Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)/Easter eggs

This page is meant for hidden content - aka "easter eggs" - and references in the Nickelodeon 2012 TV series only.

I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

 * Michelangelo hums the 1987 series theme song as he takes his headphones off.

Monkey Brains

 * The T-Phone's ringtone is actually the 1987 series theme song.

The Mutation Situation

 * Michelangelo calls Mr. O'Neil's mutant form "Wingnut" as a reference to that character.

Follow The Leader

 * When Donnie turns on his Mutagen Tracker it makes the start-up sound of the classic 1989 Game Boy (which the device largely resembles).
 * Raphael says "Your Scanner is about as useless as a trench coat on a turtle" as a reference to the disguises wore in the 87 series.
 * Michelangelo sings "Go Ninja! Go Ninja! Go!" from Vanilla Ice's Ninja Rap.

Invasion of the Squirrelanoids

 * This whole episode is an homage to the film "Alien".

The Lonely Mutation Of Baxter Stockman

 * Baxter Stockman says he has "great plans, mutant pigs and rhinos", as a hint to Bebop and Rocksteady's appearance in the show.

Vengeance is Mine

 * When Michelangelo gets scratched by Rahzar in slow motion he moans "Tokka" as a reference to Rahzar's partner in other incarnations.

A Chinatown Ghost Story

 * Ho Chan says "I see a girl with red hair and a yellow jumpsuit, no, it's just a t-shirt" as a reference to 87's April outfit.
 * This whole episode is an homage to the film "Big Trouble in Little China".
 * Ho Chan says Irma also may have powers, Irma has green eyes and in the film only a girl with green eyes could make Lo Pan mortal again.
 * The Purple Dragons represent the film's Chinese street gang "Lords of Death", as well as "The Three Storms" with their straw hats and glowing eyes.
 * Kevin Eastman talked in an interview about how "Big Trouble in Little China" influenced the personalities of Donatello and Casey Jones in the original comics. By coincidence this episodes's main plot revolves around Casey Jones and Donnie.
 * Ho Chan's line "It's all in the reflexes." is one of the film main character's best known catchphrases.
 * Sid attacks Mikey saying "Shoryuken", the name of an attack from the Street Fighter games.

The Croaking

 * Attila the Frog quotes Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now saying "The horror... The horror..."

Vision Quest

 * When Raphael enters the cave he says "So much for finding a hidden pirate ship…", a reference to the Goonies, a film in which Sean Astin, the voice of Raphael, participated.
 * When Leonardo says "It's time to go back" and the turtles stand tall at the end of the episode, it's a reference to the first movie.

The Deadly Venom

 * The title of this episode as well as the movie Six Deadly Poisons that April and Casey Jones watched is play on the movie Five Deadly Venoms.
 * The Six Deadly Poisons movie title also references the fact that 6 characters were poisoned during the episode.

Turtles in Time

 * The title is a reference to the game "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time", as well as to the IDW arc of same name.
 * Renet's voice actress, Ashley Johnson is known for playing the love interest to characters voiced by Greg Cipes.
 * Terra from Teen Titans.
 * Jinmay from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!
 * Gwen Tennyson from the Ben 10 series.
 * Mikey's says "It's the elf ears. Chicks dig'em." was a reference to Cipes and Johnson's roles in the Teen Titans series. As in the episode titled "Betrayal" Beast Boy says something very similar to Terra: "It was the pointy ears wasn't it? Ladies love the pointy ears."
 * Renet stated that meeting the turtles is more exciting than meeting Billy the Kid, or Genghis Khan, or Socrates. Those historical characters are three of the people Bill and Ted met in the 1989 film "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure".
 * The knights named in the credits - Sir Paul, Sir George, and Sir John - are named after members of the British band The Beatles (Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon).
 * When sent back into medieval England, the turtles find signs giving directions to Camelot, Avalon and Savanti's tower, there named Turtles in Times regard it as being entirely fictional, its geography being perfect for romance writers; Arthurian scholar Norris J. Lacy commented that "Camelot, located no where in particular, can be anywhere". Nevertheless arguments about the location of the "real Camelot" have occurred since the 15th century and continue to rage today in popular works and for tourism purposes.
 * Avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and people such as Morgan le Fay.

Tale of the Yokai

 * Mikey humms the 1987 TV series theme song during his dance.