Did the 2012 series live up to the hype/hatred?
 

Whenever the show was originally announced around 2009, everyone was sceptical about how good/terrible it would be. Now, a few years on, I was just wondering if the show lived up to your expectations of how good/bad it would be

Considering back in 2009 people had no idea what the show would be, and then the CG or initial designs had mixed views, I'd say it lived up to the hype and surpassed it. Now obviously not every ep was good and they went too far with horror episodes, but overall it was a good series.

I don't know what the views were when this show was announced but since discovering it I've noticed plenty of views on both sides.

It's what brought me in to the franchise and will very likely remain my favourite version of the shows but it would be easier to like something coming in as new to it, there's not the expectations from prior knowledge/experience there. (course I was familiar with TMNT but hadn't gotten into it)

It didn't live up to my expectations at all, it's a good series with plenty of awesome moments, cool characters and interpretations but it's nowhere near what was promised or was hyped by others to be.

Before release they sweet talked us and told us how it would be Mirage inspired with OT mixed in. To me it seemed like the perfect series I had waited all my life for. The fan preview where a few selected members go to to enjoy a sneak peak only confirmed all of this was true. The designs were solid and all the mainstream geek culture blogs shilled for the show for the first two seasons and how it was the greatest interpretation of the turtles. They were not a lone as plenty of youtubers joined in with the same response.

I saw instead a boring show that didn't have the right interactions, some horrible original characters, too much mutation, too many horror episodes, bringing back characters in name only as they were totally different that you questioned why even bother, lack of motivation for many characters, out of character moments for many, bad decisions in general. I wanted to love the show but at the end it was just another interpretation instead of me actually loving this new take on them.

It's not a bad show, I like it, but the ranking would still go like this easily: 2k3>OT>2012

When it was good, on top of its game, it exceeded the hype. No question.
But even when it was mediocre, it never deserved the hate it got.

It was a cute show that had so much unrealized potential.
Oh well, that's what fic is for.

I don't think this show got too much hate, it was praised by a large majority of fans and casual fans joined in as well. This praise kinda died down around season 4 I think but I never saw anything too negative, 2k3 got far more hate by OT fans when it started and later during FF by most people but overall I think 2012 didn't have it bad at all when it came to reactions. Hell, it's the reason Rise is going to have a problem since so many people view the 2012 favorably they won't even give a chance to Rise for trying something different, they already have the grudge that the "great" show was cancelled because of Rise.

Back in February 2003, there were mostly just TMNT fans (many of them not even aware of Mirage). The divide into various fangroups came later, as the 4 Kids series progressed.

It was very good when it was good, however it didn't do enough to forge it's own path. It started off original, and some of the OT homages were fine, but they soon grew kind of excessive and eventually segued into full blown visits to the OT dimension, and the addition of Bebop and Rocksteady that quickly overshadowed the original mutant pair that debuted.

So in a way it didn't live up to expectations, because it stopped being what was advertised and started trying to be the OT too much, only 'returning to form' of it's old originality after too much time had passed.

My expectations were low when I first watched it, so I was surprised at how "good" it was.

But when I re-watched it a few times, it's not as good as I remember. It's decent, but the overall quality is meh. But it does have it's moments.

I can't speak for anyone else, I don't remember what other people thought. What I can say is that I felt season 1 was promising, a promise the other seasons didn't live up to in my opinion.

At the time season 1 was airing, I thought it was going to continue focusing on the story like with the 2003 show and that this time there could be less focus on merchandising, given that a more respected studio was making it. This didn't really pan out. What we got was kind of cheap looking CGI that didn't improve, too many characters clearly created to sell toys, too many random plots that didn't go anywhere, increasingly dumb humor and attempts at drama that were just duds. For example, Splinter's final death might have worked better If:

1. He didn't "die" multiple times before (in pretty much the same way).
2. If the show didn't seem like a comedy as often as it did, including the episodes centered around it.
3. He didn't come back, almost right away, as a semi-coporeal ghost.

It's not a bad show, even at it's worst you can still watch it (even if it makes you scratch your head). It's just that it seems like it could have been way better, given that it's the studio that produced the Avatar shows, but the one made the most infamous anime licensee of all time still made the better adaptation. And that's sad.

This man. So much this.

I felt that season one was the best. After that, just ... nah.

It didn't live up to my expectations.

First couple of seasons were pretty solid for what they were. I suspect as ratings began to slide, Ciro was allowed to steer the ship creatively less and less.

I always doubted he had that much creative freedom to begin with. Judging from interviews and such, it seems like his pitch was chosen less because they liked his vision, but more because it was the easiest to modify into what they wanted. At it's core, the status quo pretty basic TMNT. There are of course deviations but few radical ones, nothing you wouldn't see in most cartoon reboots, the formula is fairly intact for a TMNT cartoon.

I'll agree that season 1 had a decent illusion of being creator driven, given the general lack of filler and advertisement, it's just pretty clear after the subsequent seasons that it wasn't really. It still had those elements, it just wasn't as obvious at the time.

Went downhill in season 1 not helping that they were too mutant/horror heavy for my liking.

Went downhill in Season 1? What?

I basically missed this entire show's original air. I'm a big fan of OT and 2k3 turtles but I was too busy to stop and watch 2k12 when it came out. But now with Rise of the TMNT on the horizon I'm finally going to settle down and watch this show. I didn't go in with any expectations since I didn't read or look at any promo material before hand.

So far I'm midway through season 2 and I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. The characters are cute and funny, though I think Mikey is almost too stupid for my liking. Internally I'm feeling pretty positive about this show though externally I'm already feeling some issues that I want to vent about. Lol Some of which were already spoiled to me.

One of my most serious issues are : All of the human secondary protagonists being children.

I guess it isn't a big issue with Karai, but I'm really not a fan of kid April. To me, April is a big sister to the turtles at the very least, and a cool mother figure at the most. You can go crazy with everything else and you can argue against me on this, but April being the "team mom" has been my default ideal about her for a long time.

On top of that, the circumstances put forward by her dad's mutation causes narrative problems that I suppose the writers don't expect the audience to care about. Since April is a minor, and I don't know how long it will be before the turtles find a cure for Kirby O'Neil, how is April surviving on her own? Sure I guess she can buy her own food, and I can even imagine her father had some off screen and never mentioned 'emergency savings' that April can live off of and pay the rent with, but still, so far the show hasn't mentioned this so I'm guessing the audience isn't supposed to 'think' about it too much. I've been told that in another season or so she gains super powers. Huh.

Some friends think Casey is a foster kid. That might explain why they don't care about him and Casey doesn't care about...anything. But the show does a poor job at giving us this helpful information so I have to waste time theorizing like an asshole. Also to me it just makes Shredder's defeat seem all the more silly. Vying for world domination, getting your ass kicked by a tribe of misfit children. I know it works in anime but I expect better from the Shredder.

Also Splinter. This may be the youngest incarnation of this character EVER. I wish he would leave the lair more often. Especially in this current debacle with Karai, he should be more proactive in finding his own daughter instead of leaving it all up to the turtles.

So yeah so far these are my biggest complaints.

I agree with CyberCubed. I remember people gnashing their teeth when the character designs were revealed. But honestly I think this is an above average show. It has its flaws, like everything does but it isn't enough to detract from my experience.

At this point I'd rate all of the Turtle shows in this order. 2003> 2012>OT

And NMT is somewhere either orbiting the sun or near the earth's crust.

I was hopeful at the start.

I was on board with the CGI animation idea. I didn't like the fact that april and casey and karai where all teens, but open to the idea to see how it affected the dynamic. the designs took a little getting used to... but apart from casey's and some of karai's look, I was pretty on board with them.

The show in it's first season was pretty amazing. it did feel like a mix between mirage and OT adventure elements.

Then it took a MAJOR downward turn in quality, IMHO. all the mutant stuff started happening full blown. characters started getting forgotten in a show that tried to have continuity. it twisted from straight out sponge bob comedy, to straight out horror , to straight out seriousness and NONE of the balances evened each other out at all....giving a very stilted mess.

I enjoyed season 1 the most. I will rewatch it now and then. Season 2 and 3 are my least favorites and I never have the need to watch some of those episodes again (like attack of the mega shredder). and that is a FIRST for any TMNT series apart from NT:TNM. Season 4 was the only one, to me, that felt like a REAL Ninja Turtles series. it felt like it got the story together a little more, and it was a little more co hesive as a whole.

Season 5 felt like it wasn't needed. and was basically a bunch of left over 'cool' ideas the animation staff had and wanted to do before the next version came along.


All in all, I felt like the show would have been MUCH better if they had totally left shredder and karai out of the series. as well as the foot. Focus on the Kraang and the weird sci fi adventures they seemed to want to do more. I feel like it would have worked that much better.

Shredder and his henchmen always felt like an after thought to me.

All in all, a series with MUCH potential. The animation was top notch. the music was great. the voices where great. but it didn't live up to it at all, and I almost stopped watching in season 3.

I think after the pilot, I'll just skip this new version all together, as I can already tell it's not made for me. and I say this as someone who can enjoy something goofy like teen titans go.

It had its pros and cons over all, it was definatly a lot lighter than 2003 series, I mean I liked Leo's evolution evolving into a leader and head of the family by the end of the series. Just wish episodes didn't regress that, having the gang mock Leo's leadership skills every now and than after proving time and time again he's competent to handle got annoying fast, glad that stopped at one point but still.

I'm pretty sure all the characters regressed as a whole.
Those writers sure loved screwing up characters, especially the tmnt, for no reason whatsoever.

Meh, it was what it was. It had moments that I found it very entertaining, mostly the second half of season four through the end of the series. And there were times that I found it absolutely unbearable, mainly the Northampton arc and the outer space arc.

I'm still in the midst of watching the show so...update!
At this point I think season 3 is my weakest season. This is going to sound idiotic but it started going down hill when I noticed they replaced Leonardo's voice actor. I'm weird like that. I hate that Leo is trying to sound like kid batman now. So safe to say I'm not the biggest fan of Seth Green's depiction of Leo. As far as the farm episodes go they were hit or miss. I liked some but I think a couple of them should have been sacrificed to focus more on the team preparing to return to the city, instead of that all happening in one episode.

I have the least amount of investment in what is going on since the Kraang was defeated. I thought I'd care more about the Shredder but honestly I realize the Kraang posed a much more interesting threat. The writers try their best to make Shredder seem threatening but he just isn't. Constantly resorting to 87 Shredder tactics to get the job done. I.E. relying wholly on bumbling idiot minions who constantly fail him. At least when the Kraang did something, succeed or fail, they did it themselves. Karai is reduced to a mere damsel who is only dangerous some of the time but not really, and I have no idea why one off mutants are still showing up. (Like that disgusting garbage mutant. Very uninteresting and pointless. Mondo Gecko is okay though.). Hopefully season 4 and 5 will be better. I really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2.

On a side note: Fourfold Trap is one of this season's best episodes. (Seeing Splinter walking on a hamster wheel is fun. I guess this is a method of stress relief.)

I actually prefer Green, not greatly though, for me Biggs suited young starting out Leo and Greens deeper voice kinda went later on with Leo's character having grown.

I suppose but to me, my problem isn't all in the voice change but also his character/personality change. Which sucks because I know this has to happen. Every. Single. Time. Leo is the one who basically has to be angsty, bland, and uninteresting because the weight of leadership changes him. At the start of it this Leo was probably my favorite depiction of all the non comic book Leos. It is annoying how many people take "grown up" to mean "harsh and boring".

Oh, okay, Leo's over all character. I don't know, he did grow and gain more responsibility by the end but I don't think he looses his geeky side over all.

Well there is something he says in "Dinosaur Seen in Sewers" that restores my faith a little.

Wasn't the Nickelodeon series merchandising big already some months before the series began?

Considering the type of show tmnt is and also considering Rise already has toys in production (though i'm not sure if they are already on shelves), then yeah without a doubt.

Think it's a good show
When I first started I didn't like it but it's very witty at times and the more you watch it the more it appeals
Still.. needs to be more mirage based and true to the comics but then it would just appeal to us old fans

I’m wondering when we will get the full Blu-ray series collector set. :tgrumble: Bee waiting for a while.

Hated the show. It didn't know what it wanted to be, so in some regards the anthology season was a perfect fit for it.

The toy line hit it pretty big when it started. That's all I know, I wanna say it slowly decreased in popularity as time passed but I frankly don't know for sure.

I think initially surpassed the mixed to negative reactions first looks sparked. I think Season 1 was everything a TMNT show needed to be and it just fell apart after that, a sentiment others have already echoed in this thread. That said, I think there was a lot of panic in 2011-2012 that this wouldn't be "faithful" to the franchise or whatever, and I think in that regard in went above and beyond what people were expecting. It went so far I think it started to lose its own identity, but nevertheless, expectations were surpassed.

I'unno if I'd say I "hated" it, but I definitely tapped out midway through Season 1. The Donnie/April stuff was way too annoying and it ruined the entire experience for me with how cringe-y it was. I heard they toned it down later on but by then I didn't see any point going back to it, given all that I'd missed. I'd just have to sit through the earlier episodes to have any idea what was going on, and I didn't feel like it.

It was also the first TMNT series where I didn't obsessively collect the DVDs as soon as they came out. I still only have the first couple.

Watching the entire series felt like a chore for me most of the time, especially the first half of Season 3. Towards the end of Season 4, it seemed like the show was finally getting better and I was getting more enjoyment out of the episodes, but it was too little too late for that.

I loved it. I agree the first half of S3 with the horror stuff got old fast and Greg Cipes Mikey got really annoying.Other than that it was good.I too want a blu ray release

I can't speak for anybody else but I loved the whole thing, the fact that the Turtles themselves all had different looks was a big contributor.

I thought having Greg Cipes as Michelangelo was perfect casting and there were plenty of episodes in which Michelangelo was proven to be way smarter than he let on. Cipes' voice acting worked perfectly for those episodes.

People have been complaining about April becoming Kunoichi over night, seeing as how the actual dialogue of the episodes reveal that it took her at least four full years (of which one was in space) to achieve that status.

Tragedies?
- Shinigami. There was so much they could have done with her, I mean, eastern witchcraft, the ability to change into a cat or into a bat, there was so much potential for greatness but she was turned into the series version of Yamcha, very easily bested and she never won a single battle in the remainder of the series.
- Don Visciozo. Okay to have the Mafia being in the series is a natural progression of the fact that Shredder is the head of a very big criminal enterprise with Xever leading the Afro-Latin gangs, Bradford leading the Foot ninjas themselves and Steranko leading the illegal weapons trade. But then to make the Don into this very "Pizza the hutt" kind of person with a Sylvester Stalone look alike as his body guard was weak. No background story, no redeeming features with the guy.
- The Pulverizer/ Mutagen man. We can still see how much it must have hurt Donatello that he failed to save Timothy from himself. Splinter gave him full responsibility over what happened and knowing that he couldn't save Timothy and the character was seemingly forgotten for the remainder of the series. It would have been so much better to have some kind of closure. In My "Karai versus Karai" fancomic, I had Bishop using Kraang tech to bring Timothy back.
- The whole "Mutant apocalypse" special, what the hell, why would a Mad Max rip-off be the way to end the series?

Triumphs?
- The fact that Splinter wasn't a Yoda-type of character and that he was in his fourties rather than being in his seventies. The fact that he was seen clowning around with the Turtles and disciplined them with actual corporal punishment through pushing pressure points (Raphael and Leonardo in "MOUSERS attack" and Raph again in "Slash and Destroy") and Randori ("I think his name is Baxter Stockman") made it clear that this version of Splinter was nobody to be trifled with.
- Karai. this gave us the classic "Romeo and Juliet" story line. I loved how she and Leonardo were feeding off of each other, one driving the other on. Karai also gave this series it's own Catwoman to Leo's Batman. Certainly in the fourth season, it became so clear how much each had grown thanks to the other. There was nothing forced about it.

Episode wise...
- I'd say the Kraang invasion episodes with which season 2 ended. They were awesome, the fight of Leonardo against the Foot came straight from the Mirage comics.
- The season 5 "Lone rat and Cubs" episode. Whenever I have people asking me what episodes they should watch of the 2012 series, I'd always tell them "Watch that one BEFORE, you start watching the first season."
- "Tale of the Yokai" That was one of the most epic of the season four episodes. The fact that Splinter (well, Hamato Yoshi) was a bit of a braggart and a jerk, made him all the more human (pun intended.) I also love baby Karai tugging Leo's mask, as if she KNEW already.
And of course:
- All the Easter Eggs. I can watch the episodes so many times and discover something new that I missed.

Majority was great, although each season had a few bad episodes. It was the perfect mix of humor, action and darkness.

My real concern is how the CG will look in a few years. Like if I revisit the show 10 years from now, I hope the CG doesn't look too dated where it looks bad to watch. Hopefully we get a blu-ray release soon.

Some of the CG already looked dated when it first aired, obviously the turtles look great as do other main characters, but random humans among other characters? Not so much. Not to mention seeing how empty the streets are and details like those such as re-using assets.


The show is heavily flawed, overrated and my least fav. animated interpretation (not counting Rise since it's new), they overdid the horror crap, April was horrible, many misses with their story arcs. Despite all that I still think it was a good show.

I truly enjoy the first season or two, but fell off soon after that. I can't truly tell you why, because I haven't seen many of the later episodes. Perhaps the writing lost my attention, because as far as I've heard, the animation improved over time. At times, the show balanced humor, action, and even elements of drama quite well.

When it comes to ranking the cartoons, I'd probably give the original toon the top spot, after all this time.
There was a time that it would have been either this show or 2k3 - both of which I totally appreciate and can enjoy - but at the end of the day, both of those shows feel like compromises to the Mirage stories.
The Fred Wolf toon seems to be comfortable in it's own skin - it doesn't ask me to take it seriously, so there's no disappointment when crooks start wielding laser guns and Leonardo uses his swords to knock down an isle of cereal on a crook. It's just fun and irreverent, with some cool character designs and memorable music. If I want something with more depth, I'll go to the Mirage comics, not a Saturday morning cartoon.

That said, I really do have some love for all three.

I never understood the love for the first season, it's ok at best. All the world building they did with each season is what made the show great for me, some character design choices and the horror boner the writers had are the biggest problems IMHO.

The second season was way better, the animation was better, the characters' movements were smoother, Michelangelo was shown to have some depth to his character. I LOVE the Dimension X episode.

We got to meet Slash, Casey Jones, Newtralizer and got to see why the Kraang were after April.

I loved Karai in the second season, as I said before, the interaction with her and Leonardo which turned romantic in season four, was natural, not forced in a "Leonardo HAS to get a girlfriend" kind of way. They handled the fact that both of them are teens very well, that awkwardness and that banter.

Yes, the 2012 series sure put the "Teenage" into "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"