"Turtles Forever" Theatrical Screenings CANCELED

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Less than a week after the event appeared on the Fathom Events Web site, the "Turtles Forever" one-night-only screenings have all been canceled.

The following message was posted on TMNT25.com today:

Unfortunately, 4Kids Entertainment and Mirage Studios were unable to reach an agreement with Fathom Entertainment to present the “Turtles Forever” special event.
We will keep our Turtles fan base informed as we work on a new distribution plan for this exciting project.
As always, we thank you for your support.
-4Kids Entertainment & Mirage Studios

While the event was still listed on the Fathom Events site this morning, it has since been revised and now simply states, "Due to unforseen circumstances this event will not be shown in theatres."

The TMNT25.com message, which refers to being unable to reach an agreement with Fathom Entertainment, is quite curious, as one usually assumes those kinds of details are already in place before the event gets listed on the site.

Further details about why the event was canceled are scarce, although a 4Kids employee made this slightly cryptic comment on the Technodrome fan forum:

On the bright side - without going into details - if there is any possibility of seeing this anywhere else this year this is the way it has to be.

Lets hope 4Kids and Mirage have a kickass backup plan in mind, because missing out on the national exposure even a one-night-only event would give to the project for anything less than awesome would not only be a disappointment for fans, but a huge missed opportunity for the franchise as a whole.

Complete Listing of "Turtles Forever" Screening Theaters

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Reira on The Technodrome forums found the complete listing of participating theaters for the "Turtles Forever" screening event.

You can see the entire list of theaters here (and this list is HUGE, so there's probably a location near you!):

Participating TMNT Theaters

"Turtles Forever" Theater Screening Confirmed!

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The rumored theater screening of "Turtles Forever," reported yesterday, has now been confirmed.

A 4Kids employee on The Technodrome fan forums gave the report a thumbs up, and forum member tone-master21 found this link:

Date: Thursday October 29, 2009; 7:00 pm
Cost: $10
Type: Film

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 1980s meet the Turtles of the 21st Century in a dimension-hopping, action-packed, knee-slapping movie extravaganza! When the gigantic, evil, and terrifying Technodrome (a giant mobile battle station from the original 1988 TMNT animated series) suddenly appears in our world, carrying with it the original 1988 series Ninja Turtles, our world’s Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo find themselves with a huge mystery to solve and four crazy Turtles to babysit! Can the Turtles of the past and the Turtles of the present stop annoying each other long enough to stop all of time and space from unraveling?

It’s a ninja tag-team extraordinaire across multiple dimensions, full of twists, turns and more Ninja Turtles than you have ever seen anywhere before. It is a must-see special event for the millions of Turtles fans everywhere and the perfect 25th anniversary celebration for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The feature will be followed by a rare look behind the scenes with Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird, created exclusively for this very special event. Learn how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to be – their Secret Origin. Through rare original comic book art, archival pictures and all-new interviews, Pete tells how he and co-creator Kevin Eastman came up with this crazy idea in the first place as well as highlights over the past 25 years of the biggest Turtle moments of all time.

tone-master21 also found this link with participating theaters. The date for these showings is listed as October 22nd, so it seems that not all showings will be on the same day.

Better start checking your local listings!

"Turtles Forever" to Possibly Screen in US Theaters for 1 Night Only

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A little birdie has suggested to me that "Turtles Forever" may be screening in US theaters for 1 night only in October, possibly October 29th. This would be an event similar to the 1 night only anime events that occasionally pop up in theaters.

Watch here for more details when/if this gets confirmed.

"Turtles Forever" to Screen at MIPCOM Film Festival in Cannes, France

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C21Media.net is reporting that "Turtles Forever," the animated movie from 4Kids Entertainment where the different multi-verses of TMNT history team-up to battle the One True Shredder, will screen at the MIPCOM film festival in Cannes, France. No further details are currently available, although the festival runs October 5-9, 2009.

As "Turtles Forever" currently has no distribution deal in place, it's likely that the producers are hoping to land one as a result of participating in the festival.

If you missed it, you can catch the entire audio of the live screening of "Turtles Forever" at San Diego Comic-Con here.

Sideshow Collectibles' Donatello Comiquette Now Available For Preorder!!

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It's here! Sideshow Collectibles' first TMNT comiquette statue, Donatello, is now available for pre-order. If you are at all interested in owning this piece pre-order NOW! Why should you pre-order RIGHT NOW, even if you're not sure that you want it and/or you're not sure that you have the money for it? Let us count the ways...

1. The item isn't due to ship until the 2nd quarter of 2010 at the soonest. That gives you at least 6 months to save the money, since you won't be charged for it until it ships.
2. It is likely to sell completely out. The exclusive edition was sold out within an hour of being available on the site, so the regular edition isn't likely to stick around for too long either.
3. Um, seriously, what reason do you have to not pre-order?

Going back to bullet #2, let's discuss the exclusive edition vs. the regular edition. The exclusive edition of any Sideshow product is more limited in production size and also includes an exclusive feature (hense the name) not available with the regular edition. In the case of Donatello here, you get the option of either swapping out his mask to be red like in the comics, or purple like in... well, everything else. If you want purple, you'll have to get an exclusive edition.


"But how can I get purple if it's already sold out?" you ask? Get on the wait list! NOW! Orders get canceled and Sideshow has a fantastic system in place to fill those orders for people who indicate that they want a particular sold out item. This list works! In fact, I don't think I've ever not gotten an item I went on a wait list for. But the sooner you do it, the better your chances.

So that's it! Click any of the pretty pictures to be taken to the corresponding order page.

Preview of Sideshow Collectibles' Donatello Comiquette

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With Thursday night's weekly newsletter, Sideshow Collectibles revealed the preview for the upcoming Donatello comiquette statue, the first in what is sure to be a series of at least four statues.

As stated on the graphic, Donatello will go up for pre-order when the newsletter is released on September 17. If you're not already a subscriber to Sideshow's newsletter, you can easily do so on their Web site. And if you're not familiar with Sideshow and/or have never ordered from them before, I definitely recommend that you get your pre-order in ASAP once you can. Better safe than sorry, even if you have to cancel the pre-order for whatever reason before the item ships, which will be at least several months from now.

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).

Jake Black Fundraiser This Saturday in Provo, UT

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By now you know that our buddy Jake Black is fighting the fight and winning the battle against the big Cancer monster (you can read the latest updates on Jake's health over on his blog/Web site). Those medical bills are still piling up, and this time it's his hometown comic shop, teamed with other local comic creators, that's stepping up to the plate for Jake's cause.

Dragon's Keep comic shop is holding a 2-for-1 party this Saturday, September 12, that celebrates the store's 22nd anniversary while also raising funds for Jake. There are a slew of activities and guests planning to attend, so if you live anywhere near the shop's Provo, Utah location, you'll definitely want to be there on Saturday. Activities are from 10am-5pm.

Guests of special interest for TMNT fans are Quinn Johnson, who wrote Tales of the TMNT #31, and Travis Walton, who colored some of the comics that appeared in the TMNT Comics magazine over in the UK (see a sample page here).

Jake is also planning on attending, but whether or not he's able to will depend on if he has any adverse reactions to his chemo treatment scheduled for Thursday (tomorrow).

Here's a spiffy flyer with more information (although Spider-Man decided to be a ninja).

"TMNT: Arcade Attack" Announced for Nintendo DS

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No, this isn't a breaking news flash, but Ubisoft has recently (and officially) announced the upcoming release of "TMNT: Arcade Attack" on the Nintendo DS, scheduled for later this fall. And Ubisoft has been kind enough to send along the following art and screen shots. Thanks, Ubisoft!

Cutscenes

   

Screen shots

   

Hun 1: Inked/Stroked

   

Hun 2: Inked/Stroked

   

"Tales of the TMNT" #62 Preview

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Ryan Brown sent in this fantastic preview image from Tales of the TMNT #62, to be released later this month. I'm all overwhelmed by the adorableness of it all.

Pencils and colors: Fernando Leon Gonzalez, Inks: Ryan Brown

From NinjaTurtles.com:
"Adventures in Bunnysitting" - Michelangelo's Utrom friend, Klag, asks the good-natured ninja to take care of his pet bunny while he's away. Unfortunately for Raphael and Mikey, Klag was unaware that the rabbit was a test subject for mutagenetic studies - and once the little critter gets agitated, things go from bad to worse - much, much worse! Based on a true story... well, kinda...


You can read one side of the true story over here.

And now for a public service announcement, because this seems like a good opportunity to give a spiel on something rather important to me.

Rabbits make for the MOST awesome house pets!

Note the special emphasis on "house." Rabbits have a reputation for being animals that you keep in a hutch in the backyard where they stand all day on a floor of wire, but there really is no good reason for this and if you bring the rabbit into the house to live with the family you will discover a companion pet as fantastic as any dog or cat. Like cats, rabbits can be litter box trained, making the stereotypical wire floor cages completely unnecessary.

Like cats and dogs, it is essential that rabbits be spayed/neutered to not only help control the pet population, but also to increase the animal's overall quality of life. And it is also extremely important to adopt a rabbit from a shelter or rescue organization rather than buy one from a breeder or pet store or a farmers' market or flea market or any other questionable place. For a bargain adoption fee you'll get an already fixed animal and you'll save a life rather than support the unethical selling of animals for profit.

When I was looking for a companion pet last year and my living situation didn't allow for a dog and allergies keep me away from cats, I learned about house rabbits and ended up adopting a rabbit from a local rescue organization. Owen was overlooked for a long time because of his "plain" looks, but now everyone who meets him falls in love because he's one of the sweetest, friendliest bunnies you'll find. He is totally and completely the bestest thing I could have brought into my home.


For more information on house rabbits, you can visit the House Rabbit Society at rabbit.org.

There is also a good introduction to house rabbits video on YouTube:

"Scratch Attack" Jake Black Benefit T-Shirt!

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As you should know by now, occasional TMNT writer Jake Black is currently fighting Hodgkins disease (i.e. CANCER). And that means a lot of big ugly medical bills. To help Jake out, his pals at Mirage Studios have been selling some Turtles wares, the proceeds from which go to pay those bills!

The latest of these sales is a T-shirt featuring the cat burglar Scratch facing off against Leonardo, by Fernando Leon Gonzalez and Ryan Brown!! The shirt looks GREAT and everyone needs to go buy one!! That means you!

Hit up NinjaTurtles.com for all the details!

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: TMNT Art and Other Swag

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I had a few Twitter requests to see my acquired art and swag during the Con, so I've put together a slide show showcasing what all I came home with:

EXCLUSIVE: "Turtles Forever" Complete Audio!

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Last Friday, July 24, 2009, Mirage Studios hosted a TMNT 25th Anniversary "Galabunga" party as part of San Diego Comic-Con, where, after pizza, cake, and prizes, fans were treated to the premiere screening of "Turtles Forever," a special animated adventure that saw the Turtles of the 4Kids series crossing into the multiverse of the original TMNT cartoon.

Shortly before the show started I realized that I had my audio recorder still with me, after utilizing it earlier in the day at the Con. I decided to take a chance and flip it on to see if the audio from the show would come out. I finally got around to checking the audio tonight, and what do you know, it actually turned out really good!

Here are all the disclaimers I present with the offering of this audio:

1. This audio is my own personal recording.
2. At no point during the night were we told, either in spoken word or print, that recording was not allowed.
3. As of right now there is no distribution deal for the release of "Turtles Forever" on DVD. This is surely forthcoming, but it can't hurt to raise enthusiasm for the project for potential distributors to see (and hear, in the case of the crowd reaction).
4. If at any point it is requested by Mirage Studios and/or 4Kids Entertainment for the file to be removed from this site, it shall be.
   

Further notes about the audio:

• This was recorded among a very lively crowd, so there is a lot of crowd noise that sometimes blocks out the audio from the movie.
• The volume in the room was very loud and my recording device is very basic (and as it was, I hit record as a crap-shoot to see if the audio came out at all), so there is a bit of distortion during the louder parts.

With all that said, you can download the audio here. Downloads are limited, so please comment if it needs to be re-uploaded.

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:

The TMNT Guide to San Diego Comic-Con 2009!

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Here it is! You're guide to the TMNT at San Diego Comic-Con 2009! Well, the best I could put together in between throwing socks and t-shirts into a suitcase while hoping I don't forget anything.





PROGRAMMING

There are two panels of particular interest for TMNT fans. As a Special Guest at this year's Con, Kevin Eastman has a panel dedicated to him on Thursday. The TMNT 25th anniversary panel will be on Friday, having something to do with the last 25 years (exactly what and how I haven't figured out). Also, expect John Fusco to be introduced as the writer of the upcoming movie planned for 2011.

THURSDAY

1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Kevin Eastman— TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman not only reflects on his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle years (with a preview his Comic-Con exclusive 25th Anniversary hardcover collection of favorite TMNT stories!), but also shares sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes teasers or trailers for his upcoming animated film projects—War of The Worlds: Goliath! and Underwhere—and introduces the new Tor Books Novel line Heavy Metal Pulp and the in-development Biz and Buzz animated series. Last but not least, Kevin will give you an update on the new David Fincher/James Cameron–produced Heavy Metal film! Room 5AB

FRIDAY

4:15-5:15 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles— This look at the whole spectrum of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (from comics to toys to TV to movies to video games) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the world-famous brand. Moderator Gary Richardson (CEO, Mirage Studios) discusses the evolution of the Turtles with those people instrumental in the characters' incredible success. Panelists include Kevin Eastman (co-creator of TMNT), Lloyd Goldfine (supervising producer, 4Kids Productions), Steve Barron (director of the original TMNT movie), Karl Aaronian (senior VP of marketing, Giochi Preziosi U.S.A.), Matt Leunig (associate producer, Ubisoft), and Galen Walker (producer of new TMNT movie slated for 2011). Room 6DE

EXCLUSIVES

• NECA will be selling the April O'Neil w/ Mousers figure.
• KEVIN EASTMAN will be selling his TMNT 25th Anniversary book at the Heavy Metal booth.
• MIRAGE STUDIOS will be selling the two Jake Black fund-raising prints at their tables in Artists' Alley.

ON THE FLOOR

• Expect Ubisoft to be demo-ing at least one of the two upcoming TMNT titles.
• As one of the participants in the button give-away (see below), expect Sideshow Collectibles to reveal new TMNT product(s).
  

EVENT

• Friday night there is a preview screening of the the upcoming TMNT direct-to-video special, "Turtles Forever." An invitation to the event is required to attend, and can be acquired by collecting five buttons available at the following locations: Ubisoft's booth, Uclick's booth, Prima Games' booth, Sideshow Collectibles' booth, and the Turtle Van, which will be parked somewhere in or around Horton Plaza.

PEOPLE TO SEE

• Kevin Eastman can usually be found around the Heavy Metal booth, though possibly with less regularity this year than others.
• Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo, is also a special guest at the Con this year and can be found the entire weekend around his booth, or at several scheduled panels.
• Kevin Munrore, director of TMNT (2007), will be moderating the Thursday panel Masters of the Web and previewing his upcoming movie, Dead of Night starring Brandon Routh. An autograph session in the Sails Pavilion follows the panel.
• James Arnold Taylor, Leonardo in TMNT (2007), can be found throughout the Convention at several panels and scheduled signings.
• Mike Sinterniklass, Leonardo in the 4Kids TMNT cartoon, will be on the Saturday night Adult Swim/Venture Bros. panel.

ARTISTS' ALLEY

The following people can be found in Artists' Alley throughout the weekend:

• Dan Berger
• Michael Dooney
• Steve Lavigne
• Jim Lawson
• Eric Talbot
• ... and more!

Eastman & Laird Reunited!!!!

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Yes, the headline is true! You might have thought it would take hell freezing over for the two co-creators of the TMNT to get over their apparent irreconcilable differences and collaborate artistically once again. But no, it didn't take that, it took a much more unfortunate reason. You see, my pal and occasional TMNT writer Jake Black has the Big C. Yeah, that's right: Cancer. The good news for Jake is that the specific type of cancer he has is Hodgkins Lymphoma, which has an extremely high cure rate. The bad news is that being extremely treatable doesn't make the treatments any less sucky and it doesn't make medical bills any less expensive. He's already won a battle with his insurance company to get them to cover his treatments, but you know they're not covering anything. And on top of that he's still got a wonderful family to support, which isn't as easy to do when you're sick and can't work as much as you're used to.

That brings us back to the headline. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird have collaborated to create a commemorative art print, the sales of which will go to Jake's medical bills! I'm pretty sure that Kevin and Peter haven't collaborated in this form since the mid-90s and, honestly, the chances of this happening ever again are rare at best. What does that mean? It means you need to get yourself one of these!!

How do you get one? For now, you have to be attending San Diego Comic-Con next week. They will be for sale at the Mirage tables in Artists' Alley for the (extremely reasonable) price of $25. The edition sold at Comic-Con is limited to 100 pieces, but if you miss out or can't make the Con, don't fret too hard, it sounds like a non-Comic-Con edition of the print will eventually become available. Jake reports that there are also plans to put the image on T-shirts and posters.

The current Mirage crew collaborated on a print, also for Jake's benefit, that was first sold at a Free Comic Book Day event back in May. This print will also be available at Comic-Con next week for $20.

Chrome Fugitoid Figure Available For Pre-Order

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This showed up on Entertainment Earth a few days ago, but was then quickly taken down. Well, it's back - Chrome Fugitoid! Better get your pre-orders in now, as this is destined to ultimately be one of those ultra-rare figures. How else will it be available? No idea! Retailers that carry Playmates' TMNT figures are dropping like flies (Target recently dropped them, seeming to leave only Toys R Us left), so it's not going to be on a store shelf (or peg) near you. This could very well be the last TMNT action figure until they no doubt release movie tie-ins in 2011. Am I sad about that? No, I'm laughing because the fans that Playmates was pointing and laughing at were right and they were wrong. Too bad for them.

But if you dig Chrome Fugitoid, best get your order in now.

Link was found on Twitter via @geekgirldiva - Thanks!

TMNT: Smash-Up New Characters Revealed

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Hey, I must be on "The List" now - Ubisoft has checked in again, this time with new screen shots and a video revealing three new playable characters: Karai, Nightwatcher, and Fugitoid. Check out the pics & video below.

TMNT Smash-Up & Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled Updates

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You probably know about the upcoming TMNT Smash-Up & Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled video games, but aside from breaking the news on the existance of TMNT Re-Shelled, I've pretty much left the gaming Web sites to take care of feeding the public with info on them, since they generally get fed all that information directly and the only thing I'd be able to do is steal their news from them and I'm just not that kind of person.

Anywho, a fine gentleman from Ubisoft was kind enough to send me an e-mail with some pictures that, apparently, have not been sent to any of the other gaming Web sites (yet). That's right, these are for Turtles fans first!

Update: Quality issues have been fixed (thanks, Ubisoft!), but I'm told that this images aren't particularly new. Well, I guess it's still something.

     

You can keep current on all the latest news on these games on the following Web sites (as well as many others):

TMNT Smash-Up
Gamespot | IGN | 1Up | Official Site
Available September 15 on Wii and September 22 on Playstation 2.

Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled
Gamespot | IGN | 1Up | Official Site
Available August 5 on Xbox Live Arcade