#on the one hand i am so happy that people love my turtle stories and drawings

[phoebepheebsphibs]

A LOTTLE LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

“Also because I want [Nino] to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.” And will that day be someday soon? Wink wink nudge nudge :3c

I am happy to give Nino some love, but before we do, we need to talk about how badly canon has failed him. The reason we need to have that talk is that the love I'm going to give is far more headcanon-y than I usually go in these analysis posts. For most characters, I can give a strong canon-based argument for a core characterization. For Nino? Well, I am pulling this stuff from canon, but I wouldn't exactly label it a "strong" argument. There are even elements of my take on Nino that you could label "grasping at straws".

And I'm happy to own that! I delight in giving Nino all the love he deserves even if it doesn't perfectly match canon, but that means that my Nino is less me leaning into the best parts of canon and more me shifting through canon, grabbing a few shinny bits, and weaving them into something that you may not agree with because my vision for Nino is to elevate him to match Alya in terms of narrative importance because I want the team show season two promised me even if I have to make it myself!

And if you don't want that? Then that's fine! I'm not arguing that everyone should adopt this take. My version of Nino is about as close to an OC as I get when writing fanfic. So let's get into it and talk about why I had to do that. (Also note that I have nothing against OCs. It's just that, when it comes to my own writing, I try to reserve them for original fiction or for very minor roles that no canon character could fill. Totally a matter of personal preference and not some sort of judgement.)

The Many Ways that Canon has Done Nino Dirty

If we look at what is arguably the main group of friends - Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Nino - then we can see a clear base concept for the first three. Alya is the plucky reporter. Marinette is the headstrong leader. Adrien is the sweet goofball. Nino is... Alya's boyfriend? Adrien's best friend? Chris' older brother?

This is the problem that I was referring to above. Alya, Adrien, and Marinette have clear roles that you could pick out by just watching Origins. Nino doesn't. He doesn't even speak in part one and part two gives him all of six lines. These lines establish him as a nice guy since they're all about him being kind to Adrien, but that's about it. Here's one of them as an example:

Miss Bustier: Agreste, Adrien? Nino: (quietly to Adrien) You say "present". Adrien: (jumps up with his hand raised) Uh, present!

This is a cute moment for sure, but when I look at it, I can't tell you who Nino is supposed to be other than a nice guy, which isn't much to go on. Nice guys can fit a lot of roles.

This isn't necessarily a flaw. Some characters have roles that are immediately obvious and some characters don't. This second class of character usually just has a more complex role that will be discovered and defined based on their actions as the story goes on. However, because Miraculous' writing is all over the place, Nino gets screwed. Instead of his actions defining his nebulous role, his actions make his role impossible to pin down! Here are a few examples:

Nino the Protector:

Season two was big on the idea that miraculous had to be suited to their holders. That's why Chloe kept getting the bee as we saw in Malediktator:

Marinette: I must choose someone who's not impressed by people in power. Who can help me trap Malediktator. Huh?! Of course! That's it. (reaches for the Miraculous of the Bee)

And why did Nino get the turtle in Anansi?

Marinette: I need a protective Miraculous. (gasps, and points at the Turtle Miraculous Master Fu is wearing) That's the one I need, Master! (Master Fu gasps) Uh, if it's okay with you. Master Fu: (smiles at Wayzz, who nods to him) Do you have someone in mind, Marinette?  Marinette: Actually, I think I found just the right person.

Okay, cool, we finally have a strong defining trait for Nino! He's a protector! Or, at least, he was here. Other episodes go directly against this role such as this nonsense from Illusion:

Nino: What's up is Ladybug and Cat Noir don't have us to help them anymore. Alya: (nervously) Um, um— uh— what do you mean, "us"? Nino: Well, us, you Rena Rouge, me Carapace! (Alya kicks his leg underneath the table) Ouch! What's the big deal? We can tell Marinette and Adrien we used to be superheroes.

This first issue with this episode is that we see Nino out his and Alya's secret identities without her permission even though the resistance did NOT require an identity reveal to be a thing. In other words, our supposed protector is taking a big risk for no reason. Then he goes and does this:

Nino: Hence my plan. We're gonna film an akumatization. Alya: And how are you, Comrade Ketchup, gonna be in the know when and where this akumatization takes place? Nino: Easy, Comrade Beurre Maître d'Hôtel. I'm gonna make it happen.

Which leads to the four friends antagonizing Gabriel even though Nino knows how complex Adrien and Gabriel's relationship is. A move that makes no sense for a supposed protector because Gabriel was far from their only option. Nino could have picked anyone, but he went with the riskiest candidate possible, exposing his best friend to a potentially massive backlash.

Nino also doesn't even try to contact Ladybug and Chat Noir prior to this insane plan, thereby putting the whole city at unnecessary risk! What kind of protector purposely causes an akuma without also coming up with mitigation strategies to minimize the resulting damage?

Everything Nino does in this episode should disqualify him from ever holding the turtle again or, at the very least, he should have to redeem himself before holding the turtle again. This is especially true since he never apologizes for anything he did in Illusion and this is just one example of the issue. It's actually kind of hard to find moments where Nino acts as a protector even though he holds the miraculous of Protection. So is he supposed to be a protector? Who knows!

Nino, The Empath:

That first example was long, so we'll pick two quicker ones to flesh this out. The first one is how Nino and Adrien's relationship is defined. In Origins and the New York Special Nino is written as a kind and sensitive guy who is acting as Adrien's guide to dating and other elements of the real world:

Nino: Yup. I love Adrien, but he's like a baby chick that's just started cracking out of his egg. He has a hard time understanding the signals people send him. Alya: What signals? Marinette isn't exactly sending them clearly. I mean, look! What is she doing with her arms? Telling him what to do in case of an emergency landing or something? Nino:(sighs) If only this trip could help Adrien finally come out of his shell.

But then you have episodes like Animan where Adrien is Nino's guide to dating:

Nino: Shhh! You know I'm no good with the ladies, especially this one all of a sudden. I mean, dude, do I go up to her and crack her a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious? Adrien: Nino, you're way over-thinking this. "Invite her to the zoo", you serious? Nino: Well, they have this really cool new exhibit there. Adrien: Listen, just be yourself, man.

And episodes like Illusion (discussed above) and Psycomedian (see below) where Adrien is deeply uncomfortable and Nino doesn't notice:

Nino: See, dude? I told you! Hilarious, right? Adrien: Uh... (laughs nervously) Right! Really funny, Nino. Nino: I gotta show you his other sketches. It's insane that you don't know Harry Clown! (laughs)

Which might work if these episodes were about Nino learning a lesson, but they're not. Nino learns nothing, so is he generally in tune with others or is he kind of oblivious to other peoples' feelings? And why did Nino ever think that Adrien was a good source of romantic advice if he also thinks that Adrien is "a baby chick"? Pick a lane people!

Nino's Hobbies

Our final source of confusion is trying to define what Nino even enjoys doing. Horrificator and Queen Banana have him playing around as an amature film maker, but we also see him acting as an amature DJ with the wiki even claiming that he's the head of the school's radio station. So which of these things is his passion? Movies or music?

To be clear, I think it's fine to have multiple passions, but this is a story. You want to keep your characters' non-story-relevant hobbies kind of simple, especially when the character in question is a relatively minor side character who rarely gets much screen time. It's why Alix is only really into roller skating and why Nathaniel is only really into art. You don't want them to be more complex than that.

Even the main characters get this "keep it simple" treatment with Marinette only really being into fashion and Alya only really being into her blog. The girls don't need two demanding passions that would eat up all of their free time, but that's what Nino gets! Film and music are both incredibly demanding passions and it's hard to balance a character who is into both who is also an active superhero. That's a lot for one dude to do well!

I've actually seen fics that cast Nino as wanting to be a director and fics that make him want to be a professional DJ because canon really isn't clear about this pretty basic aspect of his character, but you do need to pick a lane when writing anything that gives Nino a career and so people seem to pick a passion at random.

My Version of Nino

By now, we're hopefully in agreement that canon has made a mess of Nino's character to the point where it's near impossible to say "this is who Nino is supposed to be." However, if you want to write Nino, then you do kind of have to pick a characterization to go with, so here's what I've come up with. Feel free to embrace it or reject it, but know that you will pry my version of Nino out of my cold dead hands because I utterly adore him.

Since Nino is Carapace, I base everything about him around the concept of "protect and defend" because he needs to feel like he deserves his heroic alter ego. I do not want to make canon's mistake of giving him a miraculous that massively contradicts his writing. Especially when that writing makes him feel interchangeable with other characters. At this point, no one from canon screams "turtle miraculous" unless you want to give it to Adrien since he's Ladybug's defender.

I also designed Nino around Alya and Adrien as those will arguably be his most important relationships. He should feel like a perfect fit for boyfriend and best friend respectively. I also took Marinette into consideration because he's going to be part of her team/friend group, so he should work with her, too.

What all that means is that I basically said "okay, this is where Nino is supposed to fit in the story and this is the dumpster fire that canon gave us, how do I pull pieces from the fire and paste them together to make a character that fits who Nino should have been?"

To really get into my version of Nino, I'd almost have to give you a fic to read, but that's way too much for a Tumblr post, so let's keep this high-level and just look at some of my notes on Nino from my lore Bible:

Nino is a major audiophile. He loves listening to music and watching movies/TV shows to study how they play with sound. He wants to be an audio engineer when he's older, but he also has a general passion for all things music and film. He’ll listen to any genre and watch almost any movie or show. He loves to take charge of the music at events so that the music really fits the crowd (and so it sounds good). It isn’t unheard of for him to go see an unknown band or an odd indie film on his own. This will become a major bonding point for Nino and Adrien because of the influence of Adrien's mother. Nino has seen all of Emilie's films and loves them. It will also bond him and Alya as his knowledge of film making will allow him to help her learn the art of filming now that she's doing complex things like actions shots and editing together multiple recordings.

Nino is generally pretty laid back and likes to hear people out. His reaction to confrontation is to try to calm everyone down so that they can get to the heart of the issue. He wants everyone to get along, but he's also not going to let someone take the blame when they shouldn't. Nino protects the innocent.

Nino is incredibly protective of the people he loves. If someone he cares about is in danger, his peaceful nature goes straight out the window. He’s the kind of person who would happily take a bullet for his friends and family. This will lead to him following Alya around once the hero stuff starts because he wants to keep her safe. Never let Alya go out alone if Nino is around or even just aware that a fight is happening. Alya thinks "scoop" and Nino thinks "my Alya sense is tingling." He's NOT there to stop her from doing what she loves, he's just there to be her spotter who lets her focus on filming while he watches for danger, though that will initially be a struggle for him. Treat this as his audition/training for Carapace where he learns to balance protective instincts with getting the job done so that he's ready to perfectly take on his miraculous.

When Nino’s folks split up, his mother insisted that the kids should go to therapy to help process things. They had individual and family counseling. Nino was actually pretty cool with the divorce as he’d seen it coming, but his brother was really affected by it, so Nino spent his time working on ways to help Chris (and being told that he was a brother, not a parent, but he still wanted to help). He learned a lot from going through it and it’s why he’s so good at dealing with emotional issues. He’s also good at not taking those burdens on himself. He wants to help, but knows that it's your battle. Marinette often looks to Nino for guidance on emotional issues because she knows that she's terrible at navigating them. She has given him full permission to stop her when she's too focused on solutions over support. All of the friends will help Adrien figure out social situations, but Nino will be the main guide as he's the one with the strongest skills in that area. Plus Adrien makes Nino's protective big brother instincts go crazy.

Nino’s a bit of a loner by choice. He has "weird" hobbies that easily lend themselves to being done alone and he doesn't have any interest in "forcing" his hobbies on someone who doesn't actually enjoy them, so he spends a lot of time by himself and rarely invites others to share in his interests. He only does that when he thinks that they'll actually enjoy what he's sharing. He doesn’t mind this, but he’s also a very welcoming individual who doesn’t like to see people left out, so he’ll come out of his shell when he sees someone who needs a friend. This usually leads to him making friends who soon become closer with others, but still view him as a casual friend. He’s cool with that. He's just happy that they found their people. Adrien will be the first friend who really stays Nino’s due to an understanding of Nino’s “weird” hobbies. After all, Adrien’s the son of an actress. He’s used to weird indie films and discussions of cinematography. I'd even say that he revels in it and realizes that he has missed it desperately since his mom got too sick to do that kind of thing. Basically, Nino will fill a spot in Adrien's heart that Adrien didn't even know was empty. Adrien can listen to Nino talk about cinematography for hours and never get bored. Before Adrien, no one knew that Nino was this talkative!

If anyone wants more insights into this topic, feel free to send an ask, but I think we'll call this post done now because it's SUPER long.

[telugu-girl-13]

so...i just watched wicked! here's my review, with the goods and the bads. these are more or less in order. major spoilers for wicked below!!

disclaimer: i watched and am talking about this movie as a person who has not watched the plays or any content related to wicked before, and just knows the story of the wizard of oz. i didn't even know the wicked witch of the west's name was elphaba before this movie came out (it's never generally mentioned okay 😭) so that is how clueless i am. however, im kinda glad about that, because otherwise much of the plot might have been somewhat anticlimatic.

additionally, i am a naturally cynical person and even if i love something, i feel the need to point out all its flaws, so bear with me!

below the cut! bullet points because i felt like it

wicked was an overall amazing movie and experience, ariana and cynthia were outstanding, and i absolutely cannot wait for the second movie!

the introduction with the munchkins celebrating elphaba's death had me expecting her to die throughout the whole movie, i was almost certain there would be tears. BUT IM SOO GLAD SHE DIDNT!

elphaba being the child of a secret alcoholic affair was NOT expected, nor did i expect that to be shown. (plus it escalated so fast) random, but i had to say it 😭 and im sorta glad her moms not alive anymore

at first, i expected nessarose to be that one person in elphaba's childhood, i was actually really surprised when she wasn't. still, an interesting character who needs more recognition!

the fact that the movie was directed by an asian director has me so happy, because i also saw a lot of representation in the background cast! different skin colors, body types, hair colors (GINGER REPRESENTATION LMFAO), we got them all! and i was SUPER happy about that!

one of my new favorite quotes is 'well, bock, i believe strangers...are just people i've never met *hair flip walks off*'. like GALINDA HELP 😭😭🙏🏽🙏🏽 whyd i actually expect that to be some sort of inspirational quote loll

is there a reason why all the male extras were so zesty? like i swear, ALL OF THEM WERE GAY FOR FIYERO (and fiyero was flirting back). ESPECIALLY THAT ONE ASIAN DUDE WHO BECAME FRIENDS WITH GALINDA IN THE BEGINNING, his lines had me rolling lmfao

not the popular boy x popular girl until popular boy actually falls for the nerd girl trope...whyyy...also fiyero lowkey gave flynn rider vibes with that entrance (but i havent watched tangled either cuz i dont have a life or a disney account sooo)

madame morrible using elphaba, and the wizard being powerless? that was not expected ( though my dad anticipated madame morrible being 'evil' from the beginning, hes smarter than me )

someone would say 'save the turtles!' to elphaba and she'd be like oF cOuRsE and be so confused why everyones laughing 😭

"we're...friends. best friends" babes your lesbian i need them to both ditch fiyero and get together

defying gravity is HANDS DOWN my favorite song. NO ONE can convince me otherwise. its the most dramatic song, its at the very climax, and ITS MEEEE will always be playing in my head

SO IF YOU CARE TO FINDDDD MEEE LOOOK TO THE WESTERN SKIEEEES

fuck glinda and elphaba themes (unless someone wants to match freaks with me) A SHIZ THEMED 300 FOLLOWER EVENT (thats never happening forget i said that)

i need to see how glinda became the good witch and see elphaba saving the turtles animals cant wait for the next movieeee

anyway, thats it gbye! (ill probably edit this if i remember more stuff)

ps. i am extremely sorry to the people sitting near me in the theater who probably had to hear me sing a few times :P

[tangledinink]

Hi 👋

I just wanted to tell you that your art and au's make me smile 🩵✨ what's your favorite work of art that you've created this year?

thank you so much! ; w ; that makes me happy! and i think maybe my favorite thing was the swanatello finale? / just the au in general! i didn't make the entire thing in 2024, but i did finish it this year, and it felt absolutely insane (in a mostly good way...!) to actually finish the project... i miss it a lot sometimes, but i'm really happy with how it ended and would much rather give a story a satisfying conclusion than drag it around like a popular tv sitcom on it's 11th season, if that makes sense.

thank you!!!! ; w ; this makes me happy and i'm glad you like it!!!!! i need to make more clover crown content... soon... it's coming... i promise... @arelenforyadarlin

thank you! ; 0 ; i'm very glad that i did it justice! i am pretty forgetful due to my adhd, but i also tried to do a lot of research along the way about more pervasive memory issues more akin to what donnie was dealing with, so i'm very happy that it all came across well...!

you guys all have permission to stab gemini!big mama if you ever see her <3 also thank you!

i work at a 3D printing company! i do all the silly administration and paperwork stuff, and, despite failing math in high school, some of the accounting stuff, too.

i KNOWWW, they're stealing my fucking brand :/// feels legally actionable to me tbh. they'll be hearing from my lawyers... @thejade-forest

THE GEMINI TWINS CAN DO IT AND THEY BELIEVE IN YOU-- YOU CAN DO IT, TOO!!!! also shaking ur hand re: period-related medical issues and suffering. also training in MMA is incredibly badass?! :000 NICE.

Technically speaking, no. However, the Hidden City Police did find the twins just wandering around the city-- and since she's got, like, 80% of the police force on her payroll, she of course heard about it right away... @serendipitous-posts

GOOD JOB NAILING THE PRETEXT :D I'm glad my silly lil AU was helpful, hehe :3c

I'm originally from Massachusetts! My favorite color is pink and I've been making art for most of the my life. One of the main things driving me is that I just really love stories and characters and wanna force people to pay attention to all the silly lil situations happening to make-believe people in my head. Don't think I could pick a favorite fanart, since they are all so beloved... ; w ; Any version of Donnie is my favorite. I wanna go live in the Pokemon World, I think I try to find a healthy balance between 'doing my own thing' and 'is there an audience for this content?' Also! Great question! Uhhh... for TMWN, what truly started me on that road was that I Didn't Wanna Have To Draw Turtles. For the Gemini, I was very much inspired by the Even More of a Disaster AU! And for Swanatello, as I've stated in the past... I just wanted to make a silly donniesona with a pun for a name... and then things got out of hand... @sweetnsoursinger

nooo don't ooze my tortoiseeee i'm not ready to be a parentttttt i don't wanna live in the sewerssssss noooooooooooo-- @thebloodyheartgirl

emd two is way less insufferable than one--

(it's more like... two and donnie have a lot of common ground with science and mystical studies, so they are capable of getting along pretty well...! and leo automatically feels some sense of protection and affection for two just because... well... he's a version of donnie!

but. uhhh. one... not so much. it is... complicated...)

it was FINE... i mean. it SUCKED, he didn't LIKE it, it took the whole ass day and was painful and exhausting and scary. but there were no huge medical scares or complications or anything, so in the grand scheme, it went pretty smoothly? not that they had much to compare it to...

leo's went WAY smoother though, much quicker and easier than donnie's, (plus just one egg!) and donnie was so fucking annoyed at him for it. @jollycrowntragedy

It's based on their actual genetic/physical ages, for the most part! For Mikey and Venus, Draxum already knew exactly how old all of the turtles were when he got them, (he's a scientist, for goodness sake,) so he could roughly translate that into their 'post-mutation' ages, with Mikey being a bit older. For Raph, Leo, and Donnie, it was a lot more guesswork based for their respective caretakers... The fact that Donnie is the 'older twin,' for example, is completely arbitrary.

Jeni joined the Draxum family at a later date than the rest of the turtles and wasn't present during the original mutation process. She was mutated and 'adopted' as an infant about two years after the initial mutation event-- when Mikey was around three and Venus was about two. @kingofgemini

I do! Here's a post I made previously about the comic making procress for Gemini-- some things have changed a little since then, but most of it is pretty much the same...! If you're looking for the textures specifically, I'd check out the link I've got in the bottom for True Grit Texture Supply, which is where I got a bunch of my brushes. (If you sign up for their email list, then they'll send you a bunch of brushes for free, including a lot of the ones that I use in my comics!) @avisminutia

THANK YOU... ; _ ; THIS MAKES ME VERY VERY HAPPY... I AM GLAD...

[delulu-is-da-solulu]

𝓓𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓽.:｡+•

Pt. 1

2k12 Donnie x fem!reader

Angst with a (kinda) happy ending

TW!!! mentions of suicide

Pt. 2

People would get on you about grades, you won’t have to deal with crippling loneliness, no one in your family can lecture you on how you need to get better, you wouldn’t need to think about your future. Those are all problems for living people, you wouldn’t be one of those… but there is one thing that’s in the way.

Watching and reading fantasy, and romance has lead to quite the imagination. You’ve been told all your life how amazing of an artist you were, and the millions of stories you’ve written and OC’s. You could make something amazing, if you managed to survive this dark time everything else will be pure bliss. Key word if.

you decided you’ve spent enough time rotting in bed so you decided to go on a walk. It was the middle of December and snowing, so you put on a big winter coat that radiated warmth. After grabbing your keys and headphones, you started walking.

It had to be under 20 degrees, even with gloves on your hands were freezing. But for the most part everything was calm, it was the weekend so you’d see a bunch of kids playing in the snow with their parents not too far. It was nice seeing stuff so purely domestic, two people in love with each other and an energetic kid that only worries about toys and video games. You remember when you were that kid… but it’s been a long time since then, and you can’t go back.

“What is that?” You mutter to yourself, you feet start to move quicker, trying to get through the alley as fast as possible but then you see it and you scream. “r-Rats!” A wave of rodents zoom by you filling up every street and they’ve started to run at you. Not finding any good place to hide you jump on a garbage bins and you reach for the ladder but it’s jammed. You jump multiple times trying to reach the first escape and you got it, using all of your strength you managed to pull yourself up onto it.

You watch in horror as rays of all kinds start to infest the streets. Like everyone know new York has a rat problem but who knew it was this bad!? You start to bang on the window, hoping that the people who lived there were home but you were left with no response. You were left in the cold, holding yourself with guards of rats coming and more in their way. the one time you go out.

You’ve lost track of time you don’t know how long you’ve been out, but you need to give it one last shot. You get up and bang on the window again… nothing, in defeat you stumble back and you lean on the railing. You hear simmering a screw mabey, but then you start falling. As you head slowly start to approach the concrete you’ve accepted your fate. Your life want bad, not all of it, but you’d be lying to say it was good.

But at least when they find your body, they’ll know how cute your outfit was.

You close your eyes prepping for Impact, but you pass out.

Everything’s so warm, you don’t know the afterlife was gonna be this pleasant. You couldn’t care about a thing at the moment you’re just enjoying yourself, but you hear a splash and you open your eyes.

You’re in a bath, the bathroom has concrete walls but you can’t tell they tried to make it feel homey. The cute bath curtain with turtles on it proves that. As you’re looking around your heart the door open.

“Are you awake? I heard the water splashing so you must be.” The voice is familiar to you, but you can’t remember where you’ve heard it.

“Yes… am I dead?” Even though this isn’t what uno thought the after life would look like, there’s probably more behind the curtain.

“What!? No, luckily you’re not dead. We were really scared though Leo caught you just in time, you were like hurdling towards the ground. And Donnie said you got hypothermia, we’ve been super careful not to make the water too hot or cold.”

“Oh uhh thank you, can I get a towel, and my clothes?” you felt bad asking but they did strip you and take you some place you’ve never been, but they did save you so that also needs to be taken into account.

“They’re on the counter, but I do need to ask you to do one thing.”

“O- okay?” You got a little nervous, a random person takes you to a random place and nose they want something from you.

“If you could put the mask on it would be appreciated.” You could hear the nervousness in her voice and you were stunned.

After the initial shock you swung the shower curtain to the side to see the perv who stripped you and is now asking you to put on a mask. But you recognize that pervs red hair and outfit, “April?”

During middle school the two of you had some classes together, you were never friends but you knew each other.

“Hi (Y/N) long time no see, did you- did you move schools?” Her trying to make small talk while averting her eyes makes you realize you just flashed her.

You cover you self up and shrink into a ball. “OMG April I’m sooo sorry, I forgot, I’m not a creep I promise!”

“No no you’re fine, but get dressed and put in the mask.”

“I still don’t get why?”

She pause for a moment trying to make up an excuse, “my friends are super ugly, and they don’t line people looking at them, so you need to put it on.”

“April, no offense but you’re really bad at lying, it doesn’t take two minutes for otome who are telling the truth to get out whatever they need to say. Unless they have a speech impediment.”

She sighs in defeat, “you just can’t look at them okay, please just trust me.”

“Fine.” She leaves the bathroom and you dry off and get dressed. Lastly you put on the purple mask she gave you. You knock on the door, April I’m done.

“Great.” she races your hand and leads you out of the bathroom, and you start to realize everything smells like shit.

“A- apRil.” You start wheezing, “why does it smell so bad?” You cover your mouth with your hands,

“Yeah I know it smells bad, you’ll get over it.”

You hear a bunch of people talking, you can make out some words.

“So she’s not dead?”

“No numbnuts, April just said she was fine.”

“Are you sure? She felt like ice bro!”

“I know a carried her here.”

“Guys shut up, it doesn’t matter what she was like, Aprils friend is now safe.”

“Do you think April thinks I’m cool now?”

“Why would she think that?”

“Because I just saved her friend from freezing to death. I was the only reason why she didn’t lose any body parts, you guys were just there for moral support.”

“Raph do you think Donnie will ever face reality?”

“Little brother I wish I knew the answer to that.”

“I’m alive!” You scream from the hallway, and they all stop talking. “Wow they seemed so concerned until I relived them of their worry.”

“They’re just shy. Boys, say hi.”

“Hi Aprils friend.” Three of them say but one rushes up to you.

“Hi, I’m Mickey! What’s your name?” His hand was huge compared to yours, and you always thought your hands were bigger than average. But as quickly as her graves you he’s pulled away just as fast.

“Mickey you can’t just grab her, we already have her blindfolded she’s gonna think we’re weird. And she’s Aprils friend if she thinks w-“

“Donnie you are weird. If we take the blind fools off once she leaves the lair, what’s the point of her having it on? She could just come back here and see us!”

“Well Raph! It’s not good to shock a person after a near death experience, let them recoup first.”

“I’ll be-“

They keep on talking, and talking and you take a couple steps back and you start to fall AGAIN.

You can smell pizza and the back of your head hurts, “fuck…” you take off the blindfold to see what you landed on a box of pizza and the couch was in a pit, that’s how you fell. You look up and everyone’s staring at you in shock. “I’m fine,” you stand up, and walk back towards April. “look April this was really nice but I think I’m gonna go.” You turn to the turtles, “thanks for taking care of me, I really appreciate you guys not letting me die.”

You start to walk out of the living room, but instead of a door there’s turnstiles, then you look back at them. April and four green guys with huge hands. Your eyes keep darting between April and the turtles, you rush back to the group and look at all of them closer than take a big step back.

“April. Why are your friends green, and scaley? Looking at them is disturbing and uncanny as fuck, but it isn’t scary and that scares me even more.” Your hands start to shake slightly, and you can’t stop staring at the turtles.

“Hey , hey calm down we’re not gonna hurt you.” The one with the blue mask walk up and tries to sooth you.

“I understand that, but you literally have swords on your back.” *you point to his katana*

“Uh-“ her looks over his shoulder and grabs one of his swords, “I- I won’t use them. We only hurt bad guys.”

“YEAH, so unless you’re a foot goon, you’re completely safe.”

“Yeah, Raph wouldn’t lie, he see’s no point to do so.” Donnie chuckled as he took hold of your hand, with a huge grin that looks like it hurts on his face. “any friend of Aprils is welcome here, and if you need anything just ask me.” His brothers look at him annoyed,

“Donnie what are you doing?” Raph crossed his arms, in irritation.

“I’m just being friendly to our new friend.”

“Your friendliness is kinda making me uncomfortable…”

He quickly swiped his hand back in embarrassment, while looking at April, her expression not changing once. “Oh, well, I… sorry, I’m sorry.” He steps back and sits on the couch.

“Sorry, our brother is weird.”

“Well as leader I think I should introduce everyone. I’m Leo, the one in the red is Raph, the one who basically jumping off the walls is Mickey, and that one back there is Donnie.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Do you like skateboards, or video games, Pizza you need to like pizza!?”

Well this is fun, within a couple hours you saw a stampede of rats, almost froze to death, and met green people who are turtles. If your life can’t be filled with joy, at least it can be exciting.

Hai hai, if you made it to this point thank you soo much for reading. This will be a series so if you wanna read the next chapter then you should follow. Byyyy <<33

[tervaneula]

I feel ashamed i took a while to reply about the new chapter, maybe because my period started - and funny enough your 2nd chapter come out the same day so it was a huge comfort - and i felt unwell at the time.

BUT AM BACK BITCHES!!! ( ͡≖ ل͜ ͡≖)

I like the beginning where you gave us a world building about the hamatos and how or why they're in the village as well explaining about Splinter and draxum.. It's as i like it: short and to the point!❤

When the house passed down to the 3rd oldest child - A.K.A Leonardo my brain went to "Wait, did Donnie faked some document papers? DAMN IT DEE 🤣" but tbh, i would love to see what the "weird one" can invent in this time and age 🤩

The fact you added draxum is so good because am interest in knowing his bond with the turtles in the is AU as: was he part of their childhood? Or did they made the same run like in the show? Where drax was bad, then the turtles defeated him and so like that?

Or was he and splinter on good terms from the beginning? And that makes me wonder if big mama was envolved or will be eventually..

This one detail i like as we all know drax is a plant type of person who can grow multiple and take care of plants, since in the era they're in their economy is counting on plants mostly as source of food, of course the baron is gonna get less to no rumors because they all want to have enough food!!

I swear, this people are like "i don't like gossip" AS THEY STAND NWAR THE NEWS, these people wants tea man!!/lh

So they're gonna start talking when they saw the turtles and oh my god i hope they don't hurt my baby raph's feelings 🥺🥺🥺 i can imagine my baby walking among the crowd and you can spot him so easy because baby is so tall!!

2nd is Donnie, i swear if i could get a nickel for every time people misunderstanding purple as "he would use you as an experiment" i would be RICH.

Then we come to the hero of the story, leo!!!! Again, remembering that one art of him carrying oranges and then that art of 4 of the turtles? AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH SCREAMING AGAIN!!! 🥺😭🥺😭🥺😭🥺

If it weren't for his injuries, scars and missing arm! My baby boy would walk around freely!!! Damn you kraangs!!

And finally, the sunshine Mikey 🧡🧡 begin able to... Make friends is good? Kinda? I mean am still doubtful because these town folks are suspicious, them begin cruel is making me wonder what DR. D.T would do to them.. 👀

Now we're back to the aftermath of what happened at the... Mall lolol

Seeing raph coming first from the kitchen is making me happy because BABY!! He's my baby ❤❤❤❤/p/aff

Seeing the twin argues is like the most sibling energy i love to get from them as leo carries heavy usagi like a sack of potato, baby blue boy is weak lmaooo/jk

Imagining how raph is carrying usagi with ease - and surprisingly not afraid of rabbits - it so wholesome!! And secretly wondering if leo would feel.. Jealous 👀 *rubs hands evily*/silly

When i heard Donnie went to Mikey's room with oranges i laughed imagining him puttin' the oranges in a plate and pushing it towards Mikey so he won't get the sickness from him because Eew! Lolol

And now am interest in why Mikey is interest in the ronin 👀✨

Oh my gosh you already commented on AO3 I was not expecting you to leave another!!!!! 😍😍 And also I'm super late at replying and I'm so sorry! I'm so glad the chapter was a comfort though <:3c

HEHEHE I LOVE THAT YOU'RE WONDERING ABOUT SO MANY THINGS RE: DRAXUM!! I'm hoping to talk about him more in a future chapter >:) (spoilers maybe but I have not thought about Big Mama so she probably won't show up XD)

Thank you for your thoughts about the boys and the backstory!! Dr. Delicate Touch hasn't made an appearance in the village yet (imagine Raph dragging Mikey home every time it threatens to happen ajhsgdhd) but Dr. Feelings might at some point 😂

Istg tho the twins keep arguing in my fics without my active input so the sibling energy truly goes brrrrrr. I love them SO MUCH HAHA

I love the jealousy thought but Leonardo's just happy that his big brother has his back (✿◡‿◡) and yes Raph is baby<33333

Mikey is a goofy little guy, he just thinks the ronin is kinda cool :D They've lived pretty uneventful lives for a long time (there's some big stuff in their past but it's been quite a while since then) so rumours like that are INTERESTING.

HEHEEHE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS COMMENT AND GUESS WHAT I'M GONNA POST THE THIRD CHAPTER TONIGHT (IF I DON'T PASS OUT BEFORE I GET TO IT AHJSGD)

[goodlucktai]

tagged by @bobtheacorn like...... 3 weeks ago 😭 my bad

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

283

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,353,670

which seems.......excessive

3. What fandoms do you write for?

actively, one piece and tmnt, but that is ruled by the demons in my brain that control the hyperfixation machine.

fandoms ive posted 3 or more fics for:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends Good Omens Final Fantasy XV Undertale Mumintroll | Moomins Series Harry Potter Young Justice 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia 陈情令 | The Untamed King Falls AM Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rise of the Guardians Voltron: Legendary Defender

4. Top five fics by kudos?

Exclusivity - 11,116

walk straight through hell with a smile - 9,152

Inanition - 9,039

there is thunder in our hearts - 8,161

trouble is a friend of mine - 7,842

5. Do you respond to comments?

i do try to but i can't always :'( and i feel terrible if i manage to reply to most and then forget someone and only realize it months later. but i read every single comment and i appreciate them more than i have words for

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i tend to veer away from angst, but off the top of my head....

where the good men go or if i go i'm going on fire

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

99% of my fics have a happy ending because thats my BRAND but i suppose give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around or the weekend we were in love OR put your empty hands in mine

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not often, but i recently had someone who REALLY disliked the way things change because i 'villainized' raph. which is definitely news to me, since raphael is the love of my life

9. Do you write smut?

nope

10. Craziest crossover?

i wrote a tmnt/one piece crossover once ? but now that we are actually getting a tmnt/naruto idw run it doesnt feel that weird to me anymore

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

only once if i'm remembering right ?? it was a long time ago and wattpad related, which is a site that i dont really understand and therefore tend to avoid

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes ! i'll often have people request to translate my stories and it blows me away every time

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Devil took your hand was written by myself and @moogsthewriter

14. All time favourite ship?

ineffable husbands, wangxian, or leosagi

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

how much time do you have 😭

16. What are your writing strengths?

i want to say characterization and narrative voice. i'm also pretty good at maintaining a throughline, even if it sometimes gets a little wobbly

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

conflict ! i hate it ! i will avoid writing it at all costs ! i also tend to struggle with writing fight scenes, especially when there are several characters involved :') staging any kind of choreography is my opp

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i try not to but if it feels unavoidable i google the heck out of it

19. First fandom you wrote in?

honestly it was either digimon (which also inspired my og penname) or xiaolin showdown lol

20. Favourite fic you've written?

i'm stealing bob's idea and going top 5:

there is thunder in our hearts - this story came together so easily for me, like i knew exactly how i wanted to tell it from start to finish

the only hoax i believe in - a kfam fic in my top 5s why yes and i'll tell you why. because i poured so much of myself into this fic that they could probably read it at my funeral instead of a eulogy

traveling so far to get there - after party au raph and mikey continue to take up so much real estate in my brain and for what

now the darkness comes alive - this one is more recent but im so happy with the way it turned out :')

if we could stay all day in the sun - it was a lot of fun reimagining one of my favorite fairy tales and doing a bunch of unnecessary research for this story i will stand by it until the day i die !!

i'm tagging @mykimouser, @owletstarlet, @portgas-d-aroace, @mad4turtles, @camsthisky, @remedyturtles, @pickledcarrotsandradish, @swordsmans, @mangogreent, and anyone else who wants to !

[dysfunctional-doodle]

YPI PROJECT BEAT MY ASS AND I’M SUPER TIRED BUT THE TOO MANY TURTLES COMMENTARY GRIND NEVER STOPS ‼️‼️💯💯💯

betrayal…. (playing uno is 100% more worth your time than patrol, can confirm, best game ever, played a game with 20 people in a german exchange (but it was kinda quick since we only had one pack of cards and. well. 20 people))

HELL YEAH, WE’RE MAKING PROGRESS!!!!! (i have a feeling this might get a bit angsty…)

😭😭😭😭 (speech to text is really annoying i get the struggle)

y’know, of all the turtles to slander clothes, i didn’t think it’d be him

god noooo the feels 😭😭 (i never quite experienced the bad-teacher side of the neurodivergent experience (my physics teacher was crazy supportive despite the fact i never scored higher than a 40% in his class) but i would get a loooottttt of shit from classmates,,,,,,, sucks ass i feel for mm mikey)

gotta keep expanding your horizons!

ok but. of all the turtles………

love it when this happens

taking action! (also hold on 2012 mikey is an adult in his timeline???)

sighhhh i hope tech stays with the mikeys forever because their dynamiccccc 😭😭😭

not sure if i’m ready for the angst that is most likely coming our way. BUT i’m excited for it

Happy you liked my insane rambles again!

Referring to what you said about teachers, I have personally had some struggle throughout school with the way they teach things which I kind of use to write the issue mm mikey is having, very loosely. Though I don’t have a neurodivergency diagnosed (though a lot of people have kind of told me that I most definitely probably have big ADD or something similar rattling in the old noggin so idk) I learn much differently to what schools want. I am a very hands on learner, and really struggle with visual/auditory classes. It’s like being told how to write a good story but not actually doing it - I just tune out, or it is difficult to get it to “click” unless I explain it to myself in a weird way that actually makes much more sense to me. Once this “click” happens it’s great, I have no issues, but I have a lot of questions and thoughts that others don’t get prior to this point that I’ve unfortunately been disregarded for, as my teacher just didn’t want to explain and deemed me as stupid and needing extra classes because I didn’t learn in the same way. Not to brag but I’m pretty intelligent without even studying so this was a slap in the face for me.

So yeah, I kinda based at least some elements on this experience, though obviously a lot is also made up/fictionalised.

Wow that was a ramble

Anyway, you also mentioned Mikey’s age? I don’t think I’ve ever properly written down the ages outside of a discord I am in that talks about this fic, oops. In short, the timelines are not linear, but rather dotted around the place. A breakdown:

1987 are the ones where I’m not 100% sure on what to age them as, but I imagine around 17 - 19, all the same age

Rise boys are about 6 months - a year after the events of the movie

2012 are about 20 - 22, a few years after their final series (with Mikey being an extra 2 years ahead due to Dimension X)

2007 are what I believe are their cannon ages at 21? Takes place a few months after their 2007 movie (I also consider the 90s movies to be from the same universe due to the details present in 2007)

2003 are a few years after the crossover movie, making them the oldest at around 25 (Mikey being 24 due to him being a few months or so younger when they were sold)

Mutant mayhem boys are literally a couple of weeks after their movie

Bayverse boys are a year after their second movie

Hopefully that clears things up a little :)

[lordshroom]

Happy One Year Anniversary to 2012 Good Genes! WOOOOO

I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported the comic! Whether it's writing a comment, leaving a like when a new chapter drops (or spamming likes as you binge it), or just reading it. Thank you <3

Hard to believe I've managed to semi-consistently update a comic for a whole ass year. When I started this comic, it was a means to force myself to learn how to draw the turtles and just force myself outside my comfort zone: dynamic posing, perspective, shivers backgrounds.

I thought I would run with this idea for a few months, get bored, then move on to something else. A fate that has unfortunately fell many of my previous projects.

But then I started recognizing the same few blogs liking the new updates. I got a few followers. I got a few comments. Every note felt like something special, a sign that people actually wanted to read this story.

So I kept making the comic. One of the biggest shifts in mindset came from when I met Gavin Smith, an artist for the IDW series, I asked him how long it took him to draw a page. He said, "It changes depending on the page. Sometimes it takes three hours sometimes it takes three days." My priorities shifted from "Get the comic done as soon as possible before I get bored" to "make the comic you want to make". The comic went from this to this. I missed coloring, so I started coloring. But I always liked inking more than coloring, so I started inking the comic pretty soon after.

This does mean the comic takes longer to get out, and that bums me out. But I don't mind taking some extra time to give the pages some zest because, well, you guys. If you're going to take the time out of your day to read the pages, I'm going to take some extra time to work on them.

My dream job has always been to be a writer. I've fluctuated between writing books, movie scripts, comic scripts, and a bunch of other stuff.

When I was little, I would imagine elaborate 2012 fan fiction. I never wrote any of this down since I was deeply embarrassed by my fascination with TMNT. It was a boy's show, and I was a girl. On top of that, 2012 became my lifelong hyperfixation. I didn't even seek out an online community for 2012, the closest I ever got was the forums for the show on the Nick site I watched the episodes on.

In high school, I realized who the hell cares and started entering the online community. I watched Rise and 2003, bought the IDW hardcovers, and started getting the figures.

Then in college, I said, "screw it," and started writing a fan fiction on AO3. It did not perform well. I tried to tell myself that I should write for myself, but it was hard to find the motivation to continue so I moved on.

Last summer, I started working on my original story and considered making it a webcomic. I watched a bunch of videos about making comics and wanted to try it out. Now, all the advice for making your first comic is to "make it small so you actually finish it!"

I did not take that advice.

The idea for 2012 Good Genes was old, like, fan-fiction-I-made-in-my-head-in-high-school old. It was different from the current comic. That old version took place post-season 5 with a bunch of OCs and Donnie being mutated into something more bug-like. I went with a retelling of "Vengence is Mine" so I wouldn't have to worry about designing any new characters/ environments, and I those handful of episodes as a blueprint.

2012 Good Genes was supposed to be a learning exercise and became something so much more with your support. That support got me to work on another fanfiction on AO3, which got so much more love than I was expecting. It was so touching that people liked my writing enough to read it without any silly pictures.

So I'm going to say it again, thank you. Thank you so much for a fantastic year. I would not be where I am today without your support.

And if you managed to get through all my rambling, here's an update!

"The Invasion!" will have four more pages which I'm still drawing. After that is an original episode that I want to take time to write a script and design a character before I start posting updates, so in the meantime I will be working on drawing some stuff for my asks and working on the next chapter for "Perfect Son".

[runwayrunway]

No. 50 - All Nippon Airways Airbus A380 "Flying Honu" Livery

Happy 50th Runway Runway post! I had a bit of a hard time deciding what to do for it - after all, it's a pretty significant number. I already sort of know what I want to do for the 100th post, but I hadn't put much thought into the 50th, and I had to scuttle any plans for something long and interesting after a rather stressful week. Instead I decided to do something both fun and requested!

source: ANA Stories

One (well, three!) of the most beloved special liveries out there, All Nippon Airways' turtle-themed "Flying Honu" Airbus A380. These three friendly giants fly from Japan to Honolulu, delighting anyone lucky enough to see them.

Actually, I love the Flying Honu so much I have one myself.

I would describe myself as a bit of a magpie. I collect useless things, be they historical ephemera, horror movie memorabilia, old books, pretty rocks, or way too many fountain pen inks given I mostly use them to take notes. I even have a bunch of my old teeth in a pillbox. Surprisingly, though, the things my talons have lodged in don't include many model airplanes. I have...a few. I've actually, though serendipity, gotten two more since I started this blog, expanding my collection to a startling five. Maybe seven if you count my Starscream and Brainstorm figures, but I don't think I even remember how to put either of them in their alt modes. The fact is that while they aren't a fortune or anything plane figures are expensive enough that it's a commitment to buy one, and I usually only do when I stumble on a good deal for a model I really want. And one of the few times I've actually decided that I just needed a model of a specific livery was the "Flying Honu" A380. Specifically, the one I have is the airframe registered JA382A, Kai. (She's the 1:500 JC Wings diecast model and is around the size of my hand.)

I just needed to be able to gently tap her nose in person, okay? She can't fit up on the shelf with a lot of my other miscellaneous trinkets so she sits on my desk and sometimes I explain things to her while trying to figure them out, like a coding rubber duck. She makes me happy.

All Nippon Airways (全日本空輸) is a major Japanese airline. In fact, in terms of both fleet size and number of destinations they're bigger than flag carrier JAL. They're consistently described as being among the best airlines in the world for the discerning well-to-do business traveler, and let's just say that's not me, but what I am is a reviewer of airline liveries, and ANA sure has those! In addition to their standard Triton Blue livery they do all sorts of special designs, particularly crossovers with properties like Pokémon and Star Wars. All of these are something I would like to someday feature, but none of them matter at all to me when compared to the Flying Honu, introduced with the A380 fleet in 2019.

A couple of times when I've told people I know about this livery they asked me if 'honu' is Japanese for 'turtle'. That's a reasonable question, but the Japanese word for turtle is 'kame'. 'Honu' is the word for turtle, though - in Hawaiian.

image: ANA

In fact, Honolulu is the A380s' only destination. ANA didn't really want A380s to begin with, but ended up stuck with them while acquiring another airline. The thing about the A380, and the reason it failed commercially and so few were ever built, is that the use-case for a massive plane is pretty limited. It goes as such: you have a passengerbase of people who have to travel from one giant hub that can land an A380 to another frequently enough that you can actually make money on a plane with four entire engines.

Okay, so the use-case is that you're Emirates. ANA might be expensive, but they don't really have the central location or sheer amount of regular business travelers that Dubai does. 'Three' also isn't really that many A380s, which creates a bit of a question of reliability. So instead they fixed the problem in a way that's honestly pretty genius: they made it turtles.

image: ANA

ANA seems to be generally invested in Hawaii, with a fair amount of partnerships with local organizations. A lot of Hawaiian real estate is owned by Japanese companies, and those of Japanese descent are the second-larget ethnic group in Hawaii at 16.7%, so it makes sense that a lot of people would want to travel there. Tokyo to Honolulu is a nice 9-hour flight with no possibility for a stopover of any kind (unless they invent civilian aircraft carriers for A380s), so it's the perfect route for precisely three really huge planes.

images: ANA

They can fit 520 passengers across four classes on one flight, seated across both decks of the massive planes. There is also a section of seats which convert to couches, marketed for families. Those who fly this route get to enjoy rainbow lighting and the ability to buy a duty-free 1:500 model of the plane (not the same model I have, though, I'm pretty sure) or a set of Flying Honu plushes.

Ra looks like she's plotting something. Lani looks like she's never had a single thought in her life.

And they do make money off this, because people absolutely love these planes. People have apparently had their weddings on these planes, and I would too! They make ten weekly flights right now, but in December that will be increasing to fourteen weekly, or two daily.

Okay, so, the actual liveries.

Here's Kai in full-size! The light in my room make her look way cooler toned in the photographs, but in real life she's this color. It's frequently described as 'green' or 'emerald green', but I think it's definitely turquoise and would go so far as to call it blue. Whatever the case, it's meant to represent the color of the sea near Hawaii. Kai is also distinct from the others because of her eyes, which are closed as she smiles from ear to ear. That's why she's my favorite - she just looks so happy!

...a bit weirder looking from upfront, but look how even the ventral fairing is painted! That's part of the flippers where they curl around, tucked into the shell. Unlike the Transocean Air Jinbei Jets, the cockpit windows blend in with the 'scales' of the Flying Honu, looking rather natural.

'Ra' is a beautiful orange, meant to represent the Hawaiian sunset. She has a bit of a peach undertone if you look closely, but her details are done in an extremely vivid reddish orange. Her distinguishing feature are those gigantic eyelashes, similar to Sakura Jinbei's. The actual mouth shape on all three planes appears to be the same, but I find that the eyes still give them distinct 'personalities'. Ra has always looked very thoughtful to me.

Just look at her in flight! I've never understood why people call the 747 stately or graceful, and same for the A380 - double-decker planes are just inherently goofy-looking, and that's great, but ANA managed to make one look pretty elegant. I think it's because turtles are already regarded as large and slow creatures, so fitting like for like just makes it seem as natural for this absolutely gigantic aircraft to be flying as it is for a turtle to swim.

Finally, Lani, the turtle everyone agrees to be blue, represents the Hawaiian sky during its brightest color in daylight. If you look closely, you can see her blue 'eyeshadow', which I've always thought made her look relaxed.

This picture gives a good angle of my only real critique of the Flying Honu, which is that the shells and heads don't entirely look aligned, as if the head is in the process of being retracted. That said, I think that's just a fact of working with the shape of an airplane. There's just no more space below to fit any more shell.

Rather than being just one turtle, though, each "Flying Honu" has two fully rendered baby turtles following behind their 'mother'.

I think this is adorable, and beyond that it solves a crucial problem - the tail. Turtles do have those, but not in a way that maps onto a standard empennage. Instead, ANA makes the smart choice to end the shell at a certain point and add these two extra turtles make-way-for-ducklings-ing their way across the fuselage for more visual interest, leaving the tail empty for an ANA logo without making it jarring. This is a huge improvement over the Jinbei Jets, which again serve as a point of comparison as the other major Japanese marine life planes. (Amakusa Airlines is way smaller and thus not going to get caught up in this.)

I mean, it's hard to find too much to say about these that isn't just "oh my gosh, look at them". The Flying Honu are vividly colored, with clever shapes used to make them immediately recognizable as turtles. I smile every time I see one, including the little one on my desk!

And in case you weren't already delighted, there's two extra bonus turtles!

I think it's pretty obvious I'm giving these an A+. Come on, just...just look at them. The fact that ANA bothered to make three distinct ones with their own names and faces is just icing on the cake for me, but I do love that they did.

I can't believe I didn't find a way to fit this in earlier into the post, but I really love turtles. If you have an aquarium near you, and that aquarium has turtles, I really recommend stopping by to see them. My local New England Aquarium has had Myrtle for more than 50 years. As they describe her, 'the 550-lb Queen of the Giant Ocean Tank is large, in charge, and ready to receive your adoration'.

True to form, although a lot larger and dealing in a different type of fluid dynamics, the Flying Honu jets get plenty of my adoration too.

[hyperfixated-homo]

Hi hello, recently stumbled upon your ROTTMNT horror au, and I love it sm!!!

Since cosmic horror is my favourite type, and Donnie is my favourite turtle, I was wondering if you had any headcanons/lore/thoughts about him you could share?

HELLO!!!! I AM SO HAPPY PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING MY SILLY LITTLE BOYS!!!

Taking a moment to remember everything I've ever thought about Donnie nadskajd. Here are some headcannons!!

He get real weird about his markings- sometimes seeing them makes him remember things he (or rather, his mind) doesn't want to remember. So he convers most of it up. The only markings he doesn't cover up are the ones on his face, because he never sees them

He hates slimy food with a passion

He likes the concept of aliens and loves the ocean but they also scare the hell out of him. There's so much unknown about them, it's mildly terrifying

Out of all of his brothers, he is the most likely to get Existential. They'll just be having a meal and suddenly "Do you know how small and inconsequential we are. And yet how meaningful every action is. We are cogs in the great machine that is the universe. We are freedom incarnate." And the others will look at him like ok don lets get you to bed

He likes bugs.

Actually he just likes all animals. That and plants. Anything living really- because what point is there to the universe if not for the life in it?

I've mentioned this before, but Donnie has most defiantly met a god before. He knows this. He does not know which one, or where, or when, or how, or really anything about it. But he knows it happened. And it equally shares the hell out of him and frustrates him because that's not how memories are supposed to work

Donnie doesn't feel when he gets tired or hungry. He'll go for ages without realising that he's neglecting himself

Him and Leo are polar opposites, when it comes to the concept of memories and "seeing things". When Leo sees things, oftentimes it's his mind messing with him. Hallucinations and delusions have become so entwined with his psyche that he feels that they are real. Donnie, on the other hand, has memories that should not be real, but are. And he often thinks that those memories, or those thoughts, or whatever it is are fake. It messes with both of their heads. And it's the one thing that they can't really explain to each other, because it just messes them both up more.

And here's a little bit of lore for you. He didn't always have the weird, circular marks on his shell. But it wasn't empty either. Donnie can remember, sometimes, that he's had other marks on his shell. It changes though, day by day, so he just brushes it off as his mind playing tricks on him.

It is real though. His shell changed markings for every story he was once part of, and for every experience that changed his life forever. If you ever see Donnie with a different shell pattern, it may be because it is referencing a past story!

(also, between you and me, there maaaay be a donnie animatic in the works. don't tell anyone)

[fabuloustrash05]

What r ur opinions on the foot mutants?

I’m gonna assume you mean 2012 mutants from the Foot Clan

Tiger Claw: An interesting and fresh new villain for the Foot Clan and I think he is so cool! Tiger Claw is a brand new character to the TMNT franchise and he truly made a damn good impression with fans and myself. He establishes himself as a menacing villain and continues to be throughout the entire series. He has his funny moments too like with the catnip or him talking about wanting to eat Fishface. We get bits and pieces of his backstory as the story goes on, especially when we meet his sister Alopex and learn she is the one who cut off his tail, but I wish his dynamic and relationship with his sister was explored more in season 5 than in just one episode, which is why I stand by the idea that Alopex should've been involved the Kavaxas arc. And speaking of that arc, Tiger Claw starting a cult was random and kind of out of character to me. It was the only time I found him to be uninteresting. Overall a great character and a great villain, but I felt he was overused by the end.

Bebop & Rocksteady: I’m gonna talk about them both because my feelings for both of them are the same. I love them. I really enjoy their dynamic and relationship with each other (they are totally dating and you can’t convince me otherwise). Their dynamic with Tiger Claw is also hilarious, he’s their third wheel. I love Bebop's Michael Jackson-like attitude and Rocksteady's way of speaking always makes me chuckle. Their ending in season 5 though I wish was handled better, because apparently they leave New York and become heroes in New Jersey or something, which I am all for the villains turned hero trope, but I wish they handled it sooner/better. Regardless, I hope they are happy with their new life and please invite me to the wedding.

Fishface: Much like Tiger Claw, Fishface is also a brand new character to the TMNT franchise and I will say he’s an interesting one! He’s one of the few people in the Foot Clan who actually have a full backstory and a reason to why he works for Shredder. I love his character and personality, and I enjoy his dynamic with both Bradford and even Raphael. You get the feeling that him and Raph are friendly enemies, like they hate each other, but also respect each other because they share similarities. This is a concept I wish the writers explored more, but they didn't so I did it myself with a fanfic I wrote on AO3. There’s a little bit more backstory for him in the animated adventure comics, which I highly recommend people go check out because it explores his backstory a little bit more. He loses a few points though because he flirted with a minor 😷

Dogpound/Rahzar: This will be confusing considering they’re all the same character, but I like Bradford, I hate Dogpound, and I love Rahzar. I really liked the concept of Chris Bradford, a celebrity icon one of the Turtles look up to who is revealed to be a henchman for their greatest enemy. I find it disappointing that they don’t fully explore that concept for a whole season, which is one of the main reasons why I don’t like Dogpound, not only do I not like his design, but I also think that he was introduced too soon. Rahzar on the other hand I love! How he was mutated was so well done and I love his design, so scary, horrifying even, but also badass and intimidating. What I wish they done is that Bradford should’ve been human for the entirety of season 1 and then come season 2 he gets mutated officially into Rahzar. Remove Dogpound entirely.

Baxter Stockman: I consider Stockman to be a tragic villain because of how much he was mistreated by both the Turtles and The Foot, and I honestly felt bad for him when he got mutated. To me, he was kind of forgettable as a mutant. So when he was turned back into a human in the season 4 finale, I got excited and thought he was gonna make a comeback in the next season and be his own villain like he was in season 1, but we never see him again. I haven't watched the 03 series yet, but I wish Stockman took the route his 03 self did and slowly went insane in the 5th season, maybe trying to go back to being a mutant by experimenting on himself but it backfires. Have his actions be his downfall. Another example of this series' wasted potential.

[saberamane]

 So I’ve been grinding Dying Light and this idea popped into my head while doing the mindless Stuffed Turtle grind but…

The main character of Dying Light, Crane, is voiced by Roger Craig Smith (Ezio) so how about a zombie apocalypse(ish) AU where Ezio is helidropped into a quarantine city where most of the population is now zombies?

His mission is to find a certain person only known as Cypher who is said to have the key to the cure of this supposed virus.

The people he’s working for do not know what Cypher looks like, only that he’s the leader of the band of survivors trying to just live in the city-infested hellhole and scouring enough food, water, and antizin for everyone.

So Ezio has to (1) get the survivors and Cypher to trust him and (2) find the supposed ‘key’ (might be a hard drive, might even be an actual vial, who knows).

When he gets there, he gets both attacked by members of a very hostile gang, accidentally gets a hoard to swarm them, and gets saved by two runners.

One of them had to get his hand cut off so he wouldn’t be infected.

So now Ezio has to work to get their trust harder as he just accidentally maimed one of their best runners.

Unorganized ideas:

His handler for the company he works for is Lucy and we’ll keep it a secret until maybe towards the midpoint or end but Ezio is actually working for Abstergo (and he doesn’t know how shitty Abstergo truly is)

Ezio’s main contact for the survivors (who are holed up in a place called the ‘Tower’) is Malik, the runner who had saved him at the cost of his arm. He’s a bit hard to please but Ezio would see how much he cares for his people.

The leader of their survivors in the Tower has the codename Cypher but the survivors rarely use the name.

Ezio believes that Cypher is a man named Altaïr who everyone praises. He’s the one calling the shots as far as Ezio knows.

There’s a doctor by the name of Desmond as well who gives out the antizin shots and can also parkour like the best of them. Everyone in the Tower loves him and Malik always feels like he’s just a hair away from having an aneurysm every time Desmond leaves the Tower (usually by asking Ezio for a ‘favor’)

Yes. It’s a switcheroo and Desmond is the real Cypher while Altaïr (and Malik in some cases) is a deliberate red herring to protect Desmond from Abstergo because Desmond doesn’t have the cure. He has, however, a flash drive that his father gave him before he succumbed to the virus which has all the studies, documents, and evidence that point that the virus had been a WMD project of Abstergo and they were planning to send it out in the world but the government (pushed by Abstergo) were jamming all of their ways to send it.

==========================

Additions by SaberAmane:

So! First things first. I played the hell out of Dying Light about 2 or 3 years ago?? And I am ashamed to say…I didn’t know Crane was also Ezio. And seeing as my main draw to both characters were their voices…how did I not notice?! (I’m even more ashamed when I looked him up and saw he also voices Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, Shinji Hirako from Bleach (which I had a massive voice fetish for in high school…), and Deidara from Naruto (a favorite character).

Long story short, this guy’s voice has basically picked my favorite characters for me for YEARS and I never noticed they were the same…(too bad this guy is 20 years older than me is all I’m saying…)

With that in mind, let’s begin. (Feel free to laugh at my cluelessness)

It’s Malik and a man named Rauf who save Ezio. Malik has his hand removed because he was bitten, which means he can’t really go far from the tower anymore once he’s healed, his parkour is limited by the missing hand. Which means Malik’s younger brother, Kadar, takes his place as a runner and Malik helps more inside the base. 

Malik, of course, is not happy about Kadar being outside with the zombies, especially with new, ‘volatile’ variants coming out now. The most dangerous ones only come out at night, but there are ones that come out during the day too which are also very dangerous to encounter. There’s rumors of one that spits acid being around…

Malik ends up helping Desmond with first aid stuff, keeping track of supplies which include food, water, weapons, and others. Helps Altair with more ‘civil’ problems amongst the survivors. (All in all, becomes the resident mother hen. Who’s always angry. And may or may not stab you for your stupidity…)

Ezio does his best to try and make better relations with the tower group. He offers to help Desmond get supplies they need, especially seeing as they now need more stuff for Malik’s missing hand. (Strangely this makes people suspicious of Ezio for offering to help their ‘doctor’.)

With his limited help to Desmond, Ezio tries other area’s. Like running across the city for people to retrieve sentimental things from their homes they were unable to take with them at first, looking for lost people, helping set up ‘safe zones’ for runners caught out at night, and overall clearing out the area to keep it safe.

When he finally meets Altair, he can’t help but notice the resemblance to Desmond… Could they be brothers? They look nearly identical, but how they hold themselves changes their appearance drastically. Desmond is more open and friendly outwardly, while Altair seems cold and unyielding. (Ezio sees how Altair is with the children in the tower, so he can’t be too harsh.)

The first time Ezio hears someone call Altair the ‘Cypher’, he thinks he just might have found his target, and so quickly! After all, they said the one known as ‘Cypher’ was the leader of the group living in the Tower, and everyone defers to Altair (and sometimes Malik), so Ezio decides to focus his attentions on Altair. Getting on his good side, trying to gain his trust even harder, pushing for more ‘jobs’ to do and ways to help people.

Eventually Ezio is asked to help with clearing out a nest that has popped up way too close to the Tower. The ones in on the meeting are Altair (of course), Malik (who has maps of the area and coordinated with the runners patrolling the area for the known info) Desmond (to have an idea of the mission and what he might need to prepare in case things go wrong??) Rauf and Kadar, who are two of the runners familiar with the area, and of course Ezio.

And all in all, it’s a simple enough plan, they have plenty of homemade explosives and there seems to be only one way into the nest. And during the day, the volatiles are usually lethargic and slow to notice people. So they plan to sneak in, place explosives around and set them off to kill the volatiles, and trap whatever doesn’t die inside.

It goes great, until Kadar screams over the radio...

Ezio performs a daring rescue, able to kill of the volatiles in his way and get Kadar safely outside into the sun. But he’s in rough shape. He has a gut wound, and obvious bites. And he’s losing a lot of blood. Ezio gets the kid back to the Tower as fast as possible, Desmond and Altair already there to begin trying to save him...

Rauf is nowhere to be found. He’s not answering his radio, he never left the nest, and Ezio didn’t see him when he ran for Kadar.

After hours of trying to save Kadar, Desmond finally says he’s stabilizing. The antizin is keeping the change at bay, and the gut wound was cleaned and stitched. They just had to hope infection didn’t set in. They didn’t have any antibiotics. Malik is, understandably, devastated.

That night, Ezio goes to leave the Tower to check in with Abstergo, to ask for a drop with antibiotics and other med supplies. Kadar wasn’t as experienced as the other runners, despite his parkour being among the best. He was only there because Ezio had gotten his brother injured to the point he couldn’t continue to be a runner. This was Ezio’s fault.

But just as he gets far enough away from the Tower to feel safe to call Abstergo, he sees Desmond. Sneaking away from the tower. Ezio follows him for a while, and as they’re reaching the worst part of the city, where runners have all but been forbidden to go, Ezio stops Desmond. “Where are you going?”

The answer is simple. This part of town is the worst because it’s where the main outbreak happened. The hospital is there. The medical supplies to help Kadar are there. Desmond can’t let Kadar die, it’d destroy Malik, and Altair. And everyone else in the Tower, for Kadar is well loved by everyone. And Desmond is good enough to be able to risk entering this forbidden zone and have a chance of leaving it alive.

Ezio goes with. To help Desmond. To help Kadar. Not because he is trying to get close to Altair, to find this ‘Cypher’, but because it’s the right thing to do. These are just people trying to live in a city that has been taken form them, through means not their own doing.

...And what were the chances Abstergo would lend aid? Ezio had no proof Altair was the ‘Cypher’ they looked for.

So Ezio and Desmond infiltrate, dodging the hoards of zombies and the more lucid, more dangerous volatile’s. They get into the hospital unnoticed, and thankfully, there’s no volatiles in the hospital itself, though there are zombies to deal with, the slow walkers and more nimble runners. But they’re easy enough to deal with.

Finding the supplies though? Everything is empty. The cases and packaging are there, but no actual useful supplies.

And the Abstergo logo is everywhere.

=============

Unorganized thoughts:

Desmond wears the USB with the info on as a necklace. No one but Altair and Malik know the ‘pendent’ of his necklace is a USB.

Altair and Malik are a couple. Everyone knows, despite their often volatile relationship. (Ezio finds out by walking in on a...private...moment...)

The medical supplies are eventually found, and Kadar lives. All the supplies had been moved to a ‘clinic’ that turns out was doing testing on the zombies and the virus itself.

Ezio eventually learns about Abstergo’s true reasoning behind wanting the data. They made the virus, and the city was their testing ground. Things went sideways when their plans were found out and the virus was unleashed on the whole population instead of a controlled group. Desmond’s father had gathered the data to expose Abstergo before he was purposefully infected. Desmond had to kill him after he turned.

What happened to Rauf? No one knows...

After learning of Abstergo’s true plans and hand in all this, he confesses to Altair, Malik and Desmond his true purpose for being there. And his decision to help them get the information out at whatever cost, to stop Abstergo.

Shaun and Becca had, in the background, been quietly fixing a strategic few electrical towers, buffing them up to try and clear the jamming Abstergo had on the city. 

The other survivors in the city? Abstergo mercenaries. Paid to find the ‘Cypher’ and get the data. Even if it meant killing the whole populace of the ‘Tower’ to do so.

Ezio and Desmond end up getting close and falling into a very serious, nauseatingly romantic courtship. Or as romantic as one can have in a zombie infested city...

In the end, they are able to get past Abstergo’s jamming and let the world know people are still in the city, and Abstergo is the cause of the outbreak. Happy ending for everyone??

[stageplaymlp]

4 and 18 for the tmnt asks!

4. What's your favorite iteration of TMNT?

OHHHHH BUDDY!

Okay, so Rise is probably my overall favourite. It has my favourite characters, visuals, sense of humour, and such. It’s definitely the version of TMNT that’s just the most fun to me, y’know? It’s the one where I can stick on an episode or the movie and just have a good fucking time along with a good laugh, guaranteed

That being said, in terms of plot? Ehhhh. First of all, Rise doesn’t take itself too seriously in the plot department. What we have is good, but not very fleshed out, due to the second fact that Rise’s cancellation meant that (in my opinion) it couldn’t reach the heights it very well could have (I want more lore about the Yokai damn it, also I want to see the missing turtle siblings + all those character arcs that didn’t get to happen)

Another thing I’ve noticed with my tastes in this franchise, is that while episodic, silly stuff is fun, I love me some MEATY PLOT. I like something I can really CHEW ON. That keeps me ENGAGED episode to episode, y’know?

And that’s where stuff like TMNT 2003 and IDW come in. They have some of my favourite storylines in the franchise. Hands down. Even though I haven’t finished ‘03, I’d say it has the best plot in terms of consistency (like for writing quality and tone). IDW, while it can be dicey at times, when it’s good it’s GOOD, and will do the emotional equivalent of grabbing your head and slamming your face against the wall

Basically, I love version of TMNT with a strong, healthy balance between the serious and silly. I want to laugh AND cry, y’know?

Also ‘03 Mikey is very gender

18. Anything you want to see in future iterations of TMNT?

Ohhhh, that’s a hard one.

Hmm.

This is going to sound a bit weird, and I think it’s influenced by where I am in my life right now... but I want to see the turtles grow up.

Not that I think they need to be “mor mature” or anything, no no no. In fact, I LOVE how the latest version of TMNT have really been leaning into them being, well, kids. It’s very sweet, in my opinion

But the thing is, most of the time in TMNT, when we see potential futures and adult versions of the boys, it’s almost always bad. Same As It Never Was, Mutant Apocalypse, Kraang Apocalypse, The Last Ronin, all the different horrible futures IDW shows off. These boys very rarely just get to be... happy? As adults?

I mean, I doubt the turtles, in any version, will ever truly know peace in their lives, that’s just who they are and the world they were born into, but I want them to have something y’know?

I think that’s part of why I enjoy what IDW’s doing at the minute, especially back during the Mutant Town arc. The boys are implied to be reaching adulthood (it’s canonically been a few years since the start of the story given all the Christmas specials), and we get to see them do stuff like move into their own house, get jobs, connect with the local community, enjoy their hobbies, take people under their wing, even have a romantic partner (good for you, Raph). I love that kind of thing. I hear the Archie comics do something similar

I want a version of TMNT to end not with them being perpetual teenagers, but with them growing up, still having adventures

I want the promise that my boys will be okay, and that maybe I’ll be okay too

[krazyonkatnip]

I'm using the reading bingo by @batmanisagatewaydrug to help narrow my focus for my TBR, that being said I had to go away from that sometimes to fill the prompts soooo yeah

Lets get into it

Literary fiction: My Dark Venessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell - I did not know this was Literary Fiction, but I’m happy it is, cause I was really stumped for this prompt, but I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while. I just hope I can finish it cause I know it can be harrowing

Short story collection: The Unreal and the Real by Ursula K Le Guin - I read more essay collections then short story collections, but that also left me with a lot of stuff i hadn’t read so I chose this collection

Sequel: Earthsea The Tombs Of Atuan by Ursula K Le Guin - The first Earthsea book is later on the list, but I got both books for Christmas so it's basically fate that they end up on this list

Childhood favorite: Seekers The Quest Begins by Erin Hunter - Before I was a warrior cats kid I was a Seekers kid, I could have picked a Warrior cats book, but I reread those books every year in Middle school, so I’m going back to elementary school with this pull

20th century speculative fiction: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin - I don’t know much about this book, but i hear it's great 

Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin - My mom actually read these when they were coming out so I’m excited to talk to her about these books

Published before 1950: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Lots of people have been inspired to create things because of this book, including me, but I haven’t actually read the original, I’ve just watched the Disney movie. I think its time for me to read the book

Independent publisher: Wet Moon by Sophie Campbell (Oni Press) - I really like her art work in the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I’m interested to see what she does with her own story

Graphic novel: Bad Dream a Dreamer Story by Nicole Maines and Rye Hickman - I have never watched or read anything with Dreamer, but she intrigues me and I’ve heard this is a good intro to her character

Animal on the cover: Painted Flowers by Caitlin Grizzle - I love hyenas and as is a theme on this list I’ve been meaning to read this book for awhile

Set in a country you’ve never visited: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - I’ve seen all the shows, now its time to actually buckle down and read the book

Science fiction: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan - I don’t usually read my sci fi in books, it's usually TV shows and comics, but the premise for this book looks great!

2025 debut author: Lu and Ren’s guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh - I don’t have much to say about this book cause its a debut, but I’m still excited to read it

Memoir: Year of the Tiger an Activists Life by Alice Wong - I love Memoirs! I read them all the time, the problem was narrowing it down. 

Read a zine/ make a zine: Look through my collection or make one - I’ve collected zines for a while and even made a few, so I’ll either read one I already have or make another one or both! I just need to figure out a topic

Essay collection: It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror - I heard about this essay collection in college and I am finally going to read it

2024 award winner: my picture diary (Eisner awards) by Maki Fujiwara - I’ve never read her husbands work, but this book stood out to me on the award website

Non fiction (learn something new): The 100 Year War on Palestine: a History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917 to 2017 by Rashid Khalidi - With the news the way it is, I think its best if I look into the Palestinian occupation with different sources, this is one of them

Social justice and activism: No More Police: A Case for Abolition by Andrea Ritchie and Mariame Kaba - Police abolition is something I’ve been interested in for a while and I hope this book can articulate the thoughts I’m having better then I can

Romance Novel: The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity by Saka Mikami - I’ve technically already started reading this, but I’m not done and I want to read the whole thing for this challenge

Read and Make a recipe: One of my Dads recipes - My Dad loves to cook and bake and he’s good at it. His recipes are also simpler then my moms usually, so thats another point in me actually cooking it. Now i have to choose one of his dishes to actually make

Horror: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - I watched the movie recently and absolutely loved it! I hope I love the book just as much

Published in 2000-2009: Seekers Great Bear Lake by Erin Hunter - This might change depending on how bad the first book is, but we’ll see

Historical fiction: Kindred by Octavia Butler - I’m a little unsure if this counts as Historical Fiction cause I think time travel is involved, but I’m still reading it cause I heard it was good

Book seller or library recommendation: I still need to go to my library and ask for recs, I’m just a bit shy

[rainbowsky]

Hello. I'm wondering which type of cpfs do you consider toxic. Are you one of those who think it is wrong for mtjjs to get angry at cpfs who came to SDC5 final bringing sign/lights that have nothing to do with WYB? Do you also believe WYB or his team is happy to see all those red lights there? Is it ok for cpfs to chant bjyxszd loudly in official events? Does provoking solo fans equal support for ggdd in this fandom? Do all cpfs really wish that WYB is always inferior to xz in everything?

I am the sort of BXG that believes everyone should stay in their own lane, moto.

The idea that a MTJJ can come to my blog trying to make a case that BXG behaved badly at that event when I saw the video footage that showed both groups behaving in outrageous ways they should be deeply ashamed of, it's just beyond the pale.

All these questions are things you should be self-reflecting on. Do you really think DD and his team were proud of MTJJ any more than they were of BXG? Pull your head out of that place where it's planted.

If you want my thoughts on how that event went down, you can read my post about it here. But you shouldn't be focusing on what I'm doing and what I'm thinking or what any BXG is thinking or doing, you should be focusing on yourself and your own behavior and your own fandom. Stay in your own lane.

If you're not focused on DD and instead are focused on us, who can you really say you're a fan of?

Are you the kind of person who believes that a woman who wears a pretty dress is at fault if she gets raped? I certainly hope not. The only person responsible for bad behavior is the perpetrator of that behavior. There's no such thing as 'provocation'. Everyone makes their own choices about how to behave, and everyone is responsible for their own behavior. End of story.

Anyone who truly had DD's interests at heart that night would have de-escalated and walked away from any conflict so as not to embarrass him at an event where he wasn't even the focus.

And if you're not trying to 'provoke' me, Anon, what exactly you're trying to do with this message? You do not appear to be asking in good faith, you appear to be sending me a passive-aggressive screed. Don't you think that's more than a little bit hypocritical?

I couldn't help but notice you capitalized WYB but not XZ. Was it unintentional, or was it an act of hatred toward GG?

Look - nothing can make Yibo inferior to anyone. You should know that as his fan. The fact that I - a 'dirty old CP fan' - can see his unassailable beauty more than you can, should embarrass you given your apparent anti-CP attitude.

I'm not so insecure about his qualities and abilities as to need to 'defend his honor'. His honor is beyond reproach, and his achievements and independence are above any diminishment from randos online or from other artists, husbands or industry people. He doesn't need us to defend him.

Solo fans need to get it into their heads that the only people with the power to shut turtles down are GG and DD. The fact that they have chosen not to do so should give you pause and make you humble.

The thing that solo fans will never understand, is that there are as many perspectives on how to be a turtle as there are turtles. Turtles are not a monolith.

There are turtles who behave in ways that I find incredibly offensive, just as there are turtles who behave in ways that I respect. The same is true for solos. There are some whose approach to fandom I respect, and some I find awful. I don't spend too much time hand-wringing over what other people do. Live and let live. That is what GG and DD have asked of their fans.

The hilarious thing is, MTJJ think that turtles don't care about DD, and XFX think that turtles don't care about GG. They're so full of their own hatred toward the other man that they can't get their head around the idea that we love them both. I'm not sure toxic solos are really capable of seeing that love. They're too full of hate.

If you've spent any amount of time on my blog, you will find that love on every page.

I don't like it when people feminize and oversexualize GG, and I don't like it when people infantilize and underestimate DD, regardless of what fandom they claim to be a part of. I view GG and DD as equals and as individuals with their own achievements and autonomy. It annoys me when people fail to see their individuality and their humanity - whether out of ignorance, inexperience, bigotry, fantasy, lack of reflection or from having been misled by others.

However, other people's behavior is none of my business. Everybody gets to be a fan in the way they want to be a fan.

Even though I think MTJJ's anti-BXG and anti-GG behavior hurts DD and probably makes him feel like shit on a regular basis, I really don't spend much time stressing out about it. You have to make your own choices, and if showing him how much you don't accept him is your choice, that's yours to live with.

It is not my job to police other people, nor is it your job to do so. We should all stay in our own lane and mind our own business. And however possible we should learn to get along with each other, because we aren't going anywhere.

Accept it. Turtles are here to stay just as MTJJ are.

You should be glad that DD has our support just as I'm glad that he has MTJJ support. The more support he gets, the better. In an industry as mercurial and hostile as C-ent can be, every star can use all the support they can get.

We have been supporting Yibo as a group for 4 years now. Our numbers are only growing. Find it within yourself to accept us rather than trying to start a war.

I will continue to say this to every fan who writes me about topics like this, whether it be a BXG, a MTJJ or a XFX. Stay in your own lane.