#Raphael has the most attitude on the team

[your-local-narc]

I'm trying to memorise the TMNT 2012 theme song. Partly bc TMNT is my special interest and partly bc I wanna show off how obsessed I am.

[sinestrosmind]

are ya'll surprised that once again @tinyghostotus is the source of a tortles meme from me

inspo is that one deleted episode where the black hole generator in the Rise universe is a TOASTER

at a WEDDING

2012 Raph kinnie brain said "THE FUCKING WHAT" and Otus found a new catchphrase <3

[hood-ex]

My eye twitching over the fact that the new tmnt show doesn't have any words in the theme song. Like?? Every other tmnt show has lyrics! And they're all fun! This one doesn't give me hype 😩.

[fembutchboygirl]

One thing about me is i will recite the entire tmnt 2012 cartoon theme, on cue, no second thoughts and no questions asked

[justapotato-1]

i really want a (2012) tmnt the next generation like with space heros the next generation, like I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WITH TIMOTHY

[wingstobetorn]

Everytime my cousin forgets the Tmnts names I always have to sing the 2012 theme song

[gamerboy76]

my math teacher lets us listen to music when we’re doing miscellaneous tasks and/or projects so like I had a thing last year where when I was doing my math project I would only listen to either what makes you beautiful by one direction or the theme song of tmnt 2012

[pumpkinpie59]

“the 2012 family isn’t abusive” and “the 2012 family all have toxic traits that can affect each other badly” are both takes that can coexist

i think out of all the tmnt shows (except maybe rise, but i could go back on that if i think about it for more than two seconds; this post isn’t about them tho), 2012 has the most dysfunctional family.

this is not a criticism tho. it’s an observation and it can lead to interesting storytelling.

splinter in 2012 suffers from ptsd and it affects how he teaches his children and how he views the world.

he’s been through a lot and was lead to believe he lost his first child.

so yes it’s not shocking that he’d make bad decisions as a parent.

he’s not a bad person by any means, but his attitude about strangers, enemies, and relationships are off. he shows favoritism towards leo, though that’s not his intention. he fails to give his other children the attention they need. etc etc

so it’s not that surprising that his children also gained flaws that affect each other negatively.

leo is dedicated to his training, which isn’t bad but it gave him an ego. he believes he’s the good example, that he’s better skilled than his brothers. he has good skills that make him the best choice as leader, but sometimes his ego and his authority make him downplay his brothers’ opinions and chastise their choices.

it’s mostly seen in his arguments with raphael and donatello. raphael is stubborn, but he values his family like leo does. their opinions on how to protect their family and do the right thing aren’t always on the right page, which frustrates them. raphael goes through growth that makes him a lot more patient with leonardo, but he still calls leo out when leo makes bad decisions, and leo often refuses to listen to him bc he’s the leader. he’s in charge. why should he listen? which is not what a leader should be and he needs to learn that over the course of the series (he,, rlly doesn’t but i digress).

as for donatello and leonardo. donatello is smart and leonardo knows that and ends up using that to his advantage. he puts a lot of pressure on donnie and overworks him. donatello is smart so he has to be the one to track things down, fix mutations, learn what is going wrong. and when donatello’s attempts go wrong, leonardo gets frustrated and orders donatello to just. do better. keep working on it. since donatello struggles with insecurities, this is just added to it and he is super hard on himself when he fails.

having so much pressure put on him by splinter certainly doesn’t help his attitude either.

is he hard on michelangelo? eh not rlly but mikey’s a nothing character so moving on

raphael very obviously has his temper. he’s probably the most criticized of the team so his faults are kinda obvious. he has the most growth in the show tho so i’m not gonna go into too much depth.

obviously his temper and habit to get violent when he’s angry affects his brothers negatively. tho he’s mostly physically violent with leonardo or michelangelo. with donatello they usually are more verbal ig? when raphael is rough with donatello, it’s usually playful. idk

also his temper affects his focus and skills so he’s often chastised by splinter, which comes across to him like leo is so much better and splinter likes him more.

donatello’s turn. this guy has his heart on his sleeve and ik i mention his insecurities constantly but it does affect him more than anything else. he’s insecure about being a mutant, he’s insecure about his weapon and fighting skills, he’s insecure about his feelings for april, he’s insecure about whether he’s smart enough, he’s insecure PERIOD. he has so much going on in that brain so ofc it’s gonna affect his brothers

he snaps at people all the time. he lets his insecurities affect the way he interacts with other people (see: casey jones).

even the pride he does have about his scientific accomplishments can be easily crushed when they’re ruined or criticized in some way.

he isolates very often and sometimes when he is confident it comes across as rude.

and when he acts out of concern for april, he goes about it wrong and ends up being creepy.

it doesn’t help that splinter hardly corrects any of his behavior. plus he doesn’t get the affirmation he needs.

as for michelangelo he’s a bad interpretation of someone with adhd— oh wait no that’s not what i’m trying to talk about hold on—

so michelangelo is playful and naïve and fails to take many things seriously, which frustrates his brothers a lot so it’s hard for them to take him seriously when he is being genuine.

and for karai, we already see how flawed and rebellious she is, and it rubs off on her brothers often, particularly leo.

this family is just a wreck but that’s why they’re so interesting to explore and see them grow. it’s why i wanted more from the series. their dynamics have positive parts as well and it’s nice seeing them talk through things. but the series sacrifices a lot of that for plots that don’t rlly matter tbh (most of season 5 <3)

they are not abusive at all but they are extremely flawed and that’s okay

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something I’ve been wondering about is whether or not Rise would have gotten another theme song if the show had gotten more seasons as other TMNT shows have had more than one theme song.

If Rise had gotten another theme song, I wonder if they would have changed up the order of the names.

Leonardo Leads, Donatello Does Machines (That’s a fact, Jack!), Raphael Is Cool but Rude (Gimme a Break), Michelangelo Is a Party Dude

In the 1987 theme song the order the Turtles are introduced in are; Leo then Donnie then Raph & then Mikey. Due to how notable the 1987 cartoon is this order has been referenced in other theme songs in different iterations of TMNT.

Leonardo’s The Leader in Blue, does anything it takes to get his ninja’s through, Donatello is The Fellow, has a way with Machines, Raphael’s got the most attitude on the team. Michelangelo! He’s one of a kind and you know just where to find him when it’s party time

Similarly to the 1987 theme song, the 2012 theme also introduces the Turtles in the order of Leo then Donnie, then Raph & then Mikey the similarity between the two themes might be intentional as the 2012 cartoon tried to include many things from the 1987 cartoon such as having Mona Lisa, Irma, Bebop & Rocksteady as characters.

Similarly both the Rise opening & the 2012 opening reference the ‘heroes in a half shell’ line from the 1987 opening.

The season 5 theme song for the 2012 cartoon also sticks to the order of Leo, Donnie, Raph & Mikey as that is the order their names appear in the opening. However in the Rise theme song & one of the 2003 theme songs the order of the Turtles is switched up

Raph is ready for a fight! Leo’s making a scene! Mikey’s (Got!) got mad skills! Donnie (Rocks!) rocks machines!

(One!) Leonardo’s always in control, (Two!) The wise guy is Michelangelo, (Three!), Donatello he’s the brains of the bunch, (Four!) Count on Raphael to throw the first punch!

In the Rise theme song the order that the Turtle’s are introduced in is switched up so that the order goes; Raph, then Leo, then Mikey & then Donnie while the 2003 theme song switchers up the order to introduce Leo, then Mikey, then Donnie & then Raph.

Something that is interesting to note about the order that the 2003 theme song introduces the Turtles in is that it is the same order that we see in the montage of the Turtles showing off their moves in the 2012 opening. I’m not entirely sure whether or not this was a deliberate reference to the 2003 opening or not but it is a nice detail.

The 2003 & Rise theme songs are not the only places where the order of the Turtle’s names are switched up as the full Rise theme song repeats the brothers names in a different order & the Bayverse movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows does a cover of the original 1987 theme with a rap verse added on that has the order of the Turtle’s names switched around as well.

In the full Rise theme song when repeating the brothers names the order is Mikey, Donnie, Raph & Leo while in the Bayverse cover of the 1987 theme, after singing the original 1987 theme’s lyrics the Turtle’s names are repeated with a new order of Donnie, Mikey, Raph & Leo.

However even though the Bayverse cover of the theme includes a new verse with a new order to the Turtles this verse is only after the cover of the original 1987 theme & the 2003 cartoon also goes back to the original order the Turtles are introduced in during the later seasons of the cartoon.

(Fast Forward) Leonardo, Donatello, (Fast Forward) Raphael, Michelangelo

(Role Call!) Leonardo! Donatello! Raphael! Michelangelo! (I love being a Turtle)

In both the Fast Forward & Back to the Sewer seasons of the 2003 cartoon the order that the Turtles were introduced in was brought back to the original order from the 1987 cartoon.

The fact that both the 2003 & 2012 cartoons include openings that introduce the Turtles in the same order as the 1987 cartoon makes me wonder if had Rise continued, would Rise have gotten another theme song which introduced the Turtles in the 1987 cartoon order as well.

[turtlevariabilis]

Leonardo’s the leader in blue

Does anything it takes to get his ninjas through

Donatello is the fellow, has a way with machines

Raphael’s got the most attitude on the team

Michelangelo, he’s one of a kind

And you know just where to find him when is party time 🎶🎵

tmnt 2012

The BEST intro of ALL tmnt.

[shilohsversion]

“Raphael has the most attitude on the team”

[leo] [donnie] [mickey] [bonus]

[turrondeluxe]

CURSE OF TERRAPIN

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

HEROES IN A HALF SHELL, TURTLE POWER!

HERE WE GO IT'S THE LEAN GREEN NINJA TEAM

WE'RE ON THE SCENE COOL TEENS DOING NINJA THINGS

SO EXTREME OUT THE SEWER LIKE LASER BEAMS

GET ROCKED WITH THE SHELL-SHOCKED PIZZA KINGS

CAN'T STOP THESE RADICAL DUDES

THE SECRET OF THE OOZE MADE THE CHOSEN FEW

EMERGE FROM THE SHADOWS TO MAKE THEIR MOVE

THE GOOD GUYS WIN AND THE BAD GUYS LOSE

LEONARDO'S THE LEADER IN BLUE

DOES ANYTHNG IT TAKES TO GET HIS NINJAS THROUGH

DONATELLO IS A FELLOW HAS A WAY WITH MACHINES

RAPHAEL'S GOT THE MOST ATTITUDE ON THE TEAM

MICHELANGELO, HE'S ONE OF A KIND

AND YOU KNOW JUST WHERE TO FIND HIM WHEN IT'S PARTY TIME

MASTER SPLINTER TAUGHT 'EM EVERY SINGLE SKILL THEY NEED

TO BE ONE LEAN MEAN GREEN INCREDIBLE TEAM

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

HEROES IN A HALF SHELL, TURTLE POWER!

this one has extreme mikey energy actually

i like this one

[sinestrosmind]

thanks to @tinyghostotus I made a few redraws of an IDW TMNT panel that were ABSOLUTELY meme material

[toothlesshat]

Leonardo’s the leader in blue does anything it takes to get his ninjas through Donatello is the fellow has a way with machines Raphael’s got the most attitude on the team Michelangelo he’s one of a kind and you know just where to find him when it’s party time Master Splinter taught them every single skill they need to be one lean mean green incredible team

[iztarshi]

The four main animated series of TMNT have had at least one theme song that gives the turtles one sentence descriptions. So I'm going to compare them (in order of age each time, 87, 03, 12, Rise).

Leonardo

Leonardo leads - This one's to the point. He does lead. Doesn't really say anything else about him, but it tells us his role in the team.

Leonardo's always in control - This still tells us that Leonardo's in charge but also implies self-control and a personality that wants to keep things under control, rather than just telling us his role on the team.

Leonardo's the leader in blue, does anything it takes to get his ninjas through - 12 gives us team role again, but the second bit does give us more of his personality. It implies a certain level of ruthlessness and I do find 12 Leo to be the most ruthless Leo.

Leo's making a scene - Sorry, buddy, you're not the leader and your personality is just loud. This fits for a Leo whose storyline is a great deal about finding his role and what he's good at.

Donatello

Donatello does machines - As a friend on discord pointed out this doesn't (especially combined with the visual) tell us he does machines well. Donatello's machines are sometimes more trouble than they're worth, but with the amount of mad scientists these turtles go up against they very much need someone doing machines on their team, and he does brilliantly even more often than he caused the problem in the first place. Like Leonardo this mostly tells us his team role.

Donatello's the brains of the bunch - 03 is the only one that doesn't mention machines, the 03 theme song moves towards personality for all of them rather than team role for some and personality for others. So Donatello gets mentioned as the smart guy rather than the one who makes machines. It's also true of him in more ways than of some other Donatellos - this one's smart about things other than science, too.

Donatello's the fellow has a way with machines - He's the machine guy again, but this one's more complimentary about it.

Donnie rocks machines - I love how these get steadily more complimentary about how good Donatello is with machines even while mostly sticking to machines as his thing.

Raphael

Raphael is cool but rude - 87 gives two their team roles and two their personalities in the theme song, but then Raphael and Michelangelo have much less fixed team roles. I feel like just announcing a character is cool up front wouldn't be done in modern cartoons, too. Is he cool? Isn't that up to the viewers? But it definitely tells us how Raphael sees himself.

Count on Raphael to throw the first punch - 03 once again neatly combining team role (fighter) with personality (a bit aggressive and impulsive).

Raphael's got the most attitude on the team - We're back to what 87 says in new phrasing, with less just announcing he's cool. 12 Raphael is also the one who throws the first punch, mind you, but that's not what his theme song highlights.

Raph's ready for a fight - Rise is following 03's lead on this one. Rise probably has the least attitude of any Raphael, not least because he is the authority to his brothers so who would he be rebelling against?

Michelangelo

Michelangelo is a party dude - He is! He's a lot of other things too, and I think this one is actually a little sad when you think about how many parties a mutant turtle is likely to be invited to, but it conveys his carefree attitude and desire to have fun in the moment. And he also does love parties and throws birthday parties for everyone including Irma.

The wise guy is Michelangelo - I think this Michelangelo is the only wise guy Mikey. The role goes to Raphael in 87, Leo in Rise, and no one really in 12. It also singles him out a bit, the others in 03 have all been given a sentence that's mostly about their personality but also alludes to their role on the team, he's the only one who has no definite role to allude to.

Michelangelo, he's one of a kind, and you know just where to find him when it's party time - Like 87 he likes parties and we're also highlighting that he's weird, I guess.

Mikey's got mad skills - Only Mikey that gets any respect! They all have mad skills (they're universally the most gymnastic turtles) but only Rise's make the theme song. It's Leo who just gets a reference to his personality, and a not very flattering one at that.

[somegrumpynerd]

Okay so. Little introduction course to (all I know about) TMNT

There are a few characters which show up in most iterations, that being the four turtle brothers:

Leonardo, he's usually the most disciplined, usually the leader (usually is a word you will see often just because every version has their own way of portraying these characters) One thing that stays the same is that he may not show it but he is a huge dork

Raphael, he's the more hot headed of all of them, resorts to punching before anything else. (There's a lot to all these characters but these are the attributes they are most often reduced to.)

Michelangelo or Mikeyyyyy, he's the fun guy. He's a joker and he's the ray of sunshine in the group

Donatello or Donnie, he's the smarts of the group, huge nerd. He's a scientist though in which field depends a lot on the iteration

They were transformed from normal turtles to mutant anthropomorphic turtles through a green goop. Most often created by a company called TCRI and sometimes called mutagen.

After that you have Splinter, their father and or ninja master. That's the most I can say about him just because he changes so much from iteration to iteration. (From best dad to huge gaslighting bitch) He is also!! In some instances he's a man named Hamato Yoshi who was turned into a rat by the mutagen and in others he was a rat to begin with.

Other recurring characters are the two humans, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, who are sidekicks and friends of the turtles, with April being generally helpful (her attitude changes a lot so that's all I can say that overlaps in all the versions) and Casey being reckless.

And then, you have the two most common enemies which are the Shredder, he leads the army of the foot and is the main antagonist for most of the turtles, as well as sometimes being an old friend turned enemy of Hamato Yoshi.

The other is the Kraang who are an evil Alien race who want to take over earth, most of the time they are the creators of the mutagen that changed the turtles and Splinter.

Now for the different iterations:

*You have the og TV series in 1987 (WAS THAT THE BITE OF- no. It wasn't) Which I don't know much about because I couldn't get past the first episode, it's generally sillier and goofier than the others. Art style wise it's... old....

*Then came the 2003 TV series, the artstyle is old but not unbearable you learn to love it, their donnie and mikey are delightfully snarky, their raph is trying his best despite his anger issues and their leo is very disciplined, self sacrificial and A FUCKING EMO. HE GETS LIKE HALF A SEASON ALL TO HIMSELF FUCKING MOPING BC HE FEELS GUILTY ABOUT 'ALMOST GETTING HIS BROTHERS KILLED' WHEN THERE WAS LITERALLY NO OTHER OPTION AND HE DIDN'T EVEN TELL THEM HE JUST GOT HARSH AND SHITTY AND GET THIS MAN OFF MY SCREEN I WANT TO SEE DONNIE.

*Cough cough* sorry. Don't know what that was. The series often prioritizes Leo. Their Splinter is an awesome dad who was the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi. They also have very cool lore about the Kraang, where the Kraang is the evil half of species and the good ones are called Utrom and the turtles work with them. Also their shredder lasts like four seasons and dies three times but not actually. He's fucking unkillable.

*Next was the 2012 TV series and we have got a 3D animated show on our hands! (This was the one I watched when it came on TV as a kid so it's one of my favorites despite the.... Questionable writing....) It's a lot darker and grittier than any of the others, even the palette is desaturated. Their Leo is again, self sacrificial, kind of forced into the position of the leader by Splinter (who is stricter than most. He cares for his turtle children but he has some questionable actions throughout the series), their raph is much the same as always, aggressive, he has trouble managing his anger and often questions Leo's place as leader of the Team. Their mikey is fun and he skateboards, he's got big youngest sibling energy. Their Donnie is lovely. Nothing wrong with him. At all. Well okay he's a big creep and like a total incel towards April but likeeeee he's funnnn. He does mechanics but you see him do chemistry a lot in the series. I also love this series's Casey just because he's a reckless teen hockey player and he likes to annoy Donnie. It's got some episodes that border on horror those being Parasitica and Attack of the Squirrelenoids which are just traumatizing. This series references and uses a lot of elements from a lot of different iterations and it's kind of like pulling every aspect from other iterations together into one

*In 2014 and 2016 Micheal Bay released two movies that were CGI and had megan Fox in the as April, they're fun, feel good movies, pretty funny. But like. They're Micheal Bay movies it was never gonna be revolutionary. Despite the fact that they called red eared sliders which are semi aquatic and very very recognizable 'box turtles' and that they made Casey who's one of the most anti-establishment characters in he series a cop. It's not horrible.

*Then in 2018 Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles came out (Rottmnt) and it took every established Idea that was followed in the previous iterations and flipped it over its head. A breath of fresh air that was much needed as most of the established concepts had been pushed as far as they could go. Their Leo's an arrogant dumbass, their Raph is the leader and he's a softie that still operates on punch first think later, their Mikey is artistic, sassy and fun and their Donnie is a super genius with an ego the size of his autism. It's great. Their Casey works for the foot. They were created by a completely new character called Baron Draxum using 'Empyrean' and the DNA of a action Movie actor called Lou Jitsu who's power move included yelling 'hot soup' who's actually just the fucking rat too. It's crazy on all sides packed into hilarious 11 minute episodes that we got a season and a half of instead of the SEVEN SEAONS WE WERE PROMISED!!!!!! BECAUSE THE FUCK ASS UGLY TOYS THEY MADE DIDN'T SELL. I'm mad. Anyway they got a movie in 2020 which was like 200% more serious and gut wrenching. It's on Netflix.

You said you asked!! So!! You got the infodump... Forgive me for the length of this.. ^^;

^Me furiously taking notes as I read this trying to memorise it lol

I didn't realise there were so many tmnt series!! I think I've only ever heard of the old 80s one and the new one that everybody on here likes :o That's so wild that there's so much variation too, like even in one character's personality or backstory

Thank you for the crash course in turtles!! This was fun to read :D Once I'm home from work tomorrow I need to look up turtles now lol