GoGreenMachine.Org

Happy Halloween 2024

Hero_777 — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:05:35 +0000

GGM would like wish everyone a Happy Halloween however you spend it.

What are your Halloween traditions? Let us know in the comments.

Young Splinter & The Turtle Tots

Hero_777 — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 21:46:51 +0000

Bringing the family together.

Hero Turtles Randomness.

Hero_777 — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:24:20 +0000

Hello everyone,

Check out some random “Hero” Turtles merch you may not have seen before or might remember from back in the day. My favourite peice is the bathroom, soap and bubblebath set (though the container is empty!). Also, the Activity Pack was a fun series of colouring books and activity sets depicting some fantastic lineart based on the 1987 animated series.

No Nunchucks here, this was 90’s Britain. Swords and Sais are okay though.

===HERO

The Smiling Turtle

Hero_777 — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 17:14:21 +0000

Aside from toys and toons, I just loved to draw from an early age. Every Christmas and birthday without fail I would get a large set of felt pens and a blank refill pad to draw and create with. From 1990 for a long time onwards, TMNT was all I wanted to illustrate. I was mostly inspired by Ken Michroneys work on the TMNT Adventures comic that was the highlight of every other weekend.

The smiling Turtle was happy accident. Drawing just the face and deciding the bandana color was a quicker and easier feat than a full bodied and armed Turtle. A lot of early Turtles merchandise would just display the universal smiling face we all recognise to this day. Even Raph can’t escape having his momentary smile immortalised.

Prior to Turtles I was doing what a Primary school classmate and I liked to call ‘Dinosaur shapes’ where we would illustrate dinosaurs on cerealbox cardboard and cut them out. It was kind of like making our own 2D action figures. I guess that turned to Turtles, as I couldn’t get enough paper and cardboard to illustrate and cut these out.

The fun thing about the Turtles was hiding these in the shadows. I wanted people to stumble on them and keep being the artist a mystery. It wasn’t like I was defacing public property get the art across. Some kids at school pretty much sussed out I was the Turtle artist as I wasn’t closet case about any of my fandoms. There was an ignorant and outdated notion even back then that being in Secondary School meant you had to give ‘kids stuff’ up and be pushed to grow up early. Staying true to TMNT and other brands I liked set me up for a hard time and some awful bullying, not just from peers but teachers too.

Secondary school was an abusive pecking order to say the least. TMNT was an amazing comfort to me and helped me get through it. The Smiling Turtle I produced in the dozens, and I had fun hiding these in lockers, desk drawers and especially library books! It was like distributing little dosages of hope to hide in the shadows. It was fun hearing the background when other kids would find these. Some were kept and some were torn up. Even one of the ‘popular’ kids put the word out that he would pay 50p for each of these Smiling Turtles if they were brought to him. It motivated me to wear out the felt pens and produce even more to hide around school, and potentially put him out of pocket as a nice bonus.

I eventually served my 5-year sentence at the place I had to address as school and the Smiling Turtle buzz eventually died down…

It wasn’t until I reached my 40s the Smiling Turtle was rebooted in a new way. I discovered rock and pebble painting as well as acrylic paint in pens – and it all started again. Resin’d pebbles and rocks were a great new medium to illustrate the Smiling Turtle face on (no bullies could tear these up) and the opportunity to hide anywhere any place had expanded. A lot of rocks I made have found their way travelling around the world and sometimes people reach out to me on social media to say they’ve found one!

Illustrating the Smiling Turtle again is a blast with newer ways to distribute free art potentially anywhere whether indoors or outdoors. Most of these I leave and never see again, but that is the territory of free art. For all I know they live in a collection, the bottom of a garden, gone travelling or waiting to be rediscovered. Finding out where some of my Turtles have gone is a nice bonus and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

===HERO

Slice n’ Dice Shredder

Hero_777 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 16:00:25 +0000

I was going though old stuff after putting away all my Christmas tote boxes (I have many!) and found my old Slice n’ Dice Shredder from Christmas 1991.

This Shredder along with Creepy Crawlin’ Splinter were the last two ‘Hero’ Turtles figures my parents let me have as presents. I was considered ‘too old’ for toys and if I wanted more, I had to save out of my pocket money (The British word for Allowance).

I was never a fan of the Whacky Windin’ subline, but Shredder was my absolute favourite and I considered an improvement over the original basic 88 toy. Sure, he has blender pieces on his arms, but that Magenta color works for Saki and his stance was cooler.

Did you like the Whacky Windin’ Turtles figures, and if so – what was your favorite?

Happy 30th Anniversary, Secret of the Ooze

Hero_777 — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 10:05:30 +0000

This week marks the 30th Anniversary of #TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze, so I dug out my old artwork from 1991 and rescanned in celebration. Crank up some @vanillaice
, Grab a slice and Go Ninja Go Ninja Go! – HERO

Turtle Treasure 1990

Hero_777 — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 14:54:42 +0000

So I started Spring cleaning early and came across some fun artifacts back dating 30 years ago from my personal Turtles collection.

Here are a couple of long forgotten highlights that have been a delightful rediscovery.

Trenchcoat Raph.

This is my original Raphael brandishing a trenchcoat or rather a jacket that once belonged to (I think) an Action Man doll. In my toy universe Raph had a olive green jacket for concealing his Sai. I also added a black elastic from a washer as the original ninja belt was wearing away and I needed a fix. 30 years on that tough rubber band has stood the test of time!

Turtles on Betamax

This Betamax (pronounced Beat-a-Max in the UK) tape originally thought lost was an amazing turnup. This was my original compilation of Teenage Mutant ‘Hero’ Turtles episodes (and censored jump-cut edits) from BBC 1 amongst some other Turtley material. “Attack of Big Macc” was the first episode I ever taped before also recording the segmented episodes from Going Live on Saturday Mornings. I also even recorded segments from the Broom Cupboard where fan artwork was showcased.

This will be capped as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading. Keep stopping by GGM the site or our social media for more Turtley updates!

===HERO

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2020

Hero_777 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 11:24:15 +0000

What a mucky year we’ve had.

Happy Holidays and a Happier 2021 from all at GGM!

Mondo at the Skatepark

Hero_777 — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 13:25:16 +0000

With the current lockdown in place, I had the great opportunity one morning to take my camera and a couple of board-riding action figures to the empty skatepark in my hometown of Keynsham, Bristol.

From the toy archives in my loft I found both versions of Mondo Gecko from 1990 and 201x to photograph for a hangout and a skate-off. Normally, this popular playarea is populated by locals and this was a creative chance to make the most of.

Enjoy this gallery of select photos taken on this cold April morning.

===HERO

This Single Father.

Hero_777 — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 11:15:14 +0000

I know of this single father.

He’s not a spring chicken, possibly not a legal immigrant, had to leave his loved ones behind and probably has a warrant on his head from where he fled.

This single father has lived in isolation for the best part of 16 years and on top of that adopted 4 boys raised from babies each with their own quirks and personalities. One of the boys is a hothead, the other possibly has high functioning ADHD, one is a keen learner and the other a more introverted soul who wants to create alone. This single father raised these boys alone through their developing quirks and personalities over time, all with no help from social services, hardcore homeschooling and no co-parent to tag in for an afternoon nap. These boys were raised with culture, learning to defend what’s right, and in the eyes of future friends turned out ‘just fine’.

There would come a day where those boys would want to venture out from their hiding place and make their names in this world. That single father grudgingly knew he couldn’t keep on those training wheels on his sons forever. Those 4 boys turned out to be the most resilient dynamic of brothers who could easily deal with anything lifes adventures had to throw at them. They had each other’s ‘backs’ and could always turn to their now older single dad (when he’s not watching American soaps on TV) in times of need. Not bad for kids raised in hiding.

That single dad probably had to so much to complaint about. That single dad lost the woman he loved and was robbed of his life back home, forced to live in unidealistic housing, but, in the long run still gained a unique family dynamic that would protect the weak and punish the oppressive.

On top of that, this single dad had to deal with an accidental life change to overcome.

He was a mutant… Half rat in fact. That single dad’s humanity remained and prevailed regardless. He was a great teacher and a great dad regardless of circumstance.

As for those 4 boys.
Most people know the rest.

Hamato Yoshi, otherwise known as Master Splinter. We raise a pizza slice to you.

Cowabunga.

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