Had there not been TMNT ever, how different would your life be?

[Prowler]

Well, first of all, this website wouldn't exist and none of us would be here. Hell, none of us would "know" each other even.

Now, on a personal level... I find it hard to imagine this. TMNT was at some point my favourite thing ever. So it's hard to think about what could have taken its place instead.

I've consistently been a fan of video game series from companies like Nintendo, Sega and Capcom, sure. But is there really a guarantee that, would TMNT not ever have existed, I'd have Super Mario or Zelda as my number one? It's not like TMNT has been my number 1 from the get go.

A lot of you would probably just have a Marvel or DC character as your TMNT, but not me. I was never into that stuff. So I doubt Batman or Spider-Man would have been my heroes.

I got heavily into TMNT at a time where the property was pretty much dead in the eyes of the public. It was clearly a genuine "love".

Also, I may be pushing it, but I believe TMNT are indirectly responsible for me getting interested in anime/manga. The whole ninjas and Japan thing in TMNT pretty much was my introduction to oriental stuff. Which seems laughable now considering how inaccurate TMNT is when it comes to Japanese stuff. But I didn't know that when I was 8.

So, yeah, things would have turned out differently for me in some aspects. Kinda crazy to think about it.

What about you?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Personally, not much different because I got into tmnt late compared to other kids (when I was 15), and there already are many other franchises which grab my attention nowadays more than tmnt. Biggest difference for sure would've been not being on this forum, and not having dedicated so much time to watching the cartoons in the past.

Nowadays, my tmnt involvement is bare minimum. Maybe I listen to the Original Cartoon theme/soundtrack, or watch a clip here and there on Youtube every once in a while.

[neatoman]

... Uh, probably not that different? Even before I was into TMNT I was already into Spider-Man, the X-Men and Batman, things TMNT took a lot of inspiration from. So the odds are I'd still have similar tastes. The only thing I can say is that I doubt I would have known about Cerebus the Aardvark or Usagi Yojimbo, since their association with TMNT is what lead me to find out about them. Beyond that, TMNT has been weirdly lacking in influence over other franchises because most ones in it's vein were established before TMNT and are still going. There are a few obvious imitators like Street Sharks and Extreme Dinosaurs but to say those are noteworthy beyond imitating TMNT is absurd.

The most speculative thing I can say is that I might be a little less annoyed? Like, I may be into Spider-Man and the 60's Spider-Man cartoon is a piece of shit that probably recruited a lot Spider-Man fans early on, but I don't have to deal with people who'll try to claim that version is legitimately good or Marvel trying to recapture "what made it special" when it's obviously not a good idea. I'm pretty sure it's widely accepted that the 60's Spider-Man cartoon isn't special beyond being the first adaptation and certainly not praised, nobody cares about it beyond making memes out of it. Though considering Marvel occasionally makes a clone saga or other annoying things with Spider-Man, I'd still be dealing with the kind of crap Mutant Town brings to the table.

[MrPliggins]

My earliest sketchbooks are filled with TMNT and little else. I may not have pursued my current career path as an animator had it not been for my early interest in drawing the Turtles.

[Andrew NDB]

Probably a lot more productive member of society.

[Roseangelo]

Two of my best friends are people I met back in 1996 through the TMNT mailing list. And I still consider a lot of other people from back then to be close friends. So I would have many fewer friends.

I also probably wouldn't have started martial arts, which also would reduce my number of friends by a lot. Soooo... yeah.

[Sumac]

I'd be obsessed with Disney cartoons, I guess.
Or maybe Anime, even though I barely watched it in the 90s.

[newfan]

Before about 2016, no different other than I wouldn't have memories of turtle mania. Since I got into it, well, there wouldn't be a bedroom in my house with TMNT all over it (no, not mine ), I wouldn't have come here and I wouldn't have an on-line friend I've been speaking to for about 3ish years now.

Maybe I would have gotten into something else instead, like I have at the moment anyway. Being here opened my eyes a little more, with people talking comics, figures, general fan stuff, might be what caused my eventual first comic con venture, I don't know.

[Andrew NDB]

Honestly, it's hard to even speculate. Turtlemania was so hard in the paint in like super key years... I don't know. I can only give joke answers.

[mrmaczaps]

I'd have a few hundred less comics, probably a lot less NECA toys (lol) and about $4000 more for pew pews instead of that useless suit...so all around better probably. Lol

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Honestly, it's hard to even speculate. Turtlemania was so hard in the paint in like super key years... I don't know. I can only give joke answers.

I was born in 1990. So I definitely didn't live through Turtlemania. By the time I first came across TMNT the FW series was already coming to an end. And I was basically watching reruns of the first 3 seasons in the late 90s.

Then, for about 3 years or so, TMNT reruns were off TV and I kind of forgot about the property. Around early 2002 I'd catch returns of the FW series on TV again here and I began watching again. That's when I really started to become a huge fan.

By then I had lived through the Pokémon and DBZ fads when I was younger. Didn't care for DBZ. Pokemon? Cared about the first gen and that was it. The fact I managed to become a huge fan of TMNT around a time where no one cared about it anymore and there was no merch sold in stores is actually impressive. It's easy to become a huge fan of something when you live through its heyday, but not only did I get into TMNT during its dark years, I also was able to do it at a time where you couldn't just watch your favourite shows on the Internet. There was no YouTube or anything.

[Wildcat]

I don’t know. I’m guessing not much different. Something else would have caught my interest.

I’m pretty sure I was into Ghostbusters before TMNT. The cartoons were right on the line and I remember having GB toys before TMNT toys. I begged my parents to find a GB jumpsuit but don’t think they made official ones then...but I seem to remember a mall having them in adult size. Unless I dreamed it. My first TMNT figures I remember were Don and Raph right as we entered the 90s.

I enjoyed other cartoons and stuff in general but GB and TMNT were my first major interests. Never really got into comics/superheroes. I like Batman but I’m not heavily into it.

Had an NES of course and played games but mostly Mario. Once the Sega Genesis came out though Sonic topped everything for me. Don’t get me wrong I still love everything else but he ended up being my favorite character. Sonic, GB, TMNT must be my top 3 franchises and everything thing else is tied. Best way I can describe it.

[Cyndaquilfan123]

I think mine would actually be. I came up with the idea for my first short film I made based off a scene from TMNT 1990, and I learned Nunchaku because of Michelangelo.

Now, would I have done those things without it? Maybe. At least with the short film, I might have come up with a different idea. but I think TMNT had an impact that other things might not had have had.

[IMJ]

I'd have more money, less junk and probably more hobby time related to Iron Man or Indiana Jones.

[CyberCubed]

Considering I was 3-4 years old in the late 80's, I assume I would just be more of a hardcore Batman fan. The original TMNT cartoon came out when I was 2 years old, but the first Batman movie came out in 1989 and I saw it in theaters with my father. Of course I had Batman toys and watched Batman: TAS when it came out in 1992...but I was already a full blown TMNT fan by the time I was 4-5 years old.

Thinking back to it, if TMNT never existed, Batman would have been the only thing I would have followed. I only ever watched the first season of Power Rangers and fell off pretty quickly, as even when I was 7 years old I grew out of it fast. In the 90's I didn't watch FoxKids so even though I knew what Spider-man and X-men were, I didn't get into them at the time. I actually knew them more from trading cards than anything else.

So yeah there wouldn't have been much else. By the time Pokemon came out in 1998 I was already a teenager, so that would have been the same either way.

[IndigoErth]

Not much different I guess, just a bit more money in the bank account, a bit more space that some figures and other items take up. I'm not one of those who spend a ton of money collecting everything and all the expensive collectibles, etc, so it wouldn't be that major of a change.

Other interests in series, etc as a kid and later were a lot more casual interest and/or short lived, so not sure if there were any others I'd have actually latched onto the same way. I guess I'd have just been more bored and lacking a fictional "kindred spirit" in Leo, so that kinda sucks, but I suppose I wouldn't miss what I didn't know.

The only other thing really that is and probably always will be unknown is if TMNT and Leo influenced my liking of swords or if that was simply a shared thing I went into it with. Would I own the small sword displayed behind me if TMNT never existed? Not a clue.

[Wesley]

I’d probably be more of Batman fan.

Most other franchises I really liked as a kid (X-Men, Spider-Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.) I’m not big into now.

[neatoman]

I do wonder though, what would have filled the gap of Turtle mania? What else would have been a fad around that time?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by neatoman

I do wonder though, what would have filled the gap of Turtle mania? What else would have been a fad around that time?

Dino-Riders?

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by neatoman

I do wonder though, what would have filled the gap of Turtle mania? What else would have been a fad around that time?

Nothing. The late 80's and early 90's didn't have much and then Power Rangers came out and that's what originally killed TMNT's popularity