A guide on how to create a Normal TMNT iteration.
Hello everyone. I originally made this series of writers guides on Facebook. But they weren't getting very much attention so I created this Tumblr account just to post them here because I figured it would get more attention here. This is my guide on how to create a Normal TMNT iteration, also known as Original TMNT, Default TMNT, Traditional TMNT, OG TMNT, or Vanilla TMNT. I did one for Rise and Soul's Winter as well, but I also came up with a bunch of original mythologies that I was hoping people would make their own iterations of based on my writers guides, but it seems that people on Facebook don't really care about creating all that much, but after seeing all that's come out of Tumblr hopefully my mythologies might pick up a fan following hopefully. :) These guides can be used to create official incarnations like comic books, video games, shows, or movies ECT, or just fan made iterations online, like fan-made comics, AUs, or FanFictions, or just to make fan art off of. With that being said let us get started.
DISCLAIMER! Disclaimer, on my last post I got a little bit of flack for this so I'm just going to State this here, I am not saying you have to follow this guide, I'm just putting it out there in case anyone wants to follow it because incarnations like Next Mutation and 2014 are hated, so if you don't want to screw up and get your iteration hated then you can follow this guide if you want. And yes this is just my opinion based on my 10 years of being a turtle fan and studying deep on several incarnations, so these are just my opinions not facts. And this is just how I see it, but once again you don't have to follow it, I'm not trying to force anyone I'm just laying the option on the table. Okay? Okay! Let's go!!!!
During this guide I will be taking pot shots at the Next Mutation and 2014 so sorry if you like those incarnations, but they fail and I will explain why and how.
A guide on how to create a normal TMNT iteration.
The original TMNT Mythos is a good mix of basic down to earth stuff like just fighting Thugs and Crooks and ninjas, and more out there stuff such as sci-fi, fantasy and Mystic stuff, and superhero stuff. Some iterations like to lean more towards one of these four elements than the others, While others like to be a perfect blend of all four of those elements. 2012 for example lean more towards to down to earth stuff at the beginning and then lean more towards sci-fi, but mysticism was barely touched in 2012, there was that ghost that was trapped in that knife, there was the demon dragon that tigerclaw summoned to resurrect Shredder, and then there was Jay using mystical magic to pull the turtles into usagi's world, there's others but those are the biggest ones mysticism was barely in 2012 which is something that Rise thought they needed to correctify, but we're not talking about Rise that's a different Mythos. The point is make sure you have all four of these elements in there to some degree at least.
Design Elements and aspects. This part is just heavily my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. The turtles are meant to be The Underdogs so don't make them hulking figures like 2014 did, that takes away from them being The Underdogs. 2012 Donnie was able to get away with being tall because he wasn't all that muscular looking so he's still kind of had that Underdog Vibe, even though he was like 6 ft, in my very personal opinion the tallest you can make them is 6'4 but that's pushing it, and the shortest you can make them is 3'6, but that's almost too short so that's also kind of pushing it, the best range to make them without pissing most people off is anywhere between 5 ft and 5'5. In some iterations they are just as tall as humans and in other iterations they're just under normal human height, and in iterations like 2012 it's different for each individual turtle, but you could make an iteration where they are taller than people and still have them feel like The Underdogs just don't make them to hulking looking, that might be a little bit hard to do with Raphael, but it's possible. And another thing about underdogism, they are mutants and naturally they have some mutant powers, they are slightly stronger than the average human by default, and their healing is a bit faster, and they also a bit more agile, but that's it, give them any other powers and you take away what made the turtle special, bulletproof shells, or the ability to grow back limbs like Deadpool is too far, just keep their mutant power simple and basic.
Designs, you could make them the same Turtle copy and pasted four times just given different colored masks, or the same Turtle copy and pasted but with different skin tones, and that could work especially if you're going to make them biological brothers and not just adopted. But the pallet swap has seemingly fallen out of favor in recent years, but it can still work but most incarnations nowadays have each turtle look different from each other and that's what I personally prefer, them looking different, but I'm not trying to exclude the palette swap I can accept those as well, and I'm pretty sure a lot of other old school turtles fans can accept it too. And you can give them clothes if you want, but I feel like giving them clothes works better in a different Mythos, I'm not sure how many people hated them having clothes in 2014, but I prefer to just see them in a mask and gear and that's it.
Keep their weapons the same, the only reason RISE got away with it is because it's a different Mythos, it's allowed to do different stuff which is why I think they should have also changed their Mask colors, but regardless changing their weapons feels like a disrespectful change which is another reason why Next Mutation fails. Now them getting their Mystic weapons in season 5 of 2003 or their space weapons in season 4 of 2012 or Michelangelo replacing his nunchucks with a grappling hook in 87 that's okay because that's later in the series and it's not their new main weapons, well except for 87 Mikey that grappling hook is his new main weapon and it feels kind of BS which is why I'm glad in the 2012 crossovers they gave him his nunchucks back.
You can give the turtles three fingers or four fingers and two toes or three toes or four toes, never do five fingers and five toes, that's just wrong. And keep their toes as toes and not like the weird finger-toes that Rise has. And preferably keep all their skin green because it's kind of their thing, go green machine & they're heroes in a half shell and they're green, you get it, but you could make one of them Brownish Green like the 88 Donatello action figure or Michelangelo on that one board game.
Origins: The turtles origin story, one of the few things that 2014 got right was that the turtles are always meant to be an accident. In every Incarnation (except for Rise, but that's a different mythos so that doesn't matter) the turtles are the result of an accident and they weren't meant to happen, and in the case of 2014 yes they were purposefully injected with the Ooze mutagen, but the mutating into humanoid form was not the intended outcome they were looking for, therefore an accident.
The Foot Clan: The Foot Clan, they're supposed to be ninjas, they're not supposed to have guns. 2014 made them a terrorist group that used guns, now granted be canceled 4th live action movie was also going to give them guns, but that was meant to be in the same universe as the original live-action trilogy and you could say that the Foot Clan decided to change their ways because they're old ways weren't stopping the turtles, or maybe new management came and made them use guns, either way the 2014 movies got it wrong by having them have guns and be a terrorist group in the first movie, but then having them be ninjas Again by the second movie, they should have flipped it around. Now the Foot Clan can either be just a clan of ninjas that turned bad once Shredder took over or they were always a crime syndicate or some kind of cult, as long as they are still ninjas and don't have guns, at least not at the beginning of the iteration.
Splinter: Depending on which Lore you're going off of, Splinter is either the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi, or he is Hamato Yoshi himself mutated into a rat, or Yoshi reincarnated as a rat and then mutated. If you're making a new Lore then you can make Splinter either Yoshi's pet rat or Yoshi himself, or you could even make Splinter one of Yoshi's students mutated into a rat, or one of his students/adopted sons, or one of his adopted Sons, or a biological son of Hamato Yoshi mutated into a rat. This might be pushing it a little bit but you could also make Splinter a natural anthropomorphic rat, either a Yōkai, or a Mystic, or perhaps an Alien rat that learns Ninjutsu from Hamato Yoshi and after Yoshi parishes he would later go on to find the turtles. Or he is Hamato Yoshi not mutated but magically transformed into a Rat man, or a student or adopted/biological son of Yoshi magically transformed into a Rat man, or Yoshi's pet Rat magically transformed into a humanoid Rat. All of those options that I listed above work, 2014 does not work because Hamato Yoshi doesn't exist in the Michael Bay Lore, Splinter was always a rat and he learned Ninjutsu after mutation from a book…. I don't need to explain why this doesn't work, Hamato Yoshi needs to exist in some way shape or form in a normal TMNT incarnation. Now if you're creating a new Mythos then you can get rid of Yoshi as long as you have Splinter getting ninjutsu from a better Source than a fucking book.
Now here is where I'll be taking pot shots at the Next Mutation. Splinter is a wise old man usually, in the case of 2012 he is a wise man, he's not that old. He's a father figure to the turtles as well as their sensei in their training, he's meant to give advice to help the turtles, either he is a wise old man or is just a normal guy trying to be a wise old man, either way Splinter is supposed to be a good father figure, and he's trying his best. Next Mutation fails because Splinter is a senile old coot that the turtles don't treat with any respect and the advice he gives is pseudo deep nonsense, stuff that's supposed to sound deep and meaningful, but it's actually just a word vomit. And he contradicts himself sometimes in one episode he says one thing and then in the next episode, he says something else. So actually know how to write for a wise old man or make him a normal guy trying to be a wise old man, like the 2003 Splinter.
Leonardo: Hardworking, honorable and respectful, Leonardo is the Turtle's fearless leader. Driven to be the perfect hero, Leo's inexperience and often rowdy brothers sometimes get in the way of his goal. In the original Mirage continuity he has never said to be the leader, and he never calls himself the leader, he just naturally seen to fall into that role over time it wasn't until iterations after when they firmly established him as the leader, but if you want to make an iteration you don't have to make him the leader, you could make them four equals like the original Mirage volume one issue one did. Leonardo is the oldest and is often made the leader either because he's the oldest, or because he is the most skilled at ninjutsu, or because he is an expert strategist, or sometimes it's all three. He typically wears the color blue because it represents his personality he's cool calm and collected, the most level-headed of the turtles. Being the best fighter in his team he can easily take out anyone, but he is also the most approachable, he can be reasoned with, unlike Raphael who is always ready to fight and that's the first thing he jumps to. He is Splinter's favorite student and it's possibly the closest to Splinter, often being considered a teacher's pet. Either he is the most skilled he can be right off the bat and it's not a overconfident person about it, or he's almost as skill as he can be but because he's a bit overconfident it's holding him back, in the case of 2012 Leonardo at the beginning of the series. He follows honor to a T, he follows Bushido. His weapons the Ninjaken (which are always referred to as Katana for some reason) also reflect his personality he may be the common peaceful one and you can approach him but he's also the Most deadly due to how high his skill is with that type of sword going to some of the highest ranking and most dangerous ninjas. Usually he's the most level headed, but in some iterations Donnie is. And in most iterations he's the most serious, but in some Raph is. But he's always the most mature.
Donatello: Donatello is calm, sensible, quiet, friendly, and gentle. He does not get into a lot confrontations with his brothers. He is more interested in his work than in his ninjutsu but he still attends to ninja practice and works hard there as well as his projects. Donatello is always the brains of the group, no matter what Mythos you're going off of. Depending on the Incarnation he's either the second oldest or second youngest. He is a calm peaceful individual, and some iterations actually make him a pacifist that only fights when he has to. He is a kind but cautious person, he won't trust you right off the bat like Mikey, but he won't be hostile towards you like Raph. He is the scientist of the group, mostly Tech but he does dabble in a little bit of other Sciences as well. Because of him focusing on science more than his training or working out he usually is both the weakest turtle ninjutsu skill-wise and muscle wise, I say usually because some iterations of Mikey are more laid back and lazier than others and because of that they are the weakest in those particular incarnations, but usually it's Donnie. His weapon also reflects his personality with a Bo Staff being a long-ranged weapon because that's what Donatello prefers, he can't handle close combat for too long, because he's the weakest. He focuses more on constantly gaining knowledge, usually scientific related knowledge, but he also likes learning new knowledge in general, and he's always on the pursuit for it. In some iterations he's more level headed then Leo.
Raphael: Raphael is known for his temperamental and cynical personality, being short-tempered, aggressive, sullen, maddened, sarcastic, and rebellious. Raphael is usually the second oldest, but sometimes he's the second youngest. At the core of his character the one trait that always sticks is that deep down he cares about doing the right thing which is why he continues to fight crime even after questioning why they should do it when humans won't accept them, and even though he acts tough he's a big softie, he's just a closeted softy. He's the strongest Turtle muscle wise and the second most skilled, with the one thing holding him back being his anger, he could be just as skilled as Leonardo, but due to his anger he won't reach that potential. Of course some iterations dial back on the anger like 87 did, but usually he's angry and withdrawn rather than cool but rude, but even angry and withdrawn Raphael's are still often rude as a part of their personality traits especially to new people, Raphael is the one that you cannot approach and talk to, he will fight you, due to how most of society sees his kind he has severe trust issues against everyone that he doesn't know personally. And it takes a while for you to gain his Trust. He most often butts heads with Leo due to Raphael wanting to be the leader, but unlike Leonardo Raphael is not a strategist he prefers to run in stab first, ask questions later, and hope for the best. His weapons also reflect his personality, Sharpened Sai (regular Sai are not Sharp, they are blunt meaning he sharpens them himself), although normal Sai are meant for defense because he sharpened his he has turned them into deadly weapons that with improper training could hurt the user which in some iterations early on Raphael does get hurt by his Sai until eventually he gets better at using them. And those weapons being the shortest and most close range it shows that he is the opposite of Donatello in that regard. He is often called The Wolverine of the turtles, out of the four of them he is the one that likes to be alone, he is a loner. His anger stems from his hidden depression what causes that depression can vary from Incarnation to incarnation. In some iterations he's the most serious, and in others he can be a comic relief, but not as much as Mikey.
Michelangelo: Michelangelo or Michaelangelo depending on the Incarnation. Michelangelo is the most agile of the four brothers but prefers to have a good time rather than train. The youngest of the group, he is shown to be rather immature; he is known for his wisecracks, love of skateboarding, witty optimism, and, like his brothers, love of pizza. He Is the youngest of the turtles, is the most sweet kind-hearted, most open and friendly turtle, and there's two Mikey types you could do, the original Michelangelo and 1987 Michelangelo wasn't complete goofballs, Pranksters, and jokesters, silly guys, that wasn't until 1990 film and every Incarnation after 1990 made Michelangelo like this, which often ends up with his brothers and in some iterations Splinter hitting him on the back of the head when he gets to annoying, the original Michelangelo is not annoying he's just an Extravert that just wants to be friends he is the most open Friendly Turtle, but just like Raphael he's still always ready for a fight just in case because he knows you can't trust everyone sadly. And Michelangelo is always the party dude even when he's not a complete goofball. He's the one turtle that wants to be accepted as a part of society more than the others, he wants to be human, you know what they say those who smile the biggest are often the most depressed… Part of his hidden depression stems from the fact that he wants to be accepted by humans, but in incarnations where he's a bit of an annoying Mikey and his brother's hit him his depression stems from that. And whether or not he's a silly Mikey or just a sweetheart Mikey he is always laid back and carefree which is what's holding him back from reaching his full potential, he actually has potential to be more skilled than Leonardo, but due to his laid back and carefree attitude will never reach that potential, and in some iterations he's actually the weakest Ninja skill wise. He's love skateboarding, comic books, video games, and movies, horror movies and superhero movies, and he loves playing with action figures even as a teenager. He's also a skilled artist and in some iterations loves to write fiction. In some iterations where he's silly he's the most comic reliefly, or only comic relief, while in others Raph can be a comic reliefly guy too, but not as much as him.
April O'Neil: The only thing consistent with her from iteration to iteration is that she's a sassy white lady, of course there is some consistencies like between the Mirage Canon and a 2003 Canon, but that's only because both of those cannons are under the same lore, The Mirage lore, but not even everything under the Mirage lore is consistent, the 1990 Canon made her a news reporter instead of a lab assistant, if you want to make an incarnation under a particular lore know how April usually is under that particular lore, but if you're making new lore then literally do whatever you want with April as long as you keep her sassy, that's the only trait that must stick. (Update: When I originally wrote this on Facebook at the time the only black April that existed was the Rise one and that was a different Mythos, but now that Mutant Mayhem April has been revealed and she's also black and from what I can tell Mutant Mayhem is a part of the original Mythos I guess you can make her any race you want in the original Mythos) (Update #2: I have now decided to count Mutant Mayhem as it's own mythos, so back to original mythos April only being allowed to be White.)
Casey Jones: The insane hockey mask wearing sports equipment welding vigilante Madman, in most iterations he ends up in a relationship with April, but not in all of them. Depending on the iteration he either became a vigilante because something bad happened to him in his past involving criminals and he thinks the police aren't doing a good enough job or he just sees the police aren't doing a good enough job and decides to take it into his own hands or in the case of the original Casey Jones from Mirage volume 1 he saw someone doing it on TV and decided to do it himself. Regardless of how he becomes a vigilante here's some things you must keep to his character his anger problem is worse than Raphael's, he's kind of dumb but in a humble Charming way, basically he's a himbo, he's strong and kind and believes in doing the right thing, although while his heart is in the right place his head is not, every version of Casey Jones is a little bit insane, some incarnations like 87 are more insane than others. His catchphrase is Goongala, but not every iteration says that. The spin they did on 2012 Casey by making him a full of himself jackass was kind of a bad take of the character, but by the end of the series he developed and grew. His hockey mask usually is just the three lines over the mouth and is shaped to his face, but if you are making a new Lore you could change his mask like IDW & 2012 did.
Now here's some pot shots at 2014 again, making Casey Jones a cop is literally the opposite of Casey Jones, like maybe it could work in a different Mythos, but Casey Jones sees the law as a broken system that doesn't work so he takes crime fighting into his own hands, making him a cop means that you don't understand his character at all. 🤦.
The Shredder: He is the main antagonist of the original TMNT Mythos, and depending on the Canon he is just Oroku Saki, or the name Shredder is just a title that can belong to anyone, in the case of 2003 there's at least four shredders. But no matter what you do with shredder you must have him connected to Splinter's backstory and make it personal so that the story has weight to it, 2014 didn't do that and that's another reason why 2014 fails. Either he killed Yoshi, or whenever Splinter is Yoshi Shredder did something to take his entire life away, and then sometimes even mutating him, 2014 just had Shredder be a secret backer to the project that made the turtles, and the Turtles and Splinter didn't know who he was until he broke into their lair, pretty weak. 🙄. Now Eric Sacks should have just been The Shredder, I'm sorry I'm going to say it. The film would have worked much better and made a lot more sense, and if Hamato Yoshi doesn't exist in this universe then what's the point of having Oroku Saki? Besides the name Eric Sacks it's supposed to be the American version of that name, and if 2003 can make shredder an alien then I'm okay with a white Shredder, it would have worked, that would have been the one thing in the movie that worked and they had to go back and mess it up. 🙄🤦. But yeah make Shredder's and Splinter's backstories intertwined to make it a good story, don't do what 2014 did.
Shredder's motives, they're different from Incarnation to incarnation, ranging from him just running a organized crime syndicate and being satisfied with that, to him wanting to conquer the world and maybe the universe too, to he just wants his revenge and that's all he wants. You could also make him a cult leader that could work for an incarnation, it would be something new that hasn't been done before yet, and it doesn't seem to stray too far from the original Mythos.
New main antagonists after Shredder's defeat are optional.
Their skin is usually Green with a few exceptions, like sometimes one of them having Brownish Green skin. And species markings are optional.
They are typically either all red-eared sliders or just generic cartoon turtles, with a few exceptions, Next Mutation made them tortoises, 2003 possibly made them box turtles, and IDW possibly made them sea turtles. It's probably best you make them red-eared sliders or at least keep it under the Testudinoidea superfamily. But you could make them any Turtle species really.
Just about next to near always takes place in New York City, but once took place in New Hampshire and you could put them in any City really, but unanimously it's always New York City.
Either they have no leader and are considered four equals with Splinter being their master, or usually Leonardo's the leader, but once Raphael was the leader in the partners in crime turtle power song, and any of them can be the leader, but it's unanimously always Leonardo.
Either they wear all Red masks or all Dark Red masks. Or they wear Blue, Purple, Red, and Orange. You could make up new colors if you want though.
Leo: Blue
Don: Purple
Raph: Red
Mike: Orange
Leo: Twin Ninjaken/Ninjao (for some reason referred to as katanas even though they are not.)
Don: One Bo Staff
Raph: Twin Sai (Sharpened Sai)
Mike: Either two pairs or one pair of Nunchucks, depending on the Incarnation.
In the first ever iteration they started as 13, in most iterations after that they started as 15, with three exceptions, the Next Mutation had them start at 17, TMNT 2007 had them start at 19, and Batman vs TMNT film had them start at 16.
Leo: oldest
Don: sometimes second oldest most of the time second youngest
Raph: sometimes second youngest most of the time second oldest
Mike: youngest
Strongest to weakest (muscle wise)
Strongest to weakest (ninjutsu skill-wise)
Usually Donatello's the weakest but depending on the Incarnation/iteration Michelangelo can be the weakest depending on how lazy he is, but usually it's
And that has been my writer's guide to writing a traditional TMNT incarnation, next I will be doing one about the Rise Mythos and how to write a Rise incarnation. Let me know what you think and if anyone is making a iteration either just to be an online only thing like an AU or fanfic, or if you actually want to make a comic, show, or movie like I want to do, you can use this and hopefully it helps. :) Thank you and have a turtlely awesome day, TURTLE POWER!!!! :D
