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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 Review: Still Possesses Turtle Power After All These Years

Cowabunga all you happy people! I freaking love the Teenage Ninja Turtles. I grew up with it from Turtles in Time, which was my first video game, to the 2003 cartoon, which I covered the first three episodes of last month, and on to present day as I re-read the idw comics after finally reading the original eastman and laird run of mirage, and impatiently waiting for Shredder’s Revenge to come out after a LONG drout of no good TMNT games. I”m a fan of these heroes four, their dynamic as a family, the endless possiblities that come from it’s long history and ablitlity to go anywhere in any genre, and the wonderful goofy shit that happens when you have a franchise about mutant turtles learning ninjitsu from a rat and fighting a dude covered in knife covered samurai armor.

So with me finally covering the guys after almost a year last month and with a new movie set to debut at some point this year, I had the bright idea to revisit the FIRST TMNT movie after way too many years of not watching it. This movie is anear and dear to my heart: When I first started getting into the boys big as a kid with the 2003 cartoon, I badly wanted more turtles. But back then it wasn’t nearly as easy to glom onto some more of the sewer shock pizza kings: Streaming sites with all the cartoons on them weren’t all that accesable, dvd’s were expensive for the 87 cartoon, Mirage wasn’t reprinting the comics in any meaningful way and my local comic shop didn’t have any at all and I could only play the SNES when my brother had it set up on occasion like at our Grandma’s farm.

As you probably guessed though there was one exception: the original 1990 movie, which I got at Walmart for 5 bucks and haven’t let go of since. It was one of my first dvds and is still one of my most precious. Said film hit the spot just right as like my beloved 2003 series, it was a mildly goofy but still fucking cool adaptation that stuck closer to the mirage comics, even more than the 2003 series would, while taking a few queues from the 87 series. This film is as precious to me as the 2003 series and a with a brand new movie coming up, I figured it was the exact right time to dig into this classic: what makes it still good to this day, what’s fun to point and laugh at, and how the heck Jim Henson got involved in this. So join me under the cut as I take a look at my boys first theatrical outing and why I still love watching a turtle.

No One Wanted To Make This: Before we get into the film itself some background. As usual I struggled a bit, but thankfully found some help in the form of this Hollywood Reporter article. It’s a fascinating read worth your time, providing an oral history of the film from the people who worked on it.

The film was the baby of Gary Propper, a surfer dude and road manager for the prop comic Gallagher, aka that guy who used to smash watermelons but now has instead opted to smash what little’s left of his career by being a homophobic douchenozzle. He found an ally in Showtime producer Kim Dawson who’d produced Gallagher’s special. I don’t think there will be more of an 80′s sentence than “Gallagher’s surfer dude agent wanted to make a teenage mutant ninja turtles movie”. Propper was a huge fan of the comics, and with Dawson’s help convinced Laird and Eastman to let them option it to studios.

It may come as a shock to you but the road agent for a homophobic watermelon man and a producer at a niche cable channel wanting to make a movie based on an underground comic book about masked turtles at a time when the two most recent comic book movies were Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Howard the Duck, did not go well. Every door in Hollywood got slammed in their face, even Fox> Even the eventual backer of the film, Golden Harvest, a hong kong action film studio, took months to convince to actually back the film.

Things did not get easier from there: The films writer Bobby Herbeck had trouble getting a story agreed on because Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s working relationship had deteroiated horribly from the stress so naturally the two could not agree on a damn thing and argued with each other. Peter Laird made a tense siutation even worse by constnatly sniping at Herbeck and feeling he was a “Hollywood outsider infringing on his vision and characters”

Granted the script was apparently not great... but Pete still comes off as a pretnetious ass who views his weird indie comic as THE HIGHEST OF HIGH CALLINGS HOW DARE YOU SOIL IT. And continued to be kind of a prick like this throughout the rest of his time with the property.

Thankfully the film found i’ts voice, vision and director in Steve Barron. Barron was a music video guy who knew the producers and while reluctant, eventually dove into the project rightfully thinking the film would need to be a mix of the mirage comics and 87 cartoon, keeping aprils’ reporter job, the turtles lvoe of pizza and their iconic color coding from the cartoon but adapting several stories from the comics as the backbone of the film. The guys liked barron MUCH better and things ran smoother.

Barron also brought in one of the film’s biggest selling points and it’s most valuable asset: it’s triumphantly awesome Jim Henson costumes. Barron had worked with good old Jim on the music videos for Labyrinth, and while it took some convincing since the comics were violent as hell and that wasn’t Jim’s style, Barron eventually got him on board. This naturally doubled the budget, but given Henson’s costumes STILL hold up today and look better than the cgi used in the platinum dunes films... it was a good call. And this was brand new tech for jim, having to invent tons of new ideas and mechanisms just to make the things work, and said things still were absolute hell on the actors. Jim later ended up not liking the film for being too violent... which I find hilarious given how many muppets got eaten or blowed up real good on his show but regardless, I thank this legendary and wonderful man as without him this film WOULD NOT have worked. The costumes here look great, feel realistic, and you can’t tell the actors were dubbed much less horribly suffering in those suits. Much like Disney Land.

The film would get picked up for distribution by New Line, and despite i’ts weird as hell origins and the long shot it had.. the film was a MASSIVE hit at the box office, owing to a combination of Batman 89 the previous year having proved comic book movies can work for audiences, the cartoon’s runaway sucess, and a massive marketing campaign. The film made it’s mark. So now we know how we got here let’s get into the film itself.

What’s the Story Morning Glory?:

So the story for this one is largely cobbled together from some of the more notable arcs Eastman and Laird did before handing off the book to others full time as the stress of the company and the mounting tension with each other made it near impossible to work together on the book itself.

To Save time i’m just going through what hte movie takes from the comics plot wise now to save me the trouble later:The movie takes elements from the first issue (The Turtles, Splinter and Shredder’s backstories, Shredder being fully human and the main antagonist, Shredder’s design and the final rooftop showdown that results in Shredder’s death), second and third, (April’s apartment over her dad’s old store and the turtles moving in when their home is ransacked and splinter has gone missing), the rapheal micro series (A tounge in cheek way of cashing in on the Mini-Series craze of the 80s, a one shot by modern standards and something that’s tragically been underused as an idea as only TMNT and MLP have used the idea at IDW, Raph meeting casey and their fight with one another), the return of shredder arc (One of the turtles being ambushed and mobbed by the foot and then thrown though a sky light (Leo in the comic and Raph here), the turtles being horribly outnumbered by them, Casey coming ot the rescue and metting the non-raph turtles for the first time, and them being forced to escape when the place goes up in flames), their exile to northampton (April writing in a journal, casey working on a car with one of the guys and one of hte guys looking over hteir injured brother), and finally, their triumphant return which was very loosely adapted as there are no deformed shredder clones and shredder not being dead yet in this version was not brought back by a colony of super science worms.

So as for how this all comes together: Our story takes place in New York: A crimewave is high with muggings mysterious. There are a ton of phantom thefts going around and at most people have been seeing teens responsibile. And the police.. are at about this level of useful:

The only person doing something is April O’Neil, played by Judith Hoag. Hoag is easily the standout of the film, giving us a strong, confident woman with a wonderful sense of humor. She honestly might be my faviorite April O Neil, and given we’ve had some great ones with 2003, 2012 and Rise, that’s not something I say lightly. I honestly wish I’d recognized her in more stuff as she was both on Nashville and the mom in the Halloween Town films, and most recently was on the ScFy show the magicians. She’s a talented lady and i’m glad she’s still goin.

April is a reporter for Channel 3 like the cartoon, though for some weird reason her boss from the cartoon is replaced by Charles Pennigton, played by Jay Patterson, whose currently dealing with his troubled son Danny, played by Micheal Turney. Pennington is horribly useless at both jobs: At work he tries to ease April off calling out Chief Sterns, who refuses to listen to April’s evidence gathered from japanese immigrants that the crimes resemble similar ones in japan in favor of trying to get charles to shut her up. Danny meanwhile is a member of the foot becase his dad thinks shouting out him and talking about him like he’s not there and generally being a dipstick will actually do anything to help him.

I love the concept for the foot here. In addition to being a Ninja Violence Gang as always, they now recruit new members by finding kids without families or with troubled family lives and giving them a sense of family with the foot, and sweeting the bargin with a giant cave filled with arcade machines, a skate ramp and general late 80′s early 90′s kids goodies. Is it rediculous? Yes. Is it also clever as it gives Shredder an easy army of plausably deniable theives that he can pick the best out of to put in his elite that will be tirelessly loyal to him and him alone? Also yes.

So April being public about this stuff gets her attacked, which naturally leads to our heroes coming in, first in the shadows and later directly when April wont’ give up on the case and Shredder sends some ninjas to go shut her up.. which he does weirdly as the guy jsut slaps her and tells her to cut it out like he’s on a domestically abusive episode of Full House. Raph saves her, and we get the turtles origin.. though weirdly they cut it in half. We get the ooze portion but Splinter’s past with Saki, Saki’s murder of his master and his master’s partern Tang Shen is left for later in the film and the fact Shredder’s saki is treated as a big twist despite the fact the biggest audience for the film would be kids... and kids would’ve been familiar with the cartoon where the giant brain monster routinely screeches out saki at the shredder. Maybe Barron just thought he was an alcoholic I don’t know. It just would’ve made more sense to have it all at once and let the audeince put it together.

April becomes good friends with the turtles over a night of frozen pizza and camradrie, but the Splinters return home to find it ransacked, Splinter kidnapped by the foot, and are forced to Stay with april. Charles meanwhile tries to get April to backoff because he made a deal with the police to clear Danny’s record, without TELLING her any of this mind you, but I will save my rage on that little plot point for in a bit as Danny who he drug along sees the turtles and tells the Shredder.

So we get the return of the shredder arc as Raph goes through a window, our heroes fight valiantly, and Raph’s friend Casey who he met earlier shows up, the two having bonded as all true friends do.. by beating the shit out of each other ending with raph shouting DAMNNNNNNN really big and dramatically into the sky for some reason. The Turtles and friends escape with an injured raph from April’s burning second hand store. She had a second hand store it was poorly established and only there because she had it in the comics.

Our heroes retreat to a farm April’s grandma owned in Northampton, Massachutes, where Mirage was located at the time the original comics where they were exiled to the place were written and a location that has been a staple of the turtles ever since. The turtles slowly recover, lick their wounds, talk about who hooked up with who on gilligans island etc, before Leo connects with Splinter via meditation, who tells them to come back. Splinter also starts to connect with Danny and convinces him to swtich sides.. or at the very least squat in the boys old home.

The boys return home, find danny, and prepare, Danny goes back and ends up giving away the Turtles are home.. but the turtles are ready and in an awesome sequence kick the fuck out of the foot squad sent for them with some well prepared steam vents. Casey goes to get splinter since Danny told them and with Danny’s help, finds him, since Danny found out they were gonna kill him. Casey beats up Tatsu, shredder’s right hand man, and they get him out.

We get our final fight which is awesome up until the climax.. which is splinter casually tripping shredder with nunchucks and thier bloody history being kind of rushed and unsatsifying. Casey crushes shredder with a garbage truck, April gets her job back, more on that in a moment, she and casey hook up, and we end with the fucking awesome song T-U-R-T-L-E Power by partners in cryme. Seriously check it out it’s fucking triumphant.

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The song is just good.. cheesy? Sure but that’s half the fun. It’s the gold standard for movie theme songs for them and stacks up handily with the various animated series themes.. all of which slap. Okay... ALMOST all of which slap. Fast Forwards is aggressively medicore, which is doubly suprising to me since 4kids was REALLY damn good with theme songs. It was one of the three things they were best at along with finding VERY talented voice actors and setting japan based works in america because merica dammit.

The plot is very solid: It skilfully packed half of eastman and laird’s run on TMNT into 90 mintues while adding things like April’s job at channel 9, the way the foot recurited kids etc. The plot flows well for hte most part and apart from one annoying subplot we’ll get to never has a moment that feel unecessary or dosen’t pay off later. And the stellar plot and fun pacing of it helps boilster the characters that do work... and help paper over the ones that are so thin the’yd fall down a grate...

Our Heroes, Villains and Annoying Middle Aged Guys:

Yeahhhh character is hit and miss here. Some are rather strong, others are the bare basics for the character their adapting and most are just to serve the plot but some work some don’t, So let’s talk about it starting with our boys:

Raph is the most fleshed out of the turtles, being the main focus of the first 2/3 of the film, and having his anger be part of what SHOULD be a character arc, learning to temper it. And while granted MOST TMNT properties do this, to the point that Rise Raph is so loveable in part because his boisterous bruiser big bro attitude is a refreshing break from the usual grumpus we get. But at the time this hadn’t been done in every version but the 87 cartoon, so exploring it was valid.. but despite saying this should be a thing htey just forget about it and the most plot relevance he gets is going thorugh a window. He dosen’t really get a resolution.. his arc just kind of stops dead for the final half and it’s one of the film’s weaker points, one I only just now noticed on this rewatch. He’s still the most entertaining.

Leo is the weakest of the turtles. He really lacks a personality here mostly just being leader and while his spirtual side is touched on, it’s mostly a plot device. He’s just kinda the leader because he was in the comics to the point Partners in Cryme called Raph the leader. His role in getting taken out by the foot was taken by Raph, so he just has.. nothing to do for most of the film other than gripe at raph ocasionally and say orders. He’s probably the worst Leo i’ve seen outside of Next Mutation. I prefice that because after watching Phelous’ review it’s VERY clear those four are the worst versions of the characters, and no personality is still better than either having your team do nothing or yelling at them as your personality. I chalk this up to the Mirage Leo, and the mirage turtles to a poit being kind of bland. Not TERRIBLE characters, especially for the time, but not nearly as fleshed out or individualized as they woudl be in other adpatations, and with most traits LEo DID have, like his badassery flat out gone, he’s just.. nothing here.

Mikey and Donnie are a double act here with both sharing a brain. Interestingly instead of his normal genius character, Donnie is Mikey’s best friend and the two simply trade jokes and schtick together. The two are interchangable.. but easily the best part of the film and a lot of the most memorable gags and lines, from Ninja Kick the Damn Rabbit! to “Do you like Penicllin on your pizza”, are from them. Thier there almost entirely as comic relief but it works, with both clealry being more modled ont he 87 cartoon turtles, a move that helps lighten the mood in darker moments. Their just genuinely charming and it’s intresting to see such a diffrent version of Donnie, and other incarnations, specifically the 2003 and Rise versions, would retain the sarcastic edge.

Splinter is splinter. That’s about it, he’s peformed well and the puppet is amazing but he gets kidnapped a half an hour in and outside of influcencing Denny, more on that in a moment, and finishing Shredder he dosen’t do much but spout exposition. He’s not bad or anything, but he’s essentially a rodent shaped plot device. He was also puppeted by Kevin CLash, aka the guy who does Elmo. So there you go.

April on the other hand.. is truly excellent. This might be my faviorite April. Judith’s april nicely blends the cartoon and mirage versions: She has the cartoons energy and job, but the comics sheer will and casual nature. Judith just oozes personality and her April is just a joy to watch, from her breezy chemistry filled interactions with the guys to her confrntation with Chief Sterns, knowing she’ll get thrown out by the asshole. She’s confident, and even when afraid dosen’t back down to her attackers and even helps out during the sewer ambush. I mean it’s a pot on the head but still it’s neat. She’s easily the best part of the flim and the most fleshed out of the cast. The worst I can say is they kinda shove her store from the comics, Second Time Around, in there for no other reason than it was in the comics: It dosen’t come up until it’s needed for the foot’s assault on her place. But overall.. she’s just fantastic to watch.

Speaking of fantastic to watch, Elias Koteas is fantastic as Casey. Seriously he’s only second to the 2003 version in my eyes, getting the concept of a testorone filled average guy who decided to just go out and hit people with sports equipment after watching too much A-Team.. I mean that part of it’s not in this version but it’s implied, just right. Like judith, Elias is just really funny to watch and his big scenes, showing up just in time during the foot assault on april’s place and his fight with Tatsu are some of the best parts of the film, the former taken directly from the comics. This version isn’t without problems: His friendship with Raph, his most endearing aspect and one that has been carried throughout eveyr version Casey’s important, with the only exception so far being rise and we have a movie to fix that, is absent here. HE does save the guy, but they don’t really bond or anything. In fact he disappears for about half an hour after his big fight with Raph. But... again he’s just so damn entertaining, down to his JOSEEEEEEEEEEE Conseco bats (There was a two for one sale!).

Shredder is just a LITTLE better than splinter, if only because his actor projects a true aura of menace and I feel this version had some influence on the pants crappingly terrifying 2003 version. And the idea of the foot recurting teenagers like I said is a good one: He gives them home and a cause, they give him plausably deniable backup. And his fight with the boys in the climax is really awesome... the conclusion sucks but otherwise h’es okay. Not the deepest villian, but he has enough presence to be enjoyable.

His right hand man Tatsu, whose been adapted ocasionally since this and reimaigned as Natsu in the IDW comics, a female version, is also fine. He’s your standard grimacing goon but has enough presence to work.

So that brings us to the penningtons. Charles, april’s boss at the station and his son Danny who’s joined the foot as he feels his dad dosen’t love him. Charles..is about as interesting and likeable as a dog turd and is the worst aspect of the film. No debate there, he just sucks. He sucks so hard he’s classified as a black hole. The film wants you to see him as a put upon wokring dad whose frustrated with his son’s increased moodiness, skipping school and crminal undertakings and just wants to help him and loves him deep down. The problem is his actor’s delivery instead of concerned.. is just pissed. He just seems pissy and upset about the whole thing and comes off like he’s only mad about Danny doing this because he’s embarassing him and not because you know, it’s bad. When confronting Danny about stealing, he dosen’t consider MAYBE he’s part of a gang or needs help, but just wonders “Why are you stealing when I give you stuff”. Because, Dipshit, sometimes kids do crimes not because they need the stuff but because they WANT to, and because they want to act the fuck out.

The most he does for the kid is agree to try and get April to back off the police when Cheif Sterns offers to let Danny go and not put him on record in exchange for it. The problem.. is this makes him even MORE unsympathetic. While I do get wanting to help your child, I do and it’s a sucky position... he again should be sympathetic.. but he handles the thing so badly it sucks. He just tells april to ease off, with no reason given, then fires her when she SHOCKINGLY dosen’t give up taking the guy whose refusing to take her hard work seriously or actually solve the crime wave problem to task for his shitty behavior as ANY person facing a shitty, corrput cop would. She just wants to hold him acountable and get him to actually do something. He clearly knows her on a personal level too as he talks about his issues with his son freely with her, something you don’t do with an employee unless their also a friend on some level.

He could have TOLD april what was going on. She’d be furious at Stern’s naked corrpution and prioritizing shutting her up over actually solving crimes.. and thus put at least some of that energy into shutting him down or finding a way around it, going to the papers or something like that. Even in 1990 pre-internet, there were ways to get around Sterns blackmail and expose him so someone who’d actually do the job could get the job. Instead he just comes off as a selfish coward who rather than try and fight the guy blatantly abusing his power and using Charles own son as barganing chip, goes along with it because it’s the easier option to simply bow to him instead of TRY and stop this. And it’s not like he’s even going after a beloved public figure or someone who could hide behind his rep: Sterns was blatantly failing a crime wave, April had called him out on his failrues and coverups multiple times. The public was against sterns.. finding out he tried to blackmail the media into shutting up about him would PROBABLY end him... I only say probably not because the public wouldn’t skewer him, but because police tend to escape consequences for blatantly murdering someone on a daily basis and Andrew Cumo is STILl mayor over in new york, the same city this movie takes place, 31 years later, depsite EVERYONE asking him to resign over a long history of sexual harassment and a more recent but still horrible history of hiding death numbers. I don’t doubt people being stupid enough to ignore this or the bilaws with cops being stacked enough for him to get away with it, but just because someone gets away with a crime dosen’t mean you shoudln’t try and go after them in the first place. Fuck. Charles. Pennington.

Danny on the other hand is FAR more interesting and I think gets way too much flack when it comes to this subplot. Unlike his dad, whose dead weight, Danny is intresting: He provides a POV character for the foot’s MO in the film of taking in wayward teens, and his character arc is pretty engaging, slowly realizing the foot dosen’t care and that hte turtles are the good guys. HIs actor does a great job and while not the biggest presence, he’s not a bad addition to clan hamaoto and I wish other adaptations would find a way to use him. The pull between doing the right thing and his found family is a good struggle. My only real issue with his plot is the moviies flawed aseop about family. It tries to contrast shredder and his using the kids blatnatly with Splinter and Charles really loving their sons. And it works with Splinter and the kids because despite being a tad strict, Splinter clearly loves his sons and works with them to help them. The problem is ENTIRELY with Charles and Danny. As I said Charles love comes off as transasctional: He either thinks he can buy it or just expects it because he shot a bunch of goop into Danny’s mom after two minutes of disapointment. It dosen’t work with them because neither option is good for Danny. His father is neglectful, chooses throwing his jounralistic integrity out the window over talking to his son or his best friend about another way, and abrasive. Danny is no saint, he does do crimes, but it’s clearly a result of a shitty upbringing and the shredder and co actually offeirng him the love he desperatly craves. Danny goes to the foot because his dad is bad at his job but the film never adresses that and just expects Danny to go back to his dad because the plot says so. Danny would HONESTLY be better off with Splinter. No really. Sure he’d have to live in the sewers.. but he did so for a few weeks in the course of the movie. He’s fine down there. Splitner actually cares about him and took an intrest to him and knows how to raise a child. Let him become the fifth turtle. An aseop about family is not a bad thing: Loaded subject that it can be given how many outright abusive families exist, i’m one of the lucky ones who dosen’t have that issue, family is an important thing and can be a source of comfort and support. But this film tells you you should love and respect someone who does not love, respect or value you because he spent a minute in your mom’s vagina and that’s not how family should work and is outright dangerous to kids in an abusive situation. Love the film otherwise but fuck this aseop skyhigh.

Final thoughts:

Overall though.. the film is bodacious. It’s funny, well paced, has an awesome cast, and outside of a certain bald asswipe... it’s a really good superhero film. Is it the best i’ve seen? Nope. Not even close and character wise most of them are as thin as a wet paper bag covered in ranch dressing. But it’s still a fun as hell with awesome corepgraphy, a killer soundtrack, seriously the soundtrack is damn excellent and only didn’t get it’s own section because I didn’t have enough to say and some of the best effects work i’ve seen in a film in the turtle suits. If you haven’t seen it I urge you to check it out: it’s a breezy 90 minutes, it’s on hbo max and it’s a shell of a time. Will I do the next film?

We’ll see how this one does like wise and such, but I will be doing the rise film whenever it comes out this year. So look for that and keep possesing turtle power my dudes. If you liked this review subscirbe for more, join my patreon to keep this blog a chugging, comission a review if you have more turtle stuff you want me to cover, and comment on this. What do you think of the movie, what are your thoughts on the review, what can I do better, what other turtle stuff would you like me to cover/ Let me know and i’ll see you at hte next rainbow.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles 1990 #leonardo #raphael #donetello #michealangelo #casey jones #april o'neil #the shredder #oroku saki #new line cinema #golden harvest #film #90's movies #the 90's #partners in cryme #judith hoag

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taki118 · 6 years ago

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Sorry but I love Rise’s April and I think she’s the perfect evolution to the character

I’ve said it once but I’m gonna elaborate on it here Rise’s April O’Neil is the best adapted version and Imma tell you all why by sadly having to compare her to the 2k12 version (as they are they closest in a narrative sense & cause 2k12 stans do it all the time).

First off the creators themselves have admitted she is the honorary 6th Turtle in their eyes and everything about her just screams that. She’s extreme, a little off beat, and up for anything especially if its action packed. Like why do you think her jacket is green?! And this just feels so natural April has ALWAYS been an important part of the team and i’ll be honest the main reason i was upset with the new turtle in the comics is cause she uses yellow.....THATS APRIL’S COLOR HOW DARE YOU.

Another is WHY she’s hanging out with the turtles. I’ve said it before but every previous April needed a reason external to herself to hang in the sewers with humanoid turtles. I remember back when the 2k12 series was getting hyped to air the creators had said something along the lines of “You might be wondering why a teenage girl would hang out with turtles in this series we have a reason” And i was excited for that but much like pervious versions it was external factors and the only kinda internal one was that she’s not entirely human herself.

Like we never really saw 2k12 April interact outside her life with the turtles not really, we never saw her not connecting with her peers, we never saw her showcasing her interests outside of team stuff, but you know which April does? ROTTMNTs

We get a few eps where we see April doesn’t fit in at her school and it’s not cause she’s secretly part alien/mutant thing, it’s cause what she likes isn’t popular and it effects her like any other teenager. We haven’t gotten a flashback to her first meeting but I get the feeling after initial shock April didn’t care these were weird mutant turtle guys just that she found people she connects with. I mean we kinda see this with Sunita. We also see there are things April loves that the turtles don’t get like her being a fan of Warren Stone. And this serves to better make April a more fleshed out member of the cast.

Another BIG reason (at least for me) is this April is never sexualized like at all. It’s a well known fact April has always been the eye candy of TMNT and don’t you dare say she wasn’t sexualized in 2k12. Like look her standard outfit isn’t awful I mean it has the really bad layering fashion that every show at the time had (like is she wearing a black full body suit underneath? Who would layer like this?) but despite this was very skin tight to show all her curves. Now you can say thats cause of cg its needed to make the animation easier but you know what wasn’t needed? the giant star on her ass

It’s like a your eye naturally goes to it cause its such a bright color and kinda out of place that makes you go “is that suppose to be there?” I know I did when i watched the first ep. OH and not to mention the ridiculous amount of ass shots this teenager gets

and these were just pics on the wiki that i thought like “Could you really not find a better way to frame this?” like i didn’t go looking for these (And this isnt all of them) Now her Ninja outfit is a little better and oddly a little looser but uh hey guess what it still has?

YEP THAT FUCKING ASS STAR AND OF CORSE HER WEAPON IS ON THE HIP AND NOT THE BACK

oh and lets not forget this “loving” homage to the 80′s series

Yeahhhhhhh everyone knows the yellow jumpsuit is fetished to hell by older fans did we really need Donnie & Casey oggling her? Oh and lets of corse mention that one of her big over arching plots was a will they, won’t they/love triangle to further showcase her as an object of desire. And I’m pretty sure there was an ep where a full grown man was obsessed with her.

Now by Contrast Rise’s April has a very simple and clean desgin. It def took some cues from the 2k12 design what with the leggings and sporty look. But its far more simplified and guess what it doesnt have? A giant look at her butt star! Rather it has a desgin to bring your eyes up to her back.

In fact the shirt it self seems be made long and loose enough that scenes 2k12 April was subjected to would be avoided

Seriously theses were the closest I found on the wiki. Now lets look at some alternate Outfits she wears and once again we get this simple clean loose look but still looks cute and feminine.

Like lets be real her ninja outfit is top teir. Plus they made a bunny girl outfit look cute.

And lets compare April’s intro to her series they are all typically similar in that they need to turtles to rescue them. Now 2k12 April we see her walking with her dad silently before getting captured all we learn about her before the rescue is that Donnie thinks she’s pretty thats it. A character intro is suppose to show the core of who they are the turtles here had it Splinter had it and their choice for April is to let everyone know that she’s pretty. That’s uh not a good look they could have had her talking to her dad about something but nope.

Now lets look at Rise’s April intro. She’s screaming excitedly taking pictures as the turtles do their pool dive showcasing her love of the extreme and fun personality first and foremost as they chose to make the choice that April already knows these guys to streamline things. We know immediately she’s a part of this group, she’s fun loving and the camera is a nice little nod to her interest in journalism to be show cased later. All this in a few seconds.

And I’m sorry 2k12 April but the fact that she becomes basically ninja Jean Grey doesn’t change the fact that she is constantly shown off in a sexual way. And i’m not saying sex appeal is bad I’m saying that when it towards a character whos 16 at a show aimed at kids its kinda like who’s this really for?

Speaking of fighting I got a great love for the completely un-trained taking whatevers around and going to town style. It’s definitely suits the street wise city girl the writers are going for and even harkens back to the 80′s version of the character who’d use her wits grab whatever is around and get the job done. Its not as technical or “ninja” but it feels her own and less male gazey as lets be real action girl is a trope that can easily fall under that.

There’s also the fact that April is JUST the turtles bestie. It’s kinda crazy how even now how rare a having a main female character who isn’t a love interest on a show with a target audience for boys. This April shows you can Love someone and not be IN love with someone.

Overall I’d say Rises April is the natural progression of the character as she’s changed through the years an adaptations taking little cues from each.

80′s- Her interest in reporting, documenting, news and do whatever she can to get new info 2000s’- Her tech abilities & interest, willingness to get down and dirty in a fight, using her wits to her advantage 2012- Her age and relationship with the turtles and desire to be there for her boys

This April is amazing and I need to see more of her. She’s the Turtles girl with a plan, their partner in crime, overall bestie and honorary turtle.

(Sorry about the outfit tangent but it’s bugged me for years)

#rise of tmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #april o'neil #rottmnt

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

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Top 20 BEST Animated Series of 2010s-18th Place

From here, we jump from one unstoppable franchise that defined my childhood to another!

#18- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012-2017)

The Plot: Fifteen years after their mutation, four turtles trained in ninjutsu finally get a chance to leave their home in the sewers and catch a glimpse of the surface world. However, they soon learn that the city of New York is surprisingly full of crime. The type of crime run by dangerous mutants, aliens from another dimension, and even a legion of ninjas run by a dangerously pointy samurai named The Shredder. With the training from their rat sensei, these unlikely heroes will save their city, foil the villains' plans and still have time for pizza!

Now I know that you might be thinking about how this is the dumbest plot for a T.V. show. To that, I say...yeah, pretty much. HOWEVER, the show is called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There is no way you didn't know it was going to be a dumb show going in, right? TMNT is a franchise born from stupidity but not hindered by it. The many reboots rarely, if ever, take themselves too seriously. And the main reason this franchise lasts so long is that the writers know to embrace the weirdness rather than make fun of it. Something similar can be said about this particular reboot.

Sure, there are episodes with more serious stakes than others, but those episodes still know when to keep things light-hearted and fun by placing a well-timed joke between the more dramatic beats. Or at least, they try to do that, but I’ll get to that later. For the most part, TMNT (2012) has a great sense of humor that will make kids laugh and give the adult fans an occasional chuckle. Even when the show does take itself seriously, it handles it well. And do you want to know why the jokes and drama work in this series? It’s all because of the characters.

Here’s a tip for people who want to write a comedy series: Comedy doesn’t come from the joke, but the character who makes the joke. A common complaint you’ll hear about Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that it has the mistake of everyone having too similar of a personality. The jokes are still funny (sometimes), but it comes at the expense of making the characters stale. That isn't the case for this version. Each turtle has a unique trait that helps explore a joke (Leonardo being the straight man and Donetello's over the top freakouts, for example). Even Master Splinter gives an occasional laugh with his dry sense of humor. However, not every joke in TMNT (2012) works, and that’s either because some gags are out of character or are just not funny. For instance, Michelangelo is the team’s moron, so his humor comes from doing something stupid or random. Sometimes it earns a laugh, but for the most part, it comes across as annoying.

The writers also do a somewhat good job at handling drama with its characters. By making the audience like these characters because of their sense of humor, we immediately root for them when they’re being thrown into a more dire situation. The best example of this is every time the turtles and their allies face off against the Shredder, which is always an intense scene to witness. That’s because we care about the characters and will feel panicked when they are in a fight they might not walk away from unscathed. However, not every instance of drama works well. There are times when the show takes itself a little too seriously. While the adult fans will most certainly enjoy those episodes, the same can’t be said for kids. Most kids' cartoons during the 2010s manage to handle drama well in a way where both children and adults can be invested. They usually do this by remembering to keep a stable mix of light-hearted humor with serious storytelling, and sadly this series sometimes fails in finding that perfect mix.

In the first season (and half of season 2), TMNT (2012) did have that balance of comedy and drama. However, halfway through season 2, the humor and drama begin to contradict each other. It starts off with the more comedic episodes coming across as sillier than the dramatic ones that come across as too dark. For example, a story where the turtles nearly die from getting eaten by mutated pizza comes right before one where they almost die from fighting a trained assassin who's a mutated tiger. Things get even worse where even the tones don’t match up for an episode. A majority of the dramatic episodes in later seasons will have a dumb joke that ruins the moment's intensity. And every time, that joke is always made by Michelangelo, who we already established as being not that funny. Because of the contradicting tones, both new and old fans of the series can lose their enjoyment.

However, there’s one thing all fans enjoy that this series excels in, and that is having great action. While the current reboot definitely has the best action animation-wise, it’s mostly styled with no substance. That’s not the case with the 2012 reboot, as it does a decent job at mixing cool action into a story. It’s easy to make a fight between four mutated turtles fighting an evil mutant look cool, but it’s a whole other thing to actually have that fight make sense in a story. Because this reboot works in a half-hour format, the fight scenes between the turtles and the new villain of the week feel more natural and nicely paced with everything else going on within the episode. Plus, while not as epic as Rise of the TMNT, the fights are still pretty cool. They can be fast-paced, have phenomenal camera work, and can be pretty brutal at times when they want to be. And it’s somewhat because this series trades the traditional 2D designs for a 3D makeover.

It’s funny. When I found out that this version of TMNT was planned to be animated using 3D models, I was ready to hate it due to how unnatural it looks. The thing is that the 3D designs are what makes this show stand out from the rest. The level of detail each character has is impressive and would have taken much longer to animate if the show would have stuck with 2D. Although there are a few small complaints, I have character designs. These problems don’t really bug me that much, but they are still worth mentioning. One problem is that not every redesign for the characters work, especially with how they made Casey Jones (do a google image search if you don’t believe me). But I can learn to live with it because every reboot has that ONE design that not everyone will agree with. Another issue I have is that it is apparent when the animators took shortcuts. Such as making an army where the characters look identical to each other or having the transformation from human to mutant look a little lazy. Now I can accept that for two reasons: One. It would take a long time to make a new unique model for a character who would appear for just 10 seconds. And two. Animation (Especially 3D animation) is crazy expensive, and you gotta make cuts where you can. However, for things like the city of New York, one of the most populated/crowded states in the country, being practically devoid of all life can be pretty distracting.

But while the designs for the characters are great, the characters themselves are also...fine. Okay, truth be told, there isn’t much I can say about the characters. Most of them range from passably generic to forgettably bland. However, there are characters in this reboot that I feel are worth mentioning. For instance, this show has the BEST version of Master Splinter. His backstory of the life he had as Hamato Yoshi is legitimately heartbreaking, and the way he interacts with the turtles can be both heartwarming and hilarious. Then there’s the character who I’m iffy about, and that’s April O'Neil. And it’s NOT because she’s a teenage girl in this version (Although I can see why people can have a problem with that), but instead because she doesn’t seem like April O’Neil. Without giving too much away, TMNT (2012) does something that I’m okay with, and that's trying to make April less of a damsel in distress and more of a character who can actually take care of herself. However, the way the writers do that is by making her less like April O’Neil and more like...well, without spoiling anything, she’s more like another famous red-headed comic book character who deals with dangerous mutants. Finally, there’s the character I’m frustrated with: Michelangelo. When I was a kid, Mikey was always my favorite turtle from the bunch, and that was because he was the funniest turtle. This version, on the other hand, comes across as more annoying than funny. In fact, not only is Donatello the most hilarious turtle in this series, but even Leonardo has moments when he’s funnier than Michelangelo. And those are both characters who have had the reputation of the most boring in the franchise!

So, does this reboot of TMNT have its faults? Yes. Yes, it does. But do you want to know what else this reboot has? It has both style and substance. It has both drama and humor. It has fantastic designs and great characters to go along with them. In the end, if you’re a new or old fan of the franchise, odds are you're gonna have one shell of a time with this series.

(Also, while I pointed out it’s faults, I do enjoy Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...for the most part. I’ll explain why, some day.)

#top 20 of 2010s #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #what i thought about

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arandomsewer · 6 years ago

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Reacting to Batman vs TMNT

Part 1:

-cool intro

-we... Start with April. And she looks like she's based in the one from 2003 TMNT, nice

-also NICE style...

-OH SHIT. OH SHIT!! She's got mooves!!

That's mah girl! She learned something from the turtles and...

-...and she doesn't know them?

-ooooh OH SHIT that's not April. Oh, ok

Sorry my bad... They kind of looked the same ...(in more than one version)

-oh, I get it they think theyr the bad guys, of course.

-this is gonna be fun. Theyr both ninjas.

-wait, he recognices they are non-human humanoid creatures from the blurry pictures? Come on! Thats a waste of such a chance!

It would be so cool to have Batman react to theyr looks!

-though, fair enough, hes seen some shit

-(insert spongebob meme) je je. Superan mug

-I will not name the page in witch Im catching it, but I will BURN it with all its piblicity and the issues with the mouse, and laught and dance on the ashes

-that is, after the movie

-aaaw, Alfred and Batbuddy have a sense of humor... And playful banter... I already love this movie

-shit. Mikey, seriously, pizza?

Oh and cool car, and manhole shot...

Just a cool montage alltogether

-are they designed after the 2012 ones? But... Olde...

-NOOH!!! THE PAGE SHITS ON ME AGAIN!!! NOT TRHOUH THE MONTAGE!!!

-ok, that was an ologram, but that foot soldier was stabbing someone. We don't see that every day. Kudos!

-pff. Dances ballet in a cape and looks cool while doing it. Its BATMAN!!

-why rainbow guns? Why?

-"do I look like a freaking bat to you? "

-ok, I see Raph has a scar, but its not the same... So yeah, it could be a bit inspired in the 2012 version

-...oh, he is BIG too

-you know, the 2003 version was a bit of a mix of the comic and the first animation, kind of like the movies.

-I think every version is new but they do work with concepts from past designs, like them being big or Raph's scar...

-and also the raster egs. Those are fun!

-I hope we see Splinter here. Tha Fat Rat is fun too, but I miss wise sensei dad

-Donnie is the only one with cute round eyes. Aaw.

-reminds me of AU concepts in wich they are not teached to be warriors. What could this guy be?

-oh the guns are supposed to look like the umbrella uh.

-ah, Raph is enjo- SHIT!!

THERE'S BLOOD IN THIS

-TMNT DRAWING BLOOD

- +200 kudos!

-"dude, we're out of dudes"

-did he say "do I have to kill everything myself!?"

+10 points for Slythering

-Im going into the digi world, just to take a shit on this page

-Raph hiding from the shots

-Mikey and the gunbrella!

-I don't know how the gunbrella works, but I don't think the star would work like that

-still cool thoug

-the penguin challenges Leo with a sword. He has no dices enough to make that roll!! Pff Leo's not even trying!!

-Im getting one of this umbrella thingys for Mikey's birthday

-in fact! the fact that he's interested on it like this is not just classic Mikey, its also brad new Mikey-likes-cool-weapons stuff. I LOVE creative new character aspects!

-(sees the thing can fly toó)

Oh Mikey's gonna faint

-Mikey does faint

CALLED IT!!

-how long should I make this posts?

-ok, this thing is 1 hour and 27 minutes

60+27 = 87, now: 87÷4 = 21'75

So, I'll make 4 posts, with 20 min. Of movie in each.

...or should I make more? Is this too long already?

-...it kind of is.

-someone message me. Do you preffer longer posts, or more posts? Hurry up!

(To be continued in the next post)

#batman vs tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt #batman vs teenage mutant ninja turtles #batman #react #reaction #recap

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rosetherandomreblogger · 3 years ago

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Rottmnt movie

Cool Nickelodeon intro.

Uhhhhhhh there’s immediate ANGST???

Oh no what happened

LEOS BLEEDING

CASEY CALLED LEO SENSEI????

Wait. Wait oh no these may be my favorite duo actually

OH MIKEY LOOKS COOL

Wait I keep forgetting Leo and Sonic the hedgehog were voiced by the same dude. I’m gonna hear it this whole movie.

“We have a ninja’s greatest weapon. Hope. …and a badass mystic warrior”

WAIT THEY GET TO SWEAR?!?

TIME GATEWAY??? ITLL POTENTIALLY KILL MIKEY???? oh no why does this movie reek of angst already

Ohhhhhhhh Casey Jones you got the fate of the world on the shoulders. No pressure :)

“But sensei-!”

MICHELANGELO HAMATO NO-!

“Master Michelangelo” I. Casey is so respectful???? Who IS he???

LEO BEIN A BAMF

Ooooh intro music bein bombastic. Also reminiscent of the 2012 intro. Nostalgia

Aaaaaa they’re so innocent. I love. But also Leo you’re killin me with the secondhand embarrassment please stop.

“Dang it, Leo. Not everything’s about you. When are you gonna grow up and start acting like a hero” why do those words get my foreshadowing senses tingling

“Ninj-ocity.” Oh dear. This entire movie will have me suffering, huh?

THEY DID WHAT???? Please say they didn’t kill him. Please. My heart cannot take that.

OPE. THERE GOES THE ARTIFACT. CASEY GO GET IT.

Leo. Why are you kind of a jackass

Wait I love maneuver 12 actually

Mystic tech? Did you mean “bomb-ass magic?”

Oh wait I love Ralph’s thing even more

LEO YOU DUMMY I LOVE YOU BUT WHY DID YOU DO THAT

NO. THE FOOT CAN FUCK OFF. They’re still my least favorite villains.

Leo. You’re a jerk today.

Ah. The eldest sibling conundrum. Classic TMNT stuff.

Splinter bein wise??

Ah. Nvm. He’s about his tv show. Weird trait for splinter, but whatever.

Oooooh Casey Jones? You look neat!

Oh Casey usin his BRAIN. Good kid.

April??? What the heck are you up to?

…why do I feel like you’ve made the whole bit about the chemical deforestation bomb up?

Oh. Rip ur phone.

APRIL WHAT THE HECK-?!?

Oh. Casey this is not how we approach people before whatever kraang shit went down- oh gods he’s got his AirPods in he can’t hear me-

IM SORRY, DID YOU SAY COMMANDER O’NEIL????

Oh. Oh no. This ain’t gonna end well. I hate this troupe.

Casey. Get your ducks in a row and explain CAREFULLY.

Oh Casey did your grappling hook misfire? Okay. Dang.

Oh this ain’t gonna end well, is it

Yep they’re all laughing at him.

“None taken. We are delicious.” SPLINTER. HAVE YOU ENGAGED IN CANNIBALISM, SPLINTER???? WHAT. HEH.

Oh. Oh there goes Leo’s ego. Through the roof.

SPLINTER. OH NO SPLINTER. WHY IS HE TRAUMATIZED BY THE KRANG. Also why do they spell it with only one A? It has two.

Ohhhhh backstory.

OOOH. WAIT. WAIT OH NO.

LEO WE BUSTIN UR ASS.

Casey hon. Don’t give up.

ROAST HIM RAPH

Ohhhhhhhhh no. Foot clan. Don’t do shit.

OHHHHH NO. FOOT CLAN WHY

Oh come on. Why is it cult shit.

OH FUCK. OH NOOOOOOO

…please tell me the designs are cool. The fact that they were brain critters in the 2012 version makes me not want that.

Yeah I can live with these designs.

Oh it’s just the one. Mkay then.

Oh wait I like his fighting style.

Oh ouch that has to hurt.

WAIT WHAT. THATS ILLEGAL. THATS STRAIGHT-UP ILLEGAL.

Oh there’s two more? Fun!

Huh. The sister seems more deranged.

Technodrome. They need to come up with a better name.

GIRLIE NO. ILLEGAL. BAD.

HEY WAIT DONT LET HIM WIDEN THE PORTAL

S P L I N T E R

Oh I like the escape pods

Ohhhhhh no I don’t like this.

HE GOT IT

N O

RAPH

Coping with with humor and getting it shut down. Classic.

Casey. Your catastrophizing.

Leo calm please

Leo please. Calm. You’ll regret this.

~~~~~end for the night cause I’m tired~~~~

“Donnie, you’re driving.”

I forgot about “commander” O’Neil

OOOOOH. OH NO. RAPH.

Hm. The first one who came out seems to be in charge. I don’t like that.

…they keep talking about Duty and my brain wants to make poop jokes.

In all seriousness I think these guys may be my new “love to hate them” enemies.

“Glorious crusade to restore the natural order of things” DID YOU MEAN GENOCIDE. CAUSE THIS SHIT SOUNDS LIKE GENOCIDE. I DONT CARE IF THE UNIVERSE CAME FROM YALL LEAVE THESE GUYS ALONE.

“The strong will devour the weak” WAIT. HOL UP. SO YALL DIDNT START SHIT. BROOOOOO LAME.

GOOD FOR YOU RAPH. KEEP UR MOUTH SHUT.

Also the dimension thing was funny, keep bein funny.

Ohhhh here’s the psychic kraang shit. This does NOT look pleasant.

That looked actually super painful and I hate it thanks.

…yeah they’re my new love to hate em characters. This guys smug face. Eugh.

Wait can I take a screenshot like this?

It didn’t work. Damn.

“You will serve me whether you live or not” WAIT I KINDA LOVE THAT LINE. WAIT WAIT WAIT I NEED TO USE THAT FOR D&D

Ohhhhh I don’t like the kraang thing actually. Like- in concept, the “can infect by touching” is cool. The designs? Not a fan.

This scene counts as body horror, right? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

…Leo don’t fault him for the trackers, they’re smart.

OH I LIKE THAT. OHHHHH I LIKE THAT. “From their perch atop New York City, the Kraang ripped open the sky itself. What came out was terror, and what rained down was worse than death” THATS FUCKIN COOL.

Leo, they’re right. The tunnels aren’t much in escape routes.

OHHHHHH I DONT LIKE THE MIND CONTROL HIVE MIND THING. Like. It’s cool, and a great implementation of something that has been shown in past iterations (the 2012 one comes to mind even tho it’s the only one I watched) but I do NOT like it.

Hm. Yep. This should’ve been a horror movie.

Oh. Oh there’s Casey’s trauma. Oh dear.

THAT AUTO-BRAKE WAS BRUTAL. OUCH.

VINES??? DONNIE. LEO. THOSE ARE FLESH. THOSE ARE A SPIDERWEB OF FLESH WAITING TO CATCH YOU. COME OUT OF THE TUNNELS YOU IDIOTS.

I HEARD A HEARTBEAT. FROM THE VINES. OH MY GODS, I LOVE THEM. BUT THEY CAN BE DUMB AFTER THEIR EGOS HAVE BEEN BOOSTED.

“Those slime balls will never see us coming” with hundreds of eyes opening behind him.

THIS IS WHY I THINK THE KRAANG SHOULD BE A HORROR MOVIE.

…I feel like if they destroy the artifact, it’ll just open up the portal forever. Like. Maybe we DONT try to break it??? Just a thought.

I feel like these Kraang should get names. …or even Greek designations. Ya know, Alpha, Beta, Delta.

Mikey. Oh hon. Go ahead and try, I don’t think it’s gonna work.

Yep. Thought so.

OH DONNIE NO.

OH SHIT. APRIL GO RAID THAT LAB U STOLE FROM EARLIER.

Oh please don’t tell me Leo and Casey dead.

THEYRE NOT DEAD.

wait where

THEYRE BOTH ALIVE THANK GOD.

Casey. Casey this is YOUNGER Leo. He doesn’t know what you do. Be nice, please.

Ohhhh Casey. Be- oh no he’s. I mean, Leo probably NEEDS the reality check, but geez.

Hey. Hey that was rude.

…don’t tell me Mr O’Neil is a COP.

Yeah, this isn’t gonna end well for the dudes in helicopters, huh?

…the cop is Mr O’Neil, isn’t it? …FU-

Casey bein pissed. I’m not sure how much I like him. I mean- I ADORE him, he’s great, but… idk yet. We’ll see.

THANK YOU LEO. Geez, he needed to see sense.

Casey, internally: …there’s a glimpse of the Sensei I know.

…Mikey, I don’t think it’s gonna work.

YES. APRIL

…I still don’t think it’s herbicide tho.

Donnie, you’re a dork.

…oh no. Oh no no no. Raph.

OH FUCK.

OHHHHH SEE. THIS MOVIE SHOULDA HAD SOME KINDA BODY HORROR WARNIN.

Oh. Ohhhhh fuck. They need more chemicals.

…I will say: the subway car Kraang thing is a pretty cool enemy.

SMOKE BOMB. I LOVE THE SMOKE BOMB.

So there DID used to be more than the 3 of them. Good to know.

…wait. Did these 3 resort to cannibalism to stay alive??? These are questions I need answered.

…well, here comes the bomb-ass literary quote from earlier.

…they should have some kind of warning on this whole fucking movie. Eugh.

This is a new design tho. I appreciate that.

THEY. NO. WHAT. ROBO-SUITS?????

I mean, they’ve brought back another huge thing I associate with the Kraang, BUT ARE YOU SHITTIN ME?

…still don’t like the technodrome’s design. Eugh. Too much flesh.

I mean, I probably would have complained that the technodrome looked samey if they didn’t do something so drastic, but GEEZ.

Good on humanity for trying, but uh. Not gonna work.

Oh yeah. Kraang are vicious.

“That nerd thing.”

A NINJAS GREATEST WEAPON CALLBACK

YALL GOT IT. YES. WORK TOGETHER BOYS + APRIL

Donnie is so hyped to pilot that ship I love it.

Y E S. DONT FORGET ABOUT RAPH

Wait the Kraang took control of- oh no that makes sense actually.

Ohhhh I still don’t like the technodrome design. Eugh.

Leo. Leo don’t be a self-sacrificing idiot.

I swear. This whole movie just. Eugh. Flesh vines

I HATE THE ROBO SUITS

OH GIANT EYE. EWWWWW. GROSS.

hehehehehe he said doody

Oh she’s still pissed. Good to know.

April. April do NOT. You have no clue how to operate a crane.

Cmon Leo. You got this. …also how are they gonna manage to remove the Kraang shit. Cause they gotta at some point, right?

…oh I don’t like how it looks like they’ll have to touch the Kraang stuff to hack in. Ew.

DONNIE HAS THE SAME IDEA AS ME AND HE ALSO DOESNT LIKE IT.

Boys please don’t vomit on screen. Please.

…does Donnie have canonical sensory issues in this one? Cause that’s neat.

“I am a gift!” NO, YOURE A GENOCIDAL LUNATIC

OH DONNIE NO. EUGH.

OH THE LITTLE ONE GOT UP-

GO DONNIE GO DONNIE GO DONNIE GO

Oh ouch. Yeah Leo’s gonna need some MAJOR healing time.

Uhhhhh what’s the big guy gonna do.

…Donnie you sound like a supervillain a little-

OH YOU ASS-

Ohhh Leo havin a heartfelt moment. I love it.

MAGIC RAPH BACK???? MAGIC RAPH BACK REAL???

YOU GOT IT BOYS. YOU GOT IT. GO BOYS GO.

Y E S. YEEEEESSSSSS. GO BOYS.

0.0 Donnie has QUITE the arsenal.

FOURTH WALL BREAK JOKE. YES.

I was wondering how April was doing. But also APRIL YOU ARE NOWHERE NEAR WEARIJG ALL THE SAFTEY EQUIPMENT TO BE ON A CONSTRUCTION SITE. NONE OF YALL ARE. APRIL IS THE ONLY ONE WEARING A HARD HAT.

GO APRIL GO- holy shit that was actually kinda brutal?

WAIT SHE AINT DEAD

Ohhhh that’s brutal.

OHHHHHHH I LOVE THAT.

ALL FOUR IN SYNC YESS

Donnie has his battle shell back. Good.

OHHHHH FUCK

GO RAPH GO. GET EM.

…Donnie neurodivergent????

Donnie you dork-

Ohhhh that’s a pissed off Kraang.

Ohhhh Leo. Leo no.

OHHH THEY CAN ALL HEAR.

Ohhhh Leo you big dummie.

LEO OH HON.

CASEY DONT CRY.

Oh NO.

GOOD JOB CASEY BIT ALSO AAAAAAAA

Oh no. No tears. Please no tears. I will end up crying too

There goes the technodrome.

Oh Leo. Leo get up. Leo please.

LEO NO.

MIKEY. MIKEY DO THE THING.

CMOOOOON MIKEY

YOU GOT IT BOYO

YES YES YES YES YES

Y E S

Oh ouch. That had to hurt

Y E S. GET F U C K E D

WHATS WRONG WITH STATEN ISLAND????

O H. OH “our heroes 💙🧡❤️💜” AAAAAAAA

Oh Casey. Casey your first time trying pizza.

OH AN UPDATED PIC AAAA

Who’s Cassandra-? OH SHES PRETTY

CASEYS MOM?

“I’m proud of you” THANK YOU FOR SAYONG IT

YES RAPH. BEAT THAT RECORD.

I have decided I am gonna watch the ROTTMNT Movie. I know some very basic lore- how mutating works, April and Donnie aren’t in love in this one, Raph is the leader, Casey exists, so do the Kraang in some form. That’s pretty much all I know.

I will be live-blogging my reaction in the notes app on my phone then I will post to tumblr in one big reblog of this post.

#rottmnt #rottmnt movie #long post

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calliecat93 · 7 years ago

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Hi Callie, I have a quick q sesh for you if you don't mind... so, what do you think of the new tmnt comin' out this year? Do you think you'll watch it or nah? Do you have any opinions on the new art-style? What do you think of 2D animation? Do you prefer 2012's aesthetic so far? Sorry, I'm just curious to know what you think since the fandom has been greatly divided by the announcement of Rise, as you probably already know, and I was just wondering where your opinions fall as a fellow fan.

So far, Rise looks like it has a lot of potential. I had been worried and I’m so far not crazy over the character designs aside from April’s. IDK, I think they’re trying /tooo/ hard to make the guys distinguishable and I orefered the more simplistic approach 2k12 did. Some of the changes, like Raph being the leader and Leo seeming to be more of an immature trickster, also make me raise a brow.

Despite this, I really like the animation. It has an anime-like feel to it that can make for some great fights. I also like the focus on mystical themes since 2k13 was so heavy with sci-fi. And I am VERY happy to have it in 2D. I loved 2k12’s animation, but 2D is ultimately what I love and I’m glad that it’s back. And I can accept the changes and admire the creators for trying new things. But we’re going to have to see the quality of the stories first to see if these changes were a wise decision or not.

I have my worries, but I’m excited for a lot too. Is Rose going to be good? I have no idea. I assume that more will come out next month durind SDCC, but yes I do plan on watching it. If it’s good, I’ll stick to it. If not, I sinply won’t watch it. But either way, I’m excited to see the Turtles back on TV!

#ask #tmnt #rise of the tmnt

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the-head-scratcher · 6 years ago

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Game Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Out Of The Shadows (2013)

Introduction - dive into this sewer, familiar or not!

Welcome to New York, a place where four legendary heroes call home. No, not the Fantastic 4. They dwell deep within the sewers. Hidden in secret. Shadows to the outside world. Trained as ninjas in martial arts from childhood. Still not with me? Ok, simply put, they're four oversized teenage turtles raised by a giant rat. Together they battle their ultimate nemesis, Shredder, and his ever-loyal Foot-clan, who try to rule the city with a steel grip. Still with me? Tubular!

Now let's drop through the manhole, into the sewer and see what’s what…

Overview - plenty of pizza toppings!

TMNT: Out of The Shadows (not to be confused with the Michael Bay movie abomination of the same name) is based on the 2012 Nickelodeon show, a CGI cartoon based on the original comic book stories created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird way back in 1984.

The game was released on 28th August 2013 by Red Fly Studios and features a hack and slash gameplay style like the Batman Arkham series of games.

It was available on Steam, Xbox 360 and PS3 but is no longer available digitally due to Activision not renewing the licence back in 2017. It is possible to find PC copies via the internet so there’s still some hope if you're interested.

The game has the following features:

Story - an adventure over four chapters.

Survival - fight and survive rounds of enemies until all four Turtles are defeated

Battle - choose your Turtle and battle foes in a four-round match

Arcade Mode - side-scrolling beat-em-up style mode for up to four players

Dojo - a training area to learn all the moves

Donnie's Workshop - unlock special weapons for each character

True Ninja Mode - attack indicators are turned off (for the true Ninja Turtle only!)

On release, you could play online with four players and two-player split-screen but these modes are a bit unpolished, to put it mildly. Multiplayer matches are very rare nowadays.

Story - pretty standard but a nice distraction.

Taking a stroll around town, our testudinate heroes: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello, spot a group of thugs known as the Purple Dragons stealing some serious tech. But to what end? Of course, the Turtles investigate and inevitably the Foot clan and Shredder are involved.

In general, it's a story about some dudes who are up to no good, which becomes more than first meets the eye, leading to a final showdown with a familiar villain.

It's straight forward but you'll get a few hours of enjoyment from it and the humour is quite fun. There are some great one-liners from Mikey which will raise a smirk or two for the die-hard fans but may irritate others.

There are also plenty of collectables to be found which may see you coming back from time to time.

Replayability - where’s it at?

Whilst the story won't keep you coming back too often, the Battle & Survival modes are where it's at for replay value.

Completing objectives grants you points to spend on the Turtles and how you use those points affects how each character plays. Your choices can't be undone so choose wisely!

I've played through these modes countless times to find the skill set I prefer for each character but there could be more depth of customisation for each Turtle.

Graphics - better on PC (once adjusted), but on consoles, you’re out of luck.

In general, the subtle background touches to the scenery, buildings and the weather effects create a satisfying version of the Turtles' New York. I found myself stopping now and again to admire the detail on the buildings and to look down at the busy city below whilst jumping across the rooftops.

If like me, you love taking screenshots of the action, you'll get some cracking ones, believe me (I took all the shots shown in this review)!

The lighting can be a bit too bright so you'll probably find yourself dropping the brightness down to get that more mysterious ninja feel.

The Turtles look more like the original 1990 film than they do their 2012 versions which is a nice choice in my opinion. The animation detail is great, with different styles of movement for each character and the way they navigate their surroundings and engage in combat is well executed and their fighting styles are impressive to look at. The first time you see Mikey doing taunt dancing while talking about his first nunchuck related black eye is also highly amusing.

There are limited customisation options but on PC at least you can go into the config file to remove the awful motion blur, which I did. I hate when games apply this effect as it often destroys the experience. Cranking up the anti-aliasing doesn't hurt either. Sadly consoles don't get that option - bummer!

Voice acting/characters - pretty good but beware the Kari!

I don't recognise who any of the voice actors are but I thought they were all pretty good and the Turtles all fit their personalities, even if the jokes begin to wear thin after a while.

Shredder sounds gruff and not too silly like the old ‘90s cartoon and when he mocks you it actually gives you the drive to beat his ass.

Splinter's voice was interesting but not quite as satisfying as I'd hoped - the original voice actor of Kevin Clash would have made for a nice treat.

The Foot soldiers are all mostly silent ninjas but it's funny when they try to sound tough and the same goes for the Purple Dragons - did these guys all train at the same place as the Batman games’ thugs did?

My only gripes, in particular, are April and Kari. I just didn't care for April's character in the entire story and she could easily have been removed from the story without making any difference. Kari’s repeated "come find me Turtles, dance Turtles" taunt as she darts around dropping smoke bombs is a steady incline of annoyance to the point you'll crack and be like "let's just kick the bejesus out of her to keep her quiet!".

Gameplay - this Arkham City clone needs some polish…

The main fighting mechanic is quite similar to the Batman Arkham series. There's a block meter for parrying attacks and a special bar that lets you unleash some awesome attacking power. Each Turtle fights differently and has their own specific perks and you'll soon have your own favourite.

On console, the frame rate maxes out at 30 fps which can affect the fluidity of fights but this increases to 60 fps on PC, a big improvement.

Whilst navigation in the game is somewhat open, there is still typically a set route which makes the game fairly linear.

The option to sneak around and stealth KO a foe or run in and administer a fatal dose of Turtle Power is a nice touch during the campaign but in other situations, you have no option but to stand and fight.

The first chapter of the story mode works as an on the fly training session to learn attacks, countering and the gnarly jumps and flips - you can practice more in the Dojo.

As far as the controls themselves go, the combination of keyboard and mouse is horrendous as the keys are so far apart. Thankfully you can connect up your favourite gamepad (I used my Xbox 360 controller) so it’s the same layout as console and easy to catch on.

The controller at times feels a bit delayed and if your inputs are too fast during combat your character may start doing random things like attacking an enemy then attacking thin air in the wrong direction. Sometimes trying to use your special will end up in it happening twice, ending your combo and suffering a blow from an enemy - shell shock!

AI - unfair enemies, glitched brothers, weird camera - consider it Shredded!

*facepalm and sigh* Alright, my biggest gripe about the whole game, is the AI. Red Fly have laid the basic groundwork but there are issues like only being able to counter two enemies at a time and being completely open to attack while the animation plays out so a loose enemy can leave you on your butt. Enraged.

Sure there’s colour coding to show imminent attacks but that doesn't stop the game from disrupting your experience by ignoring your commands at the most inappropriate of times. I want to quick evade! No! Controller! Don't make Leo jump sideways into that thug's club… dammit!!!

At other times your brothers in green will just stand motionless after you switch between them quickly. In an intense battle, uppercutting a guy into the air, switching to Raph and smashing them to the ground just to see the previous Turtle taking a pummeling and not defending himself is seriously frustrating! You're just like, what the hell dude? Counter! You have to quickly switch back just to rescue his stupid ass from a beating.

Camera control can be quite wonky but from what I’ve played, most of the time it stays with the action, and believe me, I’ve played this game to death. On rare occasion, when executing a complex array of moves, the camera will jump completely off-screen to an empty void then suddenly snap back to the battle. I've only had this happen a few times but it’s jarring and you'll be panicking about getting hit.

Teamwork - when the AI works it can be radical.

Even though the AI enrages me, there are times with your Turtle brethren where they actually do come to your aid and aren't completely stupid. Sometimes they will even ask for a "little help!?" when holding an enemy at bay, a Krang for example, and you can join them for a tandem attack on the comedy mascot!

When you want to use a stealthier approach, they will listen to commands, so you can ask them to wait until it’s safe to proceed or get them to take out a foot soldier while you tackle the other. Knowing that the second the guy sees your green, baldy face, your bros are busy sending him for a snooze is quite. The stealth AI seems a little smarter which is a nice surprise and it seems Red Fly did a good job here.

Nice tributes give a little nostalgia.

The game contains some nice Easter eggs. You can unlock the red bandanas, there's a classic black and white mode, tributes to the original 1984 turtles and Eastman and Laird's pictures are hanging in a pizzeria in the first chapter. Even some of the conversations the Turtles have pay tribute to their TV show and voice actors in a funny, knowing wink to fans. Loading screen tips often have references to things like "second time around" the shop where April lived in the comics and the 1990 movie. True fans will pick up on many of these details.

Pros - pizza delivery!!

The combat is decent, the Turtles look and act as they should, the weapons for each Turtle are upgradeable, the skill advancement system is good, visually the game looks beautiful and the story mode is fun to battle through.

The physics are great, you can knock weapons away from foes and there is a good variety of enemies with different difficulty levels. The maps are challenging, there's the Dojo to hone your abilities and the True Ninja mode to really put your skills to the test. Arcade mode is a fun local multiplayer option to compete with your friends.

Cons - you’ve been Shell-Shocked!!

The AI is lousy for both the Turtles and the enemies and needs work to improve the combat overall.

The motion blur and weird camera angles are disappointing and some of the dialogue is repeated ad nauseam.

Split-screen and online multiplayer is a nightmare and needs more testing and work done.

Room for improvement?

Some TLC and more time spent on testing would have helped the end result. They could have been more ambitious too but back in 2013 where GTA and other more popular titles were ruling the market, I can see why they played it safe.

Changing the game to be a bit more open world with the ability to go underground or run around the rooftops more (think Batman / Spiderman on PS4) would have boosted playability tenfold and added the option for side quests (stopping crimes in the shadows for example).

As long as they don't make the same mistakes Platinum Games did with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan" - check it out - it’s one of the worst open-world/action games I have ever come across. It makes my eyes bleed.

Final verdict - heroes or zeros in a half-shell?

Despite all its flaws and glitches and the frustration it leaves me with, I still have a lot of LOVE for this game. I'd say if you can get a copy, like, I mean anywhere, then you should give it a shot.

As a big TMNT fan, I highly recommend Out of the Shadows. There's loads of replayability in the battle mode and it even made me better at games like Arkham City - I know I've compared them a lot but they are similar in how they feel and play.

There are some major letdowns and it had the potential to be so much more, but I still keep coming back to this game over and over again and in all fairness, there isn't another TMNT game that fits the bill in terms of combat.

For Turtle fans, I’d give this a solid 8 out of 10 but for non-fans maybe a 7 is more appropriate as some of the shortcomings are frustrating. Give it a shot, though, and maybe you can forgive those flaws as much as I did, make it through to the final battle and give Shredder the Ninja Bro Shellbuster!

So, I'd say that's a wrap…Cowabunga?! Too cliched? Nah.

COWABUNGA!!!!!

Big thanks to James for writing this review. He’s an old best friend who does a bit of gaming and comedy. This is his first review and hopefully he’ll continue with some more: Oddworld New and Tasty perhaps?. His other work is the BCP podcast, youtube gameplay videos and cosplay, photoshoots and charity work at comic conventions under the name of the Spider of Moray. Links to all his other stuff are in this bio here.

#gaming #turtles #tmnt #tmnt out of the shadows #hack and slash #red fly studios #game review #video games #2013 #the head scratcher #tubular #cowabunga #teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant hero turtles #shredder #krang #the foot clan

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