What was Turtlemania like?

[Coola Yagami]

Yeah, I never thought of that but you have a point. Having videogames, especially a 4-player beat-em-up at the arcade definitely helped. Another thing though, I don't seem to remember them selling He-Man episodes or anything on VHS back then. Most I remember was owning a record that was about The Secret of the Sword, but I don't remember He-Man (or She-Ra) cartoon episodes to buy on VHS like with the Turtles.

Also I'm not 100% sure but wasn't the He-Man live action movie also a few years too late? I think it came out around the time the franchise was winding down instead of more at the peak of its popularity. The first 2 live action Turtle movies came out when the series was still red hot, it was the third movie that was made near the end of its lifespan.

Similarly TMNT Tournament Fighters came out when fighting games were the new craze, but it was still during the time the turtles were winding down. Too bad though, because it was a solid fighting game.

Y'see, back then, there were types of fighting games. Ones based on actual arcades like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, and ones that were console originals like ClayFighter or Shaq Fu. Most of the originals sucked, like for the most part the only good fighting games for the SNES/Genesis were ones based on pre-existing arcades that were already good.

But Tournament Fighters (the SNES anyway) played very similar to Street Fighter's combo system but with a bit more speed and super special moves, that even Street Fighter itself lacked. It played very good and it was made before the super special moves became overly complicated motions (looking at you SNK).

I can predict a lot of newbies buying the Cowabunga Collection for the first time are gonna be pleasantly surprised with just how solid of a fighting game the SNES Tournament Fighters turned out to be.

[Zulithe]

If you haven't watched it yet, watch Turtle Power, the documentary. It doesn't give you a perfect idea of what it was like from a kid or young person's perspective experiencing turtlemania live and in the moment, but it does provide a lot of perspective.

You could also go down the youtube rabbit hole (or dig through the youtube thread on this forum full of random TMNT videos), and watch vintage videos from (late) 87 until around 94, when the fandom started to die down. 93 is when Power Rangers hit, so that was the year when the younger kids started to turn away from TMNT and move towards that. So we have a good 6 year period that was mostly dominated by TMNT with little competition.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

TMNT was huge all that time till Power Rangers hit in 1992 and killed off a lot of TMNT's popularity.

People say that and blame Power Rangers for that even as long as I can remember, but I don't buy into it. "Turtlemania" died because it held on as long as it could and ultimately couldn't offer anything new beyond a flawed live action TV show (NT:TNM) that even then came out long after the interest already died. Because there has to be a "hook" for new kids every few years. TMNT had that with Fred Wolf and it had it with TMNT 1990. WHAM in 1987 and WHAM in 1990. That bought some time. There was no further whams. The 1987 kid was already driving cars and thinking about banging chicks by the time the lame TMNT III faded away from memory.

[CyberCubed]

I think people often forget how quickly kids fads come and go. Even the initial Pokemon fad already started dying down by 2001-2002 when we were in the mid-Johto era. The Johto movies bombed in the U.S. box office and WB stopped distributing them which proves most kids weren't even asking their parents to go see them. Then by the time Ruby/Sapphire and Hoenn started the initial fad was pretty much done even though of course the franchise overall remained successful.

Kids fads actually come and go very quickly.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Another thing though, I don't seem to remember them selling He-Man episodes or anything on VHS back then. Most I remember was owning a record that was about The Secret of the Sword, but I don't remember He-Man (or She-Ra) cartoon episodes to buy on VHS like with the Turtles.

Also I'm not 100% sure but wasn't the He-Man live action movie also a few years too late? I think it came out around the time the franchise was winding down instead of more at the peak of its popularity.

The entire Filmation "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" cartoon - all 130 episodes - were released on VHS between 1983 and 1986. It was one of the very first cartoon shows to ever be granted that honor, one of the first TV shows to be put out on VHS just in general, which is especially noteworthy given the number of episodes. Along with the fact that most people did not even have a VCR yet in 1984.

However, they were all those deluxe clamshell-case videos, like what Disney used to put out. Between that, and the fact that at three or four episodes per VHS tape it took dozens of tapes to cover all 130 episodes, most video rental stores either did not carry them - those clamshell-case tapes used to cost rental stores about $200 per unit back in '83 or so - or if they did carry them they only had one or two of them.

So it actually had one of the first and most extensive VHS releases any show had ever had... But it was TOO extensive (and expensive) for rental shops to stock them. So most people wouldn't have known about them unless they lived in a ritzy area. For example, in the town I grew up in there were about a dozen video stores within driving distance but only two or three had any MOTU tapes for rent, and only about two or three per store. There was one that had about 20 of them, still the most I've ever seen in one place, but it was about forty minutes away so we didn't go there much. I asked the owner in 1991 or so if any of them were for sale since they were old by then, but he said he'd only sell them for about $200 each because that's what he paid for them.

Those 20 VHS tapes weren't much more than half the series, if that, but they took up an entire shelf of the video store. Looking at that, I immediately understood why no store anywhere would stock the entire series.

No other 80s cartoon had a complete series run on VHS with that many volumes and episodes. Not even TMNT. It's not a contest, just a statement of fact.
-------------------------------

As for the movie, yeah, but that's the business. They made plans for a movie as far back as '83 but stuff didn't move as fast back then. Nobody wanted to make a movie about a toy, that was a joke back then, which is why they got stuck with Canon Films. There wasn't much they could do to put a movie out any earlier than 1987, and that was the year the toy line ran out of gas. So it was too late but it did some good in showing that you could make a movie about a toy or cartoon and it wouldn't be a complete mess. Studios were much more open about those types of projects after that, even though the movie under-performed.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Turtlemania... simply put, the point in which toy sales and popularity were super high and the evangelicals started yelling about the evils of Ninja Turtles.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by sdp

Turtlemania never reached the heights of Pokemania either. Pokemon was a whole other beast on a different league that TMNT could never hope for.

Power Rangers mania vs TMNT mania is a fairer comparison, but I've believe i already made a thread about that a few years ago. Worth noting Power Rangers sold for higher than TMNT, had always had a tv show running, appealed to girls more. I think PRs peaked earlier but was higher while tMNT just lasted longer while during it's fad phase.

TMNT was definitely bigger than Power Rangers at it's peak. Remember Power Rangers ratings dropped sharply as early as midway through the shows second season and while the movie made money it was hardly a big deal not even topping the US box office.

Pokemon is a bit of a strange one because it's not a franchise whose primary medium was toys or cartoons but rather video games which is an entirely different kettle of fish. The anime was huge in it's first season then as soon as Ash traded in Brock for Tracy and hopped on a Lapras to go around the Orange Island kids seemed to lose interest. It did have a financially successful movie; the biggest anime movie that had been released at that point but nothing to really write home about. How did the sequels fare in the West? How many of them were released outside of Japan?

Power Rangers and Pokemon are bigger franchises overall but that's because they are self sustaining. There is always a new team of Power Rangers and every few years there is a new batch of Pokemon to catch. They can go on forever and if one iteration flops they quickly move on the next.

[Prowler]

TMNT and DBZ were the last two big cartoon fads that took the world by storm. I'm not counting Pokémon because it wasn't just the anime series that was popular, but the games as well. DBZ and TMNT started out as comics, but clearly what made them huge were their animated series. Although I asside Dragon Ball's manga sells very well, but it's not like people outside of Japan were buying it in the 90s.

There's been very popular animated series in the current century so far such as Naruto, Avatar, One Piece, Bleach, My Hero Academia, etc. but they didn't take the world by storm like TMNT and DBZ did. They're just very popular among an ocean of popular stuff. I've never seen One Piece marchandise and such being all over the place even though OP is the highest selling comic book series of all time as of today.

I think today there's just too much competition and content out there that makes it impossible for one single series to absolutely dominate toy sales and be consumed by 90%+ of kids. Not to mention TV isn't what it is anymore. What kids wake up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to catch the latest episodes of their favourite cartoons nowadays anymore? Everyone is streaming their favourite shows, whether legally or not.

[Wildcat]

Don’t know what else to say about it. It was great. All the merchandise, cartoon and movies. The Turtles were in everything. How else can it be described?

I had a lot of toys. Mostly figures. Never had the Technodrome. I was more into vehicles like the Van, Pizza Thrower and skateboards (Cheapskates just googled it). A bunch of other things too but can’t remember off the top of my head.

I wouldn’t call it a fad. That’s more of a “hip” trend that pretty much stops once people get tired of it. These franchises hit a high and then leveled out once they were established. Happens to everything.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by sdp

You guys are clueless to how big pokemon was and yes the anime was bigger than TMNT or dbz and even more popular than the games

I was there for both and TMNT definitely felt bigger. Like I pointed out the TMNT cartoon had several successful seasons whereas Pokemon seemed to peter off as Ash was entering the Orange League. Also TMNT actually had a properly successful movie.

I will say that Pokemon sucked in people I never thought would be into it. Like I was 15/16 at the time probably too old for the anime but since I'm a big nerd it's not a surprise I liked it (although it was mainly the game I was into). However a lot of other kids my age that normally would dismiss it as kids stuff were fans. I assume it was mainly due to video game and card collecting.

[red1981]

i was seven when i first got into the turtles, i wasent old enough to read the mirage comics, but the cartoon, toys, movies and archie comics where my childhood i cant explain how insanely popular the turtles where they where in everything

[Leo656]

I know I've mentioned this before, but initially I was not interested. I'd heard about the cartoon, seen commercials, but for some reason it sounded ridiculous and not something I'd be into.

Had to have been at least a few months into the show's run, we were at school and they had the book-and-tape version of the Archie comic mini which adapted the first couple episodes, and THAT got me interested. That afternoon I went home to actually watch the cartoon and from there I was hooked.

Thankfully by that point it was about mid-88 at least and there were already lots of coloring books and toys and other stuff for me to jump into, so that was fun.

But yeah, I initially was prepared to hate it until I didn't.

The movie and the Archie comic are what kept me a fan long after I was getting bored with the cartoon, though. That was a great time because there were things that let you explore your TMNT fandom in "stages"... the cartoon for young kids, the Archie books for maybe slightly older kids, the movie for the next group up, and if you knew about it, Mirage for the oldest fans.

I've said often that this is what's missing now, because almost every single thing with TMNT is kid-oriented so there's no real way for kids to hang onto their fandom as they get older and tastes grow more sophisticated, unless they just resign themselves to hanging onto the kids' stuff. I supposed the IDW stuff may work in that "in-between" or "more mature" vein for some people but I personally don't think it's a great example, at least in its current state. But that's an opinion.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

The movie and the Archie comic are what kept me a fan long after I was getting bored with the cartoon, though. That was a great time because there were things that let you explore your TMNT fandom in "stages"... the cartoon for young kids, the Archie books for maybe slightly older kids, the movie for the next group up, and if you knew about it, Mirage for the oldest fans.

That's it in a nutshell. And if I hadn't had gotten that random copy of TMNT Vol. 1 on my shelf that I basically bought accidentally one day when comic shopping for TMNTA backissues... I certainly would have been done with TMNT around 1993 entirely. Remembered in the same way as I remember Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Ducktales and so on, as a thing I look fondly back when I was a little kid but have no interest in revisiting in the here and now.

[Leo656]

Yeah man. I have NO PROBLEM with there being material for All Ages of this or that character... Superman and Batman have been pulling that trick for ages... but right now there's not a lot of GOOD material of TMNT for the higher age groups. Not like when we were kids.

You had Mirage, FW, Archie, the movies, all happening at once... even those little 80-page novellas like "Six-Guns and Shurikens" that were explicitly set in the FW universe, except they said "damn" and "hell" and referenced "other swears" which made it feel a little bit more "grown-up"... you ACTUALLY had "something for every age group and taste" and it was all coexisting at the same time. It was all pretty good, too, but that's a bonus.

To me, this is why the whole deal lasted as long as it did. As you grew up between '88 and '94, it legitimately felt like the brand was growing up right alongside you. It didn't feel like you were "aging out of it" or anything. And if you were like 12 and still liked the cartoon if you were in a mood for it, fine... but you also had Mirage and the first movie to scratch that other itch.

It's so "same-y" now, and while IDW has at least tried to present an "alternative" to older fans, or be what Archie was to those fans, many would argue that they've fallen short in that mission. Last Ronin is One Thing, and even besides that, IDW as an entity can't be expected to entirely carry the flag for "TMNT Fans Older Than 8." It shouldn't even be expected or asked of them.

We DO need "Diversity" in the TMNT brand. Sure. The kind we had when it was 1991. Diversity of theme, tone, content, and taste. TRUE "mass-market appeal". We had it Then. Why not Now?

Why NOT Now?

[MattOnWheels]

Leo, Your posts have been interesting as a first-generation TMNT fan and I can see why you may feel more recent adaptations to be lacking. I'd like to share my thoughts as a second/third generation Turtles fan as they may or may not provide a different perspective.

I call myself a second/third generation fan because I was born in December of 1990. This would ordinarily be way too late to enjoy the Turtles at their peak, but in truth, I was imprinted with them even as a baby. I have cerebral palsy, you see, and during those times when it was not clear if I was going to make it out of the hospital, my parents had the foresight to record as many moments as possible. One of these pieces of footage includes the very moment my parents arrive home with me: They open the door, and the first thing you hear in the background is the faint sound of the NES playing the TMNT 1 Intro theme. Yes, fortunately for me my brothers were MASSIVE fans of the Turtles, and they had been up all night playing Turtles games, waiting for me. I hadn't watched it back for myself until years later as an avid turtles fan, but it all made sense. Simply put: Because of my growing up when I did, I wasn't able to catch the FW cartoon but in very small fragments--toys strewn about the house discarded by my brothers, that sort of thing. I never quite knew who they were or what their deal was, but they were always kind of...there. I can remember always playing with a rocksteady figure, never knowing who he was. I can also recall seeing a very small snippet of the first movie--I think it was the fight scene in the antique shop--and thinking it was cool...then, years later, in 2002 or so, my brother got into Emulation and showed me the turtles games, and suddenly EVERYTHING clicked. There were the turtles, there was the rhyno i played with--and then my brother told me all about how they used to own all the toys, but lost them...

Now, I can't tell you what really made me catch the fever other than wanting context, but I immediately began to be hooked on them. I wanted to know everything. I searched the pre-YouTube internet high and low for every bit of info I could, asking my brother constantly if he had any memories of X, Y and Z. We ended up cleaning my room from top to bottom in search of whatever toys we could find, which included a VHS of Invasion Of The Turtle-Snatchers--my first full taste of the FW cartoon, which was so fun even WITH its cheesiness-- and I became hell bent to find a place to buy the turtles movies so i could watch them all (The DVDs I ended up with had to be the earliest releases or something because man, that first movie DVD had an ugly plain green cover with no real artwork!) I watched it, and I thought to myself "How did I miss out on such a cool craze?!"

Luckily for me, when Fox Kids was primed to become The Fox Box, I saw that there was going to be a new, updated Turtles cartoon coming next year. THIS was my chance! I loved the turtles already, now I had the chance to enjoy them in my own time and generation, and what made it even BETTER was that I had THIS VERY WEBSITE to keep me updated as I waited for info! I was there from the beginning. Right from the initial WIP concept art of the turtles which had the bandages on their weapons white instead of the colors of their masks. I was here on this forum as each bit of new info was leaked out, and I can remember that one thing the Mirage website stressed was they wanted to get away from "Cowabunga" and the other things like Pizza and all that. Some were excited, some were afraid--and don't even get me started on the reactions to April and Baxter's designs! "YOU CAN SEE HER ASS CRACK!"/"Why is he Black?" (Of course, we found out that wasn't the case on April's part. Baxter, however, elicited some...er...less than stellar suggestions as I remember. At least from one or two members.)

Then came the reveal of the voice actors. Hoo boy. I can remember the clip for Splinter was "A ninja lives in the shadows. Darkness gives the ninja power, while light reveals the ninja's presence!" - I recall that the initial concerns expressed with this clip were that "He doesn't sound Japanese enough!" - a conversation piece that would continue as more dialog was heard. Particularly in a Fox Box ad that saw Mikey calling into a news station that was doing a report on the soon-to-be-premiering Turtles only to have Splinter yell "HANG UP THAT TELLEPHONE! *NOW!*" in the background, That delivery seemed to win some skeptics over.

One thing we were all waiting for was news on the toys in the meanwhile. We knew there was going to be a toy line by Playmates Toys, but how would they be marketed? When the first clip of the commercial they intended to use was made available, some bemoaned the inaccuracy of the voices. As memory serves, though, reception was pretty positive. I remember one post saying "I so want to be the kid that gets pulled inside the fountain!"

There was plenty of nervousness headed into the premier. We had hoped for a good run but there were no guarantees...then, that Saturday morning in early '03, I recorded "Things Change" on a blank VHS because I knew I would want to watch it over and over...and I did, i tell you! It was amazing, and I was pleased that most of the Technodrome forum members seemed to enjoy it. One member was from Finland as i recall...Karpo? Kerpro? something like that. He had an avatar of Raph from Mirage 1. He had always seemed very knowledgeable on TMNT and had a particular disdain for FW's lack of anything "Ninja" after the first season, so I was pleased to read him say "This is the best version of the Turtles to air on TV!" and that he was excited to see where it went as the weeks unfolded. Me? I adored it.

Throughout the week, we had hoped the ratings would be good but there seemed to be an air of uncertainty. Then at last, the news arrived that it was the flagship show of the network! "The TMNT kicked shell!" said one post. We were overjoyed.

From then on, it was one wild ride after another. The Return To New York arc was intense, as was the attempted recruitment of Leo by Saki. Sure, there were filler eps every so often that were hit or miss, but for the most part the forum (and myself) were VERY hooked on the show, and Fox marketed the **** out of it! There were turtles toys EVERYWHERE within no time, and i got more than my fair share too. I miss my Battle-Shell van. That thing was sick.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, while Turtlemania may not have hit me the same as it may have for kids in the first generation, it wasn't just any old iteration that hooked me. It was everything about the Turtles in general! (I was EVEN keen to watch The Next Mutation if I could have, but this was the pre-YouTube period. You couldn't easily find footage of it that wasn't grainy or low quality, At least not that I could find.)

I know I can't speak for the majority of people here, but for me? The staying power of the Turtles isn't in the hands of whatever the current iteration is. It's the concept itself. I like that there are so many different ways to tell the story of four Ninjas who battle other ninjas, aliens, mutants, elder gods, time travelers, the works. It's got everything you want in a good IP, and there are different versions for different audiences. Sure, the FW one will always be the one that most will think of, but it was enough to get me in the door and I know for a fact that the 2003 series was what got many of my friends in the door. Some of them have even went on to be big fans of Rise, and i think that's awesome. You know what it proves? It proves that no matter what the incarnation is, the TMNT will always be the coolest to somebody out there. Hell, I met someone the other day who's first Turtles game was Turtles In Time...Re-Shelled! RE-GOD-DAMNED SHELLED, can you believe it?! That's ****ing beautiful. It may not have been my thing, or your thing, but god damn it it was THEIR thing, and it lead them to fall in love with the franchise like we all did when we first started our journey. I'm immensely happy to have something I love be so important to people in different ways, and personally? When I have children of my own, I hope they can enjoy their first turtles thing to the moon and back, whatever it is.

Turtle power is FOREVER baby! Cowabunga!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by MattOnWheels

One member was from Finland as i recall...Karpo? Kerpro? something like that. He had an avatar of Raph from Mirage 1.

The member from Finland with a Mirage Raphael avatar was Karpo 007. That user joined the Technodrome on 11 July 2002, and was last seen posting on this community on 17 May 2005.

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/member.php?u=168

[MattOnWheels]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

The member from Finland with a Mirage Raphael avatar was Karpo 007. That user joined the Technodrome on 11 July 2002, and was last seen posting on this community on 17 May 2005.

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/member.php?u=168

Huh! See, I knew I wasn't crazy!

Gee, I wonder if my old account still exists?? o.o Can I even search that far back?!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by MattOnWheels

Huh! See, I knew I wasn't crazy!

Gee, I wonder if my old account still exists?? o.o Can I even search that far back?!

You can search all the way back to July 2001. That means the only missing threads are those published between October 1999 and July 2001, but I'm sure you can find them through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010501...rangnshredder/

[MattOnWheels]

Well, I haven't found any posts by me that I remember yet, but I DID find the "Kicked shell" one!

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sh...64&postcount=2

Of course, not every week was like this. Sometimes filler eps would make ratings sink, but man: even reading that old thread, Im remembering how much we all were so happy. I really hope I can find a post by me somewhere.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by MattOnWheels

Well, I haven't found any posts by me that I remember yet, but I DID find the "Kicked shell" one!

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sh...64&postcount=2

Of course, not every week was like this. Sometimes filler eps would make ratings sink, but man: even reading that old thread, Im remembering how much we all were so happy. I really hope I can find a post by me somewhere.

Those were the days. When people came here to discuss their TMNT fandom.