stoneagehk

[thejadecount]

rise donnie is Like That bc hes a softshell turtle aka the turtle with the HIGHEST bloodlust lmao (personal hc of mine)

Every time he pulls out a weapon or does something mildly lethal and crazy I think of those Amazing World of Gumball episode with that turtle (a softshell turtle).

Also yes, I feel like he and 2012! Raph would often get into arguments with each other and then during a battle Donnie suggests lethal weapons and 2012! Raph is like “forget everything I said about you, you’re my new favorite!”

[jadethest0ne]

If the OH turtles took part in a multiverse plot where all the iterations of them were thrust together, who would they get along with? And what would they think of some of their counterparts?

Hmmmm this would indeed be really interesting. To tell the truth, I'm not as familiar with all of the incarnations (particularly 2003, the bayverse turtles, and the later parts of '87 and IDW comics), but I'll do my best to answer these questions.

I feel like OH! Mikey would get along with their other incarnations really well. Honestly, I feel like it'd be a given that all Mikeys, regardless of incarnation, would just be best bros. OH! Mikey might feel a bit awkward around most other version Leo's and Rise Raph, considering the leader dynamic is very different (they'd probably understand Rise Raph being leader, but they'd have a hard time getting the image of baby bro Leo out of their head). They'd also think April being a journalist in many incarnations is really cool.

OH! Raph would probably get along with any incarnation Raph and Casey Jones (especially the 2012 versions), but may be a bit confused by some of his turtle counterparts' anger issues. Either way, he'd be hyped to kick butt with any of them. He'd be a little sad that his other incarnations don't seem to spend as much time with Donnie. And I feel like OH! Raph would be one of the few Raph's who would be totally cool with the idea of Leo being leader.

OH! Donnie would be really close to Rise and Bayverse Donnie's, but would think 2003 Donnie is a bit too nice for his own good. Regardless, she'd always be open to swapping tech and info with any of her other incarnations. He'd also get along well with Rise Leo and April, due to having similar dramatic flair and outward confidence.

Out of all the OH Turtles, Leo would probably be the most uncomfortable with any of the other turtles. With his other incarnations being the oldest AND the leader in most other versions, it'd make him feel a bit awkward, and he'd probably find Rise Leo a bit annoying. He'd respect their abilities, sure, but it'd probably leave him a little frustrated at what he could be. He'd also get along with any of the 2012 turtles the least, and 2012 Leo would make him extra awkward. To be fair, OH! Leo doesn't get along with most people. He might vibe a bit more with the IDW turtles, however.

Splinter would probably get along best with his '87 and Rise counterparts, but likely argue with many of them about their parenting styles. He'd also feel really young in comparison (I think most Splinters are in their 50's at the youngest, but OH! Splinter is in his 30s). When it comes to any of the turtles however, he'd probably want to immediately adopt them all on the spot.

As for overall incarnation reactions, I think OH! Turtles would get along best with their '87 and Rise counterparts. They'd be really confused about April and Casey, and many of the villains since they are very different in the OH! Universe. And the idea that some of the other versions went to space and/or don't regularly interact with yokai would kind of blow their minds. They'd also be a little surprised and upset that many of the versions don't take Mikey more seriously.

[zombiekillerky]

{TMNT 2012 Fanfic} - Confession

( WARNING : This is not Turtle x Turtle related at all, this is purely just some family scenarios with no relationships at all what’s so ever. Just regular day in the life turtle stuff)

All the turtles have noticed their brother working out extra hard on his own as of late. Ever since the night he came back on a failed search mission as he said with Casey he hasn’t been himself. It started out with the rage outburst when he came back to the lair which was expected of him. If something went wrong it was always the first reaction his brother’s would get out of him. But once they found him lifting weights and adding more and more on to the bar. Punching his bag with pure rage in his eyes as each hit got stronger and meaner. There was something defiantly wrong at the moment with him and they weren’t really sure why. Raphael wasn’t an open person about his feelings ever. It was hard to even get him to open up a little to Master Splinter let alone his brothers. He never told them how he was feeling, what was getting him down or what pissed him off. It was always just an outburst of rage, annoyance or disgust. Depending on how he was feeling would be the outcome of the afternoon and how long he would stay in his room. But they for sure new it would be a battle trying to get him to confess what was wrong at least to one of them.

“Donnie you talk to him”

“What, why me?!”

“Because I’m pretty sure he will get defensive and start a fight with me and you know what will happen if Mikey goes up to him and asks what’s up. Besides you guys share a bond don’t you, being the two middle children?” Leo asked with an unsure smile on his face as he glanced over to Donnie beside him. They were trying to be as quiet as possible, being as though their brother was just in the other room. Beating the hell out of his punching bag at the moment.

“Leo we did, but Raph and I are opposites. Do you really think I’m going to have the best chance in talking to him. Especially with the mood he’s in, he could beat me to a pulp!” Donnie replied with a nervous tone to his voice as he crossed his arms. Trying not to show he was terrified of his brother and what he could do to him at the moment. To be fair he did have the best shot at trying to get through to him. They have always sort of leaned on each other for support ever since they were small. Leo and Mikey have gotten the most attention over the years so they only had each other. But as they grew up that bond slowly grew apart from how it was. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to get through to him at this point. Let alone make sure he knows he’s not the enemy at the moment with his fit of rage. 

“You know Raph would stop himself from hurting you that bad, give him a break guys he’s not a maniac” Mikey butted in, taking their hot headed brothers side over their’s. The way they were speaking was almost like they were comparing him to an animal. He felt as though they didn’t give Raph the benefit of the doubt. As much as he hated to think of it Raph could potentially hurt them with how angry he is. But he also knew Raph would never go that far as to hurt them extremely. His brother has gotten a hold of his emotions better then he has before. What ever happened was just really upsetting to him. Mikey glanced at his two older brother’s standing there. His confidence was rising in himself as he watched their gazes. One was filled with annoyance and the other was with fear. 

“We know he’s not a maniac Mikey, it’s just Raph is really sensitive and with him being really angry right now there is no telling to what he could possibly do” Leo replied, making Mikey even more annoyed with their Leader’s words. He hated when he put them down, he hated when anyone put his family down. He knew that they were brother’s and brother’s were supposed to act that way with each other. But it was almost as if Leo saw Raph as an uncontrollable maniac that could break any second if they did anything and potentially hurt them horribly.

“He wouldn’t hurt us like you think Leo.....I think you’re scared of him I really do. That’s our brother in there, he is the same as always.”

“I didn’t say that Mikey I just think if any of us should be messing with him it should be Donnie since they have a more close bond then us two. Plus I’m sure he could find a way out of there quicker them both you and I could” Leo replied with a triumphant look to his face as he glanced over to Donnie. Not catching Mikey rolling his eyes to his older brother’s words. 

A sigh escaped his lips as he stepped past them and out toward the makeshift weight room. Ignoring his brothers calling his name as he walked away, almost like they didn’t believe in him to confront his brother about his issues. He had to admit the more steps he took the more fearful he got, hearing the plastic and leather of the bag being hit. Two quickly then a follow up of three, already remembering the pattern his brother was hitting at currently with every flinch he had as he walked. Mikey sighed as he walked in to the room and found his brother there. Sweat dripped down his forehead and neck along with his arms as he stood there tensely. He noticed the blood and open wounds on his brother’s knuckles from how hard he was hitting the bag currently. But the look of concentration and seriousness never faded from his face. Not even one look of pain formed as he kept hitting at a constant rate. Almost like his injuries weren’t there in the first place. Mikey watched from the door way as he fought, his fierce and determined yet bothered look was all he could see at the moment. The punches were changed up now with a kick in between as he switched from his left to his right. Showing some skills even Mikey didn’t know about that he had. If this was any other day he would ask in joy how he did that and if he could teach him his moves. But he needed to stay as calm and pleasant as possible for him. Knowing his overly enthusiastic and loud attitude would get on his nerves even more then a usual day of the week. 

At this point Mikey wasn’t really sure what to even do or say now. How was he supposed to do this, ask him what’s up? Do you need a hand? Can I join you in a little extra training? He took a few steps closer to his brother training there. His anxiety was through the roof as he carefully walked forward in to the room like he was trying to get a snack from the kitchen at 4 in the morning. At this point there could be blood on his lip from how hard he was biting down upon the sensitive skin. He prayed his brother wouldn’t react horribly toward him for the interruption. The sudden sound of silence was heard though out the room. His body stopped like it malfunctioned from the sudden sound other then the noise he made on his own.

“What is it Mikey?” Raph’s harsh voice was heard clear as day through out the now quiet area. Mikey smiled softly to himself, noting that his brother’s rage was toned down some since he entered the room. Probably from beating out all of his anger previously. But over all it was less of a chance of getting his shell beaten in by him which was good. Raph’s emerald green eyes shined in the light as his gaze went to Mikey. The stare said a lot about his character and how he was feeling at the moment. But the stare over all just made Mikey’s nerves even more tense then they were before. He couldn’t show that he was afraid now other wise Raph could tell that there was something wrong. Raph was always good about knowing how his brother’s felt by their actions. But Mikey needed to be strong, for his sake and his brothers if he was going to help him with his issue at the moment.

“Well....I ah came by to see how you were doing since you’ve been in here a couple of hours.....Seeing as though your knuckles are ah....bloody I figured you needed a break ya know?”

“I’m fine Mikey, don’t worry about me-” Raph replied quickly, his gaze went down to his knuckles as if he was now realizing what Mikey had just said to him. Mikey glanced over to the wall and jogged over to the medical kit they had in there. He quickly grabbed some fresh bandages from within the box and walked back over to his brother before he could say no. Mikey’s hand calmly went to his shoulder, noticing how tense his brother was at the moment, He could almost feel the resistance and pain in his muscles from how hard he was working. Raph glanced back to him about ready to yell by his sudden touch. But once his eyes landed on what Mikey was holding was when his anger died down in realization.

“Mikey I told you I’m fine-”

“No you’re not bro, not with your knuckles bleeding like that....come on, it’s not wise to have them uncovered anyway and you know that. I will never forget how much you complained about the infected cuts on your hand from the accident with the glass when we were little.” Mikey replied with a soft smile, showing his concern greatly with his brother which he hoped he noticed. Raph’s eyes darted around, a sigh escaped his lips as he bent down. Taking a spot on the floor slowly with a pained expression as he leaned back. Mikey’s eyes wondered over him, trying to tell what other parts of his body were injured over all. His conclusion was that he was just to sore from working out so much over the past 2 days. But knowing Raph he would hide injuries from them too which was why he checked him over. Mikey smiled softly as he took Raph’s hand from his lap and stared at his bruised and wounded knuckles of his hand. He couldn’t understand how his brother could ignore something like this. Sometimes Raph was a mystery to him on over all everything.

“How could you go so long with out covering them up, I think you made em worse” Mikey said as he slowly wrapped the bandages around his brother’s hand as best he could. Being extra careful since he watched him wince a couple of times when he first wrapped the open wounds. But as a reply Raphael only shrugged his shoulders slightly. He wasn’t speaking at all almost like he was holding back from doing so. His eyes screamed out for help but his body stayed as stiff as a pole. Mikey continued to wrap his hand at a slow pace. The silence killing him every second it lasted, it didn’t help that it was awkward between them as well.

“Hey Raph....can I ask you a question?” Mikey said as he started to wrap his brother’s other hand which was less damaged then his right one. He only made it around one full time before his brother tensed up again for some reason.

“If it’s about when I came back from that thing with Casey the other night because Leo put you up to it then no-!”

“No bro chill....I was going to ask if you could teach me that kick move you just did when I walked in here. I thought it looked so cool and I eh....don’t remember going over it with Master Splinter so  figured you could teach me yourself?” Mikey replied to try and divert his real question which Raph already pointed out like it was nothing. The hot headed turtle’s guard was down slightly, not even expecting that to be his brother’s question to begin with. His eyes darted around as he thought of an answer to his younger brother’s question. The look of guilt for getting overly annoyed and angry with him was seen in his eyes as he stared to the side.

“I guess so?” Raphael replied as his gaze returned back to Mikey in front of him. Watching his brother that was somewhat unfamiliar with medical work wrap his hands in an average fashion. Actually proud of him for remembering what Donnie told him to do when Mikey assisted their brainiac brother in patching him up from a run in with bad guys on the surface. Raph’s eyes wandered the bandages, already seeing pink where the deepest gashes were located on his skin. The burning sensation never went away from the material touching his open wounds. It was nothing he wasn’t used to, but it was very annoying to deal with. The hot head sighed as he watched his brother finish up on wrapping his hand, going back over to the medical kit to put away any spare bandages he had. He wondered why Mikey showed up in the first place, usually when he was this angry they would try to avoid him completely. He would avoid himself if he was them too, even after the last time when he over reacted Mikey was the first to ask him if he was alright afterward. It was like his brother was fearless against him at times, or just straight up stupid for even going near him. Raphael was afraid he would hurt him, mentally or physically being at the rate of anger he was at. But his brother was trying to do good at that’s what mattered, he would make sure he would overreact over him as best he could. 

Raphael stood up from the floor with some stiffness, realizing he worked out to much over the past couple of days. What would Master splinter say when they go for training tomorrow about his condition. His mind was wondering all over the place, he didn’t even realize his little brother returned to his side. The turtle in red was brought out of his thoughts and returned his gaze to his brother waiting there patiently for him. A small smirk on his face formed as he moved to the punching bag. A quick glance was at his hands as he held them up. Not knowing if he should continue to train with his condition. The stubborn turtle only shook his head and got ready in his stance.

“You want to stand like this okay.....you’re going to punch left twice *Punches the bag* Switch over to a kick with your right foot. *Kicks with right foot* then three punches with your right, *proceeds to punch with right hand* Then a kick with your left foot and repeat. Got it?” Raphael asked as he took a step back from the punching bag. His eyes glanced down at his wrapped hands, seeing more pink and even a little bit of red from how much he was hitting. He decided to not think about his hands and gazed up at his brother smiling widely like usual. 

“So 2 left punches, a right kick, three right punches and a left kick?” Mikey asked to make sure he was going to do it right. Wanting to show off like his older brother did.

“Yeah....yeah exactly like that” Raphael replied, watching as his brother stood in a firm stance. Copying his moves almost all the way correctly, his kicks were a little off from perfect but that’s what practice was for. As soon as he was done and landed from his left kick. He turned to Raph for a look of approval, earning a small chuckle from him and a thumbs up.

“Your kicks were a little weak and off centered but it was pretty good for your first try I gotta admit”

“Yes!” Mikey replied as he threw his fist up in to the air in victory, getting confident in his skills now after his brother’s comment. He turned back to the punching bag and got ready in his stance. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Raphael walked to the side of him to watch. Mikey smiled widely, his attention back on to the punching bag as he redid the moves his brother taught him. Trying to at least fix his kicks so the moves could be perfect. He wanted to learn his brothers moves, but he also felt if he did this it would help Raph trust him more. He wasn’t going to make his brother confess, but if he trusted him at the moment there was a better chance of him confessing over all then before. As Mikey was in thought he finished the move and landed better then the last time. Watching Raph nod as he stood with his arms crossed tightly around his plastron.

“It was better.....but could you do it during a fight?” Raphael asked with a smirk on his face as he tilted his head. Proposing a challenge for his younger brother he knew he wouldn’t turn down. Mikey smiled as he nodded his head and got ready as Raph walked closer. They both bowed as they stood a couple feet away from each other. Raphael ran forward and tried to get a hit on him, using half of his strength at the moment so he could calm himself down. This was only a training exercise not a battle. Mikey laughed as he dodged out of the way of his hits. Trying the new moves his brother had taught him. The first two hits were okay but his right kick was a little shaky. He was expecting Raph to grab a hold of his leg and fling him to the side, making him redo the whole move entirely. But to his surprise he only moved out of the way and let him continue. Mikey smiled as he tried to punch him with his right how ever many times he was told. Dodging out of the way of Raph’s attempted punches to his shell and the sweep of his legs. Ending with a good left kick in to his stubborn brother’s plastron that knocked him back some but not enough to land on to the ground. Mikey stared in horror as Raph recovered as he clutched his shell where Mikey kicked. Fearing the worst since he stood there with out a word. 

“Nice finish” Raphael replied like he was swallowing a yell and all the rage he wanted to let out at his brother for hitting him like that. Mikey smiled insecurely as he stepped forward to check on his older brother. Noticing the bruising on the back of his arm and the new small cracks in his shell he never noticed before. Raph’s gaze connected with his, realizing his brother saw his injuries he tried to cover up from the other night. A sigh escaped his lips as he stood up as straight as he could. The little height difference in them didn’t help with the stern look the turtle in red was giving him. Trying to stay strong and to his word he set for himself not to tell his brothers. But alas with his younger brother’s worrying eyes he couldn’t bare to hide his secret any longer. He knew there was a big chance of him telling the others, but he felt like he could trust him at the moment over all.

“I’m not gonna ask what happened, but you shouldn’t be training if-”

“I know I know......look I shouldn’t have been acting this way the past couple of days alright.....if I tell you this you swear not to tell the others or master splinter got it!” Raph asked as he took a step forward toward his younger brother standing there. His face was serious instead of having that grin he always has. A slow nod of his head followed shortly after the words left Raphael’s mouth. The turtle in red slowly sat down back on to the floor with a sigh, his younger brother slowly followed him down and took a spot next to him. The stubborn turtle didn’t even know if he wanted to tell his brother what happened or not now. Most likely Leo put him up to confronting him about it to figure out what was wrong. His own brother was to scared to confront him so he sends the youngest out of the four to. Raph’s hand traveled to the back of his head, moving the tails of his mask away from his shoulder where the were resting.

“As you know me and Casey went out on our usual search of the city to go and beat some heads in. Well on our search when we were heading back we happened to find some Krang bots in the back of an ally way along with this guy and a women they were holding captive. Once we got closer we seen they had their hands on a mutagen canister we must have forgotten to grab when we searched the city of them. Me and Casey sprung in to action after I explained what the stuff was......”

“Casey still didn’t know what mutagen really was?”

“Do you expect the bone head to? His head is as empty as yours”

“Hey! I remember some things, don’t forget I saved you guys from those mutant scary wasps by remembering Donnie’s antidote correctly. Never underestimate the Big M bro”

“Yeah I guess you’re right, fine. He has an even smaller brain then your somewhat small brain”

“Thank you...hey!”

“Anyway......we took out all the bots in the area, up on the roof tops and all since Casey can’t be stealthy sometimes....we over heard their argument and the guy evidently didn’t hold up a deal on spare metal for them. Once we fought our way to the front and managed to get in close range to grab the canister. It was already to late and it was poured on to them instantly.......the bots grabbed them and shoved the forcefully back in to the back  of their van as they rest of the bots attacked us until we made a close get away.....It was all our fault that those people were turned because we weren’t fast enough to save them......I felt like if I could have smashed those bots faster then we would have had a chance but-” As Raph continued on the sadness was rising in his voice. Mikey knew Raph thought he could do it all no matter what and if he couldn’t he was always hard on himself to do better. Mikey leaned forward and placed a hand gently on his shoulder blade. Grabbing Raph’s attention and broke him out of his trance of over thinking.

“You tried your best Raph that’s all that matters, you know those krang bots are super quick and have faster reflexes. If they were planning on mutating them then they would have done it faster if they seen you show up faster too. You can’t do it all bro, it’s not your fault” Mikey replied with a sincere tone to his voice as he locked eyes with his brother. Trying to read his thoughts at the moment since his eyes were filled with mixed emotions. The air headed turtle would have blamed himself for what had happened too if he was out there with them during the fight. He hated seeing his brother like this, he already had Leo blaming himself for almost every wrong thing to happen to them. But seeing Raph this upset over something was something new and he didn’t like it either.

“It’s no excuse Mikey, those people are now monsters because of us. It’s all my fault that there are two more mutants in the world. We could have saved them but we were to slow...I was to slow” Raph replied, making Mikey realize that was one of the reasons why he was training so much lately. It was all starting to make a little more sense. 

As Raph sat there he started to clench his fists in rage. Getting more and more angry as he thought about what had happened the other day. He hasn’t even thought about going over to Casey’s to see how he was holding up at the moment. He knew he took more of a beat down then him since he blocked some hits from reaching Casey. But he would still have some bruising and cuts most likely. As he sat he was shocked to feel his brother hugging him tightly. He never really shared any affectionate times with his brothers. Let alone Mikey since he could turn a very serious situation in to an annoying one in a matter of seconds. The hot head didn’t really know what to do at this point. He wasn’t sure why his brother was hugging him over a stupid situation he felt he should be getting yelled at about over comfort. His shaky hands lifted up from his sides and slowly wrapped around his brother trying to comfort him. A small sigh escaped his lips as he held him, a feeling he would never get used to ever.

“You weren’t slow, you were trying your best out there Raph. You’re one of the most toughest people I know, you could have defiantly taken them down it was just bad timing is all. Don’t be so hard on yourself bro” 

“I just felt like I could....that I should have been faster to save them-”

“What’s done is done okay, who knows maybe Donnie will make an antimutagen and be able to turn them back to normal. But you can’t keep getting down on yourself for something that can’t be unchanged Raph. I know if sucks, but what happened happened and there is no point in dwelling upon something in the past” Mikey replied as he shifted slightly. Hearing his brother sigh, he hoped his words got through to him. He wasn’t sure if Raphael had calmed down or not. As Mikey pulled back he noticed the small smile on Raphael’s face. Mikey’s smile widen bigger as he seen his face since it was a rare sight to really see.

“You feel any better bro?”

“I guess so......thanks Mikey”

“Anytime dude, I’m always here if ya need me” Mikey replied with a cheerful tone. Knowing his brother truly thanked him instead of being sarcastic like normal. But as he stared off Mikey was brought back in to the real world as he heard his brother get up from sitting on the ground with him. Stretching until you could hear the pop of his shoulder blades.

“Up for round two?” Raphael asked suddenly, watching his brother’s eyes widen in surprise. The turtle in orange smiled from ear to ear as he stood up quickly. Nodding his head as he grabbed his nunchucks from his belt and spun them around.

“Heck yeah!”

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season One (Part Three)

(Part One) (Part Two)

Here is where we look at the season as a whole. For this, I will be looking at four things: Animation, Voice Acting, Characters (Heroes, Villains), and Story. I’ll be going more into depths about some stuff I skimmed over here as well. So lets dig in!

Animation

This is the Turtles first CGI show... okay yeah the 2007 movie was CGI, but that was a movie. When I first heard this, I was reluctant as I felt like 2D was becoming more and more of a lost out. But the CGI was really good! Mind you it looks a tad bit dated now as every season they pushed more and more to improve it. But still, it’s very well done. I can’t recall any point where I thought it looked bad or cringy...aside form when they wanted you to cringe anyways. What helps is that the show does add in some 2D elements, There’s the comic-style flashbacks of course, but even past that. They use these anime-like quirks like the sweatdrop, blushing, wide blank eyes when reacting in shock, vein burst when a character is angry, all these tiny little things that give it a more cartoony feel. I can’t recall any other Nickelodeon CGI shows that were doing this prior, so it helped it stand out among the other shows.

Another plus side? The character designs. Aside from a few background characters they re-colored, none of the important characters look the same. Like I know that some don’t like April’s design, but at least they gave her and Karai their own distinct character designs. Then there are the Turtles. Something I don’t like about the upcoming show is how much.. accessorizing they add in to make the Turtles look distinctive. 2k12 kept it very simple. Different heights, eye color, shade of green, and of course body build. For example Donnie, the genius who is mroe invested with machines than training, is both the tallest and most slender. Raph, the strongest, is the most buff and Mikey, the youngest, has larger eyes and freckles to show his child-like nature.And even with Raph,a ll four boys have kind of high school athlete-like builds. Nothing over the top like say... the Michael Bay films. Basically, I can believe that these guys can do the ninja-like agility more than I can with the overly buff, giant versions that have been used.

When ti comes to the mutants, the animators get creative. There are so many unique mutant sin the show. Snakeweed, Spyder Bytez, Dogpound, Fishface, Splinter, Leatherhead, all the mutants have their own unique design that work for them. They also know when to get creepy, like with the mish-mash... thing... from The Alien Agenda. That was disturbing as heck, and it’s not even the creepiest one they come up with! Oh just wait for next season, haha... but yeah, mutant designs are great!

Now the settings are kinda... meh. I mean The Lair is cool, but it’s mostly just either the the Lair, the New York landscape, Shredder’s lair, or an empty warehouse most of the time. It’s nothing really... creative I guess is the right word. We also don’t explore new York much, mainly settling on skyscrapers as the setting. It’s understandable why since New York is the setting, but still it juts gets kind of boring after awhile. But for what it’s worth, they do try to do creative stuff when they can like in Baxter’s Gambit with the black and white screens.

And of course, there is the fight choreography. As I said before, it’s fantastic. All the fights in the series are fluid, well-paced, and fun to watch. If I had to give some examples off the top of my head, there’s New Friend, Old Enemy when the Turtles rise form the water. The mix of black and red is absolutely perfect. There’s the first fight against Shredder in The Gauntlet which despite the boys getting constantly knocked down by Shredder, they give it everything they have. It looks freakin’ badass. Then there is any Splinter fight scene. There’s not many, only about three in this season (It Came From the Depths, I, Monster, The Showdown two-parter) but they are excellent. I said that the Splinter vs Shredder fight was the best and nothing after ever topped it, right?

So yeah, if I was going to rate the animation on a 1-5 scale...

Rating: 4.5

Voice Acting

The series was voice directed by veteran Andrea Romano, so you know that the performances are gonna be solid. As far as casting goes, they got in a LOT of big names both in the voice acting industry and out. There’s of course Greg Cipes (Mikey), Mae Whitman (April), Nolan North (The Kraang), Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder), Phil Lamar (Stockman), Clancy Brown (Dogpound) and of course Rob Paulsen (Donnie). Rob’s casting was actually a pretty big deal as along with being a veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, he was also the voice of Raph in the original 80′s show. So getting him back even as a different Turtle? Yeah... that’s pretty big!

Then you have more well-known on-screen actors, like Sean Astin (Raph) and Kelly Hu (Karai). Now they both actually have very solid VA-ing careers and still do voice work to this day, but if you’re say... a Lord of the Rings fan and known Sean only for that, this may entice you. The newcomers to voice acting are Jason Biggs (Leo), Christian Lanz (Fishface) and Hoon Lee (Splinter). There’s also guest actors like Jeffrey Combs (The Rat King) and Roseanne Barr (Kraang Prime), so a solid mix of professional voice actors and a few newcomers. The result?

The voice acting is fantastic. Like even as the show goes on and you see more and more mixed reception, the acting is NEVER one of the things you see go down. If anything, it is one aspect that continues to improve episode by episode. All four Turtle actors do an amazing job conveying their characters, able to go from comedic to dramatic in a split second. I’d say that out of everyone, Hoon Lee impressed me the most since he’s the only one aside from Biggs (and... e’ll talk more about him next season) I hadn’t heard of. And he gave a very solid performance. Everyone did. Even for just minor characters like Pulverizer (Roger Craig Smith... yes Pulverizer is Sonic the Hedgehog) or some of the villains like Snake (Danny Jacob who voices King Julian outside the Madacgascar films) or Spyder Byte (Lewis Black), they convey their characters perfectly. Like Black’s character is a rude slob you want to punch, and he does such a great job in making you feel that way!

So yeah, you got a strong cast, a veteran voice director, and a crazy group of characters for them to voice. All of them nail it. And just wait, this is only the S1 cast. Wait until you see who they bring in for future seasons!

Rating: 5

Characters

As I said in Part One, this is the best part of the show. I know a lot of people who fell off TMNT as it went on, but still kept interest because of the characters. To me, this is always the most important part of storytelling. Yes having a good story itself is important, but a good story will be nothing without likeable characters to move it. A cliched story may be annoying, but if the characters are likeable and strongly written, people are usually more forgiving because they care about the cast. This show is no different. To this day, the thing that kept me attracted to the show was the Turtles, April, and Splinter and what they’d get into next. All of them have strong personalities that get you to care about them, or at least see where they’re coming from. I could gush about each of them one by one... so on we go!

Lets start with Mikey because he is the least developed this season... and most of the show sadly. I’d even say that his focus episodes dropped massively in quality after this season as he was forced mroe and mroe into the comedy relief/designated victim/little brother role. It’s a shame too because this season did an excellent job in balancing out both the comedy relief and the more innocent side of the character. Mikey is the most naive of the brothers and the least serious among them. It’s not to say that he can’t take situations seriously, it’s just that he’s more easy-going and fun-seeking than the other three. His biggest problem is his inability to focus and goof around, which has caused several instances of accidentally setting off alarms. 

While not the best of the four, Mikey is a talented ninja and the best at going off just raw talent. He doesn’t think through fighting moves, he can just go with the flow and be perfectly fine. His strongest skill hpwever is his empathy and desire to make friends. While this has backfired on him before, like in New Friend, Old Enemy, where Bradford used and then kidnapped him for a trap, Mikey is incredibly non-judgemental and open-minded. It’s why he could befriend Leatherhead so easily in It Came From the Depths. He saw that the Kraang were attacking him and decided to simply talk to him like he would anyone else, even pointing out that maybe LH only acts like a monster because that’s how he was treated for so long. Mikey may not be book smart, but he’s very emotionally smart. As I said, Mikey’s character sadly devolves into annoying comedy relief as it goes, but for this season he had a strong start. No meaningful development aside form slow progression on paying attention (Parasitica being the final payoff... also if you’re afraid of wasps then avoid that one), but his character is strong enough to carry him through.

Raph is the brawler of the group and the quickest to anger. Hie’s the strongest fighter and incredibly confident... unless he has to deal with bugs. His biggest flaws are his both his anger and his jealous towards Leo. The first half of the season has Raph frequently back-talks and argue with Leo all because he got made the leader over him. For example, in Never Say Xever he is unhappy with Leo using mercy because bad guys don’t deserve it. Leo does eventually use the more Raph-like approach when kidnapping Bradford... and it fails miserably. What saves them? Leo’s act of mercy causing the Purple Dragon to repay the favor sand saving their shells. While he does slowly get a better grip on his temper once Splinter tells him of how dangerous it can be (Turtle Temper), it takes until New Girl in Town for him to overcome his jealousy once and for all. It’s very well done too by having Leo finally get fed up and give Raph what he wanted. Ultimately Raph can’t handle the pressure once things get rough and comes to understand both what Leo deals with essentially every day and how his own actions made it worst.

After that, Raph becomes the perfect example of a follower. While he’s still question Leo, he has good reasons for it, like everything involving Karai for instance. But he actively looks out for him more and stops mocking him outside just brotherly messing around. And even during that point, while Raph could be an insensitive jerk, he does love his family and will make amends when he goes too far. When he mocked Mikey wanting friends in New Friend, Old Enemy, at the end he comforted him after the fallout with Bradford and assured him that he’s a good person. When he mocked Donnie’s crush in Operation: Break-Out and led to Donnie going on a mission solo, Raph was worried about him, realized that he way too harsh, and tried to make amends by giving Donnie all the credit once back home. While Raph doesn’t conquer his temper completely, over the season he does get a better grip on it, can admit when he goes to far, became overall nicer, and by the end is a much better person. It was good stuff!

Donnie is probably the most... divisive of the four. Not because he’s badly written per say. He’s intelligent, but also high-strung and prone to stress. He’s not a bad ninja, but because of his focus on machinery, he’s the least skilled. The two episodes that focus on this are Metalhead and Monkey Brains. Metalhead has an admittedly meh plot where he gets sick of his bo staff and therefore creates the robot Metalhead to act as his weapon. The ‘meh’ plot is IDT it addresses the message of ‘the weapon doesn't make you a good fighter, you do’ very well, ut still Monkey Brains does a much better job, demonstrating Donnie’s tendency to over-think everything and how that is detrimental in a fight. By the climax, he’s able to get himself to rely on his instincts against a mind-reading villain (we’ll get to him later) and kick his ass.

Then there’s The Pulverizer episodes, which are the most interesting but sadly don’t go anywhere after this season. It has Donnie accept Pulverizer as an apprentice of sort, mainly so the kid can have some form of self-defense if he’s going to put himself into danger. It’s ultimately ineffective, but mainly because of Pulverizer wanting to rush and not listening properly. The most important part though is Splinter telling Donnie that by doing this, anything that happens involving him after will be his responsibility. Which we see in The Pulverizer Returns where Pulverizer decides ot let the Foot mutate him to gain awesome mutant powers. Donnie tries to save him, but sadly he fails and Pulverier.. it’s not pretty. While Donnie does still save him after, he’s left with the guilt of ultimately failing his student. I’ll go into mroe about how horribly the writers wasted this next season, but here? It was interesting to give Donnie this plot since you’d expect t to go to say... Leo. I think it really worked for what it was worth and let us see a side of Donnie outside just being the smart one.

So with that said, why is he divisive? Well... it’s because another major part of his character is his crush on April. He doe snot... manage it well, to say the least. He is rather, well... stupid and kinda creepy with it. But I do want to point this out. Yes, it is annoying but I think there’s a good reason for it: he’s an awkward teenager. Yeah him asking her to feel his goosebumps (Metalhead), accidentally calling her ‘his April (The Gauntlet), accidentally saying awkward things when she acknowledges him (pick any episode) are incredibly facepalm worthy at best. And yeah, they should have done better setup than have him just find her pretty when seeing her once. However he does genuinely care about her and int he premiere, he was driven more because he saw an innocent girl scared and was unable to help than his newfound crush. The feelings are genuine and Donnie being awkward about is because... well, Donnie is awkward in general and he does slowly improve. Honestly I’ll have mroe to discuss about this next season cause haha... boy is THAT a clusterfuck. But ultimately while Donnie can be annoying, overall it’s pretty bearable and he has plenty of positive traits to balance it out.

Finally, we get Leo. He’s the group leader, but unlike the past series where he pretty much grew up with that role, here he gets the role halfway through the first episode. He starts as a goody-two-shoes with a mischievous side who had a very basic view of leadership. He see sit as a position of authority, greatness, and unstoppable. That’s not to say that he doesn’t take the role seriously, he does. He devises plans, does his best to keep his brothers focused, and frequently asks Splinter for advice on how to best do things. But he also frequently uses cheesy one-liners and does his best to be as over the top with his heroics as possible, thinking it’s cool when it isn’t. It gives Leo a more naive feel to him, someone who is serious but also is still a teenaged kid who has a lot of learning to do.

The pressures of leadership are Leo’s primary focus as a character. While he has some doubts, the biggest blow to his confident comes in The Gauntlet after there massive defeat against Shredder. The following episode has him unsure of if he can properly lead the team and feeling guilty when things go wrong. But the ultimate meltdown comes in New Girl in Town where Raph finally pushes him too hard and he quits. He’s realized at this point that leadership is not like it is on TV. it’s unforgiving, stressful, and you’re gonna be the one facing the consequences when things go wrong. His difficulty dealing with this is what attracts him to Karai. She’s fun, does whatever she wants, and doesn’t care about the rules. She offers him a form of freedom that he hasn’t had before. It’s why he tries to get her to change sides, he doesn’t want her to be an enemy. Unfortunately things end badly between them this season, but you can see where Leo is coming form no matter how naive he was about it.

Leo evolved a lot over the season. He went from a naive teenager who quoted old TV episodes to a serious, determined leader who was willing to do whatever it took to get his team through. He never quit being optimistic and he does still have his stress with leadership later down the road. But the season is about him easing not the role an understanding the weight of that role. It’s very easy to feel bad for Leo because he tries incredibly hard, but he doesn’t receive a lot of gratitude or payoff, and he just has to accept that. By the finale, he’s willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure both success and his family's safety... something that becomes a bit of an issue in later seasons (looking at you Space Arc). I’d say that because we got to see Leo actually having to come to terms with the role, it makes this imo the best version of the character. We actually have to see him accept the role and how he hate show it limits his free time, something IDT the past versions really did. And all while having this dorky, idealistic side that keeps him likable and all the mroe relateable. Overall, I’d say that the leader in blue was handeled very well here!

April is my favorite character in the show, but her writing this season has some issues. Now as a character herself, she’s perfectly fine. She’s an independent sixteen year old and incredibly proactive. Whenever she finds info on the Kraang or about her dad, she looks into it. When everyone is ready to quit in Panic in the Sewers, she’s the only one who actively tries to do something and get everyone else to not give up. When Splinter offers to train her, she accepts it and we see bits and pieces of her progressing. But it’s done realistically as demonstrated in Karai’s Vendetta where it’s very clear that April is nowhere near her level. But it also demonstrates her determination and how she never gives up, getting back up after every blow and at east trying to put up a fight. While she’s forced to sit most things out and does on occasion get kidnapped, she still tries to be an asset and does very well as an intel gatherer. She’s also incredibly stubborn and can get in over her head without thinking things through, like in Metalhead and the finale episodes. But ultimately her proactiveness and need to take action are her strongest traits and what makes her a useful ally.

The issues with April are in the writing of the plot. I already mentioned how the early episodes could have done mroe in having her ease into the group. There’s also after Karai’s Vendetta where despite living with the guys, we don’t see her until the penultimate episode. We see her express hating it in that episode, but we don’t get to explore the fallout of her losing her normal life. In fact we...d on’t see April’s life outside Turtle stuff until next season, and even then not by much. Now of course the show is about the Turtles and you gotta keep the focus on them, but still we get a bunch of ‘show, don’t tell’ problems with April. We’re told things like she’s living with her aunt, but we never see them interact. Hell, IDT April’s aunt is ever mentioned outside the pilot. We also find out that April is the Kraang’s target... and we never see how she feels about it. If she’s scared, if she’s worried. We can assume that she has some stress about it, as indicated when she vents in Karai’s Vendetta, but little to no showcase of how she feels about it. Mind you we don’t with the Turtles either, but still. Still, overall April is a solid character imo.

That brings us to Master Splinter, the best written character by far. Splinter is the perfect balance of a mentor and a father. He’s firm, strict, and not afraid to dish out punishment when it’s necessary. But he’s also gentle, patient, knows how to give his sons proper guidance, and when to let them figure things out for themselves. He’s also snarky as Hell, so it’s good that he has a sense of humor. He’s also a flawed person. He lost his wife and daughter because of hat is essentially a sibling rivalry that went WAAAY too far and his own inability to control himself worsened things. He lost his family and then his humanity, ending his life as Hamato Yoshi. Since then, he’s hidden int he sewers and tried to focus his energy on raising and protecting his sons. It makes letting them go topside difficult, as it is for any parent whose children are growing up. He can make mistakes, like letting his fear control him and press his sons far too hard in Panic in the Sewers, but he can admit those mistakes.

Splintr’s largest plot in the season, outside mentoring the boys and April, is accepting his mutant status and overcoming his fears. Many epsiodes such as the premiere, Turtle Temper, Monkey Brains, Panic in the Sewers and the finale show how much pain the rat master carries and while he’s move don to a new life, it still haunts him. The episode that best displays this however is a filler episode called I, Monster. In it we get this version of the Rat King, the mind reading villain from Monkey Brains, who uses his power to swarm New York. When he senses Splinter, he proceeds to try and brainwash him too. The episode does an amazing job at showcasing all of Splinter’s fears. The boys outgrowing him, his past tragedies, ending up alone, and the Rat King slowly uses all of it to break him down. Splinter fights back, but the thought of the boys moving on without him is ultimately what defeats him until the boys remind him of who he is. He is Hamato Yoshi, Master Splinter, but most of all their father. They need him and always will. Which lets Splinter overcome the mind control and essentially Airbend Rat King through a wall. It was awesome~

Despite that episode being filler, it’s one of the season's best. It is a strong character exploration piece about a father who has gone through Hell and is faced with the fear of his kids not needing him. It is very relatable and makes Splinter all the mroe sympathetic. And we see Splinter truly embody who he is now when faced with the Shredder again and upon learning that his daughter had survived. He went into full rat mode and gave Shredder the beating that we all wanted. And the season ends on a perfect lead in for the next one. Splinter now knows that Karai is his daughter while she was raised to hate him. It’s any parent’s worst nightmare. He now has to deal with that revelation as well as how he’s going to break it to his students. Splinter has some solid growth int he season, something that a lot of mentor figures in cartoons don’t get, and it’s done perfectly. He has his flaws, but is still a strong father figure to his sons. Add that to Hoon Lee’s absolute perfect performance and you have what is in my opinion the best incarnation of Master Splinter in any TMNT series.

While the main cast is strong, the supporting cast and villains are... not so much. There isn’t really a supporting cast honestly. The best we have is Leatherhead, who is awesome. He’s a damaged character. One treated like a monster and tortured for who knows how long. It left him damaged and prone to trauma-induced outbursts. But he is a good person who knows that what happened to him was wrong and can be quite sweet when given the chance. He didn’t have to save humanity, especially since most would scream and run if they saw him, but he didn’t want anyone else to endure what he did. It’s best exemplified with his sacrifice in TCRI, going back to Dimension X and knowing fully well what’ll await him there. But he does so to save his friends and give them the chance to save the Earth. LH is freakin’ badass and I love him!

The villains though are... kinda boring. Most of the mutants, while the designs are cool, are incredibly one-note. Not all of them, like the Rat King is so dramatic and twisted and his VA does such a great job with the delivery that you both love him and want to strangle him. But others like Snakeweed or Spyder Bytez are just... well, evil for the heck of it. The Kraang are the worst though since at least the mutants are only in like one or two episodes. The Kraang are annoying as HELL. They can be dangerous but the redundant speech pattern and all fo them having essentially the same personality (aka none) is so... boring. Min you in Season 4 we kind of get an explanation to why, but it doesn't change how grating they can get. That being said in large groups they can be dangerous and with things like the Technodrome, they’re not to be taken lightly. Still, GAH I HATE THEM!!!

The Foot are somewhat better. Stockman is pathetic and remains pathetic throughout the entire series. Bradford is a pompous asshole. Xever is a little more interesting in that he kidn of was forced to work for Shredder or go to jail... but sadly after that reveal, he reverts to typical henchman status sadly. Shredder is the Big Bad and a no-nonsense leader. He has no empathy and is more than willing to inflict physical violence on his troops if they fail him. He even threatens to harm Karai, his daughter (kinda...) if she questions him. He is a very single minded perosn, his only goal beign to kill Splinter and his students by any means necessary. Hell. he only starts caring about the Kraang when he realizes that they can advance his goal, but has zero issues letting humanity fall to them. Oh, and there’s his glee when Karai tries to kill Splinter. WOrst? THis isn’t even the worst that he does int he show. Oh just wait for next season. JUST WAIT. Otherwise though, while a powerful fighter, he just mopes in his throne for most of the season, but Richardson’s badass voice acting was nice to hear.

The most interesting villain by far is Karai, and Thank God for it. While Leo is a good-good, Karai is a bad girl. She’s laid-back, does what she wants her way, and doesn’t play by the rules. She’s introduced as a competent fighter, but unlike the other Foot she’s more interesting in talking to the Turtles than killing them. I think she did become genuinely fond of Leo, but ultimately she’s going to be loyal to what she thinks is her family. She also started off realizing that there were bugger problems, like the Kraang, that required more attention over the vendetta until the Turtles betrayed her. Then she pretty much went ‘screw it’ and decided to go with the vendetta, which only got worst when she met Splinter for the first time. Still, ti was nice to have someone actually question Shredder and try to be sensible. She’s definite the most well-written of the villains, and the revelation about her being Splinter’s daughter means that there is MUCH more to come for her. Like I said, just wait for Season 2!

Okay, this section was a LOOOT longer than I thought. So I’ll just finish by saying that the villains aren't all that interesting, but the main characters are very well written. They have strong personalities, plenty of room for growth, and their interactions always gel really well. Very well done!

Rating: 4.5

Story

The main plot threads are the Turtles against the Foot, and the Turtles feud against the Kraang. All with some subplots, like Pulverizer and the mutant of the week stuff, and filler episodes thrown in. I say that the plots are handled very well. For example well go with... say two or three Kraang-centric episodes. Then we may or may not get a filler episode before shifting over to the Foot Clan for awhile. It never felt like we got smothered with one faction over the other, which is good. The plots also slowly intertwined and it felt like they came together at just the right time during the last six or so episodes. Hence hwy the finale worked so well, giving some kind of payoff on both ends.

Many of the episodes were very basic and outright bizarre. Like Cockroach Terminator having a mutant cockroach tr to murder Raph... it’s kinda gross, but entertaining! Every episode normally has at least something small that’ll carry over as the story goes along. For example, Donnie built Metalhead in... well, Metalhead and brought him back in the finale, plus it helped him learn mroe about Kraang tech. In Baxter’s Gambit, April finally gets her own weapon and she attempts to use it in Karai’s Vendetta. The episodes all play a part, even if just minor, in the larger narrative and I feel some of the later seasons kind of slacked on that. This season had a perfect balance.

That’s not to say that it was perfect. Like at the end of TCRI, we find out that April is the Kraang’s true target which makes us wonder why... and the next episode is about Raph’s fear of bugs! So TCRI was episode 17, we don’t even mention this fact again until Karai’s Vendetta, which is episode 21. Five episodes later, and even then we get one tiny hint (April doesn't get damaged by mutagen-laced water) and... that’s it. The.show has a bit of an issue with not exploring fallout, which is weird because Panic in the Sewers did and id it excellently. Maybe it’s because they have to make episodes to sell toys, IDK. It doesn't do too much damage, but it makes it feel like they both wasted character opportunities and like there’s something missing. But at the very least the episodes remain entertaining, so there’s that.

Rating: 4

Final Thoughts

You know what I like about this series and why I ran it above the other ones? Well it does something that I feel that the previous incarnations lacked: The Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles felt like teenagers. They felt like a bunch of kids truly entering the world for the first time. They screw up, they have problems to overcome, and they don’t always learn it immideatly. Like their cockiness is a frequent pain in the shell for example. But the reason that I like pretty much all of the episodes aside form Episode 11 is because it feels like we’re watching a group of kids truly starting to grow up and learn about how rough life can be. How they have to change, how they have to fix their mistakes, and just become better people. As a nineteen year old who was just staring to figure my life out, when I started the show, that drew me in. I related to these characters so much. I felt like I was growing with them and coming to understand who I was due to it.

It felt really nostalgic to go back over this season. Imo, it still holds up big time. It’s funny, action-heavy, well animated, and the characters are just as enjoyable as I remember. Would I call this the best season? Hmm... maybe. I still have three more to look over. But it was a really fun ride and it got TMNT 2012 off on the right track. Can they stay on it during Season 2? Come back next week, and we shall see!