Fans of Rick and Morty are assuredly familiar with Rick Sanchez’s best friend Bird Person who, in the later seasons, proves to be a capable warrior on an intergalactic scale, though Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans may not know that the TMNT universe has its very own ‘Bird Person’ who–based on their achievements in combat as shown in the series–would seemingly make Rick and Morty’s Bird Person look pathetic.

Bird Person made his first appearance in Rick and Morty season 1, episode 11 “Ricksy Business,” at which point it was immediately clear that he and Rick were established friends who had known each other for years. Skip ahead a few seasons to Rick and Morty season 5, episode 8 “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort” where fans are shown exactly how that friendship began. Rick and Bird Person met each other at some kind of alien music festival which led to Bird Person helping Rick on his mission to kill every other version of himself throughout the multiverse in exchange for Rick helping Bird Person in his war against the Federation. Both instances show exactly how deadly and resourceful Bird Person is.

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In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #31 by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, and Ross Campbell, the Turtles are recovering after saving Leonardo from Shredder and battling the full force of the Foot Clan. They decided to get out of the city and stay at a house upstate owned by April’s family, since the Turtles figured there would be no way Shredder and his followers would find them there. Unfortunately, they were greatly mistaken. A villain named Koya easily tracks them down and takes a team of Shredder’s most skilled killers to finish them off. Like the Turtles, Koya is a mutant who was originally an owl that was mutated into a humanoid version of his former self–effectively making Koya a ‘bird person.’

When Koya fought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it was clear that the Turtles were outmatched both in skill and ferocity. Koya almost single-handedly took down the highly-trained ninjas, which is something not even the Shredder himself can do as shown in Mirage Studio’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird where Shredder was killed by the combined might of all four Turtles attacking him at once. Koya’s achievements in this issue proves that he’s incredibly deadly. However, does this fight mean Koya could kill Rick and Morty’s Bird Person? The answer is yes and Bird Person’s death in Rick and Morty proves it. Bird Person was seemingly killed in Rick and Morty season 2, episode 10 “The Wedding Squanchers.” In the episode, Tammy–Bird Person’s new wife–betrays Bird Person by revealing she was a part of the Galactic Federation and promptly shoots him afterwards. This proves that Bird Person can be killed fairly easily (unlike Rick who has built-in force fields and cybernetic enhancements) and being sneaky works against him. So, as long as someone can get the upper hand against Bird Person when he least expects it, and has the strength to kill him once they do, then Bird Person won’t stand a chance.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles proves how good Koya is at getting the drop on someone, having successfully been able to sneak up on some of the most skilled ninjas in the world. Not only that, but Koya then nearly kills the Turtles afterwards, which proves how skilled he is in hand-to-hand combat. While Bird Person was a proven soldier in the wars of his youth, he only ever shined as a skilled hand-to-hand combatant after becoming Phoenix Person and that was only because of robotic enhancements which Rick later reverses in “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort.” So, based on Bird Person’s canonical weaknesses and Koya’s deadly skills, Rick and Morty’s Bird Person wouldn’t stand a chance against the ‘bird person’ shown in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.