Most Important Supporting Characters

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

This new movie and the botched (non-existent) Yoshi/Saki/Splinter backstory got me thinking... Who do you think are the most important supporting characters to the four Turtles? Who else is a vital part of their story, no matter what series or medium? I've listed my personal take on this in order of importance, but I'm interested to see who else agrees or disagrees...

1. Splinter/Hamato Yoshi
Even though they're not always the same character, I'm listing them as one. Splinter is the adoptive father and sensei to the Turtles, having trained them in ninjitsu. His link to Hamato Yoshi (whether as his former human self or as the man's former pet rat) is what ties the Turtles to the Foot Clan.

2. Oroku Saki/The Shredder
Leader of the Foot Clan and rival to Splinter/Yoshi and determined to destroy the mutant rat and turtles because of their ties to Hamato Yoshi and the resulting blood feud. The archenemy, without whom the story of the Turtles is incomplete.

3. April O'Neil
(Usually) the first human to meet the Turtles and accept them as friends, she has always been a part of the family and acted as either a sister or mother figure.

4. Utroms
I'm listing the race instead of any particular individual as it is always the Utroms' presence on Earth that introduces the mutagen that creates the Turtles. (Except in the Fred Wolf cartoon, where Krang is responsible for the mutagen and is only loosely based on the Utroms.) Their ties to the mutagen usually isn't introduced first, however, which is why I consider April more important.

5. Baxter Stockman
Baxter has usually served as the introduction for most of the non-terrestrial technology in TMNT, most notably the Mousers and lately also directly responsible for the Turtles' mutation as well. He also has almost always served as an antagonist to April O'Neil at one level or another...

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

(splitting into two posts for length...)

6. Leatherhead
I can't think of any other mutant outside of the Turtles and Splinter that has appeared in every television show and comic series. I think he's hugely important because he establishes that there can be other mutants, whether as allies or enemies.

7. Karai
Karai is the heir to the Shredder and the Foot Clan, and serves to show that even though the Shredder can be killed, his mantle of leadership can be passed down to another. She also demonstrates that the Foot Clan is not inherently evil, but that it can be much more morally ambiguous under different leadership.

8. Fugitoid
Although I personally don't care for the character nearly as much as some, I think he's consistently important as providing the Turtles a pathway to the stars and some of their more sci-fi adventures... and who doesn't love the Triceratons?

9. Rat King
Rat King is the only long-term character who has served as neither ally nor enemy, but is instead whatever he chooses at any given moment. Honestly, I think the Turtles need more frenemies that they can't ever fully trust. Rat King also sometimes serves as a primary threat to Splinter first, and to the Turtles only second.

10. Casey Jones
Honestly, as much as I love Casey, I don't think he's as important to the Turtles' mythos as these other characters. The Fred Wolf cartoon barely featured him, and he's just another ally. He's a hugely interesting ally, but I don't know what unique features he consistently brings to the table. After a few brawls, he sometimes just fades away to April's love interest and an ally for really big fights. (Unless the Purple Dragons and Hun are included.) I still can't believe the Platinum Dunes movie included Vernon instead of him, though...

So what do you guys think?

[neatoman]

I think you could probably bump Casey up to the number 4 spot, he's been around from pretty much the start and he's been a major character in every incarnation since the 2003 cartoon (apart from the new movie but that is bound to change). True, he was not in the FW cartoon that much or in the Archie series at all, but that was a long ass time ago and some contributors failed to see the value of him back then.

I think you could also drop Hamato Yoshi from the description for Splinter, he's important for the origin but he's mostly either dead or transformed into Splinter, and when is the latter his human life very rarely enters the picture. There some attempt at making the human life somewhat important in the Nickelodeon cartoon and the IDW series, but that's fairly recently introduced and we don't know if it'll catch on (hell, we're still not entirely sure if Splinter really is Hamato Yoshi in the IDW comics). The new movie even went so far as to ignore Hamto Yoshi entirely!

[CyberCubed]

Other than Shredder/Foot, the 4 more important recurring villains/mutants are:

Karai
Baxter Stockman
The Rat King
Leatherhead

5th would likely be Krang due to his comeback in IDW and Nick, and then somewhere from Bebop/Rocksteady to Hun, then Bishop, etc.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I agree that Casey is a major character, and I really like him, but he doesn't provide a very big impact as far as unique angles go on the Turtles' universe. He's not the first human they met; he's usually just a badass brawling buddy for Raph.

He has a history with the Purple Dragons and Hun, but those elements haven't been present in a majority of the TMNT series, just 4Kids and IDW. He was pretty much non-existent in the original cartoon, and after Volume 1 concluded, he never really contributed anything of value to the comics. And what does he even do in the Nicktoon except present a romantic rival for Donnie? (I'll admit, I haven't seen much of the current cartoon.)

Originally Posted by neatoman

I think you could probably bump Casey up to the number 4 spot, he's been around from pretty much the start and he's been a major character in every incarnation since the 2003 cartoon (apart from the new movie but that is bound to change). True, he was not in the FW cartoon that much or in the Archie series at all, but that was a long ass time ago and some contributors failed to see the value of him back then.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by neatoman

I think you could also drop Hamato Yoshi from the description for Splinter, he's important for the origin but he's mostly either dead or transformed into Splinter, and when is the latter his human life very rarely enters the picture. There some attempt at making the human life somewhat important in the Nickelodeon cartoon and the IDW series, but that's fairly recently introduced and we don't know if it'll catch on (hell, we're still not entirely sure if Splinter really is Hamato Yoshi in the IDW comics). The new movie even went so far as to ignore Hamto Yoshi entirely!

Well, the most recent take on the Turtles we've seen was last year's movie. They had Splinter but no mention of Hamato Yoshi at all--and it completely undercut much of the movie. (That and terrible last-minute revisions.) Without Yoshi, Shredder and the Foot Clan as antagonists make no sense. And considering the Foot is the primary nemesis of the TMNT, not including Yoshi does A LOT of damage.

Because of that, I say Hamato Yoshi, Splinter, and Oroku Saki are the most important characters to the TMNT franchise outside of the four Turtles themselves.

[Venom]

From the Mirage Comics: Tang Shen.

If it wasn't for her, Nagi wouldn't have had anything to cover and be salty at Yoshi about, never leading to him killing Nagi, and Saki never vowing vengeance over his fallen brother and eventual killing both Yoshi and Shen.

[Usagi Miyamoto]

I think it's hard to judge overall - for instance I'd put April above Shredder in the Mirage version. Here's a slightly generalized shot at it.
1. Splinter
2. Foot
3. April
4. Utroms or "Utroms"
5. Other Mutants
6. Casey
7. Baxter

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

7. Karai
Karai is the heir to the Shredder and the Foot Clan, and serves to show that even though the Shredder can be killed, his mantle of leadership can be passed down to another. She also demonstrates that the Foot Clan is not inherently evil, but that it can be much more morally ambiguous under different leadership.

This was not Karai's original role -- at least not the "heir" part. She was Shredder's boss. It established the conflict between the New York Foot and the Turtles as a petty offshoot of the Foot's actual goals, which served a similar purpose but worked even better within the framework of the story -- the Foot was morally ambiguous, but only as much as the Turtles themselves; the Foot was never some majorly evil organization that needed to be provoked. In general her reveal made the whole conflict more unnecessary and heightened the themes of the problems with revenge without introspection, which worked well.

In general, I'd agree with your list (I actually think it's hard not to), but I'd disagree with some of the order. April would probably be number one for me, with Shredder much lower, and maybe not even necessary at all.

The Utroms are, I think, incredibly important to the mythos for the specific brand of weirdness they provide, so I like that you've included them here.

Nobody would be an easy "next pick" character for me. Krang might follow as well, but, as he's never had a particularly affecting version and doesn't feel essential to the mythos, he'd come farther down under any criteria.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Cipher

This was not Karai's original role -- at least not the "heir" part. She was Shredder's boss. It established the conflict between the New York Foot and the Turtles as a petty offshoot of the Foot's actual goals, which served a similar purpose but worked even better within the framework of the story -- the Foot was morally ambiguous, but only as much as the Turtles themselves; the Foot was never some majorly evil organization that needed to be provoked. In general her reveal made the whole conflict more unnecessary and heightened the themes of the problems with revenge without introspection, which worked well.

I was trying to describe their role throughout all of their various iterations, but you're absolutely right; in Mirage, she's from the Japanese branch of the Clan.

In the comics, the literal heir is Pimiko... who will probably never be used again, which saddens me. I loved the rivalry between her and Raph.