History YMMV / TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Michelangelo breaking out into an opera song(the tune of "O Little Town of Bethlehem") in the middle of ''We Wish You a Turtles Christmas''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXfbpCzhMS8 Seriously, just try not to laugh too hard.]] Raphael's "again" statement seems to deny it's a BLAM, while the other two turtles seem to be appropriately baffled.

* SpecialEffectFailure: Any live action Ninja Turtles production that wasn't a movie, save for the third one. "Turtle Tunes" and "We Wish You a Turtles Christmas" are the worst offenders in this regard.

** Fans of the original Mirage Comics dish on the 1987 series for "selling out". Fans of the 1987 series say this about the 2003 version and its more serious tone. Fans of the first five seasons of the 2003 series will scream obscenities at Fast Forward due to its radical shift in tone, setting, and look. This was Lampshaded in Turtles Forever when [[spoiler:the 1987 turtles and 2003 turtles arrive in the 1984 (Mirage) universe. The Mirage Turtles there call the others 'sell outs' though they eventually settle their differences]].

** "NINJA-KICK THE DAMN RABBIT!"

** God, I love being a TURTLE!!!
** DAMN!!!
** Ninja kick the damn rabbit!

** "Don't let the Foot Clan destroy the dam, you have my support."[[labelnote:Explanation]]April's full quote before the dam level.[[/labelnote]]
** "[[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd Okay, what the hell did she ever do for you]]? Stupid [[IconicOutfit banana raincoat]]-[[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd wearing bitch."]] Area 2 isn't all ''that'' difficult, though it does feature an UnexpectedGameplayChange and very precise movements. The Internet believes it is utterly impossible.
** [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd Cowabunga...COWA-FUCKIN' PIECE OF DOG SHIT!]]

** NonStandardGameOver. It doesn't matter how many turtles you have left; you fail once, and it's all over. Luckily it's the ''only'' game over of its kind in this game, since according to gamers who managed to pass this level, the game gets even ''[[UpToEleven harder]]''.

** The worst enemy that you will encounter in the game are the Flying Spacemen armed with laser guns in the later sections of the Technodrome. They appear and move so quickly that you almost can't react to them without getting hit. What's even worse is that there are sections of narrow halls that make getting shot or running into them an inevitability. It also takes two shots from the Scroll, ''the best sub-weapon in the game'', to kill them. Or if you have single shurikens, it can kill them just as quickly.
** The spider robots in Area 5 are notorious for making climbing sections a total pain since they move fast towards you and you're completely defenseless while climbing the wall.
** The large porcupines in the underground sections of Area 5 are cheap and unpredictable as they jump and attack in completely random patterns, making it hard to not get hit by them.

** When Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} brought the ''TMNT'' in 2009, fans have noted that most incarnations of the Turtles made under their ownership have gained more [[DivergentCharacterEvolution individual design elements]] and often different designs compared to how they were back when they were still independent, where the only real distinguishable elements between them was them having different tints of green, their weapons and in adaptations, the multicolored masks. Some fans don't mind this change in approach and like that the turtles are made to be more unique and distinguishable from each other, while others find it to be unnecessary (given they already have the multicolored masks to distinguish them) and find many of the designs under Nick's ownership (especially the 2014 and 2018 designs) to be too busy and/or off-putting.

*** Related: "[[MindScrew Say no to yes]], [[WordSaladHumor say pizza to drugs]]!]]"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The same PSA as above, once the internet applied Photoshop.[[/labelnote]]

%%* SoBadItWasBetter: A common complaint from the fans of the 1987 series over the more serious incarnations such as the 2003 series.

* UncannyValley:
** Usually a problem with the Turtles in {{Live Action Adaptation}}s, most notably the cheap ''Coming Out of their Shells Tour'' and ''We Wish You A Turtles Christmas Special.'' Splinter often looks even worse.
** The 2007 CGI movie, on the other hand, makes the turtles look quite nice, but the human models have been accused of this.
** The costumes in the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFP1KQpxqFQ Operation Blue Line]]'' promotional video -- which was about a light rail service that went from Los Angeles to Long Beach, and released only in California for free -- blow everything else out of the water.

** When Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} brought the ''TMNT'' in 2009, fans have noted that most incarnations of the Turtles made under their ownership have gained more [[DivergentCharacterEvolution individual design elements]] and often different designs compared to how they were back when they were still independent, where the only real distinquishable elements between them was them having different tints of green, their weapons and in adaptations, the multicolored masks. Some fans don't mind this change in approach and like that the turtles are made to be more unique and distinguishable from each other, while others find it to be unneccessary (given they already have the multicolored masks to distinquish them) and find many of the designs under Nick's ownership (especially the 2014 and 2018 designs) to be too busy and/or off-putting.

%%** The Rat King.

* TooCoolToLive: [[spoiler: Splinter]], in the Mirage series.

** When Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} brought the ''TMNT'' in 2009, fans have noted that most incarnations of the Turtles made under their ownership have gained more [[DivergentCharacterEvolution individual design elements]] and often different designs compared to how they were back when they were still independent under Mirage Studios. Some fans don't mind this change and like that the turtles are more distinguishable them from each others, while others find it to be unneccessary (given they already have the multicolored masks to distinquish them) and feel many of the designs under Nick's ownership (especially the 2014 and 2018 designs) to be too busy and/or off-putting.

* BrokenBase: Given the sheer amount of LighterAndSofter / DarkerAndEdgier adaptations, this is to be expected. The most notable is between fans of the first and second cartoons (arguably made worse by ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'''s CharacterExaggeration of the 1987 turtles). Presently ongoing against the 2018 series for the same tone reasons, and possibly unfamiliarity with being into a franchise fandom.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Many major studios such as Creator/WaltDisneyPictures, Creator/ColumbiaPictures, Creator/{{MGM}}[=/=][[Creator/UnitedArtists UA]], Creator/OrionPictures, Creator/{{Paramount}} (whose parent company Viacom would ironically enough acquire the ''TMNT'' property in 2009) and Creator/WarnerBros turned down the first film for distribution as they were worried that despite the popularity of the 1987 series and the toy line, the film would potentially be a box office disappointment like ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'' was just a couple years prior. The film finally found distribution roughly halfway through the initial production via the then small and independent production company New Line Cinema which at that point had been known more for distributing low budget B movies and arthouse fare. The film would end up becoming a box office hit, having the second largest opening at the US box office at the time (behind 1989's Film/{{Batman|1989}}) and going on to make $200 million worldwide.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Many major studios such as Creator/WaltDisneyPictures, Creator/ColumbiaPictures, Creator/{{MGM}}[=/=][[Creator/UnitedArtists UA]], Creator/OrionPictures, Creator/{{Paramount}} (whose parent company Viacom would ironically enough acquire the ''TMNT'' property in 2009) and Creator/WarnerBros turned down the first film for distribution as they were worried that despite the popularity of the 1987 series and the toy line, the film would potentially be a box office disappointment like ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'' was just a couple years prior. The film finally found distribution roughly halfway through the initial production via the then small and independent production company New Line Cinema which at that point had been known more for distributing low budget B movies and arthouse fare.

* AmericansHateTingle: Ironically, TMNT has a rather weak Japanese audience. TMNT enjoyed a few years of popularity when it was first brought there in the early 1990s, but it quickly nosedived and failed to find any continuous success due to lack of interest. The Japanese dubs of TMNT shows tend to be short lived and the Imagi movie was put straight-to-video. This is often attributed to some of the Japanese elements reaching ShallowParody levels.

* BadassDecay: As mentioned above, Shredder is a pathetically easy final boss, while various other sources showed him [[CurbStompBattle dominating all 4 turtles]] [[ArmyOfOne singlehandedly]].

** [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd "Okay, what the hell did she ever do for you? Stupid]] [[IconicOutfit banana raincoat]]-[[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd wearing bitch."]] Area 2 isn't all ''that'' difficult, though it does feature an UnexpectedGameplayChange and very precise movements. The Internet believes it is utterly impossible.

* PanderingToTheBase: In TheNewTens, the franchise's various entries tend to steer much closer to the 1987 cartoon adaptation, due to a large amount of the series' fans having grown up on it. While the strategy has been largely successful, this has resulted in some people who were introduced to the broader franchise through material such as the movies or the 2003 series taking umbrage with the apparent favoritism.

* MisBlamed: No, the 2003 series isn't an InNameOnly adaptation of the 1987 series...the InNameOnly version is actually ''the 1987 series''.

** The original NES game is infamous for being NintendoHard ([[PortingDisaster its PC port is even worse]]), and the ones based in the most recent cartoon are underwhelming. The beat-em-ups by Konami, however, are generally considered classics of the genre, making them [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames an aversion]].

** The pinball machine game is often held to be a generic, boring pinball game.
** Despite hopes due to being developed by Creator/PlatinumGames, ''Mutants in Manhatan'' ended up being another case due to repetitiveness and lackluster level design.

* PopCulturalOsmosis: Nowadays, mention the Turtles' names and there's a fair chance people will think of them first instead of the Renaissance artists they're named for. Especially Donatello, who is less well-known than the "trinity" of [[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci Leonardo]], [[Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti Michelangelo]] and [[Creator/RaphaelSanzio Raphael]]. The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[http://www.xkcd.com/197/ did a joke about this.]] Because Michelangelo the turtle's name was misspelled with an extra A for many years until it was quietly fixed, and thus pronounced "Michael Angelo" to this day (hence his nickname is Mike/Mikey, not Mick), odds are that people who grew up with the franchise will also apply this to Michelangelo the Italian artist until they're corrected.

* PopCulturalOsmosis: Nowadays, mention the Turtles' names and there's a fair chance people will think of them first instead of the Renaissance artists they're named for. Especially Donatello, who is less well-known than the "trinity" of [[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci Leonardo]], [[Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti Michelangelo]] and [[Creator/RaphaelSanzio Raphael]]. The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[http://www.xkcd.com/197/ did a joke about this.]]

** "God, I love being a Turtle!"

** And who can forget "COWABUNGA!"

** "Help! I'm a turtle, and I can't get up!"
** "Donatello [[{{Robosexual}} does machines.]]"

** "[[DrugsAreBad Say no to drugs]], [[TrademarkFavoriteFood say yes to pizza]]!"

** "Don't let the Foot Clan destroy the dam, you have my support."

* PortingDisaster: The North American PC version to say the least. The third stage cannot be completed without cheating or [[GoodBadBugs a very strange glitch]] because of a design flaw in one of the sections in the sewers. The jump is impossible to make because of the ceiling being shorter and the platform on the other side missing a block. The UK ''Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles'' corrected this by extending the platform, but retained the other design decisions that made many aspects unintentionally more difficult.

* WeirdAlEffect:
** The original comic is a spot on pastiche of Creator/FrankMiller's work circa the early to mid 80s (mostly ''ComicBook/{{Ronin}}'' and ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}''); the writers being big fans. 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. The first issue starts with a page-by-page ''rip off'' of the toxic accident that created Daredevil, up to and including the "kid saving an old man and getting blinded" bit. If it weren't for their divergent timelines or the copyright being owned by different companies, the idea was that the blind kid '''is''' Daredevil and the canister that created him ''also'' created the Turtles. Marvel actually ''did'' have the rights to the Turtles comics at one point, but they were set in a separate universe, so perhaps the Turtles are part of the Marvel multiverse and in this one, Matt Murdock never became Daredevil and just became a blind kid.
** A few elements were cribbed from ComicBook/XMen as well; Leonardo was ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and Raphael was ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}; and when [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_W8dDqsMHtUc/SWS6l-Sn0iI/AAAAAAAABeg/rmPgWufEOE0/s400/krangandshredder.jpg Krang and Shredder]] appear together, they seem eerily similar to [[http://www.tmnttoys.com/reviews/MarvelLegends/target/1173.jpg Mojo and Spiral]]. While the X-Men have gone onto prominence in their own right, for a while they were less known to the public than the Turtles.