Who Do You Believe Is The Most Popular Turtle?
 

I think it's a toss up between Mikey and Raph.Though I am a Leo fan.

That's a hard question to answer, since each turtle has a loyal following. :ohwell:

...
 

Though Raph's my personal fave, I'm probably betting that either Mike or Leo's the most popular. Generally, I believe that Mike and Raph are mostly liked for their comedic value (Raph's sarcastic quips and Mike's goofy antics), while Leo and Don are mostly liked for getting to "play with all the cool toys" (Leo's got his advanced ninjitsu and weapons, Don has his technology), and thus each duo represents half of the equation that made Turtles a hit - comedy and action. But why Mike and Leo as the bigger representatives? First of all, their faces are plastered almost everywhere you see turtle stuff (With Raph close behind and Donnie, sadly, dead last). Second, while Mike and Raph both represent the comedic portion of the show, Raph's jokes may be a bit over younger kids' heads, while Mike's humor has a broader/younger range (Visual gags, constant talk of pizza, and a humorous surfer voice). Similarly, although Don has some pretty cool tech, if a kid likes the action portion of the show better than the humor portion, odds are he'll go for the most action-oriented and least funny turtle around - Leo.

Mikey's always been a favorite amongst the youngsters. I'd say he's the most marketable turtle if not the most popular.

Oddly enough, several of my gay male friends cited Donnie as being their favorite when they were growing up. :teek: :tanime:

Poor Donny :( , I'd say Leo, Ralph and Mikey.

Unfortunately, when you're a youngin, kinda like I was when the turtles were around back in the day, you want one thing preferred over another. Most adolescent kids will choose either Leo or Mikey. They will quip with Mikey because he's the fun-loving, wise-cracking turtle. They don Leo's colours because every child wants to be the "leader." Raph, most older kids prefer because he's the hot-head. He acts before he thinks, and most teens understand exactly where that comes from. The outsiders of the groups tend to choose Donny because it shows them that even the geek can make a big impact. Unfortunately, the first two are directly most aquainted with 6 - 11 kids, and the latter half tend to be associated with the 12 and above. For a while, when I was younger, I loved Donny because I tended to be the geek and no one liked me. Then, I started to take my own leadership and began to understand why I liked Leo. (Though, ages 7 - 11 I dressed as EACH ninja turtle for Halloween!)

Personally, now, from an artist's viewpoint, I understand now why I love all of them. They work perfectly together. I won't go too far into it, because this is a post for another thread!

Raph and Leo seem to be the ones with most merchandise after them. Which really suprises me because You'd just think it would be mike.

Well Leo doesnt surprise me cuz hes the "leader"..raph i can agree with..but maybe its more of a preference for the color red over orange...?

Mikey and Leo. Almost everyone I know loves either Mikey or Leo. That, and just look at the classic TMNT: Season 2 cover. Who's on it? Mikey and Leo. And Mikey's on the actual disc for season 1. Doesn't bother me because Mikey's been my favorite since I was 3, and I turn 21 on the 27th.

:lol: I always joke around with my gay friends about Don being the gay turtle just because of his bandana color (purple) and his choice in weapons (a bo staff, or as I put it, a big, long, wooden shaft). :P It's kind of similar to the whole Tinky-Winky thing with the Teletubbies.

*Falls over laughing!* You know Peter Laird would have rolled over in his grave if he were dead now, wouldn't you? FOR SHAME!!!!! ;)

Dang it, I thought it came out THIS week. :ohwell: oh well, i can wait another week.

Of the classic series, Michealangelo. Every thing Ninja Turtle-ish from the surfer speak, the pizza, the Cowabunga!! and all that is what most people remembered from the older TMNT series, and all that came from Mike. Hell, Mike even appeared in that Cartoon All-Star to the rescue anti-drug special.

I think it is Mike. And I have a feeling that Donatello is hardly popular at all.

I absolutely loved Donatello as a kid (was a bit of a science-y kid) but followed closely by Mikey. Mikey just has an appeal with his humour that the kids related with...

Overall Mikey is probably the definate favorite but you kinda need all the Turtles to get a rounded set of characters. But I will forever be loyal to my love of Donatello... Loved him, loved purple, loved his cool inventions... Donatello overall has the potential to come with some pretty darn cool accessories!

Mikey....virtually everyone I have ever talked to about turtles besides people here name Mikey or "The orange one" as their favorite turtle. I guess because he jokes around alot. If I ever hear Raph hes a 2nd favorite

Definetly Mikey in the old series. With out a doubt. Mikey was the symbol and icon of the TMNT back then. Kids just love him, and why not? He's so adorable. :)


In general though, speeking for all the TMNT universes, It's quite clear that Leo is the main turtle.
I'm not sure if it has something to do with him being the leader and weilding the ninja trade-mark weapon, the katana... but I do know that he's always in front of the boys in about 90% of the comics and merchandising.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...obiography.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...odelMISB1a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...n4ever/RPG.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...030301_toy.jpg

Well, I dunno about the old series, I never got a chance to see it.

In my opinion, among li'l kiddies nowadays who watch TMNT, it's probably Leo.

But among everyone else, I have to say Raph. Even though he's not my favorite, I believe he's the most popular. I mean, I can't even go for one day without seeing Raph angst fanfiction or something.

In terms of people's most favourite turtles, i think it's between Raph & Mike, closely followed by Leonardo. In reference to someone who said that Raphael's humor some kids might not get, he has always been my favourite turtle because of the voice, cracking jokes to ease the tension, and i may not of got all his jokes.

Michaelangelo is probably the most influential turtle on popular culture. For example, people who know little about the TMNT, but have heard of it or lived through that time when they were popular. The things to come to mind is "cowabunga" which is Mike's catchphrase, pizza where Mike is more obsessed by it than the others and the surfer talk "hey dudes" and stuff. Proof of that is Bart Simpson has used cowabunga, which you know is borrowed from the TMNT.

Also Michelangelo is easiest to remember for some reason. I mean, everybody knows they're named after artists. But I had a hard time remembering Don's and Raph's names when I started to get into the turtles.

...
 

Oh yeah... I remember that... *Happily drifts off into memory lane* I'm a sucker for both nostalgia and crossovers...

i think all turtles are popular... the 4 turtles together is the best... :D
but if i pick one is raph or maybe mike,..

Overall, I'd probably say Michelangelo is the most popular, with Raph and Leo tying for second.

don is my #1 fave turtle, and raph comes a close second.
just loved all the techy stuff that he came up with in the original toon.
back when i started watching the toon, i didn't even know they were named after rennesaince artists, so to remembers leo's name, i thought about leopard.

and yeah, i've always been the big geek.

I think Leonardo is the most popular followed by Mike and Don .

People Remember Raph's Look and then Remember Mikey's Lines the cowabunga and Pizza dudes and such

Michelangelo is the most popular, Leonardo the most public, Donatello the most obscure, and Raphael the most verbal.

I think Raph is the most popular, simply for the fact that everyone I know that's a closet TMNT fan always confess their admiration for Raphael. That goes for real life and on other message boards. I started a Ninja Turtle loving faction on a hip-hop board, and there were supposed to be four people to lead (each as a turtle). I got Don easily, because he's always been my favorite since the original cartoon series... but damn, you wouldn't believe how big the war was for someone to take Raph's spot. It was insane!

I think Raph's popularity (the new series Raph) stems from the fact that being "gangsta" is the "in" thing, and everyone associates Raph with being gangsta (ridiculous, I know). Everyone always says he's either "gangsta" or "hardcore". And this is an admirable trait, why? Sure, you easily get the girl, have no remorse for killing foes, and easily get what you want.... but what about having enough intelligence to create an infinite variety of gadgets?

Raph is Gangsta, son! Raph is the only turtle i see Packin' Heat

^ :tlol:

Werd!!! Duke is crazy, son! I seen him rollin' through the hood the otha day and put holes in this cat, 'til he looked like Spongebob, son! He rolls deep, son!

Let me stop before they send the mods on us...

Edit: Just noticed something... even our emoticons have nothing but Raph!!! But if we're going by the original Mirage turtles... then I've made a dumb observation.

im a leo fan cause he is my fav oh and raph too

Hmm?
 

I think Raph is the most popular of the turtles, then we have Mike, my favorite :D

i wouldhave to say mike based on my kindergarten classmates back in 91..mikes the reason why to this day my favorite color is orange. i cant get enough of him. i recently bought a mutant military mike loose sitting on my desk and a carded one cuz he was my first turtle ever.

Seem's like Mikey is, even though there used to be more Raph stuff out there than anything. Raph only coffe mugs, Raph only Santa Snow Globe (I believe they came out the the other turtles for these in the following years), Raph only mirror, even my Pizza Inn has a neon Raph in the wall above the arcade games (it was there when the old turtles were brand new, and seem's to be the only thing they never took down). While Raph seem's to be the most famous, Mike seem's to be the one most TMNT fans talk about.

I personally like Raph the best, back then anyway. Now it's pretty much a tie between Raph, Leo, and Don.

EDIT and OFF TOPIC...I think:
Red used to be my favorite color, just because I liked Raph. But I don't know if I got stick and tired of red, if my taste in colors changed, or if I felt I just liked it because my favorite turtle was red. Now, my favorite colors are tied between Blue and Black, and not because of Leo and Slash either.

When the old TMNT toon came out and I was around 4 yrs when I first saw it Raph was my favorite TMNT, I love his sarcastic character. Than Don became my favorite TMNT. cause he was smart and calm. I always wished I was smart. but then Raph became my favorite again, but I think Don is my favorite again.

I saw a poll online that said who is your favorite turtle and Leonardo was winning, then Mikey, then Raph and then Don.

I think Raphael is more popular than Leo :evil: :evil:

I believe that Michaelangelo is the most popualr turtle from the classic series. Every one I talk to that used to watch the orginal shows says they love Mike, he was just cool. Although i know that Raph from the origianl series was also pretty popular with his sarcasm and whiplash quips :lol:. Raph's humour never went over my head He always had me laughing out loud at the things he says. Even today his humour can get a few cracks of laughter out of me and I'm an adult now.

In the new toon I'm going to say that it is a toss up between leonardo the wise and diligent ninja, and Raph the hard ass thug, who'd kill any one of his brothers at the drop of a hat :o . These two get the most focus out of any of the other turtles. Only Leonardo gets a bit more. Michaelangelo just doesn't seem to have the same appeal and impact as his orginal toons counter-part. Maybe because his personallty is different from the old one.

But I've more kids rave over Raph and Leonardo than the other turtles. **sigh** Poor Donatello :(

I think the poll online shows the favourite-turtle-results from us only and we are not the majority, but in this thread I think we are speaking about the fav's from the other people outside, so I think either Raph or Mikey would win.

If this were a personal question, I'd say Leo. This is simply because

1) He wears blue :tgrin:
2) I always thought them swords were cool
3) His personality matches mine. Exactly.

But overall, I gotta say Mike. He's who everyone remembers from the old toon, and is responsible for all their catchphrases. (Though my favorite from the old toon is either Raph or Don... Leo was kind of annoying and too pushy about the "leader" thing.) I do notice that Raph is popular among older kids, 'specially the angsty ones who can identify with him.

If I had to pick a second fave (as hard as that is because the 2003 toon makes me love them all for different reasons) it would probably be Donatello. He's a lot like me too - quiet, smart (I like to think), and a huge geek. *grin*

I'd say Raph or Mikey. The polls we always have here support that, I think.

I think Leo takes the forefront for things because he epitomises how a Ninja Turtle really should be, and he's the leader. Like a Cyclops in X-Men figure (although generally Wolverine grabs the limelight)