Which 2014 turtle do you like the most/the least?

[evan2000]

Time for another poll! The options above allow you to pick your most and least favorite turtle in the 2014 movie. Remember, please put your favorite turtle in other universe (or in general) aside for a moment and just focus your judgement on the 2014 movie characters alone.

There isn't enough polling space to indicate your 2nd and 3rd ranking, but you can post them in the thread if you want, and explain why do you rank them as such.

I'll start, here's my personal ranking:

1. Donatello
2. Raphael
3. Leonardo
4. Michelangelo

To me, Donatello behaved the most in-character out of the four in this movie. He is smart and quiet, perfectionist as always (there's a 74% variable that there's a 61% chance it's overkill though), but he still acts like a teenager, likes to show off a little (BAAAM! You've been hacked!), and gets panic (come alone, or else we'll... you shall be punished and... stuff) or scared (OMG they have guns) now and then. His ninja/bo staff skill is top notch and knows how to make good use of the spring-loaded upgrade he installed. He also leads the team well, as he's the one (instead of Leo, wait I'll get to it) pointing out what to do next most of the time. Granted he carries too many unnecessary gadgets with him (I'm baffled by that exposed 110V electric outlet, is he carrying a nuclear power generator? And to think he cruised down a snow mountain with those fragile gears), take those away and he's still the Donnie we all knew and loved.

Raphael takes the 2nd spot for me because... well he was given the most screen time and the opportunity to save his brothers and even had a 1-to-1 fight with Shredder (not entirely fair but yeah). He is the fighter of the group, as in other incarnations, so it makes sense for him to be one doing this, and he did well. You can feel how passionate he was towards his brothers (and Splinter) and his raging anger when he found that his family was badly hurt by the enemies, which was what drove him all the way to save them, and nothing was going to stop him. That exactly what defines Raphael. I also like that he retained his sarcastic one-liners (thanks for the vote of confidence). Things that I didn't quite like are again attire-related: lose that sunglasses or nobody can take you seriously Raphael! He's not even using it when there's actual sunlight! It makes zero sense that it survived all the fight scenes, Shredder's battle, and a skyscraper fall without flying off or something... was it glued to Raph's head or what? Lastly, his "emotional speech" while they were falling off the skyscraper wasn't quite in-character to me, I can imagine the other turtles saying that, just not Raphael. But maybe that's the point, I dunno, to get the turtle least likely to confess to do it on screen. I just don't see it.

Leonardo... man, this movie isn't doing him a lot of justice. To put it gently, he is the poorest leader among all the other incarnations of Leo. Also the poorest fighter. Also the clumsiest. Is he a ninja? How many times he got electrocuted and knocked out again? He wields the deadliest weapon of the four but ended up always being the one who needed help. His plans were also poorly... erm... planned, if there is a plan to begin with. When the lair was attacked, he barely contributed anything to lead his brothers and sensei to safety (get to the fan room, just go!). At other times, he just followed Donnie's lead, or even Mikey's (yeah, let's play buck-buck). What's the point of asking all three of his brothers to hold the cell tower from falling, and allow Shredder to attack him/them freely? The tower fell anyway at the end. I can't think of many things Leo did right in the movie, if at all. I'd also complain about his attire (floating shoulder pads?) but that's the least of my concern regarding Leo.

So why did I rank Michelangelo last? Well he's not the pure, innocent and cute Mikey we all knew and loved anymore! This one's a creepy, horny and ugly Mikey-wannabe (sorry to fans of Mikey, I know that's harsh) who doesn't even bother to make his jokes funny. They apparently took the most popular turtle and portrayed him the worst. Why did Mikey unmask himself during the first meeting with a stranger? Aren't they supposed to keep their ninja identity, what's that word, SECRET? In the Nick series Slash defeated and unmasked Mikey as a sign of humiliating him, so now Mikey's literally humiliating himself in front of April? Yeah, maybe because his shell's tightening again. Moreso when he suspects April has more hot friends to introduce (facepalm). He shamelessly treated April as his new "girlfriend" ever since they first met despite getting zero reaction from April, I mean, even Nick's Donnie isn't doing that and actually understands his limit. To his credit, Mikey fought well as a ninja, at least better than Leo. But that's probably not his main function of the movie, what could be more important than being April's boyfriend-wannabe?

Please share your opinions!

[Leofan26]

Let's face it, the live action flicks never do Leo Justice.

[Autbot_Benz]

My favorite turtle from the 2014 Movie was Raphael. I just loved his toothpick chewing attitude. It was nice to see Raph having to go save his brothers and be a badass instead of being captured like SOTO and the crap kicked out of him 90's movie

My second favorite was Donny. I loved his demenor he came off as a bit of the rob paulson donny mixed with a new donny. I also liked his tech stuff on his shell

Leo was just there I have never been a fan of Leo. Leo is just the leader that Splinter puts in charge. Knoxville's voice didn't bother me either.

While in other turtle universe I love Mikey I too didn't care for the stalky horny Mikey they made in this movie. I hope they tone him down in the sequel.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Leofan26

Let's face it, the live action flicks never do Leo Justice.

Gotta agree with ya there. Can we get a big Leo fan on these projects who can write him well please?

But despite things the big lug has won me over. His brothers... eh, I've warmed up to them a little bit, Mikey least of all though. Sorry Mikey, but I still find you a bit creepy.



Have to disagree with the breakdown of Leo though, I really had different perspectives on all those points mentioned.

And I suppose the movie failed to make the part too memorable where he was unconscious, woke up and a moment later his ass is trying to save April and Vern from a truck that's about the go over the cliff, all while the Foot were still actively after him. And then the three of them go over the edge, their only lifeline being that line and electrocution thing from the Foot that is attached to/embedded in his chest, I assume probably painfully so, esp when you add the pull on of it of his own weight plus April and Vern. Didn't do much, people say... April and Vern would have been dead right there and he was willing to risk going down with them.


Oh and shoulder gear actually is tied around his arms with black material, but there are very few shots it's actually noticeable. When they go charging out of the elevator and the sunlight it on them, you can see it when he lifts his arms up. (Hell, he's got other partly covered tattoos I didn't even notice until then as well.)

[snake]

I like Leo the most, because he didn't do enough to make me hate him.

[plastroncafe]

Leo had the best design, Raph had the best characterization, Mike and Don hurt my brain.

[Myko]

Leo the most, he was the least offensive. Raph's design was too brutish, Don's dialogue was over the top, and Mikey was super creepy and embarrassing.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

I liked Raphael because of his little speech at the end of the movie. I hated Michelangelo because I'm sure he's some sort of sexual predator, and can't wait until he's killed off in the sequel (I wish).

[Powder]

Leo best, Mikey worst. Leo had the best design & most familiar personality (which isn't hard to do, nor surprising given he had so little dialogue) whereas Mikey both looked horrible & behaved like a real jerkoff. Raph's personality was on point but I didn't care for his design so much, & Donnie was... passable but dear GOD that design. It's worse than Mikey in every way but the face, probably.

[Candy Kappa]

Leo was the least offending, he looked relatively okay, despite having gear that made no sense, like poorly secured shoulder plates and a well used bamboo mat over his chest. Did not handle his swords properly and had a horrible mismatched voice.

Mikey was worst in both design and portrayal, which is a real shame cause I really liked Noel behind the scenes, and he is dedicated enough to learn the basics with the Nunchaku.

[The Turtle Terminator]

Don seemed pretty in character with the IDW and animated stuff. And some of his corny dialogue was so corny it was good. I HATED Mikey this time around just because of:
The shell tightening joke
The bad lines
The After credits scene.

[Davetello]

Nice analysis, but...

Originally Posted by evan2000

Lastly, his "emotional speech" while they were falling off the skyscraper wasn't quite in-character to me, I can imagine the other turtles saying that, just not Raphael. But maybe that's the point, I dunno, to get the turtle least likely to confess to do it on screen. I just don't see it.

...disagree with that. If anything, he was the perfect turtle to show his vulnerability. We all know that beneath his hard man exterior he feels things more intensely than the others, & what better time to pour his heart out than when he thinks they're going to perish? The speech was slightly corny but it was one of the few things I enjoyed about the film. It was a rare attempt at giving the film some substance and heart.

[Leo656]

Well, you kinda hit the nail square on the head. "We know..." because most of "We" have seen a million versions of TMNT and we're familiar with Raph and his personality. The movie itself barely goes does anything to illustrate any of those things, so if you're not already familiar with the characters, it kind of doesn't work. Loses a little bit of the impact. A brand-new viewer would listen to that speech and be like, "Huh, I don't remember any of that, what's this guy talking about?"

Not everybody agrees on this, but I count it as a flaw when any movie expects you to be overly familiar with the characters/story/premise from somewhere else to fully enjoy it. It's just a little off-balance that way. I get what they were trying to do, but it would have been better if they'd Shown us instead of Told us.

[Davetello]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Well, you kinda hit the nail square on the head. "We know..." because most of "We" have seen a million versions of TMNT and we're familiar with Raph and his personality. The movie itself barely goes does anything to illustrate any of those things, so if you're not already familiar with the characters, it kind of doesn't work. Loses a little bit of the impact. A brand-new viewer would listen to that speech and be like, "Huh, I don't remember any of that, what's this guy talking about?"

Not everybody agrees on this, but I count it as a flaw when any movie expects you to be overly familiar with the characters/story/premise from somewhere else to fully enjoy it. It's just a little off-balance that way. I get what they were trying to do, but it would have been better if they'd Shown us instead of Told us.

That's a very good point, actually. As a self-contained film it doesn't work - you have to have some background knowledge.

Funnily enough, a friend of mine scored pretty highly on a recent assignment, but he asked me to look at his tutor's comments as he wasn't entirely sure what was being said. It looked like the tutor was saying that his essay was far too 'academic' and aimed at people who are experts in the subject and hence are able to appreciate the technical language he was using. I (and his tutor presumably) think it would be better if he would write a self-contained essay aimed at someone who has no prior knowledge of the subject. The aim after reading the essay is to have learned more about the subject and have understood the themes.

I guess that's pretty analogous to the film. It's mainly aimed at people who aren't familiar with the turtles (wrongly imo, but that's another debate) so they should either be making their personalities clear early on, or not trying to shoehorn things in late on in order to get something of everything in there.

For us TMNT fans, though, Raph's speech was heartfelt and great.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Not everybody agrees on this, but I count it as a flaw when any movie expects you to be overly familiar with the characters/story/premise from somewhere else to fully enjoy it.

All while on the other hand it's been labeled so much as a "kids movie" aimed at "a new generation" (*pout*) who...prob aren't terribly familiar with TMNT quite yet. They need to make up their blinkin' minds.

[Shark_Blade]

1. Mikey
2. Raph
3. Leo
4. Don (some of the techy nerdy talk is too cliche for me..but other than that he's cool)

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

All while on the other hand it's been labeled so much as a "kids movie" aimed at "a new generation" (*pout*) who...prob aren't terribly familiar with TMNT quite yet. They need to make up their blinkin' minds.

That's one of the biggest problems, the movie is entirely schizophrenic. It doesn't know exactly what it wants to be. They didn't know what kind of movie they were making until it was finished. They've even admitted that. That's just Not Good. That's not how you do it.

[Ramboraph4life aka Matt]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

It was nice to see Raph having to go save his brothers and be a badass instead of being captured like SOTO and the crap kicked out of him 90's movie

Except he didn't save his brothers. April & Vern did...they're the ones who got the Turtles out with the adrenaline. So Raph didn't save his brothers.

And then you bring that stuff up about past films (which at least Raph got to beat up more Foot Soldiers in those films)...but how was Raph a badass when he got totally annihilated by Shredder in a Non-Fight (a fight would actually have each one getting some successful punches/kicks that actually connected...this was a 100% One-Sided Fight from beginning to End)? And Shredder even stepped on/was cracking Raph's shell. How was he a bad ass in that? (He wasn't much of a bad ass in the rest of the flick either).

So being captured in SOTO & 'crap kicked out of him in the 90's movie' was one thing...but Raph being totally annihilated by the Shredder without even connecting with One successful punch/kick and on top of that being stepped on/hearing his Shell Crack Open is totally Fine?

Turtle Liked Most? The Pet Raphael Turtle in the old video when April was a kid.
Turtle Liked Least? All 4 of the Super CHUD's Who Were Formally Known As Turtles.

[Leo656]

RamboRaph: I too have noticed the movie people seem to be talking about/defending and the movie people actually saw are pretty different, based on how they describe it. Wonder what kind of hypnosis gimmick they rigged into those 3D glasses.

[IndigoErth]

Yeah...April saves lab turtles and rat, April saves captured mutant Turtles, April ultimately saves city with a little help...

Although to Raph's credit he did without any hesitation go diving off the building (tower?) after April when she had to go and try to fall, with the rest right behind to grab hold of each other. And the Leo scene I mentioned, and I guess they all saved the people in the subway. But April still had more saves than any of them individually.