Classic 80's Toys We Might See in TMNT 2

When I was a kid I wasn't a kid, I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle! I did enjoy the TV show, but the center of my childish focus was the toys. All my favorite childhood TMNT memories were from my pretending and playing in that ninja turtle world of my imagination. Even when I first saw the 1990 movie I thought where are my favorite toys? Where's the Turtle Van? Where's the Mousers? Where's the wacky inventions of Donatello?

Then I grew up (arguably) and entertainment became all about story and character development. I know, boring right? 2014 arrives with a new TMNT movie comes where the turtles are ugly, the story is full of plot holes, and the characters are as dry as the cheesy jokes they spat yet somehow I enjoyed it. I even left that theater smiling a bit. How is this possible?

    Childhood Connection.
    The style and tone of the film reminded my senses of watching the 80’s TMNT cartoon of when I was a kid. And as ugly as the turtles were, they reminded me of my old toys. They had accessories galore and they threw themselves around like a child imagines his toys fighting when he throws them around. Now it’s 2015 and there’s a new trailer for a second TMNT that looks to feature even more action inspired by the toys and television show of my generation.

    So to explore this idea here’s a listing of some of my favorite 80’s TMNT toys I think we might see come to life in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

The Gang is All Here

    Out of the Shadows will be the first TMNT movie to feature every character of the original launch of toys. This is mostly due to it finally featuring Shredder's misfit sidekick's Bebop and Rocksteady.
    "Bringing the Mohawk back, good for you.”

Cheapskate

    This was a skateboard vehicle that had a large propulsion fan on the back, and a spring loaded kick attack on the front. It was a huge toy, but a fun one knocking bad guys over with it’s foot attack. While we won’t see this version of a skateboard in the film, we do see Michelangelo always having a skateboard strapped to his back. Plus I could have sworn I saw his skateboard boosted with rocket power in the first movie, which again reminded me a bit of this old toy.

    Baxter Stockman

    Baxter was a pretty lame character in the old cartoon show, but as a toy (with the help of our imagination) he was awesome. He looked gruesome and could fly, always a plus for kid’s play. He was one of my favorite villain toys to play with. While the Baxter of TMNT 2 looks to be more influenced by the original comic book version of the character, I’m hoping we’ll see a mutation into the gruesome fly of my childhood.

Mouser

    Another hope for having Baxter Stockman finally in the movie franchise is to see the mousers come to life. These toys were awesome as they had mechanical chompers and were big enough to play pretend with in role-playing scenarios. Plus they’re a classic foe for Master Splinter. There’s no evidence that we’ll see these in the new movie but a geek can hope.

Party Wagon / Pizza Thrower

   One of the scenes from the new trailer that reminded me most of my old toys was the scene with the turtle’s retro-fitted dump truck that shoots sewer lids at the bad guys.

    My memory failed me a bit, but I smiled and thought this is just like the old turtle van that shot man-hole covers! It’s more of a combination of two old toys, the Party Wagon and the Pizza Thrower.

    Still it’s a fun idea, and I hope for the new generation that they’re releasing toys of this new vehicle that can shoot disks like that.

Krang

    While it’s pure speculation, the opening of the new trailer has my hopes up for an inclusion of Dimension X to the movie franchise. And what would a movie with Dimension X be without our favorite wise-cracking brain Krang? I can’t really explain why this toy was a favorite of mine. He didn’t come with the classic body suit, and eventually I lost the robot legs (as most kids I knew did). Yet Krang himself somehow always hung around in my toy chest. He makes for a great mastermind in any childhood imagined plot, and was a classic enemy for the turtles. I’m wondering though if they are going to bring in Krang, would he be inspired by the 80’s cartoon or would they just introduce his species like the original comic book? What do you think?