If Nickelodeon never bought TMNT
 

When Nickelodeon bought the TMNT-franchise in October 2009, the 2003–2009 animated TV-series was over, and Turtles Forever had aired.

But what would we have if they never did? Would we now have two films, IDW comics and the 2012 cartoon? Something else, or nothing new at all?

I for one am glad with what the buyout has given us, especially the return of not just Kevin Eastman's presence in the franchise but wonderful talents like Rob Paulsen. I'm sure it was a tough decision for Peter Laird to make, and I'm willing to bet he spent many countless nights debating whether or not it would be a good idea. I wish people would just get over the fact that Mirage no longer holds the rights to TMNT.

But do you think we would have anything new post-2009 if that never happened?

I'd say we wouldn't have got anything new if Nickelodeon never bought TMNT. Peter Laird had grown tired of it and wanted to move on.

Not even two films?

Maybe one or two films and the IDW comics, but I think a new cartoon would not have been made.

There would probably not be possible to put all characters the producers want into the same version (except for maybe Krang, Vernon, Bebop and Rocksteady appearing in the films).

I don't know... Maybe Peter would have ended up licensing TMNT for another cartoon? It seems like the most likely scenario, only he probably wouldn't be as involved that time around as he was with the 2003 series, only vetoing a few things.

What I have in mind is something like this, imagine that he licensed TMNT to Nickelodeon for a cartoon and they ended up putting the same people to work. You'd basically end up with the same show, only without Bebop, Rocksteady, Slash etc.

The franchise was dead in the water when Nickelodeon bought it.

The TMNT franchise as a whole would be like the current state of Mirage comics from PL....non-existent.

IDW would have never gotten the license if not for Nick, so we would have no new comics now either.

I think we'd have maybe gotten another series of trade paperback reprints of the Mirage books.

They were selling book 1 in Artist's Alley.
But short of that....who knows.

If Nickelodeon wouldn't have bought TMNT, I would've been so happy. However, we wouldn't have gotten the IDW comics and I do love those. We probably would've gotten a better live action movie as well.

No we wouldn't have. The movie deal was dead in the water before Nick picked it up.

And why would you have been so happy if Nick didn't get the license? The cartoon was a huge hit, and you don't have to watch it if you don't want to.

While I doubt this is the case, I'm curious how things would be now if someone other than Nick had picked up the license.

Disney?
Warner Brothers?
Someone else....

Well if Disney or Warner Brothers got to TMNT, then TMNT comics would probably be a neglected aspect of Marvel or DC. Fox or Universal, maybe even Sony?

And maybe some Archie...

Thanks for reminding me even more how boring it was to be a TMNT fan back in 2009.

WB and Disney both could have bought the license, Nick offered them the highest money and were interested. I'm sure Mirage would have sold to Disney if they were interested back in 2009 and/or offered more than the $60 million Nick did for the franchise.

Disney would probably give the TMNT franchise more publicity, but I don't think it's worth that.

What Rose said is only partially true, the franchise was indeed dead but only during that moment, the first movie had failed and the 2k3 show had been cancelled after multiple seasons and there was no plan for anything new and Laird had been tired of the franchise for a while now at that time. But like it did in the past it would've had some off time and returned. Look at the franchise now and it's also "dead", no more movies after they bombed, the 2012 Nick show is coming to an end and IDW isn't doing gangbusters either so who knows how long it'll last. The problem with Viacom owning the turtles is for them they already profited from the franchise and it could easily be thrown in their bolt and seen as a product that doesn't make money anymore outside of licensing for nostalgic nerds. Viacom has tons of franchises that have been huge and would've gotten revivals by any other company and yet they don't, I don't really know why; Only recently are we seeing them revive old Nickelodeon stuff but even then it seems to be aimed at nostalgic adults who grew up with those IPs instead of re-imagining them for new generations.

But anywho let's take a look at what would've happened in the short term if Viacom hadn't bought TMNT:

The Mirage comics would've continued in their once every so long I believe Laird would've been more inclined to finish something even if not the story and only releasing one new issue every 2 years and Tales would've continued along with reprints. So yeah no IDW there.

Would we have seen a new TMNT show as fast as Nick's did? Probably not but another animated show would've happened eventually and I'm sure by 2017 we'd be enjoying it (or hating it). Who knows where the show would've appeared, maybe even Nickelodeon and who knows if Laird would've finally allowed Mutants and other OT elements in it like the Nick 2012 show did. That's still up in the air, I think after his baby 2k3 finished, his lack of enthusiasm of TMNT stuff and all the pressure to have OT content he would've caved and allowed it.

We already had a movie on the way and it would've released and while Andrew would've still hated it you can bet it would've been nothing like the goofy movie we got from Platinum Dunes and hate. Who knows if it would've been a success but we would've at least had that movie to look forward to that Laird described as "closer to the comics"

The nostalgic merchandising would've continued pretty much as it did as we'd already seen a lot of that stuff before the sale. It's true that once Viacom owned TMNT this type of merchandise was seen everywhere and Mirage wouldn't have done that but it was inevitable since there was demand there. We'd already seen Laird being ok with that type of OT merchandise. It's more likely that we wouldn've seen season sets for 2k3 as 4Kids started licensing their stuff for cheaper DVD sets, that dream is now dead as the format is dead. Video Games? Well we haven't gotten any good ones and I don't think we would've either, maybe some cheap licensed apps.

TMNT is too big and what's considered in business as an evergreen company that will always make money so of course it would've continued without the sale and as reluctant as Laird was to try different things I do think it was better having a man and small company in charge of TMNT than a multi-billion dollar one. Without Viacom we wouldn't have gotten this current wave of TMNT so soon but it went away as quick as it came and even if it wasn't terrible it really could've been so much better that what we got with the new movie and show, which I don't hate and like them but they are far from my favorite incarnations as well. Let's hope for the best.

Sdp time to go over a few things.

The problem is Mirage would have to take the interest with another party to revive it back in 2009, otherwise they would have sat on the property and let it stay dormant. TMNT isn't like WB, Disney, etc. franchises where they can get revived by company execs out of nowhere...TMNT was basically a niche indie franchise owned by a minor company.

IDW TMNT is literally their best selling book at the moment. It's going to get at least a 10 year run (we're in year 5 now) and 100 issues (we're up to issue #66 now). IDW TMNT will continue long after the cartoon ends.

Mirage had no interest in doing more reprints. They only put out two collections for the 25th anniversary and stopped there. They never intended to continue reprinting old books. Also Volume 4 would stay dead as it is right now, PL just doesn't care to continue it. Tales of the TMNT also ended in 2010 when Mirage still has rights to publish 12 comics a year even while IDW is going, they don't want to do it.

Most likely we'd have no new TMNT cartoon for a decade. TMNT would be a dead franchise. We'd all be sitting here twiddling our thumbs.

Mirage wouldn't have continued the license for toys when they were done. The Playmates toyline was ending in 2010 for the most part. Had Nick not picked up the license we'd get nothing.

NOW TMNT is an evergreen property, but there was no guarantee it would be one before. Remember when the original cartoon ended and nobody believed there would be a "new" TMNT cartoon after? When the 2k3 series was originally announced people were shocked. Nobody expected a new show.

And as said, the only reason the Nick cartoon started so quickly is because they got the licensed and wanted to make a new show as quick as possible. Otherwise TMNT would have had nothing new since 2009.

Seriously, it's like some of you have no idea what the "dead years" of TMNT were like circa around 1997-2001 besides the flop of Next Mutation. For those of us old enough to remember that era it would have happened again.