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| “ | I have a most dastardly plan, Traxie... | „ |
| ~ Dark Truder's introduction in various episodes |
| “ | You haven't heard the last of me, Zula Patrol! | „ |
| ~ Dark Truder's defeat catchphrase |
Dark Truder is one of the two main antagonists of the educational children's series Zula Patrol. He's a space criminal who constantly devises plots to gain power over the entire galaxy, simply defeat the Zula Patrol, or for some other gain such as repairing his damaged ego after a humiliation. He is Zula Patrol's nemesis and their most dastardly foe, being unpredictable in what he could next. He's supported by his minion and toupee Traxie who sits at the top of his head while remarking or taking jabs on his plans.
He is voiced by Kurt Kelly.
History[]
Considering the Zula Patrol and Dark Truder are well acquainted to each other prior to his debut, it's inferred that Dark Truder was active in villainy prior to his time in the show. Considering his first plot was to get rid of the Zula Patrol, it's likely his act is in retaliation for the many times they've beaten him in the past.
Dark Truder debuts in A Job For The Zula Dudes where he set a plan into motion to destroy the planet Zula in attempt to destroy their headquarters and prevent a hiding place. He acted as a traffic control officer where he conversed with an asteroid. In spite of the asteroid being worried about potentially causing a meteor attack on planet Zula, he managed to convince them that there were issues with their path on the asteroid belt and redirected them towards a collision course towards Zula. However, the Zula Patrol managed to act fast and prevent Dark Truder's plans to cause a meteor attack by putting the asteroids back in their place, angering a defeated Dark Truder.
In Bula's Spin Party, being angry over not being invited to Bula's Spin party in spite of Traxie telling him he's the villain, Dark Truder decided to disguise himself as a planet in order to sabotage the party. Acting under the alias "Slick Smoothly", the planet made of plastic attempted to steal Bula's dance partner Earth and tried impressing her showing his superior dance moves over Bula. After a while however, Bula managed to figure out Dark Truder's plan due to the planet spinning in too many directions for it to be considered a legitimate planet. As a result, Dark Truder challenged Bula to determined who the best spinner was. In spite of Dark Truder outlasting him, he spun too out of control and was left spinning away from the party declaring that it wouldn't be the last they'd see of him.
Dark Truder planned on forcing the citizens of Zula's hand into accepting him as ruler in Day for Night where he used a paralyzing machine to prevent the planet from turning. As a result, both sides of the planet experienced an eternal daytime and nighttime respectively, driving the citizens mad. Dark Truder read out a list of demands to the planet, however the operator asked him to pay to keep the connection further. In spite of Dark Truder trying to threaten her, she hung up the connection. While the Zula Patrol were left wondering how he did it, the Zula Patrol's spaceship collided with the ray, paralyzing the ship in the process. Multo eventually figured out Dark Truder's plan and informed Bula on how time managed to be "stopped". As a result, Bula and Zeeter decided to go after the machine causing the planet's rotation to stop. Gorga used bubblegum to try to pop the machine from the inside as Dark Truder to try to stop that from happening, only for it to pop on his face in humiliation.
Dark Truder ordered a Monster in the Box in the episode Shadow Play where he made donuts made in the shape of Zula Patrol's spaceship. He then told the monster there was a "big donut" on the planet Zula and sent the monster there to eat it. However, the Zula Patrol foiled his plans and sent the monster back who was hungry for more donuts. Left with a hungry monster, it was left devouring and wreaking havoc on his ship as Traxie teased Truder by making the monster think his shoes were donuts too.
In Jealous Moon, Dark Truder attended auditions for the Festival of the Sun Talent Show where he posed as a mime named "Shh". While he started off his act by juggling a ball on one hand, he decided to try to impress them by doing a unicycle act only for it to fail as he tripped on the same ball he juggled on his previous less impressive act. He was rejected and felt defeated and angered. As a result, he decided to spoil the talent show by convincing the moon no one liked him because they loved the sun more. As such, the moon decided to cause a total solar eclipse preventing sunlight from reaching the planets. When the Zula Patrol attempted to redirect their talent show to celebrate the moon, Dark Truder attempted to sabotage the show as Zeeter was sent in pursuit to stop him. They both played a game of tic-tac-toe using their ship lasers where he lost, and his ship was trapped by an electricity ray. However, as Zeeter's cruiser was using solar power they had limited time before Dark Truder could break free. However, the Zula Patrol managed to convince the moon to move away with an impressive and celebratory act, causing Zeeter to hurl Dark Truder away as he declared it wouldn't be the last they'd see of him.
It would indeed not be the last they'd see of him in Sun Day where he planned on stealing the Sun's birthday gifts to leave her feeling unappreciated for her efforts. As a result, he hoped the Sun would give up or at least "take some time off" to think about her hurt feelings so he could take over and become the new center for the Solar System, even creating the slogan "Vote for Truder! He's much cuter!" much to Traxie's disapproval. He fabricated a traffic gate and posed as a traffic gate, stopping an asteroid delivery man and giving him ice cream. He then offered to have him take a day off as he'd "deliver the gifts himself". Upon accepting, Dark Truder took the delivery commenting on popular she was due to how heavy the gift was. The asteroid however revealed that there were many more gifts as his coworkers burdened Dark Truder with the rest of the gifts. Upon taking the gifts, he decided to try to hide them in the Big Dipper and noticed a Neptune Night Light only for Traxie to stop him as he spotted the Zula Patrol approaching. As he tried to speed off, he accidentally flung the gifts away as he lost vision due to Traxie covering his eyes from the force of the sudden acceleration. Upon regaining his composure, he raced with the Zula Patrol's spaceship to "call dibs on the Neptune Night Light" as Zeeter challenged him back. Seeing Dark Truder's childish reaction over not catching up, Wizzie and Wigg saw a self-reflection of their own immaturities of "being first". As Truder was desparate to catch up, he lost control yet again as he declared that it wouldn't be the last they'd see of him yet again.
Dark Truder used his "Truder Clock Stopper" in Time Out which sabotaged all the clocks on Zula Planet preventing anyone from telling the time. As a result, he attended for the asteroids heading for their planet to not be able to be stopped in time by noon. When the Zula Patrol devised a plan to use the sun as an alternative to tell time, Dark Truder was aware of their tactics and used sun block to create a screen to block the sun from view from their headquarters. However, Gorga secretly grew large and blew away using nose to put an end to his plans. As they were able to tell time again, Zeeter managed to deflect the asteroids away from the planet, saving a meteor collission from happening and destroying the Truder Clock Stopper in the process as the asteroids rebounded into chasing him.
Dark Truder sent out a fake distress signal on Asteroid 192 where he kidnapped and imprisoned Captain Bula and replaced him with a robot. He oversaw the robot as it pretended to have memory loss to gain the trust of Bula's teammates. When it became part of the team, Dark Truder attempted to have the robotic copy strand them into deep space while trying to lure them away from his secret base. However, the Zula Patrol managed to catch on to his plans and secretly went en route towards Dark Truder due to the robot's lack of experience. Dark Truder realized they were onto him and set up a trap to lure them into a disadvantageous situation. He set the real Bula out while hiding behind a rock to blast the Zula Patrol with the shock gun used to capture Bula. When Bula Bot attempted to join in the battle, Dark Truder ordered the robot back only for Wizzie and Wigg to try to convince him to defect due to the relationship he built with his teammates. As Dark Truder attempted to threaten the robot, Bula Bot stole the shock gun and turned traitor on Dark Truder prompting him to run away.
In Small is Beautiful, Dark Truder sought out to ruin the planet’s talent show by shrinking all the competitors and holding them hostage in exchange for acknowledging him as the ruler of the universe while also accidentally taking Multo captive. After taking off, the Zula Patrol pursued only for Dark Truder to activate a switch to release the junk off of his ship, slowing his pursuers down. Then he sent out a net trap to prevent them from moving. After losing them, Dark Truder decided to stop for a gas break as he made his way to the gas station’s stop. While he was inside, the planets and Multo worked together to escape captivity and use the machine to turn themselves back big again. Upon exiting the shop, Dark Truder slowly realized he was cornered and planned to retreat only to get shrunk by his own machine after accidentally slipping. As he asked Traxie to help him, Traxie decided to make a list of demands first exasperating him.
In the Case of the Missing Rings, he stole Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus's rings to build himself a magnificent villain lair, tricking the Zula patrol to go save Venus's rings even though it doesn't have rings so he can steal Saturn's rings, then challenges them to fly through Saturn's ring but it was actually made of dust so he cowardly gives up his plan.
In The Missing Elements, he tries to take over the galaxy by stealing the building blocks of the universe, the elements of the periodic table! But they all run away and cause tons of mischief. He gets lost in a maze and nearly crushed by a bowling ball. He plays Dark Truder Says with them, but he doesn't understand how elements make very specific things, getting blasted with smoke and slime. Then when he tries to instruct them to slingshot the Zula Patrol's ship away, they slingshot his own ship with him in it instead!
Dark Truder was up to his usual tricks in Giant Litterbugs from Space when he placed giant trash cans above Zula to lure giant aliens into accidentally dumping trash on different parts of the planet, including Zula Headquarters and Zula Academy. When Dark Truder was caught, he attempted to make a run for it only to fail as his ship ended up inside the trash can, trapping him. For punishment for his crimes, Dark Truder was forced to clean up the littered trash caused by his scheme as he struggled due to his clumsiness.
Dark Truder showed jealousy over the Zula Patrol’s ship in RV of the Giants after failing another scheme and being forced to hide. As a result, Dark Truder planned to steal their ship. After biding his time, Truder discovered that the Zula Patrol were stranded away from their ship after . While the Zula Patrol managed to catch up, it was too late as Dark Truder managed to steal their spaceship, only for him to realize he didn’t know how to drive it.
Personality[]
Dark Truder is a diabolical and mischievous plans for the sake of being the bad guy. He's shown to have power hungry and egotistical traits, willing to do anything to stroke his ego, take over the universe, or simply get back at those who humiliate or damage his ego. He loathes the Zula Patrol for constantly foiling his plans and devises various ways to subdue them or prevent them from using science as a strategy to work around his plans. While it's clear he doesn't know how to think ahead or come up with a backup plan, he's well acquainted and aware of the Zula Patrol's knowledge of science to counter him and sometimes can employ strategies to counter them back. For example, when Dark Truder sabotaged every clock on the planet, the Zula Patrol planned on using the sun as an alternative to tell time only for Truder to use a coat of sun block to block it from the planet's view, preventing them from being able to use the sun. In spite of his devotion to villainy, he does have a soft spot especially for his minion Traxie. In spite of her constantly ridiculing him over how ridiculous his plans are or over his clear incompetence, he simply plays along for the ride and rarely if ever gets enraged at her for it. He does sometimes however resort to threats on some of his minions such as Bula Bot when he pointed the shock gun at him when he acted in disobedience.
Trivia[]
- Dark Truder's name is a reference to Darth Vader, another space themed supervillain.
- Traxie also once added onto the Star Wars reference by referencing Princess Leia's iconic hairstyle.