Guide to WonderCon 2012

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WonderCon, the little sister convention to Comic-Con International, is being held this weekend, March 16-18, at the Anaheim Convention Center. This is a (supposedly) temporary relocation from the usual digs at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. (I sure hope so!)

The only TMNT-related information I have for the convention comes from IDW:

March 17, 12:00-3:00pm - On Saturday, the IDW booth will be hosting a signing with TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman.

All weekend - The IDW booth will be selling the limited edition black & white variant cover of TMNT: The Ultimate Edition, Vol. 1.

I was hoping to make it to this even though it's not in my backyard this year, but things didn't work out and then something else came up. Happy conventioning to anyone who is going!

New TMNT Movie Officially Scheduled for December 2013

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Deadline.com is reporting tonight that the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, which has been in development for several years now, has an official release date scheduled for Christmas 2013.

And with all signs pointing at the movie moving forward into production, Jonathan Liebesman has been named director. Just a month ago he was rumored to be in talks for the job.

The movie is said to be a live action-CGI combo, although there are no specifics are mentioned on exactly how the Turtles themselves will be realized.

Shout! Factory Acquires DVD Rights for "Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation"

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Last year, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation appeared on Netflix streaming as part of a distribution acquisition that included most all of the titles in Saban's library. This was the first time The Next Mutation had appeared in the United States in any format in well over 10 years.

Now, in a DVD distribution deal that consists mostly of Power Rangers episodes, Shout! Factory has picked up the rights for The Next Mutation. This doesn't guarantee that the series will be released on DVD, but it is an important step in making it happen. Here's hoping!

TMNT: Shell Shock Ready to Fly

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It looks like the final touches are finally in place, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shell Shock is ready to go on March 17, 2012. If you're in the area, you definitely want to attend the big event, including a chance to get in the Guinness Book of World Records! And Ninja Pizza will be there, live Tweeting the event! I may even sneak in a few videos. ^_^

A video of the attraction on one of its early test flights appeared on YouTube over the weekend. If you look closely, you can see the giant Turtles figures in the lower right of the screen.

Additionally, readers Sonia and Brian have both been kind enough to submit "in progress" pictures of the ride being built. Check out a few of them below, and the rest on Facebook.

The ride controls are designed as a pizza cart.

Riders beware!

INFESTATION 2: TMNT #1 - Variant Cover Guide

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While this issue is scheduled to be released today, you may want to check with your local comic shop before you make the drive. Due to a distribution problem, only part of the country will be getting their IDW titles today. Shops that don't get them this week will get them next week.

That said, here's a preview for everyone!

Cover A

Cover B

Cover A: Menton J. Matthews III.
Regular cover; distributed in a 4:1 ratio with cover B.

Cover B: Livio Ramondelli.
Regular cover; distributed in a 1:4 ratio with cover A.

Cover C

Cover C: Mark Torres.
Retailer incentive cover; 1 copy sent to retailers for every 10 copies ordered.

Character Profiles for Nickelodeon's New TMNT CGI Series

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Note: These pictures were removed by Nickelodeon. I'll have them back on the site as soon as I'm able to.

Among the pages discovered during the brief window of time that the upcoming website for the new Nickelodeon TMNT CGI series was viewable (as described yesterday) was a series of character profiles for all of the main characters. Screen caps of all of these profiles are below.

One note about about Shredder's profile is that it mentions that he has an adopted daughter named Miwa. This is interesting because we learned at last year's Fan Preview Event that Splinter, as the Human Hamato Yoshi, had a daughter that was left behind in Japan when he fled to New York. Could Hamato Yoshi's daughter be Shredder's adopted daughter, Miwa?

New Pictures Emerge as Website Launch Nears

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Note: These pictures were removed by Nickelodeon. However, they are still on dozens of other websites, so I'll be putting them back up soon. If Nickelodeon has a problem with this, I ask that they please e-mail me.

Some savvy TMNT fans over at The Technodrome have noticed signs of activity at the URL http://www.nick.com/tmnt, including some elements of what looks to be a website close to ready to launch. These pictures reveal the best look yet at the CGI designs for Splinter, April, the Shredder, and the Kraang, in addition to the Turtles themselves.
Just a handful of the discovered pictures are below; you can view more over on Facebook.
(Note: Facebook followers get these sorts of updates first!)