#humans are weird karai you should know this by now

[weregreatatcrime]

Shinigami didn't expect to find Karai a foot taller, scarier, and a monster but lbr she met Katai in proper changeling form and went from "flirty bestie" to "I want to climb this monster chick like a tree" in a heartbeat. Karai is continually baffled by the human lack of self-preservation. Shinigami is in love.

[aimbutmiss]

It was another long night in the office for Crocodile.

To be fair, it was never intentional. He always reminded himself to retreat to his sleeping quarters at acceptable hours as he sat down to get some work done, but the idea was forgotten the moment he picked up a document.

So, he had severe time management problems. Whatever.

He dropped the paper he was holding and rubbed his temple with a groan. He was getting too old for sleepless nights like this. But work never ended with Cross Guild. He had a lot of things to overlook, even with the help he had from Daz and Buggy, who surprisingly made quite the good businessman. And maybe he was being a bit too cautious—too detailed with his work, but he found out the hard way that attention to detail payed off. He wasn't new to all this, he had built Baroque Works from ground up and he had also very much done the same with Cross Guild. He was proud of his meticulous work habits. No matter how many sleepless nights he had, it was always worth it.

And he loved his office; it was his safe place. He loved having a little corner to himself, away from everyone and everything. Karai Bari was loud, always home to some type of festivity. Crocodile was never one for such ruckus, and only allowed it because it helped with crew morale. But no matter what stupid thing was going on out there, he could shut it out and hide in the peaceful silence of this room. He could crunch numbers day and night, without having to deal with nightmares in his bed.

Yes, Sir Crocodile had nightmares; for he was human like any other.

He wasn't ashamed of his demons, but he'd never admit it to anyone if asked about it. He had spent years building the strong, powerful persona he had. He had convinced many that he was invincible, without weakness. It would all crumble if the world found out he woke up in cold sweat some nights, tears staining his face.

Monsters did not cry.

He slammed his head on the desk and closed his eyes for a second. Trying to get his much needed rest from a few seconds of shut eye was ridiculous, but it was better than nothing.

Before he could get up and get back to work, the door to his office slowly opened. He could have looked up to see who it was, not that there were many people who would walk into his office in the dead of night, but he decided to act as if he had fallen asleep for some reason. He just... felt like it. He didn't move an inch as footsteps approached closer to his desk.

"That could be a fire hazard, you idiot."

The mysterious intruder turned out to be just Buggy, which was weird. The clown had no reason to pay him a visit, especially not at this hour. The man picked up the lit cigar on the ashtray and put it out. A few second later, he gently laid a blanket on the "sleeping" man's shoulders, making sure he was covered up nicely. He hadn't moved from his place, so he must have detached his hands to pick it up from wherever.

"You don't have to work yourself this hard, you stubborn old man."

Crocodile was suddenly hyper aware of everything: the smell of Buggy's newly washed hair; his hand on his back, drawing slow circles into his tense muscles... He felt himself involuntarily relax into the touch.

"I could have changed you into something more comfortable and carried you to your bed if you weren't built like a fucking sea king. Oh well, this should do for now."

Before his business partner left the room, he could barely feel him give a kiss on his head. Yet it was enough to make the hairs on his neck stand up.

Buggy walked to the door, trying his best to be silent, and shut the lights. He left with a gentle whisper of "Good night." and Crocodile didn't have it in himself to get up for the next... God knows how long.

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep just like that. When he woke up the next morning, he had mild back pain from sleeping while hunched over a chair. But despite that, he hadn't slept so well in ages.

No nightmares, just a warm blanket and the lingering smell of shampoo.

[certifieduruihater]

the karai and leo ship/dynamic is...so weird to talk about. first of all majority of the fandom just shuts down the discussion with INCEST which...i get it? but at the same time i also see why it wouldnt cross people's minds? im ngl when i watched the show as a kid, incest really didnt cross my mind for a number of reasons. 1. how the mutagen works is kinda finicky and not really well explained. so does being mutated by a donor's dna make you related to that donor? like when snakeweed was mutated by the plants, is he related to the plants now? when bradford was mutated, is he related to his dog? like karai is splinter's daughter, and the turtles are related to splinter because they were mutated with splinter's dna ..is that how that works? supposing the turtles do have splinter's dna embedded in them now which allows for their mutation and human-like features, idk if that's what the show was going for, because splinter's dna can't explain everything. like how do the turtles have such different eye colors then? how does leo have dark blue eyes while raph has nickelodeon slime green eyes? where were the genes for those? shen and yoshi (in human form) both had brown eyes. they could be carrying a recessive gene ig but still. or did they always have that eye color in turtle form? but those are exceedingly rare colors, and when they were children the turtles just had black stare-into-your-soul-eyes?? actually is it even confirmed that they were mutated from splinter's dna? or from someone else like the pet shop workers? idk?? i just never really thought about it too deeply (and i suspect you're not really meant to), and the show never really pushed it. and the distinction of the turtles being biologically related to splinter or not just never really mattered to me, because either way, it's clear that splinter views them as his kids. splinter and the turtle's relationship is a great depiction of family, regardless of whether they share blood. and honestly, i don't think any of the writers would have pushed leo and karai if it was actually incest. stuff like this is why incest never really crossed my mind on a technical level.

and 2. do karai and leo actually see each other as siblings? when its revealed that she's splinter's daughter leo sees her as part of the clan, sure. idk about karai. but do they actually see each other as siblings, or is this something the fandom just made up? i just remember their dynamic being really vague honestly. leo was super devoted to helping karai and finding her, treating her as one of the clan and devoted to helping her return. then there was this one line by leo to donnie that was something along the lines of he should know what its like because of april, which COULD have romantic connotations, or it could just be referencing the supposedly super strong bond the show likes to pretend april and donnie have. you also have instances where karai and leo dont actually seem romantically interested in each other, at least not anymore. i think leo even jokes to karai about it at some point, and KARAI is the one to look awkward, which to me signals that leo's over any sort of attraction he may have had. regardless, its not really clear if they explicitly see each other as siblings or if they feel something romantic.

side note: to all people rewriting the series to have raph and donnie clown on leo for falling for his "sister," you guys know that THEY were the ones actively joking about and thus perpetuating a romance between those two? they were the ones being weird about it! i know people are just using raph and donnie as author inserts to laugh at leo but it just doesnt work here.

MIKEY calls her sis (even this could be chalked up to his general use of language), but idk if raph or donnie ever really warm up to karai, let alone see her as their sister. and when people call them all siblings it really just feels like the fandom is squeezing these characters together, locking them in a room, and telling them to play nice. like wouldnt their dynamic be a lot more complicated than that? on the turtles side, this girl whos been trying to kill them, who they thought was the daughter of their enemy, is now suddenly their sister? talk about jarring. i can see mikey accepting it pretty easily bc he's mikey, but raph and donnie? i feel like it would take them longer to warm up to her, let alone get to a "sibling" level. slapping the sibling label onto karai feels like youre disregarding a lot of complicated emotions that would need to be worked out first. and honestly, even if they do work things out im still not sure theyd get to the sibling level. and there's nothing wrong with that, imo. this is not even talking about karai herself, who would also probably have A LOT of complicated feelings about being the daughter of the man she was raised to hate and being a part of his clan. add the "sibling" part onto that? oh boy. i feel like it would make karai distant and reluctant to get involved if they seriously started considering her a sister.

honestly what seems more likely to me is that the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it too. karai says to leo, just because i like you doesnt mean ill go easy on you. does she clarify what kind of like? of course not! maybe there were writers with different agendas or whatever, but either way you're left with karai and leo's dynamic just being really ambiguous and not really clearly addressed.

even if they're not related by blood/DNA, whatever, i know this is still a touchy subject for people because they believe that saying they dont see each other as siblings invalidates situations like step siblings, adoption, etc. but this is where i personally draw the line between fiction and reality. i think for this instance, fiction cant be a 1:1 representation of reality. this is a unique situation in itself. (i also dont think that this ship/dynamic is worth getting that heated about, nor is it worth putting much energy into honestly. it was not very fleshed out imo. my point is if you're looking for found family rep i dont think you should be looking at karai's relationship with the hamato clan. it's not the best example imo 😅 and if you're looking for a good ship with leo...idk this aint it chief.)

yeah i dont ship them. not because its incest, but because i just dont think theyd make good partners for one another. karai...girls got issues she needs to work out. i dont think shes very reliable, and she seems like the type to actively run away from responsibility. im not really too into karai's character as a whole, but thats a topic for another day. this may sound cliche, but i just dont think karai is the influence that leo needs. yeah she'll influence him sure...in the wrong ways. and i think leo would very quickly turn into karai's manic pixie dream boy who devotes himself to fixing all of karais problems which...i dont think he needs. dudes got enough on his plate.

personally, ill choose to believe that on both ends, what they felt for each other was nothing more than passing curiosity. MAYBE fleeting attraction, and that's a hard maybe, or at least it very quickly went away, because i remember the scene where karai was up in leo's space, and leo did not look into it all 😭 anyway leo felt undermined by his brothers, was tired of being responsible, and out popped karai looking for a good time. karai is karai. they were both distractions for each other initially. and leo chooses to believe in the good of people, so he kept talking to her. and then they found out she was splinter's daughter, blah blah blah you know the rest

[undercoverbisexualfrog]

Blast to The Past/Mission Accomplished AU

My mutual @solofanatic64 brought up this idea a few months ago, but a rewatch of this special made me think about it more.

After the Blast to the Past special, the turtles, Anton, and Ivan ended up in an alternate future where Shredder accomplished his mission - killing the turtles and taking over New York.

The group of 6 are now venturing through this city, where the Foot Clan have won. There’s no more Cronite that they can use to get back home. They need a way home, but also need to survive.

The turtles should be dead in this world. Saki killed his brother personally and had his henchmen kill the turtles. Who knows what would happen if the Hamato clan was found alive.

Anton and Ivan should be like this future’s version of them. Here, the Foot mutants have been brainwormed into being even more evil, to access their ‘full potential’. And anyone found stepping out of line turns up dead.

This Foot Clan is so different to what they're used to. It's not right.

Shredder has the abilities he did as his canon version’s mutant self, but retains his human form. The turtle’s shells and weapons and Splinter’s staff are hung up in his throne room as trophies. He won. The fucker controls New York now, acting as the city’s king. Anyone who steps out of line is taken out by his mutants. Now his next mission is to bring back Tang Shen.

Karai is once again his daughter, and has become second in command again. She also has a burn scar like in Broken Foot, Shredder told her not to heal it as a reminder of what happens when you can’t do your job well enough. She has her snake stuff, her sword, and a tessen that she took from April before ‘killing her’. Even though she’s been under control of a brainwork for years now, she still can’t help but feel a weird connection to the tessen.

TC uses dark magic like in the Kavaxas arc, only he’s much better at it. His eyes and finger tips have turned a black-purple and he has black-purple markings under his eyes. He usually has a cloak on (similar to the shredder cult one). His arm has even more weapons now (kinda like Sevika in Arcane). Alopex came back to the city not too long ago, but now her tail (and head) are his trophies. When citizens step out of line, he gets to choose if he wants to deal with them or if he lets one of the other mutants.

Chris is back to being the same ruthless ninja he was as a human, suit and everything. He was drowned like in Requiem and revived, and is like part ghost now. His eyes are gone and he’s blind, but fuck his other senses are so much stronger (kinda like Daredevil). He doesn’t speak much anymore, and spends most of his time in the dojo. His old dojos are running again, and most citizens are forced to enrol in them and join the Foot.

Xever has gone back to being as threatening and dangerous his human self was. A combination of Chris, his partner, dying, and the brainworm, drove him to basically insanity. If his canon self liked his death race, then this version really fucking LOVES his own death games, and there's a lot of them. This is where most out of line citizens end up. Chris is back now, but Xever's too far gone. His robot legs have a bunch of weapons and mechanisms in them now. His breathing device is also a lot sleeker and harder to damage now.

Baxter is not only a genius, but he can fight now too. He made the brainworms, he made them stronger and harder to remove, not knowing he would receive one too. He’s not as a great of a fighter as the others, but still pretty damn good. He uses a lot of weapons that he made himself, mostly guns. His wings also have blades on them now and he has a a second set of arms made of metal under his organic ones. He doesn’t usually get to handle out of line citizens because of how evil he can be. But when he does, they’re subjected to his cruellest experiments, and he won’t let the victim die for a long fucking time.

Anton’s tech suit is even more lethal now. He and Baxter combined their tech to make some real lethal shit, including TC and Xever’s robot limbs. His new suit has a bunch of gadgets yes, but it also lets him generate, control, and travel through electrical currents. These abilities are channeled through the purple lines fused to his skin. He also has an engagement ring from Ivan that he always wears, but they were brainwormed before they could get married. He doesn’t usually handle out of line citizens, but Ivan always joins when he does.

Ivan’s weapon arsenal has expanded greatly. His main thing is guns, but he’s happy to use his titanium hammer, and sickle too. The brass knuckle dusters and shoulder pads fused to his body have been combined with titanium to make them even stronger and he has titanium casing around his horn. His diamond eye is now diamond and robotic. He has heat seeking and other tracking technology in it now. Even though they’re brainwormed, Anton and Ivan still have a strong relationship, it’s just not really love. At the very least, however, they’re never far apart from each other.

The turtles, along with present Anton and Ivan, are doing their best to not get caught, but have already been in a couple of fights with the Foot mutants. Either way they need a way home. But it feels wrong to leave this world the way it is. They've seen this world's Foot, and they can see the desperation to be free in their eyes, and they know New York doesn't deserve Shredder's control...

So now, they'll try to save it.

Ask Me Stuff!

[cult-of-the-gundead]

Foot Lieutenant and Brute Headcanon dump post

I just have these two in my head constantly, and I need to get my thoughts on them down somewhere.

(A lot of these have to do with the world ignites with you, a lyricfic i made detailing my interpretation of their backstory)

TW: Cults, Manipulation/Brainwashing (please tell me if i need to add any more tws)

General Anatomy

At first glance, they just seem like purple skinned, wrinkly humans with yellow eyes, pointed ears, and weird flaming footprint markings over their face... but closer inspection reveals more little details.

Their finger and toenails are clawed, their teeth are all sharp, their tongues are thin and long with rings lining them (akin to a Krang's), and they lack any sort of hairs on their body. Should you manage to dissect them, you would discover that their organs are quite different than a normal human's. All of this leaves one single question: What are they?

The answer? Krang-human hybrids, born human and, for lack of better words, mutated into their current state around when The Shredder's reign of terror happened.

This was very, very painful, and they do not wish to have anyone else go through that same agony. Besides, how would they get the required stuff for the procedure, anyway?

Brute is the only one with pupils. They're slits, and yes, they can widen.

Other than increased durability, agility, and strength, along with a healing factor (rendering them able to quickly heal from cuts and being pierced, but blunt force and bone damage isn't factored into the healing.) and immunity to effects of aging... they don't really have any sort of fancy powers other than "unable to be mutated via ooze/mutagen". (This does not transfer to immunity to mutation via direct Krang biomatter)

I kinda lied with that last point. Lieutenant DOES have weird lightning powers... but they exhaust him quickly, and he prefers to not use them. At least he's more mystically inclined because of it. (based off these screenshots from a chinese rottmnt gacha game)

Origins

Long, long ago... they were two normal men in the Foot Clan, before The Shredder, known as Tatsuya (Lieutenant) and Daisuke (Brute)

They were rather close to Saki and Karai, and he even trusted them with the safety of the clan, should something bad happen to him. As if that would ever happen!

It did happen.

Oh lord did it happen.

War broke out, the clan faced utter destruction, and.... Saki was desperate. He made a deal with what he believed was an Oni, and acquired the Kuroi Yōroi, and... yeah we know what happened next. Armor took hold of him, swallowed his soul, and The Shredder came into being. All while everyone close to him could only watch as a man they loved and respected slowly turned down a dark, dark path.

The Shredder viewed those working for him as tools, and this included Tatsuya and Daisuke, who he slowly convinced to give up their names, to become mutated, and be perfectly "marked" (aka more or less branded). All for his sake.

Yeah those footprints on their faces? Those are, for lack of better words, brands. And they still hurt, still give them searing, unending pain. The concoction used to brand them was modified over the years, so newer Foot Clan members have the pain lessened, but they aren't so lucky.

Now, years later... they can't even remember their old names, and a good chunk of their lives before Shredder. To them, they are the hands of him and his heralds (aka the Krang). And that is all they need to be. Hell, they can't even really remember Oroku Saki or Karai, with them only remembering the latter as an enemy, as something to be killed.

Yeah they have memory issues!! This is kinda self projection whoops.

If you were to call them by their real names, they would kinda... space out for a moment.

By now, they follow the teachings of The Shredder and his heralds to a T, and all members of the Foot Clan must follow them perfectly if they want acceptance, too. It is as it should be.

Did they love Cassandra as if she was their own child? Yes. Did they also see her as an extension of The Shredder, as with every other Foot Clan member? Also yes.

Speaking of Cass... she reminds them of Karai, but they don't really remember her, so they get faint memories of her as a kid that fade shortly after sometimes when they're with her.

Other Notes

They are in love. Yeah this has to do with little but. Look at them and their in-show interactions.

Brute is very good with kids and younger people in general. He's just a caring dude.

Lieutenant has ADHD, and Brute has Autism. Is this more self projection? I dunno they just feel that way to me.

Lieutenant is the kinda guy to just buy everything at a store, while Brute always sticks to a list.

Lieutenant's favorite season is Summer, while Brute's is Fall.

Lieutenant is rather verbally affectionate (and verbal in general), while Brute prefers simple gestures and gifts.

[quibbs126]

You know, I enjoy the fact that ROTTMNT took risks and had a lot of changes to the TMNT formula, but honestly, I feel like going forward the franchise should shake things up even more

Specifically, I want a series where all the human characters (and possibly/likely all of New York) get turned into mutants. And I don’t mean just like, one episode or special, or they’re more like weird creatures/can turn back into humans, I’m talking long term, everyone’s a mutant animal

Like you have a TMNT show, and things are progressing relatively normal, there’s the Foot Clan with Shredder and Karai, you got April and Casey, all that jazz, but at the end of the Season 1 finale, something happens (probably with the Krang or something) and the entire city gets hit with some sort of mutagen bomb, turning everyone into mutants. And then the next season is about everyone dealing with this

Personally, I feel like there’s a lot you could do with that concept. The turtles and Splinter are no longer the odd ones out, you can have the previously human characters dealing with becoming mutants and what that means for them, you could have April and Casey having a deeper bond with the turtles now that they’re all mutants and all share that trait, you could show how society in New York is changing now with these sudden changes, you could have the government trying to keep this under wraps and doing nefarious things in their efforts, it’s like a whole gold mine of opportunity

Also come on, wouldn’t you wanna see what the human characters look like as proper mutants? I mean sure, Karai we’ve already seen, but other characters too?

I’m not sure this hypothetical show would last long, maybe 2-3 seasons, but I still think it would be neat

[obsidiancreates]

Turtles in Time Liveblog

Turtles in Time 1993 is my least favorite of the 90's movies, so let's hope this episode is better than it's film counterpart.

Oh more Giving Up On Karai stuff.

... Is he, still hung up on April? He hasn't really been acting like it these last few episodes, one of very few saving graces in them. Also LEO THAT'S YOUR SISTER STOP TRYING TO BE LIKE LUTHER AND ALLISON IN TUA ABOUT THIS GROSS

Awwww, Mikey saying he'll never have a crush is adorable.

Door in sky- woman? Woman with claw-like Chronoscepter from Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time? Oh it's the lady from the Monster Arc in Season 5

She looks like an adult. I don't like that she and Mikey have a thing. They better specify her age in this episode.

Awww really? Mikey is just The Cute One in the future? He should be The Surprising One, he's always pulling out surprises, be it parties or badassery

Very casual about being from the future, okay.

AWWW DONNIE IS SO EXCITED TO BE FAMOUS

Ew Mikey is flirting, I don't like this.

GIRL THEY'RE TEENS RIGHT NOW MAYBE BRINGING THIS GUY BACK WHEN THEY'RE SO YOUNG WAS A DUMB ACTUALLY

Oh god this guy looks so lame. God I miss The Kraang.

HIS VOICE SHEESH

Okay just right into a nonsense rant. Oh well, he was easy to get rid of.

THANK YOU DONNIE I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON EITHER

Can I just say, I fucking hate that trope/idea that someday in the future humans will somehow become responsible for upholding the concept of time. I truly hate it.

YEAH GIRL THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T SEND THAT BITCH TO THE PAST

YEAH YOU PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE LET THEM DEFEAT HIM WHAT- I HATE THIS EPISODE

You're right Donnie. This isn't good. Isn't a good episode.

It's not as bad as 1993... yet.

Oh god they're in the bad DND episode costumes again.

THEY WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT ORCS ARE ORCS WERE INVENTED BY JRR TOLKEIN GRRRRRRR

I can't even enjoy the boys fighting because of how much I hate the costumes.

Girl this isn't how Medieval Time- DONNIE WHY ARE YOU DOING AN ACCENT WHAT WAS THAT

Oh a He's Right Behind Me moment.

I feel. No tension. Oh, a loop. Okay. How many times do we have to see it though?

Didn't that stick Demon Guy in a loop too, though? Or was it a temporal clone?

Donnie it wasn't that awesome. Mikey don't be jealous.

Was Raph referencing 1993 with the Turtles on Horses is Weird part?

Yeah this is- I dislike everything about this.

Oh haha Raph fell off the horse. Maybe I just need to sleep and it'll start being fun again? It's like trying to watch Season 3 of Danny Phantom all over again... why are Nickelodeon Season 3 of Cartoons always so bad? Well, this one started really, really good, but. Once The Kraang left, it got bad.

Let's talk about something else. How about we talk about what I think human versions of the boys would be like, like a Normal Humans AU? Not even ninjas in this.

So basically I created this idea of them within the concept of "One of those tropes where the heroes are put into a Perfect World dream and have to help each other escape" and Donnie's would be them all as normal humans.

So they're all Japanese, Splinter is a single parent of 5 kids. He's got his biological daughter, Karai (named Miwa at birth but she's goin through a Rebellious Phase right now so she changed it) and his four adopted sons. He's a trained martial artist, but he never felt a need to train his children very heavily in it, because they live pretty peaceful lives. They know enough to defend themselves if needed, but they're not ninjas.

They're quadruplets, but not identical. Splinter finds it curious how they all have varying eye colors but are definitely all blood related. He adopted them sort of by accident, meaning to just foster them for a while when they were babies, but well, they just claimed his heart!

Leo is very into yoga and zen sort of exercise methods. He's a total nerd, of course, and goes to cosplay conventions pretty regularly. Mikey usually helps him make his homemade cosplays, with extra flair like lights and stuff added by Donnie. He's decently well-liked in school, except he tends to be a bit of a snitch and a hypocrite at times. He lets his hair grow out the most and wears mostly baggy shirts and plain jeans, very Chill Guy vibes (basically if Leo didn't have to worry about saving the world all of the time).

Raph is following in his older sister's footsteps and entering his Rebellious Phase. He's in therapy for anger issues, and uses sports as a release. He's on the school football team, still very short but stocky enough to be a good player. He's a little more balanced thanks to being able to actually go to therapy, so he lashes out less. It's well-known around school not to mess with The Hamato Siblings, because both the older sister (who's been known to carry knives around on her) and the short football brother have no issues Pummeling People Who Mess With Their Siblings. Raph tends to wear t-shirts and gym shorts, but sometimes he goes for an all-out Punk Badboy look. Only when he's really feeling it though, because it's a real hassle to put the look together in the morning. He keeps his hair pretty short, not buzzed though.

Donnie is willowy and lanky, though surprisingly not wimpy. Splinter makes sure all of his kids exercise regularly, so he's got lean muscle, but much less than any of his other siblings. He usually doesn't need glasses, but when he needs to make sure the smallest detail possible is perfect, he has a pair of them. Otherwise his sight is... passable. He's the kid everyone hopes to be paired with on science projects, because he'll inevitably end up doing the whole thing himself and be happy to just let you sit there and watch. He likes to tinker with electronics and chemistry, but he's already planning to go into some field of Biology as a career, possibly something medical. His gap tooth is just because, when that baby tooth fell out, there was no adult tooth to replace it. Genetics, what're you gonna do? It's actually what got him curious about biology, so he doesn't mind it. he prefers sweatshirts usually, or anything easy to toss on in the morning, because he has a bad habit of staying up way too late reading or tinkering. Yes, he is neurodivergent, of course. He usually lets his hair grow out a little, not on purpose, just because he forgets to make the barber's appointments.

Mikey is a gymnast and an artist! He's really good at gymnastics and wins competitions pretty often, and would be captain of the school team if he could just get his grades up a little more. He only just got diagnosed with ADHD and is still getting his medication and therapy regiment set up, but he feels good about how things will go once that's done. He's also the artist of the family, in that he draws the most. Raph is actually better at the technical aspects of art, but he doesn't really do much art beyond sometimes going out with Karai to do some graffiti. Mikey however is always doodling and drawing, their house is covered in old wall drawings form when he was small. He has a million fidget toys. He likes to layer up, usually a long sleeved shirt with a jacket, one of the kinds where the torso is denim but the sleeves and hood aren't, is the minimum he must have every day. He draws on all of his jeans (Donnie actually does too, but he writes down notes to himself and formulas and idea, while Mikey just doodles train-of-thought style). His hair is short and oddly poofy, and always gets in his eyes. How he does gymnastics so well in spite of that is a mystery to all.

Karai is very protective of her brothers, because she's had one too many people say something about them "not being her real brothers" and it makes her Furious. She's gotten into a real rebellious phase, because while Splinter is a good dad he can be a little too strict sometimes, and she got tired of it. She got piercings at a friend's house, started going the graphic liner, decided to get a big leather jacket and spiked gloves... she loves it, and loves feeling very powerful and badass. She actually isn't super happy about Raph following in her footsteps so early (she's a couple years older) but knows he won't just Stop Doing Stuff, so she usually offers to let him tag along with her trouble so he's supervised and not out spray painting places alone.

April met the Hamato Clan in freshman year of highschool, she was trying to find her class and they were all arguing in the hallway about where to go. Donnie broke away from the argument and helped her out. She knows he has a crush on her, but he's a lot less creepy about it in this AU, it's mainly just he blushes around her a lot and gets self-conscious when they're along together. But she doesn't want to make things weird by telling him no, or yes, she's not sure, so she pretends not to notice. The brothers basically adopted her as another sister, which Karai also eventually came around to. She's into things like astrology and tarot cards, but on the downlow, she's a little embarrassed about it.

Casey was friend with Raph first, both of them trying out for the hockey team at the same time. Raph didn't end up making the cut, but they stayed friends. Eventually Casey and Donnie realized they both like tinkering and making little gadgets and they became friends, and then Casey was talking about his graffiti art and Mikey joined in and they became friends, and Leo warmed up to him when Raph asked Leo to take over a video game fight for a bit while he went and got some snacks. He thinks Karai is really cool, and Karai trusts him to take care of Raph or the others if Casey convinces them to do some mischief with him.

Splinter tries his best to be a good dad. It can be hard, and he makes lots of mistakes, but he tries. He was raised in a very Traditional household, but all of his children are very much the opposite of that, and he struggles with breaking away from how he was brought up to do things for the sake of not stifling his children. Still, he seeks counseling so he can do his best, especially once Mikey was diagnosed (Donnie hasn't been diagnosed yet but Splinter has his suspicions) as neurodivergent. He's still strict, usually, but has been known to soften up sometimes and allow a bit more excitement into their lives and home.

So there. That's that AU. I got so bored of the episode I jotted down this AU instead, and I'll put it in it's own post too sometime later.

[nightmarenoise]

Some thoughts on TMNT 2012

I finished watching the entirety of the TMNT 2012 series a while ago and boy, do I have some thoughts™. First of all though, the following is going to be my opinions and you’re free to disagree with them. If you feel like attacking me for expressing these opinions though, I’m just going to have to ask you to take a minute and consider that you are about to be a bitch online over an eight year old children’s animated show, and that maybe you should find something else to base your entire identity around. Secondly, I don’t hate the show, not by any means. It was fine. It was fine. It was fine, you guys. I wouldn’t have watched it otherwise. I watched usually about half a season per day because I have too much time on my hands but if I do more than 13 episodes, my puny brain will implode. That being said, I understand that the binge watching might have affected my judgement, because having to wait for a new episode to air each week hits different, I know. Still, I came home after work each day, cozied up in bed and watched 13 episodes of turtle shenanigans before going to sleep and my sleep schedule has never been better. But I digress. Also, I will compare 2012 to Rise, because that’s the only other TMNT show I’ve seen and because this is my post and I want to and it’s only initially.

I feel like the main difference between Rise and 2012 is that Rise is a character-driven show, while 2012 is ultimately plot-driven.

Why do things in Rise happen? Because a character wants something (the boys want to buy their dad a nw robe, April wants to spend a normal day with her new friend, etc, those are just from the top of my head). The motivations are ultimately mundane, and then the story goes from there.

Why do things in 2012 happen? Because the plot said so. Sure, the characters grow and change, but they’re ultimately vehicles for the plot. We don’t really take a minute to let the characters breathe. Usually, things happen because the Turtles saw something on patrol and they’re on patrol because they know the plot is waiting out there to get them.

The show starts with April’s dad being kidnapped by the Krang (/Kraang? It’s unclear) and April herself being spared this presumably gruesome fate because Donnie saved her at the last second. She then goes on to live with an aunt we never see.

We also don’t see much of how this affects April at first. Sure, she is shown to be sad and wanting to get her father back, but the episode ends on the Turtles leaving her at her aunt’s place and then we’re done for the day. Hell, the next time we see April, she just casually drops by their place to show Mikey how to make online friends.

Maybe that’s just me being overly criticial, but I could have done with more time between those moments, showing her coming to terms with things, her normal day-to-day live, or heck, even just going to the lair for the first time.

But we don’t get that because plot has to happen.

April isn’t the only character who suffers from that, but I feel like it affects her the most.

The writers seem to have learned their lesson, because when April loses her dad for the second time, to mutation this time around, she blames the Turtles (which isn’t wrong) and then doesn’t talk to them for a month while presumably going back to her aunt, who I suppose never asks any questions. She only goes back to talking to them when Casey tells her a similar story and she realizes something something, hurting someone without meaning to. Which is fine, but it’s also not really, because it implies April being rightfully upset isn’t valid, because the Turtles didn’t mean to mutate her dad and it was an accident, but it feels like it tone polices someone for experiencing a loss and not letting her take some time for herself to come to terms with that.

But y'know we need her, in part because she’s The Special, but most importantly, so one of the most tedious love subplots can happen.

I know they explained April’s specialness as her being a human/Krang mutant and the Krang needing her unique brain to mutate the entire planet because …reasons. Except for when they later attack New Yok and then don’t need her for that anymore. On that note, I do not understand Krang’s plan at all. Time passes faster in their dimension and they’re kind of at war with the Triceratons and have trouble with the Utrom, so they want to leave (even though the Triceratons are clearly also in our universe, so why not pick a different dimension to take over entirely? There’s established to be ten) and mutate a planet to take over. This is all well and good, except they’ve been at it for about seven million years? Krang takes credit for creating the first humans with mutagen and it’s been mentioned that they steered human evolution to the point where they could create a human/Krang hybrid, such as April. But why did they only have one? They lost track of her when her dad and her fled to New York City, wouldn’t it have been more convenient to have more mutants to do their vague mutant stuff they require by the plot to take over the planet?

Even if we assume that this first mutation means that the first humans didn’t surface between seven and five million years ago, humans haven’t evolved that much in the last couple thousand years. Why wait so long? It must have been billions of years for the Krang.

I know it’s a cartoon and stuff, but they could have easily removed that problem by cutting the line about Krang taking credit for human evolution and for the Krang having been with us for thousands of years. It just creates problems.

Speaking of problematic, the romantic subplots. So, Leo wants to bang his sister, Donnie is creepily obsessed with the first human girl he’s ever met and Mikey is such a good boy, he gets two love interests, because one isn’t enough for all the love and goodness contained in orange boy. I still think it’s weird because all of these love interests are humans, but I gradually got over that. I managed to think about this without physically convulsing for ten whole minutes, for starts.

Okay, so Donnie/April is just bad. The writing and the execution are bad. The characters are fine, I love Donnie, even though he focuses way too much of his time and attention on obsessing over April, but I can let that go on account of him being a teen dealing with his very first ever crush. April though  is frequently made to be a callous bitch who knows of his feelings and leads him on when she wants something, but pushes him away at all other times. I vividly remember the time New York was overrun by Krang and April helped Donnie bandage his injured arm and he was about to confess his feelings to her and she pulled too tight to get him to stop. Instead of being up front about it or just telling him that she either liked him or not or that now just wasn’t the time to focus on romance - all of which super valid in their own right. Rip the bandaid off, girl. None of them look especially good coming out of this.

It gets worse considering that after seasons of back and forth and even introducing Casey to give us a love triangle, everyone’s favorite thing in media and April redeeming herself by also being That Way to Casey and by redeeming I mean informing us that she just isn’t really fit for a relationship because she is very toxic in handling them, the whole thing is just kind of dropped forever. There’s no payoff. We spent so much time watching Donnie agonize over this, get worse, then get over his stalker-ish tendencies and get rewarded with a kiss and then nothing ever happens. They don’t even have a conversation about their feelings. The show tries to make it seem like there’s a special connection between April and Donnie because she kills him and then feels bad and brings him back, but, no. That’s not how any of that works. Ultimately this whole thing feels like a huge and infuriating waste of time. Fourth place. And that’s a kindness.

Leo and Karai get third place, mainly because of the incest. Neither of them is as toxic over this subplot and it also has the common decency of not taking up that much time, but it’s still weird. I don’t have much to say here. I guess it was dropped in the end, but maybe also not, but at least there weren’t 30 episodes about Leo agonizing over Karai while she was being weird and also she had her own thing going on and felt like a more fleshed out character than April despite getting less screen time. Third place.

Mikey gets silver because while he’s flirting with two human girls, they both seem to be exclusively into it and also he’s much more mature about dealing with it than his supposedly intelligent brother. Get this. Mikey, being mature at something. None of these ships are confirmed, but it’s a nice change of pace.

Raph takes gold because he fell in love with a girl after she beat the crap out of him and nothing is more valid than that.

Okay, the plot feels kind of rushed, in that they’re confessing undying love after kissing twice, but one, they’re teens and two, this is just the best we’re going to get out of this show.

Casey, well.

Casey exists. He doesn’t add all that much to the story. He has a delightful dynamic with Raph, coming in just after Slash confronted him with his worst traits and then reinforcing the “be a vigilante and do good”-angle and that’s nice. Outside of that though, he tries to hit on April, he hits things with his hockey sticks and I guess he has a family he cares about that we never see. Oops.

I’m very ambivalent about Splinter. I do get him and he’s a good sensei, but kind of a lousy father? Sure, his entire life went up in flames quite spectacularly, but as soon as he realizes his daughter is alive, he often seems to prioritize getting her back over the lives of the four sons he actually raised and spent the last fifteen years with? Also, he’s a dick to Mikey? He gets better later and then he dies. Hm.

Mikey wasn’t as annoying as I feared, going in. He was still stupid, but he had his moments. I also didn’t find him as funny as some of the writers probably hoped, but he was fine. He’s a good boy who deserved better every step of the way, but his brothers and Splinter are kind of not nice to him despite him being just as capable as his brothers. Neither is the show, often making him the butt of a joke or downplaying his achievements (producing super-retro mutagen, saving all his brothers from parasite wasps and the one time he saved the city from cannibal pizza it was treated like a “it was all a dream or was it” and nobody believed him). He doesn’t get a lot of development, but he’s the goodest boy.

Raph again surprised me. He arguably underwent the most development, dealing with his many demons and getting a grip on his temper. This was especially apparent in the Northampton arc when he did chores without complaint and helped Leo train.

Leo on the other hand, started as the leader of the team and ended the story as the de-facto leader of the family and also he was stronger now. I don’t know. Being a leader was his defining trait from start to finish and while he agonized over that, he wasn’t allowed much development outside of that. His first meeting with Karai introduced this subplot about him wanting to be irresponsible and do his own thing, but that was quickly dropped and never brought up again. I liked him best when he was being a dork over his favorite TV show or that time he went to space and on his first outing tried to hit on an alien lady. I would have liked to see more of that Leo, because that Leo was actually interesting.

Donnie, I don’t know. Most of his time was poured into the world’s worst romantic subplot and outside of that he had some traits, but he was mostly there so he could analyze things, develop antivenoms at the drop of a hat, finally create a retromutagen and build 152 vehicles. I like Donnie, but there isn’t much to talk about that isn’t directly tied to April. Except maybe how he promised to turn Timothy back into a human and then never did, even though we keep seeing his frozen remains in the back of the lab. For shame, Donnie. For shame.

To the show’s credit, a lot of the mutants looked horrifying and creepy. They had a tight grip on that horror vibe and it was great. They maintained a balance of comedy and horror and while it wasn’t great, it was a nice reprieve.

I hated Shredder and I know I was supposed to, but I will never get over what a petty bitch he was.

The thing that hit me the hardest was probably the destruction of Earth at the end of season 3. I was legitimately upset about that, so that’s probably a good thing. But when five minutes into the next episode Scrooge McDoctor Who did some timey whimey bullshit to reverse it, I was not any less upset. Make of that what you will. (No, I’ll explain, I felt cheated and it was cheap and annoying. Just when you think the show has some balls, it pulls a “sike” and then flips back to the status quo, usually). The space arc was simultaneously interesting and also not, with a lot of predictable plot threads, but at least we got more locations  than the same two nocturnal New York streets all the time.

The ending though was super weird. The other turtles then went into space and probably died or some shit, because they never show up again and also the Fugitoid’s head is alive in orbit, but whatever, no time for that because we have to go back, for the 50th time, to the Foot!

The plot has no time to unfold because the plot needs to happen.

Do you ever think the writers squabbled a lot? It kind of feels like a lot of them wanted to do their own thing and then someone else meddled with that and then we got a patchwork of unconnected threads, left loose and dangling.

I was surprised when we got some buildup to April’s growing dependence on her alien crystal and even one episode dealing with its powers before we got to the episode dealing with the crystal’s effects on her. That sort of nuanced pacing was new. I was also initially very sure that this subplot would only find its payoff in the season finale or half season finale, like most other plot threads usually did, but no, it got its own separate episode.

Yes, they went all Dark Phoenix, but the ending was super anticlimactic, because April killed Donnie and then someone reminded her of it and she felt bad, so she stopped being possessed by evil. They fucked up on the home stretch, but they tried.

I never liked the time travel episodes with Renet much, they felt weirdly intrusive and adding nothing new to the plot. It felt like the first one only happened so we could meet Tang Shen before she died and that didn’t add a whole lot of anything. It confirmed things we already knew and introduced Mikey’s love interest and that was that.

The show tried to do a thing about anti-mutant racism once, but it sure is a good thing that the only people racist against mutants were the mafia, so we don’t have to worry about making a nuanced take here. They could have done something really interesting, but then went for simple black-and-white-morality instead.

My favorite episode was when the boys played Dungeons and Dragons with a sparrow mutant.

The worst part of the show though was its fifth season. First it seemed like it would just continue from where the fourth season had left off with Shredder being revived - because like a good villain, or herpes, Shredder always comes back - by the worst looking dragon I have ever seen in my entire life, but then that arc surprisingly ended after four episodes, shocking me to my core. Almost as shocking as Donnie almost killing a guy, but then deciding not do at the very last second. Again, feels like they could have done more here, but then they didn’t.

The fifth season started with two arcs that seemed to tie up loose plot threads, like Shredder’s revival and the bug alien guy I could have sworn died when he was yeeted out of an airlock coming back to enact his grim revenge, all so Raph’s girlfriend could live on the same planet as him and then never appear on the show ever again. Also Mikey died and his brothers were sad for five seconds before going about their business and then he came back with superpowers and then he conveniently lost them at the end of the episode, because the plot doesn’t have time for things that are emotional or interesting. Then there was that time the writers were like “What if we made Yojimbo, but with anthropromorphic animals and also the turtles are there” and it existed and the Turtles added very few things to the story and then went back to their dimension and never talked about it ever again. Or the time they said “what if we made Mad Max and also everything was terrible” and so they did and Leo became a hulked up war criminal but everyone forgave him because he wasn’t himself but immediately snapped out of it after seeing his brothers and Raphael was on steroids and Donnie became a robot in what I assume was a reference to the comics where he died and became a robot and also Donnie ended up being the only one whose body died, but considering what became of his brothers, he was probably the best off? And Raph had amnesia just so he could say he had amnesia and it didn’t actually factor into the plot once because he immediately recognized Mikey. I don’t know, I hated that special.

But at least it gave me emotions. The best part of the “that time travel demon is back and trying to monster mash” arc was when I remembered that I could browse tumblr on my phone while it was on and then I didn’t bore myself to death and also didn’t miss anything of value.

The series finale was fine. Nothing to write home about, but perfectly fine, even though the show threw an awful lot of shade at the 1987 version.

I feel like the most jarring thing about the fifth season was that the show spent four seasons going out of its way to present itself as something with a cohesive narrative and a plot that goes on and on and then we get these disjointed stories, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with the story at all. Just the writers throwing some idea at a wall to see what sticks because they either didn’t have any ideas anymore, or too many, but the end result wasn’t great and I’ll recommend newcomers to stop after the fourth season, because for real.

Tiger Claw existed and he was infuriatingly capable and powerful and then his sister chopped off his arm and then he got a robot arm and that was it forever. I don’t know, some episodes felt more pointless than others, but some managed to be fun or interesting and some just added something they thought was fun and it ended up never mattering again. 

Some characters disappeared randomly, like the dove guy and I don’t care enough to ask what happened there.

Karai’s mutation being reversed off-screen was super bizarre. Sure, her being able to change at will as metal as heck, but it felt weird and incomplete and like I missed an episode. Maybe I did. It was also infuriating how her venom was a plot point in one episode and never brought up again after that.

Outside of that, I don’t have much insight to offer. Other people already exlained how the fight scenes, while nice, are not very accurate, especially the bo staff moves, or how the show is very dark, not in tone, but in actual absence of light and lots of greyscales or how most characters have singular traits rather than fleshed out personalities, especially the supporting cast. How there isn’t a lot of diversity in the human characters and how figure-hugging a lot of April’s and Karai’s clothing is (shoutout to April’s yellow shirt, it’s uncomfortable to look at, cheers) or how the female characters are frequently damselled.

I liked when the animation added personality to the characters because the writing sure didn’t think it had time for that.

All in all, it’s a mixed bag for me. It’s a fine show to watch if you have the time and it’s not all bad and I can see why people enjoy it, but it’s not for me. I liked some episodes enough to watch again, but I feel like in nine out of ten cases, I’ll opt to rewatch Rise instead because it has more of what I personally like, but I won’t think less of you if you enjoyed this version of the show. I’m not telling people that one version of the Turtles is superior to the other, just that I think it’s important to take off those rose-colored glasses and be critical of the things you consume every now and again.

But if you prefer plot-driven shows that can be surprisingly dark, you might enjoy this. Or you could watch Avatar, because it has that as well as three-dimensional characters and better worldbuilding.

Thank you for reading my way-too-long thoughts about an animated kid’s show.

[we-rate-tmnt]

I request: Leonardo. Please and thank you 🙏.

Idk if everyone loves Leo or if my header and avatar just remind everyone about this amazing blue boy. (This one’s super silly btw. I’m just sillier as time goes on. Character development I guess?) 

The iconic leador Leonardo (1987)

Bro idk why but I loved this Leo. I have a tiny memory, especially with this version but I clearly remember that I thought he was the funniest and the coolest. I mean, he had swords, what was I supposed to do as a 7-year-old. NOT like him??? Anyway, while Raph was the best at insult comedy, I think Leo had the best puns and punchlines. I really like how nonchalant this Leo is compared to his iterations, going along with really silly ideas and having fun along the way. But because of this, his leadership is a little forced at times, he seems like such a chill and fun dude that when he gets serious, I have to squint and ask ‘are you Leo? Or were you just putting on act a moment ago?’ Or my perception is entirely warped over time. Either way, good turtle boy, could have used some work tho. 5.7/10

Here comes grumpy lad wooo this is all read very monotone btw Fearless Leader (2003)

What. What the fuck happened. I was actually so confused when Leo turned really angry and serious and almost manic. I thought that episode when he popped into Casey’s window and was like ‘Hey bitch lets go beat the shit out of some lowlifes’ I was WOAH THERE BUDDY BACK UP BACK UP BACK TF UP. It was so sudden to me and when it was finally explained, it made some sense??? Like yeah, character development is great an’ all but this ain’t it chief. I can’t imagine what it was like having to wait for these episodes to release one at a time. Bc I watched every episode back to back on Youtube and I was genuinely bamboozled. But when you have an experience like that where guilt is weighing down on you from a situation you couldn’t control, it would’ve been HELLA HELPFUL to have at least a flashback, like a line saying ‘I was so useless!’ at BARE MINIMUM. Like right after Shredder is booted off to Planet Zula, Donnie would notice that Leo didn’t seem all that happy and would ask why and Leo would get upset and yell at Donnie saying that ‘You wouldn’t understand’, ‘You don’t know how I felt, how I feel because of that’, etc. Like you don’t even have to say he felt guilty or helpless, just give us something to grab onto. We’re merely six-year-olds who thought they could climb the YMCA rock wall in easy mode but instead the script riders harnessed us up on the hard one and wouldn’t let us come down until we rang the little bell at the top. I think that is the only problem I had with his Leo. The sudden change of calm and decisive to angry and irrational was so jarring that it felt unnatural without that crucial context. If you want a surprise reveal, at least hint at the reveal (like just about every Disney movie with their ‘twist’ villains) not wait until the very last moment. I think this might be my least favorite Leo and I think the season where he stood out the most and seemed the strongest was Fast Forward (Which was GOOD FIGHT ME), especially in scenes with Dark Leo, his clone. He sees so much of himself in Dark Leo but he also sees something he had once grasped (AKA the poorly written character arc, I CANNOT stress how bad I thought it was). Although, I honestly think he’s a really good character and he’s a pretty neat guy. However, this score is entirely held up by Fast Forward and his connection with Usagi, sword bros to the end of time. 3/10 (2 for FF and 1 for Usagi)

And now a Leo that makes me genuinely feel UWU Leo (2012)

I cannot stress how much I like this guy! Like his design is so appealing, his dedication, his obsession with Space Heroes, like I FUCKING LOVE IT. And everyone knows, that shit with Karai, at first when they didn’t realize they were related, I can let slide but kajsdflksadf what even like why did the writers feel the need to add in more ‘love interest’ implications like yuck yuck yuck. The only two interactions with Leo and Karai that I really like are when Leo defeats her using the healing hands technique and when Leo has a goth/emo/punk/idk I’m new here phase and they team up and EXPLOSIONS. He was introduced to us as being incredibly naive and his idea of leadership is from some old cartoon that’s basically star trek but ethically questionable. After his fights in season 1, to the finale with the technodrome, you can see his growth. He’s able to formulate plans and make life or death decisions. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. When Leo got hurt, I felt like the oof sound effect mixed with some tears I normally shed at some Shojo manga bs. While the episodes following were super weird, it was a nice way to help Leo recover, not only physically but spiritually (Although I don’t remember the spirit arc at all except the epic Raph vs Fishface fight, so we’re skipping that). When Master Splinter really died, you could tell there was a huge impact on Leo, but he had to remain stoic and lead the family now. A lot of heartbreaking moments in this series came from Leo and I’m glad they took at least some thought into developing him. Tiny head Leo will haunt my nightmares, but the giggly fanboy will warm my heart constantly. 6/10

I only have one word for this Leo (Heroes in a Half Shell: Blast to the Past)

This is a super crazy bad idea accent on the super crazy bad part have I mentioned it’s also a really terrible idea/10

Okay, spoiler alert, didn’t really think this Leo was that grand Leo (2014/2016)

Painfully average. He didn’t stand out that much, Raph was part of the focus and had that touching scene at the end, Donnie was ICONIC and Mikey (with his weird-ass eyes) was super lively and funny! Leo? Uh, I don’t remember a single line he said. Because he never really grabbed my attention, I don’t have too much to say on this version. The Raph and Leo fight felt forced and the whole ‘keep this stuff that could turn us human a secret’ was pretty pointless and was added just to cause drama, I don’t even remember what that Splinter and Leo conversation was about. Design-wise, really neat! You can see some more traditional Japanese clothing/style mixed with modern (I’d feel a lot better about this assumption if some could tell exactly what the heck he’s wearing, but I get traditional Japan warrior vibes from it) in his look which was super neat! Other than that, if you like him, please tell me why because I don’t get. He was just kinda eh. 5/10

AHHH MY BOY YASSS WHOOO!! Neon Leon (2018)

Okay, I loved Ben Schwarts already from Parks and Rec but like him being Sonic AND Leo, like DUDE. He’s super funny by himself but teamed up with this shows writing and animation, it makes it hilarious. I literally love this Leo so much, maybe because we’re alike but honestly, he’s amazing. I love his design with the red and yellow crescents accenting his skin and livening up his color pallet. He has a very healthy and natural dynamic with his brothers, he’s the first to know what’s wrong and tries his best to make up for his actions. This is really prominent in the most recent episodes, along with the episode portal jacked. In both, Leo is separated from his brothers. Portal Jacked is in a more literal sense, while Air Turtle handles in more of an emotional sense. While both are brief, Leo sees his error and tries his best to make it up to them. I love his dynamic so much and it’s so nice to see something like this compared to the unnecessary drama and tension between the brothers in the previous series. It’s refreshing and this is something a younger audience needs to see; instead of fighting, it’s better to work together and improve yourself along the way. Improvement is a big theme for Leo here. He’s a goofball, makes jokes at every opportunity and isn’t quite skilled at fighting or using his weapon. But he grows over time, he learns to manage his power and he’s working on mastering it. He’s trying to put aside his narcissism more and focuses on his family. I think the approach they took with him rising to leader rather than slapping it on his forehead was the goddamn best decision they could make. He’s making plans, finding loopholes, helping out and getting out of his comfort zone. I cannot stress how well this show has handled Leo, along with the other characters. I can’t wait to see more episodes about his growth and I am awarding him with one of the greatest honors I could give... 10/10

Storytime: I drew a super cute 2012 Leo, you should look at him. Shameless self-promo, but you should follow me on my main blog bc I’m nice and I draw pretty pictures. Also. I have a little 2012 Leo Happy Meal toy??? I think??? guarding my window and he’s been there for YEARS. I need to bring him in and refresh his paint job.

Wow! I didn’t expect this many requests for Leo, so the blog will be momentarily spammed with the requests, but it shouldn’t be too much! Up next should be the last turtle (Mikey) and then we can get to some REALLY great requests I’m eager to answer. As usual, please comment and reblog! I’d love to hear your opinion!

[frerin-shixiong]

I have a question for the tmnt monster AU if it doesn't bother you. How did Leonardo met the three others turtles, and what was their first impression of each other?

Oh gosh! TMNT Monster AU. I haven’t talked about that in a long time. I’m glad you asked. I’m honestly not a contributor to the TMNT fandom any more but I do want to finish some project of mine eventually and this is one of them.

Leo is actually a human and part of the Foot Clan. He’s actually the fiance of Karai. He has no love for her, he actually hates her and is only marrying her because of an honor bound contract and he’s also a little power hungry. Being leader of this clan will do a lot for him and he’s going for it. His real name was something like... Yuta or something... I can’t remember.

Anyway, one of the big things for the Foot Clan and why they have so much power in Japan is because they are very spiritual and the leading people to contact if your place is haunted, a person is possessed, etc. They go in there and get rid of everything. They also are hired outside of Japan to do these things in other countries as well. So becoming the new Clan Leader would make that person a very powerful person and world renowned. 

But before any of that could happen Yuta has to prove his worth and is let into a big secret. The reason why they are so damn knowledgeable about demons, monsters, and spirits is because they have a direct line to the world where these things reside. They do a special ceremony and can put someone’s spirit into that world, walk and talk and learn the ways of those people and how to get rid of them, like a spy or sleeper cell. Yuta has to go there, learn, and also he’s given a task of finding something very special- A Necromancer and bringing it back. He’s assured that this task isn’t as difficult as it sounds, he just has to open a particular door in the “monster world” and everything will fall into place. Yuta agrees because he wants to get this over with.

They do the ceremony and his spirit is sent to the Monster World where he’s surprised that he’s not a ghost but a solid person but... he’s a turtle person. He’s really weirded out by this but it’s explained to him by Karai (because they have a way of communication that I haven’t figured out yet). Basically a person’s spirit will take a “true” form and that’s what they are in the inside.... I know it sounds stupid but I haven’t figured out a better way to explain it. She also informs him that he can’t be linked to the Foot Clan (probably put this before they do the ceremony) and she gives him a fake name to go by, Leonardo.

So now, Leo, just needs to find what he’s supposed to find. He sets off and ends up in a forest that is very confusing and he gets lost very easily in it. Nothing makes sense and eventually he wears down and is about to give up when he meets Mikey. Mikey is very strange because he looks like a bizarre mix of a turtle and a tabby cat. Mikey finds Leo to be very entertaining and is very interested in him. He explains that everyone knows not to come into the Cheshire Forest with out a guide. Leo to brave it alone was just stupid. Leo pretends to have amnesia and Mikey takes pity on Leo and helps him out of the forest. He insists on taking his new found friend to someone that may be able to help his situation but before he did that he had to make sure it was okay. Mikey though is pretty certain that Leo will be fine since he was turtle. Confused Leo asks what that has to do with anything. He finds out that turtles are considered sacred. Because of this turtle children are usually married off from clan to the other as great gifts because they can breed with any monster kind. Their mix breed children are not as special as a regular turtle but still held in high regard. Leo enjoys the new knowledge that he’s got a lot of power pull for being a turtle. He also learns that Mikey is half turtle and half Cheshire cat.

Mikey eventually takes Leo to Raph. Raph is half turtle and half werewolf. Raph doesn’t trust Leo AT ALL. He doesn’t think Leo should get help from the person Mikey was thinking about. Leo ends up having to live with a werewolf pack for a while to prove that he wasn’t up to anything. While he lives with them another turtle shows up every once in a while and he looks like a normal turtle but his eyes are these bright lilac purple almost like they are glowing. He learns that this is Donnie. Donnie is a midwife that helps many different monster from all around with pregnancy, birth, and even child care. Sometimes he even comes over with medicine for sick children if the illness is very difficult. Leo finds himself very interested in Donnie. He can’t help himself. This is where he learns that Donnie is half turtle and half incubus and that his shell is actually bat wings folded up on his back.

After a while Leo’s finally able to be introduced to a person that could “help him with his memory”. Turns out it was Donnie. 

So that’s how they all meet. 

I would have to say their first impressions were thus;

Mikey thinks Leo’s a bit nuts but brushes it off because of the “amnesia”. He really likes Leo and tries to be the friend in his corner.

Raph doesn’t trust Leo. He knows he’s up to something but it bugs him that he has no idea what that is. Eventually he warms up to him.

Donnie’s first impression is that he knows there is something wrong with Leo, something off. It makes him very curious.

I think that answered everything you asked. If you have any other questions please ask!!

[kikakat17]

Storyboard help!!

So I have this class midterm where we have to storyboard using a song from a musical and characters from our favorite TV show. I would love some help from the TMNT fandom becuase I’m choosing Karai and Splinter ( So @jjconway if you are reading this, you may know what class i’m taking becuase I go to LMU and you may or may not have taken the same class. You help would be wonderful!!! )

So I’m choosing TMNT becuase for longer then three years now I’ve had this storyboard idea in my head already. I’m choosing Karai and Splinter to sing “No More” from Into the Woods. For those who don’t know, the song is set after on of the characters, the baker, plans to leave everything and even his own infant son behind becuase he lost his wife. His father’s ghost comes to him and tries to talk him out of leaving becuase he too left his own son after his wife died and he regrets it. That’s the reason i had this idea in my head forever becuase I thought it fit so well. I placed Karai as the baker, leaving New York and everything behind becuase she turned into a mutant and thinks she’s a monster. Also she is still trying to grasp her true family ties as well as having a hard time trying to understand who is the blame and she partly blames Splinter. Splinter is the bakers father who’s trying to talk her out of leaving and to go back to the turtles. (it’s a weird concept but hey.... it’s Ninja Turtles...)

The reason I’m saying this is becuase I’m gonna need a little help to make this an A+. The criteria my teacher has is to do more then two characters or he’ll grade me harder. He’ll love it if i have a lot of acting and have the characters use the enviorment they are in. Drawing on model is another biggie. So.... I have some ideas already....

- I placed them in the city on the rooftops becuase why not. 

- As Splinter sings some sense into Karai, she’s trying to get away from him becuase she doesn’t want to hear it. Slowly though she starts listen and stops trying run. 

- A thing I should note is that it begins with two singers and ends with one singer. If you listen to the song it makes sense. There is a part where the baker in the end starts naming all these people that have affected him on this journey, some who have made his life worse. I thought I would have Karai sing that and characters like Xever and Tiger Claw materialize like ghost around her.

- certain lyrics have certain ghosts like “wolfs” and Rahzar materilizes next to her. “Assume our lives with our children and ours wives” Thats when Karai sees a ghost of Tang Shen and Human Splinter holding baby Miwa, like a memory. When she says “Curses” her hand turns into one of her snake head-hands

But that’s as creative as I got. If anyone has crazy Ideas they would like to throw in let me know!! I’ve got a couple days to start planning before I have actually start boarding. Any help is greatefull, please! Thanks!!!

[brightlotusmoon]

I really don't get the appeal for turtle x human parings. I despise the incest, brother x brother paring Sorry it's just how I feel.

That’s perfectly fine. It’s been a thing going around since the creation of the original franchise and it’s got many supporters and many detractors.

Here’s the funny thing: Casey Jones was created to give April a love interest because Laird Eastman didn’t want fans shipping her with the Turtles. Laird went so far as to speculate on the four turning to each other for comfort - which would probably be influenced by turtle hormones as much as mutant isolation. Eastman suggested they were asexual but fine with sex.

Now, over the decades and different versions, the turtles had relationships. Mutants and aliens alike. Even humans. In Mirage there was Leo and a human named Radical, Mike and an alien princess (we don’t talk about Image). In Archie Comics, there was Raph and the fox Ninjara. In the 1987 Mikey was in a LDR with the alien humanoid Kala. And all throughout each version, Mikey is a helpless flirt in general. Especially the recent Paramount films where he flirts with April. Fans in each incarnation have formed “Ew, gross” camps and “Aw yeah” camps. Smut fanfic was made. A lot. Turtlecest happened, although there is debate over where or not unrelated roommates who call each other siblings boinking each other counts as such a taboo.

See… In human society, people who share DNA are frowned upon if they have sex because of inbreeding. If the turtles are unable to breed, regardless of their partners, that goes out the window. The Reverse Westermarck Effect in psychology posits that people raised in the same environment will develop sexual attractions, even if they call each other siblings, even if they aren’t related. However, the taboo against incest is so instinctively powerful that most reactions are knee jerk and horror. To me, these are turtles with human minds and biologically altered anatomy to be human, so that’s its own thing.

And then we just have that whole huge massive “humanoid mutant box turtles with human shaped genitals hidden under their plastrons via a slit and pouch” thing. I would say any possible idea of a relationship with anyone, in any capacity, for any reason, is up to the person consuming the media, aka the fans.

So, Kevin himself being involved with the 2012 show - and approving of Donatello crushing on April - represents a new canon dynamic that strays far from those first Mirage comics where an adult April was mother/sister. The Karai and Leo thing is even more fascinating. When the mutated turtles became humanoid, whose human DNA touched them? Was in the pet shop owner? Was it Yoshi? Yoshi became a rat. It’s possible that his DNA never touched the turtles. Miwa/Karai and the Turtles wouldn’t share DNA. Still, I know, it feels icky and nope for many fans, I know, why did they do this to us, it’s so weeiird. But the whole thing is weird. This fandom is sooo hecking weird.

So yes, please go ahead and feel how you feel, because you can and you should. It’s wild and extreme and and…turtles? Humanoid turtles? With humanoid crotch bits? Really? I have many additional questions, and also their heights keep changing waaauuggh.And this fandom will continue for 30 more years and fans will be asking the same questions! I literally have no place to judge, I’m autistically obsessed with the psychological character of Mikey and I love writing Hurt/Comfort fics where he gets stabbed and then hugged. I���m surprised I made room for a mutant OC girlfriend for him. :-D

[blueleader96]

Leorai Week (2017): Day 4

Leorai Week 2017: Day 4 – First Date ‘Alright, Leo… you can do this.’ Leo thought to himself for the probably the twentieth time. He continues building his confidence as he traverses across the rooftops of New York City, making his way to his destination. It has been five months since the death of The Shredder and life for the Hamato brothers has been swell. No rival ninja clans looking for revenge, no alien invasion or plot to destroy the world. Just slow days and uneventful nights, save for a couple of scuffles with the Purple Dragons. It’s has been relatively normal… normal at least for four mutant turtles. Though while some, like Raphael and Casey, sees this as boring and irritating, for Leo, it’s the perfect opportunity. Many times has he tried to make this work, but there always seem to be something going down that messes up his plan and other times… well, let’s just say he changes the subject… a lot. For you see, Leo has been trying to ask out the girl of his dreams. From the first time he had met her, Leo never found anyone captivating. Her short, sleek black hair, mixed with the blond dye, a body figure that is both firm and shapely. But what really makes his heart flutter, are those eyes. So dazzling to look at, it’s like a small gateway into that girl who is always looking for mischief. Who is feisty and strong in battle, not afraid of a challenge. That’s the one problem his brain keeps stopping him from going with it. Karai is one mischievous soul and a favorite game of her’s is tugging on the heartstrings of one Hamato Leonardo and honestly, he’s scared. Afraid that she might not feel the same. Afraid that she would say yes, only to then toy with him like she usually does. But he needs the answer. Yes or No. Leo makes his way to the old church, the base for the Neo Foot Clan. Out front him meets the four guard members waiting in the shadows. If this was the old Foot Clan, Leo would have his twin katana swords ready for action. But these days, the Foot are in fact allies with them, though they only listen to Karai and her rules. Though he has been stated as an unofficial leader, as well as a teacher to the more younger members. The guards nod their heads, granting Leo permission to enter. Now if he remembers correctly Karai should be in the church dojo. Leo sees Karai in the middle of the small dojo practicing a kata with her tanto. He could not help but watch as she executes effortlessly her moves. The way her body covorts, it's like watching a ballerina. A ballerina that knows how to kick your ass in a 101 ways. Good, she’s alone. Okay, Leo just as you practiced, just as you practiced. “Hey, Leo. You checking me out?” Karai smirked. Oh great, she’s already in a teasing mood. This maybe difficult. “Actually, I wanted to know if you’re hungry. And I was wondering if you maybe want to come with me to Mr. Murakami’s...” No, wait! That came out wrong! Karai drops her smirk, to stunned silence. Is Leo… asking her out on a date?! Usually, she would have some quip, which keeps Leo in a blushing mess. But… her mind is blank. Leo is somebody who always tries to have things in order. And that is why it’s always funny how easy it is to throw him off, leaving him in a fluster. Rarely at times, does Leo throw Karai off. But this? This is probably the biggest shocker and she’s got nothing to say. ‘You idiot, that is not what you practiced. Now look at her, she’s frozen stiff.’ Leo groaned in his mind, now he has really stuffed this up, big time. “Sure,” Karai said. Not being sure what else she could say. Wait, what? Leo looks in surprise at Karai. “Well, I am hungry. I haven’t been to Mr. Murakami since our celebration of the defeat of the Shredder.” Karai explained. “That’s great,” Leo said. Happy to know that she will be coming. “Alright cool.” Karai simply said. An awkward silence fills the dojo. As the two teenagers could not think of anything else to say. They are in completely uncharted territory, both of them. “I’ll… I’ll get cleaned up.” Karai said, breaking the silence and starts walking out of the dojo. “Sure. I’ll wait for you.” Leo simply replied, watching Karai as she makes her way to her room. ‘She said yes. She said yes!’ Leo would have jumped for joy. But settled for a grin. ‘Okay, calm down. You may have gotten her to accept. But it's now up to you to make sure that everything else goes right.’ Karai has made it to her room and heads for the ensuite. Closing the door, she begins removing her armor to shower. She was amazed at first, given how she thought that it acts as the actual skin for her snake mutated side. But it acts the same as when she’s human. Turning on the tap and feeling the warm water running across her body, gives her a moment to reflect about what just happened five minutes ago. There is no way of saying it. Leo asked her for a date. ‘This is your chance.’ A small voice whisper’s in Karai’s mind. ‘Tell Leo how you really feel.’ Yes, that’s true. But this could also end in utter disaster. Karai knows that she’s not easy to get along with. Being raised by Oroku Saki who is ‘such’ a ‘caring’ fatherly figure, she mostly had to keep her feelings aside, shown only to care for the ‘good’ of the Foot Clan. She cannot even show affection that well, not in the way that April does so freely with her friends, especially around Donatello now that they are a couple. It’s amazing that Leo found her attractive. She knows she’s got the body. Many times she has seen boys looking her way when she was in public school, back in Japan. But it was her cold, stone cold attitude and her upbringings from an imposing man like Oroku Saki that scared them away. But then came Leonardo. Poor naïve, innocent turtle-boy. He may have the abilities of a skilled fighter. But because of his appearance, he had so little contact with human’s when she came into his world. At first, he thought that she was just a member of the Foot not realising her true ties with her leader, the Shredder. Karai shattered Leo’s thoughts of that he knew when she told him that she was, in fact, the Shredder’s ‘daughter’. Which lead to a breakdown of trust, and Karai on a mission to cause Leo pain, whenever they meet. Then the real bombshell hit. In which Splinter, the one Karai believed killed her mother, Tang Shen; was, in fact, her father and that Shredder has been lying to her all this time. Which hurts even more given that it was him that killed Tang Shen. Karai defected from the Foot and returned to her true Father. However, the call for revenge for everything the Shredder has done was too much for her to ignore, which unfortunately lead to her capture and is mutated by mutagen into what she is now a human/snake hybrid. The tragedy of her transformation lead Karai into hiding, and the compelled turtles on an endless hunt to bring her back. Then she was brain-washed by the Shredder, who was becoming more delusional in his belief that Tang Shen loved him and that Karai is still his daughter. After all that has happened, after all that she has done to him and his family. Leo continues to hold that same affection for her, which has grown immensely to this day and he has decided to take the next step forward, by asking her out on a date. ‘So then go for it.’ The voice came back. ‘Show him what he means to you.’ After finishing up and drying herself off, Karai is left wondering what to wear. She could wear her armor as she usually does, but this is a special occasion, so maybe she should wear something more ‘date worthy’. It’s been ten minutes since Karai left to get ready, and Leo has been patiently waiting for his date. Wait can he say that? It sounds so… weird. They are clearly not the type of people who would do these sorts of things, they would rather work on their kata’s, rather than go out for dinner. Not that he can, anyway. “Okay Leo, I’m ready to go,” Karai said, as she comes to the dojo’s door. “Great then let’s…” Just as Leo turned to look at Karai, his entire mind goes into immediate shutdown. There stands Karai, in a jet black knee-length dress, with a pretty frill that skirts the hem. She is still wearing her combat shoes, as well as the purple strap which holds her tanto, its good to be cautious, but he will be honest, she looks pretty badass in this getup. “It’s nothing that special.” Karai said. It maybe one of her more fashionable outfits, but it’s not something that she would wear when leading a secret ninja clan. “Yeah… But I haven't really seen you in anything else.” Leo pointed out. That is true, seeing he’s only seen her when she’s in her armor. “So, what do you think?” Karai asked, giving a small twirling, allowing Leo to have a good look. “You look, so beautiful Karai,” Leo muttered, before slapping his hand over his mouth in shock at what he said. Well, Karai’s heart just skipped a beat. “Um… good. That was what the answer I was after.” Karai thanked. ‘Get a grip girl.’ She berated herself. “So, to Mr. Murakami?” Leo asked, hoping to get out of this awkward situation. How is it they can be an effective ninja and kunoichi and yet become stiff as frozen statutes when it comes to their feelings for one another. The two decided to take one of the secondary exits. No need to have the clan members asking questions as to why the two leaders are going out. Mr. Murakami owns the small 24/7 Japanese noodle shop on the edge of Chinatown. He’s been cooking for many years, always brings his A-game to the food he makes, much to the amazement of his customers, as he does not allow his disability of being blind get in his way. Unfortunately, the area was controlled by a ruthless gang, known as the Purple Dragons. Many times they would come to his shop demanding ‘protection money’, to which he always refused. That always agitated them to mess up his shop. Thankfully, they do not go overboard with the violence. And that is when he met four incredible ‘people’. During another scheduled ‘visit’ from the Purple Dragons. Four teenage boys burst in, fought and chase off the fiendish crooks. They introduce themselves as friend’s of April, the young girl who’s father was kidnapped. But something was off about them, they smelled different, almost something inhuman. But they saved his life, who is he to judge them. He allowed them to choose any dish they desire. It was sort of surprising to hear them chose pizza. But, he considered it as a challenge. A challenge that led to one of his greatest dishes, Pizza Gyoza. He soon realized that the boys were in fact turtles. Mutated turtles when they explained their origins to him. Seeing how kind hearted all four of them were and that they saved his life again from the Purple Dragons, who had gotten help from a group of ninjas. He knows he does not have any worries and that they are some of his best customers. His restaurant also acts as a sanctuary during patrols. Speaking of his favorite customers, Leonardo had called him during the day about what he had planned. A date with the other girl, Karai. He remembers her well, though they were not quite nice visits, from the time she went after April and when she joined that tiger-man who trashed his place. But during their celebration of the defeat of their greatest enemy, he learned that most of her life was built on lies. She even apologized for those incidents that she had caused in his shop, which he forgave her for. It’s so nice to know that the turtles had made new friends and are now exploring the possibilities of having a relationship. It’s been a while since his restaurant had been used as a dating spot. Perpahs he could make something special for them. *Ding-Ding* The sound of the bell rings in his ear. The sound of two distinct footsteps enter. Ah, speaking of who. “Mr. Murakami,” Leo said as he entered the noodle shop “Ah, Leonardo. Please take a seat.” Mr. Murakami addressed, he hears two chairs nearest to the center of the counter. “Mr. Murakami-san,” Karai greeted as well. “Karai, welcome.” Mr. Murakami welcomed her with a friendly smile. “Now that you are here. Do you know what you would like?” Mr. Murakami asked, getting ready to cook. “We’d like some pizza gyozas for starters,” Leo said. “And then, we’ll have yakiniku for mains.” “An excellent choice, I’ll get right onto it.” With that said, Mr. Murakami begins cooking. A swivel of a frying pan, a pinch of spice into the boiling pot of ingredients, as he continues his masterful work of creating his most delicious meals. “So Karai, how are things going with the Foot?” Leo asked, thinking it would be productive that the two talk while Mr. Murakami cooked. “It’s been alright. Most of the clan are behind me with the goal to turn a new leaf for the Foot. Though I am slightly worried about some of them.” “Do you think some might defect back to the old Foot?” Leo asked, knowing that some might not entirely agree with what Karai is trying to accomplish. Karai nods her head in agreement. “It is possible.” “Let’s not have business get in the way of date, okay Leo.” Karai said, really not wanting them to be distracted. “Sure,” Leo replied, still slightly uncomfortable that he is on a date. What is there to talk about, they are pretty much close friends anyway. Come on Leo, think. All of a sudden, a familiar tune starts playing from Karai’s pocket. Karai grumbled and takes out her phone from the pocket. “What is it Shini?” Karai asked, not amused that her evening has been interrupted. “Oh, nothing much. Other than the question, where are you?” Shinigami asked, concerned being she had not given any notice. “I’m just having a bite to bite at Mr. Murakami’s noodle shop,” Karai informs Shini of her whereabouts. “Weird, usually you wouldn’t go unless it's something like meeting up with the guys,” Shini said, curious as to why Karai is down at Mr. Murakami’s. “Speaking of which, Leonardo came over just recently. Did you know why he came?” Karai briefly looks over at Leo, who is simply watching her, but seems to be distracted by something else. “Yeah, I saw him. He wants to know how things have been fairing between us.” Karai said, bringing up what they were just discussing. “Aw, Leo being worried about you? How heroic of him.” Shini’s mockery cooed, they both know that Leo deeply cares about her. It’s one of his attributes that Karai adores. “Heh, he does have those moments of playing the hero,” Karai admits. Leo blushes at her praise. “Good to know. Do you want some company? I’d love to have some of those Pizza Gyozas again.” Shini replied, remembering the little dumplings of pure goodness. “Nah its good to have some alone time, but if you look out for the Clan while I’m here. I’ll make sure to have a box for you, that okay to you Shini?” Karai bargained, hoping that Shini will take the deal and not come unexpectedly on their date. “Thanks, Karai. Okay, enjoy yourself.” Shini says her farewells before hanging up. Karai puts her phone back into her pocket and turns her attention back to Leo, but Leo still has that look on his face, almost as though he trying to remember something. “What?” Karai asked. Wondering what has Leo’s focus. “Was that the theme to Go Go Rangers, as your ringtone?” Leo asked flabbergasted. Karai cursed under her breath, he heard that. No use denying the truth. “Yes.” Karai drew out. Oh great, blackmail material. “That’s so awesome!” Leo shouted, a gleeful smile appearing on his face. Karai looked at Leo, baffled. The show is nothing that sacred. Sure it's got lots of good moments, like in its early seasons. but it's been dragged down thanks to how cliché the last couple of seasons have been. “It was one of the first shows we ever watched once we were able to get the tv working. The kung-fu fighting actions, which becomes giant robots against giant monsters. It was so cool! I am mean it's no Space Heroes…” Leo’s inner fanboy was now awoken, to which Karai can only rest her arm and watch as the leader of a team of ninja turns into someone that’s almost completely different… wait did he say, Space Heroes? “Space Heroes?! Is that where you're getting those cringeworthy catchphrases from.” Karai shakes her head in pity. How can a show like Space Heroes drag somebody like Leo in? “Hey!” Leo shouted defensively. “What? Leo is it. The cheap animation, character’s with no development and stories which lead to nowhere. Oh, and don’t get me started on ‘Captain Ryan.” Karai pitches the end of her nose upwards. Out of any character in the world of fiction, Captain Ryan is one of the worst leaders ever. Even when she was a child, she knew that he was a terrible character. “Leo… don’t tell me you’re a Captain Ryan fan.” Karai looks at Leo with a narrowing glare. The look on Leo’s face tells her everything. “Leo! He’s the worst of the lot. His so called ‘heroic action’ ranges from stupid to downright absurd. Honestly, I don’t get it how the creators would think that a leader would send his own crew on a hostile battlefield, only for them to simply die, to which the so-called captain regards them as the foolish ones and think, ‘yeah that’s what a leader would do.’” Karai just could not believe it how Leo can see Space Heroes as a good show. “Well… I guess Space Heroes Generation isn’t exactly as great. And I can see some of Captain Ryan’s actions as questionable.” Leo said Karai does bring so many good points… But she can ignore some of them… right? “Good at least you see that. After we have a dinner I’m going to show you some good shows.” Karai said. Now, what will be a good one to start off with. Mobile Suits Freedom Gun Fighter, The Creed of the New Beginning. “I didn’t take you much as a cartoon buff.” Leo commented, still a bit heartbroken about Karai’s opinion about his favorite show. So much for wanting to do a Space Heroes marathon with her. “Well, when Shredder wasn’t training me to become his perfect little assassin. I used the lore from those old cartoons as entertainment, I was still a kid, remember. It also gets tiring throwing the same guy over my head as fun.” Karai explained. “That and I didn’t have a gullible yet adorable ninja turtle as a means to escape my boredom, then as an ally, then to an enemy. Before he finally became one of my best friends, who is now hoping to woo himself to become someone more to me.” Karai said with her jabs. Which makes the said gullible yet adorable ninja turtle to avert his eyes away. “Karai… we're not alone” Leo looks away, a blush appearing on his face. He just could not believe she would go and say all of that… Oh, wait! Yes, he can, she would exactly do something like that. “Come on Leo. Do you honestly believe he’ll rat out our date together.” Karai said, enjoying the blushing mess that is Hamato Leonardo. “Hey, Mr. Murakami! Did you get anything of what I said.” Karai called out to the elderly chief. “Hmm. What was what?” Mr. Murakami called back. It’s clear that he heard what Karai said, but, it's also clear that he would not tell anyone of what is going on. Turning back to Leo, who had managed to calm his embarrassment. Karai’s nerves start to build and her heart starts to quicken it’s pace. ‘Okay, Karai now's your chance.’ The same voice from before called out in her head. “And do you what to know the truth about that ninja turtle?” Karai’s tone changes to a serious one. “What’s that?” Leo asked. Is she… telling her true feelings! Unknown to the both of them, they are slowly coming closer to each other. Until their, lips are but an inch away from the other. “He’d already caught my heart,” Karai whispered she feel her heart racing, beating faster than any time before now. This is it. No fooling around, she has done that a lot to him and also to herself. But this time, she means it. “Karai… I love you.” Leo whispered. His heart has been beating like crazy since Karai called him adorable and his mind cannot simply come up with any response. All he is going on is his feelings. “I love you too… Leo.” She said it, she cannot believe she actually said it. And with both saying those three forbidden words, they fell into a kiss. Holding onto each other in order for the kiss to deepen. Their hearts, which were beating as though they were wanting to break free. Are now, slow and beating to the other. “Pizza Gyozas!” The sudden appearance of Mr. Murakami with a bowl of those delicious dumplings caused both Leo and Karai to jump out of their blissful moment to tumble onto the ground. Mr. Murakami’s cheeky grin said it all. Leo and Karai dust themselves off as they get up from the floor. But seeing as there is no reason to berate the elderly chief, they return back to their seats. Mr. Murakami places the bowl in the center of the counter and hands with both a pair of chopsticks for them to use. “Um… thank you, Mr. Murakami-san,” Leo said sporting a profuse, red blush to his face. Completely embarrassed at being spooked. Karai too is a bit red-faced. Nevertheless, Leo and Karai grab their chopsticks. “Itadakimasu” Leo and Karai thanked. Leo was about to pick up his first gyoza, however, he stops when Karai grabbed the first. But instead of eating it, she brings the dumpling closer to him. “Open wide.” Oh! She wants to do that. Blushing, Leo opens his mouth. Allowing Karai to place the pizza gyoza into his mouth. He chews the dumpling up, the flavoursome ingredients melting in his mouth. Simply delicious. Leo then grabs a pizza gyoza and offers it to Karai. Karai seizes the dumpling by wrapping her tongue around it before Leo can bring the chopsticks any closer. A sly look on her face clearly piques Leo’s imagination aginst him. To which nearly makes him dropped his chopsticks thanks to Karai’s actions. Karai could not help but laugh at Leo’s perplexed look. Karai grabs another and prepares to do the same as before. Mr. Murakami listened from the kitchen smiling as Leo and Karai continued to eat, talk and laugh. It’s good to see that these two leaders are able to find connection and love between each other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 4… YES!! Out of all of the days, this was easily the hardest, being stuck on just trying to find the right words was driving me crazy! But I did it! And I am really proud of it. I hope you guys are enjoying Leorai Week as much as I am. (Then again every day is a Leorai day, the challenge is to find them.) I feel like that Karai would be a fan of the more mature action anime shows. But still, likes those shows she had seen as a child. I’m sure many of us remembered shows we liked as a kid. But now when we look back on some, we would probably ask ourselves… ‘how did we like these show again.’ Trust me I have seen many tv shows and movies that I liked from five years ago and now just think, how did I become a fan of this? (P.S. Please tell me I’m not the only one thinking why is someone like Leonardo a fan of a ‘leader’ like Captain Ryan, it makes me groan with displeasure when it comes up. Also, Space Heroes Generation is just bad. Not a fan Nick, not a fan) So, anyway, please put a comment down below, favorite and follow! Thank you, your support is much appreciated! I must aplogise for the late entery, for I have someone beta reading my stories. So expect them later than usually. Tomorrow, Day 5: Fire & Water

[midnightroseprincess]

Your fandom is... TMNT! :D

Woot woot! A peep has sent me what was probs my first and most enduring fandom. Answers down below.

Be warned that though I’ve read so many of the comics and seen a lot of all the different incarnations, a lot of these answers are gonna be answered with examples from the 2003 series, the 1990 movies, the classic comics, and the IDW comics, since those are the ones I grew up with (and thus more attached to) and in the comics’ cases, more familiar with/knowledgable of.

Also please forgive any typos.

Give me a fandom and I’ll tell you…

Favorite Male Character

Leonardo Hamato has been and always will be my favorite. Even when I was little, I could sympathize with Leo because we both had fears of failing and were burdened by the pressure to be perfect. Seeing Leo overcome these things inspired me to stick it out and overcome them to an extent, too. 

He’s also just such a good character. An encouraging older brother who would do anything (within reason and his principles) to protect and guide his family. A level-headed and strategic leader who is one of the best ninja of his generation. A humble, honorable warrior who gives opportunities to former enemies to redeem themselves and get out of abusive situations. A dork who can drop his serious brooding to goof off with his brothers and friends. His benign, deadpan sense of humor. His so-proud-of-you-even-if-you-worried-me-into-frustration pride in his little brothers. His trust in April and Usagi to the point that he allows himself to be vulnerable around them. On that note, his moments of weakness that are so realistic. He’s such a multi-layered, engaging character and I adore him. 

Also his character development helped me grow as a person… more details on that below, under Saddest Moment. 

I’ll add that my favorite version of him is the 2k3 version. 

Favorite Female Character

April O’Neil, no contest. April is a freaking delight. A professional technological programmer and hacker with knowledge of antiquities to boot. No matter what incarnation of her you pick, she’s such a likeable, reassuring presence in the TMNT universe. She grounds the turtles in a reality they were previously alienated from (aka the human world). She’s their family, and has fought tooth and nail for them (15/10 would do it again). 

I adore her relationship with the Hamato Clan. She’s this mature presence that can sit with Splinter and just say “Kids” together with him at the turtles’ antics. She’s this bird of a feather with Donatello, who has an equal in intelligence to talk to and work with. She’s this amazing older sister to Michelangelo, who answers all his questions on the human world and doesn’t expect him to keep optimistic all the time. She’s this amazing confidant to Leonardo, who can’t pull the big-brother-card on her and is so thankful that he can’t because it means he can talk to her about anything. She’s this strange mix of sister and mother to Raphael because she doesn’t shy away from his struggles with his inner demons and helps him through them. Her romance with Casey, though different in every incarnation, manages to be heartwarming and hilarious.

My favorite version of her is also from the 2k3 series, since it let her keep her technology skills. IDW April is super precious though. 

Least Favorite Character

Hm… Hard to say. The villains and secondary characters come and go, and even the most annoying villains can have a really good, terrifying episode or comic issue dedicated to them. 

All that comes to my mind are the Ninja Tribunal (who were freaking jerks) or Cousin Sid from the 2k3 series and Walker from the third live-action movie. When I think of the comic characters, all the villains and secondary characters had pretty amazing arcs at one point, so I’m cool with them. 

Favorite Ship

Capril (April O’Neil/Casey Jones) in any incarnation, pretty much. As for the others… I’d say I lowkey ship Raphael/Mona Lisa. Leonardo and Usagi go back and forth between a brotp and an otp for me. 

The love interests from the comics, I’m neutral on, because the classic TMNT writers weren’t actually all that interested in exploring the turtles’ sexuality and romance. The only one I can think of is Radical (Leo’s love interest) and her characterization was… slightly problematic. In the IDW series, they have a character named Alopex and I do like the ship tease between her and Raphael, but I’m waiting to see where it goes. 

Leorai (Leonardo/Karai) is the classic, star-crossed ship, considering one is the dutiful son of Splinter and the other is the daughter of The Shredder. I did ship them when I was growing up with the 2k3 series, but then, well, Karai tried to kill Leonardo’s entire family while he was out of the country and very nearly succeeded and destroyed their home. Talk about a ship sinker. She eventually sort of redeemed herself at the end of 2k3 but like had a romance going with Chaplin, a scientist of hers. So… I don’t know where I stand on it right now. On one hand, their dynamic is still incredibly interesting and on the other, a situation where they’d work in a healthy way would have to be an AU or the like. So I’m neutral on it a majority of the time.   

Favorite Friendship

Gosh, any of the turtles’ friendships with April, as detailed above. Otherwise, any of the kindred-spirit friendships the turtles make are all equal in my eyes. Mikey with Leatherhead, Donatello with Professor Honeycutt, Leonardo with Usagi, or Raphael with Casey. All are amazing. 

Favorite Quote

“In this life, we only have each other. If one of us goes down, we all go down. So focus.” – Leonardo. It sums up their family extremely well. 

Worst Character Death (if any)

Oh man.

SAINW. Same As It Never Was. From the 2k3 series. Just… SAINW. Everyone except April died or is presumed dead in that alternate universe by the end of that episode. On a minor note, Nano. Both times. Poor robot baby.

From the classic comics, Splinter’s death is up there, along with the death of Klunk, Mikey’s pet cat.

From the IDW series, the turtles’ death in their previous (human) lives – getting executed via beheading by The Shredder in front of Splinter (Yoshi Hamato). 

This made me so happy you have no idea Moment

The moment in the 2k3 series in Return to New York Part 1, where Donnie can’t hack into the Foot Clan’s HQ because Baxter Stockman designed the security and April just: “Too bad you don’t know anybody who used to work for Stockman,“ with that raised eyebrow of hers. Donnie just smiles back and allows her the chair to sit at the computer, she cracks her knuckles, and then hacks it in under 5 minutes. Not many of the Aprils get to keep her classic comic-self’s computer skills and that moment was SO. GOOD. The turtles even mention in following ‘previously-on’ segments that they’d have never been able to get through the building without April’s skills.

Any time Mikey shows he’s not JUST the goof but is actually the MOST interpersonally AWARE and INSIGHTFUL of all of them. An example from the 2k3 series in which he sticks up for Leo: “I think all of you should just lay off the poor guy. I mean, it can’t be fun, being the responsible one. And we’re the ones who really benefit. Raph’s free not to think ‘cause Leo does all the thinking for him. Don’s free to dream, and I’m free to take it easy, all because Leo’s busy being responsible enough for all of us.” 

The moment in the 1990 live action movie where Mikey and April team up to take down a Foot Clan ninja and it’s cemented that she’s family to the turtles. “You’re a natural, Sis!” “Thanks.” Also the turtles reactions post-battle to the Big Damn Kiss between April and Casey in the same movie. “All right April!” (Raph) / “All right Casey!” (Mikey) / “9.95!” (Donnie) / “Yeah, that’s the way to go!” (Leo). The turtles ship them so hard, you guys. 

Saddest Moment

Gosh… from the 2k3 series… the moment during his solo training where Leonardo just breaks down from the aftermath of the Exodus episodes. “I’m sorry. I’m… I - I did the best I could. I DID THE BEST I COULD! There wasn’t any more I could have done!!” and the Ancient One asks, “Then why do you blame yourself so?” And it… clicks for Leo. And at that same moment, it clicked for me too. And I started to work to get healthier coping methods for my own anxiety. Sometimes you have to realize how low you are to start building yourself up. I learned that as Leo did. It’s weird how the timing ended up working but… it did. 

In the classic comics when Raphael is turned into a normal turtle and just… everyone’s reactions to it. Especially when they go off to battle and hopefully find a way to return Raph to normal and he can’t go with them. 

In the IDW comics when the turtles realize that not only was Casey (who they’ve recently taken in out of an abusive home) nearly killed by a gunshot at the ambush at the docks, but that in the commotion of escaping, Leo was captured by their worst enemies. 

Favorite Location

Tough one. I love their second lair in the 2k3 series that has the cool cone shaped interior with cool tech makin it up that leads to the garage upstairs. They have purified water along with a working plumbing system, a sweet television set-up, enough room for everyone to live and hone their skills… it’s one of the sweeter set-ups for a layer they’ve ever had in any incarnation, which is why it was such a shame to see it destroyed. The following Reservoir Station Lair was okay but not as cool. 

That said, I still really love the underground, abandoned, and antique subway station from the second live-action movies. I adore the idea of Splinter taking the ticket station as his room and the turtles picking from the carriages. I imagine that that center carriage car is like a guest-room/sitting-room for their human peeps but the other cars are like walking into a different world based on which turtle’s room it is. The stain glass windows and antique tech lying around, the cool stairway…. the place, once free of cobwebs, is an awesome lair. 

This got REALLY long, whoops. Kind of to be expected though given how many versions of the TMNT there are. Thankies for sending it though.

[spectrumscribe]

Your Heart’s Desire

a very late submission to tmntflashfic‘s valentine’s day prompt thing, since it got insanely long, and has to be broken up into parts.

Master Post of Chapters.

————————————————————————————- Chapter Four.

“So how many more siblings do I gotta watch out for?” Casey asked, tossing a rubber ball up into the air and catching it before it hit his face. Mikey was out for the evening, and Casey figured he’d take the moment to ask some important questions. Like just how many demons were going to be gunning for his life.

Maybe he was handling this better than he should be. Hm.

“Two at least, three if we’re really unlucky,” Raph said from his position a few feet away. They were lying on the floor, because Casey was stuck on an essay, and felt like procrastinating as long as he could.

“Shit. Big family?”

“I guess. It’s big by some standards, tiny by others. Depends on what dimensional plain we’re hanging around in.”

“Who’re the other two or three sibs you got? I just got the one, and she lives back in New York with my dad.”

“Two more brothers, one older sister. Plus her wife.”

“None of the rest of you married?”

“Nah. Most demons don’t do that shit. Karai’s just a huge sap underneath all the murderous intent.”

Casey turned his head, glancing towards Raph. This was more information he’d gotten on the demon’s family in one go, in comparison to the few weeks he’d been living with Casey.

“Can you tell me about them?” Casey asked. “I’ll tell you about mine.”

Raph blew out a gust of air, and rubbed his face. “I’m technically not supposed to, and Donnie would get pissed I bet, but sure. Why not. You seem less likely to use the info against us than most humans. Too stupid to do anything useful with it.”

“Wow. Fuck you.”

Raph laughed, the sound coming from his chest. “So basically, Karai was our sire’s first ‘kid’ so to speak, and then came the four of me and my brothers. There’s a couple eon’s difference in age, and Karai lords it over us all the time. Bitch.”

“Sire?”

“Equivalent of our dad. He’s basically this near god level demon, and has claim over a good number of dimensions.”

“Dude… sick.”

“He’s less cool than he sounds. He used to be a really active power, but the last couple centuries he’s really mellowed out. He spends most of the time possessing people so he can watch his soaps.”

“Still though…” Casey said, trying to imagine Raph’s dad. He probably was huge, way huger than Raph. Probably more horns too. And spikes. Shit he should totally draw that some time. “Why’d he chill out though? If I were a demon overlord, you couldn’t get me to do that even if you tried.”

“He’s old,” Raph explained plainly. “He’s been alive longer than any mortal being can comprehend, and he’s getting ready to step down.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep. One of us’ll be next in line, unless someone tries to steal the spot like his brother did.”

“You and your sibs?”

“Yeah. It might be Karai, might be Leo. Donnie doesn’t want anything to do with it, and I’m with him on that. It’s a lot of work to police dimensions. Off chance it could be Mikey, but we’d probably see the collapse of a number of realties if that happened.”

“Yikes.”               

“Yeah. It’ll probably be Karai. She is the oldest.”

“How’s that work anyways?” Casey asked. “Like, are little demon babies are a thing?”

“Not really. Either you’re made into a demon artificially, or you’re sired as one. With sired demons, like me and my siblings, we start as semi-sentient blobs made from two or more essences, and get nurtured by whichever demon is the main ‘parent’. Mine was my dad.”

“Who was the mom then? Or did your dad have a fling with chaos or somethin’,” Casey half joked, thinking of Mikey.

Raph didn’t answer, suddenly going quiet. Casey turned to look at him again, and saw Raph staring at the ceiling with an unreadable expression. “Raph?”

“She. She, uh… she died, pretty much right after she brought us into existence,” Raph said, voice soft. “I only knew her for a little while, and then she was gone.”

“Dude, shit,” Casey said, suddenly feeling like a nosy asshole. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“No, it’s fine,” Raph said, sighing. “You asked and I answered.”

“I’m still sorry. What happened, if you don’t, uh, mind me asking about that too?”

“Well… she was human, for starters. My dad fell in love with her.”

That really got Casey’s attention. “Yooooo… demons can fall for humans?”

“Everyone can love, or so my dad says. Anyways,” Raph coughed awkwardly. “She wasn’t from this dimension, but it was close enough in design that it had humans still. My dad sort of just… met her one day, and knew she was the one. He was possessing a human at the time, and he literally bumped into her on accident.”

“Sounds kinda like a rom-com plot,” Casey commented. “But with demons.”

“Ha, yeah I guess. Point being, they fell in love, yada yada yada, and spent a few years being happy and stuff. She even knew my dad was a demon and thought it was fine.”

“She sounds like a cool lady,” Casey said honestly.

Raph grinned fondly. “Yeah. I only sort of remember her, since I wasn’t like, fully alive yet, but she was. She definitely was.” His grin slipped, and a hint of grief appeared in his eyes. “She gave her soul to my dad to save us all.”

“…how so?”

“My dad had a brother, another big time demonic influence. He wanted my dad’s turf, and he came for him when he realized my dad had created a chink in his defenses,” Raph sighed, long and heavy. “Tang Shen. She was the chink. She also ended up being the thing that defeated my dad’s brother.

“He’d poisoned us, me and my brothers. We were already starting to form inside mom, and he poisoned our essences. It was killing Tang Shen too, but it was mostly meant of us. Karai was already a fully-fledged demon, so my technical uncle went after my dad’s unborn spawn instead. Easier targets for eliminating potential successors or usurpers.

“It ended up being us or Tang Shen, and… she chose us. Told my dad to take her soul, and use its power to revive us and destroy his brother...”

“And then what?” Casey asked as Raph trailed off.

“And then he did,” Raph finished, still staring at the ceiling. “She died right after, since taking a human’s soul right away will kill them. I… I sort of miss her still. It’s been a really, really long time, but…”

Raph trailed off again, and a solemn quiet settled in the room.

Casey turned his eyes to the ceiling, feeling uncomfortable with how quickly things had gotten serious.

“That got heavy really fast,” Casey commented in a hushed voice.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“ ‘s cool. My turn then.” Casey tossed his rubber ball again, and caught it as it fell. “I got my dad and my sister still, but I, uh, lost my mom too. She got pretty sick one year when I was still a kid, and just… never got better. It sucked really bad for a long time. My dad had it especially hard, since he had two kids to feed, a whole lot of bills to deal with, and not a lot of extra support. So I. Uh. I get it. Missin’ your mom even after a long time.”

“…hey Casey?”

“Yeah Raph?”

“Lemme try something.”

Casey felt more than saw the runes appear on his chest, and watched as it fizzled out again right after. He blinked, sitting up halfway to put a hand on the spot. “What was that for?”

“I was seeing if… if what you’d wanted was your mom to come back. I could do that. One soul for another. Um. It wasn’t though. I’m sorry.”

Casey blinked, and bit his lip.

That sounded too good to be true, and he wasn’t sure what he thought of his past self for not taking that chance. Even if he hadn’t known there was one.

“It’s fine,” Casey said quietly. “You gotta keep moving forwards an’ stuff no matter what. ‘s my motto. I’m not really surprised I didn’t ask for that.”

Casey missed his mom, and probably always would, but he wasn’t sure if he could do that to his family. To his mom. Bring her back and throw everything into chaos.

It was probably best he hadn’t made that his desire, even if the idea dragged back up old hurts. Of wanting to give anything to get her back.

Casey swallowed thickly, and rubbed his eyes.

Raph didn’t say anything, other than shifting onto his side, facing away from Casey. After a minute, Casey lay back down as well.

They lay there in silence, Casey listening to the kitchen clock ticking, and the slow breaths Raph was taking.

Oh god things had gotten awkward. Heavy and awkward. Why had Casey even asked that shit?

He’d wanted to know more about demons, not dead moms. Why did things always turn into dead moms?

Life imitates art or something like that.

“You wanna go play street hockey?” Casey asked, trying to get rid of the smothering feeling of grief.

“Yeah. Yeah I do. Don’t fuck up your knee this time.”

“No promises.”

Mikey didn’t come home that night, and Casey knew that for sure because he fell asleep on the couch with Raph, waiting up for the wayward demon.

Casey woke briefly, because some red light had been hovering over him, and it’d roused him.

“ ‘s goin’ on…” Casey slurred, mostly asleep still.

“Shh, it’s nothing,” Said a dark shape close by him. “Go back to sleep.”

“Raph…? What’re you doin’…”

“Just… just something. Don’t worry about it. Just go back to sleep already, I’ll see you in the morning.”

Maybe a few weeks ago, Casey would’ve woken up all the way and demanded to know what was happening. But now?

“Sure,” Casey mumbled, turning onto his side and pushing his face into the couch cushions. “Go t’ sleep yourself though. ‘s fuckin’ late…”

“I will. I promise.”

“ ‘kay…”

Casey trusted Raph enough not to do weird shit while he was asleep. He could rest and not have to worry about anything.

But Raph wasn’t there when he woke up, which set off a couple alarm bells in Casey’s head. It was weird, waking up to an apartment empty except for him. He’d gotten used to having another individual around twenty-four-seven.

Casey made himself a quick breakfast, and ate it quietly in his empty feeling kitchen.

The demon showed up around lunch, casual as anything as he waltzed in through the balcony doors, tucking his wings back into nonexistence as he did. Casey didn’t ask where Raph had been, and Raph didn’t supply any answers.

They had chicken strips (Casey’s) and raw beef (Raph’s) for dinner, and didn’t discuss anything from the day before.

 Casey was smoking on his balcony, because that was where you supposed to smoke dammnit, when he received yet another unwanted visitor.

Said unwanted visitor sped by his balcony, grabbing Casey as they went, and as Casey was swept up into the air yet again- he figured it might be time to quit smoking.

Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, the demon that’d grabbed him dropped Casey onto the roof of his apartment complex. Landing with sweeps of their huge- seriously huge- wings, the lithe demon loomed over Casey.

Casey scrambled to his feet, squaring up against the newcomer. Shit, was this a big one. Casey kept his hands steady anyways. “Okay motherfucker, I don’t know which one of Raph’s bros you are, but back the hell off! I’m not ‘enthralling’ him or whatever, so you can cool it with the trying to kill me thing!”

"̷O͡f ̵ço̶u͜rs͡e h̛e͟ pi̛c̵k͘ed͡ ̧a ̕m̀oųt͏h҉y o̵ne͢,"͜ The demon growled, flashing teeth as he stalked around Casey. The demon was a lot taller than Raph and Mikey had been, and leaner all around. He looked like he was built for pure speed, and reach too if the tail was as flexible as it seemed.

Casey was so busy examining the demon’s differences from his brothers, he missed the moment Raph’s unidentified brother attacked.

The demon was suddenly on top of Casey again, slamming him down against the concrete rooftop with a huge hand on his chest. The demon’s teeth were then right in front of Casey’s face, and he got a hot gust of demon breath blown right in his face.

Casey wheezed, feeling his ribs bruise and his lungs nearly collapse.

"͞Lęt̨'s j̵u͟st ̴gét ͘t͜his ov͞e̕r ̡w͡i̶th͝,"̢ The demon said in a put upon tone, opening his jaws wide and bearing down on Casey’s neck.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE, DONNIE!”

The demon- Donnie apparently- snapped his jaws shut right in front of Casey’s nose, and leaned his long neck away. The tips of his long horns caught the daylight as he looked evenly at his furious brother. "̡Ŗa̵p̴h͝.̡ ̛Lòng͞ ̨ti̛m̢e no ́see.͢I ͢w͡as ̛ju̴s̶t̷ ͠ta͡k̷i̕n̷g c͞are ͝of ̕thin̨gs."

Casey turned his head, and woozily caught sight of a more familiar demon he knew.

Wow Raph did look pissed.

“I said-” Raph growled, snapping his wings out as he took a threatening step towards the larger demon. “-don̡'t y̛ou͠ f̴ưc̷k̴ing ͟d̛a̶r͝e.͏"

Donnie huffed, still not easing his hold on Casey’s steadily collapsing chest. "̡I'm not ̵ǵo̢ing̷ ̀t҉o͠ l̢e̡t y̢ou̴ ̀do͝ ̵t̀hi͟s̡ ̀to yours͟elf͜ ągain,̸ ͠Rap͘h. It'ş ̡for ̛y͡o͞ur͏ o͟w͞n̢ ǵo̶od͞.̢"

"́Y͟ou d͟o͟n't͡ ̀g̶et͏ ͘to make th͢at̸ dec͞i̴si͢o͘n̸ fo̴r͏ ͞me̶,̢"͘ Raph said in a hissing voice, steadily shifting closer and closer to full demon form. Scales covered his arms and crawled up his neck, same time as Raph’s eyes turned pure green. "́N͏o ̢o̸n͠e͞ ͘d̢oes.̨"

"Oh ͡pl̶ea̕s͘e͡,̡ h͡e'͜s͟ ͘n͏ơt̢ ͢w͠o̷rt͏h҉ i̵t̛.̶ ͝H̕e̵'͡ś b̴ar̨ély ̷wǫr͡th̕ ́ȩat́iņg̵.̡ A̧nd ̴b͡es͘ide͞s,͠ ͢it͠'s not ̸like̢ ͟you ҉a̶ĺready m-̧" Donnie broke off, as something flickered in the air too fast for Casey’s blackening vision to catch. Even with the reptilian features and steady loss of oxygen in his brain, Casey read dawning horror in the demon’s expression.

"Y̷ơu ͏d̡idn̶'͟t,͘"͘ Donnie said, not asked, in a quiet voice.

“Just get off him, Dee. You know the rules,” Raph said in a low tone, his own voice returned to normal reverberation.

It took another moment, but Donnie’s stupidly huge hand lifted off Casey’s aching ribs, and he sucked in a much needed gush of air.

Casey saw spots in his vision, and tilted sideways as he tried to stand up. Someone’s arm caught him though, and Casey found himself being supported by Raph.

“Why’re all your brothers-” He coughed. “-assholes,” Casey asked, throat raspy and feeling aches blooming all around his rib cage.

Donnie sneered at them both. "Ǹo͡ w̨o̵rd͢ fr̕om ̢y͏o̢ù ̸fo̢r͝ ̸o͠v̕èr a̷ ̢mo҉ntḩ, ̶a͡nd I̵ f͡i̵nd y̛ou ͢lik͏e҉ this͜.̧ A͠n͠d o̡nly͠ bèc̕au͏s͞e̛ M̧ike̢y͜ ̵c͝a̷me̕ a̛nd͟ tol͠d͜ ̨me̸ ̵w̛h͡a̴t͏ y͢o̵u̡'̡d bee͡n up͘ t͜o." ͠

“What I do in my spare time doesn’t concern you,” Raph said, stepping defensively in front of Casey.

"It d͝oés̢ ͏s̴o!" Donnie exclaimed, stomping one of his front limbs. "̡I'm̀ ̷ąl̵l͘o͞wed to be ̀çonc͢ern͢ed͠ w̷h͏e̷n͜ ̶my broth͡èr͜ v̀an̡ìs͠he̕s̶ ͡f̢ór͞ ́w͟ee͏ks̀ on̴ ̨e̷nd̨,͞ ̷aǹd̵ ̷t͞u̶ŕn̡s̢ o͠ut͘ t͝o͟ h̶a͘v̶e̴ beén h͠i͘ḑin͟g o̵u͝t wi͞t̨h̴ ͟a ́h̴uma̕n̸ ͘ţh͜ís ẃh́ol̕e ̢t҉im̨e!"̡

“He’s not hiding out,” Casey interjected. “He’s stuck here ‘cause I made a contract with him, and then forgot what for.”

Donnie shot him a look, luminous red eyes glaring harshly at Casey. "̛S͢h̸ut up. I͞ do̶n̶'̀t͠ want t͘o҉ he͟ar ̕ęxcu̵ses fróm̷ ͝s͜o͞m̧e̕ s͝t͏up̕i̷d ͜hu̡m̡an my̢ brother͞'s̷ ͜t͜a͡k͜en͘ to."

“Hey! You don’t get to talk to him like that, Donnie,” Raph said, jabbing a finger at his much taller brother. “I’m the only who does.”

"̨R̨a͢ph, quít͏ ̀i͠t w͠įth͘ th͡i̴s̵ ͟nonsenşe,͝ ͜and̷ jus͢t̀ ki̡l̶l̢ h͟i̛m ̕aĺre͠ady͞," Donnie said, lowering his head to be eye level with Raph. "̸T̶her͠e͠'̵s ́no̢ ͠pòi͘n̵t įn p̢ur͞s͡ui̵ng ͞t͡his̢. ̶Y̧ou ̷k̀n͢òw̡ ͡ḩow̕ ̴i̸t'̨l̢l͜ ́en̸d͟.͘ ͜L͟et'͘s͏ j͝u͢st ̧go̸ hơme án͜d ͜f̵o͏r͠ge͏t th̛is ȩve͜r̨ ha͘p̨p͡ene͘d͡."̶

“No.” Raph growled, not giving an inch.

Donnie flashed his teeth, and he rose back to his full height. His wings snapped out again, and his tail whipped around behind him. "̡I ͠g̀ųe̷s͜s̀ I͞'ll̢ hàv͠e̕ to ųse ̕forc̕e t͝h̸e͡n."̛

“Fucking br͡iņg ҉i͘t̶,"̧ Raph growled, starting to get bigger.

Casey was caught between ‘hell yes demon battle’ and ‘oh fuck demon battle’- when Donnie’s tail whipped across the roof the wrong way, and demolished the small garden in the corner.

Casey’s terror/excitement took a nosedive, and turned into pure horror.

The sound of clattering across the rooftop made everyone pause, and Casey turned slowly to look for the source.

April was standing in the open doorway from the rooftop entrance, her tools and watering can dropped on the ground beside her. She was staring at the disaster zone Donnie had made of her garden, clutching only her broom still.

Casey grabbed Raph’s shoulder, and started to tug him away from the danger zone. “Okay, we’re leaving now.”

“What? No, Casey I have to-”

“My garden,” April said, voice just loud enough to be heard across the roof. “You destroyed my garden.”

Donnie turned a condescending look on her, and scoffed. "͘Th͟i̸s͠ dóes̶n̕'͏t c̕o͞nc̛er̢n͞ ỳo͝u, m̸òr̸t̶al͟.͞ ̷Leáv̢e̸ w͠hi̕le ̴y͝ou st͡ill can."

“That was five months of work,” April said, pale and wide eyed. Her grip around her broom tightened to knuckle white. “Five months of work. Gone. I was writing my whole thesis on it.”

"I͘s s̡h̛è ̨d͟e͟af? ̛I told ͏her͏ ͠to l̀e̡a͠v̸e̛ ͝a̕lre̕a̵d̢y̵-"

“FIVE. MONTHS .OF WORK!” April suddenly shouted, causing everyone to jump, even Donnie. She’d lost the shocked expression on her face, and turned it into pure fury. “AND THIRTY PAGES OF THESIS! GONE. WORHTLESS.”

“Okay I see your point,” Raph whispered in an abruptly small voice, willingly backing away now. Casey nodded jerkily, and tugged Raph towards the edge of what was probably going to be the splash zone for blood.

April marched across the roof, broom swinging in her grip as she did, straight towards the visbily unsettled dragon-demon responsible for her garden’s violent death.

April glared up at Donnie, no hint of any fear from their height differences. “Shrink down. I know you can, because he can.” She pointed at Raph, who was trying to slip behind Casey. “So do it. Shrink down right. this. second.”

Donnie looked down at her, seeming confused by April’s commanding tone. "U̵h- ͡ex̶cu͟se me̢-?"

April swung her broom around in a vicious swing, and made contact with a harsh slap to Donnie’s side. He yelped, and tried to shy away, only for April to chase after him.

“SHRINK DOWN!”

"̨You'r̶e̡ i͝nsa̢n͜e͘!"

“DO IT!”

"N͝O̶!́"̴

“Do it or so HELP ME GOD-!”

Casey watched his neighbor and best friend chase the demon sizes bigger than her, using only a broom and her terrifying temper to cow him. Raph had fully hidden himself behind Casey at that point, and Casey did his best to shield his other friend from April’s wrath.

Eventually, after April managed to land several consecutive hits to Donnie’s head and horns, he poofed into smoke, and rematerialized as a long haired human with tall horns. “Okay! I did it! Leave off you insane woman-”

April whacked him across the shins with her broom, literally sweeping Donnie’s long legs out from under him.

“Now fix it, you over grown lizard!”

“Fix what?! OW!”

“MY GARDEN!!” April screamed, pure fury in her voice. Her red hair flared up around her head, exactly like fire in the wind. She looked more demonic than the lanky man on the ground, currently trying to protect his tall horns and long tail from her broom.

Donnie then yelled something Casey couldn’t quite understand, and he stumbled for a moment- vision skewing violently. Raph steadied from behind thankfully, a warm hand placed in the center of Casey’s back.

April seemed utterly unaffected, continuing her assault on Donnie. The two of them were back to throwing insults at one another, and Donnie actually seemed a bit scared now. April continued whacking him with her broom anyways.

Casey- shaking off whatever Donnie had just done to his hearing- managed a wince on behalf of the fallen demon. “I actually feel sorry for the dude.”

“Me too,” Raph said, now fully hidden behind Casey. Though, he apparently didn’t feel sorry enough for his brother to actually intervene.

“Ooooooh shit. Dee’s really getting it now.” A cheery voice said from behind them. Casey glanced over his shoulder, and saw a mostly human Mikey clinging to the roof railing. He waved to Casey.

“Mikey! You told Donnie where I was?” Raph hissed accusingly at his brother.

“Nuh uh! Just that you were okay and junk, and sorta maybe chillin’ with a human.”

“Mikey.”

“Hey, at least I didn’t say anythin’ to Leo or Karai! Or Shini. Yikes.”

“Are you giving him our names?!” Donnie shrieked across the roof. “Guys! What have we talked about?!”

Mikey shrugged with a guiltless grin. “Hey, Raph did it first.”

“Names mean a thing?” Casey asked, struggling to keep track of the situation.

“Yes, yes they mean a thing!” Donnie exclaimed. “It would have been nice to know that you’ve both been handing them out like candy, and that Raph’s human’s neighbor was a witch!”

“April’s a witch?” Casey asked, even more confused. “April, you’re a witch and you never told me??”

“Don’t call me names!” April yelled, sweeping at Donnie again. “Just because you’re in trouble doesn’t mean you get to call me names!”

“April’s a witch? What?” Casey questioned again, this time aiming it at the demon hiding behind his back.

“I thought you knew!” Raph said in a panicked voice.

“I thought so too!” Mikey added.

“I DIDN’T SO WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!” Donnie yelled over April’s broom whacking.

April, apparently unbothered by the side conversations that’d developed, hit Donnie again. “Fix it!”

“I AM, you psychotic woman- ACK-!”

“Yeesh, so no movie night tonight?”

“Not the priority here, idiot!”

“I don’t know what’s happening anymore but guys please don’t attract her attention over here she’ll- APRIL WAIT I HAD NO PART IN THIS-”

“STOP BRINGING DEMONS INTO OUR APARTMENT!”

April being a witch made a horrendous amount of sense. The plants, the insane natural talent she had with chemicals and science in general, the bizarre way she’d been dealing so fearlessly with Casey’s accumulating demon population…

Casey thought it was amazing.

April didn’t think as much.

“That sounds fake,” She said, arms crossed to the demon she was staring down.

Donnie, who had managed to get off the ground again now that things were calmed down, stared back at her. “You are. I can sense latent power all around you.”

“Fake.” April said again. “I don’t believe you for a second. Witches don’t exist.”

“I’m a demon, I’m standing right in front of you. You’ve been living with a demon, if only by association, for more than a month. How can you deny that witches exist?”

“You have to draw the line somewhere, and I’m drawing it here.”

“I don’t understand you humans. At all.”

She’d raised her broom threateningly in response, and Donnie had backed off with his hands raised.

April had eyed them all, eyed her restored garden, and then hefted her broom again. Everyone got the message.

Then she’d left, flipping her loose ponytail over her shoulder as she did.

Casey laughed aloud as she shut the door behind her. “Wow! I can’t believe none of us died! That’s a relief. Now someone explain my best friend being a witch. Seriously. What the fuck.”

Something then lashed out at his head, and Casey didn’t even have time to react before Raph yanked him down, and Donnie’s clawed hand was caught by Raph’s.

“Dammnit,” Donnie cursed shortly.

“I just said-” Raph growled, yanking his much taller brother to his level. “-don’t touch him.”

“And I just said-” Donnie growled back, knocking his long horns and forehead against Raph’s. “-this is going to end in disaster.”

“Oh my god, none of you have any chill,” Casey said, trying to wiggle out of Raph’s restraining grip.

Both of the quarreling demons let out rolling snarls, and Casey was practically tossed aside by Raph as they started fighting again.

The roof was covered in black smoke, and then there were two huge dragons wrestling right in front of Casey. He very closely avoided getting smacked in the face by Donnie’s whipping tail.

And- shit- the cement was cracking, and Raph’s mouth was starting to glow and produce smoke, and Donnie’s was crackling with purple light, and everything smelt like ozone and rain and sort of like a forest fire-

-they both summoned magic circles, bright red against bright purple, and-

-a giant portal opened up underneath them, and they both fell into with surprised bellows.

The orange ringed portal closed up without a sound, and it was like there’d never been demons around to begin with.

Casey looked over at Mikey, who was still holding his hands out with his legs apart.

Mikey looked at Casey, and gave a winning smile. Complete with deadly canines.

“What the fuck.” Casey said, not asked.

“They needed time to cool off,” Mikey explained.

“So you sent them to hell?”

“Maaaaybe?? I don’t know. It just sort of- poofed them off? Somewhere?? They’re gonna come back don’t worry. Donnie’s good at finding his way home, no matter where I poof him.”

“Oh my god.”

“Soooo…” Mikey gave him a cat-ish grin, coy and sly. “Can we go eat all the raw meat and watch a movie till they get back? I mean, they’ll probably get a snack along the ways anyhoo, so like, they ain’t gonna miss that meat, right? Ha ha.”

Mikey’s tail was lashing around excitedly, the curly crest on it bouncing around as it did. He looked way too proud of himself and way too okay with the fact that Raph and Donnie were probably going to come back pissed.

Casey thought for a moment.

Hm. If worse came to worst, he could just call his friendly neighborhood witch to subdue everyone. And speaking of-

“We can if you tell me about April being a witch.”

“Oh totally, and I get dibs on the steak too!”

“Uh. Wasn’t gonna eat it, so sure.”

Technically Raph had been planning to, but keeping Mikey from eating things that weren't exactly dead yet was more important.

next part.

[spectrumscribe]

I live commented on the latest (and very leaked) episode of TMNT and this was the result.

Spoilers below, obviously speaking. Avoid if you don’t want to see this shit before you see the actual episode of Owari.

Not much of a break down or analysis of the episode, just me being salty about a lot of things.

----------------------------

Finally he’s fucking dead

Why did they bury him don’t they cremate folks in japan

Oh fuck no he’s still alive

Wait no he’s a ghost, fucking great.

Oh real helpful advice splinter thank you

No he’s not the fucking sensei he’s their idiot older brother don’t tell him he has more power than he does

Oh oh he’s leaving

Fucking bye splinter, real useful advice as always.

Now the hospital scene. God. Karai I’m sorry your life sucks you didn’t deserve this.

Oh hey they mentioned Casey has an actual family. Whoa. It’s only been like two three seasons since they did.

Ew hand holding

Ew touchy hand holding

Nice a montage scene

Casey you disaster I love you, I can’t believe he did that to shredder’s mask. Oh wait yes I can he’s Casey.

Okay everyone looks like they’ve been listening to too much MCR and I can’t tell if I hate it or love it.

At least April is untouched.

Kay I have to admit, the sneaky black look when they’re in the actual dark is p cool.

Also April killin it as always. Thank you for that nick.

Y’all have been at this for like three years stop tempting fate and saying the Thing every time you get a break.

Real strategic guys, go straight for the cliff. Nice.

Aw shit its Xever. Finally someone who knows what they’re doing at least most of the time.

Apparently Raph leveled up since the last time he fought Xever. Nice.

Whoa cold, leaving him to suffocate. I like.

I can’t believe it only took a whole four seasons to get the kids on board with the murder plan.

Yo what the retromutagen is back?? Where the shit has it been all this time.

Omg the reason stockman has been a fly all this time is because he liked it. He actually liked it. Wonders never cease.

“Michael” omfg

“Michael” I can’t get over that. That’s almost as strange as Mikey saying “papa” out of nowhere.

At least bebop and rocksteady don’t forget Casey and April like the plot often does. Thanks guys.

Oh hell yes some Donnie ninja action for the first time in forever. Donnie hurry Casey is about to die and you’re not the one to do it.

Wow I can’t believe they finally remembered the shit Donnie can do when used correctly. Beautiful.

OH SHIT ROBOT ARM NICE

“-all of your hands,” nice

Ooh clockwork hands are nifty. Loving the steampunk.

Okay so April can take a full on punch from tigerclaw but not one slash from shredder on the arm, like what??? Continuity, people, please.

And Leo continues to have bad catch phrases in battle. Bring this back more often thanks.

OH SHIT MORE TIGERS

YES

Bruh wait has tigerclaw been chillin with a bunch of actual tigers

This seems like furry shit

I’m calling it he’s a cat fucker

MOLOTOV COCKTAIL THE NINJA EDITION YEEEAAAAH

Oh and we conveniently leave the humans behind. nice.

Showdown. Fuck yeah.

A family that murders together stays together. Kill a bitch, boys.

Actually working together in battle, nice nice. Everyone’s getting their shots in, I’m loving it.

OH FUCK IS IT GONNA BE DEE?

no of course not, who am i kidding why would they let him do anything cool in this hell show.

Retromutagen time. Oh no it doesn’t fucking work, of course it didn’t work.

DEE NO

Oh nvm his boyfriend and girlfriend saved him.

But shit he can’t get back up. Convenient.

YES MIKEY GO BEAT HIS ASS

NO DON’T

FUCK- well there he goes too. Bye Mikey, RIP.

The first they show of how scary he is in seasons and he’s thrown off a building. Ugh.

And there goes Raph too. At least he smashed shredder’s head against shit before then.

Oh shut up Leo shredhead obvs gives no shits anymore. Don’t try guilting him now.

HA HIS ARM

FUCKING

WOW JUST LIKE KARAI NOW YOU CAN BE TWINSIES

Rat dad no this is not the time for a vision

“Fear nothing” um excuse me that’s not helpful here

Wtf why was Leo’s sword able to defeat shredder but not fucking Karai’s, who had a direct shot at his stupid radioactive heart

I call bullshit

BULLSHIT

also

OH FUCK ITS HIS HEAD

Wait no it’s not a head. I thought it was a head.

The end- oh wait no more hetero

“-what no one else could,” like you?? Why is she just letting this go? Karai don’t let it go. You wanted the bastard dead and you didn’t get to do it yourself why are you not mad.

What happened to Leo’s broken arm. Did he healing hand it when no one was looking and not share that with Karai. Wtf.

Well that was a horrendously out of character moment from Raph. Thanks nick.

Everyone emerges from the shadows to cockblock Leo, bless.

Why are you all out in the middle of daylight holy fuck

Guys get underground it’s like noon or something

“Right, sensei?” guys Leo’s talking to thin air you should do something about that

And we pan out with a watermark in the sky of splinter. Real classy.

Okay but

WHERE IS SHINI

HELL WHERE IS EVERYBODY

Guys you had like, an armada of friends who are basically tanks why didn’t you use them to defeat shredder.

Wtf

-------------------

Okay so all in all- yikes.

Ignoring some continuity errors, it just felt… kind of really rushed? Also a bit forced in specific areas.

The whole “Leo defeats the big bad” thing is really bothering me. This was a family fight. The whole family. That should have been the brothers all together, their friends who are basically their extended family now, and Karai maybe?? Since she’s actually related to and very deeply involved in this mess??

But nope. Lone Wolf Leo strikes again. As per fucking usual. I don’t know how they’re expecting Leo to lead the team, honestly. His skills on teamwork need some serious polishing. (The whole “you are their father and master now” thing with splinter last ep is still seriously bothering me. Like…. Eugh.)

Definitely not a fan of how things worked out. We barely saw the other brothers do much of anything, Karai was flipping bed ridden- I swear she wasn’t that injured in the last episode, I’m calling bull- and Casey and April were utterly exiled from the final showdown.

Nvm that the Mutanimals- who lost their only safe refuge and literal home in all this- weren’t even mentioned. Also Shini. Where did that beautiful murder lady get off to? She was fine in the last ep, why didn’t she show up and shank shredder for her wonderful senpai?

And the retromutagen. Seriously, that’s been completely ignored for over a season, and it suddenly shows up again. There’s been a number of innocent mutants come and gone who could have used that stuff. Feels weird that the boys never even offered them the chance at humanity again. (Karai too, have they even told her it exists?? Though I doubt she’d take that offer, it’d still be nice if they at least told her she has the choice.)

((What is it with this show and taking choices away from characters? More specifically the female ones.))

At least we got an explanation why stockman was still a fly. Wow is he a weirdo. Gotta love him for it though.

So yeah, lots of dropped points here. Important points. Would have been nice to actually mention a few of them, even just in passing.

Over all I didn’t feel much emotion or gravity from the episode. Mostly just salt. I’ll bet people will be crying all over the place about what happened in this thing and I’ll just be sitting here feeling nothing but sodium powered emotion.

I’m still kind of really laughing over the whole MCR look though. I can’t wait to see all the angsty AMV’s that come from this, it’ll be fucking hilarious.