#however i have mastered

[dragonheart1330]

How much corn can a schmuck like me shuck if shucking corn is all the schmuck does?

A fucking lot, that's how shucking much.

[benevolenterrancy]

@princess-of-purple-prose your tag made me laugh ꉂ(ᵔ́▽ᵔ̀) who are you to try denying necromancy allegations, sqq??? obviously the effort to get along with the other protagonists is going great, keep up the good work!!

[lowrezbonuslevel]

normal rulers that can be trusted with physical and political power

day 5: royal (magolor and sectonia team-up would be fire. also they are bffs. to me)

They definitely give each other relationship advice too, because their love lives are the worst best in Dream Land

(rest of the comic under the cut)

master crown KNOWS this bastard isn't pulling

[braisedhoney]

so this is basically the whole space trip thing right.

[transsongtaewon]

And she was correct.

Based on this tweet

[whattraintracks]

I kinda feel we didn’t much of raph and splinter’s relationship in 03 thoughts?

Hmm, I suppose that's fair. I've heard it said that 03 isn't a very character-driven story, and I agree we don't see as many character dynamics or arcs explored as we could have.

Below the cut are the pieces of Raph and Splinter's relationship I've pieced together for myself.

Splinter's bio on Raph in Tales from the Sewer presents this interesting duality in Splinter's perception of him. He's a difficult child but just a kid. He trains the most but he's a difficult student. He makes poor decisions but Splinter has the utmost faith in his abilities. As both father and teacher, Splinter sometimes struggles to approach his sons and their needs in the appropriate role, especially when it comes to Raph.

For example, his hands-off approach to Raph's rage, or what I usually think of as emotional dysregulation (either as a product of neurodivergence or his young age). When Raph nearly maims Mikey during a rage attack/dissociative episode (see S1E4 "Meet Casey Jones") Splinter doesn't try to stop Raph or separate him and Mikey, although he very well could have. He doesn't step in until after Leo and Donny have broken up the fight. Despite addressing Raph parentally, he comes at the issue like a teacher offering those ninja master-esque nuggets of wisdom about rage being a monster and a true warrior is balanced in all things. I think he wants to come across sympathetically (gentle voice, physical contact, calling Raph "my son") but there is a sense of disappointment and unmet expectations in what he says.

In the aforementioned bio, Splinter notes that of all the turtles, Raph trains the longest and hardest. He likely equates length of training with dedication to ninjutsu and assumes that because Raph exhibits these things he should be something he isn't: more disciplined less angry. Perhaps he compares Raph to Leo who apparently trains less but fits Splinter's prototype of a good ninja. Speaking of Leo, later in the same episode we see Splinter chastise Mikey and Donny for interrupting Leo's practice and tell Leo to keep practicing his split kick without offering any advice on how to get it right.

We see this idea directed to Raph in Splinter's comment about a true warrior finding balance in all things. It's not particularly informative. This is his version of telling Raph to keep practicing but it's not what Raph needs at this moment, hot off such an overwhelming experience. So instead of reading this as the patient, parental advice I think Splinter intends it to be, Raph's body language screams chastised. He doesn't meet Splinter's eyes and he runs away. Raph (like all of the brothers) wants Splinter's approval and he's devastated to have fallen short in this instance. Then Splinter doesn't let Mikey follow after Raph. And yeah, Raph likely needed that space but it's this hands-off approach, again. Another example comes from the one of Raph's diary entries in the Raphael: Collector Book. He talks about Splinter assigning him more meditation exercises to help him control his emotions and temper. Perhaps training, space, meditation, and nuggets of wisdom are effective tools for Splinter to self-regulate his emotions, but Splinter is also an adult. Raph needs more guidance and practical advice at this point in his life that Splinter isn't providing. The tools aren't enough, he needs to be taught how to use them.

So. Raph responds in a couple ways to Splinter's hands-off, more-teacher-than-father approach. The first is to train harder, and longer, and learn everything he can about ninjutsu. If Master Splinter says becoming a true warrior will help him find emotional balance then he's going to try his hardest to become one. When he meets Casey, he shares with him verbatim the true warrior line but confesses to Casey he's not sure how hot-heads like them are supposed to do that. He still takes the advice to heart even if it's not helpful or he doesn't understand it because he wants to please and obey his father. The collector's book shows us that Raph has taken the time to learn aspects of ninjutsu that are confusing, uninteresting, and even inaccessible to him. This book contains a lot of technical information about ninjutsu techniques and teachings. It presents Raph as even more of ninja nerd than Leo! Some of this stuff appeals to his interests, for sure; the different punching techniques for instance. Some of it, he seems to have only learned to gain Splinter's approval. He has a detailed spread on hand signs that he explicitly finds too mystical and confusing, claims it took forever to learn, and he can't even use it as a three-fingered being, but he hopes Splinter will be impressed with him.

Second, he goes behind Splinter's back. If there's something he wants or needs and he thinks Splinter won't approve of it, he'll take it for himself. Such as going to the surface when he needs space or bringing his brothers to the surface when he thinks there's something important they need to do. This feels, to me, like access thievery, which is the concept (typically applied to disabled/neurodivergent folks) of taking what one needs (time, space, resources) without asking for permission or waiting to be offered it (because you likely won't be). Again in the collector's book, Raph exhibits an awareness of his faults and a self-compassionate recognition that he's just a teen. Splinter know this too but has shown that he can't always offer what Raph needs or won't give him it in some cases (forbids them from going to the surface). So Raph has developed a willingness to take what he needs for himself and sneak around Splinter to avoid the disapproval he fears.

All that aside, I think they're very similar in their fierce love and devotion to family and the ways it can drive them to anger, fear, hatred, and vengeance. There are traits Raph inherited from Splinter they bond over, too. They're both competitive. The Battle Nexus Tournament isn't their thing but we see them playing pokey in "Dragons Rising." I love the idea that they play a lot of games together! They have a similar sense of humility. They know they're skilled but they're more likely hang back and play support while their other family members take the spotlight than boast. Unless it's really personal, then they'll take over, like how Splinter's quest for vengeance guides them in Exodus and Raph's desire to help Casey leads the brothers to sneak out with him in "Meet Casey Jones." I think, they have a similar sense of humor, too. Raph has this silly line in the collector's book about Splinter being proud he used his head, that is, like a battering ram, and you cannot tell me Splinter wouldn't chuckle at that.

[sam-crevellari]

Am I blatantly being zutarabaited by the new Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender? Yes

Will I enjoy any crumb I'm being fed as if it were the most exquisite banquet? OF FUCKING COURSE, YES

[nedlittle]

it's that time of the year again! i read a whopping 135 books in 2024 and have collected the worst of the worst for your entertainment ft. homophobia, taylor swift, girlboss baba yaga, and mary shelley's nipples. i hope you enjoy these reviews to make up for the suffering i endured to write them.

a lethal lady by nekesa afia ⭐

A Lethal Lady exists in a series of nondescript beige rooms because there is no effort put into making them anything else. Your reader should not have to imagine scenery themselves because you cannot be bothered to craft any description apart from vague adjectives, which do nothing if they exist without context!

the good women of fudi by liu hong ⭐

It's like Liu Hong sat down and Googled "gay books" and read the first one that came up, then Googled "lesbian books" and did the exact same thing. And then she thought, What if I did that but worse?

the witch and the tsar by oleysa salnikova gilmore ⭐

We can't even have hags anymore. Because of woke. At least Marya Morevna is bisexual.

mary and the birth of frankenstein by anne eekhout (tr. laura watkinson) ⭐

If I were sent back to 1816, I could identify Mary Shelley by her nipples alone. I could pick her nipples out of a police lineup. Her nipples are going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Her nipples are more myself than my own.

a fatal crossing by tom hindle ⭐.25

The timeline spans five days but feels like five years. The chapters are relatively short, but the action is so repetitive that it becomes cyclical, dragging on like Hector's corpse around the walls of Troy.

five wives by joan thomas ⭐.25

The Governor General's Award is not a serious award, lmao. We have approximately five recognizable Canadian writers, so much of our publishing is just slop, so we have to reward everyone who can string two sentences together.

dear sylvia, love jane by erin hall ⭐.5

It's like oh wow queer found family! community! a spunky underdog protagonist! And then a woman is murdered off-page by her husband who is then iced on-page by the mob. And then we go back to found family.

late bloomer by mazey eddings ⭐.75

You could scroll gay Twitter for 30 minutes and have the same experience as reading this book.

the formidable miss cassidy by meihan boey ⭐⭐

The characters and dialogue were too twee for my tastes, and Miss Cassidy herself is Mary Poppins if she were a whimsigoth Tumblr witch.

maude horton's glorious revenge by lizzie pook ⭐⭐

The whole book lends itself to being read with only half of one's brain engaged; neither engaging nor forgettable, it's the sort of thing that vanishes entirely from your psyche the moment after you mark it as read.

[mauricemylittlemeowmeow]

tonight's psychotic meltdown:

[leafatlaw]

your tags ohh my godddddd. evbo ascended before he ever even ran for the first time. an entire caste of people forced to their feet and barely able to even shamble them every day to get their meager scraps. evbo lived like that for 5 years. maybe as he gets his iron boots, somewhere else another player spawns for the first time and falls down to the pro level. the first thing they do as a true member of parkour society? is sprint. evbo’s stomach pangs.

HOLY SHIT ANON you absolutely get it.

I don’t know how I forgot to mention it, but oh my god the hunger, the constant hunger that accompanies being a parkour noob. And because it is all they’ve ever known they think it’s normal. And wow like even in the videos Evbos delight at the cooked beef is heartbreaking. Especially because there is so much of it that they are just withholding from the other noobs. And and, did you know the first shot in the entire movie is Evbo looking at a furnace ? Why would they even have those in their house, just to mock them ??

But yeah, I think about how the raw food is ever just enough to get them to the next day. And to try and conserve that little hunger you have to do nothing, just wait in your house- for the next day. And in doing so the parkour noobs can’t even practice parkour without risking starving from it. The system is so stacked against them and they don’t even know it.

[heavenb3nt]

Koschei’s problem (one of many) is he’s idolised theta for so long that he assumes theta thinks they’re better than him. No girl you’re the one who decided that

[champmorado]

sorry but i'll never shut up about my hc that the time twins are huge astronomy nerds

recording the movement of the stars and other heavenly bodies to keep track of time has literally been done since like the beginning of human civilization

it's one of the oldest fields of knowledge, but with space travel and astronautics and such, it's also one of the most technologically advanced!!!!

krux even shares his name with the southern cross, one of the most well-known and culturally significant constellations!!!!

it's the perfect interest for the time twins to bond over!!!!

[tenwhiteandalusians]

so no one was going to tell me if i got literally one episode further tenax drops that he’s the one who saved scorpus from his mom’s pimp AND that he’s intimately familiar with scorpus’ dick when he was younger. guys. guys.

[quietwingsinthesky]

journey’s end au where the doctor tries to kick everyone off the TARDIS and they just go, ‘???? no?’ and won’t leave. can’t be stupid and think everyone will leave you when they won’t get out of your house.

[skyward-floored]

Did people who don't see any zelink in hyrule warriors even play the same game as me

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

ok so i did catch the clip where the War Chief is "revealed" to be the Master from the new colorized edition of the War Games and imo, something in the incidental music does not count as a confirmation. i haven't seen the full episode (and probably can't find it even if i was looking to watch it) so maybe there's more to it but as it stands? i don't think it's meant to be a surprise canon reveal. like iirc there's an EU novel that goes with the idea of the Master as the War Chief and another novel that has the War Chief as a distinct character so i think it hasn't been elevated beyond fan theory with dubious EU evidence for and against it.