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playstationvii · 6 months ago

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#SakuraSpiderArachnid #MarvelGames #Playstation7 #DearDearestBrands

Here's an overview for Sakura Spider: Arachnid, a PlayStation 7 game concept in collaboration with Marvel Comics and DearDearestBrands:

Game Concept: Sakura Spider: Arachnid

Platform: PlayStation 7

Genre: Action-Adventure, Open-World, RPG

Graphics Style: Manga-inspired, cel-shaded visuals with anime-like fluidity and dynamic aesthetic environments.

Story and Setting

Origin Story: The protagonist, Sakura Hoshino, is a kind-hearted artist living in Tokyo, struggling to balance her creative dreams with societal expectations. While sketching under a blooming Sakura tree, a spider—mutated by gamma radiation—bites her. This spider was created by an experimental cross between Oscorp and a mysterious gamma reactor stationed near the ancient cherry blossom grove.

She discovers new powers that reflect her artistic soul and emotional depth. Empowered with heightened empathy and a "sense of aesthetics," Sakura fights to protect her city from threats that challenge both its physical and cultural identity.

Setting: The game takes place in Neo-Tokyo, a sprawling city divided into diverse zones, including:

Shinjuku Skyline: Neon-filled high-rises with bustling nightlife.

Harajuku Haven: Fashion streets where creativity thrives.

Ancient Cherry Grove: Mystical Sakura trees, where her powers were born.

Tokyo Bay Industrial: A hub of Oscorp gamma experiments and toxic waste.

Gamma Underbelly: Secret Oscorp labs housing mutated creatures.

Cultural Market Streets: Places to gather inspiration and interact with NPCs.

Gameplay

Core Gameplay Mechanics:

Web Weaving: Manipulate webs to craft weapons, art-based traps, and shield barriers.

Aesthetic Aura: Use the protagonist’s power of "Aesthetic Empathy" to influence NPCs, calm enemies, and rebuild damaged zones.

Emotion Threads: Unlock emotional-based superpowers like "Gamma Kindness" (healing) and "Empathy Strike" (disabling enemies).

Sense of Design: Use her artistic abilities to restore monuments, graffiti walls, or design costumes with bonuses.

Combat System:

Manga-styled action sequences with combos tied to her "Spider Dance," a fusion of web attacks and Sakura petal-themed strikes.

Dual attack modes:

Stealth Mode: Silent takedowns using web camouflages.

Empathy Combat: Disarm and pacify enemies with emotional insight.

Exploration and City-Building: Restore zones by infusing aesthetics into Neo-Tokyo, converting drab areas into thriving artistic hubs. Gain resources to improve the city’s visual beauty and morale.

Supporting Cast

Takashi Hoshino (Brother): A robotics prodigy who creates her gadgets.

Rika (Best Friend): A spirited fashion designer who helps craft outfits for stealth and combat.

Dr. Masako Arai: A former Oscorp scientist turned mentor who knows the truth about the experiments.

Gamma Mutant Villains:

The Sakura Swarm: A gang of mutant spiders spreading chaos.

Crimson Bloom: A rival powered by corrupted Sakura energy.

The Oscorp Shadow: An advanced AI controlling the gamma experiments.

Items and Utilities

Sakura Thread Enhancer: Boosts web strength.

Petal Shield: Blocks attacks while dazzling enemies.

Web Artistry Kit: Allows you to paint zones, creating buffs and influencing allies.

Kindness Vial: A rare item that unlocks massive area healing.

Art Style and Aesthetic

Cel-Shaded Graphics: The game embraces soft, manga tones with vivid cherry blossom effects.

Cultural Fusion: Neo-Tokyo blends traditional Japanese architecture with futuristic neon aesthetics.

Dynamic Seasons: The city changes based on Sakura's emotional state (e.g., blossoms flourish when morale is high).

Potential DLC and Expansions

The Gamma Grove: Explore an ancient Sakura forest that reveals the origin of the gamma mutation.

Spider-Verse Crossover: Features other Spider-heroes from the Marvel Universe.

Custom Costume Creator: Design Spider outfits with aesthetic perks.

Let me know how you'd like to expand any specific part of this concept!

https://chatgpt.com/share/6753d965-c084-8005-943f-9bf588ab1a16

Let's expand on gameplay ideas for Sakura Spider Arachnid! Here’s a detailed breakdown: Core Gameplay Mechanics 1. Swinging System: Fluid, physics-based web-swinging similar to Spider-Man PS5, but with a unique Sakura twist. Players can unlock aerial tricks and advanced web-swinging techniques that leave trails of glowing Sakura petals. Special “Gamma Burst Swing” mechanic allows for high-speed traversal across long distances. 2. Empathy Powers: Instead of relying on brute force, Sakura can resolve conflicts using her Empathy Webs, which calm or convert hostile enemies. Players must strategically decide when to use empathy or combat, altering NPC behavior and story outcomes. 3. Sense of Aesthetics: Sakura can identify weak points in environments or enemies using her aesthetic sense. This ability highlights climbable surfaces, destructible objects, or secret pathways. 4. Combat: Fast-paced, martial-arts-inspired combat blending acrobatics and web abilities. Sakura's “Petal Fury Mode” unleashes rapid attacks surrounded by an aura of glitter and petals. Gamma-powered moves, like the “Blossom Smash”, deliver heavy-hitting crowd control effects. World Design 1. Zones: Shibuya District: Neon-lit streets, bustling crowds, and vertical challenges with towering billboards. Sakura Temple Grounds: A tranquil area with hidden challenges and spiritual puzzles tied to Sakura’s origin. Gamma Research Facility: Heavily guarded industrial zone, featuring stealth-based missions and tech puzzles. Skyline Heights: High-rise corporate buildings for intense web-swinging sequences and rooftop battles. 2. Interactive Elements: Players can interact with Tokyo’s citizens, from helping lost children to stopping random crimes. Sakura can create web-art murals using leftover Sakura petals to inspire kindness in the city. Supporting Cast 1. Yuto Tanaka (Mentor): A scientist who explains the origin of the gamma spider and guides Sakura on using her powers. 2. Hana Kuroki (Best Friend): Provides comic relief and helps design Sakura’s webbing gear. 3. Villains: The Steel Ronin: A cyber-samurai enhanced by gamma technology. Shade Widow: A rival spider-powered character who represents Sakura’s dark potential. Items and Utilities 1. Petal Webbing: Unique webs that can heal allies or immobilize enemies. 2. Aesthetic Vision Goggles: Enhances Sakura’s ability to spot hidden objects or see through illusions. 3. Gamma Infuser: Temporarily boosts Sakura’s abilities during intense battles. Side Quests and Activities 1. Sakura Bloom Restoration: Revive wilted Sakura trees around the city to boost morale. 2. Fashion Challenges: Use Sakura’s sense of aesthetics to help NPCs with design challenges. 3. Street Performances: Sakura can perform aerial stunts for Tokyo’s citizens to earn reputation points. Visual Style and Aesthetic 1. Vibrant, anime-inspired graphics with photorealistic details. 2. Dynamic lighting changes based on Sakura’s emotions, such as a glowing aura during high-stress moments. Let me know if you'd like to focus more on any specific part, such as storyline, mechanics, or visual design!

Here’s a detailed Character Profile for Sakura Hoshino, the heroine of your game:

Character Profile: Sakura Hoshino

Full Name:

Sakura Hoshino

Alias:

Sakura Spider Arachnid

Age:

23 years old

Origin:

Tokyo, Japan

Occupation:

Web-slinger, Protector of Tokyo

Fashion Designer (Side Hobby)

College Graduate (Specializing in Environmental Design and Aesthetics)

Appearance

Height: 5'8"

Build: Athletic, with a lean and toned physique

Hair: Long, flowing pastel pink hair with subtle highlights of soft yellow, often tied in a loose ponytail when active.

Eyes: Deep, vibrant purple with a glimmer of white, reflecting her inner strength and empathy.

Skin: Fair, with a soft glow, showing the effects of gamma radiation exposure.

Suit:

Design: A sleek, high-tech spider suit infused with Sakura blossom patterns. The suit’s base color is pastel pink, accented with a soft yellow hue and glowing threads of white to represent Sakura petals.

Webbing: High-tech, metallic webs that glow with a Sakura petal motif.

Additional Features: The suit features a glowing "Sakura Core" in her chest, symbolizing her connection to the mystical Sakura tree that gave her powers.

Backstory

Sakura Hoshino was an ordinary university student studying environmental design, passionate about nature and art. During a visit to a traditional Japanese shrine, she stumbled upon a sacred Sakura tree rumored to be connected to ancient gamma radiation experiments. While sketching its beauty, she was bitten by a rare spider that had been exposed to this radiation. The bite merged with her body, giving her the ability to manipulate webs with both physical and emotional force. Her deep connection to nature and aesthetic design also enhanced her powers, giving her a unique ability to sense beauty, calm aggression, and heal emotional wounds.

After the incident, Sakura was thrust into a dual life: one as a protector of Tokyo, and the other as a budding fashion designer seeking to express herself and promote kindness. She uses her powers to combat crime and solve conflicts without violence, utilizing empathy and aesthetics as her main weapons. Sakura now fights to protect her city while balancing her personal dreams and responsibilities.

Personality

Compassionate: Sakura’s defining trait is her deep empathy. She can sense the emotions of others and, when necessary, uses her powers to help heal emotional wounds.

Optimistic: Despite the challenges she faces, Sakura believes that beauty and kindness can bring change. She strives to bring peace in a world filled with chaos.

Creative: As an artist at heart, Sakura views the world through an aesthetic lens. She finds beauty even in the darkest of places and uses her creativity to solve problems.

Courageous: Sakura faces dangers head-on, often with a sense of grace. Her bravery isn’t defined by a desire for glory, but by her commitment to protect those she loves.

Determined: Sakura has a strong sense of justice and never backs down from doing what’s right, even if it means making personal sacrifices.

Abilities and Powers

Web-Slinging: Sakura can create webs of varying sizes and strengths, using them to swing between buildings, immobilize enemies, or create structures. Her webs are unique in that they also carry emotional energy, calming or subduing opponents.

Empathy Webbing: Her webs can carry a calming aura, making her opponents feel peace or empathy. This ability helps resolve conflicts without violence, but can also be used strategically to weaken enemies.

Aesthetic Vision: Sakura has an enhanced sense of aesthetics, allowing her to perceive hidden details in her environment, like weak structural points or hidden pathways. It also helps her find beauty in unexpected places.

Gamma Boost: Occasionally, Sakura’s connection to the gamma radiation grants her temporary boosts in power, enhancing her physical strength, agility, and the reach of her webs.

Healing Touch: Through her deep empathy, Sakura can heal minor emotional or physical wounds in herself or others. This ability also allows her to calm her allies in intense situations, restoring their morale.

Sakura Blossom Fury: A powerful, high-speed attack where Sakura releases a flurry of webs imbued with Sakura petals, overwhelming opponents with both speed and beauty.

Strengths

Diplomatic: Sakura prefers to solve problems peacefully, using her powers to mediate conflict rather than engage in violence.

Adaptable: Her aesthetic sense allows her to think on her feet and adapt to any situation creatively.

Agile and Fast: Her physical training and spider abilities make her incredibly nimble, able to navigate the city’s skyline with grace and precision.

Weaknesses

Emotional Vulnerability: While her empathy is her greatest strength, it also makes her susceptible to emotional exhaustion. Overuse of her empathy can leave her drained.

Gamma Exposure: Extended exposure to gamma radiation may occasionally cause her to lose control of her powers, leading to instability in her emotional balance.

Over-reliance on Non-Violence: Sakura’s preference for peaceful resolutions can sometimes put her in dangerous situations where more forceful methods may be needed.

Relationships

Yuto Tanaka (Mentor): A scientist who understands the origins of the gamma radiation and guides Sakura in controlling her powers. He is a father figure and the one who encouraged her to embrace her new abilities.

Hana Kuroki (Best Friend): Sakura’s best friend and confidante. Hana supports her throughout her journey, both in her heroic duties and personal life.

Villains:

The Steel Ronin: A dark counterpart to Sakura, a cyber-enhanced warrior who is bent on destroying the harmony Sakura seeks to protect.

Shade Widow: A mysterious figure whose own emotional turmoil mirrors Sakura’s, leading to a rivalry built on both their powers and inner conflicts.

Catchphrase:

"Beauty is the strength we need to protect the world."

War Of The Roses!!!

#playstation7 #deardearestbrands #ps7 #digitalconsole #Sakura Spider arachnid #marvelGames #DearDearestBrands

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accio-victuuri · 2 years ago

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from this article by 1905.com which is a platform under CCTV6 “Infinite Possibilities Not Defined——Impression of Crossover Actor Wang Yibo”

This kind of persistence in love and the core of success through hard work are exactly the themes that the film wants to express, and the character of Chen Shuo fully expresses Wang Yibo's unique spiritual core. Rather than saying that Wang Yibo played Chen Shuo in his true colors, it is better to say that Chen Shuo reflected a certain side of Wang Yibo.

Recently, the movie "One and Only" starring Wang Yibo entered the 700 million club at the box office in just 10 days. Viewers in Tao Piao Piao and Maoyan rated it with an average score of 9.7. The difficult street dance moves he completed in the movie were praised by professional dancers again and again. "Wang Yibo's enthusiastic one-elbow throw is done by himself" became a hot search on the Internet, and the street dance movement suddenly became popular.

"Dancing in any corner of the world is not bad"

"One and Only" is the theme movie of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2022. It is exclusively planned by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee. It uses the new competition event break dance as the carrier. A story that shines on the stage. Director Dapeng said in many interviews that choosing Wang Yibo to play Chen Shuo was the unanimous recommendation of the hip-hop industry.

It was recommended because of Wang Yibo's professionalism in hip-hop and his influence. In the "This Is Street Dance" series of variety shows, his infectious and aesthetic dancing attracted countless audiences and aroused a wave of hip-hop dance among the people. His influence was noticed by the Chinese Dancers Association and awarded him "Ambassador of China's Top Dancers Promotion" ", it can be said that he is expected to play Chen Shuo.

Dapeng said that the screenwriter wrote Chen Shuo according to Wang Yibo, first there was Wang Yibo, and then there was "One and Only". So we can see the shadow of Wang Yibo in Chen Shuo.

Wang Yibo started learning to dance because of his love in the sixth grade of elementary school, and this hobby has continued to this day. On August 3, he said during the Yueyang road show of the "One and Only" crew: "Dancing is my passion, and acting is also my passion. I don't feel tired doing two things I like at the same time."

In order to meet the needs of the plot, he did the dance that he gave up because of injuries when he was a child; for a dance move in the movie, he practiced repeatedly until his leg was injured; in order to achieve the best shooting effect, he repeated every time the filming is complete and danced it completely. He is making progress, and Chen Shuo is also making progress. Finally, in the final scene, Wang Yibo performed all types of hip-hop dance, which made hip-hop lovers feast.

Wang Yibo once said in an interview: "Dancing in any corner of the world is not bad." So we saw in "One and Only" that Chen Shuo danced in subway cars, shopping malls, restaurants, homes, vegetable farms, etc., dancing all the time. We arrived at the final scene of the National Hip-Hop Competition. This kind of persistence in love and the core of success through hard work are exactly the themes that the film wants to express, and the character of Chen Shuo fully expresses Wang Yibo's unique spiritual core. Rather than saying that Wang Yibo played Chen Shuo in his true colors, it is better to say that Chen Shuo reflected a certain side of Wang Yibo.

Huang Bo, who plays Chen Shuo's coach, said that his first impression of Wang Yibo was "handsome and hardworking". Screenwriter Su Biao even admitted that Wang Yibo gave him a lot of creative inspiration. It took Wang Yibo ten years to step by step to shine in front of the public. His own famous experience is an "exclamation mark" worthy of admiration.

“Just stay indifferent"

At the "Moon Rise in the Bay Area" gala jointly held by Hong Kong and mainland China, Wang Yibo sang the theme song of the same name of the movie "Hidden Blade" he starred in. Because he sang so well, some people questioned him for fake singing, and rumors spread. Later, some professionals pointed out that the song itself had overlapping choruses, and Wang Yibo's live singing was perfectly connected with the accompaniment chorus he had recorded in advance. Some people compared the live singing with his original MV, and found that a sound on the scene has been changed. This anti-rumor treatment is the same as he did in a concert in 2019. The rumors are self-defeating.

When questioned about lip-syncing, Wang Yibo himself did not come out to defend himself. Wang Yibo majored in music at Hanlin Art High School in South Korea. When he debuted in 2014, he was the team's rapper and dancer. He won the Best Newcomer of the Year Award at the Cool Music Asia Festival and the Annual Music Award at the Screaming iQiyi Night Awards Ceremony, which shows his singing skills and level. You can tell from watching his stage that he can breathe steadily while dancing and singing, not to mention singing while walking that night.

He has always chosen to respond to his doubts with his works. At the end of 2019, Wang Yibo released his third single "Wugan", which is his first attempt at lyrics creation. "Don't be a puppet that allows others to manipulate your emotions" "No feeling is the best way to fight back" "When the sun goes down and the lights are turned on at night, you can see that the world is not bad" "The road to adversity sees the future and stands up after falling Get up" "Finding the way, Follow the light that you see, be free". Every line of the lyrics expresses his attitude.

In 2021, he released a new song "Twenty". The lyrics read: "I want to re-ignite the fire, only ashes are left in front of my eyes again and again, I am looking for an exit with wounds all over my body, I have tightened the invisible rope again and again, my hands are empty and I have no strength to break free, the wind is so vast above three feet, but there are already bursts of waves in all directions." "stand up thousands of times, stand up to the skyline, stand up to the end, stand up to the infinite future". The song "Twenty" tells the story of pursuing the front again and again without fear of difficulties and finally finding the strength to stand up, as if it is a portrayal of his struggle against fate.

In 2023, at the concert in Macau, he used the song "Twenty" as the background music, and performed a dance called "Exclamation Point" with the original crew of the "E-Mark" dance troupe in the movie "One and Only". The same song, but with music without lyrics and a different dance, adding a new connotation. This brand-new way of expression makes people marvel at his stage again, and also makes people re-examine the song "Twenty" and re-examine the ups and downs Wang Yibo has experienced for so many years.

Recalling this song, he seems to be telling people: Not feeling is the biggest response to doubts, you can't beat me, I will go forward bravely and shine with my works.

"Stay true to yourself, don't please others"

Wang Yibo in 2023, in addition to the release of the three box-office and word-of-mouth films "Hidden Blade", "The King of the Sky" and "One and Only", there are still many occasions where he will be exposed to the public. Whether it is at the airport, on the red carpet, on the stage, watching a show, or in brand activities, his clothing and makeup often become hot topics that the public likes to talk about. Some people say that he is a "walking clothes rack", and some people say that he is a "fashion vane of internal entertainment".

Clothing and beauty brands are very partial to Wang Yibo. Chanel awarded him as a brand image ambassador, and filmed the movie "My Friend" for him to participate in world-class film festivals; Moncler praised him as "Moncler's most handsome spokesperson"; EVISU customized a special car for him; Special guest of the Shu Uemura Beauty Makeup Contest, signed on the same stage with world-class design masters; Pechoin is the exclusive title sponsor of the TV series he starred in; Anta specially designed his favorite color - green shoes and clothing for him...

Why do they love him so much? It may be because of his appearance, or his talent, but more likely because his image and core match the brand's values.

In May of this year, when Wang Yibo attended the Chanel show in Los Angeles, the United States, he talked about the biggest commonality between him and Chanel in an interview. He said bluntly: "Be loyal to yourself and don't please others." Reminiscent of his saying in an interview many years ago: "If you don't like me, just like others", it is similar.

So what is the self he insists on? To use the lines in the movie "One and Ou", it is "you will succeed if you keep working hard", and "if you have no distracting thoughts, you will have everything".

Wang Yibo's talent and intrinsic value are being recognized more and more. In addition to being the "China Top Dancer Promotion Ambassador", he is also officially awarded the "China Skateboard Application Promotion Ambassador" and "China Ice and Snow Sports Promotion Ambassador", etc. Departments and organizations such as public security, transportation, fire protection, tourism, and public welfare have also invited him. Spoke for anti-drug, civilized transportation, fire safety, etc.

He is like a treasure, opening infinite possibilities with a multifaceted life that cannot be defined.

#wang yibo #i love this and how it shows how no matter what people say — yibo’s works speak for itself #all his movie projects are praised for the quality #accio victuuri translation

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hanahaki-disease · 10 months ago

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Basking in the Solace of Regret

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson x DC crossover

Summary:

“You promised,” Percy yelled, hands holding tight to the backpack in his hand. His green eyes held an other worldly glow to them, a subtle light that was washed out in the warm light of the manor. The fresh tears that streamed down his cheeks reflected the manor light as well, but they went unnoticed by the older man. His back faced the child, one hand digging it’s nails into the hardwood railing of the stairs, the other fisted at his side. “You promised me you wouldn’t hurt us! Would hurt him! You’re a liar!”

CW: child loss & mourning, implied emotional meglect

To further your reading experience, go and read “Time Goes By So Slowly” in “Beyond the Farthest Reaches” before starting this one!

***********************************

Percy stared at the headstone but it didn’t seem real. How-How could it be real? It didn’t make sense. But here he was. Standing beside Bruce under the umbrella as the rain poured over them, making the ground beneath them squelch and the dirt beneath their feet stain their polished shoes. It thudded against the dark oak of the casket, hitting the flowers and made them dance. They shouldn’t be dancing.

He stared blankly at his bro—at Jason—at the casket as they lowered it. Bruce’s hand on his shoulder the only thing keeping him standing. His hands holding tight to him, as if Percy would disappear if he let go.

And Percy felt like he was. His big brother was dead. He was six feet underground, locked underneath oak and dirt, in a suit that’d he’d never wear. Curly hair styled completely wrong and still, so still. Jason was never still. He was always bouncing up and down, running the training course, climbing the trees in the backyard; Jason was like Percy and Percy couldn’t sit still.

And yet, his big brother was lying peacefully in his casket. The dirt covering him like a blanket for the final time. And Percy couldn’t hold back the tears when the last of the dirt was placed at top him.

He screamed and cried against Bruce’s arms as he tried to be led back to the manor. His arms wrapping around Percy’s middle, lifting him up when he kicked, holding Percy’s arms down when he punched and thrashed.

The ground rumbled beneath Gotham that night. It shook the city in threatening rumbles. Clanking glass and shifting the concrete skyscrapers. The water in the bay thrashed against the harbor, flooded the piers and nearly sunk the docked ships.

News casters around the world commented on the storms that plagued the seas. How the waves reached unpresented heights and the hurricanes that threatened to touch down. The sailors who held tight to their vessels and prayed to the old seafaring gods to stop the storms.

It didn’t stop for a while. The ground would shake every now and then, and the tides would rise dangerously fast, but who could blame them? A father and brother lost a loved one. It was only understandable that they coped with the loss.

“It’s your fault!” Percy yelled not even two months later, the summer creeping closer and Jason’s birthday soon after. He hadn’t even made it to sixteen, a few months shy but now he’ll never see the day. “You didn’t trust him! You’ve never trusted him!”

The youngest Wayne had been fed up with Bruce’s actions. How he seemed to retreat into himself, fingers inches away from a bottle and on edge every time Percy walked into the room. And he isn’t stupid, he knows that Bruce loved Jason more than he loved Percy, but it made him angry when Bruce brushed him off. Made him feel as if he was a barnacle stubbornly stuck to the bottom of the ship, one he couldn’t pry off no matter how hard he tried.

And he acted like he was the only one grieving. Like Bruce was the only one to have loved Jason and that Percy could never understand. But it was Bruce who didn’t because Percy was his brother, they came form the same mother, the same father (even if they never knew who he was.) The same blood that ran through Percy was the same that had run through Jason, and yet, standing in the foyer of the manor – the place he had thought he could call home – Bruce had looked at Percy as if he wasn’t his son.

Bruce didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge his youngest in anyway, shape, or form. It made Percy angrier at him. “Look at me! Look at me and tell me you’re a liar!” But he didn’t. He stood firm in his position, head tilted downwards and jaw tight.

“Did you even want me, or did you just want Jason?” Percy wiped his tears on his sleeves. “Was I just the extra you didn’t want? The child you had to take because Jason wouldn’t go without me? Answer me!” But Bruce stayed silent.

Fine by him! See if Percy cares, he was going to run away anyway. Disappear in the streets of New York when they went to their end of year field trip to the met. Maybe he’ll end up like Dick, settling across the country to be away from Bruce, because all their fights made sense now. All those screaming matches in the cave, their voice barreling down the manor halls like bullets – Percy gets it now. He just wished Dick was home, maybe Percy could have gone to live with him in Jump city with the Titans. But he wasn’t there though, he was up in space on a mission and wouldn’t be back till July and it made Percy’s heart sink. Knowing that his oldest brother, now only brother, was still blissfully unaware of the missing member in their ranks.

All because Bruce was too much of a coward to tell him.

He hoped the trip to the Met would clear his head, or give him whatever semblance of normalcy that came from a regular middle school field trip. He just wished that Tim was here with him, but he had to stay behind to go to an important gala with his parents. The news of Jason’s death hit him just as hard as it did Percy. Jason was his Robin, he was the reason Tim snuck out to take pictures and it was how they met. And it was no secret that Tim thought of Jason as an older brother figure because how close he was to Percy.

It wasn’t all bad though, Percy had Grover with him, and they got along just fine too. Grover transferred to Gotham Academy at the beginning of the new year, slotting in with all the weird kids that didn’t fit the societal norm of the upper crust of Gotham. Percy was one of those kids. And he will admit, Grover was a bit strange. He had a leg condition, so he walked every where with a limp and crutches, and whenever he got too spooked he’d freeze up like a goat. But other than that, Percy, Tim, and Grover made an interesting little trio in the halls of Gotham Academy.

The field trip was going alright, if Percy had to be honest. Mr Brunner was making it more interesting than it should be, talking more in depth about all the exhibits in the Greek mythology section. And Percy found it all fascinating, soaking up the knowledge like a sponge. He was so absorbed in the stele of the girl that he didn’t know that the group moved on without him. It wasn’t his fault that he could kind of understand what was written on it! Wasn’t it?

He didn’t think it was suspicious when the substitute algebra teacher pulled him from the stele to head back to the class. Didn’t think it was strange that they were going in a different direction. Didn’t realize he was in danger till she transformed into a manbat, demanding Percy to give her the “lightening bolt” or whatever that meant.

He used his legs to kick off her when her talon-feet grasped at his shoulders, lifting him into the air. It was a hard drop onto marble floors but he didn’t have time to catch his breath. Her claws scratched at the floor where he once was as he rolled out of the way. Percy didn’t have any weapons on him, and his panic button was in his (now) shredded backpack across the room.

Percy debated on weather he should even use the panic button, would Bruce get here in time if he pressed it? Would he even care that his youngest son was calling for help? Did Bruce even think of him as a son in the first place? He couldn’t get to his panic button if he wanted to and the ache rattling in his lungs kept him from calling out for Superman. He had never seen a manbat like this before, none of Bruce’s files mentioned them being intelligent enough for conversation, they were never sentient enough to think on their own. But this one yelled and screamed at him, it attacked and demanded he give it something Percy had no clue what it was.

He heard his name being called out to the side and the glint of something bronze in the air. He grabbed it without thinking, feeling the smooth pen shift and grow till he held a three-foot long bronze sword. It reminded him of the ones Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl had. A leather handle attached to a polished bronze hilt, the word “Riptide” embossed in the metal, written in Ancient Greek he couldn’t believe he could read. The blade curved in a leaf shape towards the top, wide and well balanced in his hand and he swung back. The air splitting from the sharp edge and making a woosh sound as he attacked.

The manbat erupted in a shower of golden dust, melting into the marble after a few seconds, but sticking in his hair and clothes. “It is not safe for you, Percy,” Mr Brunner said, Grover beside him, crutches held in one hand. “We must take you somewhere safe.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, but I’m not going back to Gotham.” He demanded missing the way the older man’s eyes twinkled and the giddy smirk on his friends’ face.

***********************************

Happy birthday to Jason Todd!!! He’s dead now!!🎊🎉

This is one of the worst bday presents but oh well

To further your reading experience, go and read “The Real Reason” in “Beyond the Farthest Reaches” !!

Edit: fixed some formatting that I had missed when I copied and pasted on here

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#percy jackon and the olympians #dc comics #pjo x dc #percy jackson #bruce wayne #percy jackson fanfiction #batman fanfiction #jason’s death #Percy is not doing so good in this tbh #angst

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brightlotusmoon · 6 months ago

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this gon sound so weirdddd but i know u get it lol, whats a good fic to read HIGH?????? 😂 i had half a blunt for my TMJ and now i just wanna chill and reeaaaddd trippy scenes

I dunno. Mine?

No, really, I've been collaborating with @remmushound on a TMNT Rise/Bay crossover for literally years, and at this point we're at like ninety chapters and nowhere near done. A lot of it was written while I was high. At least the stuff past 2021. The characters are medical stoners.

What other trippy fics are out there?

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gothbikerfetus1978 · 2 years ago

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the donatellos crossover

took 5 hours to complete thise 💔 drawing bay donnie was hell

text reads:

Rise!Donne: Lets go little me! Today we will commit crimes!

MM!Donnie: hooray

Bay!Donatello: NO!!

2012!Donnie: (wants to go with them)

2007!Donnie: I hope this will be quick, I have a job. (forced to go)

2003!Don: Don’t worry about that little donnie, we have to get mini don away from evil donatello or else the Leonardos will yell at us!

⬇️ Close ups on the Dons

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rottmnt-hc · 1 year ago

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ETB UPDATE GUYS!

#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt fandom #tmnt #owl imagines #rottmnt #owl writes #crossover?#tmnt bayverse #ETB #entering the bay

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curiousaur · 2 years ago

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my dash just pitched a crossover...

rise donnie: so when we get our hands on the uranium supply— bay leo: no rise donnie: with just one laser-based enrichment process— bay leo: no rise donnie: forget going scorched earth, even mars would— bay leo: n o rise donnie: you never let me ✨shine✨

#bay leo stays his bros' biggest enemy #tmnt 2018 #tmnt 2014 #rottmnt #rottmnt donnie #bayverse leo #tmnt

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beanieable · 2 years ago

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After watching Mutant Mayhem, my dumbass wants to do a big crossover of at least 4 TMNT version.

I’ve seen similar ones to what Id like to do. The brothers of different iterations get mixed up, one from each version.

I’m thinking about doing something like that.

The versions would be:

ROTTMNT

TMNT 2012

TMNT Mutant Mayhem

TMNT Bayverse Movies

You might be asking, why the bay movies? There’s not nearly enough crossover with them, and it’d be funny for Rise Raph to meet turtles taller than him.

For now it’s just an idea.

#rottmnt #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #tmnt bayverse #tmnt mm #teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem #mutant mayhem #crossover #tmnt mixup au

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popculturebuffet · 2 years ago

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review and Analysis: This Films What Makes Me Feel Alright

Hello all you happy turtles! It's time to grab some pizza and party sized cool ranch doritos and pull your old high school sketchbooks out of some ancient backback in your closet, it's time to talk TMNT: Mutant Mayhem. As a massive TMNT nerd who was beyond hyped for this film coming from the powerhouses of both Point Grey Pictures and one jeff rowe, how did the film stack up? How did it spin kick on it's own? And why did they think Bebop nipple piercings were a good idea? All this and more under the cut, with FULL SPOILERS so if you haven't seen the film, you've been warned.

A New Coat of Ooze: Mutant Mayhem's story of how it came to be is oddly familiar: a massive movie company who has an iconic IP has no idea how to use said IP on it's own, and taps creators who have had some recent noticable and well loved succeses to make them a hit.

If that sounds familiar.. it really should as it was sony's creative desperation to get something spider-man centric only they would get profit from out that lead to Into the Spider verse and i'ts sequel. So it's funny and endearing to me that a film that wouldn't of gotten away with it's utterly unique and grungy art style without spider-verse.. happened for pretty much the exact same reasons.

Like with spidey, Paramount.. really didn't know what to do with TMNT for a while. And it's weird because when they first aquired the heroes in a halfshell from mirage, they had a pretty solid plan: the 2012 show, while messy as it went on, started out really promising and was a huge hit. The IDW comics prior to it were a massive hit for the company and are STILL around today, having outlasted other long term idw liscenses like transformers and having kept a consistent continuity for a decade while also leaving room for crossovers with ghostbusters, the mighty morphin power rangers, the goddamn batman and now street fighter.

So what went wrong? Simple.. they tried WAY too hard to mimic the transformers formula with their theatrical film, Ninja Turtles, not only not getting that audiences were tired of "Micheal Bay makes a weirdly sexual comedy about your childhood and it may have robots", but what really made the franchise work. The sequel from what i hear is slightly better but it just wasn't enoguh. Not helping is they quickly lost their shit on the tv front, as after the 2012 series concluded, they launched the creative, hilarious, and gorgeous Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.. which proceded to last only two seasons because it wasn't an instant hit, aka the same issue most nick shows fell into, not helped by the fact that Nick also seemed to pick up Cartoon Network's bad habit of hating action shows. We DID at least get a really good Rise film that gave the series a nice epilogue, but it's still sad it sputtered out so fast.

So Paramount turned to something they really weren't using.. their film animatoin department.

Paramount Pictures Animation is neat to look into as it had a steep rise.. then fell right off a cliff. It was a bit spottier at first, producing two of the charlie brown films, Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And don't come back) and my beloved Race for Your Life Charlie Brown... mostly for this theme song.. okay ENTIRELY for the theme song.

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And scattered experiments like Cool World, which was so good Ralph Bakshi punched a man over what they'd done to his idea, Bebe's Kids, and Beavis and Butthead Do America.

It wasn't till the late 90's and the nick boom they really started seeing success with the rugrats movies, jimmy neutron, spongebob and even the failures like Hey Arnold and Wild Thronberries were still neat. And yes i'd like to talk about any and all of these films at some point, they made up my childhood etc etc.

Eventually they got a cushy partneriship with dreamworks, still releasing the ocasional original effort like Rango, Barnyard and TinTin (The last of which I WILL be covering next august, I simply didnt' have room in pirate month this year. Once dreamworks left.. it seemed like Paramount genuinely had no clue what to do with the animation divsion. We had things like Sherlock Gnomes or Wonder Park, and the ocasoinal spongebob movies but it's clear that with Nick constantly cutting itself off at the knees they had no idea what to do. The closest they got was the turdtastic loud house movie and the totally awesome Rise of the TMNT films on netflix, but they just had no idea what they were doing. I mean it's telling that their trying to get extra paw patrol tickets by promiting a double feature with saw X. I.. I wish that was just some stupid joke I made as it's comedy gold. Eventually they came across an idea: Stay the course in focusiong on ips they own.. but bring in someone who knows what their doing to create something truly jawdropping.

So for Mayhem Parmount brought in two proven successes. The first were producers Point Grey Pictures, helmed by friends, writing partners and permenant teenagers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Rogen has made quite the name for himself as a producer. While Point Grey started as mainly a way for Rogen to produce comedies starring himself and a pre-outing as a sex monster james franco, over time Rogen has proven to be REALLY good at making adaptations, with point grey having had a hand in both the Boys, which I haven't seen but seems to be a MASSIVE improvment over the original comics , which isn't hard but it's still nice they tried, and Invincible, one of the best superhero shows PERIOD and a fantastic adaptation that changes what needed it, moves around pieces and ultimatley creates something really special. So tapping him to adapt a big property like this was a no brainer. He even had animation experince thanks to Sony Pictures Sauage party and while this was Point Grey's first family production, it's clear it wasn't too hard for Rogen to adapt. As for their director they picked a hell of one: Jeff Rowe. For those not familar with him Rowe helmed the Mitchells vs the Machines, sony's first post spider-verse success and the film that helped codify the 2d on 3d style that spider-verse made popular and peanuts pioneered. And it was clearly just ont hes trength of word of mouth alone as Rowe went right from machines to mayhem and only got better. From interviews, the two worked really well together: Rogen was hands on but didn't make the mistakes lord did of being way TOO hands on, simply pitching neat ideas, adding to the film and clearly being heavily involved, while still letting Rowe steer the ship. Rowe in turn learned to have a good work life ballance and give his employees one, preventing the kind of nightmarish working conditions present on other flims such as, sadly, Across the Spider-Verse.

For the direction of the film Rowe was a fan of the franchise as a kid, specifically the toys. He recalled a really sweet story about he and his dad spent a saturday trying to find Tokka and Rahzar and really loved the toys designs and uniquely grungy astetic. As such Rowe really didn't lean into or heavily research the rest of the franchise. Which set off my alarm bells when I read it in a review close to release: after all a LOT of bad adaptations come out of the person adapting it not giving one iota of a shit about the source material. Eventually though I realized I was .. over panicking. What jeff meant was more "I don't want to be overly reverent to the material and see what we can do on our own with the basic concept' rather than "THE TURTLES ARE GOD YOU FOOLS GODS. GODS I SAY!". There are still little nods in there and bits taken from other series; There's a mention of the turtles taking in a knicks game (something that happened in out of the shadows), April's design borrows heavily from her design from Rise while still being unique, Donnie has glasses like the bay movies, there apparently was a miyamoto usagi sticker on a notebook (thanks tv tropes for noticing), and there's a TON of refrences to the 87 continuity as it's clearly the one rowe knew best. And while I do get a LITTLE tired of that being the one continuity most creators seem to lean on the most, I don't hate it and plan to binge the whole giant thing soon I just feel there's a LOT more turtles to pull from, paticuarlly the idw comics, the nods are neat stuff like them having their belts form that series, the various obscure mutants. The Ninja Rap even shows up. Rowe and Rogen clearly love them some turtles.. they just wanted to do something new with it and I completely love and respect that. The biggest swing and the one that's paid off the most was leaning on the teenage aspect. Rowe and Rogan were baffled that no other version of the franchise had done the obvious: Have actual teens voice the turtles. There are reasons for that: For the various tv shows it's simply easier to know the va's wont' age out of the roll, and to the 2012 and rise series credits, they both still tried to make the turtles feel younger and had va's that still made them sound sorta like teens, paticuarlly rise... but it's not at all a bad concept and i'm shocked it took this long for someone to try it.

Another aspect was having the boys all record in one booth. Rogen had the idea.. but Rowe had to explain that it'd be a sound mixing nightmare.. but eventually agreed to it when they tested it out and he saw how much having the four actors playing the turtles riffed off each other and just how much material they got out of the boys adlibs. It adds a natural feeling to the boys conversations: it feels like four teens riffing who just happen to be turtles. It was indeed an audio nightmare.. but the nightmare was worth it and Rowe was greatful and apologetic to his sound crew.

The final bit was simply taking from teen movies, the film even outright has the boys watch Feris Buller's Day Off, which gives me one of my faviorite lines in the film, courtesy of Raph: "Being in high school means you can hyjack a parade whenever you want. "

There's more to get into as we go but with the film opening decently and paramount being so confident in the film pre-release they announced a two season tv show and a sequel, the future looks bright for the green machines. So now we've seen how the pizza gets made let's see how it came out

Perfectly Sketchy: Rogen and Rowe's "Teenage Energy" philosphy went into the design. Rowe wanted to find a unique look for the film, but it was a bit of a puzzler at first: There's SO many incarnations of the tmnt, which one do you pick for this? Do you go with the mirage comics, the 87 cartoon? 2003? the next mutation if you huffed some paint? In the end Rowe decided

Instead he made a brilliant decision: if the film was going to feel teenagery, then why not have it look like the sketches teenagers make in their notebooks? It's an idea that just oozes brilliance and still fits the franchises history like a razor decked claw glove. Part of what made the early comics stand out was it's sketchy, frank miller-esque style, and the toys stood out for largely echoing that as much as you could in three dimensions at the time. So it still fit.. but did something entirley new with it. As as a result the film has a look that simply nothing else has: porportions on most things are off, the backgrounds arne't hugely detailed , did you when you were a teen?, but still pop gloriously, and the characters all have SOMETHING that would be off model anywhere else. One of the thugs in the turtles first act of vigilnate justice, for instanc,e has a weirdly crooked head with indents. It's a look that's perfectly stylitic, fits the series history, and it's a kind of weird that perfectly complintes a series that was already having our heroes fight space dinosaurs by the third issue. I especially love how the shurikens are not even yet still throw perfectly and Mikey's hey arnold head. It's a look that pops with creativity and the crew really took to playing with. It's a style that will, much like spider-verse lead to this, undoubtly lead to more unique swings and I cannot wait to see what people come up with as a result

Protecting a World that Hates and Fears Them

The film's core comes from a rather genius decision to simply pick apart a key part of the franchise... the fact Splinter keeps the boys isolated from humanity for most of their lives and encourages them to stay hidden. Now credit where it's due some continuties justify it well enough: sometimes splinters hiding from shredder, or already had a sweet rent free sewer apartment he set up for no reason, trying to find his lost son and complete his family while avoiding a mutated alley cat or simply was waiting till the boys could defend themselves. They often have a lot of enemies... but even that shouldn't mean they can't get an education or have friends. April and Casey stick by them no matter what. They should be able to at least try for a normal life or the idea of them WANTING more than hidnig all the time should really come up more. The only ones that have really tapped into this are the IDW continuity which is just now having the boys integrate post armageddong game, out of the shadows which from what i've read has a throughly intresting subplot about the boys wanting to become human and leos' resistance to the idea (which also makes him come off as a bit of a jackass honestly as it's not his choice and "We're turtles end of story" is not an excuse). We've had the turtles say move into an apartment but this is the first to just flat out ask: why CANT the boys at least try to live with humanity instead of under them? And if so why did splinter keep them apart?

It's part of what really grounds the boys in this incarnation and makes them feel so damn real. The other of course was the decision to have actual teens play them and riff off each other. We get them making unteiotnally douchey digs at each other, such as the other three mocking Leo attempting a batman voice, casually talk about how they'd like to meet drake or have brunch with tom brady, which leo no you can do better man, or do some goofy shit while april marvels at their stupidity.. and then double down when told it might make people like them less. By making the biggest attempt so far to make the turtles FEEL like teens instead of young adults, an evolution the franchise has been undergoing since the 2012 cartoon and honestly reaches it's apex here, it makes us feel for them that much more; These are just kids who simply want to be loved and accepted, like any teenager. That awkwardness, wanting to fit in, wanting to simply belong.. it's one of the most painful parts of a teen and transplanting that to the tutles wa sa brilliant move. One of the earliest scenes is what sells this the most: the boys going to see Ferris Buller's Day off.. and just wondering what it'd be like to be normal. That lost shot of them sadly returning to the sewer... looking on screen at something they only wish they could have... it's so heartbreakingly beautiful.

The reasons WHY Splitner restricts their time in the outside world and refers to humans as "the demon scum of the earth. They lust to destroy that which is diffrent than them"

Giving Splinter a deep fear of humans is a brilliant move. It's something that really coudln't be done in most incarnations as he's been the pet of a martial arts master who treated him well, said martial arts master living in a sweet sewer apartment after being clumsily blamed for murder, got reincarnated as a rat after dying in ancient japan, a martial arts master who turned his back on his heritage because his clan let his family die, became a movie star, fucked a spider lady, had said spider lady put him in gladatorial games, then got depressed after becoming a rat but gladly adopted his sons. Here they strip that away and we're left with a splinter who was just a rat who was yelled at by other animals, shooed by humans just for trying to survivie and whose only friend was a cockroach.. who he ended up eating after humanity killed the poor guy. Finding the boys also abandoned in the sewers and covered in ooze, as oozual, not only made him into a rat man.. but also gave him the one thing he never had: a family. We also get a REALLY adorable montage set to de la soul's eye know that makes me REALLY glad the copy right hurdles around them are gone so we don't have another spider-man no way home situation because the song both slaps and has a nice soothing tone that really fits. We'll get more into the music on i'ts own later, I just really love this montage.

It also makes what follows..

We see that Splinter GENUINELY tried to go out into the world.. and the result was humanity throwing things at him despite carrying 4 small children and said children nearly being hit by a car. It's a really unsettling sequence. While yeah everyone going "rat man" and throwing things is a bit on the nose... given how a LOT of humanity acts to LBGTIQ+ persons, People of color, diffrent religions I could go on but i'm depressed enough as is, it's not really that much of a stretch that they'd throw things at a rat just trying to show his sons the world. It reminds me a LOT of the x-men and it's honestly weird to me that the othe rbiggest mutant franchise int he world HADN'T taken a page from them sooner.

It gives the film nuance: Splinter IS objectively prejudiced, leo even says so directly, but you can see how those prejudices formed and why he's so terrified for his own kids. He's worried a world that hates and fears them will also hate and milk them.. a runner that while awkwardly phrased, I don't think Seth or Jeff have heard of the term milking before, is hilarious, especially the usual refrain of "we don't even have nipples. " He just wants them safe and happy and you can tell he really does love them. He taught them the martial arts to protect them.. and the how is also really clever and a really fun idae: instead of "I learned it from a book" Or "I happened to be owned by a ninja master" or "I was reincarnated" we instead get him teaching them.. via martial arts films, instuctional videos, and the ocasional youtube thing. I love it because it honestly makes way more sense than it should as shown in the animation: splinter watched the films, learned the movements himself and then taught the boys. It's also a nice bit of meta text as Jackie Chan himself is a practicing martial artist who makes martial arts films and did his own stunts. One of his films is apparently even in the montage. It's one of my faaviorite takes of the film.

One of my faviorite scenes is Splinter's biggest pet the dog moment: the pizzza party. Splinter brings in a bunch of pizza hut pizzas

It's neat because it both clearly misses the point, Splinter really dosen't seem to get that simply bringing down a bunch of pizzas to have a human style prom and having kelvin captain kirk cutout won't fill the void inside. I mean I could think of a lot of uses for a chris pine cutout, i'm not saying it's a bad gift and it's sweet he's trying SO HARD to get his boys to open up and Jackie Chan just nails the dad energy on this one. It's just clear that they don't want to stay there there whole lives as safe as that is.

What brings it to it's head is one of the films more brilliant decisions. Originally, while I haven't found many specifics the film had other antagonists: Baxter Stockman was originally the boys teacher (they went to school during the course of this film in this draft) and became the fly again, while Shredder was TCRI"s heavy in earlier drafts. Both were nixed, the former likely due to abandoing the school plot and the latter for the entirely on the mark decision that it was just too much. Shredder.. is THE arch enemy to the turtles. The one constant in every universe. So it makes way more sense to save him for a sequel and let someone else take the reigns. As Rowe has teased Shredder's going to be a bit of a wakeup call: just as the boys think they have it figured out .. in comes shredder to kick their asses. Which really has happened A LOT across the franchise, with it being a regular tradition that the shredder beats the shit out of the turtles the first time they fight. Even in IDW where they do rally and turn the fight on it's head.. he still easily handles them all one on one before they rally as a team. It makes sense to save their ultimate test for a sequel while still giving them one hell of a trial by fire

Instead we got Superfly, who better fit into the fantastic racisim narritive. If the boys want to get love and acceptance by fighting for a world that hates and fears them x-men style.. it only makes sense they have a magneto on that other end.

Like Magneto Superfly has a tragic backstory behind his hatred of mankind.. Superfly was the creation of Baxter Stockman and what they did with Baxter both completely floored me.. and drove me to tears. Instead of what he is normally, either a put upon target coerced into villany who strikes back at both the turtles and those who wronged him, or a narcsitic monster who will gladly do whatever he wants and kill anyone in his way, here... Baxter is just a deeply lonely old man who just wants a family. At worst he steals from TCRI.. but given we see their a horrifying company who wants the mutants as weapons and will gladly torture teenagers for a buck, it's not hard to side with him. It's really nice ot see a heroic baxter.. and sad to see him go so quickly.

It puts Superfly's hatred in perspective: like splinter he saw just what huamanity does and how his kind is treated and grew up having to raise his younger siblings. Like Splinter he seems to really love them. And like splinter his attempt to take his siblings topside.. went horribly wrong with them being chased by an angry mob for just..c oming to a snack bar. But it's right after that we get the clear diffrence: Splinter just ran in fear and while he trained the boys ot protect themselves, he just wants a line between himself and humanity. Superfly.. wants them all to pay. He wants to mutate the world that killed his dad and drove him and his siblings into hiding. The only way they can be accepted.. is if humanity is mostly gone and what's left are enslaved.

IT's that sadistic streak that ultimately defines him as a villian: the turtles just want to be accepted, splinter just wants to be loved, the rest of the mutant "cousins" just want a home and have been indocrinated and browbeaten into thinking there isn't another way. Superfly.. wants things his way: he wants blood, he wants revenge and if anyone stands in his way no matter their age or being his family he will kill them. It's that anger inside that makes him a true monster.

And that extends to his own family. Superfly's an abusive parent to Splinters flawed but loving one: The rest of the mutants turn stone quiet when he subtly/notsubtly threatens the turtles if they happen to disagree, and during the chase not only are they all desperate to get the thing back but Wingnut in paticular gets the most telling line

Wingnut: Superfly's almost here and he's not going to be as nice about this! Leo: You're not being nice! Wingnut: He'll be less nice!!

While the other mutants SEEM jazzed during the bowling alley scene, it's very clear later none of them were that enthused about the idea. Both sets are afraid to speak to their parental figure.. but the diffrence is clear in motion: the boys hide from splinter because they know he'll say no, it's a standard teenage thing and as seen with the pizza party when Splinter finds the various knick knacks they've picked up on their heroic journey, his response is to try to bring the surface to the sewer. It's awkward as hell and dosen't remotely work.. but it's still a sweet gesture and you still feel bad for him when the boys quickly leave to finish their half assed plan. Splinter ultimately wants what's best for his kids and even if he's not always right in carrying that out, I never doubted he actually loved his children.

This all brillantly comes to a head towards the end: While Splinter plans to just.. isolate the turtles after their nearly milked, the one time he seems GENUINELY angry the whole film, he still wants to save April, the one good human, who warned him the boys were in danger in the first place.

This leads to a touching bit in itself: the boys COULD fight the other mutants, their trying to do a genocide after all.. but instead the boys.. just talk them down. I mean i'm used to this kinda thing by now, most animation these days is about forgivness, but it still works: earlier when meeting each other the turtles gladly bonded with their cousins, who i'll talk about in more detail later: Mondo and Mikey were both chill, raph finally found some people who liked to hit stuff, presumibly while blasting Limp Bisikit, it was really sweet. THeir relutance to stop them added a nice dimension to things: they UNDOUBTLY want to stop superfly's plan.. but they genuinely like their cousins and see them as good people in a bad situation. Likewise the cousins are utterly destraught at the fight afterwords and miss the turtles. These are simply at the end of the day teens 20 somethings and whatever scumbug is who just wanted to not be chased iwth torches.

So it's utterly heartwarming when the turtles and splinter simply offer their home. They may not have humanity.. but they'd have each other. It's also YET ANOTHER idea that seems obvious in retrospect but most turtle series never really thought of: why.. can't other mutants stay with them? They usually order suplies and stuff descretley anyway or in this case take them out of nescsity, if they can afford pizza for 5 people reguarly, why NOT let other smove in. I mean I get it meta wise, you dont' want to overcrowd things. But it's a nice thought i'm glad gets realized: that the boys aren't alone and now have a whole new family to lean on.

And of course Superfly can't take that. To him there's only one way to go: never stop making them pay. I'll also say I like just how poweful superfly is: he's got strength inunerablity, and super smarts, which I thought was a nice touch. I assumed he woudln't have baxter's intellegence and I'm glad to be wrong. He's only stopped and only then breifly by sheer numbers.

What follows is a LITTLE on the nose, with superfly just.... saying outight he and splinter aren't so diffrent, down to both having said "You'll be safe if you just LISTEN TO ME".

That part.. dosen't quite work for me. What does work is the animation on splinter during the struggle between everyone else and superfly.. the dawning realization of what he is as Superfly states the obvious and his determination as soon as Superfly says "the diffrence is i'm not a punk". Superfly just wants to get revenge on a world that hates and fears him.. Splinter just wants his sons to be happy. And he finally realizes that even if there's a lot of risk involved, they DESERVE to live out there with everyone else. There is something better than hiding or murder.

I also like how Superfly.. drops the pretense: once his plans done he just goes on a massive kaiju attack: I also like how fucking horrific his form is: the whale part's a bit goofy at first.. but then you see how much STRENGTH that gives him as he destroys it. Even if we get the ocasional joke (I didn't need that horse is gold), for the finale Superfly is just a nightmarish, imposing threat that threatnes to run our heroes lives and also maybe end them. The glee he takes in crushing the boys alive... it's fucking terrifying.

I also love the bit of the boys panning... seeing all the destruction.. and seeing the media blame them too. Their trying to HELP people.. and get blamed. I'd suggest moving to krakoa but a lo tof shit has went down and living with one old man full of fear and regret is what started this whole caper. And the boys.. fight on anyway because it's the right thing to do. Despite all the hate... someone has to stop superfly. And in doing so.. April makes sure they get the glory and praise they deserve anyway.

Finally I love splinter's turnaround right before the final fight... where he admits he was wrong.. but hasn't FULLY turned around on humans. He's simply realized he can't let his baggage with humanity weigh down his sons. And it pays off brilliantly during the time square fight, as when Splinter is downed.. someone helps him up. And what I love is that while it COULD just be someone who saw April's newscast clearing the turtles and other mutants.. it's left ambgious. As far as we know it was just a nice guy and gal helping an old man up regardless of if he was a giant rat or not. It dosen't paper over all the films flaws with the rat man mob scene but it does help quite a bit.

The film brillantly tackles prejudice and I like how unlike most films.. there's no easy answers. Our boys have to do something big and loud to get accepted and it's not guaranteed to shield them, as seen with the stingers. THey find friends , activites and get what they want.. but it's likely not the end.. but that's okay. The important thing is for the first time the turtles are out of the shadows and into the sun. And it suits them. Seriously this last twist was brilliant and i'm shocked it took a tmnt this long to just.. let them be public since 87, and since media has evolved, it means when we get to the series we can actually explore what that means: how will they adapt? will everyone accept them? will april realize Leo is into her and it wasn't just a friend thing? there's a lot of questions I can't wait to be answered.

Change is Constant

I didn't have a good segway so.. CHARACTERS! MY WHEELHOUSE. LET'S GO.

Starting with the boys, their more of a package deal here. They still have unique deisgns, takes on the cores of their personalities, all you'd expect from a good tmnt adaptation.

What changes it up a bit is the recording together: while most sets of turtles have great chemistry, this one.. really feels like their brothers thanks to the shared recording: they talk over one another, dunk on each other and goof around. This has always been a thing, and part of the franchises charm, but how they do it here feels more real, helped by the fact they clearly took some adlibs in. Both the BTS bit where they try to comfort Donnie only to both mangle the lyrics and writhe in pain and the bit with the new york accents both sound like the boys just started riffing on the prompt given, didn't stop and they rolled with it because it was comedy gold. It also means a LOT more pop culture refrences.. but it works. It dosen't feel like too much

Admitely I don't know how current the refrences are to ACTUAL teens, but they work well enough and don't feel like their horribly date the film. Plus it'd be.. weird to have a turtles work that didn't reflect it's era in some way, as all 4 cartoons and most films and comics reflect their time either in writing or in the general vibe.

The downside to this is the turtles indvidual personalities, while present.. get kinda underplayed. Leo and Raph make it out fine enough: After the radience that was Rise Leo and ben schwartz being at his peak slacker doofus (while also still being badass), we're back to Leo being Teachers Pet. But thankfully like the 2012 film they play with it: like that Leo his brother's don't really respect him as a leader, but rather than the usual raph snarling at him like wolverine, here it's more just their his brothers, they woudln't respect him anyway and benig their dad's mouthpiece just makes them ignore him harder. He's the dutiful son but he's simply outnumbered. Raph dosen't get a ton of spotlight, but gets enough to be a fun little murder baby and probably my faviorite of the 4. Instead of the usual brooding loner, sometimes ultra violent sometimes just sassy, often both, here he's more an obnoxious older brother who picks on leo the most, is happy to do dangerous stunts and badly needs therapy. He's essentially Reese from malcom in the middle as a ninja turtle. He still loves his brothers and loves a good scrap, but he's got some issues to adress.

Mikey and Donnie likewise aren't bad but kinda one note: Mikey gets it the worst: he's a bit goofy.. but since they ALL are this incarnation it dosen't stand out as much. He gets some nice bits and one hell of a impariment shot, but not much else.

Donnie fairs better, but suffers from the unintended consequences of a good choice. As part of grounding things a bit, Donnie isn't a super genius. He's just a snarky little otaku who does really like tech, but on the resonable level of a teenage boy. As a result he dosen't get as much to do as most donnies as he's not hotwiring shit as often or making super lasers. It works for me, it's intresting to have a donnie whose just a normal kid who happens to be really nerdy, but it means plotwise he dosen't have as much to do as Raph as the ringleader to the boys mischief or Leo as the leader of the band during hero stuff. I get why: they only had a hundred minutes and it's remarkable they crammed as much in as they did, but it's something I really hope the series can course correct. I don't mind the boys riffing and hope it continues, but I also hope we get them more as their own people too.

As a final note I love Leo's crush on April. IT feels like a better realized version of the Donnie one from 2012. Instead of waffling over wether april notices or just dosen't want to turn him down which..

And then having it go from cute to "spiraling obessive dickhole", here April notices something's weird, but is clearly more intrested in the "giant talking turtles who can help my rep" thing and thus dosen't really pry. It only REALLY crosses into that at the end when he transparently asks her out.. and she waits till prom to ask "wait this is a friend thing right". But that could be nerves or her being just as scared of her feelings as he is with his. It also helps that while he's intrested in april romantically the two do bond: out of the four he' sthe most empathetic at her barf reputation, priortizes her not out of his crush but because she asked for their help and later works with her at her club. It's still somethign the series could work on, but for "a way to both mine jokes and get leo to go against his dad's wise council" it works fine. It's better than "how dare you ruin my ship you bastards" and "Mikey stop being a sex creep. "

So moving on to April herself, I mostly like this version. She's the third time this franchise has gone with a teen april and the third to have her POC. I've liked the turn to teen april as instead of being a big sister to the turtles, and essentially another authority figure when they already have their dad, she's on their level and it opens up fresh possiblities. Mayhem is the first with this take on april to have her be a reporter again, and it's honestly nice to see that work at a school level, having her TRIED to be on their equivleant of channel one.. and end up puking. And i'm not a barf joke man but walking back into the theater after a bathroom break to see her ralphing to "UnwritteN" may be one of my faviorite cinema moments of 2023, up there with walking back into Barbie to find she and ken now had cowboy outfits they'd apparently stolen.

I also love how it gives her a personal stake: she just wants to be loved same as the turtles and like them realizes this isn't WHY to do this. She also provides a nicely needed straight man to the goofier brothers without being reduced to the old sterotype of "Joy killing female foil. ", something her fellow teen aprils and most aprils in general have thankfully achieved. April is just a person and reacts with annoyance to the boys because their going on a 4 minute tangent saying new york sterotypes while mike does a rumpshaker.

We do have to unpack that mostly though and that comes from April being kind of a dick at time's. She's pressuery when the boys are undercover with SUperfly's gang.. even though she can HEAR what their saying.. and thus hear that he's clearly indocrinated the others and that the boys may not want to harm THEM. I get her not wanting Superfly to succeed, his plan is fucking horrible, but even for a teen it's weird she dosen't see the nuance. She can also be a bhit short with them, though the latter I acknolwedge in hindsight as being like the boys: she's a teenager and teens aren't perfect. This is still a great april and continues Ayo's streak this year of great voice acting roles.

The other mutants are great. I was worried: While the cast for them is fucking stacked and Seth called in a lot of his rolodex to fill it out, and himself as credit where it's due he tends to show up in shit he produces and bring his absolute best rather than showing up because he can, i've seen plenty of films fall flat because they tried to add too many characters from the source. Just this year I felt one of the biggest issues with Transformers; Rise of the Beasts is that they tried to jam so many autobots and maximals in, a total of 10 but didn't bother to give any of them but optimus, bee and mirage an actual character.

Here while the characters are one note, they have charming designs and work more as a unit like the boys, but are still friendly and likeable enough that your fond of them like the turtles and happy when they join the family. The breakout is easily natasha dimoscu's wingnut. I already loved wingnut, but this is easily the best verison: she's cheery kind and gets some great subtle jokes, the wifi one is fucking great as is her swiping Donni'es akira voices. All of them are pretty charming though. The only one to not really feel like a character is Hannibal frog, a sad waste of hannibal burgess, but everyone else gets something fun to do: Bebop and Rocksteady are rageholic morons who then get a sweet character arc as they realize their rage is because Superfly ENCOURAGED them to be constantly angry, and it's fun to see a version of them that's genuinely heroic. Not so fun is Bebop's pierced nipples.

I am genuinely baffled by this design choice. I don't doubt Bebop would get pierced nips, it' sin character. But why Seth thought anyone would want to see that, why he made HIS CHARACTER HAVE THEM, OR WHY HE MAKES IT SO PROMINENT will be a question that will haunt me for years to come. Or until we get creators commentary to explain why he hates viewers eyes. For the record I have nothing against nipple piercings, I just question why anyone thought giving them to Bebop was a good idea. OR their so large or

I also like Scumbug and i'm happy to see Splinter in his first relationship where his partner hasn't died horribly or put him in gladiator games. I did not need to see them make out with clone high level tounge. I"ll let this discord conversation with my good friend @kammieceleek handle the heavy lifting.

I mean their a cute couple but please, NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN NEVER

Anyways capping us off we have TCRI, who are decent enough. I like remaking them as this sort of paramilitary goon squad that shows the worst of humanity. Cynthia herself.. is fucking great. I like that to anyone familiar with Krang, it's DAMN obvious who she either is, or is a stand in for, with the name, apperance and Maya Rudolph somehow doing the Pat Fraley krang voice and tics while also doing a thick german accent. She's a brillaint combo of over the top hammy.. and an utterly sadstic monster, shocking the boys just for speaking, not carring that they don't really belong to her, and willing to kill them just to get her super weapons. She's what a remade krang should be: still over the top.. but also dead seriously terrifying. My only complaint is she's a bit OBVIOUS as a sequel hook. Like Rowe was really banking on that sequel and i'm never a fan of when films do this when they don't KNOW this story will continue. It is clearly, with the film slowly picking up more and more money and more than enough in merch, but he coudln't of known that.

So with that we just have one bit of buisness to wrap up

Yo Jeff Drop the Verse

The soundtrack for this flim is liquid gold. It's so good to my ears and full of such nice cuts. Guardians cemented my love of needle drops in film in tv: If you can pull it off well do it. And this film does it so damn good. The film skews to hip hop, likely due to wanting a "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" vibe, which really does fit teendom well. I will admit it's also pretty explicit here and there, so kids may be disapointed to find they can't stream these songs, but it's still a stacked selectoin

So before I break it down track by track, something I regret failing to do with spider-verse as like this reveiw it was massively behind, I whipped up a playlist as Parmount's own leaves out several tracks. While I get the what's going on bit being left out as that bit is a good suprise why it has'nt been added weeks out from the film I don't know. You can find it here

Ante Up is a song i've heard maybe once or two here, but is a perfect gag for the opening grocery run, while still showing off just what our boys can do.. even if their doing it for some party sized cool ranch doritos. Which is still a great reward.

Danke Scheon shows up in the clip of feris buller. This dosen't really count but I do think the film is a perfect fit, since John Hughes was an inspiration for this film, and it's an idealized version of the freedom the boys desperately want. Not a John Hughes film I was ever a huge fan of, but it works and that "You can hyjack parades whenever you want" joke is so damn good.

Now we come to a track I wasn't familiar with but is easily my faviorite now: Eye Know. I"m glad more films are using De La Soul's music, mostly because it makes ME want to know them better as I haven't heard much and even after really enjoying three is the number, thanks to the weird rights limbo it wasn't avaliable to stream ad nauseum when No Way Home came out. Thankfully just a few short months ago, the whole De La Soul catalogue is up. This song is a really gentle, really fun love song with one heck of a chorus, and it nicely meshes with Splitner raising his adorable little children. It's one of my faviorite scenes of the movie.

The next track is another perfect selection but for something more hilarious and badass: While Push It To the Limit verges on a parody of training montage music it works for one where we find out the turtles and splinter learned ninjitsu from movies,, instructional tapes and whatever they could scrounge up. HOw their learning is awesomely rediculous, so it needs backing that's cheestastic.

Love is an Illusion by Ronnie Walker was nice for Leo falling for APril. It's a really crisp, dreamy love song so it fits.

Okay look i'ts only there for a second, but I can't tell you how much I love Ninja Rap making a cameo on this soundtrack. The soundtrack is cheesy good and one of the more iconic ninja turtle songs for a reason. It's not as good as say Pizza Power or the various awesome theme songs, but it's goofy fun that fit the film it was in. It's also one of Vanilla Ice's better songs, though that isn't huge compettion especially since he made a weird as fuck sequel I still can't comprehend that was also compeltely ninja turtle free for some reason.

Cavern By LIquid Liquid is fun, a nice chill beat to meet turtles to.

Dance by ESG is already a fun song and fits the boys going full blast on their plan well. THat's.. about it. THankfully I have more for unwritten. I'm not a fan of Vomit humor most of the time unless you have a paticuarlly inspired twist like say. a mad scientest making everyone in the room vomit at a bar as a thought experiment leading to an image like this

That's just beautiful. But i'm just not a gross out guy, so this gag working for me was a lot... setting the most embarassing moment of April's life to FUCKING UNWRITTEN, a song I heard 998 times over the course of the 2000's as every fucking movie and tv show overused the hell out of this throughly mid song, it was transedeant. First and only good use of unwritten. Well done.

Now we come to what's easily the best musical bit of the movie. And it has some steep competition from Eye Know and another song we all know is coming, but the No Diggity Scene is just one of those sequences that once you see it you know "This shit is iconic". This is a scene that's now etched in tmnt lore and for damn good reason. It's also a brilliant way to get up to the chain to superfly and have a few weeks of sluthing and our heroes getting better pass as our heroes easily blaze through some goons and those shots of EACH turtle getting to burst in and lead the assault?

And look I admit this montage hits a sweet spot that was also started by guardians: setting an action montage to music that somehow fits despite having no right to. In this case a mellow smooth as hell jam perfectly complmenting some frantic action. So fucking smooth.

Wake Up in the Sky grew on me as let's face it, a song that has bruno mars saying fly a dozen times nad saying he's super fly works. I just don't like it a lot because trap is'nt something that fits me musically. I prefer more intricate beats or at least a really solid one thorugh the whole thing. The more relaxed beatwork here isn't for me, but I can't deny it fits Superfly's big debut well.

Fitting me much better is the use of Shimmy Shimmy Yay for the bowling scene. It's fucking great, a song that's never not awesome and that's also a bit low key while being way more my speed.

The use of BOTH major versions of What's Up? .. is an easy close second for best use of music int he film and one of the most brilliant masterstrokes. And this all comes to Seth Rogen. When the chase scene wasn't quite working, he suggested the slackcircus version of he man. It's also awsome in that the song's themes of isolation PERFECTLY fit what the mutants are going through. So not only did they manage to stick one of the best meme songs in human history in a feature film.. but they did so with it being ENTIRELY relevant. The switch from the 4 non blondes version to slackcircus is fucking genius and the song adds nice manic energy. It'll also hopefully give this song a rightful ressurgence as the heman cover is , while hilarious, also GENUINELY good. The original ain't too shabby either.

The boys version of butter is hilarious and got me to listen to the original which is alright. Mr. Lonely isn't a bad song, and perfectly fits Splinter's mope session.

Finally we have can I kcik it, an objectively awesome song. It fit the trailer perfectly and it fits our ending as our heroes are finally allowed to mingle with the surface adn get their happy ending beauitfully. A beautiful ending to a beautiful film.

So overall mutant mayhem is fucking awesome. If you haven't seen it after all this go see it, support the hard workers who made this film possible by supporting the ongoing strike and thanks for reading.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mutant mayhem #mutant mayhem #leonardo #donetello #raphael #michalangelo #april 0'neil #screwloose #superfly #bebop #rocksteady #jeff rowe #seth rogen #nickelodeon #scumbug

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