IDW Publishing Forums

[Venom]

Since the new series will feature glorious full color, which is excellent! But what colors will the Turtles have this go-round: the familiar (in comics) red bandanas, or the more widely recognized colored bandanas?

As much as I loved Mirage's black and white books, sometimes it did take a couple panel rereadings to realize which Turtle was saying what when they were in a group (minus Leo).

I feel the new series, should they use red bandanas, would make it possible to discern who was who but I wouldn't mind if they used colored bandanas, especially if they went with dark versions of the usual colors.Crimson, Navy, Burnt Ember, Plum.

Darker colors would be awesome, then when the Turtles were in the shadows the bandanas would all look black!
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Yep, okay to print me!

[ChrisLyne]

As much as I love the all red bandanas, I've voted for the coloured bandanas.

Every mainstream version of the TMNT has featured the coloured bandanas, and most people associate the turtles with both their unique weapon and bandana colour. It makes sense to keep that.

Though I do want them to keep the brown elbow, wrist and knee pads! No colour there... and especially no initials on the belts!!

Plus for some strange reason I can't even explain, I like the idea of keeping the all red bandanas unique to the Mirage TMNT.

[Dank]

All same color bandanas could work you just have to give them the different skin tones.

[Venom]

Different skin tones and possibly some slight difference in their belt design would help. No initials, but perhaps a buckle here version a stitch there.
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Yep, okay to print me!

[Dank]

[The Cat Has a Man-face!]

It shouldn't matter. So long as the stories are good and you work out a good way of differentiating them, it shouldn't matter what color they are.

I'd push for physical differentiations -- Raph squatter, more muscled; Donatello being leaner, etc. along with skin tone differences.
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Comic writer and artist.

http://tristjones.deviantart.com

[Donatello]

I belong to the camp that favors the colored bandanas just a tiny bit over the all red ones. I always say, to justify myself: if I grew up with a bunch of brothers all wearing red bandanas, I'd be like "I want my color to be different!" Just like you'd hear human teenagers say with clothing or something of the sort. I always imagined the TMNT in their respective world would have done the same. In older age, they probably would have went back to the all red look.

It's funny because Mirage is my favorite TMNT source yet I favor the colored bandanas. Go figure.

[ChrisLyne]

[John Pannozzi]

[Goongasnootch]

It doesn't matter to me as long as the stories are good, but Venom's idea of subdued versions of the colors is really cool!

[AaronNorton]

I went for all red.

As far as I'm concerned, the red bandanas are the symbol of the Hamato Clan and unite all of the turtles under one banner. It just makes sense to me.

And yeah, the best option for telling them apart is to differentiate each turtle with unique shades of green or by different proportions. It's obvious design work, and honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't been done before.

[Andrew NDB]

I'll save time and repost what I posted in another thread:

I don't think there's much danger of IDW giving them lettered belts but I do have the sinking suspicion they're strongly leaning towards giving the TMNT different colored bandannas. Don't. Please. I don't ask this as a Mirage purist, I strictly ask this out of logic and good sense. I mean, hell, give them all BLACK bandannas (or no bandannas) if you must, but whatever you do do not give them rainbow/mood-colored ones. Unless the IDW universe will be so drastically different from the Mirage universe that the TMNT will no longer be a ninja clan, ninja clans have one color (or no color at all). As soon as you enter into account a ninja clan with members all picking different mood-colors for their bandannas to make metrosexual fashion statements or to say, "I'm different!" then the whole thing becomes a sham. I don't want the TMNT to be a sham, do you?

"But I have trouble telling them apart when they don't have different colored bandannas!!!"

#1: A lot can be achieved in artistic variation of the Turtles in body types, facial features, and even skin tones (though varying the skin colors too much becomes odd when it's too drastic... they're all supposed to be red-earred sliders and brothers, and it's not like you'd ever see a brown red-earred slider come out of one egg and a forest green red-earred slider come out of the one next to it). And it's not often that you see a Turtle without his trademark weapon anyway.
#2: It's possible you're a moron. Sorry.

"But in all the TMNT spinoff universes they have different colored bandannas!!!"

#1: That's neither the source material's (in which they all wore red) fault, any reflection on the source material, or any good reason for IDW to have to bow to it as well for their own TMNT universe.
#2: Why should the IDW universe (which, from indications sounds like will be built from the ground up) need to concern itself with or be beholden to what was seen in some children's spinoff universes? Plus with the latest children's cartoon from Nick sticking with the spinoff motif of rainbow colored bandannas for the TMNT, wouldn't IDW want to do do what they reasonable could to set their new comic apart from it? (especially since I think the idea is that IDW would run their own TMNT comic and universe and seperately print a Nick TMNT comic?)
#3: The spinoff universes are geared for little kids and otherwise had to be toy conscious ("buy me the blue one, Mommy!"). An IDW TMNT comic need cater to neither.

"Aw, c'mooon, guys... I really, really, really liked the children's cartoons when I was like 6 and to me Leo will always be blue, Mikey orange, and Donnie purple!!!"

#1: You can get all of those cartoons on DVD and rekindle the sanctity of your childhood at your leisure.
#2: Correct me if I'm wrong but IDW is starting a brand new TMNT universe in comics untethered to anything before it. If they're already set on throwing in things "just because they were there in the cartoon" spinoffs, then why should they even bother with a new universe at all? Why not just pick an existing universe and roll with that?

"Who CARES what color their bandannas are?!?"

You should. That is, if you don't want your TMNT to be a sham.

[Goongasnootch]

This doesn't look like a sham to me. Nor does this.

Though I still do really like the subued colors idea. It certainly more resembles actual Shinobi colors mentioned in the Ninpiden and the Shoninki more than dead on bright red or rainbow bandanas ever did and morons can still tell them apart.

[Suprafighter123]

I have to disagree with most of you because I think the colored bandanas is a better idea then all red.

One reason is the colored bandanas attract different types of people, not everyone likes red. They aren't gay at all if anything you guys are being intolerant of what others like. Donatello is smart so he knows purple means royalty. Michelangelo is bright so he likes orange because its bright as the sun. Leonardo likes blue because blue is spiritual. Raphael remained red because he was sort of the main character and it matches his personality being all angry.

Honestly I think they should all be the same height but skin tone, body-build, and color bandana should be different.

[TreIII]