If there is any way to make a Monday more exciting, it’s by announcing a brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles miniseries starring Bebop and Rocksteady. Fortunately, IDW Publishing has this one covered by bringing TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Destroy Everything.
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 month since we first heard about Shadows of the Past, the new TMNT board game being developed by IDW games, which means that the Kickstarter crowdfunding event has officially wrapped up. If you haven’t been following the progress of this title, it might surprise you to learn that this crowdfunding campaign was more than just a little successful. While it’s true that we’ve seen a resurgence in the world of board games over the past decade, somehow I doubt that anyone expected a Ninja Turtles board game to receive this much support.
How well did Shadows of the Past perform? Well, what if I told you that it surpassed its goal three times over? That’s right, the official pledge level of this new TMNT board game reached a total of 344% of its goal, meaning that they received more than three times as much as they needed to get the product on store shelves. As a matter of fact, this product got the fans so excited that they combined to donate almost a million dollars to help make it happen. The final tally came to $862,212, and they were only asking for $250,000. I don’t know if that makes this one of the most successful crowdfunding projects of its kind, but I think it’s fair to say that this level of support is pretty impressive.
For those who aren’t aware, Shadows of the Past is more of an enthusiast title, so it might not appeal to the average TMNT fan. That being said, it might just be one of the most interesting TMNT games we’ve ever seen. As we’ve mentioned before, it’s being developed by one of the biggest names in the industry, and it’s pulling heavily from story elements found in IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book franchise. In other words, if you’re more familiar with the classic animated series or even the newer Nickelodeon series, chances are that you might find this game a bit confusing. Of course, that shouldn’t stop you from trying it out if you’re interested, but there’s a reason that this was on Kickstarter – they needed to know that there would be enough consumer demand for the product to warrant making it a reality.
We’re excited to see this much interest in Shadows of the Past, and we can’t wait to see how the game turns out. What do you think? Will you be checking out the latest title from IDW Games when it comes out? Share your thoughts on this awesome TMNT board game either in the comments or via facebook/twitter!
We’ve made it to our latest monthly issue: TMNT COMIC REVIEW ISSUE 55. Let’s break down what we saw:
Writer’s Note: Spoilers Ahead
At the end of TMNT #54, we say goodbye to Slash and learn Michelangelo plans to return to his family, even though he still has reservations about their association with the Foot Clan. We first see Michelangelo returning to the ruined Turtle Lair, which is still in shambles from the chaos leading up to TMNT #50. We see a sad series of panels of Mikey reminiscing of the positive memories he has of his brothers.
We then flash to Alopex and Angel (wearing the Nobody suit). Alopex is clearly struggling with Kitsune’s spell. She still does not fully understand what is going on in her head, but it is likely leading to something big. The two are essentially on a reconnaissance mission gaining intelligence on some Street Phantoms. Harold wants to learn more about the phasing technology the Street Phantoms use, so Alopex engages into battle while Angel stays back to film the action so Harold can learn more. Alopex comes out of the battle a bit bruised up, and sensing something is wrong, Angel insists Alopex goes back to get some rest.
In our next scene, we see Casey and April out at a restaurant with April’s parents. Casey is clearly in a bad mood and it feels like Casey is about to blow.
We flash back to Alopex bringing tea to Kitsune back at the base. Kitsune begins to use her mind control over Alopex, who strongly fights back. However, Kitsune’s powers prove to be too powerful, and we see a glimpse at Alopex’s vulnerabilities. Kitsune gains clear control over Alopex and when the confrontation is over, Alopex seems to have no memory of their interaction. Fortunately, Splinter is standing off to the distance watching the encounter, and now has an idea of what is going on.
Driving home from the restaurant, Casey and April continue to argue. It seems that the messages the Rat King gave Casey during the Casey & April miniseries have really been tearing Casey up inside. The overall theme of the educated April vs. uneducated Casey still lingers, and the two eventually end with putting their relationship on a “break” on a very sour note. To be honest, this was the only part of the issue that did not work incredibly well for me. The Casey and April demise has felt like it has been going on for months. With such little snippets, it is tough to feel really attached to them like we once were. Dialynas is a great artist, but for me, his real specialty lies in the mutant drawings. For me, Casey and April look more different in this issue than any other, which I found distracting to the overall story.
We see a quick, yet important page of Harold having an important virtual conversation with Fugitoid. It looks like the two or scheming something big in relation to Burnow Island. Fugitoid’s “mutant friend” is involved, who is presumably Leatherhead. It is unclear what is exactly going on, but what we do know is that (1) the Turtles are also involved and (2) Harold will be staying back to work on the Street Phantom issue.
Finally, we flash back to Michelangelo, who is still poking around the lair. In a heartwarming peace offering, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello appear with a pizza to share. Donatello explains that there is an upcoming trip to Burnow Island and they would like Michelangelo to join. Smiling and happy, they dive into the pizza, a family restored.
This was a really awesome issue. Besides the lingering Casey and April portion mentioned earlier, Dialynas is a wonderful artist. The page where Kitsune taps into Alopex’s mind is honestly a piece of art for the TMNT history books. Tom Waltz and the rest of the writing gang have been clearly working to build another massive storyline. Between the Street Phantoms, Burnow Island, and Kitsune, we have three major unresolved conflicts in the story. Issue #55 did a perfect job tying loose ends together to explain where the series is heading. Next issue marks the return of artist, Mateus Santolouco, and the Ninja Notes hint that Sophie Campbell will be involved in something in the near future.
Finally, the TMNT creative team is requesting more post-issue Ninja Notes! You can write in your thoughts, questions, etc. to Letters@idwpublishing.com.
By the time we had first written about this awesome crowdfunding project from IDW Games, it had already pretty much been funded. Now, as the campaign for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past nears completion, we can see what all of the stretch goals look like and start getting a sense for how the game will actually play. As a matter of fact, in addition to the listed stretch goals that have been met, IDW has also provided a video detailing what the gameplay will look like when we finally get our hands on Shadows of the Past.
It shouldn’t be too surprising to see that the game plays a lot like many modern board games, and that’s actually a good thing. One interesting dynamic thrown into the game is the fact that Raphael actually works on his own and gets more dice to work with than the rest of the turtles. This aspect of the game reflects not only his bad boy attitude, but also the fact that he tends to work alone whenever possible.
That being said, this won’t stop him from helping out his brothers when he can, as his dice can actually be shared with Leo, Mikey and Donny. Unfortunately, he can’t and won’t use dice from his brothers, as he likes to work alone. We’ve mentioned before that this game was crafted by Kevin Wilson, the man behind the Arkham Horror series. Now we can seek his creativity flourish.
When it comes to stretch goals, it’s fair to say that they’ve really gone all out with this Kickstarter campaign. Not only have they added a lot of miniature figures to the base game, but they have also thrown in a lot of specialty miniatures and even signed lithographs for people who order “The Works” version. Miniatures such as Street Thug Gunners, Street Thug Brawlers, Foot Elite, Foot Bruisers, Old Hob and even Casey Jones have been added to the base game since the project first went live roughly a month ago. For fans who ordered The Works, you can expect to receive Bebop, Rocksteady, Splinter and a bunch of Mousers as well.
In addition to the miniatures, they have also added a few new missions, maps and campaigns involving characters such as the Fugitoid. Each person who gets the game through Kickstarter will also receive a special variant Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic as well. This is likely to be a rarity, since it will no doubt be limited to the number of orders received through this campaign. In other words, if you’re a collector who is looking to get your hands on every TMNT comic, you might want to consider putting your bid in for this game as soon as possible. Keep in mind: stretch goal additions are Kickstarter exclusives, including the miniatures.
There are only 3 days left until the Kickstarter campaign is completed, and they are only a few hundred backers away from adding even more content – most notably a Shredder villain sheet for The Works edition. Even if you’re not typically interested in board games, you have to admit that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past is shaping up to become something truly special. What do you think? Are you going to get this game when it comes out? Have you already backed the project? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments below or via your preferred social platform!