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nimble-stuff · 1 year

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Double Bingo

This Is For Your Own Good || Mikey Mikey experiments with mystic powers. Donnie interrupts.

Fandom: ROTTMNT

Also on AO3

@badthingshappenbingo

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Mikey traced the faint scars shaped crawling up both arms. Every day the raw colour of scarred skin faded a bit, every day they hurt a little less and a part of him wished that the pain would be permanent. At least then he would have a permanent reminder of what they’d all sacrificed to get here, even if the costs were lower than Casey’s bad future, they still felt profoundly strong.

He wrapped his arms back up, keeping his back to the door in case someone walked in on him staring at them. No use staring at old wounds, not when there was work to do. The lair had taken quite a beating after the Krang attacked it and aside from Donnie’s half-hearted security upgrades, most of the damage was still profound. Mikey was still finding Krang biomatter in weird cracks and it had been well over a month since the invasion. Just like New York City was still piecing itself back together, the Hamatos were doing the same.

Mikey only saw his dad coming through the mirror.

“The Gossip Hive just ended,” said Splinter. “Are you ready for training?”

“Sure!” Mikey plastered on his best smile. He almost believed it. “What’d they talk about today?”

“They have decided that, in their expert opinion, the Krang were rogue Hollywood executives staging a stunt for a new movie which went terribly wrong.”

“You think they’ll ever find anything new to talk about on that show?”

“I’m sure they will become bored once the next alien invasion happens. Let them have their silly fantasies, I say.”

He and Splinter went to his father’s room, newly set up to accommodate the new training Mikey had taken up after the invasion, passing by Donnie installing laser-based mounted guns in the ceiling, ready to shoot any intruders who came in through the tunnels in the event of an emergency. He was going a little overboard with the security precautions, but at least he wasn’t visiting strangers in the Hidden City anymore. Still, Mikey made a mental note to talk to him about the tripwires in every doorway. He’d triggered an alarm that morning and almost got his head cut off with a saw blade.

Splinter and Mikey stepped over the tripwire in his doorway on their way in. Mostly their ‘training’ sessions were thirty minutes of meditation, levitation practice for another thirty minutes, thirty minutes of Splinter lecturing about the importance and history of ninpō (Mikey tuned this part out mostly), and thirty minutes of light sparring. Splinter had darkened the lights save for a few candles to serve as focus objects, but beyond that, the sparse ambience made the room feel claustrophobic and unstimulating.

“Are we gonna do any exciting mystic things?” Mikey asked.

“This is exciting!” said Splinter, flopping down on his cushion and cracking his back. “To be honest, I never thought any of my sons would have a talent for mysticism, but it is better to start off slow and work your way up to the big stuff. Despite your fabulous genetic heritage, even Lou Jitsu didn’t learn his craft in a day.”

“I think I’m ready for more.”

“You are not. We are focusing on floating things.”

“I opened a portal. If I can open a portal, I can do something a little more exciting than that.”

“And it could have killed you. No portals and no mystic stunts until you are ready.”

“You’re not gonna make me float your furniture around again, are you?”

“I was just thinking that this room could do with some redecorating.”

“Can I float a knife? I wanna float a knife.”

“No knives! No sharp objects! You are not ready, and you cannot neglect the basics of ninjitsu just because you have flashy mystical powers. Now sit down and clear your thoughts.”

Mikey rolled his eyes, but clearing his thoughts was literally the thing he was worst at. Meditating for him was a constant battle in his mind, unable to relax enough to empty his brain, always jumping from one topic to the next, never able to be ‘clear’ in the way Splinter described to him. It was equivalent to trying to dump out a bucket that a torrent of water constantly kept filled. Whatever he dumped out always filled up again, rapid and uncontrollable and overwhelming rather than soothing.

To him, the mandatory training his father was a slow march through a blizzard. His life depended on getting to warmth and shelter as soon as possible, yet he was stuck wading in waist-deep snow with no gear to help him survive long enough to get there.

The training was excruciating like always, following the set pattern Mikey had expected. He spent most of the meditation daydreaming about anything that wasn’t clearing his head, feeling twitchy and restless about sitting in one space for so long.

It was just.

So.

Boring.

He could do more. Mikey knew it, and he knew that everyone knew it. If it hadn’t been for him, Leo would be trapped in a prison dimension, dead or worse, and, yes, it played into his ego a bit, knowing that he was capable of it. Casey preferred not to talk about the future, but he knew that Future Mikey was a mystic badass who’d saved them all time and time again, from the Krang, from the threats the future held, and there were too many unknowns for Mikey to waste time sitting in one spot for half-an-hour each day with wandering thoughts.

Meditation brought no focus, no peace, no enlightenment, only made him aware of a restless, tight edge in his body that he was sure hadn’t been there before the invasion. It made him think of the potential power and energy in his little body, and that Splinter was making him practice by rearranging furniture.

Splinter always took a nap after lessons and was half asleep by the time Mikey left his room. Donnie was in his workshop working on some kind of trap or weapon that made Mikey sore just looking at it. The scars leftover on his arm were aching. They always did after training.

“How did it go?” Donnie asked, not looking up as he welded two hunks of metal together.

“I am bored out of my mind,” said Mikey. “I bet Future Me didn’t meditate this much.”

“Perhaps you are ready to give technology a chance? I have these blueprints for a neural implant which could enhance mystical powers—”

“‘Neural implant?’ Doesn’t that mean it’d have to go inside my head?”

“That’s the exciting part! Now, I haven’t exactly pinpointed where in the brain it should be implanted, given that we’re not sure how mystic powers correlate with brain activity, but I figure we could do a few tests—”

“No, not tests! I’d fail them for sure!”

“You’d just have to wear some electrodes and let me take some readings, maybe let me take a scan…”

“I don’t wanna! My brain is fine with the way things are.”

“I can promise you with sixty-seven percent certainty that it is safe.”

“Nope, not happening.”

Donnie sighed, disappointed. “Back to testing on rats, then.”

“You’re testing on Dad?!”

“No, no, I mean the kind that don’t binge watch daytime television.”

“Well, I guess that’s…mostly ethical.” Mikey picked at his wrappings, scratching the scars.

“Are they healing?” Donnie asked idly.

“Yeah, they’re just itchy.”

“I have a cream—”

“I don’t want a cream, Donnie.”

Donnie got a sour look on his face and removed his hand from a suspicious vial on his workbench.

“I’m gonna go practice something that isn’t floating things,” said Mikey. “Don’t tell Dad.”

Donnie paused just long enough for Mikey to notice. He resumed welding. “Didn’t Splinter tell you not to practice anything without supervision?”

“I’m not a kid.”

“I was just wondering.”

“He did and I don’t care.”

“Alright.”

“You gonna try to stop me?”

“Just don’t come crying to ol’ Donatello when your head gets blown off.”

“Pff, mystic powers don’t do that!”

“How do you know? Yōkai have displayed a unique variety of powers, so it stands to reason that there is one out there capable of causing explosive cerebral hemorrhaging.”

“That just sounds like a fancy way of saying that there’s someone out there who can literally blow minds.”

“Well, sure, if you want to be a pleb about it.”

Donnie went back to work, and Mikey made himself scarce.

There were fewer places to hide from family members in the new lair, but Donnie had slowly been converting one of the rooms adjacent to the subway platform into their new arcade, albeit it was overrun when the Krang took over and most of the equipment was still a mess. Mikey stepped over the broken pieces of arcade machines scattered around, awaiting repairs.

Well. At least it wasn’t furniture. Mikey extended his hand.

The first few times he’d tried levitating objects, he’d gotten nosebleeds, and it was still a risk. He felt a cold, uncomfortable sensation in his nasal passages, but pushed through and shoved a good portion of the equipment off to the side to clear a large space in the room, enough for him to have some maneuverability.

He felt the weight of the debris, the force on his bones and muscles, even though he had no physical contact with them. It felt near-effortless, satisfying to watch the debris scrape against the floor and nudge up into a comfortable pile alongside the wall, ready to be organized and sorted for later.

Mikey adopted a stance. Splinter had taught him how to channel energy through his body, flowing it through his veins like an extension of his blood, something that had always been present within him and had only just expressed itself. It was empowering, a delicious euphoria that tasted tangy on his tongue. His scars tingled, burning in warning, but felt no more painful than running his hands under hot water.

He couldn’t stop once he started, afraid of losing built-up momentum nce he found it stored deep within himself. He remembered the horrible pain of ripping open the portal. He wouldn’t do that—that was too much, and he didn’t want to risk the Krang getting out again—but perhaps he could still reach into the unseen energy Splinter insisted was in the world around them, an unseen connection that pulled their whole family and every living organism on Earth together. The power that could defeat the Krang.

Time passed. Mikey knew it was a long time, hours maybe. Maybe this was the kind of meditation he could get behind, the kind that let his body move and feel and find the mystic energy around him. It was like he’d been living his whole life underwater, not realizing that he’d been holding his breath until he came up for air and the oxygen felt so much sweeter because he’d been starved of it. He let his eyes slide closed, let his limbs and arms move organically through sweeping motions on the spot. He was moving with his body rather than fighting Splinter’s insistence that he stay still and focus.

He became aware of blood flow through his veins: something passive and benign, a biological marvel that happened just under the surface of his skin, which became a poignant awareness that made him prickle all over. When a faint glow penetrated the darkness of his closed eyes, Mikey opened them to see the scars on his arm lighting up.

The heat was more intense. Mikey could time his rapid heartbeat with the ebb of the glowing scars. The intensity startled him. He pushed forward anyway, projecting it outwards.

The glow slid off his skin.

Mikey was so startled that he almost pulled back, but he was interested. He needed to know what happened next, needed to know that he was capable of this. Glowing goo that bled off his scars, congregating into small droplets of light that started to blend together like swarms of fireflies. An instinct hit him, an instinct that told him what he could do next, the same instinct that made walking an unconscious action.

He just knew.

It was empowering.

Mikey gathered up as much of the goo as possible, watching it float around him, following the movement of his hands. He didn’t want to ruin the walls, not just yet.

The floor was game, however.

He struck downwards.

CRACK.

A jarring, earth-shaking crunch cracked through the air. Mikey would’ve stumbled if he wasn’t suddenly incapable of moving. Cracks shot out on the floor, radiating out. He was the epicentre of a great earthquake. He felt a rattle go all through his body, smashing his teeth together with bone-cracking force. The warmth in his arms went from tolerable to searing, like someone was holding his hands against a hot stove.

Mikey cried out, small at first, more startled than hurt. The cracks grew wider, glowing orange-yellow. He was opening something underneath the earth and he didn’t know what, perhaps a horrible, hypnotizing monster that fought its way out from the depths of hell, and Mikey was the beacon guiding its path.

He watched, helpless, as the cracks traveled further and further away from him, crackling up the walls and ceilings. Plaster rained down on him. The ground shook. His heart was beating faster and faster and the cracks grew with his accelerating pulse. He was tethered to the ground. The mild tingle of surprise turned into terror.

He couldn’t move.

Mikey cried out a second time. Heat blasted up both his arms, almost as bad as when he’d opened the portal for Leo. Almost. That had felt he was dipping his hands into the sun, but this was still only half as bad, though it grew with every second.

Fuck, he didn’t know how to stop. The realization slammed into him.

Mikey tried pulling back from the invisible tether keeping him chained. The more he struggled, the stronger the shaking got. The brief terror suddenly stopped. Overpowering calm washed over him. He didn’t even know what he was doing, only that he needed more of it, that he needed to see the outcome.

“Mikey, what the FUCK are you doing?!”

Well. The shaking hadn’t gone unnoticed, and he forgot Donnie was especially jumpy these days. He was holding onto the doorway to stop himself from falling over, looking on in confusion and fear.

“I don’t know!” Mikey admitted.

“Stop it then!” Donnie demanded.

A powerful jolt shot through the ground. More plaster rained down. Something was rumbling underneath their feet. Donnie held on tight to the doorway.

“Mikey, stop!”

“No! I need to see what happens!”

“You’re ruining the lair! It’s gonna take me forever to fix all these cracks!”

“I need to find out what happens!”

“Mikey you’re—” Donnie ducked as metal panelling crashed down near him. “You’re gonna bring down the ceiling!”

“I can control it! I can handle it!”

And suddenly, his senses opened up.

If there was an omnipresent god out there, Mikey figured he was experiencing was what it must feel like to be one, to be aware of every molecule, every person, every thought, every happenstance. Beautiful, impossibly complicated, terrifying. The cracks he was making weren’t just fissures in the earth. They were nerve endings.

Donnie was a few metres away, and yet he could feel his heartbeat, and hear a fleeting thought in his head go, Stupid mystic crap!

Past him, Splinter sat upright in bed and said, “Michelangelo.”

A few floors above him, children playing on the street stopped in confusion as the pavement shifted beneath him. There were people everywhere in the city, their voices rising up in a chorus. There were hundreds, speaking all at once, and he couldn’t filter them out and they were so confusing and there were so many thoughts and opinion, some good and some so abhorrent that Mikey could scarcely stand to look at them. Two humans discussed robbing a corner store. A woman talked about how she hadn’t heard from her brother since the Krang invasion.

Mikey searched for familiar voices—focal points where he could ground himself with people that he knew. Raph and Leo were at Señor Hueso’s getting pizza, and he saw and felt them as clearly as if they were standing right beside him. They were talking about Hawaiian pizza when Leo stopped and looked up, and so did Raph.

“Wow, I just got the worst chill,” said Leo. “Kinda feels like fingers going up and down my spine.”

“You felt that too?” said Raph. “You think Donnie’s projecting his hatred for Hawaiian pizza?”

Mikey turned away, looked longer and further away. April was reading a textbook, headphones on. He could almost pass right inside her. He heard the music she was listening to. Some of Donnie’s dubstep. She thought, This is probably the worst music to study to.

Donnie moved. Mikey didn’t just see it or hear it. He felt it. In the ground. In the air. In his body. He pulled out his bō.

“Mikey, this is for your own good!” Donnie shouted. He had to shout, because the air was roaring with a powerful air current, a localized hurricane, uprooting debris and objects in the room, and Mikey was a helpless passenger in his own body.

Donnie’s bō cracked hard into the side of his head. Mikey startled sideways. Beyond the nether, Raph and Leo flinched. April pulled off her headphones; she had a sudden headache. Splinter was sprinting through the lair.

Donnie cracked the other end of his bō into his kneecaps. The tether holding him to the ground broke, and Mikey’s vision blackened.

He hit the ground in a heap and with a cry. Previously, he’d been so connected to everything else that the pain dissipated over a wide surface, like heat transferred over a large surface. Then it crashed back into him and Mikey was screaming.

Donnie stepped back, breathless and startled. Splinter barrelled into the room.

“What is going on?!” Splinter yelled.

Donnie’s bō clattered to the floor. “I—I don’t know, he was just—there was stuff and glowy things everywhere, I had to stop it, he was—there were pieces coming out! Fuck, the…there’s blood, there’s blood everywhere—Dad, what do we do?”

Donnie was panicking. Mikey didn’t see why, didn’t even register the blood until he looked down and realized that the glowing goo coming out of him hadn’t just been mystical constructs.

They’d been his blood.

Without the glow, there was crimson everywhere, saturating the wrappings on his arm. There were droplets scattered around him like recent rainfall. It looked like a massacre. Splinter hurried across the room, leaving footprints in the blood spread out around him.

Mikey fully expected Splinter to chastise him, especially after so many moments where he’d warned Mikey against using his awakening mystical powers without guidance. There was none of that in his eyes: only the calm focus of a parent tending to an injured child. Mikey felt lightheaded, his arms aching when Splinter brushed his hands over them. He cried out, pulling back. The horrible black bruise growing on his side of Mikey’s head made his vision cloudy.

“I had to stop him,” said Donnie. “I had to stop him. I had to stop him, Dad.”

“You did the right thing,” said Splinter. “Help me carry him to the medbay.”

”Dad—” Mikey said.

“You will be alright, I promise.”

Mikey tried to stand, but his knees ached from where Donnie had struck him. It didn’t feel like a break, but he knew the bruises would throb for a few days. Donnie hadn’t held back like he did when they were training; it had been a full-on, desperate blow to catch Mikey off-guard, the same level of force he used to take down bad guys. So when his legs buckled, Donnie scooped him up and they were full-on sprinting to the medbay.

Mikey got dizzy halfway there, and by the time Donnie spread him out on one of the beds, he was toppling backwards into nothing.

“Don’t unwrap those, they will help with the bleeding,” Splinter said. His voice sounded muffled, dreamlike. “This one is bad. Press here.”

Donnie had to crawl right on top of the bed at Mikey’s side to apply pressure into a cuts\ snaking from under his wrappings and to the tips of his fingers. Mikey knew he made a noise—it hurt, but only distantly.

Then, he was out.

Mikey knew he hadn’t been out for long when he opened his eyes. There was a cold compress on his head which numbed out the worst of the pain in his throbbing head.

Splinter was at his arm, startling back as Mikey curled his arm towards his body.

“Keep still, I need to wrap these tight,” said Splinter.

“That hurts,” Mikey complained.

“Then do not play with mystic powers next time.”

There was the rebuttal. But it was gentle, almost resigned, like it was an outcome Splinter had expected.

“Am I gonna need stitches?” Mikey asked.

“No, there are…there are just a lot of them,” said Splinter. “Try not to look.”

Of course, when Splinter said not to look, Mikey automatically looked. He didn’t even think about it.

Both his arms were a web of weeping cuts and broken flesh. All of the fading scars had opened up, spilling his blood. If there had been any hope for them to disappear with time, Mikey suspected that the possibility was slipping away, leaving him marked for life with the memories of their time with the Krang forever following him.

“Where’s Donnie?” He asked.

“He was upset, so I told him to make some tea,” said Splinter.

“C’mon, Donnie’s tea is terrible. He spikes it with coffee and thinks no one notices.”

“It will distract him. Hold still.”

Mikey had to sink his teeth into his lower lip to hold back the pained gasps and cries as Splinter wrapped up his arms impossibly tight. He was quiet, stern. It reminded Mikey of the times when they were kids and the only time Splinter would ever scramble out of his chair and not complain that he was missing television was when one of them got hurt.

“I’m sorry,” said Mikey, eager to think and talk about anything.

Splinter paused a moment, then resumed wrapping. “You scared Purple very much.”

“You think I should apologize to him?”

“I am simply letting you know.”

Splinter finished wrapping and gently held Mikey’s face with gentle fondness.

“My son, I see so much potential in you,” said Splinter. “Do not be so eager to develop your powers so quickly. Let them grow naturally, and learn from this experience.”

“But training is so boring!”

“It is there for a reason.”

“I think I was getting somewhere when I was doing my whole…thing.”

“It harmed you. You will not do that again until you are ready.”

“…Okay. Fine.”

“Also, I am afraid that I will have to punish you.”

“But I learned my lesson!”

“What better way to learn your lesson than to clean between your ol’ Dad’s toes? They are starting to smell funny.”

Mikey retched.

He was saved from Splinter further rattling off punishments when the med bay door opened and Donnie came in carrying two mugs of tea. Splinter hopped off the chair at Mikey’s bedside and left, patting Donnie’s arm on the way out.

Donnie left Mikey’s mug at the side table. He sat down. They stared at each other.

“So…” Mikey said. “You okay?”

Donnie sipped his tea. He calmly set it down. Sucked in a deep breath. “You DUMB BITCH!” He seized a comic book Leo had left on the side table and started thwacking Mikey with it. “How many times has Dad said not to play with mystic crap?!”

“Okay—ow—I kinda deserve—ow! Leo’s not gonna be happy that you’re weaponizing his comic books!”

“I will bury you!”

“It’s not like I—ow! Stop!”

Donnie threw the comic book against the wall. “You were literally crumbling right in front of me!”

“Was not!”

“Mikey!” Donnie seized Mikey’s wrists and held up his bandaged arms. “You were bleeding everywhere and you didn’t even realize it. That room looks like a murder scene!”

“It’s not like you’ve never done anything dangerous with science before.”

“Science can be analyzed, and I can prevent lethal outcomes with preventative measures. Mysticism isn’t like that, it’s too…” He waved his hand around. “Chaotic. It’s too chaotic. There’s too many variables to account for, too many things that can’t go wrong. Aren’t you happy enough with your mystical nunchucks?”

“They’re fun and all, but I like the way this makes me feel. Dad said I get a punishment, and I’m gonna be more careful from now on. He said I have potential, Donnie.”

Donnie slumped down in the chair and slammed his forehead against the bed. “Dad would say that. Am I the only one around here worried about this mystic business or is it just me?”

“Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to beat the Krang.”

Donnie cushioned his head in his folded arms, glaring up at Mikey.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” said Mikey.

“Who said I was scared?” Donnie said rapidly, defensively. Mikey suddenly felt a fleeting emotion that wasn’t his shudder through him: denial, defensiveness. Fear for the future. He’d always had an empathetic personality, but it felt more tangible. Real. He wondered if he’d walked away from that room with something that hadn’t been there before.

“I’ll be more careful from now on,” Mikey assured him. “This won’t happen again.”

The glare eased off a little, the heat behind it cooling to room temperature. Donnie pulled back his shoulders and sat up straight. “Well, I’m not covering for you when Raph and Leo get back.”

“Aw, c’mon! Please?”

“Absolutely not. You’re on your own with them.”

“They’re gonna kill me.”

“A distinct possibility. I hope you get thoroughly chewed out.”

Mikey laughed and flashed an easy smile. He meant it. He wouldn’t let this happen again, for the sole reason of making sure Donnie wouldn’t be scared for him again.

Still, in the back of his mind, he couldn’t erase the feeling of the connection to the world, and wondered how long he would have to wait until he found it again.

#nimble writes #badthingshappenbingo #rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt splinter #rottmnt donnie

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nightmarenoise · 4 years

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Some thoughts on TMNT 2012

I finished watching the entirety of the TMNT 2012 series a while ago and boy, do I have some thoughts™. First of all though, the following is going to be my opinions and you’re free to disagree with them. If you feel like attacking me for expressing these opinions though, I’m just going to have to ask you to take a minute and consider that you are about to be a bitch online over an eight year old children’s animated show, and that maybe you should find something else to base your entire identity around. Secondly, I don’t hate the show, not by any means. It was fine. It was fine. It was fine, you guys. I wouldn’t have watched it otherwise. I watched usually about half a season per day because I have too much time on my hands but if I do more than 13 episodes, my puny brain will implode. That being said, I understand that the binge watching might have affected my judgement, because having to wait for a new episode to air each week hits different, I know. Still, I came home after work each day, cozied up in bed and watched 13 episodes of turtle shenanigans before going to sleep and my sleep schedule has never been better. But I digress. Also, I will compare 2012 to Rise, because that’s the only other TMNT show I’ve seen and because this is my post and I want to and it’s only initially.

I feel like the main difference between Rise and 2012 is that Rise is a character-driven show, while 2012 is ultimately plot-driven.

Why do things in Rise happen? Because a character wants something (the boys want to buy their dad a nw robe, April wants to spend a normal day with her new friend, etc, those are just from the top of my head). The motivations are ultimately mundane, and then the story goes from there.

Why do things in 2012 happen? Because the plot said so. Sure, the characters grow and change, but they’re ultimately vehicles for the plot. We don’t really take a minute to let the characters breathe. Usually, things happen because the Turtles saw something on patrol and they’re on patrol because they know the plot is waiting out there to get them.

The show starts with April’s dad being kidnapped by the Krang (/Kraang? It’s unclear) and April herself being spared this presumably gruesome fate because Donnie saved her at the last second. She then goes on to live with an aunt we never see.

We also don’t see much of how this affects April at first. Sure, she is shown to be sad and wanting to get her father back, but the episode ends on the Turtles leaving her at her aunt’s place and then we’re done for the day. Hell, the next time we see April, she just casually drops by their place to show Mikey how to make online friends.

Maybe that’s just me being overly criticial, but I could have done with more time between those moments, showing her coming to terms with things, her normal day-to-day live, or heck, even just going to the lair for the first time.

But we don’t get that because plot has to happen.

April isn’t the only character who suffers from that, but I feel like it affects her the most.

The writers seem to have learned their lesson, because when April loses her dad for the second time, to mutation this time around, she blames the Turtles (which isn’t wrong) and then doesn’t talk to them for a month while presumably going back to her aunt, who I suppose never asks any questions. She only goes back to talking to them when Casey tells her a similar story and she realizes something something, hurting someone without meaning to. Which is fine, but it’s also not really, because it implies April being rightfully upset isn’t valid, because the Turtles didn’t mean to mutate her dad and it was an accident, but it feels like it tone polices someone for experiencing a loss and not letting her take some time for herself to come to terms with that.

But y'know we need her, in part because she’s The Special, but most importantly, so one of the most tedious love subplots can happen.

I know they explained April’s specialness as her being a human/Krang mutant and the Krang needing her unique brain to mutate the entire planet because …reasons. Except for when they later attack New Yok and then don’t need her for that anymore. On that note, I do not understand Krang’s plan at all. Time passes faster in their dimension and they’re kind of at war with the Triceratons and have trouble with the Utrom, so they want to leave (even though the Triceratons are clearly also in our universe, so why not pick a different dimension to take over entirely? There’s established to be ten) and mutate a planet to take over. This is all well and good, except they’ve been at it for about seven million years? Krang takes credit for creating the first humans with mutagen and it’s been mentioned that they steered human evolution to the point where they could create a human/Krang hybrid, such as April. But why did they only have one? They lost track of her when her dad and her fled to New York City, wouldn’t it have been more convenient to have more mutants to do their vague mutant stuff they require by the plot to take over the planet?

Even if we assume that this first mutation means that the first humans didn’t surface between seven and five million years ago, humans haven’t evolved that much in the last couple thousand years. Why wait so long? It must have been billions of years for the Krang.

I know it’s a cartoon and stuff, but they could have easily removed that problem by cutting the line about Krang taking credit for human evolution and for the Krang having been with us for thousands of years. It just creates problems.

Speaking of problematic, the romantic subplots. So, Leo wants to bang his sister, Donnie is creepily obsessed with the first human girl he’s ever met and Mikey is such a good boy, he gets two love interests, because one isn’t enough for all the love and goodness contained in orange boy. I still think it’s weird because all of these love interests are humans, but I gradually got over that. I managed to think about this without physically convulsing for ten whole minutes, for starts.

Okay, so Donnie/April is just bad. The writing and the execution are bad. The characters are fine, I love Donnie, even though he focuses way too much of his time and attention on obsessing over April, but I can let that go on account of him being a teen dealing with his very first ever crush. April though is frequently made to be a callous bitch who knows of his feelings and leads him on when she wants something, but pushes him away at all other times. I vividly remember the time New York was overrun by Krang and April helped Donnie bandage his injured arm and he was about to confess his feelings to her and she pulled too tight to get him to stop. Instead of being up front about it or just telling him that she either liked him or not or that now just wasn’t the time to focus on romance - all of which super valid in their own right. Rip the bandaid off, girl. None of them look especially good coming out of this.

It gets worse considering that after seasons of back and forth and even introducing Casey to give us a love triangle, everyone’s favorite thing in media and April redeeming herself by also being That Way to Casey and by redeeming I mean informing us that she just isn’t really fit for a relationship because she is very toxic in handling them, the whole thing is just kind of dropped forever. There’s no payoff. We spent so much time watching Donnie agonize over this, get worse, then get over his stalker-ish tendencies and get rewarded with a kiss and then nothing ever happens. They don’t even have a conversation about their feelings. The show tries to make it seem like there’s a special connection between April and Donnie because she kills him and then feels bad and brings him back, but, no. That’s not how any of that works. Ultimately this whole thing feels like a huge and infuriating waste of time. Fourth place. And that’s a kindness.

Leo and Karai get third place, mainly because of the incest. Neither of them is as toxic over this subplot and it also has the common decency of not taking up that much time, but it’s still weird. I don’t have much to say here. I guess it was dropped in the end, but maybe also not, but at least there weren’t 30 episodes about Leo agonizing over Karai while she was being weird and also she had her own thing going on and felt like a more fleshed out character than April despite getting less screen time. Third place.

Mikey gets silver because while he’s flirting with two human girls, they both seem to be exclusively into it and also he’s much more mature about dealing with it than his supposedly intelligent brother. Get this. Mikey, being mature at something. None of these ships are confirmed, but it’s a nice change of pace.

Raph takes gold because he fell in love with a girl after she beat the crap out of him and nothing is more valid than that.

Okay, the plot feels kind of rushed, in that they’re confessing undying love after kissing twice, but one, they’re teens and two, this is just the best we’re going to get out of this show.

Casey, well.

Casey exists. He doesn’t add all that much to the story. He has a delightful dynamic with Raph, coming in just after Slash confronted him with his worst traits and then reinforcing the “be a vigilante and do good”-angle and that’s nice. Outside of that though, he tries to hit on April, he hits things with his hockey sticks and I guess he has a family he cares about that we never see. Oops.

I’m very ambivalent about Splinter. I do get him and he’s a good sensei, but kind of a lousy father? Sure, his entire life went up in flames quite spectacularly, but as soon as he realizes his daughter is alive, he often seems to prioritize getting her back over the lives of the four sons he actually raised and spent the last fifteen years with? Also, he’s a dick to Mikey? He gets better later and then he dies. Hm.

Mikey wasn’t as annoying as I feared, going in. He was still stupid, but he had his moments. I also didn’t find him as funny as some of the writers probably hoped, but he was fine. He’s a good boy who deserved better every step of the way, but his brothers and Splinter are kind of not nice to him despite him being just as capable as his brothers. Neither is the show, often making him the butt of a joke or downplaying his achievements (producing super-retro mutagen, saving all his brothers from parasite wasps and the one time he saved the city from cannibal pizza it was treated like a “it was all a dream or was it” and nobody believed him). He doesn’t get a lot of development, but he’s the goodest boy.

Raph again surprised me. He arguably underwent the most development, dealing with his many demons and getting a grip on his temper. This was especially apparent in the Northampton arc when he did chores without complaint and helped Leo train.

Leo on the other hand, started as the leader of the team and ended the story as the de-facto leader of the family and also he was stronger now. I don’t know. Being a leader was his defining trait from start to finish and while he agonized over that, he wasn’t allowed much development outside of that. His first meeting with Karai introduced this subplot about him wanting to be irresponsible and do his own thing, but that was quickly dropped and never brought up again. I liked him best when he was being a dork over his favorite TV show or that time he went to space and on his first outing tried to hit on an alien lady. I would have liked to see more of that Leo, because that Leo was actually interesting.

Donnie, I don’t know. Most of his time was poured into the world’s worst romantic subplot and outside of that he had some traits, but he was mostly there so he could analyze things, develop antivenoms at the drop of a hat, finally create a retromutagen and build 152 vehicles. I like Donnie, but there isn’t much to talk about that isn’t directly tied to April. Except maybe how he promised to turn Timothy back into a human and then never did, even though we keep seeing his frozen remains in the back of the lab. For shame, Donnie. For shame.

To the show’s credit, a lot of the mutants looked horrifying and creepy. They had a tight grip on that horror vibe and it was great. They maintained a balance of comedy and horror and while it wasn’t great, it was a nice reprieve.

I hated Shredder and I know I was supposed to, but I will never get over what a petty bitch he was.

The thing that hit me the hardest was probably the destruction of Earth at the end of season 3. I was legitimately upset about that, so that’s probably a good thing. But when five minutes into the next episode Scrooge McDoctor Who did some timey whimey bullshit to reverse it, I was not any less upset. Make of that what you will. (No, I’ll explain, I felt cheated and it was cheap and annoying. Just when you think the show has some balls, it pulls a “sike” and then flips back to the status quo, usually). The space arc was simultaneously interesting and also not, with a lot of predictable plot threads, but at least we got more locations than the same two nocturnal New York streets all the time.

The ending though was super weird. The other turtles then went into space and probably died or some shit, because they never show up again and also the Fugitoid’s head is alive in orbit, but whatever, no time for that because we have to go back, for the 50th time, to the Foot!

The plot has no time to unfold because the plot needs to happen.

Do you ever think the writers squabbled a lot? It kind of feels like a lot of them wanted to do their own thing and then someone else meddled with that and then we got a patchwork of unconnected threads, left loose and dangling.

I was surprised when we got some buildup to April’s growing dependence on her alien crystal and even one episode dealing with its powers before we got to the episode dealing with the crystal’s effects on her. That sort of nuanced pacing was new. I was also initially very sure that this subplot would only find its payoff in the season finale or half season finale, like most other plot threads usually did, but no, it got its own separate episode.

Yes, they went all Dark Phoenix, but the ending was super anticlimactic, because April killed Donnie and then someone reminded her of it and she felt bad, so she stopped being possessed by evil. They fucked up on the home stretch, but they tried.

I never liked the time travel episodes with Renet much, they felt weirdly intrusive and adding nothing new to the plot. It felt like the first one only happened so we could meet Tang Shen before she died and that didn’t add a whole lot of anything. It confirmed things we already knew and introduced Mikey’s love interest and that was that.

The show tried to do a thing about anti-mutant racism once, but it sure is a good thing that the only people racist against mutants were the mafia, so we don’t have to worry about making a nuanced take here. They could have done something really interesting, but then went for simple black-and-white-morality instead.

My favorite episode was when the boys played Dungeons and Dragons with a sparrow mutant.

The worst part of the show though was its fifth season. First it seemed like it would just continue from where the fourth season had left off with Shredder being revived - because like a good villain, or herpes, Shredder always comes back - by the worst looking dragon I have ever seen in my entire life, but then that arc surprisingly ended after four episodes, shocking me to my core. Almost as shocking as Donnie almost killing a guy, but then deciding not do at the very last second. Again, feels like they could have done more here, but then they didn’t.

The fifth season started with two arcs that seemed to tie up loose plot threads, like Shredder’s revival and the bug alien guy I could have sworn died when he was yeeted out of an airlock coming back to enact his grim revenge, all so Raph’s girlfriend could live on the same planet as him and then never appear on the show ever again. Also Mikey died and his brothers were sad for five seconds before going about their business and then he came back with superpowers and then he conveniently lost them at the end of the episode, because the plot doesn’t have time for things that are emotional or interesting. Then there was that time the writers were like “What if we made Yojimbo, but with anthropromorphic animals and also the turtles are there” and it existed and the Turtles added very few things to the story and then went back to their dimension and never talked about it ever again. Or the time they said “what if we made Mad Max and also everything was terrible” and so they did and Leo became a hulked up war criminal but everyone forgave him because he wasn’t himself but immediately snapped out of it after seeing his brothers and Raphael was on steroids and Donnie became a robot in what I assume was a reference to the comics where he died and became a robot and also Donnie ended up being the only one whose body died, but considering what became of his brothers, he was probably the best off? And Raph had amnesia just so he could say he had amnesia and it didn’t actually factor into the plot once because he immediately recognized Mikey. I don’t know, I hated that special.

But at least it gave me emotions. The best part of the “that time travel demon is back and trying to monster mash” arc was when I remembered that I could browse tumblr on my phone while it was on and then I didn’t bore myself to death and also didn’t miss anything of value.

The series finale was fine. Nothing to write home about, but perfectly fine, even though the show threw an awful lot of shade at the 1987 version.

I feel like the most jarring thing about the fifth season was that the show spent four seasons going out of its way to present itself as something with a cohesive narrative and a plot that goes on and on and then we get these disjointed stories, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with the story at all. Just the writers throwing some idea at a wall to see what sticks because they either didn’t have any ideas anymore, or too many, but the end result wasn’t great and I’ll recommend newcomers to stop after the fourth season, because for real.

Tiger Claw existed and he was infuriatingly capable and powerful and then his sister chopped off his arm and then he got a robot arm and that was it forever. I don’t know, some episodes felt more pointless than others, but some managed to be fun or interesting and some just added something they thought was fun and it ended up never mattering again.

Some characters disappeared randomly, like the dove guy and I don’t care enough to ask what happened there.

Karai’s mutation being reversed off-screen was super bizarre. Sure, her being able to change at will as metal as heck, but it felt weird and incomplete and like I missed an episode. Maybe I did. It was also infuriating how her venom was a plot point in one episode and never brought up again after that.

Outside of that, I don’t have much insight to offer. Other people already exlained how the fight scenes, while nice, are not very accurate, especially the bo staff moves, or how the show is very dark, not in tone, but in actual absence of light and lots of greyscales or how most characters have singular traits rather than fleshed out personalities, especially the supporting cast. How there isn’t a lot of diversity in the human characters and how figure-hugging a lot of April’s and Karai’s clothing is (shoutout to April’s yellow shirt, it’s uncomfortable to look at, cheers) or how the female characters are frequently damselled.

I liked when the animation added personality to the characters because the writing sure didn’t think it had time for that.

All in all, it’s a mixed bag for me. It’s a fine show to watch if you have the time and it’s not all bad and I can see why people enjoy it, but it’s not for me. I liked some episodes enough to watch again, but I feel like in nine out of ten cases, I’ll opt to rewatch Rise instead because it has more of what I personally like, but I won’t think less of you if you enjoyed this version of the show. I’m not telling people that one version of the Turtles is superior to the other, just that I think it’s important to take off those rose-colored glasses and be critical of the things you consume every now and again.

But if you prefer plot-driven shows that can be surprisingly dark, you might enjoy this. Or you could watch Avatar, because it has that as well as three-dimensional characters and better worldbuilding.

Thank you for reading my way-too-long thoughts about an animated kid’s show.

#some of these are nitpicks some of these are not #i did not beta read this #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #tmnt 2012 #Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles 87 #tmnt 87

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defenders-core · 5 years

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STOP PITTING DEFENDERS AGAINST EACH OTHER

DOCTOR STRANGE's hands SURE SEEM TO BE FEELING BETTER

THE HULK loves BEANS

NAMOR keeps LEAVING THE TEAM

VALKYRIE is PERFECT

NIGHTHAWK is a FILTHY CAPITALIST

SILVER SURFER PHILOSOPHIZES a lot

HELLCAT is BETTY AND VERONICA meets CATWOMAN and that should be ENOUGH FOR YOU

DEVIL-SLAYER liked a HIPPIE once

DAIMON HELLSTROM had a ROUGH CHILDHOOD

ARAGORN is a VALUABLE MEMBER of the team

LEDGE got HURT one time

MAN-WOLF is a trained ASTRONAUT

BLACK GOLIATH should really just be called GOLIATH

MAR-VELL is DEAD

CAPTAIN ULTRA saw the Defenders on TELEVISION once

FALCON is #MYCAPTAINAMERICA

HAVOK was RUINED by AXIS

HERCULES is CHO'S BEST FRIEND

JACK OF HEARTS has no CONTROL

MARVELMAN is now called MIRACLEMAN

PALADIN is a THUNDERBOLT

POLARIS doesn't get to do much with her SIBLINGS

PROWLER is Spider-Man's BODYGUARD

STINGRAY has met NAMOR BEFORE

TAGAK THE LEOPARD LORD hasn't been in a comic since THE 1970s

TORPEDO was killed by DIRE WRAITHS

WHITE TIGER was in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN--the SHOW, not the COMIC

MS MARVEL was CAROL DANVERS UNFORTUNATELY

PECOS is a COWBOY

BATROC is besties with GWENPOOL

BEETLE is MACH X NOW

WHIRLWIND was a recurring villain in AVENGERS EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES

ELECTRO was bitten by EELS OR SOMETHING

JOE THE GORILLA prefers CHOKEHOLDS

LEAP-FROG's son is named EUGENE

PORCUPINE is a good BABYSITTER

LOOTER likes METEORS too much

TITANIUM MAN worked for THANOS briefly

THE THING changes back into ben grimm ANNUALLY

ANGEL is very ATTRACTIVE

CLOUD is a CLOUD

CANDACE SOUTHERN is VERY RICH

ANDROMEDA lives in ATLANTIS

INTERLOPER thinks meme pages should be APOLITICAL

MANSLAUGHTER used a HOSTAGE SITUATION to join the team

DAFYDD AP TOWERTH is related to KING ARTHUR

SPIDER-MAN has a DOCTORATE

WOLVERINE is the BEST at what he DOES

NOMAD has unnecessarily large BOOTS

SPIDER-WOMAN likes ROAD TRIPS

NAMORITA is DEAD

SLEEPWALKER only ever fights NIGHTMARE FOR SOME REASON

SCARLET WITCH turns enemy units into BOXES

THUNDERSTRIKE is BOOTLEG thor

WAR MACHINE is suffering from PTSD

NORTHSTAR is HAPPILY MARRIED

DOCTOR DRUID replaced DOCTOR STRANGE once

SEPULCHRE was chosen through NEPOTISM

CADAVER is just a ZOMBIE

U.S. AGENT should have stayed on the DARK AVENGERS

DAGGER is in a cool TELEVISION SHOW

DEATHLOK terrorized a HOSPITAL once

RED RAVEN is basically SAMUS ARAN

ARDINA is GIRL SILVER SURFER

BLAZING SKULL should still be called SKULL THE SLAYER because that name is AWESOME

WASP supports CORY BOOKER

WONDER MAN lived in rogue's BRAIN ONCE

JUNTA was LEGALLY REQUIRED to join the team

BLACK PANTHER is the best MCU MOVIE

BLACK PANTHER (SHURI) killed a bunch of SKRULLS

ANT-MAN'S ANTS ANTS ANT-MAN

BLACK WIDOW doesn't really deserve a movie but HERE WE ARE

TIGRA does deserve a MOVIE

STORM is super FUN in MUA3

TARANTULA just misses her FAMILY

COLLEEN WING was WEIRDLY UNIMPORTANT to fearless defenders

ELEKTRA TECHNICALLY is a defender in MUA3

THUNDRA deserves BETTER

MAGMA was the protagonist of X-MEN LEGENDS

DELPHYNE GORGON is amadeus cho's GIRLFRIEND

KID RESCUE is YINSEN'S DAUGHTER

COLOSSUS was a DRUGGIE in the ULTIMATE UNIVERSE

FAIZA HUSSAIN is the best captain britain DON'T @ ME

ANNABELLE RIGGS should still be ALIVE

FRANKIE RAYE is called NOVA AND THAT'S CONFUSING

ANT-MAN is also sometimes GIANT-MAN

HAWKGIRL has an ELECTRIC MACE

DARKHAWK should have an ONGOING

CAPTAIN AMERICA has AMERICA'S ASS

NOVA deserves to TAKE A BREAK

IRON FIST I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU

LOA was awesome in the TWO SERIES I READ WITH HER

DRAX THE DESTROYER's daughter is ALSO A DEFENDER

RED GUARDIAN was the victim of CHARACTER ASSASSINATION

DAREDEVIL is BLIND

LYRA's gimmick is kinda NONSENSICAL but it's FINE

DANI MOONSTAR is a BADASS SHIELDMAIDEN

MISTY KNIGHT has a ROBOT ARM

SHE-HULK broke the FOURTH WALL before it was COOL

GRITTY isn't a defender BUT THAT'S VALID

GARGOYLE just wanted to save his TOWN

BLACK KNIGHT gave valkyrie his HORSE

BEAST led the TEAM for a WHILE

LUKE CAGE knows THE N WORD PASS ISN'T REAL

HAWKEYE is the only good LANDLORD

REN KIMURA should really get A CODENAME already

BLACK CAT randomly went evil for a while in 2014 without a GOOD EXPLANATION imo

RED SHE-HULK has an AWESOME SWORD

YELLOWJACKET is high-key one of my FAVORITE CHARACTERS

WONG should really RETIRE ALREADY

CLEA makes good VALKYRIE COSTUMES

AMAZO should have been allowed to KILL LEX LUTHOR

DOCTOR FATE KIDNAPS CHILDREN

JACK NORRISS works for THE MANDARIN in the MCU

SHOCKER got the HEAD OF SILVERMANE

ELSA BLOODSTONE survived in MARVEL ZOMBIES LAND

MOON KNIGHT is MARVEL's MOON KNIGHT

MOONDRAGON used ICEMAN AS A BEARD

ICEMAN used MOONDRAGON AS A BEARD

AQUAMAN has a cool HARPOON HAND

JESSICA JONES

HIPPOLYTA WRECKS SHIT

DOLLAR BILL made an ADVERTISEMENT ONCE

SOLOMON GRUNDY was BORN ON A MONDAY

DEADPOOL doesn't often have FEET

GHOST RIDER is in DETROIT

NICK FURY stole an EYEBALL

ATLAS is a great THUNDERBOLT

KRANG was chosen by the UNIVERSE to be a defender

HOWARD THE DUCK was created by STEVE GERBER

RHINO doesn't have SWEAT GLANDS anymore

BOOMERANG got his own team and WASTED IT

LIBRA is an ESCAPED ANDROID

SUPER-SKRULL helped SHE-HULK save his DAUGHTER

MELTER is also a FILTHY CAPITALIST

GEATAR will probably be the TASERFACE OF GUARDIANS 3

NO-NAME OF BROOD was a CREATIVE and AWESOME ADDITION

BLOB doesn't like being called BUB

TOAD is a JANITOR

PLANTMAN throws COCONUTS

OVERMIND pretended to be NIGHTHAWK'S EX-GIRLFRIEND

THANOS BOTTOM TEXT

NITRO shouldn't have KILLED THOSE KIDS

LUNATIK is ONE-SIXTH OF A FILM PROFESSOR

#marvel's defenders #defenders #defenders-core #marvel

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nei-ning · 6 years

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From Different Dimension Ch9

And this, darlings, is the last chapter! This had almost completely different ending and all (at least about Shredder) but this was so much more better, ahahah! When I started to write it all just came out on it's own so I take it as a sign it came from my own vortex and then you don't try to stop or correct it, etc. xD I want to thank you all who has read this fic, fave / like and comment it and sorry it took so long for me to finish this. I planned this fic to be longer but... something just happened and I lost inspiration and ideas but I'm glad this last chapter came out nicely. *********

*This fic will be about 2014 turtles with the hints of 2016 turtles. -- For weeks and months we took turns to teach little Leo read, write and count and much for all of our surprise little Leo was doing amazingly well. He was fast to learn like big bro Leo. Another thing what warmed all of us was the fact little Leo had started to spend more time with Splinter – in the dojo as well. One day Splinter invited us to watch their training and my heart swell with joy and pride as I saw Leo doing basic katas. So he had found martial arts to be interesting even a little bit! At least as a small self defensive if nothing else since I knew he hated violence. After little show Splinter smiled as he bend down and whispered something in little Leo’s ear, his eyes turning big and bright. He ran past us while Splinter ordered us in the living room and sit. We waited Leo to arrive and take his place with play piano. Glancing once at Splinter’s direction he received a nod, nodding once back. Sitting down on the floor piano in front of him, he took deep inhale turning power on. He looked nervous. Small fingers took their place on piano’s keys, firmly with confidence starting to press them all in order, playing beautiful music to us. So this was that secret little thing what Splinter had been teaching him in his room all these months! From the corner of my eye I saw a shadow spreading on the floor as April appeared in the lair, stopping in her spot, not wanting to disturb little player. When music finally faded away we all cheered and clapped for little embarrassed and blushing turtle who couldn’t hide his happy smile. Mikey was the first who went to pet his little head, praising him from Earth to Heaven, April soon following his lead. “Oh my gosh, Leo, that was beautiful! How did you learn to play piano?” Shyly he lifted his hand and pointed at Master with small smile on his face. April couldn’t help but to smile warmly at our master. “I have to admit, Splinter, I’m surprised you had such gift yourself. Never knew you could play piano.” “I didn’t. I had to teach myself first before I could teach little Leo.” Walking behind small turtle Splinter placed his hand on Leo’s head, petting it. “I’m most happy and proud I could teach myself and then teach him. He will become great pianist some day.” Watching father smiling all warmly down at little Leo, who smiled back at him, was wonderful. It was like if one of our biggest goals with Leo had been achieved. “So what brings you here?” Hearing Leonardo’s voice made me remember we indeed had visitor so I too, with curiosity, turned my eyes on April. Standing now side by side with Mikey April looked at us. “I have some news for you guys.”

“You have found someone and are getting married? You are pregnant? Are you moving away from NY?!” I found it hilarious how red faced April lifted her hands in front of her, swinging them furiously. “No, no, no, no and NO! For God’s sake, Mikey, NO!” “Then what is it?” Typical Leonardo. Standing there all tall and firmly, arms crossed on his chest as his strict eyes kept staying on human, his expression tight and unreadable. April sighed as she took a piece of paper out of her pocket, handling it to Don. “I received a message about unnatural signals outside of the city. Some police troops have been sent there to investigate it but they have… vanish or found dead. I’m heading there myself but I wanted to come to ask would you care to join me?” I snorted amused. “Too scared to go there by yourself, oh fearless news reporter?” “It’s not that, Raphael. It just… I have a feeling this might be Shredder’s doing and you guys know him better than I do.” “It indeed does sounds like Shredder’s doing. Donnie, get everything what you think we need and let’s get ready. April, you stay here with Splinter and little Leo. Raph and Mikey, get weapons.” “Yes, sir!” Mikey ran away like eager little boy who he still was inside. After I made my way to weapon wall, putting my sais in my belt, I felt slight pluck. Little Leo looked up at me worried so I smiled at him, tapping his head gently. “Don’t worry, little guy, I’ll be back soon. We just go investigate, nothing more.” He hugged my leg long and tight, slightly refusing to let go of me so I had to ask Splinter’s help. Father was so calm and caring, like always, and he managed to make Leo let go of me. Promising once more I would come back I ran in garage where bros were waiting for me already. Jumping in our garbage truck Don hit it and soon our safe home was left behind. – Parking our truck in shadows of trees we made our way out as quiet and fast as we could, weapons ready. Leaning us more closer Leonardo turned to look at us, giving us hand signals we should spread but stay eye sight away from each other and stay silent. We did as we were ordered and soon enough we came close to this square where Shredder were with few Foot ninjas and he also had weird portal device with him. Bending down behind the bushes we observed and listened. “Hurry, you fools! Krang won’t like waiting. We need to open the portal as soon as possible and let him come here. With him I can get so much power that none, especially those damn turtles, won’t stop me!” I turned to look our leader who seemed not pleased at all, his mind creating a plan for us immediately. Giving us a sign to join him we all crawled silently around our bro who gave us orders with silent whispers. “Here’s the plan since we are not completely sure what’s going on. Raph, you take on 6 ninjas from the left. Mikey, I will leave rest 6 ones to you. If you need help, which I doubt, Raph will aid you. I will take the Shredder. Don, your job is to take the portal and then we leave. Everyone in the truck as fast as possible after Don’s ready. Understood?” “Awh, come on! Can’t we just have more fun with them?” “No. We have no idea who this Krang is, how strong he is, what he’s going to bring here via portal with himself and so on. Better be safe than sorry. We will come for them later if needed. Now let’s go.” And so we went and our ambush was success. Shredder had no idea what hit them as we attacked on them from the shadows, taking our targets. During the fight I kept taking look from the corner of my eye how my bros were doing and they seemed to be doing fine. Hearing Don’s voice and then Leo’s we all retreaded as fast into the shadows as we could, driving away and leaving screaming Shredder behind. Back at home Don took this small round shaped portal into his lab and we gave him space and time to work on it. Leonardo, as usual, gave report to Splinter, Mikey focused on eating, April was chatting with Splinter and Leo while I was with little Leo. He was sitting in my lap on the floor coloring pictured from his new coloring book what April had brought him. After hours and hours Donatello finally came to us pushing his glasses back on his nose better. “What have you found, my son?” Waiting patiently Splinter eyed our brother who finally told us what he knew. “I found out Krang is alien brain so to say. A rare life form from different dimension so to say. Somehow he has found Earth and managed to contact Shredder, manipulating him to build that teleport so that he could arrive on Earth. Most surely to conquer it since what else bad guys do?” Chuckling a bit to himself Don got serious again and continued. “I studied Shredder’s teleport and I have to say; It was horribly done even that it would had work. Just amateur work! It was painful to watch it! And for a some reason either Shredder or one of his scientists had add memory card in the portal and saved all files about Krang in there. What amateurs! I got all the info from it!” “So if we have teleport Shredder won’t be able to summon this Krang here on Earth?” Leonardo said rather to himself out loud. “Correct but there’s a chance Shredder can build new one if he have blueprints.” “So this means we need to go beat his ass and destroy his place? “Raphael.” “Sorry, Sensei.” “It seems so.” Surprised by Leonardo’s reply I watched him standing up, looking each of us. “Get ready. We go there as soon as we can. We won’t give Shredder time to build new portal.” “Ahaha oh yeah! Right on!” Me and Mikey seemed to be the only excited ones while Splinter shook his head. After gearing up once more we were on the move. – We crashed into Shredder’s lab through the doors where we found him and his scientists building already a new portal. “Stop right there, Shredder!” “Why should I, turtles? You stole my first portal.” “We won’t let you bring Krang here to hurt people and Earth with him.” “You turtles are fools indeed. I wasn’t going to share Earth with him. I already had this plan in my mind before you crawlers appeared.” “And that was?” Turning to look Mikey Shredder sighed deeply in annoyance. “I was going to lure him on Earth, make you turtles kill him for me and steal his technology so that I could travel in space and conquer planets and dimensions!” “And you tell us this because…?” “It’s my farewell gift to you since you won’t leave here alive. Foot ninjas, attack!” Suddenly we were surrounded and fight was on. I admit there were many of them but while we kept most of them busy, Leonardo went after Shredder as Don went to destroy blueprints and everything about the portal, including the beginning of new portal. I watched Mikey’s back as few scientists ran past us out of the room but I couldn’t blame them. They most surely were forced to work for Shredder so I had no any intentions to go after them and kill them. Standing on top of Foot ninja pile Mikey laughed as we gave high tree to each other, looking at Leo’s direction. He was doing fine, like always and expected, but we wanted to have a piece of Shredder as well. Appearing right next to our big bro we gave him time to take a breath. Loud crack and buzz sounds came behind Shredder with sparks as Don were happily smashing computers into pieces. Usually he never had a heart do such cruel thing to computers, which all were his babies, but this time he seemed to enjoy it. Let him have his fun. Mikey and I attacked on Shredder as Leo stood behind catching his breath but joined us soon. I must hand it to Shredder – fighting against all tree of us was impressive. Sensei hadn’t warn us about him for nothing. There were tight situations in turns but together we made it every time, almost every time. Shredder, as a bad guy, didn’t play fair. All of the sudden something was sprayed in our eyes and we all screamed holding them. It stung and burned so much and we heard Shredder laughing hard. “M-MY EYES! MY BEAUTIFUL EYES!!” “Focus, my brothers, focus! Losing one ability won’t stop us! Use your other senses!” Standing still weapons at hands we stood still despite the burning pain in our eyes while listening the sound of metal when Shredder walked towards us. Luckily he wore such armor which made so loud noise so we could hear him well. Suddenly there was sound of some sort of splash and Don’s scream soon followed it. “Guys, get back!” We automatically jumped as far away as we dared and Shredder’s painful scream, with the smell of burning flesh, echoed in the room with loud buzz and crack sounds. When it finally turned quiet, smoke and horrible smell still lingering in the air, Don came to gather us in one spot, wiping out eyes with water. “What the shell?” “Pepper spray. Dirty move from Shredder but in fights bad guys always use low tricks.” Finally, and slowly, getting our eyes open everything was blurry and tears kept leaking out of our eyes as they tried to clean themselves. Damn, this sucked! “The Shredder?” Leonardo asked keeping his hand on Don’s shoulder. “No worried. He’s melted so to say.” Don chuckled but calmed down and gave a proper answer. “After smashing computers I saw water bottles on the table. Workers drinks for sure, and sparkling electricity wire on the floor and then the idea hit me. Why fight when we could fry Shredder? I know it’s horrible but hey, everything’s allowed in a fight.” “… You know that has been dirty move, Donnie. No honor in there.” Looking down Don felt Leo’s gaze staying on him. “I know but it was the only thing what I could think of in that situation. I needed to save you guys.” Small smile spread on my big brother’s face as he tapped Donatello’s shoulder. “You did the right thing. Don’t worry about it. Despite the fact I like to fight with honor, sometimes some situations demands actions what are not so honorable but still will save your family. Good job, Don. Good job, everyone. I suggest we leave now. Our work here is done.” And we all agreed. I didn’t want to admit it but I was quite exhausted after the fight… Mikey even more tho. He whined and complained so I got him on my shell and carried him down to our truck. Back at home we told what had happened and Splinter seemed so relieved, April and little Leo cheering for us. – Few months later it was finally Christmas and I gotta admit it, our life had become so much more relaxed and easier now that Shredder was out of the picture. And this – this was our very first Christmas without worry or stress about him. We had a good time together with April with us but our main focus was little Leo who never hadn’t experienced Christmas. At first he was confused when he got so many gifts, unsure to open them but with little encouragement he started to open them, his eyes growing and glowing more and more with each gift. He got gifts what Leonardo had got him with April’s help all those months ago, including small bear plush from toy store which Leonardo had mentioned to me in the past. There were some warm clothes what April had got, more toys, color books, candies which seemed to be huge and exciting mystery to little turtle. But all in all he was happy and so were we. Life was good, just the way how I liked it. 5 years passed in peace and little Leo had grow a lot. He had gain some muscles but was still kind of thin compared to us. Master Splinter had kept training him until his age had stepped in a way, leaving little Leo’s training to our leader, Leonardo. Of course we couldn’t call little Leo as ‘little’ anymore so we just called him L. Our day had been normal with our routines when suddenly something shined from Don’s lab and we all rushed there to see what was going on. Donatello went at the back of his lab and soon came in living room portal in his hands. What Don had learned about it in the past it could change its size smaller or bigger. It had stayed small and nonactive all these years so why it now, all of the sudden, activated on its own!? We all stepped back as Don threw it away out of his hands, portal mysteriously standing tall on its spot getting wider and rounder. Finally it stopped and we waited weapons ready to see what it would show but much for our surprise it showed sunny summer sky with sun and blue sky. It was weird and seemed harmless but we stayed ready for anything as Leonardo ordered us with hand signs. Soon we heard something moving, silent whispers and it shocked us when 3 turtles started us back with older rat. I-it couldn’t be! Shock in their faces reflected the same shock what we were feeling. Stepping forward Leonardo put his swords away and bowed deeply. It felt a bit awkward but he stood tall and introduced himself. “I’m Leonardo Hamato. Clan leader of Hamato clan in New York city. May I ask who you are? So far what we know we should be the only mutant turtles.” Second Splinter stepped forward and he had very similar energy to our Master, but this Splinter was younger than our father. He too bowed and introduced himself. “Forgive us for all the trouble what we might have cause with this sudden action. My sons and I were out of enjoying lovely summer day at the lake when we found this old device in the dirt. My son, Raphael, touched it and it activated. Somehow it created connection between our worlds.” “Fascinating… So there’s another world where… we exist as well.” Donatello murmured louder to himself, younger Don nodding eagerly on the other side. I listened the chat what seemed to become more easy and friendly while eyeing younger versions of us but something bothered me. “Where’s Leonardo of yours?” All they suddenly froze and turned to look their master in sadness. There also was great sadness in other Splinter’s eyes. I instantly regretted asking that stupid question. “With all respect, Splinter, tell us since I too am curious to know this.” Leonardo said as we all agreed with him with nods. Sighing deeply he started talking. “We just didn’t came to enjoy beautiful summer day at the lake. We came to visit my oldest son’s grave as well which lies near the lake under a wild cherry tree… It was his favorite tree...” Sighing one more Splinter lowered his ears and head. “He died today 5 years ago.” It turned all silent since none of us really didn’t know what to say until L came in front of the portal, smiling at his other brothers. Seeing our younger versions wide and surprised expressions with Splinter’s surprised eyes, he turned to look at us, pointing slowly at himself and then them. Splinter moved his ears a bit as he made his way to L, placing his hand on young man’s shoulder who was now taller than he was. “So you wish to go there to live with them? Be their Leonardo?” I should have felt happy, I guess, but seeing Leonardo smiling and nodding once in firm way… It broke my heart into pieces, sinking all the remains into my toes. My father turned to look at us and I noticed he noticed my teary eyes even that I fought against those little bastards. “Are you all alright with it if our little Leonardo, who’s grown up now, will go live with another turtle family? That is if you all accept Leonardo in your family.” Other Splinter nodded. “Of course we will. It would be a great honor.” Mikey was crying already but he nodded wiping his eyes. “Yeah. S-sure. I just… I hate saying goodbye. It has been so much fun to have you here, L.” Seeing slightly moist but happy eyes staying on Mikey, closing only for the moment of hug what he received from my little brother. Don sniffed a bit but he too hugged our little guy wishing him all the luck. Leonardo was more formal, like always, bowing deep sharing warm smile to his younger self. “You have grown up to be a fine turtle, L. It was an honor to know you and have you with us. Know that you always have home and a family here for you if you need us. We will miss you greatly.” Taking one bigger step forward Leonardo sealed L in his arms, hugging him ever so firmly and gently. Splinter was next as he too hugged his fifth son, leaving his arms rest on those shoulders. “Never forget who you are. Never forget what we have taught to you and just like Leonardo said, you always have home here with us and we are always here if you need us. It was great pleasure to meet you and raise you, my son. Be strong and honorable in your new world and home.” L smiled lovingly nodding slowly once, hugging Splinter once more. It was painful and beautiful at the same time. His own Splinter had been a total evil and my father had been totally wonderful and loving father who had have big influence in L’s life. My father had managed to show him love, support and guidance what L never hadn’t had before. Finally those blue eyes turned on me and I couldn’t handle it. Not the way how those eyes looked at me. They were full of gratitude, love and sorrow. With shaky feet I walked to him and knelt down, looking up in those bright blue eyes. “I… should be happy since a whole new world and life is ahead of you with your new family… But I’m not.” This seemed to shock and surprise him and my brothers. Pulling L in my arms I hid my face against his shoulder. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay. I… I raised you like my own son and letting you go… It hurts and scares me. I no longer wouldn’t be there for you. Protect you. Watch your back. I would lose you for good if I let you go through that portal. I love you too much to let you go.” L rubbed his cheek gently against mine, petting the backside of my head and neck. His hands were small and gentle, moves full of care and comfort. He was comforting me. I knew, somehow, deep inside he was feeling sad and bad too for leaving but he was excited and wanted to go to his new family. Feeling hand on my shoulder I knew it was Leonardo. He spoke with such gentleness. “This is painful and hard for all of us since we all love him dearly, Raphael. But this is his decision and he’s old enough to make them. We may never see him again, true, but we have give him good training and base for life.” I felt his gaze moving from me on L’s eyes. “I’m sure he will do just fine.” Feeling Leo’s eyes turning back on me, he continued once more. “So let go. He will be safe and sound with his family.” Sniffing loud I kept my face hidden even that I felt hands on my cheeks, wiping rolling tears away. “Is… Is your world safe to live in?” I didn’t dare to look but I heard Splinter’s voice behind the portal. “Oh yes, most safe. This planet has hold humans and mutants on herself for thousands of years, they all living in perfect harmony with each other and it has keep on going all the way to this day.” “Then, may I ask, how your Leonardo died?” Donatello needed to know. “Illness. Something what we didn’t had a cure back then but since then scientists from mankind and mutants have work together and they managed to create medicine to it. Sadly it came too late to save my son.” “I see.” Feeling once more all of their gazes on me I lifted my head just a bit to see L’s face right in front of mine. His eyes were moist, few tears had escaped on his cheeks but he was smiling. Pressing his forehead against mine I closed my eyes once more just holding him there, memorizing everything about his as good as I could. I would never want to forget him even that we had photos about him. Mikey came next to us and handed one photo to L who took it inside of his belt. Turning to look at me once more and making sure he had my attention, he moved his lips. “I will be okay.” I could read his lips loud and clear and I knew he would be okay but losing him for good… I stood up wiping my eyes keeping them locked with L’s as he too stood up. Reaching for my sai I pulled it out of my belt, flipped it around and handed it to confused L who took it. “My gift to you. Keep it with you, always. Never lose it or go anywhere without it. I hope it will help you to remember me.” Lifting sai in front of his face L pressed gently kiss on it, placing it on his own belt looking at me happily. I knew he would treasure my sai. Turning around he gave a hand sign to other turtles behind portal to wait and he ran to his own corner starting to dig stuff. “I have been wanting to ask, fellow turtles, why does he not talk?” We all stayed quiet as we allowed our father to reply. “He had an accident when he was a child and he lost his voice because of it.” It seemed Splinter didn’t think it was important for them to knew about L’s past. He could ‘tell’ about it to them himself if he so wanted. Hearing steps made our heads turn as L walked to us, his arms full of stuff. Stopping in front Mikey L gave him some drawings what they had done together and few arts what L had done about Mikey when he had been younger. Then he turned towards Leonardo handling him his own favorite book. Taking it with smile Leonardo bowed with L at the same time, thanking for the gift. Don got some of L’s toys and things what they had build together while Splinter got some poets what L had written after learning to write. When it was my turn he hesitated but reached to give me his most precious item – his diary. “N-no, L. I can’t take this. You should keep it yourself.” But he smiled while shaking his head. Pulling another diary out of his bag what he had on his back he wrote on one page. “I have a ‘copy’ of it.” and pointed current diary in his hands. In this moment it seemed like… if he had known he would leave us one day. Sighing deeply I pressed his diary hard against my chest, forcing a smile on my face. “I will treasure this. It will be my most beloved item.” “L, it’s time. Portal is showing signs it won’t stay open too long anymore.” Don’s words squeezed my throat so I pulled L in one last hug, kissed his head and whispered; “I love you. I always have loved you and always will, no matter how far apart we are. Never forget that. You are always my little treasure.” Feeling a kiss on my forehead made tears trying to escape my eyes once more but I held them back pulling away sniffing. L gave one fast last hugs to everyone turning to face the portal. Slowly he reached for it with his hand, then feet and then portal just sucked him in. It felt like eternity but took only a few seconds before he appeared on another side of the portal where his new brothers greeted him with laughs and welcome wished, instantly hugging him. It seemed like if he had belong there all along, went missing and was now reunited with his real family. Portal started to close as we all, and they too, wished farewells with promises to keep L safe. I suddenly took fast steps forward reaching for L. “Leonardo!” His eyes locked with mine and his eyes shined full of love as he placed his fingers on his lips and turned them towards me; “I love you.” “Le--!” And the portal shut down. I froze on my place as reality hit me, filling me with coldness. Little Leo… My little Leo was now forever gone. Feeling my body starting to shake I felt warm hand on my shoulder and I met blue gentle eyes. “I can see how hard this is for you, but we did the right choice. He was happy with us but I believe he’s even more happy there with them. He is their new Leonardo. He’s now giving them something and someone who they have been missing for 5 years. Their family is now whole, just like ours.” “Raphael, we all loved him deeply and will always love. Saying goodbyes is never easy but in the name of love we must learn to let go of those who we love the most in order to bring them happiness. We can’t own another person and make them live their life in a way how we want them to.” “I know, Master, I know. I just… feel like I lost a piece of myself.” “We all feel like that, dude. It’s normal, but hey – we still have each other like L now have too.” Pulling all of us in a group hug Mikey was right. I knew with time I would get over this, sooner or later, but I would get over this. Later in the same night I laid on L’s bed reading his diary having his teddy in my armpit. Seeing a figure approach me from the corner of my eye made me close the diary since it was only for my eyes. Leonardo stopped next to bed and sat down looking at me. “How are you doing?” “A bit better.” Small smile appeared on his lips as he sighed silently, slow and deep. “I’m revealed to hear that. Raphael… I just wanted to let you know that… I’m here for you. I’m always here for you. No matter what. You are my brother and I love you dearly. Never hesitate to come to me if you need anything.” Leonardo’s words hit me hard and I appreciated it what he said and I knew he meant it. Putting diary away I sighed and laid on my back still, staring at the ceiling before turning my head a bit, meeting waiting eyes. “Could you… stay with me tonight? I feel I can’t sleep alone.” “Of course.” Moving a bit I made some room for Leonardo to lay on his side in my armpit, holding him close. “Leonardo… Thank you.” Closing his eyes smile remained on my brother’s lips. “You’re welcome, Raphael. This is only one of my jobs as a big brother.” Hugging him tight I rubbed my cheek against the top of his head. “And you are doing a damn good job with it.” Chuckling Leonardo pressed more closer and soon yawned. He wished me good night and I returned his wishes, staying awake a while. I still worried and felt sad about L but at the same time I felt happy and warm for having another Leo, my own Leo, in my arms. I knew my Leo was capable of surviving anything and this brought faith on L surviving anything as well, no matter what. Eyelids of mine finally started to close and soon I was sleeping peacefully. – *5 years later in another dimensions* He stood all tall on top of the building watching sunrise as colors of the night faded away, bright red, orange and yellow sneaking more higher up on the sky behind horizon, sky slowly turning from dark to light and bright blue. Wind blew gently past him, playing with the tails of his blue bandanna. His blue eyes calmly scanned awaking city and nature as his brothers landed behind him. “Come now, Leo, or we will be late from breakfast and Splinter will eat everything on his own!” Raphael playfully slapped Leo’s arm with a playful smirk, challenging his brother into a race. Smiling and shaking his head Leonardo turned to take one more look at the beautiful colors on the sky, deep inhale filling his lungs with fresh morning air. His mind wondered back to his other turtle family, wondering what they were doing and wishing they were well. “Come on, Leo, hurry up!” Now his other brothers finally got his attention and smiling he rushed after them, jumping from roof to roof chasing them. There were times when he missed his old family but he loved his new family and life in this calm and beautiful world and city. Raphael’s sai swung on his belt with the movements of his body and it had stayed there with him, and always would, just like he had promised. The end

#tmnt #tmnt2014 #from different dimension #leonardo #raphael #donatello #michelangelo #little leo #splinter #neis writing #neis fic #text

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satireknight · 6 years

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TMNT S03E06 - The Old Switcheroo, Part 2

So while the Turtles are discussing how weird Splinter is acting, Shredder comes in, picks up a giant spear with a mace at the end, and orders them to attack. He’s a master of subtlety.

And after bludgeoning Raphael with Donatello’s body, he laughs evilly and orders them to do every exercise ten times. Well, that’s thirty hours of continuous exercise... good luck scraping them off the floor after that.

As he leaves, he says, “I can destroy them whenever I wish.” Of course, that leads us to the biggest problem of the episode: Shredder is in an ideal position to kill the Turtles, but he’s botching it. First, he never really tries to kill them; he seems to just try to humiliate them over and over for the lulz. Secondly, he is apparently incapable of acting like Splinter would, which puts the Turtles on their guard and makes it more likely that they’ll try to fight back when he does make a move.

Also, he accidentally exposed himself again when he fought them, because Leonardo unsurprisingly knows Splinter’s fighting style inside and out. All of them figure out that it reminds them more of Shredder.... so yeah, Shredder has managed to practically expose himself simply because he can’t pass up an opportunity to be a dick.

Meanwhile, Splinter is trying to oh-so-casually discuss the whole mind-transfer thing with Krang, but isn’t really able to do it without rousing more suspicions.

Bebop blurts out that Shredder got zapped, and Krang decides that they should scan Shredder’s brain, just in case. Again, what is he complaining about? Does it feel weird not having someone be an utter dick 24/7?

So in a matter of minutes, Splinter’s sitting under a brain-scan-thingy, looking like he regrets everything.

And given that he refers to “Shredder” and “you” separately, I think Krang might have figured out what happened. Certainly possible considering that Splinter was asking, “By the way, do you happen to have anything that can switch people’s minds?”

And then... not kidding, Splinter manages to change his brain-wave patterns through sheer force of will.

I’m pretty sure that’s completely impossible, but you know what? If anyone did it, it would be Splinter.

So Krang is satisfied that Splinter is Shredder, and immediately tells him to go get the doohickey thingamabob to fix the Technodrome. Also, Bebop and Rocksteady must REALLY be grating on Splinter’s nerves, because he bitches more in one line about having them along than he has ever done about all the Turtles, ever.

Meanwhile, since Shredder has the Turtles at his mercy and can kill them anytime.... he’s having them clean.

“Do you Turtles get the feeling there’s something not right about Master Splinter?” Leonardo, we established a scene or two ago that not only is he being violent and acting evil, which all of you have noticed, but that he was fighting in a style totally different from his usual one.... and which also happened to be similar to your archnemesis. Yes, they have the feeling. Try to keep up!

Just then, April pops in and Shredder yells at her before storming off. Since I don’t think Splinter has raised his voice even implicitly at her even once, she’s rather hurt by this. It’s also enough to convince the Turtles that there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark.

Michelangelo apparently is the only one who remembered that the “bizarro ray that zapped him” might have something to do with his weird behavior. You’d think it would pique Donatello’s science-nerd interests.

Just then the module comes bursting up, conveniently right in front of where they’re standing. And despite having seen it a few times, they act like this is new information.

And though Rocksteady and Bebop are raring for a fight, Splinter-in-Shredder’s-body is desperate not to fight. I could chalk this up to not pretending very well, but I can see why he might panic and lose control in this situation - he’s facing his sons/pupils, who have no idea who he is, and who might get hurt if he doesn’t try to avoid a conflict. Even worse, they don’t realize who he is, or what has happened.

I do sort of wonder how he planned to let them know eventually, though.

So they approach Splinter very aggressively, but he stops them with a speech about he’s taught them to look under the surface, and how they should look with their hearts instead of their eyes. It’s not a particularly deep speech, but it’s nicely done, especially as we see the Turtles’ faces changing in confusion as they listen.

And if Shredder’s stint as Splinter has taught us anything, it’s that he wouldn’t be able to fake something like this. He’s too dedicated to douchery.

Shredder, meanwhile, is freaking out because the Turtles left instead of hanging around to be humiliated. Oh, and he vows to “destroy” them again, even though he has had plenty of chances.

Gotta admit, that picture is pretty surreal out of context.

Donatello unsurprisingly knows the right way to switch them back to their bodies, and Leonardo has a brilliant idea for getting Shredder back to the lab. You know, whenever this series needs someone to brainstorm a clever solution, they just have Leonardo pull an idea from his butt.

So they come back home and find Shredder still stewing, giving him the fake claim that they’ve found Shredder and can finally get him for good.

That’s too good an opportunity for Shredder, who wants to recapture Splinter so they can swap bodies again. Not sure how he plans to convince Krang that he is who he says he is, especially since Krang doesn’t even really know Splinter.

Wait, if Shredder left the lair with the Turtle... doesn’t that mean he could backtrack to their lair? ARGH!

Meanwhile, Splinter is off to find the mind-transfer machine, but is interrupted by the presence of two wastes of oxygen.

And before he can tell them to go get some ice cream sundaes or something, the Turtles appear and Leonardo loudly announces their arrival. Splinter actually facepalms at the rotten luck.

Shredder also completely drops the pretense of being Splinter at this point, yelling, “Your Turtles are doomed, my dear rodent, and so are you!” across the room. He might want to save the “rodent” thing for when he isn’t one.

Splinter then lets Shredder knock him off his feet, landing right near Bebop and enraging the dimwitted mutant.

I really do like this bit, with Splinter playing his enemies against each other, since Shredder hasn’t bothered to notify Bebop and Rocksteady about what happened.

So Bebop lunges over and knocks Shredder onto one of the mind-transfer pads, where he mumbles, “Bebop, you idiot” before passing out. It’s a bit scary when you realize how strong those two are, and how much damage they can do when motivated. Although Bebop being an idiot doesn’t really have anything to do with this, since Shredder didn’t even try to enlighten his goons until Bebop was already on the warpath.

There’s also a funny weird bit when Michelangelo yells, “Prepare for ninja revenge, infidel dogs!” and runs out to fight. I don’t know if that’s a reference to something, or if it’s just something weird they decided to have him yell.

So now Shredder and Splinter are both in the mind-switcher, but Donatello is having trouble getting the thing up’n’running. Michelangelo kicks Rocksteady (nice animation, real sense of weight and effort) over to near where his gun is, and Rocksteady fires at Donatello, hitting the panel for the second time. I feel sorry for whoever put so much time and effort into this machine.

So both Splinter and Shredder are zapped by the mighty blue beam, and fall flat on their faces afterwards. And after so much abuse, the machine is now about to explode as things do on this show.

Bebop and Rocksteady grab Shredder’s body and run out of the building, and the Turtles are left undecided about which one is now Splinter and which is Shredder. They decide to take the giant rat body, especially since that involves less fighting with Bebop and Rocksteady.

Now that the whole pathetic incident is behind him, Shredder tells the henchmutants about what happened. I wonder if he told Krang, just so Krang would know that his brain scans aren’t as foolproof as he thought. Maybe he’s just relieved that Shredder is back to being pure douche again.

Meanwhile, Splinter wakes up in the lair with April and the Turtles all waiting anxiously to find out if he’s okay... and, well, the right person. Here’s a hint: if he says something that doesn’t have the word “idiot” in it, and doesn’t throw something at your head, it’s the real Splinter.

But Leonardo apparently needs some proof, which Michelangelo immediately provides: a slice of pizza right in the face.

I guess that real revulsion can’t be faked that well, especially from Shredder. He may know that Splinter hates pizza now, but he probably couldn’t be quite that grossed out by it.

VERDICT:

So this is another good one. The brain-switcheroo story is something that a lot of shows have done in varying formulae, but this one is a solid effort that handles itself pretty well.

Really, my only real nitpick is that Shredder picks up his villain’s idiot ball pretty early on, and keeps hanging onto it. He literally could have killed the Turtles, at least some of them, if he had made an effort to act like Splinter and had actually tried to hurt them. Hell, he came at ‘em with a giant spear, and just gave them some bruises.

I used to think that maybe they didn’t want to upset the kids by showing the Turtles’ sensei trying to hurt them, even if he was actually Shredder. But then I remembered that the first Rat King episode was this season, and that featured a mind-controlled Splinter trying to kill the Turtles.

Anyway, that’s my pet peeve, but the rest of the episode is done pretty well. I always like episodes that deal with Splinter’s relationship with one or more of the Turtles, and this one does have some subtle moments of that. In particular, I like how the Turtles’ faces cycle through different expressions when Splinter is talking them out of attacking, each one showing individual emotions.

I also mentioned before that I do like the animation of the fight scenes in here. I especially liked the part where Rocksteady launches himself at Michelangelo, and Michelangelo uses his legs to propel Rocksteady backwards. There’s a real sense of weight and raw physical power in the way it’s animated, which is very nice. The fight scenes were also pretty complex, and Splinter playing the victim to enrage Bebop was a clever moment.

Peter Renaday and James Avery also did a pretty good job in this one, each playing the other’s part; Renaday made his voice rougher and more sinister, and Avery sounded more mellow and quiet.

Grade: A-

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

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