TMNT Fan's Dark Shredder Theory May Ruin The Way You See The Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have kept the city of New York safe from an evil group of ninjas known as the Foot Clan for years. While they have plenty of formidable adversaries for the turtles to go toe-to-shell with, their most dangerous enemy will always be the Foot Clan's leader, Shredder. But what if there is a different perspective we have been missing all these years? That is the point of a reel posted to Facebook by Luke Capasso, who believes we owe Shredder an apology.
In the reel, the poster points out that Shredder, who traveled from Japan to New York, did nothing more than offer a place for the disenfranchised to find a home. When young men have nowhere else to go, they can find friends and a family in the Foot Clan. They can find discipline, learn martial arts, and center themselves in the pursuit of the warrior mindset.
Of course, every group has its fanatics, and the Foot Clan has members that engages in some nefarious behaviors from grand larceny to assault. This is the image that they have been saddled with, but Shredder is the recipient of the undeserved criticism. From Capasso's perspective, it should be leveled at the four mutated turtles and their rat master, Splinter.
A father with selfish intentions
Master Splinter is the mentor and father figure of the turtles. He found them in the sewer covered in the ooze that would eventually mutate them into the fighting force we know today. But we may have the wrong idea about Splinter and his never-ending battle against Shredder. While Shredder went out into 1980s New York and provided a place away from the crack epidemic and the poverty striking the city, Splinter found four turtles in a sewer and trained them to stay out of sight and focus solely on his vendetta against his former dojo rival.
Members of the Foot Clan were taken off the street and given a mission and a family, the four turtles were hidden away from the world. Splinter convinced them that the world would never accept them, therefore the turtles stayed in the sewer. This decision could prove deadly for turtles who depend on the sun to help them regulate their own body temperature.
Finally, Splinter trained them to be violent. They crave patrolling the streets at night to find and fight Shredder's forces. While there are tons of criminal organizations in New York City, Splinter focused the turtles completely on the Foot Clan. This only confirms that Splinter's goals are not about bettering the city but engaging in combating his arch-rival thousands of miles away from where it began.
A lack of discipline and morals
The turtles themselves have their own problems when compared to the Foot Clan. Rafael has extreme anger issues that constantly cause him to go rogue from the rest of the turtles. Michelangelo has a tendency to focus more on partying than his mission. And Leonardo is supposed to be a leader but can't keep his brothers focused. Donatello is constantly inventing new and exciting contraptions; but how do they pay for such technology?
On top of that, a turtle's diet should be a healthy mix of fruits and vegetables; these four teenagers eat like they got ahold of a parent's credit card on vacation. They eat pizza for most meals. It doesn't matter what training regiment you do; that diet will be detrimental and expensive. How do they afford to eat out every meal? And in New York, no less.
Let's not forget about the TV they have to watch April O'Neil's news reports. With none of them working, it brings up the suspicion that the turtles also have some nefarious dealings on the side. And on O'Neil, her job as a reporter is to present all sides of a story. Instead, she aligns herself with the turtles and only paints Shredder and the Foot Clan as criminals. She never approaches them to get their side of the story, and she refuses to see the possible criminal nature of the turtles.
Capasso may have a point; after thirty years of watching these two groups go toe-to-toe, we may have judged Shredder too harshly and owe he and the Foot an apology.