{"product_id":"vintage-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-logo-1990-tmnt-treasures","title":"Vintage 1990 TMNT Logo Pin 🐢 — Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pin-Back Button","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Were They Hero Turtles in Britain? In Britain, This Logo Said HERO: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Button of 1990\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pJr3LoR6qz8\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the Turtles cartoon reached BBC1 in January 1990, British kids never saw the word printed on this button. Amid worries about martial arts weapons and the ninja craze, the show was renamed Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, and its theme song, toy packaging and video game boxes all had to follow. In America the word stayed right where it is here, in white capitals on a red banner above that big green TURTLES, and 1990 was the year the logo turned up on seemingly everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Button\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA round pin-back button, 1.5 inches across, carrying the classic logo alone: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA on an angled banner and TURTLES below in chunky letters with a cracked, shell-like texture, arcing upward, finished with a registered trademark symbol. No character art, just the emblem of the whole team under a glossy clear face. The back carries a steel safety-pin clasp; the photographs show the backs found on this stock, metal and plastic with a small molded mark, beside a US quarter for scale. Unused new old stock, never pinned on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eFrom 3,275 Comics in Dover, New Hampshire\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKevin Eastman and Peter Laird moved in together in Dover, New Hampshire, in 1983, and in March 1984 they started Mirage Studios right there in their home. Paid for with a tax refund and a loan from Eastman's uncle, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 was printed on cheap newsprint in a run of just 3,275 copies and made its debut in May 1984 at a comic book convention in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The black-and-white book introduced four turtles mutated by ooze, trained in ninjutsu by a rat named Splinter, and named for Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eHow the Logo Became Famous\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe version on this button, with its angled red strip and fat green letters that look like cracked shell, was created in 1987 as the animated series launched. From 1988 it was splashed across the Playmates Toys action figure line, one of the best-selling toy lines of its time, and it stayed essentially untouched for close to ten years, long enough to become one of the most recognizable entertainment logos of its generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e1990, the Year of Turtlemania\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn March 30, 1990, New Line Cinema released the first live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, directed by Steve Barron and shot in North Carolina and New York City, with animatronic turtle suits built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop; Henson said they were the most advanced creatures he had ever worked with. Made for about $14 million, it earned $202 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing independent film up to that time. Its single \"Turtle Power!\" by Partners in Kryme climbed to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four weeks at No. 1 in the UK, the first hip hop single to top the British chart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eLegends of the Half Shell\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Hero Turtles.\u003c\/strong\u003e Britain's name change went beyond the title card. Michelangelo's nunchucks were cut from the cartoon and replaced with a grappling hook. The live-action film kept \"Ninja\" in its title because it was not shown as children's television, but even there the nunchucks were trimmed to brief glimpses and never used in a fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe swinging sausages.\u003c\/strong\u003e The story goes that when the 1991 sequel, The Secret of the Ooze, went before British censors, a scene with a string of sausages swung like a weapon came back with a note to reduce the \"dazzling display of swinging sausages\" because they looked like chain sticks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe company that wasn't.\u003c\/strong\u003e Mirage Studios got its name, as the legend is told, because there was no actual studio at all, just two young artists and a comic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Pin-Back Button Itself\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe format goes back to Newark, New Jersey. The Whitehead \u0026amp; Hoag Company was founded there in 1892 by Benjamin S. Whitehead and Chester R. Hoag to make ribbon badges. On July 21, 1896, George B. Adams received U.S. Patent No. 564,356, assigned to the company, for a button with a transparent celluloid cover protecting the design and a metal pin on the back. It was a smash, quickly outselling the ribbon badges, and the idea became the standard way Americans wore a candidate, a cause or a cartoon. Nearly a century later this Turtles button follows the same plan: printed face under a clear cover, pin behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Came After\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe film was followed by sequels in 1991 and 1993. On October 21, 2009, Viacom acquired most of Mirage's rights to the Turtles, and the company's divisions were fully dissolved in 2021. This button comes from the stretch when two artists' 3,275-copy comic became the biggest independent film of its day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eQuestions People Ask\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHow big is the button?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1.5 inches in diameter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat year is this TMNT logo pin from?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1990, the year of the first live-action movie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy were the Ninja Turtles called Hero Turtles in the UK?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConcern over martial arts weaponry and the ninja craze led to the rename when the cartoon debuted on BBC1 in January 1990.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWho created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKevin Eastman and Peter Laird, whose first Turtles comic appeared in May 1984.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIs there a character on it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo. It is the logo alone, the team emblem, on a blue field.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHas it been worn?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo. It is unused new old stock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-battle-pose-1990-tmnt-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Battle Pose Cartoon Pin 🐢 — TMNT Classic Comic Art Pinback Button\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/radical-vintage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-brings-90s-nostalgia-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1990 TMNT Michelangelo Pin 📌 Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Art, Manhole Cover Pin-Back Button\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-dangerous-duo-tmnt\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dangerous Duo Movie Pin 🐢 — TMNT Button-Up Pinback Button\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44394391797992,"sku":"VAG-8176639049960","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4812674729_on5m.jpg?v=1785359936","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-logo-1990-tmnt-treasures","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}