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View Full Version : Every Turtle had his day: TMNT Personalities & The 4 Canons

Aztec General
11-03-2009, 03:39 PM
This thread is about the TMNT personality that I feel is dominant in each of the TMNT canons. I feel like this is an appropriate time to post this since all 4 of these canons are coming to an end shortly (unless Mirage continues printing comics; which appears unlikely), and with Turtles Forever coming out (hopefully) featuring all 4 TMNT canons. Interestingly enough, I feel like each of the 4 TMNT canons has a different Turtle's personality as an overarching theme. I'll explain my reasoning for each below; but first I want to clarify the 4 main canons:

There have been 4 major TMNT canons over the past 25 years:

1) Mirage Comics TMNT (Mirage guest artist tales & Image Comics being subdivisions)
2) 1987 Animated TMNT (Archie Comics, TMNT comic strip, & Manga/Anime TMNT being subdivisions)
3) Movieverse TMNT (Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation & Movie adaptation comics being subdivisions)
4) 2003 Animated TMNT (Dreamwave Comics being a subdivision)

For convenience purposes I'll refer to each of the canons by the first year that it began. Thus:

1) Mirage TMNT= TMNT 1984
2) OT TMNT= TMNT 1987
3) Movie TMNT= TMNT 1990
4) 2K3 TMNT= TMNT 2003

TMNT 1984= Leonardo
I associate Leonardo with the Mirage comics because the series (or at least the main canon) is rather serious, stoic, action packed, martial arts centered, and is truly the "leader" of the other canons since it was the original. All of these are Leonardo's traits. Also many of the main stories in the Mirage comics are Leonardo centered.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bLaSJk-pyFg/Sumtd88fw3I/AAAAAAAACFw/SY5PkrntgBM/s1600/Leo%2Brunning,%2Bcrossed%2Bswords%2Bsm.jpg

TMNT 1987= Michelangelo
The 1987 toon has Mikey written all over it. It's goofy, slapstick, fun, doesn't take itself too seriously, and is full of pop culture references. In fact Mikey's personality was created in this series. In the prior Mirage issues Mikey's personality was rather understated; or at least he certainly wasn't the "party dude".

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3416389594_522569bf08_o.jpg

TMNT 1990= Raphael
The dark, brooding, overeager, and trouble making brother Raphael shines through at his finest in 3 of the TMNT's 4 big screen versions. It's hard to not think of him as the central character in the film franchise. Heck, his huge role in the first film even caused "Partners in Kryme" to get it wrong in the theme song for the first film: "Raphael, he's the leader of the group" LOL.

http://www.aolcdn.com/moviefeatures/tmnt-wallpaper-raphael-425

TMNT 2003= Donatello
The new toon was overall a very smart and well thought out show, particularly in its plot continuity. Very smart and very well thought out? That sounds like Donatello for sure! Also the 2K3 show had a great deal more sci-fi and tech based elements than the other TMNT canons. Which of course are also very Donny traits.

http://www.elosis.fr/mael/images/profile_donatello.gif

Your thoughts on my musings?
ToTheNines
11-03-2009, 03:43 PM
Well, I'd personally switch Mike and Don. Don was clearly the star of the OT, and while Mikey wasn't the lead Turtle in the NT... he got plently of attention.
oldmanwinters
11-03-2009, 04:48 PM
Hmm, I'm undecided on whether the Imagi CGI movie is most properly considered a subset of the live-action movies or the 2k3 series. Sort of an amalgamation of the two just as the original movies were an amalgamation of the Mirage comics and Old Toon.
Aztec General
11-03-2009, 06:00 PM
Hmm, I'm undecided on whether the Imagi CGI movie is most properly considered a subset of the live-action movies or the 2k3 series. Sort of an amalgamation of the two just as the original movies were an amalgamation of the Mirage comics and Old Toon.

TMNT was definitely more in line with the film verse. It had several nods to the series and accepted the earlier films as canon. I saw nothing to suggest that it was a successor to the 2K3 series.

The original film was certainly an amalgamation of Mirage and the OT but it was also its own continuity outright. A continuity that included the 3 sequels and the off-shoot: The Next Mutation. Remember that TNM started off with the TMNT living in the same subterranean home as films 2 & 3; not that anyone wants to accept that series as canon to the film series. :lol:
kev trashcan
11-03-2009, 06:09 PM
i thought this was a post for resivor turtles at first hahahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hj5vOIrTEs
ToTheNines
11-03-2009, 06:12 PM
:lol: Me too!

4Hj5vOIrTEs
Scandia
11-03-2009, 07:16 PM
I would swith Leo and Donnie as well.

Mirage- Donatello (Laird's fave) and to a lesser degree Raphael (Eastman's fave)

1987 toon- Michelangelo, and Donatello to a certain extent.

Movies- Raphael

2k3 toon- Leonardo

Archie- not sure
ToTheNines
11-03-2009, 07:42 PM
Archie- not sure

I'd definitely go with Raph there.
Cipher
11-03-2009, 11:39 PM
Mirage- Donatello (Laird's fave) and to a lesser degree Raphael (Eastman's fave)Mirage was definitely all about Leo. Leo gets most of the defining character moments. The one to see Shredder return and usher back a sense of continuity? Leo. The one to have the fated re-match and finally kill Shredder? Leo. The one who's self-doubts finally brought about major character changes in City at War? Leo. The one to seal the pact with Karai and kill the final Elite? Leo. Complete Carnage? Leo. Cha Ocho? Leo. Loops? Four Leos. The excellent Blind Sight mini-series? Leo. The one to delve into the major Foot conflict in Volume 4? Leo.

The other Turtles just aren't nearly as instrumental. Image was a very even mix though.

Michelangelo is definitely the face of all old toon-related material, no question. Ditto Raph for the movies.

Donatello does seem like a fair choice for the 4Kids series, although it's really far more Leo and Mike-centric (for the action and comedy balance of a kids' show).
Scandia
11-04-2009, 07:07 AM
I think that regarding Archie, now that I recall, Raph and Donnie got the most attention.

And in Mirage Volume 4, the story seems to pertain a lot to Raph and Donnie.

Donnie did get the second most attention in the OT. And he gets a lot in BTTS and FF.
Aztec General
11-04-2009, 04:50 PM
Mirage was definitely all about Leo. Leo gets most of the defining character moments. The one to see Shredder return and usher back a sense of continuity? Leo. The one to have the fated re-match and finally kill Shredder? Leo. The one who's self-doubts finally brought about major character changes in City at War? Leo. The one to seal the pact with Karai and kill the final Elite? Leo. Complete Carnage? Leo. Cha Ocho? Leo. Loops? Four Leos. The excellent Blind Sight mini-series? Leo. The one to delve into the major Foot conflict in Volume 4? Leo.

The other Turtles just aren't nearly as instrumental. Image was a very even mix though.

Michelangelo is definitely the face of all old toon-related material, no question. Ditto Raph for the movies.

Donatello does seem like a fair choice for the 4Kids series, although it's really far more Leo and Mike-centric (for the action and comedy balance of a kids' show).

Well said all around. But don't forget how sci-fi and tech based the 2003 show was. It had A LOT of Donnie elements.
Powder
11-04-2009, 08:53 PM
For me, It's movie mike, 87 leo, mirage don, and 2k3 raph.
Prowler
11-06-2009, 02:52 PM
Mirage - Leonardo.

OT - Michelangelo was the most popular turtle and popularized the "Cowabunga!" expression.
Honorable mention to Donatello, he was the true leader of the group, even though he was a "geek" he was quite temperamental.

2k3 - Hard to say, Mikey was a goof ball in this version too but not as popular as his OT incarnation.
Raph was much different than his OT counterpart but was not the star of the show.
Donatello certainly not, I hardly noticed him here.
I'd probably go with Leonardo once again, he was definitely the better Ninja of the group, like a true leader is supposed to be.

Movies - Raphael. Especially in the 1st movie.
Buslady
11-08-2009, 08:35 AM
Raph only had it in movie 1.
2 was Donnie, 3 was mikey

and 4 was Leo and raph

2k3 was a Donnie centric series

old toon all tmnt
shinefra
11-18-2009, 09:57 PM
[QUOTE=Prowler;732656]Mirage - Leonardo.

OT - Michelangelo was the most popular turtle and popularized the "Cowabunga!" expression.
Honorable mention to Donatello, he was the true leader of the group, even though he was a "geek" he was quite temperamental.
/QUOTE]

Now that I think of it Leo never was much o a leader in the old toon series only in combat but that we didn't saw a lot, (that's why I like more the 2002 series) it was Donatello who made all the planning, Leo just said stuff like “let's go turtles”.