Don't hug him – Your first look at the Shredder in TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

True story: I’m from a generation where breaktimes were usually reserved for reenacting scenes from an episode of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (Ninjas are evil according to church). Everyone naturally wanted to be Micheangelo. But I knew that I’d rather be Uncle Phil I mean Shredder. He was ass-kickingly awesome, could give all four turtles a run for their money at the same time and possessed genius intellect, hampered only by cheesy writing. Hell, he was Batman with more blades. Fast forward a couple of years and we’ve gone through a few incarnations or two. Well say hello to your latest Shredder.

TMNT Fansite posted a picture on Twitter, of the character played by William Fichtner:

That looks ridiculous, massive and completely over the top. In other words, Shredder looks freakin’ perfect to me. You have to remember, that the Shredder was designed to poke fun at villains, much like the original Teenage Mutant Jacob Zuninjas were, with his primary inspiration being a cheese greater that Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird spotted. “Could you imagine a character with weapons on his arms like this?” Eastman said way back in a 1991 interview.

It’s a goofy appearance, but it has all the essentials right there: Japanese influences, too many blades and a general appearance that makes the suit look like the bastard child of Wolverine and your local power-tool section at Builders Warehouse. I’m genuinely in love with this design.

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Michael Bay, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles raises shell on August 8. Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, and Danny Woodburn played the Turtles and rat master Splinter in mo-cap; Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub provide the voices for Leonardo and Splinter, respectively. Megan Fox and Will Arnett are also in the film.

Last Updated: June 19, 2014