#like you can focus on a lot more characters than just Shredder

[signanothername]

Me hoping beyond hope that Draxum, Big Mama, Hueso, the Foot Lieutenant and Brute, Todd and the minor villains like Hypno, Warren, Ghostbear, Repo, Meatsweats, Alberto and the Sando brothers to become an integral part of the tmnt franchise and we get to see them in future iterations

Like I’m sorry but Rise has so many awesome, diverse and memorable cast of characters that i’d really love to see more plz plz plz

Like tbh the TMNT franchise is in dire need of new characters to explore new dynamics and new storylines instead of merely focusing on the Foot, Krang and Shredder

Like you can do a lot more than focusing on the main main villains tbh

Idk maybe it’s just me, but I think future iterations could absolutely use some of the Rise characters as a base to explore new things

[teethstitch]

Since you are into TMNT I am curious what’s your opinion on each of the turtles in general since you seem to be into all iterations of them /gen question

ooh fascinating question. unsure if you mean each individual turtle from each gen or just each gen itself but i'll go into both!

so i actually have a tmnt powerpoint i'm working on right now, so i'll lift some stuff but obviously i won't lift it all, ill go in franchise order. shows and comics in order (show specific comics will go in the show sections) and then movies. spoilers for pretty much every single thing i talk about. if you haven't finished a specific iteration just skip the paragraph about it

Mirage

I havent read too much of mirage, though i'm sure its good i find it a bit visually noisy and actually struggle to read it- my vision is fine as far as i know and i don't usually have trouble with other black and white comics but man mirage is hard to read, whenever eastman would draw for idw annuals or issues i'd have a hard time getting through them because even though the style is cool i just can't see anything, so yeah, that for the time being kind of sums up my thoughts on mirage, i think the shredder worm shark is funny as hell though. i suppose the only thing of note i have an opinion on is the april race debate - wherein by one of them she was thought of as white and the other thought of her as non-white (i can't remember which ethnicity), so based on that i've seen people say that means she's white or the other ethnicity but since they're co authors i've just gone with the idea that mirage april is biracial. that's about the only mirage thing i can actually give my two cents on, moving on!

1987

I really like 1987, i haven't watched it all but trust me i'm slogging through it o7. i adore the animation mistakes, the way they give one turtle another turtles lines, and i think the characterisation is pretty solid. sometimes the show can feel tedious to watch personally, which is why i love saturday morning adventures, it's a much more concise, thought out version of the show itself and is a beautiful love letter to the show (they also finally sent usagi home :'D). obviously it went on for way longer than it realistically needed to, a majority of episodes basically mean nothing unless they introduce new characters, its the one piece of the franchise, lots of filler, i still think it's great though. i also love shredders revenge, it was the first tmnt game i've played since joining the fandom and similar to SMA it is a genuinely beautiful love letter to the community and franchise, i'm an avid cross stitcher as well so pixel games make me happy because i can stitch straight from the game sprites, which i've been doing :3. I love how the turtles are characterised, Cam clarke is iconic and i love shredder and krangs dynamic, irma has become the love of my life and much to my dismay i love the neutrinos which sucks because they're only present elsewhere in idw, i'm doubtful but begging Tottmnt to bring them back.

2003

2003 is by far my favourite of the shows, i actually enjoyed fast forward unlike much of the tmnt fandom, i thought it was fun, though sterling was meh to me, i just didn't like him - even though i liked fast forward i can personally admit the show dealt with similar issues to 1987 of just. extending itself. when they were able to focus on plots and do arc episodes was great, but the seasons could have definitely been cut down sometimes because the formula of an episode was beholden to ads, which meant every 5 minutes someone had to say something shocking or nearly die only for it to be dissuaded or continued after the ad break, watching it digitally now with no ad breaks was kind of funny though because i would be up late sometimes and delirious and the 03 singers yelling 'teenage mutant ninja turtles' at me while mikey or other did a cool move entertained me much more than it should have. I really love that the opening scene is recreation of the first scene in the mirage comics, even if i have trouble reading it i think thats cool and fun, i love all the turtles voices and characterisation, i never have any complaints about voice in any iteration but especially not here, they all feel perfect. the fandom is a big part of the joy of 03 for me, but i do still love watching my favourite episodes back from time to time, and like any good 03 fan i can scream about good genes and same as it never was like a banshee, though i do also have a lot of thoughts on other arcs dw. usually i find it easier to pick a favourite turtle iteration to iteration but man is it hard here, they all have their moments, i think the humour and the darkness are played really well (cough except for when leo got stabbed in the shoulder and i had no idea where he got stabbed until he got a scar next episode because there was no blood). I was drawn into the fandom by rise and it will always hold a special place in my heart but 2003 is far and away my favourite iteration. forever sad about the dreamwave comics being cut short and no one picking them up. we deserve more official 03 comics.

IDW

I'm also still reading idw - don't kill me its long and also theres just a lot of turtles stuff to get through, okay? I really have enjoyed it thus far, i jumped for joy when the neutrinos were revealed, i hated chet with a passion and they somehow wormed me back in with the fugitoid reveal, i will say similar to watching 03 digitally and just getting hit with the before ad and after ads cutaways back to back, there's a bit of an annoyance in trying to find and read everything in exact order, because missing a micro/macro or short side story like the secret history of the foot can kind of screw you over, so when someone says they're reading idw its not actually the 150 issues, its well over 200, though i haven't counted specifically. if you read the powerpoint pictures you'll see the artist death match, basically i was just going to pit them against each other by choosing the best design of reoccurring characters and the artist would get the point, there are some great artist who had a hand in this series, i can't deny all of them are talented, but man some of them are just not for me, getting through an arc with a style i don't like is a breath of fresh air, right now my main example of a style i like is Mateus Santolouco - not all the character designs are my favourite but the secret history of the foot clan was gorgeous, especially karai, she's always been one of my favourite characters. i enjoy idw, i think the worst thing i can say about it really is sometimes theres styles i don't like and akin to other comic series it can be stupidly difficult to figure out the exact reading order when you're not there from the beginning.

2012

possibly controversial (definitely, i'm lying to myself), 2012 is probably my least favourite of the franchises shows (no, its not below next mutation, just talking animated main shows). just to explain myself, I do LIKE the show, but of the shows i find its the least in line with my humour, the gross out humour is a little more uncomfortable for me given the 3d style, i can't deny the story is probably the most well done of any of the shows thus far, i do enjoy the story and i think even non relevant episodes to the main storyline do a good job of serving some kind of purpose to character development or giving the viewer a look into the world, it is by no means a bad show, i would never say it is, i do like it, but for myself personally i struggle to sit down and rewatch because of some of the things i pointed out and some other things like the way apritello is written, leorai (shudders), idk why but 2012 splinter just annoys me, i will say the turtles and april are really enjoyable characters, i find most of the characters (karai, casey, some of the minor villains even) pretty engaging, everyone feels really fleshed out and similar to 03 the voice acting is on point, though this iteration isn't my favourite in terms of rewatchability, i audibly cheered when i realised shelldon was greg cipes, when he said booyakasha i was on the floor weeping. 2012 is a show that i would watch on occassion when it was on, its the one i technically grew up with, though i wasn't really into tmnt as a kid, but greg cipes was pretty much my childhood as a big teen titans kid, as well as mae whitman, i was a big tinkerbell kid, so those 2 are a huge highlight of the show for me. my feelings on 2012 are pretty confusing, but i still do like the show, its just if anyone (like you) asked, i would have to say its technically my least favourite, but again, by no means means that its bad, because it isn't, it's just not really as for me as the other shows. the '12 comics i enjoy, i haven't read too many but the batman crossover was sick as hell, style wise the 2012 comics are solid, while i don't think 2012 looks bad as a 3d show i would personally be more drawn to it if it was 2d like the comics, i just prefer 2d.

Rise (2018)

As previously mentioned, like many others rise was my formal introduction as a teen/now adult into the tmnt fandom, for a while it kind of stood out as my favourite before 03 topped it, but still i love it with all my heart and i rewatch episodes frequently. i think the voice casting was on point, i had recently finished ducktales so ben schwartz and josh brener were welcome surprises, kat graham was in perth for a con recently and i was so sad she wasn't scheduled for the melbourne run of that con and was heavily tempted to go just to see her, rise april is definitely my favourite of all aprils, while i think its a fun dynamic when April is an adult and sort of an aunt figure to the turtles, rise april really killed the older sister thing, every episode she's in is a treat, omar miller and brandon smith (am i meant to put middle/second names i have no idea) were stunning choices for raph and mikey, rise raph is so brotherly and silly, he just brings so much heart to raph, Mikey is so much fun in rise, i can get caught up in inflection and the way a line is said and there's a lot of variety with Mikey's lines, its funny and i couldn't ask for better delivery, i think they're all good at it but brandon knocks it out of the park with mikey. So, partially the blame goes to 03 but rise was also what got me into usagi yojimbo, it's kinda funny how the only show without a canon usagi is the one that kinda goes the hardest in adding him into stuff. the format of the show not getting to focus a lot on plot and mostly just being one off episodes obviously isn't ideal, but for what story we got i really enjoyed, i also just liked the one off segments, the majority of them i really liked and found funny, for me this is probably the show that makes me laugh the most out of any of them - while i tend to participate nowadays more with the 03 section of the fandom, i still love rise to my core and still interact with it here and there.

Ronin

As i said before, theres a lot of tmnt to go through, but uh. everyone talks about the last ronin, so i detoured my regular watching and reading to dive into it. I liked it, there are things i would love answers to but i might just need to reread to know because middle of reading my cat threw up and i had to pause to clean it up, so yeah- there are things i'm worried to have possibly misunderstood, like the dissolution of their treaty of sorts, misremembering or misunderstood that part of the story is a possibility but if its not that i'm still desperate to know who actually betrayed who first, what actually did the turtles/foot truce in? i haven't gone into re-evolution or lost years yet, i've been meaning to but occasionally i'll get a new shiny hyperfixation and when i return to turtles i tend to dive right into the shows or long running comics first compared to stuff like ronin. i am very excited for the game and the film, little nervous at the idea the film will be live action but i'm mostly just going to wait and see, no sense hating it before i even know what it looks like.

Mutant mayhem/tales/2023

i know i said movies last but its kind of different since the movie was before the show- so deal with it ig. mutant mayhem is a great movie, emotional, funny, i really like it, and the style translates beautifully into 2d animation for the show, i don't have much to say on the movie itself, i really liked it, i watched it with my mum who really liked it and she can be pretty hot and cold when it comes to movies. Tales is a fun show, i similarly don't have too much to say, i struggle to rewatch things i've watched semi recently because i get burnt out on it quicker, but i'm super excited to watch this iteration continue, i'll miss rise like hell but i think tales shows great promise and i'm looking forward to more of it!

Bayverse

if you're wondering why i skipped the 2007 movie its because i haven't watched it, semi similar to mirage the style is a lot, but not similar in the way that i can actually tell whats going on in 07, i just. don't like the style. bayverse is pretty controversial but i like it enough, i don't really rewatch it because the 3d models freak me out, but i love the fanart people make, i do think the character designs themselves are very good, peoples fanart definitely helps you look at them more clearly as well. I still don't visually get leo's bone necklace placemat thing. splinter in the first movie is too furless and he needs to be shot. the movies themselves i don't find too special but i don't dislike them, i remember watching the second movie because some cousins and i went out with our nan and my younger cousin wanted to watch it so we did. i had very little turtle exposure as a child but out of the shadows was part of it.

Original trilogy

I quite like the original trilogy, it's very campy but i think its a fun watch, similar to mutant mayhem i watched these with my mum, we really only watch the movies together and we had a good time, we both struggle to really take them seriously. we had to pause the first movie for a WHILE to laugh at the bathtub scene, i still laugh about it frequently and remind her of it just as often, 'i'm coming....... tO A DECISION' also was funny, the third movie is there also.

Batman vs tmnt

Holy crossover, batman. i really like this movie, as a tmnt fan and a batman enjoyer this movie is just so good, many have said it before and i will continue to say it. the movie is so full of easter eggs, i'm still trying to figure out if that portrait in the turtle van is of mikey or jennika - everyone is characterised so well, the dynamics between the batfam and the turtles is done amazingly, alfred and mikey as a duo is delightful and as always the voice acting is so good, i would sell my soul to hear kyle mooney and baron vaughn as mikey and donnie again. eric bauza is always fun to see given his history with tmnt, so seeing him actually be a turtle for once was great, i really enjoyed his performance as leo, i still can't believe darren criss is raph. i'm a gleek and a huge starkid fan and i can't hear it but i know its true. its fucking insane. the movies story and pacing is just really good, and is one of the few animated tmnt iterations to actually let people get hurt, have visible injuries and get fully murdered on screen, when i saw that foot ninja DIE die i was fucking pumped, a lot of the other video iterations lack actual tension because yeah shredder wants to murder a guy but this is family programming, so he wont and can't. but you watch people die and suddenly that hologram the foot tried to kill doesn't just feel like a 1987 thing where the one time the villains are able to do real damage its a decoy, it feels like a truly necessary precaution, had batman not done that, someone would have died, no doubt. i've spent an extended period of time analysing the easter eggs in this movie, especially when it comes to the turtle van itself, i LOVE the van design, the fact its an old rv, the call back to 87, the spare tire being an anti-foot symbol, the grafitti saying 'Foot Stinks', the April calendar with a picture of a turtle on it, its all a genuine treat. I love this movie, i think it's the best tmnt film ever, i love rise's film but to me nothing holds a candle to this. rarely do i only ever have one criticism for a movie but the only issue i have with the movie is the fact they clearly imply mr freeze DIED and that mutated batman killed him but they NEVER TOUCH ON IT AGAIN. i need directors commentary, i need a script, i need SOMETHING to tell me what happened. anyways. the fighting is so much fun, i love it, it's delightful to watch a tmnt fight and to be fully dialed in because it feels like a real fight, 03 had some pretty good fight scenes but in essence they were very cartoony in the way they won a lot of the time, i just think the batman vs fights are golden, especially the penguin fight, but again, all of them are really good.

so yeah. i have a lot of tmnt opinions, there's more i could say about each iteration individually, especially the shows, but i'll leave it with a list of my favourite characters and their iterations.

IDW Karai, 2012 and 2003 karai, they mean the world to me, i'm a big karai fan and i think they're great. of course the neutrinos, as little as they appear they mean the world to me. 2003 casey is definitely my favourite casey, second is probably idw casey. Batman Donnie is so much fun, his lack of social awareness is really played up but it feels natural and very donnie and i love the think he does where he moves his head like he's going to hide it in his shell but doesn't so he's just poking out. Rise april has my entire heart, she's the best and i'd die for her. 03 and 24/MM Leo, they're both great. really the entire rise cast has my heart. also the 03 cast but special shout out to 03 splinter he's just very sweet. i have to stop now because i could yell about even more characters forever, so last one i would say Alopex, i think she's a great addition to the franchise and i hope more people adapt her.

in case you weren't wondering because i'll tell you anyways, i do have oc's, i just don't really draw that much or particularly well so i don't post about them, i do write about them but i don't publish it bc i don't think anyone would care much, i don't really dip into oc fic either so.

so yeah. general thoughts on most of the franchise! if you want me to expand on any of the thoughts i shared here i'd be happy to but for now my fingers ache from typing so bye :3

[ilikekidsshows]

I have to say, this episode really does feel like a finale. We have a bunch of characters returning, we have enemies and allies all fighting together to stop a world-ending threat, and we even have the Turtles connecting with the spirit of Hamato Yoshi so that he and Splinter can properly say goodbye. The two more complex arc villains also got something like a conclusion to their stories, with Karai seemingly having found peace with the Shredder legacy and Bishop finally getting to save the world from an actual, existing threat. He played a key role in mobilizing the allies in keeping the forces of Hell at bay while the Turtles dealt with the Shredder.

This episode gave me a fun thought about legacies in general. With there being a proven, spiritual connection between Karai and the original Oroku Saki, it seems that the title “the Shredder” is more than just a title, which would explain why the Mystics were so focused on it being used by others. It could dilute the power of the Shredder if there was more than one at a time, although it does make me wonder what makes the claim to the name legitimate. My theory of Ch’rell being a disciple of the Mystics before he tied them to the crystal would create a master-disciple/clan connection between all the Shredders, which would work greatly together with the Turtles’ own clan having no blood ties to each other while still sharing such a deep spiritual connection.

I know a lot of people who discuss Yoshi appearing in this episode only focus on him being the one to deal the killing blow to the Shredder, because it feels like “an asspull”, but the point of his appearance was so much more than that. This show has always been about the bonds of family, and the Turtles being able to connect their spirits with the passed spirit of Yoshi proves, without a doubt, that, despite them never having met face-to-face, they are family, through Splinter. Families are more than just blood ties, they’re the people who shelter you when you’re helpless, they’re the people you first learn from and, for good or ill, they're the ones you carry with you even if the people themselves are gone.

[crappyyuki]

Okay. Surprisingly not TFF or Zenonia but I have been a TMNT fan for like idk, a while? But my absolute personal fav would definitely be the TMNT 2012 series.

I stumbled upon it when I was like 10 or smth then I just watched it whenever it aired. Like I got so excited. Season 2 finale was ingrained into my memory.

Anyway, my favorite is Leo. At first it was because he was blue and blue is my favorite color then I read the fics and he became my all time fav. So uh here's me sharing an AU in the works.

So. I know its called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but I am such a sucker for human au's. I don't know why. Them being turtles is what literally made them special and makes the plot go forward. But them being ergo becoming human is just so intriguing. There are so little of them. So I decided to make my own ig. Theres two of them but imma focus on one first.

Aight. What got this AU going is what happened in the season 2 finale. After Leo gets shredded on that ambush, Shredder tells Splinter that he'd taken his son like what he did to his daughter. But like, you know what happens to Karai.

So what if Saki does that to the T?

Rather than committing defenestration, he decides to keep Leo hostage because either of those things are totally normal to do to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. He makes Stockman use a beta brainworm on him to see its effects and if it'll affect Karai in the way that he wants to. It works. But he also turns him human. Idk I just wanted him to be human and for the others to have trouble searching for him. The in plot explanation is that he's basically a guinea pig for Karai.

But Leo is no regular ol' human. He's still on par with his Turtle self, maybe even stronger. They're basically modifying him every time to be the perfect Foot soldier to take on the turtles and Splinter. Also to track Karai because Shredder knows they're close and she'll respond positively to him than anyone else. He probably has the strength that Mutant Apocalypse!Leo has but more compact to look more deceiving.

But since the brainworm is in beta, something goes wrong.

Leo keeps fighting. He fights every single step of the way and makes it living hell for the Foot Clan. He becomes the perfect soldier under Shredder's care for a while but he eventually escapes and breaks free.

Kind of.

To brainwash Leo, Stockman initially heightens his bloodlust. To make him more violent and willing to kill innocents. Then he also has to become obedient to the Shredder and he makes him hate his family so he can enact some kind of vengeance plot on them.

But Leo thinks its bullshit and tries to get control back. He makes himself fight the worm and not submit to the Shredder at all cost. He tries to rebel as much as he can against Shredder's authority.

Since he's y'know, mutating into a super soldier, he kinda forgets the reason as to why he has to rebel. He just knows that he has to.

How exactly?

Voices.

His subconscious basically shatters itself into a million pieces as to not be able to take Shredder's orders seriously. Well, anyone of authority for that matter. But the brainworm is still there. The bloodlust is still there. He can't stop the craving of blood and violence and war and the voices need it—

Oh no. Leo doesn't need it. Nah. The voices do. They keep screaming at him to fight, to fight like there's no tomorrow, to shed blood and smear it across the pavement, to paint the blue skies/oceans red red red—

And he follows. Mostly to get some peace of mind because damn do these bitches give him headaches.

Yeah. He's not really taking a lot of it seriously. He's becomes like a Chaotic Neutral character as opposed to his usual Lawful Good. He doesn't give a shit about what's happening with New York and why these alien things are roaming the city but its good fighting and a nice discolored bloodbath that will let him have some quiet for a few hours before they start shoving their demands again.

And its fun. And he's good at it. And he's got nothing better to do. And he wants some quiet, dammit. Annoying demanding assholes.

So just imagine Splinter, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey seeing their most law abiding morally ethical son/brother willing to commit genocide like its nothing?

What you're thinking about the voices, yes. Its inspired by Technoblade. Fly high, king.

Its this actually by Derivakat's Voices:

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity All warfare is based on deception It's always on the verge This pent up rage that's building up You know you can't fight the urge We're burning higher, warming up Let it all out (Blood, blood, blood) Keeping your vow (Blood, for the Blood God) We want it now (Blood, blood, blood) Going out of control We're the voices in your head Gonna scream and shout we want them dead Gonna turn your vision red The battle never ends We're the voices in your mind Our justice must be blind Let chaos be divine The Blade will never die 知彼知己 Know thyself, know thy enemy 百戰不殆 A thousand battles, a thousand victories Burning remains, light the funeral pyre Breaking it up, 'cause we're tearing it down Branding the truth on a world of liars Please your god and release the hounds Let it all out (Blood, blood, blood) Keeping your vow (Blood, for the Blood God) We want it now (Blood, blood, blood) Going out of control You don't need sanity when you have anarchy You don't need government when you have covenant with your god Make them wither away, make their foundations decay You see it coming, it's judgement day We're the voices in your head Gonna scream and shout we want them dead Gonna turn your vision red The battle never ends We're the voices in your mind Our justice must be blind Let chaos be divine The Blade will never die You know you're one of us There's no escaping us There's no one you can trust So leave them all for dust You know you're one of us (One of us) There's no escaping us (One of us) There's no one you can trust (One of us) So leave them all for dust (One of us) We're the voices in your head Gonna scream and shout we want them dead Gonna turn your vision red The battle never ends We're the voices in your mind Our justice must be blind Let chaos be divine The Blade will never die

Also he has a pet bird. A crow that Leo mistakes and keeps calling a raven if you will. Why? She acts as his emotional support bird that brings him out of his fugues and homicidal tendencies. Mostly.

I wanted to give him a pet, okay?

Oh and she's in charge.

(The bird part is inspired by the Consequences of the Dead by Lisbis on Ao3

Why are all the inspirations mostly on DSMP? Idk.)

[thedawningofthehour]

Since Shredder and the Krang Invasion don't happen in your story, have you though about incorporating some version of those fight scenes in the fanfic, like Draxum or Galois/Donnie facing off against the Hamatos while using the Shredder/Krang Prime's dialogues? I can imagine the absolute horror/inner turmoil Leo would face if Galois was attacking him and the rest of their family while saying the Krang leader's words if they succeed in offing Draxum. It could even be a fanfic.

I kind of already did that? In the last chapter, (I could barf, it's still the last chapter, Leo's still on top of that freaking roof) some of Draxum's dialogue is lifted directly from Krang Prime. Maybe it was more obvious in the drafts? I basically reversed the entire conversation at one point and cut a lot of Draxum's name-calling, so the allusions might have gotten lost. Him calling Leo 'little pest' is a direct reference to Krang Prime after Leo locked them in the Prison Dimension together, and his whole thing about Galois being better off with him than as Donnie is supposed to be reminiscent of Prime's 'I am a gift' speech.

Does the Shredder even talk much during their big fight? I know he talked to the Foot husbands and Draxum, but during the big flashy fight sequence? I'd have to rewatch the finale. And I generally don't rewatch finales much because it makes me sad lol. (especially when it was cut before its time like Rise was) Incorporating elements of the fight itself, that would be very difficult for a few reasons. One is just the change in media-animation and print are very different mediums and what's entertaining to watch is not necessarily going to be entertaining to read a play-by-play of, and vice versa. A second is that Rise depends heavily on a lot of fantastical elements, and the characters do a lot of shit that should not be physically possible to do. So far, I've been mostly portraying fantastical elements as realistic as possible. I mean, I can certainly try to incorporate some of that in the fic, but that leads into my third reason-I'm not that good at writing fight scenes. I intentionally focus more on the dialogue and emotional aspects to draw attention away from the fact that I suck at it.

In general, I try not to repeat canon dialogue too much and that's something that turns me off when reading other people's fanfics. If I wanted to watch the show, I'd watch the show-I want to see how your fic differs from the canon material. There are exceptions, of course-in my Dishonored fic I had to reuse in-game dialogue very often, because so much of Dishonored is creeping around watching people talk and do stuff, and that familiar dialogue gave readers an anchor in where we were while the protagonist is busy being emo and piling whale meat into his mouth. But even then, I tried to change up the dialogue whenever I could to reflect the differences in the AU from canon. Like, for instance, there's a scene in the vanilla game where a guard and a prostitute are talking about how the city has gone to shit since the empress died, and it kind of trails off into small talk because neither had much more than a passing fondness for the empress. In my AU, the empress was a former street kid who was revealed to be the bastard daughter of the emperor and she focused her rule on reducing poverty and improving the lives of even the poorest of her citizens. It devolves into an argument with another guard insulting her origins and the original guard and prostitute defending her because she was viewed as almost a saint among the commoners.

Oh, but...I'm not going to spoil it, but the main climax of the story-I think you guys are gonna go feral. It's not canon dialogue but you guys will definitely recognize it.

[dongpound]

i demand to know more of your oc's (also im trying to catch up on your space au fic its been so long since i last read it)

OH MY GOD IT DIDNT GET EATEN BY TUMBLR

Anon™️ I’m using your ask as like a sticky note of oc ideas specifically Tundra dude there’s SO much I’m so sorry I got into the hyper focus zone

Tundra’s name is actually Alejandra Citlali Osorio-Cruz and through the series she’s just about to turn 16 in season 1 and roughly 19-20 by Season 5 (give or take how the fuck you think time works in 2012 bc I think it takes place over 3-4 years season 5 included)

Tundra came about as a nickname when she was a kid and got super hyper-fixated on professional wrestling and like. She made an entire persona and lore. Alec started using her wrestling name as a silly nickname and it stuck.

Yes I did come up with a stupid cute reason behind the name Tundra bc I can not handle the fact I chose such a BAD oc name for a LION but like I can’t change it NOW!! I MADE HER IN LIKE 2015 SHES TOO OLD TO CHANGE IT

Xever did just think for the longest time Tundra WAS her name. He also just assumed that Alec and Chris adopted a child for fun.

Her bio parents Ixchel and Alejandro were really good friends of Alec and Chris for like. Well over a decade. Ixchel and Alec especially. Ixchel was an actress (like I would say their worlds equivalent of Selma Hayek) and Alejandro worked in music production.

They didn’t have a ton of family they kept in contact with, so Alec and Chris were named Alejandra’s legal guardians if anything happened to them. They sadly died in a plane crash when Tundra was around 1.

This feels like SOOOO edgy and silly to me now but like I literally can’t see Alec and Chris adopting a kid any other way than the guilt of losing their friends pushing them to do it. WHICH SOUNDS BAD. AND LIKE IT IS. However they still love and raise Alejandra as their own, if anything Chris is like. Somewhat distant bc he still has his career but Alec’s like “fuck yeah I get to raise a kid again” and kinda slips from the spotlight. Which is fine by them , they’re like 600 years old they can just have messy fun in the public eye another time

Tundra goes fucking THROUGH IT emotionally through the series. Like goes from would do anything for Chris and Alec (especially Chris who. Again. Was distant and she desperately wanted his approval) to the point where like. She’s yknow. Mutated, to growing resentful of them when Hachi enters the picture (especially when she has to take care of him) to like. Low key betraying the foot and joining the mutanimals in season 3. And then having to deal w Chris being resurrected temporarily in season 5 after a really chill and happy 2 years with her mom and little brother like it’s a LOT.

In season 1 she’s very much a “mean girl” stereotype and slowly evolves into Cool And Gay (but still a little better than you)(she. She gets that from her upbringing.)

Tundra and Karai are seen as like a duo/bffs up until season 2 after the whole “I’m not shredders daughter” thing happens. They grow distant (obviously) until season 4.

So like Alec and Chris are NOT the best parents and like. They did totally just let Tundra take Hachi to live w her and the Mutanimals in season 4. She’d already been in space w him for 6 months and the poor kid really didn’t want to go live in the woods. I have such a specific scene in mind for this and I want to write it out so bad. Anyway tundra basically becomes a teen mom for a little bit. Eldest daughters am I right? *plays class of 2013 by mitski*

Tundra has a modified mini van which she does haul all of her friends who can fit in. Apologies to leatherhead and slash . No she doesn’t have a license

She also has a bike. These two vehicles she did canonically find on the side of the highway and she convinced Donnie and Casey to help her fix them

Tundras in a punk (? Maybe more Pop punk ) band called The Muties (my other characters Jack and Spinstra are in it. also Mondo. Sometimes Raph fills in on drums if Spinstra can’t make it). Tundra and Jack switch off on vocals, she’s usually on bass. They started up in the down time between seasons 4 and 5. They play in Moira’s Menagerie (a mutants only bar and hall) every week on Fridays. Alec comes to nearly all of their shows and also they bring Hachi sometimes when they practice and he’ll play his DS.

Alec will also force their friends (I.e. Apep, Anton, Ivan and Xever) to come watch Tundra w the promise of drinks and she thinks it’s embarrassing every fucking time bc they’re SO LOUD and OBVIOUS and god she could just DIE (but also. Having the support makes her happy)

Alec WILL slam back 3 tequila shots and go on about how talented their daughter is.

Chris got to see her play once. And it was when he was resurrected. And Tundra, frankly, was not thrilled. Another one I wanna write

[catboy-sinister]

So I've been doing some deep thinking for a bit. And by a bit, I mean literally over a year. But I think that this kind of thing deserves some deep introspection. Pondering, if you will. And I wanted to share this with my echo chamber of darling mutuals because I've never really talked about who I am on this blog. I plan to stick to that for the most part by the way.

Now for the focus of this post: Why do I like Mister Sinister so much?

Rather dramatic introduction for that, I know. But really, I've been doing some deep digging to understand why I'm drawn to this POS out of countless characters from countless forms of media.

Firstly, though: there are plenty of problematic elements to Sinister... in general. I could make a whole longpost airing out my greivances over the writing of the Weapon X era in general, but that's not what this post is about. I bring this up to state: I do not condone any of Sinister's actions, or his beliefs regarding eugenics. This should be a no-brainer, but there are plenty of nobrainers running around this website. I digress.

I think there are several elements that draw me to him. First off, the surface level characteristics. He's always been a bitch, no matter what incarnation, and I find that hilarious. To the flamboyant Gillen-Krakoa bitchiness, to the subtle/not-so-subtle bitchiness of even his Claremont days. His unapolagetic creepass is just a delight.

His design is also *chef's kiss*. Dr. Frank N. Furter went through a shredder. The cape? Love it. The diamond motif? Love it. The slutty thigh high boots? Love it. Victorian aesthetic? Love it. Victorian aesthetic while simultaneosly being a massive slut??? Incredible. Sign me up. His pasty bitchass has me kicking my feet, I'll admit it.

Sinister was also a major villain of my favorite media of X-men, the Animated Series. (And he was just as bitchy!) I have the Phalanx Episodes on repeat, I tell you. Funny enough, I thought he was annoying at first, but upon rewatching I had the oh...oh moment. (Mister Sinister turned me transgender pass it on)

He presents some interesting politics too. I don't think this is the post to dive into that, though. I've touched on it a bit before.

But apart from the fun stuff, I need to acknowledge the not fun stuff that drew me to him over time on a more emotional level. Now I'll actually talk about myself, as in Apollo, not just catboy-sinister (lmao).

All my life, I've struggled with emotion. As in, I feel emotion a lot less deeply than other people. Feeling something intensely only comes along once every few months. Most of my days are just spent kind of... numb? Checked out? It's hard to describe. But basically, I just really don't feel stuff.

Sinister was transformed by Apocalypse, which took his regrets, morality, grief, etc. Nowadays he expresses all sorts of emotion, but that wasn't the case before. Before, and especially in Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (origin story), his entire emotional range was wiped or drastically reduced. And lowkey, I felt that? There are plenty of heroes/antiheroes/villains written as manly men who don't need emotion or morals... but that's not something I can project on. A bitchy Victorian themed scientist, though? That checks a box.

Sinister is also just kind of unsettling to a lot of characters in the world. Which honestly, I can relate to. I've literally been told I'm unsettling, lol, and stuff similar to that but a lot less nice. Even though I hadn't done anything.

During my youth, I never really fit in, never made genuine friends who I had a genuine connection with. My friends had always thought we had a connection, but I think differently. In fact, I think I can say that I've never made a genuine connection with someone before. Sounds sad when I say it, but I'm never really lonely. I just don't need that connection. I think Shithead Essex feels the same? He never seems to get lonely either, I'd say.

If I'm honest, it's kind of hard to feel human sometimes. I wonder what I'm missing out on a lot, which I'm sure Sinister never did, because he already experienced that. I feel detached a lot of the time. But I don't feel empty. I have hobbies and interests, likes and dislikes. I just don't feel things like other people do, or connect to them. Don't worry, the psych appointment is coming up in June (it was moved back).

The hardest thing to talk about is our similar grief. I won't talk about what I'm going through, because frankly I don't want to, but I can describe it. I'll be blunt. I know the feeling of watching someone immediately close to you slowly die as you can do nothing about it. So you detach yourself, preferring to feel nothing at all. There is nothing you can do about it, you feel helpless and alone. Essex was a doctor, I am not, but we both went through this similarly, diving into academic work and shutting ourselves off from the world. Of course, his 'academic work' was far more egregious than mine, but the baseline simularity is there.

There's really not a way to wrap this all in a neat bow. It's messy, but I'm a messy bitch, and so is Sinister. I think my final thoughts will be this: you don't NEED a deep, introspective reason to like something. It's nice to have it. It's healthy to do some good introspection from time to time, and critically think about why you like something. But sometimes you just like to look at the sky, or paint, or watch movies. A simple life is an equally fulfilling one, in my opinion. Or look deep in your soul to find WHY you like the sky and painting and movies.

It's up to you.

[sam-the-friendly-ghost]

Sam's chats with the void: The "stupid" character

I always find myself disliking a show when it has "the stupid one" trope in it. Take 2012 and Mikey for example. Yes he's funny but he's the joke. The show treats him as stupid to the point where he doesn't get any other character trait. Does he care about anything? No. Because he's just stupid.

I think this trope personally hurts me because I am neurodivergent, and most traits that make a character "the stupid one" are neurodivergent ones. Seeing someone who just needs help with their disability get abandoned by the show because they're only there to be stupid really messes with my feelings. I've had plenty of people call me stupid for things I am still learning to manage despite the signs that I'm definitely not stupid.

Whenever I see this trope show up I give them a personality and feelings in my head. I usually let them be smart, but unable to show it for one reason or another (usually because the other characters are blind to it). This does show that a stupid character isn't necessarily bad, there just has to be a reason for them to be seen that way.

Keyword. Seen, not be. They can't be stupid, just seen as such.

Naruto is a great example of how this trope can work.

Naruto is a goofball who causes trouble. He doesn't pay attention in class, and needs to be told all kinds of common knowledge. He also cannot perform the clone jitsu to become genin. At first glance he's just a stupid character, until Iruka explains his past.

Iruka was exactly like Naruto as a child, but he also knows why. He was lonely and wanted to make friends. He wanted the family he didn't have so he did the only thing he could think to do as a child. His story mirrors and therefore explains Naruto's.

By the time we get the explanation though, we already know Naruto isn't stupid though. He can perform a harder ninjistu called the shadow clone jitsu easily. Later we learn he had a disadvantage because he was welding an overwhelming amount of chakra, and since making shadowclone take so much chakra it was far easier for him to perform. Naruto isn't stupid, he just needed to try something else. He also gets better over time, and learns how to use his strengths and compensate for his weaknesses. He might never perform the clone jitsu, and in that way he could still be called stupid, but he IS so much more than his ability to perform that jitsu. Rock lee can't perform ninjistu or genjitsu but he is amazing at taijitsu and becomes one of the best ninja ever. Almost every single character has a major weakness that could hold them back, and does until they get creative and find their own solution.

This brings me back to Mikey. How can he be more than the stupid one. He is shown to have great intuition and empathy, use it. Maybe he keeps pulling enemies over to the side of good. He is fast and an natural at a lot of stuff including smoke bombs. Make him a scout that keeps sneaking around Shredders bedroom or something. He's creative beyond compare. Let him help his brothers problem solve when they get stuck, even throwing out the wackiest ideas until something sticks. All of these ideas could be funny in their own right, and show Mikey as having strengths. When he struggles with impulse have him slowly learn to manage that. He can want to press a button, but ask Donnie what it does first, or even say "don't let me near that or I will push the buttons."

And the last rule is DO NOT MAKE THE CHARACTERS FEELINGS A JOKE! If you ever see a character say anything that feels like it should be ge focus of at least an episode and instead they get made a joke and that ideas ignored, congrats, you found the stupid one, and the worst part of the trope.

"stupid" characters often say once or twice "it feels like you guys don't like me," or something similar. Unlike characters the show actually cares about though, "stupid" characters will run into something, trip, or anything that makes the line "funny".

"Stop calling me clumsy!" Character cries before tripping down a flight of stairs.

"I'm not stupid!" Character yells. "Your even as dumb as a- a.. uhm. A super computer!"

"It's time for you to see that I'm capable!" They yell as they head out to complete a task. Cut to them pleading for help, or needing a rescue.

Anyways that's my rant about this trope. Please stop using it badly, nobody likes it. At best somebody dislikes the character. Most of the time you hurt the people who relate to them.

Bye!

[iwasborn4this]

tmnt idw comics (rant) (spoiler warning for this whole post)

for the record i am a new tmnt fan. rise was the first version i saw literally just last year. i started the 2012 show (i stopped on season 2 for no particular reason but plan on continuing it soon) and then recently picked up the idw comics after seeing a lot of people say it was the best iteration of the turtles. and what do you know i fucking loved it. i started the main series about a week ago and now i’m on issue 127. i should’ve been doing college work, but it was so good i couldn’t stop reading. i became obsessed.

however all good things must come to an end because it got kinda ?? bad ?? after issue 105. absolutely loved issues 1 through 105. the down time after issue 100 was definitely needed, and i totally appreciated the turtles getting time to grieve and break down and pick themselves back up during 101-105. but then the whole mutant town arc Really started and it felt like the tone of the whole comic shifted very drastically ??? i usually love when side characters get some attention for a bit but now it kinda feels like they’re getting too much attention. specially the kids, i don’t find the weasels very likable and i think lita should get just a bit less attention. specially did not like the decision to have big lita come from the future and Say Plot Points At Them (im also completely ignoring her comment about leo and koya of all people. what ??? who made this decision). and it’s been getting gradually worse from there. i’m currently on issue 127 like i said and it just feels like the comic has some downtime and then it never picked back up. commander zom literally died on issue 126 and i didn’t feel any type of way about it except “well that was underwhelming”. shredder astral projecting to whisper in people’s ears is kinda weird. what even happened !!! how did the quality of the story-telling change so drastically !!! i wish i was better at identifying what specifically i dislike, and better at articulating it and explaining myself but yeah.

about specific characters:

- what’s up with casey. he kinda sucks now. started sucking after the breakup i feel like. i don’t need april and casey to get back together or anything but i feel like his character started getting meh after that and now we never see him and when we do he’s…. uhhh

- leo and raph’s independent emotional arcs make sense, i just wish there was more going on like there used to be before. love mikey starting a radio show, more of that please (this ties back in with me wanting more of the conflict with the outside of mutant town as well). and is it just me or is donnie not doing much of anything rn ??

- jennika: i’ve seen a lot of people complain about her but i actually quite like her. i think it makes sense that she would get a lot of focus from the story right after her mutation, and that we get to see her struggling with being a mutant and splinter’s death as well. i also don’t dislike the idea of her having an older sister dynamic with the other turtles, i just hope the narrative doesn’t overstep her place in the story. like i hope the story doesn’t start treating her like she’s on the same level as the og 4, or that she’s actually their older sister or something. maybe later on but currently it doesn’t feel like she’s known them for that long or is close enough with them for the sister thing to really work. and as for the 5th turtle thing just in general i don’t think introducing more turtles in any iteration is inherently a bad idea, i just don’t think it can work if you try to put said 5th turtle on the same level as the other four. it just feels wrong. but anyway

well that was longer than i wanted it to be. if someone actually bothered to read this post let me know what you think!! also i’m not totally caught up yet, does the story pick up again during the armageddon game arc ??? looking forward to it if so. i've been reading only the main series so far (oops, i'll get around to the other stuff i promise) but once the armageddon game arc starts i'll definitely read all of the (armageddon game-related) material chronologically

[catcrescent]

The New TMNT Mutant Mayham Got Me Thinking About Why I Like the Turtles

So, I finished watching the latest movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and it got me thinking about what it is that I like about the franchise. Although, not necessarily because I liked the movie. In fact, I found it kind of difficult to watch at points and I was having trouble understanding why at first. It had really good animation and really good voice actors, and I really liked the third act where a bunch of New Yorkers worked together to help the turtles take down the massive monster.

But I found myself not really enjoying it as a standalone movie and I really didn't find a lot that I liked as a TMNT fan. Consider this post as my way of trying to understand this.

The first way I'd like to think about this movie is as something on its own, regardless of the franchise it represents. After all, TMNT has had a lot of different interpretations with different flavors, so, what did this one have to offer? As I mentioned, really good animation and voice acting...but also a LOT of pop culture references and gross out humor. This franchise is not new to this kind of thing, but I was noticing that a lot of scenes would spend about 1-2 minutes every 5 minutes on drawing out a joke that seemed to reiterate "teenagers are cringy and gross". Perhaps the arguement could be made that, the film is labeled as a comedy, so it is excusable, but I don't quite agree with that. Comedy that is well-written is not simply a long string of goofiness; it's a punchline. A punch is something that needs to be planned and well-timed, and rapid punches can only be done effectively with focus and endurance, otherwise, it turns into a less effective equivalent of flailing your hand trying to slap someone, in which it is more annoying than impactful. There's not a lot of moments or jokes that stand out because a lot of them blurred together for me.

The heart of the message is important for any story. Each iteration of the Turtles seems to tie into the idea of trying to deal with how impressionable teenagers are, including Mutant Mayhem. With this recent film, the turtles are obsessed with earning a name for themsleves because they feel outcasted. It was interesting of a concept because this kind of thing was actually explored in the 1990 turtles movie, where the Shredder was recruiting teenagers throughout New York who felt misunderstood and convincing them that the only way they could live freely was to take from others. One of the human characters was a teenager who was following Shredder at first, but he changed his mind after Splinter and the turtles convinced him that there was no honor or true happiness in that path. The turtles were the role models in that situation, though the 2011 TMNT cartoon was an instance where the turtles had to learn hard lessons that helped them grow. Technically, Mutant Mayhem addresses this by saying the turtles needed to be confident in themselves and trust others, since trusting April and choosing to help her when her bike got stolen was what ultimately led her to doing a news report to convince New York to help them. The message is there, but it just felt muddled. In the first episode of the 2011 TMNT show, they saw April get kidnapped and failed to save her, Splinter makes a comment that the turtles will have to wait until next year to go outside again (though, I personally believe Splinter was just pretending to be dismissive of April's fate so as to spur the turtles) and Donnie responds "You didn't see into her eyes. The way she looked at me. Helpless. She needed my...our help." It's a small moment in a short episode, but it's a clear moment of empathy, even with very slight but subtle humor woven in, but not enough that distracts from the seriousness of the situation. Mutant Mayhem had chances to do this, like when Mikey thought Mando Gecko was buried under rubble but it turned out to just be his severed tail. It was a funny reveal, but I think it would have been more effective if there had even been a few seconds to show Mikey's panic and maybe even scratching at the rubble to allow for a moment of seriousness, that would have actually made the punchline hit more effectively.

In terms of the message, of having the turtles and other mutants feel like outcasts, I do feel like this particular story has been told a lot in movies nowadays (though I don't want to blame the movie for that, it's simply the current trend) but I do think there are movies where this kind of story has been told better. As far as films I look to as a personal golden standard, I think of the Iron Giant, who had to prove himself a hero by choosing not to be a weapon, but there are more recent films I think tackled this well, such as the Bad Guys, which had anthropormorphic animals trying to redefine their cultural stereotyping and personal beliefs about themselves as bad guys by choosing to do good. Technically, Mutant Mayhem does this same story, but I think it lacked a moment of respect for its message. And I don't think it's fair to comedy and storytelling to say "It's a comedy, it doesn't need to take itself seriously" because, for example, Bad Guys is technically a comedy too yet still manages to stirke a balance of comedy and character conflicts that showed you can have fun in the bad times, but mistakes do still have consequences. Mutant Mayhem had small moments like this, but it lacked a confidence in itself.

I think lack of confidence in itself was what I felt most with this movie. That was the main theme between the turtles and April, and technicallly that did get resolved as they worked together with the New York populace, though it all felt like a side story to Splinter's arc about not trusting humans. In a way, the turtles never quite got their big stand-out moment in their own movie. I guess that was the point of this movie, where the turtles aren't supposed to be important, since trying to attain that is what got them in trouble. It all technically works narratively, but I still had a hard time feeling satisfied.

Admittedly, perhaps some of this comes from my history with TMNT. One of my favorite Turtles media is the 1990 movie with a close second being the 2011 Nick cartoon, though I didn't get around to all of the other propteries, I still tried to stay informed. By the end of Mutant Mayhem, I was thinking about these other versions and trying to remember what I enjoyed about them so much and I really do enjoy those past versions. But I wanted to be cautious about not liking Mutant Mayhem just for interpreting things differently, since doing something different doesn't make it bad, but I think it still needs to be done well in order for the changes to work.

When dealing with so many iterations, it may not be fair to compare Mutant Mayhem to those before it, but I do wonder at what kind of identity that it offered of its own. As mentioned, these turtles lacked confidence in themselves and leaned very heavily on their jokes, to the point that I had trouble telling them apart personality wise. Even the old 80's cartoon was very careful in making the turtles distinct in how they reacted to situations despite their identical designs (like you could always rely on Raph making a snappy comment). Even with the other mutants, I liked that they were given the opprotunity to befriend the turtles, but they all blended together character-wise as well, since their motivations were all the same with only minor differences in how they behaved. For the turtles, things like Leo's over-responsibility and crush on April or Ralph's glee for violence felt more like sidenotes, and I'll try to explain why. Throughout Mutant Mayhem for instance, Ralph's anger was a running joke, saying he had anger issues...but I never got the sense he was angry. He was actually quite happy all the time and never took anything seriously, he just so happened to really like punching things and Splinter even lost his temper more than Ralph. A lot of the movie was like this, in telling things but not really showing it. And I think showing the personality traits rather than telling has been done well in the past. This is where I think it would be best to make comparisons: In other iterations, like the 1990 film, Ralph's anger is more apparent because we got to see how it resulted in him losing more than one fight he tried to do alone and almost dying, how he had to learn to manage his anger to help his brothers. In the TMNT 2011 cartoon, Ralph had a mean-streak, which caused problems with Mikey not feeling secure, but they would eventually work it through, and it was clear that Ralph's anger just stemmed from his immense passion for things, which sometimes led him to befriending pets or being the most empathetic of others in certain situations.

There were a variety of changes to the turtle's with their personality and backstory. As mentioned, change isn't bad but it should be done with a clear vision and executed well, especially when dealing with such a long-running franchise. I wasn't sure what to think of Leo's crush on April, in part because it didn't really have an impact on the story (as the turtles would have likely retrieved her stolen bike regardless--and if the only reason they helped April was because of Leo's crush then I think it reflects poorly on the turtles. One might argue Donnie had a crush on April before they went to save her in the 2011 TMNT cartoon but I think it was clear that Donnie's crush in the first episode was treated more as a fun joke and he expressed wanting to save her because they were the only ones who could help her and had a responsibility to). The other thing with Leo's crush in Mutant Mayhem was that it felt like it didn't add to the experience, not really being treated as a joke or committed to being explored like with TMNT's Donnie, and it didn't feel like Leo and April were given moments to even get chemistry. There were a lot of little decisions like this that made it feel added on rather than woven in. Other changes involving the backstory had a bigger impact on my experience and it relates to the fight scenes.

A lot of these past versions delivered when it came to the fight scenes, even the the live action 1990 movie. Part of the appreciation for it I felt like had to do with the fact that the turtles, no matter how young and fun-loving, do still have a level of seriousness for their craft. Mutant Mayhem had fights, but they kind of went by fast. There was some cool editing but not really a lot of moments that stood out. They largely felt like street fights, something chaotic and just scrambling to hit something. The only time I can really play back a fight in my head was also the one time it felt like a ninja was fighting, when Splinter was saving the turtles, but even that felt a little off, I think because of this Splinter's backstory. I might be biased in saying this, but I found myself missing the backstory of Splinter being either a pet of Hamato Yoshi or even the man himself, as it gave more creedance to the turtle's ninjustu. Even the Rise of the TMNT, which was before this movie and considered one of the more comedic of the recent iterations, still had Splinter originate as an honorable master of martial arts who got turned into a rat and raised the turtles to protect them. It was comedically portrayed but still faithful. It was to my surprise that the 1990 live action film was actually very faithful to the original comic adaption, in which Splinter was a pet rat who was close to Hamato and had a grudge against Shredder. Either backstory works I think because it has a level of believability. The only time I had heard of the turtles being trained by self-defense books was from the Micheal Bay 2011 movie. It is a goofy explanation, and it could work, but I'm not sure if Mutant Mayhem managed to make it work, as I feel it didn't quite work in the 2011 film either. It's not to say that Splinter has to be a martial arts master, but I feel like him and turtles learning ninjitsu from a legitimate source then gives more respect to ninjitsu. There's no sense of history and it makes it feel like, if Splinter found a book on boxing, then they could have just as likely become the Teenage Mutant Boxer Turtles and calling themselves ninja was just a means to an end.

I suppose all this to say, Mutant Mayhem was not a bad movie, but it is not one I would recommend, as I feel there are other films and even other Turtles media that can provide more refined versions of what this movie wanted to offer. I appreciate anyone who read to the end of this and allowing me to share my thoughts. Have an excellent day.

[chaoticxbeast]

"Out of character? We just met!"

Mikey and Raph quietly watched on with a blank look upon their face. Splinter waved his hand, signaling for Donnie to be quiet, and listen. It was important that they all learned from this.

In Splinter’s mind, there was more to this encounter than met the eye. Meeting an older version of themselves could hold profound spiritual lessons, opportunities for self-development, and perhaps even a chance for his sons to mature. But getting them be still and simply listen? That was proving to be agonizingly difficult.

"So... Donatello created a device that sent you here." Splinter mused.

"No way." Donatello brightened up in a wide delighted smile, his hands tightening into fists.

"I see...many alternative realities..hm...." Splinter rubbed his chin, wondering if this was more Donatellos arena to be able to comperend.."We do not know Casey here. But..April..is one of us. Part of the family in fact."

Leo poked his head in the door. He had two cups of coacoa with marsmellows in his hands, and a guilty yet urgent look on his face. "PSST Mikey! It´s starting. " Mikey quickly hopped on his feet, and began making his way to the door. "...uhh its time for jackie chan adventures.."

"But this is important..!" Splinter said, frustration in his voice, watching his oldest lure the youngest away.

"But..It´s saturday..Me´n leo always.." Mikey backed off towards the door and was gone, similar to the meme with homer simpson dissapearing into the bush.

"Fine."

Mikey and Leo hurried off, leaving Raph and Donnie there. Raph had an apathic look on his face, as if he was low on brainjuice or something, while Donnie´s focus was on 100%, excited to know more.

"Shredder, and the Krang...and this Hyde.... I see." Splinter fell silent, deep in thought, pausing for a moment to think.

"Well! we don´t know them, do we." Splinter sounded at ease with that, resting his arms on his back. As if that problem was out of the way.

"Nope." Raph replied. "I know the purple dragon guys, but uh they´re just kids, like us. They´re okay. I´m kinda friends with their leader, he´s ok. Most of the time. I mean... if this Raphael is older than us, do we even have to worry about this now?"

Donnie looked a bit uncomfortable, knowing about the purple dragons and how they kidnapped Raph and had planned to sell him in parts. It wasn´t good news, but he didn´t want his dad, nor this other alternate Raph to know. After all, that would complicate things and scare their father.

"Well...." Donatello stepped forward, trying to be the logical link here.

"In chaos theory, the butterfly effect describes how small changes in initial conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes over time, so even though some disasterous events took place in one reality, it doesn´t mean it will happen here too. Humans love us here. We don´t really have a lot of enemies."

"Enemies could come. Sometimes..people have their own agendas." Splinter said, eyes narrowing at his sons.

Raph and Donnie stiffened up and looked guilty as charged, glancing at eachother. Was their father onto them?

Splinter continued, rubbing his chin. "Well just in case..I need to rethink your training regimé. We should prepare..Leo needs more experience as a leader too. I should prepare you better for what may come. You are all young, immature.."

As if to prove that point, an excited cheer rose from the livingroom, where Leo and Mikey was watching their saturday morning shows.

" I DIDN'T MEAN ' crazy ' like dat. I mean like...outta character. Dat sorta thing. " He had no room to call anyone crazy, all things considered. But Splinter said to leave it, so Night didn't say anything about the topic further, instead electing to finally get up from where he'd been sitting and he took a second to stretch a bit. His shoulders popped unceremoniously, and he let out a satisfied little hum before picking his sai up off the ground and tucking them back in the holsters on his belt.

SPLINTER'S COMMENT ABOUT his movie joke made him chuckle, and he waved his hand a bit. " No, no, it was a joke -- I ain't even seen dat movie, I just know because my sista'-in-law likes it. I didn't come here through a mirror or nothin'. See, my Donnie, we call 'em Dusty, they made this like...computa' thing that can make portals to otha' dimensions. I dunno all the science mumbo jumbo, jus' dat it makes cool portals dat change color dependin' on who goes through it. Makes it easier ta' find each otha' when we go across dimensions. "

NIGHT, AT THE suggestion of sharing tales of other dimensions, stopped to think to himself for a moment, trying to name off everything in his head. " Well...there's a lot of us out there. Dimensions, I mean, with us turtles. This is really my first solo mission but Cleo went to the 012 dimension and I popped in a few months later. Wasn't expectin' all four of those versions of us plus their April and Casey ta' dogpile me, but that's exactly what happened. " To be fair, it had been one big misunderstanding, one that they had sorted out and laughed about now, but it had still been pretty surprising in the moment.

" AS FOR THE usual threats...depends on the dimension, so far, it's usually what we call da' ' Big Two : ' Shredda' and the Foot...or the Kraang. The Kraang are more Cleo's department, she's the one who defeated them back in our dimension, but all five of us got beef with Shredda'. " He paused, thinking to himself for a second. " We had Hyde back at home and I rememba' them poppin' up a couple a' times in dat 012 dimension, Cleo's twin who's a crazy serial killa' but they're mostly harmless. " Tell that to yer leg. " And uh...there's smaller threats, like the Purple Dragons, or some places have Bebop and Rocksteady, but I think you guys got dat one taken care of, " he gestured to the living room where the other mutants were sleeping. " Oh, and Triceratons. Fuck those guys, seriously. "

[curlsofsagesmoke]

More Analysis of Leadership in TMNT because I Cannot Be Stopped

(really at this point these are just notes for myself as I work on my really long really ambitious tmnt fic, but this is also kind of a follow up to that first analysis I did of the Leo/donnie leadership plot line.)

I've already discussed Leo and donnie as leaders, but I was thinking about season 3, and there are some really interesting moves that the writers make in terms of Raph maturing as a leader in Northampton (and donnie kind of getting the short end of the stick, but what else is new).

so aside from how poorly the writers handled the Leo/donnie plot, which I discussed in the post I linked above, it seems like the season two finale was meant to be the writers' way of saying "hey look we gave donnie a chance to lead and he fucked up, so now we're gonna pass the mantle onto raph." because raph does slip into the leader role in Northampton.

on the one hand, it's annoying to see donnie's leadership potential get shunted aside yet again. I do think all four of them have the potential to be great leaders if they have the chance to mature and develop their skills, so I'm not mad at raph getting the chance to be a good leader. however, the writer's spent two seasons building up donnie's potential as leader, and, as I've mentioned before, we get no closure from them abandoning this plot line. in the farmhouse arc, donnie (and Mikey!) gets forced into that goofy, slightly less competent younger brother role that we saw most often in season one (regarding the a-team/b-team thing).

on the other hand, I love to see any kind of character development for these characters, because it's so rare for anyone in TMNT (2012) to go through lasting change. like seriously, there is not one single stable character arc in the entire show. and raph does make a pretty good leader! his problem with leading (seen in New Girl in Town) is that he panics under pressure. out at the farmhouse, where the threats aren't as serious as the ones they faced in the city, raph becomes a pretty good leader. he's the one watching over and encouraging Leo, training with April and casey, and attempting to continue donnie and Mikey's training in the forest. he's calmer, seems less angry, and is more mature. we do love to see it.

admittedly, this could've fit in really well with the "donnie as leader" plot started in seasons one and two. the invasion was a huge blow to donnie's pride and it probably did shake his confidence in himself a lot. if the plot line had continued into season three, the farmhouse arc could've been a good way for donnie to kind of recover from the failure that was the invasion. we could've seen him struggle to accept his mistakes and learn to overcome his self doubt, the way that Leo did in season one (many times).

raph becoming the de facto leader could've fit in, too! not only would it have been an obstacle for donnie to overcome (aka accepting that just because raph is a good leader on the farm doesn't mean donnie is a bad one in the city) but it probably would've been a good character move for raph, too. raph would've gained a deeper understanding of Leo's burdens and responsibilities, and it's a good way to show how he's matured over the course of two and a half seasons.

and the vision quest episode (kind of the only episode in the whole farmhouse arc where anyone undergoes any kind of serious character development) would've been sick as hell if this plot was continued. because as it stands, vision quest doesn't make a whole lot of sense. they all have challenges to overcome, but the writers tried to force the characters back into the roles they occupied in season one. donnie needed to learn to use his strength as well as his mind, raph needed to learn to control his temper, mikey needed to learn to focus, and Leo needed to overcome his injury (which the splinter-ghost implies is a mental/spiritual block that Leo put in his own path).

but that doesn't make any sense! it's been two and a half seasons at this point, and there should've been more nuanced challenges. Raph's temper in season three isn't nearly as bad as in season one, and it doesn't make sense for him to have to go through that whole learning moment again. same with mikey and his focus; yes he's still immature and easily distracted, but not nearly as much as in season one. donnie's strength challenge is dumb, too, because it's not strength that allows him to defeat tiger claw---it's leverage, which is more of a mental victory than a physical one. and don't even get me started on Leo. "pain is all in your head" is quite possibly the worst lesson in the history of fiction. Leo went through serious trauma and almost died, and splinter-ghost expected him to simply ignore it, as if it was like doubt holding him back? he need physical therapy, not to have to fight a giant shredder in some kind of weird spirit world.

imagine this instead. Mikey's challenge is stillness. he doesn't have a problem focusing when he needs to, but he's a very physical person, and he needs to learn to use his head: to calm himself down, to be still, etc. etc. Raph's challenge is similar. he needs to learn to control his emotions; not just anger, but also his panic and anxiety. he needs to pull himself back into the moment when he gets overwhelmed and prevent himself from panicking when things go wrong. donnie's challenge is confidence. after the invasion, understandably he's shaken and he's probably having trouble trusting himself as a leader, so he needs to learn to accept failure and trust his skills and his instincts. and Leo's challenge is patience. at the farmhouse he gets frustrated really easily by how slowly he's healing, and in the invasion he lost his patience really fast when he and donnie fought. during the vision quest he needs to learn to have patience with himself and not push his limits too far.

I don't even have a conclusion for this little rant. at this point I'm just salty about the writing in the show---not that the writing is straight up bad. it just seems like the writers didn't care about the characters enough to include character depth, character arcs, or meaningful relationships between the characters when they were writing the show. but I guess that's why I'm writing that fic; if you can see the problem, you can fix it, and boy do I see a lot of problems.

[spacesuitsforemergency]

Gracie’s Birth Day

A/N: Lol, the boys are absolutely useless and thank god Cora showed up when she did. And they refer to each other as girlfriends in this cause they get married later so yeah! Hope I got Cora’s character right!

“Dad, so help me god,” Lucy snapped as she glared up at her dad. “If you cook that chicken I’m going cook you.”

Remy glanced down at his very hostile and hormone filled daughter, who was sitting on the couch as he put away the groceries. He knew the smell of chicken specifically made her throw up, but damn.

“I won’t honey…Uh…is Cora coming over today?” He asked, deciding that wouldn’t be a question that would get her mad.

“Later. Right now she’s enjoying being able to walk without help.” Lucy grumbled. She wasn’t even mad at her girlfriend, just annoyed that walking was exhausting now with how big her belly was now. She was due to pop any day now, so she was very uncomfortable and irritated all the time rather than her usual sweet self.

Just then Eugene and Beau walked through the door, loudly arguing about something Lucy didn’t give two shits about to pay attention to. She rolled her eyes at their noise, but didn’t say anything as she went back to trying to read a new mother book that her dads had gotten her. She was right at the part about postpartum symptoms when she suddenly felt weird. Her stomach started to feel tight and started cramping, causing her to drop her book and gasp in pain at the sudden sharpness.

“Luc?” Eugene turned around to look at his sister, who was now doubled over (well, as best as she could with such a big stomach) in pain. “Oh my god. Are you leaking???”

“Honey? Are you okay?” Remy rushed over to her.

“I think…OW FUCK…I think it’s a contraction…”

“Oh shit. Oh damn. What do we do?” Beau started rambling. “Do we call an ambulance? No, we just drive you right? Do I need to call someone for you?”

“Hey!” Remy clapped for everyone’s attention. “Alright, I’m gonna get her into the car. Beau, go grab her duffel bag in her room. Eugene, call Kurt and tell him Willa needs to stay there with Anja for a bit. Then call Cora to let her know, and whoever else your sister wants.”

“I DON’T CARE JUST TAKE ME TO THE DAMN HOSPITAL.” Lucy shouted as the contraction started to calm down and she could relax.

After a chaotic trip to getting into the car, and of course a stupid traffic jam and having to wait for a room at the hospital, Lucy finally got into a delivery room and was now waiting for 1. Her girlfriend to show up and 2. For this baby to get out of her.

Beau was the only one panicking, he was constantly asking Lucy if she needed ice chips or anything, and he gasped at every time she got a contraction, which only stressed her out more so Remy took him out to the waiting room to find Raphael and wait for Cora. So meanwhile, Lucy got to spend some time with her brother.

“I wonder if you’ll still be fat afterwards.” Eugene snickered before dodging her hand to smack him.

“You’re so lucky I can’t get up on my own.” Lucy lightly laughed, still kinda in too much pain to laugh.

“Seriously though, how are you feeling?” He asked, sitting in the chair next to the bed.

“Uh, terrified? Exhausted already? Nervous?” Lucy scoffed. “I can’t do this. Are you kidding? How is this gonna come out of that?” She gestured to her stomach then…lower.

“Uhh…apparently y’all women stretch a lot down there, I don’t know.” Eugene shrugged, uncomfortable talking about a woman’s vagina during childbirth, let alone his sisters. “So uh, did you come up with any name ideas yet?”

“Yeah, I have a couple in mind.” She smiled.

“Lay them on me, I wanna vote.”

“Okay, Annie.”

“Are you raising a gun slinger? No.”

“Isabelle.”

“Too basic.”

“Monica.”

“She was the worst character on Friends.”

“Nathalie.”

“That’s cute.”

“Paulina.”

“Imagine being an adult named Paulina. Don’t do that to your daughter.”

“I’m sorry, who are you to tell me what I can name my child?”

“Well there’s only one problem, my dear sister. I didn’t hear a Eugenie or Eugenia in that list of options.”

“Cause it’s not one.”

“Uh! I will name one of my kids after you!”

“And that’s very sweet, but as much as I love the name Eugene, I don’t like Eugenia as much. It’ll be her middle name.”

“…it IS hard to live up to my fabtastic name.”

“Did you just say fab-OUCH.” Lucy winced at a contraction, and Eugene quickly grabbed the cold towel on the table and put it on her sweaty neck, and pet her hair to soothe her as best he could.

“Whatever you choose to name her, I am so excited to meet her.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let her squeeze his hand in pain.

“I am too. Just wish it was under better…circumstances.” Lucy sighed as the contraction started to end and she leaned back into the bed. “God I’m so tired already.”

“LUCY?? LUCY?! LUCY!” A girl dressed in white and looking like she had just been put through a shredder ran into the room.

“Cora??? What happened to you?” Lucy stared at her frantic girlfriend.

“Was battling an Edward Scissorhands wannabe, doesn’t matter, my dear. How are you feeling? How far along are you?” She asked as she shoved Eugene aside and sat in his place, taking Lucy’s hand in hers and rubbing her thumb on the back of her hand.

“Uh, excuse you?” Eugene scoffed pettily, which both girls ignored.

“Okay, I guess. Nurse said I was dilated at 4 centimeters, so, almost halfway through that.” Lucy sighed. “But I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do with a baby!”

“Yes you do!” Cora laughed sweetly. “You read all those books, talked to Juliette, went to Lamaze classes, it’ll be okay. And I’m right here to help, darling.”

“Do you want ice chips, Luc?” Beau poked his head into the room.

“NO BEAU, IM FINE. I DON’T NEED YOUR DAMN ICE CHIPS.” Lucy yelled, annoyed that he was asking for the forty millionth time.

“You really should have some, dear, you need to stay hydrated.” Cora said softly.

“Okay.” Lucy tiredly smiled at her.

“What?!” Beau’s jaw dropped as Cora got up and took the cup of ice chips from him.

“Uh, Luc, I invited Ronan to come just so you know.” Eugene piped up, everyone ignoring Beau’s offended face as Cora helped Lucy eat some ice chips.

“Oh perfect, he’s probably gonna make a rap about this.” Lucy rolled her eyes and groaned. She did like Ronan, she really did, but the dude was a bit too much sometimes.

She whined in pain when another contraction washed over her, Cora rubbing her back and kissing her on the head to comfort her. Lucy shut her eyes and leaned into her girlfriend, nearly falling asleep once the contraction stopped.

A couple hours of waiting had passed, Lucy had just listened to her girlfriend talk about anything as she tried not to focus on all the pain. Her dads had dropped in a few times, Ronan had arrived and asked about a million questions that Lucy didn’t have the energy to answer, and Beau kept asking Cora if Lucy needed more damn ice chips. Then a nurse came in to check up on her, and said she was dilated at 9 centimeters and it was time to get the doctors and start the process of childbirth.

The doctors had tried to get everyone to leave the room, but Eugene threatened them until they let him, Ronan, Remy and Raphael stay with Lucy and Cora during this. As the doctors told Lucy to start pushing, each of her dads and brothers held one of her hands and she broke every single one of them in the first hour of pushing. She hasn’t broken Cora’s hand though, cause while she was in pain she didn’t want to hurt her so she was able to hold back as best she could.

“Honey, you have to breathe.” Cora whispered to her as she massaged Lucy’s shoulder with one hand.

“I am.” Lucy said, whilst not breathing.

“You have to keep pushing, Lucy.” The doctor delivering her baby told her.

“I can’t!” Lucy sobbed as she fell back into the bed, already so exhausted and in too much pain.

“You got this Lucy!” Ronan cheerleaded from the hallway.

“SHUT UP.” Lucy yelled at him, not in the mood for his shit.

“Darling, we need you to push, okay?” Cora encouraged, cupping her face gently. She looked into her girlfriends tired, scared and pain filled eyes, but hers remained calm and loving for her. “You’re doing amazingly, sweetie, you can do it.”

After a lot more pushing and a lot more cussing out Ronan and Eugene and a lot of support from her girlfriend, Lucy finally gave birth to her daughter. They quickly cleaned her off before handing her to Lucy, who immediately started crying with joy as she looked down at her baby. Cora also began to cry from joy beside her, reaching down and gently tucking the blanket around the tiny newborn as she rested her head against Lucy’s. Lucy didn’t even pay attention to doctors sewing her up, she didn’t even hardly notice since she was so overwhelmed with joy to care. After a few moments, the baby started to open her eyes and Lucy smiled as she looked into the black and red eyes of her baby.

“Hi, baby!” Lucy smiled even wider as tears poured down her face. “We’re your mama’s.”

[sophfandoms53]

If you don't mind: what's your opinion on Leonardo from tmnt? :3

Absolutely love him.

Leo is actually my second favorite turtle (Mikey being the first, I think that’s been made clear lmao) regardless of the series, whether it’s 2003, 2012 or Rise, Leo has always been a well written and interesting character.

I’ve joked around in the past about how 2012 shoved Leo and his character arc in our faces, but in reality I thoroughly enjoyed Leo’s arc in 2012 and it’s the easiest one to decipher as it’s actually very well written.

I could get into a deeper discussion about how 2012 dealt with Mikey, Raph and Donnie’s arc when compared to Leo’s but that would make this response even longer and I might keep that for another time, however I will briefly summarize that Raph and Donnie’s arcs suffered severely in the main 4 seasons and were basically brushed aside in season 5, minus that one episode Donnie had in the Kavaxas arc, while Mikey’s feeling inadequate to his brothers arc swiftly concluded in different ways after Into Dimension X and The Croaking and the writers started doing different things with him that better suited his character, Meet Mondo Gecko and Bat in The Belfry being big examples. All of season 5 honestly can be summed up with “Mikey is a total boss” because he just owns every single episode in that season even if he isn’t the focus, When Worlds Collide is essentially meant to be a Raph focus episode but the biggest moments in that two parter are whenever Mikey is on screen.

This is where we circle back to Leo and his arc as Mikey even takes attention away from him in the final part of the Kavaxas arc, which is an arc centered around Leo officially coming to terms with his role as the new Sensei and father figure to his family. After the Kavaxas arc, Leo’s character is finished, there’s no where else for him to grow beside minor personality tweaks which was hinted at in the Usagi arc.

In the main four seasons Leo’s arc can be split into two parts, seasons 1-2 has him dealing with the sacrifices and burden that comes with being the leader while seasons 3-4 has him accept his role as the leader and his character becomes about having trust both with himself and with his team as in these two seasons Leo tends to go off alone on a mission instead of talking with his family and it’s something that is handled very well.

One of my favorite episodes in the series is Attack of The MegaShredder specifically because it puts Leo in a place of understanding that his brothers [Mikey in this case] will always be there for him when he needs them the most and this arc comes to nice closed in Broken Foot where he constantly tells Karai that they need his brothers if they want to continue doing what they’re doing.

This type of characterization for Leo happened in the 2003 series as well. Most notably after the battle in the season 3 finale with Shredder that leaves the entire team wounded and Leo with a massive scar on the back of his shell, Leo takes this loss extremely personally and violently to the point he loses his sense of self. He’s angry at himself for losing, for letting his brothers and his Sensei get hurt.

But what 2003 did was not have Leo realize he was angry with himself and made it appear to be he was angry with his brother’s for not getting the job done. Even yelling at them for treating their missions against the foot as a game. This even extends to how Leo trained in season 4, he did to the point he tired himself and his brother’s out because he felt what he and his brother’s knew wasn’t good enough.

In the episode Grudge Match it opens up with Leo aggressively training his brother’s on a rooftop and he only stops his training when Splinter calls him out about it saying they need to discuss his attitude and take on training soon until they notice Mikey has been slacking off training recently. So Leo offers to train Mikey for his upcoming Battle Nexus rematch as Mikey has become incredibly cocky over his win and Leo knowing his brother needs to be taken down a peg, gives us this amazing scene of dialogue between the two,

“I brought you up here to clear your mind, Mikey. Focus on what's important.”

“Like going home?”

“No, like pushing yourself beyond your limits to a place where there are no limits; to be so focused, so ready that nothing and no one will ever catch you off guard again.”

“Um, we still talkin' about me here?”

“In this life, we only have each other. If one of us goes down, we all go down, so focus.”

The subtext is obvious, after the fight with Shredder, this is clearly how Leo takes on other fights in season 4 and why he becomes so frustrated with his brother’s constant dismissal of it. Despite this piece of advice giving Mikey what he needed to win the match fairly, it still doesn’t change the fact this is a very dangerous way to think and Leo being the leader to think this way makes it more glaring on how far Leo has lost himself in this state of self hatred.

Another interesting thing to note is how whenever Donnie and Raph complain about Leo’s attitude, it’s Mikey who comes to his eldest brother’s defense and understands the burden Leo has his shoulders, and this wasn’t done by accident.

It is only after Leo harms Splinter during training does he come to realize how bad this violent attitude of his is affecting everyone around him. Leo is then sent off on a 2 month journey of self-reflection in Japan where Yoshi’s old masters helps him realize that Leo has become his own monster, or as the show does it, he has become his own Shredder.

Leo comes to the realization that he has stop blaming himself for what happened and move forward, he’s been holding onto the past for too long to the point he became a barrel of anger and self-destruction and he had to be the one to fix it. He had to destroy his own demons, himself. And this arc concludes very well.

Now in Rise it’s a little bit difficult to analyze the characters as there isn’t much development, not a bad thing at all, but Rise has gone out of its way to give each of the brother’s depth and it’s very interesting.

Because Rise doesn’t have Leo as the leader one can be mistaken that this Leo wouldn’t have the same struggles or insecurities as his other incarnations but this has proven to be false as Rise Leo still has the same insecurity of his brother’s not respecting him as part of the team or just seeing him as a screwup. Leo has shown he needs a reassurance he’s doing the right thing and that his brother’s look at him in a positive light.

A lot of people have a fundamental misunderstanding of Leo’s role as the leader and just look at it as that instead of realizing how much pressure and stress Leo puts on himself regardless because he wants to be the very best him that he can be.

Lmao this got incredibly long, apologies for ranting.

This was a very long convoluted way of me saying, I love Leo a lot and his character is very very 3-dimensional and needs more appreciation than just “he’s only the leader”.

[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!