A Couple of Thoughts About TMNT

[D-Nizzy]

Reflecting on what really grabbed me about TMNT as a kid, I thought of two distinct things.

1. Watching the original pilot episode and thinking to myself "I wish they made toys of these" then going to the store within a couple of days and finding them on the shelves. It was the first time I felt like I "discovered" a property prior to the toys. He-Man toys were around for a while before I got into them, the same for G.I. Joe and Star Wars. Those other toys were toys that I "got into," while TMNT were toys that were made for a show that I loved.

2. It was the first time that action figures had the ability to store their weapons on their person. It's weird and kind of trivial, but I can remember being pretty excited that all of the turtles could carry around their weapons, ready to throw down at a moments notice.

It's not the most articulated toy line or the most screen accurate, but I really felt ownership over the first few waves of TMNT figures...

[zodiac brave]

receiving the figures as a kid is one of my earliest memories. just the idea that these characters each had a role and individual personality sorta blew my mind back then. of course, at the time, i didn't realize that that's what it was specifically and i honestly think it was the physical sculpts of the heads and different shades of green used for the skin that really drove it home for me as a kid. i had gi joes which to me were always kinda bland (before i get crucified by gi joe fans, i get how different they are now and totally appreciate them) as they all had sorta the same body types, they were skinny and kinda small and transformers, which i loved, but were prolly too expensive for my mom to buy me. The turtles were BIGGER and they had gnarly facial expressions and cool weapons you could tear off yourself! the same stuff made me a fan of the ghostbusters figure line back then too.

(thinking about this made my memory go into overdrive and i remember the day i received all 4 turtle figs, in the parking lot of my first grade school as my mom picked me up early and told me she had a surprise, but i had to guess what it was. she gave me some hints...there were 4 of them and their initials...i didnt get it, lol and in fact guessed "...a...robot...?" for raphael.)

i remember that the art on the back of the action figure cards and in the jokebooks (YOU GOT JOKEBOOKS WHEN YOU BOUGHT THEM!!!) was really striking as well.

i honestly dont remember if there was any "lead-up" to my intro to the show, as i saw the original airing of the mini-series on tv, but i was a kid and appointment tv was not a concept i knew or gave a crap about. i think i saw it because it was on at 4:30 on channel 29, here in san antonio, and in the late '80s i was home from school at that time and didnt have cable.

thats pretty much what grabbed my attention about the franchise. the archie comics came a few years later for me, and the mirage stuff not til i was about 13 or 14.

just the right thing at the right time, apparently for a whole generation. (and a few generations after, but c'mon...us grown folk got it best! 8) ;) :D )

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Reflecting on what really grabbed me about TMNT as a kid, I thought of two distinct things.

1. Watching the original pilot episode and thinking to myself "I wish they made toys of these" then going to the store within a couple of days and finding them on the shelves. It was the first time I felt like I "discovered" a property prior to the toys. He-Man toys were around for a while before I got into them, the same for G.I. Joe and Star Wars. Those other toys were toys that I "got into," while TMNT were toys that were made for a show that I loved.

2. It was the first time that action figures had the ability to store their weapons on their person. It's weird and kind of trivial, but I can remember being pretty excited that all of the turtles could carry around their weapons, ready to throw down at a moments notice.

It's not the most articulated toy line or the most screen accurate, but I really felt ownership over the first few waves of TMNT figures...

Star Wars was already 10-15 years old during the TMNT hype years.

[Mzx10484]

I still have it in my mind now, as I walked with my mother in the small toy store in the early 1990s and bought Donatello. It must indeed have been a significant experience. I still do, as I stood there.

[D-Nizzy]

Another thing that I vivdly remember from that time was how much I was in love with and disappointed with the first movie. I was so happy to see these characters on the big screen, and the Turtles themselves were done really well. But I was really irked about the lack of Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady. As a kid those characters were essential to the TMNT universe. Then Shredder was really not that imposing in the film. With his baggy glitter-shirt and gigantic helmet, he just felt like a guy in a costume, not somebody who could slice the Turtles into ribbons.

As an adult I enjoy this movie for what it is and when it was created, but as a kid I was a pretty harsh critic and avid fan of it.

[Mzx10484]

I agree with the absence of Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang.
Shredder was imposing to me. And at least, the Footgang was there.
AND Casey Jones was very imposing to me, too.
But the 3rd movie was very disappointing for me, because i was very focused on the original cartoon and the toy line. But no foot clan for miles around.
Today I still don't care much about the last movie.

[plasticturtle]

I first discovered the TMNT at an airport gift shop en route to my grandfather's house. It was there that issue one of the Archie series was purchased for me by my mother to read on the flight. I really enjoyed it but I had no idea there was a show or toys or anything.
Then one day I was poking around a video store at the mall trying to spend a gift certificate that my aunt gave me for Christmas. That's when I came across the video containing the original mini series. I bought it, watched it and instantly became a TMNT fan for life. They started showing the OT in my area shortly after that and I never missed an episode. I had all the toys, T-Shirts and assorted merchandise. When the first movie came out I saw it four times in the Theatre. I saw 2 and 3 twice each.

I've never been much of a comic or Superhero fan. I find things like that entertaining, but I don't really connect to it the way I do TMNT. I tend to identify more with creatures than people. Animals, robots, monsters, aliens things like that. I've been that way ever since I can remember. Mutant Turtles are right up my alley.

[zodiac brave]

Another thing that I vivdly remember from that time was how much I was in love with and disappointed with the first movie. I was so happy to see these characters on the big screen, and the Turtles themselves were done really well. But I was really irked about the lack of Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady. As a kid those characters were essential to the TMNT universe. Then Shredder was really not that imposing in the film. With his baggy glitter-shirt and gigantic helmet, he just felt like a guy in a costume, not somebody who could slice the Turtles into ribbons.

As an adult I enjoy this movie for what it is and when it was created, but as a kid I was a pretty harsh critic and avid fan of it.

I never had that feeling bout flick 1. i know a lotta people on the boards might and i know a lot of my friends growing up did as well, but i think i was just absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the suits and the fights and and how different it was from the show. it had a def '80s movie vibe (even tho it came out in '90) and reminded me of other classics like big trouble in little china, robocop, predator, even beverly hills cop and lethal weapon. it was just so out there! it was totally different from the OT, but in a way that really grabbed my young brain and stretched it out in the most awesome way.

i think maybe i didnt resent the difference between the show and the flick because at the time ghostbusters was another fave and the cartoon was so different from the movies in that case too. just something i got used to with back to the future, (again) robocop and all the other movie spawned toons back then...

[Johnny Cutt]

I'm 28 and to this day my most memorable Christmas as a kid was unwrapping a big brown cardboard box - inside there were probably 15-20 tmnt figures. I couldn't believe my eyes, haha. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had a Christmas top that...

[zodiac brave]

I'm 28 and to this day my most memorable Christmas as a kid was unwrapping a big brown cardboard box - inside there were probably 15-20 tmnt figures. I couldn't believe my eyes, haha. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had a Christmas top that...

haha! :lol: ive heard a lot of people talk about a christmas like this! i had one too!

weird how many similar experiences and memories people our age (25-30+ year olds) have. and it's probably all because of some movement in advertising that people working at toy manufacturers and licensing agencies had back then.

WE ARE ALL PRODUCTS OF MENTAL CONDITIONING.

:teek:

[inaheap]

I still remember purchasing my first Turtle Figure. Raphael. $4 at local Ames store. Like someone else said this was the first time someone made a toy for a show I liked instead of the other way around. I thought it was Just GREAT!! I can't tell you what I had for dinner 3 days ago. But I can still tell you what I paid and where I bought Raph. I remember patiently collecting each of the 4 brothers. I think I got Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady for Christmas. Then came Splinter. Finally April, Movie Shredder, The mutating Motor Bike (Idon't remember the name), and the Party Wagon the following Christmas. I just remember being really excited to get April. She was impossible to find where I lived. I ended up with the movie turtles along the way too. I always loved getting turtle figures. Cool memories.

[HeroTurtlesFan]

The first episode I ever saw of Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles was "Curse of the Evil Eye" when BBC1 aired it in Jan 1990. Just fell in love instantly with it. The comic was out within a week or two, picked it up from #1.

It was a few months into the year when I got my first Turtles figure. My older brother got Donatello, I got Shredder, and my younger sister got April. All purchased from Tesco (£3.99 each).

Christmas 1990 was where it was really at, though... I got the Turtles Blimp, plus all the remaining wave 1 figures we still needed. Such happy memories!

[pannoni1]

That explains why that was perhaps the first episode that the BBC aired after "How it All Began". I've found that the fad in the UK was much more short-lived with a rapid rise in early 1990 like it came out of the blue. This is true of many imports in which a sharp rise of popularity hits fever pitch (Beatles, Pokemon for example).

Unfortunately I remember being more thrilled about buying electronic toys and video games over action figures since I at the time thought that action figures were a bit too boring and felt that being small compared to stuffed animals didn't make a good value. But I saw it as a something for everyone brand, and never knew how long it would remain popular. As it turned out, after a short interruption for a number of years, its still with us today. I did feel like I was in my own bubble however since I didn't know any TMNT fanatic bigger than I was in my area growing up.

[HeroTurtlesFan]

The first episode aired by the BBC was "Return of the Shredder" (start of season 2). I don't believe they ever aired "How It All Began"...? (which was a VHS release) - be very interested if there's proof they did though..?

BBC1 only ever showed season 2-3 of the series.