197 — Ace St. Germain: CEO/Creative Director Cortopia Studios on TMNT: Empire City VR Game

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker chats with Ace St. Germain of Cortopia Studios, the company making the first-ever TMNT VR game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City. The two discuss why Karai is the main villain and how the game is developing. This interview was originally for Polygon. Read the article here: https://www.polygon.com/tmnt-empire-city-vr-preview/. Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Intagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

A special announcement for TMNT fans! On March 19, 2026, Dimension X Toys ( @dimensionxtoys ) will be hosting an online art show on Instagram featuring over 100 artists and their TMNT-inspired work!

In this episode, host Brian VanHooker chats with French artist and toy designer Sylvain Plantier, also known as SNZ Toys. The two discuss what Turtle-Mania looked like in France as well as how his designs for a custom Playmates Toys-style robotic Tokka and Rahzar ended up in NECA's cartoon line. 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 Colin Stein, the author of "The Art of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The 320 page book by IDW Publishing tells the making of the short-lived Nickelodeon series as well as the Netflix movie which concluded it, Availbe for pre-order until 3/9/26 and releasing on 4/14/2026. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/796421/the-art-of-rise-of-the-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-by-colin-stein/ 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 voice actor Frederick B. Owens, who supplied the voices of Leatherhead and Traximus in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series. Here, Owens shares the history of his voice acting career and memories from working on various Fox Box series for 4Kids Entertainment. 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 an art director at his favorite clothing company, RSVLTS! Ian Glaubinger, a lifelong Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, talks about his designs for the clothing brand, like the famous TMNT Tiki shirt and more! Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/

Reporting live from Toy Fair 2026, host Brian VanHooker chats with Claudio Paola of McFarlane Toys to discuss their IDW TMNT line.

Reporting live from Toy Fair 2026, host Brian VanHooker chats with Trevor Zammit, the TMNT brand manager of NECA Toys. Here he discusses the new reveals from the 2012 line, the 1987 and the new Fortnite TMNT figures.

Writer Andrew Joustra returns to Turtle Tracks Podcast to chat with host Brian VanHooker about writing Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for IDW comics. Joustra takes over writing duties with issue #4 of the series, beginning a brand new story featuring Fugitoid and Zog! Presale for Tales of the TMNT issue #4 end 2/9/26. 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 Doug Molitor, the writer of four classic episodes of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Here, Molitor discusses the Season Three episodes "The Four Musketurtles," when Leonardo thinks he's a musketeer and "Beware the Lotus," which introduced the character of Lotus Blossom. He also discusses his two episodes from the European Vacation episodes, "Artless" and "Turtles on the Orient Express." Sound engineering by Ian Williams. Follow TURTLE TRACKS PODCAST on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/turtle_tracks_podcast/