Michelangelo

*"So you're saying that not only did you destroy everything I love in the world, but you didn't even have the common courtesy to know you were doing it?!"*

―Michelangelo to Groundhog

**Michelangelo**, or **Mikey** for nickname, is an ornate box turtle who was mutated to become part human from mutant alchemist Baron Draxum, before being taken in with three other turtles from a man named Hamato Yoshi. He is the youngest out of his brothers, therefore leaving him to be the most naive and carefree. He also serves as one of the two tritagonists (alongside his older brother, Donnie) of the series and the film.

## Physical appearance

Mikey is a mutant ornate box turtle with blue-green skin, a bright yellow plastron, and a blue-grey carapace with a yellow pattern. He has geometric yellow markings on his shoulders and thighs, black eyes, a tooth gap in the left side of his upper jaw, three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. He wears an orange bandana with short bandana tails, matching wristbands and socks, and matching knee pads with red faces on them (a dead face on the right and a smiley face on the left). He has a pair of magenta and sky-blue stickers on his plastron (a triangle with sky-blue trim and a lightning bolt with magenta trim) and a dark orange chest harness over his left shoulder with the Turtle emblem placed over his heart.

When his Hamato Ninpō is unlocked and since the film, his harness and knee pads (with the red faces) are black. He also dons matching fingerless gloves and knee-high socks.

As Dr. Feelings in *Breaking Purple*, he wears round glasses, an earpiece, a brown turtleneck and long-sleeved sweater, blue pants, and a black belt.

## Personality

Mikey is playful and lighthearted. He is intuitive, able to adopt new skills quickly, determine others' problems, and at times accurately predict situational outcomes.

Mikey is very creative at heart, usually caught using his creativity in a various of ways including but not limited to, illustration, music and cooking. He is attuned to pop culture shown by some of his word choices and his knowledge of relevant celebrities such as Rupert Swaggart. However, Mikey has mixed appreciation for certain retro/old school icons as he is disappointed with the dated graphics in *Hot Soup: The Game* ("Hot Soup: The Game").

Mikey can also be easily frightened, usually retreating into his shell when provoked or nervous. He's also very forgiving, welcoming Baron Draxum into his family after his defeat by the Mad Dogs, creating much tension.

While Mikey will lie, he has a disdain for it as he is increasingly frustrated with Leonardo's lying behavior in "Flushed, but Never Forgotten" and insists on him and his brothers revealing the truth to Splinter. Mikey finds it hard to cope with the guilt of lying and thus doesn't keep secrets reliably.

Mikey is competitive as seen in "You Got Served" when he is determined to win a one-sided competition against Leo and boasts about his previous victory, labeling himself as the "all-time champ of today".

Mikey is family-oriented and compassionate as in "Repairin' the Baron" he helps Baron Draxum recover from wearing the Kuroi Yōroi unprompted. He prefers to see the good in others, a quality that can border on naiveté such as when he tries to rationalize Foot Recruit's suspicious attitude to himself during their first encounter in "Hot Soup: The Game".

Mikey is openly sentimental and encourages others' emotional vulnerability as well. He highly values intimacy and tries to cultivate it in his relationships (sometimes to the point of insistence). This openness can make him excitable, acting hastily and injuring himself as a result. It also leads to Mikey being rude just as often as he is kind such as when he snaps at his brothers for not reacting appropriately to a restaurant he liked being destroyed in "Pizza Pit" or expresses how he wishes to expel Donatello from the Mad Dogs right in front of him in "Bullhop".

Mikey has three personas he created: Doctor Delicate Touch, Doctor Feelings, and Doctor Positive. To deliver a harsh truth in his "Doctor Delicate Touch" method, Mikey often starts off being sweet, but quickly becomes angry and frank. Doctor Feelings uses his emotional intelligence to advise others, and Mikey faces issues with determined optimism as Doctor Positive.

While Mikey calls Leo his favourite brother, his most balanced relationship is with Donnie, as they often come up with good results thanks to Donnie's hyperfocus meshing well with Mikey's hyperempathy, as seen first in "Repo Mantis". Mikey is extremely forgiving of Donnie's difficulties with empathy. Likewise Donnie is surprisingly patient with Mikey despite him being easily distracted. This is accurate to real life where Autistic and ADHD people often get along well despite stark differences.

Mikey doesn't allow others to diminish his contributions or take him for granted and will sharply correct attempts to ("Mystery Meat"). He can also be insulted when others regard him as dependent such as in "Hot Soup: The Game" when he is eager to complete a mission without his brothers' aid. Mikey's confidence in his capacity to be independent isn't always shared by the other Mad Dogs due to him being the youngest, much to his frustration.

Mikey is also the one who never gives up and has faith in himself and his brothers. In "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie", Mikey had faith in Leo breaking Donnie's pizza box stack record and in himself to create a gateway to rescue Leo after many failed attempts to do so during the course of the film.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Hamato Ninpō:** As a member of the Hamato Clan, Michelangelo has the ability to tap into his clan's energy to unleash his own mystic powers.
	+ **Weapon generation:** Michelangelo can use ordinary objects to form his own weapons, specifically nunchaku.
	+ **Mystic whip:** Mikey is able to extend the chain of his nunchaku to grapple his opponents.

* **Fire generation:** Mikey wields a fire-generating kusari-fundō that can burn, cut, or grabble opponents.
* **Weight rejection:** Anything with his kusari-fundō's grip is able to be lifted, launching it at his enemies.
* **Power Fun Jutsu:** By spiraling his kusari-fundō’s chain, Mikey can generate a funnel of flame capable of engulfing opponents or transporting a large number of objects from one place to another.
* **Mystic Whip Grip:** The spiked weight of his kusari-fundō is capable of latching onto surfaces to anchor Mikey to them.

### Abilities

* **Ninjutsu:** Michelangelo is skilled in ninjutsu, making him a competent foe to fight against.
* **Stealth:** Mikey is able to slip in and out of areas, unnoticed.
	+ **Lights-Off Jutsu:** By clapping his hands, Mikey can turn off any lights surrounding him, using the darkness to his advantage.

* **Speed:** Mikey is able to move quickly without being seen, even more than his brothers.
* **Enhanced agility:** Mikey is extremely agile, known for his acrobatics, swinging, flipping, scaling, and tumbling from structures for his attacks.
* **Strength:** Mikey posses greater strength than the average human.
* **Super tongue:** Mikey can identify and analyze specific ingredients in food by merely tasting it.
* **Durability:** Due to his mutation, Mikey is able to handle increased levels of pain and physical trauma.
* **Shell retraction:** Mikey is able fully retreat inside his shell.
* Mikey is eating carrots.

## Relationships

### Family

* Hamato Yoshi - Father
* Baron Draxum - Creator
* Leonardo - Older Brother and Friend
* Raphael - Temporary Enemy, Older Brother and Friend
* Donatello - Older Brother and Best Friend
* April O'Neil - Best Friend and Sister-figure
* Casey Jones - Friend and Nephew-figure
* Piebald - Adopted Sister
* Hamato Karai - Ancestral "Gram-Gram"

### Allies

* Todd Capybara - Friend
* Franken Foot - Friend
* S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. - Friend
* Señor Hueso - Friend
* DIGG - Temporary Enemy
* Marcus Moncrief - Temporary Enemy, Idol, Friend
* Red Fox
* Bullhop - Friend
* Sunita
* Cassandra Jones - Temporary Enemy, Friend

### Enemies

* The Foot Clan
	+ The Shredder - Ancestral Grandfather, Attempted Killer
	+ Foot Lieutenant
	+ Foot Brute

* Krang
	+ Krang One - Attempted Killer
	+ Krang Two - Attempted Killer
	+ Krang Three - Attempted Killer

* Meat Sweats - Situational Enemies, Former Friend, Idol, Attempted Killer
* Hypno-Potamus - Situational Enemies
* Repo Mantis
* Warren Stone - Situational Enemies
* Big Mama - Situational Enemies
* Baxter Stockboy
* Albearto - Attempted Killer
* Ghostbear
* Sando Brothers

## Quotes

* "They look exactly the same! And they don't look like either of those things!" - Mystic Mayhem
* "Man. This seemed like a really good idea until we didn't succeed at it." - Origami Tsunami
* "Roger, skipper." - Bug Busters
* "It's just a—um, uh, pushy clerk trying to sell me the extended warranty. Heh. I'm not interested!" - Hot Soup: The Game
* "Why am I the pawn?" - Mind Meld
* "I can't believe you guys snuck out." - The Evil League of Mutants
* "***MUTANT MENACE?!?!* Omigosh!** They're talking about us!" - The Mutant Menace
* "No, I'm pretty sure you're a woodchuck." - Nothing But Truffle
* "I must remember how much I hate those guys like twenty times a day." - Sparring Partner
* "Dear me, Armbruster, I just found money in my pocket! Remind me burn this when we get back to the slag lake at Martha's Scrapyard." - One Man's Junk
* "Not the dancing, anything, but the dancing." - Air Turtle
* "Well, I reckon ya did. Shmoo, shmoo." - Bad Hair Day

## Trivia

* Among the TV series incarnations, this version of Mikey is the least goofy and more serious than previous incarnations of himself.
* While Mikey is specifically an ornate box turtle, box turtles in general possess a hinged shell capable of fully closing using their plastron. This offers higher defense compared to turtle species without hinged shells. This real-life adaptation may be part of the reason why Mikey retreats into his shell far more frequently than his brothers.
* Mikey calls the color orange his "life color" in "Donnie's Gifts".
* This version of Mikey is the second Turtle in *TMNT* to be designed with a tooth gap.
	+ The first Turtle to be given this feature is Donatello from the 2012 TV series.
* This is not the first incarnation of Mikey to wield a kusari-fundō in *TMNT* as in the original Mirage continuity story, "The Passing", his training weapon was also a kusari-fundō.
* Mikey is revealed to have a close relationship with Leo who takes him under his wing.
* Mikey's voice actor Brandon Mychal Smith stated in an interview that Mikey likes extreme sports.
* According to the writers, Mikey is the sweet and loving Turtle of the team.
* Despite being referred to as a kusari-fundō in the official character releases, Mikey's mystic weapon more closely resembles a chigiriki.
* One of Mikey's catchphrases is "Omigosh".
* Mikey's favorite music genre are boy bands.
* In real-life, Mikey's species of turtle is terrestrial, unlike his brothers who are all aquatic turtle species.
* Mikey's gamer tag is "Flavortown" as seen in "Smart Lair".
* In "Bug Busters" Mikey mentions that he has taken a rodeo clown class.
* Both Leo and Mikey sport a stylized square-shaped pattern on their carapaces, Leo having three and Mikey having two.
* Mikey is interested in horoscopes as he mentions the predictions he got for the day in "Late Fee".
* It was revealed in February 2020 from *Rise of the TMNT* writer Russ Carney in a Tweet that, "Two characters we looked at when thinking about the direction #rottmnt's Mikey and Donnie should go, were Troy and Abed from *Community*.".
* Mikey exclusively chooses "scissors" when playing Rock, Paper, Scissors.

## Gallery

* Michelangelo Gallery
* Michelangelo Appearances