Why did the Turtles never refer to each other as brothers?
 

In the old toon, that is.

hmmm.....several times it was mentioned.

One was during a conversation between Master Splinter and Donnie during Green with Jealously. He called them his brother turtles. I think that the turtles saw each other more as friends than brothers but I could be wrong though. I think that there is another time but this one sticks out in my mind.

True, but it seems like the show's writers actively avoided letting them call each other brothers, usually. And calling Splinter their father. I wonder what the motive would be?

Yeah, the old toon really never had the family vibe in it. Splinter was never viewed as a father figure, no one used nicknames for any of the Turtles, etc.

Splinter also calls them sons in Enter: The Shredder:
"Head upward my sons, try to find a way around all this."
but aside from that and the reference Sci mentioned, I've never heard them call each other brother or sons, but rather friends and students. heck Splinter refers to April as "my child" in Enter: The Fly (What is it with "Enter" titles....:P).

the new toons even threw "teenage brothers" into the theme song...whereas the old toon just had "turtle boys" and "fearsome fighting team." you get the point...they're not really bros in the old one. they were more like a team of teens that played and worked together under the guidance of splinter. i didn't see splinter too much as their father, more like a close mentor.

Thank you Jester....I forgot that reference until you mentioned it.

Right. Splinter did say "my sons," but I don't think the Turtles ever said anything about him being their father.

Exactly. Splinter made all the (2) references to family...3 if you again count the one directed at the unconcious April.

It was probably to avoid confusing the audience. Lets remember the reason they had letters on their belts was so they could be told apart. Despite having diffrent colors wrapped around their heads.

Yeah, and even then sometimes the animators couldn't tell them apart...:P

The ninja art of deception.

I cringe when Splinter would call them his friends.

Thanks goodness for the new show, movies, comics; they're a family and like Splinter said in the movie, they are a team.
At least Fast Forward kept the family feeling. OMG I said something positive about FF! *faints*

Hm, good point, Spawn Guy ... I just don't see how the kids would be confused by them being brothers! Oh well. It just seemed to be strange to me, that the show would really avoid that term when the early writers knew that the TMNT were brothers in other versions.

Well, I was confused when I first found out. And the old toon really did nothing that much along the lines of them being a family. It was more of a super hero show.

Heh, maybe I was confused too when I found out. I can't remember. :)

But ... eh ... it makes sense that they are. I mean they look like quadruplets.

well outside of humans and certain mammals...i've gotta admit i have trouble telling most other animals apart. sometimes between male and female.

Actually Splinter did call them "his sons" in quite a few eps, but it was almost all David Wise episodes.

It's interesting that the question is "why didn't they call each other brothers?" instead if "why weren't they brothers?"

I think that many people just assumed that four teenagers raised together would be brothers. I did. It's only in retrospect that it looks funny; I actually never realized that they weren't "a family," per se, until someone pointed it to me.

Well they're still, for all practical purposes, a family, per se or not. A family is about more than just blood relationships.