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xxlea-nardoxx · 9 months

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Seeing me spill my thoughts and talk about Tmnt 2012, you might know that there's a certain little robot that I love very much.

Yes, I'm talking about Metalhead.

I've always been very fond of this little guy, and perhaps that's why it makes me sad, that I barely see anyone talk about him or his relationship with Donnie and how it actually shifted.

When Donnie first built Metalhead in season 1 episode 6, he did so to use him as a weapon.

That episode was all about Donnie feeling useless because he "only" wields a bo staff, while his brothers have katanas, sais and nunchuks to fight with. He built Metalhead as a weapon to help them fight, especially in moments when it would be too dangerous for them to go out onto the battlefield. At that point, Metalhead was nothing more than just another invention, a drone as Donnie called him (at least that's what he said in the German dub when I watched it two days ago, shshsjsh).

And at the end of the episode, when Metalhead went rogue under the Kraangs control and Donnie had to take him out, did he feel down because his invention failed.

He was sad, because the machine he built did not live up to his expectations. Metalhead was nothing more than just a invention. We only saw him sprinkled into the background for a few episodes and the only truly more remarkable appearance was in the season 1 finale, but it again wasn't a whole lot.

But then it got interesting.

Because starting with season 2, it was revealed in "Metalhead rewired", that Donnie put an AI (artificial intelligence) into Metalhead and it actually shows.

It might've only been revealed in episode 11, but back in episode 4 "Mutagen Man unleashed", Metalhead has been put into the background doing various tasks such as moving stuff/cleaning up:

Sitting on the floor like some human child:

And actually talking to Donnie, to which his creator is actually responding.

"Yup, it's a mess, Metalhead."

It wasn't yet revealed, but it's obvious Metalhead wasn't as mindless anymore than he was back in season 1. Remember: back then, Donnie was still controlling him via game controller like some RC car.

Now Metalhead is thinking for himself, talking to his creator, reacting to the outside world and feeling more alive than he's ever been. He turned his head, when Leo, Raph and Mikey came in. He noticed the lab was a mess and let Donnie know, just like a human child would.

And it's obvious Donnies view about Metalhead has changed too. If before he only saw him as a weapon or drone, he now thinks of him as another team member, or even his son.

In "Metalhead rewired" he didn't wanna believe Metalhead could be evil or possibly working for the Kraang. And he didn't think that way, because the "weapon" could be stolen and turned against them, but because he actually loved Metalhead the way one would love their sibling or child. He's actually grown to love him.

When Metalhead got electrocuted by hacking himself into that Kraangs wending-machine, Donnie was shown patting the robots head and calling him "buddy", something he wouldn't have done in season one ever.

That only makes the plot of "Metalhead rewired" more heartbreaking.

Metalhead had grown to Donnie and now he had to let him go. His little robot creation wasn't going to make it out. He had to leave him behind in that Kraang facility, there was nothing he could do.

No matter how painful it was for Donnie, he had to leave without Metalhead. And it did not help, that the only part making it out alive was his head.

He's absolutely heartbroken about his loss, cradling the remaining part in his hands.

The fact that you can actually see Donnies sadness about losing his friend, hits harder than any of Raphs punches ever could.

Donnie was actively griefing about Metalhead. In a way we do when losing a beloved person, because that's what happened. He practically lost a son, a brother, a friend. Metalhead grew to be so much more than just a lifeless robot. He grew a personality and built a relationship with Donnie.

Donnies relationship with Metalhead switched from creator and creation to father and son, brother and brother or friend and friend, depending on how you like to picture them.

I think that is why I love these two so much. And I also believe people seem to overlook this change of heart between them. Donnie and Metalhead had a special bond, that has been broken, at least physically, but I know that our favorite genius will never forget his robotic child. Ever.

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Thank you for coming to my Ted talk, I gotta ramble about this real quick, ssaadfhssd.

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt metalhead #tmnt 2012 metalhead #metalhead 2.0 #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #xxlea nardoxx rambling #tmnt 2012 donnie #tmnt analysis #tmnt donnie

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zyqmp · 11 months

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ROTTMNT theory time :)))

Spoilers for the entire series + movie

This is pure speculation and fun, and will only be supported by the lore of ROTTMNT not any other show.

So basically I’ve been trying to figure out how these badass overpowered mystic powers work because it’s more confusing than any fandom lore I’ve read so here’s a theory about that + a little more thoughts on mystic powers as a whole

One big point before I go all out on this theory, anyone can have mystic powers. They can be human, mutant, yokai, even the Kraang, all living beings can harness mystic powers with the correct training. This is slightly proven by Warren Stone being able to use an mystic stone without problems, April and Cassandra being able to use Aprils mystic Bat, and when April gets hamato ghost possessed by Karai.

So let’s get on with the main theory.

In the final episode, “Rise” Big Mama reveals something crucial to the show as a whole that the fandom didn’t really know about(due to the second season being hard to watch). When the turtles need her help to find out where Shredder has taken Splinter and Draxum, she says

“To harness a life force you would need the source of all yokai power, enperian”

Then when Shredder finds this ‘enperian’ it’s revealed that it came from a single Kraang who died either in battle or from crashing into the Crying Titan

From what we can concur, the Yokai (from Big mama be know “We yokai have existed for thousands of eons”) must have evolved from the blood/engine fuel from the dead Kraang. This being the very source of all mystic magic, but than what is Ninpo? I believe it’s just an technique that the Hamato clan learned to fight the Shredder. (Similar to demon slayer, how humans have found ways to defeat demons with ancient arts if you need a comparison)

Another point about mystic magic, is that it cant directly be accessed without unlocking it. I think weapons at the beginning of the series are more like a catalyst for the turtles to harness their inner power.

The weapons only unlock a small part of the turtles real power, such as Leo’s portals becoming twin katanas that teleport wherever the other is, Mikey’s “wip”becoming nunchucks that can extend and light on fire, and Raphs force fields becoming a lot bigger and durable. We’ll talk Donnie in a minute because he’s a special case. But thanks to the mystic weapons the turtles learn and adapt to their powers and train themselves around them.

“What about you, Donnie? Don’t you want a glow-y weapon?”

“No, I’m good. I’ll never let you go.”

It’s made clear from the first episode Donnie is the most reluctant about “mystic magic.”

Even if he’s against the emphasis on mystic magic, he doesn’t try and stop it entirely, he more try’s to find a way to make sense of it. In the episode “Donnie vs Witchtown” (or Hidden City Adventures II) he’s very adamant on being against the whole idea of something he can’t explain.

“Because, I’m the Science Guy! If mystic powers can do everything I can do but better, than why would you guys even need me?”

The whole “being insecure about your role on the team thanks to something that you can’t avoid” might have been dragged out a bit more in the series(if a certain company didn’t cut the second season in half and postponed the show). But Donnie being insecure, is the driving reason his mystic powers were so delayed. It’s hard for Donnie to accept mystic magic but when he finally does his powers start to awaken.

So these powers are awaken through acceptance, possible training, and a catalyst for those powers? Not exactly, but you’re on the right track.

We have to look in the future to understand how to trigger these powers. It’s seen in the first few minutes of the ROTTMNT movie how powerful F!Mikey mystic powers have grown. Even Casey Jr. awes at his powers and through his description of F!Mikey we know he was incredibly powerful.

“You are the most powerful mystic warrior the world has ever known. With those two hands, you send me back in time”

F!Mikey is even foreshadowed in the first episode of the show. When the turtles lose April after she tried to save Mayhem, it’s Mikey who recognizes the hidden city symbol from splinters “do not touch shelf”

“Oh, hey! I’ve seen this before! In fact, we all have.”

It’s Mikey who assessed the portal to the hidden city

"How about we let the artist of the crew take a poke at it?"

And Mikey is the first of the turtles to awaken his weapon the ‘Kusari-fundo Nunchaku.’

"Whoa. Magic weapon”

That begs the question, why exactly is it Mikey who’s the Badass mystic warrior? Why couldn’t it be Donnie or Raph, maybe even Leo? What separates Mikey from his brothers that makes him so powerful in the future?

Out of all his brothers Mikey does have one big attribute that his brothers all lack in, his ability to be vulnerable, and being in touch with his emotions. His biggest strength and weakness is his empathy and emotional intelligence, unlike his brothers whom are very dishonest with their emotions and problems. It’s seen thought the show his emotions and feelings land him into difficult circumstances and often get him in trouble without one of his brothers to to stop him from getting hurt.

“Look, Mikey, repo men have to be mean, and I don’t know if you know this, but you’re kind of a softie."

"That really hurts my feelings! Oh, you have a point. But I can do this. Hard as nails.”

“I heard something.”

“A model train. Simple answer.”

So with his more open mind and emotional vulnerability his mystic powers grew. This could also support the real reason Donnie could really use his powers. He’s the most emotionally distant of the brothers, being so uneducated on them he doesn’t know some of the basic emotions that people feel.

So in conclusion, mystic powers come from a lot of different things. They can be awaken though the acceptance that magic truly exists. They can be harnessed through a catalyst that enables the user control over them. And the thing that triggers and fuels them are emotions. Plus spending years training them will result in you basically becoming Dr. Strange.

Yes very confusing but if you want more evidence then you can just watch season 1 and the movie and pay attention to their mystic powers.

But that’s just a theory, a Rise theory!

#save rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt theory #rottmnt movie #rottmnt leo #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donatello #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt april

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annonniiiiieeeee · 1 year

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Wait- now that i think about it... in chapter one and the chapter where Cj unlocked his nimpo. It says that they could unlocked their nimpo too even if they were non-related, bc they were seen as family or smt.

Sooo my question is, is Usagi going to develop nimpo too like Casey Jr, April and Cass? /maybe in the near future/

With chapter 15 out I can finally talk about this.

A lot of people wanted to see Usagi’s powers and what his nimpo will be but here’s the thing. He can’t have one right now.

The nimpo comes from the family’s love, acceptance and support of one another. That is the clan as a whole has to see that person as part of the clan.

With the power up Leo gave the team I tried to visually differentiate between thoughts who currently have nimpos and those who don’t. While everyone’s spiritual color was revealed not everyone has a power. (Yet)

I broke the group into three categories

Raph, Mikey, and Donnie got the biggest power boost. Their nimpos shunning to the sky like Leo’s did. Very similar to the scene in the movie when they unlock their nimpos again and free Raph. They are the original nimpo users and Leo’s blood brothers. They’ve used their powers the longest and have the closest connection to Leo, his energy is going to boost theirs the most.

Splinter, April, Cassie, and Casey Jr. Their powers got a significant boost as well making them burn with energy. While splinter doesn’t have a dedicated/specific nimpo he is the leader of the clan. He can access portal as we have seen him do with Leo’s sword and make constructs move like Raph can. Eventually I’d like to give him his own unique power but I also thinks it’s really fun from his to have access to his sons’ abilities. April, Cassie and Casey we already know the powers of. While this group is clan they haven’t been using their powers as long as the brothers. Theirs are weaker just because of lack of use.

The third group is those without powers. They still got to glow the color of their soul but they don’t have an active nimpo. (yet) The reason being that they are not part of the clan yet. The members of this group are; Katsuichi, Usagi, Kitsune, Gen, Chizu, and Draxum.

While it’s easy to see why the Tenshu group is in this category (Leo is the only one with a true connection to them. No matter how much he might love and care for them, Leo is not the clan. The family has to accept them as part of the clan before they get their powers)

Draxum might surprise some people. This is because he hasn’t been accepted by all members of the clan yet. Guess who the hold out is (yes there is only one)

Over time some of those is the third group will gain their own nimpo powers. It’s the official sign that you have been accepted by all members of the family. You are clan. (This will apply to Lisa and other future characters as well)

#asks #a world of samurais and ninjas #leosagi #rise leo #awosan miyamoto usagi #rise raph #rise donnie #rise mikey #rise splinter #rise april #rise cassandra #rise casey #baron draxum #awosan kitsune #awosan gen #awosan katsuichi #awosan chizu #rise mona lisa

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virgilisspidey · 1 year

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A human hamato ninja, a vigilante, a mutant foot ninja and a mutanimal all walk into a bar...

No, but seriously, I bet that if you told the season 1 boys about that combination they wouldn't believe you. I have to say, the new generation looks great and you've done an excellent job with these characters, I can't wait to read about them.

SPOILERS!!

Oh they would definitely be surprised.

I feel like this is how they would react if they meet. (All within Mama Leo canon)

They'll immediately crowd around Chloe the most, since she represents the hamato clan ninjas. They would be absolutely surprised to find its a human, so there was definitely no pointing fingers on who's kid is this (April will twack them for assuming Chloe's hers until Chloe said she's technically six or seven while the brothers are currently 15, so that rules out the whole "who's child is this" situation)

Chloe would definitely stick around with Leo the most, seeing him again really brings back memories. She would love to learn a lot of things from him. Leo would be so confised at the blind adoration she has on him, he didn't do anything special to get her attention, but he kind of appreciates it.

He does wonder why she always looked so sad whenever she looks at him when she thought he isn't paying attention.

They will definitely be cautious about River, since they're a foot ninja. At this time there are only two mutants in the foot, that being Xever and Bradford, so another mutant in the distant future is bound to be trouble.

But then they reveal River is Karai's adopted kid.

Immediately Raph bursts out laughing.

Karai??? Has a kid??? Do they even have the samr Karai, because his friend would be impatient with kids. He would use this opportunity to tease her a lot.

It's great teasing material.

Then there's Cathy.

She immediately announced herself with her name and called herself a vigilante. As far as they all know, there aren't any vigilantes in new york, other than them, technically.

April recocgnises her surname as one of her classmates from the hockey team. You know, that one loud idiot in her algebra class.

That's when she remembers said loud kid mentioned a sister ones.

She mourns her social life because that means she ends up befriending another loud violent idiot in the future.

Although they do warm up pretty quickly to Ryan, since he's a mutant closer to what the brothers would look like.

Honestly, Ryan fainted when he first saw Spike looking up from him while biting a leaf.

That's gonna be his dad in the future.

Holy hell.

(Leo liked his hoodie very much and they talked about Space Heroes until Raph forced them to stop)

He does follow Donnie around like a little duckling, which was adorable, but Donnie didn't know how to deal with new people and he was nervous he might accidentally hurt the kid in his lab.

When they see Splinter, the other three were at awe, but not as amazed as River was.

They bowed to him the moment he enters the room to see what was going on. They heard a lot about him from their mother and wanted to at least be able to train under him, even if it's just a short while. Splinter was technically their grandfather after all and they want to learn more about him.

All in all, wholesome and confusing.

#tmnt 2012 #rottmnt two souls #two souls ask

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shadow-ray4 · 2 months

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Okay, I've been scrolling through the Rise Angst I have saved on TikTok and all the "what if the Krang spike killed Raph?" kind of stuff, and had an idea.

(Not an actual fic thing, just sort of an in-depth headcanon ig?? Or like an imagine sort of thing? Idk)

Tw: Raph dies, Mikey dies, Donnie dies, probably pretty graphic descriptions of zombification

So, imagine Raph actually died from the spike thing, like it impaled all the way through his chest, blood and plastron shards all over, probably some falling on Leo too just for good measure y'know.

Then, he gets dragged back to the lair in Raph's Donnie Pod TM having a full-blown panic attack just like in the movie, but now he's covered in his brother's blood and has to tell everyone that Raph is dead.

Like, bro would be 10x more pissed at poor Casey, Casey's trying to come to terms with the fact that one of the turtles died probably years before he did in Casey's future(partially insinuating that Casey's involvement made this timeline worse), everyone else is freaking out over the fact that Raph died period, and now, instead of his impulsive manhunt being to find and save Raph, Leo's out for blood and vengeance any way he can get it.

He and the team go on to Metro Tower, get split up, Casey starts lecturing him, but instead of taking the character development and learning any sort of lesson from it, he starts yelling back, and the whole thing turns into a massive screaming match because they're both trying to blame the other for what's going on, but they also both can't help but blame themselves more than anything.

After a while, Donnie's transmission asking where the hell they are comes in and they agree to accept the Krang as a common enemy for now.

They all meet up in Metro Tower, and before they spot each other Donnie uses his tracker to try and find Leo

He ends up seeing that Raph is almost directly on top of them and immediately points this out to the group, saying something along the lines of "Hey Leo, I thought you said Raph died in the Foot base..." Leo would respond with a glare: "Yea, he did, why?" And Donnie goes "Then why does my tracker say he's here????"

They all start looking around in a panic until they see the giant cocoon thing dangling from the ceiling. It falls down and cracks open, revealing Raph's bloody corpse slowly morphing into a Krang Zombie.

Out of the 6 living people there (April, Splinter, Mikey, Donnie, Leo, and Casey Jr), at least 3 of them immediately start throwing up at the sight of Krangified Corpse Raph (looks basically the same as OG Krangified Raph except with a giant bleeding hole in his chest maybe with some organs showing and blood dripping from his mouth) and the scene continues as canon with Krang Raph taking the key and the rest of the gang running and dragging each other away.

The Technodrome comes through the portal, and this time, Leo's inspiring speech is more of a half- baked denial-fueled desperate attempt at convincing his remaining family (and himself) that there's still a chance for everything to be okay (especially since none of them have gotten any chance to process or grieve Raph's death whatsoever).

They come up with their plan, Mikey and Donnie do their thing trying to fly the Technodrome, and Leo ends up fighting Raph and it's just so absolutely horrifying for him because imagine watching your oldest brother literally die trying to save you, then watching that same brother's corpse essentially mutated into the thing that killed him, and then having to fight his mutated corpse. Adrenaline is the only thing keeping him from hyperventilating and passing out.

He spends most of the fight desperately trying not to get killed while sobbing and pleading with his brother who very much cannot hear him. Eventually (at some point after Mikey and Donnie get dragged out of the control room, where in canon Leo would be giving his whole apology speech), Raph attacks attacks Leo, who is on the floor backed into a wall, and Leo picks up his sword, screws his eyes shut, and swings as hard as he can. Raph's head falls into his lap, the rest of Raph's body falls off the platform, and the battle is technically won (though it really doesn't feel like it).

Krang Prime is incredibly smug about this development, and it looks like all hope is finally lost. Just then, Raph's ninpo projection shows up (bc they need to get their powers back somehow), shocking literally everyone (himself included). The other brothers are flooded with relief that Raph is alive (he's not. He's still dead, the ninpo projection is legit just his ghost, but they're all in denial so we'll let them have this), and they get their ninpo back through the power of family and love

They decide not to talk about Leo killing Raph's corpse right now because there are infinitely bigger fish to fry and they'll have plenty of time to talk about it after everything else (spoiler alert: they won't)

They do the whole midair fight with the Krang, Raph jumps Mikey and Donnie to the ground ("Don't worry! This is not a hug! It's a rescue!!") except this time when his projection breaks, there no real Raph inside it, so it's just a bunch of disintegrating red particles.

Leo goes through the portal, and Mikey and Donnie don't have enough energy to survive getting him back. Leo exits the portal so happy and relieved to see at least two of his brothers left, tackling them into a bear hug almost immediately, only to notice that they're cracking and flaking apart. He screams and cries and begs them not to leave but there's nothing he can do to save them now. They fall apart in his arms.

April, Splinter, and Casey Jr pick him up in a car that they definitely didn't steal, and Leo has to break the news that he's the only turtle left to save.

Splinter later tries to get Leo to learn meditation to talk to his brothers again, but he's so convinced that they'd hate him that he refuses to even try.

They all watch over him as ghosts, and he feels their presence, but Leo assumes that it's judgement, when they really just miss him and wish he would talk to them

#tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt movie #fun little idea I had #angst #heavy angst #seriously SO MUCH ANGST #dead dove do not eat #GASP! an original post?

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sarah-dipitous · 5 months

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Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 335

Our Father, Who Aren’t In Heaven/The Haunting of Villa Diodati

“Our Father, Who Aren’t In Heaven”

Plot Description: a revelation from the demon tablet sends Dean, Sam, and Castiel on a search mission in hell, where they have a surprising reunion

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: probably not. I just don’t think I could keep up my customer service persona after god killed every one of my coworkers

This is Sam’s first relationship in like…seven? years? Let him make some mistakes

Please tell me…why would you send Cas to get Donatello?

“Do you have the power of god?” Donny, you’re asking the wrong questions. Do they have the power of anime on their side??

Donny has the only rational reactions to Team Free Will’s shenanigans

I have a sad feeling that Donatello is not long for this world after they used him to find Chuck’s weak spot and Chuck decided to use him like a bluetooth speaker

Oh! He was spared for now!

I can’t believe they’re even remotely addressing the whole Adam thing

Why does hell look so much better this season than any other season?

ROWENAAAAAAAAAAA!!! She’s in charge of hell now??? I love this for her. She’s a vision and an absolutely terrifying ruler. I’m so happy for her

Thank you Roro for telling Destiel to fix their relationship

I’m weirdly glad Michael and Adam have each other. It might become a problem, but for now they can commiserate together

Dean being supportive of Sam and Eileen 🥰

Oh, if Michael and Lilith team up though…THAT could be interesting and fun

Aw man! He just vaporized her…these arch angels and their daddy issues. He just wants Chuck to come see him instead of being fetched to go see Chuck

Castiel has such a terrible habit of playing with fire and archangels

Dean’s so mad that Michael lets Adam be his own person much of the time

Cas…why?? Oh. To force Michael to see the truth about Chuck

Oh…oh, Michael “I’m not even the only Michael” he was so loyal and so betrayed

Dammit, the whole case Eileen was following was just Chuck

THEY HAVE TO GO BACK TO PURGATORY FOR AN INGREDIENT FOR THE SPELL TO SEAL CHUCK AWAY?! And of course it’s Cas and Dean who have to go…this show, I swear

I hope Adam gets to ride Michael’s coattails into heaven eventually. I want him to live a decently long life, and I don’t want to see Michael get killed this season because I really need this to be good for Adam

“The Haunting of Villa Diodati”

Plot Description: Lake Geneva. 1816. Lord Byron and the Shelleys plot a night of telling ghost stories. But as the Doctor and friends arrive, the Villa proves to have ghostly presences all its own

Didn’t the Doctor mention Mary Shelley at the end of last episode?? I’m glad they’re following through (i really said ‘we probably won’t get that episode’ silly me)

Graham…how can you mix up Mary Shelley and Jane Austen??

I don’t know how the Doctor really expected a bunch of artistic minds in their late teens to mid twenties to be acting on a stormy night in a gigantic house

(I’m curious if anyone’s gonna get too excited and slip that they’ve met Lord Byron’s now infant daughter in her future (Ada Lovelace))

The gossip going around this room as they dance, damn

The Doctor is playing fast and loose with the rules SHE laid down

Spider creatures. It had to be spider creatures…

People are being incredibly sus

I’m not saying you CAN’T have a character reveal (somewhat abruptly) that they’re harboring crush, but maybe don’t do it if there should have been build up because the crush is on your show’s protagonist. I dunno, just a thought

Oh Ryan!! Trying to impress Mary with his poor piano skills ❤️ she IS charmed by it, so there’s that

Not spider, skeletal hand

Byron..you should not have literal skeletons in your closet

I love the friendship between Yaz and Ryan. It’s so purely platonic

This house IS evil, and it’s turning against everyone in it

I love the Doctor shooting down Byron’s flirtations at every turn

Not to try to preemptively connect too many dots, but what if this figure Percy’s been seeing and now everyone sees is the lone cyberman the Doctor is supposed to steer clear of?

Oh my god I was RIGHT?!

Oh that’s so smart to use the lone cyberman in conjunction with the author of Frankenstein

Oh it’s not FULL full cyberman yet

The skeleton?? Is the skeleton part of this still? No, the cyberman is after Percy…well, can’t win them all

Why does Percy have magical powers?? Why would the cyberium give him non-cyberman-esque powers??

See, we’re rounding out the second season with these four and we’re just now getting our first “one death creates a ripple effect that means you won’t be born” episode?!

Having Mary (honestly, it was only a matter of time before we got a Mary on this show) confront and sympathize with the cyberman was a nice touch

Get wrecked, Byron. I’m glad Miss Claremont is no longer in love with him

#hellsite nostalgia tour 2023

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turtlethon · 9 months

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“The Power of Three”

Season 10, Episode 3 First US Airdate: September 28, 1996

Lord Dregg retrieves Shredder and Krang from Dimension X.

The tenth season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rolls on with “The Power of Three”. Jeffrey Scott is billed as the writer of this adventure.

Michaelangelo has a nightmare in which he guides the other Turtles through a maze of traps, ultimately being separated from the rest of the team and falling into a pit. After waking up, Leonardo insists he has nothing to fear, but Mikey believes it’s an omen, a sign that they won’t be returning from their next fight. Meanwhile, aboard the Dreggnaught, Lord Dregg discusses the ongoing construction of the vortex transporter with Mung. Discussion moves to the threat posed by the Turtles, with Dregg revealing that having determined the active properties of the mutagen from them in the previous episode, he now intends to extract it from them and use it to increase his own power. Shifting gears again, Mung brings up the fact that during a trip to Dimension X he encountered “two evil creatures” who were familiar with the Turtles, having battled them for years.

Remember Shredder? In a flashback to a previously unseen adventure, he’s seen working with Krang on a miniaturisation ray until the Turtles arrive to confront them. The team are shrunk down to micro-size, about to be stomped underfoot by Krang’s bubble walker. This is as far as the retelling goes, with Shreds apparently having tried to save face by having told Mung he finished off the Turtles.

The idea of Mung just happening to run into Shredder and Krang and striking up a conversation, as is they were all in some Dimension X food court or something, raises more questions than it answers, and you’d think Dregg would avoid interacting with anyone who would concoct such an obviously bullshit story. Instead, he determines that since Shredder and Krang are “evil beings with knowledge of the Turtles and Earth technology” they may prove useful to him.

Back in the Lair, Donatello has determined a method of curing Carter’s unstable mutations, but the friend of the team remains unsure as to whether that’s something he wants. Splinter wanders in and suggests “all creatures, great and small, make their decisions based on their own survival – but only man is capable of making decisions based on the survival of others as well.” Having made his choice, Carter declares he wants to go back to college to continue his studies and live a normal life, and so he opts to undergo Donnie’s procedure. We see him say what are supposedly his final goodbyes to the Turtles, but given that the show has teased us with the prospect of him being written out multiple times now I doubt anyone watching is buying it at this point. Michaelangelo even sheds a tear over this exit, but then this is the guy who wept at the thought that Zach could potentially be in trouble one time based on nothing, so it’s not the first time he’s grown overly attached to an annoying human character.

At the offices of “Newspan” - which I assume is supposed to be read like “news span”, rather than evoking the image of a frying pan full of news – some guy called Bill applauds April for the footage she captured of Dregg’s ship crashing into the chop shop ring’s hideout in the last episode, promising to air it on that evening’s broadcast. Meanwhile, Dregg and Mung beam down to their new base of operations on Earth, a nuclear power plant reconstructed by the microbots. Upon arriving, Mung uses a tracker to locate the forms of Shredder and Krang, but the huge levels of power required to transport them lead to widespread blackouts in the city: as a result, April finds herself trapped in one of the elevators in the Newspan building. Elsewhere in the city, Carter watches as a streetcar slides out of control, its electronic braking system no longer functioning; he climbs aboard to try and help bring it under control.

In the Lair, the Turtles also suffer the consequences of the power cut, the sewers quickly filling with water as the city’s water pumps have shut down, resulting in the runoff no longer being diverted to the sea. A surge of water soon knocks the green teens, along with Splinter, downstream.

Act two opens with a shell-shocked April emerging from the elevator as power returns to the city. Elsewhere, Carter uses a metal bar to jam the wheels of the trolley, forcing it to come to a halt moments before it would have crashed into a river. He ponders whether the loss of his mutation was a smart decision after all, but decides to put the past behind him.

Back in the sewers, the Turtles continue to struggle with the huge amounts of water being sent through the system. We get a rare late stage “cowabunga” from Mikey as he discovers what he thinks is a surfboard, only to find himself standing on an enraged alligator. Having seen off this threat, the team are pulled into a potentially deadly whirlpool.

Dregg introduces himself to Shredder and Krang as the “conqueror of worlds [and] ruler of men”. He informs the two villains of the new powers the Turtles have developed during their absence, and suggests that they can work together to finish off the green teens. Held at gunpoint and given no other option but to comply, Shreds and Krang fight off Dregg’s bat-men and attempt to escape.

Emerging from the whirlpool, the Turtles find themselves washed up on the coast, but have managed to lose Splinter along the way, and set out to track him down. Back in the city, Shredder and Krang are pursued by Mung and the rest of Dregg’s underlings. Stuck in a traffic jam after leaving the Newspan building, April is astonished when the two villains she had encountered so many times in the past – now thought to be banished to Dimension X – get into the back of her car and order her to put the pedal to the metal.

The Turtles reunite with Splinter moments before receiving a Turtlecom transmission from April, who for some baffling reason thought she could get away with covertly reaching them to ask for help when Shredder is sitting a few inches behind her in the same car. Predictably, he snatches the communicator out of her hands, warning the team that “she’s in a great deal of trouble”.

Michaelangelo is baffled as to how “Metalhead” got out of Dimension X, which is news to me, I assumed he was in a storage closet in the Lair. Oh, right, in this instance he’s referring to Shredder. Not having the use of the Turtle Van, the team request the services of a reluctant cabbie instead. The taxi pursues April’s car, one of Dregg’s shuttles also in the mix. A battle unfolds atop April’s vehicle between the Turtles and Shredder which, while brief, is probably the most exciting and well-executed fight sequence the show has put on in years. This concludes – along with the second act – with both vehicles being teleported by Dregg back to his hideout.

The Turtles fight Dregg’s bat-men, with April picking up a stray blaster and joining the battle, managing to accidentally shoot off the bumper of her own car along the way. Still in the mix, too, is the grouchy cab driver, who had been hoping to receive a substantial pay day from the Turtles but having seen enough decides to make his exit. Shredder and Krang are tossed by the Turtles into the empty cab, which almost runs over Dregg. He again holds Shredder at gunpoint, ordering that they work together to stop the Turtles. The odds are against our heroes, but Donatello uses a teleportation control panel to fill the building with the water that had been flooding the sewer system. This provides our heroes with only a momentary advantage, as they declare that Shredder, Krang and Dregg will be heading through the transporter to Dimension X. Shredder refuses to go along with this, and drains the reactor core of the nuclear power plant, initiating an imminent meltdown. Leonardo intervenes to stop this, but is captured by Shreds, forcing the other Turtles to relinquish their weapons.

April and the Turtles are tied up, teleported alongside Shredder, Krang and Dregg back to the Dreggnaught. It’s at this point that Dregg reveals the theft of his chemicals performed by the team at the conclusion of the previous episode was a setup – he wanted the team to use them in stabilising their mutations, the elements now genetically incubating in their bodies. This has led to the creation of a super mutagen, one that Dregg now begins the process of siphoning out of the Turtles.

Shredder again uses this as an opportunity to try and double-cross Dregg, taking Mung hostage and declaring that he “takes orders from no-one – especially an alien!” You’d think this would be setting up a one-liner for Krang, but instead the alien brain simply orders Dregg to get on an operating table, restraining him. Shreds has Mung set up the equipment so that he and Krang can be the recipients of the super mutagen instead, potentially creating some kind of “Super Shredder” (and not a pier in sight). Instead, Dregg unleashes a cannister of his microbots which place the Foot Clan leader and alien brain in restraints, shifting the balance of power once more. Two more operating tables are then constructed by the bots, as Dregg reveals the full scope of his plan: not only will he drain the Turtles of their powers, he’ll also absorb the intelligence of Shredder and Krang, draining his enemies of their life energy in the process.

April can only watch on in horror as Dregg carries out the procedure, becoming a bigger, more intimidating version of himself as the Turtles are seen growing weaker. A helpless Michaelangelo croaks “my dream... my dream!” as a caption appears on screen to inform us this story is “TO BE CONTINUED”, the first time such a story device has been used in the 1987 cartoon to my knowledge (outside of maybe the reruns of “Planet of the Turtleoids” when it was split into two normal-length episodes.)

Okay, now we’re rolling. While Dregg has turned out to be the most legitimate threat the Turtles have ever faced, there’s no doubt that the show lost much of its magic when he was introduced as Shredder and Krang’s replacement, an event that coincided with the beginning of the interminable “new mutation” story arc. After enduring the Turtles stomping around in their beastly forms for more than a year now, we’ve reached the point where it feels as if something will come of it, Dregg absorbing that power for himself to become an even more intimidating enemy.

Even if things are beginning to turn around, there’s a lingering sense throughout this episode that they could be better. Shredder is here but it’s not the one we really wanted: I wish James Avery could have been convinced to return for these last few shows, but instead we have monotone season eight Shreds going through the motions once more. As if to acknowledge that we’re getting the poor substitute version, the dialogue provided for the character barely even tries to play up the theatrical aspects of the Foot leader, or showcase his usual banter with Krang, the lines provided for both only ever routine. I would have liked to see the campy Shredder of the pre-Red Sky era show up here, not just for old time’s sake but to play up how truly ruthless Dregg is by comparison.

Over the course of the series TMNT has had a tentative relationship with long-form storytelling, the first five episodes forming a unified arc with each still working as a self-contained affair. The following year we had the similarly constructed Eye of Sarnath arc, and later the retroactive two-part version of “Planet of the Turtleoids” mentioned earlier. More recently we had the HAVOC trilogy in season eight, which tested the waters for the ninth season where each episode felt like a single chapter of one overarching story told over the course of two months. Now, as the show enters its final stretch, caution is thrown to the wind: with the threat of cancellation no longer an issue as TMNT won’t be returning anyway, viewers are asked to return for the next episode to see how things will turn out rather than being presented with an immediate pay-off. This story will continue over the next two episodes, the first of which will be the subject of our next Turtlethon entry, “A Turtle in Time”.

#TMNT #Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #Ninja Turtles #1996 #Turtlethon #TMNT 1987 #The Power Of Three #Dregg #Lord Dregg

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curlsofsagesmoke · 3 years

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TMNT (2012) DID DONNIE DIRTY WITH THE HALF-ASSED LEADERSHIP PLOTLINE AND HERE’S WHY

not to turn into a tmnt blog or anything but I've been watching the 2012 version and I have some Thoughts about the weird leadership conflict subplot between Leo and donnie that the writers started going for and then abandoned. admittedly I've only seen up until a few episodes of season 3 so I don’t know if they ever do go back to this, but from what I've seen this plot had amazing potential but it was handled in a truly awful way!

keep in mind also that I really love this show. I watched it as a kid, I think it holds up pretty well even now. it does have its flaws (many, many flaws) and the worst flaw is the writing imo, which can be lazy, ignorant, or just straight up bad at times.

with that out of the way, buckle up and hold on to your butts cuz here the heck we go!

you cannot talk about leadership in tmnt without starting with the leader, Leo. the writers gave him a really interesting arc at the beginning of season one where he was really eager to become leader (splinter gave him the job because he asked for it, after all) but then he started to realize the burden that came with the title and started to crack a bit under the pressure. the most well-known character conflict in the entire tmnt multiverse is the tension between Raph and Leo, and this iteration of the show is no different. Raph is very obviously upset about Leo becoming leader and he (and donnie, but we’ll get to him in a bit) tries to argue that he should be leader instead. ultimately he fails and this does create tension throughout the rest of seasons one and two.

this tension comes to a head during an episode where Leo, tired of Raph always questioning his decisions and needling him, decides to fuck off for a little bit, leaving Raph in charge (”New Girl In Town”). from a writing standpoint, this episode is important for many reasons, but in terms of this subplot it is a moment of crisis for Leo which he inevitably overcomes by accepting the burden and responsibility of leadership; and for Raph it is a moment of realization where he finally accepts that he wouldn’t be a very good leader and he doesn’t want the burden that Leo carries all the time. after this episode, Raph and Leo do have their arguments, but overall Raph is much more accepting of Leo’s position as leader and only calls him out when Leo starts to go on little power trips.

which brings us to donnie. donnie also argued that he should be leader in the first episode, but it wasn’t treated as seriously as Raph’s argument, and after that there wasn’t much conflict between Leo and donnie (except for the technology vs. tradition thing surrounding metalhead, but I’ll get to that later). donnie and Mikey are presented as generally pretty laid back. when Raph becomes leader in “New Girl In Town”, they exchange a lot of “yikes” looks in the background but are willing to follow his lead and give him the opportunity to actually be leader. of course, this comes to a head when they confront the villain of the episode, snakeweed, in the sewers. they’re getting their asses kicked, Mikey is knocked out, Raph is having a panic attack, and donnie is left to fend for himself against snakeweed.

instead of having that little “I must meet this challenge and overcome it” moment that you’d expect, Raph gives in to the panic and it’s donnie who not only incapacitates snakeweed to give them time to escape, but also snaps Raph out of his panic attack and tells him what to do (namely, get Mikey out of there and retreat to safety). it’s not given any more attention after this so it’s kind of blink-and-you-miss-it, but this is the first instance we see donnie reveal a bit of his potential as leader.

this is in direct contrast to “Mousers Attack!” which came a few episodes before New Girl In Town. that was the episode that introduced the a-team/b-team dynamic, and in that episode we saw that donnie, while attempting to lead him and Mikey, was able to come up with a bunch of plans to infiltrate dogpound’s operations but wasn’t decisive enough to actually commit to anything. thus in New Girl In Town, we’ve already seen very obvious growth in donnie and the way he approaches leadership, but it’s very much pushed to the background, and for good reason. this is simply laying the foundation for the big showdown between Leo and donnie.

the next significant moment of leadership potential we see from donnie comes in the episode the Pulverizer. donnie gets stuck with Timothy in the lair but soon becomes willing and even eager to teach him the basics of self defense, because, as he tells splinter, he knows Timothy is going to keep putting himself in dangerous situations and he’d rather Timothy be able to protect himself. splinter tells him that anything that happens to Timothy will be donnie’s responsibility, and donnie accepts this and begins training him. at the end of the episode they all make it out okay, Timothy goes on his way, and donnie seems to have become just a bit fond of him.

significantly, this is the first time donnie is given full responsibility over the fate of another person, and we see that even though he doesn’t really like Timothy, he takes this responsibility seriously. here he shows great leadership potential, as well, though again, it’s not really commented on narratively.

the next significant moment is, as you might’ve guessed, The Pulverizer Returns. in this episode we find out Timothy has joined the foot and is willing to pass information on to the turtles. Leo and Raph jump at the opportunity, Mikey is ambivalent as usual, and donnie is the only one who shows any concern. this is most likely because the last time he saw Timothy, splinter told him Timothy was his responsibility completely, and he obviously takes that seriously still. the entire episode, he tries to get Timothy to leave the foot and his brothers to take this seriously, but his worries are brushed off until they find out the shredder is about to mutate Timothy as an experiment.

so they race off to save him, and donnie ends up in a warehouse without his brothers to help, weaponless (because of some bullshit lesson splinter is trying to teach them, and as a side note, this was the first episode where I started to seriously dislike splinter as a character, because the way he was written here is just awful). the villains of this episode are dogpound and fishface. if you’ll remember, these are two serious villains, and up until this point they’d only ever been subdued, never defeated, and even then the turtles had to double team them in order to win. so it was of course surprising and incredible to see that donnie, armed with literally just a broom, was able to hold off a squad of foot ninjas, dogpound, AND fishface by himself for a good while, all while keeping Timothy away from the mutagen.

then Timothy IS mutated and a bomb is activated, and in just two minutes donnie comes up with a plan and executes it, getting them all out safely. when he starts barking orders at his brothers, they don’t even stop to question him. they listen immediately and that’s part of the reason why the plan succeeds. so what does this tell us? it tells us that donnie has a very strong sense of responsibility, protectiveness, and determination; that he is extremely capable when he’s focused and is good at thinking under pressure; and that his brothers trust him enough to follow his orders when he does give them. these are all incredible qualities for a leader to have!

notably the episode after this is Operation Break Out, where donnie goes off on his own to rescue April’s dad from The Kraang and they only make it out because his brothers followed him and intervened. clearly, then, donnie’s not really ready to be a leader and still lets his emotions cloud his judgement, which is a narratively sound writing decision. the big donnie-as-leader showdown doesn’t come until the end of season two, anyway.

and then season two. the tensions between Leo and donnie aren’t as obvious as the tensions between Leo and Raph, but they’re there, even if no one explicitly challenges Leo’s position as leader any more. here’s a quick rundown of the two significant episodes:

“Follow the Leader”--> Leo wants to stick to the old, traditional ways, but his brothers insist on unorthodox methods of fighting. Leo eventually comes to accept this to a certain degree when he admits it’s a good strategy to use against the footbots.

“Metalhead Rewired”--> donnie upgrades metalhead’s AI and Leo is suspicious of it. on the trail of The Kraang, Leo blames donnie for a few of metalhead’s mishaps, but apologizes when they realize that metalhead was leading them to a Kraang mutant prison. metalhead sacrifices itself to save them. Leo is sympathetic here because donnie is really upset, but it’s clear that these two are still fighting over the tech vs. tradition thing

and then we get to The Invasion, the season two finale. the synopsis makes it clear that this is where all of these moments that I've been discussing come to a head: “Leo and Donnie disagree about their plan to stop The Kraang invasion. When Leo makes a critical mistake, he is separated from the team and Donnie must step up as leader.” So we’re off to a good start as far as concluding this character arc goes. I was excited to finally see donnie live up to his leadership potential (and I thought this could be a good way to give Leo some closure regarding his issues with holding the world on his shoulders/blaming himself for every mistake/basing his self worth on his position as leader).

but I was sorely disappointed! in the episodes, donnie’s and Leo’s tech vs. tradition conflict comes to a head when Leo wants to flee the city (this seems very out of character for him) but donnie wants to stay and fight in his new combat robot, the turtle mech. this disagreement lasts until they are attacked in the tunnels and donnie is injured; Leo draws the Kraang robots away (I assumed this was his critical mistake: separating himself) to give the others time to escape. they go to April’s apartment to hide and regroup while Leo is hunted down and almost killed by the shredder. Raph and Casey rejoin the others, then shredder throws Leo through the window of the apartment, and they escape but barely. donnie then makes the decision to fight Kraang prime in the turtle mech (which is, I assume, his big leader moment, though of course it doesn’t even happen on screen). they fight Kraang prime and almost die, but Casey arrives in the van, saves them, and drives them out of the city. donnie apologizes to Leo’s unconscious body and says that Leo was right, and then the episode ends.

so. let me first say that this was quite possibly the worst way to end this really interesting and nuanced character arc that the writers had set donnie and Leo on. first of all, we barely got to see donnie act in any kind of leadership role. in Leo’s absence, they made most of their decisions as a team, where I had expected at least some sort of “I need to overcome my fears and anxieties and lead my family to safety” moment from donnie. secondly, Leo wasn’t entirely correct. yes, they ended up evacuating the city anyway like Leo wanted, but he was wrong about the turtle mech; it ended up destroying Kraang prime’s robot body thing. and donnie wasn’t entirely correct, either: the turtle mech was a great weapon that did some significant damage, but it wasn’t enough to stop the invasion. so we have these two characters who were both wrong in their own ways, both face the consequences, but no one ever discusses it.

so not only did we not see any significant character development from Leo; and not only did donnie not really get to act in any significant leadership role; but also worst of all, these two characters never got any closure! I'm a good handful of episodes into season three, and not one single character has even mentioned the tension between Leo and donnie during the invasion. everyone acts as if it never happened, so now as a viewer I'm stuck here waiting for the other shoe to drop or for one of these characters to finally snap, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, which sucks. in other iterations of tmnt (like the 2007 movie or the show from 2003) we get to see Donatello act almost like Leo’s second in command. I think that’s a really, really interesting direction the writers of the 2012 show could’ve gone in and I think it’s a waste of this subplot’s potential to just abandon it the way they did. I'm not sure what’s going to happen in season three, but I think a good conclusion of this arc would’ve been donnie and Leo confronting the argument they had, doing a little more maturing, and eventually donnie becomes Leo’s second in command. instead I'm really worried about how the writing of this show is going to devolve as I get further into the later seasons.

(as a side note: I'm currently working on a series of tmnt fics that addresses this issue, as well as the sometimes shitty ways the brothers treat each other and the stupid-as-fuck donnie/april/casey love triangle. so if that floats your boat, keep an eye out! I'll be reposting this with the link attached once I upload the first fic, so give my blog a follow or keep an eye on my ao3 account, heyassbuttimbatman)

#if you got to the end of this monster #congrats!#I hope you guys are excited for that fic I'm writing #because I sure as hell am #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #Leonardo #donatello #raphael #michaelangelo #donnie 2012 #Leo 2012 #Raph 2012 #Mikey 2012 #capriltello #rant #fic

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tmnt-mags · 4 years

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Raphael x Fem!Reader

Reader is April's little sister and meets the turtles through her. I changed the ages and timeline a bit just because I don't feel entirely comfortable writing the turtles as 15 year old kids. SO the turtles are 18 the reader is 17 nearing 18 and april is 27.

Warnings: some mention of parent death, but nothing else!

Part 1/ ??

Im still pretty new at writing fanfic and have only done a few and this is my very first tmnt one. Constructive criticism and nice things only please!

I didn't remember my dad. My mother gave birth to me a month before his death. I didn’t remember him but my big sister April did. She told me everything she could about him, all kinds of stories and old home videos. It's almost like I know him but I don’t. Sometimes it's sad and I wish for nothing more than to have some memories with him, but I’ve had a good life and have a great family. I’ve lived with my sister since our mom passed 2 years ago from cancer. I miss her a lot, but I like living with April and I love our apartment.

We both have a deep love for media. She is a reporter with Channel 6 and I started making youtube videos right around the time mom died. It was like a video diary back then and has since turned into something completely different, though there are the occasional personal diary type videos.

I was wearing my favorite oversized sweater. It was a deep forest green and nearly reached my knees. It was worn and a bit tattered in some places, but it was the coziest thing ever.. I was barefoot in the kitchen listening to April talking about the latest Foot Clan activity and thinking about the questions she was planning for some guy who worked on the docks. She had convinced her camera guy Vern to take her over there before they shot her morning segment.

“You’re gonna be late!” I called into the living room while putting some breakfastt in a container for her to take on the road.

“Thank you shorty,” She rushed in and gave me a kiss on the cheek as she grabbed her breakfast and rushed out of the kitchen again to grab her bag “I’ll either be back for dinner or late!”

“That's really specific April,” I mutter as a lean in the kitchen doorway and watch her check her purse. “Do you have your touchup bag and your toothbrush?”

April let out a small gasp and rushed back to the bathroom. She came back out with a bag, gathered her things and blew a kiss as she ran out the door. I let out a laugh and went to eat my own food.

I spent the day editing a new video. I just hit 700k last week so I was making a special video to celebrate. It had some songs that I had covered laid over a video of me painting a portrait of my mother and father. It was taken a year before he had died and they had gone on a weekend getaway in the Appalachian mountains.

I didn't look up until April burst through the door. It was already dark out and I hadn’t even noticed.

“I just witnessed a Foot Clan attack!” she called as she walked through the apartment.

“What? Oh my god! Are you okay?” I practically jumped up and followed her as she began pacing around the living room. “April? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! There I was at the docks trying to get some answers and then BAM! They were there!” She went on about the attack and then started about some kind of vigilante that fought them off.

“Vigilante? Are you serious?” She didn't answer, she just went into her room. I sat back down on the couch and tried to process what she had said. In the end I shook it off and went get some dinner ready.

Over the next few days April was hard to find. She seemed to be constantly on the move and didn't answer her phone. She came home talking about dad's old experiments and giant turtles, and over the next 2 days seemed to just be gone. The spire on the Sacks building fell and The Shredder, who was the leader of the Foot Clan, was arrested and Eric Sacks was revealed to have been working alongside him the whole time. It was a wild time for New York, and April was suddenly quiet about the vigilantes.

Time began to move on and April started talking about these 4 new friends she had that were brothers. They seemed like a fun nice group, and the stories she shared were great.

“So,” I started as we sat together on the couch, “when do I get to meet the brothers?”

April choked on her glass of white wine. “What? Meet them?”

“Yeah, You talk about them all the time! I would like to meet them. They’re all you’ve been talking about for like 3 weeks.” I said as I pushed her with my foot.

“Ummm,” April stopped to think and had a vague look of concern on her face, “I'm not sure actually. They’re pretty busy guys.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Uh-huh. If you don't want me to meet them just say so. I was just curious.” I turn my face away from her.

“No it's not that, It's just they’re kinda shy. They don’t really like meeting people.” April's face said that she was telling a lie.

“Okay.” I left it at that clearly something is bugging her about me meeting her friends.

April-

April went to spend some time with the boys, but couldn’t stop thinking about them meeting her little sister. How would she react? She thought to herself, ‘I fainted when I met them, and there are still times when it kinda freaks me out a bit. I don’t want my baby sister to get scared and I don’t want the boys to get hurt because of it.’ They had tried to act like April’s reaction didn’t hurt them, but she knew it did. ‘I just want everyone to be happy.’ She was sitting in the lair watching the boys fight and Mikey brought up their Christmas pop album again. She smiled, (y/n) loved music and often performed covers on YouTube. She was really good at it. She had even written her own songs but at this point refused to release or talk about them on her channel.

“April, is something troubling you?” The brunette turned, surprised to see Master Splinter.

“Oh it’s nothing really.” She paused, “Actually could we talk? I am having some trouble.” Splinter nodded and gestured for her to follow. Not answering the questioning looks of the brothers, they went into Hashi.

“The boys avoid this room as much as possible,” Splinter said with a chuckle, “they will not listen in in here.”

“Makes sense,” April laughed and sat down on a mat with Splinter while looking at the odd structures in the room, “I’m having some trouble with my sister.”

“Oh yes, little (y/n) she had only just been born. I believe your father brought her down to the lab twice in those last weeks.” He thought back fondly on the small soft baby that looked so tiny in the arms of her father but so big compared to him then. “ what is it that is wrong?”

“She wants to meet the brothers. She doesn’t know that they are turtles, but she knows I have new friends.” April said looking down, “ we are very open. We’re the only family we have left so we always know each other's friends. It’s a safety thing I guess.”

Master Splinter hummed and looked at April, who continued.

“She wants to meet them and honestly I want her to too! I think they would all get along so well and I think the boys would adore her. It would also be nice to know that there are 4 ninjas who would look out for her.” April sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“I just don’t want the boys to get hurt. What if she is afraid of them? What if she screams and calls them monsters or freaks? What if she passes out or cries. It would hurt them so much, and I don’t want to see my sister frightened anyway.” April’s shoulders slumped and she lowered her face to look across at Splinter.

“You know your sister well? Do you think she will react this way?” The rat questioned.

“I don’t know. This isn’t exactly a situation that has ever come up before or one I ever thought I would be in.” She played with her fingers in her lap and she watched him stroke his beard.

“I think you know your sister well and know what would be the best course of action.” He smiled, “I think the trouble now will be convincing the boys to risk meeting her. I have no doubt that it will be a split crowd.”

April nodded and gave a kind of exasperated smile. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Mikey and Ralph would agree, Donnie was iffy, but Leo would say no.

“Thank you Splinter. That does actually help. Do you mind if I stay in here a bit longer?” She asked.

“Go ahead child. Take your time.” Splinter got up and left the Hashi.

April sat and thought about what he had said. She thought back to everything she knew about her sister and what she knew of the boys. If her sister could be accepting she knew that they could have a great friendship. The boys were half a year older than her and they didn't know anyone their age. It would be nice for them to have that she thought. She knew Mikey would be super friendly right away, maybe even too friendly. Donnie would be polite but wary at first and a bit excited. Raph would be happy just to meet another person, but Leo would be cold. She feared that he would be distant and unapproachable and she knew her sister well enough to know she wouldn't be able to handle that.

She took her time and eventually rejoined the brothers. She brushed off their questions with a simple: “I needed advice.” She sat down with them as they all talked and joked around. Finally Donnie brought up the perfect opportunity.

“April you're lucky you don't have brothers.” He said as Mikey bombarded him with insane ideas for gadgets.

“Well I don't have any brothers but I do have a baby sister.” The turtles all turned towards her clearly shocked by this news. “She's actually about 4 months from turning 18.”

“Woah Angelcakes, We didn't know you had a lil’ sis. Is she as beautiful as you?” Mikey said while batting his eyes at her.

“I think she is absolutely gorgeous, and she sings and does art. She’s about to be a senior in high school.” April said while leaning closer to mikey. “Shes shorter than me and has curves for days. She used to be on the dance team actually.” April laughed and Mikey threw himself back and fanned himself with his hand.

“Why haven't you mentioned her?” Leo asked.

“You never asked if I had any siblings. She was born a few weeks before my dad died.” April smiled sadly at that “She actually asked if she could meet you.”

The boys seemed to freeze at that, and suddenly all eyes were on her.

“You told about us?”. Raph asked.

“Kinda. I might have left out the part about being ninja turtles, but I told her about my new friends and she wants to meet you guys.” Raph scoffed at her answer.

“So you didn't actually tell her about us.” He almost snapped at her.

“Cool it Raph.” leo warned.

“I don't wanna be looked at like a freak. She won't want to meet us when she sees us.” he stood up and walked off. April looked at the others who all looked like they wanted to disagree and agree with Raph at the same time.

“Sorry angelcakes, I'm sure baby angelcakes is great though.” Mikey shrugged.

April sat in disbelief that they all basically said no. The lair was quiet after that and she left after they ate some dinner.

She got home only to remember her sister was spending the night at her friends house. So she had the place all to herself. She let out a sigh and poured herself a tall glass of wine and sat on the couch thinking about the events of the day. She came up with a plan as she finished her cup and decided that by the end of the week they boys will have met her baby sister. She grabbed her phone and invited the boys to come hang out at her place for once this upcoming weekend. They didn't even ask if her sister would be there.

(Y/N)-

April had gone out to pick up some pizza for a late night dinner. I had school, homework, and some video editing to do and forgot to cook. April came home late and said not to worry about it and would grab some pizza. Her new favorite place didn’t offer delivery so she went to go get it. I decided that a nice hot shower sounded good and went in. I got out as I heard the front door open and close. I made my way to my room about to throw on my favorite green sweater only to remember that It had been washed and was in the dryer. So, I wrapped my towel back around me and opened my door to head out into the living room. I walked out and looked up only to meet with 4 pairs of eyes.

“Oh my bad,” I said, turning to go back to my room only to stop and turn right back around. “Ummmm…” I trailed off not sure what to say as I stared at 4 very large, very green, oddly human like turtles, all while in a bath towel that left most of my left hip exposed.

“Oh hi (y/n). I forgot to mention I had friends coming over.” April said walking into the room. “You might wanna put some clothes on though.”

“Yeah…” I said not able to look away from the very large turtle creatures sitting in the living room.

#tmnt #tmnt x reader #tmnt imagine #tmnt 2014

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molzies-fanfics · 4 years

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Cruisin’

A/N: I’m really glad for my first Leo one shot that someone gave me the basic plot points because honestly writing for Leo is gonna go one of two ways for me, I’m either going to write him super out of character (or base him off of OOTS which might not be the best idea in my opinion) or it will be in character for this type of fic and you guys will like it. But I promise I’ll get better at writing for Leo either way.

Updated A/N: I ended up writing so much for this but I’m so happy with what I wrote even if it is a little out of character. (2979 words)

Leo x female!reader

Requested by: @iamcheese13

Leo had made a habit of trying to leave without anybody noticing and hoping to god they just assumed he was in his room, meditating. But Donnie had knocked on his door and opened it to see if he was there to only come up empty three times this week. THREE TIMES. It was incredibly unlike the fearless leader to just vanish without telling the rest of his team, his brothers, where he was going. Raph knew how brutal he was whenever he came back from a trip to the surface by himself, it was like Leo was the mother hen but no one knew who would tell him off. Splinter? Yeah but it wasn’t like Leo was actually doing anything wrong.

Going up to the surface for a breath of fresh air wasn’t against the rules or whatever. It was the part about not telling his family that stuck out. Eventually even April and Casey started to notice that they saw less and less of the blue banded turtle. Suspicions were starting to grow and it just got to the point where they knew they had to follow him. If he was going out almost five times a week? Something was definitely up.

Following him down to the docks? It was a bit unexpected but it wasn’t like they knew where he was going. Stalking a ninja without being noticed was the hard part, with all the falling behind they did (especially with April and Casey) it was surprising that they hadn’t lost Leo at some point. Watching him walk into an abandoned warehouse was even more sketchy than they thought, so his brothers assumed that he was either being black mailed or he was dealing with crime directly…by himself.

A couple minutes passed and they saw a young girl, around their age, jump down from a boat and make her way into the warehouse with a bright smile on her face. Raph was having none of it, “What if she’s working for the foot?” he whisper shouted to his accomplices. It was a reasonable question, but as far as the brothers knew, Leo was alone with that girl in there.

*Leo’s POV*

I had been meeting up with her for a couple months now, meeting her by accident when I was out by myself one night near the docks. I liked to stare at the water to help me calm down and this was after a particularly nasty fight with Raphael. Next thing I knew, the wooden roof underneath me had gave way and I blacked out. When I woke up she was there, hovering over me and tending to what little wounds I had. She had somehow managed to carry me to her boat and had me resting on her sofa bed.

The way she looked at me wasn’t with fear or hatred, but concern and dare I say kindness. I learnt that her name was Y/N and she had loved the water all her life, when she was a kid she’d tell grown ups she wanted to be a mermaid when she was older. She loves all marine life, she told me turtles were her favorites, which (almost embarrassingly) made me blush. Hopefully I don’t think she noticed.

We became friends and for some reason I wanted to keep her friendship to myself. Which led to the sneaking out, not telling my brothers or my father where I was going, who I was meeting and why I went I meet them so often. You see, Y/N lived by herself, she didn’t have many friends in the city and all she had was her boat and everything on it. I barely fit under the deck so we ended up meeting in a warehouse nearby, it was warmer and had a lot more space.

Seeing her almost every day helped me regain my belief, that what we were doing for the city was worth it. That even when the people we saved ran away screaming, it was okay because they were safe and not everybody was going to be accepting to who we are or what we do. Even if all we did was help from the shadows, at the end of the day it was better than nobody helping at all.

But tonight? I wasn’t expecting things to go differently. I was expecting an easy going conversation with a girl that I considered as my friend…and nothing else! Nope. But no, my family had to step in at some point. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so…awkward.

“So I told her that yes I do live on a boat but that it’s also none of her business!” Y/N was rambling about how her day had went, especially since she’d ran into someone she had known from high school. She had only graduated last year but nonetheless she wasn’t comfortable with people judging how she lived her life. “Good for you.” I chuckled warmly. Watching Y/N talk had slowly became one of my favorite things, maybe it was the way she described things or how she moved as she reenacted scenes but all I did know was that she looked beautiful. Wait, what?

A sharp tone sounded from Y/N’s bag, taking the irritating device out she answered it. “Oh! Hi Mom.” She blushed as she turned to face me, indicating the door she mouthed to me ‘Is it okay if I take this?’. I nodded, as if she had to ask, I knew she didn’t talk to her parents that often so who was I to say she couldn’t take a phone call?

Shooting me a bright smile before she scooted out the door, she gave me a small wave. I was still waving back even after she had closed the door. What was I doing? All we ever did was talk but I found myself wanting…more? God, just having her as my friend was enough and I was grateful for that but it felt like I had known for a long time that I was looking for a lot more than friendship. Maybe this was why I had kept her away from the others?

*Third person POV*

Crawling through one of the many warehouse windows, the others gazed down at Leo. He was alone and looked a bit…sad? Raph couldn’t help but feel like he was right, maybe the girl was working for the foot and had only just revealed it to Leo after he had given her all the information. On the other hand he should probably check in with his brother before jumping the gun, like he had ever done that before? There was something about how Leo was holding himself that made Raph think twice.

Jumping down, the others followed, with Casey falling into a pile of boxes becoming a clear indicator to Leo that he was no longer alone. Shooting up from his makeshift chair (a crate) Leo skittishly met the eyes of his brothers. “Oh-Hey! Hey guys…what’s up?” Blushing all kinds of shades of green, Leonardo internally face palmed at how he handled their arrival.

“What’s up? What’s up! You have been leaving the lair without telling us for months Leo! Months! We’re worried! That’s what’s up!” Raph yelled. He may not have jumped the gun but he still had a right to be angry. “I’ve…I’ve been busy Raph.” He mumbled pathetically, embarrassed. “Busy? How can you be busy? You haven’t got many hobbies besides taking down the foot! So unless you’ve been doing missions by yourself I want to know exactly what you’re doing?! No excuses!” Raph questioned harshly, Donnie and Mikey just looked disappointed with April and Casey awkwardly standing there witness the family argue. Well, one-sidely argue.

“I…met someone.” The leader muttered, hoping it wouldn’t go as badly as it had so far. “Oh you mean that girl? Who is she? Do you even know Leo? She could be working for the bad guys did that even cross your mind?!” The ran banded turtle accused. “She’s my friend and she saved me! If she was our enemy she would have left me! Or she would’ve hurt me by now, she wouldn’t have let it go on for this long!!” He finally snapped, not wanting Raph to turn his anger to Y/N. She didn’t deserve it after all she had done.

“Look bro just because you got a girlfriend doesn’t give you the right to just flake out on us and not tell us.” Mikey rubbed his arm, sad that all of the lying had to lead to this (but realistically how else was it going to turn out). “Mike I never meant for-wait you think she’s my girlfriend?” Leo’s blush returned in full force. The fact that other people saw it too made him think he wasn’t going crazy? “Well she is. Isn’t she?” April perked up.

“Uhhh-” Before Leo had a chance to explain the warehouse door creaked open. “Hey sorry that took so long my mom wanted to tell me about…macarons?” You seemed to question yourself as your eyes met the three other turtle men and two people. “Um…Hi?” You waved awkwardly, making your way over to Leo. “You didn’t tell me there were others like you?” You laid your doe eyes on him and all of a sudden it felt like his legs were made of jelly.

“Um, I didn’t know when to bring it up?” His voice squeaked as he smiled uneasily. “Well anyway, I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you!” You beamed as you looked back at the turtles, making eye contact with the one that seemed to be glaring at you. “Huh, I’m sure you’d love for him to tell you everything wouldn’t you?” Raph snarked “Raph don’t.” Donnie finally spoke up. “No, maybe I should because nobody else will, not even Leo! Who’s supposed to be our fearless leader. It’s ridiculous! He’s so distracted he has no idea if she’s gonna stab him in the back or not.” Donatello glared at his brother as he made his argument right in front of you.

“Wait, you think I’m going to betray your trust?” Turning back to Leo, you needed to know if this was true. “My brothers do. I don’t think you would.” You could tell he was being sincere by how he was looking into your eyes. It made you want to melt. “Hey! Don’t group us into Raph’s spiel! We don’t even know her yet. Besides I don’t see why this is so different from when we met April and Casey.” Mikey reasoned. “Mike’s right. I’m April by the way.” She shook your hand, smiling warmly. “I’m Casey.” He introduced by waving behind the reporter.

“And I’m Michelangelo! Leo’s younger brother and the best looking of the group!” He winked as he slung an arm around you. Jealousy flared up in him for a moment, he shoved him off of you. “Sorry about him, he doesn’t know personal space is a thing!” He growled at the orange banded brother. You laughed at the interaction, “I didn’t know they were your brothers! That’s so cool!” Placing a hand on Leo’s arm you watched him calm down at your touch.

“Anyway I’m Donatello, some would say I’m the brains either way I’m far more intelligent than these knuckleheads.” The purple banded turtle quipped before Raph could throw a punch at him. You were still a bit nervous about him, he clearly didn’t trust you and was very protective of Leo and his family. “Don’t worry, if the others are okay, Raph will be too. He just needs time.” It was as if Leo could read your mind. With the amount of time you two had spending together lately, you wouldn’t be surprised if he had picked up on your mannerisms.

*a couple hours later*

“I mean…it wouldn’t be all that bad if Leo brought you by the lair sometime. Maybe even meet master Splinter.” Raph admitted. You’d thought it would take a couple of days, months maybe to earn even a shred of trust. Although the way you treated and held yourself around his brothers convinced him that you didn’t have a malicious bone in your body.

“Thanks Raphael.” You smiled politely, trying your best to not show how tired you really were. The others had called it quits for the night after hanging out for a bit, dawn was almost here and the turtles couldn’t be seen in daylight hours. “I’ll see you all soon, alright?” Patting down your pockets, you started to back away, double checking you hadn’t forgotten anything. “Aw hell yeah! Next time we see you, we’re playing Mario kart ‘kay?” Mikey pointed finger guns at you before bounding away. “Sure!” you giggled.

Donnie nodded, bowing slightly before walking alongside April and Casey who were yawning, leaning against each other. “I’ll walk you back to the boat.” Leo offered, giving you that smile with all the warm feelings behind it. “Thanks.” You grinned back, kicking the snow in your path into the frigid water below. Living at the docks was usually cold, but with Leo around it made you forget how alone you were, how cold reality was. You wish he was around more often but after tonight you realized how much he had given up just to come and see you. Even though what he did was wrong it made you feel…special, like you were special to him.

“Is it true you snuck away from your family just to see me?” Curiosity boiled over, the look on Leo’s face confirmed it. He felt guilty, you know that, but had it been worth it? “Yeah…it’s true. I just, didn’t know how to tell them…how to tell you, I can’t even imagine what master splinter would say if he found out I got knocked out so easily and was rescued by…you.” It seemed a bit back handed the way he had phrased it, like his father wouldn’t like you, but the way he had said it was completely different. His whole demeanor had turned soft and a short walk felt like it lasted an eternity.

When you reached the boat, facing him before saying goodbye, searching for the words you knew you had to say. Leo beat you to it. “I don’t want to make anything awkward between us after tonight. I hope you know that the last couple of months have been really…special, to me. I just want to know if they’ve been special to you too.” He admitted albeit sheepishly. “Of course they have Leonardo. I don’t think I could ever be awkward around you, if anything you calm me down. Even that night when I found you out cold in the shed, I knew I should have been panicking but knowing you needed help, my help, calmed me right down. Somehow I found the strength to get you back.” You let a little laugh, feelings bubbling beneath your words. You just wondered if he felt it too.

“I’m happy to have you in my life and I knew that meant introducing you to my family eventually. I just wasn’t expecting it to be in the form of an interrogation.” You both burst out laughing at that one. Starting to see color in your peripheral vision, you knew the sun was waking up. “Leo tonight was awesome, I don’t mind that you kept your family a secret, for whatever reason. Besides I look forward to beating Mikey at Mario kart.” Chuckling uneasily, you didn’t want to say goodbye, even if you were going to see him the next night. It had become less and less easy as your feelings towards him had grown. He gave you a half smile before stepping forward, the beginnings of sunlight glinting in his eyes. Your heart rate picked up as you realized you were practically chest to chest. “I’ll see you tonight.” He breathed. You could…you wanted to, but was it the right moment? Of course it was, but you could tell he was nervous underneath. His eyes were searching every other part of your fave besides your eyes and…lips. “See you.” You whispered slowly, dragging out the moment.

That was when his eyes met your lips, his head tilted slightly, sun rays creeping dangerously up his skin. All it took was breaking down the last of your resolve and trusting your toes to carry you the rest of the way. It was a brief brushing of lips, eyes meeting before he wrapped his arm around your back, his other hand cupping your cheek. He was surprisingly warm, each kiss told you that, even with your eyes closed you could tell he was smiling. He was buzzing with such happy energy. Wrapping your arms around his head in a prom-esque kind of way, you leaned into him, soaking in all the warmth before he pulled away for air.

You could see the sun rising in the blue, but you knew he was staring at you. “I really wish I didn’t have to go right now. I wish I could stay.” Leaning his forehead on yours, his hands on your hips now. All you could do was smile up at him. “Just think of it as something to look forward to tonight.” You smirked. “Heh, I tried to tell Mikey that I wasn’t ‘cruising’ or whatever but I realized tonight I kind of was.” He flirted back, kind of. “You tell yourself that honor boy, I’m the one who found you in the shed.” You laughed before giving him a gentle push.

“See you.” He pecked your lips again before finally separating from you. “See you then.” Beaming, you stepped onto the boat, watching him jog away with a wide grin on his face. Before you knew it he was out of sight and you were doing a little victory dance.

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overdramaticly-dying · 4 years

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Many Unhappy Returns

Sorry for being gone from these for so long! I was really upset after Rise ended, and just sorta lost my energy there for a while- but I am feeling pretty confident that we can get it back!!

In the meantime though, it’ll be fun to talk about some episodes! So per request that is over six months old now (sorry @alwayshere195) Many Unhappy Returns!

- We all know how much the visuals in this show absolutely slap but this episode really kicks it off right away with beautiful scenery

- “Thanks for doing the dirty work for us! Big up Shreddy!” (the fact that this is their super-great-Grandfather makes this so much funnier for reasons I can’t explain)

-Leo would have been seriously injured in the Shredder hadn’t just disappeared like that

- “You fools! You have doomed humanity!” “Have we? No seriously, tell me, this has all been very confusing.”

- “Wow, one season later and I still got full battery, nice!”

- Leo’s overall support of his brothers and his confidence that they can handle it is actually really sweet

- April’s ‘get to safety song’

-”Two data points? You’re hypothesising with two data points? Scoff!”

*Fifteen minutes later*

- ok but just in general, I just really love that they aren’t afraid to have Mikey have genuinely good ideas

- “No one’s responding, I’m the only one who made it!”

- “really? cause’ I thought my overall ninjocity was totally working” “It wasn’t” “I’m pretty sure it was about to...”

- “She’ll help me! I’m the face man, people love me!” “Last time you saw her she tried to kill you.” “Who hasn’t?”

- why are there so many good Leo lines? Also, just in general, despite this being a serious episode, the comedy still slaps while not seeming out of place- this is why I love rise tbhhh

-ngl the entire scene where Splinter tells Leo that Big Mama is his ex is probably one of the funniest things ever

- Splinter apparently met Big Mama in 1984- I kinda wonder if that was a nod to the fact that the og tmnt comic books came out in ‘84

- Splinter’s story is actually really sad tho- he lost so many people in his life, and finally thought he had found happiness with Big Mama, who he assumed was just a driver, not even an actor. Then he was betrayed by her.

-Big Mama’s assistant is there, just standing around and looking cool while the entire fandom begs to know if it’s Venus de Milo

- Leo’s whole plan while Splinter just freaks out in the back

- out of context, this shot is great, but with added context, it’s even better. Like u know that awkward moment when your grandfather walks in on you trying to kill him?

- eventually Donnie just goes on his phone while their tickling Shredder, and Mikey just chills on Shredder’s shoulders. Like sure, why not

- “You have thrown me into the lion’s den!” “I think it’s more of a kraken’s den”

- It’s the first time we hear Splinter say Leonardo’s name fully, and he’s just telling him to shut tf up

- “My other sons would’ve taken this seriously!” *cuts to them tickling Shredder*

- FREAKIN MIKEY LIFTING THAT ENTIRE BOAT????? IT’S AWESOME

-asdfghjjhgfd foreshadowing as to what the drill is for??? yes please not to mention the shot is just simply amazing

- APRIL FREAKING O’NEIL WHO GOT A CRANE LICENSE BC OF POSSIBLE FIGHTS WHERE IT MIGHT BE USEFUL???? WE STAN but also what was that conversation like with her parents

-Kraken Tom and the Evil Six. Why is that so funny.

- ngl, Leo’s plan reveal actually had me gasping the first time I watched it. Like idk, despite them showing several times in the first season that Leo is incredibly smart and good at planning, it never clicked in until this episode for me, and I think that was a pretty popular experience- the audience realized just how smart Leo actually was at the same time Splinter did, but it was still seriously foreshadowed and didn’t feel random- just A+ writing for ya there folks

- “I have calculated that this is the site of our final resting spot- I mean, go team!”

- Donnie with his own headstone will forever be iconic and relatable af, but also just another way to add in how much I love the team behind Rise, and how much effort they put into this show

- Leo guessing that April finally used her crane license was kinda sweet tho

- “Trust me.” “I do.”

- Donnie and Mikey are both so terrified while they fight, but they still do it, and idk, I think it’s really important that they showed main characters who are still strong and fight despite being scared.

- WHOLESOME- also Splinter hugging Leo tightly idk I just think it’s sweet

- Splinter just shoving his sleeping children into the sewers gives off tired dad vibes and we stan

- one last thing: I love how in Rise, you really get the sense that they don’t want to be fighting the Shredder, they don’t ever want to deal with this. You want them to beat the Shredder because you know they have ‘normal’ lives to get back to, that ultimately they’re kids who still want to get back home in the end, and while I doubt any of the other tmnt turtles wanted to fight their Shredder, it hits a little differently in Rise- maybe that’s because we see a lot more of their normal lives- but I thinks it’s really cool that the writers provided a scenario like that.

tl;dr- this is an epic episode, but the more serious nature of the plot doesn’t mean that it lacks the comedy- in fact, the tone matches with the rest of the show perfectly, and it’s seriously awesome that they managed to pull it off. It’s a great episode for the start of a new season, and has a bunch of foreshadowing as well.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #risingepisodetalks #tmnt 2018 #long post

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karkat62 · 3 years

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TONIGHT’S COMMENTS WILL BE ON CATS DON’T DANCE (1997). THIS FILM WAS SPECIFICALLY (AND REPEATEDLY, IN THE MOST ANNOYING WAY POSSIBLE) REQUESTED BY @hauteurhaunted. THIS ONE’S FOR YOU, SUCKER.

CATS DON’T DANCE IS A MUSICAL FILM ABOUT A CAT NAMED DANNY WHOSE BIG DREAM IS TO BE AN ACTOR IN HOLLYWOOD, SPECIFICALLY STARRING IN AN UNSPECIFIED “BIG PICTURE”. WITH HIS GOAL IN MIND, DANNY SETS OUT TO THE PLACE WHERE MOVIES ARE MADE AND GOES ABOUT IT IN THE MOST BASIC WAY THAT HE CAN: THROUGH A TALENT AGENT SPECIALIZING IN ANIMAL ACTORS. THERE HE MEETS A VARIETY OF FELLOW ANIMALS, ALTHOUGH MOST ARE UNIMPORTANT, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ANOTHER CAT NAMED SAWYER. DANNY’S DREAMS ARE SOON JUSTLY SHOT OUT OF THE SKY BY AN UNWIELDY GOD HURLING A LIGHTNING BOLT (AKA JUST A FAMOUS CHILD ACTOR WHO IS ALSO A COMPLETE BRAT). NOW FACED WITH REALITY, DANNY BOUNCES BETWEEN HIS NORMAL HOPEFUL OPTIMISM AND GIVING UP. SOME MINDLESS STUFF HAPPENS IN THE MIDDLE. THE WHOLE FILM CULMINATES IN THE GROUP OF ANIMALS SHOWING THE ANTAGONIST, DARLA, WHAT’S WHAT. THE END.

I’D LIKE TO BEGIN BY BRIEFLY COVERING WHY FILMS TAKE ON THE GENRES AND STYLINGS THAT THEY DO IN ORDER TO PORTRAY THEIR STORY. WHEN BASED ON TRUE STORIES, MUSICALS TEND TO OPERATE IN A UNIQUE REALM BETWEEN REALITY AND FICTION, GIVEN THAT IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE, PEOPLE DON’T JUST GO AROUND BREAKING OUT INTO SONG, EVEN IF THAT WOULD BE THE EASIEST WAY TO END MY FORSAKEN LIFE. WHEN RESTING COMPLETELY IN FICTION, MUSICAL NUMBERS ARE TYPICALLY USED TO FEATURE WILD AND ASININE PLOT ELEMENTS, OVER THE TOP EFFECTS, AND A BLATANT ATTEMPT TO GET ON THE HUMAN TOP 40 CHART. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT MAKES A MUSICAL GOOD OR BAD IS TYPICALLY WHAT THE CREATIVE TEAM IS USING THE MUSIC FOR. IS IT BEING UTILIZED IN A WAY THAT PUSHES THE STORY FORWARD? DOES IT TELL US MORE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS? IS IT JUST THROWN IN THERE BECAUSE IT’S BEEN FIVE MINUTES SINCE SOMEONE LAST CARRIED A NOTE AND WE DON’T WANT THE AUDIENCE TO FALL ASLEEP? TYPICALLY, THE MOST WIDELY REGARDED MEDIA OF THIS GENRE USES MUSIC TO REVEAL ASPECTS OF CHARACTER AND PORTRAY ACTIONS IN A FLUID, YET REVEALING, MANNER. THE MUSIC ISN’T THROWN IN HAPHAZARDLY JUST TO HAVE A NOTE OR TWO, IT’S USED BECAUSE IT’S THE BEST MEDIUM TO TELL THE STORY. AS MANY IN THE BROADWAY INDUSTRY SAY, “YOU SING WHEN YOU CAN NO LONGER SPEAK.”

SO. WHERE DOES THIS FILM FALL INTO THAT MIX? WELL. WHY DON’T WE PUT IT LIKE THIS: THE FILM IS 75 MINUTES LONG, WHICH ISN’T PARTICULARLY LONG EVEN FOR AN ANIMATED FILM, AND IT FEATURES 8 SONGS, EACH ONE STRETCHING FOR 2-4 MINUTES. EVERY SONG IS HEARD BY ALL CHARACTERS, AND ONLY ONE REVEALS ANYTHING THAT A CHARACTER MIGHT OTHERWISE NOT SAY ALOUD. SO! WITH THAT IN MIND. IT’S A SHITTY FUCKING EXAMPLE OF THE MUSICAL GENRE. “BUT KARKAT! CAN’T A MUSICAL FILM JUST BE FUN??? DOES IT ALL HAVE TO MEAN SOMETHING?????” OF COURSE IT CAN BE FUN, DIPSHIT. THE ISSUE ISN’T THAT IT’S NOT FUN, THE ISSUE IS THAT IT TRIES TO BE A MOVIE THAT IS *MORE* THAN FUN. IT TRIES TO MAKE COMMENTARY, BUT DOESN’T FULLY COMMIT ITSELF BECAUSE THE COMMENTARY IT’S SPEAKING ON ISN’T A FUN TOPIC, SO INSTEAD IT FALLS FACE-FIRST INTO MEDIOCRITY, RIGHT BETWEEN “GOOD AT MAKING COMMENTARY” AND “GOOD AT BEING FUN” BECAUSE IN 75 MINUTES, YOU CERTAINLY CAN’T BE BOTH.

TO EXPAND A LITTLE MORE ON THE IDEA OF MUSICAL NUMBERS TELLING US SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHARACTER THAT THEY’RE INCAPABLE OF SPEAKING, I’D LIKE TO QUICKLY TAKE A LOOK AT THE BROADWAY SHOW BANDSTAND. THIS IS A GREAT SHOW TO COMPARE TO CATS DON’T DANCE, BECAUSE THE FOUNDATION OF STORYTELLING IS THE SAME: IN CATS DON’T DANCE, THE CHARACTERS ARE WANNABE ACTORS AND SINGERS, SO OF COURSE THEY’RE SHOWCASING THEIR TALENTS AND NOT JUST SPEWING THEIR GELATINOUS SONG CHUNKS INTO THE VOID OF THE PANSPACE WHERE NO ONE CAN HEAR THEM. IN BANDSTAND, THE CHARACTERS ARE (YOU GUESSED IT!) IN A BAND, USING THE SAME EXCUSE FOR MANY OF THE MUSICAL NUMBERS TO BE HEARD BY ALL. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO IS THAT BANDSTAND STILL TAKES THE CHARACTERS ASIDE TO GIVE THEM CHARACTER-DRIVEN NUMBERS THAT ALLOW US TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEM. MEANWHILE, *EVERY* MUSICAL PIECE IN CATS DON’T DANCE IS SOME IN-UNIVERSE VOYEUR’S WET DREAM, BECAUSE THEY JUST TO SOAK UP EVERY JUICY WORD OF IT. IN BANDSTAND, WE GET TO LEARN OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS’ EMOTIONAL PLIGHT, WHAT DRIVES THEM TO MAKE THEIR CHOICES, AND HOW EXACTLY THEIR EXPERIENCES IN THE WAR HAVE CHANGED THEM. WE GET DEPTH AND BACKSTORY, ALTHOUGH I WILL ADMIT THAT THIS IS EASIER TO ACHIEVE GIVEN THAT IT HAS A LONGER RUNTIME THAN CATS DON’T DANCE. STILL! WHY DON’T WE GO AHEAD AND COMPARE A SONG FROM EACH. THE FIRST SONG OF BANDSTAND, TITLED “JUST LIKE IT WAS BEFORE”, TAKES US THROUGH THE EXPERIENCES OF ONE DONNY (HEY! ALMOST SAME NAME) NOVITSKI IN SOME.... HUMAN WAR. WHATEVER. ANYWAY. WITHIN THE FIRST MINUTE AND A HALF OF THE SONG, WE’RE GIVEN HIS TRAUMATIC BACKSTORY BEFORE MOVING INTO CURRENT TIMES, GOING FROM A SLOW-MOVING WEIGHTY SONG TO SOMETHING UPBEAT AND HOPEFUL AS HE RETURNS TO SOCIETY. THE CHARACTERS IN THIS SONG AREN’T *ACTUALLY* SINGING TO EACH OTHER, BUT INSTEAD FLOWING BETWEEN SCENES AND CARRYING OVER THEIR THOUGHTS AND EXPECTATIONS AS THEY GO. WE’RE TAKEN THROUGH MORE LITERAL EVENTS AS WELL, INCLUDING HIM TRYING TO GET A JOB. ETC ETC. MEANWHILE, THE FIRST MAJOR SONG OF CATS DON’T DANCE, “DANNY’S ARRIVAL SONG” TELLS US ONCE AGAIN THAT DANNY WANTS TO BE AN ACTOR AND THAT HE WORSHIPS THE CONCEPT OF HOLLYWOOD, SOMETHING THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN EXPRESSED THROUGH SPEAKING MOMENTS EARLIER IN THE FILM. IT HAS A LYRICAL STRUCTURE OF A GENERIC POP SONG, REITERATING REPEATEDLY THAT HE REALLY LIKES HOLLYWOOD. WOW. HOLLYWOOD. OH LOOK, MORE HOLLYWOOD. THREE FUCKING MINUTES OF “WOW HOLLYWOOD IS COOL”. GREAT. THANKS. I HAD NO IDEA! ANYWAY, IT’S BAD. ALSO THE MUSIC SUCKS.

THE ONE SONG THAT *ALMOST* REDEEMED IT FOR ME WAS “TELL ME LIES” WHICH IS SUNG BY SAWYER, THE FEMALE CAT THAT DANNY MEETS WHEN HE FIRST ARRIVES IN HOLLYWOOD. NOW THIS ONE HAS SOME POTENTIAL! IN IT, SHE EXPRESSES MORE OR LESS HOW SHE’S GOING TO MISS DANNY ONCE HE’S KICKED OUT OF THE CITY, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED BY HER CHARACTER BEFORE BUT NOT TOUCHED ON FULLY UNTIL NOW. GREAT! FINALLY SOME FUCKING DEVELOPMENT. UNFORTUNATELY, IT’S RUINED AT THE LAST SECOND BY A SIDE CHARACTER COMING IN AND GOING “WOW THAT WAS A COOL SONG. HAHA. YOU LIKE A BOY.” WHICH IS PUMPBREAKING FOR ME BECAUSE I WAS ON THE TRACK TO ENJOYING SOMETHING ABOUT THE MUSIC ASPECT OF THIS FILM. OH WELL! ALSO, I’D LIKE TO MENTION THAT I WAS VERY DISTRACTED BY THEIR CHOICE TO INCLUDE A REFERENCE TO THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), IF ONLY BECAUSE IT’S A UNIQUE PIECE OF MEDIA THAT, IF YOU’RE UNAWARE, HAS BEEN STUCK IN COPYRIGHT LIMBO SINCE THE FILM’S RELEASE. IT’S AN INTERESTING TOPIC TO LOOK INTO IF YOU’RE EVER BORED.

AS FAR AS THE REST OF THE STORYTELLING: IT’S FINE, I GUESS. IT’S VERY FAST-PACED, WHICH IS TO BE EXPECTED OF SUCH A SHORT FILM, BUT IT FEELS LIKE I’VE BEEN THROWN DOWN A RIVER AND TOLD THAT I BETTER LEARN HOW TO SWIM ASAP. THE ANIMATION IS LIVELY AND INTERESTING, ALTHOUGH I WILL NEVER BE COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH ANIMATION THAT DOESN’T SPEAK ON THE UNIQUE CHARACTERS. IT’S PRETTY MUCH GOT THE SAME STYLE OF MOVEMENT FOR EVERY LIVING CREATURE IN THE FILM, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DANNY, WHO ALMOST HAS HIS OWN THING GOING ON. ALMOST. MY FAVORITE CHARACTER WAS SAWYER, UNTIL THE CREATORS DECIDED TO LIE TO THEIR AUDIENCE AND TELL EVERYONE THAT LOVE IS REAL, WHICH IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT. THEN SHE WENT SOFT AND THAT ASPECT OF MY ENJOYMENT WAS DOWN THE TUBES, TOO.

ANYWAY. I’M GOING TO END THIS HERE, EVEN THOUGH THERE’S REALLY A LOT MORE TO SAY. OVERALL RATING WAS A 5/10.

AS ALWAYS, IF YOU HAVE ANOTHER FILM THAT YOU’D LIKE ME TO CHECK OUT AND TALK ABOUT, YOU CAN FIND ME IN MY INBOX OR AT [email protected]. SEE YA.

#FILM ESSAYS #IF YOU DECIDE TO TAKE A LOOK AT BANDSTAND #WHICH IS NOT SOMETHING I'D NECESSARILY RECOMMEND #DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LOOK UP THE WARNINGS ABOUT IT FIRST.#IT'S A HEAVY PIECE OF MEDIA.#long post /

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limeblood-exe · 4 years

Text

A Singular, Bloody Mattress (part 1)

tw: blood

The warehouse door bursts open, slamming against the concrete wall; the sharp sound thundering through the thick silence of night. Dust plumes and scatters as the old and abused door falls off its rusted hinges, the only sign of movement besides three masked figures who stealthily make their way inside.

Mikey, wielding an odachi in place of his signature kusari-fundo, frantically glances around the abandoned mattress warehouse, surveying for any threats amongst the giant columns and rows of mattresses with an uncharacteristic expression of apprehension smearing his features. Joined in his search, Donnie approaches a much shorter column of mattresses, about his height, and stops to inspect one with his goggles.

“All clear,” Mikey whispers, determining that the deafening silence means that no present danger is lurking in the shadows. Not that they really expected any threats from a mattress store, but anything's possible when with them.

Glancing behind him at Raph, who stood back for the all clear before entering any further into the building, he waits for further instruction from his leader.

Raph, holding a blanketed figure in his arms, nods at Mikey, and both relax their posture at the promise of no current danger.

“Do you think we were followed?”

Sharing Mikey’s worried expression, Raph tries to smile in an effort to placate his distressed younger brother, though it probably comes out more as a grimace when replying, “With that cool stunt you pulled off earlier? Not a chance. I don’t think those freaky Foot guys were expecting to get roasted with that fire tornado of yours. I bet you they’re running back home with their tails between their legs!”

Mikey responds in kind with a timid smile; he’s always welcome to any of his older brothers’ praise, soaking them up like a needy sponge. Besides, it was pretty cool what he did back there.

None of them had expected to be jumped by those two Foot dudes, having just left April’s house from a fun night of trying out the new board games her parents bought her. Now that he’s thinking back on it, they probably should have been more concerned with the fact that their enemies had actively sought them out rather than the turtles running into them by happenstance. The paper ninjas they commonly used were totally different this time around, and not just because of the change of color scheme (an ugly shade of dark green, if you were to ask Mikey his professional opinion).

They didn’t have any hands.

Well, they did have hands, just in the shape of blades.

Really, really sharp blades.

The vomit-colored paper was obviously mystic, no inspection from Donnie needed. No paper should be allowed to cut cleanly through concrete for goodness sake. It shouldn’t be allowed to cut through shells, either-

Remembering why they were seeking shelter in the first place, Mikey’s gaze darts down to the bundle in Raph’s gentle hold, the blood seeping through the blue blanket. His face immediately falls, and he feels queasy at the sight of the red puddle already starting to form on the floor. Blood that should be inside his brother, not drenching some stranger’s blanket they stole from a clothes’ line. Mikey opens his mouth but before he can voice his question, he is interrupted by a heavy “plop” to his right. Bodies tensed, Ralph and Mikey whip around for the cause of the noise, only to see Donnie airing out one of the mattresses. Dust clouds the surrounding air, getting caught in the lungs of his unsuspecting brothers and a massive coughing fit follows. Donnie, unperturbed, just drags the offending mattress away from the dust cloud and drops it to the floor, wiping his hands against his thighs with a look of disgust on his face.

Facing Raph, Donnie says, “Lay him down here. I can't get a proper looksy otherwise,” while nodding in the direction of the mattress.

Following his brother's directions, Raph stifles down a cough as he kneels down next to the mattress, but hesitates for a brief moment.

“Don’t worry, Raph, I already scanned it. They’re safe. These mattresses are definitely older than most of Splinter’s clothing, but just as filthy, if you were to ask me, but they’re relatively clean,” Donnie reaffirms him.

“It’s not that, Donnie.”

And it's not. Not really. Swallowing thickly, Raph gently lays down his far-too-quiet and limp brother to the mattress, trying to be as slow and careful his large body will allow him. While Raph was as gentle as he could possibly be, even the faintest of movement jostles his younger brother, and a pitiful whimper escapes from his throat. Raph can’t help but wince, as hurting his own flesh and blood, even unintentionally, makes him feel sick to his stomach.

It doesn’t help that Leo looks absolutely awful. From what’s peaking out from the blanket, his eyes are pressed tightly shut, skin cool and clammy to the touch, and sweat beads at his creased forehead. He sounds awful, too, with his rattling lungs gasping for air like he just got done running a marathon, as if he wasn’t just carried for three whole blocks. Raph may not have as extensive of medical knowledge as Leo and Donnie do, what with Donnie’s general interest in all sciences and Leo being the medic of the team, but he knows signs of shock when he sees it.

His brother has lost far too much blood for comfort.

Donnie wastes no time in getting to work, carefully unwrapping Leo from the blanket. Donnie and Raph hiss at what is revealed from the confines of the blanket; a deep gash on the lower left side of Leo’s abdomen, his plastron having been neatly cut through deep enough to injure the skin and tissue that was supposed to be protected by thick shell. Thick rivulets of blood seep from the wound and cascade down Leo’s side even with the gray hoodie, also stolen, wrapped tightly around him to halt the bleeding.

“That doesn’t look good, Donnie,” Raph whispers after a second, trying (and failing) to reel in his worried thoughts about how quiet Leo is. He’s never quiet; it's basically Leo's given nature to never shut up. Yet, here they are now, and Raph would give up just about anything to hear one of Leo’s one-liners.

"No, no it does not," Donnie nods in agreement. His brows are deeply furrowed as he gently prods the edges of Leo’s laceration.

“I’ll have to analyze just how deep the wound is. I have to get the bleeding under control, too, or he won’t even make it back to the lair in time,” Donnie states matter-of-factly. If Raph didn’t know his brother any better or notice the slight shake in his voice or the way his hands trembled, he might believe that Donnie seemed unfazed by his brother’s condition. But he knows, and they all know, that Donnie's attempts at appearing emotionless is just a facade he hides under.

As Donnie starts to delicately remove the sodden hoodie, the fabric gets caught on the jagged skin, causing Leo to let out a sudden gasp, back arching from the sudden pain, and his breathing becomes more erratic. Recoiling, Donnie puts a placating hand on Leo's cheek.

“Shit! Sorry, sorry,” Donnie mutters to Leo, gently thumbing away the tears that start streaming down his face. Raph is so taken aback by Leo’s reaction that he doesn’t even bother to chastise Donnie for his potty mouth.

"Is… is Leo gonna be okay?"

Raph faces his youngest brother, whose arms are clutching tightly around Leo’s sword. Mikey's gaze is locked to the floor, eyes wide with unshed tears. He looks so lost and scared, so devoid of his regular pep and overall cheer, that Raph has to suppress the overwhelming urge to engulf his brother in a giant hug.

His brothers need him right now. He might not be able to help Leo like Donnie can, but he's still their leader. He is still their big brother.

“Leo’s gonna be just fine,” Raph starts, approaching to grasp Mikey’s shoulders in his large hands, squeezing gently. “He’s strong, you know that. Remember that time when we thought Leo got lost in the sewers, and he did, but he found his way back? We spent hours searching for the guy and the cheeky bastard was home the entire time, eating the last of the oreos. Or what about that time he broke his arm doing that stupid double back-flip he saw in a video once when he was seven? He only cried like twice the whole time!"

Mikey looks at him, eyes glistening and mouth wobbling.

"I know my brothers. If there's one thing I can count on Leo, it's that he always pulls through in the end."

Silence fills the air for just a brief moment, filled only with the labored breathing of Leo. That brief moment is all Mikey needs, however. He presses his lips into a thin line and vigorously wipes at his tears with his forearm. After taking a composing breath through his nose, Mikey asks, "What do we do now?”

Isn't that the question. It’s far too dangerous to go back the way they came, not with the Foot Clan still searching for them knowing they have the advantage with one turtle down. And especially not with those new paper ninjas.

They’re incredibly lucky that when Mikey resorted to using his fire tornado, it was discovered that while mystic paper, it was still just paper and fell to the power of its natural enemy. Of course, that was after one managed to get the jump on Leo.

Raph can still vividly feel the gut punch he got when his own brother's screaming pierced his ears, the way his blood chilled in his veins and his heart plummeted. The raw fear of thinking oh god my little brother is dead.

He shakes his head. There'll be time to digest today's events later, when they're home and Leo's patched up and back to his annoying self, using his injury to his advantage so that his brothers may tend to his beck and call. And they'll fall for it too, of course, cause that's what family does for each other.

So, they can’t go back the way they came, what else then? The main sewer entrance for the lair is too far away to just make a run for it, especially being above ground. Raph could have Donnie track down another near manhole, but not only is Donnie currently busy using his tech to scan Leo’s injury checking the severity of it, they'll have no way of knowing if that manhole is connected to their sewer line unless they're in it. And even if that does happen to be connected to the lair, it's still quite a long distance to travel with someone who doesn't have any time to spare.

Dammit, he needs to think! Raph isn't the greatest at coming up with plans; he's always been more of a "smash first, talk later" kind of a guy.

And look where that got them. Raph's baby brother is bleeding out to death, they're being pursued by the stupid flame-heads with deadly (well, deadlier) paper ninjas with nowhere to go, and they're stuck in a mattress store of all places.

Leo would have known what to do. Hell, he'd have gotten them home by now with one of his portals, where they'd be enjoying the rest of their evening with pizza and a movie.

But they're not home. They're stuck with no where to run to, and Raph can't think.

“I-I don’t know," Raph stutters, self-doubt numbing his mind, jumbling his thoughts like clothes in a dryer, spinning and spinning. "I don't-"

“I c'n port'l us.”

Shocked, Raph whips around. Leo, even though his face is twisted with pain and his arms tremble, struggles to hoist himself to his elbows, swatting at Donnie's attempts to push him back down. Leo’s breathing extremely hard from the exertion of just sitting up, but he remains upright out of sheer stubbornness.

“I c’n get us-shit,” Leo grits through his teeth. Donnie, relenting to his brother's will, wraps an arm around Leo's shoulders, taking most of the weight as he leans him up. Glaring up at Raph, eyes blaring with fierce determination, he finishes with more clarity in his voice, “I can get us home.”

“No, absolutely not! Not in the condition you’re in.”

Raph knows that with Leo now awake, they have a chance, a real good chance, of escaping their ridiculous predicament and getting Leo proper medical treatment. And Leo is the only one who can do it; he's the only one who can use his sword after all. But Leo can't even sit up without Donnie's support, which he clarifies as he gestures to Leo, “You can’t even sit upright on your own, how are you gonna hold a 30 lbs sword?”

“Oh yeah? Watch me."

Leo moves to stand up, pulling away from Donnie, but as soon as he draws his legs beneath him and shifts his weight, his eyes roll to the back of his head and he lists to the side. If it weren’t for his older brother, he would’ve faced-planted the floor.

“Woah, woah, easy there ‘Nardo,” Donnie smoothly scolds, pressing his brother back to the comfort of the mattress. Leo hasn’t lost his battle with unconsciousness yet, grasping harshly onto Donnie’s bicep. His big brother grimaces but ultimately ignores it. After Leo's breathing evens out, Donnie gives his younger brother an exasperated look.

“Well, that was the dumbest thing you could have done.”

Leo rolls his eyes.

“Ugh, sh-shuddup, you weirdo asshole.”

Donnie snorts.

“Glad to know your personality is still somewhat intact. Though, I think you're more so the asshole here, seeing as I'm the one trying to be helpful and all.”

"Whatev', you just doin' this for yer own sake."

"Ah, yes. I have been wanting someone to be in my unquestionable debt recently, since I’m entirely incapable of doing anything from the goodness of my heart. Thank you for reminding me, Leon. I’ll be sure to remember this the next time you try to unload your chore duties onto me."

Leo tiredly gives one of his signature smirks, "No problemo."

Donnie's face turns stern.

“But seriously, Raph’s right. Being completely honest with you, I don’t even know how you’re still conscious right now.” Even as they speak, Leo’s eyes start to lose their focus, glazing over with exhaustion. Even eye-rolling and smirking seems to take away any energy he has left, and if Leo wasn't currently bleeding like a stuck pig, he would've gasped at the audacity of it all.

“I can do this," and Leo looks at Raph knowingly. "I always pull through in the end, remember?"

He's using his own words against him, Raph realizes. He must have been awake enough to hear his conversation with Mikey.

And he did say that, but if Raph was honest with himself, he mostly said those words to comfort Mikey. The odds are stacked against his brother right now. He doesn't have general mishaps anymore forming portals, but there are occasional days when Leo still struggles. Today, though, had been an average day, with Leo having successfully transported them directly in April's living room just earlier this evening, but failing to open one to the lair when the game night ended.

And there are plenty of examples of Leo triumphing when he reasonably shouldn't have. But looking at his brother now, bleeding and sickly and dying, he can't help the tendrils of doubt that suffocate him, snaking their way into his subconscious.

But Raph knows his brothers. Even amongst doubt, Leo always does come through, in some way or another.

Raph trusts his brothers, and he will trust Leo in his word that he can get them home.

After all, Raph's not one to make plans. He's never needed to really, not with his brothers by his side.

"I know."

Raph glances over to Mikey, communicating with a single look.

Mikey understands completely.

There's no time to debate whether Leo can do it or not. Every second that passes is another second of Leo losing more blood. Donnie might be pressing the hoodie into the large cut, but it’s not enough to entirely stop the flow.

At that moment, a large crash reverberates from just beyond the warehouse walls, the sound similar to the likes of a building collapsing in on itself. Dread stifles the air; their hiding spot will soon be found, it's only a matter of time.

“You got this," Mikey encourages, presenting Leo with the handle of his odachi. Raph and Donnie watch, faces scrunched with anticipation. As Leo grasps the odachi, he breathes deeply, preparing himself both physically and mentally.

His arm pathetically quivers as he lifts his sword from Mikey's hold. Raising the familiar object to its full weight, Leo heaves himself forward, sending white sparks across his vision as the pain blooms from his side. Blood begins to pool in his mouth as he bites the inside of his cheek to refrain passing out.

Focus.

Focus on his breathing; focus on imagining the lair, the skateboard ramps, the untouched, warm pizza sitting on the counter waiting back home that Splinter had promised them.

Letting all other thoughts evade his mind; let's them fall to the ground like forgotten crumbs off of a home-cooked meal Mikey had prepared; let's them fall off his shoulders and into the drain like water when Leo spends too much time brooding in the shower and his brothers get upset at him for stealing all the hot water again.

Clearing his mind, Leo draws in the formation of a circle with the tip of his sword and blue light zaps and sparkles from his odachi.

But no portal forms. Halfway through, his muscles seize up, locked with overexertion, and he can't complete the circle. His sword lowers to rest on the ground, nearly falling from his grip altogether, his arms too tired to properly hold it.

His body has betrayed him, refusing to move when he commands it; feeling like he's trying to move around in thick syrup.

He didn't do it. His brothers' faith in him was misguided, and they're all gonna die here, not just Leo.

No! Not wanting to give up, Leo tries again. An even more pathetic attempt than the first. His body protests his wishes, and his sword stays put as though it trying to tell him that he's already beat.

Hands are suddenly upon him, grasping the hilt of the odachi next to his own and resting on the back of his shell. His brothers are here, helping him bear the weight alongside him.

"We gotchu, Leo!" There's Mikey's positive attitude, refreshing to hear as always. "Just focus on making a portal, we'll take care of the rest."

In the distance, another boom can be heard, louder and closer than before. Raph faces the direction it came from, protectively standing over his brothers as Mikey and Donnie crouch beside Leo.

Reaching his zen mode, confidence from knowing he's not doing this alone, Leo directs his sword to move in a circular motion, his two brothers following his lead and finishing in a perfect circle.

And like a miracle itself, a beautiful brilliance of blues fills the dark warehouse, and a perfect portal stares back at them.

Quick successions of multiple slashes can be heard, and the wall behind them explodes, raining heavy chunks of concrete and plaster all around them. Mattresses, carried by the blast, careen through the air, experiencing freedom for the first time in so many years.

Wasting no time, Donnie throws Leo over his shoulder despite the weak protest, leaping into the portal. Behind him, Mikey and Raph follow, but not before Mikey gives the Foot Heads a taunting wave, blowing raspberries as he jumps through the portal. Leaving behind two very frustrated villains, having been outsmarted once again by the turtles and left with nothing but a single dusty and bloody mattress for their efforts, they can do nothing but stew in their hatred.

"Gah, those pesky turtles," the shorter one of the duo rasps. They had gotten so close this time, too. But they still have their new weapons at the ready; all they need as another opportunity to strike, then those pests will never bother them again.

Just as they're about to leave the warehouse, the larger of the two stops by the mattress, picking up what looks like a familiar blanket.

"Hey wait a minute, isn't that-" He doesn't get to finish that statement, with a scraping scream interrupting him.

"Noo! My Lou Jitsu: Punch Chowder hoodie!"

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt fanfic #rottmnt leo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #my writing #blood //#injury //

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we-rate-tmnt · 4 years

Note

I request: Leonardo. Please and thank you 🙏.

Idk if everyone loves Leo or if my header and avatar just remind everyone about this amazing blue boy. (This one’s super silly btw. I’m just sillier as time goes on. Character development I guess?)

The iconic leador Leonardo (1987)

Bro idk why but I loved this Leo. I have a tiny memory, especially with this version but I clearly remember that I thought he was the funniest and the coolest. I mean, he had swords, what was I supposed to do as a 7-year-old. NOT like him??? Anyway, while Raph was the best at insult comedy, I think Leo had the best puns and punchlines. I really like how nonchalant this Leo is compared to his iterations, going along with really silly ideas and having fun along the way. But because of this, his leadership is a little forced at times, he seems like such a chill and fun dude that when he gets serious, I have to squint and ask ‘are you Leo? Or were you just putting on act a moment ago?’ Or my perception is entirely warped over time. Either way, good turtle boy, could have used some work tho. 5.7/10

Here comes grumpy lad wooo this is all read very monotone btw Fearless Leader (2003)

What. What the fuck happened. I was actually so confused when Leo turned really angry and serious and almost manic. I thought that episode when he popped into Casey’s window and was like ‘Hey bitch lets go beat the shit out of some lowlifes’ I was WOAH THERE BUDDY BACK UP BACK UP BACK TF UP. It was so sudden to me and when it was finally explained, it made some sense??? Like yeah, character development is great an’ all but this ain’t it chief. I can’t imagine what it was like having to wait for these episodes to release one at a time. Bc I watched every episode back to back on Youtube and I was genuinely bamboozled. But when you have an experience like that where guilt is weighing down on you from a situation you couldn’t control, it would’ve been HELLA HELPFUL to have at least a flashback, like a line saying ‘I was so useless!’ at BARE MINIMUM. Like right after Shredder is booted off to Planet Zula, Donnie would notice that Leo didn’t seem all that happy and would ask why and Leo would get upset and yell at Donnie saying that ‘You wouldn’t understand’, ‘You don’t know how I felt, how I feel because of that’, etc. Like you don’t even have to say he felt guilty or helpless, just give us something to grab onto. We’re merely six-year-olds who thought they could climb the YMCA rock wall in easy mode but instead the script riders harnessed us up on the hard one and wouldn’t let us come down until we rang the little bell at the top. I think that is the only problem I had with his Leo. The sudden change of calm and decisive to angry and irrational was so jarring that it felt unnatural without that crucial context. If you want a surprise reveal, at least hint at the reveal (like just about every Disney movie with their ‘twist’ villains) not wait until the very last moment. I think this might be my least favorite Leo and I think the season where he stood out the most and seemed the strongest was Fast Forward (Which was GOOD FIGHT ME), especially in scenes with Dark Leo, his clone. He sees so much of himself in Dark Leo but he also sees something he had once grasped (AKA the poorly written character arc, I CANNOT stress how bad I thought it was). Although, I honestly think he’s a really good character and he’s a pretty neat guy. However, this score is entirely held up by Fast Forward and his connection with Usagi, sword bros to the end of time. 3/10 (2 for FF and 1 for Usagi)

And now a Leo that makes me genuinely feel UWU Leo (2012)

I cannot stress how much I like this guy! Like his design is so appealing, his dedication, his obsession with Space Heroes, like I FUCKING LOVE IT. And everyone knows, that shit with Karai, at first when they didn’t realize they were related, I can let slide but kajsdflksadf what even like why did the writers feel the need to add in more ‘love interest’ implications like yuck yuck yuck. The only two interactions with Leo and Karai that I really like are when Leo defeats her using the healing hands technique and when Leo has a goth/emo/punk/idk I’m new here phase and they team up and EXPLOSIONS. He was introduced to us as being incredibly naive and his idea of leadership is from some old cartoon that’s basically star trek but ethically questionable. After his fights in season 1, to the finale with the technodrome, you can see his growth. He’s able to formulate plans and make life or death decisions. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. When Leo got hurt, I felt like the oof sound effect mixed with some tears I normally shed at some Shojo manga bs. While the episodes following were super weird, it was a nice way to help Leo recover, not only physically but spiritually (Although I don’t remember the spirit arc at all except the epic Raph vs Fishface fight, so we’re skipping that). When Master Splinter really died, you could tell there was a huge impact on Leo, but he had to remain stoic and lead the family now. A lot of heartbreaking moments in this series came from Leo and I’m glad they took at least some thought into developing him. Tiny head Leo will haunt my nightmares, but the giggly fanboy will warm my heart constantly. 6/10

I only have one word for this Leo (Heroes in a Half Shell: Blast to the Past)

This is a super crazy bad idea accent on the super crazy bad part have I mentioned it’s also a really terrible idea/10

Okay, spoiler alert, didn’t really think this Leo was that grand Leo (2014/2016)

Painfully average. He didn’t stand out that much, Raph was part of the focus and had that touching scene at the end, Donnie was ICONIC and Mikey (with his weird-ass eyes) was super lively and funny! Leo? Uh, I don’t remember a single line he said. Because he never really grabbed my attention, I don’t have too much to say on this version. The Raph and Leo fight felt forced and the whole ‘keep this stuff that could turn us human a secret’ was pretty pointless and was added just to cause drama, I don’t even remember what that Splinter and Leo conversation was about. Design-wise, really neat! You can see some more traditional Japanese clothing/style mixed with modern (I’d feel a lot better about this assumption if some could tell exactly what the heck he’s wearing, but I get traditional Japan warrior vibes from it) in his look which was super neat! Other than that, if you like him, please tell me why because I don’t get. He was just kinda eh. 5/10

AHHH MY BOY YASSS WHOOO!! Neon Leon (2018)

Okay, I loved Ben Schwarts already from Parks and Rec but like him being Sonic AND Leo, like DUDE. He’s super funny by himself but teamed up with this shows writing and animation, it makes it hilarious. I literally love this Leo so much, maybe because we’re alike but honestly, he’s amazing. I love his design with the red and yellow crescents accenting his skin and livening up his color pallet. He has a very healthy and natural dynamic with his brothers, he’s the first to know what’s wrong and tries his best to make up for his actions. This is really prominent in the most recent episodes, along with the episode portal jacked. In both, Leo is separated from his brothers. Portal Jacked is in a more literal sense, while Air Turtle handles in more of an emotional sense. While both are brief, Leo sees his error and tries his best to make it up to them. I love his dynamic so much and it’s so nice to see something like this compared to the unnecessary drama and tension between the brothers in the previous series. It’s refreshing and this is something a younger audience needs to see; instead of fighting, it’s better to work together and improve yourself along the way. Improvement is a big theme for Leo here. He’s a goofball, makes jokes at every opportunity and isn’t quite skilled at fighting or using his weapon. But he grows over time, he learns to manage his power and he’s working on mastering it. He’s trying to put aside his narcissism more and focuses on his family. I think the approach they took with him rising to leader rather than slapping it on his forehead was the goddamn best decision they could make. He’s making plans, finding loopholes, helping out and getting out of his comfort zone. I cannot stress how well this show has handled Leo, along with the other characters. I can’t wait to see more episodes about his growth and I am awarding him with one of the greatest honors I could give... 10/10

Storytime: I drew a super cute 2012 Leo, you should look at him. Shameless self-promo, but you should follow me on my main blog bc I’m nice and I draw pretty pictures. Also. I have a little 2012 Leo Happy Meal toy??? I think??? guarding my window and he’s been there for YEARS. I need to bring him in and refresh his paint job.

Wow! I didn’t expect this many requests for Leo, so the blog will be momentarily spammed with the requests, but it shouldn’t be too much! Up next should be the last turtle (Mikey) and then we can get to some REALLY great requests I’m eager to answer. As usual, please comment and reblog! I’d love to hear your opinion!

#Tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #leonardo #1987 leo #2003 leo #2012 leo #2014 leo #2016 leo #rottmnt leo #Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #asks #I forgot how my tagging system worked

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kazdoesntknow · 4 years

Text

The Return, Pt. 2

aka im a lazy shit and can’t seem to write a story where there are genuine chapters because my mind says “no, do this first!” so i’m doing parts so then you guys can somewhat get the timeline. somewhat.

PLOT: a week after leo's return, him and raph attempt to break the tension between them, but it does not go as raph had planned.

CHARACTERS: leonardo, raphael.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: family argument, cursing, death mentions, self harm mention.

They both look at each other, emerald green eyes meeting an oceanic teal, brother facing brother. Raph had previously thought Leo to be dead in the two years he had been missing. He’d never thought his little brother would ever be returned to him, until a week ago, where it was as if Leo had returned from his grave and left a piece of himself inside it. His brother, who had previously been haunting his nightmares in presumed death, had been revealed to be in the land of the living, at least physically.

But he’s different now. Holds a sadder ambiance, the air of a man who has been broken too many times and now struggled to keep on going. Two years prior, Leo had been this constantly buzzing social butterfly with jokes easy on his lips and a grin stitched across his face. Now, there was no sign of any happiness within him. Only dull eyes- one that brilliant teal, the other blind and scarred and burned with that milky blue pupil holding a glare within it, surrounded by the bloodshot appearance of the white of his eye. His bandana was missing and he hadn’t taken it upon himself to grab another from his room, his plastron scarred from what Raph assumes being cut into, the wounds scattered across his body making Raph’s mind cower in fear every time he looked at them. Leo.... he had walked through Hell and exchanged secrets with the Devil, learned the world’s closest regrets and now beheld them. Knocked on Death’s door and left after supper.

Raphael has no idea what to say. So he starts quietly with a fragile attempt. “You.... came back.”

Leo’s gaze lifts to meet the red-clad turtle’s green one. Those eyes accusatory, but of what, Raph couldn’t tell. Though he also isn’t sure if he’s imagining it or not, either. “I promised, didn’t I?” The words sound like something the old Leo would say, but the tone was all wrong. Not holding that joy, that bright charisma, that snarky attitude. Just.... bland. Emotionless.

“I... Leo, I know you promised, but it’s been so long that I-”

“You thought I was dead and gave up.” Leo cuts him off sharply, and Raph falls quiet. “You gave up on searching. Fine.” His gaze drops back to the cup of tea he has in his hands. His sleep time tea, something to make him fall asleep, but it had never worked on the insomniac before.

“I’m sorry.”

Leo doesn’t bother with a reply, nor does he bother to acknowledge his elder brother. He just brings the hot tea cup to his lips, sipping it quietly. Sets it down with a clink against the wooden table.

“I should’ve known. Should’ve kept looking. Shouldn’t have lost you in the first place.” He’s ashamed of it. Hates himself for it. “We should have listened to your plan and trusted you. You’re.... You’re our rightful leader.”

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“’Course it does. We gotta get our home back.”

“No, we have to make sure everybody is good enough to fight first.” Leo’s quick to shoot down Raph’s words, his eyes still trained on the cup, as if it were more important. “You can’t bring a team to fight if no one’s head is in the game, Raph. You blame yourself for what happened to me. Mikey’s afraid that one of us will die or get kidnapped again and refuses to believe that reality is the way it is. Donnie cut one of his arms off for what he says is self improvement, but what is really him trying to understand what happened to me. Miko’s blaming herself for Dad’s death. April and Casey are off playing vigilante behind your back. And Lavi’s trying to keep everybody stable when she herself isn’t.” He rises to his feet, his tea returning to it’s spot in his hand. “Two years, Raph. Two years I was thought to be dead. You should have done something. Everyone’s divided- you and Mikey on one side, April and Casey on the other, Donnie and Miko somewhere in between, and Lavi running around trying to keep you all sane.” His gaze hardens, and something in it reads to Raph as hatred and disgust, but Leo couldn’t possibly hate him.... could he? “I had been home for a day and I noticed all of this. This isn’t a team, Raphael. I’m not even sure it’s a family.”

“It ain’t like that. We all love each other.”

“And yet you all fell apart. That love’s fading. You hardly support each other anymore.”

“You weren’t here, so you wouldn’t know that.”

“You’re right! I wasn’t here, because I took a risk so you could all live happily as a family, and look where that got me!” His voice rises to a shout, that anger that was trapped inside him flowing out. Raph had wanted Leo to show some sort of emotion, and apparently Leo was dealing out anger. “I’ve been experimented on, burned, stabbed, sawed into, drugged, injected with who knows what, and then i fought tooth and nail to get back to my family where I thought I’d be able to be happy and safe again only to realize that my abduction had caused you all to seperate!” His free hand waves around as he speaks. “This isn’t the home I loved. This isn’t the team I worked with and trusted. This isn’t the family who I was raised with. Fuck, I don’t even know what this is, but I know it’s broken.”

Raph frowns- was this really what Leo thought? That everything was broken and in shambles? Tears burn in his eyes and he looks away. In a way, he was right. Raph and Mikey relied heavily on each other- Mikey on Raph to calm his anxieties, Raph on Mikey for his fear of being alone and being abandoned. Donnie and Miko, where Miko would draw out Donnie’s frustrations and talk them out with him before talking about her own and both pass out somewhere due to emotional exhaustion. April and Casey, in their vigilante routine that Raph knew about but never tried to stop, where they would go and beat up criminals to calm their anger and try to get some justice for what happened. And Lavi, who ran around trying to take care of everyone, and then she’d collapse on the couch and wake up to do it again the next day. They’d split up in pairs rather than talked as a family, even if they all grieved together. Broken apart.

“You’re right. We should have fixed it sooner.”

“Sure. Fixed it.” Leo sighs. “This isn’t something you just fix.”

“Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!”

Leo’s gaze is like fire. Full of anger, of pent up rage he’s onnly barely let out, his wrapped up furies he keeps mostly contained. He only takes a long sip from his tea. Takes a deep inhale to calm his nerves. Then swallows the rest of the tea in one long gulp, letting out a shudder at the taste of it afterwards, as the sleep time tea doesn’t exactly have the best taste, especially when you drink it quickly.

“Well, Raphael,” he says, setting the tea cup in the sink. “You could start by showing that you actually give a shit.”

He turns on a heel and leaves the room, with Raph staring after him. Because as much as his words hurt, he knew he was right.

Raph needs to get his family back.

#rottmnt #rottmnt au #rottmnt raph #rottmnt leo #tmnt au #cityfall au

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