Does anyone else prefer tmnt to be lighthearted?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I've lately been seeing alot of threads where people are saying that tmnt should become more serious and dark like the days of mirage, and criticizing the influence that FW had on the franchise, such as all the frequent nods to the show in the Nick cartoon and all the influence on the Platinum Dunes' movies, especially OOTS.

However, am I the only one who likes the franchise better with a touch of lightheartedness? Don't get me wrong, I love the 2k3 show, the 1990 movie and the serious aspects of Nick/FW, but am i the only one who has enjoyed the more lighthearted aspects of tmnt far more than the dark and developed stuff?

I think there are so many of the dark/brooding type heroes these days like batman, that tmnt would be better off being positive and hopeful heroes, like superman once was known to be before Man of Steel made him a traumatized character. Maybe its just that I am a minority in liking optimistic/hopeful franchises more than the serious ones, or that I am old fashioned for not being much into the more cynical preferences in entertainment these days, but anyways.....

I find my favourite versions, FW an Nick, to have a good balance of seriousness and comedy as it is. So I am not against tmnt having serious elements, I just prefer it being balanced with both and I find FW and Nick to hit the mark the best. While I do think FW is slightly less serious than Nick, I find their tone overall very similar, and I think they both are reasonably balanced unlike alot of other stuff, not just tmnt related, which I find to be leaning a bit too muchd on the side of dark/serious.

What are your thoughts?