Fish and ladders are an extremely unconventional set of weapons in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
History[]
Fish and ladders were famously used by martial arts movie star Lou Jitsu in Little Jacob's Ladder and 1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish – Dead Fish, as well as against his fellow contestants in the Battle Nexus.
Fish and ladders debuted in "The Evil League of Mutants". When the Turtles realized that they need more ninjutsu training to improve their fighting skills, they went to Splinter to ask him to train them more. He agreed, but his training plan involved having them study the Lou Jitsu films 1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish - Dead Fish and Little Jacob's Ladder and try to think like Lou Jitsu in combat by asking themselves W-W-L-J-D, "what would Lou Jitsu do?" The Turtles scoffed at Splinter's approach, regarding the circumstances in the film as too unlikely for the techniques to ever be useful. Later that night, the Turtles were lured to a warehouse at a dock in New Jersey with the promise of a magic show, only to find Baron Draxum and his Evil League of Mutants. By sheer chance, their clash brought them to a fish market ladder factory with an abundance of both fish and ladders. The Turtles then decided to implement W-W-L-J-D and, like Lou Jitsu, take advantage of their environment, defeating all their opponents, sans Draxum. Draxum was struck by the Turtles' use of fish and ladders, only knowing Lou Jitsu to be capable of weaponizing them as effectively.