History WesternAnimation / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987

* JerkassWoobie: Baxter Stockman.

* MemeticMutation: "Cowabunga!" and "It's Pizza Time!"

* NonMammalMammaries: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with Mona Lisa because she ''was'' human before her mutation.

* ReplacementScrappy: Lord Dregg.

* TheWoobie: Michaelangelo has his moment of this when he thinks everyone forgot his birthday.
** Also Splinter in "Splinter No More".

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The opening theme.

* FetishFuel: [[BuxomBabe April O' Neil.]] [[AbsoluteCleavage Partially zipped yellow coverall]] + possibly the [[MostCommonSuperpower biggest rack]] on kids' TV at the time = fond memories.
** And who could forget the countless times April ended up in bondage. Starting with the very first episode!
** A mob-themed villain had a penchant for torture by way of [[FootFocus tickling his captives' feet]], with [[HoYay a preference for men]]. The writers probably meant it to be a kid-friendly stand-in for the more brutal methods used by the Mafia, but still.
** Don't forget when Irma became a giantess or when April became a catgirl, or a fishgirl.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Bebop and Rocksteady.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The Red Sky Episodes

* {{Flanderization}}: Bebop and Rocksteady weren't exactly smart in the first season, but were portrayed as serious threats to the turtles. Later seasons toned up their stupidity to ridiculous degrees, and made them even more incomptent.

* LongRunners: With nine years and almost two hundred episodes to its name, this was the {{Gunsmoke}} of Saturday morning cartoons.

* MoralDissonance: Poor Baxter Stockman

* ExecutiveMeddling: Mona Lisa was originally going to be a [[NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation female turtle]], but Eastman and Laird rejected it, so she was reimagined into some kind of lizard, which is why her head and feet look like the TMNT's.

* AdaptationDecay: This series had many differences with the original comics, LighterAndSofter aside. [[TropesAreNotBad And yet...]]
* AdaptationDisplacement: This is the version most people remember when they think about the Turtles (or at least most people over the age of 18 or so).

* EarWorm: The original theme.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Mona Lisa only appeared in one episode, but she has a ''huge'' fan base as a result.

* FanNickname: The show's Shredder is sometimes referred to as "Uncle Phil", thanks to voice actor James Avery's [[TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir most famous role]].

* FollowTheLeader: The art style in the "Red Sky" era bore more than a little resemblance to the then hugely popular ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: After Baxter Stockman has [[YouHaveFailedMe failed Krang one too many times]], he's tossed into a disintegration chamber. He is [[AlasPoorVillain frantically pleading for his life]], and his [[XRaySparks screaming skeleton]] doesn't make it any easier to watch. (Un)Fortunately, there was a fly in the chamber as well, and he's morphed into a giant mutant fly-man.

* InkStainAdaptation
* InNameOnly

* MemeticSexGod: April O' Neil, so very much.

* SeasonalRot: [[YourMileageMayVary Mileage varies]] on exactly when it began to set in (probably during or after the third season), but early on the animation and the writing was better, and the show took itself a bit more seriously than it would later on. The ReTool at season seven was in response to this.
** A lot of people agree that this happened during season eight, when the sky was permanently red, and everything was [[YouWereTryingTooHard trying to hard]] to be [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] as opposed to the light-hearted show people grew to love over the years.

** He appears out of costume in one episode wearing a [[RealMenWearPink pink shirt]].

* BrotherChuck: General Granite, the gray rock soldier from the episode "Hot Rodding Teenagers".

* FridgeLogic: MediaWatchdogs forced the animators of the first cartoon to change Michaelangelo's weapon of choice to a grappling hook late in the series, claiming that ''nunchuku'' were too violent. It didn't seem to bother them that two of the Turtles used ''blades.''

** Donatello is Barry Gordon who was also the voice for another anthropomorphic genius [[{{SwatKats}} Razor]], and also for the Quik Bunny mascot.

* YouFailPhysicsForever: Mona Lisa explains to Raphael that she was a college student that was going for her '''physics''' major, but in the flashback she is clearly using a '''chemistry''' set.

* ATeamFiring: No matter how much ammo the bad guys use, they almost never hit their targets.

** Although many people forget that Bebop was black before his mutation.

* MeaningfulEcho: In the first episode of the Red Sky series, Shedder and his minions are pinned down by police as they try to retrive a device they need. Shredder hurls a trashcan which he says are filled with explosives at the cops, causing them to scatter. After they make their escape, Bebop and Rocksteady compliment him on his bluff. The trashcan explodes in the back ground, with Shredder stating "I never bluff". Much later, Shredder has taken the Channel 6 building hostage, and has to threatened to blow it up if the turtles don't meed him in a certain amount of time. When they get there, they see that the building is still standing, causing them to assume he was bluffing. What does Shredder have to say? "I '''never''' bluff". What follows is easily the most dramatic moment in the series.

** Also April gets turned into one of these in one episode.

** Having said that, the series was ''still'' criticised for being DarkerAndEdgier compared to most other animated shows at the time. Considering the restrictions the creators had to work under, it's actually a small miracle that the series didn't end up a total bastardization of the original comics.

* ExpositoryThemeTune

** The first season had a much more anime-inspired visual style (particularly with the human character designs) than the seasons which followed. Depending on your preferences, the subsequent seasons could arguably be considered a case of art ''de''volution.

* TheOtherDarrin: Several voice actors would occasionally have replacements during particular episodes.

** There's also some FridgeBrilliance in that specific episode since Megavolt wanted to destroy the D.W. (Dark Water) company out of revenge. D.W. is also the nickname of DarkwingDuck.

** TheChick: April O'Neil

* NonMammalMammaries: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with Mona Lisa because she ''was'' human before.

* YouFailPhysicsForever: Mona Lisa explains to Raphael that she was a college student that was going for her '''physics''' major, but in the flashback she is clearly using a '''chemistry''' set for her work.

* YouFailScienceForever: Mona Lisa explains to Raphael that she was a college student that was going for her '''physics''' major, but in the flashback she is clearly using a '''chemistry''' set for her work.

* EveryhtingsBetterWithPrincesses: Princess Mallory proves this.

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: To many examples to list.

* FetishFuel: [[AbsoluteCleavage Partially zipped yellow coverall]] + possibly the [[MostCommonSuperpower biggest rack]] on kids' TV at the time = fond memories.

** There's also some FridgeBrilliance in that specific episode since Megavolt wanted to destroy the D.W. (Dark Water) company out of revenge. D.W. was also the nickname of DarkwingDuck.