The Turtles are back in the latest installment of Nick’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this time the Turtles take a small break from the mayhem and play a game similar to the classic Dungeons and Dragons.

Is that a pizza popsicle?

The Turtles take a bit of a break from the canon and give us some filler in this week’s episode of TMNT. Alongside the filler comes a parody of Dungeons and Dragons and a new mutant is introduced, who may be able to aid Leo and the gang in future episodes.

The Dungeons and Dragons-esque titular game.

THE GOOD: It was nice seeing the Turtles tackle LARPing and cosplay, something that we probably wouldn’t have (and didn’t) see in the previous incarnations, further proving the true key differences between Nick’s series and the original & FOX Kids series. The new mutant Sir Malachi was your typical board game nerd, who just so happened to have been mutated to the point where he can make boards games into a bit of an reality. I thought it was funny that the writers wrote in the characters encounter from the series to step in as replacements for characters of the game, such as the mutated chimps and Leatherhead acting as the dragon.

Old characters had a place in this episode.

THE BAD: The episode kind of felt like it came out of nowhere, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but considering where we were previously left off with, it would have been nice to have had a bit of a more follow-up episode to the current Karai storyline.

Raphael is not amused.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Mazes and Mutants was a rather interesting way to bring the Turtles back after Wormquake took us on a bit of a break earlier this year. The new mutant Sir Malachi was a cool addition to the roster, and I’m hoping he’ll be featured more in the future. The episode felt a bit misplaced given how Karai is now aware that Splinter is her father, but it’s been long discussed that these episodes are likely being aired out of intended production order. Still for filler, Mutants and Mazes did an excellent job of having us want more Turtles. Otaku Dome gives Mutants and Mazes an 78 out of 100.