Random Thoughts: TMNT Edition

[IndigoErth]

If I recall correctly that May 5th 1984 was their premier, then Happy (public) 34th birthday, Turtles. The world would be a duller, less inspiring place without ya.




And by "public" I mean they've already been 34 in my mind since late last year around the anniversary of those first sketches, but the day the public met them is just as important.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

If I recall correctly that May 5th 1984 was their premier, then Happy (public) 34th birthday, Turtles. The world would be a duller, less inspiring place without ya.

Yikes, almost as old as me.

[Utrommaniac]

Kevin Eastman just posted this image on his Twitter. It's pretty sweet.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

Kevin Eastman just posted this image on his Twitter. It's pretty sweet.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dcd3_mnUQAAtuOP.jpg

That's nice. When's Drawing Blood coming out again?

[CyberCubed]

Man I can't believe TMNT is 34 years old now. And to think TMNT is one of the most "recent" popular comic book franchises. Especially when you realize most popular DC characters are from the 1930's-1940's, and most of the popular Marvel superheroes were all created in the 1960's.

TMNT didn't come till the mid 80's, decades after all the big DC/Marvel superheroes were around. It feels like TMNT was always the underdog because it was owned by Mirage and thus rather obscure compared to everything DC and Marvel has.

Our precious little TMNT franchise has grown up. The "diamond in the ruff." The outlier. They might as well change the name to, "Middle age mutant ninja turtles" now.

Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

[IndigoErth]

Well for an underdog they certainly have staying power. They'll easily make it to 50, no doubt even 60. They're timeless enough it wouldn't surprise me at all if they make it to 100, but most of us won't get to see that.

This is the reason ghosts need to be a thing, so I can stick around to see it!

Also, love the art Kevin posted.



Nah, they're not so recent anymore... more middle aged in comparison.

[Prowler]

The TMNT property is just a year younger than my brother and six years older than me. Never thought about it that way

[Utrommaniac]

Still long enough to listen awkwardly to Old Man Batman ramble about "comics in the olden days".

"When I was young we could tell the Joker he made a boner without anyone laughing!"
"Okay, grandpa, okay."

[Papenbrook]

Speaking of which:

I've always wondered what types of literature that the Turtles' would enjoy.

[Utrommaniac]

We all know Mike likes comics. But I personally think that he's much more expansive than issue-to-issue things. He'd want to get his hands on the classics and could write paragraphs upon paragraphs on Bruce Wayne's psychology compared to Tony Stark's. He will read the things that his brothers read, but usually in comic form. He strikes me as being a visual learner, and thus takes in stories better in comic form. And if something's missing from a particular adaptation, he'll either find it in another or one of his brothers will fill him in.

Leo would be more of a 'classical literature' from across multiple regions. And I'm talking REALLY classical. Homeric poems, Beowulf, Journey to the West, Gilgamesh. Those kinds of things.

Don might like classic sci-fi, especially classics like the John Carter books and others from that period of writing. And War of the Worlds. Of course, he might never look at his Utrom compatriots the same way again (maybe even tease them by suggesting they make a Tripod walker for a costume, then regret it when Glurin actually does it.).

Raphael will insist he doesn't like books while frantically hiding his Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jane Eyre under the floor boards.

[plastroncafe]

Interesting.
I don't know why, but I've always run with the idea that Raph isn't so much a reader, because he's kind of slow at it. Maybe possibly a touch of dyslexia.
That said...I could see Raph really getting into audiobooks.
Something to listen to while he's doing something else.

Where as I can see Leo using literature like Tyrion on Game of Thrones.
"A mind needs a book like a sword needs a whetstone."

I think Mike prefers fiction to non-fiction, though I can see him really loving a good biography. Mostly because in my mind he's just so fascinated and in love with people in general.

Don likes hard sci-fi, but I have a feeling his library looks a bit like mine.
ie: mostly looking like a collection of other people's dissertations.
(I read a lot of non-fiction.)

[Utrommaniac]

One thing that I think is very possible for them is that they do have their own little 'book club' for that occasion when they all read the same thing. Which occasionally has to have a referee.
You'll never know how loud a discussion on whether it was really right for Dr. Frankenstein to stop making the second monster will get, y'know.

[IndigoErth]

Now I want to see book debates among them.

Kind of love this topic and could entirety see you guys being 100% right. Always loved that Leo's long been a little bit of a bookworm. (Heck, it's also one of my fave pieces from that last film, even if it unfortunately does last for only a matter of seconds... but dammit I want to know what book he was flipping through.)

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Well, we at least know he's a fan of Dumas and his works- Three Musketeers, at least. I like to think he would like Dickens, Twain, or Stevenson. I can see him being into classic adventure stories, Black Arrow, Robin Hood, Zorro, stuff like that.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

Speaking of which:

I've always wondered what types of literature that the Turtles' would enjoy.

Canon favourite books from the old ninjaturtles.com
Leo: On the Art of War - Sun Tzu (孫子兵法/The Art of War)
Don: A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
Raph: Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
Mike: In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak, Tuesday - David Wiesner, The Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg
Venus: Winnie the Pooh - A. A. Milne

BONUS
Splinter: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword - Ruth Benedict
April: (favourite author, not specific book) - Robert Fulghum
Casey: Mike Hammer series
Shredder: Thinks books are mindless drivel
Krang: Seven Ways to Prepare Quarg Rat Pie and Other Mouthwatering Recipes - Zoover Hunklethrop
Rocksteady: War and Peace (uses it as a doorstop)
Bebop: Books give him a headache
Dragon Lord had yet to write his favourite book
Mondo: J. R. R. Tolkien (another fave author and not a specific book)
Leatherhead: Yertle the Turtle - Dr. Seuss
Wingnut & Screwloose: Dracula - Bram Stoker
Wyrm: Worm and Pieces (sounds like a War and Peace parody)
Ray Fillet: Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Rat King: Food of the Gods - H.G. Wells
Slash doesn't know what books are
Tattoo: The Chihuahua - E. Ruth Terry
Merdude: The Odyssey - Homer
Dreadmon: A Rasta's Pilgrimage - Neville Garrick
Jagwar: Chamalu: The Shamanic Way of the Heart - Luis Espinoza

Now obviously these are based on the weird Next Mutation/Adventures fusion versions of the characters that the site ran profiles on, and other incarnations would probably be into different stuff, but I feel like these should be a good idea of what those characters like.

[Utrommaniac]

That recipe book sounds like it came right out of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Which I'd think would be someone's favorite book at least.

Quarg rats, huh?



It's pretty funny how both Shredders are just so melodramatic and having no chill. Maybe because they're hungry?

I'd think Ch'rell would be pretty scholarly (maybe also favoring Sun Tsu), but the fact that there are no nicknames is probably the funniest thing about his profile. Bruh, you have like, five additional names in addition to your given one.

FW Shredder would be the biggest bookworm of all the Shredders. Especially considering that his first choice of career was to be a writer. He'd totally have an armchair next to a fireplace and ramble about classical literature motifs ala Masterpiece Theater. Mostly to annoy Krang, but also to stretch his mind on the dream he left.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

I'd think Ch'rell would be pretty scholarly (maybe also favoring Sun Tsu), but the fact that there are no nicknames is probably the funniest thing about his profile. Bruh, you have like, five additional names in addition to your given one.

2003 Ch'rell would definitely read something Japanese. Probably The Book of Five Rings?

[Utrommaniac]

Considering how long he was around in Japan, he (and probably the other Utroms) would definitely have seen a great deal of change in the world of literature. Especially while Japan was trading exclusively with the Dutch, which would have brought in European writings.

And given the time period in which haikus were first becoming a big deal...he probably would have read a lot of that as well.

All of his tastes in literature would probably explain his style of monologuing.

[PApagreg]

I kinda like the idea of both Splinter and Shredder liking soap opreas but while Splinter enjoys American ones Shredder likes K-dramas

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Not something that I had a problem with in the Original Cartoon, since laser guns were the norm and Bebop/Rocksteady were well armed enough to easily outmatch the police while the technodrome could destroy the entire U.S army by itself.

I have an in-universe theory here.

Rayguns don't exist on Earth when the original series begins, except inside the Technodrome. But following the fights between the turtles and Shredder's and Krang's forces during seasons 1 and 2, several rayguns are broken and left on the streets of New York City.

Gangsters later gets access to them (with or without Shredder's assistance) and finally even the local police begins to use them.