How does the Mutagen work, exactly?

[The Sewer Lord]

Originally Posted by RaphaeltheAwesome13

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.

This is the best explanation.

Also, Ballstring touched some balls.

[Gwydion]

My mom happened to catch Karai's Vendetta and mentioned that she thought the show was kind of violent for young kids. I proceeded to tell her about Pulverizer and how he's pretty much set up as the example of what kids shouldn't be doing, but when I mentioned he ultimately ended up "being mutated into a blob", her only response was "...how did he mutate into a blob?"

Even my mom - who knows next to nothing about TMNT, let alone how the mutagen has worked over the years - had to ask just how the heck that happened, lol. I tried to explain the DNA (or lack thereof, in Timothy's case) theory, but she seemed pretty unconvinced. She finally just gave me a look and said "The things you learn from your 29 year old..." lol

[Foot Soldier Clang]

I have a theory for the mutagen in this show. Of course this show follows the "you mutate into whatever you touched last" rule like in the OT, but the mutagen itself is unstable (as mentioned by Kraang). I believe mutagen has a 3 step or one step process, which involve time, and possibly how much mutagen you are exposed to as factors.

The 3 step process could go something like:

1. Recent exposure (time span estimate 10 - 30 minutes before exposure to mutagen) to foreign DNA of a different species
2. Exposure to an unspecified amout of mutagen
3. Mutation

The one step is more about immersion, so:

1. Human & foreign DNA are both exposed to mutagen at once

I specify amount because of the unbalance in mutations on the show. The main cast of the turtles and Splinter have a more humanoid appearance, as well as Dogpound. Fishface, Spiderbytez, Snakeweed don't resemble their human selves at all. Snakeweed himself seems to have lost a good deal of his humanity and intelligence.

Time might be a key factor to the Pulverizer's mutation. It brings up questions like "when was the last time he was exposed to another creature" and if he wore his Foot ninja outfit so often his DNA wasn't exposed to any in X-amount of time. We know that the Pulverizer's enthusiastic attitude for wanting to be a somebody, and his want to be a mutant really blurred his view of the bigger picture around him. His heart was in the right place, but his choices were very wrong and led him to a screaming mutation.

So, Pulverizer, who had no recent exposure to foreign DNA within the time span I've theorized above before his mutation (due to his Foot ninja outfit and other speculative factors), and his double-dose of mutagen (on his noggin and his hands) left the mutagen no choice but to mutate with what it had. What I mean is there was no third component (foreign DNA) to the mutagen, so the mutagen simply worked with itself. So instead of progressing some sort of mutation, and enhancing whatever abilities Pulverizer would have had with DNA of "X", it regressed him so he could survive the mutation progress without the foreign DNA. This of course left him in the sorry state he's in now.

And, as a side thought, even though it's never been mentioned (as far as I know) in any TMNT continuity, I can't help but get the feeling that mutagen in this show at least has an intelligent quotient (I.Q.). It seems to know how to mutate folks, but because of it's instability it has trouble doing whatever it is actually supposed to be doing.

[Luigiperps]

Originally Posted by Gwydion

My mom happened to catch Karai's Vendetta and mentioned that she thought the show was kind of violent for young kids. I proceeded to tell her about Pulverizer and how he's pretty much set up as the example of what kids shouldn't be doing, but when I mentioned he ultimately ended up "being mutated into a blob", her only response was "...how did he mutate into a blob?"

Even my mom - who knows next to nothing about TMNT, let alone how the mutagen has worked over the years - had to ask just how the heck that happened, lol. I tried to explain the DNA (or lack thereof, in Timothy's case) theory, but she seemed pretty unconvinced. She finally just gave me a look and said "The things you learn from your 29 year old..." lol

It's funny (but off topic) My mom has seen a few episodes but never pays attention, but figured out Karai is Miwa five seconds after she found out Karai was Shredder's daughter

[CowabungaMikey]

The movie and comic logic is better. Turtles touch the ooze, they turned into big human-like turtles. Rat touch the ooze, he turns intro big human-like rat.

OT and 2012 idea:

Turtles touch the ooze, they turned into big human-like turtles. Man touch mutagen after touch a rat, and turns into a rat.

[LH]

Originally Posted by Mr. Stay Puft

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

It should be noted that he was mutated in Dimension X, where the mutagen can be controlled. It was also implied that he was mutated gradually through means of experimentation.

[miru]

The wasp mutated with a growth ray, heceforth it only changing in size.

[Luckyday]

Maybe the mutagen that change the turtles and Splinter was the only one that wasn't polluted hence why the others (except Leatherhead) are either deformed or mentally unstable or C) all of the above.

[Coola Yagami]

I wonder if when Tim was mutating, let's say you throw a lizard at him or some sort of bug, if he would have still mutated into some kind of animal-man, or if it woulda been too late?