Terms to know:
- Variant: A variant is a slight change from the original version of the toy. This could come as a coloring change, a change of costume or outfit, the materials used in making the toy, or just something as simple as an error getting into a batch of the mass-produced toy.
- Soft Head: You’ll see this a lot on eBay when it comes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys themselves. In the original 1988 run, the very first run, Playmates went the route of the popular He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toys and produced a few hundred Turtles with soft rubber heads, known as the “Soft Heads” to collectors. Sort Heads are not a thing with Series 2 as by this time production was standard across all figures.
- Loose: Loose figures are the ones you’ll mostly find out in the wild. A lot of the time this will be the basic figure itself (The lowest price for the category) without any accessories. Some collectors will prefer to have the figure along with everything it originally came with, known as “complete”, which gets the higher prices.
- Graded: These toys are the holy grail of being a hardcore collector. What happens is that someone will “Slab” their toy, usually right from purchase, and send it to the Action Figure Authority, who then inspect the toy, it’s packaging, and everything else before assigning a grade to the product and shipping it back. Like the graded comic books, you’ll find today, these figures are in high demand due to how close they are to straight out of the shipping box in quality, thus demanding high prices.
- Slabbed: A Slabbed item is one that is picked up right from the store shelf or through special order and then placed in an air-tight hard plastic case to prevent damage to the toy. A lot of these cases are made with built-in tabs to keep the card from bending and are also UV protected to decrease the plastic encasing the figure from “yellowing” over time.
- MOC: Literally meaning “Mint on Card”, this is the term used for 100% complete and original products. The “Card” is the cardboard backing that the figure rests on. The figure itself is encased in a soft plastic “Bubble” for protection and so people won’t steal the things. The closer the whole product is to its original straight-from-shelf condition, the more “mint” it is.
- MIB: Practically the same as MOC, but instead of being on the card, it means “Mint in Box”. This term is used for boxes items such as vehicles and play-sets.
- PRICES ARE ON AVAILABLE PRODUCTS VIA EBAY “BUY IT NOW” AND PRICED CORRECTLY AS OF THE DATE OF PUBLICATION IN UNITED STATES DOLLARS.
Variant: Packaging: The figure originally came with his cap on or off his head. The second revision had a Pop-Up Mutant Display Card.
Price (Loose): $3 to $40.00
Card Back Text: Hungry for duck brain, Krang ordered Shredder to beam an Earthbound duck to Dimension X (there’s a shortage of ducks in Dimension X). While transmuting the duck, famous test pilot, Ace Conrad, accidentally flew into the energy beam. The emerging plane was suddenly piloted by none other than Ace Duck, the aero-dynamic adventurer with a big bill. The plane plummeted into the inner city and slid nose-first into the sewer. Ace escaped without ruffling his feathers and found himself at the secret hideout of the Turtles. After realizing he wasn’t just some quack off the streets, the Turtles decided to hire Ace to pilot their Turtle Blimp. Always looking for a good adventure, Ace isn’t afraid to scramble the Foot with his hard-boiled Egg Grenades…as long as he gets paid on time. Even though he’s employed by the Turtles, Ace is still their fearless, Flying friend.
Variant: The figure came with 2 variations of the belt: Green and Black, with black being the more common one. This was another figure that came with the Pop-Up Mutant Display Card in a third veriation.
Card Back Text: Genghis Frog, once a humble, native tadpole, was accidentally mutated, then intentionally tricked by the evil Shredder to join his cohorts in horror. Once exposed to the sinister, wicked ways of Shredder, Genghis soon realized that the Turtles were his true friends.Now, this radical amphibious leader of the frogs is showing everyone his true colors. He’s a sewer-surfin’ fool and courageous dude who doesn’t mind ridin’ the waves to splash the Foot. Undaunted by the fear of croaking, Genghis Frog arms himself with his Tongue Gun to lick the evil Shredder. Riding his Radical Razor-sharp Boogie Board, this frog’s ready to cut the Foot Clan to rib-bits!
Variant: Pop-Up Mutant Display Stand Card variant. Also has a re-release with a “pizza backing card”.
Card Back Text: Like all psychos, Casey Jones, the masked sportsman, wanted to be a legend. Armed with broken bats, shattered dreams, and one golf club, Casey turned his ambition toward crime-fighting. Modeling himself after his favorite vigilante cop show, Casey decided to take the law into his own mitts. Outfitted with castoff sportsgear, Casey challenges every criminal who dares to go out of bounds. This bat-bearing vigilante fights to rid the world of all bad sports, including those who would dare steal second base. Casey’s got a score to settle against all lawless losers – from litterbugs to madmen bent on world domination. Teaming up with our beloved Turtle Teens, Casey strikes out with a special vengeance against Shredder and the Foot Clan!
Variant: None
Card Back Text: Designed as Krang’s ultimate weapon against the Turtles, Metalhead was re-programmed by Donatello to serve the side of good. This chrome-plated sewer servant’s eyes light up when you hold him up to the light. Always the life of the party, Metalhead can whip up a whipped cream and jelly bean pizza, serve sodas, display video games or rock the sewers with tunes from his jazzed-up juke box. When trouble’s brewing, Metalhead becomes one annoyed android and dishes out trouble with his Robo-chuks and Foot Blaster to all who dare mess with his Turtle masters.
Variant: Pop-Up Mutant Display Stand Card.
Card Back Text: Hundreds of years before sewers were even invented, Usagi Yojimbo (Rabbit Bodyguard), a skilled but masterless Samurai, wandered ancient legendary Japan. In a freakish burst of reception through Donatello’s trans-dimensional portal, this medieval hare wound up thrashing his way through the Turtle’s lair, kicking shell and more or less proving a few points with his Katana. Splinter recognized the ronin’s skills at once as Usagi repeatedly put the Turtles on the cutting edge. Trapped in Turtle-time, Usagi Yojimbo quickly became a trusted and honorable ally in the ongoing pursuit of pizza and a Shredder-less world.
Variant: 4 Re-releases: 1995 Pizza Backing Card, Heroes in a Half-Shell, 2019 Nickolodeon rereleases, 2021 Villains Collection
Card Back Text: Krang is all the brains a body could want. Unfortunately, Krang ain’t got no body. He is, however, the mastermind behind Shredder and the Foot Clan. Krang’s ranting, burbling, chortling, raving antics are a few reasons he was banished from his home-sweet home of Dimension X. Now, Krang brings his smarty-pants attitude to the decent planet Earth, where law-abiding citizens are threatened by his supreme intelligence. Krang also supplies Shredder with his controversial Retromutagen, the transformation substance which is instrumental in their conquests. Krang’s tentacles allow him to wrestle with his biggest headache, the Turtles – who pose a threat to his global dominance.
Variant: Fly-Swatter weapon came in brown and blue variants.
Card Back Text: Baxter Stockman, a man with the mind of a scientist and the body of a common housefly, buzzes around town, annoying the Turtles and other decent reptiles. Created accidentally in Dimension X by a malfunctioning disintegrator unit, Baxter flurried himself into an avenging frenzy, ready to fly up anyone’s nose. Finally convinced by Shredder that the Turtles were solely responsible for his rebirth as an insect, Baxter now vents his hostilities toward our half-shelled heroes. Armed and winged with the Anti-Turtle Swatter, Baxter swats the shell out of the Turtles. His scientific experiments may break a few beakers, but Shredder can always use a fly with evil ingenuity.
Variant: None
Card Back Text: While scum-skulking through the green, slimy depths of a rank Florida swamp, a garden-variety gator swam through a streak of orange mutagen. Faster than snap, crackle, and crunch, this grinning gator mutated into Leatherhead, the biggest, meanest reptile ever to hit the amphibious circuit. Rippling with supermutant strength and swimming ability, Leatherhead enjoys just a pinch of Turtle between his teeth and gum for true chewin’ satisfaction. This garbage can gourmet fills his gullet by trapping Turtles, tenderizing them with a blast of his swamp gun, and mixing in a bag of red-hot Cajun spices. Leatherhead is the undisputed king of the swamp and could be the next sultan of the sewer when Shredder drafts him into the dreaded Foot Clan.
Variant: None
Card Back Text: No one knows for certain where he came from, but one thing is for sure. Rat King revels in scum and scum revels in him. The creepiest of sewer crawlies nest in his royally rotten rags. The self-proclaimed King of the Ratocracy, he hypnotizes his rodent subjects with his seductive flute playing. Even Splinter succumbs to his magical musical powers. Rat King’s army protects his slimy kingdom by fighting tooth and whisker against all outsiders, good or bad. Watch out! Rat on his loyal subjects and you may be wrestling with his Rat Hook or running for your life from Rat King’s Royal Ratbow. Rat King’s motto is: “First the sewers, then the world !” He and Shredder are battling for total sewer domination while the Turtles are defending their “Home Sweet Sewer” from both. Looks like plenty of trouble underfoot!
Variant: Pop-Up Mutant Display Stand Card & “4 Turtles” re-release.
Card Back Text: As unstoppable as a landslide, General Traag, leader of Krang’s Rock Soldier armies in Dimension X, has one thing on his tiny mind – demolish Turtles. Summoned by Krang to exterminate the Turtles and prepare the way for an invasion from Dimension X, General Traag is grinding like a glacier over everything in his path. This stone-cold killer digs through solid rock with his Anti-Turtle Combat Knife looking for Turtles. In a battle of wits, he may be unarmed but beware of his Laser Blaster. You are in for a shock should you end up on the wrong end of this atom smasher. Traag’s Stunlaser gun leaves his enemies dazed, dopey, and defenseless – perfect for Turtle shish kabobs or as victims for Krang’s diabolical schemes.
Variant: Text
Card Back Text: It’s rock ‘n roll, dudes, with this Wacky Action Michaelangelo wind-up! There’ll be lots of twistin’ and shoutin’ when Mike rolls into battle with his special Ninja weaponry. Stick a sewer snake in his rotating right hand and watch the whizzing, whirling, whipping action! No Foot will get a foot closer while Mike’s powerhouse right forearm delivers gyrating jabs. Cut pizza the old-fashioned way with Mike’s patented swiss-army sewer cover. Comes complete with Turtle can opener, pepperoni cleaver, pizza-power cutter and standard table fork for mock-human action. Bring the thrills of the TMNT cartoon into your own living room! Slip Mike’s nunchukus in his right hand, wind-up his power pack and stand back for three-dimensional articulation! The Shredder won’t know what to do when he sees the deadly sewer snakes spinning furiously at his head (kids, don’t try this at home). Now, the ultimate Ninja warrior’s got a new twist!
Variant: Text
Card Back Text: When Raphael gets wound up, he likes to unwind on his back. He slides on his detachable garbage can gyro-lid and flips into a back-breaking Ninja spin. Nothing will be left standing inside the circle of Turtle terror as the disgusting rat bola spins ferociously in Raphael’s green grip. The Foot don’t stand a chance against Raphael’s streetwise, breakfightin’ maneuvers. His anti-Foot stars slice with the ruthlessness of a vegematic. So turn up the boom box and let the breakfightin’ master teach the Foot a few steps. Raphael would gladly sweep the Shredder off his feet and prove once and for all that it takes two to tangle!
Variant: Text
Card Back Text: Clean up the stinky Foot with Sewer-Swimmin’ Donatello. With Don’s sewer-scuba jet, you can be sure the Shredder won’t be surfing through your sewers. This Turtle teen skims the water to uncover deviously devised Foot plans. Don dares to boldly fo where no Turtle has gone before – your tub, for instance, where he gets more than his feet wet giving the Foot a bath. And his keen spy sense will keep him from making too many waves. See Don rival Olympic hopefuls with his shell-stroke swimming action! The Turtles can now command the high seas from the splendor of your sewer-bath!
Variant: Text
Card Back Text: The Mousers were created by the infamous, wickedly winged Foot scientist, Baxter Stockman. These robotic rat traps patrol city streets and sewers, scanning for edibles with their penetrating search-eye. Your typical robot Mouser has a mindless cavity the shape and size of a walnut. Its cast-iron stomach, however, makes a garbage dump look appetizing. Chock full of Turtle pizzas, rodent ravioli, rat cheeseburgers and moused potatoes, these Mousers will devour anything. With the determination of an exterminator, Mousers employ their neutron-noses to sniff-out and track down rats and Turtles. Their repulsive steel, chomping jaws can chew through anything, including the hardest Turtle shell.
And with that, we end the Series 2 releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys from 1989. In only one year we have seen the base collection grow from 10 to 20, and saw the beginning of the gimmick lines with 4 new figures.
