Nicktoons TMNT Episode 37- Metalhead Rewired

By Mark Rodriguez

Since he first appeared on the show, some people didn't like the fact that Metalhead was well... basically just an ordinary robot, that had to be controlled and used like a prop or a tool, and not one with its own AI like the old cartoon and videogames.

'I'm gonna mangle you slimeballs!' It's weird he was a bad guy in Turtles in time, but at least he was in the game.

Well, in this episode Don gives Metalhead AI, despite Leo thinking it's a bad idea. What will happen? Oh and hey, Spider Bytes. And more cameos. Let's get started.

The episode opens with Don working on Metalhead's AI since they're using him as a training tool. Leo says whenever they use him, he blows something up. Don is sure everything will go fine and he gets the robot ready to fight. He warns them that he programmed him with several fighting styles, including those of the Foot and the Kraang. The Turtles start fighting, but Metalhead takes all of them down, and sends Mikey flying all over the lair with his flying robot hand stuck to his face.

Splinter comes in and tells everyone to stop. He tells Don that Metalhead is a valuable tool, but he must be used wisely. Just then Metalhead's alarms go off, indicating someone is getting close to the lair. Don insists that Metalhead comes along to help out, despite Leo's attitude. As the Turtles go to investigate, they hear some screams that Raph finds to be very familiar. They see Spider Bytes running around!

The Turtles are surprised to be the mutant spider again, but he's not looking for a fight, he's being chased by the Kraang and he's asking for their help. The Turtles fight the Kraang, but they manage to get Spider Bytes in their van and drive off. Raph wonders why they should bother, and Leo says he asked for their help and they have to find out what the Kraang want him for. Just then Metalhead shows up, driving the Shell Raiser.

The Shell Raiser chases the Kraang van, which fires missiles at them. Metalhead activates the Garbage Cannon that takes out their missiles. They drive alongside it and the turtles hop on top of the van. As the turtles fight the Kraang, Don gets knocked off the top of the van but is saved by Raph. Metalhead uses the Garbage Cannons to shoot the Kraang off them. He them rams into the van, which made it crash into a warehouse. Leo complains about how dangerous that way, but Don says it helped them stop the Kraang and now they have them cornered.

The Turtles and Metalhead enter the warehouse, but it's completely empty, without any sign of an escape route. Metalhead does a 3D scan of the place while Mikey tries to get a Pizza Burrito from a vending machine. Mikey gets his arm stuck in it, and when Raph pulls him out, it opens a secret panel which has Kraang technology hidden inside it. Don has Metalhead hack into it, despite Leo saying it's a bad idea. Metalhead then gets blown back and causes another explosion. Metalhead's hand grabs Mikey again and Don explains it must have been an energy surge. They take Metalhead back to the lair.

At the lair, Don works on Metalhead trying to find whatever information he might have downloaded from the Kraang computer. The robot continues to cause explosions, and send his flying hands after Mikey (although Mikey keeps taunting him so it's kinda his fault this time). Raph says if the Kraang rebuilt TCRI, they might also rebuild their portal. Leo continues to complain about Metalhead and tells Don he has to shut his AI down. Don doesn't want to since it would be like shutting his brain down. Leo says the robot turtle is just too dangerous, and while they argue the matter, Metalhead is listening. Don sighs and agrees to do it. However, Metalhead won't go down without a fight.

The Turtles hear Don scream and run to see what happened. They see Don in one of the 'algae pools' we sometimes see in the show and Mikey pulls him out. Metalhead is gone and locked the Turtles in. They head for the garage but find that door locked too. Splinter opens the door to his room and is angry at all the noise this late in the evening and asked why his door was also locked. The Turtles run off without giving much reason.

The Turtles have a tracker and follow Metalhead as they see him go into a porta-potty. When open it they don't see a sign of him. Then was have a little gag where whenever Mikey opens the door, we see a dimensional portal in there, and when Don opens it it's just a normal porta-potty. Mikey opens the door one more time 'like a turtle do' and Don sticks his hand in the portal. Something pulls him in, and when Leo tries to grab Donnie, he gets pulled inside too. Mike and Raph dive through the portal as well. We have a cool scene of the Turtles falling through the portal, similar to the cut scenes in Turtles in Time.

The Turtles realize the portal didn't take them to Dimension X, but to another one of the Kraang bases. They notice that the Kraang have captured Spider Bytes and put him in some kind of stasis chamber. But that's not all, the Turtles also see that they have captured Slash, Snakeweed, the Rockwell monkey and even April's dad!

 They find Metalhead working on a control panel and he's about to be attacked by the Kraang. Don has seen enough and jumps in to help his creation. The Turtles fight the Kraang while Metalhead sets the mutants free. The Kraang activate some sort of mind control device on the mutants, and now they all try to attack the Turtles. As the Turtles fight off Spider Bytes and Snakeweed, Metalhead notes the mind control devices and has the mind-controlled mutants destroy them. Spider Bytes tells the Turtles he's gonna have to save himself, and all the mutants start attacking the Kraang.

"The ones called Turtles that I call frogs are the one that must be destroyed!!!"

The Kraang are seriously outnumbered as all the random mutants attack them. We also have a brief moment where Slash comes in and destroys one of the Kraang that was about to attack Raph. They give each other a little glance of acknowledgement before the 5th Turtles jumps out of the scene. Metalhead opens the portal and everyone gets away. Leo helps the mutated Kirby bat to go through the portal, since April needs him. With everyone gone, the Turtles have to escape but realize that Metalhead has to stay behind to keep the portal open long enough for them to leave. Don doesn't know what to do, but Metalhead motions for Don to get away. He gives him a final thumbs up, and Don sadly leaves as all the Kraandroids start grabbing Metalhead.

As the Turtles escape, Metalhead's head also tossed through the portal and Don regrets his loss. Leo apologizes for how he was acting and says he should have trusted Metalhead. He saved all the mutants and sacrificed himself to save them. Mikey even says he didn't really mind having the robot hands grabs him. They ask if he will rebuild him, and Don says he might some day.

My Opinions:

As always in this series, there is just so much way. From the moment Venka told me this was going to be an episode about Metalhead gaining AI, I was afraid we were going to be saying goodbye to him. I was afraid, like similar eps before them, Metalhead would go insane, attack the Turtles, and they would have no choice but to destroy him. When he was listening to Leo talking about shutting him down, I thought that was his cue to go beserk. But instead, he figured out whatever the Kraang was into, locked the Turtles up so they wouldn't get in his way, and went off on his mission. It's like he was thinking 'I got people to save, and they're talking about shutting them down. Ain't nobody got time for that. By the time they get out, they'll figure out that I'm trying to save the day here'.

I did find Leo to be overly critical throughout the episode. He did point out that the Kraang did control Metalhead before, but any other time he's been used he hasn't really caused any trouble. He was helpful during the first season finale, he was their little practice Turtle during the Squirrelanoid episode, he really hasn't done anything dangerous past that. Leo was just a jerk, and I'm glad he apologized in the end. I did like the part of Metalhead driving the Shell Raiser, kinda reminded me of the Wii game based on the show, where Don mentions that Metalhead is driving while you fight the Kraang on the roof.

Spider Bytes returns, and even though he wasn't the main focus of the episode, it was nice to see him again. He didn't come looking for a fight, he was asking for help. Hell, Spider Bytes wasn't really a bad guy if you really think of it. Just a fat greedy bastard that got pissed at the Turtles for turning him into a spider (though technically they didn't). I love that he kept calling them frogs, even when under Kraang mind-control. That was my favorite line of the whole episode.

And as for the other cameos, wow, I really wasn't expecting such a cameo fest. Besides Snakeweed and Slash, we also see the Rockwell monkey and April's dad. And during the scene where they're all set free, we see brief cameos of Pigeon Pete, the giant mutant wasps and Justin. I did like the little scene of Slash helping Raph out, and we did get to see Leo try to reason with April's dad. I'm also glad they didn't kill Snakeweed yet again in this episode since the only time he attacked the Turtles was when he was under mind control, and when he was free he chose to attack the Kraang instead of them. This episode also helps explain why we haven't seen or heard from all the random mutants the Turtles always seem to let get away at the end of every episode.

Other people spotted a random mutant in the background and for a while some of the Technodromers had a debate wether or not was Leatherhead or the Newtralizer. It would be odd to have someone like that not be acknowledged by anyone, especially since Mikey would want to say hi to Leatherhead. Official sources said it was just some random mutant, most likely using a mix between the Leatherhead and Newtralizer character models. Of course they could have just made an all new model of um.. whatever... or throw in a Squirrelanoid or something... but eh, whatever.

Who's that Pokemon????

The episode shows another small example of their limited budget for new backgrounds. That parking garage where Mikey was fighting with the vending machine is the exact same one used when they fought the Newtralizer. Of course it's not the same garage within the logic of the episode.... but yeah, I did notice that little detail.

Returning to Metalhead... I guess keeping him mute is a nice touch. It gives more attention to his body language, and it just helps him be a character all his own, in a way. And it's definitely better than having him share the voice of all 4 turtles like in the 80's cartoon. And hey, who didn't like the T2 self sacrifice thumbs up scene? Classic. Will Donnie make another one? We'll have to see. He does have his head, and as we know, all the important data and 'memories' are stored there. All he really needs is a new body to put it on. I do wonder if they'll take advantage of this to redesign him? Either way it looks like we'll get a small break from our little robot buddy until Don decides to rebuild him. Still one of my favorite action figures.

A great episode overall. No real complaints here other than minor nitpicking. The next episode will feature the Ice Cream Kitty, much to Paige's dismay... oh, and some dude named the Rat King is gonna be in it too.

NickToons TMNT Episode 36- Fungus Humungus

By Mark Rodriguez

In this episode the Turtles face their greatest fears, thanks to mutant mushrooms that hit people with fear spores. It's an interesting episode and the characters' fears lead to some interesting cameos of forgotten storylines.

The episode opens with April and Casey sitting on a bench. April tells him its nice to have someone to talk to about the Turtles, especially since her dad was now mutated into a bat. With the coast clear, April and Casey head for the sewers. Casey complains about how gross they are and April tells him she had to live there for a time. Aprils asks Casey why he wears the hockey mask if the Turtles already know who he is (which I find to be a very dumb question....) and he answers so noone else who he is when he kicks ass (which is is the damned obvious answer, April). Casey complains about the stench and April agrees it does smell moldier than usual. Just then a sewer construction worker runs past them screaming about mutant squirrels. April senses something in the area and goes to check it out. Something hits her with dust and she now sees Casey as her mutated bat father out to get her and screams.

Meanwhile the Turtles are in the lair and Leo is trying to meditate with Splinter but can't focus. He says he's been having nightmares of letting the team down, of them being dragged into the darkness and being unable to help them. Splinter says he understands because he faces that fear every time the Turtles head out for a mission. Facing that fear is what makes him a good leader.

The other Turtles are watching that Voltron-type anime and all the heroes in the show are facing their worst fears. The leader character says a dramatic speech, and get stomped on by the villain's giant robot (that looked a lot like that hemaphrodite villain from Mazin Kaizer Z). The character lets out a fake-sounding 'I'm OK', and Mikey points out that he heard in the original Japanese version he dies for real. Donnie calls that an old cartoon myth, and Raph calls them both nerds.

Casey then runs in and tells everyone that he lost April. Don gets angry that he was that careless and they both run out, quickly followed by the others. Don and Casey argue since Casey doesn't remember the exact spot where he lost April. They hear something and Casey gets hit by the same dust April did earlier. He now sees rats everywhere and starts freaking out. He sees scores of rats and tries to fight them off, but the Turtles just see him swinging at nothing. The Turtles pin Casey against the wall, trying to calm him down and he freaks out more as he sees rats crawling all over them.

Don hears April scream and she runs off to save her. April sees Don as her mutated bat monster father and is scared. The Turtles are confused as to what is happening to April and Casey when suddenly, a blur ball rolls up to them. It pops up into a jellyfish-looking mutant mushroom that sticks to Mikey's face. As they try to get it off, it tosses spores to Raph. As April and Casey see bats and rats everywhere, now Raph sees a giant roach and also freaks out, acting as if the Cockroach Terminator returned. Raph starts to attack Leo, and the Turtle in blue is confused as to why Raph called him a roach. As Raph continues to attack Leo, Mikey tackles him out of the way. Raph then smacks Don and Mikey ties him up with his chains.

Leo is confused as to what's happening and Don explains that these mutated mushrooms are attacking people with spores that let them see their worst fear. Don wipes the spores off of April's cheek to confirm it. Raph sees the Turtles as a bunch of giant talking roaches. Mikey hugs him for support, but he just sees a giant roach hugging him, which makes him hurl.

The Turtles look for Casey, as Mikey drags Raph with them with his chains. They notice a lot more fungus growing all over the sewer walls, and all the mushrooms are alive. As the mushrooms attack, Mikey starts stomping on them doing a 'Super Mikey Bros' parody. Mikey gets hit by the spores though and starts seeing the Squirrelanoids. Don gets spored as well, and sees April as an evil rude demonic version of herself, basically hating him and blaming her for what happened to her father. April's tongue even stabs right through Donnie's heart. Meanwhile, the real April still sees Don as the bat mutant and freaks the hell out.

Leo then gets hit by the spores and lost sight of the others, so he starts blaming himself for losing everybody. Captain Ryan appears and tells Leo to snap out of it and be a man. The mushrooms then start to circle Leo and dance around to the theme of the Nutcracker (yes, they actually played the song, not a parody or anything). Leo gets spored again and falls of a ledge.

Leo wakes up in darkness as images of the Turtles blame him for letting them down. He then sees a giant mushroom mutant and finds that a vial of Mutagen fell nearby (in which Paige insists that they should have been more determined in finding those cannisters instead of slacking off). The mushroom speaks and wants more fear to get stronger. Leo fights off his fears and the mushrooms but he continued to get spored like crazy.

Elsewhere, Raph sees Mikey as his regular Turtle self again... but then his head falls off and tons of roaches shoot out at him. Mikey turns into a giant roach again. Don sees images of several Aprils kissing Casey all over the place. Casey himself is still struggling with his fear of rats.

Leo tries to fight the mutant mushroom monster itself, but the beast can fire off its own eyeballs, that explode upon impact. One of them sends Leo flying back into the darkness. He again sees visions of the Turtles blaming him for failing them. He sees the reflection of Splinter in his sword, reminding him to face his fears. Leo meditates and regains his focus. He says his fear can't affect him since he already faces this fear every day. As he fights the monster, he discovers it fears the sunlight, so uses one of his exploding eyeballs to blow a big hole above them, bathing the monster in sunlight.

With Leo reflecting the sunlight into the monster's face, the creature is defeated, as are all the other mushrooms. Mike and Raph were fighting each other, seeing each other as a roach or a mutant squirrel, and finally snap out of it. Mike and Raph find April and the others, as everyone is back to normal. April remembers a cave Leo went into and they find him lying on the ground. Mike asks if he needs mouth-to-mouth and Leo quickly stops him. Raph thanks Leo for saving them.


My Opinions:
It was an interesting episode, and it was cool to see some cameos of things we haven't seem for a while, like the Squirrelanoids and April's dad. I like the small touch with the sewer worker. I know he's a cameo character but in his case his fear makes sense. Last time we saw him, he was attacked by the Squirrelanoids ... so assume he somehow survived, you can bet he'd be seeing those things in his nightmares. I do like that Raph still has the fear of roaches and that it wasn't a one-episode gag. I'm just confused why they didn't use the Cockroach Terminator model and just used a normal roach one. I mean Raph even acted like 'I squashed you once and I'll do it again!!' as if it was the Terminator. And it's not like they don't already have the model... so I don't know.

 Mikey's fear seemed random and tacked on. He didn't seem any more or less scared of the Squirrelanoids than anyone else was. If anything I'd imagine him being afraid or everyone hating him (thought that would be too similar with Donnie's) or hell... a monster pizza trying to eat him. I did like the extra comic book effects with flying POW! and WAM! words floating around during his nightmare sequences. I also like that he was rather competent in this episode, especially when it came to both taking down Raph, but also keeping him safe while he was hallucinating.

Of course for most people the major kicker here is that this is the first time that Donnie and Casey butted heads. Of course in this case it was a little downplayed. It wasn't so much 'grrr this kid took my woman', it was more like 'grrrr this kid is so dumb he lost my woman!'. I see Don telling at Mikey at the same exact way if he came home one day and said he lost April with no idea where she was. If anything it does spark a hatred towards Casey that will fester whenever April does fall for him (if she does). The only part that did show Don's fear of losing April to Casey was, of course, his nightmare sequence. As for Casey, he really has no idea that Don likes April at this point and probably wonders what 'stickboy's' problem with him is.

The main role of course went to Leo for a greater more serious fear. I did like Splinter's line about his fear of losing them every time they head out, cause it's damn true. It's not just Shredder or the Kraang, they're also going out against the Rat King and other random mutant monsters. One day one of the bad guys might get lucky and clobber one of the Turtles and Splinter's gonna have to face that. It was nice to see Captain Ryan again, though I REALLY would have loved it if he bitchslapped Leo to calm him down. I totally would have lost it there. LOL

As for the anime show, I really liked the part of Mikey pointing out how most often than not, characters die or worse in the original Japanese versions and their deaths are covered up in the American dubs. Dragonball Z's earlier dubbings was extremely guilty of this in their early Saban days when people were fortunate enough to have 'evacuated the city' seconds before Vegeta and Nappa started blowing everything up. Hell in the original Voltron, one of the original members, Sven dies in the earlier episodes, which leads to the princess character taking his spot. The dub made it sound like he was just injured and healing someplace. A later season introduced Sven's twin brother for an episode or two, and the dub took advantage of this to say it actually was Sven to further continue with their cover story.

Anyways a good episode, and hey the mushrooms are pretty good dancers. They could easily make a fortune at an ice show. Oh and hey, I'm surprised Shredder wasn't in any of their nightmares.

Paige's Opinion:
Well this was an acid trip without taking drugs. Duuude... -_- (That's my high duuude face..) Well anyway, the fears are what Mark and I and Venka (in an episode of the TMNT podcast that you probably won't see for a while.) discussed. Two fears was of monsters, a roach and those weird squirrels. (I missed that episode.) And two fears about the people they love hating them. I called Donnie's fear for sure. I knew it would be something like April hating him. Another thing I called out is about the mushroom monster and the mutagen. If they looked for the missing canisters in the first place, they wouldn't be in this kind of situation! But I understand the writers because if they found all the canisters at one time...there won't be a series. A series of freaky, drug-induced monsters...An interesting episode in its own acid-trip way. The moral of this episode is not to let fear get the best of you and also if you meditate hard enough you can become a light source! :D Also, when I first heard of this episode concept...I was thinking it would be a lot weirder than what was shown. lol
And I still can't stop staring at the gap in Casey's mouth...lol Give him a partial denture. lol

New 52 Justice League # 3

By Mark Rodriguez

Well by now, Justice League War has already been released, and I'm sure most of you DC fans have seen it by now. I did my review on it and honestly I could have babbled for hours on the differences between the comics and the animated version. In fact, it will be difficult to do this review without saying 'this was in the movie' and 'that part's changed', and we didn't even get to the issue where Aquaman debuts. I kinda regret not getting into this back when the blog was new... but I guess for whatever reason it was interesting to talk about the WTF-ery of Batman The Dark Knight and all the pointless Justice League cameos. LOL Anyways let's continue as this issue throws Wonder Woman into the mix.

Issue 3 opens in Washington DC as Steve Trevor sees some guards watching several TV screen, most of them arguing about how violent Wonder Woman is, or how she dresses. The soldiers tell him she started arguing with the TV screens as if they could hear her and then left when she saw a news report about a winged monster attack people downtown. Trevor asks them why they didn't stop her. They point to the hole in the brick wall she made as she escaped and ask him if he's kidding.

Wonder Woman wanders around downtown looking for a Harpy (which is what she considers the winged monster to be) and asks anyone if they've seen it so she can chop off its head. Everyone is too scared of the warrior woman waving a big sword around. Everyone except a little girl with some ice cream that think she's cool. Wonder Woman never saw ice cream before, and after the girl drops hers, she gets some for both her and the girl. The amazon loves it and tells the ice cream vendor that he should be proud of accomplishing such an achievement.

My favorite scene of the entire issue. Wonder Woman is so adorable here!

Trevor finds her and tells her she should return to the Pentagon. Wonder Woman tells him that she's been treated like a child all her life on Paradise Island, and now that she's no longer there and an adult, she's done with people telling her what to do. Trevor expresses his concerns, when just then they spot the Parademon. Just then a portal opens and lots of them jump up, which leaves Wonder Woman anxious for battle.

Elsewhere the Parademons are appearing in portals all over the world, kidnapping people while the general populus blame the super heroes for this. The scientists at STAR Labs are also worried, but Dr. Stone won't leave his son behind. He said he already saw Victor's mother die, he won't watch him die too.

Superman, Batman, The Flash and Green Lantern are fighting off an army of Parademons. Flash tells the others that this is happening worldwide and they're getting blamed for it. Batman tells Lantern to focus so his constructs don't break so easily. Lantern tells him to worry about himself since he doesn't have any powers. Flash is surprised to hear this and thought Batman was a vampire or something. Batman says there are too many for them to just barrel through, Flash says he should tell that to Superman. Superman takes out several demons by swinging a gas truck around.

This pic was taken seconds before... well.... keep on reading....

Meanwhile, Dr. Stone and his assistant takes what's left of Victor to 'the Red Room' and set him down. Elsewhere the fighting continues as the heroes start to wonder where the demons are taking all the people they're capturing. Just then Wonder Woman shows up to kick some ass (I guess they were close to Washington DC?). Superman is impressed and remarks that she's strong. She says she knows.

lust at first sight?

At the Red Room, Morrow says Victor's vitals are still there but the energy that hit him is eating him from the inside out. Dr. Stone says the room is full of advanced technology they've gathered from around the world, they will save his son somehow. Morrow warns Victor's body might reject the Promethium Skin Graft, but Stone says he already injected him with nanites that should keep that from happening. They activate the nanites and Victor screams.

The Parademons start circling the water and Flash wonders what they're doing. As this happens, Victor sees visions of Darkseid, getting ready for his invasion. A big bolt of energy bursts out of the water, and it also seems to affect Victor. A structure then comes out of the ocean and the heroes wonder what it is. Just then a dead parademon drops down, being impaled by a trident. Aquaman shows up saying he was hoping they'd tell him what was going on since the parademons are in the water too. He asks who's in charge, and he already votes for himself.

My Opinions:
Trying my best to ignore the movie and draw any comparisons here.. this issue was great. The main draw is that it brought Wonder Woman into the story in all her butt-kickin glory. I still wonder why originally they were gonna give her pants but then gave her back her bikini-bottom tights in the last second... but her classic look works. I don't see all that many drastic changes in her costume, just drawn better by modern artists. I did like the scene with her and the ice cream. It brings out a bit of innocence in her that reminds us that even if she's swinging her sword around looking for battle... she still has a warm heart.

I also like the little girl's innocent view that goes beyond adults over-thinking things. While everyone else is worried about Diana's sword, dress code, and even the fact that believes in Zeus.... the girl just sees her as what she really is. A superhero.

I do admit the other heroes take a bit of a backseat, but we already saw most of their characterization in the last two issues. I did like Flash thinking Batman was 'a vampire or something'. Now we're gonna be introduced to The New 52 Aquaman, and we'll soon see what he brings to the table. Again for those that have seen the movie, you already know Shazam took Aquaman's place... so from here on out everything he does is gonna be very different than what happened in the movie.

 I'll try to get back to this story sooner than later. I figure a good way to end this review is to show my review on the movie. Of course this will have spoilers if you haven't seen it yet, or if you haven't read the rest of this storyline yet.

Extra Edit: Oh come on!!! No sooner than when I was through taking pics and put the comic away.... but a page comes off. What the flying @#$%!!! It just came off! Nothing wrong with the staples or anything, it just wore itself off as I had read this one a zillion times... even thought is probably the second or maybe third time I ever touched since I read it waaaay back then when I first bought it. Grrr... Maybe I'll re-buy it off Amazon or something... but it won't be the same book I bought back then at Velvet Underground when the New 52 was still new and exciting. Oh damn it!!!

what is this.... I don't even..... HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?????

NickToons TMNT Episode 35- The Kraang Conspiracy

By Mark Rodriguez

This episode adds another piece to the Kraang puzzle and also deals heavily with April wishing she was 'just another one of the guys' when it comes to being a ninja and able to keep up with them. Let's see what happens.

The episode opens up with the Turtles doing their usual rooftop romp, but this time with April running along. Even though the Turtles do this often, April is already pretty tired. Leo says they usually do this for two hours, and Raph says it took them 15 years to get this good. As April and the Turtles talk, they are being photographed and April soon detects a guy hiding in the shadows. The Turtles and April give chase.

"I never thought a turtle could be so fast."

As the man gets away, the Turtles follow with their grappling hooks, but April's won't work, and when she fires it, it just bounces off Don's shell. Don offers her his grappling line and Raph taunts him, saying she's slowing them down. April swings down Don's rope, but instead of landing in his arms like he wanted, she bounces of his head and keeps running. The Turtles sneak inside the man's apartment and notice drawings of the Kraang, as well as the Turtles themselves, April, and other random mutants (Spider Bytes cameo).  Raph pretends to be leaving, and then grabs the guy when he looks to see if they really left.

The man's name is Kurtzman and he was following the Turtles and April for months. He said he started out looking for a missing scientist and his search led them to the Kraang. They've been around for years trying to terraform the Earth, but their Mutagen won't work the way they want it to in this dimension. They've been tampering with human DNA for years looking for the perfect strand to perfect their Mutagen. April's mother was captured... and experimented on. April is the the key to perfect the Mutagen.

When I saw this pic of April as a baby, I was afraid they were gonna go with the whole 'April is a living drawing' thing from the Mirage comics....

Just then the Kraang arrive, blasting everything. A fight breaks out and Don protects April. She doesn't want his protection and feels inadequate since she can't fight them off the way the others do. Kurtzman tries to save his notes and falls out the window, but Mikey catches him. As they escape, a van blocks their path, with more Kraang inside. One of them is in a robot armed with a laser gun. The Turtles manage to get in their Shell Raiser and run over part of the robot, leaving the Kraang trapped inside.

Kurtzman tells the others that the TCRI building has been rebuilt and they have to sneak inside and erase all the info they have on April's DNA. He gives them an ID badge he stole from one of the Kraang. April is told to stay behind but she sneaks after them anyway.

The Turtles sneak inside and find sleeping Kraangdroids, since they're all recharging....and Mikey starts to make fun of them. April leaps in and insists on joining them, and Leo tells her to not let Mikey touch anything. The Kraangdroids all finish recharging and all awaken. The gang runs for it and jump into an elevator. Leo swipes the ID badge and it takes them to the 40th floor. It seems the Kraang are all up to something.

Mikey is never too busy to take time out to tease the Kraang

April senses that they're all sending mental messages to Kraang Prime, and she can hear their thoughts. They say that despite all set backs, they're still able to continue with the invasion. Kraang Prime senses there are intruders and all the Kraang, including Miss Campbell start to attack the Turtles. April gets grabbed by one of the Kraang, and despite her trying to fight him off without calling for help, she gets dragged off by it. Raph takes down Miss Campbell and then joins the others as they run after the Kraang that took April. As they turn the corner, they see April that leads them to another room so they can hide. They're now trapped and gas starts to fill the room as April suddenly starts to laugh evily.

The Turtles are confused, but soon realize this is a fake April. The Turtles have no choice but to fight her, and she gets thrown into an electrical panel and explodes. Don is surprised it's an actual April clone and not another robot. The turtles then find a room that is full of April clones being harvested for their DNA.

The Kraang have April tied to a chair and say they need more DNA from her and plan to run a big needle through her head. She says she can just them hair samples since they have DNA, and they agree but find this other way to be more fun. As the Turtles start fighting the Kraang, one of them decide to 'open the reject bin'. This opens a panel on the floor and they see a giant sized failed April clone, with a second April head growing out of it's head and other deformities. The Turtles try to fight the clone, called April Derp since the only thing it says is Derp, but it's too strong for them. Raph goes to rescue April while Don manages to wipe out the computer files with anything about April.

Raph arrives to the room where April is, and more Kraang show up to attack him. Time is running out as the needle is inches away from April's forehead. April then lets out some kind of sonic scream that destroys the needle device, sends all the Kraang flying back and even makes the April Derp blow up. The Turtles arrive and see that April is ok, though she has a throbbing headache. Just  then the room is full of April clones and they all claim to be the real one. To make it worse, they grab April and she gets lost among the crowd as all the Aprils continue to say they're the real one. The Turtles are confused until the real April manages to whip out her ninja fan and take some of them down. The Turtles defeat the fake Aprils and all get away.

When TMNT meets Neon Genesis Evangelion

Just as they get outside, a van blocks their path. This time it's Kurtzman to the rescue, and he drives off with them. He later lets them go and says that he will continue his investigation, and offers them his business card if they need his help. At home Don is studying April's blood samples and is shocked by what he discovers. April's DNA is half human... and half Kraang...which explains her psychic powers. April is a half human, half Kraang mutant....


My Opinions: 
This one is pretty hard to rate. I liked the episode though. It mostly dealt with April feeling unsure of herself and being less of a ninja compared to everybody else. Well... you can't get training for a few months and expect to be as good as people that trained for 15 years... Most of the episode was her wanting to break out and kick ass without needing to be rescued all the time. Sadly the situation around her as well as her own limitations continue to smack the truth in her face, she isn't a full-fledged ninja just yet.

Kurtzman was an interesting character, and kinda like how Paige made fun of Casey realizing just NOW that the city is full of freaks and mutants, he prove that SOMEONE has been noticing all the weirdness and has been taking note of it. Although, wow, his research shows that they've been around for years and have also been tampering with our DNA for years. To me his voice like that classic old school investigative reporter voice...mixed with a little bit of Fred from Scooby-Doo. Like the kind of old-school cartoon character that would say 'gosh' and such.

It's weird, but it's kinda suggested that most of evolution had something to do with them tampering with nature with their Mutagen. Kinda blows the mind that the show decided to take it that far. And then the mystery of April's mother being captured and experimented on by the Kraang. Was this before she slept with her dad, was it while she was pregnant, is her dad really her dad?

As for the April Derp.... I thought the design of that thing was going too far into the Resident Evil territory of grossness when I first saw the pic. I know the RE crew has some really gross mutations, but I guess it hits harder cause I don't want to see a gross-out mutation version of April O'Neil. What can I say? It has a second head growing out the side of its face... its left leg is basically a giant tumor... and what the picture didn't show... it actually has a mouth on its back... which I guess woulda been funny if it wasn't for it looking realistic and whatnot. Ughh... enough on that, I just ate. And I'm glad the damn thing blew up within the same episode. Say what you will, maybe you guys like the design, maybe you find it tame when compared to the more intricate designs of grossness in all the recent horror games out there... but I'm gonna quote Mr. Horse and say "No sir, I don't like it."

Finally, April's secret. I guess it's not THAT big of a surprise. We've had theories of this back and forth the moment we saw that the Kraang water didn't dissolve her arm. And now we finally got a better reason than just 'she has special abilities'. This definitely gives April a bigger role and reason to be involved in all the weirdness. I agree it does make April less of 'the normal one', but being that never did much for her in other versions. In most past versions once she's been introduced to the Turtles and we get a couple of scenes of her reacting to mutants, robot and ninjas, she kinda falls into the background without much for her character to do, but just be there. At least the news reporter April had her job to keep her busy, and would have continued to have her own risky adventures if she hadn't met the turtles. We'll have to continue to see what lies in store for April.

I did like the episode, I guess some felt it was repetitive since this wasn't the first time the Turtles have invaded the Kraang's lair to find some sort of new info on April. Rebuilding TCRI was just a lazy and cheap excuse to not have to make all-new backgrounds. I think the main issue is the whole 'plot amnesia' thing. Since the episode that they found out that the Kraang were after April specifically... they should have stormed to TCRI to find out what's what the very next episode, not until... whenever. Kraang Prime mentioned their invasion will continue as planned despite their setbacks... let's see how many episode it will take for them to bring it up again.

Agents of SHIELD Episode 13

By Mark Rodriguez

Centipede is delivering a dangerous package aboard a train. SHIELD is on the case. We have an epic suspenseful ending. Another Marvel character gets hinted. Oh, and we get Stan Lee. This episode also has something happen in which the agents are divided, and we backtrack to show what happened from each agent's point of view. Let's get started.

The episode opens on the jet with the crew discussing that Quinn is having a package delivered to him on a train by Cybertek, and they have to stop it. The train is also crawling with enemy agents, soldiers and ex-mercenaries. Later on, on the train, the agents split up. Skye and Fitz pretend to be a couple, as do Grant and May. Simmons pretends to be Coulson's daughter. While alone, Grant and May discuss how Skye has changed recently and she seems more driven. Grant mentions how Coulson would react if he knew they were having sex. May said he took it just fine when she told him. Grant is surprised she told him, as she climbs out to the top of the train to get ready for her part of the mission.

Skye and Fitz work on their accents for their undercover acting, and Skye manages to snatch a pass from the conductor. She and Fitz sneak into a room and set up their computers. The guy they're looking is Carlo Mancini. Meanwhile Simmons treats Coulson like a bad father and yells at him for 'not being there for her mother, but being there for his prostitutes'. Stan Lee then comes in and scolds Coulson, telling him this is his chance to do the right thing, and he hops he knows how to take it. Just then Mancini walks by and Simmons times it so she accidentaly bumps into him and spills the urn's ashes all over him. Now Miranda has something to lock onto as she follows Mancini from atop the train.

It's gotta be bad when Stan Lee randomly shows up and scolds you

Suddenly, everyone's communications go down. Quinn's men know they're on the train. Coulson runs into an empty room and then sees Grant run in with agents after him, shooting at them. They both jump off the train, and the enemy agents throw something at them and it seems the train goes up in smoke! And this is where we backtrack.

From Grant's side, he's posing as a conductor when a woman asks for help with her bags. As he helps her, she pulls out a knife and another guy also enters the room. They fight it out and Grant eventually wins. When he tries to contact the others, he notices the communications are down. He walks alongside the train and he tells Simmons to go hide with Fitz. The agents with guns start to chase him, and we get to the part when he jumps off the train with Coulson and the train vanishes. They're wondering how Quinn knew they were on the train. Just then cars show up with more guys with guns and they run off. They find a truck that's already been hot-wired and use it to get back to the plane.

On the plane they try to study the explosive device that seemed to make the train vanish. They wonder if it's a cloaking device or if the train was sent through a portal. Coulson hopes it's not a portal since he doesn't want to deal with Asgard today. Grant and Coulson both struggle with the holo-table and making all the hologram images work and stretch to their liking. During this, Grant brings up the whole sex with May thing. Coulson says if this causes anything to hurt or hinder the team, he'll have him stationed to Alaska where he watch over Blonsky's cryo-cell (Abomination). Just then, Russo, the guy that told Coulson about the mission shows up to say he knows where the others are, but is killed by May before he can talk, and she looks bloody and beaten.

As Coulson asks her why she did that, we backtrack to her side of the story. Melinda is on the train, following Mancini until suddenly there are gunshots. She dodges them and jumps off the train with a parachute. As she lands, she finds Coulson and Grant on the ground, frozen in place. She tries to hotwire a nearby truck to take them away but she gets smacked unconscious with a gun by Russo.

Melinda is tied up and hit with cold water to wake her up. Russo was working with Cybertek and is making sure the shipment goes down. He wants to know where the others are, and since she won't talk, he stabs her shoulder with a knife. She uses the knife to cut herself free and fights everybody. We get back to the scene where Russo reaches Coulson and Grant, and she kills him by tossing a knife to his back. She explains they were frozen with no idea time passed, so as far as they knew, the train did 'vanish'. She tells them that Russo sold them out and they have to get the plane ready as she showers up.

As Melinda stitches herself up, Coulson told them SHIELD found the train and  it was stopped on the countryside. Everyone is out and there are no signs of the others. As Coulson, Grant and May step into the room where Skye and Fitz were, they see the computers were shot at. Suddenly Simmons appears and starts shooting everywhere. They try to calm her down to find out what happens.

We go back to the train once again as Skye and Fitz are on the computers. Skye asks Fitz about O8-4s and he says they're always dangerous. She asks if she ever heard of a person being an O8-4, and he says he'd hate to meet that person. Just then, they notice that the communications are down. Enemy agents come in to shoot and Skye and Fitz tries to fight them off (though Fitz mostly gets beat up). Simmons arrives to warn them and tries to wrestle one of the freeze devices away from one of the men. It goes off and both Simmons and the bad guy drop down, frozen. Skye and Fitz have to move quickly. They leave Simmons with a gun (which is why she woke up with a start, shooting everything) and they put the bad guy in a crate, which Fizt shoots at a few times.

The train stopped and they see the bad guys delivering the package to a car. They follow them to their hideout. Skye sneaks inside to check it out while Fitz stays outside, disabling everyone's cars. As Skye sneaks around she finds an empty garage-type room and sees a cryo-capsule with Mike Peterson inside. Quinn and his men grab Skye and they open the capsule and set Mike free. They use the package which was a metal brace for his missing leg. Quinn tells Mike to stand and when he does the brace opens up and forms a cybernetic leg. Quinn says Mike can't hurt him due to the Clairvoyant's orders, but he also can't stop him if wants to hurt him. He gives a gun to him and tells him to kill Skye, but he walks off saying those aren't his orders, and she isn't the one he has to kill.

Skye is then shot by Quinn, who says he had his own orders. Skye holds onto him as she starts choking on her own blood, and he shoots her again and leaves her to die. In the other room, Mike starts killing the earlier woman with the knife, and the others telling them that the Clairvoyant isn't happy to how they lead SHIELD right to them. Fitz is still hiding under the car and sees how the outside guard suddenly drop dead, and he rushes inside to help Skye. As an agents tries to attack him, Grant appears and shoots him down. The gang is all here and Fitz tells them that Skye is inside.

Mike notices that SHIELD is in as Grant walks inside, gunning everybody down. He is ordered to 'not engage SHIELD' and leaves. Coulson asks Quinn where's Skye and he tells them it's dangerous to keep sending her on these missions alone. Coulson angrily smacks him with a gun. They find Skye, bleeding and dying on the floor. Simmons says they can put her in the cryo-capsule for now.

Back on the plane, Skye is kept in the cryo-capsule but if she stays frozen too long she'll have permanent brain damage. She needs medical attention fast. Fitz hugs Simmons for support. Grant is pissed and May tells him not to blame himself. He says it's not himself he's blaming. Coulson watches over Skye, worried and guilt-ridden.

Elsewhere Mike Peterson is watching kids on a playground and writes a note, asking if he can see his son. He sees the answer 'not yet' written across his eyes. As the episode ends, it zooms in on his robotic leg as we see the logo Deathlok Project written on it.

My Opinions:

Another episode with so much to talk about. First let me get the mentions and cameos out of the way. It was great seeing Stan Lee again, I guess for many of us, we all feel his cameo was long overdue. Now we have to be sure to find wherever he'll be hiding in the new Captain America movie. The next one is the random throwing out of Blonksy's name. So I guess after The Incredible Hulk, he was locked up in a cryo-cell in Alaska. Makes sense. I mean, how else would you imprison what is basically an evil insane Hulk? And finally for those that at once time thought Mike Peterson might have been Luke Cage, now we see that's been turned into Deathlok. Man, I feel so sorry for the guy... especially when he wanted to be a hero, and then had a small chance to become one... and now they had to dump all of this crap on him. All I know about comic Deathlok is that there are several of them, but most of them were dead people revived by cybernetics.

As for the episode itself, it was cool. I liked the mystery of what happened 'when the train vanished' and we backtrack to what everyone was doing when it happened and how it all led up to the end. Skye being shot surprised me, especially the second time. I thought they were gonna bring up the 'she's an O8-4' deal and make her magically survive or something, but seeing as the next episode previews them trying to save her life as time runs out, we can tell Skye is pretty much gonna have to survive this like any other human could. Though Paige joked that they could just send her over to Nick Fury.

Everything else was pretty good. It was funny seeing Coulson being 'Simmons' dad' and get chewed as she went overboard on her character. The whole deal with Grant and May having sex keeps getting brought up as well. And wow, I thought Fitz was rather cold-blooded when he shot that frozen guy in the crate. That dude's gonna wake up just to die seconds later. Ouch.

Anyways let's see what happens next time. It seems Mike will be a recurring character, forced to work for Centipede. Let's hope he can eventually be saved.

Oh and by the way.... Lady Sif from the Thor movies is going to be in one of the episodes. Doing what and how exactly she will fit into the show... I have no idea. And whenever Captain America Winter Soldier hit theaters which, by the way, deals heavily with SHIELD, what references from that movie will they fit in there? And will Coulson appear in Avengers 2 or something?

NickToons TMNT Episode 34- The Good, the Bad and the Casey Jones

By Mark Rodriguez

After appearing in two episodes to build up how tough, crazy and how good a fighter he is, Casey finally makes his full-on debut as the vigilantee we know and tolerate. Despite all the dramatic changes this show has done, this episode actually pulls a lot from the classic issue Raphael# 1 from the Mirage comics which is the first time we ever saw Casey Jones.

I like how the live-action movie kept some of the dialogue

The episode opens with Casey Jones monologuing (as well as writing) about the recent rash of mutant monster and robot ninjas in the city as he starts to suit up. He mentions he won't risk losing anyone he cares about like he did his father and his sister (???) or even April. He's ready for action and we cue to that epic theme song (that still has Dogpound in it even if he mutated into Rahzar).

In the lair the Turtles are training, and Splinter calls for a free-for-all. Last turtle standing wins. Mikey belches into Don's face shortly before the fight begins. Since Don is dazed, he's the first one down. As Raph is about to take Mikey down, Leo cuts in. As Leo and Raph fight, Mike trips since he distracted and in the way, and also loses. After an intense battle, Leo manages to take Raph down and wins the competition. However, Raph's anger explodes and he attacks Leo from behind, taking him down. Splinter tells Raph he needs to calm down and they discussed his anger problems before. He storms off.

As Raph is off venting about his anger issues, Casey is watching over the city from a rooftop. He freaks out after he sees a rat. Meanwhile the Purple Dragons are holding up that Asian dude we always see (the one April always sneaks past with some sort of lame disguise/excuse). Casey then shows up and starts kicking ass. Raph notices this and thinks Casey is going to far (yeah, the same guy that thought Leo was going too easy on them). The Dragons are down and one of them says they had enough, but Casey hasn't finished yet.

Raph cuts in telling him he has anger issues and needs to calm down. The Purple Dragons get away and Casey blames Raph, though he is surprised that is a mutant turtle. Casey charges into Raph yelling 'Goongala!!' and they fight it out. Raph kicks Casey into a dumpster, but the fight doesn't end there. Casey has rollerblades that pop up onto his shoes and now with extra speed he's able to run circles around the turtle, smacking him around without giving him time to hit him back. Raph finally loses his cool and grabs Casey, slamming him hard on top of a car, about to stab him in the face with his sai. Raph stops at the last moment, freaked out about his violent temper. Casey takes the chance to tase Raph and gets away by grabbing onto the back of a passing taxi cab while skating.

The following day at school, April and Irma (yes Irma) see Casey and are surprised to see how beat up his face looks. Casey says he was doing homework and April asked if the homework kicked him in the face. He says he was at the skating rink, but Irma says it was shut down after an incident happened (the Robot Foot Ninja attacking April and Casey). Casey tries to tell April about the strange mutant he saw, but Irma pulls her away so they're not late for their next class.

Holy crap is that goth chick supposed to be IRMA??? I wonder if she's still lovestruck or just a cameo. 

At the lair, Mike and Don start getting ready to watch the Sentai show they've been into. Raph tries to apologize to Leo and says he'll keep his temper down. Mikey jokes that he means he'll keep his temper down for now and gives a count down to his next outburst. Between Leo teasing him and Mike doing the countdown, Raph explodes again and storms off.

Outside, Casey is on the rooftops again, commenting on how his body still hurts from the last fight and says he hasn't seen the mutant turtle again. His little sketch from his last fight with Raph might look a little familiar to Mirage fans.

This is probably one of the most clever references to older TMNT material since Mikey did that OT Mikey face trick

Casey hears Raph kick some trash around as he's blowing off some steam. He then goes back to the sewers, and Casey decides to follow. What they don't know is that the robot Foot Ninja found them and have started to follow them as well.

The other Turtles are watching their Sentai show in which the heroes are surprised that their main villain has somehow found their secret lair. Similar enough, the turtles now realized that Casey Jones has found their lair. The Turtles quickly pin him down and Leo takes off his hockey mask. Casey scares them with his face paint until Leo realizes he's just a regular kid. Splinter and April enter the room and April is surprised to see Casey Jones in the lair. The Turtles are surprised to see that April knows him, and he's surprised to know that they're not bad guys. April introduces them by name, and Casey thinks they're Italian. Splinter tells him he named them after his favorite renaissance painters and Casey faints after seeing a giant talking rat. Raph laughs at how the tough guy is afraid of a rat and Mike scares him with a roach, which makes him pop into his shell. April just then gets a feeling and tells everyone that they're not alone.

Just then the robot Foot Ninja swarm into the lair. Leo blames Raph for leading them to their lair and Raph blames Casey. Everyone jumps into action, including April and Splinter. Even though they defeated the first wave, even more Foot arrive, and one of them records the location and escapes. They have to stop him before he can get back to Karai and tell them about their location. Raph and Casey follow, arguing about which one will take him down first.

More Foot Ninja block their way, and Casey tosses an exploding spray paint can on the one they're chasing, to tell him apart from the rest (which was damn clever). The fight goes to the subway and Casey skates alongside the railings. A train is coming and Casey manages to get Raph out of the way. As the fight moves on top of the train, the Foot Ninja continues to fight and Casey is knocked off the train. Raph manages to save them with some rope and they're even. The ninja is about to hit the streets and Raph tosses Casey into him, which tases the robot. The robot falls down the stairs and Raph tosses a sai into its head before it has time to get up.

Back at the lair, Splinter defeats the last of the robot ninjas. Just then Casey and Raph return, laughing and bragging about how awesomely they took down that robot ninja. Mikey is surprised that they're both best friends now. Splinter thanks Casey for helping out in defending his family. Raph and Casey are now determined to go out and clean the streets together, kickin ass and taking names. As they both run off Donnie complains that now they have TWO Raphs to deal with.

My Opinions:
It seems every episode is just jam-packed with so much things to talk about, besides the major thing that particular episode is about. In this case the main focus is that we finally see Casey Jones in action. I have to say this version of Casey is totally dressed and equipped to kick all sorts of ass. The original Casey decided he had enough of crime in the streets and just grabbed a golf bag full of bats and golf clubs, slipped on a hockey mask to cover his face and hit the streets. Of course the older Casey also had the extra size and muscle to back it up. This younger Casey actually took time out to design and plan out his outfit and crimefighting gear. He even added extra gadgets like that hidden taser thing that retracts from under his glove. I'm still not sure about the extra pointy stuff, but I guess he can use it to stab the robot Foot Ninja. And the roller blades adds extra mobility which is perfect for chasing the bad guys that get away. Paige did wonder if all that extra gear weighs him down, but I guess it would be a bit more lightweight compared to the original golf bag full of junk.

If it weren't for the stupid shoulder pads, OT Casey would have been exactly like the Mirage version. Maybe they thought the shoulder pads would make him kid-friendly?

The most noticeable thing here is the parallels to Raphael # 1, the issue that first introduced Casey. Here we have Raph lose to Leo, then lose his temper and take his brother down. In the comic, Mike defeated Raph and continued to tease him, which made Raph almost beat him down with a wrench (which is what the 2K3 TMNT did as well). As Raph storms off in... all 3 versions (4 if you count the first live-action movie), he runs into Casey fighting crime a bit too roughly, and he calls him out on his anger issues, which reminds him of his own anger issues.

Mikey is always annoying Raph. Well except maybe not the OT version.

The main difference between the original version and all the versions that followed is that the fight ended with Raph and Casey parting ways and eager for a rematch should they cross paths again. Casey would never meet the rest of the gang until later on whenever Shredder returned for revenge and attacked April's Second Time Around store with his legion of Foot... which the live-action movie would also follow. Both cartoon versions would have Casey meet and join the gang within the same episode.

One thing that got me was when Raph decided to intervene, it didn't really look like Casey was 'going too far' or 'being too hard' on the Purple Dragons. He was just kicking their asses like any of them would. And this is the same Raph that teased Leo for going easy on them and 'not finishing the job'. Now the scene where the Dragons were down and defeated and saying they had enough and Casey decided he was gonna continue to pummel them.... THAT would have been the part where Raph decided enough was enough and he decides to break it up. Of course in the episode Raph did jump in right after Casey said that, but I felt the part of him already thinking 'this guy is out of control' was still way too soon, before he did anything too extreme. It could have been said after Casey acted like he was going to hit them some more, or during the fight after Raph intervened.

As for other things, one minor tidbit we saw in this episode is yet another classic throwback to the old cartoon. Irma is back, and this time she's a goth chick. Completely new look for her, I have to say, and yes, Casey eliminated any doubts when he flat out called her by her name. I wonder if she'll have any role in the show besides being a friend of April for normal scenes to show she has a life or if she will actually meet the Turtles later on. I do like the added continuity with her mentioning the skating rink being shut down after the Foot attacked it.

Interesting look for her, though honestly I wouldn't have known it was Irma if she was in any other show.

As you can see, a dramatic departure from the original lovesick clutzy design. 

As for the episode in itself, it was awesome and full of epic action. The fights between Raph and Casey were intense and well done, and the Foot storming the lair gave a good reason for us to see Splinter (and April) see some action too. The robot Foot were a great idea since they are better and more dangerous fighters and can do more inhuman things like have four arms and have blades and swords for hands. I just kinda wish the human Foot weren't so useless in season one and could put up somewhat of a fight, but I guess it gives good reason for Shredder and Karai to replace them outright with robots.

I am kinda surprised the Foot Ninjas didn't just directly upload the Turtles' location instead of having to go all the way back to Karai to tell her. I kinda thought that's what was going on when we saw the close up of his eyes and heard the computer effects. And then more and more robots started coming in, I figured they were all homing in on that location. The Turtles are EXTREMELY lucky Karai didn't wonder what all the fuss was about with the robots and decide to follow suit.

Casey himself is an interesting addition since it seems 'he's here to stay'. We still have to see how he'll react when he knows Don has a crush on April. Let's hope we don't go too deep into the whole love triangle everyone is predicting. Another thing that came to mind, especially since they just rerunned the Slash episode the day before, is that this killer team of Casey and Raph busting heads with their rage-filled violent tendencies is exactly the kind of thing Slash was hoping he would be with Raph. So.... I wonder what happens when Slash comes back and sees he's been 'replaced'?

Paige's opinion:

It was awesomely awesome with a side of AWEEEEESOME! lol Okay, not that far. It was a good start off from a month...or more...long break of new episodes. It introduces Casey Jones now as vigilantee against the mutants of New York. What I thought is, why now suddenly he realizes all the mutants running around in the streets of New York. Geez, there's a crazy-ass monkey, a gigantic spider/man and a bunch of men that look the same! (And no, he can't use the excuse of octoplets!) And remember the Technodrome was flying around New York kidnapping all the people. (Hide yo april, hide your turtles cuz the Kraang be snatching em up) How can you ignore that! So why now Casey Jones? lol If I was him...I'll be like "You know what, this stuff is cray cray, I'm out!" Another scene with Casey that made me laugh was when Ralph sneaks up from behind and grabs Casey's weapon. He sounded like a big scardey-cat.

 The action was fab-u-lous! And they even had Splinter fighting, which is a rare thing to do! Remember in the commercial, Ralph was in his shell for who knows what reason? Well they show that Mikey scared him with his traumatizing fear of roaches. Ralph, uh, fearing for his life, hides in his shell. The beginning scene where the four were about to fight, Mikey burps, such an inappropriate moment for him to burp, but it did help take Donnie down. I just had to roll my eyes. I guess I have to understand that Mikey is the childish humor for the show, but blah. Irma is finally introduced, but geez she's really different from the original version. She's goth now. lol My last comment to the episode was, the scene of Ralph returning explaining that he was fine, the other turtles had to provoke him. I was thinking 'just leave him alone', but nope, they had to press his buttons.

My final thoughts was it was a good episode to return to. I hope they keep this action up. And even if I didn't notice the references to the old comics that Mark took notice to, I thought they were cool to sneak in.