#the ninja turtles were originally asexual

[brightlotusmoon]

Me, in a TMNT Discord:

"Mirage Mikey being manipulated into sex, tricked into thinking the eggs were his, and turning into a POW Space Cowboy without his family still upsets me."

Me, on Tumblr: Wait, can we talk about that? Can we talk about how the events in The Path are a tight thread connecting to The Last Ronin? Can we talk about how Michelangelo has always been The Mascot and the Kiddy Fave and now he's literally the most tragic and heartbreaking? How what if Kevin was remembering POW Mikey as he developed Last Ronin more?

[saturnite0614]

Easter Eggs and fun facts in I want to break these bones till they're better, my ongoing SoapGhost fic on ao3.

Price's pet turtle, Murdock, is named after Matt Murdock and is a reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were originally created as a parody of Daredevil hence all the similarities between the two (Hand and Foot Clans, Master Splinter and Stick)

In chapter 3, Soap says "you called" and Ghost says "you came". You all know what this is.

Originally during the Halloween chapter, everyone was wearing costumes but I scrapped it because I didn't think it fit the tone. Soap was dressed as Owen Hunt from Grey's anatomy, a reference to his original actor, Kevin McKidd. Price was dressed as Christopher Lee from the album art for Charlemagne. Gaz was dressed as a Ninja Turtle in reference to Price's turtle and Simon was wearing his old military fatigues.

In chapter 5, where Laswell is reading off names of potential 141 recruits, each name is a reference to actors in the original MW trilogy. Kevin Fairbrass and Craig McKidd came from Kevin McKidd (Soap) and Craig Fairbrass (Ghost and Gaz). Murray Henrikson came from Billy Murray (Price) and Lance Henrikson (Shepherd).

The description I gave for Roach in the same chapter is that of Irish actor Kieron Moore.

Ghost's tendency to wear a long sleeve under another shirt or more specifically, a jacket with the sleeves rolled up, is based on how I frequently dress.

The title of the fic comes from Sleeping At Last's song "eight" and part one takes place over the course of eight days (total accident!)

I based Soap and Ghost's conversation about asexuality and demisexuality after ones I've had with the few dates I've been on (they were not received as positively).

Laswell's wife, who makes an appearance in chapter 8, actually first appeared in another fic I wrote, considerations of the family dream. Even though it takes place in different continuities, I named her the same - Naomi.

[brightlotusmoon]

The fandom: So, Mikey appears to be genderfluid...

The franchise:

[brightlotusmoon]

The franchise is forty years old this year. There's like thirteen iterations, between comics and cartoons and movies. They have crossed over with so many brands that in the 80s and 90s it was called Turtlemania.

I was part of the fan brigade that pushed for new directions in the fandom in the late 90s, I remember things nobody has written down about things the folks behind the scenes have said over the decades. My brain is a creaky treasure chest of niche TMNT facts and concepts.

The franchise is baked into my DNA at this point.

Shout out to all the TMNT fans still rambling on and on about those turtles, some shows may have ended like almost 30yrs ago while others 4 or so, some pieces of media may only be one movie long while others an entire comic series, but you still keep going.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey Lovely! I was wondering how you first became a part of the fandom? When did you start watching the show, at what point did you feel John and Sherlock might be(come) a thing, what made you start a blog on these two? I just want to know it all ^^ Hope you don't mind sharing a bit :) Thank you for everything you do for this fandom, love you lots!

Hi Lovely!

Oh gosh, what a nice question! I think I’ve talked about this in snippets in various posts, this post being the one talking the most about it, but never as a whole! Apologies if this turns into a long ramble, hah hah!

So I remember exactly when I got into the show SO CLEARLY. It was July of 2013, just a few months before S3 was to air in January 2014. I was over at my friends’ place, and they suggested the show to watch, since we always watch movies together whenever I visit. I remember asking, “Is that the show with Martin Freeman and that Khan actor from Star Trek 2?”. We finished Season one all in one go, and immediately fell in love with Ben and Martin’s portrayals and their chemistry. And then I had to head back home. I was ANGRY because OMG WHAT HAPPENS NEXT and my friends just laughed.

So as soon as I got home, I downloaded S1 and S2 and watched them ALL the way through. I needed more. So, because I already had a Tumblr and knew it was for fandoms, I decided to see what it had to offer. 

Oh boy what did I get into???

So I lurked for a bit, and then I discovered something called “meta”, back when the TRF theories were the prominent meta in the fandom. So while I was getting deep into meta, I started switching my fanart from Ninja Turtles to Sherlock, because I was warming up to Ben’s ethereal face and I wanted to draw it. And I wanted to be a Sherlock fanartist. I briefly shipped Sher1011ie for a week or so, until I rewatched the series again and it just didn’t jive like it did the first few watch-throughs. I was too invested in John and Sherlock’s friendship – I saw them as bestest friends ever, too devoted to each other.

Now, at this point, y’all need to remember this: I was naïve, have never been exposed at length nor ever heard of subtext, was and am not part of the LGBT community (I grew up in a different time and in a conservative city, so being “gay” just wasn’t a thing), had a very heteronormative view on my life, and I just had always just insisted that in all of my fandoms, when I liked two male characters together, it was because “bestest friends ever!!”. I didn’t know I was ace and I’d never read smut up until 3 years ago (yes hi hello I’m so old and so innocent LOL).

Okay, so I was just lurking for a bit, learning my way around fandom, reading meta and just generally dipping my toes quietly into the fandom.

Then came Season 3. 

As many of my followers know, a lot of my fondness for season 3 stems from this being the season that LITERALLY opened my eyes to EVERYTHING: subtext, Johnlock, my own sexuality, and my meta-writing career. 

So, season 3 aired and I decided to dip my toes into “reviewing” the episodes as my first “meta”. They were posted onto my multi-fandom blog here, here and here. I was so proud of them, because it reinvigorated my love for writing (I used to be a pretty prominent Sonic fan-fic author back in the 90′s… I never finished my stories because my interest in the fandom died before I finished them), despite how laughably bad they were, haha. I got a couple compliments on them, but nothing beyond that, especially since I sat down and wrote them for HOURS after each episode aired.

Sometime between TSo3 and HLV, I discovered loudest-subtext-in-television (aka LSiT) and deducingbbcsherlock completely by accident and I was FASCINATED. I ate up everything they wrote. The first time I watched TSo3, something was niggling at my brain but I couldn’t quite place it. It was one of LSiT’s meta that twigged at it. That’s when I learned about subtext, heteronormativity and the queer community. And suddenly, just like that, something in my brain clicked.

Oh. My god. This show is gay, and I actually SHIP these idiots like I did in the Mother Ship (ie. The X-Files Mulder / Scully). That’s why I was SO ANNOYED with Irene. Why Molly was slowly grating on me. Why Mary’s introduction kind of annoyed me but okay I guess I can deal with it. Why everything seemed really romantic but it just couldn’t be, could it? 

I rewatched the series. And it was gay. Y’all, those rainbow-coloured glasses were suddenly GLUED to my head, and I saw gay EVERYWHERE.

So, after HLV, I discovered The Johnlock Conspiracy and I was eating up all the meta about Johnlock I could. Around this time, I also was learning a lot about the LGBT community, its history and sexual fluidity from wsswatson. It was also around this time I discovered asexuality, and I started reading a lot about it. 

In February of 2014, I started this blog because I wanted a place to reblog Johnlock meta. This was the first post I made on this blog, and looking back at it now, I am DYING because wow I never imagined I was going to be this deep into the fandom the day I wrote that. I don’t even remember writing it, to be very honest. I just shake my head, HAH. I think I really started understanding Johnlock because of this post here. It’s still one of my favourites and is one of the ones I credit for helping me understand what I was watching was actually a romance, not a “crime show”. 

Anyway, after learning how to read subtext from mostly LSiT (they wrote a meta about how to read subtext and it was super informative) and other Johnlock bloggers, I wanted to try my hand at my own little Johnlock meta. It was more of an observational post, as my way of trying to interact with the fandom. I am a terribly nervous and shy person, so I never tagged anyone in anything. It was an overwhelming fandom, and it was terrifying to interact. A few bigger bloggers noticed me and were nice enough to comment on a couple of my posts, but I mostly stayed in my little corner, and interacted with my small little group of other smaller fans. I dabbled in both fanart and writing, just plopping my thoughts and art into the aether, hoping something would interest someone enough to start a discussion. 

I started getting braver, and I was “moderating” some of my favourite posts that weren’t mine, but had my additions to it. Mostly, the Phones and Hearts post. I didn’t want to impede, but it was one of my favourite posts, so I went and copied all of the comments in the notes and put them onto one post. I don’t honestly remember HOW I ended up moderating it, but I just did because I was FASCINATED with symbolism, and I was excited because I could finally read subtext and understand it. I still had a small following, and a few people I regularly interacted with on my blog.

So, during the hiatus between S3 and TAB, somewhere along the way I suddenly had a sexuality crisis, when I suddenly realized I wasn’t broken and there was absolutely nothing wrong with me, and damn it, there’s such thing as split attraction model and asexuality?? Mind was BLOWN. I was also slowly becoming obsessed with Mary’s character, and at the time I couldn’t understand why (inevitably, it was because of events happening in my own life and me trying to understand them), but I really enjoyed just psychoanalyzing her. It’s something I’ve ALWAYS loved doing – character studies; I’ve done it in EVERY fandom I’ve been in – and I was doing it for her, Sherlock and John’s characters. 

So yeah, nothing much really happened to me during the S3 hiatus, except my entire world view flipped on its head and I was completely Johnlocked beyond repair. I became known for some painful posts and some lovely revelations and writing a lot of character study posts on both John and Sherlock. I’m very proud of some of my earlier meta, just sad they never really got seen (some of my earliest meta can be seen on my Ao3).

Then came the announcement for TAB in 2015, and the start of my “Tumblr Career”. I put a lot of my energy into my fandom life. I was OBSESSED with TAB, and became known for it. I put my moderation skills to use and created the TAB Starter Pack, which started gaining me some followers because OMG some loser is taking the time out of their day to compile all the news about this new series! AWESOME. I remember, it was around this time I was excited because I got to 1895 followers and it was one of those milestones all Johnlockers like having, hahah. 

In October of 2015, I lost my job and was unemployed. Conveniently, this is also the time when the promo season for TAB started, because we now had a name and airdate. I devoted a LOT of my time, when I wasn’t job hunting, to working on this blog. I was just writing a lot, and obsessing about the upcoming episode.

Then the trailer aired.

And immediately after that trailer dropped on October 24, 2015, I made this post here, which, some would probably say, was the beginning of everything for me. As I was writing that post, with a cracking headache, something clicked in my head, and several hours later, I had written and posted the original Mind Palace Theories of TAB at 2AM-ish, and went to bed.

When I woke up, my post had suddenly gone viral and I couldn’t figure out why. Then it just kept expanding from there, and I made sure to include everything I could onto it, because WOW something I wrote was gaining traction, and interaction, and I just wanted us all to have a good time with it. And as the time for TAB drew closer, suddenly I was gaining followers, and more people interested in what I had to write. I welcomed everyone to continue to predict the outcome with me.

January 1st. Was a complete and total mind fuck. I was liveblogging the episode, and inadvertently created another viral post with my Mycroft’s Death post because FUCK ARE THEY KILLING MYCROFT OFF?? kind of freaked people out (sorry loves!), which gained me some more followers, and at the time, my top post was my December 31st reblog of my Mind Palace Theories post, so anyone who came to my blog, it would have been on the first page of it.

After the episode aired, suddenly, EVERYONE had questions for me, about EVERYTHING, but mostly to scream at me that I was a mind reader, LOL. No, I’m not, I was just a sad, unemployed twat with too much time on my hands and was avoiding job hunting. But good god, all DAY on Jan 1, I was replying to asks, gaining followers like crazy, and pretty much just stating my opinion on anything that someone wanted to know. 

I became known as the unofficial TAB blog, and the one to come to with questions about my interpretation of the episode. I was SO obsessed with TAB, studied every nuance and narrative structure I could. 2016 was “my heyday”, and it was fun. I found my niche, and meta-writing is what I became known for. And until I got a job in April of that year, I was a pretty solid presence in the fandom, if I understand some of what I’ve been told correctly. I still ran my blog as full-time as I could having a full-time job, and still do in some ways, but yeah, 2016 is when I produced a LOT of meta, mostly Mary meta because, as I said above, I was and am obsessed with her character arc. I was learning about myself a lot more by writing meta, and my “original” meta turned into “asks” meta, which was fine by me, because I do like a good prompt to get me going.

Somewhere in there I also somehow became the blog new bloggers came to, which I didn’t and don’t mind at all, because being new in a fandom is scary and I wanted to be a friendly face because I like meeting new people. 

Then we got an announcement for S4, and like TAB I also kept track of anything and everything S4-related, so once again I was sort of the “go-to” place for everything S4 because I compiled all the stuff from setlock bloggers and listed them all for easy-access. I kept track of everything promotional, and I reblogged some of my favourite pre-S4 meta here.

Essentially, I LOVE organizing things, and people liked that I LOVED doing it, so that’s sort of how I kept my following when I wasn’t posting as much new meta. I did make a few original meta before S4, and I made a 68 day video countdown to the series which is cringy AF and I’m not linking it (lol you can find it if you look hard enough). 

We all know what happened in S4. I took a bit of heat after S4 aired, because I got people’s hopes up. I was discouraged for a bit, but then I started receiving asks that weren’t really asks, but “I need advice” and “I need support”. 

And I started answering life questions, and realized people LIKED my responses, liked my little personal anecdotes in each of my replies, and felt comforted by it. So, after S4 aired, I became an eclectic mix of life advice, meta, fics, music and TJLC / tinhatting blog. I have a “no judgement” approach to my blogging, and I think that’s why I’m still gaining a steady dozen or so followers every couple weeks, rather than losing. The only time I took a big hit was the Tumblr Feedpocalypse, where they fucked up the algorithm and I’m not getting nearly as many hits on my posts as I used to, but that could also be because we lost so many people to S4, especially after Jan 1, 2018 when people were hoping for another episode.

I personally don’t think I’m popular, but I suppose I am by Tumblr standards. I dunno, I think we all have that “starry eyed” view of popular bloggers, and I just can’t picture myself as someone anyone would fawn over. I’m just me, and you can take it or leave it.

I think where I’m at now and what I’m known for is a good place to be, to be honest, despite how S4 turned out. I’m not certain, but I FEEL like I have a positive reputation here, but don’t quote me. I know I have people in this fandom who hate me, and quite frankly it saddens me that they feel they need to expel energy on me that way when they deserve to just be happy and forget about me. 

ANYWAY, sorry that got long and rambly, but it’s something I’ve wanted to talk about for awhile, but I was waiting for the prompt to come because *shrugs* I dunno, self esteem thing, makes me think no one REALLY cares until someone actually asks, hah.

And if you made it all the way to the end here, Love ya Nonny, and thank you for asking and thank you for being a follower of my blog

[sweltering-in-central-city]

Character Bio

General

Name: Leia Morales

Nicknames:

• Princessa (by her mother)

• Morales (by her old boss and every sports player she used to be friends with in high school)

• Swelter (by Team Flash; codename given to her by Cisco, unbeknownst to her)

Gender: Female

Date of Birth: 05/14/1991

Age: 30

Occupations:

• Comic Book Store Cashier (formerly)

• Superhero-in-training (formerly/timeline-dependent)

• Criminal Underling

Sexuality: Biromantic Asexual (undiscovered)

Religion: Non-practicing Catholic

Species: Metahuman

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Mixed

Appearance

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Brown

Hair Length: Medium

Height: 5'2"

Skintone: Natural

Body Type: Mesomorph

Tattoos:

• A small stick and poke Rebel Alliance symbol on the inside of her left ankle

Piercings:

• Earlobes (unfilled)

Scars: N/A

Birthmarks: N/A

Clothing: Fandom shirts, hoodies, jeans, and sneakers

Accessories: Woven bracelets, reading glasses, and simple chain necklaces

Other:

• Generally keeps hair tied up

Favorites

Song: American Pie - Don McLean

Color: Orange

Food: Pernil

Drink: Malta con Leche Condensada

Weather: Fair

Time of Day: Late night

Season: Fall

Music Genre: 80's Rock

Book Genre: Sci-fi

Personality

Likes/Dislikes:

✓ Going to the gym

✓ Bike-riding

✓ Reading

✓ Binge-watching shows

✓ Listening to music (mostly oldies and Latin songs) 

✓ Gardening and other outdoor activities

✓ Animals (especially reptiles)

✓ Comic books

✓ Going to conventions

☓ Dealing with rude customers

☓ Alcohol

☓ Cigarettes

☓ Overly feminine clothing and accessories (for herself)

☓ Egoists

☓ Seeing people in pain

Attitude:

Leia is a very fun-loving and outgoing person naturally. She is a huge geek and a bit of a tomboy as well. Leia is also extremely protective and empathetic towards people she cares about. She often struggles with anxiety, mostly when making tough decisions or when she feels like she's being rushed. Unfortunately, she's also dealt with underlying timidity and submission due to trauma throughout her life, and for a long time after captivity, her anxiety and compassion became the only recognizable parts of her original personality.

General Mood: Determined

Mental Strengths:

• Intelligent

• Observant

• Great Mediator

Mental Weaknesses

• Terrible under pressure and tends to make bad decisions

• Doubts herself

• Easily overwhelmed

Habits:

• Listening to music while exercising or cleaning

• Constantly presses her snooze button and barely gets anywhere on time

• Snacks a lot when stressed

Quirks:

• Occasionally dances to the music in her head or has imaginary jam sessions when bored, pencil drumsticks and all (pre-captivity)

• Sometimes chews her hair or the eraser of a pencil when in deep thought

Fears:

• Not being able to provide for her mother when she's older

• Hurting people she cares about

• Becoming someone people fear

• Her powers

• James

• Her dad

Obsessions:

• Star Wars

• Marvel

• Harry Potter

• Animorphs

• Power Rangers

• Ninja Turtles

• Reptiles

• D&D

Health

Allergies:

• Cashews (formerly)

Mental Conditions:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• ADHD

• C-PTSD

Illnesses:

• None currently

Eyesight: Poor; near-sighted

Hearing: Good

Sense of smell: Good

Combat & Abilities

Weapons:

• Whatever's close (usually none)

Powers:

• Heat manipulation  (Leia has the ability to generate heat from her body. She can raise the temperature of her body, raise the temperature of her surroundings, melt, burn, or combust most things that she touches, and send waves of heat towards her enemies.)

Abilities:

• Bilingual (Spanish and English)

• Very intelligent (not genius level or anything, but enough to get through AP classes with straight A’s)

• Decent fighter

Physical Strengths:

• Healthy and fit (pre-captivity)

• Years of experience in multiple sports

• Height makes it easier to get into small spaces

Physical Weaknesses:

• Doesn't have control over powers

• Struggles with running for long periods of time

• Height also makes it difficult to reach high places and perform other feats

Relationships

Father:

▵ William Doherty | 59 | Unknown ▵

• Generally a charming man but lets his true colors shine after he's known someone for a while. Extremely self-absorbed and ignorant of other people's needs, he eventually destroys every long-term relationship he forms.

• Leia had no issues with her dad until she was around 6 or 7 and got himself into a tough financial spot. He started to get really angry all the time and yell about everything. Sometimes, he said things that hurt, but it took a while to realize that he would only become worse. Leia hasn't had any contact with her dad since the night he hit her mom.

Mother:

▵ Cassandra Morales | 53 | Alive ▵

• A sweet, kind lady with a huge heart. She enjoys spending time with her daughters and going to church. Her greatest faults are that she sometimes plays too much into superstition but she's also pretty naive and trusts too easily.

• Leia loves her mom and tries to do as much as she can for her. She really stepped up when her mom was going through her divorce. The two of them were very close before Leia got her powers.

Sister/Sibling:

▵ Jessie Morales | 17 | Alive ▵

• Very energetic and slightly mischievous. She's a bit of a geek, just like her sister. She enjoys playing sports and video games, and she absolutely loves horror movies. She's also recently discovered that she's non-binary, but Leia doesn't know that yet.

• Leia practically raised Jessie, so she looks up to her a lot. Their relationship is a mix between siblings, best friends, and a parent-child relationship. They were pretty much inseparable before the accident.

Significant Others:

▵ James Oh | 30 | Alive ▵

• He seems like the perfect guy: good grades, captain of the football team, working on his Doctorate in Business... but all the praise he's received over the years has made him narcissistic and self-entitled. He also has abusive and manipulative tendencies

• Leia started dating James as a junior in high school, when he was a senior. With every popular girl out there going after him, she was surprised that he settled for someone as geeky and awkward as her. People only used to know about her because she was a good athlete, but she didn't really have any friends until she started dating James. Everyone wanted to hang out with her after that. Of course, she knew James could be a bit full of himself, but he treated her so well and her mom liked him so much, she found it easy to look past his flaws. Once the two of them were out of high school, however, James became more controlling. He made her dress more femininely when they went out and pressured her into doing things she wasn't comfortable with. She no longer loved him, but he was the only person outside of her family who had shown her real affection, and he'd done a thorough job of making sure she was dependent on him. He only cared about how good she made him look, so as soon as he found out that she was a meta and had no intention to take advantage of it, he dumped her. Since Flashpoint, he no longer knows about her newfound powers, but given how long she’s been missing, she’s pretty sure he’s moved on.

▵ Cisco Ramon | 30 | Alive ▵

• Cisco often stopped by the comic shop Leia worked at. Sometimes he bought stuff, sometimes he didn't, but Leia always had fun talking to him. Cisco was always nice to her, and he was the closest she'd ever gotten to having a real friend. When things started to get really bad with James, Cisco noticed her change in mood. He seemed a bit put off by learning that she had a boyfriend, but he offered to take her out for coffee a few times and tried to comfort her. Even though she was still dating James, Leia couldn't help but develop a small crush on Cisco, and she really hoped that if she ever worked up the nerve to end things with James, he might feel the same way about her. Once Leia joined the team, and after James broke up with her, she and Cisco did eventually admit to liking each other; they were going to try dating once they didn't have Zoom to deal with anymore, but then Flashpoint happened, and all of that was erased.

Friends:

▵ Scott Jeffries | 48 | Alive ▵

• A friendly, happy-go-lucky guy. Scott is a big nerd with an even bigger heart. He tries to make everyone happy and is loved by everyone who knows him.

• Scott was Leia's boss at the comic store. He and Leia had a somewhat father-daughter relationship. Scott adores Leia's geekiness and desire to help others, and she enjoys his warm, friendly personality. He always tried to look out for her, which she insisted was unnecessary but appreciated anyway.

▵ Caitlin Snow | 30 | Alive ▵

• Before Flashpoint, Leia and Caitlin had grown pretty close. Caitlin was the first girl Leia had befriended who she didn't have to put on a fake persona around and who was actually supportive of her. Now, Leia would only sorta recognize her from the brief period of time where they both worked for Amunet.

▵ Barry Allen | 30 | Alive ▵

• Leia really looked up to Barry, and it took a while for her to stop seeing him as just “the Flash”, but eventually she realized he was just a normal guy she could geek out with like the others. He’s the only one on their Earth who would still remember her besides Jefferson Jackson and Mick Rory.

▵ Harry Wells | 57 | Unknown ▵

• Although Leia initially disliked Harry's blunt personality and effect on Cisco, through their time spent at S.T.A.R. Labs together, she came to see him as another father figure and friend.

[brightlotusmoon]

I love my Discord friends.

[brightlotusmoon]

Also, if you don't feel mature enough to handle discourse, don't announce it like you're at an airport. Just leave and come back when you grow up.

why are you guys so pressed about tcest. its been here since before today's high schoolers were born. you can't just change decades of fandom and fandom history by calling tcestors "nasties," lmao. especially for a fandom most antis haven't been a part of for more than two to three years.

you guys know the tmnt fandom has been alive since the 1980's... right? like it wasn't born on twitter in neopuritanism. of course fans who were here before you don't care that you think tcest is gross. most of us are stressed from fighting about which tcest ship was better years ago LMAO

tcest has been the NORM for the tmnt fandom for most of its life (especially in 2012's peak holy shit). most people, even if they didn't like it, weren't hostile. that doesn't just change because a new crop of fans from a series that is largely different from every other tmnt show doesn't like it.

i get not liking tcest. really, i totally understand blocking accounts and tags. but you can't be hostile. if you don't like the fandom, leave, because tcest has been a large part of it for decades, and threats disguised with saccharine condescension, passive aggression, and emojis aren't going to make it go away. you just look like an immature asshole. get out of our houses, weirdos.

[brightlotusmoon]

He acknowledges April's origins as mixed race, which very few people have done - and which many in the fandom have argued against in a blatant attempt to make whitewashing palatable.

And since Rogan is who he is, there is also antisemitism, ableism, classism, and good old rose colored nostalgia glasses.

Seth, honey, you are a mensch and I am proud of you. You're doing great.

Her name was April Fisher and Kevin loved her.

Thank you to my beloved @ravn-87 for the link.

[brightlotusmoon]

Earth And Oxygen: The Underestimated - BrightLotusMoon - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012) [Archive of Our Own]

Not only did I forget that I wrote this forever ago, I forgot I used these quotes. Thank you anonymous commenter, for reminding me.

...

"Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is." - Jim Morrison

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." -Lao Tzu

[brightlotusmoon]

So... I just found out from someone that the Turtles were all originally asexual and I'm like " WTF really?! ". I am looking for proof that Laird said this because that was my headcanon for them, which is how I found your blog. Cause if this is true, like why the fuck the recent cartoons after 03 trying to erase the so little Ace rep there is?

The only proof is a fan letter answered by Laird in the 1990s. But I'm one of very few people who even remember that letter exists. I've had antis try to bully me over it because I'm implying that the turtles choose each other over others. Which they do. They're literally codependent for their own survival. But of course the deeper implication is "but would they fuck?" And that's a yes.

I have been argued at with the strange theory that since the turtles had romances throughout each version, even with humans, they couldn't possibly be anything but straight and normative. I call it the Lotus Blossom defense argument.

People really look at the most comic book characters of all time and say "there is no way they are queer or representative" and then they fight about it.

[brightlotusmoon]

I shipped them, too, at age 13 back in 92 (i had no idea what shipping was because it wasn't a familiar term, same with fanfiction; I didn't learn until 1997).

I owned Blindsight and read it until it was nearly falling apart, since Mikey was my favorite. Oyuki as a character was really relatable.

Also, I have a memory of reading that April's look was based on Disney's Ariel, whose look was based on actress Alyssa Milano.

I'd like to talk about Oyuki

And, as an extension, Mike/Oyuki.

But let's just start with Oyuki, herself.

Oyuki Mamisha (alternatively, Mamishi or Mashimi... they never seemed to settle on her surname, but I always stuck with Mamisha, since that was the one that she first gave) was a character in the TMNT Adventures Comics (the Archie run) who was introduced at the same time as Ninjara (1992). I'll put a rundown of her story under a cut because this is going to be image-heavy!

She first showed up when Chien Khan, a dog "mutant" (actually he was cursed, but that's another story) wanted to bring a demon to Earth, and so needed to sacrifice a strong soul. To that end, he kidnapped Oyuki from the streets. She was homeless and made a living as a thief in Hirohima, and at the time was a smoker. Oddly, she had blue eyes.

The Turtles managed to save her, thus preventing the demon from coming to Earth.

Oyuki then moved to America and became April's roommate.

She also became her camera operator when April was fired from her job and went freelance.

She had a strong, rebellious personality, and she resented that people didn't like her smoking around them.

She did, however, finally quit smoking.

Oyuki then accompanied April and the Turtles on some of their adventures, including when they went to Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, at that time Michelangelo (or, as they spelled his name in the Archie run, Michaelangelo) was blinded by a Molotov cocktail.

April and Oyuki went back the USA by a different route than the Turtles, and when the Turtles' plane went down into the ocean Mike was captured and tortured by the government. After his rescue, Oyuki helped to prove that the Turtles were the good guys.

She showed up a lot throughout the series, but as I said, she wasn't given much development. However, in a flash-forward (to the year 2000), it was shown that Oyuki herself had become a reporter.

That was the last we see of her, as the series ended soon afterwards. She never got much development, but the potential was always there for more. Since she wasn't really given one, in the early 2000s I wrote Oyuki's backstory in a fic that takes place before she meets the Turtles. I may post it on AO3 one day. We'll see.

Anyway, on to...

Mike / Oyuki

Mike and Oyuki were the only couple I ever really shipped in any TMNT universe, and certainly the only one I ever wrote anything for. Not many people did ship them... just a few, really, and I think that they only did so because they were my online friends and read my stuff. Funnily enough, back then (15-20 years ago) there weren't as many portmanteau ship names as there are now, so they never really had one. l always just called them M/O. But now I suppose it is almost a requirement to have one, so as the captain of this ship, I hereby declare it to be Oyukiangelo!

Anyway, when the Turtles rescued Oyuki from Chien Khan, it was Mike that knocked the dagger away.

Later on, after things had calmed down a bit, Oyuki took Mike to teach him how to fly a Japanese kite. While they were about it, she was happy to find out that he liked poetry, and they traded haikus.

They hung out a lot after that, and were by each others' sides when the whole group was doing things together.

When the Turtles left Japan, Leonardo said goodbye to Oyuki, but Oyuki just said goodbye to Mike.

Back in the states, Mike's picture is seen in the apartment that April and Oyuki share.

Then they got to Jerusalem...

And when Mike got blinded, Oyuki stayed in the hotel with him while the others went back out to fight. Now, it is of course never mentioned what they spoke about or did during that time, but I honestly believe this is when their relationship took a turn past best friends to something more serious.

As I said above, Mike was then captured and tortured, and after his rescue, Oyuki helped to show the world what they did to him. Later, the two of them are shown being really close.

So, there it is -- the origin of my only real TMNT ship. And although Oyuki only showed up in the Archie run, my headcanon is that (like April and Casey and Shredder) she exists in just about every TMNT universe, and that she is an important part of Mike's life every time.

As I said, I was one of only a handful of people that shipped them, and one of maybe two or three people that wrote anything about them. I mean, hell. I still ship them to this day... and if nobody else does, then by God, I will row this boat alone.

[brightlotusmoon]

The Ninja Turtles have all the genders. I do not take constructive criticism.

[brightlotusmoon]

Me, throwing my decades old queer autistic ADHD Ninja Turtles content at Tumblr and hoping something sticks: Okay but what if I'm really really annoying and just need to shut the fuck up because I talk too much, you know, like that one anti told me after praising my writing after accusing me of enjoying taboo darkfic thus being complicit in moral crimes and then saying it was her job to purge people like me from fandom-

A younger fan, sincerely: OMG hi I love everything you post on TMNT I'm so honored you reblogged me or replied to me, you're an amazing fandom resource, thank you for all the incredible content on your blog, we love you.

Me, literally actually blushing:

[brightlotusmoon]

I think a lot about Casey Jones as a character.

He was created to 'out-crazy' Raphael, and to be a love interest for April because they didn't want to pair her with a turtle, since they were initially asexual.

Then 2012 came along and gave us Apriltello anyway. And it was toxic for a while.

But boy did we get Casey Jones being Casey Jones.

The point is that Raph and Casey were always going to be the Violence And Anarchy Twins.

Casey Jones was literally born screaming ACAB in the 1980s. He was determined to protect The Little Guy from predatory cops and authorities just as much as from predatory street criminals.

Mirage Casey was probably the original poster child for socialist anarchist anti-establisment memes. Which is why Bayverse making him a cop wanting to be a detective was so fascinating. Was he trying to tear the institution down from the inside? I like to pretend he was.

These are different times, after all. Sure, make April a teenager and link her romantically with a painfully awkward Donatello, that'll be fun for everyone, right?

I'm not really an Apriltello fan partly because I remember when that was forbidden according to canon. But canon also did things like set up Older Leonardo with Raven Shadowhart (they had sex!!) before killing her, but that also showed that the asexual Turtles still liked sex, so hey. But also I'm not a fan because I was initially horrified about how Ciro tried to write 2012 Donnie stalking April and April stringing him along. There have been so many fan essays and videos about that. I'm glad things worked out by the finale, but… well. I mean, the turtles in every version have always had tiny crushes on April, she's their first human friend, she's their link to the human world. But 2012 made it blatant and it just felt weird. I knew it could have gone so well. Eh. I don't harass the hardcore Apriltello lovers, it's not a bother, and they enjoy it. I will say though that many of them will breathe fire at anything hinting at the ship being negative. And I hate that. That's how you get antis. Yes, it's an Archer paraphrase. And I hope they grow up one day.

Also, this is why 2012 Fix It AU fics are my favorite. April and Donnie working things out and often doing poly with Casey, Mikey being poly with Renet and Shini while Shini is with Karai, etc. Because Michelangelo and Shinigami are drift compatible.

Anyway. Casey Fucking Jones. Ultimate Chaotic Neutral Dumbass whose favorite sport is violence. Which is why he's got every stick and blunt weapon in his ubiquitous golf bag.

Including a toaster to throw at people while shouting "Give me a toaster or give me death!" - which suddenly I'm seeing as a video game.

[brightlotusmoon]

Oh, Netflix, you do know me. They just recommended the TMNT episode of The Toys That Made Us, the one that awkwardly reunited Peter and Kevin, the one that people really need to watch.