Raphael - Blog Posts

@thegirlwiththeninjaturtletattoos I would absolutely pay to see fan art of a shrunken Leonardo in his little glass tank. I imagine he’d need some shrunken objects to keep him entertained—maybe a tiny copy of The Art of War or a miniature pair of katanas to keep him occupied.

And the reactions from April and Casey would be priceless. I can totally picture April digging out her old Barbie collection from storage, dressing up mini-Leonardo, and making him play in the Dreamhouse with her dolls. Michelangelo, of course, would jump right in on the fun. As for Casey, I bet he would get creative—tying floss around Leonardo and lowering him down drains to unclog them or sending him into the hard-to-reach parts of his motorcycle.

I think a really underrated trope is "character gets shrunk to adorable size and hijinks ensue," and I especially want to see this used in the 2003 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Picture this: Leonardo, either through some villain of the week, freak accident, or alien technology, gets shrunk down to roughly the size of a Barbie doll.

Donatello calls Raphael and Michelangelo into his laboratory, looking all grim and serious. The absence of their eldest brother has the younger two convinced that something horrible has happened.

Raphael: [bursts in, all worried] Donny, what the shell happened? Where's Leo?!

Michelangelo: [close on his heels, equally concerned] Yeah, where's Leo? Did something happen?

Donatello: [holding up his hands to calm them] Yes, but it’s not what you think! He’s fine. He's just... gone through a bit of a change.

Raphael: [squints] What kind of change?

Donatello: [sighs] Now, I’m going to bring him out, and you two better be on your best behavior. No laughing—this is serious.

Raphael: [crosses arms, suspicious] Serious how?

Donatello gives them a look that screams, "You'll see." He reaches under the table, carefully picks up something (or rather, someone), and gently sets Leonardo down on the table. Leonardo—now barely the height of a Barbie doll—straightens his gear and adjusts his mask, trying desperately to maintain his dignity.

Raphael: [silent, staring] ...

Michelangelo: [jaw drops] ...

Raphael: [deadpan, trying not to laugh] ...I’m not supposed to laugh, right?

Michelangelo: [slowly grins] He...is...so...AWESOME! Dude, he’s like the ultimate, super-realistic action figure! [jumps excitedly] Let me hold him! Let me hold him! Please, just for a minute!

Leonardo: [scrambles to climb up Donatello’s arm, in full panic mode] DO NOT let him hold me! DO NOT let him hold me!

🎃 🐢

As Halloween creeps closer—yes, I know it's over two months away, but who's counting?—let's have some fun! Here are the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in as the best Salem moments from Sabrina the Teenage Witch:

Leonardo:

Raphael:

Donatello:

Michelangelo:

I think a really underrated trope is "character gets shrunk to adorable size and hijinks ensue," and I especially want to see this used in the 2003 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Picture this: Leonardo, either through some villain of the week, freak accident, or alien technology, gets shrunk down to roughly the size of a Barbie doll.

Donatello calls Raphael and Michelangelo into his laboratory, looking all grim and serious. The absence of their eldest brother has the younger two convinced that something horrible has happened.

Raphael: [bursts in, all worried] Donny, what the shell happened? Where's Leo?!

Michelangelo: [close on his heels, equally concerned] Yeah, where's Leo? Did something happen?

Donatello: [holding up his hands to calm them] Yes, but it’s not what you think! He’s fine. He's just... gone through a bit of a change.

Raphael: [squints] What kind of change?

Donatello: [sighs] Now, I’m going to bring him out, and you two better be on your best behavior. No laughing—this is serious.

Raphael: [crosses arms, suspicious] Serious how?

Donatello gives them a look that screams, "You'll see." He reaches under the table, carefully picks up something (or rather, someone), and gently sets Leonardo down on the table. Leonardo—now barely the height of a Barbie doll—straightens his gear and adjusts his mask, trying desperately to maintain his dignity.

Raphael: [silent, staring] ...

Michelangelo: [jaw drops] ...

Raphael: [deadpan, trying not to laugh] ...I’m not supposed to laugh, right?

Michelangelo: [slowly grins] He...is...so...AWESOME! Dude, he’s like the ultimate, super-realistic action figure! [jumps excitedly] Let me hold him! Let me hold him! Please, just for a minute!

Leonardo: [scrambles to climb up Donatello’s arm, in full panic mode] DO NOT let him hold me! DO NOT let him hold me!

“For one more hour

I can rage

For one more hour”

Another one *sobbing*

EDIT: tcest dni, thank you

Still playing around a bit…

i love your raph so much he looks like he needs a shell scritch (i own 5 turtles trust) and also some shrimp (trust) i think it would heal him

so you said your donnie slouches alot, could this mean maybe he isn't really 5,11 and actually 6,2 or somewhere close if he were to fix his posture???/?/ since slouching can make you appear shorter than actually are

oh snap well u might be onto something … raph is not gonna b happy about this. but wait how do u know my donnie slouches.. have i already said tht before ?LMAO

eats the creaturs

🍔

Birthday time for the disaster twins!

Originally this fic was titled Shattered, but I have decided to change it to Fractured Body, Shattered Mind.

Chapter 18 is done! More Donnie making bad choices.

First time sketching the boys!

With a baby raph 😌

Chapter 6!

the cast of the TMNT Mutant Mayhem!!! (1/2)

I wanted to redesign the 2003 boyes n kinda make my own AU with them kinda so yea this is what that is

Meet the Main Cast of TMNT: New World Mutants!

I received these very kind asks about my version of TMNT, and i’m finally getting around to answering them! @sirwolficus-art​ @dianounais​

So! Mutations and meetings first!

When Splinter met the boys, they were human kids living on the streets of NYC as a group, scavenging for food and making trouble. He had an instant soft spot for them but knew he couldn’t properly house them. Instead, he kept an sharp eye on them and bought them fresh food whenever he could.

One day, Splinter came across the boys in the middle of a street fight with a group of older kids. They weren’t faring particularly well, so Splinter stepped in and scared off the bullies, ushering them into a nearby pet shop to talk to them. While there, they took interest in the baby turtles and played with them for a while. Mikey explained to Splinter that they were fighting over food. Splinter offered to take them out for a proper meal when the chaos calmed down outside, something they happily took him up on.  

Unfortunately, on their way to a diner, they were approached by a threatening stranger carrying a couple canisters of glowing green chemical. They attacked, and though Splinter did his best to defend the boys (ultimately hurting the stranger enough to scare them off), at the last moment they managed to throw the ooze onto them. Boom, mutation!

Donatello!

Donatello is the eccentric of his brothers. He’s the embodiment of pure chaotic neutral and will blow up a Chili’s just to see what happens. (Think Rise Donnie without the ego) He’s an outspoken, highly opinionated drama queen, but has a quiet confidence about his actual intellect. More often he’ll show his family something he’s made with excitement rather than arrogance. His skills lie mainly in hacking, but he’s also a gifted engineer. He’s an absolute genius but a total dumb ass about everything else.

He LOVES science fiction and is 100% convinced aliens are real, and the thing that mutated them. None of his brothers belive him, but they tolerate his rambling conspiracy theories to various degrees.

Despite being the oldest of his brothers at 17, he is by far the least mature. He often focuses too much on his projects and doesn’t take anything else nearly as seriously. He swears like a sailor and the hardest for Splinter to get to train. He is a red eared slider.

Leonardo!

Like his father, Leonardo came up in a heavily traditional Japanese culture. He grew up learning ninjutsu from his birth parents (more on that in later posts ;)), and though he is now separated from them, he still values the culture. He takes his training very seriously, and though he can sometimes come off a stoic or emotionless, he is very much capable of being just as silly and fun loving as his brothers. He just has his own way of showing it. If you pay attention, he laughs the most at his brothers antics; it’s just quiet.

In fact, he is selectively mute thanks to his severe voice dysphoria. He is a trans boy and it’s the thing he struggles with the most; so he often just doesn’t speak. Instead, he signs to his family and used common mannerisms and gestures to communicate. He will only speak when he feels it totally necessary.

Despite being the youngest at 15, he’s always been the natural leader of his brothers; even before meeting splinter and becoming mutated. He just naturally falls into the role, and his brothers don’t object. He is a red eared slider.

Raphael!

Raph, along with Mikey (his bio twin) is 16. He loves to scrap and fight and be strong, and often underestimates his physical strength in training. But it’s never mal intended, he just shows affection with his actions rather than words and the language he speaks best is physical. He aims to be strong enough to give the BEST hugs.

He has his fair share of hissy fits, though, due to some unresolved sensitivity that can turn into anger if left unchecked. He doesn’t get angry often, but when he does he REALLY gets angry. Sometimes to the point of intentional malicious harm towards his brothers until he’s able to calm down. His biggest fear is seriously or permanently hurting his family, so he does his best to quell his anger.

He loves to cook, especially pizza (he takes a lot of pride in his homemade pizza dough, something he’s perfected for many years) and his favorite thing is to make food for his family. He is a box turtle.

Michelangelo!

Mikey is also 16, but despite his young age he is the most emotionally mature of his brothers. He’s very chill, down for whatever. He’s great at reading others and will find a way to make friends with anyone. He jokes around a lot, but he know the exact way to listen to, console and then cheer up every member of his family.

He’s highly sociable and loves to go out in the daylight and explore NYC whenever he can. He’ll often drag one or all of his bros with him. He is a literal ray of sunshine, and is immediately friends with everyone he meets. Unless he gets Bad Vibes™ from someone. If Mikey doesn’t like someone, it’s a definite sign they’re bad news bears.

He loves to yoyo, and spends almost as much time on the hobby as he does on his art. He is a box turtle.

Master Splinter!

Splinter is a patient, soft and caring father. He loves his sons to the ends of the earth and would do anything to protect them. Perhaps a tad over protective at times, but a loving father above all else. That is, except for in the dojo. He takes his teaching very seriously, and while he is still patient with the boys, he is very tough love when it comes to ninjutsu. He places a very high value on the culture he came from and expects his sons to honor it to the same level.

He is a very young father, currently only 36 and 28 when he was mutated (along with his sons). He’d always intended on adopting a kid or two when he was old enough to support them, but was very much thrown into fatherhood when they were all mutated. His Dad Instincts™ kicked into high gear, and there was no question in his mind that these were his kids now. He sometimes struggles with being a young father to four teens, but he wouldn’t trade his life now for anything.

Due to his rat mutation, he is severally color blind and now considered legally blind. His vision only got increasingly worse over the years, so he can no longer see what Leo is signing. Instead, one of the other turtles will speak for him or Leo will tap morose code to him if he wants to communicate. It’s tough, but they do their best.

Lmao Leon just ACCEPTED it!!!!!

I feel like Rise Raph, if he met any alternate versions of his brothers, he would just casually pick them up like he does with his own brothers. Except they wouldn't be used to it like the Rise turtles are, so they'd just start panicking instead

Anyway I found a new brush that I really liked the look of, so I tested it out with some turtle doodles

Whoops, my finger slipped

... *whistles innocently*

This totally isn't snowballing into a full blown AU or anything, no. That would be ridiculous...

(The text means absolutely nothing I swear there are no ulterior motives here itwasanaccident-)

THERE'S A SEQUEL?!??!?

I watched it 🤭🙌🐢💜❤️💙🧡

so good! so cute!!! spoilers below the cut ↓

soooooo I really really really enjoyed how much effort they put into making them like sad about their circumstances, the reality of it all, being a mutant and wanting to be accepted by humans,

Splinter not being a human to begin with but just a rat and quite frankly traumatized by humans all his life so very distrustful and doesn’t want his sons going through that or getting killed, and what tops the cake is that he actually tried to go out on his own with the tots, only to be instantly turned on, which just solidified the fear! even though he wasn’t just a rat anymore he was still cast out, still shunned!

but the turtles were too young to really remember that so they had endless hope, at least Mikey, Donnie, and Raph, kinda sorta Leo especially when April came onto the scene 🤭

WHICH SPEAKING OF THAT! Idk how I feel, super cute, Leo liking April instantly reminded me so much of 2k12 Donnie maybe a less intense version, all the scenes where romance was implied wasn’t so heavy (maybe slightly cringe) but still had me smiling so I guess I’m for it????? Still need to think on it more, overall my thoughts are : cute ✨ Leo was just being so cute 💀

THE BROTHERS WERE DRAGGING HIM OUT THO, like practically the whole first half of the movie, which is typical for tmnt, but gah damn 😂 it was so apparent when just Donnie, Mikey, and Raph would group up/link up, because Leo would constantly “rat” them out to the rat! Super different vibes from rise!leo for sure, that was kinda switched where Mikey was the one who couldn’t really lie… and it wasn’t about lying per say, just Leo being a pleaser? or a good kid? or wanting to do the right thing??? maybe that’s all the same thing as not wanting to lie 😂

anyhow, my favorite part had to be the very first fight scene the bros go into! Leo springing into action, being the one to propel his brothers into danger all because he wanted to help April (again so cute) get her scooter back! Technically their fault too! Anyhow they were getting whooped but also holding their own simultaneously, and just thinking quickly on their feet and helping each other out, it was all pretty intense and very stressful like where Mikey almost got run over twice 😨 I was like oml someone do SOMETHING!!!!! Thankfully we got big bro Raph, always coming in clutch! But yeah I just really enjoyed the first fight and them coming out on top! And right after being accepted by their first human aka April O’Neil!!!!!!!!! :D

There’s so much more to say, I could quite literally write down everything that happened in words but not gonna go there 💀💀 anyone wanna just gush about the movie?!? What was your favorite part??! What do you guys think about Leo x April???

AND THE SEQUEL WITH SHREDDER 🤩🤩🤩

Do we have a date yet??? Oml so flippin’ excited that we have confirmed more content on the way!!!

Someone, anyone, TALK TO MEEEEEEEE 💞🤗😚

Usually I just reblog, but this is a question that’s been burning in my head.

What were people’s first exposure to the Akira Slide *tm? The animation where the character skids their bike sideways with one foot close to the ground.

I know it’s been replicated countless times, but I am genuinely curious. I’ll go first, my earliest exposure to this homage was in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) theme song.

If you can think of any specific usages, please let me know

Sitting here at almost 11am and I suddenly had a thought.. ‘Ma Meilleure Ennemie’ from Arcane is low-key, high-key Raphael x Tav coded.

Am I the only one getting that vibe from it? I don’t entirely know if it’s just because of the sound and general tone of the song, but to me it feels like the lyrics with ‘you’re both the best and the worst that has ever happened to me’ (I’m paraphrasing, bare with me) remind me of Raphael and Tav’s relationship, at least as it is in a lot of fanfictions that I’ve read about them. Especially those that were leaning more towards an angsty sort of feel.

But even when we don’t consider the lyrics being kind of fitting, I do generally think that the overall melancholically beautiful sound of the song does fit Tav & Raph (gonna just call them that from now on, it’s fun).

Anyway, I don’t exactly know what to do with this thought yet, but I’m just throwing it out there for now.. do feel free to add to it if you want!

Yes...I suppose his cambion form is quite attractive, but I will never stop being painfully horny for his human form specifically.

Astarion...babygirl. I love you so very much, but I rushed your personal quest just so I could see this absolute hunk.

Rosa Angeli

WAHOO. IT'S DONE!

This painting is for @ukcalico's LOVELY, fantastic, wonderful fic, Rosa Angeli (AO3, Explicit, if you couldn't tell). This painting accompanies Chapter 4 which is up RIGHT NOW and you should all go read it. Seriously. It's one of my favorite ongoing series.

If you haven't read the rest of the Rosae series, you should start here first.

Here we have Roman!Crowley and Aziraphale with Angel!Crowley (aka Raphael) in the lads' bath.

You can see the full sized (and very explicit) piece in Chapter 4 of Rosa Angeli, here!

QUONA ON PATREON

@goodomensafterdark

TMNT content again, might do another KNY x TMNT crossover

I hate Leorai romantic ship with passion, in any version. Screw that incest, she's better as their big sister. Mikey even calls Karai sister multiple time and refers him and the others as her brothers. TMNT 2012 is great, but they really need to work out with their romance writing.

The Farmhouse Arc should've been the most significant character growth period for 2012 April as a character, and I kind of wanted to talk about that- Lmao

I apologize for not for recalling the user who's post I saw talking about this (I'll definitely @ them if I end up finding them / their post again-), but I recently came across somebody mentioning how they felt 2012 April should have experienced some self-loathing during The Farmhouse Arc given the whole Irma / Kraang Invasion situation-

I completely agree ! But that made me want to expand on that in my own way, because this is something that I genuinely enjoy getting into since there was so much potential (As most things in 2012 have-) that just didn't used,,

Since we've already established time and time again with this series that the writing is not as good as it could be, it "makes sense" that April barely felt any guilt outside of the initial S2 finale and the mistakes that she made don't even get brought up during the aftermath that is the Farmhouse Arc (If we're really being honest, they don't even really get brought up during the initial Season 2 finale- 💀). But if the show had better writing, April should have and would have felt more guilt / had that guilt be very apparent throughout the Farmhouse Arc in how she moves and talks to the Turtles + Casey during their stay there. Not to say that everything was entirely her fault, such as Irma being Kraang Subprime in disguise (She didn't ask for that nor did she cause that to happen-), but it should be acknowledged that their lack of an upper hand feels attributed to her actions the most in this particular Season finale.

I mean, honestly what was she even doing-?? I'm not trying to necessarily give a pass to Casey here, since I know that he was also goofing off / not taking things as seriously as he should have been even though he technically was helping Raph search for Karai- But at least he was with Raph, you know what I mean? Raph and Casey (technically) were searching the city for Karai as it means of protecting her and keeping her safe from the imminent Kraang Invasion (They were also looking for her post her mutation in general, but it was especially dire now-), Leo and Donnie (and Mikey technically-) are in the Lair deliberating on courses of action (Both on options to confront the incoming Kraang Invasion but also means of a safety net, something that Leo in particular was stressing they have outside of the city-). What is April doing during this time? What was her big contribution to this incoming threat? Hanging out with Irma. Like what- Lmao

I understand that like a lot of things that this show has 2012 April do or say, it's just used as a plot device or something to push the narrative that they're going for (Which is incredibly irritating, since it basically sacrifices any good character writing for her so that they can just move the plot along- Regardless of whether or not it makes sense for her as a character to do or not do- But I digress.), and this is just another example of that. But I would be lying if I said this particular aspect of the S2 finale has never made a lick of sense to me, even to this day. A second attempt at a Kraang Invasion is literally on the horizon, and instead of being with her team + actively helping / contributing in some way to this inevitable issue, April's hanging out with Irma-? The writers don't even give any context prior either, like the two of them coming from the movie theater or April's home or something. They provide no explanation as to why April's even spending her time with Irma in this moment.

Which, just like most things in this show, I'm not even saying that that had to have been a poor choice? This is why context is important- If they had shown April clearly stewing over the incoming Kraang Invasion as she's on her way to meet up with everybody else to discuss their options and Irma "just so happened" to essentially ambush April with her presence, thus making April feel obligated to entertain her for the time being? That would have made a lot more sense. It also would have been a great way to foreshadow the events to come in relation to Irma, since there would have been a clear atmosphere change and some unspoken reason as to why Irma wants her attention so badly right now- It also wouldn't have taken up a lot of runtime in my opinion, so I don't understand why they didn't do something like that? 💀

But to not derail from the initial point, (Given the poor writing, I know-) April basically brings a bunch of chaos to the Turtles (and Casey) and quite literally does the bare minimum about it. When she (unintentionally) reveals their home to the enemy, what does she do throughout that entire ambush? Hide. She doesn't even make any attempts to fight off the Kraang that are flooding into the Liar and essentially destroying their home.

What did she do after they escaped the sewers? Take them to her apartment, which initially was just meant to help Donnie get patched up before revisiting the chaos she (unintentionally) created, but instead April ends up staying in her apartment with her cowardly Father-?? For way longer than she should have. I understand that April does not control Donnie and it's not / shouldn't be her role to influence his decisions, but it was also upsetting to know that she was basically the reason Donnie was so inactive (Since he refused to "leave her side" or whatever-) and this in turn caused Mikey to also be inactive because (Rightfully so??) he's not going to go out there by himself- So April (more or less) was the reason why the three of them did nothing but wait around in her apartment until Raph and Casey arrived. She technically "did something" during the fight (more or less) with Kraang Prime in the Turtle Mech, but that only partially counts to me because that was more of a group effort (Since it's ideal for four people to be working the robot and she pulled like one lever or something like that- Lmao).

And of course, there was that psychic freakout that she had at the end of the S2 finale, but those never count to me because that's not something that she's consciously making an effort to do- If that makes sense? If April wasn't this special Human + Kraang Mutant Hybrid, she would just be freaking out like a regular person, and that would have done nothing for them- You know what I mean? (I really loathe these psychic freakouts that the writers have April do for this very reason-)

If you really pick apart April's role in the S2 finale, she mostly escalates the situation and does very very little to alleviate any of it or contribute positively in some way. Again, I acknowledge this is a poor writing decision and most likely influenced by their want to move the plot along and make this season finale "really dramatic"- But that doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to acknowledge it for what it is. Lmao

That being said though, I can now circle back to the topic at hand, which is that the Farmhouse Arc should've been a huge growth period or her as a character. ESPECIALLY in regards to her relationships with the Brothers and Casey.

The S2 finale should have been a situation that caused the group to view April differently. Not in the sense that they view her as an enemy or something of that nature, more that they're finally more openly acknowledging that she makes a lot of mistakes. Mistakes that they (More so the Brothers than Casey-) usually suffer the brunt of the consequences of. This is something that I feel is very apparent with her character (S2 the most-), and while that isn't a bad thing since a lot of characters in 2012 make mistakes, it's very obvious that the main group responds incredibly differently to her mistakes than any other character's mistakes. She's never forced to dwell on her wrongdoings or missteps, nor does the group ever harp on them or make her feel guilty for a prolonged duration of time like they do with other characters. We see this constantly throughout the series. The Brothers and Casey are always quick with their reassurance and understanding, always quick to tell her it isn't a big deal or that they got it handled, etc.

While it's not necessarily a bad thing to support her or make efforts to prevent her from developing a lack of self confidence, there's a fine line between giving support and coddling a person. Oftentimes, I feel like this teeters into the coddling side of things rather than genuinely supporting her. They essentially treat her like a child (so to speak), in the sense that they'd rather her believe that she "didn't do anything wrong" and that *everything's okay" instead of being honest when she makes mistakes or acts in ways that genuinely upsets them or off puts them.

THIS?? The S2 finale / Kraang Invasion?? This 1000% should have been the boiling point, and Raph in particular should've been the one to tip over the metaphorical pot. A theory that I have for the S2 finale going into the Farmhouse Arc that I believe holds up very well is Raph and Casey not being privy to the fact that April caused a lot of the chaos that they experienced during that finale. Of course, once they initially left New York City, their priorities were more focused on getting to safety (the O'Neil Farmhouse) and helping Leo in some way / shape / or / form giving his uncertain condition health wise. So it makes sense that this wasn't a topic of conversation immediately. However, it would not surprise me in the slightest if Donnie had made the decision to not tell Raph and Casey about what had transpired in the Lair that day (Or at the very least not the whole story, which would include April's involvement-). Convincing Mikey (And somewhat April-) to do the same. Because why wouldn't he? April's always been his top priority, and if not telling Raph and Casey the truth means protecting her, then he most likely will do that. Because I'm sure he knows Raph would be pissed beyond belief.

AND AS HE SHOULD BE- Hello?? If Raph found out that the reason why the Kraang Invasion began sooner than they planned thus causing them to be incredibly unprepared / their Lair got discovered and destroyed by said Kraang Invasion / Leo got separated from the group (And took on Shredder alone, but I fully acknowledge that that wasn't April's fault, I feel like that was a really stupid call on Leo's part during this finale-) / Splinter got separated from the group and this causing a domino effect that led him to confronting Shredder and being thrown further into the sewers and Raph ( + Donnie / Mikey / and April-) witnessing that horrific event was because of APRIL -?? Regardless of whether or not it was an accident, I think he would have a right to be upset with her. Because like I said before, she's had a lot of accidents that they've had to clean up before.

So just picturing Raph chewing her out at The Farmhouse and finally addressing how upset he's been with her in the past but bit his tongue so many times because she's supposed to be their friend?? That's "Chef's Kiss" tier conflict in my opinion. I genuinely feel like something of this nature was meant to happen and should have happened. A mistake of this caliber should have affected her relationships with them. Of course, Raph is the only one that I truly see being so unapologetically upset with April over this. Casey and Mikey would probably fall under some kind of murky mix of emotions, where they understand why they should be upset with her and to a degree they are, but they don't necessarily want to isolate her or cut her out of their lives- You know? I feel like their body language around her would be the biggest tell though, especially Mikey's, which I think would hurt April a lot (But it's not like she's really in a position to argue against it,,). I also think it would hurt Mikey a lot too, since being in this kind of position would make him incredibly uncomfortable for sure and I'd imagine he wouldn't like the way he's instinctively reacting to her presence nowadays,,

Donnie, of course, would be the only one "acting the same" towards April / around April. But deep down I think even he knows that something has changed between them, something that he would be in denial about for a majority of their stay there. I think this would have been a really great way to progress their relationship though- Both in the context of pushing for their romantic relationship (Which again, I personally am not a huge fan of 2012 Apritello, but I also don't want to exclude these things-) but also dismantling it entirely. On one hand, I think this would have been a really unique way to finally get Donnie to view April as an individual rather than simply the "object of his affections". Fully allowing those rose-colored glasses to be put aside for a second, you know? This should have been an event that tested his (so called) love for April in my eyes. Because if he doesn't love her and value her as a person, especially when she's at her lowest or has made some of her biggest mistakes (Ones that directly affect him-), then can he really say he loved her at all? I also think this should have been a great arc for Donnie as far as not making excuses for April anymore, since this is a bad habit he's (seemingly) nurtured. Learning that it's okay to be critical of her and these criticisms not drastically influencing their relationship or his affections towards her. But I can also see this skewing the complete opposite direction, and this finally being the event that ends the crush saga all together-

I personally felt like this was a very realistic possibility, since Donnie's crush on April is very surface level (He only "fell" for April because she was the first girl he witnessed upon leaving his home for the first time + he thought she was very pretty. He never makes any genuine attempts to get to know her as a person, and this feels very apparent given his behaviors and actions towards her. When he made his chart to "successfully get April to hang out with him" back in S1, everything that he listed had everything to do with himself and nothing to do with her or her interests. He didn't even try to guess or do any kind of process of elimination for her interests through his conversations / interactions with her. Also during S1, Donnie makes the bold assumption that April will like him simply because her Father is also a scientist- Which has absolutely nothing to do with April as an individual and there's no real correlation as to why she would "like him more" simply because he's similar to her Father / Father's profession? During this exact Season, when we see him gift her the music box that he made for her in, "A Foot Too Big" / S3 EP 2 /, April clearly looks uncomfortable for very obvious reasons but another thing that comes to mind is whether or not she even likes music boxes-?? There's no real explanation as to why he thought this would be a good gift for her- 💀). So to me, it makes sense that having his Rose colored glasses shattered / having a situation that practically forces Donnie to truly see her as an individual who's flawed and makes mistakes like this one would cause his crush on her to essentially evaporate instantly. Because what was his crush / infatuation founded on in the first place-? You know what I mean? I can also see his crush dissipating because of April and how she's handling this entire situation. I can see her handling it poorly in two different senses, the first being that she becomes very overly sensitive and defensive (Since Raph blowing up on her would be a massive hit to her pride, and as we've seen throughout the series, she's built up a pretty big ego just as much as the other characters have-) or she becomes very detached and blunt. Something that would cause her to become more openly honest with Donnie about how she views him and their relationship, that being that they just don't really have one- Finally being able to speak on how his advances make her feel and how they aren't necessarily wanted a majority of the time. :/

But now that I've established how I feel the other main characters should've responded towards April post the S2 finale / entering the S3 Farmhouse Arc (Minus Leo whose in a coma-), it's finally time to talk about how I feel April should have carried herself during this arc. Which would be BUILDING / REBUILDING HER RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THIS TEAM (Minus Leo, but also technically him to just after he wakes up from his coma-). One of my biggest gripes with 2012 April in relation to the group as a whole is her lack of proper dynamic with most of her teammates. Casey is honestly the only exception to this, since we do see her get more significant bonding moments with Casey / she does get a lot of one on one screentime with him on particular- But even that could use some work too. April doesn't feel like an actual friend to any of them, and that's always been something that bothers me considering how highly they regard her as a person and how much they trust her / how much they put their faith in her. It would make sense to properly establish where that trust and praise even stems from, you know what I mean? But since the writers suck ass, you can essentially just chalk this up to her being the titular girl character and therefore she "deserves this treatment" canonically. I hate that reasoning and think it's really dumb. :) Lmao

I'm not saying the entire Farmhouse Arc needed to be so April centric (Since 2012 already feels like the Leonardo and April O'Neil show a majority of the time- 💀), but I don't think it could have hurt to have a majority of those episodes have significant moments between April and a particular Brother / Casey. With Mikey and April, I think it would have been really great for April to validate his feelings and reinforce the fact that it's okay for him to be upset with people. That doesn't mean that he has to hate them forever or hold grudges like a lot of people in his life do (I can also imagine that's the biggest reason why he's so uncomfortable with the possibility that he's holding a grudge against April, since his entire life revolves around this stupid grudge between his Father and his Uncle- Because Shredder basically is their uncle and I hate that that isn't acknowledged more?? That's like top tier family drama angst right there- Lmao). But it's also not healthy for him to essentially pretend as though he doesn't feel emotions like anger and frustration and disappointment. I think it would have been really cool for April to validate his thoughts and opinions, with this being used to build a better relationship between them and result in Mikey learning to trust April once again (Not that he necessarily lost his trust in her but it felt complicated for a while-). We can also get more screentime of April loosening up and doing fun / silly things, since I'm sure Mikey would bring out that side of her ! I also think Mikey should have been the one to help her with her psychic abilities instead of Donnie, I don't know if that's a hot take but- LMAO

Like I said earlier, I don't think April didn't have a relationship with Casey but I think this situation would help strengthen it for sure. To be honest though, I don't see April necessarily needing to make a lot of amends with Casey (Aside from his Father and younger Sister getting abducted as well, and maybe this could be a good way for Casey to be able to actually talk about his family with someone onscreen-). But I do like the idea of April going to Casey a lot during the situation for advice- To have an outside looking in perspective, you know what I mean? Especially with Raph and how to fix that mess,, But this would be a great way to show how much April values Casey as a friend and respects his opinion / appreciates the fact that he's always been a shoulder for her to cry on or vent to. I also want Casey to reinforce this idea that she doesn't need to be this "perfect person". This whole character development period for her should be about that in general, but I feel like Casey / her interactions with Casey should highlight this theme the most. I think April should be able to express how difficult it's been to come to terms with the fact that she's not where she wants to be or who she thought she was, with Casey throwing out the idea that maybe that was never who she was meant to be. That it's never too late to reinvent yourself or be a different person, one that you better reflects who you are. I basically just want Casey to reinforce her individualism the most !

I'm biased, so I prefer the situation dissipating Donnie's crush on April, and for that to build a new foundation for a relationship. A platonic relationship. Donnie never truly interacted with April as a friend, always interacting with her as his crush or infatuation, you know what I mean? He read into every interaction they had, everything he did felt as though it had some romantic strings attached or implications. He needs to let that go, for sure. I think they could have had a really cool dynamic if this had happened. The writers also could have better explored April's intelligent side, the one that they constantly like to associate with her character but I feel doesn't always hold up (Not only because a lot of her "character traits" feel reliant on the plot of an episode, making them incredibly inconsistent, but I've always compared April's intelligence level to Leo's rather than Donnie's. You know what I mean?). If April actually has an interest in S.T.E.M. the way the writers like to imply that she does, then this would have been a really good thing for her too ! I honestly don't have much to say aside from this though, because I don't necessarily see a lot of friendship scenarios for April and Donnie-? I know that's kind of sad, but I've personally never envisioned them being super close-? 😭

Raph is my favorite aspect of this entire hypothetical concept though. Not only does it include the satisfaction (For me, yes-) of a character rightfully telling April off for once and April actually having to face the repercussions of something that she's done for an indefinite amount of time, but this also simultaneously feeds into my take that April and Raph should have been a lot closer than they actually were- To talk about this a little better, I'm including some old WIPs of a comic I made exploring this idea (I guess technically I'm still making it-? I haven't worked on it in a while,, 😔) !

I'll do my best to not infodump about the entire story that I envisioned for this comic (Cause it's a lot and this post is already lengthy enough- Lmao), but to provide some context for these specific panels: After Raph explodes on April after finding out what actually transpired during the S2 finale / takes the time to throw in the fact that she's pretty incompetent a majority of the time and it's upsetting the constantly have to clean up after her, April (somewhat understandably) gets in her feelings and it's pretty upset about the situation overall. She ends up running into a conflict with some people by herself in the woods while taking a walk to get some fresh air (It was over a missing mutagen canister and I kind of envisioned these people being similar to "The Finger" from the Bigfoot episode- Like, just weirdos- Lmao), and as you can tell from the comic she pretty much gets her ass handed to her. This is when Raph's words really started to set in for her and she felt honestly disappointed with herself. But instead of kicking her while she's down or fanning the flames, Raph opens up to her instead-

With that little bit of context out of the way, I really love this idea that seeing April like this would result in Raph wanting to open up to her. Why? Because he sees himself in her. Especially right now. Seeing her so frustrated with herself, April wanting to do more than she's physically capable of doing as she is now, feeling weak and helpless ,, He's been there. Many many times. So he starts to empathize with her and his anger simmers a bit.

He opens up about his role in this team, and how a majority of the time he only feels good for punching and hitting people. Like that's all he's capable of. He talks about how he feels so insignificant when the solution isn't hitting people, or even if there is someone to hit that doesn't change anything or resolve the issue. He's not smart like Donnie, he's not warm and compassionate like Mikey, he's not a symbol for people to follow like Leo. In these ways, he understands wanting to do more and being so angry when facing the reality that you can't. Or rather, as you are right now, you can't.

This is more of a personal headcanon for me, but I'd imagine that it took rough a lot of effort and dedication to get the build that he currently has / maintains. I wouldn't be surprised if it took him quite some time to build up that body mass, you know what I mean? So I was also going to reference that at some point in relation to Raph talking about not being where you want to be yet- How for years, he felt so weak compared to Splinter and that upset him,, But it also motivated him to be the person that he currently is + why he takes training more seriously than everybody else. Because he was tired of feeling weak.

This basically segways into Raph helping April with her training during the Farmhouse Arc and this being the most significant way in which they build their new relationship with each other ! He's a little impressed with April's dedication to improving too, which also helps him view April differently / give them something in common. When they return to New York City, I'm sure April would want to feel confident in herself and capable of fixing this mess- Raph getting her there feels like a no brainer to me. I'd also include moments where they're not training and just hanging out regularly during their stay at the Farmhouse ! Something that admittedly would've taken some convincing on April's part, since even though I said Raph's anger simmered, that doesn't mean that it completely vanished right away. But eventually he'd agree to it and slowly let April in again. Maybe not even again though, since they didn't really have a relationship prior to this in my eyes (Nor do they interact a lot canonically as it is-). So this would honestly feel like Raph letting April in for the very first time-! 😭

Also, of course I'm going to be throwing in some hints of 2012 Raphril here and there within this comic- This is me we're talking about- LMAO 💛❤️

I also totally address Donnie's behaviors towards April / his (Most likely unintentional?) misogynistic tendencies. How his coddling of her harms her rather than helps her. His lack of respect for her choices and her autonomy (Specifically referencing, "Within the Woods" where he blatantly acknowledges that April is interested in Casey but instead of respecting that, he feels the need to "prove to her" that she's wrong-?? For not choosing him, basically- 💀). His unhealthy possessives over her as a person. Etc. ! 😔👍

Sorry this was another lengthy yap post-! Basically I agree that April should've had more focus in relation to the S2 finale aftermath like that person was talking about, but I also think the Farmhouse Arc should've better established April's relationships within the group- Idk- ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ Lmao