How did you feel when Laird sold TMNT to Nick/Viacom in 2009?
 

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Like, when you first heard the news that Peter Laird had sold all of the TMNT rights over to Nick/Viacom in 2009, how did you feel about it?

I don't remember. Pull up the thread!

I was surprised. At the time, it felt bittersweet. Turtles Forever would premiere a month later. It was the end of an era. Since then, I can't say I have been happy with the direction Nickelodeon has taken the franchise in.

Fun fact: I knew about two days before the official announcement.

I was very apathetic about where the brand was at the time, so I was excited, but with hesitation for the giant corporation thing.

Fast forward 15 years and I'm very apathetic about where the brand is now and I hate the corporation. So, yeah.

I have actually forgotten the date but…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqNxp3pRTw8

I do remember I was taking a bit of a brake from the internet that day and didn’t go online or the Drome until late evening, figuring there was no harm in missing out on any real news of substance. Then I saw that thread blowing up about the sale. Man, hit me in ways I still don’t understand.

Jesus Christ I was only 25 back in 2009 when this news hit. Where does the time go? I was still a young man back then.

I didn't think much about it. Marvel ended up in Disney's hands the same year and I thought that overshadowed everything else.

I was scared because that meant that everything Laird fought not to let happen in the franchise would potentially come true. And 14 years later, it looks like my fears were confirmed...

Yes, the sum of all fears and on all fronts.

Between the comics and the 2012 show, it probably went much better than I would have expected. And the toy license finally loosened up. I was probably anticipating full on "Rise of the TMNT" type tone for everything under Nick, but that hasn't been the case at all.

The loss of the Fusco-scripted film is the biggest bummer in my mind. I'd probably trade most of what we've been served for that film to have had a chance. But again, the comics have been a great return to form, for the most part.

It felt like the end of an era. The breaking up of Mirage Studios was the saddest part. I've only been loosely paying attention to the franchise since.

It is sad from that perspective. Hardly any creative properties are catered by their creators for that long though, so it's really cool that it happened at all.

It's also pretty cool that we still have Kevin Eastman, and possibly even Peter soon, pushing their characters forward, nearly forty years after creating them.

It's awesome to imagine them still running the property today, but at some point all characters leave the hands of their creators and the turtles had a run to be proud of. Besides, there is still great art coming from the creators. Kevin Eastman is at the drawing board as we speak, passionately making a turtle's comic, with nearly total creative control...whoever owns the turtles, that's a beautiful thing.

I'm in the same camp to be honest.

You didn't put the option up for "Glad Peter made a ******** of money for his work", which is what he deserves and what I felt.

Not when you compare it to what Saban sold Power Rangers to Hasbro for in comparison.

Which would be ironic, considering that "owning" Power Rangers essentially just means licensing Super Sentai...

Which was likely how Disney felt when they got the brand.:lol:

To be fair, it's probably an annoying situation to neither really produce your own show or simply distribute an existing show as is, and instead have to deal with this weird compromise where you're really just doing extensive reshoots combined with dubbing.

It's kind of hard for me to imagine it being anything other than the worst of two worlds. Very little wiggle room for creativity that comes with making everything from scratch, with very few of the economic benefits of simply distributing something that already exists. It's a concept that really only makes sense if you don't have the budget to make something from scratch but also don't have enough confidence that what you've licensed will break even on the license fee, which doesn't really seem like a situation Disney have found themselves in for the past... Majority of their existence I think.

well it was better than being a horror movie.

I felt betrayed. I always liked the idea that the property was independently owned, and I can't stand it when huge companies buy everything up because they tend to make it into a mess (just look at Disney with Star Wars and Marvel once they really got their foot in the door). Not to mention selling it to Nickelodeon, it means I will never get an edgy TMNT similar to how Kick Ass or The Punisher came out. Makes me wonder if it would have been in better hands if he sold it to Netflix.........