I loved a lot about Next Mutation.
The storytelling, for the most part, was not one of those things.
Theme song? Awesome.
New outfits unique to each Turtle? Awesome.
Upgraded weapons, including Mikey no longer having to use a damn grappling hook? Awesome.
Trading up the Volkswagen van for a custom Humvee? Awesome.
Subway lair from the last two movies? Awesome.
Unique new villains like Vam-Ni, Silver, and Bonesteel, voiced by guys like Garry Chalk and in Bonesteel's case, entirely played by Scott McNeil? Awesome.
My favorite part, though? The new lead villain.
Look, I love the Shredder, but a dragon king from another dimension who wants to
eat the Turtles so he can gain the power of the mutagen that made them what they are? That's awesome. That's metal. I love that.
I want a rebooted Dragon Lord like
you would not believe.
Unfortunately, I feel like the writing really let down any promise the series had. Going in, they acted like this was going to be more grown-up than the cartoon, even the Red Sky stuff, so much so that they even dropped the "Teenage Mutant" part from the title.
Then the plots wound up mostly being watered down by juvenile slapstick. I think there was one episode or two where it worked, because they just leaned all the way into it with a silly premise from the jump (I want to say Raph and Bonesteel in a haunted house...?), but most of the time... ugh.
Maybe someday I can pitch something for IDW's TMNT...
You know me, I won't be making a Starscream's Coronation-type deal about it... but there will be signs.