Hey everyone, I'm Tatoruzu, the admin of this forum.
It might seem a bit egotistical to name a forum after myself, but there's a reason for it. I also run the YouTube channel by the same name.
Recently, some of my videos have been removed from various TMNT communities. And of my videos had apparently been removed from the Technodrome Forums!
So, if I'm not allowed in any TMNT community, then I thought that I might as well just build one myself!
But this is supposed to be an introduction post, so here's a little bit more about myself.
I started my YouTube channel in the summer of 2023 after picking up The Last Ronin and taking another deep dive back into the fandom. I was inspired by other YouTubers like My Ninja Turtles Channel and The Turtle Nexus. I liked the delivery and perspective offered in MNTC's videos and livestreams. And I liked the informative nature of The Turtle Nexus.
Before then, I was never really big into "fandoms" and "communities" but the TMNT has always been a part of my life in one way or another. I grew up with hand-me-downs of the classic Playmates toys, Mirage comics, and '87 VHS tapes. During that time, it was easy to find TMNT toys and tapes at second hand stores and thrift shops, so I accumulated a nice little collection. When the 2003 show came around, I was a big fan of that.
Somewhere around 2008, I discovered the Angry Video Game Nerd, which introduced me to some of the games I missed out on, and I soon became a fan of retro TMNT video games.
Throughout the 2010s, I wasn't as interested in the shows and movies that were coming out. I think the 2007 film was the last one I remember being excited about before it came out. And the first Michael Bay film was a huge disappointment when it was first revealed, even though those movies are looked back on fondly today.
During that time, I would still continue to add to my toy, video game, and comic collection. And of course, I'd still fall hook, line, and sinker for the nostalgia-bait merch in department stores. But for the most part, I fell out of love with the turtles for a little bit.
Then the pandemic hit. What better to do than play video games and revisit the stuff from your past that you previously enjoyed? I started revisiting and adding to my NES, SNES, and Genesis collection, and of course the turtles were a part of that.
After the lockdown was over, now fully a lazy, disgusting, slob due to being trapped indoors playing video games, I happened to mosey into a comic shop in a mall and I saw The Last Ronin on the shelf. I believe the second printing was coming out around that time. I picked up the first issue and the three color classics collections and was on my way.
But I held off on reading that first issue. For some reason, I wasn't mentally prepared for it, so I just set it aside.
In 2022, I was on a toy hunt looking for some TMNT toys, and the shop I was visiting happened to have a hardcover copy of The Last Ronin. I asked the clerk a little bit about it, and I figured that I might as well buy it even though I already had the first issue.
And that's what really sucked me back in. I went on a rampage consuming every little piece of TMNT media I could sink my teeth into. I dusted off all of my old comics and VHS tapes and devoured them all. I ordered copy after copy of different issues of all different iterations and volumes. I binged movies, TV shows, specials, you name it.
At the end of the road, I found out that I was a "cowaboomer" as they say. I had a very strong predilection for the old pieces of TMNT media, merchandise, and games. That's just who I was. And it wasn't just because I grew up with it — I also enjoyed many of the obscure older TMNT stuff that I was only just discovering for the first time.
And during my binge, of course I stumbled upon the Mutant Mayhem teaser videos and posters. I was disgusted and outraged. But I soon found out that I had a perspective on TMNT that wasn't necessarily being shared by many others on YouTube. A lot of people were excited about the Mutant Mayhem movie. This made no sense to me.
So I put some of my real-world skills (writing, researching, etc.) to the test and began pumping out the sort of content I would've liked to see.
I didn't want to merely make explainer videos. I wanted to add some commentary and analysis into my videos and explore the deeper meaning and themes in the stories, or maybe even glean some meaning that was unintentional or wasn't there to begin with. And I wanted to do all that without holding back my opinion and without fear of offending anyone. After all, I was just a small YouTuber with zero subs and no expectations from anyone. Even now with some people actually watching my videos, that's the attitude I aim to hold on to.
The rest is history.
