Hello! I'm Key, and I'm obsessed with TMNT! While my obsession is mostly with Rise, I am also interested in basically every iteration that exists.
I plan on reviewing as much TMNT media as possible! I like to draw fanart and write fanfics, so I'll post about that too:)
TMNT Reviews
This is the comprehensive list of all the TMNT content that I have/will review!
Shows/Movies:
1987 / 1990 Live Action / Next Mutation / 2003 / 2007 / 2012 / Bayverse / Rottmnt / Mutant Mayhem / Batman Crossover
Comics:
Mirage (in B&W) / IDW / The Last Ronin / Rise Ultimate Collection / Saturday Morning Adventures / Urban Legends / 40th Anniversary / TMNT: Black, White, & Green / Battle Nexus / Power Rangers Crossover / Batman x 2012 Crossover / Usagi Where When Crossover / Turtles of Grayskull
I'll try to do genuine justice to all versions of TMNT and at least give everything a fair shot! And if there's any version that I haven't listed, feel free to suggest it and I'll consider adding it to the list:)
For aynone that watched TMNT (2007), did you guys realize how many smoke bombs Raph throws in it??? Me and a friend were watching the movie and we were like... wait, this guy just threw like 11 smoke bombs what???
I remember watching this movie when I was younger quite a few times. My brother and I both really enjoyed it, and it was one of those movies that I always think about fondly. I watched it a couple of times these past months and it was such a fun watch! I’ve been reminded that not all things from my childhood are simply nostalgic, some of it can be good too!!! While this movie is definitely not the strongest plot-wise, I think it’s made up for with the strong visuals, the action sequences, and of course our lovely turtles!
Visuals →
I really enjoy the 3D look that this movie has. It has a very early 2000s vibe but not in a bad way! The more cartoony artstyle mixed with the gritty lighting and setting really does it for me! The turtle’s designs are also super fun:) My main criticism would be that they look too similar, but I could say that about like 90% of the TMNT franchise lol. And even then I think that their individual personalities shine through enough that their body language and voice acting makes up for their physical similarities! Overall though, the designs are really nice, and I think all the characters look really cool, especially the stone generals and the monsters. It would have been cool if we got to see more of the monsters, since there was clearly thought put into them. Like the spider-looking monster only had like 2 seconds of screen time but I wanted to see more!
Favorite and Least Favorite Scenes →
Anyone who’s a fan of this movie already knows my answer for the best scene: the Raph and Leo fight. There’s something about it that just hits different. The animators and the writers clearly put so much time and effort into that scene, and it really shows. The way that Leo was goading Raph as the Nightwatcher, the argument after the reveal, then the actual fight… agh, just thinking about it has me giddy! Then Raph running away and Leo getting captured was the icing on the cake. The angst, the drama!!! It was a really impactful and well executed scene from this movie. You can also see that the animators put in extra money to make it look extra crisp and fluid.
As for my least favorite scene… this one’s a little more difficult because there’s nothing that I outright hated in this movie, it’s more like the things that it lacked. As I mentioned above, it would have been nice to see more of the 13 monsters that were sent back to the other dimension. Some were featured way more prominently, while others barely were even seen, if they were featured at all.
In the same vein, there’s this random scene towards the end of the movie where Leo picks up three swords from Winter’s collection and supposedly uses them to fight, but we barely get to see that either! It would have been so fun to see Leo being a sword nerd, wielding the ridiculous weapons and gushing over their coolness. I’m sure there was just a lack of time/budget, but man, why introduce the cool swords if they aren’t gonna be used???
Themes/Important Topics →
Similar to most TMNT media, a huge focus of the movie was family. Leo being gone for so long obviously negatively impacted the entire family, and no one really knew how to express their feelings about it. We hear about Leo's side of things, how he felt he wasn't worthy to come back and lead his brothers. Then we get Raph's side, and how betrayed he felt that Leo would "abandon" his brothers for so long. We don't get much from Donnie and Mikey other than that they definitely missed their oldest brother.
Their distant and dysfunctional family dynamics become more apparent when they fight. It can be assumed that they used to have a lot more chemistry when they would fight together, but since Leo left, they are severely lacking in that department. Part of it is because Leo left, but another factor is that the others also drifted apart from each other. Donnie and Mikey tried to live a more "normal" life with their jobs, while Raph clung to the past and became the Nightwatcher. So once they start fighting together, it becomes really obvious that they don't know each other as well as they used to.
Now, through some movie magic, they were able to fight pretty much in sync by the end of the movie, but also partly becuase they finally realized how much they mean to each other. Even though they still have plenty of problems to work out, they're willing to put them aside for the greater good of the family and the world.
Favorite Characters →
When I was younger, I remember liking Mikey a lot since he was the fun and silly character (I tend to gravitate towards them), but I think now my favorite is Leo. He is a deeply flawed character, but it makes him interesting. We only get a glimpse into his self-worth issues and why he left his family for so long, but I find that makes him more relatable. It would have been really cool if that had been explored more, but I'm still happy with what was given to us through this movie. (And of course, I go to AO3 to get some good angst about it too!)
Final Thoughts + Rating →
While this is not a perfect piece of fiction, I still think it is a genuinely entertaining movie that I will want to rewatch until I wither away and die. It was my first real introduction to TMNT, and I really appreciate what it adds to the franchise!
I'm writing a rise fanfiction in which I needed Warren and Hypno to help the turtles and one of my first ideas for them becoming not evil is that they straight up didn't know the turtles were teenagers and when they find out they're like "well, obviously we can't fight kids, that's objectively bad" so they just stop being evil, or at the very least stop fighting the boys. I ended up going with a diff idea but I still really loved this concept so now it's a lil comic.
Also, forgive the weird cropping on the third panel, I could not for the life of me figure out how to draw their legs so I just hid them lol. I straight up didn't even try to draw Raph's after failing Leo's and Mikey's.
I'm also trying to figure out how I want to draw the boys. I really love the little doodly style I did for the last panels, maybe I'll just draw them like that.
Hello!!! I haven’t really posted anything in a while due to life happening to me (the horrors of being alive!!!) but I’m back with a little review! I’m discussing Turtles of Grayskull, the crossover between TMNT and He-Man! Not something that I ever thought I would want to review, but it was at my local library, so I decided, why not? So here are my thoughts:)
Also here's the obligatory warning about spoilers, since I will be talking about specific things that happened in this comic!!!
First Impressions →
Full transparency, I had no plans on reading this crossover, so when I did pick it up I had no clue what I was getting into. Obviously I love the turtles, but I know next to nothing about He-Man, so I felt like it was a toss-up whether or not I would actually enjoy this. But honestly, I’m so glad I read this! It was a super fun time, and the art was gorgeous. Also, I wasn’t expecting there to be time travel shenanigans, but it definitely added to the story! Renet is always a fun character so seeing her again was also nice:)
Visuals →
Going into more depth about the art, I really enjoyed everything about it! The art style is super fun and the colors really add to the vibe of the whole comic. I also liked how expressive all the characters were, and there were some panels that were particularly cool, like when Renet is falling through time and trying to unknot the two universes! And, as I mentioned briefly before, I think the designs for the turtles are awesome! I particularly really like Raph’s outfit, the helmet is cool (and kinda reminds me of the Nightwatcher lol). Overall for visuals I would give this comic a gold star!
Favorite/Least Favorite Panel →
I can’t really choose a favorite panel for this one since there were a lot of cool ones, but I will say that the ones where He-Man was infected by the mutagen and going berserk were really well done. You can really see just how brutal and aggressive he’s become when infected, and it’s chilling to see. There’s also a bit of gore as well (which I’m a fan of) which definitely added to the tension. There’s also the panel where Renet and Ninjor are falling through time, and it looks really cool!
As for my least favorite scenes, I would say it was some of the more expository ones. When Renet discovered where Ninjor came from, it was a little confusing because we’re introduced to him being a student to Shredder (Oroku Saki) in the past, but then Shredder gets mad at him for being a student to someone else? Eventually I figured out that he was a lackey for Skeletor, which is why there was a fight about loyalties, but it took me a bit to figure it out. It felt like maybe there were some panels missing in between that revelation.
As a side note: even though I don’t really know the character, I really did enjoy He-Man. I thought it was really interesting that he’s similar to the turtles in the sense that he is a teenager that must carry the weight of protecting people, which isolates him from society. It was heartbreaking to see that, but it was nice to know that he and the turtles could relate to each other in that way. I think a standout among the turtles was Mikey, he was pretty funny in this comic and I enjoyed his storytelling.
(Another side note, but we also got another obligatory Donnie joke about fighting with a stick (his bo staff) against the most powerful man alive (He-Man) and it always makes me chuckle.)
Themes/Important Topics →
I mentioned this before, but the idea of belonging came up in regards to He-Man and the turtles. They all struggle with wanting to belong, but knowing that there’s a barrier that they can’t cross. But regardless of that, they were still fundamentally good people, wanting to help those in need.
And, at the end when it’s discovered that the purple mutagen corrupts people, I thought it was interesting to see how people’s worst fears were brought out. For He-Man, he feared hurting the people he loves, and for Ninjor, he feared failure and himself not being enough. I felt bad for Ninjor at the end, because I think that fear is valid. I mean, I’m not about to cause a knot in time and countless deaths just because I don’t feel like I’m good enough, but it’s still relatable on a human level lol.
Final Thoughts + Rating →
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! Despite knowing nothing about He-Man, I was endeared to the characters, and the story itself was super fun. And I’m a huge fan of time travel in general, so any story that focuses on that I will probably enjoy.
Rating: 8.5
Hopefully I will get a little more consistent with posting stuff like reviews and art, but it's more likely I'll disappear again for a while, so hopefully this review is enjoyable lol
TMNT Mini comic - Required angst for all mutant turtle brothers (4/4)
dw '07 leo comforted him afterwards cuz the poor kid needed it
it was funnier in my head..
sorry '23 leo ur gonna have to have a fight to the death with ur brothers over flaws and differences at some point.
this was also super lazy cuz i just shaded the skin lmao
New Years always makes me nostalgic so thought I'd let Splinter reminisce with one of my favorite head canons on how the turtles got their color-coded nicknames! I figured someone as powerful as Splinter would be able to see and recognize the budding Hamato essence in his new turtle sons. Happy New Year everyone!
