“We’re looking for a few good mutants!”
We started writing this in November and realize more TMNT reveals are likely coming fast and furious by the time this article sees light, but we at SpeekyGeeky are perpetual dreamers, and while we wait for those reveals, we thought it might be fun to envision which figures we may see for the 2021 year (and if some of these end up getting revealed before this article drops, well that’s just how the Anchovy Pizza Crust Crumbles).
For shtick's & giggles and this article, we’ll assume 2021 will follow close to the same release pattern as 2020 and break this down using that as our template (factoring in NECA's reveals of the Turtles in Disguise 4 pack, Punk Frogs, Ace Duck, and Chrome Dome).
Full disclosure, because we started writing this in November of 2020 we have absolutely no idea how close we’ll get to what is actually revealed, but guessing is half the fun and if even a couple of these get made, we'll be happy campers.
In this continuing multi-part series of articles, Mr. Geek-E reveals the Top 38 NECA Classic Cartoon Figures we hope to see in 2021, this week's will focus on:
Our Hope For 2021 NECA TMNT Wave 2
COBRATO & MEDUSA
One of the elements that excites me the most from NECA’s line is our ability to finally see lovingly crafted in plastic the characters in the series that up until now had only been relegated to live in our imagination. Yes, while it’s true we had another cobra in the form of Scale Tail in the classic toy line (and then again as Snake Karai in the 2012 one), we never saw the actual mutant snake from the cartoon series in the form of Cobrato, and it was a real shame.
Essentially an homage to Spider-man’s “The Lizard”, Cobrato had the ability to control other snakes and, like King Hsss, his body was also made up of snake shaped limbs (minus the snake heads on each appendage). This figure would be a fun sssssurprise no matter how we get him, but the idea of his body made up entirely of snakes underneath his lab coat would be incredibly interesting to see in NECA pull off, and if they manage to throw in an extended neck with cobra plumage and fully unhinged jaw with protruding long forked tongue I don't think anyone would be opposed.
If you're looking to put four cold blooded reptiles in their place, Medusa is the stone cold mercenary you call. Medusa, a badass alien bounty hunter hired by Lord Dregg (don’t worry, he’ll be on one of our future lists too to jog your memory).
Medusa had it all, she had exciting weapons, malleable hair, a flippin’ JETPACK, and to top it off she fits firmly into the turtles GREEN motif. How we never got a toy of her while the show was airing is beyond logic, but now is as good a time as any to make up for lost time.
IRMA & DIRK SAVAGE, MUTANT HUNTER
Anyone who collects NECA certainly already know and appreciates that when they dive into a property, they REALLY DIVE in. There is a mutual understanding that they know we have an affinity for the farthest reaches of a line and the love and craft that goes into the details shows us that they do too. By way of supporting characters, we saw this first with Vernan, not only did they deliver, but they went the extra mile, pairing him with Rat King and throwing in his mutant rat head to give us the ability to display him episode specific!
Irma happens to be one of these lovable supporting characters that in the past always seemed to draw the short straw on plastic love. On some levels I get it, she isn't a mutant, she doesn't have any special weapons, but what she did have going for her was that she was easily recognizable from being heavily featured in the episodes, had a ton of different iterations (Moth Irma, Super Irma to name just a few) but she only ever had ONE figure of her produced (and the one they did make ended up looking NOTHING like her appearance on the show).
With her classic baggy shirt, thick-rimmed glasses, high rise socks, and orthopedic brown shoes, Irma feels like the quintessential product of the 80's. Her wealth of anxiety played off of April's "go capture the story wherever it may be" attitude to act as the perfect foil. She was the "Barb" from "Stranger Things" before "Barb" was ever a thing. As exciting as it will be to get a full gallery of essential mutants, the notion of getting characters like Irma are equally thrilling, and as far as supporting characters go, Irma tops that list.
Speaking of rounding out the human cast of characters a bit, this notorious Mutant Hunter seems an apt choice. Dirk is to the Turtles as Elmer Fudd is to Bugs Bunny. He will leave no stone unturned and leave no weapons unused in his pursuit of mutants good and bad alike. With his gadgets, weapons, and unique look, Dirk would also just look damn cool on our shelves.
GRUNT & SCRAG (MUTANT FORMS)
2/21/21 UPDATE: Whelp, it looks like we were right on the nose with at least half of this one (though we suspect the other half might be making an appearance as a deal-sweetener in the 2022 Loot Crate line). Loot Crate announced today that SCRAG would indeed be making it into the NECA line as an exclusive for those who commit to purchasing all four TMNT crates. It also appears, from the silhouettes, that the additional figures may be
Quick Immediate Thoughts: Just call me Stimpy because I am suddenly singing HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY. If you are anything like us, Scrag in particular has been seen as the holy grail of characters we never knew if we would get. Leave it to NECA to go beyond our wildest expectations. We don't yet know which version of Scrag we'll be getting, but here's hoping for something along the lines of the Vernon that came with Rat King where Scrag will have the ability to be posed either as a punk human or Mutated Bat.
Original post: Most casual TMNT fans might immediately recognize Bebop and Rocksteady as the bumbling Warthog and Rhino hench-mutants for the Turtles big baddie Shredder, but it takes a truly entrenched fan recognize that A) they were merely two members of a gang that consisted of six, and B) the other four members (Grunt, Scrag, Dopey, and Dumbo) were ALSO mutated by Shredder...WAIT, WHAAAAT???
I know, there are soooo many questions that we may never have answers to. Questions like, how is it we've never seen figures of this gang in toy form yet? How is it the remainder mutants are mysteriously never seen again after the fifth episode of the series? Where do they go? Why do Bebop and Rocksteady not even seem to care or look for them? This list goes on and on and on, far too many for this one article.
It seems like such a missed opportunity to not circle back on them in some future episode, there certainly should have been motive on Shredder's part to figure out what happened to them if only to tie up loose ends of knowing there weren't more stray mutants out there who knew of his plans, but the 80's were a magical time where stories often withered on the vine if focus groups didn't immediately show interest. Turns out, because internet wasn't a thing, people (and writers) just tended to move on. No long fan love letters to see more of these short lived characters, no huge social media fan clubs to profess love and fan-fic centered around them to keep the excitement and intrigue alive...I mean certainly later this would all happen (what you are currently reading is a prime example of that), but at the time, characters just had a way of being out of sight, out of mind.
But now, with NECA's proclivity for doing deep cuts into properties, we FINALLY have the possibility of seeing some of these underappreciated treasures. Certainly we'd love to have all the mutated and human versions of the gang members at some point in the line, but we gotta start somewhere, so why not start with the cool looking Bat and Lizard. Bonus points if they come packaged with additional pre-mutation heads and hands to give collectors the ability to recreate the process and encourage further army building.
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.
For a deeper dive into these selections, make sure to check out the video below, and while you're there if you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe and "like" button.