Favorite Iteration(s) of the TMNT

*Powder* · 12-22-2020, 02:44 AM

1. Mirage/Image. It's the roots, it's for adults, it's got a wide variety of themes & art styles, we owe it everything. It's dark, cynical, introspective, surprisingly deep & poignant for a series rooted in such a ridiculous concept. It manages to seamlessly blend depressing & wacky material at the same time, & I love that balance, which also shares space with high-octane action, & sci-fi of all kinds. Others have had the same formula over the years, but never with the same feeling. Image, in particular, turns so many things on their head, completely subverting your expectations, & delivering the most consistently brutal material shy of Bodycount, as well as a refreshingly multi-dimensional Michelangelo, for once. On a whole, the gritty art styles sell me more than any other version.

2. The 1990 movie. Gets it right. Respects the source material, looks & feels "real", dripping with mood, style, aesthetics, and magic. It's pretty much perfect. Holds up amazingly to this day. Probably the best likeness of the turtles themselves, ever, & I might even say the same for Shredder & The Foot. It's a real time capsule of the era it was made in, yet doesn't really feel dated.

3. The original Playmates toyline. While not a version you can read or watch, we all immersed ourselves in that "universe" when we played. So many incredible designs & vivid colors, & heavy on gross-out body horror. Sure, everyone grew up on the cartoons, games, & comics, but when you think of almost any given character, it's their toy likeness that comes to mind.

4. The original cartoon. I hate that its legacy pretty much destroyed the TMNT's potential & is regarded as what TMNT "should be", but taken for what it is, in the context of the time it existed, I love it. Dry, sarcastic humor, references to 60's pop culture & Chinese martial arts films, a wide variety of original characters & takes on familiar ones, on a whole, it's pretty solid. I may prefer most aspects of other iterations, but the fact I revisit this one more often is what helps it rank higher. Blame it on nostalgia, or the fact its one-and-done episode writing makes it more accessible for re-watching.

5. The 2012 Nick series. Pretty good mix of all things TMNT. I hate that the casual Fred-Wolf-only fans, & rabid shippers whined their way into having their influence rub off on it, but yeah, pretty great overall. Gets very emotional & dark, like Mirage, has a lot of body horror, like Playmates' toyline, pop culture references up the yin-yang, like the old toon, it hits a lot of the right notes, & had incredible sound design to boot. & the fight choreography, yoooo!

Honorable mention to Supermutant Legend, the two anime OVA's, as they're some tip-top material for my personal taste. I'm a huge tokusatu/kaiju guy, & you can feel the influence of Ultraman, Super Sentai, Godzilla, etc. in these like crazy. They're insanely Japanese, that's my thing. Devil Shredder & Turtle Saint are some of my all time favorite designs.

12-22-2020, 02:44 AM	#5
Powder 40 Years of TMNT Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Shell-Ri-La Posts: 26,956	1. Mirage/Image. It's the roots, it's for adults, it's got a wide variety of themes & art styles, we owe it everything. It's dark, cynical, introspective, surprisingly deep & poignant for a series rooted in such a ridiculous concept. It manages to seamlessly blend depressing & wacky material at the same time, & I love that balance, which also shares space with high-octane action, & sci-fi of all kinds. Others have had the same formula over the years, but never with the same feeling. Image, in particular, turns so many things on their head, completely subverting your expectations, & delivering the most consistently brutal material shy of Bodycount, as well as a refreshingly multi-dimensional Michelangelo, for once. On a whole, the gritty art styles sell me more than any other version. 2. The 1990 movie. Gets it right. Respects the source material, looks & feels "real", dripping with mood, style, aesthetics, and magic. It's pretty much perfect. Holds up amazingly to this day. Probably the best likeness of the turtles themselves, ever, & I might even say the same for Shredder & The Foot. It's a real time capsule of the era it was made in, yet doesn't really feel dated. 3. The original Playmates toyline. While not a version you can read or watch, we all immersed ourselves in that "universe" when we played. So many incredible designs & vivid colors, & heavy on gross-out body horror. Sure, everyone grew up on the cartoons, games, & comics, but when you think of almost any given character, it's their toy likeness that comes to mind. 4. The original cartoon. I hate that its legacy pretty much destroyed the TMNT's potential & is regarded as what TMNT "should be", but taken for what it is, in the context of the time it existed, I love it. Dry, sarcastic humor, references to 60's pop culture & Chinese martial arts films, a wide variety of original characters & takes on familiar ones, on a whole, it's pretty solid. I may prefer most aspects of other iterations, but the fact I revisit this one more often is what helps it rank higher. Blame it on nostalgia, or the fact its one-and-done episode writing makes it more accessible for re-watching. 5. The 2012 Nick series. Pretty good mix of all things TMNT. I hate that the casual Fred-Wolf-only fans, & rabid shippers whined their way into having their influence rub off on it, but yeah, pretty great overall. Gets very emotional & dark, like Mirage, has a lot of body horror, like Playmates' toyline, pop culture references up the yin-yang, like the old toon, it hits a lot of the right notes, & had incredible sound design to boot. & the fight choreography, yoooo! Honorable mention to Supermutant Legend, the two anime OVA's, as they're some tip-top material for my personal taste. I'm a huge tokusatu/kaiju guy, & you can feel the influence of Ultraman, Super Sentai, Godzilla, etc. in these like crazy. They're insanely Japanese, that's my thing. Devil Shredder & Turtle Saint are some of my all time favorite designs.