Fans of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series from 1987 will no doubt remember when a bunch of goons were hired to impersonate the turtles and commit crimes. I doubt anyone ever thought we’d see something like that in real life, but that appears to be exactly what is happening all over the world. Okay, so maybe it’s not an organized crime syndicate, but it would appear that there are a lot of people using the popularity of the Ninja Turtles to hide themselves while committing crime.
On September 7th, a burglar used a Leonardo mask to hide their identity while stealing an expensive BMW motorbike from a dealership in Melbourne, Australia. Needless to say, that definitely doesn’t sound like something that Leo would do! Master Splinter taught his boys better than that, and any fan worth their salt would know better than to disrespect the TMNT like this. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a criminal used the Ninja Turtles to hide their identity, as a woman dressed like Donatello held up a Super 8 motel just last year.
Of course, not all crime takes place behind a mask. Just last week U.S. Customs and Border Protection found a TMNT coloring book that was secretly harboring counterfeit money. It remains to be seen whether or not this was a prank or a simple misunderstanding, but I guess anything is possible. Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend, because I think we can all agree that we don’t need any real life Crooked Ninja Turtles. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all about fighting crime, not stirring up trouble!
One thing is for sure, Master Splinter has undoubtedly been an excellent example to his students, as he has never once committed a crime – well, unless this video truly shows him stealing a slice of pizza. As you’re probably aware by now, a video depicting a rat dragging a piece of pizza down into the sewers recently went viral, prompting many a TMNT fan to point out the obvious parallels. If that is Splinter, let’s just hope he’s taking that pizza back home for his family of mutated turtles!
What do you think? Is the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang making a comeback, or are these just a bunch of lowlifes sullying the good name of our beloved heroes in a half shell? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.