did the ot ever use the turtles shortened names? raph/leo/don/mike/donny/mikey
 

i cannot recall a single instance in the ot where the tmnt are referred to by the shortened versions of their names:

Raph for Raphael
Leo for Leonardo
Mike or Mikey for Michelangelo
Don or Donny for Donatello

correct me if im wrong but i cant remember this ever happening in the ot. the first movie is the first time their shortened names were used as i can recall but never in the ot...

has anyone ever heard their shortened names used in the ot? if so which turtle(s) and what episode(s) and what scene(s)?

Only once. Don says, "Mikey" in one of the Usagi episodes.

But otherwise no they never used the nicknames.

Yep. The nickname thing wasn't really a thing back in the OT. Neither was the brotherhood thing or treating Splinter like their father.

The Turtles do refer to each other as brothers every so often though, and Splinter does say, "My sons" in a few episodes.

He seemed to refer to them as his sons a lot.

As for a brotherly moment, there's that ep where they thought Mikey had died, I liked how Raph reacted the strongest. It was also the ep where Mikey first encountered Krang.

interesting, i will have to research those episodes. weird that would be the only time out of 193 episodes.

i know the vintage playmates toys often used the nicknames mike, leo, raph, and don. but they never used mikey or donny. adding the "y" at the end makes it sound to kiddy in my opinion.

I just think it seems weird that the 1987 Turtles don't refer to each other by their nicknames.

Well seems the nickname thing didn't become prevalent until the first movie came out. I know I didn't start using the nicknames until I saw the movie.

"Leo" was first used in Mirage Vol.1 #2, with "Mike" & "Raph" being used the following issue, and "Don" not being used for a while after that (don't know the exact issue #, I only 1-5 to hand right now).

Yeah, you're right, but at the actual time, for those of us whose first exposure to the franchise was through the the OT, it wouldn't surprise me if many didn't think about the nicknames until the first movie came around. I was pushing 9 when that came out.

wow i never realized that... going through a list of quotes in my head and the ones with nicknames used is always a movie quote... interesting...

One of the early episodes, I remember Raphael saying, "Show them some moves, Donatello"

It would have come out better if he had said, "Show them some moves, Donny"

Name placements in the OT wasn't very good, but I'm just stating my opinion.

April called Donatello "Donny" in a Red Sky episode.

I would have been happy if "Donny" and "Mikey" had never happened... I prefer the more dignified "Don" and "Mike."

Does anyone know why, definitively, that the family aspect of the Turtles and Splinter was downplayed in the OT?

"Is that how you refer to me? What is next, Rat-face dude guy?"

Because at the time it was only the second TMNT universe? Remember the movie didn't come out till Season 4, and the first movie was heavily based on Mirage so of course it would be about the family aspect.

A lot of you are forgetting the OT was only the second TMNT universe at the time. There wasn't anything to compare it to other than the Mirage comics.

I seem to remember him saying that frequently. Or somehow I just have all the VHSs where he does.

Well, since all it could be based on was Mirage, where they were a family, that's why I was confused, you see. I mean they were babies together and then lived together as teenagers under one roof and were raised by Splinter... why wouldn't they be a family?

Rarely, but they sometimes did. Carter did call Donatello "Donnie T." in one episode though.

I think the OT Turtles and Splinter did have a familial relationship, but it was very understated because :

1. It was a goofy show, and emotional intensity is one of the best ways to explicitly define a relationship in fiction. If everything's casual, there's less of a need to bring up the powerful family bonds.

2. The FW Turtles sprouted up into "teens" right away when they mutated, and though you never stop loving your kids, the lack of real "Turtle Tots" stories (except for the de-aging episodes) took away the opportunity for a lot of explicitly parental stuff from Splinter that could exist independent of mentoring in ninja junk. When Splinter and the Turtles are closer to being peers in age/size, it's easier to see any closeness as mentor/student rather than father/son, than if it was Splinter with kiddie Turtles.

If the familial relationship isn't explicitly defined, it's valid to say it's not there (as Turtles Forever all but did), but there's still a lot of stuff in the old show that points towards a familial relationship in the OT, if you choose to interpret it that way.

Basically, I think like, it'd be better if they called each other father/son/brother outright, but the OT still has a familial sense to the heroes anyway. At worst, it's a running metaphor at least as strong that of as Shredder and Krang as an old married couple.

I remember Michaelangelo giving them nicknames like "The Leo-meister" and "The Donster".