1988 Turtle Trooper
 

Hello Guys, When the original toyline began this more than humble accesorie came out

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1a5318dc.jpg

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/...psd2f3851c.jpg



Turtle Trooper Blueprint (photo courtesy of nofuture4u aka emojohnkovacs)

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7741687d.jpg



Turtle Trooper Jokebook #8 (photo courtesy of MAXtDie)

http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5fd4b31d.jpg


Toybox art was good enough to pass the test and it had the advantage to scream: VINTAGE as you could realize with a quick glance to the toybox that we were in the first year of this amazing Tmnt collection, unlike the rest of the 1988 Vehicles like the Turtle Blimp which I have already talked here: http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=41619 or the Knucklehead http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=41595 or even the Cheapskate http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=41659 the Turtle Trooper is the only one that truly reveals that this was indeed the first year of the toyline.



The accesorie itself was very good, with no need of any assembly at all, It came just like almost ready to play with. I think Playmates was smart enough to believe that anyone that bought the Turtle Blimp would eventually buy the Turtle Trooper so they can throw this last one from the very Blimp itself.

The Turtle Trooper never appeared in the original Tv series, in fact, I cannot recall if any Turtle ever used a parachute in all the cartoon but I don´t think that was an obstacle for this baby to sell out in weeks. Don´t you think?


I still haven´t found a good review of the Turtle Trooper in youtube (after 25 years I think it deserved it)


Here are the Tv commercials for the Turtle Trooper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNuofZS4St8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5c8WFMO4J8

and finally here is featured in the 1988 playmates toy catalog (Photo Courtesy of Tuboloso)
and in the 1989 Playmates toy catalog

http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/...ps025179cb.jpg


http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/...ps33216cbb.jpg


Hope you liked and thanks for reading.

What do you think about this vehicle? Do you got it?

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

Did you throw it from great heights?

Thanks for reading.

Certainly lots of fun for kids, unfortunately never had this at that time. Today, the larger collectibles are more interesting for me.

How has nobody freaked out about all these individual vehicle threads this guy is making? For as often as y'all jump on people for posting things that aren't "news-worthy" I figured someone would have exploded about these threads by now.

This was definately one of the early releases to this toyline. Thinking back, the box artist put a lot of work into promoting this line at first. His artwork was on a lot of the early Gordy toy stuff. This accessory did not move much until the film was out. The Knucklehead was much more popular. Then again, it was the only Foot vehicle on the shelves in early '89. It made more sense to have the Turtle Trooper if you owned the Blimp or Collector's Case. That was mainly the only reason.

The colors to the parachute were very different from those of the other vehicles. I guess the colors were around to remind consumers the Turtles loved pizza. Those colors, also, could have served as a clever promotion for Playmates. Still, this piece looks retro for what it is.

I used to have that. I remembered the sticker showed bullet holes near the gun barrel.

I've been wondering the same thing. Perhaps they've finally begun taking their meds.

This is one of those accessorys I remember well. The parachute ripped on mine so I repurposed it as a jet pack. But Michelangelo was the only one of my figures allowed to pilot it. Every so often I'd use it with another figure, but it was pretty much mostly Mikey's.

I got this for the first time a few months back. I think I knew about it as a kid but just never got one. I have Don piloting mine (mostly because he seems like he would, but also because I have a duplicate of him :) ) I think I tried using it when I brought it home but I don't fully remember, guess I need to pull it out and give Don a few more test flights

I have two Turtle Troopers, one with a box. I probably passed on it as a kid since I was only 4 when this came out and a bit too small to take it to a great height to use it. I do like it more now than I did thanks to its aerial motion that the Turtlecopter or Blimp can't provide. The episode Enter: The Fly uses them after the Turtle Blimp starts to run out of gas. Also note the early promotion for the first NES game (I would have loved a level with the Turtle Trooper).

Unfortunately, I don't have the blueprint.
Here is the Jokebook #8:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8085/8...a3a9e7ac_b.jpg

i remember seeing this in the commercial and i coulda sworn i had it but hardly rememer playing with, so i cant remember did it actually work? like could you actually attach a turtle figurento it and drop it from up high and it worls like a real parachute? i might want to re-acquire one if it actually works, would be fun to experiment with

Thank you very much for all your comments in my threads. I am glad you like them.:)

for sure man, thank you for making all these threads/articles on the various tmnt vehicles/figures! im seeing a lot of cool stuff, some that i never even knew existed!

'Cause Bill's topics are the f**king best, dawg. No joke. I'm always excited to see a new one, or to come across one I missed.

Bill - I love your threads - these bring back so many memories!

I used to trow this out of my top window and watch it float down into the garden. A great toy!