History Fridge / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012

[[folder:FridgeLogic]]
* If Donatello really wanted to upgrade his staff, he could go with the simplest option: a METAL staff, which at the very least wouldn't get broken all the time, and would be very effective against armored opponents like the Kraang.
** A metal staff would be significantly heavier and would also be balanced differently (Donnie's staff is not one consistent thickness, thinner in the middle and wider at the ends).
*** But in the pilot Donnie states he's familiar with metallurgy and so he could most likely be able to make a staff balanced like his wooden one.
*** Aluminum in a proper shape would be stronger, and not much heavier than wood.
** The strangest thing about that episode was that it ignored the fact that Donnie's staff already had a hidden blade in it.
*** Yeah, but the staff itself is still wooden and can be broken, which would just leave Donnie with what you'd roughly call a dagger in combat if that were to happen.
*** [[DoubleWeapon Or upgrade it with blades at both ends!]]
** This is a bit HilariousInHindsight now that ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' came out and featured a version of Donnie that ''does'' have a metallic Bo staff (and with highly advanced technology!)
** Arguably FridgeBrilliance in that Donnie actually does end up sticking with a bo staff/naginata throughout the series, and stops breaking them so often. The problem wasn't that it was a "stick" - as Splinter hinted early on, it was that Donnie didn't know how to use it effectively yet. Even in the Pilot, he demonstrates technical skill with his bo staff, but how often in Season 1 fights did he just literally whack enemies with it like a baseball bat? Of course it broke! As time goes by and Donnie becomes more skilled and competent in combat, he stops breaking them so often because he's learned how to use a bo staff ''effectively''.
* In "Cockroach Terminator", it's revealed that Raphael has a major fear of cockroaches, and from the reactions of his brothers they just now found out about it. The thing is, they live in the sewers, a veritable cockroach heaven. So how did they not know about Raph's fear for the last 15 years, and how did Raph not have a mental breakdown from being surrounded by cockroaches?
** It might be very well how he developed that fear. Plus he reacted in a way some poeple would react to a small size roach. It's only when it was man-size did his fear grip him tightly.
* So, a mutant wasp accidentally gets its stinger caught in a wall and the floor, but the stinger gets yanked out when he stings a turtle?
** Well, it is a ''parasitic'' wasp, that seems to have evolved to infect others with the virus that caused all the trouble. Maybe it released its stinger on purpose in order to infect him?
* In "The Invasion, Part 1", Irma drops her glasses and is unable to see the Turtles until she puts them back on. Then it's revealed she was really a robot being piloted by a Kraang. Why would a robot need glasses?
** ...Maybe they made her really, ''really'' lifelike?
** This one's easy. To seem as human as possible thus staying undercover easier.
** It's actually quite simple. Kraang Sub-Prime had been having trouble with pretending to need glasses, so they designed the viewport to 'blur' unless he was using the glasses. The 'eyes' of Irma are connected to an HUD in the stomach. In an emergency, he can drop the HUD and just squint.
** Kind of pointless by then since her head was revealed to be on a metal stick and detached from her body and the head rotated 360 degrees.]
* In "Panic in the Sewers", Leo realizes they're in over their heads while fighting Dogpound and orders Mikey to use a smoke bomb. Mikey fumbles and drops the smoke bomb. Raph calls him out for it [[{{Hypocrite}} and drops another smoke bomb down a storm drain/sewer grate]], Leo then takes out a third smoke bomb and uses it successfully. If Leo had his own smoke bomb, why didn't he just use it in the first place instead of waiting for Mikey and Raph?
** Mikey had the most experience with them and so Leo thought he wouldn't need to use his own but then Mikey wasted it by accident. And then Raph got pissed and used his. That was when Leo got fed up and decided to use his own egg.
* In "The Arena of Carnage" the turtles get one part of the black hole generator. Than they state their goal to find the next part. Why? If they just destroy the part they have (throwing it into a star or something like that) the whole thing would be useless for the Triceratons anyway.
** It's possible that the Ticeratons are advanced enough that they can create the other parts as long as they have some sort of blueprint in the form of one of the parts. Either that, or it's to delay them as long as possible.
*** Indeed, in "Trans Dimensional Turtles", Donatello says just that.
* In "Trans Dimensional Turtles", how can [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Kraang]] and Kraang Sub-Prime be cousins when they come from two different Dimension Xs?
** Since it was a cross over, let's just chalk it up as non-canon.
[[/folder]]

* Shredder's actions in “[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S3E2526AnnihilationEarth Annihilation Earth]]” seem like a pretty big RevengeBeforeReason -slash- WhatAnIdiot moment. Namely, Shredder literally stabs Splinter in the back before Splinter can shut down the Black Hole Generator, killing both himself and the entire planet Earth. But: as has been pointed out in-show, Shredder's big revenge fetish is a major case of AndThenWhat. Once Shredder kills Splinter, he'll have nothing, not even Karai's love. And so, he does the logical thing.

* An obvious one is Splinter's [[OverlyLongGag multiple (mundane) warnings]] [[PapaWolf before he let the Turtles go topside]]. It makes sense that he would be worried since [[spoiler: he's already had his family broken up once before.]]

** Turns out the speech patterns are a result of [[spoiler:the true origins of the Kraang once being a peaceful race before the Ultron who would become Kraang Prime experimented with mutagen and brainwashed most of their race into a HiveMind.]]

* "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S1E21KaraisVendetta Karai's Vendetta]]" seems to be a case of NeverTrustATitle since it features Karai but doesn't show her having any vendetta at all, that is at first glance. The episode heavily implies that Karai has a MissingMom. Come the season 1 finale and it's revealed that not only is this implication true but Karai does have a vendetta [[spoiler: against Splinter for killing her mother based on the lie told by Shredder.]] Based on this, [[JustifiedTitle the title]] of the episode actually does show Karai having a vendetta. It's just more of a {{foreshadowing}} sort of revelation rather than an actual and most likely presumed episode wherein Karai goes after the Turtles for the events that transpired in the previous episode, "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S1E20EnemyOfMyEnemy Enemy of My Enemy]]".

* Karai having a lot of similarities between the Turtles makes perfect sense when you relize [[spoiler: she is Splinter's daughter; making her the older sister of the Turtles. It is a common thing that the younger siblings take after the older sibling.]]

* Karai is 16-years-old when the series came out in 2012, making her year of birth 1996. [[spoiler:It was actually a ''very'' clever hint that she was Splinter's daughter because in the Chinese zodiac, that was the '''year of the rat'''.]]
* Why did [[spoiler:Karai]] (after her mutation into a snake) only spit acid at Raph? Raph is the only one who truly hates her. While Mikey and Donnie dislike her for her actions in "The Alien Agenda" and treat her like any other enemy, they don't outright hate her the same way Raph does.

* Irma's remark that the cold doesn't bother her in the finale. Is it because she's a Goth? [[spoiler:Or is it because she's a robot body housing a Kraang inside of her?]]
* As much as I hated [[spoiler: the Irma twist]], it's actually brilliant: who's the last person the audience would suspect of [[spoiler: being an undercover Kraang?]] A beloved longtime character of the franchise!
* Take [[spoiler: the Irma twist]] into consideration. Then go back and [[RewatchBonus re-watch season 1]] with that knowledge in your mind. In episode eighteen, there was a FunnyBackgroundEvent where a Kraangdroid is bragging about the success of his gluten-free diet. Now, only one other character in the show is explicitly mentioned to adhere to a gluten-free diet, and who is that? [[spoiler: Irma]]. Now, let the realization set in: this cartoon has been telling you exactly who TheMole is going to be, and you never realized it because you were too busy laughing at the idea that a Kraangdroid might want to lose weight. Brilliant indeed.
** It's also a neat MythologyGag to the 2003 series, [[spoiler:where Shredder received this treatment.]]
** In the same episode, [[spoiler: Irma]] said she was more of a rat person. What do the moles do usually? Rat out the people they're spying to their superiors.

* This version of mutagen seems to be able to affect a far wider range of changes than in previous incarnations of the TMNT franchise. But this actually makes sense when you consider just what the Kraang actually want to use it for. [[spoiler: It's for making Earth like Dimension X. And Dimension X has different laws of physics. The Ooze doesn't just alter genetics, it warps reality!]]
* The fact the Kraang don't seem to suffer much in the way of setbacks no matter what the Turtles do makes a lot of sense once you know [[spoiler: time flows faster in Dimension X. The Kraang have more time to recover and plan than the Turtles do. Even if a setback takes years to recover from, the Kraang can recover in almost no time on Earth.]]

* Why does Kraang Sub Prime speak perfect English? Well [[spoiler:Bishop]] reveals that Kraang Sub Prime used [[spoiler:to be an Utrom, a rogue Kraang faction that split off from the HiveMind.]]
** More specifically, [[spoiler: the Utrom were the original race before one of their members, Kraang, enhanced themselves with the mutagen and brainwashed most of the race into being a HiveMind SlaveRace. Kraang Sub-Prime used to be Knight, the Utrom's greatest hero.]]
** It also explains why the Kraang speak the way they do: [[spoiler: their own identities have been pretty much crushed and under the slavery of Kraang. Their strange and robotic way of speaking is one of the side effects of the horrendous fate that happened on them.]]

* “Earth's Land Stand”: [[spoiler: With the younger Fugitoid taking the turtles, past Casey and April into the stars, we're not sure why... but considering that they did change the past, it is most likely a StableTimeLoop.]]
* Splinter says in Annihilation Earth that [[spoiler: Karai]] is "alive, but vanished from the city". Come City At War, [[spoiler: she has brought Shinigami over from Japan]] , which explains why [[spoiler: she left]]
* Shredder's actions in “[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S3E2526AnnihilationEarth Annihilation Earth]]” seem like a pretty big RevengeBeforeReason -slash- WhatAnIdiot moment. Namely, [[spoiler: Shredder literally stabs Splinter in the back before Splinter can shut down the Black Hole Generator, killing both himself and the entire planet Earth. But: as has been pointed out in-show, Shredder's big revenge fetish is a major case of AndThenWhat. Once Shredder kills Splinter, he'll have nothing, not even Karai's love. And so, he does the logical thing.]]

* Karai’s [[AdaptationPersonalityChange personality is very different]] from her previous incarnations; [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage All]] [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 the]] [[{{WesternAnimation/TMNT}} previous]] [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIDW Karais]] were very stoic and serious, while this Karai is a mischievous DeadpanSnarker; this makes sense when you consider that [[spoiler:she isn’t really Karai, she’s actually Hamato Miwa, a different character]].

--> '''Leonardo''': You killed him! He was your brother, and you killed him!! He was your brother, Saki! Your best friend!! How could you do that!?

* Press releases have stated that The Shredder has an adopted daughter, Oroku Miwa. [[spoiler:"Rise of the Turtles, Part 3" reveals that Hamato Yoshi's daughter's name is Miwa.]] The implication being that [[spoiler:Shredder's adopted daughter is actually Yoshi's daughter and that he's raised her as his own]]. A key thing to note is that [[spoiler:when Splinter is telling Leonardo about how the Shredder destroyed his life, Splinter explicitly states that ''his wife'' was killed and makes the clear distinction that his daughter "was taken from [him]"]].
** It gets worse when you realize that she is pretty obviously meant to be a way for Shredder to get revenge on Splinter. [[spoiler: Shredder could have renamed Miwa after he took her away from Hamato Yoshi, but he didn't.]] Why? So that Splinter could be 100% sure that [[spoiler: Miwa (who probably will try to kill him at some point or at least endanger the Turtles) is his daughter.]] Shredder is one sick bastard.
*** From the looks of things, Shredder ''has'' renamed her...[[spoiler: Karai.]]

* [[spoiler:The Rat King took a good, long look inside Splinter's mind. What if he meets The Shredder?]]

* How old do you guess is Leatherhead? If you take the hypothesis that mutated animals age at human pace and that the Kraang took him when he was a baby alligator, it means that, or he is an adult that has being a prisoner for too long, or that he hasn't been with the Kraang that much and is still a ''child''. A tortured, disturbed child that [[spoiler:ended up fighting in another dimension with Traag all alone.]]

* It has been implied that Shredder falls into AbusiveParents category in regards to Karai [[spoiler:and that she is the daughter of Splinter, his sworn enemy, imagine what is was like for Karai/Miwa growing up with Shredder? She may be used as Shredder's "weapon" against Splinter, but she's also the physical reminder of Tang-Shen and Splinter. It wouldn't be a big surprise if Shredder emotionally or physically abused Karai/Miwa.]]

* Notice who was oddly ''not'' in the Kraang's mutant prison and thus did not escape with all the others? [[spoiler:Leatherhead]].
* [[spoiler: Stockman's duck mutant]] may have been a nice cameo for the first cartoon's fans, but in-universe, what exactly did Shredder do with it? It's clear that Shredder's not above killing...

* Exactly how long has [[spoiler: Kraang Sub-Prime been spying on April in the guise of Irma]]? [[spoiler: Irma]]'s photo was shown in [[spoiler: April]]'s phone in a brief cameo in season one, implying that the two have been acquainted for some time...and [[spoiler: April]] is important enough in the Kraang master plan to have a permanent spy watching their every move, perhaps even from childhood...
** Even worse is the question of whether [[spoiler: Irma Langenstein]] was ever a real person, or if the Kraang created her for the express purpose of infiltrating Earth. Three possibilities show up:
*** If [[spoiler: Irma]] ''did'' exist before the Kraang assumed that identity, the simple conclusion is that the Kraang ''killed'' [[spoiler: Irma]] and assumed her identity, and whatever family or friends [[spoiler: Irma]] had never knew she was dead.
*** If they found some way to get rid of the character without killing her, [[spoiler: April]] could always find out from [[spoiler: Irma]]'s family and friends that [[spoiler: Irma]] was supposed to be living somewhere else, and yet still managed to stay in New York at the same time. So, either the Kraang killed [[spoiler: Irma's]] family and friends to clear up the loose ends, they lied to her parents so that they never realized their daughter was gone, or [[spoiler: Irma]] never had any close friends or family in the first place. All three options here are fairly depressing.
*** If [[spoiler: Irma]] was just a Kraang creation from the outset, everything about the character is completely false. Birth records, family, medical history, social security number, ''everything'' is fake. [[spoiler: April]] is smart, and Donnie is even smarter and paranoid enough to run background checks on anyone [[spoiler: April]] spends time with. Neither of them would be fooled by someone who has somehow appeared out of thin air, so every falsified document has to be flawless. This displays a rather alarming understanding and control of the American bureaucracy by the Kraang, making one wonder just how completely the Kraang dictate human society without humans realizing.

* Professor Honeycutt [[spoiler: destroys the BHG by having the Triceratons attack his ship while the fusion core in his body is exposed effectively destroying the BHG, his ship, his body (except for his head) and the Triceraton Fleet, which raises the question as to what happened to Zeno?]]
* In "Darkest Plight", [[spoiler: when we see The Rat King's corpse, he's been reduced to a skeleton, despite the fact that there's no possible way that enough time has passed for his body to be in that level of decay. [[FedToTheBeast Then you remember the swarm of rats present in the caves.]]]]
* In "Owari", [[spoiler:Mikey uses retro-mutagen to turn Baxter Stockman into his normal human self again. Then he knocks him out, and he's last seen inside Shredder's fortress. Towards the end of the episode, Shredder sets the entire building on fire. At no point do we see Stockman get out, nor do we see anyone carry him out.]]

* So, uh, in "Tokka vs The World", Mikey gets within a hair's breadth of getting vivisected, which is actually something the Turtles have been raised specifically to fear, and it only didn't happen because Bishop did an extremely sudden HeelFaceTurn. And the plot moves on amd apparently no one even knew about it except for Casey.

* In "The Invasion, Part 1", Irma drops her glasses and is unable to see the Turtles until she puts them back on. [[spoiler: Then it's revealed she was really a robot being piloted by a Kraang. Why would a robot need glasses?]]
** [[spoiler: ...Maybe they made her really, ''really'' lifelike?]]
** [[spoiler: This one's easy. To seem as human as possible thus staying undercover easier.]]
** [[spoiler: It's actually quite simple. Kraang Sub-Prime had been having trouble with pretending to need glasses, so they designed the viewport to 'blur' unless he was using the glasses. The 'eyes' of Irma are connected to an HUD in the stomach. In an emergency, he can drop the HUD and just squint.]]
** [[spoiler: Kind of pointless by then since her head was revealed to be on a metal stick and detached from her body and the head rotated 360 degrees.]]

!!FridgeBrilliance

!!FridgeHorror

* The end of Yojimbo has the Turtles and Usagi ride their horses off a cliff, and when they hit the ground in
Osoroshi No Tabi, the horses aren't seen. Note the horses were seen when they were falling, but just dissappear.

!!FridgeLogic

* Raph hugging Leo at the end of 'Owari' is also more than just a cute celebratory moment: Raph and Leo's GloriousWarOfSiblingRivalry has often been compared to Saki's and Yoshi's relationship, with Raph generally on the "Saki" end of it. Beyond that, Saki and Yoshi's rift was portrayed as the latest in generations of feuds in the Hamato clan. In the episode where Leo kills Shredder (Saki) with the help of his brothers, it's particularly poignant to show Raph hugging his brother and ''not'' falling into the same kind of rift. Donnie and Mikey showing up a moment later, and even the friendly presence of Karai, seals the deal - the Hamato curse has ended, the Hamato clan is united, and the Hamato brothers (siblings, including Karai) will not be divided or turned against each other.

** I put a spiel about this on the CMOH page as well, but to take a slightly different tack here on the same topic. What makes this brilliant is by for the entire series up to this point, Shredder has been the Turtles' enemy - but mostly because Shredder has been ''their father's'' enemy. And even this battle had initially been framed as avenging Splinter. But by invoking ''brother'', Leo is marking Shredder as ''his'' opposite and enemy because Shredder is capable of hating and killing his ''brother'', whereas Leo has essentially structured his entire life around loving and protecting his brothers. Leo is a brother before anything else. He's not saying, "You killed my father and that makes you a CompleteMonster and now I'm going to kill you." He's saying, "You killed ''your brother'', and I ''know'' that makes you a CompleteMonster, and I feel morally justified in killing you, because I know what it means to be someone's brother and I know there is nothing redeemable left in you if that's something you can do." He was truly defining Shredder here not as an enemy he "inherited" from his father, but as his own personal antithesis, before finally killing him.

* There's an interesting symbolic mirroring of the introduction of Slash and Casey joining the Hamato Clan. Essentially, the episodes serve as a counterpart to each other. Slash was all of Raph's negative traits taken UpToEleven. Casey is Raph's counterpart. So in a way, these two episodes were about Raph being reminded of who he should be rather than becoming his worst parts.

** This is a bit HilariousInHindsight now that ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNonjaTurtles'' came out and featured a version of Donnie that ''does'' have a metallic Bo staff (and with highly advanced technology!)

* Karai’s [[AdaptationPersonalityChange personality is very different]] from her previous incarnations; The previous Karais were very stoic and serious, while this Karai is a mischievous DeadpanSnarker; this makes sense when you consider that [[spoiler:she isn’t really Karai, she’s actually Hamato Miwa, a different character]].

* Karai’s [[AdaptationPersonalityChange personality is very different]] from her previous incarnations; The previous Karais were very stoic and serious, while this Karai is a mischievous DeadpanSnarker; this makes sense when you consider that [[spoiler:she isn’t really Karai, she’s actually Hamato Miwa, a different character]].

* Splinter's origins (and, by extension, those of the Turtles themselves) is a DarkerAndEdgier "update" of the 1987 series, essentially going for "more realism", just like in the 2003 series. As in the 1987 series, Splinter and Hamato Yoshi are one and the same -- avoiding the rather hokey "Splinter was Yoshi's pet rat" angle from the comics/2003 show. At the same time, it avoids the 1987's equally hokey backstory of "Yoshi was kicked out of his clan, moved to New York, and wound up living in the sewers there". Instead, Yoshi was living a perfectly normal life in New York -- until he encountered the Kraang and the mutagen. The realization that neither he, nor his new sons, will be able to be accepted amongst humans forced them into the sewers due to lack of any choice.

*** Which also fuels fridge brilliance as to why they are seen eating other sorts of food in various episodes, like omelets and ramen; now that Splinter knows they can safely eat human food, he's happy to let them do so, but he expects them to try and maintain some semblance of a healthy diet. Pizza is their favorite food, but it's a treat, not the be-all, end-all of their food supply.
* The number 5 on April's shirt? It's a nod to this being the fifth incarnation of the Turtles - The previous four being the 1987 animated series, the live-action films, the 2003 animated series, and the CGI movie. In the eyes of both the creators of the Turtles and the majority of the fandom, [[FanonDiscontinuity there was no]] [[Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation live-action series]] and besides, April wasn't in it anyway.

* An obvious one is Splinter's [[OverlyLongGag multiple (mundane) warnings]] [[PapaWolf before he let the turtles go topside]]. It makes sense that he would be worried since [[spoiler: he's already had his family broken up once before.]]

* Splinter's decision to make Leo the leader makes sense considering the fact that he was the first to ask for the position, and the others followed suit after he made a move. In other words, he led his brothers.

* The end of Yojimbo has the turtles and Usagi ride their horses off a cliff, and when they hit the ground in

* The show features a return to the emphasis of the Turtles' fun side, like the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 '87 series]], whilst maintaining the DarkerAndEdgier elements of the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 series]]. In other words, it's the perfect follow-up to ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'' having both sets of Turtles meet.

* Splinter's origins (and, by extension, those of the Turtles themselves) is a DarkerAndEdgier "update" of the 1987 series, essentially going for "more realism", just like in the 2003 series. As in the 1987 show, Splinter and Hamato Yoshi are one and the same -- avoiding the rather hokey "Splinter was Yoshi's pet rat" angle from the comics/2003 show. At the same time, it avoids the 1987's equally hokey backstory of "Yoshi was kicked out of his clan, moved to New York, and wound up living in the sewers there". Instead, Yoshi was living a perfectly normal life in New York -- until he encountered the Kraang and the mutagen. The realization that neither he, nor his new sons, will be able to be accepted amongst humans forced them into the sewers due to lack of any choice.

* The number 5 on April's shirt? It's a nod to this being the fifth adaptation of the Turtles - The previous four being the 1987 animated series, the live-action films, the 2003 animated series, and the CGI movie. In the eyes of both the creators of the Turtles and the majority of the fandom, [[FanonDiscontinuity there was no]] [[Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation live-action series]] and besides, April wasn't in it anyway.

** Turns out the speech patterns are a result of [[spoiler: the true origins of the Kraang once being a peaceful race before the Ultron who would become Kraang Prime experimented with mutagen and brainwashed most of their race into a HiveMind.]]
* Why isn't Snake a little bit weirded out upon seeing the Turtles? Because he's been working with the Kraang, and so he's probably used to seeing strange things!

* In episode 4, Shredder's minion refers to Hamato Yoshi as "Splinter" despite not having seen him in his rat form yet. But consider that Oroku Saki himself bears the name "Shredder", and it becomes obvious Yoshi himself had a nickname/codename, and that it was Splinter, the name he still carries now.

* Just a general thing this troper just realized: Raph's weapon is the only one with minimal lethal uses. Sai in general are meant to be used to disarm. Look at everyone else's: Leo's katana/wakizashi (obviously lethal); Mikey's nunchaku which turn into kusarigama; and Donnie's staff has a blade hidden in it. In other words, Splinter gave the most dangerous and angry turtle the hardest weapon to kill with. Good judge of character, that man/rat.

* The word "gauntlet" possesses a few meanings, one being "Go through an intimidating or dangerous crowd, place, or experience in order to reach a goal", which the Turtles go through, in saving the city at the cost of being able to save Kirby O' Neil... but then another meaning of "gauntlet" shows up, as in the phrase "throw down the gauntlet" or to issue a direct challenge, with the arrival of The Shredder (who, for bonus points, wears ''actual'' gauntlets).
** Also in the episode Raph's comment about him being ''a'' Shredder double as a MythologyGag to the fact that the previous series had multiple Shredders.
* In a way Xever's mutation is a punishment for his ways. It was mentioned that Shredder found him in a prison and got him out, now thanks to his mutation he must stay in water or he'll die, meaning he's now imprisoned in water. During fights he favored using his legs and kicking, after mutating he had no legs.

* In the opening, when Splinter is giving the turtles their masks, we only see Raphael's mask, but it then cuts to all 4 turtles. Then the Pulverizer was wearing a red mask. Sounds like nothing, right? Wrong. Not many people know that the multicolored masks originated in the 1980's cartoon. Before that, they were all wearing ''red''.

* Raphael frequently insults his brothers, even when it's uncalled for. But look at his brothers - Leonardo's the leader and most proficient fighter, Donatello's the smartest and Michelangelo's the funny one. Take away Raph's insults, and you're left with someone who's not a leader, not as skilled a fighter as Leo, not as smart as Donny and not as funny as Mikey. Raph insults his brothers because of his own insecurities over his brothers having a clear role in the team.

* Why did [[spoiler: Snake Karai]] only spit acid at Raph? Raph is the only one who truly hates her. While Mikey and Donnie dislike her for her actions in "The Alien Agenda" and treat her like any other enemy, they don't outright hate her the same way Raph does.

* It may be odd that Rocksteady appears larger than Bebop in their new designs when they were of equal stature in the original series, but rhinos are actually bigger than warthogs in real life.

** It's also a neat MythologyGag to the previous animated series by 4Kids, [[spoiler:where Shredder received this treatment.]]

* At first it seems a bit random to have a Soviet stereotype and a Music/MichealJackson {{expy}} as the new Bebop and Rocksteady, until you remember that those two were big things back in the mid-80's, when the originals were introduced.

* The finale of Earth's Land Stand: [[spoiler: With the younger Fugitoid taking the turtles, past Casey and April into the stars, we're not sure why... but considering that they did change the past, it is most likely a StableTimeLoop.]]

* Shredder's actions in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S3E2526AnnihilationEarth Annhilation Earth]] seem like a pretty big RevengeBeforeReason -slash- WhatAnIdiot moment. Namely, [[spoiler: Shredder literally stabs Splinter in the back before Splinter can shut down the Black Hole Generator, killing both himself and the entire planet Earth. But: as has been pointed out in-show, Shredder's big revenge fetish is a major case of AndThenWhat. Once Shredder kills Splinter, he'll have nothing, not even Karai's love. And so, he does the logical thing.]]

* Donnie's behaviour towards April in the early seasons is annoying and downright StalkerWithACrush at times, but consider this: Donnie is a teenage boy, and like most boys his age, he has no idea how to talk to a girl. Added to that, he's been living in the sewers most of his life, away from any social interaction outside of his family, and has never met a girl before her. Taking all that into consideration, it's a miracle his behaviour towards her isn't ''worse''.

* Press releases have stated that The Shredder has an adopted daughter, Oroku Miwa. [[spoiler:Part 2 of "Rise of the Turtles" reveals that Hamato Yoshi's daughter's name is Miwa.]] The implication being that [[spoiler:Shredder's adopted daughter is actually Yoshi's daughter and that he's raised her as his own]]. A key thing to note is that [[spoiler:when Splinter is telling Leonardo about how the Shredder destroyed his life, Splinter explicitly states that ''his wife'' was killed and makes the clear distinction that his daughter "was taken from [him]"]].

*** In the comics Splinter didn't live very long at all, maybe 25 years (2-3 as a normal rat plus 18-21 as a mutant) if that before dying of heart failure.

*** This series also gives evidence that the Turtles have human-like endothermic metabolisms. When Leonardo is fighting Tiger Claw and the horde of Footbots in "Invasion", he gets dumped into the cold water. When he gets out, steam rises from his body from the heat of his efforts. Normal turtles are ectotherms and would not do that.
* When Bradford broke the mutagen bomb who knows how many things got covered in it when it spilled over the side of the building, as we've seen even plants, food, and machines can be mutated.

* Splinter's story in the first episode shows the Kraang were around 15 years ago (maybe longer). Imagine everything they've been doing all this time without the Turtles to stop them.

** The second season finale one ups the situation when Kraang Prime reveals that they created the human race.

** Never mind that, there were 2 Kraangs in the ship from ''Enemy of my Enemy'', but Shredder only captured 1.

* It has been implied that Shredder falls into AbusiveParents category in regards to Karai [[spoiler: and that she is the daughter of Splinter, his sworn enemy, imagine what is was like for Karai/Miwa growing up with Shredder? She may be used as Shredder's "weapon" against Splinter, but she's also the physical reminder of Tang-Shen and Splinter. It wouldn't be a big surprise if Shredder emotionally, or physically abused Karai/Miwa.]]

* When Bradford/Dogpound fell into the vat of mutagen in "Mikey Gets Shellacne", he comes back as Rahzar. Take a closer look at his look as this terrifying undead werewolf. Had he stayed there any longer, he most likely would have died the most painful death in the entire series.

* A parasitic wasp was among the captured mutants in "Metalhead Rewired". This either implies that the Kraang remade it, or that the wasp planted more eggs all over the city.

* When Tiger Claw tells of how he fought his way out of the worm and back to the '12 universe, it shows him fighting the '87 Turtles. And it looked like he was winning.