Kinda want to talk about an interesting new trend in the TMNT fandom, caused by a sort of overcorrection when it comes to Venus in headcanons. Mainly, the approach to changing her weapon (also a stealth sequel to this).
So, the “default” weapon for her is the tessen, mostly as a result of one being an accessory for one of her action figures from the Next Mutation toyline. I have no problem with that, I love the weapon and it does have a history as a deceptive weapon, used in instances in which samurai couldn’t use swords. It’s not a ninja weapon per say, but it has ninja vibes, so I’m cool with it.
However, due to pop culture as a whole using it more as a general kunoichi/female warrior’s weapon, people see it as more of a stereotype to have the only main female turtle use one, so they instead decided to change it up a bit. As a whole, I don't have a problem with people changing up weapons if they do it intelligently, but i do take issue with gendering a weapon like this. Tessen, as well as war fans as a whole, were typically used by men, or were at least genderless.
As a result, people have changed up her weapon to less “feminine” options. I’ve seen some interesting variety: Tonfa, bows, chains, even kunai for some reason. But one that seems more prevalent than others in the naginata, the samurai spear.
It’s not a bad weapon, far from it, there's a reason it was preferred over the katana by many soldiers of it’s time. And while its more of a Donnie weapon, in the hands of a good writer it could be an interesting choice for combat scenes. There's just two points that make this idea funny to me: the first is that it isn't a ninja weapon, even less than tessen are. They are large and kind of inelegant for stealth based missions (similar to the odachi), meaning it’s only good if you can find a way to make it more portable (make it collapsible, or make the blade go into the staff when not needed). The second point is even funnier though: it’s even more gendered than the tessen is by pop culture. Naginata’s were primarily used by foot solders and onna-musha/onna-bugeisha, aka female samurai. At least tessen are only gendered by pop culture.
So, people are trying to swap out a relatively gender neutral weapon for one that was primarily used by female warriors from a completely different subclass of fighters. That’s unintentionally hilarious. (If you’re wondering, here’s my picks for Venus weapons.)
