Anyone else feel Baxter is being neglected in this show?
 

One of the reasons I've always liked Baxter in every series is he's always scheming and planning something behind Shredder's back, no matter how many times Shredder "punishes" him or tries to get rid of him. In the original cartoon and 4kids series we see him constantly strike out on his own to get revenge on Shredder and the Turtles, in the IDW comics he turned the tables on Krang and had a huge role in the development of Hob, the Technodrome, etc. In Mirage he made himself into a cyborg and went on to inject April with nanobots to slowly kill her in the future.

Yet Nick's Baxter has just become Shredder's lab assistant and nothing more. It feels like even his mutation into a fly was just for nostalgia and they don't seem to be doing much with it since he's not used to fight the Turtles often. I don't know I feel like he needs to betray Shredder at some point.

Solution: Bring in Barney Stockman and make him let Baxter feel bad.

Baxter's been used here about as much as he was in the OT, so I don't feel he is underused. Given he's more or less become OT Baxter, I'm fine with him being handled similarly. There's a new issue of Animated Adventures out this Wednesday featuring him as the star villain, so perhaps that will help you get that extra dose of Baxterfly.

Nope. He has his uses.

No.
Not at all.

Wasnt there an issue with his voice actor? Something about his availability? I dont know if its still an issue or not (or if it ever was - I'm sure someone will correct me on this), but that may be a reason why the series has avoided any plot arcs that would require a significant screen presence.

That said, if they've changed Leo's VO, why not just do the same with Baxter...

Because people will notice?
Once you've gotten used to a certain voice for a character, it's hard to get used to the change.
For example, the Dutch dub of April changed. And I absolutely hate the new voice, maybe it's because the old one was better, or I just don't like change.

I feel it's a yes and a no. In some ways, he isn't being used much, but we do know he's plotting behind Shredder's back, but acting loyal as a cover...unless I've completely misinterpreted his actions.

In the OT, Baxter wanted revenge for being turned into a fly, but he was also stuck between dimensions too for a good chunk of episodes and had that computer companion and he was gradually losing his intelligence. There wasn't much else they could do with him, especially with his mind becoming more fly-like as well as his intelligence. It got to the point where he didn't know who is actual enemy was...Shredder and Krang, or the Turtles and getting down to it, seems Shredder and Krang should've always been his target. Either way, Nick's Fly Baxter isn't going through this.

Anyway, I think the main reason we see Baxter in this series the least out of all of the villains, is because of Phil LaMar himself. Doesn't he voice him? There's also a budget issue, I'm sure, regarding some of the voice actors they use. This is another reason why, imo, we don't see Slash much because he's being voiced by Corey Feldman.

No, I don't think he's being neglected. He's used when they need him.