Characters / Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Clan Hamato

aka: Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles And Splinter

Main Index | Clan Hamato | Mutants and Yokai | Others

The Mad Dogs

The main heroes of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Turtles, their father Splinter, and their honorary sister April.

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In General

• 11th-Hour Superpower: In the series finale the entire Hamato Clan is taught to unlock their ancestral power of Hamato Ninpo by drawing upon their familial love. This drastically closes the gap between them and Shredder.
• Accents Aren't Hereditary: While Splinter has a clear Japanese accent, none of the turtles have this accent. Justified in that the turtles grew up in New York and Splinter is actually from Japan.
• Adaptational Badass: Though they are less experienced than some of their other versions, they also possess actual superpowers thanks to their mystic weapons that allow them to perform feats that their counterparts could only dream of. You're probably not going to see any other version of Leonardo redirecting enemy attacks by spamming portals or Michelangelo hurling a giant tanker for instance. Also, with the exception of the 2003 series where Leonardo was able to defeat Splinter during some rage-fueled sparring in the later fourth season, most versions of the Ninja Turtles are shown to be outclassed by Splinter to varying degrees in fights. In Rise, after undergoing some serious training, the Turtles are able to take down Splinter during a practice session towards the end of just the first season alone.
  • Donatello’s technological capabilities are a big example of this, given that his inventions not only work properly for the most part, but his Bo staff has multiple settings rather than being made out of wood.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Less serious than most of the modern versions of the characters.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: At least when it comes to their relationships with each other. Make no mistake, the turtles in all incarnations care about each other, but they also tend to be very prone to squabbling and infighting, to the point they can come off as not really respecting each other; Leo and Raph have it worst, constantly butting heads and barely tolerating each other. In Rise, while they rib each other often and drive each other up the wall to varying degrees, the brothers have a much more affectionate family dynamic. They compliment each other's skills, are willing to help each other out if needed, and hug and/or say they love each other (genuinely, not in a joking or mocking way) countless times.
• Adaptational Wimp: In this version the turtles don't have years of ninjitsu training under their belts, as Splinter was less willing to train them, so they are less skilled in certain areas. This begins to change after Splinter finally begins training them seriously.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Possibly the most divergent iteration of the Turtles to date, as each of them breaks away from the "standard" version of their character in a major way:
  • Splinter: In past series, Splinter has been the wise, serious Old Master who taught the Turtles in the traditional ways of ninjutsu. In Rise, he's instead a lazy Grumpy Old Man who mostly lets his sons do what they want rather than pushing them into training, instead dwelling on his Glory Days as Lou Jitsu; he's unfamiliar with the Hamato traditions himself, having rejected them after following them led to him growing up without his mother. Arguably, the changes to Splinter could be seen as informing the changes to the Turtles.
  • Raphael: Typically, Raphael is a sullen, rebellious, Hot-Blooded Jerk with a Heart of Gold who clashes with Leo over the latter's position as leader. In Rise, Raph is the leader who feels responsible for his siblings as the big brother, and often acts as the Only Sane Man when the others are goofing off; he's also much more open about his emotions than Raph usually is.
  • Leonardo: In past series Leonardo is The Leader and the one who's most dedicated to his role, often focusing on training and taking responsibility at his own expense. In Rise, where there's no pressure from Splinter to lead his siblings and live up to the ninja traditions, he's a Brilliant, but Lazy slacker and jokester; while he's still The Ace it's more of a matter of natural talent, as he's unwilling to put in the effort to train.
  • Donatello: Normally, Donatello is a Nice Guy and something of a Shrinking Violet who's content to support his brothers as the one who "does machines". Rise Donnie is instead a flamboyant Insufferable Genius and Control Freak who's obsessed with being the center of attention, which stems from a desire for validation and a belief that people only like him because his tech is useful.
  • Michelangelo: Typically Michelangelo is the relentlessly silly Annoying Younger Sibling and cloudcuckoolander of the brothers. In Rise, Mikey is the closest of his siblings to their classic portrayals, but with the other characters taking on Adaptational Comic Relief traits much more emphasis is put on his artistic talents and status as an All-Loving Hero.
  • April: Traditionally, April is the Unfazed Everyman who usually stays out of the action and acts as the voice of reason. Here — partially thanks to being a Composite Character with Casey Jones — she's a baseball bat-wielding, Hot-Blooded Action Girl who can't hold down a job.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • In general, the Hamato Clan generally had more of a student and master bond in prior adaptations, with the Turtles generally referring to Splinter as "master" or "sensei", albeit still with a familial overtone with Splinter referring to them as his sons. In Rise, the Hamato Clan consider each other a family first and a ninja group second, with the Turtles often openly referring to Splinter as their dad.
  • Leonardo and Raphael tend to butt heads in prior incarnations, with much of it being because of Leonardo's leadership and Raphael often taking issue with it. In Rise, due to Leonardo's new comedic personality and Raphael's friendlier personality, the two get along much better and have a less frosty dynamic. They do butt heads in the Movie, but unlike in prior incarnations, Raphael's anger is due to being afraid Leonardo's overconfidence will make a mistake that will cost him his (and potentially the rest of the family's) life, something Leo comes to realize near the end of the film.
• Adaptation Species Change: Downplayed. The protagonists are still mutated turtles, but they're all different types of turtles in this continuity; while Leonardo remains a red-eared slider like they are in most iterations, Donatello is a soft-shelled turtle, Michelangelo is a box turtle (which the brothers were in the Michael Bay films), and Raphael, a snapping turtle.
• Atrocious Alias: The brothers and their friends call themselves "Mad Dogs", but it clashes so much with their appearance that nobody but themselves refer to them by that title. Leo himself points out that they should name themselves something more reflective of them being turtles. In the Movie, they don't refer to themselves as this anymore.
• Badass Family: While they aren't as well-trained as in previous versions, they can still hold their own in battle. As each episode goes on, they grow more and more proficient with their weapons. Splinter, while lazy, is a lot more badass that he lets on.
• Best Friend: They are all this to each other. While they're brothers, they are also good friends with each other.
• Bioweapon Beast: What the turtles were created to be. Draxum meant to create powerful mutant warriors using Splinter's DNA, but Splinter was able to escape with the recently mutated baby turtles.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: This applies to pretty much all of them in regards to their ninja training at the start. They can pull off some incredibly acrobatic feats when the moment calls for it, but often they'd rather goof off and just pursue their own interests, and their inability to take most situations seriously leads to things often spiraling out of control. This begins to change after Splinter finally becomes serious about training them.
• Color-Coded Characters: As with every version, the turtles wear specifically-colored bandana masks allowing the audience to tell them apart:
  • Leo: Blue
  • Raph: Red
  • Donnie: Purple
  • Mikey: Orange
• Create Your Own Villain: Due to the Turtles accidentally releasing mutant mosquitoes from Baron Draxum's lair into the city, most if not all of the villains they face are technically their fault. To be fair, they probably would have been unleashed sooner or later.
• Discard and Draw: In their penultimate confrontation with Shredder all their mystic (and tech) weapons get destroyed by him. Todd replaces them with gardening tools, reasoning that they're historically what ninjas were said to have used, but using their newly discovered Hamato Ninpo they manage to transform them into the weapons they're known for in all other adaptations.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Aside from being different species of turtles and carrying over the body types from the 2012 cartoon, the turtles' outfits are more distinct; Leonardo wears matching fingerless gloves and spatting, Raphael also wears spatting in the form of bandages as well as a belt, and his bandanna covers his head in full, Michelangelo has marked several areas of his body to emphasize his role as an artist, and Donatello wears a full bandanna with goggles over it, and a variety of technological gear, with his shell being covered by a complex, multi-use backpack.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: While they're not as impressive as most versions, this team of turtles has scored some fairly impressive wins. Nevertheless, most characters casually disregard their fighting abilities.
• Fanboy: All of them are huge fans of Sydney Allen, "Jupiter Jim" movies and action star Lou Jitsu.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble
  • Sanguine: Mikey is the outgoing, cheerful, but somewhat naive and childish brother as The Baby of the Bunch.
  • Choleric: Raph is passionate and naturally wants to lead, but also headstrong and doesn't think things through.
  • Melancholic: Donnie is analytical and organized, but also incredibly snobbish and self-centered.
  • Phlegmatic/Supine: Leo is dependable, easy-going, and flexible, but also somewhat lazy.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Unlike previous iterations where this trope was rather cut and dry, it’s zigzagged here. Depending on the situation, every turtle has the occasion where he acts very irresponsible and foolish. Typically, Raph tries to act more responsible as the oldest, but his lack of foresight and impulsiveness tends to give him some bad ideas and plummets him into the Foolish role. When Raph is acting foolish, the responsible role tends to either go to Leo or Donnie, depending on the scenario.
• Genre Mashup: When they try out to be a band in an episode they want to mashup their individual music tastes into a Glam Rock-Soul-Techno-Rap sound. They think it sounds great but in reality it's done so badly an army of Albearto animatronics all self-destruct.
• Happily Adopted: People had their doubts in the first impressions in regards to Splinter, but with additional screentime it's clear that the turtles love him and he loves them in return. As later revealed that they are all technically related, at least by DNA, it doesn't seem to really matter to them anyway, they're still family no matter what.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: All of the Turtles look pretty spiffy in the formal black suits they wear in "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle." In that same episode, many fans took note of how good they look in more flattering street wear as well.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: The brothers often poke fun and tease each other, even resorting to petty physical harm, but that sort of thing is their thing. They don't appreciate when other people make fun of their brothers.
• I Know Mortal Kombat: Their primary form of training comes from emulating Lou Jitsu movies.
• Improbable Weapon User: Thanks to Splinter's "training" of watching Lou Jitsu movies, they're very skilled at using ladders and fish in combat, not unlike a Jackie Chan movie. In the series finale after their weapons are destroyed Todd replaces them with gardening tools, citing the historical use of this trope by ninja.
• In-Series Nickname: As per usual, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, but they do have other much more affectionate nicknames for each other. Leo has been referred to as "Leon", Donnie has been called "Donald", and Mikey has been called both "Michel", "Miguel", and "Angelo".
• In the Hood: Their default disguise when they have to go out during the day.
• Kid Hero: One of the youngest versions of the turtles there has ever been.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": "The Evil League of Mutants" gets the turtles giddy as hell when they realize that their father is Lou Jitsu, whom they are big fans of.
• Le Parkour: Comes with being a Ninja, across the roofs of New York.
• Named After Somebody Famous: As usual, they're all named after iconic Renaissance artists.
• Phoneaholic Teenager: The turtles here use their phones a lot more than previous iterations, mostly for entertainment purposes. Their over-reliance on their phones is addressed in Todd Scouts, in which Splinter confiscates them.
• Power Incontinence: Bordering on Drama-Preserving Handicap, their stolen magic weapons occasionally malfunction. Not to be left behind, Donatello's tech also hiccups sometimes.
• Related in the Adaptation: Splinter was purely an adoptive parent in most other continuities. Here, his DNA was actually used in the Turtles' mutation, making him somewhat biologically their father.
• Sibling Team: The Team consists of all four brothers. Occasionally accompanied by April or sometimes Splinter.
• Took a Level in Badass: They begin as fairly unskilled due to Splinter slacking on training them in ninjitsu and struggle to use their mystic weapons properly. Over the course of the series, they slowly master their weapons' mystic properties. After Splinter gets serious about training them, they also gain a lot more combat proficiency and some stealth abilities. They take another massive one in the series finale when they gain access to Hamato Ninpo, granting them the ability to manifest their mainline signature weapons from pure energy while also giving them mystic abilities related to their previous mystic weapons.
• Trademark Favorite Food: As per the norm, the turtles love pizza and stacks of empty boxes can be seen around the lair if they aren't shown eating it.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Compared to other incarnations, the Turtles here have far less formal training, but make up for it in the use of ninja mysticism that allows them to perform superhuman feats such as teleportation, energy projection, and high-level super strength.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: So much so that Splinter's hugs are considered premium rewards by his sons.
• Would Hit a Girl: They have few reservations on retaliating against female antagonists. Foot Recruit, in particular, has fought and been struck by each brother at least once.
• Wrecked Weapon: In the pilot, they all had their signature weapons from previous series. But, save for Donatello, they end up being destroyed during the battle against the Baron Draxim's minions. They gain their current ones after raiding the Baron's weapon storage. Though still need a handle on how to use them properly. Unfortunately, the reawakened Shredder proceeds to destroy them in "Shreddy or Not". Luckily, through the use of Hamato Ninpo, they regain their signature ones with a few mystical perks in "Rise".

Master Splinter

Voiced by: Eric Bauza (English), Jorge Roig (Latin American Spanish)

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• Acrofatic: Despite his stature, he can still fight pretty swiftly. Best exemplified in the Season 1 finale.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Subverted. At first, Splinter may come off as more of a rude jerk than he has ever been. However, as the first season goes on, his "jerkness" becomes more like a bad first impression and he shows (and says) that he truly does love his sons on multiple occasions. He also has the least portrayed Parental Favoritism, and is regarded as a father first and a teacher second.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: While certaintly more of a irritable reckless goofball screwup than past incarnations, he is also the version of Splinter that shows no Parental Favoritism and treats all of his sons equally. He also allows his sons to act like normal kids and prioritizes their wellbeing’s over being a ninja, even shredding his ancestors’ ancient scroll when they suggest leaving his sons to die. He occasionally does stuff like watching movies with them, calls them by their signature colors as their Affectionate Nicknames, and offering a hug as incentive for a mission, which all four gladly accept before he can offer something better. Most of his teachings towards them was due to wanting to show off, but he never wanted to force the Hamato destiny of protecting the Dark Armor onto any of them, so when he realizes the Foot’s plan, he opts to fight them himself, and tells April to tell them that he loves them. It’s no wonder that these turtles call Splinter “dad” more casually than any other version.
• Adaptational Ugliness: This Splinter is shorter and chubbier and has a more wrinkled face compared to past incarnations.
• Adaptation Name Change: Although Splinter's real name is still Hamato Yoshi, he more often went by the Stage Name Lou Jitsu.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Unlike every other incarnation where he is wise and active, Splinter in this one is much goofier and lazier. He later becomes more active near the end of Season 1.
• Adaptation Species Change: The original Splinter is a pure mutant rat. This is another version where Splinter is a human turned rat hybrid.
• Ambiguously Bi: He was canonically in a relationship with Big Mama prior to the events of the series. However, he and Draxum have a lot of subtext with each other, especially in season 2.
• Berserk Button: When Leo dismissed him as "just a rat" in Evil League of Mutants, he blows up. Justified because he's really Lou Jitsu and being called a rat just reminds him of the situation he's stuck in.
• Brain Bleach: Inflicts this on his sons thanks to his robe getting frayed, exposing his tighty-whities.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's most comfortable in front of the TV, but when pushed he reveals himself to be a fierce combatant. This is because, back when he was Lou Jitsu, all he cared about was fame and fortune instead of tradition.
• Cerebus Retcon: Splinter watching Lou Jitsu films? Funny. Splinter watching them because he wants to relive his Glory Days as Lou Jitsu? Not so much.
• Character Development:
  • After finding out about Shredder's existence in Shadow of Evil, he becomes a lot more serious in training the turtles. He also becomes a much more attentive parent in general.
  • He initially can't stand to be around Baron Draxum, understandably due to his part in turning him into a mutant rat (even if not intentionally), which isn't helped by Draxum's Lack of Empathy. After "Hidden City's Most Wanted", however, which has Draxum point out that he wouldn't have his sons if not for him, Splinter realizes he's right, and at the prodding of Michelangelo, the two start trying to get along. By "Anatawa Hitorijanai", Splinter quickly apologizes to Draxum for doubting him when it looked like Draxum was working with the Shredder, suggesting that he's come to accept him as part of the family.
• Composite Character:
  • Combined with Spared by the Adaptation, but much like his 1987 and 2012 incarnations, he's a still living Hamato Yoshi who mutates into Splinter, not a dead man whose pet becomes mutated and the Turtles' mentor.
  • Splinter's dumpier physique, crude, goofier personality, and generally less hands-on training methods give him some resemblance to the Ancient One, a major character in Seasons 4 and 5 of the 2003 series who was briefly Leonardo's teacher.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Not too "hidden" if you are familiar with earlier incarnations of Splinter, but since this version of him spends the majority of Season 1 as a lazy, goofy couch potato, watching him absolutely wreck all four Turtles and be a fairly proactive ninja in Shadows of Evil has this effect. Even with a bad back he manages to school his sons in battle, and despite the occasional slip-up due to being out of shape, he still performs some rather amazing feats throughout the episode.
• Dating Catwoman: As Lou, he had a romance with Big Mama.
• Deuteragonist: A large part of the series centers around his relationship to his sons, and he, through his history with Big Mama, Draxum's machinations, and his clan's ancient feud with the Shredder, acts as a central connective thread between the series' main villains.
• Dope Slap: Chops his sons in the forehead when they screw up.
• Fan Disservice: Splinter gets shaved and shirtless a distressing number of times in the series.
• Fighting Spirit: While his sons can do rather impressive feats when they unlock theirs, Splinter's is revealed to be absolutely enormous, powerful, and shaped like his Lou Jitsu persona to boot.
• Flash Step: He's the first character in the show to do this consistently.
• Foil: Jupiter Jim Ahoy! makes him one to Marcus Moncrief, the star of the "Jupiter Jim " movies. Whereas Splinter/Lou Jitsu has essentially become forgotten barring the Foot Clan being fans of him, Marcus is shown at a Sci-fi convention willing to sign autographs. They both surround themselves with paraphehalia related to their lives as movie stars too. The main differences is that Marcus is now Lost in Character and assumes he really is Jupiter Jim and has paralyzed various cosplayers dressed up as enemies in his films while Splinter can easily remember his "normal" life when not in front of a camera, happily talking about his time as Lou and all of the actors he worked with. Plus, Marcus doesn't have anything outside his life as Jupiter Jim, but Splinter has his sons.
• Formerly Fit: Got rather pudgy and squat after only a few years of raising his kids.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • A lot of his rather hands-off parenting and irresponsible actions could be traced to him yearning for his Glory Days as Lou Jitsu. This is most prominently presented in The League of Evil Mutants and Turtledega Nights: The Ballad of Rat Man. "Goyles, Goyles, Goyles" retroactively implies that he's been suffering from PTSD too.
  • "E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" reveals that the reason he rejected the Hamato Clan's responsibility of defeating the Shredder, is that his mother abandoned him and left him with his grandfather to fufill that destiny. That painful memory still haunts him to this day.
• Generation Xerox: He looks very similar to his grandfather, Sho, just with rat characteristics.
• Giver of Lame Names: He often refers to the turtles by the color of their headbands rather than by their classical artist names in the early episodes. Season 2 reveals that he had this even as Lou Jitsu, referring to the pre-mutated Leonardo and Raphael as "Green" and "Green #2".
• Good Parents: While he can screw up more often that past incarnations, Splinter in this series may have the best portrayals of him as a father. He shows no Parental Favoritism, wants his kids to still be kids and have a happy life, is more affectionate towards them, steps in the way of a fight just to protect them, and shows how he is proud of every single one of them. It's no wonder that the turtles call him "Dad" more times in this series than in past incarnations.
• Grumpy Old Man: This incarnation spends most of his time watching Lou Jitsu movies, becoming annoyed when he's interrupted. This ties into his Freudian Excuse as seen above.
• Hidden Depths:
  • The fact that he knows of the Mutant Underworld. In the first episode, he has a marker with a similar emblem Baron Draxum used to enter it.
  • Al Be Back reveals that he has an amazing operatic voice.
  • The Evil League of Mutants reveals that he was once the human Lou Jitsu, an action star and Battle Nexus Champion.
  • The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek reveals that he has history with Big Mama and Many Unhappy Returns reveals that they're exes and he once tried to propose marriage to her.
  • In Jupiter Jim Ahoy!, he reminisces on his time as Lou Jitsu, but instead of dwelling on his lost glory, instead humbly talks about all the people who he had fun working with in the film shown in the episode, talking about the experience with fondness, and remembers all of their names.
• Instant Expert: Masters Leonardo's mystical odachi with swift ease.
• Internal Deconstruction: Unlike most incarnations of Hamato Yoshi turned into Splinter, this one shows how heavily affected Splinter is transformed into a rat and how much it has affected him. Before the transformation: he was kicking-ass as the movie star Lou Jitsu. After the transformation: a shell of his former self, wishing to relive his glory days.
  • The show also demonstrates how the pressures of the Hamato clan weighed on him. Contrary to the dutiful Hamatos of others shows, he grew up resenting that he and his family were expected to sacrifice so much for a sake of destiny and duty. As a result, he rebelled against the Hamato Clan's teachings and refused to return or reconcile with his family.
• I Was Quite a Looker: He was absolutely handsome as Lou Jitsu. That, and his mutation didn't make him short and fat, he just shrunk in stature and swelled in width over time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His "jerk" sides really come off as a bad first impression in the earlier episodes. Splinter's added screen-time has shown he genuinely loves all his sons.
  • He's got a lovely framed family picture with them in Down with the Sickness.
  • In The Fast and the Furriest, he seems genuinely sad that his boys don't like his T.G.I. Parmesan idea, showing he does care what they think.
  • In Mascot Melee, he adores their gift of a brand new robe so much that he will only use it on "the most special occasions," unfortunately, in the process ruining their hopes that he'd replace his worn-out robe. Later episodes reveal that he does wear it though.
  • He outright helps Raphael defeat the titular antagonist of Mrs. Cuddles after initially making fun of him, and claims nobody messes with his family (or his TV time).
  • The Evil League of Mutants realizes that he has been quite a jerk to the turtles and apologizes for it, to which the turtles forgive him and give him a hug at the end.
  • In Turtledega Nights: The Ballad of Rat Man he tricks Donnie and Mikey into entering a mutant destruction derby with him to relive his glory days as Lou Jitsu. Once Donnie figures this out and makes it clear that the lie hurt his feelings and Splinter realizes he's been a jerk, he sincerely apologizes and is completely willing to drop it and go home in that instant, even telling Donnie he doesn't have to compete when he decides to keep going after all.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The season 1 finale, season 2 premiere and season 2 episode "Goyles, Goyles, Goyles" states it outright that Splinter was originally Lou Jitsu.
• Loves My Alter Ego: While the turtles love him as their adoptive father, they're starstruck when they learn that the Battle Nexus champion Lou Jitsu (who he also is) provided them with their human DNA. Even after learning that Splinter is Lou, they still love him as he is.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If Splinter is not his couch potato self, things are gonna get dire.
  • In Evil League of Mutants, he gets utterly pissed off at the turtles when they dismiss him as "just a rat" and grounds them. After realizing that they ran off, he is sitting alone in his couch without the television on, waiting for them to return.
  • In Shadow of Evil, the normally proudly lazy Splinter becomes very proactive when he finds out that the Foot Clan are still around because they're planning on resurrecting The Shredder and the end of the episode has him decide to finally take training seriously.
  • In The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek, he tasks his sons to retrieve something at the Grand Nexus Hotel and waits for them to return for three days straight, still standing on top of the apartment roof.
  • In The Movie, Splinter immediately stops making fun of Casey Jones and starts taking his warnings seriously when Casey reveals that the alien invaders who decimated the future he comes from are called "The Krang", which the Hamato Clan have history with.
• Offing the Offspring: Two of the symptoms of the "Rat Flu" illness that Splinter can catch consist of viciously attacking anyone nearby. Even if they're his sons.
• Old Master: Despite being middle-aged, well past his prime as Lou Jitsu, he's still capable of taking on all four of the turtles at once without breaking a sweat.
• Papa Wolf: While not on the extreme end, the moment he realized that his sons might be in serious trouble, he went full ninja to try to rescue them. By the season 1 finale, he's completely this giving up the chance of Shredder coming back to life if it means it will save his sons' lives.
  • "Goyles, Goyles, Goyles" reveals that back when he was still Lou he kicked Draxum's ass when he learned that the baby turtles that he grew attached to was going to become experimented on.
  • When he consults with the Hamato Scroll in what to do about his son's being held hostage for ransom, while he might have been tempted by the other options, the moment the spirits tell him to sacrifice his sons, he shreds the scroll. He will not entertain that thought from no one.
• Parents as People: Though must of it can be chalked up to Rule of Funny, Splinter definitely isn't going to win any "parent of the year" awards. He can be extremely self-centered, he can be inattentive to the point of being neglectful, and sometimes he's more immature than his sons are. But he's also generous with praise and much more openly affectionate than any other incarnation of Splinter (except when it's funnier that he isn't), and while he can get too caught up in himself he truly wants the best for his sons and would go to Hell and back for them. Once it's revealed that he's Lou Jitsu, we see a (rat)man who truly does love his sons yet is held back by wanting to relive his glory days of an action star/Battle Nexus champion and is going through PTSD over his transformation.
• Prehensile Tail: His tail can be used to supplement his punches and kicks, letting him perform typically high-commitment/risk moves without leaving himself too open.
• Remember the New Guy?: During one of his more intense training sessions where he tried to teach his sons how to spot hidden enemies (by hunting him), Splinter disguised himself as a ''fifth'' turtle whose presence no one thought to question.
• Rule of Symbolism: When he fights in Endgame and Many Unhappy Returns, he's dressed as he was when he was Lou Jitsu. This shows that while he can no longer become Lou, he's accepted himself as he is.
• Save the Villain: He attempts to pull Big Mama into an escape portal with him at the end of "Battle Nexus: New York" after the Foot Recruit gets control of The Shredder with the intention to wipe out all their enemies. However, before she can escape, The Shredder cuts off the web line attaching her to Splinter.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • In The Evil League of Mutants he knows of how Baron Draxum used the DNA of Lou Jitsu (aka himself) to make the turtles. Lampshaded by Leo who says that he has a shady past.
  • In The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek, he apparently has some...suggestive history with Big Mama. Confirmed in Many Unhappy Returns when he tells Leo that he and Big Mama are exes (and he even proposed marriage to her).
• Significant Double Casting: He has the same voice actor as Lou Jitsu because he is Lou Jitsu.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Due to being a Composite Character of Hamato Yoshi and Splinter, much like his 1987 and 2012 incarnations, he's a still living Hamato Yoshi who mutates into Splinter, not a dead man whose pet becomes mutated and the Turtles' mentor.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Formerly tall and strapping, he eventually became short and wide like his grandfather before him.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Splinter is unmatched in combat, but due to his advanced age and being out of practice, his back can easily throw out if he gets too intensive.
  • Because he's always on his ass watching television, he doesn't find out until Season 1 is halfway over about his sons fighting Baron Draxum and the Foot Clan.
• Take a Third Option: Consulting the scrolls in the Season 1 finale on how to stop Shredder leaves him with two choices: either he takes the last piece of the armor and runs away, having his sons die as martyrs but saving humanity, or he can give the armor piece up to save his sons and doom humanity. Splinter's decision? Shred the ancestor's scroll and say screw all of that because he's going to do save humanity and his sons.
• Tough Love: A very downplayed example as Splinter genuinely loves and cares for his sons. Splinter is okay with letting the boys wander and do their own thing, but is often (sometimes unnecessarily) strict with them when he feels like there's a lesson to be learned. Stated by voice actor Eric Bauza to practice this.
  • Proven both in Flushed but Never Forgotten and The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek where he says that the boys don't seem to learn when fear is not involved, which is why he's so hard on them sometimes.
  • Demonstrated again in Todd Scouts, where he leaves the turtles in the middle of the woods and confiscates their weapons and phones in order to teach them self-reliance. Somewhat softened by the fact that he brings Todd along to give the turtles wilderness survival guidance.
• Walking Spoiler: At first, you think his little quirk of watching Lou Jitsu films and the Lou Jitsu paraphernalia in the cave is that, a quirk. Halfway through season 1, we learn that it's not just a quirk because he was Lou Jitsu and he's stuck trying to relive his glory days.
• Was Once a Man: He was once known as the famous action star Lou Jitsu.
• Wax On, Wax Off: His methods of training usually stems down to "Make my sons watch Lou Jitsu films and see what they make of it." This is actually a way for him to relive his glory days as Lou Jitsu.

Raphael

Ready For a Fight

Voiced by: Omar Benson Miller (English), Alan Prieto (Latin American Spanish)

The eldest of the brothers and the designated leader, Raph is headstrong and passionate about his role. Although he's not the most bookish or quick-witted, his compassion and determination are undeniable.

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• Absurd Phobia: Subverted. Raph was afraid of Mrs. Cuddles, a bunny puppet used for a kid's show. Though he was later proved to be right to be afraid of her.
• Adaptational Curves: He's much bigger and bulkier compared to his previous incarnations, let alone the other turtles in this series.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In comparison with Raph's Jerk with a Heart of Gold incarnations, this one is considerably more "Heart of Gold" and has yet to display "Jerk." During the first episode, he's the one who spots Mayhem while he and the others are goofing off and his immediate response to seeing an animal looking lost and scared is to go help it.
• Adaptational Weapon Swap: Unlike the previous incarnations, he wields Tonfa instead of Sai.
• Adaptation Species Change: In this version, he's an alligator snapping turtle who has spikes on his shell and he is much bigger than his brothers.
• Affectionate Nickname: Known mostly as Raph by his brothers or Red by Splinter.
• Age Lift: In most of his incarnations, Raphael is usually not the oldest of the turtles despite all of them technically being the same age (general fan theory is he is the second oldest, although Co-creator Kevin Eastman has stated that he believes Don is older than Raph, making him the second youngest). Here, he's the oldest one of his brothers, being a year older than Leo and Don and two years older than Mikey.
• Baby Talk: Has this talk specially reserved when talking to his younger brothers or cute animals.
• Battle Cry: "HOT SOUP!"
  • It serves as nice foreshadowing as seen in The League Of Evil Mutants since this is the Character Catchphrase of Lou Jitsu (aka Master Splinter).
• Big Brother Instinct: Raphael is a very protective big brother in this series, and his large size allows him to carry them with ease. He gets bullied by his brothers sometimes, but it's all lighthearted. The moment you so much as touch or even insult his brothers, you better get ready for a world of hurt. Especially if it's the littlest brother Mikey.
• The Big Guy: Literally and figuratively, he's the tallest and bulkiest of the turtles and the main muscle of the group.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's pretty proud of how tough he is.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: A victim of this at the Kraang's tentacles in the movie. Luckily he eventually manages to break free.
• Broken Pedestal: Zigzagged. Was a huge fan of the wrestler Ghostbear, who outright admitted he cheated his way to fame. However, despite knowing Ghostbear’s true personality and the fact that the former wrestler seeks every opportunity to get back at Raph and his brothers for his humiliating defeat, Raph still admires him.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: His profile states "his muscles are bigger than this brain, but his heart is bigger than his muscles."
• The Chains of Commanding: Even though he's only the self-appointed leader, when they're truly in a bind his brothers look to him for a plan. Combined with his self-admittedly being a meathead this causes him a lot of trouble in the series finale as he can't think of any way to defeat Shredder.
• Character Catchphrase: "Like a boss!"
• Cute Little Fangs: Well, to a degree. One of this teeth is a snaggle-tooth.
• The Determinator: None of his brothers wants to follow his plans? Raph doesn't care, going so far as dragging all four of them along with the single arm he can employ in Stuck on you.
• Doppelgänger Spin: He gains the ability to generate energy-based clones of himself after unlocking his Hamato Ninpo.
• Dual Wielding: As per usual, but with Tonfa instead of Sai.
• Dumb Muscle: He's not very bright, and prefers to move into situations fists first without any consideration for strategy.
• Fighting Spirit: Raph's mystic Tonfa allow him to manifest a massive energy projection around himself like a suit of armor.
• Friend to All Living Things: Raphael himself states that animals love him, a Mythology Gag to former adaptations. Unfortunately, Mayhem doesn't count.
• Gentle Giant: He's friendlier than most incarnations of the character, with very little of the traditional Big Brother Bully.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: After about five minutes.
• Good Is Not Soft: Downplayed a bit. While he starts off the show as being very protective and affectionate towards his brothers, and retains that affection throughout the show, Raph slowly starts to allow them to do things for themselves- and, in turn, has less objections towards being harsher or less coddly towards them. Pizza Puffs and Sidekick, Ahoy! display this.
• Hard Light: His mystic Tonfa give him the ability to manifest solid energy constructs, specifically extensions of his own body.
• Hates Being Alone: Oh lord yes. Man vs Sewer shows that he will break down and freak out, violently, if he's left by himself for even a short amount of time. This trait is bad enough that Leo, normally not the most serious turtle, becomes The Determinator in finding him once he's isolated because of the damage he could cause. Even more unsettling in that there’s little information on where this fear stems from.
• Heroic BSoD: Had one in Mrs. Cuddles.
  • And again in Man vs Sewer, where being separated from his siblings and attacked by the Sando Brothers essentially pushes him into a breakdown.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Played for Laughs. Raph, as the oldest in the iteration, is far more outwardly protective of his brothers than before, particularly towards Mikey.
  Raph (while attacking Foot Brute): I'LL DEFEND YOU, MIKEY!
• Large and in Charge: Raphael is much larger and muscular than the other turtles and the leader of the team.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Invoked, as he's the leader this time simply because he stepped up.
• Leader Wannabe: In this series, Raphael is actually the self-appointed leader due to him being the oldest and his brothers being largely disinterested in the position. It's shown he's not very good at making decisions or strategizing, relying more on brute force.
  • In one episode, he's reduced to reading inspiring quotes he wrote on his hand in order to keep the team motivated.
  • It is shown, however, that he is actually pretty decent when it comes to broader objectives, like assessing team dynamics and determining goals for the group. He's also shown to be quite a bit more emotionally competent and mature as the show goes on.
• The Lancer: Played with. He still views himself as the leader, but Leo is mostly the one who organizes things during battles without usurping his position. Though obviously from the outset, Raph is not THE leader he thinks he is, putting him in this position.
  • Following Season 2 finale, this is played straight with Leo eventually given the leader role by Splinter.
• Mythology Gag: He's an alligator snapping turtle in this series, likely an allusion to having owned a snapping turtle, Spike, as a pet in the 2012 series. His design also looks similar to Spike's mutant form, Slash, with his spiky shell and sharper looking mouth.
• Noodle Incident:
  • When Raph gets stuck in Warren Stone's glue trap, Leo says, "Not again..."
  • Another one in Newsworthy: "You ruined that woman's 95th birthday."
• Only Sane Man: He has his moments, notably in Jupiter Jim Ahoy!, where he's the only one who notices there's something wrong with Marcus Moncrief, or in Pizza Puffs, where he's the only turtles who realizes it's a bad idea to eat Meat Sweat's poisoned food.
• The Power of Love: A downplayed variant. When first learning how to use his mystic powers, Raph starts off with Power Incontinence, but the first major instances where he uses his Battle Aura is typically motivated by wanting to protect his brothers. Eventually, however, he uses it more regularly and can use it any time he wants.
• Primal Fear: Don't leave him alone. There’s also some emphasis on the word “primal” given that Savage Raph acts a bit more like an animal than usual.
• Promotion to Parent: Due to Splinter lazing around and doing his own thing, Raph has taken it upon himself to mother his brothers, to the point of being overprotective.
• Running Gag: His "fear stink", which also had variants in "amazing stink" and "victory stink". Another Furry Reminder, here being that snapping turtles release odors when stressed.
• Third-Person Person: At least once per episode. He doesn’t talk like this all the time, unlike many examples, however.
  Raph: Only Raph can use the third person!
  • When he goes savage in Man vs. Sewer, his speech noticeably deteriorates into only being third person.
    Raph: No brothers! Savage Raph ALONE!
• Took a Level in Badass: From vaulting himself against a wall trying to use his Tonfa in the first episode to impressing Splinter with punching Draxum, he leveled up quite a bit over the course of the first season.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He clearly lacks proper leadership or basic strategic capabilities, but makes up for it by being the strongest Turtle, and tends to fall back on using the powers of his Tonfa to overpower his opponents.

Leonardo

Makin' A Scene

Voiced by: Ben Schwartz (English), Miguel Ángel Leal (Latin American Spanish)

The fast-talking quipster of the brothers, Leo always wants to have the last word. While he shows great potential as a leader, he'd much rather joke around and relax.

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• The Ace: Downplayed. He is a natural strategist and leader, especially when contrasted with Raphael. He's also the fastest of the brothers without sacrificing any of his strength. Lair Games also shows that he's won the games for five years in a row with seemingly little competition.
  • Subverted in getting used to mystic powers, where he Can't Catch Up.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: He gets a particularly bad case of this in the beginning of the movie thanks to the defeat of the Shredder, which ends up getting bolstered further when Casey Jones reveals that in the future he'll become the greatest ninja of all time, leading him to believe that he is incapable of doing wrong. Casey chewing Leo out for not living up to the man he was supposed to be humbles him.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: Rise removes Leo's status as the oldest, changing his dynamic with his brothers. He's thus much less serious and more rebellious compared to previous incarnations, with no interest in being the leader despite having the talent for it. He's gotten a brand of humor able to exasperate Mikey.
• Adaptational Personality Change: The most drastic one out of all the turtles. Leonardo is often The Leader, the Only Sane Man, and the one most concerned with the responsibilities he has. Here, he's lazy, more of a jokester than Mikey and likes to push people's buttons for no reason than for his personal entertainment.
• Adaptation Species Change: Subverted; the original Mirage version of the turtles are red-eared sliders, leaving Leo the only one to retain his original species.
• Affectionate Nickname: Known mostly as Leo, but is also called Leon by his brothers (and himself) and Blue by Splinter.
• Age Lift: More of a slight lower. He's usually the eldest of the four brothers, despite being technically the same age as them; here, he's the second oldest along with Donatello - a year younger than Raph and a year older than Mikey. While official sources do not confirm it, fans are split on which twin is older.
• Ambiguously Gay: This iteration of Leo has rather flamboyant body language, has yet to show any interest in girls beyond friendship, and in The Hidden City Job he visibly checks out a seemingly male Yokai's butt, and later openly fawns over Don Suave alongside Big Mama and her goons.
• Animal Gender-Bender: Leo has the bright vibrant markings that red-eared sliders are known for. However, male red-eared sliders tend to have their markings dull and fade as they age; generally around five in turtle years and twelve in human years, so at fourteen, Leo's should be just as dull^note and if not during Rise proper, definitely in the bad future where he's much older yet still has them. Him being a mutant provides a possible justification, but the turtles in most media are red-eared sliders with no visible markings whatsoever (though that could be a case of Informed Species).
• Annoying Younger Sibling: He frequently pranks and trolls Raph and Donnie who may or may not be older than Leo.
• Batman Gambit: His plan in Many Unhappy Returns; he goes to strike up a deal with Big Mama by having Splinter fight in the Battle Nexus in exchange for some help, while his brothers and April fight the Shredder, a plan which Splinter warns him is a terrible idea due to Big Mama being untrustworthy, which isn't helped by Leonardo constantly escalating the bargain. Once Big Mama does inevitably betray Leonardo, Leonardo reveals that he already planned for it, smuggles in their weapons, and due to the show they put on, Big Mama is forced to honor her side of the deal.
• Big Brother Instinct: Despite no longer being the oldest, he is this to his youngest brother, Mikey, whom he shares a special bond with.
• Big Brother Mentor: The creators have described Leo having taken Mikey "under his wing." This is mainly seen with the two of them often hanging around each other whenever the turtles are off doing their own things.
• Blue Is Heroic: As is standard for the character.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Could be the leader like most of his incarnations if he wanted, and shows some skill there on the occasion that he steps up, but isn't interested in putting in the effort. Lair Games shows that he's won the titular games for five years in a row, with the end of the episode heavily implying he let Donatello win, just so that he wouldn't have to hear Splinter's snoring. He's shown in the second season to be very good with talking his way out of situations, manipulating villains, thinking quickly, and coming up with strategies, yet still shows little interest in being a leader in the same manner as Raph. His tendency to wing it on his own ends up biting him massively in the movie, as it leads to a cascading series of mistakes that give the Krang exactly what they need to invade Earth. It's only when he finally takes his role as leader seriously and starts coordinating with his brothers that they actually succeed in stopping the invasion.
• Broken Pedestal: Casey Jones considered his Leonardo to be the greatest ninja of all time and ended up becoming incredibly disappointed in seeing just how arrogant and impulsive he was as a teenager. Leonardo admitting to his weaknesses and learning to work alongside his brothers leads to the pedestal being rebuilt.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Leo is prone to making jokes and puns during a battle. According to him, this is how he copes.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • Played with. He's clearly trying to come up with one, but ends up only yelling out whatever he's doing that moment, resulting in one incident of him shouting, "Kick and punch!"
  • A frequent line he spouts when being chased is "I hate this! I hate this!"
• Character Tics: Leo often dabs during certain moments, especially when striking a pose.
• The Chessmaster: Leo shows shades of this at the start of Season 2. He was able to completely orchestrate a plan with Big Mama and have everything fall into place, just as he had planned.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: When the Turtles formally decide to become vigilantes in Origami Tsunami, Leonardo disinclines them from hunting infamous criminals right out of the gate, reasonably suggesting that they go after more petty malcontents and gradually work their way up. The paper thieves he prods his brothers into pursuing turn out to be members of the Foot Clan.
• Composite Character: Interestingly, this version of Leo takes cues from most versions of Mikey, being a Brilliant, but Lazy jokester.
• The Conscience: Out of all the brothers, Leo is the most vocal and willing to call Donnie out when he's about to do something morally questionable.
• Deadpan Snarker: Perhaps the snarkiest incarnation of Leonardo to date. He is always ready with a quip or remark about their current situation.
• The Determinator: He may be scared and he might be outclassed, but he is not giving up.
• Difficult, but Awesome: His portal ability granted by his odachi. Leonardo is very poor at using it early on in the series, often either failing to open a portal at all or opening it to the wrong location. However, as the show goes on, he noticeably improves with it, allowing him to counter and often disorient enemies with ease, along with making it an excellent fallback option when the characters are forced to retreat.
• Facial Markings: He has two red stripes going down his eyes. Flashbacks reveal he had them even pre-mutation. Justified since he’s a red-eared slider, which have the markings in real life.
• Fatal Flaw: This Leo's biggest flaw is his pride, given that most of his problems stem from him trying to prove his own greatness, thinking he can find an easy way out of things or can trick his brothers into going along with his nonsense.
• The Gadfly: He has a tendency to act self-important and push people's buttons just because he can. One of his defining quirks is how often he sticks out his tongue at everyone and everything.
• The Heart: For as lazy and irresponsible as he is, he's the most concerned about doing right by others and considering how their actions might affect them. Even when he's the one causing problems, it's always a result of genuinely good intentions marred by his need to prove himself.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: He's still baring his dual katanas, at least until he trades them in for an Ōdachi.
• Hidden Depths:
  • While he acts fairly egotistical and sure of himself, as revealed in Portal Jacked, Leo admits that he feels that he is nothing without his brothers.
  • On a lighter note, The Clothes Don't Make The Turtle reveals that he's a huge fan of stage magic.
• How Do I Shot Web?: He has a much harder time grasping the mystic powers of his weapon when compared to Raph and Mikey brothers. Several scenes have him struggling to open a portal when he really needs it. He finally matures and grows into a competent fighter by the end of Season 1.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Unlike the previous incarnations, he wields an Ōdachi instead of his usual twin katanas, though he did use his original weapons briefly in the first episode.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Due to how he Can't Catch Up with Raphael and Michelangelo, Leonardo went to the extent of seeing himself as The Load in Minotaur Maze. It puts his joking to cope in a new light.
• The Klutz: Downplayed and justified, a Furry Reminder of his being a slider; he's not the most graceful on his feet.
• The Leader: In season 2 finale, he's officially given this role by Splinter like his other incarnations... At the last closing seconds of the episode.
• Lightning Bruiser: Shown to be the fastest of the brothers — outrunning both Raph and Mikey in the first episode even though they had a head-start and he needed time to get to his feet and grab his weapon — and can almost effortlessly toss enemies around.
• Made of Iron: A pretty notable example in the movie, where he endures an extended beatdown at the hands of Krang 1 after he strands the both of them in a separate dimension and destroys the Technodrome. For perspective, Krang 1 in his Power Armor can punch the ground hard enough to make it explode, and he was so enraged at that point that he wasn't bothering to hold back.
• One-Handed Zweihänder: He occasionally wielded the Ōdachi with one hand. That said, Ōdachi literally translates to Greatsword.
• Only Sane Man: Downplayed. While many episodes show him being the only one actually trying to be serious and think about other people (such as Bug Busters where he rightfully doubts Big Mama, or Man Vs Sewer where he constantly reins Mikey and Donnie in to find Raph), other episodes show that he can just as easily goof off and act in his own self-interest if he feels like it.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • In Insane in the Mama Train, having adopted the new "Ninja of the Hamato Clan" persona, Leo does not make any puns, jokes, or one-liners more, enough for April to comment on it. This tic returns when he and his brothers return to their "Mad Dogs" selves.
  • As the lair is being decimated by The Shredder in Shreddy or Not, Leonardo is so afraid that he makes no comedic quips, and spends his very brief fight with the Shredder trying to get away from him.
• Pretty Boy: Self-described for "putting the prettiest face first", then the trope name is echoed mockingly by Raph when it doesn't work. (He is of course, a mutant turtle, but he is the most conventionally pretty of the brothers by human standards.)
• Smarter Than You Look: His laziness and constant one-liner spewing make him look rather dim, but he's shown on multiple occasions to be surprisingly good at long-term planning when he's motivated. He was also the only turtle to immediately mistrust Big Mama upon meeting her.
• Teleport Spam: After unlocking his Hamato Ninpo, he gains the ability to teleport to wherever he tosses his dual katanas. He can also teleport other people to a katana's location, as shown when he tags Raph in during the final fight with Shredder.
• Thinking Up Portals: His Ōdachi can open portals from one place to the next, though he has a little bit of trouble reliably controlling it at first. He's gotten way better by the end of Season 1.
• Took a Level in Badass: Started out in the series being the most troubled out of all the brothers with learning his new Mystic Powers and frequently felt like that he simply can't stand next to his brothers skill-wise. However, with each coming episode, Leo just gets better and better. By the finale, not only is Leo able to hold his own against competent villains like the Guardsmen, he's now more or less mastered his portal power. Many Unhappy Returns shows this mastery off in full, with Leo using his portals to effortlessly play Big Mama and take down the opponents she pitted him and Splinter against.
• The Trickster: Labelled as such in the toyline. As Many Unhappy Returns shows, this isn't an Informed Attribute. Despite appearing to not be taking the negotiation with Big Mama seriously and giving Splinter progressively worsening odds, he reveals that the whole escalation had been part of his plan the entire time to force Big Mama to uphold her end of the deal.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2 with Donnie. They snark, banter, and tease each other a great deal, but at the end of the day do love each other very much and are shown/implied to hang out together by themselves many times.
• You Are in Command Now: In the movie, Leo's character arc is struggling with the fact that he's been made leader, with the others encouraging him to push forward despite their massive disadvantage due to the Krang.

Donatello

Rocks Machines

Voiced by: Josh Brener (English), Pascual Meza (Latin American Spanish)

The smartest of the turtles, Donnie never hesitates to show off his inventions and rub his brain in others' faces. While his ego and desire to prove himself can make him a pain, he cares deeply about his family and only wants to prove himself to them.

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• Absurd Phobia: Donnie seems to be afraid of beach balls for some reason. It isn't really explained, but he mentions it frequently as his irrational fear.
  • Possibly explained in "Lair Games". When clips of previous games are shown, one depicts a beach ball hectically ricocheting around a room with Donnie as a small child curled in fetal position, desperately trying to avoid it.
• Adaptational Badass: His bo staff is much more highly mechanized than in other incarnations, giving him versatile ways of attacking. He's also the only Turtle to land a hit on Baron Draxum in the pilot, while the others were struggling with their new weapons. He's also got a highly mechanized backpack, with various different versions depending on the situation, making him easily the most prepared.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Donnie is generally the nicest of the Turtles in previous incarnations, sometimes being Innocently Insensitive at worst. This series portrays Donnie as more easily irritated by brothers' silly behavior, as well as having an incredibly large ego. He still gets along with April and his brothers just fine, though.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. The movie makes it clear that Donnie struggles doing the usual acrobatics without the use of his technology to help him, while in all other adaptations, he's as fit as his brothers.
• Adaptation Inspiration: Donatello's artificial shell is a nod to the comics where his shell had to be replaced with a metal one after an attack from Bebop and Rocksteady. In this version, he starts out with the artificial shell over his real one and is made to be a soft-shelled turtle to justify him having one in the first place.
• Adaptation Species Change: In this version, Donatello is a soft-shelled turtle.
• Affectionate Nickname: Known mostly as Donnie, but is also called Don by his brothers (which, ironically enough, was his primary nickname, in the original Mirage comics, the NES and SNES games and in the 2003 series) and Purple by Splinter, sometimes even Donald.
• Age Lift: In all incarnations, according to Franchise co-creator Kevin Eastman, Donatello is the second oldest despite all four brothers being the same age. Here he and Leo are both a year younger than Raph and a year older than Mikey, making Leo and Don the second oldest. Although official sources do not confirm it, fans are divided on which “twin” is the older of the two.
• Alpha Strike: Against Shredder, Donnie brings out all of his tech at once to attack. And he means all of it.
  Donatello: Eat science!
• Awesome Backpack: To compensate for his soft shell, Donnie's equipped himself with a mechanical cover for it that can unfold into a VTOL-styled Jet Pack. It also has many retractable waldo arms tipped with various tools for quick building.
• Badass Bookworm: Despite being the brains of the group, it doesn't mean he can't also bring the brawn. He was the only one able to score a hit on Draxum with the help of his more than stellar works of technology.
• Badass Normal: Up until the finale, Donnie has been able to handle mystical villains with non-mystical tech, with little room for compromise (he does use small magic at times to boost his gadgets). At the start of the series, he chose to stick with his Bo staff over the mystical weapons his brothers use.
• Berserk Button: He actually gets incredibly upset in The Ballad of Rat Man when he finds out Splinter lied to him about taking the Tank to a car show, more for the fact that Splinter lied than the fact that he brought the Tank to a demolition derby.
• Big Brother Instinct: Although he is normally not very affectionate towards his family, he clearly has a soft spot for his younger brother Michelangelo. There is never a moment in the movie during a battle or danger where Donnie is not protecting Mikey and he is always focusing on his little brother's safety over his own.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Draws them on his bandana.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Does this on occasion.
• Broken Aesop: His arc about reluctantly accepting the mystical is potentially rendered moot during the show's finale where it's heavily implied that all yokai, and perhaps all magic, stem from repurposed alien technology.
• Characterization Marches On: His Control Freak tendencies throughout Season 1, such as trying to curb tendencies about his brothers he finds annoying or (literally) turning them into copies of himself, are heavily downplayed as it goes on, showing greater tolerance for the people around him, with most episodes in the series emphasizing his desire for validation, a character trait introduced in Bug Busters.
• Companion Cube: He's very fond of his bo staff due to all the modifications he's made to it, even turning down a mystical Kusari-Gama-esque weapon while remarking "I'll never let you go" and caressing it.
• Complexity Addiction: He seems to enjoy making things difficult. In "Donnie Vs Witchtown" he decides to artificially age worms rather than find older ones, and one comic has him believing that replacing the floor with treadmills is a good way to promote exercise. After increasing his brother's intelligence effectively turns them into obnoxious clones of himself, he uses his tendency to overthink things as part of a trap to revert them to normal.
• Control Freak: He hates it when things don't go according to how he thinks they should. At one point, he "gifts" Leonardo a shock collar that zaps him every time he quips, Mikey an inflatable suit that renders him an immobile ball when he flips too much, and Raph a helmet that tries to force him to make plans. He also moans when his brothers get in the way of his science experiments (even when he's the one with Skewed Priorities) and gets frustrated when S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. stops listening to him as a result of his reprogramming.
• Deadpan Snarker: This incarnation of Donnie has to deal with two goofball brothers and one knucklehead this time around, and snarks considerably more as a result.
• The Determinator: Amazingly, he is this in Lair Games to the point where he wouldn't let a broken ankle stop him from competing against Leonardo who's always winning 5 years straight. While he does win against Leo, it didn't quite pay off.
• Evil Laugh: Parodied. Rather than simply laughing evilly, he will literally say "evil laugh" verbatim.
• Face Your Fears: Donnie is afraid of beach balls, but after he turns his brothers into overwhelming insufferable geniuses and turns them back, Donnie is forced to use his beach balls to scare his brothers into the exit.
• Forehead of Doom: Has quite a big forehead compared to his brothers. He's also the most morally ambiguous sibling.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: While crawling away from the group in "Todd Scouts" his shell can be seen bending, which makes sense, as softshell turtles' have somewhat flexible shells.
• Freudian Excuse: He Does Not Like Magic and tries to rationalize or 1-up it when he can because, being the smart one, he has used science to justify his place on the team. If magic can do what science (and by extension Donatello) can and better, then where does that leave him?
• Gadgeteer Genius: Donnie is always inventing and creating new gadgets and machines, whether it be for convenience or to help their missions.
• Genius Bruiser: He's both an effective ninja and a genius, arguably one of the most competent of his brothers when it comes to accomplishing goals.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: Early in the show, he programmed them to detect mystic energy readings.
• Hard on Soft Science: In Mystic Library, he has this attitude towards geology.
• Heroic BSoD: Had one regarding beach balls in Mind Meld.
• Hidden Depths: Bug Busters implies that he wants some form of approval and validation for his tech, and is the most vocal about feeling betrayed by Big Mama. In Ballad of the Rat Man, it reveals that Donnie has always craved the positive validation from his own father Splinter, getting excited when Splinter says he's proud of him and feeling betrayed when he found out Splinter lied to him. He also reveals in Donnie vs. Witch Town that being the science guy is the only thing he knows, and that he's afraid of being left behind once mysticism can accomplish something that he can't.
• Hypocrite: In Smart Lair, Donatello tries to guilt his brothers for having reprogrammed S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. to be biased toward them (to the point S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. tries to kill Donnie). Donatello himself had blatantly programmed S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. to be loyal to him, which even S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. calls Donatello out on.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: For all his bragging, Donnie secretly craves validation for his accomplishments, which often impacts his judgement. Donnie vs. Witch Town has him admit to April that the reason he's so adamant to flaunt his scientific know-how is because he's afraid that being the "science guy" is the only reason anyone ever needs him.
• Infinite Supplies: Donnie in particular has such futuristic gear, one wonders where he even gets it all and the energy to supply it. Somewhat implied that he swipes whatever usable materials he can from the Junkyard.
• Informed Species: He's a soft-shelled turtle, but lacks its most distinctive feature, the long snout. It's worth noting, however, that he was shown with a long snout pre-mutation, so it's possible that the human DNA has something to do with that.
• Insufferable Genius: He knows he has a big brain and is proud of it, constantly talking down to others not on the same level of technological expertise, yelling at them when they get in the way of his experiments, and often suffers from Skewed Priorities whenever his For Science! instincts kick in.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's got a huge ego, and has a tendency to disparage everyone around him. Thankfully, this doesn't stop him from still doing the right thing, and he does sincerely love his family and friends.
• Lack of Empathy: Downplayed. He's definitely not a psychopath, but is noted to be somewhat unemotional and doesn’t always react appropriately to other people's feelings. When S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. starts acting out, Donnie has a hard time understanding and showing the drone empathy, thinking he should deal with it by permanently locking the restraining bolt as a punishment.
• Large Ham: He's arguably the most flamboyant of the turtles, giddily announcing his excitement to use the super lethal cannons he installed on the Turtle Tank, groaning when his brothers remind him that Splinter is on board the truck they're trying to stop, and happily posing while trying on clothes from the 80s.
• Like Father, Like Son: Mikey compared and noticed his temper and parenting being exactly like Splinter as seen in each photo.
  • Splinter himself seems to think out of all the boys Donnie is the most like him.
    Donatello: (Sing-songs) Oh pu-pah...! If you surrender now, there shan't be any consequences...!
    Splinter: That is a lie! I taught him that one.
• Logical Weakness: His hi tech bo staff is chock full of useful tools and is as effective as his brothers' mystic weapons, but it still requires a physical power source to actually work. He's also the turtle with a literal soft shell, so he's vulnerable if his tech shell is missing or destroyed (the Todd Scouts episode shows him building a shell made of tree bark almost immediately as if by instinct).
• Loophole Abuse: He's to pair with Hypno to either win a chess game together or die, with Donnie as the pieces and the magician, who has no idea how to play, as the one making the moves. After Hypno spends forever trying to decide his first move, their opponent slams his fist down in frustration, knocking over his own king. As this is how people acknowledge defeat in chess, Donnie immediately starts proclaiming that the Yokai has forfeited, allowing his side to win the game by doing absolutely nothing.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: His battle cries are various science terms and references to scientists, like "Entropy!" or "Fibonacci!"
• Mad Scientist: The guy really wants uranium, and not to mention some of his more questionable inventions.
• Martial Arts Staff: Unlike the others, he keeps his trademark Bō Staff, but he's upgraded it into a more high-tech transforming weapon.
• Middle Child Syndrome: At one point, Raph implies Donnie has this.
  Raph: Donnie, if you don't cut it out with your middle child nonsense, I'm gonna SHOVE YOUR HEAD IN THE-
• Morality Pet: His brothers are this to him. Without them for him to love and take care of, Donnie would probably stray more into villain territory than anything else. Or, he would least do whatever benefits himself the most without thinking of anyone else.
• Morph Weapon: His bo staff can transform into nearly anything he needs. Knives, bayonets, saws, flamethrowers, drills, rocket hammers, and many more things (including a disco ball and a built-in camera for selfies). Somehow it's all able to fit inside that thin little bo staff without being impossibly heavy. Lampshaded by Donatello himself, who says he likes to fight the old-fashioned way... with impossibly futuristic tech weapons.
• Mr. Exposition: He enjoys talking at length about his technology and discoveries, which Leo refers to as "speech mode."
• Never My Fault: He tends to deflect or try to ignore when he makes mistakes, and will rarely admit when he's wrong.
  • He blames April for his tech getting stolen by the Purple Dragons in The Purple Jacket, even though he showed them his tech in the first place, and was the only one with any maintained interest in the club.
  • In Al Be Back, he pretends he didn't rebuild Albearto due to the murderous rampage the animatronic went on.
  • In Donnie vs. Witch Town, despite being shown photographic evidence of April's science fair projects going south when she got help from him, he says that it was probably another "teenage mutant ninja Donnie."
• Not So Above It All: Generally, Donnie will be the one looking exasperated at his brothers' antics. But he has his moments where he seems... unhinged.
• Only Sane Man: Being the most intelligent of the turtles, he can be this at times. Especially in Mind Meld, where he's the only one to take the mission seriously.
• Robot Buddy: Later creates S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. who becomes this to Donnie.
• Science Hero: His staff is a Titanium-made Swiss-Army Weapon that he prefers to all the magic ones.
• Self-Serving Memory: If he's to blame for an incident, chances are he will be unable to recall it ever happening. When Raph brings up the time Albearto turned evil after Donnie upgraded him, not only does Donnie claim he doesn’t know what he's talking about, he acts like he's never even heard of the animatronic.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Donnie tends to describe his gadgets using the biggest words possible even when there are much simpler common words to describe the same thing. Leo is usually the one to hurry him to get to the point.
• Sinister Surveillance: Not exactly sinister, but still pretty creepy. Donnie can tap into any security camera in New York, records "everything" and has secretly put trackers on likely each of his siblings. Whenever they start to get suspicious, Donnie dodges the question.
  Leo: Wait, does that mean you put trackers on all of us?
  Donnie: …No? No, of course I did… n't.
• The Smart Guy: And Teen Genius, of course.
• Smart People Play Chess: He goes into the chess-based battle in "Battle Nexus: New York" with confidence... only for Big Mama to turn the tables on him by making him all of the game pieces.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: After unlocking his Hamato Ninpo, Donnie gains the ability to create weapons and machinery from nothing. This allows him to summon almost whatever he needs in the midst of battle, be it just a hammer or an entire arsenal of heavy artillery.
• Token Evil Teammate: Donnie is a borderline example. He occasionally displays violent tendencies, such as wanting to destroy a car his adoptive father was in, uses his brothers for various experiments, and can be quite callous and dismissive towards his family. Despite this, he still loves his family and will ultimately do the right thing.
• Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of the series, Donnie is much more outwardly kind and compassionate than at the beginning.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2 with Leo. They snark, banter, and tease each other a great deal, but at the end of the day do love each other very much and are shown/implied to hang out together by themselves many times.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Even when he tries to play it cool, it's plain to see that out of the four brothers, Donnie's the most determined to earn some validation from Splinter.
  • It becomes apparent that Donnie is praised so rarely that he craves validation from any adult he considers "parent-aged". Multiple times he's tricked into helping villains because he views them as parental figures and he later gets into a fight with Leo and Mikey for Karai's attention after she compliments his tech.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Part of the reason why he's such a vocal skeptic about magic and mystical forces (despite his frequent encounters with them) is because he's afraid that his tech-based skills (and by extension, him) would be considered expendable by his family. April smacks some sense into him in Donnie Vs. Witch Town by telling him that he matters to her, not his gadgets, and that science and mystic powers work better together.

Michelangelo

Got Mad Skills

Voiced by: Brandon Mychal Smith (English), Carlos Siller (Latin American Spanish)

The youngest of the turtles, Mikey is a bundle of cheer and excitement. Styling himself as "Dr. Delicate Touch", he is the most in tune with his emotions and always wants to see the very best in everyone.

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: Inverted, oddly enough. While Mikey's still fairly silly, the comedic traits the other characters have taken on means he's no longer the Plucky Comic Relief, with more emphasis put on his artistic talents and high empathy.
• Adaptational Weapon Swap: While Michelangelo has been versed in the use of nunchucks, grappling-hooks and chain-scythes in different incarnations, this version also wields a Kusari-Fundo, a chain-based weapon that he uses as a Killer Yo-Yo.
• Adaptation Species Change: Mikey is now a box turtle^note Though the brothers were previously identified as box turtles in the 2014 film with the unique ability to fully retract into his shell. He does so a lot when he's in danger or sometimes for an attack.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: He is often comforted by pats to the head by his brothers or by April.
• Affectionate Nickname: Known mostly by his nickname Mikey, but is also called Michael, Mike (which, ironically enough, was his primary nickname, in the original Mirage comics and the NES and SNES games) , Miguel, and Angelo by his brothers. He is also called Orange by Splinter.
• Age Lift: Downplayed. Mikey is still the youngest of the four but while in previous incarnations, he’s technically the same age as his brothers, here he is a year younger than Leo and Don and two years younger than Raph.
• All-Loving Hero: He's a sweet and earnest kid who tries to bring out the best in everyone. That includes Baron Draxum after he finds out that he created the turtles, essentially making him their father. The moment he sees an opportunity to potentially redeem Draxum, he takes it without hesitation.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: While not terribly annoying most of the time due to his mostly amiable personality, he sometimes can come off at this to his older brothers.
• An Odd Place to Sleep: While not terribly odd, he's the only one of his brothers to sleep on a hammock than an actual bed. Without a blanket as well (though does seem to do so on occasion).
• The Baby of the Bunch: Mikey is often youngest, but being 13 is the youngest the franchise has done yet. While not outright babied most of the time, the others are usually quite friendly with their youngest sibling, offering him pats on the head for comfort, not minding & accepting his sometimes spontaneous hugs, and take extra time to make sure he's safe.
• Badass Adorable: Even though he's arguably the cutest of the brothers, he still is an extremely proficient and powerful fighter.
• Berserk Button:
  • Disgracing pizza is a big no for Mikey. The collapse of the brothers' favorite pizza places is one of the fiercest he's ever been.
  • Also using cute phrases like pinching cheeks as a threat or destroying cute objects upsets him greatly.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Lampshaded by Mikey himself. He's usually a nice, peaceful, kindhearted turtle, but push his buttons and he won't hesitate to bite back; mostly played for comedic purposes.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's a lovable goofball most of the time. But as shown in Many Unhappy Returns, he can be a force to be reckoned with since his plan to stop Shredder included hurling a fully loaded freight ship to the face!
• Brutal Honesty: Though he's shown to be gentle and kindhearted, he doesn't seem to hold back when it comes to telling the blunt honest truth (or lie depending on the situation) via his "Dr. Delicate Touch" persona.
• Character Catchphrase: "Oh me gosh!"
• Character Tics: Mikey is often seen climbing and sitting on his brother's shells, sometimes being piggybacked by them. He does this the most to Raph, but he does do it to all of his brothers. He also puts his hands behind his head when he's relaxed.
• Cheerful Child: Mikey, the most childish of the brothers, usually seen with a cheerful grin on his face, no matter what the occasion, even in battle.
• Childish Tooth Gap: Mikey has an adorable little gap in his set of pearly whites, which enunciates his position as the youngest brother.
• Cloudcuckoolander: His thought process is a lot different and wilder than his brothers. Downplayed example, he has his Skewed Priorities in Donnie's Gifts, as well as his train of thought during The Fast and the Furriest.
  Mikey: Are we gonna need a protractor?
  Donnie: No.
  Mikey: An abacus?
  Donnie: Literally never.
  Mikey: (excited) A bag full of sausages?
  Donnie: Man, I don't understand how your brain works.
• Combat Parkour: While all turtles jump and flip, Mikey does so considerably more than the rest and is quite graceful, if not a bit reckless, when it comes to jumping around. His flips are frequently quoted as his strong point by his brothers and acknowledged by Mikey himself.
• Competition Freak: Seems to be a little of this somewhat, eager to beat Leo in You Got Served.
• Confusion Fu: Mikey's Kusari-Fundo makes him fight like this. In real life, Kusari-Fundo's are one of the most unpredictable weapons due to the heavy chain. Mikey's takes it up a notch by having the end of the Kusari-Fundo a sentient mythic fire strong enough to randomly propel Mikey forward. Mikey's random personality compliments this.
• Cuddle Bug: While all the brothers love their hugs once in a while, Mikey is one whose always loves accepting and giving lots of hugs, especially glomps. He's the most physically affectionate of his brothers and also tends to cling to his older brothers when frightened.
• The Cutie: Mikey has a lot more of that 'silly childish humor' than his brothers and seems to just love cute things like unicorns and puppies. He's also pretty kind-hearted and polite, though can still be considerably childish a lot of the time.
• Epic Flail: His enchanted Kusari Fundo, whose ball can become engulfed in a living fireball to fly around on its own, dragging Mikey with it. He can also use it to snare and toss practically anything regardless of weight, once using it to throw an entire cargo ship by its guard railing at Shredder.
• Furry Reminder: Mikey likes to pop into his shell at times when he feels scared or in danger.
• Fun Personified: Mikey's artistic endeavors make him always down to have a good time, seeing beauty in most things.
• Hand Behind Head: Seems to be Mikey's Character Tic. He is frequently seen putting his hands behind his head in a relaxed pose.
• The Heart: Different from most examples in that he's still willing to jump into a fight and show off his moves, but he is also the brother to have a non-combative nature and the least pride at stake in conflicts. He also loves to give compliments to his brothers. He was also the only one with big enough a heart to forgive and even help Draxum despite all he's done.
• Hidden Depths: In Breaking Purple he's the one who gives Donnie advice when it comes to Shelldon's rebellious personality.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He has shades of this, though it's Played for Laughs. He believes that Meat Sweats is interested in being his friend in Nothing but Truffle, calls Foot Recruit his "frenemy", and tends to look for the best in villains who he thinks are trying to do something he sees as positive even when they're clearly uninterested, such as in Origami Tsunami, when he joyfully thinks Foot Lieutenant is making arts and crafts when he makes an origami soldier. The only time this works in his favor so far has been with Baron Draxum, whom he helps reform.
• Keet: Mikey is a relatively small, cute, hyperactive, and colorful turtle who just loves to have fun.
• Killer Yoyo: Michelangelo's new Kusari-fundo functions like one.
• Kill It with Fire: His weapon's magic ability engulfs it in flame, allowing it to be propelled forward with great force but making it difficult to control.
• Never My Fault: Shows small shades of this sometimes with people other than his brothers.
• Nice Guy: Mikey is very sweet all around, as the series plays up his earnest nature.
• Only Sane Man: Downplayed due to his own eccentricities, but he serves as a bit of a mediator between his brothers when they're arguing. He and Leo seem to flip-flop between this trope.
• Protectorate: Being the most infantile of his family and The Baby of the Bunch, Mikey's older brothers are usually quite protective of him to the point of being overprotective. Although unfortunately not entirely to his liking, Raphael immediately goes Papa Wolf just sensing that Mikey might be in danger. Leonardo is a Big Brother Mentor to him and the two share a special bond. Even the normally arrogant Donatello shows that he has a visible soft spot for Mikey and in the movie there is basically no moment during the battle that he isn't worried about Mikey's safety.
• Team Chef: A big fan of "Kondescending Kitchen" (which stars Meat Sweats), and on Splinter's sick day he wanted a brick oven for making pizza.
• Tender Tears: Being the most outwardly sensitive of the Turtles, this happens quite often.
• Variable-Length Chain: The length of the chain on his weapon is as long as he wants to be, justified in both cases as being explicitly mystical.
• Weapon Twirling: Due to the nature of his weapon, Mikey often twirls the "ball" part of his Kusari-Fundo, even when idle.

April O'Neil

Voiced by: Kat Graham (English), Azul Valadez (Latin American Spanish)

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• Action Girl: She tries to be at least. She's not a major powerhouse or has any training but is very proactive and will charge into battle with her bat. Splinter does start training her how to fight in "Fists of Furry." Once her bat becomes mystical and she merges with Karai, she easily fights alongside the turtles.
• Adaptational Badass: Like her 2012 incarnation, April is rarely a damsel in distress like her older counterparts. Here, despite being untrained, she's more than capable of fighting alongside the Turtles, even defeating villains like Meat Sweats and Foot Recruit without their aid. She's also much more of a physical fighter, preferring melee combat.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Despite her being a high schooler, her parents are never seen in full in the show.
• Badass Adorable: She’s a cute girl who won’t hesitate to take down foes twice her size.
• Badass Normal: She's a normal human but is more than willing to jump into the fray alongside the turtles. She's the one to deal the final blow against Baron Draxum in the season 1 finale.
• Batter Up!: Her signature weapon seems to be a baseball bat (which in previous incarnations was among Casey Jones's favored weapons). She is shown having a bat in her home. She also uses a baseball bat to help defeat a Shredder-armor wearing Baron Draxum in the season 1 finale. If she doesn't have it with her, she'll mostly use whatever blunt weapon is on hand. In “Donnie Vs. The Witch Town" she gets a magically infused bat to fight with.
• Bespectacled Cutie: She's a caring, cute girl with a big heart. Her glasses serve to emphasize her cuteness, but she otherwise starkly averts the "shy and reserved" archetype associated with this trope.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: April is convinced that her birthday is cursed, since unfortunate things just always seem to happen on that day, as shown in "Warren and Hypno, Sitting in a Tree."
• Blood Knight: A mild version, but this April is arguably the incarnation most eager to throw some punches.
• Butt-Monkey: In terms of her social life outside of the Turtles; she's not very popular at school, she has a hard time holding a steady part-time job, and almost all her extracurricular activities end up backfiring on her hard.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "APRIL O'NEIL!!!!" ala Leeroy Jenkins.
  • Also "...this whole situation."
• Character Tics: If she is forced to summarize the overall strangeness of a plot, she waves her hand and ends her sentence with... "this whole situation".
• Cool Big Sis: In the novelization, April considers the turtles like her brothers. She's also older than the oldest of the bros, Raph, by one year (at age 16).
• Crazy-Prepared: She has a crane license just in case she has to hurl cranes at bad guys as shown in Many Unhappy Returns.
  (mockingly) "Why'd you get a crane license, April?" (normal) BECAUSE THIS!!!!
• Disabled in the Adaptation: In contrast to her past incarnations, this April requires glasses.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Has gone undercover a couple of times in Foot Clan threads.
• Empowered Badass Normal: She becomes this after Karai transfers her essence into her, giving her access to Hamato Ninpo.
• Fangirl: A big one of Warren Stone ever since she was a little kid.
• Free-Range Children: She's mentioned having parents, but they're never seen in full, or even mentioned about how they might've reacted to their daughter being absent for days at a time or their apartment getting wrecked (directly and indirectly) by the Turtles several times.
• Friendless Background: She doesn't appear to have a ton of friends outside of the turtles, which she can be self-conscious about—in fact, prior to befriending Sunita in "Operation: Normal," arguably the closest she has to a friend outside of the turtles is Dale, a weird classmate of hers who appears to have a crush on her (which April clearly doesn't return).
• Genki Girl: She's a very energetic and spunky girl always raring for a fight.
• Improvised Weapon: She engages in Produce Pelting in The Gumbus, using a sausage as an arrow.
• Intrepid Reporter: The movie shows she majoring in journalism in university and breaks into a lab at night to investigate rumors that the school is secretly creating a powerful deforestation bomb for foreign governments. The rumors turn out to be true, and the samples of the substance she nabs for evidence prove to be the only effective weapon against the Krang, burning a hole straight through Krang Two's eye.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Practically rushes headlong into danger in the pilot to rescue Mayhem with no plan whatsoever other then just flail wildly. Her battle cry is even similar to Leeroy's by yelling out her own name.
  Mikey: Oh me gosh, she just ran in!
  • Her Fearless Fool trend extends to her appearance in The Gumbus, where she's laughing her head off while Leo and Mikey screech in fear.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Her absolute glee about ghosts during The Gumbus shows that she has some interesting tastes.
• Only Sane Man: Being a regular human often gives her a more grounded reaction to the turtles' usual antics.
• Race Lift: This incarnation is not a Caucasian redhead, but an African-American redhead.
• Sassy Black Woman: When in a verbal sparring match, she really cranks the snark up. And sometimes while she's physically fighting too!
• Scapegoat: In "The Purple Jacket", Donnie blames April for the Purple Dragons stealing his tech to commit crimes with, despite her having told him not to get involved with them and his getting mixed up with the group being entirely his own fault. April is less than impressed with his behavior.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: She tends to play this role to the turtles, particularly towards Donatello.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: After Karai transfers her essence into April, her outfit transforms into one that subtly resembles Karai's robes.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Sunita's Girly Girl.
• Weirdness Magnet: Lampshaded by Leo in "Operation: Normal", where she attempts to have a normal day with a new friend. Of course, it turns out her new friend isn't human.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: She never has the same job twice throughout the first season. Became a rather critical plot point in 'Shadow of Evil' where she accidentally finds herself working at an evil shoe store run by The Foot Clan.

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Allies

Other residents of the Turtles' sewer lair.

Mayhem

A dog or cat-like yokai that April O'Neil adopts as her pet.

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• All Animals Are Dogs: Inverted. While Donatello calls him a "dog-thing", he looks and acts more like a cat.
• Ambiguously Evil: He's an agent sent to keep an eye on Baron Draxum, but it's hard to tell if he's really benevolent or not.
• The Ending Changes Everything: A single flashback in the Season 1 finale reveals that he's actually sent to spy on Baron Draxum.
• Meaningful Name: He gets his name for the chaos that he created in his debut.
• Teleport Spam: His main ability. It's his primary means of evading perceived danger.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: It's not clear what it is other than adorable.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He's mysteriously absent from the entirety of Season 2.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.

Voiced by: Greg Cipes

Also known as just Shelldon. Donnie's personal robot and helper.

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• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Starts out pretty nice and helpful to the turtles, but Donnie purposely programmed Shelldon to favor him over his brothers. When Leo, Raph, and Mikey mess with his programming, it reverses and favors the other turtles over Donnie instead, but Shelldon decides that he wants to replace Don instead of just favoring the others. Shelldon's second incarnation averts this and is shown to be incredibly helpful.
• Artificial Intelligence: He's a sentient program that runs most of Donnie's tech.
• Bratty Teenage Son: He goes through this phase in "Breaking Purple," to the point he runs away from the lair after one too many fights with Donnie. Unfortunately, he runs into the Purple Dragons, who are more than happy to manipulate him.
• Characterization Marches On: He initially behaves like a butler before being altered by the other Turtles, which makes him behave much more rebelliously and attempt to kill Donatello. Later appearances use a personality similar to his second one, but brattier.
• Cute Machines: While not as adorable as most examples, Shelldon sports adorable round eyes and his second incarnation has his mouth upturn in what looks like a smile. His second incarnation looks like a purple sea turtle.
• Deadpan Snarker: Seems to have adopted some of this attitude, probably partly in due to his creator being the master of this.
• Killer Robot: After Leo, Raph, and Mikey mess with Shelldon's programming, he tries killing Donnie and replacing him as the turtles' brother. He was fortunately decommissioned and was rebuilt as a much more loyal and helpful companion.
• Mythology Gag: In the series finale, he shifts to a more humanoid body, which gives him a resemblance to a purple Metalhead, particularly the 2012 version built by Donatello. He also shouts "Booyakasha!", the 2012 Mikey's catchphrase.
• Robot Buddy: He exists to help the turtles, though Donnie primarily relies on him as a personal assistant.
• Robot Maid: Was one to the turtles and Splinter. It was his original primary purpose when Donatello built him. It is unknown whether or not Shelldon still has this role after being rebuilt and remodeled by Donnie. He still serves somewhat of this purpose at least in Donnie's lab.
• Surfer Dude: Not really one, but he adopts the all too familiar Surfer Accent after Leo, Raph, and Mikey mess with his circuitry. Donnie opts to keep this accent on Shelldon's second model, surprisingly enough.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the Season 2 Finale, he was destroyed by Shredder while attempting to protect Karai. His loss and character isn't mentioned again for the rest of the finale. It's unclear if Donnie still has a backup of him or if he's destroyed for good. He also isn't brought up in the movie.

Frankenfoot

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

A non-aggressive paper foot ninja affectionately nicknamed "Buddy" and serving as a sparring partner for Raph.

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• Affectionate Parody: To Frankenstein if it wasn't obvious (also Sloth from The Goonies in term of personality and technically was a member of the bad guys).
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He completely disappears from the series after "Flushed, but never Forgotten".
• Gentle Giant: He's rather gentle-natured despite his predisposition toward fighting, and is quick to forgive the Turtles despite Raphael hurting his feelings and Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo's prior intent to kill him.
• Good Costume Switch: A fairly mild case, but once Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello start defending him, Michelangelo rubs off the Foot Clan symbol from Frankenfoot's face and draws this series' incarnation of the Turtles' insignia on his face, cementing him as one of their allies.
• Logical Weakness: He was put back together by Raphael, and thus, very easily falls apart even from rather weak blows, which results in him having to constantly be put back together. That being said, he does seem to have the ability to fix himself with some sort of magic, but doesn't know how to properly use it.
• Suddenly Voiced: He's notably the first Origami ninja to show the ability to speak, even if in a rather limited, rudimentary way.

Casey Jones

Voiced by: Haley Joel Osment

The Turtles' future apprentice, having travelled back to the past to help them prevent the armageddon threatened by the Krang.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Hoo-boy. The typical Casey Jones is a Street Punk that took up vigilantism (though whether he was pushed into it by a tragic backstory or not differs), only to wind up involved in the Turtles' insane adventures through chance. This version comes from a Bad Future where he lived his entire life on a terraformed Earth, surviving on rats and struggling to survive against an Invincible Villain, being sent to the past after everyone he ever knew and loved died horribly.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Prior incarnations of Casey Jones are generally rough around the edges but good people, but this one is much more polite and kinder, only really being kind of a jerk when Leonardo being dangerously careless gets them trapped under rubble, after which he tells Leo outright that if he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions, then he and his brothers will end up dying like their future selves.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Casey has a strong bond with the future Leonardo in the film, which gradually develops into a strong one with the present day version after being disappointed at how shallow and egotistical the teenaged one is. While Leonardo and Casey are allies in prior incarnations, Casey and Raphael are usually the ones with the closest connection to each other instead. This makes more sense when you consider the possibility that he doubles as a Gender Flip of Shadow Jones, rather than a straight and narrow adaptation of the Casey Jones character.
• Adaptational Weapon Swap: Downplayed. He has Casey's traditional hockey stick weapon, but it's noticeably more mechanical with a chainsaw function.
• Age Lift: Usually a contemporary of the Turtles. Here, he grew up while they were in their twilight years.
• Cassandra Truth: His initial claims of hailing from a Bad Future are initially laughed off by the Turtles, April, and Splinter. He eventually manages to convince them, however, when he mentions those aliens are the Krang, whom Splinter has heard of.
• Composite Character:
  • While he has the name, hockey stick, and mask of prior incarnations of Casey Jones, his backstory of being a descendant (albeit in this incarnation being specifically the son) of the original Casey Jones, along with his hero worship and Intergenerational Friendship with the Turtles, is more similar to Cody Jones from the 2003 show's Fast Forward era.
  • Alternatively, he could be considered one of Shadow Jones from the Mirage and Image comics and Casey Marie Jones from The Last Ronin.
• Decomposite Character: Many of his traits were divided up between April O'Neil and the Foot Recruit, long before his proper appearance in the Big Damn Movie.
• Disappeared Dad: While the identity of his mother is established at the end of the movie, his father is never spoken of.
• Gender Flip: While he, on the surface, appears to be a Truer to the Text iteration of Casey Jones in contrast to his mother Cassandra, who borders heavily into In Name Only territory, one could make the argument that he's actually this trope for the more obscure TMNT characters Shadow Jones from Mirage & Image comics and Casey Marie Jones from The Last Ronin series. For both characters, he's the child of each series respective iterations of Casey Jones I. For Shadow specifically, he's also the ninjutsu apprentice of Leonardo. For Casey Marie Jones specifically, he's named after the previous iteration of Casey within his installment, like how she's named after the late Casey Jones of The Last Ronin.
• Harbinger of Impending Doom: Shows up from nowhere attempting to convince the Turtles that there will be a future apocalypse they have to prevent. Yep, definitely counts as one.
• Innocently Insensitive: A small one when Raph sacrifices himself to save Leo. He's more concerned about the portal key. He quickly apologizes.
• Nom de Mom: Assuming his mother, Cassandra Jones, didn't marry someone with the same last name (if she married at all), he gets his last name from her rather than whoever his biological father could be.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Why he was sent back to the past by the future Leonardo; to prevent the Krang from committing The End of the World as We Know It.
• Significant Name Overlap: Played With, as The Foot Recruit's full name of 'Cassandra Jones' means that Casey is a nickname that can be attributed to her, but for this future son of hers, it seems to be his actual name.
• Suspiciously Specific Tense: When recalling the future exploits of the Turtles, he talks about Leo and Mikey using present tense, which makes sense since they only died recently, but Donnie is referred to using past tense.
• Truer to the Text: He's a relatively more comic-accurate version of Casey Jones than the Foot Recruit; aside from his obvious XY chromosomes, he also wears and wields the signature hockey mask and stick.
• Walking Spoiler: Sorta, in that his existence would indicate that he's the present-day Vigilante Man human fighter that allies with the Hamato clan eventually in the present, but he's actually the future descendant of said character sent back from a Bad Future to prevent The End of the World as We Know It, and the actual present-day Casey Jones was revealed to be The Foot Recruit, Cassandra Jones, who also happens to be his mother..

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Past clan members

Historical members of the Hamato Clan.

Hamato Sho

Voiced by: Matt Yang King

Grandfather of Hamato Yoshi, and the one who raised him after his mother left.

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• Identical Grandson: Essentially looks like a human version of Splinter's rat form.
• Retired Badass: Since all members of the Hamato clan have a duty to stand watch against the return of the Shredder, Sho presumably is a skilled fighter.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While his motives were at least in the right, he was far from an ideal parental figure for Yoshi. His strict insistence on tradition caused him to resent his family and leave the clan to pursue a film career as Lou Jitsu, which made him woefully ill-prepared when he realized the Shredder was very much a real thing.

Hamato Atsuko

Voiced by: Keiko Agena

Mother of Hamato Yoshi, who was forced to leave her son to perform her duties to the Hamato clan.

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• Backup from Otherworld: Her spirit appears to aid Splinter and the turtles in overcoming the Shredder's power in the finale.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Atsuko had to leave her son in order to stand guard against the Shredder's return, something that left Yoshi with a resentment towards the family and its traditions that led him to abandon the Hamato clan.

Splinter's Ancestor (Unmarked Spoilers)

Voiced by: Gwendoline Yeo

Splinter's ancestor, Karai, who finds her way in the modern day in the four-part series finale.

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• Adaptational Heroism: Karai in most incarnations is often loyal to the Shredder above all else, albeit tending to become reluctant down the line. Karai is firmly an opponent of the Shredder in this incarnation, and starts out helping the heroes.
• Age Lift: She's usually the Turtle's contemporary in other incarnations, but is their ancestor in this incarnation.
• Barrier Maiden: She was keeping Shredder's will sealed away in the Twilight Realm.
• Canon Character All Along: She's shown as the mythical figure that originally defeated the Shredder throughout the series, first appearing in "Shadow of Evil" unnamed and finally being seen on-screen in the present day in "E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", with "Shreddy or Not" immediately afterward revealing that she's actually this series' incarnation of Karai.
• Decomposite Character: Many of Karai's traits in other incarnations, such as her Conflicting Loyalty to the Shredder and nature as his second-in-command, are given to the Foot Recruit.
• Disappears into Light: She fades away into glowing green light after transferring her essence into April.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She's shown unnamed in "Shadow of Evil" as Splinter relays the Shredder's myth.
• Family of Choice: She readily sees and claims April as part of the Hamato Clan.
• Last Episode, New Character: She's introduced in the series finale as an important part of the series' lore.
• Nice Girl: Despite her irritation that Hamato Yoshi shirked off training his sons and not knowing Hamato Ninpo, she readily accepts that Splinter and the Turtles are her family despite how unusual it is that they're mutants.
• Not Quite Dead: She seemingly killed by the Shredder after he discover the turtles' lair in her debut episode, but Karai manage to transfer her essence into April before dying. Even Shredder himself is surprised when he found out about this.
• Related in the Adaptation: Similar to the 2012 series, this version of Karai is the Shredder/Oroku Saki's daughter, except biologically and not just by adoption. She's also related to Splinter again, but instead of his biological daughter she's his distant ancestor.
• Spirit Advisor: Becomes one for April after transferring her essence into her.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: She did not age while sealing the Shredder's will in the Twilight Realm, and so remains in her physical prime while her distant descendant Splinter is middle aged. The Turtles still call her "Gram-Gram".
• Truer to the Text: More well-known incarnations of Karai have her as a younger women who is related to the Shredder in some way and has varying degrees of conflicting loyalties towards him, often fighting with the turtles as often as against them. Rise Karai is a slightly older adult woman who, while still Oroku Saki's daughter, is firmly on the side of the turtles and has nothing to do with the demonic entity her father became. This is actually closer to the comics in which she debuted; despite a slightly tense neutral first meeting, Karai never battles the Turtles or becomes their enemy, and has no relation to the Shredder whatsoever.
• Walking Spoiler: She plays a major part in the series finale, helping the Turtles discover their Hamato Ninpo and disclosing a lot of lore behind the Shredder.