#turtle posting

[theelvishfiddler]

I love how they all cling onto or hide behind big bro when startled

[necrosishead]

[mystery-fish-17]

Does tony know how cool and special he is

[halltastic]

Turnip Greens 🐢

[o-nik]

This is what my cat does before throwing up

[troythecatfish]

[dumb-teambucciarati-headcanons]

I love coco jumbo (the turtle) so much he is my favorite. Polnareff is the best character because he got to haunt a turtle. I love turtles so much and I love my turtle so much.

[pommigranite]

sorry im done lmao

[builtlikeastickofcelery]

Leo in the Hero’s Journey

I won’t write an essay for school but I will write it for Fandom Purposes!! This is using the Rise movie because it’s easier to analyze in one sitting.

Let’s begin!

For reference, this is the hero’s journey (sometimes referred to as the monomyth)

I will be going through these in just the phases, so I will only add in characters if I really need to.

The rise movie is unconventional in that it doesn’t exactly follow the typical format, like how other action movies (marvel, dc, etc.) would. Let’s start with the call to adventure.

      The call to adventure is in one of the first scenes of the movie (post flash-forward), when they lose the key (this is also the inciting incident that kicks off the plot) and it demands immediate action. Next, supernatural aid (or the info-dump that explains everything and what they have to do) arrives in the form of Casey Jr from the future, telling them about the kraang.

Obviously the kraang are the threshold guardians, since they have a literal threshold that they are guarding, as well as serving as the first challenge.

The helper role in this case is filled by Raph, sacrificing himself and staying behind while enabling Leo and the rest of the team to escape. This is not normally where the helper is (usually the helper shows up on the other side of the door), so let’s just say the the kraang are also the threshold as well as the guardians since that basically works as well. next up are the challenges and temptations. This is less prevalent in the movie, as the challenges are just one big challenge (although for the sake of this being sort of coherent i’ve separated them by before the technodrome and after the technodrome), but this is basically what leads up to the shot on the roof as the technodrome emerges, which serves as the break between the first and second challenges. 

The first challenge is when everyone is disorganized and just trying to rush in (the subway scene and the chase scene with the sister kraang). It shows all the characters pretty much pre-development in terms of plot, but Leo more than anyone (puts his team in danger, literally has no idea what to do, etc etc)

the second challenge is when the characters are more or less familiar with their circumstances and know better what they have to do. In the movie, this is the events of Leo’s actual plan, leading up to the fight scene with kraangified raph (aka the helper showing up again but sinister this time. See? It adds a twist!)

The next step is the abyss, which is the fight scene in the technodrome. “But wait!”, you’re probably saying, “isn’t the abyss the prison dimensions because it’s a literal abyss?” NO!!, and I will explain why.

The point of the abyss in any hero’s journey is that it forces drastic change and reveals truth, and this almost always has to happen at the character’s lowest moment (just because of our human nature). Leo’s abyss is that scene because it is literally his worst nightmare. His entire family is about to die, and it’s his fault. He has hurt the people he cares most about by failing them, and now must face the consequences of his actions alone, without anyone able to help him or reach him. That is the abyss, and that is also the revelation. However, the  whole point of leo’s abyss can be seen in one screenshot.

Right here. You don’t even need the caption (aka I couldn’t find a screenshot with it and I’m not rewatching the movie again just for this) This is the exact moment of Leo’s “rebirth” where he is finally able to stop sinking and start going up. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but suddenly everything turns around.

The transformation happens almost simultaneously to the abyss, so I won’t be talking much about it. It’s very subtle! (It’s the “title of the franchise” line that could have appeared earlier had we not been denied season 2b or 3 :( actually so not very subtle) But still very important!

Anyway, skipping through one absolutely gorgeous action sequence (I’m sorryy) to the second-to-last landmark in the hero’s jounrey: 

Atonement. This is the prison dimension, this is how Leo makes up for his mistakes. The funny thing about the rise movie is that it subverts these roles; if I was going off literal circumstances, these two scenes would be switched, since leo actually apologizes to raph in the technodrome scene, and the prison dimension is basically an abyss. But no!!! As a character, this is not leo’s lowest point. He’s accomplished what he needed to accomplish. In a sense, he’s relieved because the conflict is otherwise resolved, and now, in some sort of twisted way, he’s making up for everything bad he did by doing one last good thing. This is very extreme for atonement, which is usually in a quieter moment somewhere on the journey home, but rise always tends to subvert expectations in the best way. It’s made clear that this is not Leo’s turning point; it’s him as a fully realized hero character who is righting his (maybe deserved? maybe not this intense) wrongs.

The return is just that: Leo returning home. Hopefully you’ve seen the movie, so I don’t have to do much explaining since “return through a portal” is the #1 most overused trope for the return. What I do like, however, is that the portal home is only necessary because of the movie’s plot specifically, and if they hadn’t gone ham with leo’s character arc (very glad they did), the return probably WOUKD have been signified with the brothers simply returning to their lair. So this sort of works in the movie’s favor.

anyways, I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings!!! I normally hate writing any sort of educational-ey response to anything ever but this is such an interesting topic for me.

[theelvishfiddler]

I’m too tired to write a thoughtful description but Splinter loves all of his kids so much you guys

[vaudeville-moggie]

Turtle's nicknames ranked by how often I think they're used

Leonardo:

Leo

Leon

Blue

Nardo

L/’el’ (idk if this is canon but this is the name is use for 2012 transfem Leo) Leon Ardo/ Leo Nardo (grouping these together for reasons.)

Donatello:

Donnie/Donny

Don

Tello

Purple

Othello von ryan

Dontron

Donna Tello (used exactly once in 1987) Don Natello (I THINK this was the MM name???)

Michelangelo:

Mikey

Micheal

Orange

Angelo

Mike Micheal Angelo

Angel (i don't think this is canon but I've called him this)

Raphael:

Raph

Red

Raphie

Raphaella

Raphela (i don't think this is canon but I've called him this)

(insert what name they had for him in that one joke in mutant mayhem)

[halltastic]

Lunch!

[cartoon-gushes]

New sona, who dis?

[dreamdisk]

' the ocean is ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███. that is the ocean. '

[troythecatfish]

[halogalopaghost]

Absolutely cursed yet entirely plausible TMNT 2023 character traits:

Mikey is a K-pop stan

Donnie has a YouTube channel

Raph vapes and an AWOLNATION or grandson song plays over a dramatic montage during which he is introduced

Leo is safe from the curse for now updates to follow