I started this blog as a way to put all of the latest TMNT news in a single place so that it would be easily accessible to people without the need for hunting through various forums or scouring other parts of the Web to keep up to date. I still hope to do that to a certain extent, but you've probably noticed I haven't posted in a couple weeks. There are several things that I could have posted, but a recent post by Steve Murphy at the 5th Turtle kinda killed all of my motivation.
One of the hardest parts of being a TMNT fan, especially a long-time fan, is the extreme lack of direct communication with fans that has persisted for years. This isn't to say that the people at Mirage Studios aren't accessible. In fact, due to the small size of the company, they're far more accessible than the majority of companies that are behind giant licensed franchises. But short of e-mailing Dan Berger directly and asking point blank, there's always been a separation between the fans and news on current and future projects.
That changed when Murphy started his 5th Turtle blog. Not only was he providing us with current news, but his interaction with the fans who posted comments showed us that someone at Mirage actually cared about what we thought about things. Both positive and negative opinions were agreed with. We were being heard, and even though our voices still weren't resulting in changes that would give us better things, we felt better about being fans.
But now 4Kids and Imagi, and to a lesser extent, Playmates and NECA, are requiring that Steve Murphy no longer share any images or info with us unless they give explicit permission. There is a certain amount of logic to this request (and it has been greatly debated, but this is not the point of this post), but unfortunately it brings us back to where we once were: With no direct link to information on current or future TMNT projects. What's in store for the TMNT? Who knows... I think I'll go watch some Doctor Who.
4Kids has made it clear that they don't care about TMNT fans over the age of seven. 4Kids earns change on every single piece of TMNT merchandise that is sold. I am done feeding the 4Kids machine. With just a handful of exceptions, I have no intention of buying new TMNT product. Anyone who knows my ridiculous ability to acquire things knows that this is a pretty crazy statement to make. But I mean it. I'll spend my money on eBay on old TMNT stuff. It's impossible for me to ask the same of others, but I do hope that some of you will rethink what you spend your money on. Continuing to hand money over to 4Kids isn't going to convince them that they need to do something more to please us.
With this in mind, how can I continue to pimp every single TMNT item that shows up on a store shelf? Not that I was covering everything anyways, but I was trying to cover everything that I could. I really can't, so I'm going to refocus the purpose of this blog a bit. I'll still pimp a few new items (comics definitely, other things on a per item basis) and new products with specific release dates will still be listed in the list to the left (but they won't necessarily be posted about individually).
I'm going to try to post TMNT Flashbacks more regularly and maybe feature some goofy eBay auctions and other things as I find them. If you have any links or suggestions, or there's something you'd like me to post about, just send me an email and I'll do what I can.
