This has to be the coolest piece of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise that I've seen so far. When I first got the chance to review this backpack, I thought it would be just for small kids. But I was quite surprised when it arrived in the mail. It's grown-up sized! It even looks appropriate on my 5'10" boyfriend!

There are many geeky backpacks on the market these days, giving you plenty of opportunity to show off your style and obsessions. But if you are a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, this is a great backpack for you. It makes you look like a turtle, and it is very functional.

Some cool features of this backpack include:

The backpack comes with nunchucks and two swords that you can tuck in the orange belt.

The whole backpack is padded, so your items inside will be protected, including a laptop (we discovered that a 9" x 12.5" laptop fits really well).

The shoulder straps are padded for comfortable wearing.

The straps are adjustable up to a grown-up size and down to a kid size.

There are cute little nubbins that go around the oval of the shell, which really appeals to me for some reason.

The double zipper is very sturdy.

The back of the pack is padded and has a breathable texture.

In addition to the main compartment, it comes with two large pockets, an iPod-sized pocket, three pencil pockets, and a 2x3 pocket which is good for a phone. The large pockets are big enough for a Kindle or iPad Mini (the smaller one) and a laptop (the larger one). The main compartment would probably hold three good sized books (think the seventh Harry Potter book) on top of everything else.

Rory, my boyfriend and the resident TMNT expert in the house, had a few things to say. He says the shell backpack doesn't just look like a Ninja Turtle shell, it looks like a turtle shell. He also thinks that it comes with an odd combination of weapons – the Raphael daggers and the Michelangelo nunchucks (along with the Michelangelo belt). He also said that the weapons aren't really play quality, but are more of a decorative quality.

Caption TK Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

While we were trying different things with the backpack, Rory said he thought if we put an egg inside and throw it off the house that the egg would survive intact. So... for science... we tried it. We put an egg in a Zip-Loc bag and put it in one of the inside pockets. Then we dropped it off our balcony, about 15-20 feet down. Sure enough, Rory was right. The egg remained in one piece. Now, I'm not promising it will protect all of your items, but that's still a pretty good test.

We also tried a bit of a weight test. The backpack holds about 10 pounds of books fairly well. I picked some dense books, and there was definitely room for them. But it would have been a bit uncomfortable to carry more weight than that. But unless you fill the backpack with rocks, it should hold just about anything you want to put in it.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shell Backpack retails for $45.00, and you can pre-order it now. Every TMNT fan on your list will want one of these. It's a fun and very functional way to bring some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles play into your day. It would be great for sleepovers, school, or just walking around town. You can also check out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle website for more toys and clothes.

Note: I was sent the backpack for review purposes.