A Look at the New TMNT Designs

Hey all!

So, about a week or so ago I came across a piece of news stating there'll be a new TMNT cartoon series on Nickelodeon called Rise Of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Great! I thought to myself, it's always nice to see amazing cartoon franchises from childhood being kept alive in the modern day. Then I took a look at what the turtles will look like. Not since the designs of Sonic Boom have I cringed so heavily.

Where do I even start with this... For starters, the turtles all look very, well, sharp and pointy. They each look quite thin and wiry too.  The masks on Raph and Donnie's heads look like shower caps too. Oh, and speaking of Raphael, he wields Tonfas now instead of his trademark Sais... have fun with that one, internet! In fact all the turtles seem to be wielding either a different weapon or are a variation of their classic weapons they've always wielded. Donnie seems to be using some sort of wizard's staff instead of his ninja bo stick; Leo is seen wielding a giant katana/broadsword weird combo instead of his twin katanas; and Mikey's looks like he is equipped with some sort of whip with a spiky yo yo on the end (yes, honestly). And the less said about Splinter the better! He looks the worst of the lot!

 Now granted I have only seen one piece of early art for this new series and you never know things might change as we got more info as time passes. But at the moment they seem to be taking a very weird direction with this new series. Yes, I get that as time moves on series and characters have to evolve with it; some more than others. And yes, the producers probably have intentionally given them more radical designs and weapons to make them stand out from the rest of the TMNT series which have come before it. But all of these new changes at once can really put off devoted fans of the series. I know I'm not the target audience for this series and it's for kids, but again, enough children saw the two recent movies which came out at cinemas and got used to their backstory, origins, weapons and design and now it's all being changed (well aside from the backstory as I don't know which direction they'll take with that). Perhaps I am being a little biased because I did grow up with the original 80's TMNT series. However, that doesn't change the way how I personally feel about the designs and the weapon changes the turtles are given. Who knows though, perhaps this will be the ultimate cartoon series the heroes in a half shell deserve; we'll have to wait and see.

Please let me know how you guys feel on the matter too, I'd really love to know! Is this radical change good or bad?