[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

At this point, I genuinely don't know why TMNT as a brand or a property is still viable.

The brand's not going to last forever. All it has carrying it right now is nostalgia, and the sincere adoration of Fans Of A Certain Age. I'll be shocked if it's still anything but an action figure line aimed at nostalgia collectors, in another 20-30 years.

Collectively, our kids won't care as much as we do/did about the brand. TMNT isn't going to be a lifelong obsession for them the way it is/was with Us, it's just going to be one of a hundred other things they liked a lot when they were young, then stopped caring about once they aged out of it, and pretended they never liked much at all once they get to the age of being "Too Cool for it".

And that's 100% because when we were kids, they had multiple TMNT iterations so the property "grew up" with its fans. In 2020, all the pen-holders know how to do is remind everybody about 1989. But the actual quality of the TMNT movies and shows is all aimed at little kids; the ONLY appeal for anyone over the age of 10 to even look at the things they're making now, is, "Well, I've always liked the brand." NOT because those movies and shows are of quality, or hold genuine and sincere appeal for those 30-somethings; they're not, and they don't, but they'll give a quick Nostalgia Buzz if you're a certain type of fan and that's all they even try to do. And that's "fine", but liking TMNT shouldn't be a "hold your nose and take your medicine" kind of affair.

As it is now, TMNT in its current form is officially one of those things you're supposed to watch for a bit when you're 8, then move on from. That was not the case when WE were kids, but that's the state of things now, and that's what the audience is doing, and that's why the brand is going to die off. Maybe not tomorrow but sooner than anyone thinks. The people running the brand don't know how to make a sincere connection with any audience, nor are they trying to; ALL they want to do is keep little kids out of Mommy's hair for a half hour. You can't maintain a so-called "evergreen" property that way.

Look at the actual data, whether it be here, on FB, or do a little legwork on Google: They SAY TMNT is a "kids brand", but are kids actually the ones watching the shows, going to the movies, buying the toys? No, No, and No. SOME kids do, for a little while, once they're too old for Paw Patrol and before they get a little older and become Marvel fanatics instead; but the vast majority of people consuming TMNT products Right Now are the same people who were doing so 30 years ago. The EXACT same people. ALL the money flowing into the brand is from the same people who fell in love with it in 1988, save for a few outliers who've stumbled into it along the way (and are still a vast minority in the Big Picture). To our kids, TMNT is just a fad in between other fads they got into briefly and then forgot about. They don't care. They're not going to. And why should they, anyway?

Whether anyone likes it or not, the whole thing dies with us. When the 30/40-somethings stop caring and eventually slowly pass away, the "next generation" isn't going to be banging the drum to keep the TMNT "brand" alive. They were given no reason to care, so they don't care. THAT is what's going to happen. So if you're confused as to How or Why TMNT remains a "viable" brand in 2020... don't "worry", eventually it won't be.

Don't take that to mean that the brand is going to vanish entirely. I don't think that; I think it's simply going to be like Thundercats generally is, or what He-Man/MOTU is most of the time: A toy license that comes around every few years to sell $50 action figures to adult collectors with nostalgia boners. At some point, though, I completely expect that the comic books and cartoons and movies will all stop entirely. I mean, they'll have to stop once it becomes obvious that they don't sell. But the one avenue where TMNT has proven to be a consistent winner is the toys, and as stated even brands like Thundercats, where nobody's asking for a new cartoon and a movie would likely bomb harder than anything ever made, have proven that they can do huge business in short spurts every few years selling plastic to grown-ups who never grew up.

So yeah, that's the future of the TMNT brand circa 2040 or so. Maybe sooner. But that's the inevitability: No movies, no cartoons, not even any comics, just lots and lots of collectible action figures.

Honestly, I'll take that "Dark Future". If everything ELSE has to be junk but the toys can at least be cool, then whatever, that's fine.

But its the only way things can turn out, because they HAD a chance to grow a New Generation of TMNT fans over the last 20 years and they completely wasted it.