“We’re looking for a few good 2012 series mutants!”
Howdy folks and welcome to SpeekyGeeky, as always, I am your host Mr.Geek-E!
If you are a longtime follower of the channel, it probably comes as no surprise that we have been discussing this very topic at length for quite some time. SURE, some of it was positioned as imagining what some of these characters from this iteration COULD have looked like coming to us within one of the various other lines that ALREADY existed within the ever-growing world of Turtles within NECA, in fact, we asked this EXACT question outright to NECA's TMNT brand manager Trevor Zammit in one of our exclusive interviews with him (which, for convenience, you can see in it's entirety, riiiiight here) where he had all but teased that something like this line may indeed be coming sooner than we realized, and then BOOM, at the recent SDCC, we FINALLY got the visual confirmation we had been anxiously anticipating, and the possibilities are now leaving our hearts all shades of "a flutter".
But Geek-E, you may ask, what makes THIS version of TMNT more exciting than say the Fred Wolf, Archie, Mirage, Last Ronin, Video Games, Movie, or any of the other versions NECA is ALREADY doing? You may ask....
Well firstly, we would never poo-poo any of those other versions of Turtles, as each and every dang one of those iterations has been an absolute treat to behold as they evolve into a gorgeous multiversal tapestry across our toy shelves... so saying MORE exciting isn't the way we would necessarily categorize this, but with the INCLUSION of this new line, it means the possibilities for unique and exciting new characters we could expect to see just grew exponentially! So using a comedy sports arena metaphor, it's really more of a "Yes, AND..." situation with character diversity now being able to FINALLY stand side by side (and in some cases, to PROPER scale) with the rest of our continually growing NECA TMNT collection.
Secondly, for many folks that are of collecting age right now, just as Fred Wolf was and remains the quintessential era for many of the earlier generations, 2012 is the version of TMNT that THIS GENERATION grew up with! For those of us who DID grow up with Fred Wolf, this is the version of TMNT that we may have watched with our OWN children or loved ones so it may very well carry that additional level of meaningfulness to us as WELL (but even if that WASN'T the case, it was still a bodacious series that captured elements of everything that came before it within TMNT, which was then all wrapped into one delightful action-packed and easily consumable Hostess Turtle Pie of a series (in FACT... can that phrasing officially be OURS? Heck, we're just going to go ahead and do it, so BOOM, it's now SpeekyGeeky official ... "2012 TMNT: The Turtle Pie of the TMNT series".
One final but equally important thing to note regarding the extra layers of excitement surrounding this line? When the original Playmates line came out as the series was actually premiering for the first time, many of the characters from that series NEVER actually got the plastic treatment, so for those of us who were growing up or collecting during THAT era, we always had this enormous void for options we had HOPED to see in toy form, but sadly, well..we just never DID!
As we touched on a moment ago, every iteration brings something different to the table toward connecting in with fans, and 2012 seemingly set out to capture a little bit of the best of EVERYTHING that came before it.
There were some episodes and stories that felt like they came straight out of Mirage, there were some that felt like they harkened back to Fred Wolf and Archie, and there were some that even tapped a bit into the various 2003 series and had sly nods and homages to the live action movies, series, and even some of the lesser known specials.
Also importantly, most of those episodes still VERY MUCH hold up well over a decade later both in quality of writing AND by way of animation, making it an easy and logical jumping-on point for folks who are JUST now starting to dip their toes into the worlds of the larger world of Turtles for the very first time after getting pulled in with the recent premiere of Tales of the TMNT and the Mutant Mayhem movie.
Even though at the time of our writing this deep dive, there have only been two official characters revealed (we guess THREE if we're including the icecream kitty little buddy), but these revelations are still verrrry telling about what we might come to expect with this line.
At SDCC we got our first look at the line with the reveal of a 2012 Michelangelo that came with a handful of different heads and expressions, hands, a slice of pizza, skateboard, ooze vial (most likely, as we didn't see the color of the contents), and a lesser articulated little buddy in the form of Ice Cream Kitty. And then at NYCC we saw the roster grow to include a 2012 Leo with multiple heads to replicate his various iconic expressions, Katanas, a grappling gun, bow and arrow, additional hands, and a slice of pizza.
So again, even though we only have set peepers on these TWO figures, their contents speak volumes. The first clue being that we'll likely expect to see the remaining brothers shortly as well (a fact recently confirmed in a recent booth tour interview between Pixel Dan and TMNT Brand Manager Trevor Zammit)...this part feels fairly obvious if we compare it to NECA's past Turtle iterations releases, but it also illustrates to us immediately that we might expect to see primary characters released with some of those smaller scale figures in the line as well. This factoid is fairly significant as eagle-eyed collectors may have already ascertained because in past offerings, those same characters might have been reserved EXCLUSIVELY for accessory packs or saved as easter eggs to be packaged with various Ultimate versions.
If we were taking odds here, we feel fairly confident placing extra pizza points on the notion that we might see logical pairings surrounding the remaining brothers as well. Perhaps a Raph with Chompy Picasso or baby Slash and a Donnie with Doctor Cluckingstein for example.
Of course, at this time, there is also SO MUCH we just don't know yet, leaving our minds racing with all sorts of questions. Questions like, could this tap into characters from the various 2012 COMICS series as well? INCLUDING the UK Panini comic that introduced a wealth of new characters fans in the states may not be that familiar with? Could we finally see some of these larger scale figures at the scale they were intended at a budget that won't entirely break our wallets? How deep will NECA dig into the truly RAD roster of characters from this line who never saw toy love beforehand?
Luckily, to this last question, we can easily turn to NECA's past precedent of belting out banger after nostalgic TMNT banger and hazard a guess that they intend to leave no lingering stone unturned, and to THAT prospect, we'd be remiss if we didn't weigh in with which options we hope FINALLY see some of decade-old toy love.
BUUUT Before we plunge into the selections for this episode, we think it's important to call out two important details. ONE: This will be our first episode of MANY (in FACT, episodes 2 and 3 are ALREADY being meticulously put together just as this VERY episode is coming out) we are very well aware that every Turtles fan has their own top roster list of characters they want to see lining their collector's shelves, we understand this incredibly well and are 100% right there with you.
That said, if you don't see one of those favorite characters in the mix THIS episode, fear not, as there is a VERRRRY good chance you WILL be seeing them get the love they deserve in a future episode.
We'd also like to encourage folks to let us know in the comments who tops YOUR list as well and don't forget to sound off in our ongoing polls on our Instagram channel (we'll have more info on those at the end of this episode).
TWO: Though we ABSOLUTELY want all of the core characters from the 2012 series, we know many of you are ALREADY decently versed in the basics of who those characters are, and we are also quite certain they are firmly on NECA's radar as well, so we won't be spending too much time focusing on standard versions of those characters, but that doesn't mean you won't see some deep divey love thrown toward crucial VARIANTS of those characters who we've never had in plastic before, NOPE, in FACT, there MAY even be a few of those options housed within THIS very episode.
Now, with that said, we wouldn't be the enormous dork you know and...well, LOVE is probably a strong word here, so let's say TOLERATE...if we didn't at least call out some of those characters and WHO/WHAT we think they might come with, but be warned, because this is ALREADY a fairly long episode, we'll try to keep this as a fairly short GEEKOUT MOMENT...MOMENT...MOMENT...
First off, THE REST OF THE TURTLE BROS.
As we noted just a moment ago, Mikey and Leo have been revealed and will be coming with multiple heads and Ice Cream Kitty which leads us to believe the rest of the bros will be coming shortly after, packed with logical iconic facial expressions from the show and corresponding little buddies. We see Raph likely coming with either Chompy Picasso or pre-mutated Slash (formerly known as Spike), and an extra head with flames in his eyes to reinforce his baseline hothead temperament in the series.
For Donnie we could see him coming with an extra head with hearts in his eyes to play into his infatuation with and admiration for April, perhaps another "um actually" type know-it-all expression head, an aquarium with the four pre-mutated turtles in it, or one of the smaller characters from his favorite "world-within-a-world" cartoon series like "Squeakums" from "Super Robo Mecha Force Five!", "Spooch" from "Crognard the Barbarian", or "Cho-Cho" from "Chris Bradford's 2 Ruff Krew" or a Dr. Cluckingsworth for a little buddy.
But wait, theeeeere's more! Because we all know NECA isn't about to stop there, we have a fairly big sneaking suspicion we'll see allie staples like Splinter, April, and Casey Jones fairly early on as well. And you better believe the baddies are coming as well, we'd wajor our favorite slice of pizza on the reality that we'll see characters like Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, and various versions of the Kraang show up in all their maniacally schloky glory.
Even though we CANNOT wait to see how NECA gloriously adapts each and every one of these characters in toy form, where WE get doubly excited are with the possibility of seeing versions of certain characters that we have NEVER seen before. Our minds go immediately to imagining the prominently featured and EQUALLY captivating human forms of Bebop and Rocksteady Anton Zeck and Ivan Steranko, with Zombie Shredder, and Irma Kraang Subprime coming in a close second...or heck, come to think of it, TECHNICALLY we COULD even see the 1987 versions of each of these iconic baddies within the 2012 series as well considering there WERE those crossover episodes.
So, with that brief intro and short but incredibly necessary GEEKOUT MOMENT out of the way, let's just leap right into our first option for Episode 1 of Which TMNT 2012 Action Figures We'd Like To See...:
6. TIGERCLAW & ALOPEX
Ahhh the heartfelt origin story of Tigerclaw and Alopex! They were your classic coming-of-age tale... one of a brother and sister out frolicking in a playground until they discovered an alien portal that, WHOOPSIES, sent the little rascals off to a faraway dimension where they were promptly mutated and experimented on by an alien race bent on forging them into hardened and merciless assassins. Then, as freewheeling youth tend to do, they of course, naturally found themselves on a tiny detour within their coming-of-age journey that found them embracing the colorful world of circus performing, things are looking bright....OHHHH those RAPSCALLIONS! But then, shortly afterward, those hopes were dashed, when their innocent dreams of being simple carny folk doesn't pan out as planned and they made a bee-line to becoming full-blown Mercenaries for the Foot clan. We mean...we've ALL been there, RIGHT?
NO? Your childhood took a slightly different trajectory you say? You DIDN'T suffer irreparable trauma at a young age after being abducted by a warmongering alien race? Well...OKAYYY...humblebrag much?
Yup, so in a nutshell, this was the not-so-ordinary origin story of one of the saddest, raddest, and baddest mutant brother and sister assassin-for-hire duo within the world of TMNT.
Though Tiger Claw is presented as a wholly original new ally to Shredder within the 2012 series, much like many of the "NEW" characters that make their way into the various Turtles iterations, it's a little more nuanced than that because, while it might be true we never had a TIGER CLAW before, he does seem to share quite a bit of overlapping characteristics with previous villains from the Turtles rogue gallery, most notably, Palladium's After the Bomb's and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness's CATSBLOOD PAW (AKA Paul Clearwater) who was an eye-patched mutant Cheetah leader of the Road Hogs gang and also happened to be an expert combat tactician who kept a calm head when engaged in scraps. Hints of TMNT and other Strangeness CEASER, another eye-patch sporting mutant Wolverine that was an expert fighter, carried with him an array of familiar-looking weapons that Tiger Claw also tends to utilize as his go-to arsenal, and lastly (but this is a bit of a cheat as we'd put this character in the "Inspired Family Tree" category because they technically began existing at very close to the same time-period), but Tiger Claw also shared many similarities with IDW's Old Hob...who ALSO happened to pull inspiration from the character Ceaser, right down to the big honking gun, eye patch and mutant weasel lackeys.
Long-time TMNT fans might have had their ears perk up when the name Alopex popped up here as there is a white fox by the same name featured as an ally to the Turtle bros in the IDW series, a character who is largely based on the fan-favorite character Ninjara who played a love interest and ally to Raphael in the Archie comic series. While the Alopex in 2012 DOES share SOME similarities to these other version counterparts, in this incarnation she is distinctively human to mutant rather than an animal to mutant like IDW's version or an ancient race of humanoid foxes that aren't TECHNICALLY mutants at ALL like Archie's Ninjara.
Another notable attribute that sets this version of Alopex apart from her alternate incarnation doppelgangers is that THIS incarnation also seems to have a vast super speed that is reminiscent of both 1987's Mutant Cheetah Overdrive from the villainous group H.A.V.O.K. as well as Jagwar from Archie's group of allies to the Turtles, the Mutanimals...where she is seen to be able to outrun the Party Wagon going full speed.
So, how do we see these fiercely dangerous siblings coming in toy form? Well, that all depends on the modality of character release. If it follows the Fred Wolf line, these two would make a natural pairing for a two-pack, but if the 2012 figures follow the same release pattern as the Archie and Mirage figures, we'd see them coming to us as individual figures loaded down with a barrage of accessories.
The fun thing with BOTH of these characters is that there are so many off-the-wall accessories to come along with them that could really heighten the collecting and display appearance where it might even make sense for folks to stock up on a couple of sets in order to display each of their unique looks.
As we noted a moment ago, even though Tiger Claw and Alopex have a primary aesthetic during much of the series, there are flashback moments (that honestly we would have LOVED to have seen in greater depth) that presented them as both circus performers and classic 3 piece suit wearing mobsters, notably with a pre-eye-patched Tiger Claw look as well.
We'd want Tiger Claw to come with a swappable metal claw hand, swappable trap-jaw like hand blaster or a bloody (just severed) insert plug to reenact the fateful scene, an additional freshly severed tail to swap out from his full tail, some swappable hands where you could toggle between his retracted claws state that could carry an array of various weapons, plus a jetpack complete with attachable blast-off function that could act as its own support base, as well as a pair of hands with fully extended claws (and extra head with extended piercing fangs) for when he goes full berserker mode.
For Alopex, if we're going full pie-in-the-sky dream mode here, we'd love to see her come with her Kunai blades, twin Kama Sickles, her cursed blades of vengeance, a baseball bat, and a belt made out of her brother's tail that could be worn or held up to taunt him whenever she'd like.
We'd love to see both characters have the ability to transform into any one of their earlier uniquely outfitted incarnations, in addition to their traditional appearances AND Tiger Claw's later Crimson Leader robed look complete with missing hand and tail (courtesy of his sister Alopex...YUP, that's right, these siblings have one incredibly interesting rough-and-tumble origin story, so for folks interested in knowing just WHAT THE HECK happened to cause this long-standing feud, you might want to begin with Alopex's first appearance, the episode "Tale of the Tiger Claw," and then prepare to buckle up, because that is one doozy of a fun episode.
5. NEWTRALIZER
Or K'Vathrak to his friends...of which he has few...mainly because he kills or eats any folks brave enough to try to get to know him...is an intergalactic bounty hunter with strong Punisher and Judge Dredd vibes. This captivating character from the 2012 series originally was a rejected toy concept character by longtime TMNT artist Ryan Brown ALLLLLL the way back in the Playmates TMNT classic days. Though Ryan's character design for Newtralizer looked significantly different than K'vathak, the core badassery and shoot first and ask questions later tone of the character very much still carried over to his role within the 2012 show.
This character holds a very special place in our Geeky heart because of his historical significance. While folks might assume this is the first iteration that Newtralizer appeared, the truth of the matter is that this character was actually one of a myriad of characters (Fishface included...but more on HIM and THAT background in an upcoming episode) that originated as concept designs from other series.
YUP, much like Tiger Claw had inspiration rooted in Palladium and a connection IDW's Old Hob, Newtralizer was originally created by long-time TMNT illustrator Ryan Brown (the mastermind behind many of the Mutanimals) and pitched as an action figure in the original Playmates toy line with less of an overt Punisher-Vibe we eventually came to see in the 2012 series and having an aesthetic that seemed more like it came with the thought "what would Judge Dredd look like as a Lizard?"...The ANSWER of course, was ABSOLUTELY FREAKING RAD...OBVIOUSLY! (and sidenote, VERY much in need of his OWN official figure, perhaps even a logical "WHAT IF" version of him hint hint wink wink cough cough NECA).
It IS worth noting that there WAS an incredible custom prototype made of the figure a little while back from the always astoundingly brilliant Dafoot_Toys, which we'd love to see get out to folks with their epic sculpt as well, fingers crossed because he is too dang cool not to be on the radar and in the collection mix of Turtle-loving folks young and old alike, and after going over 30 YEARS without the character in our collections, our humble opinion is the more versions of him to get in our grubby little hands... the better!
Each iteration of Newtralizer seems to embody a fairly consistent trope homage that is seen throughout the Turtles history. Be it Boo Swain as FannyWhacker in Mirage, Dirk Savage in 87 TMNT, Abigail Finn in 2003 or Simon Bonesteel in Next Mutation. We've discussed this before, but it's worth saying again as it adds such an exciting layer to what makes this franchise so engaging, and that is that it is constantly pulling from and parodying familiar tropes and stories from pop culture and throwing it back to us in a funhouse mirror style manor, and in the case of Newtralizer it's no different, pulling from the same "Dirty Harry" vigilante-style veneer that has an overt wink and nod to both the Judge Dredd and Punisher characters who happen to be cut from the same cloth.
Cool Cool... cool cool cool cool Geek-E, but WHAT was THIS version of Newtralizer's whole deal? That IS still who we're talking about here, right? Y'know? The one with the cool name that sounds like you are hacking up a loogie while trying to teach yourself how to speak Klingon...K'Vathrak!
Firstly, Gesundheit! and secondly, ok FINE!...so the quick and dirty on THIS version of Newtralizer is that he hails from the same planet as other Salamandrians like MONA LISA. Unlike Raph's love interest and ally to the Turtles however, K'Vathrak is a war criminal with a galaxy-wide reputation for his proclivity toward having a particular sweet tooth for the occasional Utrom.
Basically, a good way to think of him is if the Owl from the classic Tootsie Roll Pops commercials was voiced by Danny Trejo and had a thing for anthropomorphic squishy brains instead of Tootsie Roll caramel and chocolatey chew...ALSO, good luck getting THAT jingle and voice out of your head now for the rest of the day...and uh, you're WELCOME.
Unlike the Punisher who is a staunch anti-hero within his own universe, Newtralizer proves over and over again within the Turtles world that he isn't very reliable (nor should he be considered) as an ally. While it's true they have a shared enemy in the Kraang, their methods for defeating them couldn't be more starkly different and as the Turtles and their allies soon realize, Newtralizer is A-OK with disposing of any obstacle that gets in his way of obtaining his end goal, even if the number of those who get in his way are "ONE...TWO...or A-THREE...A-THREE".
How would we see Newtralizer coming to us if we had our 2012 druthers? Well, there are a few notable appearances we would love to see. His classic look from the series is undoubtedly the way folks would EXPECT to see him first, but it may also be fun to see him as partially translucent as if in-the-midst of teleporting as a potential down-the-road variant for the character. We'd also imagine him coming with all his classic stable of weaponry including: Wrist-mounted lasers, Sawblades, a wrist hologram display with small-scale targets to plug in, A shoulder Missle launcher (complete with attachable "just having been launched" light trailing missiles), a Bladed bendy tail, Articulated long tongue, Swiveling Wrist gun Gauntlets, and a Cosmic Detonator Axe.
4. VICTOR FALCO (AKA THE RAT KING)
We've had some terrifying versions of Rat King throughout the years, but it was THIS version that left us rocking back and forth in a corner reeling from the full creepy scope of what this character was actually capable of. Now, at this point in the game, this wasn't the first time we saw an off-filter version of Rat King, the Mirage version and 2003's versions in particular definately doubled down on the sleep with-one-eye-open approach to this villain, but in 2012 not only did they build in a wealth of new layers to his backstory, they also made him visually look intimidating as all SHELL. Exuding Equal parts Phantom of the Opera and the Cryptkeeper from Tales from the Crypt, where if you ran into this dude in the sewer (or if we're being honest... ANYWHERE!) you'd quickly second guess your life choices that led you to this moment and reconsider proceeding in his general direction.
Each iteration of Turtles presents their version of Rat King a bit differently, with the Fred Wolf version perhaps being the most whimsical and less nightmare-inducing version of him, substituting his overt creepiness instead for an over-the-top devotion to his beloved rats that often lead to scenarios that fostered absurd hilarity.
In the 2012 series, we gain some interesting and much-needed layers to the backstory of the character, Rat King isn't JUST Rat King, he is a scientist who is introduced alongside another new introduction to the series, Dr. Tyler Rockwell (AKA the Turtles eventual Mutanimals ally nicknamed Monkey Brains...and YES, you'd likely be correct if you bet on us circling back on THAT character in an upcoming deep dive episode...because of COURSE we are). The relationship between the two scientists is reminiscent of the episode of the Fred Wolf series "Phantom of the Sewers" (our deep dive on THAT character can be found here) where both are initially striving for incredible gains until one becomes greedy and diverts into unintended results...so y'know...classic hilarious transformative hijinx ensue!
In this version, because of the accident that transformed him from an egocentric mild-mannered scientist named Victor Falco into Rat King, here he is ACTUALLY a mutant as well, this time also equipt with not just control of rats, but also telepathic powers that extend well beyond his earlier gifts and makes him all the more terrifying.
Considering this character has such a rich history throughout all of the iterations of TMNT, we expect to likely see a figure of him coming to us sooner than later in the line from NECA, and when we do, we'd love to have the ability to see this character go through the transformation between sinister scientist to full-blown horror movie villain. So we're talking an extra pre-mutation swappable human head and white lab coat that could then be toggled off with his iconic black trenchcoat and bandaged ghoulish head.
We also see Victor Fal...AHEM..RAT KING... coming with a variety of rats, including a giant mutated rat, a golem of rats similar to the creation he attacked Splinter with in the episode "Darkest Plight", an extra red-eyed Splinter head, perhaps even a ball of rats he could wrap around his hand like a bludgeon, a bo staff, and a radiating mind-reading clip-on attachment to replicate his psychic and mental manipulation attacks on his foes.
3. LEATHERHEAD
Wait, WHAT? You may be thinking to yourself right about now. Didn't you literally JUST feature Leatherhead in your recent ARCHIE TMNT deep dive?? So just who the heck are you trying to fool here Geek-e?
Well firstly, we love your attention to detail and appreciate your continued viewership, we were hoping that might have flown under the radar, but NOPE, nothing gets past you, so give yourself a big ol three-fingered pat on the back and an even bigger enthusiastic sounding No Prize style "EXCELCIOR!" because your ears are not deceiving you and we technically DID give a bit of a spotlight to THAT worlds version of this character, BUUUT as you may have already deduced by the unintentional theme of this episode, THIS 2012 version of Leatherhead is a different kind of gator altogether. And NO, we don't mean a CROCODILE...at least we don't THINK we do, we are really bad at being able to tell those apart.
For those who caught the Archie episode in question (and if not we'll plop the link riiiight here for you), the focus was on the character of Jess Harley, who in that Archie world reality, transforms with the help of the mysterious Turnstone into the anthropomorphic Alligator LEATHERHEAD. In the 2012 iteration however, this Leatherhead is similar to both the Mirage, Fred Wolf, and 2003 versions in that he is an Alligator that mutates into a much larger Alligator...or crossing the streams for a brief moment, as Zordon from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers might say, "An Alligator with Attitude!" And now that we say that out loud, we maaaaay be absolutely imagining what a Leatherhead Power Ranger could look like and can't help but wanting THAT figure as well. But we digress.
So why the focus on this LEATHERHEAD in your first 2012 episode? What makes THIS version more important than any other version of him...besides, didn't we ALREADY get a version of the 2012 Leatherhead with the corresponding Playmates lines?
Well to be clear, we aren't saying that at ALL, in fact, this character happens to be one of our favorites allies (and sometimes villain) virtually across every iteration of TMNT, BUT if you are anything like us, you may recall that even though this character DID get a figure back when the show first aired, the term full of scales DIDN'T mean he was (ahem) PROPERLY SCALED.
Nope, not in the least! Though we absolutely LOVE the Playmates figures, the one thing we wish they would have accounted for with their lines on a more consistent basis was having the scales match up to how the characters ACTUALLY appear on screen. Similarly to character like Slash and Newtralizer, Leatherhead TOWERED over the Turtle bros onscreen, but folks merely collecting the figures at the time never would have pieced together this fact simply by making their assumptions off of his toy form, which was an absolute shame because the 2012 figure's MASSIVE presence captivated on screen and we always felt his toy form should have reflected that as well.
In terms of threat level to enemies, it really is the difference between Krang in bubble walker vs Krang in Android Body...Yeah, you WANT both versions, but one version is undeniably cute and squishable, while in the other you know you are about to be entering a world of certain hurt. The point here is that even though we have Leatherhead as a defacto "Little Buddy" in Playmates form, we are LOOOOOONG overdue for a Leatherhead that packs the heft and gravitas that the character in the series represents, one with a size that should have us second guessing if we need to reinforce the shelf we plan to proudly display him on or not. We know with NECA at the helm, that we'll be in good leathery hands in this department as they have shown us time and time again with large-scale characters from other iterations that we should absolutely come to expect no less from this gator...and this isn't JUST a certainty, it's a GUAR-EN-TEE!
As we've noted in past episodes, EVERY version of Leatherhead is slightly different depending on the iteration and with 2012 it's no different. Here, he was never Jess Harley, but rather a pet alligator with a somewhat funhouse mirror origin story to the Turtles. He too was thrust into the sewers, but instead of finding a loving family of other mutant alligators or a father figure in Splinter, he was discovered by the Kraang, and brought back to Dimension X where they performed an array of horrifying mutant-based experiments on him that left him unstable and untrusting.
After years of being poked and prodded, Leatherhead managed to escape and take refuge in the sewers of New York where the Turtles came to his aid and made him an honorary member of their family (despite a few initial hiccups in the form of him entering into his berserker barrage like state and almost killing them on a couple of occasions...as one DOES), and ultimately finding his OWN makeshift family with his co-founding of this iterations version of the Mutanimals.
This version of Leatherhead is pretty much what you see is what you get, he's a bruiser who uses his natural abilities and sheer brute strength to take down any obstacle that comes his way, so we could see him coming with a fully unhinged jaw with full access to his razor-sharp teeth (or, y'know at least the APPEARANCE of razor-sharp teeth, so that we don't lose our own digits while trying to pose him), a few swappable eyes to toggle between his calm demeanor and lowered 3rd eyelid berserker state, a smaller non-mutant version of himself and a toilet for which we could recreate the ability to send him down to his tragic origins, the power cell he stole from the Kraang that allows him to move between dimensions, some attachable hoses that he breaks free from while being experimented on from the Kraang, a VHS of Super Robo Mecha Force Five which appeared in the pivotal "Into Dimension X!" episode, a swappable damaged chest plate from when he barely escaped Dimension X with his life, A fire attachment to add to his open mouth for folks who might like to recreate his "Dragon" appearance from Mazes and Mutants, a "little buddy" version of the concept version of himself for 2012 that looked remarkably like a more realistic version of his Fred Wolf self, and of course a highly posable tail.
#2 CHRIS BRADFORD AND THE 2 RUFF KREW
Sure, it is definitely important to point out right off the bat that within the original 2012 series we technically DID get not one but TWO versions of Chris Bradford in the toyline in the form of his Dogpound AND Rahzar representations (and technically even MORE than that if we're counting the heroes in a half shell line), but we NEVER once got a figure of Chris Bradford himself, nor his world within a world cartoon representation that was often watched by the Turtle bros upon Fugitoid's ship the Ulixes throughout the fourth season, the substance of the in-world episodes conveniently corresponding to the substance of whatever that episode's primary overarching story was TACKLING on any given week.
It goes without saying that we ABSOLUTELY will require 2012 NECA versions of both Dogpound, Rahzar, AND Chris Bradford human prime version as well, but because we already DID obtain versions of at least 2 of the three versions of these characters in the classic Playmates line, for the sake of this video we are going to operate under the assumption that those are more likely to get figures without the need to make an argument for them right off the bat, so we'll lean more into versions we HAVEN'T had the joy of adding into our collection yet.
With that said, this wasn't ALWAYS our intention, and we DID already create nifty original art surrounding THOSE characters too, so WHO KNOWS, you may very well see our deep dive on those EXACT mutated characters in episode two or three of this deep dive series...whose to say? Pssst...We're to say, pass it along...purple monkey dishwasher...
But Geek-E, you may be pointing out right now, wasn't the character you discussed RIGHT before this Leatherhead and didn't he ALSO have a classic Playmates figure so wouldn't that immediately fly in the face of your entire reasoning you just made here about NOT focusing on characters that had those classic figures and now we're laughing maniacally as the whole premise of your reasoning falls irreparably apart at the seams? (Also, a quick sidenote follow-up villainy cackle to that point...BWA... and also A-HAHA!).
And to that we say...SURE...FINE...you CAUGHT us...but come on, catch up, that was like already ONE whole OPTION ago! Are you HAPPY imaginary viewer who potentially never EVEN noticed our subtle hypocrisy until we called it out in the first place? NO? You're NOT, and now you're primarily just concerned for our mental health for fixating on this to begin with instead of focusing on the deep dive? NO, you DON'T want to see where this very rapid descent into madness goes? Well ok then...that's fair, and we appreciate that, mental health IS important and respected, so instead of having an unnecessary fight with our inner bully right here in the open we'll just say THANK YOU and better luck NEXT time Professor Anxiety!
Before we move too far forward though, it's worth noting that the Turtles in-world cartoon characters (of which Chris Bradford firmly resides, in ADDITION to being an "airquotes" live-action personality within the Turtles ACTUAL world) are a Zebra of another color here that 100% ALSO need to be actively discussed as potential toy possibilities as they are SO OFTEN overlooked as logical universe-building options, AND each of these 1000% added immeasurable wealth to the Turtles world where to completely ignore them AND all they did toward building meaningful layers into the narrative would be like a big old Kung-Fu grip style slap to the face to fans and collectors.
We'd say we'll cover some of these characters like CROGNARD THE BARBARIAN, SPACE HEROES, and SUPER MECHA ROBO FORCE FIVE! further in an UPCOMING episode (and you better believe we absolutely WILL), but we figured since we already have the unique world-bridging character of Chris Bradford firmly on our radar in THIS episode, we might as well take the opportunity to dig into at least a few of HIS bodacious fictional cartoon series roster that may not be on some folks radar but absolutely SHOULD be!
But Geek-E, I don't even know who Chris Bradford IS, why are you asking me to care about the rest of the characters in his orbit ALREADY? Firstly, shhhh not so loud there buddy, but don't worry, we got you and you are in a safe space, and secondly, buckle up buckaroo, because holy moly are you in for a deep divey DOGPILE of a treat!...Which we guess in this setting could be accurately called a DOG treat then, yeah?
You...You just couldn't help yourself there could you Geek-E? You just HAD to ahem PILE on the DOG jokes, eh? Whose a "Good Boy? is It YOU? Yeah...didn't think so.
So what made this character so dang cool? Chris Bradford within the scope of 2012 is a little hard to pin down as just ONE thing. A good way to think of his human self by way of pop culture references might be to see him as a mix between Chuck Norris, Rambo and Johnny Lawrence in Kobrai Kai...but we're still talking classic Karate Kid era, "sweep the leg" Kobra Kai not that whole redemption arc later series stuff...with just a pinch of Tatsu from the live action TMNT movies thrown in for good measure.
Within the 2012 world proper he is a bit of a celebrity with the Turtles as a chief dojo master, who also, spoiler alert here, (but not really if you are familiar with the character Smash and his army of Crooked Turtle Gang members from the Fred Wolf 1987 series or again, Tatsu from the live action movies), is part of the foot clan and is helping to recruit an army for the Shredder. Bradford has a bit of mythic celebrity status among Michaelangelo who later sees his badass martial arts skills up close first as a momentary tutor, and then again on the opposite end as Bradford's cavorting with the Shredder comes to light and then single-handedly gives the Turtles a run for their money in combat.
Later on in the series, we see Bradford take a handful of additional shapes including Dogpound, and then a second undeniably more monstrously terrifying mutation as Rahzar. But again, for the sake of THIS focus, we'll largely JUST be discussing his human iteration, and even with just that caviate, we're still talking about a FEW incredibly fun never-before-seen-in-plastic options.
Before we dig into THOSE we would be remiss if we didn't at least mention that we ALSO think it would be incredibly rad to see "what if" style mutant versions of his Dogpound and Rahzar selves imagined within his world-within-a-world cartoon universe too, and we maaaaaay have spelled out what something like that COULD look like right here for folks who have an interest in seeing what our off-kilter mind is engineering up to this effect.
But as we noted, Chris is just the tip of the iceberg here, if we're looking to really get the full Chris Bradford experience, we're gonna need to throw his oh-so-deliciously 80's and bodaciously fun 2 RUFF KREW into the mix as well AND a wealth of his over the top, villain of the week baddies in for good measure.
As we noted earlier, the Character Chris Bradford in the show had a wholly different feel than his 2 Ruff Krew cartoon within a cartoon persona. TMNT has a wonderfully loooong history of looping in meaningful pop culture homages and the 2012 series was ABSOLUTELY jam-packed to the brim with these little fandom easter eggs.
Eagle-eyed fans of classic corny 80s cartoons might have sussed out that 2 Ruff Krew was an almost copy-and-paste nod to the short-lived 80s cartoon series based on the Karate sensation Chuck Norris's self-starring series KARATE KOMMANDOS which saw the well-known star leading a team of colorful commandos (that's commandos with a "K") against laughably ham-fisted cartoony villains week after week.
Essentially Chris Bradford's Commando---er---umm--KREW was a band of equally colorful heroes, some of which were entirely new creations for the series (but pulled from other homage personalities of the 80s) like MASTER C being a parody of MR. T from the A-Team, LIL' RINEO being a parody of SHORT ROUND from Indiana Jones, Cho-Cho the Monkey being a Parody of essentially any cartoon of the 80s in existence that had an inexplicable helper animal or helper-like creature (be it Thundercats Snarf, MOTU's Cringer or Zoar, Silverhawks various Hawk Allies or even classic TMNT Playmates toys with their Little Buddies like LARRY THE LEMUR), as well as team members that were a direct nod to the Karate Kommandos itself that also happened to tie in nicely fused with characters from TMNT's OWN lore like SUMO GLEN, a wise-cracking tattoo'ed sumo wrestler who felt like a hybrid of Karate Kommando's TABE and TMNT's TATTOO.
Even the villains were a delightful nod to past TMNT lore, including a GIANT YELLOW MONSTER that just so happened to be a kaiju-sized MUTANT FORM CARTER from the original 1987 series (more on this unexpected throwback in a bit). When all these zany pieces came together on screen, it was a hodgepodge of campy 1980s-style goodness that transported us right back to an absurd moment in time we didn't realize we had missed so dang much.
The scope of the villains was a cavalcade of off-the-wall and "what the actual shell were they thinking" type evil-doers that were seemingly included solely to cast a spotlight on just how bizarre some of these corny 80s series baddies of the time were. They perfectly captured the drug-addled fever dream that kids of that era were treated to with a punctional frequency on almost any Saturday morning.
Now, these characters by today's standards might have seemed like unlikely candidates for a rogues gallery, but for us kids of the 80s, who grew up with notably off-the-wall villains as Rainbow Brite's Murky & Lurky, Skeletor from Masters of the Universe, Gargamel from the Smurf's, Sonic Adventures Dr. Robotnik, and the ENTIRE Legion of Doom from the Super Friends series, we gleefully consumed them on the regular like freshly wrapped Hostess Turtle Pies!
Which, real talk for just a moment, while we're on the subject of those delectable confectionaries of our youth, we'd be remiss if we didn't take the opportunity to give a very quick and much-needed public service announcement to Hostess if they're listening (clearing throat)...and that message is very simple and to the point... DEAR MR. OR MRS. HOSTESS (or Hostess with the Most-ess...whichever is your preferred title)... HOW DO WE NOT HAVE HOSTESS TURTLE PIES ANYMORE?
Back in the day, they used to be EVERYWHERE, despite technically only being slated for a 20-week release in 1991! They even showed up in live-action movies like "Gun Crazy" and more recently on an episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." They were delicious and they remain an unacceptably large void from our childhood that a legion of fans remember fondly.
With the Turtle-mania that began to resurface during the launch of the Mutant Mayhem film where we were seeing Turtle-Based product every which direction we looked within the supermarket, there was one item we were certain we would also see the triumphant return of the one item many of us had been loudly clamoring for, but sadly (and shockingly) it never came to be. We say this with perhaps WAY too assured confidence, but SHOULD you choose to make these again, even if only for a limited-time release, you would essentially be printing yourselves money.
We may just be your friendly neighborhood Geeky-Man over here, but we pride ourselves on knowing our fellow Turtle fans fairly well, and we feel very strongly that should you decide to delve back into bringing these delicious confectionary treats back into our collective bellies, you may have a very tough time keeping them from flying off of your shelves and into our homes.
Heck, it might even be a great opportunity to FINALLY bring in the mascot character you were toying with back in the day to get out to folks as an exclusive action figure, because I have a feeling those same legion of folks with fond nostalgia for beloved items of our Turtles past would absolutely LOVE to meet that character as well.
WAIT...WHAAAAAT? Exclusive action figure WHO now???
Yesiree, this little-known fact is very much TRUE folks, and thanks to the rad Instagram account @NINJATURTLEPIES we now know HOSTESS was entertaining the idea of incorporating a handful of exclusive mutant figures to coincide with the Turtle Pie products.
We've been trying to find a way to sneak this factoid into a deep dive for over 2 years now, so BOOM, here is your first look at "SAM AWRY, PRANTIS, and the Turtles very own personal riding SLUGS. Who, consequently, VERY MUCH feel like characters that COULD have popped up within the 2012 series either as ACTUAL characters, or designs that would have been snuck into one of Mikey's various comic books for eagle-eyed fans to discover.
SAM AWRY who was the leading option to be made as a figure, actually pre-dated another fairly well-known Beetle Mutant from the TMNT: Tournament Fighters game and we like to think he maaaay just might have inspired that character named Sisyphus... who in our humble opinion is also WAYYYYYY overdue for a figure of his OWN. Though the primary reason it never materialized was Playmates rejecting Don Secrease and Hostess's original concept art, we like to think that with a company like NECA who relishes in the deep cuts as much as we do, AND has already started to make the foray into Tournament Fighters figures with characters like ARMAGGON, if enough demand is proven to be there, we certainly wouldn't rule anything out.
Well that certainly was an unexpected detour...what was it we were we talking about again? OHHHH right, Chris Bradford's absurd and absurdly colorful villains.
First up there was FAKE MASTER who was what you might get if you took MORPH from the classic Xmen animated series and shook him up with Spiderman's Chameleon, THUNDERCATS MUMM-RA, and a big ol' dash of GI JOE's ZARTAN. As was the case with essentially ALL of this rogues gallery, we only saw FAKE MASTER briefly, but it was clear he had a long history as an antagonist to Bradford and his 2 Ruff Krew, that they had been butting heads on many an occasion, and it left us viewers desperately hoping to see more of what THOSE interactions could have been, but sadly were never more fully fleshed out.
When we are introduced to him he is disguised as Bradford’s girlfriend FELICIA (who was herself, by the way, a very evident parody of NATALIE POOLE from the classic toy line and cartoon ACTION MAN) and when this is ultimately discovered Bradford laments that he's been dating a rubber suit for 3 years…SOOOO, we know our 2012 self likely just appreciated the Zartan homage and kept watching, but current-day Geek-E has some fairly BIG questions…for starters, “does this mean Fake Master has been helping the 2 Ruff Krew take down all his fellow villainous associates for all these years?” This is a minor one, but still worth asking because of basic logistics, but “Wouldn't the inside of that suit get super itchy and smelly over time?”
Was Chris ACTUALLY ever dating someone OTHER than Fake Master or was it Fake Master from the start?” And IMPORTANTLY “if Felicia was in fact a REAL person, what the shell happened to Felicia?? Because the unspoken implication here is that Fake Master snuffed her out and assumed her life for the express goal of spending more quality time with Chris Bradford and his 2 Ruff Krew…which feels very “The Hand the Rocks The Cradle” vibes and also is certifiably horrifying when you stop and unpack the level of psychological instability that had to have existed within this scenario.
But Geek-E, he is a master of disguise, that's his WHOLE deal!!
NO! SORRY, JUST NO!…this ruse lasted THREE YEARS!
A lot happens in a relationship in 3 years, to keep up the facade for that long would essentially mean becoming this completely different person, fully committing to the role... it's more than just pulling off a rubber body suit and saying “HA-HAH, i fool-ed you”…SERIOUSLY what the actual frak was the end game here? We have covered a TON of villains in our deep dives, but legitimately Fake Master may be the darkest villain we’ve ever covered.
To put this into further TMNT context, it would be like if Shredder murdered Splinter (not in battle, but just to get close to the Turtles), and then instead of TELLING the turtles, he wore his skin and imitated him day in and day out, gaining their trust, taking down krang and his old henchmen, shared in intimate family moments like birthdays and life goals, and then after 3 YEARS pulls off the splinter skin to say “surprise Turtles, it was ME the Shredder all along!”…just…WHAAAAAT!!!??? WHY??? What does he stand to gain other than to prove he can successfully trick them?? We just—our brain hurts, so Ooooof...let's...I don't know...let's just pivot to discuss who makes up the rest of this rogues gallery.
Besides the horror movie in the making that WAS Fake Master, Bradford's merry band of miscreants also consisted of: Evil Ninja, who was as close to a straight-up clone of Super-Ninja from Karate Kommandos as you could legally and distinctively get. Micro Chip, who was...a bit of a cross between if you took the feral-ness of Austin Power's Mini-Me and swirled it around with a healthy dose of Puck from Alpha Flight, Destroyo who was an overwhelmingly obvious nod to GI JOE's gold-headed villain Destro...but y'know...if Destro had a killer Dolphin motif (which...silly Geek-E...everyone KNOWS was really more Deep Six's arena from the Joe world than Destro's...though, as a quick sidenote, we never really realized until researching this deep dive HOW big a motif wrestling aquatic life WAS within cartoons from the 80s...here's a hint, it was WAY more than you think).
And speaking of wrestling aquatic life, that brings us to Captain Reptile, who was, in a nutshell, what you'd get if you threw a decorative helmet on a talking GORN from the Star Trek Animated Series. Despite us not knowing too much about this villain who had a striking resemblance in origin to Spider-man's "The Lizard", there is no denying that his blood wasn't the ONLY thing (ahem) COOL about him ...Are we just a big sucker for all things anthropomorphic Lizards and not so coyly looking for excuses to sneak as many of them into this toyline as we can? Sure, that could ABSOLUTELY be the case... But Are we wrong to think this? Our Lizard brain keeps toggling between "absssssolutely not" and simultaneously "mussssst desssstroy sssspidermannnn" is holding up a big ol' flashing green light that it's on board for that outcome as well.
But perhaps one of the most important villains from this expanded roster is Bradford's insidious primary baddie in the form of Ninja Commander, who has an appearance that feels like if Street Fighter's M Bison had a love child with Palladium's "Truckin' Turtles" and Kinzo Hattori from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legend of the Supermutant ...or should we say "FORMS" of Ninja commander as over 10-year-old spoiler alert here, Ninja Commander turns out to be non-other than LIL' RINEO?!!!!
YUP, turns out Fake Master wasnt the MASTER after all and Lil Rineo was ALL IN on project "long con" as well. What do you MEAN "That makes no sense and a basic understanding of human proportions don't add up because Lil Rineo is in fact a little boy while Ninja Master is a fully grown-ass man?" Well if THAT bothers you, this next part is probably going to make your head quite literally explode because not ONLY was Lil' Rineo the Ninja Commander in disguise, but once this discovery is made he inexplicably transforms to FULL SCALE Android Krang body proportions mode into the Kaiju second mutation form of Carter...so wait, hold on...does that...does that mean LIL RINEO was ACTUALLY CARTER ALL ALONG TOO?!!! Ok, don't mind me, I'm about to curl up into a ball in the corner with a nice bowl of Chris Bradford cereal and eat my feelings now.
We now bring you back to our regularly scheduled programming where we'll dig into how we could see these characters all coming to us.
The simple way would be to plop them all out as opposing sets at SDCC similar to what NECA did ALLLL the way back with the first Animated series TMNT box sets. A six-figure set of the heroes (consisting of 4 standard sized figures and two smaller-sized ones with Lil' Rineo and Cho-Cho) and a five-figure set of the rogues (with a smaller-scale Microchip, a slightly larger scale Captain Reptile, and leaving out Not so Lil' Rineo in his mutated form for a later oversized figure option).
Imagined in this way, we could see the box itself recreating some of those tv-world iconic environments to act as the collector's gateway into a snapshot of that moment. There were also some truly epic weapons and accessories that would 100% make sense to include with these as well, including Ninja Commander's handheld automated buzzsaw thrower (which was a blink-and-you-'d-miss-it nod to the classic Pizza thrower vehicle from the Playmates toys), one of Destroyo's killer dolphins, Captain Reptile's growth serum, Lil Rineo's cartoonishly oversized Bazooka, Master C's Dumbbells, Sumo Glen's always present tub of fried chicken and of course the lifeless rubber bodysuit of Felicia for Fake Master to taunt Bradford's Krew with while cackling maniacally perched on the shelf...at least we ASSUME this is something he would do when we exit the room, we DID grow up with movies like Toy Story, Puppet Master and Toy Soldier after all...we mean...if it's not TRUE why would folks keep making movies about that EXACT thing, right?
But what about Bradford you ask? What weapons would be included for him to use? That's an EASY one for longtime fans of the 2012 series, he'd come with four of them, his arms and his legs...NATURALLY!
1. TURTLES OF THE WASTELAND
Ummm ACTUALLY Geek-E, this was technically Tales of the TMNT, so would this count as the 2012 series? You raise a good point our dear anonymously contrary viewer, but even though the series TECHNICALLY had a different name, it was still VERY much a continuation of the 2012 series in look and story.
A good way to think of it might be similar to 2003's TMNT where it began with one name, but as the series progressed through the years, it kept getting different titles and a varying degree of scope because the network believed it necessary to keep freshening it up. Or more recently how we had the Mutant Mayhem Movie and the...well...again... Tales of TMNT series as an episodic continuation of the story, but it was still set in the same universe.
But this is just a long way around of saying that even a simple IMDB and Turtlepedia wiki search refers to Tales of TMNT as season 5 of the 2012 series, so it feels like we're delving into "contrary for the sake of being contrary" territory here, and we probably could have just lead with that...but y'know...the more you know... so here we are.
With Turtles of the Wasteland (which is our somewhat reductive name for this Mad-Max-ian era, which constitutes the collected episodes of "The Wasteland Warrior", "The Impossible Desert", and "Carmageddon" (which YES, IS such a rad name and YES absolutely DOES live up to the badass-y-ness of it all). Essentially a trilogy of episodes that for all intents and purposes recreates the world of Paladdium's "TMNT and OTHER STRANGENESS" within the TMNT universe proper.
Aaaaaand as we are now just hearing what we said out loud and are realizing that folks here might be doing a confused double take, so we probably should take a quick beat and give a little background on just what the Shell "TMNT and OTHER STRANGENESS" is.
We covered some of the 2012 characters that likely drew inspiration from "TMNT and OTHER STRANGENESS"... even within THIS very episode (like Tiger Claw likely heavily lending from Ceasar from "After the Bomb" as a handy reminder for those who skipped over that option)...in a nutshell, "TMNT and OTHER STRANGENESS" (and it's subsequent series of RPG books like After the Bomb, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures!, Turtles Go Hollywood, Truckin' Turtles, Transdimensional TMNT, Road Hogs, Mutants of the Yucatan, Mutants in Xanadu, Mutants in Avalon, Mutants in Orbit, Mutants down under, TMNT's guide to the universe, TMNT corebook, TMNT RPG accessory pack, and the magazine Heroes Unlimited) were at one point a joint effort between Palladium's creator Kevin Siembieda, Erick Wujcik and Eastman and Laird (with much of their art and a handful of original comic pages being used within the books).
The original TMNT largely mirrored and unofficially expanded the Mirage TMNT universe. it gave stats for the Turtles, The Shredder, and other characters from early in the series. It's also worth noting that immense love for the Palladium RPG remains strong to this day, with a new crowdsource being successfully funded almost immediately, expanding on the original and still receiving support from Eastman and Laird, Eastman even providing some fresh art for the endeavor.
A big thing to note with these early stories however was that these adventures included with the book were entirely independent of the TMNT universe, and brand-new characters were also introduced...many of which were ABSURDLY cool, and eventually DID find their way back into the various primary series (at least in spirit) and HOLY SHELL do we STILL NEED to give some of these characters a spotlight within a deep dive or two because we wouldn't have 2012 DREAM BEAVERS without Palladium's TERROR BEARS, nor would we have Next Mutations DR. QUEAZE or IDW's DR. BARLOW without Palladium's DOC FERAL.
While all of these characters and MANY MORE are worthy of some deep divey love, for NOW, we'll direct folks' attention to one spin-off book in particular. In January 1986, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness released a book centering on a future post-apocalyptic Earth populated mainly with mutant animals and a handful of scrappy humans, called After the Bomb. Even though it was very much its OWN game meant to be separate from the original, it very quickly became an enormous hit and stayed compatible with the original.
While Turtles of the Wasteland didn't use characters DIRECTLY from After the Bomb, much of the same mechanics from the game were employed. Older Turtles weathering through the apocalypse? Check! Bands of vicious gangs of mutants in heavily modified vehicles, scavenging for their existence? Checkity Check! Leo as a hulking extra mutated Maximus Kong? Firstly, DECADE OLD SPOILER ALERT GEEK-E!, And secondly I mean...technically that is where we derail and begin to start holding hands a bit more with the Fred Wolf Red Sky years...so no "check" on that action item, but one big OL' CHECK for an example of how the 2012 series managed to expertly draw from a myriad of all iterations that came before it...which we'll still go ahead and count as partial credit.
Now with that historical context out of the way, WHAAAAAT's this about a HULKED up Leo NOW? Can we...can we go back to THAT please?
Ok so with The Wasteland Turtles arc, we see some VERRRY different versions of the Turtles than we had been used to seeing them throughout the rest of the 2012 series. And YES, while it's true we got to see our favorite bros looking a variety of different ways (notably as badass Shinobi Mystic warriors, that time where Donny was possessed by Speed Demon which was basically a nod to the cult classic character Rat Fink, or that other time where we went into Mikey's mind and saw all the different ways Mikey's psyche sees itself, or their rad vision quest outfits, or their personas they took on while LARP'ing, or... yeah...there were a LOT, but none of those appearances compared to what we were in store for in this dystopic future).
This story arc remains one of our favorite Turtle stories even over a decade since it's release and we HIGHLY recommend folks watch them in full, but here quickly is snapshot overview of these few episodes to give you the bare bones of how dang fun it was and hopefully will further illustrate why it is very much worth your time.
OK, so this future story begins through the confused eyes of a bearded, grizzled Raph who is trying to fill in the gaps of his past while setting course through a high-octane road trip across a desolate apocalyptic landscape from the comfort of a death metal version of the Shellraiser.
On the journey we get a better sense how things operate (which is to say, everyone is out for themselves in order to survive, either as nomad's or in packs or clans of roving mutants), we meet new allies like MIRA (a spunky, take no guff Mutant Meercat who trusts no one and has clearly seen some stuff), and new villains like the Honey Badger Ravagers (including the head of the group named Verminator Rex, who is a clear nod to the Archie character Verminator X...only y'know...in Honey Badger form, so legally distinctively different) and the Scale Tail Clan (where Keen viewers might immediately make the connection between this clan and the Playmates snake figure of the same name, even if Scale Tail himself doesn't make an appearance here likely for legal reasons, it is largely implied these are his brethren).
But Geek-e, what about the Turtles? You noted earlier that these versions were significantly different than what we had seen before, so spill the beans already!! FIIIINE, we can dig into that, but be warned, this comes with a major spoiler alert...sure...it's a decades-old one, but still, so be warned!
The Raph we see here is perhaps the closest to the early version of themselves of all the brothers, which says quite a bit right off the bat, because THIS Raph is significantly larger in size, sporting a nifty prospector-like beard, and geared up in an outfit somewhat akin to his NightWatcher costume from the 2007 CGI movie.
Donnie in this bleak future is...well...it's COMPLICATED...but folks familiar with both Mirage's Tales of TMNT, Image's Urban Legends and IDW's TMNT series might already be familiar with a similar incarnation of our favorite Purple wearing machine loving Turtle...now with an extra emphasis on MACHINE.
Turns out (ahem) After the Bomb detonated that wiped out humans and mutated the rest of the world, Donnie's body was ravaged so significantly that he had to upload his consciousness into his newest version of Metalhead as his physical body was no longer sustainable. Basically, he's what you'd get if you mashup up the robot from the movie Chappie with all the social awkwardness of Donatello...soooo y'know...what we're trying to say here is that he's Chappie but with Purple highlights and a bo stick. It's still the same Donnie we know and love, but as Donbot he's now rising up to this challenging new environment by becoming METAL as all shell!
When we encounter Mikey, he has been hermited away inside Papa Antonio's Pizza Parlor, surviving in almost total isolation save for Ice Cream Kitty and a Kaiju-sized Chompy Picasso. Now going by the name "THE HOLY CHALUPA" he is known in whispers throughout the wasteland as a mysterious and at times off-kilter sage who imparts stories of wisdom from a time long lost to history. When we meet up with him, he looks very different than the Mikey we remember, more like old man Withers from Scooby Doo kooky with wild hair and missing teeth, than the slightly quirky and irreverent Mikey from days gone bye.
He is still undoubtedly Mikey, only now with 50% more of his internal conversations now breaking through to the outside and taking place with inatimate objects where actual people used to be. It is worth noting that there was a wink and a nod dusting off of this version of Mikey in the very underrated recent Rise of TMNT Netflix movie, AAAAND, we like to think that the even more recent depiction of Mikey in the Turtles of GraySkull line with flowing Blond hair was at least in part inspired from his HOLY CHALUPA incarnation (YEAH YEAH... realistically it's more of a nod to Prince Adam's goldilocks or even plausibly the Warriors of the forgotten sewer's Savage Leo...but both are Mikey with a head of hair, so whichever way it WAS utilized from, the thing that we can find common ground on is that we ALL win).
But the brother with the most significant difference to his overall personality and aesthetic in this incarnation is Leonardo. Now going by the name MAXIMUS KONG, the mutagen bomb triggered a second mutation of sorts (or at least a nod to the Red Sky years second mutation Turtles where they turn into raging testosterone hulks of their former selves).
As a result of being at ground zero while sacrificing himself while attempting to protect his brothers, Leo's body went through a transformation that can best be described as somewhat resembling Tetsuo's mutated form from Akira, or more aptly, Jim Lee's Unproduced Leo from the Playmates line (ALSO... just a quick sidenote to anyone listening who NEEDS to hear this and can DO something about it, if you haven't yet seen it, go take a look at the absurdly talented Brandon Gash's Jim Lee Inspired Turtle sculpts, because HOLY SHELL these are in immediate need of coming to us in toy form). Was it worth messing with the flow of this character breakdown as a way to sneak in awareness of Gash's epic sculpts? YES...YES times infinity it was, and we firmly stand with that choice.
Now where were we? OHHHH right, Muscleman Leo. Yup, THIS Leo looked like he just came from playing an Orc on the set of the latest World of Warcraft movie, he looked like the LEAST outlandish character from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, he frankly looked like what we assume we'd get if Ram Man and He-Man had a baby with the world of Kinnikuman and Dragon Ball's Piccolo...infused with the attire of Humungus from Mad Max. As a result of the force of the detonation, Leonardo entirely forgot who he was and did his best imitation of a 'roid raging Maestro becoming the evil and feared Warlord Maximus Kong, the wastelands deadly and despotic de facto leader.
As Maximus Kong, Leo used a strong fist (and equally big truck) to wipe out any who dared oppose his rule or impede his desire to capture the mythical Oasis all for himself. While we realize there are plenty of spoilers here, we DO want to encourage folks to watch this trifecta of episodes, as they are absolutely stellar from start to finish, and we can't help but tear up every time we rewatch it. So we're not going to ruin how it ended, but any Turtle lover who HASN'T seen it yet, may want to do themselves a favor and go check those out immediately!
Ok so how would we see these figures coming to us? Well, that's a LOADED question because the bigger question is, where does that END??? Much like IDW's Last Ronin, this story introduces a wealth of new characters we had never seen within the series previously, but all help to add beautiful layers toward building meaning and personality to this devastating future. Obviously we'd need ALL the Turtles, but we'd certainly at the least need an oversized Mega Mutant Vehicle Chompy Picasso, Mira, and the heads of the Roving Wasteland gangs like Verminator Rex (of the Honey Badger Ravagers) and Imperius Reptilicus (of the Scale Tail Clan), PLUS, considering the Road Trip across the Apocalypse feel of this arc, it may also be quite apt to present some of these as deluxe comic con exclusives that would include their respective and iconic rides. That might be "HOLY CHALUPA" Mikey with his steed CHOMPY, RAPH with the SHELLRAISER (complete with Casey Jones gear shift skull), and some very lobo-feeling Destructo bikes for VERMINATOR REX and IMPERIUS REPTILICUS
With that said, for the sake of finishing this video before we fully creep into our very own post-apocalyptic wasteland, we'll JUST focus on how we could see the core bros coming to us. Needless to say, the Leo and Raph from this era are substantially enormous, so we'd see these two coming as oversized deluxe figures, WASTELAND WARRIOR RAPH coming with a blaster, pair of sais, extra bearded head, goggles, an oxygen mask, Casey Jones Skull detonator, and a smaller-sized Mira who herself would come with an extra helmeted head, a Honga Munga blade and an electrified whip.
Maximus Kong Leo, in our mind, would logically come with a removable helmet, additional berserker mode Leo un-helmeted head, various hands and a couple Synthezoid little buddies and additional Wasteland armor gear to display them either in replication mode or fierce warrior lemming mode.
HOLY CHALUPA MIKEY and DONBOT DONNIE feel like they would pair nicely as a Two-Pack (with a meditative more Rise of TMNT feeling cross-legged version Mikey coming with an oversized CHOMPY PICASSO con exclusive perhaps. We see Mikey coming with multiple heads, one wearing his LARP'ing Wizard hat, and another as Holy Chalupa sage Mikey, with multiple faceplates that could be swapped on for his various expressions. He could also come with the Pizza Flag, a less articulated senior Antonio animatronic mascot (or his band of moving standees), A TV with swappable cartoon-within-a-cartoon shows placards to add in for the screen, a cassette of Space Heroes the Next Generation, a "WATER" jug with yellow liquid, a stack of pizza boxes, a Blade, and a satchel.
We'd see DONBOT as having retractable metal bow sticks with electric accents that can be applied, a "just-having-been-launched" robo hand with flame trails, teddy bear molotov, a head similar to classic Metalhead where if you hold it up to the light it would light the eyes and mouth up purple, and adjustable antennae for the back of his head.
SPEEKYGEEKY'S TMNT POLLS
Since we're already talking about wholly new characters in plastic, we figured we would take a moment to ask you the viewer who YOU would like to see in one of our upcoming videos. We have been running polls on our YouTube community page, as well as our SpeekyGeeky Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit pages as to which 2012 TMNT characters we might want to see as Toys.
Here are some options from our latest polls, which you can weigh on in the comments here or head on over to any of our socials for the full list of option names to weigh in over there as well, and stay tuned because these winning options and more may very well appear in an upcoming TMNT deep dive or two...or ten.
There are also some incredibly talented TMNT customizers who are already creating some of those characters who appear on our polls, and it is a beautiful thing to see, here (in our video) are just a few of those absolutely creative folks that you are definitely going to want to keep up with so make sure to follow them on THEIR socials as well.
If you are digging the original art shown from Cerbero and (TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Cover Artist) Mista Jonz style shown throughout the character options of this very episode, be sure to show their socials listed in the description some love and check out more of their upcoming art and projects on our Instagram channel as well.
WHERE ELSE CAN YOU FIND MR. GEEK-E IN THE COMING MONTHS?
Even though we are hard at work putting together a handful of geeky new deep dives and interviews together for you this very minute (never YOU mind how we know what time of day you are watching this buster, just trust us, if it's an hour of a day that ends in DAY, we're probably working hard on it), SpeekyGeeky's very own Mr. Geek-E (HEY, that's ME!) is still managing to make the rounds all over the YouTube's to spread his dorkiness far and wide (and yup, that sure DID sound way grosser than we intended didn't it?)
First up, over on our all-ages friendly sister channel GeekyJr, for those of you who appreciate the sound of a voice that can only be described as "if nails on a chalkboard" met Gollum from "Lord of the Rings", you're in luck because Mr. Geek-E tries his best all sorts of nostalgic classic stories with narration and voices for all your little geeklings and adults who are young at heart. We're talking characters from Sesame Street like Ernie, Bert, Grover, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Wonderpets, Daniel Tiger, Thomas the Train, Yo Gabba Gabba, Rubba Dubbers, and soooo much more.
You can also find SpeekyGeeky lending his voice to some upcoming Mirage TMNT comic read-alongs on TeddyGaming Review's bodacious channel here, as the voice of Professor Kaori on the fan-made audio adaptation of the hit fantasy series "The Fourth Wing" over on the astoundingly talented Maddie Moore's channel here, and finally, we'll be geeking out and dishing on all the current TMNT news on Turtle Talk as well as helping some rad figures from their plastic confinement weekly on Grippin and Rippin over on Dave Wonder's channel here.
Alright, Shellheads, that's it for this episode, but don't stray too far from the Turtle Lair, because our SpeekyGeeky 2012 TMNT deep dive episode 2 is right around the corner.
We have no doubt you have some characters that make the tippy top of your list as well that you are stoked about seeing, so be sure to make your hopes known and join the discussion in the comments below.
We realize you could have gone anywhere and you chose to nerd out with us... and we appreciate that, so…
As always, I am Mr. Geek-E and Until Next We NECA 2012 Turtle Speeky, Keep it Geeky Folks!
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