As with any phenomenon, there comes countless imitators attempting to clamber aboard the bandwagon, and the years following the Turtles cartoon saw numerous efforts to grab some of the anthropomorphised glory/millions of dollars.
Here are just ten of them.
Living by the Code Of the West (C.O.W., see), characters included Lily Bovine, Cowlamity Kate Cudster, Cody Calf, the Cowlorado Kid, Buffalo Bull, and - most confusingly of all - a bison character called JR who was voiced by somebody called Michael Horse.
Konami released a reasonable arcade adaptation, that - appropriately - borrowed heavily from its own Western-themed Sunset Riders.
Biker Mice From Mars was launched in the UK with a major publicity blitz that attempted to position it as the natural successor to the Turts. I can attest to this, as I attended the main licensing launch - as Konami had once again secured the video game rights.
The TV show focused on three motorcycling refugees from a war-torn Mars - Throttle, Modo and Vinnie - who escape to earth only to discover that the evil aliens are now trying to destroy Chicago.
Why Chicago? Space reasons.
Troublingly, despite being a large mouse, Vinnie spends much of the series flirting with Charley, a female human mechanic.
Being as their enemies were mice, the alien Plutarkians all had cheese-based names; Lawrence Limburger, Lord Camembert and Napoleon Brie. Literally none of these are made up.
Like the Turts, Bucky O'Hare started life in an independent comic book, albeit this time around the amphibians are the enemies. Bucky and his friends - Jenny (a cat), Willy DuWitt (a human boy from Earth), and Deadeye Duck (a duck, presumably) - work for S.P.A.C.E. (Sentient Protoplasm Against Colonial Encroachment), in a bid to stop the evil Toad Empire, and its computer AI ruler KOMPLEX.
Inevitably, Bucky appeared in two video games - one an arcade beat 'em up, and an NES platformer.
Following the success of the games, it was picked up for an animated TV pilot. Alas, the characters (Zitz, Rash and Pimple) never proceeded to a full series - which was just as well, given its blatant lifting of the Turtles' surfer-speak (albeit in the TV version, the characters were high school dudes, blessed with the ability to turn into the titular toads)
The series' main antagonists were Dr Paradigm - a half-piranha man, and his subservient Seaviates. Most troublingly, however, allies of the Street Sharks included characters called Bends and Moby Lick.
Their chief antagonist was General Parvo, a "feline sapien", and his assistant The Groomer (armed with hair clipper, and - inexplicably - an endless supply of throat lozenges to help Parvo with his constant cough).
Other characters were called things like Big "Al" Dente and Emperor Fred (the ruler of Little Tokyo, who went so insane after having his wisdom teeth removed that he turned into a scat singer).
Progressively for the time, the main villain, Seymour Cheese, was a flamboyant cross-dresser who often appeared wearing female underwear, and would flirt with his male subordinates.
They fought a succession of other humanised animals, created by the evil Dr Pubis (Morbis), as well as the games' own clunky controls. The sequel was pulled from release, but its ROM has subsequently leaked online, cementing The Cheetahmen as one of the worst game franchises to have ever been almost released.
Suffice to say, ambitious plans for an animated series and toyline never came to fruition.
They operated out of a dinosaur museum owned by Porcupine Duvall, and for some reason occasionally teamed up with Prince H - a member of the British Royal Family.