–>> The Turtles have almost every holiday covered with merch anymore from Christmas, Valentines Day, to Easter and Halloween – -. Interestingly enough we don’t always see obviously specific St.Patrick’s Day related items from the TEENAGE MUTANT Ninja “Leprechauns”. Here’s one LUCKY exception – seems to have exclusively hit like a pot of gold at the end of TARGET STORES’ rainbow.
–>> With Toy Fair wrapped up for another year; TMNT made a massive presence in the showrooms unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Round 2 hi-lights include ::
TMNT: Jay Cochran – 2014.02.10
“Shown.. are new images for the TakaraTomy ARTS Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trading Figures. These figures stand about 5 centimeters/2″ tall and feature a good amount of articulation. All four Turtles will see release and include their signature weapons. Look for them to be released in May 2014 for 300 yen each.”
There was just so much more going on with companies like SAKAR & Funko as well; updated info will be provided as it becomes available thru’ reliable and familiar sources.
• •
Earlier in the week, Tokka was kindly asked to remove a link to unauthorized Paramount TMNT Movie product photos from Toy Fair. A polite conversation came up about the ramifications of the leaked info, and leaks in general.
Security was pretty tight at TMNT movie section of PLAYMATES’S showroom and ZERO photos were to be taken in ANY capacity of the product. But again, someone did go rouge and snapped some pix anyway. that further set the Web on fire. In some instances.. it is way to late.
To paraphrase an old JOE ROGAN character quote ::
“Taking images off the internet is like taking pee out of swimming pool; once it’s in there ..IT’s IN THERE.”
And even before the interwebs .. the “NEED TO KNOW” by fans, gossip columnists, Hollywood journalists or have you — that was out there trying to get access to insider info & sneak peeks of the latest projects on peoples’ favourite films and projects. The ‘Net just increases tenfold.
And while every other Angry NERD video blogger, toy reviewer,forum member, or Geeky website guy wants to be the first with the latest images from the set of the Film, or to give fans access to images we just aren’t supposed to see til’ later – – like it or not.. :: there’s a dark side to all of this.
Keeping control of “LEAKED” info is gonna speculative at best when a big company rolls out a big production if be TMNT movies or any other big production say like Star Wars or Transformers. Whatever; the companies do their best to keep an eye on what the public can see early on and what they don’t want the public to see.
With controversial choices in producers and directors, miscommunication on story elements ( remember the “TURTLES ARE ALIENS” bit ?? ), unspecified but opinionated verbal descriptions of the movie designs – – fans’ curiosities have been on edge for quite awhile now. Noone can totally blame the passionate TMNT fanbase that genuinely cares about the property that so influenced their childhoods and continues to inspire new generations as well as the “ORIGINALS” exposed to the Turtles who are now grown-ups.
But what it boils down to is the backlash on the little guys ; I.E. the companies producing the licensed products tied to the film like PLAYMATES’s workers and the like. And in the end it stalls the release of said products and actually THE FILM ITSELF. People just trying to do their job are getting the brunt of the heat from PARAMOUNT when images of product are put online. and ultimately all the image leaks can and WILL cost people their jobs and will lead the production company to clamp down and trust the fanbase LESS in the future as time goes on. This will create more tension between the studios and fans and just will not bode well at all for anyone with each and every big budget project as the studio just won’t trust people to not share things they aren’t supposed to. They’ll clamp down more and more for the sake of damage control.
While i’m on the soapbox, for full disclosure within’ the nature of the argument; this very website did publish SOME of the same set and children’s costume images in “LEAKED” released a number of weeks back – so i don’t think that makes us any better or less guilty than anyone else. The damage Paramount didn’t want to happen has been done. If you CAN call it that; i don’t know fully. Some people are very opinionated about the designs so far and are pretty negative in some cases. But just as many are applauding the designs and are very excited about the release of the new film.
I don’t have the answers to the conundrum of this day and age when what’s ethical, moral, the freedom of speech, the need to know, the fandoms and the internet create negative ripple effects on those behind the scenes and ultimately those effects on the fans in general.
But as stated; like it or not – there are major ramifications of “breaking the rules”; yes TOKKA IS FINE TO TALK .. i admit that. It’s a tough balance all of this. Leaking info in regards to a big film like the TMNT reboot can have some real-life damage once the fandom gets its hands on the things too early.
Maybe there’s some lessons to be learned here, maybe the production company can share select information on a more controlled and progressive manner instead of being very secretive and seemingly alienating fans. I just don’t know.
I do think ALL OF THIS is something to think about on all ends especially if it’s going to cause real harm such as costing someone their job.
A very difficult topic, but it’s one that’s rarely discussed it seems as freedom of speech & protecting a franchise’s important aspects and assets conflict. That really does need to change. But ” how ” is the main question.
–>> Trivial observation: while it may have been a basic design choice, most K•B ads from back in the day..say 1980s and 1990s that Tokka recalls were illustrated like what we see here in this complete ad set. That may have been a cost saving measure as well. Or maybe it was just a printing choice of many retailers at the time. Countless stores had illustrated newspaper print ads for decades. You’ll still find them on occasion in newspapers and the like today. Most newspaper ads it seems are mostly photographic nowadays however.
I recall black & white print ads in newspapers say like in a classified page that were also illustrated for the toy store. I don’t think i have any photographic ads in my archives for K•B ( formerly ‘KAY•BEE’ ), unless they are from the late 1990s or early 2000s.
Not 100% sure, but this may be my only complete circular set for K•B nay for some random and loose pages. I don’t always get to post these COMPLETE ads as there is very time consuming process that takes a bite into my personal work. However, in the long run they are important pieces of TMNT advertising and toy history, if not just Toy history in general. A glimpse into the past of retail toy shopping in a per-internet shopping era.
Guessing things like this just really didn’t survive many recycling bins or rubbish collections just short of microfiche or someone saving them or what have you. It’s prolly beneficial to all when i do make the time to post ’em digitally.
Sometimes i am asked of the fate of K•B after the final bankruptcy and demise of the once iconic Mall TOY retailer in 2008.
TOYS ‘R’ US came in a year later to purchase all intellectual properties, names, iconography, logos, licenses, et al. like they had with the operations of the FAO Schwarz brand the same year.
Last seen K•B was used in SOME labeling within some TRU stores to possibly a lesser degree than the FAO Schwarz branded boutique set-ups in the retail stores right now. I’m not sure what products received that labeling or if that continues currently or into the future. Time will tell.
The stores became a staple for shopping centers and malls in North America for decades and has burned into countless childhood memories including mine.
I’m sure a portion of the value of that iconography is what lead to the TRU purchase in ’09. That value may resonate into a major return of the K• B brand in some form or fashion some day.
–>> Contents for the K•B in-store promo contest tie-on include game piece/trading cards featuring Kids’ T.V. programing on 4kids at the time: Viva Piñata, TMNT: FAST FORWARD, Dinosaur King, and Chaotic, 1 Chaotic GAME Trading Card, $5 OFF Coupon for a K•B Toys purchase, and a sweepstakes details card.
Only focusing on TMNT related elements of the pack at this time.
This is a kid’s costume for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The first real look that people get to see anything that shows how the Turtles may look for the film. Clearly we’re not seeing it for what it’s going to be on the screen. As people can see the Turtles now have nose, lips, and Mikey has a Tattoo on his arm.
The new TMNT movie is going in a whole new direction with the movie. From the looks of this costume, they are leaving everything we know about the Turtles and trying to test our limits of what we enjoy. I’ve heard mix reactions of people intrig and people furious about the release of this picture. The big question that remains is how will they look on the big screen? With the movie being CGI models, did they use those models to help make the mask of this costume? Or is this mask, off set from what we may see? Only time will tell.
I am holding back real judgement until the movie images are released. Though we’re all interested in what the fans have to say!
.. – M. Ivey
–>> This was confirmed by the Boss and owner of **Zeezo’s Costume shop in Downtown Colorado Springs. This IS one of the costumes he saw at the Halloween Expo in Vegas the other week. So not a gag guys, sorry.
At the London Toy Fair today, LEGO presented some of their brand new playsets. The playsets that we’re most interested in, were the ones for the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninnja Turtles. An official look at these characters is still a closely guarded secret, so everyone in attendance was warned not to take pictures of the movie playsets. The websites, Bleeding Cool and Brick Fanatics, had some their own foot clan members on the scene and they have some interesting new tidbits for you to chew on. Oh, and perhaps the most interesting tidbit is that the character Karai seems to have a meaty role, as she has her own mini-figure/playset. For those you that aren’t familiar with Karai, she is a high-ranking member of the Foot Clan, who sometimes is portrayed as having a familial connection to Shredder. She first appeared in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comic book (1992). There were three movie sets from the Turtles movie: Turtle Van Takedown, Big Rig Snow Escape and The New Turtle Lair. The Turtle movie minifigs were on display and so close to the cartoon themed ones the design differences were obvious. They were certainly darker, literally darker, a darker shade of green and chunkier.
The Splinter figure was chunkier too and had shortened legs to make sure he stands lower than Turtle height. None of them looked too friendly either. You certainly won’t mistake the movie and TV versions of these characters.
I asked a little about and was told some things about the other sets that I didn’t get too good of a look at. One is a motorbike chase with Karai, another is a submarine set and there was also the Turtles’ T-Rocket too, but as far as I could tell, these were tie-ins to the show and not the movie. – Bleeding Cool
TMNT movie sets will be Turtle Van Takedown, Big Rig Snow Getaway, Turtle Lair New figs: Leatherhead, Spiderbytez, Kirby Bat, Karai (movie and show versions). Differently styled Turtles in the movie sets, much darker. Splinter has short legs. – Brick Fanatics
It looks like the recently-launched Honda MSX125 or Honda Grom, as it is marketed in some countries brings back both the monkey bike allure and some nostalgic cartoon characters from the 80’s and 90’s. Honda announced 4 new liveries for the Grom, in color schemes representing the 4 main characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series.
These amazing bikes will come in the following liveries: Michelangelo (orange), Donatello (purple), Rafaello (red) and Leonardo (blue).
Honda’s TNMT-themed bikes are expected to show up at the Tokyo Auto Salon in mid-January, an event held in the Japanese capital and dedicated to tuning and aftermarket bike and car parts.
Each bike comes with the corresponding character on the side panels and turtle-shell pattern seat.
Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether these awesome Grom machines will remain just a show-off exercise for Honda, or will they make into production, as most of us would love to see things happen.
Even though we saw quite a few set photos for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, we still don’t know exactly what the characters will look like since the actors were all wearing motion capture suits. Idle Hands (special thanks to Ruxxon for the link) has now run a report from an unnamed source that saw the first incarnation of action figures for the upcoming film which revealed a slew of details about the character’s designs.
Keep in mind that these designs are for the action figures and may not reflect the characters’ final appearance in the film, but they’ll likely be close.
To start, the source says the four turtles have their respective weapons and are quite “traditional” in their turtle design, though he says they appear to have “less texture” than the turtles from the films in the early ’90s. He also notes that the figures retain the “hunched over” posture that can be seen in the set photos and that each turtle seemingly has a different physique. Raphael reportedly is the most muscular of the bunch followed by Leonardo. Donatello is said to boast a “slimmer, leaner” look while Michaelangelo is said to be the shortest of the bunch. And don’t worry, Idle Hands‘ source says each of the turtles has their respective colored masks.
In their description of Master Splinter, the site’s source says he bears a “very traditional design” with a Fu Manchu style moustache and his hair pulled up in a bun of sorts. They also note that he wears a “slightly tattered samurai outfit with a blue upper half with gold accents, tan lower belted robes and blocky sandals.”
The site’s description of Shredder is where things start to get interesting. Their source notes that the character has “pointy edges coming off of absolutely anything” on his suit and that he is “covered head to toe in metal armor or blades.” They do add that his helmet is “pseudo-traditional, adopting elements of the classic look” though they say they believe “He’ll be the stuff of ridicule for some time.”
It might be a few more months before we get to see the characters in an official capacity, but with Toy Fair 2014 set to begin in February, it may come sooner than later. .. ..
–>> The only thing Tokka can add to that is from MY source ::
The Turtles have “ lips “, based on what source saw themselves of the models. What i was told. That is ALL i really know, take it with a grain of salt.
The only other cinema-related thing i know .. big n’ green that has lips is ::
I am happy to report that issues 11 and 12 of cereal:geek are on their way to the printers and should be available to purchase before the end of the month! 🙂
For those that pre-ordered the magazines, they will automatically be shipped to you as soon as the ink is dry! 🙂
And if you want to support the magazine further, please pre-order the forthcoming issues – The sooner we can get ’em printed the better! 🙂 — James Eatock
..final note, we have confirmation of the THIRD incarnation of TMNT PEZ dispensers ( due in JULY ) to coincide with the release of Paramount’s TMNT film, but NO new pix just yet. Maybe Toy Fair or related trade shows will revelal summin’ soon. But as it stands, i just don’t know if the new PEZ heads will be based on the new Movie or off of the designs of the NICK T.V. show.
I’m avid about PEZ.. rest assured i’ll stay on this.
![Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES :: 2014 Toy Fair;Tokka's fave hi-lights - 48" MY SIZE 'MICHELANGELO' FIGURE vii (( 2014 )) [[ Courtesy of figures.com ]]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7427/12651084545_30e04d6e1f_n.jpg)
![TAKARA TOMY ARTS :: Nickelodeon TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ; ニンジャタートルズTrading Figures peek i (( 2014 )) [[ Courtesy of Hobby Search, via TNI ]]](https://v4s.yimg.com/so/7397/12495264404_9160ffd1c9_n.jpg)
![#TMNT/ 4KIDS TV - 'THE GAME STATION' :: K•B TOYS EXCLUSICE,LIMITED EDITION COLLECTIBLE CARDS // ..TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES : FAST FORWARD card; "SHELL OF A DAY" ..original (( 2007 )) [[ Courtesy of Steve Murphy ]]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3178/2432125913_0582aac15e.jpg)
