Which Hand?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I didn't see any other threads on this topic, so I'm starting one. If it's been done before, my apologies, but after browsing ten pages of topics, I'm assuming not.

So here's the question: Which hand is each turtle dominant with, or has this ever been mentioned or even hinted at? My thoughts so far:

Mikey- a definite lefty in my book- he's creative, unconventional, and thinks outside the box (often WAAY outside), which are all traits of right-brained people, which is what a left-handed person is. He's also very emotionally motivated and less interested in logic and facts- also lefty/right-brained traits.

Donnie- very left-brained, obviously, the polar opposite of Mikey. Probably right-handed.

Raph- I'm guessing right, but he could possibly go either way, due to his temper and emotional basis. He's also less logical, more of a no-nonsense type, so possibly a lefty.

Leo- the most difficult, IMO. I'd be tempted to call him ambidextrous, which makes sense for him, given his balanced persona. And two swords would be VERY hard for a dominant-handed person to wield effectively- one side would always be less effective, which would leave him weak on that side. So he almost HAS to be an ambi.

Thoughts? Agree, disagree? I'd love to see what theories everyone has!

[DonatelloNinja82]

This is a cool topic!! I actually have to say I agree with you. Lefties are rare. About 1 out of 10 people are lefties (myself included haha). And I have cannon PROOF Mike is a leftie:

http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Sewersurfin/34_zps5f4ab60e.jpg (http://s1347.photobucket.com/user/Sewersurfin/media/34_zps5f4ab60e.jpg.html)

So anyways. Yes, I think Mike would be leftie, Don and Raph righties, and Leo either rightie or ambiedextrous.

[Powder]

Is Mike being a lefty consistent, though? He only held a pen once in a pin-up through all of Mirage (that I can recall), yet in the Image series, he was a writer and always had one. I can't remember if they had him being a righty or lefty there, though.

[DonatelloNinja82]

Is Mike being a lefty consistent, though? He only held a pen once in a pin-up through all of Mirage (that I can recall), yet in the Image series, he was a writer and always had one. I can't remember if they had him being a righty or lefty there, though.

You know, I'm not sure...I only read a few of the Image series and it's been so long I don't really remember it well.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Awesome find, DN! I am a leftie myself, actually. And I love that the pic had Klunk in it, too! (And some of the cool details like Eastman and Talbot's names on the poster, the AT-ST and TMNT figure on the shelves, etc. Priceless!) Strangely enough, it's also close to how I described his room in my LIS tale. Weird....

[Vivi]

I was just wondering this the other day. Does this help at all?
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt241/vivi_letigre/1372571_zps99911da5.jpg (http://s616.photobucket.com/user/vivi_letigre/media/1372571_zps99911da5.jpg.html)

:lol:

Mikey, Don and Leo seem to be righties. Raph is playing some kind of sequencer, so the jury's out. Take this with a boatload of salt.

[Newtralizer]

1) This probably depends on whoever's in the suit or doing the animation at the time. I highly doubt it's canon.

2) The whole left and right brained thing is bullfeces, and scientifically disproven.

[madyankees]

I always felt Raph's the only lefty

[BabyTurtles]

I always felt Raph's the only lefty

really? I thought Mikey was the lefty......

[DonatelloNinja82]

Awesome find, DN! I am a leftie myself, actually. And I love that the pic had Klunk in it, too! (And some of the cool details like Eastman and Talbot's names on the poster, the AT-ST and TMNT figure on the shelves, etc. Priceless!) Strangely enough, it's also close to how I described his room in my LIS tale. Weird....

Yah, I've actually had this on my computer for a while...I love it. Being a leftie is fun, eh? Except in elementary school, when they never had those leftie scissors...or in college where all the desks were made for righties hahahah!!!! And don't get me started on can openers...funny scene would be Mikey struggling with a can opener for Klunk. :P

[Luigiperps]

really? I thought Mikey was the lefty......

Mikey's Totaly a rightie!

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I agree, DN. When I was in elementary school, they tried to force me to be right-handed; this was back in the days when being a lefty was considered "unnatural" or "weird", so most schools tried to get kids to conform to what was "normal". Never mind that it caused more problems than it would ever solve. But my mom eventually nixed that idea and told them to leave it alone. I'm happy to say I've never regretted being a leftie, and in fact, I've got a nice little plaque on my desk that says "left handed genius" to remind me that it's okay to be different!

@ Newtralizer: Disproven how? I've never heard anything of this. AFAIK, all the studies have shown that the handedness and brain side-dominance ARE related. And I speak from personal experience with having others try to MAKE me use the other side- see above.

[DonatelloNinja82]

I was thankfully never forced to have to try to be a rightie, and I am glad for that. That must have been frustrating. But yes, for centuries it was viewed as "unnatural". Do you know what the Latin word for left is?

sinister...how pleasant haha

[MsMarvelDuckie]

LOL, yup! I took Latin for three years in high school. Some of our English words have some very interesting origins, LOL! Although that particular word didn't QUITE have the bad connotation in Latin that it now does in English. We can thank the Catholic Church for that one. Sinister came to be treated as related to the Devil.

[DonatelloNinja82]

Too funny! Three years of Latin here, too! :)

[BubblyShell22]

I agree with your assessment, Duckie, though I'm pretty creative myself and I'm right-handed. So, what does that say about me?

[DonatelloNinja82]

There are plenty of creative righties. My aunt is one of the most creative people I know and she's a rightie.

[madyankees]

Since we are on the topic, I thought I also mention I know of at least 2 friends who writes left handed but does other stuff primarily with the right (e.g. throwing a ball, eating)

[DonatelloNinja82]

Since we are on the topic, I thought I also mention I know of at least 2 friends who writes left handed but does other stuff primarily with the right (e.g. throwing a ball, eating)

That does happen. I am a leftie, and I do everything leftie, except throw. I throw rightie.

[BabyTurtles]

That does happen. I am a leftie, and I do everything leftie, except throw. I throw rightie.

I'm a leftie and I bat right XDD

I'm also creative! but I don't think that has anything to do with being a leftie....cause my sister is a rightie and she's super creative and can draw too XDDDD

[RaphAndDonnie]

I'm left handed though I feel more comfortable batting right handed and I've taught myself to draw with a computer mouse right handed.

I think Leo and, quite possibly Michelangelo considering the nunchucks, are at least somewhat ambidextrous. Not sure about Donnie and Raph though I'd wager they're right handed.

[Shark_Blade]

I don't see any relation of being left/right handed got to do with anything; they can both be creative people for example.

But if we're gonna just predict, then I'll go with:

Leo: Right
Raph: Left
Mike: Right
Don: Right

[MsMarvelDuckie]

SB, what makes you say left on Raph? As stated above, I had trouble deciding with him, though I ultimately chose right- and left for Mikey as the most "left field" one. Don is so precise, logical, and technical that he almost HAS to be right. Leo could probably go either way, but with his swords, I decided ambi as the precision and finesse needed to dual-wield a matched pair of blades almost requires it. And many D&D players, or those who've ever tried sparring dual-sword style in real practice, will probably agree! Unless it's Florentine- ie, long and short style (like Usagi)- in which case a rightie would do just as well as an ambi. It's all in how you use them.

I did consider Mikey for an ambi at first, but only until I thought about how chucks are used vs swords. They are a much less finessed weapon, being mainly a type of flail, which would require much less in the way of precise, coordinated movements that a cutting weapon like a katana would. And given his personality and over traits, I ended up going left on him. Right just doesn't fit how he thinks. (Like I said- WAAY outside the box. Or out in "left field", LOL! :trazz: :tlol: )

Oddly, I also bat right, even though I do everything else left. I DID, however, learn to WRITE right back in middle school when I "accidentally" broke my left arm just below the wrist and had a cast for a good while. And by accidentally, I mean to say that I was tripped in gym and fell on it wrong, but the responsible party was never caught.....

[Newtralizer]

I agree, DN. When I was in elementary school, they tried to force me to be right-handed; this was back in the days when being a lefty was considered "unnatural" or "weird", so most schools tried to get kids to conform to what was "normal". Never mind that it caused more problems than it would ever solve. But my mom eventually nixed that idea and told them to leave it alone. I'm happy to say I've never regretted being a leftie, and in fact, I've got a nice little plaque on my desk that says "left handed genius" to remind me that it's okay to be different!

@ Newtralizer: Disproven how? I've never heard anything of this. AFAIK, all the studies have shown that the handedness and brain side-dominance ARE related. And I speak from personal experience with having others try to MAKE me use the other side- see above.

It was disproven that there was a side of the brain for creativity and a side for logic. There is no substance whatsoever in it.

Here's a source for you.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57600205/left-brain-right-brain-theory-a-myth-study-says/

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Um, so basically, the study debunked it's own debunking. Read it more carefully.

Quote: People use networks in their brains, Devi explained. "So if somebody is more artistic, let's say, then they would more likely use ... networks within the right side of the brain. So it's about the network they use. There are networks for language, there are networks for artistic ability. There are networks for math. So depending on what networks you use, you use one side of the brain more than the other."

Duh- those networks are what makes a person more left- or right-brained. It's all about which side those networks used most frequently are on. And as for sitting and reading- you use BOTH sides to do that, so it proves nothing. Sorry, but they didn't prove anything, they just restated what others have done in a way that makes it sound like they disproved something when they didn't.

We use different parts of the brain for different tasks, but MOST people find it easier to perform tasks centered on one side than on the other- that's what makes a person dominant on that side- because the neural pathways are more developed and stronger!

I hate it when researchers waste time claiming they've debunked a "myth" that has already been studied numerous times by others- and comes up true time and again- simply because they didn't bother to check whether what they were claiming actually matches what they found! I've seen it too many times with so-called "experts" in a field who don't have a basic grasp of the nuances of scientific knowledge and language.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

And I have cannon PROOF Mike is a leftie:

http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Sewersurfin/34_zps5f4ab60e.jpg (http://s1347.photobucket.com/user/Sewersurfin/media/34_zps5f4ab60e.jpg.html)


Is that Image Comics Vol 3? Isn't Vol 3 classed as non canon?

[Powder]

Hell no, that's from an old Mirage book. & Vol. 3 was considered canon until PL decided to retcon tons of stuff that didn't have his personal involvement in the mid 2000's, but most fans accept it as canon anyway being that it was never contradicted by future events.

[oldmanwinters]

Is that Image Comics Vol 3? Isn't Vol 3 classed as non canon?

I think that's that last page reveal from Mirage Vol. 1, #18. Turns out the whole epic story was just a product of Mikey's budding imagination!

[redsai4lex]

I would have to agree with Mikey being the only left-handed Turtle.

I might just be biased, because my brothers and I are the same way.

Aaron (Michelangelo) = Left-handed (brother)
Marvin (Donatello) = Right-handed (brother)
Alex (Raphael) = Right-handed (me)
Zane (Leonardo) = Right-handed (twin-bro)
Ellen (April) = Right-handed (sister)

To me though, it would make a lot of sense.

(Side-Note_ We are aware of "AMAZE")

[Heather Breckel]

The guitar picture isn't really proof! I'm a lefty and play guitar how a right handed person does. I taught myself the instrument, so I just assumed a lefty would be using their left hand to work with the frets. (good I made this mistake, left handed guitars are more expensive)

Lefties aren't too rare in my experience. When I worked for Starbucks, about 80% of the employees were left handed. Of course maybe lefties just gravitate towards Starbucks, but it was interesting.