Turtle design - what do you think?
 

Hey

I'm studying for an exam in financial services (woohoo - tax calculations) and need to elleviate boredom. This is the result:

I was thinking about the different turtle designs we have seen over the years on the screen, and about the good things and the bad things of each.

TV

Old toon - Really cuddly and very benign although sometimes the animation was disproportionate. Found itself by series 3. Turtles all looked the same though, which was a shame. Didn't like the Initials on the belts. The weapons were also often disproportionate and tended to vary in size, especially Leo's swords and Raph's sai.

Red Sky - big improvement. Loved the more precise appearance and especially thier eyes. The proportions of weapons were more consistent. Liked the way that Raphael was less goofy looking (didn't smile as much as the others anymore).

Next mutation - see comments below re film 3 - same applies.

New Toon - really great animation, but I'm personally not so keen on the more bulky shaped turtles. Also, whilst their eyes not having pupils works really well for the comics and still shots, I feel it puts the characters at a disadvantage in animation as you can't see any expression in their eyes (although the animators do a really good job of getting around this by adapting the shape and movement of their eyes.

Fast Forward - animation seems more simplistic and their faces more angular. Don't really like it. Also, Raph appears to have grown which seems odd.

Films

Film 1/2 (I know they are different, but the same comments apply to both) - amazing puppetry - eyes are amazing. Like the way each turtle looks different to each other - like that Raph has scars on his face and shell. Leo is my favourite design - very natural. Mike is very sweet looking. Don and Raph had odd shaped faces to me. Love the long bandanas.

Film 3 - Oh dear, look like frogs.... with squishy shells.... look like the suits are made of chunky spandex...ugh.

TMNT 2007 - Love it - I love how each turtle looks different without being so extremely so like in film 1. I love how their sizes vary (it's quite funny that Raph is the shortest, like those little tough guys with attitude). love the belts and bandanas.

My Conclusion:
1. TMNT 2007
2. Red Sky
3. Old toon
4. New toon
5. Film 1/2
6. Fast forward
......
......
......
100=. Film 3
100=. Next mutation

Would love to know all of your opinions on this matter. Anything to distract me from my studying.

Raph was the shortest in TMNT 2007? That's really cute.

Raph was wider due to his being more muscular but i'm 99.9% sure Mikey was the shortest

I thought Raph was shorter, but based that on a picture. So I could very well be wrong. He was definitely shorter than Leo and Don though.

It makes more sense that mike is the shortest.

What picture?

To me, it looked like Leo was the tallest, but Raph and Don were the same height with Mikey being the shortest.

I'll look through the pics and try and find it - I'm probably wrong but will look right away.

OK I found it. To my eyes, Raph is definitely the shortest although my judgement of the perspective may be a little off - now.... how on earth do you post a picture?

Raph's the tallest and most built. Leo's 2nd. Then Donnie and Mike who are the least built cos their focus is elsewhere on tinkering & science and goofing off, respectively.

Well, still, they're all really not that far off from one another in build, barely noticed any difference when I watched it, and based on how well they all fought against the Foot and the Generals, they all must've kept in pretty darn good shape that year.

IS it those 162 images? If it is, tell me the image number.

Also, if you want to get an image up, start a photobucket or image shack account, upload the image from your computer, and then you can copy and paste a link on the Technodrome.

Oh, because those pics are big, you may have to use your paint programs to minimize the size first. 600 x whatever dimension would be an appropriate size.

Triple xxx, you can definitely see the size of Raph compared to the other Turtles. His shoulders, his neck muscles, are all far more developed than the other three. But I dissagree with Buslady on Raph being the tallest. Leo appeared to tower over the other three considereably.

No it's not. Damn it. I don't have 'photobucket' account - never heard of it.

Erm.... what do I do? I'll try attaching.

yes, he is definitely the most muscular, but I disagree with Buslady with regards to him being tallest in the 2007 film - I know that he is the tallest in other films, but not in this one.

Yay! There it is. He looks smaller than Mike to me. Only just, though.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...2600pixels.jpg

Photobucket is an image hosting company. I am lucky I have the 162 images saved on my computer thanks to roseangelo, to upload them to my account.

My scanner, however, something is up with my computer where my scanner seems to not be able to read by the computer. My printer works, but when I scan an image, only half of it is shown, the other half is all black.

But in this particular phote, it makes Raph look taller than Leo. But it's hard to tell, because the Turtles are slouching or in a crouched position, or they are not standing together, but in different places.

Your photo in particular jenna has Raph standing a bit behind the other Turtles (you can see by the placement of the feet). People standing in the back ground tend to look smaller than the ones in the foreground, just like you see in my signature image.

I really liked the first season animation. It was by far my favorite (excluding red sky). I prefered the curved black line down the middle of the nose they had in a few of those eps.

As the series went on, the turtles noses got way to big, and round. I thought 2k3 was an improvement that showed their noses more compact.

Agreed and I think most people agree red sky animation was much improved.

The creators were probably trying to create a darker show that was more related to the comics than the OT. Everyone has the own opinion but I think the all white eyes look bad@$$.

... yeah it looks a lot cheaper but there are some good eps. Animation is sub par and their heads had too many sharp angles.

I like how if you took off each turtles bandana and belt you can still tell which one he is. The costumes were quite individualized.

I like the movie 1 heads more than movie two heads but Secret of the ooze had much improved costumes. The plastron looked more realistic. Don and Leo's belts were around their waist and not their chest. We got better animatronics and facial expressions as well. I just wish they would have used the same head structure for movie 2. Each turtle looked different than the first movie. Especially Don. They completely overhauled Donatello. :roll:

yikes! I hated movie three costumes. It's like they didn't even try. Good thing they all had different color bandanas or I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. Their facial structure was exactly the same. They had no idividuality!:x

I love when their individuality is expressed. The OT drew each turle the exact same. :dead: yuck! They are all quite different and I'm all for anything that shows that.
If they took off their bandanas, you would be able to pick them out easily. I love that!

okay whatever...there's proof up there, Leo and Raph are next to each other in that pic when he gives leo those sword. Raph's taller. He's taller in TMNT1 as well.

when the dvd comes out watch that scene. When he says the words "You're going to need these if you're gonna lead us out of here," they are both standing straight (not like in the picture where Leo is bent over) and Leo is definitely taller.

I know that the pic I attached has Raph a bit behind, but to me he still looks smaller.

And I already said I knew that Raph is taller in the other films and noticeably so in fast forward.

I certainly didn't want to start an argument on this thread about height! My perception is that Raph is shorter, and I still think so. Other people mentioned it too on the "It's the little things" thread. But that doesn't mean that I'm right and I'm not going to get defensive and have an argument about it.

Although i do think Leo is def taller :P

BINGO! WE HAVE A WINNAR!!!! :D

Loving you dude!

Heh, I love that pic. It just screams "FAMILY!"

Raph is definitely not as tall as Leo. He is more built. But he's shorter. I think maybe he and Mikey are the shorter ones. That makes sense to me.

Compared to the comics honestly all those styles are ass.

I guess the 4th season of 2K3 gets my vote then on style then. I was never a fan of TMNT with pupils.