If the Turtles all had to change rolls for a day...
 

Who do you think would replace each one the best?

Like, who do you think would make the best leader after Leonardo, best machine guy after Donatello, etc. Without giving 1 Turtle multiple roles, the whole team has to switch roles.

I don't think they really have "roles."

Leo - Don
Raph- Mike

That's how I see it at least. Donny often saved the day & had great solutions, like a leader. Raph was always wisecrackin', & since mikey is a jokester too, they'd easily trade places. As for Leo, he's very bright and intuitive, I'm sure he could figure out some tech.

I dunno man, I still feel Mike's holding out on showing his smarts. He prefers to play, but I could see him getting into something HE liked and tinkering around like Don. And of course everyone know Raph and Leo could switch it up. :)

I'd agree with Powder, at least on the Leo - Don bit. Leo is smart enough to get into heavy tech, he would just have to put his mind to it really. It's just not his passion like it is Don's. Likewise, I'd wager Donny could be (and has shown himself to be) a great leader and he could rise to Leo's level in martial arts if he wanted to. What it comes down to is that they just want different things and their personalities just aren't wired that way - but since this is a "what if" type of thread, it's okay to speculate.

I'm not sure really where that would leave Mikey & Raph, though. I do not see Mike "switching" roles with Raph, simply for the fact that although they both have gigantic hearts in the emotional sense, Michelangelo far surpasses Raphael in both patience and mutability.

I'm not sure OT Raphael could switch with Michaelangelo. It would annoy him having to be so cheerful all the time, lol.

And just because you're smart like Leonardo doesn't mean you'll have any sort of technical skills.

It's like how some people are good with words and others are good at math. And very bad at whatever their opposite is, lol.

Interesting debate though! :)

I can imagine Raph sighing as he's forced to talk like a surfer.... and Mike struggling to come up with clever wisecracks/putdowns.

I find it funny how all 4 turtles has been seen skateboarding, yet in Rennasance Turtle, Leo suddenly couldn't skateboard and said Mike was the expert.

The only Turtle whose "role" couldn't be filled by one of the others stepping up would be Michelangelo, IMHO. I don't think any of the other Turtles are as creative as he is.

Leo's "Leader" role is pretty meaningless (he's Splinter's successor but by the time Splinter dies the Turtles have already fulfilled their purpose of killing Saki and the they basically break up by then) so any of the others could step in as that.

Donatello's tech-savvyness is pretty overstated and mostly just by fans all too eager to pigeonhole each Turtle into cute little "slots": Leo the Leadery One, Raph the Angry One, Don the Computery One, Mikey the Jokery one... if you really subscribe to that then it all begins to feel a little bit like some kind of New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys/N*Sync. You know, where the little girls each get to crush on the one of them that suits their mood or whatever -- it's best to treat the Turtles as whole, well-rounded multi-dimensional characters whose moods and emotions are allowed to go beyond what the back of their action figure cardboard said, I say.

And it wasn't like Don took a couple of years off of ninja training to go to ITT Technical Institute or anything... the other Turtles could probably just read the same books he did and apply themselves similarly if need be to fix the water heater or fix April's car or whatever.

Pickles & ice cream
Pepperoni & licorice
Peanut butter & caramel fudge
Whipped cream & peppers

They exchanged pastries?

It's called "The Convenient Plot Device Syndrome." ;)

To me, at least regarding the OT, Donatello didn't need to go to a Technical school. He's clearly a child prodigy. Now whether it's because of the mutagen or because he was already a special little turtle before that happened to him, we'll never know, lol. :tgrin:

Donatello is naturally gifted in the tech field - I would wager that the other Turtles (with perhaps the exception of Leonardo after careful study) couldn't do as good a job/better job than him on repairing, etc. It's just Don's thing. It's not his only thing by any means, of course.

That being said, I do agree to an extent with what Andrew is saying about the other Turtles being (hypothetically) somewhat decent at repairs if they took the time to read a book or something of the sort - like I stated in my first post I do think the other Turtles could learn a lot of the stuff Donny knows, if they took the time and energy to do it.

I also agree that the Turtles shouldn't be pidgeon-holed into the typical OT roles. They all have many different facets in their personalities. In the comics they're much more fleshed out, very well rounded characters.

Andrew, I'm guessing by "creative" you mean artistic? As in the field of writing, art, word craft, etc? In this I would agree that Michelangelo is top dog but surely Donatello is the most creative in a different realm of passions, especially when we're talking higher technology.

Right.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what would be some examples of Donatello showing a high degree of creativity via his passions?

Well repairing is one thing. Inventing and brainstorming ideas is quite another and I don't think that's something the other turtles could just learn by reading more.

Like what?

Maybe I'm mistaken, but didn't the title of the thread say the 1987 turtles? 'Cause I sure as hell was talking about the OT...

Not that I saw. And I sure wasn't talking about the "OT" Turtles.

Well, it depends on what medium you are talking about. I doubt I need to give examples if we are talking the OT or the 2k3 show as Don clearly developed many different/bizarre inventions. If you are talking about the comics, I can cite at least one example from the top of my head: Donny built his normal sized turtle robot body after being shrunk. Albeit it was rather necessary, it was still a creative approach. I don't think you'd specifically count this since it goes outside of Mirage canon, but in the "TMNT" Donatello Prequel he invents a software that can track other strange/abnormal non-humans (which leads him to one of the 13 monsters).

I would agree that the other Turtles simply do not organically have what Donatello has in the realm of technology. They do not think the same way as he, therefore they would not be able to produce or think as he does concerning higher technology. I was talking about repairing random household gadgets, etc. which Donatello does the bulk of throughout Volume 1 & 4 (V1 #11, V4 #3, etc.)

I think we are all talking about different mediums of the Turtles. Herein lies the confusion. Andrew's probably talking comics, others perhaps the OT.

Well.. the others might learn how to fix the TV if they read up on it... but that doesn't mean they'd be able to create all the devices and vehicles Donatello always did.