Ace Duck

While doing a little backgrounding for Is There a Right Way to Do TMNT? I came across a forgotten memory/unanswered question of mine. What was up with Ace Duck?

He was one of the first TMNT action figures I owned after I got the core set (the core being the primary bad guys and primary good guys). He was released in the second series in 1989 along with many of the secondary recurring characters like Casey Jones and Baxter Stockman (fly version). But he NEVER showed up in the show. Every one of these characters got at least one episode, like Metalhead or General Traag or Genghis Frog. But Ace Duck? Who the hell was he? How did he figure into the mythos?

It wasn't until 1990 that they started rolling out the modified figures (like the wacky action and costumed turtles) or characters that derived from the TV show, but even Fugitoid had some connection (he was in the Eastman & Laird comics). Ace Duck? Nothing.

His action figure card explains that Krang tried to transport a duck to Dimension X (because he had a craving for duck brain, even though I've never seen Krang eating other brains for any reason). However, a test pilot got caught in the transport beam and cross-mutation occurred (that doesn't bother me -- people mutated for less than a sneeze in this show). Then he fell into the sewers and became the pilot for the Turtle Blimp. Which never happened.

Sure, he showed up in the Archie comics, but there he was an egotistical WWE wrestler from planet Perdufus. He didn't even look the same.

You'd think the formula would be known by now -- feature it on the TV show, make a toy for the kids to buy. Especially early on in the life cycle. But the closest Ace Duck ever got was a half second shot on the TV, when Michelangelo is watching an "Ace Duck" marathon. Also, his voice rips off Donald Duck.

So that makes Ace Duck either A) an alien wrestler B) a mutant blimp pilot or C) a TV character. Or all three? WTF? And I've never seen anything that ever explained this weird placement -- no trivia, no fun facts, no cut characters or deleted scenes. Can't anyone explain what his deal was? I've never seen something like this get so f***ed up at the basic level.