TMNT Goes Nickelodeon

[Speederino]

So is this where we talk about OotS? I'm assuming so since I can't immediately find a proper thread. Well anywho, I saw it this morning!

I think my 'dislike' (to put it mildly) of the 2014 film is is kinda well known around here, but to re-iterate: I thought it was hot steaming garbage. The ONLY things I liked were the turtle's basic personalities and the elevator scene. That's it. But I remained hopeful for this movie since it looked like a major improvement. And I have to say...holy crap, yeah. I actually LIKE Out of the Shadows. I'm not sure I've ever seen a sequel to a movie I hated and actually came out of the theater happy before, but here we are.

It's clear that they actually listened to the feedback from the first movie (having a different director helps, too). The turtles are the main focus now, with actual character arcs that help flesh them out a little more. April O' Neil Megan Fox is thankfully not as prevalent here. She's given a few things to do, but the human storylines still aren't as interesting as the turtle's. At least you don't have to worry about her hijacking the movie this time around. Stephen Amell's Casey Jones, however, is a bit more fun.

And it's nice to finally see Rocksteady and Bebop in a movie, especially since they're so well casted. These two actors have great chemistry and play so damn well off each other that it's hard not to think they nailed it. Shredder and Krang though are where things start getting finnicky. While Shredder definitely has a much better design (and leads an actual real Foot Clan now instead of generic terrorists), don't expect to see him actually do anything. He's given almost nothing to do here, and once it finally looks like he's gearing up for something, the movie promptly shelves him in favor for Krang. Who, by the way, also isn't here much. He's given one quick scene early on before returning for the big finale. So it's hard to say who the main villain here is, or if there even is one. The movie lacks focus in that department and tries to shove in too many of them.

As a movie, OotS definitely has some issues so don't expect to see a good critical reaction. But I think TMNT fans will be otherwise pleased, even if they hated the first movie like me. And if you DID like TMNT 2014, then holy crap I imagine this will be absolutely amazing for you.

[Agie]

Still not especially excited for the film. In fact, I'm not sure I wanna support it.

I'm Still debating if I should even get the last one; I doubt I'll buy it new.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

So something exciting just popped completely out of nowhere! Greg Cipes visited Playmates recently and provided a short video. Said video shows a particularly interesting preview at what's to come for the TMNT toyline:

Notice a familiar character that hasn't been tied to the Turtles in quite a while in the center? Yes, Miyamoto Usagi (of Usagi Yojimbo fame) will apparently meet up with the Nick Turtles for the first time in a new Samurai Turtles toyline! This doesn't necessarily confirm that he'll appear in the show, but if they went so far as to nab him for the toyline, I think a show appearance is very likely. I absolutely did not see this happening (What with Stan Sakai's friendship with Peter Laird being the main reason Usagi was tied with the different Turtles incarnations for so long from what I remember), so it's crazy to see these two universes clash again. With the mystical theme that TMNT Season 5 is speculated to have, could Usagi's inclusion lead to more dimension-hopping or even a Nick Battle Nexus arc? I know that I'D totally be in favor of that!

In other news, some new animated TMNT shorts will be debuting for the first time at SDCC and one of them, titled "Don vs. Raph," was even produced by Jhonen Vasquez of Invader Zim fame! Very curious to see the boys in his style.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Following up on the news of the SDCC shorts, the first is confirmed to hit Facebook on Thursday and they even released a trailer for the whole batch:

The three shorts will be done by Brandon Auman, Jhonen Vasquez, and Kevin Eastman/Paul Jenkins. Looks to be some interdimensional screwing involved in them. Super excited to seeing what these bring to the table. The whole thing reminds me of Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything with all of the differing styles which makes me even more excited.

Edit: Wait...with the way their wraps are and Donnie's goggles in the show-style 2D clip...ARE THOSE THE IDW TURTLES?!

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Time for the annual SDCC panel sneak peeks! Unfortunately, not a ton this year, but we still have some interesting stuff:

First of all, meet Shinigami, Karai's new ally in her newfound mission to bring honor back to the Foot Clan and terminate the Shredder. (YES, she might actually have more of a story this season than getting repeatedly kidnapped or brainwashed!!) She has magic and hypnotism powers on her side and will be portrayed by the often-teased-by-recording-tweets Gwendoline Yeo. Her first appearance will be in the next episode, City at War.

The staff also showed this awesome illustration as a peek at upcoming episodes and teased more Leo/Raph team-ups.

That's about all as far as peeks at the future go, but they also announced that the show will return sooner than expected on August 14th!

Now then, they also teased shorts, so here they are:

First up in "Don vs. Raph" by Jhonen Vasquez.

Next, Brandon Auman brings an adaptation of a Mirage story of (almost) the same name, "Turtles Take Time (And Space)."

Finally, Kevin Eastman and Paul Jenkins bring on "Pizza Friday," a take on the "Turtles become human" plot. One particular note of interest about this one is that Sam Riegel, Donnie from the 2k3 series, voices Raph in this!

Out of all of these, my favorite was definitely "Turtles Take Time." I loved all of the different styles and that over-the-top superhero anime look is too freaking cool.

Looking forward to seeing what City at War brings to the table in terms of status quo changes!

[Failinhearts]

I love these things! My personal favorite being the Don VS Raph short. It's awesome seeing the Invader ZIM style of humor and animation return to Nick.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

So City at War's coming up? SWEET!

I fell out of TMNT with the whole space thing (Exception's being the Mikey's mind episode, and Trans-Dimensional Turtles), so seeing a City at War arc is gonna be cool.

Also, is that a Donnie redesign? Was he redesigned or something during Season 4?

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Not that I know of. If you're talking about the Brandon Auman short, the style is SIMILAR to the Nick show, but also quite different (Same with most of the voice actors.) If you're talking about the concept art, I think that may be Leo or just an oddly off-model Donnie.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

3 minutes ago, Predabros CC14 said:

Not that I know of. If you're talking about the Brandon Auman short, the style is SIMILAR to the Nick show, but also quite different (Same with most of the voice actors.) If you're talking about the concept art, I think that may be Leo or just an oddly off-model Donnie.

I was referring to the Raph VS Don short where Don has glasses and a metal shell.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Oh, that's only for that particular short, then. All three shorts have their own unique designs, VAs, and look. (April in particular wildly varies.)

[Failinhearts]

2 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I was referring to the Raph VS Don short where Don has glasses and a metal shell.

I assumed it was an stylistic decision on Jhonen's part for the short.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

So, what's the opinions on Season 4 thus far?

[Dejimon11]

2 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

So, what's the opinions on Season 4 thus far?

Mediocore and to me probably the worst season of the show so far. With how last season ended with the world being destroyed this season opened up with them using the effects of the black hole to time travel six months in the past to prevent the Triceratops from getting all the pieces they needed for the create the blackhole generator. I wouldn't have a problem with it but that seemed like such a copout. 

I kinda found the whole adventures in space to be a bit boring and not everybody getting development. It didn't seem like they learned from anything considering the first thing that they did was get into trouble. If it was more of an honest accident that got them into a bigger mess it would of been ok but it felt like "ok were in space lets just have fun instead of focusing on what's important". I mean don't get me wrong there were some good moments here and there and some character development but not enough. I thought that Ralph would be the one to get the most development since in a way part of the reason why the world got destroyed was his fault if he has listen to his brothers instead of doing his own thing the invasion probably wouldn't have happened. 

This is an unpopular opinion but I thought that the crossover was literally the biggest waste of time. I mean there were a lot of great fan service but overall the story was just a watered down version of turtles forever, the build up to the crossover came out of nowhere and it probably should of been longer and better yet come after they were done with the space arc. And the ending for this arc was pretty anti climatic just something about it just felt a little off. I'm just glad that this arc is over with and were back on Earth so the plot can get moving.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Time for a Season 4 news drop! First off, WE GOT US A PROMO!!

It showcases some new stuff, including Shinigami, the return of Cockroach Terminator, Leo in an interesting-looking new outfit with a black mask fighting Hun (Keep your Cityfall expectations in check ), April in her new Kunoichi attire, Karai, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

WINGNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!

Yep, everyone's favorite non-Plankton chip will finally be making his Nick debut in the upcoming episodes! FIGURES. I wait for him to be revealed in all of these panels and junk and then he just shows up out of nowhere! XD

Last order of business, we've got new episode titles galore (Along with a few dates and descriptions for good measure):

City at War (August 14th)

April faces a deadly, new enemy when she graduates to full Kunoichi; the Turtles must deal with the return of some old foes.

Broken Foot (August 21st)

When Leonardo secretly allies with Karai, he finds himself in deeper danger than he ever could have imagined.

The Insecta Trifecta (August 28th)

Mutant Gangland

Bat in the Belfry (Gee, I wonder who's debut this is. )

So yeah. Lot of stuff on the horizon. SUPER pumped for this return! All of the Foot-related stuff and status quo changes look great, some of the plots sound pretty interesting (Mutant Gangland in particular has raised my eyebrow), and I'm hyped as all heck for Wingnut. Mid-August can't get here fast enough!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I think that has to be City Fall. The type of armor that Leo's wearing is giving some very heavy signs of traditional Foot armor, that and the black mask. Maybe at the end of Broken Foot, Leo gets brainwashed and is sent back to the other Turtles as a sleeper agent?

[574G]

The 2012 version is really fun although I prefer the 2003 one. Hopefully this season be good too.

[Sonictrainer]

On July 24, 2016 at 9:41 PM, Predabros CC14 said:

Time for the annual SDCC panel sneak peeks! Unfortunately, not a ton this year, but we still have some interesting stuff:

First of all, meet Shinigami, Karai's new ally in her newfound mission to bring honor back to the Foot Clan and terminate the Shredder. (YES, she might actually have more of a story this season than getting repeatedly kidnapped or brainwashed!!) She has magic and hypnotism powers on her side and will be portrayed by the often-teased-by-recording-tweets Gwendoline Yeo. Her first appearance will be in the next episode, City at War.

It was a good episode, especially that ending...

[Ryannumber1gamer]

So, did the episode with Leo VS Hun aired yet?

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Yep. That was the beginning of Broken Foot.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Just now, Dark Moon CC14 said:

Yep. That was the beginning of Broken Foot.

Did they explain the black mask and foot armor?

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Yep. He wore it so he could work with Karai and Shinigami without catching the attention of his family. Even brought on a Nightwatcher reference from Raph.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Dark Moon CC14 said:

Yep. He wore it so he could work with Karai and Shinigami without catching the attention of his family. Even brought on a Nightwatcher reference from Raph.

CURSES! MY HOPE FOR A CITY FALL ARC FOILED AGAIN!

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Speaking of dreams of IDW stuff finally making it into the show, the NYCC panel was today and we have the usual gamut of reveals. Not too many this time around, as most of the focus was on the "big announcement" of TMNT/WWE mash-up figures, but we did get one major bombshell:

ALOPEX IS COMING. She'll be making her debut later this season and is tied to Tiger Claw's (finally addressed) backstory:

They were both mutated by the Kraang as children and something led to HER being the one who cut his tail off! (She's even wearing it as a belt!)

As far as other noteworthy bits:

Mark Hamill's character who was announced forever ago, Kavaxas the Demodragon, was shown off in a new clip. It was also revealed that he is the modern version of Hot Head, AKA, the Warrior Dragon, who Mikey apparently nicknames him after. One interesting detail to note is that Tiger Claw is among the robed people apparently trying to summon him forth, so it'll be interesting to see exactly WHY he's involved in this. (And judging by that metal hand, it seems something ELSE of note happens to him as well.) Perhaps it's a last resort to combat an out-of-control...

Yep, as teased in the previous couple episodes, Super Shredder is on the way and will make his debut in the next episode eponymously titled "The Super Shredder." It'll air on November 6th and as the recently revealed synopsis describes, will feature the Turtles encountering "something they cannot defeat."

Also, more clips from the panel can be found at IGN and a majority of the panel itself can be found here.

All in all, a pretty solid batch of news. The TMNT/WWE figures being the major news was pretty lame, though, especially since they were leaked forever ago. Would've liked to see something further on Usagi, but Alopex is a really cool surprise and I'm interested to see how she's implemented and Tiger Claw's full backstory is general. 

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

So with TMNT Season 6 yet to be greenlit, there was a lot of speculation about whether the upcoming "Tales" season would be its final one. We now have an answer: YEP! A BRAND NEW TMNT show called "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will debut in its place in Fall 2018. This new show will be 2D rather than CGI and be co-executive-produced by Andy Suriano and Ant Ward. Full details below:

The kid network will be rebooting its current CG “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” series as a 2D animated series with the title “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The network made the announcement at its upfront presentation in New York on Thursday afternoon.

“The Turtles is a property that has reinvention in its DNA, which keeps it fresh and relevant to every new generation while satisfying the demand from its adult fans,” said Cyma Zarghami, president, Nickelodeon Group. “’Turtles’ has been an incredibly important franchise for us since we reignited it five years ago, and we’re excited for the new series to take the characters in a different direction with more humor, a younger and lighter feel and all-new dimensions to explore.”

The new 2D series is co-executive produced by Andy Suriano (character designer for the critically acclaimed Adult Swim series “Samurai Jack”) and Ant Ward (supervising producer, current “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) at Nickelodeon in Burbank, Calif.

The CG series will air one last season starting Sunday, March 19. Nickelodeon has ordered 26 episodes of the 2D reboot to air starting in fall 2018.

“Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” will follow Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo on all-new adventures as they seek to unlock the mystical secrets of New York City. From the tallest skyscraper to the dankest sewer drain, the Turtles will encounter absurd new mutants and battle bizarre creatures all while enjoying their favorite slice of pizza. Tapping into mystic, ninja powers they never knew existed, the four brothers must learn to work together and navigate the perils of the modern age and hidden realms in order to fulfill their destiny to become a team of heroes.

This REALLY caught me off guard. They're not wasting any time with the reboots, huh? Not much else to say other than I look forward to hearing more about it and that makes me all the more curious about how the current Nick show is going to end.

[Kevin]

As much of a shame to see the current series ending since it was very good, I find their choice to use 2D animation in the next series an interesting one.