The Kraang (2012 TV series)

The Kraang are a species of aliens that appear in the 2012 TV series. They are an amalgam of both the Utroms and Krang. The Kraang's voices are provided by Nolan North.

History
Like the Utroms in the 2003 TV series, their history is intertwined with the Turtles. It was they who attacked Splinter while he was holding the not-yet-mutated Turtles, causing them to fall into the ooze. Fifteen years later, they began kidnapping scientists with the help of a human named Snake. Their victimes included Kirby O'Neil and his teenage daughter April. This was when the Turtles began to interfere with the Kraang. After the Turtles destroyed one of their compounds, turned Snake in the mutant Snakeweed, and escaped with April, the Kraang considered the Turtles their enemies.

The Turtles and April deal with the Kraang for much of the series, trying to uncover their motives and father where they took April's father. In "Turtle Temper" their attempts to thwart the Kraang from breaking into a lab become complicated when a civilian named Vic catches them on video. Both the Turtles and the Kraang want this video for their own reasons, and the conflict results in Vic becoming the mutant Spider Bytez. In "Metalhead", Donatello reverse-engineers his robot named Metalhead from a broken Kraang-droid. When April discovers and relates the Kraang's plans to dump mutagen in the city's water supply. During the following battle, one of the Kraang is able to take over Metalhead and turns it against the Turtles, forcing Donatello to disarm his creation.

In "Monkey Brains", it is revealed that the Kraang provided Dr. Victor Falco with mutagen and offered him a lot of money to experiment with it. Falco modified the mutagen to develop a psychic neuro-chemical and tested it on his colleague Dr. Tyler Rockwell. Rockwell became a mutant monkey with psychic powers, and Falco later extracted the chemical from his brain to use on himself. The Turtles eventually saved Rockwell, defeated Falco and took his mutagen, but Falco escaped. Later in "I, Monster", Falco rants about "corporate fools" pulling his funding, implying that the Kraang were displeased with him and no longer support his research.

In The Gauntlet, more information is revealed about the Kraang. Kirby O'Neil explains that they are aliens from another dimension who brought the mutagen with them when they came to Earth. However, the physical laws of their universe are different from ours, so the mutagen does not work here the way they thought it would. In order to modify mutagen they are kidnapping human scientists, but it remains a mystery as to what they want the mutagen to do. Then in "It Came From The Depths", the mutant Leatherhead" tells the Turtles about the portal the Kraang use to travel between dimensions and entrusts them with the power cell that fuels it.

In "The Alien Agenda", it is revealed that the Kraang are behind the Worldwide Genome Project (W.G.P.). When they receive a sample of April's DNA, they send a robotic agent named Mrs. Campbell to kidnap her, but the Turtles come to her rescue. They later infiltrate W.G.P. headquarters, where they find that the Kraang have collected DNA samples from every plant and animal species on Earth. Thanks to Karai's interference, the Turtles are attacked by the Kraang and then a super-mutant that Karai creates. The battle ends with Justin's untimely demise and Karai returns to Shredder with a broken Kraang droid. From then on, the Foot Clan becomes interested in using Kraang tech in their war against the Turtles.

In "The Pulverizer", the Kraang are still searching for the power cell to open their dimensional portal. Donatello is keeping it hidden under a lead glass shield and using it to power his latest invention, "The Shellraiser". Unfortunately, the shield protecting the power cell is cracked when Donatello rushes to save his brothers from Fishface, allowing the Kraang to locate it and steal it back.

Personality
The Kraang speak in a very complicated and redundant manner, often including the subject both at the beginning and conclusion of the sentence. They always refer to each other as just "Kraang", which may indicate the limited personality of each individual. In addition, the Kraang's human guise always comprises of a well-dressed man in a business suit. These could be evidence that the Kraang have only a limited understanding of human culture and languages. Few (In the series premiere) don't wear that bluish coat over their exo-suits, and if they are not using their exo-suits to talk, they just screech and squeal. The Kraang also appear to be rather vain as they are very intrigued by watching themselves in action against the Turtles as seen when dealing with Vic (a.k.a. - Spider Bytez.)

Toys
In December 2012, The LEGO Group released a LEGO version of the Kraang. In 79100 Kraang Lab Escape, a Kraang appears without his exosuit. However, the set does include a mech walker in which the Kraang can be placed. Another variation appears in 79104 The Shellraiser Street Chase. In this set, the Kraang is in his exosuit. It has the same pieces as a normal minifigure, but is printed to show robotic detailing and a Kraang in the torso. Another LEGO Kraang was released at the Rockefeller LEGO Store as a promotional set. It was released before the other sets. This time, the exosuit has fake skin and a blue suit to disguise it as a human. However, the costume is ripped, revealing the alien villainy underneath.