Is anyone else glad that there's little to no romance/shipping in the TMNT franchise?

[CyberCubed]

Other than the April/Casey pairing, is anyone else glad that there is little to no shipping or romance in the TMNT franchise?

I'm looking at alot of blog posts with younger fans or "anime fans" getting into the TMNT franchise for the first time and all they're talking about is shipping or pairings. Mainly due to Don's crush on April but even stuff like pairing Karai and April together despite them not even meeting in the show yet.

The only other full-on TMNT pairing we had was Raphael/Ninjara in the Archie series, which is a bit more obscure since comics are not read by casuals as much as the cartoons are. The other stuff (Leo/Radical, Leo/Lotus Blossom, Raph/Mona Lisa, Mike/Kala, Mike/The Regenta), is all often obscure or one-shot events at most.

I think of the other fandoms I'm in all they talk about is their ridiculous "shipping wars" where they actually fight with each other over which character should be paired with which character.

I am thankful the TMNT fandom doesn't have to endure such nonsense, although the Nick cartoon attracting the anime fandom probably isn't going to help in the coming years.

[Jester]

Dude, you're deluded if you think this fandom is free of Shippers...there just aren't many here.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Jester

Dude, you're deluded if you think this fandom is free of Shippers...there just aren't many here.

I am well aware of those, "Turtlecest" shippers, but at least they stay out of the main fandom and hide in their little safecircles so we don't have to deal with them.

But other fandoms dealing with comic book or anime characters deal with this heavily. Good thing the TMNT franchise rarely focuses on romance.

[Powder]

Hop on Tumblr or Deviantart. You know nothing about the fandom outside of this site, apparently.

[Pterobat]

In this case, it's a good idea to separate the franchise from the fandom when we're talking about the issue.

In the franchise, there are other canon pairings besides April and Casey, though a lot of them don't go anywhere, like you said. I don't think that's a "good" thing. Romantic relationships are like any other kind of character interaction: they're a part of life and can be done good or they can be done bad. They are not a corrupting force and no more prone to being badly written than anything else.

In the fandom, shipping doesn't exist because of the creators or what they do. Shipping exists for series without canonical romance, shipping exists for pairings the creators have denied, and shipping exists for anything and anyone you could name.

I don't usually participate in this aspect of nerd culture (and not for TMNT), but that doesn't make me better than shippers. They're just expressing their fandom in the way they want to.

There are still pairings that will shock or confuse me, but it's a fact of fandom life that other people are going to be into that, so I gotta live with it.

I see no reason why the Turtles fandom is immune to this, or that it actually is...I suspect it's like Jester said, and none of the shipper-y types are on this forum. But any fandom is larger than its message boards.

As for why the shipping centers around the Nick series, it's probably because the Nick series is *new*. Even the 2003 series ended four years ago, which makes it ancient in media years. While fandoms do pore over long-dead series, never underestimate the draw of a series that is new, fresh, and airing-as-we-speak. That is why a lot of the fannish culture right now centers around the Nick series.

[Yorae]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I am well aware of those, "Turtlecest" shippers, but at least they stay out of the main fandom and hide in their little safecircles so we don't have to deal with them.

But other fandoms dealing with comic book or anime characters deal with this heavily. Good thing the TMNT franchise rarely focuses on romance.

The franchise/canon itself yes, the fandom though.. That's a different story.

Hop on Tumblr or Deviantart.

Don't forget fanfiction.net!

But as far as romance in the TMNT franchise itself, I'd say its about the right amount. We have April and Casey, and then Raph and Ninjara off the top of my head and a few others that escape me right now.

[Refractive Reflections]

I think the more appropriate topic should be "glad there's little to no Mary Sue-ish/teenybopper/superficial romance and shipping?"

I can't tell you how irksome it is to filter past all the annoying Turtlecest and Mary Sue Deviant Artwork and fanfiction stories out there. I had a mini-rant of sorts (LOL ) about trying to find an easier way to find decent fanfics/fancomics that have more substance than just romance/sexuality. If anyone is interested in the topic: http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sho...t=40294&page=3


As long as there is some genuine substance to a romance and its NOT the central focus of the franchise then its okay, something that's beyond the whole infatuation and sexuality aspect to it, otherwise it becomes incredibly superficial in terms of story telling/character development. (So far the official TMNT franchise seems alright with a good balance, but as for the TMNT fandom...a WHOLE other story.) I'm usually only interested in romance stories, in general, that expose and reveal other aspects of a character's personality that actually gives more depth/complexity to that character.

[Jester]

Yeah, that's why I have trouble with the RPG threads....tons of "And I'll be my fan character, _______". Can we not just use canon characters, please.

[CyberCubed]

I guess it probably helps that TMNT has an all-male main cast besides April.

When you think of the franchise the only two major females are April and Karai, the others only tend to appear in certain series, (like Irma in the original toon, or Ninjara just in Archie, etc).

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I guess it probably helps that TMNT has an all-male main cast besides April.

When you think of the franchise the only two major females are April and Karai, the others only tend to appear in certain series, (like Irma in the original toon, or Ninjara just in Archie, etc).

LOL, not only that but if there were too many females in the TMNT cast then it would be more of a "sorority house" atmosphere with more drama emphasis, rather than action/fighting. The TMNT franchise would then border onto appealing to a more female demographic and probably most of us (mostly males) wouldn't find TMNT as appealing as we do now.

[Pterobat]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I guess it probably helps that TMNT has an all-male main cast besides April.

When you think of the franchise the only two major females are April and Karai, the others only tend to appear in certain series, (like Irma in the original toon, or Ninjara just in Archie, etc).

Yeah, but it sucks that there are less female characters because, you know, we girls would like somebody to identify with, too.

Look at it this way: if there were more female characters, that means less original characters to fill the gap. Maybe.

[Yorae]

Originally Posted by JLS

LOL, not only that but if there were too many females in the TMNT cast then it would be more of a "sorority house" atmosphere with more drama emphasis, rather than action/fighting. The TMNT franchise would then border onto appealing to a more female demographic and probably most of us (mostly males) wouldn't find TMNT as appealing as we do now.

I don't think the appeal to females is reliant on having more female characters. From what I've seen, younger female fans thrive on franchises with almost all-male casts but which focus more on drama/inner conflict/angst.

[zkarlette]

That's true, the OT has a big female following and there weren't many female characters. We don't need this show to become " sweet valley high".

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Pterobat

Yeah, but it sucks that there are less female characters because, you know, we girls would like somebody to identify with, too.

Look at it this way: if there were more female characters, that means less original characters to fill the gap. Maybe.

And it could go in the wrong direction, see Venus.

I am hoping Irma shows up in the Nick cartoon as April's classmate...I think the April/Irma dynamic could work well in the new series.

[Pterobat]

Venus's gender wasn't the problem. The problem was they tried to shoehorn a fifth character into a dynamic that had already been well-established, and made this character a naive idiot. A fifth male Turtle could have been just as awful in this way.

And of course viewers can like characters of a different gender from themselves, or have other traits different from them. That's not the point, though: the point is that having more female characters shouldn't be seen as a negative thing, and sometimes it *does* work for female viewers.

[IcyKali]

I was actually also surprised by the lack of crazy shipping in the main part of this fandom. I wonder if it's because people like the ones on this forum just don't have the sort of bashing, ship-war-inducing attitude?

Also, it's highly likely that there are shippers here and they just don't talk about it. I'm a shipper, but I've never done any shipping fanart or fanfiction, nor have I ever really had a conversation about it.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by Yorae

I don't think the appeal to females is reliant on having more female characters. From what I've seen, younger female fans thrive on franchises with almost all-male casts but which focus more on drama/inner conflict/angst.

I guess I was looking more on the other side of the issue where if, and I mean IF, too many females were added to a TMNT TV series (OT, 2K3, or 2012) it would gain more girl fans (despite TMNT already having some) but abandon boy fans. During that age most kids play within their own gender. What I was thinking is that if boys kept seeing too many female characters the boys would think it was a "girly" show and not watch it.

Even though the plentiful female characters could "kick butt" still I think boys would abandon it, just because there were too many girls (in their simple minds), and lump the changed TMNT series into the category with other girl action shows like "Sailor Moon" even though the tones for either show are completely different.

[Candy Kappa]

I like how this thread describes Shippers are a separate unit of a fandom, as if that is all they are about and contribute.

[Jephael]

As a fan fiction writer, I usually try to stick with the canon relationships, especially when concerning properties like Harry Potter or Back to the Future. But with comic book/cartoon characters, I like to take some creative liberties. I'm a big Raphael/Mona Lisa shipper. I also like to ship Beast Boy and Raven from Teen Titans together, though in the comics they did hook up at one point, so in a way it's canon.

[Shredded]

Originally Posted by JLS

I guess I was looking more on the other side of the issue where if, and I mean IF, too many females were added to a TMNT TV series (OT, 2K3, or 2012) it would gain more girl fans (despite TMNT already having some) but abandon boy fans. During that age most kids play within their own gender. What I was thinking is that if boys kept seeing too many female characters the boys would think it was a "girly" show and not watch it.

Even though the plentiful female characters could "kick butt" still I think boys would abandon it, just because there were too many girls (in their simple minds), and lump the changed TMNT series into the category with other girl action shows like "Sailor Moon" even though the tones for either show are completely different.

I don't think adding more females would gain it more female viewers or any-thing like that at all.

No one in their life has ever gone. "Oh so that show have more girls huh? Omg! I better go watch that!" ....

If my little pony as taught us some-thing, it is that as long as characters are written well, it doesn't matter what gender they have, what marks a well written character is that any gender can relate to him/her despite of the characters or viewers gender!

The real issue is that half the world population are women, and it can become frustrating as hell to feel so under represented in our favourite mediums all the time, it's like never to be acknowledged at all. To only be met with fictional worlds where men are the domination species, only men can do interesting stuff or have flaws, and we are treated as an entire other species all together where it's a "big deal." every time a woman enters the picture.

"Women with important functions, flawed background and personality.. what's that?"
thanks, really mature -_-;

And you know, a good writer can write lots of female characters without making them a love interest.
It hasn't happened in the tmnt show, but it could, good writers should be able to write a nice platonic male-female friendship. You know, like Leo and April in the last episode.

Avatar the Last airbender was a show that had a very fair amount of women, without ending up in the sailor moon, my little pony category.
Heck. "Avatar the legend of Korra." has a female lead, and doesn't fall into that trap, it is possible!

A sign of a bad writer is that they keep falling back on the love interest as if it's a safety net and they have nothing else.

I gotta be honest though, in the case of the nick show, I have a very difficult time disliking either crush. first of all, these a clearly teenagers surfacing for the first time, so for them to develop first time crushs only seems natural, and yeah.. falling in love is a way of life.

Donnies crush on April do appear a lot, but on the same way it doesn't get in the way of their other interactions, it's there for a breath joke, and then Donnie is back to being Donnie again, rambling some scinesy mumbo jumbo. They actually managed to write it so it doesn't feel forced.

And Leos crush on Karai while looking way more subtle, also seemed interesting and genuinly sweet, and I could easily see it lead to dillemas plot wise. So well.. I have such a hard time disliking any of these pairings.

Would it be nice though, if they introduced a woman no one has a crush on? Sure! that would be wonderful if Irma went on a visit, and she was merely "one of the dudes but a girl." that would be great!