MIKEYSTMNT.COM

? ?

** Jonas McCluggage

One could argue that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans are a dime a dozen. With a property as popular as the Turtles, you’d be hard pressed to find someone between the ages of 20 and 35 who can’t recite the lyrics to the original cartoon theme song, the Ninja Rap or TURTLE Power – or all three. Everyone has his or her own favorite turtle to latch onto. For the past 27 years, the Ninja Turtles have accompanied generations of fans, each of whom feels worthy to be considered the honorary Fifth Turtle.

Maybe the Ninja Turtles aren’t as popular as they were in the early 1990s. Sure, every few years they weave back into the mainstream consciousness. But on the whole, the teens in green may be past their prime.

Therefore, it may have come as a surprise to many fans to hear that after a multimillion-dollar buyout of the formerly independently owned property, children’s programming giant Nickelodeon is planning a massive reboot of the property. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are well on their way back onto the TV screens of a whole new generation of kids.

Children though their target audience may be, Nickelodeon is looking to a slightly older demographic to help along the development of the series. Nick may know kids, but they also know the kids who loved the TMNT have grown up. And that may be exactly why the network decided to offer adult fans a chance to preview and critique the new CG animated series slated to premier in 2012.

I have to say it was a true honor and surprise to be invited to this event. The TMNT have had a number of Number One Fans, so it’s easy for those in a community as close-knit as ours to feel left out, to feel like favorites were being played or that by not being invited to the event they were somehow thought of as less than a true fan.

And I agree… some people have done a lot for the fandom. Some have been longtime fans who have spent the majority of their lives showing the world how awesome the TMNT are, and what an impact they’ve had on their lives. These people who were overlooked (our very own Tokka, being one of them) were sorely missed at the event, and be assured you were with us in spirit.

The fact is Nickelodeon picked a very select few from a behemoth fan base. And they did so with great care and purpose. I’m not going to lie – the majority of those in the group are high-profile fans with popular websites, blogs and other creative material that has either gone viral or generated an admirable buzz. These are people who are are able to spread the word to the masses. But these fans also represented a vast array of fan interest. There were those who represented the artists and writers and other amazing creative minds of fan works, others represented the toy, comics and merchandise collectors, while some offered a unique in-depth perspective of the property in its entirety. So did everyone who attended the event deserve to be there? Absolutely.

And while it is an absolute shame that some fans who also deserved to be there were not, the group was a well-rounded sample of TMNT knowledge and appreciation. It was a group that could offer insight as well as an honest and emotional reaction to the direction of the new television series.

In the next post, I will go through the events of the day at Nick’s TMNT Fan Preview Event, giving a little bit of insight on what I can reveal. But be aware, as I’m sure you’ve seen on other sites, I was required to sign a confidentiality agreement. This means I cannot go into specifics about what I saw.

* *

— ‘FAIRLY ODD PARENT’S’ & TMNT’s .. ALEX “Toon” D.

Last week, the crew over at Sequelcast invited Mikey to appear on the podcast to discuss the original 1990 TMNT film. It was great fun talking Turtles and all the amazing things that made this one of my favorite films of all time. The podcast is now available for download at the Sequelcast website or on iTunes for free! The podcast also features an interview with TMNT director Steve Barron!

Be sure to keep an eye on the site as the Sequelcast takes on the entire TMNT film franchise over the next few weeks!

P.S. After six years of sitting on my hard drive, the podcast logo I created finally gets some play!

‘COTTONWOOD Center for the Arts’ Cautiously Presents::

“TOKKA” ~ One x One Show

MARCH 25, 2011

* *

**Cottonwood Center for the Arts

*** Directions to Cottonwood on Google MAPS..

? ?

“Tokka .. Regardless of what he calls himself you know him as an
intensely gifted and thoroughly focused artist. Raw, realized, passionate, political, his work screams at you on levels both in your face and abstractly, both Day-Glo and nuanced, bold and sublime. His mediums are many: he puts the bang back into Pop, pours power across a page, tears pixels into tomorrow, gives action figures a second coming. He rocks, he raves, he saves. He wakes us up from ourselves.”

– Steve Murphy :: Former creative director of Mirage Studios Inc.;
Puma Blues, Umbra, TMNT Adventures, Tales of the TMNT

? ?

” [ Tokka ] .. the creme da la creme of TMNT fans!! ”

– Ryan Brown :: TMNT Legend and Artist alumni, Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa

? ?

Lambasted by the industry that motivated him; lauded ,endorsed & cheered by the creators that inspired him.

Tokka’s work has singed the eyeballs of the likes of Lucasfilm Licensing, Midway Games, Sega, Microsoft, Disney Comics, Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, Playmates Toys, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, Heavy Metal Magazine, Mirage Studios, Dark Horse Comics, and Viz Communications just to name a scant few. ( Barf-bags were provided as a courtesy to said company representatives ).

His global & unique cult-following has embraced his schizophrenic renderings & twisted visions of pop-culture iconography & recycled heroes as much as those who’ve shunned him.

It’s also landed him in the sights of the acclaimed international 80s animation magazine ; “CerealGeek”.

And then there’s that crazy “Turtle” thing he does with so much $#%^@#* heart !

? ?

COTTONWOOD Center for the Arts in Colorado Springs will present a one night, open-house & special engagement featuring Tokka’s FRIGHT FEATURES on the second floor !!

The First FINAL Friday event of it’s kind with all kinds of fun from the Mutant Monster- Mind and Slaphappy Snapper Freak !!

Friday – March 25, 2011 :: 5 – 8 P.M. @
COTTONWOOD Center for the Arts in Downtown Colorado Springs.

Prepare to be Shell-shocked or just bring a box of tomatoes to “SHUCK” at him letting him know how much you disprove of his antics.

And if he owes you money – then bring a pair of boxing gloves to pop him in the beak until he’s bloody and blue and ponies up the $$ !

Heck, you may even get a free sketch from Tokka out of it !

Hope to smell you there !

** SRC

? ?

** Khary Randolph

I’d just like to apologize in advance to any forum lurkers whose accounts have been deleted. In the past few weeks, it seems that those lovely spambots have discovered how to decipher the CAPTCHA authentication code when registering at the forums. Since then, we have been slammed with spam and spambot accounts that are just waiting to explode in spamminess.

That’s why I decided to take some proactive measures. Rather than making the CAPTCHA more difficult to read (I’ve gotten many complaints from real people in the past), I decided to activate the Newly Registered Users group, which will place new users by default in a group that is only allowed restricted access to the forums and whose posts must be approved by an admin or moderator. Once the user has reached five approved posts, they will be moved into the Registered User group and be allowed general access.

Also, I have decided to go through the memberlist and remove any accounts that have been inactive for an extended period of time, accounts that were never activated and accounts that have zero posts. The majority of these were spam anyway, but if I happened to kill your account, feel free to sign up again. If your unused account managed to survive the purge, consider yourself lucky… I decided to keep a few accounts that I felt passed the spam exam.

** View LARGE On Black **

? ?

Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa images © REBEE Inc. Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa® is a registered trademark of REBEE Inc.. All rights reserved.

** View LARGE On Black **

? ?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters ©2011 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, including Raphael®, Michelangelo®, Leonardo®, Donatello®, and April O’Neil® are registered trademarks of Viacom International Inc.
Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird, Kevin B. Eastman, & Mirage Studios.

? ?

? ?

News Flash!

Publishing company Coloring Book Advantages releases new book with artwork by veteran TMNT artists Ryan Brown, Fernando Leon Gonzalez and Steve Lavigne.

“Fun with Monsters” features 14 of your favorite cryptids in kid friendly, monstrous action!

The Loch Ness Monster, Mothman and Bigfoot are all included along with other famous cryptozoological creatures.

**www.coloringbookadvantages.com 1-419-994-3911

All artwork TM & © Coloring Book Advantages. All rights reserved.