Age-specific Anthropomorphic Action Animals

I became a "serious" comic book fan right around the time that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was about to make the move from hot indie series to pop cultural phenomenon.  I can remember buying my first Turtles book while on vacation...a back issue of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2...just because I so wanted to check out this weird thing that was getting so much hype in the mail-order comic ads.  Soon after that, I was blown away to see the first issue of the Archie Comics series in a Waldenbooks.  Even my 11-year-old self could recognize that this wasn't so indie anymore.

Over the next few years, I also enjoyed checking out any of the TMNT knockoffs that I could get my hands on.  I think the first one I acquired is also probably the best known:

...and this was just the start of the phenomenon.  Some of the other direct ripoffs/parodies included Naive Inter-dimensional Commando Koalas, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos, and one that my buddy Josh was kind enough to finally put into my grubby paws when he found it at a con:

Heck, even Marvel eventually threw their hat in the ring, making an X-Men themed parody of the book that was intended, in part, as an X-Men parody!

At some point, I'd love to see a complete list of these put together.  There are some pretty good compilations out there, such as this blog post in Russian, but I don't know of anything that claims (or tries) to be comprehensive.  In a world with infinite time, I guess I'd do it.

Until then, I made this 4d20 Random Anthropomorphic Hero Team Name Generator for anyone interested in getting in on the Turtle knockoff action.  Just roll a d20 four times and consult the lists below in order...you never know when you might need such a team in a pinch...

(And what the heck...let's see what I'll be doodling over the next few days...how about the Wizened Modified Mercenary Groundhogs?)

I.

1.    Aged

2.    Baby-faced

3.    Childish

4.    Elderly

5.    Grizzled

6.    Grownup

7.    Immature

8.    Juvenile

9.    Middle-aged

10.  Midlife

11.  Minor

12.  Pubescent

13.  Seasoned

14.  Sophomoric

15.  Teenybopper

16.  Toddling

17.  Tween

18.  Wizened

19.  Young Adult

20.  Youthful

II.

1.    Abnormal

2.    Anomalous

3.    Bipedal

4.    Chimeric

5.    Cloned

6.    Engineered

7.    Evolved

8.    Fine-tuned

9.    Gamma Irradiated

10.  Genetically Altered

11.  Humanoid

12.  Lab-grown

13.  Metamorphosed

14.  Modified

15.  Monstrous

16.  Reconstructed

17.  Transfigured

18.  Transformed

19.  Transgenic

20.  Transmogrified

III.

1.    Aikido

2.    Buccaneer

3.    Daredevil

4.    G.I.

5.    Gladiator

6.    Hacker

7.    Mercenary

8.    MMA

9.    Paladin

10.  Paramilitary

11.  Pugilist

12.  Samurai

13.  Secret Agent

14.  Sniper

15.  Swashbuckling

16.  Taekwondo

17.  Viking

18.  Warrior

19.  Wushu

20.  Zombie

IV.

1.    Badgers

2.    Beagles

3.    Beetles

4.    Bobcats

5.    Chameleons

6.    Ferrets

7.    Goldfish

8.    Groundhogs

9.    Guinea Pigs

10.  Hyenas

11.  Hyraxes

12.  Kiwi

13.  Marmots

14.  Mini Horses

15.  Mosquitos

16.  Owls

17.  Parakeets

18.  Seals

19.  Shellfish

20.  Tapirs