Lamination Station!

 Learned how to use the laminating machine at work today!

Recent TMNT Pickups

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 35th Anniversary Box Set

I am always on the lookout for new Ninja Turtles items to add to my growing collection. The things I like to collect the most are TMNT Comics, Action Figures and Trading Cards. When I heard this 35th Anniversary Box Set was coming out I almost passed on it. It contains reprintings of the original Mirage TMNT #1-#4 and the Raphael one-shot special all in their original size and format. I already heve these comics, but still I was suckered in by the nice presentation from IDW. 

Mikey as Batman Con Exclusive Action Figure

I have to admit, my schedule has been crazy with work and kids this summer and I have not yet had a chance to watch the animated Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Trust me, it is on my list of things to do. I have read the first 2 volumes of the comic series and really enjoyed them. The 3rd series is currently hitting shelves at comic shops now. Anyway, I could not pass up this con exclusive figure of Mikey dressed in Batman's cape and cowl. This figure was too cool to pass up and will look good on my basement shelf next to some of the other exclusive toys in my collection!

TMNT Coming Out Of Their Shells Soundtrack

In 1990 I was around 9 years old and fully entrenched in Turtlemania! I am not shy to say that myself and my brother had the VHS tape of the TMNT Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour and we watched it all the time. We memorized all the songs and really enjoyed the show. We lived so close to NY City at this time, that I am surprised that we didn't bug our parents to take us to the show at Radio City Music Hall? Nonetheless, we wore that VHS tape out, but never got the music soundtrack from Pizza Hut! That is something that has been rectified all these years later thanks to ebay! Now I am on the hunt for a program from the tour!

TMNT Shell Shock Comic

This book has been on my want list for a long time! I finally found a seller who was charging a reasonable price ($20) for it and I immediately jumped at the opportunity. This comic was released in 1989 by Mirage Publishing as a fund raiser to fight illiteracy in America. Laird & Eastman donated the profits from this book to the Literacy Volunteers of Chicago, Inc. Shell Shock is a collection of 26 short TMNT stories. 19 are reprints and 7 are brand new material you couldn't get anywhere else! I am so glad to finally have this book in my possession!

TMNT Sketch Cards

Honestly, I have no idea who drew these sketch cards and I have no idea if they were part of a set, but they were extremely cheap and I liked the art style so I picked them up. If anyone has any information on these cards, please feel free to drop me a message in the comments below. It would be greatly appreciated! I would like to get all four in a frame to hang on the wall of my Turtle room which should be coming to my house hopefully sooner than later! Below is a peak at the next item I would like to add to my collection. ENJOY!

Wax Pack Revolution: All Topps Edition

A recent obsession of mine has been collecting old wax packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display...YET AGAIN!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 2nd Series (Topps, 1990)

If you have read this blog before, you know I love me some Ninja Turtles. Me and my brother collected these cards so we would have cardboard versions of the cartoons we loved so much! Of course it didn't hurt that Usagi Yojimbo was featured on some of the cards. We loved that guy!

2014 Ninja Turtles Movie Cards

In 2014 Paramount and Nickelodeon movies decided to have Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company helm a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I'm not going to lie, I was crazy excited for this movie. It had been years since we had a Ninja Turtles movie hit theaters and that one wasn't the greatest. I had seen the Michael Bay Transformers movies and for the most part I was entertained, this lead me to have some pretty unreasonable expectations for this new incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

As part of the marketing campaign, these sheets of trading cards were given out at select movie theaters. I was lucky enough to grab one of these sets. The artwork is pretty cool and leads me to ask the question, "Why was there never an official comic book adaptation of the movie released?".

The backs of the cards were puzzle pieces for you to put together after you tore the cards apart. I did not do that. I prefer to keep my set attached. Maybe one day I will frame it?

In addition to the 9 card set, these sweet tattoos were also given out! I did eventually see the movie in theaters in 3D. It was better than what I was expecting. I had heard so many bad things about the movie that even a halfway decent film would have surprised me. One of the best things to come from this movie was the song "Shell Shocked" performed by Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa & Ty Dolla $ign. It's no "Ninja Rap", but then again nothing is or ever will be.

Random Trading Cards: Vol. 3

Today I'll be taking you back to the days of cardboard cards, stale chunks of pink chewing gum and wax wrappers...again. We will be taking a look at 5 old trading cards! I loved collecting cards as a kid. Baseball, Ninja Turtles, Superheroes it didn't matter. I just loved opening a pack and smelling the gum and seeing if you had opened a pack with new cards or more doubles! The stickers were always the premium pieces, but having a few extras to trade never hurt. Let's open this pack of awesomeness and take a look at 5 random cards from the 80s & 90s:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (Topps, 1992)

The most despised of all the Ninja Turtles movies, until Michael Bay came along. Ninja Turtles 3 suffered from a lot of problems. Poor story, bad costumes and rushed production. It was still Turtles, so I bought into it and tried really hard to like this movie, but I just can't. After the greatness of the first 2 Turtles flicks this was a huge disappointment. I have a few of these cards in my collection and really do like these art cards, but it's not enough to redeem TMNT 3 from how bad it was.