The Positives and Negatives of Being a Well Known TMNT Fan

[Prowler]

Not gonna get into the discussion here, but I personally don't care about Michelle Ivey at all. Good for her if she loves the TMNT a lot, but I can't say I care or think about her at all except for when people occasionally mention her on the forums here.

[IndigoErth]

That is nuts that she got money from Playmates. And then squandered it.

Not saying it to be mean or judge or anything, but makes me wonder if she's a little on the spectrum. Sure, people who aren't can take obsessions and/or escapism to extremes, but that far and to the point of making detrimental decisions and maintaining bad priorities for so many years and throwing away $20k... yeah, I dunno.

I wish her well, nothing against her, but some counseling and a life coach might be a good thing one day; help balance the hobby with a healthy life.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

https://www.gofundme.com/jqtgdk

Scroll back in the donations and you'll see two contributions from Dani Tauzin, "Support from all your friends at Playmates Toys."

Ahh....so they took a collection. Nice of them, I guess.

[MrPliggins]

If I remember right the show aired on vh1 in 2004 or 2005.

There was an episode with a guy obsessed with turning himself into a cat, and another one about a guy obsessed with his wife gaining as much weight as possible. The show's goal was basically to find obsessed people and dial it up a notch or six using editing, coaxing them to say certain things and adding "facts" with voiceover.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by MrPliggins

If I remember right the show aired on vh1 in 2004 or 2005.

August 2004

https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/t...nt?oid=2187488

[IndigoErth]

That "Five essential things" list...

Welp, at least the girl would starve to death happy surrounded by a few of her favorite pieces.


My list would very possibly include one Leo figure -- ONE.* But the rest are all items for actual survival and, if possible, escape.

Spoiler:

* Hey, don't look at it me like that. This is in place of the religious or other personal objects some others would choose and, not wanting to inflict that situation on a living person/being you care about, you may as well take one old "friend" who won't create any conflicts or eventually cannibalize you, right?

Note: If you take a Turtle, just make sure to secure him better to your raft than Tom Hanks secures Wilson beach balls.

Originally Posted by MrPliggins

and another one about a guy obsessed with his wife gaining as much weight as possible.

Even if she shared the obsession, that one is just kind of abusive. Wonder if she's even alive this many years post-show.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by IMJ

But with that said, the guy who did the video wasn't too devastating in ripping on her, but I don't see any point to that video at all. I mean.... the guy who made it accomplishes nothing and does nothing to help the situation. He made the video for himself and for clickbait.

From what I understand his videos cover what he considers 'weird' people. It does seem like obvious clickbait, not sure why I got it in my notifications along with FredWolfLeonardo. If it was to get my attention it worked. If it was to get me to subscribe I didn't.

Originally Posted by Leo656

I sincerely hope the bits about ONLY eating pizza - and worse, only eating "authentic" TMNT-style toppings - were exaggerated. Just for starters.

She's stated on her YouTube channel that the entire show was exaggerated to make her look more obsessed than she actually is. She's definitely an uber TMNT fan but she doesn't eat pizza everyday or always wear her TMNT costume. She can't anyway due to health issues relating to a nerve in her wrist or arm.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Probably a nice person. Absolutely unhealthy lifestyle, though. Also none of my business, BUT, if people put themselves out there, they can expect people to toss in their two cents.

I agree. She's apparently okay with the attention from that video at least today. I mean it was done back in 2004 I think? Then again she has mentioned she still finds the misconceptions about her frustrating. She did a multi-part video covering the filming. It's interesting to watch what really happened behind the scenes.

Originally Posted by Zulithe

She has somehow become an unofficial face of the fandom and I think she's not very representative of most of us. And that is why she gets so much attention from within the fandom IMO. I think someone like Pixel Dan or Andrew Black Nerd are better examples of high-profile fans, they seem more relatable. But there's no drama or things to poke fun at with them so it's less entertaining for people.

To be fair she has raised money for charity and she brought to a lot of fans attention what happened with Ernie Reyes Jr's health problems.

Originally Posted by Zulithe

Michelle has an account here. If she reads this, I just want to say... it has to be surreal to have people in the fandom just randomly start talking about you even many many years after that episode aired on TV.

That's exactly why I made a disclaimer for the mods here at the start of this thread. Don't want to come across like I'm making trouble for her. It's just something I and and a couple of other TMNT fans have come across in the past week.

Originally Posted by The-Shredder

I really enjoyed the interviews she did on Cowabunga Corner with the cast of the shows and movies.

She actually has two channels. Not sure why she decided to split them up when they have the same content.

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

So long as people keep bailing her out, she isn't going to take on any responsibility for herself.

With her money issues I do wonder how she still has Internet access to continue her channel.

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Not saying it to be mean or judge or anything, but makes me wonder if she's a little on the spectrum.

Well I am on the spectrum so I can understand what that is like although thankfully I haven't been in similar situations with money Michelle has...yet.

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

What year did that episode even come out? Even though it's still out there, it does seem a skosh late to be poking fun at her for it.

2004 according to IMDB.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421472/fullcredits

Like I said, at this point it's low hanging fruit and Michelle's circumstances have changed greatly since then. I mean she's essentially got a disability and I don't mean her dyslexia.

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Welp, at least the girl would starve to death happy surrounded by a few of her favorite pieces.

That reminds me, I wonder how Michelle's health is going at the moment? I remember someone posted a video of her a year or so ago showing one of her nerve seizures. I hope she's a bit better than back then.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by pferreira

That reminds me, I wonder how Michelle's health is going at the moment? I remember someone posted a video of her a year or so ago showing one of her nerve seizures. I hope she's a bit better than back then.

Pretty sure it's "never better."

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Prowler

but I can't say I care or think about her at all except for when people occasionally mention her on the forums here.

I've never heard of this person until this thread. But with that said, if I had to guess then my guess would be that most people don't care nor think about the Turtle Girl weirdness unless it's mentioned for some reason.

Basically I'm pretty confident that you are not alone in this.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Pretty sure it's "never better."

Trying to be optimistic but you're probably right. I would like both of us to be proven wrong there. I remember she had the option of having surgery but she chose not to either because of the risk and her still being young. Could be misremembering that so don't quote me.

[IveyAngelo]

Was directed to this topic by a friend, and decided to check it out. First thank you pferreira, there’s deff a lot of both pros and cons of being known fans. And a lot of it comes from a lot of footwork that people don’t give credit to the fans for, they just assume they understand what we go through or see us as crazy for being known. Another thing is a lot of people think they know the fans because of what they’ve seen on the internet, which truth be told no one posts their entire life on the internet or tv shows, so unless you hang out with the person for a long period of time, you don’t know them enough to judge everything they do. Yet we get judged a lot, and usually by people who don’t know what is going on off the internet.

I know the “Totally Obsessed” show still goes viral at least once a year. It surprises me that the show is still a hit. I usually share the link to Cowabunga Corner #40 when people bring up the show to me, since that is the main video I did that shares the behind the scenes footage. I also keep in mind that all those people commenting on the video, a great example here is when Leo656 says “I sincerely hope the bits about ONLY eating pizza - and worse, only eating "authentic" TMNT-style toppings - were exaggerated. Just for starters.” is someone who is judging from the video alone. They don’t know me, so I see it as a character that they’re talking about, not the real me.

I do have one fan here who says that she hates me. But I know when I hate someone, I just go on with my life and not look into everything that person is doing, or waste my time replying to every topic that brings that person up. If I don’t like someone that’s my own problem, and I have more important things to do than follow their life with a fine tooth comb. So I see her as a closet fan who’s just really negative about me to the public cause she don’t want anyone to know. And I love the fact that she says she hates most about me is me asking for help, when she started hating me years before because of a nickname issue online. She didn’t like sharing.

Any how….

To answer the first question in here.

Originally Posted by pferreira

My question is really whether picking on a fan years later is fine and whether having a reputation like the one Michelle unintentionally has with that Totally Obsessed episode has it's pros or cons? As a fan do you guys want to appreciated in years to come in a positive way or do you not really care either way?

This goes on years and years after something is out of the media. It can be good or bad. But there’s people who talk about fans from the 1960’s or earlier still. Because they got in a magazine or was on the news for their fandom. There’s so many people out there who have passed away that still get talked about after their gone. It’s because they live a different type of life style or their story was told as a weird one, that gets people to do that double take. If you don’t fit in the mold, people remember you.

Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. But it’s up to the people if they take it personal or not. I try not too, because I know even the people who see Cowabunga Corner, follow me on Facebook or back on TMNT-L know “Me”. They know the stuff I talk about online, which is just my point of view. The best example of this is “Incredibles 2” when they’re explaining why the Supers have a bad rep and how they want to fix it. How no one knows what you’re going through or the choices you have to make in your personal life.

Originally Posted by IMJ

She's really into her hobby, but once it impacts the normal operations of your life rather than enhances them - well that's the first key measure of mental illness.

And this is where judging by a character the show created of me comes into play. A lot of people who read this get upset feeling they’re being attacked. But I know how the show played me out to be after 3 days of filming. My biggest problem is that I have ADHD and I also did not know how Reality (not really reality) TV works.

Any how, just to let you know the real me puts Family, bills, friends, and health above my fandom. Before I was injured I worked 2 to 3 jobs at a time. I now do my blog stuff when I can, as an outlet because of how much I miss having a job. I have other things I enjoy.

Originally Posted by Leo656

I don't know this person and I doubt we've ever interacted.

Hi Leo656, nice to meet you.

Originally Posted by Leo656

However, regardless of what the object of fixation is, that level of devotion and obsession simply isn't healthy, whether physically, emotionally, or mentally.

So true, and that’s what VH1 wanted everyone to believe. I gave them my real story, but they wanted to sell crazy so their editing and using things they had me say got them the crazy they were after. Check out the behind the scenes on Cowabunga Corner 40 to see how the show was made.

Originally Posted by Leo656

My concern is that the seriousness of it has been downplayed over the years by her friends and family because it's "just" TMNT. When I see things like this about fanatic-types, I always wonder what's going to happen to these people when their family members inevitably move away and/or pass away.

Well I spend a lot of time away from the family, traveling the country, be it with friends or alone. Usually sponsored trips because people want me to cover and work different events. Again, I’m not the character in the show. And my dad joking about me spending my own money, back in 1991-1993 when I did a lot of my collecting as a kid, I was doing children birthday parties as a Turtle and was buying a lot of my toys with my own money. And as soon as I started working, teaching Karate in 1995 I was spending my money on my stuff. And before I was injured I was 3 months ahead of all of my bills.
So I think I’ll be okay, and most known fans I meet and hang out with are the same, not crazy, not putting themselves at risk, and sometimes their co workers don’t even know about their collections because they want to look professional. What media shares about us is not always true and often exaggerated for ratings. Now I don’t hide my fandom, never did. Still worked many many normal jobs and got so many other shows, movies and music that’s a part of my life.

Originally Posted by Leo656

BUT, if people put themselves out there, they can expect people to toss in their two cents.

Yes, people put in their two cents all the time. Again, I just know that everyone who does is putting it towards a character.

Zulithe thanks for realizing it’s my life. And I have to say every problem I got with reality, has not had anything to do with my fandom. Be it being injured at work, having a car decide to drag my car down an expressway, to family health problems or even losing our family home. My life is an adventure, I have the high stuff and the low stuff, but everyone does to different extremes and measures. I’m not sure why people don’t think I’m facing reality daily like anyone else. It’s just not what I post all the time.

Both Pixel Dan and Andre are awesome people! But really I think every fan has something to give towards their story with media and all fans are equal. I know every time some media comes to me and wants to interview I suggest a bunch of other TMNT fans that they can also look into. As I feel all of our stories should be out there, not just one or two. And I’m not the one reaching out to these medias. The Toys that Made Us shocked me, when they emailed asking to talk (first time a show I was already a fan of contacted me). And their first line was that they don’t think they’ll be interviewing me because they already got a collector and my response was “okay, that’s cool!” I do not see myself as the face of the fandom, just a loud fan and there’s a lot of fans out there who do blogs, conventions and such.

And yes I do find out about these topics from time to time. And they’re all over the internet, not just on TMNT forums. It does feel weird that I am a subject to be talked about. When I was a kid I knew I wanted to get into entertainment, but my dream was not to be a big name movie or tv star. I wanted to do puppet and costume work for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Or even be a voice actor. I love making people happy and entertaining folks, but I did not want my face all over. I know too many famous people who can not live a normal life because they’re too well known. So I never intended to get known even the slightest. This was not how I saw myself when I thought about being an entertainer.

Replying to The-Shredder. Thanks so much for the kind words on the interview with Michael. He’s a great guy and a big TMNT fan himself. I love getting these interviews out there for everyone. I have been behind the scenes of TMNT since around 1992 and most of those years it was just me hanging out with people who became friends. In 2010 I decided to start Cowabunga Corner, and felt that if I’m doing a video blog I should get some of them to share their stories with anyone who’s interested as well. My fandom became more of a job for me, but it’s because I know people don’t always get to meet these guys that I want to help get their stories out to the fans.

Original TMNT Cartoon Fan, I can’t agree more! Fan sites gave everyone the chance to express themselves and what they love of the Turtles! There’s not as many because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr has taken over the world of Fandoms. It’s good when message boards like this survive. A place where fans can go and focus on their main interest instead of sorting through a ton of shared posts.

(I had more to this reply trying to touch on everyone's comments who talk about me... but it was to long lol)

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by IveyAngelo

And this is where judging by a character the show created of me comes into play. A lot of people who read this get upset feeling they’re being attacked. But I know how the show played me out to be after 3 days of filming. My biggest problem is that I have ADHD and I also did not know how Reality (not really reality) TV works.

Any how, just to let you know the real me puts Family, bills, friends, and health above my fandom. Before I was injured I worked 2 to 3 jobs at a time. I now do my blog stuff when I can, as an outlet because of how much I miss having a job. I have other things I enjoy.

Good to hear. And I totally understand the spin that T.V. productions can put on things. It's happening all over the place in the world around us nowadays.

[Leo656]

Yeah, I dig it. Kinda been there, different circumstances. I'm "technically" in a wrestling documentary called "Card Subject To Change" that was filmed back in like 2010 ((which you can find on DVD and streaming! Cheap Plug)), but nobody who's in it was especially happy with how it came out. They filmed it over an entire year and the final result, while "okay", is very far from what we were promised it would be; I and most of my buddies were almost completely removed from the final product and they definitely skewed what was left into the story they wanted to tell. We all felt kind of bait-and-switched. They had hundreds of hours of footage and were ostensibly going to focus on how aging veterans and up-and-coming nobodies co-exist on the independent wrestling scene, and in the end they barely touched on that because they found the carny shenanigans of the shady promoters was much funnier and more interesting. Which it's not. Even a lot of the "name stars" who made the cut were pretty unhappy with the final product.

So yeah, I'm familiar with how these types of projects can skew things into whatever story they decide is worth telling, whether it's fair or balanced or accurate or not.

Anyways, hope all's well, Michelle. People tell me that you've had a lot of ups and downs, hopefully it's presently on an upswing.

[AquaParade]

Yeah, one time I went to the county fair and a man offered to draw me for $20, but then he drew me all goofy looking and made a fool out of me.

Similar sitch-e-ation.

[Leo656]

That was actually pretty good, man.

[IveyAngelo]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Anyways, hope all's well, Michelle. People tell me that you've had a lot of ups and downs, hopefully it's presently on an upswing.

Things are mixed between big good things and hard family stuff. I share both the good and bad on my instagram/facebook accounts. TMNT has been given some big drops of good stuff at a time when I’ve needed it most, as my father fell while being a guest at convention in Ohio. This was 5 weeks ago and he’s been in the ICU since, while we’re staying here to be with him.

Most of the time we’re going through that, but Kenn Scott released his book “Teenage Ninja to Mutant Turtle”, which was a great read to help me during this time. “The Toys that Made Us” Is another distraction that’s been good, we even went to some of the parties for The Toys that Made Us in this area on Friday. So got distraction to try and break some of the tension.

But during the last five week I’ve almost lost my dad a few times. I’m very Thankful for the hospital he’s in, as they’ve saved his life and is the reason he’s still with us. It’s been a hard month for us. My family is very close, so my mom, sister and I have been sticking together during this time.

Oh part of my message that ended up being to long I answered about my health. Not sure why pfeirreira saw that I did not have my surgery. I originally had it in 2011 and it worked good for almost 3 years, but the battery got weaker and my health got really bad for a few years there. I just got the battery replaced in February of this year and am doing a bit better. Still have attacks which is why I can’t hold a normal job (attacks last anywhere from 15 minutes to 7 hours and look scary to anyone who’s never seen it).

So yes, I live a roller coaster of a life. Which is why I normally say my life is an adventure, we never know what’s going to happen. Bad and scary to good and exciting. It’s always been like this.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by IveyAngelo

Oh part of my message that ended up being to long I answered about my health. Not sure why pfeirreira saw that I did not have my surgery. I originally had it in 2011 and it worked good for almost 3 years, but the battery got weaker and my health got really bad for a few years there. I just got the battery replaced in February of this year and am doing a bit better. Still have attacks which is why I can’t hold a normal job (attacks last anywhere from 15 minutes to 7 hours and look scary to anyone who’s never seen it).

Hi Michelle. Thanks for taking the time to respond here. I had absolutely zero idea you had surgery for your wrist or arm. I don't follow you on Facebook or other social media so never knew about that. I only remember someone posting a couple years ago here video of one of your attacks. Sorry to hear about your dad, I hope he gets help into better condition.

I must say I do need to start up watching your YouTube videos again as I've been concentrating on other channels. I have OCD about making sure I watch videos in order so I still some years behind in terms of backlog. Then I'm like that with most YT channels I'm subscribed to so you're in good company.

As the person who started this post originally I did it out of frustration of how you were still being perceived. As you say VH1 or whatever they're called created a character out of you and it's not who you are. I just find it frustrating especially in the comments the spreading of ignorance all because a new YouTuber wants to make a name for himself with easy material.

Anyway I hope all goes well with you and I do try to leave a like or comment on your videos so expect more of those.

pferreira