TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 6

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Turtles have stopped all sorts of wacky schemes to take over the world, but what will they do when one of them tries to take over the city legally? Chrome Dome runs for office!!

'Shiny and Chrome' opens with The Turtles watching April on TV as she reports on the upcoming election for mayor between the candidates Nick Jefferson and Al Polk. Raphael asks if they can switch to wrestling instead since those guys are actually able to hit each other with steel chairs. Splinter says it's important to know about those that would lead them. Even though they can't vote personally, they should still be prepared for any position those in the government might take. 

April says both candidates are pretty much neck and neck and hope to get an edge over each other after their current face off. Burne Thompson asks Mr. Polk on behalf of the New York Hamburger Association about all the new pizzerias opening up recently that are cutting into its business. Polk says that while burgers are delicious, New York is the the pizza capital of the world. Just then, Chrome Dome shows up and corrects him.

The Turtles see Chrome Dome on TV and spring into action. Donatello says Splinter mentioned he was destroyed from their last encounter. Splinter says that he was, but it seems he was rebuilt. The Turtles hop into the Turtle Van and drive off. Chrome Dome says he's there on behalf of the Foot Party. Irma says there's nothing in the rules against a robot running for office, but he's pretty late in the campaign. Burne says he won't be the one to tell him that.

Donatello tells the others that Chrome Dome is trying to take over the city, legally. If they bust in and attack, they'll look like the bad guys. Leonardo says they'll have to watch over the campaign. Once Chrome Dome slips up, they'll stop him.

As the week progresses, Chrome Dome wins over the science fiction voters, women voters, and voters with anxiety. April reports that his popularity is soaring. That Saturday, the Turtles are still watching and Raphael says Chrome Dome hasn't so much as shaken a fist at somebody. Michealangelo wonders if he really is just running for mayor.

Donatello tells the team that Splinter said Chrome Dome was crushed by a hydraulic press, so someone else must have rebuilt him and is controlling him. Leonardo says they will follow him until they find out who that is. Michaelangelo asks why they didn't do that in the first place. Raphael says the writers probably didn't think of it until now.

The Turtles see Chrome Dome walking off and follow him into an abandoned building. They see that Chrome Dome is talking to Professor McGuffin. The Foot robot tell him that his chances of victory are 83%. The professor is pleased as he will set up many benevolent policies that will make the city into a utopia. Chrome Dome disagrees.

Chrome Dome was only playing along and now that he is so close to victory, he doesn't need to keep up the charade. He will rule the city with an iron fist, both figuratively and literally. McGuffin said he didn't program Chrome Dome to be a dictator, and to know the difference between figurative and literal. Chrome Dome says he has improved upon his cognition, but his base is still evil. McGuffin pulls out a remote in an attempt to shut him down, but the robot snatches it away and crushes it in his hand.

The Turtles leap into action. Chrome Dome throws the professor away since he has no further need for him. He aims his wrist-mounted laser but it's been deactivated. The Turtles try to fight Chrome Dome but the robot swats them away. He realizes that he doesn't need to fight them, for once he becomes mayor he can send the police after them. With the Turtles defeated, Chrome Dome gets away.

Donatello makes sure that the professor is alright. The professor says Chrome Dome's remains were brought into TCRI for study and he was so impressed by the technology that he couldn't help but rebuild him. The mayoral campaign was a publicity stunt to spread his ideas to improve the city. He never expected Chrome Dome to be evil. Raphael says he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but in this case he should have.

Professor McGuffin says he still has a remote shut off switch. Chrome Dome tried to break the remote, but the main chip inside is still intact. All the Turtles have to do is plug it into the access port of his head. Leonardo says they they just need to track him down.

Michaelangelo says since Chrome Dome won't come after them until after the campaign is over, maybe he'll be easier to find once he wins. Raphael says they want to stop him before he has the police on his side. Leonardo says they also can't attack him in public. McGuffin says Chrome Dome is too smart to misbehave before the votes are in. Donatello says they still need to stop him before actually taking office. Michaelangelo says they should ask April.

Later on at Channel 6, April finds out that Chrome Dome is still evil, which explains why he's doing so well in the polls. April says there must be a way to disqualify him. Leonardo says it'll be a disaster if Chrome Dome is still loyal to the Foot Clan. April asks Irma for the book on election rules and finds something. If they can get him to admit what she found, they'll have him. 

Two weeks later, Chrome Dome wins by a landslide. At the ceremony he gives his acceptance speech and asks for questions. April asks him if would like to comment on the fact that he has no voter registration on file. Chrome Dome says it's an oversight and he will quickly correct that. April says if he's not registered to vote, as he just confirmed, then he's ineligible to run for office, and the position goes to the next runner up. Chrome Dome will not let a technicality stop him from taking over the city. He will take the city by force if he has to. April catches this on film as the people panic and run. The Turtles were behind April in their trench coat disguises and they get ready to fight.

Chrome Dome says he will destroy the turtles himself. Leonardo reminds the team that he doesn't have any internal weapons. Chrome Dome says it has been several weeks and he has corrected the issue, as he starts to open fire on the turtles. Chrome Dome says this might damage his reputation but he has learned the power of lawyers and a good PR firm. Donatello says his political career is over. Chrome Dome says if what April said was true, he would have already been disqualified but there are loopholes.

Leonardo says it won't matter if they shut him down. He calls for Michaelangelo and Raphael to use maneuver E-19. Michaelangelo wraps his grappling hook around Chrome Dome's legs while Raphael hits him with a flying kick to the face. Leonardo jumps towards Chrome Dome and uses his swords to pin him down. Michaelangelo and Raphael pin the robot down while Donatello inserts the chip into his head. Chrome Dome finally shuts down.

The next day April announces on TV that with Chrome Dome being disqualified, Al Polk won the election as he assures the city that he doesn't have hidden lasers in his arms. Donatello says he's surprised so many people voted for Chrome Dome to begin with. Michealangelo is still angry he said that New York wasn't the pizza capital of the world. Splinter says many people see what they want to see and an unscrupulous person or robot can exploit this. 

As a reward for stopping Chrome Dome, Splinter will let them watch wrestling for the night. Raphael is relieved since he doesn't want to see any more robots for a while. Just then Wrestle-o-Rama was pre-empted for a special movie event, The Angry Droid of Valley Forge. 

My thoughts-

I'm sure I said this before with the Halloween special but I like the energy from this particular artist's style. Sarah Myer captures the look of the show while giving the characters a larger range of facial expressions and just so much energy no matter what they're doing. This is the type of art style I would have liked to have seen in some sort of new 80's TMNT cartoon continuation since they'd have a bigger animation budget. I also wish we had art this good back in the Archie comics days.

As for the plot, it was a weird way to bring Chrome Dome back. On the show, he appeared in the 'Planet of the Turtleoids' two-parter and then returned alongside several villains in 'Night of the Rogues'. The comic sticks to continuity and has Splinter mention how he was destroyed the second time under the hydraulic press, which was perfect since the Turtles weren't there during that scene. 

So this time around, his parts were sent to TCRI and McGuffin rebuilt him. It was odd seeing Chrome Dome 'go into business for himself' but he was still running for office in the name of the Foot Clan. This was just a one shot story so I guess there wasn't enough room, but it was odd to not see Shredder and Krang find out about this since Chrome Dome would be all over the news for several weeks. 

In the old show, Chrome Dome was made of adamantium and was pretty much invincible. I was going to call shenanigans on the Turtles being able to smack him around, but then I remembered he was rebuilt and McGuffin most likely didn't use adamantium like Shredder did.

I also wonder if Chrome Dome was ever really 'evil'. Sure he was created by Shredder, but he was just a robot doing whatever he was programmed to do. Maybe Shredder added a program to make sure no matter what he's doing to make sure it's still evil. 

Overall a fun read. Lots of action, great art, the typical comedy you would expect from this series and the 80's show. There was a scene where Raphael called Leonardo 'Leo' and agreed with Michaelangelo how much fun these 'new' nicknames were. I also love the part where Chrome Dome was campaigning with the women voters and said 'I am against everything that I should be against'. That's winning political material right there.

We'll see what awaits next issue as we get yet another crazy plot. We've had a Rock Soldier love rock and roll, and Chrome Dome running for mayor, and next issue Shredder forms a Shreddercon. No joke.