#how does he rise up

[curarems]

Nothing like waking up with no knowledge of the date, opening the discworld tag and getting hit with 12TH OF MARCH screaming sobbing lying on the floor.

Gnu Terry Pratchett

[turtleblogatlast]

I think a lot about Leo’s tendency to push his way into the spotlight despite clearly being a natural in the shadows. Hell, you could argue that his worst moments are when he’s forcing himself onstage, and his best are when he does things no one notices until it’s already been done.

[ilk-insolence]

Raph Is A Great Strategist

Numerous times in the show Raph has shown to have a preference for straightforwardly punching his problems away rather than think up a more complex solution. Like how his immediate fix to getting Mayhem out of the mirror in Mystic Library was to punch everything in the bathroom but the mirror. However, when Raph understands the situation requires more in depth strategy, he’s shown to be an incredibly capable tactician.

(long post ahead!)

In nearly all the plot heavy episodes like Shadow of Evil, Many Unhappy Returns, and the season finales, Raph gets moments where he’s highlighted for his strategic thinking. In Insane in the Mama Train, he’s the one who figures out which eyeball-button goes to the front car with the dark armor, because “‘it was the only button [the Foot Clan] didn’t want me to press!’” [21:05]. He’s also the one who came up with the scheme to defeat all the (known) combatants in the train, with Leo specifically attributing Raph as the deviser during their mind meld [19:46]. In Many Unhappy Returns, after spending a single night waylaying the Shredder, Raph formulated a plan using all the tricks the team learned, seamlessly transitioning the mystic collar Leo acquired into it [19:53], to defeating the Shredder. Additionally, he’s repeatedly called for a retreat during fights, like in Shadow of Evil, Shreddy or Not (Finale pt 2), and the movie, when he can tactically recognize that a battle couldn’t be won. Each time, the show/movie implied that that was the right call, for the family to lose the fight but win the war.

And it’s not just that Raph is good at strategy when he’s pushed to be more serious; the show characterizes him as passionate about creating plans, he enjoys doing it. Literally in the first episode, Mystic Mayhem, after the turtles’ initial plan failed of getting Splinter out of the living room to touch his Do-Not-Touch Cabinet, Raph immediately started devising a new plan that involved “ten chickens [and] a gallon of rubber cement” [9:35]. It was convoluted, sure, and they didn’t end up using it, but it was inventive and the opposite of reluctant. This is also shown in Bug Busters, where Raph planned out dousing Mikey in honey to attract the oozequitoes [2:52]; Snow Day, with the idea to freeze Ghost Bear like in Jupiter Jim Pluto Vacation 4; and Raph’s Ride-Along (and also Bad Hair Day), where Mind Raph created multiple schemes to get the criminals arrested. The show wouldn’t have made Raph be so creative with his plans if they were trying to characterize him as someone who didn’t like strategizing.

So does why Raph do stupid shit sometimes where he doesn’t think things through at all? Well, even though Raph is good at strategy and enjoys doing it, it’s clear his immediate impulse is still “punch the problem in the face”. In fact, all the turtle boys contain the fascinating dichotomy of being incredibly smart in some areas, and the dumbest teenagers alive in others. Just look at Donnie. It’s also how Raph is a loving protective older brother, and the guy who shoved Leo into a wall so hard he disappeared in one frame for shits and giggles (The Mutant Menace x). None of this means that Raph is bad at strategy though.

tldr: Yeah, Raph has a lot of dumb and, frankly, insane moments in the show, but he’s still an incredible tactician who’s plans consistently saved his family and sometimes the world. He's a great strategist.

[muzzleroars]

danse macabre

[mad-tears]

Donnie on Raph’s back 

[notemaker]

(He's a theatre kid.) Mikey: Dw guys he's just having fun.

Leo: Right. I feel like every day he's one step closer to his villain era. Raph: wait...wasn't he, already?

[ratwithhands]

Fun fact I used to consume a lot of Land of the Lustrous stuff.

Anyways this is one of my many Land of the Lustrous OCs, Vivianite. Mohs hardness of 1.5, dark green/blue in colour, and very old. Due to the nature of his weak composition, Vivianite can't actually do much of anything, and has had to live under very specific conditions.

Vivianite wears a tight full body uniform to hold any chipped pieces in place, and is kept in a box stuffed with loose cloth to ensure minimal damage. If he comes into contact with light, he begins to oxidize and darken, so he's kept in a windowless room with curtains over the entrance.

That's all to say he's isolated and bored. He spends much of his time inactive, but he'll jump at the opportunity for conversation if there's someone around. Certain gems visit him to chat, get guidance, or give him the recent news. A task given to some gems is to clear his room of dust, and maybe bring him some books if he's up for it.

Vivian sees himself as an older sibling/friend to many of the other gems, and as such he's very keen on providing a listening ear and giving advice where possible to those who need it. He's essentially emotional support in a can.

Other notes/details:

not all gems know Vivian exists! He's hidden away so most gems wouldn't see him unless they were actively looking for him. A lot of the older ones know about him, but the younger ones don't

Rutile is endlessly tired of having to glue him back together so often due to his softness, which is part of why he has a tighter uniform to keep all his broken pieces in place

Vivian struggles with walking, he tends to be slow and stumbly

the tanks in Vivian's room are for jellyfish. Gems who are sent to clean his room have to switch out the jellyfish too. They're there to provide a faint light source so he doesn't go completely inactive

Vivian, despite living in a box in the dark, has a lot of technical knowledge about things as a result of millennia of going through the library collection. He' a living encyclopedia and can usually offer some answers if a gem has questions on a particular subject

his internal structure is basically a lot of shards stuck together like fibers, so he does minor repairs on himself by affixing strands of his hair into empty spots. He's had his fingers repaired and replaced this way often

In the few instances where Vivian has gone outside, he has an abnormally high amount of energy as a result of his inclusions being able to work at full capacity in the light

If I remember anything else I'll add it, anyways have a good day!

[willlatree]

COLE was the cook in the land of lost things??

[sea-jello]

@nyaskitten tumblr ate your fucking ask uhh ignore how this is months later BUT i finally watched dr s2 AND

I GET IT NOW. I UNDERSTAND.

[swatato]

I refuse to believe a damn thing I’m seeing thanks <3

[turtleblogatlast]

One of the earliest examples of Leo’s “I’ll do my own thing to accomplish our goal without discussing it with my team first” is in episode one. It’s super, super quick, and ultimately inconsequential, but it subtly sets up a great precedent that I think is very interesting.

When the boys need to grab the medallion from Splinter without Splinter noticing, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie huddle together with Raph taking the lead in trying to devise a plan to get the mystic device. Meanwhile, Leo slinks away and grabs the device by clocking the situation (by knowing his father well enough to predict his actions - something he does with each family member multiple times in the series) and making a move on his own.

It works out perfectly fine, and is ultimately the best move, and it’s honestly okay that he didn’t consult everyone for something so small when it’s such a non issue to get it, but it nicely sets up how this tends to go in the series, including how it goes in the movie.

To be honest episode one is actually really good at setting up a lot of things for each character in the long run, this is just one example that caught my attention, as small and unassuming as it is.

[bigdvmnhero]

enamored with the thought of rise mikey never living up to his full potential because: he doesnt have to

he's not weak or naive or anything like that - in fact, i think if he wasn't the Family Baby, doomed to be coddled by raph until he's idk 30, mikey might've been one of the stronger fighters. i mean his weapon of choice in this iteration is the infamous kusarifundo; viciously hard to practice without hurting yourself. idk how splinter managed to train him in those 5-minute commercial breaks. the chains are also fire-generating btw. and the fire might be sentient?? who knows. his affinity for mystic power is off the CHARTS. first episode in - first episode!!! - mikey's opening the gate to the hidden city bc yeah, he can do that. his brothers cant. at 15 he rips open a portal out of sheer faith. no one is teaching him this shit btw. he just pulls it off. just child prodigy tingz

he's pure potential, unpolished and untapped, and he gets to be the carefree younger sibling bc his older brothers decided to bear the burden of leading and protecting the clan. everyone knows mikey's special, but no one's rushing him to fulfill his destiny or whatever. he gets to eat pizza and cook fun elaborate meals and goof off like a kid, bc he IS (for now)

meanwhile mikey in the bad future timeline: a literal time god, balding at 30, the only reason why humanity ever gets a second chance in the first place

[muzzleroars]

Lucifer, as the Old Dragon

Lucifer, and all of his angels with him, had been punished by God to exist as a mindless, writhing mass with the bodies of those that survived melded with the corpses of so many that died on impact. Only Lucifer remained fully conscious and aware of himself, tortured by their fate and all the pain of the bodies he was now attached to. Seeing the divine but formless mass, Hell was enchanted - in particular, it saw the beauty of Lucifer as its shining core, so radiant even in ashes, and so it made a body for him, for them. The first work coming as an unknowing collaboration between God and Hell, it crafted Lucifer into a great serpentine form - his halo it repurposed as a face, building up oil-slick skin and displaying Lucifer as its centerpiece in great joy. It grew into them, the walls and brutally frozen lake of Cocytus trapping them all as much as Michael's chains and lodged spear, while its own mass mingled with the bodies of angels. The remains of those lost now bleed eternally from its belly, failing to revive despite Hell's best efforts.

[little-eye-guy]

my shady carnies.....

[all-lars-bars]

I have a character pitch!

Former Little Sister who is now transmasc

[nyaskitten]

I do wonder about the parallels between scenes in DR, and how at times certain things just don't add up and it really does beg the question... are they planning to somehow reveal DR is actually a parallel universe? Is that like their failsafe in case Lego decides Ninjago needs to return to pre-DR? That it ISN'T the main timeline? 'Cuz I can't lie that'd be the worst shit I ever seen!