Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-174.126.39.102-20130623181457/@comment-995426-20150923042947

Jadepalacetrainee wrote: I don't think Nick "hates" Mikey. I believe they dont give him a huge character development because they know a lot of small kids watch the show and small kids have the attention span of a goldfish, so they don't make things too complicated so that kids can keep up. If you want Mikey to have a better character development, write a fanfiction and make him to your liking, that's what I did. ;) Ugh, I hate that. This is probably na&iuml;ve and short-sighted of me in the world of capitalism, but I think TMNT should never have been marketed to little kids.  It pigeonholed it and made it increasingly awkward for fans of the original adult stuff to be associated with "kiddie stuff". XD It's why the mature-oriented Palladium RPGs floundered by 1990.

Ironically, Mirage took a long time to give serious development to Michelangelo, because he was actually the least favorite character of the creators. Raphael was Kevin's favorite, Donatello was Peter's favorite, Leonardo was written as the leader archetype, and that left Michelangelo as comic relief or window dressing more often than not. So his lasting adult appeal has taken longer to develop, but I think he gets the best development in Mirage Volume 4 and in (fanfiction) Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden.

But even 2K12 Mikey has potential for good development if the audience has an attention span longer than a goldfish. Remember these serious character development moments?

In fairness, not all of these are also in my special "blips" gallery. :) Though it has been strange that Mikey's gaydar-tripping moments tend to coincide with some of his greatest depth, complexity and character development, while his moments with Renet are some of his most shallow, vapid, mind-numbing moments. The Mikey who loves L'head is the Mikey who matures organically and is wise beyond his years.  The Mikey who loves Renet is the one who's one-dimensional and 5 years old forever.