Anyone find it interesting all the mutants so far have been human ----> animal?
 

With the exception of the Turtles, all the mutants in the show have been human to animal, rather than just animals becoming intelligent.

Snakeweed, Spiderbites, Dogpound and Fishface were all normal humans before being mutated. I find this interesting that we've never had a regular animal just become intelligent yet.

My guess is Leatherhead will be the first of that, the next normal animal mutated into a gator like the Turtles. There is a very small possibility they'd go with the Jess Harley origin, but I seriously doubt it.

Yes, I guess because it would take someone to straighten-up and raise them right. You know, so they learn basic language, among other things.

I saw this coming given Nick's Fred Wolf inspirations to this series. Typically, incarnations with a human Splinter origin favor human to animal mutations. It does it make it more interesting in that each mutant has the potential to either demutate to an animal or return to a human, which I feel that Nick should do since there was never a moment in Fred Wolf where an human turned mutant that was around in multiple episodes never permanently returned to normal, and I can find this to be a very resolving plot. It also allows comparisons between their human and mutated incarnations, whether they become stronger, dumber, or wiser. It also could mean that April and Casey are once again fair game for human---> animal mutations (I'd love to see a mutated Casey for an episode).

Snakeweed is a plant :P

I will be a little sad if this Leatherhead is another gator and not a croc.

Why?
As far as I can tell he was an exotic pet originally, an alligator is typically kept rather than crocodiles

Speaking of Spidebites, I thought it was so strange that this

Crocodiles look cooler. That's seriously my only reason.

And Berzerker, you are certainly not alone, there, but perhaps he gained - dare I say it - the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider. Dunno about his amazing aim with his venom-vomit. Spiders have pretty crappy vision, so I have no idea how he's doing all that.

The mutants so far seem totally cool with the whole thing, past the five seconds of, "Look what you did to me!"

The guys spider sense must have been kicking in.

What I wonder is why Splinter and the Turtles became relatively normal looking when they mutated while everyone else we've seen mutate so far became one step away from an eldritch abomination?

Yeah I guess that's just one of the quirks of the TMNT universe. Splinter is the only one who reacted like a normal person would.

Because bad guys

Ah yes, the old "what measure is a non cute" thing. Gotcha.

Yeah and there's this whole idea that the TMNT became popular because they were turtles (since turtles are cute and likeable and not scary) and would have been a flop if they were lizards or snakes or something.

And the Rat King is gross and scary because he's a human that lives like a rat, whereas Splinter is OK because he's a rat that lives like a human. All kinds of preconceptions we have about animals come into play in the TMNT world.

Don't want to derail the thread though.

Considering we're only 3 episodes in so far I don't really think this is setting the precedent quite yet.

2 things. 1st, Snakeweed is a plant, not an animal. And second, we're only 3 episodes in the series, or 2 if you count rise of the turtles as one episode.

There was a fifteen year gap between when Splinter and the Turtles mutated and the present. Maybe the newer batches of mutagen are adjusted to make more powerful mutants?

We may only be 3 episodes in, but guys! GUYS! We know of 2 other humans to mutants that WILL happen! So...there's 5 out of 9 of the shows mutants! EGAD!

I guess it's because they consider such mutations more compelling to the narrative. It also makes for more tragic situations.

As for the more grotesque creations of mutagen, the chemical composition is probably different but it just points out another potential inconsistency with how the mutagen works.

And we're not even sure what the Kraang intend to do with the mutagen. They carry it around a lot and there's surely a reason why they usually have it on hand and keep so much of it in their facilities. We also don't know why they kidnapped the scientists. Maybe some experiments are in the works.

I like how the people turn into living things and not necessarily just animals as evidenced by Snakeweed. It makes the show seem different yet similar to the OT.

Maybe Nick mutagen works like the Super Soldier Serum in Captain America, because they are evil, their mutations are more gross...so in essence the "Because, Bad Guys" argument from earlier.

Leatherhead will probably be the first animal mutant, he'll probably be connected to the Turtles that way and it might be how he eventually becomes a good guy. Like how Mondo Gecko and Mikey felt a connection in the original toon.

I'm still wondering if Baxter will get turned into a fly eventually...it could go either way at this point.

I disagree with this. We aren't sure of the mutagen's actual purpose yet. It could be something entirely different (a la 2k3). The two (secondary character) mutants we've seen so far have been actually accidents.

I just hope the first season isn't a mutant/monster of the week kind of thing.

Personally, I think I don't mind the human to mutated animal thing myself. I like the concept, if only thanks to the classic cartoon's equivalent of Splinter. IMHO, on that note, it probably also made it a bit more "child-friendly" to say that Splinter was originally human, rather than the pet rat of a person who the Shredder murdered.

not by much really, Tang Shen died. But it seems more from the fire that broke out during the fight then Shredder actually kills her.

I'm thinking, that because rats and turtles have 4 limbs like humans, they are more humane than a human/weed and a human/spider. But Spiderbites really looks stupid and I hope there is a good reason for Snakeweed's exposed heart, other than getting hit in the episode where they finally get rid of him. Not really fond of either of them.

Spiderbytes reminds me of Octohead from Clayfighter 2.

I think Bebop and Rocksteady should be mutated from normal animals in this show, in order to balance things out.

So maybe Raph should be a little uglier than the rest of hes brothers because he is the bad boy of the group lol.

But seriously, maybe it's because the turtles where afected by another version of the mutagen thats like 15 years old.

Huh. That's one way of looking at it.

Hell no. If Bebop and Rocksteady aren't human then they might as well have been different characters entirely.

I think the NIck series operates under the idea that ANYTHING can mutate -- the 2-episode pilot introduced us to this concept very quickly with snakeweed.

but, I think even inanimate things can mutate. For example look at fishface's sword... there is some speculation that his sword looks that way because it has been 'mutated' -- maybe true? He hasn't been introduced yet so who knows.

But obviously Kraang tech (mutagen and otherwise) can do some very powerful and weird things. Stockman's suit was a great example.

Nobody has really mentioned it, but perhaps the amount of mutagen you come in contact with alters how much you mutate (ie: become a "monster") which could explain why the baddies have been more evil looking. They've had pretty hefty doses, whereas we don't know exactly how much got on the Turtles.

Also, the Turtles weren't human to animal, they were animal to human, so that actually puts the show closer to even in the ratios.

I think the Retromutagen Ooze is semi-magical on this show and mutates you depenidng on your personality. Mutants who used to be good people or ordinary animals are normal looking, while bad people wind up monsters.

Let me just say, "Pigeon Pete."

I think the ooze on this show has the unique ability to be and do whatever the writers and toy makers need it to be or do.

Yeah. With Bradford and Xever it started off making enough sense with one getting bit and the other eating the fish. But it pretty much broke the rules of the show when they clearly touched the turtles seconds before exposure.

Then you have that rat... walking near Splinter's shoe was enough to turn him? I dunno.

The Turtles are already mutants though, so Bradford/Xever getting touched by them probably doesn't have the same effect.

But yeah, I guess Nick is not really thinking this through that much.

Would you go so far as to say it makes LESS sense than FW mutagen?

I would say so.... I mean Bradford got bit by Hachiko like. way earlier in the day... and Xever ate that fish... I can almost heard Andrew say now 'So... if I ate a burger being doused with Mutagen, would that turn me into BullMan?'

Yeah. At least it looks awesome.