Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 40th Anniversary 1987-2027 The Ultimate Sewer Showdown Building Block Set

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird first drew the turtles in 1984 for a black-and-white comic from their own Mirage Studios, a far darker book than most people remember. The version that took over childhoods arrived on December 28, 1987, as a five-part miniseries in syndication, with brighter colors, bigger jokes and a steady supply of pizza. It ran until 1996 and reached 193 episodes.

The Ultimate Sewer Showdown celebrates that 1987 version, and it does so on two floors. Up top is a New York street, while underneath sits the lair, with the enemy’s fortress pressing in from the right.

The anniversary box, the two-level diorama and the nine character figures across the top.

Street level looks like an afternoon in Manhattan

A brick building with a pizza shop on the ground floor climbs past two fire escapes to a water tower on the roof. A street lamp and a W 42 St sign mark the corner, a red hydrant waits by the curb, and a billboard behind the Turtle Van spells out the show’s name. The van is yellow and green, with the shell emblem on its side and launchers bolted to the roof.

Below the pavement the mood changes. A pipe spills translucent green ooze into the sewer channel, a brown couch holds an open pizza box, and an old television sits beside a radar screen. April O’Neil, the Channel 6 reporter in the yellow jumpsuit, stands with her camera by the ladder.

Box and finished diorama on a dark surface, reflected in the gloss below.

Both sides of the fight made the cut

The cartoon worked because the villains were as much fun as the heroes, and the figures keep that balance. Here is who turns up.

• Leonardo in blue, with his twin swords.
• Raphael in red, holding a pair of sai.
• Donatello in purple, with the bo staff.
• Michelangelo in orange, swinging nunchucks.
• April O’Neil, camera ready.
• Shredder, masked and armored, with two Foot Soldiers at his back.
• Bebop and Rocksteady, the mutant warthog and rhino created for the cartoon and voiced by Barry Gordon and Cam Clarke.
• Krang, the alien brain from Dimension X, riding in a brick-built walker.

Four turtles on the street, Shredder at the fortress door and April with her camera below.

The Technodrome takes over the right-hand side

In the show’s first season the Technodrome was hidden beneath New York City, which makes the sewer an apt place for its doorstep. Here the grey sphere looms over the street with a purple eye and a turret on top, while Shredder and his Foot Soldiers wait on a yellow-railed platform outside the entrance.

Down in the chamber below, Krang sits in his walker behind a purple archway. It is a neat visual joke, with the brains of the operation living next door to the heroes, one brick wall away from their couch.

At home on a black side table, with the ooze channel facing the room.

A gift for anyone who wore out the VHS tapes

Most of the people who want this grew up with the cartoon after school, a plastic turtle in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. Now they have desks, game rooms and kids who know the turtles from newer shows. Our TMNT 40th anniversary advent calendar makes a good December companion for the same household.

Fitting Leonardo onto the street, with Shredder waiting his turn on the table.

Set Shredder on his platform last, so the showdown is ready the moment the turtles take their places. After that, it is only a matter of time before somebody in the house yells “Cowabunga!”

Written by Nadia Marsh, Collectibles Specialist at DoesignUs.