As a toy collector, I can (and often do) spend hours of my time just staring at the figures in my collection. Whether they are in pristine condition, or they are a little rough and ready, each toy has the ability to capture my attention for hours on end.
But do you know what I love looking at, just as much as the toys? The packaging the toys come in!
Over the years, various toy manufacturers have poured a great deal of time and effort into creating glorious box art. One such toy manufacturer is Playmates, who produced some truly eye-popping box art during the 1980s and 1990s.
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Art attack
Below is a collection of shots which highlight the often imaginative box art of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. In this post I am placing the main focus on the figures and playsets released by Playmates during the ‘80s and ‘90s, but I have also added in some more imagery from more recent TMNT lines too (including the ‘03 cartoon, the 2012 Nick cartoon, Rise of the TMNT, and Out of the Shadows).
Enjoy!
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As you can see from some of the more modern toys, while Playmates still produce TMNT figures it’s fair to say the art isn’t as exciting as it once was. However, I believe it is important to note this isn’t just a problem with Playmates, there is a general decline in the art work used on toys nowadays.
The important thing is to marvel at what once was. If you grew up during the ‘80s & ‘90s like I did, toy manufacturers treated us like royalty and with impressive art like this, we should never forget that.
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Thank you for dropping in on It’s A Stampede! to cast your eye over this post dedicated to the box art of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. If you liked what you saw, please ‘like’ and share with your friends and for more toy-related posts, please check out the recommended reads below.
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2 Responses to The box art of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys
Fun post! Nice to see blogs are still around and are producing great posts.
The 80s and 90s were the heyday of card art, once we slipped past the 2000s we began to see a huge decline and an abundance of templated cards and boxes, usually sans original art. I get the cost savings part, you can produce a lot more for a lot less, but for those of us who grew up around exciting graphics on each and every new toy it is a hard pill to swallow.
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Thank you for the kind words.
Yeah, it is such a shame that card art like this is long gone. It’s the same with film posters – look back to the past and we were treated to some truly great work from John Alvin, Drew Struzan and so on. Nowadays, it is all composite pieces and head shots. The best movie posters now come from fans who create their own and post them online.
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