Bandito Bashin’ Mike

This is just another example of stereotyping gone bad. While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been a longtime franchise that began in 1984, as always, toy companies always look for ways to keep their products selling. So a number of TMNT toys were dressed in very strange ways, just like Bandito Bashin’ Mike here. He even came with a Wacky Thorny the Cactus sidekick, but what they did, no one really knew.

Jibber Jabber

The Jibba Jabber toy was meant to be a simple toy made of colorful material that would make a strange garbled sound when shaken. The problem was that with issues of shaken baby syndrome, parents were fearful that this toy was just teaching their impressionable young kids to do this to their newborn babies at home. It would seem that the toy maker knew that it was treading on a thin line though, as the toy actually came with an entire pamphlet to teach consumers the right way to use it. Pretty complicated for a toy that you just shake up and down, if you ask us. No wonder it didn’t sell in stores for too long.