What's your favourite relationship between the Turtles themselves?
 

They're all close to each other since they're brothers, but the dynamic between each of them is different and the relationship between the same two Turtles can be very different in two different versions. For example, in the Fred Wolf series there's no tension whatsoever between Raphael and Leonardo. Completely different from other versions. You only see it briefly in the season 8 episode Turtle Trek.

Personally, I've always felt the relationship between Raphael and Michelangelo was the most interesting one, at least in most of the TMNT material I've seen/read. In Mirage they're best friends, in the FW series there's back and forth banter between both of them and in the 2k3 series they have a fighting siblings type of relationship. I just think that both Raph and Mikey usually end up having the best chemistry and the most memorable moments together. But that's just my impression.

What about you?

Kind of a toss up between Leo and Donnie being most like each other and kind of being each other's right hand guy and understand each other more, and the head butting, competitive dynamic between Leo and Raph that keeps each other on their toes. Those two getting pissy and smug at each other but pulling together and patching it up later just seems like a good old authentic competitive sibling relationship.

It's like you are in my brain...

FW had the best dynamic. If only Rob had a bit more anger behind his sarcastic wit.

I's not only the turtles, even Channel 6 and the Technodrome have great dynamics.

True on both accounts.

I wish Burne got a more Jameson-lite role and could have served a role during the Dregg run at the end too leading the human endorsement because of the twice destruction of Channel Six News. That is a topic for another thread though. FW characters with wider potential.

You forgot the Big Brother and his Little Buddy relationship they had in the 2012. Raph could be a bully at times, but he deeply cares about all his brothers. But he cares for Mikey in particular.

I've only watched like 3 episodes of the Nick show, so I have no idea what happened there.

Well, I really encourage you to check the show out, it's worth it. It's also the most similar to the Frank Wolf cartoon series of any of the series in the franchise.

If there's one episode I urge you to watch to see all of the Turtles interactions with each other in action it should be "Slash and destroy" which is a season two episode. Here it is.


Just watch it, it shows the group dynamic between the four brothers and their Sensei so clearly.

We rarely see Leo and Mikey and Don and Raph paired up. I don't think the dynamic is really there in those scenarios. Leo is more disciplined than Mikey, but Don and Raph are more easygoing. Don tends to think things through more than Raph does, but Leo and Mikey seem more eager to battle.

Thanks but I'm not very interested. I kinda fell out of the Turtles in the last few years and the Bay films traumatised me and made me lose hope for the property.

I can understand that but the 2012 series is everything the Bay movies are NOT. They have NOTHING in common.

The episode I put in there shows the interactions as brothers between the turtles.

For example:

Raph complains about Mikey not respecting his private property and swats him with a magazine as punishment but later in the episode is seen as the big brother who stands by his side no matter what. Look at those pleading eyes of Mikey's when he's worried about Donatello had gone missing and Raph's assuring, "Don't worry, we'll find him." reply.

Or after Donatello's mishap almost blew the lair up, as Raph complains to Splinter about Donnie needing to be held accountable for his actions, we see Donnie's facial expression get so guilty, he feels so bad about it. But later in the episode when Raph and Mikey find him badly wounded by Slash, Raph goes out of his way to tend to Donnie's broken arm, making a satchel and tying it off.

You asked us to name our favorite interactions between the brothers in the series, the 2012 series depicts them as both being Teenagers (Peer pressure, Teen confusion of "What is MY place in this world?" and giving each other a hard time) AND as brothers ("Sorry Slash but my brothers come first, ALWAYS!")

As a fan of the more serious, Mirage influenced TMNT (90s movies, 2003 cartoon), it starts to get more enjoyable in Season 3 when they first meet Renet. That's at the tail end of the season though, which is pretty sad. The first half of Season 4 is outer space episodes, but it's a lot better compared to the horror movie influenced North Hampton episodes in the first half of Season 3, which I remember being a pain to get through. Season 5 is my favorite and the most mature. Renet comes back for a multiparter and there is a multiparter with Usagi too. There are a lot of problems with the 2012 cartoon, but you should at least watch the later episodes before writing off the show completely.

In the 1987 cartoon we see Leo and Mike as the captured half and Raph and Don as the half to the rescue. There is two instances in the 2003 cartoon series which has Mike ask Leo to train him for the Battle Nexus championship rematch. The other is the encounter with Nobody and Touch and Go when they are going out for training excercise.

Don't forget the Season 2 finale in which The Foot and the Kraang succeed in defeating the Turtles, the way they re-created that scene of Leonardo being thrown through the window of April's house is straight out of the Mirage comics.

Orsta belli jinga ho 7 76

But that's what made Rob's interpretation of the character so unique. He wasn't the angry Turtle every other Raphael has been.

Yeah, I forgot about the finale! Gilbert Gottfried as Krang Sub-prime was perfect. I liked how it actually took place in the snow too. I mostly remember Season 2 as consisting of mutant of the week episodes, so it's sometimes hard to remember the more profound moments.

I made a thread/poll years ago asking which Turtles duo you liked best and why. Nowadays my favorite combination is Michelangelo & Leonardo, I think their opposing personalities bring out the best in them. Mikey tries to act more responsible and patient with Leo, while Leo lightens up with Mikey.

In the Mirage comics, I loved Mike & Raph's dynamic. In Archie, Donatello & Raphael, especially because of the Future arc.

Don & Raph in Archie are great, but on a whole I dunno that any particular combo across iterations really strikes me enough to be a favorite.

You are somewhat correct there. Raph had gone to his room to grouse about his brothers. Mikey then shows up and tells Raph he needs to come help in the cleanup, but Raph is like "Hell, no!" But he doesn't say Donnie needs to be accountable for his accident, he says that Donnie should clean it up by himself.

The big difference between this time and the last time Donnie nearly blew up the lair possible reaction.

In "Metal Head" when Donnie makes his broken bo staff into a Rocket Launcher that proceeds to go off in the lair. That wasn't supposed to happen but that would have been something at the very least he would have known to be a possible occurrence. So in that regard, yes Donnie would have had to clean up the results of that situation by himself as part of his punishment.

In Slash and Destroy, Donnie was attempting to make Retromutagen and the chemical he experimenting with had a volatile reaction that he even admitted was unexpected. So, in all honesty, it was just an unfortunate accident. So that's why all the brothers had to assist with the cleanup.

I'm not saying Raph shouldn't have been upset since Spike was nearly killed as a result. Still, he does blow the whole event out of proportion and acts like Donnie deliberately tried to blow up the lair.

Leo even says as much when they finish the cleanup. Donnie says "I feel terrible, It's my fault Raph's mad." And Leo responds by saying
"It's not you, Donnie...well it's partially you. Raph just has to work on his insanely bad temper."

I’ve never read the comics and I’m not familiar with the 2012 series, but I’m rewatching the 2003 cartoon at the moment and, like Prowler, I’d say Mikey and Raph is my favourite along with Leo and Raph. I like all the different interactions between the Turtles nearly as much, though.

One thing I always noticed in the FW series: whenever Leonardo told the Turtles to split in groups of two it was mostly Leo/Mike and Raph/Don pair-ups. Sometimes Leo/Raph and Don/Mike as well. But rarely Leo/Don and Raph/Mike. I think I only remember seeing the last two pair-ups like that one time.

It's probably for no particular reason, but I've always noticed that for some reason.

My favorite turtle relationship bit so far was when Mikey fought Raph in the Battle Nexus tournament in the 2003 series.

How often do we see Leo and Mikey pair up to do something? I think Mikey usually goes with either Donnie or Raph.


edit:
I guess I don't remember the FW series that well.

I can't remember episodes in particular, but the first one I remember where such split ups happened was in the first ever Zach episode, The Fifth Turtles. Where Leonardo and Mchelangelo went in together to face Shredder and Raphael and Donatello stayed behind fighting Bebop & Rocksteady or something?

Raph and Don stayed behind to fight the Foot Soldiers guarding the planetarium I think, but yeah, that’s the first episode I remember such split ups happening too. Probably why I still remember that ep quite clearly despite not watching it in ages.

Well the debut episodes of secondary characters were usually memorable. Especially because they were done in the first 3 seasons where the writers were still applying themselves somewhat. And the characters had to make a strong first impression so that they'd be popular enough to sell toys and be brought back later in the show.

My favorite relationships among the Turtles are Leo and Donnie. They always seem to understand each other on a fundamental level. Though their relationship varies from version to version.

The Fred Wolf story everyone got along more or less the same way. So it's hard to gauge their relationship aside from the fact they often are placed close together in numerous shots. Though in "Take Me to Your Leader" Leonardo does choose to talk with Donatello about his doubts as an effective leader.
So at best I would say Leonardo would acknowledge that Donatello has his uses.

2k3 version, Leo is a protective big brother in addition to being a leader. He does strongly rely on Donnie's intelligence and engineering skills.
Donnie, in turn, is the Turtle who holds the strongest loyalty towards Leo. Part of this loyalty is due to Leo saving his life when they had been children. Leo also seems to acknowledge that losing Donnie would be a devastating blow to their family as he does point out in one of the cold openings in Good Genes that there were numerous fights they wouldn't have gotten out alive without Donnie's assistance. Also during Good Genes, there is a point where Leo is wanting to help save his brother from the Monster he's become. But at the same time, he's at a loss as to what should be done because the very person he would turn about this problem is the problem.

2k12 Leo and Donnie are somewhat of a combo of the Fred Wolf and 4Kids version. Leo struggles with the role of being a leader and a big brother to everyone. Like the 2k3 and Mirage Comics Donnie does hold the strongest loyalty to Leo both as a brother and leader. In fact, the two of them are more or less two sides of the same coin and when the two of them work together in tandom there are few villains that can stand up to them. There are moments that Leo does rely on Donnie's insight, and there are moments where Leo is absent that Donnie does practically become Leo. Such as in the Invasion, after Leo's badly hurt and Splinter has supposedly been killed off. Everyone turns to Donnie since he has take up the mantle of leader. Donnie then responds by closing his eyes for a few seconds and then when he opens them again it's like they have become dark brown versions of Leo's eyes.

In this version, they have an added twist where the two of them clash now and again in the series. Leo has a traditionalist view towards the battles they face and feels that the skills they were taught by Splinter are the correct and only way to do things because that is what Splinter would want. Donnie, on the other hand, doesn't exactly shirk tradition, but he does understand that in the battles they face their traditional skills aren't going to be enough.
As the series progresses Leo does learn to be more reliant on Donnie technical skills. Though occasionally this reliance does go to almost abusive levels. Such as in "Fourfold Trap" it's been hinted at in previous episodes that Leo has been depending on Donnie to come up with some way to free Karai from a worm the Shredder is using to control her. So it's safe to assume that Donnie has been attempting to find a way to free Karai for quite some time. And has more than likely pulled more than a few all-nighters. In "Fourfold Trap" Donnie is attempting what he believes could be a cure only for it to fail. He then reluctantly says that is the extent of what he can come up with. Leo, however, refuses to let it go, then when Donnie tiredly grouses that he's trying as hard as he can to find a cure. Leo responds by shouting "THEN TRY HARDER!"

This version of Leo also seems to have a fiercely protective streak when it comes to Donatello. There is a tone in his voice he always gets when Donnie's in possible danger. While Leo is protective of Raph and Mikey as well, this vocal tone is only used in regards to Donnie.
This protective tone is first used in "Operation: Breakout" The way Leo acts in this moment you would think he's about to bite Raph's head off.

Leo: Why would Donnie try to rescue April's dad by himself?
Raph: (Somewhat sheepishly) Um...maybe because I told him he doesn't have a shot with April.
Leo: What?! WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!
Raph: Because he has no shot with April!
Leo: WELL YEAH...BUT YOU DON'T TELL HIM THAT!


As for this current version Rise of the TMNT. I don't find this series worth following. It's an okay watch, but it isn't my thing since it's often random nonsense.

What I do find interesting is that Donnie and Leo are twins in this version. It's never specifically said that they are twins, but the two of them are both 14 years old and they are brothers ergo twins. Before people start pointing out they are two different species of turtle so therefore they can't be twins. That just means they can't be the most common forms of twins. Since they are different species they obviously aren't identical. You can make an argument for fraternal since they are brothers and they both share Splinter's DNA. But even that argument can be a stretch.

However, there are other forms of twins that are less common. The most plausible forms of uncommon Fraternal twins that could work with these two are Super Fetucation, and Heteropaternal superfecundation.

Super Fetucation is when a mother becomes pregnant with a second child when she is already pregnant with a first.

This could be plausible because even though Donnie and Leo are 14, we don't know how much of a time gap is between them. So there could be as little as an hour or a couple of days between their hatching times.

Heteropaternal superfecundation is when a mother has twins, but each child in the set is the product of a different father.

This is also plausible since Leo is a Painted Turtle and Donnie is a Soft-shelled Turtle, and they do have Splinters DNA added to them as part of their mutation. Since Baron Draxum did say he mutated them 13 years prior that means Raph would have had to be the equivalent of a two-year-old in turtle years, both Donnie and Leo would have been around one, and Mikey would have been newly hatched.

Probably the one constant across TMNT media is that Raph found Mikey the most annoying so that could be your answer. :D