In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hypno-Potamus, formerly known as Mezmer-Ron, is a hypnotist and stage magician who was mutated into a hippopotamus. He is a recurring adversary of the Mad Dogs.
Appearance[]
Human[]
As a human, Mezmer-Ron was a man with black hair, a black goatee, dark circles under his eyes, light brown eyes, tan skin, and a plump figure. He wore a purple dress coat paired with a white dress shirt, a magenta western bow tie, dark blue dress pants, and a magenta sash around his waist. He also wore white gloves, a pink turban with a red stone, and a gold hoop earring on his left ear.
Mutant[]
Hypno-Potamus is a mutant hippopotamus with short straight black hair, a black goatee, dark circles under his eyes, red eyes, grey spots on his nose bridge, dark grey skin, and a large figure. He wears his usual outfit pre-mutation with black dress shoes.
Personality[]
Hypno is talkative and honest, admitting his genuine feelings on many occasions even to his enemies such as when he states that he cheats on the chore chart of his and Warren Stone's apartment to the Mad Dogs in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree".
Hypno, despite his devious schemes, has been shown to be warmhearted to a degree, happy to witness familial affection between the Turtles after reuniting in "Battle Nexus: New York". He also has an envious streak, pursuing every successful illusionist out of pure envy since "Newsworthy", or trying to trump his competition (often with very definitive methods).
History[]
Hypno debuted in "Newsworthy". He was previously a successful stage magician and hypnotist by the name of Mezmer-Ron, who performed magic tricks with a hippopotamus named Doug. During a performance, he was mutated after being stung and injected with ooze by one of Baron Draxum's Oozesquitoes, which the Mad Dogs had accidentally released into the city. Because of the presence of his animal partner, Mezmer-Ron transformed into a humanoid hippopotamus and began stealing the signature animals of fellow stage magicians. The Turtles attempted to capture him using a hippopotamus costume and the scent of a female hippopotamus. Hypno found them just as Warren was trying to entrap and kill them, and attempted to romance a hippopotamus-suited Michelangelo. When the ruse was revealed, he began battling the Turtles and eventually used his hypnotic powers to mesmerize them. He tried to kill Mikey first but was thwarted by Warren, who used his mystic jewel to reflect the hypnotic power at Hypno. This put Hypno in a trance, effectively causing his defeat.
Hypno reappeared in "Hypno! Part Deux". After seeing a cell phone recording of fellow magician Noah Sheck's Butterton Middle School banishing feat, he sought to overshadow his trick by making Washington Irving High School disappear. He created a mobile game app named Hippo Crush that hypnotized its players upon launching the app. This allowed Hypno to order the students to the school's auditorium and gain an audience to spectate his trick. Before his stage performance, he arranged magical top hats with hourglasses inside around the school's interior which would swallow up the school for his disappearing trick once the time was up. When he was about to make the school's mascot vanish, he noticed April leaving the audience and commanded the students to capture her once she fled the auditorium. Eventually, Hypno was confronted by Raphael and Leonardo and a fight between them broke out in the auditorium, ending in him being ejected from the building by Raph. Hypno was about to give his hypnotized victims another command when Mayhem, who had been working with April to remove all of Hypno's magical top hats from the school, teleported him away from Washington Irving High School and weaponized his hats against him. This caused his spell to break and prevented him from being able to execute his plan.
Hypno broke into the Museum of Art and Framing in "Stuck on You" planning to use the First Witch's powers to resurrect Doug who had disappeared since his mutation. However, he was surprised to see the Turtles were already there and took advantage of their indecision on whether to pursue him or the Foot Clan to forward his plan. While sawing open the coffin of the First Witch, the Turtles approached him and he quickly hypnotized Raph. He tried to order Raph to leave the museum, but his brothers managed to strike Hypno using Raph's hand.
Hypno was recruited into the Evil League of Mutants in "The Evil League of Mutants" by the league's founder Draxum aiming to destroy the meddling Turtles if they chose not to ally themselves with Draxum. When they refused, Hypno opposed Donatello who managed to defeat him using a ladder.
Hypno, having now moved in with Warren, tested out shooting Warren out of a cannon for his magic act in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree". However, Draxum invaded their apartment in search of Warren's gauntlet he wore as it was a piece of the Kuroi Yōroi. Hypno defended Warren from Draxum but was eventually separated from him after he was taken away in the Turtles' Turtle Tank and was abducted by Draxum, Huginn, and Muninn. Hypno initially agreed with Draxum to let Hypno and Warren go free if they helped capture the Turtles and hand over Warren's gauntlet Charlotte. But Draxum went back on his word and seized everyone. When it was clear Draxum would kill Warren, Hypno struck up a temporary alliance with the Mad Dogs to save Warren's life. Once Warren was safe, Hypno parted with the Mad Dogs in peace and took Warren home. Hypno was an enemy of the Mad Dogs again in his subsequent appearances.
In "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle", Hypno imprisoned the Turtles in an audio-based trap, an enchanted song called "You Got the Goods" that manifested a fun-filled fashion illusion for them to live in. It was a means to distract them as Hypno trespassed into the Magic Town House and stole Harry Houdini's journals that granted users the ability to manipulate reality. However, the Turtles eventually grew wise to his scheme and released themselves from their illusion. A chase through an illusionary building then ensued as Hypno already had the journals in his possession and he used the spells within them to impede the Turtles' efforts to capture him. His plan was ruined when Donnie used Hypno's song against him using his Battle Shell, entrancing him. Houdini's journals having been taken from him, he was abducted from the Magic Town House by Big Mama's Mystic Orb.
Hypno was assigned to his Battle Nexus Wizbang partner Donnie in a match to defeat the exceedingly smart Yōkai Cortex in a game of chess in "Battle Nexus: New York". Unfortunately, Donnie was transformed into a chess piece for the entire duration of the game, forcing Hypno, who had no knowledge of chess, to play against their opponent or else Donnie would remain a chess piece for Cortex to own. This caused Hypno to hesitate to make his first move and eventually Cortex's impatience got the better of him and he struck the table in anger, causing his king piece to fall and Hypno and Donnie to triumph. Hypno was then teleported away from his arena in front of the Grand Nexus Hotel where he then quickly left the Turtles to face Big Mama themselves.
In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, Hypno worked with Warren to break into a museum and steal the Mystic Key from its exhibit. He encountered resistance from the Turtles and fought Leo. Although Warren's van was destroyed, he and Hypno managed to secure the Mystic Key for their new partner, the Foot Clan. Hypno and Warren then left with them and later traveled with the Foot to their new hideout to proceed with their use of the Mystic Key. However, Hypno became horrified upon hearing the Foot's plan to free the Krang and soon after fled.
Biography[]
Once a tuxedo-clad human magician named Mezmer-Ron, this mutant hippo has more than one deadly magic trick up his sleeve. Hypno-Potamus' raucous roar leaves his targets frozen in fear, and his spiraling tonsils have the power to hypnotize his victims.
Abilities[]
- Hypnosis: Hypno can force opponents into a trance when his "Mezmer-roo" spell is projected onto them and he can influence those hypnotized to obey his whims. However, Hypno is susceptible to his hypnosis as well if it ever reverberates back at him.
- Telekinesis: Hypno is capable of manipulating objects with his mind, however, this ability seems to be restricted to only control over his magic items.
- Animal summoning: Hypno can summon rabbits to attack opponents from a top hat as well as doves to transport him from location to location.
Relationships[]
Friends and allies[]
- Doug: Doug was Hypno's animal assistant before his mutation and he seems to be quite fond of him. Hypno wishes to revive Doug by any means he can find as revealed in "Stuck on You".
- Warren Stone: Hypno met Warren in "Newsworthy" and found his attempts to be villainous pitiful and was stopped from killing the Turtles by Warren who refused to let anyone other than himself kill them. Hypno became allies with Warren in "The Evil League of Mutants" when they were both inducted into the organization led by Draxum. By the episode "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree", they are revealed to have become friends, moved in together, and fallen in love. They characterize their relationship as "friends/roomies/magical assistants," but are extremely tactile and affectionate with each other, visibly treating each other the way romantic couples do with nuzzles, kisses, extended snuggles, and proclamations of love. Hypno claims to cheat on his and Warren's chore chart at their home.
- The Foot Clan: Hypno partnered with the Foot in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie, working on their behalf to steal the Mystic Key. However, after realizing what the Foot sought to accomplish with the Mystic Key, doing far more than typical crime, Hypno immediately lost interest in aiding them.
Enemies[]
- The Mad Dogs: The Mad Dogs usually seek to foil Hypno's plans, but he generally doesn't make the effort to harass them unprompted. Though they are his foes, Hypno doesn't seem to have an intense disdain for the Mad Dogs, seemingly finding them more irritating than loathsome.
- Leonardo: During his attempt to make Washington Irving High School vanish completely, Hypno was confronted by Leo who hit him with a basketball in "Hypno! Part Deux".
- April O'Neil: Hypno tried to hypnotize April like he did the rest of her classmates in "Hypno! Part Deux", but failed and ordered her classmates to chase after her after she ran from Washington Irving High School's auditorium. Later in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree", Hypno was grateful towards April for freeing Warren from his gauntlet to prevent Draxum from ending his life.
- Donatello: Hypno faced Donnie during the Evil League of Mutants' fight against the Turtles in "The Evil League of Mutants", but lost to him. Later on, Hypno was imprisoned in his own illusion once Donnie used "You Got the Goods" against him in "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle", allowing him and his brothers to take Houdini's journals from him. Hypno was later paired with Donnie to compete in Big Mama's Battle Nexus Wizbang in a chess match against Cortex.
- Michelangelo: Hypno was deceived into believing that Mikey was a fellow hippopotamus in "Newsworthy" and sought to kill him first out of the rest of the Turtles for his ruse.
- Raphael: Hypno managed to briefly hypnotize Raph while he and his brothers tried to stop him from harnessing the power of the First Witch in "Stuck on You", however, he was slapped into a wall by Raph in his entranced state and defeated.
- Mayhem: Hypno's spell on the students of Washington Irving High School was broken by Mayhem in "Hypno! Part Deux" and he considered Mayhem in a cheerleader's outfit to be endearing.
- Noah Sheck: Hypno loathes Noah for his impressive magic stunt in "Hypno! Part Deux" and considers his fashion to be unsavory.
- Baron Draxum: Hypno was one of Draxum's recruits for the Evil League of Mutants, and they were briefly allies. However, they became enemies in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree", as Draxum attacked the apartment he shares with Warren to seize the latter's gauntlet, reneged on an agreement with Hypno to spare Warren's life in exchange for the Mad Dogs and the gauntlet, and then tried to execute Warren in front of Hypno. After this, Hypno furiously fought Draxum in defense of Warren's life. Hypno was never shown allying himself with Draxum again.
- Huginn & Muninn: Huginn and Muninn became Hypno's enemies once they aided Draxum in stealing Warren's gauntlet from him in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree".
- Big Mama: Hypno was stolen by Big Mama's use of the Mystic Orb in "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle" to participate in a Battle Nexus match in "Battle Nexus: New York".
- Cortex: Hypno was arranged to face Cortex in "Battle Nexus: New York" in a game of chess in Big Mama's Battle Nexus Wizbang, however, he only won because Cortex accidentally knocked over his king piece out of frustration with Hypno's reluctance to make a move.
Quotes[]
- "This could get messy. Like me gumboots in a downy drencher." ("Newsworthy")
- "Oh, yes, team-building. My former hippo assistant Doug and I used to love to team-build." ("Stuck on You")
- "Hold on! I'm not in the right outfit to fight you guys." ("The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle")
Trivia[]
- Hypno's human stage name, "Mezmer-Ron," is a play-on the word "mesmerize", which is also a synonym of the word "hypnotize".
- Hypno is an experienced juggler.[1]
- Hypno has a running gag of recalling several landmarks and cultural references to New Zealand, the home country for his voice actor, Rhys Darby.
- It was revealed in January 2020 by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Russ Carney in a Tweet that Hypno's turban is worn by him for aesthetic instead of religion.[2]
- When asked if Hypno and Warren are intended to be viewed as a romantic couple in August 2020, Rise of the TMNT staff writer Carney answered in a Tweet, "Although I've normally said that we don't typically explore relationships in kids animation, I feel that Hypno and Warren are pretty couple-y."[3]
- In July 2023, Rise of the TMNT executive producer Andy Suriano posted Rise of the TMNT: The Movie production art of Hypno and Warren with the Instagram caption, "Partners in crime…and life. 🏳️🌈 Color design: [Tanya Melendez] [Character] Design—can’t remember. (Looks like my line work; but designers let me know!)"[4][5]
- Hypno has shown a romantic interest in both men and women, implying that he is bisexual.
- In "Newsworthy", after falling for a hippopotamus, unaware that it is actually Mikey in disguise, Hypno calls "her", "future Mrs. Hypno-Potamus".
- "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree" reveals that Hypno and Warren Stone have developed romantic feelings for each other since becoming roommates.