What's Your Stance On Other Mutants

[Luckyday]

In the mirage comics, there weren't really a lot (I don't think there were any other then Leatherhead) of other mutants and that was on purpose in making us feel for these characters with knowledge that there is no one else like them and thus making them look truly alone in the world. It was always part of their pathos but in the archie comics/OT it was pretty much a population explosion. You got your Bebop and Rocksteady. Your Manta ray man. Your punk frogs. Your sexy lizard chick love interest. And your muscle-steroid pump up shark man. A whole community of mutant misfits at our disposal which in hands of a good writer can make some interesting conflict in a story by giving off a whole us verse them mentality while putting the TMNT smack dab in the middle of it.

[Refractive Reflections]

That's very observant of you Luckyday! :)
With mutants, as with any character to be considered intriguing, for me they have to have a good backstory and add some complexity to the Turtles themselves to make them notable. So it really depends on the character development for each mutant from an individual perspective. Some extremes are: one good one is Leatherhead, and a poor one would be Spiderbytez (as some had referred to as "mutant of the week").

From a broader perspective, certainly the OT and Archie universes present that "us versus them" theme, but it's a double-edged sword though. On one hand, the Turtles finally have other mutants to relate to, but on the other, they seem to become a bit more distant in wanting to relate, or form some type of attachment with humanity since they already found "some of their own". One example could be with Michelangelo, in the OT it's prevalent in the first few seasons how he longs to be a part of humanity, but when Mondo Gecko shows up, or at least in passing seasons, there's less emphasis on it. (:P Eh, it could be just inadvertent story writing but you don't see Michelangelo get as "heartbroken" shall we say, about it.)

On a side note, I always wondered if the comic writers used the whole "mutant race" as a metaphor to subtly tackle the issues of racism especially in the mid 1900s (i.e. in older comics like X-men and other stories/comics dealing with mutants). Usually because the mutants had intelligence, feelings, and relationships just like humans but that they were discriminated against and misunderstood, simply because they "looked different".

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

More mutants are nice, since in TMNT, they also have to hide from society.

[Genesis]

I'd say that I'm in between. I hate it when they go overboard and have a million different mutants all over the place, but I also dislike the somewhat stuck-up nature of those who think there should only be the Turtles and Splinter (and Leatherhead). Basically, mutant enemies are cool, especially if they're created in relation to the Turtles (as opposed to being a similarly contrived series of coincidences), but they shouldn't make up the bulk of the Turtles' enemies.

Basically, if we avoid the Archie method, I'll be okay. I hated almost all of the other mutants in that series. I think what makes the difference for me is that the other mutants should be stupid or insane. Now, that's not 100%, but I do tend to be more accepting to new mutants when they're not as mentally stable as the Turtles.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I'd say that I'm in between. I hate it when they go overboard and have a million different mutants all over the place, but I also dislike the somewhat stuck-up nature of those who think there should only be the Turtles and Splinter (and Leatherhead). Basically, mutant enemies are cool, especially if they're created in relation to the Turtles (as opposed to being a similarly contrived series of coincidences), but they shouldn't make up the bulk of the Turtles' enemies.

Basically, if we avoid the Archie method, I'll be okay. I hated almost all of the other mutants in that series. I think what makes the difference for me is that the other mutants should be stupid or insane. Now, that's not 100%, but I do tend to be more accepting to new mutants when they're not as mentally stable as the Turtles.

Mondo Gecko is an awesome friend of the turtles.

[Genesis]

Mondo Gecko is an awesome friend of the turtles.I was okay with Mondo Gecko when I was a kid. Maybe I'm just more accepting to reptiles and avoid mammalian mutants, for the most part (except like, Rahzar).

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I was okay with Mondo Gecko when I was a kid. Maybe I'm just more accepting to reptiles and avoid mammalian mutants, for the most part (except like, Rahzar).

I liked the Archie Comics too, and the Mutanimals gang (which also included two extraterristrials).

[Leo656]

It all depends on how well the characters are written. I think too many is overkill, but saying only the TMNT and Splinter are "allowed" is snobbish and hypocritical. I get the "more mutants makes the characters less unique" argument but I don't fully buy it. Other characters that are established as being mutants don't necessarily have to be in every story, for example. And I think making every TMNT story about them being alone in the universe is too fatalistic and depressing after a while.

I liked how Archie expanded the universe (although the other mutants were 50/50 as far as how well written they were), and I liked that they introduced Ninjara as Raphael's girlfriend, so I guess I'm in the "more mutants" group. But it's a case by case basis; I like the concept and visuals for Tokka and Rahzar, for example, but neither the second film or the cartoon really sold me on how they should be portrayed. The development for the mutant character(s) needs to go further than "Here, more mutants." Otherwise it's pointless.

[BubblyShell22]

I agree that having more mutants isn't necessarily a bad thing at all. As long as the mutants have a good backstory and are well-written, then I'm all for it. I agree in the Nick show that it can be overkill at times, but I also am intrigued at some of their backgrounds such as how we saw more of Xever's life before Shredder came into the picture. I'm kind of intrigued by what Vic's life was like before he became Spyderbitez and more on Dr. Rockwell before he became the monkey.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

It all depends on how well the characters are written. I think too many is overkill, but saying only the TMNT and Splinter are "allowed" is snobbish and hypocritical. I get the "more mutants makes the characters less unique" argument but I don't fully buy it. Other characters that are established as being mutants don't necessarily have to be in every story, for example. And I think making every TMNT story about them being alone in the universe is too fatalistic and depressing after a while.

I liked how Archie expanded the universe (although the other mutants were 50/50 as far as how well written they were), and I liked that they introduced Ninjara as Raphael's girlfriend, so I guess I'm in the "more mutants" group. But it's a case by case basis; I like the concept and visuals for Tokka and Rahzar, for example, but neither the second film or the cartoon really sold me on how they should be portrayed. The development for the mutant character(s) needs to go further than "Here, more mutants." Otherwise it's pointless.

Tokka and Rahzar were more well-written in the 1987 show than the second movie.

[Leo656]

Yeah, but I still don't "buy" them as being that way, I don't know. I think I see them being a little more feral, but way less stupid than as portrayed in the film.

[pannoni1]

For the CGI Nick cartoon, I prefer mutants to humans since they are animated better and allow a greater imagination to take place. For live action, I prefer just a few (though since the new movie is partly CGI, I don't mind more). It forces more obstacles than what a human/regular animal can provide and raises the importance of the mutagen supply. But I don't want so many that the human backstory becomes forgotten.

[CyberCubed]

The original toon had a great balance. New mutants were hardly ever introduced unless they were for major episodes or events.

Archie went overboard with mutant animals, and it seems Nick is going in the same direction but at least there the mutants are mostly monsters and not animals.

[Bossa Nova]

I'm not really getting how only liking the main 5 mutants comes across as "snobbish"? That's such a weird way to view someone's opinion.

In any case, I am one of those folks that really isn't a huge fan of a ton of other mutants. Leatherhead is the only other mutant off the top of my head that I'd be pretty bummed about never seeing again, so I do make an exception for him. IDW's Hob and Alopex are also pretty interesting, but at this point I feel like we're only getting a lot of character depth from Hob and Alopex is starting to fade into another random, boring mutant that I'm liking less and less.

I'm trying to think if there are any other mutants I'm really attached to....nope. Random "monster" mutants can be fun, such as those found in the Notes from the Underground arc (2k3), but all in all I'm just really not too thrilled seeing mutant after mutant. After awhile it starts to lose some of the charm for me in the Turtles truly struggling with being the only one of their kind, not to mention I can only suspend disbelief for so long in pretending normal humans aren't noticing all these random mutants running around.

[DonatelloNinja82]

I'm agreeing with a lot of people here. I like mutants, as long as they are well-written and have a good background story. If they are just randomly thrown in there for an episode idea...not so much.

[Powder]

It's really not a black or white issue. It depends on the universe. I don't want many in the Mirage books, but in the OT, the more the merrier. In a series where the tone is lighter, and there is little to no focus put on the uniqueness of the turtles, I love having other mutants. But when things are a bit more grim and realistic, I prefer there to be few more than the turtles, if any. Sons Of The Silent age could never happen in the OT, for example, and I like being able to walk away from a book/episode like that which leaves a deep emotional impact.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I prefer keeping other mutants to a minimum. Leatherhead is fine, and perhaps a few others, but I agree that the OT and Archie went a little overboard at times. Nick seems to be doing the same. I like how the IDW books are handling mutants- the only ones we have (so far) are Hob and Alopex. (And possibly Rocksteady/Bebop if they haven't already- I will have to wait until the TPB's come out for the issues after Krang War.) I'd like to see Mona Lisa(cause we only have one female mutant so far, and it's a little unbalancing- plus, I'd like to see how they'd handle her), and maybe Baxter become the fly I loved as a kid, but that's about it.

[tmnt transformer]

I always have loved mutants.... The more, the better.

[NYShell]

You're already trying to sell "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". The more mutants you add, the more childish and goofier it gets. It needs to be more grounded. The turtles and Splinter are enough mutants to create a good, solid story without getting stupid.

[CyberCubed]

I prefer keeping other mutants to a minimum. Leatherhead is fine, and perhaps a few others, but I agree that the OT and Archie went a little overboard at times.

How did the OT go overboard with mutants? They hardly ever introduced a new mutant outside of select episodes.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

How did the OT go overboard with mutants? They hardly ever introduced a new mutant outside of select episodes.

It's a common misstake to blame the show for that as an overused plot. The Technodrome running out of fuel, requiring power plant break-in, is probably the shows most overused plot.

[Pterobat]

I can't find the citation at the moment, but I could swear that Laird's problem wasn't specifically more humanoid animal characters, but more characters who were the product of the exact same process that created Splinter and the Turtles.

It all amounted to the same thing in the end, that being a general lack of humanoid animal characters in the Mirage-verse, but I still think that's an important distinction to make. Are we against more humanoid animal characers in general, or just those who are products of the Ooze?

The Archie comics, f'r instance, had humanoid animal characters who weren't Ooze-born. Characters who were aliens (Wingnut, Slash), hidden Earth races (Ninjara and the fox-people), or just showed up out of nowhere (Al'Falqua, Catmandu). They had plenty of other Ooze-made mutants proper, though.

Also, there's FW Baxter Stockman, who wasn't mutated with Ooze but weird magic science.

Me, I think having all the humanoid animal characters be the product of Ooze is unimaginative, and so it's the "real" problem, while having more humanoid animal characters with differing origins isn't a big deal at all. As long as they're well-written characters, which goes without saying.

As for the whole "last of their kind" bit, it's not about being the last humanoid animals on Earth, but the first and only turtles who came from the TCRI by-product.

That means that the Turtles can have scads of human and mutant and alien girlfriends, but since these love interests are not turtles, they're not genetically compatible (or would not be, if the writers were smart), so the TMNT are as much of a "dead end" as they ever were. Eliminating mutants from the storyline isn't necessary to keep this plot point intact.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

How did the OT go overboard with mutants? They hardly ever introduced a new mutant outside of select episodes.


Let's see- there's Leatherhead, the Frogs, Gecko, Mona Lisa, Ground Chuck(and the mole guy whose name I don't recall ATM), Baxter, Tokka/Rahzar, Rocksteady/Bebop, Ray, April and pretty much everyone at Channel Six (at least temporarily) at one point or another (Cat-Woman from Channel Six, Were-Rats...), Mutagen Man, Carter- and that's just the ones I remember. They even introduced a mutant-hunter toward the end of the series. Obviously, mutants were becoming fairly common, enough so that they were considered a "problem" even IN the cartoon's universe itself! And that's not a little overboard? Then what IS?

And then you have the alien/interdimensional anthro characters. Usagi, Hokum, the Turtloids, etc.... Usagi I can handle, but even those others were a bit much.

[Luckyday]

I can't find the citation at the moment, but I could swear that Laird's problem wasn't specifically more humanoid animal characters, but more characters who were the product of the exact same process that created Splinter and the Turtles.

It all amounted to the same thing in the end, that being a general lack of humanoid animal characters in the Mirage-verse, but I still think that's an important distinction to make. Are we against more humanoid animal characers in general, or just those who are products of the Ooze?

The Archie comics, f'r instance, had humanoid animal characters who weren't Ooze-born. Characters who were aliens (Wingnut, Slash), hidden Earth races (Ninjara and the fox-people), or just showed up out of nowhere (Al'Falqua, Catmandu). They had plenty of other Ooze-made mutants proper, though.

Also, there's FW Baxter Stockman, who wasn't mutated with Ooze but weird magic science.

Me, I think having all the humanoid animal characters be the product of Ooze is unimaginative, and so it's the "real" problem, while having more humanoid animal characters with differing origins isn't a big deal at all. As long as they're well-written characters, which goes without saying.

As for the whole "last of their kind" bit, it's not about being the last humanoid animals on Earth, but the first and only turtles who came from the TCRI by-product.

That means that the Turtles can have scads of human and mutant and alien girlfriends, but since these love interests are not turtles, they're not genetically compatible (or would not be, if the writers were smart), so the TMNT are as much of a "dead end" as they ever were. Eliminating mutants from the storyline isn't necessary to keep this plot point intact.

That was always something that some people would feel a little disagreeable towards to as would mean for the franchise to be crossing the line and dipping one's toe into the pool of furries and cloppers.

[miru]

I like the concept of lots of mutants. I prefer a mix of anthro-animal mutants (Ninjara, Mona Lisa, Alopex, etc), elemental mutants (Muckman, Mutagen Man, and Pizzaface), and random monsters.

[Luckyday]

To give my serious answer and I'm not 100% sure cause I am still very torn on the issue.....I think I would like to be only five mutants because I like the theme of being a outcast and trying your place in a society where there is no else like you outside your family while trying to find your place in world. In certain setting it even play out as a coming of age story of finding acceptance of who you are.

[CyberCubed]

Let's see- there's Leatherhead, the Frogs, Gecko, Mona Lisa, Ground Chuck(and the mole guy whose name I don't recall ATM), Baxter, Tokka/Rahzar, Rocksteady/Bebop, Ray, April and pretty much everyone at Channel Six (at least temporarily) at one point or another (Cat-Woman from Channel Six, Were-Rats...), Mutagen Man, Carter- and that's just the ones I remember. They even introduced a mutant-hunter toward the end of the series. Obviously, mutants were becoming fairly common, enough so that they were considered a "problem" even IN the cartoon's universe itself! And that's not a little overboard? Then what IS?

And then you have the alien/interdimensional anthro characters. Usagi, Hokum, the Turtloids, etc.... Usagi I can handle, but even those others were a bit much.

How is that overboard? The show went on for 193 episodes and introduced less than 25 mutants.

[Jester]

I like the concept of lots of mutants. I prefer a mix of anthro-animal mutants (Ninjara, Mona Lisa, Alopex, etc), elemental mutants (Muckman, Mutagen Man, and Pizzaface), and random monsters.
Well there's a shocker.

I'm not opposed to it, as long as they aren't shoehorned into the origin story and there aren't too too many.

[Lord Nightwalker]

I have no issue with it as long as they are well written and well rounded charachters. But realy, that applies to ALL the charachters that might be introduced.

[Xav]

I have to agree with Laird on this that if you have to have more mutants having them all created by the Ooze is just lazy.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

How is that overboard? The show went on for 193 episodes and introduced less than 25 mutants.


How is it NOT?! That is an average of one new mutant about every 8 episodes or so. And some of those mutants had more than one episode! And then you still have oodles of aliens, too- at least five Neutrinos; Dregg and Mung; Klattu, Baratta, and Nikto (props to the writers for that Day the Earth Stood Still ref!); Triceratons; and others I can't even name off hand. Yeah, New York was starting to get a LITTLE over-crowded with aliens and mutants in that show! Heck, MOST of the characters weren't even human!

Not sure what your idea of overboard is, but a new mutant at least once every ten episodes in less than 200 total pretty much fits mine. Especially when some of them appeared multiple times in that 193 episode series. (Frogs, Leatherhead, Baxter, Mutagen Man, Carter....) And that's not counting Muckman and Pizzaace- two I'd forgotten about. Thanks for the reminder, Miru.

[CyberCubed]

How is it NOT?! That is an average of one new mutant about every 8 episodes or so. And some of those mutants had more than one episode! And then you still have oodles of aliens, too- at least five Neutrinos; Dregg and Mung; Klattu, Baratta, and Nikto (props to the writers for that Day the Earth Stood Still ref!); Triceratons; and others I can't even name off hand. Yeah, New York was starting to get a LITTLE over-crowded with aliens and mutants in that show! Heck, MOST of the characters weren't even human!

Not sure what your idea of overboard is, but a new mutant at least once every ten episodes in less than 200 total pretty much fits mine. Especially when some of them appeared multiple times in that 193 episode series. (Frogs, Leatherhead, Baxter, Mutagen Man, Carter....) And that's not counting Muckman and Pizzaace- two I'd forgotten about. Thanks for the reminder, Miru.

Do you watch the show at all? Most episodes do not introduce a new mutant at all. In fact they rarely show up.

The few characters you listed were pretty much the entire lineup of mutants in the series and they weren't many at all.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Are you kidding me?! I GREW UP (well, from sixth grade on) on it! Watched it every day, in fact, and even used to record episodes- and had the episode titles of over half the series memorized- IN ORDER. And lest this sound like the vague ramblings of someone reminiscing over a long-lost childhood, I have recently re-watched EVERY SINGLE episode, purely for research/nostalgia. (I write some fan-fics, and my tales happen to be largely based around the OT/movies.) Even if that IS the entire line-up of mutants, it's STILL at least one mutant every 10 episodes or less- or about 10% of the series. Do the math.

And again, many of them were RECURRING characters. So the mutants(not just the turtles!) sort of dominated the show, along with the aliens. The turtles lived in New York- where were all the HUMANS?! Aside from the Channel Six crew (who ALL got mutated at least once), the few "stock" mob and gang characters, Rat King, and Shredder, there were very few. Most everyone else in the show were not human. Which just proves the point that yes, the OT DID have a slight overload of mutants and other non-humans.

[CyberCubed]

And again, many of them were RECURRING characters. So the mutants(not just the turtles!) sort of dominated the show, along with the aliens. The turtles lived in New York- where were all the HUMANS?! Aside from the Channel Six crew (who ALL got mutated at least once), the few "stock" mob and gang characters, Rat King, and Shredder, there were very few. Most everyone else in the show were not human. Which just proves the point that yes, the OT DID have a slight overload of mutants and other non-humans.

Uh, the Turtles mostly fought Shredder, random robots, gangsters or human mad scientists in most episodes.

[Luckyday]

I have to agree with Laird on this that if you have to have more mutants having them all created by the Ooze is just lazy.

Where exactly did you hear him say that? Can you provide the link?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

FOUGHT, yes. Never said they FOUGHT all or even most of those others, and in fact many of them ended up being allies. (Frogs, Gecko, Mona, and Ray, mostly). The POINT I was making was that they ENCOUNTERED so many to begin with. However, in the OT, even the Frogs started out as enemies (duped by Shredder, of course, but still...) and some of them were at least antagonistic, if not outright enemies. But it always seemed like there were so many that the show skewed heavily toward the Turtles interactions with them, rather than with humans.

BTW- They only really fought Shredder in the first seven seasons or so. For the last two, it was mostly Dregg and his minions- with Shredder coming back toward the end of the last season. And this is where Carter came in, as well. Still proves my point that there were far more mutants running around than there should have been- and need I even mention that most of them were created by Shredder and Krang? There were even several (unnamed) mutants that were seen (briefly) early on while he was still experimenting with human subjects after mutating Rocksteady and Bebop. We never got to see what happened to any of them, either. Presumably, they were either destroyed as failed experiments, or escaped later on. In fact, that brings me to yet ANOTHER mutant from the series- namely, Slash. Made by Rocksteady and Bebop, no less, and was yet ANOTHER example of mutants run amok in the show.

[CyberCubed]

The truth is most episodes of the OT did not feature mutants (excluding Bebop/Rocksteady), most focused on whatever scheme Shredder/Krang were up to or generic humans.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I never said they DID. But there WERE a lot of mutants compared to other versions of the TMNT (excluding Archie). It's not the number of TOTAL TMNT eps that make it seem like overload, its the number of mutant eps in comparison to that total. Or the ratio, if you will. I mean, we have entire episodes that basically were there just to feature new mutant characters (Frogs intro, Leatherhead, Mona, Gecko, etc.) And most of them were minor characters we never see again, or were even just temporary mutations! (Referring to the Were-rats and Cat-woman eps here, of course.) Seems like they were just throwing everything they could at the series in terms of new mutants. A bull, for heaven's sake?! Baxter, I understand, and R/B or even Tokka/Rahzar. But some of them just seemed so dumb and shoehorned in for the sake of having more mutants.

(And those generic humans were really a minority. A few mad scientist types and a few Mob goons or random crooks, but that's about it.) I think maybe you've got the idea that the human baddies were more prominent than they really were. Mostly it was just Shredder and Krang, but they were also the source of most of the mutants! So there you go....

[CyberCubed]

I don't count temporary mutations because they're not major characters. So when April turns into a cat or wasp, who cares? Its not like a new mutant is introduced.

[Pterobat]

That was always something that some people would feel a little disagreeable towards to as would mean for the franchise to be crossing the line and dipping one's toe into the pool of furries and cloppers.

I don't quite get what you're saying--are fans opposed to the interpsecies romances in the TMNT franchise because they attract creepy fans?

Eh, creepy fans always show up, so nobody should try to rein in their storytelling just because some creeps might like it. Interpsecies relationships are so common in science fiction and fantasy, they're almost tame.

Human/Turtle is particularly gross to me, but I'm not surprised the franchise has vaguely played around with the idea, because it's so commonplace.

Hmmm, I guess it's on me. I've been trying for a few hours and I can't source the quote by Peter Laird on how the lack of uniqueness was about Ooze-created mutants and not humanoid animal-things in general, though I've found plenty on how much he hates the idea of a simple "fifth Turtle".

[Luckyday]

I don't quite get what you're saying--are fans opposed to the interpsecies romances in the TMNT franchise because they attract creepy fans?

Eh, creepy fans always show up, so nobody should try to rein in their storytelling just because some creeps might like it. Interpsecies relationships are so common in science fiction and fantasy, they're almost tame.

Human/Turtle is particularly gross to me, but I'm not surprised the franchise has vaguely played around with the idea, because it's so commonplace.

Hmmm, I guess it's on me. I've been trying for a few hours and I can't source the quote by Peter Laird on how the lack of uniqueness was about Ooze-created mutants and not humanoid animal-things in general, though I've found plenty on how much he hates the idea of a simple "fifth Turtle".

Hmm I guess this is what I get for trying to sound smart rather using correct english.:lol:
But in all seriousness I, myself don't mind human/turtle relationship as long it's approach with in the realm of realism but that doesn't I want to see them do it.

[Walkabout]

Bebop and Rocksteady, the punk frogs, Leatherhead, Slash and Baxter fly was enough for me as a kid-Monty Moose and the likes never really rang true to me even then,though I like the figures.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Uh, the Turtles mostly fought Shredder, random robots, gangsters or human mad scientists in most episodes.

Most villains were humans in the 1987 show. Also, since many episodes were set at daylight, we saw more ordinary humans at the streets and parks than in the 2003 and, especially, 2012 cartoon.

[Xav]

Where exactly did you hear him say that? Can you provide the link?From Peter's blog.
My preference would be that -- if you REALLY have to have mutants, and they REALLY have to be made with the same ooze, then there should be some deliberate blending going on, perhaps even to the extent of combining -- to use this last example -- weed material and ooze and then injecting or otherwise introducing that mixture into the bloodstream of a human (or an animal).

Of course, really the best thing to do would be to figure out clever ways to have mutants or weird creatures WITHOUT having them be created with the same glop that mutated the Turtles… but THAT would require creativity and new ideas, which are harder to come by. -- PL
http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/ask-pl-10.html#comment-form

[Genesis]

I dunno. I have to disagree with Laird on this one. It actually makes more sense to me that having multiple successful mutation methods makes the whole thing a little less exciting. THAT undermines the exceptional nature of the Turtles' mutation, since it implies that a similar transformation could be accomplished any old way, rather than the particularly unique nature of the Utrom ooze. I view the Turtles' mutation a lot like Erskine's super soldier serum. Even when using the exact same methods, no one can quite produce as perfect a mutation.

I like having other creatures mutated from the same ooze, simply because they're never as "perfect" as the Turtles, or they shouldn't be, so far as I'm concerned.

[Drose18]

Im half and half for this depending on the mutant to much is to much tho.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Bebop and Rocksteady, the punk frogs, Leatherhead, Slash and Baxter fly was enough for me as a kid-Monty Moose and the likes never really rang true to me even then,though I like the figures.

Monty Moose was never in the show (or comics).

[miru]

I think there needs to be an explanation for why some mutants are mindless.

[Luckyday]

Maybe the mutagen that change the turtles and Splinter was the only one that wasn't polluted hence why the others (except Leatherhead) are either deformed or mentally unstable or C) all of the above.

[NinjaMan]

I love it the more mutants the better. Hoping for Ray Fillet in the nick series.

[CyberCubed]

I like having some mutants, but when it becomes too many it just feels pointless. Extra fodder mutants I don't need.

[pingclang]

Maybe because I'm a nut for the comics but I sort of like the Turtles being our only view of mutants. Granted, I would miss Leatherhead and Bebop and Rocksteady, so I think they can really add to the story and the fun so I'm in the middle. Keep it a low number so it doesn't become "Oh, someone's mutating...eh." That's my biggest problem with the new show, I though Xever and Bradford were really awesome and then they mutated and I really don't like them now.