[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Me either... Always just seen them as a different form of people living quietly among the human type people.

On the "anthro scale" they're relatively close to the human end, esp in stark contrast to some other mutants who retain a lot of the primitive bestial qualities. Who wouldn't always be a little mindful of those like Leatherhead...? That switch could flip for god knows what reason and he'd tear you up before shaking it off and remembering you aren't a foe. The Turtles have the human intellect not to have that issue with momentary breaks in it and wouldn't have to worry about being around them so long a you're a trusted friend. Now... if the TMNT were all mentally much more like Slash, that might be another matter. He's got more of the animal still in him and if that was the case for them, too, I might have been more inclined to see them as "talking animals." (edit: Basically what has happened in the cases of second mutations that made them beast-like...)

In comparison to, say, Bugs Bunny back in the day who, while physically around the same degree of anthro as the TMNT, is still mainly just concerned with doing rabbit things...like living in a rabbit burrow, stealing and eating carrots, and escaping a hunter. If the TMNT were comparable, I guess they'd spend most of their time living in a pond, eating regular turtle things, and be more concerned about the pollution people throw into it. But instead they're living in human-built structures, eating human food (sans first ep of 2012), and crashing in front of the tv and playing video games when not out kicking someone's ass. So... I vote the Turtles as green people of Turtle origin while the likes of Bugs Bunny as just a talking animal.

Yeah, the Looney Tunes are weird cause we're kinda supposed to take for granted that the animals just talk. Elmer Fudd is never surprised Bugs can talk, for all intents and purposes he's literally a talking rabbit. With the Turtles it's clear normal non-talking animals exist and these characters and mutated anomalies in that world and not the norm.