CHARACTERS but really it's just the turtles sorry.
I thought everyone in the movie was fun and endearing, but I'm too lazy to save pics of everyone and I really just like these guys the most, sorry. I have a one-track mind. A four-turtle mind.
I've arranged the boys in age order. There's conflicting information regarding the two younger ones: A now-deleted page in a series of articles from the Nick site says Donnie is the third child to Mikey's youngest, but the artbook says that Donnie is the youngest. I can see it both ways, but am choosing to go with the artbook.
LEO
- Name: Leonardo
- Color: Blue
- Weapon: Katana
This iteration of Leo is SUCH a little dork. He tries so hard to be the responsible leader of his brothers, but because their missions thus far have been lame-ish stuff like stealing groceries, he comes off as a stick-in-the-mud or someone who takes things too seriously, so they don't take him seriously lol.
He does find his footing and prove himself a leader during the movie, in all his teenboy clumsiness.
Mei's thoughts: I like a cringefail eldest brother/leader – it's just a trope that makes me smile every time. It's so cute how hard Leo tries to follow the rules and be the teen who plays adult. I'm so endeared by him!!! I also like how excited his brothers are when he does goof off and go along with their schemes – there's a lot of love between them, even if his brothers clown him most of the time.
A lot of people seem to dislike giving the turts romance arcs, and I understand this after watching some older iterations. But I think Leo's puppy crush on April is so sweet! I don't often see girls like Mume April as romantic interests, so I think it's very refreshing to see Leo all gooey over her. It seems like a big part of teenhood too so it makes sense they'd have it be part of the turtle iteration that focuses more on the young teen experience. Of all the Mume turts to give that arc to, I'm glad they gave it to Leo.
RAPH
- Name: Raphael
- Color: Red
- Weapon: Sai
This Raph is looking for novelty and outlets for all his energy! One of his quotes is "I dream about fighting every night!", lol. He snarks at his brothers, but no more than any of them do to each other, and any pent-up aggression he has really comes out when he's particularly annoyed by something or in a fight. He seems to actually enjoy spending time with his brothers, despite clearly wanting more.
He's also kind of quieter when meeting new people and lets his brothers do more of the talking. Cute.
Mei's thoughts: I find it funny that the other turts say Raph has a rage problem when he just seems like a regular brawly boy to me! Sure he very obviously takes pleasure in their fights, but he doesn't seem to direct his "anger" at anyone undeserving, so he just reads as a good kid who needs a physical outlet lol. And you'd think it'd be Raph who rejects Leo's leadership the most, but it's not. He's actually shown encouraging Leo more than the others, saying "you sounded like a leader" and immediately getting excited when Leo was on board with their scheme. Oh, red and blue!
Additional headcanon: I think among all of them, Raph is the one who wants to meet new people the most. Maybe it's because you see him talking to the other kids at the prom, or because I saw some other deleted scenes (also of him talking to other kids at prom?). He still loves his brothers, but he probably wants to meet people who feel more like they get him, which is probably why he comes across as "needing therapy" to the other three. That's just his cabin fever, you guys.
MIKEY
- Name: Michelangelo
- Color: Orange
- Weapon: Nunchucks
Mikey is as chill as he usually is in other iterations. He seems like an overall good-natured, friendly kid, and is the first to initiate a pleasant interaction with the other characters they encounter. He seems the least resentful/unsatisfied with their sewer situation and hanging out with only each other, but still also wants more. The boy just wants to do improv. Let him be a theatre kid!
He's mostly non-confrontational and doesn't want to fight but like, here he is. A ninja turtle.
Mei's thoughts: Mikey is so sweet. I think in this iteration he flies under the radar a bit more just because he's so good-natured and just seems to go along with what his brothers want to do, rather than instigate the chaos or try and prevent it. He's not as cringey or snappy as the rest of them, so he didn't have as many standout moments during the movie that weren't "aw, silly nice boy" but I really like him.
I like how quick he is to make friends. He was the one to propose talking with April over pizza when the rest of them were blanking on how to explain their sitch to her, and he and Mondo jived so well in such a short time that he felt sorry for betraying him lol. He rarely sniped at his brothers during the movie (and even when he made fun of Leo it was riding on the other two's jabs) so I'm interested in seeing if the cartoon will ever show another side of Mikey, like they did with Rise Mikey as Doctor Feelings / Doctor Delicate Touch. Or maybe he will just consistently be a good kid! Who knows.
DONNIE
- Name: Donatello
- Color: Purple
- Weapon: Bō staff
Donnie is especially snarky here because he is one of the designated younger siblings (and potentially even the youngest). He's quick with his jabs ("Your head looks like Stewie had a baby with Hey Arnold!") and pushes back the most on Leo's attempts at leadership. But he's still the smart one—he comes up with solutions in tough situations and is even the one who hatches the scheme to get them human acceptance.
He's also a weeb and a k-pop stan. There's a profile on a Mume toy somewhere that says his dream is to be a programmer by day and k-pop star by night.
Mei's thoughts: Donnie is my favorite of the Mume turtles, if you haven't seen mentions of him elsewhere around my site. I clocked him immediately as a kid I 100% would have clicked with instantly in high school, and it made me laugh to feel so seen. A weeb and a k-pop stan, with a chronically online flavor of snark? Oh we are eating lunch at the cafeteria together. We are doing homework simultaneously on opposite sides of a screen after school. We are following each other on, uh— Tumblr if you grew up alongside me but I guess Twitter or Instagram in this day and age. (Donnie would be an Instagram weeb, I think – he's a still bit too sweet for Twitter.)
Oh no, I'm running out of space for Donnie. What's this green text? Hmmm...