How does TMNT survive?

[Gremlin]

In the old toon, tmnt basically lived on pizza and nobody really bothered if four giant turtles walked in to a pizza place and ordered some.

But in the new toon and in the comics, everyone freaks out when they show themselves so what does they eat?
Yes, they could order take away food and solve it like they did in the first movie but where does they get the cash to pay for it?

Has this matter ever been explained or are we supposed to know that mutant turtles live on the air they breathe?

[Michaelangelo|DAH]

They get food and money from April and Casey.... hehe

But they don't even have jobs. :-?

Dude I don't know.

I've only seen Mikey eat his beloved chips hehe

[Dontebell]

they find money on the sreet,or they take some money from the badguys

[Jo Dawn]

I bet you'd be surprised how much money people drop into grates and on the street and such.

And I'm sure that Casey and April help them out now, but before when they had to fend for themselves, I assume that Splinter (and when they got older, the TMNT) looked through dumpsters to find edibles.

[Gremlin]

they find money on the sreet,or they take some money from the badguys

But as far as I know, they've almost never benn up on street level before the start of each series, then, no money from badguys

Is splinter a millionaire maybe? :P

[coryroo24]

In things change they gave all that money back, so they don't steal it. We only see them on saturdays, maybe they work during the week. :goofygri:

[Raphaella]

They don't eat much anyway, so I suppose what little money they have, they save; and what food they find they save. Maybe Don makes money from the 'Net, heh. And all the punks they beat up must have something in their wallets, I mean, you wudn't feel too guitly stealing from a crook, lol

[MW8979]

You're right about that. They do take money from people they beat up, which is justified in a way. And yet - they'd never show that on TV, because that would be "wrong". Although I think it would be quite hilarious if they did show TMNT reaching into unconscious people's pockets and taking their wallets. But then you'd get all the flustered parents and the rabid PTA, bitching about it.

[Gremlin]

Yeah but still. The net wasn't exactly around in -84 (not as we know it) and (correct me if I'm wrong) Isn't the new start of each series sort of the first real things they do on surface level? The first movie made that pretty clear and the two toons seems to follow the same example. Sure they could look through the garbage that people throw away but that doesn't seem like something they would do, despite the whole "living in a sewer" deal

[J Legault]

It's very simple they find car parts or old radios at the dump and cash them in for so spare change. And there's alot of lost money to find in streets of N.Y.

[Taloniss]

Royalties from all the merchandise with there face on it.

[jeff the cheff]

Peter Laird pays them to use their names in comics and TV.

It's just like in Kevin Smith movies where they pay Jay and Silent Bob.

[spikealike]

They don't eat much anyway, so I suppose what little money they have, they save; and what food they find they save. Maybe Don makes money from the 'Net, heh. And all the punks they beat up must have something in their wallets, I mean, you wudn't feel too guitly stealing from a crook, lol

'Tis how I see it, kinda like Blade.

[Albrecht]

they break payphones and eat foot soldiers.

[Krangfan]

Royalties from all the merchandise with there face on it. :tlol: :tlol: :tlol: :tanime:

[jestergoblin]

Don has a paypal account, duh. :lol:

[Savanti Romero]

Don is a scraper on E-Bay!

[Coola Yagami]

Well, in the old show the TMNT wore disguises, but the basic problem is still there. How do they get the money to pay the pizzeria?

[Buslady]

They find money, every penny counts. maybe once in awhile they'd find a larger bill like the $10 Mikey had in movie 1. Maybe they had like a family money pot, whatever one finds it goes into it for a special dinner treat?
April or Casey may give them a few bucks. They could even order meals and take it down to their home? There's really so many ways they survived.

But before human help,
Probably they foraged trash cans for wasted food, maybe raided grocery store trash bins-they toss out stuff that is still edible but just not fresh.

[Buslady]

They don't eat much anyway, so I suppose what little money they have, they save; and what food they find they save. Maybe Don makes money from the 'Net, heh. And all the punks they beat up must have something in their wallets, I mean, you wudn't feel too guitly stealing from a crook, lol

The don't eat much??? Hell Mikey's got an endless gut! he's always eating...which is pretty accurate with turtles. turtles EAT LIKE PIGS!

[Valorxii]

i thought before the first ep they never went above ground. so what dumpsters would they raid?

[Buslady]

i thought before the first ep they never went above ground. so what dumpsters would they raid?

ok scraps of whatever that fell into the sewers..maggots and all. maybe some fresh roadkill? BBQed squirrel?

[Jo Dawn]

i thought before the first ep they never went above ground. so what dumpsters would they raid?

ok scraps of whatever that fell into the sewers..maggots and all. maybe some fresh roadkill? BBQed squirrel?

Eeewwww. :wink: :lol:

Wait... In Tales of Leo, in Splinter's story of Leo, wasn't there a part where they went looking for supplies? (I mean, aside from the whole 'afraid of heights' part. Weren't they looking for stuff at one point?) So... that means they had probably already been above ground, correct? That... or there was somewhere below ground where they found stuff. But I think they went above.

[Krutch]

lol this topic is funny

[michiko]

Mirage vol 1 #9 featured the turtles before they were teenagers, and they went above ground in that story.

[Coola Yagami]

well.. don't stories always retcon stuff like that? Like the first issue could say it's the first time they ever seen April, while flashbacks in future eps can reveal they saw her on the street before or somethin...

[Raphaella]

Wait, if they forage for food, are so poor they can only just manage to live... how'd Mikey get his DVD collection? The mysteries of TMNT...

[Morp]

Didn't one of them mention that Mikey was pretty good at making eggs in one of the eps, while they were still in April's apartment... I kinda doubt many eggs would roll their ways into the sewers.

And, I kinda got the feeling from the way they talked that they had been to the surface before, it just wasnt an everyday occurence

[Raphaella]

And, I kinda got the feeling from the way they talked that they had been to the surface before, it just wasnt an everyday occurence

True, in 15 years cud any of you resist the confined spaces of the sewers every single day? I guess Splinter cud have given them tours of the 'safe' places

Splinter: now my children, on your left you will see Central park -
kids: Ooooo
Splinter: That over there is what is known as mugging, where you beat someone up and take their money
Kids: Ooooo
Splinter: And this light, the light coming towards us means we're on a road - so quick get out the way! Scarper!

Lol, okay, funny mood today. But yeah, I'm betting they wud have gone topside before.

[Machias Banshee]

Oh the fics I have read and written about this... :D

~in my opinions...~

Basically they scrounged. People are always dropping change, jewelry, this and that on the ground, down drains and so on. I work at a convenience store, and the 'out of date' stuff we have to throw out every week could certainly feed a family of four...

When/how did Splinter and the boys do it?

Splinter did it when the turtles were young, leaving whenever the boys were sleeping or such to find what he could. when the boys got older, they went along and helped out. This gave them their first taste of the surface world. The more they helped out, the more curious they got. It soon reached a point where the boys could go without Splinter worrying about their safety(even though he did and still does... :P ).

[Gremlin]

I kinda doubt many eggs would roll their ways into the sewers.

No need to, reptiles usually produce eggs themselves (now who might be the secret female turtle among them) :P

[Usagi'sChick]

well in the new episodes. Tales of a Leo, they have flashbacks of when they are all young...anyhoo Leo and Splinter were looking for other people's discared "junk" in the sewers. -Also in both the new toon (garbage man guy) and the old toon, the turtles have befriended the homeless. They've always been on the lookout for their nifty odds and ends.

Has for the food question: I think I remember specifically that in the old toon the turtles get money donated to them via Channel 6, for helping a citizen in need (the citizen wanted to make sure her heroes were paid), and April of course passes it on. It was at the end of the episode, since the turtles are psyched they can get PIZZA!

-Plus the turtles are resourceful, like in movie one, Mikey gets $3.00 off cause the pizza dude is late! :P -Every little bit counts

[Anonymous]

Geez. They are just cartoons. Who cares how they survive? As long as they do. :lol:

[Ninja Turtles Cartoon Fan]

Well, in the old show the TMNT wore disguises, but the basic problem is still there. How do they get the money to pay the pizzeria?

I always had this idea in my head (from the old cartoon) that Splinter gave the Turtles an allowance, and that's how they were able to pay for all the pizza they ate.

But then I could never come up with an explanation for how Splinter got the money to pay the Turtles for their allowance. :lol:

"Boy, this waiter's outfit was a good idea. I might even pick up a few tips!" - Donatello, from "Donatello's Degree"

[J Legault]

Geez. They are just cartoons. Who cares how they survive? As long as they do. :lol:
hello Jeremy I see you had the urge to join this board with out telling me.

[Bowser_Koopa]

he mentions you in the introduction topic

about the tmnt...

i think i recall leo and splinter looking for food and usefull stuff on the seweres on a flash back, so they are like hobos, they can eat anything :evilgrin: ....but then again its 4 turtles and rat, turtles eat cocroaches (the turtles i had did).....and rats, well rats eat anything...i guess...

[FALLEN ELDOR]

i thought before the first ep they never went above ground. so what dumpsters would they raid?

I don't recall them ever saying they had never gone up before. I'm sure they just stuck to ally ways and the dumpsters covered by darkness. and if not, I'm sure lots of stuff gets washed out into strom drains.

Yeah but still. The net wasn't exactly around in -84 (not as we know it) and (correct me if I'm wrong) Isn't the new start of each series sort of the first real things they do on surface level? The first movie made that pretty clear and the two toons seems to follow the same example. Sure they could look through the garbage that people throw away but that doesn't seem like something they would do, despite the whole "living in a sewer" deal

They collect a lot of empty cans and recycle. :) And like others have said they scavenge and foraged for what they can find. The dumpster at fast food and take out places being the best spot.

Wait, if they forage for food, are so poor they can only just manage to live... how'd Mikey get his DVD collection? The mysteries of TMNT...

They sells a lot of used, old and fixed up stuff they find on Ebay, same place Mikey got all his DVDs and comics ;) After all they are 15, ebay would have been around seance like they where what, 8 or 9? I'm sure Don had already found the old ITT Tech books by that age and become the computer whiz and build his own and leeched from neighboring connections...hey Michelangelo pirated a radio station in the next mutation, they aren't that law abiding :lol:

-Plus the turtles are resourceful, like in movie one, Mikey gets $3.00 off cause the pizza dude is late! :P -Every little bit counts

You know something, I bet its Michelangelo's over use the policy that made Domino's stop the '30 minutes or less' guarantee! :x

[Stone Ill]

They don't eat much anyway, so I suppose what little money they have, they save; and what food they find they save. Maybe Don makes money from the 'Net, heh. And all the punks they beat up must have something in their wallets, I mean, you wudn't feel too guitly stealing from a crook, lol

The don't eat much??? Hell Mikey's got an endless gut! he's always eating...which is pretty accurate with turtles. turtles EAT LIKE PIGS!

Pigs don't eat very much. They're messy eaters, but they don't eat much.

[Lisardo]

Well there's another issue here, if they don't have money for food hardly, how does Don afford all these electronic devices? How does he afford internet service? How is there lighting, and I assume heating in their den? Cuz those are all things that are running down there. I know with Don he finds stuff and makes it work, and he invents stuff, but I don't think there is much electricity down there in the sewers (or was it a train station in the new cartoon, I forget). There might be some electrical plugs down there since some sewer men work down there, but still. If a significant amount was used for everyday living as the TMNT use it, then I'm sure someone would find out about it and the government or whoever would start charging them or find and arrest them. From the looks of it, they don't move lairs that much, they stay in one place so it's not like they'd outrun the gov't if that happened. Well they might leave, but they'd have the same problem anywhere they went and tried to use electricity.

Also this isn't even money-related, how would they even get internet service or TV service (whether it's cable or regular tv), or the radio when the signals are prolly dampened out from being below the surface? See that's all fake (well duh!) in the show, cuz in real life none of that stuff would work. They may be able to find money and Don could invent or work on stuff to get it to work and make it something useful, but Don would prolly still need electricity to get it work more than likely (for most his machines he'd prolly need elec.)

[Kali]

I assume that heat, electricity, internet, and cable is all stolen. They tap into the city's lines. Humans do it all the time. Though I'm surprised that the city hasn't sent anyone down to see where all that power is going.

[MW8979]

Yeah, I think they just steal water and electricity. I mean, how hard can it be when they're living in a sewer? But of course, the city officials would eventually investigate that power loss, especially when Donatello starts to open that mini portal. As for the hardware, we've been shown before that they raid garbage dumps. Although, obviously you cannot get all the functional units for electronics in a garbage dump - they either have to buy those or steal them from stores. I have another theory about it though. I suspect that they actually drag the defeated foot soldiers into the sewers with them after battle, and then pick them apart for whatever they need. I mean, Shredder never seems to pick up his technology after it blows up to pieces, so my guess is that Donatello takes all of Krang's hardware and makes some use out of it.

[Gremlin]

Possibly, but you're talking about the old toon where our four guys just had to put on a hat to be able to walk the streets normally, and by that they could buy/sell stuff all the way they wanted.

I'm not bashing your theories but my original question left out the old toon since every logical thing is pretty pointless to adapt on it

[Kali]

Although, obviously you cannot get all the functional units for electronics in a garbage dump - they either have to buy those or steal them from stores.
From a garbage dump, no, but if you raid a dumpster outside an eletronics warehouse store, you're bound to come up with tons of stuff. I work in one of these stores, and I've heard that just by sweeping the parking lot every week, there's like $100 worth of merchandise, mostly resistors, screws, and other small parts.

I can see Don stealing stuff from the sale carts sitting outside my store. :lol:

[MW8979]

Maybe you should set up a trap to catch him then. He's only a turtle after all. How fast could he possibly run?

[Bowser_Koopa]

if he was mikey he would be asier to catch but we're talking abou the smartest turtle in here! :lol:

[Kali]

Nah, I just need to lure him into the store. He'd never leave! :lol:

Don: Wow... Hey, need one of these... two of these... Hey, you have a surface mount section! Used test equipment, score!

[Lisardo]

Yeah those are all good ideas. But they still wouldn't be able to get away with getting power cuz eventually they'd be cut off.

[Gremlin]

Yeah those are all good ideas. But they still wouldn't be able to get away with getting power cuz eventually they'd be cut off.

maybe they use the sewer water to power some kind of turbine (eh, am I right or am I just bad at english?) to produce their own electricity from the water

and the Internet... who said that "the way of invisibility" training is not applicable in digital way too :lol:

[Lisardo]

Depends on how they connect. If they connect thru cable, they'd havta sign up with a cable company, no way they could do that. And if they connnect thru DSL or a regular dial-up, true there might be a phone line down there of some sort they could get away using, but the phone company maybe would find about about it. Guess it would be very hard to live in the normal world looking like they do, poor guys. Cuz they'd literally havta live like the Almish and/or the really poor, without electricity. Well, for the most part.

[That Matt Guy]

Geez.

And just where the hell did they get their weapons from? Does Splinter have his own forge for making swords down in the sewer?

[Bowser_Koopa]

he he, in the episode monster hunter (or something like that in english) leo makes his own new pair of katanas, because shredder had the old pair

[kyabetsu]

fresh food? that's easy. grocery stores and restuarants get regular deliveries of fresh produce, eggs, dairy and other perishables. in order to get it all into the stores for business hours, deliveries usually happen after hours... the DARK. it's no big deal for a ninja rat to swipe a flat of eggs or a box of oranges when no one's looking. it's like shopping at costco or sam's or bj's.... WHOLESALE baby.


heh. and i know this works b/c if ~I~ could do it, a ninja sure as hell could. i was pretty damn broke in college and bagel shipments occurred at ~4am on campus. :P

[Anonymous]

Maybe their SOOO Mutated, they dont need to eat. :lol:

[Cascadia]

from the dumpster, anything that goes into the sewers, and trips to the city dump

[Drtooth]

There's a lot of Trash down in the sewers... maybe they recycle it for cash. I remember on one of the old cartoon enviromental bumpers, Donatello talks about recycling cans for money...

[That Matt Guy]

Maybe they have a silver mine down in the sewer.

[Jester]

didn't they take the wallet of a guy in the first ep or movie...after they beat them up....there's some cash....but i like the whole "change falls down grate" senerio....though it's not much....but hey maybe they do like raph in tony day's comic and beg for cash as injured vets

[Lord Nightwalker]

Well, They are Ninja..So I would assume they are learned in the skills of survival. Be it wilderness or urban, so I don't think this is quite as big an issue as it would appear at first. And they could use a modified lineman's phone to "possibly" hook up to the net and make calls.(Just a thought)
There are lots of options availible to them, moreso than others because of the shadow warrior talents.

[Rainbow Daze]

And Ninjas can login onto internet without anyone noticing too - they're ninjas after all! :lol: They lurk in the shadowy corners of the net, like http://www.realultimatepower.net/ or discovery channels "Turtles gone wild" page. ;) No one can spot the ninjas. And if they do the ninja will turn into a teddybear as soon as they blink! So there. :oops:

And by the same rule ninjas can steal electricity with ease too. :)