Rocksteady and Bebop

Rocksteady and Bebop
[[File:|250px]] Bebop and Rocksteady in Turtles Forever.
Publication information
Debut	Turtle Tracks December 14, 1987
Creators	David Wise Kevin Eastman
In-story information

Rocksteady and Bebop are fictional characters in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series and the Archie TMNT Adventures comics as well as most of the classic TMNT video games. They follow the orders of series villain The Shredder, leader of the Foot Clan. Their names are both from genres of music: bebop is a style of jazz; while rocksteady is a Jamaican music style, a precursor to reggae.

1987 cartoon

Bebop and Rocksteady were originally human, part of a street gang in New York City that was employed by Shredder. Rocksteady was originally a short and stocky blond Caucasian man (who sported army camouflage pants that would be replaced with simple beige cargo pants later while also occasionally sporting a strong Army helmet on his head in his mutated form). Bebop was a taller African American man with a purple Mohawk. With the other members of their gang, they were sent out to stop a Channel 6 reporter named April O'Neil from doing a report about crime in the city. April ran down into the sewers while being chased by the street gang and met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who then defeated the gang in a fight.

Rocksteady and Bebop in the original cartoon.

After this humiliating setback, The Shredder developed a plan to defeat the Turtles by mutating members of the street gang, so that they would have abilities parallel to the Turtles'. Rocksteady and Bebop both volunteered to undergo the procedure (though neither was particularly aware of what it would entail) with the promise that it would allow them to exact revenge on the Turtles. Bebop was mutated into a human warthog and Rocksteady into a rhinoceros. However, though the transformation did make them larger and stronger, they remained incompetent simpletons and were completely inept at stopping the Turtles or carrying out Shredder's plans. For example, in "Enter the Shredder" they charged at the Turtles, who jumped, and crashed into each other. Donatello commented that their mutations didn't "up their IQ's any." For most of the series they were employed for purposes however, the Turtles certainly consider them to be formidable (despite their stupidity) in combat due to their great strength and endurance, and as such, often use their intelligence 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 and same with planning in Their bosses evil schemes, which all leads to them being abused both physically and verbally by Shredder and too at times Krang. In one episode of the series, Bebop was shown to have kept a pet turtle, which got mutated into the evil turtle Slash.

Rocksteady and Bebop's last appearance is in the season 8 finale Turtle Trek. In that episode, the Turtles destroy the Technodrome's engines, trapping it and its inhabitants in Dimension X for good. While their bosses Krang and Shredder returned in the 10th and final season Bebop and Rocksteady did not. Their whereabouts after being trapped in Dimension X were not explained.

They made a reappearance in the made-for-TV movie 'Turtles Forever'. In the 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 replugged 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 and Rocksteady saved all of Turtle existence.

2003 series

In the 2003 series episode "Fallen Angel", two characters are seen that are dressed like Bebop and Rocksteady, and resemble their pre-mutated appearances. In the episode "Samurai Tourist", the character Gen, also an anthropomorphic rhinoceros, puts on human clothing that makes him look almost identical to Rocksteady. Also in that episode, Gen is chased by Kojima, an assassin who happens to be a humanoid warthog.

In the Fast Forward episode "Future Shellshock", Michelangelo falls out of a flying truck and onto another vehicle, the driver of which greatly resembles Bebop, only with smaller, more modern sunglasses.

2012 series

Rocksteady and Bebop as they appear in the 2012 animated series.

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 Russian arms dealer and artifact collector with a gold tooth, a diamond right eye, and armed with a pair of knuckle dusters (which have a picture of the Soviet hammer and sickle on each), who is an old friend and business partner of the Shredder's. Steranko is known to have Excalibur, the Spear of Destiny, Alexander the Great's armor, a polar bear hunting trophy, and a taxidermy rhinoceros in his collection and the ability to tell the difference between a fake artifact and a real one.

He first appeared in "Enemy of My Enemy," where he met with Shredder for a weapons deal. Shredder didn't seem to trust him very well, and had the cargo searched just in case Steranko was pulling any tricks. During the Turtles' fight with Shredder, Steranko got knocked out by the weapon that was being sold to the Foot Clan. In "A Chinatown Ghost Story," it was mentioned that Steranko would pay the Purple Dragons through the roof for the Mystic Dagger.

Bebop was later on introduced as Anton Zeck, an African American professional thief in a high-tech Tron-based suit with an energy mohawk, his dance is almost similar to Michael Jackson's moves, and armed with high-tech gadgets who gave Steranko his diamond right eye in an earlier encounter. He first appeared in "The Legend of the Kuro Kabuto," where he was sent by Steranko to steal Shredder's helmet, the titular Kuro Kabuto. Following his theft, where he left his calling card on a glued-down Rahzar, Zeck ran into the Turtles, who stole the kabuto from him. The Turtles, Rahzar, Fishface, Tiger Claw, and Baxter Stockman fought Zeck over the helmet, but he managed to evade them. When Zeck met up with Steranko in his helicopter, they both discovered that Leonardo swapped the helmet out with dirty diapers at the last minute, to Steranko's rage.

In "Serpent Hunt," three months after the Kraang conquered New York, Steranko and Zeck, desperate to escape their grasp, resolved to capture the mutated Karai in exchange for Shredder securing their safe departure from the city. The duo succeeded, but Shredder was livid at the revelation that Steranko was behind the theft of the Kabuto helmet, and a battle with the Turtles and the Foot Clan ensued over the captured Karai, who eventually escaped. Enraged, Shredder proceeded to have the duo mutated in Stockman-Fly's lab, despite Steranko's pleads for forgiveness. As the result of pouring common warthog and white rhinoceros DNA into two mutagen batches, Zeck and Steranko mutated into a humanoid warthog and rhinoceros, much to their fury and indignation.

In "The Pig and the Rhino," the two were forced to join the Foot Clan upon being beaten up by Shredder. While Zeck stated that being a warthog would not be good for his job, Steranko states that they will serve Shredder....for now. The two of them tasked with once again retrieving Karai for Shredder in which if they fail, Shredder will introduce them to new ways of pain. However, Zeck and Steranko decided to withdraw from the task for a while to get revenge of the Turtles, believing that if they hadn't interfered with the deal at the docks, they wouldn't be in their current condition. They subdued Donatello, Raphael, April O'Neil and Casey Jones and held them hostage. After they cornered the last two Turtles at Coney Island, Leonardo freed the hostages while Michelangelo distracted the captors by trying to come up with mutant names, finally getting them off of the van that they arrived in which Steranko was named Rocksteady and Zeck was named Bebop. While Rocksteady liked the mutant name, Bebop didn't. They fought all six of their enemies over the batch of retro-mutagen Donatello had concocted, seeking to become human again. After an ultimately unsuccessful battle with the Turtles, the duo escaped. They were able to recapture Karai and deliver her to their new master. Rocksteady became the Shredder's connection to the Russian mafia, as mentioned in "Casey Jones Vs. the Underworld".

In "The Noxious Avenger," Bebop and Rocksteady were tasked by Stockman to retrieve a chemical known as "Reagent-X" (and some groceries, to their anger) in order for to create a Mind Control Serum for Shredder to use on the Mighty Mutantimals and 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 took 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 the Reagent-X 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 are 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 with the intention of destroying 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 were 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 bodyguards for Shredder as he is cared for by Stockman-Fly due to the injuries he sustained leaving him hooked up to medical equipment to keep him alive before Stockman-Fly injects him with mutagen. They soon are teamed up with Tiger Claw in "Broken Foot" to defend the Auman Chemicals factory from Karai as she begins to systematically take down Shredder's criminal empire one piece at a time. After Karai, Shinigami, and Leo are able to damage the factory, but are forced to flee due to being outnumbered by Foot-bots, the duo pursue the Party Wagon, and manage to crash it by removing one of its back tires with their own van's weapons, but the Turtles escape. They regroup with Tiger Claw to defend the factory producing the Foot-bots, but though they manage to capture Karai, Shinigami, and the Foot Ninja with them, the Turtles, minus Donatello, who was injured by the earlier attack's explosives, are able to rescue them and destroy the factory, forcing the duo and Tiger Claw to escape before the NYPD arrived to investigate the destruction.

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.

Archie Comics

Rocksteady and Bebop were featured in the following TMNT Adventures series, with similar origins and dimwittedness. Like the cartoon, they were punks 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), Rocksteady and Bebop were banished to an Eden-World, a huge paradise planet in Dimension X full of wilderness and natural wildlife, without any humans or similar to disrupt their peace, and they enjoyed it. They became less interested in evil as their intelligence increased.

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 but stopped at the same Eden World Bebop and Rocksteady happened to be on. Being bored of Paradise, Rocksteady and Bebop join 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 rob a clothing store to get clothes similar to their original attire. They then rob a gun store for some guns. Then they 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.

IDW Comics

Bebop and Rocksteady are shown in their human forms in the Raphael Micro-Series One-shot. They work alongside a fox mutant and it is strongly hinted that they will soon be mutated as well.

Character creation

The characters were designed by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird while they were negotiating the action figure deal with Playmates, as they wanted more characters to release. They were added into the show 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".

Weapons

In the 1987 cartoon series, Rocksteady and Bebop were armed with various types, makes, and models of firearms and laser weaponry from both Earth and Dimension X. In the early episodes of the 1987 cartoon series, Bebop and Rocksteady were armed with automatic rifles and machine guns, which they used against the Turtles. Later in the series, they were armed with laser rifles and pistols from Dimension X. In "The Cat Woman from Channel Six", Rocksteady carried a sword and Bebop carried a baseball bat.

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-bladed knife (which resembles the Gerber Mark II combat knife) and Rocksteady with a Bowie knife. In some episodes, they are seen fighting with 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. In Turtles in Time, Rocksteady and Bebop were dressed as a pirate captain and first mate respectively. Rocksteady used a rapier while Bebop used a whip.

Voice actors

In the cartoon series Bebop was voiced by Barry Gordon (who also voiced Donatello) and Rocksteady was voiced by Cam Clarke (who did the voice of Leonardo). Greg Berg was the 1989 Alternate for Bebop and Keith Tuttle was the 1989 Alternate for Rocksteady.

Other appearances

In the 2003 series episode "Fallen Angel", there appears, for the first time, two characters that are dressed and look identical to Rocksteady and Bebop as humans. In the episode "Samurai Tourist", the humanoid rhino Gen, puts on human clothing that makes him look almost identical to Rocksteady. Also in that episode, Gen is chased by Kojima, an assassin who happens to be a humanoid warthog.

In the Fast Forward episode "Future Shellshock", Michelangelo falls out of a flying truck and onto another vehicle, the driver of which greatly resembles Bebop, only with smaller, more modern sunglasses.

In TMNT film, there was a rap song called "Shell Shock" playing in the end credits. Bebop and Rocksteady were mentioned in the song.

Bebop and Rocksteady both appear in the 25th Anniversary crossover movie, Turtles Forever, voiced by Braford Cameron (Bebop) and Johnny Castro (Rocksteady). You can also see them in human form when the Turtles first travel back to the 1987 dimension.

In Archie's Sonic Universe 29, they are seen as cameos in the Zone Jail, ready to bully Scourge, who was reading "How to not be seen", which is a Monty Python reference.

Ervin Burrell and Bill Rawls from the HBO series The Wire were partially inspired by Rocksteady and Bebop, according to series creator David Simon.

Characters resembling the human forms of Bebop and Rocksteady appear in the IDW comics Raphael issue.

Video games

Rocksteady and Bebop both appear frequently in the classic TMNT video games, which are based on the 1987 cartoon. They are usually level bosses, usually for one of the levels of the first half of the game—meaning they are easily defeated. Their exact placements vary from game to game:

• In the first TMNT video game (which was released for the NES, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Virtual Console), the Turtles face Bebop before going up against Rocksteady. In this game, Bebop is actually a mini-boss, while Rocksteady is the level boss. Confusingly, strategy reviews of this game often reversed their names. ^{[citation needed]}
• In the original TMNT arcade game, the Turtles defeat Rocksteady in the first level and Bebop in the second level, and then have a rematch with Rocksteady and Bebop together immediately before rescuing April. Occasionally, Rocksteady and Bebop will bump into each other in their attempts to charge the Turtles, but it does not affect their energy. When the game was released on the NES, the rematch with Rocksteady and Bebop was replaced with a second battle with Baxter Stockman in his mutated insect form.
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, Rocksteady is the first level boss and Bebop is the third level boss. In this version, Bebop is armed with a head-mounted ball and chain.
• Rocksteady and Bebop appear as the first and second bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan.
• Rocksteady and Bebop appear as the first and second bosses in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers.
• Bebop and Rocksteady appear as bosses in the PC game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions.
• Rocksteady and Bebop are not part of the original arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. However, they are part of the Super NES port of the game. They are paired together as a double-boss, and appear in the pirate ship level Skull and Crossbones where the time travel goes to 1530, which in the arcade version was formerly Tokka and Rahzar's level (Tokka and Rahzar became mini-bosses in the Technodrome level instead). As in the arcade game, they can bump into each other in their attempts to charge the Turtles; however, they do take damage for it this time. In fact, the player only needs to attack one of them in order to defeat both. As appropriate for the level, they are both dressed in pirate regalia instead of their usual attire, and wield a whip and a rapier instead of firearms.
• Rocksteady appears as the second level boss of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist for the Sega Genesis. He returns in level four where the first three bosses are fought again. Bebop, however, is nowhere to be seen in this game.
• The duo appears in the background of the Mount Olympus arena in the Super NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters.
• The duo are referred to in Art VS Science "AIM fire" in the line "Beebop and Rocksteady never won the war"

Action figures

The original Rocksteady action figure was released by Playmates Toys in 1988. This had the character armed with an automatic rifle (that was fitted with a telescopic sight on top of the receiver), which resembled the appearance of the US Army's M60 general purpose machine gun, as well as a bowie knife, manhole cover shield, and belt with turtle shells. The first Bebop figure that Playmates released in the same year was armed with a power drill, a double-bladed knife, and a trashcan lid for a shield.

Both of the original figures were reissued in the 1990s and again in 2009 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Other figure incarnations of Bebop and Rocksteady were produced for the Wacky Action, Night Ninjas, Mutant Military 2, and Mutatin' lines and in 13" scale.

External links

• Bebop's profile on the Official TMNT website
• Rocksteady's profile on the Official TMNT website
• Heroes in a Half Shell - Part Two at the Official TMNT website, is the episode "Enter the Shredder" where Rocksteady and Bebop are mutated and first appear
• Turtle Trek at the Official TMNT website, is the last episode in which Bebop and Rocksteady appeared
• The Technodrome website - Images of Bebop and Rocksteady together