turtlemyke's Hostess TMNT Pies Collection
 

Welp, this is kind of random, but I became fixated on the Hostess Ninja Turtle Vanilla Puddin' Pies a few years ago and never looked back. Only missing a couple extremely rare mail away items -- a Turtle Pies t-shirt and a turtle shell belt buckle (which I've never even seen a pic of). Oh, and some moldy, unopened pies of course.

http://i.imgur.com/Xz4ttM9.png

So long as the internet remains retro-obsessed with these delightful little goo-cakes, there will always be a market for TMNT Puddin' Pie memorabilia. Thanks for sharing!

Interesting collecting focus! I didn't know most of that existed. Thanks for sharing.

Props for your dedication, cool to see all of that stuff together. Would love a better shot or scan of the center display piece!

It's pretty big (19x24 i think) so I can't scan it, but here's a quick closer-up photo of it.

Side story: This is the first time I've ever seriously collected something. Eventually, I became so obsessed with learning about these things that I actually tracked down the man who developed the pies for Hostess. Well, I thoroughly questioned him and now I'm currently putting together an "Exhaustive History of the Hostess Ninja Turtles Pies" for the interwebs. It's way more interesting than I would've guessed!

Very cool!! I actually saw one of the tshirts and in store promo signs (unused) last year on ebay and wish i would have at least gotten the shirt. Good luck on tracking the items down.

Thanks! Was the in-store promo sign the same one I have? I'm working on tracking down that t-shirt. The belt buckle has become my holy grail. I'd love to see anything anyone else has, even if it's a couple wrappers!

No it was a full body turtle thatb eitherb hung or stood up.

Okay, yeah, the Michelangelo display. I haven't decided if that's something I would want...mostly because it's 6-feet tall but also it doesn't look that cool to me either. However, it does count as something "Turtle Pies" that I don't have.

Hey, thanks a lot for the nice pic! That art is so dope, isn't it? The way they painted it brings to mind not only the first movie's poster but the general style of those Crunchabunga claymation turtles. Actually, it's also sorta in the vein of those parody magazine covers, Cracked, I think. I wonder if that dude did this.

WOW! I love the art on this. Very nicely painted piece.

Totally the same style as the Crunchabungas claymation.(true story) I actually tracked down the artist that painted the artwork for the Crunchabungas bag and he said he didn't do this.

When the poster arrived in the mail, I couldn't stop staring and thinking about the amount of time someone spent on this painting...only to be used for one poster when the Pies were launched. It's very detailed and larger than you'd think. Who are you, mystery artist? Don't worry, we appreciate your work.

(Oh, and it does look like cover art from Cracked or Mad Magazine or something like that...I'll keep searching for the artist!)

Yeah, I find so much material from the turtles' past has that same effect on me. Almost everything had it's own unique & awesomely done art, from food packaging to even dollar store cash-grab toys. Nowadays you just see the same stock poses over & over...

Good luck finding the artist out, hopefully the original piece will one day be yours. I know a guy whose similarly into the Halston cereal merch/art, maybe he'd have a clue who might've done it. I'll ask around.

Thanks! I actually have a lead on some original Ralston art. Not sure what the best way would be for me to pass it along?

No worries, he's in direct contact with whoever owns all that stuff (might be the artist) & has been buying it off over time. :tlol:

Why, oh why didn't they bring the Turtle pies back?!

Hostess could still make this happen. Do it!:tcool:

HI-C is bringing back Ghostbusters Ecto Cooler. Why not the TMNT Puddin' pies?!

I would be a thrill to consume those two simultaneously.

I've emailed Hostess over and over, over the years, telling them I'd buy a whole case at least on the first day I saw them, if they brought them out again. I never received so much as an autoreply.

Impressive collection! There was always something very pleasing to the eye about that artwork. It'd be nice if they would bring them back.

It would be awesome if they'd bring them back, but I'm actually to the point where I don't think they would do a good job of recreating them. It'd be better if another brand like Tastykake (who actually licensed TMNT mini donuts before the latest movie came out) would make their own version. Their products are delicious while Hostess IMO has done a crap job with their new recipes.

Also, one fact that not many people know -- the Pies were always meant to be a limited, 20-week release back in 1991. That fact kind of blows me away because so many people fondly remember a product that was only on shelves for 20 weeks.

The design of the wrappers is my all-time favorite.

I totally agree and I also feel that Tastykake would do a much better job with making a yummy Turtle Pie. Hostess pies have been of lesser quality in the last bunch of years to me. Especially after the company was brought back from bankruptcy.

I didn't realize that the run was only for five months either. They did have two different styles, stickers, etc. in that time frame right? But yeah I remember them fondly buying some with my Dad at the local grocery store. I did love the art on those too. :tcool:

A common false memory is a plain-crusted version with green pudding inside. Never existed, except in a test version never made for the public. They did have 2 different styles of the wrappers (one for the yellow stickers and one for the TMNT 2 cards) as pictured in my original post. They were around 500 calories per pie!!!

Yeah, that was what I was referring to! So the two different packaging styles and types of cards all happened in just a five month time frame. That's really interesting. But I really do remember those TMNT pies and it would be great to see them again one day.

Yep! And not to just keep spewing random trivia, but they had actually planned 4 different variations for the 20 weeks...including one with free holograms featuring the same images as the yellow stickers. The holograms never made it into the pie packages, but somehow did end up in vending machines and you can find them on eBay.

It would be amazing to sip some Ecto Cooler and munch on one of these pies together again!

some cool items indeed

Your collection is fantastic. Makes me hungry though, love me some Hostess products.

Hope it's okay if I add to this thread.

I've finally found a photo of one of my "grail" items, the Hostess mail-away belt buckle. It looks a little underwhelming, considering it's almost an exact copy of a Burger King "Rad Badge," but still exciting nonetheless.

If anyone owns or has ever seen one of these, please let me know! Your junk would be my treasure. If this should be in another thread, please also let me know.

http://i.imgur.com/KWT4VUrm.png
http://i.imgur.com/GoNb5VPl.jpg

Thats cool dude! It's an awesome thrill when you finally grab one of those grail items. Congratulations. So how did you even know this existed?

Thanks, but the victory was actually just finding a photo of one. I don't own one quite yet, unfortunately.:tcry:

In each package, the pies rested on a piece of cardboard. The back of that cardboard had an order form with 4 mail away items on it. In my above post, you'll see the buckle as it appeared on the order form. I studied that image until I deciphered the words "totally tubular" on the inside of the buckle.

I searched "totally tubular buckle" on Twitter and the official TMNT Twitter account had a photo of one from 2012. Yes, this is how I spend some of my free time...

Oh I read wrong. Thought you had gotten it. Oops. Well good luck. :tgrin:
And I think alot of us have researched Turtle stuff before. It can be fun at times.

I wasn't even aware of the existence of that. Neat, good luck finding it!

I love niche collections like this. Really fantastic!

dude this thread is beyond amazing! I love seeing items like these that people find hard to acquire. it does make collecting so much more interesting!! I also love collecting specific items like that too!! right now im after advertising /promo items like these too

Well, I never imagined I'd find one of these so quickly...but after searching countless eBay lots, I checked one of my grail items of the list. Here are some quick shots of the Hostess TMNT Pies Mail-Away Belt Buckle for anyone that cares. So glad it was in great shape when it arrived! ;)

Let me know if y'all ever see a TMNT Pies T-shirt, please.

http://i.imgur.com/I8C4Gkzl.jpg

Almost looks like a turtle comm

CBR had a write up about the Turtle Pies.
https://www.cbr.com/what-happened-to...s-turtle-pies/
I missed out on it. Doubt that it would taste good now.haha.

It reminds me of the Burger King Heroes In A Half Shell TMNT Rad Badge from early 1990. The face Leonardo makes is almost the same one from the 1990 BK Kids Meal toy.

Still looking for one of these
Never found one
Awesome stuff

The oldest Millennials that weren’t Shellheads ditched all things Turtles (including the pudding pies) for SNES and Sega Genesis late in the fall of 1991. I think that could be why only the Hostess TMNT Pudding Pies regular stickers, SOTO stickers, and holographic stickers (in the order they were released) existed.

My cousin had a holographic Leonardo in September of 1991. In October of ‘91, I believe these were gone from grocery stores, bodegas, and delis.