How would you deal with character redundancy in TMNT?
 

Throughout all the TMNT series and comics there are a lot of characters that overlap with each other and feel redundant. How would you deal with this? For example:

- Dogpound and Rahzar are both based on dogs/wolf's. Nick did the smart thing by making Dogpound into Rahzar, rather than introducing Rahzar on top of having Dogpound.

- The Evil Turtlebot from 4kids is just Metalhead to me. In the actual episode they never say the name of the robot turtle, only the toy/videogame does. So to me Evil Turtlebot is the same character as Metalhead.

- Lotus Blossom is OT Karai.

- Bloodsucker and Wyrm are the same character.

- Old Hob from IDW will become Verminator X from Archie. Just you wait.

- Cockroach Terminator and Scumbug are the same character to me.

- Tiger Claw from Nick Season 2 is just Katamundo from Archie.

- Scratch and Hallowcat are the same character.



Instead of having so many similar characters they should all be merged into the same character.

What about this guy. He predates Metalhead.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...cat_manual.png

Yes he is just Metalhead to me too.

How about steal some villains from the first NES game? Like the chainsaw guy, or the flame guy and such. I wouldn't mind seeing those kind of villains.

But... one is a dog. And one is a wolf.

But didn't they already have Metalhead -- the real, Mirage Metalhead, which predated all of that -- in 4Kids?

From what I gather that might be the Fred Wolf equivalent. Though I don't think it was in any way intentional at all.

Impossible to change. Rick Veitch owns Bloodsucker and nobody is trying to pay Rick Veitch to use Bloodsucker again... not even IDW. Wyrm is as close as it gets, and I'm surprised they even were bold enough to come that close.

Is Bloodsucker and the whole "River" arc worthwhile for Nick/Viacom to buy out from under Rick Veitch, who isn't even able to do anything further with the story or character independently? I say yes, but then again I have no idea what dollar value is associated with such a venture.

Quite possibly.

They're both derived from cockroaches, absolutely... but one is a man mutated into a cockroach hybrid and one is a cockroach mutated into some kind of cockroach with no human elements that's got multiple gestational phases.

Though I would have much preferred to see Scumbug than the very bizarre (nonsensical?) blending/mutation of a cockroach and a camera.

Maybe close. But does Tiger Claw have 4 arms?

Yeah.

And isn't Katmandu (not Katamundo...) NOT a mutant?

Aren't both of them dogs? :ohwell:

No. That's been made clear twice now.

Lotus Blossom is NOT Karai. She is a different character not associated with the Foot. Try again.

Quarry's human form was Mona Lisa.

Alopex & Ninjara?

To be fair Shredder's pet dog could have been a wolf.

Starlee and Kala, MACC and Fugitoid, Lugnut and Hun, Viral and Tempestra, the list goes on.

It doesn't matter.

especially since most of these characters arent even in the same continuity.

For an example. I don't know who Bloodsucker is (his name makes him sound like he's a Leech, from what I know, Leeches aren't the same as worms.), but whats Wyrm other than a TMNT character that got an action figure but never had an appearance beyond that, besides a second long cartoon clip in a toy commercial.

No need to combine the two and potentially cause the more receivable character to become complicated.

And really, what does combining characters add other than "nostalgia high fives" for the fans that get the reference. Its cool to do sometimes.

Having similar characters in a franchise isn't so redundant when there are multiple continuities. Lotus Blossom wont make Karai redundant because Lotus Blossom hasn't been in anything TMNT related since the early 90's.

And at least two appearances in the Archie TMNTA comics that I can think of.

Characters do look very different depending on series too. The Archie Scumbug looked nothing like the Fred Wolf Scumbug for example. If they gave him a different name in Archie you wouldn't even make the connection that they were the same character aside from both being mutant roaches.

I treat them as separate characters. Karai didn't exist in the OT. Metalhead didn't exist in 2k3.

Not even close, it's an Akita.

Old Hob/Verminator X thing is quiet possible, by both being can mutants with a missing eye, same fur colour, both having a habit for smoking cigars, and both using same kinds of weapons... Tho Verminator X was a mutant cat scientist called Manx originally, but then they had this change with Hun, so why not with Verminator X?

Well, Hamato Yoshi is Splinter (most of the time).