Childhood toys: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Blimp

Courtesy: MutantOoze.org.

Back when I was a kid I played with a lot of toys, ranging from G.I. Joes (mostly hand-me-downs), Transformers, even Darkwing Ducks and He-Mans. Then there were my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I loved the cartoon and by extension, the action figures. Of all the toys I had, the Turtle Blimp had to be the oddest one. Essentially, an inflatable balloon with a hard plastic undercarriage attached, it stuck out amongst the Joes, Autobots, and Masters of Universes. The blimp appeared in the fifth episode of the first season of the cartoon, Shredder & Splintered.

Courtesy: PopHate.

What made it odd was the balloon. I largely forgot about the blimp until a few days ago and that's what kept popping out at me. I have no idea why they made the balloon inflatable instead of a hollow plastic shell. Needless to say, all it would take was just one small hole and your day was ruined. I was careful. However, according to the TMNTPedia, the air plug was ineffective and so the thing had a tendancy to deflate anyways. I can't really remember mine doing that, but then again, it was literally decades ago, so it might have.

Fortunately, the undercarriage had a handle built right into it, along with a trigger to release the bombs. That was the other thing about the blimp, it came equipped with a dual bomb racks to fuck the bad guys' day up! Of course, being the product of a children cartoon, the bombs were clearly labeled with harmless and humorous things like 'sneezing powder' and 'itching powder'.

All in all, the Turtle Blimp was an interesting and certainly unique toy amongst others.