Possibly My Favourite 2k3 Tmnt Screenshot

Stoppppp! I swear, every time I mention rewatching the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series with my father, I come back with some wild revelation thanks to his uncanny television-watching skills. Seriously, this man is either psychic or just way too good at predicting plot twists. And the best (worst?) part is, he always gets this smug, “I know something you don’t know” grin.

So, when we hit season five—the one that is kinda the lost season that not even all the hardcore Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans have seen—he was absolutely certain he knew a big twist that was coming. He was practically vibrating with excitement, and I finally caved and asked him what he thought was going to happen.

And what he said? Ten times better than what we actually got.

Okay, so you know how Leonardo mirrors the real Oroku Saki in the flashbacks and how he eventually returns as a demon? My father thought Leonardo was going to become a demon himself to defeat Demon Shredder and save his brothers.

Let me repeat that: Leonardo, our honorable, calm, reassuring blue turtle, becoming a literal demon.

Like, okay. Leonardo fans of all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle iterations? We live for horrible, soul-crushing angst, right? But this? This right here? I am chewing on fiber glass right now. I did not know I needed this concept until now, but suddenly, I NEED it.

Leo and Raph have a beautiful relationship. I been so obsessed with them lately

Raph: I would die for you Leo

Leo: please don’t

Raph:

Leo: what?

Raph: you know what

Hi, sorry for the lateish response! I’ve been obsessed with their relationship ever since I first watched the various iterations as a kid, but there’s something about the 2003 series that really stands out. I feel like their dynamic was written so well because their conflicts never felt unnecessary or forced, like they sometimes do in other versions. Even when they argued, their love for each other was always so evident.

And yes, absolutely—Raphael is always ready to throw himself into danger for Leonardo, and all Leonardo wants is for him to stop doing that (even though he’d do the exact same thing for him in a heartbeat) Their bond is just so compelling. Thank you again for the ask!

Here is the fifth chapter. Oopsie daisy! Looks like the muses had their say, and it turns out that the evil 2012 iteration of Leonardo is basically just the Rise version:

Hello everyone!

I am so excited to share my first work in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom with you! While I am a huge fan of the 2003 iteration, I have chosen to set this story in the 2012 iteration, as it fits best with the storyline I have envisioned. But do not worry—if you enjoy this, I will be posting a story set in the 2003 universe later on, so stay tuned!

This story is a loose adaptation of the City Fall arc from the IDW comics, tailored to fit the 2012 cartoon's setting. Here is the link and summary:

Title: Little Dark Age

Summary: After a devastating defeat by the Shredder during the Kraang invasion, Leonardo is captured and subjected to the dark machinations of the witch Kitsune. Bewitched and scarred, Leonardo is made to believe that the Hamato Clan is the architect of his suffering, convinced they are responsible for years of psychological and physical abuse. When Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo return to New York, they are horrified to find their presumed-dead brother now a vengeful and far more powerful adversary as the chunin of the Foot Clan.

Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57918355/chapters/147434158

Gnawing on the bars of my enclosure and foaming at the mouth because SAME. The grip that early 2000s dark-side Leonardo fics had on my soul is still unreal.

This AU has everything I crave. Venom Leonardo in the 2003 series would eat (pun intended) with all that delicious angst.

Somebody needs to write this. Immediately. Or I will.

they share a braincell

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

In-ho | The Front Man: [swirling whiskey in a glass with a cold smirk] Tell me, Player 456, have you ever seen a documentary on seahorses? It’s actually the male seahorse who—

Gi-hun: [interrupts with an exaggerated sigh, rubbing his temples in frustration] Oh, for the hundredth time... No, I can’t carry your damn young.

In-ho | The Front Man: [throws his glass of whiskey against the wall] Damn it!

That means so much to hear from you—thank you!!

I adore merpeople AUs too, and I'm thrilled you're enjoying this one! I can’t get enough of imagining Gi-hun with his striking red hair and a deep green tail—like the same shade as the Squid Game tracksuits, which feels so poetically fitting. And oh wow, I hadn’t thought of In-ho as a Prince Eric parallel until you mentioned it, but now I can’t unsee it and I’m obsessed. It fits him so well!

Poor Gi-hun, truly. In my headcanon, he’s the child of two merfolk himself but was abandoned young—left near the ocean floor to fend for himself, hunt, survive. So like you said, he knows nothing about raising a child, specially not one with a human parent, which is completely unheard of in mer society. I imagine Gi-hun was genuinely heartbroken to leave the baby with In-ho—he just didn’t know he had a choice. No one taught him otherwise.

Because the baby is half-mer, he can breathe underwater, but Gi-hun, being used to the way merchildren are, handles him with a kind of reckless affection that would horrify a human parent. Merbabies develop fast and are tough, so Gi-hun will just casually drop him in the water or even toss him in the air and bop him gently with his tail like a dolphin playing with a ball. The baby’s completely fine (maybe even giggles), because in mer culture, that’s considered normal caregiving—for the two whole days they do keep their kids 😅

Looking ahead, I love the idea of Gi-hun eventually finding a way to gain legs so he can be with his baby and his eventual husband-slash-co-parent-slash-accidental soulmate. And once he learns how to really care for a child, he takes to it like he was made for it. He adores that baby with his whole heart—and mourns, quietly, that he never knew love like that himself. But he’s so grateful to In-ho and Jun-ho for showing him that there’s another way.

Thank you again for letting me ramble—it means the world! I’m definitely going to keep building this story out. I’ve got so many ideas!

Also, just imagine Gi-hun doing this with zero context and In-ho having a minor heart attack.

I need someone to rant to about a potential story idea for In-ho x Gi-hun inspired by fanart on Pinterest, which I have included below, so I hope you do not mind. To begin, In-ho and Jun-ho live on an island and work as police officers but do a lot of fishing together in their spare time. One time while out, they witness another fisherman heartlessly throw a kitten in a sack into the water, and when they go to rescue it and plan on going after the fisherman, a massive green tail emerges from the sack with the kitten in it, and they think it is a big fish trying to eat it, so they net it and drag it in with the sack. Only to find it is what appears to be a merman with bright red hair who takes the kitten and resuscitates it and tries to keep it away from the brothers, thinking they were planning on harming it too.

This merman cannot speak but does understand human language, having watched them from afar for so long, so they communicate and eventually become friends. In-ho names the merman Gi-hun since his actual name is a series of unreplicable screeches. Well, In-ho, Jun-ho, and Gi-hun develop a deep friendship, though In-ho and Jun-ho only get to see GI-hun a couple of months of the year since he moves based on the seasons. Well, eventually Gi-hun and In-ho catch feelings for one another, and one thing leads to another, in a cave specifically, but Gi-hun has to leave for the winter afterward. But In-ho waits patiently for him to come back.

Gi-hun comes back months later with In-ho and Jun-ho waiting for him eagerly; only he has a basket he obviously scavenged from the water, and in it, a newborn baby with human legs and dark hair. Of course, In-ho, who had no idea mermen could carry, nearly faints into the water while Jun-ho loses his mind. “You fucked a merman???” When both finally calm down and turn back to the water, they find Gi-hun gone.

Turns out merpeople are absentee parents, so they mate with other merpeople or humans and then dump their offspring on them, thinking it is like a gift. Well, next time In-ho sees Gi-hun, he patiently explains how humans are expected to raise their children together and not just dump them on one another 😂😂😂 So they learn to co-parent their half human half merperson baby with Uncle Jun-ho.

Sorry for the rant but as soon as I saw the fanart below this whole story came to me. I obviously want to finish other things first but what do you think?

please never apologize for ranting at me!!! i love it 💞🙌

i love merman aus so much!!! 💖 i'm also loving that between the green tail and the red hair, gihun is looking exactly like ariel... plus his love interest is a dark-haired charming man with a four-letter name....

i absolutely love the story!! it has a lot of potential going forward since u can expand on the fact that gihun, due to merpeople being absentee parents, would have no idea how to raise a child. nor would he have any idea on how to raise a child with humans.

since the baby is half-merperson, im assuming it can breathe underwater but imagine inho and junho's shock when gihun grabs their tiny baby and just dunks it into the water 😭

also - totally get if u haven't thought that far end - but would gihun ever, little mermaid style, make a deal with a witch and get legs so that he can walk with inho, junho and their baby?

AND OMG I LOVE THAT GIHUN LOVES CATS IN EVERY UNIVERSE!!! HE SAID CAT PERSON 4 LIFE 😩🙏🤧

Exactly! He goes from 😩💅✨ to 🦇👺😠 in an instant!

the waist™ 👀 i'm sick of him 🙄😤

Gi-hun acting like his fanon self to get that money:

Posted it on disco should I write the fic, fellow degenerates????