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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
alt title(s): TMNT; Ninja Turtles

Man I LOVE being a Turtle!!!

Indy comic book turned multimedia empire, starring the eponymous Ninja Turtles. Exactly What It Says On The Tin personified.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or TMNT) began as a comic book by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who formed the idea from a napkin drawing one of them made while eating at a pizzeria. The first story began as a tale in the vein of Frank Miller's Daredevil, with the four titular ninja battling the Shredder to avenge the murder of Master Splinter's master, Hamato Yoshi. After a fierce battle, they successfully kill him. A surprise hit (often attributed to the unique name), the series continued with applying a fantasy kitchen sink motif: with time travel, robots, and aliens introduced within the first ten issues. Despite their inauspicious beginnings, the series became so popular that an action figure deal was struck, which then snowballed into an animated series, movies, and every type of merchandise under the sun, turning it into one of the biggest cash cow franchises of the mid-eighties/early nineties.

The major incarnations of the franchise are as follows:

The Mirage Comics: Stories featuring the original incarnation of the turtles continue being published. These are notable for its semi-real time storytelling (the turtles are now in their thirties, and Casey and April have a teenaged daughter); its lack of consistent rogues gallery; and alternating between “throw-everything-at-the-wall-to-see-what-sticks” and “heavily focused” approaches to storytelling. This incarnation comprises Volumes 1, 2, and 4 of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book, two volumes of Tales of the TMNT, and a multitude of one-shots and mini-series.

The first cartoon (1987-1996): Born after large amounts of adaptation decay—resemblances to its source material are mostly superficial—the first cartoon featuring the turtles proved even more popular than the comics, thanks to the distillation/ flanderization of the four turtles to easily identifiable character types; the addition of villains Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady; the promotion of the Shredder from one-shot baddie to arch-nemesis; gleeful breaking of the fourth wall; the addition of food addiction (pizza) and a catch phrase (cowabunga, although there were others); and a general comedic bent. The series ended in 1996, after ten seasons, 194 episodes, and one retool which attempted to make the series more dramatic.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures: Midway through its run, the original cartoon spawned its own comic book, published by Archie Comics. While it initially limited itself to adapting some of the cartoon stories, new characters were introduced (such as Cudley the Cowlick, a giant cow head with transdimensional powers), stories took a more serious bent, and the book eventually evolved into something as different from the cartoon as the cartoon was from the original comic book. This incarnation of the turtles is generally regarded favorably, with a notable contingent of fans clamoring for inclusion of its characters into future incarnations. The intended final storyline, "The Forever War", which was originally shelved in 1994, was considered for release as a mini-series some fifteen years later, but never actually saw print, and has now been cancelled definitively due to the franchise's sale to Nickelodeon.

The movies: Debuting in 1990, the first movie combined events from the comic book with the cartoon's humor. It went on to be extremely popular, breaking records for an independent film and even though reviews weren't glowing, praise was given to the Jim Henson Shop for the costumes. Roger Ebert said "It is probably the best possible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." The resulting two sequels cost more and made less, started to fall into self-parody and ended the series.

More than a decade later, the TMNT movie franchise was revived with 2007 release of the fully-CGI TMNT. Made as a tenuous continuation of the original movies, it received respectable reviews for the animation and character storylines, but was criticized for the main plot mysticism.

In April 2009, Mirage announced that a fifth TMNT movie was on the slate for 2011. It will be live-action and focus on the turtles' origins.

TMNT Vol. 3: Published by Image Comics, this series was the official continuation of the Mirage continuity, until it was subsequently ignored by Peter Laird upon the publication of Volume 4. Mostly remembered for mutilating three out of the four turtles, and for a plot featuring a three-way struggle for leadership of the Foot involving Raphael, who had taken on the Shredder identity after finding his armor; Pimiko, the original Shredder’s daughter; and Lady Shredder, a ninja of unknown origin dressed in the familiar armor.

Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, a live-action Saturday morning show, aired on Fox Kids in 1998 shortly after the animated series ended. It barely lasted two years before going belly-up. The new series added a new character, Venus de Milo, a female turtle with knowledge of mysticism (and playing the foil to the scientifically-minded Donatello). Many fans were antagonistic to the series.

The second cartoon (2003-2009): Mirage teamed up with 4Kids in order to produce this new cartoon, this time making sure it had a closer resemblance to the comic book it was based on. Nicknamed TMNT 2k3, the series featured faithful adaptations of most of the comic book's stories, contained major story arcs, and straightened up the original patchwork narrative and made it more coherent. Surprisingly for a show produced by someone with 4Kids' pedigree, it has avoided several of the tropes associated with Saturday Morning cartoons, such as Thou Shalt Not Kill and Status Quo Is God. It ended in 2009, after six years, seven seasons, and two retools, with Turtles Forever, an animated movie crossing over this incarnation of the turtles with that of the first cartoon, and acting as celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary.

Videogames: By both Konami and Ubisoft. Notable entries include the infamously difficult NES platformer Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989); the two classic arcade Beat Em Ups: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game (1989) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (1991); three different fighting games called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters (1993-1994); and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up from Ubisoft, another fighting game, which combined elements from several different incarnations.

TMNT remains a pop-culture phenomenon, though it's not what it once was. However, now that the property has been sold to Nickelodeon, a new era awaits. Will it bring about a return to the turtles' previous iconic status, or will it sound the creative death knell of the franchise? Only time will tell.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has the following tropes:

  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer
  • Action Girl: Several, most notably April O'Neil (depending on the incarnation), and Karai.
  • Adaptation Decay: The original cartoon. Doesn't stop it from being better-remembered than the comic book it was based on.
  • Adaptation Displacement: Most people remember the original cartoon. The comic book that inspired it? Not so much.
  • Adaptation Distillation: The 2003 series and the fourth movie. The first movie successfully blends the original comics and cartoon into a coherent whole.
  • A Day In The Limelight: Each of the turtles, Splinter, and even Casey and April get their own episodes every now and again.
  • Adolf Hitler: [Archie series] Played a significant part in the story "Dreamland".
  • Alien Among Us: The Utroms, initially.
  • Aliens And Monsters
  • Aliens Speaking English
  • All Your Base Are Belong To Us: Several times, across incarnations more faithful to the original comic books.
  • Alternate Company Equivalent: The Justice Force and its members, to varying degrees.
  • Alternate Continuity: Tons—see above.
  • Alternate Universe
  • Animal Superheroes
  • Another Dimension: A whole lot of them, most notably Dimension X.
  • Anti Villain
  • Area 51: Used in several incarnations by different organizations.
  • Art Initiates Life: Kirby's crystal allowed him to do this.
  • Ascended Extra: The Shredder; the Purple Dragons.
  • Atlantis
  • Avenging The Villain: The basis of the Foot's vendetta against the turtles, after The Shredder's death in the comic books. In the cartoon, this becomes Karai's motivation during the fourth season, after The Shredder (here her adoptive father) is exiled to an icy asteroid.
  • Badbutt: Nearly as iconic to the heroes as Totally Radical is their application of Unusual Euphemism.
  • Beneath The Earth: The Turtles have lived in sewers and on subway platforms from time to time.
  • Better Than It Sounds: You'd really expect a work about fighting turtles to be good?
  • Big Applesauce: New York is the primary location for all incarnations.
  • Big Bad: The Shredder (whichever version, the best known is Oroku Saki) is the most traditional and consistent foe the turtles come across, but Krang was this in the '80s cartoon with Shredder being a mostly incompetent joke villain; later Dregg was this in the final 2 seasons. Sh'Okanabo and Darius Dun shared the role in Fast Forward.
  • Canon Discontinuity: The third volume of the comic book series, produced by Image Comics, was ignored by Peter Laird and the Mirage-published volume four.
    • Also Venus de Milo, the girl turtle from Next Mutation. She's actually Laird's Berserk Button.
  • Canon Foreigner: Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, Venus de Milo, Tatsu, Tokka, Rahzar and many more.
  • Canon Immigrant:
    • Archie Comics to Mirage: Cudley the Cowlick
    • 2003 cartoon to Mirage: Foot Mystics, The Battle Nexus, Hun
  • Cash Cow Franchise
  • Catch Phrase:
    • 1987 series: "Cowabunga!" "Turtle power!"
    • 2003 series: "It's ninja time!" (Fast Forward only) "Goongala!" (Casey) "None of you will leave here alive!" (The Shredder), "Oh, crud." (Hun).
  • City Of Adventure: New York City, as well as Northampton, MA in the Mirage comics and 2003 'toon.
  • Color Coded For Your Convenience: Since the original comic was in black and white, there wasn't much of this to begin with as each turtle was identified by their Weapon Of Choice. Even the special colored issues had the bandana masks they wear all red. The original cartoon gave the turtles different color bandannas (which have since been used in every successive incarnation) and the action figures, different skin colors (ignored until the 2003 cartoon).
  • Conservation Of Ninjitsu: Both used and averted.
  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat: The turtles' way of staying hidden.
  • Convection Schmonvection
  • Cosmic Keystone: The dimension of the original Mirage Comics for the Multiverse in "Turtles Forever"
  • Coterie: The turtles + Casey and April form this unit, most notably in the movies and second cartoon.
  • Crossover: Live action series, with Power Rangers (the "in Space" one to be more specific) if you can believe it.
    • And Turtles Forever, a crossover between the 2003 and 1987 shows. Did I mention the comics?
    • Also, Miyamoto Usagi of Usagi Yojimbo has appeared in the original comics and both cartoons, and the turtles have made the occasional appearance in the Usagi Yojimbo comic books.
  • Crowning Moment Of Funny: In the 2007 movie, Splinter talking about his "stories"(soap operas), especially him muttering to himself about how "Cody is going to break up with Donna, I just know it."
  • Cut Lex Luthor A Check: Repeatedly subverted by Baxter Stockman. In the Mirage comics, after making a large legitimate fortune with his Mouser robots, he then proceeds to use them to commit terrorism for kicks. In the 1980s cartoon, he tried using them legitimately but was rejected by every pest control company in town. In the 2003 cartoon, he makes a huge legitimate fortune with them, and then starts using them to rob banks simply because he's a greedy bastard.
  • Cycle Of Revenge: One of the most important themes in the original Mirage books.
  • Da Editor: Burne Thompson in the 1987 cartoon; Murdock Maxwell in Adventures.
  • Did Not Do The Research: Several aspects—the proper spelling of "Michelangelo" and the various inaccuracies surrounding the turtles' weapons (for example, nunchaku are not ninja weapons) are a couple of the most apparent.
  • Dis Continuity: Some works. But nearly everyone tries to forget Next Mutation.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Venus de Milo, who fit in as an Action Girl and The Chick in Next Mutation since it didn't even feature April as a character.
  • Ditto Aliens: The Utroms; Triceratons
  • The Dragon: The Shredder in the original cartoon; Hun, Karai and Khan in the second one (all three work(ed) under the Shredder), and Tatsu in the first two movies.
  • Dual Wielding: Three of the four turtles use their weapons in pairs, with Donny being the odd man out.
  • Ear Worm: Pick a theme. Any theme.
  • Elaborate Underground Base: The turtles' lair is usually one of these.
  • The End Of The World As We Know It: TMNT just wouldn't be the same if this trope were non-existent.
  • Every Japanese Sword Is A Katana: Occurs with every ninja-to in the series.
    • Except for Leo's swords in the 2003 cartoon (even though everyone still calls them katanas), or the 2007 CGI movie, one might point out...
      • In the live-action movies Leo is obviously wielding Ninjatos.
  • Evil Power Vacuum: Occurs after the Shredder is defeated at the end of the Return to New York arc in the Mirage comic books and in the second cartoon.
  • Executive Meddling
  • Expository Theme Tune: "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens!" "He's a radical rat!"
  • Faceless Goons: The Foot Clan
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Prevalent through all incarnations of the series, to varying degrees. There's also quite a bit of overlap between the disparate fantastic elements.
  • Fantastic Racism: Prejudice against aliens plays an important part in volume 4.
  • Fish People: Mona Lisa from the original series' "Raphael Meets His Match"; the fish people from "Sons of the Silent Age".
  • For Halloween I Am Going As Myself: The turtles are wont to do this.
  • For The Evulz: In the original comics, April asks Baxter Stockman why he's using his Mousers to hold the city for ransom when he's already made a vast fortune with them. He answers that it's fun!
  • Four Temperament Ensemble: In most incarnations, the turtles can be classified in the following manner:
    • Leonardo is neutral Phlegmatic.
    • Raphael is Choleric.
    • Donatello is Melancholic.
    • Michelangelo is Sanguine.
  • The Future: Plays a significant part in several incarnations, particularly in the Mirage and Archie comics, which had several stories starring future versions of the turtles, and the second cartoon, whose setting for the entire sixth season was the year 2105.
  • Getting Crap Past The Radar: [2003 series] Who the shell came up with that idea, anyway? Seriously, just listen to how Leo says it and be surprised what 4Kids can let slip.
    • These type of quotes are used a few times. I was rather surprised that they had things such as rotting away corpses and mass dumping grounds for bodies.
    • I think I actually heard Mikey say "This sucks"... If that isn't getting crap past the radar, I don't know what is.
      • "Sucks" made it into kid usage in the '80s, nothing to wake up the Moral Guardians there.
      • Depends on whether or not old people are aware of it, as both Garfield and Zits got flak for using the word.
  • Good Republic Evil Empire: Averted all to hell in the new series. Both The Federation (humanoids) and The Republic (Triceratons) are pretty nasty.
  • Government Agency Of Fiction: D.A.R.P.A. in the Mirage comic books and its animated counterpart, the Earth Protection Force.
  • Grand Finale: Turtles Forever.
  • The Greys: The Sons of Silence in TMNT Adventures, Bishop's kidnappers in the 2003 series.
  • Hey Its That Guy: Bonecrusher from Next Mutation was played by wildly popular Canadian voice actor Scott Mc Neil.
  • Hey Its That Voice: Aside from the Shredder's role in The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, there are so many examples of this trope, I'm surprised it hasn't come up. The second cartoon, featuring regular 4Kids VAs, has a ton of these:
  • Honor Before Reason: A trait seen in most incarnations of Leonardo. It goes both ways though- either he is commended or, if something goes horribly wrong, grievously injured.
    • Also Karai, whose loyalty to the Shredder conflicts with her strong sense of honorable behavior.
  • Human Aliens: A large part of the Federation, including most of its army.
  • If I Can't Have You: The reason why Oroku Nagi beats on Tang Shen in the original comics, and why Oroku Saki and Yukio Mashimi kill her in the movie and the 2003 cartoon, respectively.
  • In The End You Are On Your Own
  • Ink Stain Adaptation: The original cartoon. Not bad, but eclipsed the other works.
  • Interspecies Romance: Where to begin:
    • Mirage Comics: Michelangelo/Serilicus (Mutant Turtle/Styracodon); Leonardo/Radical (Mutant Turtle/Human)
    • Archie Comics: Raphael/Ninjara (Mutant Turtle/Mutant Fox); Raphael/Mezcaal (Mutant Turtle/Mutant Fox); Mondo Gecko/Candy Fine (Mutated Human/Human).
    • TMNT 2k3: Cody Jones/Starlee Hambrath (Human / Rubber Forehead Alien)
  • Jerkass: [2003 series] Leo had this personality combined with Heroic BSOD for the first half of Season 4 after the final battle against the Utrom Shredder
  • Killed Off For Real:
    • Mirage comics: Splinter, Oroku Saki, Baxter Stockman
    • Archie comics: The Mighty Mutanimals
  • Last Of Their Kind: The Inuwashi Gunjin. Every mutant character, including the turtles is also technically this.
  • Legacy Character: The Shredder has returned in several different forms, with Karai being the most popular one. Also the Turtle Titan, in the second cartoon.
  • Licensed Game: So very many, of so very varying quality.
  • Live Action Adaptation
  • Lighter And Fluffier: Fans of either cartoon series who then read the original comic book rarely expect its much darker tone.
    • This Troper got his hands on one of the original comics as a kid and was shocked that the turtles actually killed people.
  • Lost In Imitation: The turtles' tails and red bandannas.
  • Love Triangle: Hamato Yoshi, Tang Shen, and Oroku Nagi (or, alternatively, Oroku Saki or Yukio Mashimi, depending on the incarnation) form one of these. Also, Stainless Steve Steel, Dr. Dome, and Battling Bernice.
  • Masquerade
  • Mass Hypnosis
  • Mecha Mooks: Several, The Foot Soldiers in the first animated series.
  • Medieval Japan
  • Medium Awareness: A regular feature of the first cartoon.
  • The Merch
  • Merchandise Driven: TMNT didn't start this way, but it moved in this direction once the toy line became hugely successful.
  • Mistaken For Aliens: Occurs to the turtles a lot, once the existence of aliens is actually made known to the general population.
  • Mobile Suit Human: The alien Utroms used robotic exoskeletons to hide among humans while stranded on Earth.
  • Mono Chromatic Eyes: Several incarnations of the turtles—but only when they wear their masks.
  • Mooks: Of all stripes.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Dome, Dr. Malignus.
  • The Multiverse
  • Mutually Fictional: The Next Mutation turtles-'verse and the Power Rangers 'verse.
  • Mythology Gag: Several, mainly in the 2003 series.
  • Named Weapons: [2003 Series] The Fangs of the Dragons, the Sword of Tengu.
  • Nanomachines: Used by Baxter Stockman in the Mirage comics during a murder attempt on April, and by the turtles in order to foil said attempt. Also used in the 2003 animated series to form Nano, a sentient nanomachine colony.
  • Narm From the first movie: SPLINTEEEEER!!!!
  • New York Subway
  • Nightmare Fuel: Baxter Stockman in the 2003 series, especially the episode "Insane In The Membrane"
    • This is possibly the reason why said episode has yet to air in the US.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Do we really need to explain this one?
  • Non Lethal Warfare: Depending on the incarnation.
  • Non Mammal Mammaries: Venus de Milo
  • No Transhumanism Allowed: Partial aversion. The 2K3 series has a cyborg and an infomorph, but only villains are non-organic, for the most part. Honeycutt, an uploaded man, is a subversion.
  • Old Master: Splinter and The Ancient One
  • Old Superheroes: The original Justice Force.
  • Opposites Attract: April and Casey.
  • The Pesci: Raphael.
  • Pick On Someone Your Own Species: The feud between Oroku Nagi and Hamato Yoshi is taken up by Nagi's brother and Yoshi's pet rat, and the Turtles themselves when they mutate.
  • The Pikachu Effect: Splinter defeating Shredder in The Movie.
  • Portal Pool: The main method used to enter the Battle Nexus.
  • Posthumous Character: Hamato Yoshi, Tang Shen, Oroku Nagi/Yukio Mashimi, and Professor Obligado.
  • Powered Armor: The future versions of the turtles wore these for an arc in the Archie comic; the same armor also showed up in an episode of the original 'toon. Also, villains Baxter Stockman and Darius Dun have worn these on occasion.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: The original movie and second cartoon.
  • The Professor: Tons: Donatello (when he's not a teen genius), Professor Honeycutt, Leatherhead, Glurin, Professor Obligado, Dr. Chaplin... Ironically, the one guy actually called "The Professor", from the second cartoon, isn't an example.
  • Race Lift: Baxter Stockman in the original cartoon and one-shot villain Skonk in the second one, who were both changed from African Americans to Caucasians.
  • Recurring Character: Miyamoto Usagi, Casey Jones, and a few others in the first toon, and lots of them in the second.
  • Red Oni Blue Oni: Raphael and Leonardo form this relationship, even matched by their bandana color.
  • The Red Stapler: Lots of kids bought pet turtles. Few were ninjas, fewer were mutants, and none lived to be teenagers
  • Relationship Upgrade: Occurs with April and Casey at several points in each incarnation.
  • Roof Hopping
  • Rubber Man: Joey Lastic of the Justice Force.
  • Ruined FOREVER: Part of the fandom didn't react well to the rights being sold to Nickelodeon.
  • Scars Are Forever: Occurs in several incarnations.
    • Image comics: Three of the four turtles are mutilated during the course of the series.
    • Mirage comics: Foot Clan member Cha Ocho sports a scar left by Leonardo.
    • First Live Action Movie Raphael has a scar on his cheek from some unexplained injury and Shredder has scars on his cheek from a pre-mutation Splinter.
    • 2003 series: Hun sports a trio of matching scars on his face, courtesy of a pre-mutation Splinter.
  • Take That: Turtles Forever throws a few around, mostly regarding the other series.
    • In the Mirage Universe, when they see the colored headbands, they call the other Turtles "Sell Outs" this is probably in reference to one of the creators, who ended up kind of selling out to the TV programs.
    • Another one for the Mirage Universe, the original Mirage Shredder is taken out by having garbage thrown at him, possibly a throw to how he was semi-easily defeated in the very first issue.
  • The Problem With Licensed Games: The original NES game is infamous for being Nintendo Hard (its PC port is even worse), and the ones based in the most recent cartoon are underwhelming.
  • The Scrappy: Several in each incarnation.
    • 1987 Series: Channel 6 news team (excluding April).
    • The Next Mutation: Venus de Milo
    • 2003 series: Cody Jones
  • Secret Mutant Hero Team: Possibly the Trope Codifier.
  • Secret Public Identity: Ananda of the Justice Force; her mother, Battling Bernice; "Stainless" Steve Steel, and Joey Lastic.
  • Shout Out: Many of them, particularly in the second 'toon. Mostly from Mikey.
    • Their origin story, in the original comics, suggests the radioactive waste that mutated them is the same stuff that gave Daredevil his powers.
      Splinter: At the last moment a young man leaped at the blind man and knocked him out of the truck's way ... a metal canister bounced out of the back of the truck and struck the young man near his eyes ... the strange canister bounced ... striking and smashing a glass jar which held four small turtles ... you four as infants!!!
  • Sibling Team
  • Sixth Ranger: Ninjara in TMNT Adventures; Venus de Milo in The Next Mutation.
  • Stealth Hi Bye
  • Story Arc
  • Surfer Speak: Michaelangelo even when the turtles left the '80s.
  • The Syndicate: The Foot Clan.
  • Talking To Himself
  • Teen Genius: Donatello, Cody Jones, Starlee Hambrath, and possibly Dr. Chaplin.
  • Teleporters And Transporters: The Utrom's Transmat and Honeycutt's Teleportal. Cudley the Cowlick can do this naturally.
  • Theme Naming: All the turtles are named after artists. Bebop and Rocksteady are musical references. The Mutant Frogs are named after great warlords, and more.
  • Theme Tune Roll Call: The one from the '80s series is the best-known, but the fourth season of the 2003 series also has one.
  • They Changed It Now It Sucks: Fans of the '80s show will say this about the 2k3 show. Fans of the first five seasons of 2k3 will scream obscenities at Fast Forward due to its radical shift in tone, setting, and look.
    • And the fans of the original Mirage Comics?
      • The Mirage fans hated the 87's show for "Selling out". Granted, there weren't any internet forum back then.
      • We tend to throw up a lot, as we did back in the era of the first cartoon and Archie Comics series.
  • They'd Cut You Up
  • They Do: Casey and April.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Used or averted, depending on the incarnation. The original animated series and its spin-off comic book use it; the original comic book, movies, and second animated series generally don't.
  • Time Police: Renet and Lord Simultaneous, who form part of a larger, if unseen, organization.
  • Time Skip: Fast Forward takes place in the year 2105, roughly ninety-nine years from the present day, while Back To The Sewer takes place one year after the day the turtles were transported to the future.
    • The third volume of the Mirage comics takes place fifteen years after the second.
  • Title Theme Tune: All of the western cartoon themes.
  • Totally Radical: They live in New York City, but sound like a bunch of surfers from Southern California. (Especially Michelangelo, and sometimes—depending on the continuity—excepting Raphael.) This Troper thought nothing of it when he was about seven, but, as an adult, the way they tock talk ought to earn a hearty Heyfuckyou.
    • Except in the 2K3 series where it's only Mikey. Raph even has a Brooklyn accent.
      • It's usually only Mikey. Raph has a Brooklyn accent in the films too, and even in the original cartoon series Mikey was the only one to sound like a surfer dude, though they all used "Cowabunga."
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Pizza, at least in the original cartoon and movies.
    • Though not necessarily true in the second animated series, it's been alluded to several times. Especially related to Mikey.
  • Turtle Power: Trope namer.
  • Twenty Minutes Into The Future: The year 2094, as presented in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures—particularly compared with its Fast Forward counterpart.
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance: Ananda to Battling Bernice (daughter/mother); Turtle Titan II to Silver Sentry (grandson/grandfather).
  • Vague Age: Occurs with several of the characters throughout incarnations, due to a lack of specific dates or starting ages. The mutant ninja turtles are nearly always teenagers.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Casey and Raph tend towards this in most continuities.
  • Volleying Insults: Done playfully between Casey and Raph in the Mirage comics, in a scene which was later adapted for the first movie and 2003 cartoon.
  • Web Comics: Online fan comic/manga "MNT Gaiden"
  • Weird Al Effect: The original comic is a spot on pastiche of Frank Miller's work circa the early to mid 80s (mostly Ronin and Daredevil). The best example is The Foot, who are based on Marvel's The Hand(get it?).
    • Also compared Daredevil's master (Stick) to the Turtle's master (Splinter). Both origins involve a truck of toxic waste too.
  • Weirdness Magnets
  • What Could Have Been: There have been several proposed-but-scrapped TMNT projects over the years. Among the most notable are two TV shows that were pitched in 2001: the first would have been a cartoon by Warner Brothers Animation, which among other things, would have featured a teenage Casey and April, while the other was a CGI show made by Rainbow.

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