Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I call Shenannigans!


***DISCLAIMER!*** This is MY website! I am an opinionated asshole! Please read with caution!

A friend of mine pointed me at This Interview with Peter Laird

Most of it is pretty standard stuff that you've most likely seen before if you keep up on turtle stuff...and if you're reading this blog...you probably do.

One thing struck a nerve with me though:

ENI: It was said that you just recently completed buying out your partner Kevin Eastman in March 2008, a process that began back in June 2000. Can you talk about why the two of you decided to go your separate ways, why did the process seem to take so long and do you think the two of you will ever work together again, either on TMNT or other projects?

Peter: I think that all relationships go through phases, and evolve over time, often in response to stresses of various types. The huge success of the TMNT put a lot of stress and strain on our friendship, and after a while it began to illuminate exactly how different we were in many ways. Kevin moved out to California sometime in the late 1990's, I think, and I rarely saw him. It's difficult to run a business together under those circumstances, and after a few false starts, we came to an agreement in 2000 whereby I purchased all of Kevin's rights to the TMNT property (he continued to get a small percentage of profits). Then, earlier this year (2008), Kevin decided for his own reasons that he wanted to sell that as well, and I bought him out of that final piece of the deal.

We have hardly seen each other over the last seven years, and haven't really talked either. We've exchanged a few emails, but that's about it.

Will we ever work together again? I suppose it's possible, but I doubt it. A truly sad irony is that, earlier this year, I had gotten to the point where I felt it might be time to let bygones be bygones, and maybe do something together, perhaps something for the upcoming 25th anniversary of the TMNT. I was ready to email him and see if we could get something going, some project which would be the first Eastman and Laird Turtles thing in many years. And then, literally the next day, I had the misfortune (or fortune, I haven't yet decided which) to read his interview on newsarama.com. Reading that insulting crap sucked all the heart out of any desire I had to collaborate with him again. Will it ever return? I really don't know.


On this, my friends, I am calling mother fucking Shenannigans! Peter, I have the utmost respect for you and your work. However, the day that YOU of all people decide to let bygones be bygones with Kevin is the same day Playmates stops outsourcing sculpts to Korea and begins to once again actually care about the quality of product they put out.

You, my friend, know how to hold a grudge better than just about anyone I know. This is what I think happened...I think you did read the newsarama interview with Kevin, and you WERE insulted by what he said (frankly, you insult fairly easily *cough* Rose *cough*) and you took this as an opportunity to take a jab at Kevin. Plain and simple...But I do not for a moment think that you were entertaining the idea of working with Kevin again. I know it, you know it, Kevin knows it. So please, don't shovel that kind of bullshit down the throats of the unwitting public. And for god sakes, learn to take criticism!

Monday, September 29, 2008

My Major Collection Milestone!

Hey gang! Very exciting personal news for me! This is an announcement 20 years in the making for me!

As of today I own every single Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure and vehicle produced by playmates from 1988 to 1998 (variants, mini-playsets, and roleplaying items excluded).

In the coming days I am going to be photographing EVERYTHING individually and creating one MASSIVE photo album, which I will share with you guys upon it's completion. I just had to make the announcement as I was bursting at the seams to share this! SO EXCITED!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Logan The Turtle

Every so often, thetechnodrome.com has user hosted custom contests. I have entered a number of these contest now...and I keep getting better. I think this one has a good shot at winning.

In 1984 Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird did this sketch:

A "What if..." montage of Marvel themed Ninja Turtles. This is by far my favorite Eastman/Laird...it is just too much damn fun! So anyway, I decided to do my latest custom based off of one of the characters in this sketch. Namely...The Wolverine




Saturday, September 27, 2008

THE WORST TMNT FANFIC EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, showed me this truly awful TMNT fan fiction...and it needs to be shared with the world! As a courtesy, I am not listing the name of the author of this tragedy, SO DON"T GET ALL PISSY IF IT"S YOU! Nobody knows! Ok...Here we go!


I awoke late one cold, snowy, December morning Christmas morning and stared up at the ceiling. I felt TurtleNinja stir next to me and knew that she could sense that I was awake. I felt her drape an arm over my plastron and felt her kiss my neck.
"Morning." she said, her voice muffled because her face was buried in my neck.
I nuzzled her gently and felt her rest her head on my shoulder. A second later, Michaelangelo burst through the door, a big grin on his face.
"Ready to get the tree?" he asked.
TN giggled and buried her face in my shoulder as she tugged the purple comforter up over our heads. Mike pulled it back and I had half pulled myself into my shell.
"Aww, c'mon!"
He tugged on my arm and I reluctantly got up. TN rolled onto her shell, giggling.
"Okay, okay." I said.
Mike grinned and ran to wake Leo and Venus. Venus chased him out of the room a few seconds later. I saw him turn and blow her a raspberry. Venus giggled and pretended to be mad, but she couldn't stay mad for long. Not at Mikey. He had gone to wake Raphael, but Raph shoved him out, slamming the bedroom door. Poor Raph hadn't been the same since his divorce. It had been messy and Raph had always been grumpier than usual since then. Mike was disappointed, but didn't give up. He headed back into Raphael's room and I heard Raph grumble a bit, then decide to be a bit more cheery for Mike's sake. Splinter was already awake and had hurried back upstairs to see what the commotion was. Venus was leaning on the doorway, a smile on her face. Leonardo stepped up behind her and slipped his arms around her in a hug. For as long as any of us could remember, Mike had always been carefree. He could be mature any day, but this was the time of year when he could be a little immature. Venus turned and hurried back into her room as the baby began to cry. I looked over at TN and saw her rest her hands on her lower plastron and look down at it, a small smile on her face. I sensed something from her. Could she be pregnant? It was possible. Boy, wouldn't that be a Christmas surprise. Venus came back with the baby in her arms and I remembered back a year to when the baby was born...

[Flashback]

Christmas morning, 2008, 3:00 AM. I awoke to the sound of Venus screaming in pain. My mind was still sleep-fogged, so I didn't realize what was happening at first. Leo threw my bedroom door open and I immediately realized that Venus was in labor. Leo saw that I knew and hurried back to his room. I followed a few seconds later to find that the baby was halfway out.
"How long has she been like this?" I asked, shocked.
"I don't know. I awoke when I heard her scream and went to get you. She may have been in labor for hours."
"There's no time for painkillers. The baby's ready to come right now. I'm afraid we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."
Although Leonardo and I were worried, Venus was not.
"Do not worry, Donatello. I am not afraid, for I am built for this. My body can withstand it."
I swallowed hard and nodded, knowing that she was right. Leo sat next to her and held her hand.
"It's okay, Venus. It's okay."
I think Leo may have said that to calm his own nerves rather than Venus'. Twenty minutes later, their daughter was born.

[Present]

I watched Venus and Leo as they tickled the baby and then watched Mike trying to cheer Raphael. Ever since his divorce from Tai two years ago, Christmas had been painful for him. Maybe this year, it would be different.

[Flashback]

I awoke late in the morning to the sound of yelling coming from Raphael's and Tai's room.
"I can't believe that you were drunk again last night!" Tai cried.
"As if you haven't been drunk before."
"Do you know how worried we were last night? Do you even care?"
A few seconds later, Tai stormed out of the room. Fights between her and Raph had escalated these last few weeks and this may have been the final straw. She kept her distance from Raph all day until that evening, when she left, never to return. I tried to comfort Raph on the loss of his wife, but he pushed me away. But the next morning, when the fact that Tai had left him sank in, he accepted me. I gave him a brotherly hug, letting him cry.
"Why'd she have to go do this to me?" he sobbed.
I could have easily answered him, but I didn't want to upset him more than he already was.
"I really screwed up this time, didn't I?" he asked.
I didn't know how to comfort him.
"Aww, hell, I deserved it. Go ahead, Don. You can say it. Go ahead."
I don't think Raph could have felt any more pain than he did at that moment. I could have condemned him, but didn't.
"Raphael, no. You didn't deserve it. Nobody does. Tai's hurting, too." I said softly.
He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Tai told me to give this to you before she left."
I handed him a box and a note. Raphael read the note, his eyes filling with tears. Tai had been in tears when she gave me the note, but I didn't tell him. Raphael set the note aside and slowly opened the box. He burst into tears the moment he saw what was inside. Inside was a framed picture of him and Tai on their wedding day.
"She loves you, Raph. Despite what happened, she loves you." I said.

[Present]

By now, Mike's cheerfulness had begun to rub off on Raph and he was his old self again. But there was a time when Mike hadn't been cheerful at Christmas. No, there was a Christmas five years ago when he had not been cheerful.

[Flashback]

"See you guys later!" Mike cried.
He was the lucky one. He had been invited to a mostly human Christmas Eve party. None of us knew what was gonna happen, though.

* * *

Mike was having a blast at the party. Lots of pretty human girls were surrounding him and fawning over him. One of them brought a glass of punch. He drank it, not knowing that she had slipped a pill into it. He soon fell into a drug-induced stupor. At home, Splinter sensed that Mike was in trouble and sent me after him. I found him sprawled out on the sofa half-conscious, and a barely clothed human girl was sitting next to him.
"Hey! Get offa him!" I yelled.
The girl looked up at me and screamed. She crawled over the half-conscious Mike and off the couch. Mike looked up at me and said with slurred speech;
"Donnie? Hey, what the hell are ya doin' here?"
A second later, he passed out. I glared at the group of girls, knowing that they had done this to Mike. I picked him up and hurried from the party before we made an even bigger disturbance. Mikey woke up halfway home.
"Mmph...hey, Don, what's goin' on?" he asked.
He was still drugged, but I answered anyway.
"I'm bringing you home."
"Why?"
I set him down and supported him as he wobbled on his feet.
"Nevermind. Let's just get you home."
I pretty much had to carry him. He stumbled many times and I eventually lifted him up onto my shoulders to carry him home. He passed out again just as I walked through the door. Splinter was waiting for us in his room with a cup of tea.
"How is he?" he asked.
"Mikey was awake, but passed out twice on me. Once at the party and once just now when I walked through the door."
"Stay with him and give him the tea when he wakes up."

[Present]

Mike was very ashamed of his actions when we told him the next morning and trusted very few humans afterward. TN and I followed the others downstairs to get the tree. Mike was even more exited when we got it in the house to decorate. Christmas had always been a special time for us because we were fighting crime most of the year. Mikey's eyes sparkled with a playfulness that we didn't get to see everyday. TN and I brought the decorations downstairs and we all began to decorate the tree.
"Venus, I have something for you and Leo. Actually, it's for the baby." I said, holding up a brass ornament.
"Ooh, thanks! She'll love it."
I grinned and once again caught TN looking at her belly with a funny little smile on her face. I slipped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah. A little tired, but I'll be fine."
I smiled at her and whispered in her ear;
"Just wait until we trade presents."
She smiled again and we looked up at Mike, who had tapped us on our shoulders and pointed up. While the two of us had been talking, Mikey had hung mistletoe above our heads.
"You guys know what to do." he said with a mischievous wink.
TN and I looked at each other before sharing a kiss. Mike whistled loudly and gave a thumbs-up. Later that night, we exchanged presents. Mikey had the surprise of the night. He went upstairs and when he came down again, he had a female turtle with him.
"Guys, meet Setsuna, my new wife." he said.
She giggled as he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"When did you get married?" I asked.
"Yesterday afternoon when we got the tree. Sorry I didn't tell you about her sooner, but she wanted to be a surprise. Didn't you babe?"
Setsuna giggled again and nodded.
"If you guys don't mind, we've got some honeymoonin' to do." Mike said with a laugh.
But before they could go upstairs, there was a knocking at the door. I hurried to answer it and was surprised to see who was there. I let them in and hurried back to the other room.
"Raphael, there's someone here to see you." I said.
As he looked up, Tai stepped into the room. A look of shock crossed Raph's face when he saw her.
"Tai!"
He leapt up and ran to hug her.
"I thought I'd lost you for good, babe!" he said.
"No, you didn't. I have a surprise for you."
"What?"
She stepped aside to reveal a two-year-old male turtle baby that looked like Raphael.
"Hi, daddy." he said.
Raph looked at Tai and said;
"He's beautiful."
"Yes. And he's yours."
"What's his name?"
"Raphael. I named him after his dad."
Raph bent down and scooped up Raph Jr.
"Merry Christmas, baby." Tai said.
Raph hugged both her and his little son. At that moment, all his previous pain had melted away. Later that night, when we were in our room alone together, TN showed me that she had another present for me.
"What? Another present?" I asked and TN nodded.
"I've got news for you."
"What news is that?"
"Well...I'm pregnant. You're gonna be a dad."
It took me a moment for her words to sink in.
"Me? A father?" I asked.
"Yes. You knew, didn't you?"
"Well, sort of. I kinda suspected because every time Venus mentioned her baby or her and Leo did something to do with their baby, I saw you look down at your belly and smile to yourself, as if you had a surprise for me."
She grinned and gave me a kiss. Wow, what a Christmas surprise! Me, a father? Finally, TN and I were gonna be parents.

Friday, September 26, 2008

I AM THE COOLEST NERD IN THE WORLD!

If you don't know what they are, or why they are cool, or how much trouble it is to make these bastards...you can pretty much never talk to me again.





Laird on NECA Turtles


Once in a blue moon I will directly jack a post from the technodrome.com forums because I think it is interesting enough to put on my blog. This is one such post. This was actually already stolen from the wizarduniverse site, so I'll just spam you the text. It is an interesting read:


Indie comics legend Peter Laird who, along with Kevin Eastman, created the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a group of ass-kicking mutants hanging in the sewers of Manhattan. ToyFare got a chance to sit down with Laird to talk about the upcoming Ninja Turtles figures coming from NECA. Laird will be signing NYCC exclusive box sets—the ones you've probably seen on this lovely site—tomorrow. The set includes all of the accessories that will come with the individually packaged figures.


Have you seen the NECA Ninja Turtles figures?
They're awesome, I love them—they're beautiful. I'm very happy with them. We got a glimpse of the black and white variants at Toy Fair and they looked great. Yeah I think they just nailed it, which is funny because the first piece of art they sent us was horrible. It was just so bad, but I give them credit because we told them that and ever since then they've done a great job.


What kind input did you have on the designs? Did you send them sketches or did they send them to you for approval?
Basically what we did was we sent them copies of the original comics and told them that this is what we want, try and make them how we used to draw them 25 years ago. They did send us some concept sketches with poses and we suggested a few things like shortening the neck, but once they understood what we wanted they did a fantastic job. When they started sculting there were only three or four minor things we asked them to change, like the long necks, but it was very minor. It was something I wished that I wished Playmates would have done. They came close with those cold cast figures, which had pretty nice sculpts and were close to the original look, but not quite there.


Did they approach you about the line or did you guys go to them?
For as long as we've dealt with Playmates, they've been a great partner, but they've been very tight about anyone else doing any kind of figural toy, even when Burger King wanted them for kid's meals. It so happens that 4 Kids, our licensing company, was approached by NECA and then went to Playmates at a time when the guy at Playmates who was in charge of overseeing that part of the business was on vacation, so his lieutenant said sure, as long as they only sold in specialty shops. Apprently when the guy got back he wasn't too happy, but by then the deal was done.


Do you know what other figures they're doing in the line?
I'm almost positive they're doing Casey Jones, I've seen the April sculpt and they're doing Mousers along with April. They did a great job sculpting her, she looks just like the comic. I hope they keep going. I really hope they do a Fugitoid with chrome metal.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

So I Rescued This Cat

So get this. I'm driving home from a coffee shop I frequent at close to midnight, and there is this cat in the middle of the road, just kinda walking around in circles. He wouldn't get out of the way of my car, so I threw my hazards on and stopped the car in the street. I got out and talked to this cat (who still wasn't moving out of the way, or away from me), and after about a minute I tried to pick it up. It let me grab it like it knew me.

Anyway, I take him to the vet. They check him out and say hes fine except for the fact that hes totally blind! Poor kid. Anyway, I'm taking him down to the humane society and I'm going to post fliers around where I found him. I am going to tell the humane society that I want the option to adopt if they are going to destroy him. Anyway, here are some pictures of the poor little guy:




Saturday, September 20, 2008

Doctors Use Wii To Induce Seizures



Oh the irony!


http://www.truveo.com/Wii-used-to-induce-seizures-in-patients/id/3036024880


"Doctors have found another use for the Nintendo Wii game console. In this case, they are using the Wii to help induce seizures to a patient to further study her episodes. The game help tire the patient which in turn helps to cause her episodes. The Wii provides a fun an enjoyable activity to distract this young child from the pressures of hospital life."

Like I said, I just posted it cause it's ironic :-)

Friday, September 19, 2008

The Great Dilemma


So I have this dilemma...Very soon I will find myself with the entire loose vintage playmates turtles toy line. Every single figure from 88 -97. The problem is...There are a number of figures in my collection that are NOT loose...and are in fact, MIB. Now, these are some of the more expensive figures. All my Turtleflage figures for instance, are boxed. Effectively thousands of dollars of figures in box.

Whys is this a problem you ask? Well...I feel the collection will display better if it is all out of the box. I am going to put this stuff behind glass, grouped by year, and a mix of Loose and boxed just wouldn't look as cool as the entire collection loose.

The shame is, that while I am never going to sell this collection, I did pay TOP dollar for some of the rarer boxed figures, because I could never find one loose.

So help me decide guys...Unbox everything and sacrifice hundreds of dollars of "worth"? Or keep what I have in the box, in the box?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Mickey Anikin and Darth Maul Donald






I picked these up at Disneyland over this last week. THey are pretty much the best thing ever.
They had 4 new "Big Figs" based on the first 3 Star Wars episodes. Minnie Amadala (Not a very fun pose, kinda detracted from piece) and Goofy Jar-Jar (but it's Effing Jar Jar!) were the two I passed on. But check out how awesome these two are! All four statues are limited edition of 600 each and numbered.

TMNT figs in the pictures are for scale.

Go Buy My Stuff!


I have a ton of stuff on ebay this week! Check it out!

Mail-Order Bigfoot Figure:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180290678868&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

Optoma EP739 DLP Projector w/ Mount And 100in Screen!:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180290705130&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

Lot of 16 Nintendo DS Games! Final Fantasy III + More!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180290708086&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

Lot of 29 TMNT Ninja Turtle Comic Books! Archie, Vol 1:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180290713110&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

Lot of 9 PSP Games! God of War, Daxter, and more!:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180290692595&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

Thanks!

Have You Seen This Prototype? Wanna Buy It?


My very good friend Scott Hensey is the original sculptor for a large number of vintage turtle figures. Right now he has up for auction on ebay, a resin cast prototype of the Creature from the Black Lagoon Leonardo! You should goto ebay and buy it. This is being sold BY Scott himself, and he will provide a letter of authenticity with the figure.

You know all those cool protos I post about? Yeah, it's Scott's work. You deserve it to yourself to have a piece like this in your collection.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180290088445

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Mystery!


Tonight I have secured the most exciting acquisitions in my Ninja Turtles toy collection to date. What have I come across that would get me so excited you ask? Well, as I don't have them in my hot little hands as of yet, I don't want to let the cat out of the bag until I do. Suffice to say, I am EXTREMELY excited, and eager to tell all of you.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Delicious Badassery

My Co-Worker just sent me this, it made me smile after my previous post had me kidney punching smurfs:
Yes. That is a cake. Thanks Brown!

It Only Takes One.


This is nothing but a simple rant post. Over at The Fifth Turtle Blog (A blog that I love and respect, ran by Murphy, who I also love and respect) there is a commenter named Armaggon. He is, for all intensive purposes, a complete waste of space. He is the kind of person who would have you swallowing killer bees as a better alternative to speaking with him.
The guy is an instigator. He gets his rocks off by going into public forums and being crudely negative for the sake of being crudely negative. Some of the ridiculous nonsense that spews out of his mouth is astounding. He he basically the love child of Andrew Dice Clay and George W. Bush.
Now, after his many months of countless un-constructive nonsense posts on the 5th Turtle, Murphy has had enough:
"I admit it: I'm suffering serious "blog fatigue" when it comes to this TMNT site. The primary reason is due to the moronic comments by Armaggon and the replies that they in turn engender, as well as the rampant bitching that often takes place in the comments section. At this point I'm on the fence about shutting this down, or at the very least of killing the comments option all together. Time will tell. Be well. "
You get what you wanted now you little shit? You are the DIRECT cause of the possible downfall of one of the best TMNT community resources out there. Fuck you. No seriously, fuck you. Maybe if you brought ANYTHING constructive or interesting to a single conversation you've been part of, it would be different. But that has never happened.
Here is an idea. Start your own blog where you can rant about whatever the hell is up your ass and people can choose to read it or not. Or better yet...next time you have the urge to post, instead of posting, go play a nice rousing game of Hide-And-Go-Fuck-Yourself.