Rewatching rise of the tmnt the third time and I genuinely think that the first fight we see, is in fact their first fight ever.
Because we open with them doing what their dad 100% thinks they are doing. Goofy teenager hijinks. They probably train on the side to make dad proud.
Then cue them getting their first real fight, lots of false bravado, bad execution.
(As someone who used to be In taekwondo, that’s what it feels like at first, until you realize you don’t know squat and aren’t super skilled)
Hyped up on their first win(against Draxum) cue the next episode of them talking about being heroes.
And then cue them actually looking for crime, with Donnie choosing high stakes, and Leo MENTIONING that for their FIRST stunt it should be something easy. “ maybe we should save mangling and spine breaking for, I dunno, our SECOND day” (implying this is their first)
Then the next episode, they are fighting the silver fish, probably read something about an animal eating clothing. Or a clothing thief, tie into an “easy” task.
And the WHOLE TIME Splinter genuinely thinks they have been doing what they were always doing before.
Silly teenage hijinks like breaking into a swimming pool.
TLDR: Context clues shows us that the first fight we see in the show is the turtles FIRST FIGHT. Ever. And that’s why they sucked.
















