The controversy spinning around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles production has been all the rage since Michael Bay's involvement nearly changed the face of everyone's childhood forever. Origin changes, tremendous miscasting, and poor narrative decisions have plagued the production ever since its announcement, and Michael Bay is no stranger when it comes to creating trash productions of old source material. Although he's not directing, instead sitting in the producer's chair, it's sure to keep haggling the minds of TMNT fans around the globe. But what's been haggling our minds the most is what exactly the Turtles will look like. For months we've been teased sparse descriptions of their designs, hoping that they at least get the designs of the dynamic Turtle quartet right. To the surprise of most, even those who despise the production of the film (I myself included), leaked maquettes of their supposed final designs, along with Shredder's design as well, have been exposed to the internet, and the general response would usually be in agreement that yes, they did get something right after all. ComicBookMovie first picked up the image designs before they were removed posthaste. Shortly before that other sites got a hold of the images and continued the leak, one particular source being Cinelex. Of the leaked designs, Jordan Maison of Cinelex had this to say:
"To be entirely honest, this may could have easily gone into Rumor Control, since these haven't been confirmed officially just yet. However, they match up with pretty much all the descriptions we've had so far of the new look for the Turtles and appear to be fairly credible."
Since the images were removed from ComicBookMovie, I'd like to believe the claim of the designs not being official is out the front door by now. The designs seem exactly what we've been asking for as fans, going outside the comfort some a bit and bringing us a modified and revamped version of the Turtles' new looks. But we can't forget about Shredder, another source of controversy thanks to the casting choice of William Fichtner and a disastrous on-film origin story. His design was also leaked amid the Turtles, and Maison added the following: "It's kind of the same deal here; it's definitely an update but still lines up with the traditional look many have come to associate with the character."
Overall, these designs are a great start towards the almost vanishing optimism the fans are holding for the film. Ignoring the fact that Megan Fox and Will Arnett are part of the initial cast, along with non-familiar faces playing the part of the Turtles, the concepts behind Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are enough to draw some of the fans back into the fold and garner the film some much-needed support. I personally love the designs as a fan, for it is indeed something new yet familiar all at once. What's more appealing is how intimidating Leonardo looks in the picture up above; there's inspiration taken from samurais in how his physical form is displayed, as he's the only one that I can tell who's wearing any sort of bamboo padding seeing as how he's the leader of the group. Even Raphael looks more bulked up than ever, revealing the muscle of the group. Michelangelo and Donatello are a little bit harder to see but Donatello looks to be the tallest of the group, with Michelangelo obviously being the smaller. The Shredder design looks interesting and all, but I can see some of the carry-over from Michael Bay's Transformers series, as he practically looks like a spitting image of Megatron.
What do you guys think? If
these are the final designs, were they what you were hoping for? How about Shredder? Do you agree with the (final) design? Feel free to express your opinions on the matter below.