I like turtles.

As most people know, turtles are awesome, just ask this kid, he knows the score But why are they awesome? Well, they're hypo allergenic, they're cute, they dont require too much maintenance when you have the proper tools, and are generally not finicky animals. They can be trained to roam on land as well as to be friendly and loving to the touch of their master. They're cute for reptiles, and despite the fact they do shed their skin this doesn't detract from their appeal as pets. They're also really good hunters, so about 10-20 feeder fish provides you an interesting display of your turtle's hunting prowess as it fights for it's meal. Pure awesomeness. Coincidentally, they're also one of the few animals that sounds adorable in video when mating
Silly tortle, that's not another tortle, that's a shoe! Well, a croc, but whatever.

The only real drawback to the animal is about an extra 2 or 3 hours of maintenance a week as well as having to wash your hands after handling them (so basically the same thing as any other pet.) So I think we established turtles are great animals, so is it really any wonder why the animal is so popular in pop culture?

There's the teenage mutant ninja turtles, ninjitsu turtles which love pizza, three awesome things rolled into one.... and that's it huh?

Oh wait, there's the koopa clan. Of course, every Mario game this crew of turtles and mushrooms and inanimate objects makes an appearance, even if it's just a token appearance, and while they are considered to be rather weak as far as Mario enemies go, there is still alot of the buggers, so much so that you can barely walk 20 feet without running into one. Everytime they're hit with their own shell after being forced out by Mario's stomp, being killed shortly afterwards by their own shell, they keep trying to fight for the sovereign king of the koopa clan, Bowser. A hardy species, at least in their ability to survive as a race despite being killed by a fat plumber on a daily basis, they have been characterized in games like paper mario as perhaps, not being so bad, as some of them are in fact neutral and do not feel one way or another, often defecting from the rule of the leader of the koopas; sometimes even assisting mario against enemies that may pose a threat to the safety of the mushroom kingdom.

Okay, those are 2 good examples of turtles in popular culture, are there any other examples? If not, we need to get on it immediately and demand more turtle based media! I like turtles, dont you?

-Helper