Solicit[]
New Tales of the TMNT based on the newest Ninja Turtles animated series! When Donatello is invited to a prestigious robotics camp for genius kids, he’s excited to rebuild Metalhead and compete for the camp’s prize for best robot. But when the competition goes haywire, Donnie’s forced to wonder who really invited him, and what do they want with Metalhead?
By debut comics writer Mikey Levitt (Tales of the TMNT production team) and neon punk comics artist Louie Joyce (Godzilla: Skate or Die, Haphaven, Past the Last Mountain).
Appearing in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (comics) issue 1[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Camp counselor (debut)
- Ian (debut)
- Irma (debut)
- Josefina Bishop
- Rusty (debut)
- Xavier (debut)
Species[]
Locations[]
- New York
- New York City
- NitroBotics Camp
Objects and vehicles[]
Plot[]
Open in the Turtle’s bedroom in the lair. A fan on the floor with yellow and orange streamers as well as a light underneath gives the illusion of a camp fire. Two human friends are visiting; Ian and Irma. Seated on his bed, Donatello holds a flashlight under his face and prepares to take his turn at telling a scary campfire story. Michelangelo reminds him that he’s not good at “scary”.
His story begins in the Robotics Club at Eastman High. Donatello, along with classmates Ian and Irma, is attempting to repair Metalhead. Irma calls it a violent toddler since the robot can walk, run, crawl and handle some weapons. Raphael says Donnie should just give up and Leonardo wonders why he’s so focused on fixing Metalhead. Don explains that Metalhead was torn apart attempting to save them and fixing him is the least he can do. Michelangelo tears up at that and calls the sentiment beautiful.
Donnie suggests that may be problem isn’t Metalhead’s programming, but that he isn’t getting enough energy. Irma suggests increasing the volts of electricity and Ian asks if it can still be controlled with all that power. As Don proceeds to do as suggested, he says not to worry, as he’ll be in full. . . Metalhead pops up from the table in a fighting stance and Ian calls for help.
Leonardo, Raphael, and Mikey rush to stop the runaway Metalhead. They find that the robot is quite powerful still, and it takes all four Turtles to hold Metalhead still. Donnie calls for Ian and Irma to short circuit him, which they do, stopping its rampage.
Later, at the lair, Donnie thinks about Metalhead and is sure he can repair the robot if he had better resources and equipment. He is about to give up when Leonardo walks over with an envelope in hand. He says that they accidently gave it to him at school and it’s something from some kind of robotics summer camp. Don quickly opens the envelope, which contains a card inviting him to NitroBotics, the most advanced and well-funded robotics summer camp in New York state. An excited Don exclaims that this is just what he needed. He begins to pack, hardly able to wait to tell Ian and Irma, and Mikey whispers to Raph that this is wildly convenient timing. Raph whispers back that Donnie will be gone for an entire week, which means no robot talk. Leo rushes over with an offer to help Don pack.
Once Don, Ian, and Irma reach NitroBotics, they are welcomed to the Robotics Lab by the camp counselor. Each group of participants has a fully equipped work area. The counselor tells them there is one more thing they need to know before beginning work on their ‘bots. The team with the best robot at the end of the week will win a year’s supply of robotics equipment. This news excites Don and Ian pronounces it a game changer. Irma wonders how they just which robot is the best. Ian decides he needs a picture, but before he can take one, the camp counselor snatches the phone from his hands. He also quickly grabs Don’s bō and then informs them it’s a camp rule; no phones for a week and the bō is just a safety hazard.
As Don’s group begins to work on Metalhead, another camper walks over to say that the rumors about a celebrity mutant being there are true. Don starts to introduce himself, but the boy interrupts to say he knows who he is, since he’s the only mutant turtle in camp. He introduces himself as Xavier, three year regional camp champ. Then he eyes Metalhead before asking about that “thing”. This annoys Don, who replies that it’s Metalhead, the best robot here. Xavier sneers at that, calling it beat up with a busted eye which is a flawed design anyway. He says that any decent robot uses tactile vibration sensors. Don responds by telling him to bring his robot on over and they’ll see who’s more “flawed”. Xavier turns away with a smirk and says they’ll see about that later tonight. Irma comments that they may have found someone with as big an ego as Don’s. Ian wonders what he meant by tonight. Don merely says they should get to work.
Wearing a suit embedded with sensors, Don sets about working on Metalhead’s range of motion. They successfully accomplish several types of movement before Don decides they need a more strenuous test. Irma says that while the motor functions are pretty good, they shouldn’t push Metalhead too hard. Suddenly, Don has an idea.
They go outside to the obstacle course. Off to one side, Don enacts the movements Metalhead needs in order to hop through the tire obstacle and then to climb the wall. Unfortunately, as Metalhead nears the top, a bee starts buzzing around Don’s head. He slaps his own face trying to swat the bee, and Metalhead does the same, causing him to fall into the mud below. Irma says that despite the bee fiasco, the functional capabilities far exceeded her expectations… which were pretty low.
At nightfall, the campers gather around a campfire. The counselor says they saw some incredible robots being made today and glances over towards Don, adding he already has eyes on a few teams that might win. Then he says that tonight is a special night in more ways than one before introducing Xavier as their longest-tenured camper. He then introduces Xavier’s two-time winning best robot Rusty. This robot is huge and Don says that’s an anticlimactic name for a “winning” robot. Ian wonders what Xavier’s been feeding that thing. Irma is worried they might have more competition than they thought. Don assures them that they are making progress with Metalhead and it’s not like they have to fight Rusty.
Bright lights abruptly flash on as an enclosed arena rises out of the ground. The camp counselor says he’s sure first timers are confused and then welcomes them to NitroBotics most storied tradition. It’s time for the annual Battle Bot Showdown. The campers surround the arena’s glass enclosure as all of their robots are lined up inside. The counselor tells everyone the rules – each first year takes on a returning campers’ robots until they win or are eliminated. He says they may be wondering what happens if their robot is destroyed but the good news is, they’ll have all week to fix it.
Ian is concerned they’ll lose all their progress since they just got Metalhead working again. Don is sure that with Metalhead back online, he can handle this. Irma points out Metalhead is not fully functional yet, but Don thinks he’s functional enough to handle any of the robots – except maybe Rusty, who enters and is welcomed to the arena as the defending champion. Ian crosses his fingers and chants “not us”, but the counselor announces that Team Metalhead will be taking on Xavier.
Team Metalhead huddles and Ian says Metalhead will be destroyed. Irma asks Don, the team captain, for a plan, but Don doesn’t know, as Metal isn’t ready for this. Irma tells him it was a great pep talk. The counselor calls for the captains of Team Metalhead and Team Rusty to enter the arena. Don tries to get out of the job, but Ian and Irma shove him forward. He enters the arena and the counselor tells them to have a clean, fair fight. Face to face, Don and Xavier sneer at each other and Xavier says they’ll be nothing clean about Metalhead after he’s done. Don tells him to put his robot where his mouth is and when Xavier in confused by that, Don says he thought it sounded cool.
The fight begins with Metalhead taking a hard blow to the face, then Rusty grabs his leg and slams him to the floor. Wearing his sensor suit, Don is also down on the floor, the equipment buzzing. His teammates rush over to him and Irma asks how is Rusty tracking Metalhead’s moves so quickly, as it doesn’t even have eyes. This makes Don think and he realizes the wheels on Rusty’s feet are its eyes. He remembers that Xavier said any decent robot uses tactile vibration sensors. Irma says that it’s predicting Metalhead’s moves based on vibrations. Ian thinks they are cooked, but Don has an idea. If Rusty sees with its feet, they just have to get off the floor.
As Don rises to his feet, so does Metalhead. The robot rushes at Rusty, and then springs high into the air. Metalhead grabs onto one of the overhead supports and a confused Rusty spins around in circles. Don says that it can’t fight them if it can’t see them. They have found Rusty’s fatal flaw. His teammates urge him to end this thing. Don makes a downward striking motion, and Metalhead responds, coming down on top of Rusty with a blow so hard it smashes the bigger robot.
Team Metalhead is proclaimed the new Battle Bot champion. Ian and Irma rush into the arena to hug Don. Then Irma draws attention to Xavier, who is walking over. Don puts out his hand and says he knows Xavier doesn’t like him, but it was a good fight. Xavier takes his hand and agrees. Then he tugs Don forward so he can whisper that he doesn’t know how Don did it, he doesn’t know what he pulled, but he’s watching all of them. As he leaves, Irma calls out that sore loser isn’t cute and Ian tells him to take his “L” and leave. Xavier says they think they won the whole week already and to sleep tight, because they’ll need it.
In their room at the lair, Don says that no matter what Xavier said, they were proud of Metalhead’s win. Leo has already dozed off and Raph says that robots are boring. Mikey wants to know how this was Don’s “best week ever” when they weren’t even there. Irma sticks out her tongue to blow a raspberry at Raph and says that’s exactly why it was a great week. Mikey urges Don to move this along because he’s starving, to which Ian agrees. Don asks if they didn’t hear that fight scene, which wasn’t boring. Raph punches the air and claims he could beat Rusty with his eyes shut. Flashing the light on his face again, Don says that what they don’t know is that Rusty was the least of their problems.
Later that night, after the fights, the camp counselor places a phone calls. While he waits for an answer, he mutters to himself that he can handle a week around these filthy, annoying kids and that mutant. The call is answered and he states that things went perfectly. The campers are taking advantage of every resource they are given. On the other end of the line is Josefina Bishop. She tells the agent that he’s done well and everything is going according to plan. By the end of the week, the mutant will have completely upgraded Mechazoid 04 – Metalhead – to be used in their army. She tells him to keep an eye on them. After the call has ended, Bishop says that the mutant has fallen into her trap and Mechazoid 04 will soon be hers again. It will not be the only one to reap the benefit of Don’s upgrades. She looks over to where workmen are building a huge robot whose mechanical voice says “retrieve Mechazoid 04, destroy all mutants”. Bishop says they are close to enacting their plan and thanks the mutant. Looking at a monitor which shows Don sleeping next to Metalhead, she says she’s not thanking him for returning what was hers to begin with. She says for him to sleep tight, because his time is nearly up.