Share Your TMNT Tattoo!

Tweet

Last month I got a TMNT tattoo! It's awesome! And I know a lot of you also have amazing TMNT tattoos. I'm looking to compile a gallery of them to share with other fans. If you'd like to be included, simply send me a photo of your tattoo (hi-res, please!) along with it's story. How long have you had it? How did you choose your art? Who was your tattoo artist? Feel free to include any and all details you'd like.

Send your photos and stories to rosemary@ninjapizza.net. Or, send a message to me through the Ninja Pizza Facebook page.

I'm looking forward to seeing and sharing your submissions!

Guest Editorial: My Affection for Four Pizza-loving Turtles

Tweet

The following editorial was submitted by Niklas Nowak, translated from the original German. This editorial has been edited for length and small grammar corrections. You can read it in it's entirety on Niklas's blog, here.

If you would like to submit an editorial, please e-mail the completed piece to me for consideration. Enjoy!

My Affection for Four Pizza-loving Turtles. Or: How My English Teacher Gave Me a Verbal Kick in the Teeth

It was probably in fifth or sixth grade when my world broke down. The English terms for animals were the order of the day. Usually, you are already faced with a lot of those expressions before the explicit discussion in school education. For example, through the titles of Hollywood blockbusters, cartoon shows, etc. Thanks to Disney comics with a certain drake and frequent visits to fast food outlets, ”cat,” “dog,” “duck” and similar specimens of the Anglo-Saxon fauna were well known to me. But since donkey’s years I have been looking forward to the moment that we would pick up the word “turtle” in English class, and, maybe even more important, that we would be allowed to use that word. But then, with all of her might, my English teacher gave me a verbal kick in the teeth. In the pages of our textbook we became acquainted to a little turtle that my teacher mentioned as “Trundle the TORTOISE.” She did not know what a cruel thing she did to me by forcing us to use [this term] and not ... “turtle.” If there would have been a shell on my back, just at this very instant, I would have crawled into it. Certainly, combined with the declaration to never come out again.

As Swift as a Ninja, as Grandiose as an American

Since my first days in kindergarten, to me there has been nothing more tuff, more bold, more marvelous than the “Turtles,” [particularly] the “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles”. (Please note: They bear the original name “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” in the USA; in Europe, due to dubious aspects of youth protection, the “Ninja” was replaced by “Hero.”) The Turtles were the reason for the factor that the turtle became my favorite animal. Plenty of people see the turtle as a sluggish and coward midget, someone that holes up when the going gets tough. In my view, the turtle was a complex creature. Admirable, as I saw it as a big talking, in Japanese martial-arts-proficient and pizza-eating reptile. If you like, you can mark the Turtles as globalized-paradox, pop-cultural beings of the early 1990s; far Eastern consciousness and body control on the one hand, American pomposity and (unhealthy) culinary art on the other hand. Is there one word for all those facets? There sure is: Cowabunga!

Heroes through the Ages

“I was young and I needed the money” is not the adequate saying to outline my enthusiasm for the Turtles. More probably, “I was DARN young and had (yet) no idea of how the world works.” Industry realized the commercial potential of the Turtles and expanded it to a kiddie franchise that caught me. Balls to the wall. At the beginning of the 20th Century, children used to pick up on bygone eras to choose their heroes: knights, pirates, cowboys and the like. In the era of plastic commerce (an economic phenomenon that increasingly identified baby-tooth-bearers and their parents as a financially potent target group), explicit figures of franchises fill that role. In the 1970s, “Star Wars” served as a forerunner, numerous Western (for example, the “Transformers” and, of course, the Turtles) and Eastern (“Dragon Ball [Z], “Yu-Gi-Oh,” etc.) [examples] have followed. The fresh heroes answer to the names of Han-Solo and Son-Goku. I was right in the thick of it, chose four brave shell-bearers as my heroes and felt like a million dollars (pardon, pizzas). This was perfect material for my childish imagination, but a constant robbery of my piggy bank/my parents’ wallets. Maybe that was the reason for the fact that——partially due to grief about my merchandise purchases, partially due to empathy about my enthusiasm——in a somehow kind way my father called the Turtles, “Trottels” (a pun of the German word “Trottel,” which means “jerk” in English, and the original expression). Incarnations of Turtle action figures came (and still come) by the score; whether classic, with adjustable limbs (for the ninja moves), with a transforming-feature, or as robotic hybrids. Furthermore, you chose (and still choose) between myriad vehicles, armored fighting vehicles, flying objects, and headquarters that maximize the fun. I remember that there even was a freaky Turtle action figure with a kind of whistle on the back of its shell. It was not a very brilliant idea of one of my friends to select just this figure as his “Sandbox Turtle.” You could barely here a sound from that poor Turtle.

To claim that we’ve come “Turtle full circle” with the latest cinema-reboot would be a lie (particularly as in financial terms, the movie is a roaring success, which is kind of surprising as there are a lot of critical voices, too). Precisely that is the amazing thing about the Turtles: They were and are never completely gone. Sure, the 1990s-hype-days are all over. But nevertheless, every now and then there pops up a new cartoon or animation show, a movie, a video game and piles of toys. And, of course, a vast number of reprints, collected volumes and special editions of the original comic series. Turtles can attain a damn high age. For the average turtle a lack of perseverance and physical power can be compensated by cool-headed acceptance of its inconspicuousness and a Methuselah-like age. On top of that, due to their mutation-strengthened past, the Turtles can do more than a simple rasping sound so that their chances are not too small to be a long-run member of popular culture. Provided that the Turtles will try to equal a prominent companion of their species, they will indulge in popularity up to approximately 2159. I probably cannot compete with that. Hopefully, the same holds true for Trundle the tortoise.

Happy Halloween!

Tweet

It's Halloween! For the last week or so, TMNT fans on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr have been sharing pictures of their TMNT costumes and pumpkins. You can check out all of the pictures in a special Halloween Fan Photos album on Facebook.

If you've got a picture to share, whether it be new or old, e-mail it to me and you'll be added to the album!

Safe trick-or-treating, everyone!

"Casey Jones" Fan Film Now Online

Tweet

As was promised to us last month, the recently completed TMNT fan film, titled Casey Jones, is now online for everyone to watch, free of charge.

Check it out: www.CaseyJonesTheMovie.com

Congrats to the entire cast and crew for putting together a really great and impressive final product!

"Goongala!" - Song from "Casey Jones" Fan Film

Tweet

The new Casey Jones fan film uses a brand new piece of music during the end credits, a song by Johnny October titled "Goongala!" You can hear the entire song in the YouTube video below, and you can buy it from iTunes here.

WARNING: The video below has explicit lyrics. There is also a clean version of the song available from iTunes.

"Casey Jones" Fan Film

Tweet

Back on February 8, 2010 (quite a long time ago), a trailer for a Casey Jones fan film showed up on YouTube. Fantastically, the project didn't get left forgotten, and last night the movie premiered at a free screening in Austin, TX. Ninja Pizza reader and mega TMNT fan Samuel Barrera attended the screening and wrote in with a report.

In a brief summary, Samuel describes the plot of the movie:

After assaulting Cousin Sid during hockey practice, Casey Jones is kicked off the team with no where to go and no money to his name. Moving back in to his mom's house, Casey realizes that his old stomping grounds have gone from bad to worse. Vowing to change things, Casey dons his mask and sets out to let the bad guys know... it's HIS town.

And his impressions after having seen it:

Hilarion Banks gives a very convincing performance as the hockey player turned vigilante. The violence level is turned up quite a few notches and when the bad guys get hit, we feel it. Casey doesn’t just trip people with that obviously painful hockey stick of his.

Another great surprise in this film was the inclusion of Michelangelo. Though most people know that Raphael is the first to meet Casey, here we see Mikey, who is actually voiced by Robbie Rist, the voice of Mikey from all three films. Now, while I’m not clear on whether Robbie Rist’s voice was recycled from the other films or if he actually voiced the character, it fits in smoothly.

And the Turtle suit used is truly magnificent. While it doesn’t impress as much as the original animatronic suits, this is possibly one of the better suits I’ve seen in any fan film.

There are also many nods to the different franchises, including the first TV series. Many of which will make any fan boy as giddy as a little school girl.

You can read Samuel's full report here.

For the rest of us who weren't in Austin last night, the movie will be online to watch for free at caseyjonesthemovie.com, starting September 17, 2011.

Check out the original trailer while you wait to see the movie: