Purple Dragons

Dragonthugs — Purple Dragon street thugs

The Purple Dragons (or Purple Dragon Gang) are a fictional street gang in several of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continuities. They appear in the original comic books, 2003 animated series, Dreamwave comic series, and IDW comics. They do not appear in the movies, though the Foot Clan of the movies somewhat resembled a street gang. The Purple Dragon Gang is from the East Side in New York City. In all continuities, the Purple Dragons are the toughest gang on the East Side. They are identifiable by their tattoos of purple dragons. They often have some connection to The Shredder, though not always.

Depictions

Mirage Comics

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Mirage comic Purple Dragons, and Casey Jones

The Ninja Turtles fight them in the first issue of the original comic. The Purple Dragons insult the turtles repeatedly, and discover that guns and bats are useless against them. Eventually, the turtles manage to kill them all before the police arrive. The 1984 TMNT comics is the only TMNT version where the Purple Dragons do not work for the Shredder. Though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG says that they do.

The Purple Dragons appear again 25 years later in Tales of the TMNT #56. Decades ago, the gang's leader, a man named Hunter Mason, delivered a brutal beating to a teen-aged Casey Jones prior to being thrown in jail.

1987 Series and Archie TMNT Adventures

The Purple Dragon logo in the 2003 series

In the 1987 series and the Archie TMNT comics that followed, the Turtles save Channel 6 news reporter April O'Neil from a street gang that bears a remarkable resemblance to the Purple Dragons, though it is not named. This gang is in the employ of the Shredder, and they are seen only in the first season (first, second, fourth, and fifth episodes). It is from the members of this gang that the Shredder selects Bebop and Rocksteady in order to transform them into mutants. In the fourth episode, Shredder started to use the other gang members to create more mutants to defeat the Turtles. They were briefly seen in a cell near the Foot Soldier as Shredder and Krang summoned the Rock Soldiers to Earth before the Turtles had the Technodrome sucked itself into Dimension X. Scrag appeared again at the beginning of the fifth episode when the Shredder transforms him back into a human with a special weapon he wants to use on the Turtles.

In the episode The Gang's All Here, Bebop and Rocksteady recruit help from their old gang to rob a ship. Whether they were their previous gang working for the Shredder or these thugs were not under the Shredder's employ was not clarified. At first they did not recognized them due to their mutation. Among them are Lugnut (the gang leader) and Jersey Red (a large tough woman). They make a second appearance in Once Upon a Time Machine, as Bebop and Rocksteady recruit them once again to help the Shredder take over the future.

2003 Series

In the 2003 series, the Purple Dragons are, along with the Foot Clan, one of the two powerful factions in New York that serve Oroku Saki (The Shredder). The gang is led by Hun, The Utrom Shredder's right-hand man. Because of Hun's loyalty to the Shredder, they work in conjunction with the Foot Clan.

In order to join the Purple Dragons, prospects would have to commit several crimes with gang members. After that, they had to battle each other in an elimination match. If they did well enough, they would be given the tattoo and become a full member.^[1]

The Purple Dragons have been around for a while.

For much of the first season, the Purple Dragons were the most obvious enemies of the Turtles. They were also the hated enemies of Casey Jones. When Casey Jones was a kid, his father's shop was burned down by the Purple Dragons when Casey's dad refused to pay protection money.^[2]

When the Purple Dragons, the Foot and the Mafia, went to war to take over the Shredder's territory, Hun led the former.

In the aftermath of the Utrom Shredder's exile, Hun began to strengthen the Purple Dragons, evolving them from just a street gang to an organized crime syndicate. They began to steal high tech Triceraton and Federation weaponry from the government, but accidentally brought a mutant, Finn.

The Lost Episodes

When the Tengu Shredder turned New York City into a demonic capital, the Purple Dragons were holed up in their stronghold. They joined forces with the Turtles, EPF, and the Justice Force to stop the Shredder.

Fast Forward

The Purple Dragons appear in the episodes Clash of the Turtle Titans and The Journal.

Back to the Sewer

A year later, there has been word that the Shredder is coming back, so Hun has the Purple Dragons locate the Ring of Yin to grant him the power to stand up against the Shredder. They get the wrong one and the right one gets on April O'Neil. Hun captured her to extract it but she turns into a monster and flies off.

Hun struck an alliance with Baxter Stockman to hack the Foot data vaults to steal and replicate Foot power technology to steal valuable funds.

2012 Series

The Purple Dragons appear in the 2012 TV series.

They first appear in Never Say Xever. They are mainly Chinese gang composed of three members and they believe they are the toughest in the neighborhood. They have been threatening businessmen for protection money such as Mr. Murakami but when he refused to pay they attacked his store. Thanks to Leonardo not punching a member they were able to escape. The Dragons later agreed to tell the Turtles location to Xever and Chris Bradford, but the Turtles already tracked the gang to their hideout in a fortune cookie factory. A fight breaks out but the Turtles escape when the Foot Clan arrives. Soon the Dragons, Xever, and the Foot kidnap Murakami and threaten to drop him off a roof. Eventually the member Leo didn't punch throws Leo a sword and they are able to defeat the Foot.

The Dragons appear again in Panic in the Sewers. April O'Neil tricks them into accepting a pizza with a recorder on it, allowing her and the Turtles to learn of their plans to help the Shredder destroy the sewers. They assist Chris Bradford, now Dogpound, in stealing a shipment of chlorosulfonic acid and kidnap April for spying on them. While only one member of the Purple Dragons, Fong, participated in the mission, he drove the van that held April until it crashed when Donatello threw a smoke bomb to distract him and Raphael released spikes to pop the van's tires. Fong was then defeated when April kicked the car door in his face.

In Mousers Attack!, the Purple Dragons steal April's cell phone. When the Turtles go to the Dragons' hideout to get the phone back, Baxter Stockman's Mousers burrow into the building and steal all the Dragons' loot. Fong uses the distraction to get away with April's phone and takes it to Dogpound. He plans to use it to get information on the Turtles but they can't unlock it. Meanwhile Tsoi and Sid follow Leo and Raphael into the Mousers' tunnel to find out who stole their stuff. They capture Stockman and bring him to Dogpound, who only spares him so he can hack into April's phone. All three of the Dragons escape after the Turtles attack and the building is overrun with Mousers.

Members:

Fong (Voiced by Andrew Kishino) A skinny and young Purple Dragons member who is apparently the leader and uses a butcher knife as weapon. The episode Never Say Xever revolves around Leo showing him mercy.
Tsoi (Voiced by James Sie) A member of the Purple Dragons with a mustache. He uses a sledge hammer.
Sid (Voiced by Andrew Kishino) The biggest and strongest of the three Purple Dragons. He doesn't use a weapon.

Video Games

The Purple Dragons appear in the following games.

IDW

One of the covers for issue #11 of the IDW series shows the Purple Dragons. This version is lead by Angel and unlike the other versions they are not a gang but a "community watch", and that they’re sick of mutants and ninja causing trouble on their turf.