“We’re looking for a few good never before made in the original Animation-Style Mutants!”
Hi Everyone and welcome to SpeekyGeeky, as always I am Mr. Geek-E. As frequent viewers might recall, since we put our last episode out right before comic con (YUP, it's been THAT long), we thought that might buy us a little bit of time to sit back and relax a bit before the next round of reveals in the time between getting another of these episodes out to folks, but once the convention hit, we realized...yeah, that rest, was a big NO CAN DO.
Between SDCC, NYCC, our own recent interview with NECA's TMNT Brand Manager Trevor Zammit, and now the (unconfirmed as of this recording) teases that are dropping leading up to the upcoming Haulathon, not only did we have a barrage of new reveals from IDW, Mirage, Fred Wolf, movie, and Archie, but we also got a sneak peek look at something else NECA has up their sleeve in the form of something obviously near and dear to our hearts at SpeekyGeeky as we have been advocating for EXACTLY something like this from this series you are watching RIGHT NOW in the form of LAST RONIN done in Fred Wolf Style!
But Mr Geek-E, you might ask, couldn't this just be a one-off to build on the excitement and love from that recent series? Well SURE, it COULD HAVE BEEN, if not for the second and third revealed "What if" figures that made their grand appearance only one convention later at NYCC with SPACE Adventure USAGI and Space Adventure Donatello. So whatever concern we HAD about it just being a one-off? Yeah, we're now going to go ahead and place this firmly in the category of "toy dam now burst wide open" and we are over the moon imagining the possibilities that now could be on the table in Fred Wolf-style toy form for the VERY first time!
Now, could we be perhaps a bit biased on this issue because this imagined line happens to be 100% aligned with what we've been hoping for all along in this VERY series by way of looking at and thinking about expanding the awesomeness that is Fred Wolf TMNT?
Certainly!
But if indeed we were right on the money with this, it might also mean folks who are fans of a variety of additional iterations we haven't yet seen yet (like Next Mutation, 2003, 2007, 2012, and Rise of TMNT for starters) may just want to start putting a little bit of extra scratch to the side because we have a feeling some of those characters could be making an appearance within this "What if" style Fred Wolf line as well.
WHO might we see out of that incarnation? Well, that's the beauty, because it could be virtually ANYBODY we just noted! It could also go well beyond who we might have ever dreamed possible (including wholly new concepts in the vein of the Universal Monsters TMNT line but done in Fred Wolf style).
Those who have been following our instagram, facebook, or heck, even our youtube community section probably already know we have been running polls for quite some time toward EXACTLY this possibility, but if you haven't already, make sure to head on over to any of those socials and add your voice to let us know who tops your list for characters you are hoping to see NECA tackle in this style. Go ahead, we'll wait, and by WAIT we mean you should probably just hit the pause button and come back and this episode will pick right back up where you left off.
Because this episode is making an attempt to imagine what these characters might look like in Fred Wolf form, you'll also notice we are doing something a bit different with this series and for some options we've also set aside some time to imagine what that character's story might have looked like had they been in the campy world of Fred Wolf animation as well. These are purely out of our own brain canon here, but if folks watching like where we're going with it, make sure to voice it in the comments and share the video around far and wide, as we maaay have more we could show you down the road on each and every one of these options if we can demonstrate that the support is there.
Ok, with that very longwinded intro out of the way, let's very quickly move over to discuss some of the NECA Fred Wolf TMNT reveals we've seen this year in a section we like to call SPEEKYGEEKY'S NERD OUT MOMENT!
First up, for those keeping tally, we're pretty happy to report that between SDCC and NYCC, we fared relatively well with who we guessed might be coming our way from last episode (the link conveniently plopped right here for easy referencing). Sure, there were a handful of others we noted we THOUGHT might be coming who we haven't seen revealed YET (like Tempestra and Business Suit Casey), but to be fair, we DID say these guesses were for who we thought were coming by this time next year, so let's put a pin in those yet to be revealed guesses until we see what's in store for the next couple months.
We can start with the option we kinda/sorta cheated with, but that doesn't make him any less RAD...REX-1. You might recall that REX-1 was officially revealed right here on this channel in our recent exclusive interview with NECA's TMNT Brand Manager Trevor Zammit. Even though we got to put peepers on TMNT's very own version of Robocop from across a computer screen, nothing could have prepared us for how enormous and stunning the figure would be up close at the convention.
Trevor did not exaggerate when he said this figure was huge, if we're comparing him to other oversized figures, we'd say he probably falls in right between Android Krang and Chrome Dome level...not quite Chrome Dome height, but big enough where we could (and who are we kidding, 100% WILL) stage a pretty epic battle between these two titans.
While we haven't seen the accessories that come with him yet, we've been told that there is a surprise coming with this character that will have fans pretty excited. Again, what that surprise IS has yet to be revealed, but we've been told it's quite a bit larger than a VHS tape, soooo, much like the ACTUAL animated episodes of the 80s, we'll just have to wait to find out. At New York Comic Con we were treated to one additional tease on the REX-1 front, in the form of being able to lay eyes on the gorgeous Daniel Elson Rex-1 box art donning the title "From The Files Of Pizza Squad."
We also saw the reveal of a major fan favorite, an option we guessed might be coming last episode, and let's face it, one we've been making a case for ever since episode one of this very series, in Bugman Brick Bradley!
To start, let's immediately say what needs to be said in that this figure WAS. GORGEOUS! Not only did he look like he jumped (or we should say FLEW) right off of the screen, but this is also a figure we've been waiting over 30 years to see in official plastic. While it's true, DaFoot_Toys has made a pretty stellar Playmates-esque custom version as well, this is the very first time done in this very specific Fred Wolf style, and it made our mouths water.
From our most recent new interview with NECA's Trevor Zammit (plopping link conveniently right here for folks), we learned that he will come in only Bug form for right now, but Trevor didn't take the possibility of seeing his human Brick Bradley form off the table down the road. We also learned that this character will be released as a two-pack.
Though it still remains to be seen WHICH member of his rogues' gallery will accompany him, as there are three known villains from the series that could fit that profile in The Swatter, Electrozapper, and Dr. Dome. It is also quite possible that NECA might be waiting to release his human form with perhaps another of his rogues once enough demand for the original can be demonstrated, or potentially even as part of another accessory pack.
For more on Bugman, make sure to check out episode one of our "Which Figures Do we want?" the link for which we'll conveniently plop, right here. No announcement on the release date JUSSST yet.
Next up was Lotus Blossom and Chakahatchi. Now, if you recall, Lotus Blossom was one firmly on our radar as a figure we thought MIGHT be coming before the year was through (in fact, we just so happened to do a deep dive on her which we'll link to at the end of this episode), but Chakahatchi, THAT character's inclusion very much came as a curveball in the best way possible.
Whether we'll ever see a sized-up Chakahatchi like we did in the series or a Pizza Delivery Person disguised Lotus Blossom has yet to be seen (though early reports do show that she comes with an additional masked ninja head, so army builders take note). But if we've learned anything over the years with NECA, it's important to dream big, because someday, you might just find that you aren't JUST getting the Lotus you were hoping for, no sirree, you're also getting freaking mythos building Chakahatchi, so that means even characters like the Kojima Brothers or heck, even Rupert from the planet of the Turtleoids COULD make it onto our shelves someday soon.
Speaking of line expansion, Next up is Space Usagi. First of all, our immediate reaction to discovering this character was coming was WHAAAAATTT? Followed by an hour of unadulterated and unintelligible stammering in while being completely awestruck, but once we got our bearings and processed what we were looking at (and so soon after the FIRST magnificent Usagi Yojimbo from NECA mind you), we were able to unpack this a bit more toward what this figure reveal ACTUALLY means and it is safe to say the implications for what might now be possible make us positively giddy with excitement.
Similar to the Fred Wolf Ronin figure, THIS version of Space Usagi is unique to itself. True it appears to look strikingly similar to the Space Usagi from the series bible of the never produced Space Usagi animated series, but for all intents and purposes this is a creation wholly original to NECA (presumably with final design approval by Stan Sakai).
Some folks might look at this and say "well this is just NECA not being able to do the design off of the original Playmates toy space Ssagi figure" but it might not be as simple as that. The brilliance of this design is that if indeed it is based in part off of the unproduced animated bible appearance, this might also mean NECA has access to that full library of characters, and HOLY MOLEY, for those who have never seen this series pilot, there were some incredibly fun options out of that property, ones that 100% would pair nicely with the Fred Wolf characters considering the original pilot itself was in fact ALSO produced by none other than Fred Wolf productions.
Going down this (ahem) Rabbit Hole a bit further, it might also track that NECA might pursue other never produced properties that are still somewhat connected to the TMNT mythos. Images of the never produced Mighty Mutanimals animated series, the selected, and CowBoys of Moo Mesa are racing delightfully through our head. Granted, this could just be our imagination running wild here, but the potential doors this figure appears to have blasted wide open have us ...ahem... dare we say, twitterpated.
Ok, so here's the deal, while we absolutely want to dive deep into each and every Fred Wolf character that were revealed from SDCC to now, we also know you are a busy geek and have plenty of other amazingly dorky places you could be sharing your time with, so for brevity sake, we'll just show you the rest of the reveals along with their respective names and a couple word reaction to each, saving the more detailed Geek Out for some upcoming Turtle Talks, because in the "fun Turtles news" department, we have one additional quick announcement.
SpeekyGeeky's Mr. Geek-E (HEY, that's ME!) Is now officially the co-host of Dave Wonder and Dan's Monthly "Turtle Talk" Podcast series. So if you happen to like hearing me Geek Out about Turtles in great detail here, there is a really good chance you'll like hearing me do so over there as well. So If you haven't already, make sure to like and subscribe to Dave's channel right in the corner here and in this video's description, not only is there more of me over there, but the rest of the channel is a shell of a good time as well.
Oh, since we seem to be in shilling our content mode now anyhow, you might want to check out our latest video series with NECA's TMNT brand manager Trevor Zammit as well, especially if you would like to hear quite a bit more discussion on Bebop and Rocksteady's gang, Last Ronin, upcoming accessory pack, and a whole lot of additional teases we don't want to ruin the surprise for, but yeah, we cover A LOT of ground, including beneath the ground and firmly into the lair. And now with those unexpected shameless plugs out of the way, here is everyone else we saw on the Fred Wolf front from the cons.
Mighty Hog & Rhino-Man: "SOOPER!!"
Dirk Savage & Mona Lisa: "30 + Year Dream Come True"
Turtle Tots & Big MACC (accessory pack): "RAD as SHELL!"
NECA What If...Fred Wolf Last Ronin: "Expanding Our Fandom To Awesome New Levels"
ALL of Bebop and Rocksteady's Gang (Grunt, Dopey, Dumbo, AND Jersey Red, Scrag not shown): "OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!"
Colossus of the Swamp Napoleon: "We had a Feeling would HOP toward getting This Amphibian out to fans sooner than later and we are croaking with delight!"
An item that was also finally confirmed was the Dimensional Transporter. We had originally seen this item revealed all the way back alongside Usagi Yojimbo's promotional photos, so quite a few astute folks assumed this item might have been packed in with our favorite anthropomorphic Rabbit. While that inevitably wasn't the case, when you consider where ELSE this device was featured in the cartoon series, we have a feeling it may now heighten the chances for seeing yet another fan-favorite Hare or even a distinctive Dimensional Imp introduced within the line just as quickly as you can say "antique porcelain from dimension z" backwards.
Through our recent interview with Trevor it was revealed that this item will be a stand-alone item rather than packaged with others, though once this is firmly on our shelves, we could easily see this as a fun outlet to usher in one or two much-needed additional dimension-hopping characters who have been noticeably absent from the line still, which we very much find a bit OGG...ahem...whoops, we mean odd.
One last official reveal shown at SDCC was the Sewer Lair. As we noted in the last episode, the Sewer Lair was teased fairly heavily in both the Usagi Yojimbo promotional pics, and also the most recent pre-mutation 4-pack con exclusive, we mayyyy have hinted at the confirmation of this diorama in episode 2 of our exclusive interview with Trevor Zammit, so while it was expected, it didn't mean it could prepare us for how neatly and efficiently it fit beneath the previous city street diorama, nor just how vast this lair would be.
In all, we were treated to 3 interconnected rooms very much designed with the purpose of expansive character displays, and with the open connector tubes on both ends of the diorama, it also allows for some optimal professional toy photography opportunities as well. One...well, we hate to say "FINAL" reveal because NECA has a habit of releasing new teases before we can finish putting these videos together just to keep us on our toes, so let's say "more recent reveal," was the Black & White Usagi Yojimbo variant from Stan Sakai. This beauty snuck in completely un-announced but still managed to sell out within minutes...and YOWZA, we didn't think it was possible for our favorite bunny to look EVEN MORE like he just jumped out of the comic pages, but, whelp, NECA certainly managed.
We figured since NECA potentially just opened the floodgates for any and all iterations to appear within the Fred Wolf series, we would take the opportunity this episode to primarily focus on characters who have NEVER been shown in the Fred Wolf series, who might be incredibly cool to get as potential figures within that seemingly now expanded framework. we figured this was especially apt now since we have begun seeing that characters like Space Usagi and Fred Wolf Last Ronin are not ONLY possible but are already happening.
So expect to see the same deep dive action you've come to know and...well, LOVE is a strong word...I don't know...TOLERATE maybe? But we'll expand our focus here to include options out of Archie, The Video Games, Mirage, IDW, and other iterations as if we could now include them within the Fred Wolf Toy World.
Before we jump mutant shell first into the deep divey goodness, if you haven't already, please make sure to throw some Turtle love toward those LIKE and SUB buttons, and pass along this video to others who you know will appreciate it like it's a piping hot Peanut Butter and Marshmellow Pizza. Your views and support mean a great deal to us and allow us to bring you more content just like the one you are watching right this very minute. Yes, YOU!
Okey Dokey, with that longwinded but VERRRY necessary intro out of the way, in no particular order and without further ado, let's jump into technically part 2 of the Top 60 NECA Classic Cartoon Figures we hope to someday see in Fred Wolf Style, OR to stick with a title that keeps things slightly less confusing and doesn't take a whole paragraph to say out loud, why don't we just go ahead and call this Episode 8 of our "Which NECA Fred Wolf TMNT Action Figures We'd Like To See" series ...
#6 MONTY MOOSE
First up, hailing from the "how was this character not ACTUALLY in the Fred Wolf cartoon" category, Monty Moose very much always seemed a natural fit to get the animated series treatment. As many folks might already be acutely aware, we DID have a Monty Moose as an awesomely designed figure from Playmates in the original toy line, based off of Ryan Brown's designs. While many of Ryan's other characters did in fact end up making it onto the animated show in the form of Mondo Gecko, Leatherhead, Wingnut and Screwloose (despite looking drastically different from their toy designs), and Scumbug (who...well, y'know what...scumbug actually kept remarkably close to his toy design roots actually)...yeah yeah, we know, technically Ray Fillet kinda/sorta counts too, but here's the deal with Ray, while Ryan absolutely designed the Manta Ray'ed Mutanimal we know and love, as we mentioned in previous episodes, the Ray that appeared in the animated series itself ended up being a VERRRY different character.
We note this ONLY because it illustrates that Monty could very likely have been yet another one of those Ryan Brown designs that was being considered for the cartoon, and based on his toy design appearance, it also stands to reason that he might ACTUALLY have made it into the show, just with a different name and appearance...you see where we're going with this right? If you think back reaaallly hard to characters who fit his outfit aesthetic, is there any character that immediately comes to mind? Show of hands? Anyone? Anyone? Savage?
For folks who have seen some of our other deep dives or interviews where we've shown some of Monty's earliest toy concept designs, you likely already know the character we are hinting at here is none other than the nefarious Mutant Hunter Dirk Savage.
If you haven't seen the actual TMNT episode "Dirk Savage Mutant Hunter" you might want to pause right here and check it out as it was an incredibly fun story jammed to the brim full of mutants like the Punk Frogs, Tokka & Rahzar, Mondo Gecko, and even a few others that we have never seen yet in toy form, including the other primary villain of the episode AJ Howard (for our deep dive on THAT character, make sure to click the handy link we'll plop for you riiiight here).
While Monty Moose inevitably was presented in toy form as a heroic ALLY to the Turtles, there were still quite a few tells on the box that this might not have ALWAYS been the case.
The most obvious was with the incongruent messaging within the Bio description and what his catchphrase was on the front of the packaging. The description goes out of its way to note that he was a Moose that mutated...which...COOL...it also talks about how he is going with his "skinnin' sabre and handy handcuffs to take the charge right into the foot clan"...who, and this is a point worth reiterating, in both toy form AND the cartoon, are ROBOTS.
So what is the likelihood he is going to skin or handcuff the same robots that the Turtles have zero compunctions about eviscerating into wired pulp on the regular? The front of the package however has him spouting a VERRRY different tune...one which sounded an awful lot like the mantra of the mutant-hunting mercenary Dirk Savage, with the phrase "I always get my mutant!"
Now, this is the point where many folks might point out that "WHOA there Geek-E, these descriptions were read largely by children and not meant to be scrutinized by a grown adult, why are you taking this so seriously?"
And HERE is why...while those descriptions might seem trivial and only meant to give children a jumping-on point for imaginative play, these could nonetheless still be very telling toward what the original intent was for characters that appeared ELSEWHERE, especially when we consider how closely tied the toys were toward being a funnel to the cartoon and visa versa.
Early designs show us that sometimes characters were designed as one thing, but by the time the cartoon aired, the character might have been cut or, like in the case of Ray, Wingnut, Screwloose, or Mondo Gecko, have a completely different in world story from how the toy originated.
So we're going to go ahead and take the advice from the Sherlock Holmes Turtles episode and keep "Following the clues" here...and the CLUES lead us to believe that if more episodes with Dirk made it into the series, perhaps a Mutant Moose appearance might have been his final incarnation. The big question in our mind here is who would have been introduced to fit the role of his sidekick Bob the Beaver?
We see a possible outlet for Bob within this setting as having been a mutated human accomplice of Dirk's, which would make him similar in size to Fred Wolf Screwloose vs the toy counterpart, to add an extra layer of "organically within canon" value, it might be fun to play with the idea of Bob being another Beaver that we've previously seen in concept form, perhaps yet another Ryan Brown created character like "Lumber Jack" the burly lumberjack themed beaver.
If we were ever to be treated to a Monty Moose figure in Fred Wolf style, we see him being a bit taller and bulkier than we had him in toy form before, and since in this incarnation he would be a mutated version of Dirk, we might see some weapons that would resemble what we saw in the series connected to that character, but perhaps slightly more "Moose-ified".
#5 SALLY PRIDE
Sally...Sally...Sally Pride Figure...Let's Goooooo!
Holy Unofficial Thundercats Crossover Batman! Yeah, while it has never actually been called out as such within the IDW series where Sally Pride premiered, we're going to be the first ones to say Sally is the embodiment of what we would expect if The Turtles were to ever link up with the series that features our favorite anthropomorphic felines...well...aside from Swat Kats, Masters of the Universe, Felix, Cattilac Cats, or EEK the cat that is. Why did we say Cattilac cats and NOT Heathcliff you ask? Well maaaaybe it's because we firmly believe that no one SHOULD... terrorize the neighborhood. Sorry, couldn't resist
Sally is one of the newly introduced members of the IDW Mighty Mutanimals offshoot team that was once led by ANOTHER character on this list, Old Hob (more on him shortly). Though much of Sally's back story isn't yet known, the fact that she is a studded leather-jacketed Lioness mutant is MORE than enough grace to hold that intrigue for a bit.
But let's derail our reasoning for a Sally figure for just a moment and very quickly go back to the notion of a Thundercats/TMNT mashup series to ask "Why the SHELL Not?!!"
Real talk here, we've seen the Turtles crossover with various characters and franchises throughout the years, including Batman, Power Rangers, Savage Dragon, Usagi Yojimbo, Fugitoid, Panda Khan, Flaming Carrot and the Mystery Men, Ghostbusters, as well as in Toys with Star Trek, Universal Monsters, almost Star Wars, and Almost Transformers, as well as informally with Toxic Avenger (in Muck-man), Robocop (with Rex-1), Dirty Harry or Nick Fury depending on who you talk to (with Dirk Savage), and basically, the Masters of the Universe with "Warriors of the forgotten Sewer"...heck the comic itself is LITERALLY a crossover parody of Daredevil and Ronin, so a Thundercats crossover doesn't seem super dee duper outside the franchise's wheelhouse.
But yet, despite both series being incredibly successful in the 80's, then AGAIN in the 2000's, that particular crossover just never seemed to come together despite having so much in common that it feels a bit like a no-brainer.
Is it possible we have Thundercats on OUR brain because of our latest "Sight Beyond Sight: Thundercats deep dive" series? Oh 100% that is a given! Does that make us wrong about this observation? We like to think it doesn't take a long stare through the Sword Of Omens to see the potential of this idea.
Let's interject our normally scheduled programming for a moment to entertain some SpeekyGeeky fan-fic as we walk through a possible crossover in a section we like to call "SPEEKYGEEKY'S LET'S IMAGINE IT!...IT..IT"...Let's pretend for a moment a scenario where Sally is injured and upon analyzing her blood, Donatello discovers "what's this?" Sally might not ACTUALLY be a mutant like everyone had believed.
That's right, under further study, her DNA suggests that she derived from another planet entirely, but there is also a temporal abnormality detected within her unique genetic code that indicates she actually became time displaced fleeing the impact from the destruction of her planet Thundera in the far-flung future (this bit becomes clear throughout the course of the story, Donnie can deduce a lot, but that probably even goes beyond his level of deus ex machine, even if this WERE based on the Fred Wolf series).
The planet she came from unfortunately no longer exists, but thanks to the Turtles time lord friend Renet, she is able to discover that her relatives did in fact make it to Earth many centuries later, and, will you look at that, she just so happens to have a gateway which conveniently allows Sally a handy tool to meet her long lost Pride.
Clearly, we have this whole thing scripted out and this isn't as off the cuff as we would have folks believe, but suffice it to say our "what if" tale would include a requisite Mumm-ra in a choice disguise or two (most likely at least ONE that resembles a clone turtle in flowing mummy wrap), an epic fight sequence between the Turtles/Mutanimals and the Thundercats that obviously would result in their linking of resources and realizing there was no reason to fight other than that it looking Oh so cool to everyone reading at home, April being enlisted into Willa's warriors while donned in an outfit that looks suspiciously similar to her Cave-Woman April outfit from the old Playmates toys, Casey getting the bulked-up Snarf-Ra treatment amidst the Black Pyramid, Splinter vs Ratar-o, and SSSlythe trying to pull off one of the worst Turtles disguises since the crooked turtle gang.
Again, this is a TMNT deep dive, and not a "which crossovers do we want most?" deep dive (but now that we say that out loud, it does sound tempting to write THAT as well), so we don't need to spell this all out here, but if what we are suggesting is resonating with folks and it was something you'd like to see on the channel in greater detail, let us know in the comments and maaaaaybe we can work our magic so that something along the lines of what we are thinking can see the light of day somewhere down the road.
Ok, with that crossover fever dream now abruptly out of the way, let's jump back into why we think Sally would make such an awesome figure choice.
We already mentioned what a fun aesthetic she has, but that isn't even really the half of it. The fact that we're talking the Fred Wolf Line here, means that we can take that punk style and have her fitting in seamlessly on our shelf next to mutanimal friend or foot clan foe alike. We could see Sally coming with a broad sword, a pistol, a posable tail, and open, gripping, and closed studded gloved hands. Thundercats emblem TBD.
#4 CHIEN KHAN
Well, we are very quickly realizing this episode seems to be raining mutant cats and dogs, and Yoshi Chen...ahem..that is to say, Chien Khan is ONE dog you wouldn't want to be caught out in the rain with. Before we leap forward with Khan, we want to provide a brief "30-year-old spoiler" here, because it's hard to discuss the character without addressing the big mutant dog in the room, so, y'know, fair warning. Jumping from the pages of Archie's TMNT Adventures, we were first introduced to Chien Khan in his elaborate samurai mask and armor disguise.
In fact, up until they let the dog out of the bag a few issues later, Khan just seemed like a badass villain very Similar to Shredder. If this seems an unfair comparison, see if this sounds familiar...He controlled a fleet of Ninja's, sought to control a vessel much larger than himself in order to dominate the world, had mutant underlings, and hid behind an ornate mask...admit it, without context, it sure does sound like another mainstay villain, no?
Really the biggest difference between Khan and Shredder was that we were able to see for a brief moment (in the form of Ninjara, a mutant Fox) what it could have looked like if Shredder had capable underlings to enact his plans for world domination. Which, obviously, he would have gotten away with it all too, if it wasn't for those meddling Turtles.
As most folks who have read the Archie series might already well know, a big difference between the comic series and the cartoon series that aired along the same timeline was an expansion of the Turtles Rogues gallery and a movement away from the mainstay villains like Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady. While it's true those characters DID show up in the series, the comic seemed to make a conscious effort to silo them away with character resolutions that effectively took them off the chess board toward allowing the Turtles more leeway to find their sea legs as it were with other baddies, some in different dimensions and some in different continents like we saw with Khan.
Of all the baddies we just mentioned, Khan stood out in that he seemed organized and mobilized to an extent we hadn't seen since the Shredder and his foot army, and it's a shame the series was cut short because there is zero question in our minds that we would have been treated to some additional Chien Khan focused stories. Much like Alopex defecting from Shredder's ranks in IDW, there is an unresolved element between Chien Khan and Ninjara who we saw introduced in this storyline as his second in command, a trusted mutant thief and assassin in his employ.
The story concluded somewhat abruptly seeing Ninjara turning against Khan and joining with the Turtles. It was eluded that the reason for this pivotal change of heart was because she felt more akin and at home with the Turtles, plus there was a budding romance brewing between her and Raph, but the relationship between her and Khan was far from resolved and we can only imagine that if that plotline had been revisited, Khan would have come back with a vengeance and been allowed to show the Turtles that he was the threat we always knew he could be.
Within this SAME story, we were also treated to a handful of other notable characters as well like Hothead (though here he is known simply as The Warrior Dragon or Chu Hsi which was his human firefighter alter-ego with whom April had a blink and you'd miss it brief romantic interest in), Noi Tai Dar (a powerful demon whom Khan sought to resurrect) as well as Oyuki Mashimi (who was basically meant to act as a sacrificial body to conjure Noi Tai Dar, but proved to be a tough as nails addition to the Turtles roster for quite a few issues beyond this tale...Oyuki is yet another awesome character very much in need of some deep-dive love, so we have a feeling you might be hearing more about her in some later episode too).
It is worth noting that we DID actually get a Chien Khan figure in Heroclix form back in 2016. Granted it wasn't articulated, but it WAS a figure nonetheless, and for folks who have been waiting over 30 years for this figure to appear in ANY form, that's not nothing.
It's that time again for the portion of the series we literally just created called "SPEEKYGEEKY's LET'S IMAGINE IT..IT...IT!" Where we imagine what the character's role could have been inside the Fred Wolf universe. As always, if you like to see more of the thing we're about to describe, let us know in the comments, if it resonates with folks perhaps we can see about expanding these concepts out a little further in a different form within a future series on the channel.
With Khan we think it would be fun if when we're first introduced to the character he'd still be un-mutated and introduced to viewers as an ancestor to Shibano Sama. Khan has come to New York looking to lay his birthright claim to the foot clan, the clan his great grandfather started (so boom, right off the bat we now have some additional lore to the character that wraps him into the Turtles past in a meaningful way).
At first this puts Khan at odds with the Shredder until he realizes that Shredder's foot aren't in fact skilled in the ancient arts of his ancestor, but rather disposable robots. Infuriated by this discovery and seen as an affront to the lineage his family created, he sets out to see the defeat of Shredder, which eventually leads him to become allies with Lotus Blossom and her army of Ninja warriors, forming what would be known as the dog star gang.
In the course of attempting to sabotage Shredder inside the technodrome, Lotus leads the reconnaissance but stumbles into a trap that Shredder had left that douses her in a bucket of ooze, we're talking Kevin-Mccallister-home-alone-burglar style. Meanwhile, Khan and his Dog Star Gang, unaware of Lotus's fate, rush into a different area of the technodrome, met by a similar fate when the room they burst into turns out to have a false floor, and a vat of mutagen below it, so y'know...whoopsies.
Khan loses his balance with the floor's removal and accidentally spills the contents of a mysterious ancient Urn he had been carrying with the words "Noi Tai Dar" ornately etched onto it into the ooze directly before he and his clan are submerged in the ooze. Khan emerges with the Pit Bull Terrier Dog appearance we've come to know and love, and due to the fusing of ooze with what was in the urn, it keeps his Dog Star Gang (who are now literally dogs) fiercely loyal to Khan's command in a way that almost seems like they are in a trance.
Lotus however, awakens to find herself now a mutant fox resembling a certain character from the Archie series, second-guesses her choices and seeks the comfort of some old friends the Turtles for solace.
By having Lotus essentially turn into Ninjara, it could, in one swoop, manage to both organically bring a fan-favorite character into the series as well as help to separate Lotus from Karai who we also have some fun plans for that we'll discuss in an upcoming installment.
Ok, so what would we want to see Chien Khan coming along with in toy form? Naturally, he would have multiple heads, in this case, we see it being three distinct sculpts, one pre-mutated, one with his Samurai mask, and another in his mutant dog form. We also see him coming with a sheathed katana that could be haltered to his waist like we saw with the Usagi figure, an Urn with the words "Noi Tai Dar" on it and a pair of Oni Tantou Claws.
#3 HYPNO-POTAMUS
Sometimes there comes a character that is just so colorful, so wacky, so delightfully absurd that it's hard to believe they didn't ALREADY exist within an episode of the Fred Wolf universe to begin with.
Whatever your feelings are on the Rise of TMNT series itself, one major positive take-away from that iteration was the enormous wealth of uniquely awesome new characters introduced within it that seemed like they could have been a seamless fit within the Fred Wolf Universe had they been created a handful of decades earlier.
And Hypno-Potamus, with his larger-than-life stage performer persona infused with a lovingly cartoonish mutant Hippo appearance that might make the original series illustrators do a double take that it wasn't based off one of their toy concepts, sits mighty puuurdy atop this very long list.
Once a successful but over-the-top human hypnotist and stage magician named Mezmer-Ron, he became the mutant Hippo Hypno-Potamus when one of Baron Draxum's Oozequito's (and YUP, you better believe we'll eventually be tackling Draxum down the road with this series as well) stung Mezmer-Ron while in the proximity of Doug, a non mutated Hippo that was part of his stage act.
Though technically Hypno-Potamus is a villain, he is much more introspective and considerate than many rogues we have met before. He often second-guesses how he is acting and more often than not is convinced to see the error of his ways. To be fair, his hatred toward the Turtles isn't unwarranted as their actions inadvertently DID directly lead to his transformation, but by the end of the series, we see even that animosity has softened, and from unused concept designs from the show's creator Andy Suriano, we can see that in the far-flung Rise of TMNT future the intent was to make Hypno-Potamus and his accomplice friend and partner Warren Stone full-fledged heroes, working with a more modern looking, Yellow Jumpsuit wearing Commander April O'Neil, Casey, Mikey and Leo as part of their Freedom Fighters against the Utrom invasion. This team-up sadly was cut from the story, but these designs are top-notch and would have fit perfectly alongside our Smash and Zach figures in our ever-growing Turtle Ally Army on our shelf.
Again, we realize there are plenty of folks who haven't taken the plunge into the Rise series yet. Not every Turtle series is for everybody and admittedly, for longtime TMNT fans, this series does have it's own fun unique flavor that may seem a bit divergent from the classic, BUT (and this is a BIG TURTLE BUT HERE) the recently released Rise Movie that is currently on Netflix is somewhat of a stand-alone, feels VERY much like the original (as well as a handful of other iterations), and might be a good place to dip your toe into the ooze and get a feel for these characters before deciding to go full mutation and binge the rest on P+.
If NECA approaches expanded worlds full steam with their "What If" line, we think Hypno-Potamus (paired with his little buddy companion Warren Stone naturally) would be a fantastic addition to the Fred Wolf-styled toy roster. As we noted before, he already LOOKS the part, but he also already has such a toy-etic and showman-esque aesthetic, that it's just begging to introduce folks to what else awaits them on our shelves.
We see Hypno-Potamus coming with a removable Turban that have translucent circles that plug in and expand away from the jewel in the Turban's center to replicate using his hypnosis stare (with an extra mesmerizing-eyed head too of course), gambit-styled exploding cards, a bladed wand, some interlinked large metal rings to ensnare foes, and if he was presented as an ultimate-sized figure, we might also include a second mutation Swole Warren Stone and additional iconic outfits like David Bowie, Indiana Jones, and his Freedom Fighter dark future gear to toggle between.
If you are anything like me, this would be a sneaky way to FINALLY create your own deep-cut Hippy Hippos team from the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles story "Dimension Xescapades") as well. And then BOOM, just like that we're going from buying one awesome hippo to at least five all-in-one swoop, which means we'll probably also have to reinforce our shelving unit to have any chance of surviving the incurring weight.
#2 OLD HOB
Sure, as the saying goes you can't teach an old DOG new tricks, but as crafty Old Hob illustrates, for mutant CATS... well, that's an ENTIRELY different story. For many, Old Hob stands out as one of the many breakaway characters from the IDW series.
Though Old Hob seems rooted as an amalgamation of equal parts Catsblood Claw from TMNT & Other Strangeness’s Road Hogs, Caesar, yet another character from TMNT and other strangeness who, just like his IDW was palled up with some striking mutant Weasels, the action figure "Scratch", and Manx/Verminator-x from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Archie comics. In the IDW 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 (though technically that would make him YOUNG Hob we guess) encountered the Turtles as they made contact with the ooze and tried to run off with pre-mutation Raph, which Spinter didn't take kindly to and subsequently scratched his eye out...so y’know YOUCH! Seeing as how Raph had mutagen all over him when Hob tried carrying him off, his mutant origin story directly overlaps with their OWN.
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 in the form of the de facto leader of the Mutanimals, many of which oftentimes help, or at least ATTEMPT to keep Old Hob's morals marginally less gray.
How do we see Old Hob fitting in to the Fred Wolf universe? Well for starters, it could be a somewhat similar origin story here, true, we never technically see a cat near the mutagen in the different renditions of the Turtles mutating for the very first time within the series, but who are we to say what was happening directly outside of the screen's line of sight?
There are a variety of ways Old Hob would be pivotal within this setting, and quite a few characters and important groups we could see him interacting with to move the chess pieces as it were into place where he might emerge as a villain equally as formidable to Shredder, Krang, or Lord Dregg were he within the series.
If it sounds like we maaay have more to add to this story, that's probably because we most certainly do, but we want to make sure to find the best way to get this story out to folks, so again, if you would like to hear or see our vision for Old Hob explored in further detail, let us know in the comments and then stay tuned.
For the figure itself, we see Hob coming with a removable trenchcoat, a big honkin' cartoonishly enormous gun, and 3 smaller less articulated Fred Wolf-styled Weasels.
#1 CRYIN' HOUN' (AKA "Houn Dog")
Remember what we just said a moment ago about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks? Yeah, well you can throw that right out of the ring while saying an up-close "how do you do?" to Cryin’ Houn’s multi-armed pile-driver as he gladly shows you just how many new tricks and fellow wrestlers he’s picked up over the years.
Hailing from the Archie comic series, and arguably one of the most unique-looking characters from that Turtles run, he's that wrestling dynamo that our intergalactic Wrestling clad Ninja bros encounter while whisked (or rather swallowed) away to Sling and Stump's wrestling asteroid by a giant trans-dimensional cow head named Cudly the Cowlick (which, sidenote, we ALSO still very much need as well, so expect to hear more about that character in a future installment of this series...and basically every and any opportunity we have to bring up our love for that character...did someone say Comic Con exclusive Cudley the cowlick carrying case with Wrestling Turtles and Cryin Houn housed inside? Oh WE DID, just NOW! Good, we stand by that outburst.
How would Cryin' Houn fit into the Fred Wolf Universe if we had our druthers? We'll say this, it isn't outside the realm of reason that the Turtles could have seen some additional off-world adventures, there definitely was a precedent for such a thing within the episodes we DID see like Planet of the Turtleoids and Planet of The Turtles, so encountering a Fred Wolf style Cudley who whisks them off on some otherworldly adventures where they have to don their iconic wrestling outfits and enter a tournament fighter like competition with the fate of planet Earth at stake, doesn't seem like a story too far off the mark for what we knew and loved about that show.
Aside from his fun wrestling costume, extra appendages, and posing a clear challenge to the Turtles, he made multiple appearances in the comic series, re-introducing himself a second time as a wholly new costumed wrestler named "El Mysterio". We see Cryin' Houn being an oversized figure along the lines of the Mirage clone shredder (in fact, now that we have that four-armed buck it seems all the more likely we might see this character sooner than later in some form as it could utilize quite a bit of reuse), we'd love to see his additional El Mysterio head, and perhaps some dazed looking disembodied wrestling turtle heads for him to spin upon his fingertips like we saw in the comics.
SPEEKYGEEKY'S TMNT POLLS
Since we're already talking about wholly new characters in plastic, we figured we'd take a moment to ask YOU the viewer who you'd 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, and Facebook pages as to which TMNT characters from various iterations we might want to see as Toys.
Here are some options from our latest polls, which you can weigh on here in the comments 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.
There are also some incredibly talented TMNT customizers who are ALREADY creating some of these characters who appear in 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.
Alright, Shellheads, that's it for this episode, but don't stray too far from the Turtle Lair, because episode 9 is right around the corner.
We have no doubt you have some characters that top off your list as well, so make 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 Turtle Speeky, Keep it Geeky Folks!
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