days, months, and years, I continued collecting these amazing TMNT figures. I wasn’t collecting though. I played with these things EVERY SINGLE DAY. Some are missing limbs, a lot are scratched up, but they were played with big time. I was born in 1980 so growing up during that time was the golden era of action figures and toys. We had it all: Masters of the Universe, GI Joe, Thundercats (severely underrated still), Transformers, TMNT, and countless others.
One time my mom went to Service Merchandise and I went to Toys R Us. I was probably like 9 or 10. They were right next to each other. She had to go pick something up and I asked if I could go look if there were any new Turtle toys or Nintendo games. She said I had 5 minutes. I ran to the turtle section and saw FOUR new toys (King Lionheart was one of them). I had to have them. I grabbed all 4 and walked around the store for what seemed liked hours waiting for my mom. In reality it was probably like 15-20 minutes. I then remember walking towards the front of Toys R Us, looking thru the glass and seeing my very perturbed mom waiting in the car in the parking lot, staring. I quickly ran back to the Turtle aisle, hid them behind a bunch of figures, and ran back to the car. Needless to say, I did NOT get the figures that day. I did get punished though!
So, my obsession with TMNT never really died down. I kept buying and playing with these things until about 7th grade, when I realized it wasn’t cool anymore. I just had no idea. My close friend at the time who also loved TMNT as much as I did (or so I thought!) blew my mind one day. I remember after summer break between 6th and 7th grade, we didn’t talk much but when we saw each other at gym early on in the school year, I remember asking him what new Turtle figures he got. He said, “Oh none. I don’t play with those anymore.” And I was like, “Oh yeah…uh me too barely. Pssh.” And I was DEAD. I didn’t even think to ‘grow up’ and stop playing with these things.
So, that’s what I did. They all went in a box for the next 25 years, hiding out in my parent’s garage or basement. They could have easily went to a thrift store or a garage sale but phew…praise Krang my parents never did that. Too many memories. One thing I used to do, which sounds insane now…I used to write every single figure’s name down on a piece of paper (I currently still have about 115 of them), put them in a bucket, draw names and just have a 100 person Royal Rumble in my room. It kept me busy for HOURS. I was in my room making ninja sounds and doing voices and just playing and having the time of my life, not bothering anyone. I loved the toys, the cartoon, the movie (OMG), and the video games. Loved it all.
So one day about 5-6 years ago, my mom calls me up and says, “OK you gotta get these boxes out of the garage. Dad’s organizing and needs some space.” So we had a big enough apartment at the time, I figured sure why not. Well, what happened next I still can’t get over. The excitement and pure joy and looking thru these boxes of my childhood, everything still intact, just dustier and a bit more grimy. I even had some old He-Man, Voltron, and M.A.S.K. figures in these boxes. But I had it all. The Turtle Blimp. The Technodrome. The entire Sewer Playset. I mean c’mon!
I would eventually get some display cases (seen in the first pic above) but I would honestly need like 6 more to show off all the vehicles and other TMNT memorabilia I’ve gotten over the years. I’ll get some shelves one day to put up more stuff for no other reason than just a cool (hopefully) talking point when people come over and they’ll either say “wow” or “wtf” when they see it.
So, the whole point of this article I guess is this. When I got those boxes, it unlocked so many fun memories and personality traits in myself. I was hiding my secret nerd side for a long time. Sure I still played a lot of video games in my 30’s and 40’s, most people do.
But this really nerdy side of toys and collecting, I was a little ashamed or embarrassed by it, so I never mentioned it. My wife barely knew about it. She’s totally fine with it now! (I hope. I think). When I went to my first New York Comic Con about 6 years ago, I was like, “Ohhhhhhhhh. Tons of people still like this stuff.”
I hate that I hid this side of me for so long to be honest. It’s not a big deal, but it was a HUGE part of my growing up and development. I loved this stuff and no one should have to hide that just because you think it’s embarrassing or someone else thinks it’s dumb. Like what you like. Love what you love. It’s fine. Everyone has different quirks or interests or things they connect with, whether it’s TMNT or Barbie or Anime (I don’t get it Anime AT ALL but I get Anime).
During COVID when there was nothing to do, I started doing my own series where I would review every single TMNT figure I had. I did it in sort of a “Tim & Eric” awkward way. I’m proud of it. I taught myself how to edit even! I still get random comments on them 2+ years later and people seemed to enjoy it.
TMNT is just cool. It’s never gone away and has been rebooted so many times I’ve lost count. There was a good decade where I never even once followed what they were up to, but then a few years back I started reading the IDW comic book series and it blew me away how great it was. It wasn’t silly like the cartoons or the 2nd and 3rd movies. It’s dark and gritty and emotionally turbulent and way better than it should be. It’s about giant mutant turtles. Why am I crying? (Looking at you, The Last Ronin).
I’m excited for all the new TMNT stuff about to come out next year. We already had a new incredible beat ‘em up video game come out a few months ago. The Cowabunga Collection comes out next week with THIRTEEN TMNT games all in one package. Everything from the NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, and Arcade games. And next year there’s already a few movies planned. It’s been almost 40 years of this ridiculously awesome idea from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and it’s just as popular as ever. Here’s to 40 more. Cowabunga.
I like comments! Feel free to leave one about your favorite toy growing up or how much you love TMNT.
Thanks for sharing! Having a hobby is fun. No shame in that. You’ve got a sick Turtles collection and that Nintendo Power outfit - wow!
The TMNT toys I still have are Donatello in a trench coat and Fugitoid, but whenever I joke about Ninja Turtles toys I always bring up Ace Duck. I don’t know why.