Utrom

The Utroms are an alien species in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe.

Description
Physically, an Utrom is a small and light creature, hairless and usually with a uniform pink, orange, yellow or red tone. They are not unlike a human brain in physical appearance. They have two eyes and a mouth with teeth, but no visible nose, and have a number of short tentacles underneath them. These tentacles serve as both hands and feet, as the Utrom can walk on them or use them to manipulate objects. However, most Utroms tend not to enjoy walking on their tentacles, and prefer to use some form of mechanical transport, such as a hover pad or a human-shaped exosuit.

History within TMNT
The Utroms are present in the original TMNT comic and the 2003 cartoon, where they are responsible for creating and losing the Ooze which mutated the turtles and Splinter. Though they do not appear in the 1987 cartoon, it does feature Krang, a villain who is very similar to an Utrom in appearance. However, Krang is actually a disembodied brain and has a completely different personality and backstory.

Mirage Comics
The Utroms were stranded on Earth, and interacted secretly with humans through a front company, TCRI (Techno-Cosmic Research Institute). When the stranded Utroms were finally able to communicate with their homeworld, they were ordered to stay and study the people of Earth. Eventually, they were forced to leave Earth by teleporting themselves to another world. Later, the Utroms returned to establish a base on Earth and open official relations with humanity and with other alien cultures (in Volume 4 of the comic).

Initially portrayed as an uniformly peace-loving race, more recent comic books have shown several elements of their culture, some unsavory.

* Utrom Preservi: Described as a secret and illegal society of Utrom memory preservers, they steal the bodies of dead Utroms and extract their memories for archival.

* Utromi Obscura Secreti: A black-ops group on the payroll of the Utrom government, carrying out jobs it does not want made public. Little is known about the group, although it has been confirmed that they were responsible for covering up the existence of the original Utrom homeworld, Magonia. It is also speculated by other races that they secretly work to prevent other races from developing teleportation technology.

* The Illuminated: A group of rogue and fanatical Utroms who believe that peace through the galaxy can only be achieved through the total annihilation of violent species. To that purpose, they kidnapped Leatherhead with the intention of using him as a template for a clone army. They were stopped thanks to the efforts of the turtles and Emissary Rikby.

It has also been revealed that the Utrom were responsible for the extinction of the J'Gel, a race of shape-shifting aliens, which, thanks to the Utroms, had spread throught the galaxy, consuming entire planets.

Notable Utroms within the Mirage universe include:

* Korobon: Korobon is an Utrom who declared himself ambassador to Earth from the Utrom Confederation. He addressed the U.N. on live television and explained what the Utroms had planned to do on Earth. He appeared in Volume 4 of the comic.
* Glurin: Glurin is a young Utrom scientist who was stationed on their Earth base. When April O'Neil was infected by nanobots placed in her body by Dr. Baxter Stockman, he came up with the idea of using other nanobots to combat them. He designed the new nanobots after the Turtles and called them the nanoturtlebots. He appeared in Volume 4 of the comic.
* Professor Obligado: Obligado was a brilliant Utrom scientist whose death and life are chronicled in Tales of the TMNT vol. 2.
*Emissary Rikby: The Utrom driving the TCRI truck which carried the ooze that mutated the turtles and Splinter. Wishing to see his “children”, whom he felt responsible for, he recruited the turtles to save Leatherhead, who had been kidnapped by The Illuminated. In order to save the mutants, he implanted a bomb into himself, which he used to destroy the Illuminated’s base.
*Sargeant Xitor: An Utrom who serves as a police officer on Earth, under the guise of a female human. In her appearances, she unsuccessfully tries to prevent the Utrom Preservi from taking the late Professor Obligado's memories.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 animated series)
One thousand years ago, an Utrom ship was transporting Ch’rell, a dangerous Utrom criminal. Unfortunately, Ch’rell escaped and sabotaged the ship, causing it to crash on Earth near feudal Japan. The ship was damaged beyond repair, and in the confusion Ch’rell escaped on Earth.

Unable to repair their ship, the Utroms decided to take advantage of their long lifespans (which allowed them to live for centuries, even millennia, of human time) and hide and peacefully wait for Humanity to advance and develop the technology they needed to go back home. In order to hide among the Humans, the Utroms developed Human-shaped exosuit, and revealed themselves to a few trustworthy Humans, which they named their guardians. Centuries later, Hamato Yoshi, Splinter’s master, would be an Utrom guardian, until The Shredder hunted him down and killed him in an attempt to find the Utroms.

In the present day, the Utroms operate through a front company, TCRI. Though the official business of TCRI is never specified, unofficially, it serves to hide the Utrom’s advanced technology, such as their Transmat (a teleporter that can reach across the galaxy) and their Oracle Pod (a virtual reality chamber that replays historical records).

Shortly after meeting the turtles, TCRI is attacked by the Shredder's forces. Fortunately, with the turtles help, they manage to evacuate all the Utroms via transmat.

The Utroms later return to help the Turtles in their final battle against the Shredder. Thirty seconds before Shredder's ship blew up, the Utroms put the ship in a stasis field and transmatted everyone out. On their homeworld, the Shredder--now identified as the Utrom Ch'rell--was placed on trial and sentenced to exile on an icy asteroid.

Notable Utroms within the animated series include:

* Mortu: Mortu was the captain of the Utrom ship that crashed on Earth. After the crash, he remained the field-leader of the marooned Utroms, and worked as their liaison to the Humans. In the modern day, this makes him CEO of the front company TCRI. His name is "Utrom" backwards.
* Council of Three: These three otherwise unnamed Utroms are the highest leaders of the Utroms on Earth. Although it is not explicitly stated, it is strongly implied that they are the same as the brain-navigators that Captain Mortu took orders from one thousand years ago.
* Ch’rell: The true identity of the Utrom Shredder. Prior to his arrival on Earth, he was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in his attempts at universal domination.

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