Mikey's ADHD/ADD

[Vicky82]

I thought I start a thread on this as alot of people here don't know the full details about ADHD/ADD and keep blaming the writers on treating Mikey badly and think that ADHD/ADD is just an excuse.

First off the writers are doing a great job, they are doing their homework on ADHD and other things that link with ADHD.

They are trying to get the message out there to the world that ADHD is a metal disorder and that millions of children do suffer with it. People who don't know about the condition, blame the parents and think it's a stupid excuse.

Seriously people, you need to do your homework and read up about ADHD/ADD.

Here's few things that connect Mikey with ADHD, I posted this a few months ago in another thread.

“zoning out” without realizing it (I’m pretty sure we’ve seen him do this at least once)
extreme distractibility; wandering attention makes it hard to stay on track
tendency to overlook details, leading to errors or incomplete work
poor listening skills; hard time remembering conversations and following directions
hyperfocusing (we’ve seen him do this a little with pizza and comics)
poor organizational skills (his room is very messy and cluttered)
constantly losing or misplacing things (we’ve seen this happen at least once IIRC)
blurt out thoughts that are rude or inappropriate without thinking (being brutally honest while under pressure to keep the truth a secret)
have addictive tendencies (pizza)
act recklessly or spontaneously without regard for consequences
sense of underachievement
hypersensitivity to criticism
low self-esteem and sense of insecurity
getting bored easily
trouble sitting still; constant fidgeting
We’ve seen Mikey struggle with this (and start to admit defeat a little, IMO, considering how increasingly noticeable his low self-esteem has become), and try to desperately improve himself to impress his brothers. But they aren’t paying attention because they’re still stuck with their tunnel vision of him.

posted this in the Casey Jones vs The Underworld thread to explain Mikey's behavior in the episode.

Mikey's behaviour in this episode was due to eating the Cheese balls and he became really hyper. Why? because of Red Dye 42 was in them. Red Dye 42 is mentioned in the episode and it was on the Cheeseball package too.

Red Dye 42 is actually a reference to Red Dye 40, it's a food colouring. Apparently it's mentioned a lot in health news sites they say Red Dye 40 causes health problems and cause hyperactivity in kids especially kids with ADHD and experts want FDA to ban foods containing them.

So thats why Mikey was acting so hyper in the episode because of the Red Dye in the Cheesballs and I applaud the writers for doing there homework on this.

Just put Red Dye 40 in the search engine you come up with results.

So you need to pay attention to the little details in the show, they can end up being really important.

[JTH]

Sorry, couldn't finish the post.

Got distracted by a dime.

[Vicky82]

Sorry I'm adding another post to show some of the amazing things Mikey has done.

(have to put under spoilers as they are big posts.
Also I did not write these, someone put them on Tumblr a few months back, they are not updated either)

He’s compassionate/has a big heart

Spoiler:

Defending Leatherhead, giving the fellow mutant shelter, taking care of him, and comforting/reassuring Leatherhead that he wasn’t a monster.
Later on, his grief over LH sacrificing himself to protect the turtles/destroy the Kraang transmat portal device thingy (grief that we’ve been reminded of a couple of times in-between the episode where LH’s sacrifice was made and his rescue in “Into Dimension X”).

Seeing Leo with reddened eyes (after an encounter with Karai), assuming his older brother’s eyes were red from crying, and running over to give him a hug.

Always eager to take in stray animals/he’s an animal lover.

Defending Donnie’s feeling to Raph after Donnie went on a solo mission to save April’s father.

Trying to comfort Leo about Karai, even though he couldn’t 100% understand/relate to what Leo was feeling like Donnie could.

Comforting April when she was blaming herself for her father’s mutation (while his brothers, including Donnie, stood there and let her blame herself for it), telling her the truth/accepting responsibility for what had happened (while his older, more “mature” brothers desperately tried to get him to shut up about it because they didn’t want April to know it was really their fault AKA they didn’t want to take responsibility for it-and yet, a lot of the fandom acted like Mikey was the bad guy here…WTF?), and attempting to reassure her that everything would be okay and that they would fix it. (Was he a little too zen/calm with that truth bomb? Eh, I guess that’s how some people decided to see it-but Mikey’s an optimistic guy, and I think he was so zen about it because he really genuinely believed that everything was going to be alright.)

Comforting Donnie when Metalhead sacrificed himself in order to allow the brothers to escape the Kraang (even though Metalhead was really rough/abusive to him that entire episode).

His pep talk to Leo and Raph after Splinter was captured when he came to rescue them in “Wormquake/The Manhattan Project”.

Trying to comfort/reassure Leo about Karai eventually coming to terms with the fact that her entire life has been a lie, and that she just needs some space/time to accept it.

Being upset about what happened to Karai. Wanting to find and cure Karai because Splinter was so sad about what happened to her.

His desperation to get to Leatherhead when his friend’s warning about the Kraang reached them, and his refusal to allow LH to sacrifice himself again to let them escape Dimension X.

The big beautiful moment he has with Raph in the S2 finale.
His clear worry over Leo throughout the S2 finale and in the S3 premiere opening.

His happy tears when he hugged Leo after Leo woke up.
That oh-so-adorable face he was making at the end of the S3 premiere after Leo told Raph he did what he did because “That’s what brothers are for.”

Supporting Donnie when his brother decided to give April a gift in “A Foot Too Big”.

Yelling at Casey and Leo for being assholes and hurting Bigfoot’s feelings, and going after her with Donnie in “A Foot Too Big”.

Telling April she hasn’t lost her whole family, because they (the turtles and Casey) are her family too in “Buried Secrets”.

He’s really strong, brave, and pretty protective of his brothers/family:

Spoiler:

In “The Gauntlet” he saves his brothers twice from getting slashed by Shredder (the first time he saved Donnie, the second time he saved Raph).
When Mikey falls off the edge of the roof while fighting Shredder in “The Gauntlet” (getting a few more hits in as he was tumbling towards and then over the edge), he immediately runs over to check on Raph and make sure he was okay.

Defends a weak and hallucinating Raph from ninjas in “The Pulverizer”.

Successfully finishes the antidote in “Parasitica”, gives it to his brothers, and then saves their lives again when they’re overwhelmed by the wasps.

He hits Newtralizer with a car to save Leo and Raph in “Operation Breakout”

Lures the Squirrelanoids away from his brothers, and cleverly defeats them (nearly getting killed in the process-which he’s developed a phobia of squirrels over) in “Invasion of the Squirrelanoids”

Takes out Cromedome in “Target: April O’Neil” after it flings the brothers off of itself.

Mikey and Donnie both defend Raph from Slash (despite both being pretty injured at this point) in “Slash and Destroy”.

He defends Leo from a hallucinating Raph in “Fungus Humungous”, and reassures the hallucinating Raph that he will protect him.

Uses Ice Cream Kitty against The Rat King to save Leo/help break Rat King’s control over Splinter in “Of Rats and Men”.
Saves Donnie from his fall in “Of Rats and Men”

Saving his family (and the entire city) in “Pizza Face” (if we are to assume that whole episode wasn’t just some fever dream of Mikey’s)

Insisting that Leo not call for Splinter as Tiger Claw was demanding them to, despite the fact that Tiger Claw was hanging him over the edge of a tall building/hole in the roof of a tall building and threatening to kill him if his older brother disobeyed.

Repeatedly swoops in to save his brothers lives in “Into Dimension X”.

Picking up and flinging a couch out of a 2nd or 3rd story window at the Foot as an act of retaliation for what they did to Leo in “The Invasion”.
Freaking out with Donnie and Raph when Shredder threw Splinter into the sewer water to drown.

His absolute rage at The Creep when it sucked the life/mutagen out of Raph in the S3 premiere.

Trying to defend Bigfoot from The Finger in “A Foot Too Big”.

Trying to protect April from her “mother” in “Buried Secrets”.

He’s a hellava lot smarter than his brothers (and a lot of the fans it seems) give him credit for:

Spoiler:

He can learn moves after only witnessing them/being taught how to do them once.

His fighting style is very Splinter-like IMO.

He’s pretty insightful/full of wisdom.

His remark to Raph about Donnie’s feelings when Donnie goes solo on them.

His speech about Karai being confused and needing to work things out on her own when Leo’s bummed out about Karai not believing the truth.

His big beautiful moment with Raph in the S2 finale, and trying to emulate Splinter in the S3 premiere because everyone was getting frustrated by their situation)

Mikey’s defeat of the sea monster in “Karai’s Vendetta”.

Mikey’s idea to defeat the Wasp at the beginning of “Parasitica” and his clever way of outwitting them and saving his brothers at the end of the episode (twice!)

He was right about where Baxter and the centrifuge were located in “Mikey Gets Shellacne”, and if he hadn’t gotten fed up with his brothers and investigated the lab on his own then they probably wouldn’t have figured it out themselves fast enough and Mikey could very well have died because of that.
He comes up with the way to defeat Dogpound and Xever in that very same episode.

He came up with the plan to defeat the Squirrelanoids (and nearly died in the process-developing a phobia of squirrels because of it).

It was his idea to lure Tiger Claw into the meat locker/butchery so they could catch him off guard and fight him.

It was his idea of triangulating Casey’s cell phone signal that allowed him and Raph to track down their beaten up friend.

He was quick to figure out how things worked in Dimension X, and seems to understand their tech too.

He broke off a piece of the power crystal in “Into Dimension X” to cause the needed explosion, and also to provide Donnie with the power source strong enough to power the Mech his brother was building.

He sensed there was something off about April’s mother, and took the risk confronting her alone even though no one believed him.

[ssjup81]

It seemed liked they cooled down a lot on the ADD/ADHD thing, though since season 1, so seeing it pop up again at full force can be disheartening to see at times...but I'm surprised I didn't catch or even think about the red dye thing or the food chemicals affecting his behavior. It was more over the top than usual and I usually make associations like that when something is off as not everything can be viewed as black and white. Good catch.

Boy, I really am distracted by my work and visa predicament...

[Leo656]

I highly, highly doubt the people behind the show have put 1/10 as much thought or research into it as you have. It's a throw-away, catch-all phrase that the writers can lean on in order to make Mikey more of a Spaz, because "that's funny". Not that the condition itself isn't real, BUT, it's seriously over-played, over-diagnosed, and it's become a trendy "buzzword" used to describe any kid who's goofy.

I know it's real, because I have friends whose kids have it. There's also degrees of it, as far as some cases being more severe and others more benign. But I'm sensitive to this; my wife was misdiagnosed with ADHD when she was a teenager, back when every kid who talked back or "couldn't concentrate" in school was suddenly "miraculously" discovered to have ADD/ADHD. My wife had, and does NOT have, any symptoms at all of ADHD. Just to be clear. But, she was diagnosed by an "allegedly" trained doctor, and put on medications that caused serious problems including sleep disorders, depression, and suicidal thoughts. God knows what would have happened if she hadn't stopped taking that garbage they put her on. But anyway, she wasn't diagnosed because she had it, she was diagnosed only because it was "hip" and new at the time, and getting your kid hooked on Ritalin is a convenient way to get them to do what you tell them to.

So, anyways, I've seen the whole "ADHD" thing from both sides, and I highly doubt the writers were serious in any way when they first stuck that tag on Mikey. I promise, it was as simple as, "Well, nowadays when kids act like morons, we blame ADHD; Mikey's kind of dumb, so let's use that to explain it." Maybe more recently, they've retroactively put some superficial "symptoms" of it onto him, but I swear that wasn't their original intention; it was a gag, and a lazy one.

I've still seen nothing from Mikey that comes close to anything like the behaviors of my friends' kids of similar age. And as I've said, I'm aware there are degrees of severity. But I maintain, Mikey doesn't have ADHD; he's just stupid. The writers don't want to own up to that, thus, the "miracle diagnosis" used by so many parents, teachers and "doctors" beforehand. It's dumb. Anyone who thinks they're trying to "keep it real" or raise any kind of awareness, or even just make Mikey more sympathetic, is giving this show's writers way too much credit. We've seen how many episodes so far? Frankly, the show's writers aren't that clever, to have even put as much though into it as you'd like to give them. We've seen ample proof of that.

[snake]

I just think they make Mikey act like a retard because little kids find it funny. I mean, they're the target audience for this show no matter how you look at it.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I agree with that assessment. Mikey in other versions has NEVER been ADHD or ADD. In Mirage, he was laid-back and a bit lazy at times, told jokes sometimes, and was out-going and friendly, compassionate, and even a bit creative. But NEVER had attention or hyperactive issues. In the OT, he was laid-back, lazy, and a bit goofy at times, told jokes and was "obsessed" with pizza and comics, but still- no ADHD or ADD, just a chilled-out, slightly silly personality.

In the movies, he was very much the laid-back guy like in Mirage, who liked to sit back and relax, was a little lazy (his trying to "cheat" at the punishment in SotO), and liked to annoy Raph. He was fun-loving, told jokes, and had a thing for junk food, but NO ADHD. He was even a bit introspective at times in SotO and TMNT III. He wasn't hyper, didn't have any issues paying attention, and at times even understood Donnie better than the other two when he went into his "techno-speak". (In SotO, he was the first one to realize what Prof. Perry meant about ingesting the anti-mutagen, even before Donnie realized they'd have to FEED it to Tokka and Rahzar!)

In 2K3, he was immature, a bit goofy at times, and obsessed with comics and video games and horror movies, still lazy, and kind of "dumbed down", but NEVER exhibited any signs of ADHD. He pestered Raph and Donnie, but wasn't obnoxiously hyper nor had a short-attention span. Again, he was compassionate and fun-loving, but still knew how to pay attention when needed, and was smart enough to understand most of what went on around him- unless it was Donnie talking.... He also was occasionally a big-headed a$$-hat, but that's another issue.

So WHERE does this "ADHD" come from?! It's a convenient excuse to make him dumb and silly and make REALLY stupid mistakes that a teen his age should KNOW BETTER then to make. Like eating the pizza after MONTHS in the fridge with no power in the latest episode. He would know better than to eat something so old and covered with mold. (In the original film, he wouldn't even touch a pizza that had just a couple day's growth on it!) He also says or does things that are more like the thought-process of a seven-year-old than a kid in his mid-teens. Basically, the writers use the ADHD excuse to make him do things that NO kid that age should/would realistically do. If anything, he's borderline mentally challenged in Nick, which is ALSO something that is only being played "for laughs". It's just plain lazy and uninspired writing, is all it is.

Nick has taken a character who USED to be well-rounded and had interesting flaws AND positive attributes, and has "taken it up to 11" with the negative ones, making them FAR worse than they've ever been and even adding NEW ones, while making the positive ones nearly non-existent, just for the sake of making him what is considered (by six-year-olds) to be "funny".

[Shark_Blade]

Holy long posts!

Nice ready, cheers for sharing!

[Leo656]

Mikey having ADHD makes no sense.

Mikey being a 24/7 toker, on the other hand, makes perfect sense. In every single incarnation. Too bad Nick can't just "go there". It's not like the kid's fooling anybody.

[Orochi]

Is there any official source stating Mikey has ADHD? I don't think it was ever mentioned in an episode and the only place I've seen it listed is Turtlepedia, which anyone can edit. I'd be honestly surprised if Nick put in a mental illness for it's character, even if it's a positive heroic character used. Just seems a bit of a liability, given that uppity soccer mums went crazy after a My Little Pony character was named Derpy. I tried looking for his bio and failed, Nick.co.uk's one doesn't show it, I've been told on the USA site it does, but can't really get on there without being redirected.

[Jephael]

I've heard Big Bang Theory fans asking if Sheldon Cooper has autism, and the writers totally deny it, so if a live action sitcom aimed at adults doesn't feel inclined to give a main character a mental disability, I'm betting a Nickelodeon cartoon for children definitely won't!!!

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Jephael

I've heard Big Bang Theory fans asking if Sheldon Cooper has autism, and the writers totally deny it, so if a live action sitcom aimed at adults doesn't feel inclined to give a main character a mental disability, I'm betting a Nickelodeon cartoon for children definitely won't!!!

And yet they "did". I have seen it in his character profile on the site, quite a while back, to be sure, but it WAS there as "official". And totally bogus, IMHO. As I said before, he's NEVER had any of those attributes in ANY OTHER VERSION! Though Leo's joke about him being a stoner might apply to the OT and 2K3.... (The junk food obsession, the attitude, the voice....) Hardly in the movies or comics, though. (Bay turtles being a possible exception. I can certainly see him being a "toker" there, LOL!)

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Orochi

Is there any official source stating Mikey has ADHD? I don't think it was ever mentioned in an episode and the only place I've seen it listed is Turtlepedia, which anyone can edit. I'd be honestly surprised if Nick put in a mental illness for it's character, even if it's a positive heroic character used. Just seems a bit of a liability, given that uppity soccer mums went crazy after a My Little Pony character was named Derpy. I tried looking for his bio and failed, Nick.co.uk's one doesn't show it, I've been told on the USA site it does, but can't really get on there without being redirected.

When the series debuted, Nick's website had a section with character bios. Michelangelo's stated, I think in the first line or two, that he had ADHD. So it's canon.

[Leo656]

Mikey and Raph were both baked in every single scene of the first movie, I don't know how you can't tell. I mean, Raphael keeps a better handle on it, but it's there. And don't even get me started on Casey. Even wide awake, his eyes just refuse to open more than half.

That movie's actually a lot funnier if you can picture a bong just off-screen to the left of every shot.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

You're funny, Leo. You should KNOW, it wasn't a bong. Knowing Splinter, it would'a been a hookah.

[Leo656]

Remember that time in the Mirage comics where he laced Leo's tea? Hilarious. I totally always wanted to see "Fearless Leader" trippin' balls. Fo' sho.

When stuff like that is canon, I'unno how anyone can doubt that Mikey is fried.

[Orochi]

Originally Posted by Powder

When the series debuted, Nick's website had a section with character bios. Michelangelo's stated, I think in the first line or two, that he had ADHD. So it's canon.

Thanks for the help on it, Nick.co.uk doesn't have that as his, just the same generic filler text for him you have on the action figure boxes, so it's good to have some confirmation.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Didn't they drop the whole ADHD aspect before the series started? And honestly, they never should have thought of the idea of giving him ADHD. 2k12 Mikey is just becoming more annoying and outright dumb to the point where Ciro and them either don't know exactly what to do with him or just making him this way for humor's sake.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Orochi

Thanks for the help on it, Nick.co.uk doesn't have that as his, just the same generic filler text for him you have on the action figure boxes, so it's good to have some confirmation.

I myself don't have pictures, but when that promotional material was new, people were screencapping it & sharing here, for those who couldn't view it on-site. So if you can dredge up some of the old-ass threads from... early 2012, I think, you might find them.

[Orochi]

Originally Posted by Powder

I myself don't have pictures, but when that promotional material was new, people were screencapping it & sharing here, for those who couldn't view it on-site. So if you can dredge up some of the old-ass threads from... early 2012, I think, you might find them.

I found a few on Deviantart, says he has major ADD so it was on the site for sure. I'm wondering if that actually was the case now or if they've retconned him to just be kinda weird. He honestly just strikes me as some Ralph Wiggum-esque savant rather than suffering from ADHD.