A World Without the TMNT
 

So Peter's got us thinking... just what would the world be like is he and Kevin Eastman hadn't created our beloved Turtles?

Let's discuss the alternate universe that would be CyberCubed's nightmare.

Well for one, there wouldn't be all those lame brained parody cash-ins like Street Sharks, Extreme Dinosaurs, Biker Mice, Kung-Fu Hamsters, Chameleon Commandos.

the word "COWABUNGA" would be underutilized and greatly unappreciated.

Hey, guy, I think Extreme Dinosaurs is awesome. :)

And I'm sure Biker Mice fans will call for my head, too.

My Facebook would be lacking several friends. :(

Thinks of the episode "Shredderville" when Donatello says:

"Well this is the world....WITHOUT the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!"

*scary music plays*


As for me, if TMNT wasn't part of my childhood, I assume I would have been more of a Batman fan then. I really liked Batman due to the 1989 movie and B:TAS....but TMNT was always #1 for me....

I guess I would have been a hardcore Batman fan instead of being a more casual fan of it if TMNT never happened.

Presently speaking, I'd be buying Marvel and DC Comics :lol:

I think my childhood would have sucked a little bit.

I would also add that my current adulthood would suck a little bit.

TMNT was a big part of my childhood, too. But I'm sure some other 80's franchise would have taken it's place...maybe. Not sure I'd have gotten into comic books. The Archie TMNT series was my first comic book series.

If TMNT wasn't around when I was a kid, then between the ages of 7 - 12 I'd be a hardcore fan of whatever else was big on television. I'd also weigh a few pounds less from not eating Mutagen Pies every freaking day :tlol:. No wait, I'm still a New Yorker, so I can't go without my near daily slice of pizza.

I wonder if pizza would be as big without the Turtles. I love it, but I partially blame the Green Team.

Yup, i'll have to agree with Joe... my childhood would have kinda sucked...... ugh! i don't even wanna think about what if... especially something that's so near and dear to me! lol

Drugs
 

More kids would use drugs, no Michelangelo in the Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue (those who liked Michelangelo)...

I really wouldn't be into most things I am now.

If I remember correctly, TMNT was my gateway drug into the comics world. Without them, I probably wouldn't care all that much about comics in general.

My love of comics led to me becoming a movie buff and a toy collector, which all lead me to some of my favorite things.

Lol , if the Turtles did't exist it would be something else , Teenage Mutant Ninja 'elephants' for all I know , Also things like Street Sharks and Biker Mice etc..started simple hoping that the crowd would like it bigtime like tmnt . Back in the day Kevin or Peter did't know if the tmnt would go big like they did , its a shot in the dark. In the end everything is made for cash in..
Cowabunga !

Biker Mice has a cult following and even had a revival series/toyline a couple of years ago.

If TMNT werent around, you all know this place would be called "Hope Island" and you'd all be Planeteers

Usagi wouldn't be as famous.

Slapstick humor
 

Less people of the younger generations would like and understand the slapstick humor that the 1987 TMNT Cartoon uses.

The biker mice kinda took over after the turtles, together with power rangers.

but I remember more mice then rangers in stores here in Norway (south where I live)

My childhood would probably just be a little extra filled with X-Men, Batman, Spider-Man, GI-Joe, Transformers, Lego and Action Man

well, there wouldn't be Bucky O'Hare, Samurai Pizza Cats, Toxic Avengers, and so many other TMNT inspired shows. I bet no american company would take a chance on Power Rangers either, even though Sentai existed BEFORE TMNT.

Crazy to think...

I'm a bit younger than most of you guys (born in 91), so I only caught the tail end of the TMNT craze as a little guy. I got back into TMNT hardcore during the "dead period" when we had moved and all my toys/videogames were in storage while we were living at my grandmothers small house. All I had to play with was old stuff we had sent to her house years prior: my NES and VHS tapes. TMNT III: The Manhattan Project wasn't the only thing I played with my sister and cousins (Also loved Mario 3, Kirby's Adventure, Hogan's Alley, Donkey Kong Jr. etc.), but it was the most played, and led to us getting into everything else TMNT.

So I guess I might be a Nintendo fan boy if it weren't for TMNT. No idea what I'd really be into as far as TV/movies goes though.

-James Avery would be just Uncle Phil to me...
-I would not have cared about Cam Clarke until the 2002 He-Man reboot. (Cause every time I heard his voice my reaction was: Holy crap! it's Leonardo! or Holy crap! it's Rocksteady!)
-I would have eaten a LOT LESS Pizza.
-Playmates would not have gotten a lot of my childhood money.
-I would have become a fan of the New Adventures of He-Man...
-I would have ignored Konami as a gaming company (to the point of missing out on Metal Gear Solid)
-My dislike for Ubisoft would be a lot less.
-We would NOT have had the 90s Masterpiece: Ninja Rap!
-Power Rangers in Space would have been less cool to me...
-My Joke summary of Xenogears would never exist...

Japanophilia
 

Bucky O'Hare is older than TMNT, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky_O%27Hare

Also, TMNT (OK, together with video gaming) turned the late 1980's and early 1990's into the biggest era of Japanophilia in the Western World since the late 18th and early 19th century.

Japanophilia did exist even before the TMNT; in fact it probably caused Eastman and Laird to come up with the TMNT in the first place. There were cartoons like "Speed Racer" when I was very young.

I suspect that turtles-the regular ones-wouldn't be as popular today without the Turtles.

a world with no tmnt? i shudder at the thought... one thing i know for sure... mysterycolor vintage toys would still be selling a wide variety of items... however i would've missed out on meeting many amazing people... and then there is always the frightening thought that kids like Joey wouldnt know what to do when offered some pot... you know, MARIJUANA...

oh wow. All i recall is having a Comic Review magazine reading about TMNT in homeroom back in the fall of 1985.

Japan and TMNT
 

I know and Japanophilia in the Western World comes and go, but I still think TMNT increased it during the upcoming years. A lof of kids became fascinated of Japan because of TMNT.

How is it possible?
 

How is it possible?

Wow interesting???? Pretty cool

*Shutters* This is the thread nightmares are made of.

Well for one thing I wouldn't be on here because this site wouldn't exist. And if this site didn't exist, neither would this thread!

We all wouldn't be here on this forum chatting.

More reptiles would be extinct, and it wouldn't be as cool to watch the news. We also won't be as interested in Renaissance Art and some crazy musical genres. I assume GI Joe and The Real Ghostbusters would have lingered in popularity longer; Garfield would have bigger, and The Simpsons, as big as it was and still is, would have been an even bigger part of my childhood.

But quite frankly, it was easy to imagine a world without the TMNT during the dark period.

I would never be interested in Ninjas.

Wow. Interesting question. I'd say that if TMNT didn't exist, I wouldn't be chatting with all of you, and most of the other sites I visit wouldn't exist either. Also, it was because of TMNT that I got interested in fan fiction and began posting my own stories, so that wouldn't happen either. I'd probably still write, but not about the Turtles.

nope, we'd be on the Adolescent Genetically-Malformed Samurai Tortoise forum.

This is a very interesting question for me as the Turtles inspired my career choice. They are what got me drawing in the first place, and without that, I wouldn't be the designer/animator I am today. I have a feeling my life would be completely different, perhaps for the better? Although I can't complain right now. I sure wouldn't have tons of sketch books full of Turtles drawings from my preteen years, that's for sure.

If the Turtle never existed, I probably would have had a nervous breakdown in college due to stress and probably wouldn't even be typing this. It was the 2K3 series that helped me through that time in my life and really helped me to see that failure isn't necessarily a bad thing as it helps you to learn. The Ancient One taught me that, and I've carried it with me ever since.

I would not like to exist in this hypothetical world

If we're all getting sentimental, then if this forum didn't exist because of the TMNT fandom, then my life would probably be a complete wreck right now. Lots of scary important changes are happening, plus a few drastic and possibly some no win scenarios. If it weren't for this fandom, and the upcoming new show, I wouldn't have anything to really distract me from more serious problems.