#stop calling tmnt mikey stupid 2020

[brightlotusmoon]

mikey ask game: 6 and 13!!

6. do you have any mikey-centric fic recommendations? (including any your wrote!)

Wellll... I wrote Mikey and Mikey only and all my Bookmarks are Mikey fics sooo

13. what’s something about mikey that nobody seems to talk about that should be talked about more?

I think I have rambled on at length about that since 2017, and a LOT of people have either picked it up or had very similar ideas, but we really really need to get rid of this lasting idea that Mikey is The Stupid Turtle. Hell, online search results still auto fill it. I know I spent over twenty years pushing the 'Mikey Is ADHD and Autistic and emotionally intelligent' headcanon but alongside it I kept begging the fandom to write fics where Mikey isn't being dunked on as the team class clown or adorable moron.

[goldenspecter]

Cosmo’s TMNT Masterpost

(Rise, 2003, 2012, and others)

Here’s where you can find pretty much everything I’ve ever made for the TMNT fandom! Fanfics here[haven’t gotten the courage to post fanart here yet], hope you guys enjoy my work. Reblogs are appreciated!

Fanfics

1. Finding my way home(and moving forward)

Out of sheer curiosity, Leonardo and Donatello looked up, and there it was.

A portal.

Had the Universe really taken pity on them? Had it really heard his desperate prayers for one more chance?

It was not like the ones they had seen before, it was an irregular circle made up of several shades of blue, completely different from the perfect and symmetrical pink triangles of the Kraang.

Leonardo and Donatello looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, "Should we go in?" Donatello asked, almost shouting, drawing the attention of the others, who quickly turned to the portal and to see each other, then the two brothers in question.

"It's our best bet, and our only chance," replied Leonardo.

Or rather, with the 2012 kids' home gone, they end up in the Rise verse after a strange portal shows up. Therapy is needed, and start the slow process of healing from their trauma.

(Rise/2012, Work in Progress, written with @keeryd​ )

2. Strawberry Cookies:

"Mikey here was just about to tell me what we could do to cheer Raph up while he's sick," Donnie says. "Mikey continue?"

Now that Mikey had both of his older brothers attention, he grins. "I was thinking we make strawberry cookies!" He does his jazz hands as he says this and is met with looks of something that he can only put as disapproval. "What?"

"You do know that everytime that we have tried to make it-" Donnie starts.

"We mess it up and Raph has to come in and save our butts from burning the cookies?" Leo finishes, "What would be different this time?"

Mikey huffs, "We are doing this so we can cheer him up and to prove that we can do something on our own!" he says, "That's what got Raph sick in the first place!"

Or rather, Raph gets sick after helping his brothers recover from the poisoned pizza puffs. Mikey, Donnie, and Leo take a shot at baking cookies for Raph while trying not to burn their kitchen down.

(One shot, complete)

 3. Chicken Fried Rice:

“I only poured in half a pot of rice,” Donnie complained.

Mikey stared at him, really stared at him before he spoke. “You do realize that rice expands when cooked right?” he said, “You do realize that?”

Donnie was silent, looking away from Mikey.

“Donnie!”

Donnie makes chicken fried rice. Mikey watches over. Shenanigans and brotherly fluff ensue.

one shot in which Donnie is in the kitchen, cooking rice and Mikey, Mikey is positive he should have gotten Donnies braincell. 

(One shot, complete)

 4. Tea Time with Hortense and Patty: 

"Sooo," Raph starts. She's always been weird with awkward silences. "Are these grandma kinning hours?"

"Grandma hours!" Mikey exclaims excitedly. "Grandma time!!!"

"Ah, if it isn't our favorite girl and her little brother!" Hortense tilts her head over in their direction slightly. "Are you going to join us? We were just about done arguing," she says.

---

Today is Tea Time. Two old ladies have a tea party, one of them forgets to bring the food, and they are joined by Mikey and Raph. A good time is still had.

(One Shot, Complete)

5. One of those Days

When Donnie woke up this morning, he woke up with the familiar thrum of anger and irritation running through his body with more intensity than normal. Rubbing the crust out of the corners of his sleep-addled eyes, he jerkily grabbed his phone and turned off the alarm. It's one of Those Days, Donnie noted. Those Days where Donnie isn't capable of handling Mikey's over-enthusiastic optimism or Leon's chaotic trickster nature. His safest bet is to hang out with Raph, his calm and mellow demeanor always helped calm down before Donnie went on a rage fest and say anything he couldn't take back.

Or, Donnie and Raph help each other out, balance each other, and make things a little less difficult.

(One Shot, Complete) 

 6. Gift Hunting: 

“It’s Leo. Tiny Leo,” the voice answers. “I need your help with something.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t say until you say yes first,” Leo says. “It’s really important though.”

Angelo is silent, weighing his options. He could say no, he really could-

“Please, Angelo, you’re the only one who can really help me with this,” Leo pleads.

Rather, Angelo and Leonardo go out in the streets of New York to help the blue banded turtle find gifts for his brothers' sixteenth mutation day. Bonding and fluff ensues.

(One Shot, Complete)

 7. Aftermath:

“Raphie bear?” Mikey called out, gently tapping Raph, with relief washing him when Raph turned his head to face him. “What’s the matter teddy bear?”

“Th-thi-this doesn’t feel real.” Raph stuttered out, his voice cracking as a sob broke through. “I’m not really here. Neither are you and everyone else. I’m still alone with Draxum and his minions. No one’s coming to save me because I was stupid enough to get captured and no one wants such a worthless turtle like me.”

In which Raph was kidnapped and tortured by Baron Draxum and his family has to deal with the aftermath of it.

(One Shot, Complete)

 8. To Be the Eldest

Donnie, the second youngest in his family, wishes he was the eldest for once. Then one night, Donnie gets his wish granted and now he was three small turtles in his care.

Donnie adjusts to being the eldest, comes to some realizations, and makes a promise to his (now) younger brothers.

(Work In Progress)

 9. Wanted: Snaggletooth 

Dr. Noel bent down on his knees in front of Raph, a manic smile that showed too many teeth coming about on his face speaking of pain and suffering that has yet to come. He stretched out his hand towards Raph’s face, placing a thumb under his mouth, pressing into his snaggletooth. “Beautiful. Just as I expected,” he crooned, pulling out a syringe and injecting it into Raph’s neck, pushing the contents of the syringe into his system.

Raph’s eyes fluttered as he started losing consciousness, watching through hooded eyes as Dr. Noel's smile grew even wider, with his last thought right as darkness consumed him being that he hoped his family would find him before it was too late.

Post S2 Finale, Dr. Noel remembers Raphael, his snaggletooth, and manages to find and capture the red masked turtle. It doesn't end well for Raphael.

(Work In Progress)

 10. Dimensional Differences:

They bow. Not like one of those pretentious bows like she would do at Yokai parties and not like the ones she would do with her brothers when they hosted tea parties. They bowed deeply, heads stopping at her stomach, one hand closing around their fists. This spoke of respect and honor.

And that unnerved her a little bit. Why are they bowing so deeply?

“Thank you,” they said in unison. It’s unnerving to April and she felt the uneasiness coming from her brothers too.

“Why are you thanking me?” She said finally, voice sounding foreign to her.

“You saved my life?” Baby Leo said slowly, voice tinged with confusion. “That was an honorable thing to do?”

April blinked, “It shouldn’t be considered honorable for doing what any big sister would do,” she said. “That’s not honor, that’s just being a good older sibling.”

In which April, Sunita, Casey, and the turtles end up in the 2012 verse after a mishap with Leo's ōdachi and stay with the 2012 turtles until they can go home. They find out a lot of things that don't quite jive with them. Some things are the same, some things are different and they're not quite sure how to handle those differences.

(Rise/2012, Work In Progress)

 11. Mind Meld Part Deux:

“Oh thank Galileo that you all are back to normal!”

“What do you mean we’re back to normal?” Raph questioned, pulling back from the hug. Mikey and Leo also pulled back to stare at Donnie. “We’ve-we’ve always been like this?”

Donnie went quiet. He shouldn’t have said that.

“Donnie, what did you do?”

The brothers found out about Donnie’s Mental Intelligence Reprogrammulator. Arguments are had, words are said, words that tear a rift between him and his family, and it’s up to Donnie to earn his brothers’ forgiveness. The only thing is, will he get it?

(Work In Progress)

 12. I'm a little kid and so are you(don't you go and grow up before I do):

The 2003 turtles somehow, someway ended up in the Rise verse, with Rise Splinter and his turtle tots, and stay with them while the boys try to figure out their way home. 2003 Raphael got attached to his tiny counterpart the moment he laid eyes on the tot. (Raph centric)

(Rise/2003, Work In Progress)

 13. Dimensional Self-Isolation

Post S2 Finale, Raph finds himself trapped in the 2012 universe and has a difficult time coping with all of the differences that this world has in store for him. From new villains, unfamiliar familiar faces, and the way the 2012 boys and Splinter treat each other and him, Raph has a heavy plate on his hands during his long term stay.

(Rise/2012, Work In Progress)

14. A Collection of Turtle Thoughts

A collection of drabbles and ficlets about Turtles I've been writing since October 2020. Ranges from humor to hurt/comfort, I have it all.

Requests are open. SFW only though.

(All Iterations, Work in Progress)

If y’all reblog, read, and share my work, I’d really appreciate that! Anything and everything is appreciated, money or not! Thanks folks 🐢💕

[brightlotusmoon]

Thirty year old headcanon no matter what any canon tries to tell us: Mikey enjoys science experiments, is delighted when Donnie asks for his help, and often experiments with his art, media, and culture interests using the scientific method. Although it is in fact canon in various incarnations, the fandom has always had this annoying habit of claiming that Mikey is too dumb. Stop that, fandom.

[brightlotusmoon]

*writes Mikey accidentally sticking his foot in his mouth ADHD style*

*writes other characters accepting it without yelling at Mikey or quietly scolding him for being inappropriate or bapping him on the head or shoulder or subtly stomping on his foot or shutting him up too obviously or*

Ahem. Got a little too deep there. I'm fine.

[brightlotusmoon]

I'm chatting with the friend whom I'm helping write psionic Mikey 2003 fics, and she said this,

"I had a thought: a while after his rematch, his brothers notice that Mikey’s acting strange but don’t really think anything of it. Then one night one or all of his brothers spots Mikey sneaking out of the Lair carrying a large box, they follow in the shadows until he reaches their dump site. Mikey throws the box in a dumpster and says ‘There, right where it belongs’ then he leaves. Once he’s gone, his brother looks inside to see what he threw away and is shocked to see that inside the box is his trophy and medal."

We decided to see if anyone wanted to write that angst for themselves alongside us.

[brightlotusmoon]

Oi, TMNT fandom, who wants to help me come up with a comprehensive list of each time 2003 Mikey saved the day or made a very powerful observation but in a sort of background way while being teased.

For example: flying the Triceraton ship, distracting the Triceratons, rescuing Donnie, applying stealth, while the others make fun of him.

Speaking his thoughts out loud which makes The Ancient One smack him on the head, even though he made a good point.

Obviously, the Leo Speech doesn't really count, because they're paying attention and taking him seriously.

I always felt like some the show writers didn't like him much, to make him such an insensitive, arrogant version of Mikey. Mirage Mikey had a lot more nuturing in him. Don't mind me, I'm insomniac and cranky.

And fuck how I wish we could've gotten the original script for the Good Genes arc. There always was more darkness in Michelangelo.

[brightlotusmoon]

-

Father never said that he was lagging behind the others, but he didn’t have to. He knew.

It was always ‘Mikey, shut up.’, ‘Mikey this’, ‘Mikey that’, ‘Sorry about Mikey-’ “We need to talk about Mikey-” blah, blah, blah. It just made him feel...defeated. Not in a way like they’d just lost a fight against Shredder, but a deeper feeling inside, curling its hold around his chest and stomach and heart and making him want to just cease to exist.

-

First of all, OW, I relate too painfully.

Second of all, OW because there's no closure.

Also, whoever said a Michelangelo can't be introspective because his brand is Head Empty needs to sit down I just wanna talk-

[brightlotusmoon]

Do I need to break out the tags again?

The day people realize how to do basic character analysis and understand (every iteration of) Mikey’s effect and role on the team and family is the day the future will look like this:

In the year 2023, we STILL have people saying Mikey is useless and has no role.

IN 2023

BENCH YOU KNOW BETTER COME ON!!!

[brightlotusmoon]

People hate Mikey because he's 'stupid,' but is he really? I think people are misconstruing him. A lot of the 'stupid' stuff he does is actually him being naive. It means someone who is lacking in experience/judgment. Some ppl think naive means you're stupid, but it's not remotely the same. : TMNT2012

This is me discovering Reddit discussion threads about things I've wondered about and spread headcanons about for many many many years.

[brightlotusmoon]

Dear TMNT fandom writers, you who post imagines and asks and fic ideas of How Would The Turtles React, etc:

You know that Michelangelo in all iterations has ADHD-C. Let's write an imagine where he is so overwhelmed that he has an episode of RSD and basically melts down, as you do with ADHD - which shares eighty percent of symptoms with autistic sensory issues and kicks off my headcanon that Mikey is autistic too (yeah yeah, I know Donnie is, I was there when that started, see my infodump about stereotypes and Mikey's Girl Autism). Take it in any direction you want, add a reader insert or OC, give him a partner, make him poly with the other turtles, make it as fantastical and dark and traumatic as you want, in any version.

I don't know if anyone will see this. What if I tag some folks I know well enough and they can pass it on if they don't want to do it themselves?

Uhh...

@the-second-circle-of-shell @kokokatsworld @darksaphire2002 @tmntspidergirl @tmntstyle @tmntwhat-you-get-is-what-you-see @sylvain-writes @tmntblog42

[brightlotusmoon]

Lol yeah. Not to be rude, but Mikey in the older cartoon gives me awkward kid with Adhd vibes and I love it because it's relatable.

It's only rude for people who don't understand ADHD!

[brightlotusmoon]

that minor character doesn't need 5000000000 fans they only need one fan with lots of problems who can love them enough singlehandedly that it's the equivalent to the combined love of 50000000001 fans. that one fan? is me

[brightlotusmoon]

Ironically, despite somewhat starting the "Mikey is dumb" trope, the 87 series is one of the few times I recall him standing equal footing with his bros- same with the 90s and Rise series- as the 87 were pretty tolerant of each others crazy ideas.

Remember that episode where the other three said he was goofing off too much and kicked him off the mission, but later he rescued them in a freaking brand new jet plane that he had been avidly studying via hyperfixation. AKA, "goofing around". Not to mention his friendships with the veterinarian and his animal telepathy. And his hyper creative writing that in Mirage is eventually published and in Archie (the comic spin off of 1987) and his artwork, which included comic books, murals, and life drawing. This weird trend of "Mikey can't draw" bothers me.

@catbowserauthor knows exactly what I'm talking about because every single one of her TMNT fics features 1987 Michelangelo being the most badass hypercompetent turtle after honing his epic psychic spiritual powers that are stronger than Splinter, because the show kept hinting at it.

David Wise may have turned him into a carefree goofy clown but he couldn't suppress Mikey's hidden depths and at some point in the later seasons he realized that.

[brightlotusmoon]

*reads a bunch of Mikey-centric 2016 and 2012 fics, wrinkles nose*

You know what, I absolutely need to write more "actually Michelangelo gets really philosophical and chatty about his special interests and in fact he will use ten dollar words if he really wants to" chapters.

I'm thinking about the speech that 2003 Mike gave in defense of Leonardo. Nobody blinked, nobody was surprised - except fans writing recaps and reviews. Reactions included "Mikey of all people got intellectual and philosophical, can you believe Mikey sounded smart?"

The adoration of Michelangelo's intelligent side is actually a very recent development in the fandom at least on Tumblr. I am basking in it.

I recall making a Tumblr post I think in 2019 about frustrations over his goofball side overwhelming everything else in fanfiction. I think @ulisabarbic-blog and @roseyturtles and @diploglottis and @silexwitch are among the few writers I've chatted with at length about portraying Mikey able to rap monologues about pop culture and the soft sciences talked about in comics, video game dialogue, graphic novels based on science works. In every version Mikey may be hyperfixated on collecting comics and games, but his obsessions have given him a powerful patchwork of random knowledge, like a wiki in his head. He just doesn't work along the logical mathematics axis that Donatello uses.

In the Mirage comics, Mike was actually very much like Rise Michael*, no pranks or jokes or buttmonkey, gently optimistic, compassionate, with dry wit and a clever sharp mind that delightfully boosted morale at random times. One of my favorite comic scenes has him responding to Leo checking the headsets. "Mike, can you read?" "No, I can't, I never learned how because you never taught me! Why, Leo, why?"

We the fans need to play with his skills.

(*Joke's on the haters, Rise in fact took a lot from the original comics and cartoons)

[brightlotusmoon]

Most of the fandom: We don't write Mikey saying big words because he's not smart enough.

Me, over ten years ago, writing a lengthy conversation between Mikey and Donnie about neurochemistry that I recreated in a later fic: Weird, I thought I heard the sound of a lot of people being wrong.

[brightlotusmoon]

I scrolled past some fics where one of the turtles smoking weed or taking edibles is automatically a very bad thing, and all I can think of is Reagan's DARE program that tried to use 87 Michelangelo to convince kids to not smoke weed, and it utterly backfired because of course Michelangelo is a stoner.

I'm not asking the kids to quit using the turtles as an anti-drug campaign in the 2020s, but the Turtles are not bound by human laws and ethics. And one of my favorite long-standing headcanons is that they can process certain foods and drugs differently than humans. Cannabis, caffeine, sugar, psilocybin, cocaine, opiates, chocolate, etc.

I love the way he does it 🤣