Splinter Gave Each Turtle Weapons that are the Opposites of their Personalities
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Aug. 20, 2022, 12:22 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
In most fictional stories, characters have abilities and powers that are extensions of their personalities (i.e., fire users are usually impulsive and passionate, while ice users tend to be cold and detached, and so forth), but a user elsewhere on the internet observed that, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinter gave each turtle a weapon that was the opposite of their personality, so that they could grow and develop as people.
Raphael is the most aggressive and short-tempered of the turtles, so Splinter gave him a pair of sai, which are almost entirely defensive weapons, so that Raphael could learn discipline and self-control.
Michelangelo is the most easy-going and playful of the turtles, so Splinter gave him a pair of nunchaku, weapons that are notoriously difficult to control and very likely to injure their user if the user is careless with them, which Splinter did so that Michelangelo would learn to take combat seriously and not treat it as a joke.
Donatello is the most intelligent and creative of the turtles, so Splinter gave him a simple wooden staff as a weapon, to teach him to improvise and use what resources are available to him in any situation.
Leonardo is the most heroic and ethical of the turtles, yet Splinter gave him a pair of katana, the only bladed weapons of the group and, therefore, the most lethal, to teach Leonardo that it is great to stand by one’s morals, but there will inevitably be times when fighting and violence are necessary.
What does everyone else say about this observation? Again, I wish to emphasize that I am not the first person to make this observation, but the realization was so brilliant that I wished to share it with as many people as I could.
TheOfficialCreator says... #3
That's an incredible theory. I'm not a big TMNT fan, but that is a really clever way to break the traditional "power-pairing" archetype while still sticking to the archetype of the intelligent sensei/teacher.
I might have to give TMNT another watch with this in mind. 0.0
August 20, 2022 7:57 a.m.
Yeah, I always thought the weapon pairings seemed contradictory to the character archetypes
August 20, 2022 12:32 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #5
Growing up in the early 80s I was a pretty big fan of TMNT (especially the RPG). I also like this post because I sympathize 100% with DemonDragonJ’s notion of “sure I didn’t discover/invent it, but man do I want people to know about it!” The story behind TMNT is pretty cool - but it’s even more fun when you try to wrap your head around how weird/wild a title like that was back then. The influence of TMNT is broader than one might initially think ;p
August 21, 2022 10:16 a.m.
Wasn't it partially a satire comic? First conceptualized on some bar-napkins?... It was later cartoonitized & made more kid appropriate later on I believe, that could just be me vaguely confusing it with something else, I'm not source-checking on that. I think it was a bit like Lobo, or Deadpool where the creator was eye-rolling a bit when they made them & just mashing a bunch of "cool-at-the-time" tropes together & 1/2 the fanbase still ate them up for the eye-rolling reasons. Because you know what is cooler than 1 sword?..... 2 SWORDS!!!!! - with an order of extra bigass late-80's french fries!
August 21, 2022 12:17 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Gleeock, the very name of the franchise suggests that the creators essentially combined various elements of popular culture from the time, and that it is not meant to be taken seriously.
August 21, 2022 6:55 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
TMNT was originally a satire. There were many animal-based super heroes who appeared to be almost Ninja-like in nature. Batman, Spiderman, Dare Devil, etc.
So, the creators made actual animals as Ninjas, choosing turtles because turtles are by no means swift and agile.
Even their enemy, The Foot Clan, was a satire on Dare Devil's, The Hand.
Originally they also all wore red bandanas, and it wasn't until the cartoon series that they got distinct colors to better help the children tell them apart on screen.
August 21, 2022 7 p.m. Edited.
TypicalTimmy says... #9
Sorry was at the gas station when I typed that, and went on the road.
One other detail.
Casey, the man with the mask and hockey stick? He's a satire of Frank Castle's Punisher.
Frank is known for using baseball bats, sledge hammers, pipes, etc. So let's give this skinny kid a hockey stick - the most flimsy of all melee weapons. And as for his mask, in many occasions it isn't a hockey mask, but a skull mask.
August 21, 2022 7:10 p.m.
PirateCptAstera says... #10
Pretty sure the ooze that mutated the turtles is canonically the same substance that was spilled on daredevil.
Don't really have a source, but i remember reading that somewhere a while ago
August 22, 2022 3:18 a.m.
PirateCptAstera says... #11
Found a reference piece that confirms most of the above
August 22, 2022 3:21 a.m.
Yep, I had heard years ago when I read the comic that it started as napkin-sketch goofballery.
TypicalTimmy says... #2
holy shit
August 20, 2022 1:50 a.m.