Tuesday, July 29, 2008

7 Lovefield Street

























Want to thank my good buddy Dan Berger for snapping this pic of where Leatherhead was created. I occupied the basement apartment on the right.





So when you're on your TMNT pilgrimage to western Massachusetts be sure to stop by 7 Lovefield St.in the beautiful town of Easthampton. It sets directly across from the abandoned Rat King factory. At least it did way back in the late 80's.




































In the Utrom tongue, the name Leatherhead translates as "Moment of cognizance, birth of understanding."

39 comments:

Vaughn Michael said...

Very cool! So what do you think of Leatherheads new look?

Adam Riches said...

That's awesome, I think you guys should compile a Google earth map, with all the various TMNT related locations on it. Like movie filming locations, all the various houses where the guys have lived, the Mirage studio spaces, etc.

~ tOkKa said...

-->> .. luv it // + his 'new' look .. >v<

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Glad you guys like this post. Wasn't sure if it was a stupid idea or not.

Well vaughn, Dr. Curt Connors comes to mind.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Dan snapped some other location pics for me Adam that I'll be posting in the future.

Doing our part to preserve TMNT history.

m. said...

That's when we met! This makes me sentimental...

But why the f@#! is Leatherhead looking like Marvel's The Lizard/Curt Connors?!

Adam Riches said...

Yeah, definitely keep em coming! I especially like the studio space stuff. I love how you guys are all a bunch of Metalheads (no pun intended) mixed with toy geeks, not so unlike my own apartment, so it's fun to see others that have lived the same way.


Oh and on a side note, Ryan...I had this magazine that I bought when I was 12 years old. I LOVED it and re-read this artcile from it probably over a hundred times. Anyways I was recently cleaning up going through some old boxes and rediscovered it: "Lee's Action Figure News and Toy Review" from June 97 #56. The one that has that image of you looking like Gene Simmons, talking about the creation of Scratch in it. I think reading that article was the first time I realized I wanted to work for Mirage, especially cause I thought all their employess must look like rock stars hahahaha!

The reason I was bringing it up though is because I was never able to find the issue that goes after the one I have, with the remainder of the interview. Do you happen to have it? If you do, could you e-mail it to me? I always wanted to read the rest of it!

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

I too was misty-eyed upon viewing this picture Murph.
I'm sure I don't have to remind you what a swampy, moist environment it was. Cheap rent though.
No pets so I snuck Bunny in.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Whew! Don't remember that interview adam. Maybe Rose does. You should email her. She is keeper of the eternal turtle flame and collectibles. If I did have though it would be yours no problem!

m. said...

I remember the mushrooms growing along your living room wall.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

tokka might have it too?

tokka?


Do you?

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

m. said...
I remember the mushrooms growing along your living room wall.



Yeah, lots of strange fungi.

dark turtle said...

The place looks nice. Lots of greenery. I think it's neat to see pictures like this because it gives us a bit of perspective on what environment you were in when creating characters.

As for LH's new look... he does seem to be sporting a Lizard vibe to him. Maybe it's because the lab coat is so baggy on him? I'm pretty sure LH wore a labcoat in the earlier seasons, but I seem to recall that the clothes fit him well.

Adam Riches said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Adam Riches said...

You don't remember it?! I took a pic of the cover and you, so you can see what I'm talking about maybe it will refresh your memory? I can't believe you don't own it, you have an attic full of toys that don't give you credit on them and the magazine that finally puts a face with the creations and you don't own like 20 copies?! That's a travesty...I can scan and e-mail the article to you if you'd like, let me know. Hopefully someone will have the other half. Anyways here's the pics:

cover:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/TrippEisen620/IMG_1832.jpg

article picture:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/TrippEisen620/IMG_1831.jpg

Roseangelo said...

I love these location posts! My apartment doesn't allow pets, either, so I have to sneak in my hamsters.

Looking at Adam's pictures, I don't think I have these issues (yet...).

The wonderful thing about hunting back issues of magazines in the present electronic age is that once you know what you're looking for, it's pretty simple to find a copy. If you search eBay, you'll find the issues in question. :)

With these types of things it really comes down to "Knowledge is Power." The only magazine that's being a pain to track down is the issue of Woman's Day that had a 3-page Christmas comic by Michael Dooney. I have a photocopy, but I'm not 100% sure of the issue it's in, making it a pain to track down. (So if anyone knows the answer to that...)

Daniel Schwarz said...

I love the original Tales of the TMNT series (volume 1) because it gave us Leatherhead and The Rat King and they have both turned out to be some of the most interesting and enduring characters in the TMNT world.

That's really cool about the abandoned factory. I didn't know it was based on a real place. Do you know if the factory is still there?

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Wow adam, I forgot about that. I'll have to see if I can scrounge up a copy.


Thanks Rose. More locations are coming.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

I don't know daniel I'll have to ask Dan. He lives in Easthampton.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

daniel schwarz asked...
"That's really cool about the abandoned factory. I didn't know it was based on a real place. Do you know if the factory is still there?"






Dan Berger said...
"Yes - developers started tearing it apart last year to turn it into condos, but then they ran out of money, so it's all gutted, but still standing."

Vaughn Michael said...

Yeah that's true about Curt the things that bother me really are the feet change and him now sporting a Jimmy Duranty nose.
ha chatta cha!

~ tOkKa said...

-->> ..do i have the interview or the old mushrooms ??

Yeh i think i have that mag Mr. /-\ [) @ (\/) refers to. I know i also have the second half of that interview cuz it goes into W W COW BOYS ../-\ [) @ (\/) ..you have #57 as well, correct ?? Rose does i believe.

**

Some people would claim i have a ton of your old mushrooms.. i'd like to state right here that THAT claim is completely false.

>v<

~ tOkKa said...

-->> .. /-\ [) @ (\/). .. i'm supposed to call you Duke, right ??

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Yeah vaughn, couldn't agree more. Huckleberry Hound feet are especially baaad!

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

We're certainly glad you are fungi free tokka.

~ tOkKa said...

-->> Wait so /-\ [) @ (\/) isn't ' DUKE ' .. but ADAM ..

damm i'm so mixed up !! Maybe it's all the Super Mario Super Fungi .. >v<

Vaughn Michael said...

You know looking at the image of LH again, I'm thinking they are going down a differnt road with his character than that of the comics, but I could be wrong.
He looks as if he's becoming more human where as in the comics he's becoming more animal like.
Just a thought.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Yeah. I will reserve judgement until I see it on the screen. One thing is for sure though, l do not like the Yogi Bear feet.

Vaughn Michael said...

I think most everyone I've seen comment on his new look has had nothing but complaints about the feet.
The least they could have done was stuck a line between the front of his toes to make them look claw like.

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Yup. I don't know what they were thinking. It's just bad design work.

~ tOkKa said...

-->> ..might just be me .. but the slight ' hunch ' is a little ' OLD SCHOOL ' Leatherhead .. i mean from the 90s toon.

No it ain' perfect.. but also it isn't bad either.

4Kids i do believe are trying. And i'm sorry i don't think they are trying to f8ck any of this up.

I honestly think that at this point.

>v<

Roseangelo said...

Hey, you added new pictures!

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Yep. Thought I'd throw in some Leatherhead collectibles. Seemed appropriate.

Adam said...

"Curt Conners comes to mind."

Heh, that reminds me of Murphy's interview with Dan Berger in the inside front cover of Tales 2.8:

Murphy: "To me, Leatherhead's always been a cheap and much less interesting imitation of Marvel's much more tragic Lizard character."
Dan: "Ouch!"

I'm guessing Murph was just being tongue in cheek. Maybe that's why I love the Cajun style LH. Makes him unique. :-D

~ tOkKa said...

-->> Maybe i could see the Doc Conners conenction Wouldn't Leatherhead be a little more " Feral ".

Well it's hard to explain, conners when he switches to the Lizard, it's a Doc Jeclyl / Mr.Hyde type thing. Leatherhead, especially in the newer toons .. he becomes very enraged and violent when threatened or angered.

Lizard's personality also seems a bit more evil.

Leatherhead .. outside the ' Cajun' version ..has only seemed to attack others in streaks of mis-communication or when he's been attacked and / or protecting himself and his friends.

>v<

~ tOkKa said...

-->> 1/2 awake.. sorry for typos.
>v<

Unknown said...

Those Leatherhead collectibles are great. Can you tell me who made the key chain?

Thanks,

Mike

~ tOkKa said...

-->> ..those keychains are from Japan.

There were TMNT ones, Punk Frogs, and Bebop and Rocksteady as well.. and they may have been other characters but i cannot recall at this time.


I think they were made by Takara.

I only have the ' Bop and Rocksteady ones.

;/

>v<

Steve Lavigne Ryan Brown said...

Hi michael,

The keychain is a licensed product from Japan. Not sure of the manufacturer. I've added a picture of the card that came with it.