What would you have done with the characters?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Leonardo is always a Don Quixote character. Hard to change that.

[miru]

I would have had Mutagen Man be entirely responsible for the Mutant Apocalypse arc, rather than the Foot. He would also come back as Titanus and serve as the final villain. I'd rename the Neutrinos, to avoid confusion.

[The-Shredder]

I'd have Donatello "pull the plug" on Timothy... Mirage style.

[JH24]

Casey: Being less full of himself and actually receiving training by the turtles or Splinter in martial arts, without losing his own fighting style.

April: No special powers. I didn't dislike it but it didn't do much for me either.

Bishop: No Utrom. Instead being a human elite agent for the government who chases after the turtles. Not necessarily evil, but genuinely believes their presence among humans is a potential threat.

I would have liked an arc with the turtles directly being confronted by the prejudice of humans, and to see more of their desires or dreams to be part of human society.

[victory_angel]

Originally Posted by miru

I would have had Mutagen Man be entirely responsible for the Mutant Apocalypse arc, rather than the Foot. He would also come back as Titanus and serve as the final villain. I'd rename the Neutrinos, to avoid confusion.

I see Don Vizioso becoming Titanus. After all, Vizioso is a human who sees mutants as scum because they are mutants. It doesn't matter to him if any of them had been human previously, they are mutants now and that's all he needs to know.

Titanus is a mutant criminal from the future who sees humans as scum and wants to turn the city into mutants as grunts for his criminal empire.

It would be sort of fitting for Vizioso to wind up mutated, but instead of being angry that he's a mutant now he embraces his new form as he realizes how powerful he is. And that maybe it wasn't the muties who were the problem it was the humans who were the real trash in the city. He would be vengeful towards the turtles as well, and he would want to kill them as a display of what happens if you cross him.


I also think they should have returned to Grody discovering the turtles.

In the episode where she first captures footage of the turtles, she proclaims Muckman as a hero because there is already a bunch of people saying that was what he was. And unless she had reason to report otherwise that was the direction she had to go.

With the Turtles, on the other hand, they were a blank slate and she could make up whatever crap she wanted because ratings.


When Muckman throws her off their trail by telling her they were just a group of kids playing dress up. But this is just a bandaid to smooth over things.

Grody would just need to catch the turtles while they are fighting a mutant threat to the city. Such as the Super Shredder or Kavaxus for instance, and then notice them being able to do things that should be impossible if they were human.

Grody could then reveal what sort of threat they are to the city calling the battles "Mutant Gang Wars" and also use this as leverage to report that Muckman wasn't the hero everyone thinks he is.

So then the Turtles have to deal with the fact they are not only orphans, but they are now seen as public enemy #1

[Metalwolf]

@JH24

I wouldn't have given April any powers either. I think I would have just left her as the normal 'everyone' character, who through her is the proxy which we discover and learn about the Turtles. Giving her powers just makes me feel like they didn't know how to make a normal female character interesting.

[Warhorse]

Mature Mikey up. Damn, he's supposed to be a teenager and he acts more like a toddler.

I also started to lose interest when 2012 started to do the same thing as in 2k3, made it the Leonardo show and his bumbling brothers. Don't get me wrong, I like Leo, and he's probably my second favorite in most incarnations, but they are going way overboard in 2012 and 2k3 with how he's the only one that can take on Shredder and Karai. Poor Mikey ended up not being much of a threat, and I just wished we could get an animated version similar to the Mikey we saw in the 1990 movie.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I would've made the Kraang a bigger threat.

Despite them being the one's responsible for everything going into motion (even the evolution of humans), they are brushed off far too easily and treated like comic relief to an extent.

The season 3 middle two parter had the turtles warp their whole army into Dimension X, after which they never make any meaningful appearance or impact, despite still being out there.

Its this one thing, along with Ciro's talk about the script about a Kraang themed special, which makes me hopeful that we haven't seen the last of the 2012 turtles.

[PApagreg]

Oh boy I got a lot to say

Leonardo-I actually like this Leo but found his hypocritical stance on vengeance to be off putting. Have him struggle with the idea of vengeance in season 5, I'm not saying make him go full Punisher but its kind odd how he showed Shredder's head like a trophy but told Don that him wanting revenge on the Don is a bad thing never mind the fact they have anti mutant weapons

Raph- Not much to say but lay off the physical abuse and the whole leaving on my own thing got old by season 4

Donnie- 86 the whole Apriltello thing or at least don't make Don a creepy stalker in the 1st two seasons because boy that was hard to watch.

Mikey- I HATE this incarnation of Mikey, for some reason the writers thought it would be a good idea to have him be as smart as Billy from Grim Adventures and he is just unbearable most of the time, seriously how many episodes do we see him mess with Donnie's dangerous equipment/chemicals. Half the time I wonder how he even lived to see 15 with all of his limbs attached because of how stupid he is. TLDR I would add 50 IQ points and not make him the turtle equivalent of Patrick

April- The whole Kraang thing was interesting but I wish her powers were a bit more passive in nature and giving her telekinesis kind of made her feel a little too OP and made her feel too much like Jean Grey. Also speaking of powers I felt that the later seasons focused too much on that and not enough on her character/personality with the exception of City At War.

Casey- Pretty much my least favorite version of the character which is a shame because he showed so much promise at the start. I said it before but we should've seen Casey interacting with his family at least once since it was his motivation and it would've add some dimensions to the character also make him waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy less obnoxious and annoying.

Splinter- Actually like this incarnation but have him more proactive when it comes to Shredder and needs to check his 6 more.

Shredder- Most people say that he is the most three dimensional Shredder and I don't see it, he feels too much like a 1 dimensional character focusing only on killing Splinter which got old by season 3 and despite his "love" for Karai he barely treats her any different than say Bradford. So I would have him similar to IDW Shredder as a character who despite having a personal relationship with Splinter still wants to expand his empire and do other things.

Karai- I like this character but didn't enjoy how she was basically ping ponged by two opposing forces in late season 2 and season 3 also thought her mutant powers were dumb. So I would keep almost everything except for the whole snake mutant thing and have her actually join the final fight against Shredder.

Hun/Alopex- I said it before but this series has the Young Justice effect in that they have well loved characters make an appearance but don't do anything with them. So I would have Hun have some sort of rivalry with Casey and have their relationship and development grow over the course of the series as for Alopex have her appear in season 3 and actually be somewhat of a recurring character.

Xever- Did my boy dirty, one of my favorite Shredder Lieutenants and has a fighting style we never seen in any iteration. Unfortunately though he had to turn into Fishface and his design as a mutant was just awful and those comically giant switchblade knives aren't helping either. So personally I would drop the whole Fishface angle and have his persona Mr X used more in the series

Bebop & Rocksteady- Even though I enjoy their IDW iteration I didn't care for this version, mostly because they had no chemistry and it felt like they were only friends because the writers decided to give some fan service to the OT show without realizing why OT Bebop & Rocksteady worked as a duo. So instead I would probably have them act as a third party because it never made sense to me why they would still work for Shredder, especially when Rocksteady is already an arms dealer which means he has some sort of following also I would make their relationship more professional because again I never understood why they became buddy buddy as the series went on.

Baxter- NO FLY BAXTER, also like Bebop and Rocksteady I think it would've been better if he was another party or at least independent and goes from faction to faction like 2k3 Baxter and have him more confident and cocky as the series goes on. Another thing is that I wish we got more "Baxter Gambit" episodes with him trapping his enemies into death traps sort of like Arcade or Jigsaw.

Tigerclaw- Thought he had a somewhat of a cool design but felt too much like a creators pet. Personally I would play more into the hunter aspect of his character and make his fight scenes reflect that. Rarely have him get up close with his enemies and either attack them from a far, ambush them or set up traps. Don't get me wrong this happened numerous of times in the show but I felt it was too few and far between. Also have him act more like a professional mercenary and have him leave the Shredder when the mentioned gets too crazy and mutates himself. Also NO JETPACKS because my god that was cringe.

Bradford/Dogpound/Rahzer/Whatever- Have him be the Hun of the series in that he will do everything to please the Shredder and have Shredder call him his closest friend/ally because it really didn't make sense when he referred that position/title to Tigerclaw

Kraang- Admittedly I wasn't that much of a fan when it came to the Kraang but even I felt that they were rarely treated as dire/important as Shredder despite them being responsible for human evolution. I personally would erase the human evolution aspect to the lore you can have them on Earth for a long time but the the whole being here since the dawn of mankind is just too much for me. Not much to say except give them more of a presence and like FredWolfLeonarndo said don't brush them off.

Purple Dragons- Give them interesting designs and personality

Irma- Keep her human

Timothy/Mutagen- Give him some sort of an ending whether it be him turning into a villain, him coming to terms into being a mutant, turning into a human, or whatever actually give the character some sort of resolution.

[Hockey Boy]

More focus on the other turtles accomplishing things, lately it feels like its the Leonardo show but its TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Leonardo
-Enough of this Leonardo is the best most spiritual best fighter awesome super special ninja ever” nonsense
No creepy Karai love story, she’s a human and his adopted sister, its too weird, man.

-Donatello
No creepy April love triangle.

-Michelangelo
MICHELANGELO
IS
NOT
DUMB.

-Raphael
not much, except maybe tone down the ridiculous love story with the salamander

-April
No stupid ass ultra badass jedi dark Phoenix Mary sue ****.She could easily just be a great Kunoichi in her own right
No stupid krang conspiracy with her being the super ultra special lady, thats lame

-Casey
No stupid love triangle
He should be much less of a wimp in combat, maybe beef him up physically to justify him hanging out with the turtles in combat
No weird “how do you do fellow kids” speak like “dope” and stuff like that
Actually SHOW his family.
Stop with the “only hockey stick now and forever” wheres the cricket bat, baseball bat, cmon!

-Splinter
He shouldn't keep beating the **** out of his sons over nothing.

Thats about it.

[Hockey Boy]

And as for the baddies, cause im stupid and forgot
-Shredder
Shredder used to be such a G.Now hes borderline stupid and obsessed with revenge on a rat cause he dated a girl he liked.Thats pathetic.
If you ask me they should just have a new Ch’rell again, but that’ll never happen for some bizarre reason.
-Tigerclaw
Him being “shredder’s super best friend and most trusted advisor and the best fighter ever hes just so cool!” Is lame, i don’t know if it was to sell toys, but they artificially tried building him up and he didn’t even do much!
-Bebop and Rocksteady
Remove them.They’re annoying, and Bradford and Xever were leagues more interesting
-Mutagen Man
Remember he exists.
-Hun
Remove him aswell, just more nostalgia baiting and offering a completely different bruce lee ripoff, who’s unfunny and doesn’t do anything interesting except provide a foil for Casey, and then, he disappears after like 2 episodes, what’s even the point.
-Purple Dragons
Have them as an actual street gang and not 3 dudes who are acknowledged as jokes.

[MikeandRaph87]

Keep key characters alive. I felt the whole idea of Shredder willing to die and the world with him just so he can kill Splinter overdone only for Shredder to kill Splinter anyway just this time without the planet at stake. Without Splinter and Shredder the series lost its way and I feel the show wrote itself into a corner. Also, The Rat King finally had an origin and callbacks to the 1987 cartoon that made sense. Yet after just two appearances he dies? Such an interesting character with so much untapped potential.

Moved away from Michelangelo being inept and dimwitted, as dumb as Donatello is smart.I blame this as misinterpretation of the development of Townsend Coleman's fun loving athlete with a 90s' teen mindset.

Chris Bradford had potential, instead he double mutated to be in name only and get pushed to the background only to be the only ever hench-mutant to die. Fish Face on the other hand, there was never much to him.Instead we could have seen a rivalry with Tiger Claw for Shredder's right hand with Tiger Claw the jonny come lately and Bradford the tenured member who has recruited in secret for years and been a public face. Another character with a missed opportunity.

Do the Turtles necessarily need love interest? I found Donatello's crush with April that producers added to make him more likable and sympathetic the complete opposite of their intention. It was weird enough hearing the one who defines Raphael for me coming out of Donatello.There was also Leonardo's flirtatious respect with Karai, who is his step-sister in this version, that is soap opera ick.

Having Slash debut a different way, also would have been better. Perhaps as a turtle they knew from the pet shop who was left behind unsold for years or something along those lines to create a dislike or angst about him. A turtle having another turtle as a pet? Sure it is an exaggeration with a turtle having a cat as a pet, but making a human comparison to that just points bad things.

Zogg wanted to eradicate the whole planet to get ride of utroms? That is the exterminator going to the extreme. Maybe close off New York City and threaten it, but the whole planet?

I would have also have avoided in name onlys like The Neutrinos being evil actual neutrinos or Wyrm as a space genie, Hun as Jacki Chan, among others. There could have been other avenues to bring in the characters instead of just plaster a name of an older character on a new character. If one is the administrator of a franchise it must be respected even with minor characters.

I would have also liked to have seen Utrom Sub Prime disguised as someone other than Irma. It was a chance for April to interact with other people not named Casey Jones. Adding Iram in a reoccurring presence would have been a nice touch.

[neatoman]

Let's see here:

• Leo: More or less what's expected, could be a bit more calm and collected.
• Raph: More or less what's expected as well.
• Don: Expected, could be less... Creepy...
• Mike: Expected but not desired, I don't like the cartoons insisting on making him loud and stupid, he ought to be more of an emotional center than an annoyance.
• Splinter: Makes sense for what they were going for, I wouldn't make him the father of anyone but the turtles. Also he'd be a animal from the start, which applies to all mutants if I had my way, keep that in mind.
• April: Might as well be a new character, April might have been a lot of things but never a psychic half-utrom. Even when regarded as a new character, her progression should have been more clear, as presented she makes huge leaps forward with little shown on screen.
• Shredder: Kind of expected. It made me realise why 4Kids made him an Utrom and IDW an immortal avatar of the destruction god, it's kind of awkward to have the main villain in a series like this just be some guy with a hate boner, he's not really as big of a deal as the show wants us to think he is.
• Casey: Expected but not depicted in the best way.
• Karai: Like I said before, don't like having mutants start out as humans or Splinter being anyone but the turtes' father. Even so, there should be an internal conflict of moral, affection and loyalty that just isn't there. The fact that she turns on Shredder the moment the truth is confirmed seems a bit too sudden for me.
• Baxter Stockman: Should also just stay human, if there's any character I hate turning into a mutant it's him, **** you if you actually like seeing him as a pathetic fly. He should be more assertive and vindictive.
• Fugitoid: Expected but not quite right with the backstory.
• Bishop: Could obviously be a new character.
• Hun: Visually off and should have been in more episodes.
• Renet and Savanti: Expected, except from the part of them being from the future instead of the 79th dimension. I thought the point was they existed outside of time.
• Usagi: Expected.
• Jei: Not sure, I get that his ****ed up tendancy to kill anyone he thinks is "evil" (basically everyone he comes across) couldn't be a thing in the show.
• Rat King: I don't understand why they removed his mysterious nature and made just another bad guy. He should be more ambigious.
• Leatherhead: Kind of expected. Him going berserk when hearing "Kraang" is a pretty dumb depiction of his rage issues.
• Utroms: Don't understand why they were seemingly replaced by "The Kraang", aside from maybe giving the ooze malicious intent.
• Slash, Mondo, Mona Lisa, Mutagen Man, Punk Frogs, Muckman, Joe Eyeball, Wingnut, Screwloose, Chrome Dome, Traag, Granitor, Pizza Face, Dregg, Wyrm, Armaggon, Bellybomb, Antrax, Scumbug and Hot Head: They're a bunch of toy/FW/Archie creations. There was very little of value in the original characters anyway, so it doesn't matter how much they changed them, they're not exactly essential or even interesting in the first place. The parts about weird character arcs and other writing related issues do still apply however.
• Bebop and Rocksteady: Same as above but... I especially wish they had been left out, if there are any TMNT characters that should not be given more attention it's Bebop and Rocksteady, please just let them fall into obscurity.

As for the new characters, can't exactly complain about deviation obviously but the flaws in writing applies to any character that happens to fall victim to them.

[victory_angel]

I wasn't turned off by Donatello's interest in April. I didn't love it and I felt it could have been wrapped rather than prolonged as much as it was.


The turtles, in general, have lived their whole lives in an all-male society. The only females they have seen before April have been on TV. So it's only natural that Donnie would come across as too needy and somewhat creepy in his initial attempts at getting April's interest. He, fortunately, does pay attention to April's reactions and does augment his behavior going forward.

Instead of prolonging the issue maybe Season 1 is largely where there Apriltello's thing happens. Have Raph or Leo express some concerns about it, somewhat with Donnie's behavior and the rest more along the lines of the likelihood of Donnie getting hurt when he realizes April will not return his feelings in that way. Leo is along the lines of talking to him and getting him to back off, while Raph is like "he's going to learn one way or another. If he gets hurt, we can't say we didn't warn him" Then in season two, the Apriltello thing will continue. Have April get upset with the Turtles about her father being mutated and have her distance herself from them. Donnie would be distressed about her absence only in one episode. Not tears or depression, but more along the lines of aimlessly drifting about the lair or staring in to space. So that way it's bad enough for the others to be concerned but not so bad they feel they should step in. At some point, maybe Mikey suggests they should go talk to her explain their side. Only to be shot down by Leo, Raph that April had said she doesn't want to see them, they should respect her wishes.

Donnie then points out that April is still being targeted by the Kraang. Without them she's left vulnerable, they should keep an eye on her at least. This is where Splinter steps in and says that he understands his concerns, but they must let her have her space. If she returns it would be when she is ready, not because they want her to. In the meantime, they must track down the rest of those Mutagen canisters to prevent others from suffering a similar fate to her father.

The Apriltello thing would continue only up until "Target: April O'Neil". I didn't take Donnie's following her as stalking her, it felt more like he was shadowing her. Making sure she was safe, and yes partially hoping she was over her anger enough to at least talk to them.

I would have that part be Donnie keeping an eye on April while he is doing some solo scouting for the mutagen canisters. That's when he sees some foot bots attack April, he jumps in to assist her. But she is less than grateful for the help and reminds him that she didn't want to see any of them ever again. As she starts to leave, Donnie says the words "Some things are beyond control.' April pauses a moment but then bitterly says "Goodbye, Donnie!".

Donnie returns to the lair. One of his brothers asked if he had any luck finding any canisters. He doesn't say anything in response, he just wordlessly goes to his lab. The others realize he must have tried talking to April to which Raph says "whatever happened he brought it on himself."

Everything else plays out as it does in the episodes. Except when April appears at the lair to let the Turtles know she has forgiven them about what happened to her father. She then asks Donnie if she can talk to him privately. Donnie takes her to his lab, but for she says anything he tells her he knows about Casey, and if she wants to be with him he understands. April smiles at this and says there is nothing between Casey and her, but she also is aware of Donnie's feelings for her. So going forward she wants him to know she likes him and cares about him and even sees his family as her own. But she isn't interested in anything beyond friendship with him and to please understand that. Donnie nods in understanding and embraces each other as friends, and through the rest of the series, the two of them just maintain a sibling-like relationship rather than a "Will they, won't they, do we even need to go here?" relationship.


As for April, I would have kept her a psychic and I would have Splinter train her in Ninjitsu, not so she would be a warrior like his sons after all the turtles weren't recognized as ninja until they were 14 years old and they have been trained since they were at least three.

So the ninja training would be a way of helping her hone and control her psychic gifts rather than making her the same level as the Turtles in the span of a year.

Instead of having her be a test tube baby or whatever by the Kraang since that story went nowhere are was just dropped. Why not have her be a Neutrino since that is a humanoid race from Dimension X and it would have been a heck of a lot better then what the Neutrino's were in this incarnation. Also, it was mentioned in the 87 series that Neutrino babies have psychic powers that fade out as they grow older. This concept didn't make since to me, I mean psychic powers can be dangerous particularly in the hands of those who don't know how to control let alone understand the abilities they possess. A greater way of putting it would be neutrino babies had bursts of psychic power that they are able to control as they grow older.

So maybe when Kraang Prime is taking over Dimension X, King Zinter and Queen Gizzla send their daughter Princess Tribble to Earth for safety. Tribble meets and Marries Kirby O'Neil and the two have April. April does mention that they did have to move around a lot which is partially because of the Kraang wanting her, but her awakening sensitivity would have made it hard for her to make friends which also would have forced her father and mother to move around. The only place she was out of sight of the Kraang was when they spent summers at the Farm House since that was in the middle of nowhere.

Then when April is six years old, April's mother is captured by the Kraang while Kirby escapes and the reason the Kraang wants her is to use her as a means of controlling the Neutrino Kingdom.

[FifthTurtles81]

In all honesty, I would change very little. Definitely ditch April's Phoenix alike powers and give her and Casey more develpment in seasons 4 & 5.

There are plenty of little niggles I have, but none that annoy or bother me enough to put into words really.

Of The Turtles themselves, i wouldn't have had them constantly hitting the reset button on Mikey, after it seemed like they'd made some headway in making him capable and proving himself, by the next ep he would be back to a clumsy idiot again. Donnie and Leo in the show are my favourite screen interpretations of both characters. Leo has always been my least favourite Turtle as he's usually very one dimensional, or boring, or both - so I loved this flawed, more sensitive, heroic take. I was in tears when it looked he was going to sacrifice himself at the end of season and I was 32 years old at the time I saw that episode!

I wouldn't do a damn thing to Splinter and Shredder. i know i will annoy purists, but I prefer the Splinter IS Hamato Yoshi origin versions in general, as it adds much more nuance and humanity to they Shredder/Splinter feud, as opposed to- "He's a rat who scratched him once." but that's a personal preference and I don't generally care which origin they go with overall.

I love the obsessive, revenge driven Shredder. He's willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone just to have his revenge and his stealing of Yoshi's daughter and raising her as his own is so....twisted...I still can't believe that's in a cartoon, primarily made to sell toys to kids.

[Leo656]

I'm apparently in the minority that didn't love this show. I don't even think I got through Season 1 before the little things that annoyed me about it were too much for me to keep going. After that, I'd occasionally tune in to a random episode if I saw it happened to be on, but I always, always ended up rolling my eyes or groaning out loud at something very quickly, so I've never felt any real pull to revisit it. I've read a fair bit about it, so I kind of know the gist of what happened in it by the end - not really too sure about that ending, though - but I do know there are a few character-related bits which might - MIGHT - have helped me to stick with it a bit longer than I did, had they been done differently. Granted, I can't say too much having only seen some of the show, but I feel that these criticisms and suggestions are fair nonetheless.

- April: Definitely not a teenager, definitely no special powers or "secret origin", and almost-definitely not a crush or love interest for any of the TMNT. It's not HER story, she doesn't need to be overly "special". The fact that she's one of the very few "regular" human beings who is aware of and occasionally gets involved in these extraordinary situations is "special" enough on its own. Not sure about her employment, but it really doesn't matter; she's there to facilitate the Turtles' adventures and occasionally pitch in. Too much April (AND too much April/Don) was a huge reason I turned this show off. It wasn't specifically that I didn't like the voice actor, or that the character herself was unlikeable, it was simply that I found every creative decision regarding her to be wrong and devoid of any potential long-term payoff, ESPECIALLY the Don/April stuff (it's not like they were ever gonna "hook up" on a kids' cartoon so even spending two seconds of time on such a subplot was time wasted, in my opinion). I still don't see any ultimate point in making her a teenager OR having teased a "relationship" with one of the Turtles, and in reading about it, it seems like way too many of the plots past Season 1 were significantly about her. Way too much real estate for what is ostensibly a sidekick/supporting cast role.

- Casey Jones: Again, I was mostly not watching by the time he showed up, but boy, did I HATE this version of the character whenever I did see him. Once more, no need to be a teenager, and definitely didn't need to be as much of an idiot as he was portrayed. I think by definition Casey should be a little abrasive but they overdid it by a ton. Age him up and tone him down. He's a character who viewers should want to see more of, and be excited when he appears, not be all, "Oh, great, THIS guy again."

- Donatello: Ugh. I have apparently had the misfortune of ONLY getting to see episodes where he goes into Creepy Stalker territory over April, even later on when only tuning in random episodes. I don't care how anyone tries to justify it, the whole April/Donnie thing was a BAD idea for this show, poorly executed. I don't even care about the whole inter-species thing, but I DO care about wasting valuable screen time on a 22-minute cartoon show with a subplot that by definition can't go anywhere because it's on a channel for little kids. The idea of one of the Turtles having a crush on April, and maybe her even having feelings back, is an idea with some potential that could in theory open up a lot of story ideas... but it makes no sense to do so in a medium where the creators are handcuffed by the fact that their median viewers' age is 7. And at times it felt like mooning over April was Don's sole function on the show. Scenes and stories stopped dead just so he could get another creepy stalker moment. Annoying on its face, doubly-so because it was never going to lead to anything of substance so why bother with it at all? Don's not my favorite of the gang to begin with, but this was easily my least-favorite version to date. It seemed like aside from providing some tech-based deus ex machina, he was only there to crush on April, at least in the episodes I got to see. I heard they eventually dropped it, but I definitely wasn't paying attention anymore by that point. This was by far THE biggest thing that made me stop watching the show, and to this day keeps me from trying again.

- Karai: I'm torn on her being anyone's daughter at all, simply because it's the complete opposite of how she was introduced and I always try to put the source material in a place of proper esteem, so given the fact that she was created to be Shredder's superior in the Foot Clan, I have a hard time with all the newer versions making her either a subordinate or an heir, either by blood or otherwise. It just feels kind of like a disservice to the character. The whole bit about her being Yoshi's daughter who was kidnapped and raised by Saki was intriguing, though, and I feel like if you HAVE to make her significantly younger than either of them and also a subordinate character, that's as good a way to do it as any. I wasn't a fan at all of her being mutated, though. The show as a whole seemed to suffer from doing that in the interest of selling more toys, which was another thing I didn't care for. I, personally, probably would have either written it, or preferred to see it written, as something a little bit closer to the Mirage comics, where she's above Shredder in the Foot Clan and you don't see or hear of her much at all until the very end of Season 1, where the Turtles seemingly have defeated or dispatched Shredder and then it's revealed that Karai is coming to take his place and set things right. I don't know, that's just me. I know the newer versions have all pretty much overpowered the original version of the character and she's most likely going to be someone's daughter/subordinate in every version forevermore, but I'm kinda sad about that. I feel like there's a lot of storytelling potential in how a "mere female" could have become such a powerful force within the Foot clan, above even Saki himself, and having her be a younger, weaker character is a bit too typical and familiar by comparison. Like, we've seen those stories before, y'know? "Shredder secretly has a 'boss', and it's a chick!" is something that blew my mind when I was like 10, and I feel like it never really got enough exploration given how neat of an idea it was. ((Shrug))

- Michelangelo: Why is he dumber in every incarnation? Jesus, enough. He was my second-favorite Turtle as a kid, and now he's sometimes last place depending on which version we're talking about. I get that cartoon shows need comic relief, but seriously, this was way too much. One thing about this show that annoyed me was how they seemingly double- and triple-downed on every single thing which I personally didn't care for. April/Donnie became all-encompassing, Mikey was a complete brick at times... it was like at times the show was being "booked" solely for the purpose of getting on my nerves, and that's why I had to walk away from it.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Like I said, I only really saw most of Season 1 and scattered episodes afterwards. But the stuff with April, Donnie and Mikey more than anything keeps me from trying it out again, so that stuff I can easily say I would have preferred to see done completely differently. I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I wouldn't have liked if I'd kept watching, though.

[Coola Yagami]

Idk, while I wouldn't have come up with it or suggested it, I didn't find the Don and April thing creepy. Weird maybe since Don is a turtle, but he's basically a green human with a shell in the general context of things and not an actual turtle. The fans found it creepy, when there was no sign of 'creepiness' to be found, mostly because April didn't mind. I mean at times April even suggests pairing up with him on missions.

Creepy behavior is when the person in question doesn't like the attention, but April clearly did. I mean the only time she told Don to back off was when she blamed ALL FOUR of them for mutating her dad.

The Bigfoot episode had Raph point out that Don was grossed out by Bigfoot as April might have been with him, even though she never showed signs of that behavior. Don tried to 'back off' and April pulls him back in.

I just never saw a problem with it since it's a cartoon and noone gives the Leo/Karai thing the same beef despite the fact that at times she was the bad guy and trying to get with someone in the foot clan is just stupid. I just see the fans being creeped out and projecting their thoughts on April as if they were hoping to finally see an episode where she'd act like 'ew yuck' like they would. Idk it's the equivalent of people seeing a hot babe with someone that looks like Danny DeVito. People can say 'ew gross' all they want or call the guy creepy but if the girl is happy, who the **** cares and mind your own business.

Anyways, I probably would have toned down the April/Don stuff to shut the fans the **** up. I would have raised Mikey's IQ or make him the new smartass. People have to learn the funny one doesn't also have to mean the dumb one, there's different kinds of comedy. No Casey or at least not such a damn annoying version of him. Human version of Irma.

Demutate Mutagen Man, poor kid. For the people that hate him, he's basically most of us that wish we could just jump into the comic and have adventures with the turtles, but don't realize that realistically it takes a lot of ninja training. Like everyone wants to be Batman. No one wants to lose their parents and spend half their life training and mastering all sorts of martial arts, putting your body through the grinder in the process.

I mean c'mon, there was no telling how Mutagen works on that show, he had no way of knowing what he'd mutate into and he honestly wanted to help. Had he mutated into the 2012 version of Groundchuck or whatever, he would surely have been of some help.

Steranko should have told Shredder to **** off after mutating him and worked on his own or with Bebop. It might ruin the dynamic but that's what you get when you chose to have Rocksteady and Bebop to be an arms dealer/business partner and a thief instead of some thugs that were already working for Shredder.

Shredder needed more character. Evil was his only personality. Sat on his evil throne most of the time and never took off his armor for any sort of day job or whatever. And what happened to his deal in Japan? He booked a flight from Japan the moment he heard Yoshi was in New York, what happened to the Foot in Japan?

[victory_angel]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

The Bigfoot episode had Raph point out that Don was grossed out by Bigfoot as April might have been with him, even though she never showed signs of that behavior. Don tried to 'back off' and April pulls him back in.

I never took that moment as Donnie was telling Raph he was grossed out by Bigfoot's advances. It was more that Bigfoot was coming on too strong for his liking.

She tries to explain to the Donnie and April that she is being hunted down by a man who calls himself "The Finger". She then says "The Finger is bad manz, but Donnie is good manz. (Turns to Donnie) Very good manz." Smacks her lips and plants a sloppy wet kiss on his face.

Bigfoot is a cryptid that is often seen by itself. The only beings that "She" may have known were, of course, the people who are wanting to hunt down Bigfoot for various reasons (photos, trophies, proving Bigfoot exist, etc). That has to lead to her fearing for her life. Donnie was the first person that had ever been nice to her, so she believed he could like her a lot more than a friend.

So later when he runs into the living room and tells Raph that Bigfoot is making him uncomfortable. Raph turns it around and says "Now you know how April feels."

The big differences are while Donnie's initial attempts at trying to woo April did come off as rather strong. He never made kissing or hugging his first act of affection. He mostly just wants to spend time with her, and get to know her as a person before taking things to another level.

Such as that flow chart he made of all the possible scenarios where he and April could hang out together. Leo comments "Wouldn't it be easier to just say "April, go out with me." and Donnie responds that it doesn't work like that.

Donnie also pays attention to how April reacts to him and augments his behavior. Such as in Alien Agenda Donnie holds his arms out as if waiting to receive a hug, notices April is looking at him as though saying "Yeah, I'm not doing that." So he tousles her hair instead.

With Bigfoot, Donnie is pretty much in no position to object over anything so he was sort of forced to go along with spending time with her. The only real signs of rejection Bigfoot understood was when Donnie ran away from her during that moment she tried to offer him some soup. And then Leo and Casey joking about her attempts to at trying to make Donnie into her boyfriend.

[Papenbrook]

Originally Posted by Leo656

- Karai: I'm torn on her being anyone's daughter at all, simply because it's the complete opposite of how she was introduced and I always try to put the source material in a place of proper esteem, so given the fact that she was created to be Shredder's superior in the Foot Clan, I have a hard time with all the newer versions making her either a subordinate or an heir, either by blood or otherwise. It just feels kind of like a disservice to the character. The whole bit about her being Yoshi's daughter who was kidnapped and raised by Saki was intriguing, though, and I feel like if you HAVE to make her significantly younger than either of them and also a subordinate character, that's as good a way to do it as any. I wasn't a fan at all of her being mutated, though. The show as a whole seemed to suffer from doing that in the interest of selling more toys, which was another thing I didn't care for. I, personally, probably would have either written it, or preferred to see it written, as something a little bit closer to the Mirage comics, where she's above Shredder in the Foot Clan and you don't see or hear of her much at all until the very end of Season 1, where the Turtles seemingly have defeated or dispatched Shredder and then it's revealed that Karai is coming to take his place and set things right. I don't know, that's just me. I know the newer versions have all pretty much overpowered the original version of the character and she's most likely going to be someone's daughter/subordinate in every version forevermore, but I'm kinda sad about that. I feel like there's a lot of storytelling potential in how a "mere female" could have become such a powerful force within the Foot clan, above even Saki himself, and having her be a younger, weaker character is a bit too typical and familiar by comparison. Like, we've seen those stories before, y'know? "Shredder secretly has a 'boss', and it's a chick!" is something that blew my mind when I was like 10, and I feel like it never really got enough exploration given how neat of an idea it was. ((Shrug))

Wait, what?

She was supposed to be Shredder's superior within the Foot Clan? She had no relational baggage, familial or otherwise? She even had her own autonomy/agency to boot?

... And then the showrunners decided to just, ... take that all away?

Man, this show was really sexist ...

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

Wait, what?

She was supposed to be Shredder's superior within the Foot Clan? She had no relational baggage, familial or otherwise? She even had her own autonomy/agency to boot?

... And then the showrunners decided to just, ... take that all away?

Man, this show was really sexist ...

It was originally the 2003 show which made Karai as Shredder's daughter, not this one.

I guess that is a sexist show now.