145 — Toy Fair 2025: Playmates

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker interviews IDW's murderer's row of writers helming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus. Writers Tom Waltz, Erik Burnham, Paul Allor and Caleb Goellner, plus editor Jake Thomas , offer a preview on IDW's take on the Battle: Nexus and how they chose the multiversal villains for the IDW TMNT to face off against. Buy TMNT: Battle Nexis at your local comic shop! Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker chats with toy designer Justin Ishmael about the release of the BNG 1:1 scale Mouser available for preorder on Thursday 12/4/2025. The two-foot tall behemoth is fully articulated and lights up, making it an incredible centerpiece for any TMNT collection. In the interview, Ishmael details its development and explains that you must pre-order now! https://bottleneckgallery.com/ Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker is joined by writer Tom Waltz and Ace St. Germain, Creative Director of Cortopia Studios, developers of the first TMNT VR game in history: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City. After sampling the game at New York Comic Con, VanHooker interviewed the duo about the game's mechanics, its surprising choice of villain and what it's like to hang out in a VR turtle lair. Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

Go deep into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles history with this episode of Turtle Tracks Podcast! This time, host Brian VanHooker chats with the guys at Palladium Books to talk all about the Redux Edition RPG of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Transdimensional Adventures." Well before there were any TMNT toys, the first company to license the TMNT was Palladium Books, making six books of RPGs starting in 1985. Now, after a wildly succesful kickstarter in 2023, Palladium is rereleasing ALL of its TMNT books in two beautiful full-color volumes coming later this month (Nov, 2025) and currently available for pre-order. The books feature all the original art by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird plus new work by Freddie E. Williams II, Ciro Nieli and Sophie Campbell. Pre-Order here: https://palladiumbooks.com/shop/category/modern/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-other-strangeness/ Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

For this Halloween-themed episode, host Brian VanHooker talks with Randy Falk, the VP and General Manager of Product Development for NECA Toys. While NECA offers a wide variety of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys, Falk talks in depth about the newly announced Ben Cooper TMNT Costume Kids, part of the Ben Cooper Costume Kids toyline, which faithfully recreates Ben Cooper and Collegeville costumes from the 1950s to the 1980s with stunning accuracy, and places them on posable fiures. For the TMNT, there will be the four Turtles plus Shredder, Bebop and Rockseady, all coming in Wave 12 early next year. Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker chats with Louie Joyce, the artist behind IDW's new Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. Tales of the TMNT is the comic adaptation of Mutant Mayhem and the Tales of the TMNT cartoon series on Paramount+ and the comic's first issue is on sale now. The preorder deadline for issue #2 is 10/27/2025 Sound Engineering by Ian Williams. Find TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker chats with Mikey Levitt, the writer of the first three issues of IDW's new Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. Tales of the TMNT is the comic adaptation of Mutant Mayhem and the Tales of the TMNT cartoon series on Paramount+ and the comic's first three-issue arc follows Donatello on a trip toma robot camp with Metalhead. Tales of the TMNT Issue #1 goes on sale 10/15/2025. Sound Engineering by Ian Williams. Find TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this special episode of TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST is the audio from GraniteCon 2025's TMNT panel hosted by Brian VanHooker. The panel focused on Archie Comics' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic from the 1990s and featured Ken Mitchroney, Chris Allan, Steve Lavigne, Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, Eric Talbot and Tom Waltz. Sound engineering by Ian Williams and Joe Collins. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker chats with artist Gary Barker, who has been drawing Garfield for more than 40 years. Barker was the artist of the 1991 crossover "Garfield Meets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" featured in the magazines of both Garfield and the TMNT. With new "Garfello" products from NECA, Kidrobot and others, Turtle Tracks wanted to pick Barker's brain on memories of the strip, as well as what it's been like working with Garfield creator Jim Davis for four decades. Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Folow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker is joined by Dave Fawcett, better known as "The TMNT Collector." Just recently, Fawcett was recognized by Guinness World Records for having the biggest collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles memorabilia on Earth and, during the conversation, he details the process of being recognized by Guinness while also shouting out some favorites from his collection. Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/