Splinter as a rat or as Hamato Yoshi?

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Logan

Rat. I just have qualms with him mimicking martial arts in pre-mutated form. I'd prefer that part be scrubbed from the origin or at least retconned in some way.

There's no way to retcon any existing universes this way, but I always thought it would be cool to have Yoshi survive the night Shredder kills Shen and, using his connections as a Guardian, mutate Splinter purposefully.

Then have Yoshi train him, and them battling the Foot for a few years until Shredder finally kills Yoshi. THEN the turtles are mutated (either accidentally or as a result of Splinter's actions).