#Archie Comics Donnie

[snackugaki]

part 1 

did I have to cut it there? yes. why? because I’m p-e-t-t-y, I’m petty all the time  ♪ ♫ 

but also, the image cap boo

the tags cannot contain my full power some of my really good tags got eaten by the tag limit and they’re grudges I keep in a little pile in my heart

did this silly little fan comic get away from me? ...YES

was I gonna originally stop it there? also yes but you know... I love being snide and petty but after catching covid like a week ago I’m not gonna bring any bad juju with me into next year if I can help it

I forgot how fucking neon the coloring got for awhile in the archie comics

im cryin g this was supposed to be a short’n sentimental’n sweet comic and now look at me, i played myself

look, Venus has waited a quarter of a century, she earned this

i think... what tickles me most about Venus after coming back to TMNT fandom via Rise, is that from what I can see (on tumblr), the kids love her. they love her and make versions of her in the series that came after the 90s. i look at their bios, some weren’t even born when Next Mutation was airing. (and as far as I can tell, Next Mutation didn’t really get much syndicated airtime if any) ...and they still love her. hurt me in my old little heartguts. it’s mostly my generation of tmnt fans who express distaste for her... but the new fans, they love her, they include her in their aus, they make a place for her in their childhood series. hoo h oo giv give me a moment..

if I could pop back into 1998 and tell little 13 year old snackugaki that Venus would be back, I would. all I had were Trini Kwan and Venus de Milo (not ONLY them, just for the purpose of this post) as a fighty, angry little girl. 

all my childhood idols who could fight were calm, level-headed characters who could just happen to throw a villain through a wall if they really needed to. if it wasn’t for them who knows where baby snacku fite meh! gaki would be today. going up against Rhonda Rousey for the championship belt idk, who can accurately estimate the magnitude of childhood influences, not this bitch

if you’re also in PST and wondering why I typed up this post at goddamn 3am then we’re both insomniacs, you didn’t see me, stop snitching

EDIT: I KNEW IT, SOME OF THE TAGS GOT EATEN! HATEFUL! HATEFUL TUMBLR LIMITATIONS! ahhhhh it’s whatevs

[snackugaki-jestsjapesjokes]

blep blah, here have some old ass backrooms doodle content when the topic of "the beach episode" concept came up bluhp blooh brain nyooming but art hand isn't arting

i think what is super cute in modern fandom expression that I've seen is that in terms of making OCs or AUs is that sound seems to have a bigger role now than from what I remember when I was young. which I'm thinking has a lot to do with being able to clip audio easily or being able to make multi-track playlists whenever. y'all out here with reels of your art with voice claims and some of the most thoughtfully and artfully crafted soundtracks-- not even playlists, some of that shit is a straight up soundtrack level be real

89% tempted to try one of those shady "free" video/audio editing programs to make a LoFi chill beats study girl visualizer playlist with my iteration's boys ...

anyway gonna contemplate music headcanons for my iteration under the cut

From Turtle Tracks fan letter section, Archie run, #24

so real quick, my iteration is literally just them chilling, hanging out, being together in their mid 30s- early 40s, and then sometimes flashing back to their child/teen years in the 90s because tl;dr i have miiiiiinor beef my childhood turtles weren't quite as "90s" as they "could have been" (nvm I'm cackling at the milennial pop culture refs in Mutant Mayhem drop kicking me back into my adolescence)

but mehehehehe, keeping that they listened to Public Enemy and The Jungle Brothers

and aside from Top 40 musicians of the time... I feel like being outsiders themselves, having to sneak around to explore and learn about people and what's above the sewers had them eavesdropping into a lot of nighttime venues and getting into the underground and various niche subculture scenes that daytime Top 40 didn't play.

cannot tell me the lights, thumping and noise from bands playing hardcore or house or hosting cyphers or raves didn't attract these curious and funky little green dudes like moths to a flame

... Leo definitely fell in deep with the gregorian chant phase, soothing sounds of nature fads , a big fan of Orbital and he fell into that electronic, house, trance, eurodance rabbit hole right after. he also got into Celtic folk music but when his brothers caught his ass studying Michael Flatley to incorporate Riverdance footwork into his ninjutsu he got teased so mercilessly that he took great care to hide listening to it... which just made his stealth better so joke's on them heehoo

Not to mention they're from New York City, the underground music scene is always bangin' no matter the decade; feel like rap and punk got a lot of tracks on their mix tapes back in the day

Raph getting into the metal scene in his own exploring the city trips, and then progressed to music with that boom bap sound (cuz baby boy needs a way to come down off those high intensity moods idk ijs)

Donnie... just the amalgamation of his brothers, he needs that background noise while he's chewing on schematics and protoype development, he would definitely have been the mixtape maker/recording bootlegger (along with Mikey)

Mikey absolutely tagged along with his brothers sometimes whenever they went to their spots for music, though he himself backflipped into ska 'cuz Mikey is always for the people

my tmnt  iteration (where everyone made it past their 20s, splinter’s alive just old, venus is here, and they deserve some goddamn respite and shenanigans)

tmnt  iteration part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11

tmnt  iteration omake 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

lny visit 1 | 2

Keep reading

[brightlotusmoon]

[000marie198]

Which member of the Tails Squad would be in the place of your favorite tmnt team?

My favorite TMNT team is 2012.

And those poor boys have been through so much I don't wanna see any Tails be put through all of that. Except, one of them sorta did *cough* Nine *cough*

However, if I assign just a single member of Tails Squad in place of the entire team provided that he escapes the horrors, IDW Tails checks. He's smart, sassy, adorable, confident and capable (not that all the other Tails aren't that way too but IDW Tails keeps going, keeps fighting even as he is put through the horrors, even when he should be on the verge of breaking down). And Wachowski too because he does violence here and there like the 12 boys.

And for assigning the members to the different turtles and their friends. Hmm.

Leo: courageous, self sacrificing, resolute, a dork and a fanboy. Caring to a fault. Loves his family more than anything in the world. Takes no nonsense when upset and banters with his closest brother any chance he gets. IDW Tails for sure. And Sails too cuz both him and Leo are skilled swordsmen who can also play the electric guitar quite well.

Raph: Acts aloof but is actually a sweetheart and cares and loves so so much. The animals adore him. A protector. Also gets angry easily. Rage quits during board games. Loves sass and banter. Hmm, I'd say Archie Tails and a slight bit of Boom Tails. And also, Tails from OK KO Let's be Heroes

Donnie: X! Tails (He's an absolute workaholic and he geeks out over tech) and a touch of Nine because both him and Donnie had to deal with a brother with ADHD who has zero self preservation and who they often want to scold for being so reckless. Also, the sass on these boys.

Mikey: Excitable, happy, prankster, talented, manipulative, sweetheart. Can get underestimated but is in fact formidable. Adores his big brothers more than the world. AoSTH Tails my beloved.

April: Ova Tails. C'mon, this is like the one Tails who doesn't hesitate in revealing his frustration but still cares. Is also quite determined and stubborn.

Casey: Freakin' unhinged. Loyal and reliable but still silly. Is not afraid to fight even if comparatively inexperienced. Can get quite angry and competitive when given an incentive. Is an adrenaline junkie who enjoys explosions. Boom Tails!

[donnieluvsthings]

u know what i just think about all the time. silver. but like specifically silver saving his future, everything is fine everything is ok! and he returns to his future and doesnt lose his memories or whatever happens at the end of 06!

only to realize that he’s lonely. and nothing ever goes wrong, it isn’t like one second the future is saved and the next a new disaster has struck. no he truly and fully saved his future but with blaze gone he doesnt really. have anyone. and he makes some kinda-friends but no one else has any crazy powers. no one else KNOWS that the future used to be on fire. and mostly he misses all the people from the past.

so after double, triple, quadruple checking (somehow idk) that his future will be fine if he goes back in time again, he goes back to “our” present. everyone is kinda nervous like why are you back? whats wrong? and hes like….i just missed u guys :( and then he is absorbed into the found family and lives there now

[shinigami-striker]

The Last Ronin Game | Thursday, 03.23.2023

In my honest opinion, a AAA game based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin wouldn't work due to the comic's dark and edgy nature and it's mature themes similar to the Archie and Mirage Studios comics. Not to mention that the game may have an M for Mature rating even if the game comes out. 😒

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Throughout the many iterations of TMNT the four Turtles of the Hamato Clan have always been iconic but Leo, Donnie, Raph & Mikey aren’t the only Turtles of the family & there have been other mutant Turtles throughout the different iterations of TMNT

Another mutant Turtle is one that has been seen a few times in different TMNT iterations either following a ‘separated at mutation’ plot line or have the mutation happen later in the story

Venus

One of the other mutant Turtles that is quite well known within the TMNT fandom would be Venus De Milo who was the 5th Turtle in the Next Mutation show.

Her background was that she was a 5th Turtle that was mutated with Leo, Donnie, Raph & Mikey but got swept away in the sewers until she ended up in China Town where she was found by a Shinobi master & taken to be raised in Shanghai, she would later make her way back to New York & join the Turtle’s team.

Venus also makes an appearance as a character in the IDW comics as a former Punk Frog who was made into a Turtle by Dr Barlow using Donnie’s old shell.

Leo: What are you doing!? That was Venus De Magic the Queen of Quick Change!

There’s a slight possible reference to Venus in Rise with one of Leo’s favourite magicians being called Venus De Magic with Leo cradling the bust of one of his favourite magicians feeling a bit similar to Venus holding the statue head that gave her, her nickname & many people believe that there were plans to include Venus in Rise due to the plot of season 3 being the Turtles finding out they had two missing siblings but due to Rise not getting the season 3 it had expected we never got to find out if Venus really was one of the missing siblings in Rise.

Kirby

Closely related to Venus is the mutant Turtle Kirby a 5th Turtle that had been planned to be introduced in the 1990′s film series before the fourth movie was cancelled, named after the comic book artist Jack Kirby, Kirby was meant to be a Turtle from another dimension that would join the Turtles. There was talk of Kirby being the 5th Turtle in the Next Mutation but Saban Entertainment refused to do the series unless the 5th Turtle was a girl leading to Venus being created.

A version of Kirby was designed for the IDW comics where he was meant to be shown as part of the Splinter Clan in Future Lita’s future however though a design was created for Kirby he was not included in the actual comic.

Funnily enough Kirby the Turtle is not the only TMNT character to be named after Jack Kirby as April’s father in the 2012 series also shares the name Kirby

Jennika

Jennika is the 5th Mutant Turtle on the team in the IDW comics, she is a former Foot Clan Ninja who Splinter took under his wing & was mutated into a Turtle when Leo gave her a blood transfusion to save her life.

Before her mutation Jennika had been a friend of the Turtles & the idea of Jennika becoming a mutant Turtle had been tossed around for three years before it was finally finalised.

Jennika’s mutant form was originally designed by Sophie Campbell & coincidentally bares some resemblance to a fan character that Sophie Campbell designed named Artemisia (most likely named after the Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi), the similarities between Jennika & Artemisia’s designs are said to be a coincidence as it was requested that Jennika’s bandana colour be yellow to match her hair from when she was human.

Sophie Campbell actually did get to include a canon version of Artemisia in the IDW comics by giving her a cameo in Future Lita’s future as a member of the Splinter Clan in the future.

Slash

Slash is arguably the 5th Turtle that has appeared in the most iterations of TMNT appearing in both the 1987 & 2012 series as well as appearing in both the Archie & IDW comics

In the 1987 series Slash was Bebop’s pet turtle who was mutated by Rocksteady & would later become the Turtle’s enemy, in the 2012 series Slash was Raph’s pet turtle who was mutated accidentally & would act as an enemy to the Turtles before becoming their ally & becoming the leader of the Mutanimals.

In the Archie comics Slash is an alien who was banished from his planet in the IDW comics Slash was mutated by StockGen who ended up following Hob & becoming an ally to the Turtles

Slash has even made a cameo in Rise appearing in the episode Bad Hair Day with a character meant to look like Mona Lisa.

Lita

Lita is a little girl who was mutated into a Turtle & taken in by Jennika & the other Turtles, she was named after Lita Ford (Jennika’s favourite singer), & she seems to view Jennika & the other Turtles as family as the Future version of Lita referred to Jennika as ‘mom’ & has called Raph, Donnie & Leo ‘Dad’.

It’s been shown that at some point in the future Lita becomes the apprentice & assistant to a grown up version of Renet

It appears that the future version of Lita is arguably especially close with Leo due to him being her Sensei

Uno, Yi, Moja & Odyn

Uno, Yi, Moja & Odyn are Turtles raised by Casey Marie Jones as the second generation of Ninja Turtles in the Last Ronin universe. The Turtles each seem to take after one of the original four Turtle’s with Uno taking after Leo, Yi taking after Donnie, Moja taking after Raph & Odyn taking after Mikey.

Each of the Turtles are named after the number one in different languages.

[onionninjasstuff]

hi archie!!! hope ur well!

so ive been working on a thing for a lil while and its gonna take a bit still to finish, but yesterday i had the day off work and was able to crank out the linework and im really pleased with it! and i wanted to share a quick wip with you!

this is a threat. /j

ur donnies death comic made me Feel Things so im coming for ur emotional kneecaps. 😊 i will have my revenge.

[yellowhollyhock]

3, 4 and 12 for the TMNT asks? (Sorry if you've already answered any of these!)

3 iteration you want to see

*Warren Stone voice* All of them! 😈

Probably the most I want to read all of Mirage and the Archie comics. I've also recently become particularly interested in The Next Mutation because of some fics that I really liked.

Also Mutant Turtles: Choujin Densetsu-hen has been on my mind for a while.

4 an iteration you're avoiding

lol

If you'd asked me in February before I saw the fics I would've said The Next Mutation, mostly because of how I'd heard Venus was handled. But now, fully ready for that aspect to be terrible, I actually am really looking forward to getting to know her! So many fix-it fics coming up. I feel like I'm excited about TNM in the same way 2012 Donnie would be about broken alien technology. Let me in there, I need to know how all these pieces work so I can put them back together and improve on the original design! Do you know what this is? Neither do I! 😃🙌

12 favorite turtle across iterations

2003 Donny!

He's just so sweet and gentle. And funny! I love that he is a sassy teenager and this in no way contradicts that he is sweet and gentle. I find his dynamics with his siblings relatable, his clumsy moments always make me laugh, he carries a duffel bag. Pretty much the ideal character

[titular-twins-tournament]

BRACKETS + ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

Below is a written version of brackets, including links to each poll

Fandom- Characters

GROUP A

A1. Sky Children of the Light- The Valley Elders (aka Sah and Mek) VS Devil May Cry- Dante and Vergil

A2. Lego Ninjago- Krux and Acronix (The Time Twins) VS The Evillious Chronicles- Riliane Lucifen d'Autriche and Allen Avadonia

A3. Roman Mythology- Romulus and Remus VS Sanders Sides- Roman and Remus Sanders

A4. Happy Tree Friends- Shifty and Lifty VS The Penumbra Podcast- Juno and Benzaiten Steel

A5. Blue Exorcist- Rin and Yukio Okumura VS Avatar the Last Airbender- Lo and Li

A6. IDOLiSH7- Nanase Riku and Kujo Tenn VS Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina- Vex and Vax

A7. Don’t Starve- Wendy and Abigail VS Legend of Korra- Eska and Desna

A8. The Parent Trap- Annie and Hallie VS Mother 3 (aka Earthbound)- Lucas and Claus

GROUP B

B1. A Song of Ice and Fire- Jaime and Cersie Lannister VS MCU- Wanda and Pietro Maximoff

B2. Masters of the Universe- Adam and Adora VS Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy- Jet and Ruby Rocks

B3. Super Mario Bros- Mario and Luigi VS Ducktales (2017)- Della and Donald Duck

B4. Ensemble Stars- Hinata and Yuta Aoi VS Mystic Messenger- 707 and Unknown (aka Saeyoung and Saeran Choi)

B5. The Adventure Zone- Lup and Taako VS The Suite Life of Zack & Cody- Zack and Cody

B6. Gravity Falls- Dipper and Mabel VS Obey Me!- Beelzebub and Belphegor

B7. Transformers- Sunstreaker and Sideswipe VS Haikyuu- Osamu and Atsumu Miya

B8. Honkai Impact 3rd- Liliya and Rozaliya Olenyeva VS All For the Game- Andrew and Aaron Minyard

GROUP C

C1. Bob’s Burgers- Andy and Ollie Pesto VS Pokémon- Emmet and Ingo

C2. Final Fantasy XIV- Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur VS The Locked Tomb- Ianthe and Coronabeth Tridentarius

C3. Liv and Maddie- Liv and Maddie VS Greek Mythology- Apollo and Artemis

C4. Genshin Impact- Lumine and Aether VS Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- Leo and Donnie Hamato

C5. Trigun- Vash and Knives VS Twisted Wonderland- Jade and Floyd Leech

C6. Black Butler- Ciel and “Ciel” Phantomhive VS Cursed Princess Club- Gwen and Jaime

C7. Red VS Blue- Agent North Dakota and Agent South Dakota VS Animal Crossing- Timmy and Tommy

C8. Ace Attorney- Dahlia Hawthorne and Sister Iris VS Rugrats- Phil and Lillian

GROUP D

D1. The Twelfth Night- Viola and Sebastian VS Dungeons and Daddies- Lark and Sparrow Oak

D2. Dragonlance- Caramon and Raistlin VS Archie Comics- Cheryl and Jason Blossom

D3. Star Wars- Luke and Leia VS Ouran High School Club- Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin

D4. Steven Universe- The Rutile twins VS Disney Fairies- Tinkerbell and Periwinkle

D5. How To Train Your Dragon- Ruffnut and Tuffnut VS Highschool Musical- Sharpay and Ryan Evans

D6. Percy Jackson- Castor and Pollux VS Re: Zero- Rem and Ram

D7. Danganronpa- Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba VS The Owl House- Edric and Emira Blight

D8. The Simarillion- Amrod and Amras VS Identity V- Joseph and Claude Desaulniers

[tmnt-roni-paws]

Lol i havent made a rant post in a long time, that being said I really wish we could have seen the future of the turtles being explored more. I think the Archie comics did the most with the turtles being grown up like Raphael being married, Michelangelo being an comic artist, Donnatelo being a big shot in the technology industry, Leonardo being a ninja master and the stories after.

The Last Ronin touched this topic but we never really get to see what the turtles lives were like as they became full grown adults. Raphael dies fairly young, with Donnie and Leo fallowing years later, and we never get to see how their lives are on a day to day, just the end of it.

2003 had Same As It Never Was featuring the turtles as adults but once again not really how their lives was, obviously we know it wasn't pleasant but we never got to see Leo and Raph's fall out or how Mikey handled being without his brothers and so on.

2012 had that apocalyptic future episode, which I'm pretty sure was established to be one of many possiable outcomes for the turtle's future.

Even the new RISE movie is once again exploring a apocalyptic outcome with the adult turtles

I know the focus is TEENAGE mutant ninja turtles but it would be nice to see the turtles have a nice ending for a change instead of something tragic. I think thats the possibility the current IDW comics are trying to make with mutant town which is nice but clearly there wont be any peace any time soon.

Also just a side pet peeve why dont any of the turtles have/adopt some kids! Master Splinter deserves some grandkids he can spoil!

[snackugaki]

surprise my other hobbies are window shopping and fashion

[whispering-about-the-tmnt]

Hey! For your character ask game - what about our own 2k3 Donnie with any/all of: 2, 6, 7, 12, 22, 25? I do appreciate him <3

Oh! Thanks, hon!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

That although he is a geek (affectionate) he is just as badass as his brothers. I know people often see him as a pacifist, but that is simply not the case. Just because he is slow to start a fight, it doesn't mean he's not gonna finish it!

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

That neither one of us can draw anything more than stick figures. I mean, I used to be able to draw, but I gave that skill to my daughters years ago...

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I know it is weird, but I like that they show us his trauma. I mean, after going through the events of SAINW and Good Genes and having to leave Kirby behind in that world he drew into life... I can understand why they didn't show much in canon, since it was a kid's show, but the fandom always knew... Don had to have come away with some issues.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

That he is the primary "doctor" of the family, but that he doesn't like it. He'd much rather be working on machines than people. In fact, I wrote this into Something Wicked.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

I write far, far more than I read, so I haven't really formed any opinions on these!

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

After growing up with Don from the Mirage comics, the 1987 series, the Archie run, and the 90s movies, I went into 2003 with mixed expectations... and my first impression was that he reminded me a lot of Donatello from the Archie run. Their personalities are very much the same, and now when I go back to read those comics I "hear" Sam Riegel's voice.

My impressions of him have not changed much!

[ilovebeingaturtle]

1, 3, 17 for the TMNT ask!

!! AY thanks for asking!!

Okay so-I got into TMNT thanks to Rise!! Prior to that I knew literally nothing about the ninja turtles, and honestly just thought it was something I’d never be interested in. I knew about Rise vaguely thanks to being a huge fan of ducktales, but yeah I just? Never thought ninja turtles would be something for me? So I never wanted to touch it! (funny how things like that work out)

It was only when I randomly saw a YouTube video analysing Rise!Donnie as positive low empathy autistic representation did Rise catch my attention. From there, I watched clips, the movie, and finally the show! Fell in love, discovered there was so much more to the franchise, and excitedly jumped down the rabbit hole. And I’ve been enjoying my free fall ever since!! It was honestly the appeal of crossovers that really sealed the deal for me, I’ve always loved multiverse based media when handled well so when I found out tmnt has done it? Canonically? Multiple times? I was so sold! It helps too that the versions are all just brilliant even on their own, I don’t think I’ve found a version of turtles I haven’t been able to get enjoyment out of!! Just the appeal of learning about all these different takes and having them all coexist is why I think tmnt is just so strong as a franchise, it’s allowed to reinvent itself all the time!! There’s just so much, I need to stop rambling, the answer to the question is Rise introduced me and the broader turtleverse as a whole is what made it truly click!

I think the only versions I have left to deep dive into and start are Archie and Mirage! So likely them, however I still am only up to the Armageddon games in IDW AHAH, so I’m going to wait til I’m fully up to date on those comics before diving into another! (Also, this might be cheating since I’ve already watched a decent handful of episodes-but I’m looking forward to finishing the next mutation! Such a terrifyingly hypnotic piece of tmnt history)

Finally, my favourite pizza toppings are pizzas that are simply cheese, garlic salt and thyme! Boring, but it tastes so good, I probably have that as pizza like three a week. But Also!! Aussie pizza is my second favourite and basically the only other type of pizza I love-whoever thought to crack and fry an egg on pizza was a genius

[thecomicsnexus]

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #128-132, FCBD, OPENING MOVES #1-2 MAY - SEPTEMBER 2022 BY KEVIN EASTMAN, TOM WALTZ, SOPHIE CAMPBELL, PABLO TUNICA, FERO PE, TONY GREGORI, PATRICIO DELPECHE, RONDA PATTISON AND SHAWN LEE

I have been reading these issues as they were coming out, but for many reasons, I wasn’t able to review them until now... so there is a lot to unpack.

First, the Venus arc:

- Donatello and Alopex were captured by Dr. Barlow, they discovered that he was commissioned to create copies of the turtles (by Null).

- Venus can communicate telepathically and both of them were exposed to the electromagnetic energy of the dragon scale.

- While being bombarded with this energy, Donatello was able to reach the astral plane and talk to his father (both in their former life).

- Venus carapace was created from Donatello’s original carapace.

- The rest of the turtles (and their students), assuming their disappearance had something to do with the frogs, payed them a visit (this goes wrong).

- Venus helps Donnie contact Shredder in his astral form, and he comes to rescue them. Freeing them.

- The lab gets destroyed by the ship carrying a now mature Seri (who in this continuity is a triceraton).

- Sheena and Clyde kill Groundchuck and Dirtbag.

- Venus doesn’t remember her life as Bonnie, so she decides to take her own path.

- Bludgeon contacts her, attracted by her aura. Maybe she becomes part of the Foot?

- The turtles reunite and take Seri to their lair.

- Dr. Barlow manages to escape with a blood sample from Donatello.

So... for this arc, I couldn’t really place what the inspiration was for Dr. Barlow, but his area of expertise and his odd relationship with Donatello, makes me think he is some sort of adaptation of Dr. Cornelius Quease (from the next mutation).

And just like in that show, there will be four clones of the turtles, which takes me to the FCBD special.

This is a prelude to Armageddon game, and it is narrated by Venus (starring the clones). There is not much to say about it, it’s a remake of TMNT #1, but with slight alterations (like the turtles using weapons that are not their own).

More will be explained as the saga continues.

At the end of the Venus arc, Shredder needed to tell Leonardo and the turtles something important... but we need to stop by the “Opening Moves” two-parter.

In this mini, Kitsune and Shredder evaluate all the enemies involved in the saga recruited by the Rat King. We get to see who they are, and in some cases, we get to see a lot.

Also, Aka was reborn.

Madame Null was probably the biggest surprise, everything about her backstory screams Archie comics, from the Nova Posse (here known as the Nova Squadron, which should probably be changed to avoid copyright issues), Cherubae, Cudley, Verminator 2 (I guess we are only 8 tries away from Verminator X), Noi Tai Dar (the demon that created that dog mob guy), and there is a lot more.

It is also quite interesting to see Old Hob doing something. Since Mutant Town started, his plans were pretty much confusing, so I am eager to see what’s going to happen to him. I think he may end up dying in this arc.

Shredder is on his own, and goes to train the Turtles in the mystical arts.

This doesn’t go well with the extended family. Alopex in particular, who simply cannot trust Saki. So she and Raphael break up.

The mystical arts are basically black magic, something Leonardo experienced first hand during the “City Fall” saga (when he was converted into the Shredder’s chonin).

If you are wondering why Saki never used these powers against his enemies, they are only meant to be used for emergencies and they do come at a cost.

Saki trains the Turtles into the five elements (pretty nice that we have 5 turtles), and makes them explore new sides of themselves. The most interesting one being Donatello, now being at ease with all this mystical stuff (something changed for him when Venus helped him reach the astral plane).

The turtles communicate with the spirit of Splinter, just like in the movie (although he wasn’t dead in the movie).

Also, a small retro-continuity change. It was revealed that Jennika was present when the foot attacked the Northampton farm (this was way before Jennika was introduced). So... will that issue go up in value now?

Anyway, the last two issues were a little meh, they were cool but they were mostly the turtles learning new stuff.

Before continuing with the review...

SCORE: 8

The end of the Venus arc and this last arc feel a lot like a course-correction. People were complaining that the Turtles weren’t the focus of the book (something I do not agree with, but whatever), so they suddenly became the only characters.

And there other things here and there that makes me think that IDW is reacting to the critics.

Now, I have been enjoying the book all along, and I do understand the criticism. But mostly because I believe this period of time was a bit too long. Two years of no progress since issue #100. But I do think the Foot clan needed to take a break from the book.

So I don’t have problems with the story, it’s consistent with past issues. My main problem is with the art. Tunica is just not my kind of artist (and he seems to be heavily inspired in Studio Ghibili movies). Fero Pe seems to have a nice art style, so I am looking forward for the next saga.

[plothooksinc]

👻 and 🤩 if you don't mind!

I do not! Sorry for the delay my brain has been kinda foggy lately

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

Ahaha, I don't really have any that are wild. 😅 Mine are all small things like "Leo sometimes gets words wrong because he doesn't know them and sometimes gets them wrong because it annoys Donnie" or the concept of them all trying to give themselves first aid lessons when they were ten to... very limited success. All tiny things that don't really change much because I generally work with what a show gives me. Though I do tend to bow to popular fanon when I like it, I wouldn't call them wild either because everybody uses those. Etc etc.

🤩 What led to your interest in the fandom?

UHHH well. I was walking past the living room while my uncle was watching 4pm cartoons after school (he was 14, my age) and caught the tail end of one of the classic TMNT eps-- it was literally just a clip of April O'Neil for Channel 6 news walking through a destroyed wall and then doing a news report and it cut to the teetles arguing over who she was (thanking? winking at? Idk). She interrupted her own broadcast while they were arguing and said "Cool it, guys! If you must know, I was winking at Splinter!" So that was ...IDK season 2? They were still getting mystical crystals? Anyway, I love cartoons, I love redheads, and I especially love weird cartoons b/c I grew up on a bunch of dubbed anime, so I sat down to watch it properly the next day and was hooked. April was my actual first fave because I always latch onto redheads. (Represent, I guess?) Over time it switched to Leo. Largely because, hilariously, I decided poor lame 87!Leo needed someone to like him. (He grew on me more unironically later on.)

That's probably as far as it would have gone, except I really liked them and so was recording episodes etc, and then while I was at work one day at K-Mart I saw TMNT comics! Which were... actually the colourised volume 1 of Mirage TMNT in four graphic novels, being sold in the kids reading section (oh dear, K-Mart, you didn't look at those too closely, did you?) and so I bought them expecting MORE ADVENTURES OF -- wait, who the hell are these guys. Why are they all wearing red, holy shit is that blood wow they just gutted Shredder in the first issue ... :D :D :D (Oh look, they threw Leo through a window. bb's first blorbo covered in blood, there we go--)

Anyway, yeah at that point I was hooked. And checked the newsagency and found the Archie TMNT comic series, and then from there trekked into the city one day while I should have been at school to visit bb's first comics shop-- TMNT is actually how I got into comic reading, AMV making, and fanfiction by the by-- and, uh, solididfied hurt/comfort as my jam-- and I just kept going down that rabbit hole.

So. Shout out to K-Mart for deciding to sell bloody, gory TMNT comics in the kid's section I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thank you!

Ask meme here.