Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

Today we look at the disgraced former time lord: Savanti Romero

Appearances in Heroclix: TMNT Shredder’s Return

First Appearance: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8

Team Affiliations: N/A

Universe: Mirage

Created by: Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman

Savanti Romero is the former apprentice of time lord, Lord Simultaneous and husband to Savanti Juliet. While learning from Lord Simultaneous, Romero was charged with maintaining the flow of time but he soon grew too ambitious and arrogant. He decides that he wants to the ruler of all time and attempts to use his powers to “edit” Simultaneous out from history. His plan is discovered and he is sentenced to death by the Council of the 79th Level which is then commuted to a life sentence banished to 1406 A.D. Lord Simultaneous changes Romero’s form into that of a demon which soon aids the disgraced time lord who learns black magic during his punishment.

Later, the Turtles and Renet Tilley are displaced in the year 1406 and land in Cerebus’ base camp. Cerebus intends to siege Romero’s castle to obtain scrolls that the villain has stolen. The Turtles and Tilley aid Cerebus in attacking the castle and come into contact with Romero. Though they battle him, Romero’s magic is too much for them and he is able to grab the Scepter of the Sands of Time, a powerful artifact that allows travel through time.

Romero is about to achieve victory when Lord Simultaneous appears. Romero attacks Simultaneous which gives the time lord a chance to take the Time Scepter back. Simultaneous banishes Savanti to the Cretaceous period, hands the scrolls to Cerebus, sends the Turtles home and sends Renet back to his library to clean.

Once there, Romero sets about enacting his vengeance. He uses his magic to send a message to the Turtles and challenges them to a fight. Worrying that he would corrupt the time stream, the Turtles and Renet use the Scepter to again travel through time and battle Savanti. Savanti overcomes the Turtles again and takes the Time Scepter as well as Renet. He uses the power of the scepter and Renet to channel cosmic energy to make all the volcanous in the Pacific Ring of Fire to erupt at the same time and slow the orbit of the Earth around the Sun slightly. Just enough that the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs would miss and the evolution of humanity and subsequent creation of the Turtles will never happen. The Turtles turn Romero’s own magic back onto him which results in him being charred and frozen before falling into a nearby lake. The Turtles regain the Scepter and Renet and all return to their own times. Romero’s wife, Savanti Juliet, later tries to take vengeance for her husband but is killed by Renet.

Romero again survives. Falling into the lake cryogenically froze him until he thaws and awakens in 14th century Japan. Once he is awake, he again tries to lure Renet and the Turtles to fight him. Renet brings the group to 1373 Japan and finds Savanti has taken control of a faction of Japanese Warriors as well as a dinosaur samurai named Chote. Chote had similarly been in suspended animation in rock for thousands of years before breaking free in Japan. History repeats itself with the Turtles again managing to defeat Romero. They and Renet again decide to banish Romero to prehistoric times.

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