Mikey encounters a giant crocodile in the sewers. When the Turtles track it down, they discover a big surprise...
First appearance of Leatherhead
This episode provides examples of
- Animated Adaptation: The episode is partially based on the Mirage comic Leatherhead, Too, which marked Leatherhead's second appearance.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Michelangelo is the first to encounter Leatherhead, and when he tells them, the rest of the Turtles disbelieve him. At this point in the series, they have already encountered/know the existence of ninjas, criminal organizations, superheroes, cryptids, aliens, and mystical forces, yet a giant crocodile (mutated in the same way they were) is unbelievable. Heck, as Leo reminds Raph, this isn't even the first time they've encountered a giant crocodile in the sewers!Leo: Hold up, guys. Raph, remember that albino croc we tangled with years ago? Mike's croc could actually exist.
Mike: It does exist! - Berserk Button:
- The Shredder is this for Leatherhead since he was an enemy of the Utroms.
- On a lighter note, Mike is not amused when April makes a joke about having used his comic book pages to wrap her stuff.Mike: Um, April? What are you doing with my Silver Sentry comics?
April: Oh, I needed something to wrap my stuff in and these were just lying about, so I—
Mike: Ahh!
April: Calm down, Mikey, I'm joking! I know better than to mess with a guy's comics.
Mike: Oh, ha, ha. Real funny, April. Enjoy your packing.
- Big Damn Heroes: Stockman uses the Utrom's exo-skeleton to effortlessly thrash the Turtles, but Leatherhead intervenes the moment he learns Stockman previously worked for the Shredder.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ends with the turtles’ old lair caving in on Leatherhead and Mikey pities him for being alone.
- Continuity Nod: When Mikey tells his brothers he's seen a giant croc in the sewers, Leo reminds Raph that they encountered a giant albino crocodile when they were children, a reference to the Season 1 episode "Tales of Leo"
- Crazy-Prepared: The Turtles are able to beat the Turtle-bot because Splinter had trained them to use all sorts of weapons. The Turtle-bot can't keep up with the altered fighting styles.
- Crippling Overspecialization: The Turtle-bot is designed to scan and mimic each Turtle's fighting style, allowing it to effortlessly beat back Leo's swordplay and so forth. However, this only works when the Turtles use their signature weapons. When Raphael starts using Leonardo's swords, the robot continues using the sai and can no longer keep up with the altered fighting style. The other Turtles changing up weapons causes the Turtle-bot to be effortlessly destroyed.
- Demonization: Stockman got Leatherhead on his side by saying it was the Turtles who caused the Utroms to leave him behind and destroyed the TCRI building.
- Driven to Suicide: With the lair collapsing, Leatherhead holds it up so the Turtles can escape, but he won't even try to save himself. Next season would reveal that he survived the collapse, though, and was found by Bishop.
- Evil Gloating: Stockman just had to get his in by recalling how many times the Turtles defeated him while he was working for the Shredder while he has them at his mercy, which ends up exposing his true colors to Leatherhead.Stockman: I can't count how many times you meddlesome freaks robbed me of my revenge when I was working for the Shredder! But this time, nothing will stop me! (gets attacked by Leatherhead in Unstoppable Rage mode)
Leatherhead: The Shredder? You worked for the Shredder!? He was the Utroms' most hated enemy! You weren't intending to help me with the transmat! YOU USED ME! - Evil Knockoff: Baxter Stockman's Turtle-bot.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After Don explains how the Turtle-bot is perfectly mimicking their fighting styles, Raph gets the idea to borrow Leo's swords and change up the fighting style.
- Foreshadowing: In the beginning, Leonardo and Splinter watch a newscast on increasing gang activity, which will come to a head in "City At War".
- Donnie also references the "underwater submersible" he's working on, which will become the Shell Sub used in "Junklantis" and featured in several other episodes.
- Genius Bruiser: Leatherhead is a big, strong Sewer Gator and he also has genius level intellect.Mike: Well, what do you know? It's just a big crocodile version of Don!
- The Insomniac: Mikey, still bunking with Raph while April stays with the family in Mikey's room, is kept awake by Raph's snoring.Mikey: People in New Jersey are trying to sleep!
- Irony: Leatherhead set up shop in the remains of the Turtles' original lair, much to Mikey's surprise. As it happens, he's also working with Stockman (the guy inadvertently responsible for the collapse that forced the Turtles to find a new place to live).
- Let's You and Him Fight: Due to Leatherhead's rages at the beginning, the Turtles and he come to blows at first. It's only after Leatherhead is pinned down by all four do they talk and befriend each other.
- Metamorphosis: Leatherhead's back story and mutation are revealed
- Mirror Boss: The Turtle-bot essentially can copy all the Turtles abilities and weapons. And with their copied skills and weapons, he can pretty much battle the Turtles with their own fighting abilities and weapons.
- Mythology Gag: The Turtle-bot looks like Metalhead.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Stockman's gloating causes Leatherhead to learn about his connection to the Shredder and leads to him freaking out.
- Reluctant Monster: The Turtles initially mistake Leatherhead for a mindless monster, until they learn the truth.
- The Reveal: The hulking silhouette seen walking through the smoke in Secret Origins Part 3 turns out to be a mutated crocodile named Leatherhead who was a friend of the Utroms.
- Sewer Gator: Leatherhead started out as an exotic pet, who was flushed into the sewers, before the Utroms found him and he was accidentally exposed to the same mutagen that mutated the Turtles and Splinter.
- Shout-Out:
- Mikey imitates Steve Irwin when he goes searching for Leatherhead.
- Leatherhead wearing his labcoat is a reference to the Spider-Man villain the Lizard. One of his sleeves is also torn, as a reference to the Lizard's alter ego, Dr. Connors' missing arm.
- Tempting Fate: Catching his breath, Mikey tells the others that he thinks he lost Leatherhead and is safe. Leatherhead immediately bursts out of the water and tackles him.
- This Is Gonna Suck: As Turtle-bot assembles, Donatello doesn't know what it is, but he knows it's not gonna be anything good.
- True Companions: After seeing the Bittersweet Ending play out, Don notes how the Turtles always have each other in the good times and the bad.
- Understatement: Apologizing to Mikey, Leatherhead says he sometimes gets carried away.
- Unskilled, but Strong: While Raph can use Leo's katanas competently, and Leo has no issues using Donnie's bo staff, Don struggles with Raph's sais, accidentally flinging one out of his hand before rather gracelessly (but effectively) throwing the other at the Turtle-bot (Mikey doesn't bother trading out his chucks, but goes to town on the bot with some steel pipes). Justified in that not only is Don a slightly weaker fighter than his older brothers, but he wouldn't be used to handling two weapons at once the way the others do.
- Unstoppable Rage: Leatherhead admits that losing his temper leads to this. It takes all the Turtles tackling him to hold him down long enough for him to calm down.
- Unwitting Pawn: Stockman had claimed he would help Leatherhead finish building a Transmat device in exchange for both repairing an Utrom exo-skeleton to use as a new body and building Turtle-bot. Leatherhead realizes he was duped when Stockman talks about having worked for the Shredder, and he reacts accordingly.
- Villain Ball: Stockman had Leatherhead convinced the Turtles were enemies of the Utroms and he was a friend of them... until he makes the mistake of revealing he used to work for the Shredder, the Utroms' most hated enemy, right in front of Leatherhead while he has the Turtles at his mercy.
- Wham Shot: Leatherhead's associate isn't an Utrom; it's Stockman in one of their exo-skeletons.
- You Are Not Alone: Inverted. Leatherhead comes to this conclusion in the end, despite Mikey's desperate efforts to talk him out of it.
