Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: Michelangelo

Hey everyone!

Today, I'm looking at our orange banded turtle, Michelangelo. This turtle has always been a fan-favorite. Also, a fun fact is that Michelangelo was probably the first Ninja Turtle that the original creators drew. Here we go!

Michelangelo 

Michelangelo (or Mikey) is the youngest out of the turtle brothers. He wears an orange bandanna and fights with nunchaku. 

TMNT 1987

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

This Mikey is described as "one party dude." For Mikey, it's all about fun, games, and of course, pizza! Mikey was probably the most popular turtle in this particular series for his extremely lighthearted manner, and his catchphrase "Cowabunga!"

This Mikey is more of a space case and has a California surfer accent, adding to his chill personality. He's obsessed with pizza and is shown to be always distracted by it. His humor is often relating to him not getting a joke, or not really being aware of the situation. He's also always focused on food. 

TMNT 2003

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

This Mikey is a little more serious, but only a little. He's more or less the baby brother of the family. Everyone is a bit protective of him. Although Mikey is shown to be a skilled fighter, he is often the turtle who gets into the most trouble. He tends to get injured a lot, but he recovers quickly. He is the most lighthearted of the brothers, never taking anything too seriously. He's usually the first one to crack a joke or talk about some video game or TV show he loves.

Mikey is obsessed with video games, comic books, superheroes, and monster movies. He is basically one giant geek that has quite the imagination. He's always making random references to some pop culture, and loves doing impressions of characters, such as Schwarzenegger.

Mikey loves superheroes so much that he actually attempted to be one, and to an extent succeeded, earning recognition from the Justice Force ( a parody of the Justice League). He's very passionate about his hobbies and doesn't mind when his brothers make fun of him for it.

This Mikey is shown to be a bit spacey and less focused than his other brothers. According to Splinter, Mikey has the most potential physically as a ninja, but his unwillingness to focus inhibits his abilities to fight. However, when Mikey does focus, his fighting is superb. For example, during his rematch of the Battle Nexus, he finally focuses when he realizes his life is on the line, and he demonstrates some incredible ninja moves, mainly that he's ridiculously fast.

Despite his appearance of being stupid, Mikey does have moments where he shows some profound insight. He was the first to see Leatherhead, a huge mutated crocodile, as a potential friend and not a monster. He was also the first to point out Leo's burden of being a leader. This shows that although Mikey appears to not be aware of serious issues, he is definitely sensitive to them. He tends to be more in tune with his brothers emotionally, always wanting to lighten the mood if things get too tense.

The most notable quality of Mikey is that he doesn't really care what his other brothers think of him and his quirks. He knows that he's weird and annoying and he owns it, using it to his advantage, particularly when he's fighting with Raph. Mikey knows that Raph is easy to anger so he antagonizes Raph, making him get angry and distracted. Another quality is that he's quick to forgive. When Raph almost kills Mikey in a rage, Mikey quickly forgives him, probably almost instantly. The same thing occurs when Leatherhead hurts Mikey after having a bad dream. Mikey is shown to rarely get mad at his brothers and even though he often annoys them, causing them to smack him upside the head, he never really fights with them. It's his way of keeping the peace, relieving the tension by doing something stupid or annoying.

A running gag in this series is that whenever Mikey gets scared or startled, he lets out a very girlish scream. Also whenever he says something stupid, or ridiculous, Raph will often smack him on the head. Honestly, I find this version of Mikey to be pretty annoying and a bit of a scaredy-cat. He's still pretty fun, but I like him better in small doses. 

TMNT 2012

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

This Mikey is similar to 2003 Mikey in that he retains his lighthearted personality. However, he is less annoying and a bit more spacey. It's been speculated that this Mikey and the 2003 Mikey have ADHD, which explains his unwillingness to focus and his seemingly stupid air. One thing that's certain is this Mikey isn't stupid; he just gets distracted easily. He's also shown to be a questionable cook, coming up with crazy concoctions.

This Mikey seems to be off in his own little world often. He's similar to 2003 Mikey in that he doesn't seem to care too much what his brothers think of him, although he does get mad when he first discovers the Kraang and his brothers don't believe him. He seems to own the fact that he's not known for thinking things through and that he is a bit klutzy and distracted.

Mikey still acts as the youngest brother of the family, which is shown through his innocent personality. He's a little naive, which makes him seem younger. He's also the brother that the others tend to get frustrated with the most. I think he does it, though, to distract them from their own problems. His jokes and antics always come at the right time when the turtles are tense or depressed. He directs their anger to him, which he can handle and they tend to become more calm afterwards. It could be he does it on purpose, or that he just senses the tension and does the only thing he knows how to do: be funny and play a practical joke.

Despite his unwillingness to focus, Mikey is a very strong fighter, probably stronger than 2003 Mikey was. This is displayed when Mikey has to protect an out-of-it Raph, who was bitten by the venomous Fishface.  Mikey shows that he is definitely capable of fighting. He also fights more in this series than his previous incarnations.

Like 2003 Mikey, this Mikey shows rare moments of profound insight, particularly when dealing with Leatherhead. Mikey, again, is the first to see the mutated crocodile as a friend and not an enemy. He continued to defend Leatherhead even after Leatherhead attacked the turtle brothers in a rage. This Mikey is also willing to forgive quickly and doesn't really hold grudges.

Mikey apparently has a thing for dancing, particularly break-dancing, in this show. There are several moments of him dancing to music, and doing a victory dance after defeating the enemies. He's also always listening to music. His brothers just see it as another of his weird quirks.

Mikey is the shortest of the brothers. He has freckles and light blue eyes, which add to his childlike innocent air. His skin is a light green.

Overall, Mikey's personality has stayed more or less the same through the different series. This is probably because he was very popular with the audience due to his lighthearted and happy personality. No matter how serious a situation may get, you can always count on Mikey to crack a joke, or make a crazy impersonation. I suppose that's why even though I get annoyed with Mikey, I still love that turtle.

That's all I've got on Mikey. Until later, folks!