#because that’s what ronin did with casey

[ashtonq247]

(Yes you do…)

Bonus: ft last ronin Casey’s

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

Even Better: part 1 (Angst) (18+)

TLR!Michelangelo x reader

Part 2

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A/N: Finally finished The Last Ronin the other day. Other than making me cry like a bitch, I have to admit it made me thirst for some TLR Mikey. Dude deserves a good smut written about him🖤 And to be honest, I had a hard time stopping once I first got started. This is my longest one yet, goodness😭😂

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You’re April’s daughter and Casey Marie’s twin sister. Most of your life you’ve been dreaming about the turtles of your mother’s youth, but nothing could have prepared you for the real deal.

Reader is at least 20. As far as I know, Mikey is in his 40’s.

Warnings: Spelling, age difference, masturbation (reader), caught in the act, oral - female receiving, dom Mikey and sub reader, dirty talk, unprotected sex, a little pain, size difference, size kink?

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Your mother had told you and your twin sister many stories about the turtles and their rat father over the years. How she and your father met each other because of them. How Splinter taught both his sons and your parents how to fight. How Leonardo fiercely protected his brothers, and as your mother put it, was seen as an absolute killjoy by his brothers. How Raphael matched your father in temper with an equally big and golden heart hiding within him. How Donatello could speed days locked up in his lab, and the many times he inspired your mom in her own lab. And how Michelangelo could light up a room with his loud jokes and bright smile. You and your sister would often point them out in the picture frames hanging around the lair, and beg your mom to tell more stories about them, no matter how mundane. The time your mom and Donnie made a tracking device in the lab, the time your father and Raph played hockey a whole night, or the time Mikey pranked Leo so hard that Splinter put him on cleaning duties for a whole month. You wanted to hear it all. Every single little detail.But that didn’t change the fact that they are all gone now. Your mother’s best friends and your father.

As you and Casey Marie got older, you continued to ask your mother for stories. But while Casey Marie wanted to hear about New York City before the Foot came to power, while you still asked for the turtles, getting more and more interested in the mundane part of their lives. Like whose room was it that you had made your room in? Who used to sit in the seat you sat in when eating dinner? And that mug you found in the storage, who did that belong to that? So many questions, and your mother could only give you so many answers.

Once you reached your teenage years, you started fantasizing about the four mutant turtles. Was that wrong? Their pictures literally hung on the walls of your underground home, so it wasn’t as if you could just ignore them. It probably didn’t help much that you didn’t like going outside, deciding to stay in the lair with your mother, while Casey Marie went out and explored. But that just gave you more time to help out your mother and learn more about the turtles.

As you gathered more and more information about the turtles, you started to form scenarios in your head, imagining how it would be to get together with the turtles. Which one of them would be the best friend, the best boyfriend, or even the best in bed. That proved to be a question you would contemplate for years, finding yourself staring at the pictures of the four turtles in the hallway in your early twenties, still with that little question in the back of your head. Although your thoughts about the turtles had calmed a bit once you had hit your twenties, you could not deny that they still lingered in the back of your head from time to time. So when your sister one day brought a passed out mutant turtle home, you did not know what to do with yourself. You were shocked, and maybe even a bit scared. He was way bigger than you had thought he would have been, but given his age it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Your mother knew who he was straight away. It was Mikey. The turtle whose room you had been occupying every since the day you and your sister grew too old for sharing the same bed with your mom. He was bruised and bleeding badly. Thank God for your mothers medical skills, otherwise Mikey’s fate would have been a dark one.

It took some time for Mikey to wake up, but when he did, he was much different than you had thought he would be. Your mother had spoken highly about his jokes and his warm happiness, but during dinner the day he woke up, you saw none of that. The only time you heard him speak the first day, was when you overheard a conversation between him and your mom in the kitchen. His voice was much deeper than you had anticipated, catching you off guard. And of course he heard you gasp and stopped talking, not speaking a word until you had gotten what you needed, and leaving the kitchen so they could continue their talk.

Three days had passed, and Mikey had still not spoken a word directly to you. He had thanked your sister for saving him while you were close by, but that was pretty much. There was this one time where he took up the whole hallway, staring at the exact picture of him and his brothers, you had found yourself staring at many times. When you asked if you could pass by, he did not say a word. He just looked at you out of the corner of his eye, before moving to the side, giving you more than enough space before you ran by.

Michelangelo was really nothing like you had expected him to be like. You had thought he would be nice, open and warm, talking your ear off like your mother had said he always did. But now he was silent, closed off and cold. He almost seemed angry. It scared you a little bit. Made you nervous whenever you were around him. Whenever you were sitting and talking with your mom or Casey Marie, you would lock up when he entered the room. But as much as he scared you, you also found him very interesting. You blamed your teenage fantasies for finding his form attractive. His toned muscles, covered in bruises, and the visible veins on his neck, arms and hands. The wrinkles on his face told of the things he had been through, and his eyes were always so distant, as if he was watching something no one else could see. But when his eyes suddenly snapped to you, catching you staring at him, you panicked, quickly avoiding your eyes, feeling your cheeks getting red. Luckily for you, Casey Marie came into the room, as loud as your mother had said your father was, telling Mikey about something, giving you the distraction you needed to run to your room. You stayed there the rest of the day, too embarrassed to come out.

That evening you laid on your bed, staring at the ceiling above you. You cursed yourself for choosing this room when you were little. Now you couldn’t fall asleep without thinking about Mikey’s eyes on you. Anywhere you looked, you were reminded by the fact that Mikey used to look at the same walls as you did. Heck, you were even sleeping in the bed he used to sleep in. As far as you knew, the blanket, pillow and sheets were also his. It did not matter how many times you had washed them over the years, because they now suddenly smelled strongly of him, not letting you rest for a moment.

You found yourself getting frustrated. None of the turtles had invaded your head so badly ever since you were a teenager, and now you could feel the same need and tension from back then build up between your legs. You pressed your naked thighs together under the blanket, feeling the wetness in your panties. You sighed out in frustration, as you once again remembered the old turtle’s eyes on you. As much as you had felt embarrassed under his eyes, you could not help feel aroused at the thought. He had caught you staring. Michelangelo had caught you with his strong gaze. And now here you were, laying in his old bed with your panties soaked just thinking about him.

Your fingers moved down your stomach, getting closer and closer to your core. It was okay to touch yourself with the older turtle in mind, right? You had done it before, so why would it be any different now? And with that thought you let your fingers slide into your panties, where you found your clit. With yet another sigh you started to rub your small bundle of nerves, letting your thoughts drift back to the muscular turtle. His broad shoulders, his big hands, his thick thighs. With his general size, you could only imagine what he could be packing in secret. You used both hands to slide your panties down, leaving them somewhere under the blanket, before pushing your legs out further, letting your fingers continue their movements around your clit.

A  knock on your door caused you to quickly pull your hand out from under the blanket. You sat up in the bed, staring towards the door as it opened. You were almost ready to sink to the ground when you saw who it was.

“Sorry”, Mikey said. “Were you sleeping?”

“Just about”, you answered, tugging the blanket closer around you.

“Sorry. I just wanted to see my room once again”, Mikey said, his eyes falling towards the foot of his old bed. “May I?”

You nodded, watching him as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He stood for a moment, staring into nothingness, before his eyes moved to his surroundings. It was almost just the way he remembered it. You had only moved a few things, but other than that, it looked like his old bedroom. Same bed frame and all. He let out a small chuckle, remembering all the memories he had between these four walls. The chuckle was light, lighter than sounds you ever had heard from him. That surprised you, and Mikey noticed, though he decided not to say anything about it, acting as if he forgot you even were in the room. Acting as if he couldn’t smell the heavy odor in the air. Truth be told, he did not notice the odor when he first came to the room, nor did he notice it when he walked into the room. It wasn’t until he stood a few feet from the bed that he really noticed it. But with his back turned to you, he did not dare to move or look in your direction. It was the same smell he had noticed when he caught you staring at him earlier that day. It was a scent that seemed to follow you, at least whenever he was around. Yet it wasn’t until now he realized what that scent could be signifying.

You watched as Mikey moved around the room, feeling your legs shake under the blanket. As horrified as you were, you could not deny the excitement. Knowing that lower half of your body was naked under the blanket, with the old mutant just a few feet away from you. You clenched your teeth as you rubbed your thighs together, your eyes lingering on the way his overalls clung around his thick veiny thighs. You had to keep your breathing calm as you the movement in his muscles, and the way his big hands smoothed over an antiche on one of the shelfs. Slowly, making sure his back was still turned to you, his focus on everything else except you on the bed, you let your hand move back under the blanket, once again finding your now dripping core. You suppressed every sound as you slowly started to circle your clit again, your eyes focusing on his hands. The size, the veins, the roughness. You could only imagine how they would feel against you. His rough skin against yours.

“You’re young”, Mikey rumbled, his back still turned to you. You froze, your heart pounding. Yet you managed to remove your hand before he spoke once more. “But you’re not stupid. You know I know what you were doing. I can smell it”. He turned his body towards you, taking small slow steps towards the bed, his voice deep and echoing against the brick walls of his old room. Once again, terrifying yet strangely arousing. It was at that moment that Mikey decided to let go. For the past 20 years he had traveled alone. He was tired. He felt lonely. And with this sweet scent in the air, begging him to come closer, he had to surrender. Even though you were one of his best friend’s daughters, he could not deny your beauty or how your hormones in the air drew him to you. “I could smell it when you were staring at me, and I can smell it now as I’m telling you”. He was now so close to the bed, that his knees were hitting the mattress at the end of the bed. In a slow move, he was standing with both of his knees planted firmly against the bed under him, towering over you. You were too stunned to speak, your mouth dry as you tried to swallow. But damn it, it didn’t change the fact that your heart was beating fast and your nipples were hard under your shirt. “But one thing I can’t smell…”, the mutant continued. “... Is if you still have your underwear on under the blanket”. He took a hold of the fabric of the blanket, pulling slightly at it, making it move down your body, stopping right over your hip. You whimpered slightly. You knew you found Mikey attractive, but this was almost ridiculous. He hadn’t even done anything, and you were already out of breath. “What will I find, (Y/N)?”

“Off”, you choked out. “They’re off”.

“Good girl”, Mikey hummed, pulling further on the blanket. It tickled as the blanket slowly moved off your skin, causing you to curl your legs up against you. With the blanket in his big hands, Mikey’s stare burned into your dripping core, just behind your closed legs. He could almost feel the heat from his towering position, watching the glistening of your folds in the dim light, your sweet scent taking a hold of his senses. Mikey suddenly felt hungry. Hungry in a way he had never felt before.

The churr that erupted from his chest almost made you jump in surprise. It was deep, deeper than you had ever dreamed it would be.

Silently he let go of the blanket to grab a hold of your ankle, his big hands easily opening you up for him. Not that you tried to fight him. No, not at all. All you could do was watch him and his hungry eyes as he crawled further onto the bed, making you gasp at every touch of him against your skin, and marvel at the sheer size of his hands on your ankles. Mikey used his rough hands to keep your legs open for him, letting him move closer to your core. Your breath hitched when you felt his breath against your knee, just before the inside of your thigh. You let out the slightest moan as Mikey’s eyes locked with yours, just as his lips meet your thigh, just above your knee. His hands slipped under your knees, sliding up the outside of your thighs, bringing your legs over his shoulder and onto his shell, before curling around them, his big strong arms holding you open, revealing your aching core even further.

“I’ve always dreamed of having a woman in my bed”, Mikey murmured against your thigh, his lips slowly making their way upwards, letting his tongue lick and his teeth nibble on the way. “Though I always thought that it would happen while I was a teenager, but life has its ways to surprise us”.

“Me too”, you breathed out, making Mikey look questionable at you, his lips still working their way closer to your core. “I used to dream about you when I was a teenager”.

Mikey let out a chuckle. It was almost a laugh. Your heart almost stopped at the sound. You had never thought that you would get to hear the mutant laugh. A chuckle? Sure. A laugh? Never.

“Is that so?”, Mikey smiled against your soft skin, feeling himself getting more daring. He could literally smell and see how his words affected you. The way you bite your lips with your pupils blown wide, and how your beautiful center started to cling around empty air. The thought of how you would cling around him, brought him dangerously close to dropping, making his churr sound as he spoke. “On my bed while I was gone? You’re a better girl than I thought, waiting patiently for me to come home”.

You sighed at his praise, feeling your heart flutter in your chest. This was already better than anything you could have made up in your mind. “Mikey”, you sighed, grabbing onto the sheet under you, breathing heavily at the close proximity of his lips to your flower.

“Is this how you’ve dreamed of me?”, he asked, before his tongue drew a line, all the way from the bottom of your core to the top, flicking your clit on the way.

“Mikey!”, you gasped in pleasure, your hands flying onto the arms around your legs.

“Not so loud, (Y/N)”, Mikey whispered against your mount. “We can’t let them hear us”.

You nodded, bringing an already shaking hand up to your mouth, before Mikey let his large tongue flick your clit once more, enjoying the feeling of how your thighs tensed in his grip. It was soon followed by another flick and yet another. It didn’t take long before you grabbed a hold of the front of your shirt, biting down on that instead of just covering your mouth with your bare hand. Mikey saw how that made your shirt rise further up, letting out a deep churr like moan against your clit. The vibration of one of your heels kicked against his shell, while a head flew to his bald head. Your head rolled back as Mikey started to suck on your clit, making your shirt rise even further. One of Mikey’s hands moved from your legs and up your side, until his hand was right on your breast. Your shirt rose over his two big knuckles, exposing your chest. You groaned against your shirt in satisfaction as Mikey’s gigantic hand started palming your breast, while his tongue and lips continued their work on your clit. Mikey hummed against your clit, finding the taste of your juices and sounds sweeter than honey. He wanted more.

With the hand of the thigh that Mikey’s arm was still wrapped around, he replaced his lips and tongue with his thumb on your clit, letting his tongue sneak down to your entrance. He growled at the sight of you squirming against him, his thumb rubbing circles on your bundles of nerves, while his tongue started exploring your insides. Your eyes fell shut as you threw your head to the side, your hips buckling against his face, and your small hand grabbing on to the one that was still groping your breast. You were close. Fuck, you were close. Your free leg over Mikey’s shoulder started to move frantically as you got closer, the other shaking against Mikey’s grip. He took in the sight of you. You red flushed face, your now messy hair, and the way your breast shook ever so slightly at each sudden move. Mikey started to grind himself against the mattress under him, getting himself closer to his drop, his tongue doing curled motions inside your warm walls, all while his thumb still assaulted your clit. That was when you started to grab onto him frantically. You were close, so fucking close for him. Mikey growled against you. He was going to get you there.

And then it happened. Your legs clamped around Mikey’s head as you came with a muffled scream that sounded like his name, and your legs spazzing over his shoulder. Mikey quickly retracted his hand from your chest, forcing your legs open with both his hands, licking up every last bit of your orgasm, every breath from him sounding like a groan. You puffed and panted, your hands forming fists around the sheets as Mikey rode out your high, until your legs finally started to relax under his hands.

Mikey sat up and started to undo his overalls. His moves were almost frantic as he undid his belt, followed by his straps, all while you laid there and watched him, still recovering from the earth shaking orgasm he had brought you, your now soaked shirt clinging to your collarbone. You once again started rubbing your thighs together, the sight of the undressing turtle making your heart pound.

“You like this, don’t you, (Y/N)?”, he growled with a smug smile, as he started to push the overalls down his body and down his muscular thighs. “Just like you used to dream of, huh?”

“Almost”, you smiled back, feeling yourself getting more mischievous, letting a hand slide down to your now overly sensitive clit. “It’s even better”.

The terrapin growled at the sight, shoving the rest of his clothes onto the floor, revealing himself before you in all of his naked glory. You marveled at the full sight of his toned body, feeling your body shiver with need once more. Mikey huffed before he grabbed a hold of your wrist, moving your fingers to his mouth, so he could suck off what little slick you had picked up on them. That alone caused you to let out a choked moan.

“No more self pleasure”, he said, before throwing your hand to the mattress, his hands finding the hem of your shirt. “Take this off and I’ll show you what’s even better”.

Whatever sound you made, it was enough to make Mikey chuckle as he watched you sit up to take off your shirt, leaving you fully naked in front of him. Once your shirt hit the floor he slowly crawled over you, his deep eyes watching you like a predator hunting a prey. Instictly you leaned backwards, slowly letting your back fall against the mattress, until Mikey had you lying fully onto the bed, with him positioned between your legs. You felt his breath across your face, his beak so close that you instinctively closed your eyes, your lips searching for his. His lips were rough yet soft, and moved against yours with ease. The kiss started out sweet, as if he hadn’t just fucked you dirty with his tongue. Your arms moved around his thick neck, your fingers tracing shapes on the back of his head, your legs curling around his thick thighs. Mikey’s hands moved to hold your close by the shoulders. It wasn’t until a soft moan escaped your lips that his large tongue dared to ask for entrance. And once entrance was granted, this got heated once again. Mikey started to grind his cloaca against your soaked flower, his lips swallowing every sound that came from your pretty mouth.

“Mikey”, you moaned against his lips, buckling your hips against him. “Please, Mikey. I want it”.

Mikey pulled from your lips and placed a sweet kiss on your cheek, before his eyes caught yours. “Tell me if it hurts”, he whispered, a sudden softness in his voice. In the short time you had known him, you had never heard Mikey be soft. “Tell me and I’ll stop”.

“I will”, you nodded, feeling a soft kiss against your lips, before his kisses started to move down your neck just by your ear. One of his hands moved between the two of you to his cloaca, where he pulled himself out with ease, before he slowly started dragging his head up and down your folds before he found your entrance. With even more kisses down your neck, he slowly pushed into your tight hole, groaning against your skin. You had to bite down onto his shoulder in order not to scream. He was so much bigger than you had thought he would be, stretching you out to the point where it was hard to tell the difference between pleasure and pain.

“You’re doing so great, (Y/N)”, Mikey groaned against your ear, almost making your eyes roll back just by the sound. Your arms hugged tighter unto him as he moved further in, making him groan by how tight your walls were hugging him. “Fuck”. You whimpered against him, adjusting to his size. Mikey brought a hand to your face, pulling back slightly so he could look at you. “So good. You’re doing so good, (Y/N)”, he said before placing a tender kiss on your lips.

“Please, Mikey”, you whimpered, nudging him with your leg. “Please move”.

Mikey answered you with another kiss, before letting his head drop back down to your ear. He ever so slowly started to pull out of you, before slowly pushing back in. You quickly hide your face against his broad shoulder once more, whimpering at the small wave of pleasure. Mikey listened closely to your muffled sounds at his slow speed, trying to find any signs of pain. But once he found none he slowly started speeding up.

“Shit”, he moaned against your ear, his thrust becoming harder. “You feel so good, (Y/N)”. Your hands clawed onto his shell, your sounds muffled by his rough skin against your mouth.

Mikey’s legs moved further apart, making it easier for him to move against you. With the bed starting to creak lightly under you, you prayed that neither your mother or sister would hear anything. Neither the way you whimpered against the mutant turtle, or the way he cursed and groaned against your ear, telling you how good you were. Michelangelo fucking you raw on his old childhood bed was not something they needed to know. But you would be lying if you said you hadn’t dreamed of this moment, ever since he was brought back down to the lair. And now you were enjoying the full force of his God-like thighs.

Mikey placed a hand over your mouth and pulled back, looking down at you with hungry yet mischievous eyes. “Is this what you’ve dreamed of?”, he asked, his hips continuing to drive into you, setting a new speed. “To be fucked like this but and old mutant?” You nodded frantically, wanting to scream against his hand. A bright smug smile grew on his lips, bringing a boyish charm you had never seen on him before. He almost looked 20 years younger. “You’re such a good girl, (Y/N). Tell me, who is fucking you this good?”

“You, Mikey!”, you whimpered against his hand, your head spinning at the second high that was starting to build in your lower region.

“You’re getting close, ain’t you, (Y/N)?” His hand moved from your mouth to your throat, making you fight to stay quiet. Your heart beating faster and faster as you got closer and closer to your second orgasm. “Who are you coming for, (Y/N)?”

And with that your second orgasm that night hit you like a brick wall. Your body spazzing and your head spinning, you let out a loud soar moan. “Mikey!” The said mutant roughly pulled you in for another hungry kiss, swallowing every sound as you came hard around him. His speed continued high, the bed creaking while he rode out your high. His thrusts started to become erratic against your still shaking body, before he too came, groaning your name out loud.

Mikey stayed upon you, as the both of you caught your breath. With one last kiss, he slowly pulled out of you, leaving the two of you with small noises of complaint by the lack of each other. He laid back on his shell, staring up at his old ceiling while catching his breath. He instinctively pulled you close with his big arm, letting you rest your head upon his shoulder. He knew he should leave. You had both been noisier than he had wished to be, and he feared what April would say if she found him cuddling with her freshly fucked daughter in his arms. But Mikey could not deny how nice it was to be laying there with you in his old room. Who would have thought that his teenage dream of having sex in his room actually would come true.

“So”, you smiled from his side. “Was this just like your dream of having a woman in your room?”

Mikey chuckled, pulling you even closer. “It was even better”.

[love-killed-the-superstar]

The Last Ronin 2: Re-Evolution Issue #1 LIVEBLOG

SPOILERS ABOUND. I'M NOT GOING TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS IT'LL PROBABLY GET SUPER LONG

Okay so Casey Marie's muscles are something I'm never going to get over. SHE LOOKS GOOD!!!!! Her getup is feeling a little too reminiscent of a cape-wielding superhero for my tastes to be honest - I really loved the more practical outfits she wore in TLR Lost Years, especially in issue 4 when she was running the training mission for the kids. But ah well, I'm sure this will grow on me. It may not be practical (edna's law of no capes is coming to mind, also PLEASE TIE YOUR HAIR UP WHEN YOU'RE FIGHTING GIRL!!!) but it's very cunty anyway which I appreciate

Straight up thought she killed this guy - what was that sound effect if he's still able to walk??? I fr thought she snapped his neck

IDK if we needed a whole 8 pages of punching and kicking to exposition dump what we kinda already knew from what's been shown in the lost years (esp the lost day special) but IT'S FINE IG... NOW ONTO THE BABIES

SORRY, SORRY. TEENAGERS NOW.

GIGGLING KICKING MY FEET. We're ALREADY getting the leo-v-raph adjacent dynamic with these two and I'm living for it. if one of them drops a stone cold 'fearless leader' jab i will lose my shit

HI? HELLO, EXCUSE ME, MIND-TALKING? PICTURES IN HEAD? ARE WE A FAMILY THAT LUCID DREAMS OR SOMETHING?!?? I DON'T REMEMBER THIS BEING SOMETHING THEY COULD DO?? every new speech bubble here is like a punch to the gut, wdym telepathy wdym secret lair wdym honouring everything master splinter taught you???? (although i'm proud that when this panel dropped on news sites i was immediately like THAT ISN'T THE KITCHEN FROM LOST YEARS. turns out it was a Secret Lair TM)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Seance -- TURTLES COUNT IT OFF!!

not gonna screenshot the whole backstory but they're basically doing a telepathic puppet show explaining the backstory and it's pretty much the mirage origins with a bit of extra tlr flair. as always it HURTS ME seeing the turtles dying so thanks for that tlr2 :'')) icb these kids watch a mind movie of their uncles dying every fucking night. yall are messy

SOBBING AND CRYING,, I WISH YOU'D ALL HAD THE CHANCE TO KNOW HIM TOO!!!!!! I WISH YOU'D GOTTEN TO KNOW ALL OF THEM!!!!! (tlr splinter doesnt count tho because hes a dick)

there was a cool sequence of them rooftop hopping n stuff but i wont cover it bc we already saw it in a bunch of news articles weeks ago

i just did the SHARPEST INHALE. casey marie you and your beautiful muscular arms have aged like the finest wine

YI NO!!!!!

lmaooo moja is JUDGING your taste in women u two

lots of text... blah blah blah jobs, crimerates, blah blah... jiro in pig uniform jumpscare.. casey marie i thought u were going to fix him :(((

YESSSSS KIDS ARE GOING ON A MISSION WITH THEIR MOM, LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

MY BABIES ARE KICKING ASS!!!!!

....,.HUH

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY BABY BOY ODIE!!!!!!!!!!! WHO DID THIS TO HIM!!!!!!???? WHAT??!???? HUH/1?!!? EXCUSE ME????

I'M . LIKE WHAT DO I EVEN SAY TO THIS. IT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE??? WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

dude that first issue was wordy but the kids were ON POINT. they were so fun!! their dialogue is fun and they kick ass.

i loved yi announcing the punishment for casey while the others were like NOO SHE DIDNT MEAN THAT DONT LISTEN TO HER. we're getting more of their personalities and it's great!! it was a nice throwback to issue 2 of lost years when they were cleaning - yi refused to help because of how strictly she was following instructions. im picking up that she might be neurodivergent but i did get that from the lost years too - only doing things within strict instructions, getting frustrated at teaching odyn chess, not because of him playing horseys with the knights but that it was Against The Rules Of Chess - and now not picking up on some social cues. It's nice to see!! I love her very much, but it feels like besides rehashing the origin story she took a bit of a backseat to the other three.

i want to know more about why uno said being a rebel was moja's 'thing', since she didn't seem to be any more rebellious than the other three in this issue. we didn't get any unique interactions between her and casey marie which is what i felt was lacking from lost years but i wonder if this is hinting towards a more turbulent mother-daughter dynamic with them... I REALLY HOPE SO!! her and uno butting heads in a leo-raph way is very fun - i don't mind one or two prior group dynamics leaking into the new turtle siblings because they're all so different from the original 4.

uno seems to be taking on slightly more of a leader role than moja so i think he won the title of fearless leader. which is fine, i think it'll be fun to see and he's definitely less of an asshole now than when he was growing up in lost years. still picking on odyn a bit but seems to snipe at moja just as much. even when he was commenting on yi's storytelling he didn't make fun of her, though - i think she may have inherited the 2k3 don ability of being Completely Unbullyable.

i was really pleased that odyn felt more involved!! i feel like he took the backseat a few times in lost years - it was fun seeing more of his personality shine through! he and yi seem to get on the best, and i giggled at them rolling their eyes at moja and uno's raph-leo schtick. i didn't expect him to TURN TO FUCKING STONE THOUGH, so i'm nervous about that. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHO DID THIS TO MY BOY? IS HE GOING TO TURN BACK NEXT CHAPTER OR IS HE OUT OF COMMISSION UNTIL THE END OF THE RUN??? (if it's the latter i'll be a bit annoyed - don't take odyn away from the equation please!!)

I do wonder if by introducing casually that they can PSYCHICALLY CONNECT, the turtles will use that as a technique to reach odyn's mind to make sure he's still in there and piece together what's happened to him. i mean, their casual telepathy has gotta be some sort of chekhov's gun right?

and shit.... april was so fucking mad casey took the babies out so she's going to EXPLODE when she finds out what happened to her baby boy, her beloved favourite, her baby odyn :''(( im giggling rubbing my hands together waiting for the fallout but also if she cries i might cry too. speaking of april, she seems to be working on a new project and i saw nano particles mentioned - are we going to have a roninverse version of nano in this run???? I NEED MY ROBOT SON

as always, casey marie... u have aged like fine wine. u are stunning. disappointed that ur still believing that jiro can do good as a cop when their entire police force and government is corrupt as fuck. just feels very naive of her. i'm excited to see her break down at the concept of losing odyn - in fact i need everyone to mourn this beautiful kid. they tell us so much that shes a super clingy helicopter mom and i am picking up on the strict part, but it would be nice to see more of her just... hugging her kids. holding them. i get why she didnt in this issue but id love more mama casey squishing their cheeks and kissing their foreheads.

i have zero fucking clue what's going on with odyn. im wondering if it's somehow related to nano, or to whatever project April is working on - she says it's to do with clearing the tunnels, but I''m not convinced. who knows, there might be some ulterior motive happening.

Anyway, that's the end of my liveblog!! thanks for reading all the way to the end... go read it wherever you read ur comics!!!

[yandere-loveer]

✧ Yandere Mikey / Miguel Angel (The last Ronin) Concept ˚ ♡

English is not my first language, not at all. But I will make the effort. I will start accepting all kinds of requests, but obviously everything has limits.

TW : Obsession, murders, mention of kidnapping, forced relationship, sensitive topics.

Oh honey. Don't even think he's going to be a fairy tale next to this mutant.

He is so tired and depressed from losing his loved ones, then being disturbed in his little conscience.

He still sees his brothers, talking to them and bothering him even for the slightest mistake or situation he has to act on. He didn't even feel like he was living in this miserable life for him.

I imagine you know him from before it was like this and he will pass the death of his family through the foot clan while now with April and Casey in hiding.

He is no longer the same teenager who was funny and optimistic, who loved pizza and his family while going out to fight crime with his brothers on the streets of New York.

Because of the loss and loneliness that he had to go through, he had to make it that way. Even when she saw you, she was speechless and began to make a face of deep sadness, relief to see that you and April were actually still alive.

This Mikey is a true yandere when he has all these traumas, he is overprotective and paranoid but unfortunately his brothers in his mind are not much help.

He had fallen in love with you when he was still a teenager but never had a chance to tell you. This time he is determined not to let you go again and to be able to express what he feels for you.

He always wants you to be with trusted people like April and Casey (only a little) but she prefers you to be by her side so she can keep her eyes on you and see that you are protected.

When you're not watching what's going on and you want to go alone somewhere in this prison called "New York" don't be surprised if you feel watched by someone the whole time you're out. Mikey will receive you when you just arrive at the entrance of where April and her daughter live.

Sometimes he usually has nightmares about his past and the fear he feels when imagining that you end up with the same fate as his brothers and his father. So when he wakes up a little nervous, he always goes to see if you are with him by his side.

If someone hurts you too much in the war you are all in, be prepared for Mikey to become more violent than before. He kill and without leaving a single evidence of the existence of who hurt you.

He feels that you are the only thing that motivates him to continue living and put aside his suicidal thoughts apart from feeling that destiny is incomplete. He teaches you and expresses if you have more confidence in him what happened when he was in the mountains after learning that Donnie and his father were dead but with honor.

He focuses on completing the mission to avenge his beloved family but he still can't help but notice you and give you his time. Then he will think that they should be together otherwise it would be too late like when he almost lost you as a teenager. So you're his official girlfriend without you realizing it.

If they weren't in the same place with other girls, he would have kidnapped you as a last resort if he sees that it's too dangerous and your life is at risk.

Don't be surprised if when you see him he's fighting or just talking to nothing, it's just his dear brothers talking about his crush or what he has to do now. Which makes Mikey very angry that they tell him what to do all the time.

You're not going to leave this poor mutant turtle who still can't forget everything he lost. Or Yes?

" I'm not going to let the bastard that is Oroku Hiroto or anyone else do anything to you, did you hear me? "

[turrondeluxe]

what do you think of "the turtles are radioactive" thing they added in the last ronin? creative thing to add, or kinda of bullshit? or just neutral about it? it still exist in your P&B au?

i find it really funny lmao

i think they did it because they needed to give casey some type of power radiation poisoning ig??? AND an excuse for Mikey to give them blood samples willingly?

so...not completely useless of an storyline lol, tho i have to admit it's rather funny that it hasn't been brought up again lmao

so for the sake of the silliness, it does exist in the peepaw au

just a little radioactive turtle family 🐢💖

[cpunkhobie]

I like you’re ronin au! Do they ever meet Casey and April?

Also since they have the family Ninpo does that mean they can meet/see the Hamato family? How does the powers effect and work with ronin?

Ok so I already got an ask abt Casey and April tbh at this point I have no real plans for them so imma just answer the ninpo one for now

So in terms of meeting / seeing the hamato family my knee-jerk reaction is to say no because how Ronin's mystical abilities act is pretty similar to rise's with some exceptions that I'll describe now

Like - so the thing that first caused them to split was after a long-standing traumatic event caused by them and their dad being on the run from shredder and the foot clan, that final split being made when their home was invaded and they thought they were Going to die. Raph had definitely been the process of splitting before then but that was what really broke the camels back. Talked abt more here

So what saved Ronin and Splinter in that moment was a sudden outburst of pent up mystical energy from Ronin of which they had no control over. In a normal hamato child growing up in a healthy environment, controlling your ninpo and its magic was something that developed kinda like talking or learning to walk. So it would show up and develop gradually as the child grew. Now if you didn't know this, chronic stress in childhood kindaaaaaa stunts a persons development, so along with other developmental milestones like learning to speak or walk Ronin's ability to process magic was also stunted, which wasn't great when you already have increased mystic energy from various mutant experiments

Basically ninpo is a metaphor for emotional well-being and regulation lol. After that giant outburst Ronin's ability to use magic was pretty much shot until they found out they were a system. And in terms of what powers each alter has I think I'm gonna keep it consistent with the rise canon with each of them having a specific mystic ability.

Also with the hamato family thing I do NOT wanna touch the whole conversation of spirituality and DID rn that is a very sticky situation I would not like to get caught in. They'd probably have their own ghosts / souls ? Going with the idea that soul = consciousness. We will cross that bridge when we get there

[spectralsleuth]

What are any rise fanfic recs that you have?

I got so excited for this ask. Okay so, I'm not going to recommend things with over 1k kudos on Ao3, because they're easy to find. 'Tale of Spirits', 'Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now', 'Ronin Discord Admin', etc. (I would also LOVE to rec things besides RoTTMNT if anyone is interested...) But here's one's I've reread MULTIPLE times.

tried to grow up good by @sroloc--elbisivni Absolutely banger of a Casey Jones fic. The pinnacle of Casey Jones fics. It's the second in the series, and the first one is very good as well, but this one reads just fine as a stand-alone. Casey Jones Jr. stealing cars is just very near and dear to me.

The Whispering Forest and Other Tales ALSO by @sroloc--elbisivni, as well as Waywayrdwitchcat. (If they have a tumblr someone let me know please.) I NEED EVERYONE TO READ THIS FIC SERIES. it's probably my favorite ROTTMNT fic series of all time. (I'm going to say that a lot in this list but it's all true.) The whole series is absolutely wonderful, spooky, romantic, and set in feudal era Japan in a world similar to the Usagi Yojimbo comics. If you're worried about not knowing Usagi Yojimbo comics, don't be. I didn't and had no trouble following along; it provides all the context you need, and blends it with the ROTTMNT universe anyway.

BuzzfeedUnsolved: The Strange Disappearance of Lou Jitsu Self explanatory, a fic in a Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime episode format. Hilarious, and the author did a FANTASTIC job of capturing what I love about cheesy crime youtube. Lighthearted and short!

Things That Ought To Crawl by @thisonesforturtles Sep!Donnie AU, wonderful Draxum adjusting to rehabilitating effectively completely feral and very young Donnie who doesn't remember much, and a lot of very cool and incredibly smart mystical head canons. Hugin and Munin are absolutely wonderful in this as well. It actually takes the idea of what a feral child growing alone would result in, and digs into it. (Not completed)

No Rest For The Weary by @plothooksinc POST MOVIE FIC probably my all time favorite post movie fic actually. THIS HAS EVERYTHING. I won't say anything about it because most of the twists and turns are so interesting I don't want to ruin them. Mind the tags though! (Not completed)

And LASTLY Empathy is Learned by @alicat54c If you enjoyed LSoW, you'd enjoy this but in a different way I think! I don't want to spoil too much, but it has a lot of cute fluff, turtley nonsense, and little April O'Neil. (Not completed, locked to AO3 users)

If anyone every wants any fic recs, please feel free to ask. I have PLENTY, and not just for ROTTMNT.

[iamheretemporarly]

Making a list of my AUs cause why not

-“Where did the years go?”:

its a mutant apocalypse au, where before thebomb went off, Leo’s brothers ended up trapped in a whole different dimension fighting the kraang, after 5 months of trying to go back, they finally manage to do it, but when they arrive at the lair, its eerie and quite, at the dojo they hear footsteps and when they turn around they meet face to face with leo, who’s older, bigger, and vadtly different

what happened is that only 5 months to them were 13 years to leo, he lived throughthe mutagen bomb and spent his years fighting to survive in the apocalypse with Chloe who he managed to rescue from the apocalypse and metalhead who gained sentience after accidentally being mutated by chloe

now thats a change in the course of their lives thats honna need some getting used to

-“ghost karanas”:

inthis au the boys grew up missing a brother, mikey, donnie and raph, lost their older brother as children because of the kraang, they managed to catch him and he didn’t survive

fast forward karai shows up, after she finds out the truth about herfather and moves in with the turtles and splinter, her father gifts her with twin katanas,karanas that were meant for someone else, not anymore

the moment she wields them, something awakens, and it takes her a bit, but eventually she notices the little figure that has been following her around ever since she touched the weapons

the true wielder of said weapon, a little ghost, the ghost of a little turtle child

now shes on the oath on discovering who this child is, and what his relation to the hamato family is

which is going to be hard considering how everytime she brings that topic up its immediately shut down

-“wrong place, right time”:

after a fight with the kraang, the boys wind up dropped through a portal that transformsthem to a whole different dimension, a dimension that seems at war

after hiding and exploring, they notice a man, fighting some kind of creatures, but what they also notice is the robot above him about disintegrate him, leo leaps and pushes the man out of the way saving his life from the red laser that was about to strike him dead

one smoke bomb awayand now they miraculously ran away and found a place to hide

seeing the man closer, they notice that hes actually a mutanatturtle with twin katanas and a blue mask

hes Leo’s counterpart

looks like theirgonna do some patching upand waiting for him to awaken, cause they have a lot of questions

-“Sunset linings”:

a the last ronin and 2k12 tmnt crossover, the boys are dropped in the last ronin universe and try to navigate through it, after being spooked by a decapitated cyborg they tripped over they decided that hidingn the sewers is better than being exposed like this in a world they have no idea how it works

in their walk in the sewers they stop when they hear someone talk distantly

“QUITE, no more talking”

they follow the sound and stumble on a passed out turtle guy in the sewers, looking all grimy and emo, they immediately turn to look at leo, earning them “what!?l” from him

to mikey’s begging and puppy eyes they end up dragging the guy to help him (which results im ronin not meeting casey marie at that point)

after examining donnie declares that most of his injuries are internal, probably caused by a huge fall or something, so leo decides to pull out the healing hands, which works

and now they’re sitting and betting on who’s counterpart this guys is while they wait for him to wake up,they’re all betting that its leo

[last-ronin-tmnt-competition]

you mentioned finding lots of TLR fics. can you give me some to read. preferably, you rank them as most recomended to least (like fluff and healing to lots of gore and angst ) also! if it's dead dove please tell me, i'm shit at reading tags and have accidently read a couple even though i don't want to

The Last Ronin becomes a discord Admin by MelonPalooza - you probably already read it, funny as hell, bit angsty but sense it’s the last ronin all of the are

To know Peace (you got to let go) by Deadpool1763492 - Mikey taking care of the baby turtles with 1 or 2 flashbacks to him and his brothers

Brother, lay down your weapons by MisterUncanny - not to bad so far, starts with the ending of the last Ronin then brings in the rise crew and Casey Jr

Blood orange by StarBound_Seraph - like the previous one but with it’s with another illiteration of his brothers that isn’t rise, it also was created before the previous one

Beyond Death, there is home by thatonefandomjumper - literally the afterlife, you see each brother reach the after life and waiting for the others

Finding Peace by Ammo_Writes, Ammo_Writes_Turtles(Ammo_Writes) - only one chapter currently, set after TLR, Mikey’s in a coma, in the pov of 2003 Donnie in the chapter

Sunset Linings by Iamheretemporarly - 2012 bros are teleported to the last ronin universe and deals with Ronin bleeding out

Ashes to Blood, from Ghost to Brother by Ammo_Writes, Ammo_Writes_Turtles(Ammo_Writes) - Donnie’s back from the dead because of Bishop

Dearly Beloved by FracturedRain647 - Casey and Aprils wedding after Raph died

Just as it never should be by AlphaGuardian16 - 2003 meets TLR Mikey

Group therapy with doctor feelings by Plutodragon - rise Mikey kidnaps a bunch of people from apocalyptic timelines (ronin included) and forces them into therapy, think the second chapter is in Ronin’s pov (I’m counting this)

The Finer Points of Turtlenapping by Ammo_Writes, Ammo_Writes_Turtles(Ammo_Writes) - Ronin gets teleported to the past, prevents the foot from attacking his home, kills every foot member but Hiroto, kidnaps Donnie on the way

An imposters lies by JustMakeLeftTurns - more time travel, Ronin warns his past self and brothers about the future, Past Mikey has a breakdown

Peepaw Nightmare Blunt Rotation (PNBR) by RyantheLoser_reallyitsme - 2003 Raph, 2012 Robo Donnie, Rise Leo, and TLR Mikey all end up in the same universe but everyone but Donnie’s fucking knocked out and Mikey and Raph are bleeding out (Mikey needing more medical attention than Raph though), only 2 chapters so far

Know Peace by less_depresso_more_espresso - rise Mikey gets teleported to Ronins universe, Ronin thinks he’s a robot, Rise Mikey gets pretty injured after that and loses his arm, Rise Mikey forgives Ronin for believing his a robot and ignoring him during his fight with Hiroto, brings Ronin back to his universe, Hypno thinks Ronin was hot after he nearly kills him, Ronin has a fucking breakdown interacting with Rise Splinter, Ronin hallucinates… something that I can’t remember, yeah a lot happens

A Survior’s Guilt by Justalittleobsessed - Mikey wishing he died instead of his brothers

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE MEANS (and it's killing me) by Writing_In_Denial - 2012 AU Version of the last Ronin, Mikey’s brothers fucking leave him, Mikey only has ice cream kitty left, Mikey kills Rocksteady on accident, Bebop kills himself with Mikey’s help, Mikey changes his mask color to black and makes himself a new weapon cause his is tainted with the blood and death of Bebop and Rocksteady, ice cream kitty dies, Mikey gets caught in an explosion and meets his dad, his brothers try to go find him after seeing the news

εἴδωλον (morning arrives, you hear from below) by absenthium - splinter lives, Mikey starts pretending to be his brothers for him, Mikey loses his sense of identity, actually fucking made me cry, he didn’t have to do that but he did

To be young again by Ms. Dragon Reader - another 2012 Ronin AU but this time it’s on fanfiction net, Mikey dies and gets sent to the past, Karai is actually nice in this one, Mikey talks to her in his dreams, Mikey can go up on the surface earlier than his brothers and accidentally becomes leader, his brothers miss how he used to be before Ronin took over his past self, Ronin actually gets into a life threatening injury and has a choice to go to the afterlife with his brothers or back to the present, chooses to stay alive and wake up, finds spike and gives his to Raph, etc, etc, Mikey’s kills the shredder, it’s not as violent or sad as the other ones and the only reason it’s at the end is because it’s on fanficton.net and it’s been a while since I read it

[yourlocalpossum]

Episodes and things

Hey! Here's some of the episodes that are gonna be in the comic. Sadly the comic probably won't be out until the @tmnt-iteration-compeition is already over but here's to grow excitement (Vote Cyberspace!!)

There will be multiple episodes with world building in them. I love world building and I hope you really like what I did! I took most inspiration from the Lost Years last ronin comics, Cyberpunk games, and the 2003 Future Shellshock arc.

I won't have many filler episodes. I'll probably have about 4 or 5 max, more or less. I'll have a shopping related filler episode, a turtle tots related filler, and a filler about April and her father's relationship.

Mostly because of how many guys are in the series, I decided to replace Casey Jones, with Angel Jones. Angel is not an original character, in the 2003 series Angel is Casey's neighbor, but in this version she is Casey's step sister. Angel is going to be helping Raph with his anger issues in the final resolve episode.

Right now there is 26 episodes, and 2 seasons, but that number will probably change. There will however be two seasons, and I have some of the episodes planned out. I haven't started writing and I probably won't until I'm certain in figuring out the order and what episodes there will be.

Mikey is the leader, but I decided that Leo will become the leader by the end of season 1.

Fun facts when making the series!:

Donnie was originally supposed to be the leader, and Mikey would've been a crawling gremlin, but I decided to make Mikey the leader and give him a more "teasing big brother" sort of vibe.

Donnie was going to get a whole redesign to be a different turtle, but I decided to leave it as be. I also decided to give him one of those full length masks that cover his whole top of his head.

Donnie was also originally going to be the oldest, yet Leo was always the youngest.

A lot of the characters didn't go through many changes.

Also, I've decided (begrudgingly) that April won't be a huge part of the story. Of course she'll be there, but she won't have a huge part. I can't fit her in to the story very well sadly.

Casey Jones will still be mentioned and make cameo's, but won't be apart of the whole story.

Tigerclaw was my favorite character to write the story of... >:) And will also receiving the honor of a redemption arc instead of death!

[thecomicsnexus]

TMNT: THE LAST RONIN - RE-EVOLUTION #1

March 2024

By Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman , Esau & Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Shawn Lee.

With the resistance running low on manpower, it's up to the new turtles to rise and save the city.

SCORE: 9

You could say that, because this is a pretty much reimagined version of the turtles, there would be enough room for bold creative choices. But some of these choices, well, one in particular, was the reason the Turtles weren't well received on ocassions.

My concern, right now, is that the Turtles seem to be having "special abilities." In this issue we found out that they can use telepathy, something that was always kind of implied to exist but never abused, for the sake of storytelling. Did they learn this ability through the Splinter journal? If that's the case, why didn't Mikey use this ability in the previous two stories?

Another special ability came up at the end of this issue, which reminded me of the issue where Miles Morales debuted with a unique super-power.

Apart from that, this issue finally acknowledged one of the main points of this version. That the Hamatos and the Orokus had a feud. This was already present in "The Last Ronin," but because they didn't spend time to explain it, we only had a couple of interviews that detailed it.

Well, the feud feels a lot like the Mirage version, but with some unique characteristics that fit better in the Roninverse. I am talking about Nagi being Saki's father.

Now, this on itself brings additional questions. If Nagi already had a full-grown son, why was he after Tang Shen? What happened to his wife? Or is this a case of the unreliable narrator?

Another big question is how Splinter knew ninjitsu, as it was never explained, like in other versions, that he imitated his master. We shellheads can assume that was the case, but I guess the Turtles simply didn't know about that.

Another significant detail in their narration, was the bit about the ooze. They never explained what it was, so perhaps there is a story behind it that will be explored in the future?

Perhaps the best moment of the issue was when the Turtles were finally put into action. It took some time, but they are finally here.

Now, you could read this book and think. These are basically the same turtles with different looks and names. And technically, I wouldn't be able to deny that. There are some slight differences, like Uno being more overconfident than Leo, or Moja being more passionate about injustice than Raphael. But... they are very similar.

But this story is just beginning, so perhaps they will start becoming their own characters after this.

I appreciate having April still around, but I feel like this book should have a maximum percentage of panels dedicated to the parents (April and Casey), hopefully below the 40%. I kind of want to see stories about teenage mutant ninja turtles, not Huntress Jones. So I really hope that they start becoming the focus of the story in the next few issues. Sure, give me storylines involving all these characters, but don't forget who the readers are buying the book for.

Other than that, I saw many improvements when compared to the last two stories in the Roninverse. There are no oddly-positioned flashbacks, the story is more linear, and the world feels a little bit more familiar now (and expanded).

I want more stories in the Roninverse, and I am wondering it this should continue being mini-series, or if it should become an ongoing series. I guess that, since the Roninverse is such a big hit, writing for the trades is the way to go, so either option would work.

[aquietwritingcorner]

Semi-Conscious

Title: Semi-Conscious Day: Febuwhump Day 12 Prompt: Semi-conscious  Fandom:  TMNT 2003 Word Count: 3482  Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl Rating:  T Characters: Michelangelo, fan children Warning: NA Summary: When a sewer tunnel collapses, Mike is injured and cut off from the five children he rescued from Baxter Stockman’s lab five years ago. Determined, Mike pushes past his injuries to rescue his children, but he might end up needing a little help that comes from an unexpected place. Tie in to “I’m Not as Stupid as You Think I Am.”    Notes: This goes back to a Whumptober 2024 story I wrote called “I’m Not as Stupid as You Think I Am” which was a 2003 Last Ronin-like story. In it Mikey was the last of his family still alive, Baxter Stockman was the last of the enemies to take down, Mikey did, but he also rescued some mutant kids from his lab before he blew it up. That was all the story established. I have sense decided that Mikey rescued five mutant turtle kids, babies, three girls and two boys. He named them after important people to his family—Yoshi and Hamato for the boys, Tang and Shen for the girls—and the Japanese word for shadow, Kage, because he almost missed her, as she was hiding in the shadows of her cage. (and as homage to Shadow from the original comics) ff.net || AO3

_______________________________________

Semi-Conscious

Mike had tried very, very hard to be a good dad. It wasn’t easy, not with him still grieving the loss of his father, his brothers, and Leatherhead. And it wasn’t easy doing it all on his own, either, without the support of his family. Although that was a little unfair. He wasn’t completely on his own. April, Casey, Casey’s mom, Angel, and Tyler all helped him. Joi, Tora, Adam and Faraji stopped by to check on him. Even the Justice Force lent a hand. But it was still difficult to raise five very active children effectively on his own.

But he had been doing his best.

And as part of that? Well, he trained them. Not to carry on any fights, or to go out and protect the city or anything like that, but just so that they’d be able to protect themselves if they needed to at some point. And also, to run off energy. Definitely to run off energy. Mike wouldn’t be surprised that, if he could talk to his father, he’d find out that a good part of the reason he trained all of them was just to give focus to and get rid of some of the energy he and his brothers had back then.

But the one thing that Mike didn’t want for his kids was for them to be caught up in old battles and with old enemies that had belonged to him and his family. Yes, Mike was well aware of the concept of blood feuds and the like. But just as Splinter had kept knowledge of the Foot and the Shredder from them, not wanting them to get caught up in an old war, Mike didn’t want that for his kids either.

And yet things seemed to find them.

Mike coughed as he pushed his way up through some debris. His head swam and he nearly fell over, but he caught himself and pushed himself upright. What had happened? He and the kids had been going through some of the sewer tunnels, trying to get them familiar with other routes when—

--when the ceiling had caved in.

Panic surged through Mike, and he began frantically looking around. “Kage! Yoshi! Shen! Hamato! Tang!” he called out the names of his children, praying to whatever spirits were listening that they were safe.

Distressed chirps caught his ear, and he stopped long enough to listen in. They were coming from nearby and mixed with cries of “Daddy!”

Mike turned towards them, staggering and nearly falling over. His head spun, and the collapsed sewers in front of him swam in and out of his vision. That wasn’t good, but he had to focus, he had to get his kids out of here, make sure they were safe.

“Kids?” he called out, his voice a little unsteady.

A little green hand emerged from between some debris, and Kage’s sweet little voice called out from it. “Daddy!”

Mike practically collapsed next to the small hole, and reached for the hand, holding it. His head was spinning, but he did his best to stay focused. “Kage! Kage are you alright?”

The hand pulled back in, but Kage’s watery eyes peered through the gap. “I’m okay,” the five-year-old said, sniffing a little. “I scraped my knee, but I’m tough!”

“I know you are, sweetie,” Mike said, trying to look at the collapse without falling over. Maybe he could dig them out. He had to, before any humans arrived. “What about your brothers and sisters?”

“Yoshi looked at them, cause he has the band aids,” Kage said. “Um, hang on.”

There was a little shuffling around, and Yoshi appeared at the hole in the debris. Mike’s heart almost broke seeing how scared he was. “I, um, I looked at them!” the little boy said. “Tang scratched her arm, and Shen is scared but okay, and my hand hurts, but ‘Mato tried to protect Shen, and he’s got a bump on his head.”

Mike felt his heart rate pick up, but he tried to stay calm. “Is Hamato awake?” he asked, ignoring how his own slight was blurring a bit.

“Mm-hm,” Yoshi said, turning to look back. “But he’s kinda sleepy looking.”

Hamato being awake was a relief, at least. “Okay. Okay, good. You guys just hold on, okay? I’m gonna try to get you out. Keep your brother awake!”

“Okay, Daddy,” Yoshi said, “I’ll try!”

He vanished from the hole, and Mikey could hear more shuffling around as well as the sound of Shen crying. They were all scared. He could hear it in their voices and chirps. He had to get them out of there. But his head was swimming. He needed help. He reached for his phone, only to find it missing. A quick check found his Justice Force communicator missing as well. With a frustrated huff, Mike leaned his head against the collapse for a moment, closing his eyes. He had to focus. He had to force himself up. There was no way to get in touch with anyone, and he couldn’t leave the kids here while he went for help. It was up to him.

Mike heard more noises, and he forced his eyes open as Kage quickly came back to the small hole. “Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said. “I’ll—I’ll take care of everyone! I have a flashlight! And Tang has extra batteries! So, it won’t be dark and really scary!”

Mike blinked. “Where did she get—you know what, never mind,” Mike said. “I’m going to try to get all of you out. Just let me know if anything looks like it’s gonna fall in there, okay?”

“Okay,” Kage said. “I—oh, hang on.”

There was more shuffling behind the wall, and then Tang’s voice came through the hole.

“Are you gonna try to move the wall and ceiling?” she asked, her voice a little rough. She had been crying too, Mike could tell.

“I’m gonna try to see if I can make a whole big enough for all of you to get through,” Mike said.

“But you’ve gotta be careful, because if you’re not, it’ll all fall down?” Tang asked. “Like with the blocks?”

Mike blinked a moment, trying to place what Tang was talking about. Right, right, they’d been playing with some blocks that fell down and covered a small doll, and Tang had figured out that some of the blocks she could move without everything falling, and some she couldn’t. April had turned it into a lesson of some sort, if Mike remembered correctly.

“Yeah, like the blocks,” he said. “So that’s why you’ve got to tell me if it looks like anything is going to fall. Can you and your brothers and sisters do that? It’s really important.”

There was a brief pause, and then Tang’s voice drifted back out. “Yeah. We can do that.”

“Good girl,” Mike said, and then turned his attention back to the collapsed wall.

It was a mess, to put it lightly. He wasn’t sure how well it would hold in the long term, much less with him moving thing. But he had to try. Even if his head was swimming and he was having trouble holding onto consciousness, he had to try.

Forcing himself to move, Mike moved to where the hole was, and started there. It was slow going, and more than once Mike found himself having to push past dizziness and the desire to just collapse. The small voices calling out to him kept him going. He wasn’t about to let anyone get their hands on them. Not his kids. They wouldn’t live in the same kind of fear he and his brothers had.

Mike had no concept of time, not with his focus swimming in and out as it was, but eventually the hole was big enough for the smallest of his children to squeeze out. He just needed to move a little more and it would be big enough for all of them. It was tricky, though, because it looked like it was supporting weight. Still, maybe if he was fast enough…

“Okay. The hole’s big enough for most of you. Hamato, I’m going to have to make it just little bit bigger for you, okay?”

He heard his son sniff. “Okay,” the boy replied.

“Good boy,” Mike said. “But here’s how we’re going to have to do it. You’ll have to be in there alone for just a little bit, okay, Hamato? I promise you, it won’t be for long. But this’ll be easier if your brother and sisters are out of the way.”

“I don’t wanna be left alone,” Hamato said, clearly upset and tears in his voice.

“It’ll be okay,” Mike said, trying to reassure him. “It’ll only be for one minute, probably less, two minutes at most, okay? And I’ll be nearby.”

Hamato sniffed again, but Mike heard a chirp of agreement.

“Okay. Yoshi, Teng, Kage, Shen, you four come on out and stand on the opposite side, alright?” Mike instructed.

There were sounds of agreement, and, one by one, the four smaller turtles squeezed their way out of the hole Mike had made. Mike directed them to a safter area, and then turned his attention back to his remaining son and the problem at hand. His head was still swimming, but he did his best to hide that.

“Okay, Hamato, get near the hole,” Mike said. “As soon as I move this rock, I want you to try your best to get out of that hole, alright?”

The boy sniffed, but slowly nodded. “Okay,” he whispered out.

Mike took a breath, making sure that he was ready, and then he moved the piece of debris, hoping that the stability of the area would hold long enough for Hamato to scramble away. Unfortunately, the turtle luck was running true to form, and the area began to shift and crumble. Hamato wasn’t moving fast enough, and Mike could see it. The ceiling over them began to crumble more, and Mike launched himself at his son, grabbing him up and pulling him close, using his own body to shield the child. Debris pelted his shell as he ran towards the other side of the collapsed tunnel, where his other children were hiding in a mostly intact pipe.

He wasn’t steady on his feet, but the adrenaline rush helped with that, and he stayed upright—or at least he did until what felt like a large piece of debris hit him in the head. Lights bloomed behind his eyes, and he tripped, falling. He had enough of a presence of mind to curl around Hamato before awareness left him.

A small hand pressing on the side of his head was the next thing that Mike was aware of. He murmured a little, turning towards it, and he heard Yoshi say “Daddy?” Mike forced his eyes open, but they didn’t stay open for long. He could hear the voices of his other children and Mike let his eyes close, trying to understand what was going on.

There was something warm pressed up against his side. Something… one of his kids. Curled into him. Hamato. It was Hamato, and he had Mike’s arm draped across him. Someone else was near his head, pressing something into the side of it. He could hear movement and the voices of his other children, although he couldn’t make out what they were saying at the moment. Mike tightened his arm on Hamato, and both of the kids near him froze.

“Daddy?”

That was Yoshi again. Yoshi was pressing something on his head. That made sense. His son had taken an interest in medical things early on. Mike must have been bleeding or something.

“…Yoshi…?” his voice was weak, but it was the best he could do at the moment.

“Daddy!”

Mike slowly forced his eyes open. “Wh’re your sisters?”

“They’re here,” Yoshi said. “Daddy, you’re hurt, your head is bleeding.”

“I know,” Mike said, although he didn’t actually. He had to get them out of here, though. Mike went to try to sit up, only for the whole world to spin around him. For a moment he lost track of everything that was happening around him. When he came back to his senses, it was to the voices of Kage and Yoshi talking over his head, with Shen close to Hamato. He couldn’t hear Tang anywhere, but that wasn’t too unusual.

Mikey groaned.

“Daddy!”

Several voices called out at once, and Mike tried to crack his eyes open again. Kage was there with Yoshi, both of them looking upset and worried. Mike lifted a hand and laid it on Kage’s shell.

“It’ll be okay,” he said.

Kage sniffed but nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “We’re gonna get help, okay? You’re—you’re hurt! And we’re gonna get help!”

Mike wasn’t sure how they could get help. All he wanted was them somewhere safe. “All of you go… go to April and Casey,” he said. “Leave me here.”

“We can’t leave you!” Yoshi said. “You’re hurt!”

“You can’t let the humans see you,” Mike said. His head was pounding, and he closed his eyes again. “Get somewhere safe.”

He knew that Kage said something after that, but he didn’t understand what it was. Sensations floated in and out of his awareness. Sometimes he could understand them, and sometimes he couldn’t. But when he was aware, he tried to reassure his children. A touch here, a hug there, words spoken to them. He knew they were moving about, but he wasn’t comprehending everything they said.

“….Force communicator…”

“…broken…”

“Tang can…. Smart…”

“….shell cell…”

“…little bars aren’t…”

“…a hole?”

He had no idea what they were doing, but when he heard them digging, he hoped that they were escaping. For a moment, he floated, not really able to concentrate on anything. And then he felt little hands prodding at him again.

“Daddy, Daddy, you need to get up.” That was Kage.

“You can go back to sleep after,” Yoshi offered up.

A hand grabbed his and pulled at it. “Please, Daddy?” that was Tang, and Mikey cracked his eyes open enough to see that pleading look that she gave him. “We just need your help.”

Mike groaned and tried to sit up. His head swam, and he rolled over instead, on his side.

“You can do it,” Hamato said. “You’re the strongest!”

“Over here,” Shen called, and Mike looked her way.

“Please, Daddy,” Tang said. “It’ll help us all.”

He couldn’t refuse that. Staggering, and still not sure what was happening, Mike did his best to roll to his feet. His children tried to help keep him steady, and he had to lean on them for support. Slowly they guided him to a wall.

“That rock,” Tang said. “Move that one there. That’s all you’ve gotta do.”

“Right,” Mike grunted out.

Moving the piece of concrete wasn’t easy to do, mostly because he wasn’t up to full strength, but he managed to get it to tumble down. Mike was unable to keep his own balance, though, and he also fell, hitting the ground hard, even though he tried to catch himself. He could hear his kids calling out his name, gathering around him, and he managed to turn over, to lay on his shell. It wasn’t comfortable, but he could see the hole that he’d made. It didn’t look big enough for the kids to go through, but he also wasn’t sure that he was seeing it right.

Mike drifted in and out of consciousness again. Yoshi stayed close, keeping something pressed against his head. Hamato and Shen snuggled under his arms. Tang and Kage seemed to be discussing something, but what it was passed right through Mike’s awareness. All he wanted was for his kids to be safe. Every so often he tried to get them to leave, but they never did.

And then—there was movement.

It took Mike a moment to realize that the sounds were coming from outside of the collapse, and that there were voices. It was enough to make him drag himself further towards consciousness.

“Hide,” he breathed out to his kids and they, looking scared, did, Shen tugging Hamato after her.

Mike forced himself to his feet, although he was barely hanging on. Still, he reached for his nunchucks, not willing to let anyone touch his children or take him without a fight. The wall crumbled in, and Mike growled.

“Stay away,” he said, not quite able to see who was in the newly formed entrance way.

Little robots streamed, moving about the room in a way that made Mike’s head spin more. He heard the surprised squeaks and chirps of his children as they were discovered by the little bots, and Mike lashed out as the bot herded his children towards him.

“No!” he half-yelled. “You can’t have them!”

“Turtle Titan—calm down!”

Mike blinked. “…What?”

“Those are just Ananda’s bots. They’re making it safe enough to get you and the kids out of here.”

Mike squinted. “Sentry?”

“Yes, my friend. It’s me.” Sentry said. He frowned. “You’re hurt.”

“The kids. Gotta get them—” he took a step forward, and he crumpled. Sentry zoomed forward and caught him. His head spun and he could barely comprehend what was going on.

“Don’t worry, Michelangelo,” Sentry’s voice said. “We’ll keep them safe.”

Mike knew no more.

When Mike woke up next, it was to a much clearer head, although no small amount of pain. It took him a second to realize that he was in the Justice Force’s medical facility, and he jolted, sitting up and swinging his legs over the bed before he even put the action into conscious thought.

“Mikey, wait!”

Hands were suddenly on his shoulder, and he looked over to see April there, a worried look on her face.

“April? The kids! I—” he started.

April put gentle pressure on his shoulder. “The kids are fine, Mikey,” she said. “Scrapes and bumps and bruises. Hamato has a small concussion, but it’s nothing serious and will heal fine. Angel and Tyler are with them now.”

Mike relaxed at that and allowed April to push him back down into the bed.

“You’re the one we need to be worried about, Mister,” April said. “You had some pretty severe head trauma going on. Fortunately, there was a healer on hand who took care of a lot of it.”

“What happened?” Mike asked.

April pulled up a chair that she must have been sitting in before and scooted up to Mike’s bedside. “It looks like it was just a structural collapse. The sewer tunnels just collapsed. You guys just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Mike’s brow furrowed. “Then… city workers should have found us,” he said, confused.

“They probably would have,” April said, “Except that you’ve got some clever kids. Your phone and your communicator were both broken during the collapse. But Tang takes after her Uncle Donatello in more ways than one. She managed to fix the communicator enough to send out an emergency signal. But the signal couldn’t get through the concrete. So, Kage, Tang and Shen worked to clear away the debris, as much as they could, with Yoshi and then Hamato helping them later. Once they got you to get that last piece, they were able to get the signal out and the Justice Force responded.”

Mike blinked at April. “They’re such smart kids,” he said, a smile gracing his lips as he settled back down.

April hummed her agreement. “Apparently, Kage and Yoshi talked over what to do the most, while Tang worked on the communicator. Hamato helped to keep an eye on you, and Shen did her best in everything she was asked to do.” April reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. “They’re great kids, Mikey.”

“I want to see them,” he said. “I need to make sure they’re alright.”

“Of course,” April said, giving his hand a squeeze.

April stepped out of the room for a moment, Mikey took that moment to look up and the ceiling and let out a breath of relief. They were okay. His kids were okay. He was okay. That was all he had wanted out of the situation.

It didn’t take long for April to return with five anxious five-year-olds in tow, or for them to all called out for him and climb into his bed. Mike welcomed them in, holding them closely. With his children safe and sound around him, Mike could finally relax. They were here. They were alright. And they had worked together to take care of each other. It was more than he had feared and exactly what he had hoped. And knowing they were safe in his arms? That was the most reassuring thing of all.

[deadpool1763492]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin: The Lost Years #1 spoilers below the cut. Read at your own risk.

Edit: Just bought my physical copy yay me

Okay, I may or may not have ended up reading that issue in 10 minutes because I was so goddamn excited, so here are some of my initial notes from it following my first read through. I will be keeping images out of this post just because the issue was released less than half an hour after I'm writing this. Buy yourself a copy because this story is amazing!

1. "Get up, foolish child!"

So, this line came up a few times in this issue, namely from Splinter, who is saying it to Michelangelo in the midst of battle. It's interesting to see that he's calling Mikey foolish for not wanting to fight anymore.

I can't tell what I think about Master Splinter in this series. Yes, he reminds Mikey that he's not alone in this war and that he will always have his family by his side, but he also says things like, "This is what I have trained you for all your life" and "I will not leave you here to meet a coward's death". It's bittersweet, in a way. Mikey just wants to stop fighting; it was a theme throughout the initial Last Ronin storyline, as well. There's a reason why it ends with "know peace".

And then we cut to Casey, April and Casey's daughter, training the four new turtles we were teased at the end of Last Ronin #5, also yelling "get up" at them during training. I guess this line is going to be a sort of motif throughout the series, this idea of getting up no matter how many times you're knocked down. It's a good lesson, of course, but, as shown through Splinter and the entirety of the first series, it's clear that it has its consequences.

2. The New Turtles

It seems that this series is taking a page from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in having these four new characters be different species of turtles, which is really interesting. Like I said before, I'll be keeping images out of this post for now just for the sake of having other people read the story themselves (and copyright, of course), but I'll list the names of these turtles and what I can gather of their personalities just from the few panels we have of them.

Odyn — He's the biggest of the four at the moment, and all we really know about him is that he's apparently always hungry and he's not a big fan of tai chi because it's "too hard". So, not a big fan of training in general and possibly even fighting altogether, which could prove interesting in the future.

Uno — He's the showoff out of the four of them. He seems physically gifted and enjoys training, whether that be with the others or on his own. He also seems to believe he's better than the others from what I can gather, and doesn't seem to get along well with Moja, who I will get to next.

Moja — She's looks like the short-tempered defender of the group, seeming really similar to Raphael in some ways. She is quick to defend Odyn when Uno makes fun of him, and picks a fight with Uno when he doesn't seize the teasing. Unlike Uno, however, she seems to show a lot of respect towards April and owns up to her mistakes quickly.

Yi — From what I can go off of (which isn't exactly much, considering how little we got of these four), she's the Donatello of the group. She seems pretty calm and collected for the most part, and apparently loves spending time with April in the garage "fixing" things. I just hope she isn't some carbon copy of Donnie and has her own personality, albeit similar to his.

Speaking of similarities, that brings me to my third and final thought when reading this issue.

3. Change is Constant

Did I steal that from the first IDW arc? Who's to say.

So, this theme has been in the franchise for as long as it has existed. I mean, the first episode of 2003 is literally titled "Things Change". It's the idea that life always comes with its twists and turns and that there's no predicting exactly what will happen next. We can't control the universe, we simply exist within it. Empires rise and they fall. That's just life. You can't hold on to something forever because that's how you let that thing consume you. "Know peace," as Michelangelo stated.

Then we get to these four new turtles. Casey never really knew the original four outside of stories told by her mother, which caused these ideas of heroic martyrs to be put into the kid's head all her life. Because of this, her goal with these new turtles is to probably forge them into their predecessors' images. The problem with that is, of course, that's not really how life works.

These kids have big shoes to fill. That much is obvious. I mean, look at the original turtles. They trained their entire life to fight in a war against the Foot Clan. As teenagers, they went to space, they traveled to different universes, they fought other mutants and the US government and so much more. I can bet you that this legacy will come into play in this story, and not exactly in a good way.

Odyn, Uno, Moja, and Yi are not Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. They know this. Casey and April know this. We as an audience know this. What that means, however, is that we should not be putting them into boxes to fit the former turtles. Casey is trying to mold them into her heroes, and April no doubt is probably unconsciously doing the same just because she misses them just as much, but that could be pretty awful for these new guys. Think of it as growing up with an amazing older sibling or family member in general. All your life, you end up just trying to be like that one person, so much so you end up neglecting who you might be. I'm guessing individuality is going to be a big focus of this story, as well.

Well, that's my initial thoughts on this issue. I've been waiting a while for this, and, as a long-time fan of this franchise, I'm so excited to see what comes next in the story. I love how we're finally branching off to new characters and possibly new storylines altogether, all inspired by the original story. Now to wait a month for the next issue. I'll see you all then!

[tmnt-tychou]

Hi again!!! 😄 congrats on reaching your milestone!! That’s so cool!

This has been a question I’ve been wanting to ask, mostly cuz I’m curious! If you had to rank your personal favorite iterations of the TMNT based on characters and story, which would rank higher in your opinion? Bayverse turtles can also count!! 😁

Thanks again, and congrats!!! 🎉

I had to marinate on this. It's very hard to pick favorites when there's so many good versions to choose from. And these are just personal favorites, not a hard line on which show/movie is the best ever. No need to tell me what's what if anyone sees this list and disagrees. This is just my personal list.

I think my absolute top tier is still the 2003 version. This is largely due to the fact that this series was allowed to cover all the story lines that it wanted. Granted, not every episode is gold, but it really took advantage of all the things you can do in a TMNT universe and very much set a precedent of other versions to follow. (I do not count Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers in this.)

Rise of the TMNT is second. I think it had the capacity to surpass 2003, but it wasn't afforded the opportunity. With how much world-building and new ground it covered with only a season and a half, I can't even imagine what we would have had with a full five seasons or so if it had been allowed to continue.

Bayverse is my third favorite. Not necessarily because I think it's the "best", but because it's a lot of fun to play in. Some fans take Bayverse very seriously. I just can't. It's my anything-goes universe. I reserve a bit of respect for the other universes, but with Bayverse, I can do whatever dumb shit I want. I can make the dialog as crass as I want, I can explore more mature themes that I otherwise wouldn't put in a TMNT universe. I dunno, it's just stupid and fun. Also, very big turtles. I can't get enough.

Next is the 90's movies trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd are just stupid fun and very enjoyable. The first one, I think is still the best movie script to date and it too set a precedent for future TMNT iterations, including 2003.

I'll sneak in some comics here. "The Last Ronin" is a great read, if sad. Though not as rough of a read as I anticipated. And I really adored the TMNT/Power Rangers second crossover. (I have not read the first.) Of course, the art is AMAZING, but the script was great, too. I don't know a lot about PRs, but I could mostly follow along. And the Raphael/Casey bromance in this was SO GOOD.

Next, I would put the first 5 episodes of the 80's cartoon here. Yes, the show got dumb. They were on for like 10 seasons. But the first five episodes are pretty solid and a really good story. If you haven't seen the 80's cartoon and are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of episodes there are, just watch the first five. That's all you need.

I guess 2012 will go here. It's not my favorite series, though I know it's some fans' absolute true love TMNT iteration. I thought the first season was (mostly) pretty solid and I was really into it when it first came out, but by the end it was just the hottest of messes. Are there some fantastic episodes? Yes. Is this one of the best Splinters we've ever had? Also yes. Are the turtles' designs absolutely freaking adorable? Of course. Is that enough to carry this series for me? Unfortunately, no. This show is one big garbage fire and I didn't even watch most of the last season. Though I did catch that incredibly off-putting last episode.

Turtles Forever goes here. It was a great idea for a movie and I would have put it higher up, but I just watched it recently. It's actually kind of mean-spirited to other iterations, specifically the 80's version. So it goes lower on the scale for me.

The 2007 movie is next. Terrible script. So-so character designs. Some fantastic scenes. Probably one of the best Raphaels we've had.

Bottom tier stuff: Fast Forward, Back to the Sewers, a lot of the 80's show. The Next Mutation.

[hamsterandturtlesoup]

Fowo convinced me to Write Up My Thoughts on why I felt The Last Ronin ended up being less satisfying than I’d hoped (I did not take much convincing haha). Beware the cut, beyond thar be spoilers! And lots and lots of words. I got opinions!

To start with, let’s talk about the big mysteries that made TLR so compelling, at least to begin with. There were primarily three:

Who is the Last Ronin? - answered by the end of #1

What happened to the other turtles? More specifically, how did they die? - answered by the end of #4, with each of the 3 turtles getting roughly an issue each dedicated to their glorious (or not-so-glorious) end

What is going to happen in the present?

I’m happy enough with 1, and honestly loved how that played out. So let’s move onto 2, where it started so well and then dissipated into . . . dull clan politics.

2. What happened to the other turtles?

Narratively, TLR emphasised action over emotion. This is actually pretty typical of Eastman’s writing, and you can love it or hate it. Here, I think the comic would have benefited massively from just taking some occasional time to breathe. To stop and reflect on the losses. We get small glimpses of this in the ‘present’, through April more so than anyone else, and Mikey’s hallucinations of his brothers, but what about the past we seem to be fast forwarding through at breakneck speed from #2 onwards?

One moment we’re watching an intimate family dinner between the turtles and their adopted humans get utterly devastated by Splinter’s almost death, and then Raph’s actual death. #2 is where the series peaks for me. It gets absolutely everything right. By the end of #2 I was emotional, I was hurt, and I was desperate to find out the fallout of ‘the first to fall’.

But we don’t find out - not in any way that matters. In the next flashback, suddenly the Hamato clan is a huge, cold, impersonal military operation. Raph is never mentioned, his absence only hinted at by a little red on his brothers’ gear. They don’t talk about how they feel. They’re just planning a military operation.

That’s . . . hard to care about. It’s so far and distant from the tiny found family unit that forms the heart of TMNT. It’s where the series stopped exciting me.

But more than that, the biggest let-down for me was the progressive character deaths. Here’s how they compare:

Raph dies in the only way Raph should ever die - in a fit of self-destructive emotional rage, tearing through an army of enemies by himself, no thoughts head empty full berserker gusto. His death is in-character, it is epic, it suits him, and it carries so much emotional meaning! After all, in #3 we learn that Splinter actually survived. That retrospective irony is so painful, so cruel! If he had just tempered his patience for a little longer . . . but he didn’t, and he’s dead, and that must be terrible for his family to realise, and everything about it just works.

In #3. we move onto Leo, and Casey because it’s a 2-for-1 on main character deaths apparently. Now, I’ve already mentioned my dislike of the Hamato Clan suddenly being this big sprawling military operation, but it’s important to understand what a cold, contextual bed this makes for what happens to Leo and Casey. Now, I know they stand their ground together, defending, uh, a big cold military organisation that we don’t care about. But the together time is kinda nice. However, the simple fact is, in the end they get wiped out by a totally impersonal explosion. That’s it. Standing their ground didn’t even make any kind of difference to anybody. If they’d run like cowards, the outcome would have been the same. Personally I would have preferred a more strident self-sacrifice for Leo. It’s cliche for him at this point, I know, but it suits him. Getting cut down while his actual family members, not the Hamato military, make it away with the time he wins them would have been horrible and also everything I wanted. Imagine if he’d died last, and did it to protect his sole remaining brother. Imagine how poignant that could have been. As for Casey? He should have been fighting alongside his goddamn wife. He should have died biting off way more than his human ass could chew and fighting the odds with a grin on his face anyway. Tag-teaming with Leo was cute, but it also muted and depersonalised their individual deaths. Coupled with the quick, cold explosion method, it felt like a quick kill for page space. But at least it wasn’t completely out of character for them.

Donnie’s death in #4 is the absolute worst on my ranking scale. In fact, the more I dwell on it the more I hate it! Why? It’s incredibly out of character. He blindly and obediently follows his idiot father into an obvious trap, without coming up with any other inventive suggestions or ideas, without objecting strongly to how fucking stupid the plan is. And then he just becomes a sad casualty of his father’s arrogance when he refuses to retreat. Donnie doesn’t do anything to die. The death just happens to him. He doesn’t make any choice that Splinter didn’t make for him. He’s a Clan Hamato sheep! We’re supposed to be saddened by this scene, but honestly, this one just made me mad. I felt like it did poor Don such a huge disservice, and it did not improve my attitude towards TLR!Splinter in the slightest. It’s another impersonal death, another unnecessary casualty of Splinter’s escalating honour war with the Foot. Something that I thought we should be starting to interpret as a core theme, but I’ll come back to how that doesn’t really work out later. I had a thought last night, staring at the ceiling thinking about how I would have written #3-#5 differently for 2 hours. Picture this - during some macguffin Hamato operation, Donnie is given an absolutely critical, life-saving task to stealth into a Foot facility to do something with some tech that only he can do. En route, we see him get attacked, but the scene cuts back to the others and they only hear him talk on the radio about how he’s fine. Later, when the operation is nearing completion, his brothers contact him to find out where he is. Finally we cut visually back to Don, and see that he’s mortally wounded but struggling on with the tech to get his job done, and he has to tell his family he’s not gonna make it out . . . They could have had a conversation, no matter how brief. They could have talked about Raph’s death in parallel. Man, my gut is punching itself just thinking about what they would say to each other in a situation like that. Everything could have just been so much more personal and family-focused, you know?

3. What is going to happen in the present?

Let’s move on. The flashbacks to the past are interwoven with the goings-on of the present, which by #4 are also delivered in a wibbly wobbly timey wimey narrative that sometimes gets pretty chaotic.

Time slows down when we get to see April and Mikey interact in the lair, or April and Casey, and it’s these parts that I love the most. But in spite of that there are a few things that just didn’t work for me across the ‘present’ arc:

Mikey himself felt out of character to me at times. I'm not talking about him being jaded and embittered by his experiences, or even him being a bit grumpy, all of which are perfectly understandable. In particular, though, the way he belittles and mocks and torments Casey when he’s testing her skills is super unlike Mikey. He doesn't treat family like shit, no matter what he's been through. It felt way too mean.

Speaking of Casey, the whole ‘Casey is a mutant’ sideplot fell totally flat for me. What was the point? What did it add, to anything? Even in the final issue, she didn’t really do anything with those vague ‘powers’. Holding your breath underwater for a long time wasn’t really something that HAD to make the cut. The only purpose I can think of is this: during the final fight between Mikey and Hiroto, there is this little exchange that rubbed me up the wrong way: H: The mutant monstrosity playing at family honor, all for a pretend family with no true bloodline to speak of. M: You’re wrong. Our bloodline is the shared mutagen that runs through our veins. Were the writers trying to bridge the familial gap between Casey (who was too young to actually know the turtles) and Mikey by making her a mutant, giving them some biological commonality? If so, well . . . that stinks xP The fact is, found family is a core TMNT concept. The turtles are mutants who accidentally have a mutant rat for a father and love their adopted humans April and Casey and none of them are related biologically, and it doesn’t matter. So for Mikey to phrase it like this to begin with is pretty weird to me. Maybe I’m reaching, but the alternative is that ‘Casey is a mutant’ is just a dud sideplot with no real impact. It could have been removed with zero impact to the story.

An ending where Mikey dies in mortal combat with Hiroto and April and Casey are left holding the baton felt both predictable and completely at odds with some of the themes of the narrative. The flashbacks of each turtle’s and Splinter’s deaths lead us on a road that shows the pointless violence and unnecessary loss involved in perpetuating the Hamato vs Foot feud across the generations. On top of this we have conversations like this really poignant one of Mikey’s with his (dead) brothers about Casey: M: I mean . . . yeah. Right. She’s just a child. L: Good call. She can’t be more than seventeen years old. M: Sixteen. And already tangling with the Foot clan. Sound familiar? D: Apples to oranges, Mikey. We trained our entire lives. R: And she ain’t a mutant, bro. She’s just a kid. Casey and April’s kid! M: And we were Splinter’s kids. And Karai was Shredder’s. And Hiroto’s hers. And here we all are . . . back to square one. Hrghhh I LOVE this exchange so much, because Mikey is making such a good point, but then it makes me mad at the ending because . . . what does this spell out? That the whole ‘going after my family’s enemies for revenge and honour’ cycle will keep on dragging in the next generations and will NEVER STOP until someone CHOOSES to not do it anymore! Mikey was so close to figuring this out, but rather than apply it to himself, he only seems concerned with keeping Casey out of the mix. He knows the lesson, because he writes it in Splinter’s stupid book, but then he takes off solo to fight Hiroto and predictably dies in the process. And what does he say about it? M: It was . . . my duty. M: My . . . destiny. For my family. C: But . . . I’m your family now. YES CASEY PLEASE TELL THIS IDIOT WHAT A FUCKING IDIOT HE IS. Let me speak plainly: Michelangelo did not need to die. A better ending that fit the theme and the narrative would have been this: Mikey beats Hiroto, and I don’t care how cut up he gets doing it (I enjoy the bloodshed >:3), but here’s the important part: He stays his goddamn hand. He chooses to end the cycle of Hamato vs Foot violence. He casts off the Hamato ‘duty and honour’ yoke. And then he throws a humiliated and broken Hiroto to the pissed off population of post-apocalyptic NYC to deal with however they please. And then he retires to the Lair with April and Casey and he becomes her sensei and they live HAPPILY EVER FUCKING AFTER.

But there’s still a lot to love!

The above essay makes me feel a bit bad because I know the team behind this series were so passionate about it, and I’ve even talked to some of them on twitter, and I promise that I wish them ALL THE LOVE. I don’t mean to denigrate any of their efforts, which I appreciate very much, but I, too, am passionate about turtles xD and sometimes it’s just so much more frustrating when something that came SO CLOSE to greatness just . . . clipped the edge.

However, there is still plenty I DO like about TLR, so I want to end on a positive :3

Stuff I really did love:

All the post apocalypse vibes, all of them! The main artist for the present scenes didn’t always float my boat but his work definitely suited the tone and style of the work and I dig it for that reason. Loved how April looked in particular. WRINKLY OLD POWER WOMAN WITH PROSHTETICS, YES.

Everything about #2. EVERYTHING! Raphael, my stupid stupid son . . .

Ben Bishop’s art. Delicious <3

Future April, queen of the resistance and of my heart

Casey Marie, the sassy spry Shadow Jones of my heart

All the positive time Mikey got to spend with Casey and April in the lair, reminiscing. He got hugs and I’m happy for him.

Just, all the sad moments and the emotions and angst. Hhhhh. Like I’ve said before, in many ways, this comic felt like a love letter to me specifically. I will treasure it always, even if I don’t fully jive with the end-to-end execution.

[portableleo]

I just wanted to say, I really love ur art (like, all ur TMNT 2003 stuff, ur TMNT IDW stuff, and ur TMNT: Dark Fate stuff)! It is all really awesome. U have such a cute and nice style, and u can recreate other styles too really well.

Also, as a Leo fan, ur blog has been very nice for that/as a Leo fan too (I love the others too though! They are all great. I just have my favorite).

Besides all the TMNT 2003 stuff, I really liked that TMNT IDW City Fall Leo you did (I love that arc, and I love that Leo look very much. Man, I want an animated adaption of City Fall and/or Foot Leo someday. With that look or something similar, but just as awesome. I want that so much), and that one post with Mikey, Jennika, and Leo texting too!

Ur TMNT: Dark Fate art, comics, descriptions, etc.; have been really interesting and cool so far. I am really interested in ur own iteration! I love how they all have powers (I really liked that kind of thing/stuff w/ Rise), and the powers they have (I think of other powers that would suit them too, but the ones u have defin. suit them very well).

I love them all, though I think Leo and Donnie are my favorites description, design, etc. wise (for the turtles at least). They are all very good though.

I find it interesting that Leo and Raph's powers mirror each other (while Donnie and Mikey's mirror each other), however Donnie and Raph are actually the twins with each other, and Mikey and Leo have some parallels design wise (like the longer bandanna tails, which I love), and are the two younger ones. Idk, I just find that interesting. (Are Mikey and Leo twins too, or just the two younger ones?). Also, even while not the eldest, and in this case, 2nd youngest, Leo can't escape being the Leader lol (like in Rise. Though, with Rise Leo, I see stuff and debates with/about him being 2nd oldest and/or 2nd youngest with him. I like both, though, sometimes I might lean more one or the other).

Man though, what did Splinter do to poor Leo at Age 7 that changed his attitude so much? Now, I am on edge w/ ur version of Splinter. I don't trust him.

Ur Casey and April designs are great too! I love April being really into aliens, and them being cousins! Honestly, that is really inspired.

Really excited for more of ur TMNT: Dark Fate comic and stuff; when u can. Probably one of my favorite TMNT fan versions/iterations I have stumbled across.

One last thing, (sorry for how long this has gotten), but I know u are steadily watching and/or reading the different TMNT versions, and I know u have watched TMNT 2003 and read (at least some of TMNT IDW), and I just wanted to ask how far in TMNT IDW u were in (I am guessing pretty far or all the way through), and if u have started any of the other versions yet?

I think u may have already watched Rise, but don't quote me on that.

Just asking this because I am curious, you don't have to answer this. :) Alright, done for now, have a good day/night!

oh my gosh, this might just be the ask ever 😭🧡 thank you SO SO much for liking my content and taking the time to send this ask!! It means so much to me and i super appreciate it

I’m glad you liked how i assigned the elements in DF! The ones with opposing elements will have the most conflict with one another 😉 Leo is a year older than Mikey (he is 16 and Mikey is 15)

For DF Splinter: hehe, without going into detail, he imposes a mindset that may not be healthy on his sons. There will come a point where they realize this and have a disagreement

Overall I’m glad you’ve taken interest in my AU and i hope you stick around for more!!!

I’m still catching up on IDW, though I am reading issues as they are releasing (so i have read 140!). I am currently on issue 67 :) I have also read The Last Ronin and Lost Years, and the MMPR x TMNT crossover, and I’m reading Saturday Morning Adventures. I have gotten into collecting the comics so theres some others i have as well!

And yep I have seen rise! I am currently watching 2012 and i still need to finish 87. Still need to pick up next mutation, too.

Thank you so much again for your wonderful ask!!