European TMNT fan Rutger has posted brand new interviews he conducted with two men who can each claim to be Michaelangelo.
Threadless has reprinted one of their classic T-shirts, featuring the design seen to the left. Yes, that'd be the namesakes of the Ninja Turtles playing Ninja Turtles.
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.
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."
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).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.
Mega fan Neil comes through once again, this time with video of the complete TMNT 4Kids panel that was on Sunday at New York Comic-Con. Hosted by Jake Black, this panel takes a look at 4Kids' TMNT series through the eyes of a table full of people who made it all happen.
Friday night at NYCC there was a panel featuring four long-time TMNT artists: Steve Lavigne, Michael Dooney, Jim Lawson, and Eric Talbot. Moderated by occasional TMNT writer Jake Black, the panel was meant to focus on the artistic evolution of the TMNT. I don't know if they hit that mark exactly, but it was still a good hour-long conversation with these guys who have had so much creative input into the TMNT throughout the years.
New York Comic-Con opened today, somewhat acting as the true kick-off of the TMNT 25th's anniversary "shell-abration." There is a handful of news and pictures being reported around the Interwebs, but I thought I'd start with a look at Playmates' new action figures that are supposedly based on the TMNT comics. Yes, I had to interject a "supposedly" in there.
Since I'm so often accused of being overly negative, let's start with the figure I can say positive things about. Splinter here is really quite nice looking. Does he at all resemble any artistic interpretation of Splinter in any of the comic books? Nope. But that's ok in this case; if the final product looks even a fraction as good as this picture, I'll likely be buying it.
Here's Raphael, who seems to be the only Turtle representing (perhaps Playmates didn't want to deal with any "Why are they all wearing red?" questions?). Again, this is a good looking figure, though not really based on any of the comics.
You'd think it'd be easy enough to get a Foot Soldier right, but this just seems to be a checklist of wrong. What's with the color choices? Why don't his knees bend? And what's with the pig nose? This figure is most unfortunate.
But alas, even more unfortunate is Shredder. I don't even know where to start with this one. Absolutely no part of this figure is proportional with another part, his sword looks like a toy, and that helmet couldn't shred cheese. Oh, and based on the comics? Hell no! Turtle fans need to super glue their fingers crossed that the second wave of NECA figures eventually come out, because, in the ever-wise words of Princess Leia, they're our "only hope."
Here's one more picture from the Playmates booth. I guess this is supposed to be April, but it doesn't take a genius to know that's Uma Thurman's outfit from Kill Bill. Here's a tip: Costume shops may not have generic yellow jumpsuits, but thrift stores do. But at least they have proper TMNT costumes, unlike what we saw at San Diego last summer.
Toy News International is reporting tonight on a new trade paperback that will collect the three issues that comprised the original TMNT comic book mini-series from Archie comics.
It has been made widely known that the Tales of the TMNT comic book title exists on the whim of Peter Laird, who has continued to publish the book, for the most part out of his own pocket, even though it doesn't sell enough copies to support itself. As such, TMNT fans head toward each new year wondering if Tales will still be around. As of right now, there is no confirmation for Tales' existence--or non-existence--in 2010; however, it seems that Diamond Comic Distributors may have made that decision for Mirage already.
It's been a long while since I've found any TMNT goodies at the dollar store, not to mention something actually worth purchasing. So imagine my surprise today as I'm wandering through and find a stack of these 2K3 kids' plates featuring the fantastic artwork of the one and only Michael Dooney.
Jim Lawson updated his blog today with a new piece of art featuring all four Turtles looking down on New York from one of its many rooftops. This fantastic piece was done for a TMNT 25th anniversary project that 4Kids is working on. Jim and all of the Mirage artists were asked to contribute pieces of art; however, Mirage got these pieces of art as freebies and did not pay the artists for the time and talent put into them.
Today, Comic-Con International released the themes and anniversaries it will recognize and celebrate at this year's event in San Diego, July 23-26. And yes, the 25th anniversary of the TMNT is among the celebrations!
The Nuart Theater in LA will be screening the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie Friday, January 23 at midnight (Saturday morning).
Shirt.Woot.com is currently selling the fantastic T-shirt at left. The original run, priced at just $10, sold out in just over two hours (check out all of the impressive sales stats!). The shirt is now available for a still-reasonable $15, and with the option of free shipping is still cheaper than anything at Hot Topic. While this is currently in no danger of selling out (again), it will only be available for a limited time, so it's in your best interest to order one ASAP!
Savvy TMNT fans were watching TMNT25.com on January 1, when the site relaunched itself with loads of new content. However, and rather sadly, the content on the site is poorly written, features bad grammar and punctuation, and, most unbelievably, is full of inaccurate information.ABOUT MIRAGE STUDIOS
Steve Lavigne, high school classmate and friend of Kevin Eastman, as well as the real-life inspiration behind Michaelangelo, was Mirage's first employee, hired in 1985 to help with lettering duties beginning with issue #5 of the original TMNT comic book. His duties would expand to coloring comics and art and penciling licensing art that was used on thousands of TMNT products sold around the world. Lavigne left the studio in 1995 to return to his home state of Maine. He still does occasional freelance work for Mirage when asked.
After giving Eastman and Laird a piece of fan art at a comic convention in Detroit in 1985, Ryan Brown was asked to "get in touch" with the studio in the letters column of the 4th reprinting of TMNT #1, published in September 1985. He did so immediately, resulting in an inking tryout for a short comic titled "New York Ninja" that would later see print in the back of the TMNT RPG supplement book titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures!
Passing that test, Brown was then invited to join the studio, making the move to Northampton, MA in September 1986. He would eventually use his inking skills on most of the licensing art drawn by Lavigne, as well as some comic covers. A life-long love of toys made him a perfect match for the role of the in-studio Toy Coordinator after Playmates launched its line of highly successful TMNT toys and action figures. Brown left the studio in 1995 to return to his home state of Ohio. He still does occasional freelance work for Mirage when asked.
Around the same time Brown set foot in Massachusetts and after a successful portfolio presentation, Jim Lawson was invited to move up from his home in Connecticut to join Mirage. Lawson and Brown then teamed together to draw and ink, respectively, a new companion comic title, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lawson would also contribute to licensing art and penciling of the regular TMNT comic book series, becoming the main penciler starting with issue #48 of original series, a role that he maintains today with Volume 4 of the series.
Michael Dooney wrote a fan letter to Eastman and Laird after the original publication of the very first TMNT comic book. Dooney, an inspiring comic book creator in his own right, kept in touch with Mirage and would pencil issue #9 of the comic book, released in September 1986, while still living in New Jersey. After moving to the studio full-time, Dooney contributed art to more issues of the original comic book, full-color paintings for the official TMNT magazine, and some of the early issues of the Archie comics TMNT series among other things. Dooney remains with the studio today, contributing art for licensing, comic books, and toy design in collaboration with Playmates Toys.
In mid-1989, after the first few issues of the Archie comic series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, which were simply adaptations of the TMNT cartoon series, the book was horribly late and in danger of breach of contract. Seeing an opportunity, Brown asked his friend and roommate, Steve Murphy, to collaborate with him to create original stories for the comic series. Murphy, who was writing his own comic series, The Puma Blues, and doing proofreading and editing for Mirage, was hesitant to commit to the project, but finally agreed to take on the writing duties under the pen name Dean Clarrain. Murphy left Mirage with the end of the Adventures series in 1995, but would return in January 2002 as Creative Director of Licensing and Managing Editor of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 when the title was established January 2004. Murphy resigned from his duties as Managing Editor in August 2007, but remains in the position of Creative Director of Licensing.
With Adventures back on track, Brown and Murphy needed a permanent inker for the book. Brown contacted his old roommate in Ohio, who had just graduated from art school, and asked him to join the team. Dan Berger came to Massachusetts in August 1989; his first Turtles work was TMNT Adventures #8, published in February 1990. He has also contributed to the original TMNT comic book, licensing art, and the daily TMNT newspaper comic strip. Berger has been the Webmaster of ninjaturtles.com since 1998 and Managing Editor of Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 since Murphy's resignation in 2007.
Like Lavigne, Eric Talbot was a high school buddy of Kevin Eastman. His first work with the TMNT came with issue #17 of the original TMNT comic book, published November 1988. He would continue to contribute to TMNT comics and various licensing endeavors throughout the duration of the TMNT's popularity in the 90s and continues working with Mirage to this day.
Riding on the success of the TMNT, Kevin Eastman bought Heavy Metal magazine in 1991. His last TMNT work was the comic Bodycount, published by Image in 1996. In 2000 he sold the creative rights of the TMNT to Laird so that he could focus completely on Heavy Metal. However, this separation was not the end of his involvement with the TMNT. In 2002 he published his TMNT "Artobiography" under the Heavy Metal label and in 2005 he gave Mirage the connection they needed, with Imagi Animation Studios, to make a new big-screen TMNT adventure a reality in 2007. In 2008 he sold his remaining TMNT holdings to Laird, but with plans to republish a handful of classic TMNT stories, the first of which, Bodycount, was released the same year.
Celebrate 25 years of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with figures designed after their original comic styling! These classic figures represent the origins of the Turtles and feature all their trademark style and accessories. Collect all 4 turtles, Shredder, Splinter, and the Foot, each packaged with a reprint of the original comic. Or choose from figures that recreate Playmates' original 10 figures, based on the classic television series, complete with classic accessories and detailing. Cowabunga! Blister card packaging.
But are these actually inspired by any of the TMNT comic books? No particular style is evident aside from all the Turtles wearing red bandannas. Some have suggested that these Turtles resemble the Turtles from the cover of TMNT Vol. 4, #1, but those Turtles were drawn by master Turtles artist Michael Dooney. I would drool over Michael Dooney-inspired action figures any and every day of the week. But I don't look at these and see Michael Dooney's Turtles. I see Playmates' standard shiny plastic and unrealistic weapons (possibly borrowed from the existing TMNT movie Turtles). One of the great successes of NECA's Raphael figure is its ability to actually hold a sai correctly; the Playmates figure is clearly not capable of this. This begs the question: Exactly whom are these marketed for?... ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one's own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won't even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts. As one Level 5 leader said, "I want to look out from my porch at one of the great companies in the world someday and be able to say, 'I used to work there.'"
On Monday, Comic Book Resources reported that next year would see a hardcover release of the first 15 issues of the original TMNT comic book. Well, it seems someone there was either misinformed or spoke too soon. I have been informed by a reliable inside source that this is only half true. Mirage will collect the first 15 issues of the original TMNT comic book, but it will be as a trade paperback and not as a hardcover.
Comic Book Resources has the low-down on some of next year's TMNT comic book releases:Next year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series. The original first eleven issues and individual character solo one shots, long out of print, are being collected in hardcover for May publication from Mirage.Even factoring in Mirage's continued refusal to put their books in bookstores (very stupid), all of this is very good news! The biggest question mark is the Donatello mini-series. The series itself is a predictable part of the '09 plans, but hopefully it'll actually be about Donatello (unlike the Michelangelo series) and also hopefully it'll actually be good (unlike both the Raphael and Michelangelo series).
This will be accompanied by an Official Handbook To The Mirage Universe style book, profiling Turtle and spinoff characters in all their various forms.
The “Forever War" story from the Archie "TMNT Adventures" comics will be published and completed, written by Steve Murphy who wrote the originals under the pseudonym of Dean Clarrain, with art by Chris Allan.
A Donatello mini-series to close out the yearly individual Tales series is entitled "Brain Thief."
Archie Comics will also reprint the original three-issue mini-series from Michael Dooney in their manga trade size with all new colouring.
The first details of next year's TMNT video game from Ubisoft, revealed to be in development last year by Steve Murphy on The 5th Turtle, have started to emerge.
Web site MarketWatch, part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, has named Hasbro's Brian Goldner as their 2008 CEO of the year.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.
tOkKa writes in with info and a tale about the above vending machine sticker display:This is mangled, damaged, and old.. but it's the only one i have. Mike's cards are prolly in better shape, maybe someday he'll post his. ::
So the story goes ..
..back in the day ( some day ..A day long ago ) ..Mikey's dad ran a vending machine operating company, even Mike himself was involved and working for the little operation at one point.
I also remember something about a unicorn and a bass playing dinosaur..anyways- - .
When he was a kid, his dad got in some surplus of extra kids' vending prizes. A big trash bag filled with stickers and vending card inserts of his favourite heroes.
12 million years ago, as a gift .. Mikey gave me a small bundle of stickers and this insert ( goes in the front of the machine to show the kids what they are getting for their hard earned quarter or 1/2 dollar nowadays ;/ ) ..i coulda sworn these cards actually had a technical name, but i just can't remember.
The card here shows 12 of the designs of 15 stickers.
The designs not shown on the insert are Mondo Gecko, a classic group shot from Ryan Brown's style guide of the time, and the 1988 TMNT Logo and it sez ' Heroes in a Half Shell ' respectively.
I'm not positive .. but i think there are silver and gold versions of each sticker. Unless my mind is playing tricks on me like it normally does, that would mean their are 30 stickers to this collection including the variants.
Don't hold me to this tho'.. i'll have to double check my dwindled collection cuz i used a number of them over the years since he gave 'em to me and i don't even know if i have at least a full set of 15 anymore. I think i do tho'.
Miguel's like family to me, so actually ..this was a weird but cool & special gift.
I don't think it's the case that each one was made with both a gold and silver background, but I can't be certain about that. I do know that I really love these things!
Ryan Brown has revealed the finished, colored cover for Tales of the TMNT #58 via his Wild West COW-Boys of Moo Mesa blog.
Happy Thanksgiving to all who were celebrating today! I hope there was lots of good food and good company for all!
Like many of you I grew up a big TMNT fan. I was 10 years old when I saw the first action figure commercials in 1988 and remember looking everywhere for them before they finally arrived in stores. I actually still have most all my toys, over 65 + some still in package. I was so into the cartoons and definitely loved the first 2 films along with the CG release of TMNT last year which was great to see the 4 heroes in green back in theaters.
I was so taken back by the first movie being 12 years old. When the opening scene came up I'll never forget seeing for the first time those real-life Foot Soldiers packing up the truck with stolen goods. Who would have thought that 18 years later I would get an opportunity to own a piece of that movie magic.
I found this through the Prop Store of London posted one morning back in June I believe. Perhaps it came from a former owner or production crew member? I honestly don't know how it happend upon the site being available. I really don't know how long it was up that morning, but without blinking I placed a layaway on it and paid for it over a few months time until my last payment and shortly arriving finally in September. I was a bit unimpressed by how they presented it on their site, but I was certain I could improve how it displayed. The initial photo shows what the mask looked like as received.
I finally got around to working on it this past week and now it looks a lot more presentable. The only minor thing I did was fix up the few broken seams along the sides and removal of all the fuzz in the hook loop velcro. Other than that, this mask is maintained as it was received and think that the usage gives it personality. I wanted to maintain the overall integrity of the piece, but those seams didn't look good. It's amazing to see in person how different it looks than how it showed on screen. I thought the BUG EYES were metal wire mesh... its actually a plastic grid and painted! And the mask itself you'd think is black... no! Silvery gray spandex and then coated with a black fabric spray paint of some sort, giving it that weathered look. I would have never guessed as well as the metal gromets on the mouth that look to have originally been painted black, but has since worn through. This mask has definitely seen a lot of action looking at how worn it is.
To finish off the bust I sewed a chest piece to cover over the shoulders/bust to make it look more complete. I still want to get a display case and darken the bottom base, but overall am very happy with the result compared to before.
Unfortunately this kinda dwarfs my entire TMNT toy collection, so I don't know what I'll be doing with the toys! It is overall a very impressive piece and I do feel extremely lucky to own a true piece of my childhood from that day I first saw those Foot Soldiers on screen. That was a big deal then, it's a huge deal to own one of those masks.
I'd like to add one more bit of importance to this piece for me. I believe this was the last project that Jim Henson worked on before he died. Owning a piece of something he was involved in is a real treat and I have always loved the work he has done with puppetry and creatures. I remembered crying the day of hearing of his death. He was so ahead of his time.
I REALLY HOPE they are working on a BluRay edition of the live action films. They desperately need the HD treatment and I'd sure be one of the first to buy a set. Come on, New Line! Get with the program!
A special promotion at the cinemas in Venezuela: pop corn tub, drink cup and stickers decorated with the TMNT.
With this "combo" people received a ticket to win TMNT action figures.
So I was digging through my boxes of stored stuff in the attic yesterday. These are like boxes of things I have not opened in years and forgot about during my multiple house moves.
I came across my old Michaelangelo ceramic cookie jar. This is something my mom bought for me back in 1991 at a seaside gift-shop in a place called Weston Super Mare. I think at the time this was around £5 and of course there was a colour of each turtle respectively.
I figured I’d take out this find and immortalise it further in cyberspace in victory of all the house-moving it has survived. I am certain this was a UK only item and has a Hero Turtle like feel to it.
