Yes- THESE are supposed to be punks. Since when do punks shop at frickin’ Tommy Bahama’s?

THE PUNK FROGS (Atilla the Frog, Napoleon Bonafrog, Genghis Frog, Rasputin the Mad Frog)

-The Punk Frogs are an early addition to the franchise, and had a pretty typical origin and concept- “Mirror Image Villains” who simply ended up getting affected by Mutagen run-off. Their origin actually mirrors that of the Turtles- a canister of Shredder’s Mutagen got sent to the Florida swamps by accident, and four frogs (who were about to be adopted by a kid, until his mom objected) wandered into the mess, and got transformed. Shredder discovered them when he went to find the Mutagen, and a lightbulb went off over his head- he trained them in Ninjitsu to COUNTER the Turtles, giving each of them individualized weapons and naming them not after great artists, but great VILLAINS and CONQUERORS. And so we had Attila the Frog, Genghis Frog, Rasputin the Mad Frog, and Napoleon Bonafrog. And yes, he gave some of them different “surnames”.

-The four Frogs were dressed in… Hawaiian shirts and shorts, the universal indicators of the punk subculture. Then they were trained to fight the Turtles (awfully quickly, really- but then, Mutants tend to be fast learners. Most of them begin speaking English immediately, regardless of origin), despite being rather decent fellows. Shredder had them convinced that the TMNT were evil and that HE was a hero, but once they discovered the truth, they turned on him.

-The Punk Frogs reappeared in a few more episodes- in one, they were assaulted by, and made the slaves of, the new mutant Leatherhead (a Cajun ‘Gator), and had to call upon the TMNT for help. Despite reappearing a few times, there were only ever a pair of toys released- one was the 1989 Genghis Frog figure, which looked pretty show-accurate. However, as the four were all essentially the same guy with different colors, I guess they didn’t want to replicate that, and so the second figure was 1990’s Napoleon Bonafrog, who was given a CRAZY-cool appearance. Looking more like a nasty horned toad, he had a vicious grin and a heck of a lot more detail than the boring Genghis (really, all of the Punk Frogs had weak designs in the show. At least the TMNT, while pallette swaps of each other, looked COOL). Their toy releases actually led to Genghis & Napoleon getting their own episodes later (Napoleon’s toy was released in 1990- one year after Genghis’s). In Genghis’s, he travels to New York alone for some reason, and is rescued from a giant mutated fly by the Turtles, and helps them out against giant monster insects created by Shredder & Krang. In Napoleon’s, he grows to gigantic size.

-The characters show up in the 2012 Nick Toon, largely as a big in-joke in that Napoleon is played by Jon Heder, who was in Napoleon Dynamite– he uses the same voice and intonations. Atilla the Frog, meanwhile, is a big fat Jabba the Hutt parody, but talks like Vito Corleone. The Frogs form a big army and plan on assaulting human society, but Mikey’s friendship with Napoleon convinces them not to.

-The Punk Frogs are decent, but low-level, fighters. They’re effectively less-experienced Ninja Turtles, and with less experience and poorer showings, they’re not very elite. Leatherhead, for example, EASILY defeats all four of them at once, and even WITH New Villain Stink (whereby every villain, in their debut, is unusually more potent than they ever were afterwards), that’s pretty bad.

The Individual Frogs:
GENGHIS FROG (Weapon: Battleax)
-Genghis wasn’t any different from the others in the show, but had the most vicious-looking weapon, and was the only one to get a show-accurate toy for whatever reason. He’s named after Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongol warlord who conquered an unimaginably-huge swath of land (which grew under his heirs). Naturally, you never saw him hit anybody with his weapon.

ATTILA THE FROG (Weapon: Flail)
-Attila is named for Attila the Hun, a mysterious figure from a mysterious, raiding bunch of people.

RASPUTIN THE MAD FROG (Weapon: Bow & Arrow w/ net, flash & smoke arrows) 
-Rasputin is named for Rasputin, the “Mad Monk”, who scandalized Pre-Communist Russia with his cult of personality and connection to the Tsar’s family. He’s the only one of the four with a ranged weapon, and it’s actually pretty neat- he’s a low-end version of a Green Arrow type. Despite the name, he is no more angry or crazy than any of his brothers.

NAPOLEON BONAFROG (Weapon: Bullwhip)
-Napoleon is named for Napoleon Bonaparte, a tremendous general and conqueror who took over much of Europe. He got the second, much-cooler toy, and was naturally voiced by Jon “Napoleon Dynamite” Heder in the Nickelodeon cartoon, because really. In the “Leatherhead” episode, he saves the day by using his Bullwhip to pull everyone out of a pit of quicksand. It takes him like THREE MINUTES to even think of this.

ZACH, THE FIFTH NINJA TURTLE

-Probably my very first introduction to the “Audience Surrogate” character, Zach remains one of the SHINING examples of the type. It’s all here: He’s shown to be a fan of the team. He’s got a “cool 1980s name” (this show even has TWO guys with this name- one of the Neutrinos is “Zak”!). He’s about the exact age of the expected audience for the cartoon (given as “almost fourteen”, but he looks and acts much younger- he’s likely supposed to be barely ten). He’s a Human Buddy. AND he’s made a member of the team! He’s literally what you’d get if some fan named Zach had written himself into the show! He’s “The Heroes’ Friend” personified. Hell, in his debut, he’s shown being so clever that he actually managed to track the Turtles to their lair using a special “Teen Detective Kit” (I actually remember this as if it were yesterday, despite twenty-six years having passed since I’ve seen it).

-The TMNT are a bit suspicious of his skills at first, and actually get into some trouble due to his “I wanna join you!” interference, but soon appreciate him so much that they name him the “Fifth Ninja Turtle”. In a later episode, he teams up with a Platonic Female Friend in an episode that features them “tortured” by an Italian Stereotype who tickles their bare feet to get information out of them (every time I view these scenes, I can’t help but know that someone, somewhere, has that exact fetish). Later, he has a Boy Who Cried Wolf story where he can’t get anybody to believe him that aliens are SERIOUSLY attacking the Earth this time, and is one of a few Turtle allies (including Casey Jones) to help out during Night of the Rogues. With five episodes, he’s one of the biggest characters never to get his own toy.

-Zach is true to a lot of characters of this type- he’s smart, clever and shrewd… to a point. Like he’s tricky enough to follow the Turtles to their lair using simple kid stuff, but he’ll also walk straight into danger because he gets overconfident and is still a little kid.

CARTER

-Another “Red Sky Seasons” character, Carter is the NEW “Human Buddy” of the Turtles, effectively replacing Zach. A biracial-looking kid in punker (I hate punkers…) clothes, he is initially disliked by the Turtles for always wanting to do things his way, but they finally see him as a proper team member. He was later exposed to Mutagen, giving him the power to turn into a large yellow mutant with super-strength. He has a lot of “Cool Kid” features to make kids want to be like him, such as a motorocycle and leather jacket, and was often instrumental in defeating Lord Dregg (who was both powerful AND super-smart). However, Carter eventually just got “Put On A Bus”, travelling to the future with two other allies, seeing it as the only way to cure his mutation (Note: Poochie died on the way to his home planet).