What's your favourite relationship between the Turtles themselves?
 

They're all close to each other since they're brothers, but the dynamic between each of them is different and the relationship between the same two Turtles can be very different in two different versions. For example, in the Fred Wolf series there's no tension whatsoever between Raphael and Leonardo. Completely different from other versions. You only see it briefly in the season 8 episode Turtle Trek.

Personally, I've always felt the relationship between Raphael and Michelangelo was the most interesting one, at least in most of the TMNT material I've seen/read. In Mirage they're best friends, in the FW series there's back and forth banter between both of them and in the 2k3 series they have a fighting siblings type of relationship. I just think that both Raph and Mikey usually end up having the best chemistry and the most memorable moments together. But that's just my impression.

What about you?

Kind of a toss up between Leo and Donnie being most like each other and kind of being each other's right hand guy and understand each other more, and the head butting, competitive dynamic between Leo and Raph that keeps each other on their toes. Those two getting pissy and smug at each other but pulling together and patching it up later just seems like a good old authentic competitive sibling relationship.

It's like you are in my brain...

FW had the best dynamic. If only Rob had a bit more anger behind his sarcastic wit.

I's not only the turtles, even Channel 6 and the Technodrome have great dynamics.

True on both accounts.

I wish Burne got a more Jameson-lite role and could have served a role during the Dregg run at the end too leading the human endorsement because of the twice destruction of Channel Six News. That is a topic for another thread though. FW characters with wider potential.

You forgot the Big Brother and his Little Buddy relationship they had in the 2012. Raph could be a bully at times, but he deeply cares about all his brothers. But he cares for Mikey in particular.

I've only watched like 3 episodes of the Nick show, so I have no idea what happened there.

Well, I really encourage you to check the show out, it's worth it. It's also the most similar to the Frank Wolf cartoon series of any of the series in the franchise.

If there's one episode I urge you to watch to see all of the Turtles interactions with each other in action it should be "Slash and destroy" which is a season two episode. Here it is.


Just watch it, it shows the group dynamic between the four brothers and their Sensei so clearly.

We rarely see Leo and Mikey and Don and Raph paired up. I don't think the dynamic is really there in those scenarios. Leo is more disciplined than Mikey, but Don and Raph are more easygoing. Don tends to think things through more than Raph does, but Leo and Mikey seem more eager to battle.

Thanks but I'm not very interested. I kinda fell out of the Turtles in the last few years and the Bay films traumatised me and made me lose hope for the property.

I can understand that but the 2012 series is everything the Bay movies are NOT. They have NOTHING in common.

The episode I put in there shows the interactions as brothers between the turtles.

For example:

Raph complains about Mikey not respecting his private property and swats him with a magazine as punishment but later in the episode is seen as the big brother who stands by his side no matter what. Look at those pleading eyes of Mikey's when he's worried about Donatello had gone missing and Raph's assuring, "Don't worry, we'll find him." reply.

Or after Donatello's mishap almost blew the lair up, as Raph complains to Splinter about Donnie needing to be held accountable for his actions, we see Donnie's facial expression get so guilty, he feels so bad about it. But later in the episode when Raph and Mikey find him badly wounded by Slash, Raph goes out of his way to tend to Donnie's broken arm, making a satchel and tying it off.

You asked us to name our favorite interactions between the brothers in the series, the 2012 series depicts them as both being Teenagers (Peer pressure, Teen confusion of "What is MY place in this world?" and giving each other a hard time) AND as brothers ("Sorry Slash but my brothers come first, ALWAYS!")

As a fan of the more serious, Mirage influenced TMNT (90s movies, 2003 cartoon), it starts to get more enjoyable in Season 3 when they first meet Renet. That's at the tail end of the season though, which is pretty sad. The first half of Season 4 is outer space episodes, but it's a lot better compared to the horror movie influenced North Hampton episodes in the first half of Season 3, which I remember being a pain to get through. Season 5 is my favorite and the most mature. Renet comes back for a multiparter and there is a multiparter with Usagi too. There are a lot of problems with the 2012 cartoon, but you should at least watch the later episodes before writing off the show completely.

In the 1987 cartoon we see Leo and Mike as the captured half and Raph and Don as the half to the rescue. There is two instances in the 2003 cartoon series which has Mike ask Leo to train him for the Battle Nexus championship rematch. The other is the encounter with Nobody and Touch and Go when they are going out for training excercise.

Don't forget the Season 2 finale in which The Foot and the Kraang succeed in defeating the Turtles, the way they re-created that scene of Leonardo being thrown through the window of April's house is straight out of the Mirage comics.

Orsta belli jinga ho 7 76

But that's what made Rob's interpretation of the character so unique. He wasn't the angry Turtle every other Raphael has been.

Yeah, I forgot about the finale! Gilbert Gottfried as Krang Sub-prime was perfect. I liked how it actually took place in the snow too. I mostly remember Season 2 as consisting of mutant of the week episodes, so it's sometimes hard to remember the more profound moments.

I made a thread/poll years ago asking which Turtles duo you liked best and why. Nowadays my favorite combination is Michelangelo & Leonardo, I think their opposing personalities bring out the best in them. Mikey tries to act more responsible and patient with Leo, while Leo lightens up with Mikey.

In the Mirage comics, I loved Mike & Raph's dynamic. In Archie, Donatello & Raphael, especially because of the Future arc.

Don & Raph in Archie are great, but on a whole I dunno that any particular combo across iterations really strikes me enough to be a favorite.

You are somewhat correct there. Raph had gone to his room to grouse about his brothers. Mikey then shows up and tells Raph he needs to come help in the cleanup, but Raph is like "Hell, no!" But he doesn't say Donnie needs to be accountable for his accident, he says that Donnie should clean it up by himself.

The big difference between this time and the last time Donnie nearly blew up the lair possible reaction.

In "Metal Head" when Donnie makes his broken bo staff into a Rocket Launcher that proceeds to go off in the lair. That wasn't supposed to happen but that would have been something at the very least he would have known to be a possible occurrence. So in that regard, yes Donnie would have had to clean up the results of that situation by himself as part of his punishment.

In Slash and Destroy, Donnie was attempting to make Retromutagen and the chemical he experimenting with had a volatile reaction that he even admitted was unexpected. So, in all honesty, it was just an unfortunate accident. So that's why all the brothers had to assist with the cleanup.

I'm not saying Raph shouldn't have been upset since Spike was nearly killed as a result. Still, he does blow the whole event out of proportion and acts like Donnie deliberately tried to blow up the lair.

Leo even says as much when they finish the cleanup. Donnie says "I feel terrible, It's my fault Raph's mad." And Leo responds by saying
"It's not you, Donnie...well it's partially you. Raph just has to work on his insanely bad temper."