Were you the target audience when the 4kids series was airing?
 

The 4kids series began in 2003, which is now a whopping 11 years ago. Take your current age and subtract 11 years, and that's how young you were when this show was airing.

I was 17 when the 4kids series began and as someone who grew up with the original cartoon I felt like this show was aimed at both kids and older fans at the same time. As a 17 year old back in 2003 it felt like "the turtles had grown up with me," and we getting a TMNT cartoon similar to that of Batman: TAS and those older cartoons that seemed to be aimed at both kids and adults. I felt it came out at the right time because I was in my last years of High School and it felt like a show I could watch as I was older.

I was around the target audience's age, maybe a little younger. Kind of a shame I never watched much 4Kids, or even TMNT in general. I'm sure the 2k3 series would have been one of the shows I would have loved growing up.

I was 20 when I first saw it air in the uk, so not the target audience but like you I felt it was a series that transitioned between adults and kids.
It's still my favourite series, it brought aspects of the comics to life in a way I never thought I'd see. I was still a bit awkward at 20 so I didn't openly admit to watching cartoons even though I felt the show more than justified it, now I just don't care! ;)

Nope.
But then, I've never been the target audience for a turtle...anything, regardless of how old I was when it premiered.

Well I was about to turn 18 a couple episodes after it began, so I was definitely on the "periphery demographic", but a few years too old. I could have watched it if I wanted to but I just wasn't into animation at the time and preferred reality shows and more mature themes. I consider that show's target audience to be for seven to fifteen-year olds, or approximately four years older that the OT's original primary demographic. The merchandise with it didn't move me since that "no longer a kid" thought just didn't move me unlike it did several years after I had settled into a full-time job. But if I watched this show first, I probably would still have liked the OT, but more for the "campy" value typical of shows of its time, similar to how I can watch shows such as the Smurfs and Scooby-Doo despite being a bit before my time.

Here's the thing. In early 2003 when the 4Kids series began, I was 21 years old. However, I felt like I was just as much, if not more, a part of the target audience as a child who was 10-15 years younger than I was. The first five seasons of the 4Kids series were not very childish at all. The series felt like it was targeted to adults just as much, if not more, than children. That's one of the many reasons that it's my favorite TMNT series.

I was skeptical about it
 

I had my worries and doubts then i watched it then I'm like this is f***** awesome!! I loved it.

I actually was in the target audience for the show.

It really depends on what the target age is/was for it. I was 15 when it started and 22 when it finished up. I think I was just outside of it at the start but I do think that they were trying to lure in the hardcore of the first generation of fans who were without much more than the Ring of Green centered around the former ninjaturtles.com between early 1998 to late 2002. That would have had its youngest fans arguably 12ish at the time of its start. So its truely a hard question to give an answer to.

I definitely was the target age for this show when it began, but I never watched a single episode of it growing up(only the Turtles Forever movie once it was all done and over with). I was right at the peak of my "I'm in junior high and I'm a girl and I need to start acting like it" phase, and turtles just didn't really fit in there. But really....it may have also been because I didn't watch the channel it was aired on so I never even knew it was around! Maybe if I was more aware of its existence my curiosity would have eventually won me over and I would have looked more into it, hard to say.

i was 4 in 03

I was 7 back in 2004 when I first got into TMNT, so yeah.

I'm 17 now, soooo...
 

I was lucky enough to not have cable when this show was on. Otherwise, I just would have just watched Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network for cartoons. Basically, I'm a TMNT fan because there was nothing else to watch. I got back into the show around when the animated movie came out, and it still held up 3 years later. Even more recently, last year or the one before that, I went through the first five seasons YouTube and it was a fun time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is my favorite thing ever.

Unfortunately, I was just starting high school, and I my Saturdays were full with involvement in sports and several other extracurricular activities year round. I didn't even realize that there was a tv show when I picked up the first video game for the show. I just thought it was a new video game, and I was thrown off by the tone and look of the cutscenes taken from the show. I didn't catch the show till I went off to college when I caught it on tv one Saturday. Although my youngest brother claims that he knew it was on tv at the time, although he was 6 when it debuted.

Even though I didn't catch it until the end of it's run, I've seen the entire run, and it's my favorite TMNT series.

Foxboxkid,I have only seen 2 shows in full chronological order Spider-Man(1994) and Ninja Turtles(2003). It helps one better appreciate and improve perspective.At the same time it can exhaust one on it for a while for the obivious reason. Its probably the best of the three shows to watch that way because of the heavy continuity based storyline. Episodes #15-#34 have to be watched in order for example. It shows the weaker ones more and brings anticipation for others at the same time. It took me for the 2003 cartoon bindge 10 weeks to get through 157 episodes.

Warboss74, I thought the 74 meant birth year. We are about the same age then.I had a lot going on as well but if I was doing something with friends or school related I would preset the VCR. That is all you had to do. ;) The one time I missed it and streaming was still two to three years away,Dan Berger was kind enough to attach the transcript of the episode "Dragon's Rising" where Casey visits his dad's resting place at the end.

Haha, I saw every episode of the 4kids series when it was "new" and aired for the first time. I never missed a single episode during its first airing.

I was 10 when it first aired~

so yea I was the target audience XD

I didn't follow it that much....but whenever it came on I watched it and liked it :)

I think it was on 4 kids right? That's probably the reason I didn't watch most of the episodes.....if it was on cartoon network or Nick I would have watched them all :) (cause those were the only channels I paid attention too)

Lets see I was 20, so no. however, since it was TMNT..yes?

I was about 9/10 years old when it started airing over here, so I was. I watched it when I could, but I didn't properly follow the series

Heck no, I was 24. Still loved the show though.

I was 14 so... yes?

Like I said, I didn't know it was airing at the time. I had already moved on from cartoons on network television by that time.

Yeah, the 74 isn't my birth year, but my college jersey number.

Ok to settle this
 

Turtlepedia says the target demographic for the 4kids tmnt series was 13 years of age and up.

It was kids. All cartoons aimed at boys go from the 6-11 age bracket first and foremost. That being said the storylines were certainly aimed at teenage fans as well.

I was 12-13 at the time, so I guess I still was part of the target audience of the show.

I think so, in 2003 I was 4 and in 2009 I was 10. But back then I didn't really like TMNT.

I can not believe I'm saying this...
But I'm with CC here... :o

I picked up all 4 Turtles and Shredder at the Walgreens next door to the movie theater I was working at. I was also, probably about 17/18ish in my final year of school (I graduated in 2003). I distinctively remember buying those toys and some of the trading cards from the store... and some Pokemon cards too. That Walgreens no longer sells any trading cards. I now live in the area again, so I popped back over just to see if they had the Nick toys at all.
I do wish I could have bought more toys, but it was a Walgreens so it was limited in what it got, it seemed. I dont remember seeing the other figures aside from the series 1.

As for the question, I do feel the show was made with the intention to cater to the young audience and attract an existing fanbase as well... a smart move. I haven't seen much of it though, still, to this day.

I was 6 years old when the show first aired, so yes I believe.

I'm really surprised some of you were so young. You guys missed the entire original 80's and 90's fad of the franchise.

I was in my early 20's, so no. I remember watching the first episode, I knew nothing of the show other than what PL had revealed in the letters page of Mirage vol.4 and was pretty hungover, but when I saw how close it hewed to the original comics, I was hooked. I'd set my VCR (yeah, we still used those back then) to record it every Sunday morning

So what age group was the official target audience. I mean this show had a large ADULT following.

It had a teenage following, but that was only 'cause the kids like me from the OT era grew up and were surprised we got a new TMNT cartoon.

Had the original 80's and 90's fans not existed I doubt any teenagers would have started watching the show out of the blue.

I was 8 back in 2003, so I would say yes. But the funny thing is that I liked the show back then, but where i live, they replayed the episodes to exhaustion, so I could never saw the whole series on tv, only years later I watched chronologically.

I was in the target audience alright, I was a big fan of the show. Course I liked the live action films and the 80s series but I think around this series is when I became obsessed with the series. It felt more adult than the 80s version in my opinion, bit more darker and mature. I liked the twist they did with Shredder and Leo / Karai arc.

I was 5, so yes i was.

No, I was 16 and a sophomore in High School. By that time I had totally forgotten about TMNT. I didn't even know the series existed until last year, now it's my favorite version of the turtles.

I was around twelve years old when it aired, so yeah, I was definitely within the target demographic. I recall it being my favorite show along with Justice League.

21. Not really

Well, I'm 37 now, and in 2003 I was 26, so no. In fact, I was barely aware of it, and my work schedule back then didn't really allow for me to watch Saturday cartoons, anyway. I didn't even really know about the series until FF came out, and when I watched it, I was NOT impressed. I skipped it. And now, looking back, I wish I'd gotten into it then, because taken as a whole, the series was AWESOME!! It's the TMNT I wished the original one could have been, mature, complex, and often emotional. It had great animation (at least until the FF and BttS seasons), and a lot of incredible and memorable episodes.

Look through the thread
 

Here ya go buddy