Raphael having a crack in his shell is one of the best character traits a writer could give him. I love how it's shaped like a thunder bolt and how it is not acknowledged until the show is near its end.
I think season 2 is probably my favorite for this show. I feel like it's when the story underwent the most change. Introducing stuff like Slash, April's growing power, Casey, Tiger Claw and Kairi's mutated form. All of these culminated in the finale which is probably the perfect way to end a season right next to Season 4.
Leo’s “last” stand against Shredder and his goons was so Good. Like Seth Green is my favorite VA of Leo but Dominic Catrambone’s Scream of Leo had hit so hard🔥 Also I really liked Leo And Karai’s dynamic. I liked their back and forth with each other
People need to give Dominic more praise for his Leo Fr, it got to a point where I enjoy his take more than Jason’s. Since honestly I don’t think Jason was ever gonna be able to hit the emotional moments Dominic hit in The Invasion. And that scream man, wish I could see myself watching that for the first time because I just know I got chills. And yeah I love Leo and Karai’s dynamic in most of the series, taking out the weird romantic moments from seasons 4-5 it’s honestly a really well written dynamic
@shanecorcoran2542 I still wonder how the things would've turned out if Shinigami was introduced much earlier. I know it's not that important to the plot and writers just toyed with such idea but what if 2012 Karai was actually a lesbian, it's just interesting to imagine how Shredder would've reacted to such news. Sure, Karai did kiss Casey to poison him but Shini was the one who always called Karai "senpai", looking at how tomboy Karai is and how she basically stopped using charms after season 1 it feels realistic
I remember fangirling over Leo and Karai’s dynamic as a kid. It was like my first Batman and Catwoman experience. I still enjoy this show as an adult and its dynamic, but I feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable watching it sometimes. Considering the technically adopted sibling thing. There is no biological, legal, or even psychological relationship between the two of them as siblings since they grew up separate, but it's still easier to just ignore the uncomfortable details and enjoy the content.😅
One thing I really love is how hard the heroes lost in this show. I like when they're not afraid to let good guys rise and fall. The crew gets separated. Leo facing off the entire foot clan. Splinter being defeated. And new New York taken. It was glorious and really hard hitting
I understand and accept, but calling Slash and Destroy just another filler while technically true would've been a serious crime, just like Metalhead Rewired this was one of the most touching and breathtaking character centric episodes. And more than that, Slash and Destroy is paced rather perfectly, I feel like even Leo chasing the girl with the mutagen balanced the tone to keep you invested in tension between Raph and Slash more
Yeah I agree 100%. Slash & Destroy is easily one of the darkest episodes (and probably the darkest until like Vengeance is Mine) and takes a deep dive into Raph. It’s also the first time where the turtles are almost completely beaten, but Raph’s victory over Slash is so good yet so bittersweet. The other Slash episode, Newtrilized, is much more of a filler imo, and it’s one of the weakest season 2 episodes so I’d much rather critique that one than something like Slash and Destroy.
@shanecorcoran2542 Newtralized could've worked much better if it didn't have Newtralizer at all and instead focused on Slash'es hatred and jealousy towards Casey looking at him like a cheap replacement. And in combination with Casey's ego it would've been much more interesting to see Slash and Casey try hunting for each other putting traps on the way while Raph tries to reason them giving Leo opportunity to tease him about "being in a responsible guy shoes". If they wanted to bring back Newtralizer so badly they should've done a slight rehash of his plot in Danger of the Ooze game where he was traveling both on Earth and Dimension X for mutagen to complete his weapon. Sure, they technically did something like that in When Worlds Collide part 1, but he still would've been a bigger threat than in final version
@@ashesGeek yeah Newtralizer could have come back whenever they wanted him to, he could have honestly been in Into Dimension X if they wanted to. The Kraang could still be in Newtralized as the villain of the episode but yeah Newtralizer should have never been there, and Casey/Slash’s stories could have played out much better
This show was my introduction to Slash. I'd say his conflict with Raph and eventual growth would qualify for more than mere filler, even if it doesn't play into the main plot.
When i first saw the Season 2 finale, I cried. Keep in mind, I was in elementary school at the time and saw the turtles as these heroes who can never lose. They were basically my idols. So seeing them lose to the Kraang and have to flee from New York broke me. Man, I wish this show didn't end. Thankfully, I have the whole show on DVD.
You know what they say. A show is either great and ends or keeps on running forever. Let's be grateful for this masterpiece of a show we got. It is genuinely the most beautiful franchise I have ever seen and my entire childhood is surrounded by this show🥺🥺
Bro, when Irma revealed herself to be a Kraang, I literally went "WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT" for like a minute, that was a plot twist I REALLY didn't expect, and I was so happy that that had not been spoiled for me in any way, it genuinely shocked me. When April decided to bring Irma to the Lair, I was like "Oh yay, Irma joins the team, just like in the 80s! :D" Then she transformed, and I gasped and freaked out lol XD
6:46 I first watched Pizza Face a couple of months ago at 1AM, and as an already sleep deprived college student, boy was that an experience. Please tell me I'm not the only one who felt like I was on drugs when I watched that.
I just wanna, say that fight in the subway with Ralph and Casey teaming up to take out that one foot bot blew my mind as a kid. The choreography, the use of environment, the fact that the chase goes on for so long. It’s just incredible.
Not a bad review, but there were things: 1. In this iteration, Slash is voiced by Corey Feldman who voiced Donatello in the first and third Ninja Turtle movies. 2. The cartoon that foreshadowed the events of every episode this season was called *phew* Super-Robo-Mecha-Force-Five-Team 5, a parody of Voltron and Voltes V, a long forgotten anime with the main hero, the princess, the nerd, the jock and a monkey piloting the super-robo-mecha. And contrary to what we were believed Space Heroes was a parody of Star Trek the Animated Series which aired in 1973. Voltes V, the show SRMFFTF is based on was made in 1977, so they're not just advancing the plot, they're advancing the cartoons that will lay out the plot. 3. April only has that grudge against the turtles for 5 episodes up until Casey tells her a story about a friend he had since second grade but after a freak accident during hockey finals his friend never spoke to him since with Casey repeating what Donnie told her: "Sometimes things are beyond our control." Finally like Mikey from 2003, 2102 Mikey shines in the penultimate episode where the turtles have to save Leatherhead after receiving a distress signal from him. They order Mikey to stay put since he basically screws up stuff like wrecking the tape which had the final episode of SRMFFTF but Mikey heads into the portal which leads to Dimension X. While the other three turtles struggle with the physics of Dimension X Mikey had adapted to it easily using a slug as a grappling hook and using crystals that detonate when reacting to sound. Also props to the writers for making a parody of Big Trouble in Little China, even going as far as getting the guy who played the main villain. Shame there was no guy who expanded his muscles to the point of exploding at the end.
15:10 one thing I find interesting about that episode is how despite Ho Chan being a clear parody of Lo Pan from Big Trouble In Little China, how he’s still voiced by James Hong. It’s funny how he was totally cool with playing a parody of himself, same with Robert Englund in the Dream Beavers episode
@@SerpentHashiraObanaiIguro yes, I know. But that isn’t necessarily a parody of The Crypt Keeper. Both were still hilarious as The Dream Beavers though
@@Jackattack359 Kassir and Englund both seem to be go-tos for guest VAs for horror-analogous villains. The former voiced Zombozo in the OG Ben 10 (before being succeeded by John DiMaggio in all subsequent appearances), and the latter voiced the Vulture in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
@@SerpentHashiraObanaiIguro Yes. That is exactly right. Jeffrey Combs from Re-Animator also voiced The Rat King in this show so there’s another example. If anything, both of Kassir’s Dream Beavers sound more like Zombozo than The Crypt Keeper (especially Dark Beaver). It just goes to show that once you play a soon to be iconic horror character, you’re pretty much set
Favourite tmnt series right here. Also i'm impressed that you didn't even have to talk about the 2012 intro last video. 2nd best tmnt intro after the 80s
This series does the best version of the "turtle getting ambushed and forcing our heroes to flee" plot point since at least the mirage comics. I dunno what it really is about it, but this time around it stunned me just how hard Leo got his shell kicked in. I had seen the 90's film and the 2k3 episode by that point, but this one left me speechless. It might be because it had very little background music so it really felt more dramatic.
Yeah this series wasn’t the best at shipping looking back. But I think the Donnie and April thing isn’t intirely bad. Just like with raph anger issues and Mikey’s incompetence, Donnie getting over the crush takes a while, and thankfully he gets over it in season 3.
This season showed that Leonardo voice changed between near the end of season 2 to season 3. The focus of Some Orginal designs are pretty good and this series has some orginal characters
Tmnt 2012 literally turned me into a Ninja turtles fanatic when I was in second grade, I had so much merchandise from the show that my mom joked about starting a TH-cam channel
If I had to guess the Leonardo/ Karai relationship was a nod to Luke Skywalker and princess Leia who also originally had a flirtatious relationship but were eventually revealed to be siblings. The 2012 series is filled to the brim with homages to 70s and 80s horror, science fiction, and martial arts films. Even the character designs are inspired by actors from the time period ( Chris Bradford/ chuck Norris, Xever/ Jim Kelly/ Hun/ Bruce Lee) and the list goes on and on as the series progresses. There is actually a list on one of the wiki pages with all the references and where the inspiration was taken which is really interesting. As for the structure of the show there was a bit of a conflict between the show runner and the network. Ciro Nieli wanted episodic storytelling but nickelodeon wanted stand alone episodes that could be aired out of order. There was a bit of a compromise in the end. A lot of the episodes that are stand alones often come into play in later episodes so I think they were doing the best they could under the limitations they had. Luckily most of the stand alone episodes are pretty entertaining on their own.
Notice that both Greg cripes and Ashley Johnston always voice love interests? Apart from Kevin eleven and gwen tennison, most shows they voiced in were worked on by ciro, started with beast boy and tarra, and micky and the time sorceress are love interests in this show also chiro and jinmy from SRMTHFG
That extra dose of Mutagen was mightier than a sword after all... Plus, Clancy Brown's signature voice gives 2012 Rahzar legimitate _Grim Reaper_ vibes.
19:09 a decade ago a thought had enter the back of my brain, I once had a theory that Miwa and Karai were both one and the same and when the two part season 1 finale happened, my theory was proven to be correct that Miwa was kidnapped by Shredder and renamed Karai and was raised as his daughter.
I kinda was on board with Leo X Karai before the Miwa twist, they’re dynamic is like Batman and Catwoman but the fact they are half siblings but continued to flirt with each other made me resentful, now I see them better off having a platonic relationship.
I found the Mazes and Mutants episode kinda similar to the Dungeons, Dungeons and more Dungeons episode from Gravity Falls. And the Pizza Face episode to the Employee of the month episode from Teen Titans.
I actually liked the pizza face episode myself, it was fun even if it was filler. I think when it comes to that stuff everyone's different, it certainly felt like pacing was off in season 2 for sure but wasn't the worst I'd sat through.
I know this show has some filler episodes. But unlike stuff like SU or SvTFOE, I really do enjoy a lot of the filler episodes. Reminds me a lot of Teen Titans or SRMTHFG's one-off episodes.
Man seeing Mikey interrogate that pizza slice was the highlight of the episode for me especially when he threatened to put him in the oven lol the animation on that scene was hilarious!
Pizza Face is the only episode where I noticed an animation error in the show, a rather obvious one though. At some point in the episode, Mikey's mask turns red for like a second/single shot as he, I think ducks to avoid an attack/thrown object. There probably are more animation errors in the show, but none too obvious, this one was very "in your face" obvious though, so the creators were at least pretty good at not making a lot of errors. Just thought that was interesting.
Honestly the introduction of Kraang Sub-Prime is geniuly unexpected. I like how they tricked us thinking that this was actually Irma but then out of nowhere she turns into a hulk-buster armored Kraang.
15;11 isn't just a random filler episode. It's actually sort of a parody/homage to the 80s movie Big Trouble in Little China. This show is filled with Easter eggs from the 80s and 90s, which i think a lot of people that didn't grow up in that era, will notice or understand certain references or characters. Even the Leo being ambushed, thrown off a window, being unconscious and the escape from the city to a farm, is a reference to the 1990 TMNT Movie, when Ralph gets ambushed by the Foot, gets beat up badly by them, gets tossed off a glass ceiling, and the turtles barely escape with April and Casey in a Van, to April's family Farmhouse. And in season 3 you will see more references to the 1990's movie. it's also worth mention that the cartoons that they watch on each season, is based on a popular 80s cartoons & TV Shows
Leo and Kurai have always seemed like love interest . It’s weird hearing someone say they weren’t in the OG(2003) It was like “oh no my rivals daughter and my son have a bond. How will they depict a better version of me and shredder”
I will stand by this to my dying breath. TMNT: DOTO is one of the greatest tmnt games that has ever been released. It's so much fun and the sense of progression is amazing. Also the OST goes way too hard like holy shit bro
@@RiceCooker-san I know but Tiger Claw character wise felt kinda similar to 2003 Hun since both of them are Shredder's most loyal henchmen and they also hate Karai and they both quitted the Foot later on in both series
I remember when I was a little kid and was absolutely shocked during the S2 finale. It was my first time seeing my heroes fail and the villains winning.
A comment I have about your nitpick with the filler episodes is that this is one of those shows that doesn't want to have every episode be plot progression. It balances out plot with episodes to develop the characters or just have some fun, so I wouldn't really say that the pacing is slow.
I’ll admit that the filler episodes he did call out are probably the weakest ones (except Pizza Face I always kinda thought it was fun), but yeah I agree. I really enjoy the pacing of this season since it feels like a lot of the filler episodes either create new cool characters or follow a plot that’s already there
honestly I have grown lately to share his opinion that fillers aren't necessarily a bad thing; nowadays many shows are so serialized that they end up wrapping their story way too fast and you barely get to enjoy them. Fillers allow you to get a bit more and can be used to expand in areas that aren't related to the main plot. .... With that said, like everything else, overusing them can be a problem and cause things to drag. In my opinion, TMNT 2012 *usually* does a good balance, but in some areas they push it a bit.
My favorite part of the season 2 finale was when Shredder had Splinter cornered, just for Leatherhead to burst through the wall behind Splinter, and take on Shredder.
As a six year old kid who would watch this week to week, I just thought it was cool and fun to watch. Watching this now some of the episodes are hard to watch just because you don’t need them but I remember loving the pizza face episode and the board game episode when I was a kid. It was fun and it appealed to the younger audiences
That Pizza episode terrified me when I was a kid, I thought it was so disgusting and my dad bought a pizza that same day and I refused to eat it because that episode grossed me out so much.
16:26 your predictions are on point (unfortunately )the story takes a pretty big halt for some horror movie homage filler episodes. Ex. Episode 1 is a reference to Jason Vorehess from friday the 13th. A later episode after the turtles return to new york is a reference to the SAW franchise etc.
12:22 I swear hes like the boba fett of the series, cool at first, but then as time goes on he becomes more or less a joke, with a few redeeming qualities in the end. Well, most of the henchmen became an easy to overcome obstacles overtime as well.
Yeah, fans had a lot of problems with the Karai/Leo romance thing, given who Karai was later revealed to be. Many found it kinda creepy. Personally the point where Karai got turned into a snake mutant was the point where I started having issues with the show. I had been enthusiastic about seeing Karai now with the turtles and discover the new dynamic, so this came up to me as a way from the writers to drag the Miwha arc further, which was frustrating to me.
As someone who only watched the 1987 and 2003 series the idea of karai being splinters daughter is actually a interesting idea and shredder being the one to kill Tang Shen who yoshi had a daughter with makes splinter and shredder's rivalry that much more personal
One thing the show does good it’s for the villains to become a mutants. They usually show them before they were mutants in which she will see in season three with the rhino and the hog foot clan
I would say this version of Slash is so much better than the 80's version. In the 80's version, he was another dumb comedic villain that has alot of worst treatments. Here, he's exactly what I expected as an turtle clone and how he stays true in the comics. Basically he's the Venom of TMNT. Started as an deadly villain, than turned into an anti-hero.
It’s genuinely my favorite story in the whole show, her reaction to seeing that full picture of yoshi and tang shen is genuinely one of the most striking images of the whole show. She had been staring at half a picture for her whole life, and she can’t believe that it’s actually true. Kelly Hu also does fantastic with her this season
8:21 As a person who waited a weak for every episode back in 2013 I can confirm that it was pretty disappointing when a major status-quo-shifting episode was followed by a filler that often didn't even adress said shift. The most frustrating case for me was Karai's capture that was followed by two fillers in a row one of which was completely unrelated to it.
I always loved shows that weren't afraid of having the main characters lose badly no matter their efforts, so this show not only reinvigorated my love for the franchise but solidified itself as the best TMNT incarnation (weird love shippings aside) to exists so far (never really connected with ROTTMNT) , im waiting to see the new Mutant Mayhem follow up movie to see if they become the new №1
15:08 It was actually referenced further where one of the Kraang soldier mentioned that a Kraang was trying a gluten-free diet, later we Irma mentions she's going on a gluten-free diet
Dude, I spent the entire week watching your 2003 retrospective videos and had just watched the first part of this retrospective when you uploaded this, what a coincidence! Love the in-depth behind-the-scenes research you do for these videos, keep up the good work! That said, I wasn’t sure how to feel about the retrospective for this particular show because I dropped it for the same reason that you did: it didn’t grab me when it first aired. Donnie having a crush on April thing was a bit more of a dealbreaker for me because Don is my favorite turtle (especially in 2003) and I hated that what’s seemed like half his screen time was spent on his crush. The changes to Don’s personality was a bit off-putting to me. I get that he felt under-appreciated for all the work he does for his family, but his sarcastic nature felt jarring when I was so used to 2003 Don’s gentle personality. The humor for the show in general felt very mean-spirited, too, in a way that made it unwatchable to me, at the time. I’m thinking of giving this show a chance given how popular it seems with the fans but honestly, I have a big problem with secondhand embarrassment so I’m not sure if I’ll ever manage to do that. I might be able to experience it through your retrospectives, though, so I’ll try to keep an open mind as I watch your videos (which I’m enjoying a lot!). Maybe someday I’ll end up finally watching it, too.
This is my second favorite TMNT series, right behind the 2003 series. I will say though unfortunately this series reached its peak with season 2 here. The rest isn’t as good but still worth watching
I think the unfortunate part of tmnt 2012s games is that they released during an era where cheap shovelware licensed games were still prevalent and ended before game development became more expensive forcing higher quality standards
Rooftop Run still being on the App Store makes me feel so old. For context, if you were a huge TMNT watcher and always on Nick back in 2012 (me in this case), then you remember one of the first games they ever dropped about the 2012 show was Rooftop Run. 11 years and still there 🥲
Also about Urma. I don't know if you noticed she I'd a parallel character to Velma from scoobydoo in look and voice. So it was kind of fitting they did am episode with a ghost
If I had a nickel for every time a green character voiced by Greg Cipes went on a solo adventure where they fought a living version of their favourite food and no one believed them about it, I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
I grew up with the 2003 séries But the 2012 its my favorite I rly like the action scene, and How charming the turtles are I had 16y when I started watching the 2012? So yeah, not my introduction, but still my favorite
I love Leo and Karai’s dynamic. I find their relationship cute and to be honest given they grew up separately and have no genetic relations I never really looked at them like siblings. If anything I saw April as more of a sister then Karai.😅
This is the show that got me back into Ninja Turtles after the original series ended. There’s a charm about it I just can’t resist. Though I will admit they need to stop shipping the turtles with human women. Namely Leo/Korai and Donnie/April. Those were creepy
The Footclan soldiers being robots is such a cool idea, it just really annoys me how they're shown to be such a big threat in their debut episode but their subsequent appearances makes them just as dumb as the original soldiers (Which as you said was supposed to be the human aspect) and also makes them cannon fodder. I get that at the end of the day that's all they're ever meant to be but it would have been cool for the turtles to find them difficult to beat, at least for the first season they're in. After that, yeah make them cannon fodder, but showing the turtles beating them easily after one single episode really annoys me. The same can be said for the Kraang bots. In the first episode they practically soloed the entire team but then they became so weak the turtles didn't even need to try...and that was at the end of that two parter.
Pretty spot on with my perspective on S2. Some great episodes, but also got pretty heavy on the filler, probably because they were reusing 3D assets. HOWEVER, as a massive D&D nerd, I loved Mazes and Mutants. It was actually the episode that got me watching the show again during a time when I was often busy and my attention to it wondered. Also, Danger of the Ooze isn't just a sidescroller. It's an openworld metroidvania style game with a whole bunch of injokes and nods to the genre, including getting an upgrade from a chozo statue at one point. Metroid is my favorite video game franchise, and I love the genre, so I rather enjoyed Danger of the Ooze, even if it's somewhat budget in execution. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Turtles in Time or Shredder's Revenge, but I think it's better than most of the 2003 games honestly.
Karai was made a love interest because Leorai is a popular ship in the TMNT fandom. The same goes for April and Donnie. These two relationship dynamics were not chosen on a whim. But the writers/creators fudge the former up when they decide to include the Miwa plotline despite the complications that the plotline would Intel.
Leo having a crush on someone at some point in the story seems to be a somewhat consistent trait of his character between this and the film (Outside of Rise). I actually don't have anything against the idea of shipping them, but in this continuity specifically, certain details makes it...uncomfortable to say the least.
@@leithaziz2716 True. And to be honest in my honest opinion if they were going to use the Miwa plotline for Karai, I'd think they could've introduced Lotus Blossom to replace Karai as Leo's love interest (or preferably just make her Leo's love interest from the start) since her and 87 Leo had canonical romantic tension.
Some issues pop up in S2: Kirby always becomes the damsel in distress. A lot of episodes start feeling like just pop culture references or guest stars. The tone starts rocking around a bit too much, like how filler episodes like Pizza Face indeed come between important episodes.
I'd at least say that the coincidence with the Turtles and Aoril being the Krang chosrn one works better even if it can be a little too coincidental since the Turtles are Spanners in the Works in this series.
Question: If you could give the original, the 2003, and the 2012 series subtitles to help make them stand out more what would you pick. Also I'm not a big fan of Rise but I have to admit that it's title is great. I wish more people could appapireate the value of a good title and subtle so we could avoid the whole 'and' and one word titles.
For as cringe as the April & Donnie stuff was (and the triangle once Casey was introduced), I began to get SO annoyed with Leo in this season! This bled into Season 3 and the rest of the show as well BUT I don't wanna spoil anything for you. Leo was always "Guys, we have to save Karai because she's my girl! I mean she's Master Splinter's daughter! We have to do it for him! Am I right?!" He would constantly put himself in reckless situations to either save her or as we see earlier in Season 2 (against Splinter's wishes) he went out of his way to try to tell her that Splinter was her dad. When you really look at it, he was indirectly responsible for Karai's mutation. Don't get me wrong, Shredder was the one who concocted the entire plan which involved putting her right above a vat of mutagen in the first place. However, earlier in the episode was when Leo went into the evil lair to rescue Karai from her cell. That set in motion helmet head's plan which of course ended up with her mutating because if I remember correctly, HE was aiming for Leo's head but cut the chains holding his 'daughter' instead. Leo would hate on Don's pal Metalhead, Mikey's friend Leatherhead (in Season 1 during his first episode where he was literally a raging animal) and Raph's old pal Spike/Slash (who to be fair did try to KILL the other 3 turtles in his first episode). However, all of them combined would eventually do more GOOD for the turtles & New York compared to Karai! Dude was a bad leader at times, but I can't lie; the way he took on Fishface, Razar & Tiger Claw before Shredder put him down in the finale was EPIC!
Raphael having a crack in his shell is one of the best character traits a writer could give him. I love how it's shaped like a thunder bolt and how it is not acknowledged until the show is near its end.
Leo's crack on shell in 2003 is better detail.
I think season 2 is probably my favorite for this show. I feel like it's when the story underwent the most change. Introducing stuff like Slash, April's growing power, Casey, Tiger Claw and Kairi's mutated form. All of these culminated in the finale which is probably the perfect way to end a season right next to Season 4.
Tiger Claw is awesome. He's such a badass.
@@leithaziz2716agreed. I hope to see him in future adaptations
@@leithaziz2716he really was
when I was a kid I was simping for kairi but also loved the leo and kairi dynamic
@@weetbear3341 I do but not the romantic aspect
Leo’s “last” stand against Shredder and his goons was so Good. Like Seth Green is my favorite VA of Leo but Dominic Catrambone’s Scream of Leo had hit so hard🔥
Also I really liked Leo And Karai’s dynamic. I liked their back and forth with each other
People need to give Dominic more praise for his Leo Fr, it got to a point where I enjoy his take more than Jason’s. Since honestly I don’t think Jason was ever gonna be able to hit the emotional moments Dominic hit in The Invasion. And that scream man, wish I could see myself watching that for the first time because I just know I got chills.
And yeah I love Leo and Karai’s dynamic in most of the series, taking out the weird romantic moments from seasons 4-5 it’s honestly a really well written dynamic
@shanecorcoran2542 I still wonder how the things would've turned out if Shinigami was introduced much earlier.
I know it's not that important to the plot and writers just toyed with such idea but what if 2012 Karai was actually a lesbian, it's just interesting to imagine how Shredder would've reacted to such news.
Sure, Karai did kiss Casey to poison him but Shini was the one who always called Karai "senpai", looking at how tomboy Karai is and how she basically stopped using charms after season 1 it feels realistic
I remember fangirling over Leo and Karai’s dynamic as a kid. It was like my first Batman and Catwoman experience. I still enjoy this show as an adult and its dynamic, but I feel a bit awkward and uncomfortable watching it sometimes. Considering the technically adopted sibling thing. There is no biological, legal, or even psychological relationship between the two of them as siblings since they grew up separate, but it's still easier to just ignore the uncomfortable details and enjoy the content.😅
Seth green always makes me think of Chris Griffin when i hear him
One thing I really love is how hard the heroes lost in this show. I like when they're not afraid to let good guys rise and fall. The crew gets separated. Leo facing off the entire foot clan. Splinter being defeated. And new New York taken. It was glorious and really hard hitting
I understand and accept, but calling Slash and Destroy just another filler while technically true would've been a serious crime, just like Metalhead Rewired this was one of the most touching and breathtaking character centric episodes.
And more than that, Slash and Destroy is paced rather perfectly, I feel like even Leo chasing the girl with the mutagen balanced the tone to keep you invested in tension between Raph and Slash more
Yeah I agree 100%. Slash & Destroy is easily one of the darkest episodes (and probably the darkest until like Vengeance is Mine) and takes a deep dive into Raph. It’s also the first time where the turtles are almost completely beaten, but Raph’s victory over Slash is so good yet so bittersweet. The other Slash episode, Newtrilized, is much more of a filler imo, and it’s one of the weakest season 2 episodes so I’d much rather critique that one than something like Slash and Destroy.
@shanecorcoran2542 Newtralized could've worked much better if it didn't have Newtralizer at all and instead focused on Slash'es hatred and jealousy towards Casey looking at him like a cheap replacement. And in combination with Casey's ego it would've been much more interesting to see Slash and Casey try hunting for each other putting traps on the way while Raph tries to reason them giving Leo opportunity to tease him about "being in a responsible guy shoes".
If they wanted to bring back Newtralizer so badly they should've done a slight rehash of his plot in Danger of the Ooze game where he was traveling both on Earth and Dimension X for mutagen to complete his weapon. Sure, they technically did something like that in When Worlds Collide part 1, but he still would've been a bigger threat than in final version
@@ashesGeek yeah Newtralizer could have come back whenever they wanted him to, he could have honestly been in Into Dimension X if they wanted to. The Kraang could still be in Newtralized as the villain of the episode but yeah Newtralizer should have never been there, and Casey/Slash’s stories could have played out much better
This show was my introduction to Slash. I'd say his conflict with Raph and eventual growth would qualify for more than mere filler, even if it doesn't play into the main plot.
@@shanecorcoran2542agreed
When i first saw the Season 2 finale, I cried. Keep in mind, I was in elementary school at the time and saw the turtles as these heroes who can never lose. They were basically my idols. So seeing them lose to the Kraang and have to flee from New York broke me. Man, I wish this show didn't end. Thankfully, I have the whole show on DVD.
Realest asf, I didn’t cry but I was also in elementary school and I had never seen them lose so bad, it was a crushing blow
That finale was basically Avengers: Infinity War before Avengers: Infinity War
203 turtles did that
Holy shit I honestly thought that I was the only one who felt way🥹
You know what they say. A show is either great and ends or keeps on running forever. Let's be grateful for this masterpiece of a show we got. It is genuinely the most beautiful franchise I have ever seen and my entire childhood is surrounded by this show🥺🥺
Bro, when Irma revealed herself to be a Kraang, I literally went "WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT" for like a minute, that was a plot twist I REALLY didn't expect, and I was so happy that that had not been spoiled for me in any way, it genuinely shocked me.
When April decided to bring Irma to the Lair, I was like "Oh yay, Irma joins the team, just like in the 80s! :D"
Then she transformed, and I gasped and freaked out lol XD
6:46 I first watched Pizza Face a couple of months ago at 1AM, and as an already sleep deprived college student, boy was that an experience. Please tell me I'm not the only one who felt like I was on drugs when I watched that.
I just wanna, say that fight in the subway with Ralph and Casey teaming up to take out that one foot bot blew my mind as a kid. The choreography, the use of environment, the fact that the chase goes on for so long. It’s just incredible.
Not a bad review, but there were things:
1. In this iteration, Slash is voiced by Corey Feldman who voiced Donatello in the first and third Ninja Turtle movies.
2. The cartoon that foreshadowed the events of every episode this season was called *phew* Super-Robo-Mecha-Force-Five-Team 5, a parody of Voltron and Voltes V, a long forgotten anime with the main hero, the princess, the nerd, the jock and a monkey piloting the super-robo-mecha. And contrary to what we were believed Space Heroes was a parody of Star Trek the Animated Series which aired in 1973. Voltes V, the show SRMFFTF is based on was made in 1977, so they're not just advancing the plot, they're advancing the cartoons that will lay out the plot.
3. April only has that grudge against the turtles for 5 episodes up until Casey tells her a story about a friend he had since second grade but after a freak accident during hockey finals his friend never spoke to him since with Casey repeating what Donnie told her: "Sometimes things are beyond our control."
Finally like Mikey from 2003, 2102 Mikey shines in the penultimate episode where the turtles have to save Leatherhead after receiving a distress signal from him. They order Mikey to stay put since he basically screws up stuff like wrecking the tape which had the final episode of SRMFFTF but Mikey heads into the portal which leads to Dimension X. While the other three turtles struggle with the physics of Dimension X Mikey had adapted to it easily using a slug as a grappling hook and using crystals that detonate when reacting to sound.
Also props to the writers for making a parody of Big Trouble in Little China, even going as far as getting the guy who played the main villain. Shame there was no guy who expanded his muscles to the point of exploding at the end.
15:10 one thing I find interesting about that episode is how despite Ho Chan being a clear parody of Lo Pan from Big Trouble In Little China, how he’s still voiced by James Hong. It’s funny how he was totally cool with playing a parody of himself, same with Robert Englund in the Dream Beavers episode
John Kassir also voiced two of the Dream Beavers alongside Englund.
@@SerpentHashiraObanaiIguro yes, I know. But that isn’t necessarily a parody of The Crypt Keeper. Both were still hilarious as The Dream Beavers though
@@Jackattack359 Kassir and Englund both seem to be go-tos for guest VAs for horror-analogous villains. The former voiced Zombozo in the OG Ben 10 (before being succeeded by John DiMaggio in all subsequent appearances), and the latter voiced the Vulture in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
@@SerpentHashiraObanaiIguro Yes. That is exactly right. Jeffrey Combs from Re-Animator also voiced The Rat King in this show so there’s another example. If anything, both of Kassir’s Dream Beavers sound more like Zombozo than The Crypt Keeper (especially Dark Beaver). It just goes to show that once you play a soon to be iconic horror character, you’re pretty much set
@@Jackattack359 Even Tim Curry qualifies for this, considering his background in Rocky Horror Picture Show and It.
Favourite tmnt series right here. Also i'm impressed that you didn't even have to talk about the 2012 intro last video. 2nd best tmnt intro after the 80s
He briefly mentioned how it's a remix of the OG, but nothing beyond that
2003 theme song is still #1 🔥
This series does the best version of the "turtle getting ambushed and forcing our heroes to flee" plot point since at least the mirage comics. I dunno what it really is about it, but this time around it stunned me just how hard Leo got his shell kicked in. I had seen the 90's film and the 2k3 episode by that point, but this one left me speechless. It might be because it had very little background music so it really felt more dramatic.
I loved the fight between Leo and Tigerclaw at the end of this season. One of the best in the show.
Dude the Turtles vs Tiger Claw fight in the slaughterhouse was one of if not my favorite fights in the series
Yeah this series wasn’t the best at shipping looking back. But I think the Donnie and April thing isn’t intirely bad. Just like with raph anger issues and Mikey’s incompetence, Donnie getting over the crush takes a while, and thankfully he gets over it in season 3.
Sarcastic chorus has a good vid on this
This season showed that Leonardo voice changed between near the end of season 2 to season 3. The focus of Some Orginal designs are pretty good and this series has some orginal characters
Dominic Catrambone: (S2 finale, The Invasion)
Seth Green: (first episode of S3, Within The Woods)
Tmnt 2012 literally turned me into a Ninja turtles fanatic when I was in second grade, I had so much merchandise from the show that my mom joked about starting a TH-cam channel
If I had to guess the Leonardo/ Karai relationship was a nod to Luke Skywalker and princess Leia who also originally had a flirtatious relationship but were eventually revealed to be siblings. The 2012 series is filled to the brim with homages to 70s and 80s horror, science fiction, and martial arts films. Even the character designs are inspired by actors from the time period ( Chris Bradford/ chuck Norris, Xever/ Jim Kelly/ Hun/ Bruce Lee) and the list goes on and on as the series progresses. There is actually a list on one of the wiki pages with all the references and where the inspiration was taken which is really interesting. As for the structure of the show there was a bit of a conflict between the show runner and the network. Ciro Nieli wanted episodic storytelling but nickelodeon wanted stand alone episodes that could be aired out of order. There was a bit of a compromise in the end. A lot of the episodes that are stand alones often come into play in later episodes so I think they were doing the best they could under the limitations they had. Luckily most of the stand alone episodes are pretty entertaining on their own.
Season 2 is when this series really got good. One of my favorite seasons of the 2012 Turtles series.
Notice that both Greg cripes and Ashley Johnston always voice love interests? Apart from Kevin eleven and gwen tennison, most shows they voiced in were worked on by ciro, started with beast boy and tarra, and micky and the time sorceress are love interests in this show also chiro and jinmy from SRMTHFG
Apparently the reason they mutated Dogpound into Rahzar was because the crew hated DogPound and wanted to kill him off.
That extra dose of Mutagen was mightier than a sword after all...
Plus, Clancy Brown's signature voice gives 2012 Rahzar legimitate _Grim Reaper_ vibes.
Dogpound was a really weird antagonist, he was just a big monster. Atleast Rahzar still have his rivalry with mickey
19:09 a decade ago a thought had enter the back of my brain, I once had a theory that Miwa and Karai were both one and the same and when the two part season 1 finale happened, my theory was proven to be correct that Miwa was kidnapped by Shredder and renamed Karai and was raised as his daughter.
This is my favorite adaptation of TMNT and I’m so excited you’re finally doing a retrospective
I kinda was on board with Leo X Karai before the Miwa twist, they’re dynamic is like Batman and Catwoman but the fact they are half siblings but continued to flirt with each other made me resentful, now I see them better off having a platonic relationship.
I found the Mazes and Mutants episode kinda similar to the Dungeons, Dungeons and more Dungeons episode from Gravity Falls.
And the Pizza Face episode to the Employee of the month episode from Teen Titans.
I actually liked the pizza face episode myself, it was fun even if it was filler.
I think when it comes to that stuff everyone's different, it certainly felt like pacing was off in season 2 for sure but wasn't the worst I'd sat through.
I know this show has some filler episodes. But unlike stuff like SU or SvTFOE, I really do enjoy a lot of the filler episodes. Reminds me a lot of Teen Titans or SRMTHFG's one-off episodes.
Man seeing Mikey interrogate that pizza slice was the highlight of the episode for me especially when he threatened to put him in the oven lol the animation on that scene was hilarious!
Also, just saw The Oval from last night; Sam is in some trouble now...
I honestly dont.The only filler episodes I kinda enjoyed was the farm house horror episodes thats all.Not this pizzaface.
Pizza Face is the only episode where I noticed an animation error in the show, a rather obvious one though.
At some point in the episode, Mikey's mask turns red for like a second/single shot as he, I think ducks to avoid an attack/thrown object.
There probably are more animation errors in the show, but none too obvious, this one was very "in your face" obvious though, so the creators were at least pretty good at not making a lot of errors.
Just thought that was interesting.
I’m glad you’re enjoying this show, it was the first TMNT show I ever watched
Fun fact: Corey Feldman auditioned for the role of Donatello in THIS series as well!
I like how the thumbnail is a remake of the thumbnail the second part of the 2003 Turtles retrospective have. Neat sorta connection
One of my favorite tmnt series i love it grew up with it watched every episode
Not mentioning Seth Green's terrible Leonardo voice is criminal
Honestly the introduction of Kraang Sub-Prime is geniuly unexpected. I like how they tricked us thinking that this was actually Irma but then out of nowhere she turns into a hulk-buster armored Kraang.
15;11 isn't just a random filler episode. It's actually sort of a parody/homage to the 80s movie Big Trouble in Little China. This show is filled with Easter eggs from the 80s and 90s, which i think a lot of people that didn't grow up in that era, will notice or understand certain references or characters. Even the Leo being ambushed, thrown off a window, being unconscious and the escape from the city to a farm, is a reference to the 1990 TMNT Movie, when Ralph gets ambushed by the Foot, gets beat up badly by them, gets tossed off a glass ceiling, and the turtles barely escape with April and Casey in a Van, to April's family Farmhouse. And in season 3 you will see more references to the 1990's movie. it's also worth mention that the cartoons that they watch on each season, is based on a popular 80s cartoons & TV Shows
Leo and Kurai have always seemed like love interest . It’s weird hearing someone say they weren’t in the OG(2003) It was like “oh no my rivals daughter and my son have a bond. How will they depict a better version of me and shredder”
... Just so we are clear, when you say the "OG", do you mean the Mirage comics, the 80s show, or the 2003s show?
@@Theokal3 2003 shows sorry. That was my first exposure to turtl
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Seth Green as Leonardo from Season 3 onward.
I will stand by this to my dying breath. TMNT: DOTO is one of the greatest tmnt games that has ever been released. It's so much fun and the sense of progression is amazing.
Also the OST goes way too hard like holy shit bro
Tiger Claw as a character felt like the 2003 Hun of TMNT 2012
Hun was actually introduced later in season 4 as a mercenary or something
@@RiceCooker-san I know but Tiger Claw character wise felt kinda similar to 2003 Hun since both of them are Shredder's most loyal henchmen and they also hate Karai and they both quitted the Foot later on in both series
I remember when I was a little kid and was absolutely shocked during the S2 finale. It was my first time seeing my heroes fail and the villains winning.
Literally word for word how I felt
A comment I have about your nitpick with the filler episodes is that this is one of those shows that doesn't want to have every episode be plot progression. It balances out plot with episodes to develop the characters or just have some fun, so I wouldn't really say that the pacing is slow.
I’ll admit that the filler episodes he did call out are probably the weakest ones (except Pizza Face I always kinda thought it was fun), but yeah I agree. I really enjoy the pacing of this season since it feels like a lot of the filler episodes either create new cool characters or follow a plot that’s already there
honestly I have grown lately to share his opinion that fillers aren't necessarily a bad thing; nowadays many shows are so serialized that they end up wrapping their story way too fast and you barely get to enjoy them. Fillers allow you to get a bit more and can be used to expand in areas that aren't related to the main plot.
.... With that said, like everything else, overusing them can be a problem and cause things to drag. In my opinion, TMNT 2012 *usually* does a good balance, but in some areas they push it a bit.
My favorite part of the season 2 finale was when Shredder had Splinter cornered, just for Leatherhead to burst through the wall behind Splinter, and take on Shredder.
As a six year old kid who would watch this week to week, I just thought it was cool and fun to watch. Watching this now some of the episodes are hard to watch just because you don’t need them but I remember loving the pizza face episode and the board game episode when I was a kid. It was fun and it appealed to the younger audiences
That Pizza episode terrified me when I was a kid, I thought it was so disgusting and my dad bought a pizza that same day and I refused to eat it because that episode grossed me out so much.
It’s good to see someone talk TMNT 2012 fully,maybe you can talk about romtmnt next or maybe a more obscure tmnt thing next.
16:26 your predictions are on point (unfortunately )the story takes a pretty big halt for some horror movie homage filler episodes. Ex. Episode 1 is a reference to Jason Vorehess from friday the 13th. A later episode after the turtles return to new york is a reference to the SAW franchise etc.
At least half of the farmhouse episodes are good Tbf
I dont think turtles returning to new york was filler episode.It was more like main episode which the plot moved forward.
@@contra7631 The episode I mentioned happens after the turtles return to new York
The poor, recent video game attempts really makes me hyped up by the annonced Last ronin tmnt game
This was the most violent cartoon ever
12:22 I swear hes like the boba fett of the series, cool at first, but then as time goes on he becomes more or less a joke, with a few redeeming qualities in the end. Well, most of the henchmen became an easy to overcome obstacles overtime as well.
No spoilers for the third season, but screw that Bigfoot episode.
💀
And screw April O'Neil, attention seeking w**re!
The king of “episodes I skip on rewatch”
Yeah, fans had a lot of problems with the Karai/Leo romance thing, given who Karai was later revealed to be. Many found it kinda creepy.
Personally the point where Karai got turned into a snake mutant was the point where I started having issues with the show. I had been enthusiastic about seeing Karai now with the turtles and discover the new dynamic, so this came up to me as a way from the writers to drag the Miwha arc further, which was frustrating to me.
shut the hell up bot
As someone who only watched the 1987 and 2003 series the idea of karai being splinters daughter is actually a interesting idea and shredder being the one to kill Tang Shen who yoshi had a daughter with makes splinter and shredder's rivalry that much more personal
One thing the show does good it’s for the villains to become a mutants. They usually show them before they were mutants in which she will see in season three with the rhino and the hog foot clan
I would say this version of Slash is so much better than the 80's version. In the 80's version, he was another dumb comedic villain that has alot of worst treatments. Here, he's exactly what I expected as an turtle clone and how he stays true in the comics. Basically he's the Venom of TMNT. Started as an deadly villain, than turned into an anti-hero.
Love karai in season 2 and the new take on her backstory
It’s genuinely my favorite story in the whole show, her reaction to seeing that full picture of yoshi and tang shen is genuinely one of the most striking images of the whole show. She had been staring at half a picture for her whole life, and she can’t believe that it’s actually true. Kelly Hu also does fantastic with her this season
i just wish there was a Christmas Special for TMNT 2012 show
8:21 As a person who waited a weak for every episode back in 2013 I can confirm that it was pretty disappointing when a major status-quo-shifting episode was followed by a filler that often didn't even adress said shift. The most frustrating case for me was Karai's capture that was followed by two fillers in a row one of which was completely unrelated to it.
10:11 Brock's flirting gag in a nutshell
15:11 i loved this episode purely because it's one big reference to big trouble in little china
I always loved shows that weren't afraid of having the main characters lose badly no matter their efforts, so this show not only reinvigorated my love for the franchise but solidified itself as the best TMNT incarnation (weird love shippings aside) to exists so far (never really connected with ROTTMNT) , im waiting to see the new Mutant Mayhem follow up movie to see if they become the new №1
15:08 It was actually referenced further where one of the Kraang soldier mentioned that a Kraang was trying a gluten-free diet, later we Irma mentions she's going on a gluten-free diet
Dude, I spent the entire week watching your 2003 retrospective videos and had just watched the first part of this retrospective when you uploaded this, what a coincidence! Love the in-depth behind-the-scenes research you do for these videos, keep up the good work!
That said, I wasn’t sure how to feel about the retrospective for this particular show because I dropped it for the same reason that you did: it didn’t grab me when it first aired. Donnie having a crush on April thing was a bit more of a dealbreaker for me because Don is my favorite turtle (especially in 2003) and I hated that what’s seemed like half his screen time was spent on his crush. The changes to Don’s personality was a bit off-putting to me. I get that he felt under-appreciated for all the work he does for his family, but his sarcastic nature felt jarring when I was so used to 2003 Don’s gentle personality. The humor for the show in general felt very mean-spirited, too, in a way that made it unwatchable to me, at the time.
I’m thinking of giving this show a chance given how popular it seems with the fans but honestly, I have a big problem with secondhand embarrassment so I’m not sure if I’ll ever manage to do that. I might be able to experience it through your retrospectives, though, so I’ll try to keep an open mind as I watch your videos (which I’m enjoying a lot!). Maybe someday I’ll end up finally watching it, too.
TMNT-2012 Seasons Ranked:
1: Season 2
2: Season 4
3: Season 3
4: Season 5
5: Season 1
2=3>1>4>5 imo, 4 would maybe be #1 for me if the Space Arc wasn’t so dragged out
4>2>5>3>1
I don't care what anybody says! I love 2012 Karai no matter what! She's my all-time favorite beautiful badass!
This is my second favorite TMNT series, right behind the 2003 series.
I will say though unfortunately this series reached its peak with season 2 here. The rest isn’t as good but still worth watching
Season 3 is just as good if not maybe a little bit better imo, and Season 4’s second half is incredible as well
pizza face was actually a real thing and mikey didn't dream him (just so you know)
I think the unfortunate part of tmnt 2012s games is that they released during an era where cheap shovelware licensed games were still prevalent and ended before game development became more expensive forcing higher quality standards
Rooftop Run still being on the App Store makes me feel so old. For context, if you were a huge TMNT watcher and always on Nick back in 2012 (me in this case), then you remember one of the first games they ever dropped about the 2012 show was Rooftop Run. 11 years and still there 🥲
Tigger claw is the best original character, if not of this show then all the non comics, at least villian wise
Man, i wish these tmnt 2012 videos were 1 hour long, like your 2003 retrospective.
I forgot how good season two of 2012 TMNT was 😂
lots of throw backs to the 87 cartoon this season. i dig that a lot!
raph and mona is best ship too
Cant we all just agree that 2012 is already good enough and the fact that it got more stuff to him
Also about Urma. I don't know if you noticed she I'd a parallel character to Velma from scoobydoo in look and voice. So it was kind of fitting they did am episode with a ghost
Honestly, I remember playing the 2012 flash games on Nickelodeon website. I remember that they were very fun😊
If I had a nickel for every time a green character voiced by Greg Cipes went on a solo adventure where they fought a living version of their favourite food and no one believed them about it, I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
This show has my favorite take on the turtle getting destroyed, and everyone else has to leave and go to the farm
This series still has one of my favorite iterations of Donnie
mikey and renet and shinigami is best ship
april and donnie is best ship
I grew up with the 2003 séries
But the 2012 its my favorite
I rly like the action scene, and How charming the turtles are
I had 16y when I started watching the 2012?
So yeah, not my introduction, but still my favorite
Tmnt 2012 is my favorite version, I wish it didn’t end yet
I love Leo and Karai’s dynamic. I find their relationship cute and to be honest given they grew up separately and have no genetic relations I never really looked at them like siblings. If anything I saw April as more of a sister then Karai.😅
This is the show that got me back into Ninja Turtles after the original series ended. There’s a charm about it I just can’t resist. Though I will admit they need to stop shipping the turtles with human women. Namely Leo/Korai and Donnie/April. Those were creepy
The Footclan soldiers being robots is such a cool idea, it just really annoys me how they're shown to be such a big threat in their debut episode but their subsequent appearances makes them just as dumb as the original soldiers (Which as you said was supposed to be the human aspect) and also makes them cannon fodder. I get that at the end of the day that's all they're ever meant to be but it would have been cool for the turtles to find them difficult to beat, at least for the first season they're in. After that, yeah make them cannon fodder, but showing the turtles beating them easily after one single episode really annoys me. The same can be said for the Kraang bots. In the first episode they practically soloed the entire team but then they became so weak the turtles didn't even need to try...and that was at the end of that two parter.
Pretty spot on with my perspective on S2. Some great episodes, but also got pretty heavy on the filler, probably because they were reusing 3D assets. HOWEVER, as a massive D&D nerd, I loved Mazes and Mutants. It was actually the episode that got me watching the show again during a time when I was often busy and my attention to it wondered. Also, Danger of the Ooze isn't just a sidescroller. It's an openworld metroidvania style game with a whole bunch of injokes and nods to the genre, including getting an upgrade from a chozo statue at one point. Metroid is my favorite video game franchise, and I love the genre, so I rather enjoyed Danger of the Ooze, even if it's somewhat budget in execution. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Turtles in Time or Shredder's Revenge, but I think it's better than most of the 2003 games honestly.
How could you not mention that Crang Sub-prime(the one inside erma) was voiced by the Late, Great, Gilbert Godfreid?
_Gottfried._ And yes.
13:35 BEST. PUN. EVER.
I could've sworn Turtles Forever had their own 2003 version of Tigerclaw. It wasn't named Tigerclaw but it was a Tiger Mutant
Karai was made a love interest because Leorai is a popular ship in the TMNT fandom. The same goes for April and Donnie. These two relationship dynamics were not chosen on a whim. But the writers/creators fudge the former up when they decide to include the Miwa plotline despite the complications that the plotline would Intel.
So, in other words, they wanted their cake and eat it too?
@@johnnygyro2295 yep
Leo having a crush on someone at some point in the story seems to be a somewhat consistent trait of his character between this and the film (Outside of Rise). I actually don't have anything against the idea of shipping them, but in this continuity specifically, certain details makes it...uncomfortable to say the least.
@@leithaziz2716 True. And to be honest in my honest opinion if they were going to use the Miwa plotline for Karai, I'd think they could've introduced Lotus Blossom to replace Karai as Leo's love interest (or preferably just make her Leo's love interest from the start) since her and 87 Leo had canonical romantic tension.
7:15-7:23 At least the episode gave us Rahzar which looks sick. Edit: 10:15-10:21 Dude there's an alien INVASION GOING ON
Some issues pop up in S2:
Kirby always becomes the damsel in distress.
A lot of episodes start feeling like just pop culture references or guest stars.
The tone starts rocking around a bit too much, like how filler episodes like Pizza Face indeed come between important episodes.
I'd at least say that the coincidence with the Turtles and Aoril being the Krang chosrn one works better even if it can be a little too coincidental since the Turtles are Spanners in the Works in this series.
Heh. Tiger Claw's fate seems like sorta-making up for Turtles Forever being more a satire of each TMNT series's _fanbases_ than a legit crossover.
Nice remake of the 2003 thumbnail of leo vs karai
Season 2 is where this show found its stride. Karai was my favorite character in this season and I didn't mind her interactions with Leo.
Pixel Dan TMNT2012 reviews, man... nostalgia
Question: If you could give the original, the 2003, and the 2012 series subtitles to help make them stand out more what would you pick.
Also I'm not a big fan of Rise but I have to admit that it's title is great. I wish more people could appapireate the value of a good title and subtle so we could avoid the whole 'and' and one word titles.
For as cringe as the April & Donnie stuff was (and the triangle once Casey was introduced), I began to get SO annoyed with Leo in this season! This bled into Season 3 and the rest of the show as well BUT I don't wanna spoil anything for you.
Leo was always "Guys, we have to save Karai because she's my girl! I mean she's Master Splinter's daughter! We have to do it for him! Am I right?!" He would constantly put himself in reckless situations to either save her or as we see earlier in Season 2 (against Splinter's wishes) he went out of his way to try to tell her that Splinter was her dad.
When you really look at it, he was indirectly responsible for Karai's mutation. Don't get me wrong, Shredder was the one who concocted the entire plan which involved putting her right above a vat of mutagen in the first place. However, earlier in the episode was when Leo went into the evil lair to rescue Karai from her cell. That set in motion helmet head's plan which of course ended up with her mutating because if I remember correctly, HE was aiming for Leo's head but cut the chains holding his 'daughter' instead.
Leo would hate on Don's pal Metalhead, Mikey's friend Leatherhead (in Season 1 during his first episode where he was literally a raging animal) and Raph's old pal Spike/Slash (who to be fair did try to KILL the other 3 turtles in his first episode).
However, all of them combined would eventually do more GOOD for the turtles & New York compared to Karai!
Dude was a bad leader at times, but I can't lie; the way he took on Fishface, Razar & Tiger Claw before Shredder put him down in the finale was EPIC!
Man U gotta take a look at the neca toy lines lol