Do children of today know who the Ninja Turtles are?
 

I am pretty much speaking of kids from around 5-12 years old. Not counting the ones who have older siblings or family who watched the Turtles when they were younger. Aside from the ones who may have watched the 4kids series, I don't know.

But I am curious, if you went up to your average 10 year old today of the year 2011, and asked them, "Do you know who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are?" would they have a response?

I think that a 10 year old most likely would know who the TMNT are. The turtles were a regular on Saturday mornings up until just these last couple of years. So I would bet on a child who is at least maybe six or seven years old would know about the turtles. It's the ones who are less than maybe five years old that I would say are more likely to not be familiar with them.

Yeah there's a good a chance a kid would have at least have heard of them or have seen the toys or video games.

And with a new series coming up, it will likely introduce a whole new generation of fans as well, so I don't see any real "end". It's franchises like Josie and the Pussycats, Heathcliff, The Tick, and other now-obscure franchises that never got revived. It may be a whole different story this time next year, and Christmas 2012 may see the new kids going after the turtles! But I'm proud to be a first-generation fan, and helps me be more of a "fatherly fan" to the younger fans.

Then there are characters associated within a certain generation (e.g. The Neutrinos, Channel 6 Crew, Hun, Bishop) that certain fans would relate to better.

As a middle school science teacher I can tell you that kids do know who the turtles are. As a die hard fan I usually wear a turtles shirt on casual Fridays. Everytime I do I get at least 10 students a day who make a comment along the lines of "Oooo a ninja turtles shirt, cool!"

I work in a children's psychiatric ward, where the youngest we take is 5 years old. The 5-yr olds know who the turtles are though they are a bit confused over who is who. They usually come to me and ask me: "Miss, which one is the blue one? Who has the big stick?" etc etc. My other coworkers usually direct all TMNT related questions to me.

Sometimes, on weekends when the kids can watch movies I'll bring in some of my turtles movies. Apparently, they like Movie III best...go figure. Though, Movie I is still a huge hit. I've been debating bringing in some of my "cartoon series" DVDs, both old and new. It keeps my ADHD boys still.

And for the record, we have had multiple autistic kids, of various ages, that are fixated on the turtles.

Ulisa

Wow. That's awesome, Ulisa. I agree that many kids probably do know who the Turtles are and probably will know more about them once this new series comes out.

My sister's kids all love the turtles. One's in 5th grade, the second in 3rd grade, and the caboose is in kindergarten.

Yea I think so my girlfriends little brother is 12 and he and his best friend like the turtles.

It's actually really interesting to watch the delayed or autistic kids because if they have fixated on a topic, they REALLY fixate on it. We had one sutistic kid that I remember who absolutely LOVED the turtles. Kid was, oh, maybe 8 or so, non-verbal but man, if you started talking about the turtles, he'd listen for hours, just smiling. He'd plant himself in front of the TV if the movies were on and did not move, just smiled away. We had a few coloring pages of the turtles at the time and this kid had the colors down to precise detail. Would hunt for hours if you let him for the right shade of green for the right turtle. I distinctly remember going home and checking to see if he had the shades right and he was spot-on every time.

It would seem that the Turtles are more popular today than they have been for years. Specifically with kids and teenagers.

I'm always trying to show my niece episodes of the classic toon, though she loses interest very quickly. She's only a toddler though so I'm hoping once the new series comes out next year she'll actually be somewhat interested in watching it.

Toddler is a bit young for either cartoon. So I wouldn't give up on the classic toon yet. ;)

It does bother me when adults think the only way to introduce kids to a classic cartoon is to make an entirely new version. That's just teaching kids that old = bad and new = good.

Well they mean "new" as in its what's currently airing.

For example kids of today will probably want to see the Nick TMNT first as they can watch it easily on TV, then through DVDs they can see the original cartoon and 4kids series.

I had no problem putting VHS's in as a child. I probably watched them more than the TV. ;)

i know my son is deff going to know the TMNT, lol.

my 4 year old son has all seasons and some original action figures. im sure as time goes on he will get to know them a lot better!

Kids know them. I've had toddlers comment on my shirts before when they're behind me in line and such. The shirts were even for the OT. Despite having nothing new out really this year they still had TMNT costumes and I saw plenty of them being worn, as horrid as they were.

Hell, I know exactly how she feels.

I have been trying to get my niece and nephews into the Turtles. I gave them some of my vhs' of the OT, and some of my spare figures. They like them, but they're still a bit young and are really into the Pixar movies and what not. I think out of all of them, my niece may end up being the big Turtles fan. Hopefully they'll get into the new toon when it debuts next year.

i have a lot of customers tell me they are buying for their kids/nieces/nephews/grand-kids...so i would say that kids today do seem to have an interest :) now at this point a child of 5ish would almost def have learned from word of mouth, but isnt that how kids are introduced to everything? I mean, even when I was little- my older brother loved TMNT and that was how I got into it :) who cares how they learn as long as they love the turtles and spread the word!

Adult fans vs. kid fans
 

While there may certainly have been a few young adults back during TMNT's heyday, it increasingly seems like their is a distinction between adult fans like me and the young kid fans. How would you describe the similarities and the differences between the two groups in terms of fandom?

Personally, I see adults into two camps: passive, casual fans who are content with buying some DVDs and perhaps a TMNT merchandise item if it pops up without searching, and the die-hards, who just want to seemingly get anything possible TMNT-related, such as official cast interviews/autographs, rare/obscure collectors items, and intricate fan works such as sketches and fanfics.

Now for the kids, I see that since they don't have money yet to spend (though the Internet has allowed shopping without a car), they just like to believe things that whatever they see is "their time" and new to them. If their parents are Type 1-casual fans, it works out generally well, but caution is advised to Type 2-die hards so that the child can have proper development through proper education and social growth.

Yes they do. My mom is a teacher to 4 year olds and a kid brought in a Rapheal action figure for show and tell. Also a student from another class dressed up as Raph for Holloween.
Ninja Turtles is just a part of pop cultural osmosis. Something that people know about even if not in any great amount of detail.

Well when I have a kid of my own; they'll definitely know who the TMNT are. Once a fan..always a fan!

Of course. Tons of kids I know can at least recognize them. Like Zany Orange Dude and TV Tropes say, it's part of Pop culture Osmosis.

If I ever have kids, they'll definitely get introduced to TMNT. Heck, even my BF's nephew watched Turtles Forever with us and seemed to like it.

Are you sure some of them don't post on this board?

Wow....that wasn't at all insensitive to people who are learning delayed or autistic. Good job.

You do realize you just compared yourself to a 5 year-old girl who likes Dora the Explorer and My Little Pony, right?

I'm sure they do, thanks to the 4Kids series. They'll definitely get more popular when the new show airs on Nickelodeon.

I think so bc I was actually fortunate enough to enjoy both cartoon incarnations. I was born in 91 watch the OT ever sense I can recall and I was 11 or 12 when the 2k3 appeared. I found out about 2k3 bc I watched Saturday morning cartoons and saw a tv commercial for them.k So I bet there are kids who may have watched the 2k3 towards the end of the run