Teenage Mutant Nostalgic Turtles!

Nostalgia is something that everyone who has a found memory of anything can relate to. It gives you feelings of yesteryear and reminds you of the good ol’ times. Well, the animation world has given this writer a reason to feel nostalgic today. As it turns out, cable network Nickelodeon is revving up to give the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a new life in today’s generation. Just from watching the trailer posted on the link, I can already see how much the turtles I knew as kid differ from what today’s youngsters I am sure are going to grow up with and love.

The biggest and best memories these turtles bring, don't come from the television shows or the number of live action movies that were made last century. Instead, every time I think of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the first memory that pops into mind is the abundance of action figures this franchise had. Playmates, the maker of these great action figures, made an action figure for almost every character that ever appeared on the TV show and the films and then some. The beauty of this product line was that it did not just stop at character figures, but play sets as well as vehicles and turtle blimps even.

For the new incarnation of these heroes in a half shell, Playmates will once again be the company to bring the youth of today their turtle action figures. They even plan to bring about a rendition of the action figures that I, and others like myself grew up with, by having some of the figures look like the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Even though the new Turtles look a little different form their 90’s counterparts (Shown in picture), the feeling that they come with is nothing new. New audiences will definitely fall in love with the new reboot of the Turtles, and I am sure come Christmas time, many youngsters will put these Turtles on their Christmas lists just as some parents today did so when they were kids. All in all, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are set to jump into action on the 29^th of September, hopefully they still love pizza as much as they used to. As I hope all the Turtle fans out there enjoy the new adventure!

The Avengers and the Cars They Drive

We all know product placement in movies is nothing new. Product placement can be seen basically anywhere, from independent films to Hollywood blockbusters. With respect to the latter, this year’s big-ticket release achievement can be given to film that reached the billion-dollar mark in only a little over two weeks of global release. That movie is none other than the vector-filled, Disney-Marvel release of The Avengers. In studying The Avengers alone, it is interesting to see how other products were place into and/or tied to the brand itself. As I went through the list of corporate partners for the movie, I surely recalled some of them from my trip to the theatre, while others were more of a blur in my mind.

http://www.multivu.com/mnr/54314-acura-is-marvel-the-avengers-official-sponsor-of-red-carpet-world-premiere

According to Brandchannel.com’s Brandcameo Film List of 2012, The Avengers is listed towards the bottom of the page as having had 19-featured brands within the film. Of the those 19 brands, by far the most notable, as well as most publicized, is none other than the Acura brand. Acura crept into The Avengers, via a multi-film deal they set up with Marvel, beginning with 2011’s release of Thor. Becoming the official car of fictitious Marvel-created secret agency S.H.I.E.L.D., they solidified their appearance in The Avengers with previous exposure in both Thor and Captain America.

Not everyone was excited about this “coup” Acura had over recent Marvel films. Especially, as Abe Sauer points out in his Brandchannel article, where he calls Acura, “The least inspiring Avenger.” He begins with reminding everyone that in the Iron Man movies, Tony Stark is seen driving, when he’s not flying around, different types of Audi R8’s. Since Acura had a deal with Marvel, there was no way Stark’s R8 would make it to The Avengers’ set. No problem, most would say they would just replace the R8 with an Acura equivalent. Except, there was a problem, Acura does not have an R8 equivalent or anything close to it in its current offering lineup. The solution was that instead of placing any other product they had within the movie, they decided to showcase a concept car. Sauer states that this is a disadvantage for Acura, for the simple fact that they are promoting a car that people cannot go out there and buy. He recalls another writer stating that what they did for the movie was basically get a 1991 Acura NSX and just gave it a new more modern-looking body. And let’s thank God that Acura doesn’t have a motorcycle line to offer. Otherwise, I don’t even want to imagine what they would’ve have done with Captain America’s Harley Davidson creation.