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The Shredder wears some kind of Japanese Ninja armor. The armors consists of coverings over his two shoulders, his forearms, and his shins. The coverings over these parts have blades sticking out of them. Also, he has something over his left hand that has two long blades. His helmet is made of metal that has a bent trident-shaped structure on it. Also, he has a metal mask that covers his face to only show his eyes. However, in the 1987 cartoon, this mask is shown as cloth that wraps around his face like a bandit's mask, which can be seen in an episodes where the Shredder welds a powerful crystal onto his helmet, and the helmet later gets stolen.
According to the original comic stories by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird he became evil trying to avenge his big brother Orugu Nagi, who was murdered by Hamato Yoshi in a bitter love triangle, over the heart of Tang Shen. He murdered Splinter's master Hamato Yoshi and his wife Tang Shen. After killing Yoshi, the Shredder came to New York to start a new branch of the Foot. Then, he later encounters the turtles. In the rooftop fight, the Shredder was killed when a bomb blew him up as he fell off the building. However, he was later recreated through a cloning technique and was finally finished off by Leonardo by decapitation. With the Shredder gone, Raphael tries to impersonate Shredder by wearing his armor. He tries to make a peace pact, but ultimately fails. Suddenly, a mysterious Lady Shredder appears to challenge Raphael. Not much is known after this, since the comic was discontinued.
In the 1987 TMNT cartoon show, which aired in the late 1980's and early 1990's, the Shredder wears a razor sharp armor and controls an army of robots called Foot Soldiers. In an attempt to recreate the turtles' mutation, Shredder created Bebop and Rocksteady. Throughout the cartoon series, Shredder lives in the Technodrome and works with Krang to implement elaborate schemes to destroy the turtles. He was depicted as a goofball in the 1987 cartoon show rather than a scary and lethal ninja, as he was depicted in the comics, movies, and the 2003 cartoon show. He was voice-acted by James L. Avery, Sr. (credited as James Avery) in the 1987-1994 seasons. In the 1995-1997 seasons, he was voice-acted by William Martin.
In the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, the Shredder is somewhat of a cult leader. He enlists troubled youths to join his Foot clan and make them part of a "family". His name is Oroko Saki and has a history with Splinter. Before becoming the Shredder, Oroko Saki was a bitter rival to Hamato Yoshi, Splinter's owner. Saki and Yoshi loved a woman named Tang Shen, but Tang Shen only loved Yoshi. Rather than fight Saki, Yoshi followed Shen's plan to leave for America. However Saki followed them to America. Then, Oroko Saki killed Hamato Yoshi and his wife. During the fight, Splinter's cage was opened. After seeing the death of his master, Splinter jumped on Saki's face and scratched him. But in the process had one of his ears sliced off. In New York, the Shredder takes troubled teens from the streets and teach them steal. April O'Neil reports on this crime wave with the possibility of the Foot behind it all. The Shredder orders his Foot clan to kill April, but the turtles always interfere when they do. Eventually, the Shredder goes to stop the turtles himself. On the rooftop battle, the Shredder almost kills Leonardo but Splinter intervenes. At the end of the first movie, Splinter reveals to the Shredder about their past. After realizing who Splinter is, the Shredder tries to spear Splinter. Splinter uses Michaelangelo's nunchuku to grab the spear and flip the Shredder to the side of the building. With the spear stuck in the nunchuku, the Shredder throws a knife at Splinter, but Splinter catches it. This causes Splinter to let go of the nunchuku and Shredder falls off the roof of the building and into a garbage truck. The actor who played the Shredder is James Saito and his voice was David McCharen.
In the 1991 movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze", Shredder recreates his foot clan and vows vengeance to the turtles who dishonored him. Shredder learns of the mutagen that created the turtles and uses it to create his own mutants, namely Tokka and Rahzar. However, Tokka and Rahzar still have the thinking of children and not teenagers. However, their strength makes up for what they lack in intelligence. The Shredder acts like a father to them, like he does with his foot clan. Which is, poisoning their minds to get what he desires. Once the turtles, end up defeating Tokka and Rahzar, the Shredder uses the mutagen on himself. The turtles loose trying to take down Super Shredder. But during the fight, Super Shredder knocks down the support beams of a pier and the pier collapses on him, which eventually kills him. The actor that plays Shredder is François Chau and Super Shredder is played by Kevin Nash. As with the first movie David McCharen provides Shredder's voice.