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I understand they are mutants so it not really too much of a stretch, but it seems more likely that they would have at least 5 finger and toes on each hand/foot as all but sea turtles have 5 digits on each foot. Heck, maybe even a 6th digit sprouting on their hands/feet would be likely.

Was it to make drawing hands easier or like 3 digits look cooler than 5?

Dosco Jones
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Conan Highwoods
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    https://money.yahoo.com/why-cartoon-characters-often-only-091744891.html – Dosco Jones Apr 05 '23 at 21:38
  • Why might a Teenage >>MUTANT<<* Ninja Turtle* be different from a normal turtle. Hmm. Could it be because of their ninja skills or age? – Valorum Apr 05 '23 at 21:51
  • Yeah, I understand it is a no brainier question, but usually in fiction(maybe irl as well), mutants tend to gain extra/new parts rather than lose them. @Valorum – Conan Highwoods Apr 05 '23 at 21:54
  • @ConanHighwoods - It's a fair question. I do recall the original artist making reference to it in an interview. I'll see if I can track it down for you. If memory serves his answer was basically the same as mine :-) – Valorum Apr 05 '23 at 21:55
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    Two fingers and a thumb sayeth the original co-artist – Valorum Apr 05 '23 at 22:02
  • Even if it was the first, you know they would say it was the second. – Spencer Apr 06 '23 at 01:30
  • It is, also, admittedly unusual in the animal kingdom to have two digits on the foot when it's not a hoof, and three fingers is fairly rare among reptiles as I understand it. Personally, I saw the three-fingered hands as being closer to the robot "claw" grip you used to see fairly often when all they wanted to handle was opening and closing the hand. No idea why that would influence the turtles... – FuzzyBoots Apr 07 '23 at 19:00
  • And, FWIW, the original Eastman sketch as per https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/65426/23243 looks like it's 5 fingers and 5 toes. – FuzzyBoots Apr 07 '23 at 20:07
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    It is somewhat speculative, but Ninja often wear tabi, split toed socks. The two-toed feet of the ninja turtles seem (to me) to be tabi - and the hands are two-fingered + one thumb (since having only two fingers would be unrealistic...) – James K Apr 07 '23 at 21:12

1 Answers1

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Reducing the number of digits on a cartoon hand is a common trick to make drawing easier. Hands are quite difficult to get right, especially in action comics like TMNJ where they are shown in many different poses and holding a variety of objects in every frame.

Mickey Mouse had three fingers and wore gloves for that same reason. Animating hands is hard. Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny... most of the early cartoon characters all had reduced fingers on their hands.

This is especially true for characters for which the artist intends (or hopes) will make it to animation.

Any in-character explanation is likely a case of backsplaining.

Kurt Fitzner
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    Except that the original line art for the turtles had them with five stubby fingers. – Valorum Apr 07 '23 at 18:06
  • Which, admittedly, might have resulted in the artist deciding to simplify their life when it became more popular. :-D – FuzzyBoots Apr 07 '23 at 18:16
  • @FuzzyBoots - In which case, a quote from the artist would make a superb answer. As it stands, this answer is merely supposition. For all we know, the artist preferred the number three because that was his lucky number. – Valorum Apr 07 '23 at 20:03
  • "this answer is merely supposition" - It's an industry standard optimization which is common domain knowledge. I would have thought the general example would have been sufficient. Considering how many times the question has been asked on redit and elsewhere, I suspect a quotable answer doesn't exist without contacting Eastman & Laird directly. I will, however, dig further. – Kurt Fitzner Apr 08 '23 at 01:02
  • @KurtFitzner - Contacting Eastman and Laird would turn this from a mediocre guess into an exceptional answer. – Valorum Apr 08 '23 at 06:32