TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

[TheJ-manTurtleMan]

Originally Posted by Chaotix12345

Movie synopsis from Deadline. Seems to match the leaked storyboards:

The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film is an original story following the crime-fighting Ninja Turtles as they protect the sewers and streets of New York City. After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil (Edibiri) helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

Ugh, I hate this. I got hopeful when the cast was announced, but after reading this, that hope is gone. Why? Why, why, why do they always push the "Turtles want to be accepted by humans" narrative? To me that goes directly against the main Turtles theme. "We strike hard and fade away without a trace" right?

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by TheJ-manTurtleMan

Ugh, I hate this. I got hopeful when the cast was announced, but after reading this, that hope is gone. Why? Why, why, why do they always push the "Turtles want to be accepted by humans" narrative? To me that goes directly against the main Turtles theme. "We strike hard and fade away without a trace" right?

It resonates with various battle helicopters deersexuals though, which is more important than some "story" or whatever.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by TheJ-manTurtleMan

Ugh, I hate this. I got hopeful when the cast was announced, but after reading this, that hope is gone. Why? Why, why, why do they always push the "Turtles want to be accepted by humans" narrative? To me that goes directly against the main Turtles theme. "We strike hard and fade away without a trace" right?

Sort of. That’s Splinter’s lesson. Whether they actually want to be accepted might be a different discussion. I mean, didn’t they enjoy being above ground in Laird’s
Volume four? I honestly can’t remember but I imagine so. Who wouldn’t want to be accepted by the world above, and get out of the sewer?
I think the turtles wanting to be accepted is a suitable element, but I’m not sure I want it as a driving narrative, if that makes sense. At least not as the cost of other story beats.

Didn’t Out if the Shadows try and do something like that? I’ve never gotten past the first ten minutes but I remember there being some type of human mutation element to the story.

Yeah, I don’t find that as compelling or as essential as the story surrounding their origin, the cycle of revenge, or the mystery of where they came from. Those are the core narrative beats I’d like to see tackled.

There are comics like “Sons of the Silent Age”, which touch on the turtles grappling with their mortality and the fact that they will go extinct and are the last of their kind. I find that interesting. It’s not dissimilar from the idea of them longing for acceptance.

I guess I just think when that’s your main narrative and you’re treating them as “crime fighters”, it all starts to lose the relatability. I like when it’s about family and lineage. Not supervillains and being a popular superhero.

[IndigoErth]

I don't have issue with some element of the Turtles longing to be accepted and be able to know what a normal life is like (as fellow humanoid beings), though I'd rather it focus on finding and accepting their own little niche in the world rather than expecting millions of humans around them to just up and accept them no problem.

And if they eventually earn local acceptance and can live publicly, that needs to be toward the end of a LONG line of movies...if a series of films ever actually got there, not immediately. Out of the Shadows was partly about wanting to be like everyone else, but it was simply a set up for them to actually accept themselves as they are. (Though the concept didn't hold much weight and Leo was the only one on the right page with that the whole time.)

I really prefer that the Turtles just slowly gain more and more friends who have accidentally come to know them, to the point they eventually just have a small community who are cool with them. But that should take a long time to get there.

Originally Posted by Vicky82

unless they are in it and kept secret for now.

Yeah, guessing you're probably right. I see no "big bad" on that list and they already kept the cast such a big secret until now, may as well continue to hid the big one. (Though it's lost on me the point of hiding it in the first place like we were supposed to be totally blown away by it or something.)

Unless the top villain is supposed to be the Utrom, but... an Utrom going by the name Cynthia gives me zero bad guy vibes. Cynthia the Utrom, no other known Utroms listed, and isn't Krang... unless they're going for irony using the least villainous name they could think of, I'm guessing Cynthia helps fix someone else's mess. That or she's a klutz or naive and accidentally caused/enabled it.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

until such a time as the Turtles are no longer teens.

Outside of comics.... oh if only sometimes.




edit: Maybe it's just me and maybe it'll end tomorrow, but them keeping the cast list a big secret then revealing it all last night while not actually releasing the trailer, making that and the characters we have been waiting to see wait until Monday, is bugging me the way it bugged me when the first PD film went and shoved Knoxville in there just to get a big name added. I could not care less about who they cast as long as their voices and performance is a good fit...but they look to be treating this the same way PD did, getting as many names in that they think are supposed to be impressive instead of first and foremost focusing on the characters (and seeing the treatment of them) that we showed up for.

Just how much of the budget went into paying these big names vs the artists in the animation studio.

[Mondo_Gecko]

So I saw the cast list and which characters were confirmed.

Anyone surprised at both the actors selected and the characters.

Giancarlo Esposito is such an interesting choice that now that I see it it makes sense. Been a fan of him before Breaking Bad from 97's "Nothing to Lose"

I think my two big surprises were the inclusion of Man Ray, Genghis Frog And Mondo Gecko.

Not familiar with Post Malone as a rapper but while I'm excited curious how Man Ray was chosen.

Same with the Punk Frogs. Now I LOVE them but I felt ever since I've been on the forums, I'm in the minority, Curious if Shredder isn't in this then where did his name originate or derive from?

Mondo was such a delightful surprise and I love the idea of Paul Rudd voicing him, that sounds fitting. I'm curious which origin they'll go with; human or gecko.

Now Rose Byrne voicing Leatherhead. I'm so curious on this decision. I love Rose Bryne think she's phenomenal on 2007's "Damages" I wonder if they'll let her talk in her natural Aussie accent instead of going with the Cajun accent.

Not familiar with the actor chosen for Wingnut. Again very curious why both character's genders were reversed.

I'm very curious and would like to see more.

[Slash-Dash]

I'm so ready for this trailer.

[Bahamut810]

Originally Posted by newhire13

Naw, I think you're WAY overthinking it. People care about Bebop the mutant. Nobody is stressing about his freaking skin color, especially if this version wasn't human to begin with.

That just depends on if "twitter Freaks" figure out that Bebop is black-coded in multiple lines of the media. If/when they figure it out, nothing else will matter. Hell...they do it over Piccolo from Dragon Ball who was 'black coded' in the USA and is thus black.

[IndigoErth]

Whoever sees and posts the trailer first also buys and brings the pizza, okay?

Have missed having these movie discussions and debates, that alone is kind of exciting. lol

[Cowabung-Gal]

Originally Posted by Mondo_Gecko

Again very curious why both character's genders were reversed..

Lazy form of “representation”.



Can’t wait to see the Internet meltdown tomorrow.

I can already see the headlines:

“Racist fans reject black April”

“Misogynists cry over female Leatherhead”

“Tonight on Tucker Carlson: Sexual themes in the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie.”

[TheJ-manTurtleMan]

Originally Posted by Cowabung-Gal

“Tonight on Tucker Carlson: Sexual themes in the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie.”

Okay, that one kinda made me laugh.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Cowabung-Gal

“Racist fans reject black April”

“Misogynists cry over female Leatherhead”

“Tonight on Tucker Carlson: Sexual themes in the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie.”

Well if they've got something for everyone then everyone can be happy to have something to complain about.


Anyone familiar with the recent work of these kids voicing the Turtles? Just hoping their voices have settled into puberty enough to sound reasonably decent while still youthful, but not kiddiesh.

I prob won't have much complaint on the VAs unless they actually do... or they eff up the Turtle characterization again. (Though that chunk of storyboard already kinda went there.)

[TigerClaw]

April being black was something that's been long debated about the Mirage Comics, Since she was based on a girlfriend that Kevin Eastman used to date who was half black.

Jackie Chan who is Chinese playing a character whose of japanese decent shouldn't be a problem, Actors of Asian decent have played Japanese or Chinese characters.

[Vicky82]

Originally Posted by Cowabung-Gal

Lazy form of “representation”.



Can’t wait to see the Internet meltdown tomorrow.

I can already see the headlines:

“Racist fans reject black April”

“Misogynists cry over female Leatherhead”

“Tonight on Tucker Carlson: Sexual themes in the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie.”

I haven't seen any complaints so far.

but I have seen lots of complaints that there is no Casey Jones.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Originally Posted by Vicky82

I haven't seen any complaints so far.

but I have seen lots of complaints that there is no Casey Jones.

I’m sure we’ll get Hispanic Casey Jones in the sequel.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by Cowabung-Gal

I’m sure we’ll get Hispanic Casey Jones in the sequel.

Im fine if Casey Jones was Hispanic.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Im fine if Casey Jones was Hispanic.

Would you also be fine if the Shredder (the actual character, not his voice actor) was black even though he’s been Asian since 1984? You really think they’ll stop at April or Casey? They won’t. They’ll continue raceswapping and genderbending until you’ll recognize none of the characters outside of the turtles (unless one of them gets genderbent as well).

Again, it’s a lazy way to bring in more inclusion.

[joe-eyeball]

Originally Posted by Cowabung-Gal

Again, it’s a lazy way to bring in more inclusion.

Precisely correct! Taking an already existing character in any medium and swapping out race, gender, nationality, whatever it is for the sake of being more inclusive is an embarrassingly transparent and creatively bankrupt concept. It’s quite shocking to me how many people are actually OK with it when it happens. Are they too ignorant to realize that the creative forces behind such changes only do it to give the appearance of being more inclusive? This is because the solution to being more inclusive is actually creating NEW content with original characters and concepts involving more diversity is more difficult to pull off. Like you said, “it’s just lazy!”

[IndigoErth]

Doing it to side characters I really don't feel any attachment to is mostly just an eye roll for me, but agree and still continue to feel that it's the laziest option. Demographics that could use a little more representation in older media deserve new characters that might actually get to stick around.

Are they going to be seen as one of the "cool" characters everyone loves immediately? Of course not, they'd be new and no one is attached to them yet and everyone just wants those established ones that are already loved. But that's not to say a new, well written character couldn't become a future staple in the franchise that people love. I'm all for new friends of the TMNT. And expanding their world so stealthily that even they don't realize just how large their circle has grown and aren't nearly as isolated as they once were.

[CyberCubed]

I can't get over that April is now an obese fat black teacher with glasses. They really took a look at April and said let's make her an overweight middle age black woman. What timeline is this.

[beardcore84]

Originally Posted by Cowabung-Gal

I can already see the headlines:

“Racist fans reject black April”

“Misogynists cry over female Leatherhead”

No need to wait for the headlines, just read through this forum. Here's one quick example:

I can't get over that April is now an obese fat black teacher with glasses. They really took a look at April and said let's make her an overweight middle age black woman. What timeline is this.