Nickelodeon announced that they would be revealing the new Rise of the TMNT artwork today live on Facebook. They did just that but many fans are not happy with what they saw.
The comments I’ve seen on social media have been at least 90% negative. I can’t say I disagree with some of the negativity but I’m more optimistic than most.
Let’s rewind to the initial announcement. I’ve mentioned before that I am not a fan of CGI. Therefore the 2D part of the Rise announcement was extremely exciting. If not for the amazing writing in the 2012 cartoon, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the show due to the animation alone. However, it grew on me and I truly think these designs could do the same.
That brings us to today. I don’t hate the new Rise designs. In fact, I actually kind of dig the turtle designs and think they will make awesome action figures. Raph reminds me of issue #9 of the Mirage volume 1 cover with the full headband and same weapons.
Mikey looks great! I love the knee pad sketches and he sounds like the one turtle who won’t be altered much as far as personality goes. Donnie looks cool too and pretty much resembles the Bay Don.
Now I think it’s dumb not having Leo lead the team and I’m not sure if I’m feeling the skinny version of the character either. So I’ll complain about that. Speaking of complaints, that April design?? Really?? It’s flat out terrible.
Now before you yell “racist” I actually was somewhat open minded when it came to April changing her ethnicity. Was it necessary? No. Could the character design look a ton better though? YES! I wouldn’t ask for a character to change ethnicity in general and was so happy when Baxter was black in TMNT OOTS as that is who the character is to me. With that said, April is not black but if she was, this isn’t even close to what I would envision.
On a brighter note, Splinter looks comical and I hope he is a hard ass because that personality with this design would be epic to watch.
What are your thoughts? If you haven’t seen the designs yet, check them out on the official TMNT IG!
https://instagram.com/p/Beqjvn0nI9B/
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