Laird probably doesn't get it either then, since he okay'd the fusion of a robot Shredder and an Utrom, "Krang", in another take, and that was the main villain. It's because of such constant shifts and changes that TMNT has lasted as long as it did. The Bay TMNT isn't that drastic. Haven't gotten around to the previous script. Is it still online?
The Yoshi/Saki backstory, whichever vers, is only a core aspect if you're willing to do something interesting with it.
Sacks was thrown in to still have that revenge angle.
This supposed history sounds refreshing. Now if only they spent more runtime on it rather than squeezing in a Saki cameo.