Parallels between IDW comic and Nicktoon

[ToTheNines]

Anyone notice stuff in the show that makes you think of the comic? So far I've noticed:

- Mousers being an acronym. I love that they both did this, I'm surprised it took all the way to 2012 for it to happen.

- "We are not fu*king around with Shredder" - Splinter. Not the exact quote lol, but that little talk at the end of The Gauntlet reminded me of the pow wow in Sins of the Fathers. Gotta admit the Nick version was more badass due to Splinter's epic "We. Are. At. War." line. Hoon Lee nailed that.

- Mikey's desire for friendship. Not that Woody and Chris Bradford are much alike, but you see what I mean.

- Evil Utroms. Interesting that the Utroms have always been portrayed as benevolent until now.

- Karai being Shredder's descendant. Not confirmed in the Nick show I guess, but this is one thing I hated and wished would stay exclusive to the 4kids show. Verdict's still out on both versions still, but I miss the non-Oroku version.


Anyone else pick up on anything?

[CyberCubed]

The return of the Turtles love for pizza.

It was brought back pretty heavily in the IDW series and the Turtles eat it all the time in the Nick cartoon.

I'm actually pretty surprised. Even the later seasons of the original cartoon toned down the Turtles eating pizza. I rarely remember them eating any from Seasons 7-10.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

- Karai being Shredder's descendant. Not confirmed in the Nick show I guess, but this is one thing I hated and wished would stay exclusive to the 4kids show. Verdict's still out on both versions still, but I miss the non-Oroku version.

Yeah, it's always seemed like a pretty insulting thing to do to the character to me. Like, can Karai only be a "legit" character in larger media if she has some kind of tie to Oroku Saki and is his inferior? In the source material she is the leader of the entire Foot Clan, and Saki would have been her subordinate... she stood on her own as a character.

It's lazy, insulting to the character, and a bit of a slap in the face of women.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

can Karai only be a "legit" character if she has some kind of tie to Oroku Saki and is his inferior? In the source material she is the leader of the entire Foot Clan, and Saki would have been her subordinate... she stood on her own as a character.

I agree that Karai is much cooler when left to her original characterization.

Who needs the Savate when you could have had Karai being the current leader of today's Foot and the resurrected Saki at odds against one another, vying for power that was once his.

[CyberCubed]

I think Karai is now always made a subordinate of Shredder simply because they exist at the same time, and if Shredder is around he's always going to be the leader of the Foot Clan.

In Mirage, Karai wasn't introduced till Shredder was dead. So of course there she was going to be the head of the Foot Clan, she was introduced to be the new leader and show who was leading the Foot in the time since Saki's demise.

Every other incarnation doesn't kill off Shredder right away, so when Karai is introduced she has to be the second in command.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

In Mirage, Karai wasn't introduced till Shredder was dead. So of course there she was going to be the head of the Foot Clan, she was introduced to be the new leader and show who was leading the Foot in the time since Saki's demise.

She explains pretty clearly, though, that she is the head over the Japanese branch and Saki was sent to organize a branch in New York but basically went rogue.

That means that she headed up the Foot Clan and sent a young Saki to set up a NY branch.

Remember, Karai is in her mid-40's in CaW; Saki was in his early 20's when he was sent to NY and in his 30's when he died.

[Matches Malone]

If I recall correctly, it's interesting to note that in the SNES Tournament Fighters, Karai was Shredder's superior; the new big boss of the Foot as Shredder was not even the last boss of the story mode.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Yeah, it's always seemed like a pretty insulting thing to do to the character to me. Like, can Karai only be a "legit" character if she has some kind of tie to Oroku Saki and is his inferior? In the source material she is the leader of the entire Foot Clan, and Saki would have been her subordinate... she stood on her own as a character.

It's lazy, insulting to the character, and a bit of a slap in the face of women.

Yeah. And sadly, both new versions gave me hope that she wouldn't be Saki's subordinate.

When we first saw Karai in #9 and 10, I theorized that the Shredder we had seen standing around was actually her grandfather and was the current leader of the Foot, but not Saki. I fell for the misdirection and assumed that the sai-wielding ninja who stole the turtles and ooze from Stockgen was a young reincarnated Saki but didn't realize it until Splinter introduced the psychotropic serum into his bloodstream after gouging his eye out. I figured he'd take his place at the head of the Foot, killing Karai's grandfather and putting them at odds with each other. Coulda been cool, I guess.

Then the Nick show originally leaked that Shredder's daughter would be named Miwa. That, coupled with voice samples of KMR saying "Karai! The Foot Clan will be mine!" gave me great hope. But now it looks like Karai and Miwa are one and the same, Shredder just renaming her after he defeats Yoshi and takes her.

[CyberCubed]

Splinter being Hamato Yoshi again, instead of just being a pet rat owned by him, is a big one.

As soon as we knew that it was obvious the OT influence was going to be there.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I think Karai is now always made a subordinate of Shredder simply because they exist at the same time, and if Shredder is around he's always going to be the leader of the Foot Clan.

In Mirage, Karai wasn't introduced till Shredder was dead. So of course there she was going to be the head of the Foot Clan, she was introduced to be the new leader and show who was leading the Foot in the time since Saki's demise.

Every other incarnation doesn't kill off Shredder right away, so when Karai is introduced she has to be the second in command.

I don't see why, though. Even if Saki is not to be struck down or anything, what's wrong with him having a boss in Japan who is female? There could be storylines maybe where Saki is under scrutiny by the main Japan Foot and Karai temporarily relieves him of duty and he has to prove himself. Or if things become rough with the Turtles or another adversary or adversaries Saki has no choice but to call in the "Big Dogs" at Japan Foot HQ and she comes down. There's literally about a hundred different ways to approach Karai without immediately going for, "She's Saki's lapdog."

And the sad part? In IDW TMNT she's made to be not even good enough to be that... Shredder wants to replace her with Leonardo!

Hard to say what was going on with her in the fourth movie but that she seemed so worried about Shredder/the Turtles "fighting a face from your past" or whatever she said that was obviously referring to the Shredder, she seemed to be written as only the de facto leader of the NY Foot who would probably step aside when he would come back in the intended Imagi TMNT Part 5.

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Yeah. And sadly, both new versions gave me hope that she wouldn't be Saki's subordinate.

When we first saw Karai in #9 and 10, I theorized that the Shredder we had seen standing around was actually her grandfather and was the current leader of the Foot, but not Saki.

That was my initial thinking as well.

I fell for the misdirection and assumed that the sai-wielding ninja who stole the turtles and ooze from Stockgen was a young reincarnated Saki but didn't realize it until Splinter introduced the psychotropic serum into his bloodstream after gouging his eye out. I figured he'd take his place at the head of the Foot, killing Karai's grandfather and putting them at odds with each other. Coulda been cool, I guess.

Something along those lines was what I was seeing happening. We were both wrong, it seems.

Then the Nick show originally leaked that Shredder's daughter would be named Miwa. That, coupled with voice samples of KMR saying "Karai! The Foot Clan will be mine!" gave me great hope. But now it looks like Karai and Miwa are one and the same, Shredder just renaming her after he defeats Yoshi and takes her.

That's even worse for the character. Yikes.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Hard to say what was going on with her in the fourth movie but that she seemed so worried about Shredder/the Turtles "fighting a face from your past" or whatever she said that was obviously referring to the Shredder, she seemed to be written as only the de facto leader of the NY Foot who would probably step aside when he would come back in the intended Imagi TMNT Part 5.

Her bio blurb on her action figure said she was Shredder's daughter. That could have been based on actual production notes, or just as easily been written by some genius at Playmates.

That's even worse for the character. Yikes.

I'm not sure where Nick is going with the character. I'm assuming she'll find out her true lineage and resent Saki, but I don't see her having a change of heart and moving in the Splinter and the guys. Oh well, at least Kelly Hu is voicing her.

While we're on the topic, I'm not exactly sure where IDW is going with her either. Assuming she wasn't blowing smoke, she has what it takes to lead the Foot, Shredder's just being a hardass. She says she has a plan to bring in Leo, but I hope she's secretly plotting against Saki.

Also, not to say she wouldn't be a problem afterwards if the Turtles were to kill Saki down the line, but she definitely wouldn't be the completely vengeful Karai we saw in season 4 of the 4kids show after losing her father. She obviously respects and fears him, but I don't think she loves him at all, and certainly not enough to vow vengeance against the Hamato clan.

[Coola Yagami]

Didn't really see many parallels except Yoshi and Splinter being one in the same. Both versions took very different directions, which I'm very glad that IDW Mikey isn't anything like Nick2012 Mikey, besides the pizza thing.

[Cipher]

Just want to say thirded (fourthed?) on all things Karai.

I hate that "Shredder's daughter" seems to have become the default version for her character.

[corvus]

I was hoping IDW Karai would be like Mirage Karai who was freakin badass and actually outranked shredder.

[Matches Malone]

It's definitely not hard to imagine a Karai coexisting with the Shredder. They are from different branches, after all. She could be an interesting third party who runs the Foot differently than the Shredder.

[CyberCubed]

It is possible Karai will betray Shredder if she realizes bringing him back to life was a mistake. They've even kind of hinted at this.

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It is possible Karai will betray Shredder if she realizes bringing him back to life was a mistake. They've even kind of hinted at this.

I would be down for that, but I still don't like how inept she seems to be portrayed compared to the Shredder. He talks down to her and she takes it, so at best she can be redeemed by turning her over to someone else who can take him down.

[Coola Yagami]

They could have made Karai the leader of the Savate Ninjas....

[Matches Malone]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

They could have made Karai the leader of the Savate Ninjas....

A French Karai? "Sayonara, mon ami!"

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Matches Malone

A French Karai? "Sayonara, mon ami!"

oooops... forgot about that...