The Ninja Turtles celebrate NYCC with not one, but two pop up events

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are New Yorkers born and bred and this week while the town is hosting New York Comic Con, these turtle boys are offering the visitors and denizens of their hometown two pop ups to help celebrate the franchise’s forty two years of existence.

The first which is located in the iconic East Village is the Splinter and Sons Bodega. Honoring the city’s love of small shops which seem to carry everything, The store is decorated with faux products and posters inspired by the cast and characters, but the store also pack merchandise which includes the trade paperback of The Last Ronin, a gritty dystopian tale where one brother is left to take on a descendent of the Shredder, one which managed to take over the city, t-shirts featuring various incarnations of the turtles, and even the reissue of the Turtle Van which released in the 2020s. Although it lacks a bodega cat, one of the quick witted workers at the pop up corrected that they had a bodega krang!

Aside from merchandise and apparel, this pop up also offered visitors an opportunity to sample some of the video games in which the turtles are featured. From the compilation of classic titles that is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Collection, the rogue-lite title developed by Super Evil Mega Corp in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate and Tribute Games’ love letter to the side scrolling beat’em up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

Finally the store might be the only place where fans can view a video edited by artist Jacob Payne dubbed “TMNT Across All Eras”. The work pieces together live action, animated, video game and even toy interpretations of the turtles to just show the breadth of which they have been represented across multiple mediums.

The other pop up will have you crossing the bridge into Brooklyn, as the Domino Park location of Stretch Pizza will be offering a turtles inspired menu for just this weekend. Select a pie or soft serve inspired by the four brothers as well as drinks inspired by the adults in their lives (Splinter, April and Shredder). We were fortunate to be invited to a Pizza Party before the pop up’s launch and had an opportunity to sample the pies and despite Raphael’s pie (sausage, pepperoni, and hot date syrup) would be an easier front runner was edged out by Leonardo’s pie (white pizza with dehydrated black olives) and Donny’s (mushroom pesto). While Mikey’s pizza (Canadian bacon, pineapple, and pineapple whip) fits his personality to a tee, the Canadian bacon was a little too salty and that set this pie to the back of the pack. Otherwise if you’re a fan of pizza and the turtles, you owe it to yourself to help yourself to a slice or two before these two pop ups return back to the sewers.

The Splinter and Sons Bodega is located on 130 2nd ave (The corner of St. Marks Place and 2nd Ave) from 12pm to 8pm on Saturday and 12pm to 6pm. The limited time TMNT menu will be available during the Domino Park location of Stretch Pizza during the shop’s standard hours which is 12pm to 10pm this weekend.