Rory

Sometimes I'll see people make discussion of "dumb" characters and talk about how they do have smarts in some areas, but have developed a self consciousness around their intelligence because none of their smarts is relavent to schooling and testing environments. Smarts like strategy, improvisation skills, and deductive reasoning are smart skills that aren't necessary encouraged or inspected in school, but which are traits that Colt actively possesses in the movie. Even though these are things that people often bring up in reference to "dumb characters" I haven't actually seen anyone talk about it in relation to Colt specifically (maybe I just missed that discussion). I have seen people write him thinking back to when he was in school, and getting very contrasting grades to his brother

But I ALSO just have reason to believe he would have tested fine in school, if not actively well. Him and Dan play their little memorization game with the movie lines. His "nihilism's a viable worldview" thesis may have canonically been a surface level reading of the text, but it's absolutely something a teacher would accept. Also he was put pretty on the spot about it. He'd have gotten decent grades back in school imo. And maybe he'd be the dumb twin in contrast, sure, but people really crank it up.

"You need carbs! Your brain runs on glucose! For simple cognitive functions, you need them!" <- not the sentiment nor vocabulary of an idiot. But I think because he got into a dangerous field people decided that he's reckless and typecast him as an idiot, even though there are also several instances where he's very hesitant to pull some of the actions that he does on account of the danger and only goes through with them because of the stakes

PREACHING my man Colt Seavers is SMART

There’s a problem just in general of mob mentality, status quo, systemic ideals yadda yadda whatever. If someone sees an academically smart person in a classic way (ie Grace being a scientist) they are going to dumb down the others around them to make the academic seem smarter.

Colt is smart in a million different ways. He shows them off brilliantly in the movie. He’s got great emotional intelligence, enough to fully admit to his faults and take responsibility for them. He has good emotional reasoning to things, a good understanding of others. He also takes the safety of his job very seriously. Him noting that the sand’s density was off and that it was going to cause issues with the take. He offers a solid solution very quickly, showing his experience in his field. At several points in the movie, we can see him making direct, fast calculations on how to approach his situation carefully.

We even hear his thought process out loud once!!! When he’s high as shit, talking about getting hit by a car!!! He’s talking through the safest way possible he could go about that, even getting a mouth guard out so he doesn’t shatter his teeth from the impact.

What does the fandom do?? They make Ryland part of that lmao.

People get overexcited to be a part of something. Hence why everyone jumped onto bloodymary and you see people saying “oh I haven’t watched both/either of the movies” and making inaccurate assumptions about the characters and their lives.

I'd image having an alien who relies so heavily on cycles and repeated patterns in order to function normally would be mind-boggling to the Eridians. What do you mean it celebrates the exact day of its birth every so often, just because? Wait we need to program a reliable change in light levels to simulate its planet, which has almost no atmosphere? And we have to schedule any interactions we have with it around this cycle? Wait it tracks its age by the scientific year, not by life experience and physical aging?

The "human" perspective presented here that might come of the Eridians of being "disorganized or lazy" is really accurate to the propaganda at the time. That is how Europeans presented native groups relating to their more go with the flow attitudes of time, which often developed around the surrounding nature of the area and working with it in the way which was best suited. Europe's sense of time developed around it's own nature, and because it was necessary for them where they were, they decided the only reason other cultures hadn't developed time this way is because they weren't civilized enough to do so, and didn't work to understand the systems the natives already had in place

In my head, if not in canon, Grace is aromantic and asexual. But really, his identity doesn't matter. Grace himself doesn’t have to be aroace for Project Hail Mary to be an aroace story. This is a story about how connection saves us. It’s a friendship story; a story that rejects the idea that platonic love is lesser, or not enough for a fulfilling existence.

Basically, it was a confession about something that bothered them a lot: angst fanfics that focus on Donnie, especially those that give him the Kraang trauma that, in theory, should have affected Raph more. The discussion wasn’t only about this, but I want to focus on this point and offer a new perspective on why, in my opinion, it happens. Because yes, for me there’s a very clear explanation, and it comes from a flaw in the rottmnt movie (yes, you heard that right, even if it hurts).

But first: I completely understand the comment and, in fact, I agree with it. In the movie, it’s clear that the one who suffered the most from the Kraang trauma was Raph: he literally became some kind of one! I don’t think he came out of it unscathed, and I’m sure he suffered much more than what’s shown. Donnie also experiences the Kraang trauma when connecting to the ship, but unlike Raph, he does it willingly and doesn’t lose awareness of himself. Donnie’s experience seems more like a sensory trauma than one caused by the Kraang.

With that clarified, I still think it’s interesting to dig into why the fandom seems to give more importance to “Donnie’s Kraang" trauma than Raph’s. Yes, it’s a mistake that Raph’s trauma is barely mentioned, but it opens the door to analyzing how certain details in the movie affect fans’ perceptions and, consequently, the creation of fanfics.

So, let’s talk about that small flaw (yes, I’d call it a flaw) in the rottmnt movie. But first, it’s important to understand something about storytelling: stories are made of promises. What do I mean by that? If a story focuses on a candle, it means something is going to happen with that candle, it has special meaning, or it represents something. It’s not just decorative. And, consciously or unconsciously, the audience will form expectations: they expect that candle to be significant later on or that something important will happen related to it. When we create stories, our duty isn’t just to fulfill those expectations, but to surpass them, so the audience feels satisfied. Why do I bring this up? Because in the rottmnt movie, a promise is made that isn’t fully delivered, and that caused some dissatisfaction among fans (especially Donnie fans).

Here’s what I mean: in the movie, when Donnie protects Mikey to save him, his battle shell breaks, and Mikey says: “Oh no, Donnie, your soft shell! You’re exposed!” This gives fans reason to think that Donnie, being a soft-shelled turtle, is more vulnerable without his battle shell than his brothers are. That Mikey says it like that not only confirms it but promises that something could happen to Donnie later because of that weakness. Also, later, when Donnie tries to connect to the Kraang ship and tells Mikey to remove his battle shell, Mikey says: “No, you’re too vulnerable with just your soft shell.” In other words, this vulnerability is made very explicit and is mentioned twice, but in the end, nothing happens about it. The promise isn’t fulfilled. All we get is what we’ve already talked about: a trauma related to his hypersensitivities when connecting to the Kraang ship. Yes, something happens to him, but it doesn’t meet fans’ expectations, it’s not enough.

Is this a flaw or not? It depends on how you look at it. The movie is 100% focused on Leo, it’s short, with no filler, and aimed at kids (and it already has enough angst!). But personally, I do see it as a flaw, especially in Mikey’s dialogues: if nothing more was going to happen, he shouldn’t have said it that way, nor emphasized that vulnerability so much. And I think that’s why fans, especially Donnie fans (who are many), felt unsatisfied and started creating fanfics, fan art, and fan comics about Donnie Kraang trauma, to fill the gap that the movie left open.

With Raph, this doesn’t happen: there’s no promise left unfulfilled, which is why there are fewer gaps for fans to explore (but please, do explore them! As I said, the movie didn’t show all the consequences of what happened to Raph!).

This 7th of May, 2026, we use our own language again!

If your language, native or not, is something other than English, on May 7th you're encouraged to speak that language all day!

You’ll blog in your chosen language(s) all day: text posts, replies, tags (except triggers and organisational tags).

Regardless of what language people choose to speak to you, you can answer in your own.

Non-verbal, non-written languages (like sign language and dialects) are more than welcome!

English native speakers can participate in any other language they're studying/have studied/know.

The tag is gonna be #Speak Your Language Day or #spyld for short.

Please submit me some language facts for me to share on this day <3