mysillylittlesoapbox (@ this post)
All his eps also feature him being the awesome little badass that he is, always getting great shining moments just like his brothers tend to have in their focus episodes! So it really baffles me when the fandom ignores all that and acts like he’s useless or only there to be the butt of the jokes (y’all getting 2012/Nick Mikey confused with 2003/4Kids Mikey)!
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not up to snuff on the 2012 series so I can’t speak on the characterization there. But whatever point you’re trying to make, you can make without badmouthing my 2003!Mikey. Sit yer butt down and let me educate you.
Here’s what the Mikey-centric episodes were about under 4Kids:
Yes, superheroes. There was a lot of superheroing going around. And Mikey spent a lot of time running around in a costume like that, or calling himself the “Turtle Titan”, or both.
And you know why? Because one of Mikey’s recurring traits (he had several, as all good characters do) was the desire that he and his brothers be acknowledged for all the good they did. Sure, he also did good for the sake of doing the right thing and because he was a sweetheart – that’s what The Christmas Aliens was all about…
That and Klunk. Don’t forget Klunk.
But he also wanted that acknowledgement, because he honestly thought that being recognized as heroes would give the turtles that topside acceptance they all craved. And since they couldn’t be seen as they were, how better to operate in the light of day than to wear a costume and keep a secret identity?
Plus, I think we all understand the desire to have your hard work recognized. That brings on the sort of warm fuzzies you don’t get when your motto is, “Strike hard and fade into the night.“
All of Mikey’s superhero romps – including Reality Check – tied back into this, a personal theme that would be re-stated many times throughout the series and readdressed in a different form during the Nick run. Likewise, the thing about his family and others not taking him seriously came up more than once, with the difference being that 4Kids!Mikey encourages this view. He uses it to his advantage.
Seriously, go back and watch the fights in this series. Despite not having their technical skill, Mikey is equally as effective as Raph or Leo because he thinks and acts outside the box. When he came up with the plan of attack, they were always clever and struck where the enemy wouldn’t expect.
And let’s not forget that this same jokey, cocky annoyance that lets him beat Raph in the Battle Nexus tournament.
He kept up as care-free comic relief because it it worked.
It also, sometimes, came around to bite him in the tail. Like in his spotlight episode from season 4, Grudge Match.
When the guy he beat in the Battle Nexus finals shows up for a rematch, everybody including his family thinks he’s going to get his shell waxed. And if Mikey was really useless, or just a joke, they’d be right. Or maybe he’d slip by with another playful joke.
But he’s not and he doesn’t. He gets his act together. He trains with Leo, focuses on his skills and, despite attempts at sabotage, wins both seriously and with honor. Yeah, he could be obnoxious over the Battle Nexus win, but he absolutely deserved it.
Actually, let’s go back to that Leo thing. ‘Cause see the thing is, the 4Kids TMNT did not have nearly so many of those little character vignettes and [blank]-focused episodes, as does the Nick ‘Toon. 2003’s focus was on multi-episode story-arcs, recurring interwoven plot threads, and recreating the original Mirage Comics tales. Which meant that character development more often happened in gradual moments over the course of several episodes.
In this case, Leo spent the first half of Season 4 with big-time PTSD that turned him into a real jerk.
During that time, Mikey proved to be the most understanding. He’s the only one who managed to really connect to Leo during that time, when he asked for help in his training. He’s the one who stepped in to keep Leo and Raph from fighting and, when the others were giving Fearless a hard time, he’s the only one who understood what Leo was going through.
‘Cause see, the Mikey of 2003 is insightful, more so than any of the others. Don might be the most empathetic and Raph might be the most passionate, but Mike’s the one who knows how they all tick. That’s why he’s able to goad Raph into beating himself or pester Don into building what he wants.
He also knows what the team need to work together. Usually, what they need is to point him at a thing so he’ll cause trouble, which he does with gusto because finding the fun in dangerous situations is what he does.
But when Don’s out of commission and they need someone to be sensible, Mikey becomes the voice of reason.
When his brothers have all vanished, even when he’s spent two episodes being terrified, he goes after the entity that kidnapped them and his friends.
And whenever tension’s getting too high, he cracks a smile or a joke to lighten the mood and keep up everyone’s spirits. Because that’s his way of keeping his family together.
On that note, you know why it hurts so damn much to see him bitter and maimed in Same as It Never Was?
It’s not just that we’ve "shooed out the clowns”(tr), that our comic relief character isn’t smiling. It’s that he’s given up on his family. His reaction towards Don – all hot-and-cold anger – is something you’d expect from Raph. And the bitterness when he snaps about Raph and Leo is palpable. There’s no hope and no effort made to reunite the family, and that goes so against what Mikey is that it burns.
I could go on and on but I think my point is made.
In short: don’t you dare try to tell me that this “useless” guy is only in the show to be “the butt of jokes.” He’s not. And he’s not useless. He’s the comic relief and he’s also so much more. He’s just as developed and interesting a character as any of the others, and he doesn’t need a whole bunch of spotlight episodes to show it.
