#did splinter ever even find out about saki actually being from the foot-?

[sweeneydino]

Man, I sure hope nothing bad happens to these two brothers.

[starry-kattz]

Okay, so I finally read the original TMNT one-shot (courtesy of V.1 of the Ultimate Collection and ...

....

....

I have so many thoughts.

Okay so, Shredder is their second fight. Ever. They fight and kill a group of Purple Dragons, it's their first real outing ever, and that's enough for Splinter to decide they're ready to take on the master assassin/crime-boss??? Also, speaking of Splinter, he kinda sucks as a person??? I guess they all do tho, like cycle of violence much. Yoshi probably wasn't much better, he was part of the Foot too after all. Anyways, Shredder is their origin story. He's not their story. What. Like, dude is so insanely impactful in so many iterations of their story and you're telling me Shredder-Prime fell off a building and blew himself up with his own grenade??????? Wtfwtfwtf. Yeah I know they won the fight first, but he really went out like a punk. How did this man acquire Main/Major Villain status? He lost a fight to some kids whose training was mostly theoretical at that point. Kids that he beat up and tired out first. That were trained by a rat. A rat that only is a ninja because he mimicked his owners training in a dojo. And he lost. To them. Like, I could see the Foot being a recurring problem. But I find OG Shredder kinda pathetic.

Circling back round to Splinter cause I got more to say about him. First! Rats don't live that long. Which I know isn't the point, but damnit I gotta say it. Like, my dude must've been a mutant rat already to live like 20 years before his master even got murked. It bears repeating- Splinter is a shit parent. How shitty? Depends on your personal opinion and your own relationship to your parent(s). But this rat gained sentience, watched four little baby turtles gain sentience, looked at them and went- ya know what these kids would be good for? Weapons! Then spent 13+ years making them ninja! And not cool-movie-good-guy-ninja like their modern version but the kind of ninja thug that caused this mess in the first place!!! It wasn't for self-defense or any kind of nobility or heroism, just straight up revenge. I'm sure the Rat is actually a cool dude and gains some complexity as the story goes on, but my god I can see why so many versions of him kinda suck as a parent. It's baked into his og character.

And as usual, the less said about what happened with Tang Shen the better. I will always say the woman deserves better until she gets it. I know this was originally a parody/one-shot wink-and-nudge towards Daredevil, so not complaining about it much. There's only so many pages to work with, and ultimately the backstory was just an excuse for weird Turtle Ninja violence. But also, it's weird to me that Shen apparently couldn't defend herself? She had to be part of the Foot Clan right? Like they wouldn't just let their ninja court whoever they wanted outside the clan right??? Nagi and Saki had a whole ass family that was apparently happy to help mold Saki into the Shredder. Like, they can't just not know right?? It wasn't like Yoshi and Nagi were going to a high school during the day, then Ninja Cram School at night. It's nuts to me that neither of them could defend themselves, but I suppose that's how fridging works.

I think if that had been it, it'd just be a fun one-shot by itself. It's kind of amazing to me that you can feel the echoes of this one comic from so long ago throughout the entire franchise and it's many iterations. The Turtles themselves are all kinda same-y in the One-Shot, but at the same time you can see very small seeds of the characters they would become being planted. Leo being the leader, obviously- it's his voice narrating a majority of the story, he's the one who reports their success back to Splinter, he's the one who rallies the others against Shredder, he gets the final stinger in. Raph gets to be the one to deliver the challenge to Shredder and says that he loves the night air, and Leo earlier notes Raph's love of fighting.

[divine-motion]

i’m having more of my tmnt au/2012 rewrite-ish thing so i’m gonna post this doodle of Karai and Leonardo bc it also summarizes one problem i have with 2012 and then the rest of my thoughts will be under keep reading

if you can’t read my handwriting/the quality of the phone picture is too bad: Karai: You ever think about how we’re in this mess just because our dads were fighting over a girl? Leonardo: ...... Y. Yeah. All the time.

yeah so obviously i don’t really like the reason for The central conflict of the series and shredder’s motivation to begin with, especially when they put in a much better reason in his backstory but still focused on “gorl didn’t like me back :(”

like really this guy devotes his life to revenge, kidnaps his niece, tries to murder several children, allies himself with colonizing aliens, and literally dooms the earth to destruction all because... he’s an incel. like i do like how crazy devoted he is to his revenge bc i love that stuff but with this it’s just kind of funny when it’s not supposed to be. so! i would change his motivation to what it should have been and is actually in the show, namely: the whole thing about the Hamato Clan taking him in as a baby after they launched a devastating assault on a Foot Clan village, where they found him.

they do add in a little bit of it but. it should’ve been his main motivation, not just an extra thing! it could’ve even made him something of a sympathetic villain! like how i would’ve done it, he finds out about his origins as being part of the Foot Clan and the fate of his home village, and is enraged that he’s been lied to his whole life. he questions the honor of the Hamato Clan since they clearly attacked civilians - this was a village, and there were clearly kids there, he wonders if he really was the only child there and how many were not given the same mercy he did - and his family were apparently killed in the attack. so he confronts his brother yoshi about it (not sure if i’d have yoshi know about it or not but his reaction remains the same). saki expresses his desire to have revenge, tear the Hamato Clan down since he doesn’t believe that it deserves to continue to exist, but that doesn’t mean yoshi has to die too, and asks yoshi to join him. of course, since saki wants to kill yoshi’s dad as revenge, yoshi refuses, the two fight, tang shen jumps between, house burns down, big ol’ domino brick effect.

i think he still has feelings for tang shen and while he’s jealous he leaves it be and remains best friends with tang shen, and her death at his hand drives him further off the edge. he takes in miwa/karai partially as a way to make it up to tang shen, though he knows it’s not enough. oh and also as a dramatic irony/more revenge against the Hamato Clan since that’s exactly what they did to him.

while he is entirely dedicated to eradicating the Hamato Clan he gets more and more obsessed with revenge as the story goes on. like i’m thinking of having leo and karai suggest a truce between the Foot and the turtles with the Kraang threat afoot and shredder actually ends up accepting bc he agrees they can’t let the Kraang win. maybe more bc he genuinely cares abt karai in his own way and wants there to be a world for her to grow up in (even though at this point she’s been trained as an assassin for her entire childhood but. well. he’s still a villain yanno. “this is how my adoptive parents treated me when i was growing up, i don’t see what the problem is.” “your parents who you hate?” “yeah. what of it.”). but then, later on, he would become entirely obsessed with revenge and not care about anything else that happens, probably after killing splinter and finding it brought him no peace or satisfaction

seriously what’s up with 2012 allying with the Kraang. how do you see that working out for you sir. sure he was expecting a betrayal but. still.

of course he takes opportunity of the truce to steal mutagen and Kraang tech while they can and makes sure to make use of the fact that the turtles can’t interfere in his business to make more weapon deals and gain more territory.

... hmm... i could... have tang shen live... potentially surviving the wound... and she and yoshi both believe that miwa perished in the fire, and they either get divorced or they both move to usa together and then yoshi gets mutated and tang shen is left alone, not knowing that her husband turned into a giant rat... i mean that’s just a potential thing. it sounds a little bit melodramatic and contrived but i think tang shen should get to survive sometimes and making splinter Epic Divorce Man would be funny. i dunno just a thought!

while we’re on the topic of Foot Clan stuff i might as well talk a little about other Foot Clan goons

bebop and rocksteady join way earlier. i care them ok. not sure if they’d still be anton zeck and steranko... idw and bay movies are peak bopsteady ok, and i like them being friends from the start! also for design changes i just don’t agree with bebop being skinny. he’s fat :)

Xever doesn’t get mutated, i like his human design more and there are, what, three major black characters in 2012 and they’re all villains and all get mutated? let xever be human!! he’d also be a bit more of a major and respected villain, a very Neutral Evil type, and makes a point to show he’s out for himself and for his own survival. if possible he’ll try to talk his way out of situations when he can and speaks in support of the truce i mentioned earlier because he’d prefer it if the earth was still inhabitable. karai proclaims that he is her favorite among her dad’s cringe henchmen but the only thing they bond over is their mutual disdain of bradford. he just thinks karai is kind of a brat, if a very skilled and dangerous brat.

while bradford/rahzar is a fairly formidable threat, there would be more emphasis on how pathetic he is. he’s chuck norris so he deserves it. also he’s like a 50 year old guy who acts so entirely devoted to shredder who’s. what. 39 years old? 40? he deserves to be dragged more

i’m thinking mr baxter stockman wouldn’t be mutated either, i like his human design a lot too. he would also be much less of a loser in this rewrite since bradford would take that role. instead, he’s just... an absurdly normal genius scientist/engineering guy who happens to be part of a really evil crime organization full of evil ninjas. he’s polite and eccentric, happy to have someone who finally funds his many inventions and experiments, even if that someone happens to be someone literally called The Shredder. however, while he is a nice man, he is rather impatient when people rush him with inventions. whenever shredder tries his usual “if you fail there will be consequences” it just doesn’t work bc baxter points out that failure is part of the process and that shredder absolutely needs him to make the inventions shredder wants.

karai is weirded out by baxter the most bc he just seems so normal

later on when karai goes double-agent to try and take the Foot Clan down from the inside: i trust baxter the least leo: it’s the sweater isn’t it karai: it’s just so pink, i can’t stop looking at it whenever we’re having an Evil Ninja Crime Organization meeting! do you know the tonal dissonance of seeing him next to The Shredder? and listening to shredder speak in grunts and growls while baxter just keeps a chipper tone?? i don’t think i’ve ever used the word chipper to describe someone before but with him, it’s the only word i can think of!!! leo: he is disarmingly pleasant. karai: right!!! he looks more like someone’s wacky dad!! the other day he literally told me a dad joke. i felt like i was light-headed

i don’t think i’d change tiger claw very much, if at all. maybe make him a little less invincible at times, and a little more regretful of the outcome with alopex.

i have more thoughts but this is. already several walls of text so i’ll end this nonsense post here

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season One (Part One)

Ever since 1984, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has gone form a cult-status indie comic to a massive mass market. There have been various comics, movies, video games, merchandise, and of course cartoons. And it’s easy to see why. TMNT’s concept, a group of mutated teen turtles fighting evil in New York, is both incredibly bizarre and incredibly appealing to a mass audience. You have action, science fiction, martial arts, and of course plenty of mutant ideas to make toys out of. The fact that this Fall will be releasing the fourth animated TMNT series and that a new movie series is in production shows that even over 30 years later, this is a franchise that is far from losing it’s power.

As a kid, I of course knew that Turtles as a thing and I even watch parts of 2k3. But I was never really a fan until the day I stumbled upon the 2012 show. I fell in love with it and, since it started when I was just starting this blog, it was a huge focus for me for several years. I have since moved on and while I’m going to check out the 2018 show, I don’t think I’m going to be as crazy as I was with this show (but never say never). Back in 2012, I was someone who... lets say ignored the flaws and defended the show far too passive aggressively to the point that looking at my older stuff makes me want to blow up by blog. 

Nowadays, while some of my opinions hold true (like the ‘Donnie is a stalker’ accusations are still bullshit), I am more willing to admit the shows problems, especially now that I can take the show in fully. I also like to believe that I’ve become a better reviewer since I was 19 years old, plus it had been far too long since I went back over the show form the very beginning. So does the show still hold up? Will 25 year old Callie feel differently than 19 year old Callie did? Well we’re about to find out. This is the TMNT 2012 Season One Review!

The Premiere (Episodes 1-2)

Our story begins with a training sequence that introduces us to the titular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. Along with some minor character establishment, like Mikey being the funny one and Raph the violent one, the biggest thing here is one of the shows strengths: the choreography. It’s best exhibited in Leo and Raph’s duel. The movements are very fluid and well-paced. It’s fast, but not too fast, it’s enough to move things along but still let you take in all the impacts. It’s very well done. Raph ends up winning and we are introduce to the boys mentor and father, Master Splinter. Aka, the best written character int he show, but we’ll get to that later.

After the opening theme, we cut to the boys 15th Mutation Day where we get our backstory. Borrowing from the 80′s show origin, Splinter was once a young man named Hamato Yoshi. He had just bought four pet turtles when he stumbled across a shady dealing. Being a ninja master, he was able to fight back, but he ended up getting splattered with a strange green substance. This turned him into a rat, as one brushed his ankle while the baby Turtles become anthropomorphic. Yoshi, taking on the name Splinter, fled to the sewers and raised the four turtles as his own as well as taught them ninjutsu. It’s a simple, but still solid telling of the origin that pays tribute to previous origins, leaves some mystery about the substance and who was dealing it, and is told with use of comic-style panels reminiscent of the original comics.

The Turtles, having lived in the sewers since their mutation, are hoping to convince Splinter to let them finally go to the surface. After some begging, Splinter reluctantly agrees. We then cut to Leo watching a Star Trek: The Animated Series parody where we learn of his desire to become a great hero and leader. This is interesting for several reasons. One, it establishes that Leo isn’t the leader of the group yet, a departure form normal as he’s normally put into that role automatically. And second, ti does a great job at character establishment. In previous versions, Leo is often seen as the boring, overly leader type. Not a bad character mind you, but he lacks the quirkiness that the tough Raph, genius Donnie, and wild child Mikey present. Here? Leo is shown to be an idealistic, naive, but good-intention kid who aspires to be a great hero like he sees on TV as well as give shim some dorky characteristics, like quoting cheesy one-liners to sound more heroic. It helps make him more relateable, funny, and sets up a character arc for when he does inevitably become the leader. Very well done.

The boys finally go to the surface, and are in awe of what they see. They even discover their trademark favorite food, pizza. Given that they only ever ate worms and algae until this point, it makes their love of it all the more understandable. But not all goes well as they soon witness a group of business men kidnapping a red-haired teenager and her father. They attempt to help, but end up only beating each other up and the bad guys get away with their captives. Mikey ends up beating up one and discovers... a brain with tentacles... yipe... he tries to tell the other three, but they don’t believe him. A common trend in the show.

Upon returning home, the boys try to blame each other for the failure before Splinter accepts it for not giving them proper training as a team. While he considers keeping them down below for another year, Donnie convinces him to let them go help the girl due to seeing how terrified she was and how they failed to help her... and because of the crush he developed in a record five seconds. Splinter agrees, but first assigns Leo as the official leader, much to the ire of Raph. They’re eventually able to find the kidnappers vehicle and wreck it, capturing the driver named Snake and they discover a vat of a glowing green substance. A vat that they recognize as the same one that caused their original mutation.

Snake, after Raph threatens to mutate him, leads the boys to the facility where the captives are... and uses the boys bickering as a chance to escape. Leo uses this to trick the crook into thinking that they’re going to plow his van into the place as he conducts a plan to sneak in. All while Roah is an asshole who refuses to listen and outright undermines Leo’s orders. Yeah, Raph is a real jerk during this season. FYI. When Leo shows hesitance about his plan, Splinter tells him of his final confrontation against his rival Oroku Saki, aka The Shredder. It ended in his wife being killed, his house burning down, and his infant daughter nowhere to be found. Well, that won’t be important in any way, shape, or form later! The point being that he lost everything, but gained the boys, easing Leo’s worries about how much is riding on the plan.

So yeah the boys crash the van, Snake gets mutated, the boys break in, fight some guards, and Mikey proves that he isn’t crazy about the aliens.. and then trips an alarm. Smooth Mikey, smooth. They find the captives, that being this version of April O’Neil and her scientist father. Now in most versions, April is an adult woman. Here? She is aged down and is around sixteen years old. We’ll talk more about that later. The bad guys, aka The Kraang, take the captives away and as the boys give chase,t hey are confronted by the mutant Snake... who is a weed monster. Hey, that’s breaking supervillain rules writers! If you have an evil sounding name, that’s what you turn into! Donnie is sent to rescue the O’Neil’s as the other three face Snakeweed... Mikey’s idea, not mine.

The boys eventually defeat Snake via Leo’s direction and mass electrocution while Donnie is able to rescue April, but her father is taken away. April plans to find him however, no matter what it takes with the boys promising to help in whatever way they can. Once home, Leo finds out the complex reasoning for why he was named the leader over everyone else... because he asked. Ming-boggling, right? Well there is actually another reason, but we’ll talk about this in S4. The boys also made the news as their shruriken got found, but come on, what could one tiny news story do that would be bad? Well... being seen by your master’s worst enemy and re-igniting his lust for vengeance might count! Woopsie!

Overall, a solid two parter. It establishes the characters well, has fun fight scenes, the animation is a little dated now but still pretty good, the dialogue is funny, and it does a good job setting up future plotlines while fulfilling it’s own plot. It started 2k12 off on the right foot and was still enjoyable over five years since it’s initial premiere.

The Beginning (Episodes 3-8)

The episodes following the premiere create a steady flow of creating the status quo. You have episodes like Turtle Temper, Metalhead, and Monkey Brains (kinda) that have the boys dealing with the Kraang’s Plan of the Week as they continue their mutagen experiments. It helps with character development and some minor plot progression, such as Raph learning how dangerous his anger can be and Donnie learning to rely on his instincts rather than on his mind 100% of the time. Some are going to want me to comment on the shipping stuff, But I’m gonna save that for later. The biggest issue with these episodes, aside from Monkey Brains, is the Kraang. They are not interesting as villains at all. As great a VA as Nolan North is, the Kraang’s way of talking just gets... annoying. It doesn't help that the threat ultimately becomes either an accidental mutant or Donnie’s robot... well okay a Kraang possessed the later, but it shows that those are more interesting villains than the Kraang themselves and they exist mroe to just have an excuse for a plot. It’s really irking after awhile.

As far as plot goes, it’s mostly your usual ‘Monster of the Week’ stuff. But it has some small things that have a larger impact later. For one, in Monkey Brains, April begins to tap into what looks like some strong emphatic abilities. More on this next season. But due to this, Splinter decides to take April on as a student and train her to be a kunoichi (a female ninja). This will be the largest part of her character for the remainder of the series. April herself... is not utilized as well as she could have been in these early episodes. She’s described as the boys guide to the outside world, and she does serve that in some respects. For example, introducing Mikey to social media in New Friend, Old Enemy to let him make friends without exposing his mutant identity. And in Never Say Xever she takes them to a blind man’s shop so that they can actually experience life topside for once. The issue is we never see April establish bonds with the boys or Splinter after her introduction. In New Friend, Old Enemy she just acts like she’s been friends with the guys for awhile and after showing Mikey the net, doesn’t appear or is even mentioned in the episode again. She disappears after her importance in Metalhead as well, but she is given mroe to work with there at least. I glossed over this when I was watching the show and April does get mroe time with the guys, her relationship with Splinter being one of my favorites. Still, they didn’t do a lot with having April become part of the group or really act on her role as their ‘guide’ and I feel they just wanted to ignore it to get to the other stuff. Which is just a bummer.

So you’re probably wondering about Shredder stuff, right? Well thankfully the Foot Episodes are also the most plot relevant episodes. It starts with New Friend, Old Enemy where Shredder arrives in New York and assigns one of his lieutenants, a famous martial artist named Chris Bradford, to find out about Splinter. The Foot end up encountering the Turtles, with Bradford later using this to manipulate Mikey after accidentally becoming online friends with him. He captures him and use shim as bait to lure out the other three and then follow them to where Splinter is hiding. It fails with the boys using their knowledge of the sewers to literally wash Bradford and his partner, Xever, away. Along with the dangers of meeting people you don’t really know on social media, the episode presents a very unique lesson. In a fight for your life, screw fairness, You fight by any means necessary to stay alive, including fighting dirty. Most shows emphasize on being fair, but this one actually acknowledges that if your life is on the line, you do what it takes to get out alive. It’s a unique message for a kids show and one that I really appreciate.

Next is Never Say Xever where Xever gets to lead the charge. After the boys track down the two and get beat up, Xever receives inlet from the Purple Dragons, who int his version are pretty much a trio of teen thugs. The Turtles fought them off earlier at the shop April took them to, with Leo sparing the leader as an act of mercy. Something that Raph takes umbridge with... as he does with most anything that Leo does in the first half of the series. It’s no surprise that Leo and Raph butt heads, as they do in most series, and it follows their respective arcs. Leo having to deal with being leader as well as realizing that it’s much more pressuring and unforgiving than he thought, while Raph act son his jealousy that Leo got the position even though he’s the better fighter and therefore questioning Leo’s orders or outright just being an asshole for no good reason. But after the shop owner is kidnapped to lure the Turtles out, Leo’s act of mercy ends up saving them as the lead Dragon repays the favor by throwing him back his discarded sword. Which Leo uses to break a water tower to wash the bad guys away again. Angered, The Shredder decides to handle the Turtles himself.

The episodes do a good job in establishing a solid status quo. Bad guy does a thing, one character has their B-Plot to deal with, there’s a clash, the plots intertwine, bad guy gets defeated, and the lesson of the day is learned. A simple routine, but it works here. Plus we get plenty of character establishment and moments which makes you care about them. For example even though Raph is a massive jerk, the end of New Friend, Old Enemy has his comfort Mikey after the deceit and have him see that he’s a good kid who simply got duped as anyone else would. With this being after Raph mocked him wanting to make friends throughout the episode, it helped show that he does have a caring side. Leo frequently has issues with being a leader, such as dealing with Raph and moments like in ITHNiBS where the guys outright refuse to listen to him when he tries to remind them that they’re grounded. Even Splinter has a lot of moments, being a stern but fair parental figure and wise mentor, but is also snarky as Hell. We also see hints to how much the past has affected him, like after April agrees to undergo kunoichi training and leaves the dojo, there’s just a brief moment where he looks down with a forlorn expression. As though wishing that he was telling this to his own MIA daughter. It’s so subtle, but it speaks volumes about his emotional state. 

The characters are ultimately what makes these episodes works and what I would say is the strongest part of the series. You are likely going to relate to or like someone from this show and their progression. But now that we have a fully formed status quo, it’s time to shake it up a little bit and have the Turtles experience their first hard dose of reality.

The Escalation (Epsidoes 9-13)

Episode 9 begins as a typical ‘Mutant of the Week’ plot with the guys trying to catch a pigeon mutant that was after April. But when they do, they discover that he was simply trying to deliver a message... from her father. The message warns her to get out of the city due to a mutagen bomb, but she refuses to leave without him. As such,t he Turtles... somehow... find where Mr. O’Neil is and try to save him. While they get him out of the cell and get the location of the bomb, Mr. O’Neil sacrifices himself when the Kraang outnumber them so that the boys can protect April. All while poor April can only watch, helpless to do anything. Ouch...

The Turtles can only go to where the bomb is to disarm it, but things get further complicated when Bradford and Xever attack, wanting payback from before. Fortunately Donnie disarms the bomb and the four corner the two, but Bradford refuse sot go down quietly and stabs the bomb, but all it does is mutate himself and Xever. But ti also washes them away.... again. I should also point out that this point,t he Turtles have gotten incredibly over-confident since they’ve beaten every bad guy so far, feeling unstoppable. So then... Shredder arrives. Yep. And he kicks their shells HARD. Liek he holds no punches, he easily over-powers all four of them and almost stabs Leo int he head. The only reason that they escape is Shredder getting distracted by his now mutated lieutenants. But the boys retreat, badly beaten up and completely demoralized.

The next episode focuses on the fallout. The four are mostly feeling better, but their fears are being escalated by, of all people, Splinter. This is due to the boys nearly getting killed by his long-time rival re-igniting his own trauma and having nightmares over losing them, causing him to again keep them in the sewers and be far more harsh with his training. The only one doing moderately well is April, who gets intel about the Foot planning to destroy the sewers. The Turtles try to stop it, but get pounded by Bradford, who is now a giant dog mutant named Dogpound. This forces April to get the inlet herself, but she gets caught an captured by the Foot. This further brings Leo down, but to his surprise Raph actually encourages him to pull himself together and lead the team. The Turtles manage to both save April and stop the Foot from destroying the sewers with Splinter apologizing for allowing his fears to affect both himself and his sons. Overall, a solid pair of episodes that bring the boys down a bit, finally has all the plots meet somewhere, and deliver a strong message about not letting fear control you or the others around you.

After a filler episode where the only importance is Shredder forcibly recruiting Stockman to his forces, we get some more Kraang stuff with Episode 12. Where we actually show them being dangerous. Shocker, right?! It also introduces us to long-time supporting character within the franchise  Leatherhead. Here he is an alligator mutant who the Kraang experimented on and it causes him to have violent fits of rage if he so much as hears the word ‘Kraang’. The Turtles end up saving him when the Kraang try to re-capture him, but find his angry bursts, well... dangerous. But Mikey is able to befriend him and it becomes more clear that LH is actually a rather intelligent, good-hearted mutant who has been put through Hell. He gets run off by Splinter though when one of his trauma-induced bursts causes him to attack the boys, forcing the rat master to intervene. Mikey, and by proxy the other three, give chase to an old subway car where LH reveals how the Kraang took him to their home, Dimension X, and experimented on him. He escaped and also took their Power Cell, cutting them off form Dimension X, in hopes of saving humanity from them. The Kraang want it back and act like a zombie swarm as they break through the car. LH fights them off, leaving the Power Cell in the Turtles care.

While Episode 11 sucks (to put it simply Leo and Raph are overbearing assholes while Donnie and Mikey are just made to be as weak as possible), the other three do a good job at making the villains more solid threats. Shredder was built up as intimidating and powerful, and boy did he deliver. The Turtles face their first major loss and have to deal with the fallout, Leo especially dealing with his first real failure as a leader. Even the Kraang come off as a scarier hivemind and we get mroe stuff on them, like Dimension X and their plans to mutate the Earth. Add that with a strong supporting character like Leatherhead, who is understandably traumatized but is an intelligent being who is trying to prevent others form suffering like him. and it helps make some strong episodes.

The first half of the season concludes with the 13th episodes... that aired as the 14th for some reason. But I’m going in order of my DVD’s and this was after Episode 12, so it’s what I’m going with. It both concludes a lot and opens up a lot for the future. The episode I am talking about is, of course New Girl in Town.

TBC in Part Two....

[crypticbeliever123]

Chapter 10 of my AO3 fanfic. The chapter’s title is “The Shredder”. Let me know what you think of it, please!

Hob wasn’t the only one who knew that Shredder had been in Republic City for months. Raph had taken to perfecting his Firebending technique, especially the one needed to sever a person’s Bending because he knew that with his- with Shredder so close, it would only be a matter of time before he ran into him again. And he was going to be damned sure he was ready. Now that he had finally mastered the technique Shredder showed him all those years ago, now that he had developed his Bending even past the point of the dreaded Oroku Saki, he was finally ready to face him.

He donned his Nightwatcher gear and tracked him and his Foot Clan to an old, abandoned Future Industries warehouse. He knew he couldn’t take on Shredder and the Foot Clan all at once, but he knew the Foot would no doubt be heading out soon to spread fear and panic in the streets. That was Shredder’s M.O. after all. He’d lay low in a city for a few months at a time, getting a lay of the land and its people before striking at the perfect time. He would’ve had a couple more weeks but knowing the Shred-head, he’d no doubt be sending his little soldiers out after him after the Pro-Bending fiasco the other night. As soon as the Foot Clan left to search for him, the Shredder would be all alone and raph could make his move.

He was ready. He was. Ready to fight, ready to beat him, ready to take his Bending forever so that he could never harm another person. But was he ready to actually face him? The man that taught him almost everything about his Bending, the man that brought him into the world, the man that tried to kill him, who ran him out of their home for being a mutant, who still haunts his nightmares. Was he ready for that? Maybe he wasn’t, maybe he could never be truly ready but it was now or never. It all came down to this moment. It was just going to be him and-

“RAPH!” Mikey shouted with glee as he and their brothers showed up on the roof across from the warehouse, before rushing up to him in a hug.

“Mikey? Guys? What are you doing here?! How did you find me?”

“Hob told Splinter and Shen where Shredder was hiding out at and while they were busy organizing a team to take out the Foot Clan’s base we just decided to come here and get you ourselves,” Leo explained.

“Of course Hob knew Shredder was here. Typical. Look, you guys need to get out of here. I got this.”

“You got this? Really? You actually expect us to believe that you, as good a Bender as you are, can take on Shredder and the Foot Clan? No offense but that’s about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Donnie replied.

“Oh I agree,” a female voice piped up from the shadows before stepping out into the moonlight.

“And who the heck are you?” Raph asked.

“I’m Karai. Oroku Karai, the Shredder’s daughter.”

“Shredder’s daughter? Wait so Raph has a sister? Dude, why didn’t you tell us you had a sister?” Mikey asked.

“My sis- You… you know?”

“Well lookie here. Seems like I’ve just added another three turtles to my kill list. Oh well, the Foot Clan was going to exterminate you filthy mutants anyway,” Karai said before pulling water out of her backpack and launching razor-sharp ice shards at the turtles.

Leo used his own Waterbending to divert the ice away from his brothers but soon found himself having to pull the discarded ice in to form a shield as he blocked the ice blades Karai had formed on her forearms. She kept trying to slice at him, to no avail before being blasted at by Raph, causing her to backflip out of the way and right behind Donnie where she held her icy blade at his throat.

“One move and the tall one gets it.”

The others took a step back in fear of what Karai might do to Donnie if they didn’t.

“Good choice. Now, you are all going to come with me and you will be executed by the Shredder. If you do not agree with these terms than I can just kill you myself. Though I know my father was looking forward to killing Raphael himself,” Karai said with a smirk, causing Raph’s fists to ball up tightly with a white flame.

“Unh-unh,” Karai reminded him before nicking a small spot on Donnie’s throat.

Raph let the flame die out with a grunt of indignation.

“Good call. Now follow me!” Karai said harshly as she pulled Donnie toward the stairwell.

She led them into the dark warehouse where the turtles were quickly ambushed and bound in handcuffs, before forcing them to kneel. The lights came on to reveal the Shredder standing at the front of the room.

“Leave us!” Shredder roared at his Foot soldiers.

They bowed and rushed out of the room, all except for Karai, who hadn’t been kept in the dark on why Raph was now public enemy number one in Shredder’s eyes. Shredder slowly approached the turtles, stopping only when he came little more than a foot away from Raphael. He then turned his head to Karai.

“Remove his mask.”

“Yes, father,” Karai said with a bow before obliging with her master’s orders.

Raph glared at his former father with an intense, burning hatred.

“Raphael.”

“Shredder.”

“I’ve noticed your technique has improved greatly since last I saw you. I’d be impressed if I weren’t so disgusted with your mutation. A pity. You could’ve been a great Oroku had Professor Stockman not disfigured you so.”

“He didn’t disfigure me. Mutants aren’t an abomination like you seem to think. And I would never have made a great Oroku, because there’s no such thing as-”

“BITE YOUR TONGUE, YOU INSOLENT WHELP!” Shredder roared as he gave a fiery backhand to Raphael across the face, leaving a burn mark on his cheek.

“RAPH!” his brothers cried out.

“Pathetic. Disgraceful. How you could ever have come from my bloodline is beyond me. Fortunately, no one shall ever have to know of what a blight you have made to the Oroku name. Tonight shall be your last.”

Shredder then grabbed Raph’s head pushing it back as he lit the tips of his two fingers under Raph’s chin with blue flame.

“Any final words before I end your miserable existence?” he asked the boy he once saw as a son.

“I challenge you to an Agni Kai.”

“A what?!” Leo exclaimed.

“He can’t be serious,” Donnie said in unison.

“Uhhh what’s an Agni Kai?” Mikey asked.

“An Agni Kai is a traditional duel between Firebenders, meant to restore honor when one is disgraced,” Leo explained quietly as they awaited Shredder’s response.

Saki contemplated the challenge for a moment.

“Exactly what dishonor do you think you have to defend? You are the disgrace. You are the one who has dishonored me.”

“All the more reason for you to accept isn’t it? How about this; I win you can use your Firebending to kill me, but they go free, allowed to live out the rest of their natural lives without being in danger of being killed by you, your family, or your Foot Clan.”

“And if I win?”

“If you win you can still kill all of us if you want but my brothers get a five-minute head start to try and run for their lives. Either way you get to kill me. And let’s face it, even with a five-minute head start my brothers would still probably wind up dead. So what do you say? We have a deal?”

“Raph, don’t do this,” Donnie insisted.

“Bro, this is crazy!” Mikey agreed.

“I accept the challenge.”

[satireknight]

TMNT S01E02 - Enter the Shredder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Verdict

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

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

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

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

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

Grade: A

[crypticbeliever123]

Chapter 9 of my TMNT Avatar AU fic on AO3. The chapter is titled, “Interrogation”. In it there’s a shocking reveal about Raph’s origins that I hope you enjoy! Please, let me know what you think of it!

About an hour after Raph took off, Hob found himself waking up in an interrogation room with Tang Shen and Master Splinter there as well. He tried to Bend in order to escape but remembered he lost that ability because of Raphie, the traitor. Nevertheless, his hands were encased in Firebender-proof cuffs. Guess the rat and his turtle brats didn’t mention what Raphie could do to the cops.

“So, according to your arrest records you go by Old Hob, is that correct?” Shen asked him.

“No, I’m the Fire Lord, ‘course my name’s Old Hob. It’s what I’ve gone by ever since I turned into a cat.”

“No need to get snippy. It’s just a question, and not even one of the more important ones.”

“Such as?”

“How do you know my son?” Splinter inquired.

“You’ll have to be more specific. From what I saw you got three brats who-”

“I have FOUR SONS! I asked you of Raphael, the Firebender who bested you in a fight this evening. How do you know him?” Splinter asked angrily, slamming his hand down onto the table.

“Oh! Raphie. Sorry, considering what I know of his real pops I didn’t even think he’d consider you his daddy. My mistake,” Hob said with a smirk.

“I am his real father. The man who brought him into this world was cruel and tried to murder him for a form he never asked to possess. He was no father.”

“Oh, so Raphie told you about him? Funny. He didn’t even tell me the whole time I knew him. I figured it out for myself, though. I’m smart like that.”

“Smart like those blockheads you pal around with?” Shen retorted.

“Hey, muscle’s muscle. It don’t gotta have brains to back it up long as the brawn can more than make up for it. And believe me, with how much like tanks those two are, they can.”

“Enough of this. I asked you a question and you have still not answered it. How… do you know… my son?”

“Raphie and I go way back. Back near the mutation event itself. I found him digging through trash in the Fire Nation for something to eat. Saw a couple of punks try to hassle him for being a mutant. He looked scared, but I wasn’t going to do nothing. Not my problem. But then I saw him Bend a blue flame and shoot it at the big one.”

“A blue flame? Like the Nightwatcher?” Shen asked, glaring at Splinter.

“Raphael is not the vigilante.”

“I’m sorry, vigilante? Nightwatcher? What the hell are you two talking about?”

Tang Shen turned her attention back to the cat with a groan, not wanting to mention the vigilante case but figuring it might actually get her some answers.

“There’s been a vigilante Firebender wandering the streets of Republic City, stripping Triple Threats of their Bending with the same technique the Shredder uses.”

“Oh. Then it is Raphie. After all, I didn’t lose my Bending by some freak accident, now did I?”

“You lost your Bending?”

“He’s lying.”

“No I ain’t. Now can I get back to my story? Thank you. Now, where was I? Oh right. So anyway, I stopped to watch what he was doing and saw this freaking 5-year-old pulling off techniques that I didn’t even learn ‘til I was in my teens. Sent those jerks running. Can you imagine? Four or five punks in their twenties running scared of a little kid. Figured there was something special about the twerp, so I took him and gave him something to eat. He told me about his old man and how he tried to kill him for turning into a mutant, but that he was also the one who taught him all those fancy moves he was using back in the alley. I figured with as good as this kid was he could be a useful asset to have around. Taught him a few things about Bending lightning to boot. Had him help me pull a few heists throughout the Fire Nation. But then the heat got too bad so we made our move on the Earth Republic instead. That’s where I recruited Bebop and Rocksteady for some added muscle. But Raphie? Raphie was getting sick of always having to be a criminal and tried to leave. I didn’t like that. I tried to convince him to stay by saying that he needed me to protect him from his old man. When he realized I knew who his daddy was, he got tense, angry even. He figured it out pretty quick that I was just using him that whole time. We fought. He ran. End of story really. Not much more to tell.”

“Uh-huh,” Shen said with a contemplative look on her face.

Splinter noticed and was a tad concerned.

“Shen?”

“You kept mentioning Raphael’s biological father as if he was somehow important,” Tang Shen replied.

“Course he’s important. Oh wait a minute. Wait a minute,” Hob said laughing, “You don’t know, do you? I was figuring with how angry the rat here got when I referred to the Shredhead as Raphie’s daddy that you must’ve known who he was. Guess I was wrong.”

“The Shredhead? Do you mean… Are you saying that Shredder is-”

“No! That’s a lie! Raphael is not the Shredder’s son! They are nothing alike!” Splinter shouted, getting close to Hob’s face to scowl at him with seething rage.

“Nothing alike?” Hob asked before bursting out laughing.

“I’m sorry have you met Raph? Not only does he got just as bad a temper as Shredder has but he’s just as good a Bender too, maybe even better. I mean sure, there’s plenty of people out there with tempers but how many do you know who can Bend a blue flame and sever someone’s ability to Bend at all? I’m sure there’s other things those two have in common. ‘Course I never met Shredder. You have though, right? After all, you’ve known Shredder since you was kids and you seem to know Raphie pretty well despite the gaps in your knowledge of his family history. You really going to tell me they don’t have more things in common? Similar likes? Similar dislikes? Pet peeves, nothing?”

Splinter’s glare intensified before softening a bit in resignation.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought. You might think you’re Raphie’s daddy, but he hasn’t forgotten where he’s from or who taught him how to Bend so good. You might’ve given him a home and a nice, happy family… but Shredder? Oroku Saki? … He’s the one who made him what he is. Ain’t nothing you can do to change that. He may be a part of this little family you made for yourself… but he’ll always be Oroku Raphael deep down inside. He’ll always be the Shredder’s son; an angry but talented Firebender who can’t be stopped. Believe me, I’ve tried. In both instances.”

“Both instances?” Shen inquired.

“I didn’t just recruit Bebop and Rocksteady ‘cause I needed some goons to help me commit crimes or nothing. No, if the old Shredhead wants a fight, then I’m taking the fight to him. I got a whole mutant army set up to take the maniac down. That’s why I’m in Republic City; to recruit more mutants… and to go to war. Don’t know if you know this but Shredder’s in town. Has been for a few months just biding his time for the perfect moment to strike.”

“Shredder’s been this close all this time?” Shen asked out of shock.

“We have to prepare a search. We cannot let Shredder evade justice again.”

“‘Course since Raphie made a big scene at that Pro-Bending tournament, you probably won’t even have to worry about him for a while.”

“What are you talking about?” Splinter asked, curious where Hob was going with this.

“This is the Shredder we’re talking about. You really think he’s going to let his mutant son go walking around all able to tell people they’re related and ruin his rep?”

“He’ll have the Foot Clan kill him just to keep this secret. Where is he?” Shen asked Splinter.

“I… do not know. He ran away after the fight with Hob and his associates was over.”

“Then we have to find him. Preferably before Shredder does.”

“Good luck with that. Raphie’s real good at disappearing when he wants to.”

[crypticbeliever123]

The 11th and final chapter of my TMNT Avatar AU story. Please let me know what you thought of it.

Shredder and Raph took to their places on either side of the large room, backs turned to one another as Shredder removed his helmet and set it aside.

“This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy,” Mikey kept repeating in a panic.

“Quiet, wretch!” Karai ordered, pelting him with a ball of water.

Shredder and Raph turned to face each other, dropping the ceremonial shoulder garments, leaving their torsos bare.

“Why are they shirtless?” Mikey asked.

“It’s tradition. An Agni Kai ends whenever one combatant burns the other. Being shirtless gives them a better chance at that,” Donnie explained before leaning closer to Mikey to add in a whisper, “Though considering Raph can’t remove his shell, I think he’s got a slight advantage.”

“Quiet!” Karai shouted before striking the gong to begin the duel.

Immediately, Shredder lashed out with a stream of blue flame that Raph struggled to divert around himself as he charged at the man he formerly saw as his father. As soon as he was close enough, Raph struck out with lightning that nearly hit Shredder in the face had he not backed away fast enough. Saki retaliated with precise jets of flame, all of which Raph managed to channel away from his body and back toward Shredder. Not that he actually managed to hit Saki with any of the flames as the elder Firebender was too quick.

“Why won’t you burn?!” Shredder roared as Raph’s continued evasion of fire started to wear on his nerves, shooting a massive burst of blue fire at his son.

“Because,” Raph said, parting the flames like the freaking Red Sea in one fell swoop before generating a white flame in each of his hands, “you can’t beat me.”

Raph stepped menacingly toward Shredder with his hands held up at his sides. Shredder backed away slowly in fear, eyes wide at the sight.

“Impossible. The white flame was prophesized to belong to only the most-”

“Most powerful Firebender to ever live. I know. I remember you telling me our ancestor’s stupid prophecy every night when I was a kid. I remember you bragging about how one day, one day you would unlock its secrets and prove to everyone that you were truly the best there ever was. Well, father, how does it feel to know you were wrong?” Raph asked as he backed Saki into a wall.

Raph put out his flames and began to strike Shredder the same way he had done to the likes of the Triple Threat Triad and Old Hob in the past. With a final strike to snuff out the light of his Bending, Shredder was brought to his knees. Finally snapping out of the daze seeing the white flame had put him in Shredder looked down at his hands, realizing what had just happened.

“No. NO!” he screamed, trying to punch Raph only to be blasted back with a white flame, leaving an impressive scorch mark on his torso.

“YES!” Mikey and Donnie shouted.

“GO RAPH!” Leo added.

“The Agni Kai has ended. I won,” Raph said as Karai helped Shredder to his feet.

Saki and Karai growled in anger at the defeat.

“Now release my family. That was the deal. Or does the great and powerful Shredder have so little honor that he’d go back on his word?”

“Release them,” Shredder growled at Karai.

“But father-”

“Insolent child,” Shredder interrupted by taking his adoptive daughter by the throat, “I said release the freaks!”

He released his grip on her as she coughed in air.

“Yes, father,” she replied with a bow before using razor-sharp blades of water to cut the turtles free of their ropes.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Leo said, walking toward Raph.

“Not so fast!” Karai shouted, lashing out with a water whip.

“Hey!” Mikey shouted.

“What gives? Raph won, we go home,” Donnie added.

“Wrong, turtle. The deal was that if Raphael won the three of you would go free, but he still has to die by Master Shredder’s hands. That was the agreement.”

“Check the fine print, princess. The deal was that if I win Shredder could use his Firebending to kill me. And uh, doesn’t seem like he has that anymore, does he?” Raph reminded her with a smirk.

“You, cheating, no-good, traitorous wretch!” Shredder screamed, lunging at Raph who caught his fist.

“I’m the traitor?” Raph snarled before headbutting his former father.

“You try to kill your own son when he was five, FIVE, and you have the nerve to say I betrayed you?!” he screamed, punching the man in the face.

“Father!” Karai shouted, attempting to attack with her Waterbending only for Leo, Donnie, and Mikey to come to Raph’s defense.

Donnie pulled metal from the room to launch at Karai. Mikey shot out at her with bursts of air. When Karai tried to slice through them with shards of ice, Leo took control of the ice and sent it back at her, grazing her arm.

“Thanks guys,” Raph said over his shoulder to his brothers, “See that’s what real families do. They stand up for each other,” punch, “They stick together,” punch, “Families care for one another,” punch, “They don’t hurt them. They don’t attack them. They don’t call them freaks or monsters,” punch, punch, punch, “They love each other. They love each other!” he screamed, slamming Shredder into a wall by the throat as he glared at him with fury in his eyes.

“You were my father…” he said, eyes watering and threatening to spill over, “You were supposed to love me, to raise me, to protect me from anyone who would try to hurt me and instead you made me feel pain and anger and fear from before I can even remember! You were the monster lurking in the shadows, the boogeyman in my nightmares, the thing that kept me up at night. You made me fear for my life when I was just a child for something that happened to me, something I never asked for, something I couldn’t have changed even if I wanted to,” he shouted as the Shredder struggled to free himself from Raph’s grasp.

“And you know something?” he asked in a quieter tone with a shake of his head, “I don’t want to change it anymore. Maybe I did when I was little and still convinced by everything you had told me when I ran for my life that I was the monster. But now? Now that I’ve found a family, a mutant family that cares about me, that loves and protects me like they’re doing right now?” he asked gesturing to his brothers that were still fighting Karai over his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t wish for anything else. If I hadn’t become a mutant, if I hadn’t been chased from our home by you I could’ve turned out just like you. I could’ve become a monster, like you… But I’m not like you. I’m not a monster and I have them, my real family, to thank for that. And you wanna know something else?”

Raph dropped Shredder like a stone and walked away as the man he formerly called father gasped for air.

“You’re not worth it.”

Raph walked over to join his brothers as they finished dealing with Karai and tying her up. Shredder growled in indignation and pulled a dagger from a strap on his ankle, slowly rising to his feet.

“Dude, that was awesome. The way you took on the Shredder? The Shredder? Oh man. I didn’t know you could be any more-” Mikey said before sensing the dagger flying towards Raph through the air currents, “LOOK OUT!”

Raph turned around to see the dagger stop mid-air barely a millimeter from the spot between his eyes before dropping to the ground.

“Huh?” Shredder asked in confusion before finding himself encased in rock.

“Father!” the four turtles cried out in glee as they turned their heads to see Master Splinter standing in the doorway and ran to greet him with a hug.

“My sons,” Splinter said, embracing the four teenagers he took into his home.

Tang Shen entered the room with a legion of officers following her, turning her head to Splinter and his family.

“You four are in a lot of trouble,” she said with a stern look that made them all feel guilty.

“But nice work,” she added with a smirk, “We already rounded up the rest of the Foot Clan outside, or at least this faction. There are probably other groups elsewhere in the world, but we’ll get ‘em. And besides, now that we have the infamous Shredder in custody-”

“And powerless!” Mikey added.

“Really?” Shen asked with a gleam in her eye as she turned to the Shredder with a smug look on her face that had the former Firebender’s anger flaring up.

“Well that’s terrific. I’m assuming we have you to thank for that, Hamato Raphael,” she added to Raph’s immense joy, “So thank you.”

She then turned to Karai.

“And as for you, little lady, you will be joining your fellow Foot Clan agents in a nice, cozy holding cell downtown while we interrogate your boss.”

“I don’t think so. If the Shredder cannot lead the Foot Clan to greatness, then I’ll just have to do it myself!” she yelled as she pulled the water from the pipes to create ice to slice through her ropes and steam to cover her escape.

Leo cast out the steam and Karai was gone.

“Karai? KARAI!” Shredder screamed.

“So much for your loyal little daughter,” Raph smirked.

Splinter walked over to Shredder, a man who once was a friend a long time ago.

“Saki.”

“Splinter.”

“As children I knew you were one of pride and of prejudice, always looking down on those you believed could never measure up to you. Only recently do I see just how full of hate you are. To cause such pain to a child who was of your own flesh and blood… to think I once called you friend,” he said before shaking his head, “You are not worthy.”

“Excuse me, rat?”

“You are not worthy to have a son as brave, as kind, as talented, or as mature as Raphael. Even in fear he stands tall and strong. Even in pain and bitterness he can show strangers compassion. Even in shadows his gift shines brightly. Even in the midst of pure anger he could find it in his heart to temper that flame inside. These are things you yourself have always been too weak to be capable of. You are not worthy of Raphael. You are not worthy of his greatness.”

Shredder struggled against the stone that held him, writhing and roaring in anger at his old friend.

“How dare you speak to me in such a way, rodent! That ingrate is not worthy of me, of my name! He is not worthy of being an Oroku! If you want him, rat, you can have him.”

“Gladly,” Splinter smiled, turning back to his family.

“Let us go home, my sons, and sleep peacefully knowing that this monster cannot hurt any of us anymore,” he said, wrapping his arms around his children as he walked them out of the warehouse.

“Right behind you, father,” Raph said before throwing the monster who had haunted his dreams for years one final, victoriously smug look over his shoulder before leaving him and all the painful memories behind.