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"It's time... we're going back to New York."

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.


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    Season 1 

1x01 & 02; Rise of the Turtles

  • "It's go time!"
  • Donatello rescuing April from a helicopter in the second half.

1x03; Turtle Temper

  • Raphael heeding Splinter's lesson about losing his temper, and laying the smack-down on Spider Bytez. Admit it: you wanted the turtles to kick his ass the entire episode.
  • A seriously understated one where, at one point, Donnie and Mikey cooperate flawlessly to get rid of some Kraang-droids. It might not seem like anything special out of context, but the first episode goes out of its way to point out that, in this adaptation, the Turtles haven't been trained to fight as a team. Prior to this, they'd all been getting in the others' way all over the place.

1x04; New Friend, Old Enemy

  • Bradford and Xever use Mikey as bait, then try to follow the turtles back to their lair. But the turtles are fully expecting this, and the Foot mooks are picked off one by one without Bradford or Xever noticing, leaving them outnumbered.
  • The sewer showdown. Seriously, all the Turtles (yes, even Mikey) have become a lot more competent with fighting as a unit.
  • Mikey beating Bradford with the very kata he taught him. It's always said that Mike has the most potential of all the turtles, but that scene really showed it. Sweep the leg!

1x05; I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

  • When Mikey complains that ninjas have never had to fight guys in armor, Splinter gives him a look. It's enough to get Mikey to look at the mural behind Splinter, depicting ninjas fighting samurai. The concept of ninjas fighting an opponent in armor is much older than it sounds.
    • Splinter using this same mural to instruct the turtles on how they can face the Stockmanpod: instead of fighting the armor, fight the man inside the armor.
  • Leonardo offering that they will clean up their mess (concerning the Stockmanpod).
  • Mikey throwing a beehive through the Stockmanpod's visor may seem goofy on face value. But given Stockman being comparable to a modern version of a samurai, what Mikey pulled off was the equivalent of an arrow-to-the-face.

1x06; Metalhead

  • April successfully infiltrates a Kraang hideout and finds out their plans to dump mutagen in the city's water supply. She almost gets caught by a Kraang droid, but she takes it out by bashing its head with a metal pipe, and knocking it out the window! Looks like she's well on her way to graduating from Damsel in Distress to Action Girl.
  • Donnie gets one too, by defeating Metalhead and the Kraang controlling it with an insult, fancy maneuvering, and a broken 'stick'.
    • The best part is that he does it still using his trademark genius, proving that not all science is lasers and robots; sometimes, it's just levers and simple physics.

1x07; Monkey Brains

  • Donnie mopping the floor with Falco, after finding a way around his mind reading powers.
  • Also, even if he got beaten up badly a few minutes later, this was still a good line:
    April: Careful, Donnie! That's a dangerous mutant!
    Donnie: That makes two of us!

1x08; Never Say Xever

  • The epic rooftop smackdown.

1x09; The Gauntlet

  • Kirby O'Neil holding off the Kraang with one of their own guns so the Turtles and April could escape. He takes out quite a few before he's recaptured.
  • The Turtles taking down the Kraang with arrows with lit dynamite sticks attached to them.
  • The Turtles minus Donatello taking on and soundly defeating Bradford and Xever.
    • That's not to say that Donnie doesn't get a moment of his own— once he's deactivated the mutagen bomb he makes a wide loop, smacking Bradford around before teaming up with Raph against Xever.
      • Raph gets the most props here, as up until this point, the Turtles had to pair up to fight with Bradford and Xever, but in a situation where they were down one, he performs nearly as well on his own as Leo and Mikey do together.
  • The Shredder's fight with the Turtles. Notable moments include Donnie's bo staff breaking on his armor, throwing Raph into a nearby electric sign and cutting the chain on Mikey's weapon when he tries to capture him.

1x10; Panic in the Sewers

  • Mikey taking out a tanker truck full of dangerous acid with a water balloon.

1x11; Mousers Attack!

  • Baxter Stockman had extra mousers.
  • Donnie was shrewd enough to put a voice-activated self-destruct in the T-Phones.
  • Mikey and Donnie's combined efforts to redirect the mousers' programming onto Dog Pound and Baxter Stockman.

1x12; ''It Came From the Depths'

  • Mikey calming down Leatherhead every time his Unstoppable Rage is triggered.
  • Splinter going Papa Wolf and holding his own against Leatherhead after the latter accidentally goes into Unstoppable Rage mode and threatens the Turtles.
  • Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize Leatherhead set up all those traps to protect the power cell.
  • Leatherhead steps outside with the rampaging Kraang (who are unusually vicious this time), and thrashes them left and right.

1x13; I, Monster

  • Even when under the Rat King's control, Splinter shows just how far the Turtles truly need to go before they are anywhere near his level of skill and strength. Donnie even points out that Splinter was actually going easy on the Turtles in their training sessions compared to what he unleashed upon them in the fight.
  • Leo has two: Holding his own against Splinter and being the one to snap him out of the Rat King's mental grip.
  • "My place is with my sons!" Cue instant, two fingered ownage of The Rat King.
  • It's only a small thing, but April managing to successfully dodge Splinter's attacks.
  • Another minor one, but Mikey easily anticipated Raph's insult and told him how predictable he was.
  • The fact that Leo was actually able to land a punch on Splinter during the training session. It was also this in-universe.

1x14; New Girl In Town

  • Leo VS Karai part 2. Katana battles of unimaginable interest.
  • April's slap. Funny and cutting to the heart of the thought.
  • Leo and Raph manage to beat Snakeweed as a team, and with ice.
    • Raph shouting "Booyakasha!" as he delivers the final blow. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment when you remember that it's Mikey's Character Catchphrase, and how worried Raph was when Snakeweed knocked him unconscious earlier in the episode.
  • A brief one, but when Raph is overwhelmed by the pressure of being the leader when Mikey is knocked out, Donnie takes control of the situation and manages to contain Snakeweed, by himself, with nothing more than fancy manoeuvring and his staff.

1x15; The Alien Agenda

  • Leo takes down an entire squad of Kraang droids by himself before the other turtles could touch them. Although he was clearly just showing off for Karai, it still shows awesomeness.
  • How Leo defeated 'Justin'. You have to watch it to get this one.

1x16; The Pulverizer

  • Sid tries to attack Mikey from behind only for Mikey to wrap his nunchucks around his wrist and toss him into a wall. The best part was that while Mikey was aware of what he was doing, he wasn't even looking.
    • Then Stockman and Tsoi come up behind him. Mikey gives them a Death Glare and next we see them, Tsoi has been beaten unconscious and Baxter is backing away in fear.
  • Donatello had a pretty good showing in this episode. He managed to make an awesome vehicle that impressed even Raph, he cooked up anti-venom in minutes while in a bumpy ride, and he took charge of the situation more than once.
  • Like Dogpound, Fishface's first proper outing against the turtles is an impressive piece of work. His new legs make him even more versatile in fighting, and when Raphael pins the legs to the wall, Fishface takes a bite out of him.

1x17: TCRI

  • April infiltrates TCRI, and hits a squad of Kraang droids surrounding her with a yo-yo. It's not enough to subdue them, but at least she managed to escape.
  • The turtles successfully fight the Kraang while holding their breath to avoid inhaling the toxic atmosphere.
  • Leatherhead's Big Damn Heroes moment where he single-handedly knocks down Traag when it took three Turtles to do the same thing. Followed almost immediately by his Heroic Sacrifice, which doubles as a Tear Jerker.
  • The Curb-Stomp Battle in the elevator.

1x18: Cockroach Terminator

  • Mikey showing some quick thinking by using a spray can of insecticide against the Spy Roach, which actually seems to work, until it runs out.
  • Raph's Stealth Bike, plus everything he does with it.
  • Raph using the Spy Roach as a living ramp, followed by nuking him and the Kraang's plans with the Kraang's Earth-burrowing laser beam.

1x19: Baxter's Gambit.

  • Raph saves Leo from the metal ball of doom Fishface throws at him. It's also ironic since during Splinter's training session, Leo was the only one who knew "when his enemy would strike" and avoided Splinter's attack, but would've been killed or at least severely injured had Raph not intervened.
  • Leo commanding his brothers along with Dogpound and Fishface in taking down Stockman's giant robot.
  • Baxter was able to make the Maze of Doom and another Humongous Mecha without a T-Pod's aid. Compared to the poorly-functioning armor he was wearing in his first appearance, it's pretty damn impressive.

1x20: Enemy Of My Enemy

  • Karai riding her motorcycle on the rooftops, jumps off, lands on top of the Kraang's ship and tries disabling it with her swords.
  • Leo successfully shoots down the Kraang's ship with a "borrowed" missile launcher.
  • The turtles do much better against the Shredder this time. And one turtle short, no less.
  • While everything else that gets hit by the Kraang ship's beam immediately explodes, the Shellraiser stands up to a prolonged shot and can still operate after (though dialogue indicates it was heavily damaged).
  • Right before they launch an electric grenade at Shredder.
    Mikey: Booyakasha, Shred-head.

1x21: Karai's Vendetta

  • Mikey riding the sea monster, rodeo-style.
  • April taking on Karai. She was definitely outmatched, but she wouldn't stay down.
    • Capped off by flipping her down a set of subway steps.
      April: Pretty good for a nobody.
  • After seeing 1987'Shredder be 1987'Kraang's little stooge, it was pretty awesome to finally see a Shredder that can not only stand up to, but also intimidate, a Kraang.

1x22 Pulverizer Returns!

1x23 Parasitica

  • Michelangelo manages to not only remember the instructions Donatello gave to him despite his usual problems with Donatello's technobabble, he, through sheer force of will (and a bit of self-harm), fights the mind control to complete the cure for his Brainwashed and Crazy brothers.

1x24; ''Operation Break Out

  • Remember back in the pilot when Raphael beat Donatello without his sai by using Donnie's own staff against him? Well, in The Teaser, with April watching, it's Donnie who gets the upper hand by using his Bo more creatively.
    • If he hadn't been so focused on impressing April, he probably would have won.
  • Mikey saving the day by running a car into Newtralizer.
  • Newtralizer himself is simply insane with how badass he is. His Establishing Character Moment involves decimating a squad of Kraang droids and eating a Kraang.
  • Donnie shows his true competence going solo, by using his intelligence in battle to make up for his lacking skill, compared to his brothers. One example involves attracting a Kraang droid to his ringing T-phone, where the last thing it sees before it's unconscious is a picture of Don waving at them.

1x25 & 26: Booyaka-Showdown

As fitting for a Season Finale, this episode has to be the most awesome one in the entire series so far.
  • At the start, Kraang Prime begins the invasion of Earth, giving the whole episode a very grandiose feel going in.
  • The Turtles prepare for their attack.
  • Metalhead goes back into the field, and decimates the Kraang. (again)
  • The Turtles on gliders.
  • The Batman Gambit on the part of Shredder and the Kraang to get both of them what they wanted: April O'Neil and getting Splinter out in the open.
  • Right before she's dragged away by the Foot, Karai decides to take time to taunt April. April responds by kneeing Karai in the gut hard enough to stun her for a moment.
  • The Turtles storm TCRI, showing off their ninja stealth right before they attack the portal.
    • Apparently, Donatello created a special laser strong enough to blast Traag apart. A definite step up from their last encounter with him.
    • Traag continuing to fight even as his body gets destroyed deserves a mention, I mean the first thing he does after Leo blows off his leg is to spew lava from his mouth.
    • And the fact once he becomes a torso with a head he just reassembles himself.
    • Leo goes for the power cell, obliterating the room.
  • This series's version of the Technodrome is rather like how it was in Turtles Forever, complete with a large array of weapons and abduction pods to steal away humans.
  • Leonardo goes for the Heroic Sacrifice against Kraang Prime (and survives).
  • Splinter Storming the Castle.
    • The regular ninjas were all torn to shreds.
    • Dogpound and Fishface fought well, but were ultimately defeated like nothing else. However, no fight was quite as awesome as...
    • MASTER SPLINTER VS MASTER SHREDDER. Easily, easily the most awesome part of the two-parter as the 2 ninja masters fought like no other in a duel to the death.
    • Splinter's epic "Reason You Suck" Speech to The Shredder
      Splinter: You never had anything but your hatred and if you defeat me, you will have nothing.
      • Near the end, emotionally pushed to the edge, Hamato Yoshi embraces his inner rat, turning the fight upside down, ending with him kicking the Shredder away, breaking his mask.
      • And let's not forget when he catches Shredder's blades with his teeth. And then snaps them off.

    Season 2 

2x01; The Mutation Situation

  • Leo rides Kirby Bat like a cowboy holding on to a bull, even though the "bull" is actually a humanoid bat mutant.
  • The epic defeat of Biotroid

2x02; Invasion Of The Squirrelanoids

  • Mikey being the one to save the day once again.
  • Splinter trapping one of the Squirrelanoids in a crate.

2x03; Follow The Leader

  • In a "King of the Mountain" challenge that Leonardo decided to do to break up the boredom of collecting Mutagen, his brothers all demonstrate their distinctive traits in getting to the "mountain" that Leonardo was guarding.
  • Doubles as a CMOF but Raph has the ability to summon flocks of pigeons. Considering he's pretty good with other animals, he might be able to control them too.
    • Also, his role as substitute leader this time is better than the last time he was in charge in New Girl in Town.
  • For the first time Leonardo manages to defeat Karai.

2x04: Mutagen Man Unleashed

  • Casey Jones and April O' Neil do remarkably well against Mutagen Man, particularly since the former has had none of the training April's had.
  • Donnie pulls the freeze trick on Mutagen Man, freezing him solid through his own greed for power.

2x05: Mikey Gets Shellacne

  • Mikey holds his own pretty well against Dogpound. Even more impressive since he was hindered by his zits.
  • After Dogpound mutates into Razhar, he easily takes down the turtles.
  • Mikey coming up with the idea to defeat Fishface, Stockman and Rhazar.

2x06: Target April O'Neil

  • Karai makes an attempt on April's life with her naginata. Donnie not only blocks it, but disarms and owns her in five seconds! Karai! Shredder's "daughter" and lieutenant who usually gives Leo conniptions.
  • Just as Karai is about to finish April, Donatello blocks her at the last moment shouting "You're not gonna touch her!" so heroic~ *starry eyes*
  • Mikey using his shadow puppet skills to distract the Kraang so that the other turtles can ambush them.
    • Also Mikey destroying the Kraang's robot with its own weapon.
  • Casey is able to defeat a small army of foot bots with only a hockey stick and pucks!
  • Just to show how far she has gone since the beginning, April gets several:
    • She holds her own against the Foot Bots and destroys several of them.
    • She runs away from Casey so the majority of the robots would follow her and not attack him.
    • She uses knives thrown in the wall as a ladder.
    • She helps Leo in taking down Karai.
      • Special mention to when Karai is mocking her, stating that she has way more experience and she is surely going to win...and then the tessen April tossed comes back like a boomerang and hits her in the face.
        April:"You talk too much!" (does a taunt by fanning herself)
  • Chrome Dome opening a can of whoop ass on Karai and her Foot Bots. This was when the Foot Bots were still a legitimate threat, so Chrome Dome cutting through them so easily demonstrate how much more advanced and dangerous it is.

2x07: Slash And Destroy

  • On the antagonist's side: The entire episode is about how awesome and dangerous Spike is after Slash decides to try and get rid of Raphael's brothers and shows that despite having no actual battle experience and only learning ninjitsu by watching others practice, he really is just as strong as he thinks he is. Not to mention tricks like mimicking Leo's voice (and shadow), which isn't clear if it is a part of his mutation or not, that make him much more intimidating.
  • On the protagonists' side: The way Raphael finally beat him to protect and avenge his brothers and the way Donnie and Mikey helped by trying to impede his movement after he beat them up so badly before also count.

2x08: The Good the Bad and Casey Jones

  • It's interesting to think back on the pilot when Leo beat Raph in a single stroke battle. Replayed here, it appears that Leo's been leveling up, as he's the one who takes triumph in the turtle free for all. (At first.)
  • The fight between Raph and Casey. It's very fluid and fast paced. Props for Casey as well for holding his own against Raph despite having no training.
  • The battle against the Foot Bots. Especially since it gives April and Splinter some much needed fighting scenes.
    • Even better: after more than a full season, we finally have all 7 of the franchise's main protagonists fighting side-by-side. And it. Is. AWESOME!
  • Raph and Casey teaming up to stop the Foot Bot from giving away the location of the lair.

2x09 The Kraang Conspiracy

  • April using her psychic powers to single-handedly bring all of the Kraang to their knees.
  • April breaking free of the April clones and destroying them alongside the turtles.
  • April did technically save Raphael when HE was trying to save HER and got trapped.

2x10 Fungus Humongus

  • Leonardo overcoming the spores with Heroic Willpower, then destroying the mushrooms with quick thinking and sunlight.

2x11 Metalhead Rewired

2x12 Of Rats and Men

  • Casey overcoming his fear of rats and punching out a gigantic mutant rat, saving Irma and April in the process.
    • And before that, he activates a flamethrower built in his bike to scare off one of the mutant rats.
  • April's mutated cat saving Mikey twice.
  • The end of the episode gives one to Splinter. Using the same tactic he used to beat Leo early in the episode, he utterly owns the Rat King after using his weakness of sight against him.

2x13 & 14 The Manhattan Project

  • The 1987 Turtles' cameos in both parts, especially since their cameo in the second part has Cam Clarke, Townsend Coleman, Rob Paulsen, and Barry Gordon reprising their roles.
    • Complete with Mikey shouting "COWABUNGA!"
  • April and Casey riding the space worms and using them against the Kraang.
  • Both of Splinter's fights with Tiger Claw, truly badass in every sense of the word.
    • Leo, Raph, and Mikey taking on all 4 of Shredder's lieutenants. Then Splinter joins them...
  • Even when Tiger Claw is holding Mikey over a furnace, telling Leo he'll drop him if he doesn't summon Splinter, Mikey tells Leo not to do it.

2x15; Mazes and Mutants

  • Granted it's all in their imagination, there's something to be said for how Leatherhead has the makings of a dragon in the turtles' mind.

2x16; The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman

  • Baxter is more of a threat now that he is a fly mutant.
  • Even when there was only one canister of Retromutagen left, Master Splinter was still insistent that Donnie save Kirby first. Also doubles as heartwarming.
  • Leo hijacking a flying Footbot by cutting its head off!
  • Once freed, April does a fairly good job fighting Stockman. Arguably, this is the first time she saved Donnie instead of the other way around.

2x17; Newtralized

  • All of Slash and Newtralizer's fights against the Kraang. Seeing them get pummeled so effortlessly is always pretty cool.
  • Casey showing up to save the turtles from the Kraang Walker, then hitting a bomb into the exhaust port and blowing it up.
  • Raph saving Slash from getting crushed by the Walker, and then the two of them fighting side-by-side against the Kraang, doubles as a CMOH.
  • Slash turning against Newtralizer by trapping him in the Walker.
  • A minor one for Leo: after Raph explains the situations at the start of the episode, it only takes seconds for Leo to form a good patrol plan, and assigns everyone with their best partner and setting. (Raph and Casey to the alleys, so Casey's lack of ninja training won't slow them down, Mikey and Donnie are a team, so Donnie can keep Mikey on-track, and himself in the sewers where he'll be close enough to home base) He's clearly growing into his role as the leader.

2x18; "Pizza Face

2x19; The Wrath Of Tiger Claw

  • Leo winning the fight for the pizza dumpling by waiting back for his brothers to subdue each other and then taking it at the last second.
  • Casey for being able to evade Tiger Claw for so long.
  • Mikey instantly coming up with a good plan to locate Casey. Raph was stunned.
    • And then knowing exactly where to lead Tiger Claw.
  • Karai attacking Tiger Claw to save Leo
  • Tiger Claw deserves some credit here too. He survived being eaten by a giant worm, fought his way through the '87 turtles, and fought through multiple dimensions to get back. Then over the course of the episode he beats up Casey, then takes on and defeats all four turtles, and immediately afterwards Karai as well. Dude was kicking everyone's asses.
  • The scene where the Turtles fade into nothingness against the swinging meat in the slaughterhouse.

2x20; The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto

  • It's a brief moment at the beginning, but you can already see Karai filing away at her prison bars to escape before Shredder shows up. Classic thinking, and not waiting to be rescued at all.
  • Donnie and Mikey knocking Tiger Claw out of the sky with a Fastball Special.
  • Shredder tricking the turtles with a clever fake fight and letting them take a fake Karai with a bomb for a head.
  • Anton breaking in and stealing Shredder's helmet and effortlessly taking down his henchmen in the process.
  • Shredder treats the theft of his helmet as an event as dire as the destruction of the planet. The short scene of his entire army assembled, all four of his top lieutenants assembled, is pretty awesome.
    • They prove to be an effective fighting unit too. Zeck had real reason to fear them when all four of them ominously approach him.

2x21; Plan 10

  • Raph being able to kick Kraang butt using his sais while posing as a Kraang.

2x22; "Vengeance is Mine"

  • Mikey's surprisingly competent this time. He takes down Xever and Bradford on his own with a wounded arm, refrains from making comments about Karai's mutation and even asks if Donnie can make retro mutagen for her.
  • The turtles and their plan to rescue Karai. At first everything seems to go smoothly as they take out everything and everyone at Shredder's headquarters with some exceptions coming up. Tiger Claw let's it be know they're not leaving alive but Donnie is well prepared for him thanks to the species he became. Then a chase breaks out between the turtles and the Foot and Tiger Claw and just when the turtles give them the slip it seems they're about to fail only for Donnie to pull one more trick. And everyone of the turtles had a hand in helping with the plan as they played to their strengths.
  • Leonardo and Karai manage to catch each other off guard in ways that show just how well they know each other. Leo correctly predicted she would go after the Shredder and heads her off when she thought she'd evaded him. Then, Karai uses a small manner of seduction to catch him off guard and knock him out with a handful of blinding powder.

2x23 "A Chinatown Ghost Story"

  • April resealing Ho Chan by stabbing him with the dagger. In the end, she was the one to save Donnie and Casey when it started out as them saving her.

2x24 "Into Dimension X"

  • The whole episode is basically one CMOA for Mikey. He figures out how Dimension X works, leads the others in foiling the Kraang's plan, which gives the second invasion a brief delay and finds a power source for the new turtle mech.
  • A villainous one for the Kraang. At the start of the episode, they actually manage to subdue Leatherhead, who usually tears through them like they're nothing.
  • The one Kraangdroid that actually gives Raph a decent hand-to-hand fight.
  • Leatherhead's line "I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees!"

2x25 & 26 "The Invasion"

  • Krang Sub-prime's reveal. So very creepy, so very awesome. He'd been Hiding in Plain Sight for an entire season, and no one, not even the audience, had any idea. His claim of being "the greatest spy in Dimension X" seems completely warranted.
  • Splinter is cornered by Kraang Sub-prime, piloting a very powerful mech that gave the Turtles some trouble. Splinter takes it out almost effortlessly-
    Splinter: "Corner a rat and see what happens!"
  • Leonardo fighting like hell against the Foot-Bots. You can tell by the look on his face (especially his gritted teeth) that he's more angry than anything else.
  • The Earth Protection Force actually putting up a fight against Kraang Prime.
  • The shot of Shredder observing his army wear down Leo, flanked by his lieutenants Tigerclaw, Rahzar, and Xever.
  • Mikey dropping a couch on Rahzar.
  • Leatherhead's jaw dropping Big Damn Heroes moment, where he takes down Shredder!
    • ...Who then returns the favor...
    • ...Which is enough to trigger Splinter's Heroic Second Wind.
  • Splinter using the same move he used on the Rat King against Shredder...only this time with both hands.
    • Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as effective on Shredder since he almost immediately came back, which is a CMOA for Shredder.
  • Mikey taking down some Kraang-droids using cooking pots and Ice Cream Kitty slams the refrigerator door on another Kraang.
  • The Turtle Mech vs Kraang Prime.
  • April taking Kraang Prime down with her powers, and then Casey riding the Party Wagon in to knock KP over as she tries to get back up.
  • The Kraang themselves earn one for invading Earth and wiping out the Turtles's lair- to say nothing of what they do to New York. Shredder may be the Turtles's most personal enemy, but in the end he's just outclassed by the alien war machine.

    Season 3 

3x01 Within the Woods

3x02 A Foot Too Big

  • Donnie defeating "The Finger" by shooting an explosive arrow into his quiver of explosives, causing him to get blown ski high.

3x03 Buried Secrets

  • April using her powers to defeat the creature disguised as her mother.
  • Raph managing to last the longest of his brothers, and escape his first encounter with Mom-Thing.
  • While it failed, Casey's attempt to take out Mom-Thing is worth a mention.
  • The gang takes Mundane Made Awesome to the max by cleaning the house with their ninja skills.

3x04 The Croaking

  • How fluid the fights with the frogs are. They have a very unique fighting style, making best use of their natural leaping prowess.
  • Mikey absolutely casually owning Napoleon Bonafrog. It really emphasises that he is a ninja and how much he's grown.
  • Napoleon standing up for his friend Mikey and using the move he thought him successfully.

3x05 Dream Beavers

  • How cool and quiet Casey was when he decided to find out what was going on. And then saving the Turtles at the last minute.
  • Bernie staying awake for 40 years.

3x06 Race With the Demon

  • The races in the episode. They're a nice change of pace for the series and exciting.

3x07 Eyes of the Chimera

  • The Leo vs Raph and Casey sparring match at the beginning. It was a fast, fluid fight to open up the episode.
  • April being a Determinator and getting Leo out of his funk.
  • How Leo and April defeat the Chimera. Included Leo cementing his recovery
    I'm not gonna let a little pain stop me.

3x08 Vision Quest

  • The Turtles successfully making contact with Splinter's spirit. It's one of the series' best adapted Mythology Gag's.
    • Leo wants to follow Splinter's orders and train, but he says that he feels he can't because of his physical injury. Splinter replies with a quote that easily sums up the entire series and its' arcs regarding revenge, betrayal, and the past:
      Splinter: We choose what holds us back, and what moves us forward.
  • The montage of the Turtles preparing their new outfits, doing Avatar poses on their focus shots, really bringing some of the franchise's Japanese aesthetics.
  • The entry of the Foot Clan visions into the Turtles' quests.
    • Xever lunges up from the water below Raph, and easily gets the upper hand. He asks, "That tempers flickers fast under water, doesn't it?" before dragging him under water for a pounding.
    • Rahzar's entry sees him emerge from the smoky forest floor, growling that it's been a while since they've seen the Turtles. When Mikey nervously claims he can get him a bone to chew on, Rahzar calmly gangles towards him and says "Oh, you have many bones I can feast on!"
    • Tigerclaw emerges from the mountain with a sick guitar riff.
    • Shredder appears as a gigantic version of himself.
  • The climaxes of said vision quests for each of the Turtles, as explained below:
    • First, Mikey focuses on vision! Rahzar and slams him down by the snout with his eyes closed.
    • Next, Donnie stands his ground against vision! Tiger Claw and tosses him off the mountain. This is especially cool because this is the first time that Tiger Claw's been beaten by a turtle other than Leo.
    • Then, Raph focuses his anger on vision! Fishface and incinerates him with flaming sais.
    • Finally, Leo finally stops letting his hurt leg affect him and shoots a giant vision! Shredder in his blind eye with an arrow, finishing off this string of awesomeness with a vow that he'll eventually beat real! Shredder as well.
  • Casey and April being witness to the turtles' glorious and stalwart march from the woods, complete with a worthy quote that let's the audience know they're ready to take back their city:
    Leo: It's time... we're going back to New York.

3x09 Return to New York

  • When Splinter returned to normal he laid a epic smackdown on the Shredder Mutants.

3x10 Serpent Hunt

  • The epic Mêlée à Trois between The Foot, Turtles, and Steranko & Zeck at the docks.
  • Leo basically tells Shredder to screw off.
    Shredder: *after Karai dives into the water and swims away* My daughter, NO!
    Leo: She's not your daughter!
  • Xever fares well against Zeck on his own, and gets in some good quips too.
  • Leo, Raph, and Casey sneak into the old lair and get some vital supplies such as Donnie's chemistry set along with the TV despite the Kraang having set up a defense system. Too bad we never got to see it.

3x11 The Pig and the Rhino

  • Shredder once again proves Asskicking Leads to Leadership by taking down Steranko and Zeck with little effort, even stopping a charging Rhino Steranko in his tracks.
  • To prove they're still no slouch after being mutated Zeck and Steranko manage to take down April, Donnie, Raph and Casey all on their own.
  • For that matter, after years of being consider THE Joke Character of the ninja turtles franchise, it's nice and awesome to see Bebop and Rocksteady actually being awesome and putting up legitimate fights against the turtles.

3x12 & 3x13 Battle for New York

  • Seeing the Mighty Mutanimals Big Damn Heroes. What an awesome introduction.
  • The reveal of the turtle blimp. It might still be a slightly goofy concept, but the way it inflates into battle is still awesome.
  • Seeing the brothers actually fight Kraang Sub-prime on even terms when last time, only Splinter could take him down.
  • Dr. Rockwell manages to use his psychic powers, without his mind-enhancing helmet, and breaks the mutanimals out for their Heroic Second Wind.

3x14 Casey Jones vs The Underworld

  • This is Casey Jones's opportunty to show his Boisterous Bruiser side, while also proving he's got some ingenuity in how he works. Let us count the ways.
    • He goes on regular patrols even when April and the turtles are recovering from their last encounters with the kraang. That takes some dedication, considering all they went through in pain and waiting to come home.
    • He stopped the purple dragons from robbing a bank (even though their new leader got the best of him)
    • He outright attempted to infiltrate a gang meeting with not even a Paper-Thin Disguise, giving him a chance to find out the Shredder was uniting the city's gangs under his banner.
    • He fought Rahzar and Fishface at once, holding the upper hand for a little while, and managed to escape with their secret chemicals (though with help from Raph)
    • He TAZED the Shredder when he got caught. Talk about Nerves of Steel.
    • He finally managed to defeat Hun and scored the cheese bomb into the chemical Vat.
  • Shredder's meeting with Don Vizioso is tense, but the ninja warlord wastes no time establishing to Vizioso that he is the true ruler of New York City.
    • Don Vizioso not only has a large belly, but he has some large Balls of Steel, never really flinching during his sit-down with Shredder despite being face to face with a murderous warlord who controls the city's gangs, and his mutant lieutenants.
    • Shredder also easily sees that Casey is spying on him, and slams him on the table. As he doesn't know who he is, Casey is able to talk him into sparing him, but Shredder memorizes Casey's face on the spot and warns him to never let him see him again.
  • Leonardo takes on The Shredder again. Only this time, with his new mental training from his Spirit Quest, it seems he's really trying to make good his promise to defeat the Shredder in real life, since he manged to fight him to a standstill. Quite an improvement over ALL their previous encounters with Shredder.

3x16 Clash of the Mutanimals

  • The fight in Shredder's gladitorial pit. We get plenty of fun matchups like Leatherhead vs Slash, Mikey vs Tiger Claw, and Leo vs Raph with atypical weapons.
  • The Shredder against the turtles and the Mutanimals. Even 8 versus one, the Shredder manages to hold most of them off in conventional attacks. It took dropping a statue on him to hold him down.

3x23 The Fourfold Trap

  • The Foot Clan put up a ferocious fight against April, Leo, and Raph. Their intro is cool too, as they all emerge from their hiding spaces, gloating and brandishing their weapons. This is the first time we've seen the expanded Foot Clan (minus Shredder and Stockman) fight together as a unit.
    • Splinter singlehandedly tears through the Foot generals. First he deals a crushing defeat to Bebop and Rocksteady, the latter barely able to warn Karai. Then he takes out the hiding Rahzar in one hit. When he's dragged underwater by Xever, the next time we see either one of them, Xever's apparatus has been torn off. Tigerclaw goes down very easily, as compared to their first fight back in the previous season.

3x25&3x26 ''Annihilation Earth!

  • Bishop's first appearance has him not only holding his own, but actually one-upping the turtles in combat.
  • April convincing the Foot Clan to help fight against the Triceratons. It technically works. Key word: technically.
    Splinter: Our feud is meaningless in the face of this invasion, Saki. The world will soon be destroyed. Will you stand by and watch or will you help us save it?
    Shredder: What have you done with Karai?
    Splinter: We searched for her, but she is gone. Alive, but vanished from the city.
    Shredder: You lie!
    April: He's telling the truth, Shredder. Karai's still out there somewhere, and if the Earth blows up, guess what? You'll never see her again. Maybe you can do the right thing for once in your evil life, even be a hero for a change. That is, if you still love Karai.
  • The assembled Hamato Clan, Mutanimals, Mondo Gecko and Muckman charging the Triceratons.
  • The Foot Clan, April, and Splinter working together against the Triceratons and getting along for the majority of the fight, from Rahzar genuinely listening to April's advice and hiding with her, to Tigerclaw covering April and Casey's advance. Rocksteady also manages to go toe-to-toe with a Triceraton, when even the Shredder is forced to rely on pressure points against the foot soldiers who still outmuscle him.

    Season 4 

4x1 Beyond The Known Universe

  • The Turtles and their allies managing to evade Lord Dregg.
  • April's spacesuit looks just like her original yellow jumpsuit. Casey and Donnie's stunned expressions match that of the audience.

4x3 The Weird World of Wyrm

  • Casey pulling a Fake Defector on Wyrm to get another wish, and using it to undo Wyrm ever escaping.

4x4 The Outlaw Armaggon

  • Professor Honeycutt overloading the Overmind with the power of his own mind.

4x5 Riddle of the Ancient Aeons

  • When the dark influence prompts Raph to thoughtlessly accuse Leo of being Splinter's favorite, Leo glares for a moment. What does he do? Throw back some hurtful words of his own? Fight him? ...he hugs him and calms down his bother. This is why Leo is the leader. A lesser turtle would've gone into the usual song and dance of reacting badly to Raph's antagonistic attitude. But Leo instead responds with reason and compassion, proving he's come a long way to become the emotionally mature leader the turtles need.

4x6 Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind

  • Mikey's inner self utilizing his imagination to beat the Neutrinos. He may be a child in there, but he's also King when it comes to imaginative thoughts.
  • The episode ending with Mikey angrily confronting Belly-Bomb and getting him to spill some vital information they need. Raph is even impressed that this is the closest we see Mikey cut loose in the temper department.

4x7 The Arena of Carnage

  • When Mozar traps the Turtles in an airlock and tries to deprive them of oxygen, the Turtles use a breathing technique Splinter taught them to survive.
  • Donatello defeating the Spasmosaur by throwing his bo staff into its weak spot.
  • The Turtles managing to escape the arena with the first piece of the black hole generator.

4x10 Trans-Dimensional Turtles

  • Crossover with the 1987 Fred Wolf Turtles! The 3D Turtles go 2D, the 2D Turtles go 3D, they got all the original voices back, they all team up to fight Krang and Kraang Subprime, and there's even a shout-out to the Mirage Comics. What's not to like?? TURTLE POWER, DUDE!!

4x14 Earth's Last Stand

  • After six brutal months, the Turtles succeed in stopping the invasion and saving the Earth.
    • Splinter catching Shredder's back attack.
    • Better still, for the first time, Shredder is defeated in hand-to-hand combat by Splinter. No running away or cheap tricks, Splinter has been maintaining the advantage throughout the fight and the Shredder is carried away by Tiger Claw.
      • The greatest Catharsis Factor is that Splinter defeats Shredder in a straight fight for the first time since the first season finale without resorting to his animal self. Not only that, but watching him call him out for jeopardizing the world's safety over his revenge and giving him a Shut Up, Hannibal! before winning the fight was quite awesome as well. Without a doubt, Splinter proved that he was the better fighter and man in that scene.
    • Honeycutt's Heroic Sacrifice is this and Tear Jerker. However, the end reveals he may be alive...
    • After being royally curb-stomped by every Triceraton they have faced, the turtles are finally able to take out a few and do a lot of damage to Mozar, a high-ranking member of the Triceratons. It is also a sign of how far they've come since the beginning thanks to four seasons of training and build up.
      • Special notice goes to Donatello, the both of them. Mozar is handling the turtles pretty well, but Donny was the one who landed the first successful blow that turned the tide of the fight around.

4x15 City At War

  • April graduating into full kunoichi of the Hamato Clan is this and Heartwarming Moment. She has come quite far since Season 1.
  • Shinigami, Karai's new ally, is a powerful kunoichi in her own right and utilizes some clever tricks of her own, able to handle Tiger Claw for a while. Special regards to her hypnotic eye pendulum, which also functions as a powerful mace.
  • A retroactive one for Master Splinter. We finally see how badly beaten Shredder was against Splinter. He's hooked up to a breathing mask, an IV and several monitoring equipment while having several bandages and casts all while confined to bed. He was downright nearly crippled.

4x21 Darkest Plight

  • Splinter spends most of the episode being terrified of the Rat King, his broken leg leaving him unable to do much besides run, and he can't even do that well. By the end when he nearly loses his mind, he snaps back to normal and punches him out. It turned out it was all a hallucination, but Splinter still summoned up the strength the fight back despite have nearly been killed by Super Shredder and falling into a giant pit.
  • After Super Shredder proved unstoppable the entire episode, Karai pulls a weakness by taking advantage of his twisted love. When he's let his guard down, she restates that he was never her father and hits his exposed heart. On top of an attack from April and his mutation deteriorating his body, he's forced to run. Not only did Karai and April hand him one of his few defeats, this is the only time he lost without Splinter's involvement.

4x22 The Power Inside Her

  • The Turtles are able to get through to April and stop her psychic rampage through the Power of Friendship, and April not only banishes the spirit in the crystal, but uses what power it has left to save Donnie. Heartwarming and awesome at the same time, showing how far all of them have come together and all they've been through as a team. Perfect for the 100th episode milestone.
  • Unrelated to the main crystal plot, Casey spots Fishface, Rahzar and Tiger Claw stealing mutagen. Since the turtles take too long to arrive, he decided to deal with it himself. He jumps on their truck, and manages to throw both Rahzar and two Chromedomes out of the truck. When Tiger Claw crawls along the side of the speeding truck, Casey bangs the wall to throw him off, with all of this culminating in him hurling an explosive hockey puck at the three of them as they gain back on the car. Tiger Claw slashes it in half in slow motion, causing an explosion that sets both chrome domes on fire, and Casey crawsl to the driver's seat, tases Fishface and takes over the car. They all do eventually catch up to him and it gets hijacked by the April plot, but let's reiterate: CASEY, a regular human being that spends a lot of time on the show playing second fiddle, was taking on three very strong mutants and two robot ninjas on a truck moving at high speeds all by himself and WINNING. It's a thrilling action scene and one that seriously shows off just how competent Casey can be.

4x24 The Tale of Tiger Claw

  • Alopex makes her animated debut and she does not disappoint. Not only does her Super-Speed make her a force to be reckoned with, but she is revealed to be the one who cut off Tiger Claw's tail, which she wears as a trophy. And she takes off his arm in the climax.
  • Splinter bests Casey and the Turtles in a sparring match despite being drunk.

4x25 Requiem

  • A villainous one, but Super Shredder becomes even more unstoppable and badass with Stockman-Fly giving him the Super Mutagen to stablize him. He's able to fight heavy hitters like Leatherhead and Slash at the same time rather than take them on one by one. Additionally, his heart apparently is Made of Iron and Karai ends up breaking her tanto when she attempts to stab him there.
  • The large confrontation as the Turtles recruit the Mighty Mutanimals to help end the war against the Foot Clan.
  • Master Splinter's final fight against the Super Shredder. Despite getting knocked around like a rag doll, Splinter does not give up and is able to fight on equal footing through tenacity, skill and tactics, even managing to slice off some of Shredder's claws. When Shredder makes a final charge, Splinter trips him up with a whip function on his cane and has Shredder skid and nearly fall off the building. Had Shredder not grabbed on so he could stab Splinter and instead fell down, Splinter would've won.
    • Splinter's team deserves some mention despite ultimately being taken down and letting Splinter do the rest of the fight on his own. Slash manages to land a punch on Super Shredder's face. Casey and Raphael go Bash Brothers on him by slashing with sais, throwing exploding pucks at him, breaking hockey sticks at him, and punching him on the head from behind. Finally, April saves Casey's life when Super Shredder throws him off the building and then throws debris at him even staying to fight after she gets hurt by claws being thrown at her.
  • April psychically pushes Super Shredder and slams him to a dumpster truck before Casey activates it to crush him, in an homage to the 1st movie. Casey even says "oops" after hitting the lever (though the tone is darker and sharper.)
  • The episode showcases how much the Hamato Clan plus allies aren't messing around anymore. They're now out to kill if need be, best seen when Leatherhead drowns Rahzar.
    • A very minor one for Rahzar for defeating Leonardo in a one-on-one fight and being seconds from eating his face off considering how their last fight ended with an exhausted Leo giving him a Curb-Stomp Battle two seasons ago and Leo spent the early episodes of this seasons training against holographic versions of Rahzar, Dogpound, and Chris Bradford to develop his skills.
  • Does Leo panic when he sees Karai almost die after Shredder brutally beats her down? Nope, he just goes straight into CPR and saves her life.

4x26 Owari

  • Upon learning that Super Shredder's still alive, Leonardo has a moment of self-doubt, before being reassured by Splinter's spirit. He turns and looks to the sky... and then his eyes go into the blank-white glare that serves as the Turtles' Game Face. He doesn't say anything, but the message is clear: no more holding back.
  • The Turtles decide to avenge Splinter and don't wait for Super Shredder to make the first move, instead taking the fight to him. The lock-and-load montage where they don black masks and war-paint show they're playing for keeps, this time. Casey even prepares a reinforced metal mask that looks like his classic one (and later saves his life). All ending with a group BOOYAKASHA!
  • Raph fighting Fishface one-on-one and deactivating his breathing apparatus, leaving him to die. Ruthless? No doubt. Awesome? Definitely.
    • The fight itself between those two. Fishface initially has the advantage due to having Home Field Advantage in the water... until April uses her powers to capture him in a bubble and send him back to shore. Afterwards, he's greeted by an unusually silent Raphael, who gives him a Megaton Punch to the face, rips his legs off, and then disposes of his breathing apparatus in the most ruthless Curb-Stomp Battle any of the Turtles delivered.
  • Mikey de-mutating Baxter Stockman. That's right, they brought retro-mutagen. They came prepared this time.
  • Donnie hacking Bebop and Rocksteady's death traps and giving them a taste of their own medicine.
  • The group fight between Tiger Claw, who keeps coming at them with various prosthetic arms.
  • And of course, the final fight with Super Shredder on top of the burning mansion. Leo lasts the longest and delivers the killing blow, putting an end to the nemesis of the Hamato Clan once and for all.
    • Leo calling out the pure evil of Shredder's actions, giving him verbal smackdowns equal to the physical ones.
    • The choreography itself. It's the middle of the night and the Turtles jump at Super Shredder. He looks up to the moon, but can't see them as they are dressed in black and used the night sky to camouflage themselves. They immediately start attacking him from all angles, individually and as a group, doing more damage to him than even Splinter did. Each Turtle even gets his own moment in the fight.
    • After the Retro Mutagen fails to revert Super Shredder, Mikey and Donnie are thrown from the roof, unable to rejoin the fight due to a spreading fire. After being ragdolled seconds prior, Raph sees Mikey tossed and proceeds to grapple with Shredder (the same one who overpowered Splinter with back-up and was barely troubled by them before his mutation) for several seconds, culminating in ramming him through a wall and bashing his face into a pipe hard enough to, even for a second, knock his lights out.
      Raphael: I'm DONE with you, ya metal freak!
    • Worth noting is that Leonardo is able to do what only Karai was able to do before - namely, delivering an Armor-Piercing Question that makes Super Shredder pause, if only for a moment:
      Super Shredder: Splinter was CURSED to become a loathsome rat! It was his fate! His destiny!
      Leonardo: You're a monster! A DEMON! Is that YOUR destiny?!
      Super Shredder: No... I... I...
    • Think back to The Gauntlet, and how the Shredder had beaten all four of them at once. Throughout this series they haven't exactly been successful in defeating him in a proper battle. And now, here is Leonardo, taking on the Super Shredder, and he finally manages to kill him. The turtles have come a long way since the first fight.

    Season 5 
  • Tatsu. In the movie, he was an only mildly intimidating version of The Dragon. In THIS adaptation, he is one of Karai's former teachers and is at the same level of combat ability as Season 1-3 Shredder. And he's BLIND. He easily kicks the crap out of the team before they figure out how to exploit his weakness, and puts Shinigami down for the rest of the Kavaxas arc.
    • That in and of itself is cool. After using the explosions of Casey's puck bombs to hide their movements, Leonardo gets behind Tatsu and disables his hearing with a pressure point attack, effectively blinding him further. This leaves him open to a Curb-Stomp Battle from Karai in her snake form.
    • Karai also gets one earlier in the fight for knocking off Tatsu's mask.
  • Kavaxas, crossing over with Nightmare Fuel. He's just so EFFECTIVE as a villain, and plays Tigerclaw like a kazoo the entire time.
  • Leonardo's taken several levels of badass this season. His pressure point attack against Tatsu was the key to beating him, and he also beheads the zombified Shredder in a single stroke. (Which would have been a win, except decapitation was just a temporary inconvenience for Shredder at that point...
  • Donatello inventing ghostbusting equipment to fight off the invasion of evil spirits that Kavaxas summoned.
    • And during said invasion, SPLINTER'S GHOST comes to help too! He pretty much humiliates Ho Chan during their entire fight, keeping him from hurting his sons.
  • The Usagi Arc:
    • The brainwashed turtles all attack Usagi at once. He's able to fend them off pretty decently, and Leo's the only one that's able to evenly match him.
    • Neko Ninjas attack Usagi, Kintaro and the turtles. They are no match for Usagi and the turtles, showing us how much the Ninja Turtles have improved since Season One.
    • Usagi, with help from the turtles, finally vanquishing Jei.
  • Splinter, in 'Lone Rat and Cubs,' absolutely FLATTENING the Krang droid after Raphael's shell was damaged. And then taking on and defeating a small army of Krang warriors when he had no idea what they were.

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