Which TMNT iteration had the best lair?
 

Okay, that the Splinter and the Turtles live in a sewer is part of the plot of every single TMNT Iteration but not strictly so, As my list will show.

1. Mirage
Before being destroyed By Baxter Stockman's Mousers. The Turtles lived in a drainage system. This Lair is also the sparsest of all the lairs and the Turtles and Splinter basically lived on top of each other.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tm...20160520043730

2. 1987 FW series
Pretty much like the Mirage comics, the Turtles lived in a drainage system but larger and fully decorated, having sleeping quarters and a full kitchen.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tm...20200706005207

3. 1990 Move
Once again, they live in a Drainage system

4. Secret of the Ooze/ Turtles 3/ Next Mutation
After their first lair was destroyed in the first movie, the Turtles lived with April for a while before settling into an abandoned railway station, where they remained for the subsequent movie and TV series.

5. Archie comics
Follows the 1987 series canon, so the Turtles lived in a Drainage system but worked out a lot more with multi stories as this diagram shows.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tm...20180130134936

6. Image comics
Again, a drainage system.

7. 2003 series
Pretty much like the Mirage series, the Turtles' liar was pretty sparse and cramped before being destroyed by Stockman's Mousers, after which they moved into... You guessed it, a drainage system.

8. 2007 Animated Movie
Seeing as how this movie was meant to be an continuation of the live action movies, the Turtles were still in the Railway station.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tm...20140207042552

9. IDW comics
Once again a drainage system but with separate rooms for each occupant.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tm...20171226035428

10. 2012 series
Very different from all other versions, the Turtles live in an abandoned subway station, complete with a diner, a workshop (Which Donatello remodeled into his lab) ventilation system and subway station entry portals. The Turtles' bedrooms are situated in what used to be storage rooms.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/tm...20130825055215

11. Michael Bay movies
A drainage system but the most tech laden version of all.

12. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
And were once again in a drainage system but this time the Turtles live at the bottom of a huge reservoir, which means that there's a chance of flooding.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/488d1d72...l38o1_1280.png

How am I supposed to pick this, they're all pretty cool. :)

My top ones probably... the '87 lair, TMNT 3 train (subway?) station, the big 2003 lair they moved to in the beginning of the show, 2012, and design wise the PD ones are kind of neat.

Rise had an arcade room.

The first 2003 lair is my favorite. It's very spacious with a nice color scheme, has an elevator to an abandoned warehouse where they keep their vehicles, and the pond in the center with the bridge is a nice touch. The home theater area with all the different shaped TVs stacked together, while strange, is also a highlight.

My next choices would be the 1987 lair and the abandoned railway station from the 90s movies. I shared these another thread, but here are two similar, but different paintings of the 1987 lair. Not gonna lie, it looks pretty cozy. More info here and here.

https://cafans.b-cdn.net/images/Cate...09151gpadd.jpg

https://brownbagfilms.imgix.net/imag...=format&w=1450

That's awesome art.

About those turtle drawings. Mom, Miss September, Uncle Frank, The Twins. Now I have questions. lol And pretty sure that space is typically Leo's room? (You'd think he'd have all those swords, but I think that was generally Raph's space.)

I'm not sure what made you think they only ever lived in a drainage system in the 2003 cartoon, because it isn't really true. The initial lair seen in episode 1 just seems to be part of the sewer system but what it's replaced with right away isn't, instead it's an outpost for that underground city. When that one was destroyed in season 4, they moved into an abandoned pump station.

I like the second IDW lair, the fallout shelter under the church, the best. It just seemed cozy and had a lot of neat amenities. After that, the 87 lair because it was just gorgeous (as gorgeous as a sewer can be, I guess) and had everything anybody could want to live comfortably. Then the Mirage/2003/1990 movie lairs interchangeably.

LOL what a cool thread, man. I don't know that I ever gave this any consideration.

We need schematics!!

Image, but not "a drainage system". They lived in a mausoleum for a while.

I'm not as familiar with the Image book as I'd like to be... but a mausoleum? Sounds kinda cramped... and not very private!

I wish the links in the first post actually worked, would make it easier :P

Mausoleum was more like an outpost/safehouse IIRC. Like the water tower in City at war.

The 2003 series had like 3 different lairs, though I'm guessing for the sake of the poll, the person means the one they lived in from seasons 1 - 3 and half of season 4.

For me I like the lairs that were abandoned subway stations. In my opinion it made more sense compare to a sewer or drainage system. Like with a subway station there would be kitchens, restrooms and places that once fixed up a person can live there.

I'm partial to the Atlantian outpost from the 4Kids series. As for the safehouses,I would have to go with the water tower,thou it didn't last all that long in any incarnation.

As those drawing above show, they each had those bed/bedroom spaces in the 1987 cartoon, the order from left to right being Raphael-Leonardo-Donatello-Michelangelo, before that they had the four-stack bunk bed, until Muchelangelo fell on it in Attack Of The 50-Foot Irma, not sure exactly which part of the lair that was located in.

Yes. I think we need to get rid of the "Turtles must live in the sewers" concept in the future. Just make sure they hang out at abandoned places.