The Shredder has had a lot of different henchmen, top men or second-in-commands throughout different versions of the franchise. He had Tatsu in the live-action movies. Hun and Karai in the 2003 series. Karai and Koya in the IDW comics. But we all know the most popular henchmen will always be Bebop and Rocksteady from the classic 80's cartoon show. That incompetent duo that Shredder still keeps around for some reason... back in the day where Shredder didn't punish failure with death. Here, he'd rather send them to their rooms, or even fire them if they failed enough times.
Well, the IDW comics has already shown us a more dangerous and threatening version of the classic duo. They were still dumb as rocks, but so powerful it hardly mattered. Well it seems we're getting Bebop and Rocksteady in the new cartoon too, though I'm surprised since interviews with the Nick cast had them say they already had the roles of mutant henchmen full when we got Dogpound and Fishface. Now we got a whole new version of them coming soon, and like Chris and Xever, we're gonna spend this episode with a guy that is clearly the human version of human Bebop and a guy that might be Rocksteady. And wow, wait til you see just how different they are this time around.
The episode opens with the return of Steranko, the arms dealer Shredder made a deal with in an earlier episode. He has a collection of several weapons and artifacts, but is missing one thing... Shredder's helmet, the legendary Kuro Kabuto. He sends the master thief, Anton Zeck to steal it, and if he succeeds, he'll forgive him for the time he accidentaly shot him in the eye. Anton is wearing a high tech suit that turn him invisible, and he's confident he can steal that helmet. And yes, Anton looks very familiar...
Leo watches as Splinter feels sad over his daughter, Miwa. The others are trying to eat pizza before Mikey gets it all, and Leo tells them they should go rescue Karai. Raph disagrees, and Leo says he'll go alone to Shredder's lair if he has to. The other follow him.
Shredder visits Kara in her cell and tells her she hopes she understands that he took her because he didn't want her to be raised by 'scum' like Splinter. As he leaves, Karai reveals a hidden blade that she's using to cut her way out of prison.
Anton sneaks in and manages to steal Shredder's helmet. Rahzar and some Robo-Foot enter the room, and the mutant wolf can smell the invisible thief. Rahzar smacks him against a wall. Anton quickly gets up and dances around as he tosses laser-boomerangs that look like his purple mohawk that take down the Robo-Foot. He also tosses glue at Rahzar, that sticks his feet to the floor. Anton blows up a window and gets away, but not before tossing his business card into Rahzar's face. Shredder steps in a while later and Rahzar tells him that his helmet was stolen. Shredder is angry and demands to get all his men together.
Meanwhile the Turtles are driving on the Shell Raiser and Don is confused when his heat sensors detect someone, but he can't actually see anyone. Don tells Leo to hit the brakes, but they hit Anton. The Turtles wonder what they hit, and Don tells them it was 'some kind of invisible guy'. Raph finds Anton's pouch and shows everyone Shredder's helmet. Just then they are completely surrounded by Robo-Foot...
The Turtles fight it out with some of the robots and then make a break for it. As they drive off in the Shell Raiser, Anton tosses a homing device at it so he can track it down.
Later on, Shredder gathers all his men and tells them to drop everything until the helmet is found. Fishface asks if he could just get another one, and gets smacked to the ground. Shredder explains that the Kuro Kabuto was forged by all the captured trophies by the most skilled ninja of Japan, and was a symbol for the Foot Clan for 1500 years. He then sends Fishface off with Baxter, and Tiger Claw off with Rahzar to find the helmet.
Fishface runs with Baxter, telling him they have to get the helmet back so they don't have to look at Shredder's face... that looks even worse than Baxter's. Tiger Claw picks up Anton's scent and tell he's using devices. Rahzar says Fishface once told him they wouldn't get along since they're a mutant cat and dog. Tiger Claw says that's ridiculous, but he admits he'd like to eat Xever since he's a fish. Rahzar would eat him just to shut him up.
Leo says they can use the helmet to trade for Karai. As Raph and Leo argue, Anton finds them and tosses another purple mohawk laser boomerang ting that knocks the Shell Raiser on its side. Tiger Claw and Rahzar jump in to attack, and the Turtles get away, only to run into Fishface and Baxter. Baxter chases after Leo, trying to nail him with his acid spit. Even though Leo dodges them all, the acid did affect a nearby billboard, and it falls over the other three Turtles.
Leo stops Xever from stabbing the Turtles, but Raph tells him to go and rescue Karai. As Leo runs, Tiger Claw and Rahzar give chase while Xever and Baxter stay to finish off the Turtles, but Raph helps them escape with a ninja smoke bomb. Leo runs from the bad guys and hides in a nearby dumpster... only to end up with dirty diapers on his head.
After the mutants run, Leo runs into invisible Anton. There's steam coming from the sewer vents which helps Leo see him just enough to kicks him down. Leo then gives Anton his pouch back and runs since now Shredder's crew is after him. Anton runs and says he just needs to lose the pouch and they'll never find him... but his suit's been damaged and won't turn invisible anymore. He gets smacked to the ground, but before the mutants could beat him down, Steranko arrives in a helicopter and helps him escape. Anton shows Steranko the pouch.... but it turns out to be full of dirty diapers.
Leo still has Shredder's helmet and heads off to his lair. Shredder finds him and Leo says he wants to trade it for Karai. One of the Robo-Foot brings her in with a bag over her head. Shredder and Leo fight it out, and the Turtle is no match for him. The other Turtles arrive and they all gang up on Shredder. Shredder is still too much for them all, but Mikey points out they were just keeping him busy long enough to be able to rescue Karai. Don tosses the helmet back at him. Shredder sees that it has a smoke bomb in it, which blows up in his face. After the smoke clears, he notices that the Turtles are gone. He puts the helmet back on and laughs evilly.
Leo thanks the others for coming to help out. When they take the sack off Karai's head, they see that she was a fake dummy with a bomb for a head. The Turtles just barely make it off the rooftop as the bomb explodes.
My Opinions
Wow. What a random episode. First off, most abrupt ending ever. Plus honestly, this would have almost been filler if they used some one-shot character as the master theif. I'm surprised they actually remembered Karai and were out to rescue her the very next episode. But yeah, they're lucky she's alive at all. I'd like to see the look on Raph's face if they found that Shredder killed her the moment Tiger Claw brought her back.
I like how Shredder's helmet has its own backstory and is even considered a legend. In any other version... It was just his helmet. I guess when he decided to become Shredder adding one of the Foot's symbols that has been around for 1500 years is the finishing touch. It's also funny to see how he sometimes sends a few of the Foot after the Turtles in other episodes, but when it comes to his helmet he calls in ALL his minions.
Speaking of which, I like seeing Shredder surpass past versions and have more than two mutants on his side. There is no unwritten where he has to always send one or two guys after four turtles. I liked the short scenes between the bad guys. I mean they work together and I assume live in Shredder's lair together, we should see how they interact. It's noticeable that Baxter didn't talk in this episode, but he does have a few lines in a later episode so I guess Phil Lamar just wasn't available today. Though it's still weird and stands out, or maybe they could have cut his scene with Xever.
I also realize that Xever and Baxter are Shredder's B-team, mostly because Baxter was never a fighter to begin with, and for whatever reason Xever has become a joke and 'the idiot' of the gang in recent episodes. Why? Why do we need a 'funny incompetent one' among the bad guys, especially since Xever was no laughing matter before. Leave that crap in the 80s please.
Now for the main reason we saw this episode. Mr. Anton Zeck who looks like a human Bebop. Quite a big change from a big thug to a wisecrackin master theif. Just like Tiger Claw, there's no explanation for the high-tech Tron suit, he just has it. Paige and I were surprised by his antics, and she was quick to point out his Micheal Jackson/Prince-ish 'hee-hee' and 'hoo-hoo' and such similar sounds.
Honestly for some reason his dancing and other mannerisms reminded me of Fatal Fury's Duck King, if he wore a high-tech Tron suit that is.
Another thing is actually giving the character a name. I mean who names their kids Bebop and Rocksteady, right? While in the 80's cartoon we can only assume they're gang names, the IDW version actually states it. This version finally named them Anton and Steranko. Again, makes sense because those would be weird-ass normal names, though I'm curious how they'll name themselves as such. Or how Mikey comes up with their names. Will Anton throw a Tron-ish boom box at them and Mikey will say 'whoa they're playing cool bebop and rocksteady jams there'. I don't know.
One thing that stands out though is that Anton isn't much of a fighter and relies on the suit's gimmicks and tricks to do everything for him (Paige couldn't help but say 'aw geez' when he threw his laser Mohawk energy thing). I assume that'll change whenever he gets mutated... But who knows?
As for Rocksteady, it looks like Steranko will eventually become the mutant rhino. A lot of his gear matches the stuff Rocksteady is wearing in some photos that were released of the 2014 version of the infamous duo. Of course this means we're going to see a Russian Rocksteady but hey, if it worked for Spider-Man, why not here?
People wonder how they'll end up working for Shredder since they have a very different character dynamic this time.... But I'm thinking who says they'll work for Shredder? He already has his mutant crew and Tiger Claw alone is more than enough.
A great episode overall, but wow what a drastic change for a classic character. Anton is literally a whole new character modeled to look like a classic one.
Stay tuned as we continue with more episodes. Let's see what happens whenever he eventually mutates.
No comments:
Post a Comment