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This is one of the incarnations I liked the most. In the beginning the Turtles are children on the cusp of manhood. They have spent their whole lives in the sewers, no matter how big the sewer system is in New York City the dank tunnels aren’t enough for them anymore. They want to see something new, something exciting, they want to go out and find their place the world and so their journey leads them outside to the surface.
At first the city is their new world, but despite being warned that the world outside their sewer home is dangerous they still show a nievity toward it. Resulting in one of them finding the girl that would see as the love of his life. Gaining an enemy in the Kraang, and even worse accidentally drawing the attention of a foe from their fathers past.
From here their lives are divided. They come to see that while the world around them will never see them as people there are a precious few who can learn to see them as friends. But even more so there are those who will see them as enemies simply because they exist. They will also let their own confidence get the better of them only to result in one friend leaving them for a time and numerous other innocent people being mutated.
As things progress they gain an ally from someone they originally saw as an enemy. And experienced their first great upset in the supposed death of their father, the near death of one of their own, and the loss of city in which they lived. Forced to live outside the city, they are able to live relitively normal lives for a time, but much like the sewers they are still religated to the grounds of the farmhouse and the acreage surrounding it. Struggling with the losses brought upon them they eventually find the resolve to return and reclaim what they have lost. But even with the defeat of the Kraang, they feel they have one less enemy to deal with until they realize that the Kraang have returned and another threat to their world arrives from far beyond their planets solar system.
This again results in the loss of their father through litteral death as well as the deaths of millions of innocent humans as they are sucked into a black hole. The four turtles and their human friends once again find themselves with an opertunity to flee with their lives. But the loss waying upon their sholders is a heavy burden, because they failed and survived while their father and everyone else on their forsaken planet was doomed to a fate worse then death.
The person who saved them however says there is a way to change the past as he leads them back six months in time. Over the course of the jouney the six companions largely depend on one another in worlds that are outside of their understanding. They befriend some, make enemies of others, and are betrayed by two people they have come to view as friends. But they managed to disrupt the failures of the past. Unfortunately these times are not last, as their greatest enemy undergoes mutation himself in order to defeat them. And things become worse as one of their own becomes corrupted and another one of their own is destroyed as a result. And lastly their greatest enemy wins by slaying his former friend and this time the act is perminant. Armed with only each other the six companions face off in a final confrontation against their great enemy and defeat him for good. Now the four turtles are no longer children, they have become full grown men. They have earned their places in the world and live to protect it and the allies they have gained only makes their family stronger.
Also in previous incarnations the Turtles have basically one character trope, Leo the leader, Raph the Muscle, Donnie the Brains, and Mikey the Joker.
This time these tropes are taken, but they are added to.
Leonardo is the leader and big brother. Both are roles he struggles with. As a young boy he had always known he was destined for leadership, and strives to follow his fathers instructions as they have been thought as he feels it is his duty. However big brother and leader are two different roles. Sometimes he would act as a brother or a leader successfully. But other times, he will act as a leader when he should be acting as a brother. And other times he would play off the role of a brother when he should be a leader.
Such for example when Donnie wanted to go after Vizioso.
The way Leo scolds Donnie is as a leader to an underling. And at the time he feels that’s the role he needs to be in because he doesn’t see things other what is important at the moment. At time getting the heart in order to prevent Shredder from being reserected was more important then any issues Donnie was going through.
But if he had approached Donnie as a big brother, by saying “D, what is really going on? Because this is not normal behavior from you.” Then maybe he could have had a better understanding of Donnie’s mindset. It wouldn’t have changed much, but Leo would more likely have told Donnie to stay since they would see him as too involved in the situation.
He knows he can’t be the brother each of his bros want him to be, but he tries to be the one they need him to be. He loves all of them and relates to them each differently, but finds he can’t be partial to one without looking like he’s picking favorites. But he can’t ignore another one without looking like he’s neglecting them so it becomes a matter of who needs his attention more. With Raph being a handful and Mikey often needing attention Leo has at times unintentionally given his remaining brother the shaft when he needs him most.
In addition to this responcibility placed upon his young shoulders, he also has a geeky side which does remind us that he is still a kid at heart.
Raph being the muscle is the protective one of the family. He feels it’s his job to protect his brothers and companions has felt this was his role ever since he was a toddler. As the second oldest and one of the two middle children of the family he feels like he is perpetually in his older brothers shadow. As a result he shows aggression towards his older brother because it feels no matter what he does, Leo always does it better. And he shows dominance towards his younger brothers as a means of showing them tough love in order to drive them to improve in their fighting. But despite being a bully he does deeply care about his younger brothers and anyone who would hurt anyone in his family for any reason does make his **** list (he also isn’t above this same reproach). As the series progresses he finds being a bully approach doesn’t always garner the best results though he won’t sugar coat lessons his younger brothers need to learn either. He has a strong companionship with Mikey even going as far as to emotionally break down when he is injured.
Donnie is the resident genius and pacifist of the group. He isn’t particularly arrogant about his inteligence, but he does view it as the one saving grace that makes him feel like he is a member of his team. Even the times the does preen or gloat about his accheavements are more like a desire for recognition then self absorbion. He is given a hard time about being a weaker fighter then the rest of his brothers, particularly by Raph. Though truth be told, if given the choice between working in his lab or participating in a fight he would likely choose working on his lab, but not without a lot of consideration of either option first.
He hates the pacifist aspect about himself as it makes him feel like he feels like he doesn’t really belong or that he holds everyone back. Because of this there is a running gag in the beginning of the series where his weapon would be broken or destroyed because he doesn’t have any faith in it or his own abilities as a ninja.
Even during the weapon origin for the four Turtles, Donnie gracefully does accept his bo staff but all the same does complain with some disappointment by saying “Oh man, it’s just a stick.” In all likelyhood, Donnie had been banking on the weapon he recieved being something that he felt would have proven his worth as a warrior.
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