Good morning, fellow nerds! It’s the first Saturday of the month and that means it’s time for another installment of Retro Weekend Rewind! This weekend we take a quick look back to the future of infrared pursuit gaming known as Lazer Tag!
Lazer Tag Toy Commercial
Lazer Tag was created in 1986 by toy company Worlds Of Wonder. Nothing like a commercial about a dystopian future to start our Saturday morning's in the 80s. This toy, along with the similar Photon line, brought us the future of playing tag! Who remembers donning your Lazer Tag helmet, vest, & pistol then hunting down your weaker cousins at family get-togethers?
Lazer Tag Academy Cartoon Intro
Lazer Tag Academy was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions who also brought us Thundarr the Barbarian, Mister T, The Centurions, and my other other Saturday morning staples of our childhood. Lazer Tag Academy aired 13 episodes on NBC from September 13 to December 6, 1986. It wouldn’t be the 80s without a time traveling relative getting their ancestors into all kinds of hijinks while the parents are ignorant of it all. However, unlike Back to the Future’s incest sub-plot, we get a group of kids fighting a criminal mastermind from the future using matter manipulating laser guns!
Since Lazer Tag didn’t have it’s own sugary part of a balanced breakfast I decided to take a look back at a cereal that was also released the same year as the toy and toon. Circus Fun Cereal was made by General Mills and introduced in 1986. Who doesn’t love a claymation clown coming to life and waking you up every morning?! There’s nothing like getting a sugar high from eating a bowl of marshmallow animals and then running loose in the yard and brandishing a toy gun on an 80s Saturday!
Hope you guys enjoyed Retro Weekend Rewind this morning! If you have any suggestions for future posts let us know in the comments below or tweet us at @nearmintfanboys! See you next weekend!
One of our favorite Saturday morning cartoons, growing up, was the Super Friends! What ‘80s kid didn’t love a show that featured all of their favorite DC Comics heroes fighting a team of villains each week? This month’s Retro Weekend Rewind we’ll be taking a quick look at the Super Friends cartoon and the Super Powers toyline along with a Bat-tastic part of a balanced breakfast.
Super Friends This cartoon featured Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League of America fighting the Legion of Doom and various other threats each Saturday Morning. The cartoon was produced by Hanna-Barbera and ran from 1973 to 1986 with many different titles throughout the years. The versions I remember were Challenge of the Super Friends (1978-1979), The World’s Greatest Super Friends (1979-1980), Super Friends (1980-1983)The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984-1985), and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985-1986)
Throughout it's run this cartoon featured lots of our favorite DC Comics Characters like Aquaman, The Flash, Hawkman, and Green Lantern along with the Wonder Twins Zan & Jayna who were created for the show. Later, in the series, it also introduced us to newer characters like Cyborg and Firestorm! (Lets try to forget Wendy and Marvin.) In early seasons the Super Friends fought enemies like Lex Luther, the Joker, Black Manta, Bizarro, Cheetah, and others. In the later run of the show the team faced off against Darkseid and his minions!
Super Friends Intro (1973)
Challenge of the Super Friends Intro (1978)
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show intro (1984)
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians Intro (1985)
Super Powers This amazing toy line made it's debut in 1984 by Kenner. The action figures from this line were awesome with their brightly colored costumes, an action feature with each hero & villain and a mini comic included with each figure.
Super Powers Checklist
There were three waves of toys from this collection throughout it's run that featured figures like the trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman along with Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Red Tornado, Aquaman, and many more heroes. The villains featured Lex Luther, Brainiac, the Joker, Darkseid, Steppenwolf, among other threats to your toy box! The vehicles were amazing and included the Supermobile, Lex-Soar 7, Delta Probe 1, and others! The best of all the vehicles was, of course, the Batmobile. The Super Powers Collection even included a Hall of Justice play set. We'll definitely do a more in depth post on the Super Powers toy line in the future.
Super Powers Collection - Commercial featuring Superman, Batman, Hawkman, Brainiac, and mini comics!
Super Powers Collection - Commercial featuring Superman, The Flash, The Joker, Lex Luther, and mini comics.
Super Powers Collection Commercial featuring Hawkman, Firestorm, Dr Fate, Green Lantern, Superman, Darkseid, DeSaad, Mantis, and the Darkseid Destroyer vehicle!
Super Powers Collection - Batmobile Commercial
Batman Cereal Box with bank
Batman Cereal There’s no question that the summer of 1989 belonged to Batman! After the release of Tim Burton’s Batman movie on June 23 of that year you couldn’t escape the Dark Knight if you tried; not even in the breakfast aisle! Batman Cereal was introduced in 1989 by Ralston and featured honey nut flavored bats. One of the best things about this bat-breakfast was the Batman Bank that came shrink wrapped to some of the boxes of cereal.
Batman Cereal Commercial (1989)
Hope you enjoyed this mont’s edition Retro Weekend Rewind! What are your memories of the Super Friends cartoon and toys? What about the ’89 Batman movie? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
See you next month for another awesome Retro Weekend Rewind!
For this month's edition of The Retro Weekend Rewind we’re taking a quick look at a couple of 80s cartoons, based on a couple of 70s T.V. shows, that took place in the 50s. That’s a time paradox that would make Doc Brown proud.
Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley were two great sitcoms created by the legendary Garry Marshall in the mid 70s. (AKA The Marshall-verse) I loved these shows, as a kid, so when I saw comic book ads for new cartoons based on the shows I was ecstatic!
Both animated shows were produced by the King of Cartoons: Hanna-Barbera Productions. The Saturday Morning versions were huge departures from the sitcoms since they involved time-travel, talking animals, and other staples of animated Saturday morning entertainment. (And for a 6yr old me in the early 80s it was awesome!)
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang - This 'toon aired from 1980-1982. The show featured Fonzie, Richie Cunningham, and Ralph Malph time traveling with a girl from the future named Cupcake. Most Saturday morning cartoons had anthropomorphic animals and this show was no different with the introduction of Fonzie's dog Mr. Cool! The original Happy Days cast did the voices of their animated counterparts.
Laverne and Shirley in the Army - This cartoon aired from 1981-1982 and featured the girls, you guessed it, joining the Army. The cartoon was loosely based "You're in the Army Now" which was a two part episode of Laverne & Shirley from 1979. Something the cartoon version had that the live action episodes didn't was a talking pig that out-ranked the girls name Sgt. Squealy. Like "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" this cartoon was also voiced by the cast of the show.
Fonzie and Fonzie's Motorcycle - Both of these toys were released in 1977 by MEGO. The motorcycle was batterie powered and had a "Twist Out Action" that made the toy ride across the floor and twist back around, on it's own, to change directions. The Fonz figure (Sold separately) had "Thumbs Up Action" thanks to a switch on his back. The motorcycle was later used for the CHiPs toy line. Even though Iwas only a year old when Fonzie and his motorcycle were released I still wanted one growing up. That's the power of the "Ayyyy!"
Fonzie's Motorcycle Commercial
Morning Funnies Cereal Commercial - This cereal combined two of my favorite things: reading the newspaper funnies and ingesting as much sugar as possible first thing in the morning. Morning Funnies Cereal was released in 1988 by Ralston Cereals. The cereal was multi-colored fruit flavored smiley faces. The box featured comic-strip characters from King Features Syndicate like Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Hi and Loise, and others. The great part of this cereal was that the back of the box opened up to reveal multiple pages of comic strips to enjoy while eating breakfast.
Morning Funnies Cereal commercial
Hope everyone enjoyed this "Perfectamundo" trip down memory lane! If you have any suggestions for a future Retro Weekend Rewind be sure to comment below or email us at nearmintfanboys@gmail.com
The first Retro Weekend Rewind of 2018 is going to be a Prehistoric Edition! Lets go back in time to the ancient ‘80s and then a few million years further back to when dinosaurs ruled the earth!
Denver the Last Dinosaur intro courtesy of WEP-TV!
Denver the Last Dinosaur ran from 1988 to 1990 in syndication from World Events Productions. The show revolved around a group of kids and an intelligent dinosaur the hatch from an egg they discovered in the LaBrea Tar Pits. The kids have to keep Denver safe from Morton Fizzback who wants him to star in a rock'n'roll show! (Sounds like a totally radical '80s premise, right?) The cartoon featured voice talents from such as Tress MacNeille, Frank Welker, B.J. Ward among others. I remember Denver being one of those early morning, before the sun rises, Saturday cartoons! Watching a Skate Board’n, Rock n’ Roll’n, sunglass wearin' Corythosaurus hanging with totally 80s kids was the perfect way to shake the sleep from a kid’s eyes and kick off Saturday morning!
Dino-Riders Toy Commercial
Dino-Riders was a toy line from Tyco that launched in 1988. The idea of combining dinosaurs with cybernetics and firing missiles really captured the imagination of any 80s kid. The toys had really nice detail, for ‘80s toys, and the dinosaurs looked awesome with and without their weapons. The dinosaur designs of the toys were so impressive that the Smithsonian Institute contacted Tyco to reproduce them for their "Dinosaur and other Prehistoric Reptile Collection" (Without the firing missiles and armor of course.) Dino-Riders also had a cartoon that only had 14 episodes but the toy line ran from 1988-1990.
Dinersaurs Cereal Commercial 1988 courtesy of Video Junkyard
Dinersaurs Cereal was introduced in 1988 by Ralston! Dinersarurs (Wow, my autocorrect really hates that word) was a fruit-flavored dinosaur shaped cereal. The theme of the cereal was that you were eating breakfast from a Dinosaur Diner. Dinersaurs lasted for only two years, but in that time this prehistoric breakfast treat included prizes like Dino Trading Cards, 3-D Glasses to view an image on the back of the box, and the New Ghostbusters Movie Mystery Record to promote Ghostbusters 2!
Hope you geeks enjoyed this Prehistoric Saturday’s Retro Weekend Rewind! Let us know what you think and give us your suggestions for future posts in the comments below. Don’t forget to tweet us @nearmintfanboys! See you all next month for more retro awesomeness!
It’s beginning to look a lot like an ‘80s Christmas! (At least for us!) In this month’s edition of the Retro Weekend Rewind we’re going to take a look at some Holiday Favorites from that Ho! Ho! Ho! so awesome decade! So stop circling toys you want from that 1981 Sears Wish Book Catalog, mix up a fresh pitcher of Tang, and cozy up to a quick trip down Retro Christmas Memory Lane!
Christmas Comes to Pacland
Christmas Comes to Pacland (Preview) 12/16/1982
Christmas Comes to Pacland was a prime-time Holiday special based on the Pac-Man Saturday Morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera. It aired on December 16, 1982 on ABC. Pac-Man and his family help Santa get airborne after a crash landing on Christmas Eve while avoiding “Packy’s” ghostly enemies. The cartoon featured classic voice talents as Marty Ingels (Pac-Man) Russi Taylor (Pac-Baby), Frank Welker (Chomp Chomp/Morris Reindeer), Peter Cullen (Santa Claus/Sour Puss) among others. Who remembers skipping Magnum P.I. that Thursday to watch this Christmas adventure and talk about it the next morning at school?
Atari 2600
Atari 2600 Christmas Commercial (1981)
It wouldn’t be an ‘80s Christmas without an Atari 2600 and a few games under the tree! The Atari VCS (Video Computer System) was originally released on September 11, 1977 and officially called the Atari 2600 by 1982. This video game system brought arcade gaming home in a big way and can be considered the console that the entire industry is built on to this day! Popular games for the 2600 were Asteroids, Space Invaders, Yars’ Revenge, Centipede, among many others. Some of the Atari systems, including the two that I had (divorced parent’s) were bundled with Pac-Man and Combat! What were some of your favorite Atari 2600 video games?
Cap’n Crunch’s Christmas Crunch Cereal
Christmas Crunch commercial (1988)
Christmas wouldn't be complete without the sugary breakfast goodness that is Christmas Crunch! This cereal is a seasonal version of Cap’n Crunch that was first introduced in 1988, by Quaker, and can still be purchased during the holiday season today! The cereal included the regular Cap’n Crunch cereal pieces, but added red and green Christmas Crunch Berries. Each year the box features the Cap’n dressed as Santa Claus. This Christmas version of an ‘80s favorite cereal still destroyed the roof of every boy and girl’s mouth who just wanted to stay off of Santa’s Naughty List!
We hope you enjoyed this look back at Christmases long, long ago! Be sure to leave a comment below, Tweet, or Facebook us with your favorite childhood Christmas memories! If you have suggestions for future Retro Weekend Rewind posts let us know. Thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you here next time! Merry Christmas from The Near Mint Fanboys!
This month’s post is about an 80s icon who would “Pity the fool who don’t devote an edition of Retro Weekend Rewind to his greatness” That’s right, I’m talking about the one and only Mr. T!
That gold chain wearing, mohawk having, stay in school saying muscle man was a staple of the ‘80s. He was everywhere during that amazing decade from beating up Rocky Balboa, visiting Arnold Drummond, and being drugged just to get him on a plane every week for 5 seasons. The one and only Mr. T is so amazing that he hits the trifecta for Retro Weekend Rewind: Cartoon, Toys, and Cereal!
“Mister T” the series aired on NBC Saturday mornings from 1983-1986. Only Mr. T could put teenage gymnasts in danger every week, to solve mysteries, and not get in trouble by the authorities. (As long as there’s a lesson to be learned at the end of each episode.) That’s the power of T! Plus he had a dog with a mohawk and a gravelly voiced Danny Bonaduce look-alike that dressed like him. The cartoon was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions with a total of 30 episodes.
Mister T Cartoon intro courtesy of Warner Archive
The A-Team 6" action figure commercial courtesy of vintagetvcommercials.com
The Mr. T cartoon did not have it’s own toylike, like so many of it’s ‘80s counterparts, but "T" did have several action figures at the time. The A-Team had 6” and 3 3/4” toy lines released by Galoob in 1984. The 6” figures, didn’t have great articulation, but a lot of cool accessories for a line this size. The 3 3/4” line had articulation similar to the G.I. Joe figures of that time, but with less quality control and broke very easily. The most popular piece of Mister T merchandise was the talking 12” doll that said lines like “Always listen to your parents”, “Stay in School”, and (of course) “I pity the fool!”.
Mr. T Cereal was a great example of 80s cereal based on a cartoon. It was released in 1984 by Quaker and had cereal pieces shaped like the letter T. The box was in-your-face with a bright yellow background, the name in large red letters, and Mr. T himself pointing right at you! This cereal was so popular that Pee-Wee Herman ate it as part of a well balanced breakfast in 1985's "Pee-Wees Big Adventure"!
Mister T Cereal Commercial
We pity the fool that didn't enjoy this months Retro Weekend Rewind. Be sure to leave your comments and stories of your own 80s Saturday mornings with us. If you have any suggestions for a future Retro Weekend Rewind let us know here or on our twitter @nearmintfanboys. See you in December for a Christmas themed Retro Weekend Rewind!
Since it's that spooky time of year I thought I'd dedicate this month's Retro Weekend Rewind to the The Real Ghostbusters just in time for Halloween! So dust off your Kenner Proton Pack and lets join Peter, Ray, Egon, Winston & Slimer as we remember this ghostly cartoon from our childhood.
THE CARTOON
The Real Ghostbusters Promo
The clip above is an amazing promo video for The Real Ghostbusters cartoon to promote season one and to show what the scope of the show would be. You’ll notice the Ghostbusters wore tan jumpsuits similar to their movie versions. When the finished show aired, in 1986, the guys got their own color coded uniforms. Another thing you’ll see, in the promo, is the original design of Peter Venkman having a more rounded face to resemble Bill Murray. It’s a little jarring to see Slimer being a more menacing spirit rather than the fun loving “spook” we all loved when the show aired. Thanks to the awesome animation and story in this promo The Real Ghostbusters ran for 6 amazing seasons with 147 episodes. It even spawned two spin-off cartoons: “Slimer ” in 1988 and “Extreme Ghostbusters” in 1997.
Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters Intro
The cartoon was changed to "Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters" in 1988. The show expanded to a one hour block of cartoons at that time. It featured the regular Ghostbusters cartoon and then a half hour of Slimer's adventures while the guys are away from the firehouse.
Comic book writer and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski was story editor, for the series, and wrote 21 episodes of the show. A few of my favorite episodes, he wrote, are “Slimer Come Home”, “Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream” and “When Halloween Was Forever” from season 1. Before working on The Real Ghostbusters, Straczynski worked on She-Ra: Princess of Power for Filmation which brings us to our next Retro Rewind entry.
Filmation Ghostbusters Intro
In 1986, producer Louis Scheimer and Filmation, released their own show about supernatural hunters called, that’s right you guessed it, “Ghostbusters”. It was later changed to “Filmation’s Ghostbusters” and ran from 1986-87 with 65 episodes. Columbia Pictures actually had to get the rights to use the name from Filmation, for the 1984 film, because they owned the name from a live action series they produced in 1975. The Filmation cartoon was about the son’s of the characters from the 70’s live action show continuing in their father’s footsteps with the help of Tracy the talking gorilla from the original show. Like most Filmation cartoons, like He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, these Ghostbusters had one main villain, Prime Evil, who they fought in every episode along with his cast of colorful henchmen. One thing I remember about this cartoon was that instead of an Ecto-1 these guys had a car, that looked like Archie's jalopy, that could fly.
THE TOYS
First toy commercial for The Real Ghostbusters
Kenner created the Real Ghostbusters toy line in 1986, to go along with the cartoon. The toys hit shelves in January of 1987 and had ten waves of figures and vehicles lasting until 1991. The line included the original 4 Ghostbusters, Slimer, Stay Puft, and a slew of freaky ghosts. Later lines had variations of Ray, Peter, Winston, Egon, and added Janine Melnitz in full ghost busting gear. The ghosts and ghouls got even freakier with figures of regular people, like a mail man, construction worker, a grandma, with others that transformed into monsters. Of course they offered the Ecto-1 and the Firehouse playlet also. I had the Ecto-2, which was an awesome one-man helicopter that transformed into a three wheeler. Of the original 4 Ghostbusters I only had Peter Venkman. My favorite ghost figure from the line was the Bug-Eye Ghost with a 3rd eye that would pop out when you squeezed the figure. This was a great line of toys that had a lot of crazy figures, even for the 80s, that still brings a smile to my face just thinking of them.
Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Toy Commercial
THE CEREAL
Ghostbusters Cereal Commercial
“There's a new cereal in the neighborhood with O's and ghosts (Tastes real good... Ghostbusters!)”
That’s right, The Ghostbusters had their own sugary cereal for kids to enjoy while watching their popular cartoon and playing with their action figures on Saturday mornings as part of a “balanced breakfast”! The cereal was released by Ralston, in 1985, and consisted of marshmallow ghosts and fruit flavored O’s. Like any good cereal of the ‘80s it, of course, came with prizes like the Ghostbusters Ghost Flyer, Posters, Stickers, and more that would make us dig through to the bottom of the box to get our haunted treasure!
We hope you enjoyed this spooktacular edition of Retro Weekend Rewind. Be sure to let us know what you think and what you’d like us to look back on in future posts. Happy Halloween and we’ll see you geeks next time!!
Hello, nerds! It’s the first Saturday of the month so we’re back with a new Retro Weekend Rewind. This weekend we are going to take a look at the awesomeness that is the dot-gobbling yellow open-mouth circle that is Pac-Man! If the 80s had a poster child then Pac-Man would be it.
Pac-Man hit the United States, from Japan, in October of 1980 with his amazing arcade game. Soon after that he became a social phenomenon! Today we’re going to take a quick look at some of Pac-Mans highlights from the decade that can’t be beat!
Pac-Man Arcade
The Pac-Man Arcade Game was developed by Namco and released in Japan in May 1980. In October, of that same year, the game was licensed and distributed by Midway in the United States. Once Pac-Man hit American shore’s the video
game and cultural landscapes were never the same.
Pac-Man Arcade screen
I remember sinking quarter after quarter into this game at our local Dairy Queen every Friday night. The game play was exciting as you tried to eat up all the pac-dots (or pellets) while trying to avoid four multicolored ghost. (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, & Clyde) I never felt more powerful then when I ate one of the four Power-Pellets and saw those specters turn blue and run for their…uh lives?
Pac-Man on Atari 2600
Pac-Man Atari 2600 Box
In 1982, Atari released Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 game console.I remember getting my wood veneer Atari 2600 for Christmas, that came bundled with Combat and Pac-Man.It was like having the arcade game in my living room…with square pellets. The graphics weren’t as good or colorful as the arcade version, if you can imagine that, but it was still fun for a six year old who didn’t want to leave the house.
Pac-Man Caleco Mini-Arcade
Coleco Pac-Man Mini-Arcade
In 1982, Coleco released a line of Mini-Arcade games that included Galaxian, Donkey Kong, Frogger, and (of course) Pac-Man!These were great, because they looked like smaller versions of the stand-up arcade games they are based on.
I have an Aunt who owned the Pac-Man and Donkey Kong Mini-Arcade games. One summer I spent a week at her house playing the Pac-Man game non-stop. Because of the ear piercing sound effects, that blared throughout the house that entire week, that dear sweet woman let me keep the game. I still have it to this day.
Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever Album Cover
Way back in 1982, damn Pac-Man ruled that year, Bucker and Garcia released “Pac-Man Fever”. The song was the first track on their concept album, also titled “Pac-Man Fever”, that was all about classic arcade games. Other songs included “Froggy’s Lament (Frogger), Ode to a Centipede (Centipede), and Do the Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong), as well as others. The song “Pac-Man Fever” was definitely the most popular off the album and became a top-ten hit, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. You couldn’t escape the song in the early 80s. Bucker & Garcia even performed it live on American Bandstand and Solid Gold. If you thought the video game’s own music was hard to ignore try getting this catchy tune out of your head after your first listen.
Pac-Man Cartoon
Pac-Man Family
Hey, guess what happened in 1982? That’s right Pac-Man got his own Saturday Morning cartoon!The great Hanna-Barbera produced the Pac-Man cartoon and it ran for two season from 1982-1983. It aired on aired on Saturday mornings on ABC and was the first cartoon based on a video game.
The cartoon followed the adventures of Pac-Man, Mrs Pac-Man (Pepper Pac-Man) Pac-Baby, their dog Chomp-Chomp and their cat Sour Puss. The Pac-Man family had to deal with their old enemies the Ghost Monsters and their boss Mezmoran.Two holiday specials sprung from this show: The Pac-Man Halloween Special & Christmas Comes to Pacland.
Pac-Man Cereal
Pac-Man Cereal Box
The sign of any great 80s icon is when it gets it’s own cereal and Pac-Man was no exception. In 1983 General Mills introduced Pac-Man Cereal and Saturday morning’s were not the same again!
Like all great cereals of the decade, this included crunchy sweetened corn puffs with marshmallow bits. Of course the marshmallows were shaped like Pac-Man, and the ghosts: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, & Clyde. To this day, when I think of this cereal I believe “I can do it, I can do the Pac-Man!”
Well gang, I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip back to the era of Pac-Man. We’ll be back next month with another Retro Weekend Rewind where we’ll reminisce about more 80s awesomeness! -Fred
Hello fellow Fanboys and Fangirls! Welcome to the Retro Weekend Rewind! Join us, on the first Saturday of each month, for a trip back in time as we remember the staples of Saturday Mornings: Cartoons, Toys, and Sugary Cereal!
Our debut Retro Weekend Rewind post is devoted to one of our favorite ‘80s franchises: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Origin:
The Heroes in a Half Shell were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird during a night of brainstorming in the early 80s. The two creators self-publised a single issue comic that was intended to parody comics such as Frank Miller’s Daredevil run, New Mutants, Cerebus, and Ronin. In 1984 the Ninja Turtles appeared in their own comic produced by Mirage Studios.
My first introduction to Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Michelangelo, in comic book form, was when Bryan let me borrow his copy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle graphic novel that had the first 7 issues of the original comic. The artwork was amazing and the action popped off the pages even in a black & white comic!
Cartoon:
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon first aired as a 5 part mini-series starting on December 28th 1987. This show was part of a great 80s tradition of having a cartoon to sell toys, because when Playmates Toys Inc was approached to create the toy line they requested that a television deal be made first.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Intro 1987
I remember the first morning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aired, because I was on Christmas break and getting ready to watch ThunderCats when this amazing intro and theme song came across my screen. This Near Mint Fanboy was hooked from the beginning.
Toys:
The amazing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys were produced by Playmates Toys starting in 1988 and had lots of figures, vehicles, and playlets. These toys were a huge fixture of our childhood and could possibly be the line that I have the most figures and vehicles for. Bryan and I have memories of getting our allowances, walking to Wal-Mart, and buying new Ninja Turtle figures every week.
Michelangelo was my favorite turtle on the cartoon & from the toy line. Some of my other favorite Turtle toys were Casey Jones, Usagi Yojimbo, Baxter Stockman, Slash, Triceraton, & Leo the Sewer Samurai! Then there is one of my favorite vehicles from any toyline; The Party Wagon!
Party Wagon and Turtle Cycle Commercial
Cereal:
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal was made by Ralston and introduced in 1989. This was a huge part of my breakfast in the late 80s! It included “crunchy sweetened ninja nets” and “Ninja Turtle marshmallows”! Later pizza shaped marshmallows were added. This cereal has one of my favorite boxes of any cereal, because of the awesome use of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle logo and the bright animated version of the Turtles posing behind the bowl, in a group, with Donatello holing a giant spoon made to look like his bo-staff. I would still be eating this today if it were still around!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal Commercial
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still going strong, after 30 years, and continue to be a part of the pop-culture landscape with new comics, cartoons, action figures, and live-action movies! Hope you Shell-Heads enjoyed this month's edition of the Retro Weekend Rewind! Let us know your favorite memories of the Ninja Turtles in the comments below. We’ll see you guys next time! COWABUNGA!
