Eastman Interview. The Franchise should lean more on its gritter roots

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Vegita-San

Problem is, I see that more from the Mirage fans than anyone else. I came in during the fw era. I learned to like Next Mutation. I learned to love the movies. I learned to love 4kids. I learned to tolerate 2k12 because of IT'S MANY flaws. I learned to appreciate Mirage and Archie for what they did. And I absolutely love Batman/TMNT.

Mirage fans seem to mostly be stuck in Mirage only mode and can't appreciate much else.

That's true, many of them are like that, but I'd argue theirs is at root still a noble cause.

If TMNT wasn't created to be "a little kids' thing" - and it absolutely was not - seeing it be forevermore forced down that path, and furthermore, to see so many people wholeheartedly insist that "That's the RIGHT way to do it! That's the way it SHOULD be done!" must be absolutely maddening for some people.

They're not explicitly trying to ruin anyone's fun, they're simply pleading for a return to what the roots of the franchise are - indeed, what it WAS created to be before Playmates got their dirty little hooks into it.

People on either side can take their point of view too far, sure. But the fact is, TMNT really wasn't created to be a silly little romp for the kiddies, and that ANY version of it that presents itself in such a manner is fundamentally a bastardization of the original concept. In a word, it is heresy. It doesn't matter if a lot of people like it that way, they're entitled to their opinion but the fact remains it's a perversion of the creators' original intent. And that's not cool. People can enjoy said perversion, but that doesn't make it any less so.

What those purists want more than anything, is simply to have SOME part of the franchise retain some of its original integrity. And I can't find any fault with that even if at times their approach is intolerant and heavy-handed. Their hearts are still, ultimately, in the right place. The FW apologists? "I like it this way because it reminds me of the safe, warm and fuzzy feelings I got when I watched it age 6" seems a lot less noble, to me. It really is just sentimentality run amok.

I mean, Mirage to me is as dry as rice crackers. On any given day, I'd probably rather watch an episode of FW than read through a handful of Mirage books. But at the same time, I know which stylistic approach is altogether better for the long-term health of the franchise, as well as which approach entices a better class of "fan". We really don't need any more children OR manchildren attaching themselves to this franchise, "elitist" as it may be to say so out loud.

The children, "thankfully", don't really like TMNT anyway and quit on it after a few minutes because it's not their thing. The true median age of the "real" TMNT fan is 30-something. That said, to start leaning more towards that demographic's sensibilities can only be the right thing to do. I don't see why a certain group of people push back against that idea so hard... other than, that's not the thing that gave them warm fuzzies when they were little.

And that's fine, but some people actually did grow up, and are beyond sick to death of being ignored or told their vote doesn't count.

We all had our childhood. And it's nice to revisit it fondly. I do that every day with something or other. BUT, it also was supposed to have ended a long time ago and still living there in that same exact headspace is ultimately detrimental. Time to move forward, time to move on.

Time to let some of those things we loved as kids grow up WITH us, when applicable.