Product Review: TMNT Adult Costume Hoodie

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The fine folks at TVStoreOnline sent me this awesome hoodie to show off to you guys. So, here's me being a dork.

Click here to get one of your own!

Shellback Artworks Commercial

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Shellback Artworks, the art supply and comic book shop owned and operated by Mirage Studios alumni Steve Lavigne, recently released a commercial for the shop starring Steve's son. It's rather humorous!

Be sure to visit if you ever find yourself near Wells, Maine.

Shellback Artwork
1509 Post Rd.
Wells, ME 04090

Visit the Facebook page for store hours and more!

Two Days Until TMNT TV Series Premiere!

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We're down to two days to go until the premiere of the new TMNT cartoon series on Nickelodeon! And Nickelodeon is feeding us with clips and promos to get us pumped for the big day. Here's a peek at some of them.

Mutation Day:


Leadership:


April Gets Kidnapped:


Discovering Pizza:

Toys R Us Names Ninja Turtles as a "Hot Toy" of 2012

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The Christmas/Holiday shopping season is upon us, and, just in time, Toys R Us has released their annual list of "Hot Toys" that they expect to be in high demand. Included in the top 15 toys for the year they have included the new TMNT Secret Sewer Lair Playset from Playmates (conveniently, a Toys R Us exclusive item).

This story has been reported by many media outlets in the last 24 hours. Ninja Pizza reader Brandon B. shared this video of his local news station and an anchor who seemed a bit disconnected from the report.

Guinness World Record for Largest Gathering of Ninja Turtles

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On Saturday, March 17, 2012, a new Guinness World Record was set for the largest gathering of people dressed as Ninja Turtles! The event marked the grand opening of the new ride at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shell Shock.

A crowd begins to gather around the new ride.

Check out video of the event below! Some of the audio is a little hard to hear, but this is essentially the entirety of event, with the 10 minutes of waiting cut out. The final number of people dressed as Ninja Turtles was 836! Cowabunga!


Some of my favorite fan shots from the event! Check out all my pictures on Flickr!

The youngest Turtle?

Best. Hair. EVER!

Completed TMNT Mural at Meltdown Comics

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As previously reported, a couple weeks ago Kevin Eastman and Mark Bode went to work to recreate the cover of TMNT Vol. 1 #1 on the side of the Meltdown Comics building in Los Angeles. The completed mural, pictured above, came out absolutely AMAZING! And now Adam Dorsey has put together a short video documenting the creation of the mural. Check it out below!

And don't forget that the LOST ANGELES: 35 Days of Kevin Eastman event kicks off tomorrow with a weekend showcase of Kevin's TMNT work!

"Goongala!" - Song from "Casey Jones" Fan Film

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The new Casey Jones fan film uses a brand new piece of music during the end credits, a song by Johnny October titled "Goongala!" You can hear the entire song in the YouTube video below, and you can buy it from iTunes here.

WARNING: The video below has explicit lyrics. There is also a clean version of the song available from iTunes.

"Casey Jones" Fan Film

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Back on February 8, 2010 (quite a long time ago), a trailer for a Casey Jones fan film showed up on YouTube. Fantastically, the project didn't get left forgotten, and last night the movie premiered at a free screening in Austin, TX. Ninja Pizza reader and mega TMNT fan Samuel Barrera attended the screening and wrote in with a report.

In a brief summary, Samuel describes the plot of the movie:

After assaulting Cousin Sid during hockey practice, Casey Jones is kicked off the team with no where to go and no money to his name. Moving back in to his mom's house, Casey realizes that his old stomping grounds have gone from bad to worse. Vowing to change things, Casey dons his mask and sets out to let the bad guys know... it's HIS town.

And his impressions after having seen it:

Hilarion Banks gives a very convincing performance as the hockey player turned vigilante. The violence level is turned up quite a few notches and when the bad guys get hit, we feel it. Casey doesn’t just trip people with that obviously painful hockey stick of his.

Another great surprise in this film was the inclusion of Michelangelo. Though most people know that Raphael is the first to meet Casey, here we see Mikey, who is actually voiced by Robbie Rist, the voice of Mikey from all three films. Now, while I’m not clear on whether Robbie Rist’s voice was recycled from the other films or if he actually voiced the character, it fits in smoothly.

And the Turtle suit used is truly magnificent. While it doesn’t impress as much as the original animatronic suits, this is possibly one of the better suits I’ve seen in any fan film.

There are also many nods to the different franchises, including the first TV series. Many of which will make any fan boy as giddy as a little school girl.

You can read Samuel's full report here.

For the rest of us who weren't in Austin last night, the movie will be online to watch for free at caseyjonesthemovie.com, starting September 17, 2011.

Check out the original trailer while you wait to see the movie:

Preview Clip from "Turtles Forever"

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Astute Technodrome forum member WEB4KIDZ has found the first preview clip from "Turtles Forever"! You can check it out at WorldScreen.com, or below.

And check it out - "Ninja Pizza" representing!

TMNT: Smash-Up Developers' Diary + More

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Here's something that got a little lost in the chaos surrounding Comic-Con. And since it's not exactly new anymore, anyone following the latest news on this game has probably already found all of this, but here's another video and screen shot collection provided by Ubisoft.

Arcade Mode:

   

   
   

Cutscenes:

   

(Um, can the comic books look like that again? Please?)

SDCC 2009 Recap: Sideshow Collectibles Announces TMNT Comiquettes

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While it was not an unexpected announcement due to Sideshow's participation in the button run that helped you win a ticket to Friday night's Galabunga party, it was an announcement that sort of fell under the radar during the busy Comic-Con weekend. But I managed to keep on top of it for you.

Here's the short announcement that happened during Sideshow Collectibles' panel Saturday evening. I've replaced my shaky handy-cam video with the video since released on Sideshow's Web site. And since the audio at the end is hard to hear, I've provided text balloons.

SDCC 2009 Recap: "Spotlight on Kevin Eastman" Panel

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I still haven't caught up on sleep and I'm working on getting over the unavoidable "Con Funk" illness, so these recaps haven't gone up quite as quickly as I would have liked them to. But here we go with the first!

This is the video I took of the "Spotlight on Kevin Eastman" panel. The video only covers the TMNT portions (the rest of the panel mostly focused on the upcoming Heavy Metal-produced movie "War of the Worlds: Goliath," which looks to be really quite neat), and the quality is pretty crap. I took it on my unimpressive digital camera and, of course, didn't have a tripod. But the presentation is mostly a slideshow from Kevin, so I scoured the Internet for digital versions of the pics he shared and was actually able to find most of them. When I did have the actual photo available I super-imposed it over the shaky video. I think you get a better look at the photo that way than you would even if I had an awesome camcorder with tripod.

Anywho, here you go, in two parts:

Video From Tonight's TMNT25 Galabunga

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Astute TMNT fans know that tonight was the TMNT25 Galabunga event that included a free screening of the first TMNT movie. The always reliable Neil gives us this video montage of the event. Hopefully there will be more in upcoming days!

First TMNT Movie Screenings in Oakland, April 3-5

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This upcoming weekend, April 3-5, the Piedmont Theater in Oakland, CA will be having screenings of the original TMNT movie. Friday and Saturday night the show starts at midnight, but if that's a wee bit too late for you, there's a 10am screening on Sunday.

You can check here for info on the screening (ignore the picture from TMNT2, it's the first movie they're playing).

And you can click here to purchase tickets.

To get you pumped for the screening, here's a look at the original theatrical trailer for the movie:

TMNT Perform at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade

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In 2006, after more than two years of pain in getting the Turtles costumes we commissioned delivered, and then wearable, four friends -- Dawnatello, Brinatello, GreenWillow, and Kimnardo -- and I braved the often brutal Comic-Con masquerade audience so that we could get jiggy to the original TMNT cartoon theme song and the ubiguetous Ninja Rap.

Despite a near-complete lack of vision, no one fell off the stage (there are actually catchers in case you do!) and, for the most part, we pulled off our small bit of choreographed dance during the Ninja Rap. Not only did the crowd love us, but much to our surprise, we actually won a prize! And let me tell you, the look on the face of the guys awarding the "Best Movie Costume Recreation" award as five short women came running on stage in their de-masked costumes was as priceless as any other moment during the night!

Here are some videos from several different angles:

Video Flashback: Gettin' Down in Your Town Tour

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The second entry into the "Video Flashback" series is a personal favorite of mine. After the wildly-successful "Comin' Out of Their Shells" tour, the TMNT hit the road again in a smaller follow-up tour. This tour played in venues at amusement parks and only featured four songs, three of which were new (although the fourth song, "Sing About It," was never actually played in full in the COOTS tour). And all things considered, the songs are quite good! Laugh if you must, but I'll stand by that statement even if Shredder appears at my front door threatening to steal all of the world's music. And even more-so if he breaks into "I Hate Music."

But I digress. Here is the "Gettin' Down in Your Town Tour," in three parts. Enjoy!

Video Flashback: Operation Blue Line

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After a rainy-day visit to Circuit City's store closing clearance sale, I now have the much-anticipated ability to capture video from my VHS collection onto my computer. With this useful new ability I am launching the Ninja Pizza YouTube Channel. The inaugural video for this new channel is called "Operation Blue Line" (and had I scanned the video cover earlier in the night than I did, it wouldn't have rabbit teeth marks in it).

"Operation Blue Line" is a promotional video that was produced to advertise a new light rail system that runs between Long Beach and Los Angeles. As incredibly cheesy as this 10-minute video is, it surprisingly holds some weight as all four Turtle voice actors from the original cartoon--Townsend Coleman, Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen, and Cam Clarke--are featured in their respective roles.

So enjoy, and watch this space, 'cause there's lots more to come!




UPDATE! Edward Langer, who worked in the SCRTD marketing department and helped in the production of this video, has written in with some additional information.

I was the original project manager on this video. The SCRTD marketing dept. under Tony Fortuno and Alice Wiggins wanted to create a video to be distributed free through a local supermarket chain to all residents along the route. Additional copies were sent to large businesses, too. I assembled my team and we each contacted different companies to see if they would provide funding and some kind of theme or character for the video. One team member, Sherry, hit pay dirt at one of the local TV stations and got permission to use the Turtles. Since Sherry had made the contact, she took over the project. I was reassigned to the ride share program where I made use of the video to promote public transit. That is the USC Marching Band at the end of the video. The USC band has been most generous in allowing the SCRTD to use them in their promotion of public transit. Also, if you watch carefully, you will see Sherry in the film as a couple having a picnic.

We had borrowed the turtle costumes, but they had to have them back for a promotion. Sherry had picked them up and had to get them dry cleaned over a weekend. Not something easy to accomplish. I forget how she did it, but they were clean on Monday. All [of the] main actors were professionals: April, Gridlock, and the Turtles. Everyone else is an unpaid volunteer from the SCRTD. The little girl near the end of the film was some kind of spokesperson for the SCRTD, but I forget why. I think she was a model or actress who gave us support. I believe I had worked with her in a promotion in Long Beach, but that was a long time ago. As I was not the project manager of this program my name is way back in the credits. Basically, all employees of the marketing department are in the credits.

The story is kind of dumb, but it worked. Many of my ride share companies played it in their cafeterias to alert their employees. Ridership did take off.

Comic-Con Interview with Kevin Eastman

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"The Stack" talked to TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman at last month's Comic-Con in San Diego about both Turtles and Heavy Metal.

TMNT Movie Mistakes

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This isn't a new video, but I thought it'd be a good supplement to the TMNT Special Edition DVD effort.



All movies are full of little mistakes that their makers hope the movie viewers won't spot, but if you watch something enough times and pay close enough attention, something's bound to stand out as not quite right. My long-time pal and fellow TMNT fan Karen put this video together last year in the wake of the excitement over the release of the 2007 CGI movie.

With well over 600,00 views, it has become one of the most-viewed TMNT videos on YouTube and spent a weekend as one of Digg.com's top videos. While the video may highlight the mistakes in the film, I believe its popularity is a reflection of the general overall continued popularity of the movie. Surely enough popularity to warrant a Special Edition DVD release.

These Turtles Can Dance!

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Now THIS is what should have been at Comic-Con last month!!



Stay tuned this weekend for the first major update concerning the TMNT Special Edition DVD campaign!!