If you consider yourself a true Turtles fan, be prepared to order an extra large pizza with your craziest Michelangelo-style toppings, put on your favorite TMNT shirt, and crack open a comic book because March 19 is the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Day.
The IDW rendition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has not only returned iconic characters of the past, but has also introduced brand new characters to the franchise. Here is a breakdown of our Top 5 Favorite New IDW Characters in this series:
(First Appearance: TMNT #1)
We first saw Scientist Lindsey Baker at the start of the TMNT series, where she played a big role in the Splinter mutation experiments. However, due to the chaos and excitement in the first couple issues, she was a bit overshadowed in the commotion. Lindsey truly begins to shine in the Mutanimals miniseries, where she helps the Mutanimals by providing scientific information about mutagen (and being a friend). Perhaps Lindsey’s larger significance to the story, she is the first recurring LGBTQ character in the TMNT franchise (discounting Mirage’s alien Soowiiksa).
(First Appearance: Micro-Series Donatello)
Harold is a wonderfully fun character. Genius scientist and good friend of Donatello, Harold helps the Turtles with all of their scientific needs. Providing gadgets laced with dry humor and sass, Harold has filled a missing character archetype perfectly. For Harold fans, you may be interested to learn Harold frequently uses the word “obtruse” as a mistaken pronunciation of abtruse and/or obtuse.
(First Appearance: Micro-Series Alopex)
Alopex has brought an additional tough female mutant to the Turtles team. She has appeared many times throughout the IDW storyline, both with the Foot Clan and with the Turtles. Her character was torn as to which side of the coin to be on before finding a home with the Turtles. She is quick, agile, a skilled fighter, and has currently found her role fighting aside Nobody (i.e., Angel).
(First Appearance: TMNT #1)
Old Hob is debatably the most well-written character in the entire series. He is neither good nor bad, and as a reader, you cannot help but root for him. Old Hob is a mutated street cat, who started off on the “bad” side of things after being mutated. Old Hob later finds stability as co-founder of the Mighty Mutanimals with Slash, but still cannot find consistency in being fully “good”. Old Hob has reason for everything he does, and although his actions may be dishonest, he still has logic and thorough reasoning for intentions, leaves readers in agreement and often questing their own morality.
(First Appearance: TMNT #25 (Koya) and TMNT #37 (Bludgeon) )
Alright, alright we know we cheated on this one a little bit by including two character, but Koya and Bludgeon really deserve to share the top spot of our list. We have not seen menacing villains like these two since Bebop and Rocksteady, but Koya and Bludgeon bring agile fighting, fun mutations, and unique personalities to the Foot Clan. Koya was mutated from Shredder’s pet falcon, which is seen in earlier issues, while Bludgeon is a beastly hammerhead shark. Koya is one of our first large-scale female mutants in the TMNT series, which is nice considering most of the main mutant villains are male. Interestingly enough, Bludgeon was originally written to be Armaggon from the Archie Comics TMNT series, but TMNT editor Bobby Curnow felt it more appropriate to have an original character added to the story. Although Koya and Bludgeon have been on the antagonist side of the fighting, they have shown glimpses of good nature, possible leading to interesting stories down the line.
There have been loads of new characters in IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Who is your favorite? Leave a comment below!
It’s been a while since we featured some of our favorite fan made videos about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so let’s take a look at some turtley awesome videos that have hit the web recently. This time around, we’ve got three radical videos featuring subjects as varied as TMNT toys, parodies of the original Ninja Turtles movies and even an entertaining unboxing of the TMNT Box! Without further ado, let’s take a look at our first subject. This is turtley awesome!
If this doesn’t immediately bring back memories of the most recent New York Comic-con panel performed by the voice cast of Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, perhaps you should go back and watch what Seth Green does for the majority of the event. That’s right, he essentially spends the entire time focused on his Leonardo Mega Bloks set! It’s not difficult to see why he would be so enthralled with these awesome TMNT toys, so it shouldn’t be too surprising to see the turtles themselves checking out the latest Mega Bloks TMNT sets on display at the Toy Fair.
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Remember the two mutants that Shredder created in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze? Well, Bebop and Rocksteady sure didn’t know about these two! This hilarious parody pokes fun at the fact that they decided to create two mutants for the movie who were similar to Bebop and Rocksteady, although the story doesn’t end well for Tokka and Razhar. It’s bad enough that these two only really got noticed in that one movie, but now we’re just putting them out to pasture? Thankfully, Out of the Shadows features the two big mutant baddies that everyone is familiar with, so there shouldn’t be too many complaints this time around.
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We’ve done our own unboxing of the TMNT Box, but now you can see what it’s like to open up this box of Ninja Turtles goodies for yourself! The approach these fans take to their videos is absolutely hilarious, as a stuffed Michelangelo toy joins them for the duration of the video, and even gets to try on one of the items in the TMNT Box. Needless to say, these shellheads were pretty pleased with what they got, even if one of the items they received happened to be something they already had. Hopefully next time they won’t get any repeats!
What do you think? Were these videos fun to watch? Do you have any videos you want to share with us? Feel free to drop us a line and let us know if there’s any video you want to promote or share with other Ninja Turtles fans in the world, because we enjoy sharing the love whenever possible! These were just a few of the more entertaining videos we found recently, but we know there are others out there that we have yet to see, so don’t hesitate to send us your favorite turtley awesome videos.
It has been a few months since the TMNT Box first went into production, and several fans have been receiving all kinds of totally radical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gear since its inception. What is the TMNT Box? Well, it’s a subscription box service much like Loot Crate and Nerd Block, but it features only Ninja Turtles merchandise. That’s right, it’s a box full of nothing but your favorite heroes in a half shell!
When I was asked to review the TMNT Box, I jumped at the opportunity. After all, who would say no to a box full of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles goodness? Now that I’ve opened the box, I can say that I’m definitely happy with the results. As I understand it, products can vary from box to box, unlike what you will find with similar subscription services. You’re pretty much guaranteed a cool TMNT shirt, but other than that, there’s no way of knowing exactly what will be in the box. With that in mind, let’s take a look inside!
As expected, we find the TMNT t-shirt on top. This Ninja Turtles shirt features Splinter meditating in his dojo, and it’s made to look like a t-shirt from a local gym. I don’t know about you, but I’d definitely join Splinter’s School of Ninjutsu if I had the chance! I’ve never had a shirt with neon pink artwork, and it honestly looks really cool. Of course, there’s more here than just a shirt, so let’s keep exploring.
Beneath the shirt, I found three more items of note. One of them is a Michelangelo Pez dispenser (my favorite turtle!). The other two are awesome vinyl toys of Rocksteady and a Foot Soldier. I didn’t have either of these figures yet, so they are welcome additions to my collection. The Foot Soldier is from the Pop Vinyl line, while Rocksteady is from the newer Dorbz line. It would have been nice to see some more actual turtle representation in the box, but all things considered, this is still quite an excellent haul.
When we look at the price of each individual item, it’s amazing that they managed to fit all of this into one box. The t-shirt alone is worth $15-20, while the vinyls are both worth about $10 a piece. There is at least $40 worth of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise in this $20 TMNT box! That’s a darn good value, if you ask me. From what I have seen in other unboxings, this is about the kind of value that you can expect. Considering that it’s actually hard to get your hands on some of these Ninja Turtles collectibles, I’d say that this subscription box is an excellent option for just about any fan.
What do you think? Was this TMNT Box worth $20? If you’re as impressed as I am, check out the TMNT Box and subscribe today! If you just want to show this to someone else, feel free to share the love on Facebook and Twitter or let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Today, Mondo has released two new limited edition collectible posters, TMNT: Rise of the Turtles.