#tmnt meta

According to April, Splinter says that Leo doesn't write home anymore.

But Raph says they haven't heard anything from him since he left.

Does that mean Leo only wrote to Splinter and not his brothers? And did Splinter not tell them, for some reason?

Put down the fanfiction and turn off the sad edit audio, because we need to have a serious, emotionally intelligent conversation about the absolute chokehold that media illiteracy has on the 2012 TMNT fandom. The way some of y’all still try to frame Oroku Saki as a "tragic, flawed father who genuinely cared for Karai in his own twisted way" is a dangerous, delusional romanticization of textbook narcissistic grooming. Let’s actually look at the canonical receipts of his behavior, because Shredder never loved Karai. He loved her utility. He loved her as a trophy of war. And it’s time to call it what it is.

🧵 The Genesis: A Theft Masked as a Rescue

Let’s start at the absolute root of this trauma tree. Shredder did not adopt Karai out of the goodness of his heart. He didn't see an orphaned baby and think, "I must protect this innocent life."

He stole a child.

He stole Miwa specifically to strip Hamato Yoshi of his legacy, his joy, and his bloodline. From the literal moment of her conception in Saki’s mind, Karai was not a daughter; she was a weapon of psychological warfare. He raised her in a literal house of mirrors, feeding her a curated, fraudulent narrative that her real father was a monster who murdered her mother. That isn't "twisted love," babes. That is systemic isolation and identity theft on a developmental scale.

🧠 The Mechanics of Grooming: Conditional Affection as a Cage

When we look at Karai in the early seasons, she is fierce, brilliant, and fiercely loyal. But why? Because Shredder engineered her environment so that his approval was her only source of oxygen.

Shredder’s "love" for Karai was entirely conditional on her compliance and her ability to execute his vengeance. The moment she displayed independent moral agency, the moment she started asking questions, or—heaven forbid—the moment she showed a crumb of human empathy toward the Turtles or anyone else, the mask didn't just slip; it shattered.

He didn't treat her like a sovereign human being with her own thoughts and boundaries. He viewed her as an emotional asset he was inherently owed. When a father's response to his daughter’s autonomy is psychological manipulation, locking her in a dungeon, and demanding absolute subservience, that isn't a "strict parent." That is a warden.

🧪 The Ultimate Betrayal: The Churning of the Mutagen

If you want the definitive, undeniable canonical receipt that Oroku Saki did not care if Karai lived or died, look at the absolute horror of her mutation.

A real parent, even a deeply flawed one, has a biological and emotional blueprint to protect their child from ultimate harm. What did Shredder do? He rigged a cage over a vat of highly unstable, predatory mutagen, using his own "daughter" as literal live bait to trap Splinter and the Turtles. He weaponized her safety, gambled with her humanity, and when the plan inevitably blew up in his face and she mutated into a snake, his primary emotion wasn't devastating grief for her lost humanity. It was rage that his prize was ruined and his enemy escaped.

He literally chose his ancient, petty, masculine ego over the physical and spiritual preservation of his child. That is a narcissistic temper tantrum on a mutagenic scale.

🐍 The Aftermath: From "Angel" to Traitor

The moment Karai’s brain cleared enough to recognize Hamato Yoshi as her true father, Shredder’s illusion of paternal love dissolved instantly. This is the classic narcissistic discard phase.

As long as Karai was the silent, deadly, loyal Kunoichi trophy validating his frail ego, he called her his daughter. But the second she aligned with her actual family and displayed independent political and moral alignment, Saki re-categorized her from his "precious child" to an enemy combatant. He hunted her. He sought to destroy her. He did not want to "save" her; he wanted to conquer her or eliminate her so she couldn't stand as a living testament to his failures.

🎯 The Shell of the Verdict

The relationship between Shredder and Karai isn't a sweeping, tragic story of a broken family. It is a terrifying, textbook cautionary tale about how unchecked male insecurity, obsessive possessiveness, and the objectification of a child will inevitably destroy the very sanctuary of family you claim to build.

Shredder didn't love Karai. He loved the power he held over her. And honestly? The fact that Karai broke through that multi-layered, psychological fortress of lies, reclaimed her identity as Miwa, and chose love over vengeance is the ultimate testament to her strength—not Saki's parenting.

It's not that profitable, but it's enough to not having to worry about living on the streets or not having enough to eat.

The costumers are usually the same. Nerds, collectors, hunters or people who want to have something to defend themselves with in the streets.

Someone breaks into the shop one night. They leave a few bucks on the counter, but it's nowhere near enough to cover the losses.

You check what's missing. A pair of katanas, a couple of sais, some nunchucks and bo staffs. Some throwing stars and kunai, and some other gear.

You report it to the police, obviously, but brush it off as kids trying to play ninja or something like that. You've long stopped trying to make sense of the youth.

The police finds nothing and no one. There are no announcement of injuries made by these kind of weapons on the news.

Years go by, and you forget about it.

Then one day, rumors start spreading through New York. Of four masked vigilantes who tend to the shadows. Fights follow them whenever they go, and so does violence.

But with them, the streets are safer. There's less women buying pepper spray, and kids stay outside a little bit longer.

The people in your shop talk, and you listen. When they start listing their weapons and moves, you become alert.

Katana. Sai. Nunchaku. Bō.

The vigilantes are young, you learn. "Kids playing ninja on hardcore," a customer laughs.

You look at the counter, remembering the few crumpled dollar bills, the fact that the police couldn't figure out how the thief got inside the shop.

It's been a few years, yet you can't help but wonder...

You shake your head, and life goes on.

Then one morning when you're opening the shop, you find out that a few packs of shurikens are missing, as well as some kunai.

As before, there are money on the counter. Still not enough, but this time there's a note with a cartoonish drawing of a turtle on it.

You put the phone back down. Don't call the police this time.

When you hear that the police got an anonymous tip to pick up beaten members of a drug cartel on the news the next evening, you smile to yourself.

[I.D. Various sepia toned screenshots of 2003 Bishop in a flashback to 1815 when he fought in the Battle of New Orleans. They show his uniform: a black bicorn hat, white pants, black boots, gold epaulets on both shoulders, and a blue jacket with red and gold paneling on the front. End I.D.]

and comparing it to various military uniforms in use during 1815 (these are the closest to his I could find)

[I.D. Two illustrations of a field artillery officer's uniform from 1815. Both of them show a man in a tall black hat with a feather, a red sash, a sword, a blue jacket with a red and gold front panel, gold epaulets, and black boots. One uniform has white pants, the other has grey ones. End I.D.]

There's a few details like the hats and the color of the sash that seem different, but otherwise it appears to be the same uniform: that of an artillery officer, meaning Bishop was likely working with cannons.

The real kicker though? This is a British uniform. Bishop is British.

Also, while the uniforms of the medics that find him are kind of unclear and possibly anachronistic, the uniforms of the men they were checking before they found him appear to be that of American soldiers

[I.D. Two images. The first is a sepia toned screenshot of two men with a red cross armbands, looking over two bodies for signs of life. One of the bodies is nearer to the camera, and has a tall black hat with a white decorative chain, a dark jacket, white pants, epaulets, and a white cross belt going over his right shoulder. The second image is a uniform of an American Army captain circa 1815, which has the same element of the dead soldier described above, plus a red sash and a saber. End I.D.]

Leo coming off of having just killed Shredder and demanding that Donnie cannot kill Vizioso. Leo, who used to be a proponent of mercy, consistently immediately going for lethal blows against their enemies for all of s5, even though it doesn’t end up working out (ie Kavaxas, the Mummy). Leo disassociating when the others look to him for a plan. Leo spending all his time in the dojo and it’s unclear whether he’s talking to the spirit of Splinter or if he’s starting to hallucinate. Leo, who shattered his swords against Kavaxas’ skin, and without Splinter is forced to constantly use Splinter’s swords, the ones that he took a life with.

so it’s this particular scene in ‘of rats and men’ - anything to do with the rat king and i am there. he’s a really cool villain and i think the added bonus of him using solinher to fight the boys is really interesting but there’s this ONE scene that is always in my head when i rewatch it.

so after we see mikey hide away ice cream kitty we get a little comedic scene with him and his brothers + april and casey until splinter comes in, having just had the rat king invade his mind, he’s clearly unwell and weak, he goes to the freezer for some ice and a cheese sickle to which mikey tells him no and straight up slams the door in his fathers face to keep him from seeing the mutated cat in there.

to which splinter doesn’t take kindly towards.

remember, at this point, it’s not obvious to them that splinter is basically being possesed. he towers over mikey (ik he’s crouching here but the shot is really well done, pulling back to really emphasis how much he towers over these kids) and mikey just looks up in fear. again, splinter’s eyes don’t turn red straight away, he doesn’t show any obvious signs of change so to mikey, he’s suddenly aware of the fact that he’s pissed his dad off big time.

then, splinter strikes him, sending him across the kitchen.

we don’t see it, just a flash of red but it then immediately cuts towards the brothers reactions which again, i find interesting

it’s total shock. usually when one of them is hurt or down, we get angry reactions, something protective. but here they’re not mad. they’re just in utter disbelief that their father has just struck one of their own.

and i know splinters done this many times in the past but that all happens during training. it never occurs just because mikey is being odd. casey (and i know he was still grappling with his fear of rats here) actually recoils at this.

then we get a chase scene. again a little comedic just to lighten the tension but splinter is honing in on mikey. he wants to get to him, ignoring the other five teenagers who are in the room with them.

then we get these shots (the main reason i wanted to talk about this scene)

mikey is pushed against the fridge, exactly where he started. and you obviously can’t tell from screenshots alone but mikey is actually trembling with fear here. he’s hyperventilating and it’s not because he’s out of breath. he’s a trained ninja. he can go far longer than the little lap around the kitchen he’s just done. he’s positively terrified, and it’s not like the kind of fear in “invasion of the squirrelanoids” where he was making quips and making jokes to un-scare himself. this is a new fear because this is his father that is attacking him. he doesn’t even say anything during this moment. he just whimpers. he just trembles in fear until leo calls out to the others to “help him!”

then after splinter is pinned down, the rat king breaks through and we get reaction shots from the rest of the characters as they realise what has happened to their sensei.

i think it’s really sweet that april immediately goes to mikey, putting a protective arm over him. his eyes have shrunk to pinpricks (a neat little trick i really love that they show throughout and show when they’re scared or shocked) mikey doesn’t move or try to get back up, staying down with april it’s a nice moment (also we needed more of this duo! orange coded, blue eyed freckled friends for the win!!)

another little detail i found interesting was that after splinter seemingly goes back to normal everyone rushes to his side. april stands from where she’s crouched down with mikey and leo, raph and donnie are there to help him.

but mikey doesn’t get back up. he stays on the floor, perhaps coming out of his shock. he makes no attempt to reach his dad which.. breaks my heart little actually.

and as much as i love this episode, i really do wish it had some mikey + splinter pay off. we hardly see any moments of them together, especially since each brother gets their share of dad moments where he passes down some sort of wisdom, mikey gets a very brief “love yourself you don’t need to change” lesson in “mikey gets shellacne” and that’s it. we really were robbed of more of these two as father and youngest son. and ik all of them get attacked and scared by possessed splinter at some point but it clearly really affected ooor mikey here after being targeted in this one scene.

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Okay, so, my first thought was that I definitely would want to avoid matching the Turtles with the Corps that matches their theme color, but, it is also very much canon that Leo’s presence fills his brothers with hope and determination. It’s not just about how he’s basically the leader, how he’s expected to come up with the game plan, because, even when he has no plan, Leo’s brothers take a lot of their cues from him. Leo’s the one who has hope their foes can do better in the future. Leo believes in doing the hard, honorable thing over the easy thing, because he believes the universe is ultimately just. Leo’s the one who rallies everyone against literal Hell on Earth.

Raphael, I definitely don’t see as matching his bandanna color corps. Yes, Raph struggles with his anger, but that’s just it: he struggles with anger. It’s not what he draws strength from, why he fights. It’s not even why he’s angry, he isn’t just short-tempered. Raph has big emotions in general, and, when he can’t handle them, he shields with anger. The source of Raph’s strength is his love, for his family and friends, but also people in general. He’s the one most protective of his important people, and he falls apart when he thinks they’re hurt or threatened. Raph has so much love in his heart that he’d overcome any obstacle for the people he loves.

In my vision, both Michelangelo and Donatello match the Green Lanterns, but for vastly different reasons. Michelangelo, I feel, matches the “ability to overcome great fear” line of the recruitment statement. Mikey is easily frightened and he worries a lot about what might happen, but he’s still along the ride every time, and is often instrumental to the Turtles’ victory, even. Mikey very much matches the idea that true bravery isn’t not being scared, but doing your best despite your fear.

Hey! I don't think I've been asked this on tumblr so, time to go on a Rant™️

('03 is my favorite turtle show. It's just so goooood but okay specifically about the turtles--)

oh right i got really long I should add in a readmore--