Turtle Talk: First Impressions on Rise of the TMNT Character Designs

The short-awaited next iteration of the Heroes in a Half Shell, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Turtles, went live on Facebook earlier today where they unveiled the character designs and personalities of the main six protagonists.  As with a number of TMNT fans my age, I’ve been a fan since the 1987 cartoon, so the franchise is near and dear to my heart.  I’ve taken most different interpretations in stride (there are still things about the new live-action movies that bug me…other than them being not good), so I’m really looking forward to how this show handles the titular turtles and their large cast of friends and foes.  Since I don’t plan on this being a long post, that first picture will be the only one here.  Let’s kick things off with April and Splinter.

April’s design is cute.  Recent versions of the character have had her taking a more a proactive role in the brothers’ adventures, so I assume it will be the same for this show.  Her solo image revealed her wielding some sort of energy bat, but I’m assuming that’ll be Donnie’s tech since the other Turtles are shown with energized weapons as well.  Splinter’s design was a little disappointing for me.  The creators are obviously drawing from the new movies for the characters’ designs, but man, I wish they hadn’t with Splinter.  He just looks…weird.  I am fine with him being a comedic character as Splinter traditionally brings a decent bit of humor to the franchise.  I can’t think of a version where Splinter didn’t make me laugh.  Well, maybe the original comics, but I’d need to go back and re-read them.

As for the Turtles…well, there’s a decent bit to unpack there.  Having them be different species of turtles means they’re no longer brothers by blood, which is something I don’t think we’ve seen since Next Mutation (could very well be wrong there).  Raph is a snapping turtle, Leo is a red-eared slider, Donnie is a softshell turtle, and Mikey is a box turtle.  Changing what species each is has given the creators some interesting design choices.  Since he’s a softshell, Donnie will have different battle shells he’s built to cover his own, and the creators even hinted one will gain sentience (Metalhead, maybe?).  Leonardo now has red stripes on his face, and Raphael has a reason for being much larger than his brothers.  I’m no turtleologist (surely, that’s a real word), so I’m looking forward to how these play out on screen.

The personalities and weapons changes are where I’m having to fight against my pre-conceived notions of what the TMNT are and remind myself every version is different.  Leonardo now wields a single sword instead of two, and he was described by the creators as being a “smart-butt.”  Also, he’s no longer the leader.  On one hand, I can’t believe it because Leonardo is the leader of the TMNT, but on the other hand, I’m curious to see a Leonardo unburdened by the expectations of leadership.  Who is my favorite Turtle when he’s not leading them?  Seeing as how this will be a more comedic version, I doubt they will get too into character study, but a man can dream.

Congratulations, Partners in Kryme, your vision has come to pass and Raphael…well, he’s the leader of the group.  The hothead oldest brother also now wields tonfas instead of his trademark sais.  Aside from that, I don’t recall them mentioning anything too different.  Mikey is also pretty much the same except now he’s an artist and has ditched his nunchaku for some sort of stick/bladed yo-yo sort of thing (further reading tells me this is probably a kusari-fundo).  He is also once more the baby of the group.  Donnie’s one of the bigger surprises.  Now that we live in a world where being a nerd is kind of the “in thing,” Donatello is a far more confident member of the team.  He knows how legit his tech is, and he knows how much he contributes.  At least, that’s what I gathered from listening to the creators.

With so many comedians cast and the creators stating repeatedly this will be a more comedic show than the previous one, I am genuinely afraid this will be Nickelodeon’s Teen Titans Go!.  I can’t…I can’t even begin to tell you how much that frightens me.  I’m holding out hope, though, since all we know are what the main six will look like and some of their traits.  I’m surprised it’s coming so soon after the absolutely awesome 2012 cartoon, but I’m glad we won’t be without the TMNT on television for too long.  Plus, it’s 2D animation.  That alone has me excited.

Okay, I lied about the one picture thing.  Here’s a red-eared slider.

So, Batman and Harley Quinn Walk Into a Bar…

Glad Batman’s getting that Harley Quinn push.

Poison Ivy has teamed up with the nefarious Floronic Man to enact some nasty plant plot that will naturally put humanity at risk.  Batman and Nightwing are obviously on their trail, but the two green villains aren’t easy to find.  Even though they have ARGUS’s resources available to help stop Ivy and her new friend’s evil scheme, the two heroes will need help to find them.  They need someone who knows Ivy like the back of their hand.  They need Ivy’s nearest and dearest friend.  They need a woman who looks good in red and black.  They need Harley Quinn.

This is a movie I was cautiously optimistic about.  I am no different from damn near every other Bat-fan out there:  I love Batman The Animated Series with all my Bat-heart.  Obviously, the prospect of another movie that’s kinda in that DC Animated Universe continuity sounded too good to be true.  And, after the massive fumbling of The Killing Joke, it keeps me wary of these non-New 52 movies now.  So, how is this new kinda sorta maybe DCAU movie?

A mixed bag.

The Bad

Yes, Nightwing, you have to be here for this.

Oh, jeez, where to even start with the bad stuff in this one.  The sex stuff?  Yeah, sure I’ll start with the sex stuff.  Okay, so some people who work on these movies seem to have it in their mind that in order for a movie to be more mature or adult it has to have sex jokes, innuendos, and just actual sex.  Now, I’m a man who loves fan-service and women in general, so I don’t have a problem with sexy stuff, but you gotta do it right.  There’s a reason the Batman/Batgirl scene from The Killing Joke is so maligned.  It’s just…wrong.  And that trend continues here as Nightwing and Harley Quinn bump uglies.  Again, not much wrong with that except for what I imagine is a decent age difference, but hey, they’re both adults.  (Sidenote: This is the second film in this series to feature Harley as a major character, and the second time she’s had sex in one of these.  Just throwing that out there.)  It’s the lead-in to it and just everything that happened before that makes it a wee bit uncomfortable.  There are also a number of sexual jokes throughout the movie that are just plain juvenile and unfunny.

And that’s really how a lot of the humor is in this.  I never thought I’d be watching an honest-to-goodness Batman film and there’d be a fart joke.  Yeah.  An extended fart joke.  From now on, I want to use the phrase, “That joke went over like a fart in the Batmobile.”  Some of the gags go on too long, and you start to wonder why they were even there in the first place.

The big detractor for me here, though, is Harley’s voice.  Look, I’m all for casting young up-and-comers and/or taking chances by giving new people legitimate roles, but Melissa Rauch just was not a good fit here at all.  Maybe if she’d had more time with the character in a smaller capacity, but you put her there with the Batman Kevin Conroy and she’s going to sound downright amateurish.  I dunno if Arleen Sorkin officially retired from voicing Harley, but surely Hynden Walch or Tara Strong could’ve come in for this.  I have nothing against whatever else Rauch has done.  I just don’t want her to voice Harley again.  Everything sounded so forced, and that’s about the worst thing to hear in an animated feature.

The tone of the movie is also a little off-putting.  I’m fine with a comedic Batman film.  We’ve had a string of pretty dark DC animated films, and I quite love both The Lego Batman Movie and Batman: The Movie.  So, this was a welcome change of pace.  People die in this movie, though, and it isn’t played for laughs.  One in particular was heavily played for drama, and it just came out of nowhere.

A’ight.  That’s enough of being a sourpuss.  Let’s get to some positives!

The Good

The Nuclear Option.

Movie looks great.  Obviously.  It’s done in the DCAU style, so what else would you expect?  Seeing Kevin Conroy once again voice the version of Batman he cemented in the consciousness of Bat-fans around the world is the best.  Having Loren Lester voice his Nightwing was pretty cool, too, but Lester sounded like he had a bit of voice-rust in re-visiting Dick Grayson.  The opening credits sequence is also really cool and cute.  Props to the people who made that.

For as many jokes that miss, there are also quite a few that hit.  Even if the voice wasn’t right, Harley’s interactions with Ivy are some of the highlights of the movie.  There’s also a great scene that includes a good many shout-outs and callbacks to BTAS and the 1966 Batman show.  Don’t want to spoil that one (even though it, too, has its drawbacks), but it is delightful.

The story is fine.  I hesitated to put it under “The Good” part, but I enjoyed it.  It’s your basic road trip movie with Batman, Nightwing, and Harley Quinn.  And again, some of the plot points you can’t help but smile at in this lighthearted tale.  It really is great seeing a fun Batman.

The Word

Squad goals.

There are some things I haven’t brought up yet that I’m still not sure are positives, negatives, or neutrals:  The Superbabes restaurant where the waitresses dress up in skimpy versions of super heroine and villainess costumes (or just regular New 52 costumes for Starfire and Harley); Swamp Thing; Poison Ivy seemingly getting high on The Green…. Like I said earlier–this movie is a mixed bag.  It is a fun movie without a doubt.  Getting these characters in these designs again in an adventure we haven’t seen before alone is worth watching the movie.  But some very questionable over-sexualization here and there, a lot of failed jokes and gags, and a genuinely underwhelming performance on Melissa Rauch’s part (I’m trying so hard not to pick on her) make this movie an uneasy recommendation.

If you have a friend who has it, then definitely check it out.  I’d caution you against buying it at full price, though.  It is by far not the best Batman movie out there, but it is also definitely not the worst.

Justice League Darkest Just Before Dawn of Justice

It only looks like it should be called “Batman and Friends.”

Fret not.  This has nothing to do with Dawn of Justice.  I just like the title.

There’s some mystical nastiness happening all over the world, and the regular capes and tights crew in the Justice League are ill-equipped to deal with such an event.  Batman shrugs it off saying that people aren’t committing atrocities because they see demons everywhere, they’re just crazy!  He washes his hands of all that hoo-doo until Deadman possesses him and writes “Constantine” all over his wall.  Now, the Caped Crusader has to seek out Zatanna, his only magical friend, so he can get in touch with John Constantine and get this magical nonsense over with.  Let’s hope he brought some extra “Hmms” in his utility belt, ‘cuz this is one adventure where the Dark Knight will constantly find himself out of his depth.

So, here we are with DC’s latest animated movie.  Last year was a bit better for them than the couple previous.  Return of the Caped Crusaders was a lot of fun, half of The Killing Joke was good, and I have yet to see Mechs vs. Mutants.  As for the New 52 movies which have consistently disappointed, I actually enjoyed both.  Yes, they had quite a few problems, but overall I like Bad Blood and Justice League vs. Teen Titans (jeez, if it ain’t a Batman movie, it’s a versus movie).  Does Justice League Dark continue that upward swing, or are we spiraling down into the likes of the DCEU?

Read on.

The Bad

Here’s Black Orchid describing the New 52.

There are some poorly done exposition spots in this movie.  Zatanna reciting Deadman’s origin to Batman while they’re looking for the House of Mystery felt a wee bit hamfisted and probably could’ve been done a little smoother.  Black Orchid’s descriptions of everyone when they finally get to the House was even worse.  Zatanna’s bit could’ve used a little tweaking, but Black Orchid’s was just jarring.  Like, “Whoa!  I guess we’re pausing the story so we can be told who these people are.”  I get it.  Exposition is necessary, and it’s not an easy thing to pull off so your audience doesn’t realize it’s happening until they’re done with the story.  I just wish they’d gone back to these two scenes.  Hell, even Jason Blood’s backstory about the Dream Stone and how he became bonded to Etrigan was pretty well done, but even that felt a little halting.

Also wish Black Orchid could’ve done more in the movie than just deliver exposition and housesit.  She looks pretty cool, but she never leaves the House.  I mean, yeah, I assume she doesn’t because here she’s a manifestation of the House of Mystery so it (she?) can walk around and be sorta human.  Still think she should’ve gone out in the field.

The art style of these movies still needs some work.  They’ve done wonders since the first few, but it’s a little off sometimes.  Kinda like the faces are too long in some shots.

Didn’t care all that much for Enrico Colantoni as Felix Faust.  It’s probably because I was introduced to the character in the amazing Justice League cartoon, so I expect Felix Faust to be menacing and entirely too sure of himself.  Colantoni didn’t bring that to the character at all.  The arrogance was there, but it felt baseless.

The Good

“Where’s the rest of the bad stuff, ol’ Sawcy ol’ pal?”  I’m sure you’re wondering.  Well…that was it.  I kinda love everything else about this movie.  I don’t even know where to begin with the praises.  Guess I’ll start with the voice cast.

Brilliant.  The members of the JLD are so ridiculously well-casted, I can hardly believe it.  Camilla Luddington brings a commanding presence and playfulness to Zatanna that caught me off guard.  She’s the new voice I’ll hear whenever I read Zatanna from now on.  Same with Ray Chase as Jason Blood and Etrigan.  Dude just nailed it.  Nicholas Turturro and Roger Cross as Deadman and Swamp Thing, respectively, were both super solid, too.  And, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let it be known I enjoyed Jason O’Mara as Batman.  I’m not saying he’s found his groove yet, but I do think he played the fish out of water Dark Knight Detective extremely well here.  Of course, Alfred Molina as big bad Destiny was fantastic.  What else do you expect from Alfred Molina?  However, the crown jewel here belongs to the magical con-man himself–John Constantine.

Matt Ryan is Constantine.  There’s no getting around that now.  He played the role to perfection in the painfully short-lived live-action series (bring it back!), and he just continues the greatness here.  I honestly don’t see anyone else portraying the character better.  Hell, he actually made me like Constantine.  I used to hate the guy.  Now?  I love the charismatic asshole.  This was essentially Constantine’s movie, and Matt Ryan doesn’t let anyone forget it whenever he speaks.

The voice acting isn’t all JLD has going for it.  Most aspects of the story hit home.  This movie is astonishingly funny.  I laughed a good bit all throughout, and it was always at the parts you should laugh at.  Nothing so stupid it’s funny here.  All legit laughs.  The action is also wonderful.  They’ve really learned how to do battles when it’s a team against one villain.  I was legitimately invested in the fights against Felix Faust and Destiny.  Really, really well done action scenes.  I don’t want to take away from the others, but those two just stand taller.

There’re also a couple moments that actually surprised me.  I won’t spoil them, but they genuinely got me.  I sincerely hope there’s a sequel so they can revisit these bits.

The Word

The heroes we deserve.

Y’all, I think I love this movie.  I know I tend to speak very highly of things when I should ruminate on them for a while, but I sat down and really thought about JLD before writing this post.  It just did everything better than the other New 52 movies.  The art style works here, the action scenes are superb, it’s actually funny, there are surprises to be had, the threats are real, and the voice cast is the best one one of these movies has had in years (not counting Killing Joke since that’s cheating).  This isn’t just the best New 52 movie; it’s a good movie in its own right.  The DC movies are off to a damn fine start this year.

Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.

Spiders…Spiders EVERYWHERE.

Yeah…I’m pretty bad at this blogging thing, but I’ll do what I can.  This time around, I think I’ll talk about good ol’ Peter Parker–the amazing, spectacular, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.  As I said in my Top 10 Superheroes post, my love for Spider-Man began with Spider-Man: The Animated Series.  Eventually I watched some of the old stuff.  We all know those are pretty bad…except for maybe Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.  I had a lot of fun with that one.

Well, a month or so ago, my love for the Wall Crawler flared up again, so I decided to finally watch his three cartoons that have come out in this new millennium.  Not counting Unlimited since it started in 1999, and I don’t really feel like re-watching it.

A cartoon on MTV? That’ll totally work!…

Chronologically first up is one of the shortest Spidey cartoons to ever come out, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series.  Obviously, companies like to cash in on their successes by adding to them.  That’s why when Avengers rocked the box office, there were Avengers books as far as the eye could see.  Back when the first Spider-Man movie did well, we got this brand new darker cartoon that wanted to follow the film’s canon (for all of about two episodes).  When I say “darker,” I mean it.  Despite the darkness of Spider-Men past, this one gets pretty grim.  Quite a few of the villains bite the dust, and Spidey himself almost kills a love interest (by accident).  Again, this isn’t new for Parker, but this is still the darkest Spider-Man cartoon ever.  Being on MTV’ll do that.

Being on MTV’ll also pretty much guarantee a premature death for any cartoon.  Canceled before its time, it ends on one hell of a cliffhanger.  As for the style, I’m not one of those that automatically hates a cartoon because it’s CGI, but something feels off about SMTNAS every now and then.  I like that they tried to emulate Mark Bagley’s style, and for the most part it does work.  It’s hard for me to explain, but it’s too…forced sometimes (I guess that’s what I’m looking for).  The voice work is mostly pretty good, and the Spidey quipping is good as always.  The opening theme sounded like something out of Tekken 3, though.  I also hope Indy shows up again in the Spider mythos at some point.  She was fun.  Oh, and the scene where Peter, Indy, MJ, and Harry go out to dinner was probably the funniest part of the whole series to me.  Harry Osborn was gold here.

One thing that’s really odd about this one, though, is a good many of the villains are Russian.  Silver Sable, Kraven, Pterodax, the Gaines twins…I don’t know what they were going for with that theme.  New Cold War, maybe?

Excuse me while I go cry in a corner because this isn’t around anymore.

Now, I haven’t watched SMTAS since I was a kid, but I’m aware of the problems it faced–limited budget, heavy censorship, enemies within the company, etc.  So, until I re-watch it, I will claim that The Spectacular Spider-Man is the best Spidey cartoon.  I hate that it got canceled when Marvel re-acquired the TV rights to Spider-Man.  Spectacular lived up to its namesake.

The character design was done by Sean “Cheeks” Galloway (one of my favorite artists), and the series drew from all past forms of the character.  Tidbits from the old toons, the comics (both 616 and Ultimate), and even the movie-verse found their way into the mixing pot.  Story-telling and characterization are top notch too.  The first couple episodes introduce at least five future villains and set up the characters’ relationships really well.  Sadly, much like the MTV cartoon before it, it ends on some big cliffhangers.  Yes…multiple.  Dangling plot-threads galore.  At least it got two seasons instead of just one (weep, Unlimited and SMTNAS…weep).

Since I mentioned the funniest scene from SMTNAS, I’ll do the same for here.  For Spectacular, though, I don’t have just one scene that I thought was the funniest.  Just pick any time Rhino was onscreen.  Whenever he showed up, I knew good times were ahead.

Basically, Spectacular is everything right about Spider-Man.  It’s funny, it’s decently dark, it’s action packed, it looks damn good, and the romantic tension is awesome.

You’re just not…good enough.

Now we come to the redheaded stepchild–the still airing at a surprising 52 episodes and counting, Ultimate Spider-Man.  Okay, so I don’t hate USM.  I actually enjoy it.  It’s such a step down from what came before, though.  I know Marvel didn’t want to make another Spectacular, and I know Disney wants to cater to children, but dammit!  If there are any DC fans reading this who don’t quite get it, it’s basically like canceling Batman: The Animated Series and replacing it with Beware the Batman.  Again, I enjoy both, but the predecessor is far superior in every way.

My biggest problem is the humor.  It misses more than it hits, and Parker constantly taking breaks to speak to the audience gets old fast.  They’ve basically turned him into Diet Deadpool…which the creators are probably aware of since one of the better episodes of the series involve Spidey and Deadpool teaming up.  The art style and animation also fall flat sometimes.  I honestly don’t know if that’s just me, or if that’s how it feels for everyone else too.

I’ll talk about the stuff I do like, though.  The world of UMS is big.  Since it’s tied into the latest Avengers and Hulk cartoons that’s a given, but I’m honestly surprised at the amount of characters that have shown up so far.  I also like the Osborns here (even though I like them more in Spec–never mind), and MJ’s design looks cool too (even though she looked better in–oh yeah, I said never mind).  Voice work’s pretty good, and the fight scenes usually have more good than bad.

And those are my thoughts on the three Spider-Man cartoons of the new millennium!

Shoo! Go away.