What are the chances of an Usagi Yojimbo appearance?
 

I know the only reason Usagi appeared in the previous two cartoons is Peter Laird was friends with Sakai and they all wanted him in the cartoon, so Fred Wolf and 4kids agreed to it.

Since PL has nothing to do with the Nick series at all, do you think the Nick execs would approach Stan asking him if they could use Usagi?

I dunno how good the chances are, & I'm not sure if I expect Stan to be contacted...

But, I do hope to see him. I love me some Usagi. Yes indeed.

I've wondered this too, especially if Stan would allow it if asked because Peter isn't involved at all anymore.

I'd love to see Usagi, but right now I wonder how they'd introduce him...gah I hope there isn't a bunny mutate. :(

Somehow I hope Stan would not agree if this is how they want to put Usagi into the show :tgrumble:

If done correctly I would love to see more Usagi in the new cartoon!

Stan allowed Usagi in the OT and Laird wasn't involved. You have to remember that the people in charge of the show are familiar with TMNT so I'm sure they'll try to get it into the show since Usagi has been a part of most turtle incarnations. The only reason Nick might not want to is because they don't want to pay the extra money but counting he's appeared in TMNT videogames and both shows I doubt it'd be expensive.

I kind of, don't want to see Usagi appear anywhere in this generation of TMNT.

I wonder how Usagi was excluded during the sale since Nick bought the 4Kids! show. He's the only character not owned by Mirage to appear in the series, so I bet someone at Nick probably thinks they own that particular likeness of the character or hold some rights to the animated likeness of Usagi. I dunno, just speculating, after all this is a CyberCubed thread.

I would love to see Usagi brought in again!

I think it is shades of death, the turtles are brought in by way of I dunno spiritual transference or time travel, anyway 4 turtles are fetched from the river and a spell is cast on them and the turtles appear in their place

It came to mind seeing as an interesting way to bring Usagi in without the aforementioned bunny mutate

What is wrong with having him as a mutant? I mean really stop and think. At first I was really shocked with all I heard about this new show. I thought how could they even do this. But as I've had time to digest it, it makes since. I have the comics, the FW, and 2k3 all ready. I want something new and fresh. Maybe I'm not the target but I'll watch this show.

I say bring on mutant Usagi. Maybe make him a villian at first and let Leo teach him about honor. Have him grow as a character and then leave to spread bishido.

Stan Sakai might have a problem with that.

It depends on whether Stan will allow it. I really hope they don't bring him in without consulting Stan first though. I'd love to see him because he's awesome.

Because that's not Usagi.

I mean if they want to invent a new warrior rabbit character and give him a new name and a back story like this that's fine, but as someone whose read Usagi's comics for years and really enjoys both his universe and his characters no I don't want to see him changed that much.

Anymore then I would want to see the Turtles be human boys mutated into Turtles and struggling with the change. *shrugs*

But maybe that's just me. :twink:

I guess I just feel that this is a chance to take chances. I'm viewing this kind of the way that Marvel decided to go when they went the Ultimate route. Being 27 I know this show isn't going to be aimed at me. I've excepted that, but I would still like to see them take some chances, change things around. I don't want the FW that I grew up with or 2k3, they would just be rehases. I want something new.

I agree I would like something new and fresh also, but I guess I feel there are still certain things that make characters who they are. I personally would love to see the characters put into situations and face challenges we have not seem them have to deal with before, but I guess I still want the characters recognizable for who they are.

Sort of like I wouldn't want them to change around say Mike and Don's personalities, there is a core to who Usagi is and a universe developed around him that I think would detract from him to change.

Now on the other hand if they want to invent a new warrior rabbit character as an homage to Usagi and go in a completely different direction with him that I would be fine with.

It's not that I want a rehash, I just want them to stay true to the characters for who they are (which they seem to be doing even if they are stretching it with April a little :twink:)

I think the best changes they could make would be to finally include characters we haven't seen in a newer cartoon series or even ever outside of the books.
Broaden the animated universe as it were

Usagi should either stay as he is or if they want to throw in a rabbit related homage or make a joke about a bunny samurai that is fine. It makes me think of Samurai tourist when Gen was dressed up like Rock steady. It was a clever nod to the character, in my opinion anyway

But TMNT and Usagi have been related to each other over the years in pretty much the same way
I agree it would also of course be up to Stan

Don't forget the Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa and the Planet Racers characters, as well as all of Usagi's supporting cast.

This is very true. I would love to see him in the show, but as long as he was used appropiately

I had to stop and think. I'm sort of in the same boat with Casey Jones. He is one of my favorite characters and I want him to be done well. I guess the changes to Usagi weren't bugging me because I don't care about his as much. I am sorry if I came across as a jerk.

Once again, I agree with Reira.....I don't mind some changes here and there, but I do not like it when basic aspects of an established character are tampered with, just to change it up. I feel this way about this "teen April" direction, therefore I totally understand others not wanting to change the essence of what makes Usagi, well....Usagi.

I totally agree with that. I don't want Usagi changed just for something new. He needs to stay true to who he is and not be rehashed in a way that isn't true to his character. He isn't a mutant, so he shouldn't be one.

What I meant was characters not owned either in part/wholly by Mirage.

The C.O.W.Boys are/were created by Ryan Brown, but I forget if they fell under the Mirage ownership umbrella, and the Planet Racers by Peter and Jim.

I did forget about Gen, though. :P

I was hoping someone would take a stab at my original question regarding the cartoon likeness of Usagi, especailly the OT where he looked nothing like his comic counterpart. A simple change of name would technically be enough to skirt around any infringement issues.

They could make a Usagi Analog, as long as he's not too similar of the original. Most comic publishers have a superman analog, they just have to be clever in cheating

Yes, but if they're going to use Usagi, I'd want Usagi, not an "analog."

I don't want things arbitrarily changed just to make them "new and fresh"... There are plenty of ways to make TMNT new and fresh without giving them horns and goatees. You can tinker some, but the things that generally need tinkering are not cosmetic or origins. It's the situations and the strength of the storytelling that make things new and fresh. Not an endless circle of new coats of paint.

If you have a character in mind, but you want to make them completely different than they originally were, but still want to staple the old name on them... JUST MAKE A NEW CHARACTER! In this incarnation of TMNT, I'm going to make a Usagi Yojimbo a motorcycle repair man who accidentally gets mutated into a kung-fu Hyena! It's a totally fresh take on the character... No, it's a new character that you've tried to tell people is someone else.

Marvel and DC can constantly tinker with their creations, because truth be told, nobody really cares what goes on in comics anymore, whatever works or doesn't work, has little effect in the end. They'll just reboot it and retcon it whenever they need to. Batman will always be Batman. Spider-man will always be Spider-man. It doesn't matter how many times they change Spider-man's back story, he's younger, he's older, he's a Skrull, he married Mary Jane, he killed Mary Jane, Mary Jane's a Skrull, he's a clone... Nobody pays attention to that stuff, because at the end of the day Lee & Ditko's Spider-man is Spider-man.

Television is a tougher medium in that sense. With TMNT you've already got a couple of distinct versions of the characters and no particular version is more right than the other. Some more popular, yes, but none more official. The different universes are tied together with very loose threads and that, in and of itself, is the beauty of it all.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that there's massive differences between the OT, the NT and the comics... But each have elements that remain consistent and they all appear new and fresh from one another. When you start changing things just to be "fresh", it's not really doing anything but showing a real lack of depth.

I'll quickly point to GI Joe, which was hardly the greatest cartoon in the universe. However, it had a lot of core elements. The comic books were different, but had a lot of consistent elements. The toys, carried over the same ideas. It all worked... And ever since those original days of Real American Hero, they've been trying to make it "new and fresh" by arbitrarily changing random things and it's never worked. Each and ever version is a new failure. Create new and fresh situations and stories, or new twists on old favorites, don't make Dial-tone a woman, just because it hasn't been done before.

It's that sort of lunacy that led us to crap like Venus.