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thegayhimbo · 4 months

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Stranger Things x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crossover Review

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews. Like, Reblog, and let me know what your thoughts are about the show or the upcoming final season! :)

Stranger Things Reviews/Theories

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tales From Hawkins

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 3 of 3)

Stranger Things Rebel Robin Book and Podcast (Part 1 of 2)

Stranger Things Rebel Robin Book and Podcast (Part 2 of 2)

Stranger Things Hawkins Horrors Review

Stranger Things Flight Of Icarus

Stranger Things Lucas On The Line

Stranger Things Episode Reviews:

The Vanishing of Will Byers (Part 1 of 2)

The Vanishing of Will Byers (Part 2 of 2)

Synopsis: Set before the events of Season 3, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Max take a field trip with Mr. Clarke's class to New York City (with El secretly tagging along) to explore all the sights in the Big Apple. However, when the group gets separated from the class and encounters an old enemy, they're forced to join with some unexpected allies as they attempt to stop a world-ending threat........

Observations:

This is one of those comics where I wish I had been in the writers room so I could understand what their thought-process was.

The premise: Sometime in 1985, the Party is in New York City on a field-trip with Scott Clarke's class (why and how they get this trip arranged is never explained). Along the way, they split from the main group and end up lost in the underground subway. As they try to come up with a plan, they hear sounds coming from the tunnels and go to investigate. Guess who they end up running into?

DEMODOGS...........except with robotic parts attached to them?!

To make this more surreal, the Party gets saved by (you guessed it) the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMMTs for short):

Later on, after introductions are made and explanations given, the kids and TMNTs (with encouragement from their sensei Splinter) discover that:

a.) The robotic demodogs (referred to as Demomousers by Dustin) are being controlled by Baxter Stockman, a mad scientist who's one of the Turtles adversaries.

And b.) There's a gate in NYC allowing demodogs and demogorgons to come through, and the Mind Flayer is preparing to invade.

Realizing they need to join forces, the Party and TMNTs attempt to take down Baxter and the Mind Flayer before they bring ruin to the city.

If all of this sounds weird, you now know how I felt reading it.

I'll admit when it comes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I'm not an expert. I have some knowledge of the franchise from when I was growing up, mainly from the 1987 cartoon and the first two live-action TMNT movies (no, NOT the Michael Bay produced ones), but as far as the comics go, I've never read the original ones. In terms of my knowledge:

I know the 4 turtles are named after famous Italian Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

I know they have a sensei named Splinter, a former human martial arts instructor from Japan named Hamato Yoshi who was transformed into a rat via a chemical mutagen (since the chemical mixes the DNA of living beings who've been in contact with one another, and Splinter had constantly been in contact with rats while living in the sewers).

I know that the turtles were originally ordinary turtles that Splinter adopted in the sewers before they also got infected with the chemical and (because they were in contact with Splinter when he was human) became humanoid turtles.

I know Splinter named and trained the turtles in ninjutsu, adopting them as his students/children.

I know Splinter and the Turtles arch-enemy is Oroku Saki, aka The Shredder. He was responsible for dumping the chemical that transformed them, he runs a criminal ninja organization called "The Foot Clan," and (in the 1987 TV show at least), he has two animal/human hybrid henchmen named Rocksteady and Bebop. Also, Shredder aims for world-domination.

I know Shredder was allied with an alien brain named Krang from Dimension X, and they operated from a station called the Technodrome.

I know there was a scientist named Baxter Stockmam (who's one of the main antagonists in this comic) who created MOUSERS (also present here) that did his bidding and reeked havoc.

I know about April O'Neil, the news reporter who is an ally to the turtles, and Casey Jones, a violent vigilante who wears an ice hokey mask and has a bag of weapons, who is also an ally to the turtles. They make a brief appearance in this comic towards the end:

Finally, I know about this earworm of a song:

vimeo

Like I said, my knowledge primarily comes from the 1987 show and the first two movies. What little I'm aware of about the original comics is that the turtles all wore the same red-eye masks before later media would color-code each turtle (likely so audiences could tell them apart). In typical 80s fashion, the comics were dark and gritty. Judging by how the Turtles are depicted here in this crossover, it appears they based the Turtles characterizations off their original comic book iterations:

This brings me to one of my problems with the crossover: Because it's dead-set on portraying the characters in a grim fashion, it doesn't leave much room for humorous interactions between the turtles and the kids. What little humor is present is either forced, or just recycled jokes from the show. Stranger Things is rooted in the science-fiction/horror genre, but it balances it out by having funny moments between the characters to level out the tension. Same thing can be said for the 1987 TMNT cartoon: Part of what made that work is the creators realized how absurd the premise was, and embraced the weirdness while having fun with it. This comic expects the reader to take the story solemnly, and all it does is highlight the ridiculousness of its premise.

Another issue I have is the whole crossover aspect. I know this isn't unique to TMNT and characters from this franchise have done crossovers with Batman, Power Rangers, Street Fighter, Transformers, Archie Comics, etc. The difference though is that 1.) These were usually done with other superhero or cartoon characters franchises, and 2.) To my understanding, most of those crossovers weren't usually considered canon in either universe.

This comic on the other hand tries REALLY HARD to make itself canon in the Stranger Things universe by setting it between seasons 2 and 3, before The Battle of Starcourt:

On top of that, when the kids and the Turtles finally confront Baxter at his lab about his motivations, he reveals he was a colleague of Dr. Brenner, which is how he knew about El:

This ends up creating several plot-holes:

1.) You'd think that if the events in this comic took place in the show's continuity, the kids would have talked about it at least once during seasons 3-4. I have a hard time imagining, for instance, that Dustin wouldn't have been chatting Steve's ear off about encountering a bunch of humanoid turtles living in NYC sewers, or the Demomousers they had to fight off.

2.) Same problem with Baxter Stockman and Dr. Brenner's relationship: No mention of it on the show? That's not even including how this relationship is at odds with Brenner's character since he considered other people (even fellow scientists) to be beneath him in terms of intellect. Brenner was NOT a man who saw others as his equal.

3.) Since Stranger Things is a show set on referencing 80s media and paying homages to it, and since the TMNTs were a big franchise in the 80s, does that mean the first volumes of the TMNT comics that came out in 1984 don't exist in this universe? Especially when the kids reactions to first encountering the TMNTs is not knowing who they are:

I get that Stranger Things is a fictional show that requires suspension of disbelief when it comes to its science-fiction elements (i.e. The Upside Down, El's powers, etc), but for the most part, it was grounded in a believable way. By that, I mean its universe was set up to be one that could conceivably take place in this reality. From its references to historical moments that occurred in real life, to its disturbingly realistic portrayals of bullying, bigotry, Cold War paranoia, homophobia, racism, government corruption, abuse, forced conformity, trauma and grief, and other social issues, to the whole dynamic of the Party being outcasts trying to survive middle school and high school. It's a coming-of-age story that also acts as a deconstruction of the 80s, and uses science-fiction elements in service of that goal. I've talked before about the Upside Down being a not-so-subtle metaphor for Hawkins and the 80s as a whole: Things look shiny, bright, and appealing on the surface (especially since the 80s continues to be a decade our current culture is obsessed with romanticizing), but when you actually dig deeper, there is rot underneath.

By setting the Stranger Things universe in the TMNT universe, it breaks that illusion in favor of turning it into popcorn entertainment. Some would argue Stranger Things was already this to begin with, but considering how the Duffer Brothers incorporated the themes I've just described into their work when they could have ignored them altogether, and considering how Stranger Things has a passionate fanbase dedicated to analyzing the show, its characters, and how it acts as a commentary for events and situations in the present, I would argue the show transcends that in a way TMNT never could. This comic tries to achieve this, with the Turtles (and Splinter) preaching about the importance of friendship, how everyone has challenges, not being defined by where you come from, etc, but all of these themes were already examined on the show way before this comic ever came out (and in a much more satisfying manner). Here, it comes off as repetitive without offering anything new to the table.

This isn't to say that the comic itself is bad. It still has cool moments and impressive visuals, and the fights between the heroes and the monsters of the Upside Down are a treat to behold:

The levels of detail put into these images is impressive, and it's neat seeing each member of the Party take up weapons to deliver damage to the Mind Flayer and his monsters.

On top of that, there were elements in the comic that (whether intentional or not) tie into the show and leave a lot to chew on.

For example, the whole fight against Baxter Stockman's forces and the Mind Flayer gives an idea of what we might see in Season 5. Whether it's the main characters dealing with Colonel Sullivan (who's still set on capturing El) or Vecna's impending invasion.

Even Baxter Stockman and his ambush of the heroes reminds me of Colonel Sullivan and the soldiers under his command from S4:

There's also Will's description of the Upside Down being worldwide and how the dimension isn't just limited to Hawkins (which is something S4 also confirmed):

There's also the Turtles speculating that El's powers are tied to the Upside Down, which is something I've discussed in my reviews (specifically Six and Suspicious Minds):

Additionally, the comic introduces the idea that there are other dimensions out there besides the Upside Down that can be traveled to.

While I doubt the Utroms (i.e. the alien brains) that the Mind Flayer possesses will be making an appearance in season 5 (or the TMNTs for that matter), the idea of multiple dimensions is something the Duffer Brothers could explore in the final season. It could also give more detail about what the Upside Down is, and whether the Mind Flayer really was just black particles with no conscious that Vecna formed into his avatar, or it was a multi-dimensional conqueror (as I've seen speculated by parts of this fandom) and it was simply dormant until Vecna woke it up and started collaborating with it:

But like I said, this is all speculation.

Overall, my feelings about this comic are mixed: On its own, it's a decent read and has plenty of cool moments and creative imagery. However, when you look closely at the story and how it's supposed to tie into the Stranger Things universe.........it starts falling apart. I think fans will enjoy this crossover for the sheer entertainment of it, but I seriously doubt this is going to be counted as canon.

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tortugatime · 1 year

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finally i got this lore post out (i had to restart sob sob)

rules for this post:

- while none of the turtles knew about being queer/all identified as boys back then, i'll be using their present-day pronouns for this.

- this acts as less of a timeline of important events (like the previous lore post) and more like a description of what they were like as children

- if i'm being vague about something, it's because it's important in some way (and i like to keep yall on ya toes :P)

if there is literally anything you want to know (yes, even "dumb" questions), send in an ask! they bring me joy!!

and now, onto the post

as covered previously, yoshi escaped into the sewers, freshly mutated and now a father of four. for the first few weeks he and his new children bounced from spot to spot, looking for a place to call home. eventually, yoshi settled upon a long abandoned section of the sewers, one that was spacious and surprisingly clean (because is it tmnt without an absurdly spacious sewer?)

now that they had a home, yoshi decided it was time he name his four children. after all, they would need names eventually. with that in mind, yoshi chose to name them after renaissance artists: michelangelo, leonardo, donatello, and raphael. as for himself…he could not be hoshi anymore, and hamato yoshi was long gone. once again, yoshi renamed himself: now, he would be…splinter. yeah, that was a good name.

years passed by, and the turtles began to grow. splinter did his best to be present in their young childhood but, despite those efforts, he was absent more often than not. splinter's entire life had been uprooted once again, and now he was responsible for the lives of four children. he often found himself in the midsts of depressive episodes, ones that rendered him unable to function. that, combined with the frequent scavenging trips he had to undergo, led to someone else stepping up in his place: his eldest child, donatello.

donnie knew they were the oldest of the four. they also knew they were the smartest - their various inventions were a testament to such. so, in her mind, it made sense for her to take on splinter's responsibilities: cooking, cleaning, child care, everything that splinter was unable to do. donnie learned to do all of these, despite being a child himself. but, even though donnie stepped up as a parental fill-in, it didn't stop him from having a childhood - raphael made sure of that.

raph was a mischievous child who wore his heart on his sleeve - a stark contrast to the turtle he grew up to be. he knew that things were stressful - that splinter was sad, donnie was tired, and mikey was sickly - and brought fun into their everyday lives. he would find ways to brighten up life in the lair, from making art with mikey to causing trouble with leonardo who, as much of a goody-two toes as he could be, would participate every now and then.

where donnie was calm and raph was a troublemaker, leo was opposite to both of them; he was an anxious rule follower, always with another thing to worry about. but, while he strived to be the golden child of the four, he would still cause trouble and have some fun with his older brother. back when they were children, the two got along well enough - there wasn't yet a rift between them, nor was there much fighting. but, even as close as they may have been, leo was objectively much closer with the baby of the family: michelangelo.

mikey was the light of their family, balancing the four of them out with her kind heart and joy for everything. she may have been a bit weaker than her brothers, her poor immune system leading to her getting sick often, but that didn't stop her from trailing after them and doing everything they would do. she would make food with donnie, paint with raph, read comics with leo and, at rare times, could even get their father to play along with the rest of them. she held the family together, and continues to do so present day.

their childhood wasn't exactly the most normal of childhoods, but they made do with what they had. they made games out of their environment, from swimming in the cleaner parts of the sewer water to seeing who could find the coolest trash when dumpster diving; they would explore the sewers, making sure to stick together and not stray too far from the lair; and, whenever given the opportunity to go to the surface in disguise with their father, they would take it in earnest and enjoy the limited time they had up there.

it was natural for them to want to experience the world beyond their underground home, and they got to do such on the rare occasions splinter took them to the surface - usually just to help scavenge, and for holidays such as halloween. but sneaking out wasn't out of the question for them - the twins were the best at getting away with it, mikey being too noisy and leo usually chickening out last minute. while they would never get very far - the furthest they'd ever go being a rooftop - the two relished in the freedom.

raph was especially eager to sneak out when he could, too young to truly understand the why behind them hiding away. mikey felt a similar way, and would continue to well into her teen years. donnie and leo, on the other hand, were much more opposed to contact with humans - leo because of splinter's rule, and donnie because they were smart enough to make the connections themself. the world could never know about them, because it would never accept them.

because of their inherently lonely existence - hidden away from a world that would shun them no matter what - they were as close as can be. they were all each other had, after all. but they changed as they grew older; they grew apart. and while change is natural, especially as you grow up, it's debatable whether they changed for the better or for the worse.

after an…incident on the surface, raph wasn't the same; he was an angry shell of himself, lashing out at others and pushing his loved ones away. donnie grew bitter towards splinter due to his on-and-off presence in their early years, and became independent to a concerning degree. leo threw himself into perfectionism, his own coping mechanism for everything going on at home. and mikey? she did her best to hold them together, acting as the glue for their family.

of course, not all the change was bad. splinter grew to accept what he had become and began to be more involved in their lives, and do his best to make amends for what he hadn't done in the past. mikey's health improved as she grew older, and she became ill less frequently than before. and they all became much more proficient as ninjas, eventually being allowed to go on their first mission (a mission that kicks off the plot, i may add).

the turtles still have a lot more growing to do. even if a bit of blood is shed along the way.

———

as a thank you for reaching the end of the post, here's art of them as tots. as for their ages here, they are 8, 7, and 6 respectively.

#tortuga.txt #tmnt #tmnt au #lair graffiti #blood & ooze #tmnt blood & ooze #tmnt donnie #tmnt raph #tmnt leo #tmnt mikey #tmnt splinter #splinter tmnt #mikey tmnt #leo tmnt #raph tmnt #donnie tmnt #tmnt iteration #i'm sorry this took so long! i wasn't sure how to go about explaining their childhood + i had to restart #this may be nonsensical but idc. it's my iteration i can be as confusing as i want

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turtlethon · 2 years

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"Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle"

Season 5, Episode 17 First US Airdate: November 9, 1991

Leonardo and April work together to stop a relentless crime-fighting robot.

Our trek through season five of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings us to "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle". Dennis O’Flaherty is the writer for this adventure, which initially aired back-to-back with "Zach and the Alien Invaders".

The Turtles are once again watching April on the news, as she reports on the latest initiative from the city’s mayor – the same one who appeared a few episodes earlier this season in “Donatello’s Duplicate”. An event will be held that evening at City Hall where he will reveal the details behind his plan to put an end to crime for good. The Turtles, having heard this all before, roll their eyes. (Splinter, meanwhile, looks furious throughout this scene, for no obvious reason).

Donatello returns to the Lair, revealing that he got jumped by five hoodlums while checking out a book from the library. Though Donnie was able to easily defeat the criminals, the team begin to reconsider their dismissal of the mayor’s new project.

At the presentation, the mayor introduces Professor Ignatz Mindbender, a highly-strung man carrying a sword who we’re told is “the world’s greatest expert on law enforcement”. The professor tells the assembled audience – which includes the Turtles in their baseball fan outfits – that since humans are the cause of crime, the only logical solution to it is the use of a machine. To that end, he reveals his invention, LEX (“Law Enforcement (e)Xpediter”). Mindbender assures the attendees that not only is this robot super intelligent, but it has a host of other abilities too, including the power to fly, which it demonstrates by buzzing the crowd. LEX signs off by using a finger-mounted laser blaster to instantly decimate a nearby podium, ominously warning everyone that he is “one bad dude”.

Time passes, and April is among the customers at a local bank when it’s robbed by Pinky McFingers and his associates. Channel 6’s star reporter attempts to call the Turtles, but the mobster forces her to leave her Turtlecom on a nearby counter, before going on to inform the bank manager that the security system has been deactivated. The Turtles arrive to find the door to the vault has been blown off, with the staff and customers being held at (laser) gunpoint. Before they can head into battle, however, LEX bursts in, immediately restraining Pinky and his men before hurling them into an automated paddy wagon.

The Turtles are happy to get some assistance in fighting crime, and when LEX whips out a notebook they assume that he wants their autographs. Instead, the robotic police officer scolds the team for parking their van in a loading zone, writing them a ticket before flying away.

We hop forward in time again to see the Turtles eating pizza in the Lair, as April reveals to her viewers that LEX has now eradicated all major crime in New York. Leonardo is rattled by this, and turns the report off, irritated by the constant talk of “LEX this and LEX that”. He goes on to add that as it stands, with nothing left for the team to do, they may as well take some time off. Mikey and Raph decide to visit the Punk Frogs in Florida, while Donatello announces his intention to repair one of the Turtlecom transmitters located throughout the city’s sewer system. Leo is worried about the team splitting up in case a major crisis unfolds, and decides to stay in the Lair to be safe.

In his workshop, Professor Mindbender makes further adjustments to LEX, on the basis that with major crime now a thing of the past, it’s time to focus on minor violations instead. The robotic officer immediately scolds his creator for having a single button open on his suit jacket, which he declares is “a major infraction”.

April takes Leonardo out for pizza, and on the way back home he expresses his concerns about being able to handle things by himself while the other Turtles are away. The two friends are still crossing a road when the “WALK” sign switches to “DON’T WALK”, which is enough to draw the ire of LEX; act one ends with the robot placing both Leonardo and April under arrest.

As LEX announces Leo and April will be placed on a diet of bread and water in prison for their insubordination, over in City Hall the mayor complains to Professor Mindbender that his own mother was placed under arrest for taking the “DO NOT REMOVE” tag off her mattress. Mindbender is unrepentant, pointing out to the mayor that he’s in violation of the law too by way of wearing socks that don’t match. LEX is summoned by his creator to deal with this most egregious of crimes, ordering April and Leo to stay put until he returns.

Defying the orders given to them, Leonardo and April return to the Lair and switch on the TV. Vernon is seen co-hosting the news with LEX, and announces that not only has April been fired from Channel 6, she’s now considered a wanted fugitive. LEX adds that “that dumpy little green-faced sailor” who accompanied her is also on the police hit list. Vernon gloats at his old colleague’s misfortune, imploring her to give herself up on the grounds that when she gets out, she’ll qualify for senior bus fares.

Leonardo makes an attempt to radio Donatello for help, but is unaware that the team’s resident genius has had to use a component from his Turtlecom in repairing the transmitter, rendering him temporarily unreachable. After an attempt to reach Raphael in Florida also fails, Leo declares that he’ll need to use Donnie’s long-range scanner instead, but professes he doesn’t know how.

The long-range scanner turns out to be an enormous computer setup, and despite April’s assurances, Leonardo manages to electrocute himself while operating it. After accidentally peeking on an alien who’s in the middle of showering, Leo briefly manages to make contact with Mikey and Raph, who are enjoying a picnic with the Punk Frogs. When this also fails, the leader of the Turtles trips over a small replica of a robot that was left lying around in Donatello’s workshop, giving him an idea.

Avoiding rolling scanner robots along the way, Leonardo and April travel through the city before ultimately arriving outside a police department warehouse. April uses a hair pin to gain entry, and inside the duo find a deactivated REX-1, the robotic cop who befriended the Turtles all the way back in season two’s “New York’s Shiniest”. After being powered up, it becomes clear that REX remembers nothing about his history with either the Turtles or April.

REX-1 is lugged back to the Lair, and with Donatello still unreachable, Leonardo and April are on their own in trying to recover their old friend’s memory. They find a big red button labelled “MEMORY” located inside his chest, which turns out to do the exact opposite of what they wanted, resetting the clunking cop back to his default state. To help REX recall his old identity, Leonardo plays VHS footage of the futuristic officer sourced from April’s news reports. Meanwhile Donatello finally becomes aware of a Turtlecom voicemail message left by Leonardo pleading for help. He checks in with Raphael and Michaelangelo, suggesting they cut their vacation short as help will likely be required.

Leonardo and April are thrilled when REX-1 is able to piece together his old identity from watching the news footage, but their celebrations are cut short by the arrival of LEX, who barges into the Lair and places them under arrest. LEX is able to melt one of Leonardo’s katana blades in an instant, and reprograms REX-1 to follow his own orders. Leo and April are chased into the Lair’s kitchen area, where they use spilled water and pizza to trip up the two robotic cops. Though Leonardo laments that he’s not a skilled on a skateboard as Michaelangelo is, he winds up escaping with April on Mikey’s Cheapskate.

Raphael and Michaelangelo return to New York and are travelling via Turtle Blimp when they become aware of a news report by Vernon, in which the reporter gushes about Mindbender before cutting to an announcement by the professor. LEX’s creator declares that in the battle against crime, he is appointing himself “Supreme Commander of the entire region”, and that everyone in attendance (possibly everyone in town?) is under arrest. Meanwhile Leonardo and April travel through the sewers on their way to City Hall, where they intend to confront the Professor and have him call off LEX. The duo instead finds themselves face to face to REX-1, who has been waiting for them.

While Donatello reunites with Mikey and Raph, April and Leo try to talk sense into REX-1. April suggests to Leonardo that he consider what Donatello would do in this situation, and after giving it some thought, Leo gives the lumbering robot a swift kick in the butt. This is enough to restore REX’s memory and bring him back around to being a good guy, mere moments before LEX and Professor Mindbender arrive to confront the trio. A showdown follows between REX and LEX in which the ally of the Turtles quickly proves to be outmatched. Following another pep talk from April, Leonardo is motivated to intervene, distracting the city’s new robot crime-fighter by pointing out that Professor Mindbender’s shoes are scuffed. LEX scoops up his creator in one hand and declares that he’s facing further charges of “resisting arrest” for struggling. Finally, Mindbender sabotages his own creation, placing it out of commission in the process. When he declares that the leader of the Turtles will pay for his actions, Leonardo quips that he can put it on his credit card, a one-liner that April points out is reminiscent of something Raphael would say.

The other Turtles finally arrive on the scene and are amazed to see Leonardo has managed to handle the situation on his own. Leo points out that he did have some help, with REX-1 adding that “any seven-foot police robot could have done the same thing”.

We wrap up today’s proceedings in the Lair, where the team are having a party, along with April and REX-1. Splinter points out to Leonardo that his experiences today showed how capable he truly was of drawing upon his “hidden talents” when they were needed. April declares a toast for Leonardo, the team’s “Renaissance Turtle”, before assuring REX that the police department will surely be able to find a role for him. Donatello then reveals a female counterpart for REX, code named “REXANNE”, who declares that her function is to serve and protect the robotic police officer. It’s a closing gag that raises a lot of questions in its own right, though I’m still stuck on the fact that Splinter vanished immediately after the opening scene of this episode and didn’t return again until the very end; given how livid he was when we first saw him, maybe he just needed some alone time to cool off.

Three years and more than a hundred episodes of the show have passed since we were first introduced to the character of REX-1, and so his return here must have been unexpected by viewers at the time, but I imagine also quite welcome. More than any episode in recent memory, "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" draws upon the past adventures of the Turtles, rewarding long-time fans of the show with cleverly interwoven cameos and nods to past outings. Seasoned Turtlethon readers will know I don’t particularly care for either the Punk Frogs or Pinky McFingers, but they’re used well here as special guests who help to flesh out the bigger story being told. The city’s new mayor and the Turtlecom sewer transmitter network were worked into stories earlier this season, making their use here feel that much more significant.

I’m torn regarding LEX, who manages to get a few good one-liners in and is an interesting foil for REX-1, but has a confusing design, with a sort-of cool upper half marred by a goofy pelvis region and bizarre allen key-shaped legs. Professor Mindbender – whose name is uncomfortably close to Doctor Mindbender from GI Joe, to the point where I keep almost typing that instead – seems to have greater potential than most of the mad scientists and inventors we see in the series, his quick-to-anger personality reminding me of the lesser-seen Simpsons character Leopold, who he actually pre-dates by almost two-and-a-half years. I don’t know if there was much potential in using either of these villains again, but I would have welcomed their return had they been paired with a strong script. As it turns out, they’re both one-shot bad guys, so that’s the end of that.

The idea of one member of the team feeling they aren’t as valuable as the others and learning to believe in themselves has popped up a couple of times now. Raphael expressed similar sentiments to Splinter in the episode preceding this one, “Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces”, and Mikey went through much the same thing last year in “What’s Michelangelo Good For?” It’s telling that the only Turtle who hasn’t felt this insecurity is Donatello, and given that he’s always been portrayed as anything from a genius to something resembling a miracle worker in his own right, he could never realistically be used in this manner.

We say our goodbyes here to Attila and Rasputin, making their last appearances in the series, as well as to REX-1 and his voice actor, the late Jack Angel, who both bow out here. Pinky McFingers will return early next season in "Adventures in Turtle-Sitting".

Just three episodes remaining in this season. Much to my chagrin, the next one sees the return of “The Fifth Turtle”, in "Zach and the Alien Invaders".

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #1991 #Leonardo the Renaissance Turtle #TMNT Leo #Leo TMNT #Leonardo TMNT #TMNT Leonardo #Turtlethon #Ninja Turtles #Rex-1

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kudosmyhero · 1 year

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) Change Is Constant, pt. 1

Read Date: July 30, 2022 Cover Date: August 2011 ● Writer: Kevin Eastman ◦ Tom Waltz ● Penciller: Dan Duncan ● Inker: Dan Duncan ● Colorist: Ronda Pattison ● Letterer: Robbie Robbins ● Editor: Scott Dunbier ●

SYNOPSIS:

The book opens with Splinter and three of the Turtles—Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo—about to face off against the vicious one-eyed cat mutant Old Hob and his human henchmen. The Turtles trounce the humans, while Splinter takes the feline, felling him in combat. As Old Hob retreats, his words sting the hearts of the Turtles and Splinter as he reminds them of Raphael's absence.

Eighteen months prior, at StockGen Research, Inc., Dr. Chet Allen introduces new intern April O'Neil to the work they do, including the four baby turtles used in research. A large rat appears on the turtles' tank, prompting April to freak out, but Chet explains that he's a part of another experiment and is hard to keep contained.

Meanwhile, StockGen's owner, Baxter Stockman, speaks to his mysterious benefactor, General Krang. Krang is unhappy with Stockman's delay in the situation report of the experiments that he is funding to aid in his war.

Three months later, April has taken a liking to the turtles, but not to the rat, who fellow StockGen employee Lindsey Baker identifies as Splinter, due to the psychotropic drug therapy they are running on him, which splinters his cognition from his instincts. April takes alarm, as she thought StockGen was primarily a corporation for bioengineering meat. Lindsey sloppily excuses herself, leaving Chet to cover for her.

Chet suggests that April name the turtles due to her attachment, but to his surprise, she already has. Her enrollment in a History of Renaissance Art 101 class has prompted her to name them after famous Italian Renaissance artists—the quiet, peaceful one is Leonardo, the studious one is Donatello, the big eater is Michelangelo, and the feisty, solitary turtle is Raphael.

In the present day, a hooded Raphael digs through dumpsters for food. The contents of the pizza box he finds is disappointingly inadequate, and the next dumpster he spelunks contains a "Cowabunga" t-shirt. Before he can continue digging, Raphael is distracted by loud noise—a man beating his son. In anger, Raphael breaks down the door and interrupts the violence.

(https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Change_is_Constant,_part_1)

Fan Art: TMNT by juan7fernandez

Accompanying Podcast: Welcome to Comics - episode 322

#my idw read #idw #idw comics #comic books #comics #tmnt #fanart #fan art #podcast recommendation #podcast - welcome to comics #podcast – shellheads

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reanimatedrenaissance · 4 years

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The Renaissance Used as Symbolism

Animation likes to utilize artworks and literature from the Medieval/Middle Ages era (476-1299) as well as the Renaissance era (1300-1700) due to not only the fact it is part of the public domain (meaning anyone can use it without legal repercussions) but also due to its significance upon the present. Animation tends to make use of the Renaissance as a way to quickly develop characters or settings by showcasing elements that resemble the Renaissance or simply act like they are of that period.

One of the blatant ways animation uses elements of the Renaissance is to name characters after well-known people from this time. The Disney TV series Gargoyles during the 1990s many references to Shakespeare’s plays, and characters are no exception. Creator Greg Weisman introduced characters such as Macbeth, who plays a major role throughout the series as an antagonist. This character is a direct reference to Shakespeare’s powerful tragedy Macbeth (1606).

Gargoyles (Walt Disney Animation, 1994), character Macbeth

Along with that namesake, Macbeth acts fairly similarly to the character he was named after. He is very suspicious of everyone he encounters and resorts to violence more often than not. He also deals with the twisted torture of three witches who have watched over his actions during his life thus far. As Weisman is a huge fan of Shakespeare, his references continue, as is showcased during an episode in which the character/mythical spirit Puck is introduced. Puck was a character who appears in Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1605).

Gargoyles (Walt Disney Animation, 1994), character Puck

Puck is also very similar to the character of his inspiration, and thus is very mischievous to those who try to take control of his magic. What is similar between both Macbeth and Puck is that instead of having to spend a lot of screen time showing exactly what the personalities of these characters is, Weisman instead chose these Renaissance names due to the weight they already had in pop culture. People more than likely expected Macbeth and Puck to act similarly to the way they were portrayed in their Renaissance equivalents and that is certainly true in Gargoyles.

This kind of exposition through previously established, historical recognition is seen in other shows besides Gargoyles, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt merchandise (Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, 1988).

The four main turtles in this franchise are named after four prominent artists of the Renaissance: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. While these turtles are more warriors than artists and are vastly different in personality than their namesakes, their names serve a purpose to give them a kind of historical influence to their character that would have been lost if they were simply named “originally” without reference to previous works. Funny enough, the creators Eastman and Laird are history fans and landed upon the idea of the turtles having the name of Renaissance artists by chance (Tucker, “6 surprising facts”). Even though this may have been a seemingly random decision, the creators none the less gave the turtles a meaningful backstory, where their caretaker, Splinter, chose to name them out of a history book found in the sewer. Thus it emphasizes that these names are of important historical figures.

A kind of animation that takes historical recognition to a more interactive level though is the video games of the Assassin’s Creed Franchise. The games in which the most Renaissance references occur are Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, in which the player travels through Renaissance Italy. Along the way the player encounters characters who are also people from history, such as Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and Rodrigo Borgia (1431-1503). Besides looking like their namesakes, these animated characters also have some of their most notable personality traits.

Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft, 2009) and Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (Ubisoft, 2010) characters Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Rodrigo Borgia, respectively.

Leonardo da Vinci is particularly interesting as they make him obsessed with inventions which end up aiding the player through the game. This kind of detail did not need to be added, but because it did, players who enjoy history likely would feel more engaged as it would feel as though these characters are living up to their perceived expectations of how they should act. Pop culture has told us that these Renaissance men are extremely complex and cannot be fully understood due to the lack of evidence of their everyday existences. However, providing interactive, animated experiences such as Assassin’s Creed has given consumers a new way to analyze the past and pose questions that will lead to further dialogue (Sheppard, “Historical References”).

Besides being relatable by name, other works can show a clear symbolic connection to the Renaissance through visuals. During one class session, my classmates and I were introduced to an image from Disney’s 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty in which two kings, the fathers of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip, are shown talking together throughout the film.

Sleeping Beauty, dir. Clyde Gironimi (Walt Disney Animation, 1959)

The stout king on the right, named Hubert, is shown to be a slight reference to King Henry VIII as Hubert’s stature and clothing mimics the visual look of the Holbein portrait. From the poofy sleeves to the facial hair, Hubert exudes the kind of flair that the Holbein portrait conveys. Artists take these historically recognizable characters into consideration when creating character designs, as it can make a rather complex role suddenly simply to understand. Instead of having him look like a completely original king with no base in historical fashion, the artists went with a design that would instead conjure up this kind of kingly appearance that continues to permeate our society.

One of the last examples that comes to mind when discussing historical recognition is Disney’s 1973 film Robin Hood which tells this classic tale using anthropomorphic characters.

Robin Hood, dir. Wolfgang Reitherman (Walt Disney Animation, 1973)

Besides sharing the title character’s namesake, this fox version of Robin Hood also carries with him the signature bow and arrows that the legendary figure was told to have as his trusty weapon of choice. This Robin Hood therefore is similar to Gargoyles’ Macbeth in that the characterizations as well as the name are integral parts of the way the audience gains an understanding of the characters.

Whether the symbolism in animated media is blatant or subtle, it is important to recognize that imagery and historical figures are and will more than likely continue to be an important part of this medium, as it gives this era a chance to continue to influence the world of today. This is due to the fact that as a society we continue to claim the Renaissance as a crucial era of human history. We believe it should be remembered and built upon, even if our cultural understanding of the true nuances of this era happens to be very skewed into the belief that the Renaissance exemplified perfection in every way.

Sources:

Omar, Mohd and Ishak, Sidin. “Understanding Culture Through Animation: From the World To Malaysia.” Malaysian Journal of Media Studies, vol. 13, n. 2. (2011): 1-9.

Sheppard, Sally. “Historical References in Video Games: The Italian Renaissance.” Academia.edu Database. vol. 1 (2008): 1-6.

Tucker, Reed. “6 surprising facts about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” NY Post, (2014).

#reanimatedrenaissance #renaissance #animation #education #derivative #art #cartoons #disney #historicalrecognition #memoryimage #gargoyles #assassins creed #video games #tmnt #robin hood

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aftermathdb · 4 years

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DEATH BATTLE Review: Leonardo vs. Jason

Many years ago, Leonardo was destined to do battle with Tommy Oliver, but instead did battle with Zitz… And today, we see him do battle with Jason Lee Scott.

Ground rules for this fight: No zords, no turtle-mechs, no teammates. Just a good old fashioned, 1v1 battle to the death.

Leonardo′s Preview.

Beneath the streets of New York, four ordinary turtles were mutated by contact with a strange mutagen, and were trained by a equally mutated Rat-Person who named them after Renaissance artists and trained them in ninjutsu. If that sounds like a parody… That’s because it is…

Regardless, these Genetically Altered Shinobi Terrapins were in need of a leader. Donatello was smart and technical but he wasn’t a strategist for battle, Raphael was too hotheaded, and Michelangelo… is Michelangelo.

So the true leader in blue was chose to lead the team. Though most just call him Leonardo.

Leonardo embodies Bushido. For those of you confused, don’t worry, Boomstick is too. For those of you who don’t understand why ninjas and samurais have a lot of beef, it’s because ninjas were literally made to fight samurais.

And they make a quick note: As there is no “definitive” version of Leonardo to choose from, anything that’s reasonable is fair game. As in, if at least two Leos can/have done it, it’s on the table.

So, no double-mutations, dragon transformations, or anything too out of the ordinary.

The hosts go over Leo’s mastery of martial arts, and his weapons. Essentially, the Ninjaken Swords are just Katanas without the curve. As well as multiple other ninja needs like smoke bombs, grapple guns, kunai and ninja stars, and the works.

And we lead into a Wiz and Boomstick animated segment where… I’m not sure why or how, but Boomstick’s smile looks… better? Maybe it has something to to do with the way the teeth are drawn.

(please ignore the typo. I was in a bit of a rush)

A mixture of both a joke and part of the analysis. I like it.

Leonardo knows how to heal with (a missed opportunity for a Boomstick joke) the ninja magic of self-healing. While not potent enough to fix fatal wounds, it’s still handy nonetheless.

The hosts also go over how Leonardo is fast enough to dodge lightning,

Push over this giant pillar onto a giant mutated cockroach

And was even able to hold back this mutated tyrannosaurs’ bite.

And across multiple timelines, he’s usually the one who deals the finishing blow to the Shredder.

While teen angst and immaturity can hold him back from his full potential, Leo’s one heckuva fighter.

Jason′s Preview.

After 10000 years of being trapped in a magic space dumpster, the evil witch Rita Repulsa was set to conquer earth. So the galactic sage Zordon recruited some overbearing and overemotional humans to defend Earth. And every team needs a leader. So enter the levelheaded martial arts teacher: Jason Lee Scott.

Jason draws power from the Morphin’ Grid, and i order to gain access to it, he just needs to shout out three words.

“It’s Morphin’ Time!”

With this power on his sai-aye-aye-aye-aye-ide

The hosts apparently deduce that the Morphin’ Grid takes the hits for Jason, as evidenced by the sparks.

And after going over the weapons, we go into our next Wiz and Boomstick segment.

And after going over the Power Sword and a whole lot of weapons, and some key weaknesses. Like the whole thing about how they can’t escalate a fight.

So the Power Blaster is off-limits if it’s not actually needed.

But Grid-Enhanced individuals are still strong in their own right. Like when Jason lifted this enormous boulder over his head.

Nice.

Other Grid-Enhanced feats include

Pushing over a boulder weighing in at about 125000 tons, dodging lightning for a bit, and surviving the Power Rangers’ command center exploding.

And while Jason does lose his powers when he takes too much damage, he’ll still be one heckuva fighter. Especially with the power on his si-i-i-i-i-ide!

The Battle Itself.

Luis and Zack are the main animators for this, Leonardo will be voiced by Jon Allen and Jason will be reprised by Alejandro Saab, Audio Lead by Chris Kokkinos, and soundtrack of Teenage Morphin’ Ninja Power by Therewolf. And before we get into it, I gotta say that that track name is awesome!

So the fight starts off with Jason trying to get somewhere while Leo is eating his pizza, and Jason runs into Leo.

Which causes…

The pizza to fall.

Leo calls him out on it, and Jason sees him as one of Rita’s monsters.

And after a quick scuffle, Jason morphs.

So we get into a quick stand-off, and we seriously get into another opportunity where the “Fight Byte” could come back. They don’t have to do it for all of them, they can just choose which ones they do want to use it for.

At least make it a ringtone.

So, right off the bat, Leo narrowly takes speed, as they seem to land an equal number of attacks on each other. But it’s also clear that Jason takes strength early on as well, as he basically shrugs off all of Leo’s attacks.

Jason summons his Power Sword, and we get into a really cool sword fight sequence. Not as cool as Sasuke vs. Hiei’s sword clash, but still cool nonetheless.

And after a quick scuffle, Jason shows off for a bit…

And Leo’s swords break.

Jason goes in for a Tyrannosaurus Charge, and we get a recreation of that scene from Johnny Cage vs. Captain Falcon when the other guy was just blown away from how cool the other guy is.

Leo retreats into the sewer after knocking a drain cover at Jason, and he recovers the damage that was done to him.

As well as getting his newer weapon.

So now we’re at a teleport spam, where Jason is trying to hit Leo, but Leo is just too quick to actually strike.

And once Jason does land a hit, Leo’s shell is stopping him

Leo teleports high up, and we go into our finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

What’s bonkers here is that Power Rangers have finally ended their losing streak! Woo!

Verdict + Explanation.

After some quick joking around with Boomstick, we get into the reason why Jason won. While Leo has dodged lightning more reliably and had better training, he was simply outclassed everywhere else.

And that training wouldn’t really be that much help because Jason’s morph gives him extra skills to work with. Call it cheating, but whatever. It’s Power Rangers.

Leo can reasonably scale to a Turtle Villain named Baron Draxum in terms of durability.

Now, the Barron survived this 12 ton explosion. Which is impressive, but not compared to Jason who survived the Command Center exploding. That blast was nearly 54 times greater than what Leo could scale to.

Strength was also in Jason’s favor too. While Leo could push over large stone pillars, Grid-Enhanced beings could push around 125000 ton boulders.

It wasn’t as one sided as it might seem though. Leo certainly was more skilled and was faster. If those were the only stats that mattered, that would have gotten him more wins. But Jason ultimately came out on top.

Overall impression.

Overall, this fight really does feel like an interesting episode. It’s definitely one of those “Playground Debates” that you probably would have had if you were a kid watching one or both of these shows.

The fight is interesting, and the dialogue is delightfully corny. The fight is certainly longer than Canary-Sindel, so it’s easier to soak in how each ability and stat stacks against the other. Like I said, speed was only a narrow win on Leo’s end, and it showed because he was able to dodge more easily, but it also showed that strength and durability was on Jason’s simply because he was able to tank any attack Leo threw at him no problem, and was able to basically shatter Leo’s weapons casually.

The soundtrack is awesome, and it definitely makes it feel like an 80s/90s nostalgia trip where your childhood tries to kill the other childhood.

8.7/10.

Next Time…

Well so much for Genos vs. Cyborg or War Machine vs... Uh… Huh. I guess War Machine is like how I view Dinobot. Not a whole lot of options for him that aren’t super shallow.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Cyber Fighter Smackdown.

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

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satireknight · 7 years

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S01E01: Turtle Tracks

So just for shits and giggles, I’ve decided to review and analyze every single episode of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Because I want to. There’s literally no deeper reason than that.

And of course, I’m starting at the very beginning, which I’m told is a very good place to start.

So this episode... was really good. Pilots tend to suck, in my experience, because the series hasn’t yet figured out what’s going to work and what people are going to like. But this episode pretty much collects together a lot of the things people know about this series: April pursuing criminals at the expense of personal safety and always getting kidnapped, the Turtles kicking mook ass with censored abandon, pizzas that combine things you love in ways that nauseate you...

(Seriously, how do you have a sashimi pizza? Do you just make a pizza and then sprinkle raw fish on it once it’s finished cooking?)

It’s also a very full episode. A LOT happens in this. You would think that introducing the Turtles, their personalities, their backstory and the main villain would take up most of the 20-minute plot, but there’s this whole arc of them investigating scientific robberies after being sorta-blackmailed into it by April, and ending up in a building that explodes from the water pressure.

The Plot

So our secondary character April O’Neil is a TV reporter talking about a crime wave of technobabbly equipment, which was apparently stolen by people using katanas. Why? Because they used katanas in a way you’re not supposed to use any sword, namely to hack a door open.

Seriously, that’s a job for a machete if it’s for anything. I’m just going to headcanon that this professor is just a big ninja fan and wants to attribute everything to them. Of course, April seems to think that there’s some overlap between being a reporter and being a cop, because investigative journalism doesn’t usually involve staking out dangerous places and trying to intercept criminals in the act.

But April’s reports rub someone the wrong way, and instead of sending a clan of ancient assassins to decapitate her at her apartment, they send some street thugs to confront her in the middle of a street.

So she does what anyone would do: slips down a storm drain. I’m not even sure how she did that, because those things are pretty fucking narrow. April must have the bone structure of a cat.

Who needs clavicles anyway?

Or being alive, anyway, because her take on this is “This is great! I must really be onto something hot if they’re trying to kill me!” There’s such a thing as being too dedicated to your job, April. She manages to knock herself against a wall by not looking where she’s going, and the mooks are about to kill her when some inexplicably shadowed figures appear!

I can clearly see what they are, you know. Not to mention that the suspense is completely shot when we see this.

You don’t need to maintain the mystery anymore, okay? We can clearly see that whoever it is has green skin and only two toes. And has orange kneebands.

April’s saviors reveal themselves to be four enormous walking, talking humanoid turtles, and she promptly passes out from all the I-can’tness. Michelangelo’s hilarious response? “Awww, she’s no fun. She fainted!” I kinda love how in both this and the 2003 version, the first response to April freaking out is not giving a shit.

After waking, April then spends awhile freaking out over the fact that she’s in a sewer being waited on by Splinter, a giant rat, and that she was rescued by four turtles brandishing ninja weapons. Lots of screaming and fainting. The Turtles really don’t seem very invested in her thus far, because they’re pretty quick to switch over to “what’s for lunch?” ASAP, and when she finally speaks to them, Donatello and Raphael just snark at her.

One thing that really sticks out when you watch this from the beginning is that it’s actually pretty serious. Sure, there’s silliness in places, but the characters are a lot less goofy than they often became later in the series. Even Michelangelo handles all this in a pretty reasonable, adult manner.

Splinter decides to unload their backstory by way of introduction: Hamato Yoshi, the leader of the Foot ninja clan in Japan, whose entire life seems to be one big crapstorm. One of his students, Oroko Saki, decided to frame him for attempted assassination by pinning his clothes to the wall so he couldn’t bow to a venerable sensei. And when Yoshi pulled out the knife so he could move, they assumed that the guy who was clearly pinned to the wall before, and is now staring in confusion at the knife, must be trying to kill the old coot. Apparently the Foot has a high idiot quotient.

So Yoshi did what any normal person would do: he moved across the world, lived in a sewer, and made friends with all the rats. What? It’s what I’d do.

He also ended up with four pet turtles after some kid tripped and spilled them down a drain, and apparently didn’t bother calling up to see if the owner was still there. Eh, the guy’s entire life is a craphole, so I’ll allow it.

We’re also informed that in Japan, Oroku Saki turned the Foot into a criminal organization. We’re TOLD this, but will never be shown it, because I don’t think we see a single other Foot ninja after this in the entire series, and certainly none working for him. Where did they go?

So anyway, Yoshi continues living in the sewers until one day life decides to take one last dump on him: a mysterious glowy stuff is leaked into his home, getting all over him and the Turtles.

Is there a reason Michelangelo is spinning his chucks right behind her head? Is that some kinda low-level intimidation technique? Because I don’t think it’s working.

The Turtles become more humanlike in intelligence and body, and Yoshi became a mutant rat, aka Splinter.

Wait, so they mutated right into their teen bodies? Does that mean that they’re teenagers biologically but not in terms of chronological age?

April figures out that Splinter is actually Hamato Yoshi, ratified and having lost his pants. Seriously, they just kind of shrink up into his kimono when he mutates. I don’t know where they went, because logically they should have been down around his toes.

And since we’ve established that Splinter is a person of weird impulses, he decided to name the Turtles after his favorite Renaissance painters (what was he calling them before?), and teach them ninjutsu fighting techniques. Because if anyone knows how much other people suck, it’s Splinter. And that was when he was human! Imagine how much worse they would suck when you’re half-animal.

So we have:

-Donatello, the purple-masked one, whose weapon is a large stick he hits people with.

-Raphael, the red-masked one, who has a pair of sai. I should probably mention that those are defensive rather than offensive weapons, but whatever.

-Leonardo, the blue-masked one, who fights with two katanas.

-Michelangelo, the orange-masked one, who has nunchaku... for the moment.

I kinda love Splinter’s open title-drop, especially since I’m not sure whether he planned to change it. Like, if another five or so years, is he going to call them the Twentysomething Mutant Ninja Turtles?

April does the smartest thing she can possibly do by accusing four guys who effortlessly mopped the floor with a street gang of having stolen all that tech, declares her intention of exposing them as “news,” and makes a run for it. Yes, you just watched a guy polishing his literal sword in front of you, which you have seen him use, and another guy was whirling a nunchuck behind your head. By all means, call them thieves and threaten to do the one thing they can’t possibly allow.

Oh, and we get a fun prelude of things to come: Donatello springs in front of her... and talks with Raphael’s voice for several seconds. No, I don’t know how it happened.

TO BE CONTINUED

#tmnt #tmnt 1987 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #satireknight

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chaerforce-blog · 6 years

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Little me loved art too

A long, long time ago…

Before My Little Pony stopped being the butt of everyone’s jokes…

My inspiration came from other media.

Shocking, I know.

If you expected my inspirations to be anything similar to My Little Pony, though, you’d spend all day wondering where my inspiration came from.

Aside from the obvious action-packed (and sometimes parkour) inspiration I got, the show Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) and the video game Assassin’s Creed (AC) both developed my interest in art.

How?

Well, it’s simple actually.

They both involved the Renaissance period, and the Renaissance was a golden age for the arts.

And besides, the art from that period captured my interest—and my heart ;u;—before I ever realized it.

The Ninja Turtles didn’t have much to do in terms of Renaissance art itself, but if definitely planted some roots into my brain. Leonardo and Michelangelo (improperly named Michaelangelo in the earlier years of TMNT) were my two favorite turtles.

Years ago an episode from the show explained the origin of the turtles’ names, and I got intrigued because their names were related to artists from the Renaissance.

It made me wonder why they were each given their names: was the Leonardo that the turtle was named after also a leader among people? Was the Renaissance Michelangelo as silly as the Michelangelo portrayed by the turtle?

The mind of a child really gets far.

So, because of all those questions running around in little me’s head, I decided to research them.

So while I researched the two artists, I realized that Renaissance art had a lot to do with realistic drawings and drawing from life. So, I studied their studies and tried to imitate their drawings because I thought it was something challenging but also worthwhile to put effort in.

As great as that idea was, I actually ended up spending waaaay too much time looking up work I wanted to imitate rather than actually drawing some of the images I found online.

Ah, youth.

But after realizing I didn’t actually spend much time drawing, I ended up feeling deterred and began to withdraw my efforts to improve my technique in sketching and black and white drawing.

Instead of practicing anatomy like I wanted to, I resorted to stick figures for my doodling. But that got boring. I mean, they’re stick figures. After a while it just gets way too simple for me to have fun with.

So, I ended up waiting for the next burst of inspiration to hit me. If it ever came.

And then, I discovered muses!

I began drawing people I found interesting, for obvious reasons of they’re interesting. But my interest in them was an important part of my inner motivation to draw. But soon I became irritated with the level of difficulty in drawing humans because I still aspired to be capable of creating drawings with the level of detail and precision that the Great Artists were able to conjure.

Rather than drawing, though, I dedicated my time to playing video games. I would never be able to play for long period of time because of motion sickness, but one game was an exception.

Assassin’s Creed was so fun for me that I played that game for hours and hours.

What was so fun about it? Why of course, the use of parkour!!

Although this game wasn’t my first introduction to parkour, it definitely encouraged me to actually look into what parkour was all about. I really wanted the agility of my favorite character. I wanted to be an Assassin.

With this desire, I did my best to travel all around the different cities of Italy within the game, and slowly I began to take a closer look at the different building structures I’d have to navigate through.

I realized that those buildings were actually constructed well, and I remembered learning about how Italians really made improvements in terms of architecture.

I felt more and more of a need to begin that practice of studying art through imitation, but instead of imitating another drawing, I’d sketch down an imitation of buildings that have been rendered. This encouraged me to try thinking about how I could draw characters within a landscape, rather than leaving them floating on the paper.

As I advanced in the game, I began meeting more of the characters in the storyline.

SURPRISE! Guess who became friends with the character I played?

Leonardo da Vinci, a great artist and crafter!

It was so cool to see some of the many things da Vinci was famous for rendered within the game, and I even became interested in creating physical creations on my own!

I researched what items from the game I could try to create, and found a website with a tutorial and a template for the hidden blade. I followed the pattern instead of printing out the template, and soon created a hidden blade out of paper! Sadly little me was bad at documenting my artwork.

But it’s really wild how all of this exposure through a show and a game somehow made my childhood more bearable AND provided motivation for me to continue pursuing art.

They provided the options by showing me how many different ways art can come through in someone’s idea.

All that was left for me was to figure out what kind of style I wanted to embody from my own ideas, and utilize anything I’ve learned from all of these sources into my work.

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snoftshell-snurtle · 6 months

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btw did you know that one the internet archive you can watch the entirety of TMNT 87 for free? like, genuinely legally for free.

happy watching :D

[image description:

Screenshot from the TMNT 1987 episode "Leonardo, the renaissance turtle". Leonardo and April look up at Raphael and Michelangelo's faces on a big screen.

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“Zach and the Alien Invaders”

Season 5, Episode 18 First US Airdate: November 9, 1991

Friend of the Turtles Zach is sent to a military boarding school, where he discovers an alien plot to take over the world.

“Zach and the Alien Invaders” first aired back-to-back with "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle". Like many of the episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles featuring Zach, this one was written by Francis Moss, on this occasion in collaboration with Ted Pedersen.

Michaelangelo arrives in the Lair and informs the other Turtles that he happened to encounter Zach at the comic book store. Both are fans of a title called “Alien Invaders”, and in the next scene we see the young friend of the Turtles so engrossed in the comic that he’s entirely oblivious to events unfolding around him. His reading only pauses when he happens to spot a group of shadowy individuals entering a nearby building. As his imagination has gotten carried away, he becomes convinced he’s witnessing an actual alien invasion.

Zach calls the local police station and reaches Sergeant O’Flaherty. I assume the intention of the writers here was for the misguided Irish policeman seen in the earlier Zach story “The Great Boldini” to be used here, but instead the animators utilise the craggy policeman model that’s appeared several times throughout this season. The officer takes the news of an alien invasion seriously, falling out of his chair before issuing a radio alert to the force. April is driving around in her news van with Irma and hears this over the airwaves. She remarks that the idea of “bug eyed aliens” invading sounds absurd, which is an odd thing for someone who encounters aliens and bizarre creatures all the time to say. Figuring there may still be a story in it, she decides to investigate.

April and Irma meet up with Zach as the police raid the building. Emerging from it are a group of individuals in dark masks, who turn out to be nothing more than bug exterminators. Later, an unimpressed April reports on the unfolding events anyway. The Turtles watch this coverage on TV and decide to check in on Zach via Turtlecom.

Later, Zach is in the mall with his brother Walt, returning to the series for the first time since season three’s “The Missing Map”. When the siblings briefly split up, Zach sees some robots rolling through the mall and immediately jumps to the conclusion that they, too, must be alien invaders. He alerts a disinterested security guard – another character who’s been popping up routinely throughout this season – and ultimately ends up dealing with the problem himself, knocking a wheeled piano through the mall and destroying the robot. It turns out that these were intended for display in a department store. The Turtles arrive in time to see a commotion resulting from the chaos caused by Zach, with Walt angrily dragging his younger brother away.

More time passes and the Turtles are driving around in their van when they receive a distress transmission from Zach, informing them that a group of slime monsters just emerged from an excavation on Hill Street. The team are sceptical after everything that’s happened but begin to second guess themselves after Zach relays footage of what do indeed appear to be slimy creatures walking around. Upon arriving on the scene, the Turtles use one of their old techniques to handle the monsters, deflecting water from a fire hydrant to spray the intruders. In truth, the invaders are nothing more than an innocent group of city tunnel workers, who thank the Turtles for helping them to clean up. Frustrated by all these false alarms, the Turtles scold Zach for his overactive imagination. After handing in his Turtlecom, the young ally of the team tearfully runs away.

Zach’s parents – appearing in the series for the first time – are seen enrolling him in Ten-Hut Military Academy. They introduce him to Colonel Clout, who in turn has Sergeant Rambo escort the young boy to his sleeping quarters. Upon meeting the other recruits, Zach finds they all express the same dead-eyed obedience to the Colonel and the Academy. The only person in the school who doesn’t act this way is Zach’s fellow newbie Eric.

In the middle of the night Zach steps out of his bed – fully dressed, boots and all – and sneaks off in search of a snack. While wandering around, he sees Eric being pinned down in a hi-tech chair by Colonel Clout and Sergeant Rambo, who remove their outer skins to reveal their true identities: Rambo is an alien bat named Wingnut, while Clout is a four-armed humanoid mosquito called Screwloose. The villains reveal to Eric that they’re from the planet Flagenon, and have set up the school as a means of staging an invasion of Earth. After the mind changer device is activated, Eric becomes fully obedient, parroting the same lines about who wonderful the academy is that the other recruits did earlier.

Zach watches as Wingnut and Screwloose move to the school’s gymnasium, where they look over their weapons and an army of robot roaches. He attempts to phone the police for assistance, but they immediately become suspicious after realising he’s the same child who wasted their time earlier. With that option off the table, Zach opts to phone the Turtles, noting that it’s “a lucky thing [he knows] their unlisted number”. The team are wary about this being potentially yet another tall tale, but after the call gets cut off – due to Zach being captured by Screwloose – they decide that it’s worth checking out, with Michaelangelo and Donatello deployed to survey the area.

Wingnut and Screwloose taunt Zach, informing him that by tomorrow, the students of the Military Academy will be ready to take over the planet. (I don’t care how advanced their weapons are, the idea that this one group of teenage boys will conquer the world feels like something of a stretch.) Zach is dragged away to become the final member of this army via the mind changer.

April and Irma are assigned by Burne to investigate reports of a giant metal cockroach. They arrive at a construction site and begin filming the robot. The creature spots them, leading Irma to flee; the second act ends with April’s assistant falling into a dug-out ditch and facing the imminent wrath of the robot.

The final act opens with April using a crane-mounted magnet to pick up the cockroach. Caught up in one of the giant insect’s legs is Zach’s bandana, which prompts April to alert the Turtles. Leonardo and Raphael head off to join Mikey and Donnie, who at the same time are arriving at the Military Academy. There, “Sergeant Rambo” informs the two Turtles that they can’t see Zach as he’s “on a special training mission”. Not about to take no for an answer, Mikey and Donnie use the Turtle Van’s launcher to bypass the fences of the academy and gain entry. Once on school grounds, they cut off the power and sneak in before being captured by the robot cockroaches.

April and Irma arrive at the school, as do Leonardo and Raphael in the Turtle Blimp. Meanwhile, Donnie, Mikey and Zach are all about to become obedient minions thanks to the mind changer. Zach makes a last-minute play to sabotage the invention by hurling his metal Turtle badge at its central electrode. This generates an explosion large enough for the trio to be able to escape in the confusion. Mikey and Donnie lead the robot cockroaches away while Zach works with the students – now no longer under the mind changer’s control – to spray water on the robots. Seeing that their plan has been thwarted, Wingnut and Screwloose rush to escape in their flying saucer, colliding with the Turtle Blimp before flying back into space.

Returning home, Zach is forgiven by his parents, who concede that they should have believed his story about alien invaders. (Why? He was wrong at the time and didn’t tell them about Wingnut and Screwloose, effectively this is a “broken clock is right twice a day” scenario.) April reports on Zach now being declared a hero for thwarting the alien plot to take over the school, and her coverage is watched by the Turtles in the Lair. Splinter remarks that “some youngsters never learn the difference between reality and illusion”, moments before the other Turtles mistake Michaelangelo carrying a huge stack of pizzas for another alien invader.

We really have reached Peak Zach here, as this adventure features him so prominently that the Turtles are pushed into the background of their own show, none of them getting to do much until the final act (even then, only Michaelangelo and Donatello see any real action). Mercifully, this is the penultimate appearance of “The Fifth Turtle”, and we won’t have to endure him again until season seven. His brother Walt, however, is seen for the last time here.

Wingnut and Screwloose join the various prominent characters from the TMNT action figure line who appeared earlier this season in making the transition to the small screen here, though like the Turtles they end up feeling like something of an afterthought in this story, a pair of aliens who show up at the halfway point and scurry off again as quickly as they arrived. Disappointingly, this will prove to be their only appearance in the TV series: they came, they saw, they went back to their home planet. Their brief stint here is perhaps the only notable or interesting thing about this episode, and unless you’re a big fan of the duo from their appearances in the toy line or other TMNT media I’d suggest this one is an easy skip. Let’s move on to the next episode, and...

(Checks notes)

Oh no. Oh no. Not him. Anyone but him.

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