"The Turtles story began in Japan, where the now Splinter
was merely a rat, in a cage at the dojo of his master,
Hamato Yoshi. Yoshi, being one of Japan's finest
shadow warriors, was a member of the famous "foot" clan,
and in the cage, Splinter would vainly try to mimic the
moves of his master. Yoshi found this amusing, but
moreso was that Splinter was actually learning, if unable,
to perform the movements of ninjitsu. Another member of
the foot clan was Oroku Nagi. Nagi and Yoshi competed
fiercely for all things, especially for the love of a
woman, Tang Shen. Both tried to win her, but from the
start she loved only one: Yoshi. Nagi was insanely
jealous. One night, he went over to Shen's home and
demanded that she love him. She refused, saying that
she wanted only Yoshi. In a jealous rage, Nagi began
to beat her. At that moment Yoshi entered the room.
Yoshi, enraged beyond reason, beat Nagi to death.
Yoshi's shame was great. By killing another member of
his clan, he had dishonored himself. His choices were
simple, but not easy: to commit seppuku - to take his
own life in honor - or to flee with Shen to another
country and try to start life again. He chose the
latter, taking with him a few belongings, and went with
Shen to New York to open a martial arts school.
Meanwhile, in Japan, Nagi's family, especially his younger
brother Saki, mourned his death. Seven year old Saki
vowed veangence on Yoshi. The foot took hold of Saki's
anger and bent it to their own purposes. Within a decade,
Saki was ready to head to America to start a branch of
the foot clan in New York. Under Saki's leadership, the
foot clan was soon involved in many illegal activities,
including drug smuggling, arms running, and assassination.
Saki created a suit of armor for himself composed of many
ridges of sharp blades, and took the name "The Shredder".
Saki finally was able to track down Yoshi and his wife,
Shen. Yoshi returned home from work one evening to find
his wife lying lifeless on the floor.
Yoshi's final
moments only gave him the name of his and his wife's killer,
the brother of Nagi. In the brief struggle, Splinter's
cage was smashed and Splinter was left alone.
Splinter wandered the streets and sewers of New York,
feeding off garbage and refuge. One day a blind man was
crossing the street and was almost hit by an oncoming
truck. At the last moment, a young man lept at the blind
man and knocked him out of the truck's way. As the truck
screeched to a halt, a canister was lost out of the back
of the truck and hit the man near his eye. It bounced a
few more times before it hit a child's mini aquarium,
shattering it and sending the contents of the aquarium
and the canister down a manhole. The four turtles were
fortunate to have landed on some leaves and papers, but the
canister landed beside them, breaking open, and releasing
a glowing green ooze. Splinter was privy to the descent
and the shattering of the canister, and not knowing exactly
why, he gathered the four turtles into a coffee can and
took them to his burrow, where he washed off as much of the
goo as he could.
The next morning he awoke to find that the can had tipped
over and the four turtles had doubled in size. Somehow,
the strange ooze had affected their growth. And as
Splinter was to learn later, it had changed him as well,
making him more intelligent and larger. Within a year the
turtles had grown to their full size of over four feet
and had begun to speak, saying the name of their father
figure: Splinter. More words followed, and soon they too
were walking on their two hind legs, as a bipedal creature
and no longer as a four legged animal. The next five years
were spent in training. Splinter began teaching the four
everything he had learnt from his master, Yoshi. The use of
weapons, the art of stealth, and all that he knew of the
world. In that time they had become true ninja. Using
an old battered copy of a book on Renaissance art that
he had fished out of a storm drain, Splinter gave them
their names: Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and
Raphael."
Paraphrased from TMNT First Graphic Novel Number Nine
Each character is unique, yet I see a little bit of me in all of them, both good and bad, and
it's the fact that they are brothers and work as a team despite their differences that has
really shown me the power of unity and discipline. Although Donatello is my favorite, I
feel a link to each turtle individually.
Raphael has some kind of minor insanity that makes him the "crazy" man of the group.
He has problems being controlled and cannot even control himself. He's fine most of the
time, but when he gets into a berserker rage, he's chaotic. This makes him an awesome
fighter, but also a little hard to live with. He doesn't like this side of himself, but he can't
yet control it. It is like a demon living inside him, barely kept in check. A large part of
why Raphael hasn't yet killed himself or any of the other turtles is due to his friendship
with Michaelangelo. It is Michaelangelo's great love of life and fun that acts as a balance
for Raphael's anger and depression. Raphael wants to make himself a better warrior. He
practices a lot, but he can't seem to keep from doing dangerous or foolhardy stunts.
Though skilled in all ninjitsu techniques, his favorite weapon is the sai. He uses the
paired sai in leap attacks as a master of ninjitsu. As a fighter, Raphael is neither the most
skillful (Leonardo) or the most talented (Michaelangelo) but he is the most deadly ninja
turtle because of his raw energy.
In the absence of Splinter, Leonardo is the leader of the brothers. He is a "take-charge"
kind of guy who can size up a situation quickly. He excels at making plans that are
complicated yet cleanly constructed, and almost always work. He is also a perfectionist;
a trait that gets him into trouble. Leonardo performs his tasks with an efficiency that any
man would be proud of, but there are times that he sees it as a source of shame and a "loss
of face". He is always trying to live up to the ideal of his mentor, Splinter.
Unfortunately, he has never really absorbed one of Splinter's most important teachings:
that it is honorable to strive for perfection, but all right to occasionally fail to reach that
goal. Leonardo also feels this loss when the other turtles do something wrong. He feels
responsible for them and their actions. Of course, because of this, he goes nuts over
Raphael's rages and craziness. Leonardo is perhaps the smartest of the turtles, at least in
all-around intelligence. He is a voracious reader and has a very good memory. His
favored weapon is the Daisho, the Samurai paired weapon of Katana and Wakazashi,
though he is skilled with all weapons and techniques.
Michaelangelo is the fun-loving turtle. He lives to enjoy life. He tends to hang out with
Raphael rather than Leonardo or Donatello because they're too serious for him. He has a
gentle, though mischievous nature and is not above playing practical jokes. He reads
comics and science fiction and likes to sneak into movie theaters to watch the latest films.
In short, he enjoys practicing his ninja skills, but also enjoys just fooling around.
Michaelangelo also likes to cook and it is he who prepares most of the turtle's meals. In
many ways he is the hedonist and a sensualist, appreciative of pleasures of the flesh.
Michaelangelo likes rough and tumble stuff and loves to get into a good fight almost as
much as Raphael. He enjoys sparring, and he and Raphael do a lot of this. He doesn't
work as hard at the art of Ninjitsu as any of the others (except perhaps Donatello), but his
naturally high physical prowess more than makes up for his lack of discipline.
Michaelangelo is adept at all ninjitsu skills, but favors a pair of nunchaku.
Donatello is more interested in working out a troublesome computer program than
fighting ninjas or whatever. Of all the turtles, he rebels most strongly against killing, and
while his skills with the bo are highly honed, he would prefer no to use it against a living
opponent. Donatello gets off on gadgets and technology and many times will sneak out at
night and, using his ninja skills of silence and stealth, rummage through the dumpsters of
electronics firms, gathering cast-off parts with which to construct his various gadgets.
Although he lacks formal training, he is a natural inventive genius. Donatello cares a
great deal for his brother turtles, but is the least clannish of them. He lives most of the
time within his own head, thinking and dreaming of new things to build.
Click on each pic for a larger image
Each character is unique, yet I see a little bit of me in all of them, both good and bad, and
it's the fact that they are brothers and work as a team despite their differences that has
really shown me the power of unity and discipline. Although Donatello is my favorite, I
feel a link to each turtle individually.
Michaelangelo is the fun-loving turtle. He lives to enjoy life. He tends to hang out with
Raphael rather than Leonardo or Donatello because they're too serious for him. He has a
gentle, though mischievous nature and is not above playing practical jokes. He reads
comics and science fiction and likes to sneak into movie theaters to watch the latest films.
In short, he enjoys practicing his ninja skills, but also enjoys just fooling around.
Michaelangelo also likes to cook and it is he who prepares most of the turtle's meals. In
many ways he is the hedonist and a sensualist, appreciative of pleasures of the flesh.
Michaelangelo likes rough and tumble stuff and loves to get into a good fight almost as
much as Raphael. He enjoys sparring, and he and Raphael do a lot of this. He doesn't
work as hard at the art of Ninjitsu as any of the others (except perhaps Donatello), but his
naturally high physical prowess more than makes up for his lack of discipline.
Michaelangelo is adept at all ninjitsu skills, but favors a pair of nunchaku.
