Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26184563-20130421015649/@comment-995426-20160428232616

Actually, it's always been my understanding, for three decades, that this is part of the mutation formula they've gone with&mdash;that animals who mutate and become humanoid are part human, the same way some humans who mutate and become animalistic are part animal. They're a mashup of multiple species. And part of how it works is that the mutagen lingers in their biology, keeping the mutation and the traits of other species in a stable presence. When the mutagen is removed from their system (as happened in Within the Woods and the older Mirage story Down to the River that influenced it), their mutation collapses and they revert to their previous form. In a sense, all the mutants are chimeras, and not just the one called a chimera in Eyes of the Chimera.

I was also influenced by the Palladium TMNT explanation of mutation forms back in 1985.



Features of mutation existed on a sliding scale ranging from "none" to "partial" to "full," with the turtles having "full" bipedal stance, dexterity and intelligence, but "none" when it comes to the looks of the cross-mutating species. But it is still theoretically possible for a mutation's manifestation to be "full" in all categories, and indeed there were mutant animals that assumed a 99% human appearance, allowing them to live public lives without suspicion from anyone except other mutant animals.

Of course, that was before Mirage clarified the effects of mutation as a constant presence that maintains the alteration, rather than a one-time event that changes a living being's genetics. But still, there are mutant characters that maintain a full human appearance in various works, including 2K12 April whose mutation actually makes her part Utrom, giving her the psychic powers but none of the actual Utrom appearance. Likewise, Rockwell is a good example of a human whose mutation went in the full animal direction, giving him a full monkey appearance, stance, etc., such that no one realized he was actually a mutant at first&mdash;and it took later technological aid to actually restore the link between his intellect and his speech and motor skills.