When did you first discover the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ?

[ShredderX]

For me, it was 1987. At the time I was a die hard fan of " The Real Ghostbusters ". I remember my mom had a People magazine that had an article with two guys posed with some giant turtles. One guy had a mullet/ jheri curl with a porn star mustache, and the other guy was bald with glasses. The only other thing I remember was the hard to pronounce names of these characters, and that the article said that it would be the next big thing. I thought, yeah right. Ninja turtles ? that sounds stupid. It will never beat " The Real Ghostbusters. " And I politely dismissed it.

Summer of 1988. I was 10 years old on vacation at my cousins house in Columbus Ga. They had a pool, and I spent 95% of my time in it. My younger brother told me that there was a cartoon on about Ninja Turtles. Once again, I politely dismissed it and decided to practice my dog paddle.

Christmas of 1988. I'm hounding my mother to buy me the Ghostbuster 's Firehouse for christmas. Toys R Us are completely sold out, yet they had a HUGE section, of you guessed it, Ninja Turtle toys. This time, I gave them the finger because I was pissed about not having the GB's Firehouse.

Then it happened. Summer, 1989. At my grandparents house one friday afternoon, and bored out of my mind. Finally decided to give this so called " Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle " toon a shot. Just one hit, got me hooked. I had to have everything turtles, from the toys, to that nasty ass mutant " fruit pies. " To this day, I pack my laundry in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle duffle bag. Damn turtle power turned me into a " shell- head ". ( Kinda like a crack head,but you don't have to give b**W jobs for a fix, and your teeth doesn't fall out.

[warhorse78]

I don't remember exactly when, but I would have to say I became a fan during the afterschool reruns of the 80's cartoon. It really catapulted after the 90 movie, and because of the 90's movie, I started leaning to the comics more than the 80's cartoon. I totally avoided the live action TV show (I hated the power rangers with a passion, the acting sucked so bad on there, I just could not get into it)

It was when the 2k3 toon started, I began getting back into them, but they have always been part of my life, either collecting comics, the toys, or the movies, in one way or another.

[C. Lee]

The day they stole my pizza........

[ShredderX]

Yeah, Next Mutation, Fast Foward, and Coming out of their shells tour were the only thing TMNT related that I hated and couldn't get into. I also didn't like the last season of the Fred Wolf Toon, Turtles 3, or TMNT 2007.

The 2003 4kids toon would;ve been absolutely perfect if they hadn't made Shredder an utrom. Other than that, it was AWESOME !!

[Mace Dolex]

In November of 1988 I stayed one week in the U.S. and so while flipping through channels I see a commercial spot for TMNT toys hearing the usual this and that, the next big thing and stuff but I dismissed them as being stupid because I could never believe that any toyline could get bigger than G.I.Joe or Transformers.

Well I go back to South America and around the Spring of 1990 the TV's start announcing ads for the TMNT cartoon and live action movie because we always had everything come 2 or 3 years late.

And yeah surprisingly the cartoon and movie become a big hit but I was 14 at the time so I was no longer interested in toys as if I had known about TMNT in 1987 when I was 11.

[Cain]

The pilot for the original cartoon show back in '87.

[C. Lee]

I don't remember the date...just that it was before the movie sometime in the 80's....a friend had the comics and showed them to me.

[obin_gam]

On saturday mornings in the early 90s. Dont remember how old I was, probably somwhere between kindergarten and like first grade or something.

[TruerToTheCore]

Heard about them a few years before the show aired, but never really cared back then. The first time was an episode of THE show, not the pilot, cannot really remember, might have been the "eye of Sarnoth" arc.

[Nathan]

No clue when, all I know is that the 80's toon was my introduction to the Turtles.

[DaveMoral]

It must have been 87-88. I was at a store with my mom, I think it was called Big Lots or something like that(or maybe Big Lots took over the location), but I saw these action figures... and I got a Michaelangelo. Eventually I find the tapes of the first season of the cartoon at the local tiny little video rental story. It was insanity from there. Me, my little brother, my best friend down the street and his little brother.... we all had our "assigned" Turtle.

I remember having a TMNT Easter.... I got a badass t-shirt. This was before all the promo art started to look like this:
http://www.backtotheeighties.net/images/tmnt11.jpg

My t-shirt looked more like a Mirage book.

[hopefuldreamer]

I was watching turtles before I was old enough to remember anything much. I just have this vague memory of being round my friends house in pjs watching the cartoon when I was living in our second house (I was 4 years old).

[Tanin]

I grew up with the cartoon.

[Mace Dolex]

The pilot for the original cartoon show back in '87.
In terms of animation the first 5-parter mini-series is my favorite of the show.

[Spider-Aziz]

Maybe early in the 90s
Got introduced through that 80s cartoon

[venom892]

Honestly I cannot remember a point in my life when I didn't love the TMNT. My 4th birthday party was TMNT themed and I had the first movie and a bunch of the cartoon episodes on VHS. I watched them often. I loved the 2k3 cartoon and I enjoyed the 2007 film. These days I'm loving the IDW comics.

[Webfoot Hero]

Probably when I was around 4 or 5 and I saw the first couple seasons of the cartoons and then the movie.

[kneelbeforedod4]

Back in the mid-90s when I used to stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house. They had the video for the 80's cartoon with the episodes 'The Case of the Killer Pizzas' and 'Enter: The Fly', which I would always watch everytime I went round. The theme tune was the business!!!!

[uniqueweasel]

As soon as the episodes aired in the UK in the 80's, it was huge, and trying to get those figures was a nightmare.

[bullets]

I watched the cartoon as a kid. I had no idea about the comic until a friend of mine found some. I remember being shocked at how violent it was.

[Hordakfan]

The pilot for the original cartoon show back in '87.


Same here and i was 6 years old that year and watched the pilot mini-series as i thought it was cool as hell and even got it on video the next year then i started to collect the comics from Mirage and Archie as i got hooked into turtles. I had the merchandise, ate the food products, taped every episode, collected the comics, watched all 3 movies in theaters and played the video games.

[Spider-Who?]

I was born in '85, so I don't have a memory of being introduced to the Turtles - as far as my memory goes, they were always there. Some of my first memories are of lying on the floor drawing the turtles while the cartoon was on the TV and the toys were scattered around me. I also remember wearing my ninja turtle costume all the time (as well as my Ghostbuster suit) and my parents getting me to try different wacky stuff on my pizza "cuz the turtles eat it" lol. Trying to eat pizza while wearing the mask was always interesting.

[BATS N' HORNETS]

I was born in 85 and I remember the TV show as my intro. There's a picture of me somewhere in a Michelangelo costume for Halloween in 1989. I owned the first 2 movies on VHS, collected nearly all the toys from the TV show line and remember having some of the TMNT Adventures comics by Archie. My mom says she sat with me when the first episode aired in 87. I don't remember this because I was 2.

[Frank]

87. I was in first grade. I got exposed to the cartoon and comic around the same time. The were pretty much inescapable. Everyone had the toys. People were eating the damn Ninja Turtle creme pies at lunch. I remember my mom and my friend's mothers' could not pronounce the name of the show correctly to save their lives.

[Mace Dolex]

Here's an interesting question, usually boys tend to buy toys within a toylines lifespan of 2-3 years and then stop because A) They either outgrow them or B) The toyline simply gets cancelled.

In my case I was heavily into Transformers and G.I.Joe in the years of '84-'86 that by the time TMNT rolled around in 1987 I was already outgrowing toys eventually.

So did any boys that collected TF, Joe, He-Man, Thundercats jump ship and go onto collecting the Turtles?

[ShredderX]

I did. I was a major ship jumper as a kid. In kindergarten,all I wanted were Star Wars toys. In first grade, it was He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. From second grade to third, it was Transformers. From fourth grade to Fifth, it was The Real Ghostbusters. Sixth grade to 10th, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Toxic Crusaders. 11th grade to 3rd year in college, it was Chicks ( HA !), Now its Dragonball Z figures, New Masters of the Universe, and Ninja turtles ( with the occasional Macfarlane or anime figure thrown in).

[Darthkush]

I was also a ship jumper. I was born in 83. So from 83 to about 88 I was all about a combination of Transformers and Real ghostbusters with various other toyline sprinkled in between. Ninja Turtles was the first franchise that i became superobsessed with. I'd say around 89' when they started releasing the first season as videotapes(of which my little brother and I had most of them) that it became my favorite cartoon at the time. I think the first time I ever heard of them was when my mom, brother and I were shopping at Bradley's(remember that place? I don't know if they had them outside of the east coast but they were a staple of my childhood shopping experiences). We went to the toy aisle and I saw an open case of ninja turtle action figures. I was captivated by them and wanted one even though I didn't really know what they were. My brother got Michaelangelo and I got Leonardo. My first few figures(in order of when I got them)...

Leonardo
Raphael
Shredder
Donatello
Rocksteady
Baxter Stockman
Usagi Yojimbo
Metalhead
April O' Neil
Michaelangelo
Bebop
Krang
General Traag
Leonardo(again. I lost first one on a beach. My dad tells anyone who will listen that story. ehheheh).
Foot Soldier

I think around the time I got the second Leonardo was when I started getting so many so often that I don't remember what came next and in what order. I remember several christmases where I would get at least 8 or 9 of them at a time as well. I remember loving the toy comercials too. They really had that "I want those!" appeal going for them.

[Darthkush]

I think Christmas of 1990 or 1991 I got the sewer playset and the technodrome and the module! My parents weren't wealthy but I felt rich with how much turtle stuff I was getting back then. Every Saturday was "toys r us" day and usually it was also kind of ninja turtle toy day as well. I was spoiled as all get out!

[ShredderX]

I was fortunate to find alot of the old school TMNT in Big Lots awhile ago. So far this is my collection ;

Old School Tmnt toys

Leonardo
Donatello
Rapheal
Michealangelo
Movie Splinter
Super Shredder
Movie Ralph
Super Shredder
Basketball Michealangelo

2K3 TMNT TOYS

Leonardo
Donatello
Michealangelo
Rapheal
Splinter
Casey Jones
Usagi Yojimbo
Leatherhead
Nano
Fugitoid
Turtle tots
Traximus
Shredder
Foot Soldier
Four-armed Shredder
Triceraton
Savanti Romero

Haven't gotten the Nick figures yet, or the Mirage figures.

[jbyrd1977]

It was 1987 I was in to G.I.Joe Transformers MASK and I think GOBOTS was still out then none of my shows were on and this stupid show had just started (so I thought ) as the theme music went on it created goose bumps on me as I danced around. I went from My decepticons and joes to loving TMNT in one episode I felt a connection with Mike and his party ways. COWABUNGA dudes lol. still have all my original TMNT toys the soft head ones not the hard plastic ones who remembers that lol