What was Turtlemania like?

[sdp]

I always thought I had lived through the turtles fad but after thinking about it, the timeline doesn't make sense I would've experienced it when it happened, I got to live some of it but it's like joining the ~Pokemania Pokemon Fad (https://miscrave.com/articles/pokemania/) after Gold/Silver came out, which is after the fad had peaked.

I mean I remember the wave 1 turtle figures but I'm guessing those were re-relesed plenty of times, I had the TMNT 2 NES game and played Turtles in Time in my SNES/arcade. I had a Burger King VHS of the original show but I never really caught the show much on tv since there weren't many re-runs. I remember everyone loving the TMNT but i also don't remember seeing any of the movies advertised, I first saw the first two movies on PPV back to back. I remember turtle stuff everywhere and shelves always having tons of TMNT figures.

So I'm guessing the turtlemania I lived was more of 1992-1994 which is when the Power Rangers fad began and after that turtles stuff started slowly disappearing. I'm guessing the golden years of the fad was more like 1989-1990.

[CyberCubed]

I mean it was basically the Pokemon of its day. It's the best comparison I can think of. Just look at everything we had and still have.

Besides the Mirage comics which mostly only adults knew at the time, the original cartoon exploded in popularity and went on 10 seasons and 193 episodes which was unheard of for a western cartoon. It was also rerun like 4 times a day too, so it aired constantly. I remember watching it in the mornings and after I came home from school during the week and new eps on Saturdays. The movies especially the first two were huge and broke box office records for a comic book movie.

The Playmates toyline was massive and spanned a decade with the most popular toys. The Konami videogames were all huge hits and every TMNT videogame was almost as big a release as major Nintendo franchises. Then this is not counting all the other merch like T-shirts, book bags, candy, ice cream, etc. It was basically everywhere.

[Prowler]

Born in 1990. Therefore not old enough to have lived through it.

I remember Power Rangers being the most popular thing around when I was 4 or 5. After that came DBZ which took Portugal by storm. After DBZ came Pokémon. After Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh was popular for a while. After that, WWE became popular here again with its return to Portuguese TV after a decade, and my generation was now getting into wrestling. While the previous one has watched it in the early 90s.

I assume Turtle Mania was similar to the fads above. Basically, toys and merchandise all over the place, everyone watching the cartoon series and the first couple of movies, and it being the most discussed subject during school recess.

My older brother lived through it. He said we first got the 1990 movie and then the cartoon. I vaguely recall him telling me the Turtles was the most popular thing among boys of his generation in 1990 and 1991. But by 1992, the fad began dying. What was popular with kids born in the early 80s before the Turtles here. I dunno. Ghostbusters and Captain Tsubasa?

Might have been slightly different in other countries.

[Andrew NDB]

It was neat, but I kind of just accepted it as normal that 98% of all other kids were into exactly the same thing as I was. Because they were. But it really was just TMNT. When I'd bring out my Ghostbusters toys and talk, that's when it'd break down into like... 1/4 of the people I knew were into it, and maybe they were just watching the cartoon and not buying the toys. Everybody had TMNT toys. Even in the classroom, I was trading TMNTA comics with other people who had them.

[Leo656]

The weird thing to me was that TMNT was the first "fad" thing I'd experienced that had a longer shelf life.

Before TMNT it was like, He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Ghostbusters, in chronological order, were all the "Big Things". And they were all REALLY big (with some crossover spillage; they were all mostly out at the same time so they were all fighting for space but all still overwhelmingly successful), but they all had no more than a two-year "peak" even if they hung in longer. Like, the Real Ghostbusters line got a little boost from the second Ghostbusters movie in '89, for example, but that didn't even last a year and even before that the writing had been on the wall for at least a year or two that Ghostbusters was "over". The show was still on, the toys were still out, but '88 was probably the apex.

And when things were "over", I mean they were DONE. You never talked about them again unless you wanted to be made fun of constantly for liking "old" things. "You still like ______? Dude, what the f*ck, that was forever ago! We were babies!" It was literally a year or two prior, but you know kids and hyperbole.

So with TMNT, two weird things happened. First of all, as I mentioned, before TMNT there were a lot of "Fad Properties" all competing but co-existing for years upon years. MOTU, Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe and Transformers all made tons of money for an entire decade, and none of them "killed off" the others or even bit into them too much. But then TMNT came in and killed off EVERYTHING, all at once. ALL of those things were now suddenly "lame", and you didn't admit to liking them still, you HAD to like TMNT if you wanted to be "cool". Now granted, all of those things were pretty much nearing the end of the line, anyway (MOTU for example was pretty much done in '87 and the "New Adventures" experiment was dead on arrival in '89), but it was unprecedented for one hot new thing to suddenly come in and become 100% of the boys' toys marketplace overnight.

One might wonder if "TurtleMania" would ever have even been a thing, if it had been competing with a bunch of other properties at their PEAK of popularity rather than their nadir. We'll never know, but I have to suspect it was a bit of a perfect storm. If TMNT comes out in '85, does it wipe out MOTU? Again, we'll never know, but I wouldn't put money on it. The TMNT franchise benefited GREATLY from being the first of a "new breed" in boys' toys and cartoons. All the old guard were dying off after many years of success, and its only real competition - Batman: The Animated Series - was still years away. So they basically had the entire market to themselves, early on. Worked out great for them, but again, it was weird to see because I'd never lived through that before. I grew up with a bunch of Popular Things coexisting; suddenly, there was just ONE Popular Thing, and the older ones all vanished. It was weird.

But the other weird thing is, that not only did TMNT have a longer peak - roughly 1988 through 1992, although I guess you can stretch it out to 1993 if you're feeling generous - but it also wasn't (in my experience anyway) one of those things you "weren't allowed" to talk about having liked, once it was no longer popular. Like, nobody made fun of you if you still liked Ninja Turtles in 1994, the way they did if you still liked Ghostbusters in 1990. Maybe the kids simply matured, I don't know. All I know is, that was the first fad thing you were "allowed" to still talk about once it had passed the expiration date, and people wouldn't make fun of you over it. That was weird, too.

Looking back, it really seems to me like a perfect storm of events that could never be recreated, AND I feel like they had twice as long a run of any other "fad" because they spent the first two years of that period running mostly-unopposed. The only thing close to the popularity of the TMNT cartoon was the Batman movies, and those movies barely had any toys so they didn't really cut into the TMNT line's success all that much. Once the TMNT brand actually had real competition from the Batman cartoon (and subsequent toyline), and then X-Men, "TurtleMania" fell fast and hard, although it still hung in there and made a respectable showing until the end.

Not trying to diminish the phenomenon or anything, because it was indeed that. BUT, it wasn't anything that hadn't been done before. He-Man was just as mass-marketed on just as many consumer products as TMNT, and in more countries to boot. BUT, it existed at a time when there was a lot more parity and competition in the marketplace, so it didn't sustain that momentum for as long as TMNT did. But TMNT also had a two-year run in the beginning where they didn't have much competition, so it's not hard to see why they were able to sustain such a huge juggernaut of merchandise for so long. But again, they weren't the first, so it wasn't so unusual to see something blow up that big. What was unusual was that it had a longer tail than anything else had, up to that point in time.

It was a weird time. The worst was how only the rich kids would get the "good" toys, like the Technodrome, and those kids always had short attention spans and broke/threw out their toys in short order. And all the while you'd be fuming because you actually wanted that thing, couldn't have it, and would have to watch some unappreciative dickhead get it and do nothing with it, instead. Sh*t drove me nuts.

[Andrew NDB]

It was a perfect timeline of events. The cartoon hit, it was a phenomenon, and even when other properties would usually wane, it was still going strong... and then BAM, first movie hits. Even if you went up a few grades, now there's something relatively grown up you can go and see. And when you leave the theater and still want your TMNT fix, guess what there is? Still new cartoons, toys and TMNTA comics everywhere. And everyone's still into it because why wouldn't they be?

I'd say right around and shortly after the release of TMNT 2 was the height of it, just talking from the ground as a 10 year-old kid at the time. Such a corny movie... but it was like a communal experience as a kid.

[sdp]

You guys are clueless to how big pokemon was and yes the anime was bigger than TMNT or dbz and even more popular than the games

Some things are difficult to gauge since as a kid things seem to last way longer but yeah by fad I mean the whole "mania" movement, it wasn't just a big quick rise of popularity among a certain group but with everyone. It culminated with Pokemon since that was pretty much agender unlike TMNT that while there were female fans it was still a minority, Power Rangers had a few more female fans because of the girl rangers but still mainly for boys. Jurassic Park was way bigger than Ghostbusters but I wouldn't call it a fad either even if there were tons of dinosaur related stuff right after. Batman TAS and other popular cartoons also weren't fads in the 90s. I mean Rugrats was huge but it wasn't a fad like tmnt/power rangers/pokemon, I suspect it was the same for other 80s cartoons, you never hear about "He-Manmania or Transformersmania" like you do for the big 3 of the 90s, I think marketing had also reached a peak in the 90s and they were able to exploit anything that became popular far easier than before which will never happen again because of the internet segmentizing stuff so everyone is into their own things now.

I do remember the shelves always having new cool crazy TMNT figures, which I now realize were some of the later waves when it wasn't as dominant but to me TMNT was still the king of action figures and didn't really notice a decline in general until Power Rangers was a thing, but I was so busy with Power Rangers I didn't stop to think about it. I never realized as a kid TMNT had died and was excited when The Next Mutation stuff started coming out, I was still very young so it was up my alley. I do think the peak of turtlemania was around 1991 so I seem to have barely made it to experience the fad which was good, I was also able to experience the Power Rangers and Pokemon fads as a kid and those were great experiences as well. It seems most generations either experienced only the TMNT fad, TMNT and Power Rangers or Power Rangers and Pokemon or only Pokemon, but only like people born in a very specific time frame got to live the 3 fads as a kid (if you were a teenager it doesn't count even if you enjoyed it, nothing beats enjoying something through a kids eye)

No 80s show ever reached the level of turtlemania, there's a reason those franchises aren't as fondly remembered and have never had s successful reboot. Transformers being the exception but it never became a worldwide cultural phenomena known as transformersmania. I'm not saying it wasn't very popular, but the closest thing from that era that would qualify was likely Star Wars but it being stuck to only movie3 movies over a few years never let it become as huge as a cartoon would to become a giant fad.

Turtlemania never reached the heights of Pokemania either. Pokemon was a whole other beast on a different league that TMNT could never hope for.

Power Rangers mania vs TMNT mania is a fairer comparison, but I've believe i already made a thread about that a few years ago. Worth noting Power Rangers sold for higher than TMNT, had always had a tv show running, appealed to girls more. I think PRs peaked earlier but was higher while tMNT just lasted longer while during it's fad phase.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

If TMNT comes out in '85, does it wipe out MOTU?

I believe it could've happened, since She-Ra was debuted that year and was not the same success as He-Man.

But I think a 1985 TMNT cartoon would've needed a couple of early space adventure episodes (not just Krang and the Technodrome coming to Earth). At the time, Star Wars was still a fresh memory, something it wasn't in 1987.

[ABrown]

As a child of the 80's, I grew up with the "toy commercial" cartoons: He-man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, and Silverhawks. I really don't remember TMNT being THAT MUCH bigger than any of those. Also, I don't think the franchise was really a huge hit for much longer than any of those franchises either. TMNT was really big from about the Fall of 1989 through the Spring of 1992. Prior to the Fall of 1989, TMNT was around. But it didn't become the phenomenon that it was until it went into five day a week syndication, followed by the release of the first live movie. Then after the fifth season, the majority of kids seemed to have stopped watching. I mean I went from fifth grade to sixth grade, so everyone my age had pretty much stopped playing with action figures and watching cartoons. Our interests had changed to video games and sports. Though, for some reason, the show continued to air for an addtional five years, despite being FAR less popular than it was during its peak.

[Sumac]

In Russia we didn't had a lot of TMNT merchandise, only things like toys, comic books and sticker albums.

In general, we were pretty late for Turtlemania - TMNT officially has been introduced here in 1993, basically, when Turtlemania on the West was dying out, so we get some embers, but nothing super major.

Nevertheless, being our formal introduction to 80s (commercial) cartoon series and superheroes, Turtles had enormous influence on Russian kids.

I think, Transformers eclipsed Turtles in popularity here, since their toys were sold everywhere throughout 90s, even though, until Beast Wars, none of big Russian channels had broadcasted any Transformers series. An, obviously they were not released on VHS in any capacity.

Things like G. I Joe and He-Man were mostly unknown here. Though, some G. I Joe toys were sold in the beginning of the 90s.

[CyberCubed]

TMNT was huge all that time till Power Rangers hit in 1992 and killed off a lot of TMNT's popularity. That's why by 1993 when the third movie came out the franchise was in its waning phase. Power Rangers was big all those years till Pokemon hit in 1998 and then the same happened again.

Ironically enough I was born at the right time to enjoy all these phases, as being in a kid in the 80's and most of the 90's and an early teen after that.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Things like G. I Joe and He-Man were mostly unknown here. Though, some G. I Joe toys were sold in the beginning of the 90s.

I guess the October Guard (the Soviet equivalent of the GI Joe Team) action figures were sold there?

[IndigoErth]

Turtlemania... simply put, the point in which toy sales and popularity were super high and the evangelicals started yelling about the evils of Ninja Turtles. (https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-05-09-1991129002-story.html)

[Sumac]

TMNT was huge all that time till Power Rangers hit in 1992 and killed off a lot of TMNT's popularity. That's why by 1993 when the third movie came out the franchise was in its waning phase. Power Rangers was big all those years till Pokemon hit in 1998 and then the same happened again.
I think, Power Rangers were mostly unknown in Russia until late 90s, when one of the channels had started broadcast them as part of the kids block. But even, then they hadn't become here as big as Pokemons.

I guess the October Guard (the Soviet equivalent of the GI Joe Team) action figures were sold there?
Never heard of them.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Never heard of them.

The October Guard appears in the GI Joe episodes The Invaders and The Great Alaskan Land Rush.

[Galactus]

Ah Turtlemania. It was a wondrous time of revolution. A time when feminism was entering the mainstream and the Civil Rights movement was in full swing. When people shook off many long established bonds of conformity and found the courage to protest unjust wars. For a brief moment there everyone thought we could change the world with peace and love.

Oh wait...that was the sixties.

Turtlemania was lots...and I mean LOTS of turtles stuff everywhere. Multiple aisles of toy stores were devoted to just TMNT (or TMHT here in Britain) and not just kids toys there were every thing. Pretty much anything that you could stick their logo or likeness on I mean over here they had a tie in with tea bags of all things. No other 80s craze seem to ever reach anywhere near that level of ubiquity. I think it helped a lot that TMNT could be portrayed as cut and edgy and each relevant product needed. One thing that will always stand out to me is that turtles were often mentioned on the news were all the important stuff was reported on. The craze in general, the commercialisation of it all, stories of parents fighting over turtles toys, the alleged violence of the cartoon and movie even reports of kids going down in to the sewers looking for the turtles. Even newspapers that my grandparents read had articles on them. Another thing that I will always remember is that my grandparents would sometimes take me for days out to Manchester. The train there would always pass by a wall filled with graffiti and at the center was a painting of Leonardo with a red bandanna. Little did I know at the time this was a recreation of the pose from Mirage's Leonardo #1.

I definitely think that TMNT was the peak of these toy based crazes. What is what is funny is that unlike Transformers, MOTU, Power Rangers and Pokemon is that is was never designed to be.

[Prowler]

Leo's post made me think...I wonder if the main problem with TMNT overall is the fact it wasn't initially designed to be popular/mainstream? Think about it. All of the other very popular franchises and fads such as Star Wars, Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Batman, He-man, etc. we're clearly meant to be big heavyweights from the get-go. But TMNT was just an obscure independent comic book series that most of the world population still isn't aware of to this day.

I don't think Eastman and Laird ever thought their creation would become the monster it did. Which brings the whole idea that the FW Toon was a "deal with the devil" to a whole new levelm

TMNT belonged to a small company for most of its history, Mirage. And its most successful incarnation, the 87 cartoon series, had little to do with the source material and not much creative input from its creators either. I'm not sur eif Mirage ever owned the FW series. I remember the old Ninja Turtles Mirage website not having much info on the 87 toon besides a lost of episodes and the synopsis for each of them.

It's quite impressive how TMNT managed to become so massive for some years despite its humble roots. But that probably explains why it hasn't been able to become a regularly popular thing throughout the years either.

[Leo656]

No other 80s craze seem to ever reach anywhere near that level of ubiquity.

I can't speak at all to Over There, but in America just about every Toys R Us had a "He-Man Aisle" until at least 1986, and some through the line's end in 1987. Stuff like G.I. Joe and Transformers were also very popular, but stuff like that mostly shared an aisle. Like there was a general "Boys Action Figure" section and an aisle that was 100% He-Man stuff. Or otherwise like 95% He-Man stuff and 5% like-scale or similar-theme stuff like Galaxy Warriors, Warlord, etc. It varied by region and store, some Toys R Us places would stock the knockoffs in the same aisle as the He-Man stuff since they were nearly identical, but some Toys R Us stores had an aisle for all the various knockoff or "no-name" toys and so the He-Man rip-offs would go over there and the real He-Man toys would have their own completely dedicated aisle.

So figure the line was hitting its stride over here around '83/'84, and some stores still had a "He-Man Aisle" through 1987 (although a lot of the stores shrunk it down to just a section of the Boys Toys aisle by the end of '86 when the line was cooling off). That's still about three years give or take where the line had its own dedicated aisle while a lot of the other "iconic" lines all shared one. That's objectively a pretty good run.

I think one reason for that was the MOTU line had these big colorful display backdrops and decorative banners the stores would put up, which most other lines like G.I. Joe rarely got and it made the He-Man stuff always seem like it was important even after it had peaked. The stores always presented it like a Big Huge Deal even after sales dipped, just like they did with TMNT later on with their own big dedicated displays in many stores. That kind of thing definitely helps a line stand out amidst a crowded sea of other toys.

I wish the he-man.org merchandise checklist was still online for perusal, but sadly the website is under renovation and likely will be for some time. But yeah, I am sure it varied by country and region but even globally, if He-Man didn't have as much or more various merchandise on the shelves from '83 to '87 as TMNT did from '88 through '93, it was a tight race. To this day I'm still discovering stuff they slapped He-Man and Skeletor on back then that I never knew existed. But like TMNT, it's kinda like "Literally Every Single Thing you can imagine, they licensed products for." It had never been done on that level before, a toy line with quite as much global licensing and merchandising, and every big toy franchise thereafter benefited greatly from MOTU "going first" into that arena.

But yeah, as far as any line being anywhere near as ubiquitous as TMNT at its peak, MOTU at its peak is definitely in that conversation. But not in every single part of the world to the exact same degree as here. Still, it had to have SOME serious market penetration in England and the UK, because there were a ton of books and magazines that were only made and sold over there in that specific region, totally independent from the stuff we got Over Here, different artists and publishers and everything. I think their British-produced He-Man Magazine lasted longer than the American version, if I'm not mistaken, just for one example. It might not have been AS big as it was in America but it must've been pretty big all the same.

All of which fascinates the hell out of me, by the way. Kinda like how TMNT was received differently in various parts of the world as well. Or as I've often mentioned, the whole "Sega was a non-factor in Japan but huge in South America, while Nintendo was big in the US but ignored in the UK" type stuff. We had no internet back then obviously so I'm still learning about all this stuff just now, and it's pretty wild.

I was discussing this with someone yesterday, but one thing that puts TMNT over the other iconic '80s franchises was its successful video game franchise. That's a huge thing, and it's one that G.I. Joe, Thundercats, and He-Man didn't have the luxury of getting for various reasons. There were games for some of them but no "big" ones, and He-Man never got an NES game which still puzzles a lot of people. There's a working theory among He-Man fans that if there had been a decent NES game, the franchise might have lasted longer during its first run. We'll never know, but my theory is that at the time Mattel would have been reluctant to dabble in video games after they almost went bankrupt with the Intellivision. So even licensing their Golden Goose out to someone else for an NES game was probably something they saw little value in, because Mattel at that point saw video games as a failed fad, having suffered a serious failure firsthand during the Big Crash, and by the time the NES was a proven winner the whole He-Man craze was over and a game wouldn't have mattered anyway. Again, we'll never know, but that's what makes sense to me.

That whole era was a pretty wild time. Toys in general were a MUCH bigger deal back then, I don't think anyone can dispute that. Like, we get better stuff now but the emotional investment isn't the same for kids Now as it was for us Then. And that makes me sad.

[Galactus]

Leo:

Interestingly when I moved to the UK permanently was when MOTU was on the way out. The Filmation show was still airing but there was really no representation on toy aisles...but there was still quite a lot of ancillary material. Usually all British made stuff like story books and the comics. I wonder if there was still a market for it here even if interest in the brand had waned in the US and elsewhere.

I do think TMNT had it beat in terms of sheer presence. Like they would have aisles of the action figures and playsets but they would also feature in the soft toys aisles with plushes and puppets, then the general merchandise stuff and they were on way more things than I wonder if that was because MOTU was owned by an actual toy company so they focused more on than whereas with TMNT the toys were only one part of the huge mass merchandising blitz.

Interesting thoughts on the video games. I get the impression Tournament Fighters was a much bigger deal here than in the rest of the world. I remember buying it and the guy at the store told me everyone had been asking for it. All the video game magazines raved about the SNES version and even though most of my friends were over turtles by that point most loved the game (and could still pop in the Turtles in Time cart too).

Prowler:

I don't think there is any major problem with TMNT that hasn't been of Nickelodeon/Viacom's own making. TMNT has a better track record than MOTU, GI JOE and Thundercats and the like at revivals. There's no reason to think there couldn't be a successful version out now if not the last two products (The Bay movies and Rise) being generally bad.

While I do think TMNT at it's peak was bigger than Power Rangers and Pokemon it doesn't have the same inbuilt regeneration mechanism. Like every year there's a new set of Power Rangers and Zords, every few years there's a bunch of new Pokemon so it never goes away. TMNT doesn't have this built into it. They tried to put them in new settings and the like but ultimately the characters were never built for that.

[Leo656]

Well, on some level there's a factor of "Things Change Over Time" and not all types of merchandise making sense for every single property.

For example, plush toys for "boys' characters" weren't a thing during MOTU's run, nor would those characters have translated well to that particular item. I don't think any boy wanted a plush He-Man doll, although some might have. But TMNT makes sense for that type of toy, and by then it was a bit more common in general.

But MOTU absolutely had about 99% of all the same ancillary merchandise that TMNT had. The puffy stickers, Panini sticker albums, coloring books, shoelaces, school notebooks, backpacks, lunchboxes, record players, talking electric toothbrushes, play tents, bedsheets, cake pans, board games, model kits, etc. etc. etc. There are very few types of merchandise that TMNT had that MOTU did not have, honestly. I do think TMNT had more items - I don't recall MOTU ice cream bars, for example, and again there were hardly any MOTU video games where TMNT had many games, and I'm sure there's things I'm forgetting. But again, if some people have the idea that TMNT had a LOT more different licensed products... no, that's completely false. A few more or different ones, yeah. But it's very nearly 1:1. Again, if the checklist on the .org ever gets restored I'll gladly link it. The sheer amount of stuff MOTU was pasted on back in the day is insane.

What skews the data and makes it hard to determine which brand really had more different licensed items is that globally, the franchises were licensed out to different companies so not every product came out in every single country that hosted the brands. Not everyone got the TMNT Birthday Party kits, not every country had the MOTU cake pans, etc. etc. Plus, people are still finding new regional vintage things that existed for both MOTU and TMNT to this very day, incredibly. It's hard to find a truly comprehensive list for either brand, but the list of known items for either brand is quite insane.

Is TMNT ahead by a few plush dolls and ice cream bars? Yeah, probably. By an overwhelming amount? No, they mostly had their respective brand logo on almost all the same stuff, just a few years apart from each other.

They're probably the two most closely-related 80s toy lines, honestly, just based on the sheer merchandizing blitz for both. They both had all the stuff other brands like Ghostbusters and G.I. Joe got, as well as a ton of stuff NONE of them got. Pretty wild.

[Coola Yagami]

Yeah, I never thought of that but you have a point. Having videogames, especially a 4-player beat-em-up at the arcade definitely helped. Another thing though, I don't seem to remember them selling He-Man episodes or anything on VHS back then. Most I remember was owning a record that was about The Secret of the Sword, but I don't remember He-Man (or She-Ra) cartoon episodes to buy on VHS like with the Turtles.

Also I'm not 100% sure but wasn't the He-Man live action movie also a few years too late? I think it came out around the time the franchise was winding down instead of more at the peak of its popularity. The first 2 live action Turtle movies came out when the series was still red hot, it was the third movie that was made near the end of its lifespan.

Similarly TMNT Tournament Fighters came out when fighting games were the new craze, but it was still during the time the turtles were winding down. Too bad though, because it was a solid fighting game.

Y'see, back then, there were types of fighting games. Ones based on actual arcades like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, and ones that were console originals like ClayFighter or Shaq Fu. Most of the originals sucked, like for the most part the only good fighting games for the SNES/Genesis were ones based on pre-existing arcades that were already good.

But Tournament Fighters (the SNES anyway) played very similar to Street Fighter's combo system but with a bit more speed and super special moves, that even Street Fighter itself lacked. It played very good and it was made before the super special moves became overly complicated motions (looking at you SNK).

I can predict a lot of newbies buying the Cowabunga Collection for the first time are gonna be pleasantly surprised with just how solid of a fighting game the SNES Tournament Fighters turned out to be.

[Zulithe]

If you haven't watched it yet, watch Turtle Power, the documentary. It doesn't give you a perfect idea of what it was like from a kid or young person's perspective experiencing turtlemania live and in the moment, but it does provide a lot of perspective.

You could also go down the youtube rabbit hole (or dig through the youtube thread on this forum full of random TMNT videos), and watch vintage videos from (late) 87 until around 94, when the fandom started to die down. 93 is when Power Rangers hit, so that was the year when the younger kids started to turn away from TMNT and move towards that. So we have a good 6 year period that was mostly dominated by TMNT with little competition.

[Andrew NDB]

TMNT was huge all that time till Power Rangers hit in 1992 and killed off a lot of TMNT's popularity.

People say that and blame Power Rangers for that even as long as I can remember, but I don't buy into it. "Turtlemania" died because it held on as long as it could and ultimately couldn't offer anything new beyond a flawed live action TV show (NT:TNM) that even then came out long after the interest already died. Because there has to be a "hook" for new kids every few years. TMNT had that with Fred Wolf and it had it with TMNT 1990. WHAM in 1987 and WHAM in 1990. That bought some time. There was no further whams. The 1987 kid was already driving cars and thinking about banging chicks by the time the lame TMNT III faded away from memory.

[CyberCubed]

I think people often forget how quickly kids fads come and go. Even the initial Pokemon fad already started dying down by 2001-2002 when we were in the mid-Johto era. The Johto movies bombed in the U.S. box office and WB stopped distributing them which proves most kids weren't even asking their parents to go see them. Then by the time Ruby/Sapphire and Hoenn started the initial fad was pretty much done even though of course the franchise overall remained successful.

Kids fads actually come and go very quickly.

[Leo656]

Another thing though, I don't seem to remember them selling He-Man episodes or anything on VHS back then. Most I remember was owning a record that was about The Secret of the Sword, but I don't remember He-Man (or She-Ra) cartoon episodes to buy on VHS like with the Turtles.

Also I'm not 100% sure but wasn't the He-Man live action movie also a few years too late? I think it came out around the time the franchise was winding down instead of more at the peak of its popularity.

The entire Filmation "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" cartoon - all 130 episodes - were released on VHS between 1983 and 1986. It was one of the very first cartoon shows to ever be granted that honor, one of the first TV shows to be put out on VHS just in general, which is especially noteworthy given the number of episodes. Along with the fact that most people did not even have a VCR yet in 1984.

However, they were all those deluxe clamshell-case videos, like what Disney used to put out. Between that, and the fact that at three or four episodes per VHS tape it took dozens of tapes to cover all 130 episodes, most video rental stores either did not carry them - those clamshell-case tapes used to cost rental stores about $200 per unit back in '83 or so - or if they did carry them they only had one or two of them.

So it actually had one of the first and most extensive VHS releases any show had ever had... But it was TOO extensive (and expensive) for rental shops to stock them. So most people wouldn't have known about them unless they lived in a ritzy area. For example, in the town I grew up in there were about a dozen video stores within driving distance but only two or three had any MOTU tapes for rent, and only about two or three per store. There was one that had about 20 of them, still the most I've ever seen in one place, but it was about forty minutes away so we didn't go there much. I asked the owner in 1991 or so if any of them were for sale since they were old by then, but he said he'd only sell them for about $200 each because that's what he paid for them.

Those 20 VHS tapes weren't much more than half the series, if that, but they took up an entire shelf of the video store. Looking at that, I immediately understood why no store anywhere would stock the entire series.

No other 80s cartoon had a complete series run on VHS with that many volumes and episodes. Not even TMNT. It's not a contest, just a statement of fact.
-------------------------------

As for the movie, yeah, but that's the business. They made plans for a movie as far back as '83 but stuff didn't move as fast back then. Nobody wanted to make a movie about a toy, that was a joke back then, which is why they got stuck with Canon Films. There wasn't much they could do to put a movie out any earlier than 1987, and that was the year the toy line ran out of gas. So it was too late but it did some good in showing that you could make a movie about a toy or cartoon and it wouldn't be a complete mess. Studios were much more open about those types of projects after that, even though the movie under-performed.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Turtlemania... simply put, the point in which toy sales and popularity were super high and the evangelicals started yelling about the evils of Ninja Turtles. (https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-05-09-1991129002-story.html)

uA2O5N3EDWA

[Galactus]

Turtlemania never reached the heights of Pokemania either. Pokemon was a whole other beast on a different league that TMNT could never hope for.

Power Rangers mania vs TMNT mania is a fairer comparison, but I've believe i already made a thread about that a few years ago. Worth noting Power Rangers sold for higher than TMNT, had always had a tv show running, appealed to girls more. I think PRs peaked earlier but was higher while tMNT just lasted longer while during it's fad phase.

TMNT was definitely bigger than Power Rangers at it's peak. Remember Power Rangers ratings dropped sharply as early as midway through the shows second season and while the movie made money it was hardly a big deal not even topping the US box office.

Pokemon is a bit of a strange one because it's not a franchise whose primary medium was toys or cartoons but rather video games which is an entirely different kettle of fish. The anime was huge in it's first season then as soon as Ash traded in Brock for Tracy and hopped on a Lapras to go around the Orange Island kids seemed to lose interest. It did have a financially successful movie; the biggest anime movie that had been released at that point but nothing to really write home about. How did the sequels fare in the West? How many of them were released outside of Japan?

Power Rangers and Pokemon are bigger franchises overall but that's because they are self sustaining. There is always a new team of Power Rangers and every few years there is a new batch of Pokemon to catch. They can go on forever and if one iteration flops they quickly move on the next.

[Prowler]

TMNT and DBZ were the last two big cartoon fads that took the world by storm. I'm not counting Pokémon because it wasn't just the anime series that was popular, but the games as well. DBZ and TMNT started out as comics, but clearly what made them huge were their animated series. Although I asside Dragon Ball's manga sells very well, but it's not like people outside of Japan were buying it in the 90s.

There's been very popular animated series in the current century so far such as Naruto, Avatar, One Piece, Bleach, My Hero Academia, etc. but they didn't take the world by storm like TMNT and DBZ did. They're just very popular among an ocean of popular stuff. I've never seen One Piece marchandise and such being all over the place even though OP is the highest selling comic book series of all time as of today.

I think today there's just too much competition and content out there that makes it impossible for one single series to absolutely dominate toy sales and be consumed by 90%+ of kids. Not to mention TV isn't what it is anymore. What kids wake up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to catch the latest episodes of their favourite cartoons nowadays anymore? Everyone is streaming their favourite shows, whether legally or not.

[Wildcat]

Don’t know what else to say about it. It was great. All the merchandise, cartoon and movies. The Turtles were in everything. How else can it be described?

I had a lot of toys. Mostly figures. Never had the Technodrome. I was more into vehicles like the Van, Pizza Thrower and skateboards (Cheapskates just googled it). A bunch of other things too but can’t remember off the top of my head.

I wouldn’t call it a fad. That’s more of a “hip” trend that pretty much stops once people get tired of it. These franchises hit a high and then leveled out once they were established. Happens to everything.

[Galactus]

You guys are clueless to how big pokemon was and yes the anime was bigger than TMNT or dbz and even more popular than the games

I was there for both and TMNT definitely felt bigger. Like I pointed out the TMNT cartoon had several successful seasons whereas Pokemon seemed to peter off as Ash was entering the Orange League. Also TMNT actually had a properly successful movie.

I will say that Pokemon sucked in people I never thought would be into it. Like I was 15/16 at the time probably too old for the anime but since I'm a big nerd it's not a surprise I liked it (although it was mainly the game I was into). However a lot of other kids my age that normally would dismiss it as kids stuff were fans. I assume it was mainly due to video game and card collecting.

[red1981]

i was seven when i first got into the turtles, i wasent old enough to read the mirage comics, but the cartoon, toys, movies and archie comics where my childhood i cant explain how insanely popular the turtles where they where in everything

[Leo656]

I know I've mentioned this before, but initially I was not interested. I'd heard about the cartoon, seen commercials, but for some reason it sounded ridiculous and not something I'd be into.

Had to have been at least a few months into the show's run, we were at school and they had the book-and-tape version of the Archie comic mini which adapted the first couple episodes, and THAT got me interested. That afternoon I went home to actually watch the cartoon and from there I was hooked.

Thankfully by that point it was about mid-88 at least and there were already lots of coloring books and toys and other stuff for me to jump into, so that was fun.

But yeah, I initially was prepared to hate it until I didn't.

The movie and the Archie comic are what kept me a fan long after I was getting bored with the cartoon, though. That was a great time because there were things that let you explore your TMNT fandom in "stages"... the cartoon for young kids, the Archie books for maybe slightly older kids, the movie for the next group up, and if you knew about it, Mirage for the oldest fans.

I've said often that this is what's missing now, because almost every single thing with TMNT is kid-oriented so there's no real way for kids to hang onto their fandom as they get older and tastes grow more sophisticated, unless they just resign themselves to hanging onto the kids' stuff. I supposed the IDW stuff may work in that "in-between" or "more mature" vein for some people but I personally don't think it's a great example, at least in its current state. But that's an opinion.

[Andrew NDB]

The movie and the Archie comic are what kept me a fan long after I was getting bored with the cartoon, though. That was a great time because there were things that let you explore your TMNT fandom in "stages"... the cartoon for young kids, the Archie books for maybe slightly older kids, the movie for the next group up, and if you knew about it, Mirage for the oldest fans.

That's it in a nutshell. And if I hadn't had gotten that random copy of TMNT Vol. 1 on my shelf that I basically bought accidentally one day when comic shopping for TMNTA backissues... I certainly would have been done with TMNT around 1993 entirely. Remembered in the same way as I remember Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Ducktales and so on, as a thing I look fondly back when I was a little kid but have no interest in revisiting in the here and now.

[Leo656]

Yeah man. I have NO PROBLEM with there being material for All Ages of this or that character... Superman and Batman have been pulling that trick for ages... but right now there's not a lot of GOOD material of TMNT for the higher age groups. Not like when we were kids.

You had Mirage, FW, Archie, the movies, all happening at once... even those little 80-page novellas like "Six-Guns and Shurikens" that were explicitly set in the FW universe, except they said "damn" and "hell" and referenced "other swears" which made it feel a little bit more "grown-up"... you ACTUALLY had "something for every age group and taste" and it was all coexisting at the same time. It was all pretty good, too, but that's a bonus.

To me, this is why the whole deal lasted as long as it did. As you grew up between '88 and '94, it legitimately felt like the brand was growing up right alongside you. It didn't feel like you were "aging out of it" or anything. And if you were like 12 and still liked the cartoon if you were in a mood for it, fine... but you also had Mirage and the first movie to scratch that other itch.

It's so "same-y" now, and while IDW has at least tried to present an "alternative" to older fans, or be what Archie was to those fans, many would argue that they've fallen short in that mission. Last Ronin is One Thing, and even besides that, IDW as an entity can't be expected to entirely carry the flag for "TMNT Fans Older Than 8." It shouldn't even be expected or asked of them.

We DO need "Diversity" in the TMNT brand. Sure. The kind we had when it was 1991. Diversity of theme, tone, content, and taste. TRUE "mass-market appeal". We had it Then. Why not Now?

Why NOT Now?

[MattOnWheels]

Leo, Your posts have been interesting as a first-generation TMNT fan and I can see why you may feel more recent adaptations to be lacking. I'd like to share my thoughts as a second/third generation Turtles fan as they may or may not provide a different perspective.

I call myself a second/third generation fan because I was born in December of 1990. This would ordinarily be way too late to enjoy the Turtles at their peak, but in truth, I was imprinted with them even as a baby. I have cerebral palsy, you see, and during those times when it was not clear if I was going to make it out of the hospital, my parents had the foresight to record as many moments as possible. One of these pieces of footage includes the very moment my parents arrive home with me: They open the door, and the first thing you hear in the background is the faint sound of the NES playing the TMNT 1 Intro theme. Yes, fortunately for me my brothers were MASSIVE fans of the Turtles, and they had been up all night playing Turtles games, waiting for me. I hadn't watched it back for myself until years later as an avid turtles fan, but it all made sense. Simply put: Because of my growing up when I did, I wasn't able to catch the FW cartoon but in very small fragments--toys strewn about the house discarded by my brothers, that sort of thing. I never quite knew who they were or what their deal was, but they were always kind of...there. I can remember always playing with a rocksteady figure, never knowing who he was. I can also recall seeing a very small snippet of the first movie--I think it was the fight scene in the antique shop--and thinking it was cool...then, years later, in 2002 or so, my brother got into Emulation and showed me the turtles games, and suddenly EVERYTHING clicked. There were the turtles, there was the rhyno i played with--and then my brother told me all about how they used to own all the toys, but lost them...

Now, I can't tell you what really made me catch the fever other than wanting context, but I immediately began to be hooked on them. I wanted to know everything. I searched the pre-YouTube internet high and low for every bit of info I could, asking my brother constantly if he had any memories of X, Y and Z. We ended up cleaning my room from top to bottom in search of whatever toys we could find, which included a VHS of Invasion Of The Turtle-Snatchers--my first full taste of the FW cartoon, which was so fun even WITH its cheesiness-- and I became hell bent to find a place to buy the turtles movies so i could watch them all (The DVDs I ended up with had to be the earliest releases or something because man, that first movie DVD had an ugly plain green cover with no real artwork!) I watched it, and I thought to myself "How did I miss out on such a cool craze?!"

Luckily for me, when Fox Kids was primed to become The Fox Box, I saw that there was going to be a new, updated Turtles cartoon coming next year. THIS was my chance! I loved the turtles already, now I had the chance to enjoy them in my own time and generation, and what made it even BETTER was that I had THIS VERY WEBSITE to keep me updated as I waited for info! I was there from the beginning. Right from the initial WIP concept art of the turtles which had the bandages on their weapons white instead of the colors of their masks. I was here on this forum as each bit of new info was leaked out, and I can remember that one thing the Mirage website stressed was they wanted to get away from "Cowabunga" and the other things like Pizza and all that. Some were excited, some were afraid--and don't even get me started on the reactions to April and Baxter's designs! "YOU CAN SEE HER ASS CRACK!"/"Why is he Black?" (Of course, we found out that wasn't the case on April's part. Baxter, however, elicited some...er...less than stellar suggestions as I remember. At least from one or two members.)

Then came the reveal of the voice actors. Hoo boy. I can remember the clip for Splinter was "A ninja lives in the shadows. Darkness gives the ninja power, while light reveals the ninja's presence!" - I recall that the initial concerns expressed with this clip were that "He doesn't sound Japanese enough!" - a conversation piece that would continue as more dialog was heard. Particularly in a Fox Box ad that saw Mikey calling into a news station that was doing a report on the soon-to-be-premiering Turtles only to have Splinter yell "HANG UP THAT TELLEPHONE! *NOW!*" in the background, That delivery seemed to win some skeptics over.

One thing we were all waiting for was news on the toys in the meanwhile. We knew there was going to be a toy line by Playmates Toys, but how would they be marketed? When the first clip of the commercial they intended to use was made available, some bemoaned the inaccuracy of the voices. As memory serves, though, reception was pretty positive. I remember one post saying "I so want to be the kid that gets pulled inside the fountain!"

There was plenty of nervousness headed into the premier. We had hoped for a good run but there were no guarantees...then, that Saturday morning in early '03, I recorded "Things Change" on a blank VHS because I knew I would want to watch it over and over...and I did, i tell you! It was amazing, and I was pleased that most of the Technodrome forum members seemed to enjoy it. One member was from Finland as i recall...Karpo? Kerpro? something like that. He had an avatar of Raph from Mirage 1. He had always seemed very knowledgeable on TMNT and had a particular disdain for FW's lack of anything "Ninja" after the first season, so I was pleased to read him say "This is the best version of the Turtles to air on TV!" and that he was excited to see where it went as the weeks unfolded. Me? I adored it.

Throughout the week, we had hoped the ratings would be good but there seemed to be an air of uncertainty. Then at last, the news arrived that it was the flagship show of the network! "The TMNT kicked shell!" said one post. We were overjoyed.

From then on, it was one wild ride after another. The Return To New York arc was intense, as was the attempted recruitment of Leo by Saki. Sure, there were filler eps every so often that were hit or miss, but for the most part the forum (and myself) were VERY hooked on the show, and Fox marketed the **** out of it! There were turtles toys EVERYWHERE within no time, and i got more than my fair share too. I miss my Battle-Shell van. That thing was sick.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, while Turtlemania may not have hit me the same as it may have for kids in the first generation, it wasn't just any old iteration that hooked me. It was everything about the Turtles in general! (I was EVEN keen to watch The Next Mutation if I could have, but this was the pre-YouTube period. You couldn't easily find footage of it that wasn't grainy or low quality, At least not that I could find.)

I know I can't speak for the majority of people here, but for me? The staying power of the Turtles isn't in the hands of whatever the current iteration is. It's the concept itself. I like that there are so many different ways to tell the story of four Ninjas who battle other ninjas, aliens, mutants, elder gods, time travelers, the works. It's got everything you want in a good IP, and there are different versions for different audiences. Sure, the FW one will always be the one that most will think of, but it was enough to get me in the door and I know for a fact that the 2003 series was what got many of my friends in the door. Some of them have even went on to be big fans of Rise, and i think that's awesome. You know what it proves? It proves that no matter what the incarnation is, the TMNT will always be the coolest to somebody out there. Hell, I met someone the other day who's first Turtles game was Turtles In Time...Re-Shelled! RE-GOD-DAMNED SHELLED, can you believe it?! That's ****ing beautiful. It may not have been my thing, or your thing, but god damn it it was THEIR thing, and it lead them to fall in love with the franchise like we all did when we first started our journey. I'm immensely happy to have something I love be so important to people in different ways, and personally? When I have children of my own, I hope they can enjoy their first turtles thing to the moon and back, whatever it is.

Turtle power is FOREVER baby! Cowabunga! :tparty:

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

One member was from Finland as i recall...Karpo? Kerpro? something like that. He had an avatar of Raph from Mirage 1.

The member from Finland with a Mirage Raphael avatar was Karpo 007. That user joined the Technodrome on 11 July 2002, and was last seen posting on this community on 17 May 2005.

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/member.php?u=168

[MattOnWheels]

The member from Finland with a Mirage Raphael avatar was Karpo 007. That user joined the Technodrome on 11 July 2002, and was last seen posting on this community on 17 May 2005.

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/member.php?u=168Huh! See, I knew I wasn't crazy!

Gee, I wonder if my old account still exists?? o.o Can I even search that far back?!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Huh! See, I knew I wasn't crazy!

Gee, I wonder if my old account still exists?? o.o Can I even search that far back?!

You can search all the way back to July 2001. That means the only missing threads are those published between October 1999 and July 2001, but I'm sure you can find them through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010501091943/http://members.boardhost.com/krangnshredder/

[MattOnWheels]

Well, I haven't found any posts by me that I remember yet, but I DID find the "Kicked shell" one!

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showpost.php?p=97764&postcount=2

Of course, not every week was like this. Sometimes filler eps would make ratings sink, but man: even reading that old thread, Im remembering how much we all were so happy. :D I really hope I can find a post by me somewhere.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Well, I haven't found any posts by me that I remember yet, but I DID find the "Kicked shell" one!

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showpost.php?p=97764&postcount=2

Of course, not every week was like this. Sometimes filler eps would make ratings sink, but man: even reading that old thread, Im remembering how much we all were so happy. :D I really hope I can find a post by me somewhere.

Those were the days. When people came here to discuss their TMNT fandom. :)

[MattOnWheels]

Those were the days. When people came here to discuss their TMNT fandom. :) Right? And the thing is, it's not even a case of times being "Better" back then. A simple look through the thread reveals that just like today, there were naysayers mixed in. One banned user in there even calls the series "Trash" despite it only being the first episode! :P It just goes to show, there were no truly "Better" times. We bitched and moaned even when we were being given awesome things. That's just the nature of fandoms. Some people get so wrapped up in what they want that they can't see the forest through the trees. I'm willing to bet that if the net had existed in 1987 the same way it does today, there would be people calling FW utter blasphemy and demanding its' cancelation on the grounds that "Real fans deserve better." :D

My way of looking at it is this: No, I did not experience 80's Turtlemania. I did, however, experience my OWN Turtlemania with my own generation, boosted by my appreciation of what came before. It wasn't the same as what some of you had, but it didn't have to be! It gave me memories I'll cherish for the rest of my life and made me fall in love with the Turtles as a whole, NOT just one incarnation. In my book that's a success, because to this very day, the turtles still make me happy. To think that I was 12 years old when I browsed that thread, and I'm 31 now. Here I am counting the days till Shredder's Revenge comes out. Life has been good to me and the Turtles are still part of it. That's rad! :tcool:

[Andrew NDB]

When people came here to discuss their TMNT fandom. :)

What exactly does this mean, going somewhere to discuss "their fandom"? I don't think I've ever discussed "my fandom" anywhere, ever. What does this look like?

[MattOnWheels]

What exactly does this mean, going somewhere to discuss "their fandom"? I don't think I've ever discussed "my fandom" anywhere, ever. What does this look like? I believe he means instead of arguing, perhaps. Though as I pointed out, every fandom does that. Though I can't speak for the overall vibe of this site since then. So far it seems like it's mostly alright.

[Leo656]

I believe he means instead of arguing, perhaps. Though as I pointed out, every fandom does that. Though I can't speak for the overall vibe of this site since then. So far it seems like it's mostly alright.

I mean, I *can* be a much bigger dick. I just try and save it up for when people deserve it. I can definitely try a lot harder than I've been, though, I admit.

[Hamato Yoshi]

MOTU/TMNT memories :

-being blown away by MOTU intro in '84 , when youve seen MOTU/Gadget/Transformers/MASK/Defenders of Earth first time around on Sky then you know youve lived quite a number of yrs *whistles*.....then first time on vhs and on The Childrens Channel. I prolly watched a few 60s Batman on Sky but had almost forgotten about Batman until '89......actually never saw Defenders on TV , just vhs

-in '90 the MOTU comic was canned in Norway , i still remember the Hordak cover.....makes me sad to think about , also seeing a Gwildor on a worn card in the 90s when MOTU was long dead :(

-when TMNT III came out i could sense turtlemania was over , still remember the toy store had toys in the window (which now is a pizza place) , the toys were cooler than the movie. Still remember when i first heard of TMNT around '89.....like many other kids had no idea about Mirage nor were those sold here

-i remember last day before x-mas at school in '90 , went to gas station to buy the candy olive colored figurines.....just 2 , not the whole set (which i have now sealed , even 2 movie cereals sealed.....anyone feeling hungry :P:lol: )

Film critic Paal Bang Hansen was not thrilled by turtlemania : "has this horrible movie come to Norway too ?" , he had just been to US and heard about it......he died when i went to NY , i was thinking of writing him a letter but was not to be. I think if he saw the new TMNT films hed say "yknow , the first TMNT was at least decent even though its not my fav film or anything"

I did not see MOTU movie until '90 on ppv channel but i do remember it in video store.....unlike many kids i loved this movie , heck i even made a wooden sword at school , it looked nothing like in the movie and i also cut off the cord of an acient video game gun so i could have a movie inspired gun (wussy new teacher we got later in wood shop , he forbade us to make swords/weapons)

[Hamato Yoshi]

Heenan : how is TMNT in any way evil ?

Monsoon : What do you mean ?

Heenan : If anything is evil its that french Jordy kid , his songs give me nightmares !

:lol:

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Still remember when i first heard of TMNT around '89.....like many other kids had no idea about Mirage nor were those sold here

I'm pretty sure the Turtles hit Norway the same time as Sweden, and that date was August 1990 (unless you count some 1987 releases of the Mirage Studios comics).

[red1981]

i still remember reading the archie comics, stores with shelfs full of the toys, and all the kids talking about it on the playground everyday

[Andrew NDB]

i still remember reading the archie comics, stores with shelfs full of the toys, and all the kids talking about it on the playground everyday

Yeah, for a key couple of years it wasn't like you could go up to boys in the classroom and poll 6 of them about what are they the most into and get different answers. It was "I'm into TMNT" or you're uncool, for that period. And TMNT didn't go away after that period, it just wasn't as universally and fanatically loved.

[Coola Yagami]

One thing I remember TMNT TF SNES being so good considering it was an all-original fighting game not adapting a pre-existing arcade. Part of me felt kinda bad that I knew Turtlemania was on its way out so we'd never get a TF2 or a Super TF or whatever.

[red1981]

it makes me happy that there are others my age that remember the turtle craze it was something that i dont think could happen again

[Mad Dog McMutt]

Turtlemania was a very beautiful thing. I was born in 86 so when I was 4 years old the turtles were already everywhere. In my mind they were these magical entities that I had to know more about. The cartoon was great, the arcade and video games were great, the movies were great, and the action figures were great. The theme song still gives me the most intense vibe of nostalgia.

[red1981]

Turtlemania was a very beautiful thing. I was born in 86 so when I was 4 years old the turtles were already everywhere. In my mind they were these magical entities that I had to know more about. The cartoon was great, the arcade and video games were great, the movies were great, and the action figures were great. The theme song still gives me the most intense vibe of nostalgia.

i remember first seeing one of epps i was 6 when it first aired and asked my mom why they where teenagers lol

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Do the Turtles still have a big fanbase in Russia? I stumpled upon this website a couple of days ago, and it at least seems so.

https://www.turtlepower.ru/