Shredder seems a bit TOO obsessed with destroying Splinter.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

and Shredder isn't interesting in taking over the world, he's not a cartoonish villain just because he is in a cartoon

Let's hope not. Utrom Shredder wasn't neccesarily seen as someone that wanted to take over the world at first either. Later seasons developed that more and more. Let's hope season 2 or 3 doesn't pull a 'now that Splinter and the Turtles are dead, we can take over the world' or a 'with this Kraang technology, we can take over the world' or maybe even a 'if we team up with the Kraang and make a Technodrome we can take over the world'.

[Konchadunga]

Agreed. Having two chief antagonists is refreshing; having heard that the Foot Soldiers would eventually be robotic in this series, I was sure that meant another Kraang/Shredder team-up, but I was pleasantly surprised it just comes from Karai stealing the technology.

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

And you put too much effort into that 'scene' of yours. You didn't need to it to make your point.

Who cares?! It was funny, so don't bitch at him.

[Andrew NDB]

I do agree that while Nick has managed to do even what IDW has been unable to do (so far) in making Shredder a pretty credible, reputable villain... he's pretty much cardboard thin as a character. I suspect that even when we get a little bit of his backstory, his whole character arc is going to boil down to just "really pissed at Splinter for messing up his face and wanting revenge."

At this point I don't get a good sense of the Nick Foot Clan, its purpose, mission statement, or any agenda of Shredder's beyond revenge on Splinter.

[The Big Bad]

Actually, I've been wondering lately: has Shredder actually explicitly said that he wants to kill Splinter, or just find him? I mean, could this be another misdirection, like when Splinter sort-of-but-not-really implies that Miwa died with Tang Shen?

In any case, like Karai said, the dude needs a hobby, or to get massively deemphasized. At this point, almost every dealing with him feels like stalling for time. I mean, it's not like the turtles are particularly hard to find--Karai seems to do it easily enough, anyway--and it's not like Shredder doesn't know that he's super-effective against them. So why doesn't he just go deal with them himself, instead of dealing with underlings he apparently finds so disappointing?

And I still don't get that jazz about leaving Xever alive or putting the effort into making him mobile again.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by Donatello19

MUCH darker than 2003.

How is he darker than 2003 Shredder? He hasn't killed anyone or removed Stockman's body parts or anything. All he does is sit around and make empty threats.

[Shredded]

Originally Posted by Xav

How is he darker than 2003 Shredder? He hasn't killed anyone or removed Stockman's body parts or anything. All he does is sit around and make empty threats.

Presentation.. the 2k3 Shredder seemed... kind of forced. Not to mention it seems like he had the same throat decease Christian Bale would get a few years later while portraying Batman.

For some reason some people think "Rough voices." for the sake of "Rough." voices sounds cool.. njaah, you need some fill in that voice, some firm grounding, some volume! Like.. New Shredder voice, holy that is a bad-ass voice oO;

But yeah, Technically, the 2k3 Shredder were way darker, we saw him kill people pretty fast, he didn't make any empty threats.
I how-ever am much more compelled by new Shredder and, even kind of more intimidated by him.

I am placing that one on design, voice and representation.
Again, litterately spending fifteen minutes of an episode building up a falls sense of security, just so Shredder could rip it appart in two minutes.
Balsy move, a different way to finally present a villain, awesome out-come, awesome introduction.

"Feeling confident do you turtles? Well, Better do some-thing about that! bwahahaha!" SMACK, Crash! me ->

And we all know that if Shredder hadn't been distracted for those two seconds he would have killed Leo, don't we?

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

Actually, I've been wondering lately: has Shredder actually explicitly said that he wants to kill Splinter, or just find him?

"I want them all wiped out".

Plus he tried to blow up the sewer, and he seemed like he was going to kill the turtles in "The Gauntlet".

[Candy Kappa]

another thing is 2003 Shredder had non-important villains to kill off, and clearly it was the shows intention that Baxter would be reduced to a robotic body.

2012 Shredder have only interacted with important characters that are gonna stick around.

[Keroscene]

Originally Posted by gzilla46

I don't know why they don't use him as much as the Kraang. Hope he fights more in Season 2.

Man, people have really reacted to your fun thread in quite a killjoy fashion here. I enjoy the image of Shredder obsessively staring at his dart board anyway.

Anyhoo, I think the reason Shredder has retained his "big deal" status so far is that he hasn't fought much. The more he fights, the more he has to be watered down, or else the Turtles just get their asses kicked every time and it becomes repetitive. I approve of the way Nick has kept him at least partially in the shadows and made it into a big event when he does fight, it means I'm actually looking forward to the next fight instead of thinking "Oh, Shredder again?"

[BubblyShell22]

He's obsessed with Splinter because Splinter took the love of his life and scarred his face in battle. Who wouldn't want revenge for that?

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

Who cares?! It was funny, so don't bitch at him.

Well, I didn't think it was all that funny.

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

"I want them all wiped out".

Plus he tried to blow up the sewer, and he seemed like he was going to kill the turtles in "The Gauntlet".

I know he wants to kill the turtles: I'm talking about Splinter specifically. I seemed to remember him giving order to the effect of "kill turtles, find Splinter", which, again, sounds ripe for misdirection and could give the characters some more long-term goals that he can actually succeed at. But if he's explicitly mentioned killing Splinter or done something to that effect--and blowing up the sewers could easily count--well, never mind then.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

another thing is 2003 Shredder had non-important villains to kill off, and clearly it was the shows intention that Baxter would be reduced to a robotic body.

Besides that Purple Dragon guy from the first episode what non-important villains did 2k3 Shredder kill off?

[plasticturtle]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

Actually, I've been wondering lately: has Shredder actually explicitly said that he wants to kill Splinter, or just find him? I mean, could this be another misdirection, like when Splinter sort-of-but-not-really implies that Miwa died with Tang Shen?

In any case, like Karai said, the dude needs a hobby, or to get massively deemphasized. At this point, almost every dealing with him feels like stalling for time. I mean, it's not like the turtles are particularly hard to find--Karai seems to do it easily enough, anyway--and it's not like Shredder doesn't know that he's super-effective against them. So why doesn't he just go deal with them himself, instead of dealing with underlings he apparently finds so disappointing?

And I still don't get that jazz about leaving Xever alive or putting the effort into making him mobile again.

Unfortunately it's kind of a cartoon cliche to have the villain hang around the base and send underlings out to do their dirty work. They fail repeatedly and the villain bitches them out only to send them back out again. Rinse, repeat. Although I have to admit Bradford and Xever are a bit more competent than the average cartoon flunkie.

[ABrown]

I think it makes complete sense for Shredder to be obsessed with destroying Splinter in the current Nick series. What didn't make sense was for Shredder to be so obsessed with destroying Splinter and the turtles in the 4Kids series. In that series, Shredder's main adversaries was the utroms, not the turtles and Splinter. He spent the whole season obsessed with the turtles instead of going after the utroms. Shredder's obsession in this series makes much more sense to me than it did in the previous series.

[Redfield182]

I love the direction so far. Have always been a Shredder fan. Nick Shredd I think will end up being my favorite!

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by robodog

Unfortunately it's kind of a cartoon cliche to have the villain hang around the base and send underlings out to do their dirty work. They fail repeatedly and the villain bitches them out only to send them back out again. Rinse, repeat. Although I have to admit Bradford and Xever are a bit more competent than the average cartoon flunkie.

Well, yes and no. Sure, that's a standard trope in a lot of stories. However, those stories rarely have that Big Bad head out into the field and then retreat back behind the scenes without explanation.

Originally Posted by ABrown

I think it makes complete sense for Shredder to be obsessed with destroying Splinter in the current Nick series. What didn't make sense was for Shredder to be so obsessed with destroying Splinter and the turtles in the 4Kids series. In that series, Shredder's main adversaries was the utroms, not the turtles and Splinter. He spent the whole season obsessed with the turtles instead of going after the utroms. Shredder's obsession in this series makes much more sense to me than it did in the previous series.

Wait what? This isn't true at all. Even if we disregard the fact that the 4Kids turtles are actively disrupting the Foot's operations, meaning it makes sense for him to spend time and efforts on stopping them, the motivations behind his interest vary throughout the first season as circumstances change.

"Things Change": Saki is told about the turtles after they disrupt a Purple Dragon money run and steal an armored truck.

"A Better Mousetrap" / "Attack of the Mousers": Saki gets proof of the existence of the turtles after they destroy Baxter Stockman's Mousers, which Saki had been backing for his own (unexplained, although it's possible to make some educated guesses) purposes.

"Darkness at the Edge of Town": The Shredder decides to do something about the turtles after they make off with the Sword of Tengu during one of the Foot's attempts to confirm that there are Utroms in New York.

"The Way of Invisibility": Saki sets Hun and Stockman to find out more about the turtles and to confirm whether or not they are in anyway connected to the Utroms.

"The Shredder Strikes": Convinced that the turtles are not connected to the Utroms, the Shredder attempts to recruit them. Once they reject the invitation, the Shredder dubs them his enemies and attempts to kill them, because he likes killing.

"Notes From the Underground" / "The Shredder Strikes Back" / "Tales of Leo": After his defeat at the hands of the turtles, Shredder enacts a plan to draw the turtles out into the open, and then sends a large contingent of his forces against them. He believes he succeeds.

Yes, the Shredder spends a large amount of his on-screen time focused on the turtles--like I said, it's only natural after they've proven hard to stop and have become a thorn in his side. But obsessed with killing them? No. We've seen how he acts when he is obsessed--we get Turtles Forever. However, after "Return to New York" the most he can be bothered to do is either try to kill them in the most painless, efficient way possible--killer robots--or outright subcontract the job so that he can focus on his larger goals.

On the other hand, while the Nick Turtles are also a thorn on their Shredder's side, and consistently put a stop to his plans, those plans have so far turned out to be variations on "kill the turtles". It's impossible to imagine what he did before he found out about the them in the pilot, because no information about him has been given that doesn't relate to them.

[AnarkyLantern]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

And I still don't get that jazz about leaving Xever alive or putting the effort into making him mobile again.

Xever is an asset, one that seems most potent when he's down. And now, he's got his flexibility back plus venom teeth. Shredder may be Dr.Doom-level obsessed but he's not going to abandon an asset he's invested in.

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by AnarkyLantern

Xever is an asset, one that seems most potent when he's down. And now, he's got his flexibility back plus venom teeth. Shredder may be Dr.Doom-level obsessed but he's not going to abandon an asset he's invested in.

Why the heck not? Isn't this the guy who's constantly threatening to kill his underlings? As far as the Shredder knew, the mutation made Xever dead weight--he couldn't fight, and wasn't in any position to be able to remain informed about the streets, which was his selling point in the first place; all he was good for was dissection and help in figuring out how he got mutated, except that as we've seen, the Shredder couldn't care less about that. And yet, the Shredder kept him in a fish tank, as if he knew that if he waited long enough, the writers would eventually drop into his lap a way to put him back in play.

[bridgegrn]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

Why the heck not? Isn't this the guy who's constantly threatening to kill his underlings? As far as the Shredder knew, the mutation made Xever dead weight--he couldn't fight, and wasn't in any position to be able to remain informed about the streets, which was his selling point in the first place; all he was good for was dissection and help in figuring out how he got mutated, except that as we've seen, the Shredder couldn't care less about that. And yet, the Shredder kept him in a fish tank, as if he knew that if he waited long enough, the writers would eventually drop into his lap a way to put him back in play.

Well he threatens them to establish dominance, to keep them in check and focused on the goal. Xever was important to his goals and he probably kept him alive because he is valuable and may be of importance down the line, which proved correct because he's back in the game and more dangerous than ever. I mean first opportunity he got he had someone who could help him get Xever walking and fighting again. He would have gained absolutely nothing by killing him and its not like keeping him alive is going to screw him over so he did the smart thing, and now his team is better for it.