Has your Interest in the Turtles Ever Waned?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Damn, long time since i've posted here, posted very little over the last 2 years, lol, i used to go by the name of Foot Clan Major, lol. I'm just not as much a forum poster as i was a few years ago. Take alook atmy post history and you'll see.

This is what i'm talking about, do you go through periods where you go off the turtles? Here's my timeline:

1989: Watched first episode of the turtles cartoon on CBBC, was hooked instantly, and recorded every other episode shown after that. Bought the figures etc etc.

1993: TMnt stopped being shown in the UK, and it was all Power Rangers, which i didn't care for at the time. Started losing interest, naturally.

mid-90's - Totally lost my interest in the turtles, i let my mum tape over most of my TMNT episodes.

1999 - rediscovered the TMNT, when listening to the first movie soundtrack, and seeing the second movie again. I started feeling how great the cartoon was, and those times, shame i couldn't see them again.

2000 - I found some of my old episodes on a tape, but only an hour's worth. It made me realise how great it was, and i regretted taping over the episodes massively. Also first discovered these forums at the time, and it made me obsess even more.

2001-2002 - I was absolutely dying to see other episodes, tried downloading an episode, but in those days it took ages, but couldn't get a picture when it was downloaded! However, i counted my blessings as the cartoon came back on tv, and just like the old days, i taped every episode going. All of them i had before.

2003-2006 - Calmed down a bit, really enjoyed watching TMNT marathons on my new tapes! Joined this forum and i was going through this phase of being a review critic, so i obsessed over the idea of creating my own website, reviewing tmnt episodes, which i did. At this time hoping the new cartoon would succeed and the turtles to make a comeback, which they did! However, never really got into the new cartoon, but watched a good number of episodes at the time, but it didn't have the same magic the old one had! In 2005/2006, became obsessed with my reviewing episodes, and then took a rest, but never went back to it again. I think after that, my interest was beginning to sink, after now being able to see all the old cartoon episodes's i felt really burned out with the turtles really.

2007- My interests rose again with the advent of the new movie, but knowing it's just going to be an evolved version of the old cartoon i loved. My interest went to the back of my mind, but i have watched a few episodes since then, but i don't think i will ever go back to the obsession i had with it, it was way over the top. And as i said, not as big a forum poster as i was, i ain't the same person i was back then, and i've taken up new interests which actually take up alot of my time. It was just of the moment, i posted here, but i always felt i would eventually post again. Just that i have been pretty meh with the turtles and stuff, i'm just proud i was a kid at the time of the late 80's- early 90's with so many great kids tv, back then.

[CyberCubed]

Only when there was very little TMNT stuff going on, like in the Next Mutation and Image series years.

Even if I'm not constantly reading comics or watching the shows, it doesn't mean I lose interest entirely. You don't have to spend every waking hour thinking of the Turtles to be interested in them.

[Hero]

I went through simular twists and turns as well, Raph Attack.

I did'nt tape over my TM'H'T toons though. I hope to dig them out sometime and DVR record a few bits and peices including movie Donatello appearing on Comic Releif.

BTW. That toon Foot Soldier pic by Andi Peters' left shoulder that stuck around for ages in the CBBC Broom cupboard was drawn by me :).

===HERO

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

OK. Here's my story.

August 1990. TMNT breakthrough in Sweden.
Mid 1991: I got hooked on TMNT.
Late 1993–early 1994: TMNT almost totally disappears from Sweden. I don't know how the stories continue.
Late November and early December 2003-Early 2004. Rediscover the TMNT because of the Internet, and get hooked again. Read a lot of fanfic on the Internet.
11 January 2006: I join the Technodrome Forums.

[Buslady]

MY interest began in 88-89 when i saw the cartoon, then took off after TMNT1.
Around 1994 it took back seat cos I had life to take care of, like being preggies, working, and dealing with divorce so you can see why it was settled back for awhile. But I never stopped being a Raph fan. Cos in 1997, I remember flipping channels, seeng TNM...I was like OH YAY TMNT...then I watched...HOLEY CRAP THIS SUCKS! What a shame they put out that crap, and Raph looked like some male nudie show stopper with these things hanging of him, all he needed was a few dollar bills tucked in the belt.
So, back seat it went until 2003...the new show blew me away, i was happy and I got right back into my favorite fandom driving my hubbykins nuts. HAHA!
Cos of the internet, it's easier to keep into it with forums, gaming, art, etc. which is nice. But I wish they would finally treat the property as a mature intelligent medium- 2K3 was great but adult fans might like something more.
So although it might have taken back seat, I never stopped being a fan.

[NightwatchersOnlygirl]

I saw the cartoon on tv about 1990 I really became a fan afther TMNT1 that's when I became
Raph's biggest fan right up when the the new toon was shown on tv

I've never stopped being a fan of Raphael

[gobo]

When TMNT had jumped that row of sharks into Power Ranger territory, and it appeared that one of the sharks had taken a big chunk out of the franchise, I honestly lost interest. I was disappointed enough that they were now siding with their competition, but I've always been intensely frustrated by anything from Saban Entertainment. I had low expectations for anything else Turtles-related after that, but the glory days were still always on my mind. For that reason, I had been waiting for 2K3 since way back then.

[ZariusTwo]

When TMNT had jumped that row of sharks into Power Ranger territory

PR actually mangaging to have LESS JTS moments than TMNT...ironicly enough, the season the Turtles guest-starred in at the time was one of the series highest rated seasons and led to those great four seasons where it got significantly darker

If it helps, I didnt like that episode either

[Guitar_Raph]

1990: Got hooked when learning about Comin Out of Their Shells, that TMNT takes on a musical side.

1991: Saw the original TMNT movie on HBO.

1997: Got into NT; TNM.

2003: Saw the new 2K3 version. Liked Raph driving the Shell Cycle as well as Mikey being Turtle Titan.

2006: Saw costumed characters @ the Dallas Zoo.

2007; Saw the TMNT movie @ Cityplace (no longer there).

2009; Will miss TMNT on Saturday mornings.

[NiNi]

1987 - Date of cancellation - Watched the old toon and bought figures and such.

1990 - Watched movie 1 in theaters and was spastic about it as well as saw the Coming Out of Their Shells tour. (at a point bought movie 1 soundtrack and concert cassette)

1991 - Watched movie 2 in theaters. (eventually bought the soundtrack for that)

1992 - Still a bit of a fan, but kind of on and off I think.

1993 - Watched movie 3 in a drive-in theater.

1994 - 2002 - I played video games and read comics periodically. I was still a fan, but not as big as I was since my younger years.

2003 - Spazzed as soon as I heard/saw the new series.

2007 - Saw the TMNT movie. Started buying comics.

2007 & 2008 - Saw Michael Sinterniklaas and spazzed because he's my favorite English dub voice actor anyways. And bought 3 Old Toon animation cels.

2003 - current - Became a big fan once more and talk about the fandom more with others. Also starting about 2007 I started doing TMNT art for once!

So I guess you can say I had my moment of fandom recession.

[Cipher]

Definately. I loved the cartoon as a kid, catching the very end of Turtle-mania, watching it from '93-'96. I watched Next Mutation with a passing interest and then left Turtles behind for years. I didn't even watch the 2003 cartoon when it first aired. I saw a few episodes in the first two seasons, thought it was kind of cool that it followed the comics, but didn't watch it regularly.

Freshman year my interested started to rekindle. I had some fits of nostalgia and reread the few Mirage issues I had, bought the first season of the old toon on DVD, etc. A year or so later I started to catch myself up on the new toon with the season DVDs, I started buying new Mirage issues, and really came back into it full swing.

[TheUltimateShredhead]

I always loved those guys! Can't recall watching the series on a regular basis, but i loved all the eps i watched and allways thought they where the greatest heros:D

[Scandia]

Yup, from around the time when I moved to Florida to when the new 2007 movie aired.

[Lord Nightwalker]

No. It's never not been an interest since the time I first became a fan.
I went through periods of "withdrawl" When there wasn't any TMNT books ect. readily availible, but I latched on to the website and created my own little fan fics and such. I have never lost interest in them.
Much like Batman. Even when horrid stories and lack luster art would pop up, That didn't change a thing for me. I like what I like because I like it.
I'll be a fan all my days I imagine.
I can forsee not liking this and that over the course of the years, but as a whole, I couldn't imagine not being a fan. I mean, look at it this way, There will always be stories to be told and I'm not going to like them all, but for every one I don't like completely, There will be those that I do. And I believe that on a whole, if it's told well and expressed properly and respectfully to the source material, it can transcend generes and adapt to nearly an situation imaginible.

[shuriken]

No. It's never not been an interest since the time I first became a fan.
I went through periods of "withdrawl" When there wasn't any TMNT books ect. readily availible, but I latched on to the website and created my own little fan fics and such. I have never lost interest in them.
Much like Batman. Even when horrid stories and lack luster art would pop up, That didn't change a thing for me. I like what I like because I like it.
I'll be a fan all my days I imagine.
I can forsee not liking this and that over the course of the years, but as a whole, I couldn't imagine not being a fan. I mean, look at it this way, There will always be stories to be told and I'm not going to like them all, but for every one I don't like completely, There will be those that I do. And I believe that on a whole, if it's told well and expressed properly and respectfully to the source material, it can transcend generes and adapt to nearly an situation imaginible.

Well said Lord Nightwalker, well said.
I too have been a fan since the age of 2 when I could first say the word "cowabunga" accurately. There have been times when I was slightly ashamed about the guys like the Next Mutation, but I got over it. I don't care what anyone outside the fandom really thinks about the Turtles. All I know is I will be loyal until the Day I die. Even if " Super quest" and "East Meets West" made me face palm about ten times.

[ToTheNines]

Oh hell yes. I'm an impatient guy, so I obviously have problems with the TMNT franchise lol.

I'm only 17 so I never got to experience the "Turtle craze", but I was a huge fan of the movies, seasons 7-10, the toys, the video games and the Next Mutation. TMNT used to co-exist with my other shows until next mutation got cancelled and Beast Wars and Pokemon totally took over.

I finally got back into TMNT when I was 11 (the summer before the NT came out) when all my stuff was in storage while we were waiting for our house to be built. All I had to play with was my NES (the best game being TMNT III) and ninja weapons from the Dollar Tree.

So when the NT came out, I was the perfect age and it blew my mind. By the time season three came around I was off and on until late season four, when I discovered the OT on DVD.

The fourth movie has kicked my ass into gear permanantly (even thought I don't like it much anymore) so now I wait daily for a new DVD or something to be announced and try not to burn myself out ever again lol.

[Buslady]

why do i feel like *someone* likes to copy my history....*sigh*....

[Jester]

Yes....man it has to be over 10 characters. Ok here's my story.

As a kid I loved the TMNT but by the Red Sky treatment I thought the Turtles were canceled. I just happened on them at one point and thought they sucked.

Jump to the NT:TNM era. I was in Italy at the time and the only NM stuff I saw were the figures which were cool if expensive by 1997-8 standards (but hey I was in Italy. In fact the only reason I got a Mutant Marauder vehicle was because of a language barrier issue. Mom bought my sister an Italian Tickle Me Elmo doll and it was double scanned, and for some reason instead ofg taking it off they forced mom to find something of equal value in the store...and I lucked out.) and the video re-edit of the 1st 5 episodes into a DTV movie, which wasn't (completely) terrible...just not the Turtles as I remembered them.

Spring forward to 2003, by now I was in college, and rumors were swirling that the TMNT were coming back to TV. I was hyped, watched and got re-hooked and I've been ever since.

With my resurrected TMNT fandom I also tracked down some the things I sold due to the Italy tour. Kinda sucked, but I'm over it. Sold a lot of action figures and crap though.

[Kendamu]

All of my fandoms go through ups and downs, but I'm intersted in a lot of things so I don't really sweat it.

From Maybe 1988 to 1993 I was most interested in TMNT, but sometimes I would get into Batman or Ghostbusters or something again if a new movie or cartoon was coming out.

From 1993 to 1996 I was mainly interested in Batman and X-Men, but I still watched the Turtles weekly.

From 1996 to 1998 I discovered the comics (both old and new) and was mostly interested in TMNT again.

From 1998 to 2003 I liked TMNT, but there wasn't much going on so I just revisited them once in awhile while mainly passing time with anime.

When the new show came on in 2003, my interest spiked again and a lot of new stuff was happening at once so I've kept a pretty steady interest since then along with all the other stuff I'm into.

[turkishproverb]

Waned sure, but never went away. It waned during the post TNM era, as I didn't know about the comic. I wrote a few horrible stories during that time, but other than that it was only occasional nastolgia.

Came back when I found out about the Image Comic.

Even today though, I have periods of slightly higher...intensity...;)

PR actually mangaging to have LESS JTS moments than TMNT...ironicly enough, the season the Turtles guest-starred in at the time was one of the series highest rated seasons and led to those great four seasons where it got significantly darker

If it helps, I didnt like that episode either

Which season was it that had the traitor Ranger team and Zord bloodbath?

[Leonardo Mystic]

I went through a pretty big lost interest spell until almost five years ago. This is my time line of sorts.

Somewhere around 1989- Discovered the old cartoon and was immediately hooked. Got up early every Saturday morning just to see them.

Somewhere around 1991 (because my mother is such a overprotective prick)- I finally get to see the first TMNT movie. It came on ABC one night and it was taped for me. I fell in love with it and I played that VHS tape so much, it began jumping and skipping after a while.

1993 or maybe '94, it was when the Red Sky seasons came around- I'd seen most of the cartoon by this point, and Movie 1 and 2. Then the cartoon changed and I remember how I didn't like it at all. Suddenly there was a "fifth turtle", and the turtles started further mutating. I stopped watching shortly after. Heard about the third movie around this time, but I didn't care to see it and haven't to this day. Can't get past the ungodly putrid costumes. :sick:

1997- Never knew about TNM and it was just as well. The almost horror stories I hear about it now is enough.

1998-2004- In late 1999, I became part of the Pokemon craze and for six years I was an avid fan. I went to see all five movies that made it into theaters before they started going DTV. TMNT then was little more to me than a childhood memory.

2004-current- It wasn't until May of 2004 that I found out the turtles had made a comeback. However, one and a half years earlier, and I swear this to be true, I had a premonition dream. Mind you, as I mentioned, I never thought about the turtles anymore, but yet they appeared to me in this one dream in Movie 1 costume. They told me a couple of personal things, but they also said they would be coming back soon and to look for them.

Cue one and a half years later, and imagine what I felt as I looked up at a TV screen set on Cartoon Network in a local pizza eatery one afternoon and saw a familiar figure. It was a real "Holy ****!" moment.

I didn't start looking for anything right away, and I can't remember why. Probably because my then long-distance boyfriend was coming to visit and I was too hyped about that. After that, though, I was poking around online, and found a topic in a Gaia forum that piqued my interest enough to watch an episode. And I had also forgotten about it.

About 6 that evening, I saw my very first episode, "Darkness on the Edge of Town", but with the volume off. I wanted first to get used to the different character designs than what I had been used to. It didn't take long, however, and by the end of the episode, I was ready to try to watch an episode with sound and voices. The next day, I watched "The Way of Invisibility" and it was like an instant overnight sensation. I was hooked.

I caught up on the episodes and then I started recording them when the first season started over. Up at that point, it hadn't made it to City At War yet on CN, so I'd come in at a good time. By fall of that year when the second season aired, I had all of the first season and started recording on Fox as each new episode was aired.

I'm still as passionate today for them as I was five years ago. I have collected the first volume of comics and read them all. I never knew as a kid they were first a comic book. I've written two fanfictions, one of which is still progress. The cartoon has been fantastic. I'll admit, I was less than happy with Fast Foward and BTTS is squeaking by. I can swallow BTTS a little easier than FF.

I kind of look at it as a relationship. Somewhere, there is an ugly and less desirable side. If you want to make it work, you try what you can to survive those bumps and pretty soon things will start to smooth out. I love them too much now to leave them.

[Andrew NDB]

I lose interest whenever there's not comics on the shelf. Thankfully, those spells have been few and few between... but who knows what's going to happen after this year.

[twopinacoladas]

1987 My friend had a Leo figure and I never heard of the turtles, they werent yet in Canada but the show was just starting as I recall. Begged my mom for the toys, saw the show first episode was hooked. My aunt picked up Leo and Raph in Duluth while in the US. My mom later got me Don and Mikey eventually got more at christmas Rocksteady, shredder Krang and the Party wagon :P

1990 saw the first movie in theater was awesome.

Went to see the second one, theater was out of power or the projector was broken never saw it in theater.

Saw the 3rd one.

1994-1995ish was playing sports saturday mornings missed a bunch of eps.

1996 Sold the majority of my TMNT toys sewer etc "Because turtles are for little kids and Im to old for toys"

1997? Watched a few episodes of TNM.

2003 Got into the comics because I was trying to find my oringinal First publish TMNT book, looked for the comics at local comic shops first Dreamwave, Vol 4, collected most of vol 1 and watched the new show or taped it every saturday morning :) Found a few of my old comics at home and re bought most of my figures in a lot on ebay and some I didnt have from the old show.

Pretty much been a fan of the show and comics ever since also collect the toys not so much the recent playmates ones.

[sdp]

I got into the turtles when the craze was going on, I absolutely loved them. I rarely got to watch the original show but that didn't slow me down at all, I would buy tons of turtles toys and play with them. Loved the movies etc. As turtle mania died I stopped liking the turtles as much, especially since the show was rarely on I moved on to other shows and however I would always play with my turtles all the way up to 5th grade I think. After that I guess I just didn't care as much or something.

I don't remember much about my thoughts of the 2k3 series, I knew about it remember wanting to buy the box set that had the mini figures and caught the end of an episode but I guess I was too much into music and didn't pay attention. It wasn't until April 2004 when I saw the OT first season on Walmart that I immediately nostalgia-bombed, bought it and since then my love for the turtles returned, though it kinda died a few months afterwards it came back in full force when S2 of OT came out.

Ever since then I've been a big fan again. I mean the turtles isn't my favorite franchise or the only thing I collect a lot of things of but I definitely like them a lot. My interest slows and grows depending if I'm nostalgia-ing or if there is new turtle stuff etc.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I went through simular twists and turns as well, Raph Attack.

I did'nt tape over my TM'H'T toons though. I hope to dig them out sometime and DVR record a few bits and peices including movie Donatello appearing on Comic Releif.

BTW. That toon Foot Soldier pic by Andi Peters' left shoulder that stuck around for ages in the CBBC Broom cupboard was drawn by me :).

===HERO

Lol, i don't recall the drawing, but i'll check some of the Broom Cupboard videos on youtube, to see if it's there.

I would say in the end, i've never stop liking the Tmnt.

[Ginny]

From about 1993 when I graduated from high school to about 2004 I had pretty much walked away from not only the TMNT, but from comics, Sci/Fi, Fantasy etc...But then around my 30th birthday in 2004, I decided I was sick and tired of my life so I decided to make some changes. I realized that I was missing that part of my life, so, I made it part of my life again. 5 years later, well, I guess I'm still making up for lost time, and honestly, I've never been happier!

[TheUltimateShredhead]

That's the spirit! We all gotta do what we like to spend our time with eather it's sports, cars, sci-fi, comics.... ;)

[Prowler]

1994 to 1997: Became a fan, played the video games and watched once in a while the old toon.

1998 to 2001: Almost forgot their existence.

2002 to 2004: Started watching reruns and became a HUGE fan!

2005/2006: Still a big fan, started watching some eps of the new toon but it aired too early and it was dubbed, so I eventually dropped it.

2007: Still a fan, started playing the video games again.

2008: Played the video games a couple of times in the Summer.

2009: Joined this forum.

[Ryona]

As for me, I'm a long time fan. Ever since the 80s.

I can say that my interest may have, well, not faded, but calmed down in the late 90s after the craze of the first wave. I was still into TMNT at the time, mainly because I was collecting the Mirage comics at the time.

When The Next Mutation was new back then, it had raised my interest... until I got so disappointed with how stupid the series was.

By 2000, I had pretty much stepped away from TMNT to persue another fictional series to stimulate me. That's when I got into Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball Z and City Hunter.

When the new TMNT series started in 2003, it got me hooked back in. It was like living the rush of the TMNT craze again. Loved it.

But then that series ended, and what we got next was stupid, shallow, hollow spinoffs... Fast Forward and back to the Sewers. Completely untolerable.
Sure, the new 2007 movie hyped me up a little, but it's come and gone, and we still have a crappy spinoff on the tube.
Though there seems to be rumors that it'll get cancelled soon! (hopefuly!)

But anyway, yeah, my interest and faith in the TMNT has been severely declining ever since the ugly head of Fast Forward popped up.
It's just embarising to be a fan these days with such garbage among us.

...Seriously... It's pretty f***ed up...

We got two good tv series (80s and 2k3), three good movies (TMNT I, TMNT II, 2007 TMNT), some great TMNT comics (volume 1 rocks, and volume 2 is a little obscured to me, and the Archie series is fun)....

...then we got three horseshit tv series (Next Mutation, Fast Forward, Back to the Sewers), one lame movie (TMNT III), and some disappointing comics (volume 3 (aka Image series), and volume 4).

I don't like this. The good and the bad are practicly even. This is just unacceptable.
How am I to be a fan of a franchize when half of it is ****? What am I to do? Just acknowledge the good stuff and pretend the crap doesn't exist?

The only thing really that's keeping me a fan is nostalgia. Especially of the 80s tv series. Good times.

And the only hope I got now is that the new TMNT fighter game pulls me back in.

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

I don't like this. The good and the bad are practicly even. This is just unacceptable.
How am I to be a fan of a franchize when half of it is ****? What am I to do? Just acknowledge the good stuff and pretend the crap doesn't exist?


In my opinion, Batman and Robin is a bigger black eye for that franchise than anything that has been done to TMNT. At least with stuff like "Coming Out of Their Shells", the excuse is that it was for kids. Spider-Man has had some huge ones as well (One More Day and Clone Saga). It happens at one point or another.

Until Volume 4 has an issue where the turtles make a deal with the devil, those comics are okay as far as I'm concerned. I've heard that the recent Spider-Man comics aren't that bad, but the storyline that lead to them sounds like one of the worst comic storylines ever.

[Shred Head]

1987-1994: I was the hugest fan of the show and comics and toys and well anything with a mutated Turtle face. The Turtles were the hugest part of my life at those times I pretty much lived and breathed Turtles back then. I even bought the Going out of there Shells tour tape. Thats how much I loved them.

1994-1996: When I started to wane CBS started to be dicks pretty much kept pre empting the show so I gave up on it. I still bought the toys and comics mostly the Archie comics. I pretty much played TMNT Tournament Fighters tell I stopped playing my SNES. I was mostly into Batman, X-Men, and Power Rangers at the time.

1997-2000: Beyond waned Next Mutation and the Image series killed it for me. and when there wasn't anything new at all coming I just stopped caring.

2000-2003: Intrest peeked when one day a friend of mine was drawing a picture for art class and it was Slash I was like "Holy **** man thats Slash! I loved that toy damn cant beleieve I remember that." So when I was bored I went online and looked up some Ninja Turtle websites. Then I learned of vol.4 and heard rumors of a new toon and possible movie.

2003-now: The new Cartoon has pretty much brought me back. The new show was aqesome couldn't believe how great it was great art and animation as well as writing. It was a bright spot in animation and at the time there was that many great animated shows out there and infact now theres even less. While the 2007 movie came along I went and saw it and enjoyed it but I dont think it was the correct way for the Turtles big return to the big screen. I'm not a fan of the two new series but i'm sticking with it. I dont live and breath TMNT like I did as a kid but I'm sure going to stick around for them as long as there in some form of media weather it be tv movie or comic. So in a nutshell that my history with the TMNT.

[cup-mikey-gertha]

Well, I wasn't really that interested with the Turtles for a number of years-- maybe was just taking a break. Gotta go back to the nice old times "with" them, though.

:D

[BoggleKng]

Around 1997... I think I took a break with them... Other parts of life caught up with me, less time in comic store and playing the action figures... Now I am trying to get back and there is a whole lot of catching up to do..

[Spitfire]

Sometime during middle school when I stopped playing with toys and high school before the new series came out I lost interest. But once I found out about the new show and comics that had come out I went nuts and came back in. Other then that maybe a 2 year period tops I wasn't totally into it.

Right now my interest is dwindling. I'm more interested in Batman then turtles as far as comics and collecting figures goes. It doesn't help though that I have all the turtles comics and most of the figures I want so I guess I just needed something new to collect. I do like Batman quite a bit though.

[VaughnMichael]

Yeah mines starting to go a bit right now as well, but I'll always be a fan.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Mine's is going the other way, it's picking up. Also, this is my most posted forum account on the net, so i should make better use of it. I'm not a big poster, so i've never exceeded over 1000 posts anywhere. I've kind of fallen away from forums for the past 2 years, not sticking to them. Had another forum account(not here i stress) where i posted regularly with 700+ posts, it was likely to reach a 1,000, but got banned :(.

[trustno1]

i lost interest in the show when the lost season happened (here in australia it came out on dvd as a set before fast forward). i never really bothered with the toys after the old cartoon and i probably lost interest in that around 1993. i always got the comics and when they were not around i would keep reading them anyway, which is pretty much what i do these days. my interest is really only in the comics but i do like seeing new things come around every now and then. if the movie happens that will be interesting and the same goes for the game. i will be interested to see what happens once the show is off the air and no new episodes happen...

[rav4ge]

I'll try and remember as much as I can.

2000 - discovered the TMNT in a coloring book

2003 - found out they were making a new TMNT cartoon, around the same time I discovered the arcade games and such.

2003-2004 - watched the TMNT show every saturday. Bought the new toys and the old toys, the old ones were my favorites.

2004 - Moved to texas, watched the show on TV sometimes there but I missed a lot and eventually I just stopped watching the show altogether. I started buying TMNT Archie comics at the neighborhood comic store.

2005 - Moved to edmonton, canada. My interest in the TMNT was almost close to fading. I would read the books occasionally, but most of the time they sat in my closet.

2007 - Moved to vancouver, canada.

2009 - present: passion for the TMNT alive once more :)

[xxmermaid]

I used to love them in the late 80s watching the first cartoon but then when that finished I completely lost interest and didn't even think of them for years.

I realy started to get into them again a few years ago when I saw a clip of the NT and thought they looked realy good. Now I love them again.

[pannoni1]

For me, it goes like this:

Fall 1989: First contact of TMNT through the cartoon.

1990-1992: Heavily into TMNT, though in a pre-Internet world, there just wasn't as much stuff available to look at, so I kept wanting for more during this era. I just enjoyed watching reruns even if it was the 50th time.

1993: Transition year with a bit of a decline, enjoying lots of Nickelodeon around time. Seeing the third movie though made me believe that TMNT's popularity was on the way out.

1994: Interest wanes a lot for me this year, start to get into more preteen type material, more Nickelodeon, Aladdin, Lion King, and at the very end of this year, Power Rangers and VR Troopers.

1995-1997: TMNT interest mostly dead with the occasional video game play or VHS watch, and checked out the first half or so of Next Mutation, but pretty much in my Power Rangers/Snick/Preteen phase.

1998-2009: My long dark period with TMNT. Any mention would be a pun or some weird memory, with high school, college, and settling into a career my main focus. I only saw the TMNT CGI movie with passing interest at that time and didn't see it. When Youtube first came about, I may have watched a brief clip or two, but I was focused on other things.

2010: My encounter with Turtles Forever when rerun on Nickelodeon triggers my renaissance with enjoying the TMNT. I purchased a classic VHS tape at a garage sale for $1.

2011: By this time, I now enjoy TMNT as much, if not more than I ever did during the early '90s, taking advantage of the significant resources available and discover that its not just for kids, even the more "kiddy" aspects such as the OT and action figures since there was lots of cool information.

Tomorrow marks my one year anniversary on this board, and it sure has been a great tool for connecting with the TMNT world, and hope many more years pass being a great fan, and perhaps going a bit more over the edge as my confidence in being a fan has really grown since then. Thank you so much Krang and all the other moderators for making such a playground possible.

[MikeandRaph87]

I loved ninja Turtles since I was two years old and turned the television to a channel that was airing it. Most likely it was Fox. I don't remember getting into the Ninja Turtles due to the fact I was two. I just always loved it. Never took a break and it never wanned. Early 1998- late 2002 was a bad time to the be a fan because the franchise was on hiatus. It was just that Image thing which I will never appreciated so I retreated to fanfiction making my own continuation of the '87 cartoon I still dearly love. I have not gone anymore than 3 months without watching a single episode of that fantastic series. My activity amongst fandom has mostly been under the radar sending half a dozen news items to Dan Berger ever year since Molly left Mirage and asking questions periocially. With the TMNT sale I registered on Blopspot with the sole purpose of talking to Peter Laird and with ninjaturtles.com officially dead I came here after lurking since just before Shredder was revealed to be an utrom. I might be one of the few that has never waivered in fandom. I am not obessed TMNT,but am a longlong mega fan that has never waivered. Sure,I was a90s' kid into Power Rangers and Pok'emon but neiether ever achieved the love I have for Ninja Turtles. PR I got out of actually with TMNT being the last straw ironically enough and Pok'emon I am only casual since early 2004.

[Slade]

I've loved the turtles since I was little. Though there was a time where I didn't really care to watch them a few years ago, DBZ took over for a good while. Since joining this forum this year though and learning more about and reading the original comics, my interests have gotten a lot higher.

[Mr.Turtle]

never waned. it saves a lot of memories of my bro n me when wer little.

[Gyt Kaliba]

It definitely comes and goes a little bit with me. I always love the Turtles, but it being at the forefront of my fandom? Ehhh, it varies.

What first got me into them again for a bit was the 2007 CG film. Then, I was out again until I heard about this place and joined in 2008. Then I fell out again until...was it 2010 when Turtles Forever came out? Anyway, hearing about that on the horizon got me back into it in a MAJOR way, and that lasted for a good long time. Now, all the new buzz about new comics, new movie, and especially the new toon, has got me fully hooked all over again.

[ZariusTwo]

PR I got out of actually with TMNT being the last straw ironically enough.

Giving up because of the TMNT crossover is ridiculous. You missed out on a good season and several others afterwards.

[Zulithe]

My interest in the turtles was incredibly high from 1987 - 1994 or so. After that it definitely waned. I wasn't impressed with a lot of the new stuff coming out, be it action figures, episodes or new shows. This endured for a long time as I completely overlooked the 2003 series. When the 2007 film came out, I had a brief reignition of my love affair with the Turtles, but mostly for the aesthetic beauty of it: from a story standpoint it was a big disappointment to me.

So now here we are, 2012, Turtles are starting to heat up big time once again and I couldn't be more excited :D I'm rediscovering all that i loved about them in the 80s and early 90s and catching up on all the things I've missed. And the future looks very bright.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

No way. It was just sad when the TMNT popularity started to fade by 1994 something.

[MikeandRaph87]

Giving up because of the TMNT crossover is ridiculous. You missed out on a good season and several others afterwards.

:tlol: Dude, we have been over this before! I did not. It was just the final straw. With no originals aside from Bulk, changing directions suddenly from end of season five to beginning of six, no character to root for with Tommy and Billy both gone now, and a character that I instantly hated with no good character to back it up, not to mention the forumla was getting old. Different things appeal to us and just watching that was more painful then enjoyment. Besides Ninja Turtles were always #1 with me and PR was #2 about a year later Pok'emon took the #2 position for me anyway.

[One Big Holiday]

I was a huge fan back in the late 80's but I waned.. now that there is a comeback of sorts on the horizon I'm really looking forward to getting my 4 year old as hooked as I was.

[MST3KFan]

Hmm... I got hooked on TMNT back in 1988 when I purchased my first TMNT figure in Target as a kid. It was Donatello. I had everyone of the first series of figures shortly after, watched the cartoon religiously, saw the first two movies when they came out in theaters, threw tons of money into the arcade games, owned all the NES games...but after about 1994 I'd say I was definitely losing interest.

From the mid-to-late 90s I was hooked on anime at the time (Guyver, Ranma 1/2, Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc.). All my toys were thrown or given away, I was in that 'toys are for kids' mentality.

Then a friend introduced me back into non-anime related cartoons as well as toys in Transformers: Beast Wars (Transformers was another childhood toyline I was a fan of in the 80s).

I recall when Next Mutation came out my interest in TMNT popped back into my head again briefly...though in disgust at what I saw the TMNT had become truthfully with the whole fifth turtle thing and it being female, and the odd live-action suits...I never was a fan of the live-action suits outside the first two movies.

However, once info started popping up about the 2003 TMNT cartoon, I was hooked again and have been so since, buying at least all four of the turtles in every toy incarnation.

Aside from the 2012 stuff and the classics, I am now trying to get as much of the vintage TMNT toys I can back into my collection even.

[Jephael]

A while back I wrote a short essay on how I originally got into the TMNT and later re-kindled my love for them:

http://www.thegreenlanterncorps.com/jephael/roots.html

[dragonside]

from my formative years I'd say I started like TMNT at about 6-7, a friend of mine had a the first movie on VHS, and I got hooked. Then the cartoon ended with me watching a few episodes here and there, I bought VHS tapes .... i had that Once Upon a Time Machine Episode.. but my dad chucked it by accident a long time ago.

Then Next Mutation began and I was like ... sweeeeeet. and at that point, I didn't know jack about good programming, so i watched with naive interest.

Then Jr. High and High school hit, and no turtles for those 6 years. The 4kids show was running, but i would only catch an episode here or there, and it wasn't the same.


Finally... I was at Zellers this one day, and i saw the 4kids Show Season 1 Part 1 for $2 bucks. .... that was it $2bucks. And I bought it. Watched it... realized I loved it. and everything began, and I went out of my way to collect all the DVDs (even the Season 2 part 2 and Turtles Against H.A.T.E.)

and it's grown stronger and stronger, as I went and got the Fred Wolf toon.... I think they just released Season 7 on DVD, the Neca Figures... then the TMNT 2K3 figures, then the comics, etc etc.

... hasn't died down at all, thank you TMNT Revival.

haha hope you guys enjoyed my poorly written, but mostly heartfelt story.

[Bossa Nova]

Sure, but it's like that with a lot of my hobbies, and I expected I'll drift out again later on down the road for awhile before coming back eventually. It's just the nature of my brain I suppose, and from the looks of it, pretty natural for folks to drift in and out of their favorite fandoms and whatnot. After all, just because I'm not as active in a fan community for awhile it doesn't mean I've lost interest in it completely or suddenly hate it. A few years ago I was absolutely obsessed with my doll collecting hobby (and a pricey one at that). About a year ago my pretty dolls decided to get a nice break and have been sitting on a shelf for a bit as my interests suddenly took a turn for Lolita fashion and My Little Ponies. Now, with my sudden discovery of the new Nick TMNT series, I'm crashing back into the turtles full-forced. It's a nice little cycle, I always have something to interest me :tsmile:

[Icegaze]

1992-1998: Hardcore turtle kid geek (I was 4 in 92). I watched turtles (OT cartoon, movies), I played turtles (my first ever video game on SNES), I read turtles (comics of the OT cartoon), I "ate" turtles (they made me love pizza), I slept (with) turtles (various TMNT bedsheets and pillow cases) and I acted turtle (bought the ninja weapons and play fought with my bro and cousins).
Unforgettable times. Our parents used to call me, my lil bro and my 2 males cousins "The Turtles". :tgrin:

1998-2006: Turtle void. Nothing. My passion was replaced with Dragonball and Naruto craze, in short, my hardcore anime phase.

After those periods, it's a bit more complicated but what brought me back to the TMNT universe was the 2k3 series. It also got me to read the original comics and to lurk on these forums. Then the 2007 movie was announced and then the Nick series.

[Sage Ninja]

from 1995 till about the second season or so of the 2k3 turtles my fandom was dead. I didn't even give the new show a chance until I started getting the OT dvds which sparked my interest. Because of the long lag between the OT dvd releases, I got to the point that I neeeded a turtle fix to hold me over which is when I started to seriously watch the 2k3 series.

[Frozen_Cereal]

My interest with the turtles went from the live action films, to the OT, and finally to the 2k3 turtles, but it definitely began to wane around the time Back to the Sewer started to air. The 2007 CGI movie brought my interest in the series back, and I've been more involved with Turtles-related stuff since I joined these forums.

[Krum]

87/88-Rented a video (Shredder Is Splintered), and saw the cartoon for the first time. Thought it was OK.

89-Started buying trading cards for some reason. I still have only seen the two episodes on the video.

Fall 89-First 3 seasons started airing weekdays on the local TV channel. It replaced another show I was into so I was disappointed at first. After 5 episodes I forgot all about the other show.

89-90-Hooked on this show so bad that I was writing down the names of the episodes to see how many there were and what order they aired in. Also started reading the Archie comic series, and collected a few of the toys.

90-After the first 65 episodes were rerun a few times I was very exited to see new episodes. Very surprized and exited to see it air Saturday mornings with even more new episodes.

91-92-Still enjoying the Saturday morning episoded very much.

93-Started losing interest in the series (season 7 i think) but kept reading the comic. At this point I was enjoying the archie comic series more than the cartoon.

94-Discovered a new cartoon that I liked more, plus was a little alienated by the red sky episodes. I still watched it but not regularly.

95-96-Caught an episode or two and thought, what the hell is with the crazy mutations, and where is Shredder and Krang. Didn't see any more.

97-Saw a few minutes of the Next Mutation series. Not interested.

98-Found a few VHS releases from the first 4 seasons, and really enjoyed seeing the old episodes again.

99-2002-Pretty much forgot all about the Ninja Turtles

2003-Discovered the 2003 series one Saturday morning and started watching. Not the show I remember, but good in its own way.

2004-Bought the DVD of season 1 the second I saw it. Lost interest in the new series until Teletoon started airing the reruns on weekdays and caught up.

2005-Lost interest in the 2003 series again. Buying the DVD's of the 80's cartoon.

2008/2009-Got interested in the 2003 series again and started watching online. Lost interest again before I finished season 4.

2009-This is probably the year I joined the forum.

2012-Looking forward to the new series. Hopefully something fresh is done with it.

[spiderpumpkin]

1978-1986 - Adventure People, Star Wars, GI Joe, TF and MASK toys collected when I was a kid.

1986-1988- Sold all my action figure toys in 1988 to buy comic books.

1989-1991 - Saw some of the TMNT cartoons on tv, bought a few comics and saw the toys in stores but did't buy. I was into comics and Marvel/DC figures during this time period.

1992 - I started collecting more toylines while in high school including Star Trek and got back into GI Joe. It was during these toy shopping trips I bought my first TMNT figures.

1993-1995 - I collected more TMNT during these years but in the end it only consisted of about 10 loose and 10 MOC figuures. I remember all the figures because I would always look at them in the stores but really didn't buy very many.

1995-2001 - Star Wars toys and comics.

2001-present - GI Joe ARAH and TF G1 collector.

August 2012 - Restarting my 1988-1996 TMNT toy collection. Also, collecting Classics and Sewer Lair. Maybe Nick Turtles.

[LeoNerdo]

My interest in TMNT as with most other things seems to come and go in cycles, especially when I used to get bogged down in school and now work/life. I always come back to the things I have a genuine interest in though, and those cycles don't seem to last as long.

My main exposure to the franchise as a kid was from the Fred Wolf show on Saturday mornings and a handful of the action figures I got. The fact that I was too young to realize there was such a thing as TV schedules or syndication plus the fact that the TV was shared with my two older siblings meant eventually I didn't see the show anymore long before it was canceled. And I replaced it with other shows I did get to see (Moo Mesa) and other interests. The last decade right before 2k3 started I started getting back into the franchise. The Fred Wolf DVD releases were kind of the glue that held my interest together for a long time. Going forward it looks like that role will be taken by the IDW book and maybe the Nick show.

[Bossk]

Lately it has been. I have been watching the original '87 and was loving it, but now at season 4 my interest is waning. I don't know if it's because it's just filler after filler, but I'm not really sure. I don't have a problem with it being a kids show or anything, so I'm assuming it's the consistent filler that's driving me off.

As a kid when I was growing up with 2k3 I only started to wane interest about a year or two after it stopped airing on TV.