TMNT Armageddon Game: Alliance #1. Preview and Discussion

[AlZarkovski]

Preview here.

[ChosenOne]

Huh. I was expecting this to be a series of one-shots instead of a mini in and of itself, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Sounds like Karai will put together an army to come in at a key moment of the main event and save the day.

[ProphetofGanja]

I don't know, I think she's going to be more of a wildcard than anything. Like she will still probably aid the Turtles and her grandfather but after the Armageddon Game they could be at odds again

[ChosenOne]

That would be taking away from her character development, I feel. She's been at odds with the Turtles three times and made peace with them two times now. Time for something new. Or maybe this whole thing is setting her up as one of the casualties of the Game.

[CyberCubed]

So do we know what those other Turtles actually are? Like they're not 4 more mutant Turtles, right? I don't think they're the Punk Frogs so I guess it's some more illusion or something?

Weird thing about Karai is all the way through issue 100 she was still going to kill the Turtles and essentially evil. She only had a turnaround recently. I really don't know where this is going but the characters are in the same place as before for the most part.

[neatoman]

My theory? Well, considering they don't seem to know they're impostors, what with them straight up getting their roles mixed up ("Leo" uses the Sai for example) and them being shown to be confused when people point it out. What I suspect is that...

Spoiler:

... They're clones or unrelated mutant turtles given planted memories. What I suspect is that "QNA", that stuff the Utroms collected from the corpses of the Hamatos, is some kind of neural network map of sorts. So basically what I suspect is that the real Turtles got this QNA stuff inserted into them in order to make training them easier, that way they'd have muscle memory as part of their mutation. Which, yes, would mean they aren't really reincarnations of the Hamatos but rather just their neural clones. So what these other turtles could be is either failed prototypes/replacements in the project that created them, or clones given "QNA" from the turtles themselves.

Spoiler:

I do actually kind of like the idea that they're failed prototypes repurposed as impostors.

[Bahamut810]

I think they are just other mutant turtles, though with the reveal in 134 its possible they might not be.

Not sure how I feel about this one, I read it and thought Karai felt really off and that their explanation of Karai was off. I normally don't bother looking at the author of a TMNT book because I can normally tell if it is a story by Waltz or Campbell but after the last page I had to look because of how off everything felt.

Karai also called called Natsu her friend, which is odd because of the hints that they were in a relationship.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Bahamut810

Karai also called called Natsu her friend, which is odd because of the hints that they were in a relationship.

Good. I was worried about the scene with Natsu sitting on the bed, but both of them were fully clothed and didn't give hints anything "happened" before that scene. Likewise there doesn't seem to be any overtones, Karai views Natsu as a subordinate and Natsu her as a commander.

[hypered1]

Originally Posted by neatoman

My theory? Well, considering they don't seem to know they're impostors, what with them straight up getting their roles mixed up ("Leo" uses the Sai for example) and them being shown to be confused when people point it out. What I suspect is that...

Spoiler:

... They're clones or unrelated mutant turtles given planted memories. What I suspect is that "QNA", that stuff the Utroms collected from the corpses of the Hamatos, is some kind of neural network map of sorts. So basically what I suspect is that the real Turtles got this QNA stuff inserted into them in order to make training them easier, that way they'd have muscle memory as part of their mutation. Which, yes, would mean they aren't really reincarnations of the Hamatos but rather just their neural clones. So what these other turtles could be is either failed prototypes/replacements in the project that created them, or clones given "QNA" from the turtles themselves.

Spoiler:

I do actually kind of like the idea that they're failed prototypes repurposed as impostors.

So far we know that they were created by Barlow and are known as the 'Null' Turtles as referred to in the solicitations which makes sense as it has been implied that Barlow is working at Madame Null's behest.
One other curiosity is that when Alopex found them in #127 there were five of them in bio-tanks (not including Venus of course) so there could possibly be one more that we haven't seen properly yet.

[Stu_Padasso]

Originally Posted by hypered1

So far we know that they were created by Barlow and are known as the 'Null' Turtles as referred to in the solicitations which makes sense as it has been implied that Barlow is working at Madame Null's behest.
One other curiosity is that when Alopex found them in #127 there were five of them in bio-tanks (not including Venus of course) so there could possibly be one more that we haven't seen properly yet.

Holy crap. I just realized something.

Spoiler:

Lita.

“I have no name.”

That’s why she was on the cover of #127 despite not being in the issue itself. It was a clue.

She’s one of the final five Cylons. Or whatever.

I have no idea how the larger Armageddon Game event is going to unfold, especially on Waltz’s end, but I think I have a good idea of where things are headed in the ongoing.

[Enscripture]

These fake turtles have yellow eyes and Karai made a big deal about them saying Fall Back! The Gang of Four wear similar pants and belts and their eyes glow yellow from Universe #11

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by Enscripture

These fake turtles have yellow eyes and Karai made a big deal about them saying Fall Back! The Gang of Four wear similar pants and belts and their eyes glow yellow from Universe #11

Oh. Well spotted! Hopefully it pans out, those guys are a loose end otherwise.

[PrestonC]

Originally Posted by ChosenOne

Oh. Well spotted! Hopefully it pans out, those guys are a loose end otherwise.

I always wanted those guys to return. They are a HUGE loose end that needs to be addressed. They have a lot of story potential (and ramifications), plus they’re REALLY cool. Worthy adversaries, for sure.

[ChosenOne]

Speaking of loose ends, we need Mondo back before everything's said and done, too. He could maybe redeem the name of the Mutanimals by forming a new incarnation of the team. The Turtles can't have too many allies these days.

[CyberCubed]

A lot of characters they just kinda never went back to, I forgot that alien bounty hunter in the Turtles in Space arc never returned either. But I guess it doesn't really matter.

[martinitolove]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

A lot of characters they just kinda never went back to, I forgot that alien bounty hunter in the Turtles in Space arc never returned either. But I guess it doesn't really matter.

I'm sure Hackerrr will be back in the Dimension X part of the Armageddon game!