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scatterbrainedbot · 6 months

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Rat Sons AU: Character Introductions

Hamato Tang Shen

(aka the love of my life)

more ramblings & doodles:

(so do yall remember how in the 03 series Tang Shen was kinda just like a passing thought with no like actual characterization besides 'is pretty' and 'dies'?? and that both the boys she grew up with fell in love with her despite being raised as siblings?

yeah we're ditching that)

meet Hamato Tang Shen, official adopted daughter of Hamato Sho (and notably his only child.) Shes an absolute mountain of a woman, buff as all get out, stubborn and quick with a comeback, and a fully trained master of ninjutsu and the mystic arts.

Despite the death of her biological father when she was five, Tang Shen's childhood was largely a happy one. Hamato Sho, being a friend of her fathers, brought her to his ancestral home in the mountains after the tragedy. Sho did his best to nurture and encourage her, in all the ways he felt his own childhood lacked— with kindness and humor, free of any burdens of destiny or namesakes.

Of course, being raised by a the snarkiest old man alive who also had a major problem with authority, Tang Shen was perhaps a bit too bullheaded a child for most of her peers growing up. She didnt mind much — the Hamato farm was home to so many loud and opinionated critters, she rarely felt lonely at all. She loved spending time with the animals, and spoke to them constantly. Especially Yoshi, the family's pet Spurred African Tortoise, who they nicknamed "Splinter" after Tang Shen made a friend at school with the same name and the confusion of it all got old. She also took to calling the tortoise Jiji, as he was even more an ancient old man than her father.

By the time Tang Shen was approaching twenty, she had settled quite happily into the life she had on the farm, content with the company of her father, their animals, and, on more days than not, Yoshi, her cute best friend (/boyfriend??).

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, the Hamato family never could escape destiny for very long.

lol this is way too much for a character that is mostly ever gonna be seen in sporadic flashbacks but yall i love her sm u dont understand

did u notice its all past tense :(

[rat sons masterpost] [more Hamato family lore]

(easier to read/separated contents below the cut! (super long))

HAMATO TANG SHEN

Page 1:

Pronouns: she/her

color motif: forrest green

Born in China, moved to Japan ~age 5, moved to New York State ~age 28

Daughter of a badass mystic warrior (a Guardian?) who was a close friend of Sho

Taken in by Sho after her bio father was killed in some major important mystic conflict (Sho later formally adopted her)

She grew up on the Hamato's familial land on the outskirts of a small mountain village (Gifu Prefecture??) which Sho was partially using as a small dysfunctional farm, and partially letting become overrun by nature

This overrun area became a sort of training grounds for a young Tang Shen, where Sho taught her first basic self defense, then later all forms of ninjutsu and even the mystic arts.

When she was young, she enjoyed helping Sho raise their assortment of animals: chickens (her favorites), two pigs (Sho's favorites), an old steer, a horrible peacock (Sho's sworn enemy), and, of course, the Hamato's ancient pet African Spurred Tortoise, Yoshi

As a child, she befriended a boy, also named Yoshi, whom she immediately teased for having the same name as her family pet. They became inseparable.

She was rather ostracized by other children her age growing up, both because she was a foreigner, and because she was considered too outspoken/opinionated and known to stir up trouble when she felt something wasn't fair

Other young girls, in particular, would also bully her for her appearance, since she was taller, more muscular and broad-shouldered than most of her peers. (Sho never wanted to throw hands with eleven year olds before, but here we are)

Later on, she and Yoshi (the human, that is) fell in love

Page 2:

When she was small, Tang Shen loved learning to care for all the different types of animals living on the farm— even ones that weren't necessarily meant to be there, like the occasional rat, trying to establish a nest in a quiet corner of the barn.

Sho would help her catch any such critters she found, and they'd journey together into the woods or up the mountain to find a good place to release them, since they couldn't be allowed to stay on the farm.

(It was during one of these journeys that a newly-fathered Sho finally began to find his footing and connect to the young girl he took in. He had brought along some extra feed and an unneeded towel to give the rat a decent chance at settling in wherever they brought it to (and hopefully prevent it from finding its way back to the farm). But Tang Shen, five years old and only abstractly aware of why her life had recently changed so much, insisted there was a lot more the rat would need. She spoke of how lost and frightened it must be, having been just scooped up and taken to some place new so suddenly. Sho listened.)

Tang Shen developed a love of rats in part because of these little adventures she shared with her adoptive father.

As an adult, Tang Shen (having discussed it previously lol) was gifted a pet fancy rat by Yoshi.

She named the rat Miko and carried her everywhere.

#YALL WANNA MEET MY WIFE #LOOK AT MY WIFE #my art #rat sons #rat sons lore #tmnt au #also her ages are a lil iffy still #like she mightve moved to the usa a lil earlier than i said

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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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roninreverie · 1 year

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Big Mama's Chinese Roots and a Connection to Tang Shen?

First off, to preface... this whole thing started because @caro-rolo figured out that the Mystic Portal Key doohickeys in Rise are actually just some kind of fancy compasses that have North, South, East, and West written in Chinese characters.

Now, the first thought I had to learning this was "Tang Shen" because in the TMNT universe where Japanese influence is pretty heavy, she is notable for having a Chinese name.

She is also the love interest of Hamato Yoshi in many different variations. Though in Rise, that role belongs most notably to Big Mama, with Tang Shen being a blink and you miss it easter-egg credit on the cover of Jistu for Justice:

Mama is also most likely the source of where Splinter got his mystic portal key, and she even has one of her own in her office. Judging by how much control she has over the Hidden City, from the Battle Nexus, to demolition derbies, to train stations, to crime rings, she seems to have a large control over just who all is in her city, and these keys could very well be something she controls directly.

Now, Big Mama has all the set ups for having typical TMNT Japanese roots. Even her home estate seen in "Hidden City Job" has a very Asian look to it inside and out:

Plus, the whole "her being a yokai", makes it easy to assume she is based on some kind of Japanese spider demon like Jorōgumo, Yatsukahagi/Tsuchigumo, or Ōgumo, etc.

But "Yokai" can also be used to describe the Chinese term "yaoguai" which is basically the same definition.

So if Mama were a Chinese spider demon instead, the first one who comes up on a quick Google search is "zhī zhū jīng" or "spider woman". These are 7 spider demon sisters who fight Sun Wukong in Monkey King: Journey to the West.

Here, the spiders changed into seven beautiful young ladies who wanted to eat the flesh of Sun Wukong's master, Tang Seng, which is said to make the consumer immortal and forever young.

"Tang Seng"... "Tang Shen"... sounds pretty similar.

And aren't there also some animation ties from ROTTMNT to Lego Monkey King? Tangent side note, but there's a spider demon queen in that universe too and guess what? SHE'S PURPLE!

And where did Mama and Lou Jistsu first meet? On set of one of his movies "Crouching Shrimp Hidden Tiger Prawn" in 1984. A movie where an actress like Tang Shen could very well have ties to? (We'll come back to this at the end.)

Another chip in the Chinese vs Japanese bucket is Big Mama's Security Team:

At first, I thought their distinct faces represented Blue Japanese Hannya/ Oni masks, but what if they're supposed to be Chinese Nuo masks instead? Not unlike Zuko's Blue Spirit mask in ATLA.

You could also argue these guys are wielding a sort of Qinglong Ji or Fangtian Ji, which are Chinese spear or polearm weapons. (But if anyone knows what those spear thingies are really called, please let me know, it's driving me nuts!)

...

In conclusion, I got sent on a massive rabbit hole because of a fictional compass and regret nothing! 🧭

Now what is Big Mama's connection to Tang Shen? Are they related? (The actress does look a bit purple.) They could be sisters like the 7 sisters of the Monkey King lore. Did Mama seek to get rid of Tang Shen so she could get closer to Lou Jitsu herself? Are they the same person? Is Big Mama based on Japanese or Chinese folklore? Did any of this make any sense at all?

Let me know what you think, and thanks for joining me for another deep dive into another one of my random ROTTMNT theories!

EDIT: (PS- Sorry, if the "read more" messes the order of these up, but the scroll was annoying me in my own tags.) 😅

#rottmnt #rottmnt theory #rottmnt big mama #rottmnt tang shen #lego monkey king and monkey king journey to the west mentions #the friggin compass threw me for a loop man #long post #roninreverie #roninrambles

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yellowhollyhock · 2 months

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thinking about. When Hamato Yoshi becomes Master Splinter

Especially 1987 but I think this applies to 2012 as well. maybe not so much Rise, but idk it could in some ways

Extremely traumatic to have your humanity taken from you in that way.

But let's also talk about the fact that this was done to him... by humans. His experience with humanity has been that they are violent, greedy, corrupt. Okay so that was mostly Shredder, but he also spent some time just out in the streets. I mean the story is different and focuses on different things with each Splinter but, rat or human, the base of the story is usually that he fled Japan (where he experiened extreme violence) and landed in New York City where he had nothing. The Splinters who were rats, canon deals more explicitly with their view of humans as.. not evil exactly (except mutant mayhem), but not good. In need of protection and guidance, at best.

But what about Hamato Yoshi rejecting his humanity? It was taken from him unwillingly, and for someone who likes to be in control it would make sense for his coping mechanism to be reinterpreting his situation as an ascent to something purer. And this could explain in a way how he trains the turtles to be heroes. Their family is above humanity, almost like instead of beasts he thinks of them as spirits. There has to be a word, right, for that literary device where the nonhumans are less corruptible? like Smurfs. does what I'm saying make sense

Basically his mutation made him a rat, and in order to avoid the trauma of his body being involuntarily changed I think he chooses to see this as a sacred experience. Rat > Human. He will be more sly, more disconnected from earthly vice, more resourceful, less wasteful.

Now contrast this with the turtles mutation experience.

Generally we don't see them wanting to go back to being regular turtles; they want to become more human. The mutagen didn't even 'mix' them with a human, it enhanced their strength and intelligence and a lot of other random wonky things that made them seem humanoid. For them becoming human-adjacent was the same thing as becoming aware. Without the mutagen, they wouldn't know each other's names, wouldn't be able to enjoy pizza or video games, certainly couldn't learn martial arts. From their pov, humans are above them on the scale. Humanity is something they chase, try to understand and immerse themselves in, and rejection from that world hurts.

Master Splinter, then, to them, took a big fall for them. I could almost compare it to a parent giving up a career in order to be a parent. The older they get the more they realize, first that it happened, and then that it had to happen because of them. They have to give him another chance at that other life, because it's their fault he lost it (from the pov, at least).

And I just. Think about when he scolds them for those human vices he's made himself believe his more animal state will help him overcome. Laziness, gluttony, envy (hoo boy envy. whole other post), selfishness. He pushes them to train, and keep the lair clean, to protect them from becoming what he once was.

And it's really sad because what he once was. Was human. Just human.

And it's the wrong word for the turtles, but it's the same concept. Just let your kids be human. Let them be teenagers. And to his credit, he does try. He allows them their pizza and video games and human friends. But he also seems constantly on guard for their sakes. Not only will the human world reject them, something he experienced himself and doesn't want to face, but it also has the power to ruin them. Like where they are is the ideal and becoming more human-like could make them.. more inherently bad. He wants to keep them in his own little world because he's crafted one where being what they are is an honor, not a shame. But he can't comprehend how, living under his roof, the turtles are still experiencing an entirely different world.

They don't ever truly get it, either, that he doesn't see his mutation the ay they do. And it's not that I don't think he ever sees becoming a rat as a fall from grace. I'm sure those feelings also exist. But he cultivates and acts on this other idea because it's simply more useful to him than self-pity. And that's really cool of him on some level! Empowering to reject humans just as thoroughly as they rejected him; he deserves a story where what happened to him all worked out for the best and was his destiny all along. It's just... he also didn't take the time to heal (how could he, given circumstances?), and that does affect how he treats his children.

Does any of this make sense? It's just a very interesting dynamic

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 1987 #1987 splinter #2012 splinter #character analysis #can't believe i brought up smurfs on a tmnt post #someday yall will learn about my dormant special interests #also a lot of unexpected bayverse feels in this post. but why? their splinter wasn't ever hamato yoshi #maybe because of how close they specifically were to being able to become human #which is also a thing in 1987 #2012 it's splinter being close to returning to human which is also big oof

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hyp3rsynthine · 5 days

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introducing…

TMNT: Mystic Calamity!

(we’ve all seen the story told many times before, and others’ creativity and imagination have inspired me to take my own spin on the turtles’ story, with a few touches of my own self indulgence.)

Mystic Calamity follows the lives of siblings Hamato, mutant turtles Doni, Mikey, Raph, and Leo, as well as their adopted(but no less family) sibling, an eccentric bird mutant(?) named Nicki. Raised underneath New York City by their bat mutant father, Master Splinter, aka, Hamato Yoshi, as they do their best to get by. However, nothing stays the same forever, especially a family like theirs. Come Leo’s 14th birthday, the siblings venture out topside for a little more freedom, but accidentally get themselves caught up in a seemingly never ending cycle of shenanigans.

Their father’s only concern is that they come back home in one piece…

#tmnt au #tmnt: mystic calamity #tmnt mc

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twstgabrielle · 2 years

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Reading Guidelines and Warnings: The 2012 boys will be addressed by their full names unless they're speaking to each other or about one another. The Rise boys will be addressed by their nicknames. Also there will be spoilers for both shows, as well as hints at depression, grieving, traumatic events, major character death and possibly language. If any of this makes you uncomfortable then I highly encourage y'all to check out my other works.

Raph has always been the biggest of his brothers. From the moment he and his little brothers had been born and then mutated the snapping turtle has always been the biggest. And because he was the biggest it made him the oldest amongst his brothers, and he took that title as eldest child very seriously. From the moment he'd been dubbed big brother, Raph had done his best to take care of his family and to be the person that they could rely on when things got tough. He put them first and rarely complained seriously and protected them fiercely with every fiber of his being. He learned to be the strongest and the bravest and the most patient that he could be so his brothers and even his father and April could depend on him. And as he grew older he had reached those goals that he'd given himself, intentionally or unintentionally. He was in every way the best big brother that he could ever be, the big brother that his little brothers would go to when they were hurt or afraid or upset. He was the one who kissed their boo-boos and chased the nightmares away and offered them comfort when they needed it. And he was good at it, scarily so if he was willing to brag about it. Always prepared to do what must be done in order to bring peace and happiness to those he loved.

Yet here, in this very moment Raph was at a complete loss of how to fix the problem before him. The large snapping turtle could only stare at the shrine before him, his entire body shaking with his barely concealed tears and grief that had struck him when he'd finally gazed upon it and it clicked exactly what he'd been looking at. When he'd finally had his worst nightmare confirmed by Leonardo.

'Hamato Yoshi......Master Splinter......the last leader of the Hamato clan before.......before his death.'

The sentence, vicious and poisonous rang through his head like a broken record player unable to stop no matter how much he wanted it to. And Raph hated it, he hated how it stuck in his mind like glue, hated how one sentence could tear him apart from the inside. Never in a million years could Raph ever even imagine a outcome such as this, could ever even think for a moment that Master Splinter, his Sensei, the man who raised him and his brothers, the man who took care of them and loved them with everything he had, could no longer be among the living. Never had it even popped in his mind that in another world, that in another reality that his father would be dead. The knowledge alone was unbearable, a fact that shouldn't exist no matter where or when. Raph could feel his throat tighten as he stared at the picture of Master Splinter, stared at the tall rat who was so full of wisdom and kindness just from his gaze alone, a glimpse of the man he was when he'd been alive. A man who while not his father personally was in some way a version of the man who he loved back in his home universe and he felt his heart shatter. Rubbing his eyes to stop the tears that threatened to fall, Raph found his eyes wandering around the dojo to check on the occupants within.

The first one he noticed was Donnie, who was seated close to him and seemingly in denial about what he was seeing. His genius little brother was muttering underneath his breath, his gaze unfocused and shining slightly as he became lost in his thoughts which were racing a hundred miles a minute as he tried to logically explain to himself how this was a universal improbability. It broke the large turtle's heart seeing his usually cool and somewhat sarcastic and dramatic brother be reduced to an absolute mess. Raph's attention was drawn away from Donnie as a familiar heart wrenching sob came from his other side. Dark green eyes snapped towards the direction of the sobs to catch a glimpse of Mikey, his sweet little brother falling apart. The small box turtle was sobbing, curled in on himself slightly as he tried to keep his turmoil from engulfing him entirely. Next to him keeping a steady yet trembling grip on the youngest was Leo, the red eared slider was holding him, his own gaze much like Donnie's shimmering with unshed tears. His face was pale and his gaze haunted as he held their baby brother together to the best of his ability. Raph felt his heart twist at the look, seeing one similarly not too long ago.

'A lair burning in flames, shouting and screeches of an animalistic nature. The sounds of his brothers shouting out in fear as they tried to escape. He could still hear Leo's terrified cry for their father as a large hunched over form landed next to the slider. He could still see the figure of a woman trying desperately to protect them, using the last of her strength to take the monster with her and paying the ultimate price for it. He could see Leo's wide shimmering eyes, the fear and despair and denial at witnessing it before they were forced to leave their father and Draxum and Gram-Gram behind.'

Raph felt his stomach twist as the memories hit him, of having to witness the murder of his grandmother and having to carry the burden of making such a large decision. Of having to see his little brothers and April's haunted looks as they got in the truck with Todd. The large turtle teen had been witness to the same look Leo was currently wearing back then and seeing it again twisted something nasty within him. Raph wanted nothing more than at that moment than to grab his three little brothers and hold them close to him, to protect them from this horrific tragedy of this world. However it wasn't just them he wanted to do this to.

No he wanted to do this to Leonardo and his brothers as well.

Raph looked over at the group of four who sat close to one another beneath the large tree, seeing their pained and exhausted gazes, looking so much older than their actual ages. He took in Michelangelo and Donatello's closeness, the purple clad turtle trying to offer support despite the grief he felt as well. Took in the pained rage filled guilty gaze of Raphael who in all the world looked the very definition of a man who was falling apart on the inside. Took in the blank and far away gaze of Leonardo who looked so cold and unreachable, as if he was desperately trying to remain strong despite his own grief. He took in their scars both physical and emotional, took in just how much these four older turtles truly carried upon their weary shoulders and he felt that fierce need to protect them rise up within him. The need to keep them from this world's cruel injustice and harmful ways. To shield them from anymore pain and suffering just as he tried to for his little brothers. Raph knew logically that these older turtles didn't need protection, that they didn't need to be watched over, but the emotional part, the part that held his large heart full of his big brotherly love wanted nothing more than to protect them and watch over them, consequences be damned.

But amongst those feelings there was also a feeling of respect for these older turtles. It was clear that they'd been through many things within their lives, that they'd lost so much, that they'd lost their father. Yet despite it all they still remained by each other's sides, they still stuck with one another and kept each other going when it was so clear that they were tired and hurting. Yet still despite it all they kept going and that alone earned more respect than Raph orginally had.

'They're strong, just like us. We may not have been through all the things they've been through but just like us they keep on going. Then again isn't that what members of the Hamato clan do?'

The thought asked within his mind. The large snapping turtle was taken out of his thoughts by his little brother Leo's voice.

"How.......how did he......?"

Leo asked his tone shaking slightly and thick with his repressed emotions. Raph and his two remaining brothers went quiet save for a few sniffles and hiccups from Mikey as they all turned to their older counterparts. Raph quickly noticed how Raphael stiffened and how Michelangelo's jaw tightened slightly at the question. Donatello went eerily still and Leonardo.......

Leonardo went resigned in a way, as if he'd been mentally preparing himself to answer the inevitable question that was bound to come. The leader in blue was quiet for a beat as if he was trying to figure out where exactly he should begin. After a beat or two the leader took a deep breath and spoke.

"It's......it's a very long story. I'd um......get comfortable if I were you....."

Leonardo said his voice a soft growling rasp as he stared at the four younger ones. Raph felt his heart sink in unease at the sentence, suddenly afraid of hearing this story. Did he truly want to know how their father died? Did he truly want to know, to make the fact of Master Splinter being dead even more real? Raph didn't have any answers to these questions but he found himself mechanically settling himself around to face the older turtles and get himself comfortable, his brothers following his example. Once they were settled Leonardo began.

"It happened about a year ago....."

~~~~~

Raphael hated being exposed.

He hated it more than he would ever admit and he especially hated when he was exposed emotionally. And at the moment that's exactly what was happening. The short red clad turtle sat beside his older brother, his discomfort clear as he shimmied in his place. Leonardo had begun to tell the story of Master Splinter's death, his voice gruff and crocking every so often whenever he'd hit a part within the story that affected him emotionally. Raphael tried to keep back his flinches of concern whenever he heard a crack in Leonardo's voice, already knowing that once this was all over that his big brother would most likely remain quiet for the rest of the day unless he absolutely had to. He couldn't remember a recent time when Leonardo had spoken as much as he was currently, but he knew that the blue turtle would be paying for it later. Raphael flickered his bright green hues towards Donatello catching his reddish brown gaze, and already knew that his tall genius little brother had noticed Leonardo's voice as well.

'He'll probably make him tea later if I'm gonna take a guess.'

Raphael thought his mind focusing on this little thing. Raphael didn't like to remember the story that was currently being told, didn't like to remember any of it. Remembering it brought him grief, it brought him guilt and it brought him anger unlike anything he'd ever experienced in a good while. And the last thing he needed, what his brothers needed was for him to lose his head.

'They need me right now. There'll be a time and place where I can lose control and beat something or someone up. But not right now.'

He told himself as he caught up with the story that was being told. Leonardo had gotten to the part where they'd fought the other alien race and had managed to complete their mission to save their father's life. He could feel the looks of disbelief and horror from the younger turtles as Leonardo continued, already guessing that they couldn't process it at the moment. Not that Raphael could blame them, after all they'd just been informed that Master Splinter, a variation of their father had died and they'd taken it pretty badly which again Raphael couldn't blame them. After all at the time he and his brothers hadn't taken it well either.

'Hell we're still not taking it well. I don't think we ever truly will.'

Raphael thought his heart twisting into a tight knot in his chest as he recalled the earlier breakdown he and his brothers experienced in their kitchen. He knew that once this was all over he'd probably go hide out in his room to recollect himself mentally, after all being exposed so much was making him extremely twitchy and uneasy. It was like picking at a scab, tearing it open and exposing the inside of wound after it'd just started healing somewhat. It left him feeling raw and unnerved, to be so open for practical strangers to see and he could only handle so much before he'd explode like a volcano. As Raphael listened and mentally mused about the little things to keep him from completely losing it he finally caught on to Leonardo's voice telling the ending of their space journey and the beginning of the second time they'd watched their father die right in front of them. The red clad turtle gripped his hands into fists as he felt that familiar violent waves of anger, grief and guilt hit him. He could still see that horrible moment crystal clear, could feel the guilt that ate away at him like an acidic chemical. Even after a year he still felt that guilt, still felt that he was to blame somewhat for his father's death. Logically he knew that he couldn't have predicted the turn of events that had happened that night, that he couldn't have prevented them from happening. But another part of him, an illogical part, couldn't help but blame himself for what happened.

Couldn't help but feel like he was responsible for what had happened.

'I should have been faster. I should have been more alert, I should have been able to continue fighting, I should have tried to stop it, I should of-'

Thoughts and guilt piled onto him and buried him despite being told by not only April and Casey but by his own brothers that he wasn't at fault for what happened. He felt himself spiral somewhat before he was snapped out of it by a small grip on his shoulder. Blinking Raphael looked up to see that Leonardo who at this point was finishing up their story had gripped his shoulder in a gentle yet firm manner, almost as if his oldest brother had felt his thoughts going out of control. The second eldest son stared at the first eldest son who didn't look at him but he kept a firm reassuring grip on him to ground him.

It's not your fault.

Stop blaming yourself.

I'm here for you and if you need me I'll be there for you.

I love you little brother.

Raphael felt his throat get tight but he refused to acknowledge it, not wanting to break down yet again. Especially in front of their counterparts. He'd rather die then let them see him cry if he was being honest. Raphael tuned more into Leonardo's voice, focusing on the familiar scratchy and harsh tones that accompanied his words.

"We'd tried to get there in time but.........but we were too late. The Shredder had gotten to Master Splinter first. We.......we could only watch as he slaughtered him and threw him off of the building........he......he died before he'd hit the ground."

Leonardo's voice spoke finishing their story and finally going silent. Raphael felt his older brother's tense posture, could feel the pain and grief coming from him. He could feel Donatello and Michelangelo's own emotional turmoil and it made his blood boil slightly as he couldn't help but feel completely useless in the moment. Raphael wanted nothing more than at that moment than to protect his brothers from all this, wanted nothing more than to make the pain go away. But he couldn't, he'd never be able too and it made him frustrated. The short tempered turtle teen looked away from his brothers and towards their counterparts quickly seeing that much like them they weren't doing too great either. Raph had seemed to have lost his battle with his tears and they flew down his face in tiny rivers. The large snapping turtle was obviously emotional distraught by what he'd just heard and Raphael couldn't help but feel a sort of kinder ship with his younger yet larger doppelganger.

'I know the feeling pal.'

Toxic green hues turned to see Mikey next, the box turtle a complete disaster and wreck. The youngest turtle teen was sobbing full force now, his wails full of heartbreak at hearing the story. His light brown hues were filled with tears and guilt and Raphael felt his heart go out to the box turtle. He had a feeling that Mikey blamed himself for this whole situation due to his question earlier and he was taking it rather harder than he should.

'Poor kid.....no one blames you so don't beat yourself up.'

Raphael thought before he finally took note of the twins who looked like they weren't even processing everything correctly. Donnie seemed to have completely broken down mentally somewhat, like he couldn't fathom this horrible situation. Leo on the other hand just looked haunted. Like he was plagued by memories himself. Raphael felt himself become uneasy at the look, because for one horrifying moment the smooth joking slider looked so much like Leonardo that it was scary. As if sensing his unease Leo's light blue hues snapped up to his bright green ones and it felt like at that moment that Leo could see straight into his soul.

'Jesus Christ that kid's got a look.....'

Raphael thought feeling suddenly open and vulnerable, like a butterfly pinned to a table. It unnerved him more than he'd ever admit and he couldn't help but glare slightly at the younger teen, his unspoken message loud and clear.

'Mind your own business or you'll be sorry kid.'

Leo's gaze never wavered but the red eared slider finally looked away from the shorter and older turtle and turned to look at Leonardo.

"I'm......I'm sorry for your loss. I......we couldn't imagine how it feels to lose a parent like that. But.......but if it helps we understand what it's like to lose someone you love."

Leo spoke his voice smooth and soft and serious. Raphael and his brothers looked at their counterparts curiously, as Leo continued on.

"Not too long ago.....me and my brothers had our lair attacked by our version of the Shredder. He......he destroyed our home and hurt our father and Draxum and.......and he murdered our Gram-Gram."

The red eared slider said a look of pain and anguish appearing on his face. The slider's brothers also seemed to become full of grief at the mention of their Gram-Gram, and Raphael felt his heart twist at the sight of it.

"Your Gram-Gram?"

Leonardo asked his voice rasping slightly in question. Raph nodded and Leo spoke up again.

"She was our grandmother. We didn't know her very long but......but we loved her and the Shredder.........she didn't make it......"

Leo finished his voice barely audible. A heavy silence filled the dojo as both groups of turtles silently grieved for those who had fallen in battle and Raphael couldn't help but suddenly speak up.

"We're sorry that you had to go through that. You didn't deserve to suffer like that."

The hot headed turtle said voice gruff and somewhat awkward. But the message was received and Raph was the one who responded to it.

"You guys didn't deserve to suffer either. None of us did."

The large snapping turtle said sincere and soft like as his dark green gaze flickered over Raphael and his brothers. Leonardo offered them a small nod, his eyes shining slightly and Raphael gripped his forearm to help steady him emotionally just as he'd done earlier. Leonardo's dark blue gaze flickered over to him in silent thanks before addressing the rest of the turtles.

"No we didn't........and we're going to make sure that you guys don't suffer much longer by helping you get back home so you can be with your loved ones."

Leonardo stated his voice strengthening in his determination to make it happen. Raphael couldn't help but feel a familiar spark of respect and admiration for his older brother, already knowing that his fearless big brother would make it happen. After that the two groups of turtles didn't speak much after that instead only quietly paying their respects for those who were no longer with them. After awhile Raphael watched their younger counterparts slowly start to get up from their places on the tatsumi mats and finally leave the dojo, obviously wanting to process and grieve privately. Once they were all out the four older turtles were the only ones who remained in the dojo. Donatello and Michelangelo had moved closer to the two oldest brothers making them become somewhat huddled together. The trio of younger brothers looked up at the eldest one, waiting for him to speak and let them know what they were going to do next. Leonardo didn't take long to answer their unspoken questions.

"I think we'll hold off on training for today and leave it for tomorrow. It's.....it's been a long day today and I think everyone just needs a moment to step back and breathe."

The fearless leader said his voice finally going out somewhat in the middle of his sentence. Donatello seemed to give him a narrow eyed look already going into his medic mode.

"That's a good idea Leo, in fact I think that you should have a tea break and relax your vocal chords a bit."

Donatello said his voice leaving no room for arguments. Leonardo looked like he wanted to argue but seeing Raphael and Michelangelo also give him a look he dropped it.

"Don't worry Dee, I'll sit with our bro here while you go get some. I'll make sure that he doesn't go anywhere."

Michelangelo said his voice a forced kind of chipper though they all knew that he was just as exhausted as them. Raphael stood up and stretched his back cracking a few of his joints.

"Since dorks one and two are gonna babysit ya, I'm gonna go to my room for a bit. I've had my fill today of emotional circles and hand holding."

The red clad turtle stated bluntly and somewhat rudely yet his brothers paid no mind to it, already knowing that Raphael needed some time to recover from everything and recoup.

"Alright bro, we'll see you later."

Michelangelo said giving him a small smile.

"If we need anything we'll let you know Raph."

Donatello piped up already getting up to get Leonardo his tea for his throat. Raphael just grunted and went to leave the dojo when Leonardo's voice spoke up with a slight crackle to it.

"We'll be here for when you come back."

Leonardo said an unspoken message within his sentence for the red turtle.

'If you need someone to talk to I'm all ears little brother, just come find me if you do.'

Raphael gave a small scoff sending a non heated glare towards the eldest son.

"Don't wait up for me Fearless, I'll be gone for awhile."

Raphael said already opening up the sliding doors and disappearing into the living room leaving his own unspoken message out in the open for Leonardo.

'I'll hold you to it brother, and the same goes for you too.'

Raphael walked past the living room being careful to not bother the other turtles who were currently sitting in the pit together and just basking in one another's presences as he slipped by and headed towards his room. Once he made it to the familiar door he turned the knob and stepped inside his safe haven, shutting the door behind him fully intending on beating the hell out of his punching bag to get rid of his anger and guilt. As he went to prepare himself he heard the familiar high pitched cry coming from his bedside table. Turning towards it he met the gaze of his beloved pet Chompy who had heard him come in and decided to greet him. Raphael felt his heart soften and a smile coming up onto his face.

"Hey Chompy, did you have a good morning?"

Raphael asked his tone soft and gentle earning a churr of delight from the little alien turtle. Raphael made his way towards the little turtle, and made himself comfortable on his bed as Chompy climbed into his lap churring and squeaking the entire time.

'Maybe I can punch my punching bag later.....'

He mused as he settled in and began to tell his small little friend about all of his troubles.

*I'm gonna be honest this most likely sucks but-! I've got some things planned for in future chapters and I'm gonna put a lot of thought into them because like I've said I'm a self indulgent trashy bitch and damnit I'm gonna keep doing my self indulgent bullshit lol. Anyways for some context on Raphael and why he's not quick to anger is because I like to think that the older Raphael gets the more better he gets at keeping his quick temper in check especially when Splinter died and it was just him and his brothers left. Also-! I do to intend to touch more on the deaths of Rise Karai and 2012 Splinter and all the things and emotions that the boys personally go through I've just got to get it all planned out and I'll go from there. Again I apologize that this chapter sucks it'll get better (hopefully maybe idk we'll see). Anyways if any y'all read this I hope you enjoyed it!!!*

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wow-its-me · 2 years

Text

Okokokokokok

A TMNT AU that focuses more on splinter. A story similar to 2012’s story, but with Rise’s personality.

What if instead of of protecting the world from the shredder, Yoshi was destined to protect the world from the Kraang? What if he knew he failed as soon as he mutated? What if there was nothing he could do but wait? What if Lou Jitsu was an early online influencer?

A story split in to three parts, three times, the early 2000’s/Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki, 2012/Lou Jitsu and the turtle tots, 2022/ Master Splinter and the TMNT

Anyway I’ve been thinking about this all day so here you go

The Tale of Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki

1980

Not too far from Tokyo sits a small village, home of the Hamato clan who happily welcome there newest addition, Hamato Yoshi

1984

Tragedy strikes, the first of many tragedies that will follow Yoshi throughout his life. His mother must leave, to watch for something, protect them from something

1987

Yoshi befriends a local boy named Oroku Saki. They quickly become inseparable. However, before the year is up, tragedy strikes once more, Leaving Saki an orphan, tragedy will follow Saki throughout his life. Yoshi’s family is quick to take in Saki, in there eyes the young boy was always family.

1995

The brothers learn together, play together, train together. But like all brothers they fight. They argue and bicker over silly things, but when it comes down to it they’ll always defend each other, won’t they?

1997

The brothers sit in the dojo while their father speaks to them. He talks to them about their family, their history, the Hamato clan. Hundreds of years ago their family stopped the demons that attempted to destroy their home. Yoshi in Saki will one day bare the responsibility of protecting them if the monsters shall ever return.

Saki nodes, he understands the weight that he must carry.

Yoshi on the other hand is not paying attention.

“Monsters and Demons and Aliens and Yokai,” he later tells his brother, “like they fairy tales he’d tell us to keep us out of trouble as kids? You seriously believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I won’t ignore Hundreds of years of tradition because I don’t want to be responsible, will you?”

Their sibling rivalry suddenly lost its playful twang

1999

The rivalry between them continues to grow becoming more intense with every argument.

Saki believes that their father favors Yoshi, despite Yoshi never seeming to care or take anything seriously.

Yoshi believes that Saki is simply a hateful man. That Saki will hate him no matter what so there’s no point in trying to stay kind to him.

Yoshi also spends more of his free time on his computer, the internet was a fascinating thing.

1999

Yoshi posts on blogs and forums, starting to make a name for himself on online spaces. That name however is not Yoshi, he instead goes by ‘Lou Jitsu’

2001

A young woman moves to town. Yoshi and Saki both become smitten.

Tang Shen is her name, smart, strong, kind, beautiful.

Weather she realizes it or not, her love will be the final thing to push the brothers apart.

Shen finds them both charming in their own ways.

2002

The young men continue to try and win her attention. However in their fighting does not go unnoticed by Shen. She notices the malice behind Saki’s words, behind his eyes.

Tang Shen chooses Hamato Yoshi

2003

Lou Jitsu has gained quite a following on a new website called ‘MySpace’

He tends to embellish his life on the internet, he makes himself out to be some sort of hero. Never lying per say, just exaggerating.

2004

Tang Shen is pregnant.

Yoshi is there for her, but he starts distancing himself, spending more time working, training. He’s scared. He doesn’t think he could be a great father.

Saki doesn’t care that she’s going to have a child. He is convinced that she still loves him, that she will leave Yoshi. He is plans on raising the child as if it was his own

2005

The Hamatos happily welcome their newest addition,

Hamato Miwa

However this happiness dose not last.

Yoshi’s father is ill. While he tries to remain carefree, he can feel the sadness and responsibility he’s been running from begin to catch up with him.

Deep into the night someone knocks at the door.

Shen lights a candle and makes her way over to the door.

Oroku Saki

He demands she change her mind. She demands he leave her be.

Their argument wakes up Yoshi and they soon begin to fight, unlike they have ever fought before. The candle falls and fire slowly consumes the building.

Saki unsheathes his blade and swings for Yoshi,

“STOP” Shen blocks the swing before falling to the ground

Saki Runs

The supports of the small building begin to fall.

Yoshi barely makes it out alive

Miwa is lost

He sits outside whispering to himself though broken tears.

He goes to his clan. But Saki got there first, he doesn’t know what he told them but it couldn’t be good. His own father won’t look him in the eyes.

There’s only one thing left for him to do, flee.

He books a plane to the first place he can think of, America, he briefly considers LA before settling on New York, Shen always wanted to visit New York.

2006

Yoshi can’t shake the feeling that grief isn’t the only thing that followed him. He swears he sees things in the streets, things only mentioned in cautionary tales, hears the name he was taught to fear.

His mind must be playing tricks on him.

Since moving Yoshi struggled to find a job, before ending up at a local pet shop. Most of his paycheck went to paying the rent of a small run down apartment.

He was entirely alone, the only thing that gave him the slight sense of community that he craved was his online presence. He often posted martial arts videos and life blogs. He gave up attempting to be honest with them. Lou Jitsu became a character he put on as a last attempt at keeping his sanity, was he still sane?. He wished that could be a paying job.

The depression, grief, anxiety, and pain of his life was becoming to much to handle alone.

‘Maybe I should get an emotional support pet.’

The next day he clocked out of work, but didn’t walk home alone. He was now accompanied by the four baby turtles. He finally felt like things could be okay again.

And they almost were. Yoshi was mere feet from his apartment when he heard the voices coming from the alleyway.

“Kraang has received new orders from Kraang Prime” the horrid robotic voice screeched.

Fear, all he felt was fear. Then relief, he wasn’t seeing things, he wasn’t loosing his mind, they were real, they were here. Regret. He should have paid more attention to his father. He places the turtles on a window ledge

“What has Kraang-“

BANG

Yoshi hits one in the back of the head and it topples to the ground. The other stands shocked in front of him. ‘Could Kraang be shocked?’ In it’s hands was a glowing canister filled with a thick green substance that bubbled and oozed.

a fight brakes out the canister traded hands back and forth between the man and the alien-piloted machine. Suddenly it was in the air

The Air stood still. Rats ran by his feet. Shattering glass. Ooze coated his skin.

Pain. White hot pain. It clouded his vision, rang in his ears. He felt his bones stretching, skin morphing. Was he growing taller? Or getting shorter? He grasped his arms for stability, only to feel a thick layer of fur. When did he get on the ground?

‘The Turtles’

He glanced over and they too were sitting in a puddle of the ooze. They were changing right in front of him. Yoshi looked to the baby turtles and for a split second he thought they looked familiar. Almost like him, Almost like,

He picked up the children an ran, retreating into the sewers where no one would see them.

2006

The Hamato clan is born anew

They happily welcome four additions.

Hamato Raphael

Hamato Leonardo

Hamato Donatello

Hamato Michelangelo

#Did I write Tmnt fanfic at 3am?#Maybe #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2018 #rottmnt #hamato yoshi #tmnt splinter #lou jitsu #splinter angst?#oroku saki

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thecomfortable · 2 years

Text

A while ago I posted an AU of teenage mutant ninja turtles. It's been a while and the idea has gone through MANY changes.

Let's blast through it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half-Shell

Basic Story

In the beginning Splinter, Hamato Yoshi, and Shredder, Oroku Saki, were like brothers (similar to 2012). The difference is that Splinter was framed for the death of the previous Clan leader and had to flee from Japan to New York, where he worked as a self-defense teacher.

One day, whilst out buying pet turtles for his self-defense class, he stumbled across an ongoing confrontation in the underground subway. Going against his better judgement Hamato tried to deescalate the situation only to be hit by a glowing canister. It broke on impact and he, and the little turtles, mutated.

They were trained to be ninjas like their father. However, as most of them end up saying: Splinter was more of a Ninja Master than an actual father-figure.

Leonardo was trained to be the leader, Splinter's favourite student. This unfortunately meant he was isolated from his brothers on the basis of 'being a leader, not a brother.' Due to this, Leo has a hard time connecting with his brothers. He's trying his best, but it'll take a while. LORE CHANGE: In a rebellious act, Leo tries to understand and support each of his brothers because he is awesome and I said so.

Raphael was trained to be the Tank, but no matter how hard he tried, Splinter always compared him to not only Leo, but Shredder. His anger and brutal fighting style reminded Splinter of his former friend and instead of showing Raph the right path, he treated him as if he could never change.

Mike was trained to be the Scout, the fastest member on the team. Unfortunately this ball of energy has a terrible attention span which was something Splinter never had to deal with. In the end, he was babied like nothing else, represented as "slow" and "stupid" by his own father, but that was never said directly to his face of course.

Donnie was trained to be the tactician, the planner, the smart guy. So why did he get the boot from Splinter? Why he was neurodivergent of course. He was incapable of seeing sarcasm, he was overly blunt and couldn't understand why certain things made his siblings upset. His brothers never blamed him for it, but Splinter did and just like Raph, he was ostracised.

15 years after they were first mutated, a 45 year old scientist named April O'Neil ran into these mutant turtles while trying to capture some runaway Mousers. She worked as an assistant for the famous "Baxter Stockman" (as she was depicted in the very first issue of tmnt). Instead of being shocked by their appearance, she offered to help them find answers surrounding how they came to be.

When they returned to the sewers they realised something was wrong. Their home was wrecked completely and Splinter was long gone. Shredder had followed April into the sewers after some tip off's from multiple sources and had taken out Splinter while the turtles were gone. Now they need to stop Shredder from doing anymore harm to the city and find out more about this mutagen while they're at it.

This is where I will leave it for now.

A few small details

Leonardo (he/him)

Main Facts:

Nicknames: Leo, Blue (Karai), Chief, Boss, Fearless (Rare)

Strengths: Agility and Flexibility.

Species: Soft shell turtle

Role: Leader

Age: 15

Nationality: American

Ethnicity (Human DNA): Japanese

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Second shortest member

Oldest member

Double-jointed in multiple places

A history buff. He knows everything there is to know about the Roman Empire and will go on for hours about it

Likes dogs, likes hugging Casey's whenever they visit

Has bad insomnia

Legitmately watches animes for the plot

Enjoys Mike's company, makes him feel happy but also guilty, feeling as though he doesn't deserve this treatment

Opens up to Raph, both through arguments and casual conversation.

Argues with Donnie a lot over tactics and plans although he gives up after a while (tho they are very close for some reason)

Cannot watch historically inaccurate movies, he will get very frustrated

Literature buff and he has read ALL of War and Peace. No I'm not joking.

Spent ages learning about electrical engineering so Donnie had someone to talk to

Can sing

Listens to Depeche Mode and The Cure

Good at defusing tense situations

Mike (he/they)

Main facts:

Nicknames: Mike, Mickey D (Donnie), Mikey (Renette)

Strengths: Speed and Aim.

Species: Spotted turtle

Role: Scout

Age: 15

Nationality: American

Ethnicity (Human DNA): Japanese

Sexuality: Pansexual

Shortest member

Youngest member

Has ADHD

Really good at drawing

Sees Leo as an idol

Isn't actually dumb, has got an average intelligence but a short attention span

Knows more first aid and health science than even Donnie

Has yellow spots all over his body and shell (species physical traits)

Can speak German for some reason

Gets along well with everyone

Makes the most sex jokes out of all his brothers

Scared of bears because of a nature documentary he watched when he was four

Read 'Dipper goes to Tacobell' by accident

Good at dancing

Donatello (he/him)

Main facts:

Nicknames: Don, Donnie, The Don (Rare), D, Nerd (Raph, Casey)

Strengths: Defence and Tactics.

Species: Tortoise

Role: Tactician, Defence

Age: 15

Nationality: American

Ethnicity (Human DNA): Japanese

Sexuality: Homosexual

Second tallest member

Second youngest member

Enjoys watching April work

On the Autism spectrum (not too severe, but enough to make an impact on his demeanour).

Doesn't like being touched

Doesn't laugh much, sounds like a kettle when he does

Likes French language, can't speak it

Says he likes clever humour but still laughs at dick jokes

Uses scientific terminology

Has a fear of seeing his own blood, makes him feel sick

Gets along well with Raph and Mike

Tends to argue a lot with Leo (tho they are very close for some reason)

Finds it hard to adapt to scenarios that differ from his initial plans

Rarely opens up to anyone

Read the encyclopaedia for fun on multiple occasions

Terrible at gauging other people's emotions

Ends up liking Casey but knows nothing will happen

Can completely ruin someone's social life in a matter of seconds.

Is most likely to take a life for the sake of a mission

Raphael (he/they)

Main facts:

Nicknames: Raph, Red, Tank (Rare), Scar (Casey)

Strengths: Offence and Brute force.

Species: Snapping turtle

Role: Tank, Main offence

Age: 15

Nationality: American

Ethnicity (Human DNA): Japanese

Sexuality: Pansexual, Asexual

Tallest member

Second oldest member

Likes romcoms

Has a scar on the right side of his face. He burnt himself while messing around with the oven.

Has a fear of fire

Gets along well with all his brothers

Opens up to Leo more than with the others, usually through an arguement

Skilled in the art of passive aggressive insults

Can cook

Has a very prominent beak that can break bones if he bites down

Will grow to be a lot taller than everyone else (around the same height as spike)

Was the first member to kill someone

Likes Mona but won't admit it

Had a bad romantic experience with a human girl (who betrayed him the minute she found he was a mutant) and now dislikes humans.

Is surprisingly more understanding than his brothers

Likes Madonna

April O'Neil (she/her)

Main facts:

Nicknames: Neil, Red, Ginger

Strengths: Tactics, Analysis, First Aid

Role: Science guy, place to crash at, back-up

Age: 45

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Scottish, Danish

Sexuality: Aroace

Her ancestry is Scottish and Danish but everyone calls her ginger

Straightens her hair for work and when she doesn't she ends up looking like Merida from Brave.

She is essentially the turtle's big sister

She's Casey's neighbour and acts as his stand in parental figure while his parents are over in England

She has very good aim with guns and other long range weapons, but is absolutely shit at physical combat.

Plays online multiplayer games, her tag is "sexlord420"

Her best friends are Irma and Edward

Can speak French and Spanish

Nearly got married before meeting the turtles, things ended up going really badly for both parties and they went their separate ways.

She has difficulty forming romantic connections. She realised she had become aromantic from her past relationship shortly after it had ended.

Likes Gin and Tonic

Scared of the ocean

Is in a Nerd group with Irma, Edward, Dr Rockwell and Baxter.

Went to Oxford with the same nerd group.

Is a major in Biology.

Casey Jones (he/him)

Main facts:

Nicknames: Case, CJ, Jock (Donnie), Jones

Strengths: Offence, agility and Brute Force

Role: 2nd - more violent - Tank, Back-up

Age: 16

Nationality: Mexican

Ethnicity: Hispanic, African American

Sexuality: Bisexual

He goes to juvenile detention on a regular basis

Can speak French and Spanish

He's the dumb friend who still doesn't know his times tables

He has stubble and gets away with sneaking into bars

Doesn't have a licence but still drives

Plays Hockey

Dresses like terminator

Parents left him to pay for everything and barely check in to see how he's doing

Is actually really good at math

Scared of heights

Like Donnie, he has and will take a life for the sake of a mission

Karai Osaki (she/they)

Main facts:

Nicknames: Spice (Leo)

Strengths: Stealth, Offence

Role: Spy (turtles), Main Tank (Shredder), 3rd Tank (turtles)

Age: 16

Nationality: Japanese

Ethnicity: Japanese

Sexuality: Unsure

She was forced to take on the role of Shredder's son, even though she was biologically born a girl

They hate him for that

Gets embarrassed when she's complemented on her appearance.

About as intimidating as their father

Knows multiple sign languages

She doesn't talk when in front of other clans

Can easily beat the shit out of the turtles

Got one hell of a death stare

Enjoys classical music

Has never played videogames before

Scared of their father

Will only let Leo refer to her as a woman

Other facts

The turtles can speak fluent Japanese

Shredder is completely apathetic to everything and everyone, he's basically a sociopath who never went to therapy

Shinigami is Shredder's 2nd in command

Bebop and Rocksteady aren't dumb, just oblivious

Rocksteady is German

Baxter Stockman is Sri Lankan and was an engineering student

Stockman is not so much evil, more obsessed with mutagen and what he can do with it

He redeems himself eventually, after April convinces him to give it up.

Irma and Edward are married and April was the maid of honour.

Irma was an art major, Edward was a chemistry major and Dr Rockwell was a Psychological major.

Irma is also Casey's Art teacher and is probably the only teacher he likes.

Both April and Edward work for Baxter

Leo has a rivalry with Alopex (They are besties your honour)

Both Mike and Raph have gamed with their favourite online friend "sexlord420"

They freaked out when April told them she was "sexlord420"

Karai and Leo end up together. It only works because Karai had been so heavily damaged by Shinigami and Shredder that Leo's caring personality is a loving, saving grace that helps her overlook the fact that they are completely different species

The turtles have accepted the fact that they can't beat Shredder, hence Leo saying the phrase "we don't care about winning, all we care about is protecting this city"

The turtles swear and make sex jokes because they're hormonal teenage boys

Donnie forced his brothers to watch Rupauls Drag Race and now they reference almost daily.

Leo and Mike like singing Vocaloid songs though only Mike will admit it.

The turtles aren't common box turtles like in the other shows, since Splinter went to a back alley petshop he ended up getting completely different types

Concept art and stuff

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klunk2003 · 8 months

Text

Line: “After an attack from Godzilla?”

Speaker: Michelangelo to Leonardo

Context: The turtles and Master Splinter take a break from setting up their new lair and sit in a circle around lit candles. Without power, they ask Leo to share stories from his time with the Ancient One. Leo begins to tell a story of Hamato Yoshi; “Our story begins in Tokyo, way back in the early 1960s. Japan was still trying to get back on its feet.” Mikey interrupts and makes the above joke.

Media origin: Godzilla is a fictional monster who debuted in the 1954 film of the same name. The bulk of the story takes place in Tokyo. At the time of the episode’s release Godzilla had been in twenty-nine films total. As of 2023 there are thirty-seven films.

Season & episode: S4E22 “Tale of Master Yoshi”

Episode’s original airdate: March 4, 2006

#ONE HUNDREDTH EPISODE!#personal favorite of mine #actually this and the next three are some of my all time faves #repeat ref #catalog #s4 #tmnt 2003 #mikey

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junsei-draws-rotasu · 1 year

Text

Im dead.

I really don’t want to play a freaking game to know every lore bit in TMNT 2007z because I’m scrolling through the wiki for more information about 2007. It is confirmed Splinter is a rat and has a master named Hamato Yoshi.

Hamato Yoshi also is the battle nexus Champion.

But this means I have to check every action figure in the wiki and villain characters in the wiki… and I’ll be refusing that 1990 movie to be canon to the core of origin for the 2007.

Anyway. I’ll be writing my own timeline since I’m so done researching for background info. I was only scrolling to find the pre-movie things the 2007 was doing. Not-so spoiler, before Leo went to train for a year, they were looking for the Triceratons.

Raph got his motivation to be the Nightwatcher by seeing an old man being beaten. Mikey idolized the Nightwatcher cause he saw him in action during his gig. I forgot what Donnie was doing except being appointed leader. April and Casey’s description doesn’t say much except their roles in the movie which is sad.

If I were to add Battle Nexus, it’s not the strongest in all dimension. It’s the strongest in the galaxy. And yes, just like 2003. Mikey is the champion.

I’ll be sharing the timeline when I finish this character sheet and when my beta finish proofreading the prologue.

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2007 #2007 x 2012 #SeiTalks

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fancoloredglasses · 1 year

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Who knew this concept would be successful?)

(Thanks to TMNTPedia)

[All images are owned by Mirage Studios and Nickelodeon. Please don’t sue me]

Depending on your age, what you think of when hearing the letters “TMNT” could range from this...

...to this.

youtube

(Thanks to Fandango)

(and I am SO sorry if the latter is the case for you)

Now, I will not be reviewing Michael bay’s destruction of my youth (gods, you already destroyed Transformers! LEAVE MY CHILDHOOD ALONE!) or the various series by Nickelodeon (never saw them, sorry), but rather exploring TMNT’s origins back to the mid-80s.

Now, I wasn’t on the ground floor for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as the series was already a couple of years old be the time I’d heard of it (too bad, a copy of the first printing of the first issue is worth of $15 thousand!), and even then I thought the concept was ridiculous! I mean, 4 giant turtles who were ninja and named after famous painters?!

Then I read the comic and was hooked.

Kevin Eastman and Brian Laird had made a silly concept and turned it into something epic (and definitely not for kids, as the turtles didn’t pull punches!)

Now, depending on what version you grew up with, the origin varies. Therefore, here’s the original origin, and why it’s never been fully duplicated...

The part that never changes is the turtles and their master (a rat named Splinter, more on him later) were covered by a mutagenic ooze that evolved them physically and mentally. But the part that was removed was it’s ties to a certain Marvelous hero...

(Thanks to comicbook.com)

Observant fans will recognize this as the origin of Daredevil. I’m not certain why Marvel’s lawyers didn’t descend on Eastman and Laird within an hour of issue 1 hitting comic shops! In any event, for obvious reasons this bit is never mentioned again.

As for Splinter, in the comic he was a rat who mimicked the actions of his owner, a ninja named Hamato Yoshi. In doing so, he mastered the art of ninjitsu (hey, stranger origins have happened!) When Splinter rescued the turtles from the mutagen (or, as the comic and future versions called it, “ooze”), he also gained size and intelligence. When the turtles had evolved enough to walk on two legs and speak, Splinter taught them ninjitsu (or at least the moves. It’s unclear how much of the meditative aspects of martial arts he picked up). I have no idea why they needed to wear the masks. It’s not like they’ll be mistaken for all the other 5 foot tall bipedal turtles in New York.

As to how Splinter wound up in the sewer to rescue the turtles, it was revenge. Yoshi was disgraced and exiled from his clan, the Foot (another jab at Marvel and Daredevil, who deals with a ninja clan known as “The Hand”) after killing his rival, Oroku Naji, while defending his wife from Naji. Years later he would get a visit from Naji’s brother...

(Thanks again to TMNTPedia)

...Oroku Saki (now the head of the Foot clan and going by the name “Shredder”), who murders Yoshi. One other deviation the comic has to every other version of the franchise...

(Thanks to The Brotherhood of Evil Geeks)

...SHREDDER IS KILLED IN ISSUE 1!

The turtles are, of course...

Leonardo The leader of the group and devoted disciple of Splinter, wielding twin katanas (though a katana is a samurai weapon. Leo should be wielding a pair of ninjato)

Donatello The awkward tech expert, Don (or Donny in some interpretations) wields a bo staff

Michaelangelo Mike (or Mikey is some interpretations) is often characterized as almost a stoner, but in the comics he was simply the more free-spirited of the bunch and the most likely to want to goof off. He wields a pair of nunchucks.

Raphael Raph is the loose cannon of the group, most likely to not follow Leo’s lead or go it alone. He wields a pair of Sai.

There are, of course, other members of the comic (such as April O’Neil, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman, and the aliens with the brains in their stomachs (yes, there are more than one in the original comic)), but they’re not central to the story.

Now, a concept as bonkers and successful as TMNT is bound to get a few imitators, and none were more notorious than...

(Thanks to MyComicShop)

...and I know nothing about the series other than the title.

A few years later, The Boys in Green would hit the big time and an image upgrade (no doubt so they could sell more toys) by getting different color masks.

youtube

(Thanks to Jopz Valentine Frani)

And immediately you can see the changes that were made for the kids in addition to the marketable makeover: Hamato Yoshi became Splinter (at least we know they’ll learn meditation) and the Shredder (who became Hamato Yoshi’s rival, with Naji written out of the origin) was never killed, becoming the turtles’ main nemesis. This is also where the turtles got their love of pizza.

And we know these days, it a TV show is successful enough, someone will want to make a movie out of it.

youtube

(Thanks to Michael Unwin)

The first movie did a decent job of folding the comic into the cartoon. The marketable outfits were there, but there was a bit of PG edginess to it. The second...ehhhhhhhhhh, not so much. And don’t get me started on the third!

As always, if anyone would like a review of an episode (or film), let me know!

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #leonardo #donatello #michealangelo #raphael #master splinter #the shredder #Fan Colored Glasses

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