Bebop and Rocksteady are a fictional duo of a mutant warthog and mutant rhinoceros that have made appearances as characters in various media releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The two characters are henchmen who follow the orders of the villain and the main antagonist of the franchise Shredder, the leader of the Foot Clan. Their names are both derived from genres of music: bebop is a style of jazz, while rocksteady is a Jamaican music style, a precursor to reggae. Character creation The characters were designed by Peter Laird while negotiating the Turtles action figure deal with Playmates Toys, because they wanted more characters to release. They were added to the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated television series and given names, personalities, and an origin story by writer David Wise, based on instructions by Fred Wolf to "put more mutants in the series". Transition to comic books and publication history Archie Comics Rocksteady and Bebop were featured in the comic book series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, with similar origins and dimwittedness. As told in the cartoon, they were street gang members mutated by the Shredder to help him defeat the turtles. As the series progressed, the animal side of Bebop and Rocksteady surfaced as they dreamed and longed for the 'old days' when they were just animals in the wild (Rocksteady in particular had dreams where he was a real rhino in the wild). When the Shredder and his bunch were defeated by the TMNT in the 'Final Conflict' (issue #13), Rocksteady and Bebop were banished to an Eden World, a huge paradise planet in Dimension X, full of wilderness and natural wildlife, without any humans or similar to disrupt their peace, and they enjoyed it. In issues #23-#25, Krang, who was banished to the toxic waste dump planet Morbus for exiled criminals, befriended two other criminals, Slash and Bellybomb. The group stole a spaceship and headed to Earth and happened to stop along the way at the same Eden World that Bebop and Rocksteady inhabited. Being bored of Paradise, Rocksteady and Bebop joined them on the trip back to Earth. However, rather than battle the turtles, the pair left Krang and the villains to fight the turtles and wandered the streets of New York City on their own. They robbed a clothing store to get clothes similar to their original attire, and a gun