Casual fans of 80s era comic books or recent Michael Bay flicks will doubtlessly recognize the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a quartet of wisecracking anthropomorphic turtles intent on keeping the streets of New York safe from evil. Dedicated fans, however, will know that their goofy personas and preposterous pizza preferences are a byproduct of the series’ 1987 transformation into a child-friendly property. Originally foul-mouthed and aggressive, the heroes in a half-shell actually spawned from a joke; co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird spent an afternoon doodling characters they found to be ridiculous, and the marriage between Japanese warriors and shell-toting reptiles snowballed from there.

While neither of the two wannabe comic-book artists could, at the time, appreciate how profitable their inside joke would become, children and pre-teens the world over would soon develop an insatiable craving for TMNT toys and television programs. To an outsider, these four heroes seem ridiculous, as slow, amphibious animals don’t typically come to mind when thinking of heroes. Yet, if audiences could accept concepts like Ant Man, then perhaps mutant turtles wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

As I’ve mentioned, the turtles weren’t initially planned to appeal to children. Though they’re now synonymous with popularity amongst a younger crowd, the adult-origins of these reptilian teens can still be seen in some of their products and media. Sure, they may seem friendly enough, but these dudes have managed to slip quite a lot past the censors.

25 Coming To A Decision

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film trilogy is well known for its bizarre, borderline creepy use of Jim Henson-developed full-body costumes. While some TMNT fans out there likely love these movies, I feel that these suits mostly just succeed in scaring little kids and bewildering older viewers.

If the costumes don’t put you off, though, some of the weird and off-color humor present in these films probably will.

There are more than a few strange quips sprinkled throughout the trilogy, but most will likely remember the moment in the second movie when Master Splinter came, on the roof, to a decision. I suppose the roof is a great place for silent contemplation and reflection. Yeah, that’s what they meant. Could I get a little more subtlety in my movie intended for pre-teens, please?

24 Claustrophobic

Originally intended as a parody of vigilante superheroes, Casey Jones’ tough guy attitude and wicked 80s hair metal look in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze is more than a little difficult to take seriously. You know what else is difficult to take seriously? Most of the dialogue in that movie. At the end of the day though, it’s a movie about mutated turtles fighting crime, so I’m not sure what I expected in the first place.

I’m kind of doubting the film won that year’s Oscar for best screenplay.

In one particular scene, Donatello is accusing Jones of being claustrophobic, and Jones is clearly confused about what that actually means. He threatens the turtle, then responds with “I’ve never even looked at another guy before.” No, Casey. That’s not what he meant.

23 The Turtles On Oprah

Please, if you only watch one YouTube video today, make sure that it’s this one. Not only has it made me laugh harder than any of the turtle’s dumb one-liners, but it reeks so profoundly of the early 90s that I could have sworn Nirvana was at the top of the charts again.

So, here we have Raphael (or it could be Michelangelo, the video quality is so bad that I can’t tell) admitting to an interest in an interspecies relationship with April O'Neil… live on Oprah. It is honestly difficult to process that this actually happened. All in all though, I would have to say that the expressions of shock and bewilderment on the faces of those kids is the best part. And, what did he say? She can’t hold her breath that long?

I’m sorry, what??

22 I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire…

I’ve never been a fan of the animated Nickelodeon Turtles series; it’s always seemed to pander to a demographic much younger than myself. That’s fine, of course, it’s a Nickelodeon show and they are trying to captivate children—I just don’t have any interest in watching. The humor seems to be about on par with those schlocky 90’s movies, and I think that, excluding hardcore turtles fans, anyone over the age of fifteen would get pretty burned out after a few minutes.

That said, the show did have it’s darker moments.

Specifically, there is a moment in the show when New York City is destroyed by a mutagen bomb, leaving nothing but a wasteland behind. Seriously, a show intended for kids predicted a Mad Max style future where the world is full of mutants and marauders.

21 Not All Fun And Games

As I’ve said, I think everyone knows the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a hilariously named group of mutants who patrol the streets of New York City enacting vigilante justice on those who seek to spread evil. Well, that might make the should sound a bit more noble than it actually is, as, from 1987 onward, the turtles spend about ninety-percent of their time cracking jokes and eating pizza.

Originally, the series wasn’t interested in captivating pre-teens.

As first envisioned by series creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, TMNT offered up a hearty amount of strong language, realistic violence, and adult-oriented debauchery. The move to make the franchise more appealing to kids came do to an interest in marking toys to children. Peter Laird was allegedly upset by the toned-down Turtles, and some fans are still upset over this artistic compromise.

20 Becoming A Cyborg

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have appeared in tons of different kinds of media; from movies to animated series, comic books, and even two cringey tours as a Pizza Hut-sponsored soft rock band. It is, in a way, funny to think that such an odd concept would become so ubiquitous, and to think that a pack of teenage reptiles would elevate to the pop-culture heights of Superman or Spider-Man.

Sure, they’ve been in a ton of stuff, including a great amount of animated television incarnations.

These are mostly remembered for being giggly, semi-vapid Saturday morning affairs. Some episodes, however, got a little dark. In the original animated series, a villain known as Dr. Stockman has many surgeries, replacing himself with cyborg parts by the Shredder.

That kind of crosses the line for a kid’s show, wouldn’t you say?

19 Gone For Good

Most people in-tune with popular culture have probably heard of the Shredder. He’s the merciless leader of the Foot Clan who has fiendishly opposed the Turtles since their inception. Though he’s been defeated by his pimple-faced, pizza loving adversaries many times, he always manages to come back and wreck more havoc, and it’s safe to say that he’ll do so until a set of mutant turtles is no longer appealing to teens.

In the 2012 Nickelodeon cartoon, though, they actually manage to get rid of him once and for all. Most series simply refers to the villain as having been jailed or ambiguously defeated. Not Nick’s show, you literally get to see one of the turtles dealing the finishing blow. A few parents may have pushed to censor the scene, but TMNT fans across the globe were likely pretty stoked to see the Shredder finished for good.

18 We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Shell

I’m not sure how 2014’s Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles even managed to get a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes. This movie is just so inexplicably awful that I’m not sure I could really put all of its failings into words. Thankfully I didn’t venture into theaters to go see it, but when I eventually caught it months after its release I was genuinely upset at having wasted an hour and a half of my life watching it.

There are tons of insipid lines of dialogue delivered by our heroes in this flick.

But the worst of this has to be an offhand remark offered by one of the turtles when they first meet April O’neil. “She’s so hot I can feel my shell tightening,” Michelangelo remarks, upsetting a legion of both parents and fans in the process.

17 They’ve Got A Strange And Disturbing Backstory

Let’s recap some of our favorite hero’s origin stories, shall we? Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider, Captain America was encased in ice during the second World War, and Batman lost his parents at a young age. What about the Turtles, you ask? Well, they started out as a group of literal pets who mutated after coming into contact with radioactive materials.

Alright, it isn’t quite as dark or depressing as some origin stories, but I find it objectionable because it’s, well, just kind of gross.

It also sort of ties in with the environmental message the turtles would come to embrace following their 1987 shift in tone. Careful where you leave your mutagenic waste, kids, otherwise you’ll have some real problems on your hands.

16 All In The Name

Perhaps part of the ninja turtle’s success comes from their ridiculous title: isn’t Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just a bit more exciting than something like “Heroic Reptilian Teenage Warriors.” Alright, that actually does sound kind of cool, though it doesn’t really roll off the tongue.

The point here is that, in Europe, these green martial artists were known as the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Apparently our friends across the pond didn’t take to kindly to the idea of this quartet being ninjas as they were afraid that they’d influence kids to go out and replicate dangerous tricks they’d picked up from the comics.

The solution? Simple, just call them heroes instead of ninjas without changing the content. While ridiculous, in a way, the turtles did manage to sneak past the North American censors.

15 Thanks For The Tip, Guys…

To be honest, I’m not exactly sure where this little gem first originated. I’ve heard that it was first used on a valentine’s day card sometime in the 80s, but, as far as I’m concerned, the origins don’t really matter. Today, this slogan can be found on stickers, novelty T-shirts, and just about any surface to which you can adhere an image.

This double entendre is so in-your-face that think this may have just been some kind of pre-internet viral prank.

I’m honestly a little bewildered at the actual message here—women like guys who eat pizza? Why not just say that, then? Yes, it’s hilarious, but this really shouldn’t exist. Why didn’t anybody involved with the turtles speak up before this thing made it out the door?

14 Cowabunga, Dude!

I’ve brought it up already, but the first ever turtles movie was made possible in part by Muppets creator Jim Henson. Though he mostly stuck to generating innocent characters of his own design, he agreed to develop some of the costumes used in the first three movies, most important of which were the actual turtle costumes themselves.

Unfortunately, some audiences were shocked at the amount of violence portrayed in the film, and Henson actually remarked that he was disappointed in the excessive mayhem exhibited in the film.

Today, the first film in the ever-growing lineage of turtles films seems quaint and hilarious in ways likely unintended by the director, yet, back in 1990, it was lucky to make it to theaters.

13 TMNT And Daredevil

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actually shares a lot in common with Marvel’s 1963 Daredevil comic. Given a cursory glance, their origin stories are pretty similar—Matt Murdock is blinded by radiation while saving an old man from an oncoming truck. Similarly, the turtles, who started out as actual pet turtles, are granted their abilities after coming into contact with a mysterious mutagen in the sewers of New York City.

Little did you know that, according to TMNT’s creators, these events are intended to have occurred at the same time in the same universe.

The truck that Matt Murdock inadvertently toppled was the same one which managed to contaminate Splinter and the turtles. Sure, it’s nothing more than an innocent homage to Marvel’s famous hero, but the blending of these fictional properties suggest dark connotations that some censors wouldn’t like.

12 Sir, Please Put Your Slime Launcher Away…

After the series spent a few formative years as nothing more than an quirky underground comic it was revamped in order to appeal to kids and sell junky plastic toys en masse. While some of these trinkets are now valued collectors items, tons of them are, well, just junk.

It’s kind of ironic—lots of these toys were themed around junkyards and sewers, and that’s where most of them ended up.

TMNT’s Retro Catapult was one such item. Granted that, on paper, it did sound like fun: kids could have a blast while blasting mutagenic ooze all over the walls. I take that back, that sounds like an awful idea. Not only was the ooze a total mess, but I’m just not a fan of the concept. Please, Raphael, would you get your slime launcher out of my face?

11 Shut Your Mouth!

The turtles have a reputation for their beyond boisterous personalities and childish, at-times grating sense of humor. Once the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film hit theaters, however, audiences had a brand new reason to wish they’d just keep their traps shut.

Since the turtle costumes were massive, heavy things, they had to be ventilated in order to keep the actors from overheating. Unfortunately, the only way to implement that effectively was to carve a small hole in the turtle’s mouths. While it isn’t exactly easy to spot, very little slips by eagle-eyed Turtle fanatics. It’s akin to a jarring fourth wall break, like a child seeing Chuck E. Cheese remove his head to reveal the pasty teen within.

Perhaps it didn’t need to be censored, but it should have been addressed.

10 Chief Leo

This tasteless toy is definitely a relic of a bygone era. Before the internet, it was difficult for stuff like this to get a whole lot of attention. It was demeaning and offensive to a certain audience, but it wasn’t quite as grotesque or in-your-face as something like Mortal Combat, so it went under the radar of the likes of Tipper Gore and Jack Thompson.

Nevertheless, this is pretty gross. There’s a fine line between homage and exploitation, but I think most of us would place this in the latter category.

I suppose a Ninja Turtle/Native American crossover could happen, but this seems like nothing more than a dress-up cash grab. The Turtle toys were infamous for pushing out weird variations of the famous characters. Trust me, this is far from the last time TMNT toys would do something like this.

9 Two Minutes For Slashing…

The character of Casey Jones may have been intended as nothing more than a semi-hokey homage to vigilante superheroes like Batman or, of course, Daredevil. He’s appeared tons of times in the turtles comics, movies, and animated series, and he’s almost as well-known as Master Splinter. Yet, something's off about the guy, and I’m not talking about the disgusting late 80s punk attitude or hockey obsession.

Doesn’t this guy remind you of anyone? Specifically, a certain mask-wearing spectre from Camp Crystal Lake?

Yeah, he sort of reminds me of Jason Voorhees, the menacing antagonist features in the Friday the 13th films. The turtles gained popularity in the years directly following the original film’s release, so there’s no way this camp counselor creeper didn’t influence Jones’ design.

8 Flushed Away

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Flush-o-matic High-Tech Toilet Trap is every bit as hilarious as it sounds. Were kids just down with the gross toilet and sewer theme the turtles had? I suppose most some aren’t as easily grossed-out by grime and slime, but, come on, I’m not quite sure that I’d be willing to give my kids a toilet to play with.

As far as I can tell, you sit your favorite turtle on the toilet, and then you get to poor some kind of slime on them.

Yeah, great concept. Why do so many of these toys have to be so nasty? I get that they live in the sewers of New York, but, come on, why does their merchandise have to be so completely repulsive?

7 Bandito Bashin’ Mike

Here’s another great example of how not to make an action figure. This monstrosity is seriously lacking in turtle power. The connection between the turtles and wild west tropes is ludicrously tenuous at best, and this concept never should have gotten off of the ground.

TMNT toys sold like mad, though, so naturally they had to rush out as many products as they could. Today, this could almost be seen as something of a rare collectors item. Much like a misprinted currency or rare messed-up album cover, Bandito Bashin’ Mike really feels like an unprecedented accident. Yes, I’m certainly aware that politically correct culture wasn’t nearly as prevalent in the 80s and 90s, but, come on, why would this ever have been a good idea?

6 Tokka And Rahzar Are Terrifying

Lots of recent ex-adolescents like to reminisce about the weird things that scared them as a kid. A popular consensus among people my age seems to be that Sesame Street’s alien characters were horrifying abominations the likes of which could never be paralleled by contemporary child-oriented programming.

Another oft-mentioned unintentional fright would be Tokka and Rahzar from the second Turtles' movie. Another Jim Henson crafted creature, these maligned behemoths appear to even strike fear in the likes of The Shredder. They are villains, of course, so maybe they were intended to scare kids. In that case, that definitely accomplished their goal.