Which TMNT universe had the best ending?
 

Of the four TMNT universes that are essentially "over" at this point, which one do you think had the best ending?

I am excluding Mirage since Volume 4 has been left open ended and I don't feel like that universe is finished yet. IDW just started and the Nick one hasn't begun yet.

Which series had the best conclusion?

2k3 series (I'm counting turtles forever), it had a multiverse adventure with them meeting the OT turtles, and the mirage turtles while battling their archenemy.

I would say the 2k3 had the best ending. Probably because of Turtles Forever, as noted above.

I'm going to parrot everyone else's sentiments and say 2k3, mainly due to Turtles Forever. It was an excellent ending, and had a sort of "full circle" feeling.

Fred Wolf and 4KIDS were the only two that got that got suitable conclusions. Of course, I think that 4KIDS' was a million times more suitable. But, The Next Mutation's end still makes me happiest. Not the last episode or anything, but the fact that it was unexpectedly cancelled. That makes me giddy. :thyper:

The Archie series had a suitable conclusion as well.

The only real loose end was Null by the end of the series. But given in his last appearance it was revealed he was the devil and he says, "I can't die," when Donatello attacks him, I just assume we're led to believe he'll always be there and immortal.

Yeah I'd agree

I wasn't aware that the movie universe really ended. The last two movies were basically just Big-Lipped-Alligator Moments; nothing feels like a finale, and the next one is going to be a prequel.

Says who, exactly?

Movie 3 had no loose ends and just kind of ended with the TMNT dancing.

TMNT 4 hinted at a possible Shredder return, but even then it was satisfactory enough for a final movie, since Imagi never did make another one.

Not for me. It's better than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, of course, but it's still just a fight against a one-off villain who really doesn't have anything to do with the series as a whole. If they wanted a satisfying ending, the second film should have been the last. As it stands now, an adaptation of City at War seems like a possible ending, as Karai said in the last movie that she had issues with the turtles to be resolved later. Seeing the hatchet finally buried with the Foot would be a satisfying enough conclusion.

I agree with everyone and say the 2003 series as well. Turtles Forever definitely wrapped everything up.

Yep exactly, Turtles Forever not only was a nice cap on that series but also a nice conclusion to the first 25 years of the Turtleverse. It was nice to see the Mirage, old toon, and 2k3 series crossover. :twink:

Turtles forever was the best finale ever and technically it was 2k3's, so yeah.
Except for the movieverse though all of them have loose ends.

OT: Baxter stockman, okay you could argue he's trapped in limbo forever but I always felt he deserved to turn human again, his last ending was not unlike any other ending of his episodes.

Archie: How could they cancel forever war, it's just not right!

2K3: They stopped fast forward too abruptly, probably due to fan demand, I felt we ended up with something far worse. Fast forward was decent enough and actually got really really good the later part of the season. The turtles just left Cody to be killed by Darius. We also never got to see the redemption of the dark turtles, truly sad. I would've rather seen this all wrapped up instead of having the btts season.

Official?
 

Is Turtles Forever really counted as official?.

Of course, why wouldn't it be?

The OT had a weak, tacked-on sense of finality with Splinter graduating The Turtles from his students to his equals. But, it was obviously intended to be the series finale. That's not the question though. Which had the best ending? Not the best finale...

I consider the Mirage era to be finished, but if that run consisted of just Vol. 1 plus the micro-series, I'd say it's ending is second only to 4kids. Even if you count the ending of 4kids as "Wedding Bells and Bytes", it still would be the best (though not by much), by virtue of some cameo of earlier characters and having the two closest friends to the turtles finally tie the knot after building their relationships since episode 4 or 5. Then of course came Turtles Forever and the rest is history.

However, final episode/issue doesn't HAVE to be the real climax and still be the best series by some. In the OT case, that climax runs from the final Season 7 episode up through Season 8 (minus the HAVOC/Krakus episodes possibly), as the Technodrome appears to have lost its threat for good in Turtle Trek following a City at War-esque story arc. It's just that it was a secondary, lesser climax for the final OT episode.

I just don't consider the movieverse to be complete as long as talks for a sequel suffice, but for what the live action films are, a pretty disappointing ending that would have worked better as a prequel to the other two.

Archie just ran into a dead end, so the last issue just felt like a standard episodic ending to a story, so it can't compete with the Vol. 1 and 4kids endings.

It would be nice for the Archie Comics to get its intended ending. We had it tangling in front of us and then it was yanked away again.:tcry: If IDW is wise and there are no copyright issues or agreements need to be made outside of the creative team we need to get the intended five part "Forever War" out. If it is ever published that would be the best ending while due to the technicality of its incompletion the 2003 series gets the best ending award.

Year of the Turtle wrapped up the Shredder. I don't know why people are sitting there waiting on the Forever War, when if it comes out now it'll likely be completely rewritten from whatever was intended back in 1995.

I see the three part "Year of The Turtle" as a standalone work not related to TMNTA so I am sure whatever was intended it will work. Even if the characterization or plot was to be similar so many years have passed by I doubt it would hurt the portrayals or intentions of what Shredder was to do. Your right it may never see the light of day yet you never know.

Was Forever War even intended to be the last ever TMNT Adventure or was it just the last one planned?

No. It was directly continued from the Archie universe.

I don't think The Forever War was intended to be the ending either, Murphy had no idea the book was being canceled. It was simply the next story arc.

From what I have learned from talking with Peter Laird at a convention yes it was. Apparently Archie's publisher thought it was getting too dark following the death of the Mighty Mutimals and others along with the decline in popularity the Forever War was crafted not at first but later on to finish the run under the Archie banner. However, before the five parter could be completed the plug was pulled and in its place we got the two part story about how the TMNT got their weapons and the non-affiliated Year of The Turtle as the final five produced issues by Archie.

We are waiting for it because the advertisement of it in 70# looked awesome! From what I've heard it was going to contain a lot of throwbacks to the entire archie run as well, featuring characters like Scumbug and Wyrm.

Year of the turtle, while a good story, wasn't the originally intended finale and we all know it! It kind of felt disconnected from everything that came before it too.

What was disconnected? The previous story was Raph breaking up with Ninjara and the Turtles returning to New York.

The only thing not explained is how Shredder got back to the present from the future, but I don't see that being a big deal.

For me, it's just that the over-all tone seems off.

It has a different art style but tons of Archie issues were done by different artists.

In true Archie fashion, the Turtles go globe-trotting.

I wouldn't say "tons". Other than Ken and Chris, there was maybe 3 other artists who worked on the main series (I don't count the flashback issues).

But the writing also just didn't feel like the Adventures Universe for me. I think it's fine that you see it as a good ending, I just don't accept it myself.

That said, I do think it's a pretty good read (even though I haven't tracked down #1).

mycomicsshop currently has all 3 Year of the Turtle issues, even though they're really expensive....$7.00 for a mint copy...yikes.

Anyhow I thought the whole killer monks thing, traveling to tibet, and the search for the 13th talisman fit very well into the Archie world.

I'll get it someday. But yeah, I could accept if I wanted to, I guess. But I'd rather hold out hope for Forever War.

I do, but that's not what makes me say this.

This is what makes me say this, the over-all tone just didn't feel very Archie-like.
Other things, big and small, that made it feel disconnected from Archie are:

- They went from traveling Alaska to suddenly looking for a talisman, where did that come from? Just didn't feel like a natural flow.

- No more reference to Ninjara at all, I find it hard to believe Raph wouldn't be grieving anymore.

- Besides Shredder's unexplained return, where the hell did his henchmen come from?

- Suddenly they are living in a subway lair, this happened in the movies, not Archie.

- Mention of Casey Jones, he never showed up in Archie!

- We knew it should've been forever war!

Given their slightly modified costumes and all that, it shouldn't be a mystery to anyone that some time was intended to pass between the end of the core Archie series and "Year of the Turtle."

Which actually aids in making it feel disconnected from everything before it. It's a great story but it's not really the greatest ending to me.

I've read you're involved in the forever war fanproject, I'd like to thank you for that. It will be great seeing the orginally intended finale which ties in a lot more with the previous stuff. :D

Will it actually bridge a gap to "year of the turtle" as well? Explaining shredder's return to the present and his new allies?

Probably too early to ask isn't it? (not to mention off-topic)

I really wish I could say OT or the movies series, but yeah neither one had great endings for me, lol.

I guess Turtles Forever is the closest to a good ending, though even that I had problems with, hehe.

Check out this poll... we've finally found something all Turtles fans can agree upon lol.

Thanks for the invitation to vote for something else just to spite you, but I already cast my vote. I'm sure someone else will be happy to oblige tho. ^_^

Regarding the Archie thing:

The Turtles were back in New York at the start of "Year of the Turtle." Obviously we saw them heading home from Alaska...it didn't literally take place the very next day.

They just broke up. There was no reason for her to be mentioned. Her character was essentially written off the series by that point.

Why are you asking this when those henchmen were new characters? In the summary page it flat out says that Shredder hired them as mercenaries.

It was perfect continuity, as Shredder was still rogue without any Foot or Krang or Bebop/Rocksteady or anyone else to help him.

I'll give you this.

Heh, I saw this as an easter egg nod to fans. Either that or the writers really didn't know Casey never appeared in Archie. Whoops?

Actually issues #71 and 72 replaced The Forever war....this was three issues later.

NES game
 

The first NES game also had an ending with Splinter finally becoming human again I think.

I didn't remember them being hired mercenaries. Ok, that part works then :) .