How Is It Best to Utilize The Punk Frogs?
 

The Punk Frogs as a collective unit of four appeared only twice and had four other episodes which two appeared, mainly Genghis and Napoleon. They also got a shout out in the anime two parter. They have always been my favorite allies because of their concept as a Turtle Team B. At least that is what they appeared to be to me. I always wanted to see a scenario where they had to step in the TMNT's place without resorting to fan fiction. I admit some of their concept like Bebop and Rocksteady is outdated as they had reference in name to the late 70s and 80s Punk movement that has long since ended. I didn't care much for the mutant frog colony that Nick presented in the single episode. The reason is there were so many of them. If there were four of them,equal in number to the Turtles it would fit their concept better. I have nothing against the way Napoleon was portrayed in The Croaking,but would rather see more of an equal screen time for Genghis, Rasputin, and Attila. How could the other fab four work in the future?

Being mutants, it might mess up the flavor but I'm sure there's a BBQ sauce good enough...

http://movingtocambodia.com/wp-conte.../02/frog_1.jpg

The problem with the Punk Frogs is that, unlike the Turtles, they didn't have distinguishing personalities. They all acted the same. They were just a bunch of naïve mutants with stereotypical southern accents. Also, the Turtles had been training with Splinter for years whilst it took Shredder only what, a week to train the Punk Frogs? Felt a bit forced.

One thing I thought of was giving each Turtle an analog with a Frog. Napoleon could be similar in personality to Michelangelo while Genghis could be similar to Leonardo. Attila could be Raphael's analog while it would be a stretch at the moment but can be adapted to work, Rasputin be the Donatello analog. It could be a template to start from and expand upon. We already see those traits in incarnations already that would make Napoleon the Michelangelo of the group as well as Genghis the Leonardo of the Frogs.

I do agree that the training within days expecting them to match the years of the Turtles training is too much of a stretch to let slip in the 'hey,we have to make it work for the sake of the episode's plot' concept.

Or maybe deep fried...
http://img.sndimg.com/food/image/upl.../picXJqO53.jpg

Frog legs are eaten in some parts of my country, but cant' say I've ever tried them. I wonder if they're any good...

Come on Neatoman, I am looking for some serious contributions to this subject.

What of my idea of the Punk Frogs each reflecting a different Turtle? It would give the Turtles more individual stronger friends within the group the way that Casey Jones is with Raphael or Mondo Gecko is with Michelangelo.

But then you'd have just another Turtle team... except they'd be frogs.

People eat Frogs? Maybe in third world countries like they eat monkey brains.

Yeas, they'e eaten in several European countries such as Portugal, France and Slovenia. We also eat snails here as do the French and the Greeks. Are you grossed out yet, dude?

That's some disgusting stuff, I don't know why people would want to eat filthy animals or bugs.

Frogs are filthy?

Snails aren't really filthy. They go through some sort of period where they let their possible bacteria die. It's not like people pick them up and eat them.

I wouldn't eat spiders or roaches, personally, but I think no oen in Europe eats that.

I wouldn't eat a dog or a cat either but if the Chinese and Koreans want to eat them then good for them. Can't be too different from eating a cow or a pig... and did you know Jews and Arabs don't eat pork and many Indians don't eat cows? They probably think you're a barbarian too!

Eating filthy animals like that makes me sick to my stomach. Like why would anyone say, "I want to eat frog's legs?"

Maybe it's because I live in America but anything outside the usual of chicken, beef, fish, pig, etc...just sounds sick to me.

Frogs aren't really filthy tho. It's not like people are eating the poisonous kinds.

Horse meat used to be eaten here some decades ago. That sounds interesting.

In Norway I had whale. Tasted like cheap tuna which is odd since whales aren't fish. I also tried reindeer and moose meat.

How do you feel about duck and rabbit meat? Rabbit is fairly popular in my country. Well it's not something most people eat everyday but at times they will eat it. I don't like it much, though. Too many bones. As for duck it's nice but not very filling and it's quite expensive.

I've eaten kangaroo from an Australian food truck, oddly enough I thought it tasted like crayfish. Swedish style crayfish, not American style.

Duck is good, horse is like really good cow and I love reindeer and moose. I also ate Zebra from that food truck, tastes pretty much the same as horse. Haven't tried rabbit or whale though.

I can't believe you guys enjoy eating filthy exotic animals. We're not savages anymore that live in the wilds like cavemen, there's no reason modern humans should eat this stuff.

There used to be an Australian restaurant back in the 90s here which opened during the world fair(Lisbon got it in 1998). never ate there but the menu had crocodile and kangaroo meat iirc.

As for duck, I always ate Beijing Duck whenever I'd go to a Chinese restaurant.

Whale? Well other than Norway and Japan where else is it legal to sell that meat?

Cow, pig, fish and chicken can get rather boring, haven't you at least had shrimp or clam?

Whale meat? I think it's legal in Iceland, they have shark too. Haven't really eaten that but I hear it's similar to surströmming, which I have eaten many times.

Can you all please stay on topic? 8) Yes, some people only eat a certain number of meat while others are region specific with a country or specific to a country or two. Now about how to improve upon The Punk Frogs...

Zebra, moose and whale are "filthy"? Since when? :lol:

I'm not really adventurous with food and was a very picky eater when I was a kid. I usually stick to familiar stuff. Ofc when I went to other countries I tried some local stuff but that's it. I only have whale, moose and snails like once in my whole life.

F#ck 'em, they're an inherently bad idea and it's better to forget about them than to pretend anything interesting can some out of them. It's a far more productive discussion to talk about diversity in the meat dishes.

I tried snails once, kinda like squid but with more parts in them.

Eh I already said pretty much everything I had to say about them. :tlol:

I don't remember much but I liked them. The snails we eat here are small tho and not those big escargot ones the French eat.

Squid is OK but I much prefer octopus. The only Portuguese dish I eat on a regular basis is Polvo à Lagareiro. Google it. **** is good.

Ooooh, I love octopus! I think I prefer squid though, personally. In its own ink sauce? Freaking delicious.

I love duck, rabbit, venison, all that gamey meat. Bison is good too.

I don't think I've ever had frog legs. I had alligator a couple times though. There's an inherent spiciness to it, almost

I don't like spicy food. Always had bad experiences with it. hate having my tongue on fire.

I think the best thing with the Punk Frogs is to give them personalities. As previously said, they really don't have distinguishing characteristics. While I liked them, the only thing I remember about them when I was a kid was that one of them had exploding arrows. Literally, that was it.

There's potential there though. With a four-on-four dynamic, you could play around with similar/dissimilar traits to their turtle counterparts. Though, I think a better approach would to not necessarily "pair" them with any particular turtle opposite but to develop different traits for each of them. I've found in the past that if you develop good characters, storylines tend to write themselves so I think that would need to be a starting point for the frogs in the future.

I see what you mean,like Hob's characterization, Slash's bond with both Slash and Mike and you bring in Agent Bishop and knowing who he is from other versions it writes itself.

So instead of the Mike Frog, the Leo Frog,etc. give them individual personalities,but not try to connect them to different Turtles. What personalities do you see from what is presented from what little they have appeared in?

The only other way I can see them used is if Bishop controls 4 Frogs and uses them against the Turtles.

Nah, I say just leave em be in the past where they belong. They're a one-note joke

The few personality traits that I could pull from the few episodes they were in (and honestly, these are probably greatly influenced by my interpretation of small details) were:

Rasputin definitely seemed the most intelligent (of the group) and if I was going to give the group a leader, it would be Rasputin.

Genghis seemed the most naïve about the world in general.

Napoleon the most trusting.

Attila maybe physically the strongest as his weapon requires the most strength to wield?

Switch around the leader,huh? Genghis was the leader of the group when depicted in the 1987 cartoon. Then in the 2012 cartoon we see Attila as the leader of a tribe of mutant frogs. Rasputin has not had a turn yet. So since different incarnations had different leaders why not?

Perhaps with Napoleon, he could be the one interested in making friends outside of his group. That would be a way for the Turtles to see past the Punk Frogs as an enemy if they start off as adversaries.

Thanks for your thoughts. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who enjoyed them above nearly every friend the TMNT ever had. Such little put into them yet such a concept waiting to be fleshed out.

Perhaps the punk frogs could've been part of the Mighty Mutanimals, who never appeared in the 87 toon. I could see the 87 punk frogs, Mondo Gecko, Mona Lisa and even Usagi being a part of the MMs if there was one made for the OT.

IDW is introducing the Toad Baron with a lot of frog followers, it's not too out of the question the Punk Frogs could be introduced.

I'd change Rasputin's name first...it's a massive break in the naming trend. Rasputin was neither a conqueror, nor a military leader, so why was he included as a namesake?
Napoleon, Ghengis, Atillia, and Alexander is what I would go for.

The punk frogs do work as a dark mirror to the turtles, I usually make them a bit more extreme in personality, so that it creates a parallel, and the two teams aren't always on good terms. Usually, I make Genghis the cautious leader, Attila the smart tactician/aide, Napoleon as the angry brute-strength tank, And Rasputin the snarky smart-aleck (to darkly parallel Mikey's party attitude) Use whatever characters you see value in, and do something interesting with them! :)

Hmm. A good question. Personally I'd like to see them with different traits from the turtles entirely. A bit more peaceful and shy, but still capable fighters when need be. The Southern accent fits well. (And could someone PLEASE tell Cubed that Cajun cooking is a thing? Honestly frog legs, crawfish, and gator tail are STAPLES in Southern Cajun cuisine!!) But I would also maybe give them a few interests similar to the turtles as well, for common ground as allies.

As for the naming thing, Rasputin wasn't a conquorer per se, but historically he was rumored to be the power BEHIND the throne of the Czar at that time, and was supposed to be heavily into both occult practices and politics in spite of being the family physician, hence "the Mad" in Rasputin the frog's name. Shredder had some pretty twisted role models apparently....

The best way to utilize the punk frogs... is by not utilizing the punk frogs.

At best, vaguely frog-like aliens on some planet.

I'm sure Skippy is proud.

Kind of defeats the whole purpose of using them.

You expecting serious contribution from him regarding the FW show?! :lol:

Good for you, anyway getting back to the topic...

The Punk Frogs were terrific in their first appearance but I don't think the writers did enough to make them central to the plots. In their later appearances they were sort of tagged on. I do agree they needed more to tell them apart in personality. Great, great execution of idea but not developed over the course of the show.

How about them being mistaken for the Turtles killed by their enemies? Perfect opportunity to fake their deaths.

They'd have to be some pretty dumb enemies to not be able to tell the frogs from turtles. Even Bebop and Rocksteady at their very dumbest could tell them apart.

That Purple Dragon from the first episode of the 4Kids show thought they were frogs and Spider-Bytez thought they were frogs. So yes, they have been mistaken for frogs.