#2012 Mona supports 87 Mona’s crazy

[fabuloustrash05]

[1987 Mona Lisa is hanging out with 2012 Mona Lisa]

1987 Mona Lisa: So you’re from a planet with advance technology and weaponry?!

2012 Mona Lisa: Yes, I am.

1987 Mona Lisa: So that means you have access to, let’s say… bombs? And other kinds of weapons that an average mutant lizard teen physics protégé can’t make in her own home?

2012 Mona Lisa: Yes.

1987 Mona Lisa: Can… Can I borrow one??

2012 Mona Lisa: I’ll do you one better! You can have a whole set! *pulls out a large box of high tech weapons and explosives devices*

1987 Mona Lisa: *squeals in excitement*

1987 Raph: NO! NO! PLEASE DON’T ENCOURAGE HER!! *looks at his counterpart* YOU’RE JUST GOING TO LET HER DO THIS?!

2012 Raph: Yup! *to 2012 Mona* Don’t forget to give her some of the explosive disk blades, babe!

Based on a convo with @pumpkinpie59

[raphmona]

How did Ramona become your favorite ship and how did you become a hardcore Ramona shipper?

I guess it was just instinct. I knew I found something special when I came across RaMona and my love for it just grew as the years went on.

It all started when I was watching one of Black Nerd Comedy’s TMNT videos on YouTube. He was doing a ninja turtles Q&A and someone asked him if he would ever like to see Mona Lisa in the 2012 series. He agreed that Mona should return and called her “Raphael’s lady”.

Note: This was in March 2014, over a year before Mona Lisa was introduced in the 2012 show in November 2015

I was very new to TMNT at this time, with the 2012 series being my introduction, so I had very little knowledge of the franchise and other versions, but I was a sucker for romance side plots and my curiosity was peaked. So I did some digging on YouTube and found the 1987 episode “Raphael Meets His Match” and I watched it. This was my very first episode I ever watched of the 87 series and I fell in love with Mona Lisa and especially her relationship with Raph. I loved how well her personality clashed with Raph, snarky stubborn sass with even more snarky stubborn sass. I squealed when she called him a doll and kissed his cheek. Him assuring her that he thinks she’s beautiful warmed my heart and them reuniting by the end of the episode was so sweet. You can image my disappointment when I learned that was her ONLY episode and she never came back. So I relied on fanart and fan comics of her, hopefully waiting for the return of this ship.

For those who don’t know, back when the 2012 series was running there were A LOT of fans who would constantly email/DM the producers and writers of the show on social media, asking them to bring Mona Lisa into the 2012 series. I will admit I was one of those fans 😅 I never harassed them like other fans did, but I do remember commenting on their instagram post regarding the topic once or twice.

Also funny fact, apparently Sean Astin (2012 Raph’s voice actor) was also one of those people. He constantly kept on asking Branden and Ciro (the producers) when Raph was going to get a love interest, cause he saw every other turtle get a GF except Raph. Angry turtles need love too! XD

Fast forward to August 2015, San Diego Comic Con, at a TMNT 2012 panel, they announce that Mona Lisa will be coming to the series in the upcoming season 4 as a warrior from an alien planet. I fangirled so hard that night when I watched the panel on YouTube! I was squealing so loud and dancing around my bedroom! I was so happy I started to cry! My OTP was finally returning!

It was 2012 RaMona that sealed the deal for me. After watching their first episode “The Moons of Thalos 3”, I fell in love with them. Raph falling for her because she punched him in the face is both hilarious and adorable, and also (strangely) very in character for him. His “what a woman” line made me squeal in excitement. Their first kiss, I couldn’t help but cheer. I didn’t care about any other ship except for them. To actually see a happy healthy couple with little to no problems in this series was a breath of fresh air. I never cared for Apritello, Leor*i I was questioning (that’s a whole different can of worms I’m not getting into now), I didn’t care for Capril, and though I liked Renetangelo I wasn’t crazy for them. The more Mona appeared in the show the more my love for the ship grew. Them constantly flirting or making out in the middle of battle, how trusting they are of each other, how supportive they are of each other in combat, and even their biggest road bump with Lord Dregg they were able to over come, with the cherry of that episode being Mona confessing her love to Raph. Even when back on Earth, Raph still thinks about her, loves her and stays loyal to her. In truth, Mona made Raph a better man. Them reuniting in season 5 kinda leaves us with an open book because now we get to decide what happens with them now that they are on Earth together. I just know from the look they gave each other at the end of the episode as they held each other in their arms that they will be living happily ever after 🥰

We only ever see this ship in a hand full of episodes in the 2012 series, but it was enough to show me and the audience how happy and healthy this couple is compare to the other ships. I love them. I adore them. I want a relationship like theirs one day. I wanna find my Raph to my Mona. I want to continue to see this ship in other versions of TMNT in the future!

I will stand proud and say that I am the captain of the Raph x Mona Lisa ship! 🫡💞

[plcstic]

❝   ︴ ぃ  𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘  ≽ MONA DAKOTA

The popular Disney Channel TV series Mona Dakota chronicled the adventures of a teenage girl who moves from New York City to Malibu, California, and lives a double life as a pop star. The show helped make a star of Chloe Love, who played Chloe Lawrence and Mona and was a zeitgeist in the second teen-pop invasion. Mona Dakota’s -- and Love’s -- success was reflected on the charts: The show's soundtracks, which included 2009's Best Of Both Worlds and 2012's Mona Dakota: The Movie, made her the youngest performer to have four chart-topping albums (15). On songs such as the multi-platinum hit "The Climb," she bridged the pop sound of her Disney contemporaries with nods to her country and rock roots, a perfect fit for her already powerful vocal chops.

Chloe caught the acting bug in 2004 after seeing a production of Mama Mia!, and made her debut with a supporting role in Aquamarine (2006). That year, she also snagged a lead role in the Andrew Fleming film Nancy Drew followed by 2008′s Wildchild. With her mother acting as her manager, Love connected with agent L.A. Reid, who helped her score auditions for projects including Mona Dakota. She won the lead role in the Disney Channel TV series, and Mona Dakota became an instant hit when it debuted the following March. The show's first soundtrack appeared in October 2009, around the time that Love hit the road with another Disney pop act, the Cheetah Girls.

Over the next few years, Mona Dakota's popularity continued to grow. In June 2009, the show's theme song, "The Best of Both Worlds," was released as a single that peaked at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart that August. The second Mona Dakota full-length, Mona Dakota 2: Nobody’s Perfect, appeared in June 2010. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart a month later, marking her second number one album in a row. Later in the year, she embarked on the Pumpin’ Up The Party Tour. The concert film Pumpin’ Up The Party Tour and its soundtrack appeared that December, with the album reaching number three on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. A year later Love was shooting Mona Dakota: The Movie. Mona Dakota: The Movie was released in March 2012 and its soundtrack peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, making the 15-year-old Love the youngest performer to have four chart-topping albums. Meanwhile, the soundtrack's lead single -- the country-pop ballad "The Climb" -- became one of the year's most omnipresent songs, giving Love her second multi-platinum hit. In 2012, Mona Dakota filmed its final season, and Mona Dakota Forever followed in October of that year.

𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙰𝙺𝙾𝚃𝙰: 𝙱𝙴𝚂𝚃 𝙾𝙵 𝙱𝙾𝚃𝙷 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳𝚂  

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 27, 2009

RIAA CERTIFIED: 3X PLATINUM

IFPI REPORT:  5,100,000 UNITS

Mona Dakota: Best Of Both Worlds is the soundtrack album for the first season of the television series Mona Dakota. The program itself premiered through the Disney Channel on March 20, 2010; after becoming an immediate commercial success, production on its soundtrack began the following month. The soundtrack was promoted during the Cheetah Girls’ Party’s Just Began Tour, for which Chloe served as an opening act, and her own Best of Both World Tour. 

WHO SAID: #83 PEAK

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: #92 PEAK

IF I WERE A MOVIE: #47 PEAK

I GOT NERVE: #67 PEAK

PUMPIN' UP THE PARTY: #81 PEAK

THE OTHER SIDE OF ME: #84 PEAK

THIS IS THE LIFE: #89 PEAK

JUST LIKE YOU: #99 PEAK

𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙰𝙺𝙾𝚃𝙰: 𝙽𝙾𝙱𝙾𝙳𝚈'𝚂 𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙵𝙴𝙲𝚃

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 23, 2010

RIAA CERTIFIED: 3X PLATINUM

IFPI REPORT:  4,115,000 UNITS

Mona Dakota 2: Nobody’s Perfect serves as the soundtrack for the second season of Mona Dakota. The album was further promoted by her first headlining concert tour, the Best of Both Worlds Tour as well as the Pumpin’ Up The Party Tour. The soundtrack debuted at number one in the US, with first-week sales of 325,000 copies.

NOBODY'S PERFECT: #27 PEAK

LIFE'S WHAT YOU MAKE IT: #27 PEAK

MAKE SOME NOISE: #92 PEAK

TRUE FRIEND: #99 PEAK

ROCKSTAR: #45 PEAK

𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙰𝙺𝙾𝚃𝙰: 𝙿𝚄𝙼𝙿𝙸𝙽' 𝚄𝙿 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙻𝙸𝚅𝙴

RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 13, 2010

IFPI REPORT: 1,392,000 UNITS

Mona Dakota: Pumpin’ Up The Party Live is a concert album released alongside the tour DVD for the accompanying tour. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200.

𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙰𝙺𝙾𝚃𝙰: 𝚂𝚄𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙶𝙸𝚁𝙻

RELEASE DATE: JULY 4,  2011

RIAA CERTIFIED: PLATINUM

IFPI REPORT:  2,442,000 UNITS

Mona Dakota 3: Supergirl is the soundtrack album for the third season of Mona Dakota. The soundtrack received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who appreciated the combination of upbeat tracks and mid-tempo ballads. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 137,000 copies in it’s first week.

SUPER GIRL: #4

HE COULD BE THE ONE: #10

ICE CREAM FREEZE (LET’S CHILL): #87

LET’S GET CRAZY: #57

I WANNA KNOW YOU: #74

𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙰𝙺𝙾𝚃𝙰: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙼𝙾𝚅𝙸𝙴

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23,  2012

RIAA CERTIFIED: 2X PLATINUM

IFPI REPORT:  5,331,000 UNITS

Mona Dakota: The Movie is the soundtrack for the film of the same name. The soundtrack received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who appreciated the combination of upbeat tracks and mid-tempo ballads. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 137,000 copies in it’s first week. Love performs twelve of the songs on the album, seven of which are credited to Mona Dakota, including “The Climb” which would become a signature Love song.

THE CLIMB: #4, 5X PLATINUM, 12,735,000 WW

HOEDOWN THROWDOWN: #18, 2,455,000 WW

YOU’LL ALWAYS FIND YOUR WAY BACK HOME: #81

𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙰 𝙳𝙰𝙺𝙾𝚃𝙰 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁

RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 25,  2013

RIAA CERTIFIED: PLATINUM

IFPI REPORT:  2,442,000 UNITS

Mona Dakota Forever is the soundtrack album for the fourth and final season of Mona Dakota. Although the show was projected to last for up to six seasons, Chloe’s relationship with Disney began to sour and she lost interest in continuing the show. Love allegedly didn’t show up for the album’s cover shoot which is why the soundtrack cover work is the only from the franchise without her face. Due to Love’s uncooperation to promote the new material the album debuted at no. 11 on the Billboard 200; an all-time low for the artist, as no previous album of new material released by Love had failed to reach the top ten. First week sales for the album were projected to be around 28,000, which is over 109,000 less than the previous year's release.

ORDINARY GIRL: #91

GONNA GET THIS: #66

I’M STILL GOOD: #51

𝚃𝙾𝚃𝙰𝙻:

20,822,000 ALBUMS SOLD WW

31,713,000 SINGLES SOLD WW

52,535,000 TOTAL RECORDS SOLD WW

@popcraverp​

[brendancorris]

The Rise of the TMNT First Thoughts

Being that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has always been, what I consider, my biggest fandom, I feel it’s only natural I leave my two cents on what we know so far of their upcoming 4th animated series, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and what everybody’s been saying about it recently.

So the official designs were finally release, and of course, everybody’s mad, freaking out, and acting as if all hope for humanity is gone. I’ll be honest, the character designs are not immediately appealing to me, but something needs to be clarified first...

The most common complaint I see is “the art style sucks”. Now, it’s fair to say that the style doesn’t appeal to you personally, but discrediting these obviously talented artists and their extremely expressive and lively style is just a lie and/or lack of any real knowledge of artistic skill. Is it an appropriate style for the TMNT? That’s up to you to decide for yourself, but saying it is bad artwork is just ignorant. 

Now, just to make things clear, I myself am not super into these designs, and feel the style isn’t the best representation of what TMNT is, but I’ll never say it’s bad, and will continue to stay optimistic. Let’s not forget that most of us, myself included, were hating on the 2012 series hardcore after its initial debut. While I still don’t find the art style choice or designs to be the most appealing in the 2012 series, there’s no denying it is an amazing series - arguably the best writing the franchise has ever had. While it isn’t MY Turtles, which will always be the 87 Turtles, it’s a damn good version, and one I’m proud to see younger generations grow up with.

But when we heard April and Casey were teens, saw the Turtle designs, saw how huge Splinter was, we all wrote off the 2012 series with having never see it. Once we saw it, then we had to eat our words. Let’s not walk into the same trap over and over again. In this day and age everybody’s so quick to give a severe black and white, night and day opinion on something before even knowing much about it. You’d think we’d get sick of constantly having to apologizing for judging something based on a picture reveal when it comes out. Not saying this in particular will turn out to be great. It might suck. But we can’t possibly know that yet, so let’s stay optimistic and at least happy that our favorite franchises are being kept alive and given consistent love through the generations. The age of the self-entitled, crabby, whiny man-baby/woman-baby nerds has to end. 

As for those concerned about the story changes, I get your concern. But, again, it isn’t the first time the team was completely re-worked. April and Casey Jones as teenage kids was already a crazy enough change in the 2012 series, but then take into account April was also part mutant which gave her psychic powers, and she discovered a gem she wore around her neck that brought out evil in her and strengthened her powers to be Thanos-level is a REALLY huge departure from the prior iterations, and a seemingly stupid as hell direction on paper. Hell, Irma was a teenager revealed to be a robot body for a Krang spy. They REALLY took their liberties in the 2012 series. Even one of the most popular additions, Don’s crush on April, was completely new for that series. 

My inner TMNT-fanchild does get a bit ticked when he hears that now Raph will be the leader and Leo will be cool and narcissistic, but we gotta remember what this is. Not only a new retelling for a new generation, but a retelling of a franchise that has been retold and severely altered dozens of times. No two Turtles stories add up. Also, this is being targeted strongly at little kids. Raph has always been the most marketable Turtle, the most iconic and widely referenced/recognized, and most popular among children, so making him the leader isn’t too shocking too me. Hell, even Partners in Kryme didn’t know Raph was’t the leader back in 1990 in the official film.

One thing I’ve heard a lot of hate for is the fact that April O’Neil is African American in the new series. It’s a difficult topic to touch upon, but I feel there’s good and bad points to it. The good is obviously getting more diverse representation in lovable, iconic roles in media, especially those for younger audiences. The bad, however, is like Stan Lee once said in regards to race-bending characters. Getting diversity in media is wonderful, but changing a pre-existing, well-established and celebrated character’s ethnicity simply to meet the quota is sort of a cheap shot. April, in all animated forms, has been a red-headed Irish girl I(hence the last name). It’s just as iconic to her as the fact that Leonardo wears blue and wields katana. Ethnicity, while a touchy subject, is a part of somebody. If they want diversity, they should add new characters of diverse backgrounds, or at least change lesser supporting roles, or at least that’s how I feel. Again, it’s a touchy subject, so I can totally understand somebody disagreeing, and that’s fine to do so.

Ultimately I feel everybody just needs to cool their jets on this. We see this happen SO often with franchises these days. The internet has sadly contributed towards heightening the selfishness of fandoms, and exaggerated opinions on everything. Every fan likes to think that their version is the definitive version, and that they are superior for liking the version they do. Everybody’s free to like what they like, and even if something you don’t care for comes out, it doesn’t take your version away from you. Each TMNT series ran for years. Whichever version you prefer, there is more than enough to watch to feed your hunger. 

So how do I feel? Hard to say. I never regularly watched episodes of any TMNT animated series outside of the 87 series, but I always give each show many viewings before judging it. While this is surely not my TMNT, nor do I predict it become a fandom of mine, I’m still hyped for it, staying optimistic, and impressed by the artwork, for the most part. This art style looks like it could really make way for some great action scenes. There are some changes I’m not sold on, like some of the altered weapons and personalities, but, again, there’s 30 years worth of TMNT content with the old weapons and personalities, and I’m still giving this show the benefit of the doubt before really seeing it. I’m actually really curious to see the villain designs. Shredder could look awesome in this style. And if they bring in Bebop and Rocksteady I’ll be pretty darrn happy. At the very least, this series is once again making me excited to see which of my childhood characters will return. Mondo Gecko? Rat King? Wyrm? Mona Lisa? Slash? The Neutrinos? I’d love to see how this unique re-imagining could put a new spin on  old favorites, and breathe new life into my favorite cast of mutants since 1987.

Here’s staying positive, and let’s not make the pre-release Sonic Boom mistake twice. That cartoon turned out to be comedy GOLD (and actually my favorite Sonic cartoon to date).

And PLEASE, let’s remember there are far greater wrongs being done in the world than cartoon characters being redesigned.