Category: Interviews

Time for the latest profile! I’m still looking for more fans to profile so please contact me (click my name in the “Contact Us” section) to see yourself profiled. Thanks!

-Terminator

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1)      Please tell us a little about your self.

Hey everyone. My name is Chris. I am 39 years old and a life-long TMNT and GI JOE action figures collector! I have been a comic book collector for 27 years now and an action figures collector for about 20 years or so. I have a very extensive TMNT figures collection, although most of them are now in storage because I simply don’t have the space to showcase them all. As you can see from my pics here, I only have a few shelves to show them off and I frequently cycle through them when I get bored looking at the same stuff for a while. I have also created my OWN CUSTOM figure stands for EVERY SINGLE ONE of my TMNT figures. Sure, it has been a lot of work measuring them and cutting them, but it is so worth it! I would also like to go on the record as confessing that I have NEVER read a single issue of any TMNT comic book, and I have only seen maybe 2 or 3 episodes of any of the cartoons. I am certainly not into the whole TMNT Universe like Stephan, but I have a similar passion for the action figures. I SIMPLY LOVE THESE FIGURES!

2)      How long have you been collecting TMNT and what prompted you to start?

I started collecting them the day I found them at my local Target store back in 1988! I knew about the comic book, and the figures were just great! So, I scooped them up any time I could and… of course, any time I had the cash on me. I loved the smaller, more cartoonish scale of these figures and the packaging was really colorful as well. I am a Graphic Design and Illustration professor here in southern California, so I can appreciate these things. Even back then, when I was just entering college, that was on my mind, so they appealed to me in that way as well.
 
 I have just about 35 more figures left, and I will then have EVERY SINGLE figure ever produced… and, they are all Complete with their individual Accessories too!!!
 
I am working on a collector’s reference with complete pictures of every figure with every single accesory that came with it from the years 2002 up to the present.
 
I have also photographed every single figure and all their individual accessories from 1988 up to the Next Mutation line. But, it will take quite a while to work on that volume since I am currently extracting every single photograph in Photoshop with the Pen Tool for a perfectly clean image in my book. It is quite a lot of work, but it will be so worth it when it is done. I don’t do anything with half the effort, so stay tuned…

3)      What specifically do you collect (toys, comics, etc.) and how large is your collection?

I have a 27 year old collection of Uncanny X-Men comics. I also have every issue of every different GI JOE comic series that has been released. GI JOE are the first action figures I ever collected. And, like I said, I am very near to completing and entire collection of the TMNT action figures since 1988 all the way up to the present. I also collect all the Mini Mutants figures.
 
All of my TMNT figures are opened. I do not own a single, carded figure. What is the use of keeping it in its package? I am not buying these for some kind of future investment. I don’t want to eventually sell these off! I just enjoy having them, so I open them… I display them… I ENJOY THEM.
 
Unfortunately, about the same time I was finishing up college, I stopped collecting TMNT figures right when the NEXT MUTATION line came out! That was the biggest, dumbest mistake I made! I am still trying to find the rest of those figures even to this day!
 
And, of course, any and all GI JOE 25th Anniversary figures and vehicles that have come out so far. Most of my collection, however, is in storage due to lack of space…

4)      What is your favorite piece in your collection and why?

I really love the Shogun Shoate figure! Not only do I really like the way he looks but I also got him on ebay for a steal at only $30 a couple months ago! I just really lucked out on that one! And, for some crazy reason, I think my favorite figure of all is the Monty Moose figure. I just really like the way he looks and the coloring that was applied. He is a great figure.

5)      How do you store/display your collection at home?

My collection is displayed in my guest room and my home office. As you can see from the pictures, I don’t display too many figures at a time… I don’t like the dust they accumulate and the fading that can occur from being on display for too long. So, I am constantly changing them around every couple months just for fun. My ultimate dream is to become a millionaire and have a special room, or a basement, made just to show off my collection. I would have it decked out to look like the underground sewer headquarters of the Turtles as seen in the Imagi Film. Damn, that would be sweet!!!! Hey, I can dream!

6)      What are your top five most wanted TMNT collectibles?

1. A Complete “Scratch” figure. And, yes, I would open it up when I get him!
2. The “Cloth Trenchcoat” Undercover Turtles. Any of them! I don’t have a single one of the four.
3. The “Chef Boyardee” Black Super Shredder. I still don’t have that one yet.
4. The SWAT ATTACK figure/vehicle set. I passed that one up and I totally regret it.
5. The Next Mutation Hydro Skimmer Vehicles. They look cool and they are impossible to find as well.