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The original was posted on /r/characterrant by /u/Poweredkingbear on 2023-10-05 16:31:56.

Like seriously the idea of “dark” for some people is literally just the edgy 13 year old idea where the overuse of dark and gray color palette while the main character acts edgy in a try hard way. Yeah everyone during their youth had a phase where we drew our own original characters that wore all black and had red eyes to make them look cool and menacing.

The best example I have is the new TMNT movie Mutant Mayhem where the movie got spectacular reviews ,but for some reason there are still TMNT fans who seem to despise the fact that the movie isn’t “dark” and wished to go back to the era of the original film where the franchise was “dark” and “gritty”. Yes it’s true that the TMNT series started out as a very violent comic book series ,but the franchise is basically way past that now. The majority of TMNT fans weren’t introduced to the original comic. They were introduced to the original TMNT show and movies from the 90s. TMNT has always been a franchise for children and it should stay that way. Adults can enjoy that type of content, which is not the point of my post. There’s nothing “dark” and “gritty” about TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES who likes pizza and were trained by a mutated rat who fights other mutated animals and ninjas while they shout 90s buzzwords such as cowabanga and radical while riding a skateboard over them. We already have a darker TMNT which is literally Just Daredevil the main inspiration for the original TMNT comic.

Looking back at the original film, the movie is far from “dark”. The movie is dark because Shredder fell to his death? That’s it? A cookie cutter movie villain death from the 90s that’s still heavily censored and played out for laughs for the movie theaters? Wow, that’s so dark. I bet the people who think that way also believe that Nightmare Before Christmas is on the same level as Death Note and Parasite because the main character is a spooky skeleton. The main villain dying in the most generic and goofiest way possible isn’t “dark”. It’s not supposed to make you think about or question anything.It’s just a scene to give the viewers something to cheer for our heroes because they defeated the bad guy and it’s not supposed to be deep. The movie taking place during the night does not make it dark or gritty either. The other “darker” parts such as Shredder indoctrinating disenfranchised youth and the 4 turtles all believing that Splinter actually died is pretty damn tame and aren’t even remotely dark unless if you’re a 5 year old.

I’m not saying that series for children can have “dark” themes. The best example I have is Avatar because the story literally revolves around a child who’s the last of his kind after the fire nation successfully genocided his race because he was too afraid to become a child soldier and fight the fire nation because he was still a kid . To me that’s incredibly dark because it deals with topics such as genocide and child soldiers. What made it interesting is the fact that the Fire Nation actually succeeded which became the entire premise behind the title of the show is that Aang the main protagonist is the last of his kind.

The worst example I have is Shadow the Hedgehog because why in the hell did his creators give him a gun and make him ride a motorcycle in a series about a really fast blue hedgehog who collects golden rings? Just why? Shadow the Hedgehog is the definition of a tryhard to the point of just massive cringe.

There is nothing wrong for a series to be fun and lighthearted. Sure it can have serious moments ,but that seriousness should never replace the original tone that made any series like TMNT or Sonic memorable in the first place.