Realistic Anamatronic TMNT @ Monsterpalooza

[Commenter 42]

Just stumbled across this today (hope I'm not late to the party on this ).

Many folks have speculated that PDMT would have been better with practical suits, and the same designs refined to be less cluttered and skinnier.

Something like the look of J S Marantz's rejected designs:

Spoiler:

I think this is what you'd get. Splinter is a huge improvement, while the rest...er....well?

[The Stryker]

Terrifying.

They kinda have a Mac and Me thing happening in the eyes.

[PangolinFeets]

These are probably the closet thing we'll get to real ninja turtles. My only complaint would be the lack of any real muscle definition.

Still...a thousand times better than Bay turtles.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by The Stryker

Terrifying.

They kinda have a Mac and Me thing happening in the eyes.

It's the dead eye stare...freaky

Originally Posted by PangolinFeets

These are probably the closet thing we'll get to real ninja turtles. My only complaint would be the lack of any real muscle definition.

Still...a thousand times better than Bay turtles.

I don't know if these are better...they are, different...

[The Boston Ninja Turtle]

personally i find them more appealing than the bat turtles face wise, they actually look turtle ish and not human


the arm scales are a bit to much but everything else is fine

[snake]

That looks horrible

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by The Boston Ninja Turtle

the arm scales are a bit to much but everything else is fine

It's funny, so much effort went into the detail on the head and shell, but then the arms, hands and feet, the scales, a total rush job.

Not to harp on it, but this is exactly why I'm for Sliders over Box turtles.

Originally Posted by snake

That looks horrible

Yep, but I've seen worse. We live in an age of the hyper grotesque. I've yet to see live action, realistic designs that don't trip people the **** out.

[Amaranthus]

They could totally make a cool looking ninja turtle outfit if they wanted too.
They used a costume for Abe Sapien in the Hellboy movies, right? It's proof that it could work for the turtles.

[shuriken]

I like em, they look trippy. Kinda scrawny and a bit too scaly, but the faces, plastron and overall look is pretty great IMO. Prefer this look over BayTurtles easily. Also Splinter looks boss as well, and also not as scary as the Turtles.

[d_osborn]

I'm not really sure why this fully animatronic display is being compared to what would have been in the PD movie had practical suits been used. This display is more comparable to something at a cheesy theme park or Chuck-E-Cheese. I'm not knocking the quality or craftsmanship, but this display just didn't have the sort of budget or dev time behind it compared to a big-budget franchise tentpole movie.

I'm not sure if there were ever tests completed (I heard there were pre-PD, but can't confirm). I'm guessing it would have been more in line with what was seen in Where the Wild Things Are. Practical suits worn by actors with mo-cap facial animation, not unlike what was used by ILM. That was the big rumor when Mirage was developing the movie.

[Leo656]

Not perfect, but better than the sh*t we have to put up with now and for the next 10 years or whatever.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by d_osborn

This display is more comparable to something at a cheesy theme park or Chuck-E-Cheese. I'm not knocking the quality or craftsmanship, but...

Um...actually, you are.
These are costumes, built by an practical effects house. They decided to take the costumes, and put them on display. The limited animatronics were an afterthought - it's all there in the video.

Originally Posted by d_osborn

I'm guessing it would have been more in line with what was seen in Where the Wild Things Are. Practical suits worn by actors with mo-cap facial animation, not unlike what was used by ILM. That was the big rumor when Mirage was developing the movie.

They also said PDMT was going to be just like The Avengers and The Raid. Unicorns and Fairies man...Just because it's a practical effect, doesn't mean it's going to be awesome, great, or even good. WTWTA is very impressive, and everyone loves to argue that a "mix of practical and CGI is the best approach" but for every WTWTA, you have hundreds of derpy abominations. Frolicing cartoony monsters are one thing; agile weapon toting turtles are quite another.

Originally Posted by beeshaw

Creepy and too feminine. Best part is Donnie sticking his tongue out. Everything else is Nightmare fuel.

Feminine? I don't see it.
You must admit that this Splinter is miles better than PDMT's nightmare-fule-garbage-wretched-vomit-blight.

[beeshaw]

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

Feminine? I don't see it.
You must admit that this Splinter is miles better than PDMT's nightmare-fule-garbage-wretched-vomit-blight.

Is that Leo there, or Venus? Can't pin point it. they just read as feminine to me. Maybe it's the body shape. Maybe it's the head shape/eyes.



And yeah. I'll give you that Splinter is an improvement.

[d_osborn]

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

Um...actually, you are.
These are costumes, built by an practical effects house. They decided to take the costumes, and put them on display. The limited animatronics were an afterthought - it's all there in the video.

Okay, I'll give you that. I am knocking it. It looks terrible-- as huge budget blockbuster suits. These were built for conventions (also in the video) on what I'm guessing was a shoestring budget by a really talented group. I dig the creativity. I dig the craftsmanship. I dig the drive from the artists. The work is awesome. However, it's not even close to what practical, six figure budget suits for a major movie would be. If you were to ask any of the artists that worked on the project, I would be willing to bet that they would say the work was not meant to be compared to super budget costumes.

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

They also said PDMT was going to be just like The Avengers and The Raid. Unicorns and Fairies man...

I'm not sure how tone and fight choreography fits in the discussion of creature FX, other than to just continue beating a dead horse. My discussion in this thread isn't meant to be taken as defending the idea as the ultimate solution to the creature FX.

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

Just because it's a practical effect, doesn't mean it's going to be awesome, great, or even good. WTWTA is very impressive, and everyone loves to argue that a "mix of practical and CGI is the best approach" but for every WTWTA, you have hundreds of derpy abominations. Frolicing cartoony monsters are one thing; agile weapon toting turtles are quite another.

True, practical suits could have turned out looking like trash... or really awesome. Immediately knocking the idea of practical suits based on some inexpensive (in relation to actual movie budget) convention suits doesn't really make a lot of sense. Look at the 1990 Henson suits compared to home-brew convention replicas. Night and day. Same issue here.

I would love to see whatever R&D was being developed, if any.

[beeshaw]

I'm mainly focusing on Leo. His body proportions read feminine to me. He looks like Venus minus the beeewbs. Maybe it's the slanted eyes. Maybe it's the less than broad shoulders and chicken legs (never skip leg day).

The point of them being actual 'Teenagers' above is valid argument though.

[Commenter 42]

The slanted eye is characteristic of all turtles.

[beeshaw]

Creepy and too feminine. Best part is Donnie sticking his tongue out. Everything else is Nightmare fuel.