Gimmick Gangsters in the 80s Show.
 

One thing the old 80s TMNT show had a fair amount of was Dick Tracy style mobsters that usually had some kind of gimmick. So, what were some of your favourites, least favourites, most ridiculous, etc?

I think my favourite was Mad-Dog McMutt. He was pretty funny, and having mobster versions of Wally and The Beaver was pretty ridiculous, but fun, too.

I kinda wish that the other two shows would have done more with Mob-style villains as they could do more with them. I guess it's not too late for the current show.

I wasn't a big fan of the mobsters in the OT, but I liked all of them. Most of them only appeared in a few episodes, though, so I didn't take much notice of them. My favourite was Big Louie. I thought he was the best, as he sounded more menacing and serious.

Big Louie and Pinky Mcfingers had the most appearances.

Don Turtelli was only in 2 episodes, he was the one who tickled peoples feet with a feather. Mad Dog Mcmutt was also only in 2 episodes, and his second appearance was just a cameo.

There was also Mugsy who stashed the galooby ruby in Season 6. Then there is Wolf from Season 7, and some various minor criminals in Seasons 3-4.

Big Louie's my #1, if only because The Big Cufflink Caper's my all time favorite episode.

Don Turtelli was in three episodes.

The other guy was a different Don Turtelli.

I suppose one could think of it that they were supposed to be two totally different "Don Turtelli"'s. I don't necessarily think that it was the creator's intent to make it two different characters. However, that would explain the drastic change in the character's appearance.

What episode from Season 7 was Wolf in?

The Dark Turtle episode.

I swear I've asked "Why were there TWO Don F***ing Turtellis?" at least 7 times over the years using various levels of profanity, and I don't think I've gotten an answer.

Was it a Goof? Multiversal cross-rip? Mere coincidence (which I'll never believe because how the hell do you get TWO guys named Don goddamn Turtelli living in the same city within a stone's throw of each other?)?

Because to this day, when that other guy shows up and says, "That's me... I'm Don Turtelli", I yell "NO YOU'RE F***ING NOT!" at the TV. And I'm getting a little old for that so if someone can give me some closure I'd appreciate it.

I didn't even remember that there were two Don Turtellis. :o

I guess the second one had to be an impostor. Of course, impersonating a mob boss can't be very smart. So my guess is that second Don Turtelli ended up wearing cement shoes at the bottom of the river.

Wow! And, they say the 80s show was the lighthearted version ...

Short answer? It wasn't his NAME, it was his RANK! Mob bosses, like Spanish landed gentlemen and Italian gentry, are called Dons. It's an honorific title, much like Sir in Britain. Like Don Juan, Don Quixote, or Don Diego (or Don Alejandro, Diego's father). Since Mob bosses are (usually) from old Italian families, they are called Dons to denote that they are the head of the Mob "family". So, yes, there very well COULD be two Don Turtelli's- one took over the family from his (likely deceased) predecessor. Jeez, man, I thought EVERYONE knew that!!

You know damn well what I meant. And that's still reaching!

You sir, are made of awesome. Thanks for making me laugh.
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For me my favorites were Pinky McFingers and Big Louie. I liked the two of them a lot. Third would be Don Turtelli and fourth is Tony "The Butcher" Vivaldi. I liked that the cartoon had these gangster villains running around New York City. It brought a little bit of realism to all of the may mutants or aliens the turtles usually fought in the series.

I don't know if it's reaching, it's the only possible answer.

I mean, there were two Don Corleone's in The Godfather, why not TMNT?

hmm
 

might've went to the well too much on that but i liked them.

My favorite is the Globfather.

I know it wasn't said on screen but maybe Don Turtelli from Burne's Blues is the father of Don Turtelli from the other 2 episodes. The younger Don said he had a grandfather named Tony "The Tickler" Turtelli. Just a thought.

I didn't even think of that as a possibility. Great answer.

Don Turtelli is number 1 to me lol. The first one though. Not the 2nd one.

I hought that was a given. That most people knew about the Don honorific, it's straight out of the Godfather and the atypical depiction of mob bosses in fiction.

I find it amusing how nearly all of these gangsters were technically more prominent than all those mutants everyone seems to associate with the cartoon.

To bad we never got any toys based off the mobsters. But, lucky Plsymates' Dick Tracey line works as a fine substitute.

Indeed. I'd love to see a Big Louie figure, or Turtelli. Both had pretty neat character designs, as did McFingers.

Hey, man- YOU asked the question, LOL!! :trazz:

Holy sh*t, it was facetious. The only answer is, the FW show was notoriously lazy and slapdash in its production and couldn't be bothered to come up with a "new" name for a one-off background character.

And title or name, it's still extremely improbable. Jesus Christ, the nonsense people choose to over-analyze and extrapolate upon. Go outside.

This is a hardcore TMNT forum where people have hardcore views on TMNT and psycho analyze the cartoons bit by bit and inside and out. This place is hardcore because we're all hardcore.

I'm not sure if that was a defense or an admission of guilt.

Babyface "The Beaver" Cleaver and his brother Wally.
Hands down. No contest.

Been outside all weekend, actually. Went to a trade-days flea-market thing with a friend I haven't seen in a couple of years. Was a lot of fun!

On-topic, though, it's really not THAT improbable. Like they said, there WERE two Don Corleone's in the Godfather films, since the title is passed down to the new "boss/head" of a "family" who takes over. I can only assume that the first Don Turtelli died (occupational hazard, or so I've heard) and the new guy took over. Simple.

Well, of course that's the real reason, but it's fun to make crap up. :lol:

:lol: I'm pretty sure it's the thing I said, but whatever.

Pretty sure everyone knows "Don" was a title and not a first name. They were just too lazy to think of a new name but they had to force a pun gag into that one episode. Far simpler to believe.

I always found Turtelli rather amusing as a name in a TMNT cartoon.... You'd think he'd have been a little more lenient with the TMNT since he was NAMED after one! Would've been funny if he had some kind of turtle obsession like treating them like "family luck charms" or something. Or is that just me? Dunno, I just would've played on it a bit more.

Turtlei as a last name and being two individuals in the same city at the same time and unrelated. Unless David Wise states otherwise I believe it was simply a redesign of the character from Vurne's Blues to Case of The Hot Kimono.

Of them all I never cared for them aside from Big Louie. He was nore interesting and he himself was not goofy in either name nor gimmick. He was a straight up tribute to the Godfather type mobster. I always have said he can get more mileage. Perhaps taling over the underworld and being forced to work with a more dominant evil like Shredder or perhaps rhe other boss fold inder him if he seized power like Turteli.

I'd like to see Big Louie in the Nick show, but I'm afraid they'd mutate him or have him turn out to be a disguised Kraang instead of just letting him be a normal mob boss. And, yeah he was definitely the closest thing to a "serious" mobster the show had.

I would have liked if mobsters had appeared more often in the 2003 series. They played a part in the City at War story arc.

Big Louie could've been used again in the Red Sky seasons. There could have been gang war between him and other gangsters after Shredder was banished to Dimension X.

I agree with that notion that gangsters are underutilized in all three cartoons. OT only had one (IIRC) episode where mob bosses fought each other (and even then, only because they were lured to one spot), and that's a missed opportunity considering that they created multiple gangsters.

Of course, 80s TV and parents would've been wary of a gang war in a cartoon. But then again, G-rated mob hits could be done - like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door did in its opening minutes.

I had a few ideas about that. Casey lacked reason to go bonkers on anything remotly criminal. What if Big Louie set up Casey's father and struck the fury of Casey. Perhaps having some type of hold on the underworld before the Foot showed up.

Louie could have taken over the mob factions and force Turteli to report to him. That would be fun to see and set tension between Louie and another figure.