What makes a TMNT villain more popular and memorable than others?

[CyberCubed]

Between all the cartoons and comics, there have been dozen upon dozens of villains created that wind up being one-shot characters or get a second appearance...and then fade away into obscurity.

What do you think makes some TMNT villains so much more popular and memorable than others? And I'm not refering to the major ones like Shredder, etc....but all the ones we see created from time to time.

[ObiWanFan4life]

How about NOT being an uninspired one shot character and NOT being from The Next Mutation

[shihe]

I think it comes down to:

Design: Because if it looks generic or uncool, it just won't connect with the audience.

Interesting personality: Because if he/she ACTS like the typical villain of the day, then the villain is already doomed to fail. But he/she could also have some unique habits that sets him/her apart from the rest.

A threat to the heroes: Because if he/she is just a clown that poses no real threat to the Turtles, then what's the point? He/she will feel like filler material.

[Venom]

Krang - Goofy voice, hair-brained schemes to take over the world
Shredder - The blades
Hun - IMposing thug who rose up the ranks
Baxter - Super genius who gets the short end of the villanous stick
Bebop & Rocksteady - Bumbling bufoons who don't realize they could potentially be very dangerous
Rat King - The bandages and mysterious aura

To a lesser extent:
Savanti - Time-travelling, magic satyr

Personally, I always thought the Next Mutation villains had interesting and memorable designs, just poor execution (much like the series).

[zak_the_neutrino]

I would say how many times the villain is used/re occurring role in the tmnt universe. The popularity of a character to the masses is based on weather or not that said character appeared multiple comics, cartoons, etc. was that villain in memorable episodes/comics ? It really matters based on fan appeal and how that character impacted that said storyline etc. I really don't think there's a right or wrong answer for this.

[CyberCubed]

I think it depends on how well known what they appear in is.

Rahzar and Tokka are only popular due to being the main mutants of the second movie. Had they been created for anything after that, they wouldn't be recognized at all.

[FlogginMcMurryZombiePizza]

Design and threat level, I think.

Design is important because visually it's what you, the audience, will identify with. Does it look awesome? Goofy? Stupid? Is it worth a glance at the book or the episode? Does it look boring? Out of place?

Also the threat level: How imposing is the villain? Is it something that can destroy a planet? Or just take over the pizza parlor?
The villain's story is almost more important than our heroes story. If the villain didn't have some kind of interesting or engaging story than the heroes shouldn't have even gotten out of bed, you know?
What is the MO and how will it affect the well being of the heroes or the world?

I think these are 2 reasons why any villain in any story becomes important, memorable or more popular.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Venom

Bebop & Rocksteady - Bumbling bufoons who don't realize they could potentially be very dangerous

They are sometimes very dangerous. Love when they almost kill Splinter in front of the the train.

[Jephael]

The weird thing is I've always felt Dregg was such an uninspired mediocre idea for a villian and yet he was the Turtles' arch nemesis for the last 16 episodes of the original cartoon!

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Jephael

The weird thing is I've always felt Dregg was such an uninspired mediocre idea for a villian and yet he was the Turtles' arch nemesis for the last 16 episodes of the original cartoon!

I don't see how he's uninspired, he's no worse than some of the other characters in the old show in terms of one shots.

[Pterobat]

Sure, I'd say that Dregg was equally as generic as many of the one-shot villains in the series. The difference was, though, that Dregg was the main villain for the tail end of the OT, and therefore some of us expected more from him. We expected the bold, new direction that the Red Sky seasons were pretending they had, not the same ol' same ol'.

And speaking personally, I expected any villain voiced by Tony Jay to be a hell of a lot cooler than that.

As for what makes a villain interesting, it's the same as with almost anything else in the world of fiction: nobody really knows. We can look at patterns, create standards, and try to keep up, but ultimately, nobody knows what makes a thing or a character popular.

And in a multimedia franchise, characters aren't necessarily beholden to behaving the same way in each continuity, so that muddies the question more. It's not always the first version of a character that determines their place in the franchise.

[TurtleFan2012]

I know we are discussing ninja turtle villains here, but it bugs me that Dr. Killemoff from Toxic Crusaders was not popular. His plans were crazy and cartoonish, he also worked for an alien ruler. His outfit was kinda cool. There were times Killemoff would try to double cross his own master.

Was he unpopular because he was similiar to the OT Shredder?

[cartoonistaaron]

Design is everything. Dregg was a terrible villain because his design was among the worst I have ever seen in a superhero cartoon. The Shredder has such a fantastic, iconic design. So do characters like Krang, Rocksteady, Bebop, Leatherhead (the cajun one from the OT), etc. Then you have forgettable characters with lousy or boring designs, like, well, Dregg; that Garbageman guy from the 2k3 show; some of the mutants from the Nick show; etc.

I think a villain needs a good, interesting, memorable design first; a distinctive "schtick" second; and an interesting attitude and back story third.

[mikey22]

leatherhaead by jim cummings

catchphraese!

you betcha

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all that fun stuff

[Pterobat]

Oh yeah, Dregg also looked ridiculous--like he was made of parts of better designs, mashed into a silly blue dog-bug thing with holes in his helmet. Design is part of it, yeah.

[miru]

Not being a generic monster.

[ninjafowlkes8705]

shredder and krang the old arguing married couple

bebop and rocksteady as their retarted children

rat king his flute

[Krang100]

There are my favorite villains.

Krang (OT, Archie Comics, IDW): A evil genius warlord who tried to conquer the world, is a lot funny when he berates Shredder, Bebop and Rockstyde for his incompetence. His Archie Comics and IDW Krang is much more dark, he wiped worlds without hesitation (IDW is a lot more sadist).

Baxter Stockman (MC, OT, Archie Comics, 2k3, 2k12, IDW): He is a evil genius scientist who tries to probe his scientist skills, although he is quite sadist when send his mousers to attack April (MC, 2k3). In Mirage Comic the character turned insane and blames April for his defeat by the TMNT's hand. In OT, 2k3, Archie Comics, 2k12 is a tragic character who tends to be bully and treated violently by the other characters, this lead him to seek revenge. In 2k12 emphasises him more in a comic relief despite his tragic back story which are mere related instead to be shown, and the things he sais or happend to who him is quite funny, except when he was mistreated by Dogpound and Fichface, it was quite dislikable, fortunatety is only shown once, i like when he take revange on Dogpound and Fishface. IDW Baxter is quite ruthless and a true mastermind who make the adversity turned in his favor.

Rat King in OT he was a solitary man who tread his rats as his friends. In the others incarnations is more vicious and violent character.

[CyberCubed]

Armaggon is memorable even if we sadly will probably never see him again.