nicknamed splinter for "obvious reasons"?
 

in the series premier episode "turtles tracks", while splinter tells the origin story for april, he says "my 4 young wards nicknamed me splinter, for obvious reasons". what exactly does he mean by this? what are the obvious reasons?

in that scene it just shows him chopping some wood boards with his hands and teeth. does that suggest that he gets splinters when he does that and thats why hes named splinter? its not like it shows him doing that a whole lot throughout the series, so it seems a bit strange they would nickname him splinter just cause of that one scene. are there anymore "obvious reasons" why he was nicknamed splinter?

To be honest, I never got this, either. Though, I wasn't exactly alive for the 80s, so maybe it's just another one of the show's pop culture references that I didn't get.

It was due to his proficiency at breaking wooden boards, as shown in the flash back of that scene where he explains his origin.

Since April can't "see" his flashback, it would not be in any way "obvious" to her. Nor to anyone else who wasn't being explicitly shown the flashback.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

It's true though! Even as a kid, in my head April's just sitting there, waiting to be told what the "obvious" reasons are for Splinter's nickname, because he didn't explain it at all.

"These kids are named after artists. I'm Splinter."
"Okay, why?"
"It's obvious."
"............."

It doesn't help that his nickname has been explained in various media in several different ways, including "because of his walking stick", and that they're all kind of stupid reasons. Only the "real" explanation - It's a riff on "Stick" from Daredevil - makes any sense, but nothing really does in context of the story. Sadly, much of TMNT suffers from the fact that Kev and Pete had nothing planned past issue 1, and all those silly inside jokes they built it on were somehow then expected to hold up an entire universe.

They probably just called him that because Playmates demanded it.:lol:

Nah but seriously, sometimes an adaptation can come up with forced ways to keep important things like they were in the source material when they strayed a little too far from it. Go read some superhero comics and then watch some of their cartoon and movie adaptations, pay attention to the things they kept and how they kept it, you'd be surprised at how forced some similarites can be.

For as many times as the show would break the 4th wall, it wouldn't surprise me if she had some vague idea of what was going on.

:tlol:

Absolutely. Which is why it's tonally and thematically inconsistent and its appeal is so varied and at times divisive. The marvellous thing though is that despite creating what could be deemed a p!ss-take rip-off with no clear long-term direction, which could have easily disappeared into instant anonymity, they created something really special that has appealed to such a wide and passionate audience.

I have never thought about this before. You're right, it's not obvious at all. In the internal logic of the OT, why did he need a new name anyway. I guess, "for obvious reasons" translates to "for the sake of convenience"

Probably because he was actually a wooden board covered in fur.

Yeaaah, very good point. :lol:

Next time I see a thread on any forum asking about user screen names and what it means, I'm just going to use that, "for obvious reasons." :tlol:

Hahaha. I'm going to use it to explain everything I do. "I didn't fill out my time-sheet, for obvious reasons."

:lol: :tlol: Oh that could have SO many applications, why isn't it a meme already? :D Reminds me a little of that old "I accidentally..." meme.


"I accidentally the Turtles for obvious reasons." rofl

That... doesn't make any sense. Even as a joke.

After Season 7, the sky turned red. For obvious reasons.

:3

I laughed at that.

I always just assumed the "obvious reasons" were that rats can chew through almost anything. Yes, including wood. But unless he explained that, you're right- it really AIN'T obvious.

i like the idea of using "for obvious reasons" as the universal answer to everything :lol:

The flashback is a product off 'show don't tell', so personally I saw it as Splinter telling April the visuals we as the audience saw.