BOOYAKASHA: A term that paraphrases the quality of TMNT 2k12
When this show was first announced and the designs were released, I will admit, I pissed all over the show. I didn't like the changes they were making to Donnie and Mikey's weapons to make them more 'violent.' I was against it because I believe the turtle's weapons are a reflection of their personality.
I eventually got over myself and I was hopeful. I was still wary of some of the design choices (giving all the turtles different colored eyes; I was never a fan of Mikey with blue eyes), but I was hopeful. It had been years since we had a TMNT adaptation and honestly, I've thoroughly enjoyed just about every version of the turtles (Mirage comics, IDW comics, 1987 series, movies, 2k3, even certain aspects of Next Mutation).
And then I saw the opening which included an homage to the original comics. I was pumped. Maybe this series would do right by the turtles. Maybe it would explore things introduced in the new, fantastic IDW comics. Maybe I could actually be bothered to tune in!
Me and my sister watched the first 2-3 episodes together. The first two weren't too bad though we questioned some of the choices they made; if they have TV, how do they not know what pizza and electricity are? If Donatello geeks over very specific computer parts, why are they mystified by really inane things. I get that they are first encountering the world, but it just came off terribly.
Then by the third episode, they had introduced a villain that screamed villain of the week. There's nothing wrong with this principle, but the designs of these enemies were absolutely horrid and their motivations were just painful and non-engaging. And just like that, I had already gotten bored of the show.
But this isn't the real problem I have with 2k12. Even 2k3 had lackluster episodes (the episode about that stupid garbage asshole immediately comes to mind).
The problem comes with the characterizations of the turtles.
Each turtle has traits that carry through all their incarnations, but in this series, it's like the writers took those traits and ratcheted them up to maximum annoyance level.
Raph has always played rough with his brothers, but in 2k12, he's a straight up bully. Like, I straight up disliked him immediately when I started watching and that's never happened.
They took Mikey's playfulness and turned it up to the point where he's a flat out moron. And before anyone criticizes my view of Mikey, this is the very same Mikey that Nickelodeon pit against Patrick from Spongebob in a "who has less brains" contest.
Spoiler alert: They tied.
It doesn't help that Mikey is voiced by the same dude who did Beast Boy meaning he's just about as annoying as it gets. Michelangelo is an intelligent character, just not in the same way that Donatello is intelligent and it's infuriating that that took his character and reduced it to the lowest common denominator. There's no subtlety there anymore.
Leo's personality is around the same except they made him like some Star Trek like show and made him a bit more incompetent than other versions. I'll get to him later.
The transformation Donnie underwent is one of my least favorite. They made him an incredibly stereotypical nerd type character who spouts technobabble gibberish (I'm a software engineer, you can't get that shit by me) all the way to being physical awkward. I've always hated this interpretation of Donnie, and it's not even supported by a lot of previous canon.
Not only that, with this transformation to nerd stereotype, they have made Donnie into a really creepy, "nice guy" type character. I've seen other people touch on this, so I'm not going to write a whole lot about it, but it's incredibly problematic and even more so because I see a lot of people in the fandom defending/excusing this behavior. Not only that, I've seen the whole "Donnie deserves April" line of thinking pop up.
Don't. It's gross. If you think this, you're gross.
That brings me to my personal favorite turtle and the one I connect with the most, Leonardo. I have no problem with the fact that he geeks out over a TV show. It's cute. My main problem comes from those who say that this makes Leo more realistic; more relatable. In fact, this thinking extends to all the turtles. People say that they act more like teens and are more realistic.
Being more immature does not directly mean being more like a teenager. The turtles in 2k3 acted like teens. They goofed off, played video games together, watched cowboy westerns together and etc. But they were also serious and all went through quite a bit of development, which if you didn't know, is exactly what being a teenager is about. The turtles in 2k12 act like little children. Little…annoying children.
Leonardo isn't more realistic in 2k12 simply because he likes a TV show. That is an absurd line of thinking. And the idea that it makes him more relatable is also flawed.
If your idea of making a character relatable is to simply have them geek out over a TV show, then you focus way too much on the simple.
The fact is that not every character in every medium can be relatable to every single person. That would cause a mass case of sameness.
That's especially true in this series where you have four turtles with four extremely distinct personalities. If you find them all equally relatable, then there is something wrong there with the characterization.
And let's not pretend that Leo 2k3 is not realistic. Relatable is arguable, but realistic is not.
He's disciplined and studious. He cares immensely for his family while being hard on them. But he's also saddled with an incredible self doubt just like almost every teen ever. He's a teenager who has to deal with the idea of taking care of his family. He doubts himself because he wants to do the best for them. He makes himself better so that he can do the best for them.
He's a leader. And he has massive confidence issues.
Leo has what I call the "Superman Complex." People don't think he's relatable or realistic because of his personality; hard working, serious and a perfectionist. It's the same thing that happens with Superman when people say "he's just too good. It's not realistic."
People don't think a teenager can be that disciplined? They can.
Maybe it is rare. But it's supposed to be a very unique trait. That's the point of Leo. He's supposed to have that unique trait because he's the leader! People won't always relate to that, but don't tell me it's not realistic.
Protip: I was that kind of teenager myself. I'm still that kind of person today.
When people say that the fact that Leo nerds out over a show makes him more relatable and realistic, I think that those are the kind of people who either barely look past the surface of personality on these characters or rely far too heavily on simple characterization of characters.
Okay, so I got that little fandom rant out of the way, let's talk real quick about other issues.
April is a pretty terrible design. Her fashion sense is atrocious. Also, they should have made her a woman of color for once.
Karai is easily one of the worst designs I've seen in a long time. She's white-washed, plain and simple. Not only that, but she's straight up bootleg looking. She looks like one of the horrible love children of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. They need to trash that design and get a do-over.
Baxter Stockman is dangerously close to stereotype.
Leo abandoning his brothers in a fight? GDFO with that garbage.
Mikey and Donnie being the "B Team"? GDFO with that garbage.
Splinter, the first rule of being a ninja is actually to not be seen, not that stupid gibberish you spouted about no harm/lots of harm.
I'm pretty sure that these aren't even all the problems I have with the show.
In conclusion, this show isn't even fit to lace up IDW TMNT's shoelaces.
On a side note, if you are one of those people who face claims all the turtles as white dudes, then I hate you.
