TMNT Smash Up: A ha ha ha (A ha ha ha) Hey heyo (hey heyo)

RockinX

Kombo wrote:

why did I sell the TMNT? There are a number of reasons, but first and foremost is that I have been doing this TMNT thing for twenty-five years, sixteen of them in partnership with TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman and the last nine as sole owner of the property. That is a long time. It is almost half my life (I'm 55). I never expected to be working on the same thing for this long. And it has worn me down. I am no longer that guy who carries his sketchbook around with him and draws in it every chance he gets. That guy did all of the pre-TMNT artwork you have been seeing on this blog in many of my "Blast from the Past" posts.

I miss -- I really, really miss -- being that guy.

My fervent hope is that by divesting myself of this wonderful but needful-of-constant-attention property, I might -- I just MIGHT -- get back to being that guy. Or something LIKE that guy.

cloudeagle

Welp, there you go. No more Laird TMNT comics, at least for the foreseeable future.

Brainiac 8

Wow...he sounds beaten. :?

Cameron_Talley

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Wow...he sounds beaten. :?

Don't you think you would be, working on the same property for 25 years? I know as a writer that I would probably go nuts if I had to work on the same thing for 25 years.

Darkewolfe

He sounds like a little emo kid, whining about how fantastically successful his creations have been and how laborious the burden of the artist is. He's the one who fought the whole time to hold the IP; I'm sure he could have sold it a long time ago, though he might not have been surrounded by as much filthy lucre.

Brainiac 8

I miss the days the word 'emo' wasn't such a big part of the english language.

NAND NOR

cloudeagle wrote: »

AuburnTiger wrote: »

Does this mean Peter won't be making his comics anymore? OR does this just apply to TV rights?

There's always the chance that Nick could license the use of the turtles back to him for a comic.

But Nick owns it 100%. And the company is VERY protective of its properties and their image. So I seriously doubt they'd allow him to do anything that isn't kid-friendly.

Doubtful. In one of the letters pages for the current Mirage TMNT series (volume 4) Peter flat out stated that aside from first couple of issues, the comic did not turn a profit. It was held afloat by the 4Kids cartoon and toys. I'm interested in seeing what happens to the Tales of TMNT series though.

It's a shame to see the property change hands, but I can't fault Peter Laird if his heart just isn't in it anymore.

MC Mystery

So did anyone buy/enjoy this game? I want to play online multiplayer with people! Also does anyone know if you can unlock the final two characters by playing online matches? or does it have to be local?

Brainiac 8

I haven't yet...but I may be buying it this weekend with the B2G1F from Best Buy.

LBD_Nytetrayn

Word is the that the comic will continue on for about 18 more issues, but nothing over 40 pages, meaning the TMNT encyclopedia is canceled. Worse, it seems The Forever War may not come out, and after all this time, too.

The whole story is here, noting "Peter maintains the right to publish up to 18 TMNT comics per year that can be sold via the direct market and/or web site." Tales of the TMNT will conclude with #70.

cloudeagle

Beyond that, they are (likely) allowed to do reprints, so long as they are between 32-48 pages, which rules out the publication of any trade paperbacks.

Them's some wacky licensing rules.

Moving to the future as Nickelodeon has it planned, very little is known. There have been some unspecific reports that they already plan to head in a direction along the lines of the original 1980s cartoon. However, this has not been verified (and who knows if Nickelodeon is even 100% sure about which direction they'll be taking).

If that's true, then that's pretty much what I'd expect.

At any rate, it sounds like Laird wasn't truly sick of the Turtles themselves, just the multitenticled behemoth they had become. They were more a business now than a personal joy, to him.

NAND NOR

LBD_Nytetrayn wrote:

Word is the that the comic will continue on for about 18 more issues, but nothing over 40 pages, meaning the TMNT encyclopedia is canceled. Worse, it seems The Forever War may not come out, and after all this time, too.

The whole story is here, noting "Peter maintains the right to publish up to 18 TMNT comics per year that can be sold via the direct market and/or web site." Tales of the TMNT will conclude with #70.

Thanks for the link. It's good to know that Volume Four might still get a conclusion.

LBD_Nytetrayn

No prob. But expect me to become a pissed-off, raging, frothing beast if The Forever War gets axed.

King Riptor

RockinX wrote: »

Kombo wrote:

why did I sell the TMNT? There are a number of reasons, but first and foremost is that I have been doing this TMNT thing for twenty-five years, sixteen of them in partnership with TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman and the last nine as sole owner of the property. That is a long time. It is almost half my life (I'm 55). I never expected to be working on the same thing for this long. And it has worn me down. I am no longer that guy who carries his sketchbook around with him and draws in it every chance he gets. That guy did all of the pre-TMNT artwork you have been seeing on this blog in many of my "Blast from the Past" posts.

I miss -- I really, really miss -- being that guy.

My fervent hope is that by divesting myself of this wonderful but needful-of-constant-attention property, I might -- I just MIGHT -- get back to being that guy. Or something LIKE that guy.

Oh Peter. You could have given them to me. You can keep (most of)the money. I just want to be able to tell people canonically Leo is stronger than Raph.

LBD_Nytetrayn

Yay, more musings. *goes to read*

Xenogears of Bore

Guess what game is thirty dollars American today on Amazon.com? Hint: Don't look too far.

Brainiac 8

Permanent or on sale?

I was hoping it would drop in price soon as I really do want the game, just didn't want to spend fifty bucks on it.

LBD_Nytetrayn

So, the bad news is, The Forever War is dead, and I feel betrayed by those I trusted.

The good news is, we have a date: ""Turtles Forever" to Air on CW4Kids Nov. 21 - ONE TIME ONLY!"

A representative for 4Kids has announced over at TheTechnodrome.com (and on 4Kids.tv) that "Turtles Forever" will air on CW4Kids, for one time only, on November 21.

Surely, any future viewing would have to be on DVD. And as we have no idea what the status for a DVD release is, this is something you most definitely do not want to miss!

So be sure to check your local listings and tune in November 21!

To keep this relevant to gaming, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack comes out on the DS next week. Anyone aiming to grab that one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp97qwM3otQ

cloudeagle

So it's looking like this is the last gasp for the 4Kids version of the turtles.

And I'm nearly finished watching the first season. I think I've discovered the reason the 80s turtles don't have their original voices... they're too damn cheap to pay for them, even though they're not exactly expensive. I say this because other than the main characters, the voice acting is pretty crap. I could barely make it through that episode with the monster hunter... her voice was just too grating and unnatural.

At any rate, the episodes are gradually improving, I'd say. Though I'm not sure I have the patience to slog through another 100 or so if it doesn't get more awesome right quick.

cloudeagle

So there's a trailer for the Turtles Forever thing, and... uh... it indicates that this thing will be much more awesome than we even realized. Don't watch if you don't want to ruin the surprise, but:

Spoiler:

There are more than two sets of turtles.

Hell, even the youtube inbed image is a spoiler if you're observant enough.

Spoiler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64K4nNctCHk&feature=player_embedded

redfield85

Shit that looks awesome.

So, is it actually coming out? Wasn't there rumors of it being canceled or was that something else?

cloudeagle

November 21 on the CW, DVD shortly after.

Bionic Monkey

redfield85 wrote: »

Shit that looks awesome.

So, is it actually coming out? Wasn't there rumors of it being canceled or was that something else?

The big, one-time public theatrical showing was cancelled, but the movie itself is already finished, so it wouldn't make much sense to just dump it.

Gilder

Hey 4Kids nearly dumped the whole Ninja Tribunal arc for no reason. They don't need to make sense. I really wish they had done the theater showing though. I blame 4Kids. Even if it was Mirage's fault or the distributor, I blame 4Kids.

cloudeagle

Gilder wrote: »

Hey 4Kids nearly dumped the whole Ninja Tribunal arc for no reason. They don't need to make sense. I really wish they had done the theater showing though. I blame 4Kids. Even if it was Mirage's fault or the distributor, I blame 4Kids.

More than likely it was due to the Nickelodeon deal.

Gilder

Damn them! I'm starting to very much dislike Peter Laird. If I read the comics I probably already would. Selling the license to Nickelodeon though was just terrible. They never give up their licenses. Is it still okay for me to think Eastman is alright? He signed my copy of Turtles in Time so I don't want to hear that he actually banned TMNT from showing in Russia or something.

redfield85

cloudeagle wrote: »

November 21 on the CW, DVD shortly after.

BOUGHT! So bought.

LBD_Nytetrayn

Gilder wrote: »

Damn them! I'm starting to very much dislike Peter Laird. If I read the comics I probably already would. Selling the license to Nickelodeon though was just terrible. They never give up their licenses. Is it still okay for me to think Eastman is alright? He signed my copy of Turtles in Time so I don't want to hear that he actually banned TMNT from showing in Russia or something.

I think Eastman runs Heavy Metal magazine now.

LBD_Nytetrayn

New trailer for Turtles Forever:

Spoiler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YixMJJzOCoA&feature=player_embedded

Plus, animatics and a commercial.

Hope I can check this out come Saturday.

King Riptor

Gilder wrote: »

Damn them! I'm starting to very much dislike Peter Laird. If I read the comics I probably already would. Selling the license to Nickelodeon though was just terrible. They never give up their licenses. Is it still okay for me to think Eastman is alright? He signed my copy of Turtles in Time so I don't want to hear that he actually banned TMNT from showing in Russia or something.

Way to be negative Gilder.

Though yeah Peter Laird is a bit of a jerk. I mean has he ever heard of taking a Sabbatical? or the suggestion where he sells the turtles to me and gets to keep all the profit?

Dodge Aspen

Hot damn I saw a commercial for this while watching Smallville the other night. This is the best idea ever!

Brainiac 8

I almost picked the game up at Best Buy when I got NSMBWii, but decided to wait until it drops in price some.

eatmosushi

Will the Bunny Samurai be in this game?

cloudeagle

LBD_Nytetrayn wrote: »

New trailer for Turtles Forever:

Spoiler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YixMJJzOCoA&feature=player_embedded

Plus, animatics and a commercial.

Hope I can check this out come Saturday.

Oh my god, the screengrab youtube used for that is fantastic.

Gilder

Ahaha, they even kept the scroll saying the same thing on the wall for the 88 turtles. That's great. My favorite thing about that scroll is sometimes it's just complete gibberish because apparently nobody that wrote japanese worked on the episode. One episode it even had a typo!

RockinX

Haha! The scroll says "Animation". Though the n at the end is kind of wrong.

Gilder

Quick reminder folks, tomorrow morning is Turtles Forever. Make sure to watch it!

Mugenmidget

If you're interested I'll be hosting a Turtles Forever "pre-show" at midnight (CST, about an hour from this post), up until the showing of Turtles Forever in about 11 hours (by Central time at least).

The showing will be at http://www.justin.tv/mugenmidget for people who don't value sleep.

redfield85

Yay, it is turtle time!

Mugenmidget

Three and a half grueling hours remaining!