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Bebop and Rocksteady are fictional characters in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series and the Archie TMNT Adventures comics. They follow the orders of series villain The Shredder, leader of the Foot Clan.

Contents 1 Character biographies 2 Weapons of choice for Bebop and Rocksteady 3 Trivia 4 Video games 5 External links

[edit] Character biographies

Bebop and Rocksteady used to be human, and part of a street gang in New York City that was employed by Shredder. With 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 in the sewers chased by the street gang, and met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who defeated the street gang in a fight.

After this humiliating setback, The Shredder developed a plan to defeat the Turtles by mutating members of this street gang, so that they would have abilities parallel to the Turtles'. Bebop and Rocksteady both volunteered to undergo the procedure (though neither was particularly aware of what it would entail) with the promise that it would let them get 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 completely inept at stopping the Turtles or carrying out Shredder's plans. For most of the series they were employed for comic relief purposes. In one episode of the series, Bebop was shown to have kept a pet turtle, which got mutated into the evil turtle Slash.

Bebop and Rocksteady'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. Bebop and Rocksteady are never seen again after that episode. But it is assumed that they are still somewhere in Dimension X.

Bebop and Rocksteady were featured in the following TMNT Adventures series, with similar origins and dimwitedness. However, the two eventually switched sides and became good guys.

[edit] Weapons of choice for Bebop and Rocksteady

In the 1987 cartoon series, Bebop and Rocksteady 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 in the first major battles between the two sides. Later in the series, they were armed with laser rifles and pistols from Dimension X.

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.

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 and they were originally street punks who were skilled in the use of firearms before they were mutated.

In the game series, especially Turtles in Time, they use a large variety of unusual weaponry, including a ball and chain on the head, and a scimitar.

[edit] Trivia

• In the cartoon series Bebop was voiced by Barry Gordon and Rocksteady was voiced by Cam Clarke.

• The Rocksteady action figure that was released by Playmates for the 1987 TMNT figure series had Rocksteady 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 M-60 general purpose machine gun. In the first episodes of the 1987 cartoon series, Rocksteady was seen armed with an automatic rifle which looked like the M-60 GPMG before himself and Bebop were re-equipped with laser combat rifles from Dimension X later on in the cartoon series.

• Their names are both from genres of music: Bebop is a style of Jazz and Rocksteady is a kind of Jamaican music, a precursor to Reggae.

• The attire and weaponry (e.g. the firearms and knife) of Rocksteady (both the cartoon character and the action figure) is possibly influenced by both the character of Rambo from the Rambo movies and the character of Animal Mother (played by actor Adam Baldwin) from the 1987 Vietnam War movie, Full Metal Jacket.

• In the 2003 cartoon episode Samurai Tourist, the humanoid rhinocerous Gen, puts on human clothing that makes him look identical to Rocksteady. In that episode, Gen is chased by Kojima, an assassin who happens to be a humanoid warthog. In another episode, Future Shellshock, Michelangelo falls out of a truck and onto another vehicle, the driver of which looks exactly like Bebop, only with smaller more modern sunglasses.

• Bebop and Rocksteady were the creations of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird whilst co-developing the background behind the original animated series, both hated the toning down of the characters by the second season and refused to use the goofier versions in the second movie, which the studios insisted on.

[edit] Video games

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

• In the first Ninja Turtles game released for the NES, 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 mistakenly mixed up the pair's names.
• 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 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 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, which 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. 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. This was their last appearance in a videogame, and the only game where neither of them is a level boss.

[edit] 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 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

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The TMNT Franchise

Comics: Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures | Daily comic strip TV series: 1987 cartoon (episode list) | The Next Mutation | 2003 cartoon (episode list) (allusions) Films: TMNT (1990) | TMNT II | TMNT III | TMNT (2007) Games: Role-playing games | Video games Other related articles: Comparisons within TMNT | Food tie-ins | Action figures | Cultural references

The TMNT Universe

Characters: Leonardo | Michelangelo | Donatello | Raphael | Splinter | April O'Neil | The Shredder | List of characters Races and organisations: Foot Clan | Utrom | List of races and organisations Objects and places: Battle Nexus | Dimension X | Magical objects | Planets | Robots | Technodrome

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