Rediscovering my childhood (aka sorting out my old collection)

[mikemgmve]

So I have no idea whether this will be interesting at all, to ANYONE. But I'm a long time Turtle fan, who only really collected during the OT phase. TMNT was my life, and I have the figure collection to prove it. The figures, sadly have been binned up at my parent's house & garage for far too long. I'm getting to a point where I also just want to have LESS STUFF consuming me, and I also know I could stand to sell it to someone who would cherish it, and also give it a home.

I would venture a guess that I have a good 85-95% of the figures produced from 1988 through 1993. See, I was just a kid obsessed, but then my mother and grandmother became expert Toy hunters and enjoyed searching them out as much as possible. And whenever they did the random lines of turtles, like Turtle Games, Talkin, Wacky Action, Bodacious Birthday, or whatever insane getup they'd be put in - I couldn't just have one of them, it was all of them, ALWAYS. I was a bit spoiled, but I also had to do chores and yard work to earn them as well. So valuable lesson learned!

I'm going to be going through them all, cleaning them up, and pairing them back up with their accessories (I have a giant bin, I'm sure I have MOST of those as well). Eventually I'm planning on selling them. Thinking a big lot if it's worth it, or creating smaller lots - or even helping other fans here fill in spots in their collections. I'd love to make some money to pay off some debt, but I also want them going to good homes.

I started out by bringing home my figure bins and accessories. The 10+ boxes of vehicles & playsets are still in my parents garage. And the first to be gone throguh was my old carrying case.



This house my "go-to" figures for playing with. With the Turtles side, you had the 4 boys, Usagi, Casey, Splinter, 2 Aprils (1 with a broken leg - unfortunately, she had great paint... ) and Walkabout. My foot side had Tokka & Rahzard, Dirtbag, Scale Tail, Slash, Chrome Dome, SuperShredder, Triceraton and Krang.



Being some of my favorites, and most played with some of these did have more wear and tear then I remembered. Tokka actually had some "custom paint" that I actually remember applying now. Basically gray shell, and black accents. So, crap to that. I later quickly looked through the rest, and I didn't see any other customization, luckily. Chrome dome's 'chrome' i looking a little rough. My Metalhead held up much better in terms of his VUM.

First "score" - my Slash looks to be the rarest variant. Bright yellow chest, purple belt, red S.



I finished wiping these guys down, and bagging them up with their clipped cards (if I had them, missing a couple) and their accessories. So far only missing one of Casey's bats, but I haven't gone through my actual bin of accessories - this stuff was just in bags of accessories within the case, and had most of their stuff.

Doing all that took quite awhile so I basically took my two large green trash-can-like bins and started pulling figures just to have a look through them all.



Don't ask me why I ever got these. I actually can't stand troll dolls, never liked them. But of course I had the Turtle versions!

and last pic for the night:



I had emptied one can out on the couch and table, and then emptied the other can into the first one as I sifted through. These are my own discoveries about what's missing and/or surprises:

- My shredder is a soft-head!
- Cheif Leo: One of his feather pieces snapped off, probably from being compressed in a bin.
- I can't find my original April, or my April 2. I'm pretty sure my original one's leg snapped off - which is what happened with one of the ones pictured.
- Speaking of the two, one's orange isn't as bright, and she has no press on her. The other one, which is broken, is brighter orange, has press - and it's a shame she's broken because her face paint is excellent.
- My Robot Bebop's has pieces broken off his shoulders. Not sure if they actually broke or just slid-out. Hoping to find them in my accessories bin.
- My Rahzar has a red-ish nose. Is this a variant?
- My April the Ravishing Reporter will never be seen. I feel bad for what happened to her hair.. and her face.

I'll be posting more tomorrow. And I also want to post something, which I think I have in a folder of personal paperwork to show everyone how amazing Playmates really was (is?).

[TheMasterTurtle]

I love when collections resurface - keep the updates coming and when it comes time to sell i already see some gems missing from my collection.

This interests me " My April the Ravishing Reporter will never be seen. I feel bad for what happened to her hair.. and her face."

please elaorate

[corgi]

Awesome collection! I would love to stumble across a Yard Sale/Flea Market/or Goodwill that had that selection.

[Nameless]

WOW. thats insane. how many more bins like that are there? you have some great figures there, scale tail,lion heart, anthrax, half court and with that green suit april, you must have a channel 6 news van kicking around too. that thing worth some serious scratch. and speaking of scratch?...

[mikemgmve]

Originally Posted by TheMasterTurtle

I love when collections resurface - keep the updates coming and when it comes time to sell i already see some gems missing from my collection.

This interests me " My April the Ravishing Reporter will never be seen. I feel bad for what happened to her hair.. and her face."

please elaorate

Well I have sisters, and growing up hair would be chopped off. Let's just say April met a similar fate, she was also "bloodied" in a "fight" at some point.

[mikemgmve]

Originally Posted by nameless

WOW. thats insane. how many more bins like that are there? you have some great figures there, scale tail,lion heart, anthrax, half court and with that green suit april, you must have a channel 6 news van kicking around too. that thing worth some serious scratch. and speaking of scratch?...

Yup, I have the news-van! I'm also really hoping to find my April 2 in one of the many boxes with my vehicles & play sets, once I get to those. But no Scratch of Hotspot. Those were the two I could never find back then. Not that I didn't try!

Here's another, more personal gem that I dug out for this post. A little back story, in 92 (according to my letter), I decided to write to Playmates to see about filling in missing accessories to my collection. I must have had my grandmother saying "why not" or something, and she helped me type up my letter (and reword it), because when I read it now, it hardly seems like a 10-year old would speak that way in some of it.



The part that amazes me is that they responded by sending me a package with many/most of the missing accessories I had asked for, and then some. I have 2 more letters, where I actually send some of them back that I didn't need "so that maybe other kids who need them can have them" and with additional lists. At some point I asked if they ever let people tour - and that's when I got that little note/response. This interaction is still something that means a lot to me. Not only because it was something I did with my grandmother, who I was very close to, but just seeing a massive company be so selfless, sending out free items - I think even a full figure once or twice - once even in package. I doubt they, or any other toy companies would respond like that anymore. Just a little happy memory of my childhood. I always wondered if anyone else ever wrote to Playmates.

[Nameless]

very nice and very cool. It almost seems a shame to sell all those off when your collection is nearly complete from the sounds of it, and all your originals as a kid. And especially when you have so many memories like the letter suggests. But that said i hope you do well on it and keep posting photos as you sort it out. it is neat to see complete loose versions of figures. mostly cause most of us weren't so careful with keeping accessories from getting lost. speaking from experience .

[mikemgmve]

I plan on keeping some special ones, but as I looked through, I already realized I was mentally keeping way too many. I actually have 2 sets of the original turtles - the ones in that case were from the... 5th anniversary (I think..) 4-Pack, as my originals (which i found in their own bag) were actually pretty beaten up.

I am finding some small issues here and there. Leo & Donnie's belts always broke (their weapon holders), my movie star Leo's bandanna knot is krazy glued back on, etc. but most of them seem in pretty good condition.

But I know it's just something I have to do. And in the future, if I'm wealthy enough and have the space, it'd probably be a blast re-hunting everything down (I do like a good toy hunt!)

[Nameless]

good to hear your keeping some . And ya the hunt is defiantly part of the fun of collecting. personally just bought a Muta-ski and i've been hunting one down for awhile cause my original got demolished i played with it so much as a kid (pretty sure my parents tossed it with a bunch of other beat to hell toys) and was super stoked to find a good one at a decent price .

[Vundi]

INTERESTING! I just very recently dusted off my own collection from 20+ years ago and I'm looking for vehicles and some figures. Keep us updated.

[TheCanadiandrome]

Wow great collection

[mikemgmve]

Just an FYI I'm posting updates as I sort to the #tmnt tag on Instagram. Or you can check out instagram.com/mikemgmve

I'll post a run-down with the pictures later on tonight!

[Nameless]

This collection is Crazy. Defiantly enjoying seeing your finds as you dig through everything.

[mikemgmve]

LONG DAY! I bought 2 more boxes of ziploc bags... 84 bags, and filled them all, and I still have a chunk left of my figures to bag. I'm exhausted!!!

Troll Turtles

Took me awhile to figure out their weapons. Both Mikey & Don have orange weaopons, Raph has Purple, and Leo has Dark red.

Smash Em Bash Em figures

All 4 complete, but Bebeop does't work anymore, well his punching or kicking mechanism works, but his chest/head doesn't work anymore - the head doesn't lock down/chest pop back out.

Ninja Action

All 4, all complete

Movie 3 Figures

All complete except for Leo, who seems to be missing 1 sword. Also, apparently I have the Samurai Evil Warhorse with Castle Guard. I do not remember the horse at all.. but I have the figure and accessories.. so.. the horse must be packed away somewhere.

Carrying Case

A friend asked randomly about a trunk and I just posted this, that I ahd. it's pretty beat up, handle is gone as well. Not sure anyone would want to by it. It's actually my second carrying case, I had gotten an earlier version (I wanna say it was more red?), but that fell apart even faster.

Toon Turtles

Complete, and I have Shredder too, however I'm missing his ninja star, and weapons rack. They're generic accessories, so not as bothered as if I were missing one of the ones from these guys.

At this point I finally decided to go through and layout all my accessories by color. They were in a much smaller bin and digging through them was starting to do my head in.

Thought it looked pretty cool.


Cave Turtles

I remember being obsessed with these when i got them all. leo first, then the other three the following season/year. I never got Bebop or April though. I have memories of playing with that Raph, especially.

Wacky Action part 1

These hold special significance, as these were the first figures OF the Turtles I ever got. Christmas 1989. It was a MAJOR Turtle Christmas for me, I'll have to borrow some family home movie dvd's and take some screen caps of what an amazing Christmas that was for me. The couch was literally COVERED in Ninja Turtles. I might have to keep these three guys forever.

Wacky Action part 2

I actually got Mouser then too, since they were the first 4 released. I later got the next 2 waves of Wacky Action as well.

[mikemgmve]

Rock n Rollin Turtles

I have a 2nd Don, which is a little more weathers. I also have the school bus/stage.

Storage Shell Turtles

1990 Donatello, the other 3 from 1991. Missing one of Don's ninja stars, and Raph's blowfish mace had broken at sometime (ya'll know it was probably from TRYING to fit it in the shell). It was krazy glued back together. Don also has some paint chipping on his teeth. Loved these guys, loved the colored belts.

Headdroppin' Turtles

Complete!

1990 Turtles

I know these guys didn't have a specific line name, but these are one of the earliest/favorites of mine. I remember getting one or 2 Christmas Eve, and the others Christmas day, 1990. The whole mask thing on Donatello was just the best part. I'm missing my Samurai Leo, so I know I have more Turtles at my parents house somewhere!

Mikey's surfboard sticker is pretty worn, and his chest sticker is gone. Also Raph's dome is really cloudy, and for some reason I have 2 of Leo's swords. I think I had gotten a 2nd figure/replacement from Playmates at some point.

Usagi's

Everyone needs a rabbit, or two. And I LOVE a fabric cape!

Sewer Spittin' Turtles

Still remember bringing these guys home from Target back in the day!

Birthday Turtles

I think even 10-year old me was a little "umm... okay" at this point. Raph's hinge is actually broken, but the top piece of his hat is there. I also seem to be missing his TINY cards.

Mutant Military Series 1

Another favorite series from my childhood.. Turtles made me like anything. Don's missing his flag. The others' flags are a bit worn, but still attached. Don't teeth have some chipping as well.

Mutant Military Series 2

Missing 1 of Don's camo pieces

[mikemgmve]

Wacky Wild West

One of Leo's feather pieces snapped off. boo-urns.

Assorted Characters

All complete, except missing one of the Foot Soldier's "weapon racks." no, but seriously.. does anyone actually count those as real pieces?

1993 Figures

Some of my 93' guys. Currently missing Halfcourt's shield, and one of Robot Bebop's shoulder pieces. Both of his pieces actually snapped out of his shoulders - they didn't break though. I don't think they're specifically supposed to come out, right? He's in great condition otherwise. Hoping to find that missing piece. Feel like I've seen it before, only hoping I didn't just throw it away years ago not remembering what it was.

Turtle Games

Mikey's missing one of his polls... and I remember getting these guys and thinking that I was suppose to cut his ski's apart. d'oh! one of them had been severed.. and then glued back because I realized it wasn't supposed to be snapped apart.

Sewer Heroes

Both complete and great shape. Again, these were some of the last turtles I got, so I didn't play with them much. Don has purple accessories, and Raph has red.

Universal Monster's Series 1

I didn't see any Don's with blue accessories listed on myteefinestuff. Is he rare?

April the Ninja Newscaster

A rare solo shot. She's complete!

1990 Turtles

It's weird, because I could have sword that Don & Leo came out later than that Mikey, but I guess not... all complete.

Sewer Sports

Really loved these guys when they first came out.. yet again, Turtles making me care about things I usually ignored. Leo's missing 1 puck, Mikey's missing his snake (hoping I can find it). Also apparently at some point, I decided to TRY customizing... i already mentioned Tokka, but I also tried painting Raph's soccer ball. I'm in the process of removing the paint, but it's taking awhile. Any tips? I used goo-gone to loosen it, and then a paper towel to scratch it off. But it needs a lot more work.

Here's MOST of the rest of my figures:

My Mutagen man's right leg snapped off as I was trying to remove it tonight. d'oh. I should have just left it on. But I cleaned him out and pulled out all six of his bits. He'd still making a decent display figure. Movie Star Splinter (bottom left) has all his accessories, except his jacket & belt. Not sure where those are. Hoping to find them with my other missing pieces.

I also have the Talkin' Turtles, Mutatin Turtles (+ Splinter, April, Shredder, Bebop, Rockstead & Foot Soldier), and the Movie Star Turtles to group.

I need more bags!

[mikemgmve]

Also have to say myteefinestuff.com really came in handy when it came to figuring out accessories for figures!

[Shark_Blade]

These are fascinating!

[TheCanadiandrome]

Originally Posted by mikemgmve

Also have to say myteefinestuff.com really came in handy when it came to figuring out accessories for figures!

yes Tom is a more than valuable resource and a good person. and your collection continues to impress

[mikemgmve]

Oh and my Antrax isn't in the best shape. He's missing one of his whisker pieces, and both of his Antena's actually broke off - both glued back on, and snapped back off. I have one piece.

Here's a question. Would it be smart to actually try to buy missing accessories before selling my collection? That way I have actual loose/complete turtles?