“We’re looking for a few good 1987 Cartoon mutants!”
As we bound ever closer to the end of 2021, with quite a bit more distance between July's comic con reveals, we are now starting to see more TMNT reveals peek their heads out from their shells from the folks over at NECA. In fact, in their 12 Days of Downloads Event, we were JUST treated to an avalanche of Ooze with NECA revealing our first look at fully painted TOKKA and RAHZAR, NEUTRINOS, USAGI YOJIMBO, ROCK SOLDIER INFANTRYMEN, CROOKED TURTLE GANG, and MOUSERS...holy moly!!! Talk about having our next year's paycheck fully spoken for.
Even with this barrage of reveals, we here at SpeekyGeeky still enjoy a good mystery, and while we wait for even more reveals, we thought it might be fun to envision which new figures we may see for the beginning of next year. But y'know what...we gotta interrupt this for just a moment, because, how can we talk about those guesses without addressing what we just talked about. So, very quickly, let's just jump into our GEEKOUT MOMENT on these new reveals for a second.
First off, USAGI YOJIMBO.
We have been following this dude's updates for quite some time now. A few months back, on Augst 31st, 2021, we got a sneak peek at our favorite Rabbit, and let's just say Dreams do come true! As we have mentioned in previous installments of the video series, we have been actively hoping for a Usagi Yojimbo figure in the Fred Wolf style, but were under the impression that because of the new Samurai Rabbit series on Netflix, that it might have to wait a bit...well...turns out, not as long as we had thought as NECA showed off an early unpainted Miyamoto Usagi and even from the version we originally saw without paint.
IT. LOOKED. BEAUTIFUL!
It is still incredibly early and we don't have any more information on our favorite anthropomorphic rabbit just yet, but let the guessing begin on who he might be paired with.
Trevor Zammit mentioned in a somewhat recent Fwooshcast that Usagi was originally going to be paired with Seymour Gutz, which doesn't on the surface, have a clear reason for the pairing other than perhaps they are both shorter figures much like the Splinter/Baxter 2 pack.
So if that reasoning still stands, there might be a fairly good chance that perhaps one or a couple of the characters from our part 5 list would fit the bill quite nicely. In that same interview, Trevor and the Fwoosh's Veebs discussed the possibility that 2022 may see some forward motion on FINALLY getting some Archie Comics Figures. So fingers crossed for 2022 finally being the year where we can complete our MUTANIMALS!
Seeing Usagi in his oh-so-beautiful classic depiction, the way that many of us that grew up with the cartoon remember him, there's just no words for how excited we are, other than reunited and it feels so good!
Back on September 15th, as is so often the case before we can get these articles out, yet another character reveal was bestowed upon us by the kind folks at NECA, now, we knew this character was coming as it was offered all the way back at the beginning of the year as a Loot Crate exclusive, but on that date for the first time we were treated to in oh-so-delicious finalized plastic version of the one, the only, DONATELLO, THE DARK TURTLE.
We'll have plenty more to say on this incredible looking figure once we officially have him in our eager hands, but our immediate reaction to these beautiful promotional images is that we can't wait to have him standing side to side with our Mikey as Batman SDCC mashup to team up to take down the joint might of Shredder AND the Joker. Villains prepare to be shell-acked.
Next, TOKKA & RAHZAR, again, we've known about these guys coming since we got a shadowy tease from the 2021 Comic-Con back in July, so the real question we have here with these two will be if they come with a wide assortment of food items that would do their first appearance in the series proud. We love that they seem to capture the incredibly stylized Fred Wolf coloring, especially with Tokka's deeper yellowish-green, and can't wait to see what kind of Dirk Savage easter eggs are packed in with the duo.
And now onto our Hyper-speed Geekout with the Neutrinos, Crooked Turtles Gang Goon, and Rock Soldier Infantrymen. Here's what we'll say about Neutrinos besides "Hummina Hummina Hummina...Ah---oooo-GA!" Besides looking deliciously like their cartoon counterparts, we really hope that "Ah--oooo-GA!" part of that initial first impression doubles to signify that the flying car might be coming with them.
We know, we know, "can't we just be happy we're getting the three neutrinos?" And to that we'd counter with, "don't you know us better than that by now?" Give us the Neutrino's and we'll firstly say "WOW those are awesome AND very much needed, but also...can you throw in a never-before-in-plastic King Zenter, Queen Grizzla, and princess Trib?
Now...with the Rock Soldier Infantrymen and Crooked Turtles Gang Goon... Our jaws are on the floor with these two. Our biggest hope is that NECA can meet the demand that is sure to follow. Folks are going to want to recreate a Rock Soldier invasion from dimension x, we'll easily need eight of each of these, which is a lowball estimate, AAAAND that's not even bringing up the fact that we're DEFINITELY also going to need a Smash to go right along with his acolytes. But again, gotta be in the moment here Geeky, and in THIS moment, those figures are looking mighty purdy.
OK, now that our GeekOut Moment has passed, we thought it might also be fun to have a very quick look back on the figures that were revealed so far this year, as well as those from our list that saw it into reality.
For those just tuning in, we also think you'll really enjoy parts 1-4 of this series which should be linked to the bottom of this article. For a quick recap of all SpeekyGeeky's picks, you may also want to head over to our Youtube channel and dive into part 3's "Reptile Rewind" conveniently chaptered in that episode's description, or click on any of the links directly below as well.
In this multi-part series of articles, Mr. Geek-E (Hey, that's me!) reveals the Top 30 (34 included SDCC) NECA Classic Cartoon Figures that we hope to see in 2021, with this being 2021’s fifth wave of figures selection.
Here below is a quick linked recap for our first 28 selects (and not to pat ourselves on the back too hard, but almost half of our selections, Ace Duck/Scrag/Irma/Burne Thompson/Dirtbag/Groundchuck/Wingnut/Screwloose/Cat April/Neutrinos, Tokka, and Rahzar have been revealed to be either in our hands or coming out shortly):
SpeekyGeeky's Wave 1 Picks
We imagine you’ll have some characters that top your list too, so feel free to join the discussion in the comments below.
Our Hope For 2021 NECA TMNT Wave 5:
Ok, now that we are all up to speed, it's time for us to finally dive into...
Our Top Hopes For NECA TMNT In Early 2022
ALGERNON
Or as his friends call him...Algie. Hailing from the Turtle Nebula (ironically enough seeing as he is y'know...NOT a Turtle), this anthropomorphic Lizard pal to our favorite ninja bros entered the series with a bang...or rather, with a rocky landing, dropping with a "thud" onto the top of the Channel 6 building (one of the LEAST conspicuous places for an alien to land as everyone well knows) in his taxi-like craft after Donatello reaches out across galaxies to say howdy. Which...much like the plots of most TMNT Fred Wolf Animations episodes, you're just going to want to roll with, they pretty much refined the process of Deux Ex Machina to the benefit of us all.
We feel we should note right out the gate, that his size and stature is similar to Usagi's, so in the context of what we just said a few moments ago...Algie would quite possibly be a contender.
Between his classic Futuristic almost Logan's Run-esque jumpsuit and that we could absolutely use some more lizards in the roster to fit next to Mondo on our shelf, we love this little dude as an option for an incredibly cool character we've never been able to have until now.
A fun thing to note about this character is that in the episode in which he appears, "Beyond the Donatello Nebula", it is also revealed that Algie can shapeshift, so, with that being said, when we DO get this alien Lizard in our collection, it would be a wonderful touch to include a couple of his shapeshifting forms like a fire extinguisher, a fuse box, a Dog, 3 Eyed Alien monster, as well as some blue energy beams that can attach to his hands when he uses what Donatello refers to as "Mind Energy".
It is worth noting, however, that even though he hails from the TURTLE Nebula AAAANNND he can shapeshift, when he meets Donatello, he chooses the form of a lizard. So it could be that Algernon just had a sense of humor and was trolling Donny and US the whole episode.
A.J. HOWARD
The evil business tycoon from the episode Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter" who enlisted Dirk Savage to capture the city's mutants under the guise of "cleaning it up" in an incredibly thinly-veiled allegory for xenophobia. The episode was one of the more fun episodes, which introduced a TON of mutants, both familiar, and some that we ONLY saw very briefly in this episode alone, never to return again. Dirk Savage, if you recall was one of our very first selections for this toy line, Alllllll the way back in episode 2.
Warning, over 30-year-old spoiler alert, coming!
As it turns out, A.J. Howard wasn't JUST an enormous xenophobe who was playing to Dirk's enormous fear of all things different, he was, in actuality also a mutant himself posing as a human in order to control and rule the city's mutants for his own nefarious purposes.
AJ Howard was one of those quintessential cartoon villains that everyone watching from home knew implicitly that he was a villain because of the bad things he was doing to the characters we loved, but what we didn't fully understand was how and why folks were giving him the time of day when we all could clearly see what kind of a threat he was to our heroes.
With so many of the other characters from this mutant heavy episode either out to us or coming soon, like the Frogs, Mondo, Tokka & Rahzar, it seems a logical bet that AJ may just be in the cards, perhaps as a pack-in with his number one goon, Dirk Savage.
LOTUS BLOSSOM
This character had it all. She had an interesting backstory, she was formidable, and she had the fortitude and staying power cred of appearing in multiple episodes. A Kunoichi from Japan, when she first appeared onto the scene, she actually quite easily took down the Shredder along with Bebop and Rocksteady, replacing them as a threat to the Turtles for a brief time. Lotus was the 1987 Animated version of Karai. Distinctly different than her other incarnations, but just as able to stand her ground against foes and eventual friends of the Turtle-kind alike.
Though Karai, sorry, we mean Lotus...was originally hired by Krang to take DOWN the Turtles, she eventually realized she had great respect for them and found herself having romantic feelings for Leonardo as well.
We like to think that in some alternate TMNT reality, there was a plan to eventually turn Lotus into a mutant who battled right alongside the brothers (a similar hope we held out for Mona Lisa to make a return visit to rekindle her relationship with Raph, we might add).
But in the later seasons, thanks to both Batman the Animated Series and the success of the Live-Action TMNT films, there was a stark shift toward a bit more gritty representation of the Turtles and their episodic tales, and whatever fan-fic between Leonardo and Lotus we imagined back all those years ago has since faded back into the shadows...just like a ninja.
CREEPY EDDIE
Yes, Creepy Eddie was 100% who you think his character was. A more apparent homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger had never been seen since other than Rick and Morty's Scary Terry, for Shell-sake they didn't even try and change his iconic outfit and the name of the episode he appeared in was called "Nightmare In The Lair", which...by the way, even after all these years...still an awesome name.
Here's the deal though, for as blatant of a rip-off as this character was, and despite the fact that it was taking one of the most feared horror characters of the time and placing him squarely into a children's programming series, it actually played out PRETTY well. Like possibly one of our favorite episodes well.
So, if you've seen "A Nightmare on Elm Street" you know the drill, Eddie can do all the things Freddy could, he can invade dreams, he pops up at the most inopportune moments, and he can shapeshift...you know, all the things you'd want from an entity that can invade your mind.
Other incarnations of the series played with similar material (images of Mirage's Terror Bears and 2012 TMNT Dream Beavers are currently floating nostalgically through our head...which, considering what they are we probably don't want to nod off further), but it was only the Fred Wolf version that actually utilized a direct Krueger nod.
Aesthetically, he had an incredibly fun presence, and through his acting, as a catalyst, we also saw some incredibly fun variants of the Turtles as well (via their dreaming mishaps) including ancient Retro "When In Rome" Raph, "Shellshock Surfing" Mikey, "Hockey Hijinx" Michaelangelo, and "Skiing Shenanigans" Mikey...all of which we can only assume was intended for crossover toy options, and we'll also go out on a limb and assume these would have likely been their exact names too.
It's one of those things where we don't have that written anywhere, but we all know there's a whiff of truth to it. Also, getting to name unnamed variants, that can be our SpeekyGeeky No-Prize for putting these together. We'll even make a new animatic and everything for it to feel TMNT official, Boom. Let's call it "Mr. Geek-E Nails The Ninja Nicknames...Um...Corner."
So there you have it, Creepy Eddie needs to be made, and we just unofficially/quasi-officially named toys that never actually existed, but guess what, now it's as canon as we'll likely ever get on the matter...so...y'know...Geeky For the win, Cowabunga to ME!
DR. TURTLESTEIN
What do you mean who is Dr. Turtlestein? Also, follow-up question, in what tone are you meaning to say "we are scraping the bottom of the barrel?" Because on the surface that doesn't sound very nice. All jesting aside, most casual Turtles fans may not know who Dr. Turtlestein is, but that doesn't mean they SHOULDN'T.
On the planet of the Turtles, yes you heard that right, there is a planet of the Turtles littered with various other anthropomorphic Alien Turtles and it IS as awesome as it sounds. Don't even get us started on The Planet's wrestling sensation Hans and Fitz, or DO, we'd be happy to discuss them as they likely may be the closest things to getting the intergalactic Wrestling Turtles variants in the Fred Wolf Line...so y'know, we'll just set that there with a big ol' emphasized wink-wink for NECA and see what happens.
Back to Dr. Turtlestein, as that's who we said we wanted here right? He was basically the Turtles version of Doc Brown, and in fact, even sounded remarkably like him. Donatello worked with him to low-key help save the Earth from a potentially apocalyptic-style demise, helping to reverse the effects of a machine he helped to create.
So the take away here is that Dr. Turtlestein very much was the selection for this one and we wholeheartedly stand by that choice, but if we're being a bit more transparent, this is more of a "we want Dr. Turtlestein, BUUUUT we also want essentially all of the characters introduced in this episode and it's easier to just say we want Dr. Turtlestein" kind of deal. We'll repeat again for clarity here. TMNT is a show about four anthropomorphic Turtles, this is a PLANET of similarity awesome variety of Turtles. To quote Krang when presented with Lidium 90 "Gimme Gimme Gimme."
TEMPESTRA
This character to us is a fairly obvious choice and a likely candidate to see toy form. Who is Tempestra you might say? That's a fair question considering a decent sized portion of folks memory of the cartoon are intertwined with which action figures they owned while watching said cartoons, and sadly, Tempestra was the ONLY member of the "Night Of the Rogues" team of villains that NEVER saw the plastic treatment! Which, considering how freaking cool her character was, never made a ton of sense to us.
True, visually she wasn't as striking as a giant mutant ant, Alligator, bug exterminator, or Alien Turtle, nor was she an enormous shiny robot, but she DID have glowing eyes, come directly out of a videogame as it's chief villain (where, amongst other useful traits, she was also kind of the Original Mother of Dragons, commanding one gigantic one, as well as wink and nod character to the NES TMNT video game at the time like an electricity monster that resembled Firefreak), could control weather out of her fingertips, and we're talking not just rain and fog kind of weather, but full on EXTREME weather like earthquakes, and that's not nothing....at a bare minimum it's AT LEAST a notch up over being able to have control over rats, right?
Putting our own clearly unbiased reasoning for why she deserves to be in the line off to the side for a moment, Tempestra made multiple appearances in the series, went Toe to Toe with Leonardo, and even made her way into the real-life video game TMNT: Mutant Madness, so she's got an impressive resume to back up this thought process.
Plus, we thought it worth mentioning one more time that we now have EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of the rogues other than Tempestra (who, by the way, was the LEADER of said group), and NECA isn't known for leaving fan-favorite rocks left unturned, just look to the newly and very literally announced Rock Soldier Infantrymen for recent proof of that.
We are fairly confident we'll get Tempestra, of course we are hoping for sooner than later, but we've waited this long, and you know what they say when it comes to fan demand, first it rains, then it pours.
WELL, there it is, that wraps part 5 of our Top NECA FRED WOLF ANIMATED TMNT characters we hope to see, but part six should be popping up out of the sewers any day now, so make sure to stay tuned to SpeekyGeeky’s Youtube for more dedicated Turtle Time!
We imagine you’ll have some characters from the 1987 CARTOON that top your list too, so feel free to join the conversation in the comments below.
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As always, I am Mr. Geek-E and Until Next We Fred Wolf Animated Series Turtle Speeky, Keep it Geeky Folks!