How does the Mutagen work, exactly?

[snake]

In this incarnation, the Mutagen Logic is out of control, I mean, I can't find out how it works! I know that it never made any sense in other incarnations, but I'm confused with this one the most.
First off, Hamato Yoshi has a rat run over his COVERED shoe, ( Yes I understand its a flashback and it could've happened differently.)......Annnd then mutates into Splinter. Then, Chris Bradford ( ??? By a dog) and Xever ( Bitten by a fish) are mutated after the DNA is in them. Same with Vic, when he gets bit by a spider and gets turned into Ballstring, but Snake touches some Weeds and then gets turned into a Weed monster. Then Timothy gets mutated by coming in contact with to many mutants? Not getting his skin touched? Something? And he mutates into a pile of organs.
Does anyone have theory's on how Mutagen works? Because I'm confused.

[Shreddhead]

And I literally cracked up at the Ballstring line

[Jester]

Splinter answers your question:
http://youtu.be/Aci_rsSashU?t=1h9m37s

[Shark_Blade]

My understanding is as below:

1. The Hamato Yoshi one is easily explained here:

Originally Posted by Shredded

Here are two different rats with markings similar to Splinters


How-ever, I read a while back that this new Splinter, is actually based on a very specific asien, tree Rat species. I remember it having a name, I looked it up, and true enough, there was a lot of small Splinters with the white markings and red-brown fur down their backs in a line.
Unfortunately I forgot what the species is called!

But yeah, this Splinter is not just an ordinary brown sewer rat, he is a very specific species of rat you can buy in a pet-store. I'm just believing that he held one of those rats they sold in the shop where he bought the turtles.
I know the show indicated he got the DNA from the rat he almost stepped on, but come on, he didn't even touch it.

Also, havn't seen the action figure of him, but Splinter in motion in the show.. Looks like a rat. His ears are to big for him to be a hamster.

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

Very nice theory! Indeed it bugged me that the rat he almost stepped didn't even touch him, but like you said he might touched a rat in the pet store. His built might also suggest an unusual breed as opposed to the typical grey sewer rat.

Interesting.

2. Chris Bradford and Xever touched an animal each before being exposed to the mutagen. They touched the turtles during fighting, but as they are already mutants nothing happened as result of touching them.

3. Spiderbytez and Snakeweed are pretty much straight forward. They touched a bug and plant and mutated into them.

4.Timothy was exposed to the mutagen but didn't get to touch anything, until his exposed hand touched a pile of mutagen on the floor. Then he became mutagen man.


Pretty straightforward tbh, easy to understand.

[RaphAndDonnie]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

In this incarnation, the Mutagen Logic is out of control, I mean, I can't find out how it works! I know that it never made any sense in other incarnations, but I'm confused with this one the most.
First off, Hamato Yoshi has a rat run over his COVERED shoe, ( Yes I understand its a flashback and it could've happened differently.)......Annnd then mutates into Splinter. Then, Chris Bradford ( ??? By a dog) and Xever ( Bitten by a fish) are mutated after the DNA is in them. Same with Vic, when he gets bit by a spider and gets turned into Ballstring, but Snake touches some Weeds and then gets turned into a Weed monster. Then Timothy gets mutated by coming in contact with to many mutants? Not getting his skin touched? Something? And he mutates into a pile of organs.
Does anyone have theory's on how Mutagen works? Because I'm confused.

Theory: If you touched it recently, or made some kind of contact with an object (organic or not) you mutate into it. Of course this theory has a few problems but...first of all:
1.) It's possible that the rat's tail ran up Yoshi's pant leg? Maybe? That's just what I figure.
2.)Bradford was bitten by Shredder's dog so he mutated into a dogman.
3.) Xever touched a fish and became a fish.
I'm guessing if you make no contact with any sort of substance then you just turn into a gob of ooze and that the ooze doesn't have any effect AS you're mutating (explaining why Timothy just didn't stay a human as he grabbed for the Foot Soldiers perhaps?)

[Mondo_Gecko]

Honestly, it's however the writers want to use it.

Since the first episode, the Mutagen's properties have been widely inconsistent from not only how people are mutated to but what they mutate into afterwards.

The turtles, Splinter and Leatherhead seem to have mutated very similar to how the OT utilized it, human to animal, animal to humanoid mutant

But the others such as Fishface mutating without legs, Dogpound has a giant arm, SpiderBytez turns into a giant spider, Pigeon Pete has eggs on his skin, Rockwell becoming a monkey, SpyRoach becoming a mutant machine hybrid, Timothy becoming jello encased organs.

I have to think that the writers really just wanted to make monster designs and threw all logic and mythology of the Mutagen out the window.

[snake]

...So....MANY.....THEORY'S!

But honestly, I wish we had someone on the board who works on tthe show and could help us out with this.

[Jester]

We did, but Cybercubed made him mad and he split.

[snake]

Originally Posted by Jester

We did, but Cybercubed made him mad and he split.

Really? Who?

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by Jester

We did, but Cybercubed made him mad and he split.

A tragedy tbh.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

Really? Who?

Series Executive Producer Ciro Nieli.

[Candy Kappa]

The mutagen seems to be working differently each time, most likely because the Kraang are tinkering with it so it will work as it does in Dimension X.

Splinter, Leatherhead and the turtles looks a lot better then the rest of the mutants in the show.

Snake, Bradford and Xever have some mutation issues, like rad-brad's spikes, bone hand and oversize arm. Xever's breathing problem and lack of legs.

The mutagen got writer's powers, and will never be properly explained.

[Luckyday]

Sounds like it's polluted to a certain extent.

[Jester]

Aren't the Kraang trying to stabilize it? Maybe that's the mutagenic McGuffin.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

But honestly, I wish we had someone on the board who works on tthe show and could help us out with this.

Kenny Bloggerly answered this on his Tumblr.

Generally it creates a hybrid between the subject and the DNA of whatever organic species it was most recently in closest contact with. But it’s unpredictable in this dimension, so… let’s just say the rules are flexible.

http://kennybloggerly.tumblr.com/

[raph27]

My theory:
Hamato petted a rat inside the store.
Turtles touched him.
Bradford got bit, Xever touched a fish. I read on some Nick site that if you touch a mutant it doesn't do anything.
Pete touched a human inside the Kraang lair.
Snake landed on some plants.
Tim got mutated and then stuck his hand into mutagen.

[snake]

Originally Posted by Jester

Series Executive Producer Ciro Nieli.

Wow.....

[AT-Man]

Originally Posted by Jester

We did, but Cybercubed made him mad and he split.

I want, no, NEED to see this thread.

[gobo]

Originally Posted by snakeweed101

How does the Mutagen work, exactly?

Through the power of imagination, duh.

[Mr. Stay Puft]

One thing that I've noticed is that the size of the mutant seems to be relative to the amount of mutagen the subject is exposed to, as well as the size of the subject being mutated.

From what we've seen so far:

- One cannister mutated Splinter and the four turtles, they were mutated into something about the size of a normal human.
- A whole vat exploded on Vic, Bradford, and Xever, turning them into larger humanoid mutants.
- Snakeweed was exposed to a whole van full of mutagen.
- Timothy was only exposed to enough to cover his face and shoulders, so he didn't experience a significant change in body mass.
- The Cockroach Terminator, while being exposed to a larger quantity, was also a much smaller subject than the previous examples, hence why his initial post-mutation form only stands at about 6-7', compared to the much larger Dogpound, Snakeweed, Fishface, and SpiderBytez.

Leatherhead was not included becaused we don't know exactly how much mutagen he was exposed to.