Do you prefer Shredder running an empire of crime or just the Foot Clan?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

In some TMNT versions, Shredder runs just the Foot Clan. In others, the Foot Clan is just the most important part in an empire of crime (especially in earlier seasons or whatever) ran by Shredder which can vary to teenage street punk gangs, businesses, mutants, Baxter Stockman, extrateresstrial sidekicks, time-travellers from the future and mafia cooperation.

An argument for Shredder running an emprie of crime is probably that the turtles infiltrate him only to encoutner it's just the "top of an iceberg". An argument against it is probably than you can take breaks from Shredder definately without creating "one-time antagonists".

[Powder]

I like when it is implied that Shredder has ties to or is directly involved with the Yakuza, which is a vibe I got from Mirage.

[Wesley]

I prefer Shredder running a criminal empire, as I think it's more interesting to see him protrayed as a crime lord as well as the leader of the Foot Clan.

[Prowler]

In the FW series, the Foot Clan under him became some sort of crime organization. I wonder what happened to it once Shredder left Japan, though.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

In season one of the FW cartoon, shredder was shown to be in charge of a large empire of crime, from street thugs, to the ninja district and even the large science building where the foot soldiers operated before it was destroyed by the flood.

Season two however, had shredder drained of all his resources and was forced to scare others like baxter and the crooked ninja turtls gang into working for while trying to ressurect his power by making more mutants since krang refused to help him.

In season 3, it became the standard we know it is, where shredder was stuck at the bottom of the earths core, unable to have his former glory and being forced to come up to the surface with bebop amd rocksteady regularly to try and defeat the turtles with all sorts of plans that, while threatening and almost successful on many occassions, always failed in the end.

Throughout the series, Shredder would try and get help from other villains like rat king, make more mutants, make deals with organisations like the black heart ninja gang, mobsters, and used various plans like time travel and all sorts of funny rays. This kind of shredder as a thug would become what we all know in love and would stay that way until the end of season 7, which marked the start of the red sky seasons when..

Shredder, while still being a thug, suddenly had a much more cruel and bloodthirsty streak to him whose humour was now completely absent. I also got the impression that in seasons 8 and 10, that shredder was constantly on the run with no technodrome fo fall back on, being like a wanted criminal who once easily evaded capture, but now doesnt have that capability, making him much more serious.

So summing up FW shredder:

Season 1: leader of the foot clan and an entire evil empire of thugs and people imposing as ninjas working for him.

Season 2: a thug who is denied help from krang, constantly trying to build his resources and beating the turtles without krangs help.

Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: again, a thug but constantly being stuck in a technodrome thats almost out of power in different locations. This time has more access to his foot soldiers but again, they are usually sent out in limited numbers which the tuetles can easily handle and has trouble even with krangs help, so he is always seeking help from others not as an authority figure, but more of a bargain where both sides would benefit.

Season 8 and 10: not the leader of a ninja empire or even his robotic foot soldiers at all. Just him, krang, bebop and rocksteady constantly on the run and always seeking help from other villains, this out out of even more desperate measures where shredder was in the inferior position unlike previous seasons. In other words, he was pretty much screwed at this point.

In conclusion, it really depends on the incarnation, but in the FW series, i think shredder is better as a thug running just the robotic foot clan rather than an entire evil empire of crime.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Nick shredder has taken the opposite route from FW shredder. As far as i remember, he started out as the leader of just the foot clan but as time went on, he allied himself with gangs like the russian, chinese and brazillian mobs, having major influence and connections over a large part of New York City.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I think that the 4Kids Shredder (albeit Utrom in disguise) was the best Oroku Saki we'd seen up to that point.

A serious threat for three seasons, running all of the NYC crime... scientists, ninja, thugs, etc.

Then IDW Shredder, who rules the mobs, the Purple Dragons, the Foot (with all their different ranks), and the mutants.

From what I've seen of Nick Shredder, he's got his hands in all the pies, too; Xever's street gang, the Foot, scientists, mutants, Bradford's ninja...

So yeah, I think Shredder running a criminal empire is more interesting, mainly because when he's just running the Foot/yakuza (Mirage, Fred Wolf), it's never really given much focus or development.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

I think it'd be a neat idea to start off the Shredder as simply running the Foot Clan, who do high-profile assassin work and the like. When he sees that the turtles are beating up on low-life street punks, he takes it upon himself to push out the existing crime lords and run the underworld in order to get closer to the turtles.

[ProactiveMan]

I like it best when he is head of a mid-sized organised crime organisation. I don’t like it so much when he is massively powerful, because he doesn’t tend to do anything besides stand around making idle threats. Nick Shredder suffers a lot from this – he’s always implying that there is a stiff penalty for failure, only to give his henchmen ‘one last chance’ over and over again. The 4Kids Shredder was more likely to follow through, but spent a lot of time swanning around in a kimono, not doing cool things.

[Shark_Blade]

Shredder with young boys seems better.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

Shredder with young boys seems better.

Is Shredder a Catholic priest?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Season 1: leader of the foot clan and an entire evil empire of thugs and people imposing as ninjas working for him

I don't know if he ran the Ninja Pizzeria, or just had one "hand in the game".

[Casey]

Eh. I sort of tow the line. I think the OT actually showed both sides back and forth depending on the writers and the needs of the plot for that episode. It's actually sort of a weird combo if you think about it: A crime lord who wears a ridiculously unnecessary (albeit bada*# cool) suit of armor and samurai style helmet and leads an ancient ninja clan from Japan, but he also controls mob bosses and petty thieves. It's sort of like how Batman started as a regular, gun-toting detective, but for no reason at all, he also wore a suit that gave him bat ears and swung into crime scenes on ropes.

My point is, either way, I just love The Shredder.

Also, The Batman.

[Etsyturtle2]

I prefer shredder with an army of gun-toting G.I. Joes.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Nick shredder has taken the opposite route from FW shredder. As far as i remember, he started out as the leader of just the foot clan but as time went on, he allied himself with gangs like the russian, chinese and brazillian mobs, having major influence and connections over a large part of New York City.

Actually, that makes more sense in building the Nickverse and its character development. When he said he'd used Kraang technology to build Foot robots I first thought Nick-Shredder would cooperate with Kraang and live inside a Technodrome just like Shredder cooperated with Krang in the MWS series.

[Cryomancer]

I like how in Mirage it seems that Shredder only runs the New York branch of the Foot Clan which itself is somewhat unclear what exactly it is or does. Karai shows up to take over like she's a businesswoman transferring in from corporate HQ to clean up after a former boss or something. She keeps some of his structure and rules, presumably, but changes the stuff she wants to, such as making a truce with the turtles because she probably doesn't really give a damn about them personally, just that they are costing the "company" resources due to a blood feud with former management.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: again, a thug but constantly being stuck in a technodrome thats almost out of power in different locations.

I like how he in some episodes would assist the mafia with Krang's Dimension X rayguns.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

I like the implication in the Mirage comics that he turned an honest Ninja clan into something more like "ninja-trained yakuza"

Generally speaking, I like leading the Foot to be his primary occupation, and any ties to mobsters, street gangs, and alien warlords to be more like "side projects".

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Tetsu Deinonychus

I like the implication in the Mirage comics that he turned an honest Ninja clan into something more like "ninja-trained yakuza"

Generally speaking, I like leading the Foot to be his primary occupation, and any ties to mobsters, street gangs, and alien warlords to be more like "side projects".

Yeah, but it's probably hard taking Krang just as a side-project when it's from there his advanced weaponry come.

[myconius]

i think Shredder needs a little variety?

you know? mix it up a little!

the foot clan one day, then the yakuza the next, the gun totting gi joes . . .

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

Shredder with young boys seems better.

i'm not sure if he really needs that kind of variety? O_o