Monday started out with a decision to be made. I was supposed to head off for home first thing in the morning (I had a 16 hour drive ahead of me...alone), but Don had been talking with Molly at Mirage, and she'd graciously agreed to letting a crew of starstruck TMNT fans go on a tour of Mirage Studios. Should I go home, or stay a few extra hours for the tour? Well, it didn't take much convincing for me to stay. I mean, how often does a tour of Mirage come along, right? We headed into town (first time I'd gotten to use my car since my arrival <G>) after Don, Seven & Don's mom moved their stuff into TN & her mom's room (since the tour would cause them to miss the checkout time). We got there around 10:30ish, Scratch & his father were just coming out from an early tour (they had stuff to do and couldn't stay later). Once again, the quartet staying at the other hotel were no where to be seen and Don's mom did the "alarm clock" routine for them. Meanwhile, the rest of us went inside.
Molly greeted us at the door, showed us a little bit of the main lobby area, then let us on our way, saying Don could just as easily give us the tour <G>. So, off we went. First thing you notice are all of the posters n' stuff on the walls, mostly TMNT, of course. We wove our way through the halls, past the meeting room, etc to a room with TMNT stuff from around the room, some on the walls, some in boxes, all amazing. Broken down by country, or entity (Movie 1, 2, etc...). I looked at the Canada category and was surprised how little of that stuff made it to the East Coast of Canada (because I was DEFINITELY looking for TMNT stuff in the stores).
Talk about feeling like
a kid let loose in a candy store, this wall was amazing! TMNT stuff from all around the world (including the ALL
of the elusive Japanese Anime eps). We later all posed in front of this wall, hopefully the pic on my other camera
turns out.
| I've died and gone to heaven..... |
Yep, it turned out ok...sorta. I think we were all getting a little tired of having our pictures taken by thi
s point.
I mean, I can think of at least 5 cameras that were on the go, just to get the shot of the group here. Actually,
I think part of the problem is that not everyone knew when a picture was being taken...or where (which is why some
of us are looking one way, and some are looking the other). If you still need to know who's who: Brent, me, and
TN are kneeling down front, Seven, Savanti, PG, Don (leaning backwards) and Laci are in the back. TN's showing
off the collection of the Anime TMNT eps. Not quite sure what Don's grabbed a hold of, but I think it's Italian.
Savanti's holding up a page he acquired. Between Seven & Savanti is a nifty wall clock (heh, thanx to an
administrative goof up ages ago, I've got two of them)
|
Just another shot of the Happiest Group of Turtle fans in the world (at that moment...) |
Of note, as well, in that
room was the kyootest....well, not quite certain what it's purpose is...it was sitting in a planter box, maybe
it was supposed to scare off plant bugs? (Hey, I'm an accountant, not a horticulturalist!)
.
|
Hey, if I were an aphid, I'd think twice before attacking plants, wouldn't you? |
Ok, other sites have shown you what Dan's wall looked like, with the wall-to-wall turtle thing going on, so I hadn't
really planned to repeat that. What I DO have, however, are some shots that show a different side of things at
Mirage. For instance... SKULLS. Almost every office/work area we came across had skulls in it! It was great! (my
reaction prompted a "You've got a real dark side to you, Raph" comment, too <G>).
<-- Here's a shot of Dan's wall, but with a slightly different view
| Now, THIS is a TMNT display I can appreciate!! |
Also in the same room was something that completely freaked me out (and earned me more than a few "LOOK"s
from people. At the far end of the room there was a wall that wasn't TMNT covered (hard to believe, I know). A
nice set of shelves, containing books, comics...a cd rack..and on the top shelf were loose action figures (and
more skulls). In the middle of all of this was a replica of a headstone! The Susanna Jayne headstone, that's located
in Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, Mass. I'd seen the replica in different places and found out what it was from
while on vacation in 1998. Bought a small booklet, called "Our Silent Neighbours" - a guide to historic
cemetaries in the Salem area of Massachusetts and it had a picture of the ORIGINAL headstone. Plan on visiting
that this year, when my friend, Sandra, & I return to the Salem area for our fourth trip. Love that place!
*ahem*
| The real thing! Graveyards are such an awesome vacation spot!!! | Look closely and you can see the replica smiling out at you, too! |
Anyway, when I spotted this, I happily squealed "The Susanna Jayne headstone!", prompting
a few odd looks. It's in the centre of the picture on the right, behind Dracula (you can't miss it, it's the only
thing there that LOOKS like it could be a headstone). The skeleton is holding a sun and a moon, there are angels
in each corner and the snake swallowing its tail is meant to represent 'eternity' or something like that. And,
to your left, is the ORIGINAL headstone. Yes, folks, braved a 2nd trip to Mass. JUST to see this headstone. Ok,
that's a bit of an exxageration, but we DID plan a trip specifically to Marblehead to see this headstone. True,
the quality isn't the best, but the headstone is 223 years old. (and I don't know which was scarier, that
we were there a day after her death date, or that I noticed the date and made a point of saying that we were only
off by a day!)
Ok, just so you don't think everything at Mirage was either TMNT or weird/morbid skulls (no that representation comes from the warped mind of the individual doing up this page <G>), there was one other thing in this room that was just so incredibly kyoot, we all had to snap pictures of it. These stuffed TMNT came from Japan. In case you're wondering, this is Mike and Don. We found Leo in another room...don't know where Raph was (and I believe there was a Splinter in the series, too, but we didn't see that'n either).
| SD Mike and SD Don. Don's the one that looks like he's in desperate need of Ex-Lax. (sorry, couldn't resist..true, didn't try too hard, either) <G> |
Once we FINALLY tore ourselves away from this room, we wandered further down the hall, eventually winding up in Jim Lawson's office. He was there and EXTREMELY gracious about having his work repeatedly interrupted by our crew. A few of us bought some original artwork from him (myself included). He must not have heard me, when I asked him to sign mine: "To my best friend in the world: Erin". <G> Actually, before we got to his office (after visiting various offices with MORE skulls...love the place!!!), we saw an incredible wall hanging. Yes, Usagi Yojimbo fans, the Samurai Rabbit has been immortalized at Mirage (no surprise, since Mirage DID publish Space Usagi). You can't see them in this pic, but on the shelf just below Usagi were more action figures, including Pinky & the Brain, some Gargoyles, and the Little Mermaid.
|
Ok, now this says to me: "DO NOT TAKE THAT PICTURE!" |
Once we managed to tear ourselves away from Jim's office and the rest of this fascinating floor, we went back downstairs for more pictures. No, seriously, we WEREN'T pictured out by this point. In fact, one of the oddest pics happened at this time. That's not true, the picture itself isn't all that odd...it's where/how we found it. We had been walking through a hallway, past the kitchen, men's washroom, ladies washroom, etc. when someone noticed there was a TMNT pic on the wall of the guys' washroom. The door was open, before you go thinking we were purposefully looking in bathrooms. Soooo, that led to us wondering what, if anything, was in the gals' washroom.
Of course, this door was
closed, so we DID have to open that door. Inside was one of the funniest TMNT pics we'd seen. The guys, engaged
in a game of cards. From the looks of things, Mike was winning the game (and judging by the cards in his shell,
he was cheating...), Raph looks incredibly angry, Leo's about the leave and Don looks like he's wondering why he
got involved in this game in the first place. I think, honestly, that the funniest sight woulda been each of us
going into the washroom to take a pic of this pic!
| Leo prepares to remove his belt, as he loses a round of Strip Poker (Mike's already lost his mask <G>) |
Next, we all posed for a group shot, in front of the TMNT toys. Sadly (yeah, we all see this coming...), my
camera was at it again, and I've got an out of focus shot. Hopefully, the group shot on my other camera will turn
out. Sadly, now it was lunch time, and time for us all to leave. 
Molly had to go home and we all watched her leave, still yelling out thanx. Awesome car she's got, huh?
|
Molly leaves us, amid wavels and tearful farewells. |
Once outside, we all prepared to say our goodbyes to one another, as well. I was leaving for home, and the others
were headed to W&P for one last time. Well, we ALMOST left at this point. Savanti just couldn't bear the thought
of leaving Mirage....
You can't see it
very well, but he's actually HANDCUFFED to the rail! Now, the really funny thing woulda been if he'd lost the key
or something. "No, officer, seriously they ARE my handcuffs! Why was I handcuffed to the rail? Well, um......"
No, I'm NOT evil, Savanti.
| Seven comtemplates what can be done to a handcuffed Savanti |
Well, we got Savanti uncuffed, only
to have him decide he wasn't worthy of being at Mirage in the first place. I'd thought of doing the same thing,
but there was no way I was going to be able to get down on the ground like that without my toe doing some MAJOR
protesting. So I took a picture instead. And, yes, he actually DID kiss the ground at one point, only to discover
there was a lotta dirt there. Silly Savanti.
|
Savanti pays homage to the Turtle Gods or looks for a missing contact, can't remember which... |
Sadly, I now had to leave (no one can prove that Brent & I hugged, anyone who says we did is lying!). It
was an interesting drive home. The 
Northampton area of Massachusetts
is such pretty country, I had to try snapping this picture, as I cruised down the I-91. For once, I was thankful
for an auto focus camera...just hold it up and pray there's no huge bug splattered on your windshield to confuse
the camera <G>. I did snap a few more pictures, in a similar fashion, on the trip home, including a shot
of storm clouds in Portland, Maine.
The picture didn't do the storm justice. As some of you know, I hit MAJOR rain driving through Maine. At one point,
I had to pull off of the I-95 (in Waterville) because I couldn't see ANYTHING outside of the car and, well call
me quirky, but I really don't feel comfortable driving like that. Finally made it to Brewer, pulled into the motel
for the night, only to have the storm knock out the power! It came back about an hour an a half later.
Got up bright and early and headed home. Thankfully, the weather behaved and, aside from a slightly traumatic incident
involving a squirrel, the drive wasn't too bad. After feeling like I'd been sitting in the car forever, this sight
greeted me at the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border...telling me I was only two hours from home. It was a long trip,
especially alone, but well worth it. I had a great time, got to meet some people (finally!) and...well, it was
just swell.
(golly gee shucks, don't THAT sound hokey?)
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for a fun time and some great hospitality on the part of the Words &
Pictures people and the fine folks at Mirage!!
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