Foot Clan
From Freepedia
The Foot Clan is a fictional Ninjutsu clan in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe. It is led by The Shredder.
Contents |
The comic
The Foot Clan was founded in feudal Japan by two men named Sato and Oshi. In Volume 1 Issue 47, the Turtles and Time Misstress Renet travelled back in time to a time prior to the Foot's creation. There, Raphael met Sato and Oshi, and, not realising who they are, he taught them about Ninjutsu. After the Turtles returned to the present, Sato and Oshi decided to follow the ways of the ninja. Oshi declared: "We must never again mention the strange shelled creatures. In time, others will join us and we will become a force to be reckoned with. So just as every journey begins with a single step... we shall call ourselves The Foot."
The Foot Clan is the most feared warriors and assassins clan in Japan. Both Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Nagi were members, until one day, they fought over the love of Tang Shen and Yoshi killed Nagi. Dishonoured, Yoshi was exiled to New York City, while Nagi's younger brother Oroku Saki was adopted by the Clan and was trained to become a fierce ninja. When he was ready, Saki was sent to New York to start the American branch of the Clan. Under his leadership, it took only a year for it to become a powerful and fearsome group.
But Saki also sought vengeance for his brother, and using the personae of The Shredder, he assassinated Yoshi. Over a decade later, the Ninja Turtles challenged Shredder to a rooftop duel to avenge Yoshi. Shredder sent his Foot Ninjas to fight the Turtles, but they were no match for the Turtles and were eventually defeated. Shredder then fought the Turtles himself, and although he was a more skilled ninja than them, he was killed when he fell off a building carrying a bomb.
After the Shredder's death, the American Foot fell apart, and the Foot Soldiers begun fighting against Shedder's elite. Karai, a Clan leader from Japan, came here to stop the clan war. She enlisted the Turtles' help in this, in exchange for promising that no Foot shall ever try to avenge the Shredder again. This truce is still in effect in Volume 4 of the comic.
The Foot Clan's logo is a drawing of a left foot. Issues 3 and 4 of the new Tales of the TMNT feature a Foot mystic with magical abilities, including the power to ressurect the dead.
The 1987 cartoon and the Archie TMNT Adventures
The Foot Clan is an ancient Ninjutsu clan, founded in Japan in 1583. The Shredder, followed by the Turtles and Splinter, went back in time to try to influence the creation of the Foot Clan. In 1583, Shredder's ancestor Oroku Sancho led a small group of ninja, and Shredder offered to help him find a magical artefact that would give him the power to form a real Clan. Meanwhile, Splinter's ancestor Hamato Koji had been sent to find the same artefact, and did find it with the help of his descendant and the Turtles. The artefact released a dragon, which headed for a nearby city; Splinter and Koji went to stop it while the Turtles went to fight Shredder. Sancho's men captured the Turtles, and were about to execute them when Koji arrived, riding the dragon, which he had tamed. Seeing this, Sancho fled in fear, and Koji offered to lead Sancho's men and found the Foot Clan.
In 1960's Japan, both Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi were part of the Clan. Saki framed Yoshi for trying to kill a sensei of the Clan and had him exiled to New York, thus clearing the way to take over the Foot Clan. He then proceeded to turn the Foot Clan into an army of criminals. Over the years, Saki, who became known as The Shredder, moved to the USA and replaced the human Foot Ninjas with robotic Foot Soldiers. However, these robots are no match for the Ninja Turtles, who destroy them at every encounter.
The Foot Clan's logo is a drawing of a left foot, and the Foot Soldiers wear a purple and black uniforms featuring the logo on their foreheads. The Foot logo can also be seen on the Technodrome.
In the cartoon, The Shredder once considered making more intelligent Foot Soldiers, capable of learning and taking decisions by themselves. However, the idea was quickly abandonned when the first intelligent prototype, named Alpha 1, rebelled against The Shredder. The Archie TMNT Adventure Comics features more advanced Foot Soldiers in addition to the basic model. In the comics, The Shredder also built a giant Foot Soldier, who fought against the Warrior Dragon in New York City. The robot was destroyed when it crashed into the Statue of Liberty.
The movies
The Foot Clan is a group of ninja thieves and assassins founded by The Shredder in New York. Shredder takes kids off the streets, and trains them in Ninjutsu himself. His second in command is another Ninjutsu master called Tatsu.
The Foot Ninjas were never a match for the Turtles, who defeated them at every encounter. After Shredder's death, the Clan was reduced to a fraction of its former size, and Tatsu tried to take command. He relinquished his claim however, when The Shredder returned from the dead. The Clan also kidnapped professor Jordon Perry and forced him to make a mutagen so the Foot Clan could create two mutant warriors, Tokka and Rahzar, to fight the Turtles.
Live Action Series
The Foot Clan is a street gang, similar to the movies. After they defeated The Shredder, the Turtles told the kids that the Foot is a lie, and the Clan was disbanded.
The 2003 cartoon
The Foot Clan is a group of warriors and assassins that Shredder created 700 years ago in Japan. The Shredder, who, like all Utroms, has an extremely long lifespan, has led the Clan since its creation and has turned it into a fearsome and secret group present across the world. The Foot logo is a red trident shape similar to the one decorating Shredder's helmet, and thanks to Shredder's knowledge of Utrom technology, the Clan has weapons and equipments centuries ahead of Human technology.
The Foot Clan is organized in a hierarchical meritocracy, with the more skilled ninjas higher up in the ladder. At the first level are Foot Ninjas, and the roughly equal Foot Tech Ninjas, who are Foot Ninjas equipped with a personal cloaking device. Further up are the highly skilled Foot Elite, who are often seen accompanying Shredder on critical missions that require both numbers and skill. Finally, the seldom-seen Foot Mystics inhabit the upper levels of Shredder's tower in New York. These powerful Foot possess what seems to be either very advanced weapons based on Utrom technology, or magical powers. There are five Foot Mystics, and each one has powers corresponding to a different natural element: wind, earth, fire, water and metal. The Clan itself is under the ultimate command of Shredder, and his second in command is his adopted daughter Karai.
The videogames
Unlike the 1987 cartoon series on which they were based, the videogames introduced Foot Soldiers with uniforms of several different colours. These colours represent the type of weapons they are carrying.
- Purple – Unarmed
- Blue – A blade weapon, such as a katana, sai or battle axe
- Red – A pair of tonfa
- Orange – A throwing weapon, such as shuriken or daggers , or a kusarigama
- White – Nunchaku
- Yellow - Some form of boomerang and sometimes with bombs
- Green - Bow and arrows
Currently released videogames, based on the 2003 animated series, have Foot Soldiers which appear to be as in the new series.
See also
External links
- The Legend of Koji at the Official Ninja Turtles website, is the episode of the 1987 cartoon that features the founding of the Foot Clan.
- A Foot Soldier's profile on the Official Ninja Turtles website.
