Now, there are three reasons why I like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...
 

1. The Plot
That whole "Born-in-a-society-they-can-never-be-part-of-aliens-on-their-own-home-planet" thing just grabs me by the neck and yells "Write me!"
What really kills me is how they are all forced to stick together, even if they get along or not, because of who they are in life.
Plus, the mutagen and altered DNA is pretty interesting, and you can continue working with that.

2. The Characters
Yes, at first glance they may seem like serious stereotypes-- the leader, the thinker, the rebel, the joker, the old and wise-- but as we get to know them, we see that there's more to 'em-- they're just a little more complex than that. Plus, you can add your own little twists to their personalities as you go along (writing).
They are really different, some even the complete opposite of each other, and that's good, because no matter what, no matter who you are, you'll find some aspects to them that you can recognize and relate to.

3. They're Cute
So what if they're a whole other species? They still look cute! ;oP
 

And here's the biography...why and how did I start liking them...

I discovered these guys when I was six years old and still in kindergarden. (In Norway we used to start school at the age of seven, but now they've changed it to six)
A girl in my kindergarden was drawing a round, green face with a mask on it.
I asked what it was supposed to be, and she said it was a turtle. I'm norwegian, so I had absolutely no idea that a turtle was an animal. (in norwegian turtle is "skilpadde", and I didn't speak much english at the time)
One of the "aunts" in the kindergarden thought that it was strange that I'd never heard about them before.
All the children near by was crazy about them. And I was soon to be too.
I bought a Turtles magazine one day, and I was hooked. I even made my dad make me a bo-staff like Don's, and my brother had little nunchukus like Mike's. And we even bought those long silk bonds you use for curtains and sowing and stuff, and pierced holes in them to wear them as bandannas. I had TMNT pillowcases and a Raphael handpuppet as well. And of course, when I was about seven or eight or so, we started renting Turtles on video, and I loved it. It also ran on TV, and naturally I was glued to the screen.

Then, in 1994, they stopped selling TMNT magazines in Norway. Nobody liked TMNT anymore, but I still went to used-magazine stores to buy the old numbers. Though I actually didn't have many TMNT magazines, not even 20.
After a while-- not a very long while, I think it was still 1994-- I didn't bother to buy them anymore, and I even gave away all my TMNT toys (which weren't many to begin with, so I don't really miss 'em). But then I discovered the TMNT movies, and I have all three of them. I didn't buy them, however, I just taped them. Dunno where I would get ahold of them here, either way.
I still-- obviously-- like the TMNT, but I don't like the cartoon. Hey, you wouldn't either, if you saw Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles dubbed to Norwegian! Donny sounds like he's inhaled a very large dose of helium, and I don't even wan't to mention the other voices! But all in all, it's one of the better cartoons I've seen.
I watch the first movie, though, from time to time, and just love it! The two other ones are really let-downs and victims of bad acting and script writing, not to mention bad music. Vanilla Ice making an "improvised rap"? Ack! I seriously doubt my mental health as a kid, considering that I actually enjoyed those last two movies, which basically ruined the idead of the TMNT.

Just resently-- well, not that resently, more like three years now <G>-- I found my old box of TMNT magazines, which was stuffed in the attic-- and I remembered them all.
I searched the internet, and found something called The TMNT Fanfic Ring. I was really surprised that there were still people there who loved The Turtles. I thought TMNT were totally dead. There were even two other rings; The Ring of Green, and The Fan Art Ring. (now there's also The Truly Evil Fanfic Ring)
I got hooked again. On the movies, and on the fanfics about the Turtles, and now, later, on the Mirages. I love the stories people write.
They make me laugh, they make cry-- or any other feeling-- either way it feels great! The Turtles have such complicated personalities, I realized, that vary from each medium, that they are perfect to write about. There is something for everybody, something everybody can relate to.
Especially the fiery Raphael is fun, though writing him doesn't come too easily to me.

I used to be on tmnt-l, a TMNT mailing list, where we exchanged stories, received feedback, discussed TMNT and various other topics (though mostly turtle-related) and got updated on turtle news.
Also, some of the members were nice enough to send me old Mirage issues-- either scanned and sent by email, or actual issues by snail mail.
I definitely think Mirage is the best (and it's the original, too) version of TMNT, but to each his own.
But then Topica decided to fuse them and Esosoft together, so for a week there, the list was down. But now they're up and running again, on the new list, at tmnt-l@topica.com. I have quit this list, though, as real life interfered, and as I don't have the time and probably not the will to write fanfics anymore, especially now that I write my own stuff. The only thing that may be updated here now and then are the short stories.
They most likely won't though, I must admit. I'm still "hanging on at the edges of TMNT fandom" as GW said once, but I'm not nearly half as involved as I used to be. Ah well...things change.

Here's my email: lolascubish@hotmail.com