Which Type of Turtles Story Do You Prefer?
 

Do you prefer the street level stories where the TMNT fight the Foot etc. or do you prefer the more fantastical alt. dimension / space stories with Triceratons, Neutrinos, Krang etc. or what about the introspective stories where each turtle is usually just at the sewers/hideout and meditates or gets told a story by Splinter etc. etc.

I personally think a serious and gritty blend of all of these is best.

The last one is closest to my favorites. Tales that deal with introspection, the meaning of life, insecurities, spiritualism, the soul, astral planes/meditation, depression, isolation, all of the dark & emotional stuff that comes from within. Essentially only seen in the Mirage books.

Never really been a fan of the outer space stuff, not at all. Fugitoid is one of my all time favorite characters, but that's more to do with his design & personality than anything else.

Street stuff is always good, kick-butt ninja & kung-fu action is great. Anything with the Foot Clan is great, especially the Foot Elite.

Gimme the goofy stuff, all day err day. I can agree the space stuff is lame, though.

I prefer bloody fighting turtles that kids should never watch.

I like heavy emotional and/or mental conflict. I like watching four very different but very close brothers bouncing off one another. Watching them interact and seeing how they work together is what makes TMNT so enjoyable for me, no matter what setting they are put into, as long as the character writing is consistent. I don't like Status Quo is God. I like things to continue onward, I like to follow characters into maturity and further development.

I think the gritty serious approach that I love should be tempered with the right amount of drama and humor. Leo should be introspective and obsessed with training. Raph should be hot headed and concerned about life and brooding all the time. Donatello should be scientific and truth-obsessed and Mikey should be fun loving and very caring, and a little innocent in his thinking.

Out of all the various turtle stories that have been told over the years, I've found myself enjoying the whole "alien invasion" theme the most (mostly the 2k12 toon). I like that there's a silent and careful invasion being set forth by some extradimensional aliens who want our planet for various reasons that would have probably been successful if it weren't for a series of lucky coincidences exposing their plans to the turtles.
If I were to change anything about it though, I would definitely make the kraang seem more menacing and truly alien. Their methods and thought processes would be so different from ours that more often than not they just ignore any attempts at communication and continue carrying out their plans with cold, calculated precision. I mean, they ARE from another plane of existence that operates under an entirely different set of universal constants. Maybe draw inspiration from Ender's Game, where the Kraang have no malice towards us, rather they're just doing what they've always done as a species to survive. That, I think, would open up a lot of possibilities for interesting and unique TMNT stories.

I prefer street-level or introspective/angst stories, but I don't mind the sci fi stuff in small doses. :)

Turtles vs. Shredder and the Foot. Nothing tops those.

I like that there is that mixture with the turtles, but I prefer it when they're in NY, either up on the rooftops or down in the sewers. Any story line that tests their teamwork and explores their relationships as brothers is always a winner with me, despite the location.

For some reason, TMNT are like Batman to me, where they may "fit" better in one genre or another, but are fully plausible just about anywhere. Like, most people profess to prefer the gritty, Frank Miller Batman, but it's pretty hard to deny how awesome and bad-ass he still comes off in some of the bigger, world-breaking stories within the Justice League books where he technically shouldn't "fit". Especially during Grant Morrison's run on JLA in the late-90s, where every month they were time-traveling or fighting Martians or trying to re-light the sun or punching out Darkseid or fighting Angels or some other impossible goddamn thing, and yet, it was almost always Batman who came off looking not out of place, but rather, as the entire reason the JLA even won anything. Some characters are just so damn cool, they can even thrive outside their original niche.

Same with TMNT. I can embrace anything from the "street"-level stories, to metaphysical "why are we here?" navel-gazing, to outer-space romps, to time travel, to the whimsy of the OT. So long as it's not friggin' boring. That's the ONE thing I don't like in TMNT, stuff that drags or doesn't go anywhere. Vol. 4 is my least-favorite version so far, for this reason, whereas I loved the contemporary "Tales..." book, because while the stories were all over the place, at least it was exciting and stuff was always happening. I don't think Vol. 4 was a drag for some people because it got all sci-fi and too far from the "roots" of TMNT, I think it just was plain boring and people didn't like it based on that, more than the fact there were suddenly aliens everywhere.

I kind of think you *have* to have some sort of sci-fi element to the Turtles. Their entire scenario of creation is a sci-fi story, it seems a waste to start from, "nuclear waste turns ordinary animals into super-developed mutants", and then immediately shift gears to, "But now, going forward, this is just a straight and serious story about a family of ninjas who fight other ninjas." It's like how Superman having alien heritage is no accident; you can keep things grounded, but every now and then, you really gotta address the fact that your main characters exist due to some pretty fantastical circumstances. So have fun with it, I say.

I guess I personally prefer the first film over any other specific, self-contained TMNT story, in and of itself, and that was super down-to-Earth, but I could see those characters, those personalities, just as easily having adventures in more fantastical settings without it feeling "wrong". Like, I don't dislike the second and third movies just because they changed the premise and the tone, it's because they did it in a really poor way and mangled what were some not-awful ideas along the way.

I guess I like a mixed bag of TMNT more than any one version. Frankly it wasn't until I first came here that I found out how segregated the fanbase was among TMNT comics fans, cartoon fans, etc. I always just kind of dug it all, I never fully grasped that people had deep preferences for one or the other. I mean, I get it now, but back then it seemed odd.

^THIS! You and I must share a brain, dude. You near perfectly summed up my feelings about TMNT in general. I always felt TMNT was best when it was a blend of things; it can be gritty and dark or lighthearted and whimsical, and still, at its heart, be a TMNT story.

Anything as long as its good.

My favorites are always when the Turtles fight the Shredder and the Foot, but I'm also quite partial to the fantasy/Sci-fi elements as well.

I'm gonna' agree with Leo656 here (big surprise, no?) in my preference. Never read the Mirage books, but of all the TMNT stories/media I HAVE seen, I loved action, introspection, aliens, time-travel, and everything in between equally. As long as it was interesting or exciting.

All of it pretty much, do everything. Be introspective, fight aliens, give the Foot a beating, all of it.

The only storyline I would not care for would be one that kills them... Never really read or watched something that did, but from bits I've seen online I've gotten the gist that such storylines exist... Would rather just skip those.

Does Splinter count? Just curious. I generally dislike stories that kill anybody off [with one notable exception] but for some reason I can accept just Splinter.

Hmm, good question. I agree I could be ok with it happening to Splinter (sorry Splinter), particularly if it was largely due to age as it touches on the fact that everyone looses their parent(s) some day. (And I'm not as emotionally invested in Splinter as I am in 'the guys,' so there's that too.)

Yeah, mostly that, though I guess for me it's also because I kind of expect characters I really like to die since in every other fandom my favourite character ALWAYS DIES.

I like all of it, I think. I love the goofy stuff from OT, but I also dig the more serious stories, that would never fit in that universe. But I certainly wouldn't prefer a version of the turtles that ignores the scifi elements. The characters can work in so many genres, I'm just glad that many versions of TMNT exist.

I think both Nickelodeon and IDW, as different as they are, are both fantastic, and I wouldn't want to do without either. I'm sure one of them is my favorite take on the turtles, but I don't know which I like best.

Mirage is probably my least favorite. I read through the Return to New York, and I lost interest. But the 30th Anniversary comic does have me curious about Image...