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"Booyakasha!!!"
ā€” Michelangelo's catchphrase

Michelangelo, commonly referred to as Mikey, is one of the main protagonists of the 2012 television series. He is the adoptive son of Master Splinter/Hamato Yoshi, the adoptive brother of Karai/Hamato Miwa, and the biological brother of Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello. Mikey is known as the the "wild one" of the team and is a lover of games, skateboarding, pranks and pizza. Though he possesses a "child-like" free-spirited and carefree innocence, he always brings his A-game in a serious brawl. His character design was updated as well, making him slightly shorter than his brothers and giving him dark freckles as well as shorter tails on his mask.

Unlike past incarnations, Mikey does not say his famous "Cowabunga" catchphrase, instead mainly saying "BOOYAKASHA!!" He usually says this when accomplishing something or attacking an enemy. In the episode "Meet Mondo Gecko" the character Jason (a.k.a. Mondo Gecko) uses 'cowabunga' as his own catchphrase, and Michelangelo says it's "too old school" but later asks if he can use it from time to time. Starting with the episode "Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind", he says "Booyakabunga" (a mixture of both Booyakasha and Cowabunga).

He wears an orange mask and fights with two nunchakus, which can be converted into kusarigama, a blade inside of one of the sticks of each nunchaku and extra lengths of chain stored in the other.

Physical Appearance[]

Mikey is a light green Mutant ninja turtle. Unlike all of his previous incarnations, Mikey has freckles. Just like his previous incarnations, however, he wears an orange mask, though like his 1987 incarnation, the tails of his mask are shorter. Mikey is shorter than his brothers and is considerably shorter than Donatello. Mikey also seems to be a little pudgier than his brothers. The animators gave Mikey baby blue eyes to make him look slightly more 'innocent'. However, like all of the Turtles when they're in combat, the pupils and irises vanish from his eyes, leaving him with empty, white eyes, which are similar to that of the 2003 incarnations.

Personality[]

Mikey is the baby of the family. He is the smallest, energetic, and least mature of his turtle brothers. However, it was confirmed that his maturity slowly increases as the episodes go on. He is labeled as "The Wild One" and "The Party Dude" as he is the most "fun" out of all the turtles. He is also very social and wants the outside world (humans) to accept him and his brothers. He seems to have ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), so overall, he's very impulsive and he can be very excited in certain situations. In battle, his weapon of choice is a pair of nunchakus.

Mikey might seem unintelligent due to him not thinking things through, but he is actually incredibly smart in his own way. He is very creative and loves to use his imagination a lot. He loves to dress up. He would wear unique creative costumes like ā€œSavage Mikeyā€ for instance. In addition, he has a high EQ (emotional intelligence quotient).

He loves pop culture and readily accepts opportunities to widen his social group. He is enthusiastic, silly, social, positive and adaptable. This is how he expresses himself. He is proud that he could come up with creative ways to name things. He loves to cook. He is always openly playful, affectionate and has an honest heart and would accept outsiders like Leatherhead. While not very bright or book-smart, he can surprise others with his intuition, his keen sense of heart, and his quick reflexes even in the absence of conscious thought.

Mikey is prone to being silly rather than focusing on his training. However, he is still an impressive fighter. His natural affinity for the martial arts is present with his ability to learn moves after seeing it only a few times. He also has the ability to fight without "thinking (logically)", once deflecting Splinter's blows while listening to music with his eyes closed, which was something that Donatello had to learn (Although he was unable to do this when directly asked to fight without thinking in their first fight with the telepathic Victor Falco).

Mikey is very cute and innocent. However, he is also sneaky, mischievous, and scatter-brained, which sometimes causes trouble for the team. He would sometimes be inconsiderate as he tends to playfully mock his brothers, especially his second-oldest brother, Raphael, and use the latter's fear of cockroaches against him to try and get permission to read his comics. He also doesn't always respect personal space as shown when he pokes Raphael during a mission. His pranks may be annoying but he is not usually as rude as Donnie and especially Raph.

When his big brothers get annoyed with Mikeyā€˜s antics, Raph and Donnie would be the ones who lash out at Mikey the most. Although Mikeyā€™s brothers find his idiocy annoying, Mikey surprises them with his good ideas. Mikey loves to name stuff but someone else names something before he could, he would get very upset about it.

Mikey may have a tendency to make a lot of mistakes, but all of his brothers care very deeply for him. They all show great distress when he gets hurt or is in trouble, and anger at the one who threatens him, i.e. when Baxter Stockman is throwing Mikey around he is in his more advanced armor. More often than not, Raphael is the one to shout Michelangelo's name first and attack whoever has harmed his baby brother, and was distraught when Michelangelo was injured during his (Raphael's) brief period as leader of the team.

Michelangelo is not above snapping at others if he feels they're acting like jerks. This happens often whenever his brothers and/or friends refuse to take him seriously ("Mikey Gets Shellacne"; "Buried Secrets"; etc). Therefore, he goes to drastic measures in order to prove his point (i.e. fighting the bad guys alone). He also calls them out for hurting each others' feelings or other people's feelings (e.g. "Newtralized!"; "A Foot Too Big"; etc).

History[]

Fifteen years before Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, Michelangelo and his brothers were once ordinary turtles; when they were infants the benevolent Hamato Yoshi purchased the four as pets. When their soon-to-be father walked past a strange man, he felt something odd about him and followed. Unfortunately, Yoshi gave away his position when he accidentally stepped on a brown rat's tail. The Kraang found him and attempted to kill him, but Yoshi fought back hard. During the scuffle, the aliens dropped a container of mutagen. Yoshi, having to have stepped on that rat, thus mutated into a humanoid brown rat by the name of "Splinter". While Mikey and his brothers, after having been in contact with Yoshi and the clerk of the pet store where they were bought, mutated into humanoid turtles. Yoshi raised the turtles as his own children and to train them in Ninjutsu.

Splinter knew they would never be accepted in society and with the Kraang hot on his trail. The five of them lived in an abandoned water tower and a warehouse avoiding detection. During all of these trials, Splinter and the Turtles bonded and after he noticed the baby turtles trying to copy his Ninjitsu training. Splinter decided that there was an opportunity to turn this new life he was thrust into to his advantage. Taking one of his favorite books about the Renaissance art named them after the Artists he admired the most.

After the last fight against the Kraang in the sewers in Splinter overheard the Kraang talking about how it became impossible for them to track Splinter and the Turtles there. Splinter decided to remain there. Thus making it that Splinter had found the safe environment where he could raise his adopted sons. Knowing the world would be dangerous and there would be a time where they want to explore the outside world, Splinter started to train the boys in the art of Ninjitsu. Eventually, Splinter gave Mikey his nunchakus' because "they would be perfect for him."

Skills, Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Michelangelo is considered the most acrobatic and talented of his brothers. His nunchakus match his flexible abilities when it comes to battle. While he's not as disciplined as Leonardo, rebellious as Raphael, or as smart like Donatello, Mikey's raw talent, agility, and sheer unpredictability make up for it.

  • Mutant Physiology: As a mutant, the Mutagen Ooze heightened Michelangelo's physical attributes to considerable extraordinary levels. He possesses strength, speed, reflexes, agility, endurance, recovery speed, and stamina much greater than even the finest human specimen athlete. His mutant abilities has been listed as shown below:
    • Enhanced Strength: Michelangelo's strength is enhanced to levels that are superior to any Olympic-level weightlifter. In "Turtle Temper", He was able to effortlessly lift and throw barrels over his head at Spider Bytez. He was also strong enough to kick back Rahzar during the fight at the Auman Chemicals factory. Mikey was also strong enough to lift a mailbox from the sidewalk and throw it at Traag. His ninja training with Master Splinter has helped to improve and condition his strength. In "The Pulverizer Returns!", Michelangelo overpowered the Foot Clan humans with no difficulty.
    • Enhanced Speed: Michelangelo is able to move at great speed, able to free run on rooftops without losing momentum. He can also spin his nunchaku at incredible speed to add momentum to his strikes. Mikey can run much faster than an Olympic-class runner.
    • Enhanced Reflexes: Michelangelo possesses great reaction speed, allowing him to dodge projectiles such as lasers from the Kraang's blasters, and enemy attacks. In "Rise of the Turtles", Michelangelo along with his brothers quickly dodge the laser gunfire from Snake at close-range.
    • Enhanced Agility: Michelangelo can coordinate his bodily to levels that are beyond then the finest human athlete. In "New Friend, Old Enemy", he has shown to do acrobatic flips from one building to another building at a further distance.
    • Enhanced Balance: Mikey's skills as a skateboarder and a ninja give him a great ability with extraordinary balance.
    • Enhanced Healing: Like his brothers, Michelangelo can heal faster than normal humans. In Slash and Destroy, he fully healed from all of his bruises and injuries after getting beaten up by Slash in short amount of time.
    • Enhanced Endurance: Michelangelo is resilient to great amount of injuries. In "Metalhead (episode)", he was able to withstand the impact after falling from several stories of a building without any sign of discomfort and injury.
    • Enhanced Stamina: Michelangelo has extraordinary stamina and is the most energetic of his older brothers combined.
    • Semi-aquatic Adaptations: He is able to swim long distances, dive deeply and hold his breath underwater for a long time.
  • Electrokinesis (formerly): After getting zapped by the Newtralizer in "When World's Collide, Part 1," he gained the power to generate electricity. He was able to master this skill immediately. But Mikey lost his newfound powers after Bishop used Rook's device on Mikey. Taking away his powers and (somehow) his ninja gear.

Abilities[]

  • Potential: Splinter considers Michelangelo the one with the most potential of all of his three brothers combined, particularly complimenting his ability to fight without thinking (Although he cannot do this when actually asked to do so, panicking when Donatello asked him to confront the telepathic Dr. Victor Falco). His potential also translates to his intelligence. This is shown whenever he is in Dimension X. There, Mikey is shown to know how the dimension works, what its creature's are, and how to handle Kraang technology in the dimension.
  • Unpredictability: Mikey has shown many times to be completely unpredictable.
  • Ninjutsu: Mikey is the most agile of all his brothers; his training as a ninja helped to balance and improve this, but his skills in skateboarding and dancing also gives Mikey an edge that will often shock his brothers. Mikey is an extremely good fighter. He's got a great knowledge with ninjutsu, which is why he is a good fighter. He may have the most raw talent of the four, but he does not seem to have the skill or the inclination to develop it. In "Rise of the Turtles", Michelangelo was able to hold his own against his oldest brother, Leonardo, though Leonardo later gets the upper hand. In "New Friend, Old Enemy", He also defeated Chris Bradford on his own in hand-to-hand combat and used the Death Dragon technique.
    • Kusarigamajutsu: Mikey's ability with the nunchaku also translates to his use of the kusarigama. His nunchucks both possess a retractable blade at the end them and can also extend in chain length. With it, Michelangelo possesses an even greater range of attack than with his regular nunchucks, able to swing it overhead and strike with the bladed end, or entangle his enemies with chain and swing them around.
    • Shurikenjutsu: Michelangelo can throw shuriken with remarkable accuracy.
    • Kenjutsu: Michelangelo used Chrome Dome's plasma sword against him and impaled him in the back.
    • Stealth: Being taught by Splinter, Michelangelo, as well as his brothers, are able to be one with darkness and hide and move within the shadows without being noticed. Mikey has the ability to move in the shadows, like his brothers. He is also very stealthy, but does not enjoy when stealth is used on him.
  • Okinawan Kobudō (Nunchaku): Michelangelo was trained by Splinter in the art of the nunchaku. Aside from using them to wrap around an opponent's joints and weapons to disarm, Mikey swings and strikes with them in the manner akin to flails. Given Mikey's unpredictable nature, his able to make extensive use of his nunchucks in rather uncommon but effective ways in a fight as well as mix his attacks with the capoeira fighting style.
  • Kama Proficiency: In "Vision Quest", when the Turtles were preparing to venture into the spirit plane, Mikey forged himself a pair of kama to use in battle.
  • Tonfa Proficiency: While traveling in space to fight the Triceratons, the Fugitoid invented a pair of laser tonfa for Michelangelo to fight with.
  • KyÅ«jutsu: Michelangelo also possesses aptitude in archery and uses a yumi and arrow to fight long-ranged.
  • Weaponry: In "The Pulverizer Returns!", Michelangelo learned to adapt his surroundings and shown to use other non-weapons, such as chains to fight the Foot Clan.
  • Pranks: He refers to himself as Dr. Prankenstein. Since he the funniest of his brothers and he hasn't shown to be wrong since he was able to show his pranking skills against his brothers like water balloons as he wants to prank them all and he was able to use his prank of water balloons to use against the tank of the truck.
  • Teaching: Despite of Michelangelo's immatureness, he is a skilled teacher. He has shown Napoleon the right way of Ninjutsu correctly as he was shown great success as he may not be the great Ninja turtle for thinking of correctly of logic from his brothers but he proven to teach others to fight well. In "Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady", Michelangelo has also shown his 1987 counterpart the better way of fighting in armed combat.
  • Cooking Skills: He shows to to love cooking for his family. His brothers are disgusted by his personal tastes, but in "Mikey Gets Shellacne", it is revealed that he's usually the one who makes breakfast since the others are a real hazard in the kitchen when they have to do so. Leatherhead seems to love his cooking skills. (Probably because he has never eaten anything delicious). Mikey DOES know what the others like and how to give that to them.
  • Shadow Puppet Skills: He able to make different shadows out of his hands very well to be appear realistic of different objects. He used this to deceive the Kraang, Fishface, and Rahzar.
  • Intelligence and Communication: Mikey is actually really smart, though he doesn't act like it. He has an extremely high EQ (emotional intelligence) and creativity, as he has shown to be excellent naming creatures if their appearance, abilities, or powers. Just like any other creature mutated of humanoids, he's able to speak human languages (English). He also uses his comic intelligence to defeat the mutation Squirrels and true genius in Dimension X. He is typically smarter than his brothers believe him to be, for he is capable of creating antidotes and retro-mutagen from random ingredients, though his brothers continue to doubt his intelligence for obvious reasons for example when Mikey sprinkled botched retro-mutagen onto his skin when Donnie had clearly labeled it as being dangerous. He actually pays close attention to Donnie's experiments, despite his inattentiveness at times.
  • Creativity: Michelangelo has to be quite creative both in and out of combat. This mostly when he comes up with the names for most of the villains or allies. He also experiments with lots of ingredients in the kitchen while he's cooking.
  • Emotional Intuition: As shown in "Buried Secrets" and "Clash of the Mutanimals", Mikey has a strong intuitive sense for when other people are "off". He can also sense whenever his brothers and friends are sad, and tries cheering them up.
  • Teasing: As a grand prankster, Mikey is great at teasing his opponents. While others may not see this as a skill, his teasing has shown to be skilled enough to make his opponents lose control of themselves and attack senselessly, making their attacks become sloppy and ineffective, which makes it easier for him to take them down.
  • Willpower: Mikey has a great amount of willpower, as he was able to stave off the events of the Parasitic virus from the Parasitic wasp longer than his brothers could.

Weapons[]

During most of the series, Michelangelo wields a pair of nunchaku with which, like his brothers with their chosen weapons, he is highly skilled. In fact, he uses both a kusarigama and nunchucks. In some episodes he refers to them as 'chucks'—such as in "The Kraang Conspiracy" he says "Okay, that was just gross, dudes. I have April Derp on my chucks." (April Derp had been reduced to black goo at this point).

In "The Pulverizer Returns!", Splinter says that the boys are getting too reliant on their own weapons and makes them swap. After this process, Michelangelo is left with Leonardo's Katanas (which leads him to do an impersonation of his brother and make him believe he is the leader by virtue of having the swords). During a fight, the Turtles become uncooperative with their new weapons and swap back. When Splinter finds out, he takes away all of their weapons, stating that any object can be useful for real ninjas. When he and his brothers are trying to save Timothy, Michelangelo uses a chain and holds and fights with it in a style similar to his Nunchucks. Both of his nunchucks can convert into Kusarigama. In "Turtle Temper" and "The Gauntlet" he also used a Yumi bow and like the rest of his brothers wields Shuriken. In "Target: April O'Neil", he briefly used a Kraang blaster that he picked up, and a plasma sword he stole from Chrome Dome, both of which he dropped after he almost hits his own brothers.

During his time in space throughout the first half of Season 4, Michelangelo used laser tonfas and a laser blaster created by Fugitoid as his main weapons. Throughout the remainder of Season 4, and throughout the fifth and final season, he continues using his regular nunchaku. In the 4-episode Monsters vs. Mutants story arc, Mikey is given an arm-mounted stake-shooting crossbow as part of his monster-hunting attire.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Leonardo

Leonardo is a member of Michelangelo's family and the oldest of the four brothers. Compared to the others, Leo and Mikey are shown to fight or butt heads significantly less often. Despite this, Mikeyā€™s antics are occasionally able to aggravate even the most calm of his brothers. Any reaction Leonardo has to his pranks or teasing is often more mellow compared to the anger of Raphael and Donatello. Mikey tends to imitate Leonardo and poke fun at his serious ā€˜leaderā€™ persona, to his brothersā€™ amusement.

Mikey has great respect for his oldest brother Leonardo and although there are few scenes of them interacting together in the first two seasons, it's clear that Leonardo cares about his youngest brother. As the eldest, it seems that Leo has a soft spot for Mikey and is likely to indulge him more than the other two - something Raphael notices, complaining that Leo [always sticks up for Mikey] (ā€œSlash and Destroyā€). Later on in season three, the two of them are seen going on missions together.

While looking for Karai one evening, the two work together to rescue their brothers, April, and Casey from Bebop and Rocksteady. After Karai is captured by Shredder, Leo leaves by himself to rescue her. Mikey notices him leave and tags along, refusing to let his older brother face danger alone and assures that he is there for him. Later that episode Leo sees Mikey get swallowed by the MegaShredder and assumes him to be dead. Leo screams out for him, his hands beginning to tremble. Unlike his usual collected self Leo loses his temper and attacks the monster furiously. After Mikey escapes from inside the monster, Leo is overjoyed to see him alive and expresses his pride affectionately.

Raphael

Michelangelo's second-oldest brother. Mikey is often the target of Raphaelā€™s wrath and gets beaten up by in a playful manner in retaliation for his pranks or generally annoying behaviour. Likewise, Raph is the prime target for Mikeyā€™s pranks, most likely due to his explosive reactions. Raphael is very protective of Michelangelo, shown almost constantly throughout the series. He has been shown to force himself to face his own fears in order to save his younger brother whenever heā€™s in trouble, as in "Cockroach Terminator". It is further shown that despite his own brotherly aggression towards Mikey, anyone other than himself actually hurting his brother will send him into a rage, as seen in "I, Monster" when a mind-controlled Splinter attacks Mikey.

The opposite is also shown as Mikey cares for Raph in his own way. In "The Gauntlet", when Shredder shocked Raph, Mikey was the one who ran to him to make sure he was okay. Similarly, in "The Pulverizer", he was the one who stayed by Raph's side when he got poisoned and took care of him. In "Slash and Destroy", Raphael proves that he cares about his brothers more than anything else, refusing to go with Slash when Donatello was missing and stating that [his brothers always come first]. When Slash snapped and attacked Mikey in response, Raph cried out and charged at Slash to protect his younger brother. When Mikey and Raph are paired together, Mikey noted that he would call their duo "Team Awesome".

Raphael is the one most often depicted as Mikeyā€™s main older brother figure. Throughout the series Raph has always been shown to care deeply about his youngest brother despite his rough treatment, though he learns to control his anger over the series. As the strongest of the four and ā€˜the muscleā€™ of the team, Raphael acts as a protector and shield for all of his brothers, but especially his youngest. Raph is shown to care beyond just protecting his brothers from harm and will occasionally show a more sensitive side to provide comfort when Mikey is feeling down (ā€œNew Friend, Old enemyā€). Although Raphael is shown to be more aggressive in earlier episodes, over later seasons he becomes notably kinder. Particularly at the end of Season 2 and the first half of Season 3, Raphael is much kinder to Michelangelo and often refers to him affectionately as "little brother". He is also less inclined to smack Mikey, instead hesitating and softly flicking him on the head.

Donatello

Michelangelo's immediate older brother. Despite his occasional annoyance with his younger brother, Donatello loves Michelangelo very much. The two of them seem to fight the most because of their completely different personalities. Despite their differences, Mikey and Donnie are shown to work together exceptionally well. Each of the two fall naturally into a brains and brawn role, especially while fighting the Kraang or the Foot.

As the two youngest, Mikey and Donnie often team up as the most frequent victims of Raphā€™s brotherly aggression. As well as his two older brothers it is also shown that Donnie is very protective of Mikey. Donatello will express shock and anger when his younger brother is hurt and does his best to protect him from harm. Some instances of this are seen where Donnie fights Dogpound to protect his brother (Nickname: "B-Team") or angrily attacks a mechanised Baxter Stockman after he throws Michelangelo into a building (ā€œI Think His Name Is Baxter Stockmanā€).

Mikey is commonly viewed to be closest to Donnie as they interact or are paired together the most. In Season 1, they get along fairly well. By Seasons 2-3, Donatello's annoyance towards Michelangelo notably increases whereas Mikey makes fun of his science geek persona more in retaliation. In Season 4, they seldom interact. But in Season 5, in the aftermath of Splinter's death, they grew closer as brothers and didn't fight.

Although the two are very different, they bond over shared interests outside of ninjutsu and are often seen spending time together. Mikey greatly admires Donnie's technical ability and is the most enthusiastic to discuss any new gadgets he creates, even if he doesnā€™t understand. Mikey is normally the first to test out or give a cool name to Donnieā€™s inventions, seen when he excitedly tests out a music player he calls the ā€˜T-Podā€™ (ā€œI think his name is Baxter Stockmanā€). Mikey earnestly supports Donnie in both his technical and romantic endeavours, assuring his brother that a gift he prepared for April was ā€œPerfect!ā€. Mikey additionally enjoys creating names for all the mutated forms of villains in the series, naming ones like "Dogpound" and "Fishface". He even is upset with Donnie when he decides a name (Newtralizer) before Mikey gets the chance, and Donatello yells at Michelangelo when he attempts to name the mutated Kirby O'Neil "Wingnut".

  • Hamato Yoshi / Splinter - Michelangelo's adoptive father. He usually doesn't understand his sensei's advice very well and doesn't really take it that seriously, but he trains well under Splinter, despite his slight dimwittedness. Out of all the Turtles, Mikey interacts with Splinter the least. However, when it comes to his safety and that of his other brothers, Splinter always gets concerned. When Splinter was killed by Super Shredder, Mikey cried harder than his brothers and even kneeled at Splinterā€™s grave during his funeral.
  • Hamato Miwa / Karai- As she spends most of her time personally messing with Leonardo or taking on all comers at once, Karai has limited interaction with Mikey. However, when Mikey learned of her familiar relationship to Splinter, he incredulously queried, "Karaiā€™s our sister!?" As shown in "The Pig and The Rhino" and "Serpent Hunt", Mikey has completely accepted Karai as his big sister and is one of the most visibly affected when Karai says a final goodbye to the Turtles.
  • Ice Cream Kitty - When April found a stray cat and left her for Michelangelo to look after, the stray cat ate some ice cream laced with the mutagen that mutated her into Ice Cream Kitty. At first, Mikey was horrified about what would happen if April discovered what happened to the cat. But later, Mikey brought Ice Cream Kitty to battle against the Rat King. Since then, Mikey decided to keep Ice Cream Kitty as his pet.

Friends / Allies[]

  • April O'Neil - Michelangelo's closest human friend. He and April do not seem to interact much, but they care about each other as friends. In "Buried Secrets", a temporary rift formed between Mikey and April after Mikey suspected and attacked the woman claiming to be April's mother; but Mikey was later proven right, April's "mother" had to be destroyed, and Mikey and April's relationship mended. Later, Mikey told April that he and his brothers are her family. In "The Croaking", after Casey and the other turtles got really upset with him for making a huge mess in the O'Neil Farmhouse living room plus running away from home instead of cleaning it up, April felt sorry for him and was annoyed by how the others are sometimes rude to him (especially Raph). Overall, Michelangelo and April value each other's friendship, but April doesn't usually respect his intelligence, whereas Mikey doesn't fully trust her at times (especially after she acquired the Aeon Crystal).
  • Casey Jones - At first, Mikey assumed Casey was an intruder ("The Good, The Bad, and Casey Jones"), but after helping his brothers defeat the Kraang, they soon became friends. Until "Meet Mondo Gecko", where they bonded over a strong shared interest in skateboarding, Mikey and Casey rarely interacted with each other (unless Casey was busy ganging up on him, along with Leo, Raph, and Donnie). However, after freeing themselves from Mr. X's clutches, they became close friends. However, Michelangelo displays his annoyance whenever Casey disregards his intelligence and insight. In fact, unlike with his brothers, Mikey's not afraid to snap back at Casey whenever he feels that his friend is acting like a jerk.
  • Leatherhead - One of Michelangelo's first mutant friends, the two hit it off very quickly and came to share a loving bromance. Mikey was the first person since mutation ever to show Leatherhead compassion, even being the one who gave him his name. The two developed a strong mutual affinity and rapport, as Mikey has proven to be one of the few influences that could calm Leatherhead down from his fits of rage and make him feel at ease. Indeed, they became extraordinarily affectionate and intimate, with Mikey giving Leatherhead massages and body rubs in attempts to calm him down when angry and even sleeping spooned together on the Living Room floor. In "TCRI", when the Turtles saw Leatherhead again for the first time in the episode, Mikey immediately reacted with love at the sight of Leatherhead sleeping. Later in this episode, Leatherhead became stranded in Dimension X, and the two would not meet again for an entire season. Later in "Into Dimension X!" after the long-imprisoned Leatherhead managed to send a message through a portal to the turtles, Mikey was shown to strongly care and miss Leatherhead in a series of tender sepia-toned flashback scenes, and he impulsively leaped into Dimension X to rescue him. Mikey also prevented Leatherhead from being stranded again by kicking him through the portal to Earth. This reunion was short-lived, as Leatherhead soon went missing again during "The Invasion, Part 2" and neither he nor Splinter joined the others who fled to the O'Neil Farm. Mikey and Leatherhead met again in "Battle for New York, Part 1", and "Part 2", with their mutual affection undiminished as they shared tender caring embraces in three separate scenes over course of the two-part episode's events. Leatherhead is one of the few people to consistently call Mikey by his full five-syllable name "Michelangelo," rather than just "Mikey."
  • Timothy / The Pulverizer / Mutagen Man - Michelangelo acts positively towards Timothy, but seldom interacts with him, and sometimes forgets he even exists. In "The Pulverizer Returns!", Mikey saw the newly Foot-recruited Timothy from afar and commented, "Anybody else find this dude kind of adorable?" Later in that episode, when Timothy sent a text message to Donatello, Donnie said, "Text message from you-know-who." But Mikey had forgotten all about Timothy, and Donnie corrected, "Text message from everybody-but-Mikey-knows-who." When Timothy later turned against the Turtles and started drinking mutagen, it was Mikey who named him "Mutagen Man."
  • Napoleon Bonafrog- Michelangelo's second mutant friend, though Napoleon attacked him in their first meeting, they seem to connect with each other throughout their time together even teaching other their respective skill. Napoleon also chose to free Michelangelo rather than fight his brothers and friends even successfully using a Ninjutsu move that the turtle taught him.
  • Jason / Mondo Gecko - In "Meet Mondo Gecko", when Michelangelo and Casey Jones went out to get some action, they encountered another reptilian mutant, who Mikey nicknamed "Mondo Gecko." What Mikey didn't know is that Mondo worked for Fishface and had him and Casey captured. Feeling bad for what happened, Mondo tried to liberate Mikey and Casey, but all three of them end up competing against Fishface in his deadly game. Using teamwork, Mikey, Casey, and Mondo competed in the race and defeated Fishface, freeing Mondo from Fishface's exploitation. What really fascinated Mikey about Mondo is having to touch his eyes with his tongue and his "old-school" catchphrase, "Cowabunga!"
  • Shinigami - She is Karai's friend with whom he was in love with the moment they met. She wasn't amused by him, but Mikey's attempts to flirt with her made her laugh, so she seemed to like him. This changed when Renet returned on Season 5, which happened during the time Shini was already in New York. And considering Mikey stopped showing any romantic interest on her, it's implied that Mikey's feelings for her where just a teenage phase that he got over it. But they seem to be in good terms as allies.
  • Renet - In the events of "Turtles in Time", Mikey began to fall in love with Renet, the time travel mistress. Mikey admires Renet for her appearance and her cool fighting style. Mikey even referenced having a date to riding a Middle Age horse together. It is even seen that Mikey cares for Renet, as he was chasing after her during the final battle with Savanti. In fact, Mikey gets his first kiss from Renet at the end of the episode when he asks her out. Renet in reply smiles, saying it would be nice to do that next time and proceeds to kiss him on the cheek. Mikey seemed to get over her after meeting Shinigami, but when Renet returned in "The Curse of Savanti Romero" he was overjoyed and his old feelings for her came back. During their adventure until "Monsters Among Us!", Mikey flirted with her multiples, was love struck by seeing without her helmet and her hair shown for the first time and she kissed his cheek again. When the two were saying goodbye for the second time, Mikey called Renet " the most incredible person who has ever lived in the history of living", which she was flattered and overjoyed and kissed him once again before returning to the to her time, claming they would meet again in the future. In "When Worlds Collide, Part 1 ", Renet was shown to have given Mikey a temporal holo-projector in order to stay connected with and contact him at any point in time, which made him happy.

Enemies[]

  • Oroku Saki / The Shredder - Michelangelo's arch-nemesis. Mikey first met Shredder in The Gauntlet" and was terrified at first, but he still managed to escape with his life, along with his brothers. He seems to be intimidated and scared by him.
  • The Kraang - Michelangelo's targeted archenemy. Mikey was the first of his brothers to discover these aliens with robot bodies and is freaked out by the brain/squid-like creatures inside of them. Not much interaction is shown, but it is obvious that he dislikes them.
  • Baxter Stockman - One of Michelangelo's enemies. Mikey accidentally gave Baxter Stockman the T-pod, which upgraded his armor and made him a more competent villain. He defeated Baxter by shoving bees in his face, further heating Baxter's dislike of the turtles. Although further interaction is unknown, he is shown to dislike him. He dubbed him The StockmanPod after Baxter upgraded his armor.
  • Xever Montes / Fishface / Mr. X - One of Michelangelo's enemies. Mikey dubs him Fishface after Xever mutates into a fish. Mikey later helps free his new friend Mondo Gecko from Xever's exploitation.
  • Chris Bradford / Dogpound / Rahzar - One of Michelangelo's archenemies, though his mixed treatment of Bradford has proven more complicated than that of the clear-cut enemy. When Bradford was still human and a public martial arts celebrity, Mikey deeply admired and fanboy-ed over Bradford, wanting to become his friend. They eventually accepted each other's friend requests on Face range (a fictionalized version of the website Facebook). Bradford was actually very much not Mikey's friend, but he managed to trick Mikey into thinking they were friends so that Bradford could extract information and use Mikey as bait to help his secret master Shredder get to Mikey's Master Splinter. During their time of false friendship, Mikey nicknamed Bradford "Rad Brad", and Bradford taught Mikey his signature kata, the Death Dragon, which Mikey later demonstrated it to his brothers in the Dojo. But when Splinter witnessed Leonardo perform this move, he instantly recognized it as a Foot Clan maneuver that Oroku Saki had used against him in the past when he was still human. When Mikey had outlived his usefulness, Bradford declared he was never Mikey's friend, to begin with, and was actually sworn enemy to Mikey, his brothers, and his Master Splinter, and that he was a disciple of the Shredder. This revelation deeply hurt Mikey's feelings, ended all pretense of friendship, and all but killed his affection towards Bradford. Later, Bradford mutated into a dog-like creature that which Mikey dubbed "Dogpound". Mikey called him "Rad Brad" one more time even after this mutation. Even later still, Dogpound mutated again into a werewolf-like form, which Mikey dubbed "Rahzar". Mikey's Bedroom had a life-size cardboard cutout of human Chris Bradford, which Mikey never got rid of even after they had cemented their mutual enmity, and was still standing in his room when they finally had to abandon the Lair. In "Vision Quest" it was shown that Mikey's spirit enemy is Rahzar with after a struggling battle Mikey defeated him in the spirit plane.

Trivia[]

  • Michelangelo is named from the famous Renaissance master, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.
    • Michelangelo's name is Italian, from Hebrew and Greek derivation. The component Michel- is from Hebrew מ֓יכÖøאֵל, (MÄ«khāŹ¼Ä•l), meaning the question "Who is like God?". The -angelo component is from Greek į¼„Ī³Ī³ĪµĪ»ĪæĻ‚ (Ć”ngelos), meaning "angel; messenger." The name originally referred to the Archangel Michael.
    • In Katakana, Michelangelo's name is spelt: ćƒŸć‚±ćƒ©ćƒ³ć‚ø悧惭 (Mikeranjero).
    • Given the fact that he was adopted by Hamato Yoshi/Splinter, Michelangelo's full name could be `"Hamato Michelangelo," or in Western naming order, "Michelangelo Hamato."
    • Michelangelo also has an affinity for animals in this incarnation, as well as a fear of squirrels. Whilst he is more interested in comics and cartoon shows (such as Crognard the Barbarian and Super Robo Mecha Force Five) than animals, he adopted a cat April found on the street after the cat ate some mutagen Mikey had spilled ice cream in, resulting in the arable and delicious Ice Cream Kitty; most likely this incarnation's version of Klunk. Michelangelo's relationship with Ice Cream Kitty parallels Raphael's with pre-mutation Spike, wherein he will tell Ice Cream Kitty his innermost feelings and fears, and not feel judged by them - as often his brothers find Mikey's concerns and thoughts too silly to be worth their time. Bearing this in mind, however, Michelangelo does not seem to have any special relationships with animals like he has done in other incarnations, though he still cares for animals deeply, as exhibited by his caring for April's chickens whilst the Turtles are at April's old farmhouse at the start of season 3.
Mikey's Kusarigama Nunchuks

Michelangelo's Nunchaku, plus Kusarigama upgrade

  • While Michelangelo still fights with his weapons of choice, a pair of nunchaku, in this incarnation they can both be converted into kusarigama, (a "chain-sickle"), via a retractable blade inside of one of the sticks of each nunchaku, and extra lengths of chain stored in the other stick of each nunchaku.
    • This new feature actually makes its first appearance in "Rise of the Turtles, Part 1", when Michelangelo takes on a lone Kraang and in fear uses the blade of the kusarigama inside one of his nunchaku, slicing open its face, revealing it to be a robot, (the actual first appearance of Mikey's kusarigama is shown in the extended version of this episode during a change-screen, where the Turtles are ready to go up on their first excursion to the surface, as all four turtles are shown with their weapons, Mikey's nunchaku are shown becoming kusarigama.
  • His mastery of Ninjutsu includes Taijutsu, Qigong, Nunchakujustu, Kusarigumajustu, Shurikenjustu, Archery, Throwing water balloons, Hensojustu, Sui-ren, Intonjustu, Kayakujustu, Naming stuff, and Pranking anyone.
  • He is the shortest turtle of the group (~5 feet tall) as well as the youngest of his brothers.
  • In the Russian dub, Michelangelo's nickname, Mikey, is pronounced "Šœickey".
  • In this incarnation, Michelangelo is the one who primarily does the cooking, even after discovering pizza. He cooks well enough that his brothers prefer him to make breakfast. Although sometimes he does use unpalatable combinations of ingredients. Leatherhead is most fond of Mikey's cooking.
    • But in "Pizza Face", it was shown that Michelangelo also makes homemade pizzas. He even makes his own pizza crust from scratch, which in real life is typically the most complicated and time-consuming part of making pizza.
  • He is the one who gives the names to the people that have been contaminated with mutagen, but also other things like the T-pod. He also gets somewhat irritated when someone else does the naming of new items and bad guys.
  • In "Eyes of the Chimera", it is implied that Mikey holds some knowledge about myths, as seen when he stated that there's a name for the mutant they were facing, to which Donatello asked if he meant Chimera, to which Mikey corrected him, claiming it is actually Turducken.
  • Michelangelo and Beast Boy (from Cartoon Network's Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!) seem to be similar; same voice actors, they like pizza (more accurately they both like junk food, comic books, and video games, they like to make jokes, listening to music and goofing around, and they both even have the same skin tone (which is green), and they are both the closest to the smart one of the group (Michelangelo & Donatello and Beast Boy & Cyborg). Interestingly, Michelangelo and the other Turtles would later be featured in the Teen Titans Go! episode, "Truth, Justice and What?".
  • Michelangelo has an interest in skateboarding, comics, video games, pizza, hip-hop, his favorite TV show, Crognard the Barbarian, and pranking.
  • He is shown to hate Polka music, as shown in "I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman".
    • However, he is shown to like Hip-Hop music better than Polka music.
  • His catchphrase in this incarnation is "Booyakasha!" (which is an equivalent of the Turtles' famous catchphrase "Cowabunga!"), though Mikey has said "Cowabunga!" and "Booyakabunga!" (an amalgamation of "Booyakasha!" and "Cowabunga!") in the series as well.
  • His catch-phrase was changed from "Cowabunga!" to "Booyakasha!". When Karai amusingly and incredulously asks what it means, Mikey responds saying that he has no idea, it's just really fun to yell.
  • His favorite comic is about two characters called Wingnut and Screwloose which are based on Batman and Robin respectively
  • Michelangelo seems to develop his own unique fighting style, which he calls "Hot Nunchuck Fury". Although it is hard to estimate if it is really a fighting style or just a fancy name.
  • Part of his secret kata consists of Kamen Rider V3's henshin pose.
  • In "Rise of the Turtles, Part 1", he was the first to taste pizza and so far he is the one who likes it the most. In "Panic in the Sewers", it is shown he will even eat it off the floor, or if it came from the trash, and confesses to loving pizza he finds on streets and rooftops. In "Karai's Vendetta", he overreacted when Donatello destroyed a slice of pizza with Kraang Water, as well as the revelation that Mikey likes to put strange toppings on his pizza.
  • In "Never Say Xever", Michelangelo claims he wants a tattoo. When he shows them the tattoo by sweeping down his hand, the tattoo is the 1987 version of himself.
  • In "Enemy of My Enemy", it is revealed that he does not know what "Booyakasha" means. He just likes yelling it because he thinks it fun. Donnie said it in "Metalhead", Raph said it in "New Girl in Town", and Leo and the Mighty Mutanimals all said it in "Battle for New York, Part 2".
    • According to Greg Cipes, Booyakasha means, "Blessing and love to the very moment.". So when Michelangelo or any of the Turtles say it, it means celebration to the hour. However, the word was originally coined by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as part of his satirical reggae persona Ali G.
  • He is the first turtle to show an anime style face.
  • This incarnation of Michelangelo has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder predominantly inattentive (ADHD-I), as confirmed in his bio.
  • Mikey's favorite color is orange.
  • Mikey's favorite music genre is hip-hop.
  • Mikey is seen without his mask more than his brothers.
  • Mikey's favorite TV shows are Chris Bradford (Amazing Adventures) and Crognard the Barbarian.
  • He has a proficiency for naming things and pranking.
  • He is the first turtle to hide completely inside his shell, as shown in "TCRI" and again in "Target: April O'Neil".
  • Michelangelo appears for the first time without his mask in "Slash and Destroy".
    • He is also the second turtle to appear without his mask.
    • Mikey is also the second turtle to be seen without his gear, as seen in "When Worlds Collide, Part 2".
  • In "Fungus Humungous", it was revealed that his fear is squirrels and the Squirrelanoids.
  • Michelangelo is the only turtle with freckles.
  • It is revealed in the episode "Parasitica", that his favorite type of pizza is pizza with jellybeans, anchovies, and jalapeƱos.
  • It is revealed in the episode "The Creeping Doom" that he has a photographic memory.
  • Of the four of them, he is the only one who's left-handed.
  • It is revealed in "The Pulverizer" that Mikey has a short attention span (due to his ADHD).
  • It is revealed in "New Friend, Old Enemy" that Mikey thinks that the word wrong is spelled without the silent w, meaning that he thinks the word is spelled 'r-o-n-g'.
  • It is revealed in "Casey Jones VS. The Underworld", that Mikey hates cleaning.
  • Mikey is usually the one who makes breakfast for him and his brothers, and also seems to be the only turtle who's good at cooking, as shown in"Mikey Gets Shellacne", Raph, Donnie, and Leo all made a huge mess in the kitchen after they tried to make breakfast themselves.
  • He is the first turtle to taste pizza (and it became his favorite food).
  • When fighting Super Shredder in "Owari", he was surrounded by a mysterious orange aura (similar to his Rise counterpart). However, what it is exactly is currently unknown.
  • With of total of 23, Mikey has the highest amount of abilities of all the Ninja Turtles.
  • Michelangelo's high intelligence allows him to replicate Donatello's experiments effortlessly.
  • It is possible that the design for Rise Michelangelo's alternate future self in "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie" was inspired by 2012 Michelangelo's alternate future self (as seen in "The Wasteland Warrior", "The Impossible Desert", and "Carmageddon!").
  • In Season 4, Mikey is the only turtle who doesnā€™t get a space weapon similar to his original ninja weapon. Leo got technological advanced Katana, Raph technological advanced Sai and Donnie technological advanced Staff, while Mikey got technological advanced Tonfā.

Quotes[]

Gallery[]

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