Would the turtles still be as popular if they were females?
 

I was playing a game in the car with another turtle fan and we were speculating what other animals could have pulled off the turtles as successfully.

We know about frogs since they had an episode or two in there, but I don't think they would be as cool as TMNT. But what if they were female turtles who were more interested in clothes and makeup? Would that still be as popular? What about two boy and two girl turtles? That would have made the situation different in a lot of ways.

What about rabbits? What if they weren't ninjas? There are only so many animals that would be as cool as turtles. Alligators maybe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Gators. Armadillos? They have plated armor. There are a lot of possibilities, but the turtles just fit. It's like it was fate all along.

They could work as females, but they'd be a bit bigger, since female Turtles are often bigger then males. They could still still be as popular- but the major problem is that all too often whenever shows write females they are a bit stereotypical or they really sex them up. If those traps were avoided though, you could actually have 'serious' fun female Turtles.

P.S, I did see gender-swapped Turtles, Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop on Deviant Art. There were a few duds, but there a few artists that really made fem!Shredder and the fem!Turtles look quite badass. Same with fem!Bebop and fem!Rocksteady, the concept can actually be made to work.

They would basically be anime magical girl stereotypes:

Leonardo = Sailor Moon

Raphael = Rogue (X-men) or Misty (Pokemon)

Donatello = Every nerdy female character out there

Michelangelo = the typical fun kawaii desu anime moe girl that anime fans have posters on their walls of.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pu...k_fail_143.png

Not that there's anything wrong with those topics if that's your thing, but given that would probably automatically be marketer/writer's thinking because they think girls exist in only a very small box of interests... Why not they're girls with, I dunno, a personality like Karai? Instead of being like April on prom night.

Stick with stereotypes and they'd never had made it very far, being a mutant Turtle can only carry it so far.

Why do that when the Internet has already provided as to how that would look?:P

Considering no one had the balls to create a cartoon starring four female ninjas, let alone four female ninja turtles, there's no way popularity would've skyrocketed.

It was the 90's, cartoons were still almost entirely "for boys." One main female character per series, be it April O'Neil or Jessie Bannon.

I think this all depends on when we're talking about.

In the 80s the show probably would have looked a whole lot more like Jem and the Holograms, and probably wouldn't have skyrocketed no matter how clever or well written it was...because things that cater to girls aren't worth as much as things catered to boys.

If you're talking about now, the style would probably be more Lauren Faust in design, and if it were clever and well made...then it'd be popular, mostly because little boys would be trying to steal it and make it their own. Because things that cater to girls aren't worth as much as things that cater to boys.

What I think is fantastic is that thanks to Sophie Campbell...we have both! A fan-made female-centric turtles that has the aesthetic of Jem and the Holograms. And that's pretty damn fantastic.

Well Sailor Moon worked and it's form the 90s, so I don't see why the Ninja Turtles could have not. I see your point and SM might be the exception that proves the rule, but I could see 4 female Turtles working with some reworking and different writting into it. But we'll never know how it'd have turned out anyway, so it's kinda pointless to discuss this possible scenario.

I think the unspoken assumption here is that the cartoon in question be made in the States. I'd imagine there's less of a financial risk involved in obtaining the rights for an already made show and then dubbing it into English for an American audience as opposed to creating a show from scratch.

The unspoken assumption is that the original creators are still Eastman and Laird, which means more than likely, yeah, US-produced.

Sailor Moon was a success everywhere. Not just in Japan and the USA. If a japanese show starring girls can be a hit worldwide, why couldn't an american one be? And japanese society is thought as being less "progressive" when it comes to gender equality than most western ones are. So I dont' see how, with the right tools and strategy, an american show starring a bunch of female heroes couldn't have worked out fairly well in the 90s. I mean, the Power Puff Girls are from the 90s, too. Okay, they weren't as successful as the Fred Wolf series was, but it's not like they were a blip in the radar. And it's been remade once(an anime) and is gonna be remade again.

Now that I think about it, four girl foxes like Alopex could have a shot. If they were similar to the guys in personality and they all were ninja's or at least talented at fighting, but looked like Alopex, it might have a shot.

I think so many people dislike the idea of female turtles having breasts in their plastrons like Venus did. But would you really want them to be flat chested with nothing to show they are female but maybe their eyes or mouths?

Short answer...yes Adding breast or hair is trying too hard in my book.

"Shell boobs" don't bother me. After all, mutagen causes animals to take on anthropomorphic humanoid features. Humans have, we've all noticed, mammaries.

With all the "Radioactive Kung Fu Hamsters" and "Martial Arts Kangaroos" and other parodies that came out after TMNT, I'm very surprised no one did a gender-swapped parody.

I was always under the impression of humanoid but not so much human characteristics? But then again how do you explain their diet?

What's there to explain about their diet?

Red Ear sliders normally eat plants fish and decaying items found native to their habitat. Splinter would be fine as he is scavenger, so from worms, fish and various plants to Pizza, nachos and Ice cream? I start to raise a brow.:lol:

Again, mutation. You can handwave a lot by referring it back to their mutation. :tlol:

Besides, nobody wants to see the Turtles eating worms and algae. And also, how are pizza chains supposed to cash in on corporate mascots without TMNT?!

And this my friend is why I'm not in Marketing I would run us into the ground for being to logical. The more useless crap you up sale the more they will buy:P

Yes.
In fact...I'd prefer it more if there were no "othering" tells to speak of at all.