Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Director Confirms Classic Toy Inspired Easter Eggs

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opens in theaters this week, and the animated movie is full of loving Easter eggs inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. That includes at least a couple of Easter eggs inspired by classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys from the height of Turtlemania. For one, Mondo Gecko (voiced by Paul Rudd in the film) has a roller skate tied to his tail, as did the toy released by Playmates based on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. (That cartoon will soon air on Nickelodeon. Mondo debuts in the episode titled "Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko"). Mutant Mayhem also took inspiration from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Technodrome playset, which let Turtles fans set their action figure-based story in Shredder and Krang's iconic lair.

"At one point, Mondo Gecko has a roller skate on his tail, there's things like that," director Jeff Rowe tells /Film. "There's the TCRI environment, we really tried to make look like the Technodrome toy. It's not a toy thing specifically, but when the Turtles get electrocuted in TCRI, we do the 2D bone silhouette thing from the video game."

Another major toy Easter egg existed in an early version of Mutant Mayhem, where Shredder was the film's villain and the Turtles attended high school from early on in the movie. In that script, the Turtles dressed in costumes to disguise themselves at a party. Those costumes were based on toys Playmates released in their original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line.

"But at one point, in the Shredder version, when they were in high school, there was a scene where they go to a party and then they just dress up as classic toys," Rowe explained. Though the scene didn't make it into Mutant Mayhem, PlayMates still put out a Walmart-exclusive action figure four-pack with the Mutant Mayhem Turtles in those costumes. "That's why they released them!" Rowe confirmed. "Yeah, Astronaut Raph. Cowboy Leo. That was going to be a thing in the film at one point, and may come back for the sequel, but that's why that's there."

The Shredder version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

While Rowe mentions that the iconic Shredder was the villain of an early draft of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's script, Mutant Mayhem's Shredder wouldn't have been the antagonist that fans remember. This Shredder would have been something different and may still be in the upcoming sequel.

"He was in the movie for a long time, for a year and a half. And then it just did not work. And we were just banging our head against the wall and we had two big story problems. One, the Turtles were in high school on page 30, so they got exactly what they wanted way too early," Rowe told Uproxx. "And it also meant that the movie was a reset 30 minutes in, which was just broken. And then Shredder was the villain and it was too big of a character too soon. And you didn't understand how a crime boss, which is how we were playing him, was connected to these teenagers." 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem marks the latest movie in the long-running media franchise, and a new reboot for four turtle brothers.  Seth Rogen produced the movie, and lends his voice to its huge ensemble cast. In the film, the titular heroes venture out into the real world after years of living isolated in the sewers. Though they try to be recognized as normal teenagers by their heroics, a crime syndicate with an army of mutants makes everything more difficult for them and threatens their plans for joining society. The voice cast for the film includes Micah Abbey as Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, and Brady Noon as Raphael. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem includes a slew of celebrities as well like Ayo Edebiri as April O'Neil, Jackie Chan as Splinter, Seth Rogen as Bebop, John Cena as Rocksteady, Ice Cube as Superfly, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opened in theaters on August 2nd.