What was your favorite TMNT incarnation as a Kid?

[shinefra]

Even though the animated series got me started in the TMNT fandom it wasn't my favorite media, my primordial problem with the series was its kid friendly focus, It may sound weird considering I was only 7, but after seeing shows like Transformers, Ghostbusters and GI Joe this was kind of lame.

I think the concept of Mutant Ninja turtles was its biggest attractive, but the fact that they never kicked or punched the villains and prefered to give more episodes to crappy characters like Big Louie instead of Mutagen Man and other cool characters was a real downer.

Thats why I loved the Action figures alot more, the designs where more dark, it had a ton of cool mutants and you could make your own stories kicking the crap out of your enemies. Second to the series there was the Video games, like the Arcade game wich captured the essence of the first season.

My third place was occupied by the Archie comics, they had more action and better plot than de animated show.

So what was your favorite incarnation of the TMNT as a kid?

[Icebot]

The 1987 TMNT cartoon and it still is now.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

The 2003 series. It's really the one that got me into the series. I saw a couple of OT Episodes around the same time, but it didn't really capture my attention at all.

[Darth Knuckles]

I wouldn't have gotten into TMNT if it weren't for the 1987 cartoon. So as a kid that series was first, and then second was probably a mix of the TMNT Adventures from Archie Comics and the video games, most notable Turtles In Time.

[Candy Kappa]

As a kid I hated the Fred Wolf show as I was exposed to the worst episodes through the local video rental store.

I did enjoy the Archie and the UK comics as well as the first and second movie.

I never got around to watch the third movie until I was much older, same goes for the entire Fred Wolf show in it's original dub, as the Norwegian one sucks major stones.

I was always curious of what the original comics were like, as I knew there existed comics that the Fred Wolf show and Archie comics was based off on, but it wasn't until I had free access to the internet through school I found the 10 first issues of Mirage comics. I was completely sold, printed the comics out from the ninja turtles website and adapted my art style to be more like the Mirage turtles.

[Bry]

The '87 miniseries is absolutely what introduced me to the concept and got me hooked, and the toys and movies and video games helped keep me there. But one day I bought this bad boy...



...and it blew my mind. The Archie series pretty soon eclipsed everything and became my favourite "version" during that whole run in the '90s.

Funny enough, I recently read Raise Some Shell by Richard Rosenbaum, and the very same issue is was hooked the writer of that book. I actually talked a fair bit about that issue in the first episode of the comics podcast I co-host shortly before I read his book, and afterward I was kind of stunned by how similar our "paths" and impressions were.

(Of course, later on in high school I got into the original Mirage comics and started absorbing as much of that as possible. And the 2003 series launched soon after I started college, and that kind of sealed the deal on me remaining a TMNT addict in my adulthood.)

[Candy Kappa]

Oh yeah, the toys hooked me hard. But I think it was thanks to Archie and the first movie that I stayed a fan and didn't move on to the next cool thing and forgot al about the Turtles. I had a Biker Mice from Mars phase, but I came back to TMNT.

[ssjup81]

The 1987 series. Didn't know about the comics until I was a teen.

Loved the live-action movies then too...minus 3.

[Netkeeper]

The first two movies [didn't like the third]. I liked what little of the 87 show I got to see, but overall thought the movies were better. Hated Next Mutation even as a kid.

[chrisdude]

I loved the movies and the original cartoon, but I think I liked the movies better, as a kid. As an adult, I've grown to appreciate the cartoon even more. Unlike most, I never gravitated to Mirage. I got the first three volumes of the Ultimate Collection (and I'll probably get the last two), but it hasn't grabbed me. I've realized that I prefer my turtles more cartoonish. Though I like IDW a lot.

[CyberCubed]

The cartoon obviously. The games and toys were extensions of it and the movies were good.

[TurtleTitan97]

The 2k3 series, since it's what got me into TMNT.

[Leo656]

Pretty similar to Bry, actually. The cartoons were all I knew at first, but I picked up the first issue I ever saw of TMNTA - #7, I think? The one with them wrestling Cryin' Houn' on the cover - and got really into that comic. I stayed into the show, but at some point I was paying more attention to the Archie comic.

I probably liked the first movie the best of everything, maybe still do. It was one of the only movies I had on tape as a kid, so I watched it allll the time. But the cartoon and Archie comic probably occupied most of my time as a kid.

[Autbot_Benz]

The 80's cartoon and 90's movies minus 3. I also love the 2012 show as it rekindled my love for TMNT.

[pennydreadful]

The 80's cartoon and the movies were all I really had access to as a kid - I didn't really have access to comics and the toys were rarer than hen's teeth at the time so yeah... cartoon and movies for me!

[Warhorse]

As a kid? I think the first movie definitely. I started with the Fred Wolf toon, and I had no knowledge about the comic books, but there was definitely something about that first movie that made the Turtles more than just a cartoon.

[Slade]

I only knew of the live action movies and the cartoon back in the day. I liked the first movie the most.


edit: basically what Warhorse said.

[zodiac brave]

the first movie.

to this day. i've owned it on vhs at least 3 times, dvd twice and now on blu-ray.

especially as a kid, the idea of these awesome creatures actually walking around with real people in a "real life" movie was mind-blowing.

[Mayhem]

The Mirage comics. I read them before the cartoon started to air in the UK, and there was no contest whatsoever.

[Metropoliskid41]

I was definitely a kid that grew up on the Original TMNT Cartoon and accompanying Adventures comic series from Archie, so that was definitely my favorite incarnation and gateway to all things Turtles, including loads of the Playmates toys and video games on Nintendo and Super Nintendo. When I was a little older I was able to get my hands on some of the original Mirage material, and instantly fell in love with the original vision of Eastman and Laird for the turtles and became enthralled in the Mirage Universe.