Being a TMNT fan in 1998-2002.

[Prowler]

What was it like being a TMNT fan after the FW series ended and before the 2k3 series came along? TNM came after the end of the FW series but that flopped and most people didn't like. Also I'm sure many didn't even watch it at the time. I had not heard of TNM until 2005 or so. I know there's also the Image series in the mid-late 2000s but even less people knew of that.

Personally, I got into the Turtles around the time the FW series had already been over. So I was a big fan of the cartoon in the late 90s and especially in the early 2000s. I'd watch and record the reruns religiously.

It was a bit lonely being a TMNT fan at this time because the fad was pretty much dead. So if you were a young kid getting into the FW series at this time... there were no comics or action figures for sale on toy shops for you to buy and play with. I had to wait until the 2k3 series came along for me to get my first Turtle action figures... and good lord what a glorious day that was.

I had never expected for the TMNT to ever get a new cartoon. And I also feared the franchise would die for good once the 2k3 series was over.

What about the older users in here? For those of you born in the early 80s who were watching the FW series back when it aired, how did it feel being a TMNT fan after the fad was over and before the 2k3 cartoon began?

[neatoman]

Weren't there a bunch of comics in that gap?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Weren't there a bunch of comics in that gap?

Yes, the Image series I believe? But again, Most TMNT fans weren't aware of that. I bet lot of people in here only discovered the comics after the 2k3 series came out. Or they knew about them for a while but only managed to truly get into them in the past 10 years or so since internet shopping and such made it a lot easier.

So yeah, not many TMNT fans were reading the comics coming out in 1998-2002, I bet.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

TMNT was just a childhood memory for me at the time. Videotapes, comics and some action figures.

[CyberCubed]

At that time most fans were either re-discovering the series through VHS tapes (remember DVDs didn't exist at the time for the original cartoon ) and there were all those old fansites and webrings like geocities sites beginning the earliest online TMNT fandom.

Overall you have to remember the age range of most fans back then was very young, mostly ranging in the 12-14 or so age. Most of us were barely entering our teens back then, besides some of the older fans.

[biganimefan]

I was born early '84 and got into TMNT during '89. So...yeah I definitely grew up with this franchise. I remained as invested in it as I could throughout the 90's. Enjoyed all 3 movies, owned a couple dozen Archie TMNT comics and even got a Mirage trade. I knew about Image in the late 90's, but only ever found issues 2-4. Comics were never my thing, so I probably could have found more, but i've never frequented any comic stores. I really loved the "Red Sky" seasons back in the day. Turtlemania never exactly died for me, especially throughout the 90s. I was hugely upset during the '95-'96 TMNT seasons where an episode was supposedly going to be shown but something else aired instead. Usually golf or something. I still was able to tape the entirety of season 9 and more than half of 10(including the entire 3 part story). I loved Next Mutation as it aired. It's ok now...what I've seen of it, just kinda bland.

During 2001- early 2003 I ended up starting to search the internet and used stores very often in the search for more TMNT VHS tapes(that I did not own). Even at this point I owned about 1/4 of the series and buying more of the tapes brought that up to maybe 1/3. I saw the premier of the 2K3 series and loved it. But mostly starting late in 2002 till sometime in '06, Anime largely became my main "franchise" of interest. In 2006 I got back into Turtles more, and haven't really stopped since. TMNT is hardly my only or even main "franchise of interest" but it is the oldest one for me and it meant a lot to me as a quiet, depressed, shy kid with very few friends.

[Powder]

My TMNT obsession never waned, so I didn't quite realize the "dead" period. I was still watching tapes, finding toys in Kay-Bee & other stores, eating pizza, playing with games/toys/prop weapons among friends, finding comics/books, etc.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I recall missing TMNT so much during those years.

[Wesley]

I never really thought about what it was like to be a tmnt fan back then, tbh. I kinda moved on to other fads such as Pokemon and Yugioh. I still watched reruns of the Fred Wolf toon every now and then on rte two, though I never thought there would be another tmnt cartoon either. Became interested in the franchise in 2002 when I started visiting this forum. It was a great surprise to find out that there was going to be a new cartoon starting in early 2003.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Prowler

What about the older users in here? For those of you born in the early 80s who were watching the FW series back when it aired, how did it feel being a TMNT fan after the fad was over and before the 2k3 cartoon began?

Well the original series had run it's course and I had stopped watching it. There was other stuff to see and do. I do remember rolling my eyes at The Next Mutation for how childish it was. I think liking retro cartoons or video games in the early 2000s made you look a bit of an outcast. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that it became trendy again to like that stuff.

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

"Novas Tartarugas Ninja" in Portugal

"Tartarugas Mutantes Ninja" in Brazil

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenag...esenho_de_2003)

I remember seeing Season 7 episodes dubbed and wished they were in English.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Well the original series had run it's course and I had stopped watching it. There was other stuff to see and do. I do remember rolling my eyes at The Next Mutation for how childish it was. I think liking retro cartoons or video games in the early 2000s made you look a bit of an outcast. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that it became trendy again to like that stuff.

I remember seeing Season 7 episodes dubbed and wished they were in English.

Why the heck is it dubbed for different versions of Portuguese? If a series is dubbed into English, it's not one different for each English-speaking country.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Why the heck is it dubbed for different versions of Portuguese? If a series is dubbed into English, it's not one different for each English-speaking country.

The FW series was never dubbed into European Portuguese. it aired here in English with subtitles. Dubbing cartoons was not the norm in Portugal until the mid-late 90s when DBZ and Pokemon got dubbed.

Well, why would the English and the Aussies dub American cartoons? In Portugal we don't dub a movie if it's from Brazil either... although we did watch Cidade Deus(City of God) in HS... with the subtitles on, because it's hard to understand the uneducated slang and expressions many characters in that movie used. If you dropped an American in rural Scotland he'd struggle too.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Prowler

The FW series was never dubbed into European Portuguese. it aired here in English with subtitles

Not even during the reruns you caught by the late-1990's and early-2000's?

[Spike Spiegel]

Was this period all that different from, say, 2009-2012?

Plus, I think Next Mutation was running from '98-'99 or so. I remember the VHS tape of the first set of episodes was a popular thing to check out at my library.

If that proposed series for the WB happened, the hiatus would have been even shorter.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Not even during the reruns you caught by the late-1990's and early-2000's?

No. The show had already been fully subbed, so why bother dubbing it years later considering the show was over by then and the Turtlemania craze of the late 80s/early 90s was dead?

[sdp]

I never stopped liking TMNT, it's just that TMNT stopped putting out stuff so I kind of forgot about TMNT and moved on to Star Wars, Dragon Ball Z, The Simpsons, N64 and Pokemon which were the big franchises to me back then after TMNT.

I remember thinking the The Next Mutation toys and show looked freaking fantastic, I just didn't get to watch the show as a kid much. When there was nothing available I liked TMNT but like I said I just preferred to play with Dragon Ball/Star Wars toys or play Nintendo 64 and the turtles didn't cross my mind until 2k3 video games and screen shots started coming out which rekindled my nostalgia for this franchise I once loved.


So yeah, being a fan was ok since I had plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied and not jaded about it, also those being the final years of my childhood and beginning my teenage years likely helped me not caring about TMNT since it was that odd transition phase where you are "too old" for cartoons but not old enough to "not give a sh-t" what people think. It wasn't until I was 16 that I realized I still liked cartoons and that no one cared if I liked them or not, my social circles were all pretty open to "like whatever the hell you want to like", as long as you weren't anti-social about it, no one cares.

[Slap-Happy]

I became a fan during this period. I was able to get a ton of tapes and toys for cheap at swap meets and thrift stores, so it was a pretty good time for me. Mirage comics were plentiful and cheap too.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Why the heck is it dubbed for different versions of Portuguese? If a series is dubbed into English, it's not one different for each English-speaking country.

Originally Posted by Prowler

The FW series was never dubbed into European Portuguese. it aired here in English with subtitles.

Really? I remember seeing dubbed Season 7 episodes which put me right off watching it. This would have been in the mid-90s. Maybe my mind is faulty but I do remember switching on and seeing Portuguese dubbed episodes of Atlantis Awakes and Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter on SIC. Maybe I'm wrong? I definitely remember Power Rangers was dubbed.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Really? I remember seeing dubbed Season 7 episodes which put me right off watching it. This would have been in the mid-90s. Maybe my mind is faulty but I do remember switching on and seeing Portuguese dubbed episodes of Atlantis Awakes and Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter on SIC. Maybe I'm wrong? I definitely remember Power Rangers was dubbed.

I didn't watch the show until ti began getting reran often on Canal Panda from 1997 or so onward... and it was entirely in English. My brother also told me he only recalls seeing it in English when he was younger. I never came across FW episodes in European Portuguese on YT. In Brazilian Portuguese, yes, but not in European Portuguese. First time I hear this tbh.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I didn't watch the show until ti began getting reran often on Canal Panda from 1997 or so onward... and it was entirely in English. My brother also told me he only recalls seeing it in English when he was younger. I never came across FW episodes in European Portuguese on YT. In Brazilian Portuguese, yes, but not in European Portuguese. First time I hear this tbh.

Well it was definitely shown in the mid-90s on SIC on weekends in Portugal. Not sure it was dubbed but I believe I would have sat down to watch it if it wasn't.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

For my now-10 year old daughter, I can attest to "Monster High" and "Littlest Pet Shop" being huge for her and all of her friends.

So they made a remake of Littlest Pet Shop? Was the original series that well remembered?

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

George Lucas said the original movies were aimed at kids/teens, which they were. There were no adult fans in the 70's, it was all the kids at the time who became adult fans in the 80's and 90's as they aged.

You got it.