Bebop and Rocksteady
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Bebop and Rocksteady | |
---|---|
Turtle Tracks (December 1987)" | |
First comic appearance | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1 (August 1988) |
Created by | |
In-story information | |
Full name | Bebop: Anton Zeck or Genealdo Rocksteady: Ivan Steranko, Owen Rockstead, or Maxence |
Species | Bebop: Common warthog Rocksteady: Black rhinoceros |
Team affiliations | Foot Clan |
Partnerships | Shredder |
Abilities | Bebop:
Rocksteady:
|
Bebop and Rocksteady are a fictional duo of a mutant warthog and mutant rhinoceros that have made appearances as characters in various media releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The two characters are henchmen who follow the orders of the franchise's chief antagonist, Shredder, the leader of the Foot Clan. Their names are both derived from genres of music: bebop is a style of jazz, while rocksteady is a Jamaican music style, a precursor to reggae.[1][2]
Character creation
The characters were designed by Peter Laird while negotiating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure deal with Playmates Toys,[3][4] because they wanted more characters to release. They were added to the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated television series and given names, personalities, and an origin story by writer David Wise, based on instructions by Fred Wolf to "put more mutants in the series".[5]
Transition to comic books and publication history
Archie Comics
Bebop and Rocksteady were featured in the comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, with similar origins and dimwittedness. As told in the cartoon, they were street gang members mutated by the Shredder to help him defeat the turtles.
As the series progressed, the animal side of Bebop and Rocksteady surfaced as they dreamed and longed for the 'old days' when they were just animals in the wild (Rocksteady, in particular, had dreams where he was a real rhino in the wild). When the Shredder and his bunch were defeated by the TMNT in the 'Final Conflict' (issue #13), Cherubae teleported Rocksteady and Bebop to an Eden World, a huge paradise planet in Dimension X full of wilderness and natural wildlife where there aren't any humans or similar to disrupt their peace. They enjoyed it.
In issues #23-#25, Krang, who was banished to the toxic waste dump planet Morbus for exiled criminals, befriended two other criminals, Slash and Bellybomb. The group stole a spaceship and headed to Earth and happened to stop along the way at the same Eden World that Bebop and Rocksteady inhabited. Being bored of Paradise, Rocksteady and Bebop joined them on the trip back to Earth. However, rather than battle the turtles, the pair left Krang and the villains to fight the turtles and wandered the streets of New York City on their own. They robbed a clothing store to get clothes similar to their original attire, and a gun store for some guns. They then went to the zoo and blasted all the cages, setting all the animals free. Just as the turtles managed to defeat Krang (who had taken over Shredder's body), Rocksteady and Bebop arrived with guns and all the zoo animals, intending to take them back to the same Eden World. The turtles surrendered and let Bebop and Rocksteady escape in the spaceship with the animals. Leonardo asked them to take the defeated Krang and Bellybomb with them back to Morbus in Dimension X (Slash had already left the scene and was wandering the city). Bebop and Rocksteady did as asked and bid the Ninja Turtles farewell. The final panel of #25 shows the two mutants removing their clothes and going back to their simple life in the wilds of the Eden World.
Bebop and Rocksteady maintained the abilities they demonstrated in the cartoon including their superhuman strength. After the initial mini-series, the duo seemed to become even less intelligent than their cartoon versions.
In Archie Comics's Sonic Universe #29 (June 2011), Bebop and Rocksteady are seen in the Zone Jail, ready to bully Sonic the Hedgehog's evil counterpart Scourge who was reading "How Not to Be Seen".
IDW Comics
Bebop and Rocksteady are shown in their human forms in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Micro Series #1 (December 2011). They work alongside an Arctic fox mutant named Alopex and appear mutated in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #25 (August 2013). Their back story is told in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Villains Micro-Series #7 (October 2013). Bebop was originally a man named Genealdo and Rocksteady was originally a man named Maxence.
In this version, they fully understood the implications of their mutation, having successfully fought and defeated all other candidates for the right after being defeated by the Turtles as humans as Genealdo was mutated into a mutant warthog and Maxence was mutated into a mutant white rhinoceros. It is revealed in the micro-series that having been kicked out of gangs in the past owing to their incompetence, they are fanatically determined to remain in the Foot Clan.[6]
They were ordered by Shredder to kill
In other media
Television
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987–1996)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/Bebop_and_Rocksteady.png/170px-Bebop_and_Rocksteady.png)
Bebop (voiced by
After this humiliating setback, The Shredder developed a plan to defeat the Turtles by mutating members of the street gang that Rocksteady and Bebop are a part of so that they would have abilities greater than the Turtles'. Rocksteady and Bebop both volunteered to undergo the procedure first (though neither was particularly aware of what it would entail) with the promise that it would allow them to exact revenge on the Turtles. As the result of being brought into contact with a common warthog and a black rhinoceros that Shredder had abducted from the zoo, Bebop mutated into a humanoid mutant warthog while Rocksteady mutated into a humanoid mutant black rhinoceros.
Although the transformation did make them larger and stronger, they remained bungling, incompetent simpletons, and were completely inept at stopping the Turtles or carrying out Shredder's plans. Throughout most of the series, they tried to attack the Turtles with brute force, without applying knowledge and strategy. In the episode "The Missing Map," when the two were accidentally caught in Krang's "brain extraction" machine, the results concluded there was "no data to extract," implying that the two possessed little or no knowledge. Most of the time, the Turtles consider them to be formidable in combat (despite their stupidity) due to their great strength and endurance, and as such, often have to resort to using their surroundings to outwit them rather than fighting them in a straightforward manner. But their attempts at the turtles seem to regularly fail due to their incompetence and goofing behavior, which all leads to them being abused both physically and verbally by Shredder and Krang, and the former even fired them in one episode. Rare examples of them achieving success would be capturing Michelangelo in "Cowabunga Shredhead" when he forgets his weapons and using a ray on all four turtles which fills them with fear in the episode "Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer the Universe."
In one episode of the series, Bebop was shown to have kept a pet turtle which got mutated into the evil turtle
In "Planet of the Turtleoids" Pt. 1, Bebop and Rocksteady were responsible for causing a cow and a mole to be exposed to a mutagen-showering machine transforming them into Groundchuck and Dirtbag by accidentally setting the respective animals free at the same time when Shredder and Krang wanted to mutate a lion and a gorilla (which were freed by the Turtleoid Kerma) to be their latest henchmen.
In season eight, Bebop and Rocksteady seemed to have some form of intelligence and talked and joked around less. Rocksteady and Bebop's last appearance is in the season 8 finale "Turtle Trek". In that episode, the Turtles destroy the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003–2009)
In the
In the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012–2017)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/16/Bebop_and_Rocksteady_%282012_TV_series%29.png/170px-Bebop_and_Rocksteady_%282012_TV_series%29.png)
Bebop and Rocksteady appear in the 2012 incarnation, voiced by J. B. Smoove and Fred Tatasciore, respectively.
Rocksteady was first introduced in the series as Ivan Steranko, a
Bebop was later on introduced as Anton Zeck, an
In "Serpent Hunt" and "The Pig and the Rhino", three months after the Kraang conquered New York, a desperate Steranko, and Zeck resolve to capture the mutated
In "The Noxious Avenger", Bebop and Rocksteady are tasked by Stockman to retrieve a chemical known as "Reagent-X" (and some groceries, to their anger) to create a mind control serum for Shredder to use on Karai, inadvertently finding some mutagen in the process. During their battle with the Turtles however, the mutagen they found wound up being thrown by Zeck all over humble sewer worker-turned-garbage man Garson Grunge, who mutated into Muckman. After witnessing him defeat the Turtles in a later encounter, Bebop and Rocksteady take advantage of the lost and confused Muckman, by convincing him that it was the Turtles' doing for his mutation. Muckman then temporarily helped the duo steal another chemical while fighting the Turtles but eventually came to his senses after noticing Bebop and Rocksteady's true nature when the Turtles rescued him, thus turning on them and destroying the chemical, which caused Bebop and Rocksteady to retreat. In "Meet Mondo Gecko", the two attended Xever's underground mutant race with the rest of the Foot and other mutants who were foes of the Turtles. In "The Deadly Venom," a mind-controlled Karai was able to defeat Rocksteady in combat as part of a test to see if the mind-control serum worked on her.
In "Attack of the Mega Shredder!" the duo is ordered to maintain constant surveillance of the Foot's base, as the Shredder believes the Turtles will soon infiltrate it. Shredder's premonition is proven correct and the two help Tiger Claw and a new trio of Shredder mutants fend off the Turtles. The two capture Leonardo and Michelangelo when they infiltrate the base once again, and prepare to dump them into Stockman's vat of mutagen. However, the two are tricked by Leonardo to create a massive mutant from the Turtles and the three Shredder mutants. Bebop also dumps some sardines into the vat with the Shredder mutants, inadvertently creating a massive Shredder mutant Kaiju that goes on a rampage. After the Turtles defeat the monster, the Shredder is livid at the two and orders Tiger Claw to deal them a savage beating for their failures.
The duo helped subdue the Turtles to be placed in Karai's traps during "The Fourfold Trap", also suffering a brutal defeat at the hands of Splinter when he came looking for his sons. In "Annihilation: Earth" Pt. 2, when the Triceratons came to Earth intending to destroy it, the two helped battle the aliens until Shredder doomed them all by killing Splinter. Terrified, the two embraced each other as they were sucked into the black hole generated by the Triceratons, making them among the first casualties of the destruction of the Earth. However, thanks to Professor Zayton Honeycutt reversing time back six months to before the events of "Annihilation: Earth", the duo was revived, and thanks to the Turtles of the future, the Black Hole Generator is stopped, before being destroyed, along with the Triceraton Mother Ship, by the Fugitoid in a kamikaze attack. Shredder is beaten by Splinter, and the duo are forced to flee Manhattan with the rest of Shredder's crew.
They reappear at the end of "City at War", where taking refuge in a condominium deep in the woods, the duo act as
When their master was fully restored to full strength (and upon receiving a massive dose of special mutagen), they were ordered to seek out the Turtles down in the subway sewers. They eventually succeeded in breaking through the steel door, where the Turtles, April, and Karai were hiding. The pair clashed with the Turtles several more times before the death of the Shredder in the fourth season finale, "Owari". Despite the death of their master, Tiger Claw, the new leader of the Foot, pressed them into service once again. After the demo dragon Kavaxas (voiced by Mark Hamill) resurrected the Shredder as a shambling corpse, Bebop and Rocksteady abandoned the Foot Clan for good in "End Times", out of an accurate fear that they were in over their heads.
In the three-part episode saga Crossover Tales, Bebop and Rocksteady are employed by 1987 counterparts of Shredder and Krang to conquer Earth of both 1987 and 2012 realities along with eliminating both realities' Turtles. Despite the frequent mistreatment from Shredder and Krang due to their history with their 1987 counterparts, Bebop and Rocksteady earn their respect before turning upon realizing they intend to destroy the planet and consider becoming superheroes instead. When the 1987 Turtles return to their reality, they tell the 1987 versions of Bebop and Rocksteady that they're allowed to choose their own lives, causing the two to start re-considering their life choices.
When Nickelodeon Rocksteady shows up his merits before he joined the Foot Clan, it shows he fought as a volunteer in Iraq, the Yugoslavian Civil War and the Congo Wars.[9]
Film
- Bebop and Rocksteady were planned to be included in Tokka and Rahzar.[10]
- Bebop and Rocksteady are mentioned in the song "Shell Shock" by Gym Class Heroes, featuring during the end credits of TMNT.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear in Turtles Forever, voiced by Braford Cameron and Johnny Castro, respectively. Their human forms are also seen when the Turtles first travel back to the 1987 dimension. In a flashback describing how the Turtles crossed dimensions, they said to their Turtle counterparts that they were facing off against Shredder and the Technodrome, meaning that he got the machine out of Dimension X (as well as Rocksteady and Bebop). Their incompetence is still shown, although it ended up saving the 2003 Shredder when Rocksteady accidentally tripped over and unplugged a laser that was about to destroy him, although Bebop ended up obliterating the 2003 Shredder anyway when he re-plugged the same laser device all the while thinking he would be pleased that they "fixed" his machine. All this happened just as the Utrom Shredder was unleashing a plan that would wipe out Ninja Turtles of all planes of existence (even if it meant destroying himself since he was still linked to them). So ironically, Bebop saved all of Turtle existence.
- Bebop and Rocksteady were planned to be included in the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, but did not make it into the final draft.[11]
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear in transport plane, resulting in him destroying the cockpit and sending the plane into a crash-dive into a river. There are no scenes in the movie in which Bebop and Rocksteady are seen apart. Casey Jones later fights Bebop and Rocksteady in TCRI's parking garage and tricks them into going into an intermodal container where Casey sets off one of their miniature explosives. Around the end of the movie, it was mentioned in April's news broadcast that Bebop and Rocksteady have been arrested and are in police custody.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, voiced by the film's producer and co-writer Seth Rogen and John Cena, respectively.[16][17] This version of the duo are members of Superfly's gang and were mutated from a common warthog and a black rhinoceros instead of humans. While Rocksteady has some arm tattoos like some of his previous incarnations, Bebop is shown to have some tattoos and more piercings on his body. Unlike previous incarnations, the two of them end up reforming near the end when they realize that they do not want to follow Superfly's plan to kill humans and team up with the Turtles to defeat him. In the end, they and the rest of Superfly's gang move in with Splinter and the Turtles.
Video games
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in the arcade game NES, the rematch with Rocksteady and Bebop was replaced with a second battle with Baxter Stockman in his mutated insect form.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project. In this version, Bebop is armed with a head-mounted ball and chain.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Missions.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear in the minibossesin the newly added Technodrome level instead).
- Rocksteady appears as a boss in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist. Bebop, however, is nowhere to be seen in this game.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear in the background of the Mount Olympus arena in the Super NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, voiced by André Sogliuzzoand Cam Clarke, respectively.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, voiced by Tim Dadabo and Fred Tatasciore, respectively.
- Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, reprised by Barry Gordon and Cam Clarke, respectively. In this game, Bebop interrupts a broadcast to inform the Turtles that the Foot Clan is taking over the Statue of Liberty. He is defeated in the first level, as is Rocksteady in the second level, then they rematch the Turtles together at the end of the third level.
- Bebop is mentioned in Injustice 2 by Leonardo as a random clash quote.
- Rocksteady will appear in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 as a playable character via downloadable content.[19]
Action figures
Bebop and Rocksteady were among the first 10 action figures released by Playmates Toys in 1988. Rocksteady was packaged with a "Retromutagen Rifle" which was most likely modeled after a US Army M60 general purpose machine gun. Other accessories included a "Turtle Carver Knife" (a bowie knife), a "Manhole Cover Shield", and a removable belt with turtle shell trophies. Bebop was packaged with a "Turtle Shell Drill" (which resembled a power drill but with its own telescopic sight attached), a double-edged knife that resembled the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, and a trashcan lid for a shield. Both retailed originally at $3.98 each.
Bebop and Rocksteady saw continuous release as they were on store shelves for close to a decade from 1988 to 1995. Three years later both Bebop and Rocksteady were reissued as KB Toys exclusives commemorating 10 years of the first toy line. The reissues have the date stamps changed from 1988 to 1998. Both figures were reissued again in 2009 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Other figure incarnations of Bebop and Rocksteady were produced for the Wacky Action, Night Ninjas, Mutant Military 2, Mutation, Smash 'em/Bash 'em, Tournament Fighters, Sewer Heroes, and Warriors of the Forgotten Sewer sub lines and in 13 in. "Giant" scale. In late 2013, figures of Bebop and Rocksteady were released for the Classic Collection toy line.
Weapons
In the 1987 series, Rocksteady and Bebop were armed with various types, makes, and models of
Besides the extensive array of firepower from both Earth and Dimension X at their disposal, Bebop and Rocksteady were also armed with combat knives; Bebop with a double-edged knife (which resembles the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife) and Rocksteady with a machete. In some episodes, they are seen fighting over a club.
The use of firearms and laser weaponry by Bebop and Rocksteady help to differentiate them from both the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinter, the Shredder, and the Foot Soldiers/Ninjas who use traditional ninja weaponry. This is because Bebop and Rocksteady were never ninjas, but street punks that were skilled in the use of firearms and knives before they were mutated.
In the game series they use a variety of different weapons. In TMNT: The Arcade Game, Rocksteady used a machine gun while Bebop used a ray gun. In The Manhattan Project, Rocksteady uses a harpoon gun, while Bebop uses a ball and chain mounted on his head. They were absent from the arcade version of Turtles in Time, but in the Super NES version, Rocksteady and Bebop were dressed as a pirate captain and first mate respectively. Rocksteady used a rapier while Bebop used a whip.
In the 2012 series, Anton Zeck/Bebop is equipped with many gadgets, such as gauntlet-mounted lasers, z-ray glasses, a sliding backpack, a tub of glue, a cloaking device run by Double A batteries, a laser
References
- ^ Dougherty, Margot (30 March 1990). "Hard Sell". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
- ^ "Critic's Notebook; Insidious Elements in Television Cartoons". The New York Times. 20 February 1990. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
- ^ "Blast from the Past #121: "Rhino Mutant" rough sketch". 28 November 2008.
- ^ "Blast from the Past #226: Mutants for Playmates Toys". 16 September 2009.
- ^ David Wise (4 December 2010). "Wikipedia states that Bebop and Rocksteady were created by Eastman & Laird. This is pure hooey. I created them, down to their names, based on instructions by Fred Wolf to "put more mutants in the series"". Facebook.
- ^ "Blog – TMNT – Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesTMNT – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Tmnt-ninjaturtles.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
- ^ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) #43–44: "Attack on Technodrome" Parts 3 & 4
- ^ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW): Bebop and Rocksteady Destroy Everything #1–4 (June 2016)
- ^ "Wanted Bebop and Rocksteady". TV Tropes. 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ Sergio Pereira (January 10, 2018). "Secrets Of The Ooze: 15 BTS Facts About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II". cbr.com. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- ^ "If Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Gets A Sequel, Expect Bebop And Rocksteady". Cinema Blend. August 11, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ "EARTH TO ECHO Director David Green in Talks to Direct TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 2; Bepop and Rocksteady to Appear". Collider. December 5, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
- ^ Dornbush, Jonathon (April 22, 2015). "Bebop and Rocksteady are coming to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2". ew.com.
- ^ Gary Anthony Williams Cast as Bebop in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 comingsoon.net, Retrieved May 15, 2015
- ^ Spencer Perry (29 May 2015). "WWE Star Sheamus Confirmed as Rocksteady for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2". comingsoon.net.
- ^ "Seth Rogen Unveils 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Movie Cast". The Hollywood Reporter. 2023-03-05. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
- ^ Murphy, J. Kim (2023-03-05). "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem' Unveils Full Voice Cast, Including Jackie Chan as Splinter". Variety. Retrieved 2023-03-05.
- ^ "TMNT: The Arcade Game Walkthrough". Neoseeker.
- ^ Romano, Sal (October 31, 2023). "Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 'Campaign' trailer; DLC characters Mr. Krabs, Zuko, Rocksteady, and Iroh announced". Gematsu. Retrieved October 31, 2023.