Which character do writers misunderstand the most?
 

Could be any character, but I’ll do a quick rundown of the 4 mains and how I think they’re bungled at times.

Raphael - Raph is NOT supposed to be “the angry one”. His default personality is not anger. He can certainly GET angry, since he had a terrible temper. But Raph is passionate and sensitive, frequently misunderstood by everyone around him. The best versions are probably Mirage, the 90’s movies, Archie and for the most part, 2012. I don’t really like when he bullies/slaps Mikey. He shouldn’t be getting away with that behavior without any retaliation. Which is a nice segue to…

Michelangelo - yes he clowns around, yes he loves kids and animals, and yeah he might rather be engaging in creative writing instead of killing people. But at the end of the day, he’s a highly trained ninja assassin. He’s not cowardly, he’s not clumsy, and he’s definitely not stupid. Mirage, the movies, Archie and Rise get him right. 2012 commits a lot of penalties by leaning on him for comedic relief but I give them a pass because he is genuinely funny. If he’s going to be the jokey one, at least make me laugh (looking at you 4kids).

Donatello - Donnie is NOT a wuss and the bo staff is potentially just as deadly as any other ninja weapon. **** the glasses. The whole point of the character is that he’s an egg head but also a badass fighter. I like most versions of Donnie, but 2012 had some undesirable aspects and they’ve really made him insufferable in some of the crossover comics.

Leonardo - this is the toughest one for me to critique. Yes, he is supposed to be the Cylops square of the group. However, he doesn’t have to be such a tight ass 24/7. Other than 2012, my favorite writer for Leo is probably Gary Carlson. In the Image run, he’s still Leo during missions but he talks sh*t and drinks beer just like everyone else in their down time.

I would always shake my head reading his character bio on the old official site. They had his interests listed as New Age music and candles lmao. Other than the aforementioned versions, I think the movies did a good job with him and if you can make it through his portrayal on Rise, he has a really satisfying arc in that movie that makes it all worth it.

Any thoughts?

I vaguely remember something about that. Yeah, nothing says Leo like listening to Enya and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Remember, though, Berger would always say those profiles and "letters" were like a hodgepodge of different universes. Which was a little bit awkward when NT:TNM was cancelled and "Venus" had to post something about going away. I wish I could find that.

Leo can't just focus on training and living like an ancient person. As a leader, he also needs to have broader knowledge, even if he is not as proficient as the other three in certain areas, at least he can be like a Swiss Army knife, capable of handling most situations, not just commanding and fighting.

I also like when Karai appear in Image comic/Urban Legend comic, they use Mirage version.

If we do take Krang as being the sole representative of the Utroms in the FW cartoon, the Kraang as being the 2012 version of the Utroms (before the obvious retcon) and so on and so forth, then the Utroms are easily the most incorrectly written group of characters in many iterations.

If it has to be a specific character, then the FW and MM writers clearly didn't care about what Leatherhead was supposed to be. To a lesser extent the 2012 and IDW takes on the character are also weird but I can at least understand the changes made there, at least they understood the character is supposed to feel like he doesn't belong where he is and/or that he isn't totally reliable.

:lol:

Yes, those letters were so much fun. Some of my earliest memories of the internet were of following those. I seem to remember he had like a whole ongoing narrative. Pretty fun format for a story as a kid. I’ll see if I can dig some out of the archives.

Right, if his whole schtick is “he trains so hard because he cares so much about his brothers” we need to see him… actually caring about his brothers. Not just on their asses constantly.

Uh oh. Andrew, Neatoman and I in this thread. Tread lightly with that Mirage-Image continuity talk!

What’s weird about 2012 Leatherhead? He was perfect!

Being the character who gets mad when he sees Kraang and going into a blind rage in that scenario and that scenario only then mostly just appears to throw a wrench into the Kraang machine, like every other good guy character does, is somewhat limiting. It's almost as if they didn't have many ideas of what to do with this character other than being a foil for the Kraang. It's legitimately hard to imagine this version of the character really doing anything other than fight evil aliens, because that's kind of the only scenario they put him and hardly give him any traits that seem useful beyond violently tearing through enemies. Unlike the two versions of the character he resembles the most, the Mirage and 4Kids versions, he doesn't seem to have much technical knowledge, his mood swings only seem to have one trigger and he doesn't even seem to be capable of much introspection, so they basically took away a lot from this character for the sake of turning him into a one-trick pony which is a really strange place to go.

Between that and the only other thing he really has, the unfunny running gag about grabbing Don's face, he's one of the many things in that show that just isn't nearly as compelling as people give it credit for. If anything, the characterisation of Leatherhead is incredibly shallow with the superficial elements creating the illusion of depth.

I see. Good points.

IDW and 2012 both had the hurdle of adapting LH into their versions that featured malevolent Utroms. I thought IDW went too far into making him an adversary, but 2012 had a better balance.

It makes sense that he wouldn’t really be mechanically inclined, since no one ever taught him. But yeah, he gets written out of the show in late season 1, lives 50 years in Dimension X but doesn’t really gain any character development out of that, then just kind of blends into the Mutanimals and never gets any focus. I wouldn’t call it “weird”, but maybe could have been handled a little better. Still an enjoyable character.

interesting take on Raph. I actually agree with that, but have become to used to him being angry.

In the latest issue of TMNT Journeys it is showing Leo’s angry side which I kind of like to be honest

Just one word added and all is well.

Raph's anger mostly just an excuse for the writers to advance the plot. He is often portrayed as a troublemaker who constantly makes mistakes.

Yeah, they can be interchangeable at times but to apply the four temperaments from Greek philosophy, in general I consider Raph to be choleric and Leo to be melancholic.

Agreed. Well said

Any post-millennials writing here? Or they are all so flanderized that nobody cares anymore. :tlol::shifty:

Probably any writer that typecasts the turtles based on a single personality trait misundertands them.

Michelangelo.
Easily the most misrepresented.

Yes. And it's not even close.

I think most people would agree.

Looking at the FW cartoon, since it has the distinction of being the first adaptation of the source material, Mike and Raph are both pretty bizarre takes on those characters and what they had to work with from 1984-86.

Raph is so easy, but I guess they didn’t want him and Leo to have that dynamic in a show for little kids? I dunno.

Mike was probably the least characterized of the four when development of the show began, so they had more liberty there. He is a pretty weird character (in a fun way). Outside of “party dude” he speaks with a lot of random Spanish and a little French injected into his inexplicable California accent, has a food addiction, and definitely comes off a little dim witted at times.

So yeah, big departure from Mirage, but the FW version doesn’t really seem to inform following takes too much. In the worst of his subsequent adaptations, he’s hyperactive and purposely annoying. They play up the “little brother” thing too much and make him cowardly. None of this comes from Mirage or FW, so I guess we can blame 4kids. I wonder why Laird allowed that.

(And don’t get me started on his fanatical pacifism in IDW.)

I would prefer Mikey's personality is more like some shonen manga protagonist. He remains optimistic, but he also gets angry when he encounters some truly bad people or injustices. Although he is usually merciful in battle, he doesn't mind beating the villains so badly that they can no longer harm others.