In the more lighthearted original TMNT animated series and the Archie comics, Stockman (voiced by Pat Fraley) was a misguided Caucasian inventor (as opposed to an African American, as portrayed in the rest of the franchise) who tried to bill his Mousers to the Ajax Pest Control company. They did not like his suggestion, saying it would put them out of business (the Mouser was too effective and there would soon be no more rats to kill), and threw him out of the building. The Shredder had watched this via his cameras, and offered Stockman a job. Embittered, the scientist promptly accepted, and Shredder ordered him to create a "master control device" for the Mousers. The Shredder, not being able to wait, used a replication device at the Technodrome to assemble twelve Mousers. He then programmed the Mousers to find and destroy Splinter, the mutant rat who was the Turtles' master. The Mousers were destroyed by the TMNT, and they found Stockman's name on the devices. The Turtles and Splinter found Stockman with April O'Neil's help, and he told them his part of the story. They then proceeded to take Stockman's van, later to become the Turtle Van. After a failed Mouser attack led to his arrest, Stockman's tales of a giant talking rat and talking ninja turtles landed him in an insane asylum.