The CONFIRMED New Season

[Drtooth]

Tiny update... Now, this was all the info I could have squeazed out of a certain TMNT voice actor (who shall remain nameless) but...

Spoiler:

7 episodes have already been recorded

[AquaParade]

Nice...maybe we can get a clip soon

[SWAT_KAT_RAZOR]

I liked the overload idea.

[Jester]

Murph (5th Turtle) posted this on his blog:

http://the-5th-turtle.blogspot.com/2...de-update.html

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by Neutrino

I thought they already did the river.

As was already mentioned, no, they haven't done "The River". And considering Laird's condescending and negative attitude toward all the TMNT fiction provided by Veitch, they never will.

[Scandia]

Those designs actually look pretty good. Not as angular as FF.

[R-iZZy]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

As was already mentioned, no, they haven't done "The River". And considering Laird's condescending and negative attitude toward all the TMNT fiction provided by Veitch, they never will.

That's pretty sad, considering The River story arc >>> TMNT v4

[Fledermaus]

Why are their heads so small???

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by Fledermaus

Why are their heads so small???

That seems to be a recurring issue with the 4Kids artists; all of the fake retro art they created had the same problem. (I actually have the suspicion that they didn't even draw the heads for those and merely copy/pasted old heads onto new bodies.)

The 4Kids artists are also painfully unable to draw new poses, as most of these are copies or extremely close variations of old poses. I'm really glad Mirage rejected (at least most of) these.

They should get Dooney to do the style guide again. IMO he's the guy who gets closest to drawing a definitive Turtle.

[Jelly Bean]

I don't think the heads look that small As long as the don't give the turtles four fingers instead of three I won't complain to much. It does look like they don't have pupils though.

[Scandia]

I do not think they look horrendously disproportionate either. And only one of those pics seems to have pupils- the one where Mikey seems to be pointing his fingers like a gun.

[Revan]

Have they chosen a stance on the pupil decision?

[Fledermaus]

Originally Posted by Scandia

I do not think they look horrendously disproportionate either.

Well, of course you (and Jelly Bean) wouldn't find them disproportionate. Now that they are 7.5 heads tall, they have the proportions of a 6 foot tall adult male human. You see that every day. They look more "normal." (Never mind that they're supposed to be mutant turtles, who in most every incarnation have been significantly shorter than most male - and female - humans.) Now, throw in the fact that, when animated, humans are usually six heads tall as opposed to the more realistic 7.5 heads. So in cartoon-land, apparently, the TMNT have gotta be like seven feet tall now. (The next mutation perhaps)

Their head-to-body ratio in 2k3 was, officially, five heads and even then the animators would often forget that.

I associate giving turtles human man proportions with erotic TMNT fanart, but whatever... What matters most are the script, voice acting, and storytelling.

[Drtooth]

From the Blog:

Starting to receive preliminary character sketches for the style guide update. Most of these Mikey poses were rejected for being too similar to existing poses, plus, well, most of them don't capture Mikey's character (facial expressions) nor natural athleticism (the joy he takes in his body). They just seem too TMNT-generic. Back to the drawing board....

Words of note: Rejected- update- style guide... Now my take on all this is...

Style guides and character designs are usually 2 different things altogether. Remember how the toys looked. not just current ones, but the original 1980's line. So the toys and merchandising could have a completely different look than the final product in animation anyway.

Seems like they're working on it as well. They could be adjusted to be more in scale, or they could just wind up looking the same way anyway. Hard to tell at this point.

I wonder how far they got on the animation anyway since, as I stated earlier

Spoiler:

they're recording the show as we speak

and the characters aren't totally finalized. At least in the style guide.

Personally, once they fix the head to body ratio, these designs look pretty good so far.

[Sage Ninja]

I just like that Mikey still looks beefy and muscular and not to small. I didn't care how they made him him into a midget compared to his brother in fast foward and CGI movie.

[The Shelf]

Originally Posted by Sage Ninja

I just like that Mikey still looks beefy and muscular and not to small. I didn't care how they made him him into a midget compared to his brother in the live action movies.

Fixed it for ya'.

[Tinuvielsdreams]

I really like the top right pose. I do think I am not sold on the head and eyes but I like where it's going.

[Masked Ninja]

I've heard several people saying they like the top right drawing the most, but I honestly think it's the weakest drawing in the entire image. The proportions are way too human (looks too tall), the pose seems off-balance and awkward, the head too small, and the legs way too long. That Mike looks almost feminine to me.

Now, the more finished drawing below it, while it does have that pesky tongue shortcut going on, does capture the shorter look the TMNT should have, the masculinity, and it's very fitting for Mike because it looks gentle and intelligent. A couple other drawings on this page have his shoulders hunched/beefed up to the point where he looks like Raph.

As for the pupils (and yes, there are pupils on every Turtle with eyes on the page), I'm reserving judgement for now. I really liked the mask/no mask system they had going on in 2k3 and I liked the tough look it gives the Turtles when suited up as ninjas, but if they actually use the pupils well to expand their expressiveness... then I'm all for it. The problem, of course, is that the animation budget will probably be too cheap to really use pupils to improve the acting.

[AquaParade]

Would it not be probable that this season could have a little more money thrown into it then the previous ones? The whole franchise should have made a good chunk of change in the last year...the tmnt movie/merchandise should have reeled in a few bucks, and FF ratings were higher then previous seasons...they should spend a little of that cash on the toon. Likely?

[nimrod]

Originally Posted by Masked Ninja

I've heard several people saying they like the top right drawing the most, but I honestly think it's the weakest drawing in the entire image. The proportions are way too human (looks too tall), the pose seems off-balance and awkward, the head too small, and the legs way too long. That Mike looks almost feminine to me.

I agree completely. I like the "non-human" short and thick kind of look.