I bet it's that hot tub time machine I've heard so much about.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters (TT Top 50 Edition)
- Thread starter Lokii
- Start date
Even as a kid, I thought that guy bursting out of his own flesh was pretty fucked up. Still loved him, though (which is weird, because as a kid I loved monsters but not so much the morbid like dude shedding his skin).
I'm not curious about the chronology about when they either ran out of weird animals and were just like "I dunno, a cat?"
(like, it's not a BAD sculpt either but it's so much less imaginative.)
Funny thing about this fella is he was one of the last figures produced in the Playmates line and despite being a kind of bland design like you say is easily one of the most valuable and sought-after toys for vintage turt collectors. Also he was a boss in Radical Rescue
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
The funny thing is I was going toncite the giraffe as boring design but he kinda rocks.
#32 Wingnut & Screwloose
Points: 68 | Lists: 2
"Ohi ohi hihihi!! My face is so nice. Don't you like to look at my face?"
Wingnut is a mutant bat except he's not a mutant and not a bad. He's an alien species of surprising nebulous origin. Sometimes a good guy, sometimes bad, he's fairly varied in his appearances but always something of a light Batman parody. He first originated in a freebie comic that came with Ralston Purina's TMNT cereal. Despite being a tie-in of the most tangential nature, these were bespoke comics drawn by Peter Laird himself."Ohi ohi hihihi!! My face is so nice. Don't you like to look at my face?"
Wingnut's next appearance was in Archie comics as they populated the expanded turtle's universe with any spare character they could. In these stories he's an ally to the turts, seeking revenge on Krang who genocided his home planet. Eventually Wingnut would find his true place among the spin-off group of beloved weirdos The Mighty Mutan-imals. When he finally showed up in the cartoon he was transformed into a bad guy again. And this flip-flopping of his character would extend to all future appearances. Sometimes he's a goodie, sometimes a baddie. With no clear rhyme or reason to his character beyond "bat."
But enough of all that. Let's talk about the toy. Which of course, rules.
Flawgic is right. Gribblies and details galore! My favorite bit is that in every other appearance of Wingnut he simply has artificial wings but here you can see that he has tiny little natural wings that have been augmented with scrap metal, boosters, and apparently pistols. Likewise, his wings actually hold his accessories when he's not wielding them. What a cool feature! And speaking of accessories, the figure's design really leans into the Batman stuff here as Wings gets a for real Bat utility belt complete with batterang! And even though Wingnut comes with a bat-gun like the Batman of yore he does not use it shoot people (instead it's a tool for... sucking their blood??? ...for powering his wings??????).
All in all a good character, a good bat, a great toy. Also, Screwloose is here.
And perhaps most importantly, his level had my favorite song in the Shredders Revenge soundtrack
Man the toy really is one of the best of the Playmates line. the Super 7 one also brings out the sculpted details and gives a full paint job to Screwloose:
And I've had to continuously talk myself out of buying the excellent NECA two-pack based on the 'toon
Lots of good Wingnuts out there is what I'm saying
And I've had to continuously talk myself out of buying the excellent NECA two-pack based on the 'toon
Lots of good Wingnuts out there is what I'm saying
I love the Playmates toy! Just an amazing figurine and one I loved dearly as a child. I never saw the TMNT cartoon episode with him. He's trying so hard to be a hero!
#30 TIE
Aska
Points: 72 | Lists: 3
Konami’s TMNT video games of the 80s and 90s were packed full of weirdness but you have gotta hand it to the Super NES version of Tournament Fighters for the choices it made. We already mentioned the way-far-out-there first NES game but remember the devs probably barely knew a ninja turtle from Goemon back then. By 1993 the turts were on top of the world and globally recognized even in lands where humanity still hadn’t evolved from fish.
So you would expect the devs for this Street Fighter-alike to make obvious choices in the character roster but they did not. Mainstays like Bebop, Rocksteady, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman, and the like are stuffed into the background, upstaged by third-tier weirdos pulled from the Archie comics and Playmates toyline like War, Armaggon, and Wingnut.
I’m not complaining because this is amazing. Imagine a gigantic publisher funding a modern Transformers fighting game on major consoles and instead of putting in Bumblebee they put in that guy who turns into a piano from the British comics. It would be outrageous and it would never happen. But that’s what this game is like.
And if all the deep cuts weren’t weird enough then you have this ninja lady, Aska, who apparently came out of nowhere with zero context in TMNT lore. Not to say that a kunoichi is out of place here - we’ve already talked about another ninja lady, Karai, who in fact also makes an appearance in this game. But for years folks assumed Aska was an original creation for Tournament Fighters.
The truth is a little weirder than that. Hackers cracked into the beta version of the game and discovered Aska used to go by a different name: Mitsu. So why the name change? Well you may also remember that in 1993 the third live-action TMNT movie came out in theaters and featured a Japanese princess warrior named Mitsu. But that movie was hated even by idiot kids with no ability to discern quality (like me) so it may just be why Mitsu got the ono.
Still I think it's cool that this rushed decision ended up giving us yet another unique character in the mutant mythos. It was a weird road to identity for Aska and so far she’s remained in the confines of video game lore never having appeared in another piece of Turts fiction after presumably defeating Cyber Shredder and opening her dojo.
And speaking of Tournament Fighters...
Chrome Dome
Points: 72 | Lists: 3
Tied with Aska today is Chrome Dome, a super fighting robot who was also a player character in the video game. Chrome Dome is one of hordes of TMNT characters who started out in the Playmates toyline. The toy was literally chromed out with vac-metallized plastic so you could reflect sunlight off of him into your older brother’s eyeballs.
On the file card he's characterized as a Terminator-like villain forged in the depths of the Technodrome and given a sole purpose: destroy turtles. In the cartoon he was built to command the Foot Soldiers and was also really really big for some reason. The SNES game version of him is back to normal size and is now gold (for some reason) and he has a cute backstory where he wants to win the tournament so he can deprogram himself from having to obey Shredder.
There’s also a robo-ninja that goes by Chrome Dome in the 2012 series but otherwise there’s not much else to this rampagin’ robot’s character history. Just from a visual standpoint I think he's super rad and I bet a lot of kids in the 90s used him as a major villain just based on how threatening the toy looks.
I had Chrome Dome at #13 and Aska at #23.
Chrome Dome is a cool-looking robot man who uses some of my favorite fighting game mechanics (command grabs and stretchable limbs) so I had to include him.
I'm not sure exactly why I like Aska but she is fun to play as. Oddly enough she could easily fit into any other "normal" fighting game and blend in with the rest of the cast but in TF she stands out as being the only normal-seeming human* involved. In hindsight I guess I do admire her bravery and fighting spirit - when confronted with mutant turtle-men who are trained ninjas, aliens, a mutant shark man, a robot and possibly a cyborg as her opponents she thinks "I need need to win to start my dojo. I can take 'em." So maybe I should have placed her higher on my list.
*But is she really a normal human considering how well she can fare in fights against all of those other fighters?
Chrome Dome is a cool-looking robot man who uses some of my favorite fighting game mechanics (command grabs and stretchable limbs) so I had to include him.
I'm not sure exactly why I like Aska but she is fun to play as. Oddly enough she could easily fit into any other "normal" fighting game and blend in with the rest of the cast but in TF she stands out as being the only normal-seeming human* involved. In hindsight I guess I do admire her bravery and fighting spirit - when confronted with mutant turtle-men who are trained ninjas, aliens, a mutant shark man, a robot and possibly a cyborg as her opponents she thinks "I need need to win to start my dojo. I can take 'em." So maybe I should have placed her higher on my list.
*But is she really a normal human considering how well she can fare in fights against all of those other fighters?
Chrome Dome's appearance in the SNES game does look an awful lot like the design for the Metal Head of that era. I wonder if the character was also originally supposed to be Metal Head but they felt that there were enough turtles in the game already. The CD in Fighter does seem to have some of MH's moves from Turtles in Time (or at least just the extend-o-limbs).
Hey, you try closing your legs together while having a metal pelvis.
I didn't comment on it previously but this is an inspired choice. I'm a little bit mad at myself for not thinking of it and including it on my list. The TMNT weren't the first characters to have a sewer lair but it is something that they really made part of their identity.
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I tended to play her a lot in Tourney Fighters also even though she is apparently ranked pretty low from a tier standpoint. After a few matches I usually switch to Armaggon because he has a very cheap floating dive kick to grab combo that works on the computer opponents and unwitting humans 94.5 percent of the time.
Interesting thought that I hadn't considered. I can't remember if Metalhead makes a background cameo in the game (I think he does not).
Interesting thought that I hadn't considered. I can't remember if Metalhead makes a background cameo in the game (I think he does not).
The third movie was Good.
#29 Leatherhead
Points: 84 | Lists: 4
"Bury my shell at wounded knee!"
Leatherhead has always stuck in my mind as a major TMNT villain, though I couldn't tell you why. He was only in four episodes of the original show and appeared in only a few games, yet he looms large. Perhaps there's just something intrinsically right about the turts fighting a giant toilet-gator. And why shouldn't they? Why should they fight anything else? It just fits."Bury my shell at wounded knee!"
Kind of the like Wingnut, Leatherhead is usually a good guy and ally to the bros, it's only in the cartoon and its associated properties where he's a pure baddie. And only in his first few incarnations his he a deep-fried good ol boy. I don't have much familiarity with his later appearances but I don't think it would be amiss to say they can be summed up in two words: Killer Croc. Mutant Mayhem though sees him (her?) retuning to his southern swamp dweller self.
It's that original conception of the character looms large in the mind. A bijou bounty hunter that perhaps leans a little too far into cliche to be entirely comfortable, Leatherhead is one of the odd mutants who is an animal uplifted rather than a human degraded. He was originally just a simple Captain Jack before he wadded into the same pool of ooze that created the Punk Frogs, but he couldn't shake his animalistic desire to hunt and so got a job as professional Dog.
His toy is rather unusual. Because of its unique posture it couldn't be displayed in the package blister in the usual front-facing manner. Instead turtle-hungry tykes at the toyshop were given a prominent view of Leatherhead's back and buttocks. Heck, it might be a good way to sell a toy. At least this displays his cool belt which not only has all the neat bits and bobs you would expect from a Playmates mold but also a holster for his swampgun. Still, it feels like there was a missed opportunity here. Leatherhead has a wicked case of lockjaw and his mouth doesn't open further than what you see in the above image. As kids we always wished he could gnaw on Mikey's head or Raph's ankle but the best he can muster is to maybe crack a very tiny peanut.
But enough beating around the bulrush, the most important gator-fact about Leatherhead is that in Turtles in Time he throws crawdads that you can bat back to stun him for a few seconds. This is easily the coolest thing in the world and on its basis alone justifies Leatherhead as a premier TMNT baddie.
Another fantastic Playmate figure that is just teeming with details.
I actually didn't realize Leatherhead even appeared in Mirage but it looks like he shows up in the "Tales From the" side-books which I still need to crack into sometime. Overall TMNT comics are still an unexplored region for me. I've got the first three IDW reprints of the Mirage material and one trade of the Archie stories (which does include Leatherhead's interstellar wrestling era).
I love the Louisiana flavor of the Playmates/Wolf version and Jim Cummings' voice acting completely sells it for me. I never had the Playmates toy though. I only got it recently and I was stunned by the details especially Leatherhead's weirdly human teeth. Pretty weird considering the guy was supposed to have been a regular gator to start with!
Leatherhead is also a huge muscular guy with a wrestler's physique in the cartoon and in Archie so I was a bit shocked at the toy's more bestial proportions. I like this disconnect though. All the disparate versions of TMNT make it more rich for me.
And yep it seems she is a she in the upcoming animated film. Man that can't come out fast enough
I love the Louisiana flavor of the Playmates/Wolf version and Jim Cummings' voice acting completely sells it for me. I never had the Playmates toy though. I only got it recently and I was stunned by the details especially Leatherhead's weirdly human teeth. Pretty weird considering the guy was supposed to have been a regular gator to start with!
Leatherhead is also a huge muscular guy with a wrestler's physique in the cartoon and in Archie so I was a bit shocked at the toy's more bestial proportions. I like this disconnect though. All the disparate versions of TMNT make it more rich for me.
And yep it seems she is a she in the upcoming animated film. Man that can't come out fast enough
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Mirage Leatherhead is interesting in that he first appeared in the Mirage comics but in one of the non-Eastman/Laird issues that... aren't non-canonical but I feel like are largely ignored in the core Eastman/Laird narratives. This confused me at first as to why issues were straight up missing in my "Ultimate Editions" for the TMNT comics. Like, large swaths. Because they weren't written by the original team and therefore are more "soft canon".
Weirdly (and only tangentially related), "soft canon" is how Image Comics also approaches it's "shared" superhero universe. The various creator-owned characters interact; Invincible ostensibly takes place in the same world as Spawn and Savage Dragon takes place in the same world as the Maxx but no one is checking notes with each other. It's more like sharing "toys" and less like actually making sure is coheres to a larger narrative.
Weirdly (and only tangentially related), "soft canon" is how Image Comics also approaches it's "shared" superhero universe. The various creator-owned characters interact; Invincible ostensibly takes place in the same world as Spawn and Savage Dragon takes place in the same world as the Maxx but no one is checking notes with each other. It's more like sharing "toys" and less like actually making sure is coheres to a larger narrative.
I like the idea of a "soft canon" because it breaks the typical geeky tendency to adhere to canon as a sort of sub-deity or at least a cult leader. It becomes more burdensome the longer you're in a fandom especially if it is something with a fundamentally ridiculous nature like TMNT or Transformers.
In the latter for example there are a couple of crossovers in the Marvel era with G.I. Joe, one of which ends with Megatron nuking Washington, DC, an event you'd expect to make waves over in the GI Joe comics but of course it doesn't because at that point the stories diverge.
There was another time when TakaraTomy released a unified timeline/flowchart of everything that connected to Generation 1 and it is so confusing that I think it may have killed several wiki editors. I like this. It is too confusing to be helpful. The lure of canon is a siren song only leading to misery.
Anyway I was also confused by the skipping of content in the TMNT "Ultimate" books. Those trades are great especially for their creator commentary but I deffo want to go seek out the skipped stories as well.
All my knowledge of Kiss Players comes from reading the wiki articles (this is what my lawyer advised me to say) and the only explanation I can offer is that because those stories were engineered for otaku they featured a charming mixture of disturbing fanservice (human bodies) and disturbing fanservice (continuity porn) which means the big squares indicates how the story touches several other corners of Transformers storyverse.
...I think.
Maybe they thought that Galvatron getting blown up at least once on Earth meaning that the planet was covered in Unicrons shrapnel and the problems that result from that was a good enough plot hook to salvage, and didn’t know how to keep that and remove all the rest.
That’s what I’m telling myself at least
That’s what I’m telling myself at least
Of TMNT stuff?
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
I feel like you could probably do some kind of six degrees of separation to connect TMNT with Transformers but I also feel like that way madness lies.
Did't realize they recycled that concept for the first Nick series...
Oof, those hind legs.