#eli rambles

You’re chilling in your room, probably messing around on your guitar when your dad calls you into the living room.

When you get there you see a number of your family members - mostly your annoying half-siblings but a few more distant realizes, all gathered around arguing. Your dad turns to you and says “your sisters’s best friend is stranded and she wants to go pick him up”

You pause because what? You sister doesn’t really do friends, and you’re pretty sure she broke contract with her last so-called bestie. But sure whatever, you’ve never met the dude.

“And?” You prompt because you could working on a new song right now.

“What are your thoughts?” Your dad asks and oh shit- you don’t even remember this guy’s name and now you have to have an opinion on him???

Robert not being able to medically transition bc no time to take off when he was still active as mecha man plus more time being seen in the suit and not without it,, also not binding as much for the same reason(suit) and having to do more physical activity

then later as a dispatcher binding for way too long,, then Flambae reprimanding him about it

Imagine someone who's never had an issue with the spring before. They love spring-- love the flowers and the creatures and the sun. They spent just a little bit too long with their friend, though, who gets hopelessly stuffy around anything with a little pollen.

I genuinely & wholeheartedly believe 87 actually has it WORSE than 2003

I'm not sorry to say that to be honest. Everyone always says 03 suffered the most out of all the Stockman variants in the Stockmanverse but honestly I believe that title actually belongs to his 1987 counterpart because he actually suffered a more cruel fate & overall hand at life compared to 03. And I'm going to cover all bases as to why. Starting point which I know is gonna get brought up (which is all & the only thing TMNT fans bring up when it comes to 03 Stockman or Stockman period) "uhhh he was dismembered"

Yes I am fully aware 2003 Baxter gradually lost his entire body via slow mutilation as the series progressed but the thing is. He only lost HIS BODY. Physically he's not ok but at the same time. He's (somehow) still able to survive. For one he doesn't need to eat or breathe really anymore & his bodies overtime make it very clear of that factor so Starvation and other internal health problems are no longer an issue for him

Whereas with 87 he still needs to eat & function & as his respective series showed he doesn't seem to do that much. There's been a couple of instances where he's so starved that he's quick to eat just about anything he gets ahold of or "seemingly" editable so who knows how long he's been going without eating in his prisons

Speaking of prison, that's also another thing that makes his life harder. He's constantly forced into banishment into limbo dimensions that as he put it is "SO MUCH NOTHING"

meaning there's most likely no food or water or any form of survivable salvation for him to at least live. Meanwhile we've seen that 2003 still has access to go just about anywhere he wants to go especially after he's recruited by Agent Bishop despite supposedly being at large but I'll come back to that point. Anyway 03 still has resources to support himself. 87 doesn't & it's miracle he's even still alive let alone still able to function at all given his mental state. And that's my next point.

Another reason 87 has a much more darker fate is because he's basically no different than a senile person. People tend to forget that Baxter wasn't mutated the same way as anyone else. He was horrifically fused together with a common housefly a direct result of almost being horrifically MURDERED which is fucked in its own right. Yet in a very dark & screwed up way, he was probably better off dying because he's now sharing his brain with a literal insect & we see slowly he was beginning to lose that mental fight. He becomes more & more fly-like as the series goes on, one heartbreaking characteristic being he became forgetful. From forgetting instructions, to buildings, names & even his overall past. He DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER HOW THE TURTLES CAUSED HIM TO END UP LIKE THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE 💔.

2003 on the other hand still remained the same despite his mutilation & even brain injuries (via electrocution). Before it gets brought up. YES I know he went temporarily insane (in the membrane) in said episode. Keyword TEMPORARILY. And that in it of itself was mostly due to his body & mind deteriorating because of the faulty super soldier accelerant. Plus after being resurrected by Bishop he was back to his normal snarky self. His actions from Insane in the membrane never being brought up again

And finally to my final point of this hot take. His Actions. 2003 may be sympathetic but he was NOT nor will he EVER be innocent & never was from the start.

What happened to him was the direct result of his greedy, prideful & even downright evil choices he made. He CHOSE to align with a criminal for money & power he ALREADY had. He CHOSE to nearly brutally murder April with his Mousers. He CHOSE to rob & steal from hundreds of people. He CONTINUOUSLY CHOSE to keep hurting people along the way! Everything that ever happened to him in the hands of the Foot clan he could have easily avoided had he stayed being a humble & decent person, but he didn't! He's 36. He knew better. His mother raised him better than this. He made his robotic bed, so he has to lie in it.

His 1987 counterpart was the opposite. All he wanted was to help people! All he wanted was to share his invention with the world! He was just trying to both make a business for himself & help his home state with their rodent problem! His only fault was being too Naive & desperate & it cost him the ultimate price of his life & humanity.