Do you like the idea of the Turtles as crime fighters?
 

Do you like the idea of the Turtles as crime fighting Vigilantes?

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It doesn't need to be one or the other. But the idea of the Turtles as crime fighters is totally stupid. Why would they fight to protect a population they're not a part of whatsoever? Because they're "honorable ninja"? pfffft!

Yep, I do

Politicians and cops are practically useless when it comes to keeping big cities safe. Vigilantes like Batman get the job done.

Also, I remember that issue, though Cha Ocho didn’t show much gratitude toward Leo for saving his mom and even became the turtle’s bitter rival years later

It's one thing if they're going down a street and just happen to see someone getting robbed or raped or something... of course they'd probably intervene. Probably. But actively patrolling streets to keep the humans safe and protected? Totally laughable! Why on earth would they do that? Maybe Raph going to beat heads in with Casey to blow off steam might count, but that's not exactly coming from a place of altruism.

I agree. The only one actually patrolling the streets is Raph, and even though it's to 'fight crime', it's mostly an excuse to kick some ass and to do to lowlives that deserve it.

I like to think of it as them keeping busy, not so much a primary concern of their. As in, it's something they do when they don't have more pressing matters to take take care of, like teaming up with a magic aardvark to get back to their own timeline, investigating the origin of their ooze canister or participating in a tournament.

I don't see it, even then. It'd make about as much sense as North Koreans breaking into South Korea, helping out the community down there by picking up a lot of trash, then breaking back into North Korea afterward. There is no good motivation to do that.

Plus, every encounter with criminals that ends without the Turtles murdering the criminals means they're increasing their odds of getting exposed to the world. They wouldn't want to do that. They'd want to absolutely minimize their chances of that. Rooting out pickpockets and muggers isn't going to help. More sooner than later people are going to figure out about the Turtle Men of the Sewer and they'd surely be found.

Even in Mirage you can tell Splinter raised the Turtles to "do the right thing." Even in the Mirage issues outside the Foot stuff, in Tales, or the other issues, the Turtles don't actively go seeking trouble but they will always help out those in need. Are they going to go look for bank robbers or stuff like that? No, but if they see trouble while jumping over the rooftops they'll actively protect someone.

In some ways it makes more sense that this is the brothers day-to-day public activity. As opposed to a daily war against a ninja army running around the city that continues to happen without the local and federal governments getting involved and squashing it immediately.

The only time I recall the Turtels actively seeking up non-Shredder related trouble was the Cufflink Caper episode.

Remember IDW Bebop and Rocksteady always caused a lot of trouble when Karai wasn't there, they also killed a lot of EPF soldiers, maybe even cops or just innocent people. Normally, this situation has already caused the mass panic, and mutants are no longer an urban legend. For the Foots, this will only cause them a lot of unnecessary trouble. But you know what? Even Old Hob's mutant bomb attack didn't cause international panic.

Believe many of us fans here from the olden days are used enough to the idea of turtles being crime fighters. Does every story have to be about them pursuing trouble to stop? No, trouble may come looking for them often enough, but in the end, them being crime fighters gives more stories to be told. They don't need to necessarily always patrol the city themselves to do it; they have contacts in the human world, such as April, to keep an eye on the surface for them. Plus, there's percentages of the population that fear them, and percentages that admire/idolize them, and criminals trying to finger them will either be dismissed as crazy, ignored for their lack of credibility, or disregarded because no one's going to make a fuss about criminals being brought down.

I always liked the idea that Splinter was basically siccing them on violent street gangs for live practice. They’re tough and will fight back, but they’re the dregs of society so no one will really miss them. Plus when the cops show up and find a bunch of dead bodies that have been stabbed or killed with blunt force trauma, it looks like another gang did it.

Just always made a lot of sense to me. You can only get so good at combat by sparring with your brothers. Eventually you need the real thing, especially when your main objective is taking on a small army of ninjas and Shredder.

I wouldn't be surprised If they loot money from street thugs corpses. If Splinter is Hamato Yoshi and he's also a former Foot ninja, maybe he know there's some shadow economy in NYC. Donnie may also ''recycle'' some high-tech materials and devices from someone else's lab. During their adventures, they may take away the treasures of ancient ruins or ancient castles.
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I wouldn't be against them doing that but I think there's absolutely zero evidence to point to that even being something maybe they do.

I just want the Turtles to kick ass in a big way whether if it's against Shredder or against thugs. Besides if it wasn't for fighting Shredder and mutants, what else would the Turtles be doing if not fighting crime? Those ninja skills need to be used for something useful.