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!
Lazer Tag Print Advertising
Circus Fun Cereal Commercial
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!
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.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure commercial
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!
