The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are famous for the different colored masks they wear into battle, but what's the reasoning behind them?

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' colored masks have become as synonymous with the characters as their signature weapons. Even casual fans know that Leonardo sports blue, Raphael wears red, Michelangelo rocks orange, and Donatello leans toward purple. But is there any significance to the colors brandished by the heroes in a half-shell?

When the turtles first debuted in 1984, ushered into the world by writer/artist team Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, the original comic books were actually printed in black and white, meaning the only major differentiator between the four brothers were their weapons. When the turtles were shown in color, they'd all be wearing red masks, so where did the jump to the colors fans know today come into play?

It turns out, at least according to a 2012 blog post from Laird, that the decision to color-code the turtles was a fairly arbitrary one made to more easily distinguish one character from another - though not a decision made by the characters' creators. "My memory of this is that there was NO specific discussion about which Turtle should get which color because of how the color went with their personality or whatever," Laird wrote. "There MAY have been some discussion about it at Playmates and/or Fred Wolf's studio, but I don't recall." Playmates was the company behind the wildly successful Ninja Turtle line of toys that were seemingly omnipresent in the early-to-mid '90s, and Fred Wolf is the man behind the equally popular original cartoon, which aired from 1987-1996. The colored bandanas would feature in the TMNT films and retroactively make their way into comics, but as far as Laird was concerned, the changes weren't too big a deal: "Frankly, I would have been happy if the Turtles had all been in red bandanas, but I also see the value of giving them each a distinctive color."

The world was first introduced to the rainbow-hued turtles with the cartoon's launch and the cavalcade of merchandise that followed. But the masks' colors weren't the only major change made to Eastman and Laird's characters. While the original comics were dark and gritty, with the very first issue seeing Shredder fall to a seemingly gruesome death, the cartoon was kid-friendly, portraying a jovial, pizza-loving group of turtles that was starkly different from what had been seen in the comics at that point.

Eastman and Laird were content with the tonal change and even addressed it in the pages of 1989's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #19. "Let them stand on their own," the duo wrote in an editorial, referring to the cartoon versions. "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much." The pair realized their characters had accrued two separate fanbases - one older, one younger - and continued to cater to the former with their dark and violent comic book tales while allowing the cartoons and toys to satisfy the latter group. Despite the massive changes made between the two iterations of the Turtles, Laird and Eastman knew there was room enough in the world for both.

The Ninja Turtles' masks have become iconic staples of pop culture at this point and their distinguishing colors are trademarks for modern fans. They all may have started out in monochromatic red, but the colors - along with the series' characters, themes, and tone - have all evolved over the decades. And while the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' blue, red, orange, and purple masks may now be among their most defining features, the truth is they were seemingly only ever introduced thanks to a cartoon adaptation and toy line looking to brighten things up.

Next: The TMNT Comics Are Slaughtering Classic Movie Villains