Chants: Battle shells, battle shells. (oh god I discovered how to timelapse my drawings. It's been eight years,,)
Hey @birthday-cake-rockz I saw your tags and thought to I'd illustrate an example of what's usually my very messy process when it comes to doodling weird funky machines to demonstrate that it doesn't have to be. Intimidating, that is. To be honest, we don't have to think about the big and mighty, or how to make a design the best it can be from the very start. It's fine to start out a concept/idea without knowing where the drawing will end up. It's fun to just try drawing random shapes that have no meaning yet, just because!
Because it IS fun. It can be VERY fun. So seriously, at the face of attempted greatness, try doodling something quick, fast, and wholly nonsensical. Absolutely anything. A triangle on top of a square on top of a circle, and add a wiggle on top if you feel like it. And then try to connect those random shapes. It does not matter if it doesn't make sense right away.
Like, the timelapse above? No idea what I was doing until I did it. Is it perfect? Not really, no. But it can lead to other ideas that can be delved into. For example, look around yourself real quick; at the shapes of objects in your room or outside or the ones at work (anywhere can be a goldmine) and copy those down . Then mix those shapes up.
Actually I couldn't stop myself so here, have a rushed example for the sake of visual learning.
I had no idea I was going to create an automatized parking lot in the middle of space, but now it's a thing!Just because! It's the bare bones of what could be, but right now, it can just exist as something quick and fun. :))
(Boy, I hope that didn't come off as a know-it-all or...uh..something. People are hard and communication is the bane of my existence. Still, I wanted to say that, well. Go for it! Donnie deserves so many upgrades.)
While watching “The Clothes Don’t Make The Turtle,” I noticed something.
I found it interesting that Raph, Mikey, and Leo were content with Raph’s outfit choice until Donnie stated that he wasn’t “in love with it, ya’ know.”
Suddenly, Raph declares “I’m a disaster!” Albeit ridiculously endearing, it was a little strange to see his sudden shift from moderately content to absolute dissatisfaction. Huh…
Then, the disaster twins decide to help him out.
Take a note of their outfit choices.
Raph tries on all of these fits and more.
Donnie’s first choice is a mild “no.” Leo’s choice is a hard “NO.” (Not surprising, lol.) But then, the overwhelming consensus lands on Raph’s fourth outfit, which ended up being Donatello’s other pick for his brother.
So, in summary, Raph tried on his personal choice for an outfit, of which they rejected. Then, ultimately, Donatello picked out an outfit for his brother, and that pick ended up being perfect. Hmm…
Then I noticed something else. In this episode, we never get a Donnie “curtain reveal” moment, to our disdain. I mean, Raph, Leo, and Mikey got to try on several different outfits in order to get their brothers' opinions before landing on that “perfect outfit, you know the one.” All of his brothers got to shine. Why not DonTron?
Then it hit me.
The try-ons were to get their brothers' opinions and approval. And, for his brothers' choices, he was a major contributor in assisting them in pulling their looks together.
What if, bear with me, Donnie didn’t need the "curtain scene" because he was so confident in his fashion sense that he didn’t need to ask his brothers for help to pick out a great look.
…or they figured out how to break Hypno’s spell before he could get a “curtain reveal.” BUT STILL-
Look at his outfit choices in this episode. Some of his wardrobe changes were off-screen, but all of them were fire.
(I added the baseball cap pic because it makes me happy. I wish we'd seen more of that fit.)
To me, he makes some really smart choices for himself, pushing the envelope of what is expected and taking chances: an open collar with no tie for a “black tie” event, a beanie and spiked wristbands for their “gansta look,” no socks with loafers (a viral fashion trend that actually began in Africa) with old man slacks in his reclined pose. *muah* Chef’s kiss!
But Don’s fashion sense doesn’t just shine in this episode.
In “Reparin’ the Baron” the boys go to Draxum’s apartment. Leo and Donnie show up in some extra nice “Sunday Dinner” twin drip.
The gold is in the details. Everything Leo is wearing, Donnie rocks its compliment: for Leo’s round collar, Donnie’s is angled, for Leo’s blue shirt, Donnie’s is white, For Leo’s light slacks, Donnie’s are dark. Blah blah blah. It’s so good!
Look at the winter fit in Snow Day.
Again, Donnie is Leo’s perfect compliment. As a pair? Fire.
Donnie has “the eye.” I can go on and on with examples, but I’ve said all of that to say this…
In the future, we see that Donatello’s technology had major pull in the resistance. He had drone ships patrolling the skies. He built and designed Leo’s arm, Casey’s chainsaw-hockey stick, and Casey's mask. The list goes on…
But, when Donatello from the past see’s Casey’s clothing from the future, he says this:
We know about the “Genius Built” brand. We’ve seen that logo on all of his tech up to this point. But, here he didn’t just say “Genius Built.” He said, “Genius Built Apparel.”
“Apparel” is not a tech brand. “Apparel” is a fashion brand. Of course, tech is incorporated into the clothing, but still.
This means that past Donatello secured this trademark with plans of creating a fashion brand, comparable to the likes of Gucci, Ralph Lauren, or any other modern clothing brand, as a subsidiary of “Genius Built,” the tech company.
And why not? The evidence has been in front of us this entire time. He has a sharp eye for style, fashion, and trends. It is easily canon that he can sew. Splinter sewed their ninja garbs in “Insane in the Mama Train,” and there is a sewing machine in the house.
They already learned Ninjutsu through basically osmosis, so learning to sew is not too far-fetched.
And here it is, right in front of us, Casey’s entire ensemble, from mask, to weapons, to clothing, was made by Donatello in the middle of the apocalypse under the brand name “Genius Built Apparel.”
And that was just in the bad future. Resources were limited, they didn’t have access to much of anything in that broken world as they were survivors of a devastating Krang invasion. Yet, he created all of this.
However, now that they’ve changed the future, his future as a fashion designer is limitless. Think of what Donatello could produce with unlimited resources, unlimited technology, and unlimited creative freedom.
Tech genius. Clothing designer. Fashionista. Future Genius Built Apparel Owner and CEO. I’m sorry, but I have to call it...
Donatello Hamato of the present, of the bad future, and of the good future is a fashion icon, the likes of which the world has never seen.
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Update:
I've decided to make this concept into a mini-comic series!
do NOT tell me that the design i made for the new oozesquito catcher would not work I was so in the trenches trying to figure out how it was going to look and this is just what we are going with
Hey I just want to say that I love your Mind Swap AU, and I have a question, does April know or do the guys hide it from her?
aaa ty! i'm glad you're enjoying it :D
And yes, they definitely try to hide it at first, just to avoid the "you're all idiots, how did you even manage to end up in this situation" lecture that would surely follow. Which they succeed at!
A lot of older TMNT fans dislike the ROTTMNT designs for making the brothers barely look like turtles but actually I enjoy them looking mostly humanoid
They resemble the person they were mutated with a lot, they look like new species entirely and they went into drastically different direction with sharp, pointy dynamic lines, rather than huge round blobified shapes the other series were going for
Plus the designs and thought process behind each of them are amazing
Like, I could rant about Donnie's design quirks for ages
One of the earliest examples of Leo’s “I’ll do my own thing to accomplish our goal without discussing it with my team first” is in episode one. It’s super, super quick, and ultimately inconsequential, but it subtly sets up a great precedent that I think is very interesting.
When the boys need to grab the medallion from Splinter without Splinter noticing, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie huddle together with Raph taking the lead in trying to devise a plan to get the mystic device. Meanwhile, Leo slinks away and grabs the device by clocking the situation (by knowing his father well enough to predict his actions - something he does with each family member multiple times in the series) and making a move on his own.
It works out perfectly fine, and is ultimately the best move, and it’s honestly okay that he didn’t consult everyone for something so small when it’s such a non issue to get it, but it nicely sets up how this tends to go in the series, including how it goes in the movie.
To be honest episode one is actually really good at setting up a lot of things for each character in the long run, this is just one example that caught my attention, as small and unassuming as it is.
Everyday i think about this screenboard scene that got semi-scrapped from Donnie vs Witch Town, like it just explains so much about Donnie as a character and i’m very sad we didnt get to see it entirely
We’ve seen a Leo visit and a Mikey visit; can we see a Raph visit?
They bring him stuff all the time! When he's able to, he'll request certain things or tools from them or ask them to do research to him. Which can sometimes be, like... a lot. But honestly, none of his brothers even mind, because it's times like these when he's acting the most like himself and has the most clarity. Which is so much better than when he's confused and upset and doesn't understand what's going on...
So, with my time on Tumblr I've noticed something interesting...
✨The Fashionista✨ is my most popular post.
And I understand why. I, too, relish in the idea of Donatello growing up to be the High Fashion Icon and Genius Built Apparel Owner/CEO we all know he can be!
So, what if I told you that someone has decided to make a comic of that very idea...
And that someone is me. 💜
Why? Because he's Got The Goods.
Coming this Spring...only @RiseStarKissOmega