10 Ways To Make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Not Suck

7. Improved Designs

The designs for the reboot are overall extremely ugly. The decision to add nostrils and lips to the Turtles was reportedly done to humanize them, but it only made them look like freakish nightmare fuel. All the added junk they€™re wearing was also extremely unnecessary, with the only intention being to drive home the characteristics of the brothers without bothering with silly little things like character development.

Instead, they presented Leo with a chestplate and leather grieves to give the impression that he€™s staying true to the samurai roots, Raph wears a leather loincloth and sunglasses to show he€™s a badass, Mike has wetsuit pants and a sweater tied around his waist to show he€™s laid back, and Donny has taped glasses and what looks like Ghostbusters cosplay to show that he€™s the nerd.

Then there€™s also the size of the characters. The Turtles are supposed to be human-sized: they€™re light on their feet, quick, but in the reboot they look like they could give the Hulk a run for his money. Remember the line from the very first issue of the comic: €œwe strike hard and fade away into the night.€ Well, the reboot Turtles can strike hard, but they€™re not fading away.

Splinter and the Shredder didn€™t fare much better, what with Splinter sporting Fu Manchu-type whiskers (and it wouldn€™t be a Bay-produced film without some not-so-subtle racist elements) and Shredder plodding around in a suit of armor that makes Iron Man€™s Hulkbuster look downright subtle in comparison.

Contributor
Contributor

Percival Constantine is the author of several novels and short stories, including the Vanguard superhero series, and regularly writes and comments on movies, comics, and other pop culture. More information can be found at his website, PercivalConstantine.com