#mathmusicninja talks

[mathmusicninja]

I recently rewatched the "Tales of Leo" episode in tmnt '03 (s1 e19), and the way Leo's first words on waking up were "No... fear!" kinda got to me, and I had this crazy thought--did Raph only start calling Leo "Fearless" after that episode?

So I sat down today and did a little research in the transcripts, and from what I can tell....

Yeah.

That's exactly what happened.

(more details under the cut)

"Tales of Leo" is first time the word "Fearless" is used. Raph says it in a moment of denial ("It's not like we can't get along without you playing fearless leader!") and then later backtracks.

The next time it's used is in "Turtles in Space Part 5" (s2 e5) when they're in a tight spot and Raph asks Leo, "So what do we do now, fearless leader?"

And from there it becomes an established nickname

Also, bonus detail, in "Return to New York Part 2" (s1 e22) when Leo faces the same elite guard who took him down, he almost has a panic attack, but then he buckles down and says "You may destroy me, but I will not live in fear!" and pushes them back, and Raph says "Me neither!"

That moment gets me, too T.T

Transcript images from https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:2003_TV_series_transcripts:

[mathmusicninja]

hahaha I won

(see latest Cass Apocalyptic Series update (tw language))

Since we are getting close to Leo's resurrection I feel like it's an appropriate time to start taking bets on who is going to cry the most

Hmmmmmm................

[mathmusicninja]

TMNT Fic and Comic Recs

An ongoing list. Feel free to drop more in the notes!

(tw: strong language for the majority of these. Mind the tags and be safe!)

AO3 Authors:

T33la, (mostly ’03 with a heavy IDW influence), anything they write is great—a little spooky at times, but always with lots of comfort in the end. Personal favorite at the moment: “The Gauntlet” (but all of their stuff is seriously so good)

Flynne, (mostly ’03), I’m still reading all of their stuff (lots of one-shots with a few longer fics), but liking what I see so far, lots of really good hurt/comfort. Personal favorite fic at the moment: “Collector”

Halogalopaghost (halogalopaghost), (’03), mostly one-shots to fill in between the lines of canon. Personal favorite fic at the moment: “Doctor On Call”

AO3 Fics:

"Pretend that I Never Left" by redstringraven (sirimiri), ('03 x HZD), tw violence, during the Ultimate Drako fiasco, Mikey is taken to a different reality where animal-like machines roam the land and people live in tribes. Technically a crossover with Horizon Zero Dawn but no prior knowledge of the game is necessary! Mikey-centric long fic

"How to accidentally kidnap yourself several times over" by Camildeni, (Rise x '03 x '12 x Bayverse), instead of getting himself out of a sticky situation, Rise!Mikey accidentally brings more of himself into it. Very fun and creative

"Looking for a Furr-Ever Home" by The67ImpalaDragonChild, ('03), each of the boys gains a new companion through various means. Adorable, also has hurt/comfort and holiday feels

"Little Kid with a Big Death Wish" by remrose, (Rise), tw dissociation and suicide attempt, Leo-centric recovery fic after the movie, very well written and focuses on non-linear (but upward!) healing. Can be intense at some parts. Excellent hurt/comfort

“I May Be Invisible, But I Still Look Good” by Dandy (@dandylovesturtles), (Rise), Leo gets mystically separated from his body and his brothers go through a lot to get him back. Dandy also has other Rise one-shots that I enjoyed (especially “Tapping Out”)

"Underdark" by Nekotsuki, '03, Mikey-centric, a bit of a whump fic but with a happy ending, very well written and one I go back to a lot

“A Tale of Spirits” by unorthodoxx (@\unorthodoxx-page), (Rise x atla), I don’t usually do cross-fandom fics like this, but this one works for me. The Rise boys end up in the atla universe because of mystic stuff and no one believes them when they say they aren’t magic spirits.

“Ghost in the Shell” (’03 x Rise), “Fusions” (’12), “The Great Skittle Heist of 2105” (’03 au), and the “Please Just Let Them Hug” series (’03 canon compliant one-shots) by AmevelloBlue (@\amevello-blue). Good hurt/comfort

“Carapace” by SkeletalConstellation (@\kettle-bird), a Rise fic based on some events in the IDW comics

“Picking up the Pieces” by Andromedabrown, GalacticDreamer, ParvumAutomaton, (Rise) pretty long but has very intricate plot. Leo accidentally ends up mystically connected to his shattered sword and his brothers go on a wild adventure to get him back

“The Last Ronin Becomes a Discord Admin” by MelonPalooza (@\melonpalooza), (’03 x ’12 x Rise), a classic in the fandom. Has some great humor and drama. Also has a one-off crossover with “Ghost in the Shell” that was a wild ride.

“Sanctuary” by RealityBreakGirl, (’03), just a nice and fluffy one-shot, Donnie and Raph centric

“A truly French experience” by Get_dunked_off, (Rise), one-shot of Leo defending Hueso’s honor from rude customers

"Ice Cream Makes Everything Better" by mathmusic8 (yours truly :D), ('03), a series of canon compliant one shots to fill in some comfort gaps for the '03 show

"Wow, What a Coincidence" by mathmusic8 (me again ^.^), ('03 x '12 x Rise), a separated AU where the '03 boys get lost and each raise one of the Rise kids and then the kids all end up in the same summer camp. The '12 boys are camp councilors. Rise-centric. Crack fic treated seriously

Tumblr Comics:

“Cass Apocalyptic Series” by @\somerandomdudelmao, (Rise), fandom classic, bad future timeline comic, this series (the “Can you carry your uncles” episode in particular) got me interested in tmnt in the first place, canon compliant

“Aftermath” (also on AO3) by @\happyfoxx-art, (Rise), aftermath of the Rise movie, very good hurt comfort (no language!)

“Replica” by @\kathaynesart, (Rise), fandom classic, bad future timeline comic, canon compliant

“2 Arms Left” by @\intotheelliwoods, (Rise), the softest peepaw au in existence (until it isn't--mind the tags for later comics)

Tblsomedoodles (@\tblsomedoodles) does a combo of comics and fics, mostly Rise but also ’03. Has some adorable Rise x ’03 AUs

"Swantello" by @\tangledinink, (Rise), a rottmnt x swan lake crossover we didn't know we wanted

"Krang Infection" by @\abbeyofcyn, (Rise), set a year after the movie. Donnie gets a krang parasite that makes him go feral turtle for a while

"Unmutated Donnie" by @\onejellyfishplease, (Rise), Donnie ends up as an unmutated softshell turtle but keeps his brain. Very cute, fun, and Donnie's snoot is the best thing on the planet XD

"Kid Leo Au" by @\angelpuns, (Rise), when Leo came out of the prison dimension he accidentally turns himself into a kid, very cute and has good hurt/comfort feels

@\heckitall has a bunch of mini comics (mostly Rise, some '03): Masterpost. Also check out "What will it be" by clandestineclairvoyant for a fanfic of heckitall's "Same as it Never Will Be" comic!

[mathmusicninja]

Fun facts and little details about my fic "Wow, What a Coincidence" (part 3)

(part 1) (part 2)

(spoilers for WWAC under the cut)

Mikey to Big Raph: “Pretty sure you’re just reconstituted mutagen and moss, bro!” is a reference to tmnt 2012 s3 e1 “Within the Woods”

When Dee got spooked at Run of the Mill in chapter 20 and he started pacing next to the exit, Little Raph assumed it was because he wanted to leave asap, and that was part of it, he also wanted to be close to his Pop’s picture on the mural. Otherwise he would’ve left the building entirely

Lee mouthed off to Old Hob the instant he met him, and in that moment, Hob decided that if he had to leave one of the turtles behind it would be Lee

When Grampa Splinter came to visit, he stopped by the front desk first and did it all properly—he told them there was a family emergency and he had to see Angie immediately. The camp night staff were the ones who texted Big Raph to let him know Splinter was coming.

SAINW goop stuff—the blue goop healed their wounds. The first yellow orb restarted the heart and lungs, and the second restarted the rest of their insides. The third one, on their temples, restarted their brains. Yes Old Don has personal experience with all of this. No I don’t know any details about how that happened yet.

When Raphael was looking for Dee in the crowd at the end and caught a glimpse of the wrong shade of purple, it was actually a very brief look at Donatello from behind. He didn’t recognize his turtle shape because of the business suit :D

Michelangelo doesn’t know that Lee already had an invisible blaster :D

Leonardo’s comment about Señor Hueso’s hat is a callback to tmnt ’03 s1 e18 “Shredder Strikes Back Part 2” when all his brothers get to tell a bunch of Foot elite “Nice hats!” but Leo was busy being unconscious/severely injured to say it, too, and I thought he deserved the chance :D

The first time Michelangelo painted a set of turtles in his mural (the little ones on the pier), he had the orange one sitting apart from the others, alone and sad. When he looked at it again the next day, he came to a decision that he didn’t want to remember his brothers that way, so he painted over it and had them all together and happy.

The Franch theory dialog was a last-second addition, but it's one of my favorites since we see the whole Rise family break the 4th wall on several occasions

“Dad wouldn’t come out of the bushes!” is one of my favorite random lines XD

Another favorite random line: “Did someone say bugs? Don’t worry, I’ve got a blow torch—!”

[mathmusicninja]

Fun facts and little details about my fic "Wow, What a Coincidence" (part 2) featuring Phone Free Week and the kids' fortunes

(part 1) (part 3)

(spoilers for WWAC under the cut)

The mystic lady’s scene was fully written before I gave her a name (Madam Meredith). I still have to look up her name every time I want to use it.

Madam Meredith tells Dee that her fortunes “are not cheap cookies to be handed out at random.” After her experience with Big Raph, she does not tell this to other groups, and she does, in fact, give ’12 Donnie a fortune cookie because she can’t read the fates of people from other universes

All of the Rise kids’ fortunes reference their ninpo.

Their fortunes in plain English:

Little Raph: Canon didn’t intended for him time travel/dimension hop, but he did and took it like a champ. More troubles will come (i.e. canon events), but he’ll gain more power (i.e. ninpo) to bear it. His Rise family (6 people—Lee, Dee, Angie, Lou, April, one nebulous space for Draxum and/or Casey Sr. (and/or Casey Jr.??)) will depend on him, and he depends on them. Little Raph won’t be the leader forever since Lee will take over that role in time

Lee: His future is muddy because there are a lot of different versions of Rise!Leo—even canon has two of them—and Madam Meredith maaaay be able to see some of the fanon versions of Peepaw Leo too. When she says “you must come back” she’s talking about the fact that if Lee and his brothers aren’t in the Rise universe when Shredder or the Krang show up, their world is doomed. He’s going to get his ninpo from his family, and if he looks into his family history enough he’ll find the scrolls about the Shredder and the Krang and can probably? maybe? prevent that from happening

Dee: In ’03, Donnie has to live with the fact that if he disappears, an apocalypse will happen (SAINW). Dee became Dee because ’03 Donnie was trying to save SAINW Donnie. Dee knows this. He knows that ’03 Donnie’s choices had inter-dimensional consequences. But Madam Meredith tells him that Dee will never have to carry that burden--he isn’t the hinge point of an apocalypse, plus Dee will have ninpo, access to ’03 Donnie’s systems, and all the ’03 brothers, so he'll be fine. If Dee wants to, he could be a great mystic. Also he needs to stay close to his brothers and the ’12 guys and they’ll protect him from Old Hob

Angie: His is probably the most straightforward. He’s seen ’03 Donnie struggle with depression his whole life, and he’s become a bit of a therapist as a result. And he’ll become the greatest mystic warrior the world has ever seen and all that.

“June” (aka Rise April): We don’t see the specifics of her fortune, but Madam Meredith absolutely knows she’s a human and thinks it’s hilarious. She makes April squirm a bit by basically calling her out on it (Dee caught the implications and also thinks it's really funny). She also gets a few cryptic words about how she’ll become family with the turtles, be a bridge between them and society, help save the world with them, etc. but she doesn’t fully understand it at the time

While they’re in the Mystics tent, Dee starts drawing new schematics for his battleshell. Later that week he implements the upgrades so it can fit any of his brothers as a moment’s notice, as we see later in the fic

During the Phone Free Week scavenger hunt, Little Raph always insisted on being the one to read all the clues.

Little Raph won’t admit it because he knows he’d get instant backlash, but the Phone Free Week scavenger hunt was his favorite day at camp :D

[mathmusicninja]

@musewrangler you're so sweet!! I love seeing your fic updates come into my inbox even if the ninja turtles have consumed all my free time 😆

Someday I'll get back into Star Wars (maybe with the Ahsoka show??), and I love knowing I'll have plenty of your content to catch up on when I do ❤️

[mathmusicninja]

Fun facts and little details about my fic "Wow, What a Coincidence" (part 1)

(part 2) (part 3)

(spoilers for WWAC under the cut)

I reread and rewrote the first 10 chapters so many times, I can’t stand looking at them anymore XD

Donatello and Leonardo were the closest to running into each other when they dropped off their kids—they only missed each other by an hour or so. Raphael was there the day before, and Mike saw Lee off at the bus stop by their apartment

The kids lower their third eyelids whenever they imitate their dads <3

When Little Raph told the story of his dad hanging onto Uncle Mike as long as possible, Lee instantly put two and two together about his dad’s thumb getting portal-chopped. He managed to dodge talking about it all of camp, but there were definitely moments he was thinking about it

Michelangelo drew plenty of realistic portraits of his brothers and of himself before the explosion, but Lee always thought he was exaggerating how solidly built he used to be

Big Leo has a moment where he says “I don’t know how I feel about this.” Later, Little Raph has a similar line. Out of all the Rise and ’12 boys, those two probably enjoy each other’s company the most

In chapter 6 Dee asks about an activity labeled “LP” on their schedule and gets a vague answer about candy because “LP” stands for “Living Piñata”

Angie was the first one to know about Little Raph’s stinks because he pulled out Dr. Delicate Touch on him on, like, their second day

One of the CCs for the Yellow Sparrows is named Jack and he’s a sparrow as a reference to Pirates of the Caribbean :D

Before I decided that IDW Hob was going to be the main antagonist for the fic, I was going to have a Rise version of Hob be the Gray Giant’s CC

Mort is short for Mortimer, but it could also be short for Mortified. I’ve mentioned this in some of the comments but I projected onto him a lot haha (social anxiety be rough sometimes). I also made him a monitor lizard as a lowkey Redwall reference, but he does have more expressive frills, so his exact species is left up for interpretation

In chapter 17, Dee says that Big Leo would probably not like the fact that he’s been changing around their schedule if he knew. Later we see that Big Leo did in fact know about that and straight up did not care

Dee often says “Shuddup, Lee.” Raphael mirrors this when he says “Shuddup, Fearless” to Leonardo

When they’re complimented for Little Raph being a good kid, both Big Leo and Leonardo have a similar line about Little Raph deserving the credit

[mathmusicninja]

@jae-birde Oooo good question, lesse…

I think it goes back to when I was reading Donnie Separated AU (Dee’s direct inspiration, used with permission), The Last Ronin becomes a Discord Admin, and Ghost in the Shell and watching all the different universes interact. I really loved the image of ’03 Raphael raising Dee and realized that all the Rise kids already had distinct traits aligning with certain ’03 turtles--Rise Donnie is more violent/chaotic than most other Donnies, so he’s a good fit for Raphael. Rise Leo is more silly (Michelangelo), Rise Raph is more responsible (Leonardo), and that left Rise Mike with ’03 Donatello, which was also adorable.

As for where they spent the 12 years apart, I originally thought about having them all go universe-hopping, but I started thinking about it, and if they were all chasing each other then they would’ve started running into the same people and eventually would’ve figured out how to leave each other notes and meet up or something. I also thought about ’03 Donnie getting separated from the others and absolutely freaking out because of SAINW trauma and that made me sad, so I let him be the one to get back home.

I knew pretty early on that Raphael and Dee would be universe-hopping the longest, but I was pretty hazy on Michelangelo and Leonardo until I started thinking through the logistics of them ending up in different places and getting lowkey stuck there to avoid aforementioned plot holes. I also noticed that in the ’03 “Prodigal Son” episode when the brothers are all separated, ’03 Mikey opted to shelter in place, so I had him stay in the Rise universe from the start. For Leonardo, I figured if I was going to be mean enough to separate him from his bros, the least I could do for him was send him to Feudal Japan haha

(aldkjfajklf I looked at some of my old notes to answer this question and found a really rough draft of a version where Donatello found out about the others early on during the summer and managed to leave messages on his brothers’ phones, so they all reunited over the phone first, and Raphael had to talk Donatello down from a panic attack without actually being there to help him alkdfjakljfd angsty)

Anyway, thanks for the ask! Feel free to send me more if you got ‘em :D

[mathmusicninja]

Things the fandom likes to give the rottmnt boys:

All: tails, turtle noises (chirps, churs, rumbles), realistic injuries, Krang trauma, peepaw designs

Raph - huge tail, eye patch, childhood trauma

Leo - time travel shenanigans, team medic status, physical (and mental) trauma

Donnie - long snoot (of various lengths), major sensory issues, mental trauma

Mikey - man bun, emotional breakdowns, mystic trauma

Other general notes:

Raph tends to be assigned the mom of the team--we can always count on him to be a protective, responsible, soft, lovable guy

Leo. Man, there are soooo many Leo's. Everyone's got their own flavor of Leo. The movie definitely set the groundwork where he could possibly have a personality shift away from the class clown exterior into more of the fearless leader we got hints of all throughout the show, and we as a fandom love exploring all the possible directions that could go

Donnie is clearly a fan favorite--autistic mad scientist who has swag, knows ASL, and the full support of his family behind him? Heck yeah man, he's living his best life. We project on him a lot haha. His various peepaw designs are definitely some of the coolest art I've seen

Mikey. I love the way the fandom has wholeheartedly dove into the different layers of Mikey's character and unpacked him--he generally feels pretty consistent to me in fanfics, even in different AUs. He's complex, good-hearted, and a goofball <3

April O'Neil is a universally loved all-star sister/mom/bestie who completely personifies "ride or die". We stan April in this fandom

We split pretty hard over Splinter though. Reminds me a lot of the arguments from the Star Wars fandom over Obi-Wan, and I survived those by staying very, very far away from them, so I'll do the same here :D

And while we're on Star Wars, Draxum is basically Vader/Anakin except he got to live through his redemption arc and we're thoroughly enjoying messing with him :D

[mathmusicninja]

EEeee this sounds like so much fun!! Lots of potential to work with given that setup :D

Oooh Joint Custody AU questions so far, let's see--

Does your Raph have a standard rottmnt design, or is his au design still pending?

I'm guessing the Kaari person/alternate parent figure mentioned on Leo's design page is this guy? Or are they two different people?

Do the boys ever get back to Splinter? If so, do they all find him at once or separately/one at a time?

Hope you have fun at camp! <3

Hi! :D

I'm actually working on Raph's reference sheet right now! His design's still pretty similar to canon, since he's with Splinter, but there are some differences! Here's a lil sneak peak to that :D

(Fun fact I was gonna give you a normal sneak peak but then I realized I still had these saved from earlier discord chaos, so yeah :3 enjoy the chaos)

Yep that's Kaari!! The guy Draxum hired to help take care of the turtles, completely unaware at the time just how much more random chaos would come of it (Kaari lives to annoy and confuse Draxum he's like an annoying little brother)

Yep! I don't think I've mentioned it much yet, but when the boys are all seperated Raph ends up with Splinter, and lives with him for a few good years before the events of season one. After Mystic Mayhem Leo & Mikey go to the surface to a. find Raph, and b. recruit all the new mutants that are popping up for Draxum's army. They're able to find Raph and they move in with him and Splinter. Eventually they start running into Donnie (he's with the foot) and at some point the Foot send Donnie to spy on the turtles so they can get more info on Draxum. So Donnie starts living kind of part time at the lair.

The main au is focused on the events of season 1 & 2 as the turtles get to know each other again, figure out where their loyalties lie, and try to keep their family together.

They also have like way too many collective parental figures shdhs

[mathmusicninja]

*Peach the starfish from Finding Nemo voice*:

TODAY'S THE DAAAAAY!! The sun is SHINING!! There's five new chapters! And we're finally getting resolution--

There's five new chapters.

TheRe'S FiVe nEw cHaPtErS?!?!

[mathmusicninja]

...anyone else headcanon that in the apocalypse, Donnie (or maybe Draxum) told Mikey to never let the cracks go past this elbows?

It just felt like a major hinge point on Future Mikey's part, like that was the moment he really had to decide to give his all

And then that moment was mirrored when Present Mikey got to the same point, but then his brothers stepped in

I just really wanna see a ficlet of some kind where Future Mikey is training with Donnie and/or Draxum and they're drilling into him "NEVER let the cracks go past your elbows. You would die."

And then flash forward to when he does

And then flash forward to when Present Mikey feels something major start to break at the same point but then Raph and Donnie share the load

...

also I CANNOT get over how badly Donnie is shaking through that whole sequence it WRECKS me every time. That boy is so scared, but he loves his brothers so much <333

[mathmusicninja]

also curious as to what where ur fav to write in wwac + wwac extras…? also just what scenes are the hardest n easiest to write?

Ooooooo this is a fun question to think about :D

For WWAC Extras it's an easy answer--my favorite (and easiest for me to write) was Leonardo and Little Raph's back story. I have a nephew about that age and he's adorable, so I just channeled all of that cuteness into Little Raph :D

The hardest for me was the last chapter, where Lee first finds out he's a Leo. Mike wasn't really doing too well himself during that time, and he was doing his best, but it was a real rough patch for the two of them. That was hard for me to think about for too long, and so the chapter didn't get polished as nicely as I wanted it to.

As for WWAC, hmmm... Phone Free Week definitely took the most planning (especially the little clues to send the to the next activity haha), but it was a ton of fun. I was hoping to include more play-by-plays of the challenges since it would be a great time for the kids to get to know each other better, but I ran out of steam and ended up summarizing a lot of it towards the end.

I must've rewritten the fight scene in Longest Night at least 5 times--I stuggle with actuon scenes in general, and that one was especially important to the story haha

When I started posting WWAC I had most of it written, but then I kept getting excited and adding chapters on the spur of the moment, including "Rumor Has It" and "Masks", which were fun little filler chapters that let us see a little deeper into a lot of the Rise kids' characters. I wrote each of those in single sittings for the most part, which is still crazy to me since I usually take a lot longer to piece chapters together.

The reunion chapters are some of my top favorites, though--I wrote them pretty early on and then kept going back to read them if I got too sad haha, which resulted in me adding more and more to them until we got the 9-10 chapters that we have today haha

Overall though it was such a fun fic to write, and I'm excited to continue the WWAC universe into Rottmnt canon and beyond!

[mathmusicninja]

Masterpost

My Fics:

"Wow, What a Coincidence" (tmnt '03 x tmnt '12 x rottmnt), a separated AU where the '03 boys get lost in the multiverse and each raise one of the Rise kids, and then one year they all send their kids to the same summer camp in the Hidden City. The '12 boys are camp councilors. Rise-centric. See also "WWAC Extras" for some side stories about the boys growing up, and the "#wwac related" tag for more details and side AUs. Crack fic treated seriously

"Ice Cream Makes Everything Better" (tmnt '03), a series of canon-compliant one shots giving each of the boys some extra moments of comfort we didn't get to see in the show

TMNT Fic and Comic Recs: this post

Main Blog: mathmusic8

[mathmusicninja]

So I'm trying to watch more of the highlights from tmnt 2012 since I'm writing a fic with them in it, and I'm so confused about the ending of the space arc (in season 4? idk the seasons are all broken up differently on different websites). The past-version turtles (plus April and Casey) go on to space with the past version of Honeycutt, but according to my google searches we never really see them again? So there's just another set of kids out there who never come home??

Like, WHAT???

What are they even DOING that whole time???? The big bad McGuffin thing is already destroyed, the earth is already safe--it's not even a proper time loop! I get that we don't want to deal with the headache of having duplicate teenagers around all the time, but c'mon! You really think they would never try to come home? Or were they stuck out there? What if they did come home eventually? What would that look like?

Y'all this has so much potential--

(If anyone has a fic or something related to the lost turtles I'd love to see it)

[mathmusicninja]

Loving all the hurt/comfort in the rottmnt fandom around the boys rallying around each other while they’re coping with their trauma post-movie.

I'd love to see a comic or fic about Leo getting anxious until he can go find Raph and feel his hands—it’s his way to make sure Raph is okay, that he’s no longer krangified.

Also, where the boys used to cling to or behind Raph when they were frightened, now they (mostly Leo, but maybe the others too?) group up in front of Raph. Because they aren’t losing him again.