“We’re looking for a few good IDW Comics mutants!”
On December 31st, 2020 to ring in the new year, NECA's TMNT Brand Manager Trever Zammit sat down with the Fwoosh and discussed some new TMNT products coming down the road for 2021 an beyond. There were tons of great reveals and we'd highly suggest sitting down and giving it a listen, but one of the key topics that caught our attention over at SpeekyGeeky was that NECA will be diving into more comic figures. Trever later clarifies that he is talking specifically about Mirage here, but we are hoping this opens the door a little bit more toward acquiring the license to dive into IDW as well. This got us thinking about who our top figures we'd want to see if indeed NECA was able to her their hands on the IDW Turtles license and start rolling figures out.
With so many incredibly unique iterations of familiar characters and wholly new characters, it is pretty exciting to brainstorm our extensive list of who might fit the bill of who we would want to make the cut. So many in fact that in order to do them justice, we'll have to break them down throughout a handful of articles.
Join us now, for part 1 of SpeekyGeeky's "Top NECA TMNT IDW Comics Toys We'd Like to See":
10. OLD HOB
They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but as the crafty as hell Old Hob illustrates, mutant CATS, well, that's a totally different story. Old Hob feels like one of the breakaway characters of the IDW series.
Though Old Hob seems rooted in an amalgamation of equal parts TMNT & Other Strangeness, the action figure "Scratch", and Manx/Verminator-x from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Archie comics. In this mythos he is firmly defined as having a connection to the Turtles and to Splinter from the very beginning.
It turns out that an abandoned pre-mutation Hob (technically YOUNG Hob I guess) encountered the Turtles as they made contact with the ooze and tried to run off with Raph, which Spinter didn't take kindly to and scratched his eye out, youch! Seeing as how Raph had mutagen all over him when Hob tried carrying him off, his mutant origin story holds hands with theirs.
Technically Old Hob was the Turtles very first enemy, but throughout the series he occasionally finds himself an ally of circumstance. Cunning and ethically questionable, Old Hob illustrates the flip side to the Turtles sense of family and moral code, though he has started a family of his own as the de facto leader of the Mutanimals, who often times help to keep Old Hob's morals marginally less gray.
9. ALOPEX
Fiercely Furry Fandom Favorite, Fiercely Furry Fandom Favorite, Fiercely Furry Fandom Favorite...White Fox on a rooftop, Furry power!
While our hastily put together song may not win any awards, Alopex herself may top the charts of many fans top tier of characters from the IDW series to get the plastic treatment (and we dare you to try and get our poorly crafted song out of your head while you are happily posing her on your shelf).
Since her introduction into the series as a slightly, but not irredeemably damaged and mind-controlled villain within Shredder's ranks, Alopex has been a character that is both fascinating to watch as her journey develops toward regaining control of her mind and her destiny, as well as an enjoyable addition to the ever growing ranks of "one villain now close allies" to the Turtles.
When this much desired figure makes it's way to the real world, our hot take envisions this as having two versions, one that comes as a standard but heavily articulated figure and the other as a chase that is flocked.
8. JENNIKA (POST MUTATION)
What's that? Don't we mean Venus De Milo you say?
We kid, but for those who remember and yearn for De Milo to make her triumphant return (despite the often more silly nature of "The Next Mutation" it absolutely still retains a pretty healthy fanbase), we hate to be the bearers of bad news, but apparently Peter Laird was not a DeMilo fan and for now, Jennika is the closest we will get.
Jennika's origin, while also pretty fun, differs quite a bit from De Milo's. Jennika, or Jenny to her friends, was a human ninja chūnin in Splinter's foot clan. For those who haven't checked out the series yet, you read that right we did indeed say SPLINTER's foot clan, so right there it becomes clear that she is not a sister to the Turtles (and even though she looks like them, she never knows quite how she fits in with them).
Human Jenny had a romantic thing going with Casey Jones which ended poorly after a near death experience left her needing a quick transfusion, and fun fact, one which Jenny figured out the hard way, is that humans don't actually need to be in contact with physical mutagen to turn into a mutant, just the blood of another mutant...in this case, Leonardo's. The reverberations of this might be picked apart for quite some time in terms of what this actually means, and we're sure it will indeed be addressed, but for now we'll just count our lucky stars that after all these years we may have a new opportunity to have a female turtle grace our shelves standing shoulder to shoulder with the four brothers again.
Who knows, maybe NECA will meet us halfway and throw in an alternate unofficial nod to De Milo's Cyan masked head with Jennika, calling it "Incognito Jenny"? Best not to count on it, but that sure would be a nice added touch to cater to many of those longtime De Milo fans.
7. BLUDGEON
For those who used to pretend that Street Sharks were actually part of the same TMNT Universe (and let's face it, they were legion), the introduction of Bludgeon provided an opportunity toward bridging that gap. He is everything we could want from a badass shark villain (well, except maybe rooted hair)
6. KOYA
In advance of her mutation, Koya used to be Shredder's pet falcon used for that he used for reconnaissance, after mutation, her bird of prey instincts and abilities kicked into high gear allowing her to go for the juggular as a fairly ruthless bare knuckles fighter who, along with her often sidekick Bludgeon, on many occasions has kept the Turtles desperately struggling to keep up.
Koya is both sleek and imposing and uses her impressive wingspan and talons as masterful weapons against her enemies. It's very possible we're just suckers for avian mutants, but if these IDW figures are ever produced we can't imagine a collection without Koya's menacing presence hovering over our heroes just waiting for her moment to swoop in for the kill.
5. HERMAN THE HERMIT CRAB
& PIGEON PETE
Herman and Pete started as a pet hermit crab and a pigeon, respectively, and were enlisted into Old Hob's Mutanimals. Herman seems to have been born ready to be a soldier, carrying around his portable home and heavy artillery wherever he goes, and Pete...is Pete.
Herman is essentially one part Masters Of The Universe's Clawful, one part GI Joe, and one part Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch, while Pete...wait for it...is Pete. What Pete lacks in intelligence or fighting skills, he makes up for in being a lovably innocent Pigeon, who, as Old Hob's first experiment with creating his own mutant is very much about being an active part of the family that he inherited.
4. JAGWAR
Not your Archie's TMNT Jagwar, though still technically a god.
Jagwar in the IDW universe is one of the members of the Pantheon, an ancient family of deity misfits who get their kicks meddling in human affairs throughout history.
Not a ton is known about Jagwar's history yet, but from what we can ascertain about her, like Raph, she tends to run hot, jumping into the fray first and asking questions later.
In an ideal toy world we would have both the Archie and the IDW versions of Jagwar, as both versions seems to fit in quite well with their respective teams. One entrenched her Pantheon brethren poised to bring down the Turtles if need be, and the other standing shoulder to shoulder with his Mutanimal-family standing up for the Turtles against this potential threat.
3. DIAMOND
Excusing the pun, let's just get right to the point on this one, Diamond...is... TERRIFYING!
Also, giving props where props are due, the IDW series managed to seamlessly connect in many of the TMNT and Other Strangeness characters into what is now cannon. For years deep-rooted fans have known just how cool some of these characters were and with characters like Diamond, we are talking about bringing them in full- throatedly as potential mainstays with deeper stories to explore. Looking at this character, is there ANY way a TMNT fan isn't going to want this either on their shelves towering menacing over their fallen heroes? To add an extra layer of awesome, the figure could have a soft rubber quill overlay like Masters of the Universe Spikor with hidden slots for some additional harder removable quills to have the ability to launch that at foes.
2. RAT KING
Gone are the days of the rat whisperer who lurked in the sewers, a new TMNT series called for a new take on our favorite whimsical Pied Piper-esque weirdo who has a knack for having sway over brethren of the splinter-y kind.
In IDW's newest incarnation, The Rat King is a bona fide member of the Pantheon, which is an ancient family who have always seemed to have meddled in the affairs of man and mutant, typically for their own amusement and gain.
IDW's Rat King quite literally was the Pied Piker of Hamelin, and has a Loki-type vibe to him where when he rears his head, you never quite know if he is there to help out or merely to oversee your destruction.
The more things change, the more they stay the same however in that this character's look, much like his predecessor, is cool as hell. With a sinister smile that is equal parts menacing and fun loving.
1. PRESENT & FUTURE LITA
Though Lita is fairly new to the TMNT mythos, making her debut in Mutant Town, she has brought with her an air of intrigue and is proving to be an integral role within the Turtle-fold, including a connection to a certain time and space hopping friend of theirs. We don't entirely know the full scope of Lita's relationship to the Turtles future, but what we DO know is we need her in our collection ASAP.
QUICK & DIRTY BONUS 10: BEBOP/
ROCKSTEADY/SHREDDER/SPLINTER/DONNIE/MIKEY/RAPH/LEO/APRIL/CASEY JONES
We felt it should be noted that all these "Core characters" are absolutely wanted, but at the same time it is a pretty good assumption that with any new line of Turtles toys that the bedrock figures will likely get the plastic treatment as they are universally more recognizable, and thus a safe bet brick and mortar. This is not to discount any of these quick and dirty bonus 10 figures, as they are all VERY MUCH desired characters.
For the sake of this list however, we will simply list and provide images of their primary IDW representation, rather than pulling slots from others in the expansive and colorful array of characters that may deserve a little more explanation and exposure to new-comers (though there are a handful of unique representations of the core characters that we may add to upcoming lists).
If you find you are intrigued by this very stylized look and haven't picked any of these issues up yet, we promise, it is ABSOLUTELY worth checking out and discovering for yourself. Earlier issues are a little harder to find, but trade paperbacks as of this printing are still widely available.
To dive even deeper, check out part one of our "IMAGINE THAT" series on our SpeekyGeeky Youtube channel, and while you're there don't forget to smash those "like", "share", and "subscribe" buttons.
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