RAY🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Once he starts entering the dating sphere and someone starts showing interest he’s like hhhHHHHH eugh no ty. The idea of a romantic dinner makes him squeamish. So he just assumed he has a commitment problem and wasn’t grossed out by romance itself. It’s his Vulnerability Issues going haywire duh!

One of his brothers is in a romantic relationship and he just looks at them like ew lol who’d want tha—ohhhhhhh. Wait thinking someone’s cool and being romantically attracted aren’t the same thing? Fucking bonkers who was gonna tell him? Probably would’ve been good to know before he ghosted like three people once things started getting serious

I've seen people use this excuse to defend Rise Splinter's really bad writing so many times that I just want to get this off my chest.

That's an understandable frustration for sure. The way many fans in the RotTMNT fandom defend, excuse, and stan RotTMNT Splinter can often be aggravating. Much can be said for how these fans prioritize that version of Splinter while acting like he's the most profound, thought-provoking character to ever be created despite being a rather cliche, simplistic, and even offensively stereotypical character.

Nonetheless, these RotTMNT fans may well just be echoing the preferences that were set within the show itself. As in, the absolute glazing and coddling of Splinter by many RotTMNT fans is modeled on how the creators chose to portray Splinter. Based on statements from co-creators and co-executive producers Andy Suriano and Ant Ward, Splinter and his character arc were inspired by their own experiences, particularly their experiences as fathers. Suriano and Ward are invested in Splinter, and they’ve created a narrative that centers and favors this character that's special to them. I'm unsure what it might say about them as fathers to have based a demonstrably neglectful father on themselves. But what I do know is that was certainly a choice that they made that I don't care to psychoanalyze or comment on further.

Above: Suriano and Ward discussing Splinter. This commentary from them is in the art book, The Art of Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Colin Stein.

Anyway, with all the favoritism that the creators display towards Splinter, it results in him being absolved of wrongdoings. As the Creators' Favorite, he can get away with a lot, a lot being how he's never truly held accountable or made responsible for neglecting all four of his kids, the ninja turtles. Apart from one episode focusing on one of those kids, the other Creators' Favorite Donnie, Splinter isn't confronted or challenged for mistreating his kids. The creators and fans all absolve Splinter of blame and distance him as much as possible from any repentance and atonement.

I’ve said multiple times elsewhere on my blog that this privileging of Splinter comes at the expense of his sons, but especially his eldest son, Raph. Splinter neglecting Raph and his brothers forced, Raph to fill the role of father for his younger brothers. The adultification and parentification of Raph and the very clear role Splinter played in that is never resolved, addressed, or treated as damaging for the Hamato family. On the contrary, Splinter’s neglectfulness and Raph being a father to his brothers is more often than not presented as a comedic, non-issue. So much for RotTMNT being a series that celebrates the wholesomeness of family. Instead of having even a single episode where Splinter makes amends with Raph, what we really needed was a bunch of repetitive and trivial episodes where Donnie makes a thing and hijinks ensue.

YOU ARE SO RIGHTTTT getting suddenly mutated is entirely something that could be overwhelming to the point that it drives someone insane!!! OOOH THE LORE POSSIBILITIES!!! AND OMG— being instantaneously thrust into an animalistic body would feel so foreign to everything you've ever been comfortable with or used to about your body!!! Damn the body dysmorphia would be so widespread amongst the mutants.

And like— having to suddenly adapt to a entirely different form would just be so wildly disorienting. I mean you'd have to readjust to everything about yourself— your voice, your center of gravity, how your limbs move as you walk, the way you move your hands and grip things, some would have to adjust to a different field of vision, also the way your new skin feels on your body (especially if it has a different texture—scales/fur for example), and you'd have to adapt to having new body parts (claws/tail/horns/hooves/etc), and not to mention having a different face.

I bet some people would feel like they've been erased.

[Tagging y'all in case you'd find this interesting:]

The running idea is that there's "Empyrean" and "Titan's Blood."

Let me explain:

We know titans EXIST within Rise. Cough, cough, the Crying Titan in the Series Finale. We ALSO know that a Kraang skeleton was found there, alongside- well, who would have thunk it, EMPYREAN. Which is used to. Ya know. Almost murk Splinter and turn him into a proper, bootleg Casper.

But, that raised a question: Why would a Kraang Skeleton be hanging around a Titan Skeleton?

Unless, my dear friends: The now dead Kraang infected the Titan's Blood.

Going on a small sidebar here: In both Hades and The Owl House, Titan's Blood is seen as this extremely powerful yet limited resource. It's ripped straight from the very beings who breathed magic and life into the world in the first place. Titan's Blood can be used (in Hades) to permanently upgrade a weapon. In TOH, it's quite literally the thing that allows the Wayward Witches to gain a small sliver of their magical strength back, just by being NEAR it.

Very powerful stuff.

SO, I am going off a similar thing with my headcanon.

Titan's Blood is a resource that is naturally found within MOST Hidden Cities. When the locals say "The city has a heart beat," they're being serious. The Titan's heart is still beating underneath the city, and its blood is the entire reason why the Yōkai have remained out of sight! The Titans of Old are STILL protecting the Yōkai race, even though their bodies have long grown still.

And yet. Yet. We KNOW the Kraang visited the planet once before. We KNOW that the Kraang somehow made it down to the Hidden Cities, or else that corpse would have not been there!

So. What IS Empyrean?

It's infected Titan's Blood.

A whole new type of magic that, while granting the possibility for growth, changed, and untapped potential? If it's not treated properly, it can drive somebody to the brink of INSANITY.

Thus, brings me to how the Rise Brothers are different than those who got infected by the Oozesquitoes.

The Rise Boys were PURPOSELY created. They were made with the intention to be war machines. Meaning: Draxum most likely worked with that batch of Empyrean for who knows HOW long. He made that batch SPECIAL. He needed it to be as refined as possible in order to produce the war machines he needed. Throw in a great human fighter, and BOOM. Four war machines, ready to go with very little imperfections.

However, with the Oozesquitoes? They were much less refined. The Empyrean used for them? Draxum probably didn't spend as much time fine-tuning the process! Thus: A poorer quality of Empyrean (Aka, INFECTED TITAN'S BLOOD.)

Just my idea on why villains go. Well. VILLAIN mode. Because the version that mutated them wasn't nearly as refined as the batch that mutated the Rise Brothers.

just an interestung scenario imo

extra: aftermath

This is wishful thinking, but I would love an episode in season 3 where Leo gets some leadership advice from former-captain Piel.

Like they get dragged into an adventure midway, maybe trying to stop Piel's former crewmates from interfering with his retirement, and it turns out a pirate setting really highlighted Leo's fast reflexes and crafty wit.

At the end of the episode, Piel tells Leo that he could have the makings of a great captain before Leo portals home.

Yeah you!

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