We all know that toy collectors are very devoted people and that they are willing to pay large amounts of money to get the toy(s) they need to fill their collections. Each franchise with a toy line has toys that are more common and those that are rare, the TMNT toy lines being no exception here. In today’s article, we are going to talk about Scratch the Cat, one of the rarest toys from the 1993 TMNT toy line. Why is Scratch so rare? Keep reading to find out!
The Scratch the Cat toy from the 1993 TMNT toy line is so rare because only small amounts of the toy were actually manufactures. Namely, Scratch was a minor character from the franchise and his popularity wasn’t all that great, meaning that there was no need to manufacture large quantities of Scratch toys. This is why he is so hard to obtain today.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (often shortened to the TMNT or Ninja Turtles) are four fictional teenaged superhero anthropomorphic mutant turtles. Named after Italian Renaissance artists, they were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the Japanese martial art of ninjutsu. From their home in the sewers of New York City, they battle petty criminals, evil overlords, mutated creatures, and alien invaders while attempting to remain hidden from society. They were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The characters originated in comic books published by Mirage Studios and expanded into cartoon series, films, video games, toys, and other merchandise. During the peak of the franchise’s popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it gained worldwide success and fame.
Now that we’ve given you a short introduction, let us discuss the topic of this article in more detail.
Who is Scratch the Cat?
First of all, we have to tell you a bit about our protagonist of the day – Scratch the Cat. Sadly, we don’t have much to tell as he is a truly minor character from the franchise that hasn’t appeared in many stories and is mostly present in the comic books, rather than the derivative materials. He is an anthropomorphic cat wearing a convict’s uniform and based on the character of Hallocat. This is all we know about him from the general lore.
A bit more information is provided on the box of the 1993 toy and this is what the box says about Scratch:
“He’s been sentenced to nine life terms; he’s busted outta jail nine times – now this flea-bitten feline is free to frolic with the fetid Foot Clan. Scratch is the meanest street cat you’re likely to meet. And, if you perchance to run into this Mutant mongrel, run him over before he scratches you senseless! But beware – cuz Scratch is the master of trickery. That’s how he gets outta jail all the time! He may fool the fuzz by offering them a piece of his criminal cake gun. Then it’s SWIPE! SWIPE! – and Scratch is off runnin’ with his swindlin’ sidekick, Jail Bird. Together, they torment and terrorize the Teens by bumpin’ off banks and teamin’ up with Shredder. Scratch has got his felonious fish club, too, to batter up the Turtle Teens. And no matter how he flips to fight, Scratch always lands on his feet. So don’t cross Scratch’s path – or he’ll cross you out!”
Unfortunately, this is all we have managed to find out about this character, but it’s good enough to give you a general idea about him, we hope. Interestingly enough, Scratch is best known as being one of the rarest toys in the TMNT toy line series and that is about that.
Why is Scratch the Cat so rare?
Well, although people might thing there’s a story to this, there really is not; the answer is quite simple and quite logical. Due to him being a minor character and not popular with the children, the company that produced the toys didn’t expect Scratch to become a best-seller, which resulted in them manufacturing only a limited number of Scratch the Cat toys. Collector bought them rather quickly, but a certain quantity of the toys ended up in the hands of non-collectors, who are now selling them online.
There were parts of the states where the toy was more common than elsewhere, but generally – the toy is considered to be the rarest from that exact toy line and one of the rarest in the franchise. Still, Scratch is, unlike a certain number of other TMNT toys, still available if you’re willing to pay for it; some other toys aren’t really available regardless of the price.
Oh, finally, if you’re looking into buying Scratch, it is still obtainable on eBay, but be prepared to pay a lot, as the seller might demand as much as $2,500 for the toy.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us! Cowabunga!
