Tatsu's Foot = Purple Dragons
 

So....I'm working through the 4Kids series, and in the 3rd Episode the Turtles are asked to cross the Tatsu Bridge and we are told Tatsu means Dragon.

The use of Tatsu immediately sent my mind to the Barron's TMNT movie. Could the choice of Tatsu in the movie be a sideways reference to the Purple Dragons, a group of street kids who are in a gang? I mean, the Foot are definitely set up as little more than a gang in the 90's film. Could they have been merged with the Dragons for sake of simplification?

The name choice of Tatsu might be a coincidence, but I've always considered the Foot & Purple Dragons as pretty much fused in the movie. The first battle in the beginning of the film is essentially taken from the opening of issue 1. The Purple Dragons were the lower tier and those who passed the test with Tatsu became full Foot ninjas, so it seemed.

Yeah, in my head I've always sort of considered the Purple Dragons to be the "feeder system" for The Foot. A large chunk of the American Foot most likely came up directly through the Purple Dragons.

It may work as a reference, but those street gang kids never gave off that "Purple Dragon" vibe. They always seemed to me like everyday disobedient kids that only went to Shredder's hideout as a way of getting away from their parents to play games and act all cool. Afterall, what Shredder actually did in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is create a complex network of self-cooperating purse-snatchers.

Shredder = Super Evil Fagin

I really should watch "Oliver and Company" again.

I've always thought Hun was meant to be sort of a cross between Tatsu and human Rocksteady (which is why I initially really liked the character), and the makers of the movie were very familiar with the Mirage material.

In 4kids its pretty obvious the Purple Dragons eventually became Foot Soldiers. Hun was the leader of the Purple Dragons and worked for Shredder after all, he probably hand picked the best of them to eventually become Foot Clan.

It was the same in the movie with them training those street punks how to fight, especially in the second movie where we see Keno try to become a Foot recruit.

Since you brought it up, that whole scene where Keno has to pick the bell's off of the dummy. I find it hard to believe that any member of the Foot Clan had ever passed that test. Which makes me believe that perhpas it was added as a way to see if any of teh recruits were working with the Turtles... but that would be ridiculous!

Yeah, I've always considered the Purple Dragons to be a part of The Foot, but not really considered equal to the higher and more secretive ranks of the Foot Ninja. I've always liked that idea: a street gang controlled by a higher, more discreet, powerful and evil criminal organization (almost like a terrorist one of sorts). I guess it really depends on the person who's viewing it.