Seeing is Believing is the comic in the twenty-third issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Appearing in Seeing is Believing[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Dr. Blip (illusion)
- Casey Jones (illusion)
Locations[]
- New York City
- Coffee shop
- Lair
Objects and vehicles[]
- Hologram projector
- T-Phone
Synopsis[]
In his lab, Donatello records his thoughts as he prepares to conduct experiment #37G-002 – a test run of his new invention, the hologram projector. He is upset that the others don’t think it will work and is determined to show them all. He clips on the belt that holds the device and also his T-Phone. The belt transmits a moving hologram around him based on photos transmitted from his T-Phone. He is sure the device will allow his family to go anywhere they’d like to.
Since he only has photos of Casey and April, he uses one of Casey to create his first illusion and heads topside to begin his test. As “Casey” he enters a coffee shop and successfully orders a triple-caf banana nut raising smoothie. A moment later he spots April seated nearby and decides if he can fool her then his disguise is perfect.
Walking over, he attempts to emulate Casey’s speech pattern as he greets April. She jumps to her feet suddenly and grabs his arm, dragging him into a back room. Once in there, April turns on him and asks what’s going on. Don tries to keep up the charade, but April tells him she recognizes his voice and guesses that he’s using some new gadget.
Don explains that it’s a hologram projector and then tells her how it works. Forgetting that he doesn’t actually have pockets, Don tries to tuck his T-Phone away and accidently drops it on the floor, where it breaks. April asks him what will happen now that the T-Phone can’t send photos to the projector.
His answer is that nothing will happen – the image will hold unless another signal overrides it. As they step out of the back room, April reminds him that the city runs on wi-fi, especially in coffee shops. All around them are customers who are on their phones or tablets.
Nearby a customer is watching “Super Robo Mecha Force Five!” Don notices April staring at him and asks if something happened. She tells him he’s just picked up a different signal and that he needs to get out of there now before he turns into something worse. Wanting to know what has her so concerned, he glances at his reflection in the window as sees that he’s turned into Dr. Blip from the TV show.
Freaking out about what he could potentially have turned into, Don thinks that maybe if he boosts the belt’s power it will hold the Dr. Blip image until he gets home. He heads out, but along the way are two police officers receiving a photo of a wanted criminal. Passing near them causes the belt to pick up the signal from the police officer’s phone and he transforms into the criminal. They spot him and the chase begins.
Don next runs past a man receiving photos of his grandmother on his phone and of course undergoes another transformation, turning into an old woman in a flowered dress. He sees himself in a window and decides that boosting the belt’s power wasn’t such a good idea because he’s pulling in more signals than ever.
Now looking like a grandma, Don runs past the police and leaps for a fire escape, thinking how glad he is that Raph isn’t there to see him because he’s never live it down. He makes it to a rooftop and tells himself that the experiment was a bust. As he heads back to the lair, he passes a couple having a rooftop picnic. The man is showing his girl a picture of a Bigfoot he claims was taken by his cousin. Don walks by them and is turned into Bigfoot, much to the couple’s surprise. He stops to ask for a slice of their pizza before continuing on his way.
Later, back in the lair, Donatello determines that he can’t solve the problem of signal interruption. He’s thrown out the belt and has started thinking about his next invention. April suddenly walks in, having taken the belt from the trash, and tells him every scientist has setbacks. She’s certain he can figure out a way to make it work.
Encouraged, he tries a direct connection to a hard drive. April tells him just never again try to do an impression of Casey because it was terrible. Don turns with the belt in his hand, having transformed himself into April this time. She screams and snatches the belt away from him and decides that on second thought, she’s putting it back in the trash.
Trivia[]
- Oddly, this issue only contained a single 6-page story. Usually, TMNT Magazine contains either two 6-page stories or one 12-page story.