The Guardians are characters from the 2003 TV series. Their job is to protect the Utroms. They report to the Council of Three. They are first seen in the episode The Way of Invisibility. A Guardian spy reports to a trio of odd individuals that their enemy is aware that they are in the city. The trio tells the spy to learn all he can about the turtles, wait for more information before taking any action against them. In The Shredder Strikes, Part 1 the Guardians report what they have observed of the encounter between Leonardo and Saki to a group of three eerie individuals, who are some kind of governing council. Upon hearing the report, the council tells the Guardians to continue to watch the Turtles and to destroy them if they join forces with Saki. Leonardo first encountered one in the episode The Shredder Strikes, Part 2 who helped him fight off some Foot Ninja and than vanishes. In The Shredder Strikes Back, Part 2 they report to the Council that they've arrived too late to help and the Turtles have been destroyed. In Return to New York, Part 3 the Guardians show up to help the Turtles fight the Foot and tell the Council the Turtles defeated the Shredder. In The Search for Splinter the Turtles lure one of the Guardians with a dummy of the Shredder that the Guardian mistakes for the real thing and cuts down. The Utrom protector discovers that he's been tricked as he eyes the dummy and Mikey emerges from the shadows chuckling. The Guardian isn't amused and draws his blade on the mutant. The other Turtles surround the Guardian and demand to know where Master Splinter is. The man tells them that he can't answer their questions. Mike plants a homing device on the Guardian's sword just before he disappears in a cloud of smoke. The Utrom Council summones the Guardian that the TMNT traced to the TCRI building for questioning. The Council is disappointed that the Guardian was bugged and worry that after many centuries they will be discovered and their mission to go home ruined. As the Guardian explains that the Turtles friends have left the building and barely discovered anything, but Mr. Mortu arrives and announces that while Casey and April may be gone - the Turtles themselves are definitely "in the house". The Guardians appear in Secret Origins they are first seen escorting Splinter the Turtles also encounter some in the Utroms Virtual reality machine. They also protect the Utroms from the Utrom Shredder and the Foot and they help them including the Counil teleport back to the Utrom homeworld. In the episode A Tale of Master Yoshi they fight off the Foot and escape with the Utroms when the Utrom Shredder and the Foot attack the Utrom's HQ. It would turn out that Yoshi was a Guardian as well as his friend Yukio Mashimi. A Guardian Ninja action figure was released in 2004.