Mad Dogs

The **Mad Dogs** are the main characters of *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*.

## Members

* Raphael - former leader, age 15, half human, half snapping turtle
* Leonardo - current leader, age 14, half human, half red-eared slider
* Donatello - age 14, half human, half soft-shelled turtle
* Michelangelo - age 13, half human, half box turtle

## Abilities

The Mad Dogs received some ninjutsu training from their father Splinter, though by the time they were young teenagers, this training had largely stopped. They initially had the weapons that Splinter had provided them:

* A pair of sai for Raphael
* A pair of katana for Leonardo
* A pair of nunchaku for Michelangelo
* Donatello had been trained to use the bō, but being very intelligent and crafty, he built himself an even more advanced Tech-Bō.

All these weapons, save for the Tech-Bō, were destroyed during their first clash with Baron Draxum's guardsmen in the series premiere episode, "Mystic Mayhem".

Later in that episode, the Mad Dogs infiltrated Baron Draxum's laboratory in the Hidden City where they claimed some mystic weapons which granted them special powers:

* Raphael claimed a pair of tonfā that could create solid energy constructs.
* Michelangelo claimed a kusari-fundo that could turn into a flaming whip.
* Leonardo claimed an ōdachi that could create portals.
* Donatello did not claim a mystic weapon, and instead kept the Tech-Bō he already had.

In the episode "Bug Busters", in a spontaneous act, Raphael independently tapped into his latent Hamato Ninpō power, but he did not know what it actually was at the time. He had unleashed it in an emergency to save his brother Leonardo from falling to his death off the roof of the Grand Nexus Hotel.

In "Shreddy or Not" (the second episode of the series finale), all their mystic weapons along with Donatello's Tech-Bō were destroyed.In "Anatawa Hitorijanai" (the third episode of the series finale), the Mad Dogs' friend Todd Capybara forged them some gardening tools to replace their weapons. Todd reasoned that the first ninja had originally used such tools as their first weapons:

* Raphael received a pair of gardening hand cultivators.
* Michelangelo received a wire saw.
* Leonardo received a pair of gardening trowels.
* Donatello received a gardening hoe.

However, Hamato Karai and April O'Neil soon taught the complete Hamato Ninpō powers to the Mad Dogs, as they had all also always been members of the Hamato Clan. With this power, they could supernaturally transform their gardening tools into even more effective ninja weapons, taking the shape of the sai, katana, nunchaku and bō they had each originally been trained with.

## Family

Deceased members are listed in *italics*.

### Hamato Clan

The Mad Dogs are also members of the Hamato Clan.

* *Hamato Atsuko* - Their paternal grandmother, who died when Yoshi was still very young.
* *Hamato Karai* - Their "Gram-Gram", and the Hamato Clan matriarch.
* *Hamato Sho* - Their great-grandfather, Yoshi's maternal grandfather, and Atsuko's father, who was the one most responsible for teaching ninjutsu and trying to teach the Hamato Ninpō to Yoshi.
* Hamato Yoshi / Lou Jitsu / Splinter - Their adoptive father and source of their Human DNA, who trained them in basic ninjutsu

### Other family

* April O'Neil - Their surrogate sister, who, according to Karai, had always been part of their family.
* Baron Draxum - Their Yōkai second father from the Hidden City who originally possessed the Mad Dogs when they were ordinary laboratory animals. Draxum, who had wanted to create mutant warriors to fight in defense of the Yōkai people, was responsible for infusing the infant lab turtles with human DNA of Lou Jitsu, a Battle Nexus contestant whom Draxum acknowledged as a superior warrior. Lou Jitsu initially agreed to cooperate, but then objected to these baby turtles being exploited in such a manner. Lou Jitsu destroyed Draxum's lab and fled with the turtles, but not before the turtles had already mutated into half-humans and Lou Jitsu himself had started mutating into a half-rat. Upon discovering they had survived, Draxum repeatedly tried to convince or coerce the Mad Dogs to join him, but he was repeatedly turned down, and they remained enemies for some time. However, following Draxum's disastrous alliance with the Foot Clan, and becoming a wanted fugitive in the Hidden City, Michelangelo reached out and helped Draxum start a new life in the human world. Through this, Draxum was also acknowledged as the person who had always been the Mad Dogs' other father. He became a closer member of the family, made peace with Splinter, and in the end even aided the combined Hamato Clan in destroying the Shredder.
* Mayhem - April's pet Yōkai
* Piebald - Splinter's former pet goldfish, who came back into the family's life as a sentient mutant
* *Oroku Saki* - Karai's father, who was corrupted by the Kuroi Yōroi and became the Shredder. Although Karai founded the Hamato Clan in opposition to the Shredder, Oroku Saki is still a direct ancestor of the Mad Dogs.
* *S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.* - Donatello's artificial intelligence who became sentient and developed a father-son relationship with his inventor.

## Friends and allies

* Todd Capybara
* Franken-Foot (made from Origami Ninja pieces, but was never an enemy)
* Señor Hueso
* Cassandra Jones / Foot Recruit (former enemy)
* Capitán Piel (former enemy)
* Stanley / Bullhop (formerly worked for Big Mama, but was never an enemy)
* Sunita

## Enemies

* Albearto
* Baron Draxum's (former) minions
	+ Golems
	+ Guardsmen
	+ Huginn
	+ Muninn
	+ Mutant silverfish
	+ Oozesquitoes
* Big Mama and her Yōkai staff
	+ Fox bellhop
	+ Gus
	+ Otter bellhop
	+ Owl bellhop
* The Foot Clan
	+ Foot Brute
	+ Foot Lieutenant
	+ Foot Soldiers
	+ Origami Ninja
	+ *The Shredder*
* Ghostbear
* Mezmer-Ron / Hypno-Potamus
* The Purple Dragons
	+ Jase
	+ Jeremy
	+ Kendra
* Repo Mantis
* Baxter Stockboy
* Warren Stone
* Rupert Swaggart / Meat Sweats

## Trivia

* "Mad Dogs" is the team's official name in the series, and the only name that they consistently use to refer to themselves.
	+ As a running gag throughout the series, they have never been fully addressed or referred to as the "teenage mutant ninja turtles" or even called "ninja turtles", due to a number of ridiculous reasons, in a manner similar to that of the previous series.
		- In "Mystic Mayhem", when Raph first names them the Mad Dogs, Leo isn't sure it's the best name, and instead suggests that something along the lines of "ninja mutant turtle teens" might sound better.
		- In "Newsworthy", Warren Stone dubbed them the "teenage mutant loser turtles".
		- In "Bug Busters", when the Mad Dogs learnt that Baron Draxum was their creator, they briefly wondered if they were actually "teenage mutant ninja sheepmen".
		- In "The Evil League of Mutants", Baron Draxum meets up with Hypno-Potamus, Warren Stone, the Sando Brothers, Repo Mantis, and Meat Sweats, announcing his intention to destroy the "teenage mutant ninja-" before he is cut off by the mutants drinking lemonade.
		- In "End Game":
			* Raph refers to their team as "the teenage turtles who are ninjas and mutants."
			* The flashback sequence explaining how the Kuroi Yōroi became flawed, is titled "Teenage Mutant Ninja Flashback."
		- In "Donnie vs. Witch Town", when April shows Donnie a smartphone gallery of failures explaining why she no longer comes to him for science project help, Donnie says, "That must have been the work of *another* teenage mutant ninja Donnie."
* Russ confirms that many of the Mad Dogs share hobbies and traits with their voice actors. Ex: Brandon Mychal Smith is a hugger and a dancer, and Ben Schwartz likes basketball and is a comedian.