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adenthemage · 1 year

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Okay fine I’ll do it

[rattles you]

Tell me your thoughts on Bishop!!!!!!! I wanna hear!!!

— Trauma

[Is rattled!!]

Oh boy I am so sorry my dear friend but as it happens pushing the Bishop button is even worse than pushing the OC button. I have done extensive historical research for this asshole, and I am totally using this ask as an excuse to infodump about it. God Forgive Me for the length this post is about to be.

Anyway before I get into all that, first the catalyst! The thing that got the part of my brain dedicated to analyzing Agent Bishop turning in the first place: in the post I tagged, you brought up the idea of how much power Bishop actually has, which is something I find super interesting! To me, there are two especially relevant pieces of evidence to consider, and they are as follows:

The first and most compelling to me is that Bishop seems to report directly to the president, which suggests-- as far as I can tell-- that he is pretty high-ranking within the government, or at least takes some priority in getting meetings with important people. It was also shown, briefly, that Bishop worked directly with at least one other president in the past, very early in America's development iirc. However, we know for a fact he does not outrank the president and relies on them for funding, so we can at least draw a hard line there. (There is another discussion to be had from Bishop's relationship to the presidents, which I'll come back around to after this point.)

Second, the level of technology at EPF's disposal. Now, some of it can be said to come from scrapped alien tech and indeed I think some of it is very much implied to be so. But it's clear from the numerous bases, modes of transport and level of defenses that EPF is and has been well-funded. The amount of resources at Bishop's disposal is kinda crazy, and he is also able to fund his own research projects, when the money's not used on the field.

There might also be something to be said of Bishop plausibly being head of EPF for 200 years, and being implied to have founded it. It could suggest a high level of trust and effectiveness, though that's more speculation than evidence. Otherwise, that's mostly why I feel Bishop and EPF do indeed have pretty strong influence within America and its government (wish I could say I had any solid thoughts on his influence outside of the US but tbh what we have suggests he absolutely does not lmao)

As for how Bishop may view the Justice Force, I think your read on it-- him not having much concern because they originate from Earth-- is pretty accurate. Bishop's main priority is protecting Earth from forces outside of it. When it comes to strife within, he doesn't seem too bothered. Despite his greater goals aligning morally good in theory, he very much believes the ends justify the means, and we've seen him dismissive of possibly causing the deaths of innocents because there would be overall long-term benefits. (Which is also why I think an invalid reasoning would be that he leaves JF be because they help people; he doesn't really care about the plight of the individual.)

Them appearing clearly humanoid helps, of course. He is definitely also xenophobic.

On that note, actually! It's also worth noting his interest in the turtles wanes a little after getting their DNA. After that first confrontation most subsequent run-ins with him tend to be the turtles crashing in on an unrelated op. Would he be chill with them getting endorsed by JF, though, that I'm not so sure ghdgdg. There might be a case to be made that vigilantes who regularly screw with government operations should not be getting a JF stamp of approval, and I think he's vindictive enough to press that.

Also on that note I just wish we got to see Bishop's thoughts on those more fantastical parts of the 03 universe more. How much is he aware of the Y'Lyntians and other non-human races native to earth? How aware is he of other dimensions, and did his knowledge and/or protocols change following the events of Turtles Forever? How about time travel and Time Keepers and all that? Given s5 I'm inclined to say he has some awareness of chi, mystics, and/or spirits because he's armed and ready with an arsenal of weapons that are effective against True Shredder's ghost demon army. Things to consider.

Also also! To loop back around on the presidents point: one thing I found really interesting about that is that it suggests the American government has Bishop on record as being alive for 200+ years and counting. So I think it's funny to imagine that after a certain point, every new president has to be sworn to secrecy and let in on the fact that yeah, one of the black ops leaders is functionally immortal, he reports directly to you, have fun.

Anyway those are all the thoughts I had based on that one segment from the radio post ghdvshs I warned you I warned you it's ridiculous

At this juncture I will now be rambling about various other observations, until the event that tumblr forcibly stills my hand:

-Bishop will chameleon into whatever his job requires of him. This is something that became obvious to me (and my captive audience of friends left to suffer my liveblogging my watchthroughs on discord,) after finally learning what the fuck was up with Bishop in Fast Forward. When I originally watched through, I was having trouble reconciling this Bishop with the one I knew and loved, even with the explanation we were given to why he changed his tune. So I posed my issue to The Gang (captive audience) and we stumbled upon a Great Truth on the nature of Agent John Bishop

Bishop, at his core, is fueled by the trauma he experienced when he was abducted so long ago, and it turned into a strong motivation to keep Earth safe so no one would ever have to experience that again (and also revenge. Revenge was a big part of it, too. But I digress.) At the core, Bishop's motivations are morally-good. And here's the other thing about Bishop, he's willing to throw away ANYTHING to achieve his goals. Nothing is sacred, not even human lives. As such, it follows Bishop will become whatever is most needed of him to accomplish his goals, too, including overhauling his behavior. This has likely already taken place numerous times in the "present," given Bishop comes from a different time period and would have to be constantly adapting to modern etiquettes and sensibilities. But this becomes even more likely in the event that he wanted to achieve and maintain an elected position, like the presidency he holds in Fast Forward. And indeed he succeeds, as we hear through Cody that he's extremely well-respected and beloved by the public.

I think it is very likely a majority of the Bishop we see in FF is a well-practiced act to become as personable as possible. He decided the best way to protect Earth was to ally with other planets, and chameleoned himself into the perfect ambassador in order to achieve this. So because his ultimate goal aligns morally-good, he became good in pursuit of it, despite his true nature (which is a sadistic mfer.) I also think it's way funnier to think FF Bishop is constantly surpressing urges to choose violence.

And piggybacking off of that, the other really interesting idea here is that Bishop's ultimate goal will create a world were people like himself will have no place. Bishop is, again, a sadistic fuck, he enjoys inflicting suffering on others. And here he's so effectively created an era of peace that even staged wrestling is considered violent and barbaric. How bored out of his mind must he be on the regular? How must he feel knowing he can never sate those violent tendencies or the world he built will turn on him in a heartbeat? What keeps him working for the same goals regardless?

(I still think the execution was clunky in FF despite how great the ideas behind it are. Are you telling me Bishop isn't internally obsessing over how the fuck the turtles just showed up 100 years in the future looking like teenagers still? You telling me the turtles don't listen to Bishop go 'hey guys I'm good now want to work with me :)' and don't immediately have 20 million alarm bells going off cuz that is DEFINITELY A TRAP and HOW IS BISHOP HERE if he has access to time travel that's REALLY BAD)

-Despite being an antagonist, Bishop almost always succeeds. THIS RIGHT HERE is one of the things I find most fascinating about Bishop as a character. Motherfucker can't stop winning. And it's especially interesting because as an agent in the story he is aligned to nobody but himself; he's just as likely to come into conflict with the turtles as he is to pick a fight with one of their enemies. Sometimes he does both at once!

But like, when it comes to the greater goals Bishop sets out to accomplish his success rate is pretty damn high. The Slayer might be the most overt failure, he got skewered and his creation ran off to live with the rats so rip to that one. But like, he succeeds in getting the turtles' DNA samples, he succeeds in tricking the president into giving him more funding, he's able to blackmail fuckin Oroku Saki, he's able to trick the turtles into doing his dirty work, and so on and so forth. This goes hand-in-hand with his chameleon abilities. He is ruthless, willing to sacrifice anything to win, and he has been shown very capable of thinking outside the box. I think the fact that he's from a different time and lived through so many cultural shifts has a big part in the latter.

Also, this guy takes on 6+v1 odds multiple times and holds his own. Like what the hell. I could go into a whole other thing about his fighting style but this is gonna be long enough as it is-- all I'll say on that point for now is that Splinter is the only character shown to consistently give him trouble in a fight, which has an amazing effect of hyping both of them up.

-Bishop must have some level of medical background. This is mostly just speculation based on the fact that, when we're first introduced to Bishop and he's trying to perform vivisection on the guys, he's the only one in the room. I imagine you don't want to screw up your samples with something like a vivsection? Though I can't say I'm terribly knowledgable on the subject, considering the vested interest he has in actually getting the samples, I doubt he cleared the room without knowing he'd be able to do so. (The other reason is definitely just for his own sadistic thrills, of course.)

-I mentioned before, but Bishop seems to be lenient with scientists, even those not under his employ. Obv he's pretty indulgent with Stockman despite his attitude (at least, as close as Bishop can get to Not Terrible,) and he remains as loyal to keeping Stockman employed as Stockman is willing to stay in EPF. Bishop is also shown to have some level of respect or acknowledgment for both Donny and Leatherhead's intelligence, and iirc he's also seen to have some investment in Dr Chaplin Not Dying in s5.

This also could suggest Bishop is just a good employer in general, which I think would be a funny contrast to how we usually see him portrayed.

-Bishop's current accent is probably not his original one. This has no bearing on anything, but John Bishop was born in 1773 and they did not talk like we do, now. I'm not sure if he would develop a contemporary accent naturally, since he has been alive and actively working with people this entire time, or if this would be something he'd had to have worked to change intentionally.

-After running the math, Bishop was probably about 43 when he stopped aging.

-Who tf is the monster to Bishop?? Seriously this is going to haunt me forever we never get any closure on that and it's the closest we see to Bishop having a personal life or connections outside of just his work. One thing I've extrapolated from this, though, is that he was probably working on a way to reverse whatever transformed that man, and this meant he actually had a bit of a head-start on a formula to reverse mutations when the outbreak happened.

-Despite my opining for more Bishop content, I actually love how ambiguous a lot of his personal information is. It makes him stand out as an audience member, especially before they reveal anything about him and we see this dude just get up and walk off being impaled through the chest. It also just enforces a sense that nobody really knows him. We're only even privy to the fact that he's from the 18th century because it's an opening stinger for an episode, none of the other characters are aware of it. I love that.

-If you ever need some vibes for playing out a scene with Bishop, I cannot recommend the Utopia soundtrack enough. Monarch's Pyramid, To You All Kids Will Come, Meditative Chaos, and Jessica Gets Off are the ones I give the most listens.

-Given how very little we're shown of Bishop outside the context of EPF, I'm partial to thinking he literally never takes a break. Every waking moment he's working, he hasn't had a vacation day in 200 years. That's just a headcanon, though.

-Whenever Bishop appears on-screen, you can usually bet the show is about to dip 20 shades darker. This is initially what got me so invested in him, he's a harbinger for when the show's like Get Fucking Ready.

Anyway. I think about him too much. I intend to rewatch 03 after finishing my binge of 87 and compile even more observations, too, so maybe I'll have even more to say by then, who knows loL. In the meantime please take some extra Bishop doodles from my sketchbook and this moodboard of what my discord ramble box has looked like for the past few months

#rip to my followers #agent bishop #tmnt 2003 #Thank you so much again for indulging me fr!! I can't express how stupid excited it makes me to be given free reign to ramble like this LOL #sorry for being a Bishop stan :pensive:#I feel it's also important to note I could have even more to say especially concerning his fighting style #because 03 is AMAZING at having consistent and unique fighting styles for each character so I pay close attention to those things #and then we haven't even touched on my man 2012!Bishop who is underrated as hell #Shoutout to The Gang for enabling me at every opportunity and making my obsession worse #We also have like. So many AUs. it's stupid #my favorite is a crossover with Invader Zim I think #marie says words occasionally #marie draws sometimes #hmm. do i put this on my art blog... hmmm....

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