Triceratons

The Triceratons are an alien race who resemble anthropomorphic triceratops, and usually breathe a mix of nitrogen and sulfur. Outside of their native environments, usually they wear protective face helmets to provide them with necessary atmosphere. They destroyed their home planet for some unexplained reason.

Description
The Triceratons do not breathe oxygen to, but a mixture of nitrogen and sulfur. Oxygen-laden air is just as harmful as people (or most other terrestrial life forms), for it can harm them, and thus is why when deployed in an unknown environment Triceratons use protection suits and helmets to provide themselves with a suitable breathing environment. They are a tall saurian species and may be genetically similar to the Triceratops from Earth. They are much bigger and bulkier than humans, but despite seemingly being rather barbaric the Triceratons are technically very advanced, energy lamps, anti-gravity vehicles, special attack flight racks and force field technology are standard to them. However, the Triceratons are much cruder and draw their technologies mostly by looting and war, rather than to develop it themselves. The Triceratons are an extremely strong and aggressive species, as well as very loyal to their race, and are herbivores. Most Triceraton fighters adhere to a strict code of ethics, when they are at war against their enemies. The most vicious units are the shock commandos that represent the elite of the Triceraton army.

For unclear reasons (it is generally suspected to be a cosmic cause), the homeworld of the Triceratons was destroyed. They make their home worlds on asteroids, building ion drives on them, and turning them into mobile cities. The Triceratons also use these asteroids as military staging grounds, factories, universities, research centers, and arenas for sporting events. Thier government is - at least under Zanramon's rule - a republic in name only; their behavior is like - especially in the eyes of the neighbors - more of a military dictatorship. They are highly successful conquerors, thanks to the fact that they eagerly use new technology and always change their tactics to adapt to that. The Triceratons are also able to adapt to new atmospheres well thanks to their technology. Some of their agents also take a drug called Xemorene, which is an extremely, addictive drug that enhances speed and nervous systems, but withdrawal can cause heart failure and death. The Triceratons’ technology is quite advanced and use anti-gravity vehicles and energy weapons regularly. Their government is known as the Triceraton Republic (Empire in the 1987 TV series. The expansion policy of Triceratons soon brought them into conflict with the Federation, and a war broke out, for the Teleportal, an invention of the Federation scientist Professor Honeycutt, which reached an ultimate climax, as both sides wanted to abuse it as their ultimate weapon. In pursuit of Honeycutt, however, both parties came in contact with the Ninja Turtles, who had to interfere in the political affairs of these two governments (first alleged, and later actuality) to help Fugitoid.

Mirage Comics
Along with the Fugitoid, the Triceratons were one of the earliest creations of Mirage Studios, predating the TMNT. In the minds of their neighbors, they are really a large empire that covers the entire central region of the Milky Way Galaxy, a huge interstellar domain. They are saurian creatures, possibly genetically similar to the Earth species of dinosaur, the Triceratops. Tough and aggressive, they are entirely herbivorous (plant eating), and have a high sense of loyalty to their race. Part of the reason for the Triceratons’ aggressiveness stems from a cosmological phenomenon occurring in the heart of their region of space. There is a region of destructiveness that is gradually spreading out from the hub of our galactic spiral. The exact cause of this stellar disaster is not known. The Triceratons deny any problem and laugh off the idea of a killer Black Hole. However, many stars in the region have gone nova, and there are accounts of refugees arriving at the outer Triceraton worlds. The best evidence of the galactic holocaust are the Triceratons’ asteroid homeworlds. Hugh asteroids are outfitted with gigantic ion drives and become mobile cities and military staging grounds for the expanding Triceraton empire. Special asteroids are dedicated to factories, universities, research centers, and even arens for sporting and gladitorial events. The Triceraton Republic is now engaged in an ongoing conflict with the Human Federation ("Federat"). A border region consisting of thousands of square light years has each side jockeying for position. Currently, the open warfare has subsided, as both sides continue searching for a weakness or a weapon to solve the impasse. There are many reasons for the success of the Triceratons. First is their eagerness to adopt new technology, and their willingness to change their tactics accordingly. A specific technological strengths that the Triceratons have exploited thoroughly is their atmospheric adaptability that allows them to self-mutagenically breathe otherwise unsuitable air. Some Triceraton agents take Xemorene, a highly addictive stimulative drug that increases speed and efficiency of the nervous system, the withdrawal effects leading to heart failure and death. In the aftermath of the Turtles’ accidental transportation to Triceraton space (during which time the Turtles competed in a combat tournament against four Triceratons in a "Tri-Sports" bout, then took the Triceratons’ Prime Leader hostage) upon their breaking into the TCRI building, three were accidentally transported along with the Turtles back to Earth (TMNT Vol. 1, #6 & 7). While one of them was captured by DARPA (TMNT Vol. 2, #9 - 13), and another, Zog, went into hiding in the sewers until Raphael discovered him prior to the Turtles’ second confrontation with Shredder (TMNT Vol. 1, #19 & 20), the third transported Triceraton remains unaccounted for. After their accidental sojourn into Triceraton space and D'hoonib, the Turtles were invited back to the TCRI homeworld, where they were reunited with the Fugitoid. Almost immediately after they arrived, Gavat-4 Station, an outpost that had a Transmat link directly to the Utrom Homeworld, fell under heavy Triceraton attack. The Turtles agreed to help them, transporting themselves to the station and self-destructing it (TMNT: Guide to the Universe, Shell Shock). When the Turtles pursued DARPA in search of their brother, Raphael, missing after a conflict with a then-cyborg Dr. Baxter Stockman, they soon found themselves facing a Triceraton invasion in Nevada. The cityship that made up the invasion force (it followed the Turtles’ transportation signal from when they were accidentally transported there), was falling apart from its long space voyage from Triceraton space, attempted to ram and decimate the Earth by slingshooting around the sun and engaging full Impulse Speed. This attempt, however, was presumably stopped by Louis Braunze’s extraterrestrial-captured "inter-phasic cannon," which he planned to use to move the Triceraton cityship out of phase, causing it to then harmlessly pass through Earth’s outer crust and re-solidify in the molten core, vaporizing the gigantic vessel (TMNT Vol. 2, #13).

After the subsequent end of Zanramons rule, the old republican order and its main governing body, the High Council of Triceraton, was finally confirmed back into office. In addition, the Turtles had obtained by their struggle to survive in the arena world, so much respect by the Triceratons that with time, a special unit had been developed, adopted its principles, and combat tactics very much in the style of the Turtles and even had developed its own martial art called " T'Jat Uhasil (" Gentle Death") ( TMNT Vol.4 # 28).

Image Comics
During his three year stay in the sewers, the Triceraton Zog had evidently begun construction of a Triceraton aircar that Donatello would later discover and complete, then remodel (TMNT Vol. 3, #2 & 10). Eight Triceratons Transmatted to Earth when Leatherhead and his Utrom friend Dr. X tested their second attempt to build a working Transmat Device to get him "home" to the Utrom homeworld on Leonardo. The Triceratons had been looking for the Turtles for some time, and seized the opportunity to send a commando led by Captain Zak. Leonardo nearly killed one of the eight Triceratons with their own firearms, though Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Leatherhead, and Dr. X had to escape from harm's way. Lured by the homing beacon sent from the Turtles' aircar, Captain Zak has one of his Triceraton commandos translocate to the signal, appearing directly on top of the aircar as Donatello unsuspectingly pilots it home with Horridus/Sara. The Turtles managed to fight the Triceraton invasion to its climax, with the invaluable help and savage force of Leatherhead, who, along with the last Triceraton standing, was transmatted away to parts unknown (TMNT Vol. 3, #19 - 21).

Archie
A Triceraton can be seen in the crowd at the Intergalactic Wrestling match in TMNT Adventures #7

1987 Series
They appear as villainous invaders on the original TMNT show in the episode &quot;Night of the Dark Turtle&quot; (where Donatello becomes a Batman-like superhero) under the command of a Captain Zorax; but there they do not call themselves the "Triceraton Republic", instead their government is called the "Triceraton Empire". In this series, they are able to breath oxygen the same way Earth creatures do. The Triceratons invaded Earth, claiming it as part of their empire and planned to send it through their Star Gate to their galaxy to strip it clean. Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo fought them only to be defeated since they didn’t have Donatello. However thier plan was thwarted, when Donatello was able to convince the Triceratons that he was ruler of the Earth and the animatronic dinosaurs from the Natural History Museum were his minions. He also used Shredder’s powerful Micro Blaster to convince the Triceratons to leave Earth.

2001 CGI project
The Triceratons have a brief appearance in the promotional trailer for a proposed computer-animated series that was never produced.

2003 Series
The Triceratons in the 2003 TV series play a far greater role in the ongoing story. Their involvement in the story is, like the rest of the series, closely based on the Mirage comics, albeit with minor modifications. In addition, the further political development of the Triceratons that eventually leads to the restoration of the old order, was designed for the animated series.

History
For some unexplained reasons, the Triceratons accidentally destroyed their homeworld, forcing them to live on mobile rocks converted into new homeworlds. For likewise unexplained reasons, the Triceratons have been in military conflict with the Federation for quite a long time.

There Triceraton Republic was a glorious empire whose warriors were following a strict code of honor. But when Prime Leader Zanramon took over, the Republic soon began to regress into a dictatorship, with few warriors left to follow the true path of honor.

To level the scales against their hated enemies, the Triceratons looked for Professor Honeycutt, who had developed a teleportal, a device that could instantaneously transport anything across the universe and had the potential to be one of the most useful weapons in the universe. Like the Federation, the Triceratons planned to use the device to defeat the former. They captured the professor thanks to a Federation collaborator, then tried to promise Honeycutt protection if he built his device - he refused, but the deal changed when he recognized his four Turtle friends whom they also captured (and who had accidentally been transmatted to the Federation’s galaxy), who had followed him and were now threatened with death if Honeycutt refused. When he was still reluctant the threat got even bigger when the Turtles were put in Their gladiator Games, but they managed to escape, taking Zanramon hostage so as to secure their escape aboard his personal cruiser. However the Triceratons pursued them, the Triceratons soon battled against the Federation who had arrived to take custody of the escaped Fugitoid. But Honeycutt and the Turtles escaped with a transmat beam sent by the Utroms.

The Triceratons soon tracked the transmat beam from Earth and began invading to find out where Honeycutt was, but the United Nations had no idea what they were talking about. It was soon apparent that Honeycutt was not on the planet, as they could not trace his positronic signature anywhere on the planet, so they left, but they shortly came back when Honeycutt returned from the Utrom homeworld to surrender himself to the warring parties. This lead to a wide goose chase around New York City, with the Turtles doing their best to keep the Professor out of the Triceratons' hands. The Triceratons were soon ambushed by a waiting Federation fleet, who were allied with the Earth Protection Force. Honeycutt soon disabled the Fed ships, so Zanramon ordered them destroyed, but his Commander Mozar, refused to and assisted in the coup d'état led by Traximus to overthrow him. The republican system was reinstated, and the Triceratons made the first move towards a lasting peace with the Federation.

Technology
Triceraton technology is quite advanced, employing anti-gravity vehicles and energy blasters on a regular basis, on about the same level as the Federation. A notable trademark of Triceraton technology is the common triangular or pyramidical design on many vital systems, such as power cores and blasters.

Society
The Republic was once a society of honor and glory, but with Zanramon takeover, the Republic lost the sense of their warrior's history. But thanks to Traximus, the old Republic was restored.

On one of the homeworlds, there is a place called "The Games", where helpless beings are pitted against each other for fun. But Triceraton gladiators is also available to the Federation, which is their number one show.

Fast Forward
In the Fast Forward season, in the future, the Triceratons have joined the Pan Galactic Alliance. Some have even taken residence on Earth and have peaceful jobs, like paper delivery.

(4kids TMNT Blog post with concept art of various Triceratons here.)

Appearances

 * "Turtles in Space, Part 1: The Fugitoid"
 * "Turtles in Space, Part 2: The Trouble with Triceratons"
 * "Turtles in Space, Part 3: The Big House"
 * "Turtles in Space, Part 4: The Arena"
 * "Turtles in Space, Part 5: Triceraton Wars"
 * "Secret Origins, Part 1"
 * "Rogue in the House, Part 1"
 * "Rogue in the House, Part 1"
 * "The Big Brawl, Part 1"
 * "The Big Brawl, Part 2"
 * "The Big Brawl, Part 3"
 * "The Big Brawl, Part 4"
 * "Space Invaders, Part 1"
 * "Space Invaders, Part 2"
 * "Space Invaders, Part 3"
 * "Worlds Collide, Part 1"
 * "Worlds Collide, Part 2"
 * "Worlds Collide, Part 3"
 * "Future Shellshock"
 * "Timing is Everything"

Animated film Prequel
In the first movie prequel comic, Leonardo becomes angry with Raphael for trying to leave them in order to save a man from being mugged because there are four heavily armed Triceratons in the sewers who could cause devastation to the city.

Toys
The old TMNT toyline released a Triceraton figure in 1990. The toy commercial described him as "Shredder's mutant enforcer". A "Shogun Triceraton" toy was released in 1994. A Triceraton Warrior figure was released in 2004. Traximus, Commander Mozar, and Turbo Basher Zanramon figures were also released. Mini-Mutants Raphaelvs. Triceraton was released in 2007.

Video Games
The Triceratons occur in a series of games based on the comics, 1987 or the 2003 series, mostly as opponents or Level Bosses:
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project: A Triceraton was featured on the game's cover, but were never featured in the game.Editing
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Missions: Triceraton soldiers were featured as standard enemies and bosses.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue: A Triceraton served as the game's third boss.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters: A Triceraton appears as a ruthless and unplayable boss in the Genesis version.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus: Triceratons served as enemy troops that attacked the Turtles en masse. Traximus served as a boss in this game. Zog also appears in the game.
 * TMNT: Mutant Melee: Traximus was a playable character; Commander Mozar was an unplayable CPU-controlled enemy in story mode.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare: Triceratons returned once more as a standard enemy. Commander Mozar, and Zanramon (piloting the Trigolem) were bosses in this game.
 * TMNT: Mutants & Monsters Mayhem: Contains a short lightgun game against the Triceratons.

List of Known Triceratons

 * Azokk
 * Boss Zukko: Appears in Fast Forward
 * Capatian Zak: Appears in the Image Comics
 * Daz Ublem: Member of the Triceraton All-Star Team
 * Gruell: Appears in the 2003 animated series
 * General Mazog: From The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles magazine.
 * Mixx Trolo: Member of the Triceraton All-Star Team
 * Monza Ram: Leader of the Triceraton All-Star Team
 * Commander Mozar
 * Navigation Officer Thrunknor: Appears in Mirage vol. 2
 * Rez
 * Traximus
 * Major Tritan
 * Commander T'Zirk
 * Xarxfarm:Zanramon's Chief Scientist from The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles magazine.
 * Xoite Damaz: Member of the Triceraton All-Star Team
 * Zad: Appears in the story The Lesson: A Tale of the Triceraton Marines
 * Prime Leader Zanramon
 * Captain Zarg Appeared in the story Terror by Transmat!
 * Captain Zarax: Appears in the 1987 animated series. Voiced by Dorian Harewood.
 * Zed Lakin and Raz Charkov
 * General Zhath: Appeared in the Mirage Comics issue 6.
 * Zern
 * Znar
 * Sergeant Zule: Appears in the story The Lesson: A Tale of the Triceraton Marines
 * Zog
 * Zon
 * Zong
 * Zorkk
 * Zovok
 * Zunkka
 * Zura
 * Fleet Commander Zarghan (Mentioned in TMNT Volume 4, #31)