The Other "Fifth Turtles" - Part One

If one thing is for certain, the TMNT have come a long way since their initial 80's comic series. We've seen numerous food items, movies, tv shows, multiple comic series and, the newest subject in the spotlight, the addition of a 5th turtle character. Before we go any further, keep in mind, there may be some POSSIBLE SPOILERS ahead in this list. You've been warned! If you've followed this far in IDW's ongoing TMNT comic series, you know by now, without going into too much detail, that there is a new female 5th turtle: Jennika who was originally human until she received a blood transfusion from Leonardo after a battle with Karai. While the spotlight is rightfully aimed on the newest member of the turtle teens, I'd like to take this as an opportunity to visit some other "5th" turtles of the past that some may not be aware of!

Well excUUUUUUSeee ME, toitles!

SLASH

        Slash (a character created by Kevin Eastman) has a few different origin stories in the TMNT timeline with his earliest appearance being the 1987 cartoon series in the episode "Slash: the Evil Turtle from Dimension X." In the cartoon, Slash was Bebops ordinary pet turtle who later gets mutated by Rocksteady to help aid in the Shredders evil plans. Obsessed with a small palm tree that was in his cage or, as he calls it, "binky," Slash is sent into rage after Bebop drops it into an air duct. He appears again later in the cartoon series in episodes "Donatello Trashes Slash" and "Night of the Rogues."

Slashs' first comic appearance can be found in the Archie TMNT Adventures series in issue #23 where Slash is part of an alien snapping turtle race on a tropical planet that was destroyed through an alien invasion. Slash meets Krang and helps aid Krangs' passage to earth where he will look for a new body to inhabit. Under the direction of Krang, Slash fights against the turtles. Slash can also be found in the Archie TMNT mini-series entitled

"The Mighty Mutanimals" in issue #9 simply titled "Slash." In this issue, Slash teams up with the Turtles after Null, the turtles arch nemesis, kills the mighty mutanimals. Slash, the Turtles and the turtles future counterparts travel in time to avenge the death of their mutant friends. At the end, Slash sacrifices himself by plummeting a space ship set to destroy earth into the sun.

Gnarly!

In the ongoing comic series by IDW, Slash first appears in the 7th mini-series book which highlights April O'Neill. Slash is a specimen (Specimen 6 to be exact) and property of Baxter Stockman at StockGen who escapes the lab he was imprisoned within with, yet again, a small plastic palm tree from his habitat. At this point, Slash isn't developed in his brain as much as he is on the outside which leads him to act ferociously. He meets with the Mighty Mutanimals and, their leader, Old Hob. They meet a scientist named Lindsey Baker who helps develop a psychotropic compound to produce more mutants for their mutant army. Using a syringe containing splinters compounded blood, Slash tests the serum on himself which results in enhancing Slashs' overall intelligence and speech. Eventually, Slash is taken over by the EPF (Earth Protection Force) by use of a pair of control goggles and is used as a killing machine against all mutant kind. When the goggles are destroyed, Slash realizes that he was implanted with an explosive that could wipe out Burnow Island and boards an empty Triceraton ship so that it can detonate at a safe distance ending his own life.

 In season two of the 2012 Nickelodeon owned animated series, Slash is Raphael's pet turtle named "Spike" who develops a hatred early on for Raph's brothers, especially Leo who Raph is often seen arguing with. Spike ends up being mutated as he comes into contact with retromutagen ooze and becomes Raph's new partner against the Kraang (yes, two A's) and renames himself "Slash." Things go awry when Slashs' hatred against the other three brothers becomes apparent as he almost takes Michelangelo's life. Raph disowns Slash which ends in a battle between the two where Slash falls from a rooftop but survives and flees the scene. Slash appears quite often through out the rest of the 2012 series.

Slash makes 2 video game appearances. In the NES game "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project" on the bridge stage, halfway through, he comes riding on Bebops Turtle Tenderizer 4x4 vehicle (which is actually a playmates toy that wasnt produced). For myself (and I'm sure many others), his most notable video game appearance can be seen in "TMNT IV: Turtles in Time" at the end of "Prehistoric Turtlesaurus." The original Turtles in Time arcade cabinet, which this game is ported from, didn't include Slash and instead included Cement Man (otherwise known as Blob Monster in the 1987 cartoon series). They switched Cement Man out for Slash in the Super Nintendo version of the game. Slash is known for being the hardest boss in Turtles in Time for the SNES.

As for action figures, the 2012 series had one action figure for Slash which, to be honest, I wasn't crazy about. I didn't care for his design in the show and this is an exact replica of that. On the other hand his first official action figure debut with playmates is more my style! He takes the look of the Archie Comic series rather than the 1987 cartoon series and that's absolutely fine by me! This figure can be found in 5 different color variants ranging from slightly different colored stomachs, belts and belt initial. And if that wasn't enough for us toy collectors out there, the good people at Neca are in the works of releasing two new Slash action figures. One borrows heavily from the SNES classic Turtles in Time with that pixelated color scheme and the other comes straight out of the 1987 cartoon series. Both look incredible!

VENUS DE MILO

  In 1997, the Turtles landed themselves a live action tv series dubbed "TMNT: The Next Mutation" which basically translated to weird costume and weapon changes to the turtles gear and overall appearance. Among the changes was the addition of a female 5th turtle character created by Kevin Eastman and Haim Saban named Mei Pieh Chi aka Venus De Milo, which also spawned awkward turtle tits. Venus sported an aqua blue bandana, much lighter than Leos, which was also braided in the back somewhat like a ponytail.

The story goes that 5 turtles, who aren't at all related by blood (another big change), were affected by the mutagen and Splinter managed to only find 4/5. The 5th one was found in China Town by Master Chung I, a Chinese... Shinobi magician. (Yes, a Chinese Shinobi magician. Not Japanese eventhough "Shinobi" is Japanese.) Chung I then raises and trains Venus for 18 years in his homeland in Shanghai.

Splinter and Chung I communicate through the dream realm and would exchange stories of each others turtles but never told the turtles about each other. Chung I was in possession of a mystic mirror which imprisoned a race of evil humanoid dragons. Somehow, the dragons break free, take Splinters spirit hostage in the dream realm and kill Chung I. Before Chung I passes, he tells Venus of her true origin and advises her to find Splinter in New York where she meets the turtles. The Turtles and Venus eventually travel to the dream realm together to save Splinter which somehow allows the dragons to cross over into the turtles world in New York.

 Next Mutation is the only place Venus really shows up in the turtle lore with the exception of a Robot Chicken skit, a small parody in the 3rd volume of TMNT from Image Comics and on the Mirage website where there was a series of letters written by the 5 turtles on their journey after The Next Mutation was cancelled. Truth be told, a lot of people were against her as a creation, except for maybe Saban who some sources claim would not go through with airing The Next Mutation without a female turtle being a member of the group. Aside from The Next Mutation being way too goofy for anyone to watch for more than 10 mins, with Venus came too many big changes. There was a girl turtle in the mix and Saban made the turtles non blood related which basically means that one of the lucky turtles could smash that and make more baby mutant turtles. So awkward. Even Peter Laird (TMNT co creator) often speaks as to why he disliked her so much and has gone as far to say that he felt betrayed when her character was introduced to the franchise. He also erased her from the old Mirage Studios website when Kevin Eastman sold all of his rights to him.

 Even though the toy line for The Next Mutation only lasted a year from 1997 to 1998, Venus had 3 different action figures which consisted of Blacktop Boardin' Venus, Turtleflage Venus and the basic Venus figure.

TOKKA

 Tokkas first appearance can be found in the 1991 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret of the Ooze alongside his other mutated pal, Rahzar. Shredder, with the help of Tatsu and the Foot Clan, find and steal the last canister of ooze from the turtles in the TGRI lab. Once Shredder finds out that this is the same compound that mutated the turtles, he forces Professor Perry to make him a pair of mutated animals, a wolf and a snapping turtle, to fight against the turtles. Events turn for the worst after the Professor secretly fiddles with the mutagen and the fully mutated animals are both turned into, as Shredder puts it, babies or, at the least, mentally inferior mutants and orders them to be destroyed. However, after watching both of the monsters lift a tank with their bare hands, Shredder has a change of heart and allows them to "play" in the big city. Towards the end of the film Tokka, along with Rahzar, are returned to their original form using a compound Professor Perry creates to reverse the mutagenic process.

Tokka makes a few appearances outside of the big screen in the 7th season of the 1987 cartoon series as well as in season 4 of the Nickelodeon owned 2012 series. In the 1987 series episode "Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter," which debuted in 1994, Tokka and Rahzar were created years ago by Shredder who exposed a few zoo animals to mutagen ooze. Because of Tokkas' reckless appetite, he is captured by Dirk Savage after being bated by a trap disguised as a buffet. Unlike their big screen counter parts, Tokka and Rahzar spoke a lot less like infants and could form complete sentences.

In the 2012 series, Tokka is an alien, is female and is a guardian to a piece of a black hole generator on the planet Magdomar. Tokka also has a baby, Chompy Picasso, who later Raphael takes parental guardianship of. In the 2009 4Kids Entertainment television film entitled "TMNT: Turtles Forever," Tokka makes a small appearance when a series of robotic foot ninjas are mutated with ooze and turned into past TMNT villains.

In the comic universe, Tokka can be found twice. Once in the comic adaption of the Secret of the Ooze and again in issue 2 of a non-cannon series called "Turtle Soup" by mirage studios.

In issue 2 of Turtle Soup, the mini story called "Raphael: Snapper" features Raphael handling Aprils pet snapping turtle. The snapping turtle bites Raphs finger causing him to bleed. Raph passes out from the bite and wakes up to a monsterous mutated snapping turtle who claims Raph is inferior as he prefers pizza instead of fresh blood.

Tokka makes an appearance, again along side Rahzar, in Turtles in Time (both the arcade and SNES versions) as well as in TMNT III: The Manhattan Project for the NES. In the arcade version of Turtles in Time, you battle Tokka and Rahzar on the pirate ship; in the SNES version, Tokka and Rahzar are found in the technodrome just before the first Shredder battle while the pirate ship battle is replaced with Bebop and Rocksteady. In The Manhattan Project, the battle against Tokka takes place on the rooftop.

In 1991, Tokka has his first action figure appearance with his basic figure which looks more like his cartoon self rather than big screen. You can find this figure in 2 different color variants (one has a tan green belt, lighter skin color, stomach outline and yellow shell color and the other has a  black belt and much darker shell color as well as stomach outline.)

In 1993, he has another toy release in the Mutations lineup with his figure "Mutatin' Tokka" where the figure can change forms from regular snapping turtle to his mutated version and vice versa.

In 1994, when the mini playset craze was white hot with toys like Polly Pocket and Mighty Max, they released a line of "Mini Mutants." One such figure/playset included a pre-mutated Tokka outside shell with a mini Technodrome playset inside which included Raphael, Shredder and Bebop mini figures.

METALHEAD

I know, this one might seem like a stretch but, hear me out, Metalhead is a robotic turtle and I'm not willing to discriminate against cybernetic beings! Although later in the 1987 cartoon series, we see Metalhead as a robotic turtle, he started off in Mirage Comics TMNT #15 of vol. 1 as a cybernetic super hero created by Doctor Dome and was also known as "Metal Head" as opposed to "Metalhead" (the space between matters).

He could use psychokinetic energy to move his body and utilize his hair as steel weaponry. He could also use his hair to scale mountains like a spider.

In 1989, Metalhead was re-imagined in the 1987 cartoon series as a robotic turtle created by Krang to fight against the turtles in the episode "The Making of Metalhead." Krang installed brainwave patterns from each of the turtles, April, and Shredder giving him the abilities of all these characters but also resulting in Metalhead having a dissociative identity disorder switching from one persona to the next every few seconds. Donatello reprograms Metalhead through the use of some Channel Six News equipment to fight with him and his brothers which fixes the personality problems. Metalhead is seen again in the episode Big Bug Blunder (1990, season 4 episode 37) but is only seen tidying up the turtles lair and going haywire which leads to Don shutting him down.

Metalhead makes appearances in the 2003 cartoon series where he is a member of the original Justice Force. He also appears in the Fast forward episode "The Journal" as well as in the "Back to the Sewers" series in episodes "Super Power Struggle" and "Wedding Bells and Bytes."

    In the 2012 series, Donatello who feels he personally isn't using his full potential as a group member between him and his brothers creates Metalhead from a salvaged Kraang body. Metalhead can be controlled by Don through a Nintendo style remote control to aid his brothers in combat which is awesome! It's like that one time when the Ghostbusters controlled the Statue of Liberty with the Nintendo Advantage controller. Although he is clunky, Metalhead does help in different ways until a Kraang alien attaches itself to Metalhead after it notices he is made from a Kraang Droid body. Don is unable to control Metalhead with the Kraang inside of it and has to help his brothers in person to defeat Metalhead. Metalhead shows up again in this series in the "Showdown Pt. 1" where he is rebuilt by Don with a certain degree of self dependence and no controller necessary. In another episode named "Metalhead  Rewind" he is yet again reconfigured, this time sharing qualities similar to R2-D2. Again proving himself to be full of faults, Raph, Leo and Mike vote to have Metalhead destroyed. Metalhead flees through a portal to a Kraang prison where other mutants are being held captive. The turtles help Metalhead free the incarcerated mutants. He then self destructs to destroy the portal device. He also makes an appearance in TMNT: Mutant Apocalypse where Don is seen using Metalheads body to host his soul.

 In the ongoing IDW Comics series, Metalhead is created by scientist Harold Lilja and designed after Donatello with the purpose of remote controlled combat for Liljas' protection. Later in issue #44, Donatello sustains critical damage from Bebop and Rocksteady and is on the verge of death. With the help of Fujitoid, Harold uploads Donatellos soul into Metalhead. After Donatellos body is recovered, Metalhead is destroyed in an explosion. Donatello attempts to repair the damaged robot and finds that it kept a digital copy of his own mind. Michelangelo renames him "Metal-Don."

The Metal-Don robot eventually becomes violent as he feels he is the real Donatello entombed in machinery which led to a destructive episode. The Metalhead robot was then discarded and replaced with a newer version created by Lilja.

Metalhead appears in both arcade and SNES versions of Turtles in Time in the second level "Alleycat Blues" as the end boss. He also appears in the Re-Shelled version of the game by Ubisoft which was available through online gaming market places but has since been discontinued.

In the toys department, Metalhead first appears in 1989 with his basic figure.

Strangely enough, he is parodied later in a version of himself mixed with Michelangelo in 1995 with the figure Warrior Metalhead Michelangelo which is dubbed the "original party robot."

He also gets his own figure in the 2nd series of the 2012 Nickelodeon owned TMNT toy line. Neca has announced a 1987 cartoon version of Metalhead which, I assume, will also see a Turtles in Time paint scheme similar to what we've seen with their recent Leatherhead and Slash figure announcements.

If you made it this far, congratulations and also thanks for reading! We still have 4 more characters to talk about so click here for part 2 of the other 5th turtles!