Board Thread:New on TMNTPedia/@comment-43531461-20191010121210/@comment-995426-20191015140416

I'm not saying adult fans who prefer the style, substance and tone of the 1987 TV series are not "adult-minded"&mdash;just that their tastes in TMNT are not adult-minded, because they see it through the lens of their inner children who watched that show as kids decades ago. If the kind of TMNT they end up liking as adults is proportional to its similarity to the 1987 series, then in effect they don't have much in common with Mirage comic readers, because they tend to like very different things. Since that era, the different TMNT continuities made since have had different leanings that can readily be compared to these two traditional audiences. Most TMNT fans I've ever met tend to have tastes in TMNT that lean very noticeably to one audience or the other, though of course the distinction is less black and white now than it was in the 1980s. And then of course there are fandom cryptids like The S who seem to like all TMNT equally; this perhaps makes him the ideal Turtlepedia administrator, as I'm pretty sure I could never be so even-handed dealing with the franchise as a whole.
 * The Archie TMNT comic's primary purpose was as a Mirage-written, Archie-published buffer between the primary Mirage comic audience and the 1987 series audience, to provide something inbetween that could potentially appeal to both, while also removing pressure from Mirage to feel any need to add elements from the cartoon. The Archie comic started by adapting early 1987 series episodes and was primarily a comic for kids, but then it split its continuity and gradually matured as its readers aged until, by its end, it had become Mirage Lite.  And then the Ninjara: Seed of Destruction spin-off comic had even more explicit mature content than most of Mirage's own comics ever had.
 * The Golden Harvest/Imagi TMNT films certainly tried (sometimes excessively) to appeal to 1987 series fans. The films were also never a higher content rating in PG so that kids could easily go watch it unaccompanied.  But its stories and character designs were more firmly rooted in Mirage influence.  The 2007 film in particular was notable among the films for portraying all the turtles as adults perhaps in their 20s, and it really showed in their level of emotional development.  Though all the Golden Harvest/Imagi films were at least nominally rooted in Mirage-style design concepts, the 2007 film feels like a Mirage comic story than any film before or since.  Not like a stellar Mirage story, but like one nonetheless.
 * The 2003 TV series was an attempt to reimmerse a new generation of children into a TMNT that, like the Mirage comic, had extremely few 1987 series elements, while remaining something Mirage readers could also watch and enjoy. It had the effect of being more like Mirage, but quite bowdlerized.  Now-adult 1987 series fans were often dismayed by the lack of 1987 series elements.
 * The IDW comic has tried to combine elements of both tastes along with a heavy dose of Archie elements that had provided such a buffer between Mirage and 1987 series audiences back in the day, with its style, substance and tone leaning more towards Mirage with a heavy Archie streak. Now, as the longest-running TMNT comic, it has cultivated an adult audience all its own.
 * The 2012 TV series also tried to unite both tastes, with some mixed and occasionally awkward results. Later in the series though, its Mirage vs. 1987 series appeal balance shifted heavily in 1987 series' favor.  (No TMNT series needs that many 1987 TV series crossovers.)  Also, throughout, 2012 paid heavy homage to the Palladium RPGs, which no other continuity had really done before.
 * The more recent TMNT films by Platinum Dunes are raw unrefined 1987 TV series fan nostalgia bait, at the expense of having all that much if anything to appeal to the veteran Mirage fan. This time the films were PG-13 with more mature content, but in a way that appeals to a much more juvenile sense of humor, in effect making it feel less mature even than the Golden Harvest/Imagi films.
 * Rise of the TMNT seems to be actively trying to make a clean break from all previous fanbase baggage, while providing as profitable and uncomplicated a merchandising vehicle as possible for Viacom and Playmates. Before the show debuted, common wisdom was that it was going to be even more bubble gum than the already very bubble gum 2012 series (when 2012 is compared to Mirage or IDW).  And while Rise has taken a generally lighter tone, it's...actually rather witty and not all that unwatchable to someone like me.  Some episodes are more interesting than others, but time will tell if it manages to be and remain something that can appeal to different kinds of audiences.