Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
| Abbreviation(s): | TMNT, Ninja Turtles |
| Creator: | Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Mirage Studios |
| Date(s): | 1984-present |
| Medium: | cartoon, comics, films, video games |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a media franchise about a team of four mutated turtles who were trained by a ninja rat and fight crime in New York City. The series was created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman as a dark and gritty spoof of popular comic books during the 1980's such as X-Men and it's spin-off New Mutants (which originally focused on teenage mutants) and Daredevil (which featured ninjas). After retaining the rights for so long, Laird sold it in 2009 to Viacom, becoming a major addition to the Nickelodeon channel.
Canon
The series first appeared as a self-published comic book Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984).
The Main Characters for this fandom are:
- Leonardo (Leo) - Blue Mask; the leader and often bears the burden of responsibility for his brothers
- Michelangelo (Mikey) - Orange Mask; team's easy-going and free-spirited prankster
- Donatello (Don, Donnie or Donny (2k3)) - Purple Mask; scientist/inventor/engineer/tech genius of the group
- Raphael (Raph) - Red mask; team's bad boy - has a bit of an attitude but loves his family and friends
- Splinter - a mutated rat who adopted four turtles and raised them as his own, teaching them the art of ninja.
- April O'Neil - the first human to befriend the turtles
- Shredder - the main antagonist for the series
- Casey Jones - a vigilante who wears a hockey mask to protect his identity who teams up with turtles; in a relationship with April in most incarnations
Fandom
The main fandom pairings are between the turtle brothers (Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo and Leonardo), as well as ships between April and the turtles (although canonically it's only ever usually amounted to crushes on the brothers' part until the 2K12 series). April/Casey is a popular het canon pairing.
Comic Fandom
The original comic series is darker and more violent than the later incarnations.
1980s Cartoon and First Live-Action Film Trilogy Fandom
The TMNT fandom between the trilogy and the 1980s animated series introduced a lot of fans to the series. This period is sometimes referred to as "Turtlemania", because during this period the Turtles became an international phenomenon
1980s-1990s Animated Series Fandom
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation Fandom
The series introduced a new character, "Venus de Milo", a female turtle, who is contentious among fans and creators. Nonetheless, some fans took to doing fanworks dedicated to her.
2003-2009 Animated Series Fandom
A popular series due to it being closer to the comics and darker than the original animated series. It's mainly known as 2K3 universe.
2007 Animated Film Fandom
TMNT 2k7 is the fandom term for the universe. It focuses on Leo and Raph's relationship, and as such is popular among fans of turtlecest.
2012 Animated Series Fandom
TMNT 2k12 is the fandom term for the universe.
A series that has become very popular. A fandom favorite is the canon relationship between April and Donatello, although Raphael/April is shipped as well (since originally Raphael was supposed to have a crush on April).
2014 & 2016 Live-Action Films
TMNT 2k14/2k16 is the fandom term for the universe. It's often criticized for its design of the turtles and starring Megan Fox as April, although others enjoyed her as April or liked the film regardless.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fandom
ROTTMNT, Rise, TMNT 2K18, and or Rise of the TMNT are other names for Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This series was unfortunately cut short, it's 2nd season getting half of it's expected episodes. Mainly because of fans outcries against the changes done to the characters designs and personalities. And was only able to get a movie in August 5th of 2022. Giving it a revival of TMNT fan interest. Unfortunately there hasn't been any talk of a season 3 recently, though that may change.
- 2022 Dec 15
Terminology
- Turtlecest or tcest is the pairing name for the incest relationships between the brothers Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and Leo.
- Raphril is the pairing name for Raphael/April.
- Apritello is the pairing name for April/Donatello.
- Leorai is the pairing name for Leonardo/Karai.
- Aprilangelo is the pairing name for April/Mikey.
- Leopril is the pairing name for April/Leonardo.
- Capril is the pairing name for Casey/April.
- Castello is the pairing name for Casey/Donatello.
- Capritello is the pairing name for Casey/April/Donatello.
- Ramona is the pairing name for Raphael/Mona Lisa
Fanworks
Fics
- Wish I Had Casey's Girl by sonofwolf, one-sided April/Don & April/Casey Donnie's got a crush...too bad she's taken!
- Seven Minutes by Dork in High Heels, Rated Mature, 2K14 April/Raphael, After the events of ‘Weightless’, April must come to terms with her feelings for Raphael. (Sequel: Justify)
- 100 Theme Challenge by hummerhouse, Rated Mature, 2k12 Casey/April/Donatello, Don loves April who has a crush on Casey who has the hots for Don. Triangle ahoy!
- Past to Present by crabapplered, OT4 (all 4 brothers together), 2k3 SAINW Turtlecest Years after his mysterious disappearance, Donatello has been returned to his brothers. Leonardo can't quite believe it, has to prove it to himself with sound. Smell. Touch.
- Casting Stones at the River by GoblinCatKC, Multiple Canon Pairings, Turtlecest, Slash, Het, How long do mutant turtles live? Potentially thousands of years. An exploration of how the turtles discover and then deal with suddenly expanded lifetimes. (This is a series of 100 short pieces in the same story, told out of chronology.)
Arts
- Missing The Point by chochi (colored by oddmachine), a genderswapped group image of the turtles.
- A lesson in compassion by bakameganekko, baby!Mikey and Ralph.
- Hamato Pile by suthnmeh, April and the Turtles (TMNT 2012)
- x-men x tmnt by m7781, a mash up of TMNT as X-Men characters
- Michelangelo by grimming (TMNT 2K14)
Example Art Gallery
Art from The Celestial Toybox #5 by Jon Marshall (1989)
Art from CrosSignals #3 by Sharon M. Palmer (1990), a crossover with Beauty and the Beast
Fanzines
Doujinshi
Yaoi:
Archives and Communities
Fannish Links
DeviantArt
- tmnt & teenage mutant ninja turtles searches
- TMNT Fanfiction Hub
- TMNT Fans
- TMNT Legacy
- Operation TMNT
- TMNT Community Awards
- 2012 TMNT Fans
- TMNT2012Fans
- TMNT2012
- TMNT-2003
- TMNT2003
- TMNT Discourse
- TMNT Canon
- TMNT Fan Group
- Awesome TMNT Fanart
- All Out TMNT
- TMNT Friends Forever
- TMNT Fans Forever
- TMNTurtle Power
- TMNT-AllStories (fanfiction only)
- TMNT Humans (Human AUs only)
- AUs of TMNT (AUs)
Shipping specific:
- Slash the Slasher (Slash fanworks)
- Pro-turtlecest (Turtlecest)
- T-Cest Fans (Turtlecest)
- Of Lions and Lambs (Raph/Don & Mikey/Leo)
- Fans of Jonatello (Casey/Donatello)
- Casey-x-Donatello (Casey/Donatello)
- Mickey-x-Ick (Ice Cream Kitty and Michelangelo)
- Donatello x April (April/Donatello)
- Donnie x April 2012 (April/Donatello)
- TMNT Classy Crazy (April/Casey)
Character specific:
- Donatello's Place
- TMNTDonnie
- TMNT April O'Neil
- TMNTApril O'Neil
- Rat Daddy FC (Splinter)
- Pets of TMNT
- Ladies of TMNT
- TMNT Villains
Tumblr
- Tumblr tags: tmnt, teenage mutant ninja turtles, tmnt 2003, tmnt 2012, tmnt 2014, tmnt 2k14
- LGBT TMNT (Fanweek)
- raphril (April/Raphael)
Resources
- Turtlepedia
- TMNT Fanfiction Hub
- Ninja Archive (TMNT Fanbook Archive)