Were Slash and Tokka originally intended to be the same character in concept?

[CyberCubed]

So obviously back in the early 90's Playmates/Fred Wolf/Mirage all had the desire to create an, "evil Turtle" character. They had already created Metalhead who was a robot so an evil Turtle made sense.

Were Slash and Tokka originally devised from the same character? It seems they were throwing several concepts of an evil turtle out at once, one being a snapping turtle like Tokka and the other one simply being an evil doppleganger of the Turtles in Slash.

As said its odd to have TWO evil mutant turtles. Which is probably why Tokka is always paired with Rahzar because as a standalone character Tokka simply wouldn't make sense.

Were they originally intended to be the same character in the design phase and then they created two different characters out of the same concept?

[Coola Yagami]

Really doubt it. For whatever reason Laird just didn't want Bebop and Rocksteady in the movie which forced them to make 2 all-new mutants.... and I guess someone decided to go with a turtle.

I always realized Tokka was just there. He was an evil mutant to fight... but no one throughout the entire movie seemed to make a big deal of the fact that there was now a 5th mutant turtle running around. They were simply 'Tokka and Rahzar', and no one, not Shredder, April or the Turtles themselves made any kind of reaction to the fact that he was another mutant turtle.

And dude... c'mon. They were only in the movie at the time. The videogames and OT were homages to it, so of course they had to be paired off. Back then the movie was new so of course we had to see them together cause 'whoa, just like the movie! I gotta buy their action figures now!!!'

By now the movie is obviously long past, so Bradford doesn't necessarily need a partner, especially when he already has one.

And why doesn't more than one evil turtle make sense? Fast Forward gave us 4, and there doesn't seem to be a problem.

[CyberCubed]

Yeah its odd that they could have used any other mutant animal other than a turtle but didn't, even something like a mutant gorilla or lion would have worked (as seen in toys).

I also always saw Groundchuck and Dirtbag as yet another duo of possible Shredder mutant henchmen, especially since that's what they were originally intended to be at the beginning of Planet of the Turtleoids. Them also appearing in TMNT III as bosses on NES cemented that too.

I wonder why Groundchuck and Dirtbag faded away into obscurity. They always seemed to be potential big characters.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Yeah its odd that they could have used any other mutant animal other than a turtle but didn't, even something like a mutant gorilla or lion would have worked (as seen in toys).

I also always saw Groundchuck and Dirtbag as yet another duo of possible Shredder mutant henchmen, especially since that's what they were originally intended to be at the beginning of Planet of the Turtleoids. Them also appearing in TMNT III as bosses on NES cemented that too.

I wonder why Groundchuck and Dirtbag faded away into obscurity. They always seemed to be potential big characters.

Mostly cause at the time they were just seen as extra toy character guest stars like Mutagen Man, Muckman, Wingnut and the rest of the later characters that were added late into the series that hardly got any screen time.

They didn't have that many appearances and at the time of the series it was too late for a new duo. Bebop and Rocksteady were too beloved to be replaced by these guys, and the show was so stuck to status quo that they would never even consider to have Shredder keep them to actually have 4 mutants against 4 turtles. Plus, they seemed much more dangerous than Bebop and Rocksteady and would have overshadowed them easily.

[John Pannozzi]

Pretty sure no. Not sure when Slash was invented, but Tokka was created by Kevin Eastman and based on an unused character drawn by Steve Bissette.

[pannoni1]

Then you have Mechaturtle, which was created before Slash and is sometimes mistaken for either Slash or a Dark Leonardo, which is what I confused him for based on the first NES video game. Playmates was just being a bit lazy by using the same mold and accessories for both, but I never thought of them as similar until recently. There was no intention for both to appear together in a story, and there still hasn't been one yet. I find Slash to be a bit more bipolar than Tokka who is more of a straight goon. Slash has more in common with the TMNT's species than Tokka, even by looking at the figures. Slash has a bandana and similar chest tones, while Tokka is more rough in nature.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Well, that actually makes sense, since Slash was a small "pet" turtle, (Bebop's pet IIRC) at least in the cartoon. Tokka on the other hand was a "wild" turtle taken from the zoo, and a much larger and more aggressive species, to boot.