purpleavenuedonut

the Professor is a character we meet very early on in 2K3 - the turtles met him sometime before the series start and he's close friends with all of them, gifting them computer parts or comics or anything else he thinks they'd enjoy, while the turtles bring the Professor and his community blankets and help protect them from bad guys who would take advantage of unhoused people

the turtles respect the hell out of him, and he's invited to their christmas parties as well as april and casey's wedding years down the line

the societal mistreatment of unhoused people is the focus of the Professor's first episode, and at no point is he ever depicted in a meanspirited or stereotypical way or are there are any jokes told at his expense. he's a well-written, fleshed out character that the show and writers actually respect as a character, and that goes for most of the reoccurring non-white characters in the series like Angel, Karai, and Silver Sentry

and then you have tmnt 2012

"Homeless Guy" makes his debut in the very first episode of the series, on a dirty mattress in a filthy alley, farting in his sleep. he's part of the joke that new york city is absolutely disgusting but the turtles are in awe of it all anyway

as a character, "Homeless Guy" never goes beyond this cheap, insulting depiction, and pops up a few more times in the series as the butt of the joke or to have something absolutely vile happen to him (FOR REAL THO, this series had a major gross-out obsession, it was hard to watch sometimes)

to me, the depiction and treatment of "Homeless Guy" exemplifies the generally meanspirited nature of the show, and the lack of empathy in its characters