Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Krang My Man

[Krang & Shredder: best friends for life]
Written by GL

Say it loud and say it proud: we love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). We love 'em to death. No other anthropomorphic animal character-based cartoon ever caught out attentions so damn blatantly. We went and bought the vehicles, the play-sets and the movies. Dammit, we taped the movies ! But to love the turtles mean to also love the villains they faced - even if they were oozing pus balls. Like Krang.

Krang first appeared in the 1987 TMNT cartoon and went on to make appearances in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic book, as well as most of the classic TMNT video games. However, Krang never made an appearance in any of the live action movies.

Krang is, despite his pus ball appearance, an extremely intelligent warlord from another world known as Dimension X. He somehow took command of an army of Rock Soldiers under the leadership of General Traag, and stole the Technodrome (that mother of a fortress he rides around in). One day, an unexplained incident occurred that caused Krang to be removed of his body and made to a brain-like, pus-like form, also resulting in his exile from Dimension X to Earth, along with his army and the Technodrome.

[Bachelor Krang: no fake]

On Earth, Krang and Shredder hit it off, who, along with his robotic Foot Soldier army, moved into the Technodrome. In exchange, the Shredder designed a new body for Krang, a human-shaped exo-suit. Shredder lived up to his part of the bargain since he was unable to deal with the turtles and needed Krang's help.

Krang's ultimate goal is to take over the Earth (just like every other super-villain). Every plan throughout the cartoon revolves around either taking over the world or powering-up the Technodrome to take over the world. However, it should be made clear that Krang doesn't really care much for the affairs between the TMNT and Shredder.

As the cartoon plot goes, Krang spent 8 seasons in the Technodrome scheming to take over the Earth. The TMNT finally destroy the Technodrome, trapping it in Dimension X for good and putting an end to Krang's plans.

There were several attempts made at various points in the cartoons story-line to revive the Technodrome and Krang - however, each time was met by trouble and failure. Each time Krang is left to rot in Dimension X.

[Krang & Chang: in the driver's seat]

If you didn't know, Krang's powerful mechanical body is named Chang. Krang rested inside the stomach area of Chang (which we can assume is the cockpit). Originally, the suit had a microchip installed that allowed both Krang and the robot to change his size to near Godzilla proportions. This chip was, however, destroyed in the very first episode the suit first appeared.

[Mega-Krang: the world's biggest baby]

Even without this microchip, Chang & Krang (even though sounding like a take-out place) was quite powerful. The hands could shapeshift into various weapons (like axes, maces and pinchers) and even a communication device.

[Original Krang: Playmates exclusive]

Krang was first released under the Playmates toy-line label in 1989. He was part of the second wave of TMNT figures - alongside Casey Jones and Usagi Yojimbo. Now, Krang was not packaged with Chang (his mechanical body) but rather sold as a detachable pus-ball joined to a bi-pod-like vehicle as transportation - think aquarium on wheels and you'll get the idea. It was actually a Mobile Life-Support System.

Krang also came with a brain-drain gun and mechanized arms that could be attached to the Mobile Life-Support System.

[Original Chang: nu skool transportation]

Chang was finally released in 1992 at roughly 11 inches tall. Now that's a figure !

How many times did I say pus-ball ?