Mirage Staff's Favourite Turtle
 

I suppose this thread has probably been done before, but ... not for a while. Does anyone know the favourite Turtle of each of the old Mirage crew? Peter Laird's is clearly Don and Kevin Eastman's is obviously Raph (same for Dan Berger), but in what order do you think they'd put the other Turtles? And what about Lawson and Murphy?

If I had to guess what order Laird and Eastman liked the Turtles in, I'd say:

LAIRD
Donatello
Leonardo/Michelangelo
Raphael

EASTMAN
Raphael
Leonardo
Donatello/Michelangelo

I'm guessing that Lawson's favorite is Raphael, at least in the early years. I can't remember a source for that, but it seems I read it somewhere.

He says his favorite turtle to draw is Leo.

That's funny... I feel that both creators really love Raph the most. While I am a Mikey fan, you can really tell Raph's getting special treatment. I mean, he was the ONLY Turtle to keep his original mask color.

Plus, between him and Leo, they really own the movies... at least the first one and the CGI new one.

I think Laird likes Leo the most because whose the focus of most of the stories?

And then Eastman Raph for sure because when Eastman did solo stuff it was usually about Raph.

Yeah...I don't suppose we could just ask the guys rather than try and guess?

Ladies and Gentlemen - we have a winner.

I actually heard so many times that Laird really liked Donatello

I have heard that Laird's favorite is Donatello, as well as Donatello being the Turtle whose personality is closest to Laird's.

And that Eastman's favorite is Raphael. Dunno whether Eastman's personality is most like Raphael's, though.

Now that I think about it, Donatello and Raphael do get quite a bit of attention in the comics. And in other media as well- Donatello in the OT, Raphael in the movies.

Yeah, everyone knows who they are. No need for colour tags. I say we email the offical site and actually see if there's anything that we didn't know instead of speculating for two other people.

and in the Archie comics Donatello and Raphael had way more presence focus on them than Michaelangelo and Leonardo.

I think Raphael is the heavy weight champion of the Mirage staffs favorite turtle. He seems to get the most glorification of all the turtles in the comics (especially the old comics) and has the most stuff happen to him. Although Leonardo is a close second espically with his Blind Sight series, and mysric travel series (the one where he meets several diffrent versions of himself at varying states of age)

I'm sure they have a soft spot for all of them, hehe

That Leonardo miniseries is called "Loops".

I am glad he got it and "Blind Sight". Otherwise, sometimes I do think that Leonardo gets the shaft.

But overall, Michelangelo may have gotten the shaft EXCEPT for the OT.

And Fast Forward....

I have in print Laird saying Don is his favourite and Eastman saying Raph is his favourite. I was speculating on everything else. I would send them an email but no one ever seems to know anyone's opinions on those sort of things in Mirage.

And Laird does not seem to like Raph much at all. Raph has been shafted in the new toon and he has little role in Volume 4.

Yet every other Tales issue is about him and he has one of the better storylines in Volume 4. Don got shafted. He got shrunk and was hardly focused on how lame is that?

Alright Check it
Tales Volume 2*By the way I'd like to note I like Volume 1 alot better because ALL the turtles were the focus in the issues* Keep in mind while some issues have all the turtles in them the focus of the story isn't necessarily about all of them.

All of them
1,3,4,11,19,20,21,22,23,25,32,38
Total 12

Splinter, Casey, April
2, 27, 31,33,35,37
Total 6

Leo
5,6,13,14, Blind Sight Spin off 1-4
Total 8

Raph
7,8,12,17,26,28 Bad Moon Rising 1-4,39,40
Total 12

Mikey
9,15,24,30
Total 4

Don
10,16,17,18,26,29
Total 6

I haven't read 34 or 36 yet so I can't say who the focus is in that one. But on some future issues you can tell who it's about. Anyways as you can see in Tales Volume 2 there's just as many issues that are about Raph as there are ones about all the turtles.

If you look at it Mikey's the one who got screwed.

Oh my GODZ It's the end! Post # 6,666! Oh wait one to many 6's.

Happy Armageddon you beast, you.

Who gets the lamest plot is as matter of opinion. I'd say Don gets more screentime than Raph, maybe more than anyone else. Just because something "lame" happens to a character (getting shrunk) doesn't mean the storyline is unimportant to the author ... I think Laird has really given Don a lot of chance to shine and do things that Laird sees as "cool" (since, for Laird, the more obnoxiously sci-fi and nonviolent, the better). Raph talks like an idiot, gets drunk and turns into a monster. Also Laird doesn't write most of the Tales stories, Murphy does, as I'm sure you know. Not that Don doesn't dominate the other half of the Tales stories ... :roll:

You saw the list Raph and Leo have the most issues.

Volume 4 the focus to me was never on just one turtle it was balanced and each issue had two turtles stories touched upon in it. I'll be honest it's been awhile since I read it but that's how I remember it.

I mean all at the same time
Raph turns into that monster
Leo goes into the Battle Nexus
Don goes on some weird utrom trip and ends up getting shrunk
Mikey gets captured and imprisoned on the Tri home world and later saved by rebels

While your right a lame story is a matter of opinion and that doesn't mean he got any less screen time I just didn't see him as getting the amount of attention in terms of how bad what happened to him was and how interesting it was.

I mean compared to his brothers if you ask me Don had the most uninteresting thing happen to him and it was all a little to kiddy for me. I mean he got in a fight with a cat I seem to remember an old toon episode that happened in where Mikey fought a cat...

The original Turtle drawing may have had nunchakus. But after personalities were developed, Eastman ended up liking Raphael best. I doubt Eastman or Laird would pick a favorite Turtle simply after the weapons he uses.

Oh, I definitely agree. But Laird seems to like lame stuff like that. ;) Which is why I think, in his eyes, he was giving Don special treatment.

I disagree, just because Raph isn't having an emotional break down every five minutes or horriable stuff happening that leaves him nothing to live for, doesn't mean he hasn't been shafted in the new toon. Over-all in the new toon I see Raphael possesing the most porgression of character because he goes from a resentful, sullen, hothead that hated Leo to coming to terms with him and becoming more mature and level headed and less reactionary to provoction, and more of a team player that takes charge when the situation demands it.

Seriously all the times when Raph storms off and decided to do things by himself because he doesn't get his way annoys me in other mediums. I was happy that this aspect of him was toned down in the new series.

Laird's stated many a time that Donatello is his favorite. So, that being that, the only one we don't know for sure is Eastman?

I thought it was pretty clear that Raph was Kevin's favorite. However, I believe his overall favorite character is Casey.

In Kevin Eastman's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Artobiography," he says, "Every fan I've ever met seems to have a favorite turtle, mine was Raphael."

Having gotten that over with, I think Dan likes Raph best. I wish I knew Dooney's (I think Leonardo?) and Talbot's, and Murphy's.

I could ask them but I'm scared they won't want to answer?

Ah, cool. I thought there was an answer, but now that you say it I remember.

No prob. :)

You know you've got a point. I agree that certain aspects of Raph in the new toon are very commendable. I think he's one of the most mature versions of Raph ... in that he's quite smart--smarter than in the Mirage comics--and he's calmer and more initiative-taking, and his anger doesn't make him a jerk to his family usually (except Mikey). He also seems to act as/more mature and levelheaded than Don at times, which I don't normally expect to see. Don's just so cute and naive in the 2k3 series ...

I just don't know when Raph's development happened. It was very subtle, and I think it could have been done in a way that made Raph seem more important. Raph was pretty annoying in 2k3 at first, then ... um ... I don't know what caused him to change. He doesn't have a big overcoming obstacles and character development episode besides in the first season, and I do think these episodes help give characters more depth. As long as they aren't lamely done, like Raph's seeing-the-light in "Meet Casey Jones" (but maybe that's just because the voice actor hadn't settled into the role of Raph, yet).

Edit: But one reason I think Laird doesn't like Raph too much is because Donatello seriously rips Raph apart (verbally) in Laird's first solo issue of the original Mirage comics. But maybe that's just what Laird thought Don would think of Raphael.

But, does Don do this often in the comics? If Don is constantly ripping Raphael apart then maybe it might suggest that Laird doesn't care for Raphael. But if this verbal smack down Don dilvered on Raph was only in this one issue it could have just been the events of the story that brought on Don's verbal pwgn-eg of Raphael because it suit the high emotional tension of the moment, and had no bearing on the creator's personal feelings toward Raphael.

shameless bumping of my own thread!

I get the impression lately that Lawson likes Michelangelo best. Any thoughts, comic-readers?

Hard to make a determination only based on comics...