#- he was also responsible for their mutations and bringing back the shredder-

[shantechni]

The reason I think of 2012 Donnie as being the third oldest isn't entirely because of how Raph messes with him, or his strong middle child energy that repeatedly makes itself known, or how Leo and Raph are more invested in their training than him and Mikey, or how he interacts with Mikey in a way that he doesn't with the others.

It's because of how easily he's swayed and influenced by his brothers.

Donnie is often seen as the type to ruminate extensively over what would be the right thing to do and how to do something the right way, a habit that Leo is well known for exhibiting as well. This is best exampled by when he got on Mikey's case for not properly defending against seoi nage. Even though Mikey's manner of fighting and defending are effective, it's not satisfactory to Donnie because it wasn't the proper way of doing things.

And, on Leo's end, we see it best exampled by him wanting his brothers to do things 'the right way' instead of 'their way'. It's something the two occasionally have to be reminded not to do, both to others and themselves, but getting things done in a manner that's expected of them is something they take pride in. It ties in with Donnie's ceaseless desire to be accurate about things, not because he necessarily needs to, but because he likes to be accurate and it's important to him on a personal level.

This goes hand in hand with Donnie exuding a strong sense of responsibility that not even Raph displays too often unless Leo is out of commission. We see this a lot in how he usually sticks by Leo when patrolling or surveying a situation, where as Raph and Mikey tend to hang back and fool around while counting the minutes.

Beyond that though, Donnie held Splinter's words in high regard when he told him Timothy was his responsibility, and he sided with Leo about bringing the mutated squirrels to the lair, the complete opposite of Raph and Mikey who were vehemently opposed to the idea. He worked ceaselessly to create retromutagen for Kirby and Karai, and he ran himself ragged working to find a cure for the Shredder's brain worms. There was no guarantee that he would've ever figured these out, especially after many failed attempts (and he never could create a cure for the worms), but he stuck to the tasks he assigned himself because he felt a strong responsibility to aid those he cares for and wanted to keep his word.

Just like Leo.

Of course he gets quite a bit of that from Raph as well, but it's as clear as a window recently lathered with windex that Raph had a much bigger influence on Donnie's temperament. He easily gets agitated under stress, or no stress whatsoever as we saw when he blew up over something as small as Mikey spilling popcorn on him, and he complains quite a lot or is quick to snap when things aren't going his way (yet another thing Raph does).

More than the tendency to dish out sarcastic comments and insults like it's Halloween, they're also the only ones to doubt Leo's leadership and they don't hold back one bit. Raph may be the most vocal, but Donnie exhibited leader tendencies long before the S2 finale and, like Raph, isn't fond of being told what to do if it doesn't align for him. The internal conflict in Follow the Leader was heavily instigated by Raph not wanting to fight like Leo, with Donnie all too easily falling into step with him and convincing Mikey to follow suit for a brief stint. It's moments like these that puts Donnie's desire to do things the right way on the back burner and brings forth his desire to do things his right way.

The biggest thing, or person, that made Donnie go back and forth between Leo and Raph though, was Karai.

When Donnie is first introduced to her, he immediately dislikes her for her carefree nature that puts those around her in a dangerous situation, as well as her lack of regard for anyone other than herself. And then, when Leo reveals that she's in the Foot, he has all the more reason to dislike and distrust her, something that everyone agrees on to albeit varying degrees.

Funnily enough though, when Karai tries to form an alliance with the turtles to fight the Kraang, Donnie, despite him preaching about her not being trustworthy minutes prior, sides with Mikey when Leo looks to them for an answer while Raph still remains suspicious of the situation.

Then, when Karai approaches them and claims to believe Splinter is her father, Donnie sides with Leo, despite his previous misgivings about her in The Manhattan Project Part 1. Him and Raph were the most outspoken about her upbringing and current place in their lives as a villain as they grappled with the fact that she's Splinter's daughter. But this time, he wholeheartedly believed her and trusted her to some extent, and he's as shocked as Leo and Mikey when she confesses to them. Her moment of betrayal was just enough for Donnie to go back to Raph's side and question Leo's desire to find and rescue her. The two don't want to bother with her anymore, but they still follow their leader when it's clear that Leo isn't changing his mind.

Even though I just chronicled Donnie flip flopping between Leo and Raph, I did also mention him siding with Mikey on one instance, and their long story with Karai wasn't the only one. When they get pulled into an alternate dimension reminiscent of feudal Japan with an anthropomorphic rabbit as their only guide, they have to rely on Usagi while aiding him on his journey with Kintaro, but Leo gets fed up with his leadership being undermined (as well as being thrust into trouble they didn't ask for) and orders his brothers to follow him while they find a way out of this dimension. Mikey is the first to speak up about how dangerous (and idiotic really) Leo's idea sounds since they're in unfamiliar land, and Donnie immediately says Mikey's right, showing that he also wasn't keen on traversing with no clear destination in sight. They were better off trusting Usagi.

Knowing when to trust someone isn't the only way Mikey influenced Donnie, as he also directly and indirectly encourages Donnie to think outside the box whenever he's struggling to figure something out. Of course there's the obvious one of learning how to fight without thinking, but there's also Mikey's habit of using unconventional means to reach an intended result, as well as him easily pointing out the obvious without the intricacies and convoluted mess of a situation distracting him from it.

What is arguably the most interesting influence Mikey had on Donnie was learning to give someone a second chance when they've wronged you the first time.

Mikey put this on display when Slash returned during S3 in the fight against the Kraang. Though things seemed fairly neutral towards the end of Newtralized!, Leo is immediately wary of and angry with Slash appearing before them after their last two run-ins with him, something Slash expresses guilt over and apologizes for. Leo is still antagonistic and distrusting towards him when the Mutanimals make it clear they're on the good side, but Mikey comes forth and tells his brother that everyone deserves a second chance to prove themselves, and this is Slash's second chance. Leo doesn't want to ally himself with Slash, but Mikey's insistence is enough for him to put aside their differences and prioritize Earth.

And Donnie does the same for the Fugitoid. When it's revealed that the black hole generator was his creation, the Fugitoid emphasizes as much as he can that he regrets creating the device and handing it over to beings who only wanted to abuse its power, but Leo is again the main one to doubt him, with Raph seconding him. Donnie leaps in to put out the fire, preaching exactly what Mikey stated a season ago about giving someone a second chance, and April and Mikey jump in to back the Fugitoid up. Leo is unfortunately too stubborn to heed their words, though he doesn't attempt to force anyone on his side either. Donnie had absolutely no reason to try and convince Leo other than the fact that the Fugitoid has been helping them this whole time, and was honest with them about his previous mistakes.

He didn't have to tell them the truth, but he did, and that was all Donnie needed to believe they weren't being used by the Fugitoid.

There are likely other instances of the guys pulling Donnie in a direction different from the one he'd typically choose, and Donnie occasionally exhibits similar behaviors to Mikey when the youngest turtle is convinced to say or do something he otherwise wouldn't. But, for me personally, all of this supports the idea of Donnie being the third oldest and a middle child.

[iztarshi]

Not me coming up with a rough outline for what I'd do with a TMNT iteration. Much of this is just me throwing in all the ideas I'd like to play with and then dividing them by which ones work well together.

Season One:

Shredder and Krang trying to bring the technodrome through and take over the world. Less a new plot every week and more ongoing attempts to bring it through while the turtles and April try to figure out what he’s up to.

I think the turtles have to reveal themselves fairly early (long before the technodrome arrives at the end of the season) and there’s some wrangling back and forth with public image between Shredder and April. Shredder’s better at swaying public opinion than he is in 87, although he’s not the smooth operator Ch’rell is so much as a bombastic storyteller.

Punk frogs, maybe? Could cross over with Shredder trying to frame the turtles. They’d be convinced over the turtles’ side by the end of the season but would be interesting to have them as Shredder's team for a while.

Winter is a massive problem, the turtles have never had to stay awake during the cold weather before, so a lot of focus is on them struggling to fight crime while being cold-blooded. The farmhouse arc does happen, with Leo’s coma being as much brumation as injury since he was left outside in the cold. Might be a fun place to use box turtles being able to revive after seemingly freezing to death.

Defeating the technodrome at the end and sending it back to Dimension X.

Season Two:

After learning that Shredder and Krang can make forays into this dimension from Dimension X the turtles decide to take the battle to them before winter arrives again and go to Dimension X themselves. The war between the Federation and the Triceratons is going on here. The turtles start off in Federation territory, where they meet the Fugitoid and some pacifist Federation teenagers who call themselves the Neutrinos.

After escaping Federation Territory into Triceraton territory, the turtles learn that the Triceratons lead an alliance of reptiloid species and the turtles fit in surprisingly well in their territory. The difference between how they are treated and how the Neutrinos and the Fugitoid are treated gives the turtles a taste of being on the other side of privilege and acceptance for once.

Eventually they have to escape from the Triceratons as well and get the Fugitoid to safety.

Triceratons may attempt to invade Earth in the finale?

Season Three

Shredder and/or Bishop (because I don’t want to involve Lord Dregg) manage to turn public opinion against mutants.

Draxum, a mutant karakul ram, has created HAVOC to fight back. He's also secretly responsible for the mutation of a lot of its human-to-mutant members (the animals, which are the ones he really identifies with as a sheep himself, being mostly the result of Shredder and Krang creating mutants as distractions or to stir up anti-mutant sentiment). This is where the turtles meet Mona Lisa and maybe Mondo Gecko. They already know Leatherhead as an enemy but she (based on 87 but female because I wanted the maternal instincts as a background alligator thing) is here too.

Mostly I want to do HAVOC better than 87 did, because that's an interesting idea, but apparently the mutants had all been made against their will, knew that, and still supported Titanus?

Mona Lisa is instrumental in figuring out what Draxum is up to and joins the turtles' team afterwards. Mondo cares and will help out but remains less of a fighter.

Shredder and Krang need to be properly defeated (killed? depends how the tone of this turns out, but they’re really hard to get rid of alive) at the end and their lies revealed. Draxum’s lies, on the other hand, may be best not revealed (except to the mutants he created) if we don’t want anti-mutant sentiment to get even worse.

[mistressoftherant-blog]

TMNT Crossover Fics and Trauma

Something I find really weird about some writers in the TMNT fandom is the absolute insistence that if a bunch of different iterations met up, they would all be horrified at what happened in Rise, being shocked that they've gone through such terrible things at their age, and then would coddle the living daylights out of the 18 boys after learning about their Krang/Shredder. Warning, spoilers ahead.

Don't get me wrong, the Rise boys do go through a lot of traumatising incidents at a young age, and if you consider the other turtles to be older than them when they meet they probably would try to help out. It's just, every iteration of the turtles goes through a lot of traumatising events at a young age, and most crossover fics just seem to sweep these under the rug to prioritise Rise.

I guess this is fine if Rise is your fave version and that's all you want to look at, but it always comes across as weird to me when you have characters from 12 for instance being like oh no, 'one of you got possessed and forced to fight the others, one of you got melded with a piece of tech, one of you almost got locked in a prison dimension, and your city was invaded by Krang, etc, I can't even imagine the suffering you have been through', when all of these things have happened to the 12 boys before, some even multiple times.

They've all been possessed/mind controlled and used against their brothers, Donnie merged with the Speed Demon, the Krang have invaded their city, their entire world was destroyed! Same with 03, they've been possessed/mind controlled, their city was taken over by the Demon Shredder (and Don saw the SAINW Shredder controlled world), they had to fight at least five Shredders, one of whom was also a demon, etc etc Also, as most of the other series ran for longer than Rise (trust me, I am also annoyed that we didn't get more of the 18 boys as 18 was the first show to properly get me into TMNT and I do love it), they also went through more traumatic events than the 18 boys.

Again, I am not trying to say that what the 18 boys went through isn't traumatic, because they definitely had a lot of bad stuff happen to them. But it does feel so weird to dimish everything that the other turtles went through when they were pretty much the same age as the Rise boys.

Take, Donnie: In 03 he's double mutated at least twice, tortured by an invasive mind probe that also electrocuted him, lost a friend to another dimension, got sent to an alternative future and learns that another of his friend and his father are dead before he watched his brothers get killed in front of him, believed himself to be responsible for the loss of his father and went through his own mini depression arc trying to cope with thlle guikt whilst working to bring him back, and that's all off the top of my head.

Poor 12 Donnie... he has died multiple times one of which was beinh literally torn apart on a molecular level by a possessed version of the girl he loves, has also been double mutated and/or possessed multiple times (not sure whether being turned into a vampire counts more as death or mutation), has immense guilt over a variety of things that aren't actually his fault (Leo's coma, when they thought Splinter died during the first invasion, everything that happened with Pulverizer), has also been tortured via electrocution to the head, spent an episode being beaten up by his mind controlled brothers only for them to be snapped out of it pizza, is constantly pressured to be able to fix/solve everything and is frequently told he isnt good enough etc etc

Again, these are examples for just 03 and 12 Donnie that come from the top of my head. Looking at other iterations and characters would make this post even longer than it already is, but I think the Donnie examples alone are enough to prove my point.

In conclusion, if you are writing a crossover fic with Rise as the central point of focus, that is completely fine! If you want to mainly prioritise looking at their trauma because the others are older than that is valid. I just wanted to point out that it can come across a little weirdly if you have some of the characters being completely horrified by the events of Rise, and acting like they could never even begin to understand what they have been through when they've all had similar trauma in their own pasts. Or when you have a bunch of characters being like, 'Oh you almost died, you are turning my scales grey', when they have all almost or actually died multiple times.

It's just a little funny to me for example to have any of the 12 sibling act like, 'I can't even imagine how much you must have suffered when you thought Leo was lost in the prison dimension' when their Donnie has legitimately been killed in a horrific way in front of them, their dad has been 'killed' in front of them multiple times, their own Leo pulls self sacrificial stunts, their entire world was destroyed in front of them, etc

This may just be me coming across as a little bitter but, if you are doing a crossover, it doesn't make sense to me why you would just ignore all the events of the other shows completely in order to make it sound like Rise had it the absolute worst. It seems like it would make more sense to have the characters relating to one another around shared or similar traumas 🤷‍♀️

[jocelynships]

Aaaa thinking about a multiverse type story where each version of my TMNT S/I meets each other, and I think it would be so funny if they all got separated and got paired up with a version of the turtles (but not THEIR turtles) and yeah it’s a little weird at first bc yeah they’re basically the same, but not at the same time. But like. Each version of my S/I is still FIERCELY protective of the turtles, even if it’s not her own universe’s turtles. They’re still her baby brothers.

And man I’m getting emotional having each version of her go “you’re still my little brothers, even if you’re from a different universe, ain’t nothing gonna change that!” to whichever version of the turtles she’s with and I just

[curlsofsagesmoke]

TMNT (2012) characters as dysfunctional family roles

here I go again analyzing a kids show that ended four years ago. anyway, I saw a tiktok by user doinbigthink where they gave a quick overview of the six kinds of dysfunctional family roles, and I immediately thought of tmnt bc it’s my current hyperfixation. so I spent almost an hour doing research and writing up this analysis, as one does.

as a preface: dysfunction in a family can be caused by anything from someone struggling with addiction to a parent being abusive or unavailable/neglectful to someone having narcissistic personality disorder (npd) etc. etc. Usually there is one person who is the root cause of this (very deep seated) dysfunction and the others in the family (often the kids) fall into these roles in order to cope.

Leo: The Hero

The Hero is often the oldest child. They cope with the dysfunction in the family by being high achievers or perfectionists, and they need a sense of control in order to feel safe within the family. They are seen as very well-adjusted, balanced, and high-functional and are often used as an example of how well the family as a whole is doing. They may allow this misconception to continue (whether consciously or unconsciously) in order to hide the family’s problems. They may be parentified as children (that is, forced to take on a parental role for their younger siblings) and usually feel a lot of pressure to solve the family’s issues. With Leo in particular, you see these two behaviors in the way he approaches leading his brothers as well as the way he obsessed over bringing Karai into the family for Splinter’s sake after discovering her true identity. As an adult, the Hero is often drawn toward romantic partners who are emotionally unavailable (again, see Leo’s crush on Karai) and tend to throw themselves into their work (Leo’s obsession with ninjutsu)

Leo: The Golden Child

The Golden Child is not a dysfunctional family role but instead describes a relationship that develops between a parent/guardian with npd and one of the children in the family. In these cases, the parent tends to favor the Golden Child because the Golden Child exhibits all the traits the parent loves in themselves. In Splinter and Leo’s case, these characteristics are their devotion to ninjutsu, their general temperaments, and their more spiritual/mystic natures. There are MANY examples of this favoritism in TMNT canon; for example, Splinter teaching Leo his reiki technique (the healing hands) in “the deadly venom” because everyone things Leo is the most capable of learning such an advanced technique (in the episode, Donnie says that he doesn’t think anyone else on the team could’ve done what Leo did, i.e. using the healing hands on himself and saving the others from karai). The parent has a volatile relationship with the Golden Child and often their love is conditional (that is, the parent will favor the Golden Child as long as the Golden Child continues to act like the parent). Because of this, the Golden Child often has trouble establishing an independent identity (see: Raph calling Leo “Splinter Jr.”, though I can’t remember if this happens in 2012 or just in the 2003 version). The Golden Child may also participate in the narcissistic parent’s abuse against the other children in order to protect themself (this is less explicit in canon, but I think that Leo’s leadership style fits this bill)

Raph: The Scapegoat

The Scapegoat is often the second child. As the name suggests, they are often blamed for things that go wrong in the family regardless of whether it was actually their fault or not. Scapegoats are often very aware of their position in the family and as a result they may feel rejected, isolated, and unlovable. I think a good example of Raph feeling like this is the fact that, early in the show, he only openly expresses his emotions to Spike. Scapegoats learn that negative attention is better than no attention (especially from a parent/guardian) and they often engage in high risk behaviors such as sex, drugs, etc. (in Raph’s case, his reckless fighting style and the way he seeks out fights, and this also explains his temper and overall angry demeanor). Because of this, they tend to get into a lot of trouble and are often singled out as the child who needs individual help (aka therapy) even though the root problems lie with the family as a unit. In cases where the parent has npd the Scapegoat is often pitted against the Golden Child. This is called splitting and it is another way to distract from the family’s deeper issues. I feel like I don’t need to explain the way that Leo and Raph are pitted against each other.

Donnie: The Lost Child

The Lost Child, as the name implies, often fades into the background. Usually this is on purpose in an effort to keep themself safe, as they might be scared to draw attention to themself or rock the boat, especially in an abusive household. They may often feel ignored or neglected and are often described as loners who have difficulty developing social skills or self-esteem. Like the Hero, the Lost Child is often used as an example of the family’s stability and success because they aren’t causing trouble. They tend to struggle when forming friendships/romantic relationships, and they are usually praised for not needing a lot of attention/being independent. Because of this, they feel safer when they’re by themselves. Although Donnie does cause trouble sometimes (see: all the times he’s blown some shit up in the lab, the Mutagen man thing, etc.), he’s not seen as the troublemaker. Raph (and Mikey, to a certain extent) definitely takes that title. Donnie is often alone in his lab---working, admittedly, but he still tends to isolate himself, and he is often seen as the most socially awkward of the brothers (see: his relationship with April). There’s also this very interesting exchange from the episode “Enemy of My Enemy” when they’re in the Shellraiser and Leo is about to take the stealth bike to help Karai:

Raph: Hey, the stealth bike’s my thing. Leo: Now your thing is sucking it up. Donnie: Hey! That’s my thing!

Mikey: The Mascot

The Mascot is often the youngest child. They use humor and goofiness to diffuse tension and distract the family from their issues, though when this works, they feel increased pressure to continue to step in when things become tense or volatile. The Mascot acts from a place of anxiety and trauma, and they may have bouts of depression. They also tend to feel as though they cannot express their negative emotions (because they often see themselves as responsible for their family’s happiness). They tend to bend over backwards for people with little regard for their own safety/comfort, and they are drawn to intense and dysfunctional relationships (whether romantic or platonic) where they will be called upon to diffuse tension. This can be seen in the way Mikey approached his friendships with both Bradford (pre-mutation) and Leatherhead. Mikey is also very rarely shown as being sad, angry, or depressed the way that the other three are, and it’s only in times of extreme emotional distress (like the season two finale) where he drops his humor. Even in the midst of tough battles or tough situations, Mikey tends to insert himself into the middle of the tension and is almost constantly cracking jokes or trying to keep things lighthearted. When he does show more negative emotions, it’s in (mostly) one of two ways. One, giving comfort or seeking comfort, usually from Raph (again see the season two finale, where he hugs Raph to calm him down after Splinter “dies” and seeks comfort from Raph in the Party Wagon as they’re driving away from the city). Two, acting combative with Donnie.

Note: Mikey and Donnie acting combative

This second one in particular is really interesting to me because both Donnie and Mikey exhibit a level of comfort/feeling safe with each other that they don’t display with the other two. Mikey only ever gets physical with Donnie (their little slap fight in “Turtle Temper” or attacking him at the end of “The Creeping Doom”), while Donnie only ever purposefully antagonizes Mikey to get a reaction (slapping him in “Turtle Temper”, which prompts the slap fight, or teasingly insulting him at the end of “The Creeping Doom”, which prompts Mikey to attack him). Mikey likes to get under Raph’s skin, but he never retaliates when Raph gets physical with him. Donnie does occasionally argue with Raph and Leo, but usually backs down after Raph threatens him with violence (see “New Girl in Town”), and with Leo it never escalates past a verbal fight (see the season two finale, “the fourfold trap”). Actually, it seems that in Mikey’s and Donnie’s relationship, they take on the roles that you usually see in Raph’s and Mikey’s relationship. Mikey antagonizes Raph and Raph retaliates; similarly, Donnie antagonizes Mikey and Mikey retaliates, but neither of them would act this way toward their other two brothers.

Splinter: The Root of the Dysfunction

I’ve made a lot of allusions by now to Splinter having npd, or at least some narcissistic tendencies. There are many times where he shows favoritism toward Leo or acts in a very stubborn or even self-absorbed manner. In the season one finale, for example, he refuses to help the turtles fight and only leaves the lair after april is kidnapped by the shredder. In “the pulverizer returns”, he makes the turtles switch weapons (for literally no good reason), they almost die in a fight and switch back, and as punishment, he takes their weapons away entirely; this isn’t addressed in the episode, but i do believe that if they’d had their weapons, they could’ve prevented timothy from being mutated in this episode. (Admittedly there are times when he apologizes, admits he’s wrong, and changes his mind, which is why I hesitate to say he exhibits fully narcissistic behaviors). There’s also the physical aspect of their relationship. He’s teaching the turtles ninjutsu, so you can expect a very physical relationship in the form of training, but there are times when he causes the turtles pain for the sake of pain as punishment (e.g. randori, which we see a few times, or when he goes for their pressure points, or when he trips mikey in the episode “monkey brains”, or when he stabs raph with his cane in the episode “turtle temper”, and these are just the examples i can think of off the top of my head). There has been discourse in the fandom about whether these characters (splinter and raph in particular) are abusive, and i don’t want to get into that. However, i think it’s undeniable that splinter raised his kids with the intent to turn them into child soldiers, and also i fully believe that this (plus his parenting style) is the root of the dysfunction in the hamato family.

[raph-and-spike]

Taking a Swim - Leo x fem!reader

request? yes/no 

I want a Story WITH LEO  It could be also nsfw. 😅🤤🤭 i'm a long friend of April and she make a Meeting between the turtles and me.Leo fall in love with me and dont know how he should tell me that.  We meet us in 4th July at first. Then its the 14.august and the turtles, April, casey and i go Swimming in a little sea... I hope you know the scenes,that i mean..  Have a good day 🤗😘 Nice wishes from germany

a/n: @tkappi I hope you don’t mind that I slightly altered it... I wanted the swimming scene to be a little more intimate ;) I’m sorry this request took so long!! Hope you like it <33 

warnings: NSFW...aka smut. Read at your own risk. For the sake of this being smut, both the reader and Leo will be 18 years old in this imagine. 

Finally, you thought to yourself with a smile of relief as you gripped the straps of your backpack on your walk home. It was summer–which meant you were free from school, free to do whatever you please for the next two and a half months. You couldn’t wait to spend everyday with your best friend, April O’Neil. The two of you had been best friends for as long as you could remember; you knew the redhead like the back of your hand. 

Though, summer didn’t end up going according to plan. Instead, you spent it calling April every morning and afternoon, asking to hang out. At first, she’d claimed that she was spending time with her aunt or hanging out with Casey. You believed her for a while, but once her excuses turned into not answering her phone, you began to get angry. It had already been the beginning of July, and the two of you had yet to hang out once! You’d had it.

Stomping on the pavement to her apartment, your mind raced with millions of different phrases you’d say to her. ‘Why haven’t you been answering my calls?’ was one. ‘Do you not like me anymore?’ was another. As you reached her apartment door, your heart raced through your chest as you brought your knuckles to the hard, painted wood. As it begun to swing open, you froze in your spot. 

“Raph, you could have just used the fire escape–”

You froze as a green figure stood in front of you, wearing an orange mask with matching nunchucks at its sides. You couldn’t move nor could you speak. You felt paralyzed.

“Uh, guys?!” It spoke. 

You looked behind it, two identical creatures standing next to April and Casey. You watched April’s eyes meet yours, her blue orbs widening in fear at your frozen figure. She wasn’t sure what to do or how to alleviate this situation. Panicking, she finally decided to pull you into her bedroom and tell you what she’d been hiding.

“We need to talk,” she stated calmly, grabbing your hand and pulling you into her apartment, leading you into her bedroom.

Once she shut her bedroom door behind you, she took a seat on her bed. You couldn’t find the ability to sit, so you stood in front of her with your arms at your sides.

“I met them at the beginning of last year. My Dad and I...” she struggled for words, “we were taken by these alien robots, called the ‘Kraang’.”

You cocked an eyebrow, obviously thinking that she was making this up.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, Y/n, but you have to listen,” she begged.

With a sigh, you sat down on the bed next to her and did as you were told. She told you everything. From when they saved her, to when her father was freed and then mutated, how she'd been trained by her turtle friends’ father–a tall rat, apparently–to be a kunoichi, to their adventures saving the city from not only mutants, but their enemy named Shredder, as well. You had no choice but to believe the redhead. After all, you’d known the girl your entire life. 

“So, that’s why you’ve been dodging my calls?” you asked, rerunning the story she’d just told you over again in your head.

She nodded sadly. “I didn’t mean to ignore you, Y/n. I’m so sorry,” she admitted guiltily. 

You put a hand on her shoulder with a small smile. “It’s okay, April...just promise me that you won’t push me away like that again? I mean, we’ve been through everything together, you can’t get rid of me now with a few mutant turtles,” you said with a laugh. 

She chuckled before pulling you into a hug.

“Actually, the turtles, Casey, and I were going to spend the rest of the summer at the farmhouse, and now since you know about them...” she trailed off before a knocking on the door interrupted her.

“Can you two, like, hurry up or somethin’? Mikey’s eatin’ all the road snacks!” a voice yelled from outside the door.

She rolled her eyes. “Coming, Raph!”

She looked at you, raising her eyebrows. 

“You wanna spend your summer with a couple of mutants at a farmhouse upstate?”

After introducing you to the turtles, and quickly bringing you to your own apartment so that you could fill a suitcase with clothes and other belongings, all seven of you sat in Mr. O’Neil’s Volkswagen bus as Casey drove to April’s farmhouse. With Mikey pestering you with questions–and a certain blue-masked turtle telling him to leave you alone–the ride went by pretty fast. 

The house was beautiful. It was incredibly secluded and quiet, which you preferred much more to the loud, packed city of New York. 

Mikey offered to cook everyday, often switching with you whenever he was busy sparring with the others, or occupied with comic books. You didn’t mind it, cooking eased your mind. You’d offer to do the dishes afterwards as well. It wasn’t until Mikey had picked up a new compelling comic series, when you’d been picking up cooking and dish-washing duty almost daily. Leo noticed this and offered to help one night. You immediately accepted his offer with a blush.

You ordered him to dry the dishes and put them away after you washed them. It was a steady, easy system between the two of you. He’d ask you questions about your interests and hobbies, and you’d ask him about his. You noticed that he didn’t seem much interested in talking about himself–he seemed rather interested in your answers instead. Talking with Leo was easy. With him, you knew he wouldn’t judge you or make you feel uncomfortable. 

He easily became closer to you than the others, always making excuses to spend time with you, and even asking you to teach him how to cook. You taught him how to make homemade pizzas, much to Mikey’s dinner request, along with some easy pasta dishes. 

One night, as you slept on the twin bed in April’s old childhood bedroom, you felt a tapping on your shoulder. You sat up, peering into the deep blue eyes that still seemed so magnetic in the darkness. 

“I want to show you something,” he whispered. 

Butterflies swarming in your stomach, you grinned.

Quietly tip-toeing down the creeky, aged wooden stairs and out the door, he gently grabbed your hand and began leading you through the grass. Once the two of you headed toward the edge of the forest, you frowned.

“Why are you taking me into the woods?” you asked, suspicion in your voice.

He stopped, a dreamy smile on his lips. “It’s going to be good, I promise.”

You chewed your lip hesitantly, causing his invisible eyebrows to knit together. 

“If I gave you one of my katanas, would you feel safer?” he asked, skillfully pulling the blade out from its sheath on his shell. 

You gladly took it, gripping the wrapped hilt as he lead you deeper into the forest. The broken twigs, rocks, and rough roots weren’t gentle on the bare soles of your feet, but your excitement and nervousness distracted you from it.

At last, a large clearing with a wide pond stared back at you, entirely lit by the large moon in the sky. Your jaw nearly dropped at the beautiful sight in front of you, tossing his katana onto the ground whilst you stared in awe. 

“I found it yesterday,” the blue-masked turtle explained briefly.

You hadn’t noticed that he was staring at you, wondering how the girl of his dreams would react to his discovery.

“Leo, it’s,” you struggled for words, “’incredible’ feels like too small of a word to describe it,” you admitted. 

He chuckled. “I know what you mean, that’s how I felt when I first saw it too... It’s–”

“Perfect,” you finished.

He gazed at you as if you were a star–no, that’s too small. He gazed at you as if you were an entire universe; he felt like a small, floating asteroid compared to you, an entire universe. How were you so perfect? How was creation able to give you such beautiful features, a personality sculpted just for him? Dissecting your mind all this time while the two of you spent so much time together made him realize just how much he’d fallen for you and how much he adored you. 

You watched him as he stared at you intently, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Leo?” you asked hesitantly.

“Can I, uhm, may I...kiss you?” he stuttered, attempting to raise his shoulders back confidently as he waited for your response.

You felt your cheeks turn crimson. With a slow nod, you moved to fill the space between the two of you, watching as he stared at you in awe. Within seconds, he pressed his lips against yours. Surprised, you nearly pulled away before melting against him, wrapping your arms around his neck and closing your eyes. He didn’t attempt to move his lips, after all, he had no experience with kissing whatsoever. You took the initiative to begin moving your lips slowly, knowing not to introduce your tongue just yet. Your lips moved gently against each other’s, and you’d never felt closer to Leo. 

Pulling away to catch your breath, you turned your head toward the pond, and back at Leo. Getting your drift, he grinned, shrugging his other katana off before jumping into the pond. You looked down at your pajamas. Deciding not to get them wet, you slowly pulled your pajama top off, revealing your bra to Leonardo. He watched from the water, cheeks pinker than you’d ever seen them before, as you began to pull down your pajama bottoms. You stood in the cool, summer night air, nearly naked, before jumping into the water with him. With a shriek at the cold temperature of the pond, you attempted to swim toward him before he moved away.

“I have sort of an...issue; we should probably keep our distance,” he admitted, his cheeks still blushing profusely. 

You cocked a brow in confusion. “What?”

He made a downward motion with his head, before it hit you. Your own cheeks flushed once more.

“Well,” you began, slowing making your way toward him, despite his warning, “we can...fix that, if you want.”

You watched as his blue orbs widened, Adam’s apple bobbing as he gulped.

“A-are you sure?” he asked, looking bewildered, shocked that someone as beautiful as you would ever want to do something like that with him. 

You nodded, closing the space between the two of you and forcing his lips against your own. This kiss was incredibly different than the first; it was needy, it was desperate, as if you couldn’t breathe without him in between your legs.

You didn’t waste time introducing your tongue, feeling him do the same as your lips danced sloppily against each other’s, begging for a release of tension. He leant down, grabbing your legs to wrap them around his waist. You easily leant into him, the water helping hold you up, as you felt his hardened length brush against your clothed core. You moaned against his lips, grinding your heat against it. Growling, he brought his hands to your bum, ripping the fabric of your panties off. You gasped, feeling his hands squeeze your bare ass and push you further against him.

With ease, due to how wet you were, he was able to slide his length into you. You groaned, feeling him fill you up.

“Is this okay? A-am I doing this right?” he asked, his voice breathy and raspy.

“Yes, Leo, move,” you begged, resting your forehead against his. 

He thrusted hard, causing you to nearly scream. He continued to thrust, every stroke going deeper and deeper until he developed a steady rhythm. His thrusts quickened as your walls began to clench, grasping onto his plastron as you felt your climax nearing.

“Leo, please,” you groaned, shoving your head into the crook of his neck, trying to muffle your moans into his skin.

He thrusted even faster, squeezing your ass against him as your hips met his movements. Your eyes squeezed shut as your climax hit you, body spasming against him as you felt his own hips still, his cock spurting inside of you. Your body fell weak against him as you felt him gently pull out. He moved his hands to your back, stroking the soft skin whilst he held you against his chest.

The two of you rested there, basking in the moonlight, warm skin pressed against each other. It was then, that Leo knew he was in love. 

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season 2 (Part Two)

Continuing from Part One

The Shift (Episodes 15-18)

After a silly filler episodes that you LARP-ers will probably enjoy, the plot continues in I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman. Finally fed up with Stockman’s incompetence, Shredder triggers the mutagen collar and Stockman is turned into a fly mutant. But he gets the idea to mutate himself with... I really don’t fully understand the plan. To put it simply, he plans to kidnap April due to her unique DNA and have them mutated together to restore his humanity. Such a sound and totally not insane plan!

So part of the season has had Donnie trying to develop a retro-mutagen, a mutagen antidote that will revert the person back into a human. He finally succeeds and has two batches, one for April’s dad and the other or Splinter. The gang goes to get April’s dad, leading to Stockman finding them and kidnapping April. Although April tries to escape, even whacking Stockman with her tessen, she ultimately tied over the mutagen. One of the vials got broken, so Splinter tells Donnie to use the one that’s left to cure Kirby. As Leo, Donnie, and Casey go to save April, Raph and Mikey are sent to find and capture Kirby.

While April does get dunked into the mutagen, as it turns out due to her DNA she is immune to the effects. So since that plan failed, and really? Did we expect Stockman’s B-rated horror movie plan to work? But yeah, Stockman tries to steal the retro-mutagen with Rhazar soon joining the party! They all escape and meet up with Raph and Mikey, April calming down her father. But Stockman manages to steal the mutagen, forcing a huge aerial chase to get it. Which let me just say that April is awesome this episode. When the vial gets stolen, she rounds up her dad and Casey and goes after it. The vial ends up broken, but like Hell April is going to give up the chance of saving her dad after all the shit form before. She manages to get her dad below it as it drips and he reverts back to normal. Also once she gets freed after being mutagen dunked, she kicks Stockman’s ass hard. Seriously, this episode did a MUCH better job at presenting April as a badass who deserves to fight alongside the Turtles ten times better than The Kraang Conspiracy did.

So yeah, Kirby is unmutated, yay! But Donnie’s now fresh out of retromutagen. He feels guilty as now he can’t restore Splinter’s humanity, but Splinter makes it clear that he has come to terms with his mutant status and is happy as long as he has his sons. Stockman is brought before Shredder, who has decided to give him one last chance. There is a certain mutant that he wants, and tasks Stockman with creating it for him.

Speaking of the Foot, we return to the Karai story in The Wrath of Tiger Claw where the kunoichi is having doubts about everything. We also have Tiger Claw return... so what was the point of having the worm swallow him? Anyways, Shredder has him and Karai make a move against the Turtles. After beating intel out of their friend Murakami, Tiger Claw attacks Casey while Karai confronts April. She claims that she doesn’t want to fight, even thinking of turning on Shredder. When Leo and Donnie show up, Leo decides to do what is by no means a bad decision: take Karai to the Lair without questioning if this could be a trap at all! Our fearless leader everyone! Yeah, this is all a ploy by Karai to find the location and she has a tracker so that Tiger Claw will follow suit.

However with Karai there, Splinter brings her into the dojo and shows her a photo of himself and Tang-Shen. A photo that Karai herself has. When she sees the family portrait, it hammers the revelation in further. She cant believe it, which confuses Leo, so she reveals that it was a trap. But yeah, now Karai has physical evidence, so she now knows the truth. She and the Turtles get out of the sewers and to a butcher shop to lead Tiger Claw away and proceed to fight. Mikey end sup pretty badly beaten up as Karai cements her turn of alligence. Agreed, Tiger Claw knocks her out and takes her back to face Shredder. With Mikey’s injuries, the Turtles can't follow and Raph makes it clear that despite all of this, he still doesn’t trust Karai. Leo is angered by all of this, but ultimately there’s nothing that he can do.

Karai is brought before Shredder, Tiger Claw revealing her aiding the Turtles. Angered, Karai asks Shredder to tell ehr the truth. So Shredder does just that, revealing that yes, Splinter is her real father. This murders the last bit of lingering doubt in Karai’s mind. So what does Shredder do now that all of his lies are out on the table? He has Tiger Claw throw his so-called ‘daughter’ in the dungeon below! Father of the Year everyone! Oh, but you think all of this is bad! HA! Oh just wait. JUST WAIT.

The Revelations (Episodes 19-24)

We get three filler episodes after that. The first one is stupid and not worth mentioning other than that I hate it. One involving an arms dealer named Ivan Steranko (who we saw last season in Enemy of My Enemy) and a Tron-esque thief named Anton Zeck. They try to steal Shredder’s helmet, the Turtles get invovled, and Leo tries to use this to bargain for Karai. It fails. Remember those guys names though, it’ll be important next season. The other one is a Kraang plot where Raph gets his mind switched with a Kraang. A fun episode, especially since we get to hear Sean Astin have to talk Kraang-like and it is hilarious. But the episode ends with Raph revealing that the Kraang are about to start another invasion and Donnie revealing a plan for something he’s making to fight back: a mecha!

We return to the Karai plot with her trying to escape, but she sadly gets re-captured. Shredder, in both this and the previously menitoned episode abotu his helmet, has tried to tell Karai thing slike he was trying to do what was best for her or that how she’s acting is hurting him. You know... like an abuser would talk to someone. The Turtles have mad ea plan, but Splinter has forbidden it as he refuses to lose any of his other kids. Leo goes through with it anyways and it does work. They’re able to break Karai out, fight through the Foot, and get back to the Lair safely. Shredder... takes this surprisingly well. Why? Because he knwos that Karai is going to come back of her own volition to get payback. Of course you would you sick fuck, you raised her to be that way. God I hate Shredder...

Anyways, Splinter reveals to Karai the full story of what actually happened, including his relationship with Shredder. As it turns out, the Hamato Clan had wiped out the Oroku Clan, but Splinter’s father took pity on young Saki and adopted him into the clan. So Splinter and Shredder were raised as brothers, but things got tense when Splinter got together with Tang-Shen, who Shredder has been with previously, and when Shredder discovered his true heritage. Angered and fulled by vengeance, he and Splinter fought, but Tang-Shen sacrificed herself and took a lethal blow to save her lover. Shredder came out of it disfigured and during the chaos, stole the baby away, lying to her the ame way that the Hamato’s did.

Learning this on top of everything else, Karai decides to go back and personally finish Shredder. Leo finds out... and asks to go with her, also wanting to put an end to it. Wow Leo, so responsible there... Karai responds by knocking him out. She goes back and she and Shredder have one heck of a brawl, but ultimately Karai gets pinned and Shredder has her taken to Stockman’s lab. Why? Well remember that mutant that he asked Stockman to make Well it involves using Snake DNA in Stockman’s large vat to lure the Turtles in and mutate them into snakes. What do snakes like to eat? Why rats of course! Yeah, Shredder plans to mutate Splinter’s sons and have them devour him. Wow... wow. Does this man have ANY limit to how sick he can be?! Of course not because he ties Karai over it to serve as bait! There is NO WAY that THAT could go wrong in ANY WAY possible!

The Turtles and Splinter arrive and all but Leo get caught. He reaches Karai... but Shredder attacks him and severs the link. Karai is sent into the vat, turning into a snake mutant. Oh and on top of all of that, a fire gets ignited! So Shredder had kidnapped, lied to, and emotionally abused a young girl, threatened her with violence if she didn’t obey, locked her up when the truth came out, tried to paint himself as the victim when she was understandably pissed off, he used her as bait, and because of his own blind arrogance he got her mutated. SO who’s to blame for this? Why Splinter of course! OF COURSE! Shredder swears to avenge his daughter and I just want to break things. Splinter is able to break through to Karai and she flees. As Stockman’s building burns down, Leo apologizes to Splinter... but all Splinter says is that they should go.

One small note I have to make. When Stockman was preparing the DNA, he split something and it got mixed in. Thus creating a rather unique mutation. One that allows Karai to shift back into her human form, huh...

The penultimate episode, Into Dimension X, has the Turtles receive a message from someone we haven't heard from in over 20 episodes. My friends, Leatherhead is back! He tries to contact the Turtles via communication orb to warn them of the Kraang’s plans... but Mikey gets upset and breaks the orb. They also get a working portal for Dimension X and desperate to save his friend, Mikey stupidly goes in alone. It forces the other three to go in to find him, and kudos to the animation team. Dimension X both looks and feels totally alien. Most of the environment is crystallized and there are these strange little alien creatures. Add in the pink sky and it feels like a place the Kraang would come from.

So as it turns out, Mikey had become... very adapt to how Dimension X works due to his bizarre train of logic. TO out it simply, he understands Kraang logic mroe than regular logic. The Turtles get into the Kraang’s base, rescue Leatherhead, and discover that the Kraang, after nearly two seasons of trying, have perfected the mutagen. Thy can now use it to turn the Earth into a second Dimension X. While the guys cause some damage before getting back home, it is more clear than ever that the invasion is near. But it’s okay! Our boys are ready to face whatever comes at them! They can handle this, right?

Ha... haha... HAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

I’LL LET THAT SPEAK FOR ITSELF.

But yeah, we now enter the Season Two finale. This is actually both my favorite episode of the season and my favorite in the entire series. It’s one of the best-written, but... also the most depressing. Like this episode left me numb by the end. Why? Well let us go into...

The Invasion (Episodes 25-26)

Desperate to get Karai back, Shredder once more makes a deal with the Kraang. They help him get what he wants, and he helps them get what they want. So once again, Shredder decides to leave humanity to suffer all for his own needs. You see why I hate this monster?!

April and Irma get attacked by Foot Bots and unable to evade them, April is forced to take Irma to the sewers with her. Raph and Casey are on the lookout for Karai, but that gets cut short when the cops show up and try to arrest Casey. As it turns out, these are Kraang posing as humans. Worst? Raph sees Kraang portals opening and the Kraang dishing out everything that they have. UFO’s, robotic fleets, giant walker-things straight out of Star Wars. Casey is able to get free and overwhelmed, he and Raph are forced to try and find cover.

Down in the sewers, Donnie and Leo are arguing over the best course of action to take. Donnie wants to put his faith in the Turtle Mech, confident that it’ll dot he job despite still having kinks to work out. Leo however is concerned about if things could go wrong and wants to establish a second base outside New York. April arrives with Irma, who is taken back... before her body changes and reveals that she is a robot... UMM... so yeah, Irma was actually Kraang Sub-Prime, who was trying to work form within to weasel out the location of the Lair. Now that he has it, the Kraang open portals and attack. The gang gets quickly over-whelmed so Splinter orders the Turtles and April to flee. They head into the tunnels with Leo choosing to stay behind and fend off the Kraang droids chasing them while Donnie, Mikey, and April escape back to the surface.

Everything has devolved into chaos quickly. Raph and Casey are trying to evade the Kraang’s forces. Donnie, Mikey, and April flee to the O’Neil’s apartment where they watch the chaos unfold and poor Kirby has essentially a panic attack. Poor April feels guilty for it all due to bringing Irma to the Lair, even offering to go out and bring the boys to safety herself. Leo gets to the surface, but the Foot have spotted him and Shredder sends all of his forces after him. Splinter is able to defeat SUb-Prime, but the Lair is in utter ruins. But he has little time to grieve as he still has his sons to find. To make things worst, Kraang Prime emerges and launches mutagen all over the city, mutating everything and everyone hit with it. So yeah... things are NOT looking good.

Leo eventually ends up at a construction site where Shredder is waiting. Leo tries to make him fight him, but Shredder refuses as Leo is ‘beneath him’. Instead, he sends more Foot Bots and poor Leo is just getting pushed to his limits here. He’s under a lot of stress and pressure at this moment, and the constant attacks are not helping. He bests the Foot Bots in a... pretty brutal fashion that makes you really glad that he’s dicing and stabbing Foot Bots and not actual soldiers. Shredder has Rhazar, Fishface, and Tiger Claw attack him, provoking Leo to devolve to blind fury and kick their asses. But at this point, the leader in blue is exhausted, worn down, and not thinking clearly which leaves him vulnerable to Shredder, who casts the final, and most lethal, blow.

Shredder has his men take Leo away as he finds Splinter, who is NOT happy with the evidence that something happened to his son. Shredder responds by saying that he took Leo just like he took Karai all those years ago. This pisses Splinter off for VERY understandable reasons and they fight. Meanwhile, Raph and Casey finally make it to the apartment, but the relief is short-lived. Leo gets tossed through the window, knocked out and brutally beaten up. The Foot attack, forcing the group to escape. Kirby leads them to his old van they they try to escape in, but Kirby get shit with mutagen before he can tag along. Kraang Prime totally did that just to spite April. Asshole. The group flees in the van. Splinter and Shredder continue to brawl, but Splinter eventually gets trapped under some graters. Fortunately he earlier met up with Leatherhead, who jumps into the fray to save him. Unfortunately, while t works, Shredder gets the upper hand and knocks him into the icy waters. Splinter gets so pissed that he, by sheer force of will, knocks the grates away and tackles Shredder back into the sewers. All while trying to essentially bite his face off. DAMN.

Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and April go back to the Lair to find Splinter as they leave Leo with Casey, who goes to find his family. Spoiler alert: he sadly fails. The Lair is an utter wreck and realizing that they can't stay, Donnie has the guys round up supplies and anything significant before going to find Splinter and get out of the city. It’s a... really somber scene. The Lair is where we have spent the past two years. It wasn't just the Turtles home, it was ours in a way too. I Bremen seeing it trashed for the first time and I was just... crying. Mind you they make the bad choice of having them fix it u next season, which I think was dumb because it negates the emotional significance played up in this moment and potential growth for the cast. But for this moment? It was... hard. Really hard.

April soon senses that Splinter is in trouble and the four venture into the tunnels, discovering that Splinter is still fighting Shredder. The tunnel is caged off however, so they can’t reach him. Splinter gives it his all, even using the same airbending-like maneuver that he used in I. Monster on Shredder. But unfortunately, it fails. Shredder get sup, knocks Splinter out form behind, and literally flushes Splinter away. All while three of his sons and his surrogate daughter are forced to watch helplessly. Raph is enraged, angrily pulling and bating at the bars as Shredder walks away. Mikey eventually hugs Raph to calm him down, assuring him that somehow Splinter will be okay. April, enraged, tells Donnie that they can't run. They need to stay and end this here and now.

Their decision made, the four get the Turtle Mech and fight through the Kraang to reach the Foot. But they never get the chance to face Shredder again as Kraang Prime takes them on. They give it their best, even using the city’s power to use a powerful electrical attack n Prime that knocks out the city power grid. But even that proves futile and even fries the systems as Kraang Prime simply exits his robot suit and attacks personally. The only thing that saves them is April using her powers and Casey arriving to ram Prime back. They all flee formt he city, Donnie apologizing to the still comatose Leo for not listening. April hs a place where they can go, a farmhouse in North Hampton, but it does little to raise anyone’s spirits. The Turtles, for the first time, have completely and utterly lost.

As for Splinter, he is left in the city. But fortunately he is saved form drowning by, of all people, Karai. She doesn't stick around, but Thank God that we have something good happen cause Dear God did we need it! YEAH THIS EPISODE STILL HURTS EVEN FOUR YEARS LATER! 

TBC in Part Three...

[pilyarquitect]

44. “You can’t save everyone.”

This one in English, the next one in Spanish

****************************

The walking back to the lair felt like an eternity. No one wanted to talk of what had happened. And the reason was obvious, Karai disappeared after having mutated into a snake. The four brothers followed their father. All of them felt that they had lost today, but from them all, the one who was suffering more for sure was Master Splinter, Leo was very aware of that.

His father had lost his daughter one more time, and it was all Leo’s fault. He didn’t stop Karai when he had the chance, and because of that, Splinter’s daughter was now a mutant, a mindless mutant apparently… or partially mindless since she was able to recognize her father before scape.

Leo sighed. All of this was his fault. Why didn’t he stop Karai? If he had did it, she wouldn’t have escaped and being caught by Shredder. All this situation… that Karai was gone again… was his fault. He was the only responsible of what happened.

The lair appeared at sight, but unlike other times, to see their home didn’t bring any of them a happy feeling, not when the most recent family member was missing.

“My sons I…” Master Splinter closed his eyes, probably considering what would he say next “you better go to sleep; it has been a long night and you need rest. Go quickly to your rooms.”

“Hai Sensei.” Answered the four brothers. None of them dared to reply to their father, not this night.

The four turtles headed to their rooms. Leo looked back at his father and saw how he slowly walked to the dojo, his ears were down, showing how deeply sad he felt with all what happened not even an hour ago.

All because Leo didn’t stop Karai from leaving.

Feeling like a complete failure, Leonardo Hamato entered to his room to do what his sensei ordered him, rest.

********************************************

Leo didn’t know how much time he was tried to fall asleep, but it was useless. He just couldn’t. Leo could hear his brothers’ snores. But this didn’t help him to sleep, not even a little. Guilty consumed him, and he needed to do something or he wouldn’t be able to never rest again.

Leaving his room, Leo thought on go to the bathroom and refresh himself. He knew it wouldn’t be enough, but it was a way to start.

While walking there, the turtle in blue saw light coming out of the dojo. Was his father still awake?

Come on Leo, of course he is! He has just lost his daughter again, how could he even think his father would be able to sleep after what happened?

Leo sighed. He tried to ignore it, but he knew he could only feel able to rest if he asked forgiveness to his father. He tried to do it before, just after all what happened while they were on the roof, but instead of answering him, Master Splinter just told them to come back home. Leo haven’t received his father forgiveness, maybe… maybe because he didn’t want to forgive him.

Leo shrugged. This idea was now consuming him, and urged him more than before to want his father’s forgiveness. Taking a deep breath, the older brother, directed himself to the dojo. Slowly he entered in it and found his father there, holding the photo of his wife and his daughter. This only increased Leo’s guilty to an unknown level.

“Is something wrong, my son?”

Leo jumped in surprise. How could his father notice he was there? But again, he was Hamato Yoshi, the best ninja that has ever existed.

“Wh- oh no Sensei, everything is fine.” Leo offered to his father a tiny smile.

Splinter raised an eyebrow. It was obvious he didn’t trust his son, but, being completely honest, Leo didn’t even know how to start talking to his father.

“Then, why are you awake, my son?”

Oh shell…

“I…” Leo looked at the grown “Sensei, I just… wanted to apologize. All of this… all what happened has been my fault.”

Leo closed his eyes. He didn’t feel like he was worthy to look at his father. Suddenly, the older brother felt a hand on his shoulder, that made him look at his father.

“No, my son, that’s not true.” He assured him, but Leo didn’t agree with his dad.

“Of course, it is Sensei!” Leo protested “If I had stop Karai, none of this would have happened, I could have saved her.”

Splinter adopted a thoughtful expression.

“Yes, and no.”

Here we go… Leo hated when his father said that.

“What? How can you say that Sensei?”

Splinter walked to where his family photo was. He stood there a few seconds, looking at his wife and daughter’s images. Without looking at Leonardo, Splinter left out a sigh.

“My soon, since it’s true that stop Karai may would have prevent her to be mutated today, I’m afraid her seek of revenge was too strong. Soon or later, she would have gone after Shredder.”

Then the ninja master looked at his older son.

“My son, you can’t save everyone.”

“But Karai…” tried to insist Leo.

Slinter shut him down by putting his hand again on his shoulder.

“Leonardo, you can’t blame for not having saved her, if there’s one to blame, this one is me.” He closed his eyes and frowned, as if he felt disappointed of himself. He opened his eyes again and looked at Leo with a sad expression “I told her to much, making her want more revenge than before. I am the responsible of having lost her, not you my son.”

Here is when Leonardo realized. He came here wanting his father’s forgiveness, but it wasn’t Sensei who had to forgive him, Sense needed to forgive himself for what happened. He was blaming, maybe in a worse way than Leo was blaming himself.

“Sensei…”

Leo looked at his father, trying to make him see no one was blaming him for what happened with what happened with his daughter.

Master Splinter smiled at his son and after a little nod he cleared his throat.

“Leonardo, I have nothing to forgive you for, and we can’t lose hope that we won’t see Miwa again.” He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, there was determination in them. “Also I trust Donatello will find a way to cure her. While there’s life, there’s hope my son, remember this.”

“Hai Sensei.”

[satireknight]

TMNT S01E02 - Enter the Shredder

Can someone explain to me why we get an image of Michelangelo posing with weapons he never uses?

So we open with the least safe bedding arrangement in history: the quadruple bunk bed!

Seriously, they should have fallen over so many times during the night. It’s also a little baffling as a nighttime arrangement, because we saw in the previous episode that they all have their own beds in their own little cubbies. So why would they sleep together?

And yes, Leonardo apparently sleeps with a practice weapon. Because of course he does. Why would you assume otherwise?

So after waking them up, April watches them practice with their weapons, which ends with a grappling match and Michelangelo denting the wall with his back. Then she accompanies them to breakfast, where they either eat sushi (Japanese people do eat other things, y’know. Quite a few) or pizzas topped with breakfast cereal.

She’s raring to go find the Technodrome, which was last seen under the security building that went kablooie at the end of the last episode. But when they get there, all they find is water and giant treadmarks. Of course, the Technodrome is actually a giant white ball-shaped fortress with an eye on top, sort of like a spherical tank the size of a small town. It’s also being driven by Shredder, who is flipping the fuck out.

He’s also got a new roommate: a tentacled brain-thing called Krang.

Krang is very unimpressed by Shredder, his title, his face, and generally everything about him. He apparently has a giant army in someplace called Dimension X, which is ready to conquer the world whenever the fuck it gets here. But in the meantime, he wants Shredder to get his butt in gear and build Krang a proper body. With you know, thumbs and everything. I can see why he wants that.

Shredder’s brilliant retort? Well, he doesn’t feel safe because Splinter and his Turtles... exist. So, that’s his reason for not making Krang’s body, even though leaving Krang bodiless arguably makes them LESS safe. The real reason? He doesn’t trust Krang, and he doesn’t like the idea of the little wad of snuffy-voiced gum possibly being able to take HIM down.

Oh, and Krang lets it slip that the whole reason they were mutated... was because Shredder tried to kill Yoshi with mutagen. I don’t know why he thought it would be fatal instead of... doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

One thing that happens a lot in this series is that they almost never use the word “kill.” They use words like “destroy,” “obliterate,” “dispose of,” and other words that basically mean the same thing but without the actual K-word. Ah, censorship for children... you can talk about murder all you want as long as you don’t admit that’s what it is.

Oh, and Krang hints that Shredder should create some more mutants on his own side... and really, that’s an idea he should’ve had far in advance. We really see in these episodes that the Turtles are crazy strong, since they successfully pushed a brick wall over in the last episode, and Leonardo can apparently cut through concrete at a hundred feet.

Anyway, April heads up to the newsroom, while Splinter and the Turtles try to track down the Technodrome. For some reason Raphael thinks it’s gonna be hard to find, even though... well, it’s several stories high and even wider. It’s not like it can go anywhere covertly.

And at the zoo, some robots appear and drag down a rhino and a warthog. Goodbye, animals, you’re probably dead meat, given that drop. 

“Still no sign of the Technodrome!” Did you really expect it to be under a pile of old boxes?

They finally get around to a giant underground cavern with giant tank treads, but the trail is cut off by a cave-in. Splinter tells them to go around, while he’ll go through. Uh, why not burrow through, and have the Turtles just squeeze in behind him?

Meanwhile, Shredder goes to the gang of thugs who were chasing April in the last episode, and offers them power, strength, and revenge against the Turtles. For some reason, they only really care about that last part.... which is funny, considering that Shredder’s obsession with them later in the series could be classified as a mental illness.

So what’s he doing? Well, he takes two guys, straps ‘em down, brings in the rhino and warthog, and opens a can of sparkly pink stuff. Eek, unicorn spit!

The Turtles, meanwhile, manage to bumble out into an open street in the middle of the day, with no disguises. They are failing at ninjaing.

Also, April’s boss is kind of a douchebag, since he apparently wasn’t concerned that after doing a report on sword-wielding thieves... and after her camera crew openly abandoned her to a gang of murderous thugs... she went missing for days. Did nobody call the police? Nope, he’s just pissed at her for going missing.

The Turtles have somehow gotten new disguises that in no way disguise the fact that they’re bald green animal-people.

Yeah, he’s wearing a jacket and sunglasses. I’m suddenly blind to the obvious.

Also, weren’t they supposed to meet up with Splinter on the other side of that cave-in? Why are they relying on April to find the Technodrome for them? Especially since her main lead is, “Robots stole animals.”

Speaking of which, Splinter finds it... and is immediately abducted by a robot. I bet he wishes he had just told the Turtles to follow him.

“If this hole caves in, we can dig ourselves out. You can’t.” Erm, are you really experienced at digging?

They all drop a few hundred feet next to the Technodrome... and I’m suddenly wondering why nobody has just glanced down the hole and seen what’s down there. Or at least put up some safety barriers. Someone’s gonna fall down there and sue a LOT.

Oh, and to double on “April’s boss is a douchebag,” he refuses to send her a camera crew until she has a story to report.... even though she’s only at the zoo because he gave her a story to report.

Fun fact: if I had ever wanted a career in journalism as a child, this series would have killed it.

The Turtles go inside the Technodrome, where Shredder starts doing the crushy-closing-walls thing that Star Wars made famous. I love that apparently he set up this giant war machine to have booby traps just in case he wanted to do something like this.

So they almost get squished flat, but of course some quick rewiring of a control panel allows Donatello to turn it off. Then robots attack them... and then MORE robots attack them, this time in a manufacturing plant.

Sorry, i just can’t imagine what those things manufacture. What does the giant smiley-faced spider-drone do? Or the cube on tentacles? Or the bipedal claw machine? Or the thing that exists entirely to thump things flat?

“We were trained to fight people, not can openers.” Well, it’s all theory, Raphael. The fact is, the public is way more comfortable with people beating the shit out of can openers.

Seriously, what manufacturing function does that serve? It’s a multi-armed thingy with flying saw-blades. 

Also, Michelangelo’s nunchuks are apparently made out of the tree of life, because he can smash right through metal with them. Not just once, either. He does it several times in a row.

Indiana Jones laughs at your pain. Fortunately Donatello happened to pick up a bomb in the last fight, and they can blow the door open right before the thing has a chance to crush them. Again, Shredder apparently set up all these traps... without a particular goal in mind.

Fortunately for the running time, they bumbled right into the chamber where Splinter is hanging from the ceiling, looking oddly sheepish.

But before they can get him down, Shredder comes in and reveals that he’s in fact Oroku Saki, and he wants them to join the Foot Clan. Why should they? Because he was accidentally responsible for them being mutated because he tried to kill Splinter. Which is like saying, “I date-raped your mom and got her pregnant, so you owe me because you exist.” Shockingly, this brilliant logic doesn’t win them over to his side.

Shredder calls in his own mutants, Bebop and Rocksteady, who are strong and intimidating (for now) but are also dumb as a sack of hammers. The Turtles grab Splinter and leave, and head right back up to the surface. Bebop and Rocksteady follow them up, and the Turtles trick them into a zoo cage. April takes some footage of them, since she apparently can’t get any of the Technodrome, and they’re dragged back underground by more of those annoying robots.

Seriously, is someone gonna cordon off the holes in the ground?! This whole place could collapse.

Verdict

This episode was a slight improvement over the first, possibly because they didn’t have to cram in all the backstory. It’s a pretty simple search-and-fight story, with some diversions along the way. I’m still not sure how or why the Turtles bothered to get disguises that didn’t disguise them at all, for instance. And they kinda bumbled out of the sewer in front of dozens of people. But it had minimum silliness, and it kept on its plot pretty well.

The animation is still gorgeous, especially in the fight scenes; sometimes the turtles’ faces can be a bit blobby, but the bodies and motion are absolutely top-rate. 

It also introduces us to our secondary villain Krang, who doesn’t really do much in this episode besides nag Shredder and make croaking noises. That seems to be a pattern thus far; the villains don’t do much when first introduced, then the do stuff in the next episode. Shredder’s much more active here, and he’s still pretty intimidating, despite the suckiness of his “join me and we can rule the galaxy” speech.

Gotta mention that this is where I like Bebop and Rocksteady the most in this series. They’re still too easily defeated, but they aren’t the cartoonish buffoons just yet. Ain’t quite up to IDW standards, though, where they’re dumb as hell but also scary.

Overall, a good chapter two to this five-part arc.

Grade: A

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, And More

New Post has been published on http://otakudome.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-wanted-bebop-rocksteady-announced/

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady Announced

The next TMNT DVD has been announced by Nick as the series comes to its close:

NEW YORK – July 6, 2017 – For the first time ever, episodes of Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will arrive on DVD two months before their television debut in Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady, hitting shelves September 12. This clock-stopping and time-hopping special is sure to be an instant favorite among modern day fans as well as superfans of the original 1980’s series.

This thrilling addition to the Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesDVD franchise features four time-bending episodes that tests the Turtles both mentally and physically as they continue, as always, to fight for justice and protect their city. Also available exclusively to this DVD is an animated music video featuring the Turtles rocking out to the song “Ice Cream Kitty,” which was written and performed by Greg Cipes (voice of Michelangelo) and DJ Hymn.

Dimensions collide in this one-of-a-kind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesspecial, when ’80s Shredder and Krang transport themselves to present-day New York. There they team up with Bebop and Rocksteady for the ultimate throwback throw-down against the Turtles. This four-episode collection not only brings back classic and villainous faces, but also takes fans back to where it all began – with a newly mutated Splinter on the run while protecting four baby mutant turtles.

Produced by Nickelodeon Home Entertainment and distributed by Paramount Home Media Distribution, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady will be available on DVD September 12, for the suggested retail price of $21.99.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady contains the following episodes:

Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady – When 80’s Shredder and Krang appear in our dimension, they employ Bebop & Rocksteady and find their plans are succeeding better than ever.

The Foot Walks Again! – The Turtles must train their ’80s counterparts to face a greater threat than they’ve ever encountered.

The Big Blow-Out – The Turtles enlist the help of the Mighty Mutanimals to stop Bebop and Rocksteady.

Lone Rat and Cubs – When Splinter is first mutated, he must learn to survive the life of a mutant on the run while also protecting four baby mutant turtles.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady Fast Facts

Street Date: September 12, 2017

Catalog: 59189963000 (US); 59189964000 (CAN)

Running Time: 88 minutes

S.R.P. $21.99

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, now in its 38th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, recreation, books and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 90 million households and has been the number-one-rated kids’ basic cable network for 22 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).

About Paramount Home Media Distribution

Paramount Home Media Distribution (PHMD) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.  PPC is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games, consumer products, social media experiences and other entertainment content for audiences in more than 180 countries.  The PHMD division oversees PPC’s home entertainment and transactional digital distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and CBS and applicable licensing and servicing of certain DreamWorks Animation titles.  PHMD additionally manages global licensing of studio content and transactional distribution across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies

[curlsofsagesmoke]

TMNT (2012) DID DONNIE DIRTY WITH THE HALF-ASSED LEADERSHIP PLOTLINE AND HERE’S WHY

not to turn into a tmnt blog or anything but I've been watching the 2012 version and I have some Thoughts about the weird leadership conflict subplot between Leo and donnie that the writers started going for and then abandoned. admittedly I've only seen up until a few episodes of season 3 so I don’t know if they ever do go back to this, but from what I've seen this plot had amazing potential but it was handled in a truly awful way!

keep in mind also that I really love this show. I watched it as a kid, I think it holds up pretty well even now. it does have its flaws (many, many flaws) and the worst flaw is the writing imo, which can be lazy, ignorant, or just straight up bad at times. 

with that out of the way, buckle up and hold on to your butts cuz here the heck we go!

you cannot talk about leadership in tmnt without starting with the leader, Leo. the writers gave him a really interesting arc at the beginning of season one where he was really eager to become leader (splinter gave him the job because he asked for it, after all) but then he started to realize the burden that came with the title and started to crack a bit under the pressure. the most well-known character conflict in the entire tmnt multiverse is the tension between Raph and Leo, and this iteration of the show is no different. Raph is very obviously upset about Leo becoming leader and he (and donnie, but we’ll get to him in a bit) tries to argue that he should be leader instead. ultimately he fails and this does create tension throughout the rest of seasons one and two.

this tension comes to a head during an episode where Leo, tired of Raph always questioning his decisions and needling him, decides to fuck off for a little bit, leaving Raph in charge (”New Girl In Town”). from a writing standpoint, this episode is important for many reasons, but in terms of this subplot it is a moment of crisis for Leo which he inevitably overcomes by accepting the burden and responsibility of leadership; and for Raph it is a moment of realization where he finally accepts that he wouldn’t be a very good leader and he doesn’t want the burden that Leo carries all the time. after this episode, Raph and Leo do have their arguments, but overall Raph is much more accepting of Leo’s position as leader and only calls him out when Leo starts to go on little power trips.

which brings us to donnie. donnie also argued that he should be leader in the first episode, but it wasn’t treated as seriously as Raph’s argument, and after that there wasn’t much conflict between Leo and donnie (except for the technology vs. tradition thing surrounding metalhead, but I’ll get to that later). donnie and Mikey are presented as generally pretty laid back. when Raph becomes leader in “New Girl In Town”, they exchange a lot of “yikes” looks in the background but are willing to follow his lead and give him the opportunity to actually be leader. of course, this comes to a head when they confront the villain of the episode, snakeweed, in the sewers. they’re getting their asses kicked, Mikey is knocked out, Raph is having a panic attack, and donnie is left to fend for himself against snakeweed.

instead of having that little “I must meet this challenge and overcome it” moment that you’d expect, Raph gives in to the panic and it’s donnie who not only incapacitates snakeweed to give them time to escape, but also snaps Raph out of his panic attack and tells him what to do (namely, get Mikey out of there and retreat to safety). it’s not given any more attention after this so it’s kind of blink-and-you-miss-it, but this is the first instance we see donnie reveal a bit of his potential as leader.

this is in direct contrast to “Mousers Attack!” which came a few episodes before New Girl In Town. that was the episode that introduced the a-team/b-team dynamic, and in that episode we saw that donnie, while attempting to lead him and Mikey, was able to come up with a bunch of plans to infiltrate dogpound’s operations but wasn’t decisive enough to actually commit to anything. thus in New Girl In Town, we’ve already seen very obvious growth in donnie and the way he approaches leadership, but it’s very much pushed to the background, and for good reason. this is simply laying the foundation for the big showdown between Leo and donnie.

the next significant moment of leadership potential we see from donnie comes in the episode the Pulverizer. donnie gets stuck with Timothy in the lair but soon  becomes willing and even eager to teach him the basics of self defense, because, as he tells splinter, he knows Timothy is going to keep putting himself in dangerous situations and he’d rather Timothy be able to protect himself. splinter tells him that anything that happens to Timothy will be donnie’s responsibility, and donnie accepts this and begins training him. at the end of the episode they all make it out okay, Timothy goes on his way, and donnie seems to have become just a bit fond of him.

significantly, this is the first time donnie is given full responsibility over the fate of another person, and we see that even though he doesn’t really like Timothy, he takes this responsibility seriously. here he shows great leadership potential, as well, though again, it’s not really commented on narratively.

the next significant moment is, as you might’ve guessed, The Pulverizer Returns. in this episode we find out Timothy has joined the foot and is willing to pass information on to the turtles. Leo and Raph jump at the opportunity, Mikey is ambivalent as usual, and donnie is the only one who shows any concern. this is most likely because the last time he saw Timothy, splinter told him Timothy was his responsibility completely, and he obviously takes that seriously still. the entire episode, he tries to get Timothy to leave the foot and his brothers to take this seriously, but his worries are brushed off until they find out the shredder is about to mutate Timothy as an experiment.

so they race off to save him, and donnie ends up in a warehouse without his brothers to help, weaponless (because of some bullshit lesson splinter is trying to teach them, and as a side note, this was the first episode where I started to seriously dislike splinter as a character, because the way he was written here is just awful). the villains of this episode are dogpound and fishface. if you’ll remember, these are two serious villains, and up until this point they’d only ever been subdued, never defeated, and even then the turtles had to double team them in order to win. so it was of course surprising and incredible to see that donnie, armed with literally just a broom, was able to hold off a squad of foot ninjas, dogpound, AND fishface by himself for a good while, all while keeping Timothy away from the mutagen.

then Timothy IS mutated and a bomb is activated, and in just two minutes donnie comes up with a plan and executes it, getting them all out safely. when he starts barking orders at his brothers, they don’t even stop to question him. they listen immediately and that’s part of the reason why the plan succeeds. so what does this tell us? it tells us that donnie has a very strong sense of responsibility, protectiveness, and determination; that he is extremely capable when he’s focused and is good at thinking under pressure; and that his brothers trust him enough to follow his orders when he does give them. these are all incredible qualities for a leader to have!

notably the episode after this is Operation Break Out, where donnie goes off on his own to rescue April’s dad from The Kraang and they only make it out because his brothers followed him and intervened. clearly, then, donnie’s not really ready to be a leader and still lets his emotions cloud his judgement, which is a narratively sound writing decision. the big donnie-as-leader showdown doesn’t come until the end of season two, anyway.

and then season two. the tensions between Leo and donnie aren’t as obvious as the tensions between Leo and Raph, but they’re there, even if no one explicitly challenges Leo’s position as leader any more. here’s a quick rundown of the two significant episodes:

“Follow the Leader”--> Leo wants to stick to the old, traditional ways, but his brothers insist on unorthodox methods of fighting. Leo eventually comes to accept this to a certain degree when he admits it’s a good strategy to use against the footbots.

“Metalhead Rewired”--> donnie upgrades metalhead’s AI and Leo is suspicious of it. on the trail of The Kraang, Leo blames donnie for a few of metalhead’s mishaps, but apologizes when they realize that metalhead was leading them to a Kraang mutant prison. metalhead sacrifices itself to save them. Leo is sympathetic here because donnie is really upset, but it’s clear that these two are still fighting over the tech vs. tradition thing

and then we get to The Invasion, the season two finale. the synopsis makes it clear that this is where all of these moments that I've been discussing come to a head: “Leo and Donnie disagree about their plan to stop The Kraang invasion. When Leo makes a critical mistake, he is separated from the team and Donnie must step up as leader.” So we’re off to a good start as far as concluding this character arc goes. I was excited to finally see donnie live up to his leadership potential (and I thought this could be a good way to give Leo some closure regarding his issues with holding the world on his shoulders/blaming himself for every mistake/basing his self worth on his position as leader).

but I was sorely disappointed! in the episodes, donnie’s and Leo’s tech vs. tradition conflict comes to a head when Leo wants to flee the city (this seems very out of character for him) but donnie wants to stay and fight in his new combat robot, the turtle mech. this disagreement lasts until they are attacked in the tunnels and donnie is injured; Leo draws the Kraang robots away (I assumed this was his critical mistake: separating himself) to give the others time to escape. they go to April’s apartment to hide and regroup while Leo is hunted down and almost killed by the shredder. Raph and Casey rejoin the others, then shredder throws Leo through the window of the apartment, and they escape but barely. donnie then makes the decision to fight Kraang prime in the turtle mech (which is, I assume, his big leader moment, though of course it doesn’t even happen on screen). they fight Kraang prime and almost die, but Casey arrives in the van, saves them, and drives them out of the city. donnie apologizes to Leo’s unconscious body and says that Leo was right, and then the episode ends.

so. let me first say that this was quite possibly the worst way to end this really interesting and nuanced character arc that the writers had set donnie and Leo on. first of all, we barely got to see donnie act in any kind of leadership role. in Leo’s absence, they made most of their decisions as a team, where I had expected at least some sort of “I need to overcome my fears and anxieties and lead my family to safety” moment from donnie. secondly, Leo wasn’t entirely correct. yes, they ended up evacuating the city anyway like Leo wanted, but he was wrong about the turtle mech; it ended up destroying Kraang prime’s robot body thing. and donnie wasn’t entirely correct, either: the turtle mech was a great weapon that did some significant damage, but it wasn’t enough to stop the invasion. so we have these two characters who were both wrong in their own ways, both face the consequences, but no one ever discusses it.

so not only did we not see any significant character development from Leo; and not only did donnie not really get to act in any significant leadership role; but also worst of all, these two characters never got any closure! I'm a good handful of episodes into season three, and not one single character has even mentioned the tension between Leo and donnie during the invasion. everyone acts as if it never happened, so now as a viewer I'm stuck here waiting for the other shoe to drop or for one of these characters to finally snap, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, which sucks. in other iterations of tmnt (like the 2007 movie or the show from 2003) we get to see Donatello act almost like Leo’s second in command. I think that’s a really, really interesting direction the writers of the 2012 show could’ve gone in and I think it’s a waste of this subplot’s potential to just abandon it the way they did. I'm not sure what’s going to happen in season three, but I think a good conclusion of this arc would’ve been donnie and Leo confronting the argument they had, doing a little more maturing, and eventually donnie becomes Leo’s second in command. instead I'm really worried about how the writing of this show is going to devolve as I get further into the later seasons.

(as a side note: I'm currently working on a series of tmnt fics that addresses this issue, as well as the sometimes shitty ways the brothers treat each other and the stupid-as-fuck donnie/april/casey love triangle. so if that floats your boat, keep an eye out! I'll be reposting this with the link attached once I upload the first fic, so give my blog a follow or keep an eye on my ao3 account, heyassbuttimbatman)