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bullet-prooflove · 7 months ago

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New Fics Under The Cut:

911:

Poinsettia - Bobby shows you his appreciation.

Daisy - It's love at first sight for Bobby and your dog Daisy.

Snake - You receieve a surprise gift from your ex at Halloween. (Eddie Diaz)

Midnight - Eddie makes you a promise.

Catalina Island - You and Buck meet for the first time during a daring rescue.

911 Lone Star:

Four Reasons - Judd reflects on his current circumstances.

The Bear:

Home Run (NSFW) - Richie loves watching the game with you.

Chicago Fire:

Past Life - You finally tell Sam about your past.

Chicago Med:

One of Those Days - It's been one of those days in the ED for Dean.

Happy Birthday - Dean doesn't celebrate his birthday.

Quack - Dean's grandson Benji is fascinated with a rubber duck.

Socks - Sam and Dean talk about fatherhood.

Ten Hours - It's the longest ten hours of Jack's life.

Chicago PD:

Bed Head - David wakes up next to his ex-wife... again.

Cobra Kai:

Money Matters - You and Terry discuss your money concerns.

Bora Bora - You find inspiration when Terry takes you to Bora Bora.

Trying - You and Terry see a fertility specialist after a year of trying.

FBI - International:

Three Days - Scott realises you won't be home in time for Christmas.

Forever - Tank decides it's time for Scott to take the next step.

Slovenia - You and Scott steal a moment in the hot springs.

Hudson & Rex:

Autumn Leaves - You and Charlie introduce your dogs for the first time.

Law & Order:

Dire Straits - Nick realises there's something wrong.

Truth Be Told - You finally tell Ed the truth.

Law & Order SVU:

Bingo - You discover Mike’s secret.

Snow Day - Terry enjoys a couple of moments with you before work.

Law & Order Toronto:

Tension - Henry needs to take a break.

Mayor of Kingstown:

Rose - Robert has a new tattoo.

Delayed Dratification - Robert doesn't like to wait.

Insomnia - Mike can't sleep without you.

NCIS:

Pillow Talk - Alden realises he's a shitty husband.

Into The Woods - You tell Nick you're leaving UC work during an op.

NCIS LA:

Guardian Angel - Arlo thinks you're his guardian angel.

NCIS - NOLA:

A Future With You - Douglas has to make a choice.

64 Days - You and Sebastian have been apart for too long.

NCIS Origins:

Haunted (ft: Mike Franks) - Mike reflects on your prior history. (Leroy Jethro Gibbs)

Baggage - You confront Mike after he says another woman's name in his sleep.

Tulsa King:

Romantic - Mitch makes a suggestion regarding your future together.

Yellowstone:

Three Shots - Three shots and your life changes forever. (Ryan Yellowstone)

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thegayhimbo · 1 year ago

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Stranger Things x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crossover Review

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

Stranger Things Reviews/Theories

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

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

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tales From Hawkins

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

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

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

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

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

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

Stranger Things Hawkins Horrors Review

Stranger Things Flight Of Icarus

Stranger Things Lucas On The Line

Stranger Things Episode Reviews:

The Vanishing of Will Byers (Season 1, Episode 1)

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

Observations:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, I know about this earworm of a song:

vimeo

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

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

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

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

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

This ends up creating several plot-holes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But like I said, this is all speculation.

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

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