Characters / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

Characters as they appeared in, and characters exclusive to or making their debut in, the 1987 Fred Wolf-produced TMNT cartoon. For tropes relating to other incarnations of the characters featured in this cartoon, please visit the franchise character page.

Heroes

The Turtles as a whole

• Adaptational Heroism: Although they were the protagonists of the comic, the Turtles were more morally grey in many areas. They were originally trained simply to kill the Shredder to avenge Splinter's Master Yoshi and most of their adventures afterwards were less about saving the day and more about a situation they were dealing with that affected them. In this, and all subsequent series, the Turtles are instead genuine do-gooders who use their skills to help people, not just people they know, regardless of whether or not the bad guy in question is a personal enemy of theirs.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Their relationship is much less familial here. The turtle are friends and refer to each other as such. And their relationship with Splinter is more like master-student than the other incarnations where he is also a father to the turtles and refers to them as his sons. This is lampshaded in Turtles Forever, where 87 Leonardo is baffled when the 2003 Turtles refer to their Splinter as "father".
• Badass Family: The turtles and Splinter, undeniably so. Beyond just being heroes in half-shells, they also go up against the Foot Clan, which consist of an army of robots all trained to be highly-effective ninjas. Then, they're led by one Oroko Saki, aka the Shredder, a master ninja and Splinter's oldest rival. And behind him is Krang, an alien brain from Dimension X who wants to Take Over the World. In spite of this, the Turtles consistently come out on top.
• Charles Atlas Super Power: Not as prominent given the standards of 80's cartoons, but it's clear that the Turtles are far stronger than their size suggests, thanks to their training. Episode three alone shows them pushing their newly acquired van up several flights of stairs into Baxter's lab, where Donatello almost casually tears the side panel off to begin converting it into the Turtle Van.
• Color-Coded Characters: In the Mirage comics, the Turtles all wore red bandanas (not that it mattered much in a black-and-white comic), leaving their distinct weapons as usually the best way to tell them apart. This series didn't go that way - giving Leonardo blue, Donatello purple and Michelangelo orange, while Raphael kept red. All succeeding adaptations have maintained this approach.
• Divergent Character Evolution: The Turtles were more or less identical in the original comics, but the 1987 series gave them different colored bandanas, the toys based on the series gave them different skin tones, and they all developed distinct personalities from one another — Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cool but rude, and Michelangelo is a party dude. All subsequent appearances of the Turtles have kept the different bandana colors and personality traits.
• Foil: All four of them as a group and in pairs.
  • Straight Man and Wise Guy: Leo & Raph
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Mikey & Leo
  • Brains and Brawn: Donnie and Raph
  • Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Mikey & Raph
  • Academic Intelligence vs Pop Culture Awareness: Donnie and Mike, sometimes played as academic intellect vs (pop) cultural awareness.
  • Babarian Hero vs Science Hero: Leo and Donnie, but they're both level-headed enough to defer to the other's expertise so they usually don't have any real tension when they pair up together. Leo tends to focus on the big picture while Don obsesses over the details, so they cover each other's blind spots.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: To quote the theme song: Leonardo leads (phlegmatic); Donatello does machines (melancholic); Raphael is cool, but rude (choleric); Michelangelo is a party dude (sanguine).
• Guile Hero: All of them can be seen as this, as they sometimes use trickery to overcome their foes. Even Michelangelo has his moments, despite him being the least intelligent of the Turtles.
• Happily Adopted: The Turtles love and respect Splinter as if he were their real father.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: They constantly suffer this, courtesy of April's boss Burne Thompson. It gets even worse during the Red Sky seasons, where after Shredder blows up the Channel 6 building, Burne, blaming the Turtles for it, goes full J. Jonah Jameson on them and does everything possible to make them look bad, and when Dregg uses propaganda to turn the entire city against them.
• Heroic Build: While the turtles were always muscular, they bulked up even more in the Red Sky seasons due to the Art Shift.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: They can frequently be seeing putting around on a blimp. With a giant "Turtles" on it. Not to mention the Turtle Van, which was customized with armored plates resembling turtle shells and laser turrets on the roof.
• Likes Older Women: A trait all four Turtles share.
• Metamorphosis: From turtles to humanoid turtles, thanks to a mutagen that fell into a sewer. Splinter underwent the same, but turned from a human into a humanoid rat. That wasn't the only flash of mutagen, either — the series shows that such mutagen could be produced in mass quantities.
• Named After Somebody Famous: They are all named after iconic artists from the Italian Renaissance.
• Ninja: Of the Highly-Visible Ninja variety. Granted, they don't have that much of a choice when they're six feet tall and turtle-human hybrids, but they're still very brightly colored and not at all subtle in their ways.
• Surpassed the Teacher: After they defeat Lord Dregg once and for all in the final episode, Master Splinter regards them as his equals instead of his students.
• Totally Radical: Justified with the turtles, since, in the first episode, Michelangelo tells April that they learned all about humans from watching TV.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Though pizza is the favorite food of all four turtles, Michelangelo eats it more obsessively than the other three.
• True Companions: Badass Family plus friends.
• Undying Loyalty: To each other and to Splinter.

Leonardo

Voiced by: Cam Clarke

Leads.

The oldest and most studious of the four brothers, Leo is the most likely to obey Splinter's orders, fight for the sake of justice, and be diligent about training to become a better ninja. Identifiable by his blue bandana and his twin swords.

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• The Ace: Leo is the one most likely of the four brothers to stick to being a "good guy" and all that it entails. And while Leo is quite talented in this respect due to his training, he's also rather bland and straightforward. One episode of the show sees Leo's brothers explicitly telling him to "lighten up" after he berates them all for not training hard enough when they have a little bit of downtime.
• Amazon Chaser: Leonardo is completely taken by Lotus Blossom after she defeats him in a duel.
• Big Brother Instinct: Even though he's never officially stated to be the oldest, he’s protective of his brothers. In one episode, he conquered his fear of snakes to save them from a mad scientist who planned to take over New York.
• Bookworm: He seems to be this. In the "Leonardo is Missing" episode, he stays at the lair and reads while the other turtles go to an arcade. When April lends them a copy of The Three Musketeers, he reads it voraciously.
• Blue Is Heroic: He wears a blue mask, blue arm pads, blue knee pads, and is the leader of the heroic turtles.
• Character Catchphrase: "We've got to do something" about the current problem. This is due to Le being the most straight-laced and openly heroic of his brothers.
• Cultured Warrior: If one of the turtles is going to be in touch with Japanese traditions, it's Leo. This is thanks to him studying ninja code and being the most devoted to obeying Splinter's teachings.
• Dating Catwoman: He and Lotus Blossom are constantly at odds, but Leo becomes smitten with her after she defeats him in a duel.
• Depending on the Writer: He's always rather straightforward and the leader of the Turtles, but episodes change aspects of his personality quite a bit. In one episode, Leo will be willing to relax and engage in some fun with this brothers, especially over their love of pizza. In another, Leo will be admonishing the others for not being devoted to fighting against evil 24/7 and being told that he needs to lighten up.
• Distracted by the Sexy: When he's defeated by Lotus Blossom, he's literally too smitten to think straight until the other turtles mention that Splinter has been kidnapped which brings him back to his senses.
• Dual Wielding: He always wields two swords. If one is broken, he still fights with the other one.
• The Face: Thanks to being the most level-headed and least snarky, Leo is frequently the one speaking with others like April and Casey about what the Turtles are up to. Without Leo, the snark of Raph or Mikey can sometimes cause more trouble for the Turtles.
• Genius Bruiser: He's not as smart as Donatello, but he's still highly intelligent and is the most skilled out of the turtles when it comes to combat.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: As the leader of the group, Leo gets the shiny swords.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Obviously. Although Leonardo's swords are often much more closely modeled around the ninjato.
• Likes Older Women: He's immediately enamored by Lotus Blossom after she defeats him in a battle.
• Master Swordsman: He uses his katana very skillfully, as he aims not to kill anyone. However, this is because he trains with them practically all the time.
• Nice Guy: As The Face of the group, Leo is the most socially adept of the Turtles. His conversations with April, Casey Jones, and their allies are often very blunt, but they come from Leo trying to show as much respect as he can.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever he's not acting like himself for whatever reason, the other turtles always get into much more trouble than usual with the episodes "The Four Muskaturtles" and "Leonardo Lightens Up" being prime examples of this.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Consistently the most skilled Turtle, he falls into the leadership role by default. He's also the most dedicated to Splinter and fighting for justice, and also the most skilled ninja of the four.
• Stern Teacher: He's basically this for his brothers, when Splinter isn't the one doing the training. Leo is the one most devoted to the cause of fighting evil, but this can go so far as admonishing his brothers for not training or devoted to the fight every minute of every day. This grates on the other three; it frequently leads to Leo and the more-chaotic Raph butting heads.
• Strong and Skilled: He has the greatest combat skills of all the turtles, and is very proficient when it comes to learning new techniques. Justified in the fact that he's The Leader and has to keep his skills sharp when leading the others on a mission.
• Vocal Evolution: He had a deeper and more serious-sounding voice in season one, it got slightly higher in season two, and it goofed down even further by season three.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In a later season we learn that Leonardo is terrified of snakes.

Donatello

Voiced by: Barry Gordon, Greg Berg (some episodes)

Does machines. (That's a fact, Jack!)

The Smart Guy of the group, Donatello is the group's resident genius. He makes and maintains all of the Turtles' gear and weaponry, and is the one the brothers defer to when they need to come up with a plan or understand a gadget. Marked with a purple headband, and fights with a bo staff.

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• Anti-Hero: The Dark Turtle, his one-episode Secret Identity.
• Badass Bookworm: He's just as capable in combat as his brothers, though he's also the most likely to stick his nose in a book. For all the times his bo staffs get broken, Donny always comes back with a new one just as quickly. He's also Mr Fix It for the Turtles, and capable of understanding even alien technology with relative ease.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When he becomes the Dark Turtle, his normally level-headed personality suddenly transforms into a rage-filled vigilante.
• Character Catchphrase: Donatello's catch phrase was "That was my favorite bo", as his staffs frequently end up broken or shattered.
• Chick Magnet: He received the most kisses on the cheek throughout the series from April, Irma, and even Kala (sorry Mikey) when he saves her pet Grybyx.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Considering that he's self-taught, living in a sewer, and working mostly with scavenged junk, Don's inventing abilities are downright super-reptilian.
• Genius Bruiser: He may be a nerd, but he can kick butt. He's consistently shown defeating Foot soldiers or mousers with as much finesse as his brothers, albeit Donnie tends to use strategy and planning rather than brute force.
• Guile Hero: Being the resident genius of the Turtles, he is known for using his intellect to save the day, and sometimes uses trickery to overcome his foes. One such example is when he tricks Slash into turning Burne and Vernon back into human beings in the episode "Donatello Trashes Slash" and fends off a Triceraton invasion of Earth by pretending to be the mightiest reptile in the universe and destroying their Star-Gate generator using Shredder's microblaster in the episode "Night of the Dark Turtle".
• The Klutz: A trait that doesn't come up often— but if/when it does, it's always in the middle of a fight or stealth mission.
• Likes Older Women: Donatello shows to have a little bit of a crush on April (like Michelangelo), despite only being a teenager while she's nearly thirty.
• Lovable Nerd: Irma seems to have a slight crush on Donny at times. He either doesn't notice, or brushes it off as having more important things to do.
• Mr. Fixit: If something breaks, whatever it is, it's inevitably Donatello who will have to fix it. He once got fed up with his brothers constantly nagging him to fix things.
• Nice Guy: He's the most personable of the turtles. Leo is very hard-nosed and strict, Mikey is fun-loving and immature, and Raph is blunt and sarcastic. As a result, if the brothers ever have to explain something or get by on just their words, Donnie will be the one to take the lead.
• Number Two: If for any reason Leonardo wasn't leading a mission, it would usually be Don. Like Leo, Donatello is more serious and capable of keeping the other two goofballs in line.
• Purple Is Powerful: He wears a purple mask, purple arm pads, purple knee pads, and is both strong physically and intellectually.
• Running Gag: He's often seen eating his pizza "wrong" like crust first, with a pair of copsticks, etc.
• Second Super-Identity: After an accident, Donatello becomes Dark Turtle.
• Ship Tease: Donatello and Irma get some of this, though more from Irma than from Donatello.
• Teen Genius: He's Mr. Fixit for his family, and an Omnidisciplinary Scientist. He not only knows all about how to create gadgets and vehicles, but he's the one who studies the likes of Dimension X and everything else out of this world that the Turtles encounter.
• Took a Level in Badass: When he becomes the Dark Turtle, who singlehandedly defeated Rocksteady, Bebop AND Shredder.
• Wrecked Weapon: Donatello's bos were constantly getting broken. One wonders why he never upgraded to a steel pole or something a bit sturdier.

Raphael

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen (most episodes), Thom Pinto (1989 alternate), Hal Rayle (European Vacation), Michael J. Gough (Season 10), Vincent Ropion (European French, first 18 episodes)

Is cool, but rude. (Gimme a break!)

Raph is the snarkiest of the four brothers and the most likely to talk back, insult baddies, or complain when things go wrong. He wears red and fights with a pair of sais.

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: In the original Mirage comics (and most adaptations), Raph is the angry, violent Wolverine Wannabe. Here, he is the team jokester.
• Adaptational Personality Change: He goes from a brooding, angry loner in the comics to a sarcastic goofy jokester in the show. His attitude towards the sewer lair has also completely changed in this show. In the original Mirage comics, he hated life in the sewers and preferred being out in the open, whereas, as seen in the episode Get Shredder!, he prefers being in the sewer.
  Mirage Raph: Ah, the night air... I love it. I despise the damp, dank underground. My brothers don't seem to mind it... But this is where I belong. Such a feeling of freedom, so much room to move about!
  87 Raph: Leonardo, explain to me again why we're creeping around in the dead of night instead of home in our nice damp lair?
• Bag of Kidnapping: Raphael gets kidnapped and put in a sack in "Raphael Knocks 'em Dead."
• Big Brother Bully: Raphael and Michelangelo are usually paired together in this cartoon, and it often involves Raph teasing Mikey.
• Character Development: This version of Raphael is a sarcastic wise guy rather than an angry, sullen Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Later seasons (after the movie aired and the more aggressive version of Raphael became popular) gave him a bit more of a temper, but he's still definitely on the fun-loving side compared to the more serious Leonardo and Donatello.
• Deadpan Snarker: To the point where he should be the picture for the trope. He even lampshades his snarking and jokes. At one point, after freeing a cache of stolen pets, Raph quipped "It's raining cats and dogs! Well, somebody had to say it."
• Distracted by the Sexy: Downplayed with his initial encounter with Mona Lisa. He's surprised by the kiss on the cheek that she gives him, but he still manages to instantly recover and follow her when he suspects she's trying to take over the ship they're on.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Raph commonly jokes how unfair it is that he and his brothers never receive public approval for all the good work that they do.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Raphael did show some aggression in the first season, to the point where he threatened to kill Baxter Stockman if he wouldn't tell the turtles where Shredder was.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: More than anyone else, Raph was known to do an Aside Glance with some Lampshade Hanging whenever he told a bad pun or engaged in some snark, glancing towards the screen to do it.
• The Generic Guy: In this incarnation, yes he is; he's just much of a wise guy who jokes around, not much of a hothead, it was in the later seasons when he was given a bit of a temper.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Zigzagged. In the first season he was a lot more snarky and aggressive than in following seasons to the point where he has no problem threating Baxter Stockman with his sai near his face in the episode "A Thing About Rats", which was then toned down for following seasons. Then when the red sky seasons rolled around later on he reverted back to having more of temper to the point of actually physically challenging Leonardo in one instance during the episode "Turtle Trek", much like his original comic book counterpart would.
• Leeroy Jenkins: He doesn't usually think of a strategy before heading into battle. This frequently puts him at odds with Leo and Don, who prefer to use their wits or tactics.
• Likes Older Women: Raphael for Mona Lisa, considering that he's still somewhere in his mid teens, and she's a college student who's probably in her late teens.
• Medium Awareness: He sometimes makes remarks that break the fourth wall. One episode saw the Turtles realizing that an Evil Plan was in effect, leading to this exchange:
  Raphael: I'll bet Shredder is behind this!
  Michelangelo: How do you know that, dude?
  Raphael: Well, isn't he always?
• Middle Child Syndrome: Played with. Raphael isn't the middle turtle, but he feels as if no one understands him.
• Pillow Pistol: Multiple episodes show that Raphael sleeps with a sai in his hand.
• Red Is Heroic: He's a hero who wears a red mask, red arm pads, and red knee pads.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Raph throws his sai a lot.
• Would Hit a Girl: Raphael has absolutely no reservations about tackling Mona Lisa to the ground when he thinks she's trying to take over the ship they're sailing on.

Michelangelo

Voiced by: Townsend Coleman

Is a party dude. (PARTAY!)

The youngest and most laid-back of the turtles. He lists pizza, comic books, and more pizza among his interests. While he's the least studious of the four brothers, he's also surprisingly adept when he puts his mind to it. Wears an orange bandana, and duels with nunchaku.

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: His playful antics and immense appetite sometimes wore the other turtles' patience pretty thin at times.
• Badass Adorable: Silly, loves him some comic books, childish, always willing to crack a joke and and can kick tons of asses with his nunchucks.
• Big Eater: He'd often annoy his brothers by eating all the pizza.
• Blithe Spirit: He's a fun loving guy who tries to inspire everyone around him to have a great time in most situations.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's usually portrayed as having great potential, but because of his more laid back personality, he'll focus on something more fun instead. This is enforced with his signature weapon (the chucks). The laziest of the turtles is the one wielding the most complex and difficult weapon. That's not something one can do without a gift for it.
• Butt-Monkey: If any of the Turtles klutzes out or has something bad happen to them for comic effect, it's usually Michelangelo.
• Character Catchphrase: The most famous "Cowabunga!"
• Cloudcuckoolander: Generally the most whimsical of the turtles.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite his lack of seriousness, he could kick shell just as well as anyone else when push came to shove. In one episode, where the brothers have been divided into teams, Michelangelo is relaxing and enjoying a pizza instead of taking the exercise seriously, until Donatello's trash cannon he built out of garbage lying around the dump ruins it. An enraged Michelangelo promptly avenges his pizza by single-handedly defeating both of the other team on his own in a berserker rage.
• Fatal Flaw: Despite being an overall excellent ninja, he had a couple of these:
  • Gluttony: His appetite and cravings for pizza were such problems at times that even his enemies knew how to take advantage of this problem with disastrous results with the episode "Cowabunga Shredhead" as a prime example.
  • His Inability to maintain his focus at times also led to him getting distracted and letting his guard down in the worse situations.
• Friend to All Children: He gets along with kids very well including Zack "the fifth turtle", the Polarisoid kids, Kevin from "Michelangelo Toys Around", and Buffy Shellhammer from "Poor Little Rich Turtle". This is one of main reasons that most kids in real life loved him so much.
• Friend to All Living Things: He has had several pets in the past, including his pigeon Pete and his parrot Ditto.
• Fun Personified: He's usually more focused on things like skateboarding, comic books, and video games. It's shown that he's also Brilliant, but Lazy, as Mikey is able to fight with nunchucks, a very awkward weapon. Even so, Mikey is the most light-hearted, upbeat, and easygoing of the four brothers.
• G-Rated Drug: Pizza, to the point where in one episode the other turtles see him eating his sixth pizza in a row and this exchange occurs:
  Donatello: Michelangelo, have you ever considered calling Pizza Eaters Anonymous?
  Michelangelo: I don't know, do they deliver?
• The Heart: Although he exasperates his three brothers on a constant level, when a serious rift between their bond takes place, he usually is the one to try and patch things up... usually via humor.
• The Hedonist: Most of the time he'd rather spend his time eating pizza and watching television than focusing on his responsibilities.
• Keet
• Kid-Appeal Character: Indeed was the most loved by young viewers.
• Kiddie Kid: Maturity isn't his strong suit, as he's often more interested in toys, comic books, and video games than actually training or focusing on his other responsibilities.
• The Klutz: The biggest one in the group. His clumsiness usually comes in at the worst times.
  • This is even lampshaded in the intro to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game where all of the turtles jump from the roof of a building to the roof of April's apartment and he's the only turtle that doesn't land on his feet.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Despite his occasional instances of immaturity, he still is a perfect example of this as he is highly protective of women, children, and innocent people in general.
• Large Ham
• Leeroy Jenkins: He prefers to leap before he looks in most situations, especially during battle.
• Likes Older Women: Michelangelo has been shown to have a little bit of a crush on April, despite only being a teenager and she's nearly thirty.
• Nice Guy: Easily the friendliest, most outgoing and most soft-hearted of the Turtles.
• Obsessed with Food: Michelangelo's love of pizza transcended Trademark Favorite Food and became an obsession in some instances, to the point where you could have a drinking game for every time he eats pizza.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Being the one more obsessed with pizza than his brothers, there might be something wrong if he ever turns down a slice.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He got this role in the show and held onto it throughout all other incarnations.
• Serial Romeo: He's quite prone to developing crushes on girls much more so than the other turtles, including April, Kala, and Buffy Shellhammer in the episode "Poor Little Rich Turtle" even calling her his "main squeeze" in one instance. Justified in the fact that it's very common for most teenagers to develop crushes almost instantly when they see someone they think is attractive.
• The Slacker: He usually preferred to have fun instead of focusing on his responsibilities most of the time.
• Spell My Name With An S: When he's briefly turned into a human, and goes, "Look out world, here comes Michael Angelo! Michael J. Angelo, that is!"
• Surfer Dude: He talks like a California surfer.
• Wolverine Publicity: Gets much more attention in the merchandise than the other Turtles.

Master Splinter

Voiced by: Peter Renaday, Townsend Coleman ("Donatello's Badd Time," "Michelangelo Meets Bugman Again"), Hoon Lee (Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2)

Taught them to be ninja teens (He's a radical rat!)

Formerly human Hamato Yoshi, mutated into a ratlike form from the same mutagen that transformed the Turtles. He serves as the turtles' mentor and father figure, raising them from when they were young.

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• Absurd Phobia: Splinter has a fear of cats. Maybe its an instinctual thing, otherwise a 5 ft. mutant-rat ninja wouldn't have anything to fear from an ordinary stray cat.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the Mirage comics, Master Splinter had trained the turtles for the express purpose of avenging his Master Yoshi, a big element in their arcs after their debut being them finding a new reason to live after fulfilling their mission. Here, he had trained the turtles purely for practical self-defense purposes and they wound up antagonizing the Foot Clan out of a mix of self-preservation and moral obligation. The fact that this version of Splinter is also Master Yoshi might have had something to do with it.
• Cassandra Truth: While trapped inside Shredder's body, Splinter had a hard time convincing the Turtles about the whole situation. However, Splinter helped the Turtles realize that he was telling the truth through wise wisdom and the fact he was not willing to fight them.
• Characterization Marches On: He's seen eating pizza in an early season two episode. The series later established that he personally can't stand pizza.
• Composite Character: In the original comics, Hamato Yoshi was murdered and his pet rat became mutated into Splinter. In this version, Yoshi himself is mutated into a rat-man. A rather poignant episode lampshaded the fact that Splinter was pretty lonely because of this, since he couldn't interact with other humans anymore. He was mostly a quiet man after all.
• Cool Old Guy: Sometimes joins the Turtles in their pastimes, such as basketball.
• Deadpan Snarker: Fans tend to agree that he has some of the best lines in the show.
• Dub Name Change: In the Japanese dub, his name is Yoshihama Takeshi, since "Hamato" isn't an actual Japanese surname.
• Good Parents: Slightly downplayed. Unlike future incarnations, Splinter does not call the turtles his sons but his wards or students, indicating their relationship is more teacher-student than father-son. However, for as stern as he can be about the study of ninjustsu and keeping up with training, Splinter absolutely loves the Turtles. He took care of them prior to their mutation, trained them to be ninja teens, and destroyed the Retro-Mutagen Ray to save the turtles from Shredder turning them back into ordinary turtles. Splinter did this knowing that the Ray was the only chance he would ever have to be human again. Didn't matter. Splinter's sons were in danger; that's all there was to it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A non-fatal variety. Splinter destroys the Retro-Mutagen Ray to save the turtles from Shredder, which was the only way to return to being human again.
• Heroic Willpower: Splinter was shown to have strong willpower as he was able to control his brain waves, even trapped inside Shredder's body.
• Metamorphosis: Human to rat, courtesy of the same mutagen that turned the Turtles into two-legged mean green fighting machines.
• The Napoleon: He's much shorter than his four sons are, and quite a bit shorter than Shredder.
• Not So Above It All: Is usually exasperated by his sons' antics, but occasionally laughs them off or even joins in. He's also shown his skill as a "shredder" when he challenged Leonardo to a skateboarding contest in "Leonardo Lightens Up."
• Old Master: He's much older than the Turtles, but is still a capable fighter when he needs to be.
• Papa Wolf: He will not take kindly to anyone who harms his four students.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Splinter's kimono looks like pink, or is it some light purple? Depending on the Artist.
• Red Baron: While his real name is Hamato Yoshi, he earned the name "Splinter" because he can karate-chop wooden planks into literal splinters.
• So Proud of You: His reaction in the final episode after the turtles defeat Lord Dregg once and for all.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the original comics Hamato Yoshi was murdered.
• Stern Teacher: At times, he could be seen as this.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Unlike his pizza-loving sons, Splinter has a preference to sushi.
• Vague Age: Splinter sounds and acts like a very old man, but in his human form he can't be above early forties.

Friends and Allies

April O'Neil

Voiced by: Renae Jacobs

The most-iconic version of the Turtles' sidekick and evangelist. April Harriet O'Neil is a television reporter for Channel 6 News and one of the turtles' first human friends and allies. Easily-spotted by her red helmet of hair and yellow jumpsuit.

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• Adaptational Job Change: In the original comics, she was Baxter's assistant and owner of an antique store. Here, she's a news reporter.
• Animorphism: April underwent multiple brief mutations over the course of the series, though each of these mutations was reversed by the episode's conclusion.
• Bag of Kidnapping: Happens to her in the episode "Turtles on the Orient Express".
• Bound and Gagged: She always ended up being bound and gagged by the bad guys, especially during the earlier seasons, to the point that the turtles can even recognize her mumbles.
• Cat Girl: In the episode "The Catwoman From Channel Six" she is turned into a mutant cat woman.
• Cool Big Sis: April was somewhat like this to the turtles considering she is older than them at 28.
• Cursed with Awesome: April is turned into a fish mutant in one episode. She's understandably upset about it, but it saves her life when the villain's base is flooded and she's able to breathe underwater like the Turtles.
• Cute Bruiser: Sometimes.
• Cute Monster Girl: She's been temporarily transformed into half animal mutants multiple times throughout the series.
• Damsel in Distress: April is frequently kidnapped by Shredder, quite often as bait in order to lure the Turtles out of hiding in order to unleash his latest attempt at destruction upon them. Turtles Forever exploited this plot device to comic effect when the 2003 Turtles arrived in the "1987" Turtles' dimension, with 1987 Donatello commenting that they saved April at least once a day to the extent that watches could be set by it.
• Damsel out of Distress: Depending on the Writer.
• Demoted to Extra: After Carter showed up, April was relegated to sitting in her apartment and researching stuff on the Internet for all of Season 9 and the first few episodes of Season 10. Fortunately, she started taking a more active role in the final few episodes once Carter was written out.
• Faint in Shock: Occurs after she first sees the turtles (like many incarnations).
  Michelangelo: She ain't no fun, she fainted.
• Going for the Big Scoop: She seems to prefer the stories that could endanger her life.
• The Heart: Might not be as hands-on as the turtles, but certainly helps the group stay together.
• Hot Goddess: April wearing a magical amulet in the episode "The Lost Queen of Atlantis".
• Iconic Outfit: Her yellow jumpsuit.
• Idiot Ball: She occasionally becomes so reckless in trying to get a good story that she doesn't consider the potentially fatal outcomes some of her attempts may lead to.
• Intrepid Reporter: She was employed by Burne Thompson, though due to her headstrong nature and passion for her work.
• Married to the Job
• Older Than They Look: She is 28 years old, considering that she looks like she just hit her twenties, but is almost thirty.
• Plucky Girl: She can't be both an Intrepid Reporter and the best friend of four warrior turtles without impressive determination.
• Redheaded Heroine: In a twist, she sometimes ends up saving the turtles at times.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In the episode "April's Fool". Of course, April is always hot no matter what. It was just nice to see her in something other than a yellow jumpsuit for a change. Same for her Mardi Gras costume in "The Four Musketurtles".
• Statuesque Stunner: Beautiful, buxom, and according to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, quite tall, 5'8'' (173 cm).
• Unfazed Everyman: After her initial scream and/or faint upon meeting the Turtles she becomes this.

Irma

Voiced by: Jennifer Darling

April O'Neil's boy-crazy best friend. She has a crush on Donatello, though shows interest in several male characters throughout the series.

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Tropes associated with Irma:

• Accidental Heroine: She inadvertently defeats The Rat King and Leatherhead by stepping on The Rat King's foot when he refused to take her hostage instead of April. This causes The Rat King and Leatherhead to collide into each other and save April and the turtles at the same time.
• All Women Are Lustful: Irma's boy-craziness is one of her most defining traits. She is forever pining after a dream boyfriend, and always interested in the possibility of scoring a date. Species is no object, either.
• Apologizes a Lot: In "The Turtle Terminator", she repeatedly apologizes whenever she accidentally hurts Shredder.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In "Attack of the 50 Foot Irma" she is accidentally enlarged by an enlarging ray powered by Exaporon, by Krang (who meant to fire the beam at Shredder). Upon being giant, Irma's clumsiness gets the better of her. Eventually, the Turtles manage to shrink her back to her normal size.
• Bespectacled Cutie: She's a Cute Clumsy Girl. Her large, square, red-framed glasses emphasize this trait. Not surprising, considering she's a Whole Costume Reference to Jeanette from Alvin and the Chipmunks.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She was able to defeat the Rat King after he paid more attention to April than her. Heck, Irma easily dropped four Zerg Rushing Foot Soldiers (on board the freaking Technodrome, no less) in "Super Irma." When properly motivated, she takes a level in badass.
• Big Eater: Not to the level of Michelangelo, but she had quite the appetite throughout the series.
• Brainy Brunette: Brown-haired nerd type.
• Canon Foreigner: She was created for the 1987 animated series.
• Character Development: She went from a generic boy-crazy ditz to a Genki Girl with a Hidden Badass side.
• Cute Bruiser: At times.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Cute is a matter of opinion, but she's certainly clumsy.
• Cute Giant: In the episode "Attack Of The 50 Foot Irma" she is accidentally enlarged to giant size until the turtles reverse her to her normal size.
• Damsel in Distress: Many times like April.
• Damsel out of Distress: Depending on the Writer.
• Deadpan Snarker: Tends to react with a lot of dry sarcasm to all the craziness she gets involved in.
• Desperately Craves Affection
• Genius Ditz: She's boy-crazy and kind of silly, but also very smart.
• The Klutz: She is really a klutz tending to step on people's feet and often addressed as this by others including Bebop and Rocksteady.
• Lovable Nerd: It comes naturally with her being a Nice Girl after all.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: She's so desperate for a boyfriend that she'll flirt with (or just fantasize about being with) almost anyone as long as they're male. In one episode she ends up falling for a robotic policeman.
  April: Forget it, Irma. He's not human.
• Mars Needs Women: Inverted. Her obsession with finding a romantic partner eventually reduces her to craving for monsters, mutants, and even the Turtles themselves at one point. She bonded the most with Donatello during the course of the series.
• Nice Girl: She's very friendly with April, the turtles, and even villains at times.
• No Full Name Given: Her last name is never mentioned at any point in the series. At some point, "Langenstein" appeared as a last name in online discourse related to her, which led to it being used in the IDW comic series. The only media tangentally related to this incarnation to use Langenstein was the 2020 children's book Totally Turtles!, which uses the show's character designs.
• Not Good with Rejection: She absolutely hates being rejected or ignored by a potential love interest. This trait is so ingrained in her character that in the episode "Leatherhead Meets The Rat King" she even attacks the Rat King because he was more interested in taking April hostage instead of her which inadvertently lead to his and Leatherhead's defeat.
• Pink Means Feminine: She wore pink glasses, and is very feminine.
• Purple Is Powerful: Her "Super Irma" costume has a pair of purple armbands and purple leggings.
• Put on a Bus: Halfway through the 8th season, she stopped appearing on the show.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In the episode "Leatherhead Meets The Rat King", she doesn't attack the Rat King because she was trying to save April, but because he chose April to take hostage instead of her.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Not to the level of April, but she still looks very nice in the times she wears a dress.
• Ship Tease: With Donatello.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Irma's biggest goal in life seems to be find a boyfriend to have a good relationship with.
• Sweet Tooth: She seemed to love junk food, especially sweet candy and desserts.
• Token Good Teammate: She's the only major co-worker of April that is not a Jerkass, and unlike Burne and Vernon, she gets along with the Turtles well.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • In "Super Irma", Irma gets hit by a beam from a magnet, which made her think she had gained super powers. She then changes into a leotard, cape, and knee-high boots in an outfit in design similar to Wonder Woman.
  • In "Shredder Triumphant!" once she gets ahold of a blaster, she destroys the back of Krang's android body and disarms Shredder with a few key blasts, enabling Donatello to send the Technodrome back to Dimension X without the villains on board.
• True Blue Femininity: She wears a blue sweater and is very feminine with keeping up with her appearance and also trying to find a perfect date.
• Vague Age: Irma looks and acts like a young teenager but is apparently old enough to own an apartment and have a steady job.
• Weight Woe: Her constant Sweet Tooth led to her having several instances where she was fretting about her weight gains and going on a diet with varying degrees of success.
• Whole Costume Reference: She dresses (and looks, with her hairstyle, coloration and glasses) like Jeanette from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Vernon Fenwick

Voiced by: Pat Fraley (Season 1), Peter Renaday (Season 2 onward), Townsend Coleman ("Michelangelo Meets Bugman Again")

April's cameraman, who is constantly trying to climb the corporate ladder and steal April's job.

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Tropes associated with Vernon:

• Asshole Victim: He often suffers humiliating misfortunes, but a lot of times he has it coming.
• Camp Straight: He's very effeminate and such, but he's sometimes implied to be attracted to Irma.
• Canon Foreigner: He was created for the cartoon.
• Characterization Marches On: In season 1 he was friendlier with April, and helped her get the scoop on Krang's attack in New York even though she was in trouble with Burne at the time.
• Depending on the Writer: Vernon can either be an ally to the Turtles or siding with Burne that they are a menace to society.
• Dirty Coward: Often flees at the first sign of danger, leaving April on her own.
• Face–Heel Turn: 8th season. Shortly before the entire Channel 6 staff was Put on a Bus, Vernon Fenwick ends up siding with Burne Thompson, and agreeing that the Turtles are a menace to society, and all because they didn't save the Channel 6 building from Shredder's explosive device in time.
• Hate Sink: Starting in Season 2, where he becomes more cowardly and selfish as well as antagonistic to both April and the Turtles, likely to justify his Butt-Monkey status.
• Hypocrite: Will knock others for showing any cowardice despite being a huge one himself, such as in "The Case of the Killer Pizzas".
• Jerkass: He's mean to April and the Turtles, often for no good reason.
• The Load
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's often portrayed as analogous to Geraldo Rivera.
• Put on a Bus: Halfway through the 8th season, he stopped making appearances.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He literally has a pink shirt. But given his Dirty Coward traits, the "real man" part is highly questionable.
• The Rival: Sometimes he tried to take April's place as a news reporter.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: In general, he plays the role of a smaller antagonists for the Turtles. Vernon and Burne Thompson often blamed the Turtles for crimes they are seeking to prevent.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks he's the best there is in the news business.
• Smug Snake: As the series go on, he will often make snide remarks evoking a sense of superiority over April, confident that he could replace her as Channel 6's star-reporter with ease. Never mind the fact that he's a Dirty Coward who would quit at the first sign of hardship.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He goes from someone who's April's friend for the most part as well as part of her main newscrew in season 1 to a rival reporter constantly trying to steal all her jobs.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Like Burne, he strongly believed that the Turtles were a menace to society and often actively participated in Burne's anti-mutant campaigns, even though the Turtles had saved his life on many occasions. He still displays this even in Shredder's Revenge, where he credits the Punk Frogs for saving the day.
• Yes-Man: To Mr. Thompson, his boss.

Burne Thompson

Voiced by: Pat Fraley, Townsend Coleman (some episodes of Season 3)

The boss of Channel 6 news. He's very bossy and dislikes the Ninja Turtles, though he allows April's reports to paint them in a positive light.

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• Canon Foreigner: He was created for the cartoon.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first four episodes, he had a more tough-but-fair attitude. But starting with the fifth episode, he becomes the Jerkass boss we're all familiar with.
• The Chew Toy: Not as much as Vernon, but he usually does wind up on the receiving end of some negative karma, especially depending on just how much of a Jerkass he is within the episode.
• Da Editor: He gets on April's case for reporting positive stories about the Turtles.
• Depending on the Writer: Burne never likes Turtles personally, but sometimes he's aggressively against them, and other times Burne only gets angry with them if they mess with the Channel six building or his reporters. Burne is at his nicest in mid season 3 to 4, due to the Turtles rescuing him in Burne's Blues, conversely he is at his nastiest in season 8 starting from Get Shredder.
• Expy: He's basically the show's equivalent of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man, being a hot-tempered, loud mouthed media mogul who is constantly on his employees' asses for the most minor things and having a vitriolic hatred of the heroes. Bonus points for both of them being New Yorkers.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite his dislike of the Turtles, even Burne thought A.J. Howard's anti mutant campaign was going too far.
• Face–Heel Turn: After the Channel 6 building is destroyed, Burne went from a grouchy neutral figure to an antagonist who started broadcasting news stories to paint the Turtles as criminals.
• Fat Bastard: He's overweight and not very nice to April or the Turtles.
• Fat Slob: His action figured portrayed him with his shirt unbuttoned and stained, chewing with his mouth open, and with paper stuck to his shoe.
• Hate Sink: Like Vernon, his main role in the series is to constantly blame the Turtles no matter what they do all for the fans to hate him.
• Ignored Epiphany: Subverted; after personally witnessing their actions, he retracts all the vitriol he had towards the turtles since Channel 6 building was destroyed and heartfully thanks them, only to learn their heroics destroyed his transmitter. While less than thrilled, he no longer broadcasts any negative stories about them, and does acknowledge them as heroes, but major pains in his wallet.
• Irrational Hatred:
  • His hatred of the Turtles seems to be partly motivated by the fact his girlfriend Tiffany hated all Turtles due to a childhood incident. When April makes does a story that makes the Turtles look good to the public, Tiffany breaks up with Burne because she sees him as a turtle lover and Burne becomes a thorn in the Turtles' side from that moment on.
  • In the Red Sky episodes, Burne blames the Turtles for the destruction of the Channel 6 Building.
• Jerkass: Never gives any respect towards April and is very unrelenting to the Turtles.
• May–December Romance: Has a younger, airheaded girlfriend called Tiffany, who is implied to be the reason he hates the turtles. Notably when she asked how old he was, Burne said he was thirty something, while his employees were celebrating his fiftieth birthday.
• Mean Boss: He tends to yell at his employees, particularly Vernon.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Probably his one redeeming trait is even though he's a huge jerk and has some major biases, he's (mostly) a fair newsman. This is best displayed in "Return of the Shredder" where despite his hatred of the turtles he still runs April's report that clears their names after the Shredder framed them, even though doing so causes his equally turtle-hating girlfriend Tiffany to temporarily dump him.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • Downplayed in the earlier seasons, as while Burne would continually personally dislike the turtles, he'd also allow April to publish positive stories on the Ninja Turtles. He was also less aggressive to the Turtles after they saved him in season 3.
  • Played straight in the Red Sky seasons; despite it being clear that the Turtles had tried to stop Shredder from blowing up the Channel 6 building, Burne still blamed them and resolved to turn the public against them.

Mona Lisa

Voiced by: Pat Musick

A human college student who was mutated into a lizard and fell in love with Raphael.

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Tropes associated with Mona:

• Aborted Arc: Although Mona Lisa appeared in just one episode, it was implied her storyline was just beginning.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: She doesn't wear shoes after her mutation.
• Brainy Brunette: She has brownish hair and is an intelligent college student.
• The Bus Came Back: Downplayed; she appears in Shredder's Revenge as a background character in the Dimension Shellshock DLC.
• Cute Bruiser: She's able to face off against Raphael initially, as well fight against Captain Filch and his army of Giant Mooks without an issue.
• Cute Monster Girl: She's very pretty for a lizard mutant.
• Girl of the Week: It seemed that she was being set up as Raphael's Love Interest, but she only appeared once.
• Guile Heroine: At first, she uses her feminine wiles to get Raphael to help her with foiling Captain Filch's scheme.
• Ironic Name: Her name is Mona Lisa, which was the subject of one of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings, but she meets up and falls in love with Raphael instead.
• Kiddie Kid: She isn't above childishly taunting her enemies, but otherwise acts her age.
• Lizard Folk: Although her action figure combines this with Fish Person, making her a Mix-and-Match Critter. Perhaps she's a newt.
• Lovable Lizard: She's a lizard-like mutant and an ally to the Turtles, especially Raphael.
• Metamorphosis: From human to lizard.
• Named After Someone Famous: She's named after the original Mona Lisa, who was the subject of one of the most famous paintings in the world.
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: She's a lizard woman with breasts. Justified because she was human before her mutation.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: She still has hair after her mutation.
• Pink Is Feminine: She wears a pink scarf and hair elastic. Also, she used to wear a pink dress as a human.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's a little shorter than Raphael and can hold her own in physical battle against Captain Filch's Giant Mooks without too much trouble.
• Theme Naming: It's only fitting that a character named after the subject of painting falls in love with a character that's named after a renaissance painter.
• Waif-Fu: She's smaller than Raphael and can stand up to Captain Filch's Giant Mooks with ease.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Even though she survived and is even seen at the lair at the end of the episode, she never appears again.

Carter Dawson

Voiced by: Bumper Robinson

A college student who seeks out Splinter in order to gain some ninja training. Becomes an ally of the turtles in their fight against Dregg.

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Tropes associated with Carter:

• Ambiguously Brown: He has brownish skin, but it's unclear whether he's African American or just has a tan, his hairstyle indicates the latter though.
• Cursed with Awesome: In his debut appearance, he gains a Hulk-like mutation power that sporadically causes him to turn into a huge, muscular yellow-skinned mutant with a metal arm and spikes.
• Magic Pants: Averted the first time he transforms, but played straight on all subsequent occasions where his clothes transforms with him.
• Only One Name: Carter's surname is never given in the show. That said, publicity and the old CBS website for the show say Carter's surname is Dawson.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: We never actually see Carter at college. Either his attendance rates are lousy, or his college has one heck of a long summer break. Eventually the former is confirmed when Carter says one of the reasons he wants his mutation cured is so he can finally return to college.
• Put on a Bus: Halfway through the final season, he's taken away to the future to get his mutation cured. We never see or hear from him again, so whether or not the cure was successful, we'll never know.
  • The Bus Came Back: He later appears as a background character in the Dimension Shellshock DLC for Shredder's Revenge, though while he never transforms, due to the game and the mode not having much of a story, it's still unclear if he was cured or if he simply had his mutation under control at that moment.
• Sixth Ranger: He sticks around with the Turtles, at least until he leaves in mid-season 10.
• There Is No Cure: His mutation is considered incurable in the present day. Seemingly subverted in his last appearance when he accepts an offer to go to the future so their technology can cure him.
• Token Minority: Carter is the only main human character to be African American.

Punk Frogs

Voiced by: Townsend Coleman (Attila the Frog), Jim Cummings (Genghis Frog), Pat Fraley (Napoleon Bonafrog), Nicholas Omana (Rasputin the Mad Frog)

Four ex-pet frogs who mutated into humanoid forms after being released into a region of the Okefenokee Swamp in Florida that had been contaminated by some lost mutagen. Shredder tracked them down and tried to train them as his own elite mutant warriors to take down the Turtles. Unfortunately for Shredder, they were naturally docile, and defected from his side to become allies of the Turtles.

• The Dividual: Unlike the more individualized turtles, they all have the same mellow personality.
• Does Not Like Spam: They can't stand pizza.
• Hulking Out: The episode "Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps" had Napoleon turn into a muscular behemoth when enraged after exposure to a ray invented by Krang.
• The Leader: Attila is the leader of the Punk Frogs.
• Let's You and Him Fight: They initially meet the Turtles in combat, but quickly realise they'd rather befriend the Turtles than serve Shredder.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Just like the turtles, they're all named after real-life historic figures, specifically Shredder's personal heroes.
• Nice Guy: All four of them.
• Non-Indicative Name: There's absolutely nothing "punk" about them, as they look more like surfer dudes. Also, Rasputin's full name is "Rasputin the Mad Frog". He's as nice and level-headed as his buddies.
• Odd Name Out: Rasputin's name is a bit off. The others are named after tyrannical rulers and conquerors, while he's named after a crazy faith healer.
• Palette Swap: Attila and Napoleon have the same outfits with swapped colors. Same for Genghis and Rasputin.
• The Psycho Rangers: Invoked and subverted. They were intended to be evil counterparts to the Ninja Turtles, but turned out to be too good-natured to stay evil.
• Theme Naming: Like the Turtles, they were named by their human mentor's favorite historical figures/personal heroes. Of course, since that mentor was Shredder, he named them after tyrants and lunatics: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Rapustin.
• Toyless Toyline Character: Attila and Rasputin never had toys, which is presumably why they got phased out.
• Trademark Favorite Food: They like eating Chinese food and flies.
• You Don't Look Like You: Napoleon Bonafrog's action figure looks more bumpy and mean-looking, compared to Genghis' more show-accurate figure.

Zack

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

A young boy who considers himself the "Fifth Turtle".

• Badass Adorable: He's literally brave enough to go inside a giant godzilla-like robot to save April, without even being fazed even once. He's also willing to face off against multiple villains to help save the turtles in "Night Of The Rogues" despite his young age.
• Kid-Appeal Character: He's much younger than the Turtles and his immaturity is rather blatant.
• Kid Hero: He's managed to save April's life when she was trapped in a mechanical godzilla-like robot, and also helped save the turtles when they were captured in "Night Of The Rogues".
• Older Than They Look. He claims to be "almost fourteen". He doesn't look it, or act like it. Maybe he was lying?
• One-Steve Limit: Both averted and played with at the same time. Zack is name of the kid who calls himself the fifth turtle, while Zak is the name of the neutrino from Dimension X who debuted earlier in the show.
• Put on a Bus: In season 7, he was phased from the show.
  • The Bus Came Back: He appears as a background character in the Dimension Shellshock DLC for Shredder's Revenge.
• Sixth Ranger: He's trying his hardest to be one.
• Spell My Name With An S: Official sources can't decide on the last letter of his name being a "k" or an "h".
• Tagalong Kid: Whenever he appears, he tries to join the Turtles on their missions.
• The Team Wannabe: He's a regular human child who considers himself the "Fifth Turtle."

Neutrinos

Voiced by: Thom Pinto (Dask), Pat Fraley (Zak), Tress MacNeille (Kala)

A group of elf-like aliens from Dimension X who act like beatnik hotrodders. Their dislike of authority and war made them fugitives in their home dimension. Kala, the female of the group, develops a crush on Michelangelo.

• Actual Pacifist: Their defining trait is that they hate war and want to play instead, which is illegal in Dimension X.
  • Technical Pacifist: Although they do use weapons to defend themselves.
• Anime Hair: To insane degrees.
• Beatnik: Their whole gimmick revolves around being alien beatniks, complete with the lingo. "Cool? Daddy-o, we are frozen!"
• Break the Cutie: Life in Dimension X is pretty hard on them, especially towards Kala.
  Kala: You don't know what it's like, living in a place where everybody wants to do you in just for the crime of being young.
• Human Aliens: They're aliens from Dimension X, but aside from the insane anime-pompadours and elfin ears, they look perfectly human.
• Interspecies Romance: Kala with Michelangelo.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Kala's pet grybyx is similar enough to being an alien cat from Dimension X.
• Pointy Ears: Part of their "anime elf beatnik hotrodder" motif.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Zak and Dask are the two guys with Kala being the girl.

Casey Jones

Voiced by: Pat Fraley (1987 series), Darren Worts (Shredder's Revenge)

A crazed vigilante who goes after all sorts of crime, from armed robbery to littering: apparently adopting a "Filthy Harry" like persona.

• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the '87 series, he's still an ally to the Turtles but isn't the close friend he is with them in the source material and many subsequent incarnations. And there's no romance between him and April.
• Ascended Extra: Became a playable character in the NES and Genesis/Mega Drive versions of Tournament Fighters, and is unlockable in the base game for Shredder's Revenge.
• All Crimes Are Equal: He has this mindset. No matter how minor an offense is, the perpetrator is still a "lawbreaker".
• Aloof Ally: The Turtles are lucky to try and get him on his good side when asking for his help.
• Blue Is Heroic: Played with. He's a good guy who wears a blue shirt and thinks he's a hero, but his vigilante nature puts him closer to Anti-Hero territory most of the time.
• Charles Atlas Super Power: He is not a mutant, but he can lift a vending machine over his head and throw it, as well as break through concrete or metal with his sporting equipment.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He's not the most sane individual.
• Demoted to Extra: In most incarnations, Casey is the Sixth Ranger to the Turtles as well as April's love interest. Here, he's only a minor character who only appears in 5 episodes and he and April barely interact at all.
• The Faceless: It should be noted that you never see his face in the series, since he never takes off his mask, even when once going undercover in a business suit.
• Hypocrite: He has made it his mission to punish everyone he finds breaking the law. Problem is that vigilantism is also against the law, but he never sees the inherent contradiction.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Casey Jones attacked villains with various sports equipment like baseball bats and hockey sticks. In season eight, he gets a sword and faces off against Shredder, which could be a fencing reference.
• '90s Anti-Hero: His crazy behavior sets him up as a parody of one, although amusingly his first appearance was in 1989, shortly before the concept's heyday.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: This version of Casey seems to be based on Clint Eastwood, especially with the "Filthy Harry" references.
• Put on a Bus: Until the eighth season.
• Vigilante Man: He's an Affectionate Parody of the trope.

Mondo Gecko

Voiced by: John Mariano

A skateboarding mutant gecko who is friends with Michelangelo.

• Cool Board: He uses his own signature rocket-powered board.
• Evil Counterpart: To Michelangelo initially, being a hip skater mutated by the same mutagen that mutated the Turtles.
• Heel–Face Turn: Mondo Gecko was a member of a gang who worked for "Mr. X". Michelangelo convinced Mondo Gecko to turn on Mr. X. Together they fought Mr. X. After this, Mondo Gecko ends his career as a criminal and moves to the sewers and becomes "neighbors" with the TMNT and Splinter.
• Metamorphosis: From gecko to anthro gecko.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: He has long black hair even though he wasn't human before his mutation.
• Shadow Archetype: Initially before his Heel–Face Turn, he represents what Michelangelo and the other turtles could have turned into if they had accepted Shredder's original offer to join him and turn to the side of evil.

Muck Man and Joe Eyeball

Voiced by: Townsend Coleman (Muck Man), Rob Paulsen (Joe Eyeball)

A pair of garbage men who were turned into junk and detritus-themed mutants, after Bebop and Rocksteady accidentally dumped a mutagen called Compound-X on them.

• Abhorrent Admirer: Joe Eyeball became smitten with Irma when he first saw her, but she's understandably repulsed by his mutated appearance to his disappointment (although she did compliment his eyes).
• Abnormal Ammo: They fight by throwing slimy garbage balls.
• Aborted Arc: At the end of their single episode appearance, Donatello promised that he'd try to find a cure for their mutation someday, but they told him to take his time as they genuinely liked being mutant superheroes.
• Alliterative Name: Besides the obvious, both of the garbage men had one prior to their mutation: Muck Man was Garson Grunge, and Joe Eyeball was Joe Junkee.
• Cartoon Creature: Joe Eyeball's action figure description claims that he's a parasite, but it's hard to tell what he is, exactly.
• Expy: Muck Man is similar to the Toxic Avenger, with Joe Eyeball as an approximate equivalent to Blobby.
• Heel–Face Turn: Shredder initially tricked them into believing that the Turtles were responsible for their mutations and actually villains that are a menace to the city. Fortunately, some video evidence retrieved by April from Tropotron Labs convinced them of the contrary, and they helped the Turtles fight Shredder.
• Man of Kryptonite: They were these to the Turtles themselves, due to the Compound-X mutagen they were altered with, which would cause the Turtles to weaken and eventually have their mutations reversed, until Donatello developed an antidote.
• Muck Monster: Muck Man is a slimy mutant made entirely of garbage.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: They're based on Jackie Gleason and Art Carney.
• Power Glows: When their retro-mutagen side effects kick in, they give off a sickly green glow.
  Joe Eyeball: When you gotta glow, you gotta go!
• Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Judging from their early interactions, at least, since Garson Grunge/Muck Man is smart enough to tell the difference between broccoli and cauliflower, unlike Joe Junkee/Joe Eyeball. The former is ruder and surly, but the latter is friendlier. Also, it's reflected in how they come up with their mutant names (Garson thought of his immediately, Joe apparently looked at his own eye stalks).
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While they were seemingly set up for recurring appearances, they didn't show up again.

Usagi Yojimbo

Voiced by: Townsend Coleman (1987 series), Yuki Matsuzaki (Shredder's Revenge)

A rabbit samurai from an alternate universe.

• Adaptation Name Change: In the 1987 animated series, he is named Usagi Yojimbo - Yojimbo (bodyguard) is his job, not his name. His actual name in the original comic series (which is titled Usagi Yojimbo) is Miyamoto Usagi.
• Adaptation Personality Change: He's more emotional in the show than he is in his comics, where he was more in control of his emotions.
• Truer to the Text: His playable appearance in the Dimension Shellshock DLC for Shredder's Revenge brings his design and personality far closer to his comic counterpart. His ending even refers to him as Miyamoto Usagi like the comics, rather than Usagi Yojimbo like in the cartoon.

The Foot Clan

The Shredder

Voiced by: James Avery (Seasons 1-6 and first half of Season 7), Dorian Harewood (some episodes of Season 3), Jim Cummings (In "Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps" and most of the "Vacation in Europe" arc), Townsend Coleman (later half of Season 7), William E. Martin (Seasons 8-10), Daniel Russo (European French)

Oroku Saki (also known as The Shredder) was the leader of the Foot Clan. He is the main villain of the show. Shredder was frequently assisted by his Mutant henchmen, Bebop and Rocksteady, and was bossed around by Krang, until season 10, where he was replaced by Lord Dregg.

• Adaptational Comic Relief: In the original Mirage comics, he was a serious villain. In the cartoon, he is depicted as Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain with a much goofier personality. (At least until the "Red Sky" episodes.)
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the original Mirage comics, his vendetta against Hamato Yoshi was to avenge his brother when Yoshi killed him over their mutual love for Tang Shen. Here, he's a Card-Carrying Villain and a Big Brother Bully.
• Adaptation Name Change: While his name is the same, "Saki" is his family name in this adaptation, as evidenced by his brother, Kazuo Saki.
• Affably Evil/Faux Affably Evil: Depending on the Writer. Sometimes he's legimately capable of treating others with respect, and sometimes not.
• Always Someone Better/Always Second Best: To Splinter, also Depending on the Writer.
• Ambiguously Brown: Depending on the Artist. His skin is sometimes darker.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: Averted in "Krangenstein Lives"; when Shredder loses his memory, he's still the same wicked, ill-tempered, power-hungry jerk, just a little more confused than usual.
• Arch-Enemy: To Splinter and the turtles.
• Ascended Extra: The Shredder was killed in the first issue of the original comic. (Although he came back a few times, including in the form of a giant, mutant shark.) Here, he collaborates with Krang as the longtime Big Bad of the series.
• Bad Boss: He frequently insults and belittles Bebop and Rocksteady and sometimes punishes them physically or uses them to test his last device or weapon. He also wasn't very nice towards Baxter Stockman when he was his lackey, sending him to Dimension X against his will and isn't particularly torn up when Krang announces his intention to disintegrate Stockman. In "Enter Mutagen Man", the titular Mutagen Man returns to Shredder having done the promised task in exchange for a cure for his mutation; Shredder responds by cutting the tube Mutagen Man needed to stay alive and revealed he never intended to turn Mutagen Man back into normal.
• Big Bad: He and Krang are the main villains for the first eight seasons.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Shredder and Krang are the main villains of the show and almost always work together in their plans.
• Big Bad Wannabe: In Turtles Forever. He thinks himself on par with his Utrom counterpart, but the latter sees him as worthless and takes control of the Technodrome and becomes the film's proper Big Bad.
• Big Brother Bully: Shredder belittles and mocks his little brother Kazuo Saki.
• Bond Villain Stupidity:
  • The Shredder proves himself more than a match for the turtles in armed combat, yet on many occasions when confronted he escapes, often with the words "another time turtles!" Why another time? Why not now!?
  • When Shredder does manage to capture one of the turtles, he never bothers to kill them right away when he has the chance. Sometimes one of his plans has actually managed to capture all four of them, but again, he never finishes them off as soon as he can.
• The Brute: While Shredder shows some level of stratagem and tech-savviness (this varying between episodes), he mainly relies on Krang to provide tech, mutagen and other resources while the Shredder performs tasks out in the field.
• Butt-Monkey: Shredder became one by the third season, as his defeats became more and more humiliating, such as being reduced to a child, trapped in block of cement, or turned into a tiny fly, among others. By the end of the seventh season he gets out of this territory. (Interestingly all three of those examples are ones where Dorian Harewood fills in as his voice.)
• Cain and Abel: He has a younger brother named Kazuo Saki who works in law enforcement and is ashamed to be related to a criminal.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After Shredder and Krang are defeated again at the end of "Turtles to the Second Power", they simply stop appearing in the show. Even in the show's final episode, when the Turtles explore the Technodrome's ruins, Shredder and Krang are nowhere to be found.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Briefly as chairman of Octopus Inc. He seemed to be quite competent and had some success.
• Create Your Own Hero: He ends up creating the Turtles. He poured a caustic chemical down the sewer where Hamato Yoshi was living in an attempt to kill him. The chemical turned out to be a powerful mutagen which made the Turtles anthropomorphic and transformed Yoshi into Splinter. Shredder tried to use this information to convince the Turtles to join his side, but they declined.
• Darker and Edgier: The "Red Sky" episodes were more serious in tone and had Shredder become a more competent and dangerous villain.
• Deadpan Snarker: He sometimes makes remarks about Bebop and Rocksteady's incompetence and Krang's insistence on giving orders instead of doing things himself.
• Demoted to Extra: In the ninth and tenth seasons, he was no longer the main focus and only appeared in a three-part episode before disappearing again.
• Depending on the Writer: He got hit with this pretty bad considering his level of competence and maturity shifted with practically every writer. This made it so he either completely overpowered the turtles without breaking a sweat ("The Incredible Shrinking Turtles") or was on the opposite side of the spectrum and was completely defeated without even putting up a decent fight. ("The Case Of The Killer Pizzas")
• Dragon-in-Chief: He sometimes falls into this starting in season 2, though the relationship between him and Krang is basically a Big Bad Duumvirate since the plan seems to be for both of them to rule the world.
• Dub Name Change: The Japanese dub renames him Sawaki Oroku, due to "Saki" being a feminine given name.
• Enfant Terrible: As shown in the clips of his life from "Shredderville". He is seen angrily breaking toys as a baby and picking fights with other kids when he was a child.
• Enraged by Idiocy: Bebop and Rocksteady's incompetence and stupidity is an endless source of annoyance and frustration for him, although he keeps using them.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The episode "Shredder's Mom" proves that even Shredder himself is not immune to this trope.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's completely shocked at the insanity and evil of his 4Kids counterpart in Turtles Forever, and teams up with the Turtles to stop him upon discovering that said counterpart intends to destroy the entire multiverse.
• Evil Counterpart: To Splinter.
• Evil Is Hammy: His hamminess is often as blatant as his villainy, especially in the episodes where Dorian Harewood voices him.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: He falls prey to this in Turtles Forever, where he frees the 2K3 Shredder from his imprisonment in the hopes of forming a Villain Team-Up with him. The 2K3 Shredder is far more dangerous and competent than the 1987 Shredder ever was, and quickly usurps the former's plans and operations.
• Evil Is Petty: There is almost nothing he wouldn't do to hurt the turtles.
• Evil Laugh: He quite often laughs evilly.
• Evil Me Scares Me: He is terrified of the 4Kids version when he meets him in Turtles Forever.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Thanks to James Avery, Dorian Harewood and Bill Martin.
• Final Boss: With rare exceptions, he's always the final enemy in the video games.
• Forced Transformation: The "Mutazoo" ray gun Baxter acquires in one episode turns him into a regular housefly giving Bebop and Rocksteady the chance to boss him around while Michelangelo is transformed into a gerbil.
• Friendship Moment: Much as he and Krang bicker when Dregg drains Krang's life energy in "A Turtle in Time", the wounded alien tells Shredder to escape without him, Shredder not only rescues Krang but uses some futuristic tech to give Krang a "life energy transplant."
• Genius Bruiser: Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain portrayal aside, Shredder is still a skilled fighter, and repeatedly curb-stomps all four Turtles at once. As for the "genius" part, he's noted on at least one occasion to have an IQ of 300, having personally designed Krang's robot body.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It was pretty easy for the turtles, Splinter, Bebop, Rocksteady, and even Krang to make him lose his temper.
• The Heavy: Among the show's Big Bad Duumvirate, he's clearly the more proactive one. Besides being responsible for Splinter's present predicament, he tends to go out on the field pretty often (willingly or otherwise) to acquire anything that furthers his and Krang's goals, and possibly eliminate the Turtles.
• Hidden Depths: Shredder is surprisingly good as teacher in martial arts. At the start of season two his tutelage helps a group of punks become relatively good ninjas, though not good enough to defeat the Turtles. Later in the season he trains a group of frogs to match the skills of the Turtles.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Even Shredder, a proclaimed "ninja master", wore outlandish Samurai armor and would often broadcast threats with as much pomposity as Dr. Doom. He even has a habit of wearing his mask whenever he tries to disguise himself.
• Hunk: He is a Bishōnen and is built like a bodybuilder.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Shredder is many times this, particularly in later crossovers after the initial story arc of the first season. This is the only version of him that qualifies.
• Jerkass: Not quite to the extent of Krang, but he still frequently abuses his henchmutants Bebop and Rocksteady on a consistent basis, and he was unnecessarily cruel to Baxter Stockman during the first few episodes of Season 2.
• Large Ham: He is especially hammy in episodes where he is voiced by Dorian Harewood.
• Laughably Evil: He often provides some of the show's humor thanks to being highly conceited and having to put up with the idiocy of Rocksteady and Bebop.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Much to Krang's dismay, he doesn't always think before he acts.
• Mean Boss: The Shredder constantly abuses and insults Bebop and Rocksteady, though in his defense, he always does ensure they escape with him.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: In "April Fool", Shredder manages to get away with a rare isotope. Unfortunately for the bad guys, the isotope is unstable under high atmospheric pressures (especially those deep within the Earth), and the sample explodes after the Shredder returns to the Technodrome parked many miles beneath the Earth's surface.
• Mr. Fanservice: He is built like a bodybuilder and his almost skintight pants and sleeveless top leave very little to the imagination.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Sometimes his plans involve destroying bakeries to get his hands on Cheese Danishes. Then there are times he goes as far as to blow up the Channel 6 building, with people still inside, to prove he's a threat.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Shredder's attitude towards Splinter and the Turtles, so much so that they taunt him with it over the interstellar radio from a slave camp on Dimension X. His twisted code of ninja ethics forces him to bring them back to Earth...where they proceed to defeat Krang's bid for global domination.
• Pet the Dog:
  • In "Turtle Trek" he mutates an alien named Gargon and promises to return him to normal if he lures the turtles into a trap. Shredder kept up his end of the deal before attempting to kill the turtles, even though he had no obligation to.
  • "A Turtle In Time" saw him rescue Krang from Dregg and even gives Krang some of his own life force to keep him from dying.
  • And as noted above, he never leaves Bebop and Rocksteady behind when retreating, no matter how badly they've screwed up in that episode.
• Pretty Boy: Surprisingly, Oroku Saki looks rather feminine and handsome without his helmet on.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He has a tendency to throw childish tantrums when things don't go his way (which is often).
  The Shredder: But I don't wanna conquer this place! I wanna conquer Earth!
• Purple Is Powerful: He has a purple cape and is the turtles' greatest enemy.
• Put on a Bus: Like all the Technodrome villains and the Channel 6 crew (except April), once the retool occurred.
  • The Bus Came Back: Though he and Krang would return for a three episode special in the tenth and last season. He also returned in Turtles Forever and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Surprisingly in one episode.
• Shoulders of Doom: He has bladed armor over his shoulders.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The villainous Shredder's younger brother Kazuo Saki is actually a cop fighting for justice.
• A Sinister Clue: His signature weapon is always on his left hand if he doesn't have two sets.
• Spikes of Villainy: By way of wearing armor that's covered in blades.
• Surrounded by Idiots: He laments this quite frequently.
• Take Over the World: His goal is to take over the world.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between himself and Krang. They constantly bicker over their tactics and rejoice in each other's failings, and sometimes intentionally sabotage each other.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Without his mask, and especially without his armor, Oroku Saki looks jarringly normal.
• Trigger Phrase: Shredder in one episode thought he was Michelangelo when he was hit by his own holographic synthesizer accidentally. However, Shredder was hypnotized by Splinter into going between his and Michelangelo personalties whenever he would hear one of their names. Although, after being hit by the holographic synthesizer once again while acting as Michelangelo, Shredder reverted to his old self, which canceled out the hypnosis.
• Vague Age: He's implied to be younger than Splinter, but exactly how much isn't made clear.
• Victory Is Boring: In the episode "Shredderville," we're shown a reality where the Turtles never existed and Shredder has successfully conquered the world... but is so burdened by the task of ruling everything that he's suffered a nervous breakdown.
• Villainous Crush: Strangely enough, Shredder sometimes seems blatantly attracted to April in some episodes. It really depends on the writer, though.
• Villainous Friendship: He and Krang have this.
• Villains Out Shopping: As revealed in "Mr. Ogg Goes to Town," he collects antique ceramics as a hobby.
• Would Hit a Girl: Shredder has no problem physically threatening April and Irma in multiple episodes.

Krang

Voiced by: Pat Fraley, Townsend Coleman (some episodes of Season 3)

An alien general fighting a losing war, and who turns to Earth for assistance. A small, brain-like creature, he often uses a robotic exoskeleton to move around.

• Adaptational Villainy: Krang was based on the Utroms, a race of benevolent cephalopod aliens from the original comic who were stranded on Earth and seeking a way to return home and how like them, created the mutagen responsible for the Turtles' mutation.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Krang's android body is fat and somewhat Gonk with a disproportionally small head and arms that stick out at an angle. In contrast, the Utrom's android walkers were more balanced in proportion and also had synthetic skin to help them blend in with humans.
• Bad Boss: He often insults Shredder and never hesitates to make his life miserable if he think he can get away with it. In the first episode of season 2 he sends Shredder to Earth without any supplies or soldiers, and in a later episode made him wait for supplies on a garbage barge just to annoy him. Also like Shredder he doesn't hesitate to abuse Bebop and Rocksteady verbally and physically and tried to kill Baxter Stockman because he didn't see any use for him in Dimension X, accidentally turning him into a fly mutant.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Along with the Shredder, he is the main threat for most of the series.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: His brain, having been scooped out of its original skull, can survive perfectly well on its own in the open air and has primitive arms (tentacles), eyes and a fang-filled mouth in its own right.
• Breakout Villain: He started out as a Canon Foreigner with an Utrom-like body who became such a popular and iconic villain that nowadays, Krang is considered integral to the franchise, having appeared in multiple cartoons, movies, and comic books since the '87 series.
• Canon Immigrant: Began as a creation of the Fred Wolf cartoon, where he merely looked like the Utroms, but has since been used in other series.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: Krang's android body is a variation. He doesn't need it to survive, he just needs it to survive as anything but a barely mobile brain-like creature.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In the Red Sky Seasons, Krang tells Dregg he is insane after the villain reveals his plan to teleport parts of the Earth into the Sun.
• The Exile: Part of his backstory is that he's an exiled warlord from Dimension X.
• Expy:
  • His appearance of a tentacled brain-like creature operating a humanoid robot from its stomach is based on the more benign Utroms of the original Mirage comics, while his desire for interplanetary conquest and destruction appears to be borrowed from the Triceratons. Though considering he is a cousin to Kraang Sub-Prime in the Nickelodeon series, this could mean he is an Utrom. Although, that may be a retcon as seen under Reptiles Are Abhorrent.
  • An alien criminal reduced to a talking brain, he somewhat evokes Doctor Who's Morbius. As a tentacled giant brain who uses a machine to get around, he also recalls H. G. Wells's Martians.
• Fat Bastard: His android body gives him the appearance of one due to resembling an overweight wrestler, that said, the suit itself has no morality and has been used by the turtles.
• Friendship Moment: In the three parter during the final season, Krang, having been drained of his life energy, tells Shredder to escape by himself, but Shredder insists on rescuing Krang.
• Genius Bruiser: With his robot body, he's a super genius who is physically stronger than Bebop and Rocksteady.
• Genius Cripple: Sure, he's a genius. (His IQ is in the 900s) But as a brain, there's not much he can do on his own. Without his biosuit, he's pretty much helpless.
• Hypocrite: Repeatedly insults Shredder, dismissing him as useless, and keeps relying on him to carry out his plans anyways. Often Krang relies on Shredder for his plans without even bothering to personally lend a hand himself. At the start of the second season, Krang sends Shredder back to Earth due to his past failure against the turtles, even though Krang also failed to kill the turtles and told Shredder he needed his help when facing them.
• Hypocritical Humor: In "The Big Rip-Off" he refers to Bebop and Rocksteady as Shredder's idiotic mutants, to which Shredder complains "Why is it whenever they screw up, they are my idiotic mutants?" But when they actually succeed on a job, Krang refers to them as "my mutants." Apparently Krang only considers them Shredder's mutants when they fail.
• Insufferable Genius: Krang is brilliant, but not easy to work with.
• Jerkass: He insults and belittles Shredder all the time, and goes out of his way to make things difficult for his allies when he thinks he can get away with it. For example, in "Return of the Shredder" while he allows Shredder to return to New York, but denies him any tech or help, forcing Shredder to work on his own. Then there's his reasons for preventing Bebop and Rocksteady to return as well;
  "Because, I enjoy watching people and animals suffer! And you, my friends, are both!"
• Laughably Evil: He sometimes childishly mocks Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady for their incompetence.
• Leitmotif: Has one and a remixed version of it plays in the video games where he's fought as a boss.
• Lost in Imitation: The Fred Wolf Krang actually did not look so Utrom-like naturally; his body was destroyed, leaving him a disembodied brain, before he was exiled to Earth. His true form was... well, see Reptiles Are Abhorrent.
• Mark of Shame: He was reduced to his brain-like state by the people who exiled him, and he is quite embarrassed about it.
• Mobile-Suit Human: He had Shredder build him a human-sized robot body to walk around in.
• Multiple-Choice Past:
  • "Invasion Of The Krangazoids" shows he was originally Lizard Folk and was reduced to a brain as a punishment.
  • "The Three Musketurtles" suggested that he was naturally brain-like.
  • The 2012 cartoon had a crossover that revealed Krang to be an Utrom from that universe.
• Never My Fault: He has a tendency to blame Shredder whenever something on his end goes wrong, not matter how tortured that train of logic would be.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Krang very rarely engages in battle with the Turtles directly, he's content to let anyone else do the fighting for him.
• Orcus on His Throne: Krang is far less active than Shredder. This was justified in the first two seasons. Season 1, Krang didn't have his robot body until Shredder built it in the finale, and once it was finished he did face the turtles himself. During Season 2, Krang is trapped in Dimension X and isn't interested in the Earth until the finale. For the rest of the series however, Krang would frequently come up with a plan but didn't bother leaving the Technodrome, instead relying on Shredder. There were episodes where Krang would get involved but more often than not he didn't bother to dirty his hands.
• Pre-Final Boss: If he's in the game, he's usually fought immediately before Shredder.
• Put on a Bus: Like all the Technodrome villains and the Channel 6 crew (except April), once the retool occurred.
  • The Bus Came Back: Though the and Shredder would return for a three episode special in the tenth and last season. He also returned in Turtles Forever.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He is once shown watching a culebrón and being driven to tears by it.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The episode "Invasion of the Krangazoids" shows us what Krang originally looked like — essentially a vaguely anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus Rex with an overlarge cranium.
• Strong as They Need to Be: How powerful Krang's robot body is depends on the episode. Sometimes it can take on all four turtles, "Krangenstein Lives" going as far as presenting it as The Juggernaut, while other times it can't handle them one on one.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Krang actually says a variation of this in "The Dimension X Story". "Morons! I'm surrounded by morons!"
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between himself and Shredder. They constantly bicker over their tactics and rejoice in each other's failings, and sometimes intentionally sabotage each other.
• Villainous Friendship: Despite being a Bad Boss to Shredder, he does show some concern for him.

Bebop and Rocksteady

Voiced by: Barry Gordon, Greg Berg (Some episodes) (Bebop); Cam Clarke (Rocksteady)

Human gang members who were mutated into a warthog and rhino respectively, and serve as henchmen to the Shredder. Neither of them are particularly bright.

• Adaptational Badass: They're usually more formidable in the video games than the cartoons would have you believe, even when they're usually among the first bosses faced.
• Animorphism: Were transformed from humans to humanoid animals by the mutagen. In the Archie comics, this eventually starts influencing their mind.
• Bald of Evil: Rocksteady had blonde hair in his human form, but he inexplicably went bald after he mutated into a rhino.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Initially. They're still Dumb Muscle, but they're also pretty tough and significantly stronger than the turtles, to the point that they could seriously threaten the turtles — they had to be out-thought rather than simply beaten up.
• Breakout Villains: They're not from the source material but they turned into very popular bad guys due to the '87 series that they came to be considered iconic and even integral to the TMNT franchise. Many subsequent cartoons, movies, and comic books came to utilize the pair in new incarnations. And even some cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) that didn't use them had some sort of Mythology Gag to reference them, like in the episode "Samurai Tourist" where Usagi's rhino friend Gennosuke appeared and put on clothes that made him resemble Rocksteady while an evil boar, Kojima, antagonized the Turtles, making him reminiscent of Bebop.
• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: The two are a pair of muscle-bound, but dim-witted and cowardly minions of Shredder.
• Canon Foreigners: Created for the franchise as part of the Fred Wolf cartoons.
• Cool Shades: Bebop constantly wears these.
• The Dividual: They are two villains who are almost never seen apart and don't have any traits to distinguish them. They actually lampshade this after hearing about how Shredder and Splinter's switched bodies that it's a good thing it didn't happen to the two of them instead.
• Dual Boss: In a few of their video game appearances (namely the arcade games), they're fought as a pair.
• Dumb Muscle: Justified; they were always dimwitted punks and toughs, and Shredder simply tried to upgrade their physical prowess.
• Expressive Mask: Bebop's sunglasses were sometimes depicted in this manner.
• Goofy Print Underwear: Rocksteady is wearing heart-print boxers when Leonardo cuts through his belt.
• Harmless Villain: At least from the second season on. They were always idiots, but after the first season, their stupidity grew to the point they were completely ineffectual. They also became a lot more laid back and put-upon as well. They regained their prior intellect in the Red Sky Seasons.
• Hidden Depths: In the finale of the 2012 series, once the 1987 Turtles tell them they don't have to work for the Shredder and Krang and can do what they want, Rocksteady reveals he actually wants to be a personal injury lawyer and Bebop wants to be a dancer.
• Hypocritical Humor: One of Shredder's plans involved using dinosaurs to destroy the Turtles, and he has Bebop and Rocksteady try to train them, with predictable results. When Shredder browbeats them as to why they can't get this task done, Rocksteady replies "It's not easy to get dinosaurs to obey", with Bebop chiming in "Yeah, they're all muscle and no brain." Shredder, hit by the inherent irony of this statement, pauses, turns to the camera and deadpans, "I won't say it- it's too easy."
• Insane Troll Logic: Once when they note they are eager to go up to the surface to beat up the turtles, Shredder notes that they are more likely to get beat up by the turtles. Rocksteady states it doesn't matter as long as somebody gets beat up.
• Laughably Evil: Unavoidable, since they're pretty dumb and often end up screwing up their bosses' plans in hilarious ways.
• Lightning Bruiser: They both possess incredible strength, power, toughness, as well as great speed.
• Metamorphosis: Changed from human thugs into a warthog and a rhinoceros.
• The Millstone: On many occasions Shredder may well have won if not for their bumbling. Of course then there would be no more show. They even end up costing Utrom Shredder an otherwise clear-cut victory in Turtles Forever.
• Musical Theme Naming: Bebop's name is derived from a form of jazz, while Rocksteady's comes from a precursor to reggae.
• Pig Man: Bebop, being a humanoid warthog.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Bebop and Rocksteady were shown to spend a lot of their downtime playing video games, reading comic books, and watching cartoons. Bebop even was shown to still believe in the Tooth Fairy when he heard Shredder sarcastically say "No, it's the Tooth Fairy" in response to Rocksteady asking him if he was The Shredder.
• Put on a Bus: Like all the Technodrome villains and the Channel 6 crew (except April), once the retool occurred. When Dregg retrieves Shredder and Krang in The Power of Three, he doesn't bring along them.
  • The Bus Came Back: They return in Turtles Forever.
• The Quincy Punk: Bebop has a purple mohawk and a nose ring.
• Rhino Rampage: Rocksteady is a mutant rhinoceros.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Shredder locks the two up in "Night of the Rogues" they assume that being locked up for so long means that Shredder was in trouble and didn't come to release them. Shredder had no intention of letting the duo out and instead planned to rely on the assembled villains to defeat the turtles. But when the turtles blew up the Space Pirate ship with the treasure that Shredder was going to pay the rogues with, they turned on him and Bebop and Rocksteady arrive just in time to save him.
• Simpleton Voice: Both of them speak in voices that make their idiocy apparent.
• Super-Strength: Bebop alone can singlehandedly pick up a car and throw it at the turtles. Rocksteady is implied to be even stronger. This is why it's so important that the Turtles can out-think them, as they're actually pretty dangerous if they can get a grip on you.
• Token Minority: Technically Bebop counts considering he was African-American before his transformation.
• Villain Decay: While they weren't exactly geniuses in the first season, they were still extreme physical threats to the turtles, especially in their second appearance after being mutated. From that point on, they became more or less ineffectual against them, and even some humans. That said there was still some Strong as They Need to Be at play. They regained their thread in the more serious eighth season.
• Villainous Friendship: They get along very well, better than the turtles even.
• Villains Out Shopping: The two often play video games, read comics, and watch cartoons when not carrying out Shredder's plans.
• Vocal Evolution: They had gruffer, more snarly sounding voices early on, but their voices got higher and more oafish sounding as time went on to make them less intimidating and more kid-friendly.

Foot Soldiers

• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Ridiculously prone to this. The Turtles plow through them with ease even when the Foot Soldiers outnumber them.
• Faceless Goons: The rank and file ninjas have virtually no defining characteristics.
• Mecha-Mooks: They're mindless robots, which gets around the moral dilemma of the Turtles mowing down human soldiers. Shredder and Krang once tried to create a Foot Soldier that could think for itself, but the result, Alpha One, ended up rebelling against them.
• Ninja: They are ninjas — robot ninjas, specifically.
• The Voiceless: Due to not having sapience, they never speak, except for Alpha-One.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The reason they were changed from humans to unintelligent robots in this show was so that they could be destroyed in mass numbers without any real consequences.

The Dreggnaught

Lord Dregg

Voiced by: Tony Jay

An alien warlord from Dimension X with aspirations to take over Earth. Stop us if this sounds familiar...

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Tropes associated with Lord Dregg:

• Bad Boss: He ejects Hi-Tech into space in the season 10 premiere, leaves Mung to be swarmed by Nanobots, and absorbs the mercenaries he hired to gain their powers.
• Big Bad: He is the main villain for the last two seasons of the Fred Wolf cartoon, replacing Krang and Shredder.
• Engineered Public Confession: At the end of Season 9, April manages to out Dregg as a villain by presenting a videotape of Dregg gloating to the Turtles about how the Earth will finally surrender to him and there's nothing they can do to stop him.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Like most characters played by his voice actor, he has a deep and menacing voice.
• Final Boss: The last villain the Turtles face in the 1987 series. After the Final Battle, Splinter even admits the Turtles they have finally surpassed him.
• Killed Off for Real: Dregg is apparently killed when Krang's suit, which had gripped onto him, self-destructs after being thrown into Dimension X.
• Knight of Cerebus: An appropriate villain for the darker "Red Sky" seasons.
• Hurl It into the Sun: One of his final plans involved teleporting cities of Earth into the Sun.
• Manipulative Bastard: After trying to defeat the Turtles by force fails, he tries using propaganda against them.
• Motive Decay: Deconstructed in Season 10. His actions in Season 9 were part of his larger goal of conquering the universe. However, he keeps losing to the Turtles and becomes obsessed with destroying them. Mung even points this out in the last episode.
• My Brain Is Big: His brain is giant, and throbbing. When he absorbs Krang's mind, somehow an image of Krang even appears out of it!
• Obviously Evil: He's a giant alien with a huge brain, glowering red eyes, and large fangs. Somehow he still managed to convince the citizens of Earth he was a good guy.
• Revenge Before Reason: His vendetta against the Turtles in Season 10 costs him everything, even his life.
• Toyless Toyline Character: As with other characters introduced in the Red Sky seasons, Dregg never had any merchandise, presumably because of the show losing popularity and the toys at the time simply being variants of the Ninja Turtles.
• Villainous Breakdown: Goes from being calm, and collected to entirely focused on killing the Turtles.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He initially uses propaganda to turn the citizens against the Turtles and trick them into thinking he's a peace-loving alien who wants to help them. This lasts until the season nine finale thanks to his being unable to fight off the Monster of the Week Doomquest, and April presenting taped evidence of his evil.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: One of the powers he absorbs from the mercenaries is the ability to morph his body.
• You Have Failed Me: Dregg is a lot more willing to punish failed subordinates than Krang or Shredder ever were, to the point of giving his right-hand man a Fate Worse than Death in the Season 10 premiere.

The Hi-Tech

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen (Season 9), Cam Clarke (Season 10)

Dregg's minion.

• The Dragon: He is Dregg's right-hand until the premier of Season 10, where Dregg shoots him into space as punishment for failing him one time too many.
• Insectoid Aliens: He appears to be a slightly cybernetic insectoid.
• Satellite Character: He mainly acts as a competent minion to Dregg without any other notable characterstics.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: His chair is shot out of an airlock once Dregg has no more use for him.

Mung

Voiced by: Cam Clarke

Hi Tech's replacement in Season 10.

• The Dragon: Dregg named him his new second in command, then launched Hi-Tech into space.
• Fat Bastard: It's only natural considering he's also a Villainous Glutton as well.
• Villainous Glutton: As shown in "The Power of Three", where he is seen eating a lot of slimy food. Dregg exasperatedly points out that he'd get things done faster if he didn't spend as much time eating.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In the final episode of the series, "Divide and Conquer", Lord Dregg leaves Mung for dead after gaining the power needed to defeat the Turtles.

Other Major Villains

Baxter Stockman

Voiced by: Pat Fraley

A mad scientist and creator of the mouser robots.

• Adaptational Heroism: Downplayed. While his comic counterpart was a one-dimensional monster to the end, 1987 Baxter was a well-meaning, yet misguided scientist before he crossed paths with the Shredder and became affiliated with him.
• Animorphism: Eventually gets turned into a fly.
• Anti-Villain: He started out as somewhat sympathetic and only wanting to use his Mousers to benefit humanity, but he went crazy after siding with the Shredder. It got worse when he became a fly.
• Art Evolution: His design between the first two seasons changed a bit, with his hair becoming longer and messier, and his stature becoming shorter than it originally was.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In his later episodes he would sometimes suffer from this due to having the mind and attention span of a fly.
• Beast Master: In "Landlord of the Flies", he gains the ability to command other flies.
• Body Horror: His fly-man form isn't exactly pretty.
• Butt-Monkey: Prior to his transformation into a fly mutant, he often got pushed around and subjected to slapstick.
• Commuting on a Bus: At the end of his mutation episode, he ended up accidentally getting shifted out of range with the world. Afterwards, he would reappear off and on in several more episodes, only for each appearance to end with him getting banished to another dimension again, to the point he was chagrined every time it happened.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Baxter starts out trying to sell his Mousers to exterminators, but no one was willing to invest. Ironically, it wasn't because they thought the Mousers wouldn't work, but that they would work way too well and put the exterminators out of business.
• The Dragon: He was briefly the Shredder's right-hand man prior to his transformation.
• Evil Genius: Baxter works for Shredder as his science and technology expert.
• Evil Is Hammy: He's often prone to giddy gloating even when nobody is listening.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears glasses and is a bad guy.
• Gone Horribly Right: The reason his Mousers were rejected by exterminators was because they were too efficient at tracking down mice to the point where the other exterminators would be put out of business.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He agrees to help Shredder even though he approaches him on the streets in his full villainous garb and it gets worse from there. Even when Baxter turns into a fly as a result of Shredder sending him to Dimension X, all it takes for Baxter to change from wanting revenge on Shredder to wanting revenge on the turtles is Shredder telling him that it was the turtles' fault.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: His motivation after becoming a fly is to find a way to return to his normal self.
• Metamorphosis: From human to giant fly.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Downplayed. While he doesn't entirely become a creature driven by instinct after he is turned into a fly, he loses most of his intelligence and his memory becomes extremely muddled and limited. It's so bad, he doesn't even remember that Krang and the Shredder are the ones responsible for his mutation; all he remembers is that he really wants to get revenge on someone, and he's chosen the Turtles as his target simply because Shredder pointed the finger at them.
  Baxter: Turtles, you will pay for WHAT YOU DID TO ME!
  Leonardo: Um, Baxter, just what did we do to you?
  Baxter: You know... I can't remember. BUT YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR IT ANYWAY!
• Misplaced Retribution: Shredder is able to convince Baxter that his mutated condition is the Turtles' fault. His later appearances have him antagonizing both Shredder and the Turtles, and his final appearance has him declaring war on the entire world for his life falling apart. This is justified by his mutation causing his mind to deteriorate.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: In "Curse of the Evil Eye" when he took the Eye of Sarnath for himself he nearly defeated both Shredder and the Turtles, with only his lack of knowledge about the Eye's weakness (it cannot affect anything made of gold) becoming his downfall.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: His primary field is usually robotics, evidenced by his famous Mousers, but he'll show expertise in everything from genetics to archaeology as suits the plot.
• Only Friend: The only genuine friend he has is Z, a sentient spaceship computer whom he meets while hiding underground.
• Race Lift: From African American to Caucasian (and vaguely European), because the writers didn't think that having the only black person in the cast be a villain would sit too well with audiences. Another reason in Baxter's case is that the writers feared that Shredder constantly abusing his black assistant would be seen as racist (conveniently forgetting that Bebop is black, which is more obvious before his mutation).
• Sanity Slippage: He grows more and more unstable after his transformation.
• Shout-Out: Baxter's transformation into a fly monster is a reference to the The Fly, right down to being caused by a teleportation accident. Most of the episodes that feature him in his mutated form are references to typical B-horror movie titles ("Return of the Fly", "Son of Return of the Fly").
• The Starscream: He also had shades of this, using the powers of the Eye of Sarnath for himself in "Curse of the Evil Eye" to get back at Shredder for bullying and abusing him, and later turning on him completely after turning into a fly mutant in "Enter the Fly".
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Following his first appearance in which he was kicked out of the Ajax Pest Control company due to his proposed Mousers doing their job too well and driving exterminators out of business, he sided with Shredder.
• Younger Than They Look: Baxter looks like a middle-aged man but is implied to be younger than Shredder.

The Rat King

Voiced by: Townsend Coleman

A man dressed up in rags and bandages who shares a rapport with rats.

• Ambiguously Human: While he may look human, no explanation is given for his power over rats and he takes offense when Scumbug calls him a human in "Night of the Rogues".
• Badass Longcoat: He dons a trenchcoat in his final appearance.
• Bandaged Face: His face is covered by bandages.
• The Beastmaster: He controls rats.
• Karma Houdini: He often isn't punished for his evil plans, though subverted in "Leatherhead Meets the Rat King" when he ends up trapped in a cave-in, as well as in his last appearance where he is finally captured by the Turtles, and also episodes where he plays a neutral role, since he isn't really doing anything wrong then.
• Magic Music: He used a flute to control rats.
• Mind Control: His power over rats also affects Splinter.
• Mysterious Past: We know absolutely nothing about the Rat King's backstory.
• Spanner in the Works: He has a tendency to unintentionally foil the plans of other villains when they encounter him. He has ruined the plans of Don Turtelli, Leatherhead, and the Shredder during the episodes where they've shared screen time together.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: He would often escape after the Turtles defeated him, and it was not uncommon for him to bail out in episodes where he teamed up with other villains. Averted in "Leatherhead Meets the Rat King" (where he ends up trapped in a cave-in) and "Wrath of the Rat King" (where the Turtles finally capture him).

Leatherhead

Voiced by: Jim Cummings, Peter Renaday ("Night of the Rogues")

Once a particularly large and savage alligator from the Okefenokee Swamp in Florida, he was evolved into a humanoid version of himself after swimming through swamp water that had been contaminated by a lost canister of Krang's mutagen. He came into conflict with the Turtles when he tried to enslave their friends the Punk Frogs to become his servants, and afterwards would return repeatedly to seek revenge.

• Adaptational Villainy: Leatherhead is a recurring villain in this version, when he's an ally in other continuities (though it was common for him to start off as having a misunderstanding with the Turtles).
• Character Catchphrase: "I guh-rantee!".
• Genius Bruiser: Leatherhead is a hulking thug with a Southern redneck speech pattern, but he also shows a good amount of cunning and ingenuity. This is best shown in his second appearance, where he escapes from the Rat King's dungeon and then fashions a working bazooka out of some discarded scrap iron and chemicals.
• Living Weapon: He had several crayfish/lobsters strapped to his belt and would often wield them or throw them at opponents to pinch and distract/immobilize them.
• Ragin' Cajun: He's a Cajun in this version.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The main turtles, having sufficient Turtle Power, are depicted with minimal reptilian features. He and Slash, instead have more pronounced reptilian traits (scales, spikes, claws).

Don Turtelli

Voiced by: Peter Renaday

The head of a major crime syndicate in New York. He is the grandson of Tony "The Tickler" Turtelli. Turtelli went down in infamy for his torture methods, which he inherited from his grandfather. He specializes in the interrogation of people he captures through tickle torturing the soles of his victims' feet with a feather to make them talk Including April, Vernon, Zach and his friend Caitlyn.

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's never seen or heard from again after the third season. Most jarringly, when Shredder unites the other prominent gangster villains on the show such as Pinky McFingers and Big Louie in "Adventures in Turtle-Sitting", Turtelli is conspicuously unmentioned.
• Dirty Old Man: His addressing to Caitlyn with the question "Where do you want it, Blondie; under your arm or the soles of your feet?" confirms this.
• The Family for the Whole Family: He's a gangster who has a distinctly child-friendly way of operating, such as interrogating people with Tickle Torture.
• Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: Says this after the Turtles defeat him in the episode "The Great Boldini".
• Tickle Torture: His foot tickling interrogation technique.
• Toyless Toyline Character: He has no toys.

Big Louie

Voiced by: Peter Renaday

Another gangster antagonist who first shows up in the fourth season.

• Toyless Toyline Character: He doesn't have any figures
• Villain Team-Up: He often joins forces with the Shredder.

Pinky McFingers

Voiced by: Peter Renaday (most appearances), Cam Clarke ("Donatello's Duplicate")

McFingers is another recurring gangster antagonist on the show, who like Big Louie first appears in Season 4.

• Toyless Toyline Character: Like Turtelli and Louie, he doesn't have a figure in the toyline.

Titanus

Voiced by: Ron Feinberg

The leader of the organization H.A.V.O.C., he's a mutant who traveled to the present day from the future to take it over while humanity was much more vulnerable.

• Arc Villain: He shows up for three episodes in the middle of season 8, then after he's defeated Shredder returns and serves as the main villain again for the rest of the season.
• Fat Bastard: He's extremely corpulent and not a pleasant person at all.
• Non-Action Big Bad: He leaves the fighting to the mutants he creates.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He and his organization claim to protect mutants shunned by humans; Donatello and Raphael, sick of being Heroes With Bad Publicity and dealing with the ingratitude of humans, decide to join them… until they discover H.A.V.O.C. mutating a captive man and realize their real goal is to mutate people to dominate humanity completely.
• We Will Meet Again: Swears to get even with the Turtles at the end of his last appearance even though he's now stranded in the time of the dinosaurs.

Minor Villains

Lotus Blossom

Voiced by: Renae Jacobs

A mercenary hired by Krang

• The Ace: Anyone able to hold their own against both Leonardo and Shredder without any issues easily qualifies for this.
• Always Someone Better: She easily beats Leonardo in a duel during their first encounter.
• Beauty Is Bad: Initially downplayed until her Heel–Face Turn, as Lotus is very beautiful and starts off as an antagonist but she isn't inherently evil and only assists Krang because she wanted her payment. When Krang learns that she developed feelings for Leonardo, he takes away her pay leading to her helping the turtles and Splinter stop the villains and cementing her role as an ally to the turtles.
• Broken Ace: She becomes this in her second appearance, as she realizes with all of her ninja skills and abilities, she really doesn't fit in modern society.
• Child Prodigy: She was able to beat her adult trainers in combat when she was ten years old.
• Dating Catwoman: With Leonardo. It's surprisingly cute.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Her second appearance has her wondering what she will do with her ninja skills and abilities in the modern age.
• Expy: Averted. Lotus Blossom feels a lot like Karai (who never appears in the 1987 cartoon), but was introduced four years before her.
• Heel–Face Turn: She became benevolent after her debut episode.
• I Surrender, Suckers: She fakes Leonardo out by pretending to surrender at the end of their duel, only to knock him into the wall afterwards.
• Ninja: She has the ninja outfit and the skills to match.
• Punch-Clock Villain: She was initially hired by Krang, and really only cared about receiving her payment than aiding Krang's ambitions.
• The Vamp

Slash

Voiced by: Pat Fraley

A dimwitted but extremely powerful humanoid turtle with a fondness for palm trees. In this continuity, he was originally Bebop's pet turtle, but they mutated him into a humanoid form in order to create a flunky they could pass their chores onto.

• Dual Wielding: Like Leonardo, he makes use of two katanas.
• Dumb Muscle: He's extremely strong and not very bright.
• Evil Brit: After gaining super-intelligence, he speaks with a British accent.
• Evil Knockoff: An evil mutant turtle.
• Genius Bruiser: After he temporarily gains super intelligence, he becomes this.
• Instant Expert: Not long after his mutating, Slash already knows how to fight with two katanas.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The main turtles, having sufficient Turtle Power, are depicted with minimal reptilian features. He and Leatherhead, instead have more pronounced reptilian traits (scales, spikes, claws).
• Took a Level in Dumbass: He had average intelligence at best during his debut episode, but when his increased intelligence was undone in his second appearance, he became a bumbling nitwit who was easily coaxed by the Turtles into leaving Earth in a rocket.
• You Don't Look Like You: His appearance in the cartoon differs greatly from the toyline, video games, and comics; he wears a metal bandana and armor instead of a black mask, and has buck teeth instead of sharp fangs.

Dirtbag and Groundchuck

Voiced by: Pat Fraley (Dirtbag), Robert Ridgely (Groundchuck)

A mole and bull who were accidentally mutated by Bebop and Rocksteady in "Planet of the Turtleoids".

• The Berserker: They are aggressive and short-tempered brutes who won't hesitate to attack anyone who bothers them.
• Co-Dragons: Their final appearance had them become minions of a Space Pirate named Captain Dredd.
• For the Evulz: When Shredder orders Groundchuck and Dirtbag to help steal a ruby after they are mutated, Groundchuck replies that he'd rather just tear stuff apart, and Dirtbag agrees. The two then pummel Shredder, Rocksteady, and Bebop and depart.
• Informed Species: Dirtbag looks more like a rat than any kind of mole.
• Mole Miner: Dirtbag is a mutant mole and dresses like a miner. He's even armed with a pickaxe.
• Our Minotaurs Are Different: Groundchuck is a mutant bull, looking like a bull-headed humanoid similar to the mythical Minotaur.
• Reveling in the New Form: Groundchuck is pretty hyped to be a mutant and even says that he "feels like a new bull." Dirtbag, on the other hand, is a bit angsty about the whole thing—he was happier being safe and sound in the zoo.
• Tunnel King: Dirtbag prides himself on his ability to dig tunnels and navigate through sewer spaces.

Tokka and Rahzar

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen (Tokka), Townsend Coleman (Rahzar)

Tokka and Rahzar were two of the out-of-control mutants created after Shredder unleashed a mutagen at a zoo a while ago (whether this refers to when he created Bebop and Rocksteady or Groundchuck and Dirtbag, is not made clear). They were first seen terrorizing Crystal Palace Mall when the Turtles showed up. Like in the movie, Tokka is an alligator snapping Turtle and Rahzar is a wolf.

• Adaptational Intelligence: They are much more intelligent and more eloquent than their movie version.
• Canon Immigrant: They were originally created for the second live action movie (because the creators didn't want Bebop and Rocksteady to be in the movie and they were created as replacement) and eventually they made an appearance in this series.
• The Dividual: Since they were originally created as a replacement for Bebop and Rocksteady, they also always work as a team. That is until Tokka is captured by Dirk Savage, while Rahzar avoided that fate. He promised to rescue his friend, though.
• Expy Coexistence: They were originally expies of Bebop and Rocksteady, created for the second live action movie and eventually found their way to the animated series, where Bebop and Rocksteady already existed.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Rahzar at one point tells Tokka "You're my only friend".
• Lone Wolf Boss: They were mutated during Shredder's attack at the zoo, but other than that they have no relation to the Foot Clan and focus on self-preservation.
• Only Friend: Rahzar openly refers to Tokka as this for him.
• Spell My Name With An S: Their names here are spelled as Toka and Razar.
• Spikes of Villainy: Tokka has a spiky shell and spiky shoulder pads on.
• Studded Shell: Tokka's shell is like this.
• Super-Strength: They both managed to defeat the turtles very easily when they faced off each other.
• You Don't Look Like You: They look less like their movie counterparts and more like the action figures that came out two years before their debut in the series.

Z

Voiced by: Townsend Coleman

The sentient computer of a spaceship that was stranded underground on Earth for years. Yearning for a friend after years of loneliness, he ends up befriending the mutated Baxter Stockman, in hiding after his previous defeat. He joins forces with the mutated scientist to help him exact revenge on both the Turtles and Shredder.

• Affably Evil: He's pretty polite even to his enemies, with most of his villainous behavior coming from the fact that he's eternally loyal to a Mad Scientist who isn't exactly the perfect picture of mental health.
• The Dragon: To Baxter Stockman.
• Undying Loyalty: He's extremely loyal to Baxter due to Baxter ending his loneliness.
• Unexplained Recovery: He was destroyed at the end of his first appearance, yet a small chunk of him somehow survived in later episodes. His destruction in his and Baxter's final appearance seems to stick though.

One-Shot Villains

Chronos

Voiced by: Maurice LaMarche

He used to be a man named Winston Fripp. He robbed a bank only to be captured by the Turtles and left tied up in a clock tower for the police. It was hours before the police found him, and by then he was driven insane by the ticking of the clock and the ringing of the bell. He returned years later as the supervillain Chronos to help Dregg defeat the Turtles.

• Ax-Crazy: He's clearly not mentally stable.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He was originally just a petty thief, but now tries to best the Turtles in a game of wits.
• Large Ham: He's very expressive and melodramatic.
• Monster of the Week: He only appeared in one episode.

Glob Father

A mobster from Dimension X, who Dregg hires to steal a new protein computer.

• You Have Failed Me: Reduces a crony to a puddle of slime on screen for failing to steal the Protein Computer, telling said crony that nobody fails him (The Glob Father) twice. He then says that anyone else who fails him will suffer the same fate.

Triceratons

A group of hostile aliens who are mainly represented through three soldiers: Zorax, Zork, and a third unnamed one.

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• Blade Below the Shoulder: When Zorax loses his gun, he makes swords appear from his wrist gauntlet. He matches Leonardo blow for blow, then cuts one of Leonardo's swords (a katana) in half.
• Canon Foreigner: Not the Triceraton race but the three individual Triceratons in this episode, Zorax, Zork, and their companion were made specifically for the '87 series.
• Demoted to Extra: Unlike in the comics and other shows, they only appear in one episode.
• The Empire: They refer to their own race as such. Also doubles as Adaptation Name Change, as it was a republic in the comics.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: They've conquered half the galaxy, but flee Earth when they think that a conqueror with Psychic Powers is already there.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: They don't have many comical traits, give the Turtles a Curb-Stomp Battle, and have the means and the drive to conquer Earth.
• Planet Looters: They've planned to transport Earth to their homeworld, so that can strip-mine the planet of its natural resources.
• Use Your Head: Zork charges Raphael headfirst, like a bull.

Wingnut and Screwloose

A pair of alien invaders in human guise, appearing in "Zach and the Alien Invaders".

They have taken over a military Two-Teacher School in order to brainwash the students.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the toyline and comic books they were heroes and allies of the Turtles, but in their one appearance in the cartoon they're villains instead.
• Brains and Brawn: Wingnut is large and physically imposing but also an idiot, while Screwloose is clearly the brains of the operation but physically lacking.

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