Anything that you don't like about well-liked versions of the TMNT?

[Wolfie65]

Originally Posted by Anarchistguy

- 2012 Don's crush on April was just plain damn creepy.
- 2012 Mikey's stupidity.

Since Donnie is the 'nerd' of the group and nerds tend to be rather less than successful with the ladies, I'm pretty sure that that's the angle they were going for, the fact that they are completely different species - Donnie being mostly Turtle with some Human DNA mutated into him, April being 99.99% Human with just a smidge of Kraang - which would make any type of 'romantic' involvement rather...impossible...getting swept under the carpet because kids' cartoon.......
Mikey isn't 'stupid', he just thinks so far outside the box that he doesn't even know what the box looks like.

[ticktack]

Originally Posted by TylerD

The 2012 crush Don having on April. I 100 percent agree. I know they did it for comic value, and him having heart eyes for her and trying to make it this cute thing. I don't think to younger viewers, they would think it's creepy. But overall I agree. I thought it was super strange to add to the show

The crush aspect was done poorly, with many wrong approaches toward female characters.
I think the crush represents/reflects a time when male friends were having internal talks and making fun of, devaluing, or "emasculating" a male member of their group. In the media, that guy gets the girl as a reward, with kisses or whatever; it doesn't matter. The pathetic nerd gets the reward, which might have been their approach to those incel or "friendzoned" guys.

Besides all the males getting the girl, the show had another parallel "Voltron"-type show where another pathetic, downtrodden male gets the girl as a reward. There are also some low-key entitled messages like those.

I've really seen posts where people (maybe they were girls) appreciated the guys who didn't mandate or tie their sympathy to another girl. Enjoying the girl's presence was just enough joy for them, and they were generally humble people. Living their honest, guilt-free lives as their authentic selves, without hating, hurting or blaming others for their mishaps. You know.