While trying to foil a Kraang invasion plot, the Turtles are hunted by a giant cockroach. First aired March 15, 2013.
This episode provides examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The cockroach was called Chong by the show creators, but he is only called Spy-Roach in the episode.
- Badass Boast: When Raph finally gets tired of running from the Spy-Roach and decides to fight back:"Alright, insect. You think I'm scared of you? I aced your butt twice already. You wanna go for number three?! Well, come and get me!
- Badass Biker: Raph gets his own Cool Bike.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Spy Roach. It gets even creepier when it molts.
- Breather Episode: After "TCRI".
- Call-Back: The Turtles use the Shellraiser again.
- Cool Bike: Raph gets to ride a tricked out motorcycle.
- Create Your Own Villain: Spy-Roach's hatred of Raphael was born out of Raphael's attempts to kill it when it was a normal roach.
- And it's only mutated because the turtles were fighting with the controller, and it fell into ooze when they sent it to a Kraang base.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Fights with Spy-Roach tend to end this way.
- Cyborg: Spy-Roach's mutation causes the technology Donatello outfitted it with to merge with it.
- Determinator/The Unfettered: Spy-Roach.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Leo explaining to Raph why cockroaches molt. Cue the bigger, badder, uglier, flight-capable Spy-Roach appearing right behind them.
- Face Your Fears: Raph is forced to do this.
- Foreshadowing: The Kraang talking about their Gluten-Free diet, when you take into account that Irma in Season 2 has that same diet.
- From a Single Cell: After being melted by the Kraang's laser drill, a new Spy-Roach begins to form from the slimy remains.
- Girly Scream: Raph does this several times throughout the episode.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: By the end of the episode, Raphael gets so pissed off that he resorts to trading punches with Spy Roach.
- Got Me Doing It: Leo briefly catches himself using the Kraang's roundabout speech patterns after the lead Kraang's extensive rebuttal to being told to halt.
- Groin Attack: Raph shoots a sewer lid right between the legs of an unconscious Spy-Roach.
- Hope Spot: Donnie and Mikey have the Spy Roach on the ropes with a dazzling display of teamwork... and a can of insecticide. When they go in for the finishing blow, the can runs out. And then the Spy Roach is hit by a speeding truck. Please note that, being a cockroach, this fails to do any lasting damage.
- Implacable Roach: Spy Roach has only one goal in mind; kill Raph, and little things like getting hit by a van, run over by a bike, and shot with manhole covers aren't gonna stop him.
- Idiot Ball: When Spy Roach keeps finding and attacking the turtles, Donnie offhandedly mentions that maybe Spy Roach is using the homing signal he setup to help Spy Roach find his way back before he was mutated. Everyone else is shocked since he never mentioned a homing signal before, and even Mikey states that even he would have known to turn that off.
- Irony: The fact that Raphael is being hunted by a cockroach which he's afraid of. He even lampshades the trope.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Raphael finally destroys Spy-Roach by directing the Kraang's laser-drill at it, which causes it to explode in a shower of slime. This doesn't destroy it for good though. Raphael invoked The Chunky Salsa Rule with this one, the roach covered in goo and roaring just before the end could be a Sequel Hook signaling it's return, but we haven't seen The Cockroach Terminator again
- Made of Iron: Spy Roach survives getting run over by Shellraiser, among other things.
- Mutant Turtle Bites Giant Mutant Roach: During their fight on The Krang's Laser Cannon Raphael bites The Cockroach Terminator on its leg. He promptly spits in disgust afterwards.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Raph, for trying to kill the Spy-Roach during his first encounter with it, and Donnie for (unintentionally) making the Spy-Roach fall into the mutagen and letting it mutate.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: As Donatello explicitly points out in the episode, cockroaches are a deceptively durable species. Spy-Roach's mutation just took it up to eleven, with him able to No-Sell almost everything thrown at him.
- Not Quite Dead: Spy-Roach.
- Oh, Crap!: Raphael said this when he discovers he's the reason the Spy-Roach is pursuing him. Well, "crap" isn't a G-rated word, so we have this:"Oh crud."
- One-Winged Angel: After molting, Spy-Roach becomes bigger, stronger, and capable of Flight
- Organic Technology: Spy-Roach becomes this when it falls into the ooze (fusing its body with Donatello's tech).
- Out of the Inferno: Spy Roach after being hit by the truck, which crashed into a building and exploded.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Spy Roach is shorter than all the Turtles, but has no trouble pounding them all.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The spy-camera it wears over one eye has a red lens.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Spy-Roach against Raphael, since Raph tried to kill him in the opening scene.
- Shout-Out: Numerous references to the Terminator movies.
- Tempting Fate: After learning why the Spy-Roach is after them we get this little number from Raph:Raph: Irony, got it thanks! So are there any more surprises?
[Spy-Roach's sawblade bursts through the Shellraiser's floorboard right in front of Raph]
Raph: [Scared out of his wits] HE HAS A SAW!?!? - This Is Gonna Suck:Raph: This is either gonna be really cool, or really painful.
[rams the Spy-Roach in the face with his bike, using it as ramp to jump into the Kraang base]
Raph: Okay, it was both. - A Twinkle in the Sky: Happens to a football helmet after Raph throws it at the Spy-Roach, whereupon the helmet bounces off it harmlessly.
- [Verb] This!: Raph to the Spy-Roach as he takes it out with the Kraang laser drill:Raph: Drill THIS!
- Weaksauce Weakness: Despite Spy-Roach's enhanced toughness brought upon by his mutation, he is still vulnerable to a common spray can of insecticide. Justified since he's still a roach in the same way the Turtles can hold their breath for a significant duration of time.
- Why Did It Have to Be a Cockroach?: Raph is afraid of roaches, and he says this exact line multiple times.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Raph's word-for-world reaction when the Spy-Roach once again comes back for more on top of the Kraang laser drill.
