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badgalsasuke · 1 day ago

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Kishimoto Asaichi NHK Special Interview (July 20th 2012)

SOURCE

Another video that could be considered somewhat lost media, the video still available on youtube has a horrendous voice over translation, but I was able to find the original video in Japanese (I felt so old looking at Youtube's old interface omg).

This is Kishimoto's first ever televised interview and it was for NHK program "Asaichi" (あさイチ) a weekly morning talk-show geared towards a middle-aged audience. Kishimoto was promoting the movie Road To Ninja.

Please watch the video as you read the transcription for a better understanding of the special.

INTRO (0:00 - 0:24)

さあこれが日本を代表する人気漫画家のアトリエですそしてこの方テレビ初登場ナルトの作者岸本雅史さんですナルトの誕生秘話や創作への思いを伺っちゃいました。

So this is the studio of one of Japan's most popular manga artists, and this is his first TV appearance. It's Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto. We asked him about the story behind the creation of Naruto and his thoughts on creating it.

INTERVIEW (0:25-4:16)

ナルトを書こうと思ったきっかけは？

岸本:「NARUTO」を描こうと思ったきっかけは、最初はラーメンの話を描こうと思いまして、ラーメンの麺とスープを絡めたなんかよくわからないラーメンの話を描こうとしたのがきっかけでそれはさすがに子どもにウケないということで主人公のナルトって名前だけ引き継いでナルトにあったものが何かと思ったときに日本のもので忍者がいいかなということで忍者を選びました。

What inspired you to start writing Naruto?

Kishimoto: The reason I decided to draw "NARUTO" was that I initially wanted to create a story about ramen. I thought of drawing a story about ramen with noodles and soup mixed together, but that didn't seem appealing to children. So, I kept the name of the protagonist, Naruto, and when I thought about what would suit Naruto, I decided that ninjas would be a good fit, so I chose ninjas.

こだわったテーマは？

岸本:「NARUTO」でこだわったところは「認める」「認められたい」みたいな気持ちを描こうというのはあってラーメンのマンガを描こうと思って認められなかったわけですよ。なので、認められたいというテーマみたいなものがボクの中にも結構あって、なかなか最初、担当編集者にマンガを認めてもらえないわけですよ。ボクも早く認めてもらいたいというのがあって、それを主人公にも気持ちをのっけて描いていくというのがあったので「認める」ということが結構大きなボクの中では描きたい「NARUTO」にとってはこだわってるもの。

What theme did you focus on?

Kishimoto: What I was particular about in "NARUTO" was depicting feelings like "acknowledgment" and "wanting to be recognized." I thought about drawing a ramen manga, but it wasn't accepted. So, the theme of wanting to be acknowledged was quite significant for me too, and at first, my editor didn't accept the manga and I really wanted to be acknowledged quickly. So, I projected that feeling onto the protagonist, which is why the concept of "acknowledgement" is something I was particular about in "NARUTO."

意識している読者層は？

岸本: 読者層はもう子どもです。一番見てもらいたいと思って描いているのは、中学２年生の男の子たちというのがボクの中のターゲットとしてあって、ボクはもう中学２年生の男の子の前では土下座してでも見てくれと言いたくなるくらいヤツらには頭が上がらない。中学２年生の男の子たちが持っている感覚というのがボクの中の宝なので、ボク　どんどん歳とってるんで、その感覚が薄れてきちゃってるんですけど、中学２年生の男の子に、今ボク、歳とって憧れがあるから、憧れというか、そういう部分をなくしたくないという思いがあって・・・。

What is the target audience you have in mind?

Kishimoto: The readership is already children. The target I want to reach the most with my drawings is junior high school second-year boys. I feel so humbled by them that I would even want to beg them to look at my work. The sensibilities of boys in the second year of junior high school are a treasure to me, and as I'm getting older, that sensibilities are fading, but I currently have a longing for second-year junior high school boys because I'm getting older. I don't want to lose that longing or that part of me...

中学２年生のときに何かあった？

岸本: ありましたよ。マンガをはじめて描きはじめたときですよ。プロになろうってマジで決めたのは、たぶん中学２年生くらいのときで、ボクにとっては中学２年生というのはちょっと特別なので、そういうふうに、夢をもらった、夢をくれたようなオトナの人たちにマンガ家になろうって思えたそういうふうに思わせてくれた人たちをやっぱり尊敬しているので、ボクもそういう人になりたいと思っていて、今の中学２年生くらいの男の子に、それが今度逆に自分でできたらなというのがあります。

Did something happen when you were in the second year of middle school?

Kishimoto: Yes, there was. It was when I first started drawing manga. I seriously decided to become a professional when I was probably in the second year of junior high school. For me, the second year of junior high school is a bit special, and I respect the adults who gave me dreams and made me think I could become a manga artist. I want to be that kind of person too, and I hope that someday I can do the same for boys in the second year of junior high school now.

ライバルは？

岸本: ライバルはもういっぱいいます。一人にしぼれないですね。「ジャンプ」で連載されている作家さんは、みんなライバルです。こわいのは、本当にこわいのは、才能を持っている、まだでてきていない新人ですね。それが一番こわいです。もうボクは歳とって、どんどんズレていくので、若い子たちに負けないようにやりたいなって思っています。

Who are your rivals?

Kishimoto: I have so many rivals. I can't narrow it down to just one. All the writers serializing in Jump are my rivals. What scares me, what really scares me are the talented newcomers who haven't emerged yet. Those are the scariest. I'm getting older and I'm getting further and further out of touch, so I want to make sure I don't lose to the younger generation.

COMMENTARY (4:17-7:52)

Host 1: I think you [host 2 & Kishimoto] are probably about the same generation. Host 2: Around the same generation. Host 1: It's really inspiring listening to him talk. Host 2: It was written for middle schoolers, but I can understand why parents read it and got hooked. Host 1: I guess you just haven't forgotten how you felt at the time. Host 3: It's amazing and he speaks so honestly, and he has a very refreshing tone. I see a lot of similarities between Naruto and Akimoto-san.

Host 2: This is the ninth movie, and it's the first time Kishimoto-san fully cooperated with the film's production, and it depicts a theme that couldn't be depicted in the manga, so that's why Fumihiko highly recommends it. Host 3: If there are people who think that way, it's me. Host 2: Speaking of parent and child relationships, in the manga Naruto's parents are already dead and gone. However, in the film he's trapped in the enemy's reality illusion technique and meets his real parents. So he's transported into a parallel world.

Naruto: It's making me go crazy, what on earth is this place? dattebayo!

Host 2: Naruto realizes he's fallen into an enemy trap and tries to return to the real world.

Kushina: Welcome home.

Naruto: I'm home.

Host 2: Although he realizes that the reunion with his supposedly deceased parents is a trap, he gradually begins to feel comfortable there.

Naruto: Why are you talking so suddenly? I'm a bit busy today. Sakura: I know. Naruto: Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until that time comes, so this is just a time-killer. Sakura: So Naruto, is this world really happy for you? Naruto: Hey! Sakura! What are you talking about? *I have everything here, everything I ever wanted. I have a dad and a mom, this is what I've always wanted.*

Host 1: This brings us to the issue of the bond between parent and child.

Host 2: In fact, it is a virtual world, so it is heartbreaking even for parents to watch, wondering whether they will return to the real world or stay in their comfortable place and fall into the enemy's trap. It is truly heartbreaking, and since summer vacation starts tomorrow, I think it would be easy for parents and children to watch together.

We have already received emails from someone in their 50s, living in Chiba Prefecture "my whole family are fans of Naruto. I am drawn to the fact that the importance of courage, justice, friends, and family is portrayed so directly and persuasively".

We also received a voice message "Thank you so much for everything you've done" accompanied with an illustration. So we introduced Naruto, we think it would be the perfect movie for the summer.

The special only lasts around 8 minutes. After that, the video repeats a second time but muted.

#kishimoto interview #naruto archive

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tamelee · 2 years ago

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Hey!✨

Do you think that if Naruto’s parents would never die, he would be as spoiled and bratty as Boruto? (I mean hate for father because he works too much etc.)

Hi Nonee 💕

No because that would be a really bad way to introduce the Naruto-verse to an audience. It wouldn't work at all.

Naruto was bratty and a troublemaker. He pulled pranks because it was the only way to gain attention from people since they were all avoiding him. Negative attention is still attention.. and to the mind of a neglected child who lives in solitude that's a reward as it is acknowledgement to their existence. And so his behavior made sense. Boruto needed some sort of plot-point to get his story going. If you objectively look at his situation, without knowing anything about Naruto or its world and how it operates and this is the first time you're introduced to it then his father becomes kind of an asshole. He neglects his family while instantly having time to meet up with his best friend Sasuke. He distances himself emotionally from Boruto by telling him he can't call him "dad" in his office but needs to call him "Hokage" like everyone else, forgets important dates like his daughters birthday, does the bare minimum by sending shadow clones over, doesn't have meals at home but prefers to stay at his office and eats cups of instant ramen instead. He counts headbands and ignores Shikamaru's plea's to go home. So- Boruto acts similarly like his father did when he was a child as is depicted by the pranks that are shown, but for different reasons. Keyword here though, which you've pointed out too is: spoiled. He acts spoiled.

So would Naruto do the same?

First, Naruto's behavior now doesn't fit to his character in the sense that if he genuinely wanted a family of his own, meaning "wife and children" which he never said, "family" can mean many things- in his own words:

...then he would never treat them this way. There are characters he sees as family and he treats them very differently. Kishimoto has helped write material where Naruto was coming home very happy to Iruka and his parents (movie scripts) and that was a big deal!!! Him preferring cup noodles instead of a warm meal... must make you wonder why that is.. yeah? This "sunshine" family in general doesn't make any sense whatsoever. So, force a character into an out-of-character situation and it gets messy.

Naruto wouldn't act the same as Boruto because Kushina wouldn't let him.

Hinata acts passive and in all those years doesn't stand up for neither her kids in that regard or Naruto. She just lets that hatred fester.. Why? Probably because there is no emotional connection between her and Naruto anyway, they're married now and she "loves" him, that's all that matters, right? When Naruto is home he doesn't sleep with her, he sleeps either in another room or crashes on a couch. When she served him tea, there is a romantic drama playing on the tv that she gets emotional over whilst Naruto gets bored to death and falls asleep at the table. They don't have meals together and can't even communicate normally as they have nothing to talk about, nothing in common, there is no connection. Nada. As a creator you can't even fake that. Even Boruto doesn't communicate with them, instead he plays games on his own.

Naruto's entire development was never written for him to end like this. He went from a lonely kid eating cup ramen.. to a lonely adult eating cup ramen. From spoiled milk to having a spoiled kid. So. If Minato and Kushina were still alive.. Naruto would have an entirely different upbringing, perhaps different goals even. Because it isn't just about the character. Minato and Kushina have a good relationship so Naruto would grow up in a more loving home I'm sure of that. We don't have much to go by but 'Road to Ninja' was partly written by Kishimoto (whatever that means), and here Naruto was seen with his parents.

Minato here isn't Hokage but is between Shinobi "duty" still at home playing housewife, an adorable husband and takes care of Naruto. (Menma)

They're both present on his birthday.. (of course.)

After Kushina hugs Naruto, Kakashi points out again how loving they are as a family and everyone knows it. Even in the Manga itself their dynamics are a world of a difference from those few panels we have. I cannot see Naruto ever act spoiled in a bratty way if he had his parents. They'd communicate about the matter and come to an understanding between them.

Boruto just follows a script none of us incl. him wanted ig.

#asktamelee #boruto talk #naruto talk

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crimsonwolf715 · 2 months ago

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Summer Flu

Taylor wakes up and immediately knows that she’s sick. She knows all of the symptoms of the flu, but it’s summer.

Too middle of the year to be getting sick.

Taylor sighs and sits up. Tyler opens up her door and he looks sick too.

“Oh no, I got you sick, Ty. I’m so sorry,” Taylor says.

“How exactly are we supposed to know which one of us got sick first considering we’re both coming to the conclusion now?” Tyler asks.

“That’s true,” Taylor says. “We should text the others and see how they’re feeling.”

“Already did. We’ll see if they’re feeling sick as well.”

Tyler heads out and Taylor can hear him heading downstairs.

He’s always so functional when he’s sick. It’s insane. I wish I was that functional when I’m sick.

Taylor sighs, then drags herself out of bed. After changing into a different set of pajamas she strips her bed. She puts her bedding in the washer, then heads downstairs. She heads into the bathroom and looks in the medicine cabinet, but doesn’t find the medicine.

“Hey, Ty?” Taylor asks.

“Yeah?” Tyler asks.

“Where’s the medicine?”

“In here in the kitchen. I brought it in here to take while making breakfast.”

Taylor walks into the kitchen and Tyler’s defrosting bagels.

“Bagel,” Taylor says.

“Bagel,” Tyler agrees.

Once the bagels are toasted, they put cream cheese on them and then they sit down to eat breakfast. The two eat breakfast and talk about what they need to do for the day. Not too much, just washing up bedding and some light cleaning after they use things so they don’t run the risk of getting sick later down the road because they weren’t thorough enough. Taylor and Tyler clean the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, so they’ll actually be clean.

“I’m gonna go swap my bedding and start yours,” Taylor says.

“Okay, thank you, Tay,” Tyler replies.

Taylor heads upstairs and swaps the laundry. After starting Tyler’s bedding, she just sits on the top of the stairs for a minute. She comes back down and sits at the kitchen table, watching Tyler lightly clean the stove.

“Everyone said that they’re feeling fine, so I let them know that we aren’t and that we’ll see them tonight,” Tyler says.

“Thanks, Ty,” Taylor, who had completely forgotten about reaching out to their friends, replies.

“Of course, Tay.” He pats her shoulder as he walks past.

“Hey, Tyler?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Tyler backtracks and sits down next to Taylor. “About what?”

“About everything.”

“That’s not really an answer, but it does lower the options. Shoot.”

“Am I not helping enough? You seem to be doing all the work around here and I know that Mom can’t help that she can’t help, but I should be doing more. I don’t want you to do everything anymore.”

“I’m not doing everything. Who do you think is keeping everyone’s spirits up? Because it sure as heck ain’t me. Yeah, maybe some help around the house would be appreciated but don’t act like you don’t do anything to help us. You do plenty, just in your own way, Tay. And no, I’m not just saying this to make you feel better. I mean it.”

Taylor nods. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Since Mom’s at work, you wanna watch TV?”

“Yeah, I do.”

The two settle down on the couch and watch Jurassic World . They watch movies all morning, transitioning to watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they eat crackers for lunch. Around three, the two end up falling asleep.

Taylor wakes up when she hears the door open. Mariana waves, so she waves back.

“Are you two feeling alright? I don’t think I’ve seen you two like that since you were little.”

Taylor yawns. “We’re not feeling well, and we ended up watching TV until we fell asleep.”

“Well, I’ll make you two some soup.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Taylor puts her head on Tyler’s shoulder and doses off again.

“Dinner, you two,” Mariana calls out quietly, waking Taylor up.

Taylor picks her head up and sighs. She shakes Tyler and he opens his eyes.

“Hey, Tay,” he mumbles.

“Mom made dinner,” Taylor says.

“Did she? That’s great.”

Taylor shakes Tyler again. “Come on, we’ve gotta eat.”

“M’kay, I’m getting up.”

Tyler sits up as Taylor stands up. The two walk into the kitchen together and have a quiet dinner with Mariana. Once dinner’s over, Tyler and Taylor head upstairs.

“I’m gonna attempt to do homework and get some more rest before midnight, so if you need anything, I’ll be in my room,” Tyler says.

“Alright, same to you,” Taylor replies.

Taylor walks into her room and after attempting to focus on her homework and failing majorly for forty minutes, she grabs her phone off the nightstand. She looks over the notifications since she hasn’t looked at her phone all day. There are well wishes from everyone and then a text from Ben asking if she’s feeling any better from twenty minutes before. Taylor clicks on it.

Me: Not really. Tyler and I have been keeping up with taking our meds, but it’s a slow process.

Ben: Well, my thoughts are with the two of you… and making sure that Aiden doesn’t get sick. It’s always a toss up to how Aiden reacts when sick. He either doesn’t wanna do anything, including fight me about taking meds. Or he decides that medicine is the enemy and he will fight me before taking them.

Me: 🤣 That sounds like Aiden.

Ben: Well yeah, I would assume that it would. Do you need me to bring you anything?

Me: Nah, we’ve got it handled. Thanks for the thought tho.

Ben: Of course. You should probably get some rest.

Me: Yeah, probably. Goodnight, Ben.

Ben: ‘Night, Tay.

Taylor puts her phone down and lays down. She drifts off to sleep quickly.

#sicktember 2024 #sicktember #no.25 #school bus graveyard #taylor hernandez #tyler hernandez #marianna hernandez #sibling bonding #light angst #emotional hurt/comfort #sickfic #writing challenge #ao3 fanfic

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watermelonsloth · 1 year ago

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How would your infinite tsukuyomi dream end? when did it started and how to end it? let's not consider boruto as canon but go with the end of gaiden and do you have links for other analysis which talks about this possibility

I’ll be honest, it took me longer than I care to admit to realize what you were asking. I’m hoping I can still read and you’re asking how I’d ideally write the infinite tsukuyomi working off of Gaiden and ignoring the Boruto anime/manga.

Assuming that’s what you’re asking, I have a couple of ideas:

First the Rules

Everyone was put under the genjutsu by Madara at the same time. (It doesn’t make any sense that the susanoo would block it out.)

The reason we saw team 7 fight Madara and Kaguya afterword, is because the genjutsu is designed to basically gaslight you into thinking that it’s reality. It tells you everything was just a bad dream or quickly brings whatever was bothering you to a conclusion.

The infinite tsukuyomi works on two principles: It can only reflect back whatever is in the victim’s mind, so it can’t create someone/something the victim can’t conceive of (ex. can’t create “true peace” in the mind of someone used to conflict, can’t create a world with dead people alive in the mind of someone who can no longer imagine the world with them in it). The dream continues on a linear path unless distress or suspicion is detected, in which case it will only change to relieve those feelings.

The dreams aren’t perfect. They’re based on what the person wanted at the time of it being cast and will make as few changes as possible (think of it like a computer made to find the most efficient way to keep everyone happy. it’s the ai art of dreams, except with less art theft). On top of that, it can’t recognize complicated emotions. So bittersweetness, reluctant contentment, dissatisfaction, anxiety, disappointment, etc. aren’t considered “distress” and won’t cause the dream to change.

Dreams aren’t identical with each other and dreams aren’t mixed like in Road to Ninja, but some people are able to affect the dreams to some degree.

Different people have different levels of awareness when it comes to whether or not they know they’re dreaming. Generally, the better someone is at genjutsu/spotting discrepancies in their chakra, the more likely they are to notice.

Now, What I’d Do With This

The status of everyone at the beginning:

At least a year has passed since everyone went under the genjutsu, but the Rookie 9 aren’t in their thirties like they are in Gaiden. I’m thinking they’re in their early-mind twenties.

Kurama didn’t break Naruto out because Kurama is under a dream of his own (they do have separate consciousnesses after all). Naruto is in blissful ignorance in a dream about being Hokage, Sasuke being in the village, the world having rebuilt itself and being a peace, him having kept his promises, etc. It would probably look very similar to the Boruto world. Kurama would probably be trapped in a dream about Naruto being happy and him and the other tailed beasts being free.

Sasuke took a while but he figured out he was under the genjutsu, probably because he isn’t used to things coming so easily to him. His dream, given when the genjutsu was cast, would have him acting as Hokage fighting for world peace and security. Despite this, he’s neglecting his “duties” to instead search the world for a way out.

Sakura was aware pretty much from the start and is in denial (Denial is a river in Egypt, Sakura! This is a dream!). Regardless of what her dream is, everything would be tinged with guilt. With the nagging question of whether she’s doing the right thing. She’s meant to be a realistic character and I think it’s very realistic to prefer fantasy over reality. Just think of all the people who use escapism (via books, movies, tv shows, video games, sleeping, etc) as a coping mechanism.

The rest of team 7 is blissfully ignorant all throughout because it either wouldn’t make sense for them to be aware or their role would be redundant. Same goes for every other character except its because their character is passable as they are or the ship has sailed and them suddenly becoming relevant at the end would be more confusing than satisfying.

One the outside, the four Hokage are still trying to break everyone out of the genjutsu while Madara is bored, watching them try and fail repeatedly. At first I can imagine them fighting each other (verbally and physically), but at this point they’ve all realized there’s no point. The Hokage are the only thing keeping Madara even marginally entertained/sane and fighting Madara only wasted the Hokage’s time. At most, they throw jabs at each other.

The Plot:

This would be very Naruto-Sasuke-Sakura centric with cut aways to the few people on the outside.

Naruto and Kurama would find out about the dream because their chakra networks are still linked so whenever they try to tap into the other’s chakra, they see glimpses of the other one’s dream.

Black Zetsu would either be an obstacle within the dreams or be reabsorbed into Madara because he isn’t really needed.

Naruto would have an arc choosing reality and choosing real people. Since he had spent much longer than Sasuke or Sakura fully believing that the dream was real, he got much more connected to the fakes inside of it (both real people that he didn’t get to interact with much in the real world and fake people his imagination/dream conjured). I think he would know very early into becoming aware that he wanted reality, so most of his arc would be him teaching/forcing himself to say goodbye. (Demon Slayer spoilers: picture the scene of Tanjiro leaving his family from the Mugen Train arc)

Sasuke would have an arc about what you want not necessarily being what you need. I think instead of him continuing with his revolution/world peace goals, he would return to his roots and instead focus on finding peace. Maybe some spreading awareness stuff, but most of his arc would have him choosing to instead focus on what he still has, maintaining what he has, and restoring whatever he can of his clan (its honor, its culture, its place in the village, etc).

Sakura would have an arc about self-acceptance. I interpret her as carrying around a lot of shame and self-blame, so I imagine her keeping herself in the genjutsu because she’s ashamed of who she is in the real world. This would have her moving forward with the newfound awareness that there’s no shame in being who you are and it’s never too late to do better.

Because I’m biased and I think it’s fitting for a story about understanding others to end with the day being saved because of understanding, I’m giving Madara a redemption arc. So, Madara would be going through team 7’s character arcs all at once. He learns to choose the real world with all its flaws over a fake utopia, he learns that finally grieving and coming to peace with all that he’s lost is what he really needs over the world peace he was chasing, and he learns to stop blaming himself for the deaths of his brother/s. His story would be full of the Hokage and him talking about why they wanted peace, their dreams to become Hokage or bring change, their experiences in war, what they’ve lost, etc. and him slowly deciding to help them free everyone.

The End:

Team 7 gets into contact with the outside somehow. Maybe one half of Kurama communicates with the other half. Maybe Madara can tweak the genjutsu but can’t break it (because that would be too easy). Maybe Tobirama makes a jutsu. Maybe Hashirama, Minato, or Naruto use sage mode to interact with the tree holding everyone. Maybe Sakura finally uses that talent for genjutsu that’s been being hyped up for the entire manga. Whichever you think makes the most sense.

So team 7 and the Hokage + Madara come up with a plan to draw a huge amplification seal around the god tree’s trunk and using that seal plus a bunch of chakra to pretty much perform the biggest genjutsu release ever. It’s not enough to break everyone out at once but it is enough to get Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura out and send a shockwave through the rest of the tree. Everyone notices that shockwave and gets suspicious. So the infinite tsukuyomi starts stretching its chakra thin trying to cover it all up. Because it’s stretched so thin (it is covering everyone on the planet), the genjutsu is weak enough to break. Some ninja, especially those good at genjutsu, start breaking themselves out. For everyone else, team 7 + Hokage + Madara is doing a race against the clock to release everyone they possible can before the infinite tsukuyomi stabilizes itself.

From here, the Hokage + Madara would either leave after everyone’s been released or after the world has gotten back on its feet after the war. I’m leaning towards the latter for two reasons: 1. Along with the symbolism of the old generations passing the torch, there would be the symbolism of generations working together for a better future. 2. Madara could pass what he knows of the Uchiha clan onto Sasuke since Sasuke would’ve been too young to remember most of his culture.

I don’t think Madara should stick around any longer than the Hokage (y’know, leaving the world in the next gen’s hands), so he’d have to die somehow even if it would be a pretty dark end. I’m thinking seppuku style.

Did I just answer an ask by basically plotting a fanfiction? Yes. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but I apparently had a lot more than “a couple of ideas”.

#infinite tsukuyomi #alternative naruto ending #anti naruto ending #naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto uzumaki #sasuke uchiha #sakura haruno #madara uchiha #hashirama senju #tobirama senju #hiruzen sarutobi #minato namikaze #naruto au #my stooff #thanks for the ask

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arandomwatcher · 2 years ago

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Facts for my just yokai totally not mutants

A separate rottmnt au go to my account to understand better

Don’t mind the chaos (also i come back sometimes and update this with new facts so stay on the look out)

I color coded which fact is about who, i also color their names so you know when they are talking about them

Raphael is not used to nicknames so in the start he mostly say Leonardo and Michelangelo (he also feels weird when they call him raph instead of raphael)

I myself like to call donnie/son for donson

Raph doesn’t have 1 or 2 parents because he lives a place with witches who help people (they found him and just couldn’t not adopt him)

Most the characters “parents” adopted them because “they found them and just couldn’t not adopt them” only “two” of them does it because their cute. The last is just bad

Mikey and Leo are still ninjas because of their papa’s past (his past is what made him choose to train them)

Donnie hasn’t been eating good food….

There is another mutation

Mikey and Raph are both gonna feel guilty thinking it’s their fault it happened (there are reasons for the guilt)

Raph has a red/black witch hat because he asked nicely for one

Raph can’t remember many spells in his head so he has a book with him all the time (he is also not a good wizard yet)

The ninja bros wears normal teenage clothes most the time

The bros are gonna get together and then we wait a year or months (for them) for the series to begin

The boys have tails here too

Donnie gonna be able to kinda break the fourth wall, i guess that’s what happens when you spen-

Donnie gonna be close to the ground most the time when he gets back to earth because different gravity and stuff

Donnie is that type of guy where you walk past his room and see him making a summing cycle to help krang back (he’s not trying to hide it)

The reason i gave donnie the name “son” is because krang in the movie calls the other krangs “brother and sister” so why not go down the road and naming him son

Foot clan gonna be apart of the fic too 👍 oh wait i mean 🦶thumb up foot

So first we have Mikey and Leo asking their papa what their ages is and who’s the oldest. Papa goes away for a second to flip a coin and Mikey wins (they never gonna know this). They meet Raph and he is just like “idc if i oldest or second oldest” so Mikey just take it while he can. They think Donnie is kinda wild so they agree he is definitely youngest (he doesn’t care)

You may be sitting around doing something and then donnie attacks you. Don’t worry it is normal. Just promise him food and he stop (when he gets more used to the place then he kinda stops doing it)

The ninja boys are fluent in morse code

None of the boys wear their original mask (too small for their heads :{ )

Mikey doesn’t like being alone for too long. because he was almost never separated from Leo when they were growing up. (He also has trust issues)

Leo and Mikey have blood on their hands (it’s their little secret)

Raph doesn’t like humans

April be separated from her family too, now living in a place with weird drawings of 4 green kid and a gray person with a tail

#just yokai totally not mutants #rise raphael #rise michelangelo #rise leonardo #rise donatello #rottmnt #rottmnt au #tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rise raph #rise donnie #rise leo #1 krang 2 flower boys and 1 wizard #rise mikey #rise tmnt #rise separate au #rottmnt separated au

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gwydionae · 2 years ago

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It's Not Going to Fix Itself

A/N: I just needed some Raph and Mikey bonding. Haven't written nearly enough of that lately.

Posted on fanfiction.net >here<.

Teaser: "I don't need help from you or anyone else!" The words were spat from Raph's mouth with such venom that anyone else might have believed them, but Mikey was more convinced than ever that dodging his older brother's angry, wild swings was exactly where he needed to be at that moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Takes place sometime after "Casey Jones vs. the Underworld".

It's Not Going to Fix Itself

"Seriously, how can they not be done yet?"

Mikey barely glanced at Raph who sat huffing with indignation on the bench in the common room, glaring down at his T-phone as if that might make it ring sooner. His older brother had been groaning and complaining ever since Donnie had taken off in the Shellraiser after a call from Casey. Apparently he had found some old car for cheap and bought it with the intention of having his own vigilante ride, but he hadn't even made it two blocks before the thing broke down. Raph had offered to tag along as he and Casey had talked about going on patrol that night, but Donnie had shut that idea down, noting that Raph's lack of knowing anything about how cars worked would only make him a distraction.

And so for the last hour and a half, Michelangelo's monster movie had been punctuated with the occasional growl and bark from his most short-tempered sibling. A typical Tuesday, then.

"I'm not gonna just sit here all night waiting for Casey's new toy to be fixed!"

"Pretty sure you said that, like, forever ago, dude," said Mikey, eyes never even leaving the TV screen. He really should have expected the pillow thrown at his head in response.

Not five minutes later, Raph was on his feet and stomping toward the lair's entrance. "That's it. I'm done waiting. Forget Casey and that stupid piece of junk that idiot got conned into buying."

"If you see Donnie, remind him he owes me some pizza gyoza," said Mikey as he lazily raised a hand in a wave, ignoring the rude gesture he received in response.

To be honest, Mikey was surprised it had taken as long as it had for Raph to storm off on his own. If he didn't know better, he might've guessed it was due to the current sad state of the city above as the residents of NYC tried to rebuild their lives after being subjected to an alien invasion for over half a year. The Kraang might be gone, but the streets and back alleys were meaner than ever, and going out alone was asking for trouble. But he did know better, and Raph loved trouble, so if anything, he should have taken off the moment he knew Casey was stuck on the side of the road somewhere.

Too distracted by his cheesy B movie to give it more than a passing thought, it wasn't until he heard the sound of the Shellraiser returning followed by not one but two familiar voices that he perked up, looking around curiously. Hopping up from his beanbag, he wandered over towards the garage and peeked inside. Donnie and Casey were talking animatedly, a beat up piece of machinery he supposed must have been a car at some point sitting next to them.

Mikey couldn't help but laugh, thoughts of his owed gyoza drowned out by the misshapen hunk of metal. "Dude, is this your new ride? What happened, did Donnie hit it with the Shellraiser?"

Turning toward him as he entered the room, Casey flashed him a proud smirk and patted the rusty hood. "You'll see. This little baby is gonna tear up the streets when me an' Donnie get through with her." He smacked said turtle roughly on his shell. "We've got so many ideas—it's gonna be wicked!"

"Your vehicle actually has to appear street legal, don't forget," said Donnie as he walked over to his shelf to grab his toolbox. "We mutant turtles would avoid the police regardless, but you at least have to make an attempt to obey traffic laws or else you could lose your license." He set down his toolbox next to the supposed car and shot Casey a wry smirk, "But let's worry about getting it to actually start first, shall we?"

"I'm telling you, the alternator is shot. Piece of cake, you'll see," said Casey as he popped the hood, wrestling with it a bit in order to get it to not only open but then stay open. "So let's get to it, D! Gotta fix this baby up so I can use it to strike fear into the hearts of evil everywhere!"

Mikey blinked. "You're working on it now?"

"It's not going to fix itself, Mikey," said Donnie patronizingly.

"But what about Raph?"

Casey and Donnie shared a glance before turning back to him, near identical looks of mild confusion on both of their faces. "Uh, what about Raph?" said Casey.

All three now wore the same expression. "Raph said you guys were going out tonight?" The statement came out as more of a question, Mikey suddenly wondering if maybe he had blocked out his older brother's grumblings better than he'd realized. The look of understanding that dawned on Casey's face told him that he hadn't.

"Oh, right," he said, smacking himself in the side of the head, "I totally forgot. Aw crud, guess I won't make it tonight after all. Tell'im for me, would ya, Mikey?" And with that, he turned back toward the exposed engine. "So that alternator—"

"Raph already left," Mikey blurted out, his brother's behavior from earlier nagging at the back of his brain. "Maybe you should call and talk to him."

Donnie raised an eyeridge. "If he's already gone, then there's nothing to worry about," he said, joining Casey in front of the engine, "aside from exactly how much trouble he's going to get into while out alone, anyway. It's probably best not to bother him."

"Yeah, it's cool." Casey didn't even turn around, craning his neck as if searching for something. "We'll bash some heads in some other time. But right now, Casey Jones is in need of some epic wheels!" Shoulders suddenly slumping, he let out a sigh, "Oh, man. Looks like we'll have to jack the car to get to it."

"'Piece of cake', huh?" mocked Donnie with a smirk.

The two car junkies already completely lost in their own world, Mikey silently exited the garage and headed back to the common room. Flopping onto his beanbag shell first, he lay sprawled out, staring upside-down at the bright colors flashing across the TV screen without really paying attention to the scene playing out before him. His brain kept stewing over everything he'd heard in the last two hours, a light frown on his face.

Casey calling Donnie for help, Raph waiting hours for any sign that Casey was going to show, Donnie offering to help Casey soup up his car, Casey forgetting his plans with Raph and not even calling to tell him...

When was the last time Raph and Casey had gone out on patrol together anyway?

"Think I could use some fresh air."

Jumping up, Michelangelo made a dash for the nearest exit, not even bothering to turn off the TV. As soon as he was topside, he headed straight for the area of town he knew Raph and Casey liked to patrol—Purple Dragon territory was perfect for "bashing in a few heads". Running from rooftop to rooftop, he kept his eyes trained on the alleys below, looking for any signs of a brawl, but it wasn't long before noises from above caught his attention. Next to him stood a building only a few stories higher than the rest in the area, but it was just tall enough that if he wanted to find out whatever was going on up there, he'd have to investigate more closely. Judging by the crashing, banging, and cursing, he thought he had a pretty good idea.

Climbing up the fire escape to reach the top, Mikey peeked over the edge, unsurprised when he found Raphael positively destroying a giant air duct vent. The poor thing was a mangled mess, and Mikey only hoped that his shell wouldn't wind up resembling it.

With a flip, he hopped onto the roof with a smile. "Hey, Raph! I been looking everywhere for—"

He was cut off by a loud growl as his brother smashed another sizable dent into the ductwork. "Buzz off, Mikey," he said, hands balled into tight fists, "unless you want me to start aiming for your face."

"How about we both aim at some other faces instead?" he pressed on, undaunted by the threat. "Pretty sure I saw a bunch of Purple Dragons ov—AHH!"

Mikey quickly jumped out of the way as a large fist was suddenly on a collision course with his head. Flipping and somersaulting across the roof, Raph kept up the chase, teeth grit in an angry scowl as he barreled full steam ahead.

"I said, get lost!" he shouted, swinging wildly as Mikey easily avoided the assault.

"Dude, chill!" he cried, holding out his hands in a sign of peace. "I'm just here to—WOAH!" He expertly ducked out of the way of a particularly vicious punch, Raph's fist instead colliding with some metal framework with a muffled clang.

"I don't need help from you or anyone else!"

The words were spat from his mouth with such venom that anyone else might have believed them, but Mikey kept up his dance, more convinced than ever that this was exactly where he needed to be.

"That why you complained about Casey for almost two hours?" he said, words that would normally be dripping with sarcasm now said plainly.

"Casey can go screw himself for all I care!" Mikey did not miss the slight stiffening of his rampaging brother's muscles. "If he wants to waste all his time with Donnie on that stupid, beat up tin can, then fine! Good riddance! Who needs'im?"

Making sure to keep eye contact while still avoiding getting his skull caved in, Mikey spoke in a calm, light tone, "I know how it feels to be left out, you know." Raph flinched at his words, his swings losing some of their ferocity. "So you could pummel me into oblivion, or—" the younger slowed to a halt, hands up in surrender, "—maybe you could talk about it?"

Fist still heading towards his face, Mikey closed his eyes with a grimace, waiting for the painful impact. But as said impact never came, he peeled one eye open to see wrapped knuckles inches from his nose, shaking ever so slightly. The hand was quickly lowered with a growl, still balled into a tight fist at Raph's side as he glared at a random spot on the ground.

"I don't wanna talk about it," he said before seating himself on the rooftop with a huff, knees pulled up as he crossed his arms on top of them. The childish display was undercut by the nearly imperceptible crack in his generally confident tone as well as green eyes that always seemed to reveal more than his older brother would probably like.

Despite the verbal rebuff, Michelangelo plopped himself onto the roof next to him, happy to have seemingly calmed the beast without a scratch. "When was the last time you and Casey went out on patrol, anyway?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Raph shrugged and scoffed, "Weeks ago? We've been out together once since the invasion. Streets are worse than ever, and now that dufus wants to spend all his time on a hunk of junk that looks like Donnie ran it over with the Shellraiser?"

Mikey laughed. "Dude, that's exactly what I—wait," his face scrunched in confusion, "when'd you see it?"

Shrinking even more into himself, Raph muttered, "Caught'em right before they took off. Just kept yammering on about all the weird stuff Casey wanted to do to it."

Neither Donnie nor Casey had mentioned seeing him, which could only mean he hadn't wanted them to. Raphael was pretty hard to miss with his booming voice and heavy footsteps, which was normally how he seemed to like it. Based on their conversation in the garage, though, it wasn't hard for Mikey to guess why this time had been an exception.

"Have you tried talking to Casey about it?" said Mikey, though he was positive he already knew the answer, even before Raph's derisive scoff had left his mouth.

"And say what? That I'm mad at him for not hanging out with me enough? Yeah, that'll help," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Just tell him you wanna hang out more."

Raph fixed him with a glare. "Who do you think was the one who wanted to go out tonight? I've been asking him ever since we got the lair fixed up," he said, the bitterness in his tone unmistakable. "We used to team up several times a week, but lately he just heads out on his own. You heard his whole 'solo vigilante' bullcrap! And now he's got this piece of junk that he's perfectly fine working on with a guy he could barely stand a few months ago?" He turned away with an annoyed huff. "I don't need to be a genius to get the message."

Much as Mikey wanted to, it was hard to argue against Raph's logic. Casey's solo ventures hadn't exactly been a secret, and he had been hanging out with Donatello a lot more ever since the two were stuck working under the same roof back at the farmhouse. Raph had been quiet and distant at the time, likely too worried about Leonardo lying comatose in a bathtub to notice the change in dynamics. Not that Casey and Donnie getting along was a bad thing—even Raph had seemed relieved that their spiteful rivalry over April had morphed into a far friendlier sort of banter. But if Casey really was choosing to spend all his time either with Donnie or by himself and next to none with the guy that was supposed to be his best friend, well, it would be pretty impossible not to take that personally.

All the talk of friends not really hanging out in a while had Mikey's thoughts drifting to Leatherhead. He hadn't seen him since the defeat of the Kraang, and he'd been meaning to stop by the Mutanimal's new base of operations for a visit.

He suddenly perked up, his brain finally reminding him of who else would be there.

"Maybe you could hang out with Slash," he said cheerily. "He seems to be pretty chill now that he's with the Mutanimals." The suggestion had been offered with the best of intentions, but the way Raph stiffened at the mere mention of his former pet turtle had Mikey wondering if he'd missed something.

"Right," said Raph, voice still bitter as Donnie's morning coffee. "Slash, the guy who turned down my offer to team up because he was 'better off solo' and then turned around and teamed up with Pigeon Pete." He snorted dismissively. "Yeah, I'm sure the fact that he and Casey both did the exact same thing is just a coincidence."

Mikey swallowed a grimace at the forgotten similarities between the two, but refused to give up so easily. "But maybe—"

"Look, just," Raph cut him off, but rather than sharp, his tone sounded more resigned as he let out a sigh, "go home, Mikey. It's not like any of this really matters anyway, so stop worrying about me."

"Of course it matters, dude!" Jumping to his feet, Mikey wore a look of determination. Bending over toward his older brother who looked back incredulously, he planted both hands on his waist. "You think I don't know what this feels like? I watched the rest of my bros hang out with new friends without me for like a year before we busted Leatherhead out of Dimension X! And how about Chris Bradford—big dude, real famous, member of the Foot clan that pretended to be my friend before getting double mutated into a creepy wolf monster? I was seriously bummed out, thought I'd never make a real friend!" Plopping himself back down next to Raph, Mikey lightly elbowed him in the side. "But then someone cheered me up, told me that I deserved better. What kind of bro wouldn't wanna return the favor?"

The look Raph directed at him held a twinge of guilt. "I just tried to pound your face in, like, ten seconds ago, Mikey," he said flatly. "I'm pretty sure you don't owe me anything."

Michelangelo didn't usually try to talk his most volatile sibling out of one of his more violent moods, but seeing him sitting there gloomily with worst case scenarios stewing in his head made him wish he'd tried more often. Normally Raph exuded confidence—frequently to the point of arrogance—never showing any signs of resignation or loneliness. But if he was showing those signs now, it seemed likely that other angry tirades might be due to feeling similarly dispirited, and Mikey had to wonder how much of Raph's confidence was specifically used to hide that fact.

If that was true, simply trying to talk him into feeling better seemed a bit of a hopeless cause. Long ingrained patterns of behavior weren't broken with words—they were broken with actions.

"You know what, you're right," he said at last, his tone so matter-of-fact that Raph gave him a curious glance out of the corner of his eye. "You did try to pound my face in, and all I wanted to do was help. That definitely means that now you owe me. So I say we head on over to Murakami-san's to pick up some pizza gyoza and then swing by the Mutanimals' place so we can all enjoy it together."

He did not miss the way the scowl already present on Raphael's face seemed to darken.

"Mikey..."

"What?" he replied innocently. "There'd be plenty! We could split it, like, ten for me, five for you, and—"

Expectedly, Raph cut him off. "I know what you're doing, so just drop it."

Mikey fixed him with a pointed look. "When was the last time you actually talked to Slash?" he asked before quickly adding, "while not in the middle of trashing a bunch of Kraang, I mean."

Looking away, Raph rested his chin on his arms as he muttered, "Probably before I knew he hated the name 'Spike' so much."

"That's what I'm saying!" Mikey jumped to his feet. "That's, like, forever ago, dude! Would you know how to act around a guy whose family you tried to flatten into turtle pizzas? Maybe he just feels super awkward and doesn't have a clue what to say." Crouching down directly in front of his brother, he reached out and gently nudged a folded arm. "Come on, Raph. Talk to him just this once! I promise that if you're right and you guys really can't be friends anymore, the two of us'll stay out the rest of the night pummeling Purple Dragons, destroying ductwork, and inhaling ice cream. Whaddya say?"

For a moment, it seemed as if his words had fallen on deaf ears, but soon green eyes were once again fixed on him, an eyeridge raised quizzically above them.

"'Inhaling ice cream'?" Raph repeated dryly, the barest hints of amusement tugging at one of the corners of his mouth.

Mikey grinned. "I figure we can skip the customary sappy movie, but why deny ourselves frozen, creamy goodness?" he said with a shrug before standing back up and holding a hand out to his seated sibling. To his delight, Raph reluctantly reached for it with a sigh.

"Can't believe you're talking me into this," he grumbled as Mikey helped pull him to his feet.

"No one can resist the charm of Michelangelo with a plan that involves totally awesome food," he said as he threw an arm around his older brother's shoulder.

With some hesitation on Raphael's part, they both swung by Murakami's noodle shop before heading to the Mutanimal's new hideout, and while the impromptu meetup was a bit awkward to start, by the end it turned out that there was no need for Mikey to help Raph mangle more of New York City's ductwork. Now nearly midnight, a promise to hang out again had Mikey heading back to the lair with a bright smile on his face, but Raph insisted that the night wasn't quite over yet. And as the two sat next to each other on Raph's bed, ice cream pilfered from the freezer in hand despite the late hour, Mikey decided that the next time his older brother stormed off, he wouldn't have to ride it out alone. ____________________________________

A/N: My dad would be proud with how much I learned about alternators by writing this. So many scenes that were basically just me venting about the fact that all of Raph's friendships in this show were done so dirty had to be cut due to, yanno, being solely there for venting purposes and not actually adding anything. :P Whoops.

As always, critics and grammar police appreciated!

#tmnt 2012 #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #michelangelo #raphael #donatello #casey jones #slash #the mighty mutanimals #my fanfiction #can't lie #writing this seriously made me consider adding a big ol' fix-it chapter fic about raph casey and slash to my already enormous pile of ideas #i just love the IDEA of slash SO MUCH MORE than the actuality of him post his intro episode #slash and destroy is still such an amazing episode gosh

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turtlethon · 2 years ago

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“Invasion of the Krangazoids”

Season 7, Episode 25 First US Airdate: December 11, 1993

Krang creates six clones of himself which cause trouble throughout the city.

We’re into the final three episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season seven. “Invasion of the Krangazoids” is another story from David Wise and first aired on the same morning as “Combat Land”.

The Turtles emerge from the cinema after watching “The 47 Loyal Ronin Go Hawaiian” and are dressed as if they’re ready to go wild on spring break – I assume the Hawaiian shirts were supposed to be thematically in line with the movie they were seeing. Whatever the rationale was, while these disguises won’t fool anyone the Turtles do somehow manage to pull off the look. Raphael spots some tank treads on the road nearby, and the team assume they’ll lead to one of Shredder’s amphibious transport modules. After alerting April to a potential story in the making, they head off to investigate.

Bebop and Rocksteady are raiding the factory of Lightfoot Heavy Industries when the Turtles intervene. The battle that follows spills into a large bakery next door (which literally has a sign outside reading “LARGE BAKERY”), and soon descends into a food fight, with dough and icing used to defeat The Boys. After Bebop and Rocksteady escape in their module, the Turtles are greeted by April, who has arrived in her news van to film the action in progress.

Later, in the Technodrome, Krang laments the lack of good help available to him in carrying out his schemes: Shredder is fixated on getting revenge on the Turtles, the Foot Soldiers can only carry out basic tasks, and Bebop and Rocksteady are... Bebop and Rocksteady. Wishing there was someone more like him that he could rely on, Krang is inspired to create six clones of himself. The new Krang-a-likes are provided with their own colour-coded bubble walkers and each have a loosely defined personality trait: the baby blue one is... aggressive, I think? The pale yellow Krang is neurotic, the purple one is vain, aquamarine Krang is depressed, the dark grey clone seems to consider himself the mastermind, and greenish yellow – somehow we’ve already run out of colours – is... I’m not even sure, possibly some kind of fun-loving goofball.

Krang orders the clones to board one of the transport modules and perform a raid in the city to obtain supplies he needs. The duplicates question why they should take orders from him, but the original Krang has prepared for the possibility that his creations might turn on him (it wouldn’t be the first time such a mutiny has happened, as anyone who remembers Alpha-1's reign of terror can attest.) Using a control panel, he has the bubble walkers perform a series of routines to demonstrate his power over the doubles: if he wanted to, Krang could even have his new army set their in-built weaponry against each other and blow themselves up. Now convinced to do their master’s bidding, the clones head off to carry out their mission.

While all this has been going on, Shredder has been hunched over a computer panel, demanding that the Technodrome’s equivalent of Chat-GPT come up with a scheme that will defeat the Turtles. When this fails, he instead turns his attention to a TV broadcast, where April recaps the recent defeat of Bebop and Rocksteady at the bakery by the Turtles. Noting that April is always on the scene whenever his plans are foiled, Shredder believes he’s hit upon an idea that will finally take out the green teens, and summons The Boys.

I guess April has just been standing outside the bakery talking to the Turtles throughout all of this, as they’re still there in the next scene. (Seriously, in the time since the bakery incident Bebop and Rocksteady had time to travel back to the Technodrome, Krang created his gang of clones, and as we’re about to see, the clones have now arrived in the city: you’d think all of this would have unfolded over the course of at least a couple of hours.) A radio message from Burne informs April that “some weird alien brain” has been seen carrying out a raid at A-1 Scientific Supplies, and so Channel 6’s star reporter heads off in her van alongside the Turtles to investigate what on paper sounds like Krang at work.

The Turtles arrive on the scene and spot a transport module nearby, which Michaelangelo splits off from the team to examine. Meanwhile, the others head into the A-1 building, and are confronted by the baby blue Krang, who uses his walker’s weapons to force our heroes into a strategic retreat. Nearby, Mikey faces the aquamarine Krang, who goes on the attack with a saw-blade weapon. Not wanting any part of this, he runs off to re-join the group.

Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello reveal that they just saw Krang inside A-1's offices, which doesn’t line up with Michaelangelo’s assertion that he encountered Krang next to the module. A radio message from Burne informs the team that Krang is currently at Lightfoot Heavy Industries. Evidently Burne, at least, is full of it: as the Turtles begin to consider the possibility that there may be more than one Krang, all six of the clones appear in attack formation in front of them, concluding the first act.

Seeing that the odds of being able to defeat a team of heavily armed Krangs is slim, the Turtles and April escape in the news van. Back in the Technodrome, the real Krang watches these events unfold, and orders his duplicates to focus instead on their given mission.

Our heroes arrive in the car park of Channel 6 and head upstairs to investigate, the back doors of the van unlocked and April’s news camera left up for grabs. Unbeknownst to April and the Turtles, Shredder’s mutant henchmen are nearby, ready to act on the orders given to them earlier. That means it’s time for a...

BEBOP AND ROCKSTEADY WARDROBE UPDATE: Today, The Boys are dressed as on-site service technicians, each wearing a beige jumpsuit with orange trim, blue goggles, tan gloves and white caps. As instructed, they place a special component inside April’s camera. Moments later Vernon emerges and questions the duo as to what they’re up to. Spotting a vending machine nearby, Bebop spins a tale about them being from “The Department of Snacks”, tasked with handling an impending vending emergency. After Rocksteady gets in Vernon’s face the reporter agrees to step aside and allow the pair to go about their business. (Somehow, despite having had countless interactions with Rocksteady, Vernon doesn’t recognise that he’s currently talking to the mutant rhino even when they’re nose-to-nose: maybe he should get his eyesight checked.)

After Vernon leaves, Rocksteady tears the front of the vending machine off and helps himself to the snacks inside. Bebop points out that the phony job was only an excuse to get Vernon off their backs, but his buddy is too hungry to care.

Upstairs, the Turtles work with April to devise a plan, intent on taking out the bubble walkers to disarm the Krang clones. The alien brains go on to carry out another raid, but as they do so something unexpected happens: their tentacles begin to change shape, evolving into small hands. The Turtles confront the greenish-yellow one as he approaches a transport module while carrying some scientific equipment. Far from being left immobile after being relieved of his robot body, the diminutive villain uses a pair of newly-formed legs to escape down the street. A hundred and sixty-seven episodes in, and I think the sight of a Krang scurrying around on little baby legs must rank up there as one of the most oddly unsettling visuals in the history of the series.

Before the Turtles can even come to terms with what just happened, further problems arise. April attempts to film the unfolding events on her camera, but thanks to the module installed by Rocksteady and Bebop, being caught in its sights causes Leonardo to vanish. In a particularly bone-headed move, April’s first response to this is to peer into the lens of her camera herself, and inevitably she too immediately disappears.

If you’re dreading another “Camera Bugged” scenario where our heroes get trapped in an absurd VHS world, fear not: instead April and Leo are teleported to the zoo of all places, where Shredder and his mutant henchmen are waiting to take them captive. April’s mistake has resulted in her being transported with the camera, meaning the original plan to capture all four Turtles wasn’t entirely successful, though Shreds is willing to make do with what he has.

Donnie, Mikey and Raph are confronted by the Krang Gang once more, and are forced to escape in the news van after being fired upon. Returning to the transport module, the clones speculate as to why their bodies are changing, figuring that it may be the result of a quirk in the process that led to their creation. At this point, they officially tell the original Krang he can take his job and shove it, as they no longer require his bubble walkers to get around.

The development of the clones is happening disturbingly quickly, as in the next shot they’re standing around in the street, each now having grown a bipedal, reptilian-looking body. The group discuss their current lot, bemoaning how unsuited they are for the world they’ve found themselves in. It occurs to them that with the thermal equipment that was stolen for Krang they can set up shop underground and begin the process of heating Earth until it becomes a more comfortable place for them to live.

Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael discuss the circumstances around the clones growing bodies, noting how odd this is given that the original Krang doesn’t have one, though it’s acknowledged that he used to prior to being banished to Earth from Dimension X for his war crimes. This backstory has only ever been vaguely alluded to in the series, likely because anything that doesn’t revolve around what the Turtles are doing right this minute might risk losing the interest of the small boys that made up the bulk of the show’s viewership; Season three’s “Four Musketurtles” did show a group of the alien brains in bubble walkers, which seemed to contradict the idea of them being stripped of their original bodies as a punishment, though as I speculated in that episode’s Turtlethon entry that could be explained away as the group all being punished with the loss of their original forms prior to Krang’s own banishment to Earth.

More speculation follows: Donatello suggests that the latent DNA remains in the clones to allow them to grow new bodies, in the same way that some lizards are capable of growing new tails. The inference here seems to be that the forms the clones are taking on now are akin to what Krang used to look like. Donnie’s tracking device picks up on unusual thermal readings underground, a sign that the Krang clones are up to no good. While grappling with this issue, the Turtles also consider the loss of Leonardo and April. Shredder uses Leo’s Turtlecom to inform the team they only have thirty minutes to save their friends, though Donatello is insistent that they deal with whatever’s happening underground first.

The Turtles head into the sewers, approaching an adjacent rocky underground area where a thermal device is seen rapidly sinking into the ground. Donatello explains to Mikey and Raph that if it melts into the Earth’s magma, the entire city will be turned into an enormous volcano. Before the team can do anything about it, they find themselves confronted by Krang’s clones – now dubbed the “Krangazoids” by Michaelangelo - who have grown to the point where they tower over our heroes.

Act three opens with the Krangazoids confirming their plan to heat up the city using the thermal device. The Turtles fight back but only barely avoid being eaten by these fearsome new foes, and yet again are forced to flee the scene. Following their exit, the clones begin to fight amongst themselves, each convinced that they should be appointed leader of the group.

Turning their attention instead to the rescue of Leo and April, the team consider how to successfully defeat Shredder. An off-hand comment from Michaelangelo about the weapons installed on the bubble walkers provides Donatello with inspiration, and so the trio set about planning their attack.

The Turtles use the news van to barge into the zoo: though a group of Foot Soldiers are waiting for them, Donnie, Mikey and Raph emerge prepared with laser weapons nabbed from the walkers. Leonardo is soon freed and goes on to engage Shredder in a sword fight, as Donatello reclaims the teleportation equipment.

Shredder and The Boys escape in a transport module, but not before Donnie is able to place one of the teleporter components inside the vehicle. The other Turtles are confused as to why Donatello is so happy that their enemies got away, but he’s insistent that all will become clear soon.

With lava beginning to bubble up from underground, the Turtles leave April to confront the Krangazoids one more time. Still armed with the bubble walker lasers, the green teens round up the clones, and after momentarily losing April’s camera work to get it back. Michaelangelo uses the camera to transport the Krangazoids into the transport module, which by now is back in the Technodrome. The creatures confront Shredder and The Boys, tossing the module around. Meanwhile the Turtles work to open water valves which help to counteract the lava, cooling off the city once more.

The Krangazoids corner Krang in the portal room, but he convinces them he can send them to Dimension X, a world where they can live in comfort. The group are thrilled at the idea and rush through the portal, but this is a ruse on Krang’s part: instead he’s banished them to “The Dimensional Limbo”, doomed to float in a void of nothingness forever. (Perhaps they can pay a visit to Baxter while they’re there.) The Krangazoids again begin arguing among themselves, but the scene ends abruptly without any kind of real payoff: I suspect this is yet another case of an ending being cut for time, something that has been a regrettably common occurrence this season.

Our heroes are janky as all get out in the concluding scene, awkwardly walking down the street and remarking about how they need to make a point of destroying Krang’s cloning machine the next time they visit the Technodrome: the last thing they would want is to encounter six Rocksteadys, six Bebops, or worst of all, six Vernons. That last possibility becomes a reality – sort of – as they pass one of the show’s favourite locales, a TV store where a bunch of sets are on display in the window with the volume loud enough to be heard from outside. Vernon is seen reporting on recent events across the different TVs, noting that while the Turtles were said to save the day, he finds that hard to believe; though he hasn’t been cloned, for the green teens the sight of half a dozen Vernons is bad enough.

By the standards of season seven, “Invasion of the Krangazoids” is a by-the-book TMNT adventure, drawing upon tropes and ideas explored many times throughout the history of the series: clones, teleportation, food fights, Shredder kidnapping April (or any of the Turtles), and a plot to heat up the city have all been done before. This late into the run, I��m fine with that. It’s actually something of a relief to have a more routine adventure appear this far into 1993’s offerings, one that allows the Turtles, Shredder and the rest of the core cast to “play the hits”. Unlike many of the episodes which preceded it, there’s little in this one of historical significance, beyond a small amount of insight into Krang’s past. At this point, however, I think an episode allowing us to take a breather ahead of the approaching big finale was sorely needed.

A common issue that TMNT suffers from is that as each season approaches its conclusion the quality of the animation takes a hit, with time and financial constraints presumably leading to corners being cut. We start to see that again here, issues exacerbated now as a new overseas studio (Dai Won Animation, who had previously tackled outsourced episodes of Transformers and The Real Ghostbusters) has recently been appointed to handle the visual side of things. I strongly suspect that the decision to go with this team was motivated by budget cuts initiated by CBS, and that the sudden departure of James Avery around the same time was also connected to the purse strings being tightened. Nevertheless, the show will soldier on, with two more adventures remaining this year, the next of which will be “Combat Land”.

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Ninja Turtles #1993 #Krang #Krangazoids #Invasion of the Krangazoids #Turtlethon

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nejihina101 · 1 month ago

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#NejiHina #neji x hinata #nejihina fanfic #nejihina fanfics #ao3

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solofanatic64 · 2 months ago

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You know what NO

This is my 2 year anniversary of being on here (it’s the day after the anniversary as of posting this) AND I’m gonna be late on the final 3 presents, you guys don’t deserve JUST a concept! So how about her:

THIS

Is my tmnt 2012 oc Valerie that I made in 7th grade after listening to iHasCupquakes Notice Me Senpai music video too many times (I did not draw that knife hand I asked someone else to do it for me because I didn’t know how to draw it). She was a highschool girl with bright magenta hair and a schoolgirl uniform, but she was also a yandere who had a massive crush on Raphael and, in yandere fashion, would stop at nothing for his love.

Now here’s the same Yandere oc 5 years later

Valerie Doyle, born and raised by two people who were bad parents and an even worse married couple, the two being incredibly abusive towards each other and more often than not neglectful towards Valerie. That plus unrestricted access to dark romance on the internet and limited access to good romance movies (her mother always hated them) led to a harmful, messed up perception of love that plays a bigger role in her life when she’s 16. It gets worse when at the age of 14, she comes home from school to police surrounding her apartment, learning that her parents have killed each other in what she thinks was an act of love (it wasn’t). This tragedy leaves her to live on her own with no one else to properly take care of her (how? I don’t know, blame NYC authorities).

She’s always been a wallflower in her peers eyes. Quiet, introverted, nervous, always seemingly in the “background”, she didn’t have any real friends and she never talked to anybody outside of group projects (not like they really heard her anyways). She was also just kind of….bland?? Not in the way she looks but in the way that her life was just…basically the same thing everyday. She gets up, she goes to school, she goes home, she does her homework, she has dinner, and then she sleeps. Sure she has her hobbies and her odd jobs, but it’s still just one continuous routine, nothing interesting.

That is until one night while walking home from babysitting, she hears a commotion coming from a nearby alley. She takes a peak and see’s a lone mutant turtle in a red bandana beating up robot ninjas, which is a bizarre sight to see in the street of New York, but at the moment that almost didn’t matter to her. All that mattered right now was him. The violence, the rage, the fire in his eyes. He was perfect. She didn’t care that he was a giant mutant turtle, in fact I don’t think she fully noticed until she took a picture and the did a double take, but it didn’t matter. He was the one.

She continues to admire him from afar, taking pictures, writing about him in her journals (it’s become the only thing she writes in her journals nowadays), and dreaming about their future. And then one day, she discovers his enemies, the Foot Clan, and decides to join them in hopes of getting “closer” to him (or at least her perception of closer). The other henchmen, to say the least, are concerned about her newfound bloodlust (not knowing it’s linked to her obsession, which they also don’t know about), but it’s not their place to judge so they don’t say anything (they really should).

Who knows where this bloody new road will take her…

(btw the reason I decided to redesign/rewrite her was because I listened to Kikuo’s Hitowagari and thought “ykw this could be so her, let’s do her justice”) (she really went from being a cringey old memory to one of my pride and joys and I love her for that)

#tmnt 2012 #tmnt oc #tmnt raphael #tmnt valerie

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caribouv · 1 year ago

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2023 BEST

+ ALBUM

Bottoms - Charli XCX. I don't know if a movie's score counts as an album, but this is the easy winner.

Fantasy - M83. I still can't get over Oceans Niagara and the music video. Beyond adventure, indeed.

The Whaler - Home is Where.

Javelin - Sufjan Stevens.

+ SONG

Jeff Rosenstock - LIKED U BETTER.

Afroman - Will You Help Me Repair My Door. The song is generally mid, but the background story behind it makes it amazing.

+ RECORD / COVER

I listened to too many mixes and sets without paying attention to records this year. I've got nothing.

+ SET/MIX/SHOW

Black Country, New Road - Live at Bush Hall. CLASS OF 81', LISTEN TO YOUR PROM KING!!! FUCK THE DEAN!!!

Chlär | Boiler Room x Glitch Festival 2023. This dude is changing techno in a big way. Loops loops loops lopps lopsodfpsopsofpsoo spooop loops.

LDS - HATE Podcast 340.

Pretty Pink - Deep Woods Radio. Girl was on point all year. There's probably better deep trance/house than this, but I'm too lazy to find it and this easily made me happy.

+ MOVIE

Talk to Me. Nothing comes close. This movie is perfection. Foreshadowing, details, subtely, so many layers, so much to think about. It's like Starship Troopers in that it's only a a dumb action / scary movie on first glance, but then you realize all the hidden meaning to it there in every scene.

Bottoms.

Nimona.

Killers of the Flower Moon.

Godzilla Minus One.

Stuff I loved, but only got to in 2023: Okja, The Wailing, Shiva Baby.

Long list piling up I haven't got to yet: Holdovers, Ninja Turtles, Smoking Causes Coughing, She Came to Be, 65, Infinity Pool, Past Lives, Suzume, Mad God, Saltburn, The Boy and the Heron, Argentina 1985, Close, Stars End, Hundreds of Beavers, Joyland, Fabelmans, Challengers.

+ TV SHOW

Vox Machina s2. Easy winner. Nothing else comes close. This is so good. They could and should just push s1 and s2 together seamlessly and release it all as a movie.

Foundation s1. This whole thing is gorgeously shot. Whoever did the storyboard / director of photography is brilliant.

Station Eleven

The Mole

Traitors AUS

SWARM. Before watching I wish someone would have told me the soft spoiler that she's a confused lesbian and the orphaned sister of her friend. It would have helped me understand/get past what were mistakenly viewed as gross and cringe scenes.

Last of US

Snake in the Grass

Y The Last Man. I liked it better than the books simply because the sister's story arc is more believeable and enjoyable. Really sad s2 isn't going to be a thing.

+ VIDEO GAME

Baldur's Gate 3. It's more Div Sin 5e than BG3, but still a phenomenal game. Organizing things by: action, bonus action, and free action has been a wild ephiphany and game changer for me at D&D night.

Dead by Daylight. Another year, another me. No change there. Nicolas Cage, Xenomorph, Ripley, Jonsie, Chucky, the return of Stranger Things… This game just keeps winning. I got burned out in late 2023 and haven't really touched it much since Summer, but this is easily one of the greatest games ever made for me.

WOW Season of Discovery. Injecting WOTLK gameplay systems into Classic? It's so simple and yet so fun.

Going Medieval. As they continue to develop this it's just going to get better and better and better.

+ BOOK

Y The Last Man. Poured through these. Politically… meh. I still liked them.

Book 12 WOT. I also started reading Red Rising becuase I wanted something easy, but that was a mistake because it's too teenage for even me. I also think for 2024 I'm going to switch to standalones and not big 3+ epics because it seriously took me like 2 years to get through WOT and I'm not sure it was worth it.

+ PERSON

Anyone, anywhere who stood out and spoke out against the IOF's genocide in Gaza.

+ FOOD

Butter chicken. Please help me stop eating so much butter chicken I have spent a small fortune at my local indian restaurant buying and eating butter chicken.

+ TRIP

The camping trips this year were fun af, stoked for this upcoming Spring and Summer. Started to get antsy late Summer and started regularly taking daytrips to mid/downtown almost every weekend as well.

+ MOMENT

What a year for US labor. UPS, SAG/WGA, UAW, etc. Syndicalists keep winning.

+ BIGGEST LET DOWN

Fetterman. What an absolute fucking loser. Not "loser" as an insult, but loser as in he lost. His leftist base got him into power, and yet he immediately betrayed them because he's afraid of the DNC+AIPAC and wants to keep his job 5.5 years from now. BITCH YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS. YOUR BASE NOW HATES YOU. AIPAC WILL ALWAYS HATE YOU. THE DNC WILL ALWAYS HATE YOU. YOU SOLD YOUR SOUL FOR GENOCIDE AND GOT CORN CHIPS FOR IT. I absolutely mean it when I say I hope he kills himself.

WOT s2. What the fuck did I even watch what the fuck was that? I know and truly understand adaptation means it can't follow the story, but what was this???? Why did badass women become a bunch of weak fragile pathetic pissy dumbshits who can't do shit????? Fuck this show.

Theme of the year: I don't have a theme. Personally, I had a pretty good year. US Labor had a very, very good year. CPI inflation, Ukraine, and Gaza were fucking horrible. 2023 was strange and mostly terrible.

Goals for 2024: Don't get stuck in a rut. Learn/perfect how to make various indian and thai dishes. Fix my pinball machine. Get 100k+ in DigDug.

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blacklodgemusictx · 2 years ago

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Salim Nourallah: Record Release Mini Tour - Night Two

It’s cool, dark, quiet. Finally. We're at our final hotel. My husband is sleeping.

I’m behind again. I knew I would be. I didn’t manage to capture most of what happened on the road 6 months ago. Here we are again. There is something to be said for living these moments though and not necessarily capturing them. Several times during the show last night while I was recording, I caught my subjects slipping from my viewfinder (Salim’s head got trimmed a few times) as I tried to look at them and not my phone or camera.

First and foremost: I am a fan. I am here to drink these experiences up; get enough to inoculate myself against the screaming mundanity I will return to on Monday. I have to maintain balance. I am here for my friends. I am here to see and hear for them while they lose themselves in the music. But I need a piece; a peace for me.

Yesterday was busy.

We got to our hotel sometime nearing one. Check in at four. I follow the rules, fear those in authority even if it’s just the authority to say, “No, you can’t have your room. CAN’T YOU READ?? It’s too early!”

Well, it’s never been a problem before…

Except today the hotel’s computers are down (since 11, I learn later). Absolutely no check ins. Get comfy. So we hunker down in the lobby. Doug reads. I watch General Hospital and then some inane talk show. Every now and then I watch another guest told the no check in news. They get huffy. Or they pick another place to wait and hunker like us.

Just as I’m starting to catastrophize about the computers NEVER coming back up and therefore them NEVER checking anyone in (leaving us stranded in Austin with no place to stay just like we found ourselves back in 2018 when we first fell in with Salim), we are allowed a room. A little after 3 - still early!

Doug tries to sleep, but he’s a realtor and therefore always on call. His phone doesn’t let him sleep. At this point, Salim messages us and tells us load in is at 4:30: we’re welcome to come up any time. So thoughts of rest and any chance for me to write or start to sort my pictures is abandoned. We get cleaned up and head to the venue.

[The] Parish is a nondescript stone building with a small sign and an even smaller marquee… that none of the bands were as of yet placed upon.

We are there closer to 5:30, but load in seems to be taking place right then so we fall in line and start grabbing things to take in. John Dufilho is there. He’s smiling and friendly again just like last night. Glad for the help, he hands me some small drum cases that I take in. They are the smallest of what is left. I remember trying to pick up Salim’s pedal case on our first trip together. It was like trying to pick up Thor’s hammer… my soul briefly left my body. Equipment is… heavy. Yeah. The curb sign announcing the tacos and other delicacies to be had inside has fallen over. I pick it up and set it back on its feet. Helpful! Sings a Disney movie refrain in my head. Satisfied, I head in.

Salim is there. The merch table is set up by the bar. He’s hung some of his shirts up already. Doug takes his place and starts arranging things. More merch appears as the musicians file by and deposit it: shirts for the Deathray Davies and John and June (Dufilho’s singing duo with his daughter), vinyl, CDs. Joe Reyes materializes like a ninja at some point and leaves us Buttercup albums without us even seeing.

The venue is lovely. 400 capacity, Salim says, but that’s not immediately obvious as there is an upstairs and a downstairs.

The soundcheck is the most thorough I've witnessed in my time with Salim. Each musician (and just like last night, the stage is overrun with them) is given a chance to ask for what they need. More of this. Less of that. Can I have more vocal in my monitor? Maybe this is too loud? Yes, but there will be drums momentarily. This will fight everything for attention. A small, curly haired woman is in the balcony flipping switches, knobs up, knobs down (I'm imagining. She floats around later tweaking things on an IPAD -- the whole thing is probably a great deal more digital than I am picturing.) The sound promises to be exceptional. Occasionally I'm asked how it sounded. You guys do The Thing, make the music, it might as well be sorcery to my untrained ear. Still - it sounded excellent.

Buttercup's van has unceremoniously died outside. Their bass player is outside trying to oversee the situation while the sound check proceeds. Joe picks up the bass and checks on his behalf (Doug tells me this enigmatic, goateed figure may or may not be called "Odie" - I could Google, but this would ruin the mystic.)

I am trying to play catch up. I adjourn to my corner by merch and start writing up San Antonio by squinting self consciously squinting at my phone (I can't imagine what it looked like - being glued to my phone all night. I'd hate to think anyone thought I wasn't paying attention. Every time I'm at a show, every fiber of my being is sucking up the music. Osmosis. Grabbing particles of the music as they float by. Repairing my damaged bit. Patching my DNA with notes and melodies.)

At some point, Salim admonishes me to eat... like I didn't last night. I pick out some random stuff from the taco corner by the door. It appears after awhile. Random thing for me, random thing for Doug. It's both molten hot and hellaciously spicy. I will pay for this, but it's so so good.

Each night the line up shuffles. Night one it was Salim -> Deathray Davies -> Buttercup. Tonight it's Buttercup -> Salim -> Deathray Davies. I write through most of Buttercup. Doug tells me QUICK, Joe is doing something interesting that would make an awesome photo. I run up to the stage in enough time to see Joe unfold himself from a sort of backbend on one of his bandmates. I did miss it. And dammit, Doug was right. It would have made an excellent photo.

If you get a chance to have a look at Buttercup with your ears, I've been trying to think of an apt description. I came up with Neil Young meets REM. I asked Doug - one far more knowledgeable than me about such - if the Pixies would be appropriate to throw in there too. He responded, "Art Rock." "Is that a thing?" "Well... there's Art Punk so I'm assuming Art Rock exists too." Lead Erik is energetic and unique in his delivery. I call it Lou Reed-ing. You'll see. Go look.

Time for Salim et all approaches. I briefly consider going upstairs. I shot Live (the band, not the concept) from a balcony once and it turned out very well, but I didn't have the option of being near the stage for that show. I'll stay. Climbing the stairs sounds like effort and performers rarely glace at the balcony so you lose that closer line-of-sight angle.

The thing that made this stage so attractive to me as a photographer and spectator actually ended up being Salim's downfall. Literally.

The stage is long. This offers many different places to stand and gaze unobstructed at the performers. The stage is also narrow. Jammed with every peformers' gear (Salim already mentioned the forest of microphones he was lost in at some point while on stage), the possible tripping hazards rear up large.

And right as the band launches in to song number one, a up tempo track from the new album, "(I Can't Take) Another Heartbreak"... Salim trips... starts to recover... and topples backward in majestic slow motion. I don't know what to do with my camera. I can't even verify my memory is correct and that was the song playing. I have not gone back to review the footage (I put my camera down sort of. Do I stop filming? I was at the Texas Frightmare Weekend where Meatloaf fell off the stage and broke his collarbone. Footage of that exists as well and that shooter was subsequently ostracized from the horror community for selling it to media outlets). I, personally, have a low tolerance for things that would cause me to instantly cease existing and... yea... (a similar piece of footage has hopefully decayed to VHS dust. A band concert from the 6th grade where someone behind me thought it would be the height of hilarity to pull me chair out from under me causing me to fall spectacularly and be hit - and subsequently, massively bruised - by the baritone saxophone I was wielding). But Salim, thank goodness is not me. He recovers and goes back to his aerobic bouncing. He seems a little slower. I worry that he is brushing off being secretly hurt, but it appears that the wind was just knocked out of him for a minute. He's fine.

I ask him later just to be sure. He's fine and grateful not to have been impaled on any number of the pointy things that were on stage at the time.

The show is fantastic as per standard. I do worry about Marty (worrying is just a thing I do. I figure if I can worry about something on your behalf, perhaps you won't have to or it won't affect you at all. It's my gift to you as your neurotic friend.) Marty is far (pausing to Google stage terms... I don't know my right from left on a good day, I certainly don't remember stage terms. High School theatre was a loooong time ago) stage left. He is turned the opposite way as the rest of the performers. Doug says it was a little harder to notice in San Antonio last night, but the stage is long tonight and it's easy to spot differences. He's got cheat sheets (he verifies this later -- it's understandable, he points out that he is using a different guitar, different pedals, singing and playing on different songs than he is used to). But it looks like he is apart from the rest of the band. I worry people will think that he's separating himself from the group, that he's not "in to it," when I know for a fact that he is.

So much time has passed. I used to watch this man on stage with his Former Band. I rooted for Other Guitarist (I learned later this was incorrect when I actually spoke to him and he was not... nice... that particular night) as is my way. I pick out the member of the band that appears underappreciated and champion them, if only in my mind. Marty was flashy. I called his style "showboating." He was always "on" when on stage. His band was comprised of multiple strong personalities thrown together at the peak of young adulthood, the cusp of fame and all the unsurety and ensuing weirdness that brought.

Just know that what you perceive is not always correct. Insert that in to any situation.

MWP is now my father's age. Weathered by 20 more years of experiencing (the first time I saw him was 2002. I can't even conceive. I was just barely old enough to see them in a bar serving alcohol... and now I'm 42: old enough to laugh when I get carded in the same situations). But I still see that "showboat" glint in his eyes, wicked smile, arch of those vagabond eyebrows. I am so glad to know this Marty.

I'm treated to "Let Go" again. Tonight it doesn't make me cry. I feel better. I haven't thought about my personal garbage all day. Salim and his friends weave their magic. I feel better. I feel.. good.

Salim heads back to merch. I know what he will say as I've watched two or three others ask him on his path to us, but I ask anyway: "Are you ok??" He's assures me he is.

Deathray Davies bulldoze in and work their magic again just like last night. People rock out. People dance. Joyful, gentle thrashing. I take what turn out later to be some excellent pictures of them. Tonight is the maiden voyage of the lens I purchased after our trip to The Caverns in May where I got to shoot Marty's former band thanks to a photo pass from one of the Nice Guitarists (the other one... the one that wasn't particularly nice is gone now.) One other woman had a photo pass so I watched her and tried to do what she did. She was a... *professional*. SHE had a lens like this.

At the end of their set, John requests as many people from the other bands to join them as possible. At first, no one seems to pay attention. I tell Salim he was requested. I don't think he heard. They do another song with no joining them. John calls out again. This time people come. Salim ends up back up on the stage, jubilantly shaking maracas for two more songs.

Then it's over.

I watch everyone start to file out. Watch lights come up and the deconstruction process begins. Miles of cords are wound. Instruments back in cases. Doug packs merch back up. It's a relief to know this is as far as we go. The merch goes off with others unlike when we are with Salim and Rhett Miller and we retain the merch and all the responsibilities inherent therein.

Doug approaches John Dufilho to give over the Davies’ cash and the night’s merch accounting. Here John pays me one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received. He apologizes. He has been remiss in investigating us. He sees the videos I post on Facebook. Do we have albums? Are we on Spotify? *blush*. No sir, we have more guitars than we have talent. He doesn’t believe it. Somehow I bring up that I just love music. Love to sing. If it could ever be arranged to jam at Salim’s again (we partook in an impromptu jam in 2019) we should do that. He is agreeable.

Back to the hotel. I promise I will write.

I shoot off a message to John… not the writing I intended. I tell him that I treasure the compliment he paid us - a real musician thought I was a musician too. *starry eyes* I tell him that I wield a camera and sometimes a pen instead of a guitar. But I am here to do anything in the service of music (when he responds later he’ll tell me we have that in common: anything for music).

I fall in to bed without producing another productive word.

End of night two.

#salim nourallah #singer #songwriter #producer #dallas #texas #austin #parish #album relase #nuclear winter #the church #jason garner #joe reyes #john dufilho #buttercup #deathray davies

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