Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-174.126.39.102-20130623181457/@comment-995426-20151204122149

Well, Nick respects Mikey as much as they respect Patrick Star. A bumbling idiot with practically no depth, fit only for comic relief. One of the things about Michelangelo's character (in most versions of TMNT, including this series' first season) is that he's not always bright, and he's prone to some tomfoolery, but he still has a sober, serious side never far from the surface. Season 2 gradually made him dumber and even more reckless, until season 3 kept repeatedly making Mikey the cause of and the solution to serious crises. He had fewer and fewer serious moments, until the only serious thing he could do anymore was cry over Splinter's body.

Mikey, as a hopeless bumbling buffoon, is indeed a comedy cash cow for Nick, but they don't actually respect him&mdash;not really.

But of course, I've been realizing lately, this kind of disagreement is a symptom of a larger audience divide. Some audiences see TMNT as an action drama with comedy. And some audiences see TMNT as an action comedy with drama. The difference depends on what you consider the more important of the two&mdash;drama or comedy. And I'd guess that if you think Nick doesn't respect Mikey, you think the drama is more important than the comedy, and if you think Nick is treating Mikey just fine, you think the comedy is more important than the drama. This is a dispute going all the way back to the days of Mirage TMNT vs. 1987 TV series, where the audience split originated. It's a split over the vision of what TMNT is and ought to be.