#turtle casey

He is the whole reason I’m writing this story. I doubt Cass Apocalyptic Series was the first to do it, but I definitely hadn’t seen Casey as a turtle before she drew him so this is where the idea started. But how Casey is mutated in Snapper and Stinkpot is VERY different, and comes with it’s own complications and considerations that I think are way more interesting than just “hey look, I made him a turtle cause he’s cute!” (Nothing wrong with that of course, I just wanted more from it.)

Besides the why and how, Casey’s mutation is different from any other mutant in ROTTMNT in that he’s for lack of a better word… designer. He still has all of his hair and face shape because (without spoiling too much), he was made to be that way. Some things change, of course; his nose recedes significantly and he’s slightly larger in height and circumference.

Growing up human, Casey continued to wear clothes after his mutation, but much like how Raph’s human clothes are often torn at the shoulders, Casey has a hard time holding onto shirts that don’t get torn apart by his spines. That often leaves him irritated and he gives up on shirts for a while, and I don’t blame him. He does occasionally wear the same compression sleeves as the turtles in the movie (they are under his sleeves on the left and on my Halloween post), but it just kinda depends on the day, ya know?

Finally, we have Sunita’s cloaking brooch. The circumstances of him receiving it are still unknown at the moment, but it’s important to know that he’s been using it to appear human to everyone around him. In the present, he usually keeps it around his ankle (see the previous reference), but he’ll tie his hair back with it if he wants to, and he’ll activate or disable it anytime he wants as well.

As for his clothes in this ref specifically, those are a product of his circumstances. The shozoku pants and jacket are later in the story (I’m thinking chapter 17?). In the meantime, he’s wearing his human clothes or the jeans on the Masterpost. The sword however… I’m not talking about it. You can’t make me. Just read, dammit, and come to your own conclusions!

This one was a lot of fun to do, it took me MONTHS to figure out how I wanted Casey to look like as a turtle. Below you can see my cringefest attempts that I might delete later if I hate them enough.