this vintage backpack has weird TMNT art, anyone know where it's from?

[hubertx2]

so upon my travels around eBay, I stumbled upon this weird vintage backpack:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-199...97.m4902.l9144

It kind of reminds me of the art on Next Mutatain merchandise, but it has the original 80's series logo (although it's in Italian). The bag itself says it's licensed so I'm not sure if it's a knock-off, but if it is, it's a fairly original looking one.



so, anyone knows where the art is from?

[mikey0]

Originally Posted by hubertx2

so upon my travels around eBay, I stumbled upon this weird vintage backpack:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-199...97.m4902.l9144

It kind of reminds me of the art on Next Mutatain merchandise, but it has the original 80's series logo (although it's in Italian). The bag itself says it's licensed so I'm not sure if it's a knock-off, but if it is, it's a fairly original looking one.



so, anyone knows where the art is from?

The art reminds me of the Kung-Fu TMNT Tournament Fighters, but it’s new original art made specifically for that book bag.

The book bags and fanny packs usually featured scenes and art that you would not see anywhere else.

[DarkAtuin]

Probably won't help much, but the company written on it (Giochi Preziosi) was one of the few European importers of Playmates figures back in the days.

They were (of cause) mostly doing so in Italy, starting probably around 1992/1993 (when former importer Bandai stopped selling TMNT figures in EU).

Oddly though, sometimes they were selling TMNT stuff in other countries as well, where the main importer back then was the company Ideal.
Unlike the Bandai/Ideal releases, those figures used the exact same cardbacks as the US release, just with the 'Giochi Preziosi' sticker in one corner.
I also came across a few 2003 figures with the G.P. logo sold in Germany in 2007.

Also they made the infamous TMNT building blocks sets of the nineties (a kind of Lego clone).

The Artwork reminds me vaguely of a bizarre mix between the Coming out of their Shells costumes and the Rock'N'Roll TMNT figure series from 1991

So all in all I think this was made most likely 1992-1994.

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by DarkAtuin

Probably won't help much, but the company written on it (Giochi Preziosi) was one of the few European importers of Playmates figures back in the days.

They were (of cause) mostly doing so in Italy, starting probably around 1992/1993 (when former importer Bandai stopped selling TMNT figures in EU).

Oddly though, sometimes they were selling TMNT stuff in other countries as well, where the main importer back then was the company Ideal.
Unlike the Bandai/Ideal releases, those figures used the exact same cardbacks as the US release, just with the 'Giochi Preziosi' sticker in one corner.
I also came across a few 2003 figures with the G.P. logo sold in Germany in 2007.

Also they made the infamous TMNT building blocks sets of the nineties (a kind of Lego clone).

The Artwork reminds me vaguely of a bizarre mix between the Coming out of their Shells costumes and the Rock'N'Roll TMNT figure series from 1991

So all in all I think this was made most likely 1992-1994.

I think this is spot on, actually. Although one of the pictures shows a very clear 1994 date. But definitely from somewhere in Europe.

[oldmanwinters]

That looks to be an official TMNT logo used for licensed products in Italy. Italy had some cool original TMNT artwork. Those Turtles seem to be inspired by the "Rock n' Roll TMNT" versions of the characters which appeared in an official Mirage Studios art licensing guide around the early to mid 1990s.

[Powder]

Awesomely bizarre find. The art does have strong Dooney vibes, though I'm not sure I'd say it's actually his work. It's super cool all the same.

[Jester]

Most definitely Italian. I remember that logo from when my family was stationed over there. I also agree with Powder that those totally look like re-tooled Mike Dooney pieces. Nice find. Wouldn't be surprised if I saw this before.