Is Mondo Gecko unnecessary?
 

Seriously, he's just comic relief. And SERIOUSLY BAD COMIC RELIEF. Every episode he shows up in, he gets beat up or ridiculed. At least Muckman could fight.

yeah, I don't like him. I don't think he brings anything to the table. As for comic relief, we already have plenty of that, we've got Michelangelo, etc...

Yea, I feel like the writers dropped the ball with Mondo here. Sure he was always a Mikey clone in the cartoons, but they also gave him a little more depth in the Archie comics, especially when concerning his girlfriend. Here, he's a total spazz, and it's just sad to watch. I have gotten used to his design though.

I have no problems with Nick's version of Mondo Gecko, it is what it is, a Nick version, I liked how the Archie Comics handled him, and IDW's version was pretty good.

He was in what...like 3 episodes? Jesus Christ, you people complain about anything.

That's not the point cubes. It's the character we're talking about, not how many Eps he's been in.

I don't know why they made him a wimp that can't fight. In an action show like this.... why even introduce him? I have no problem with him per say, they definitely got the 'Mikey's best friend who jams to the same frequency' part right, but if the dude could actually fight he'd be complete.

I mean we all have our favorite 80s characters we wish to see updated and brought back, but imagine if they brought back Muckman, Mona Lisa (who had a huge fan base despite being in only one episode), or God forbid all time fan favorite Slash and made them into total useless wimps. They really dropped the ball with Mondo.

To be fair Cubed, you did complain about Hun and the Neutrinos' designs with the former being in 3-4 episodes while the latter were only in one.

i don't have a problem with him overall.

but they could give him more of a purpose rather than him just being a bumbling doofus.

Yes, yes he is. I'm pretty sure he was only introduced to justify bringing in Robbie Rist, just so they could say "Look, we got Mikey from the 90's movies in the show!".

I feel the exact same way.

That's the joke.

I agree with Cyber here, he does have a role as a friend to Mikey and mutanimal comic relief, but I think its fair to say that he doesn't really serve any narrative purpose. His character would be served far better if he had some kind of stake in what was going on, rather than just being... 'there'

But he wasn't before. Why even bring him back if he was going to be like that. Imagine doing that to leatherhead or Mutagen Man. Even pizza face was a threat.

I wish he'd have showed up a little sooner and got a bit of development. He's a fun character, though it would have been nice to see him be around a bit more and develop a little more purpose in the show.

That said, I don't have anything against having characters who aren't really fighters, it's cool that the Turtles could simply have some friends to hang out with on off-days, but if he's not a really a fighter then maybe don't get him involved in that aspect of the show rather than have him just being a rag doll to be beaten on. Maybe he could have found use as a spy for the Turtles team, given those wall-climbing feet and all. (And color changing ability? I think Geckos do that?)

Why would you be comparing Mondo Gecko, who was really nothing more than a toy character, to Leatherhead, who is one of the pivotal TMNT characters/mutants in almost every incarnation?

Of course Leatherhead is going to get a big role and treated properly, he is a TMNT staple. Mondo Gecko is just a toy character you can do anything with.

He was only in 2 episodes of the original cartoon. In Archie after he joined the Mutanimals he basically became a background character with little to no characerisation. In IDW even though he's handled properly, he still has no real seperate character of his own from the Mutanimals.

I don't think Pivotal means what you think it means.

I get this from dictionary.com:

Leatherhead is none of those things.

And again, this show is so unpredictable that they could have made leatherhead a bumbling buffoon if they so pleased. Noone is safe. Remember how they turned Hun into Bruce Lee? Or April into a teenage Mary Sue?

Mondo Gecko might not have been an important character in the grand scheme of things, though you already listed 3 incarnations of him, but useless wimp isn't how one would have thought of him whenever it was announced he would be coming back in this new show. Napoleon I kinda get since not many people liked the frogs in the OT and they weren't exactly formidable there either. But Mondo? Naw, you do him right or why even bother.

Or how they turned Mona Lisa, a human turned mutant lizard into an alien lizard, The Nick show took a whole lot of liberties, some characters are in name only and not like the originals.