1991 Talkin´Turtles

[Bill]

Oh, We have ways of making you talk!!

Hello Dear Tmnt Hardcore fans, Back in 1991, our beloved green heroes came to life and they talk! The Talkin´Turtles came out in the form of the Talkin´Leo, Talkin´Raph, Talkin´Mike and Talkin´ Don.

The figures were nice in terms of sculpt, we got a whole new mold for each one, with very good facial expressions (similar to the 1990/1991 Storage Shell Turtles) plenty of white teeth and all came with new accessories, instructions and of course the talkin´feature that resides inside a more that huge manhole cover/shell that looked like a desktop speaker and where you don´t need to press a bottom but to pull a strip (It was a quarter of a century ago therefore…).

Like, our fellow dromer tmntman brilliantly said: “The figures themselves didn't have anything programmed into them. The way they worked was that the large shell on their back was a plastic speaker. You then had the quip stripes which were plastic strips with raised ridges along one face.

When they were pulled though the shell, the ridges made the speaker vibrate to sound like a voice. Of course, as many people have already mentioned, until you find the perfect speed to pull, they sound horrible. As for the quotes on the strips, most were things such as cowabunga, let's kick shell etc....”


The carboard art was…..totally different of what we have witnessed before but in a bad way, maintaining the wider size (this wider style again will be used in the 1992 Bodacious Birthday, and 1992 Sewer Spitting, among others) but the famous brick wall was gone just like all the illustrations for each of this new set.


Instead we have illustrations of the four Tmnt faces making spooky expressions and we can consider it as a preview of what it was about to come in terms of drawing artwork in 1993 as I ´ve mentioned in this thread http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=45576


Anyway, let´s talk (pun intended) about this figures starting with Leo

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_573_zpsc0ym8t4x.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_573_zpsc0ym8t4x.jpg.html)

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_574_zpsfkeoji7j.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_574_zpsfkeoji7j.jpg.html)





Talkin´ Leonardo was a nice figure, we got a new mold and the traditional toon belt as well (instead of the one with straps of 1988 Leo).


The accessories were a Sewer Pipe Billy Club, Phrase Flag, Chain Claw, Instructions and the Talkin' Quip Strips were "Kick Some Shell!" , "Hi-yeah!" and Kowabunga (not included with all versions).


The second in our list is good old Mikey,

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_577_zpsgftdaaqe.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_577_zpsgftdaaqe.jpg.html)

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_578_zpscomkc8ym.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_578_zpscomkc8ym.jpg.html)


Talkin´Michaelangelo was a nice figure, we got a new mold and the traditional toon belt as well.

The accessories were a Ninja Spear, Phase Flag, Sausage Nunchukus, instructions and the talking quick strips were “Kowabunga" and "Pizza Time" (so arcade this one).



Our third talking member of the list is our bad tempered buddy Raph

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_579_zpsksibqcbg.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_579_zpsksibqcbg.jpg.html)

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_5710_zpsdajhnqge.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_5710_zpsdajhnqge.jpg.html)


Talkin´Raphael was a nice figure, we got a new mold and the traditional toon belt as well.

The accessories were a Ninja Harpoon, Phrase Flag, Boxing Glove Gun (love this one), instructions and the talking quick strips were "Totally Awesome!" "Rock'n Roll!" and "Kowabunga!" (not included with all versions).


The final member of the list is the one the rest of the Tmnt never understand what He says, the group genius, Donatello

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_575_zpsvtsdhym4.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_575_zpsvtsdhym4.jpg.html)

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_576_zpsplxb9itr.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_576_zpsplxb9itr.jpg.html)

Talkin´ Donatello was a nice figure, we got a new mold and the traditional toon belt as well.

The accessories were a Winged Javelin, Dual-grip Blade (maybe this one should come with 1993 Super Don), Phrase Flag, instructions and the talking quick strips were "Chill Out!", "Let's Party!", and "Kowabunga!" (not included with all versions).


Here you got the 1991 Talkin’Turtles Toy commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WoN9gyUDBA


I still haven´t found a good review on youtube of these Talkin´Turtles Figures.

Hope radical retro turtle toytalk makes on someday


Here are featured in the 1991 Playmates toy catalog (Photo Courtesy of Pannoni1)

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/Playmates1991019_zpsdmlgon37.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/Playmates1991019_zpsdmlgon37.jpg.html)


Here are featured in the 1992 Playmates toy catalog (Photo Courtesy of Vaughn Michael)

http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/Martha0301/3636338863_64ee46da1c_o_zpsisqkljqh.png (http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/Martha0301/media/3636338863_64ee46da1c_o_zpsisqkljqh.png.html)

Continue in the next post

[Bill]

Last but not least an additionally pack of 8 new strips came out by the name of Talkin’Turtles Quip Strips Accesory pack where you could add phrases to the Tmnt repertoire, making them more special or annoying lol.


http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_57_zpssatqqyoj.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_57_zpssatqqyoj.jpg.html)


http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p523/mlabrador/_572_zps1hm4vilk.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/mlabrador/media/_572_zps1hm4vilk.jpg.html)

The Talking Tmnt did appear in the original tv cause when can´t say they never talk. Fortunately they never need a strip to do it so. Not my favourite set of variants but if you one to hear some creepy noises…I mean phrases you should go for them, not to mention that the additional pack is so vintage.

What do you think about this Talking Turtles ? Do you got them? Did you prefer the Wacky Action or Headdroppin Turtles instead? Any favourite?

Any memories you wanna share from where you bought and saw it the very first time?

Thanks a lot for Reading.

[turtlefanforever]

I've been wondering where you were. You used to post these all the time.

[Bill]

I've been wondering where you were. You used to post these all the time.


Thanks for worrying about me. :)

[Powder]

I've always loved their headsculpts but the shell-speaker made them too clunky for me to appreciate otherwise.

[LeoLover]

I agree, the sculpts were awesome, and they came with some sweet accessories, but that giant useless speaker on the back was a real turn-off to these for me.

I didn't know about the extra pack of phrases though, reminds me of the gags, jokes, and wacky weapons packs. Loved those things (even if the jokes were super lame)

[nellyp]

I never got these as a kid but I had a cousin who got one over summer break and he brought it to school for show and tell within the first week and I was so jealous. Then again I would always get jealous when friends got turtles I never had. When one of my best friends got super shredder I was ninja turtle green with envy for weeks. I never did get one of my own and we aren't friends anymore. Maybe we just grew apart or maybe super shredder envy eventually drove a wedge between us. Anyway, I wished I would have had the talking turtles as a kid. Thanks Bill for another nostalgic thread and more please and thank you.

[ProactiveMan]

I don't think I've ever seen one of these in real life. A kid would have to be really invested in the talking feature to bother with all that rigmarole.

[Reigner]

I played with these until the strips started breaking on me. Then I went back to the Storage Shells as my goto Turtles.

I need to just get a pack of strips someday, if anything to see if they still work :tlol:

[mikey0]

I actually preferred the "Talking Karate Turtles Warriors" to these.

Does anyone remember when these first hit stores? Was it in December of 1991 or January of 1992?

[Bry]

I had the Mikey as a kid, and I think a friend had Raph... I remember swapping the strips and trying (and mostly failing) to get them to speak properly. Didn't have much play value beyond that, but hey, points for trying something different.

The sculpts are pretty nice, though! I love Mikey's in particular. The head/expression is less exaggerated than the others and looks kinda classic Eastman & Laird, almost?

[1987]

i had a leo as a kid but dont remember much about it. do these talkin' turtles use the actual voice actors voices from the cartoon? cam clark, berry gordon, rob paulson, and townsend coleman? or did they just have some generic turtle voice?

[Ninjinister]

i had a leo as a kid but dont remember much about it. do these talkin' turtles use the actual voice actors voices from the cartoon? cam clark, berry gordon, rob paulson, and townsend coleman? or did they just have some generic turtle voice?

As indicated in bill's first post, they weren't actual voices... just vibrations that if you pulled them through just right, they sounded kind of like what the strips were supposed to. Nothing was recorded at all for them.

[ProactiveMan]

I'm really curious as to what these sounded like. My instinct tells me that they probably fudged the audio in the commercial - did they sound anything like that?

[slashpieturtlemix]

I will say that I love reading these reviews. The new stuff just doesn't feel as amazing as these old vintage ones do. Bill made an awesome article as always and I have a few of mine still. Sadly I still have no found one that works to this day...

[Zak The Neutrino]

I actually just got two of these and a bag of the talking strips in a lot I purchased a few weeks back.

I agree the speakers are too clunky on the back. Now dare I use the strips and see if they still work? :D