Not going to lie, Zatanna’s arc is my least favorite so far. The pacing feels slow and the character focus is disjointed.
I wish Traci and Mary were cut out. They don’t add anything and they take away screen time from more important characters like Zatanna, Doctor Fate, Klarion, and Child. Khalid is the most interesting but mostly because I did some research on who he is in the comics.
I’m close to wanting Phantom Stranger and Jason Blood/Etrigan, though they could work as smaller note characters.
Zatanna, Doctor Fate, Klarion, Child, and Vandal should be the core cast of this arc.
I’m going to be optimistic and hope that this arc will have a great or even good ending, yet my hope is slowly dwindling with each episode coming out.
Hi everyone! Ever since I’ve seen some Instagram posts about TMNT fans’ versions of the show, I’ve wanted to do this. But most of them had drawings so I felt insecure since I’m not a great artist. But I still wanted to give it a try.
Anyway, lets get this started.
Note: This is in beta and changes might happen in the future.
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It all starts similarly like the other versions.
The turtles want to explore the city and sneak out. Everything is as normal as New York can be, but it changes when the ninja turtles come across a certain red head (😉) sneaking around. They follow her and discover an alien ship. Having no choice to take the role as the new girl’s protectors, the turtles watch over as she gains information on the aliens such as their species- the Kraang- and their objective with Earth. When the girl is captured, the brothers save her and escape.
She reveals herself to be April O’Neil and explains what she was doing. April is a high school sophomore who works in a news station as an intern, and she wants to prove her abilities with a breakout story. Unlike other versions, the turtles and April don’t have an immediate connection and have no expectations to meet again. The turtles are distrustful of humans since their father/sensei warned them that being accepted by humans will be nearly impossible. Due to underlying issues, April is prone to avoiding people and rarely lets anyone in, except her roommate and best friend Irma. It would take a few episodes for their friendship to really grow and develop.
Splinter doesn’t intervene with his sons’ visits to the city for weeks until they come back injured from a Kraang fight. He decides to ban them from leaving the house in his extreme view of keeping them safe. Splinter lifts the rule when he learns the gravity of the Kraang. With that, he trains his sons harder than ever.
The first season focuses on the brothers’ relationship and growth as a team. Leo learns how to mature and become a leader; Donnie learns to follow his instincts more. Raphael learns to get over his insecure and impulsive nature. Mikey learns to be more mature and open with negative feelings.
The Shredder takes a backseat as the villain until season two, though he appears in season one alongside Karai.
[B]“A” Plots:
-Turtles vs. Kraang
-Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey arcs begin: 1-3 episodes will focus on each of them
-April/Turtles’ Friendship
[B]“B” Plots:
-April’s Past
-Splinter’s Past
-Shredder
-Karai/Leo’s Relationship
-Casey/April/Irma Friendship
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This is all I have so far. I’ve only just started on this and I mostly focused on characterization and character development. I’ll have more info to reveal once I post about the characters. I’ve been thinking about writing my version as a book, but I don’t know. It would be fun to see people’s thoughts.
I hope you enjoyed it! 😊
Comment your thoughts.
I loved season 3 and think the crew did an amazing job wrapping the story nicely while only have 3 episodes. I have so much respect for them. I’m asking this question out of curiosity, not to disrespect the hard work done.
My ranking:
Watching & Dreaming
This finale is one of my favorites of all time. The Collector got really good development, Luz’s sacrifice and Titan form, the animation was beautiful, and pretty much every scene brought something beautiful. The fight scenes were amazingly animated and thrilling to watch. Belos’ death was so satisfying and watching him get stomped to death was somehow pretty funny. The post-credit was super cute and I liked the way the characters said bye to the audience through the Collector. The King-ceañera was sweet because I remember hearing that S3 would’ve had an episode with Luz celebrating her quinceañera. It’s sad that the episode didn’t happen but I’m glad it was included into the finale.
Thanks to Them
Luz and Hunter carried this episode for me. I really connected with them and their struggles- mental health struggles. Seeing Camila get more spotlight was great. She’s an amazing mom! The montage of what the crew was doing in the Human realm was cute and kind of bittersweet because these scenes could’ve been made into episodes, especially with Hunter questioning his identity. I liked seeing Vee again and her new human look is adorable. Flapjack’s death always makes me tear up. He was my favorite palisman so it made his sacrifice hurt more. I’m glad Belos got his retribution for all the pain he caused.
For the Future
I enjoyed this episode. Seeing everyone (Matt, Emira and Eldric, and Boscha) was great. I was happy to see Willow get some spotlight since she was pushed back for the past few episodes. I relate to her anxiety on having to keeping things together and trying to always be reliable. Hunter developing powers was great(he has a part of Flapjack left). The Huntlow moments were adorable; they are my second favorite ship and seeing them grow closer was so cute. Seeing Luz resolve her issues was great and her palisman is adorable.
The only thing that drops this episode down my ranking is the inclusion of Kikimora. Personally, I don’t care enough for Kikimora that I would want her to come back. I would’ve been fine with her last scene being in the S2 finale. I understand that she was a secondary character to Boscha’s development, but I don’t care about Boscha that much to say that Kikimora coming back was worth it. I think it bothers me because we spent a good chunk of that episode focusing on Boscha and Kikimora that the episode felt stagnant at moments. I would’ve preferred The Collector having more screen time. This issue doesn’t make me hate the episode, but it is my least favorite S3 episode.
Dolores Headcanon (Modern AU)
If she lived in the modern age, Dolores would like and relate to Taylor Swift and Adele’s songs, especially “You Belong With Me” and “Someone Like You”
Most people know Taylor Swift and Adele’s music are mostly about lost love and inner turmoil and I think Dolores would connect with them. We don’t know how long Dolores has had a crush on Mariano but I’m going to say for like a few years. “You Belong With Me” is about a girl pining after a guy who is with another and she thinks they don’t fit as a couple. This can pretty much be Dolores’ mindset on the engagement. “Someone Like You” is about woman mourning the loss of a love who is marrying another woman. Again, pretty similar to the engagement circumstances.
What do you guys think?
Mine: When LP finds the right person (I also headcanon him as pan and with Drake/Darkwing), he’ll want to marry them and adopt a lot of kids.
Launchpad is such a sweet guy that I think he would adopt kids of any age instead of having bio ones so kids in systems can have a good home. He would probably adopt 4-6 kids(don’t worry, Gosalyn is included).
Warning: mentions of child abuse, bullying, terrible parent
Ever since General Shao’s backstory was revealed on the website I’ve believed he had a terrible (borderline hellish) childhood.
To recap, Shao had the enthusiasm and brilliance to be a great warrior, but his body was too sickly to handle the physical training. Shao’s father did not like this and decided to design a strenuous program to build Shao’s strength. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong but I believe Shao went through awful circumstances that made him the man he is.
In Outworld, especially in professions that involve fighting, strength is considered the most important thing for a person. No doubt Shao’s father, a renowned Outworld general, would express these ideals and hate the reality of one of his children being considered weak. He would do anything to ensure his legacy was considered strong, which he did by ignoring Shao’s physicians and crafting a training program that could potentially worsen Shao’s condition.
Because of his family’s reputation, Shao would be tormented by other children. Being pushed around and called worthless or a “sorry excuse to his family tree.” This would fester Shao’s anger and his drive to become stronger like his father, so he’s willing to go through the program.
In other people’s eyes the program would be considered abusive, but Shao saw it as his father caring about him. He would excuse the days long training, survival training alone in the woods, his father’s harsh words, and not letting Shao eat or drink until he perfected his moves.
Shao would also inherit his father’s demented beliefs in what being a warrior is and what Outworld needed. He would hear his father complain about the kingdom’s alliance with Liu Kang, hearing him call the fire god a “scoundrel” and “the bringer of Outworld’s downfall.” He’d be taught that domination is the true way to live rather than peace, compassion is considered weakness, death in battle is the greatest honor, and the only way to fight is on your terms.
(Some of Shao’s intros inspired this headcanon, such as one of his intros with Liu Kang where he admits that he’s wanted to kill Liu Kang all his life, and an intro with Reiko where he tells him, “fight on your terms or don’t fight at all.” Also, Shao’s disgusted reaction to Raiden offering to help him to his feet after their fight inspired the part about Shao being taught that compassion is weakness.)
Unfortunately Shao never learned that his father’s behavior was abuse since the bullying he faced stopped after being able to defend himself, instead he continues this cycle with Reiko. When it comes to his relationship with Reiko, I believe Shao cares about Reiko like a son but only learned how to express love through his father. He saw his old self in Reiko and wanted to share his feelings of strength with the young boy. He trained Reiko the same way as his father did to him and the results were the same- Reiko became a great warrior. I don’t think he’s manipulating Reiko to tame Onaga; Shao genuinely believes that his young ward is capable of doing the task, but thinks Reiko dying would be okay since his father taught him that dying in battle is an honor. Hopefully if Reiko dies taming Onaga (it’s highly possible with how powerful and rabid Onaga is), Shao lowers his guard and shows genuine care for Reiko. At least a sweet goodbye or a burial scene where we see him mourning his lost ward/son.
I don’t think Shao would be redeemed if my headcanon turned out to be true, but I would hope that other characters would learn about his past and use it as a cautionary tale on how striving for strength is not worth losing your humanity. The possible tragedy Shao’s story could take would be interesting, especially when Liu Kang somewhat created the beginning of Shao’s life to give him the chance for redemption, yet it’s someone Liu never considered that turned Shao into the person he is.
I'm curious about other fans' opinions on MK1's character writing. Personally, I think it's improved most characters but there are some issues.
Ashrah: I'm happy she's back because Ashrah was the 3D-era character I wanted to return. I really like that they kept her story from the 3D era but improved it. I'm curious to see if she'll get corrupted by the Kriss in the next game.
Baraka: His story improved immensely. I never cared for Baraka in the previous games since he wasn't developed enough and was just one of Shao Kahn's henchmen. Baraka being a victim of Tarkat makes him more sympathetic and interesting. I hope he gets a happy ending but I think he'll die in the later games.
General Shao: I'm a bit disappointed in how he was written. I was hoping we'd learn about his past and how it affected his personality. Shao was born with a weak body, so I expected his father to be abusive by forcing Shao to go beyond his limits. This would cause Shao to believe being strong is the only thing that matters. Hopefully, the next story portrays Shao as more than a stock villain.
Geras: I really liked this version of Geras compared to MK11's since he's more than Kronika's minion. He's loyal to Liu Kang but they are friends/partners, and Geras wants to protect Liu Kang's timeline because he believes in its potential.
Havik: I was really interested in learning about Havik, his powers, and the Chaos realm. I was disappointed that Havik was a minor character and his powers weren't explained. I heard that there will be a story taking place in Seido/Order Realm so I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have a great story for Havik and other Order/Chaos realm characters.
Johnny Cage: His backstory and personality didn't change that much which I'm glad for because MK9-11 Johnny had one of the best character arcs in that era. I really enjoyed his bromance with Kenshi and his comedic moments were really fun (my favorite was the Alien reference).
Kenshi: Kenshi's story was already good but it was improved upon and explored further. Kenshi wanting Sento to protect his family from the Yakuza and bring back the Taira clan made me sympathize with him, and actually seeing how he loses his sight was horrifying and broke my heart. His bromance was Johnny was one of my favorite parts and I hope they are in future games together.
Kitana: I found Kitana kind of bland. Unfortunately, with her old goal of wanting to be an Empress going to Mileena, she lost what made her interesting. She felt more like Mileena's sidekick rather than her own character. Maybe that'll change in future games since she's a part of Mileena's council.
Kung Lao: Kung Lao was likable and enjoyable. I don't have much to say other than that. I want the next story to explore his ego/arrogance and why he has that attitude. Although I really like Raiden as Earthrealm's champion, I sort of wish Kung Lao was the champion since he's wished for that opportunity for so long.
Li Mei: Li Mei is an okay character. She's kind of boring since she's a "follow the rules" character. Her and Sindel's friendship was the most interesting aspect of her. Li Mei's powers are really cool though, and I'm a big fan of Kelly Hu (her va).
Liu Kang: Having Liu Kang as Earth's protector and Time Keeper made his character more interesting compared to him being the "Chosen One." I am slightly disappointed in the way he was written. I expected/wanted Liu Kang to be a neutral good character where he's willing to do bad things to keep the peace. They kind of did that with Liu Kang creating meaningless lives for Shang Tsung and Quan-Chi, but he was never called out for those decisions. I also wanted the other characters to start questioning Liu Kang about why there are still tragedies occurring and why doesn't he intervene. Though we get it in the battle intros, I wanted it explored in the story. The writing for how Liu Kang's time powers was also pretty unclear. The power's restrictions were never specified so it's not obvious which events in the timeline are Liu Kang's mistakes or not.
Mileena: Adored her in this game! I love seeing Mileena happy for once with a loving family and a good life. I expected her to be overtaken by Tarkat the whole but was happy to see her with a regular mouth for most of the game. Having her as Empress is really interesting and can't wait to see more of that.
Nitara: I really wanted to like Nitara, yet she's so bland. I thought we would learn about Vaternius, and see Nitara being a truly neutral character. Compared to the other 3D characters in the game, she was the most disappointing.
Raiden: This version of Raiden is way more likable than previous iterations. He's nice, humble, handsome, and strong. He's literally the perfect man! I'd like his anger issues from the previous iterations to be developed in the next story. His anger would get out of control after a tragedy and he feels like being more ruthless is more beneficial to protecting everyone.
Rain: I don't have much to say about Rain. He's kind of boring and was sidelined in the game. Maybe he'll have some kind of connection to Delia and Argus, which will introduce them to the new timeline.
Reiko: Reiko's okay. The only thing I'm really interested in is his relationship with General Shao and it's mostly me wondering whether Shao is capable of caring/loving someone.
Reptile: Love this rendition of Reptile! Like Baraka, Syzoth is more complex and isn't only Shao Kahn's minion. He has one of my favorite designs in the game and his backstory shows the issue of internal racism. The only thing I'm iffy about is his family that was murdered was his wife and son since that is very similar to Baraka's backstory to losing his wife and children to Tarkat. Plus, it's kind of weird that he moved on with Ashrah relatively quickly. I would've preferred if his family were his parents or siblings.
Scorpion: At first, I was a bit iffy about Kuai Liang being Scorpion but think it was a good choice since it makes the rivalry between the Lin Kuei and the Shirai-Ryu more personal. I'm excited to see how his and Sub-Zero's story moves forward.
Sindel: Good queen and mom Sindel is best Sindel! She was very likable! I had a feeling she would die in the story though her soul being absorbed into Ermac was unexpected. I'm interested in where this story will go.
Shang Tsung: I really enjoyed how sassy Shang Tsung was, and was glad he was the main villain after so long. The only thing I'm disappointed in is we didn't see more of his backstory. Also, the idea of Shang Tsung being evil all along NRS was going with was pretty lame. I wanted to see whether Shang Tsung was truly born evil or if was he made that way because of his hardships. It being the latter would've been intriguing because it means Liu Kang technically created Shang Tsung.
Smoke: Smoke is a sweetie, but didn't have much going for him. I was really interested in Smoke when he was in MK9 so I expected him to have his own chapter and develop. Maybe the Lin Kuei/Shirai Ryu war will give me that.
Sub-Zero: I hoped Bi-Han would be an interesting antihero instead of a generic villain. His betrayal is fine, but I wish he was more indecisive or slightly regretful of his choice since he lost his brothers. For example, when he slashed Kuai Liang's eye, I wanted to see him be regretful and sorry for hurting his brother. We didn't get that, which is one of the biggest disappointments of the story.
Tanya: I'm neutral with Tanya. Personally, her role and personality are too similar to Jade's. She felt like a totally different character who happened to have the same name as the original Tanya. Changing a character's story is okay, yet there should be some part of the original iteration that stays. I do find her and Mileena super sweet and I hope they live a happy life.
Can some of you guys tell me why you ship Bushroot and Liquidator together? I kind of ship them too but I don‘t have a concrete reason like I have for Quackervolt and Drakepad. I’m curious to know what moments made you ship them. 😁💕
To my non-artists Rise fans, have you ever felt so annoyed that you couldn’t draw what you envision in your mind?
I’m feeling it right now. I want to draw my Rise versions of TMNT characters like Usagi, Mona Lisa, and Leatherhead so badly but I can’t draw to save my life- let alone in Rise style.
Also, I have this fun weapon idea for Future April where she has two titanium bats for close range fighting and they transform into guns- one is a shot gun and the other is a sniper. The grip of the bat would bend for the bullet chambers and the knob would have the trigger. The other end of the bat would open for the bullets to fire. There would also be a slit where the scope would pop out.
Of course, Donnie built it for her.
(I’m just so bummed that I can’t draw and too poor to ask for a commission to be.
How Would You Rank The MCU Shows (From Most to Least Favorite)?
I recently asked my friend who loves Marvel how she would rank the MCU shows from most to least favorite. I don’t remember her exact ratings, but she mentioned that Moon Knight is really good and WandaVision is her least favorite because she thought the finale could’ve been better.
I haven’t finished all of them yet so I’m not going to write my ranking.
What is yours and what’s the reason?