Vintage 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Heroes In A Half Shell Burger King Toy

Item specifics
Condition Used: An item that has been used previously.
Year 1989
Era 1980-2001
Size 3.5in.
Gender Boys & Girls
Character Family Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Type Action Figure
Vintage Yes
Brand Burger King
Time Manufactured 1980-1989
Character Hero
Country/Region of Manufacture China
Material Plastic
Theme
TV, Movie & Video Games
Packaging Without Packaging
Franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
UPC Does not apply

In 1987, Eastman and Laird licensed Turtles to Playmates Toys Between 1988 and 1997, Playmates produced Turtles toys including around 400 figures and dozens of vehicles and playsets. About US$1.1 billion of Turtles toys were sold in four years, making them the third-bestselling toy figures ever at the time, behind GI Joe and Star Wars.

Influenced by the success of He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers, which had promoted toy lines with animated series, Playmates worked with the animation studio Murakami-Wolf-Swenson to produce the first Turtles animated series, which premiered in 1987 and ran for almost a decade. It introduced Turtles elements such as their color-coded masks, catchphrases, love of pizza, and distinct personalities. To make it acceptable to parents and television networks, the series had a lighter tone than the comics, with no expletives, less violence, and less threatening villains. In the United Kingdom and some other European regions, the franchise was renamed Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for the violent connotations of the word "ninja".

The first Turtles video game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1989, the first of several developed by the Japanese company Konami. It sold approximately four million copies, making it one of the bestselling NES games. In response to concerns that the series was drifting from its origins, Eastman and Laird published an editorial in the comic in 1989, writing: "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much. All the while, though, we've kept the originals very much ours."[8] Eastman later said there was "some stuff that we wish we hadn't said yes to", and Laird wrote of his dislike for the softer tone of the animated series.