Does anyone hate it when the turtles Look exactly the same
 

The main offenders are OT and Mirage

Not at all. Most red-earred sliders -- particularly ones that are siblings from the same batch of eggs -- do, in fact, grow up to be virtually identical.

And all four of them are red-earred sliders. Ergo...

I don't hate it but I do think it is a real missed opportunity from a creative standpoint. They're not just turtles, they are mutated from contact with humans. Sure enough, some human brothers can look remarkably similar -- but four brothers? I think there'd be enough to differentiate them. I'm glad Nick decided to treat them more as individuals in this way. At a glance they still look VERY similar, but within moments you notice how different they are. I think it's a good balance. They're not TOO different from each-other that it's jarring.

yes...it's hard to tell them apart....even in the 4kids version with their different shades of green, it was hard for me >:U

and if they are wearing the same color mask.....i'd have to resort to finding their weapons....

and if they aren't wearing their weapons....I am lost 0_0

It's done to be easier for the animators to draw 4 identical bodies.

I don't like them being identical, but hate is too strong a word for me on this topic.

Just the opposite, actually: I'm biased against depictions of the turtles with too much variation, since said variations often tend to be along stereotypical lines. I like it when the geeky science-oriented turtle is just as muscular as the bruiser, and that Michelangelo's personality is more impish than his appearance would make one think.

i thought that the turtles overall design was the best in 2k3. they have the same character model, just different skin colors.

nope, i love it... it makes it feel like they're quadruplets... which i relate to personally because i am one of 2 sets of twins that all love the turtles. so we all have our own turtle.

While I found the Nick designs a nice change, I actually kind of like them all looking the same. If I had to pick "all the same" or "all different", I'd probably choose the latter, but I can't say I much care either way. I love the Nick designs, but I'll always have a soft spot for the OT Turtle designs, for example.

In the minority of universes that is the case, actually. The movie-verse, 4Kids cartoon, Mirage/source material, even IDW, human contact has nothing to do with it whatsoever. They simply hyper-evolve or simply just "get big" (and sentient).

Only in the Fred Wolf/Archie and Nickverse does the mutagen have magical "touch this and become that" properties. Which is ass, but leads to a lot of interesting toys, I guess. Whatever floats your boat.

They don't look so different to the point of being different species. Small variations here and there can come a long way. Heck just give one of them a crack in his shell, missing teeth/or gap, more muscle in his body, and differences in height and posture would help. Everything else in skin tone and eye color should remain the same.

The turtles looking identical is a pain sonetimes but it only flat out annoys me when it's portrayed in Mirage, where most of the time you have to look at the turtles weapons to differentiate them or pay really, really close attention to the dialogue and how a character says something.

That's interesting, because the last time I posed the question to the board about specific examples of panels where it is unclear who is who, from the totality of Mirage comics (1984-2010) I think people only offered up like two panels from any issues where it ever seemed unclear.

I don't hate it in the slightest. I enjoy them when they're identical, and I enjoy them when they're wildly different.

It's like apples and oranges. Apples are good, but oranges are pretty damn awesome too. I appreciate both when the turtles look identical or not.

I hate apples but I like oranges, so what do I prefer?

It's hard to tell with you.

It makes no difference to me either way. I love what Nick has done making them all look different, but they were great in OT looking the same,too. In the Mirage comics I have read, I have never really had trouble differentiating them. Their personalities are so different that I can usually tell who it is by who is speaking.

Nah I don't hate it but I much prefer the different looks so we can distinguish them right off the bat. It gets annoying for me when reading the Mirage comics and I don't know who is who, just basing on their weapons and dialogue since the comic is in black and white or when it does have color, they were all wearing red bandanas. *smh* :tmad:

Turtle soup.

I guess I prefer that they look more similar than not, given their species, genus etc.

I prefer it when the mutagen simply "hyper-mutates", as well. But what specifically makes that any more or less believable than the way it works in other media? Isn't it just as "magical" that this glowing chemical stuff makes an animal bigger and smarter, instead of just rotting slowly with cancer, as would actually be the case? Hyper-mutation or mixing DNA... either way, it's pretty far-fetched to me. I always just figured the editors in charge of each universe decided which way worked better long-term for the stories they wanted it to tell and went from there. In other words, "It just works however they need it to."

Don't get me wrong, we have the same preference. I just don't see what makes the other way so offensive. I always took it as merely a stylistic choice.

Doesn't bother me either way. I do like the height differences from >> and the Nick series if only because it makes them more visually interesting. Although the height difference + color difference + multi-colored bandanas of >> does come off as over kill.

I think exactly the same! why would the geek be weak, the funny one small with no muscles, etc... it's cool to see that even Donnie and Mikey can look strong as well!

I always prefer to see Raph "a bit" more muscular than the others because he trains much more, but I think the differences in the Nick series are a bit too much.

I never really thought about them looking alike in the original toon to be honest, and I don't really care about it either way. I like what Nick has done with them thus far, but even if they looked alike, I wouldn't mind.

The '87 cartoon? Different color mask and belt buckle inital identifies the turtle's first letter of his name make them sepate from one another. The main thing that needs to be done is to give them a different mask color to identify each. Any other variation is just for vaariation sake and it is no big deal either way for me. I do agree about the black and white comics however. I can't tell who is who. I read Michelangelo's voice and its Raphael etc. Even if done in color they all look like Raphael until a weapon shows up. It hurts the story being attempted and you can't really appreciate the different turtles if you think its one but its really the other. Its one of the few reasons the black and white comics are not for me.

I have never had an issue with the Mirage comics figuring out which turtle is which. Usually you can tell just by what they're saying. I don't have a preference either way since they look cool in every version, except Next Mutation.

I'm glad Wolf did the right thing of making the turtles with different colored masks so we can tell who is who.

Nobody hates it when they go to the zoo or on the beach and see the same species of Turtle looks exactly the same.

To me when they look similar in Mirage, it just adds to the challenge of finding out who is who, and is a nice brain exercise. But I feel that each incarnation did a good job of distinguishing version from version (more proof that TNM is tied to the movieverse). IDW and 4kids are probably the most similar in terms of the distinguishablity, but its easy to tell who's who in all based on dialogue and thats where personality matters the most as beauty is only skin deep.

Here's a question.....how the heck can you guys tell them apart in the comics?? :o

Sure they have different weapons, but what if all 4 turtles were sitting down reading books(without weapons), how would you know which turtle is which? They had no names on their belt buckles like they do in the 1987 cartoon.

Before you guys say you can tell by their personalities, what if they were fighting bad guys?

Why would they fight without weapons?

Let's say their weapons were taken away by a villain and they have no choice but to fight without them. How would you know who is who?

I'm going to assume they aren't talking during this fight as well, to make it even more difficult. I won't lie, that's where it would be sort of a bummer figuring it out but you can somewhat tell by how they fight. Where Leo might be punching someone, Donnie might be tossing them, a thought out maneuver. Even then it isn't 100% reliable so yeah, you do have us there.

I mostly agree with this comment. One of the reasons I enjoyed the Mirage/OT Turtles was because the viewer had to actually read/listen in to the dialogue and let their conversations and behavior define their personality, rather than the visual stereotypes that are so prevalent in society. (It's one of the reasons I don't like the Nick Turtles visually because their CGI appearance is shoehorned to stereotypically "fit" their personalities.)

Not entirely true- sliders do in fact have very individual markings on both their shells and heads, which can be used to ID a particular turtle, sort of like finger-prints. I'd expect the TMNT would also have varied shell markings and patterns, as well. They might look similar, but not identical.

As for whether I dislike them looking similar or not, I'd have to say I like them both ways. While it can be a bit more challenging determining who is who when they look the same (and even more so in some scenes of the OT series, with all the animation/voice gaffes!) I like them just as much as when they have slight differences in color/size. I loved the movie turtles, who would have all looked much the same without the masks and weapons, but you could still easily have told them apart by personality alone. However, I LOVE how IDW is doing them with minor changes that don't go into the Nick "overkill" differences, but are still there all the same.

I don't mind too much either way. I think FF character designs hit a happy medium as far as minor differences go (which is what I believe they used in Turtles Forever?).

Meh. I like each and every design. EVEN Next Mutation's.