TMNT Vintage Party Wagon Van Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
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RetroBlasting looks back at the flagship of the original vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles towline from Playmates - the Turtle Party Wagon...and boy is it a shell of fail!
#RetroBlasting #PartyWagon #TMNT
The toy was designed in 1988 back when Playmates had no budget for these toys. So yeah that's why this thing looks simple. It was originally supposed to come out with the first year of toys but was pushed back to the second year. The lack of steering wheel was due to an abandoned feature; an escape hatch. The bumper and lower half of the front end would have been a seperate piece that when pushed down would empty the occupants a wheel would have been in the way. For cost reasons or structural concerns, it's never said, the feature was forgotten and the entire front would be molded as one piece, too late in production to add anything else.
I appreciate Michael's integrity and candidness. He tells it like it is, with pros and cons of toys and cartoons without focusing on monetary values.
The Echo -1 and the Party Wagon were the first action figure vehicles i ever owned. So despite its simplistic design the party wagon will always be special to me.
I have to disagree with He-Man being watchable and TMNT being unwatchable. It's quite the opposite in my case. I grew up with He-Man and probably had more of those toys than anything that came afterwards, but when I got the first and second season of He-Man for Christmas a few years ago, I couldn't sit through a whole episode. I'm sure it's great for kids around the five year mark, but I can barely enjoy it on a nostalgic level. TMNT on the other hand I can watch and still enjoy; well, the first two seasons anyway.
This makes me laugh. This guy really does not like this toy.
he really doesn't
orrin bostek I have a hard time watching both the original He-man and Ninja Turtles cartoons and I prefer the New Adventures of He-man and the comic book Ninja Turtles or the live-action movie. Apologies for not being a "purist" though.
The first movie is awesome and I can still watch it and not roll my eyes.
Same here, I loved turtles even though I got into it late but never liked He-Man even though I had some of the figures.
I was born in 1981, so I had a mix of He-man, GI Joe, Star wars, Mask, Silverhawks as well as Ninja Turtles. Being the fact that ninja turtles was on in the mornings before school, of course i watched it as i ate my breakfast, and became a big fan. But when your toy collection involved such a range of toys as mine did, everything from the most simplistic to complex toys were all loved by me. I did have the party wagon, and as a kid i'll admit i was abit disapointed that it was no where near the likeness of the cartoon, i still played with it constantly. When your a kid back in the 80's thru 90's, your imagination was your biggest asset, so just knowing the fact that it was the iconic "ninja turtles party wagon" loosely based off the cartoon meant more to me then how simplistic it was. And considering the wide range of toys i had, it was nothing for me to actually use this as a troop transport for my star wars and GI Joe figures. I mean, the adventures i had combining all the toys was insane! It was the only point where i could cram all my star wars figures into a party wagon with a ninja turtle driving, pulling up to my ghost buster firehouse that was filled to the brim with their GI Joe army and with their silver hawk air support, fighting against shredder with his death star base, who had teamed up with Skeletor and Krang and their mobile Technodrone weapon and their evil army of foot soldiers and storm troopers.....so regardless of how simplistic or complex the toys were, they still gave great memories and will live on with me and will always be apart of my childhood!
I love this review, reminds me of the old avgn reviews but with toys haha.
I had this when I was 5. I lived & breathed TMNT from 1988-1991, but I have to agree that the Party Wagon was a missed opportunity from Playmates Toys. They should have put more thought into it (and more details / features) to make it more like the cartoon version. No driver's side door? No computer surveillance station in the back? No laser cannon on the extending arm, or even a plastic harness to hold the figure in place? Not even a steering wheel?!? Even as a kid these flaws bothered me, but I still had fun with it. My original is long gone to parts unknown, but I had so many good memories I bought an unopened example from 1988 for my vintage collection. It wasn't cheap, but it was still worth it just for the nostalgia points!
Maybe I was just a poor kid who didn’t know better but I LOVED this toy. I never noticed the lack of details. My only complaint was the side door broke off and we lost the accessories. I bet me and my brother put 100 Miles on the thing just with TMNT figures.
These old toys are like distant, slightly mad family members. We have to appreciate their craziness to love them.
HEY! Don't hate on the Ninja Turtles, they're cool!
It's his opinion
Red-3 yeah, his stupid opinion
Wow I didnt know that everybody hates tmnt its very popular That I even Like it
(Dont say things like “hEy YoU iDıOt TmNt sucks”)
The box art was always the best thing in my mind. Especially when every figure had their own individually draw card backing
Sure the Turtle Van was simplistic but nothing is more cheap than Masters of the Universe Battle Cat. A solid piece of plastic. Can't move his legs, mouth doesn't move, nothing. That toy was easily the worst vehicle of any of the 80s toylines. At least the party wagon functions on a basic level.
I get it. You like what you grew up with, have nostalgia for it, and say everything that didn't happen during your formative years is lesser. It's a tale as old as time.
Your complaint is tiresome, unoriginal and completely without merit. Examples of things he likes but didn't have as a child: Stan Solo figures, Lego Indy, Star Trek Playmates, SolarQuest Custom Playsets, Playmobil Ghostbusters, A-team, Star Trek & BTTF, Valaverse Action Force, 25th Anniversary Joes, Blitzway Voltron, Bandai SOC Voltron, some Marvel Legends, Geek Candy Labs Battlestar Viper and Buck Rogers Starfighter, Galoobs Spice Girls, some Star Wars Black Series, and many other products and lines. I'm sorry that he doesn't like the Party Wagon the way you want, more than that, I'm sorry that you're feelings are hurt by that, but please try to be accurate in your posts.
How can you not love the Turtles and the Turtle Van? Dang, you must have been one hard-to-please kid.
He Said that he loved tmnt he grew up with it he just didnt like the toy i guess
80's ROCKED FOR TOYS AND CARTOONS...I MISS GROWING UP!!!
THIS TMNT PARTY WAGON IS ONLY 30 BUCKS ON SALE THIS WEEKEND ONLY A TOYSRUS...I HAD TO PICK UP 2 OF THEM!!!
My dad was an artist and he modified the inside of my party wagon by painting the yellow walls with computer screens and screen printed some decal stickers to make the inside of it look much better. That doesn't change the fact that as a kid I had a lot of trouble putting all my figures inside the damn thing to make it look like they were actually sitting in there. Eventually I just gave up and during play I would just stuff 3 or 4 in the back not caring how they were positioned, closed the lid and continued rolling that damn wagon all over the house. My parents got pissed after a while.
"Party Wagon" or rather "Party Van" is also slang in Internet circles for the paddy wagon (I. E., police car). Getting "vanned" is slightly stronger than getting "banned" but not as severe as getting "swatted".
And by the way the ninja turtles were the best toys of the 80’s so much so that they’re still making ninja turtle cartoons action figures and movies till this day can’t say that about a lot of the cartoons from that same time period.
I like tmnt better than He Man
Who doesnt
@@tonka7805 pixel dan
Turtle power
Same
I used to tie the Cannon blasters from Decepticon Onslaught to the Turtle on the side door. The door would open and the Turtle would pop out blasting. Onslaughts blaster looks like the vans blasters.
As far as TMNT goes, I LOVE the 1984 comic, the 1990 movie and the 2003 cartoon.
I have a VERY hard time watching the 1987 cartoon past the five-part mini series.
2:39 donatello casually ripping off a full chunk of Baxter stockman's van
Yea a lot of it was probably scaling it to the figures themselves and also proper room to put them in and out easily.the figures were sort of stiff and had to work around posing the legs and arms.Also the shell probably eats up some space aswell
Playmates squandering the Stat Trek toy license as well. So many missed opportunities
I loved the turtlevan as a kid. I hand drew my own little screens and displays, took the radar off the armor screen and pretended it was a cannon. But that door arm was weak and eventually broke. Still, good times.
My older sister was into Ninja Turtles back in the day. For some reason she never got Michelangelo. He was just never on the shelves. Instead we had an extra Donatello and an extra Leonardo in costumes. The only vehicle I remember getting as a sort of hand me down during the mid to late 90's, was this weird boat that only accommodates a single ninja turtle and had a weird gun on the front. It was pretty cool I guess, but I prefered the Jurassic Park sequel toys that I grew up with at that time.
Don't hate on stuff I use to own! It's so upsetting that I was forced to get rid of all my old toys when I turned 17. I don't know what my patents were thinking. That aside, I owned this and LOVED it!
I always thought the Turtles van in the cartoon looked better than what Playmates came up with as a toy. Now a toy of the cartoon Turtles van I would love to see.
Oh and TMNT the original series was awesome, hell of a lot better than Transformers or G.I. Joe.
It was ok but it wasnt better then G.I. Joe
@@MrenderboyoPrime I guess it's because army stuff doesn't excite me.
I concur, my feeling at the time with TMNT figures was that they were for toddlers and preschoolers. But I was also a Junior and Senior in high school when the cartoon and Playmates figures started up, so my only interest at that time was vintage toys and some of the newer ARAH figures. My Sophomore year in college, my roommate was a big Robotech and TMNT fan, and introduced me to both. But he showed me the original dark and gritty comics which were way cooler, not the saccharine stuff.
I remember asking my parents for that Party Wagon for my birthday or something and they were like "oh that won't even last until Christmas" and that sucker hung in there for a really really long time. I lost some of the parts, the stupid radar dish and the bombs but it stayed more or less complete until I moved out and then it went missing - but yeah I totally agree it paled in comparison to other period vehicles like the Ghostbusters cars and such - but I looked at it more as a toy transporter. Something I shoved as many of my TMNT figures into, put a bigger rubber band around the lid and took it with me to a friend's house or my grandma's place, shoved the TMNT motor cycle thing that came with the side car in my jacket pocket and I was all set.
I rather enjoyed this vehicle back when it came out, but even I can see the flaws in it. My main gripe, especially when I had this as a kid back then, was with the spring loaded door that swings out. After being used a few times, the hinge on mine ended up breaking, and the only position I could have the door afterwards was in the closed position, otherwise risk the door falling off. You bringing up the lack of a steering wheel made me think of how they could even drive it, even as a kid at the age of 6 I was wondering why this didn’t look remotely close to its cartoon counterpart. Awesome job for the brutal accuracy of this vintage classic.
It was an 80s kids toy. They didn't have the turtles going big back then
It is essentially a bixy version of a VW BUS..I was hoping that when I saw the first movie,that April's bus was going to be the party wagon
I didn't like the show back then,,I just like the toys, but the 2003 and the 2012 shows blowed my mind !
Although I have the Party Wagon myself, I have to agree with you. Funny enough the Foot Cruiser which I have too and 100% complete is much more detailed. It has a proper steering wheel, instrument gauges and some other cool details. It even has proper rubber tires. Great review as usual Retroblasting.
It was built for toddlers to play with, not collectors to complain about 20 years later :)
If you want a better version of the 1987 turtle van, get the NECA turtle van although it might be bigger than the playmates figures
Back then playmates did not knew that tmnt was going to be a succeses so that is the reason of the simplistic design because they did not wanted to have the risk of losing so much money.
(2:39) JEEZ DONNIE IS STRONG! RIPPING OUT A CHUNK OF THE VAN LIKE ITS NOTHING!
The new released 2015 party wagon is actually pretty awesome! Improvements and more detail. Figures fit in easy, has a steering wheel, seats. Great details. I picked it up at toys r us for $29.99. It's new design but reminiscent of the original in some ways. They did a good job on this new wagon IMO. Check it out. Peace.
Very happy that you described the cartoon as "Romper Room", and I will explain why. As a kid, I was only ever allowed to watch a single episode of the miniseries before my parents deemed it "too violent for a child to watch." From that point forward there were no Ninja Turtles in my house at all. No toys, no cartoons, no movie, no Halloween costumes, no video games, nada. My parents put a blanket ban on Ninja Turtles. I only discovered them later on at the tender age of 30. The funny part was, shortly after the ban on the Turtles, I discovered Dragonball Z, and that somehow slipped past my parents radar, even though the show is at least 2000 times more violent than Ninja Turtles. Go figure.
Imagine saying the old Heman cartoon is still watchable to this day, just one big poorly animated toy commercial, the eighties were a dark time for televised animation, thank goodness for Nickelodeon in 1991
The spring loaded arm of my friend's Turtles Bus (which we preferred calling it instead of Turtles Party Van) would always detach at the base near the spring after some time. Good times.
I agree, the TMNT Party Wagon sucked. I remember as a kid thinking how weird it was to have a rubber-band hold Leo to the door. However, the Turtle Blimp, Pizza Thrower, and Sewer set sustained the balance. The Foot-Cruiser and the Technodrome were fucking badass too. As a whole, the TMNT collection allowed me hours upon hours of imaginative glory.
Adult guy who collects toys says other adult guy his toys are for toddlers...the irony
The ability to think freely is the last true freedom we have. And as a TMNT and MOTU collector, I couldn't agree with you more.
The 2012 TMNT line was far better, they were more detailed, made high quality vehicles and made really fun playsets
And the 2012 series has more interesting mutant villains so thats another plus
I played with toys and watched Saturday morning cartoons for longer than most (at that time, before collecting toys and watching cartoons on 24-hour networks became more common) so I thought the TMNT stuff was neat but in a way like I was living vicariously through my younger sibling. I pushed this to be his toy collection thing.
I do have to agree that TMNT is the one thing I really liked as a kid that objectively hasn't aged well.
As for small toys being more detailed, I always assumed that the less plastic they had to use to cast and mold them, the more room was left in the budget for details etc. Almost everything in GI Joe could be at or close to perfect scale because the scale was small enough to allow for it.
it’s the same with model trains. It seems like the smaller they get, the more detail they’ve got
I worked for Toyrus last year, and they had re-released this toy in it's original form and box art! It was $60! And they also had the Falcon that you featured in one of your videos! It was $225! It was so cool to see those toys in person after so many years! Thanks for your videos and keep up the great work
For all the purists out there who think TMNT toys were so top-notch, how about that Shredder figure that came packaged wearing a cape, no shirt on with nipples exposed, he was almost nearly unposable due to the angles of his arms and legs and he couldn't even hold a weapon properly. And how about those foot soldiers who's legs tended to snap off at the slightest touch? I was obsessed with those toys, but there were things about the original line that bothered me. I felt like the turtle van was lacking even back then, but now I know for a fact that it was nothing more than just a lunchbox on wheels.
the shredder figure depicting the original comic. really I don't like the cheap plastic weapons they came with. is the wagon top notch not really but the sewer playset and the tecnodrome was.
I agree though they did miss a little but when they made these toys they didn't expect them to explode like they did at first.
That was due to a communication error regarding his tunic. The painters had no idea what color his chest was to be and left that part blank (On a test copy the blank part would have been flesh colored.) thinking that the correction would be noted. The toy was approved as is and sent to production. As for his stance, it's a combination of being one ripped from the comic and to give a taller character a figure that would fit in a normal sized bubble. If Shredder were to stand fully erect he would indeed be taller than the turtles.
I love that shredder figure
I had and still have both the only real differences is when He-Man died out The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took there place and I have the van still complete and it does suck I got Star Wars Gi Joe and He-Man vehicles that are way better it’s great quality but it’s just a plastic box on wheels with one spring open door lol wow and really it came with a rubber band they really should have put some kind of straps on it and doors
I always called it the turtle Van and I still do I'm happy I found one at a yard sale for 3 bucks it is almost complete. I so hope for a modern update to make it look right out of the cartoon
Was always annoyed how the Turtles Van in the 87 cartoon looked so cool with all the gadgets it had, but this was the closest we got to it being in toy format maybe it's based on the one from the comics? (and the figures were based on that more then the cartoon)
also the 2003 Van just had seats and no wheel to drive it (oddly the one from the 2007 movie did, which was smaller. )
This is seriously true! My big cousin had all of these (he is 16 years older than me, born in 1983), so I got these as hand me downs. Of course, it was the 15th anniversary in 2003 when I was around 5 years old. I loved the originals up until the anniversary of the show, and I left all of the old toys in the attic.
Maybe I had a later version or something, but my van came with a red plastic seat belt for the swing out door. I did, however, promptly lose it and wound up using a rubber band. I wrapped it around the whole door to help keep it closed.
So Playmates cut corners big time with their TMNT van but it was probably a money issue. Making a more detailed van would've cost them more money and then they would have to sell enough vans at a high enough price to make a profit. Maybe when they designed the Dick Tracy toys they were better off financially and could afford to take such a gamble, but what it all comes down to is that when they design these hunks of plastic they want a good money maker, its all about financial profit.
OH IT HURTS! it really does! i recently payed fifty bucks for this very van, i did it becase i wanted a piece of my childhood back. it may fall short of how epic other vehicles were but it was a part of my child hood. lost when i was forced from my childhood home. but im happy i got it again. its missing the two bombs but its still mine
nunca me gusto este vehiculo, pero la cara que pones al final, se vale llorar , you can cry now
I use to have the party wagon but lost it...oh boy this bring back memories 4 real
I am starting to get on Board with this line, but this van.... dont need that.
Indeed. Quite a waste too considering the cartoon practically gift wrapped them so many good ideas to make it so much better.
I will say in the defense of the Party Wagon, it is a great display piece and definitely durable. Where credit is due it does look nice on the outside. I can even forgive the fact of the turent's being on the mirrors. Other then that, as some one who grew up with this toy and loving it, I agree with Michael on this one. Not only being compared to Playmates other lines of figures and vehicles, but even compared to other playsets and vehicles in it's own line. Look at the sewer playset and all of that detail and extra play features. Even the Turtle Blimp, or even the cheap skate.Going as far as to shooting themselves in the foot with the Channel 6 News Van. I still love it, but even I'll admit it is just a display piece and a place to dump your turtles.
The foot cruiser was a much better vehicle. A black Cadillac, with purple flames. Windshield, steering wheel, and a rocket launcher in the back. Not to mention, cool running boards, with foot pegs. You should review it.
Only thing I can think of as to why a larger toy might not have the details is to keep costs down, but then again, some of the G.I.*JOE playsets were pretty good sized and had tons of detail, but that could also be because G.I.*JOE was a huge toy line and the cost could be offset by units sold, same with Star Wars. I'm just glad I was out of collecting toys by the time these guys rolled around.
Soooo can we get a Turtle Blimp restoration? I have a broken glider that I think would be interesting seeing you restore.
I can’t wait till Neca does the party van and the rest of the vehicles from tmnt justice.😁👍🏽
But Dick Tracy was a Disney movie, and Disney has a higher standard when it comes to toys. Also, Dick Tracy isn’t quite as cartoony as the TMNT, so they probably felt that the toys had to look more detailed and realistic.
The thing is...this was from the first wave of an unproven show, and made by a company that didn't have the largest budget around - the party wagon (and the first wave of figures) were made to a budget and it shows.
That's also why the successive TMNT waves featured more and more elaborate figures, vehicles, and playsets.
Additionally, your Dick Tracy argument isn't a successful one - the Dick Tracy toys were a tie-in for the movie, which was financially backed by Disney.
As such, Disney invested in the promotional efforts for Dick Tracy with far more money than was invested in TMNT at the time of the Party Wagon's development, so despite them both being toy lines from a similar period, you really are comparing apples to oranges.
Arguably you couldn't even stand them up. My sister was born in the 80's, and I wasn't born until 1990. She loved TMNT and had some of the figures. I got some of the hand me downs when she was in middle school. I remember that their feet were sculpted to have these weird ninja poses, like they were on their toes, but it ultimately made it impossible for them to stand up properly.
Well the turtles sold all the cool stuff on the van for drugs or something
Cowabunga dude
You make a funny point about how they put more detail into the Dick Tracy vehicles despite Dick Tracy not being the center of their company. Do you have a collection of Dick Tracy toys? Are we gonna get an episode for them? I personally love the Dick Tracy toys. Big favorite of mine as a kid.
TMNT cartoon is Romper Room LMAO, That's Great!!!
He-man must be howdy doody then.
6:03 That's probably why they didn't put a lot of accessories on it - lots of little parts = more ways for the toy to get broken.
I always heard the term "party wagon" when referring to unmarked police surveillance vans.
I was into the Turtles pretty hard back in the day but I didn't have this. Kind of glad I didn't XD
Understandable. As long as you're down w/ the comics, it's understandable. This was just the greatest thing to me since Castle Greyskull. Those were the only 'big' toys I had as a kid. I guess it's fun to look @ it now thru an adults eyes. I just can't turn my back on what I grew up w/.
When I was a kid I loved that thing. As an adult I'm like wtf, was I retarded?
"Clotheslined by a lightpole" BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Someone in my neighborhood painted a old ford.econolone green..and put tmnt stickers on
Well think about what playmates did. These figures were originally supposed to be released in 1988 and they were making them in 87. It wasn't until 89 toys r us gave teenage mutant ninja turtles a shot. So then look at the technodrome which came out later. More detail and everything, so as playmates carried on they got a lot better especially with Dick Tracy.
The TMNT toys were much more simple, esp compared to GIJOE's play sets, but for me that meant they were more attainable. I had a lot of Joe's figures that I could get for around 3 dollars at any store, but none of the play sets because of the price point. My dad just wasn't going to put out $50 for The General, I remember the price vividly because it is the first toy I remember thinking it would change my life to have. On the contrary, I could have most anything the Playmate TMNT toy lines put out. I can only assume it was cheep due to the simplicity. As far as the Dick Tracy movie and toys, I believe they were more detailed in an attempt to cater to the wide range appeal created by nostalgia of the Dick Tracy Character. Even now, I have a Captain that has a car like the one shown in the video on his desk...I lived in a small rural place and odds of me stepping foot into a Toys'R'Us, to grab up some of the awesome and detailed GIJOE vehicles or play sets, was remote at best but I got that van at the local dollar store. Was it simple and lame? Yeah maybe, but I was able to get it, with the parts and that made it awesome to me. Because even if hit the little 80s kids lottery and found a Joe set at a thrift store or yard sale, it was missing everything that made it cool and was still expensive. That cheesy van didn't have much to loose, so neither did I.
What the fuck ghostbusters did amazing
My brothers "THING" as well.
I do appreciate them highly though.
I understand you don't want to make people upset
Michael , I agree with you totally that the tmnt line was very bland and boring. I had all these playsets and found that looking back, this scale and low detail level lent it self to making the party wagon a vehicle that I would load up with figures and let rip down the stairs and enjoyed the destruction of it more so than anything else. Im glad you made me think about it in that way! I was born in Dec of 79 so my main toys were HeMan/Voltron/StarWars/Mask/Transformers/GoBots/TMNT/Ghostbusters. Btw great videos , Thank you for your hard work!!
Just wondering does it come with all 4 turtles?
Awesome toys 😎 👍
Cool! I will check that site
In retrospect, the Dick Tracy figures could've been better but what we got was still loads of fun.
hey he is just telling his opinion Havid Hernandez
At the time, most these toys where made for litlle kids. Not for one serious collector with a 100 dólar toy full of detail.
I gotta agree, TMNT toys and animation wasn't my kind of thing when i was a kid. I just didn't like how overly simplistic those toys are and i grew up with G.I. Joes, even as a kid, i can tell that these toys just some low quality made toys but slapped with a higher price coz they're bigger than G.I. Joes.
Great vid. Don't have much input on other franchises other than vintage Star Wars but all of your videos are great fun to watch. Great job.
You are right
Its nice to see someone who doesn't treat TMNT and the toyline like the second coming of christ.
Funny thing about that is, like the Beatles, the TMNT were bigger than Jesus.
Reading through these comments... this is what we do here at RetroBlasting. Break down and analyze the pop culture icons we all grew up with and loved- for better or worse. Things don't always look as rosy when you look at them critically, but it's kinda cool to think about things from a different perspective sometimes. And sometimes, it makes us love them more. Chill, people.
I printed out my own stickers for the inside I recommend doing it
About the 80s being the golden age of action figures
This was clearly rushed to market. I loved the look of this but was disappointed with its lack of play features. A cheap elastic band as a strap always bothered me. I had my gran make me a nice nylon one.