TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 34

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Pantheon have allied themselves with Shredder and Krang and have finally made their move. Despite the combined efforts of the Turtles, the Neutrinos and April, the Pantheon succeeds in opening a portal large enough to bring in their floating fortress which is even larger than the Technodrome!! What will happen now?

"The Perils of the Pantheon Part 2- Come Together, Right Now...." opens three days later as April reports on the city being overrun by robots. The people of New York ranging from police to the local gangsters try to fight them off but it's a tough battle. There is a large forcefield entrapping most of the five boroughs of New York and parts of Jersey, so help isn't coming. April promises to update the locals for as long as she can and wishes anyone watching to stay safe.

 

Vernon says he can't imagine anyone sane would still be watching their broadcast. Irma tells him to shut up, and Burne agrees. The crew notices that Burne is in his trenchcoat and he's ready to investigate. Vernon says Burne has a panic room at the station. Burne says they still have the power to broadcast so they will continue to bring information to calm the city since nothing is scarier than the unknown. April says that is very inspiring. Burne tells her to get out there and see what else she can find since right now the news is the only thing keeping the city sane.

Meanwhile at the villains' lair, Krang says their plan is taking too long. Old Hob says he sent his remote controlled robots to take their time pacifying the locals so the news can show that it's useless to resist. The rest of the planet will bow for them in no time. Manmoth says he understands Hob wants to take his frustrations on the city after the trouble the Turtles have caused him, but it feels like too much work for little reward. Aka points out they can make money by going legit based on how much profit their fronts are bringing in. Hob smacks the device out of her hand and says it's not about profit anymore. He wants to crush the planet and bleed it dry.

Shredder whispers to Krang that Hob seemed to have regained control of the Pantheon away from him. Krang says it happened the moment he got his robot army... and then realized that it's a remote controlled robot army. He tells Shredder to keep Hob and the other busy while he works on his plan. Krang will need uninterrupted focus to gain control of Hob's army.

Elsewhere the Turtles (minus Donatello) and Splinter are fighting against the robots. Raph jokes that this is how he wanted to spend his day and asks Mikey what he thinks. Michaelangelo says this reminds him of that Fighter Frogs video game since they're facing tons of bad guys coming in waves. Raph says he could never beat that game since it was too hard. He adds that something more unrealistic than the Fighter Frogs is expecting the four of them to handle an army alone. Splinter says they'll do what they can while Donatello works with the Neutrinos on another avenue of attack.

 

Donatello and Zak are in the Starcruiser, flying near the Pantheon floating fortress which is protected by a forcefield. They are unable to hack inside, even with Dimension X technology. Zak says Donnie can work on another problem to help clear his head. That problem is a spaceship flying at them, courtesy of the Pantheon. Zak activates a mounter buzzsaw to slice the flying vehicle in half. 

Donatello congratulates Zak as another ship flies at them. The purple-bandana-ed Turtle notices the enemy ship can just fly through the forcefield without a problem. Instead of destroying the second ship, Donnie leaps onto it and takes out the robot pilot. Donnie takes control of the ship and hopes it's not any more complicated than flying the Turtle Blimp. He hopes the others are having an easier time than he is.

Back to the city, the Turtles continue the fight the robots as Raph says this has to be a nightmare caused by Creepy Eddie. Michaelangelo says being forced to fight video game minions is the kind of thing Mr. Ogg would do. Leonardo says this isn't too different than fighting with Foot Soldiers, though Shredder hasn't had this many robots in a while. Splinter says it doesn't matter if a new or old villain is behind this, it is up to them alone to keep the citizens safe. Someone blasts one of the robots and says they're not alone. Michaelangelo is glad to see that they got back up.

Dirk Savage shows up alongside Mona Lisa, Mondo Gecko, Metalhead and Bakari (a mutant mummy from this comic series). As everybody fights, Mikey says he hasn't seen Mondo Gecko and Metalhead in forever. Mondo Gecko says they only live two sewer tunnels away and should visit more often. Raph tells Mona Lisa and Bakari that they are the last two people he expected to see working with Dirk Savage. Mona Lisa says they couldn't stand by during an invasion. Bakari says he won't stand for these robots scaring children. Splinter tells Dirk they appreciate the help but they are still greatly outnumbered. Dirk says his Boomerang Beam can only bring so many.

 

One of the robots is about to attack one of Dirk's agents when it just suddenly stops. Leonardo wonders what caused this to happen. 

Elsewhere, Old Hob notices that his robots have stopped. Krang says he had taken control of them and will use them to secure control of the Pantheon and their assets. Krang says their only hope is to bow to them. Drako says he'd never bow to an Utrom and figures he was going to betray them anyway. Golgatha says Krang and his pet Earthlings would make for better lab rats that allies. Drako tells Krang he's outnumbered. Krang's android body grows to giant size as Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady start to fight against the Pantheon members.

 

Shredder backhands Scratch away, telling Krang they just need superior skill to win. Manmoth tells Aka the fight isn't necessary. Aka says it's useless posturing and uses her high pitched scream to deal with Bebop and Rocksteady. Manmoth opens a portal and tells Aka they should leave the others to fight while they get back to making money. They both leave the fight.

Drako notices that Manmoth and Aka left. Golgotha says they haven't been the same cine their encounter with Mutagen Man. Old Hob dodges Krang's attack and gets close enough to scratch him directly. The part of the android body that houses Krang is protected by a forcefield. Krang says his new robot army has just arrived.

Krang picks up Hob and prepares to have the robots destroy the Pantheon. Hob slips out of his snazzy coat and tells Krang that a mastermind always has more than one exit strategy. He presses a button on his watch and says he took control of his robots but their fortress can't be breached so easily. Hob says Krang will regret this power play as he warps away with Drako, Golgatha and Scratch. Krang says he has Hob's robot army and he'll find a way into that fortress.

Speaking of the fortress, Donatello has made his way inside and starts to focus on taking down the forcefield and shutting the robots down. He decides to contact the others first with the Turtle Comm. Leonardo tells him that the robots all over the city just stopped and asks if he did that. Donatello says he's in the fortress now and while he planning to shut down the robots, he didn't do it yet. Just then a flash of light hits and the Pantheon members appear in front of Donatello. Leonardo asks him what's going on and Hob jokingly repeats the question.

 

My Thoughts- 

I have to say it's great to see Mondo Gecko finally make an appearance. I've always been more of a fan of this take on Mondo Gecko as well as the Archie Comics version. Anything than the 'useless in a fight' 2012 version even if he is voiced by Robbie Rist from the live-action 90's movies. His premiere episode 'Michaelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko' ended with him moving into the sewers as a neighbor... but we never saw him again. He only appeared once more in 'Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter' but as a neighbor you'd figure he'd appear more often. At least in the Archie comics he lived with the Turtles for a few issues before joining the Mighty Mutanimals.

The comic brings up the fact that Mondo Gecko is still their neighbor and they should visit more often. It seems now Metalhead is a completely sentient robot and... lives with Mondo Gecko? That's an odd couple if any. Mona Lisa has made a few appearances here and there and we've seen that Dirk Savage is a good guy now, but I was surprised to see the comic-original Bakari also join in. Out of Dirk's agents we also see that the random dude April interviewed in the first episode 'Turtle Tracks' has now joined the team. I guess he got tired of his work areas getting robbed and decided to take action.

 

Things are going down. The Turtles and their friends are fighting robots in the city. Shredder and Krang have betrayed The Pantheon. It looks like the final fight it going to end up in The Pantheon's floating fortress. Things are already starting to fall apart for Old Hob's crew there. Manmoth and Aka have already abandoned ship. 

In the Mutagen Man story, anyone that he touched would become a mutant. When Manmoth and Aka touched him, they seem unaffected, but their personality did change a bit. I guess their more viscous and ruthless ways left them. While they're still after money, they're not above earning it through legal means now, especially since they already seem to own several business ventures. Old Hob was all about the money too, but I think, similar to Shredder, he's gotten more obsessed over getting revenge on the Turtles and by extension, the planet.

One thing that felt off and was just giving out shoutouts for the sake of giving out shoutouts, were Raph and Mikey thinking the robots were coming from Creepy Eddie or Mr. Ogg. I mean they failed to stop the Pantheon's fortress from coming over and robots appeared three days later. It's not that hard to put two and two together. I was almost expecting Raph to say 'so now that we got the obligatory deep cuts out of the way....' I did like the Fighting Frogs/Battletoads shout out though.

The only thing left to say is.... where is the Rat Queen? I forgot all about her until I saw her on some of the alternate covers. The last issue had Hob mention they left Manmoth and Aka behind to not leave Golgotha alone with Shredder and Krang to explain where they were. A line explaining that the Rat Queen is (presumably) on the fortress looking over things would have gone a long way.

It all comes to a head next issue. Let's see how it all goes down!!