Nickelodeon Universe Announces New TMNT Thrill Ride

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Posted on Nickelodeon Universe's Facebook page, the new TMNT "Shell Shock" ride has been announced for the Mall of America indoor theme park, located in Bloomington, MN. The ride is scheduled to open in March 2012, and will take riders 70 ft. in the air. Each rider will control their seat, which can rotate wildly like a plane propeller or gently teeter-totter like a seesaw, making no two ride experiences the same.

If Nickelodeon needs anyone to test ride this new attraction, I'd be happy to volunteer. ^_^

But what's really neat about this mock-up of the ride is that it gives us a look at the CGI design for Shredder! Of course, we can't be certain that this is his final design, because it is just a mock-up, but the Turtles are consistent with all the images of them that we've seen so far.

Thanks to Sonia for the tip!

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" Trailer Film Cels Now Available

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Last month, as a participation prize in the December Coloring Contest, I gave away laminated strips of 5 film cels from an original 35mm copy of the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie trailer. I still have some of these strips left, and am making them available to people who support Ninja Pizza by sending a donation. You can find all the details over on the new Ninja Pizza Store page. Please remember that only clips from the movie trailer are available, not the entire film. And please include a second or third choice for a scene or character, as availability is limited.

As always, thanks for everyone's support!

December 2011 Coloring Contest Winners!

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As we head into 2012 tonight, here are your winners for the coloring contest! I really have to stress how hard it was to pick a winner in the "Hard" category. I had 3-4 favorites that I kept flip-flopping on, but in the end I decided to award the prize to Nigel Morey, for this fantastic piece:

And in the random drawing of all entries received in the "Easy" category, the winner chosen was Charles Dickerson, who submitted this fantastic piece that transported the Turtles into Seattle:

Thanks again to everyone who entered! If you haven't checked out all the submitted entries yet, you really must. They are all up on Facebook. Also (and this would be why this posting is coming so close to midnight, and past it for many of you), I've compiled all of the submissions into an online PDF "magazine," as another means of viewing all the winners. You can check this out on Issuu.

I also want to make everyone's work available to download at full resolution, because some of them would make for really fantastic desktop wallpapers. However, that will have to be added later, as I'm quite out of time for the year as it is.

I will be shipping out everyone's prizes over the next week or so, and if you didn't enter but would still like a strip of film cels from the original TMNT trailer, I'll also be posting information on how you can get one of those. Happy New Year, everyone!

"A Wild Night" T-shirt

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Today's new t-shirt design from Shirt.Woot! features a ridiculously cute little turtle with an orange eye mask who has seemingly overdosed on some pizza. If you find you can't resist this inspired piece of clothing, head on over to Woot! where you can grab it today for $10, or thereafter (until reckoning) for $15. Cowabunga!

Recent TMNT-Themed Podcasts

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Two awesome geeky podcasts have recently had TMNT-themed episodes that are definitely worth your time to download and listen to.

The first is from Nerdy Show, which has interviews with Polaris Banks, writer/director of the recent Casey Jones fan film, and Steve Barron, director of the first TMNT movie. (Tip: Skip ahead to 30:00 to hear Polaris Banks and to 1:12:00 to hear Steve Barron.)

The next comes from Nerdist and The Mutant Season podcast, which spent some time with Kevin Eastman as he prepared for his LOST ANGELES: 35 Days With Kevin Eastman exhibit (going on right now!) at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles.

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!

LOST ANGELES: 35 Days With Kevin Eastman

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As previously reported, Kevin Eastman and Mark Bode are RIGHT NOW in the midst of painting a gigantic wall mural of the cover of TMNT Vol. 1 #1 on the side of the Meltdown Comics building in Los Angeles, CA.

This mural painting is a kickoff for a month-long event centering around the art of TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, called LOST ANGELES: 35 Days With Kevin Eastman.

The mayhem starts November 30, with a weekend dedicated to Kevin's TMNT work, and each of the next four upcoming weekends having their own theme. For a complete schedule of events, visit the Melting Comics website.

Live Kevin Eastman & Mark Bode Art Event in LA November 17-19.

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TMNT Vol. 1 #1 Cover Art

Mark Bode and Kevin Eastman will be at Meltdown Comics in LA November 17-19 as part of a massive art project. November 17-18, the two will be painting a gigantic mural on the outside wall of Meltdown Comics that will resemble the cover of TMNT Vol. 1 #1. As it's one of Mark's specialties, the mural will be done in a graffiti style with spray paint. Then, on November 19, both artists will be back at the store to sign autographs.

Wall Mural Concept Sketch

Happy Halloween!

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It's Halloween! For the last week or so, TMNT fans on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr have been sharing pictures of their TMNT costumes and pumpkins. You can check out all of the pictures in a special Halloween Fan Photos album on Facebook.

If you've got a picture to share, whether it be new or old, e-mail it to me and you'll be added to the album!

Safe trick-or-treating, everyone!

Thank You, Steve

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TMNT Papercraft

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If you don't follow the Ninja Pizza Tumblr blog (and if you don't, you should), you missed today's post of the above picture of some completed TMNT papercraft toys. I just thought the photo was neato, but the picture sparked some interest in the actual papercrafts, so I've collected a bunch that were on the old 4Kids.tv website for your downloading and building pleasure.

You can download the collected .zip file here.

The Ninja Pizza Tumblr blog is updated once a day, every day, with a different TMNT-related image. Absolutely anything can show up here, so be sure to keep tabs on it to discover something new, old, interesting, or just cool!

"Panel to Panel: Exploring Words & Pictures" Available to Pre-order

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Back when Mirage was still publishing, they had struck a special relationship with John Rovnak of PanelToPanel.net. Books ordered through John often included exclusive, signed bookplates, usually featuring brand new art. Well, times change. Mirage no longer publishes comic books, and John no longer sells them. However, John has been working on a very cool project that is just about ready to (finally!) be published.

Using the connections and relationships he's established through his years as a comics fan and retailer, John has compiled a book of comics, art, interviews, and articles that feature many creators whose names will be familiar to TMNT fans. You can read the full contents on the Panel To Panel website.

Here are the highlights that should be of particular interest for TMNT fans:

• STEVE MURPHY: Comes Out of his Shell by John Rovnak.
• MARK BODE: A 21st Century Renaissance Man by John Rovnak.
• DAVE SIM: The General in His Labyrinth by Jon Mathewson.
• BUDDY COPS in Full-Color by Mark Martin.
• BEAT PANELS: OR; IS THERE MONEY IN POETRY COMICS? by Stephen R. Bissette featuring the graphic poetry of Peter Money and Rick Veitch.
• An archive of past interviews, from paneltopanel.net, featuring DAVID MACK, LARRY MARDER, LARRY HAMA, JAIME HERNANDEZ, JAMES STURM and STAN SAKAI.
• and more….

The book is scheduled to ship in August or September. Order yours now!!

Introducing the Fresh and New Ninja Pizza!

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Hey everyone! I'm really excited today to show you the project I've been working on for awhile, and that's this brand new look to the website! (Something that has been long, long overdue.) Pretty much every part of the site has gotten way cooler. So please, poke around and check all of it out!

I also now have a new e-mail address: rosemary@ninjapizza.net. The old one will still work, but this is now my preferred address for matters concerning the site.

If you're not yet aware, Ninja Pizza has active accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube that you should check out and follow/like/subscribe to. I'll be making an effort to deliver regular, unique content to each of those channels. But of course, all the news you need to know will be delivered right here on the blog, as always.

That said, we're only two weeks away from San Diego Comic-Con! Details for the Con are still vague, but there should be some news to report from Nickelodeon and IDW about their upcoming projects. For anyone attending the show, I'll post a schedule of TMNT stuff in a week or so (or whenever stuff is made known).

Thank you to everyone for staying tuned to Ninja Pizza for your TMNT news - I really think we're going to be in store for some fun in the next couple of years!

Kevin Munroe to Direct Upcoming Lucasfilm Feature

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This isn't TMNT news per se, but since real TMNT news is far and few between, I'm gonna run with it.

It was announced today that Kevin Munroe, writer-director of the 2007 "TMNT" CGI film, will direct a not-yet-named animated film to be produced by George Lucas's Lucasfilm of Star Wars fame. Plot details are scant, but the film is said to be a musical involving fairies.

This should be a very interesting project to see develop - Congrats and good luck to Kevin with it!

You can read the full story over at Yahoo! News.

TMNT Run in Marathon

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Here's a humorous picture of some folks in TMNT costume T-shirts running in the White Rock Marathon in Dallas, TX, Dec. 13.

Thanks to the Dallas Observer!

Norwayne High School Benefit T-Shirt

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Ryan Brown's alma mater, Norwayne High School in Creston, Ohio, is selling an exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt to benefit their arts programs. The shirts are also available at the middle school in Creston, and two elementary schools, one in Sterling and one in Burbank. Their mascot is the Bobcat, hence the phrase "I love being a Bobcat!" on the shirt.

Unfortunately, the shirt isn't available online or to the general public, but it's still great to see an effort like this to support the creative arts. As an alumni of my school's band program, I know first-hand just how neglected all of the arts programs can become when schools aren't able to budget properly. Good luck to Norwayne High School and all affiliate schools!

Nerdy Show Episode 10, "TMNT RIP" Now Available

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If you haven't checked it out yet, yesterday's TMNT episode of Nerdy Show is now available.

Thanks to the guys for being great hosts!!

Tonight's "Nerdy Show" Podcast to Talk Turtles

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I will be a guest on tonight's episode of the "Nerdy Show" podcast. The show records live from 9pm-11pm EDT, with the first hour of the show likely to be Turtles talk. And perhaps obviously, the focus of the discussion will be last week's sale of the TMNT to Nickelodeon. You can check out the live recording at Justin.tv. They hope to have it available for download ASAP, possibly within an hour of completing the recording. At worst, the podcast will be available tomorrow from their Web site.

I'm a little nervous about this, but also excited! And I expect it'll be fun!

TMNT on FAIL Blog

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This picture has been circulating for over a week, but it hit FAIL Blog today, so I decided I'd post it. You can also Digg it.


Hopefully we can all use this as a lesson for why unnecessary text should be kept off of merchandise (all of the recent T-shirts suffer from this, too).

Hasbro CEO listens to fans, becomes CEO of the year

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Web site MarketWatch, part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, has named Hasbro's Brian Goldner as their 2008 CEO of the year.

ToyFare magazine has also released an interview with Goldner, where he talks about his involvement in turning popular Hasbro properties Transformers and G.I. Joe into blockbuster movies.


Here are some choice quotes from the interview:

How much do you consider the opinions of hardcore fans of the franchise when making decisions for the films?
GOLDNER: The hardcore fans are an integral part of the thought process. From the very beginning as we thought about "Transformers," we thought about a lot of the characters fans would want to see and the story that we should tell. ...

Was there any particular fan feedback on the first "Transformers" that you took into account for the sequel?
GOLDNER: ... So what we did is, we focused in on some of those things that the fans told us from a very early stage that they wanted to see in the next movie—of course I won't tell you which ones they 
are.

But you guys are paying attention.
GOLDNER: Constantly. And I think what's great about our creative teams, our filmmaking teams is, they get it. They absolutely understand how to strike that balance, and they want to strike that balance and understand the core fan feedback. Because at the very heart, that's the thread that will hold the franchise together forever, if you'll honor that. And then of course, they also are great filmmakers and in their own right they also have the ability to reinvent the brand in a completely unexpected way.

Meanwhile, Gary Richardson, CEO of the Mirage Group, which oversees the whole of the TMNT franchise, continues to make business decisions based solely on increasing the size of his own wallet in lieu of listening to what it is that fans want or building the company/property into something that actually makes an effort to be profitable outside of letting people give them money to slap pictures of Ninja Turtles on boys' pajamas.

It is not believed that MarketWatch considered Mr. Richardson for its CEO of the Year title. It is actually a stretch to believe they know he exists.