Peter Lairds Old Toon Opinions..

[Vegita-San]

I hope Pete reads this and can give us an answer on the blog, because there's never really been an on topic post to bring it up...

But I've always wondered about Pete's reluctance to use old school characters, when just about every other brand trots them out and honors them. Hell, even Star Wars went back to some of the old crummy Marvel comics and put in some of the better characters to current SW cannon.

Their reasoning? 'Everyone has a favorite character...'

I can think of a few things that might cause this old toon reluctance..

1 - He was buried up to his ears with the stuff and he's just tired of looking at characters he feels doesn't represent the true tmnt image.

2 - He wants to focus on promoting the new line only, thinking maybe younger fans would get confused with two seperate merchandising lines...

3 - Maybe he hates the fact that 95% of current generation turtle fans found the franchise through the original cartoon series and then followed it on from there. Hence why so many older fans hold it so dear to their hearts. As an un-popular kid, the old series gave me something to look forward to each weekday morning and weekend morning..as sad as that may seem, and I just hate to see these characters not being used more in the fore front. I'd even LOVE it if they where re-imagined for the new comic so we can give the turtles some new villains to fight.. Pete's already hinted Hun may be introduced into comic continuity, and that's great because Hun is a cool character....

Or 4 - Maybe something big is cooking up, and he's just trying to throw us off the trail ;p)

I've always wondered what caused Pete's current stance on the old toon....and if he sees this, I hope he can fill us in :).

Thanks for reading, and putting up with all us annoyingly ass-hat(Folks who have their head so far up their ass) turtle fans ;p)

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

Well, Krang I can understand not using because there would be some confusion between him and utroms.

However, I think if they were written more like tough monsters instead of incompetent buffoons Rocksteady and Bebop could be badass.

[Coola Yagami]

True, but think of it from his point of view. You create this kick-ass series you're proud of, and it's too mature and bloody for TV. You get a big break and the kiddy show is what got your characters out there.... but now you doomed yourself cause everyone only wants the old show and could care less about your original vision.


Batman became a household name when the Adam West version hit. But can you imagine if that was the only Batman everybody wanted to see??? What if NOONE liked BAT, or if Batman/Batman Returns BOMBED cause Adam West and Burt Ward weren't in it and there was no dancing and corny lines? Hell what is NOBODY wanted to see The Dark Knight cause it was too dark and moody and didn't have Batman and Joker in a surfing contest? Wouldn't that be frustrating?

[Fugitoid Jones]

True, but think of it from his point of view. You create this kick-ass series you're proud of, and it's too mature and bloody for TV. You get a big break and the kiddy show is what got your characters out there.... but now you doomed yourself cause everyone only wants the old show and could care less about your original vision.


Batman became a household name when the Adam West version hit. But can you imagine if that was the only Batman everybody wanted to see??? What if NOONE liked BAT, or if Batman/Batman Returns BOMBED cause Adam West and Burt Ward weren't in it and there was no dancing and corny lines? Hell what is NOBODY wanted to see The Dark Knight cause it was too dark and moody and didn't have Batman and Joker in a surfing contest? Wouldn't that be frustrating?

I don't know about that. It's not like the original Mirage comics were completely without any humor or anything. The first comic was meant as a parody after all. And I'll never understand why Pete won't bring back Bebop and Rocksteady. What's the big deal? It's just like what Mr. Mutant Man said, write them seriously and make them badass. Pete can't say they are too silly. I mean, what, are alien dinosaurs, an old superhero squad, and mutant alligator ok, but the mutant rhino and warthog from the cartoon is too much?

[Coola Yagami]

True... the first issue was more of a parody, though it still had quite a bit of blood, several deaths, and the small fact that Splinter trained the turtles to be his lil agents of death rather than heroes.

Perhaps Pete thinks that everyone would want the 'dumber' Bebop and Rocksteady back and they wouldn't work in 2K3/FF/BTTS. OR they could be made into bad-asses... but then the fans wouldn't like them cause they're not the lovable idiots from the old show. Or I guess Pete just wasn't a big fan of them or something. Of course the alien dinosaurs, mutant alligator and superheroes were stuff he himself was involved with, so they get a free pass.


One thing that confuses me... no mutant so that the Turtles (Splinter and Leatherhead) would be unique.... so then... why the Underground monsters and the Bishop monster outbreak?

[Fugitoid Jones]

One thing that confuses me... no mutant so that the Turtles (Splinter and Leatherhead) would be unique.... so then... why the Underground monsters and the Bishop monster outbreak?

Yeah, that confuses me too. One of the reasons I couldn't get into FF and one of my major complaints about Mirage vol. 4 was if the world is populated by aliens, then what makes the Turtles so special? Pete is fine with the aliens, but not more mutants?

[Drtooth]

Batman became a household name when the Adam West version hit. But can you imagine if that was the only Batman everybody wanted to see??? What if NOONE liked BAT, or if Batman/Batman Returns BOMBED cause Adam West and Burt Ward weren't in it and there was no dancing and corny lines? Hell what is NOBODY wanted to see The Dark Knight cause it was too dark and moody and didn't have Batman and Joker in a surfing contest? Wouldn't that be frustrating?


Batman= Nail on the head.... being hit.....

With a comic book character, there are many different ways to approach the characters. Spidey can be an emo, duty above his personal relationships, putting his Spider-heiny on the line type action hero, or he can go on the Electirc Company and fight a yeti who goes around town sitting on cold things (this is a real sketch, by the way).

The comic book TMNT and the OT TMNT are completely different from each other. the 2K3 one is more similar, but still a little detatched.

I can see why he didn't want the old characters (with the exception of passing jokes now and then) in the series. They're the wrong tone, and they don't fit in with the "The Turtles and Leatherhead are the only mutants" vibe he wanted to see.

And I have to say, I like seeing something different. I wouldn't like seeing an inferior retread of the old series, with different voice actors trying to immitate the OT voices. Could you imagine?

But I really wanted to see the Human versions of Bebop and Rocksteady, unnamed outside of a model sheet or script, as part of the purple dragons gang.

[odupianist]

Drtooth, when you say you want to see the human versions of Bebop and Rocksteady, do you mean the actual human characters or just tributes? There was that one human connection to Rocksteady in Samurai Tourist, but I'm sure you already knew that :P

[Sage Ninja]

because it ain't his vision people!!!