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Best/Worst Portrayals
Which turtle & secondary character* do you think was best/worst in their overall portrayal? Taking everything into account. Arcs, development, design, voice, the full monty.
*When I say secondary character I don't mean a one-off like The Neutrinos (who most people took issue with). I mean mainstays who had a sizable number of appearances, so choose from this list: -Splinter -April -Casey -Shredder -Karai -Bebop/Rocksteady -Baxter Stockman As for the turtles, it's really tough. It's pretty much a tie between Leo & Donnie, but gun to my head, I might have to go with Donnie. Leo's my favorite turtle, period, & I was very pleased with how he was handled in this series. They hit every single beat that one could want. His depth, bravado, courage, vulnerability, the Splinter relationship, etc. & they added new elements like his greater appreciation of Japanese culture, & a geeky side (of course someone like him would need an escape!) that felt both fresh & fitting. The only thing that let me down was they didn't have a significant bonding with Usagi scene, but it's all gravy. I regret that he had to go through 3 voice changes, as well. I really liked Biggs, wish he'd have been kept on the whole series. Green took a bit of getting used to at first but he grew on me. You could tell he really loved doing it & gave it his all. Donnie has always been my second favorite turtle, so naturally I would have a bias toward him too, but man, he's just thoroughly entertaining in this show. First of all I LOVE his design. The head shape, the gap, his belt buckle, magenta eyes, it's a really cool look. Ciro's aesthetics come across the most on him, I'd say. Rob Paulsen is the man, but I was wary at first of him doing another turtle, figured I wouldn't be able to get past hearing '87 Raph, but no, he killed it. Very charming. I like how they made him quick to anger, & the whole April fixation thing was hilarious/endearing to me. The fact his bo was modified into a naginata was dope, & his fighting style got me hype. He's always been cool in my book, but here I was genuinely excited when he got focus. As for who was worst, Mikey, hands down. I really liked him at first, but of course, as time went on, they made him dumber/clumsier/etc. He always degrades, ugh. Too much comedy relief, hyperactivity, no self-awareness. They tried to redeem him a few times (& those bits were killer) but they'd always go right back to the idiocy. Cipes did a great job though. I certainly don't dislike Michelangelo, he's just the weaker link for me. This is a problem with almost every non-Mirage interpretation of the character (for anyone not in the know, there, he is just warm-hearted, in touch with everyone's feelings, he likes to care for his cat, babysit Shadow, write love stories, he's a peaceful little soul). I know some people give Raph flack for getting less attention or being hung up on his fears, but I liked this Raphael more than most of his predecessors. Way less of a one-note character. & Astin was just SO good. Best secondary character? Splinter, without a moments hesitation. Wow. Hoon Lee is god-tier in the booth. Easily the best performances of the entire cast. Just so powerful. Splinter here is more athletic, rat-like, & fatherly than ever before. Nailed it. I'd gush more but I'm growing tired of writing this post. :tlol: Worst secondary character? Not sure, really. None of them stick out as being the #1 worst, because I really enjoy them all, & several of them are equally flawed. Casey doesn't take things seriously enough & is selectively stupid, April's a bit of a mary-sue with magic powers, & Karai has the Shredder's daughter dynamic/unnecessary mutation. Their personalities/designs/voices were otherwise great, I don't really have much in the way of complaints beyond those key issues. What say you? |
In my Opinion:
Best Turtle: Tie between Leo and Raph Best Secondary Character: Splinter Worst Turtle: Michelangelo Worst Secondary Character: Casey |
This should be broken up by seasons, because some characters started off great and then decayed due to flanderization.
I loved Nick Mikey during Seasons 1-2. It was somewhere around Season 3 onward they started making him too dumb, but he was great for the first two seasons. Nick's Casey was also pretty good in Season 2. Having just rewatched it I forgot how much I liked Nick's Casey at first. He was still alright for most of Season 3, but started decaying toward the finale into Season 2. Leo and Raph personality wise were handled well. Nick's Donnie was also good outside of the more annoying crushing on April moments. |
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Best Turtle - hands down Leo. He was just amazing in this series. Leo has always been my favorite, but Nick Leo just brought a lot more to the table. He's adorable, compassionate, a strong leader, geeky, and the list goes on. I didn't mind any of the voices for him, but Seth grew to be my favorite one of the three.
Best secondary character is DEFINITELY Splinter. I loved his wit, wisdom, and cheeky moments. He's by far the best Splinter in any incarnation out there. Hoon Lee did an amazing job with him. Worst Turtle is Mikey. Ugh, I wanted to like him, but he was so inconsistent in this show. This has been a problem for me since the beginning. When he shined, he shined, but the moments were few and far between. Cipes is wonderful for his character, though. Just wish they didn't dumb Mikey down so much. Worst secondary character...hmmm...that's a tough one. I liked most of the characters pretty well. Some had to grow on me first. Even Casey grew on me, but he did have some ill-timed outbursts that drove me nuts.:trolleye: |
Best Turtle Raph or Donnie( Never cared for Don till Rob Paulsen voiced him)
Best Secondary Character Hoon Lee Splinter. He is my all time favorite Version of him. Worst Turtle Sorry Cipes but Mikey. it was Beast Boy as Mikey and made him a bit retarded Worst Secondary Character. Casey Jones he was just annoying nothing compares to 90's movie Casey |
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Best Turtle:
Season 1-3 : Tie between Leo and Donnie Season 4-5 : Tie between Leo and Mikey Best Secondary Character: Splinter Least favorite turtle: Raphael (I like him though) Least favorite secondary Character: Casey (Nothing against Casey, but there was so much missed potential) |
Best Turtle: Leo
Best Secondary Character : Splinter easily, but even though he isn't in your list, I did enjoy me some Leatherhead Worst Turtle: Mikey Worst Secondary: Casey Jones |
Best Turtle
They were all awesome. Worst Turtle They all had there faults, for example - Mikey and Raph didn't have great season 3, Leo kept on going solo, Donnie's obsession and fighting Casey over April. Best Secondary - Splinter Worst Secondary - Casey |
Best turtle for me is Leo, character and design. (though I think Sean Astin is my fav turtle voice actor)
I'm not picking a worst turtle, they're all different and each have qualities as well as faults. Worse secondary, stuck between Casey and Beebop. |
I’ll have to mirror the others and say Leo was the best turtle. He still isn’t my favorite version but I admire what they added to his character, adding more to him than just “he’s the leader.”
Worst Turtle is Mikey and Mikey has always been my favorite. I feel this series really did him a disservice. They did have moments where they seemed to really pinpoint the emotional and ninja skilled side of him but they never lasted. It’s a real shame too because there really was potential! Greg Cipes did do excellent voicing him. Secondary Best I’ll have to say to go off the list and say Leatherhead. They really tapped into some different ideas with him and I do love how he and Miley interact. Secondary Worst...I’m sure I’ll get crap for this but I have to say Splinter. Nothing against the acting as Hoon Lee did amazing but I can’t stand how they did this Splinter’s personallity. I know a lot of people talk about how much more fatherly he is but I just don’t see it. I see favoritism for one and lots of it. Sometimes he comes across as downright abusive. His good moments, like Mikey’s, are legitimately good but overall, I didn’t feel the fatherly affection with this Splinter Just my interpretation |
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You really couldn't stand Splinter? Nothing he did was abuse, it's called training and discipline. |
I understand the need for discipline when training (and even then, there’s no need to be overly cruel about it) but the way he addressed the turtles outside training even...it just seemed needless cold at times. I’m not saying he didn’t have good moments because he did. However, overall, he didn’t come across as warm or fatherly to me. I especially think he put way too much pressure on Leonardo and some of his advice he gave while good in a battle situation would psychologically damaging outside of it. I know the turtles are supposed to be fighters but they’re also teenagers.
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Absolute nonsense. The only Splinter that meets your description is the Platinum Dunes one (at least in the first movie, anyway).
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Speaking of other characters, I still don't really care for Nick's Hun. I don't mind the reinvention of characters, but he was basically just Bruce Lee. He was a minor villain in this show so it didn't matter much, but I much prefer the big blonde brute and IDW has used him really well after the 2k3 series.
He's probably the only older character reinvented that I don't care for. They did an excellent job adapting other past characters to this series like Bishop and so forth, so it shows you can do new things with old characters and it can still work. |
Due to the size, I put my thoughts in spoilers.
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Baxter had quite a lot of roles after becoming a fly, I think they used him quite well. He wasn't quite the Baxter looking to betray Shredder at any cost like the original cartoon one, and I liked how he created the Shredder clones, fought alongside Tiger Claw, made his own insect mutants, and worked on the mutagen serums. He also appeared in a lot more episodes than I remembered originally as a fly.
Bishop is probably my favorite use of a character, making him part of the Utrom council was great and it kept true to his character due to his ninja moves, design, still leading the EPF, and working alongside the Turtles. While he did lose the shades of gray that 2k3 Bishop had due to experimenting on humans, it was nice to see a Bishop that started off as an ally. And I loved his design being the Kraang droids, it made sense in the lore too because all the human designs like Irma and Ms. Cambell that the Kraang stole were based on the Utrom council designs. Lord Dregg was a nice secondary antagonist after the Triceratons in the space arc, and although "The evil of Dregg" when they went to his homeworld might very well be the worst ep of the space arc (and what the hell was with that robot head he had in that one episode that was never explained?), I loved him in all his other episodes. His role in "The Cosmic Ocean" was my favorite appearance of his especially since he teamed up with Armaggon. Having an insectoid bug army is a great sci-fi trope to use and he was handled well. Although yeah, his voice lacked what Tony Jay made so great about him in the original cartoon. |
So can anyone have an opinion without Cubed coming behind them to inform them why their "opinion" is wrong?
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Best Portrayal for a Villain: Rat King
I will agree with another user on here and say I really liked the Rat King. He's properly creepy and disturbing, and unlike most other baddies doesn't get nerfed or turned into a pathetic joke of their former selves. He also was somebody that could get into Splinter's mind in the worst way to control him as an animal, pitting his human self against his mutant self, and trying to use that vulnerability to break him. Worst Portrayal of a Villain: Rahzar He started off strong, and looked very promising. Ostensibly an 'upgrade,' he had the ultra creepy skeletal look and intimidating werewolf appearance, with a sharp calculating mind and a sadistic streak a mile wide. Unfortunately this does not last, he gets nerfed soon after and turned into a generic monster henchman, then Tigerclaw shows up. His earlier evilness and sadistic nature shows up only once in a great while, but it often only lasts that one episode, and then we get nerfed ineffectual Rahzar again. Best Portrayal if a Hero: Leo. For once, he's fun. Nerdy, grows into his leader role, and is not perfect. Worst Portrayal of a Hero: April O'Neil She was interesting... As a ordinary teenager. Even having slight powers of empathy and intuition didn't hurt, it gave her sonething the Turtles didn't have but didn't put her over them. But she just kept getting powers to the the point of becoming a deus ex machina for the plot, even bordering Mary Sue territory at times with how she was described by some of the characters "Her mind is the center of the universe.' Honorable Mention, Villain: Baxter Stockman He was interesting as a human, and initially as a fly, but then he devolved into a skulking sycophant to Shredder that ended up loving his mutation (even as it is meant to be a gross, humiliating punishment, and that it socially isolates him and strips him of his ability to live a normal life.) Honorable Mention, Worst Portrayal, Hero: Casey Jones Mainly for his excessive perving and his one line that I heard that he says after the Earth is destroyed 'That's awesome!' A normal person wouldn't say that, they'd still be in utter shock and disbelief. This one line alone makes him look... sociopathic. |
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I also have to say I loved Nick's version of Fugitoid. While I think IDW's one has the most depth since he was a Neutrino and watched his family killed by Krang in that version, I think Nick's is the second best. He had a funny personality and a lot of humor in this, and I loved that huge death cannon disintegrater weapon he turned into in various episodes and he flat out killed several Triceratons with it.
And on top of that, in the finale Fugitoid flat out commits mass genocide and rams his ship and the black whole generator into the ENTIRE Triceraton mothership which had all their bases connected to it, and kills MILLIONS of Triceratons. Literally the entire Triceraton race, even presumedly Zeno who helped them in the Tri-arena, were all wiped out in that explosion. Fugitoid is a mass murderer and genocidal maniac in this version, I loved it. :lol: |
Best Turtle - It's really hard because I love them all... Overall I'd say my favorite is probably Raph, with Leo and Donnie following in a close second. I still love Mikey though... so... this in an unanswerable question...
Best Secondary Character - Splinter, no doubt. Don't even need to think about it. Worst Secondary Character - I'm gonna probably say Karai. She had her moments in the beginning of the series, I actually was fond of her the 1st season, but she became a **** show once she was mutated. After that she just became a big hot mess that I really just couldn't stand by the end of the series. I know Casey gets a lot of hate, but I actually didn't mind this incarnation of him as a punk kid. Even though he can get irritating it didn't bother me nearly as much as Karai's hot and cold "cliché broken female" brain. Honorable mention - Ice Cream Kitty... because... Ice Cream Kitty <3 Fugitoid was awesome too. He really made the entire space arc enjoyable. I know Mona gets a lot of hate too, but I liked her has a character say less for the excessive make out scenes with Raph. I've never liked Rat King as a villain, but his portrayal in the 2012 series was awesome. Probably the creepiest villain the turtles and Splinter faced. Dishonorable mention - I'm sorry but Shredder slowly crept the same direction as Karai towards the end. I enjoyed normal vengeful Shredder, once he was mutated he also turned nuts to the point it was really unnecessary. Dr. Rockwell was a mutanimal that just always rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was the buldging eyes, but although I enjoyed his witty banter with Donnie on occasion, that was all I enjoyed. April I hated in the beginning. If the writers were going for that ungrateful clam with a touch of unpredictable mood swing who bounces affection off guys and plays games to get what she wants then they aced it. Granted, from the space arc and going forward she did MUCH improve and I actually grew to like her as a character by the end of the series, but I just thought she was kind of a jerk to the turtles sometimes all things considered. |
Karai was under mind control in the later half of Season 3, we didn't see her true self again till Season 4 when they got back from space.
Season 3 was a low-point for Karai, since she was an almost mindless snake in the first half, then under control of the brain worms for two episodes in the second half. However once Season 4 starts the first episode they get back to Earth after space she's "normal" again and knows Splinter's her father and is a good guy for the rest of the series. Also Shinigami is introduced so Karai finally has a friend to talk to and becomes her own person again. I loved Karai in Seasons 4 and 5, while in Seasons 1-2 she was a great villain. Season 3 Karai with the snake and brain worms...yeah...that was a complete misfire. |
What? Hate Karai? :lol: I get why some wouldn't like the hot/cold/vengeful side, we don't all like the same characters... the way I see that part of her ....
.... she was raised by Shredder first off and then she went through so much after everything she found out and what he put her through afterwards, I can see why she would go after him, even though it was recklessly. Come season 5 she seemed more focused and gained control of the foot, I see her as a survivor..... until the part where she was probably blown up in the finale. EDIT: Cubed posted while I was responding, yes season 3 wasn't the best story for Karai, very dragged out. I didn't like that they made Shredder into Super Shredder and wish they'd kept him as he was, however, I think the writers did that because they were going to have the turtles finally kill him, maybe they thought it was more acceptable to do when Shredder had become a monster, losing any trace of humanity. |
Yeah, the whole Karai/Miwa being Splinter's daughter but raised by Shredder was one of the best new concepts this show came up with. Especially since Shredder really did love Karai, you can tell this in the Season 2 and 3 eps when she's mutated and how sad he is and wants her back by his side.
Granted if you raise a kid for 16 years, of course you're going to love them even if biologically they're not your child. |
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Thats what made him a much more compelling character. He was dangerous and competent, but all his decisions made sense. He was deluded and consumed with jealousy and anger, but he did genuinely care for his 'daughter'.
I really hope that this concept with Shredder is revisited in future. I think its one of Nicks strongest plus points next to the portrayals of the turtles themselves (save possibly Mikey) |
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You mean the Kraang? Back in Season 2 when the invasion was going on Tiger Claw asked him why he would let the Kraang take over, and Shredder said after his revenge on Splinter was complete he would betray the Kraang and defeat them.
Shredder obviously wasn't going to let the Kraang take over the Earth if the Turtles/Splinter were gone. |
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I mean it's pretty obvious the Kraang would have eventually gone after Shredder too, they planned to turn Earth into another Dimension X. |
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I don't mean to drag out conversations so apologies guys, but just in relation to the above discussion.....
I guess he was confident he could stop the Kraang (once he got what he wanted from them) the turtles did, I don't know if Shredder would managed to as we didn't see him try. |
Nickelodeon's portrayal of April is probably the worst depiction of the character ever.
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... Unless we count the version from Adventures #∞. *shudders* |
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