#tmnt reflections

Love is not suppose to be easy, it is suppose to be worth it.

So with that, to wait, in patience and to hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. To love is to go beyond the surface and break the boundaries of what separates you. 

Apritello: To love is to let go and let it be, to live and to be free.

Leorai: To love is to make a choice, to stand by that choice and fight for it.

Miket: To love is to pursue life without limitations and to live in its fullest offerings and in happiness.

Raph/Mona Lisa: To love is to break the walls of doubt and fear, and to ally and protect each other without hesitation.

Yoshi / Shen : To love is to sacrifice and to give your life so that the other can live.

Love is complicated, but it is the most welcomed to give and to receive. It is not limited to anyone, yes even to mutant turtles.

Ok. After a long hiatus, I am just glad TMNT is back. Last Sunday’s episode was great and I look forward to more.

But I see in my feed some who are still unhappy and it came to a point where they expressed their unhappiness in a .....not so humane fashion. Resulting as far as name calling and even bashing the Executive Producers, the writers and even the voice casts. Ok, that is a given, you cannot please everybody no matter what you do. There will always be something wrong and it won’t ever be 100% perfect. But I have to empathize with the Cast and Crew of the series. They are trying, you guys, and I know how hard that is to try and meet everybody’s expectations, but they can only do so much. And I am sure they want to expand the story to a level where it may go to the way everyone probably wanted, And sure, I agree there still needs some work in terms of design, consistency of scenes and flow of the story, but let us remember that we are not exactly the main demographic here, it is kids, because it is a show targeted to kids, and again, marketing/pr/corporate interests is at hand here. They need to sell toys, they need to sell merchandise, they need to hype up something (or anything) just to sell what needs to be sold or to keep the ratings up to where it needs to be kept ON AIR. 

I am surprised at the amount of hate or bashing that this fandom possessed. It’s 2015 and I am happy TMNT 2012 is still around when it is already difficult enough to maintain viewership of any form in 6 months to a year. 5 seasons is a lot and with youtube and other streaming platforms, the TV medium is already waning, so it is wise that they put it up to the nick site to be watched as well. Because as much as it would lose their commercial ad spaces in the TV medium (that is a lot of money lost...based on my advertising knowledge here), they wanted to put it up for free online so that the platform can be grown there and ratings would still be kept at an expected level. 

Some of you all may be rolling your eyes at the sheer defense I am putting out here, well listen....you can all be hoity toity about how the TMNT series should have been and if the series is shitty, then do something about it. May I suggest, you write out your own take on it (that’s what fanfiction is all about), but....put it out in script format and then send it off to the nick studios. Address it to Ciro, Brandon or better yet, skip those 2 and send it straight to the source, Kevin Eastman. If they think you have a great idea, good for you...congratulations, you have broken the glass ceiling. Hallelujah.

But there is a bigger monster for you to surpassed, VIACOM. Who holds the rights of TMNT. So while you have a great story of how you want the tmnt universe to be, and everybody (even Eastman) probably love it, try to present it to VIACOM. Now the people in those kinds of company don’t really care about how it should go, but rather how much money it would rake. If the way the story went did not sell well, then no matter how good it is, it will not move on, why? Because IT DID NOT SELL. The same way if a certain mcdonald’s happy meal theme did not sell in heaps, it would discontinue. Because why continue something that doesn’t work or that doesn’t move? It would only result to a bad fiscal management result.

I had to push out a lot of my knowledge of my previous profession here. Because some people made it sound so easy to bash the way things are going to the tmnt universe when they have no idea the complex layers it takes to build a show and to keep the show alive.

Because really, you don’t know what it is like until you are in their shoes. And before you guys accuse me of not knowing as well, I will tell you right now that I have and it is an industry that takes a lot from you beyond being a writer or an artist or a producer. It takes away a part of your heart and soul. A lot of good ideas from its raw potential becomes downgraded to focus more on profit-based results. So creativity is compromised a lot with corporate interests.

As of now, keep the bashing to a minimum. And if you guys want to do something about it, instead of bashing, do something. Write a story, draw a new design and then...since Brandon Auman encourages it, send it over to the Nick Studios. I’m sure they would love to hear from you.

*disclaimer: This is from a friend’s photo series in his instagram. Just borrowing for this post.

So while I have been busy as a bee, TMNT fanart has to take a back seat (again.).

Let me tackle one issue at a time.

I knew I ranted hard on my previous post (see HERE), but I am not sorry I did.

I have patience to wait. And to wait is not a problem. I know majority of the fandom understand where they (the nick staff) are coming from. That is why I narrowed it down in said rant a small list of possible scenarios based from my professional experience. Being witness to that kind of madness/industry, it can break a lot of people’s hearts and souls all in the name of corporate interest and investment returns. It’s a lot of heads to be rolled should it fail and it can cost reputations and job loss should the deliverables (read: promises) are not met from when it was proposed.

So while it is all exciting upfront, the one I mentioned above is the other side of the coin here. And it’s a dark reality to witness I tell you.

Fellow fans, I know we are equally frustrated and maybe losing a bit of hope on the TMNT 2012 series. Yes I have scratched my head along with you all on why the story and the relationship dynamic takes a questionable turn. Some don’t even made sense. And yet we still watch it anyway. Because it’s great entertainment. Over-analyzing or over-thinking about it can get us wound up without even meaning to. We got to chillax.

Ciro and Aumen are the only ones who knew for sure what will happen from its conception right down to the very end, and even if we try to endlessly message them in IG or whatever medium they are exposed to, they will not tell. We might as well just trust them that the next episodes to come will bring us clarity.

I can only hope.  Let’s hang in there tmnt fandom.

Thanks for reading. More soon.

P.S.

Tagging some special mentions:

Personally, I do think Donnie loves April. In its purest sense.

Ok, there may be some actions that are deemed inappropriate but he is a teenager, as they all are. And he is a mutant turtle, hidden from the world for most of his life and so his interaction with humans (much less a female human) is limited. When April came to their lives, how could they react? Sure there is the help of pop culture and media, but when you are actually there, it’s a different situation altogether. I can imagine more so for Donnie. How can someone like Donnie just fall in love at first sight when his female human interaction is practically nil? 

Love moves in mysterious ways, as the song goes. You do not choose who you fall in love with, or when. And Donnie didn’t choose to fall in love at the rooftop that day, or didn’t choose to fall in love with April. But his heart moved in a different direction from his brain for the first time in his short 15 years on this earth. And while his intellect may be matured in all its wondrous, nebulous pulsing brilliance, his heart has yet to be fulfilled and taste the sweet nectar of love. So the yearning is thirst of parched desert proportion. In a way, it is imbalanced.

I applaud to the writers how in the previous episodes, Donnie has moved from someone who is starved for April’s attention, to progressing in being there for her in mind, body and spirit. He is ever present, silently offering his guidance and help. Selflessly, with no return. In season 1, he is starved for her attention in order to gain her favor and approval. Season 2, he was reacting with his competition to Casey Jones (which is understandable) and Season 3, it was acceptance, humility and maturity (refer to ending scene at the “A Foot Too Big” episode) . So there is progression, you guys. And to me, that is good.

Donatello in my opinion, has gone far in his Emotional growth, and based from my personal experience, the kind of love he has for April right now, is the one that respects whatever makes her happy, regardless if she chooses to be with him or not. I’d like to believe even if they may not end up together, he will always hold a candle for her, and will continue to love her no matter what.

Happy New Year Tumblr Friends. I hope you guys had a wonderful New Years celebration/holidays. A bit of a flashback. The last quarter of 2014 was comprised of TMNT fanart, and well....look how far it came. I know I have others missing from this compilation (The Light series will have a separate post), but looking from the handdrawn-inked sketches on scratch papers, to full digital works I saw how much I had progressed. I am more or less comfortable tackling different themes and building a small universe for the existing TMNT characters. In the beginning, I was having a hell of a hard time...and I sometimes have terrible mood swings should a figure doesn't go the way I need it to be.

But as always, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. My husband..who is always supportive, and a bit of a tough love...where he would tell me to get a grip and just keep practicing.

And there was even a time when Mr. Nieli and Mr. Auman themselves said they loved my works through IG and how I managed to expand the universe in ways they thought it should. They didn't specify what sort of expectation I met, but I am still flattered for them to reach out to me from their busy time to let me know that my work is something. With that, it is a boost in my amateur-novice-fledgling growing ego in this fandom. And it was indeed a good form for me to move on and improve more. I can only say that 2015 will be another 12 months of struggle, for my husband and I will embark on tackling our dreams and making it a reality. 2014 was just a warm up/re-learning phase for us, gathering the necessary skills and learning about the industry/business. 2014 was also known as the YEAR OF THE NoN (Now Or Never).

But 2015, we will go forth with our plans and we hope it will propel us to great heights. One things' for sure, we will work our asses off to achieve what we want to go for. 

I will go forth with my TMNT art in that mantra too. I have a lot of pending artworks in piles. It's about time to start pulling and working on them. Finally.

Let's go forth this year in light, love and hope. Let's make our dreams happen, Tumblr Friends.