Ninja could be found via myriad big-name properties in the 80’s, but it is the generic, no-brand ninja merch I love most from that era. This 15″ plastic kids’ bank is a personal fave.
Intrigued by the TM placed beside the NINJA logo. Were they trying to protect that typography? Might be from a whole line of generic merch. Manufacturer seems to be “Child’s Play,” with a 1986 release date, and a model “No. 25” designation.
No one kept cheap crap like this, no one geekily followed their manufacture, distribution patterns or variants. So while supposedly “rare” action figures turn up perfectly preserved on unopened cards all the time on eBay, it is these at one time ubiquitous but now all but forgotten pieces that are truly the hardest to find stuff out there.
