[Coola Yagami]

There's a new group of heroes about hit the airwaves. Many have not heard of the independent comic book series from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird about mutated turtles that fight with ninja weapons. The comics are a hit within the independent market but now it's time for them to hit the mainstream.

Peter Laird says 'We want to make a live action movie about our turtles but it's difficult to find a proper studio since they're not as well known. We decided to work with Fred Wolf to make a cartoon series, which I'm sure will treat our characters fairly and in no way come back to bite us.

But befote they could do that they needed a toyline to further warrant a cartoon show, much like He-Man, G.I Joe and Transformers. They were quick to strike a deal with Playmates.

The CEO of Playmates says "We kept the designs as close as we can but the problem was, the turtles all look exactly the same. Even we couldn't tell who was who when reading these things. We decided giving them different colored bandanas and initials on their belts to tell them apart. It'll be cool and trendy and kids will love it!'

David Wise from Fred Wolf had this to say. "We have faith in the toyline but we're still doubtful if kids would accept slow animals as turtles being able to be fast and martial arts fighters. We'll start with a 5 episode run this year, and see how it goes. We'll introduce the characters and basic story. After reading 2 issues of the comics. I'm sure we got a handle on this!

Look for the action figures to hit stores soon. The 5 episode series will air early morning from Monday to Friday. This could possibly end up to be a hit!

When asked to comment on the potential changes to the characters to make them more marketable for kids, co-creator Kevin Eastman had this to say. "Go for it!'