Where do TMNT get money?
 

Is everything donated by friends or scavenged. I think I remember cash being in play so how is it earned? Stolen like Robin Hood maybe?

Some possible answers:
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=31279

Oh oops, thanks though. Glad to see no broken images in the old thread. :lol:

1. Theft
2. Counterfeit money
3. Fake charity
4. Selling stuff online
5. Whatever the hell Carl in ATHF does

As for what's actually been shown, they mooch off April and Casey and/or Don works a telephone job.

They don't need money.

Does Donnie even do the telephone job anymore? That's like from season 1 or 2 if I'm not mistaken, I paused watching after season 4 ep 19.

... Which show are you talking about? Regardless of which, I think you're confused, I was refering to the 2007 movie and I can't remember any of the shows depicting him working on the phone.

they make bunches of money from their successful line of comic books, toys and cartoon shows.

*Money they find by accident fallen into the sewers.
*April, Irma (once they've met them)
*Recycling
*Splinter's earned money from Japan (in versions Splinter os originally Hamato Yoshi)

By gambling.

So I read through all of this and I think the fixing up thrown out junk and reselling it is a viable option. In more modern versions they could even use Craigslist and April and Casey to facilitate the transactions??

Even in Mirage the Turtles are showing eating human food like hamburgers, chinese, pizza, sandwiches. Given both April and Casey are portrayed as poor as hell in Mirage with no money, I do wonder where they get the extra cash to support 4 teenage Turtles with huge appetites from.

At least in terms of the little bit of money they actually need for the pizza and other takeout and food for the fridge... I just always imagined they were good at spotting loose change and lost dollars when they're out roaming around after dark. :) It's NYC, surely a fair amount gets lost.

As for non-food items... refurbish and re-purpose whatever they find. These days maybe they might be eBay sellers of some of the stuff they might find.

Beyond that, the kindness of friends.

I imagine alot of their food comes from dumpster waste and food thrown down the sewers. (although in versions such as the OT, they are shown to buy pizza and have money, but before that they most likely accquired the taste of the stuff after picking up pizzas thrown away by Viny's pizza for not having the correct ingredients or something)

As to where they get their money from, I don't think many versions of them used money at all or needed it since many items in the lair could've just been acquired from the local dump and food is pretty readily available in the city, even for the peniless. When they did need money in the OT and were out, they did work jobs rather than ask April.

Even in the 2003 series, off the top of my head (since I recently re-watched it), in the "Prodigal Son" ep even 2003 Leo bring back food as Mikey requested, tossing his brothers cartons of Chinese takeout. Not only did the guy apparently have the money for it, but was able to actually go to a place and get it. (edit: They'd also requested he bring back sodas. Weren't seen, but maybe a vending machine in that case would work for them. Still requires money though.)

Maybe it's a place that's used to them, or maybe he just wore his coat and hat from his trip to and back from Japan to disguise himself a little, though he wasn't carrying that with him so... cartoon magic.

It's from the movie, my bad. I thought it was from the 2012 show.

So they steal everything they need? Like criminals? :o

I was trying to figure this one out as its a really good question.
I don't think Splinter could realistically be using saved money - mostly because depending on the iteration he's either a rat originally or is in exile (and using his own money would leave a traceable trail).

So I would suspect that in the 'early years' that Splinter scavenged as much as he could - but even then I think it would have been very hard and some amount of stealing would be highly likely. Especially given the need for workable weapons for training and later 'field' usage.

That paints a pretty hard life for Splinter and the young turtles, and suggests Splinter had to make repeated trips to the surface to steal what couldn't be scavenged.
The alternative - which I quite like personally - would be that Splinter had 'topside' assistance from someone; either financially, logistically or both. Its unlikely Splinter would have trusted several people given the situation, so it would be more likely only 1 or 2 'key' people that he would have come to for aid.

Later on - I think its likely the turtles had some kind of work. I can't imagine April's salary stretching so far as supporting a family of 5, and Casey's certainly wouldnt.

So either the turtles are stealing money (highly unlikely), salvaging it from the Foot (possible, but incidents like Mikey's reaction to Mondo Gecko doing the same in 2012 Series suggest otherwise), or earning it.


For my own thoughts, I was thinking that IDW implies Woody is at least providing some free pizza (though not huge quantities)

Thinking about it, the turtles have a significant knowledge of the layout of the sewer and underground systems beneath NYC; they move quickly, keep out of sight and can avoid NYC traffic easily; And of course they have a huge love of pizza.

Whats to say that somewhere like Woody's pizzeria hasn't hired them to make deliveries themselves? At least then they can earn their keep, and be stocked with as much as they want as part payment.

Obviously this isn't the case, but it seems strangely appropriate for them as regular work.

Probably. Or garbage. Ninjas aren't supposed to be altruistic.

I'd imagine whenever they encounter criminals and stop them, they'll also loot their dead/unconscious bodies.

Maybe. Not that they should be actively patrolling streets to fight humanity's crime for it.

Target practice, and keeping their side of the city clean for nuisances.

I would assume that some money makes it way down the sewers and the turtles or Splinter collect it. Or April gives them a nice little allowance.

Through the "Fourth Wall", aside from recycling/scavenging/pawning, more minor sources.

But not before they met her.

If they could figure out how to get past the interview and be hired, I think late night janitorial services could be an option.

Well in that case, they're famous, so they're rich and don't know it. Money just keeps appearing now and then. :tlol:

I would think in the 80's - 90's time frame scavenging and pawn shops. Maybe online message boards. Now a days I would think those things and Ebay. Even though there is five of them they wouldn't need that much. Their home is free. Their utilities are free. The only things they would need to spend money on are food and weapons. Perhaps since they are masters of their weapons maybe they can make them as well.

Of course, it's New York City.

I remember a fanfic ages ago where the Mirage Turtles are the real Turtles in reality, and they were getting residual checks from all of the movies and cartoons and toys based on them. A silly idea, but funny, and approached relatively seriously. I forget who wrote it... Dawn? Horseturtle? One of those.

Or maybe Michaelangelo creating comic books? :)

Heh, I kinda like that. (So where they known to society, or just keeping hidden and allowing people to believe they're fictional? lol)

Maybe they do night work?

As for how the Turtles were getting money, I remember the 2007 movie showing Mikey dressing up for a kids birthday party, and Donnie doing tech support on the phone.

Maybe they don't.

Yep that works. Not sure everyone would agree but that's valid at least for the 2007 movie.

Yep, here's clips of it.

Donnie working as an IT Tech Support



Mikey, a Ninja Turtle dressed up as a Ninja Turtle for a Kids Birthday Party.

Not sure if I'm right but I remember one of the early levels of the 2007 game is Mikey making his way back to the sewer after doing a kids birthday.