Board Thread:New on TMNTPedia/@comment-34447908-20180123201147/@comment-26761322-20180729020116

Gilgameshkun wrote: Mikey is said to be The Sensitive Soul™, but it seems the show has yet to develop this beyond a brief gag or two.

His lack of distinctiveness from his brothers is something he has in common with his version in much of Mirage TMNT; it tooks years for them to give him a more distinct personality of his own. Most of the "party dude" tropes originated in the 1987 TV series, whereas Mirage Mikey mostly liked cool toys and comic books, and once wrote a ninja fantasy adventure story. Later on, he was refined as the more tender-hearted and level-headed of the four, though he could still let his heart (and his sex drive) do the thinking from time to time even when it wasn't wise, leading to especially tragic (yet character-developing) results in Mirage volume 4.

2012 Mikey was an obnoxious buffoon much of the time, and later practically just an expy of Patrick Star, but I at least did like how the early seasons developed him as loving and earthily wise beyond his years in ways surpassing his brothers. His time with Leatherhead in particular was nothing short of a romance, whether you think of it as a relationship or a romantic friendship.

But really, my favorite Mikey, the one I think future versions should look to, is his IDW version. He still likes to party and read manga, but is also the most unconditionally loving with different characters (like or ), but 's later fall from grace was traumatic to Mikey, as he had looked up to his once kind and generous father all his life. As time went on, Mikey still loved Splinter, but matured and relied more on his own wisdom, and came to accept that his father was a mortal man who can still make mistakes and have baggage of his own. Recently, Mikey is studying psychology, having a proven good aptitude for it.

Which brings me to Rise's abusive Splinter. Seriously, that's some messed up crap. Even IDW Splinter at one time held a position of moral leadership, but Rise Splinter doesn't even pretend not to be completely self-absorbed. Totally an anti-Splinter. As a Guest Era-like parody I can tolerate him, but I still do not like him. According to the producers, the reason Splinter is fat & lazy in this version is because there have been no threats, and as a comsequence he has grown soft and lazy, not to mention crude. But they also say that he won't STAY this way forever. Remember, Characterization Marches On!