#source: tmnt (1990)

[totally-correct-shenanigans]

Murray: Seems like it's you that needs to be taught a lesson, pal.

Murray: Class is Pain 101. I'm your instructor:

Murray: The Murray.

[kamirappa]

So this weekend, I was in the mood to watch both the live action and animated Super Mario Bros. movies.

I recently got the Blu-Ray for the 1993 movie in the mail, and to anyone who is skeptical about this Australian Blu-Ray release, it’s region free, despite the back stating it’s a Region B disc. Anyway, I’m not the first to say this, but I’m admittedly a fan of the live action movie, despite its lack of faithfulness or resemblance to the source material, as well as the inconsistent tone, as it didn’t feel like it had a target demographic. My favorite aspect of the movie is definitely the set pieces, especially Dinohattan. A lot of effort was made to make this alternate dimension feel alive and lived in. Fun fact, this same set for Dinohattan was previously used as the Foot Clan hideout in the 1990 TMNT movie. It was especially great to finally see this movie in crisp HD quality and not the letterboxed laserdisc transferred DVD. Still not as bad as Dirty Duck’s DVD where they literally took the movie from a VHS transfer, I’m not kidding.

As for the 2023 movie, I’m sorry to anyone that likes it, but I’m not a fan at all. It’s pretty clear that this movie prioritizes fan service and references over a decent story. As much as I love the Instrumental score, the amount of 80’s licensed songs that have already been overused to death in movies, even some that have outright replaced the original score (particularly A-ha’s Take on Me), is pretty frustrating for me and just sucks me out of the movie. I’m also mixed on the animation itself. The backgrounds look nice, but some characters don’t really look so good (mainly Donkey Kong), and I found it to be annoyingly over-animated at points and the excessive use of slow-motion got old fast. Also the casting was kind of caca for me, with the exceptions being Charlie Day as Luigi and Jack Black as Bowser (minus that annoying Peaches song). I really don’t see what’s worth all the attacking and downplaying towards people who dislike the movie (yes that actually happened), because all it really has to offer are references, and once you’ve seen enough of those, then the movie really doesn’t do anything special or interesting. It really does feel like another Illumination movie made for money. Then again, Nintendo doesn’t take much risks with their products in recent years either, so I shouldn’t be surprised they chose Illumination to make the movie. In the end it made billions of dollars so get ready for that sequel.

And to toss in a bonus, I discovered and saw a 20th anniversary screening of Shrek 2! The only screening open that was was subtitled, but I decided to watch it anyway because… well, it’s Shrek 2. I still love this movie today just as much as I did back then, I don’t think I ever saw this one in theaters when it came out, so being able to actually do that was a phenomenal experience for me. Go and watch it on the big screen if you haven’t already!

[open-hearth-rpg]

#superheroRPGs2019  Vigilante City The Roleplaying Game: Core Rules 

This also goes by the name SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City. This is superhero setting built on Dark Places & Demogorgons, an OSR roleplaying game set in the 1980s– and clearly inspired by Stranger Things. There have been several add ons and new settings for SURVIVE THIS (werewolves, vampires, martial arts). 

Vigilante City takes that basic system and applies it to a street-level, gritty superhero game. It takes inspiration from The Dark Knight, Batman: Year One, TMNT, and the whole grim & gritty movement which began in the 1980s and ran into the 90s. It mentions some of the 1990s cartoons (like X-Men) as an source as well– so there’s kind of a blender of influences there. For me the touchstone for this kind of game is the try-hard feel of Dark Champions. 

The core book for ST: VC is just shy of 300 pages. Of that about 180 pages deal with the classes and mega-human packages. It’s a pretty bare-bones layout, but that feels like a standard approach for these kinds of OSR adaptations. I do dig the distinctive cover art which is echoed across several volumes supporting the game. 

Publisher Bloat Games released several supplements for this the same year. There’s the expected pdf singleton character releases, called Vigilante Files. But there’s also some meatier releases. Clocking in at about 300 pages is the Villain’s Guide. That has a city generator, adventure seeds, NPC & villain generators, as well as general GMing advice. But as a whole it contains a lot more of the specific VC setting than actual generators. There’s also several different villain collections. 

Interestingly the same year the Index Card RPG released a stand-alone adaptation of Vigilante City to their system. That clocks in at a little over fifty pages. That’s a kind of partnership I’ve never seen before. 

[passthepittcola]

okay so fictionkinfessions is doing this ask game right now called death counts and it's meant as how many people have died because of you, but i'm not fully. awake because i woke up in the middle of the night and read it as "how many times have you/yourself died".

and i find that more interesting and also less anxiety inducing to talk about so. yap time boy. under a cut because it's Long and also i assume not everyone wants to read about my obituaries lmao.

from least to greatest, just for the funsies, mostly. :)

crowley (gomens): never / nigh impossible

i was an angel and then i was a fallen one, a demon! in the christianity sense, that is. the only ways to truly kill me were by holy water or by getting smited by, like, god or jesus. i don't think any of the angels had the power to properly smite demons (other than Maybe metatron?) because otherwise i think ud demons would have been. smote? or maybe it was smitten, idr. anyway yeah we would've been zapped more often if that was the case.

raph (tmnt 1990s + 2018), aizawa (mha) and daryl (twd): never!

as far as i can remember, i never died in any of these canons. i assume i Did in the future/at some point, but i can't remember that far forward 🤷‍♂️.

stan pines: technically, just once, but it wasn't a true death.

you all remember the memory gun we-have-to-in-order-to-save-the-town thing, i assume. well. yeah. that was. blank. best way to describe it. stan pines was dead, for all intents and purposes, until i suddenly wasn't. i mean, sure, i was hospitalized a few times during my drifter days, but any "dead for a minute" things i had from surgery or whatever don't reeeally count, so. shrugs.

andy (cargo 2017): just once.

i got bit and turned into a zombie over the course of both my memories and in canon source! it was terrifying and not fun in the slightest, but that terror was overshadowed by the fear of not wanting to hurt my child, rosie, and thoomi. it was a peaceful death, though. i can thank thoomi for that. she really was a sweetheart, and she saved my rosie. i can't ever thank her or her people enough for letting my baby live.

alastor (hazbin hotel): twice!

i died as a human (terrifying! do not recommend). after that, i spawned as a demon in hell. as a new demon, i didn't immediately have great power kr anything, i had to build up to that. demons could be killed and would respawn infinitely unless killed by angelic blade/holy light, and i was killed once as a demon before vowing to become powerful and never let that happen again. i don't remember now how it happened! it became insignificant.

d.i hardy (broadchurch): about 1-10 times

i had pretty severe heart problems that were almost completely untreated (because i was a stubborn fuck and also thought i deserved it) for quite a few years. but the last year before i started actually going to get help was the worst, and i was hospitalized multiple times and had. more than one heart attack, to say the least. i also almost drowned and died from like, pneumonia once, which was what spawned those awful fucking heart problems. yikes!

doctor leonard mccoy: around.. maybe 10-20 times.

it was never a normal death, i never bled out or had an organ failure or something human. it was always like, my atoms disintegrating or some fucked alien disease that did me in for a hot minute. thankfully whenever it DID happen, the others were able to get me back quickly, and while there was a loooot of pain, i don't remember most of the actual dying parts thankfully!

klaus hargreeves (tua TV): hundreds of times? rough estimate being 300-400

for the most part, about 3/4ths of my deaths were from substance abuse, so i didn't feel or remember most deaths. didn't even realize i could die and get back up until much later! i also did stupid shit like jumping off buildings and willingly getting run over by cars- this also killed me but, again, i didn't realize and thought i was just lucky. i also died a lot from bullets during the vietnam war. i don't recommend that either!

logan (wolverine): hundreds of times. as a rough estimate.. 500-800?

obviously, i lived a lot longer than i did as soldier. about 200+ fucking years. but i could still feel pain, and it was not fucking fun. so i did my best to avoid it, but it still happened. most notable being the time my heart stopped briefly when i got that metal (adamantium) injected into me. god, that was SO fucking painful, i don't recognize. don't agree to get metal to cover your entire skeleton, kids.

RED soldier (tf2): thousands(?) of times!

goud lordt. all i gotta say. i died a LOOOOT. thank you dell conagher distant relative for creating the best possible way to stim EVER. in match, i realistically died 5 to over 30 times. and for some weird reason i REALLY liked it. i thought it was fun! so much so, that even out od match i was doing dumb shit like seeing how much paint thinner i could drink and finding out what it felt like to blow up from fireworks (that and other explosive deaths were my favorite lol). also, i was autistic and had a VERY low pain register (and with that came low senses in general), so that only made me more willing to seek out aggressive pain as stims! i also probably briefly died to grey manns bloodsucking robots and was revived by medic like everyone else was, AND was killed and revived during a lot of medic's experiments. he liked to use heavy so he could have someone to talk to while doing surgery or whatever he did; but medic used me for more gorey/bloody stuff (especially if it was testing for something) because again, i had a low pain register and also wasn't bothered by gore very much, meanwhile heavy Was bothered by gore and that's why he started talking to medic during surgeries lol.

[deadlyflan]

Hey.

I'm old TMNT. Not the oldest. But definitely one of the older.

1. I'd love to talk. I'm Kyabetsu. I fell in love with TMNT back in 1987 as a kid. I found online TMNT fandom in 2001. I have TMNT friends who were writing TMNT fic in 1990. (That friend is a grandmother now!)

2. Back when the internet was new(er) & small(er), it was more likely that us turtles fans would meet up at one of the big forums (a website message board), one of the big mailing lists (an email chain), the web rings of personal TMNT websites (public), or on a fanfic archive (public). There were fewer silos of little ponds of fandom: private discords, or blocklisted-twitters, or private Facebook groups or dedicated hashtags. Just because of the old structure of the old internet and the options available to us, we were more likely to meet more different kinds of turtle fans.

Good and bad with that.

Bad:: Fewer privacy and filter options. Less ways to use your phone easily. More "we all *HAVE* to get along here because we are all sharing a public space."

Good:: You met more people! It was inevitable that you would be sharing space with folks into different aspects of the larger TMNT canon. You were gonna meet people of different ages, talents, and experiences. You would get more info (whether you were looking or not) about facets of TMNT that you didn't even know existed. All because we were in the same pot of soup together, and you just got exposed to new things... which, I think was pretty cool, and I kinda miss about our new app-centric internet communities.

3. My point, which may be off-topic of fanon vs canon, but is at least tangentially related (I'll pull it together in part 4). Is that my experience in fandom has been one of multi-generational community. It was a gift I treasured as a young person. It is a gift I feel like I should share with younger fans now that I'm not that young person anymore. There are traditions! And creators who have passed! Websites that have disappeared! And cool turtle facts!

And it would be a crime if all that turtle joy ended with me and other olds.

4. So. If you *are* interested in talking turtle stuff with older people (me or other people) that's awesome! But lemme tell ya... generally speaking... Old-fandom people generally do not give a toot about policing how fans enjoy turtles.

Like...

Ship and let ship.

Don't like, don't read.

Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay

It's Okay To Not Like Things (Just Don't Be A Dick About it.)

These are great rules for fandom life!!

Because if you know that no one is gonna be mean to you, you feel safer sharing your own cringe AU. You feel more secure sharing your bonkers headcanons. You are happier releasing your OCs, your plot twists, your self inserts. If there's a 'No Bullying' policy built into the fandom, it's easier to be yourself.

5. Kya... for real? "Built into the Fandom?" No way. There's thousands of us. Surely, if this was THE TMNT RULE, we'd all know that?

Haha, *this* is one of those traditions I desperately want to pass down.

WE'RE TMNT FANS, DARLINGS!! MULTI-VERSE IS CANON!! THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO TURTLE!!

The very first TMNT Comics were drawn and written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. They founded a publishing company called Mirage Comics in 1984 for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. They would go on to publish 62 TMNT comics issues in that first series of comic books. All in black and white. All featuring our boys in green.

BUT EASTMAN AND LAIRD DIDN'T WRITE OR DRAW THEM ALL!

In that first set of 62 comics, they had TONS of guest artists and writers! Those creators made up their own turtle designs, their own turtle continuities, their own turtle mini-series and one shots!

YES. There is a 'Mirage Turtles' house style and some famous story arcs. But DOUBLE YES. Even in the original comics, alternate universes and timelines were *part of the fabric of the source material.*

Michelangelo is horribly injured and Splinter prays to animal gods to revive him? Canon.

Mini-alien-vampires kidnap Raphael and a cow while the other boys sleep in one big cartoon bed at the farm? Canon.

Leonardo is ambushed and nearly killed by The Foot? Of course, canon.

But so is the time a leech sucked out all of Raph's mutagen, turned him into a meeping baby turtle, and went on a rampage. And the time Donatello became a shaman. And the adventure when the boys weren't quite as intelligent as humans and couldn't speak, but Splinter commanded them in battle.

All this exists in the source material right next to the stories and characters that became the backbone of so many of the spin off cartoons.

We have had permission from the start. Multi-verse is canon. Anything goes. There's no rules. There's no need to 'measure up' to anyone else's ideas of what the turtles *should be.*

You're free.

It's okay.

Go nuts.

Be kind.

There's room for all of us here.

It's late. So I've gone on too long. But I'm around if y'all like talking turtles and all that.

Hope your winter is treating you kindly.

❤️💙🧡💜

--Kyabetsu

You know, I think a lot of us would benefit from talking with some of the older tmnt fans around here more, its eye opening and they've got some real wisdom. I don't even mean just 2012 folks, talk to people who were and are still into 2003, 87 and the old movies, etc etc. I mean this so for real you learn so so much.

[toomanyf4ndoms7]

A moment between the team.

*Jin and Cassie aruguing*

Takeda: Fight?

Jacqui: Fight.

Takeda: Kitchen?

Jacqui: Kitchen.

[incorrect-tick-quotes]

Dot: Oh, Overkill, hi.

Overkill: Hi? I look like I just called Lucifer a sissy and all you can say is "Hi"?

Dot: You don't need an ambulance, do you?

Overkill: No, but...

Dot: Just shut up and kiss me, OK? I got a homework to do.

Overkill: I love it when you're pushy.

Dot: Yeah?

[they kiss]

[officiallyashley]

TMNT-Verse Incorrect Quotes ft. my oc and my friend's oc

Quick note before we start: I called this tmnt-verse because I’m adding the various versions in this set of incorrect quotes. This will also have brief mentions of my friend's, @thepsyichckistune, oc, Alex. Enjoy!

{~~~}

2012! Ash: "I'm responsible for my own happiness? I can't even be responsible for my own breakfast!"

{~~~}

Rise! Ash: *seductively taking off her glasses*

Rise! Ash: "wow..."

Rise! Raph, blushing: "haha... what?"

Rise! Ash, squinting: "you're really fucking blurry." 

{~~~}

—2012! Raph and 2012! Ash bickering over something—

2012! Ash: "you have no idea what I'm capable of!"

2012! Raph: "don't take this personally, but I feel like I'm being threatened by a cupcake."

—Rise! Alex, Rise! Raph, and Rise! Ash in the background watching this all play out—

Rise! Ash: "huh, they bicker like a married couple." 

Rise! Alex: "you guys do that, too, sometimes."

{~~~}

—Rise! Raph telling 2012! Raph after a particularly hard battle—

Rise! Raph: "at first, I was kinda scared that I wouldn't make it,"

Rise! Raph, pointing to his side: "then I remembered that I had Ashley."

2012! Raph, bluntly: "your Ash isn't with you,"

Rise! Raph: "…"

Rise! Raph: "oh, s h i t, where's Ashley?" 

{~~~}

Rise! Ash, sitting on the couch next to her counterpart: "So you're telling me... all of you guys got infected by giant mutant wasps? That sounds... scary..."

2012! Ash, nervously: "Haha... yeah... that was, uh, interesting. And scary. Very scary, coming from someone who's deathly afraid of wasps."

{~~~}

2012! Leo: “Oh fiddlesticks! This really ruffles my feathers!”

2012! Raph, crying: “please, I’m begging you, just say ‘fuck’.”

{~~~}

TMNT 1987: “Hey, what are like some of the craziest villains you fought?”

2003! Ash: “Like for us, we fought like a war crazy alien in a robotic samurai suit.”

TMNT 1987: “No way! We fought an alien too! But it wasn't a samurai suit, just a human robotic body with a pink squid alien from another dimension controlling it.”

2012! Mikey: “Really? We fought pink squid aliens too! We’ve also been to outer space and fought an entire race of alien dinosaurs.”

TMNT 1987 & TMNT 2003: “NO WAY! US, TOO!!”

Rise! TMNT: “we want to fight an alien…” 

{~~~}

1987! April: “don’t fear death. Fear the state in which you die.” 

1987! Donnie, in a horrified whisper: “New Jersey.” 

{~~~}

2007! Raph: “are you choking?!”

2007! Leo: *is coughing loudly and hitting his chest*

2007! Raph: “well, I didn’t hear a ‘yes’, so I guess he’s good.”

{~~~}

2003! Donnie: *screaming*

2003! Leo: “Donnie, why are you screaming?”

2003! Donnie: *pointing at his computer screen*

2003! Raph: “he’s playing FNAF.”

2003! Ash: “even though we told him not to.”

2003! Leo: *sighs and facepalms*

{~~~}

2012! Leo: “guys, real combat isn’t a video game!”

2012! Donnie, excitedly: “Ooo, coins!”

2012! Ash, also excitedly: “ohhhh! Rupees!!”

{~~~}

1987! Raph, talking to 2016! Raph: “oh, is your Ashley also a foodie?” 

2016! Raph: *turning to the kitchen to see 1987! Ash and 2016! Ash eating bags of food that they got from different restaurants*

2016! Raph: “does this answer yer question?”

{~~~}

[deadlyflan]

Since I'm writing fanfiction, a fair amount of worldbuilding has already been done for me by approx 40 years of canon TMNT materials. TMNT Chain Reaction, the fic eating my brain right now, is specifically set in 1995 New York City. Again, oodles of groundwork already laid for me: Twin Towers were still standing, cell phones were primitive with limited coverage, the internet was predominately text-based accessible by landline dial-up modem, television was the primary news source, and surveillance systems were tape-recorded and not linked together in widespread networks. There are far more ways for the TMNT to stay hidden in 1995 than any story set in 2023. All that being said, my story features two "Evil Science Laboratories" which need to be developed! Each team of scientists has their own goals. Each facility must be set up to accommodate those goals. My original characters spend their lives within one or the other and will be shaped/stunted by their experiences inside each. It's very important that I flesh out these locations. Jumping off of the idea that laboratories will have an out-sized influence on my captive mutants, there's also worldbuilding in the CULTURE that those captive mutants develop amongst themselves. The 1990s Movie TMNT are heavily influenced by the human world. They watch it. They hide from it. They have television and sneak into movies. They listen to the radio and have records. They read the books; they learned enough science/engineering to repair what they salvage. They are raised from childhood by a domesticated pet rat mutant. They are devoted to and deeply immersed in human martial arts. Yet even with all that human cultural influence, they are TURTLES living in POVERTY in a SEWER. They don't choose to wear clothing (probably because it's easier to be dry and clean without fabric). They battle criminals. They live with hypervigilance against threats. They know deprivation and they hoard anything that could be useful against future problems. What other turtle-specific 'family habits' do the TMNT have? What things are their 'normal,' but absolutely atypical for a human household? What things do they share in common with other squatters and homeless persons? How has their micro-culture evolved? I make happy burbling noises every time I consider this. Which is why, looping back to the laboratories as being pressure chambers for CAPTIVE mutant culture, I'm in the throes of ecstasy. Captives would not have to scavenge like the TMNT for food, fresh water, and supplies, but the food and supplies they do receive would be limited and tied to good behavior. Captives would have had life-long close-contact with humans, but the secrecy of their existence would keep the number of humans they'd ever met very low. They would have access to media: books and TV, but the materials and videos provided would be educational at best. Then there's the question of who these captive mutants are when they're amongst themselves. Group dynamics, constant surveillance, and rewarded behavior would all force very strange adaptations in children. There's also the aspect of fable-making and story-telling--not as in "Fairy Tales!"--but rather... when these sheltered children do not understand what is happening to them or why, how do they rationalize it? As they grow into adulthood, what superstitions and assumptions do they retain? How can these characters reconcile the human worlds and fantasy worlds that they are shown in books and videos with their own lives? What coping mechanisms and beliefs keep them balanced? Um. Yes. There's so much worldbuilding to be done even in a fanfic, because this kind of things fascinates the hell out of me. It makes the characters more three-dimensional. And, as previously stated, I have brainworms about turtles. 2. I based a portion of the retreat from the rescue on this photograph. The turtles are being hunted and will escape through the giant ventilation tube on the ceiling!

I did so much research into tunnel ventilation for this. You have no idea. Turtle. Brainworms. 3. I tend to overthink things fairly well on my own? But I definitely read the lists of 'OC questions' and 'Worldbuilding questions' when they scroll across my dash. I just don't tend to write out all the answers. This whole Ask-A-Thon thing is an exception to that, I suppose. :)

Day 5

How much do you worldbuild? Why that much?

What’s your favorite random fact about your story and/or characters?

Do you use character and worldbuilding questions when planning? Or do you just develop them as you go? Why or why not?

[nerves-nebula]

Hello. I have never seen an "teenage mutant ninja turtles" show, comic, or movie. The characters however, appeal to me. If any one show or movie would suffice, where should I begin? Other sources have not been helpful.

OHHH GODDD OK WELL. OK SO. the thing is that different iterations are SO different i'm not entirely convinced that comparing them to each other is very ?? helpful?? a lot of people these days get into tmnt through the 2018 animated show Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles. HOWEVER, that show only has like 2 seasons and is not the end all be all of the tmnt universe.

it's kind of hard for me to advise you to watch or read any one specific piece of tmnt media to get into it, because I kind of just already knew about it the entire time growing up?? like i never really actively watched it but i was generally aware of the concept for my entire life.

and i'm not sure exactly ABOUT the tmnt characters interests you, so i wouldn't know where to point you.

with all that as a disclaimer here's some of the more popular film/tv shows (I'm about as lost as you when it comes to the comics to be honest)

ROTTMNT/rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles. it's the newest series as far as i know and it has fantastic animation. it's very funny and lighthearted most of the time and the boys even get magic powers (eventually) it's the one that really got me into tmnt. this one kind of switches around the roles of the characters. Usually you'll see Raph being depicted as the rash one, or the one with anger issues who strikes out on his own (and i still think thats true to an extent in rottmnt) but he, as well as Leo, are definitely portrayed in a different way than normal in rottmnt. which i like tbh it's fun. (i could write a whole essay about how their characters are different but also kind of the same in rottmnt vs other media but that would take all day)

TMNT 2012 series. The 2012 series is very influential as well, and heavily beloved by many. I haven't seen all of it yet, but it's biggest drawbacks (to me at least) is its very 2010's american childrens show style of comedy which can come off as uncomfortably cruel/annoying if you aren't ok with it. it's also an early years CGI animated show, so sometimes things don't look as good as they could. STILL it's definitely interesting and i like the dynamics between the brothers there so I'd give it a chance.

TMNT 2003 series. honestly i havent heard a lot about this one, but i really like the style and ive watched a few episodes of it, and it's definitely solid, sorry i can't say much more than that.

TMNT 1987 series. also can't say much about this one but it is hella goofy from what i've watched of it. it's also the original cartoon series i believe, airing as a sort of "saturday morning cartoon" situation.

TMNT 1990 movie. this one is part of a trilogy of tmnt movies, but i've only seen the first and a half movies. I really enjoyed the first one, it was a fun time and kind of campy, and the guy who plays casey jones is cute. this one is live action and the turtle costumes can look off putting to some people, but personally i liked them.

im sure people in the replies/reblogs of this post will add their opinions too haha

[totally-correct-shenanigans]

Bentley: Are you crazy?!

Sly: Yeah, I'm crazy! I'm a loony, okay?!

Bentley: Why?!

Sly: Oh, I wanted to redecorate! A couple of throw pillows, an Interpol police officer— what do you think?!

[theresistanceneverquits]

Guide to TMNT media

{A mostly-comprehensive list by a lifelong fan who’s seen/read basically everything tmnt}

Mirage Comics

Original source, black and white

Nice stories, fun visually

Iconic moments

62 issues were published before the og creators passed true series to a different team

TLDR truly entertaining classics for comic fans

1987 cartoon

10 seasons

Created more iconic characters like Bebop and Rocksteady

Gave the turtles their colored bandanas

So fun, so so ridiculously funny this one is a guaranteed laugh every time

Fun voice acting

TLDR such an amusing cartoon if you want something that’ll have you cackling

1990 movies

Darker than the cartoon, but still family-friendly

Fun action, funny comedy

The films slowly go down in quality but they’re all pretty fun

Three films

TLDR iconic part of the franchise that balances a dark and light tone

Urban Legends comics

The grittiest tmnt comic series

Characters lose limbs and turn into cyborgs, etc.

Series was discontinued, but IDW recently brought it back and the story was complete

TLDR good for comic fans who love gritty comics

Next Mutation show

One season, live action

Introduced Venus de Milo, the female turtle

Retconned it so the brothers aren’t blood related so they can have a love triangle with Venus

Has elements of mystic powers

(I’m sorry I only watched the first episode so I can’t give a TLDR)

2003 cartoon

7 seasons + straight-to-dvd film

Follows the Mirage storyline

Darkest tmnt series in tone

Many fans don’t care for the last two seasons after the art style changed and the tone got lighter

Donnie has many excellent episodes, and Leo has an arc centered on ptsd in s4

TLDR has a darker tone and has a good consistent story

2007 film

CGI animation

The writing is meh but overall keeps you entertained

Has the famous Raph vs Leo scene

15-year old animation still holds up

TLDR very fun, has an iconic scene, good for Raph fans

IDW comics

Is currently on issue 136 at the time of this post, longest-running tmnt comic series

The tmnt were reincarnated

Covers a vast variety of characters, villains, and genres

Each turtle gets the spotlight

Standout arc has to be City Fall, with Dark Leo

Added Jennika to the roster a few years ago (she’s the female turtle with the yellow bandana)

TLDR excellent storyline, a lot of reading but honestly you can pick and choose where you want to jump in

2012 cartoon

5 seasons

CGI animated

A good compiling of all the tmnt media that came before

Has moments that are dark and serious, but also has a nice humor side

Has problematic ships

TLDR well-rounded action, drama, comedy and summation of tmnt lore with its own twists

Bayverse films

2 live action films (with cg turtles)

Produced by Michael Bay, very Transformers-esque

Entertaining if you like action movies

Leo kinda sucks tho lol

TLDR fun action movies

Rise of the TMNT

Animated series

2 seasons and a film on Netflix

Reinvented much of the tmnt lore

Raph is the oldest and leader, instead of Leo

Leo goes through a character arc tho

Comedy

The lightest of the tmnt series up until the season finales and the movie (The movie is very dark)

Very fun and dramatic animation

Deals with magic

TLDR beautiful animation, comedic with its own dark moments

Batman vs TMNT film

Animated

Based on the comic

Follows the comic very closely, actually

Fun for both fandoms

TLDR fun takes on the characters, and total fan service (in the most positive sense)

The Last Ronin

Graphic novel

For mature readers

Basically all the tmnt die except for one of them

Good, emotional story, with pretty art

A prequel/sequel is coming out soon

TLDR an emotional darker comic that you can get through pretty quickly

[14muffinz]

What I love about writing the 07 crew is that we know (relatively) next to nothing about them.

Yeah, they could be the same ones we see in the 1990s movies, but there are conflicting sources as to whether that is true or not, and saying they aren't just gives us so much more room to work with.

Have they met any of the other universes before? Who's to say!? If we want, we can totally say that it's happened to them before, because all we know is that they've defeated most of the classic tmnt villains at this point

It is such a perfect area to write because you can work both backwards and forwards and won't get anything outlandish due to there being other iterations of the characters you can look to for ideas

[potato-frenzy]

saw your analysis on the 2k12 and 2k18 splinters and would be interested to see you contrast and compare them more, but there's some canonical info you're missing about 2k18 splinter. he immigrated to america during and for his film career. that apartment he lived in as a teen is located in japan. yoshi's film career first started in japan and it was only after he was a rich star that he immigrated to america. you right about 2k18 yoshi assimilating very well, but it wasn't cuz he was in america since childhood, but cuz he 1.] wanted to separate himself from his culture and 2.] had to for the sake of his career, which ended in the mid 1990s [kidnapped r.i.p.].

i'm pretty sure his grandpa sho didn't immigrate with him. it's canon that the film set sho and yoshi argue at in 'e-turtle sunshine' is located in america, so i'm pretty sure sho just flew a round trip ticket from japan to america to confront yoshi.

check 2k18 yoshi's tmnt wiki article for sources—they're linked there.

Ah thank you for these bits. That actually supports the point of him not sharing his culture with his sons. Although that point does kinda remind me of the fact that he was eager to share his ninja background with them, one of the canon shorts shows this. He may have tried to distance himself but he must have softened to it when he became a father. Not enough to teach them the language but enough to train them.

He's a very complex character and it's so interesting to think about how certain details contrast how Yoshi was as a young man versus what kind of father he is.

[turtlethon]

Turtlethon Extra Slices: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) (part 1 of 3)

US Release Date: March 30, 1990 UK Release Date: November 23, 1990

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a live-action motion picture, produced by the Hong Kong-based Golden Harvest and distributed in the US by New Line Cinema. Directed by Steve Barron, it adapts elements of early issues of the Mirage Turtles comics, as well as selected aspects of the 1987 Murakami Wolf Swenson animated show of the same name.

Hugely successful upon its release, for almost a decade the first Turtles film was the highest-grossing independent film of all time, unsurpassed until the debut of The Blair Witch Project at the turn of the millennium. I would hazard a guess that it remains the single most popular, acclaimed and beloved piece of TMNT-related media ever made. As such – and given that its running time of 90 minutes is significantly greater than any one episode of the 1987 cartoon – a single standard-length Turtlethon entry wouldn’t be sufficient to examine the movie, its history and its impact. With that in mind, this is the first of a three-part retrospective, easily the longest I’ve committed to as part of this project, and I suspect that record will remain into the future; down the road will be entries covering the film’s sequels, 1991’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and 1993’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, but neither are nearly as historically significant or worthy of lengthy analysis as this first cinematic outing.

1 - BACKGROUND: KEEPING UP WITH THE BAT

The first half-decade of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a period of rapid growth. Following the publication of the first issue of the rough and gritty comic by Mirage Studios, demand from readers for more material grew rapidly. Turtles became a big enough deal in the comics space that the series – itself initially envisioned as a parody that drew upon elements of contemporary titles such as Daredevil and The New Mutants – soon became a target for being sent-up itself, as well as a source of inspiration for rival publishers intent on mimicking its success with their own martial arts animal titles.

Mark Freedman of Surge Licensing saw the potential in Turtles as a multi-media property, and was able to convince the initially wary Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird into letting him try and secure deals to adapt the characters into toys and animation. After rejections from major players in the toy business including Mattel and LJN, he was able to win over a small Hong Kong based firm called Playmates, which up to that point mostly marketed dolls to girls and was then looking to enter the lucrative action figure sector. Financing from the company allowed for the creation of an initial five-episode miniseries which aired in the US in December 1987, with the first wave of the action figures arriving the following year.

Despite initial hesitations, particularly from retailers, throughout 1988 the Turtles continued to outperform expectations both in the action figure space and in terms of TV ratings. By 1989 – with the show now airing in syndication on weekdays – the characters were officially becoming a big deal. Freedman was keen to keep up this momentum, but saw a threat looming on the horizon in the shape of the upcoming Batman movie being released by Warner that summer. With “Bat-mania” on the way, a sure-fire merchandising juggernaut that could potentially overshadow the Turtles, it was clear to him that the green teens needed to be a presence in cinemas to remain competitive.

Initial proposals for making TMNT work as a Hollywood production left much to be desired. One pitch involved taking a group of popular actor-comedians of the day and simply painting them green. Mercifully this idea, which on paper reads like a potential bomb big enough to have taken out the entire franchise, was never explored. Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed, and Golden Harvest – a production company known for their library of martial arts films – was brought in to maintain a vision in line with the original Mirage comics.

Selected as director was Steve Barron, whose work I can pretty much guarantee everyone reading will have encountered in one form or another, possibly without realising it. Barron’s history with comic book superhero movies extends as far back as 1978’s Superman – the bedrock for the entire genre in its modern form – where he served as an uncredited cameraman under Richard Donner. It was with the rise of MTV and the music video where he truly made his name, directing some of the most iconic clips in the history of the industry. Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”, a-Ha's “Take on Me” and the groundbreaking Dire Straits video “Money for Nothing” are among the best known of his works in this field. He would take the skills he developed in the music video space into the cinema with Electric Dreams, an underrated 1984 comedy – which as it progresses, almost borders on horror territory – about a man whose home computer develops sentience following an accident, ultimately growing jealous of his connection with the film’s love interest and threatening to ruin the life of its owner.

Barron had worked on the TV series The Storyteller, and through this had a direct connection to Jim Henson Productions; it was via this relationship that the company’s famed Creature Workshop was brought in to handle the visual effects required to bring the Turtles and their teacher, Splinter, to life. Following a relatively brief ten-week period of pre-production, filming began in Wilmington, North Carolina around the same time Batman was arriving in cinemas. This decision was brought about by a desire to keep costs down – the budget for TMNT would be only $13 million, about a third of what Tim Burton was working with in bringing the Dark Knight to film. The facility had recently been taken over by the state following its collapse while under the ownership of Dino De Laurentis, and post-takeover it was presented as an affordable venue to interested producers.

An arduous eight-week filming schedule followed, in which the actors performing as the Turtles were forced to endure severe heat while inside the costumes, while also ironing out the bugs involved in the new and untested technology that would bring the characters to life. Despite these challenges, the team were able to successfully complete filming on time. From all accounts, it was the period after filming ended when the production faced its greatest challenges; clashes with Golden Harvest led to Barron’s involvement petering out at this point, editor Sally Menke also being ousted by the production company. The finished product was such a radical departure from the tame cartoon incarnation of TMNT that concerns were raised from within other corners of the empire: at a test screening, executives from Playmates were reportedly aghast at the darker, violent depiction of the Turtles they were seeing, telling Freedman afterwards that he’d just killed the golden goose (or words to that effect).

In contrast to this opposition, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were supportive throughout. Both were displeased by the creative direction the zany MWS cartoon had taken, and so Barron’s commitment to faithfully adapt elements of the original Mirage comics meant that a wider audience would now get to see the characters depicted in a way closer to what they had originally intended. The film would arrive in North American cinemas in March 1990 – three months after the conclusion of the cartoon’s third season – and its success or failure would determine the future direction of TMNT as a multi-media property.

2 - THIS IS WHAT WE DO

April O’Neil (Judith Hoag) reports for Channel 3 Eyewitness News on a worsening crime wave currently afflicting New York City. Robberies ranging in scope from petty to incredibly audacious are now commonplace, invariably happening so quickly that the victims seem to lose their belongings in the blink of an eye. No-one knows who’s responsible for the thefts, but groups of teenage boys are frequently seen congregating when they take place. Leaving the station offices after completing her broadcast, April has the misfortune to encounter a group of these youths carrying out a heist. She’s jumped by the boys who attempt to take her belongings, but a flying sai blade soon knocks out the nearby streetlight, shrouding the area in darkness. When the police arrive moments later, they find the hoodlums tied-up, having been dealt a humiliating defeat.

From beneath a nearby manhole cover, a near-imperceptible figure watches as a still-grounded April reaches over to discover the sai left lying on the ground. Now with no way of reclaiming the weapon, the frustrated observer lowers the cover and retreats underground.

As the opening credits roll, we’re introduced to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all but one of whom are thrilled by their successful defeat of the thieves. In order of appearance, and with their on-screen performers listed followed by their voice actors, they are leader Leonardo (David Forman / Brian Tochi), party dude Michaelangelo (Michelan Sisti / Robbie Rist), thoughtful Donatello (Leif Tilden / Corey Feldman), and rounding out the team, the brooding Raphael (Josh Pais, doing double-duty as both the in-suit performer and voice of his character).

The team return to their sewer home, where they report their defeat of the crooks to their sensei, the mutant rat Splinter (voiced and operated by Kevin Clash). Raphael voices his frustrations at having lost his sai, at one point becoming so upset that he almost gets into a scuffle with Donatello, but is encouraged by his master to let it go. Splinter reminds his pupils that as ninjas they must be able to remain invisible to the outside world, retreating into the shadows if they’re spotted, and that one day he won’t be around to guide them. He suggests the group join him in a meditation exercise, but they’re too energetic and restless to be held down for long, and within a few seconds Michaelangelo and Donatello are performing a dance routine to a record of “Tequila” by The Champs, as Leonardo eagerly grooves along. Raphael is in no mood to participate in any of this; donning a trenchcoat and hat, he announces he’s leaving to go see a movie.

Later, Donatello joins Michaelangelo as he waits beneath a grate for the impending arrival of his pizza. Donnie tries to bring up the uncomfortable topic of Splinter not being a presence in their lives one day, but Mikey is entirely focused on the task at hand. He slides a $10 bill up through the grate in exchange for the pizza from an understandably confused and flustered delivery man, explaining that as he was two minutes late he won’t be getting the agreed-upon tip: “Wise man say, forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza”.

As the other Turtles settle down to their meal, Raphael is seen exiting the movie Critters, unimpressed by its fantastical premise. He witnesses two thugs attempt a purse theft and trips them up, silently pointing to his remaining sai. This intimidates the duo enough for them to flee into a nearby park.

Rather than being in the clear, this places the thieves in the sights of hockey mask-wearing vigilante Casey Jones (Elias Koteas). The pair are about to receive a beatdown from Casey using his collection of sports bats until Raphael steps in, unimpressed by his antics. With the hoods having now fled, a frustrated Casey takes his anger out on the reluctant Raph, a fight that ends with the Turtle being knocked into a nearby trash can after being struck with a cricket bat. Furious, Raphael chases Casey back through the streets, but soon loses him.

Returning home, Raphael is ordered by Splinter to sit down so they can talk. In perhaps the first significant deviation for moviegoers more familiar with the 1987 cartoon, it’s revealed that here Hamato Yoshi was Splinter’s owner prior to his mutation. Raphael’s sensei passes on words of wisdom that he learned from Yoshi, reminding him that though he chooses to bottle up his rage and deal with his problems alone, he can always rely on both Splinter and his brothers. It’s a surprisingly somber and reflective scene that sets the tone for much of what is to come, making it clear that the film will have a greater emotional range than kids would have been used to from the animated TMNT.

The movie continues to diverge from its TV counterpart as instead of Burne Thompson we’re introduced to April’s boss Charles Pennington (Jay Patterson) and his troubled teenage son Danny (Michael Tunney). Charles is aghast after learning of his reporter’s encounter with the thieves, unaware that even as they speak Danny is stealing money from April’s wallet. The station boss urges her to stay out of trouble in her investigations and not provoke further ire from the police in relation to their inability to handle the current crime wave. Defying these orders, April later grills Chief Sterns (Raymond Serra) on live TV, watched in the Lair by the admiring Turtles. Another viewer has taken an interest in April’s reports, viewing her questioning of Sterns from an undisclosed location. Enraged, the masked figure hurls a dagger at one of a network of screens.

Following her report April is summoned into the office of a now fuming Chief Sterns. He rants about being expected to allocate resources into carrying out investigations on the basis that “a few immigrants are reminded of something that supposedly happened years ago in Japan”. Unbeknownst to April, while she’s being grilled Danny is being taken in by a group of officers for his own activities. Raphael is also nearby, continuing to keep an eye on her.

April finds herself alone in the subway and is confronted by a group of masked ninjas, who attempt to intimidate her into silence. After one of them slaps her, she defends herself by producing the sai she collected following her prior encounter with the thieves outside the station offices, but is swiftly disarmed. She attempts to fight back only to be left sprawled out on the ground. Raphael uses this opportunity to reclaim his weapon, subduing the group of ninjas and escaping with the reporter in his arms onto the subway’s tracks. He returns to the Lair with April, unaware that one of the ninjas is tracking him.

Raphael’s decision to take a human into the Lair leads to friction with Leonardo, followed by a scream-off when April comes around, as Donnie and Mikey respond in kind. Through a flashback, Splinter explains his backstory to April and the audience, recalling how he first learned the ways of the ninja from within his cage by copying the moves of his master, Hamato Yoshi. Later, upon arriving in New York, Splinter found himself in the sewers, where he encountered a group of four baby turtles doused in a glowing radioactive ooze that had seeped out of a damaged cannister. In the days that followed, both Splinter and the Turtles began to grow rapidly from exposure to the ooze, gaining the ability to speak; he would go on to teach them the ways of the ninja, as they were taught to him by Yoshi. 

Continued in part 2!

[danvssomethingorother]

The 1990 live action TMNT is the only live action super hero movie I feel really understood it’s source material. It’s a good movie. Why is it never acknowledged?!