#and the kraang was why and how the shredder came to be

[sweeneydino]

*BIG INHALE* Hi! I’ve been rotating the Spikeangelo au in my brain for a while, and things might get incomprehensible real quick. Not all questions, some just comments... 90% of this is just musing as the train of thought jumps rails and causes massive casualties; no need to answer all if you chose to answer any.

1. The fact that Master Splinter lets Titan live with them BEFORE he knows that he’s a version of Mikey, even after the attempted murder… man will look at a mutated turtle, ask, “Is anyone going to adopt that?” and not wait for an answer.

2. In Turtle Temper, Splinter says, “Spike, chew on your leaf if you are in the mood for a story”. Ronin has a choice here: pest Raph by eating, or troll Splinter by not. What choice would he make?

3. It seems like during the Slash and Destroy episode, Titan already had his outfit. If so… where did he get the clothes? The little turtles don’t really wear anything (and their clothes would be much smaller), so unless Splinter has a secret goth wardrobe, the only thing I can think of is that Raph is Very Optimistic about how tall he’s going to get, and has stockpiled clothes accordingly.

4. A while back you mentioned Titan “chewing [Shredder] out” after Shredder kills Splinter during the Triceraton invasion. The image you drew made it look like a tirade, but the first thing that came to mind for me was… more along the lines of using Shredder as a dog toy.

5. You said that after Slash and Destroy, Titan hides for a while out of shame. When does he rejoin the others? Before the invasion, *during* the invasion, after? Does he join the farmhouse arc, or does he do as canon Slash does and defend NYC while the rest of the turtles are gone?

Ah... there's a very long part six that's just about the ghosts... I don't think I'll be bothering you with that today.

When I see these types of asks, I can never control the squeal that comes out of my mouth. I love detailed analyses about my aus

:D

I also love completing things, so let's do them all!

1) Yep! Idk whats with the Splinters, but if it's turtle-shaped and needs a home, well say no more!

When Spike turned to Titan, Splinter already sensed something off with him, something more familiar than a family pet, but he would never figure out why until their lair is attacked by the kraang at the start of the invasion.

It's hard not to realize that your son's former pet knows moves (and shows a strange amount of wisdom) that you're 90% sure you never taught or shown to any of your sons.

2)

I think he's still upset about the pizza. Or Raph's anger.

3)Dumpster diving?

I'll be honest, I forgot to write it down... So we will stick to this simple solution for now🗿

4)

Okay, well... Shredder ALMOST became a dog toy. Let's just say that (this will totally not be a future comic)

5) He reunites with them after the newtralizer arc! After a little convincing ofc

When the invasion begins, he's with Splinter and Leatherhead, having defended their home and now searching for the turtles. They find Shredder after they exit the sewer, and Titan isn't too pleased to see the old bastard, attacking him in a rage once he hears about Leo's possible "demise."

Unfortunately, when he gains the upper hand, Titan is the one caught off guard and knocked into the machine, crushed by the pipes.

Before Shredder could really begin his usual evil monologue, he becomes distracted with Leatherhead, allowing Splinter to check on Titan and help him out of the pile of metal. Despite the likelihood of having a huge bruise on his ribs, he'd be fine. Even better if he could get rid of all their issues right there in front of him.

The one wrestling an alligator. And somehow winning.

And when he sees that devil in that all too familiar armor toss leatherhead into the pit, he's all too ready to kill him.

Yet he can't. Because He's not the only one wanting to prevent the past from happening again.

Splinter sends him away to find his sons, Titan's brothers - well, sorta - and even if he wants to bring Oroku Saki, the worse pain imaginable, he's more concerned if they are okay.

...

Okay, well, if the rest of them are okay

COUGH COUGH.

He'd find them, with him.

And uh. I think Leo's perfectly fine.

So when they decided to leave for April's farmhouse, he stayed in the city to search for Splinter and the other Mutanimals after leaving Leo with the others.

Maybe he sees himself as a burden.

Then the rest you make up on the way 👍 /j

This was very fun! Maybe I should just write paragraphs or smol little chapters with much more detail and flow🤔

Nah, I'll just draw.

Can't wait for the looooooooooonnngggg part six :D

[undercoverbisexualfrog]

Species Swap AU Revised

A long time ago j shared a brief idea I had for a species swap, but it’s been on my mind again recently so here’s a revised and expanded version.

The Turtles and Casey

The Hamato brothers are Yoshi's sons, adopted when they were toddlers. They live as high schoolers by day, ninjas by night. Their father never told them specifically why he trained them to be ninjas, but that reason soon came apparent when the Foot Clan arrived in New York.

Angel Jones got a pet turtle for her birthday one year. Angel and her turtle soon ran into the Kraang (the same way canon splinter did). This caused the turtle, named Casey, to mutate. Now he just lives with Angel and her dad and they love him.

April and Karai

April was experimented in as a child, leaving her as a shapeshifting snake mutant. She knows she’s a mutant, but she doesn’t know why. Of course, she would soon when she started going on missions with the Hamatos.

Karai was taken to the Kraang while her ‘father’ searched for a cure to his mutation. The deal was they’d work on a cure for him if they could use his daughter for experiments. He obliged. But after realising they were doing nothing to help him, he took her and fled to the sewers, hiding ever since. She’s now been trained as a psychic kunoichi.

Splinter and Shredder

Hamato Yoshi fled to New York after his family was killed. He soon adopted four boys and, expecting that one day Saki would he back for him, trained them to fight. He’s doing his best to let them live a normal life, but he knows it cant stay that way forever.

Oroku Saki was mutated not long after the fire. He encountered the Kraang similarly to this world’s Casey. He became a rat mutant, and since Karai was a Kraang experiment, she was unaffected. He eventually tried getting the Kraang to cure him, but fled to the sewers and hid after realising they weren’t doing anything. He now runs the Foot in the sewers.

TC and Alopex

There’s honestly not a lot to really change since they have the same backstory anyways. All that would really change is their names (which I don’t have anything for).

Chris and Xever

Same with the above two. Except one thing I can add is that Chris is still getting double mutated, only he can be a fish-turtle hybrid and be Tokka. Xever wouldn’t get double mutated so no Rahzar look for him.

Anton and Ivan

Again nothing to really add. But since the rhino and warthog thing was specifically chosen for these two, I’m just gonna say Baxter fucked up and had the DNA samples swapped and that’s why they’re different mutants to their canon selves.

Shinigami and Mona Lisa

Shinigami is a Salamandrian alien Karai met while she was being experimented on by the Kraang. Karai gave her the name. Shini was imprisoned by the Kraang after they attacked Salamandria. When Karai and her father left, Shini followed. She is forever loyal to Karai, who's now her girlfriend.

Mona Lisa is a witch who met the Hamato brothers at school. She and Raph fell in love, and after realising how busy he got at night and how suspicious he is about his life outside of school, she realised that he wasn't a normal teen, but thankfully neither was she. She showed him her witch abilities and soon joined the team.

Also bonus: Chompy and Ice Cream Kitty are swapped.

I don’t have anyone to swap with Baxter in this AU but I want an excuse to keep him human, so just let him be.

For once my OCs aren’t in this AU since most of the important ones are all human.

Most likely getting a reblog so I can add a few more characters

Ask Me Stuff!

[tmnthq17-blog]

Never Letting Go

3rd Person POV:

Before you met the Mad Dogs, you preferred to do things alone. When your parents had to work late, which happened a lot, you taught yourself how to make dinner, do schoolwork, and do a few extra chores around the house. Then, out of nowhere, an anthropomorphic turtle in a blue mask came crashing through your open window during his fight with a pig mutant.

After that, he came through your window every night, but on purpose this time. After a week, he brought you to his home to meet his older brother, twin brother, little brother, surrogate sister, and father. Since then, if your parents are working late, or you need some time away from the downside of a 'normal' life, you go to the lair. This all started three years ago, and until last year, everything was going great. Then the Kraang came, and so did a time-traveling teen from the future, and everything got complicated.

First, you discovered that time travel is real, meaning you owed Donnie $20, then you almost lost Raph, the big brother you never had, and then everyone got split up, with you helping April & Splinter clear a path to the others. Then, just when you had finally reunited with the guys and tried to confess your feelings for the 5th time, the first friend you ever made sacrificed himself to an alien wasteland. Luckily, Mikey's mystic hand magic rose to the surface with help from Raph & Donnie, and everyone was back together, having saved the world from yet another threat, the first being Shredder.

Now, a year later, you spend more time with Mikey or his alter-ego, Dr. Feelings, more often than before. You mostly talked to each other about how you feel after almost losing your family and your home, had it not been for the bond you all shared as a team, as a family. But recently, now that the hard part was over, Mikey preferred to focus on why you hadn't given confessing your feelings another try, a conversation you were having with him over Facetime right now.

Y/N: "Mikey, do we really have to go over this again?"

Mikey: "Yes, because it's been a year since you last tried to, and you & Leo still aren't together! It's not fair."

Y/N: *chuckles* "To me or you?"

Mikey: "Yes!"

Y/N: "Well, let's start with the fact that the last time I tried, the world almost ended! Who knows what could happen next? Shredder could come back, Draxum could revert to being a bad guy, or worse, the Kraang could-"

You couldn't bring yourself to finish the thought as the memory of Leo's goodbye speech flashed in your mind, your voice getting caught in your throat. You also remembered the feeling of your heart breaking as Leo jumped through the portal before it closed.

Mikey: "Hey, you ok?"

Y/N: "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just sometimes, it's hard remembering all of it, y'know?"

Mikey: "Yeah, I know. I also know you should talk to Leo about this after confessing. We all almost lost something that day, but you and Leo could stand to gain all that and more if you had someone to talk to besides me. Not that I don't love our talks."

Y/N: "I get it, and the feeling is mutual."

Mikey: "Good. Then, as your friend and therapist, I'm giving you a therapeutic exercise."

Y/N: "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

Mikey: "Nope. Since you're having trouble confessing to Leo face-to-face, I suggest you do it face-to-camera. In other words, record yourself rehearsing your confession through talking or, my favorite, singing. If you still feel awkward sending it to Leo, send it to me first, and I'll give you some non-biased feedback, and we'll go from there."

Y/N: "Well, I can't argue with my therapist unless I wanna face the wrath of Dr. 'Delicate Touch'. Side note: unless the irony is intentional, you need to work on that name."

Mikey: "Maybe, maybe not."

Raph: *offscreen* "Mikey!"

Mikey: "Coming! Sorry, Y/N/N, I gotta go help Raph in the kitchen."

Y/N: "No problem, Doc. See you tomorrow!"

Mikey smiles with a wave before ending the call as Y/N takes a moment to figure out what to say or sing for Mikey's homework assignment. After a while, she gathers up her notes, grabs her guitar, and presses the record button on her computer. Once she's done, Y/N checks her watch and hops into the restroom to grab a shower. But she forgot one thing: Leo's on his way to help her study for her Spanish exam!!

Speak of the devil, Leo knocks on her bedroom window and, after getting no response, quietly slips into the room to find the bathroom door closed as the sound of Y/N's shower echoes from the other side. Deciding to stick around and wait for her, Leo looks around for something to do, maybe a comic to read, until he sees something on the screen of Y/N's open computer. Curiosity getting the best of him, Leo sits in her desk chair, presses play, and watches as Y/N sings her heart out for what was supposed to be Mikey's homework assignment, but ended up being a full-out confession.

Y/N:

I met you in the dark, you lit me up

You made me feel as though I was enough

We danced the night away, we talked too much

You held tight to my hand when

I was giving up

Then you smiled over your shoulder

For a minute, I was standing there frozen

Till I pulled you closer to my chest

And you asked me to stay over

I said, "I already told ya

I think that you should get some rest"

I knew I loved you then

But you'd never know

'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go

I knew I needed you

But I never showed

But I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old

Just say you won't let go

Just say you won't let go

I'll wake you up with some breakfast in bed

I'll bring you coffee with a kiss on your head

And I'll take the kids to school

Wave them goodbye

And I'll thank my lucky stars for that night

When you looked over your shoulder

For a minute, I forget that I'm older

I wanna dance with you right now

Oh, and you look as handsome as ever

And I swear that every day you'll get better

You make me feel this way somehow

I'm so in love with you

And I hope you know

Darling, your love is more than worth its weight in gold

We've come so far, my dear

Look how we've grown

And I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old

Just say you won't let go

Just say you won't let go

Say you won't let go

Say you won't let go

Yeah

Little did Leo know that standing behind him was a mortified Y/N, now wearing pajamas as she watches her crush watch the confession she'd been planning to hold off on showing him until tomorrow, next week, at the latest. Or rather, she thinks Leo doesn't know she's there.

Leo: "So you didn't hate me."

Y/N: "Wait, what? Hate you? Why would I ever hate you?"

Leo: "Because I almost left you. I left, and if Mikey hadn't saved me, I would've died without saying goodbye. So, when you started spending less time with me and more time with Mikey, I thought you hated me for it."

Y/N: "Oh, Leon, I could never hate you, and if I ever made you feel that way, I'm sorry. I just needed someone to talk to about everything, and I didn't want to be a burden when you had more important things to worry about."

Leo: "Y/N, nothing is more important to me than being there for you when you need someone. In fact, the last thing I thought about before Casey closed that portal was whether or not you would be ok if I got stuck in the alien galaxy."

Y/N: "Why wouldn't I be?"

Leo: "The night we met, as convincing as you tried to be, I couldn't believe that such an amazing, beautiful girl was ok with being alone. I mean, if I were an only child and hadn't met you or April, I'd be bored out of my mind. So, from that moment on, I promised myself that I would never let you be or feel alone in this world when I could at least try to be your friend. Once I did that, I decided to improve your life by bringing my family into it. You're welcome, by the way.-*Y/N chuckles*-So, after I left, I was afraid you'd go back to how you lived before we met, no matter how often the others would try to get you out of your shell, pun intended. Then, I came back, thankfully, and now, I get to tell you how much I've loved being your friend and how much I've loved you. I still do, and if you'll have me, I'll do whatever I can to make you feel safe, happy, and as lucky as I do that I have someone like you in my life."

At this point, Y/N is on the verge of joyful tears as she tries to get a sentence, or even a word, out. When she can't bring herself to, Leo takes matters into his own hands, takes her into his arms, and pulls her into a lasting, longing, passionate kiss that both of them had dreamed of for so long. Now that it was happening, Leo made Y/N and himself an unspoken promise of his devotion to the once-lonely girl whose window Mikey accidentally flung him into on that fateful night.

Leo: *thoughts* "I'm never letting go of her again."

[borisnightingale]

I made a TMNT 2012 oc

Main Info: 🐇

- Her name is Usagi Mizuki, she’s a samurai rabbit mutant from Japan, who came to NY to work for the Shredder shortly after her Daimyo (samurai master), Usagi died. She doesn’t like working for Shredder but she doesn’t have many options, since;

a) her master owed the Shredder a debt and couldn’t pay it because he was 💀

b) she is a teenage orphan raised by an old daimyo in a modern world with little need for samurai

c) she’s a mutant

- She works for Shredder for no reason other than to repay her daimyo’s debt, as he was her teacher and only guardian. Eventually she joins forces with the turtles and goes against Shredder after learning of his alliance with the Kraang.

Backstory: 🐇

- She was a homeless orphan in Japan in the streets who was taken and kidnapped by the Kraang (much like how Alopex and Tigerclaw were) and used for experiments, being mutated into rabbit mutant. Eventually she was able to escape from Dimension X, landing back into Japan but now as a monster.

She wonders around the streets, stealing for food and living in abandoned homes and old temples. One night, however, she is found by an old Daimyo named Usagi sleeping in the bushes near an old temple that he was visiting. Seeing her as a sign of good luck and as she is a child, he takes her in as his own and trains her as a samurai. Giving her the name Usagi Mizuki, as he had found her due to the moon shining on her form in the night.

Inspiration: 🐇

- Obviously she is inspired by Usagi Yojimbo from the TMNT franchise, but since he is already in the 2012 universe but in an alternate dimension, I made her sort of like an alternate version of him but not really as she only has the name Usagi because of her Guardian and Daimyo.

- I also took inspiration from Princess Mononoke, Usagi Yojimbo, and Usagi Tsukino for her personality. As a teenage girl wanting to live by her morals and teachings of her Daimyo, and her forgiving and empathetic nature. She puts on a mask of nonchalance and confidence and even some playfulness when fighting in order to not get hurt or be used against her will. But once she gets close to someone she is actually sweet and expressive, not afraid of being herself.

Love Interest: 🐇

- I honestly made her because I wanted Leo to have a love interest that wasn’t his sister 🤢, and almost every Leo was already shipped with Usagi. BUT TMNT 2012 Usagi is a) an adult, and b) in an alternate dimension. And we’ve only ever seen Leo interested in women, unlike Rise Leo and ‘03 Leo.

- So I thought why not and give Leo a mutant rabbit samurai girlfriend. I was thinking enemies to lovers or something along those lines as I thought it would be cute if Leo had to face someone who equally matched or overpowered him in skill when it came to swordsmanship. Idk I thought it was cute ☺️

More Doodles: 🐇

[imagionationstation]

Okay so I wanna make a 2012 separated au but I wanna add a rise villain lol

basically

Leo’s raised by Splinter

Raph’s raised by Shedder

Donnies raised by BM

and Mikey’s raised by April or the Kraang idk yet

mainly I think it’d be funny if BM spoiled Donnie and you just get spoiled rich boy Donnie idk lmao

— ♊️

NAH BUT THE FIRST TIME I READ A 2018DONNIE ADOPTED BY BIG MAMA FIC, MY BRAIN WENT “What if that was 2012Donnie?” AND I’VE NEVER RECOVERED BC I WANNA BUT IT’S SO OUT THERE THAT I’VE NEVER HAD THE GUTS TO TRY-

(I am so, so sorry, this has spiraled over the last few days. I am weak. Resistance was futile.)

Okay, so, like 2012 universe but Yokai exist…

So I’m going to assume right off the bat that Leo&Mikey don’t know about the Hidden City because they’re being raised by a human (Kirby) and a previous human (Splinter). How these two managed to get their hands on baby mutant turtles, I couldn’t tell you.

Okay, so I’m going to assume Leo&Mikey meet first. Both living as vigilantes in the human world, they’re bound to run into each other at some point. I doubt Splinter would let Leo travel to the surface solo. So maybe Splinter starts taking him up earlier because he deems keeping the tike with him is safer than leaving him alone.

So they get to know the surface early on. Mikey, because he sneaks out whenever he can, and Leo, because Splinter introduced it to him.

They besties who think it’s neat that they look like twins.

And then they come across Raph.

Now, a twin package is coincidence but a triplet turtle who looks scarily similar to them? That’s sus.

In fact, it’s the only reason that Raph doesn’t immediately kill them on site. He’s affronted, frustrated, and admittedly a little curious. So he decides to settle the mystery by taking them down to the Hidden City for a Mystical Relative test. (They are a thing because I say so.)

He knows the Hidden City exists because Shredder has dealings with Big Mama. They work out deals, where Raph fights in her Nexus and Shredder gets trinkets from the Hidden City.

Leo and Mikey are in awe, but also, they had a City that they could walk freely in beneath their feet the whole time?!

Then they take the test and- huzzah, they’re brothers!

And, oopsy, the witch lets it slip that they have another brother??

They press for more, but all she knows is that Big Mama will be their key to finding him.

So Leo and Mikey are determined to look and Raph is none to satisfied to learn that, not only is his family expanding and they’re both dorks, but now he has to deal with one of the biggest mob leaders in the City? No thank you. He did not sign up for that risk.

He tries to brush them off but Leo is adamant that he help- especially if he knows who she is and how they can arrange a talk with her. Even if it’s a long shot, they have to try.

So, Raph gives in to get them off his back.

And he introduces them to the best chance that they’re going to get to receiving an audience with her- And wouldn’t you know it?

That liaison is Donatello!

Of course, everyone knows that Donnie is of pure Yokai descendancy. Big Mama would never adopt some lost soul off the street. Rumors float about but no one knows for sure how he came into her care. The only truth that the Yokai know for certain is that he’s a genius, one in charge of all kinds of equipment for Big Mam’s Battle Nexus.

But, anyway, Donnie doesn’t fit into the brothers’ physical quota.

Normally, nobody can get close to Donatello, but the minute Raph strolls into the Nexus and asks to speak with him- the genius spawns. Body guards are shooed away at the request for privacy as the intelligent turtle eagerly brings them to his workshop.

It quickly becomes clear why Raph was so reluctant. To say that Donnie was ecstatic to see him was an understatement.

Unfortunately for the loner turtle, he’d become a lock for Donnie’s OCD. And similar to how he sees April in canon, he’s (PLATONICALLY) smitten. His obsessive side makes Raph into his idol and his compulsions lead him to do everything possible to try and build a friendship. Even if that means disregarding every single one of his Mother’s rules when it comes to interacting with fighters.

Raph hates the attention, but Donnie’s their best shot.

And Donnie doesn’t hesitate to promise them a meeting.

I’m dying imaging them going on a hunt for a long-lost brother, and Donnie’s standing right there the whole time- 🤣

Assisting every step of the way in the search for himself, with everyone being 100% sure that it cannot possibly be him because Big Mama is good a sewing lies.

Donnie is absolutely a rich kid. He’s utterly mortified when he finds out that Leo actually lives in the sewers of all places.

This AU would be all the more hilarious if Donnie slowly starts to realize that Raph isn’t the perfect person that he thought he was, and the obsession calms, but then he finds out that he’s Raph’s brother and completely loses his ever loving mind.

It would be brilliant.

I imagine Big Mama to be a fun mix of self-centered but genuinely loving. I think that would be an interesting take for her to spend his lifetime using every available opportunity to take advantage of his skills and manipulate his actions… But also, she would wipe out everyone in the entire Hidden City for him in a heartbeat if she thought they posed him any real danger.

On that same note, I think about the episode where the RISE first meet her, and like, how she would react if Draxum came and launched vines not only at her, but at Donnie too. And she instantly loses her cool.

“I may have a revision to do. Big Mama has two rules. One does not steal from Big Mama, and NO ONE touches her tottering TURTLE.” 

I just think she’d be great.

I keep coming back to this-

So I keep envisioning this moment somewhere in the future where the Kraang or somethin’ pose this huge threat, and Donnie (as manipulative as his mother when he wants to be, which isn’t often) is basically like “We are not making deals. I will find a way to go on this mission and I will probably die if you don’t give me reinforcements. You can support me and I’ll keep building for you, or you don’t and you’ll lose your heir.”

Not exact words but you get the gist.

He’s so stubborn in the show. I want to enhance that.

I just want him to bob between innocent and confident. His pride shatters at the slightest negativity, but he also knows exactly what to say to get what he wants. He’s a good boy, but he’s not a pushover to anyone but Raph and his Mother. He’s not a big fan of changing the terms at the last second, but that’s not to say he hasn’t before.

ALSO YOU CAN IGNORE THIS IF YOU WANT BUT I HAVE CONCEPT BECAUSE IT’S IN MY BRAIN NOW.

The very first time that Donnie saw a Battle Nexus fight, he’d been the ripe age of four years old.

His mother was sitting in her private viewing area, perfect as ever, as he stared down in the arena in awe. He’d been ecstatic to see the fights that his mother spoke so fondly of, studying the fighters curiously as they faced on another. 

He quickly fell into the excitement, encouraged by his Mother’s laughter, cheering along with the crowd. That is, until he watched the gorilla Yokai pin it’s opponent to the ground and tear it’s arm clean off.

The scream of agony was drowned in the hollars of the crowd. 

He feel silent, a cry tangled in his lungs for another reason altogether. He looked back at her, as she smiled and watched the crowd go nuts, and then sunk in her lap. He squeezed his eyes as shut as they could be, fists over them, and blood painted behind his lids. He moved his fists to the sides of his head, but he could still hear screams.

He could remember it so clearly. His mother turned him to look at her, peeling his fists away from where they pressed against skull. She had seemed disappointed, looking down on him. Then her expression relaxed as she cooed, “Is it to loud for my whisperous turtle?” 

He nodded, desperately, as she waved one of her assistants over.

They took him to his room. He locked himself in the bathroom to sob, unable to erase the image of gore stains from his mind. He’d passed out, right there on cold tiles, and woke up pressed against his mother. Granted, he woke up screaming, sobbing, and certain he was drenched in his own blood, but she rocked him, calmed his fears, and sang him back to sleep. He slept uneasily in the safety of her hold.

He spent the next week refusing to leave the room.

Eventually, his Mother encouraged him out. A year later, she took him back to the Battle Nexus. The results didn’t change. It repeated for a few more years. The nightmares got progressively more gory.

When he was ten years old, she promised him that he never had to watch the fights if he didn’t want to. He waited until she was out of sight to crumble under the weight of relief and self-loathing, her frown permanently etched in his mind.

From that day on, Donnie made it his life’s mission to support her like she always supported him. He might not understand the arena, but everyone who visited the Hotel loved it. There was no end to the complements and requests that she received when they were attending to matters outside it. She lit up under the attention. He saw no harm in making weapons and armor for the fighters, rewarded with his mother’s glowing smile and proud laughter.

She loved to show him off. The sun to her earth, helping give life to what she’d created. He gave what she asked for, sprinkling his own inventions here and there. He preferred to focus on the defensive wear; she loved the offensive weaponry.

He actively did his best to avoid the arena.

…Until the first time he glimpsed Ribenji on her screens.

Ribenji means vengeance in Japanese. Because Shredder is obsessed with it. And Raph will be his ultimate warrior of vengeance against anyone who crosses his path. Hehe. I think I’m cool.

I don’t pretend to fully understand Big Mama. I just love writing her.

Does Donnie’s name change? Perhaps.

Though I suppose I could see Big Mama having an interest in the Renaissance. That might be something up her alley…

I’M NOT DONE WITH THIS CONCEPT ACTUALLY

“Donnie dearest.” Donnie doesn’t look up from his work, wielding the last of the armor in place. He’s down on one knee and it allows his mother easy access to the top of his head, planting a kiss before stepping back to let him finish. “How’s my lil’ turtley-boo doing with Mama’s big project?”

“Almost finished.” He promises, turning off the wielder. She’s never pleased when he works and talks. She claims it makes her feel less to his work, and he’d never want to make her feel insecure. 

A hand is on his shoulder, keeping him on the ground as she knocks against the metal with deceptively delicate knuckles. “Did you add the mystic fiddeydoodles that I so graciously found for you and you so endlessly prodded me for?”

Donnie feels a blush creep up his cheeks. He hadn’t wanted them at first, but after she’d mentioned how influential they were to putting on a perfect show, he couldn’t resist a couple of requests. “Not yet, Mother. I’m working on it. I swear. It will be ready when you need it.”

He studies her face, imploring, and she smiles down at him. She lifts her hand. “I know you will, my little genius. You always keep your promises.” 

“I’m taller than you.” He points out as he stands, rather than acknowledge the twist of nerves which reminds him that even one failure could tear at her trust in him. 

“Perhaps in this form.” She taps her broach and then she’s hovering over him, smirking with a flair that makes him rolls his eyes. “But you’ll always be my little teensie weensie tottering turtley-boo.” 

“Mother.” He mumbles as he takes off his goggles. His face grows hot, glad for the seclusion of his lab. “I’ll be fifteen in three days.”

“That you will.” She hums, brushing his cheek with one of her smaller appendages. “My magnifferent, brilliant boy.”

She turns away to examine another of his projects. The only reason that she visits the lab is to get a run down of his latest one. He loves that she has a genuine interest in his work, even if she’s not particularly interested in the construction itself. She supplies his needs and works with his wants. What more could a turtle ask for? 

At the same time that Donnie wants to shrivel up and hide when under her undivided affection, he can’t help but appreciate the attention. He never knows when he’ll get to have her doting every hour or if he’ll find himself isolated for a month. 

Donnie quickly reprimands himself. They spoke about his intrusive thoughts. He shouldn’t think that way. He’s not completely secluded with the Hotel staff taking care of him and Gus hanging around. It’s all in his best interest. He’s safer within the hotel than out with the rif-raff in the bar or on the streets. 

…It is nice to be noticed, though. 

He steps closer to her, fiddling with the goggles. “Mother.” 

“Yes, little one?”

She lifts one of his weapons from the table. He hopes she doesn’t test it. It’s not nearly to her fine expectations. “Have you- have you had any dealings with Saki, by chance?” 

“Oh, my dormy genius. You know Mama hates talking business when we’re together.”

“Yes, Mother, of course.” He deflates a bit, watching her sigh.

“If you want to ask after his feisty Yokai pet, all you have to do is say it.”

“Have you seen Ribenji?” Donnie blurts eagerly. “Has he fought recently?”

“I don’t see your fascination with the Yokai when he barely gives you the time of day.”

“I know, Mother, I apologize for being this way.” He says, because it’s what she wants to hear. “But it’s been itching at my brain for some time. I was working on something for him, a side-project that could greatly improve his performance, not that it’s not good already, he’s a brilliant fighter, more than that, he’s inspiring and swift and he handles himself really well, which makes since for a Yokai Foot ninja, but I thought he might appreciate-”

“Donnie, dearest.” Mother sets his weapon down, and he quiets, running the strap along his hand. “I know you idolize the warrior, but please, no more side projects. Focus on your list. I don’t want you getting tuckered out.”

“But Mother-”

“Mama knows what’s best for you.” She tsks as she disappears behind her human form, a whirlwind of magic before she sets a hand in his arm. “This obsessing is unhealthy.”

“I was merely wondering if I could see some clips-”

“A wondering mind is a mind of worries.” She’s not scolding him, but it sure feels like it. The need to plead is still tangling in his airways, kept caged by the calm of her stare. “Refocus it on what’s important. Like your fantablous weaponry! And Mother will worry about her business with Saki.”

“But you always say that I should tell you when something bothers me.” He reminds quickly, ignoring her sharp look. “And it really bothers me that I haven’t been able to check in with one of your champions. Isn’t the arena meant to be mine one day?”

“Not for a good while yet.” She warns. “Until then, Mama would like to keep you away from the fiddlefaddles that bore you so.”

“Bore might not be the right word-”

“So you would like to resume your studies, then?” She looks at him, hand over her heart. “Why, you could have simply said so.”

He sighs, “You’re twisting again, Mother.”

“Do you or do you not want to give up your little hobby?”

“Oh, of course, I want to give up the one thing in the endless hotel that brings me any joy. I dream about it every night.”

“Always with the sarcasm.”

“Mother, please.”

“Mama has given her final word. A proper son knows when to debate and when to obey.”

He nods, shoulders slumping, and she considers him. She sets a gentle hand over the fist that holds his goggles, “Oh, my dear, you know it hurts me to see you disappointed. What if you were to finish your contrabulations and your beloved Mama were to see if she could get you some footage of the latest shows?”

“Oh, would you?” He breathes, daring to believe it. 

She leans against him, on her toes to plant a kiss on his chin. “I will leave you to your work.”

Mother turns to leave, and he beams after her. “Thank you!”

A smooth backward wave. “Anything for my turtley-boo!”

I like to think she’d call him little to remind him of his place, tease him about the fact that he’s taller than most Yokai his age, and she sincerely still thinks of him as the tiny, weak turtle that she adopted more than a decade ago. She’s an excellent multitasker.

Anyway! Thank you for the dopamine! Sorry for the spiral!

[theartofeverything]

OO OO for the ask game; #25. Showing up injured at their enemie's house? :]

Ok. While brainstorming for how to answer this, I realized a catastrophic deficit in In This Together.

There are no lesbians.

How could this happen?!? This must be fixed immediately.

So an idea came to me, an absolutely awful, massively homoerotic idea. Both of my big bad guys are women. Leading armies in a ruthless war against eachother.

They banged.

At some point before the Mutant War broke out, when the Purple Dragons were trying to solidify their grip on New York City after routing the Kraang, Kendra got shot during a skirmish with a dissenting human faction on the fringe of the city. The fight went badly and Kendra’s team was scattered into the night.

Tired and wounded, Kendra stumbled into a run down mansion hidden in the woods. There was a light inside so she went in expecting to find some human survivors who hopefully wouldn’t mind letting her crash for the night.

What she was not prepared for was the General of the Kraang’s mutant forces, presumed dead after the Battle of New York, the Shredder.

Monster x Old Woman Yuri below the cut ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

(Nothing explicit, just a tad suggestive. Art at the end with some tasteful nudity if you wanna scroll down just for that. Leaving the ending up to your own imaginations 😉)

Kendra could feel her blood pounding through every inch of her body, through the tight muscles of her legs, ready to make a run for it, through the burning hole in her shoulder where she’d been shot, through her white knuckled fingers aiming an empty gun at the monster in front of her. 

The Shredder stared back at her from behind its mask, listening carefully to her thoughts. She was trying to calculate exactly how long it would take her to make it back out the door, how far she would be able to run before blacking out from exhaustion and blood loss, how many hits she could give and take before going down. The math was not working out well. She wouldn’t make it back alive from this fight.

Tentatively uncoiling a tendril of its own mind, the shredder whispered into hers ‘don’t kill me and I won’t kill you’

Kendra’s eyes widened in a mixture of horror and awe. It spoke.

‘You can put the gun down. We both know it’s empty,’ the thing mind-whispered again.

Slowly, Kendra lowered the gun. Her boddy’s last ditch effort burst of adrenaline was wearing off and she was starting to see spots.

“Deal,” she said, then promptly slumped to the floor and passed out.

Kendra woke up to three surprises. 1: She was still alive. 2: The Shredder had not been a hallucination, or if it had, she must be still hallucinating because it was still here mere feet away from her. And 3: she was naked.

“At least buy a girl dinner first,” she slurred. Why did her mouth feel numb? Did the thing drug her or was this a symptom of blood loss?

The Shredder traced the strings of her thoughts to figure out what that phrase meant and responded by triggering a memory of a laugh.

Why did it’s laugh sound like Cassandra’s? Kendra wondered, suddenly feeling much more awake.

‘I chose one you had positive feelings towards’

It heard that? Shit, could it hear everything she was thinking?

‘Sorry about the sedation, I didn’t want you waking up and forgetting our deal’

“Like I’m gonna kill you without any weapons,” Kendra scoffed.

It held her gaze. Kendra couldn’t see its eyes, if it had any. But she could feel its stare boring into her mind, turning over thoughts and memories. She could, and they both knew it.

Slowly, the Shredder reached behind its back and undid a clasp, the metallic spikes on its shoulders slid off. Piece by piece, it removed the exoskeleton to reveal smooth irridescent skin underneath. At the very last, it reached its pale clawed fingers under the rim of the helmet and lifted.

Kendra stared in fascination at the face before her, gleaming dark eyes splayed across it like the petals of a macabre flower. It was terrifying and grotesque, entirely inhuman, and yet… there was something mesmerizing in the glow of its many pupils, in the strange curves of its bones. It was beautiful.

‘Now we’re even’ it spoke to her mind.

Since only one of them was a mind reader, Kendra supposed she’d have to take the creature’s word for it.

“So what were you doing while I was out? You could’ve just searched me if you wanted to make sure I didn’t have any other weapons to wake up and stab you with.” Or you could have killed me, she thought.

‘Well where would be the fun in that?’ the creature replied with a shift of its facial muscles that Kendra more understood than recognized as its equivalent of a grin. ‘I wanted to study you,’ it continued after a pause. ‘I haven’t seen many of your species that have reached this level of maturity.’

“You calling me old?” Kendra laughed.

‘Yes, it’s a compliment. To have survived this long on a planet with these conditions is impressive.’

“You’ve got a rather impressive track recccord yourself, could’ve sworn you were a gonner after we collapsed that building on you in the Battle of New York.”

‘I have… some helpful abilities in such situations’

“What kind of abilities?” Kendra asked with a bit of coy curiosity. She’d seen mutants do some pretty unexplainable things and everyone knew the Shredder was powerful, catch a glimpse of those gleaming spikes and you’ve gotta decide quick weather to call in reinforcements or get the hell out of there, but no one knew exactly what its powers were.

‘I can demonstrate if you let me,’ it said reaching a hand toward her.

At this point, if the thing was going to hurt her, it certainly would have by now. Kendra’s curiosity won out.

“Show me.”

Its pale skin and polished talons were cool on her bare skin but a warmth blossomed in her flesh beneath the touch, spreading outwards with a slight glow. There was a slight burning sensation in the soul of her foot where a thorn had pierced through her shoe while she was running in the dark. Then it was gone. Brushing the blood away with the soft side of one of its fingers, the shredder revealed the healed skin underneath.

‘I can do the rest if you like,’ it said, gesturing to the various injuries littering her body from the fight.

“Certainly won’t say no to that,” said Kendra with an impressed sigh. “leave the shoulder though. My team saw me get shot. I show back up without a bullet wound and people will ask questions. I’ve got some bandages in my jacket I could use a hand with though.”

Retrieving the bandages, the Shredder began wrapping her shoulder with one hand while its other sent waves of energy through her.

“Do you have a name?” She asked eventually.

‘Tang Shen’

[thefiercest]

TMNT: Tang Shen

You know, when you think about it...Tang Shen is the real hero in the TMNT 2012. Think about it, without her, there would be no TMNT!

The woman sacrificed her own life, to save her husband and her daughter's future! Without Shen's brave act, Splinter would have died that night, then he never would have gone to New York and adopted four baby turtles.

There would be no Earth! The Kraang would have gotten April because she had no Donnie to protect her and the whole world would have been destroyed!

Casey would have probably ended up dead, because his dumbass can't stay out of trouble, and he had no Raphael to look out for him!

Karai would have probably ended up being Shredder's daughter forever, never learning the truth and turn into a cold bloody villain like him because she had no Leo to care about her!

Leatherhead would have been the only mutant in New York and ended up being lost in his anger because he had no Mikey to help heal him! There would also be no Slash because there would be no Raphael which means, the Mighty Mutanimals would never exist!

Monalisa would have stayed in space fighting in war forever and probably never find her true love because her true love was Raphael.

Tang Shen made all of it possible by sacrificing herself! She is the center of everything! She is the reason; the turtles came to be! So, in a way, Shen gave birth to them more than that stupid mutagen jar did! Because if it wasn't for her, there would be no Splinter following a stranger into an alley and accidently getting mutated!

Call her mom, Mikey and not that broken glass jar!

She is not just the center of the rivalry between Splinter and Shredder but also the center of the whole show! Which is why, I think it sucks that she was only in one episode when they had a chance to add her again in the End Times episode! They could have had a ghost Shen helping out with ghost Splinter! But no, of course not, because why would they? >:(

Karai could have finally met her mom and the turtles could get closure for not being able to save the woman who was technically their mother as well and their father's true love. Can you imagine how they must have felt? I bet they were still carrying that burden. Mikey and Donnie's faces when they saw her dead with their own eyes, and all their faces as Splinter screamed like he was dying. Out of all the traumas these turtles have gone through, witnessing their mother (and father's) murder by the same man, was probably what stuck with them throughout their lives. I think Shen's is worst though and I say that because with Splinter's death, the turtles had no control over that but with Shen's death, they could have told her what was about to happen but didn't because they feared for the future.

Still, in the end, they tried to save her, even though they knew it could risk everything but failed.

Some people think that the turtles sacrificed Shen but they didn't. Like, did you guys not see them running in and Raph calling out to her, trying to stop her? They loved and cared about that woman so much. You can see it if you look closely, the future was not the only thing they were worrying about but Shen as well.

I know that the turtles never met her and never got to know her and are not related to her but that does not make her any less their mother. As I see it, she 100% is. Just because they never got to know her personally, does not mean they did not love her through the stories Splinter probably told them about her or wonder what it would be like if she was around to help raise them. I think their relationship with Shen, is similar to Karai's relationship with her. Never knowing her but still loving her and wishing she was here. Carrying her with them.

If Shen was in the End Time, you can not tell me she would not have called them, her sons and say she was very proud of them and Karai.

I can see Leo apologizing to her, feeling a lot of guilt. Raph only staring at her, unsure of what to say and Shen helping him with that. Donnie trying to explain their reasonings even though he felt like no reason would be good enough. Mikey hugging her while crying. Shen giving Karai a piece of wisdom that she could carry with her always.

I would have loved to see that and Shen telling them that she was happy to give her life, for her children, like any real mother would.

[yourlocalpossum]

Cyberspace world explanation!

I just realized I haven't explained anything about the world.

My TMNT iteration, TMNT:Cyberspace, takes place in the year 2061. The world is a lot more modern, but still has remanence of the "old world". Aliens have started coming down to Earth. Mostly for tourism, but some to live, which has sparked anger through out the Earth, and there's a lot of debate on how people feel about it. Robots are still a little side eyed in the street, some saying they aren't really conscious, some saying they are conscious enough to be considered alive. There has been a lot of new experimentation with genetic modification over the years, which has also sparked debate.

With the rapidly changing world, there is a lot of debate and fights breaking out. To combat this, the government has introduces something called "Social Chips." (Based off The Last Ronin lost years) These are used as a form of currency. If you follow the strict and unfair rules, or do something good unless the government doesn't like those people. Which has mostly fixed the problem!

Though, for the people who can't get social chips as easily, there is an underground market (like, literally underground. But also underground in the other way.) that instead of using social chips, trades goods for other goods. To try and stop this, the government has been really strict with their allowance of "unauthorize farming or creation", which has not only caused the amount of art being created to go way down, but has also just made MORE underground projects with farms and other things.

Also, back to the aliens bit. Kraang! Kraang have been working with Shredder for years, and they're friends no. Frenemies. Or... more like just enemies that have to work together. They are basically just 1987 Shredder and Krang dynamic but a little more serious. I just think their silly.

And while we're on the topic of Shredder, I'll try not to spoil too much, but lets just say Splinter and Shredder have an interesting past.. (no, they we're not dating if that's what you thought... maybe I'm the only one who thought you thought that.) they used to be close friends, but something (cough cough, wifey, cough) came between them and after Splinter got mutated he turned Splinter's dojo into a cult, and renamed it. (I think you can guess what he named it to.)

And finally, about the turtles, they used to be experiments, so don't mind the scars :) (Especially on their necks... except Leo's. You'll see an explanation why he doesn't have neck scars in the comic.)

If you got this far, heres a sneak peek at the first frame of my comic!:

I'm doing a part color for the whole comic, btw. This panel alone too about 2 hours, so you can see why lol. Also I forgot their weapons but I'll turn that into meeting April. Or, the turtles already knew her, YOU meeting April. I hope you guys will like her, cause Casey and her are literally soul sibling.

[reviilo]

well I finally finished TMNT 2012 and there are things I want to point it out:

the writers don't know what is coherence or continuity. like, what's the point of making characters go through the same developmental arcs over and over again like they're never able to learn? despite being able to quote raph's anger issues as an example, what bothered me the most was the plot "mikey is underestimated by his brothers and saves them in the end" and that's where i think all that stuff about putting mikey as a victim of a SUPER abusive relationship with his brothers came from. mutant wasp, mutant squirrels, x dimension and mutant frogs ALL WITH THIS SAME PLOT BASE

also in the mutant frogs episode, raph gives mikey a hug bc he was missing his little bro and both got awkward saying it was weird and they would never do it again but. they gave each other comfort hugs in second season after splinter's defeat and escape from ny so why, just why

please don't make me start on leorai. only thing i got from it's transfem!leo and i'm happy this way

they fucked up donnie and april's relationship so bad lol, and fucked april as a character just bc of it too. i felt like they didn't know the character they were writing. what's the logic within, during first and second season, make april aware of donnie's feelings for her (just watch metalhead episode debut) and being uncomfortable about or just ignore it and then make she kiss him in the EXACTLY EPISODE HE WAS GIVING UP ON HER. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY ROMANTIC DEVELOPMENT AFTER THAT, IT'S LIKE THE KISS NEVER HAPPENED. WHYYYYY

raph and monalise the only couple i care and will defend

literally don't understand why renet tilley was brought to this iteration. she has nothing to do with the principal plots (shredder and the kraang), never really helps the turtles (they always help her when she fucks things up) and the writers just wanted to give mikey a girlfriend no matter how to fit her into the story. even alopex who appears only in one episode has more importance

didn't like halloween special, mad max future and satanic cult episodes, but that's on me

ice cream kitty, leatherhead and chompy, i love y'all so much

well it's that. now i'm gonna watch rottmnt and 2003 version

[taowashere]

ROTTMNT theory time :)))

Spoilers for the entire series + movie

This is pure speculation and fun, and will only be supported by the lore of ROTTMNT not any other show.

So basically I’ve been trying to figure out how these badass overpowered mystic powers work because it’s more confusing than any fandom lore I’ve read so here’s a theory about that + a little more thoughts on mystic powers as a whole

One big point before I go all out on this theory, anyone can have mystic powers. They can be human, mutant, yokai, even the Kraang, all living beings can harness mystic powers with the correct training. This is slightly proven by Warren Stone being able to use an mystic stone without problems, April and Cassandra being able to use Aprils mystic Bat, and when April gets hamato ghost possessed by Karai.

So let’s get on with the main theory.

In the final episode, “Rise” Big Mama reveals something crucial to the show as a whole that the fandom didn’t really know about(due to the second season being hard to watch). When the turtles need her help to find out where Shredder has taken Splinter and Draxum, she says

“To harness a life force you would need the source of all yokai power, enperian”

Then when Shredder finds this ‘enperian’ it’s revealed that it came from a single Kraang who died either in battle or from crashing into the Crying Titan

From what we can concur, the Yokai (from Big mama be know “We yokai have existed for thousands of eons”) must have evolved from the blood/engine fuel from the dead Kraang. This being the very source of all mystic magic, but than what is Ninpo? I believe it’s just an technique that the Hamato clan learned to fight the Shredder. (Similar to demon slayer, how humans have found ways to defeat demons with ancient arts if you need a comparison)

Another point about mystic magic, is that it cant directly be accessed without unlocking it. I think weapons at the beginning of the series are more like a catalyst for the turtles to harness their inner power.

The weapons only unlock a small part of the turtles real power, such as Leo’s portals becoming twin katanas that teleport wherever the other is, Mikey’s “wip”becoming nunchucks that can extend and light on fire, and Raphs force fields becoming a lot bigger and durable. We’ll talk Donnie in a minute because he’s a special case. But thanks to the mystic weapons the turtles learn and adapt to their powers and train themselves around them.

“What about you, Donnie? Don’t you want a glow-y weapon?”

“No, I’m good. I’ll never let you go.”

It’s made clear from the first episode Donnie is the most reluctant about “mystic magic.”

Even if he’s against the emphasis on mystic magic, he doesn’t try and stop it entirely, he more try’s to find a way to make sense of it. In the episode “Donnie vs Witchtown” (or Hidden City Adventures II) he’s very adamant on being against the whole idea of something he can’t explain.

“Because, I’m the Science Guy! If mystic powers can do everything I can do but better, than why would you guys even need me?”

The whole “being insecure about your role on the team thanks to something that you can’t avoid” might have been dragged out a bit more in the series(if a certain company didn’t cut the second season in half and postponed the show). But Donnie being insecure, is the driving reason his mystic powers were so delayed. It’s hard for Donnie to accept mystic magic but when he finally does his powers start to awaken.

So these powers are awaken through acceptance, possible training, and a catalyst for those powers? Not exactly, but you’re on the right track.

We have to look in the future to understand how to trigger these powers. It’s seen in the first few minutes of the ROTTMNT movie how powerful F!Mikey mystic powers have grown. Even Casey Jr. awes at his powers and through his description of F!Mikey we know he was incredibly powerful.

“You are the most powerful mystic warrior the world has ever known. With those two hands, you send me back in time”

F!Mikey is even foreshadowed in the first episode of the show. When the turtles lose April after she tried to save Mayhem, it’s Mikey who recognizes the hidden city symbol from splinters “do not touch shelf”

“Oh, hey! I’ve seen this before! In fact, we all have.”

It’s Mikey who assessed the portal to the hidden city

"How about we let the artist of the crew take a poke at it?"

And Mikey is the first of the turtles to awaken his weapon the ‘Kusari-fundo Nunchaku.’

"Whoa. Magic weapon”

That begs the question, why exactly is it Mikey who’s the Badass mystic warrior? Why couldn’t it be Donnie or Raph, maybe even Leo? What separates Mikey from his brothers that makes him so powerful in the future?

Out of all his brothers Mikey does have one big attribute that his brothers all lack in, his ability to be vulnerable, and being in touch with his emotions. His biggest strength and weakness is his empathy and emotional intelligence, unlike his brothers whom are very dishonest with their emotions and problems. It’s seen thought the show his emotions and feelings land him into difficult circumstances and often get him in trouble without one of his brothers to to stop him from getting hurt.

“Look, Mikey, repo men have to be mean, and I don’t know if you know this, but you’re kind of a softie."

"That really hurts my feelings! Oh, you have a point. But I can do this. Hard as nails.”

“I heard something.”

“A model train. Simple answer.”

So with his more open mind and emotional vulnerability his mystic powers grew. This could also support the real reason Donnie could really use his powers. He’s the most emotionally distant of the brothers, being so uneducated on them he doesn’t know some of the basic emotions that people feel.

So in conclusion, mystic powers come from a lot of different things. They can be awaken though the acceptance that magic truly exists. They can be harnessed through a catalyst that enables the user control over them. And the thing that triggers and fuels them are emotions. Plus spending years training them will result in you basically becoming Dr. Strange.

Yes very confusing but if you want more evidence then you can just watch season 1 and the movie and pay attention to their mystic powers.

But that’s just a theory, a Rise theory!

[yzafre]

Hey I really really liked your tmnt 12/rise post! At first I was like, I don't know about this, but when your actually explained your point I think it made a lot of sense. The series strengths/weaknesses and how it messed with expectations. But I would like to also share if you don't mind, why I think its so frustrating that 12 isn't character focused. The plot in 12 is driven by the characters rather than being something that happens via external forces. 12s plot at its core is about the drama between Yoshi and Saki and how it affects their family. The Kraang kidnapped April's father, space arc kicked off because home planet was destroyed. All very personal. Karai deciding to go after Shredder or April's decision to keep away from the turtles are character decisions that affect the plot. You can absolutely have a plot that isn't so personal to the characters. 03 for example has a less personal main plot, so it makes the relative lack of character development less obvious. The character decision based plot made the character writing all the more apparent imo. (As for Rise I think having a first episode be more plot less character definitely was not helpful, nor was the wacky episode release order, and I think Rise dragging its feet on clarifying the plot included the turtles understanding of the plot, which made it difficult to understand the turtles perspective until it was retroactively filled in).

Hi! I'm so glad you enjoyed my rambling, and even more glad you want to talk about it!

My posts was definitely more focused on pure observation than any kind of judgement on what I think it should/should not have done, but obviously it's going to hit people differently depending on tastes and preferences.

You've definitely got a valid argument for why you would have preferred more character-focused work. I also would have preferred that - but I'm a big fan of character-focused, so I'm very biased. I tend to keep that in mind and try to meet the story where it's at, looking at the type of story it wanted to be (and taking everything it wasn't interested in as creative inspiration for the fandom space).

As for the actual content of your point, I both agree and disagree! That is, I agree with the premise that the set-up (Yoshi and Saki, April and the Kraang) is very personal, which seemed to naturally lend itself to leaning into the characters more. ((I've got several posts in my 'yza talks about a thing' tag that refer to this feeling.))

What I disagree with - sort of - is the statement "the plot in 12 is driven by the characters rather than being something that happens via external forces".

The plot is driven by the Shredder (and very occasionally be Leo).

And I would consider the Shredder an external force.

What I mean to say is, for a lot of the story the turtles - our protagonists - are very reactive. The Kraang are trying to destroy the world, so the turtles need to stop them. The Shredder is trying to kill them, so the turtles need to stop him. That's not really driven by their internal wants or goals. The story... doesn't really care want the turtles actually want? Other than to stay alive. (With another 'except for Leo' caveat.)

There are exceptions! You brought up the space arc, of course, which I think is a mix - the Triceratons just kind of came out of nowhere, you know? Earlier in the story they're actively trying to learn more about the Kraang because they want to help April with her dad, but that goes away half-way through the series. Trying to find/rescue Karai is a recurring internal motivation.

((I have a... very different estimation of how much Karai and April's actions actually affected the plot, so I'll leave that alone. How the writing handled those two would be an Entire Other Post.))

And I think your frustration might actually be the tension between how personal the set-up is on paper, and the lack of investment the turtles (excluding Leo) actually have with it? That it feels like setup that never gets a payoff. I might just be re-phrasing what you were trying to say, at this point.

As for Rise, yeah, I would generally agree with you. The production shenanigans Definitely didn't help. The way the plot drags its feet means it takes a while for things to get personal, which is when a lot of the best episodes start kicking in.

Anyways, maybe you agree with me, maybe you don't - we're kind of getting into opinion/perception territory here! But I love talking about stuff like this either way. Getting different people's perspectives is really interesting.

Thanks for the ask!

[sacredartist33013]

Thought it'd be interesting to post a little sneak peak of orange wisteria on here.

“Did he leave already?” Leo nodded to his purple masked brother as he walked over to the loose burner and began the task he promised Mikey. “Usually we can get him to stay for at least another 30 minutes.” 

“Leo didn't even try to stall him for long.” The voice of their red masked brother chimed in as he walked into the main part of their lair, his usual scowl present on his face. “Apparently Mikey promised he'd tell us and Master Splinter whatever's been going on inside his head so fearless over here backed down.” Raphs face scrunched up slightly as he began to smell the familiar but annoying scent of that floral incense. “How the shell do we still not know what kinda flowers are Mikey using for that stuff anyway, even Splinters sandalwood stuff isn't as strong as this.” Raph complained as he walked away from the burner. Out of the whole family Raphael was the one most vocal about the dislike of how strong the fragrance of this incense blend was. 

“It is awfully strong for the first few minutes.” Leo admitted reluctantly. Even Leo and Splinter, who relatively enjoyed the smell of incense, couldn't handle too much of this blend at its strongest. It made Donnie worry if the incense was dangerous to animals but their father put a stop to that rather quickly. Splinter told them how it was a smell that reminded him of a particular type of incense the hamato clan used to lite, usually at night apparently. It also didn't affect any animals in a negative way according tk what he could remember of it. But they had stopped doing so when he was very young, so he couldn't remember what the flower used to make it was. Only that it was a part of some kind of effort at warding something off. “I still wonder what this stuff is supposed to ward off anyway? Bad luck? Raph scoffed a little.

“unless this stuff wards off our turtle luck then don't think so fearless. I swear that little nutball must be trying to ward off oxygen with how strong that stuff is.” suddenly Donnie shivered 

“Remember before we got him to cut it down to one lighting a day?” The two oldest turtles did not in fact want to remember that time. They swear the stagnant sewer air they usually had was much more appreciated than the feeling of choking on some sweet scent in the air. They literally stole the burner and were prepared to toss it out before Mikey literally barricaded himself in his room with it and refused to come out. Their youngst seemed truly horrified at the idea of scent not being in the air. Whispering to himself About how they won't be protected from whatever the plant protects them from if it stops. It took Splinter promising they'd leave his burner alone if he promised to only lit it once everyday for half an hour that he left his room. 

“Don't remind me Don, I swear my mouth tasted like flowers every time we went topside for a week.” Raph said with a slight gag. “Maybe Mikey can answer what he's burning along with why he looked like shredder and the kraang would burst into the lair if we had even a moment without it.” The concern the sai wielding turtle had wasn't lost on the other 2. They could all remember the sheer terror on Mikeys face when they tried staging an intervention on the subject,nor could anyone forget the scream Mikey made as he grabbed the burner and ran. It definitely made them feel off when they saw their youngest shaking in Splinters arms when he came out of his room, Apologizing for how excessive he's been with the incense to the point even he couldn't stand it. But something he saw when they had that fear fungus problem they were forced to deal with had stuck with him. It made him afraid of something only warded off by the floral scent apparently. 

“Personally I theorize it was some kind of Japanese myth he read about or a monster movie he watched. But there's behavior Mikey just hasn't shown before for me to be completely sure of that.” It wouldn't be the first time the youngest turtle spooked himself with something like horror movies and internet legends. But this time it felt different. More often than not the ninja clan could remember seeing their youngest assuring himself that whatever he saw 'wasn't real and 'didn't exist’ and maybe try to bunk with his brothers,that was expected. That was normal. For a day or two. Not a whole month. And it was them that had to convince him to bunk with them. And he still put up a small fight. As if trying to stop the older brothers from getting involved, it was a blessing that they knew how to get the youngest to agree to it.

//Okay so a little was maybe not the right answer

“Got any theories about his eye?” Leo asked, wondering if the resident genius had any clues to the mysterious injury.

“Just one.” Donnie confessed “based on the non external wounds or scars on his face it had to be an internal injury. And the fact that his vision is only blurred and the eye is relatively intact. I can only concur that it's a form of hyphema.” 

“Can you translate that from nerd speech?” Donnie did as Raph asked with an eye roll

“Because there's no outside injuries, I think Mikey suffered from of internal injury that caused bleeding in his eye.” that got oldest siblings eye's to widen. 

“What on earth could cause that?” Leo asked as he tried to remain calm, an internal injury that made his brother's eye bleed.

“Eye trauma is the most likely cause for damage that bad. Usually hemorrhaging in the eye doesn't cause such a big loss of vision for so long. But there's no evidence anything from dimension x caused any trauma. So it'd have to be inward.” 

[mushi2794]

Script- (it will be posted in parts)

Tmnt: The new Mikey, part 1

Mutagen darts made by the kraang had been found my the foot clan and plan to be used against the turtles to get back at splinter, but the turtles find out by the kraang giving away the information. Now Donnie is planning on stealing one for experiments to help make retro-mutagen to de-kraang New York. On their mission donnie succeeds on stealing it from the foot, but then gets it stolen from his hands by a new foe from the same planet as Racka Racka, Shak, a red lizard with yellow marbling all over his body, he is also very good at technology and has beam blasters. When he steals the dart, he plans to hit Shredder with it, but misses and it goes for Splinter, without knowing Mikey sees this and goes to save sensei, but he ends up getting hit with the dart and falls unconscious. All the family is worried and goes to retrieve Mikey then retreat back to the sewers. After Mikey got hit, Donnie has been examining him wondering why the mutagen isn’t doing anything, thinking that the amount in the dart isn’t enough to transform someone into a mutant. He then goes on telling the news to the others and they feel sorta relieved, but that doesn’t knock out the worries from splinter knowing that there is something missing but can’t get it out of his head. Donnie went back to his lab and continued his studies, while the others are trying to be positive. Splinter and April go to train but take Casey with them to train him as well, seeing as Splinter acknowledges his potential in martial arts with how he uses his hockey stick and the other equipment he’s made. Splinter goes to ask Leo and Raph to help train Casey, and Leo took this very seriously while Raph just wants to pound him to the ground. While training, Splinter had asked April to surprise attack them from behind to test there senses and focus, because it is reasonable to see how calm they really are about the situation with Mikey. Splinter knows the turtles well and that Raphael is the most affected by Mikey’s situation, because Mikey was always the one to help Raph and know how he felt at all times, when Raph liked something or did something he never does normally, Raph would just hide it or change the subject with anger and force never actually accepting his soft side as something useful, just another fork in the road. Mikey would be the one that made all his anger of himself go away and he would do this by drawing all that anger to himself by doing something stupid or funny, but that stupidity, was just the difference that made them different from everybody else, telling Raph in different words that nothing is useless and is always there for a reason. Raph knowing what happened to Mikey couldn’t hold back his anger and took the training a little to far, but before he could land a hit, April appeared out of the shadows and attacked Raph landing a direct hit on his shell not even noticing the crack it made, Raph was so caught up with anger he couldn’t even think. Leo observing what was happening and caught on. He went to tie Raph up before he could cause any more trouble. Splinter, hiding in the background caught on to and did the same but instead approached this as if he was a cat. He called out to Casey to move out and get behind him, but before he could, Raph grabbed on to Casey and slashed him side to side on the ground like a feral gorilla, then in a attempt to rip his arm off, Leo jumped in and attacked him distracting him from Casey giving time for Splinter to make his move and put him to sleep using the arts. Donnie then came in hearing all the commotion and was told to take Casey, seeing how badly Casey was hurt, he quickly brought Casey to the infirmary and had Metalhead do scans on him to identify any damage that cannot be seen. Casey had a broken arm and a few cracked ribs, but no further internal injuries that couldn’t heal on its own. All of them questioned why Raph went so feral but had one guess as to what started it, Mikey. With Raph paralyzed, Casey injured, and no telling what will happen to Mikey, it just made the weight of the situation heavier.

[imagionationstation]

And also for the rise x 2912 separate au

that does mean the hidden city, and draxum and stuff exist

my idea for draxum is that he’s one of the scientists that made the mutagen that mutated the turtles but accidently got mutated himself. He ran, found the hidden city and became how he is in the rise show.

— ♊️

Connected to This Ask.

See, there’s a different between “Big Mama exists” and a Rise x 2012 au, mkay. I have about six hundred things to rethink. We’re stepping into unprecedented territory. I assumed the Hidden City existed (there is no Hotel without residents) but Draxum exists?? And he was a scientist that made the mutagen?

So what does that mean about the Kraang???

No, no, wait- I GOT IT.

Draxum was a scientist like Rockwell and Victor Falco who was working on the mutagen UNTIL he found out that the Kraang were aliens. Then he learned why they were on the planet and realized that he probably shouldn’t be working on this for them. Upon finding out that one of the humans were pulling away, the Kraang decided to eliminate a potential threat and take back their mutagen.

Since he’s “how he is in the Rise show”, maybe he intended to make the turtles using the mutagen. His experiments were interrupted by the Kraang who starting blasting things. Draxum touches goat DNA and turns into goat-man, stumbling away from the wreckage.

He sees an open portal, and hearing sirens in the distance, escapes through it to avoid getting back into Kraang hands.

Why was there a portal? Well, Big Mama had heard of a substance created within the city that could turn normal creatures into something more. She was keeping an eye on Draxum when the place exploded. The Yokai in charge of watching the place was there when crazy went down. They found a baby Donnie in the wreckage. Upon hearing the sirens and seeing movement in the rubble, they scooped him up and took him back to the Hidden City. From there, Donnie found his way into Big Mama’s curious appendages.

Now, Draxum thinks his turtle experiments are gone.

In reality, Splinter is drawn to the explosion and finds a sobbing Leo alone and injured. He accidentally steps on a rat, catching his balance on a dumpster coated in mutagen. After his transformation, the poor man escapes to the sewers to hide with his baby boy <3

The O’Neil’s were driving past a while after the place went ✨boosh✨. They almost hit the turtle crawling in the road, barely swerving out of the way. Toddler April claimed that turtle as her own. And Kirby, heartbroken over his wife and hoping to bring joy to her life, let her keep the turtle mutant. He keeps any suspicions about where the creature came from to himself.

Shredder had his Foot Ninja casing the joint. (Maybe he has suspicions of something happening within his city?) When the place exploded and the little freak of a turtle was launched at the building that they were perched on, the ninja were shocked to find it still alive. The tiny turtle struggled to move, brazenly attempting to hiss and bite when they came close. They scooped him up and brought him back to their master.

AND SO- Draxum has an obsession, similar to the show. And he thinks creating stronger mutant creatures will solve this. (Humans are mutant monkeys, apparently.) Draxum has spent his life trying to figure out how to rid the world of the Kraang. And he doesn’t care what he has to do to stop them from taking over. Or who he hurts.

And there you have it. ✨2012&Rise backstory✨

ALSO WHAT DRAXUM’S CANON?

WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO-

(Based off the fight scene from Rise’s Bug Busters)

“Mother!”

Big Mama snaps her head towards Donnie’s voice, his arms pushing against the vines that hold him down, struggling to get out from inside them. He winces as they squeeze; the turtles trapped in her web cry out in alarm. The vines continues to coil tighter around shell as she picks up on the grin in Draxum’s tone. “It seems we both have something that the other wants.”

“Big Mama is not a high pillow to be intimidated, Draxy.” All premise of civility drops from her tone, letting a dark fury slip in. “Now I recommend you get off my primy-prom premises before Mama gets nasty.” 

“Oh, I plan to.” He sneers. “With my property. And you’ll let me leave, or I’ll squeeze your turtle until he pops. How’s that for a deal?”

“Ngghh-” Donnie’s hands slip as the grip tightens, pain and panic consuming his features. “Moh-hhh- Mother!” 

“Have it your way.” She presses the pad on her little boy’s invention. It releases the hover feature as her thumb taps a button underneath, pushing it over to the goat man. “Take the mutagen. But this will not be the last you hear of Big Mama.”

“Perhaps it should be.” Draxum lays his hand on the box. “Or I’ll do much worse.”

He flicks his hand and the vines holding Donnie whip, sending him flying. He slams into one of the glass windows that surrounds her office, carapace shattering it on impact, flying through to the street below. She doesn’t notice Draxum call out to his pets, or hear the turtles’ shout. A blur of green races past her and to Draxum.

She doesn’t pause to think. She chucks herself out after him. Glass cuts at her but her hairs prevent her from feeling a thing. She falls, her weight and momentum bringing her straight to him. 

She grabs him, burying the limp form in her arms, and shoots a web. It splatters against the building and she swings, launching herself into one of her lower floors. The room is vacant as she crashes into the bed, knocking several expensive items off the dresser and shelves. The room may belong to a human who won’t appreciate the mess, but she doesn’t spare it a thought. 

She uncurls from her protective ball, two large arms cradling him as her smaller ones cup his face, scanning for any major injuries. Her poor, innocent baby boy is cut and bruised from all the excitement, ever as light and tiny in her arms. “Oh, my clever, sweet boy. What kind of fizzlewinkle have you gotten us into?”

Obviously unconscious, he doesn’t say a word. She holds him close, moving over to the panel on the wall. She brushes along the side, mutant DNA unlocking the shield, and then flips it over. She presses the shimmering button, stating, “Send security up to my office. There are multious invaders and I want every one detained.”

“Right away, Big Mama.” 

[panfluidme]

Purple's Second Chance

Master Post, Chapter Ten

Full disclosure, I don't know anything about football. Sorry if anything is inaccurate.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: MYSTIC TRAINING WITH A SPICY FLASHBACK

Master Michelangelo smiled as he walked into Donnie's lab, happy to see that Casey was hanging out with Donnie. "Sorry to bother you, but could I borrow you, Don?"

Donnie set his screwdriver down and looked at him. "Sure."

"Come on."

He nodded and stood up. Donnie followed Michelangelo out of the room and to the meditation room.

"So, I was thinking that you should properly learn how to use your ninpo. If I'm remembering correctly, after Shredder's defeat, you spent most of your time rebuilding instead of working on your ninpo. Your ninpo is a huge help as it works a lot with tech and deals a fair amount of damage to the Kraang," Michelangelo explained.

"So you'll be training me?"

"Yep. I know emotions aren't your strong suit, but they tie in a lot with ninpo. Now, remember that ninpo is different from mystic powers. Anyone can have mystic powers while it's just us Hamatos who have ninpo."

Donnie nodded. "Right."

"Take a seat." Master Michelangelo sat down, sitting crisscross with his hands on his knees. "We're going to do some meditating to start honing in on your emotions and thoughts and feelings."

"Sigh, fine, fine." Donnie sat across from Michelangelo.

"Now close your eyes and think about one of your happiest moments."

Donnie did as instructed.

Donnie sat on the bleachers, blowing some of his thick black hair from his face. How on Earth he got dragged to a football game of everything was beyond him. He hated watching sports that wasn't skateboarding.

If it wasn't for the fact that he knew Robbie would ask him his thoughts on the game, Donnie would just sit on his phone and watch skateboarding. But noooo. He just had to have it hard for the school's star football player.

How was this fair?

Whatever, hopefully the game will be over before he knew it.

—

Two hours later, the game was finished, and Donnie was pushing his way out of the loud stadium. Even with his sound muffling goggles on (there was a reason why he made it so they covered his ears, afterall), the place was far too loud and crowded for his taste.

"Donnie!" a familiar voice shouted from behind him. "Wait up!"

Donnie stopped in his tracks and turned on his heels. His heart pounded in his ears as he watched Robert Myers-Jenkins run toward him.

Curse these stupid feelings. Why couldn't things feel like they did with everyone else with Robbie? Why did he have to feel like he was floating on air whenever he's around him?

"Hello, Rob."

"Did you like the game?" Robbie sounded excited, almost like he was thrilled that Donnie had come to his game to cheer him on.

"I don't particularly understand football, but I suppose I enjoyed it."

"It's the last game of the season, and I think it's going to be my last game overall."

"I see. Well, I hope you still had fun."

Donnie thought then nodded. "It was nice to get some homework done and cheer you on at the same time."

"Of course you were doing homework at a game." Robbie walked next to Donnie. "I was thinking we could go get some ice cream?"

"That sounds pleasant."

Robbie pumped his fist into the air. "Yes! My treat."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You came to a football match, it's the least I can do."

Donnie smiled. "Alright then."

"It's a date then."

Donnie smiled softly at the memory. He missed Robbie, he missed his friends. "Now what?" he asked as he opened his eyes.

"You focus that feeling and think about making something. We'll start simple, so maybe a mechanical toothbrush or something along that line," Master Michelangelo answered.

Donnie nodded and concentrated on that.

A gentle purple started glowing in front of him on the ground. A toothbrush faded into view, glitching a few times.

"I did it. Kinda."

"Don't worry. Practice makes perfect. That's an amazing start!"

Chapter Twelve

[plum-pitt]

oooo, figured i’d reblog bc i think alot of these r really interesting! side note: won’t be commenting on versions i haven’t watched/read, or the ones i just.. don’t have much of anything to say about. I put these in numbered order matching with which take im responding to, if a number is skipped then it’s corresponding take is one i didn’t feel the need to comment on.

1: Yes and No on 2012 April. I think she’s definitely over hated by a fanbase that hyper-dramatizes how “awful” she is (i feel like how people tend to look at Donnie as a victim and make excuses for his weird behavior by making her look worse by comparison def feeds into this, at least from the discourse i’ve witnessed personally) I think she’s got some interesting ideas behind her, like having the kraang dna, but i just don’t think she has a super strong identity to me, like she feels more like a plot device and eye candy for Donnie and Casey to fist fight over than an actual character. Just an unfortunate byproduct of male writers who haven’t yet learned that objectifying women is wrong.

2: Eh, I kinda agree with this one too. I feel like he could’ve been INFINITELY better if we just got more time with the guy and got to see more of his personality shine through outside of the consistent crisis-mode the plot necessitated. His design totally fucks tho, the mask with Leo’s markings, the chainsaw hockey stick? Straight HEAT.

4: Valid, but also I think in some instances (importantly ones where they’re the same age) Casey and Raph can be a cute lil combo. But only on occasion, sometimes the vibes are there but sometimes they’re not.

5: I FEEL THIS SO HARD. She’s so intriguing but her arc is so infuriatingly paced that it makes me want to pull my hair out. I couldn’t even put to words why i hated it until i saw a video by godzilla mendoza that laid out the show’s overall pacing problem by using her arc as an example, showing EXACTLY how long everything took and how often they’d dangle development in front of the viewer just to rip it away with some contrived bs so they don’t have to commit to a status quo shift.

6: Eh it’s alright but yea definitely overdone at this point. I like that they give eachother shit all the time and have this cautious nerd vs. reckless jackass dynamic going on but i hate that so much of their onscreen interaction and most of their rivalry just comes from both of them wanting to get with April.

7: I agree, but i think the reason is that Mikey just didn’t get nearly enough focus in Rise to properly stand out. I really liked what little we got of him and think they definitely could’ve taken what we see in the show to some really cool places if given the proper time to flesh them out, but it just never came to be which is a damn shame.

8: BASED. I’m so fucking sick of April being shipped with the turtles you have NO IDEA BRO😭😭😭 It’s never once been done well imo, Mutant Mayhem was definitely the least egregious but i have this sinking feeling in my stomach that this might change with the series coming up soon. I feel like this franchise as a whole can do without shipping for the turtles, at least in the canon source material. Fanworks can go crazy, more power to em, but i feel like most of the romantic relationships we’ve seen attempted across the franchise proper have just never quite stuck the landing, and at least for me that can really bring down my enjoyment of a show.

9: Also based as fuck, 80’s shredder is so funny I love him and his dynamic with Kraang.

12: I agree! I think it’s a super fucking cool idea to have Casey start out as a cop. Then some inciting incident could happen that maybe exposes some corruption or something to make him realize that operating inside that system is not what he thought it would be, and that if he wants justice to truly be served he needs to take it into his own hands, thus becoming a vigilante. But hooooooly shit did they do this concept dirty. His casting is a big factor here too, no offense to that actor but he just did not fit this character well at all, and his writing was abysmal.

14: I actually do kinda feel this. It’s like you’ve got the other 3 turtles of mildly varying size and builds, and then Raph, who’s just this absolute fucking behemoth. It’s not necessarily his size that’s the problem to me rather than how he looks grouped together with his siblings. I feel like it could’ve worked if they pushed the varying body types a bit more (maybe make mikey just like this teeny lil goblin, Donnie could be taller than raph since spiney softshells irl also get pretty big, but much slimmer by comparison, while Leo keeps a build closer to what we see in canon) Either level the playing field a bit by making Raph a lil smaller or go ALL IN on making them completely different body types from one another. As it stands the lineup is just a lil bit awkward to me.

15: I think the worst part about 2012 Mikey is that sometimes he’s shown to be incredibly competent and then the next he’s like “baby drinking the chemicals in the cabinet under the sink” levels of stupid. Like idk how i’m supposed to be attached to this guy when the writers can’t seem to decide what he even is. Him getting slapped around is definitely excessive, but also he’s an annoying jackass sometimes who needs to learn common sense, and i can’t say i wouldn’t be in the brother’s boat of just getting irritated with him if i was in their position a lot of the time.

16: ABSOLUTELY. The crossovers never do their individual characterization justice because they’d rather make the same “haha look at these dumb 80’s guys, they’re so incompetent and can’t take anything seriously” jokes every time. Just because their series of origin is lighthearted and they’re all capable of doing the funny doesn’t make them all the same character. You saw people making this exact same shitty ass argument when Rise first came out and people saw them all just having fun together and not taking a threat they did not know the magnitude of super seriously. It’s an argument so clearly born of ignorance i feel stupid even dignifying it with a response. The only reason anyone would make this argument is if they just haven’t watched the show.

17: I actually really like them together in 2003, i think their slow burn development is a super fun little side plot to follow that ends really cathartically. Otherwise, 2012 was ass for obvious reasons, I think Rise!April getting with Cassandra is a pretty cool idea, aaaaaaand well the others i just don’t have any strong opinions about. I think they’re pretty boring most of the time but when done right they can be super cute.

18: I feel like a lot of Mikey’s i can see totally vibin with just having a bunch of friends. Like I wouldn’t go as far as saying I think he’s aromantic necessarily, but i don’t see him as being the kind of guy who feels like he needs a romantic connection to be happy. So long as he’s got his buds in the blunt rotation, my guy is perfectly content in life.

19: Based, people using her actions under MIND CONTROL to justify not liking April is yet another example of people bending over backwards to make her look like a bad person when- she’s really not? Like i personally find her a bit irritating but even i can point out that a lot of the criticism made against her are hypocritical at best and downright bad faith at worst.

20: I honestly can’t say i have a favorite canon ship in for this franchise, it’s not really what i come to it for in the first place, but i can see the appeal of Raph and Mona, even if there’s a couple elements of it i’d personally tweak.

Some of My TMNT Hot Takes 🔥

Warning: Opinions

2012 April was a good character and a fun version/take on April. Y’all are just mean.

Casey Jr. in the Rise movie was a bland and uninteresting character. He did not feel like/deserve to be called a “Casey Jones”.

Jennika in IDW, while a cool concept/character, is overused/overrated.

I don’t like shipping Raph (any version) with human characters. I prefer him dating other mutants or aliens.

2012 Karai is the best/most interesting version of Karai, but she’s also one of the most irritating recurring characters in 2012. I love and hate her.

Jonatello in 2012 is overrated as hell.

Rise Mikey is very forgettable (to me).

April needs to stop being shipped with the Turtles and being their love interest.

87 Shredder is the BEST version of Shredder!

I liked the Irma being a robot twist in 2012. It was an injustice to the Irma character but it was still shocking, and I do like her kinda return as Rook, so there’s some credit to that.

2007 Splinter was a bad dad.

Casey being a cop in the bayverse movies was an interesting take that could’ve worked for his backstory of becoming a vigilante, but it was executed poorly.

IDW Donnie x Mona Lisa is stupid and a completely pointless ship to include in the comics. It feels very forced.

Rise Raph is too big. That, or the other characters are too small. Either way, while I like Rise Raph, his design feels off sometimes.

2012 Mikey is actually annoying and often deserves to be scolded by his brothers for doing dumb immature shit. He’s 15, not 5, he should know better.

The 87 Turtles DO have individual and unique personalities, that includes 87 Leo!

Capril is not a good ship, but I’d still much rather ship April with Casey than with any of the Turtles.

While I love 2012 Renetangelo and 87 Kalangelo, Mikey is the one Turtle that I don’t think needs a love interest. I’d much rather see him be single.

If you’re mad at/hate 2012 April for “killing Donnie” when being possessed in that one episode, but don’t feel the same towards Raph, Karai, Slash and Rockwell for torturing/hurting their friends/family when brainwashed, the you’re a massive hypocrite.

Raph x Mona Lisa in 2012 is the BEST TMNT ship that came out of the four TMNT franchises that Nickelodeon has made. Maybe even the best overall couple in all of TMNT.