I do wonder if there are going to more cutscenes in the game like the trailer with voice acting. If yes, maybe that's taking up a significant chunk of the development time since the game itself doesn't look too labor intensive by 2020s standards.

Well, as long as no-one will be able to create something that will be able to supplant FW TMNT as "the most popular / definitive version of the franchise as seen by mass culture", I am afraid it won't happen.

It was almost 3 decades since the end of FW TMNT and everyone had failed, so far. I am not saying it is impossible, I bet people thought that no-one will be able to replace Adam West's Batman as "the Batman" in mass consciousness, back in the day, but it had happened. Batman is much more "flexible" character and had much more successful incarnations over the years, but that's besides the point.

I actually do think that TMNT as a whole will die out completely before anything overtakes FW as "the real TMNT" in the public eye. Like you said, there have been attempts. It was a product of its time and it's only for nostalgia's sake that any of the reboots made any waves at all. And as we've seen, even that wasn't enough to save the last few attempts.

People can argue from any angle they want about why the Bay movies failed, or why Rise failed, or why the last few video games failed, or why the comics are failing. Each of those things take a drastically different approach to the material, but they're all various shades of failure. Anyone studying the data trying to figure out, "So what IS the right way to do TMNT and have it be successful again?" would be incredibly frustrated by the fact that literally nothing seems to work.

So we're left with "The simplest explanation is the correct one." That being, TMNT isn't popular anymore, it never will be again, and anyone expecting or hoping it will be is in for some serious disappointment. Not trying to be a killjoy, just being objective.

Game will probably do okay since it's just a nostalgia-fest. Key word being "okay". Some of these throwback games do decent business but it's not like it'll usher in some kind of new renaissance. Should be fun though.

They didn't do good enough than.
There are always ways to make material work.

It is a beat'em up - genre that was smelling like week old socks by the beginning of the 90s. Of course, it won't be a "game changer" or a "revolution", just like Streets of Rage 4 or River City Girls were not either. But as long as it is a decent project for the fans - everyone interested will be satisfied.

4Kids was the best thing we had since the 1990 movie and it didn't make a dent. Totally forgotten now.

Odds of Viacom - or anyone - doing something "better" than 4Kids? Slim to None.

As I've said many times: "Hope" is the single most irrational of all human emotions. The only guarantee in the universe s Entropy. "Everything Dies".

A cornball 80s relic two broke guys came up with while they were high won't be the exception to that rule. No chance.

Splinter!!!
 

Splinter is going to be a playable character!!!
https://youtu.be/vvnU0GvZw3c

Crap! This awesome news was a bunch lower in the threads. I’m still super stoked!!! Woohoo!

Only because it's been forcibly put into a box since the sale. Tons of kids were into it in the early to mid 2000s. If there wasn't ever any new 4Kids stuff to latch onto, what are they supposed to do?

4Kids made as big of a mark on kids as any modern kids cartoon has done post-2000. Bunch of seasons, successful toy line, video games, etc.. There's just a lot more options nowadays. When one cartoon ends kids today don't dig out their VHS tapes like we did and obsess on the existing, they're onto the next thing already.

Eh. Someone can correct me but I don't remember it ever being a huge ratings-grabber. Most people our age were openly saying at the time "I'm too hungover to get up before noon and watch cartoons on a Saturday", and the under-10 crowd wasn't there either.

Obviously it did "okay" but I remember Sonic X being a much, much, MUCH bigger deal among the desired audience at the time, even though it didn't last as long.

2k3 TMNT had some stiff competition from both Sonic X and Yugioh. I think that X-Men: Evolution was also a big deal for a time.

Nah, it's still popular, but with older and older crowds, which is at odds with the fact that Viacom keeps trying to market crummy versions of it to children. There's potential, it's just a mess over there. I'd say the brand is definitely in danger and "leaking", because they're neglecting the older fans and "abusing" the younger.

That's why the 2014 film had a great opening weekend, full of older fans. It dropped because the film stunk.

"Rise..." arguably failed because it was so off-base for the property, and the recent games have failed because they're awful and people became more wary of awful licensed games long ago. These aren't good examples of TMNT's interest level. They are examples of poor products failing.

And the comics aren't failing, as you say. The Last Ronin is the highest selling comic of 2021.
The sales weren't just good - it's the highest selling book IDW has ever printed and the most successful book of the year, despite being double the cost of a regular issue. "Failing" literally could not be further from the truth.
It's just too bad that comics are the most niche avenue for the TMNT at this point.

Other then that, you can see remnants of their popularity wherever they pop up. Injustice DLC sold well, Batman vs TMNT sold well, the collector figures are selling extremely well.

I'm 100% sure that people would show up for a good tmnt movie aimed at the same audiences that MCU and DC aim at. But we've been over that before.

All good though, you're free to be a killjoy. Just a difference of opinion.

AND I WILL KILL SPLINTER! GRRRR!!!! IHATE HIM! More news next saturday:

https://www.ign.com/articles/ign-fan...watch-schedule

Well said, man.

I often wonder if "delusion" tastes like cherry.

Thanks, homie.

When you claim the top selling book of the year is “failing” and brand it as “being objective”.:lol:

All it proves is that people who actually care about TMNT are starved for a version that doesn't taste like ass.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I've said every time we get into a discussion regarding the potential of TMNT done correctly.

The characters are popular, they're just being treated like ass. When you don't treat them like ass, the brand succeeds. Now you get it.

Still pretty convinced you could take every single self-professed "TMNT fan" and stick 'em all in a large ballroom.

FYI, nobody with any self-respect self-advertises as being a "TMNT Fan" anymore, so I'd advise you (or anyone here) to not screech too loudly if you ever again wanna get laid without money changing hands. Just a bit of Free Life Advice.

TMNT is Dumb, and only Dumb People still like it. There, I said it. And I'm not taking it back.

Lol that's nice.

Absolutely nothing about me is "nice". You take that back right now.