Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1255374-20151111163045/@comment-995426-20160316204016

Yoshimickster:

It did become junkfood, but I don't really blame you personally for not agreeing.

GoldMutant:

Your comment on how Splinter barely did anything since season 3 is part of my point: As patriarch of the family, he should have been everpresent as father, guide, counselor, and general voice of reason. The way they started neglecting him was part of a trend of downplaying elements of family in greater favor of the 1987 TV series dynamic. And killing him off to remove the focus of the story from him? Possibly Nickelodeon's greatest sin. Even if the turtles still loved him, apparently the showrunners don't consider him an important element in day-to-day episodes.

Even when Mirage turtles aged into adulthood, Splinter was still such an important part of their family life, and his (doppelganger's) cut them deeply enough to motivate huge life changes. Leo went to the Battle Nexus based on the scrolls Splinter left behind, Mikey got a new job with the Utroms, Donnie went as far as cloning the doppelganger just to try to find a cure for Raph's secondary mutation, and April went on a quest of self-discovery, had a severe existential crisis, and went on a long road trip alone.

What did Nick do one episode after Splinter died? Had an episode in space that was suddenly very light-hearted, with Mikey being as much of an idiot as ever, Raph and Casey being too dumb to live, and the entire episode's writing being overall very very bad. Even if allegedly the turtles were cut deep by Splinter's loss, the writers couldn't seem to wait to forget all about him.