Flashback Friday: Reptil

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: Reptil!

Reptil is one of the very rare cases of a character being created for a toyline and then transitioning into comics. The only time I can think of that happening outside of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is DC's Nite-Lik. (Of course, there are other examples that didn't occur to me.) He was created for Marvel's "Super Hero Squad" line of figurines, but strangely, the only figurine of his I can find online is from 2010, well after all the other appearances I plan to mention. His earliest appearance that I can find is a tie-in comic book one-shot Marvel Super Hero Squad: Hero Up! #1 (January 2009).

He later appeared in The Super Hero Squad Show episode, "To Err is Superhuman" (September 2009), but in between those two appearances, he appeared in Avengers: The Initiative - Featuring Reptil #1 (March 2009).

Reptil's real name is Humberto Lopez and he possesses a magic medallion that allows him to turn any part of his body into any part of any dinosaur's body. He was a main character in Avengers Academy and has likewise appeared in other teen-hero-centric things like Avengers Arena.

Just a Small Little Thing: Mad Hatter's Robot Rabbit

I've been waiting to do this one so long, you guys.

Years ago, I created a list of things I wanted to include on the website if only I could find proof of them. Most of the list has since appeared, a couple turned out to be misinformation, and one - this one - just kept hanging around, taunting me.

Mad Hatter's Robot Rabbit.

What am I talking about? you're probably asking. And that's exactly the problem. I've never been able to confirm it for three reasons, and the first is that it wasn't a big detail to begin with. It wasn't a fan favorite character like Harley Quinn or a cool design like the various Batmobiles or a tie-in to a current show like Aqualad. No one had any reason to talk about it. In fact, it wasn't even on tv! It was an accessory to an action figure.

The next problem was that it was a small detail of the issue it appeared in. Just background decoration, really, no relation to the plot at all. So, again, no one had any reason to talk about. And people may not have even seen it, because the scene was poorly lit.

And the third problem was that I knew it was in Secret Six #1, but I had a hard time figuring out WHICH Secret Six #1. But find it I did, and now I get to share it with you, and cross it off my list!

Edited to Add: It was Secret Six volume 2 #1, published in May 2006.

Marvel Tsum Tsum

This is a weird one, so get ready.

In 2013, Disney created a new line of plushies in Japan called Tsum Tsum. The name comes from the Japanese word tsumu, which means "to stack", because Tsum Tsums are designed to be stackable. (Note: pictured are plastic ones that were introduced later; the originals were plushies, as seen in the next image.)

Over the next couple years, they expanded the line to include Pixar, LucasFilm, and Marvel. The Marvel ones specifically debuted in September 2015, and that first wave basically included everyone you'd expect: most of the movie Avengers (minus Scarlet Witch, Falcon, and Hawkeye), the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Chitauri, Loki, Ultron, and Ronan, plus a few surprising choices like a Hydra agent, an AIM agent, and Venom.

A year later, Marvel - for some reason - released a four-issue miniseries called Marvel Tsum Tsum. Issue #1 came out in August 2016. The premise of the series is that a crate of these Tsum Tsums are en route to The Collector (from another dimension, I believe, but I could be wrong about that), but they end up on Earth. And not only are the Tsum Tsums alive, they consider themselves to be the real heroes and Earth-616's heroes to be strange imposters!

It's a bizarre plot, to be sure, but it seems like a lot of fun and an interesting way to use the brand.

Character Spotlight: Golden Pharaoh

This is another one I've been hoping to feature for a while now, but I never really expected I'd get the chance to. (Which is silly; if maintaining this blog has taught me anything, it's becoming a canon immigrant is more of a when than an if, no matter how obscure the detail is.)

Golden Pharaoh was created as a toy for the Kenner Super Powers line in 1986, and unlike every other figure save one, he was created by Kenner and not DC. I don't know why they felt the need to create their own characters when DC had so many to choose from; maybe it was a royalties thing. Either way, his packaging established his real name and his powers.

Later, DC decided to make a tie-in miniseries to the third series of the toyline, so Golden Pharaoh appeared in all four issues. Super Powers #1 (June 1986) established his career, country of origin, and the origin of his powers.

His action figure showed up in Green Lantern #89 (June 1997), which I guess technically counts as his first time as a canon immigrant, but it's not good enough.

(For completion's sake, I'll also include that he got another action figure in the "DC Universe Classics" line in 2010. He has so few appearances that I might as well include them all.)

Finally, in Doomsday Clock #5 (May 2018), they have a feature on international hero teams that have been popping up recently. The UK team, Knights Inc., lists Golden Pharaoh as one of its members.

He's only a name at the moment, but it's a name I never thought I'd see!

TMNT: Dimension X #3. Just...All of It.

The current run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics by IDW is trying to more or less be the definitive TMNT story by synthesizing all the Ninja Turtles media that came before it. As such, that means it has had a ton of canon immigrants and will continue to have many more.

This week: Dimension X #3. Just...all of it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Dimension X (2017) is exactly what it sounds like - a miniseries about the Turtles traveling through Dimension X. In issue 3 (August 2017), they come across a wrestling planet run by two aliens named Stump and Sling...

...get roped into a wrestling competition where Leonardo dresses like a samurai and they fight an alien named Cryin' Houn'...

...Michelangelo wrestles a creature named Antrax the Executioner...

...and Michelangelo uses the word "cowabunga!"

This whole story is a reference to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #7 (December 1989), where Cudley the Cowlick takes the Turtles to a Dimension X wrestling planet run by Stump and Sling...

...get roped into a wrestling competition where Leonardo dresses like a samurai...

...and their match is against an alien named Cryin' Houn' (who, admittedly, is much different in this version).

As for Antrax, he is a denizen of Dimension X that appeared in the toyline in 1991 as Krang's executioner. He has also appeared in the 80s cartoon and other adaptations, but he's different in each of them.

As for "Cowabunga!", that's a word famously used by the Turtles in the 80s cartoon, and the comics' Turtles at the time would never have been caught dead saying it.

Character Spotlight: Ace Duck

The current run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics by IDW is trying to more or less be the definitive TMNT story by synthesizing all the Ninja Turtles media that came before it. As such, that means it has had a ton of canon immigrants and will continue to have many more.

This week: Ace Duck!

Ace Duck is an interesting character because he always gets the chance to touch Ninja Turtles continuities, but never gets to hold on and make an impact. He was first created by Peter Laird in 1988 when Playmates asked for new characters for the Ninja Turtles toy line:

Playmates changed his look a bit and gave him the name Ace when they released his figure the following year.

In November 1989, he made a cameo in the 1987 series, but he was a fictional character on a tv show so he never interacted with the Turtles.

He made his comics debut in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #7 the following month, and despite nominally taking place within the animated series continuity, this comic had a much different version of Ace that was a pro wrestler on a distant planet.

He was mentioned as an idea for a henchman in the 2012 animated series in the episode "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman" (2014), but never actually seen.

And then he appeared in the IDW series in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Dimension X #4 (August 2017) where he was a witness that the Ninja Turtles were looking for.

Whether he'll continue to show up remains to be seen, but it would be cool!

Appearance Spotlight: Iceman's Jagged Form

Once again I have to think CBR for the assist, and you can read a more detailed background of this entry at their recent post on the subject.

But basically it goes like this: Scott Lobdell thought Iceman should be able to have greater control over his appearance, but the X-Men editors thought that Toy Biz - who owned Marvel at the time - wouldn't go for the idea since they had recently released an Iceman figure and would want the figure to match the comics.

However, Lobdell came up with a storyline that would allow him to play with the appearance temporarily. In Uncanny X-Men #314 (May 1994), the White Queen takes over Iceman's body and shows him he's not using his powers to the fullest extent.

Toy Biz saw this design and was basically like, "Whoa! Do you know how many action figures we could sell with that design?" So in 1995, they released an Iceman figure with a more jagged look and the ability to "grow" different parts of his body.

Iceman was changed in the comics to follow suit, of course, but it didn't happen all at once. In X-Men #50 (January 1996), he still had a smooth look overall, but he also had SOME shape control. His ice form had hair now, and he could turn his arms into spikes:

One month later, in Uncanny X-Men #331 (February 1996), he got the jagged look from the comics.

It didn't stick, but few things do in comics.

Characters' Names: Venom's Spawn

This is a surprising one for me, so I'm glad to be able to share it.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing a line of Venom toys called "Planet of the Symbiotes". The internet tells me this line came out in 1996, which sounds about right. Symbiotes were all the rage in the mid-90s. I can't say why - even as a kid, I didn't see the appeal - but they were, so these toys didn't surprise me. A year later, they came out with a sequel series called "Along Came A Spider". Each of these lines were named after Venom miniseries that involve these characters, but don't have much in common with them beyond that.

I didn't recognize most of these characters at the time, but that wasn't anything new. I often learned of characters through toys. But here's the thing, which I didn't learn until today: some of these characters didn't have names until they released the toys!

The story behind this group of Symbiotes is that they were created from Venom by an organization called The Life Foundation. They first appeared in Venom: Lethal Protector #4 (March 1993).

In their appearances before the action figures came out, the Symbiotes didn't have names. They referred to each other by their host name. But no one would buy a Symbiote named Donna, so Toy Biz came up with more appropriate names. It's a little tricky to explain who has a toy-original name and who doesn't, so we'll go through them one by one.

Moving left to right on the group photo above, we'll start with Scream. The yellow Symbiote was first  designated Scream in Civil War Battle Damage Report #1 (March 2007).

Next up is Lasher, the green Symbiote. It was first called that in Carnage USA #2 (January 2012), although it's an interesting case in that the lettering makes it seem like "Lasher" may be the name of the dog that hosts this Symbiote, rather than the Symbiote itself. It's unclear.

In the middle, we have Riot. The grey Symbiote is first called "Riot" in Carnage USA #2 (January 2012).

After that, we have the orange Symbiote, Phage. Phage is a VERY interesting case. If you go back and look at the toys, you'll see one named Phage. But it's not a Symbiote! It's actually an alien called a xenophage, which is a predator of Symbiotes. Here's a picture of one:

Regardless, they had another Symbiote they needed a name for, and Phage is what they chose, no doubt because it was used in this toyline. Phage's name first appeared in Carnage USA #2 (January 2012).

You might notice the final (pink) Symbiote, Agony, is not in the toyline either. And no toy is named Agony. So I don't know where her name came from. Regardless, these Symbiotes (minus Scream) are part of a task force called the Mercury Team. Each soldier is assigned one of the Symbiotes and keeps them contained until they're needed, then bond with them just long enough to finish the task at hand.

Pretty neat, right? The immigrants that catch me off-guard are always my favorite.

For completion's sake, you might also notice there's a toy we didn't mention: Hybrid. Hybrid's name is from the comics, but it's not its own Symbiote. It's a combination of Lasher, Riot, and Phage, who first appeared in Venom: Along Came A Spider #1 (November 1995).

Edited to Add (6/27/21): As evidenced by the upcoming Extreme Carnage #1: Lasher (August 2021), Lasher is, indeed, the name of the symbiote and not the dog.

Thirty Days of Turtles: Jagwar

Recently I decided that if I want to keep having new content on this blog, I'm going to have to branch out beyond Marvel and DC. They'll always bring in new content, and I'm sure I'll continue to find old ones I've missed, but it's time to move toward more unfamiliar territory. With that in mind, and because they have a new movie out, I thought I'd kick this new era off with Thirty Days of Turtles!

That's right: From June 3 to July 2, there'll be a post each day highlighting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles canon immigrants. Now, because TMNT canon is a little confusing, it can be hard to tell what counts as a canon immigrant and what doesn't. So for the purposes of this blog, a TMNT canon immigrant is anything (a) from the movies, cartoons, video games, toy lines, or tie-in comic series that later appeared in (b) TMNT volumes 1, 2, or 4 [because they're by the original creators] or TMNT volume 5 [because the original creators are involved, it's the new official continuity, and its goal is to use as much of the diverse TMNT lore as possible].

With that in mind, let's look at today's entry: Jagwar!

Jagwar first appeared in 1989 as a sketch for potential Playmates action figures. That action figure would never get made, but Jagwar would go on to appear in the animated series spin-off comic.

Jagwar would first appear in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #14 (August 1990). Despite going on to become a Mutanimal, Jagwar is not actually a mutant. Instead, he's from a secret tribe of jaguar people.

Jagwar would later go on to cameo with (most of) the rest of the Mutanimals in Mirage's Tales of the TMNT #58 (May 2009), although it's important to note that this is still the "animated" version because it's in a scene of the multiverse.

Thirty Days of Turtles: Mondo Gecko

Recently I decided that if I want to keep having new content on this blog, I'm going to have to branch out beyond Marvel and DC. They'll always bring in new content, and I'm sure I'll continue to find old ones I've missed, but it's time to move toward more unfamiliar territory. With that in mind, and because they have a new movie out, I thought I'd kick this new era off with Thirty Days of Turtles!

That's right: From June 3 to July 2, there'll be a post each day highlighting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles canon immigrants. Now, because TMNT canon is a little confusing, it can be hard to tell what counts as a canon immigrant and what doesn't. So for the purposes of this blog, a TMNT canon immigrant is anything (a) from the movies, cartoons, video games, toy lines, or tie-in comic series that later appeared in (b) TMNT volumes 1, 2, or 4 [because they're by the original creators] or TMNT volume 5 [because the original creators are involved, it's the new official continuity, and its goal is to use as much of the diverse TMNT lore as possible].

With that in mind, let's look at today's entry: Mondo Gecko!

Mondo Gecko first appeared in the 1990 toy line, along with other characters who would go on to become Mutanimals, such as Man Ray, Wingnut, and Mutagen Man.

The next year, he would appear in both the 80s cartoon and the comic tie-in, although these two versions don't match up. The Mondo Gecko that first appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures #18 (February 1991) was a human mutated into a gecko, while the animated version that appeared in September of that year was a gecko turned into a humanoid.

Mondo Gecko would later go on to cameo with (most of) the rest of the Mutanimals in Mirage's Tales of the TMNT #58 (May 2009), although it's important to note that this is still the "Adventures" version because it's in a scene of the multiverse.

In the world of IDW, Mondo Gecko appears as one of Old Hob's first successful mutations beginning in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #38 (October 2014).