April from TMNT 2012

[ShadowKat]

Oops... Mikey doesn't come with freckles, I had Hubby add them in because he just didn't look like Mikey from the new series without them. XD I forgot to mention that before! Though, they do each come with different colored eyes. Donnie's factory color are a pale orange-yellow, while in the series they're a deep chocolate-y brown, so Hubby repainted those too.

[WhiteDove01s]

Oops... Mikey doesn't come with freckles, I had Hubby add them in because he just didn't look like Mikey from the new series without them. XD I forgot to mention that before! Though, they do each come with different colored eyes. Donnie's factory color are a pale orange-yellow, while in the series they're a deep chocolate-y brown, so Hubby repainted those too.

Well, that's easily fixed too. I was already thinking of doing the old antiquing trick of rubbing in a thin wash of darker color and then rubbing almost all of it back off on some parts of mine to enhance the color of the sculpt. XD

In fact, in the case of Donnie's eyes... I'm going to be snickering at that for a while.

Maybe it only applies to the little box turtles we get around here, but a trick I remember so even kids could tell the boy turtles from the girl ones is that girl ones have lighter orange-yellow eyes, and boys have darker orange-red eyes...

I'd like to think Splinter would have bothered to find a way to determine the genders of his little turtle boys... But I will admit it is tricky. I know I've never been sure what kind of turtles they are/were. Maybe that's also why I liked Tokka so much - I'd had some memorable run-ins with snapping turtles/mud snappers as a kid.

[ShadowKat]

Well, that's easily fixed too. I was already thinking of doing the old antiquing trick of rubbing in a thin wash of darker color and then rubbing almost all of it back off on some parts of mine to enhance the color of the sculpt. XD

That sounds like it will look really good! They have lots of little wrinkles and lines in their muscle tone that will catch the wash nicely!

In fact, in the case of Donnie's eyes... I'm going to be snickering at that for a while.

Maybe it only applies to the little box turtles we get around here, but a trick I remember so even kids could tell the boy turtles from the girl ones is that girl ones have lighter orange-yellow eyes, and boys have darker orange-red eyes...

Yep, that's true! Other ways you can tell on common boxies are their skin and shells. Males tend to be more colorful overall, with deeper and richer shades of blacks, browns, reds, and yellows, while females tend to have more drab colors on their skin (pale brown-grays yellows and oranges), but their shells are usually just as vivid. Males typically have a higher domed carapace, and a shallow indention in their plastron, while females usually have a broader carapace, and a relatively flat plastron.

In the first TMNT movie, the "baby turtles" shown in the ooze, are actually sub-adult/juvenile sliders (and more than likely female), and in the new series, Donatello actually comments on their species pre-mutation as more than likely being diamondback terrapins. Given their general appearance, with human genetics introduced into their biology, that certainly makes sense.

In most aquatics, eye color is uniform, and their sexual dimorphism presents itself in sheer size and shape. Adult females are usually much larger than males (1.5-2.5 times larger), usually have much bulkier and more muscular heads and necks, but relatively small tails. Adult males typically have very large tails, and in some species (such as sliders, paintes, cooters, etc...), very long foreclaws.

I'd like to think Splinter would have bothered to find a way to determine the genders of his little turtle boys... But I will admit it is tricky. I know I've never been sure what kind of turtles they are/were. Maybe that's also why I liked Tokka so much - I'd had some memorable run-ins with snapping turtles/mud snappers as a kid.

We've had a few good memories with common snappers ourselves!

Sorry for the long geek-out about turtles! Herpetology focusing on chelonians is one of our other great passions, so we tend to get really happy when we have the chance to talk about them!

Here's a great site with lots of info that we frequent if anyone wants to learn more about turtles and tortoises!
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/

[WhiteDove01s]

In the first TMNT movie, the "baby turtles" shown in the ooze, are actually sub-adult/juvenile sliders (and more than likely female), and in the new series, Donatello actually comments on their species pre-mutation as more than likely being diamondback terrapins. Given their general appearance, with human genetics introduced into their biology, that certainly makes sense.

And now I'll be collecting reference pics of those for possible color enhancement when I've saved up enough for my Turtles...

Sorry for the long geek-out about turtles! Herpetology focusing on chelonians is one of our other great passions, so we tend to get really happy when we have the chance to talk about them!

Here's a great site with lots of info that we frequent if anyone wants to learn more about turtles and tortoises!
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/

That's ok! I'm one of those lunatics that actually likes learning things (I don't refer to myself as the Mad Scientist for no reason), especially if it's even slightly connected to something I already like. *goes to bookmark that page for later*

I used to know a wonderful old group, old email BBS style, that was focused around scorpions and that I hung out on and soaked up for I'm not sure HOW long when the original Beast Wars show was on. Long enough to be pretty sure Beast Wars Scorponok was a Pandinus imperator/Emperor Scorpion. Or possibly one or two other related species, or prehistoric version thereof. Which was so fun, because they're less toxic in most cases than a beesting, and carry their babies around on their backs...

Oddly enough, I'm actually somewhat arachniphobic.

But back to turtles instead of just 'science geeking over critters that match toys', these guys keep on moving higher up on my wishlists.

[ShadowKat]

In the first TMNT movie, the "baby turtles" shown in the ooze, are actually sub-adult/juvenile sliders (and more than likely female)

After going back and carefully re-watching the scene, I'm pretty sure I was wrong about them being female, at least judging by one or two of the turtles you can see clearly, because they have tails like males.

I used to know a wonderful old group, old email BBS style, that was focused around scorpions and that I hung out on and soaked up for I'm not sure HOW long when the original Beast Wars show was on. Long enough to be pretty sure Beast Wars Scorponok was a Pandinus imperator/Emperor Scorpion. Or possibly one or two other related species, or prehistoric version thereof. Which was so fun, because they're less toxic in most cases than a beesting, and carry their babies around on their backs...

Oddly enough, I'm actually somewhat arachniphobic.

Hubby used to watch Beast Wars when he was a kid, and I know a little about it from what he's told me and internet clips of it. I find it hilarious that BW Megatron (yeessssss.... ) was voiced by David Kaye, who voiced Sesshomaru in Inuyasha.

Emperor Scorpions are fascinating! I think I remember seeing an "educational" program about them that only seemed to want to talk about how "creepy" it looks when they carry around their babies... kinda made me sad. I thought they were cute, though!

[WhiteDove01s]

Hubby used to watch Beast Wars when he was a kid, and I know a little about it from what he's told me and internet clips of it. I find it hilarious that BW Megatron (yeessssss.... ) was voiced by David Kaye, who voiced Sesshomaru in Inuyasha.

I've been a Transformers fan since the original series hit the air when I was five, but lost interest in the franchise not too long after Beast Wars. There's only so many timeline reboots I can take before I get burned out. I still have some Beasties among my headspace cast, though. XD ... Some of which would like to pass along the tradition of referring to Megs as 'Lord Barneytron' behind his back.

Emperor Scorpions are fascinating! I think I remember seeing an "educational" program about them that only seemed to want to talk about how "creepy" it looks when they carry around their babies... kinda made me sad. I thought they were cute, though!

That was actually one of the things that lets them be one of the few arachnids to slip past my general phobia of things with eight legs and too many eyes. Most arachnids eat their own young, Pandies carry em around and even feed them little cricket bits. It's almost soppily cute.

I also learned one important thing about how to tell how toxic a scorpion is. In most cases, the thicker the claws, the weaker the venom as that scorpion will crush its prey instead in most cases. So BW Scorpy would be a lot less venomous than Quickstrike who has thinner claws... and there are lots of them more venomous than either. Though Quickstrike being half cobra probably more than compensates in his case.

The Emperor Scorpion, on the other hand, was the one that was continually referenced in that message group any time there was some newbie who wanted a pet scorpion and absolutely insisted they wanted one they could pick up. Though with warnings that it's really not a good thing to pick up any scorpion, but that one is less toxic than a bee, and at worst can give you a bad pinch... while at the same time being one of the bigger ones.

Personally, I can just deal with pictures, not sure a live one wouldn't set me off - and large pics of spiders are still WAY out. XD

One of the first stories I hope to do with my 1/6 Theater when I get enough of an 'acting group' together is Alice In Wonderland (followed almost immediately by Through The Looking Glass). The costume for the Mock Turtle is one I've been thinking over a great deal...

[Rage_girl]

Wow looks just like the show. why is it that personal made items are always better then store made

[oniakki]

Wow looks just like the show. why is it that personal made items are always better then store made

Easy, because personal made items are made to match the show and are usually one off so don't have the limits of mass production equipment.. they also tend to have more care and dedication put into accuracy, while 'store made' are designed for some mass production machine to stamp out in mass quantities for selling. ^.~