Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: Shredder

Hey everybody!

Today is all about the Shredder, the great spiky villain of TMNT!

Shredder
Also known as Oroku Saki, Shredder is the iconic nemesis of the mutant turtles. This character has been fluid in character origin and development. However, no matter what incarnation, he is a man in lethal armor with spikes and who has sworn to destroy the turtles.

TMNT 1987

Source: en.wikipedia.org

This Shredder is the classic, bumbling villain. He tries to be intimidating but fails miserably in each episode, which often ends with his humiliating defeat.

At the same time, some of his missions aren't that evil, just off the wall and slightly menacing. He's over the top, crazy, and not really all that evil. He's the classic 80s overdramatic villain. But it's funny and he's basically a villain you can laugh at for being so ridiculous. Despite him being the turtle's main nemesis, he rarely actually engages them in combat.

This Shredder doesn't develop much as a character, simply staying in the trope of the bumbling villain. However, he's actually very entertaining and he fits the campy tone of the show perfectly. He fulfills his role as the ridiculous and fun bad guy.



TMNT 2003

Source: basementrejects.com

This Shredder is far more dangerous and frightening. He proves to be the turtles' most formidable foe, beating them with ease multiple times. He is vicious, ruthless, and a bit psychotic (Example: he punished one of his subordinates by taking him apart piece by piece).

He starts off wanting to destroy the turtles because they've been interrupting his plans and stopping the robberies his foot clan had attempted. As the show progresses and they clash multiple times, the Shredder develops an intense hatred for the turtles, becoming more and more savage. He is constantly trying to destroy the turtles in various ways.

This Shredder is incredibly skilled and strong. His knowledge of ninjutsu is extensive and his speed and drive is remarkable. The only person who has been able to stand up to him and defeat him was Master Splinter, and on one occasion, Leonardo using the sword of Tengu.

The biggest difference between this Shredder and the others is that in this show, he is not human. He is actually a criminal Utrom named Ch'rell. The Utroms are an alien race that crash-landed on earth many years ago. They blended into society by using humanoid robot bodies to get around. Shredder is one of those robots that is manned by Ch'rell.

 This is the only series that uses this idea of the Shredder being an alien. While some fans don't like this element, I think it works for the series.

As far as personality goes, this Shredder is a little lacking. Other than his hatred of the turtles, the Shredder doesn't have much motivation as a villain. He just simply wants to take over worlds and make people suffer. While that's definitely chilling enough, it doesn't provide much development as a character, thus making this Shredder a little boring as far as villains go. Don't get me wrong, he's still a good, scary villain, but there isn't much development to make him a compelling one.

TMNT 2012

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

This Shredder is also very dangerous and frightening. The first time the turtles fight with him, they barely escape with their lives.

This Shredder starts the war with the turtles purely for revenge against Master Splinter, whom he blames for taking his love, Tang Shen away from him. In this show, Shredder is human and used to be a friend and comrade of Splinter.

Like the 2003 Shredder, this Shredder's fighting skill is impressive. The only person who can stand up to him and defeat him is, again, Splinter. This Shredder is also incredibly vicious and will stop at nothing to destroy the turtles, even if it means using his daughter, Karai. To him, nothing is more important than his revenge.

The Shredder in this show seems to have a bit more character development, mainly that his hatred of Splinter/Yoshi comes from his belief that Yoshi stole Tang Shen from him. Shredder lets this hurt and "betrayal" get to him and his obsession leads to his somewhat psychotic drive towards revenge. While he's still a classic villain bent on revenge, there is a little more going on with him than the previous shredders. I hope to see more of this development.

This Shredder has a nasty burn scar on half of his face which came from his previous battle with Yoshi.

Overall, I've found Shredder in all versions of TMNT to be a rather flat character. While he's definitely the iconic villain in TMNT, he is by far not the most interesting. That being said, he can be very chilling with his ruthless nature and his deadly spiked armor. He does make a good villain who opposes the Ninja Turtles; I just wish more had been done with his character development. The 2012 series has done a little, but I would definitely like to see more.

Well that's it for my analysis. I just have one more TMNT post that will be my conclusion on this whole project. I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far! It's been really fun for me to write, and I'm glad I finally got it going.

Until later, folks!