Okay, you must forgive the hyperbole contained within our banner, but it might as well be true after angry fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took to the message boards and comments sections of just about every entertainment website following the reveal of the new character designs in Nickelodeon’s latest spin on the Heroes in a Half Shell, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Nickelodeon had been teasing us for weeks with the promise of a grand reveal today and, in front of countless fans and members of the press – both in person and online – they delivered. Or failed to deliver. It depends who you ask. You see, it’s not only the artwork that’s pissing off the fans, but also the decision to make each Turtle a different species (Raphael is a Snapping Turtle, Michelangelo is a Box Turtle, Donatello is a Soft-Shell, and Leonardo is a Read-Eared Slider), give them slight variations on their traditional weapons, and to shake up their roles in the group, with Raph now the leader, and Leo assuming Raph’s cool but crude persona. There’s also a new-look Splinter, who admittedly looks more like a squashed Hamster than a formidable Rat-Ninja, and April will now be portrayed as African-American, which will no doubt upset those out there with tiny brains.
The controversial new animation style, which is vastly different from anything we’ve seen before when it comes to Eastman and Laird’s classic comic book characters, is more reminiscent of an episode of Teen Titans GO! How quickly people forget, though, just how much they hated the previous animation style and how they had no intention to ever give the show a chance, yet complained like hell when it wasn’t renewed for season 6.
As far as we’re concerned, sure it’s not what we’re used to, and Nickelodeon might not have made some of the artistic choices we’d have liked, but it’s still the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they’re still gonna kick ass, and there’s almost certainly going to be a whole new toy line, which means there’s going to be a whole lot of empty purses here in the Horror Geek Life offices.
Let us know how you feel about the new look Turtles in the comments section below. What would you change and why? We want to hear from YOU.
