Ninja Force Placemat
Have you ever eaten breakfast with a cadre of ninjas? I have, thanks to this amazing placemat. And while I wait for my Eggo waffles to pop out of the toaster, I can work with some fun games on the back. It’s like an activity book on my kitchen table, and therefore the best of all possible worlds.
Ninja Force was one of my favorite of the 90s sub-teams. Sure, it’s a kooky concept, but the fellas at least got some interesting backstories. Nunchuk, the sneaks-wearing New York ninja, actually made the cut to join the big two of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow on the front of this item. Impressive.
Seeing 1993-1994 ancillary product is amazing to me, as the brand was waning in popularity. I imagine that any push for side product may have been part of GI Joe marketing team’s efforts to push the brand in any way possible. Getting the characters under kids’ eyeballs as they munch their morning breakfast cereal certainly seems logical.
I have this Ninja Force placemat too! So funny to see you profile it. I come across it, I may have several come to think of it, and never know why I have them. It was at a time where the GI JOE line was stalling, but I was at a high collecting rate and sought out everything I could find. I think I have another style placemat – were there others? I will have to check my collection. I always think that I’m going to put them up on ebay, but I don’t think they have much value. Hmm, guess that’ll be another ebay price check. Anyway, nice to see esoteric GI JOE items showcased. We’re all familiar with most of the toys and the brand did produce a lot of other items collectors and fans might not know about. Fun blog, as always! Yo Joe!
I think theres only one guy from ninja force who isnt from New york.
Also; from what i remember, i wasnt too fussed on this team as i felt their colours and austhetics were a bit out of place. But i do remember other kids liking them. My Brother had most of them [Banzai was his favorite] while my sister had the Scarlett figure.
Breakfast with Ninjas… sounds like a movie that might sound interesting but end up being anticlimactic.
Shadow Ninjas would’ve been a more fitting theme… “Hey kids. Make your breakfast *disappear*.”
Anyway, I’m not entirely sure it was a sign of the line waning. There was always this kind of merchandise. The bubble bath bottles and the General Hawk cakepan come to mind (it’ll be interesting to see a cake actually made out of that pan). I think this kind of secondary merchandise is highest in the peak years and declines as the line declines. Transformers had a lot of this stuff around 1985 but 1988-90 (the years of Pretenders, Micromasters, Action Masters)? Can’t recall any.
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@LittleBoa
Transformer episodes on VHS from Goldenbook [and G.I.JOE episodes too] seldom had the character/ scene on the cover which featured in the episode.
My old copy of Hoist goes Hollywood had Sixshot on it [as it was the 1987 rerelease] and my old copy of Laser in the night had the Snowcat on the cover [why???].
Action masters and Pretenders did also make it onto covers. Most notably; the 1990 Goldenbook rerelease of Five faces of Darkenss which featured Mainframe [the action master], Pinpointer [Crosshairs targetmaster] and Power master Optimus, facing [ugh] off against a giant Quintason.
I have a cool Gi Joe garbage can and tent I oughta post one of these days. Love that placemat! Does your son Will ever use the placemat?
Now that it’s been photographed for the site, he will be.
Nice pose of Nunchuk!
I am saddened to think now that there was never a G.I. Joe Commanche helicopter (Hasbro UK made one for Action Man, but that’s quite another thing entirely).
After I saw this post I found a pair of them on Ebay for like 8 bucks shipped. I now take all my meals on Ninja Force Placemats.