History YMMV / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012

* SpiritualSuccessor: While this series [[InternalHomage owes a lot to previous iterations of the franchise]], some of the cartoon's more original beats has a lot in common with the 2008 Creator/ALeeMartinez novel ''Literature/TheAutomaticDetective''; set in a busy metropolis where a MutagenicGoo is making {{Mutant}}s out of the population, with the mutagen (and by extension a lot of the more outlandish elements of the setting) having either been planted or reverse-engineered ImportedAlienPhlebotinum, the alien's big scheme being to kidnap a kid (and by extension the rest of his immediate family) because his DNA is needed to perfect the mutagen so that Earth will become more comfortable for the aliens causing everything. The protagonist Mack Megaton also has a few similarities to Metalhead, being a KillerRobot made from reverse-engineered alien tech [[InstantAIJustAddWater who develops self-awareness from a glitch]] and develops an empathetic personality as a result, going on a one-robot investigation to uncover and disrupt an alien conspiracy.

* MemeticMutation:
** Booyakasha!
** That which is the way the Kraang speak has become mutated by that which is known as the Internet into what is known as a meme.
** The term "sadorable" has become extremely popular on Deviantart.
** A certain preview for "Showdown" shows the Turtles and April having a little dance party. All three dances shown has become a bit memetic. So you know it shows Leo shuffling. Donnie and April, of all dances they could have done, doing the funky chicken. Then Raph's dance, which might be the most memetic of all.
** "[Insert character name here] confirmed for season two!" To the point where fans will search for the most obscure characters possible to keep the joke going. It'll probably die down once season two actually comes along though.[[labelnote:explanation]]This originated from the writers announcing that Casey Jones would appear in season two before season one even aired.[[/labelnote]]
** '''''"I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!"'''''[[labelnote:explanation]][[DarkerAndEdgier April to the Turtles after they (accidentally)]] [[{{Deconstruction}} caused her father to become a mutant.]][[/labelnote]]
** Buzz buzz. [[labelnote:explanation]]Michelangelo says this in the first episode of season two when dressed like a butterfly/moth.[[/labelnote]]
** The costumes the Turtles (and April) wore in the Halloween game featured on the Nick website. Especially Raph's [[spoiler:fairy princess outfit.]]
** Raphael: KING OF ALL PIGEONS!!![[labelnote:explanation]]In "Follow The Leader", Raphael, using one pigeon, ''[[TheBeastmaster gets an entire flock of them]]'' to help assist in a stealth mission.[[/labelnote]]
** "[X] on your [Y] if you [Z]."
** [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext "Bigfoot's got some moves."]] [[labelnote:explanation]] The now infamous Raph line in [[BizarroEpisode "A Foot Too Big"]] during his fight with Bigfoot. [[/labelnote]]
** Daddy Raphie! [[labelnote:explanation]] Raphael got a PromotionToParent between season two and three. The fanbase exploded. [[/labelnote]]
** [[http://asktmnt.tumblr.com/ This fanmade ask blog]] has spanned several. One post created about five at once.
---> '''Raph (pretending to be Donnie):''' April's like an F5 key-- She's so refreshing.
---> '''Leo (pretending to be Mikey):''' OMG, you guys! Check out this giant gummy bear I found at the landfill! (Starts chewing at it wildly.)
*** Earlier in the same post is Mikey and Donnie acting out a mock fight between Leo and Raph respectively. The funny thing is it's pretty accurate to their relationship/arguments in other continuities.
--->'''Donnie (pretending to be Raph):''' You're always holding me back, Leo!! You don't understand me!
--->'''Mikey, in reply to the above. (While pretending to be Leo):''' Uhhh, wait, Raph, I've stopped caring.
*** Earlier still.
--->'''Mikey (pretending to be Leo):''' I'm Leo. I enjoy fangirling and being serious.
*** What class is Casey the teacher of? [[http://asktmnt.tumblr.com/post/68688319149/during-class Pain 101!]]
*** [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Turtles and Strawberries.]]
*** The fact that the fanon is [[http://asktmnt.tumblr.com/post/89095200320/with-all-the-love-confessions-boyfriend-requests seriously considering keeping a tally of all the fangirls who try to ask Leo and Raph out as a contest between the two]].
*** Depicting the boys dressing up as [[spoiler:April]], as seen [[http://asktmnt.tumblr.com/post/64979578571/we-could-totally-be-twins-april-mikey-do here]].
** [[CargoShip Raphael and cleaning products.]] [[labelnote:explanation]] The fandom has noticed very minor scenes that indicate Raph is all around cleaner than his brother [[SeriousBusiness and have flanderized it beyond belief.]] [[/labelnote]]
** [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment The Cheese Phone, truly an emergency!]]
** "Don't Casetello me, bro!", "My Casetello vibes are tingling", and its variants to a lesser agree. [[labelnote:explanation]] Casetello is the ship name for Casey/Donnie. Since both characters are {{memetic molester}}s these phrases are often used between fans to indicate that a second party is doing/acting/saying something creepy. [[/labelnote]]
** Captain Ryan/Captain Dash Coolstar/Leonardo slapping people.
** How did he build that? [[labelnote:explanation]] First used in reference to Casey's seemingly endless ability to macguyver house hold objects into deadly weapons, and brought back to life when Raphael somehow managed to make duo flamethrowers with junk he found in the woods.[[/labelnote]]
** "Raphael is BEST Disney princess" [[labelnote:explanation]] A combination of the above "Pigeon King" and Halloween costume memes [[/labelnote]]
** [[BadFuture SAINW,]] [[BigNo nooooooooo!]] [[labelnote:explanation]] The show has seemingly referenced the infamously sad/traumatizing 2003 serie episode "Same As It Never Was" several times. Fans have reacted appropriately. [[/labelnote]]
** Nightwatcher or Riot! [[labelnote:explanation]] Raph's Nighwatcher persona that was introduced in the 2007 movie is notoriously popular within the fandom, and many fans wish to see this Raph become Nightwatcher.[[/labelnote]]
** Casey Jones: First psychotic human friend! [[labelnote:explanation]] One of the many comments written on his concept art by the show runners. [[/labelnote]]
** PRAISE THE BEAN [[labelnote:explanation]] Out of complete nowhere in November 2022, a screenshot of Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael worshipping the bean-like wasp egg from [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S1E23Parasitica "Parasitica"]] blew up on Twitter and became the center of its own religion. It was even popular enough to start trending on Twitter. [[/labelnote]]
** "Well, because I wanted us to fail. (Beat) OBVIOUSLY, I DIDN'T KNOW!"'' [[labelnote:explanation]]During an attempt to destroy a Kraang device, Leo discovers it's protected by a force field and asks why Donnie didn't tell him, resulting in Donnie screaming this at him. The delivery of the line led to it taking off on [=TikTok=] as a reaction to questions with obvious answers.[[/labelnote]]

* {{Squick}}:
** A birthday cake made out of algae and earthworms.
** Almost everything about the Spy-Roach in "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S1E18CockroachTerminator Cockroach Terminator]]".
** In-Universe, the Turtles reaction to the sea monster guarding the Kraang fortress ''falling in love with their submarine''.
** Depending on whether or not you believe the mutagen made the Turtles related to Splinter by blood, the fact that Karai is infact Splinter's daughter may have very well caused this reaction in some fans due to [[FlirtyStepsiblings her relationship with Leo]]. Leo having a crush on her and Raph admitting at one point that she's hot "in the evil way" is this for some fans as a result. Not helping is the fact that Mikey openly refers to her as their sister after the reveal.
*** The fans who were guessing that Splinter and Karai are related since before the show even aired (due to promotional material) found the Leo+Karai gross from the start. ''Especially'' if they're in the party that believe the Turtles and Splinter are related thanks to the mutagen. The confirmation that yes, Karai is Splinter's daughter, caused several fans to abandon the Leo+Karai ship.
** Some fans find any mutant+human ShipTease to be a bit off-putting since most mutants, even if they were human-born, are very animalistic.
** [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/36406393c13d454ef554e5a362ff5b40/tumblr_ms9f2yM0ew1rd9dsao5_1280.jpg Concept art notes]] on the Mousers reveal that their "gut" carries 5 Rat Carcasses. ''Ew.''
** "The Manhattan Project" reveals that mutagen comes from [[spoiler:alien worms and the mutagen has to be milked from them.]]
** At the end of "Target: April O' Neil" Mikey takes out a slice of pizza with bugs on it and eats it.
** A FreezeFrameBonus in "Metalhead Rewired" reveals potato chips with flavors such as "Scab N' Sausage", "Menthol", "Salt N' Sweat", and "Mucous & Chives".
** The pizza that Mikey bakes in "Pizza Face". [[http://i.imgur.com/27oedz5.jpg Just look at it.]] Understandably everyone was grossed out when Mikey actually ate it.
** Don Vizioso's atrocious table manners, involving him spitting up an entire meatball that he was eating when speaking to Shredder.
** In general, the mutations that happen throughout the series will either be this or NightmareFuel for the viewer.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Slash, as a villain. In "Slash and Destroy", Slash is without a doubt a villain. In "Metalhead Rewired", he had a very brief (albeit awesome) team up with the Turtles and other mutants against the Kraang. In "Newtralized", Slash is still an enemy of the Turtles, but he shows [[EvenEvilHasStandards there are some lines he will not cross like blowing a building when there could be people in the vicinity of the explosion.]] At the end of the episode, he fights against both the Kraang and the Newtralizer and his grudge against the Turtles disappears when Raph saves him from being crushed by the Kraang walker. What's really jarring is the fact that Slash appears alongside the other villains in the third version of the theme song. He ends up becoming the leader of the Mighty Mutanimals and his character does a complete 180 on his evil traits.
** April qualifies for this trope. She gets trained as a kunoichi, is now confirmed to be [[spoiler:half-Kraang and half-human]], is [[spoiler:immune to Mutagen]], and has empathy/telepathy powers. Although this makes her cliché to some, the writers could have actually done something with it. Instead, everything is completely tossed over. Despite her training, she's kidnapped or placed in danger in almost every episode. The [[spoiler:half-Kraang, half-human idea]] is hardly ever mentioned again. Her immunity is understandable, but her powers make her the source of last-minute solutions to problem. As of the love triangle between her, Casey, and Donnie, she's little more than a plot device that is only there to be kidnapped and ignore Donnie's affections. This is somewhat fixed by the "City at War" arc, where she graduates to full kunoichi and eventually fights Shredder to save Karai. Plus, she gets an episode as the central character.
** Irma makes her first appearance since the 1987 series to the delight of the fans. There is teasing over when she will finally meet the Turtles and how her interactions with them and Splinter will be like and "A Chinatown Ghost Story" establishes that she may have an unknown, hidden power, which would have made this Irma more fleshed out than the boy-crazy best friend from the 1987 series. [[spoiler:Instead, Irma was never real to begin with and was actually a Kraang all along, used solely to find the Turtles' lair and quickly disposed of by Splinter]], which rather feels like the writers just gave the middle finger to long-time fans who wanted Irma to be among the supporting cast.
*** It gets even worse in season three, where [[spoiler:Kraang Sub-Prime returns, still wearing the Irma mech suit for no apparent reason, not to mention the Kraang having created an army of robot Irmas to fight the Turtles and their allies. Meaning that we see the good guys wailing on and destroying lots of Irma bots and the last shot we see of one is Kraang Sub-Prime's decapitated Irma mech suit's head floating around with a goofy look on its face, basically making it a "Let's Destroy Irma" festival.]] By now, it doesn't feel like a middle finger so much as the creators of this show seeming having a hatred for the character of Irma and rubbing it in the faces of the long-time fans that this is all they get.
** Xever has interesting chemistry with Raphael, a unique fighting style among all the ninjitsu-using characters in the series, and is a surprisingly threatening and dangerous planner, which makes the second season's treatment ([[OutOfFocus appearing less often]] and [[VillainDecay being played more for humor]]) of the character disappointing. While Season 3 [[AuthorsSavingThrow corrects it]] a bit, he's still not as prominent as he was in Season 1 and eclipsed in screen time by Bebop and Rocksteady.
** Mikey, in the eyes of some, due to the show implying that some of his less than intelligent actions being due to feeling inadequate compared to his brothers. He NEVER gets character development from this, nor is it explored at all.
** Mondo Gecko, to some extent. After his debut episode, there could've been another episode that focused solely on his relationship with Mikey and/or Casey, and the two characters could've easily bonded and went through further development (something which, as stated above, Mikey has been severely lacking). If anything, Mikey and/or Casey could've taught Mondo to defend himself instead of being the NonActionGuy. Instead, he's cast aside and serves little purpose besides being the ButtMonkey within the Mighty Mutanimals.
** The Newtralizer, [[AdvertisedExtra despite being in the opening titles for season two onward]], only appears in two episodes. Not only is he an assassin and an EvilCounterpart to Leatherhead, but he also has a personal vendetta against the Kraang--again, like Leatherhead--and was out to destroy as many of them as possible. He could've become a [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing]] EnemyMine for the Turtles and used them to destroy the Kraang, or at the very least could've been a recurring antagonist in season four (especially since it's revealed there are other Salamandarians). Instead, he appears in one episode in seasons one and two. [[spoiler:When he finally ''does'' show up again in season five? He only appears in a two-episode arc [[BackForTheDead and is quickly killed off by the end of it.]]]]
** The Rat King/Dr. Victor Falco qualifies as this due to the fact that he's the most personal enemy of the Turtles and a major threat outside of the Shredder and the Kraang, putting out a lot of interesting story ideas (including possible encounters with his former partner Dr. Rockwell and setting up a battle between the monkey and the Rat King). He only ever appears three times, [[spoiler:fell to his death in the third, and then his corpse shows up in a fourth appearance in season four, leaving it unlikely he's ever going to return. He also never runs into Rockwell as the Rat King and his relationship with him is thrown out the window from his mutation into the Rat King on, with Splinter taking Rockwell's place as his torture target]].
** The Neutrinos in the 1987 series were fun-loving alien teenagers and one of them, Kala, had an interesting romantic friendship with Michelangelo. In this adaptation, however, the Neutrinos are simply generic MonsterOfTheWeek villains with almost no real characterization and zero similarities towards their counterparts from the 1987 series.
** Hattori Tatsu quickly established himself as a new, competent, very strong villain for both Karai and the Turtles, [[BlindWeaponmaster despite being blind.]] The show seemed like it was setting up Tatsu to [[spoiler:replace Shredder]] and be an ArcVillain for Karai or a DiscOneFinalBoss in general. Instead, [[spoiler:he gets killed by Kavaxas in the same episode as his debut, thus eliminating any chance of him returning in season five.]]
** Sir Malachi only appeared in one episode and he could have made a profound ally for the Ninja Turtles, perhaps as the SquishyWizard for the Mighty Mutanimals.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Karai is very popular with the fans due to the fact that her loyalty to the Shredder/Foot is downplayed compared to most versions of the character, her [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]] are hilarious, her design is very attractive, and her ShipTease with [[DatingCatwoman Leo]] is entertaining (or [[{{Squick}} not]]).
** Xever/Fishface is more popular than his partner Chris Bradford/Dogpound/Rahzar due in part to having a more [[DanceBattler visually interesting]] fighting style. It probably helps that the viewers learn far more about him than they've learned about his partner. [[spoiler:Come season five, he has also lasted longer than almost all of the other Foot Clan members in the Shredder's inner circle, the others having either defected or died]].
** Dr. Victor Falco/The Rat King only appears in four episodes of the series, but he's been acclaimed for being the most terrifying version of the character to date, especially thanks to the ever-popular Creator/JeffreyCombs voicing him. The show also got some major points for adapting his dark as ''hell'' role in "City at War".
** Spike and Murakami thanks to being a endearing background critter and a CoolOldGuy respectively.
** Despite starting out as BaseBreakingCharacter (mostly due to shipping), Casey has since become a fan favorite.
** Despite starting out as divided when fans found out about the character, Slash is now very well liked due to being portrayed as a cunning, genuine threat who provides interesting tension with Raphael. While his HeelFaceTurn was a bit divisive considering it happened a bit quickly, he nevertheless maintains a following who are pleased with the new direction the character is being taken in, especially after he founds the Mighty Mutanimals.
** Leatherhead is popular for his design, voice, abilities, and sympathetic backstory.
** Ice Cream Kitty has developed a following due to being a genuinely adorable mutant kitty that is made out of Ice Cream and has great interactions with Mikey.
** Tiger Claw quickly became a fan-favorite due to being an all around badass bounty hunter who gave Splinter a good fight. He evolved to become the definitive BreakoutVillain of the series and easily the most substantial addition to the mythos introduced by the show.
** Kraang Sub-Prime is popular for giving the series a Kraang that's [[TruerToTheText more similar]] to the 1987 Krang, along with being played by Creator/GilbertGottfried.
** Bebop and Rocksteady are popular for being villains from the 1987 series that were re-imagined in the series into more dangerous villains with richer personalities than ever before.
** Renet gained a large amount of fans because she is shown to be a capable fighter who is very pretty and adorable to boot.
** [[Creator/DavidTennant Professor]] [[Series/DoctorWho Honeycutt]], who has had his fair share of fans since the start of season four.
** Ho Chan is well-liked by fans for his voice, design, lines, and powers. Especially since he's an expy of Lo Pan from ''Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina'', voiced by Creator/JamesHong himself. He eventually returns in "End Times".
** Shinigami, a badass ActionGirl who's working with Karai, is popular with the fans due to her design, fighting style, and personality along with how well she and Karai work together.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** At the beginning of "Rise of the Turtles, Part 2", Mikey wants to drink some mutagen, but Donnie points out that it may turn him into a pile of goo. [[{{Foreshadowing}} Fast forward to]] "The Pulverizer Returns"....
** It's also a fast forward to "Mikey Gets Shellacne" where we see what happens when Mikey ''does'' use more mutagen on himself.
** Any moment between [[spoiler:Raphael and his pet turtle Spike]] becomes this after [[spoiler:Spike mutates into Slash]].
** Any moment that [[spoiler:Irma]] is on-screen becomes this after the reveal that [[spoiler:Irma is a Kraang in disguise who became April's friend in order to get April to lead her to the Turtles]]. You can see how everything this character says is a subtle manipulation [[spoiler:to earn April's trust in her and sometimes erode April's trust in others, such as Casey]]. Every little quirk is a foreshadowing of what this character really is, such as [[spoiler:her encyclopedic knowledge of the behaviors of rats, an innocent enough interest for a Perky Goth but also something valuable when tracking Master Splinter]]. Or [[spoiler:the gluten-free diet a Kraangdroid mentions in passing when Irma is the only prominent "human" character to stick to the same diet]].
** The line in the theme song describing Leonardo, "[[HeroicSacrifice does anything it takes]] [[BigBrotherInstinct to get his ninjas through]]", becomes a lot heavier after "The Invasion".
** In "Alien Agenda", Karai is fascinated by the mutagen since that's where the "monsters" come from. Raph tells her to "lean in for a closer look", which is harsher because of what happens in "Vengeance is Mine".
** In "The Fourfold Trap", Karai tricks the Turtles and April into thinking the Kraang are back and that's exactly what happened in "Annihilation: Earth!".
** In "Enemy of My Enemy", Karai states that Shredder's vendetta "is going to take us all down". As of "Annihilation: Earth!", Shredder really has taken down everyone.
** In "Mutant Gangland", Splinter tells the Turtles that someday he won't be around anymore to remind them of their foibles. This is just a G-Rated way of saying he'll die eventually and the Turtles will have to live without him. [[spoiler:By "Requiem", let's just say that "someday" came sooner than expected]].
** Given that "Tale of the Yokai" featured the Turtles realizing that the events in the episode and their part in it were always fated to happen, chief among them Tang Shen's death. [[spoiler:While the Turtles buy Splinter some time in "Earth's Last Stand", "Requiem" shows him dying the same way he did in "Annihilation: Earth", implying that he was always fated to die by the Shredder's hands]].
** In "Owari", Leo calls Shredder a demon during their final confrontation. In the fifth season, they have to deal with an actual demon (Kavaxas) who apparently makes a deal with Tiger Claw to bring Shredder back to life. Granted, this could just be foreshadowing.
** When the Turtles accidentally mutate Kirby into a mutant bat, Mikey wonders if he would bite April and turn her into a vampire. During the Halloween arc, April along with Casey, Raph, and Donnie are turned into vampires.
** The "Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse" three-parter has quite a few of these:
*** The mutagen bomb that changed the world is basically what might've happened had the Turtles failed to disarm the Kraang's mutagen bomb in "The Gauntlet" and also brings to mind the incident when the Turtles accidentally scattered mutagen canisters over New York in "The Mutation Situation".
*** Slash claims that his antagonist actions prior to his HeelFaceTurn was because of the mutagen and he "wasn't right in the head", the mutagen bomb causes Leo to suffer a second mutation and spends several years if not decades as a fearsome warlord/gang leader. On a meta example, his secondary mutated form resembles Dark Leonardo's physiology from the 2003 series' Fast Forward season.
*** Throughout the show, Leo and Raph's sibling rivalry was effectively a toned down reflection of Splinter and Shredder's rivalry with Leo as Splinter and Raph as Shredder, who became a crime syndicate leader. However, in this alternate future, Leo is the brother who ends up taking Shredder's path of suffering body horror, leading a gang, and even wearing a mask while Raph simply focuses on surviving with whatever family and resources he has left, much like Splinter in "Lone Rat and Cubs".
*** For something that was nothing more than an offhand comment by a filler villain, Don Vizioso's fear of mutant apocalypse is now jarringly accurate.
*** In "The Invasion", Kraang Prime claims he used mutagen on the monkeys which created early humans. The very thing that created the human race is also what ended it.
*** Donatello downloaded his brain into Metalhead, much like how Professor Honeycutt had his brain transplanted into his robot assistant's body. On a meta example, a Fast Forward episode has the Turtles reading a (fake) journal in the future containing information about events in their lives they hadn't lived yet, Donatello's section contains a story about him becoming a disembodied brain and having to be transferred into the body of Cody's robot butler Sterling.
** In the third season, Leonardo briefly distrusts Slash due to the fact that he'd tried to kill him and his family before while Slash somewhat meekly admits fault and he also notes that the Mutagen messed with his head, which is an excuse Leo doesn't buy. [[spoiler:In the "Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse" three-parter, the Mutagen Bomb both mutated Leonardo and put him in a mutagen-induced rage for ''decades'' before he was finally cured of it]].

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Donatello/April and Leonardo/Karai were both [[{{Shipping}} ships]] that only received mere [[ShipTease teasing]] in the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]] rather than anything serious. This series takes those teases and makes them officially acknowledged InUniverse.
** Donatello and Casey's friendly rivalry and name calling in the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles 1990 film]] all of a sudden becomes a lot funnier now that the two have received DieForOurShip between those who pair them with April in this series.
** In the 2003 series' Fast Forward era, the Turtles had to fight evil clones of themselves. Donatello's evil clone is the tallest and skinniest of the 4 evil Turtles (much like the 2012 Donatello), Raphael's evil clone is the shortest (which reflects the 2012 Raphael being shorter than Leonardo and Donatello), and Michelangelo's evil clone is basically a nincompoop who barely makes sense (which matches the 2012 Mikey's Flanderized [[AdaptationalDumbAss stupidity]]).
** In "Rise of the Turtles, Part 2", the Turtles find a canister of mutagen. Mikey suggests that they drink it and reasons that if you mutate a mutant, you get a super mutant. That's exactly what happens when Dogpound takes a mutagen bath and turns into Rahzar.
** Minae Noji voices Tang Shen in "Tales of the Yokai". In the 2014 movie, she played Karai.
** Misanthropic comedian Creator/LewisBlack voiced a balding man that got mutated into a red bipedal spider with a temper problem. He advanced further with this concept in Disney/Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut.''
** In "The Gauntlet", Leo refers to the Turtles as Mighty Mutants. Guess who shows up in the third season? The Mighty Mutanimals. Also, they were investigating one of the group's future members, who in this case is Pigeon Pete.
** At the end of "Metalhead", Donatello considers tricking out his bo staff out with various gadgets and a missile launcher. Sounds an awful lot like the bo staff his [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles 2018-counterpart]] uses.
** In "Plan 10", Casey and April switch each other's mind during a battle at the Technodrome, and Casey even admits liking being a girl. [[spoiler: And then comes ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', where Casey ''[[GenderFlip is]]'' portrayed as a girl]].
** In "The Invasion", Casey is looking at what looks like an urban art painting of April with a [[AmbiguouslyBrown darker skin tone]]. The [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles the TMNT show that followed this one]] had April portrayed as [[RaceLift black]].
** Creator/MichaelDorn of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' appears in "Annihilation: Earth!" as Mozar and this character is the BigBad for the first half of the fourth season. The fifth season's ShowWithinAShow is a parody of Dorn's ''The Next Generation'', which bookends the seasons after the first season parodied the original ''Star Trek''.
** In "The Manhattan Project", April calls Karai a witch. Following the latter's HeelFaceTurn, Karai partners with witch girl Shinigami.
** In order to fight Kavaxas, Donatello invents what are basically [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} proton packs]]. The IDW series actually had an official {{Crossover}} with ''ComicBook/{{Ghostbusters}}'' a couple years before this story.
** A training simulation has the Turtles riffing on ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and ''Franchise/MortalKombat''. The following year the Turtles were announced as [[GuestFighter Guest Fighters]] for ''VideoGame/Injustice2'' which isn't just made by the same company that makes ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' but also features guest characters from the series.
** The "Mutant Apocalypse" three-parter shows Raph's future self having bulked up considerably and with a full-head bandana. His design in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' (which was announced months ahead of the three-parter's airing) has those exact signature aspects. What's more, he's the acting leader!

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Does April care about Donnie OR Casey on a romantic level at all? Does she [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage not realize what some of her actions towards Donnie imply through his eyes]]? Did she have a thing for Casey during the second season and backtracked due to the [[TraumaCongaLine traumatic events that occurred in "The Invasion"?]]
*** Her defending Michelangelo's actions in "The Croaking". Did she really think they weren't that big of a deal? Or was she trying to make amends due to the [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S3E3BuriedSecrets previous episode?]]
** Is Mikey really as stupid and irrational as he seems? Or is he insecure about being compared to his brothers and being "just" [[KidAppealCharacter the funny guy]] and said stupid and irrational actions are just his misguided way of trying to prove himself? [[labelnote:explanation]] The show itself has implied the latter on a few occasions. [[/labelnote]]
** Is Raphael's [[TheBeastMaster skill with animals]] just a result of [[BetterWithHumanCompany not being good with people?]] Or is he inherently more animalistic than his brothers and father? Whether Raph is "more animal" than the rest of his family is further muddied by his romance with Mona Lisa. His brothers all seem to find it deeply weird that he's clearly attracted to a large alien newt creature, and the other three seem to be solely attracted to human (or at least human-appearing) women.
*** Another one would have to be on whether or not he's a StepfordSmiler in the third season due to the events of "The Invasion". Was he able to cope with the situation during the third season’s TimeSkip? Or is he just putting on a brave face because he's the TeamDad [[PromotionToParent now]] and doesn't want the others to worry to much?
*** There is another interpretation that the fans have for Raph (although this one is at least partially due to shipping). Is Raph's negative attitude towards Donnie's crush (on April) due to his BrutallyHonest nature and being realistic over the situation (and not wanting Donnie to get hurt)? Or does he also have a crush on April as well but doesn't act on it because both his brother and best friend are already pursuing her and the comments he makes are meant to dissuade himself as well? Is it just one of these? [[TakeAThirdOption Or is it all of them]]? Interestingly, Raphael was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally planned]] to have the crush before they switched it to Donatello.
** Are Casey and Donnie VitriolicBestBuds? Or is all their antagonism towards each other truly out of spite? [[note]]"Race With the Demon" actually implies the former.[[/note]]
** Did the Shredder [[spoiler:take Miwa/Karai]] to spite Hamato Yoshi? Or did he do it out of atonement for [[spoiler:accidentally killing Tang Shen?]] On that note, is he doing evil because he knows he crossed the MoralEventHorizon for [[spoiler:killing Shen?]]
*** Considering his LackOfEmpathy for everyone else, does his revenge actually extend to the rest of the world for [[spoiler:what happened to the original Foot Clan]] with Splinter and the Hamato Clan being his main targets? Did he ''mean'' to [[spoiler:let the Earth be destroyed so it's not just Splinter he ends up killing?]]
** Was Kraang Subprime brainwashed by Kraang like the other Utroms? Or did he willingly join the Kraang? The fact that he can speak fluent English, has some level of independent thought, and was called a traitor by Bishop points to the latter.
** When Karai officially starts to go on the offensive against the Hamato Clan, she singles out April as an easy hostage ''twice'', the first time going after her personally and later uses her to test out the lethality of Chrome Dome. Even after Karai's HeelFaceTurn, she seems to hold [[JerkassToOne a level of contempt towards the red-head]]. An argument can be made that her first kidnapping attempt was out of the false assumption that April is just a random civilian they made friends with, unaware of her importance or that she is capable of fighting back. Does her later animosity come from losing to a newbie like her? After learning the AwfulTruth of her origins, does she think Splinter [[ReplacementGoldfish replaced her with April]]? Or could it be that she thinks some green-horned, American white-girl shouldn't be allowed her family's ancient art?

* BrokenBase:
** The reveal in "The Invasion, Part 1" that Irma [[spoiler:was really a Kraang in disguise. Some fans found the twist to be funny while others hated it because it came completely out of nowhere with no foreshadowing except for one part in "A Chinatown Ghost Story". It requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to buy that she was a robot the entire time and a lot of die hard Irma fans are clinging on to the theory that the real Irma was replaced by a robot until WordOfGod proves otherwise.]]
** The fact that the Kraang as a whole have seem to have replaced longtime BigBad Shredder as the main villain of the entire series is divisive.
** The end of "A Foot Too Big" where after Donnie comes to the realization that he's been too much of a StalkerWithACrush towards April and apologizes, saying he'll lay off [[spoiler:and then she kisses him on the lips.]] Some fans are crying foul about the mixed messages April's giving by her response while others are happy for their ship. However, there are still fans who are just pissed off at the writers/execs for clearly trying to drag out the love triangle.
*** April manages to do it again just two episodes later in "The Croaking" in which she acts as an instigator towards Mikey's bad behavior. He trashes the house multiple times (making a mess with thrown around food, wasting said food, AND breaking furniture) in which his brothers understandably get mad and [[TeamDad Raph leaves him to clean up the mess]]. When Mikey [[spoiler:runs away from the group]] April blames every other member but herself, trying to claim the event was caused by mistreatment that [[UnreliableNarrator was never shown onscreen.]] She then takes it a step further and unrightfully yells at Raph for being "inconsiderate", despite the fact he had to take up a lot of responsibility after [[WhamEpisode "The Invasion"]] and was acting as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure when he decided to make Mikey clean up his mess. All of this and the fact that her words seemed to genuinely hurt Raph has caused... negative reactions to say the least.
** The show being very MerchandiseDriven and, seeing as that influenced both of the previous TMNT series, that's saying a lot. Every single episode either introduces a new mutant or mutates a previously established character [[spoiler:even if they're already a mutant in characters like Bradford's case]], and even ones that don't somehow find a way to get a new form or costume in for one of the characters which appear in the toyline a few months later. While not so bad in more story-centric episodes, it also has led to many MonsterOfTheWeek filler episodes, most infamously the first third of the third season, which derail the story completely just to bring in yet another mutant. Combine that with the number of times the show has gone on hiatus and it's led many fans to start losing interest.
*** To a lesser extent, it becomes relatively obvious that they try to dress up the Turtles with their various outfits at least once a season (most notably their {{LARP}} outfits and Mikey's Turflytle costume) to promote their EnvironmentSpecificActionFigure, which often leads to filler episodes and BigLippedAlligatorMoment to justify it.
** Seth Green's voice for Leo. Whereas Dominic Catrambone managed to sound almost exactly like Jason Biggs, Seth Green sounds nothing like him via his voice being borderline baritone compared to that of Biggs' own. Some don't mind it while many others do. At the very least, it's given a reason for why it happened in contrast to many other cartoons that change voice actors without the in-universe characters noting the change: [[spoiler:The Shredder damaged his vocal cords to the point of being unrepairable]].
** While "Annihilation: Earth!" was well-received by both critics and fans, there are still some people who feel divisive about the way the episode ended. A portion of viewers feel that the ending was rushed, [[spoiler:the Fugitoid's appearance was a blatant DeusExMachina, and that the show went ''way'' too far by destroying the entire world in the span of five minutes and killing off every single recurring character, in a way that some would argue was done for shock value]]. Others are perfectly fine with the ending and praise the writers for being able to go that far, for [[spoiler:adding the Fugitoid to the cast]], and for ''finally'' moving past the Kraang invasion arc and starting the Triceraton and [[spoiler:space arc]] in season four.
** [[spoiler:Karai's]] mutation. Some fans hate it due to the fact that it came up simply to keep [[spoiler:her and Splinter]] apart per the {{status quo|IsGod}}. Others hate it due to it being a large deviation from the comics and other versions since [[spoiler:Karai]] has never been portrayed as a mutant, with some feeling it's a cheap gimmick of adding yet another mutant to the [[MerchandiseDriven toyline]], not helped by the fact that a figure was indeed announced not long after the change happened. Others are fine with it, as long as they feel it can be eventually cured down the line, and a few other like her new form because it's {{s|nakesAreSexy}}urprisingly {{cute|MonsterGirl}}, and puts her in the same acceptance club that the Turtles and her [[spoiler:father Splinter]] are in.
** The various [[ScheduleSlip hiatuses]], especially in season four. Fans are starting to lose their patience and beginning to wonder if the show's even worth waiting for considering the sheer amount of times they happen. It’s not helping the fact is that sometimes only four or three episodes will air before the show takes a break for well over ''two months''. Other fans, however, don't mind the various breaks; given the quality of the show and how much time and effort it takes for each episode, some fans assume the hiatuses are necessary for the sake of ironing out any errors. Said fans also realize that as the show progresses, more characters are introduced, and more fight scenes occur, thus resulting in more time for animation for said scenes and characters. Then, there are the fans who do have a problem with the hiatuses, but put up with them [[BetterOnDVD and just binge-watch each season after they're complete]]. Some fans don't even notice because they just wait for it all to come out on DVD.
** The death of [[spoiler:Master Splinter]] in the fourth season. ''A lot'' of fans were heartbroken and devastated over his death--especially since he was KilledOffForReal this time and only returned for season five [[spoiler:as a ghost]]. Meanwhile, critics praised the writers for taking the show in this direction and not being afraid of changing up the status quo. However, some fans felt indifferent about his death, as this was the ''fourth'' time the show has "killed off" [[spoiler:Splinter]], and said fans found it difficult to get upset over his death when they already experienced the same emotions three times before.
** The transition to short arcs for the duration of the fifth season. While some fans are pleased that this will prevent ArcFatigue that has plagued the series since its' beginning, other fans see it as a sign of failure on the writers' part since they've been unable to maintain long story arcs.

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles here]].

** Donatello/April and Leonardo/Karai were both [[{{Shipping}} ships]] that only received mere [[ShipTease teasing]] in the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]] rather than anything serious. This series takes those teases and makes them officially acknowledged in-universe.

** Is Raphael's [[TheBeastMaster skill with animals]] just a result of [[NotGoodWithPeople not being good with people?]] Or is he inherently more animalistic than his brothers and father?
*** Whether Raph is "more animal" than the rest of his family is further muddied by his romance with Mona Lisa. His brothers all seem to find it deeply weird that he's clearly attracted to a large alien newt creature, and the other three seem to be solely attracted to human (or at least human-appearing) women.

* Raph has very good reasons to dislike Karai and Leo's attraction to her in the early seasons, but he gets ''so'' angry about both that it could be easily interpreted as jealousy - platonic or [[IncestYayShipping otherwise]]. It doesn't help that Karai is very similar to Raph in temperament, and Mona Lisa's primary character traits are an [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything extraordinary fighting ability and a preoccupation with honour]].

** April is either [[AdaptationalBadass one of the most (if not the most) badass versions of the character]] and a major {{woobie}} with interesting powers or an UnintentionallyUnsympathetic brat with an insufferable self-righteous attitude whose psychic abilities make her overpowered.

** April has plenty of fans due to [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] from previous incarnations, though her psychic powers are divisive as a result of certain fans perceiving her as being overpowered. Her being [[spoiler:angry with the Turtles after they accidentally mutated her dad]] caused fans to either turn against her or explain why she's justified in acting that way, though some fans calmed down after "Target: April O' Neil", where [[spoiler:she apologized to the Turtles for the way she's acted to them]]. It doesn't help that she has been displaying a very self-righteous nature since season two, which only got worse in season three. Given that she's also tied to an extremely [[RomanticPlotTumor obnoxious love triangle]] and has gotten little character development outside of it, her standing in the eyes of the fandom is shaky.

** The death of [[spoiler:Master Splinter]] in the fourth season. ''A lot'' of fans were heartbroken and devastated over his death--especially since he was KilledOffForReal this time and only returns for season five [[spoiler:as a ghost]]. Meanwhile, critics praise the writers for taking the show in this direction and not being afraid of changing up the status quo. However, some fans feel indifferent about his death, as this is the ''fourth'' time the show has "killed off" [[spoiler:Splinter]], and said fans find it difficult to get upset over his death when they already experienced the same emotions three times before.
** The transition to short arcs for the duration of the fifth season. While some fans are pleased that this will prevent ArcFatigue that has plagued the series since its' beginning, other fans see it as a sign of failure on the writers' part since they've been unable to maintain long story arcs like the 2003 series.

** The second season is divisive among the fans. There are those who consider the second season as GrowingTheBeard and others who feel that while it has some good episodes, it also has a pacing issues (such as resolving plots too quickly) and too many filler episodes (some of which are [[DenserAndWackier very goofy]] and at odds with the [[DarkerAndEdgier slightly darker tone]] that the season was going for in its first few episodes).

** A few watchers have commented on the apparent "change" for Splinter to train April in martial arts. It's likely most of the commentators are only familiar with her [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 counterpart]], who was essentially always a DistressedDamsel. Otherwise, a few comic series, [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 the 2003 series]], and [[WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}} the 2007 film]] feature April getting trained by Splinter.

** In the 2003 series' Fast Forward era, the Turtles must fight evil clones of themselves. Donatello's evil clone is the tallest and skinniest of the 4 evil Turtles (much like the 2012 Donatello), Raphael's evil clone is the shortest (which reflects the 2012 Raphael being shorter than Leonardo and Donatello), and Michelangelo's evil clone is basically a nincompoop who barely makes sense (which matches the 2012 Mikey's Flanderized [[AdaptationalDumbAss stupidity]]).

** Minae Noji voicing Tang Shen in "Tales of the Yokai". In the 2014 movie, she played Karai.

** When Karai officially starts to go on the offensive against the Hamato Clan, she singles out April as an easy hostage ''twice'', the first time going after her personally and later uses her to test out the lethality of Chrome Dome. Even after Karai's HeelFaceTurn, she seems to hold [[JerkassToOne a level of contempt towards the red-head]]. An argument can be made that her first kidnapping attempt was out of the false assumption that April is just a random civilian they made friends with, unaware of her importance or that she is capable of fighting back. Does her later animosity come from losing to a newbie like her? After learning the AwfulTruth of her origins, does she think Splinter [[ReplacementGoldfish replaced her with April]]? [[UnfortunateImplications Or could it be that she thinks some green-horned, American white-girl shouldn't be allowed her family's ancient art]]?

** Donatello himself became divisive among the fans due to his crush on April. Fans either considered his crush on April to be cute or {{Squick}}. His crush on April was initially viewed as cute and even endearing during the early part of the first season before it suddenly stopped being referenced to for a few episodes and then it came back and became extremely flanderized. More focus starts getting put on it and we get to see [[TheSmartGuy Donnie]] makes less than [[IdiotBall rational]] choices because of it. Then, there was "Operation: Breakout"; Raph tells Donnie to leave him out of his attempts to impress April (Raph clearly didn't like being used like that and was offering some [[SincerityMode advice he seemed to think was helpful]]). So what does Donnie do? He basically goes [[spoiler:on a VERY dangerous rescue mission [[WhatAnIdiot by himself]] without [[TooDumbToLive telling anybody]] to get April's dad away from the Kraang. Not only that, but he almost gets himself and Mr. O'Neil killed multiple times.]] All to impress April.

* RonTheDeathEater: On websites like tumblr and twitter, there are a surprising amount of fans who decry Splinter as a cruel AbusiveParent and SadistTeacher who tortures the turtles for his own amusement and couldn't care less about their safety. While Splinter may be an AdaptationalJerkass who can be pretty hard on the turtles, it is nonetheless made clear that he is a protective PapaWolf who genuinely cares about his sons and is doing what he thinks is best for them.

*** Splinter's complacency in general is a major factor into this tropes, as he often bemoans the life-threatening danger his sons are in, but he very rarely leaves the lair to help them on missions. Given he's a literal ninja master who, unlike several previous incarnations of the character, is in good health you'd think he'd be more involved in missions if only to protect his children and their friends. Instead he only does so as a last resort, which leaves the boys in a lot of unneeded danger.

** During the beginning of the series, there was a lot of support for Donatello/April. This was due to many fans finding Donnie's crush endearing and him being a borderline woobie. However, near the middle of the first season, he went from attention seeking to what can be considered downright {{stalk|erWithACrush}}ing. This is the first thing that caused fans to jump ship. Then, near the end of the first season, he begins to make increasingly [[TookALevelInDumbass stupid]] [[LoveMakesYouDumb decisions]]. Cue more fans jumping ship. Then, there's the fact that whenever April [[ADayInTheLimeLight gets an episode for herself]], Donnie's crush [[RomanticPlotTumor comes to the forefront]] when said [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot episode]] could [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter have taken a lot of time to develop her character.]] This caused EVEN MORE fans to jump ship. To make things worse in the second season, Donnie has a rather [[DependingOnTheWriter inconsistent]] [[ItsAllAboutMe ego problem]] whenever [[DerailingLoveInterests April is around]].
** A lot of fans jumped the Leonardo/Karai ship when it was revealed in-universe that [[spoiler:Karai is in fact Splinter's daughter]] even when [[spoiler: they are not genetically related, nor were they raised together, so they are only "siblings" in name]]. As of "City at War", the introduction of Shinigami has led to another minor migration. Although, a glance at Tumblr will show that Leo/Karai is still very popular.
*** The show itself never acknowledges this, with the Leo/Karai ship continuing unabated, and none of the other characters seem to think they might be siblings. This leaves the issue to fans to hash out.
*** Inversely, Karai's mutation had the opposite effect, somewhat removing the issue of having a human/mutant pairing.
*** It's also distinctly possible they ''are'' genetically related. The fandom wiki indicates that the turtles' human DNA came from Splinter, which would make Leo and Karai something like half-siblings. But again, this is never really acknowledged in the show.

** In-Universe, [[spoiler:the Turtles reaction to the sea monster guarding the Kraang fortress ''falling in love with their submarine''.]]
** Depending on whether or not you believe the [[spoiler:mutagen made the Turtles related to Splinter by blood]], the fact that [[spoiler:Karai is infact Splinter's daughter]] may have very well caused this reaction in some fans. [[spoiler:Especially since Leo had/has a crush on her and Raph admitted she's hot "in the evil way".]]
*** The fans who were guessing that [[spoiler:Splinter and Karai are related since]] before the show even aired (due to promotional material) found the [[spoiler:Leo+Karai ship]] gross, especially if they're in the party that [[spoiler:believe the Turtles and Splinter are related thanks to the mutagen.]] The confirmation that [[spoiler:yes, Karai is Splinter's daughter]] has caused several fans to [[spoiler:abandon the Leo+Karai ship.]]
** Some fans find any mutant+human ShipTease to be a bit...odd.

* RonTheDeathEater: On websites like tumblr and twitter, there are a surprising amount of fans who decry Splinter as a horrible AbusiveParent who tortures the turtles for his own pleasure and couldn't care less about their safety. While Splinter may be an AdaptationalJerkass who uses ToughLove and is far from a perfect father, it is nonetheless made clear that he is a protective PapaWolf who genuinely cares about his sons and is doing what he genuinely thinks is best for them.

*** While it clearly comes from good intentions, Splinter's efforts to teach Raphael to control his anger can come off as this at times, as some of his methods are arguably abusive. Instead of delving into the reasons for Raph's anger, he only seems looks at it from the surface level. In the first episode where Raph's anger issues are touched upon his methods include having the other three brothers shooting Raph with (non-lethal) arrows and verbally demeaning him, and then later he openly compares Raph's anger to his own in his youth... As well as the Shredder's, the man who destroyed Yoshi's life and who is currently trying to eliminate the entirety of the Hamato Clan. Suffice to say, Splinter doesn't typically come out looking very good during these episodes.

*** In the fourth season, Karai gains a friend and partner in the form of Shinigami and cares enough about her that even her [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge anger and hate]] for Shredder isn't enough for her to risk Shinigami's life. Calling each other [[AffectionateNickname "Shini"]] and [[SempaiKohai Sempai]] makes it very clear they mean a lot to each other, either platonically or romantically.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** In "Metalhead", a Kraang takes control of Donnie's robot and the guys futilely attack it, claiming it has to have some sort of weak spot...completely ignoring the Kraang that's just sitting on its head right out there in the open.
** "The Mutation Situation" features the Turtles (except for Donnie) playing dodgeball with the Kraang communication orb, which Donnie calls them out on. Nothing new for Mikey and Raph, but Leo should've known better. Sure nothing bad came of it, but still.
*** A better example in the same episode would be [[spoiler:Mikey telling April that it was their fault that her father became mutated, causing her to hate them.]]
** Mikey holds the ball even harder in "Mikey Gets Shellacne", since he exposed himself to dangerous experimental retro-mutagen in order to make himself cooler, missing the fact that Donnie put several warnings of how deadly it was on the can since he only looked at the front.
** A non-lethal example but still worth a facepalm. In "Pizza Face", Mikey tries to take pictures of all the people that are being mind controlled by Antonio. When he's done and checks the camera, all of the pictures consist of his eye, and he thinks the camera's broken, not realizing he was pointing the camera in the wrong direction.
** In "The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto", Anton Zeck is out running in the middle of the street while invisible where no drivers can see him. No wonder the Shellraiser hit him.
** In "Vengeance is Mine", [[spoiler:Karai finally learns the whole truth between Shredder, Splinter, and Tang Shen, which results in her wanting revenge and returning to Shredder's lair by herself in order to pick a fight with Shredder. This is lampshaded by Shredder since he taught Karai everything she knows and can't take him by surprise.]]
*** In the same episode, [[spoiler:Shredder locks Karai in a cage and suspends it above a mutagen vat as bait to turn the Turtles into snakes. Shredder then attacks the chain suspending Karai's cage and is horrified at Karai's mutation.]]
** In "Beyond the Known Universe", Raph and Casey are messing around with space weapons and accidentally behead the armory's robot clerk, causing security robots to chase them even though they were told touching the weapons is not allowed. Later, April tells Dregg that humans kill insects, making him angrier than he was before and he was already angry enough to begin with and make him swear a vendetta.

** April is this for some viewers. In spite of all the crap she goes through during the show's run, she loses sympathetic from parts of the fandom due to her self-righteous attitude and tendency to blame others for things that either aren't their fault or that they had little control of. This causes these fans to not feel sorry for her as a result. Most notable is [[spoiler:when her father is turned into a giant bat. She swears to never see the Turtles again, and while they are out looking for Kirby and Donnie is working tirelessly to cure him, April makes no moves to try and help her own father. Instead she spends her time going to school vowing to not even think about her father or the Turtles, not even trying to find him or finding a cure.]] She only aliented fans more in seaspn 3 when she [[spoiler:kisses Donnie, which gets him confused about his feelings for her again after he'd managed to put them aside]]. This event has come off as her unintentionally toying with him to some.
** Splinter in regards to his inability to reunite with Karai/Miwa. When Shredder burns down his home, he just assumes Miwa died, never (to our knowledge) thinking of spying on Shredder, does nothing when Shredder says he took her away, and chooses to stay in the Lair instead of fighting Tiger Claw when Karai says they're using tracking devices to find the lair and need to lure him away. A pattern is then soon established in which Splinter will always ''mope'' at every downturn in the Karai arc rather than ''do'' anything proactive to help, making it difficult to sympathize with him.
** Splinter's complacency in general is a major factor into this tropes, as he often bemoans the life-threatening danger his sons are in, but he very rarely leaves the lair to help them on missions. Given he's a literal ninja master who, unlike several previous incarnations of the character, is in good health you'd think he'd be more involved in missions if only to protect his children and their friends. Instead he only does so as a last resort, which leaves the boys in a lot of unneeded danger.
** While it clearly comes from good intentions, Splinter's efforts to teach Raphael to control his anger can come off as this at times, as some of his methods are arguably abusive. Instead of delving into the why's of Raph's anger, he only seems looks at it from the surface level. In the first episode where Raph's anger issues are touched upon his methods include having the other three brothers shooting Raph with (non-lethal) arrows and verbally demeaning him, and then later he openly compares Raph's anger to his own in his youth... As well as the Shredder's, the man who destroyed Yoshi's life and who is currently trying to eliminate the entirety of the Hamato Clan. Suffice to say, Splinter doesn't typically come out looking very good during these episodes.

** For being pretty much just background {{Mooks}}, the Irma-bots get a lot of hate for [[{{Jossed}} pretty much killing any chance for there being a "real" Irma]] to show up in the series.

** Michelangelo often hits this due to at least a few occasions of being InnocentlyInsensitive, [[NeverMyFault refusing to see any of his actions as in any way his fault]] for the most part, and his comic relief role being played up during fights for their lives. Not helping is the implication that many of the stupid actions he does are the result of him acting out because the rest of the team doesn't treat him seriously. It's meant to make his brothers look like jerks for being mean to him, but as he's often pulled many of these actions at the worst possible times during life-or-death situations which have endangered himself, his family, and his friends, the implication from that would mean he's willing to risk his loved ones' lives just to act out and try and prove a point, which not only winds up making him look like much worse of a jerk, but somewhat of a sociopath as well.
** Donnie qualifies as this due to his sole motivation for doing many things (in which he should ALREADY be doing out of either the goodness of his heart or because he's legitimately responsible for it) so that April will like him.

** April has been heavily hit with this. In spite of all the crap she goes through, she qualifies as this trope due to her self-righteous attitude and tendency to blame others for things that either aren't their fault or had little control of have made a lot of fans quit feeling sorry for her. [[spoiler:When her father is turned into a giant bat, she swears to never see the Turtles again. And while they are looking for Kirby and Donnie working tirelessly to cure him, what is April doing? Going to school vowing to not even think about her father or the Turtles, not even trying to find him or finding a cure.]] Not helping has been [[spoiler:her kissing Donnie and getting him confused about his feelings for her again after he'd managed to put them aside]], which has come off as her unintentionally toying with him to some.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: "Pizza Face" is this trope in a nutshell.

** As per usual, fans jokingly ship the Turtles with their [[WeaponOfChoice weapons of choice]]. However, this series has provided multiple new ones.