Welcome Wayne!

[Michaelangelo]

Hiya Wayne,

I'll like to welcome you to TMNT-L, it's great to see you here! It really is a great honor that you'll take the time to join our forum. I know you're also a member on Ninja Turtles Network Forums. I was thinking of doing the same thing here as was done on that forum, where there's a topic for the guest. Which could be for personal talk or questions. If that's ok with you.

I was wondering if you could take a second to tell us about yourself and how you got the job as Michelangelo for 4Kids.

Thanks again for joining us here at TMNT-L.
 

[Danceingfae]

Welcome Wayne! It's awesome to see you here! Just wanted to send you a wave (or one from me at least) from your chorus! Remember as Mikey we love you! LOL

~ Fae

[Fugitoid]

Hello there Mr. Grayson,

Sorry to be so formal, but that's just the way I am. It was nice meeting you at AnimeNext 2005. Thanks for accepting Ivey's invitation to TMNT-L Forums. I hope you can find some time and post with us when you get a chance.

Thanks again for joining!

[Donatello]

Welcome aboard as well, Wayne!  

[Pichu987]

hiiiiiiiiiiii Wayne!!!!!! its so great to see ya here!!!! just wanted to say hi hi hi!! and ill be seeing ya at AnimeVegas!!! ::huggles::

[Brinatello]

Hi, Wayne!  Thanks for joining the forum!  See you in October!

[GrayWayne]

Hey, Wayne "Michelangelo" Grayson here, folks! Most of you know I post fairly regularly on ninjaturtlesnetwork. And by "regularly", I mean "whenever I can, but I can't reply instantly and I'm sorry, but I'm doing my best". I'll make a concerted effort to maintain my frequency of responding on this forum as well. Can't promise anything, but I can tell you that I love and appreciate each one of you and I will answer eventually. So let 'er rip, peeps!!!

-Mikey

[Jephael]

I really hope they do an episode based on Mirage Vol. 1 #17 where Michelangelo writes himself into that Feudal Japan story. I mean I know you guys already did that ep where you're in acient Japan, but this one would be different because it's something Mikey would come up with off the top of his head.

[Michaelangelo]

Hi Wayne!  Glad to see you were able to make it and trust me, we're honored that you take the time to reply to us.  You're Awesome, but you already know that

Heh my question, which is a normal one though since this is the beginning of a new forum and there are different people already starting to show up here I'm going to ask it any how.  

How did you get the part of Michelangelo and what was it like hearing that you were becoming one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?  

Also heh, I didn't do this to you guys over at NTN, but I'm trying to see if we can get all the members to take part in the welcome questions, it's not required but it's really cool to have an area to go and get to know each other.  Just click Welcome Questions and do a reply to the quick 12 questions (they're easy questions... just about you not about your job or anything that's for here    )

Thanks Wayne!  As always it's great to see you!  (I can't wait to see you in Vegas!  We do have a topic going on about that for everyone meeting up at Anime Vegas if you want to check it out, it talks about the party plans and so on.)

[Danceingfae]

It is the coolest that you take the time to check out the forums that you are involved in and take the time to reply to questions that the fans have. I'm sure i have a question or two but of course at the moment i can't think of them so i'll have to write them down when i remember them.

I do want to let you know though that like Michaelangelo said you are awesome and we all appriciate everything you do is keeping in touch with the fans.

Okay now i'm gonna go before i start to sound like a broken record, lol. Ever do that get really excited on something and start to babble and repeat yourself? Maybe it's a girl thing... Eh there's a question for ya!

Take care!

[GrayWayne]

Okay...so, I'd been working at 4Kids for about a year on shows like Fighting Foodons, Ultimate Muscle, Pokemon and a little thing called Yu-Gi-Oh! In the summer of '02, word got around the studio that 4Kids would be producing an all-new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. Being the die-hard comic book/pop-culture junkie that I am, I was pretty excited. I got an audition slot and read for all four turtles, Splinter and the Shredder. They had clips of the first live-action movie for us to use as a basis for coming up with voices. Shortly thereafter, I was told I was cast as Michelangelo! This was awesome especially because he was my favorite when I was younger. Also, I was afraid I'd be typecast from my work on Yu-Gi-Oh and wind up playing another tough, street-wise character-Raphael.

It's been a great experience. I always have fun and Mikey's been an incredibly fun character to play. Plus, being cast in the show provided me with the opportunity to befriend Sam, Mike and Frankie, three awesome guys.

-Mikey

Jeph-We haven't done an episode based on the issue you mention, and season four wrapped, but there's always the possibility that they'll go back to the source material for future plots.

Fae-Babbling and excitement go hand-in-hand. It's certainly not a girl thing. I couldn't shut up when I got cast as Mikey.

[Michaelangelo]

Hiya Wayne, I wanna reply and comment about some of the welcome questions, and to not have ya searching the boards for which post are directed at ya, I figured I'd post them here.  These are replies to answers..

31 and I can remember reading the first issue of TMNT in the shop I used to go to in Long Island when it first came out. 1984, I think? Like a total moron, though, I didn't buy it. I started collecting the series around issue 4.

You're right, the first comic came out on May 5th, 1984.  The Turtles were created on November 19th, 1983.

The first one was the best and at the time, I regarded it as the most faithful-to-the-source comic book movie. I barely remember the others. David Warner was in one, right?

Yes, David Warner was in the second movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, the Sercet of the Ooze.  He played a character named Prof. Jordan Perry who worked for TGRI  (They had to take TGRI instead of TCRI, because there was a real company called TGRI... they ended up going through their ABC looking for a replacement letter, and G was the first one that came up that was not connected to a real company).

No, I'm not big into computers.

I may have some friends that could help host and design a web site for you, if you're interested.   I can't promise one that'll be all fansy with it's own Domain, but if you'll like a site to help fans learn more about you and you can keep them up to date (with the help of the Web Signer of course).  Just let me know.

And now a question...

I collect whatever swag 4Kids or the fans give me. Actually, at the entrance to our apartment there's kind of a shrine with all the Mikey paraphernalia I've gathered.

Is there anything that you perfer to get from fans, so us crazy fan girls know what you like.  Like posters, books, or comics more than toys or vis versa.   This will give fans the idea of what to get you, because you know us fan girls always want to give their favorite Turtle something to remember them by.  

[Jephael]

Hey Wayne, you don't ever watch anime do you? I've been kinda getting into this new series called Naruto and the title character is uncannily a Michelangelo type. He's wild, unpredictable and he even wears orange! I just thought it would be fun to bring up how funny it would be if Mike were to meet this kid in the Battle Nexus or something.

[GrayWayne]

What up, y'all?

I think I'll be able to keep up with a weekly schedule of posting/responding both here and on NTN. At least until late October. We'll see.

Michaelangelo-I appreciate the offer regarding websites, but the plain truth is I don't have the time or patience to maintain my own site. Also, as I've said numerous times, my computer skills are abysmal. Gifts from fans, eh? I tend to prefer action figures as they kind of give my makeshift "shrine" a museum quality. I'm still looking for the turtle tots. (Hint, hint.) Comics and books are good too, but I don't have much use for posters. Selina's in charge of decorating.

Jeph-Actually, I do watch my share of anime. I was really into Samurai Champloo and Paranoia Agent. Growing up, I really dug Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets, Star Blazers and Robotech. Akira's still one of my favorite films. Cowboy Bebop rocks! I read some manga too, like Battle Royale and Blade of the Immortal. Mike S. tried to get me into FLCL, but I'm not sure it's any good. Gantz is on my stack right now. Haven't seen Naruto, but I hear good things about it. A crossover would be cool, but that ain't never gonna happen.

Later,

-Mikey

[Danceingfae]

LOL, i love your hint, now i can see when half the people on this forum who are going to Anime Vegas you're going to get several Turtle Tots! Always good to keep a spare set i guess, right? lol.

So action figures.... i'll have to do some diggin and see what i can come up with, though i doubt that i can get my hands on anything from my home town (Sicily/Italy) before i get to vegas. By the way that reminds me, anything you have for turtles in Italian, i would not mind translating anything if you needed. I'll admit it's not the best since i don't practice everyday but, i can still hold my own in a convo  

Maybe i'll have a drawing donw for ya, i've been doing a lot of those lately.... see if i can snag Ivey to color it for me on the computer *pokes Ivey* lol. We'll see if i can come up with anything decent.

Anywho's keep cool!