Looking back, was it a good idea to make April and Casey as teenagers?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

What do you think?

While I don't think that these versions of April and Casey are the best versions, and I'd much prefer them written as adults, I don't think that writing them as teenagers was a bad idea and I quite like the unique take on them.

I do think they were much better written as teenagers earlier on though, before April's psychic powers were touched upon and Casey Jones showed much more promise.

[Leo656]

Nah. Seemed pointless outside of "shipping" April with Donnie, which was a bad idea all around and executed poorly.

I feel that a change that drastic should justify itself, and I don't feel that it did.

[Utrommaniac]

I'm going to go with "no".


Agreeing with the aspect on it being pure shipbait for the first part, but then the rest of it comes down to shifting the turtle-April relationship too much. Same with Casey.

Now, I stand by 2012 Casey being a pretty garbage character as a whole, but as teenagers (with superpowers that the Kraang/Utroms didn't have even though April was supposedly half Kraang/Utrom) they were denied quite a bit of character growth that would have made more sense with them as adult characters. Maybe even for the turtles too.

[Leo656]

It felt to me like they fell in love with the idea and decided to run with it before they actually had any idea for how it would pay off in any meaningful way. And then they just didn't bother trying to come up with one, and it became "Change For Change's Sake" when it could have actually had a point.

[Utrommaniac]

"Changes for the sake of change with no meaningful payoff, but could have had a point"

A perfect description for every aspect of the 2012 show.

[Leo656]

Yeah, I didn't love it a whole lot.

[CyberCubed]

It was an excellent idea for this universe because the Turtles were written as actual 15 year olds and looked younger, rather than in every other universe where they act and look like 20-25 year olds when they're supposed to be only 15 at the start of the story.

Plus whenever you make April older you have the problem of how to give her a full time job but have her involved with the TMNT's adventures. Obviously the original cartoon came up with the reporter angle to keep her involved in danger, but in every other universe they generally have trouble keeping April involved with the Turtles besides making her a "tech geek" and even then she just becomes a female Donatello anyway. Or just a love interest for Casey.

[newfan]

I liked that they tried it and had the turtle's friends be in their age group for a change, so a yes for me in relation to this show.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I also forgot to mention Karai.

I thought she was handled much better as a teenager than the other version of Karai whom Is more similar to her (2003).

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It was an excellent idea for this universe because the Turtles were written as actual 15 year olds

Except they should never be that, really. Since whenever someone says that, they actually mean "written as human 15 year-olds." And that's always seemed dumb to me.

Because they're pretty freaking far from that. They aren't part of our society or have had remotely equivalent upbringings. It'd be like watching a reality show about indigenous people on some island cut off from the world... and being upset that the teenagers there aren't acting like your average teenagers at Sweet Valley High down the street.

For the thread topic I vote no. April only appears to have been made a teenager so that Donatello could gawk at her, which seems a pretty big perversion of the intent of the April O'Neil character and her relation to the Turtles themselves (at first a den mother, then an older sister). And Casey was only de-aged to follow suit, and create some kind of love triangle.

[newfan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

I also forgot to mention Karai.

I thought she was handled much better as a teenager than the other version of Karai whom Is more similar to her (2003).

Obviously I'm happy with this character and the angle worked for me but to be fair by the end of the show she could have been a teen or a very young adult in her role.
Being a teen will have an impact on the roles, however, a lot of weather or not we liked them as a whole isn't just about how old they are. Some of the issues I see on here are more about what was done with the character.

[Andrew NDB]

I'd have had zero problem with Karai if her name had been "Pimiko."

It's pretty offensive to the source material to take a character that had zero familial connection to Yoshi and Saki (and conversely was Saki's boss) and make her a daughter to them BOTH.

[Sumac]

I kind of ambivalent to this idea.

It was new take on the characters and the story, which I always approve (yes, I do love "change for the sake of change"), but I didn't feel it was executed very well. April was not a very interesting character in the show and Casey was even less than that.

[The Great Saiyaman]

I'll start off with an exchange between Leonardo and Splinter from the recent Teenage mutant ninja Turtles comic book series "Desperate Measures" in which the former vents his frustration about having to deal with a team consisting of teenagers.

Leonardo: It's just - There's so many bad things going on and ALL they want to do argue with each other and goof around. I TRY to get them to focus, to take all of this seriously and they just BLOW ME OFF at every turn. Raph wants to HUNKER DOWN, Mikey wants to be a SUPERHERO and Donnie's got his HEAD BURIED in his gadgets 24/7. They're driving me CRAZY!
As he finishes his rant, Leonardo notices that Splinter is grinning.
Leonardo: It... It's NOT FUNNY Father!
Splinter: I am not laughing my son.
Leonardo: But you're GRINNING!
Splinter: Yes, yes, I AM doing that. Forgive me Leonardo, my amusement is not to be insensitive. I am just happy to know that my Teenaged boys are STILL teenaged boys even when they are away from me.

I can't speak for others but I think having the "Teenage" aspect of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being the main focus of the 2012 series was a master stroke because as others pointed out, in other versions of the show (The 2003 series, awesome as it was, being the most guilty of this) the turtles weren't behaving like teens.

The skating scene and the sneaking out of the lair when Splinter isn't watching in "I think his name is Baxter Stockman" is one of the best examples of the Turtles behaving like common hoodlum teenage boys.

"So you wouldn't object to a little RANDORI?"

The Turtles got their human side from either Splinter or the clerk of the pet store where they were bought, there might have been several humans who touched them before their mutation, which also explains why they all developed into such different personalities.

One thing about boys in their teens is that those are the days when they start to discover the opposite gender, so with an incarnation of the TMNT where they are, well...TEENS, it made good sense to make the main female characters (April, Karai, Renet) teens too.

I must say though that of all the shippings here, Karai and Leonardo was the most natural, the most authentic, that feeling of "I shouldn't be as infatuated with her because I know she's bad news but I AM!" is something we all experienced during our own teen years. As was their bantering, for that matter. If Leonardo is meant to be the oldest brother of the Turtles, Karai was written in as somebody who clearly is older than April, she still has that teenage rebellion going on but with a sense of "I've been around, I know what I'm talking about." kind of deal that teens who are on the edge of seventeen are.

Now take the scene in which Leo tells April about Karai, at first she's "Oh I'm so glad for you." and when he admits that Karai is in the Foot Clan, she slaps him in the face and declares him crazy. Which again is a very authentic teenage thing to do, teen girls can be ruthless about other teen girls after all.

"SHE'S IN THE FOOT CLAN!"

How would that episode have been if April had been in her twenties?

So I have no issue with a Teenage April, okay she wasn't the big sister type she was in previous versions, she also wasn't the LITTLE sister her current counterpart is now.

[newfan]

So far as how teenage like the TMNT, this could have or may well have had it's own thread in the past?

I mean I agree with Andrew's points that they are not and nor have they lived the lives of a regular human teen. That being said, 'teenage' is in the title, giving it an emphasis, if we don't expect them to have a teen aspect, should it be there? Course going back again to the other side of the argument, it depends what degree of teen was intended? I don't know.
Also what we expect or will accept can depend on the type of version and audience. I mean here though they are still mutants in the sewers who are trained as Ninjas' they are raised a little differently to say Mirage, from what I read/hear, fair to say?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Because they're pretty freaking far from that. They aren't part of our society or have had remotely equivalent upbringings. It'd be like watching a reality show about indigenous people on some island cut off from the world... and being upset that the teenagers there aren't acting like your average teenagers at Sweet Valley High down the street.

The turtles have access to the media. They know about Humans and want to be like regular teenagers. However, Humankind would see them as monsters.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Except they should never be that, really. Since whenever someone says that, they actually mean "written as human 15 year-olds." And that's always seemed dumb to me.

Because they're pretty freaking far from that. They aren't part of our society or have had remotely equivalent upbringings.

Pretty much all of this. Growing up isolated from the rest of the world for 15 years, with maybe the only real sight and knowledge of the surface coming from what they could find in the sewer, they wouldn't act anything like an 'Average' teenager (what even counts as average or normal anymore?) would.

Also, being raised as Ninjas for years (Mirage Comics stated it was 13 years at the beginning, which means they begun training at 2) would add a high level of discipline and a grown up factor.

Realistically, the TMNT wouldn't act like Humans, let alone Teenagers

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Whatswiththeheadbands?

Realistically, the TMNT wouldn't act like Humans, let alone Teenagers

But if Splinter starts as Hamato Yoshi, they could definately act like Humans.

[The Great Saiyaman]

Originally Posted by Whatswiththeheadbands?

Pretty much all of this. Growing up isolated from the rest of the world for 15 years, with maybe the only real sight and knowledge of the surface coming from what they could find in the sewer, they wouldn't act anything like an 'Average' teenager (what even counts as average or normal anymore?) would.

Also, being raised as Ninjas for years (Mirage Comics stated it was 13 years at the beginning, which means they begun training at 2) would add a high level of discipline and a grown up factor.

Realistically, the TMNT wouldn't act like Humans, let alone Teenagers

Well, the ratio of the mutation isn't fity-fifty, it's more 20% of the original DNA and the 80% of the invading species. Which makes that the turtles are more human than they are turtle.

The Turtles as infants in "Lone rat and Cubs" showing that they have gotten human body proportions.


The Turtles as little kids in "Lone rat and Cubs" showing more of their humanity, in having the ability to walk upright and the ability to speak, note also that despite their reptile ancestry, none has scaly skin.


Leonardo in "Invasion" the steam coming from his mouth showing another human trait: he's warm blooded, which is also how Splinter could keep them underground for 15 years, real life Turtles, as do all reptiles need to warm up in the sun in order to stay alive.

And having mentioned Splinter.

Hamato Yoshi's upbringing of the Turtles as if they were just normal human boys makes sense because he was human himself and doesn't know better.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

But if Splinter starts as Hamato Yoshi, they could definately act like Humans.

I agree with this. If Splinter was Hamato Yoshi (Or Lou Jitsu) and/or a loving father, the Turtles would act more akin to human teenagers. Plus they have all sorts of media to influence them.