Buried Treasure: A TMNT Novel

 The TMNT novel "Buried Treasure" is my book of the month! Of course it features mutant squirrels named after famous composers who were raised by an Israeli Secret Service member!!!

Birthday Recap 2021!

I still love celebrating my birthday, but after all these years a little bit of the excitement has gone. Lucky for me, I have an amazing wife and kids that make sure each year's celebration is fantastic.

Here we have a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle books I have been wanting for a while. The Official TMNT Treasury has been on my want list since it was first printed in 1991. It's a visual guide to a lot of the early TMNT merchandise. It's so cool to see everything from old toys to games to bath products that feature the Ninja Turtles. The TMNT Pizza Cookbook looks like a lot of fun to try at the next make your own pizza night! Oh, and we also had a Shaq-A-Roni pizza for dinner from Papa John's!

The Art of "Six Guns And Shuriken": Part 1

 I am loving the illustrations in this TMNT "Six Guns And Shuriken" book! Which one is your favorite so far?

Reading Essentials

 Currently reading this! Had this book as a kid and can't believe I never read it!! It's got magic lamps, genies, a trip to the old west and cowboys!!! So cool!

New Additions to the TMNT Collection IV

Over the last few months I have succumbed to the addiction that is on-line shopping. Seriously, once you start you find so many other cool things and you just can't stop...that is until your wife reminds you that you have children and bills to pay. This realization led me to be pretty selective of what I've purchased recently and as a huge fan of the Green Machine there are a ton of options. So without wasting anymore time, here is part 4 of the newest additions to my TMNT collection!

TMNT Novels

I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Like kids everywhere, we saw it in theaters, had the VHS tape, reenacted the fight scenes in our backyards and read the official TMNT Movie Novelization! I remember getting the movie novel in mine and my brothers Easter Baskets in 1990. We loved the movie photos inside and the small changes that were in the novel versus the actual finished movie. My brother and myself each also had one of the cartoon novels. They just happened to be "Buried Treasure" & "Six Guns and Shurikens".  When I found all 3 of these books in an ebay lot, I knew it was destiny! I paid the $12 to the seller and once again had these books back in my collection after almost 30 years!

TMNT Mini-Pinball Game

This was another gift from my wife. This time it was for my birthday. She really gets me. For it's size, it's actually a really fun game and me & the kids are constantly trying to beat each other's high score. Not to brag, but I currently own the high score with 6,853,050 points! My only complaint is that it is a little clunky trying to hold the game and hit the flipper buttons. There really isn't a truly comfortable way for me to do this with my man hands. Still, very fun game though!

TMNT Snapz

Not too much to say about these. I had seen them multiple times at Target near the trading card section, but never bought them due to the price point. These 2 guys ended up in my Christmas stocking thanks to Santa and I scored the ultra rare Sensei Splinter figure! Overall these are pretty cool looking and the suction action feature does stick, but I don't think I will be hunting down the other 3 turtles to complete the set.

TMNT: The Last Ronin Comics

This is the story TMNT fans have been waiting decades for! The original concept for this book was put together by Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird during the early success of the TMNT back in the 80's. Allegedly, due to the rise of popularity in the TMNT, Eastman & Laird ditched the project to focus on the business end of the license and the idea was dropped...until 2020 when "The Last Ronin" #1 was released. It's a good story so far and the first issue has set up the 5 issue series nicely with a few twists. Can't wait to read the rest of this series when it is released bi-monthly from IDW.

NECA: Musical Mutagen Tour Box

I love this stuff! I was a big fan of the "Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour" back in the 90's and I was really amazed to see it make a comeback in the form of the Musical Mutagen Tour in 2020. The Turtles sport their on-stage looks and the NECA box includes some great items for around $20. Here is what was inside!

You got a Musical Mutagen Tour tote bag, All Access Lanyard, 4 guitar picks in the Turtles classic colors, a show ticket and....

This AMAZING T-shirt! I was kind of worried when I was only able to find the set in an XL size. I'm usually a L man, but I'm glad I picked this one up. The sizes for the shirt seem to run small and this shirt fit me as well as any of my other shirts. The graphics are neat and include the Musical Mutagen Tour artwork on the front with some tour info on the back. Great set from one of the most memorable and weird moments in TMNT history! I am still looking to score the figures from this set at a decent price, but that's wishful thinking.

Thanks for bearing with me and checking out some of the latest additions to my TMNT collection. I gotta say, I'm running out of room and may have to expand my basement collection area because I'm sure there is more to come for this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fanatic! COWABUNGA!!!!

New Additions to the TMNT Collection III

Over the last few months I have succumbed to the addiction that is on-line shopping. Seriously, once you start you find so many other cool things and you just can't stop...that is until your wife reminds you that you have children and bills to pay. This realization led me to be pretty selective of what I've purchased recently and as a huge fan of the Green Machine there are a ton of options. So without wasting anymore time, here is part 3 of the newest additions to my TMNT collection!

TMNT: The Incredible Shrinking Turtles Book

I had some of these books as a kid, but never this one. This book came as a gift in a package from the ultra-cool Hoju Koolander! If you want to check out some of his radical retro flavored articles or videos you can check them out at RetroDaze.org or on the WIZARDS! Podcast on Youtube.

TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze VHS Tape

I have extremely fond memories of owning this VHS tape as a youngster. Me and my brother would watch this movie daily. This copy is a special one though. It comes from the Mirage Studios Archives and was in the collection of TMNT Co-Creator Peter Laird! Don't believe me?

I bought it off the Mirage Studios website and it came with this sweet Certificate of Authenticity! It only cost me about $10 and I love it! If you would like to own a piece from Mirage Studios, they typically hold weekly ebay auctions. You can view the items available by clicking HERE.

TMNT Party Wagon: Hot Wheels

I kept seeing this mini version of the Turtles' Party Wagon pop up in my Twitter feed. People were finding it everywhere. I searched my local Walmarts, Targets and Dollar Tree stores, but had no success. Instead of continuing the trend of disappointment, I decided to buy this off ebay for $5. After I made that purchase, I began finding these all over the place. I picked up a few extras and gave my son one, Ieven sent one to a collector in Canada who was having trouble locking one down. I really like the details and for $1 or less, you can't beat the usual Hot Wheels quality of this toy!

Funko Pops!

My wife scored me the Target exclusive Metalhead figure for Christmas. This was a big surprise for me and she was really proud of herself for tracking him down. She's a keeper. The Casey Jones, I found in a clearance section at Walmart. This was odd to me since they had just recently came out. I didn't have a Casey in my Pop! collection yet, so I took advantage of the possibly mislabeled figure and now he stands proud next to my Turtles on the shelf in the basement!

TMNT Valentines

I found the vintage looking TMNT Valentines on clearance for around $1 and my wife found the other 2 boxes for me. Of course the kids wanted to use some of these for my friends and I let them go to town. I remember what a thrill it was to receive a Ninja Turtles Valentine. I received a card featuring something I loved on the biggest love day of them all and it was AWESOME! Who am I to keep another child from experiencing that same thrill?

Thanks for bearing with me and checking out some of the latest additions to my TMNT collection. I gotta say, I'm running out of room and may have to expand my basement collection area because I'm sure there is more to come for this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fanatic! COWABUNGA!!!!

In Search of The Goonies Novelization

Every once in a while I like to challenge myself to find a piece of my childhood that will bring back great memories of my amazing childhood. This time around I have found myself on a quest to find and purchase the novelization of my favorite movie of all time...The Goonies! This book search didn't happen just out of the blue, but thanks to some of the guys I follow on Twitter like Shawn Robare of Branded in the 80s fame. I've read some of these adaptations of movies and sometimes they contain altered events and deleted scenes that never made it into the movie. I am hoping this is the case with The Goonies. So I searched online...

but the prices were a little out of my range. After that didn't go as planned I ran another search, this time for used bookstores in my neighborhood. I found 3 of them in the area! It looks like I am now on my own Goonie adventure, but instead of looking for rich stuff I was hoping to uncover a wealth of  fantastic fiction. I have journeyed to 2 of the bookstores so far, but no Goonies novels were to be found. Instead I picked up some other great literary works of art based on a few awesome characters that were popular back in the day. Here is what I scored for under $5!

TMNT: The Storybook Based On The Movie (Random House, 1990)

Not a bad haul overall. At least I found something to bring home and read to my kids before they head off to bed for the night. But it wasn't what I was looking for, it wasn't The Goonies. Well, I still have one more shop to check for my paperback white whale! Wish me luck and pray I don't end up like Chester Copperpot!

Retro Reading Corner: TMNT ABC's for a Better Planet

Since this Sunday is Earth Day, I figured that I would bust out this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles book from 1991 and give you guys a few pointers on how to help make the Earth a better place.

This book is chock full of great tips and ideas from the greenest guys I know on how to be a responsible inhabitant of our planet. Below are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

F is for Fast Food

I is for Ivory

L is for Litter

P is for Pesticides

R is for Remember to Recycle Rubbish

Hopefully these lessons will help you have an eventful Earth Day this year. Now get out there, plant a tree, enjoy the nice weather and always remember the lesson Ya Kid K taught us to be green and keep it clean!