REPO MANTIS

01PLOT

Donnie and Mikey are going through a car trunk in a junkyard when they are accidentally sent falling down a stack of wrecked cars. When they land, they see that the Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy is being towed into the yard.

As they try to figure out how to get the car for themselves, they encounter Repo Mantis, a mutant praying-mantis who owns the salvage yard before his mutation. They attempt to "play it smooth" as Donnie attempts to cut a deal, but they don't have enough money. Repo Mantis offers them a deal; if they do some repo work for him, he'll let the brothers have the Moon Buggy. Donnie is dubious about Mikey's ability to be sufficiently mean as a repo man, but Mikey is determined to obtain the Moon Buggy, telling Donnie to think about all the adventures they could have in it.

Their assignment is to reclaim an RV from another mutant who lives in the forest, which Donnie and Mikey easily reach. Donnie is worried that their target might be the "Spine-Breaking Bandit", and the two are frightened when the mysterious mutant ends up behind them. However, he turns out to be the genial Todd Capybara, who lives in the forest and runs Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue.

After Todd offers the two brothers some lemonade, Mikey is won over by the puppies and finds it difficult to be "hard as nails". Even Donnie is finding it difficult to resist Todd's niceness. He points out that Todd hasn't paid up on the RV and thus it legally doesn't belong to him, but Todd just gets upset. Rain begins falling as Todd weeps about the impending homelessness of himself and the puppies, and when Mikey finally buckles, Donnie suggests that he build Todd a new home in place of the RV.

The next morning, Donnie and Mikey get to work, and over the next few days, they construct a new, far superior Puppy Rescue for the puppies and Todd, who are overjoyed. They finally take the RV back to Repo Mantis' yard, only for the mutant mantis to declare that he isn't gonna give the Moon Buggy to the Turtles. Instead, he's decided that it's more profitable to keep it as an attraction for Jupiter Jim nerds who wish to sit in it.

When Repo Mantis attacks Donnie, Mikey uses an electromagnet from one of the construction vehicles to temporarily trap the villain. They hop into the Moon Buggy and drive it out of the lot, but Repo Mantis is in hot pursuit in his tow truck. Mikey tries to use some of the Moon Buggy's advanced weaponry without success, only to remember that it has a fake dashboard. The real dashboard allows them to access the "turbo mode" and move at great speed, as well as aid from an oil slick and finally a bug zapper. Repo Mantis is finally defeated as Mikey and Donnie drive away. Outside the city, Todd and his puppies watch the two brothers from a distance.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

04SCREEN GRABS

4 frames. Auto-matched screencaps via Fancaps.net.

05MEMORABLE QUOTES

Donatello: "I can't shake him!" Michelangelo: "I'll try the Gravity Grease 3000!" _(pushes a button and oil gushes out from the sides of the buggy, getting more on passersbys on the sidewalk than on the road)_ Donatello: "I think we got a buncha people pretty oily!"

_(Repo Mantis rams the Moon Buggy multiple times from behind until the roof dome pops off.)_

06NOTES & GOOFS

• When Mikey and Donnie first notice the Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy through a car's rear view mirror, the truck towing the buggy has the "Repo Mantis Salvage" logo shown unmirrored. If viewed reflected through one mirror, the text should have appeared mirrored.
• The ZIP Code for Todd's Long Island address is 80017, but addresses with this ZIP Code are actually located in Aurora, Colorado.
• When Donnie initially notices the Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy, his sclerae are white instead of yellow as well as during the construction montage of Cuddlecakes Puppy Rescue.

07TRIVIA

• This episode, along with four other episodes, were posted early on July 20th, 2018 as a sneak preview on Nick.com.
• This episode first aired on Nicktoons on September 18th, and then it aired two days later on September 20th on Nickelodeon.
• This is the first episode in the series where all four Turtles don't appear; in this case, Leo and Raph did not make an on-screen appearance, however they were both mentioned by Donnie.
• Two of Todd's puppies resemble _Rise of the TMNT_ co-executive producers Andy Suriano and Ant Ward, often appearing on-screen near on another.
• When Mikey and Donnie first arrived at the Long Island Forest, a boy in a yellow raincoat and a chubby person with whiskers were briefly seen standing at the bus stop. This is reference to the popular Studio Ghibli movie, _My Neighbor Totoro_.
• Another reference of Studio Ghibli is seen when Mikey is holding a puppy while holding an orange umbrella with holes on it. This is a reference to _Grave of the Fireflies_, another popular Studio Ghibli movie. Both _Grave and the Fireflies_ and _My Neighbor Totoro_ were originally released in Japanese movie theaters as a double feature.
• The Turtles receive the Jupiter Jim Moon Buggy in this episode, which would later become the Turtle Tank.
• The events of this episode supposedly occur simultaneously with "Hypno! Part Deux!", for there were puppies in the background when Donnie received April's phone call in said episode.
• Mrs. Nubbins from "One Man's Junk" pre-mutation form (a yellow kitten) makes an appearance in the scene Mikey and Donnie are hiding behind a car.
• The full text on the repossession order for the recreational vehicle:
• RV CAMPER $20,000
• REG. OWNER: TODD CAPYBARA
• CUDDLE CAKES PUPPY RESCUE
• 702 SHADY LN. LOT 2279
• LONG ISLAND WOODS, NY 80017
• DELINQUENT PAYMENTS: RV CAMPER 74' TAN/WOOD PANEL
• REQUIRES IMMEDIATE RECOVERY
• TIE LINE 1298 NTT COMMUNICATIONS REF: PER/MAS/U232
• It was revealed in August 2020 by _Rise of the TMNT_ staff writer Ron Corcillo in a Tweet that, "Repo Mantis and Hypno! Part Deux were supposed to take place at the same time. They were the first eps that didn't use all four Turtles: Raph and Leo were on one adventure while Donnie and Mikey had another. There was even a crossover Mikey-Raph phone call, but it was cut for time."[[1]](#cite_note-1)
• Miho may be named after _Rise of the TMNT_ background painter Miho Tomimasu and Melvin may be named after _Rise of the TMNT_ production coordinator Melvin Young Jr.

08FAN REVIEW

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