'And One to Grow On'

Belated B day For @zelgadis55

I made this with heavy inspiration from the “Saturday Morning Adventures” comics. It is the first comic I’ve ever drawn. Thanks again to @fabuloustrash05 for the idea to have 87 Leo react to Karai’s snake form, and happy reading!

My favorite episode is the 3-part arc “Return To New York.”  I love it because of the intensity; I was constantly on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next.  I loved how Leo proved himself to be a competent leader and fought despite his previous failures.  ”You may destroy me, but I won’t live in fear“ has to be one of my favorite quotes.

This story arc also had Master Splinter being a total badass with the Sword of Tengu, Dr. Stockman trying to one-up the Shredder and failing miserably, and, of course, the showdown between Leo and the Shredder.

My favourite episode is Grudge Match.

Aside from the obvious Mikey whump that I live for, I think it provides us one of the best canon explorations of Mikey’s character.

As a Mikey fan, him winning the Battle Nexus Tournament was really fun, but I think most fans can see that it was on some level the ‘joke ending’ to the arc. The writers went out of their way to remove Leo from participating, Splinter steps down, and Mikey defeats Kluh by accident. So it’s exciting (and he had some legitimate wins) but it also doesn’t truly feel earned, and I think that’s something you could probably assume Mikey feels on some level too. He brings it up often, he jokes about it, teases his brothers about how he’s the best, and you could interpret that as him looking for some validation or covering up his insecurities, but a lot of that was just conjecture.

Until Grudge Match.

Because we see that all that confidence really was false bravado, he truly doesn’t think he can win. He’s given up before he ever steps out into that arena and in so doing dooms himself to lose. Except then the writers throw out the one thing that can get Mikey out of his own head and focused on winning; his brothers’ safety. And finally we get to see what a serious Mikey looks like, what’s hidden beneath the layers of insecurity and little brother privilege. The core of all of them is this intense protectiveness of each other, this willingness to push everything aside to keep each other safe.

So we get to see him be a total badass, and he gets to see it too. But in the moment he doesn’t revel in it, he doesn’t seem particularly proud of it. He lets Kluh go because it’s how he was raised and he ultimately believes in kindness, but you realize that he absolutely could and would kill for his brothers if he needed to. So he is humbled in a way - he learns what he is capable of and the terrible burden that comes with it.

AND WHEN YOU SAYY

I DONT WANNA FEEL THIS WAYYY, NOO

AND I WILL STAYYY

“I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Sketched out a small aftermath scene from when Raph almost hit Mikey with that pipe that one time. I cant stop thinking about how 2003 canonically states that Mikey is Raph’s best friend. My boys <3

-> Art Commissions <-

Decided to try drawing the 2003 boys just to see if I could :)

He still got hurt tho.

I need to write more abt this.

I know some people have seen the news recently and may be doubtful of it. To the uninformed, Google Docs has started using AI to find "inappropriate" and "problematic" content, scraping your documents and deleting it. I know some people are unsure if this is real or think this is not going to affect them.

I regret to inform you that this is real.

As I was on a call with some writers and we were moving our documents as a precautionary measure, one person discovered entire pages missing that they did not delete themselves. This is happening to us, it's not a hoax or a rumor, it's happening right now. You need to move everything if you want to preserve it.

If you're a writer with writer mutuals, please reblog this so they know. I rarely write on Google Docs anymore, but I started my fanfics on there, and I would be devastated if I lost works more than ten years old because people decided marketing appeal is more important than creative freedom.

EDIT READ THIS: https://www.tumblr.com/bravehyde/790422701153157120/hi-can-we-have-any-sort-of-source-about-the

Ostania's normalest family

The next day, at a hastily thrown together birthday party at the Forger residence:

2003 TMNT SNIPPET

So, this was simply an idea I needed to get on paper. Thus, it’s a Flash Fiction for now. Let me know if you want me to expand it

Her visit was strictly rational. Logical.

The turtles were used to her being in her shop. They would drop in at off hours—sometimes for a chat, to get out of the rain or just because they wanted to. Last thing she needed was a group of four trained ninja brothers creaking out because they couldn't find their ‘sister.’

Sister.

She clamped down at the word. Ground her teeth. Not here. Not now. Time for that later. After the trip. After the arrangements. After the…service.

“Hey, Ape! Ooo, did you bring snacks?”

She wordlessly handed her pile of bags to Mikey as he rushed over. Stay firm. Keep it together. Just…tell them and go so you can get the mess over with.

“April?”

The orange banded face was suddenly in her vision, all but blocking her sight. But the playfulness had left his face. The bags lay forgotten on the floor. In fact, he almost looked like Leo, scrutinizing her expression.

“What's wrong?”

What's wrong? What's wrong? I got the worst phone call I could ever get last night. That's why I'm here, to ask you guys to watch my shop for me. Cause I have to go and bury my sister.

That's what she wanted to say. It was direct but covered everything she had to convey. But as much as she wanted to, her tongue was ash in her mouth.

“Oh, April’s here!” Don’s voice.

“Yo, April, long time, where you been?” Raph

“Give her some space guys,” Leo.

Mikey was in her face again, that worried look he didn't use often so it was extremely effective when he did. “April,” he repeated. “What’s the matter?”

The nonchalance left the other three like they were doused with water. In flips and leaps, they were up by their youngest brother’s side, staring at her.

“April?” Almost a chorus they were. “What is it?”

“Did something happen?”

“You look terrible…”

“Ya need me to go clobber someone?”

Brothers.

Brothers. Like sisters…

“My…” Her voice caught. “Call this morning. Robin. My sister. There was…a car crash and….”

Words lost all meaning and the tears tore from her throat like a virus. Her whole body shook. The four faces in front of her blurred into a mix of green, blue, red, violet and orange.

“She's…she’s dead. My sister’s dead!”

Saying it…she didn't want to say it. Saying it made it real. But now that it was out, her cries became rapid. Sharo, unfiltered, more screams and screeches than anything truly meant to be speech.

And warm arms embraced her. Held her close, her head pressed against a shoulder. She took advantage, buried her face and screamed out the unfairness of it all.

Someone stroked her hair back. Someone else rubbed her back. She heard the distinct sound of hot tea being made and somehow she went from standing to being all but smothered by a sea of limbs on the couch.

And all of them said the same thing without saying anything at all: