Oh poor Kirby O'Neil... Why do the writers hate you?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by victory_angel

This is the look that Kirby is giving. http://screencapped.net/animation/tm..._display_media

Exactly, but I think it was unintentional.

[kelligrafie]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

They made him kind of annoyingly wimpy at this point. I mean it's great that they have a lot of diversity among the male characters, ranging from one like him up to the stature of those like Shredder and Tiger Claw, but the show kind of punishes Mr. O'Neil too much for it with all the crap that keeps happening to him.

Allow him to be a bit of a wuss if that's who he is, but maybe at least let him be a lucky wuss who manages to avoid or escape stuff more often, even if by the skin of his teeth.

I get exactly what you mean.

Baxter Stockman is continually poo-pooed on but as we saw in the maze episode, he can still manage to get one up on the turtles or even Shredder's henchmen when he tries. Kirby just sits in the middle of the room saying things like, "We're doomed!"

[Amaranthus]

Originally Posted by kelligrafie

I get exactly what you mean.

Baxter Stockman is continually poo-pooed on but as we saw in the maze episode, he can still manage to get one up on the turtles or even Shredder's henchmen when he tries. Kirby just sits in the middle of the room saying things like, "We're doomed!"

But Kirby's been through an awful lot. He's been kidnapped by aliens, brainwashed and mutated. You can't expect someone not to live in fear after all those things happen to them.

[kelligrafie]

Originally Posted by Amaranthus

But Kirby's been through an awful lot. He's been kidnapped by aliens, brainwashed and mutated. You can't expect someone not to live in fear after all those things happen to them.

• April's been kidnapped repeatedly.
• She's had to stand by and watch her dad be mutated (twice).
• She's had a crappoo kicked out of her by Karai.
• She's been sprayed with hallucenagenic mushroom spores.
• She's been cloned.
• She's been there when her adoptive father Splinter lost his mind on several occasions thanks to the Rat King and everything concerning the turtles' downfall in New York.
• Her best friend turned out to be a Krang in disguise.
• She temporarily went blind in the Chimera episode - I know she was seeing through the creature's eyes but she was blind to her own personal surroundings and that is terrifying if that's never happened to you before. Can you imagine waking up blind?

She doesn't turn into a crumpled soggy heap on the floor. Just saying. She's 16/17 and how old is Kirby? And she's half his size. She's got more spunk in her pinky finger than he has in his entire body.

[BubblyShell22]

Yes, very true, but some people handle trauma in different ways. Some get stronger from it while others wallow in it and have a pity party. Frankly, I think that if they aren't going to do anything legit with Kirby, they should just kill him off.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by kelligrafie

how old is Kirby?

You know, I've asked myself that same question. Right before he's mutated, again, he claims to have been a hippie. Now it's possible for him to have been a hippie after the hight of the hippie movement (he never mentions a decade), but if he really was part of the hippie movement back then he'd have to be around 70 years old...

[Amaranthus]

Originally Posted by neatoman

You know, I've asked myself that same question. Right before he's mutated, again, he claims to have been a hippie. Now it's possible for him to have been a hippie after the hight of the hippie movement (he never mentions a decade), but if he really was part of the hippie movement back then he'd have to be around 70 years old...

The hippie culture had a popularity peak in the 90's too. I'm pretty sure that's what he meant. Kirby can't be older than 50.

[Tarris Vaal]

I'm still wondering if he might become more important later as part of the Dark Raph or EPF storyline - it was mentioned he is a specialist in psychological sciences, it might prove important later

Though that is probably just wishful thinking on my part

[Metalwolf]

Originally Posted by Amaranthus

The hippie culture had a popularity peak in the 90's too. I'm pretty sure that's what he meant. Kirby can't be older than 50.

He's probably at least 60, still old enough to be involved with the hippy stuff, but not so old he's going to go completely grey. The hippy stuff didn't abruptly stop at 1969, it continued somewhat into the early 70's too.

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by Amaranthus

But Kirby's been through an awful lot. He's been kidnapped by aliens, brainwashed and mutated. You can't expect someone not to live in fear after all those things happen to them.

It's a big contrast from how he was earlier when he sacrificed himself for April and the turtles to get away. I think it was the Gantlet ep.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Metalwolf

He's probably at least 60, still old enough to be involved with the hippy stuff, but not so old he's going to go completely grey. The hippy stuff didn't abruptly stop at 1969, it continued somewhat into the early 70's too.

Funny thing- I was born in the 70's, and the hippie movement was still pretty strong right up until around mid-70's, according to my mom. So it could be that he was a teen at the time, which would make him late 40's or early 50's. Which is about right. I'm currently 38, so he'd be just a bit older than my generation.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, I've always pegged Kirby as being in his forties or fifties.

[neatoman]

Any opinions of Kirby in retrospect?

[Drose18]

His second mutation and the subsequent "not again" from April was hilarious

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Any opinions of Kirby in retrospect?

A perplexing aspect of the show, no doubt.

First of all, how are you gonna name her father “Kirby” for the first time in franchise history and then be like “oops! Just a reference!” When they hit almost every single other story beat from Mirage vol. 1.

Beyond that, the show just largely lacked direction after season 1. I love the show to death and it remains one of my favorite versions of TMNT, but they were mostly just stalling for time between Showdown and Requiem/Owari.

Season 1 was really well planned and had a solid beginning/middle/end. After that, they seemed to just have their big season finales planned out, paving the road for the final Splinter vs. Shredder conflict, but the rest was kind of meandering. It was frequently still really really good as stand alone episodes, but the overall plot would constantly be stalled by contrivances.

Which brings us back to Kirby. It really seems like they were making it up as they went along. Even between his many periods of abduction and mutation, he and April NEVER get a single exposition scene. What kind of conversation did they have after Showdown? There was a one month gap before the start of season 2. What kind of questions did April have for him after he was freed and she had faced Kraang Prime? What did she have to say about seeing her own mother cloned into a freakish monster? There was literally half a season between defeating the Kraang and the Triceratons blowing the planet up (not to mention they’re also reunited for the entire back half of season 4). But she doesn’t get a single scene speaking to her father, or even suggest that he revealed anything off screen.

It’s also bizarre how much Ciro hyped April up as this super-important character at the beginning. Then she has almost nothing to do with the Kraang’s final defeat. And she’s mostly just a tag along for the season 4 finale, the Kavaxas arc, and ENTIRELY absent (not even MENTIONED) in their future arc. Or whatever you want to consider the end of season 5. It all applies equally lol.

So in summary, he was a boring and borderline annoying character, so no one complained when he was sidelined. But it was bad writing to not flesh out his backstory.

And the fact that they didn’t do some reinvented take on “Kirby and the Warp Crystal” is a crime. Same goes for “The Christmas Allens”.