WB/Teen Titans Studio Tour
Wow, so where do I begin?

Ok, I guess this is how things started. Obviously I'm a fan of the Teen Titans cartoon on Cartoon Network.

So my friends and I decided to make Teen Titans costumes. I was Beast Boy (sorry, that web page is woefully out of date).

Me and my friends wore them to San Diego Comic Con in 2004 and 2005. We were lucky enough to run into the cast and crew of the show! X-D

Everyone was extremely nice to us and offered us a tour of the studio if we ever were in the area.

A whole year later, I got up the courage to take them up on the offer. waynekaa (Aqualad and Prom Robin) and I went to the WB animation studio to have a look around.

Mr. Irineo Maramba, a storyboard artist for the show, was our guide. It was really cool seeing how the show was put together. He was also one of the animators for one of my favorite episodes, Employee of the Month. He showed Wayne and I some the story boards for the episode along with all of the fantasticly funny scenes that had to be cut for time. :( If you couldn't tell already, that episode had a lot of FLCL references. The scenes that were cut made it even more evident! X-D

He also showed us the storyboards for the most recent episodes, Homecoming Part 1 which is another very heavy Beast Boy story. Again, a lot of really cool and amazing scenes that had to be cut from the episode. You really get a feeling that these shows should be more then 30 minutes! :)

We also talked to the producer of the show, Glen Murakami. His office is amazing btw! X-D Just check out the photos below. We talked a lot about the show, how the show is made. Random tidbits about some of our favorite episodes such as the recent Doom Patrol episodes, how space tofu came about into becoming an episode. I'm also really looking forward to the Teen Titans DVDs that will be coming out that contains Mr. Murakami's commentary about each episode. I just hope he remembers the details from all of the episodes. :)

As we were walking around the studio, we saw billboards of the random stuff they find on the internet about the show, including cosplay photos. X-D I guess the crew likes to rotate photos of Teen Titan cosplayers! I'm happy to say that I used to be up there. Currently there's a picture of waynekaa and ajmeow as Prom Robin and Starfire!

We also saw some of the character sheets of the Titans as well as the villains, gadgets, and vehicles from the show.

There was even one wall that had backgrounds and characters from the upcoming Teen Titans Tokyo direct to video DVD. From what little we've seen, it's going to look amazing! 8-O For me at least, just looking at some of the background artwork made my jaw drop. And before you ask, no, I have no idea what it's going to be about, other then the Titans will be in Tokyo. Which I'm sure you could tell from the title of the DVD. Which is a good thing anyway, I hate getting spoiled. :)

They were also nice enough to let us watch an episode that should be airing in a couple of weeks, "For Real."

It's such a funny episode! We were both laughing so hard in the conference room. Lots of great in-jokes as well as a great story. All you fanboys should get a treat out of this one. Oh! and make sure you keep an eye out, Glen Murakami makes a bit of a cameo in the episode. X-D

Since, ajmeow (our Starfire) wasn't able to come to the studio with us, Glen suggested that they call her at work. I think she was pleasantly surprised at the phone call. X-D AJ and Wayne were able to geek out since they were both huge fans of the Batman Beyond series that Mr. Murakami also worked on. They also showed us pictures the crew took with The Source the space tofu plushy that AJ made for them at this year's Comic-Con. The Source working, making changes to story boards, The Source hitting on the women at the office. X-D I'm really glad they liked him, major props to AJ for making that in such a short amount of time. X-D

What else did we see? We saw some of the raw footage that just came over from their Korean animation studio as they were asking for changes to the footage. I dunno what episode yet, but I'm sure we'll recognize it when it airs. :) We also walked by the sound stage they used to record the voices of the characters. They happened to be recording the voices for an episode of Justice League: Unlimited. We just had a peek since they were obviously busy and working.

Wayne and I also had a wonderful time going to lunch with Glen, Irineo and other members of the crew. I finally know what the heck a director does on a cartoon. Yah, I'm slow. :) But it was just great talking about random things about the show, their influences. No surprise but many of the crew are big anime and cartoon fans themselves and they talked about how they put some of that influence in the episodes of Teen Titans.

We also talked about people costuming from the show. They mentioned that they would know the show would be a hit if they started seeing cosplayers. X-D I'm glad I was able to help! LOL

Speaking of which, they were also nice enough to give us a few character sheets for future costumes we have planned. We hope to have them at the next Comic Con! :)

What can I say? I had a fantastic time!

I can't even begin to thank Irineo Maramba for being our tour guide, Glen Murakami for putting up with me and Wayne for so long and all of the crew that we met and talked with.

Thank you all for making such a wonderful show for both kids and adults. :)

	Glen and Irineo Glen Murakami and Irineo Maramba. They were really nice in showing Wayne and I around the studio. They are abusing The Source, that AJ and I gave to them at this year's Comic Con. :) They showed us several pictures of The Source around the studio and with the other animators and voice actors. I'm really glad they enjoyed him. :)
	Cast and crew Some of the cast and crew of Teen Titans we bumped into as we went to lunch.
	Mmmm good food and great company Glen and Irineo were nice enough to take Wayne and I out to lunch along with some of the animators and directors of the Teen Titans. The food was fantastic as was taking to everyone about the show. :)
	Simon! I suck and didn't get the name of the fantastic Moroccan restaurant we went to. I guess the crew goes there so often, they made the owner a character on the show! X-D Look for Simon in an upcoming episode! :)
	Irineo told me that the crew likes to post up photos of cosplayers and fanart they find on their board. X-D You can see the dashing Wayne as Prom Robin. :)
	Prom You can see AJ and Wayne as Prom Starfire and Robin in the lower picture. Hehehe. :>
	Beast Boy! This was the great Beast Boy that was at Comic Con in 2004. It seems the voice actors gave him a call in the voice of the characters. He was so excited to get a call from the Titans! You can also see to the left the Teen Titans cosplayers from Otakon(?).