Credit: Nickelodeon Movies / Paramount PicturesBrand-new designs for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been revealed.
The Ninja Turtles are ever-changing (or mutating). Starting life in the gritty Mirage Comics as identical black-and-white characters, they would quickly become colorful, color-coded half-shell heroes in the 1987 cartoon series, each with a signature weapon and personality.
The popular show ran alongside three live-action movies, each with varying designs of the titular characters. Later years gave us the first CG-animated flick in TMNT (2007), and soon after, the two Michael Bay reboots, whose beefy designs remain controversial to this day.
There are so many iterations of the Turtles that a TMNT Multiverse movie would feel even more warranted than anything Marvel or DC have done in recent years.
Related: ‘Mutant Mayhem 2’ May Introduce the ‘TMNT’ Multiverse
Now, yet another Ninja Turtles design has been unveiled for Epic Games’ online video game Fortnite, which has proven to be as popular as the TMNT franchise itself in recent years. These new designs are the latest in a very long line of Ninja Turtle iterations.
Now, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and the feisty, crime-fighting news reporter April O’Neil have been added to Fortnite‘s Winterfest 2023 event. Check out the new skins in the below tweet shared by the Fortnite X (formerly Twitter) account:
Combatants from the conduit with a bond of brotherhood. Green guys of @TMNT are available to buy in the Shop now
Combatants from the conduit with a bond of brotherhood.
Green guys of @TMNT are available to buy in the Shop now 🐢🐢🐢🐢 pic.twitter.com/V7HbTuEj3N
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 15, 2023
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When it comes to animation, whether in comic books, video games, television, or film, the Turtles’ designs tend to orbit a similar template, save for the likes of the wildly out-there animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018 — 2020).
These new Fortnite designs are the perfect amalgamation of the IDW Publishing comic book designs and the later seasons of the 1987 cartoon series. They also sport the classic white eyes, a trait that has become lost in television and film over the years.
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What’s particularly impressive about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is its unwavering ability to appeal to new generations regardless of how its titular characters look. This has been proven time and time again across all forms of media.
IDW Publishing’s comic book series, which has been running since 2011, continues to be incredibly popular (the alternate timeline TMNT: The Last Ronin is also making waves). And the last year alone has seen the retro-inspired beat-em-up Shredder’s Revenge (2023) and the big-screen CG-animated reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) put the franchise back on the map, despite each of them having completely different designs for the Turtles.
Related: ‘TMNT’ Reboot Takes Franchise in Bold Direction, Replaces Iconic Heroes Forever
But no matter their appearance, whether it’s goofy or serious, animated or live action, hand-drawn or pixelated, somehow, the Ninja Turtles always feel exactly the same.
Fortnite‘s Turtles skins are now available in the online store. A Mutant Mayhem video game and The Last Ronin video game are currently in development.
What do you think of these new Ninja Turtles designs? What is it about these characters that means they’re able to be constantly reinvented without losing popularity? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!