How did Mona Lisa become so popular?
 

This just something I've been wondering for awhile. So, Mona Lisa. One of the many mutant characters that appeared in the OT. Well known by most fans for being a love interest for Raphael in "Raphael Meets His Match". Yet only appeared in one episode, and was never heard from again. Fast forward years later, and she's a popular character in fan art. I never really understood why, but it looked like something about her struck a cord in fans, and now she has her own fanbase. In fact rumors been flying that she might actually make an appearance in the 2012 (I'm taking this with a grain of salt, but I talked to someone online who claims she has an uncle who works at Nickelodeon who said she would appear in season 2. Even supposedly gave a description of what she looks like.)

What I'd like to ask our fellow fans who've been with TMNT for years and grew up alongside the OT, what is about Mona Lisa that struck a cord with fans? What was so special about her that she is still remembered to this day?

Dem reptile boobs.

She was one of the best one-shot characters form the old show.

And of course there's also the furry community...

Well to be straight...she was the closest thing to a love interest until that fox lady showed up.

Furries. Or is it scalies? We could just settle on mentally challenged geeks, maybe.

Because she is cool.... that's all I got...

she got an action figure too.

http://www.toyarchive.com/STAForSale...LisaMOSC1a.jpg

That too...(I need to find that figure...)

Probably because she was one of the Turtles first love interests, at least as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong. Shippers will jump all over anything that even slightly resembles flirting with another character. Not to mention the furry community and all that.

I remember as a kid thinking it was neat to have a character like that, as one of the Turtles having a possible girlfriend hadn't really been explored and Raphael seemed like the least likely one to be in that scenario. It was interesting to me and I remember thinking for some reason she was a character that would be brought back in future episodes, and it seemed puzzling that they didn't do that. So I remember thinking she was an intriguing character with potential that wasn't really fully explored.

She was cute, I never saw her as sexy though, When you had April O'Neil, you could not ask for anything else. lol.

I like Mona Lisa, a shame she appear once, but she was fun, likeable, written in the show smartly, and was a great partner to a certain turtle that dress in Red, :D.

I understood why she caught on, even though she only appear once.

I think it has more than a bit to do with the fact that, in a series with almost uniformly woeful depictions of female characters, Mona Lisa stands out as being uniquely well-constructed, in relative terms. She has agency, she's likeable enough, and the romance aspect of the episode doesn't overwrite her entire personality. The fact that she only appears once helps: not only does it mean that her fans are left wanting more, she doesn't get the opportunity to be treated with the inconsistency that more prominent characters were handled with.

Did anyone mention this yet? She was the first female mutant in the entire series. Sure we saw April briefly mutate into a cat in Season 2, but that was just a one-off thing.

Mona Lisa was the very first female mutant in the franchise.

I don't want to be cynical about Mona Lisa or her fanbase, because I like her.

I know some like to bemoan the way that female mutants supposedly bring all the creeps out to play, or bring girl cooties into storylines, but c'mon...don't blame the material for what fans do. And there are plenty of reasons why fans would like Mona Lisa besides "Tiiiittttts".

Firstly, yes, while fandom creates its own characters, some love that sense of legitimacy that comes from pairing up two characters who are official. As toned-down as it was, Raphael and Mona Lisa hand a thing going on, so for some, it's nice to experience a romance between two canon characters and to consider it further that the series actually did.

Second, she's the only female mutant, and, much as we hate to say it, a more active female character than the regulars. That makes her cool.

Third, ML has dialogue that indicates she knows who the Turtles are and is excited to be working with one of them. Which can make us older fans cringe, but for young girls watching, the idea of someone reflecting their desire to hang with the Turtles might have further drawn them to Mona Lisa.

Like the title of the episode says, "Raphael Meets His Match", I think it was because it was a great comedic twist to have someone outwit Raphael when it came to sarcasm, and since she was female it gave a flirtatious edge to the relationship as well.

And as others have mentioned, she was the first mutant female on the show.

I just noticed. The action figure looks like she's wearing a yellow swimsuit. Was that the intention and the show just decided to make her front yellow like they do when they redesign everyone?

And yes I think the main draw was she was the first ever female mutant. We have do few of them and its only natural to have more. Or are guys the only ones dumb enough to fall into an unlucky mutagen accident? I do wonder how long it will take before nick throws in a female.

It's funny, because as a kid I never thought of her as a love interest (even now I don't see it in the episode itself, though it's more obvious that it could lead to her being such). I liked her because she was a fun character. But she stood out for several reasons.

First off, as others pointed out, she was a female mutant, and those weren't (aren't) exactly great in number. On top of that she was actually kind of an interesting female, or at least as interesting as a one off character could get, anyway.

Secondly, for me, anyway, it's because of the episode she's in. As a Raph fan, I was always disappointed because I really disliked most of the episodes that focused around him - except the one with Mona Lisa. Raphael Meets His Match stood out because it was a Raph-centric episode that I genuinely liked, and therefore I remembered Mona Lisa better. Somehow throw her into Raphael Knocks'em Dead, and I probably wouldn't remember her as fondly because of my dislike for the episode.

And thirdly, again, as others have said, she didn't overstay her welcome. We didn't see her so much we got tired or annoyed with her, but she was fun enough in her one episode that she was memorable.

All this coming from a straight chick who generally doesn't much notice the female characters.

So far Mona Lisa has only appeared in one episode and had an action figure. But she never appeared in the comics. I would like to see that character brought back, but in the Nick TMNT series, Maybe IDW can bring in that character, The only problem that comic already has a female mutant.

I kinda don't see the problem there. That's like saying we can't add leatherhead since we already have 7 male mutants. I think if anyone is daring enough to break this strange taboo of 'thou shall not have more than 1 female mutant per tmnt series' and throw more in, it's IDW.

The only way to end the cries of Tokenism is to add more than one female character.

Mona Lisa was awesome because she was a character. Not just a girl for the sake of having a girl there.