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turtlethon · 1 year

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“Night of the Rogues” (part 1)

Season 7, Episode 19 First US Airdate: November 20, 1993

The Turtles are forced to take on a group of their most notorious foes that have been assembled by Shredder.

We continue our journey through the seventh season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with “Night of the Rogues”. David Wise is the credited writer for this story, which crams in so many notable TMNT characters that one Turtlethon entry isn’t big enough to cover everything! This one will be split into two parts, the second appearing on Saturday.

We kick off today with the Turtles watching April report from outside of a courtroom, where she interviews the city’s crime commissioner. The un-named official takes credit for the recent reduction in crime, a claim that rubs the Turtles the wrong way. Raphael is particularly resentful, feeling that the work the team has been doing in battling evil goes entirely unappreciated. Splinter steps in to suggest that Raph shouldn’t bear any ill feelings towards humans, and that the the team may need their help soon enough.

Following her report April alerts the Turtles to a break in at the city’s Hall of Records. The team arrive to find Shredder, Rocksteady, Bebop and Krang (in his bubble walker) rooting through files. A battle follows that quickly spills out into the street, at which point Shredder grumbles some standard guff about the Turtles pushing him too far, and one of the glaring issues with we’ll have to deal with moving forward becomes apparent: as James Avery has now departed from the series, Townsend Coleman will be our substitute Shreds for today and the remainder of the season.

As Shredder comes out on the losing end of a fight against the Turtles, getting covered in tar in the process, Krang manages to get the documents they came for. He has the villains regroup, leading to their escape via transport module. With the police approaching, the Turtles also retreat. Raphael continues to be bitter, noting that the cops will no doubt take credit for the work carried out by our heroes.

Shredder is seen wiping off the tar in the Technodrome and declares his intention to defeat the Turtles once and for all. Krang tries to have him maintain focus, pointing out that the Scheme of the Day is already in motion and will be a better use of his time, but Shreds won’t listen. Bebop and Rocksteady are keen to help their boss out, but for the second episode in a row find themselves surplus to requirements: this time they’re sidelined in a far harsher fashion than before, both being dropped through a trap door. Shreds declares that Bebop and Rocksteady have failed him for the last time, abandoning his henchmen to begin plotting his revenge against the Turtles.

As the Turtles try to piece together what the Technodrome crew were doing in the Hall of Records, Shredder is seen performing repairs on his old robot Chrome Dome before passing through a portal to Dimension X on a recruitment mission. Later, he returns to meet up with Krang, who again scolds him for not concentrating on their mission, a journey to the sewers to begin an excavation project imminent. Shredder is thrilled at the news as this road trip will grant him an opportunity to invite other villains to join his new anti-Turtle faction.

We briefly check in with The Boys, who remain trapped in the shaft beneath the trap door. Rocksteady worries that they may spend the rest of their lives in this confined area, but Bebop quips it may only be for the rest of the episode. Meanwhile April checks through computer data for the Turtles and finds that the records stolen by Shredder and Krang relate to the layout of the sewers in 1895. Unbeknownst to our heroes, their old foes are already at work underground. Krang informs Shredder that the stolen notes point out an area where the workers were unable to drill down and place a pillar, a sign that whatever lies beneath is impossibly tough. Disinterested, Shredder wanders off to work on building his new gang.

The Turtles use the details provided by April to approach the area where Krang has set up his excavation project, but encounter Shredder along the way. The masked villain announces that he’s fighting his hated foes for the last time, leading Raph to counter by asking if this means he’s leaving the show (a joke that’s a little on the nose given that Shredder’s voice actor just did). Shreds reveals to the Turtles his new all-star villain team, five of whom are established characters who have appeared in previous episodes alongside two who are new to the show. Let’s look at each of them in the order they’re revealed:

THE RAT KING (Townsend Coleman): One of the most prominent recurring bad guys outside of the Technodrome crew, the Rat King is a burly fellow who resides in the sewers and commands an army of rodents. Carried over from the Mirage TMNT comics, he first appeared in the ‘87 cartoon in “Enter the Rat King”, which established his desire to capture Splinter and have the ninja master do his bidding. Rat King’s prominence and status declined following the destruction of his hypnotic flute by Splinter in “Were-Rats from Channel 6”, only making two additional appearances in the years that followed.

SLASH (Pat Fraley): Introduced in season four’s “Slash - The Evil Turtle from Dimension X” (which is also how Shredder introduces him here), Slash is a super mutant turtle who began life as Bebop’s secret pet before becoming a deranged villain hell-bent on finding the palm tree from his old pet bowl, which he refers to as his “binky”. His debut episode ended with him being sent into Dimension X in a rocket designed to transport garbage. He would return in season six’s “Donatello Trashes Slash”, having had super intelligence bestowed upon him following an encounter with a group of aliens. After a fall that restored him to his usual dopey self, Slash was sent back into space by the Turtles.

LEATHERHEAD: A Cajun alligator transformed following the contamination of a Florida swamp, Leatherhead debuted in the season three adventure “Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp”, an adventure in which the Turtles would travel to the Everglades to aid their old friends the Punk Frogs. After his defeat, he would resurface in New York a few episodes later that year in “Leatherhead Meets the Rat King”, which set up a rivalry between the two villains. Season four saw the two bad guys patch things up to take on the Turtles together in “Splinter Vanishes”. Normally voiced by Jim Cummings, today the role is handled by Townsend Coleman.

TEMPESTRA (Gaille Heideman): A video game boss brought to life, Tempestra was defeated at the conclusion of the only episode she appeared in – season four’s “Leonardo Versus Tempestra” - having been sucked back into the circuit board of the arcade machine she originally emerged from. Now she’s back... somehow?!

SCUMBUG (Barry Gordon): A mutant cockroach appearing here for the first time, possibly at the request of Playmates although given that his toy was released in 1990 the retail window for this figure had likely passed by this point. His file card bio explains that he was an exterminator hired to deal with a roach problem in the Technodrome that wound up being mutated. Whether this origin applies to the TV incarnation of the character is anyone’s guess. It’s implied that the Turtles have had prior interactions with Scumbug off-screen that we as viewers never witnessed.

ANTRAX (Pat Fraley): The other new character introduced here, Antrax is an axe-wielding alien ant who is said to be Krang’s executioner from Dimension X. This is consistent with the file card bio for his toy, which like Scumbug’s was a few years old by the time this episode made it to broadcast.

CHROME DOME (Peter Reneday): A giant robot warrior who was introduced at the conclusion of the prime-time special “Planet of the Turtleoids”. Chrome Dome was swiftly defeated by the Turtles, and hasn’t been seen again in the series until now; while still towering over the other villains, he’s considerably smaller here than he was in his first go-around.

Shredder’s new strategy involves paying the assembled group of villains to finish off the Turtles for him, presumably with the thinking that if each of them was able to get somewhat close to defeating our heroes individually, then together they can pull it off. He leaves the team to do their thing, and initially this strategy seems effective as the Turtles are forced to fall back. The Rogues – I suppose we can use that as their collective name – pursue the green team, each of them using their own unique skills and powers to put their enemies on the defensive.

Regrouping, the Turtles are forced to accept Raphael’s original suggestion of retreating, but find themselves backed into a tunnel where the only means of escape is via a steep drop into the sewer’s streams. The group take the plunge, with the villains keen to follow them until Rat King points out there are countless directions that the sewer system could have flushed them down.

vimeo

At this point, we get the worst “ah gah-rawn-tee" in the history of the series. I wonder if Townsend Coleman was asked to dutifully fill in for James Avery and Jim Cummings at the last second, because none of the usual energy he brings to the role of Michaelangelo is present in his performances here as Leatherhead or Shredder. Anyway, Tempestra seems to be emerging as the effective leader of The Rogues, and suggests they draw the Turtles out of the sewers by creating chaos above ground.

The Rogues split into duos, with Chrome Dome and Antrax destroying civil war statues while the Rat King and Slash target a pizzeria. A ceremony is taking place outside “Ye Olde Pizza”, where a man explains to a crowd that the business was the first restaurant built in the city, “over 400 years ago”. Did Walter Raleigh found this fucking enterprise?! Rat King and Slash watch as the building is officially recognised as a historic site – I mean yeah, I guess it really would be – and therefore it’s precious enough to be worth destroying to attract the attention of the Turtles. Rat King apparently has a new flute, either that or David Wise has forgotten that he had the flute destroyed in season four. Waves of rats emerge from the sewers and begin chewing on the building’s foundations.

Tempestra causes chaos at Channel 6, creating an indoor storm that allows Burne to get a great one-liner in about having “to cancel the news on account of the weather”. Vernon tries to escape but is captured by Leatherhead.

April uses her Turtlecom to inform the Turtles of the various upheavals being caused by The Rogues. The Turtles pick up on the real intentions of the villains, figuring that if they show their faces, they’ll be doing exactly what they’re expected to. Raphael suggests that this is an indicator they should allow the humans to deal with things on their own, but is outvoted by the others who remind him that they’re “supposed to be heroes”, and reluctantly ends up tagging along.

Shredder meets up with Krang, whose excavation project is about to hit paydirt. The masked villain suggests that the reason everything seems to be going so well is that Bebop and Rocksteady aren’t around to mess up. Back in the Technodrome, The Boys have been stuck in the trap door shaft for so long that they start wondering if Shredder is okay, and begin looking for a means of escaping in order to help him.

Leonardo confronts both Chrome Dome and Antrax as they destroy the city’s stock exchange building. Initially Leo puts up a good fight, but it doesn’t take long before he’s captured. Elsewhere, Michaelangelo fittingly steps in to save Ye Old Pizza from Rat King and Leatherhead, but has the entire building dropped on him before being restrained too.

Scumbug seems to have been tagging along with Tempestra and Leatherhead this entire time, getting no screen time during the whole villainous city rampage bit until now. He winds up cornering the remaining Channel 6 crew of Burne, Irma and April on his own, until Donatello and Raphael step in. The Turtles find themselves defeated as the roach mutant uses his toxic gun to create a hole in the floor; Tempestra then emerges and uses her weather ability to knock her enemies through it. Leatherhead is close by, and together the three villains manage to restrain Donnie and Raph with an energy net.

Having captured all four of the Turtles between them, the reunited Rogues shove the green teens into a room within the roof-mounted mascot statue of a pest control company. Chrome Dome produces a time-controlled disintegrator that will vaporise anyone and anything in the vicinity when it goes off, and the group leave the Turtles to die as the second act ends.

...Continued in the next Turtlethon entry - see you on Saturday!

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #1993 #Turtlethon #Ninja Turtles #Night of the Rogues #Tempestra #The Rat King #Rat King #Antrax #Scumbug #tmnt leatherhead #leatherhead tmnt #Chrome Dome #Slash TMNT #TMNT Slash

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saninmint · 2 months

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They are happy and safe

#x men 97 #x men #night crawler #kurt wagner #gambit #rogue #they are fine they are fine they are fine

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cassianandfenrysaremyboyos · 27 days

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Rogue's so relatable for this

#i too am beautiful and spend a lot of saturday nights reading about love and adventure #x men #rogue #gambit #romy #remy lebeau #x men the animated series #anna marie lebeau #rogue x gambit #x men tas #xmen #jokes about the beautiful part #reading

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vals-von-valentine · 10 months

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#fnaf #five nights at freddys #fnaf 4 #five nights at freddys 4 #fnaf fanart #william afton #valentines rogues

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dclovesdanny · 28 days

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DcxDp prompt

3/4

Danny had always been a bit of an inventor. It was a hobby he kept as he grew, something he could do when he was stressed and needed a break. When he moved for his new job, he immediately set up a little lab in his new apartment. He continued building, working on several projects at once.

He wasn’t expecting Robin to break in and turn all the machines on defense mode! Now he had to save the kid before Batman double killed him.

Meanwhile, Robin was investigating his first solo case, an inventor who seemed like a rogue in the making.

…he may have made an error.

#misunderstanding #funny #dc x dp #dcxdp #dcxdp prompt #they think Danny will be a rogue #Damian doesn’t want to ask for help #he didn’t tell anyone he was breaking in #so his family has no idea where he is #Danny doesn’t want the night furries trying to kill him #even though little Robin broke in

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puppetmaster13u · 5 months

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Prompt 168

So. Apparently halfas are like phoenixes or something, which Danny would’ve really liked to know.

See, usually with ghosts if they’re forced to retreat to their cores they reform as was, but apparently, since they’re still partially living, schrodinger's people and all that, halfas have to regrow their body from scratch. At least that’s what he’s understanding from Frostbite.

But how come he has to deal with it? It’s Dan’s fault for trying to pull such a stunt! Oh, it’s either him or Vlad? Well fuck, he might have calmed down and is going to therapy in both the living realm and the Zone, but he’s waaay not equipped to raise a child except for like, monetarily wise.

Well dammit, how long will this core incubation thing last, he has his new job in… let him check which offer he accepted again… He has his new job in Coast City that he needs to finish packing for and then all the rest of the stuff to do.

What do you mean it’ll take months?! He doesn’t have months?! Urgh, fine. At least being a mortician isn’t that exciting, nor dangerous. Just hand him Dan’s core and he’ll figure things out for the living side of things. He’s sure Tucker and Sam wouldn’t be against helping, if only to try and claim favorite aunt or uncle spots.

#dcxdp #dpxdc #prompts #Coast City is where Hal Jordan lives hilarious enough #I just chose a random city but honestly a green lantern city is hilariously on brand for where Danny would choose to move #He’s just a cheerful space core dude who is glaring down several ghosts & helping others move on while he’s working #He’s also slightly uncanny valley to people outside of Amity & doesn’t realize it #He runs into a reporter Wes at some point & okay the fact he looks like the lady doing math meme when seeing Dan?#Utterly hilarious #Danny holding a newborn with matching slightly pointy ears and claws :)#Wes who is *pretty sure* Danny is cis but is second guessing everything now:#Danny is going to do his best to avoid any hero BS #He’s trying to do his JOB #Who cares if he brings his baby to work he needs to eat and he isn’t going to hire a babysitter #Bby Jordan tried to set the house on fire during his last tantrum do you THINK anyone else can deal with him? That’s what he thought now ou #Ellie visits as well & straight up melts out of the wall sometimes like a horror movie #She has weaponized her goo powers and is also excited to show her dad her new gravity ones #Space Core Danny + Fire Core Vlad = Sun Core Dan #Ellie has a Moon core (something something phases of the moon & travelling across the night sky)#Danny is encountering so many rogues and heroes and just doesn’t acknowledge it because he has a literal BABY who can destroy the entire JL #He’s very tired and would like a nap now

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cainware · 2 years

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I've reached a point where I just physically sigh when a new batman media/property has the Joker in it. Like yall know there's other villains right? Other, better villains? Leave the rotting turnip of a clown out of the picture for a while, it's getting exhausting.

#idc this is a joker free household #im just tired of seeing him man like??? theres a whole rogues gallery they can choose from #why do we keep having to go one good round without him and then it wraps up with the joker being a thing #this is in reference to the battinson movie ending with joker implications cause i rewatched that again last night #i feel like fuckin the buzzfeed unsolved quote of Dont Do It Please Dont Do It #cainschatter

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starry-bi-sky · 6 months

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more clone^2

snippet 21: Danny is Bruce Wayne's Clone and--

Star, with the rest of the A-List girls: alright ladies! it's time for our quarterly 'cutest boys' list! Now I'll get straight to the point, in our number one spot is--

All girls, in unison: Danny Fenton

Star, writing it down on a whiteboard: and for our number two spot--

---------- Snippet 22: clone meet clone

Ellie, dramatically: Danny!

Danny, equally dramatic: Ellie!

Ellie, pushing past him and looking around: where is he! i wanna see the little guy!

Damian, with a sword, brandishing it dangerously: *in arabic* don't come any closer, stay back!

Danny, wrapping an arm around Ellie's waist and pulling her back: woah, woah - he's still adjusting to everything

Danny, turning towards Damian with his google translate open: [please don't stab her. this is Ellie my clone.]

Damian, lowering his sword in disbelief: 'there's MORE of you?

-------------- Snippet 23: Ellie has the same epiphany as Danny

Ellie:...hey Danny

Danny, pouring over his arabic book: hm

Ellie: since I'm your clone, and you're a clone of Bruce Wayne, and Damian is a clone of Damian Wayne, does that technically mean I'm his mom - uh. dad-mom?

Danny:

Ellie:...its a fair question

Danny: .....*deep sigh* you're his cousin until further notice.

------------ Snippet 24: wait for me ii (hadestown, live vers.)

(i'm not sure of the context, but i've been thinking of Danny saying this to Damian during a serious moment for days. the snippet title is the song that the dialogue below is from)

Danny, fixing up Damian's wraith suit: the meanest dog you'll ever meet

Danny, zipping up damian's jacket: it ain't the hound dog in the street. he bares some teeth and tears some skin, but brother,

Danny, adjusting Damian's gloves, pausing to look him in the eye: that's the worst of him.

Danny, he holds a finger up to Damian's eyes and points it at him: the dog you really got to dread, is the one that howls inside your head

Danny, grabbing damian's mask and smoothing it over his eyes: it's him whose howling drives men mad, and a mind to its undoing

------------ Snippet 25: Danny is Bruce Wayne's clone-- (Battinson Vers*)

Ember, in the middle of a fight with Phantom + Wraith:

Ember, knocks off Phantom's mask for the first time: lets see what ugly mug you're really hiding under there, Phantom--

Phantom: *the wettest, most pathetic looking pretty boy on the planet*

Ember:

Phantom, dryly: what, did your mic die out or something? all that caterwauling finally make you lose your voice

Wraith, unsheathing his sword: *vibrating with baby brother rage bc he knows EXACTLy why Ember is silent*

----------- Snippet 26: Damian is finally starting to play nice :)

Dany: hey... guys.... whatcha doing

Damian, hanging out with Sam: Me and Manson are plotting ways to crush the Mayor's plan to cut budget funding for the city parks and cut down the native trees

Danny: oh, i see.... is this safe?

Sam: probably

Danny: hm.

------------- Snippet 27: digging up cold case

Danny: ....if Damian is out with Sam tonight with their plot against the mayor....

Danny, turning towards his desk: then that means I can work some more on Mrs. Witherbury's murder case that she asked me to solve without Dames guilt-tripping me into bed :)

Danny, settling down at his desk with a thermos full of coffee: i'm glad sam and damian are finally getting along

--------- Snippet 28: sparring

Damian, frowning: your reflexes are incredible but your combat is downright awful, brother. it's truly a miracle i didn't skewer you upon our first meeting

Danny, got his ass kicked by his 7yo brother: *groaning in pain* not everyone has super secret assassin training, Damian. And I don't really have time to actually practice anything.

Damian: Mrs. Fenton knows martial arts and her form is proficient enough, I'm sure she would be delighted to teach you if you asked. I will join since I need to keep my skills sharp and my training was unfinished when I arrived here.

-------- Snippet 29: daytime surprise

Phantom, fighting Skulker in broad daylight: *under his breath* at least Lancer's english test will get canceled for this...

Phantom, dodging a blast from Skulker: *in ASL, furious* don't you have anything better to do, you fuck!?

Skulker: foolish ghost child, speak! I know you're capable of it - speak before you lose the ability to

Phantom: *flips him off instead*

Wraith, sending back a ecto-blast with his sword: please pay attention, phantom

Phantom, doubletaking: *in a hissed whisper* what are you doing here!? it's a school day, you should be at school!

Wraith: Tt. If the boot fits.

------------ Snippet 30: guilt

Danny with his head on his desk, his elbows propped up as he massages his hands: hn

Damian, lurking to the side with a guilty look on his face:

Damian: can i....

Danny, silently holding his hand out to Damian: hrm

Damian, immediately taking it and doing the massages + finger exercises: ...im sorry

Danny: hm... I forgive you

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc crossover #dpdc au #dpxdc au #dp dc #dp dc crossover #danny fenton is not the ghost king #clone^2 #this made me realize that Danny's ghosts PROBABLY don't know what he looks like under the mask for a WHILE #they just know he's a pain in the ass and also human and also insistent to get them back into the ghost zone #danny being the battinson bat clone is THE funniest thing to me like goddamn. you're a drowned kitten #does this imply that none of his rogues have seen his face in the two years before he got damian? yes. but wraith knowing why ember is #silent and being indignant with baby brother rage is so funny to me. protective little siblings ftw >>>>#dany being battinson bat makes so much sense because clone danny has no powers and runs around in a hoodie and jeans and baseball bat #and battinson is the exact amount of lanky and tall wet rat that seeing phantom WOULD be unsettling if you saw him at night.#also sam and damian get along but i dont know or think that damian would ever trust her tucker or jazz like he ever would with danny #he likes them and trusts them to take care of danny and him (to an extent) but he like. TRUSTS trusts danny.#hhhh fuck danny is permanently the battinson bat in my head fUCK. it makes so much sense #danny resorts to Batman Grunts when he’s overtired + in pain + unfocused

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pocoslip · 8 months

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Casey Jones looks very Sad that he couldn't break the Giant Robot

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yutaan · 1 year

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A flat-color commission of Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang! (Though technically this is set in an AU wherein they’ve never met and Huaisang was raised as a rogue cultivator, so I assume his family name actually isn’t Nie.... So, Nie Mingjue and ??? Huaisang, I suppose!)

I really like the pattern in Nie Mingjue’s robe! \o/

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #digital #bush pen #my art #I did wonder if giving Huaisang a fan as a rogue cultivator would be unfeasible #since it's sort of a symbol of being a gentleman and Huaisang isn't raised as one in this AU #but it just didn't seem right to not let him have one #maybe it's a battle fan that he uses in his night-hunts!

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finzphoenix · 22 days

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Such a polite fella... I dunno, he sounds perfectly innocent to me 🤔

#More insomnia and more Btaa Crane wheeee! @_@#Still loving the fact that he builds his own haunted houses :'D #At this point all I'm doing is drawing commissions all day and drawing Scarecrows all night. And I never loved doing anything more <33 #Scarecrow #Btaa Scarecrow #Btaa #batman the audio adventures #Jonathan Crane #Batman #Batman comics #DC #DC comics #DC universe #DC Batman #Batman rogues #Finz art

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turtlethon · 1 year

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“Night of the Rogues” (part 2)

PREVIOUSLY: In an attempt to defeat the Turtles once and for all, Shredder assembled a group of some of the team’s deadliest enemies: Rat King, Tempestra, Leatherhead, Scumbug, Antrax, Chrome Dome and Slash. This new villainous supergroup caused chaos throughout the city to lure the Turtles out of the sewers, and after capturing our heroes placed them inside the mascot statue of a pest control company, with a time bomb about to eliminate the green teens.

The Rogues seem to have made a significant mistake in not taking April and the rest of the Channel 6 bunch hostage too. April and Irma find themselves unable to reach any of the team via Turtlecom, but meet up with Splinter, whose “sixth sense” has informed him that his students are in danger. He suggests that April contact Casey Jones by phone, while he will use the her Turtlecom to reach... Zach.

No! Flat no!

Really, Splinter? Insufferable child Zach is the second person you reach out to when you need help after Casey? Not REX-1, the super robot cop? Not Bugman, a legit superhero and friend of the Turtles? Not Usagi Yojimbo, a samurai warrior who as far as we know never did get back to his own dimension? Not Mondo Gecko, who was set up to effectively be a neighbour living near the Turtles in the sewers? Not Aunt Aggie, who may be an older lady but is nevertheless one of the most all-round capable heroes in the series? Hell, you could even dig Metalhead out of storage. I guess somehow all of these options escaped Splinter, the guy the Turtles turn to for wisdom, and so for one final time in Turtlethon we’ve gotta accept that this is now a Zach episode.

To her credit, April does get in a shot by saying that she doesn’t think either Zach or Casey will be much help. Splinter, apparently unable to think for more than half a second, insists they’re “the only hope [they] have”, adding that he believes the Turtles “are in the greatest danger of their entire lives”. As much as I enjoy an adventure with high stakes, time bombs are standard fare for the Turtles to deal with, in broadcast time we just watched Donatello disarm one last week.

Did you think that the friends of the Turtles could just use a homing signal to determine where the Turtlecoms are? The next scene seems to exist entirely to shoot down that idea, as Donatello explains to the other Turtles that the metal frame of the pest control statue they’re trapped inside will make it impossible to reach them. Meanwhile, Krang’s excavation project is complete, and has revealed the starship of a legendary space pirate named Captain Logos, which crash-landed a thousand years prior to the city being built. Inside, Shredder and Krang find the Captain’s treasures. Shredder suggests having the Foot Soldiers begin dis-assembling the starship so that it can be rebuilt on the surface, but Krang has another idea, ordering the setup of a teleportation ray instead.

Zach and Casey meet up with April, Irma and Splinter outside the Channel 6 building. Splinter now has some undefined handheld tracking device that doesn’t work in determining the location of the Turtles, and so Zach guides the group in searching for them by foot. (I don’t know why Zach gets to lead, I’d argue that he’s the least capable person here, even Irma has greater credibility.)

The one member of the Channel 6 crew that The Rogues considered worth capturing was Vernon, who is dragged along by Leatherhead as he marches through town with the rest of the group. Cracks start to appear in the Rogues’ united front as Antrax makes an off-hand comment about how the world will soon be ruled by insects, agitating Rat King who dreams of a world conquered by rodents. Tempestra does her best to hold the operation together as Chrome Dome breaks off from the team to recharge, noting that he “has no use for money anyway”. Okay, but... neither do you, Tempestra, you’re basically an overgrown video game sprite.

Splinter and the other allies of the Turtles watch Chrome Dome break into a nearby building and follow him. Inside, Casey attempts to take on the robot but is hopelessly outmatched, getting tossed through the air without ever seen landing, presumably due to Saturday morning rules about how normal humans can be treated. Splinter and Zach attempt to double team the enormous warrior but are easily brushed aside. Eventually the group outwit Chrome Dome by luring him into a hydraulic press, rendering him non-functional.

Zach hooks a standard PC up to Chrome Dome’s head and types “Where are the Turtles”. Somehow not only is the offline robot able to offer up this information but also a real-time countdown for the disintegrator device. With only a little over six minutes remaining, the group rush to the aid of our heroes.

I’m sure everyone is itching to see how our favourite characters are going to get out of their current predicament. I refer, of course, to Bebop and Rocksteady, who have built a tower of wooden crates to reach the trap door. Punching their way through it, The Boys rush off to rescue their boss.

Shredder and Krang are setting up to teleport the starship when Tempestra arrives, requesting the money agreed upon as the Turtles have been defeated. The video game villain is assured by Shreds that her payment will be materialising shortly.

Inside the pest control statue Raphael retains his bad attitude, convinced that no human would ever do anything to help them in their time of need. Zach uses his small stature to slip through an air grate – I'm not sure why a roof-mounted statue of a pest control mascot would have all these facilities, but it does – and he soon frees the team, though a minute of time remains until the disintegrator is due to go off.

The Rogues are thrilled to see the starship materialise, Shredder agreeing to share its riches with them. Moments later the Turtles arrive, using the device to blow up the ship and its contents. None of this is enough to placate Tempestra, who still demands what she’s owed on behalf of her team. Shreds counters that if the Turtles had been finished off as agreed, then none of this would have happened, but is outnumbered and forced to flee alongside Krang, the Rogues hot on their tails. With impeccable timing, Bebop and Rocksteady emerge in a transport module, pulling their bosses inside before tunnelling back underground.

Now down to six members, the group of villains find themselves face to face again with the Turtles, with Donnie declaring that they “can’t beat all of us”. (Considering the only capable fighters the Turtles have added to their side since the last time are Casey and Splinter, I’m not convinced this is a monumental shift in the balance of power.) Realising that they won’t get paid for fighting now anyway, the Rogues break up, scattering into the night. In a rather defeatist moment, Michaelangelo remarks that there’s no point in pursuing them as “you know the villains always get away in the end”.

Splinter points out to Raphael that the events of the evening show how wrong he was about all humans being ungrateful and disdainful towards the Turtles. Raph agrees, but his new, kinder stance is immediately put to the test when Vernon emerges to yell at the team for allowing him to be dragged around town by Leatherhead. Michaelangelo gets the last word, pointing out that Vernon barely qualifies as a regular human being anyway. (Ouch!)

Throughout much of the time I’ve been writing Turtlethon “Night of the Rogues” has loomed large on the horizon, a marker that represents the point where the classic era of the series approaches its end. Here we have, at least on paper, one big blow-out that serves as a celebration not only of the many supporting villains the Turtles have encountered over the course of the show, but also the friends they’ve made along the way. There is a sense throughout that this is indeed a big event episode, but I can’t shake the feeling that the finished product pales in comparison to what it could have been. Shredder finally getting fed up and building a supergroup made up of the coolest villains we’ve seen in the show is the kind of fanservice I can get behind, but the line-up we get here could use some tweaking. So let’s do it.

Rat King, Slash and Leatherhead have all earned their place in this group, though how Shreds found Slash following the events of “Donatello Trashes Slash” remains unanswered. Similarly, while I’m a big Tempestra fan, her inclusion here makes absolutely zero sense, both in terms of her prior defeat at the hands of the Turtles and why a video game character is so keen to get paid. Ideally, then, the show would be allowed more time to show Shredder going around and recruiting each of the bad guys: this feels like a significant enough storyline that it deserves to be a two-part episode.

I hate that I have to say this because I do enjoy cool robots, but for all the hype leading up to his creation Chrome Dome was defeated so quickly that it invalidates his inclusion here. The one thing he had going for him was that he was staggeringly huge, and now he doesn’t even have that to the same extent. Scumbug and Antrax don’t fit either, this should be a group entirely consisting of established villains and each would be better served appearing in their own spotlight episodes.

That leaves us with three spots to fill, though admittedly it’s tough to select villains who are a good fit for this group. I would like to humbly suggest Alpha-1, the super-intelligent Foot Soldier: though Shredder didn’t get along with him, it’s not hard to envision a scenario where Shreds pulls the robot out of whatever dimension he wound up in and is somehow able to regain control over him, forcing him to work as part of the group. Rudolph Cobrato was a one-and-done villain who was defeated at the end of “Snakes Alive!”, but would work great within this group were he to somehow revert to his mutant form; finally Wingnut and Screwloose would provide two villains for the price of one: they were woefully underused in their one and only appearance, and if Zach must appear they have a prior history with him that could be worked into the proceedings too.

As alluded to earlier, Splinter only being able to come up with two allies to call for help and one of them being Zach, of all people, is some weak sauce. My ideal line up, I think, would retain Casey alongside Usagi, Mona Lisa, REX-1 and Aunt Aggie, with April, Irma and Splinter on the sidelines offering support in their own way. Again, we’d need at least two episodes to convincingly round up all these past characters and integrate them into the story, though with only fourteen episodes produced for broadcast in 1993 that’s a bigger ask than it was in years prior.

Armchair booking notwithstanding, the finished product is hampered by the diminished cast of voice actors. James Avery is gone, but I wish this could have been his last appearance instead of “White Belt, Black Heart”, as Shredder’s frustrations boiling over and leading to the creation of his villain supergroup feels like a big enough and fitting way to bow out. The absence of Jim Cummings as Leatherhead doesn’t help either.

And now the goodbyes. Zach (YES!), Tempestra, Leatherhead, Chrome Dome and Slash all appear for the last time here. Antrax and Scumbug won’t be back either, though given that we’d never seen them in the show prior to this, admittedly that doesn’t count for much. Departures will continue through much of the rest of the season, as David Wise begins the process of restructuring the show ahead of the radical departure to come in season eight: of the next five episodes, four will mark the last appearance of established supporting heroes or villains. The first of these will feature the hip-talking friends of the Turtles from Dimension X in “Attack of the Neutrinos”.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Night of the Rogues #Turtlethon #Tempestra #Rat King #The Rat King #Antrax #Scumbug #TMNT Leatherhead #Leatherhead TMNT #Chrome Dome #Slash TMNT #TMNT Slash #1993 #Ninja Turtles

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