What I'd Like to See in TMNT IDW

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

My own personal wishlist for what I really want to see in future storylines of TMNT:

• Leatherhead (I think I speak for us all)
• Agent Bishop
• Mikey and the Mutanimals
• A follow-up to Mikey's micro-issue "The Dresden Heist" in some form or fashion (it's the only issue of IDW's TMNT to not be connected to the overarching story in any way)
• Raphael and Old Hob forced to work together for a mission
• Some form of adapting some part of The Next Mutation (if IDW can adapt the Mighty Mutanimals and Donny's death and cyborgification, they can spin gold out of TNM's straw, too)

There are plenty of other cool ideas, which I have no doubt you guys will tack on, but that's my personal to-die-for pretty-please wishlist for the IDW team.

[PangolinFeets]

Thise are some good ones. I'd love to see more Mikey orientation. And I'm looking forward to LH still.

Right now the absolute top of my list is an Angel/Alopex micro. I'd love to see that happen! Their BroTP is one of my favorite things in the series now.
I'd also like to see Koya and Bludgeon get to do more, but it looks like they're gonna get some spotlight in the next few issues.

I'd also like to see Leo get a buddy. I feel like he's close with Splinter and his brothers, but doesn't have a 3rd party personal relationship with anyone like the others do. Raph has Casey and Alopex, Mikey has Woody and Slash, Donnie has April and Harold and Fugitoid. It'd be cool to see Leo have a relationship with someone other than his immediate family (I nominate Angel). I feel like the convos the turtles get with the secondary and tertiary cast gives us some of the most insight into their true feelings.

I'd also love a story that focuses on the growing mutant population in NYC. This could segway into a Bishop story. Angel talked about mutants like they were a problem on the streets so it has to be somewhat well-established info that mutants exist. What is NYC gonna do about it? I'd like something just addressing that the world is recognizing these issues. Did anyone know about Burnow island or did the world's scientists just miss that part of Earth has a different atmosphere now?

[Powder]

-I wanna see Dragonlord & Vam Mi from The Next Mutation. I'm also open to the other villains, Bonesteel, Dr. Quease, even Silver. They've all got great potential. I'd like to see the aliens from that one cover of Utrom Empire get explored. The original characters from the old live action flicks would be great to see too, Tatsu especially, assuming they're not owned by Golden Harvest or whoever else.

-Seemed like they were making reference to the Sons Of The Silent age sea creatures & Vol. 4's tree people, but it was nothing more than a cover, I guess. So other races from TMNT lore getting introduced would be neat. The big hermit crab creatures from Fugitoid's debut would be awesome see return, if only briefly.

-I'd like to see the battle nexus re-visted (which is a great place to give old characters a cameo, be they from the vintage toyline or 4kids series or whatever) & more like it- time travel, dimension hopping, that kinda thing.

-More crossovers, & not just with other properties. I'd like to see the IDW turtles meet the Mirage and/or Archie turtles. A Turtles Forever for the comics done as a collaborative effort between IDW & Mirage guys. But maybe have their collective memory of the event wiped at the end so as not to mess with anyone's continuity.

-Still want some more influence from sources other than the OT. Pull some more from Image/4kids/Mirage/etc.

-I'm craving a Triceraton arc. Let's dooo iiiit.

-Robots! I feel like that's something this series lacks, besides Metalhead & Fugitoid. Bad guy robots, that's what I want. New ones, old ones, I don't care. I'd love to see Chrome Dome, for one thing.

Originally Posted by PangolinFeets

I'd also like to see Leo get a buddy. I feel like he's close with Splinter and his brothers, but doesn't have a 3rd party personal relationship with anyone like the others do. Raph has Casey and Alopex, Mikey has Woody and Slash, Donnie has April and Harold and Fugitoid. It'd be cool to see Leo have a relationship with someone other than his immediate family (I nominate Angel). I feel like the convos the turtles get with the secondary and tertiary cast gives us some of the most insight into their true feelings.

As a Leonardo fan, I do not want this. I think part of Leo's appeal is that he doesn't have that. Raph always gets the loner angle but at the end of the day he always ends up grounding himself & talking out his problems with someone, be it Casey, Splinter, Alopex, whomever. Leonardo may not break away or abandon his family but he's very much a loner in the sense that he shoulders the burdens himself. He doesn't like to let his guard down or let people inside his head, that's part of the leader experience for him. He has to be strong for everyone else's sake, put on a brave face, etc. But that fuels him, when he overcomes those personal struggles on his own it makes him that much stronger. If he were to have an acquaintance, I'd rather them be a training partner more than anything else. Fill the kinda role that Usagi would, were he a part of this series. Maybe I'm selfish because I identify with that aspect of Leo & wanna maintain that connection, but really, that's how it is. I'm not projecting for my own enjoyment's sake. I suppose it could be cool if someone free & loose took him somewhere to show him a good time & break away from the stoic hero shtick for a little bit, but I dunno that I'd want it to be a regular thing.

One idea that could work would be giving Leonardo a friend he meets in the astral plane while meditating. He doesn't see their true form but knows they're not human, they bond over that. Turns out they're trapped there & are using him to break out. Make it Dragon Lord. Boooooom. Leonardo feels betrayed, he's gotta struggle with trust & vulnerability again, blah blah blah. Easy peasy.

[MikeandRaph87]

Leatherhead like most ther,however I want to see him as a villain.

Agree on Agent Bishop. Another fun charfacter. Bishop is layered and its a good angle to have a villain think he is doing good.

Hope for more with the Battle Nexus angle and what could come from that. Traximus? Usagi? Armaggon somehow involved in this or time travel?

[spookycookies]

So many great ideas here. I really want IDW to keep up on their original ideas as well as mixing in good chunks of established TMNT characters and concepts. It reminds me of the best parts of the ultimate marvel universe with none of the growing pains.

Leo should have more of a connection to the world beyond his family. Maybe since he's so spiritual he would be able to be closer friends to Radical... (I don't expect anything like Tales v2 but I'd like to she her and Carnage in the IDWverse.)

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Powder

As a Leonardo fan, I do not want this. I think part of Leo's appeal is that he doesn't have that. Raph always gets the loner angle but at the end of the day he always ends up grounding himself & talking out his problems with someone, be it Casey, Splinter, Alopex, whomever. Leonardo may not break away or abandon his family but he's very much a loner in the sense that he shoulders the burdens himself. He doesn't like to let his guard down or let people inside his head, that's part of the leader experience for him. He has to be strong for everyone else's sake, put on a brave face, etc. But that fuels him, when he overcomes those personal struggles on his own it makes him that much stronger. If he were to have an acquaintance, I'd rather them be a training partner more than anything else. Fill the kinda role that Usagi would, were he a part of this series. Maybe I'm selfish because I identify with that aspect of Leo & wanna maintain that connection, but really, that's how it is. I'm not projecting for my own enjoyment's sake. I suppose it could be cool if someone free & loose took him somewhere to show him a good time & break away from the stoic hero shtick for a little bit, but I dunno that I'd want it to be a regular thing.

One idea that could work would be giving Leonardo a friend he meets in the astral plane while meditating. He doesn't see their true form but knows they're not human, they bond over that. Turns out they're trapped there & are using him to break out. Make it Dragon Lord. Boooooom. Leonardo feels betrayed, he's gotta struggle with trust & vulnerability again, blah blah blah. Easy peasy.

I never understood why Leo never had a human counterpart... that's a really neat observation!!!

And I love the Dragon Lord idea. That ROCKS.

[Cryomancer]

I want Karai to kill Shredder and maybe someday Krang too if he comes back.

I wanna see what happens with the utrom island left behind. Bishop could be involved there somehow. I'd like Leatherhead to be there, as a scientist. I don't know that I like the idea, but maybe they'll mutate Harold, or one of the scientist ladies in the Mutanimals comic.

Battle Nexus is always a great potential concept as long as they do something with it. Mirage was starting to but didn't really get into the meat of it yet, in 2k3 it was sort of like a summer camp or something for the TMNT. I want to characters to meet themselves and stuff.


Leonardo having an actual friend is sort of weird, I agree with the training partner concept though. Usagi is decent for that, but I think Karai is also often that role for him, someone to test himself against and "swords sharpening swords" and all that. Perhaps an alternate Leonardo in the Battle Nexus would work there. That idea above of meeting someone in meditation is a neat idea too.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

the two characters I would love to see the most in IDW are Mona Lisa and dragon lord.I have a way I'd work them in (might write it) but I'd love to see what tom would do.

[Metalhead 2.0]

Oh, man. I have so many ideas, but I just don't have time to tell you all of them right now!

[spookycookies]

While still on the topic of Leonardo matchmaking: How about that ex-foot Ninja with the Scar... was his name Scar? I forget. He was in Tales v2. He could be a Foot as an origin and have Leo fight him but not kill him, and this guy's personal sense of honor leads him to believe that he's now in debt to Leo. It would be cool if this happened during Dark Leo's saga but something similar could still fit.

[Jephael]

The original Archie line-up of Mutanimals.

[mrmaczaps]

Triceratons...

A TMNT Forever but standalone... Not tied to either Mirage or IDWs current run. This way it can tie in, IF YOU WANT IT TO, but it doesn't have to... (Does that make sense?)

The super hero guys from volume one of Mirage... The dude from Image, the white knight (I think) or whatever. Obviously he couldn't be the exact same character but then again, he wasn't "original" to Image either...

To go back to the TMNT Forever, it could be a mini series... Start with the IDW characters meeting the Mirage v1 aged characters, then the Archie's, and then, if possible the Image versions prior to the fan conclusion and then a future tale from v4 aged TMNT and then the cartoon versions can play too. That'd be fun. Quarterly. Double (triple?) sized issues. Not rushed. Give a decent well thought out reason for it to happen and the Fred wolf bebop & Rocksteady cannot save the day again... Lol


That's all I have...

[Sophie Campbell]

- more Pepperoni!!
- a Koya/Bludgeon team-up story or single issue where they pal around like an evil mutant buddy cop team.
- Alopex's fur changes to brown with the seasons (something we actually briefly discussed when i was drawing TMNT!).
- i know IDW/Nick don't have the rights to The River, but i'd love a spin on that story where one of the Turtles gets demutated.
- April dumps Casey and either stays single for once or gets together with Angel.
- an ongoing Leo/Koya rivalry. he should be her arch-nemesis!
- characters from the 1985 Palladium TMNT RPG that Kevin and Peter worked on, like the Sparrow-Eagles, the Terror Bears, Caesar and his mutant weasels, and the awesome porcupine mutant on page 43.
- more Lindsay.
- more original characters and ideas created just for the IDW series.

[Duke Nukem]

Hun dead, preferably at Casey's hands. Casey would be damaged psychologically more than he already is, and this could manifest itself in all kinds of interesting ways.

Definitely more Triceratons. Traximus would be a good one to introduce.

I'd like to see more Old Hob, depending on how Mutanimals #4 turns out. His Malcolm X type personality is interesting to see in action.

The return of Gridlock (ok, not really)

The turtles actually doing some killing. Not in the sense that their actions allowed a sequence of events that resulted in someone's death, but straight up two sais shoved through the brain hemispheres, or Mike bashing someone's skull in. It's more than past time for that, though I doubt Nick/Viacom sees it the same way. Revenge for Don is motive enough, and no one says that vengeance has to land on the right target to make for a good story.

Herman's back story explained (and Mondo also)

Mutagen Man commits suicide. Nothing less makes any sense. He could do it in a way to sacrifice himself for his new team.

[Wentos]

- I want to see miniseries focusing on each individual turtle. The turtles are obviously a team, but I'd love to spend more time with each turtle and learn more about them.
- I would love to see a street-level arc. There's been a lot a sci-fi/supernatural material in the comic, and obviously that's a big part of TMNT, but I really want to see some gritty, urban crime stuff. Something akin to the first issue of the Mirage book, or the 1990 live-action movie, or Tristan Jones's Tales run.
- I suspect we're going to get this very soon, but I'd love to see a definitive throwdown between the turtles and Shredder. No retreating, just a knockdown, drag-out brawl with one clear winner and a major status quo change.
- Another one I suspect is coming sooner rather than later, but I really want to see a new Big Bad. We've gotten 50 issues of Shredder and Krang, and believe me they're great villains, but I don't want the book to coast off of those two forever. A new looming adversary to occupy the turtles' time would be awesome, like the Triceratons or Null or Bishop. Or hell, give us someone new.
- I can't wait to see more of the Battle Nexus. I always thought it was a really neat idea. And I know it's a long shot but God, I want to see Miyamoto Usagi again.

[neatoman]

I would like to seewhat happens to the Utroms now that Krang is in prison.

[PangolinFeets]

Originally Posted by Powder

As a Leonardo fan, I do not want this. I think part of Leo's appeal is that he doesn't have that. Raph always gets the loner angle but at the end of the day he always ends up grounding himself & talking out his problems with someone, be it Casey, Splinter, Alopex, whomever. Leonardo may not break away or abandon his family but he's very much a loner in the sense that he shoulders the burdens himself. He doesn't like to let his guard down or let people inside his head, that's part of the leader experience for him. He has to be strong for everyone else's sake, put on a brave face, etc. But that fuels him, when he overcomes those personal struggles on his own it makes him that much stronger. If he were to have an acquaintance, I'd rather them be a training partner more than anything else. Fill the kinda role that Usagi would, were he a part of this series. Maybe I'm selfish because I identify with that aspect of Leo & wanna maintain that connection, but really, that's how it is. I'm not projecting for my own enjoyment's sake. I suppose it could be cool if someone free & loose took him somewhere to show him a good time & break away from the stoic hero shtick for a little bit, but I dunno that I'd want it to be a regular thing.

One idea that could work would be giving Leonardo a friend he meets in the astral plane while meditating. He doesn't see their true form but knows they're not human, they bond over that. Turns out they're trapped there & are using him to break out. Make it Dragon Lord. Boooooom. Leonardo feels betrayed, he's gotta struggle with trust & vulnerability again, blah blah blah. Easy peasy.

Maybe 'buddy' wasn't right word. More like a companion, training partner, rival, confidant or however you wanna put it. It doesn't need to be the same kind of relationship Mikey has with Woody, just an equal opportunity to hear what's going on in Leo's head and bounce off an interesting personality. Just someone that could develop him more, aside from Splinter. It feels less like he's chosen to be a loner and more like he doesn't get as much negative space as the others to figure out where he stands. Maybe its just becoming extra-apparent, especially in this past issue because everyone got a chance to have some outside-family interaction except Leo.

As much as its nice to see references to all the other series/versions of turtles, I love their original material so much that I don't feel like I need it. More original characters and stories, please. Although Triceratons and Bishop would be cool (and I still think it would be cool if Bishop was a woman).

Herman's backstory!! Yes! I'd also like the reincarnation aspect explored more. I know its the effect of the 'splintering' agent that was used on Splinter to unlock his past life, but then couldn't we see this with Slash too?

Someone mentioned doing micros for the turtles again and that could be cool. It'd also be neat to do dual micros, like Don/Leo and Raph/Mikey.

[Mormegil]

I have to say i'm really happy with how the series has gone so far. The team obviously knows what they're doing so I don't think they need any help in that department. I can't wait to see what they do with the rest of the mutanimals characters.

-BUT for the sake of discussion. I would like to see shredder be killed. and not in some lame indirect way. You can only keep the fight going between the turtles and shredder for so long. A big part of the reason i want to see him go is so Karai can step in and her character really get fleshed out.

-More Triceratrons, but with Krang out of the picture that probably won't happen.

-I keep seeing people mention Mikey and the mutanimals around here and the more i think of it the more i like the idea as well. It would be kinda wonky having Old Hob in the mutanimals still so maybe he would have to go.

-Put Usagi in as someone for Leo to identify with. The biggest reason is because i'm a huge Stan Sakai and usagi fan.

[Weapons@theready]

Another visit to the Future...

[Metalhead 2.0]

Alright, I have a busy day today today so I'm going to have to give mine in segments as I get time.

- I want to see Karai violently kill Shredder, assume leadership of The Foot, and become a more ruthless villain than he ever was. From what we've seen her ultimate motivation is for the glory of The Foot, so maybe she blames the Hamato family and Saki's vendetta against them for for the downfall of The Foot Clan that SHE alone rebuilt. Maybe this fuels her hatred for the turtles and she focuses all her resources on their demise. Maybe she even dons the Lady Shredder armor?

- Kitsune steals Saki's dead body and somehow through some combination of her witchcraft and mutagen she mutates and resurrects him again as Super Shredder. This should be a short story arc (maybe 2-4 issues) before the turtles finally finish him off for good.

- I don't think the Triceratons have a good fit in the series just yet, but what I DO think would totally work is a Pepperoni mini-series. The last time we saw her she was in the cave with the turtles when they phased out into another time period leaving her behind. Also the Utroms were just beginning to toy with the idea of mutating dinosaurs. Maybe the Utroms capture her and she becomes one their first Triceraton mutations. Then at some point Renet returns (at Raphael's request) and they go on a series of time-hopping adventures together, eventually meeting back up with the turtles in the current timeline. And she HAS to keep the mask Raph gave her. It should be called something like PIZZA TIME! The Adventures of Pepperoni and Cheese Renet or Pepperoni in Time. Once she's in the current timeline she could become a member of the Mutanimals.

More to come later...