History Characters / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987

* TheAce: Leonardo is a strange mix of this and TheGenericGuy. Leo is the one most likely of the four brothers to stick to being a "good guy" and all that it entails. And while Leo is quite talented in this respect due to his training, he's also rather bland and straightforward. One episode of the show sees Leo's brothers explicitly telling him to "lighten up" after he berates them all for not training hard enough when they have a little bit of downtime.

* ThreeAmigos

* HeroWithBadPublicity: They constantly suffer this, courtesy of April's boss Burne Thompson. It gets even worse during the Red Sky seasons, where after Shredder blows up the Channel 6 building, Burne, blaming the Turtles for it, goes full [[Franchise/SpiderMan J. Jonah Jameson]] on them and does everything possible to make them look bad, and when Dregg uses propaganda to turn the entire city against them.

* {{Expy}}: He's basically the show's equivalent of J. Jonah Jameson from ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', being a hot-tempered, loud mouthed media mogul who is constantly on his employees' asses for the most minor things and having a vitriolic hatred of the heroes. Bonus points for both of them being New Yorkers.

* AnythingThatMoves: She's so desperate for a boyfriend that she'll flirt with (or just fantasize about being with) almost anyone as long as they're male. In one episode she ends up falling for a robotic policeman.
-->'''April:''' Forget it, Irma. He's not human.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Burne never likes Turtles personally, but sometimes he's aggressively against them, and other times Burne onl gets angry with them if they mess with the Channel six building or his reporters. Burne is at his nicest in mid season 3 to 4 due to the Turtles rescuing him in [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987S03E07BurnesBlues Burne's Blues]] and at his nastiest in season 8 starting from [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987S08E01GetShredder Get Shredder]].

[[folder:Carter]]

* MagicPants: Averted the first time he transforms, but played straight on all subsequent occasions.
* OnlyOneName: He has no known surname.

* TokenMinorityClan: Carter is the only main human character to be African American.

* DemotedToExtra: In most incarnations, Casey is The6thRanger to the Turtles as well as April's love interest. Here, he's only a minor character who only appears in 5 episodes and he and April barely interact at all.

* DemotedToExtra: In this show, he is only a minor character who appears in 5 episodes.

* UngratefulBastard: Downplayed in the earlier seasons, as while Burne would continually personally dislike the turtles, he'd also allow April to publish positive stories on the Ninja Turtles. Played straight in the Red Sky seasons; despite it being clear that the Turtles had tried to stop Shredder from blowing up the Channel 6 building, Burne still blamed them and resolved to turn the public against them.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: He has brownish skin, but it's unclear whether he's African American or just has a tan.

* OnlyOneName: He has no surname.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: We never actually see Carter at college. Either his attendance rates are lousy, or his college has one heck of a long summer break.

* FatBastard: His android body gives him the appearance of one due to resembling an overweight man.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The reason they were changed from humans to robots in this show was so that they could be destroyed in mass numbers without any real consequences.

* SatelliteCharacter: To Dregg

** His appearance of a tentacled brain-like creature operating a humanoid robot from its stomach is based on the more benign Utroms of the original Mirage comics, while his desire for interplanetary conquest and destruction appears to be borrowed from the Triceratons. [[spoiler:Though considering he is a cousin to Kraang Sub-Prime in the Nickelodeon series, this could mean he ''is'' an Utrom. Although, that may be a {{retcon}} as seen under MultipleChoicePast.]]

** His appearance of a tentacled brain-like creature operating a humanoid robot from its stomach is based on the more benign Utroms of the original Mirage comics, while his desire for interplanetary conquest and destruction appears to be borrowed from the Triceratons. [[spoiler:Though considering he is a cousin to Kraang Sub-Prime in the Nickelodeon series, this could mean he ''is'' an Utrom.]]

* UngratefulBastard: Like Burne, he strongly believed that the Turtles were a menace to society and often actively participated in Burne's anti-mutant campaigns, even though the Turtles had saved his life on many occasions.

-->Voiced by: Creator/PatFraley

-->Voiced by: Creator/TownsendColeman

* IAmNotShazam: In the 1987 animated series, he is named Usagi Yojimbo, but the original incarnation from the comic series (which is titled “Usagi Yojimbo”) is named Miyamoto Usagi.

A pair of alien invaders in human guise, appearing in "Zach and the alien invaders".

* {{Expy}}: Averted. Lotus Blossom feels a lot like Karai (who never appears in the 1987 cartoon), but was introduced years before her.

* {{Expy}}: Feels a lot like Karai, who never appears in the 1987 cartoon.

* IAmNotShazam: In the 1987 animated series, he is named Usagi Yojimbo, but the incarnation from his comic (which is titled “Usagi Yojimbo”) is named Miyamoto Usagi.

* Expy: Feels a lot like Karai, who never appears in the 1987 cartoon.

* SaltAndPepper: Rocksteady's human form was Caucasian and Bebop's was African American.

* ToylessToylineCharacter: She didn't have a toy back when the show was still around. Though as of 2023, she's part of a double pack.

* ToylessToylineCharacter: She doesn't have a toy.

* AdaptationalVilainy: Krang was based on the Utroms, a race of benevolent cephalopod aliens from the original comic who were stranded on Earth and seeking a way to return home and how like them, created the mutagen responsible for the Turtles' mutation.
* Adaptational Ugliness: Krang's android body is fat and somewhat {{Gonk}} with a disproportionally small head and arms that stick out at an angle. In contrast, the Utrom's android walkers were more balanced in proportion and also had synthetic skin to help them blend in with humans.

* CatchPhrase: "We've got to do something" about the current problem. This is due to Le being the most straight-laced and openly heroic of his brothers.

* CatchPhrase: Donatello's catch phrase was "That was my favorite bo", as his staffs frequently end up broken or shattered.

* CatchPhrase: The most famous "Cowabunga!"

* {{Catchphrase}}: "[[RaginCajun I guh-rantee!]]".

[[caption-width-right:340:Leads]]

* TheAce: Leonardo is a strange mix of this and TheGenericGuy. Leo is the one most likely of the four brothers to stick to being a "good guy" and all that it entails. And while Leo is quite talented at that due to his training, he's also rather bland and straightforward. One episode of the show sees Leo's brothers explicitly telling him to lighten up after he berates them all for not training hard enough.

* CatchPhrase: Leonardo's catch phrase was "We've got to do something".
* CulturedWarrior: Depends on the writer, but if one of the turtles is going to be in touch with Japanese traditions, it's gonna be Leo. This is thanks to him studying ninja code and being the most devoted to obeying Splinter's teachings.

[[caption-width-right:320:Does machines (That's a fact, Jack!)]]

* GeniusBruiser: He may be a nerd, but he can kick butt.

%%* NiceGuy

[[caption-width-right:318:Is cool, but rude (Gimme a break!)]]

* LeeroyJenkins: He doesn't usually think of a strategy before heading into battle.

[[caption-width-right:340:Is a party dude (PARTAY!)]]

* DubNameChange: The Japanese dub renames him Sawaki Oroku.

* GoodParents: For as stern as he could be, Splinter absolutely loves the Turtles. He frequently refers to them as his sons, trains them to be ninja teens, and destroys the Retro-Mutagen Ray to save the turtles from Shredder turning them back into ordinary turtles. Splinter did this knowing that the Ray was the only chance Splinter would ever have to be human again. [[ActOfTrueLove Didn't matter. Splinter's sons were in danger; that's all there was to it]].

* AbortedArc: At the end of their single episode appearance, Donatello promised that he'd try to find a cure for their mutation someday, but they told him to take his time as they genuinely liked being mutant superheroes.