In YouTube Right Now, the Daily Dot looks at videos that catch our eyes, push our buttons, and move our dials—and that you’ve just got to watch. Right now!
There are few things better in life than childhood nostalgia done right, and this is childhood nostalgia done tremendously well.
“TMNT Stop Motion Intro (1987)” gives the title sequence of the classic animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a vibrant re-imagining.
The tribute to the cartoon was created by Oklahoma-based director Kyle Roberts and sponsored by the Toy and Action Figure Museum. The museum’s curator, Kevin Stark, actually designed many of the pieces in the original 1990 Ninja Turtles line of toys.
The clip uses a scuzzy punk version of the show’s theme song, as covered by an Oklahoma band named the Boom Bang. It fits the video’s scrappy, do-it-yourself aesthetic perfectly.
The video comprises more than 4,000 individual pictures of action figures, along with an additional 60 hand-drawn images created by artist Nathan Poppe (the guy who chugs coffee at the start of the video) that provide the colorful backdrops.
Since being uploaded on Mar. 1, the clip has garnered 166,752 views, while the making-of video shows how much work went into the project over a three-month period.
YouTuber RPGMachine86 called the video “great,” while BluDrgn426 wrote, “This is so amazing. Congrats on this outstanding endeavor!”
Though Roberts’s creation garnered a great deal of praise among YouTubers, the song used came in for some criticism. “Awesome tribute, except from that crappy cover song. That band sucks. On the other hand, the animation kicks ass,” commented battousensei.
Here’s hoping that the Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars intro is next up for Roberts.