By Mark Rodriguez
Originally written on Sunday, December 1, 2013. Keep in mind, these were our thoughts as they were back in 2013 when the show was new and was written shortly after seeing the episodes after their initial broadcast. At the time we had zero way of knowing what to expect.
Slash and Destroy opens with Mikey playing an arcade game in the lair. He soon loses and it's Leo's turn to play. Suddenly Raph steps in, with Spike on his shoulder, angry that Mikey got pizza stains all over his Modern Ninja magazines that he spent six years to collect. Mikey says they can't be all that modern if they're six years old and says they're still good as he starts licking the stains off. Raph smacks Mikey which makes Spike smile. Leo tells him to calm down since it's just material possessions, but the red-masked Turtle reminds him how much he cares about his own comic books.
Meanwhile Don is working in his lab trying to find a way to make the RetroMutagen, complaining about Raph's temper. His experiment suddenly backfires and sends fireworks flying all over the lair (what the hell would turn Mutagen into fireworks???). The others are surprised and Raph sees one of them heading towards Spike. He quickly jumps in the way to save him.
Raph is furious at Don and this time an apology won't cut it. Splinter steps in and demands to know what's going on. Raph explains and takes the Mutagen away from Donnie to prevent him from doing any more harm.
Raph goes to his room and complains to Spike about the others, and how they're holding him back. Mikey comes in and tell him that Splinter wants him to help clean up the mess Don caused. Raph says it isn't fair since Don was the one that caused the mess, not him. Mike says he can tell that to Splinter. Raph sighs angrily and leaves the room, slamming the door, accidentaly making the Mutagen spill on the floor. Spike sees this and takes his chance to dive in.
Raph complains to Splinter about having to clean up Don's mess. He even snaps back at him a few times, and Splinter hits his pressure points to immobilize him and calm him down.
Raph returns to his room angry about what happened and complaining that he's the one with the attitude problem. Just then he hears a voice saying "They don't understand you... they never have. Not like me..." Raph realized that the Mutagen had spilled and Spike has gotten into it, and is now a huge mutant turtle that towers over him.
The Turtles finishing mopping up Don's mess, when suddenly his Mutagen tracker goes off. They found another cannister of ooze (oh wow, you mean they finally remembered they're supposed to be looking for them?) nearby and they want to head out to find it. They send Mikey to get Raph.
Raph is surprised and thinks it's awesome that Spike is a mutant. Spike says he's better off without his brothers, and they should just go out and smash their enemies without holding back. Raph agrees and says someone understands him. Mikey lets him know about their mission and Raph says they can go without him and he can catch up later. Leo says they won't wait for him and they all leave.
Raph thinks he can find the Mutagen bottle without the others, but he needs some kind of tracking device. Spike can track it by its scent. Raph thinks it's awesome but before he can go, he should gear up. He dresses Spike with black wraps and lets him choose a weapon. Spike grabs a mace and says he never liked the name Spike and prefers to be called Slash. He grabs an S symbol from the table and pins it on his belt for the finishing touch.
Slash and Raph head out to find the Mutagen bottle, while Leo, Mike and Don also track it down. It's lying in the middle of the street in broad daylight, so they have to be careful. Raph and Leo have the same idea, use some rope to swing down and grab it without being seen.They both swing into each other and start arguing. As they argue, Slash goes after Don. Leo notices that the Mutagen bottle was grabbed by the pizza delivery boy that thinks it's some kind of energy drink. Leo chases after him.
Raph returns to Slash and wonders what he did in his absence. Slash says he's better off without his brothers. They're just dead weight. Raph is trying to figure out what he means and notices he's carrying Don's headband. Mikey shows up and tells Raph that something happened to Donnie. He then notices the giant mutant turtle next to them, and Slash attacks Mikey brutally, slamming him all over the place.
Meanwhile, Leo manages to grab the Mutagen bottle away from the kid but he loses it again. This time the Asian guy (the same one that April always tries to get past every time she goes undercover) finds it and thinks its some kind of lava lamp. Leo sees some trash cans nearby and decides to use them to hide and try to get the Mutagen back.
Raph manages to find Don, who is now in very bad shape. Mikey then hears Leo's voice in the distance, but it was Slash imitating him, and he grabs him again. Slash tells Raph he has to choose between him or his brothers. Raph chooses his brothers and says they have to stick together no matter what. Slash says he doesn't want to fight Raph, but Raph says he does want to fight him. Raph and Slash finally fight it out.
Leo hides in a trash can and tries to grab the Mutagen away from the guy, but now some little girl has it. Leo follows them to their house and sneaks inside. He sees the girl using the bottle at her tea party, and actually starts to pour it into a cup. Leo decides the time for stealth is over and runs inside and kicks the cup out of the girl's hand. Leo wants the Mutagen back but the girl says she'll scream. Then she starts to hold her breath.
Elsewhere, Slash is able to match Raph blow for blow and outfight him. He says he studied Raph train all those years and he knows all his moves. Slash says they're the same. Raph says they're nothing alike and the Mutagen warped him. The battle between them continues.
Leo is now having a tea party with the girl, and she asks if there are any other talking turtles. Leo insists he's just an imaginary friend and he's the only one. Just then Slash and Raph bust into the room. Leo grabs the Mutagen and runs out, telling the girl he'll bring the tea next time.
Slash manages to defeat Raph and is about to slash him up with his claws until Leo arrives to help out. Leo is confused that Slash is a mutated Spike, and then Slash takes him down. He says he's been looking forward to fighting him for a long time. Mike and Don show up, grabbing Slash from each arm, but he tosses them away. Slash tells Raph that they're the same, anger makes them stronger. He's about to finish Mikey with his mace. Raph comes in and tosses a smoke bomb in his face.
As Slash tries to attack, he immobilizes him in the similar way that Splinter did to him earlier. However. Slash is too close to the edge of the rooftop and is about to fall off. Raph jumps in to try to rescue him, but Slash falls. Raph makes sure his bros are ok, but when he checks on Slash, he's already done, only leaving the cracked pavement where he landed.
Back at the lair, Leo, Don and Mike are playing the arcade game, while Raph sulks on the couch holding one of the leaves that Spike used to munch on. Splinter steps in and says when he misses his family of the past, he focuses on his family in the present. Raph cheers up a little and decides to join the others in the arcade game. He says it's not so bad to hang with them.
My thoughts-
Another awesome episode, and one that was long-awaited. I swear people were expecting Spike to become Slash from day one and were wondering how he changed his name from one to the other. As much as everyone expected Mikey to randomly name him Slash, the mutant turtle named himself. I have to admit the design is really awesome. There were a lot of complaints about how small his head was compared to the rest of him, but somehow it works once you actually see him in the show.
Slash was always favorite, as was the overall concept of an evil Ninja Turtle. The action figure was just violent and insane looking. His weapon was even called the Psycho Sai. He was so intense that while the Archie comics and TMNT video games at the time kept his look, his design was toned down when he appeared in the Fred Wolf cartoon. Once characters like Metalhead and Mutagen Man appeared in this show, everyone was waiting for Slash to finally make an appearance.
I do have to say, that Mutagen sure is crazy unstable. Again, there's no reason from a logical standpoint as to why Spike didn't just mutate into a slightly different looking version of the regular Turtles, and instead a giant sized muscle monster with all these random spikes sticking out all over him. I mean... honestly, looking at the guy it's almost impossible to tell that that.... came from this little guy.
Speaking of which... I have to say it's just so sad to see this little guy gone. He was Raph's buddy. He was the one he went to when no one else would listen. In a way it did turn him into what he is today. Paige, Venka and I'm sure many others assumed that just like Don's complaining to Timothy about April and Casey made him go after her, Raph's complaining to Spike about his bros also caused him to go after him. He even seemed to have a special grudge against Leo, who is the one that Raph usually has the most problem with. Unlike Timothy, it felt more real and less contrived with Spike, since we've seen Raph rant to him as early as Turtle Temper, the third episode. It's kinda sad that Raph lost his buddy though.
With that said, the character in itself is super awesome. Just what we were hoping from Slash. Strong, vicious and violent. And wow, did this episode deliver. The way Slash beat Mikey down... that's something we usually don't see happen to the funny Turtle, and that beat-down wasn't funny. And wow, I don't think I've ever seen the Turtles that horribly thrashed, battered and bruised. I mean not even the Shredder gave them that bad of a beating, and seeing Mikey and Donnie without their masks on just made it feel that much more painful looking. Despite his violent rage, Slash still wouldn't fight Raph... but after falling off the building, he might come back with a grudge against him blaming him for the fall.
One thing Paige brought up is, how the hell did Slash already know how to fight? He did later say he studied all of Raph's moves when he was a normal turtle.... but still. We could watch a Bruce Lee marathon, it doesn't mean we'll be top notch martial artists. They're basically going with the Splinter/Yoshi deal from the Mirage comics where Splinter as a pet rat watched Yoshi train from his cage... and somehow became a master ninja once he mutated. For the most part, all the other mutants were already some sort of martial artist before mutation, or they relied on their newfound powers based on whatever they mutated into (in Spider Bytes' case, he gained a spider's agility and had acid spit), and let's not forget the Turtles were normal-ish on day one and had to train for 15 years to be the kick-ass ninjas they are now. While Slash was lucky enough to mutate into a mountain of muscle, it's still a whole other matter to be fast enough to be able to dodge and counter Raph's trained ninja moves. Oh well.
She also pointed out how they somehow could afford the CGI model for the little girl... but not for NotChrome Dome in the previous ep.... lol.
I don't really want to say much negative about the episode since it really was a good one. I guess I feel torn on so many things. On one side, I like seeing Slash as a violent psycho, and the fights were epic. But on the other side, I feel bad because he's Spike and would much rather prefer him as some sort of extra ally, since the Turtles don't seem to have many mutant buddies, just more and more mutant enemies. One one side, I did like to see Leo's shenanigans on trying to get the Mutagen bottle back, and the tea party was classic, mostly cause we rarely see silly stuff happen to the serious leader of the group, at least in the more serious versions of the franchise. But on the other hand, I would have much rather have liked to see the Turtles and Slash face the Foot, the Kraang or maybe even Snakeweed and Spider Bytes instead of just trying to snatch the bottle away from a little girl. I kinda wanted to see Raph and Slash take on some bad guys before he went all psycho. Hell, things might have played out differently if he had his mind on something else other than attacking the guys.
Either way, it's an awesome episode, and Slash is an awesome and somewhat tragic character, that now has a much more personal connection to Raph. Let's see what happens the next time they see each other. I just hope some of the episode show little scenes of Raph missing his little buddy.
One final detail I should probably mention here is that the voice of Slash is none other than Corey Feldman, who some might remember as voicing Donatello in the first and third TMNT live action movies from the 90's. And wow, he did a very good job capturing the perfect dark and creepy voice to make Slash even more terrifying.
To wrap things up, I managed to pick up a Spider Bytez figure for Black Friday. Last one in the store and half off. I also grabbed a LEGO set, the Stealth Shell in Pursuit that features a Fishface figure. Sweet.
Corey Feldman also was in the Goonies with Sean Austin ( 2012 Raphael )
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