I love that picture of the four in action. Is it art for a new show or just cool art?

Now if this "Nickelodeon taking over the TMNT" brings forth decent toys (By Decent I mean better than everything Playmates has done so far) it would be awesome... from a toy collecting perspective.

This means that the inevitable Spongebob/Ninja Turtles crossover can FINALLY happen!

I think the only thing to Possibly "nerd-worry" about would have to be the comics, or any "gritty" portrayal of the Turtles being discontinued/no longer produced.

Oh well- enjoy the new DS Lite collection of minigames, "SpongeBob & TMNT: Sewer Showdown!"

is Sewer Showdown available for pre-order yet for the Wii? Michelangelo's gonna love some crabby patties.

Not bad, since they haven't watered down the latest X-Men series (Wolverine and the X-men) and would likely cross promote the movie and TV series on MTV I see this as a BIG win.

I'm looking forward to the inevitable reruns of both series we'll be seeing on either Nick or Nicktoons Network.

If Peter Laird isn't involved with the turtles anymore (and it would seem he isn't), that may be cause for worry right there. Hard to say - much like the Disney/Marvel thing, we won't really know where this will lead for a while yet.

And I agree with manoban - the grittier stuff might not be on the table anymore, which doesn't bode well for the comics.

I see this as a positive since 4Kids will no longer have claim to anything, really. Sure, the TMNT show 4Kids was doing wasn't bad and pretty faithful to the comic before they did that time travel thing. But everything else 4Kids has done is garbage and piss poor localization.

Plus maybe they'll start showing the 80's show on TV again.

I think Nick won't take the property any less seriously than the Flash Forward series. Nick has proven they are okay with grittiness. I mean they do have Teen Nick and did air Invader Zim for 2 years.

I was intitally angry about this, but then I realized that neither 4Kids nor Mirage was doing anything with the Turtles that I gave a shit about. Our boys have been through so many "incarnations" over the last 25 years that it's hard to tell who the real Turtles are anymore.

I liked the recent CG movie. The focus on the turtles as a family was something that's never really been done well, and it's the direction the series needs to move in. The Shredder needs to be retired--he's a crutch now, a giant reminder that Mirage never bothered to come up with a decent rogue's gallery for the Turtles.

I've followed them since the beginning, and I didn't even really like the original Mirage series. I certainly don't care for the newest one (ick). The last few years of the Archie Adventure Series got it right. The Image series, despite its artistic flaws, kind of got it right. The new CG movie got it right. All the other crap? Can it.

I just want to know what's going to happen with the current comics.

People seem to really like Avatar; The Last Airbender. I figure if Nick can do like that show and have a good balance of humor, action and plot, then this will be fine.

I'm just shocked it went for only $60M. Sure, that's a lot of money, but how much is the franchise bringing in just annually now? I'm willing to bet it sold for only 5 years worth of merchandising revenue, which is shocking and makes me wonder if it's indicative of exactly how much 4Kids IS losing.

Nick has put out a lot of quality stuff Invader Zim and Avatar were two of the best cartoon series in several years. My brother and I both watch the entire Avatar series as adults and loved the consistency of story telling, interesting plot twists, crisp animation. (With the exception of the horrible beach episode...)

Also is Nick Doing Wolverine and the X-men now too?

I think if Nick owns the property we could definately see a gritty verison spun out of a parent or sister company.

Nerds don't seem to grasp that sometimes - like Kill Bill and Sin City both ultra violent movies ultimately produced by Disney when you follow the arrows but still worried that Marvel comics is going to watered down.

Peter Laird finally sold his rights huh. I'm surprised he held on to them this long. I wonder what will happen to Mirage now that TMNT have been sold? It's a shame because back in the day they had some really good comics. Plastron Cafe was one of my all time favorites. All and all I'm ok with this. At least Disney didn't get the turtles.

As a HUGE fan of the cartoon I think this is all good stuff.
I mean I learned to read a clock specifically so I wouldn't miss my TMNT. I am excited at the possibilty of a new decent cartoon.

Does this mean Peter Laird is done with the Turtles comic book? He put out the last couple issues as online exclusives, but the storyline hasn't been wrapped up...

I suppose it's better then 4 Kids.. If only slightly.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the Disney/Marvel deal? I wouldn't think that the Iron Man and X-Men cartoons will be on Nicktoons much longer now. Maybe this is Nicks way of assuring a "superhero" presence on their network.

"Meanwhile, was the hell does 4Kids have any more? Yu-Gi-Oh? What the hell are they doing besides slowly dying?"

Staying around long enough so that companies who picked up their stuff (like Funimation and Nickelodeon) can shamelessly mutilate 4Kids' rotting corpse before pissing on its grave. That's what they're doing.

Here's hoping we see Bebop, Rocksteady, and Krang come back at some point.

Oh my God, if this delays (even further) the release of NECA's second series of action figures, I'm going to go fucking insane. They've already dumped their own crappy versions of muggs and bobbleheads on the market, now how about something that doesn't suck.

This is clearly a panic buy on Nickelodeon's part. They've been freaking out for weeks since the DISNEY/MARVEL announcement. They've already lost the girl market to the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus...with Marvel's 10,000 and counting character count its only a matter of time before the boy market jumped ship too.

That being said, this is smartest purchase they could make in retaliation. Let's hope they treat them well.

We've come a long, long way from Eastman and Laird. :(

The only issues this brings to mind for me are April's bust size and cleavage exposure. As long as they are properly attended to, I'm good.

Damn you, TR. I completely forgot about the Turtles since my childhood and was content to never think of them again, until you ran that story about bust sizes and refreshing "funny feeling" memories. That was a bitch move exploiting my weaknesses like that. You ruined me.

I don't really care what happens to 4Kids anymore. But Nick buying TMNT's outright, lock, stock and barrel? Holy shit. This news is right up there with Disney and Marvel. WOW! I mean, really. I am speechless. Hope this pans out for all us TMNT fans.

Pillow Pants is right. Let's bring April's epic breasts back. I, for one, was always a fan.

Only 'Nameless Grunt' sees what's really the important thing here, I think.

4Kids clearly needs money, and needs it bad. TMNT was one of the jewels that actually threw off some profit for them, and now that's gone.

4Kids is going to cling to that stupid card game of theirs to the last dying breath, and it WILL be the death of them.

Watch to see a press release from 4Kids soon about how they're on the way back after posting a profit for 4Q '09 (that is, now) after years of declines. This will be a pathetic attempt to stir up investors.

4kids still have Dinosaur King. It's dancing CG Dinosaurs will haunt your nightmares.

Mr. Harrison: Thank you. I'm half expecting 4Kids to announce they're going into Chapter 11 by year's end, actually.

Maybe they could get the guys who did Avatar to make a new series.

I can dream can't I?

Yeah...I'm not too upset about this...and I'm old enough to be an OG TMNT fan from before the first cartoon. MIRAGE comics were the first comics I read as a kid that seemed grown-up and cool...that being said,those comics havent been around for a long long time. After Eastman left the turtles lost their soul,and Laird and 4Kids have been running the franchise into the ground ever since(although the first few seasons of the 4Kids toon were pretty good). Heres hoping some new blood and a new start brings us much turtle-awesomness in the years to come.

I don't think this means much either way, but anything that pries animation outta 4kids hands is something I'll go for...They utterly ruined One Piece (which had a hand in ruining Toonami)and while first Yugioh was decent despite hellified cutz they still have no clue when it comes to dubbing Japanese products...If they make cartoons for 2 year olds and under they'll be fine...

BTW, to answer the post question, they do have one horse left and that's Yugioh 5d's (Yugioh or thinks this show's just for kids haters cover your ears now)...Don't know how popular it is here but I'm huge fan of the Japanese version which surprised the hell outta me by actually being good and un-kiddy for the most part...The duesls are visually awesome and while they pull alot out of their a$$ess in-terms of god-cards, the strategy is pretty damn complex at times which an adult can enjoy...Fans of original Yugi will probably enjoy the hell outta it, but obviously you decide if the 4shame version is worth the time...

"Meanwhile, was the hell does 4Kids have any more? Yu-Gi-Oh? What the hell are they doing besides slowly dying?"

Apparently, they're counting their Turtle money on the way to the bank.

If Nick shows us 1980's show again (there is possibility cause of new "Turtles Forever" thing), and maybe Next Mutation (would be nice bonus, but I don't give a fuck), I'll worship them! But if they forget about whats made TMNT what it is today, then I will kill the president of the United States and become new Communist diactator for TMNT's sake!

No nerdrage here. Can't say I really care one way or another about the Turtles.

But I'm definitely surprised. Laird's been pretty fierce in the past about the crucial role indie titles and companies play in keeping the comics milieu vital. He gives a grant (financed with Turtle money, of course) every year or so to a worthy indie creator. Even at the height of Turtlemania with licensees doing everything you can imagine with the franchise, Mirage held on to the right to create stories about the characters as Eastman and Laird saw fit. This sale marks the end of an era.

A couple of weeks ago on War Rocket Ajax, Euge and Sims were joking about how Laird has stayed indie all of these years while Eastman "married a pornstar, bought the Batmobile, and went bankrupt." I wish Laird the best if he's decideded it's his turn to have some stupid fun. Hopefully he'll play it a little safer than his old partner.

I'm more stunned than anything, and a touch concerned about the Mirage Turtles comics and such that they're working on (such as Adventures). I just hope Nick treats them well.

I wonder how this might affect the video games.

As Baltimoron notes, I am mostly surprised Laird would give them up.

4Kids has "Kamen Rider Dragon Knight," which is trying to be a grittier version of Power Rangers.

... But they're not ratings magnets like TMNT were and could have continued to be for a long time.

4Kids is just a big bag of fail right now.

The problem is, 4Kids tied up with whatever The WB has evolved into since the merger. We're talking more and more narrowcasting, or slicing the pie into thinner parts.

Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (formerly just Dragon Knight, they didn't want any identifiers to the Japanese, see. How 1970s) CANNOT get big numbers, it's impossible. It's like hoping a single 16 oz. bottle of water will completely fill a 10 gallon tank, that no matter what the bottle SAYS, there's REALLY 10 gallons in there. You can't hope for 10 million viewers when the network barely get 2 million.

So, yeah, 4Kids isn't long for the world unless they get a MASSIVE cash infusion, OR Al Kahn cons someone into buying him out.

This means that even Laird said fuck it after Eastman said the same years ago. This is a sad day indeed. Are there any further details? Is Laird still a consultant? 60 million is awesome and all, but what about creative control and the fact that these characters were your babies Laird. So much so that you bought out Eastman. Fuck! The Turtles without Eastman or Laird is like Marvel without Stan Lee. Bullshit!

@Rob "TMNT is one of those franchises that just always appeals to kids, like Transformers or Power Rangers, no matter what timeframe it's in."

I agree. This is very true. The Turtles just work unlike poor MOTU.

@MattK "This means that the inevitable Spongebob/Ninja Turtles crossover can FINALLY happen!"

I'd rather have an Avatar the Last Airbender/TMNT crossover to tell you the truth.

So all hopes of getting a darker, grittier PG 13 Turtles movie like the comics were are lost... Disappointment in a half shell... Yeah that was lame... :(

So after all is said an done no matter who buys the rights to TMNT we still have to put up with awful awful Playmates toys?

Screw you Nickelodeon. Hasbro is RIGHT THERE.

On the plus side yeah 4 kids should be dead soon.

What does 4Kids have?

The undying hatred of One Piece's entire English fanbase for, and this can't be pointed out enough, the worst dub ever produced.

I always love the CG TMNT movie, so the news on CG series shuts my mouth for any rant that I was going to make.

"I don't really see why a TMNT fan should be upset, frankly, but nerds always find a way, don't they?"

Maybe it's just a matter of principle that goes way beyond nerdery. Seeing the first American creator-owned property that proved that you don't have to belong to a big media group to be a success story, paving the way for Image and Dark Horse, now being sold to one of those big media groups... Well, yeah, that pisses me off a little. And I'm not even that much of a TMNT fan, I always thought their merchandising was crass and made no sense. But it's a question of principle, dammit. Now leave me alone with my Cerebus collection.

@King Riptor

Are you sure you want Hasbro to have an even bigger stranglehold on the boy's toy market than they already do? The only major franchises they wouldn't own in your scenario are Power Rangers and DC heroes (He-Man doesn't count, because Mattel has given up on marketing it to kids completely).

So, I used to read the comic back in the day, not so much "before" they made the bad 90's cartoon, but in stark contrast to. That photo looks like some of the original Eastman and Laird stuff (when they all had red bandanas) and weren't kiddie-fied.

I'm not sure if I just stopped reading the comics, or if they stopped making the grittier version... is there a currently running comic title that is closer to the original darker stuff?

@Kevin

There's vol. 4 of the Mirage comic, but it comes out very rarely. There's been only 2 new issues in the last 3 years. You can read the latest two (29 and 30) on ninjaturtles.com for free.

In addition to it, there's the Tales of the TMNT vol. 2 which features stories from various writers and artists and actually comes out monthly.

Not bad for a group of characters who are essentially a parody of Daredevil and X-Men.

What I wanna know is, does this affect the Xeric Foundation? Rather than "marrying a pornstar and buying the Batmobile", Peter Laird used his Turtles loot to found one of the most important organizations in comics, which awards grants to up-and-coming comics talents to be able to self-publish their comics and eat non-Ramen-based meals. Is the Foundation stable, or does it require a steady stream of merchandising cash?

I'd really like to see a movie that follows the '80s cartoon, with Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang, the Technodrome, the Turtle Blimp, etc.

I know they're not Eastman and Laird's creations and they hate them, but I've been dying to see them on the big screen ever since the first Turtles film was announced.

MattK said:

This means that the inevitable Spongebob/Ninja Turtles crossover can FINALLY happen!
Posted 10/21/2009 at 03:17:28 PM

for teh winz!best post!

A tmnt/avatar xover would be awsome professor hopefuly it`ll come true

I work for a CW affiliate(the CW being the 'aftermath of the WB merger' mentioned earlier), and the idea of 4kids being dropped completely opens up some interesting prospects....personally, I would like to see the CW, with or without 4kids, moving to a more WB based lineup. They are always wanting (like everyone now) to save money, so why not bank on stuff they may still have rights to, like Pinky and the Brain or the Animaniacs, I think they have the staying power to be brought into this century, but maybe I'm a hopeless idealist. What do my fellow trollers think of this? I even think the CW could compete with Adult Swim in the late hours just for playing the REAL looney tunes (rather than some lame 21st century rehash). Is everybody else tired of the only decent late night programming being Fox Swim? Seriously, stealing lukewarm fox toons has sent Adult Swim to the crapper...but I digress, this is all a tangent based on the idea that we're losing the Turtles soon, which I always saw as our strongest kid's franchise. Would ppl still watch the WB classics? I know batman would be maybe wishful thinking, but I think we could definitely do well there too, if we have rights to any of it, even the 90's toon. If the new material out there now is crap, would decent reruns compete?

me again- I neglected to mention for those awaiting new TMNT material, we are premiering a TMNT movie "Turtles Forever" today at 10am that involves the 90s turtles meeting the new turtles in some sort of spacetime anomaly. I know it sounds like I'm plugging but hey its relevant to the forum as it pertains to brand new TMNT content being released today, so please forgive me. ;)

i've been hoping for a remake of the original movie for awhile - excited to hear rumors; disappointed with every cartoony thing that's come from the franchise - even as a kid in the 90's, the second movie and everything after was ridiculous, from v.ice to samurai world right down to the new cartoons ( not very impressive on the art there guys ) and the idea that nickelodeon owns it all almost guarantees that tmnt will never be taken seriously again. Too bad too... me and all the other kids of the 80s and 90s are all grown up now, and between us and the millions of kids watching the crappy cartoons, another (slightly tweaked,)gritty, live action movie in the vein of the 90 movie would be a sure win in the box office. Nickelodeon? for real? maybe they're locked into the cartoon world now. Maybe I'll just make my own graphic novel and try to sell nick the idea. they could found a sister company, keep the nickelodeon name off it, and make one last real tmnt movie before they're forever banned from audiences over 11. they'd make millions of people smile and make enough loot to cover the movie plus their tmnt investment in the first weekend. yeah. they'll take my tmnt advice. lol. they should.

I love those Turtles, well, the dark and gritty version from the comics anyway.

I love those Turtles, well, the dark and gritty version from the comics anyway.

I love those Turtles, well, the dark and gritty version from the comics anyway.