#and now we get that panel of mikey being like 'i have a bad feeling abt tonight'

[sealofarchives]

Can you create a headcanon for ROTTMNT’s Raph who is secretly in love with a female reader? She is an antisocial, hot-headed, and fearless woman who excels in combat and prefers to solve her problems with her fists. She embodies the typical ‘tough girl’ stereotype, and she has no idea that Raph has feelings for her

Headcanon: GN!Reader who fights like an absolute beast. And unaware of Raph's crush on them.

(Requested prompt but can be read with she/her pronouns.)

Warnings: A brief vomit mention

A/N: Heavily recommended to have “Crash Addiction from Yakuza 0” playing as background music for this (because this is what I thought of after seeing this request in my inbox lol)

You stood there with wide eyes at an alligator snapping turtle mutant. Who shyly asked if you needed some extra help carrying a few packages. While the bad guy in the background struggles carrying his injured lackeys to safety. (Heavily regretting picking a fight with you, near a place now scattered with pieces of broken motorcycles by the empty alleyway.)

You still glared at the turtle wearing a red bandana but, didn't want to waste more time for another fight.

"Just don't drop the merch! I'm on a tight schedule trying to deliver these figurines on time!"

As you said that, Raph almost dropped it. Causing you to let out a sigh while the turtle carefully stacked the small pile of fragile boxes in his arms.

Ever since that day, you became aware of him and his family.

Donnie very much keeps his distance. Especially after collecting some data of your past fights. The one that almost made him throw up was, a thief lucky to survive stab wounds above the stomach area. From you, utilizing a traffic cone connector snapped in half as a temporary dual-wield weapon.

No chuckling response was enough for Leo to know that. He needed to cool it with some jokes at your direction. Its one of the few times he'll be serious because he got tired of Raph being lovesick around you.

Mikey made some decent progress being your friend but, still carefully waits for the right timing to talk to you. Usually when you have a decent day or during laidback movie nights.

If you tag along during any of the night patrols, Raph is usually the one that patches you up.

- You sometimes do a double take because, at least one of the bandages near your wrist will be tied into a ribbon. (Mostly noticing it until you get back home)

The boy is very eager when you teach him some new fighting moves. However, it always devolves into absurd antics that spiral out of control.

- One of the few times, you had to swallow your pride and call Leo for help. Because the snapping turtle thought it would be a cool idea to impress you by lifting a nearby outdoor electric panel box. As a new object to throw at opponents. Nope, he passed out within 3 minutes.

"I mean that's not the first time he passed out.

"Like, he tried to lift a school bus that guarded a pet cat that's part praying mantis."

"At least two times before we parked the bus back in its place."

"..."

"A lot of thieves rarely scope out that place. Now that the cat is trained to guard Repo Mantis' junkyard."

"???"

Any accidental physical contact between you two will make that red bandana turn pink.

- You used to reply with an angry 'watch it!!!' but, with how many times he had a sincere sorry paired with the most gentle toothy smile. Its just a hum, too tired to get mad at him for that.

Bonus:

The mini scuffle he had with himself (namely mind raph and his angry counterpart) was enough for you to show some concern. Before you could ask if he was okay, the blurted words of a confession to his new feelings to you. Finally dented a crack to your tough persona attitude. Which immediately dropped your guard with you blushing at him. The big guy snapped out of it as both of you awkwardly stood there.

"Uhhh, how much did you hear?"

"A bit of everything but..."

"Your family will absolutely kill me if I just spat and toss away your feelings in the trash."

"And I have no intentions of doing so because..."

"I wish there were more guys who acted like you."

"Because I can finally take it easy and relax thanks to your kind nature..."

You gave a kiss on his forehead causing him to almost melt from the touch.

Two of the three brothers breathed a sigh of relief while restraining an annoyed Mikey who whispered.

("I still think a matchmaking date would have easily solved 'Raph having a crush on (Y/N)' situation...")

You shook your head but, still amused at the his brothers. Their company also grew on you. Brightening boring delivery days to eagerly visiting the graffiti filled lair.

[kimberlyannharts]

Read MMPR/TMNT II #1!  Quick thoughts below (I’ll be doing recaps for this series, but I like putting down my thoughts like this, especially since it’s a little inappropriate to do recaps IMMEDIATELY after the books come out) 

pros:

- DAN MORA ART DAN MORA ART DAN MORA ART my GOD is this book gorgeous.  Also he put my trio together in the big group shot so that’s immediately a win  

- Turtle and Ranger civilian interactions are still fun.  I hope we can get more low-key moments between everyone as the book goes on - Billy/Donnie and Jason/Leo got the main moments so hopefully everyone gets a chance to shine

- You can tell Ryan had a lot of fun integrating more TMNT elements than he did the first series and I like it!!  Since last series leaned more into the ranger side of the crossover I’m totally cool with going more into the TMNT side this time.  I hope they’ll get more than just cameos or namedrops.  Mondo Gecko should have been Ranger X

- speaking of which Ranger X has a cool design but honestly I’m way more hyped for the Mutant Rangers..............

cons:

- It’s very easy to compare the two opening issues of each series because the main plots are.....basically the same, barring how now it’s a friend of the Turtles that’s mysteriously joined the bad guys rather than a friend of the Rangers.  And honestly I think MMPR/TMNT I did its set-up a lot better with a lot more intrigue, with way better build-up to Tommy’s “betrayal” and letting us know it’s not a spell, furthering the mystery of his motives.  This thing with Casey kind of.  immediately comes off as a spell or Kraang possession, which I could be wrong about but.........with that opening scene of Casey and Karai, I feel like I’m not

- I know I said the Turtle/Ranger interactions are fun but the Jason/Leo scene rubbed me the wrong way a bit.  I think there’s a point to be had that Ryan tries...a bit too hard to make the Rangers too alike with their designated Turtle friends (see: writing Zack like comic relief to pair him up with Mikey) and the Jason/Leo scene kind of emphasizes that

- ignoring the fact that....Tommy never acted like this in the comics??  except like....his opening arc??  ZACK questioned Jason’s leadership more in the comics, at least at first - it feels too much like Ryan’s ignoring how a lot of the Turtles’ dynamics with each other hinges on them being brothers and having that typical sibling rivalry compared to how the Rangers are, for lack of a better term, just friends.  I feel like it would be almost more interesting to discuss the differences in each teams’ dynamics rather than forcing them to be too similar  

- also this panel in particular.  especially annoying in the wake of the Omega bullshit.  I get it’s supposed to just be Jason being able to vent his frustrations to another leader but after years of him getting mad when people don’t agree with his actions i don’t exactly feel sympathy lol 

[mitsukkai]

thinking about how Draken is destined to die on a rainy night too far for Emma or Mikey to reach him

[remmushound]

If you are still taking requests, I would love to see something about the 2012 boys finding out about Donnie's soft shell. Like why he wears a battle shell. Why his brothers are a little more protective of him. Maybe Donnie is a little self conscious about it. Just an idea that I would love to see explored! I really enjoy your writing and just want to see more of it!

“Hey other Donnie?” Mikey asked suddenly through his mouthful of pizza, “Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.” Donatello answered calmly.

“Oh. Then can I ask another question?”

Donatello raised a brow.

“Oh! Dang! Can I…”

Donatello raised both brows, as if daring Mikey to do it again.

“...ask you two questions?” Mikey piped finally.

“You got one left.” Donatello waved with a smile, “Make it count.”

“Why do you wear your outside stuff inside?”

Donatello was silent a moment before waving a hand. “Elaborate, my dear Michael.”

Mikey finished off his crust before answering. “You know. That stuff on your back. The armor—”

“Mikey.” Leo tried to correct, “that’s impolite.”

“It is fine, Nardo—“

“Nardo?”

“— I shall indulge the curiosity so it may flourish into the blossoms of knowledge!”

“What?” Leo tilted his head.

“I’m gonna answer his question so he doesn’t ask again.”

“Ah.”

Donatello stood up, placing his pizza safely in one of his metal claws while holding a hand out to Mikey. Donatello pulled Mikey to his feet and wrapped an arm around him to guide the smaller turtle away into his lab.

“To answer your question, dear Michael, we first must address the Wall of Babies!”

“Wall of what?” Mikey echoed, looking Donatello up and down.

“It’s not nearly as weird as it sounds, trust me.” Donatello ressured, clapping his hands to turn on the lights and reveal the beauty of his wall to the box turtle. “BEHOLD!”

Lined along the wall in perfect symmetry were small storage pods with see-through containers, the lowest row filled with several duplicates of Donatello’s goggles. The top row was filled with extensions and additions to his bo staff— a drill, a shovel, among many other tools— as well as extra arm screens like the one one Donatello usually wore on his right forearm. In the middle were featured five pods, one of them empty and the other four showing off various, similarly-shaped armors all different in their own right. One was soft and cushioned while another was bulky and thick and another looking almost furry. The last one seemed by far the most advanced, the one Mikey usually saw Donatello wearing— the one he was wearing currently was more simplistic, but of equal grandeur.

“WOAH!” Mikey’s eyes shimmered like stars. “You have loads of them!”

“Want to try one on?” Donatello offered.

Mikey gasped and turned to the softshell. “Really? Aren’t you scared I’ll break it..?”

Donatello shrugged. “If you do, I’ll just make a new one.”

“Can I try on that one?!” Mikey pressed his face to the glass as he pointed at the furry one, “It looks soft!”

“Great eyes, Michael. If you’ll please step away from the glass?” Donatello gave a patient bow and motioned Mikey away so he could open the pod by punching in a key code. The case opened with a hiss and Donatello pulled the battle shell gently off of its hooks, turning to Mikey and immediately starting to fit it over the boxturtle’s shell. “Might fit a bit weird, considering anatomical differences, but shouldn’t be too bad.”

He loosened the straps so they could fit on Mikey’s bulky frame and adjusted the armor itself accordingly. Mikey excitedly stroked the outside texture and practically churred with the lovely, furry feeling.

“You like that huh?” Donatello smirked. “Then you’ll like this even more~”

Donatello adjusted some settings by a control panel on the shoulder latch. For a moment nothing happened, but when it did the pleasure hit Mikey immediately as a warmth centered in his carapace and spread quickly through to the rest of his body.

“Ohhh…” The turtle melted, his shoulders drooping in the induced relaxation. “That’s nice…”

Donatello smiled proudly. “I wear that one whenever the temperature gets too low—I’m a summer turtle at heart you know, and I like to keep warm. That, mixed with my normal winter wear, keeps me all toasty while my idiot brothers freeze.”

“Mm… my Donnie would never let me wear any of his things. Or touch any of his things…”

“What’s the point of being smarter than everyone if you can’t sHOW OFF YOUR GENIUS TO THOSE BELOW YOU IN EVERY REGARD!” Donatello’s voice went deep and menacing like a supervillain, leading into a devilish and dramatic laugh. He cleared his throat and recovered smoothly while Mikey was still in shock. “You can admire my genius any time, but uh. Don’t touch anything unless you ask me first. Some of the stuff in my lab is highly dangerous. And flammable.”

“Really?”

“But of course! Remember: curiosity killed the cat, but Donatello brought him back because he can do anything he puts his mind to.”

“I… don’t know how that applies, but… okay!”

“Now, onto your question Michael!”

Donatello turned so his back was away from Mikey as he unlatched his battle shell with skill acquired from doing it every day for the past several years. He carefully replaced it in the proper pod without turning around so he wouldn’t ruin the reveal, typing in another passcode to seal it.

“Riddle me this, Hamato Michalangelo Di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni! What species… am I?” He motioned to himself.

“Uh. Turtle?”

“Don’t sell yourself short— give me details!”

“Um… softshell?”

“Apalone Spinifera, to be precise!” Donatello replied, “Good answer, though. Mostly a water dwelling creature, we are flexible, fast, and highly endangered due to overhunting. The main weakness of a spiny softshell is…?” Donatello encouraged Mikey to speak with a wave of his hand. “Come onnnn~ it’s in the name~”

“Your… soft shell?”

“Correct!” Donatello swiveled to reveal his vulnerability to the other mutant. Donatello’s shell was almost completely flat, similar to a human’s back if not for the width, and the only protruding parts were several, rubbery spines going down along the middle of his carapace. The shell was several shades darker than the rest of Donatello and speckled with light tan freckles. Mikey raised a hesitant hand forward to touch it, both he and Donatello flinching at the first contact before both settled into the other’s touch.

“Duuuuude. I feel like I’m petting like, a dolphin or something!”

“Well, I tend to lotion.” Donatello joked to help with his own anxiety at the touch.

Mikey started to trace his fingers along some scarring that criss-crossed the carapace, but Donatello winced once more and spun around quickly to grab Mikey by the wrist.

“DON’T DO THAT!”

Mikey recoiled and naturally flinched away waiting for a hit, but he opened his eyes with a slight confusion when Donatello let go of him and took a few deep breaths instead.

“Sorry— ah.” Donatello rubbed his hand along his back as if the gentle touch of Mikey had brought him pain, “Just sensitive there.”

He quickly took the cushioned battle shell from its pod and put it on himself, and once it was on securely he seemed to regain much of his confidence.

“Now then!” He walked forward and spun Mikey around, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him deeper into the lab, “Allow me to brag about even more of my brillance!”

[p-antomime]

heyy heyyy hiii, i just want to get reaction from u cause i don't have anyone to talk sooo anywayyy.. i have this thing in my mind (a theory i guess??) soo todays leak, i saw a panel where wakasa, benkei and shion have a angel emoji... so back then we're overthinkin if hajime or ran will d word right??? SOOO this is what i think.... what if ran and haji are safe BUT someone wasn't... back then wakasa, shion, koko and ran were the only left who have a angel emoji right??? and now the two r gone and benkei switched... so what if pah or takashi have a angel emoji too but it wasn't released YET. or some1 or any1 in TOMAN GEN2 have... (sorryyyy it's confusing, you can ignore me if u want.... will ask this as anonymous cause i'm shyy)

baby, dont worry, i can perfectly understand what you meant! honestly, i think pah WILL DEFINITELY get an angel emoji and im not even trying to say that mikey will kill him w/o remorse or pity,

mikey is not a villain, he can be an anti-hero and an antagonist, but not a villain, you see? literarily, an antagonist is just the character that opposes the protagonist, not necessarily being a bad part, for example:

kisaki is a villain AND antagonist, mikey is an antagonist who MAY become a villain, you see?

anyways, im pretty sure manjiro will be the lime shovel in pah's life and, tbh, i dont think take will be able to save jiro, and im not even talking about not wanting to do it cuz it's pretty obvious take WANTS it

now, about mitsuya... jesus... i have such diff feelings with him, now that The Reaper is back in action, the only person who could stand up to Hanma was Draken, who is dead, Mitsuya neither alone nor with Hakkai has enough stamina/endurance to defeat him, especially after Ran&Rindou

like, i dont know if hanma will for real kill mitsuya but if he does, we can say that the timeline where all the toman founding members are dead will be restructured with the bonten timeline, because we have:

draken ❌

baji ❌

pah (probably) ❌

mitsuya ???

kazutora (lol he must be grateful that he is not free from prison)

mikey

[shebeafancyflapjack]

Eavesdrop

A quick alternate to Earshot, but set in canon S2 rather than NPL, where the demons focus on Michael for their taunting.

*

Second book in on the top shelf. That’s the one to pull to unlock the secret door hidden in the wall behind Michael’s desk. She’s supposedly the only other being, besides Janet, in this micro-universe privy to that bit of info. It leads to a hallway that extends to a secret chamber filled with a bunch of Earth collectables along with, recently added on her suggestion, a mini-arcade with classic game machines and a karaoke stand. The walls were sound proof, obviously.

She’s not here to escape a lecture from Chidi about messing up the laundry by hanging out in her demon pal’s very own ‘bud hole’ this time. Her ear is pressed to the closed panel after sealing herself in, waiting for the big Satanic tree to arrive.

To her surprise, and slight annoyance, he hadn’t arrived alone.

“You shouldn’t be getting drunk like this. What if the humans saw you? Everyone here is supposed to be abstinent of all vices!” Michael had grumbled, a ruckus of giggles behind him.

“That’s the point, dummy! It’s a ‘Purge’ night!” Vicky cackled; “Tell ‘im again, Gunner!”

“I got the idea off this human movie - one night, we’re allowed to do any shirt we wanted without consequence! We can drink, smoke, do drugs, stab and bite to our black hearts content!”

“NO! Definitely no stabbing! Or hurting any of them...Physically!” He’d struggled to make that last detail sound natural.

Good save, bud, Eleanor had thought.

Another demon, Petra, Eleanor thinks, had groaned; “Ugh, you are such a buzzkill lately. Can’t you see how awesome this idea is? Think about how wasted Eleanor is gonna let herself get! That dork, Jason, is gonna be high as a kite and it will make Chidi and Tahani wanna cower inside their homes! It’s genius!” 

Eleanor had almost let herself be excited for the idea of trying to make the most of this supposed ‘torture’, similar to the one at Tahani’s party, which even Michael had said she hadn’t done too bad at acting and preparing the chaos sequence the next morning. She could hear the worry in Michael’s response though, being surrounded by three hundred demons, losing their inhibitions and wanting to let off steam in the most ‘passionate’ way possible, had the potential to go very wrong. For all of them.

As she listened, Michael’s attempts to reign in his rogue employees soon descended into outright pleading, which only gave him more scorn in return.

“Look just...remember what our goal is here. I get that you’re all frustrated but we’re doing so well and all I ask is that you don’t go too far on the humans, please.” He’d tried to ask, nicely. Wrong move.

The laughter nearly shook the building.

“Jeez! If you love these humans so much, why don’t you fork them?” Bambadjan teased.

“Nah, let’s face it, not even those cockroaches would wanna go near that disgusting skin suit with all it’s musty folds.” Vicky responded; “...Oh, what’s wrong, Mikey? It’s not like we’re insulting ‘you’ after all...Unless you’re starting to feel a little too cosy in that costume of yours.”

Eleanor’s stomach twisted on his behalf. She knew how much he loved that suit; he was so forking vain, after all. But then again, is it vanity if it’s not really his body? He just wishes it was.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Michael responded, quietly.

“Then prove it, dude! Take it off! Strip! Todd goes streaking every night.” Gunner encouraged.

“You know I can’t! It’s not the same for me.”

“Maybe I’ll take mine off tonight. Imagine how much Mendoza will freak out when he sees a giant acid snake coming for him after too many mushrooms!” Vicky joked; “It’s still ten times better than any torture method you’ve come up with for them, Mike. Maybe melting their brains by revealing your demon form will provide us some results.”

Is it really that bad? Eleanor was naively hoping there was some sexy bald goat-man underneath that suit. Dude was so shifty about it, like he didn’t wanna spoil the mystery. Was it more than that? Was he ashamed?

“You’ve all made your point, have your Purge and I’ll clean up the mess tomorrow. Just go easy on the humans - I insist.” Michael sounded so tired.

“Oh he ‘insists’!? Did you hear that guys? Mikey, who failed his own experiment over eight hundred times, wants to ‘insist’!” Vicky sneers.

“Well I insist that he shuts his fugly food hole and leave the masters to our job!” Petra cackled; “And he gets back to trying to fork his paperclips or whatever shirt you get up to here.”

That sounded painful, Eleanor couldn’t stop herself picturing it.

“Jeez, Mike, you always were a loser but there’s really no hope for you, is there. Before you were just the quiet nerd no one wanted to hang out with because of your weird fixation with Earth-people. Soon you’re gonna be known as the idiot who failed his first experiment; even if the rest of us do manage to salvage it for Shawn, we’ll all know the truth about how badly you suuucked!”

It took all of Eleanor’s strength not to shove the panel open, stomp over and grab Vicky’s hair to slam her face into the desk. They all just followed him in there to bully him?! They were the losers.

“C’mon, guys! We should have known he wouldn’t have wanted to join our party, it’s not like he’s used to being invited to any.” Bambadjan added, inciting more giggles.

“See you in the morning, dumb-ash. Be up bright and early to clean up our shirt, as you say, chop chop!”

Counting to ten to contain her rage luckily meets up with the sound of the door closing, the demons exiting the building.

She carefully opens the secret door, seeing Michael sat in his chair, hands folded on his lap, eyes cast down. When he hears her soft footsteps, his head turns, expression shifting to try to cover the wobbling lip she’d briefly caught sight of. He sniffs and rubs his upper lip with his hand.

“Eleanor!” Michael straightens up; “Were you there the whole time? What if they’d seen you or...sensed you were there?”

“Relax, man, they didn’t see shirt, it’s cool.” She puts her hand up; “...You okay?”

He looks to the side, forcing his ‘superior’ smirk, “Uhh, yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t I be? Just...having a bit of workplace banter, as they say.”

“Didn’t sound like ‘banter’ to me, dude.” She edges closer, slowly, knowing that if he’s as much like her as she knows, he’s gonna be like a wounded tiger right now.

Getting too close, too quick, is gonna get her eyes clawed out. She would know, she’s swung a few claws herself.

Michael sniffs, struggling to keep his mask on; “M’fine, Eleanor, really. You better go prepare for this Purge or whatever they were talking about, go enjoy yourself or...make sure the others are safe-.”

His words are cut off by her weight falling down onto his lap, arms looping around his neck as she embraces him. Fork it. Screw being slow and steady; the demon was about ready to cry.

“Wha....What are you doing?” Michael stutters, stiffening.

“Hugging you, idiot...Sorry, I mean that affectionately,” She says against his ear.

“W-why?”

She shrugs, still hugging him tight, shuffling on his knees; “’Cause you need it. ‘Cause it’s the quickest way to let you know that all those things those demons said was garbage. Fork, have they always talked to you like that?”

His silence answers her question.

She squeezes him again; “Damn, no wonder you’re as new to this whole friend thing as me.”

“Demons insult each other all the time, Eleanor, it’s how we compliment each other. We’re meant to enjoy it.”

That made zero sense. 

“But you don’t....do you?”

Michael breaths in deep against her. Then she shakes her head, leaning into her shoulder.

“That’s ‘cause I’m a freak...I’m wrong, just like they say...like Shawn says...I’m just a failure of a demon.”

“That’s a good thing in my books, man.” Eleanor pulls back, looking at him, admiringly; “You might be failing as a demon but, I have it on good authority, you are rocking it as a newbie human. And I know you think we’re all gross and stupid but...I know you love us.”

He wrinkles his nose, trying to look as though he denied it, yet refusing to. His eyes gaze into hers, a rush of color brightening his cheeks.

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say it, I know you’re not quite ready there yet.” She knows herself how difficult it is to say those three words, to anyone; “But we’re your friends. We want you on our team, Michael, not just ‘cause it stops you torturing us but...Because you’re a cool guy to be around, when you’re not giving paperclip showers or putting us in purple space bubbles.”

A smile threatened to crack on Michael’s face as he squirmed beneath her. Was it really this easy to make an all-powerful being look so shy and bashful? It was adorable.

She moves her hand up to his cheek, thumb stroking below his eye, reddened with unshed tears.

“Also...I feel kinda obliged to confess something.” She says, “This skin-suit? Your skin-suit? What Vicky said was bull-shirt. All of it. Not only is this suit as much you as whatever demony essence you got going on underneath...But it’s also not bad looking either. I might even go as far to say ‘handsome’. In like a Richard Gere in Pretty Woman way.”

“R-really?” He looks hopeful for a second; “I mean...I know it’s gorgeous, but I wouldn’t expect...I mean I wouldn’t want you - or any human - to ever wanna-.”

She cuts his babbling off again with a kiss on the cheek.

He’s frozen now.

Eleanor grins; “That prove it for you? You know me, I don’t give out pity kisses.”

Michael squirmed again, biting his lip, mumbling something which might have been ‘gross’ or ‘weird food holes’, but he doesn’t move his hands away from where they’ve found the small of her back.

“Hey...how about we do one quick bit of karaoke before we go brief the others on tonight. You can pick the song.” She says, giving his bow-tie the smallest tug.

He smiles, touched, then nods; “Sounds good...”

“Cool. Also, don’t open that drawer on your desk until you’ve properly cheered up - I rigged it with a pie to get thrown in your face as revenge for cheating off my paper earlier!”

“Oh, pies are the best prank! I wish you hadn’t told me now, you’ve spoiled the surprise.”

Eleanor giggles as she takes his hand, leading him to his bud-hole; “You know me, demon buddy. I’m always full of surprises.”

His fingers squeezed hers; “That you are.”

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Maffew

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My next guest in this series is Maffew, creator of the popular pro wrestling web series Botchamania. For my chat with him, he chose the Alabasta Arc, in which Luffy and his crew not only have to save a desert kingdom but also topple Baroque Works and its powerful leader Crocodile.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Alabasta arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Alabasta arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: So I guess my first basic question is, let’s say for some reason, I got to the end of Drum Island and I said “Well, One Piece ends here for me. This seems like a good finale.” What would you tell me to keep me going into the Alabasta Arc in one sentence?

  Maffew: Well, after Chopper has made all the kids cry, you’ll need pickin’ up.

  That’s pretty good! What was the impetus for you getting into One Piece? What made you want to jump into an anime that’s nearly one thousand episodes long at this point?

  I think I tried watching it on YouTube back in 2009, and I just couldn’t get into it. At that point in my life, I wasn’t ready for a character like Luffy and his adventures, and I couldn’t wait for the villains he fought to kill him. So I dropped it. A year later, I’m in Germany and this wrestler ACH was doing a Q&A panel for this German wrestling organization called WXW. And ACH is a REALLY big One Piece fan, and even dresses up as Luffy in New Japan and Ring of Honor. And I was like “Hey, you watching JoJo?” because that was my thing at the time, and he was like “No, no. Just One Piece.” I said, “What else are you watching?” “Just One Piece.” And I’m like “Wait, what? Just the one?” But he was sellin’ it to me like he was a One Piece ad on QVC. And guys like Steve Yurko are so passionate about it, and if one person tells ya to watch something, you’re like “Eh, whatever,” but if five people tell you, you start to pay attention. So I’m gonna blame ACH and my good friend Steve Yurko for this.

    What do you like about this arc in particular?

  You get so much wonderful worldbuilding. They go to Alabasta, meet up with Mr. 2, and it’s one of those cool interactions where they’re meeting, but they don’t know who they are meeting exactly, like when they meet Blackbeard in Jaya. So later on, they’re like “Oh, it’s THEM!” There’s a real sense of everything not being really pre-determined at this point. It’s building everything through a bunch of pirates just doing stuff. Ace shows up, knocks out some assassins so he can get his royalty checks.

  That’s such a funny way to put it.

  Then we get Kung-Fu Dugongs, and they’re a pretty pure expression of One Piece. They’re all synchronized, they’re adorable, they play their part amid all the serious stuff, and they’re completely ridiculous, but they work anyway. And it’s with Alabasta that Eiichiro Oda starts to perfect the tropes that he puts into place throughout, with the new islands, the new leader who everyone loves but is actually a bad person, the crew having to deal with him and the Navy, them having to help put someone back in their position, etc. And even though, on paper, it reads like “Well, he’s gotta beat this dude and this dude and this dude,” it’s so much more chaotic and less formulaic than you’d expect. It keeps things interesting. 

  I agree. I like how he takes all of these pieces and he’s consistent with them, but Oda always plays around with how he sets them up.

    But it’s all a foot massage before the real reason to watch Alabasta: Sir Croc. 

  Are you a big fan of him? That dude is so cool, conniving and powerful. He’s kinda the perfect villain. 

  Back when I was being miserable and first watching One Piece, I really liked him. I like the design, the sand powers that could actually pose a threat. I always appreciate it when a villain provides actual tension. It’s like why I think Goldeneye is still the best James Bond film. Because Alec Trevelyan is constantly reminding Bond “Remember, I could kill you. I’m from the same place as you. I can take your exploding watch and just, eh, I’ll stop that then. Thank you.” And Luffy loses twice to him in the three-match structure that really works here as it did for wrestling in the 70s.

  How so?

  So you’d have somebody like champion Bruno Sammartino and someone like Ivan Koloff or one of the Wild Samoans or Stan Stasiak. They’d have one match where the hero would beat Bruno by disqualification. Bruno’s still around to fight, but he’s lost. Luffy survives being thrown in the sand, but he’s been beaten. Then they have the second match, where Bruno would win because the villain would just give up and leave and get counted out. Luffy attacks Crocodile with water, but it’s not enough, and Crocodile just kinda leaves Luffy thinking it’s all done. And then Bruno would be like “Oh no ya don’t. Next time, you won’t be able to escape, because we’re gonna be in a cage match.” And then Bruno wins, just like Luffy wins by punching Crocodile up through that giant enclosed space. He escapes the cage.

      It’s just so satisfying and that’s a great way to describe it. So, villains in the series have had extensive crew members before, but they haven’t been as recognizable and colorful as Croc’s crew, Baroque Works. Do you have a favorite member?

  They’re all good in their own way, but at this point, I’m gonna go with Mr. 2. Eh, that’s probably too obvious an answer…

  Mr. 2 is a lot of people’s favorite member. 

  Oh, who cares. I’ll go with Mr. 2. I like how Mr. 2 interacts with everyone, having fun with the boys and fighting Sanji with kicks but respecting him. 

  So, in this arc, there’s a lot of government intrigue and a revolution is about to happen, and everyone’s dissatisfied with their perception of the monarchy. How did you react to all of this political drama in One Piece? 

  Well, it’s great because you have Vivi, and you get to learn her motivations and because she’s on the crew, it gives you a reason to care for the crew and how all of the political intrigue affects them. Without her, you’d just hear about a war and say “Oh, sorry about that. Hope it goes well.” And with all this lore being thrown at you because you have Vivi and that connection, it’s adding to the main conflict, rather than distracting.

  Yeah, Vivi really grounds it all with a personal attachment. Because otherwise it’s just savin’ the kingdom, which is cool and they’re good for it, but it doesn’t have the same impact. So, they did this back in the Arlong Park arc, but what returns here is the kind of 1 vs 1 match structure, where a member or members of the enemy crew are matched up against a Straw Hat or Hats. Mr. 1 has knife body parts, so he’s obviously gonna fight Zoro. Mr. 2 kicks and Sanji kicks, etc. What do you think about that kind of matchmaking, because it’s also a little wrestling-esque.

    Yeah, right, like if you have D-Generation X fighting the Nation of Domination, you can’t just have The Rock fighting Triple H. Ya gotta have D’Lo Brown vs X-Pac and The Godfather vs Billy Gunn. I like it because the characters feel like they have to prove themselves, like Zoro’s a swordsman, and he’s gotta test himself against another swordsman. And Usopp does it when he fights Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas with Chopper, because they have a weird dynamic and they’re fighting two people and they have no clue what they’re up against. 

  So, at the end of the arc, they do the iconic “We can’t let Vivi become associated with pirates so we’ll hold up the X symbols on our arms in solidarity” pose. What did you think about that? Because it’s one of the most famous images in One Piece, and it’s hard to avoid it, even if you’ve never watched the series. Was that your first time seeing it?

  It actually was. And I’m glad you brought this up because I was watching it and I thought “Wait, they’re just going? They’re not even keeping the duck?” And then they do that with the X and the original opening starts playing and I get goosebumps just remembering it. That really hit me. Because it finally got me really emotionally invested in the series. Made me feel a bit cheeky. 

      ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  So, considering you’re such a huge pro wrestling fan, your lightning round is gonna be a bit different. I’m gonna say a Straw Hat that’s in the crew at this point and you tell me which wrestler they’re the most like. You can also tell me what time period they’d fit the most in, since wrestler personalities tend to change. So, Luffy?

  Gotta be Cena. Specifically? With Luffy’s attitude? Probably 2015 defending-the-United States-Championship John Cena.

  Zoro?

  He’s all business, he likes to fight. So I gotta go with Cesaro.

  Sanji?

  Going with Eddie Guerrero.

  Usopp?

  That character is all over wrestling - the underdog who isn’t very good and uses every trick in the book to win. Gonna go with MJF. He had one of my favorite matches of this year against Cody Rhodes and he just had to use EVERYTHING to beat him - brass knuckles, distraction, chairs, everything he could to get that win. But he could be MJF, could be The Miz, could be Mikey Whipwreck from ECW, take your pick.

  Nami?

  Hmmm. Becky Lynch. 

  Chopper?

  KeMonito 

  Robin?

  Oh, she shows up after being booed for ages and you’re supposed to like her, so 2019 Charlotte Flair.

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece's official English manga translator Stephen Paul on his favorite One Piece arc: Skypiea!!

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Daniel Dockery

[killzortron]

My best/worst comic con story

I’m here to tell the tale of my worst/ best comic con story- this happened about one- to two years ago- during the whole 35 years of tmnt celebration!

@nickelodeon​ #saveriseoftheteenagemutantninjaturtles

So then the story is long and hard- I am a traveler of cons and have been to every comic con in San Diego for the last 5 to 6 years....recently a new friend had join us... for the day- the first official comic con day- it was the worst day I had ever had.

Now the year before they had joined for one day and it tested the bonds of our friendship mainly because they wanted to do a lot of things they couldn’t and didn’t realize I acted a bit differently- I’m normally a very easygoing meek person. You can’t be that way during comic con - if you want an con exclusive you need to be a bit bolder and stronger- and these con goers are my people- I don’t have to be shy and act like i’m not into batman or green lantern for my age-helps everyone dressed like superheros and etc.

But going back this friend didn’t realize that it was a bit more- be assertive than they were use to...it was weird because in a way the roles were reversed. I was more assertive and they were more meek. We got into a big fight....it...was a hard comic con...

And that is their backstory....Now this year was their first time going with us ALL four days. I really really wanted to go and line up for the ninja turtles creators panel signing- I FREAKIN’ love ninja turtles.....More than you can ever imagine... But I had a friend who got us tickets and they wanted to get legos....It was a lottery system to see who got figures and who didn’t. Now I will call first friend Kitty and the second friend (the one I get my tickets from) Geoffrey. 

Geoffrey is terrible at the lottery- all four days he lost- and I always won- so I would give them my exclusive- I’m not a fan of legos I got to keep the batman one and sold it for alot of money- but going back to it. They were bad- very very bad- so me and kitty would line up with them to increase long story to that short- they lost- we won and my friend kitty decided they wanted to keep their lego and because of us lining up....I lost the leo for that day as well as lost my chance to go to the signing.

They got into a mini fight and decided they were going to do their own thing abandoning me- I was upset and tired and loaded down with alot of their stuff.

Now there was another thing at this celebration- five blocks away in the hot hot july sun there is a hidden little panel for the creators of the tmnt- That was Kevin eastman-  Ciro Nieli- and both Rise producers- BOTH of them.

Now let me set the stage- I am hot- been up since THREE in the morning- have not eaten- have not taken a nap abandoned and loaded down with stuff- my friend Geoffrey has a car but because of what went down- and parking refused to A move the car or open it- and on top of ALL of that.When I asked either or both- they both said they didn’t want to go and why not stay at the convention hall. I was displeased

so Loaded down with about 20 pounds of stuff if not more with it being mid noon- I walked 5 blocks to this hidden away panel at a small conference room that barely anyone knew of unless you looked up the directions constantly.

It was horrible but once inside I got a decent seat. third row from the panel stage. I sat and I waited the room filled out and because I was one of the first peoples there they gave away prizes Posters drawn by the producers and creators as well as special pins. The panel was actually alot about rise. I loved it. At the end of the panel I was ready to head back to the convention center when I saw some people going up to Kevin eastman as well as both producers of rise and were just talking and shaking their hands. I took a chance- I was like well Hell I came this far why not go a little farther.

So I walked up to Mr. Eastman and introduced myself. Friends- he remembered me from a panel two years ago because of my shirt- I was wearing the same shirt it was amazing! He was so nice and was happy to see me and said I can’t wait to see you at the signing. I sadly said....I won’t be able to go. Kevin eastman looked at me and smiled and said.” we’ll see about that head to the signing and wait for the line to die down.” The signing was a half an hour away so I rushed back at the convention center and waited- Once the line died down they were letting anyone who wanted things signed in- but the only catch was the things they wanted sign were posters they provided. 

Sucks but what ever at least i get into the signing- now I almost in front of the line when some person jumped the line and put their poster down and the creators signed. Some of us complained- it wasn’t fair when  Ciro Nieli turned and looked at us- this absolute mad lad grinned and said,” they can’t touch you- and they can’t stop you if you put something in front of us we will sign it.” The other creators nodded grinning- EVEN Andy Suriano, and Ant Ward. So freaking out I got my new posters signed as well as an art book signed by Ciro Nieli- and  mikey figure signed by Kevin eastman- it was the best worst day of my life and my favorite story to tell- side note I also got to touch and feel an orginal first issue of the first ever TMNT comic complete with pictures and both creators signing it- I also got a creepy picture of Rob pauslen because he’s a sweetheart and took a selfie with me XD

@nickelodeon​

[clara-letmebebrave]

yesterday was a great, but sad day because it means the whole thing is over and we will probably never meet these people again

•i think meredith got lost at breakfast because she walked past our table and said hi even tho the rest of starkid were sat halfway across the room. or she really is just that nice and lovely.

•lauren looks so good today. this needed its own bullet point.

•jaime, denise, lauren and meredith did a q&a together where they talked about their periods. jaime said when she gets really bad cramps she gets a red crayon and scribbles her pain away. they also cast starkid in beauty and the beast. they said meredith or rachael would be belle, jaime would be mrs potts, lauren would be chip, dylan would be the beast, and denise would be that prince at the end post-transformation (it’s uncanny how much denise looks like the prince). they also cast all-female ninja turtles. i can’t remember exactly but i think jaime was mikey, lauren was donny, meredith was leo, they said rachael would be raph, jaime burns would be splinter and denise was april. they then taught us a dance to christina aguleria’s come on over. it was beautiful. i almost forgot, jaime dug herself into a real hole by talking about cannibalism. she said that it fascinated her and if anyone ever willingly offered her some if their skin she’d probably eat it. and she just kept talking trying to justify what she was saying. everyone stay away from her or she might eat you.

•brian, joey, nick and dylan did a q&a together where they mostly talked about movies they’d seen and either loved or hated. nick has apparently created his own versions of all dc films in his brain. dylan said that when he went to see coco with his girlfriend he cried so much that it formed a puddle on her head because she was leaning against him (he then demonstrated this with nick). joey has to pee at one point and ran across the room. brian made up this whole thing about joey pissing in the floor of the hotel. then lauren went to go pee as well and got dragged into it. joey then returned with water on his pants and was very adamant that it was water.

•their last panel was all of them together. the highlight of the panel was definitely meredith making nick so his impression of denise’s nasty dancing last night. there was full on twerking involved. people videoed it so if you haven’t seen it, watch it, it was the best thing i’ve ever seen. denise told a story about how when she was a kid she had a babysitter who would hold her up by her ankles and fling her around the room. she also said married people were boring and then looked at meredith and brian really apologetically and backtracked. make of that what you will. she also said something bad about scientology and then was like oh no i shouldn’t have said that.

•dylan facetimed darren during the talent competition!!!

•apparently dylan and denise abandoned the others when they got dinner so they decided to prank them by making them compete in the talent competition. dylan had to perform an interpretive dance to my heart will go on, which was being sung by denise. at one point during the song denise gave birth to dylan??

•for the closing ceremony they all gave a really emotional speech about how special these events are, and how despite everything that’s going on in the world right now they feel safe and happy, and how much they love all their fans. by the end like 30% of the room was crying. they all sang a little bit at the end of their speeches too! denise sang the theme song from her favourite childhood show and then jaime said “thank god for denise for making me look normal”

•then i had to leave so i missed the party with starkid and i can’t believe i missed them singing not alone! (i cried the entire 2 hour journey home)

...i think i got everything that i saw...

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season One (Part One)

Ever since 1984, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has gone form a cult-status indie comic to a massive mass market. There have been various comics, movies, video games, merchandise, and of course cartoons. And it’s easy to see why. TMNT’s concept, a group of mutated teen turtles fighting evil in New York, is both incredibly bizarre and incredibly appealing to a mass audience. You have action, science fiction, martial arts, and of course plenty of mutant ideas to make toys out of. The fact that this Fall will be releasing the fourth animated TMNT series and that a new movie series is in production shows that even over 30 years later, this is a franchise that is far from losing it’s power.

As a kid, I of course knew that Turtles as a thing and I even watch parts of 2k3. But I was never really a fan until the day I stumbled upon the 2012 show. I fell in love with it and, since it started when I was just starting this blog, it was a huge focus for me for several years. I have since moved on and while I’m going to check out the 2018 show, I don’t think I’m going to be as crazy as I was with this show (but never say never). Back in 2012, I was someone who... lets say ignored the flaws and defended the show far too passive aggressively to the point that looking at my older stuff makes me want to blow up by blog. 

Nowadays, while some of my opinions hold true (like the ‘Donnie is a stalker’ accusations are still bullshit), I am more willing to admit the shows problems, especially now that I can take the show in fully. I also like to believe that I’ve become a better reviewer since I was 19 years old, plus it had been far too long since I went back over the show form the very beginning. So does the show still hold up? Will 25 year old Callie feel differently than 19 year old Callie did? Well we’re about to find out. This is the TMNT 2012 Season One Review!

The Premiere (Episodes 1-2)

Our story begins with a training sequence that introduces us to the titular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. Along with some minor character establishment, like Mikey being the funny one and Raph the violent one, the biggest thing here is one of the shows strengths: the choreography. It’s best exhibited in Leo and Raph’s duel. The movements are very fluid and well-paced. It’s fast, but not too fast, it’s enough to move things along but still let you take in all the impacts. It’s very well done. Raph ends up winning and we are introduce to the boys mentor and father, Master Splinter. Aka, the best written character int he show, but we’ll get to that later.

After the opening theme, we cut to the boys 15th Mutation Day where we get our backstory. Borrowing from the 80′s show origin, Splinter was once a young man named Hamato Yoshi. He had just bought four pet turtles when he stumbled across a shady dealing. Being a ninja master, he was able to fight back, but he ended up getting splattered with a strange green substance. This turned him into a rat, as one brushed his ankle while the baby Turtles become anthropomorphic. Yoshi, taking on the name Splinter, fled to the sewers and raised the four turtles as his own as well as taught them ninjutsu. It’s a simple, but still solid telling of the origin that pays tribute to previous origins, leaves some mystery about the substance and who was dealing it, and is told with use of comic-style panels reminiscent of the original comics.

The Turtles, having lived in the sewers since their mutation, are hoping to convince Splinter to let them finally go to the surface. After some begging, Splinter reluctantly agrees. We then cut to Leo watching a Star Trek: The Animated Series parody where we learn of his desire to become a great hero and leader. This is interesting for several reasons. One, it establishes that Leo isn’t the leader of the group yet, a departure form normal as he’s normally put into that role automatically. And second, ti does a great job at character establishment. In previous versions, Leo is often seen as the boring, overly leader type. Not a bad character mind you, but he lacks the quirkiness that the tough Raph, genius Donnie, and wild child Mikey present. Here? Leo is shown to be an idealistic, naive, but good-intention kid who aspires to be a great hero like he sees on TV as well as give shim some dorky characteristics, like quoting cheesy one-liners to sound more heroic. It helps make him more relateable, funny, and sets up a character arc for when he does inevitably become the leader. Very well done.

The boys finally go to the surface, and are in awe of what they see. They even discover their trademark favorite food, pizza. Given that they only ever ate worms and algae until this point, it makes their love of it all the more understandable. But not all goes well as they soon witness a group of business men kidnapping a red-haired teenager and her father. They attempt to help, but end up only beating each other up and the bad guys get away with their captives. Mikey ends up beating up one and discovers... a brain with tentacles... yipe... he tries to tell the other three, but they don’t believe him. A common trend in the show.

Upon returning home, the boys try to blame each other for the failure before Splinter accepts it for not giving them proper training as a team. While he considers keeping them down below for another year, Donnie convinces him to let them go help the girl due to seeing how terrified she was and how they failed to help her... and because of the crush he developed in a record five seconds. Splinter agrees, but first assigns Leo as the official leader, much to the ire of Raph. They’re eventually able to find the kidnappers vehicle and wreck it, capturing the driver named Snake and they discover a vat of a glowing green substance. A vat that they recognize as the same one that caused their original mutation.

Snake, after Raph threatens to mutate him, leads the boys to the facility where the captives are... and uses the boys bickering as a chance to escape. Leo uses this to trick the crook into thinking that they’re going to plow his van into the place as he conducts a plan to sneak in. All while Roah is an asshole who refuses to listen and outright undermines Leo’s orders. Yeah, Raph is a real jerk during this season. FYI. When Leo shows hesitance about his plan, Splinter tells him of his final confrontation against his rival Oroku Saki, aka The Shredder. It ended in his wife being killed, his house burning down, and his infant daughter nowhere to be found. Well, that won’t be important in any way, shape, or form later! The point being that he lost everything, but gained the boys, easing Leo’s worries about how much is riding on the plan.

So yeah the boys crash the van, Snake gets mutated, the boys break in, fight some guards, and Mikey proves that he isn’t crazy about the aliens.. and then trips an alarm. Smooth Mikey, smooth. They find the captives, that being this version of April O’Neil and her scientist father. Now in most versions, April is an adult woman. Here? She is aged down and is around sixteen years old. We’ll talk more about that later. The bad guys, aka The Kraang, take the captives away and as the boys give chase,t hey are confronted by the mutant Snake... who is a weed monster. Hey, that’s breaking supervillain rules writers! If you have an evil sounding name, that’s what you turn into! Donnie is sent to rescue the O’Neil’s as the other three face Snakeweed... Mikey’s idea, not mine.

The boys eventually defeat Snake via Leo’s direction and mass electrocution while Donnie is able to rescue April, but her father is taken away. April plans to find him however, no matter what it takes with the boys promising to help in whatever way they can. Once home, Leo finds out the complex reasoning for why he was named the leader over everyone else... because he asked. Ming-boggling, right? Well there is actually another reason, but we’ll talk about this in S4. The boys also made the news as their shruriken got found, but come on, what could one tiny news story do that would be bad? Well... being seen by your master’s worst enemy and re-igniting his lust for vengeance might count! Woopsie!

Overall, a solid two parter. It establishes the characters well, has fun fight scenes, the animation is a little dated now but still pretty good, the dialogue is funny, and it does a good job setting up future plotlines while fulfilling it’s own plot. It started 2k12 off on the right foot and was still enjoyable over five years since it’s initial premiere.

The Beginning (Episodes 3-8)

The episodes following the premiere create a steady flow of creating the status quo. You have episodes like Turtle Temper, Metalhead, and Monkey Brains (kinda) that have the boys dealing with the Kraang’s Plan of the Week as they continue their mutagen experiments. It helps with character development and some minor plot progression, such as Raph learning how dangerous his anger can be and Donnie learning to rely on his instincts rather than on his mind 100% of the time. Some are going to want me to comment on the shipping stuff, But I’m gonna save that for later. The biggest issue with these episodes, aside from Monkey Brains, is the Kraang. They are not interesting as villains at all. As great a VA as Nolan North is, the Kraang’s way of talking just gets... annoying. It doesn't help that the threat ultimately becomes either an accidental mutant or Donnie’s robot... well okay a Kraang possessed the later, but it shows that those are more interesting villains than the Kraang themselves and they exist mroe to just have an excuse for a plot. It’s really irking after awhile.

As far as plot goes, it’s mostly your usual ‘Monster of the Week’ stuff. But it has some small things that have a larger impact later. For one, in Monkey Brains, April begins to tap into what looks like some strong emphatic abilities. More on this next season. But due to this, Splinter decides to take April on as a student and train her to be a kunoichi (a female ninja). This will be the largest part of her character for the remainder of the series. April herself... is not utilized as well as she could have been in these early episodes. She’s described as the boys guide to the outside world, and she does serve that in some respects. For example, introducing Mikey to social media in New Friend, Old Enemy to let him make friends without exposing his mutant identity. And in Never Say Xever she takes them to a blind man’s shop so that they can actually experience life topside for once. The issue is we never see April establish bonds with the boys or Splinter after her introduction. In New Friend, Old Enemy she just acts like she’s been friends with the guys for awhile and after showing Mikey the net, doesn’t appear or is even mentioned in the episode again. She disappears after her importance in Metalhead as well, but she is given mroe to work with there at least. I glossed over this when I was watching the show and April does get mroe time with the guys, her relationship with Splinter being one of my favorites. Still, they didn’t do a lot with having April become part of the group or really act on her role as their ‘guide’ and I feel they just wanted to ignore it to get to the other stuff. Which is just a bummer.

So you’re probably wondering about Shredder stuff, right? Well thankfully the Foot Episodes are also the most plot relevant episodes. It starts with New Friend, Old Enemy where Shredder arrives in New York and assigns one of his lieutenants, a famous martial artist named Chris Bradford, to find out about Splinter. The Foot end up encountering the Turtles, with Bradford later using this to manipulate Mikey after accidentally becoming online friends with him. He captures him and use shim as bait to lure out the other three and then follow them to where Splinter is hiding. It fails with the boys using their knowledge of the sewers to literally wash Bradford and his partner, Xever, away. Along with the dangers of meeting people you don’t really know on social media, the episode presents a very unique lesson. In a fight for your life, screw fairness, You fight by any means necessary to stay alive, including fighting dirty. Most shows emphasize on being fair, but this one actually acknowledges that if your life is on the line, you do what it takes to get out alive. It’s a unique message for a kids show and one that I really appreciate.

Next is Never Say Xever where Xever gets to lead the charge. After the boys track down the two and get beat up, Xever receives inlet from the Purple Dragons, who int his version are pretty much a trio of teen thugs. The Turtles fought them off earlier at the shop April took them to, with Leo sparing the leader as an act of mercy. Something that Raph takes umbridge with... as he does with most anything that Leo does in the first half of the series. It’s no surprise that Leo and Raph butt heads, as they do in most series, and it follows their respective arcs. Leo having to deal with being leader as well as realizing that it’s much more pressuring and unforgiving than he thought, while Raph act son his jealousy that Leo got the position even though he’s the better fighter and therefore questioning Leo’s orders or outright just being an asshole for no good reason. But after the shop owner is kidnapped to lure the Turtles out, Leo’s act of mercy ends up saving them as the lead Dragon repays the favor by throwing him back his discarded sword. Which Leo uses to break a water tower to wash the bad guys away again. Angered, The Shredder decides to handle the Turtles himself.

The episodes do a good job in establishing a solid status quo. Bad guy does a thing, one character has their B-Plot to deal with, there’s a clash, the plots intertwine, bad guy gets defeated, and the lesson of the day is learned. A simple routine, but it works here. Plus we get plenty of character establishment and moments which makes you care about them. For example even though Raph is a massive jerk, the end of New Friend, Old Enemy has his comfort Mikey after the deceit and have him see that he’s a good kid who simply got duped as anyone else would. With this being after Raph mocked him wanting to make friends throughout the episode, it helped show that he does have a caring side. Leo frequently has issues with being a leader, such as dealing with Raph and moments like in ITHNiBS where the guys outright refuse to listen to him when he tries to remind them that they’re grounded. Even Splinter has a lot of moments, being a stern but fair parental figure and wise mentor, but is also snarky as Hell. We also see hints to how much the past has affected him, like after April agrees to undergo kunoichi training and leaves the dojo, there’s just a brief moment where he looks down with a forlorn expression. As though wishing that he was telling this to his own MIA daughter. It’s so subtle, but it speaks volumes about his emotional state. 

The characters are ultimately what makes these episodes works and what I would say is the strongest part of the series. You are likely going to relate to or like someone from this show and their progression. But now that we have a fully formed status quo, it’s time to shake it up a little bit and have the Turtles experience their first hard dose of reality.

The Escalation (Epsidoes 9-13)

Episode 9 begins as a typical ‘Mutant of the Week’ plot with the guys trying to catch a pigeon mutant that was after April. But when they do, they discover that he was simply trying to deliver a message... from her father. The message warns her to get out of the city due to a mutagen bomb, but she refuses to leave without him. As such,t he Turtles... somehow... find where Mr. O’Neil is and try to save him. While they get him out of the cell and get the location of the bomb, Mr. O’Neil sacrifices himself when the Kraang outnumber them so that the boys can protect April. All while poor April can only watch, helpless to do anything. Ouch...

The Turtles can only go to where the bomb is to disarm it, but things get further complicated when Bradford and Xever attack, wanting payback from before. Fortunately Donnie disarms the bomb and the four corner the two, but Bradford refuse sot go down quietly and stabs the bomb, but all it does is mutate himself and Xever. But ti also washes them away.... again. I should also point out that this point,t he Turtles have gotten incredibly over-confident since they’ve beaten every bad guy so far, feeling unstoppable. So then... Shredder arrives. Yep. And he kicks their shells HARD. Liek he holds no punches, he easily over-powers all four of them and almost stabs Leo int he head. The only reason that they escape is Shredder getting distracted by his now mutated lieutenants. But the boys retreat, badly beaten up and completely demoralized.

The next episode focuses on the fallout. The four are mostly feeling better, but their fears are being escalated by, of all people, Splinter. This is due to the boys nearly getting killed by his long-time rival re-igniting his own trauma and having nightmares over losing them, causing him to again keep them in the sewers and be far more harsh with his training. The only one doing moderately well is April, who gets intel about the Foot planning to destroy the sewers. The Turtles try to stop it, but get pounded by Bradford, who is now a giant dog mutant named Dogpound. This forces April to get the inlet herself, but she gets caught an captured by the Foot. This further brings Leo down, but to his surprise Raph actually encourages him to pull himself together and lead the team. The Turtles manage to both save April and stop the Foot from destroying the sewers with Splinter apologizing for allowing his fears to affect both himself and his sons. Overall, a solid pair of episodes that bring the boys down a bit, finally has all the plots meet somewhere, and deliver a strong message about not letting fear control you or the others around you.

After a filler episode where the only importance is Shredder forcibly recruiting Stockman to his forces, we get some more Kraang stuff with Episode 12. Where we actually show them being dangerous. Shocker, right?! It also introduces us to long-time supporting character within the franchise  Leatherhead. Here he is an alligator mutant who the Kraang experimented on and it causes him to have violent fits of rage if he so much as hears the word ‘Kraang’. The Turtles end up saving him when the Kraang try to re-capture him, but find his angry bursts, well... dangerous. But Mikey is able to befriend him and it becomes more clear that LH is actually a rather intelligent, good-hearted mutant who has been put through Hell. He gets run off by Splinter though when one of his trauma-induced bursts causes him to attack the boys, forcing the rat master to intervene. Mikey, and by proxy the other three, give chase to an old subway car where LH reveals how the Kraang took him to their home, Dimension X, and experimented on him. He escaped and also took their Power Cell, cutting them off form Dimension X, in hopes of saving humanity from them. The Kraang want it back and act like a zombie swarm as they break through the car. LH fights them off, leaving the Power Cell in the Turtles care.

While Episode 11 sucks (to put it simply Leo and Raph are overbearing assholes while Donnie and Mikey are just made to be as weak as possible), the other three do a good job at making the villains more solid threats. Shredder was built up as intimidating and powerful, and boy did he deliver. The Turtles face their first major loss and have to deal with the fallout, Leo especially dealing with his first real failure as a leader. Even the Kraang come off as a scarier hivemind and we get mroe stuff on them, like Dimension X and their plans to mutate the Earth. Add that with a strong supporting character like Leatherhead, who is understandably traumatized but is an intelligent being who is trying to prevent others form suffering like him. and it helps make some strong episodes.

The first half of the season concludes with the 13th episodes... that aired as the 14th for some reason. But I’m going in order of my DVD’s and this was after Episode 12, so it’s what I’m going with. It both concludes a lot and opens up a lot for the future. The episode I am talking about is, of course New Girl in Town.

TBC in Part Two....

[tkmedia]

Dougie’s Monday Mailbag (Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko)

Dougie’s Monday Mailbag (Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko)

Davis swung for the fences with almost every shot he launched at Barrios. Photo by Amanda Wescott-SHOWTIME 28 Jun by Doug Fischer LOMA AND TANK Dougie, What a great night of boxing. Loma is looking back to his usual self, and dammit if Tank isn’t always in tense and exciting fights. Kinda wish the ref would have let Barrios go out on his shield, but I know that’s not his job. What do you think Tank should do next? How do you see Tank vs. Josh Taylor playing out? Also, Loma loses to Lopez again (too much power), but I’d love to see it happen anyway. Maybe Loma pulls a Marquez (a la Baby Bull Diaz or Pacquiao IV) and just starches Lopez. I’d lose my mind if that happens, but in a good way. Loma is legit obsessed with Lopez right now. Side note: I just graduated from Columbia (wassup fellow alumnus). Any advice for a recent grad? Got my masters in nutrition and exercise physiology, and honestly, if I could be Canelo’s strength coach and sports dietitian, life would be pretty sweet. I’d settle for being on AJ’s team though. All the best. – JC, Dallas You gotta pay your dues, JC. That’s the best advice I can give anyone (Columbia grads included) and it’s true for every profession. So, if you want to get into boxing as a S&C coach, it’s best to start from the bottom up and work on your craft/profession as your teammates/clients learn their craft/profession. Work with promising amateurs and young prospects – or maybe even not-so-promising boxers who aren’t that young – (do it for free if necessary) and help them achieve their goals, thus growing with them in the sport. Every S&C coach you’ve heard of started out this way. What a great night of boxing. It was a lot of fun, but I wish the DAZN, ESPN and Showtime PPV broadcasts didn’t overlap the way they did. I can’t fully concentrate on three screens (four if you count the Twitter page that I kept flipping back and forth with the ESPN+ player on my laptop), so I didn’t watch the main event on DAZN (I’ll catch up later this week) and didn’t fully watch certain undercard bouts on all three shows (I’ll have to watch a replay of the Brant-Alimkhanuly fight). However, I still had a good time.

Loma’s not as explosive as Tank, but he’s equally punishing to his opponents. Loma is looking back to his usual self, and dammit if Tank isn’t always in tense and exciting fights. I think both guys are must-see TV even though their styles and skillsets are different. Vasiliy Lomachenko’s the savvy ring general, while Gervonta Davis is the seek-and-destroyer. However, they have the same uncanny ability to pull the trigger with the right punch at the right time, and they both want to pressure their opposition until the opposition capitulates. Tank is more prone to bludgeon or whack out his opponents; Loma is more apt to grind his down or make them quit, but they’re both badasses. I’d love to see them tangle at 135 pounds. Kinda wish the ref would have let Barrios go out on his shield, but I know that’s not his job. I thought Thomas Taylor – one of the best young referees from California – did a great job on Saturday, and while he was little hesitant at first, I believe his stoppage was at the perfect time. Barrios was given an opportunity to survive and fight back if able, but he was ultimately spared serious damage. What do you think Tank should do next? Drop down to lightweight and challenge the Lopez-Kambosos winner, Ryan Garcia and/or Devin Haney. How do you see Tank vs. Josh Taylor playing out? I would favor The Ring champ to win a decision, but I think it would be a hell of fight. I don’t think Davis can be in a bad fight. Also, Loma loses to Lopez again (too much power), but I’d love to see it happen anyway. I would favor the young lion to beat the old lion again, but I wouldn’t totally count Loma out in a return bout, especially if the Ukrainian legend enters the ring 100% healthy and Lopez struggles to make 135. Maybe Loma pulls a Marquez (a la Baby Bull Diaz or Pacquiao IV) and just starches Lopez. I don’t see that happening, even if Lopez is severely weight drained. Loma is legit obsessed with Lopez right now. Of course, he is. He’s a real champion, a winner and an ultra-competitor. WEEKEND RECAP What’s up Doug, I hope all’s well. My last time writing in I asked how do you see Casimero vs Inoue going. I forgot that Casimero is now scheduled to face Donaire, who looked like a monster against Oubaali, so how do you see Donaire-Casimero going? Tank seems to have that sickening fast twitch power to the head and body and he’ll take one to give one, so he’ll be in exciting fights but I do feel like he’s defensively getting better at slipping and riding shots. What did you make of his performance and how do you see him fare vs. each of the top lightweights who we all want to see him fight? Loma looked sensational but can he make enough changes to beat Lopez in the rematch if it happens? Same for Lubin, can he do anything different vs Charlo if it were to happen? Janibek Alimkhanuly looks like one to keep an eye on! Cheers. – David, Dublin

Janibek Alimkhanuly. Photo by Mikey Williams/ Top Rank Alimkhanuly was already Ring-ranked (No. 9 at middleweight) when he faced Rob Brant (who is currently at No. 8 but might drop out of the rankings following this stoppage loss). I expect The Ring Ratings Panel to advance the 28-year-old native of Kazakhstan up the 160-pound rankings. I can’t give you an analysis of his performance vs. the more experienced Brant because I haven’t seen it yet (don’t blame me, blame boxing’s power brokers for counter-programming the s__t out of each other), but based on that result and on what I’ve seen of him I think the southpaw is ready for top-tier middleweights after just 10 pro bouts. Alimkhanuly is currently rated No. 2 in the WBO’s middleweight rankings, just behind Jaime Munguia and the WBO titleholder Demetrius Andrade. If Munguia doesn’t want that Boo-Boo Smoke (oh my God, why did I write that? It sound like kindergarten slang for “fart”), I bet Qazaq Style would go for it. (H)ow do you see Donaire-Casimero going? I think it will be a hell of fight in the early going – it has the potential to become a shootout – but I think Donaire will keep his composure and systematically break his fellow Pinoy down to a mid-to-late rounds stoppage. As big, powerful, gutsy and savvy as Casimero is, the Road Warrior is too wild and reckless at times. Donaire will clip him at some point. Tank seems to have that sickening fast twitch power to the head and body and he’ll take one to give one, so he’ll be in exciting fights but I do feel like he’s defensively getting better at slipping and riding shots. He’s got the quick feet and reflexes to avoid punches when he sees them coming from a distance. I don’t know about his defensive prowess on the inside. It probably can be better than it is now if he works on it. I think he’s the total package as it. The main areas I’d like to see him improve in is his activity, his ring-cutting ability, and his combination punching. What did you make of his performance and how do you see him fare vs. each of the top lightweights who we all want to see him fight? I thought it was a very good performance; although he was outworked and outboxed in the early going, his speed, power and take-no-prisoners mentality ultimately proved too much for Barrios, who showed a lot of skill and grit lasting into the 11th round. Loma looked sensational but can he make enough changes to beat Lopez in the rematch if it happens? Does he need to change that much? Maybe all he needs to do is show up healthy and start faster. There’s only one way we’ll find out. Same for Lubin, can he do anything different vs Charlo if it were to happen? Yeah, tuck his chin and keep his gloves up. LOL. Seriously, he’s matured and developed a lot – technically and stylistically – since that first-round KO loss, and I think underrated trainer Kevin Cunningham deserves some kudos from the boxing community for The Hammer’s advancement. THE MATRIX Hey Dougie, Hope you’re good. Keep it up with the mailbag, some of us ain’t got much else in life! I’ve completely readdressed where I see Canelo in world boxing after what he’s done in recent times but my two faves still grab me. Inoue was monstrous the other week, then Loma came again this week. He didn’t start slow like he did against Lopez (not saying that’s why he lost!) but also he didn’t start slow like he did against everyone else! That whole “Matrix” thing might work but when boxers know they can just throw leather in different looks and pick up rounds…. And I’m not saying that’s why he lost to Lopez. But, afterwards, I watched him fight at his natural weight against the Ring Magazine #1 ranked boxer at featherweight, Gary Russell Jnr. Loma really shouldn’t be fighting at lightweight. Full stop. Where is he in your pantheon of greats at featherweight? – Thomas

Loma beat Russell and won his first world title in his third pro bout. Photo / Naoki Fukuda Lomachenko? He’s not in my featherweight pantheon. He had six pro fights at featherweight and only fought two standouts – an overweight Orlando Salido, who narrowly outpointed him, and a 24-0 Russell, who he outclassed. I thought Loma was absolutely sensational in both fights, he exhibited uncommon resolve vs. Siri and he was masterful in dissecting the ultra-talented American, but those 24 rounds aren’t NEARLY enough to earn a place among the likes of Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler, Salvador Sanchez, Henry Armstrong, Eusebio Pedroza and Naseem Hamed. No disrespect to Loma. He’s an amazing talent, but he didn’t reign long enough in any one division to be considered among the best of a particular weight class. He’s like Jeff Fenech, another super-talent who beat top fighters in multiple weight classes in just a few years (and within 20 bouts), he’s recognized for his body of work over three divisions. Keep it up with the mailbag, some of us ain’t got much else in life! LOL. I’ll keep that in mind, Thomas. I’m on family vacation this week, but I’ll try to find a substitute for the Friday Mailbag and next week’s Monday Mailbag. I’ve completely readdressed where I see Canelo in world boxing after what he’s done in recent times but my two faves still grab me. Inoue was monstrous the other week, then Loma came again this week. I thought Loma looked sharp and confident against Nakatani, who’s tall order (pun intended) for most lightweights. He didn’t start slow like he did against Lopez (not saying that’s why he lost!) but also he didn’t start slow like he did against everyone else! It wasn’t just a slow start vs. Lopez; the young gun “handcuffed” Loma with his tactics and the threat of a knockout counterpunch. (A)fterwards, I watched him fight at his natural weight against the Ring Magazine #1 ranked boxer at featherweight, Gary Russell Jnr. I think that STILL might be his most impressive pro performance. Loma really shouldn’t be fighting at lightweight. He may not be a natural 135 pounder, but he’s Ring Magazine’s No. 1-rated lightweight, and he deserves to be. I can’t see him dropping back down all the way to 126 at this stage of his career but dipping down to junior lightweight might not be a bad idea if the right fight is available. Loma vs. Shakur Stevenson would be fascinating. CRAWFORD AND THE P4P Hi Dougie, I’m just curious about your thoughts on Crawford potentially taking on Jose Zepeda next and more specifically, should Crawford’s lack of quality competition start to affect his P4P standing? Guys like Inoue, Canelo and Spence constantly take on the best in their divisions while Bud takes on mediocre comp on the regular. This isn’t a knock on Bud, who IS good but I think he should have to start facing the p4p consequences sooner rather than later. I know Arum hasn’t exactly helped Bud’s career path lately but Bud chose to re up with him as well. MMs: Bud vs Mosley @140 Kosta vs Bradley Thanks. – Lance I’ll go with Crawford by MD or SD in a great fight, and Tszyu by UD in a good fight.

Terence Crawford. Regarding Crawford’s place in the pound-for-pound rankings, I think he’s already dropped due to his relatively weak strength of schedule in comparison to Canelo’s and Inoue’s recent runs. Crawford was as high as No. 2 in The Ring’s rankings (behind Gennadiy Golovkin and later Lomachenko) through mid-2019. Canelo and Inoue were always outside of the top two, but they’ve had the better fight schedules from the second half of 2019 to the present and have advanced past the American, deservedly so in my opinion. Beating Zepeda at welterweight isn’t going to change my opinion. Crawford needs to face a P4P peer, such as Errol Spence or Josh Taylor, and beat him in order to advance past Inoue and Canelo. If he keeps fighting the Zepedas of the world, he’ll be in danger of slipping out of his current No. 3 spot.     Email Fischer at . Follow him on Twitter and IG at @dougiefischer, and join him, Tom Loeffler, Coach Schwartz and friends via Tom’s or Doug’s IG Live every Sunday. GET THE LATEST ISSUE AT THE RING SHOP (CLICK HERE) or Subscribe

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Dougie’s Monday Mailbag (Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko)

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[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: James Tynion IV (plot) and Ryan Ferrier (Dialogue)

Art: Freddie Williams II

  Summary

With Bane, Bebop, Rocksteady and the entire Foot Clan pumped up on Venom, the odds are severely stacked against Batman and the Turtles. All looks lost until Master Splinter steps in—only to fall victim to the treacherous Bane! The heroes on the half-shell live to fight another day, but at what cost? Donnie thinks he has a plan for victory, but Batman warns against it.

Positives

As both a lifelong fan of both Batman and TMNT, this series hits the right balance. The combined might of Heroes in a Halfshell and The Dynamic Duo works in the sense that they don’t get along all the time and there are differences in methods and opinions. To counter that, we have the combined might of both The Turtles’ most consistent nemesis and Batman’s single most dangerous adversary solely for what he achieved in his first outing thirty years ago. Knightfall saw Bane wear Batman down through a massive breakout from Arkham Asylum, then broke into Wayne Manor and literally broke him. This was an antagonist that was both a physical threat as well as a strategist the near equal of Batman himself. Having Bane in the place of The Shredder from the last season as the main antagonist is a worthy substitute. Freddie’s design of Bane works in the sense that this is more than just a ‘roided out criminal. Bane looks and feels like an unconquerable monster; you can see why he overpowered the most skilled ninja army in Manhattan and their mutant minions. From the moment he waltzed in from issue 1, he steamrolled over The Foot, took them over, enhanced them with Venom, and now is in a brawl-for-all with the Turtles and The Dark Knight and son. Fanboys get a huge kick out of seeing the Turtles’ resident dog of war, Raphael, test his mettle against Bane. Where Raph fails in brute strength, we see Splinter’s wisdom and mastery easily overpower the villain through his evasiveness and open weak points – the Venom delivery hose – for the most part.

Freddie’s art suits this book perfectly; I’ve watched him on the Youtube Channel VSG put out inkwashes with the same quality as these pages and they are just as top notch as colored. His take on the Rebirth costumes on Batman and Robin is excellent, and he gets the proportions of the Turtles perfectly. The Fu Manchu mustache on Splinter works because it evokes a sense of authority in the group before you see him make a move. The equilibrium of agility and strength on the side of the protagonists versus the brutality and monstrous proportions of Bane and his mutant army makes for an awesome fight. The David-vs.-Goliath match between Bane and Raphael is easily conveyed with their first panel together long before you see Bane preparing to dish out his trademark backbreaker on him. The image is enhanced by both Splinter’s legitimate fear for his son and Bruce’s intimate knowledge of feeling his spine snapped by that monster. Further, on Batman’s side, for fans of the first series, you can also see the emotional bond he formed with Raph the first time they met. The figures’ build and weight are conveyed through pulse-pounding battle sequences that are worthy of the classic Eastman-Laird TMNT issues from the 80s. The coloring makes it feel very organic and rich. To convey that claustrophobic feel of that small space with so many combatants, Williams keeps the sequentials equally tight but still easy to follow.

In the case of writing, the combined efforts of Tynion IV and Ferrier do a good job by keeping the dialogue deep when it has to be and short and to the point in others. A good example is the handling of Donatello’s subplot. To feel important, he inadvertently unleashed this nightmare on both his city and his family and he is inconsolable. His father’s coma at the hands of the very monster he brought over from the DC-verse obviously makes it worse. Donatello has always been my favorite Turtle, and to see a character whose faith is in his brilliant mental acumen lose that faith and see brutality as a solution is unfathomable. It’s a breaking point that you’ve never seen Donnie hit before. Throughout the book thus far, his dilemma has been a very significant subplot and now it has manifested at the cliffhanger into a relevant problem for the group. Seeing Don give in to despair and embrace the very drug responsible for this evil is disheartening. The red eyes as he “Venoms” up gives off a good “Damn it, Donnie!” reaction. The chemistry between the combined teams perfectly contrasts the disorder and tyrannical rule within the Bane-Foot alliance. Batman seems to gel perfectly with two-thirds of the group – mainly Donnie, Leo, and Splinter – while Robin’s arrogant attitude clashes perfectly with the likes of Raph, Casey, and Mikey. Tynion IV and Ferrier as a writing duo hit it out of the ball park as much as Freddie imagined their vision.

Negatives

What I dislike about crossovers most of the time are potential plot holes left behind, like the Batman/Spawn crossover event where Batman leaves a massive batarang in Spawn’s face and in the regular issue the wound is there but he’s barely mentioned. As to how that pertains to this issue, Baxter Stockman was mutated in the previous issue into his Baxter Fly form. What I’m left wondering is if the writing team will leave Baxter in this state or will there be a surprise reversal like the Arkham-mutated villains from the previous arc? What makes that different is that the mutagen was not native to DC-verse, whereas on TMNT it is and may have a permanent effect. That would leave a massive hole in the plot in the regular TMNT book. Also, the cover gives away too much of the cliffhanger. The last page should have been a big reveal, but it spoiled for shock value. A shot of Splinter’s being at the mercy of Bane or even Donatello holding the flask of Venom would have been just as engaging then the collage, no matter how awesome it looked.

Verdict

There is little I can say that is bad about the writing and artwork, but the plothole and ending giveaway are instant points taken off. Overall I’m really enjoying this series and can’t wait to see the resolution to this story and what Donatello will do and how in control he can keep himself while on Venom.

  Review: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #4 Writers: James Tynion IV (plot) and Ryan Ferrier (Dialogue) Art: Freddie Williams II Summary With Bane, Bebop, Rocksteady and the entire Foot Clan pumped up on Venom, the odds are severely stacked against Batman and the Turtles.

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 76, November 2017

“With persistence, courage and the willingness to learn and grow, we are often capable of achieving far more than anyone - including ourselves - might ever have expected.”               The Confidence Gap by Dr. Russ Harris (p. 244)

On Monday morning, I had a full body aromatherapy message by my friend and workmate Shannon Currant who is currently completing her Diploma of Beauty Therapy at Chisholm Institute of TAFE in Berwick. I was honestly really grateful that she asked me to participate in her assessment because a) Hello! Who doesn’t love a free message? and b) I really wanted to help Shannon out. After filling out a questionnaire and consent form, I was ready to go.

Unfortunately, we had to deal with loud construction vehicles working outside which was literally shaking the whole building. But once I was on the massage table, it didn’t bother me as much. Plus the soft chimes and swamp noises playing through the speakers was a welcome distraction. I thought that Shannon did a really good job, making sure I felt comfortable and relaxed the whole time and asking me if the pressure was okay. She was very professional about it and I’d be happy to participate again if she needs me.

On Monday night, I went to an RPM class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. My emotions were still running pretty high after receiving an unexpected message on social media. It seems that I truly can’t handle criticism or anyone having a go at me because reading that message hurt me so much. And I had to admit that I’m partly to blame for this. I fuck things up without intending to but it was a sign that I need to cut the cord and let go. So I decided to do the mature thing and own my shit. It’s time to take responsibility.

Tonight’s class was vital for me in releasing these intense negative emotions festering within me...anger, guilt, hurt, shame, depression, disappointment. No matter what anyone thinks about me, I have to keep focusing on doing what’s best for me and looking after myself instead of wallowing in self-pity and playing the “Poor Michael” violin. I can’t let other people stop me from living my life nor can I please everyone. All I can do is learn from my mistakes, apologize, hope they accept it and move on.

Despite this emotional storm going on inside my head, I was pleasantly surprised with how well I did tonight. There were seven tracks from several older releases. The fitness instructor Janine who was filling in for Claire recognised me when I walked into the cycle studio and immediately I felt a little better about myself. I pushed myself over 130 RPM which I haven’t done in a very long time during the racing sections and up to 90 RPM during the internal training sections. It was pretty much giving a big FUCK YOU to all the negativity that’s been holding me back in my life. https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

On Tuesday morning, I visited Bunjil Place for the first time since it opened last weekend. It was designed by Francis-Jones Morehan Thorp and cost $125 million dollars to build. The architecture both inside and outside the building is very impressive. There are major influences made to Aboriginal art, culture and past history. Bunjil itself literally means creator deity and is represented by a wedge tailed eagle, which the building is shaped like from an aerial view. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunji...

There are also some throwbacks to the styles of Art Deco and Art Nouveau with the use of spiral staircases, large expansive curves, block rectangular forms in the windows and simple, clean lines. The combination of natural materials such as the abstract timber sculptural forms in the foyer, dark grey woolen carpets and plush leather/suede seating works really well as does the use of large glass panels around the entrance. This maximises the amount of natural light coming into the building and provides spectacular views of Fountain Gate.  https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/abou...

The facilities inside of Bunjil Place are all ultra-modern and state of the art. These include an 800 seat performance theater, a 200 seat studio space, a 350 seat function centre, art galleries, meeting rooms, a multi-level library, a cafe, an outdoor plaza, an open foyer and customer service centre. It is a major improvement and necessary upgrade compared to the now outdated council buildings over the road. https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/venu...

On Tuesday afternoon, I had a formal one on one consultation with my potential new personal trainer Abhishek Ashokkumar from Silverback Training Co.. We spent most of the session talking about past experiences, who I am as a person, my short term and long term goals, what I want out of my training and how I’m going to get there. It felt good being able to express myself, be honest with Abhi and unravel what I truly wanted from the complex depths of my mind. My fitness journey so far has been a turbulent roller-coaster ride but I have no regrets and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Honestly, I’m still in a state of transition right now and buried beneath a massive “What If?” cloud when it comes to where I want to head next. Most of that is being able to let go of the past and confront the fear of change and uncertainty of the future. But otherwise I walked away feeling assured that Abhi could be a good fit for me. He is highly knowledgeable, no bullshit, funny, passionate, caring and training clients for the right reasons. There’s also no pressure to make a decision either way nor do I have to worry about any dreaded lock-in contracts. Certainly a lot of pros and green lights there. Now, I just have to be ready to start. https://www.theyardfitness.com.au/

On Tuesday night, I attended a nutrition seminar at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. It was just a small intimate gathering of five people inside one of the training rooms on the pool level. Nutritionist and Dietitian Marnie Nitschke facilitated the seminar, talking about whether things like coconut oil, probiotics, A2 milk and activating nuts are good or bad for your health. She also discussed the top 10 trendy diets, explaining what evidence each of them had and why they don’t work. These included Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar diet, the Paleo diet, the Detox Diet, the Blood Group diet, Raw Food diet, High Carb Low Fat diet and the 5:2 diet. http://www.everydaynutrition.com.au/...

The biggest problems with these diets are the lack of scientific evidence, not being sustainable in the long term, are missing key nutrients that are needed for the body to function correctly and are usually far too restrictive and unrealistic. It all comes down to having a balanced diet high in plant based foods plus eggs, fish, nuts, yogurt, cheese, milk and meats. And everything else in moderation. Nobody should feel guilty about eating a slice of cake or a chocolate biscuit, just don’t eat the whole packet in one go. https://www.caseyarc.ymca.org.au/wh...

Because the seminar was running slightly overtime, I was a few minutes late getting to my Body Combat class but thankfully I didn’t miss too much. Took me a while to get into the rhythm and not feel uncoordinated but eventually I got there. Cinamon mixed the tracks up again, putting in a Braveheart battle theme with a bow and arrow movement and The Prodigy’s Spitfire which included lots of dynamic lunges and side kicks. I always seem to walk away from a combat class feeling like I worked hard and that I really enjoyed myself. https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

On Thursday night, I caught up with my friend Amy Amy in Thornbury. Getting off at Croxton station, I walked down Darebin street and met Amy at a pizza restaurant called Il Pizzaiolo. Thornbury is not an area I’m very familiar with but I was well prepared with directions in my head and in my pocket. I love admiring the older styled houses that are still preserved including Californian Bungalows, Queen Anne and Federation. I noticed that there were quite a few political posters up for the upcoming local election as well as support my marriage equality.

The Il Pizzaiolo is a traditional Italian pizza restaurant and for the most part, I had a very pleasant experience there. I decided to play it safe and order a Margarita pizza as the other options weren’t very appealing and were difficult to understand let alone pronounce. We then walked around the block to the SPAN Community House Thornbury in Clyde Street for the Om Chanting Circle class. There’s nothing that says getting out of your comfort zone by being in a new suburb, a new venue and meeting a new group of people.

As expected, my social anxiety was pretty high initially as meeting new people is a huge trigger for me. But eventually it did simmer down. Once I’m able to feel comfortable in the space and recognise that these people have good intentions, then the anxiety doesn’t have as strong effect on me. And the truth is that the people in this group were all friendly, kind, loving, compassionate, non-judgemental and open minded. Pretty much the types of people I need to be around more often.

The Om Chanting meditation class was facilitated by Paul “Paulie” Daniele. Red plastic chairs were positioned in a circular formation with two chairs in the center forming an inner circle. Essentially we had to chant om continuously for 40 minutes. That prospect for me was pretty concerning as I wasn’t sure I could last that long. But the good news was that you can take a few seconds to recover before breathing in again and knowing that everyone can go at their own pace. I did find that my throat was straining at times but that’s probably because I’m not used to doing it.

It was a really beautiful experience. During the reflective discussion at the end of the class, I described it as being inside a towering cathedral with a large choir of people all chanting together. You can literally feel the vibrations and the energy generated from the sounds we were all producing. There was a large range of harmonic frequencies that could be heard during the meditation from deep brassy tones to high pitched angelic-like tones. Very much brought my back to my days of studying Physics back in VCE.

Overall, I’m really glad that I made the effort to travel all the way out to Thornbury to see my friend Amy and to experience a different form of meditation than what I’m used to. Getting home was unfortunately a major hassle as I had to deal with replacement buses from Caulfield to Dandenong. Things went smoothly until I was forced to depart at Clayton station and was essentially left stranded there waiting for another bus. Getting close to Midnight, I didn’t want to take my chances waiting around for a bus that may never arrive. My gut instinct told me to call my parents to pick me up and that’s what I did. Thankfully I got myself home safe and that’s all that matters really. https://www.facebook.com/mindfulbod...

On Friday morning, I went to a Body Pump class with Gina at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. It’s probably been about six months or so since I last did a Pump class as I was already doing on-going strength training with my PT. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done any sort of weight lifting so I knew going in that I was going to be pretty rusty and needed to go easy on how much weight I should be putting on the bar. It really didn’t take long before I started to feel the burn and the muscle soreness in my arms, shoulders and lower back.

It was really lovely of Gina to give me a greeting as I really didn’t expect her to remember me let alone my name. She also pointed out that I was the only guy in the room but this didn’t bother me. I’m used to being in female dominated fitness classes. We did a combination of deadlifts, rows, back squats, overhead power presses and shoulder lifts with the barbell and some bicep and tricep curls with the hand weights.

There were a few times I struggled to keep up especially during the bench press sections and I even had to skip a few reps to recover but I did what I could. We also did some squats and lunges, core crunches and yoga stretches to finish the class off. https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

“We were talking about the love we all could share. When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love. With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew. Try to realise it's all within yourself. No one else can make you change.”  The Beatles - Within You, Without You (1967)

“Child-like. No one understands. Jack knife. In your sweaty hands. Some kind of innocence is measured out in years. You don't know what it's like to listen to your fears. You can talk to me, if you're lonely you can talk to me.” The Beatles - Hey Bulldog (1969)

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 41, February 2017

On Monday afternoon, I had my first appointment to see my new psychologist Ms. Angela Ewing at New View Psychology through Casey Allied Health in Berwick. This was organised a few weeks ago through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) due to being unable to cope with my high anxiety levels and work related stress. Of course I was feeling a bit nervous meeting her as I always am meeting somebody new for the first time but I slowly eased up to her during the session. http://caseyalliedhealth.com.au/pra...

Her office was quite clinical and pokey with a handful of leather-backed arm chairs, an artificial orchard plant and a large hanging wall decoration featuring rusted butterflies. I warmed to her fairly quickly despite a few moments of stumbling over my words. She gave me a few suggestions to take away from this session including increasing the dose of my medication and practicing controlled breathing techniques on a daily basis. http://newviewpsychology.com.au/emp...

Angela also asked me to fill in a DASS 42 self-report questionnaire which measures the severity of symptoms from depression, anxiety and stress. My results indicated that I had a extremely severe level of anxiety, severe level of stress and a moderate level of depression. http://www.psytoolkit.org/survey-li...

On Tuesday morning, I went to my Just Breathe yoga class at Now, Yoga. in Narre Warren South. I was amazed to see so many others enrolling and joining the class today. Normally, you’d be lucky to see 2 or 3 others but today there were about 8 of us. And these ladies were quite a jovial bunch, cracking humourous jokes about struggling through poses and dealing with sore joints especially as you get older. I find laughter so important. Yes yoga is a serious practice but sometimes you just have to let it go...literally! http://nowyoga.net.au/timetable/

Today we did quite a few flowing sequences as well as our Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama) exercise and deep yogic breathing. Some of the poses we did include: Flowing Warrior Sequence (Forward Fold, Warrior 2, Peaceful Warrior, Reverse Warrior, Side Angle Pose, Revolved Triangle Pose), Pigeon Pose, Wide Legged Forward Bend, Downward Facing Dog and Cat-Cow Pose. https://www.verywell.com/get-fierce...

After the class, I got back into doing some acrylic painting on canvas panel. It’s been a few months since I’ve done any artwork due to losing the motivation but now I really want to get back into it. This week I decided to focus on the use of blending warm colours together to create an abstract landscape. This piece depicts the summer sky with tones reminiscent of the Australian Outback (reds, blues, yellows, oranges, pinks, white, black).

On Tuesday night, I attended my Body Combat class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. Unlike a couple of weeks back, I was feeling more focused and switched on tonight. I was becoming more aware of my stance, my body movements and co-ordination whilst doing the workout. I’m reminding myself to keep my guard up in between jabs, uppercuts, hooks and the like as well as turning from the back heel and working into my hips more. 

I’m a little slow at times and I do miss reps but that’s okay. Like our instructor Cinamon Guerin keeps telling us, I don’t give up even if I make a mistake or I’m struggling. I really pushed myself hard tonight and it felt good even though I was dripping in sweat. I’ve formed a connection with this particular class now and it honestly encourages me to keep coming back. https://www.goodlifehealthclubs.com.au/... 

On Thursday morning, I had my third counselling session at Piece Together Counselling in Narre Warren. The door was slightly ajar when I got there for my appointment. Imagine my surprise when I didn’t see Rachel sitting down on the sofa but her colleague Ruth. She told me that Rachel couldn’t be there today due to illness and that she was a qualified counselor and psychotherapist. https://www.yelp.com.au/biz/piece-t... 

Considering I’m usually really reserved and hesitant when it comes to new therapists but I found her easy to open up to about my problems. We went through the ABCDE worksheets that I’ve been filling out in the last couple of weeks which have helped me to see things from a more rational and realistic perspective. She also told me about the acronym for FEAR...False Evidence Appearing Real. http://www.awaken.com/2013/01/overc...   

We spent the last 5-10 minutes of the session playing with some kinetic sand which has the consistency of play dough or a cookie mixture but doesn’t stick to your hands. It’s supposed to calm your mind and reduce your symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress simply by touching and feeling it slip through your fingers. http://www.kineticsand.com.au/ 

On Friday morning, I had an hour long whole body Chinese Massage at Top 1 Therapy in Cranbourne East. I was a little apprehensive and nervous about it considering how intense my last Chinese massage was but for $29, I really couldn’t complain too much. In the waiting area, I glanced up to see the wall covered in framed certificates of qualifications. That put my mind at ease a bit knowing that at least these people were trained professionals. 

The Asian lady was extremely thorough during the entire session. She really worked hard into my tense neck, shoulder and back muscles. Admittedly, the pressure was a little strong at times but it wasn’t excruciating and she did ask me if it was okay. The slapping and thumping of my legs and lower back was something I wasn’t quite prepared for but I rode through it and felt better for it. She also used hot stones, towels and oil which all felt really good. http://www.top1therapy.com/

On Friday afternoon, I had my first one-on-one training session with my new personal trainer Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness in Narre Warren. It must have been fate that brought us together after being invited to like his page. I soon discovered that he trained at UFT - CrossFit Fountain Gate where I used to go last year. The truth is that I did enjoy some aspects of the training I was doing with my former personal trainer but due to personality clashes and being unable to fit in socially with his group of clients, I decided to leave for the sake of my mental health. 

Still I was pretty nervous walking through those doors again. I decided to treat this experience as a fresh start rather than dwell on past hurts and bad experiences. Luke was very welcoming and easy to get along with. I did a 40 minute trial workout which included warming up with the stick master game, doing 20m bear, gorilla and crab walks and then a 7 minute AMRAP (15 Squats, 10 push ups, 5 ring rows and a 20m bear crawl). I managed to do 3 rounds and several squats which was better than I expected.

Luke asked me a lot of personal questions throughout the session. I did feel a little guarded as I’m still getting to know him but so far things went really well. Of course I had to sign a mountain of paperwork but I’m kinda used to that by now. I’m planning on doing one session a week as I want to continue going to classes at Casey Arc, Just Be and Now Yoga. https://www.facebook.com/breakawayf...

“It’s clear you think that I’m inferior. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Whatever helps you keep it tight.” Broods - Free (2016) 

  “Hand in hand you led me into things I never knew. You’re drinking up a cure now. Forget what you have seen. I sit analysing what the hell is wrong with me”                                 Broods - Recovery (2016)      

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 38, February 2017

On Monday morning, Mum and I went down to the pools at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. I’ve been avoiding this moment for so long, exposing my semi-naked body in a public space like an indoor swimming pool. My feelings of self-consciousness and embarrassment about the way I look stem back to primary school when I was still doing swimming lessons. I remember my report card saying “Still a Yabby” in the comments section which basically meant that I was a really weak, hesitant swimmer.

Today my anxious mind was trying hard to rear its ugly head when I walked out of the changing rooms with my shirt stripped off. I was mostly worried about getting harsh, judgmental glances at my flabby overweight body but in reality, everyone was just doing their own thing. I started out in the shallow end of the play pool to gain some confidence in the water. It really wasn’t too bad once I got used to it.

Next Mum and I had a dip in the wave pool which was heaps of fun. It didn’t really bother me that I was surrounded by kids, parents and disabled people because we were all enjoying jumping up with the hydro-generated waves. We also went into the spa pool. The high pressure jets on the edges of the spa were excellent in relieving some of my joint pain through the lower back and hips. I also gave the stream room and sauna a go but they were pretty unbearable for me so I left these after a couple of minutes. http://www.caseyarc.ymca.org.au/dis...

On Monday night, I went to my Hatha Flow yoga class at Just Be Yoga and Meditation in Beaconsfield. It was a welcome surprise to see that Natarsha Krug was instructing this class tonight as Michelle was away. We began the class by doing some flowing Bridge pose and Cat-Cow pose. We also did several different twists including Half Lord of the Fishes pose and Revolved Lunge pose plus some lovely side stretches and a Flowing Sequence (Downward Facing Dog, Low Lunge, Plank, Cobra/Seal/Updog, Standing Forward Bend, Mountain Pose).  http://www.yogajournal.com/category...

On Tuesday afternoon, my parents and I attended the funeral of Lillian Faye Watson held at Bunurong Memorial Park in Dandenong South. Lillian or Faye as she liked to be called was mum’s aged care patient through Wesley Mission. Mum took her out to many different social outings including Morning Melodies and coffee dates. Faye really enjoyed ballroom dancing, music and lawn bowls. She was a really special lady and will be truly missed by the family.

The funeral service was conducted at the Cumulus Reflection Space with a beautiful collection of photos displayed at the front. The gardens surrounding the space are elegantly designed featuring weathered paving, a stone waterfall, rusted screening panels and lush desert plants. It was really hard knowing what to say considering I don’t really know Faye’s family that well but I’m glad that I came along to pay my respects.

On Thursday morning, I attended my Body Balance class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. Our instructor Wendy was patient and encouraging as always saying “It’s okay to wobble or fall out of a pose” and “Remember to come down a level if it’s too much” which is reassuring because I was really struggling with my balancing and core strength exercises.

Today we did the following exercises: Tai Chi Warm up (Soft Block, Flowing Energy Ball, Arm Swings), Sun Salutation (Forward Fold, Downward Facing Dog, Low Lunge, Plank), Yoga Balancing (Chair pose, Aeroplane, Tree pose) and Pilates (Side Lying Legs, Bridge pose, Toe Taps). https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...

Around midday, I had my first session with my new counselor Rachel Joll at Piece Together Counselling in Narre Warren. I was a little early so I decided to have a sandwich and cafe at Cafe42six next door to calm my nerves. I always seem to work myself up whenever I’m seeing a new therapist for the first time because it’s fear of the unknown. I don’t know what to expect from them and I also don’t want to make a fool of myself.

Rachel was very bubbly, warm and friendly when I walked into the room. Her office space was decked out with comfy sofas, brightly coloured fabrics, sunset photography and soft timber furnishings. It was as far from a clinical environment as you could get which did put me at ease. Talking about my childhood issues was still really difficult for me. I really didn’t know when my anxiety started or what set it off but I knew it was around high school.

Rachel picked up on the fact that I kept repeating the phase “I’m really not good at connecting with other people” which is a false negative belief that I have within myself. I think it’s because I’m feeling quite withdrawn and socially isolated lately and that I put myself down a lot. I really need to change my mindset to more positive thinking and change my current beliefs that I have which is what I’ll be working on this year. http://www.piecetogethercousellingnarrewarren.org/...

In the afternoon, I dropped into my local Chemist Warehouse in Narre Warren to buy my first weight loss shakes. Walking down the aisle, I was absolutely overwhelmed with the choices. I had a few ideas as to which one I wanted to get but of course I kept being indecisive and began comparing prices and nutrition values. I really wanted to avoid the ones that were high in sugar and carbs but I didn’t want to spend a fortune either. So I decided to try out Bioglan Nutri Slim Ultra Low Sugar Shakes and bought a 500g tub of it which should hopefully last me a couple of weeks. http://www.bioglan.com.au/nutrislim...

On Friday morning, I attended my Body Pump class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. It’s been quite a few weeks since I’ve been to one of these classes and I’ve been meaning to go but of course life gets in the way sometimes. Today I tackled release 100 which was an exhausting 10 tracks long. At least our instructor Kerry was trying to make light of how tough this class was by cracking jokes. “Now you’re gonna ask me if there’s any recovery breaks on this track...Nope!” 

We started off with the warm-up track incorporating several reps of single rows plus clean and press. Next we did a full six-minute track of weighted resistance squats. Boy did these kill me. I wisely decided to use light 2.5kg plates for this. The benchpress sections were also quite  tough especially with several reps of 8 pulses and also having to do push ups in between. We also used the barbells for a couple of tracks. Again I chose the light green 2kg weights as I didn’t want to overdo it. It was a very intense class but I managed to push through it.  https://www.lesmills.com/workouts/f...