The unexpected friends of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Did you know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once appeared in an episode of the Power Rangers? No?

Oh. Well, did you know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have teamed-up with Batman on multiple occasions? You didn’t?

Hmm… Then this post is for you, because it looks at the unexpected friends of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles have plenty of pals, and these are the ones you may not be aware of.

From Sherlock Holmes and the aforementioned Power Rangers, to the Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa and beyond, here is a rundown of some of the Turtles’ biggest team-ups and crossovers! And yes, He-Man is involved too!

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The Turtles meet… Sherlock Holmes

First up, a genuine meeting of the minds – Sherlock Holmes and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

OK, so I’m using the term ‘meeting of the minds’ very loosely on this one, but even so, this is a pretty impressive pairing, even if it is completely implausible. The chance encounter happened (thanks to a spot of time travel) in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, more specifically in the episode Elementary, My Dear Turtle.

Broadcast in 1993, Elementary, My Dear Turtle cropped up during the seventh season of the Turtles show and not only did it feature London’s most famous, fictional detective, but it also included appearances from Holmes’ assistant, Dr. Watson and his mortal enemy, Professor Moriarty.

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The Turtles meet… Vanilla Ice

Perhaps the most notable Turtle meeting (and surely, the best loved team-up) took place in 1991, via the live-action movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. The film – a follow-up to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie – saw the Turtles uncover secrets about their mysterious past, whilst dealing with threats posed by Tokka, Rahzar and the Super Shredder!

As ‘90s films go, TMNT II is pretty bitchin’. It also features one of the greatest scenes in the history of any Turtles movie: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles busting out some serious shapes whilst ‘90s rapper Vanilla Ice gyrates to the Ninja Rap (“Go Ninja, go ninja, go!”)!

Now just think about that for one moment. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Vanilla Ice in the same movie, rapping and dancing. My gosh it is beautiful.

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The Turtles meet… the Power Rangers

This is not a dream. Repeat: This is not a dream. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles met the Power Rangers in an episode of live-action television, and it was both amazing and awkward as you might expect.

The monumental meeting happened back in 1998, via an episode of Power Rangers in Space. The story largely took place in the episode, Shell Shocked and saw the Turtles fight alongside the Rangers after they were initially pitted as enemies.

So, how was this all possible?

Well, it was actually pretty simple really. During the late 1990s, Saban Productions – the makers of Power Rangers – produced a (pretty awful) live-action Turtles TV show, called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. If you don’t remember the show BE VERY THANKFUL.

Anyway, Saban saw the geek potential in combining the two shows and the rest is history. It’s also worth noting that since appearing on TV together, the Turtles and the Power Rangers have also joined forces in comics.

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The Turtles meet… He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Speaking of comics, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles received a titanic team-up on the printed page when they joined forces with the Masters of the Universe for Dark Horse Comic’s epic Turtles of Grayskull! In this story, Turtle foes Shredder and Krang make a deal with He-Man’s nemesis Skeletor, the Turtles wind up in Eternia, and Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey unite with He-Man and his pals for the greater good!

And not only did this crossover take place in comics, but it also spilled out onto toy shelves. Mattel, the makers of all things He-Man produced a range of Turtles of Grayskull figures.

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The Turtles meet… Usagi Yojimbo

Created by Stan Sakai in 1984, Usagi Yojimbo is a long-running comic book character who first appeared in the pages of Albedo Anthropomorphics #2. Since then, Usagi has cropped up in numerous books published by the likes of Fantagraphics, Mirage, and Dark Horse and has attracted a strong following in the process.

Now, while Usagi Yojimbo largely appears in stories set within the Edo period of Japan, he has also featured in tales which take place outside of this timeframe – especially when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are involved.

So far Usagi has worked alongside the Turtles in comics and cartoons, including the original ‘80s animated series, as well as the ‘00s cartoon, and the 2012 animated Turtles show.

The lucky bunny!

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The Turtles meet… Star Trek… the Universal Monsters… and WWE

Breaking away from the realms of movies, TV shows, and comics now in order to delve into the medium of plastic playthings. I’m talking Turtles. I’m talking toys. I’m talking huge franchises!

During the ‘80s and ‘90s leading toy manufacturer, Playmates Toys, produced an incredibly vast amount of action figures and playsets based around Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In fact, the company still makes toys based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So if your kids (or you) have a Turtles toy knocking around your house, chances are it will have been made by Playmates.

Whilst the original line of toys included numerous heroes and villains, one constant theme that ran throughout the line was the Turtles themselves – or rather, alternate versions of the Turtles. From Bandito Bashin’ Mike and Crazy Cowboy Don, to Lifeguard Leo and Cave Turtle Raph (and his Tubular Pterodactyl) the list of bizarre and whacky Turtles was exhaustive. It was also kind of cool.

However, two lines in particular saw the Turtles combined with two of the world’s most iconic franchises: Star Trek and Universal Studios’ Monsters.

Star Trek figures included the likes of Chief Engineer Michelangelo, First Officer Donatello, Captain Leonardo and Chief Medical Officer Raphael. Each figure was decked out in a Star Trek shirt, complete with Star Trek insignia and Donnie even came with Spock ears!

The Universal Studios Monsters collection, meanwhile, included the likes of Raph as the Mummy, Mikey as Frankenstein’s Monster, Donnie as Dracula and Leo as the Wolfman. Additional figures followed, with April O’Neil becoming the Bride of Frankenstein and Leo being re-imagined as the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

More recently, these crossover figures have continued with a series of WWE-inspired Turtles toys! The Turtles were transformed into iconic wrestlers such as the Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man Randy Savage!

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The Turtles meet… Batman

Another meeting of the minds now, as the Heroes in a Half-shell team up with Batman for a collection of Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stories which saw the Turtles cross paths with the Dark Knight. These adventures initially started in comic book form, but proved popular enough to inspire an animated movie!

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The Turtles meet… the Ghostbusters

Onto a Turtles/Ghostbusters team-up now, which also happened in comics. Everyone’s favourite shellbacks and everyone’s favourite spook hunters appeared together in comic book form courtesy of the appropriately named, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters.

Written by Erik Burham and Tom Waltz, the 4-issue story hit comic book shelves in late 2014/early 2015 and saw Mikey, Donnie, Leo and Raph cross paths with Egon, Winston, Ray and Peter in a blockbuster event. A sequel was published in 2017 and yep, you guessed it, a series of Turtles/Ghostbuster toys were also released.

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The Turtles meet… the C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa

Another comic book meet-up for you, only this time the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossed paths with the Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa in three issues of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vol 2).

For those who don’t remember the Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa, they were basically a group of anthropomorphic cows created by comic book artist Ryan Brown. Back during the early ‘90s, the C.O.W. Boys were stars of an animated TV show and they even featured in a computer game and a line of action figures.

The first of the two comic book meetings took place in issue #21 of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vol 2), which was published in March 2006 and was written by Ryan Brown, Steve Murphy and Peter Laird. Whilst the second comic book meeting appeared in issue #32 of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vol 2).

The final Turtles/C.O.W. Boys crossover took place in issue #58 of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vol 2) and featured a story that involved TMNT faves, the Utroms and Cudley the Cowlick!

Outside of the comics, the Wild West C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa also made a brief cameo appearance in the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, in the episode Home Invasion. Their appearance was during the sixth season of the show, more commonly known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward.

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The Turtles meet… The Turtles

And finally, perhaps the mother of all meetings: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meet…

…the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Sounds bizarre doesn’t it? But it has happened – and on more than one occasion! The first time this unexpected union took place was in the excellent 2009 animated movie, Turtles Forever.

The premise of Turtles Forever is quite simple: The multiverse is in danger, so the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the ‘00s cartoon have to team up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the ‘80s cartoon in order to save the day. Along the way, both sets of Turtles also meet up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the original comic books (circa 1984), resulting in the Turtles meeting the Turtles, and the Turtles!

And that’s not all, a similar crossover also took place during the third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon – (aka the first Nickelodeon ‘toon from 2012). The episode, Trans-Dimensional Turtles, aired in 2016 and saw the 2012-era Turtles share screen time with their 1987 counterparts.

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Editor/Writer/Pizza Lover

Alex Wiggan

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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For more movie posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.