#this is SO DAMN LONG

[fire-fira]

I am not sure how much you are into analysis but I want to ask. Do you think raph isn’t as good of a fighter compared to his brothers? because I have a feeling either he’s holding back when sparring with them over fear of harming them or he’s not as good as them.

Anon, you just made my day because this gives me an excuse to nerd out at length. (Though apologies that it took me so long to get this fully written out and posted.)

Disclaimer before I launch into it in full: to fairly compare Raph to his brothers I'm going to do a brief run-down of the three of them before breaking into the full details on him. A lot of this is built on extrapolation from details in various canons and at times might edge toward headcanon territory, though I'll be trying to stick with what's actually present.

With that out of the way--

Comparing Raph to His Brothers

So to start with, I can only fairly do this deep-dive by briefly touching on each of his brothers before getting to Raph himself. I'll say upfront that I think it's less a question of which one is the "best fighter" and more that they're each different types of fighters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and which might land any of them in the position of "the best" depending on the circumstances.

Leo

Strengths: This is an extrapolation based on various iterations (2003, 2007, 2012, 2014/2016, ROTTMNT, 2023, Batman vs. TMNT, and a little bit of the IDW comics), but Leo strikes me as a tactician-- as the guy who can extrapolate to fifteen different possibilities for the outcome of a fight and fifteen steps ahead of everyone else on each of those possibilities. At his best he knows how to play to his brothers' strengths, put them where needed, and let them go to do their own thing. He's also persistent and willing to put himself through his paces over and over again until he 'perfects' what he wants to learn how to do. As a "traditional" (romanticized) example of a warrior, he is the golden boy of the family. Rise Leo might be a little less likely to get every step 'just so,' but most iterations of him aim to be as flawless as possible in terms of his combat skills. In his ideal world, he will never have a misplaced swing of a sword or inflict any damage he doesn't intend to. That depth of knowledge and highly-trained skill can be damned terrifying for his enemies if it's taken to its fullest extreme.

Weaknesses: His perfectionism and desire to get things 'just right' is a double-edged sword. In the 2003 series it got wrapped up in his PTSD and the need to never make a critical mistake again (which... didn't work out well for him-- hi, shades of Raph at his worst); in the 2007 movie it led him to think his efforts to learn how to be a better leader weren't "good enough" and kept him away from home for two years; in the 2012 series it led him to ignore critical injuries and try to bully himself into being 'better' (when realistically what he did during the farmhouse arc probably would have permanently destroyed one of his knees); in the 2014/2016 movies it led him to temporarily damage his relationship with his brothers by spilling over the worst of his internal perfectionistic vitriol onto them; and in Rise it at times has turned him into a showoff who'll act without letting the others in on his plan (which can backfire horrendously in a worst-case scenario) because if he does it without telling others what he's going to do, then he gets bragging rights if it works out like he planned. Underlying all this is what could turn into an unmanageable case of anxiety depending on the version of Leo and how personally stable he is, as well as how susceptible he is to ruminating over where he feels he went wrong. To say nothing of how many versions of Leo have a GIANT self-sacrificing streak when it comes to their families. Under the right circumstances-- and if someone really intended to make it hurt-- they could easily play all that against Leo and get him to freeze due to overthinking. (Though getting him to that level would take an extreme case and some severe emotional damage to weaponize his guilt.)

Speed: OKAY. Here's where things get a little more cut-and-dried in my opinion-- if a fight is down to just speed anyway. Leo might be pretty neck-in-neck with Raph in terms of speed, maybe just a touch faster due to (generally) being more lean-built than Raph. Leo's not a tank; yes he can fight in close quarters or mid-range and hold his own, but if he can then he tends to be 'slippery' about it. He's not going to batter away at an enemy if he can spin out of range before darting back in and dodging whatever hits he can. If it's just a matter of speed without any other factors involved, then there's a good chance Leo will win in a fight against Raph. If it's a question of strength and endurance though... Well, I'll expand further on that when I get to Raph.

Adaptability: This is something that is absolutely dependent on which version of Leo we're talking about and how hung up that version is on his plans without taking the general chaos of life into account. 2012 and 2014/2016 Leo both are guilty of getting so hung up on the idea that their approach to a combat situation is the right way that they fail to plan for the fact that their brothers' ways of doing things isn't their way of doing things. Which blows up in their faces spectacularly sometimes. IF it's a version of Leo who's more likely to fail to take into account his brothers' differing styles, then Raph might easily play that against him and deliberately do things Leo would find unpredictable (though probably not as much as Mikey, lbr). For versions of him that are better about knowing that his own approach isn't the only/'best' approach, then Leo would be better able to roll with whatever Raph throws his way, within reason.

Combat Style/Approach: Mid-to-close-range, tactician, and definitely NOT a grappler. Yes, his skills and training have him moving with muscle memory when he needs to, but even so, there's a split-second awareness of what his opponent(s) could do and instinctively reacting based on what he's met with. A lot of that means he has to be free to move and avoid getting held in place, or things might go bad quickly.

Donnie

Strengths: No matter which iteration of Donnie you're talking about, you're generally talking about an engineer who's able and willing to casually heft up and carry around a car engine with his bare hands. And considering (with a quick google search) it looks like the average car engine weighs anywhere between 300 to 700 pounds, that alone is proof enough that no one in their right mind would ever want to be punched by Donnie. And considering there are instances where he's able to temporarily support the weight of himself and his brothers (a couple of scenes in the 2003 series are what immediately come to my mind, but that's just my favorite iteration showing itself) it's proof that he has that strength not just in his arms. To give you an idea of just how much weight that implies he can lift, here's a size and weight comparison of some of the largest turtle species currently living.*

Notice anything? Like how... Oh... I dunno... a 4-foot-long Loggerhead sea turtle can weigh up to 400 pounds? Or a 3-foot-long Leatherback sea turtle can weigh 550 pounds on the light end? (Note: this is not meant to be snarky or condescending, just a simple statement of fact that all signs point to these boys are fucking HEAVY.) And that huge amount of weight relative to their body size seems to be pretty consistent among turtle species from what I've seen with my digging around. Which logically implies that the same holds true for these boys, and if we play fast-and-loose with the idea that we can roughly translate length to height... well... For general weight of the boys, I tend to assume at least 200 pounds, at least for those under and up to about 5-foot-tall. For the 2014/2016 set I might even suggest somewhere between 400-500 pounds-- but roughly comparing weight to size with that table of large turtle species, I'm probably severely underestimating their weight all across the board. Being generous, hypothetically saying all four of the 2003 turtles are about 240, that then means there are moments in the 2003 series where Donnie is temporarily lifting around 960 pounds, including himself. AND THAT MIGHT BE A SEVERE UNDERESTIMATION. Terrifying, right? So yes, Donnie is unquestionably strong as hell and maintains that strength by working on his various projects, and a full-force hit from him would land someone in a hospital-- if they're lucky. The other main thing working for him is that he's a tech genius. No, he's typically not as rigid or disciplined in his training as Leo is, but if he has access to tech and distance then he has a whole host of weapons and traps he can bring to the party (something which Rise Donnie excels at in spades). Raph's a much more physical direct-confrontation fighter, but Donnie has the capacity to turn entire environments against his enemies, depending on the means he has at his disposal.

Weaknesses: For better or worse, Donnie's primary personal strength-- the one he leans on above all else-- is his intellect and being able to puzzle things out. And again, he's an engineer: yes he can lift and move that terrifying amount of weight, but he's usually not doing it at speed. (Because let's be real, moving heavy and potentially very breakable machinery is not something you want to do quickly when you want to be able to use or repurpose said machinery.) He's not a slouch when it comes to his ninjutsu training, but there's a reason why the concept of Donnie pulling the 'I'm too busy to train right now' is a widespread fandom concept. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's not 'as good of a ninja', but more that he's not a 'traditional' ninja and has had to adapt things to his preferred methods. Yes he has a lot of physical strength, but he prefers to keep a distance from his opponent(s) if possible. Doing so, having that distance, gives him more time to plan and respond-- because unlike Leo, a lot of iterations of Donnie don't have that ingrained ability to read the possible actions their opponent(s) might take and respond on a dime (or at least not to the same level). Raph's tendency to brute force things-- something which Donnie technically could do but clearly does not like to-- might be somewhat unpredictable for him, especially because that puts Raph in close and doesn't give Donnie as much time to respond as he would like. All that said, Donnie could technically win a fight against Raph without his tech if he pretty much said to hell with fighting and decided to do an imitation of an octopus. At the very least he could probably hold him in one place if he was quick enough and managed to get Raph's arms pinned. And somehow kept him from walking. (It wouldn't be a dignified win, but it might still technically be a win.)

Speed: I'm gonna be honest, I do not think speed is on Donnie's side in comparison to his brothers. If he really makes an effort (rather than just going his own route and pursuing his interests) he'd probably be able to keep up with the others going at full tilt for a little while, but he'd probably tire out first. A lot of the work he does due to his areas of expertise is fairly sedentary, and frequently he needs to move with slow and deliberate precision. There's a lot of fine muscle control involved in that kind of work (especially if it involves maneuvering something heavy), but being able to consistently do that doesn't automatically translate to being able to do something similar at high speed. But that's okay, because if he has the distance and varied means of attack he needs, then he doesn't have to worry about keeping up with his brothers for an extended period of time-- it just has to be long enough.

Adaptability: If it involves tech or computer systems, Donnie's ability to adapt to a situation is unparalleled. Give him unrestrained access to an unfamiliar and shiny (and incredibly pervasive) system and he'll be able to make it seem like a tech apocalypse is targeting one specific person if he wants to. If it's a head-to-head physical fight though, it really depends on how desperate he is or how much breathing room he has (or both). If he's frazzled and panicky then there's the possibility he'll miss several opportunities or potential tools and, in a worst-case scenario, he might freeze. (An extreme example of this is how Rise Donnie gave up fighting the crab men when his tech failed, after all his brothers had already failed in that fight.) If he has time and space to think then he's practically unstoppable, but if he doesn't have that breathing room then chances are things won't end well for him.

Combat Style/Approach: Distance fighter, brain-over-brawn, could be a grappler if necessary but uncomfortable enough with it that it might work against him, might as well dub him a 'trap master' for the little surprises he might leave in his wake if he's feeling spiteful. He's a schemer, but not a chess master.

Mikey

Strengths: If there's one thing that can be said for Mikey it's the fact that most versions of him are innately gifted at picking up kinesthetic knowledge, to say nothing of the fact that he tends to be the most spiritually gifted of the brothers. In fact in several series (2003 and 2012 off the top of my head, though I'm certain it may have popped up in others) it's briefly mentioned that if Mikey really buttoned down and was completely serious about his ninja skills he would outclass Leo-- which means that he can naturally slide into the level of skill Leo has worked for years to achieve without even really thinking about it. If he wants to. And most of the time he doesn't want to. (Too much responsibility being that serious, so who can blame him?) However, his not constantly going at the equivalent of Level 99 in a videogame in fights isn't necessarily a detriment to him, because he has other ways to stay true to himself while giving himself an edge. Like being annoying on purpose. And knowing how to aggravate the hell out of his opponents until he tricks them into getting sloppy. Until he tricks them into giving him easy openings they should REALLY know better than to give him-- and would if he hadn't deliberately torn their nerves to shreds. If it's not obvious, I'm saying versions of Mikey like to play mind-games, and if they really want to they can be vicious about it and make it HURT. (Though again, most versions of Mikey are more invested in goofing off and playing around than being outright vicious or serious.) The point is, if he finds a mental opening that sticks, then how invested he is in winning the fight will dictate how serious he is about exploiting that weakness. To say nothing about how creative he can get when he really wants to be.

Weaknesses: The downfall of a lot of Mikeys is how distractable a lot of them can be. (I won't say this is a universal fact because I'm a big fan of there being variation among different realities, but a lot of Mikeys definitely being ADHD doesn't help. How well said version is able to compensate probably also varies.) So depending on the circumstances and the environment, Raph might be able to play that distractibility against him. (Buuuut that would require Raph to play mind-games, and most Raphs aren't the 'mind-game' type.) Plus, for better or worse, it takes a LOT to get most versions of Mikey to the point where he's ready to say 'Fuck everything' and throw everything he can into ending a fight right that second.

Speed: Mikey is, in my honest opinion (and based off most of the series and movies I've seen), the fastest of the brothers-- bar none. Which means if he tore off at full speed with the intention of skipping a fight entirely and just making Raph chase him, Raph probably would never catch him. Until after he wears down anyway. But if he zipped off and found a good enough hiding spot, then he could probably avoid Raph for a while. In a fight, because of his speed, there's a good chance that Mikey might be able to get in more hits than Raph, but that comes with the risk of getting in close to Raph-- and that can easily work against him in very short order.

Adaptability: Mikey's adaptability is through the roof. Most versions of Mikey, you can throw damn near anything their way and they'll roll with it in such a way that they land on their feet while their brothers are still scrambling for stable footing. There's also the fact that he's a very lateral thinker and able to apply concepts from seemingly unrelated sources to scenarios many others wouldn't even think to combine-- and he does so to his advantage. So yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh, given enough room and space to work with (and not panicking), then there's a good chance Mikey's going to catch Raph off guard with something he'd never expect.

Combat Style/Approach: Close range, flighty, dart in-range to hit and then dart back out of range, mind-games and making his opponents angry to the point of getting sloppy seems to be his preferred tactic. He could be the most terrifying to go up against in a fight if he went absolutely stone serious, but 99.9999% of the time he does not want to and would much rather slip in some fun where he can. (If you don't believe me on that last point, consider that in the 2003 series I'm reasonably sure he has the highest body count of all the brothers, in the 2012 series he killed a kraang and wore the dude's skin on his head multiple times, and in Rise ALL of Dr. Delicate Touch and the frothing maniacal rage he has when angry. 'Nuff said.)

Raph

And here we come to the turtle in question himself, Raph. Hamato Raphael, Raphael Splinterson, Raphie-boy, take your pick.

Strengths: Raph is a TANK. Barring '87, this boy in most iterations pretty much makes it his mission in life to be the strongest of him and his brothers. He's also stubborn as hell and WILL NOT give in if he thinks it's important to stand his ground. Which means he can and will hold his ground and dig in long past when his brothers each have to retreat or fold; he can take the hits they can't and come out the other side still kicking. And what's more, if he feels the need to and is able to get up and be mobile, then he WILL hunt you down for as long as it takes and damned near nothing will stop him-- he is that. damned. STUBBORN. Let's be real, that combination is terrifying. Of course, naturally, this brings up questions of just how physically strong he is. I pointed out up in Donnie's section that Donnie is ridiculously strong, but just how strong is Raph? To answer that question, the infamous scene from 2007:

Just how much psi does it take to snap a katana? WELL, it turns out that finding out that information is really difficult (at least when I was nosing around and trying to find out). When I was doing my initial searching I found a video on facebook examining an anime scene (at the time-- back in September-- it was literally the only thing that remotely came close to answering my question that popped up) that claimed it would take at least 20,000 psi. Being that the person who posted that video didn't include any sources for reference, I'd take it with a grain of salt (especially since despite my best efforts I'm having a hard time finding that video again), but still. If-- for the sake of argument-- we assume that the 20,000 psi measurement is accurate for what it would take to snap a katana, that would mean that our boy Raph is capable of exerting that much force with each hand. And not just a brief spike of getting there either. No, for him to be capable of the force in that 2007 scene (again, assuming the number is accurate) then he has to maintain that force for longer than a second or two.

I don't know about you, but that makes this scene just that much more dangerous and intense in my eyes. It's not just that Raph could have killed Leo by stabbing him; it's also the implication that he could have easily torn Leo apart with his bare hands if he wanted to. So yeeeeeaaaahhhh, if Raph is able to get his hands on any of his brothers and is able to hold on, they're probably toast.

Weaknesses: Whoo boy. In most iterations, point blank, his biggest weakness is his temper. If he gets set off too thoroughly or if someone knows how to play it against him, his temper can make him get sloppy and lead to his defeat-- regardless of how ridiculously strong he is. It also means that, unless it's a version of him who has worked his ass off to keep himself in check, there's a good possibility that he might wind up doing things he'll regret when he's angry (and if someone really wants to twist the knife they can play that guilt and self-blame against him). If you go by 2003 and 2012 there's also his bug-phobia which can be played against him. (Even though 2003 Raph covers it with 'KILL IT WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE'.) If you go by Rise, then you DO NOT. EVER. WANT THAT BOY TO BE ALONE. And on a much more brutal note, going back to his stubbornness which is also one of his strengths

...there's a good chance that this boy might try to push himself past the breaking point if he feels it's necessary.

Speed: I've said before that I think Raph is pretty neck-in-neck with Leo when it comes to how fast he is, Mikey has them both beat in the speed department hands down, and Donnie is most likely to be the slowest moving of the four of them. If Leo has to deal with heavy weights while trying to move at speed however, Raph will have him outclassed due to having more practice in that department. For Raph to have a hope of keeping up with Mikey going full tilt in running away, Mikey would have to be carrying enough to weigh him down considerably. And while Donnie might stand a chance in trying to grapple with Raph, Raph having more experience in moving heavy weights at speed would probably mean Donnie would be better off trying to glom onto Raph like an octopus rather than outright grappling. So Raph's not the fastest, but he's not a slouch either.

Adaptability: As much as I love my boy, Raph is a tank, he's bruiser, he's a bulldozer who freely makes use of sharp and pointy things he can use to stab people with. Adaptability-- barring variation between sneaking in and out versus barreling in as loudly as possible to cause mayhem and destruction as a distraction-- is generally not in his wheelhouse. Given time and learning how to play mind games (and I don't doubt that an adult Raph could pick up and use the skill when he needs to) he'd probably become more flexible, but with where he's portrayed to be at in most iterations he hasn't gotten there yet.

Combat style/approach: Close-range, grappler, brawler, TANK. He WILL hold the line, he WILL dig in and hold his ground, he WILL be the wall and PROTECT with everything he has if he has to. He's also not above being outright brutally destructive when he feels it's warranted. And that "when he feels it's warranted" is key.

Details that affect the outcome:

Raph has a protective streak 500 miles wide. A lot of iterations try to be the wall for his family, the last line of defense when needed. He would sooner see himself hurt than anyone he cares about.

And it's not just his brothers, father, April, Casey, anyone-he-considers-family that he's protective of either.

Seriously, if someone pushes the protective button on this boy and his sense of right and wrong kicks in, he WILL get involved.

Raph cares and feels deeply; to him, family is everything.

You

have

NO IDEA

how much

this boy

LOVES

HIS FAMILY

or how much he'd tear himself up if he ever seriously hurt any of them. So the chances of him ever actually going all-out against any of his brothers is slim. (And the few instances in various iterations where he's come close it's seriously screwed him up emotionally every time. Like 2003 and the pipe incident, 2007 and the after effects of his fight with Leo, the implied guilt Rise had after he snapped back to his senses after reuniting with his brothers after he'd been alone, etc.) He might fight with his brothers, he might disagree with them from time to time, but overall he comes off as someone who firmly believes you don't ever deliberately hurt someone you should care about if you can help it. Which is backed up by instances of him panicking in various iterations where his decisions might result in his family's deaths, as well as the fact that he only really turns on any of them (think SAINW) if they cross the line of not being there for each other like he feels they should be. Some iterations might threaten to run off a lot, but he never will without a damned good reason because he loves his family too much to ever want to do that to them.

Final Assessments

Raph vs Leo: If it's in close and is just down to strength-- Raph wins. If Leo has the time he needs to scheme and play Raph the way he needs to-- Leo wins.

Raph vs Donnie: If it's in close-- Raph wins unless Donnie pulls off an imitation of an octopus and gets all of Raph's limbs pinned and holds on for dear life. If Donnie has the distance, time to scheme, and the means to set traps to his heart's content-- plus tranqs, no one wins against tranqs-- Donnie wins.

Raph vs Mikey: If Raph can get his hands on Mikey and keep him in one place-- Raph wins. If Mikey plays Raph like a fiddle with his mind games and stays out of reach-- Mikey wins.

Raph vs the three of them together: Well shit, that'd be a losing proposition under the best circumstances unless the goal was to try to out-stubborn them at something. 10/10 if he had to, Raph would keep dragging himself along even if all three of his brothers were hanging on to him to try to keep him from reaching his goal. (And if Raph hasn't exploited that fact during some wild-as-shit game of theirs, then Casey Jones is the queen of England.)

Raph vs his guilt if he actually seriously hurt them: Instantaneous loss that Raph would probably have a hard time ever forgiving himself for.

So do I think Raph is as good a fighter as his brothers? Yes.

Do I think he's holding back so he doesn't hurt them? Also yes.

Do I think anyone he went up against if he didn't hold back would be thoroughly screwed? Emphatically YES.

-----------------------------

*The site I got the turtle size table in Donnie's section is [here], if anyone wants further details on sea turtles.

[concealeddarkness13]

All's Fair Revamped Powerpoint!

Content warning for mentions of death and abuse. Yes, I have made a Powerpoint for this now-monstrosity of a story. Please see this post and this post for more info. This is gonna be long. Tagging: @maple-writes, @pen-of-roses, @drabbleitout, and @grailfish, also @mr-orion!

[Image Description: A page titled: All's Fair in Love and War (Especially When It's Both)

AKA: I'm revamping All's Fair and merging some of my stories because it's fun. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Overview

So, this has changed a lot

It’s now a cyberpunk story!

Lots of lore

Unsure where to start, lol

This world was dying in the past, and the Celestials had gone to save humans from another world that was dying

The original humans of this world took matters into their own hands, and even though they did not have a seed of Primary like other worlds, they took their source of life and somehow brought a chunk of land up into space, making an artificial moon

This becomes the world of Bring Me That Horizon

The Celestials come back to a dead world, but they brought humans and their seed of Primary with them, so they settled on the planet

The seed of Primary is not able to fully revive this world, and the humans are using the seed as an energy source as well, so there’s just a little pocket of an empire that controls all the resources while the rest of the world is basically dead

The other species are pissed at the Celestials and the original humans for abandoning them, and they had to change into parasites to even find anything to feed on

Both the other species and humans are rich and control what goes on in the empire; the humans have their religion that worships the Celestials though, and the species want to fight the Celestials

Everyone also keeps talking about the “paradise” of the artificial moon, and the emperor has figured out how to bring it back down to the main planet. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: The Species

A little bit different from the original

The original humans: being up on the artificial moon with none of the other species for a long ass time, emphasized their predator-like qualities; they have slit pupils and more carnivorous teeth, and their diets are a lot more carnivorous too; they can eat plants, but they don’t do much for them

The new humans: have more prey-like qualities; they tend to stay in groups and don’t like to be alone, they have pointed ears that help them hear better, and they have an easier time telling when the other species are pretending to be human

The Shades: we’ve done this song and dance so often, everyone knows what the Shades are, lol; parasitic shapeshifters that feed off of human emotions and can control one person if they can see them

The Faeries: a combination of the Snakes and the shadow species I had made; they feed on human blood, and they have snake scales over their skin, fangs, slit pupils, and tails; if their prey is within a certain distance of them, they can give the prey an order, and they have to follow it

The Venus Girdles (temporary name): they are mostly the same, feeding off of human souls with hair that looks like Venus Girdle jellyfish; they tend to keep to themselves outside the empire, stealing humans to feed on. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: The Empire

Formed up once the humans came with a new energy source

The wealthy and influential of the species and humans joined together and made the empire to hoard resources and make people dependent on them; they also include companies that make prosthetics and androids

The rich humans all worship the Celestials

Most of the rich of the other species hate the Celestials

There’s a poor area where most of the citizens live and are demonized, and I’m calling it the undercity right now, but the name most likely will change, lol

They have cops and controlled soldiers through chips in their brains (victims of the prosthetics experiments) to “keep the peace”, which means that they terrorize the undercity, and everyone thinks that anyone who has the prosthetics from the experiments is a soldier, and they see the victims as less than human and monsters. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: The magic

We still have the prosthetics experiments, but in a different context!

The elemental magic works basically the same as before, with both pros and cons, at least to begin with

There’s also the crystal magic from Bring Me That Horizon, where the person who has this magic glows and can turn liquids into crystals that are stronger than diamonds, and that they can control; the Shades on the artificial moon have control of it at the moment

There’s also the Celestial magic a person can get if they are the child of a Celestial, where they can turn into a dragon, anticipate what their opponent will do, and have light and lightning magic

There’s also this opposite magic that comes from a spoiler, where a person can turn into a phoenix, anticipate what their opponent will do, and have darkness and black fire magic

Guess who has those first three? End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: The Rebellion

Instead of the peaceful vs. violence movement, we have the rebellion

The religion preaches absolute peace, even ignoring and not helping the victims of violent crimes

The rebellion wants to fight against the empire and also has a distrust of the religion

The prosthetics experiments do come from this now, but there’s someone who’s using it for other plans

Thorne, Jude, and Irina are part of the rebellion at the start of the story

The rebellion is desperately looking for a symbol of the rebellion, and who better but a “reformed soldier”? End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Characters

Holy shit, there will be a lot

I have merged four stories because I want to suffer

But I love them all, and I do have a plan to at least start this story with all of the POV characters being at the same party, so they’re at least linked, lol

I will first talk about the four POV characters. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Chess

The woman, the myth, the legend

She is my blorbo that I will never shut up about

I have given her all of the trauma

So, her real name is Ezra, and she was actually from the artificial moon and put through the Shades’ training (torture) to receive the crystal magic

So, her parents are actually alive for once!!!

But then Churi, the lead Shade, knew that Aeflin was looking for a weapon, and he thought Chess would be perfect for that, so he sent her there

There will be more about the prosthetics experiments in Naivi and Aeflin’s entries, but long story short, Chess got the Celestial magic and her fire magic, and she was sent to fight and kill some people, and she got epilepsy, and her chip broke, and she lost her memory

Then Ashont was horrible to her for a while, longer than in her original backstory

And now, she’s on the streets, getting abused by so many people, and just trying to survive

She has an awesome style, especially wearing a muzzle and a badass coat

Her hair is still super long and curly, but she has shaved the right side of her head

Still super traumatized about sex and trusting people and having any kind of happiness whatsoever

A black cat she named Mush does follow her around, and they have become very close

She is super overpowered, even if she doesn’t know it at the beginning of the story, but she deserves it

Sassy and flirty and loves stealing, she also has super low self esteem and thinks she probably is a monster.

“Baby don’t forget my name when the morning breaks us. Baby please don’t look away when the morning breaks us.” Bittersweet by Ellie Goulding

“Oh darling get me drunk and make me feel.” I Want to Live by Borislav Slavov

“I’ve been digging up every constellation, travelling galaxies without a station, faithful to my made up mission. I never felt like enough.” One by Kerli. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Vesper

She is part of the Celestial religion and does try to convince people to be peaceful

She advocates for ignoring the victims of violent crimes because the religion believes only when humans are fully peaceful will the Celestials come back to live with and rule over the humans

She is also the religion’s liaison with the other species, and she especially works with Maisa

He is an asshole, but she endures him because she thinks it is vital for her to do whatever to keep good relations with the other species

She is very smart book-wise, but doesn’t really have street smarts

She’s totally autistic

She will learn to grow and challenge her beliefs throughout the story

I love her

Because Chess’s parents are alive, her parents have been killed (joking, there’s a narrative reason for them being dead in this one). End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Irina

Hers is the most personal story with the least amount of worldwide calamity potential

Basically, she’s the daughter of the CEOs of an android company, and she has always thought of androids as people, so she’s been kind to them

Her parents hate that

She finally ran away from them five years ago, with her dog, Briar

But Briar got sick, and in desperation, Irina paid for her memories to be transferred into an android version of her dog, so she has android Briar now

But the company she got Briar from is her parents’ company, and even though she fully paid for Briar, after two years, the company is trying to take Briar back

They send an android named Vortex to take Briar back, but Vortex decides to find some loopholes to stop himself from actually taking Briar

Her parents are gonna get pissed about that too

When she ran away, Irina met Thorne and Jude and became part of the demon trio

They are all three hellions, and I love it

She is a little concerned with the leadership of the rebellion, having seen Aeflin there, and she knows Aeflin is a well-known scientist who’s working with leaders in the empire

I can assure you that Irina and Briar are gonna make it and have a happy ending. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Eclipse

Yes, the Celestial Story is the one that I haven’t talked about merging with All’s Fair yet

Surprise!

Eclipse is from the artificial moon, and their parents were killed, and they were captured by the emperor

They don’t know they have a Celestial parent and have Celestial powers

They’re proper but internally sassy, lol

I love them

A lot of their beginning story will stay the same; the party that everyone will be at in the beginning of the story will be a celebration of capturing Eclipse and bringing the paradise back down so “everyone” can use its resources

They want to kill the emperor and empress

The emperor wants them for their magic, and he also wants to learn more about the secret as to how they remained a paradise, but Eclipse is not even sure. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Creed

Half Shade, half human

Genderfluid, enjoying he/him, they/them, and she/her pronouns at different times (I’ll just use they/them for this slide, to not be overly confusing)

They were picked up off the streets of the undercity and adopted by a rich couple as part of a program that was out to “prove” that anyone can make it in the empire

They have been an overall nuisance ever since

They meet Chess at the party and go make out with her and have sex with her, and they cause a scandal

Which also turns the eyes of the rebellion on Chess to use her as the new face of the rebellion even though that’s the last thing she wants

As an apology, they decide to stick with Chess and help her out

Don’t know much about them for this version of the story yet, but they’re fun. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Thorne

One of the demon trio

He is a little asshole with Jude, with Irina being slightly more diplomatic but still an asshole

He despises the empire and the Celestials

His parents were the controlled soldiers, and they were hurt and thrown into the undercity for having him

There, they were abused and died, and Thorne blames the empire and the religion for it, since he knows the other people in the undercity are just trying to survive too

He likes waxing poetic at times

He’s more outwardly serious than Jude and Irina, but he likes getting into shenanigans with them

His assignment with Jude at the beginning of the story is to capture Vesper

He still captures her with Jude by dancing with her until she’s exhausted. End Description]

[Image description: A page titled: Jude

Also a little shit

He came from a wealthy family, but when he met Thorne when he tried to steal from Jude’s family, Jude decided to become friends and help Thorne, eventually culminating with running away from his parents and joining the rebellion with Thorne

He is super flashy in both his looks and his speech

He loves making jokes about every situation. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Vortex

My boy, he must be protected

He first started out as a pleasure android, but when he killed his owner after being abused, he ran to the undercity and almost got hurt, but Chess saved him

He now follows Chess around like a puppy when he can

It takes a lot for him to get a crush on anyone, but he totally will at least fall in love with Irina and Chess in this story

He’s extremely serious and insists that he isn’t a person

He also named himself Vortex because it sounded cool

Once he is sent to bring Briar back, he checks to see if Irina had been abusing Briar, and when he realizes that she hasn’t and actually loves Briar very much, he finds loopholes so he doesn’t actually take Briar back

He still has to pursue Irina though, but she knows that, he makes it clear to her that he has to

Which is how he falls in love with Irina, by being there for her and helping her keep Briar away from the company and her parents

They will go through some shit, but it’ll be interesting, and Vortex might just finally acknowledge that he’s a person at some point. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Ashira

She prefers to go by Ash

She’s a Faerie and the emperor’s daughter

Eclipse is forced to marry her, and they both want to use the other, and they both think it’ll be a loveless marriage

Lol, JK

They fall in love, especially after Ash tells Eclipse that she wants to kill her parents too

She has been abused by her parents and led to believe that the only way she’ll get anything from anyone is to manipulate them

She is very cynical about the world, but her relationship with Eclipse will help her heal

She’s manipulative and a jerk, and I love her. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Nesri

She’s from the artificial moon, and she received the crystal magic from the Shades around the same time as Chess

So, she knew Chess as Ezra and they were best friends

Unfortunately, Chess doesn’t remember Nesri anymore

When the artificial moon is brought back to the planet, the pirate crew she’s part of will totally be fighting the empire

She escaped from the Shades and joined the pirates and has never looked back

Her new pirate family is helping her heal from the trauma

She adores fighting, and will do anything for her captain Triel, especially. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Triel

The other woman, the myth, the legend, lol

She always must be seen with her wide brimmed hat and long ass coat

I love her so much

Chaotic chaotic

She is a super competent captain who is always two steps ahead of everyone else

And she absolutely knows about Chess from Nesri and wants to help her

She sees the artificial moon being brought to the planet as a perfect opportunity to do so

She will destroy you with her words first and then send Nesri to destroy you physically

Always smirking. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Shine

They are deaf and the best engineer

Holy fuck, I just realized that Shine and Naivi can actually meet, hell yeah

They’re the engineer of Triel’s crew, and they are the best

Super sassy, they love to insult people in sign language

The whole crew knows their sign language, so they mostly communicate in sign for Shine

Oh shit, I just realized that I really will need five POVs (with Nesri) because this storyline will be super important too, damn

Back on track: they have a small dragon named Mina, who responds to sign language

They don’t let anyone else in the engineering room, and they have an iconic sign to keep people out, especially Nesri, lol. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Naivi

Yeehaw, the enemies to lovers is still strong!

But different!

So! Naivi is half Venus Girdle half human, and she escaped from their city where they treat humans like pets

It was all really bad

But she gets to the empire, and she’s demonized by everyone, she learns to hide her non-human features, and she learns to hate the religion even more

She hates the Celestials and thinks that they are horrible gods and should be killed for how they let this world get so bad, that if they’re killed, humans will stop waiting for them to come

She devises the prosthetics experiments to make an army to fight the empire and the Celestials

One problem: Aeflin takes interest and “helps” her

Which means Aeflin takes away the victims and sends them off to be controlled soldiers which will be doing the exact opposite of what Naivi wants

She realizes this and makes a secret army without Aeflin knowing

Except, JK! She does, and she sends her own weapon, Chess, to devastate Naivi’s army (this is where Chess loses her memory and gets her epilepsy)

Chess does destroy Naivi’s army, but that just makes Naivi want to use her instead as a one-person army

Not sure how, but Naivi doesn’t know where Chess went, so she’s searching for her, and it’s when the rebellion decides to use her as their face of the rebellion, that Naivi finds where Chess is again

Which means she can totally start manipulating Chess into fighting the Celestials first and then the empire

This will turn into enemies to lovers, but there will be some fun stuff first of course

Naivi is honestly so obsessed with her own idea of justice that she’ll hurt any and everyone to get what she wants

At least until it’s the person that she has a crush on who almost dies, then she starts rethinking everything, yeesh. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Aeflin

The epitome of being a mad scientist trope

She’s a Shade who really just wants to be evil for the science reasons

Wants a weapon who will kill a Celestial so she can dissect said Celestial

She actually doesn’t care about any of the politics of the other antagonists, she just wants to do science, is that so wrong?

She’s tortured and killed and ruined so many people for science

All with a smile and a bubbly personality

I love to hate her. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Maisa

The asshole Shade who wants to be evil for politics reasons

He despises the Celestials and wants to kill all of them

For different, but actually similar reasons, than Naivi

He’s also super horny, in an asshole way

Has tormented Vesper all for his game

He sees humans as pawns in the Celestial’s game, and thinks that he’s equal to the Celestials (just realizing this), so he sees humans as pawns for himself too

Lots of fun. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Ashont

Ass-ont, am I right?

He’s the only straight character in this whole story, lol

And he’s awful about it

He’s the first person Chess meets after losing her memory, and it’s not a coincidence

He abuses her and calls her a monster and tries to hold onto her, but she finally gets to escape

She actually hurts him before she escapes, and which scarred his face

He is now even more obsessed with Chess and wants to capture her again because he’s a creep

I hate him so damn much, don’t even love to hate him. End Description]

[Image Description: A page titled: Ares

My child, she is the best ever

But she technically will be an antagonist for most of the story, so she needs to stay in the antagonists

An 18 year old who had her life ripped from her when the artificial moon was brought down to the planet

When the emperor sent soldiers to kill Eclipse’s parents and capture Eclipse, they devastated the city around the palace

The soldiers killed Ares’s parents while she was hiding but hearing their screams, and when she left her hiding place, she found that everyone else she cared about was killed too

She blames Eclipse and their parents, and she decides she wants to kill them

She stumbles upon Triel’s crew, and she’s part of the big lore reveals, and she gets the phoenix magic in order to kill Eclipse

She’s so angry and so valid

She has all the righteous anger of a teenager fighting a god

She won’t remain an antagonist, but she’s tons of fun. End Description]

[artsymeeshee]

Haven’t collabed with @renconner in a long while for a mini comic (minus our big one, Instinct). We were talking about one of Stan’s lowest moments involving being outside with that damn sign, so we decided to make a comic with Stan remembering it. I’ve also kinda of assumed Filbrick would lie to Ford about what’s going on with Stan (Stan probably did too to some extent).

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

[moonsworndandelion]

not to be "comment on fanfic even if they are oooold"

But I just read a pretty good fic published in 2014-2015 (you know, roughly TEN YEARS AGO) and I was like, damn this is so cool, I have to leave a comment, even if you know, they probably wont see it...

The author replied less than an hour later.

[robinhuntr]

Me seeing the new Superman content we’ve been getting and realizing that we’re finally healing from the “Evil Superman” era:

[nouverx]

Obligatory Alastor and Niffty art because their little moment in the finale was everything to me I can't wait to see them interact more in the next seasons

Also bonus sketch bc I just know he kept the crown on the whole evening

[ruoyeming]

Zombie apocalypse AU hualian designs for my fanfic that I WILL finish.. for real guys...

[spectrecowboy]

professional yapper (affectionate)

[jameslongforjimshortforgabriel]

he was on his period here

[1hellofacookie]

Do... do you like

...the colours of the sky?

please tell me nobody did this yet 💀💀

[forecast0ctopus]

i choose to believw cartoon heart boxers are still there in the 23rd century because its funny

[puppyeared]

horrible truth bomb dropped on my head 20 min ago

[spiritsong]

wyll.y.am ravengard, I love you so

everyone loves to put him in gold (rightly so) but my personal style is lots of silver jewelry + heavy eyeliner so that's what I gave him. also roses because he's so damn venusian