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View Poll Results: Do you enjoy the darker elements of TMNT? | |||
Yes | 68 | 86.08% | |
No | 1 | 1.27% | |
I have mixed feelings on it | 10 | 12.66% | |
Voters: 79. You may not vote on this poll |
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11-30-2014, 06:42 AM | #1 |
Emperor
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Stockholm
Posts: 9,449
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Darker aspects of TMNT
So while I have stated that I don't consider the "Grim and Gritty" Mirage comics to really live up to that reputation, I do certainly see darker aspects in TMNT. Tonally and storywise it's rarely very dark, but visually and thematically it can be dark.
Revenge, violence, black magic, mutalation etc, even stuff like that isn't always dark to the core, on the surface level it will still seem dark. And even if I don't consider any TMNT incarnation to be dark as whole (the ones I've experienced at least), the darker elements is what draws me to it, maybe because it's more sophiticated and unexpected from something called "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" than something like "Cowabunga Pizza Time Dude!". So does the dark stuff draw you in or alienate you? |
11-30-2014, 08:45 AM | #2 |
Disgusting
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Outer Heaven
Posts: 12,230
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It can draw me in. Too much dark is trying too hard to be edgy, and sometimes OT style camp is fun. The Nick show has a nice balance as well as (sometimes) 2k3.
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11-30-2014, 09:09 AM | #3 | |
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,292
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It what got into the series in the first place. Have I never read that cracked.com article, I would have kept on thinking that it was yet another funny talking animal show for kids. I was too young to appreciate the first and the second one didn't really impress me or I guess I didn't have time to watch it. Anyway, years later when I was reading an article titled "Disturbed origins of cartoon character", I saw a section of Teenage Mutant Ninja, and I was like
"The turtles force Shredder commit seppuku. Holy ****" After that, I went around web to find anything TMNT mirage related and I was to get hold of the first five issues and well the rest is history. At least that how I think it had happened.
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Quote:
Last edited by Luckyday; 11-30-2014 at 11:11 AM. |
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11-30-2014, 10:48 AM | #4 |
So tired of this place
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Shell Ri La
Posts: 26,809
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The dark themes of depression & isolation, among other things, is a big part of what makes Mirage my favorite iteration. The world is screwed & they know it.
"Life at best is bittersweet"
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11-30-2014, 11:08 AM | #5 |
Disgusting
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Outer Heaven
Posts: 12,230
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11-30-2014, 11:11 AM | #6 |
Space Cowboy
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Speed Force
Posts: 7,043
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I'd definitely say I enjoy the darker aspects of TMNT.
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11-30-2014, 12:41 PM | #7 | |
Overlord
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 14,007
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Quote:
The real darkness lies in the depressing themes and the horrible futures the turtles are going to have. Like the one with Raph and Shadow. Then we have issues where the Foot threaten to kill the family of one of their own if they fail to kill the turtles.... and the turtles win so...... And then there's one where Raph and a Foot Ninja have a drink and avoid being captured by aliens.... and then proceed to go back to their day-to-day without a thought on trying to rescue the victims that didn't get away because, hey, it's not their problem. It's just stuff like that where the real dark and grit comes from, not just the blood that most comics show that cartoons never do. I'm not really sure if this particularly draws me in or pushes me away, per say. It's just comics and how they are. TMNT also has the extra advantage of the series actually being over, so to speak. Their futures are pretty much set in stone and I doubt Laird finishing Volume 4 will change that. There will be no New 52 change up or what-have-you. That's just how it's going to be.
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"I was down with TMNT once, but then they changed what TMNT was. Now what I was down with is no longer TMNT and what TMNT now is seems weird and scary. And it'll happen to YOU." Check out my blog for Comic Reviews and other things. https://markepicblogofrandomness.blogspot.com/ I also started The AEW Crew, the All Elite Wrestling Fan Club! https://www.facebook.com/groups/637508120044168/ |
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12-29-2014, 07:42 PM | #8 |
Random Punk
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 41
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Of course. Darker aspects gives the spice to everything. It's much more enjoying to watch.
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12-29-2014, 07:51 PM | #9 | ||
Foot Elite
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,454
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I don't know if "dark" is the right way to put it, since, at least for me, that has some fairly juvenile connotations.
Which , don't get me wrong; the earlier Mirage issues are kind of juvenile, but not in that way. Instead they're kind of free-wheeling and high on their own energy and pastiche elements. They're gritty but their tongue is placed firmly in cheek. Later, though? Look, there's only one reason I still really have fondness for this property and keep coming back to it. Later Mirage took the strange foundations of the series and spun them int something that -- while still completely embracing its anything-goes, comic-book wackiness -- approached those elements as a layer of isolating weirdness. Later Mirage is an indie smorgasboard, genre-mixing series about growing old, about being straight-up bizarre, about isolation, about things just not working out even for a group of wacky, comic-booky, easily relatable characters living bittersweet, low-key lives where not everything's wrapped up. (And though I hate some of what it's done, I think the Mirage series' oft-unspoken relationship with the larger Turtles media around it is a fascinating element.) It's not always great, but it's always super fascinating, doubly so when read as a whole. The Mirage series does get very "adult." Adult in a way most superhero comics would never even touch. But I'd hesitate to ever call it "dark" with all the reductiveness that implies, especially with superhero/comic-book properties. Quote:
Just as it's also the point that it's tempered with all sorts of wackiness along the way. Quote:
Last edited by Cipher; 12-29-2014 at 07:59 PM. |
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12-29-2014, 08:06 PM | #10 |
Foot Soldier
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: CNY
Posts: 121
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I grew up with the original cartoon and loved it. When I got older I started to appreciate the first two movies more, and now that I'm an adult reading the comics is a real treat. I like that there's degrees of tone in the various turtles adaptations. Through the stages of my maturity there has always been a turtles medium for me to newly appreciate.
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09-11-2015, 03:01 PM | #11 |
New Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 3
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I honestly prefer the lighter side of TMNT, especially the 2012 series. I didn't really mind the Mirage comics more adult centric themes. I just hated the artwork. It just reminds me of early Judge Dredd comics from the 80's.
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09-11-2015, 03:12 PM | #12 |
New Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 3
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I honestly prefer the lighter side of TMNT, especially the 2012 series. I didn't really mind the Mirage comics more adult centric themes. I just hated the artwork. It just reminds me of early Judge Dredd comics from the 80's.
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09-11-2015, 03:29 PM | #13 | ||
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,292
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Quote:
TMNT stray away from that by taking some things in a serious matter and doesn't try glamorize things like when Casey kill a guy and the guy doesn't bleed a pool of blood like a Quentin Tarantino film, but just drop dead without a dramatic final speech and Casey having a realistic human reaction "Oh ****! I didn't mean kill him" because otherwise he would look like a sociopath if he's cracking jokes after committed murder even if it was out of self defense.
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Quote:
Last edited by Luckyday; 09-12-2015 at 02:03 AM. |
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09-11-2015, 09:59 PM | #14 |
Random Punk
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Toronna
Posts: 34
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I love the darker aspect. I think for me the perfect balance was the first movie. But do t get me wrong I really liked the first animated series as well. I'm on the fence on the nick show. I mean I loved the story lines but I have a hard time getting into the animation style.
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09-12-2015, 11:35 AM | #15 | |
Overlord
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sweden
Posts: 10,155
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09-12-2015, 11:45 AM | #16 |
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Republic of Ireland
Posts: 1,589
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I have mixed feelings about having darker aspects in tmnt. I've never read the comics, but I prefer TV shows that have a good balance of drama, action and comic relief (eg. Lost and Buffy). I thought the 2003 series did a great job at doing that.
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Donatello: The tracker! It might work. *Donatello goes to the back of the Turtle Van* Raphael: Shrewd move, Donatello. If we ignore the problem, it might go away by itself. (from The Mean Machines) |
09-12-2015, 03:07 PM | #17 |
Emperor
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 7,902
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Yes. I love blood, gore and violence. The more ruthless, the better.
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09-12-2015, 11:16 PM | #18 | |
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,874
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Quote:
The future stories also work well in this regard. In one asset, the mutants themselves are the bad guys, the badness brought upon by the Industrial Revolution bringing Global Warming and thus encouraging alien invasion. They are mistakes, unique. Other mutants seen are wicked, vile predators (Bloodsucker) or mindless creatures (the Arthropods from Tales vol.2 #17). "Loops" is a great example, as there was once a civilization of anthros, much like the mutants. It is gone now, all because of Leonardo's quest to fight Pai-Doth Noor. Maybe this darkness is brought upon by Laird's distaste of the mega-franchise he had wrought. This rings especially true for "Loops", as a swat at the anthros found throughout the mythos. Maybe those mindless bugs are swats at that too? In the end, Mirage is very different from the rest of the franchise, and will never happen again. |
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09-12-2015, 11:22 PM | #19 |
So tired of this place
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Shell Ri La
Posts: 26,809
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Stoooooooooooooop.
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I'm convinced that none of you have ever experienced joy
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09-13-2015, 02:31 AM | #20 |
Stone Warrior
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 737
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If you pick up some of the Mirage comics that write about the future you would find that their future world is rather grim.
The Turtles are all separated and seem to have suffered a great lost and they are drifted apart. I was really intrigued by the stories. It's a dark future but more grim than dark. |
Tags |
mirage, tmnt |
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