TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 40

 By Mark Rodriguez

In a previous adventure, April ended up in another dimension where she ran into Ace Duck and faced Indiana Jones-themed villains. Likewise we also found out that Mondo Gecko and Metalhead live together as roommates in the sewers. This issue brings up both threads as we check out what's up with Mondo Gecko and Metalhead as well as see that these villains are now on Earth and looking for April. Let's check it out. 

 

"A Mondo Metal Time" opens in NYC's abandoned warehouse district where Major Ganz tells his geese underlings that they have been in this dimension for two months and have still not found the Heart of K'Avila. The heart can reveal how to accomplish any goal one desires, and Ganz is losing his patience. He asks his men on any updates for the week. Schwan says he has checked April's apartment again and has only found take out containers and a growing collection of yellow jumpsuits. Storch says April reports to work and visits the sewers regularly, but they have not found the Heart in either location.

Ganz brings up the Turtles who are always protecting April and making it difficult for them to get to her. He has gathered enough information to know how to deal with them. The city is a chaos magnet so they plan to strike once something happens to draw the Turtles out. Schwan points out the irony of Ganz being impatient, while his plan consists of waiting for some random unknown event to draw the Turtles out, especially when they can cause the disturbance themselves. Major Ganz tells him not to question him since his plans are complicated.

 

Meanwhile in a part of the sewers we rarely see, Metalhead is cleaning up when Mondo Gecko calls him over for help. Metalhead is eager for action and asks if Dirk Savage or the Turtles need their help again. Mondo Gecko just needs Metalhead to upgrade his video game since it's still to easy. Metalhead is disappointed that's all this was about. Mondo Gecko says he can't keep his reflexes up if the game isn't a challenge. Metalhead says when he decided to become a roommate, he thought they'd be out patrolling for bad guys like the Turtles do, and not just staying home and playing videogames all day,

Metalhead says it'll be easy for him to wire himself into the cartridge and increase the difficulty (not sure how that would work, but OK). The gaming console hits Metalhead with an electric jolt. Mondo rushes off to unplug the console before Metealhead's circuits are fried. He says he might even turn evil as it had happened before. Mondo uses a broom to pull the cord and Metalhead falls over, now a darkened color. Mondo asks if he's alright and if he needs Donatello to fix him. 

Metalhead stands up and loads new instructions. His new parameters are to destroy the Plutonian Invaders, and he sees Mondo Gecko as one of them. Mondo recognizes the Invaders as the bad guys from his videogame, and says the game must have messed with Metalhead's programming. Metalhead starts blasting and Mondo tries to call the Turtles on the Turtle Comm, but they don't answer. He wonders what the Turtles could be doing on a Wednesday. We see that the Turtles are busy dealing with Groundchuck and Dirtbag.

Raphael asks Groundchuck how they managed to return from outer space. Groundchuck said it wasn't easy, but it had to be done since it's impossible to find a good New York City bagel on any other planet. Raph kicks him and says they wouldn't have had trouble if they hadn't robbed a bank. Groundchuck asked how else were they supposed to pay for the bagels since no one takes space money. As Dirtbag and Donatello clash weapons (a shovel and the bo staff), the mutant mole asks him why he's ringing. Donatello tells him to mind his business. Dirtbag says it's common courtesy not to make noises during a fight. Donatello trips him off his feet with his staff and he tends to the Turtle Comm. Michaelangelo says maybe they should an answering machine on the Turtle Comm. Donatello considers it and sees that Mondo Gecko has been trying to reach them.

Donatello tells Mondo that they're busy at the moment, but then asks why he hears blaster noises in the background. Mondo explains that Metalhead took a jolt from the game console and thinks that Putonians are invading. Donatello asks if he's turned evil and Mondo says not exactly since Metalhead thinks he's doing good. In the background, Leonardo flips Dirtbag into Groundchuck. Metalhead manages to blast Mondo. Donatello asks if he's alright. Mondo says he just needs a moment to recover, but Metalhead is now headed towards the surface. Donatello says they're on it.

The Turtles tie up Groundchuck and Dirtbag and Raphael tells them to be good until the cops show up. Groundchuck asks if they at least serve bagels in prison. Michaelangelo says they do, though the only topping is lox. Dortbag says it sounds like they've used that pun before. Grounchuck adds that he has never felt so disrespected.

Donatello's systems inside the Turtle Van detect that Metalhead is in lower Manhattan and headed towards Midtown. Michaelangelo asks if he put a tracker on Metalhead. Donatello says if anyone ever managed to reprogram him, he would like to be able to find him. Michaelangelo gives him kudos for the foresight. The Turtle Van drives past a Channel 6 van with Irma and Vernon in it. Irma asks if they should follow the Turtle Van since it could lead to a story. Vernon says they're on their break and those are sacred.

The Turtles find Metalhead and see he's trying to shoot pigeons. Michaelangelo says he hopes none of them are Pete. Metalhead sees the Turtles and starts to shoot them with everything from lasers to missiles. The Turtles make a run for it. Leonardo asks if they should knock him down and pull out some circuit boards like they do with Chrome Dome. Donatello says that Metalhead isn't built the same way. Just then a car is sent flying at them. The Turtles get out of the way and the car crashes into their van. Raphael says that's going to throw off the alignment.

Irma and Vernon show up and Irma says they would have gotten there sooner if Vernon hadn't insisted on taking his full break. Vernon says to respect union-mandated breaks. He's eager to beat April on this story and starts covering the fight between the Turtles and Metalhead. Mondo Gecko also shows up and grabs onto the robot turtle. Major Ganz watches the news report and figures the time to strike is now. They will head to Midtown at once.

Metalhead swings Mondo Gecko around and tosses him towards the Turtles, as he says that the Plutonians will fail. Raphael asks if there's anything they can just unplug. Donatello says he reprogrammed Metalhead to be nigh impenetrable to outside influence. Mondo Gecko hopes it doesn't come to having to blow him up. Michaelangelo asks if Metalhead just called them Plutonians.  Mondo explains that the jolt that Metalhead got while connected to the Plutonian Panic cartridge, and he thinks everyone is an invader. Apparently Donatello didn't mention this to the others. Michaelangelo says if this involves videogames, he has a plan. Raphael says those are the scariest words in the English language. 

Vernon continues his newscast as he asks where the authorities are. He gets word that the authorities are currently busy dealing with a mutant rhinoceros and warthog that are arguing if the Skyscrapers or the Sharks are the better team. They'll cut to sports anchor Luke Stevenson for his take, and then to April as she is on the scene. 'Action Reporter' Vernon will follow up with any breaking news. Irma brings up how he called himself 'action reporter'. Vernon tells her to be ready in case the station cuts back to them.

Michaelangelo returns as the Turtles continue to deal with Metalhead. Mikey says since he's acting like the hero of the videogame, they should act like the villains of Plutonian Panic would. Leonardo asks if that will work and Donatello says he doesn't see another option that doesn't involve damaging Metalhead.

Michaelangelo flips around, dodging Metalhead's attacks as he recalls you lose in the game if the invaders manage to tap the hero on the head three times, that would end the game. Michaelangelo manages to bop Metalhead on the head three times while showing off his acrobatics. Metalhead calls out 'Game Over' and shuts down. Mikey is glad his plan worked and calls himself the smartest turtle alive. Donatello says not to go that far. Leonardo congratulates Mikey and now they'll take Metalhead back to Donatello's lab.

Vernon cuts the news feed and tells Irma they should leave while the Turtles are still carrying off the robot. Irma says the Turtles are news and says they should stick around in case more things happen. Vernon says to trust him when he says there is no more news to be had there.

The Turtles and Mondo struggle to pick up Metalhead and take him to the Van when Donatello notices that the door was left slightly open. Leonardo says not to worry since he didn't leave the keys in. Donatello says something feels off. As he opens the door fully, they see a gas bomb. Raphael hopes this isn't Lotus Blossom again. As they start coughing, Mondo tells the others not to drop Metalhead and not risk denting him. The Turtles and Mondo Gecko are knocked out. 

Major Ganz shows up with his men, all wearing gas masks. They carry off the Turtles and Mondo to their own van. Major Ganz declares that now April will have no one to rescue her when they try to regain the artifact that she stole from them.

 

My Thoughts-

So this was an interesting turn of events. Rather than go after April right away, they did some intel on her first and found out about the Turtles. I mean, something crazy is always going on in New York, so I would say to an outside observer, two months is long enough to confirm that the Turtles usually show up whenever the crazy stuff happens. The Turtles are taken by surprise since they were attacked when their current adventure was over.

While I don't know how you can just plug into a game cartridge, I did like the reference to Metalhead seeing everything in 8-bit and the Turtles look like 8-bit versions of how they looked in the first arcade game. One of the variant covers also show the Turtles and Mondo playing NES TMNT II The Arcade Game. I have no control over which variant cover Alpha Comics brings, so I'm happy this was the one they chose.

In this case it was a slightly different take on the 'Metalhead goes haywire' story, since like Mondo and Mikey point out, he was still acting like the hero of the game. It's just too bad he thinks everyone around him are bad guys.

I liked how Michaelangelo saved the day as it seems he's the only one of the four to have played Plutonian Panic. Raph's joke kinda bugged me since Mikey has been the one to usually come up with wild and unpredictable ideas every other issue that ended up saving the day. In a certain way, Raphael is the only one of the team to not come up with ideas. Leonardo gives the serious battle commands, Donatello has the machines and antidotes, and Michaelangelo thinks outside the box. Raph, though, just kinda follows along while either complaining or make a smartass remark. Now that I think about it... Raph is usually the guy asking if anyone has any ideas.

While I am not exactly thrilled that the series is going to end next issue, and the fact that Major Ganz is the final villain they'll face... I am at least happy that Mondo Gecko got dragged along for the ride. He was one of my favorite characters and the comic took forever to finally have him appear, so I'm glad he didn't just leave with Metalhead. 

On a similar note, I'm also glad to see Groundchuck and Dirtbag finally make an official appearance. So far they have already appeared but as cameos or virtual clones, but this time the Turtles actually got to fight them. While I don't recall those two being on Earth long enough to even get a taste for bagels (maybe they somehow got some when they were still regular animals at the zoo?) it kinda fits. Groundchuck and Dirtbag never really had a plan. They just kind of... play things by ear while causing destruction and only have actual villain goals whenever some other villain enlists them. 

So it also sounds like Bebop and Rocksteady are causing a ruckus elsewhere and April is covering it. Hopefully when the geese go after her, this somehow involves them and by extension the Shredder. I mean, we just have to have Shredder in there somewhere in the final issue. Even if at some point issue 41 was not meant to be the end. 

I guess we'll see what happens next issue as it all comes to the grand finale. I'm gonna miss the Saturday Morning Adventures. It is literally my favorite of all the TMNT series IDW produces.