Nickelodeon TMNT "Mutation in Progress" Comic-Con Event

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Check in desk.

The Comic-Con "Mutation in Progress" event was held on Friday at Basic in downtown San Diego. All of the giant glass plate windows of the place were adorned with double-sided decals that created giant images of the Turtles on both the outside of the building and on the inside. Three sessions (all with the same content) were held at 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm, with pizza and beverages provided. I attended the 6pm show and arrived to find many familiar faces and friends hanging out outside the premises. Also hanging out were some of the ninja street team I had spotted earlier in the Gaslamp. They were handing out ribbon bandanas that had the new TMNT logo on them. None of the information revealed was particularly new if you've been paying attention (especially here on Ninja Pizza!), but I'm going to do a straight run-down of all of it. (Hold tight. This is gonna get a bit long.)

TMNT "Mutation in Progress" Event Set for Comic-Con

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If you've been watching Facebook or Twitter, you've heard by now that there will be a special "Mutation in Progress" event held during Comic-Con next week in San Diego. Here's some additional information on the event, as well as some ways in which you can get a ticket (if you don't yet have one).

On Friday, July 22, there will be a special fan preview event for a limited number of invited guests. TMNT fans will get a sneak peek of the “Mutation in Progress” of the new animated TV series, including a look at the new comics from IDW and toys from Playmates. There will be three one-hour previews, at 4, 5 and 6 PM at an off-site location close to the convention center.

Fans can come by the Nickelodeon booth at Comic-Con to learn more about how they might get a ticket. They can also be on the lookout at the convention for ticket giveaways via a ninja street team and a series of Foursquare check-ins. A select number of tickets are also being given out in advance of Comic-Con via a series of giveaways by @TMNTMaster on Twitter this week.

Capacity for the event is extremely limited and all guests must receive a confirmed ticket from Nickelodeon events in advance of the preview.

Shredder Comiquette Now Available For Pre-Order

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Sideshow has put both editions of the Shredder comiquette available for pre-order! Go quickly and secure yours now! (And remember that Sideshow doesn't charge your card until the item actually ships, so you have 6 months or so to figure out how to afford him if you can't right now.)

Click the Shredder on the left for the exclusive edition, or the Shredder on the right for the regular edition. Good luck!

     

Sideshow Shredder Comiquette Full Reveal

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As promised, Sideshow Collectibles has revealed the complete gallery of pictures of their announced Shredder comiquette! As amazing as the statue looks, what's perhaps most striking/impressive is the maskless face option that will be part of the exclusive edition - Wow! Both editions of this comiquette will go up for pre-sale this Thursday, April 28 with the launch of the weekly Sideshow newsletter. Good luck to all who order!

Sideshow Reveals Shredder Comiquette

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Sideshow Collectibles has revealed the next addition to their line of TMNT comiquettes: Shredder! Sideshow will further reveal this comiquette on their production blog on April 26, and pre-orders will start on April 28. You can read the full announcement on Sideshow's site.

Nickelodeon TMNT Fan Preview Event - The Toys & Playmates' Presentation

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The Playmates presentation part of the Fan Preview Event ended up being far more elaborate than I could have ever imagined. To set the scene a bit, I'll attempt to describe the room we spent most of the day in. The room was actually a "gym," with a basketball court floor. For the event it had been converted into a presentation room. Green lighting, which illuminated Nickelodeon's new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo on the floor, contrasted the overall dark atmosphere. At the front of the room was a table built from two large metal barrels, from which green-colored "ooze" made of spray foam was leaking, and a glass top. The 12 fan attendees sat front and center on an array of chairs built from skateboards (very neat looking, but they did force you to sit with good posture!). To the right of us were some more (non-skateboard) chairs where the Playmates guys and some Nickelodeon executives sat. There were even more people standing in the back of the room, including more Nickelodeon people, people from the PR agency that helped coordinate the event, and other who didn't ever say anything (they could have been the focus group people). Whatever the case, we were being constantly watched by a lot of people.

But back to Playmates. Their presentation started with a slide show. The slide show was kind of boring, as it was basically a bunch of numbers about the awesome sales history of Playmates' TMNT toys through the years. Basically, they've sold a crap load of toys. Well, I knew this and I wasn't sure why they were telling all of us this, since it seemed more aimed at potential retail buyers or other business people of that sort. But then the slide show ends and they tell us to turn around and WHOA the wall that had been the back of the room is opening up to reveal even more of the room and a full display of toys along the new back wall! Impressive. Most impressive.

As I said in my first report of the event, I really wasn't planning on seeing toys. Not to this extent, at least. The entire back wall (the real back wall) was a massive display of toys. In the middle was completely new stuff, while the sides had some of the old toys on display. This included a diorama that showed the evolution of the basic Turtle figure through the years - a nifty thing to look at, but the unreleased Mirage Turtle at the end of this display made me laugh inwardly.

Now to the meat of the display - all the new stuff! On display were basic Turtles, "deluxe" Turtles, the new Turtles' Sewer Lair playset, role play toys, several vehicles, and more. Let's go through all of these individually.

Basic Turtles - OMG these are awesome!! I am not going to be able to do them justice in words. IIRC from the slide show presentation, the scale of these figures is between 4"-5". Before this event I was thinking that I would only be interested in new figures if they were in the 3.75" scale, but going slightly taller on these actually works perfectly. The Turtles prototypes were fully painted and each Turtle was a 100% unique sculpt - no use of identical bodies with just different heads here. The detail and paint and just the general look of these was amazing.

You may have noticed on the Michaelangelo poster Nickelodeon released that he has freckles. These freckles were beautifully (or, if you're me - adorably) detailed on the action figure. Also detailed on Mike, and not detailed on the other three Turtles, were blue pupils. When asked about that, the Playmates guys said that no decision on pupils had yet been made and they were honestly interested in hearing our feedback on that. I think most, if not all of the group, was in agreeance that as they were, the pupils looked fantastic and we would love figures that looked that great. However, this being the prototype, those pupils had been painted by a woman who specializes in doing just that. Retail figures would be painted in mass in China, and no one was optimistic that it would carry over as well. If it can be done well, pupils on these figures would look great, but if it can't be done well, the figures would still be spectacular without pupils. Another great detail was the weapons, which were all realistically colored and Mikey's nunchucks were actually linked chain! It was really hard not to grab Mikey and just run. ^_^

My only complaint about these figures goes back to the previously mentioned mysterious third toes. All of the Turtles featured very distinct and detailed third toes on each foot. This isn't enough to stop me from buying them, but these seriously have the potential to be the most ultimate TMNT figures of all time, and to have that third toe staring back at me for eternity on such a figure is an unnecessary blemish on otherwise perfection. Sadness!! :(

Other Basic Figures - Also on display was the unpainted Shredder prototype. Even unpainted he looked amazing! This also has potential to be the best Shredder figure ever. Unfortunately, Splinter was in a much more early development stage and I don't think he reflected what we will see with the final figure, so I have no real judgment on him. These six figures will probably be the entirety of the first wave we see hit stores in August 2012. An April figure would likely come in wave 2. Oh, and I think they said the price point was going to be $5.99, which is quite impressive.

Deluxe Figures - I don't think the Playmates guys actually called these "deluxe" figures, but they are the higher price point figures. The ones on display were in a really early development stage, and they asked us not to talk about them in detail, so I won't. I will say, however, that in concept, I hated these. It is just more of their standard "put the Turtles in wacky costumes and give them an action feature" that I can't stand. Bleh.

Mini Figures - These are a smaller scale, 2"-3", figure that sound destined for the European market (where apparently they love mini things). Only Leonardo was on display, but he looked very cool. I would buy it if it was sold here.

Vehicles - So, it turns out that I completely neglected to talk about the new vehicles in my previous post with details of the new show. I'll make up for that now since all of the (revealed) vehicles naturally will have a toy version. I do not remember the exact names of these vehicles, so please keep that in mind in your conversations.

Sewer Rail Glider - This is a converted train car that Donatello has retrofitted to be able to glide on the rails and also go top side to the street. The design for this is, in general, pretty cool. It kind of looks like a beefed-up party van/subway car hybrid with a paint job that seems to harken back to the old party van from the original cartoon. Playmates had a fully painted prototype on display and it looked to be a solid toy. I personally have no interest in buying vehicles, so I'm indifferent to it as a toy.

Stealth Shell - I found this thing to actually be really cool, both as a toy and as an element of the series. Basically, this is like a low-riding recumbent bicycle (but motorized) that is covered by flat armor (shaped like a turtle shell), which camouflages the rider when looked at from above. Again, there was a completed prototype on display, which was really rather sleek. I won't likely buy it just because I don't buy vehicles in general, but I'd have no problem buying this one for a kid.

Shredder/Foot Motorcycle - Nooooo, not more motorcycles! If there is something the TMNT line has had too much of through the years, it's motorcycles. So, as a toy this does nothing for me. As an element of the series, I think it'll be ok. As it was described to us, this thing is meant to be badass and loud. There's nothing stealthy about it - the person riding this wants to announce their arrival where ever it is they're going.

The Turtles' Lair - This thing is huuuuuge! Probably between 3'-4' tall. In describing it in detail I'd have to describe the general look of the Turtles' Lair, which I think I would fail miserably at, so I won't. But it's really cool! The prototype on display was really, really impressive and detailed. However, it was literally built from parts bought at Home Depot. I don't know how this is going to translate to a finished mass market toy, so that is my only hesitation. As with vehicles, I have no personal interest in buying playsets, but I think a lot of kids will have some serious fun with this. Playmates also mentioned potentially releasing add-on modules in the upcoming years that would make the playset even bigger.

Role Play - The role play toys on display were your standard colored bandannas and plastic weapons. I found it kinda weird how the masks had "eyebrows" sewn into them. I think they've tried to do this before, and I know the effect they're trying for, but I also think simple flat bandannas look better.

Classic Turtles - Oh yeah, that's right - classic Turtles. You know how there was never really any action figures that looked like how the Turtles looked in the old cartoon? Well, Playmates is ready to right that wrong. This line will be larger scale and with super articulation. The only figure on display was Raphael, and while he didn't look quite finished, he looked really cool. And although this line will start with the Turtles and maybe other standard characters, it sounds like there's potential to cover some of the more obscure characters. We'll have to see.

And I think that's it! And looking back at what I just typed, it's quite a lot! Playmates did mention that they intend for the line to take up significant shelf space in stores. And this is just the start of it - coming in 2013 (tentative) there will be even more to go along with the new movie. And it sounds like they intend for that line to be completely new/separate from the Nickelodeon series stuff. In short - lots of stuff to look forward to!

Nickelodeon TMNT Fan Preview Event - Report

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I suspect that I'm going to have to break this report into a series of entries over the next few days. The short of it, as you may have picked up hints of if you follow Ninja Pizza on Facebook or Twitter, or visit some of the message boards, is that Nickelodeon earlier today (it is still just barely March 30 as I type this), hosted a TMNT Fan Preview Event to give selected fans a glimpse of what they've got in development for the CGI TMNT series scheduled to debut in the fall of 2012. To give you an idea of how big of a deal this was, and just how seriously Nickelodeon is taking the Turtles, they have never done an event like this. Ever. Not for any other series, not for any other property. Never.

I'm going to show and tell you as much as I can, but all participants were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement before arriving, so please don't bother asking me questions that I just told you I can't answer. Really, I'd love to tell you everything, but hopefully you can be content with what I can present (vague as it will be).

The event took place at Nickelodeon Studios in Burbank, CA. Upon arrival, we were all given badges with our names and had breakfast provided for us. After a brief introduction from some of the Nickelodeon executives, we got a studio tour, which included a really neat peak into a recording session for Fanboy and Chum Chum.

After that, we were shown a Power Point presentation that included a look at various character designs, as well as set designs. All of this consisted of 2D stills. At the end of the slide show, we were shown a look at a short animation of CGI Leonardo swinging his sword. After that we were shown the completed 2D animatic "pilot." In this case, "pilot" didn't mean it was the first episode - it clearly wasn't based on the context. But what it did do was present what the look and feel of the show would be through the use of still drawings, complete vocal tracks, as well as a music track.

Next, we were treated to something I wasn't expecting - a look at the new toys Playmates has in development. We saw final painted prototypes for the four basic Turtles, a near-final unpainted prototype for Shredder, and a not-final sorta painted prototype for Splinter, among other things.

I have to admit that I was secretly hoping that the next surprise would happen, so kudos to Nick for actually making it happen: We were treated to a brief table read of parts of a script featuring the four voice actors for the Turtles, as well as Splinter. Unfortunately, not all of the people we saw today are officially attached to the actual series yet, so we are not allowed to reveal them. However, as they have been previously reported as being the parts of Leonardo and Donatello respectively, the group did include Jason Biggs and Rob Paulsen. During lunch I managed to get autographs from the four Turtles. *fangirl*

After lunch we split into "breakout" sessions, where we were able to give feedback on what we liked and didn't like of what we had seen. We were also able to talk some about what we wanted to see that we hadn't seen.

Next we regathered and had some questions answered by the executive producers on the show. We were also shown a short promo video that looks like something that could air on Nickelodeon whenever they decided they wanted to. It was similar to the previously released teaser video, but showed more clips of full-CGI action. And that was pretty much a wrap on the day. After receiving some goodies and taking group pictures, we were shuttled off to the airport to go home. As I go through all my stuff I'll have more images to share, but if you haven't yet you can check out some stuff provided by Nickelodeon that I've put up on the Ninja Pizza Facebook page.

In closing I'd like to just extend extreme thanks to Nickelodeon for being such fantastic hosts. They really went out of their way to make us feel welcome and important, and they took a lot of time to talk and mingle with us in between everything that they had us seeing and doing. It was a great experience and I'm really glad that I was able to participate.

Sideshow Mouser Comiquette Pre-Order on Thursday and Friday

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The time is nearly here to pre-order the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Mouser comiquette from Sideshow Collectibles!

For convention attendees, the pre-order event is on THURSDAY at 10am Pacific time - SHARP! For non-attendees, the pre-order event is on FRIDAY at 10am Pacific time.

Because this is a Priority Pre-Order event, which is different from the previous TMNT pre-orders, to be able to participate in the pre-order you need to already be subscribed to the Sideshow weekly newsletter. Login to the main Sideshow site at sideshowtoy.com at 10am Pacific and click on the Mouser banner to go through the ordering process.

If that sounds complicated, it's not. It's actually super easy and you should be in and out within a few minutes. But this is one thing you definitely need to be on time for!

Good luck to anyone wanting to add a Mouser to their collection!

Leonardo Comiquette Now Available For Pre-Order

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If Sideshow's Leonardo comiquette is on your wishlist, time to get those orders in! Like Don and Mike, the exclusive version of Leo will feature an interchangeable blue or red mask. The regular edition only includes the red mask. Click below to the left for the exclusive, or to the right for the regular.


          

Sideshow Leonardo Comiquette Gallery Now Available

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Sideshow Collectibles has released the full gallery for their upcoming Leonardo Comiquette, which will go up for pre-order Thursday June 3 with the release of their weekly newsletter.

The release of the full picture gallery has caused fans and collectors to emit a collective, "Hmmm," as this statue is quite obviously different in style from the other three. The most obvious detail that stands out is Leonardo's lack of visible teeth and how the shape of the mouth actually makes it look like he actually has no teeth.

With closer inspections, other details stand out that make Leo the "One of these things is not like the other" in the set of four Turtles. The plastron seems especially bubbly/cartoony, the fingers and toes seem to be webbed, and Leo has developed some sort of skin disease, seeing how he has warts.

The warts bit is actually what bothers me the most, as it is evidence that the sculptor really wasn't all that aware of the source material he/she was sculpting, and no one along the chain of approvals knew any more to be able to say anything of it. ETA: Going through the other galleries I did find some signs of warts on the other Turtles; I guess they just stood out more in the Leo pictures.

Most disturbing, however, are reports that Sideshow is deleting negative comments about the comiquette on their website. One would hope that a company would use comment moderation to keep their site free on inflammatory comments, and not constructive criticism.

I suppose I'll go ahead and pre-order on Thursday, but I think it's very possible that I cancel the order before it ships. This just sits that bad with me. Hmmm, indeed.

Sideshow Leonardo Comiquette Preview!

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With tonight's newsletter, Sideshow has previewed the upcoming Leonardo comiquette! The last of the four Turtles to be offered, Leonardo will go up for pre-order with the launch of the June 3rd newsletter.

Sideshow's Raphael Comiquette Shipping Soon

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Sideshow Collectibles today sent out e-mails announcing the upcoming arrival of the Raphael comiquette to their warehouse. According to the e-mail, Raph is due to start shipping in approximately 16 days. So, if you've got Raph on order, make sure those credit cards are set! If you don't have a pre-order and aren't yet on the wait list, now's the time to do it!

You can click below to the left for the exclusive edition, or to the right for the regular edition. There is currently no wait list for the regular edition!


          

Sideshow SDCC Exclusive Mouser Pre-orders on June 10 & 11

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With the release of their weekly newsletter tonight, Sideshow has revealed a (slightly) better picture of their upcoming 2010 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Mouser comiquette, as well as the pre-order dates you need to know if you want to get one of these.

The pre-order for Comic-Con attendees will be at 10:00am pacific time on June 10.

The pre-order for Comic-Con non-attendees will be at 10:00am pacific time on June 11.

IMPORTANT! If you are not going to Comic-Con, there is no way to fudge the system and pre-order as an attendee and still get the Mouser. You will need to pre-order on June 11.

I highly recommend that whichever pre-order event you participate in, you BE PUNCTUAL. This is likely to sell out quickly.

If you are attending Comic-Con but miss the June 10 pre-order event, you could still pre-order as a non-attendee on the 11th. However, you will have to pay a slightly higher price + shipping. There is no way to fudge the system and pick up the item at the Con if you do not pre-order it as an attendee.

I'll put up a reminder the week of the pre-order events - Good luck!

Sideshow Comic-Con 2010 Exclusive Mouser Comiquette

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Today, Sideshow Collectibles revealed the first glimpse of the exclusive items they will be offering as part of this year's San Diego Comic-Con event in July, and a TMNT Mouser comiquette is one of the four items!!


We'll have to wait until April 15th for further details, but it is very exciting for Sideshow to be making their TMNT line part of their Comic-Con event!

For those not familiar with Sideshow's convention exclusives and not fortunate enough to attend Comic-Con this year, fear not, you're not out of luck! Sideshow always makes a small percentage of each exclusive available to non-attendees. But you will have to pay VERY close attention to the forth-coming details, as there can't be any slacking if you want to snag one. Attendees should also be prepared and alert to pre-ordering details, as all of these will be sold out before the convention starts.

Stay tuned to SideshowToy.com or Ninja Pizza to get the details as they're made available!

Sideshow's Donatello Comiquettes Shipping Soon

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Sideshow Collectibles has started sending e-mail notices that their Donatello comiquette, both the exclusive edition and the regular edition, is expected to be in their warehouse in approximately 20 days. These e-mails request that you verify your payment information by February 27, as the cards will be charged soon after as the statues start shipping out to their awaiting homes.

If you have an order placed, make sure those credit cards are in order! If you don't have an order placed, it's not too late to get on the wait list. Right now is when cancellations are most likely as people decide whether or not they can actually afford what they pre-ordered several months ago.

Regular Edition Wait List
Exclusive Edition Wait List

Michelangelo Sideshow Comiquettes Now Available For Pre-order

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The Michelangelo comiquettes from Sideshow Collectibles are now available for pre-sale. Unlike the previous two pre-sale events, both the exclusive edition and the regular edition are concurrently available to order. The exclusive edition features Mike in his trademark orange bandanna, while the regular edition has him in classic red. You can click your preferred flavor (or both!) below to place your order.

Sideshow Michelangelo Comiquette Preview

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Hey there, folks! It's been awhile since we visited. Truth is, there hasn't been much in terms of TMNT news to report (specifically, none). Further truth is that this will probably be the case for the foreseeable future, as things are still in flux with the whole Nickelodeon thing. Also, I've been a little lazy, but I do have some TMNT Flashback features planned that I hope to use to supplement all this down time.

However! Tonight we do have the first preview image of Sideshow Collectibles' upcoming Michelangelo comiquette, the third in a series of four. YAY! (If you live under a rock, you may not have figured out that Mike is my favorite.)

Mike will go on sale with the launch of the January 28 Sideshow Collectibles newsletter. Be alert, as that exclusive edition is likely to sell out within an hour or two!

Exclusive Sideshow Raphael Comiquette Sold Out, Regular Now Available

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The exclusive edition of Sideshow's Raphael comiquette has sold out. If you missed it, you still have a chance at getting one if you get on the Wait List ASAP, or you can simply opt for the regular edition. Either way, you don't want to delay!

Sideshow Raphael Comiquette Exclusive Edition Now Available for Pre-sale

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Sideshow Collectibles' Exclusive Edition Raphael Comiquette is available for pre-sale RIGHT NOW. These won't last long, so grab it now!

The exclusive edition varies from the regular edition with the inclusion of a switch-out hand with duel summons (as seen in TMNT Vol. 1 #1) wrapped around a sai.

Here is the regular edition, which will be available for pre-sale once the exclusive edition sells out:


And if for some reason you're still wasting your time here, go get Raph now!

Sideshow Raphael Comiquette Preview

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Sideshow Collectibles has released the first preview image of their next TMNT comiquette, Raphael. The statue will go up for pre-sale on December 10 with the launch of the weekly newsletter.

Sideshow also revealed that the edition size of the regular edition Donatello comiquette has been set at the low, low number of 600 pieces. The exclusive edition Donatello comiquette, which features interchangeable red and purple bandannas, is set at 425 pieces. Both editions are sold out, but if you get on the wait list(s) ASAP, you may still have a chance of owning these amazing collectibles!

Pre-order the Exclusive Edition Donatello
Pre-order the Regular Edition Donatello