If one of the turtles had to die in each iteration, which would you choose?

[Davetello]

Clearly we don't really want anyone to die, and you can argue it would have affected the quality of the iteration in general, but imagine that it was necessary for one of them to die, for whatever reason. Choose in each of the following universes, and explain your reasoning. It could be for any motive - how it would affect the others, how the turtle's death would facilitate the character development of an enemy (think Leo in IDW with Shredder, for example). Anything you like.

An example might be selecting Donnie to die in FW, simply to see how the others would cope without him saving the day in most eps. If you think about it, Donnie was really the difference between Shredder and Krang enslaving the world.

Bear in mind that this thread excludes anomalies or time travel events such as Same As It Never Was.

Mirage Vol 1;
Fred Wolf;
4kids;
Nick;
1990 film;
IDW.

Those are the six universes I am interested in for this thread.

[Davetello]

Too morbid or uncomfortable eh? Well, there was no harm in asking, nothing has been lost.

[IndigoErth]

Didn't see this before... gahh I can't answer that... Can I cheat and use those Dark Turtles?? But I guess they don't exist in everything.

Can't sacrifice my fave. But nor could I sacrifice his brothers as that would probably nearly be death to him as well.

[Davetello]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Didn't see this before... gahh I can't answer that... Can I cheat and use those Dark Turtles?? But I guess they don't exist in everything.

Can't sacrifice my fave. But nor could I sacrifice his brothers as that would probably nearly be death to him as well.

No, you can't use the Dark Turtles, sorry. Only the darker versvion of Leo in IDW, because he's still Leo, just psychologically tormented and manipulated.

Ah but you see, the refusal to sacrifice Leo makes light of the whole topic. The beauty of a thread like this is that it gives us the chance to let go of the last person we want to lose - in that respect it's like life, as many people lose the person who matters to them most, and sometimes because that person wants to be let go.

[Shark_Blade]

The last turtle I want to loose is Mikey. But I'm willing to sacrifice him for the story that unfolds. It must be devastating for everybody so that's gotta be interesting to read/watch.

Kinda like the death of Robin scenario. That made quite a milestone.

[victory_angel]

I would say OT I can see Raph sacrificing himself to save the other Turtles and perhaps. Because in the OT Raph is the wise guy and both Raph and Mikey were the goofballs of the series. However there are times where Raphael would put himself in harms way to spare his companions. Such as the time he thought he was going to die, so he felt that if that was going to happen he should make the most of the time he had left, he also leaves the team because he wanted to spare them the grief, and if he was to go out he wanted it to be in a blaze of glory.

2k3 I can see Leo sacrificing himself to save his brothers and the world. He wants to do whatever it takes to save the world, but if it's possible to save his family at the cost of his own life, he would want to take that option vrs. everyone heroically sacrifices themselves.

For the 2012 version I can see Donnie paying the ultimate price. Donnie is teased for being or brushed off as a weaker fighter. And in Slash and Destroy when Raph and Mikey were helping Donnie to a safe place where his injuries could be tended to. Donnie does tell Raph to leave him behind because he doesn't want to slow them down from catching up with Leo or avoiding becoming Slashes next victims.

Also like Davetello posted Donnie is the difference between Shredder the Kaang's desire to enslave the world. Unlike the OT the Turtles in this series don't seem to realize how valuable Donnie is to their team. So having a moment or section of episodes where they really do have to flop around without him.

[testtube]

I would say if you were to go dark by killing off one of the turtles it would be good for mikey to die. A lot of the comedy side would die and bring an edge that would make sense. Plus you just killed the one everyone likes!

[snake]

Leonardo. The whole team would be devastated.

[Cryomancer]

Raphael to put an end to his repetitive focus arcs and as a way to make the turtles a bit more different. Have Donatello think his death was his own dumb fault, the others disagree, that sort of thing.

[Vicky82]

I probably would say Leo for Mirage, 2K3 show and IDW

For the Nick show can't imagine it, maybe Raph or Mikey but they only die for a few minutes and brought back by CPR (which I don't think will work because of their plastron) or Donnie has defibrillator or by other means (a mutant that has healing powers ect)

[Leofan26]

Well, Leo would make perfect sense story wise I guess. Would I be happy? Heck no, maybe for an episode or two I could live with it but not forever

It'd destroy the family if he died, make every thing crash and burn.

Than maybe Mikey I could see, it worked for Darkwing Duck.

[Warhorse]

Mirage Vol 1: I honestly don't know enough to make a true decision. It would probably be Raph since he's the one that likes to go off on his own in a huff. I could see, if all of them were facing a really dangerous enemy, Raph would go first so the others could try and see the enemies weakness, even if it means Raph could get killed in the end.

Fred Wolf: Is this even possible? Probably Leo. He did seem to want to try and save April at all costs in this version, so I could see that being the reason he could be the first to die.

4kids:I think in this one, it's been shown, with Leo and Raph, if one goes down, the other one is not too far behind. So, I think you'd have a strong possibility of losing two in this incarnation.

Nick: I had a some sort of a vision, where Leo, Raph and Splinter were fighting Shredder's gang on top of a roof, when Raph and Leo both get pushed over the side and Splinter rushes to catch his sons, both dangling from each of his arm. He don't have the strength to pull both them up, and in the end, while Leo tends to be more sacrificial, I can see Raph actually letting go of Splinter so he can pull Leo up to saftey.

1990 film:Leonardo. At the end, he definitely lost it and didn't think clearly, which could be used against him in the future.

IDW. I know nothing of this, so can't comment.

But basically, because Leo and Raph are the primary fighters of the team, and do the brunt work, I can just see them making that ultimate sacrifice/mistake that could be the end of them. Nothing against Donnie and Mikey, it just seems the other two put themselves in harms way more.

[Gunpowder]

Not morbid, just too anti-kid-friendly for every version. The comics don't include that kind of thing because it hinders the continuity. I could only see it happening in a movie, or something short-lived.

Mirage: Leonardo - although, the identities of the Turtles were more ambiguous then, so the decision of which one should perish would be less important. In all honesty, though, this is the only iteration where any of them could die and it would have the same impact. Can't say the same for the other versions.

Fred Wolf (1987): None. Didn't take itself seriously at all, so the death of any of them would seem extremely unnecessary and out of place

4kids (2003): Leonardo, since he was the most important all throughout; but I haven't yet watched this series in full, so I can't go any further than that with it

Nick (2012): Either Raph or Leo. At the end of the Season 1 finale, actually, there was a moment when it was assumed that Leonardo perished after the Kraang ship was destroyed, but he (predictably) didn't. And then in the Season 2 finale, he was the center of attention and made out to be the self-sacrificial one. So this series would definitely be more prepared to make him die than Raph.

1990 film: Raphael had more focus here than Leo (which I love), so he would be the one to go.

IDW: Beats me. I haven't read it (but plan to).



I can't ever see this happening Michelangelo or Donatello simply because it wouldn't have the same impact as it would with the other two. In fact, I'd very much like to see a rendition of the Turtles where either Leo or Raph dies. If I had to choose, I'd pick Raph for each one because I feel like he has the most depth. Even more than Leonardo, who is made out to be a valiant leader, but almost never has any worthwhile emotions given to his character, other than bickering with Raph over who should lead (and that isn't even anything notable, really). In every incarnation - well, just about every one - Raphael gets the most character development, showing his brute side first, and later his soft side.

With anything, not just TMNT, I think the character who has the widest arsenal of emotions would be the one whose death brings about the biggest blow. But, then again, Leo's death would bring about even more emotions out of Raph (he even cried over Leo's unconscious body in the 2003 series, while the others didn't). So maybe it would be better for it to be Leo, now that I think about it.