Black April

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Do those even exist anymore? I mean outside of, like, parts of Utah or something?

Honestly i don't know.

As for OT Shredder, it doesn't matter if he referenced Japan or whatever. He had no accent and spoke with enough perfect Anerican English to do comedy stand up.

[Coola Yagami]

I do wonder how far they're gonna go with the stereotypes. I hope they don't make April some kind of hoodlum or whatever. Just make her a black scientist/news reporter/student without any negative connotations. This is Nick's chance to showcase a positive black character.

[PApagreg]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I do wonder how far they're gonna go with the stereotypes. I hope they don't make April some kind of hoodlum or whatever. Just make her a black scientist/news reporter/student without any negative connotations. This is Nick's chance to showcase a positive black character.

Why would nick make April a hoodlum, its not like the network has a history of insensitive depictions of black people hell going by previous black people in Nick April is going to be a smart tech geek

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by PApagreg

Why would nick make April a hoodlum, its not like the network has a history of insensitive depictions of black people hell going by previous black people in Nick April is going to be a smart tech geek

Who knows. But hey maybe April will be a nerd.

[CyberCubed]

Also this was a flashback to Shredder's childhood in one episode:



I love that he's still wearing his helmet as a teenager.

Notice how they're wearing Japanese uniforms and Saki's skin tone.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Also this was a flashback to Shredder's childhood in one episode:

https://i1.wp.com/www.adventuresinpo...size=491%2C375

I love that he's still wearing his helmet as a teenager.

Notice how they're wearing Japanese uniforms and Saki's skin tone.

It's all about skin tone with you.

[PApagreg]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Also this was a flashback to Shredder's childhood in one episode:

https://i1.wp.com/www.adventuresinpo...size=491%2C375

I love that he's still wearing his helmet as a teenager.

Notice how they're wearing Japanese uniforms and Saki's skin tone.

I bet you 5 bucks Saki was a Bancho

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Well... Shredder does act pretty white or at the very least totally American with all the jokes, insults and wordplay. I don't recall OT Shredder ever saying a Japanese expression. In contrast to that Splinter is stuck speaking like the stereotypical Miyagi speak.

Of course the turtles are white. California surfer dudes in new York. Even when it comes to Japanese stuff, other than Leo the rest come off as Americanized white dudes trying to do that wild and crazy Japanese thing. Though they sure had fun making Mikey talk black on the Nicktoon, son.

As for Black April, the 'feeling left out because she's black in an all white school' might work BUT no cartoon for kids is going to show such blatant racism against her. I bet they'll look for any excuse to have the schoolkids shun her other than race.

Now I do wonder just how much stereotypes this version of April is going to endure. We've never had a particularly cool and modern April before.

Well maybe Uncle Phil just couldn't do an Asian accent, and thus Shredder spoke with a very American accent. Also remember Uncle Phil was black. And remember that Shredder's mother and brother both sounded more Asian. As did Splinter and Lotus and that flower lady. Maybe James Avery just couldn't do a japanese accent.

How are they white? Only white people in USA can be surfers or something? What exactly would stop people from other races from having similar personalities to the Turtles? And that being said, I had never thought about what the Turtles would look like as human beings until you mentioned it lol.

Well the VAs of the FW Turtles and the 2k3 Turtles were all White, so ofc they'd "sound white". But that means nothing really. Shredder has been voiced by 3 Black men so far, and no one thinks that makes the character less Japanese. Just like lots of kid and teenage male cartoons characters are voiced by women doesn't make the characters actual women.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Also this was a flashback to Shredder's childhood in one episode:

https://i1.wp.com/www.adventuresinpo...size=491%2C375

I love that he's still wearing his helmet as a teenager.

Notice how they're wearing Japanese uniforms and Saki's skin tone.

haha yeah him wearing the helmet was funny. Also, in the Shredderville episode they show a video of him when he was a baby, also wearing a helmet. that one was even funnier.

What about his skin tone? He had the same as he did when he was an adult. Why is that strange?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

In the beginning of the FW series, Shredder did have a slight Japanese accent but dropped it before the First season even ended.

Atleast he sounds more Japanese than Nick and 2k3 Shredder though

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

In the beginning of the FW series, Shredder did have a slight Japanese accent but dropped it before the First season even ended.

Atleast he sounds more Japanese than Nick and 2k3 Shredder though

In the 2k3 series I think Scottie Ray tried to give him an East Asian like accent. Not really Japanese but an accent that could fit someone from Korea, China or Japan. Karai had a thicker accent, iirc.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I will say though, I thought that the cartoon Splinter VAs with the exception of Hoon Lee did do a pretty good job at sounding asian.

I never got why some people didn't like 2k3 Splinters voice. Sure, I prefer the deep voice from the 80s and 2k12 toon but i found his 2k3 voice to be alright.

[Prowler]

Wow the tags for this thread

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Of course the turtles are white

The Turtles are green, dude

I don't see why we'd try to impose race on them

[DestronMirage22]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Wow the tags for this thread

Yeah, this show has already led to some pretty interesting discussions and mixed receptions with all the changes that are being made.
And it hasn't even come out yet.
Could this be the next TMNT 2014?

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

The Turtles are green, dude

I don't see why we'd try to impose race on them

Yeah, they're turtles. They don't have race.

But, to be fair, there was that episode of the OT where one of the guys became human and was Caucasian.
And then there's 2012 Mikey.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

The Turtles are green, dude

I don't see why we'd try to impose race on them

I've always felt that the Turtles in each cartoon were into what was popular with the youth in general at the time.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I've always felt that the Turtles in each cartoon were into what was popular with the youth in general at the time.

Exactly.

Lest we all need to be reminded, we're talking about teenage mutant ninja turtles. They have no understanding of what it means to be human, they've just been picking up bits of culture along the way. And living in New York City, one of the biggest melting pots in the world, they would have been exposed to a pretty wide variety of things.

Although now that we're talking about it I'm very curious what their origin story is going to be in the new show

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

Exactly.

Lest we all need to be reminded, we're talking about teenage mutant ninja turtles. They have no understanding of what it means to be human, they've just been picking up bits of culture along the way. And living in New York City, one of the biggest melting pots in the world, they would have been exposed to a pretty wide variety of things.

Although now that we're talking about it I'm very curious what their origin story is going to be in the new show

Yeah, remember in the FW series in the very first episode they said "we know a lot about humans. We watch a lot of tv"

FWIW, my mother always thought the Turtles were Japanese. I mean, she obviously knows it's an American property, but she thought the Turtles themselves were Japanese, just like Splinter and/or Yoshi and Shredder. Which is also why she found them having Italian names to be very odd

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Yeah, remember in the FW series in the very first episode they said "we know a lot about humans. We watch a lot of tv"

FWIW, my mother always thought the Turtles were Japanese. I mean, she obviously knows it's an American property, but she thought the Turtles themselves were Japanese, just like Splinter and/or Yoshi and Shredder. Which is also why she found them having Italian names to be very odd

Well, she wouldn't be wrong if she was reading IDW!

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Prowler

FWIW, my mother always thought the Turtles were Japanese.

In cases where Yoshi became Splinter and a little DNA mixing may be involved, then I gotta agree with her that if they've got a touch of human in them from Splinter than they'd indeed be Japanese.

Unless... the kid in other versions last touched them (or a pet shop owner), then who knows.



Although when voice actors taken into consideration... until the next series mixes it up, so far they've been a bunch of 'green apples' much of the time, so to speak.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Well maybe Uncle Phil just couldn't do an Asian accent, and thus Shredder spoke with a very American accent. Also remember Uncle Phil was black. And remember that Shredder's mother and brother both sounded more Asian. As did Splinter and Lotus and that flower lady. Maybe James Avery just couldn't do a japanese accent.

How are they white? Only white people in USA can be surfers or something? What exactly would stop people from other races from having similar personalities to the Turtles? And that being said, I had never thought about what the Turtles would look like as human beings until you mentioned it lol.

Well the VAs of the FW Turtles and the 2k3 Turtles were all White, so ofc they'd "sound white". But that means nothing really. Shredder has been voiced by 3 Black men so far, and no one thinks that makes the character less Japanese. Just like lots of kid and teenage male cartoons characters are voiced by women doesn't make the characters actual women.


haha yeah him wearing the helmet was funny. Also, in the Shredderville episode they show a video of him when he was a baby, also wearing a helmet. that one was even funnier.

What about his skin tone? He had the same as he did when he was an adult. Why is that strange?

Pretty sure he could if he was given the direction. He did more of an accent in the first 5 eps. Actually I kinda think Nick Shredder was basically told to sound just like Trigon and forgot "oh yea, he's Japanese too".

The Turtles basically acted and talked white, C'mon you all know this, even though technically they're Turtles. If all 4 of them were cast by black VAs and spoke will all sorts of black slang, I know fans would have been calling them the black turtles even though, again, they're Turtles not human. Same if they were voiced by and sounded Hispanic. It doesn't change the fact that they're turtles and not humans, but you still would have people making green card jokes.