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-   -   Where did the Langenstein as Irma's surname come from? (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=67913)

Prowler 12-17-2025 03:51 PM

Where did the Langenstein as Irma's surname come from?
 
In the Fred Wolf series, the very same series Irma debuted, she's literally only referred to as Irma. April has a surname like she originally did in Mirage and even Vernon and Burne have surnames as well. But Irma was just... Irma. And I never saw her being called Irma Langenstein until a few years ago. I first noticed it in the Shredder's Revenge video game.

I don't know if any of the modern takes on TMNT have given her the surname Langenstein or not. I haven't kept up with the Turtles in ages and the ****ing Bay movies killed my interest in the property. But she sure as hell was not named Langenstein in the FW series. Sounds more like fandom/fanon than canon.

ToTheNines 12-17-2025 04:00 PM

I did a deep dive on this earlier this year, didn’t come up with much. I searched posts here with various possible spellings. I can only assume it came from a fanfic that might even predate this forum.

I also think someone might have edited IMDb to reflect it back when you could do that easily and that helped it stick.

Fanon that became canon.

Prowler 12-17-2025 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTheNines (Post 2019715)
I did a deep dive on this earlier this year, didn’t come up with much. I searched posts here with various possible spellings. I can only assume it came from a fanfic that might even predate this forum.

I also think someone might have edited IMDb to reflect it back when you could do that easily and that helped it stick.

Fanon that became canon.

I believe ssomething similar happened with Pokémon. In many fanfics you see Brock being called Brock Slate and Misty being called Misty Waterflower, even though in the anime, the manga and the video games... they're literally just called Brock and Misty. In fact, it's quite rare for Pokémon characters to have surnames, so I dunno why fanfic writers felt like Misty and Brock needed surnames.

Coola Yagami 12-17-2025 04:19 PM

I think they gave Ash a last name cause he's the main character and I guess 4Kids or whatever felt Ash Ketchum was more marketable than just Ash. I believe in Japan he was just Satoshi. No surname.

Prowler 12-17-2025 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami (Post 2019720)
I think they gave Ash a last name cause he's the main character and I guess 4Kids or whatever felt Ash Ketchum was more marketable than just Ash. I believe in Japan he was just Satoshi. No surname.

Because his name is a play on the gotta catch'em all slogan. And naturally, his mother, Delia, also has the same surname as him.

In many countries outside the US, kids grew up with the English dub names as well, like here in Portugal, for example.

Not all countries got the English Pokémon names, though. Germany and France have their own names for them.

This was still in that weird time where Japanese anime and game characters got their names changed to European-sounding names when exported to Europe and USA. Captain Tsubasa suffered that too a decade before. Kids grew up knowing Oliver instead of Tsubasa and Mark Lenders instead of Kojiro Hyuga, for example.

Inazuma Eleven does that in the video games, but no one likes that anymore because that series has been around ever since the internet was already a big thing. Plus many people just watch anime with subs these days.

Pokémon just keeps the localised names of characters and food out of habit/tradition, I guess.

CyberCubed 12-17-2025 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami (Post 2019720)
I think they gave Ash a last name cause he's the main character and I guess 4Kids or whatever felt Ash Ketchum was more marketable than just Ash. I believe in Japan he was just Satoshi. No surname.

No, it was to match the lip flaps in the English dub. His name is just Satoshi in Japan with no last name.

Prowler 12-17-2025 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed (Post 2019722)
No, it was to match the lip flaps in the English dub. His name is just Satoshi in Japan with no last name.

And, like I said, a play on the gotta catch 'em all slogan. Ash gotta Ketchum all, basically.

Pretty smart marketing, imo.

CyberCubed 12-17-2025 05:19 PM

Yeah, in Japan the catch 'em all logo doesn't even exist. That's why people were confused why Ash wasn't capturing every pokemon he saw or completing the Pokedex, because in the anime the writers never intended to do that. Also helps that the anime treats the Pokemon as real creatures with personalities and not game data like the games, so giving a main character a whole bunch of pokemon they'll never use is pointless.

Prowler 12-17-2025 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed (Post 2019727)
Yeah, in Japan the catch 'em all logo doesn't even exist. That's why people were confused why Ash wasn't capturing every pokemon he saw or completing the Pokedex, because in the anime the writers never intended to do that. Also helps that the anime treats the Pokemon as real creatures with personalities and not game data like the games, so giving a main character a whole bunch of pokemon they'll never use is pointless.

There was a Kanto episode where they showed what happened to the Pokémon Ash caught that were stored in the PC. It's a whole episode where Prof. Oak has to feed dozens of different Pokémon everyday plus the 40 or so different Taurus Ash caught that one time :lol:

sdp 12-17-2025 05:47 PM

They got rid of the Catch em all slogan after Gen 2 though it did come back I think for Gen 6 I think once Pokemon Go made Pokemon popular again with casuals.

Also Pocket Monsters was the name of the games until I think Gen 8, Pokemon was only an abbreviation, it's only in the last decade or so that Pokemon was also the name of the franchise in general.

Let's not forget that the gaijin names for the different Pokemon became the official international names, only Japan has their own names for the Pokemon. Other countries have to use the english puns as their names.

Prowler 12-17-2025 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdp (Post 2019735)
They got rid of the Catch em all slogan after Gen 2 though it did come back I think for Gen 6 I think once Pokemon Go made Pokemon popular again with casuals.

Also Pocket Monsters was the name of the games until I think Gen 8, Pokemon was only an abbreviation, it's only in the last decade or so that Pokemon was also the name of the franchise in general.

Let's not forget that the gaijin names for the different Pokemon became the official international names, only Japan has their own names for the Pokemon. Other countries have to use the english puns as their names.

In France, Germany and I'm pretty sure South Korea as well many of the Pokémon have their own localised names.

In Germany, Geodude is Kleinstein. Snorlax is Relaxo. Charmander is Glumanda. Just to name some examples.

In France they also translate the names of characters from other series. Rosalina from Mario Galaxy is named Harmonie iirc in French.

No idea about Spain and Italy. Those are also two European nations that literally translate everything, so I'd not be surprised.

neatoman 12-17-2025 06:49 PM

Bobby Curnow did confirm that, no, the character did not have a surname according to Nickelodeon's character sheet.
https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sh...in#post1759822

So at least as far as Paramount was concerned by 2018, the character didn't have one. And in case anyone was wondering, IDW #83 is probably the first known instance of that name actually being used by an official story.

oldmanwinters 12-17-2025 08:37 PM

https://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sh...ad.php?t=58872

ticktack 12-18-2025 06:53 AM

You mean this Irma?

https://64.media.tumblr.com/3d977ed2...dabc8f689a.pnj

https://media.tenor.com/dJrZnhM2eJkA...hy-bashful.gif

ToTheNines 12-18-2025 06:57 AM

https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2...hcRC/giphy.gif

ticktack 12-18-2025 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTheNines (Post 2019768)

:lol::lol::o

ticktack 12-18-2025 07:04 AM

Memes about dogs? What about them? :P:lol:
:trolleye::eyemouth::shifty::tanime:

https://youtu.be/tvirXOPNy-0?si=5WTWDGa7Ds7merJK
https://youtu.be/bDOLLIrTk4Y?si=A8tkoJr420W_JYLa

neatoman 12-18-2025 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ticktack (Post 2019767)

Hm... Normally, I avoid replying to you because I'm pretty sure you're a troll, but this is something I wanted to talk about.

Character design in Mutant Mayhem and Tales is typically meant to be ugly or at least skewed. Most characters have features like crooked teeth or misaligned eyes, not Irma though, Irma looks surprisingly symmetrical.

sdp 12-18-2025 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters (Post 2019749)

I find it endearing how Prowler will just remake his own threads after a couple of years. :lol:

Even his replies are remakes of his replies, he also mentions Misty Waterflower example in that thread.

Heyowakka 12-18-2025 11:09 AM

I wonder if MM/Tales Irma makes fun of Puke Girl…


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