Recent Submissions by HugAttack4JesusXD's Favorite Artistsurn:uuid:03f365f5-f415-2d3b-8ca9-e0a396bf6d7dGambit (Nuclear Cards) by VampireWarithurn:uuid:6f1eb391-1661-7e03-ab2d-c6478ed41efd2019-10-31T22:04:25-07:00Picture
This is a pencil sketch drawing of Gambit by Salvador Larroca from X-Treme X-Men #8 cover but flipped horizontally and replacing some of the playing cards with nuclear symbols. I wanted to do a close-up picture of Gambit but have him use a deck of cards with symbols that you don't normally see him with, that's when I saw a Youtube video from channel Because Science, I've seen a few of his videos, but I'm not a subscriber.
This is a pencil sketch drawing of Gambit by Anson Ng, but his appearance here is mainly based on the way he was drawn by Marco Checchetto in the Daken: Dark Wolverine comic series. The hair is the way it was in the early to mid 90s, I never liked it when it was too short. I'm not a fan of his black headpiece, it doesn't serve a purpose, but it's there, like the rest of his costume it's supposed to protect against bullets at point blank range, even from a Desert Eagle, and energy blasts… but his head and his whole face is exposed. Also, depending on the writer, the armor is very inconsistent to what it protects him against and what it doesn't. https://xoxocomic.com/comic/gambit-2022/issue-3/4 https://xoxocomic.com/comic/gambit-2022/issue-3/5
His Bo-Staff is either a solid smooth silver piece of metal or it has ring or grid lines from top to bottom. The only time it had attachments on it was only seen in one issue, but it's mostly in fan art. https://xoxocomic.com/comic/x-men-1991/issue-38
One thing I didn't want to do was put a giant or a small capital X on his outfit because I'm so sick of that... we get it! He's part of the X-Men or a team with the 24th English alphabet letter in the title. I also don't have him smoking, I'm not trying to sound like some anti-smoking ad, and I know it's based in a comic book world... but still... when you've seen what this does to a person's body and mental health, up-close and personal, with friends and loved ones... you see it in a different way. It's an attempt to try to make someone look tough and mysterious, but it's the exact opposite, getting additive to something that's harming your health and will cause your death, if anything it's a sign of weakness and depression. For example, when Charles Bronson was filming scenes for the movie, Hard Times, where he plays a street fighter for money, Bronson's fight scenes had to be shot in sections because he was a heavy smoker and while he had a good build, his smoking took away his stamina.
When it comes to describing his personality, not too many sites have anything written down, so here's the only one I could find. https://www.xmen-supreme.com/gambit.php
Now Gambit is no boy scout or golden boy like Clark Kent or Peter Parker, I don't want him to be, he's somewhat of an anti-hero (just barely), nowhere near Wolverine, Judge Dredd, Spawn or the Punisher, and again I don't want him to be, but there are those who say that he's just selfish, thinks only of himself, can't be trusted and so on. The only time he would ever be seen doing anything even like that, would be because the hacks at Marvel want to purposely ruin a character, which is what they've been doing since the late 90s and more so since the mid-2000s. But to those who say that he's always been like that, as always, these people never use any examples from the comics from a character that's been around for 30 years, what a shock, but I'm going to disprove that.
"It shouldn't be lost on anyone that the first time we encounter Gambit is in Uncanny X-Men (1990) #266-267 when he saves a de-aged, amnesiac Ororo Munroe (aka Storm, aka Lil' Ro) from the Shadow King's hounds. The Gambit we meet may be a smoking, drinking, hard-living thief better suited to a dark noir storyline, but he lets that gritty exterior slip just enough to show us the heart of gold underneath. He saves Lil' Ro who becomes his lifelong friend and, impressed with his skill and heroism, introduces him to the X-Men." https://jehilew.tumblr.com/post/614424922753728512/embed
"While his teaching career has varied, possibly one of the best examples of Gambit at his absolute best has been as a supporting character to Laura Kinney. In X-23 (2010) by Marjorie Liu, Gambit volunteers to supervise Laura in her solo adventures away from the X-Men while she is dealing with her trauma. Remy is there to be a non-judgmental, supportive, caring, advice-giving mentor." https://jehilew.tumblr.com/post/614424943097200640/embed
After avoiding hitting two other vehicles, Gambit and Storm plunge into a river and she's knocked out. Gambit doesn't waste any time trying to save her, "Damn, that hurt, Ca't worry 'bout me. It's 'Ro, needs savin'! Girl ain't movin'" When she's rescued by a stranger, he's asks if he's hurt and replies, "Ain't me tha' matters." This takes place when Storm was de-aged into a child (Gambit (2022) #2). https://xoxocomic.com/comic/gambit-2022/issue-2/5
Shortly after joining the X-Men, the Imperial Guard Gladiator was chocking Deathbird, feeling the need to do something Gambit stated, "Apologies Jubilee. I guess when you wear the uniform of a hero... hey I guess you sometime got to act the part." and attacked Gladiator (Uncanny X-Men #276). https://xoxocomic.com/comic/uncanny-x-men-1963/issue-267/4
Like I said he's not Spawn or the Punisher, even though he would like to kill Sabertooth, a serial killer who made him choose who to save when he was younger, but he's not going to since that's what Creed wants, to ruin him with the others. Gambit is not going to let him stand in his way of being with someone, mainly Rogue, or what being a part of the X-Men has meant to him, he's worked too hard to throw that all away. "Every part a' the man I was says I should push my bo-staff through your thick skull but de problem with dat solution is that I'd be givin' you exactly what you want! Best way t'beat you down, Creed, ain't t'bet you up. I worked too hard, care too much about bein' here, learnin' how t'love for real, an' bein' an X-Man t'let a loser like you take it away from me. So, I know the best way t'win the fight against you is for me an' Rogue t'be happy together." (X-Men #38) https://xoxocomic.com/comic/x-men-1991/issue-38/18 https://xoxocomic.com/comic/x-men-1991/issue-38/19
When Jean is hit and about to be attacked, Gambit puts himself in front of her and defends her, "As we always, t'say in N'Orleans, mutate—thas' no way to treat a lady! Playin' for keeps is still playin' mon ami. So, take a card… any card!" (Avengers West Coast (Vol. 2) #101) https://xoxocomic.com/comic/avengers-west-coast-1989/issue-101/16
Gambit doesn't join the others at first; he can see that something is wrong with Robert and says that he will try to bring back Hank and the Professor.
Iceman: "Why aren't you joining in the charade of the light brigade, Gambit?"
Gambit: "I will at the moment, mona mi… but you do not look so happy, eh?"
Iceman: "It's just that sometimes Scott treats me like I was still a sixteen-year-old snow head from long island, y'know? I'll get over I t-- I mean, these people here need help -- just -- just bring back Hank and the Prof back in one piece, okay Gambit?"
Gambit: "I will try Robbert – I will most certainly try." (Avengers: Avengers/X-Men - Bloodties TPB (Part 2) ) https://xoxocomic.com/comic/avengers-avengers-x-men-bloodties/tpb-part-2
Gambit explains to Spider-Man that he's there to make sure his people are not involved, "I'm here out of a sense of familial duty-- to unsure t'at my people are not involved in a spate of violent robberies I been trackin' from New Orleans" (Web of Spider-Man #113). https://xoxocomic.com/comic/web-of-spider-man-1985/issue-113/15
Wolverine wants to kill Arcade, but Gambit stops him, and Gambit also wants Martinique Wyngarde (Mastermind) to pay for her role with helping Arcade (Wolverine / Gambit: Victims #4). https://readallcomics.com/wolverine-gambit-victims-4/
Gambit is not a hateful person, he's also not the silent brooding anti-hero or the angry bitter mutant who hates humans or everyone. He sees the good in the world, wants to make it better, he doesn't pretend to be something he's not and he's able to admit his past mistakes. He's not going to cry or wallow in self-pity; he's simply going to laugh. "Had me goin' for a minute, dirge. But you want to break my sport, de mutant massacre, it be the wrong stick to use. Because the only person who got betrayed here… was me. Gambit, he's a thief, c'est vral! I've conned so may folks in my time, I should'a heard the web o'lies that brought me to dis place. That was my mistake, an I'll carry the mem'ry 'til I die. Good people died became o' dat. But before they died, they were good people. Those are the mem'ries I choose to cherish. Not the way they died, but how they live! As for you, Rogue, I play fast an' loose wit' many t'ings… but never wit' your heart. Your heart, it means more t' me than my own. You choose not to see dat, it's your loss."
"Dere's sadness in the world, sure. But I choose to see the joy. The miracle is that we live. The responsibility of living is that we try to make the world a little better. Dirge, he don't see dat. Best he figures, I cry, I bury myself so deep in grief I become dead myself. Ain't dat easy, mon brave. I love these people. I love Rogue. I choose t' honor their lives an' what dey mean t' me wit' a celebration. My soul won't ever be lost, Dirge--because now an' always, I choose to laugh." (Uncanny X-Men #382) https://xoxocomic.com/comic/uncanny-x-men-1963/issue-382/18
He saves Rogue from being beaten to death and he talks Storm out of becoming a murderer (X-Treme X-Men (2022) #4). This is taking place in the early 2000s. "Ah get it, 'R--y' wan' t' make what killed Kitty afraid o' you. Right b'fore y' kill 'em. Open yo' eyes, woman-- they already there! They so scared they do anything – commit any horror – t' wipe us out. Don' matter, we be "heroes." Don' matter how many times we saved this world. They think those stories, they all be lies! Look at this storm – that you started, 'Ro – getting' worse wit' ev'ry passin' minute! It be givin' 'em reason t'fear us. An' the next step past that fear be hate. Why else you think more an' more folks be joinin' purity? 'Ro, we got t' show'em somethin' better. This be the moment, 'Ro. We don' dare waste it. There be too much at stake – fo' ev'ryone!" https://xoxocomic.com/comic/x-treme-x-men-2022/issue-4/11 https://xoxocomic.com/comic/x-treme-x-men-2022/issue-4/15 https://xoxocomic.com/comic/x-treme-x-men-2022/issue-4/16
After knocking out Bishop from trying to kill an infant, Sunfire wants to kill him, but Gambit says no, that the X-Men will be arriving soon and doing so… would slow them down… somehow? At first, he wants to know if the child is alright and then questions why Bishop is doing this.
Karima Shapandar: "Is there some problem, Gambit?"
Gambit: "No, just... wonderin' what changed for him, that he'd turn on 'em. Wonderin what the hell he was thinking…"
(Uncanny X-Men #494) https://xoxocomic.com/comic/uncanny-x-men-1963/issue-494/11
In the Mojoworld, Gambit finds an infant and says that he'll take care of it, although it wasn't really a baby, but he didn't know that at the time, "It's okay, baby...don' worry, Gambit has you now." (Mr. and Mrs. X #9) https://xoxocomic.com/comic/mr.-and-mrs.-x/issue-9/12
However, despite all of that, hacks have had the X-Men giving him a hard time, even though others such as Magneto, Emma Frost, Sarbertooth and Namor have killed dozens of innocent people several times, some of them even gloat about it, but they were allowed to join the team (Marvel has been trying to turn them and others such as Apocalypse and Sinister into heroes). They've received less grief from the X-Men than Gambit did over his involvement in the Massacre and his general status as a thief.
X-Men: The Animated Series
He became my favorite character when I watched the animated series back in the 90s. When it comes to overconfident cocky funny characters, he's one of very few that I like, but half the time that depends on who's writing him. But I've never been a fan of his original costume, the black headpiece, and the upper chest body armor, the pink vest, square pattern tight pants and the long silver metal boots.
Voice actor Chris Potter set the stander on how Gambit's voice and accent should sound, a deep steadily soothing voice. Unfortunately, no one but Potter has been able to capture that, he was replaced later in the series by Tony Daniels, he wasn't very good, sounded like he had a sore throat, and the animation got terrible. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0f3vp5FZPU
Chris Potter didn't return to voice Gambit in X-Men '97, instead he voiced Cable… I guess all the Cajun people from New Orleans won't be offended anymore… just like they had to get a real Asian person to voice Jubliee, but why stop there, why not get a real southern from Mississippi to voice Rogue or get a real Canadian to voice Wolverine???? The show never had a chance once Disney was put in charge, they're bullshoot reason was, "Substituting Potter for Bayne (original Cable actor) enhanced the unconventional dynamic between cable and his father, Scott summers."
Other Animated Series and Films
Gambit's character and design was awful in X-Men: Evolution, I had no interest in teenage versions of the characters. Wolverine and the X-Men ...here's a show that literally tells you in the title that Wolverine is going to be the center of attention and everyone else will just be in the background, making him the leader of the team is the dumbest thing they could do. For some reason they had Phil Lemarr give him a Jamaican accent... it wasn't Taylor Kitsch's fault for the terrible script in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was just a mockery of the character, a pointless cameo that went nowhere. I'm not a fan of Channing Tatum, every movie he's done has been crap, he has no sense of humor, he tried to get a Gambit solo film made and he wanted it to be a romantic comedy... it really showed that he and others didn't get the character at all... thankfully the film was cancelled in May of 2019. I'm sure Disney won't get him or any X-Men character right at all either, because they haven't with anything. http://collider.com/gambit-movie-details-rupert-wyatt/
Matches, Powers, Skills and Abilities
When it comes to all of these "Power Grids" from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe books and cards that show how high or low the Intelligence, Strength, Speed, Durability, Energy Projection, and Fighting Skills are that wiki sites like to use (of course they do), they should be ignored since there very inconsistent or just inaccurate when you compare too what you see in the comics. Although the comics themselves are not always consistent because of hack writers who don't bother to do any research or simply don't care. Gambit is not unbeatable, I don't want him to be, but a lot of people have either forgotten or have ignored the matches he's fought, just how powerful, skilled and cunning he really is. https://www.reddit.com/r/respectthreads/comments/71escu/respect_gambit_marvel_616/
From what I've heard, in the official strategy guides from Brady Games for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2: Signature Series Strategy Guide (September 2009), Nick Fury states, "One of the best hand-to-hand fighters I've ever seen." I haven't read that magazine, I can't show a picture of it, but Marvel video games are not connected to the 616-canon universe, I've never seen any character in the comics make any references to the events in that game or any video game since there usually considered alternate realities. So therefore, that quote can't be used.
The only people who ever really made Gambit look powerful, competent and gave him any real character development are the ones who created him and a few others here and there. Chris Claremont and Jim Lee (Uncanny X-Men 1990, X-Men 1991, X-Treme X-Men 2001-2022, Gambit 2022) Howard Mackie (Gambit 1993 miniseries) Jeph Loeb (Wolverine / Gambit: Victims 1995) Fabian Nicieza (Gambit 1999 series) James Asmus (Gambit 2012) Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu (Daken: Dark Wolverine 2011)
However, storytelling from them was a mix bag, others have not only completely ignored all of that, but all his nuance, plotting, and planning is hardly ever a feature of his character or who Gambit is, what his name stands for and it gets to the point of character assassination. Then again, I could say that for nearly every character at Marvel and other western comic book publishers these days.
A 90s Character?
There are those who say that Gambit is a relic of the 1990s ...but they don't explain why that is or their very vague about it, so let's start with his name, "chess opening in which a pawn or piece is risked for advantage later," 1650s, gambett, from Italian gambetto, literally "a tripping up" (as a trick in wrestling), from gamba "leg," from Late Latin gamba "horse's hock or leg" (see gambol (n.)).
Applied to chess openings in Spanish in 1561 by Ruy Lopez, who traced it to the Italian word, but the form in Spanish generally was gambito, which led to French gambit, which has influenced the English spelling of the word. The broader sense of "opening move meant to gain advantage" in English is recorded from 1855. https://www.etymonline.com/word/gambit
His main fighting style is Savate, a French street fighting style going back to the 18th or 19th century. The pioneers of Savate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifM823JeFxY
With his character, Gambit is somewhat of a ladies' man when he's single (although when you compare him to others like Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Wolverine and Johnny Storm he ranks pretty low on that), but that type of character has been around for a very long time, long before the 90s. Simon Templar – 1928 book / 1962 TV series James Bond – 1953 book / 1962 film James T. Kirk – Star Trek TOS 1966 Thomas Crown – The Thomas Crown Affair 1968 film Butch Cassidy – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 film Nightcrawler – Giant-Size X-Men #1, 1975 William T. Riker – Star Trek TNG 1987
The charming thief is another characterization trait of Gambit that's been around for centuries. Arsène Lupin – The Arrest of Arsène Lupin 1905 book Jimmie Dale (The Gray Seal) – 1914 book Simon Templar – 1928 book / 1962 TV series Catwoman – Batman #1, 1940 Gentleman Ghost – Flash Comics #88, 1947 John Robie – To Catch a Thief 1955 film Sir Charles Litton (The Phantom) – The Pink Panther 1963 film Arsène Lupin III – Manga Action #19670810, 1967 Thomas Crown – The Thomas Crown Affair 1968 film Butch Cassidy – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 film Sir Oliver – Alan Ford 1969 comics Edward Pierce – The Great Train Robbery 1975 film Black Cat – The Amazing Spider-Man #194, 1979 Carmen Sandiego – 1985 video game
He's not saying outdated slangs from that decade, there were different types of attitudes going on in the 90s with a character's personality, but Gambit didn't act like any of them. https://bestlifeonline.com/1990s-slang-terms/
His hairstyle isn't outdated like Longshot's or Bishop's (both had mullets), Gambit's hairstyle, depending on the artist, looks like what's called a side part with volume, (sometimes with an 80s style of spiky hair), the original dates back to the 1920s. https://i.imgur.com/ZMp8rTv.jpeg http://www.lediableblanc.com/Edits/
When artist like Jim Lee and Lee Weeks drew him in the early 90s, his hairstyle looked like would be called a messy side part with volume like the character Jason Dean (1989). https://imgur.com/EdE7By6
Or long shoulder length hair, but that's been around forever.
There were only a handful of times where he and others wore ugly casual style clothing of that decade, but they were never seen wearing them again and most people refer to Gambit being a "90s character" due to his first official costume. http://www.lediableblanc.com/Outfits
It would be an endless list to name all the comic book characters from Marvel, DC, Image and others when it comes to ugly outdated clothing throughout the decades and it would just come across as desperate examples to use. http://www.theothermurdockpapers.com/2010/07/the-fashionable-mr-murdock/
Countless characters, from the golden age to now, wear tight spandex with all kinds of strange color patterns and shapes. His hot pink chest armor was a color that became popular with mainstream fashion in the 80s and that continued into the early 90s. The trench coat look was first seen in the 30s and 40s with crime and detective Noir, its origins can be traced back before WW1, maybe the 1800s, but it didn't really become somewhat of a fashion trend until the 1980s, Kyle Reese wore one for a short time in The Terminator (1984) and Jason Dean in Heathers (1989). There were a few examples in the early 90s like Tomebstone (1993) and The Crow (1994) but it didn't really become a look with action heroes and villains in film until the late 90s and the 2000s.
Quite a lot had huge muscles that look like tumors, showing off their chest and arms because it's hot everywhere they go, long unkempt hair where it looks like they just woke up, wraparound sunglasses that look more like visors, they always have one expression on their face like they smelled something bad and big armor shoulder pads that are just impractical. I'm not saying Gambit's costume is perfect, but he's not wearing all black like the Terminator (1991), Blade (1998), The Strangers in Dark City (1998) or Neo (1999), he only did once during the run of X-Treme X-Men, except for his coat, but that was in 2001 and it looked as if Claremont was coping The Matrix because he wasn't known for his original ideas. Nor does he have cheap gimmicks like an eye patch, tattoos, scars or a beard to make him look tough like Aquaman from the mid and late 90s. For the past few decades, hairstyles and clothing is a mix between several different eras, there wasn't just one style of the 2000s and 2010s.
Gambit's power makes things explode, so when it comes to which decade overdid the explosion scenes, that was the 1980s and the 90s just continued it.
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)
Blue Thunder (1983)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Commando (1985)
Predator (1987)
RoboCop (1987)
Equalizer 2000 (1987)
Tragic Hero (Hong Kong film) (1987)
Rambo III (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Tango & Cash (1989)
Some of Jim Lee's original sketches shows him wearing an 80s style leather jacket with a big collar, pointy shoulder pads, and extra beltloops (top right) and another one with a similar style (bottom middle). The design style of those jackets is definitely not 1990s. http://www.gambitguild.com/repository/images/xmenarchivesgambit.jpg
Now it's possible that they didn't have all the details written down to what type of character he was going to be, but if they already had a general idea for his character pretty much worked out by then, 4 years before he debuted, well then that makes Gambit even less of a 90s character. Even Claremont's original plans for his character don't come across as a 90s character in anyway.
There were no established 90s trends set in yet, depending on where you live (the city, the suburbs or the rural areas), there wouldn't be for another two or three years, past fashion trends will last that long before they fadeout when a new decade starts, while some make a comeback (a lot of 90s fanion made a comeback starting in 2017) or they get an update, they're tweaked a bit, or they never become old fashion. If Gambit has been kept the same or even somewhat since his first appearance, since he gets accused of that all the time, then it seems as if he's a character based on different eras, since the only character traits, clothing and hairstyles that Claremont and Jim Lee could gotten anything from was from other decades since like I said, everything we know about the 90s had not become known yet. Also, only kids and teenagers care about what the latest fashion is, adult in their 20s and older don't or shouldn't. But even if Gambit was a 90s character, compared to what we have today, especially to what most male characters have been reduced too in comics, movies, TV and video games... I'll take a 90s character any day. At least men were still drawn and written to be smart tough badasses, but also nice, not dumb, weak and useless. Women were still drawn and written to look sexy, tough but also compassionate, not lecturing others or shown to be perfect in everything (Mary Sues). https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/06/25/marvels-voices-pride-one-shot-sees-elektra-lectured-on-trans-womanhood-mid-battle-by-transgender-immortal-hulk-character-dr-charlene-mcgowan
Popularity
When it comes to his popularity, Gambit is still a very liked character with the fans, but not with the hacks at Marvel or all the woke losers.
A Gambit miniseries that came out in July 2022, issue #1 was ranked at number 20 (under X-Men Franchise), however, this is usually the case with a first issue. But compare that with another title at the same time, Knights of X, from a woke hack who not only has no liking for the character but has never written a decent or even a mediocre storyline. That title only made the 100 list, issue #4 came in at number 79, and once you've gone down that far, that comic should be canceled. https://www.comicbookrevolution.com/july-2022-single-issue-comic-book-sales-rankings/#xmen-franchise
Final Thoughts
Whenever I see people who hate Gambit, there's always going to those who hate a character, it's unavoidable, but they usually end up being male readers who are these inadequate self-conscious losers with women and have no sense of humor at all. I'm not expecting everyone to love him, but they can't name a single moment from the canon 616 universe to explain or show why he's such a bad person, just vague reasons, exaggeration, flat out lies, childish naming calling, trying to turn everything he's done, no matter how good it is, into looking bad. Some hate him because he stole their fictional crush away from them (the delusional type who think they deserve the hottest women on the planet), so they want to get back at him for that and what he's done in alternate realities, because somehow those count, but it's just desperation. I see it all time because these days, even fictional facts don't matter, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of these haters were hypocrites where they like characters who have actually done some pretty terrible things. It seems that many of the haters have barely read any of Gambit's appearances in comics, haven't asked any fans for info on him and just base their hate on the thought that he's just a creepy womanizer from a few episodes of the cartoon and read a summary from a wiki page. I saw a user on a message board at CBR (the users are just as bad as the authors with clickbait articles) make that very same claim, but once they read the comics, their opinion on him changed…
Gambit has a large female fan base, so some of these males proclaiming a character misogynistic should actually try talking to them about it... but then again... their insecure over a fictional drawing of a character that doesn't exist for a reason and shockingly... the female fans of Gambit don't give a rat's @$$ what these losers think. Many of these haters turn out to be annoying podcasters. Although, some Romy fans will use the misogynistic insult on others themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caSqFvQpQPg
Unfortunately, there are some problems with a nearly all-female fan base when it comes to any type of character, especially pairings. Given the fact that women are emotional driven creatures who don't think rationally (or take accountability), they based their choices on feelings that will change in an instant with next to no real reason to back it up. They'll lie to themselves, to others, make excuses for other women, and want to live in a fantasy land of perfection. There are some exceptions within such a fan base, but it's not the rule.
Kirk: "Doctor Dehner feels he isn't that dangerous. What makes you right and a trained psychiatrist wrong?"
Spock: "Because she feels. I don't. All I know is logic." --Star Trek, episode Where No Man Has Gone Before
Victor Davis Hanson perfectly described these people as prolonged adolescences, and most are in their 30s or 40s. I've seen quite a few with images of a buff male model as their avatar, even though they look the complete opposite in real life. The other side are the woke feminist, who pretty much look the same as their male counterparts, the only men they approve of are psychopaths.
Another problem people have with Gambit, they accuse him of "cheating" on Rogue and that he has flirted with every single known woman from the other X-teams (they can't name a single character, but then again, they're definition of "flirting" could mean anything they want it to be) ...the only so-called evidence that Gambit cheated came from a supposed sex tape from a 2004 solo by John Layman... however the content on the tape has never been clarified. Gambit has never been drawn or written cheating on Rogue, nobody can point to an issue or page or shown an image that says and shows without a doubt that happen. The only times in which he did have flings with others was when he and Rogue had already broken up for the "100th time" and those only lasted an issue or two, or a page or even a panel with female characters who are hardly or never seen again. Gambit is supposed to be a ladies' man, but he's never lived up to that, he's only been with two known characters, Bella Donna and Rogue, both of which he married, he hasn't had any other significant love interest within the X-Men or from any other team or known character... what a scoundrel.
Getting back to that 2004 solo, he rejected a character called Lili in issue #4, most likely knocking her out since nothing was shown or written that hours or even minutes went by at all, only seconds, you don't count those unless it's something like a ticking time bomb, and issue #5 talked about a so-called tape... and that's it.
The reason why he was kicked out of the Thieves Guild was that after Gambit was married, his brother-in-law challenged him to a duel to the death, he had no choice but to accept it, his mutant powers helped him win and he was declared a cheater so he was exiled from New Orleans. He offered Bella to come with him, but she declined, she was more loyal to her family than him and he went on the run as a lone thief until he met Storm and she introduced him to the X-Men him and Rogue had on again off again relationship. 4 years later Gambit and his wife Bella reconciled and agreed to go their separate ways.
Gambit is a suave, handsome guy who makes women swoon, he's not misleading in his intentions. He would be a creep if he was rejected but he isn't most of the time, women find him devilishly charming and are all over him, this happens all time in the both the fictional world and the real world. I bet those who hate him have none of those qualities, they're just a bunch of miserable boring pathetic losers who have never had a girlfriend or have ever been out on a date or even talk to women face to face... it has to be on a chat stream and when they do talk... good lord... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGcYp2Ghcp8
There was a 2018 poll where 25% of men who think that asking a woman out for a drink is sexual harassment... https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x75lcv1]]>The Punisher by VampireWarithurn:uuid:1993cee8-72ea-259c-94b3-16bc023cedff2019-02-10T01:09:31-08:00I drew this back in 2014 and I didn't like the way it came out, so it goes into the Scraps.]]>Smartphone Pouch by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:33739be4-3e97-649f-fc88-d422847766b62018-10-01T23:53:04-07:00When I finally broke down a few months ago and upgraded from a simple flip-phone to a smartphone, I decided I needed to make a pouch to carry it (since they don't make convenient pouches for smartphones that I've seen). The strap goes through your belt loop (or around your belt or some such way) so that you can carry your phone with you without trying to shove it in your pocket. I am very happy with how it turned out, my smart phone fits nicely inside, and I can take it in and out of the pouch easily. =^_^=]]>Korok Bag by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:dc477ab6-86e0-eab2-b838-e1db46c757462018-08-29T19:31:32-07:00This is another of my knitting creations: a Korok bag. The bag is big enough to hold a one pound skein of yarn (just like the skein shown in the photo).]]>Triforce Cup Scarf by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:72ab5bb5-5e3b-0f88-9256-7ee7b30b5d702018-08-19T15:53:41-07:00This is one of my cup scarves (aka cup cozy) with the Triforce stitched onto it.]]>Triforce Pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:d1aa7583-7528-8403-af5f-717093ac63212018-08-19T15:53:39-07:00Two variations on Triforces stitched onto my pouch creations.]]>Heartless Symbol Pouch by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:733abf3a-cecb-8a9e-7e7e-fd53b5922a0d2018-08-19T15:53:37-07:00I have stitched the Heartless symbol onto one of my pouch creations.]]>Akatsuki Pouch by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:ea80e50e-60c3-48b4-5163-6896c5f1fc192018-08-19T15:53:36-07:00This is another installment of my pouch creations. I have stitched the Akatsuki cloud (from the robes all the Akatsuki members from Naurto wear) onto a pouch.]]>James Ram (OC) by VampireWarithurn:uuid:1bd9b573-440d-35a9-0e76-f5a138d1f4bb2018-05-01T00:00:02-07:00A picture of my original character, I didn't like how this turned out and I want to do something different with him, if I ever get around to it, so it goes into the Scarps.]]>Baby Afghan by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:fec2b3ac-5b6e-cbdd-67b2-350a3b8e890a2017-09-24T01:55:15-07:00I was reading The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber and it had a really simple sounding pattern in the front of it. The pattern was for an item that was actually used by characters in the story and I thought that was really neat so I decided to try to knit the blanket. It went very well and I had lots of fun. =^_^=]]>Cup Scarfs by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:7d006149-43ce-89f6-0fc2-e4b8142a8f752017-09-24T01:55:13-07:00So since I see so many people walking around with those to-go coffee cups nowadays, I thought it might be neat, quick, easy, and simple to make little cup cozies. I call them cup scarves because I wanted to be different. And I just left my kitty in the background when I was resizing the photo because he looked so cute. :3]]>Ichumon Scarf by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:84bceded-28ea-22f7-bf87-497ac1fb5bbf2017-09-24T01:55:09-07:00These are pouches based on the logo of a petsite I play on/work for. The logo is a heart within (or beside) a crescent moon. I really enjoy Ichumon and wanted to help promote it a bit through my crafts. I talked to the owner/my employer and he thought they were really cute too and it was a good idea. Also a friend who I got into the site loved them and I had to make her one. XD]]>Andalusian Scarf by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:a034d48b-2c44-5255-24bf-30b94a56e0a22017-09-24T01:55:03-07:00So I've been trying out different stitches when I make scarves now. This was the Andalusian stitch. I thought it sounded pretty and looked pretty so I tried it. I really like how it turned out. =^_^=]]>Spiral Scarf by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:2925be2d-11c3-95a7-99de-4c1bb37fabc12017-09-24T01:55:01-07:00These scarves were a big fad for awhile and I found some of the yarn for making them at a really good price and started knitting them. I think I have the name right but am not 100% sure. I've noticed they're still kinda popular so I keep knitting them when I can get some of the yarn for a good price.]]>Shimmering Sand Scarf by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:2331cb1f-91cd-db45-c62e-15b44c57dbd82017-09-24T01:54:59-07:00I like knitting scarves. They're pretty fast and easy to make. This one I used the sand stitch and since the yarn was a bit sparkly, I called it my Shimmering Sand Scarf. :D]]>Large Pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:3a253e5c-c3a9-9f2a-a956-4a729a886baa2017-09-24T01:54:57-07:00In the past year or two I started making larger pouches, about twice the size of my normal pouches. They're big enough to hold a standard smart phone (that's what I used for my sizing, kept knitting 'til it was big enough to hold one XD). They're stretchy too so they can hold more than just a phone. I also make 45 inch belts to go with them.]]>My Pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:1247a7c3-9ea6-ad0c-c213-12f4da386e912017-09-24T01:54:56-07:00I knit lots of different pouches in lots of different colors. Some pouches are open at the top and others have a flap and a button to close them. With each pouch I also make a 45 inch belt. They are fun and squishy and can hold lots of stuff for being only about 4-5 inches square.]]>Dragonball Scarf by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:c8942a1d-a84b-7cb3-ecc8-ddbc24b6ad6b2017-09-24T01:54:53-07:00I knit the seven dragonballs into a scarf! I had fun with this. I had some nice, soft, orange yarn that I thought would be great for a scarf. And it goes along with my dragonball pouches. =^_^=]]>Keroro Gunso pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:4f675932-5969-c535-86cb-8c3615f4d3802017-09-22T02:03:33-07:00Sgt.Frog/Keroro Gunso is one of my favorite animes/manga so I wanted to make pouches with the squad's symbols.]]>Luna and Artemis pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:4bf11385-6199-5434-a2b1-91599f5bd3e82017-09-22T02:03:31-07:00I made simple versions of Luna and Artemis from Sailor Moon. They have no faces but the little crescent moon symbol and kitty ears.]]>Moogle and Heartless pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:162cf215-4309-2582-7469-955f6eea46132017-09-22T02:03:29-07:00I have many interests, in which are included Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. I was inspired by someone who had made little beanbag plushies of Moogles and Heartless so I decided to knit pouches of them. I think they're pretty adorable.]]>Dragonball Pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:af4a89ee-7b02-f904-fc26-303a0f428d902017-09-22T02:03:27-07:00I am a longtime fan of DragonballZ, etc. Decided to make the 7 dragonballs. Now I can make my wish!]]>Pokeball Pouches by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:a3484041-f29d-ddd9-4063-fb21622bcda02017-09-22T02:03:25-07:00These are Pokeball, GreatBall, and UltraBall pouches based on the Pokemon catching tools of Pokemon. I'm a big Pokemon fan so I thought these would be fun to make.]]>Basket of Kitties by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:c2a5b2b3-4c4a-e20e-c3a1-d3bde0e0d6312017-09-22T02:03:23-07:00I've been doing a lot of knitting and thought maybe I should post some photos of my creations. These are knitted kitty pouches, a little pouch with a kitty face and kitty ears. I have various colors in this basket.]]>Casey Jones (1984 / 1987) by VampireWarithurn:uuid:1bee784a-5c20-267d-19b2-36717495763b2016-11-26T17:34:49-08:00Picture Casey Jones, the New York City Street vigilante who wears a hockey mask and carries a golf bag full of baseball bats, golf clubs, cricket bats, and hockey sticks from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I went with a mix between the 87 cartoon and the 84 comic book version, both had spiky hair in the beginning and a hockey mask where you couldn't see their face. It reminds me of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, meaning it's a neutral mask free of expression with his eyes and mouth completely covered in shadow, the criminals are beaten by a pure emotionless mask that somewhat resembles a skull (which represents death) that's totally indifferent about beating or killing them. But depending on the how it's drawn, it can look as if the mask is giving a mien intense look. Either way it gives him a very mysterious and threatening look that other versions are missing.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
I first saw him in the 1987 cartoon series in episode Casey Jones - Outlaw Hero in 1989 and he was a fracking manic... but in a good way. Pat Fraley did the voice, and his Dirty Harry persona was funny as hell, and he could kick @$$. But he only appeared in 5 episodes. Casey Jones - Outlaw Hero (season 3, 1989) Corporate Raiders from Dimension X (season 3, 1989) Leonardo Cuts Loose (season 5, 1991) Night of the Rogues (season 7, 1993) Cyber-Turtles (season 8, 1994)
The title to the first episode might be a reference to the film, The Outlaw Joeys Wales, since Casey talks like Clint Eastwood.
Weapons
I wanted to do something a bit different than what I see with other pictures of Casey Jones, we always see him using or carrying baseball bats, hockey sticks, golf clubs, and cricket bats. Those are of course his main weapons, but only in the 87 series did we got to see him use an actual weapon like a sledgehammer and a long sword. He also used range gear like some type of harpoon spear with rope and attachments to slide down with.
He was created to be a parody of the superhero who always had a personal reason for becoming one. For Casey Jones, it's from watching too much bad TV. "I had this idea; it was kind of a parody of all these vigilante characters that were in comics. You have the classics like Batman and Daredevil and all these characters where something tragic happened in their past that helped them choose the path to go out and fight crime on their own, and I thought it was really funny if we had a character who was inspired to do the same, but just from watching too much bad TV, like "TJ Hooker" and "A-Team" and all that stuff. So I came up with the idea of this character who would be called Casey Jones and he would have two bats as his main weapon, and he would wear a hockey mask and sweats – just something he cobbled together. And at the last minute, Pete said, "Well why don’t you give him a golf bag and he’ll have all kinds of weapons in it?" And I’m like, "Dude, that’s it!" But that’s the kind of collaboration we had; it was always that kind of spontaneity, and how so many of the characters came together. But Casey and Raphael – they’re fun. And they’re a little retarded like me [laughs]." http://archive.li/5BlM8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2pUTt9bAVg
In 2022, the 87 version of Casey, April and Splinter were made into playable characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and he was one of the most requested characters. However, the voice they picked for him doesn't match his character and they all repeat their lines every few seconds. The original NES and SNES TMNT games never did that because that would have been annoying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-bAntTle0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWR1wXTVtsQ
87 Adaptation Accuracy
He wasn't a 100% but in terms of his looks (spiky hair, his hockey mask hides his eyes and mouth, a ripped tight light blue shirt and sweatpants), background, toughness and fighting ability (a violent vigilante who beats the hell out of criminals, even for petty crimes), the 80s cartoon Casey Jones was pretty accurate to the original comic book version, but only during his early years in the Mirage series. http://comiconlinefree.net/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-1984/issue-48/11 http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=5880
Like the comic book version, he's also a parody of typical superheroes, he becomes one simply from watching vigilante cop shows and too much Filthy Harry movies. Raphael: "That guy's seen too many "Filthy Harry" movies!" "Modeling himself after his favorite vigilante cops show, Casey decided to take the law into his own mitts." https://i.imgur.com/quHV0VO.jpg https://archive.ph/IDYa5
This mod version of TMNT Shredder's Revenge has them in their Mirage colors and Casey didn't have to go through any real change. TMNT: Shredder's Revenge - Mirage Comic Colors mod - Turtles In Time Soundtrack mod https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bccXhCTGfVI
Missed Opportunity
He was such a fun character to watch, he should have gotten his own spin-off comic book miniseries. I would have thought that after the success of the first film, he would have become more of a main character or at least made a lot more appearances in the 87 series. Instead, they brought in a new character called Carter in season 9, it seems that he was inspired by Keno from TMNT II... and he's just as uninteresting, annoying, out of place and he's not very well liked. He's pretty much just an adolescent with teenage problems that can mutate into a big yellow strong guy who looks Japanese... even though Carter is black... the fact that both Carter and Keno never appeared or were even mentioned in any other TMNT films, TV series, comic books, or video games pretty much says it all. Hell, the character Tatsu from the first two films actually made an appearance as a boss in the Sega video game TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist.
It was disappointing that Casey Jones never appeared in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics produced by Archie Comics, which was based on the 87 series, he was only mentioned a few times. When writers like Stephen Murphy, Dean Clarrain, and Ryan Brown took over... things got worse... the artwork was terrible, the humor was idiotic, it tried too hard to be serious with a lot of political Left-Wing propaganda nonsense. They made April into a Mary Sue, she looked and acted so differently, that she might as well have been a new character.
He finally appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #3, which is of course based on the 87 series. While he comes across as a tough badass who takes down some bad guys, but he didn't do anything important, I still found it to be just another wasted opportunity. https://comiconlinefree.net/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-saturday-morning-adventures/issue-3
When he was a real Badass
In the 87-cartoon series, his first appearance shows him being pretty buff and beating up 1 mugger 1 store robber 3 thefts: He throws weightlifting stacks from a lat pull down at all three of them, then a barbell at one, skiing poles at another which pins him to the wall and throws the other into the air with just one hand into a basketball net. I love the fact that he doesn't use any of his weapons at first, just his bare hands and other objects.
Later he's seen fighting all 4 turtles on his own.
He's very athletic, able to jump great highs and do flips in midair.
He was pretty strong since he was seen picking up a refrigerator and throwing it.
Picking up what looks like a vending machine and throwing it. Smashes through a door. Smashes a few machines with his bare hands and feet.
Uses a sledgehammer to make a hole in Krang's robotic bug. https://kimcartoon.to/Cartoon/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-1987/Season-03-Episode-023-Casey-Jones-Outlaw-Hero?id=16907
In the 1990 film, actor Elias Koteas was great and he made the character memorable. He even gave him a little bit of a Errol Flynn / Robin Hood personality. However, he wasn't very accurate to the comic book version, he never really came across as dangerous or threatening... they tried to in a few scenes, it wasn't bad... but he's too goofy at times, he just ended up as a tone down version of Raphael and Casey is suppose to be more violent than him. But I still like the character he played and he could kick @$$.
In 2011 a Fan film simply called Casey Jones The Movie, even though they only a 20,000-dollar budget, the editing was very well done, it looked like an hour long pilot episode. The turtle outfits in the original film were made by the Jim Henson Creature shop, so they were not going to be able to match that level of design and detail. Most of the main actors looked and acted like their character's, although the actor playing Casey was too thin for the part. The acting may not be top notch, but it's watchable. It didn't hold back on the action and violence, but it wasn't over the top, it still manages to have a sense of humor and be entertaining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LWrEDkzaF4
Some people have complained that it should have been Raphael and not Michelangelo since that's how it happens in the comic book. It may not be a 100% accurate, but it's better than most adaptations and the reboot. According to the director, it's easier to find someone who knows how to use the Nunchakus than the Sai's.
From Mediocre to downright Terrible
After the comic, the 80s cartoon and the first film, the character went downhill.
TMNT III was not only a terrible film on every level, but the character is given nothing to do other than to watch over 4 Japanese men from ancient Japan. But that subplot adds nothing to the overall storyline of the film, just dumb comedy, oh look, these guys can adapt to modern times so easily and they don't listen to Casey, isn't it funny... meh. The turtles and Casey were no longer tough and funny, they were just annoying and useless in their own film. There was no reason to even make a 3rd movie at all, the Shredder was dead and the foot clan were gone.
Image Comics published a third volume to the Mirage Studios TMNT in 1996, but it's not considered canon by Mirage Studios due, in part, to a lack of desire by co-creator Peter Laird to follow-up material with which he was not directly involved nor fully approved. Casey's characterization is pretty weak... well... the whole storyline was weak. He works at a supermarket and at one point they celebrate because he gets a promotion... wow, how exciting... they try to make him into that tough vigilante from the original comics, but they pretty much make him an alcoholic and he looks like a joke, he wears a flat V shape mask that has colors of the American flag with stars...
The 2003 version was just a dumb weak useless character with an annoying New York City accent who looks like a Disney character with a personality disorder who whined too much. He hardly wore his mask, his so-called fight scenes were just pathetic, he got his @$$ kicked a lot just to show how better the turtles and April are at fighting. His relationship with April was very much forced and one has to wonder what she even sees in him. The lines and dialog they have with each other are just cheesy as hell. To be fair, none of the other versions of Casey Jones were really that smart, but it seems like the writers purposely reduced him to a bumbling obnoxious comic relief. http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:XMAS73.gif
This character is so god damn lame... I always hear the 03 fans trying to defend this version, but they do so very poorly by either exaggerating, lying or their reasons are just nonexistent. Some people even say that he's more relatable... but how in the hell can a dumb stereotype that became a useless love interest and got his @$$ handed to him half the time be relatable in anyway???? Although given just how stupid the youth is in the US and other parts of the world in this day and age... yeah, maybe they can relate to him...
"You see, deep down, I think we all secretly yearn to be Italian and stupid." --Stewie Griffin
The 2007 CGI version is supposed to be based off the character from the live action films, but he's turned into a skinny sensitive clumsy dork who looks like a CGI version of Shaggy. The storyline has too many unexplained changes and plot holes.
IDW Publishing rebooted the TMNT story in 2011... but he's a weak skinny short-hair teenager or 20-year-old (because that age group never gets boring) with a background coming from an abusive drunken father after his mother died from cancer (because that never gets old or becomes a cliché). They turned him into Peter Parker, a wimp. The artwork got pretty bad at times, he doesn't really seem useful to the turtles, he can take on common thugs, but that's it... and yet the Mirage and the 87 versions were able to hold their own against the Shredder, the 90s film and 2011 fan film were able to kick the shoot out of the foot clan... but the IDW version can't even do that. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/3/39001/3077137-tmnt1.png
The 2012 version was just irritating and dumb... like I said, the character has never really been smart, but the writers with the 2012 series really went out of their way to make him be the dumbest. His choices and stupidity just made things worse for everyone and the most unlikable version. Then there was this whole thing with him putting black and white paint of a skull on his face... and then wears a painted skull mask over it... so what's the point of the paint if he's going to wear a mask???? I mean the hockey mask looked like a goofy skull (something people would laugh at), so the face paint became pointless, it was so fracking dumb, he looked like he got rejected from clown school. The original hockey mask was already threatening the way it was, painting it up to look scarier, literally throwing crap on it just made it look childish.
The 2016 version is thy most bland boring Casey Jones I've ever seen; he's not a real vigilante and he hardly does any fighting. The filmmakers just completely revamped the character where hardly anything is recognizable with his appearance, past and personality. The only thing that's left is his mask and weapons, but that's not enough.
The 2018 version, as if that series couldn't be any worse, they just gender bend the character into a female... because that type of writing has always been successful... but it's later revealed in the film that she's the mother of the real Casey Jones… meh…
There are a few other versions, mostly in comics, they're still nothing more than cheap knockoffs, and are pretty insignificant to even mention.
There are of course going to be different interpretations with every new continuity, but the last few versions have been so completely different from what the character was original intended to be, that there's hardly anything left that's familiar. From the 03, 12, 16 and the 18 version, they might as well have been different characters all together (the 2018 version actually was).
A lot of people have completely missed the point of what Casey Jones is supposed to be, a big tough guy who is an extremely violent threatening vigilante who beats the hell out of criminals, even people for lesser crimes and he doesn't have the overused background of losing a friend or a family member. I don't care if the 2003 series gave him a cliché tragic past, that's pointless if your pretty much useless to a team that does nothing but fight.
A Spineless Generation
It's a real shame that the character has lost a lot of his appeal and toughness over the past several years, like so many characters from the 80s, he keeps getting toned down. It's a type of trend that seems to have started in the early 2000s, tough muscle characters who were pretty ruthless, but where still the good guys or anti-heroes, get turned into the nice sensitive clumsy oaf who becomes a dumb joke and made to look like a skinny teenager or a 20-year-old Twilight vampire reject. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/6/67602/3289258-lobo.jpg
Thankfully they got rid of this version.
Why???? Because they have to appeal to this young sorry @$$ generation of pussies who are overly sensitive, have no sense of humor whatsoever and their overprotective parents don't help either.
Some bits from my appearance on "Outsiders" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPeM3v1EJrw "You're literally having this situation where boys are growing up with, there are no positive messages about men, other than maybe superhero movies and comics and stuff like that. Which are apparently the feminists say those are the toxic masculinity roles that we don't want boys to grow into."
So many young people today find these kinds of fictional characters creepy and are uncomfortable of these big threatening tough guys. Do male and female teens and per-teens of this area feel so offended, disturbed and inadequate when they see or compare themselves to these big muscle men or they can't get over the fact that it's just a cartoon???? From what I've seen... the answer to all of that is YES! Do these people think that these characters are going to ruin the lives of children and give them the wrong message and that they'll end up as violent people????? They told my generation that (and many other things) dozens of times... and it never happen. There wasn't a rise in crime, violence or traumatized people because of such things like an animated series... that happen because of Socialist / Communist teachers and professors brainwashing the youth.
It's not surprising that a fan film took him back to his roots while certain Hollywood studios and TV networks just play it safe and bow to all these groups complaining about so-called violence, which is one of the main reasons why the sequels went downhill. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II was far too lighthearted, Casey was replaced with an annoying teenager, the turtles hardly used their weapons, they give lame jokes, and it had 90s white rap crap. Because of rampant censorship, the 80s cartoon had to get rid of Michelangelo's Nunchakus and replace it with the Turtle Line. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, TMNT 2007 and the Reboot films ended up suffering from this as well, along with bad writing and direction.
Another Reboot That Sucked
Like all the rest, they ruined his character in the sequel to the 2014 reboot, they're not even trying. The movie from 1990 was an independent film with only a 13.5-million-dollar budget, it didn't have to rely on a big Hollywood studio, a famous director or producer, big name stars (who are just eye candy), computer effects and nonstop action scenes to be successful.
The 2014/16 films are everything that's wrong with reboots or just movies in general these days. The fact that the 2011 Casey Jones fan film was done on a lower budget, it managed to stay far more accurate to the source material, it mixed in the comic, the 80s cartoon and the first film, and it was far more entertaining than the reboot... and that's just sad... Top 10 Worst Movies of 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5j92Zq630w
Origin
Like I said, Casey Jones is supposed to be a parody of other vigilantes, he didn't have a very personal reason or vendetta against someone or a group of people for becoming one. His family wasn't killed, he didn't have a girlfriend or a wife or kids that were murdered, none of the usually tragic background. But apparently this was changed at one point in the comics, taking away that unique feature.
It was semi-retconned when "writer" Tristan Huw Jones imported his 2003 TV series back-story, in Tales issue #59... apparently he didn't get the joke... that he's a satire of common crime fighters... this really just shows how dense, unoriginal[/b] and untalented hacks like him are and just goes for typical clichés.
But Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's writing wasn't always very good. TMNT is obviously not based on science fact, it's not grounded in reality, but somehow a pet rat learns martial arts simply by looking at Hamato Yoshi? The rat also somehow became an expert in life, philosophy, has leadership skills and has a Japanese accent...
Catchphrases/One-liners
In the original comics, his battle cry is "Goongala!" The 80s cartoon and the 90s film version never said that, the one-liners and catchphrases they said were not only badass and funny but they made sense, you can understand them, they at least had some basic meaning behind them. "I'll give you a jawbreaker!"
"Now you're where you belong, garbage!"
"Here's all the dough you'll get lawbreaker!"
"All lawbreakers must pay the price!"
"And for the icing on the cake!"
"Hold it sports fans!"
"Go ahead, make my night!"
"Catch'a on the slops punk!"
"You could use a little iron in your diet!"
"Consider yourself slam-dunked scuzzball!"
"Casey Jones is gonna clean up this city!"
"Even machines have to obey the law!"
"I guess I'm gonna to have to get tough with you!"
"I see I'm gonna have to get tough with you!"
Casey and Raphael didn't have the that tough brotherly bond like the other versions, but they did get along with each other. Raphael: "I hate to say it, but this guy's destructive streak might just come in handy." Leonardo: "I think your right Raphael."
Raphael: "Who appointed you judge jury and executioner?" Casey Jones: "This city's a cesspool of crime. Somebody's gotta clean it up and that someone is me. Not even criminal mutants can stop... Casey Jones!"
Casey Jones: "What I want to know is, when do we get to break something?" Raphael: "I like this boy's attitude."
Raphael: "Besides which, he also ripped off your costume idea." Casey Jones: "Trademark infringement? How low can ya get?"
Leonardo: "He was a strange guy. Reckless, dangerous and totally violent." Raphael: "Yeah, I liked him too."
Raphael: "So why not just bust that thing to pieces?" Casey Jones: "Now that's an idea I like!"
There is a reason to why he shouts Goongala, but I think this is only coming from the 03 series, and it just makes him look more like a moron (if that was possible). In the 13th episode of season 3, "The Lesson", Casey's modern-day battle cry originated from Michelangelo, who taught him to shout "Goro Goro Sama!" (literally, "Mr. Thunder"), which Casey ultimately garbled into "Goongala!" Michelangelo kept trying to teach him but Goongala was the best he could come up with...
Is he... illiterate? Does he have a lisp?? Is he so dumb that he can't even pronounce that right??? Since it's a garble of another word, then there's no joke or meaning to it... is saying a random phrase or a made-up word really that funny and badass???? Look at some of the most popular one-liners and catchphrases.
You gotta ask yourself a question, do I feel luckily? Well do ya punk? (Dirty Harry)
Go ahead, make my day (Sudden Impact)
You forgot your fortune cookie... it says... you're shoot outta luck (The Dead Pool)
I'll be Back (Terminator 1)
Hasta la vista baby (Terminator 2)
Stick around (Predator)
Knock, knock (Predator)
You takin to me! (Taxi Driver)
Say hello to my little friend! (Scarface)
Groovy (Evil Dead II)
Swallow this! (Evil Dead II)
Trust me, I know what I'm doing (Sledge Hammer)
Your move creep (Robocop)
Dead or alive or you are coming with me (Robocop)
Goodbye! (Robocop 2)
Fore! (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Oops! (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
The reason they're great and memorable is because they actually make sense, because the character is pretty much saying or describing something about what's going on at that moment, what's about to happen or what just did happen.
Final Thoughts
One of the reasons why I say all this is because Casey Jones keeps getting changed with every version and not for the better, even though a lot people say they want adaptations to be more accurate to the source material... but they end up changing their minds pretty quickly and become hypocrites. It was OK for the film, the 2003, 2012 and the 2018 series to make certain changes, but somehow it wasn't for the 1987 series to do that at all or to even be accurate in some areas...
If the original 1984 version of Casey Jones from the Mirage comics was shown on film or on TV... I can't imagine him being very well liked by today's audience at all, not in this day and age of PC, SJWs, feminists and wokeness. As for the 87 series itself, like a lot of 80s cartoons, it didn't take itself so seriously, it broke the 4th wall so many times that there wasn't a wall left to break. The characters even made jokes about their own show, they were all simply having FUN... and that seems to be a word that a lot of people don't understand anymore. It was not about relatable characters, seeing them develop, grow and dealing with personal issues or asking important questions. The characters did have to learn lessons but it wasn't trying to be very deep with meaning.
It was more focused on 1.The adventure of the episode: Fighting the Shredder again or a new villain(s). 2.The action scenes: Martial arts or they have to find another way to fight or both. 3.Funny dialog: Raphael's sarcasm, Michelangelo's jokes, pizza topping recipes, Shredder's insults and so on. 4.Fantasy type characters with heart: The opening songs says it all, Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cool but rude and Michelangelo is a party dude. That's all we need to know about them and we don't want them to change. But the characters were not just that, when it came time to fight the villains they took it seriously, they showed emotion, genuine concern for each other, Splinter, April and others, it was just never over the top. One of their top priorities for awhile was to change Splinter back into his human form.
Doug Walker the Nostalgia Critic said it best when he reviewed the film Demolition Man "This is the direct opposite to the 80s and 90s, where they mainly just focused on one thing... being a MEH-YAN! RED MEAT, PUNCHING, BOOBS FOR MY DICK ON AN EXPLOSION WITH SAM ELLIOT'S MUSTACHE! We never talked about ideas or expressing our emotions! We were Meh-Yan-this-is-is!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efzCBvq3Q98
The Critical Drinker said, "It's also a surprisingly witty takedown of the progressive touchy-feely culture that was starting to emerge in Hollywood in the early 90s. The macho bravado of the 80s was fading out and with it the action starts who made their names there, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Wills and Van Damme all saw their careers wane from the mid 90s and this movie is clearly a reaction to that. John Spartan embodies everything you expect from a classic action hero, he's big, gruff and no nonsense, he smokes, he eats junk food, he drives an old-fashion sports car because it looks cool and struggles to adapt to the sensitive caring world, he's now living in." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiG99WmpX7c
A lot of 80s cartoon series were fun to watch, they weren't written to be sad and depressing. Now I'm not saying that cartoons shouldn't be like that, the 90s X-Men and Batman The Animated Series had very touching episodes. But is that the problem with animated series these days since the 90s and early 2000s? Are they so dark, gritty and taken so seriously that any series from decades ago that had any kind of fun humor aspect in them are just automatically deemed as dumb and inferior?? That just because one is darker than the other makes it better??? (the simplistic minds of some people) Are cartoons even fun to watch anymore???? If so, that's pretty sad, but typical of younger generations to hate anything that came before them.
I'm not expecting everyone to love it, I didn't like every episode, but I see a lot of people not understanding it and criticizing it for what it wasn't trying to be. Hell, at this point in time I don't expect the 03 and 2012 fans to know or understand what I'm talking about or that they even care... they don't. The 1987 series was a product of its time, it wasn't perfect, it still suffered many of the same things that other television series (live and animated) goes through. Hopefully when they get older, they'll learn to appreciate it for what it was and the decade it came from.]]>Luke Skywalker: Return of the Jedi by VampireWarithurn:uuid:da079cc7-80b4-a97e-0a68-e79a40ca64142016-11-19T11:47:57-08:00Picture Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader, farm boy, rebel pilot, Grand Master of the Jedi Order and became of the most powerful Force users ever (non-canon/Legends). http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Adon15m7cZg/TM2-KqHbRSI/AAAAAAAAAsw/BwJOM46_RvI/s1600/Lukeintro.jpg
He become such a master of the Force that he could bring down an AT-AT Walker. http://static.tumblr.com/2cqorqp/4ejlxdfqn/26.jpg
Flew the Millennium Falcon single-handedly using only the Force, manipulating its controls and operating it with a skill that not even a full crew could manage and so on (again, non-canon/Legends).
2016 Update: I wanted to do another picture of Luke and replace the other one I had, I don't like it anymore. I still prefer his black outfit, robe and green lightsaber from Return of the Jedi. https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11126/111269625/6171533-475064.jpeg
I wish they had kept that look with him in TFU, but then again, I wish they did a lot of things differently in that film.
Star Wars Films
I think the first time I saw the SW films, I was 4 or 5 years old (1986 or 87). The first time I heard Darth Vader say, "I am your father"… I thought he was lying, tying to fool Luke, trying to make him believe that. But when I watched episode VI and Yoda himself said that Vader is his father… that theory came to an end. I like the older Yoda and Obi-Wan better… but he flat out lied too Luke about what happen to his father… his whole Anakin and Vader are two different people and that it was from a center point of view… oh please… I can understand not wanting to tell a young innocent farm boy that his father is second in command to the Emperor, has cause so much death and suffering… but for god sakes old man, admit the fact that you had to lied, that you couldn't tell the truth. I know that there were rewrites, George Lucas didn't have a detail back-story written for Vader during A New Hope, but Obi-Wan just comes across as someone with a lame excuse.
I hated the digital stuff they added in during the 90s, they were not needed, they literally shove all that CGI crap in your face, there out of place, they haven't aged well at all compared to the old school effects that have become ageless.
The prequels were unnecessary, the back-story to Anakin wasn't important enough to be told on film.
I didn't care for The Force Awakens, I knew the film was going to have bigger problems than the lightsaber cross guard. The story was rushed, a complete repeat of A New Hope, everything the characters did in the original 3 films ended up being meaningless, someone has fallen to the darkside, another Emperor, Jedi are killed, another Empire has risen and another super weapon got built. The acting from everyone was terrible, the dialog was crap, there's too much humor, the main leads were annoying, uninteresting, and I just couldn't care about any of them. Poe is a wannabe tough guy, Finn is an irritating comic relief (give me Lando Calrissian any day), Ray is a Mary Sue and Kylo is an evil brat throwing a fit. The Force Awakens is The Worst Movie of All Time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g9cJ5WKZeU
Rogue One, another pointless prequel that didn't need to be told, the storyline is all over the place and just confusing. With dumb boring uninteresting and unlikable characters, the film just relies on action to be entertaining and once again, Disney and the fans try to make a big deal of having a female lead again in a SW film. I never wanted to see the story of the rebels finding the plans for the first Death Star... who cares???? Star Wars Rogue One = Hunger Games? review / rant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3ECvxT4MF4
The Last Jedi turns Luke into a joke who's just a coward (Mark Hamill not only hated Luke's characterization but the films as well), Rey continues to be a Mary Sue to the point where even Yoda says that she doesn't need Luke to train her. Kylo is evil just for the sake of it, Snoke is a pointless villain that we know nothing about and is killed off pretty easily. Poe gets a boring pointless love interest, Leia uses a plot convenience Force ability, both the First Order and the Resistance are just dumb and weak.
For me, the SW films started with A New Hope and ended with Return of the Jedi.
Light or Dark side?
The light and dark side of the Force is one thing that I really don't like about Star Wars, it's literally a black and white concept, characters are written to be shallow and become an evil person very easily in order for the story to have a villain. The KOTOR games, while they are very good, they hardly left any room to be a complex character. Some books and comics have it that even something as simple as getting angry (something you can't avoid from feeling and expressing, it's a normal human emotion), or even knowledge, like trying to learn the history or the secrets of the dark side, somehow that's enough to corrupt a person and become evil... or that both the light and dark side is seen as something that possesses you, forcing you to do this and that, it makes it seem as if people who follow the dark side are not really guilty of any crime because it was the dark side of the Force making them to do it...
Both Jolee Bindo and Kyle Katarn have probable given some of the best speeches about the Force and the Jedi.
"Everyone thinks the Jedi are perfect, that they can do no wrong. They think the Jedi Council is completely incapable of injustice"
"The Jedi are just as capable of injustice as everyone else."
"Light side, Dark side, they don't mean the same to me as they do to you. I don't see in absolutes. I want to stop Malak as much as anyone. But I don't have to join the order to do it. Look at Carth, or Canderous. They're with us in this quest, but they aren't Jedi. The capacity for good or evil, like the Force itself, is in all living creatures. And belonging to the Jedi order, or the Sith, or any group, won't change what you are at your core." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GBOkE-i1H8
"Love causes pain, certainly. Inevitably, love is going to lead to as much sorrow and regret as it does joy. How you deal with the bad part of love determines your character, what determines the dark side's hold over you. Love doesn't lead to the dark side. Passion can lead to rage and fear, and can be controlled, but passion is not the same thing as love. Controlling your passions while being in love, that's what they should teach you to beware, but love itself will save, not condemn you."
--Jolee Bindo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvQcB3Fazbs
"The Force is a tool, Jaden. Sometimes a weapon, sometimes a salve. Dark Side, Light Side, these are distinctions of insignificant difference. Do not fall into the trap of classification. Sentience curses us with a desire to categorize and draw lines, to fear that after this be dragons. But that is illusion. After this is not dragons but more knowledge, deeper understanding. Be at peace with that."
"Remember, abilities are not inherently good or evil, it's how you use them."
--Kyle Katarn
Characters
I'm not really a fan of Vader, unlike half the fan base, I very much see him as an evil villain. He killed a lot people and was responsible for a lot suffering in the galaxy. His only redeeming act was saving his son by killing the Emperor. Now the Emperor was far more evil than him, he was capable of great sadism and cruelty. No redeeming qualities of any kind and he was beyond redemption in any shape or form.
I hated the prequels, the only character I liked from those films was Count Dooku and for two reasons 1: I've always liked older veteran characters in battle showing their years of skills and experience. 2: He was played by the legendary Christopher Lee who was no stranger to playing a villain and he was the only one who gave any kind of acting performance. But even someone like him couldn't save the script.
But when I end up liking the villain more than the hero… something's wrong. I didn't like anyone in Episode-I… not even Darth Maul because like Boba Fett, he is overrated to the max. He was not that powerful or skilled, the whole time he's fighting he did nothing but retreat until he couldn't go anywhere else. His fans make him out to be on the "chosen one" level of power. He was not very interesting, he lacked any kind of motivation or personality, and he needed to be killed off because he's just a one-dimensional character. You can't rely on just a stunt man who has no acting ability or experience to give real emotional facial expressions. It's no wonder they just have him looking mad and has his voice dubbed. But for some idiotic reason he keeps coming back in both the comic books, video games and in the CGI series. He looked cool in black and red but he's just a silent anger killer… that's all he's got.
Favorite Star Wars Characters
Force Warriors (this group has unnamed Jedi since I can't find any actual characters)
Revan (light side Jedi who is canonically male and married to Bastila Shan)
Bastila Shan
Satele Shan
Jolee Bindo
HK-47
Exile (non-cannon male)
Visas Marr
Yuthura Ban
Kyp Durron
Rachi Sitra
Luke Skywalker (Legends version)
Jem Ysanna
Count Dooku
Exar Kun
Yoda (Episode V-VI)
Obi-Wan (Episode IV)
Komari Vosa
Tulak Hord
Nihl
Maladi
Prithi
Juhani
Asajj Ventress (Legends version)
Oola (Legends version)
T3-M4
R2-D2
Emperor's Shadow Guard
Emperor's Royal Guard
Dash Rendar (N64 / PC version)
Guri
LE-BO2D9 (nicknamed Leebo)
Serra Keto
Ru Murleen (Rebel Assault I version)
Rookie One (Rebel Assault I version)
Favorite Star Wars Video Games Star Wars Arcade: The first Star Wars game I ever played and it's still good.
Knights of the Old Republic I-II (Xbox): Unlike the prequels, these two games really open up the Star Wars universe, it kept it alive and didn't just repeat the same storyline of the Rebels fighting the Empire or the clone wars.
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (SNES): This was a hard game to play (then and now) and you will need cheats to get all the Force powers and passwords in order to get to the other levels.
Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (SNES): I rented this one but I never got to finish it.
Star Wars: Rebel Assault (Sega CD): We rented this with the Sega CD system and my second oldest sister beat it before I did and back then, that was rare. But it was good because then I got to go to any level I wanted too before we had to take it back.
Honorable Mentions Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64): I was pretty good playing this back in the day, but now the controls are too difficult to use, but I still like the storyline. There's a PC version, but the only real differences are the cut scene graphics of the characters, which are not very good when compared to the artwork style of the N64 cut scenes, Luke looks the worst and the voice acting is so-so.
Rogue Squadron (N64): My dad was really into this one and he beat it before I did.
Battlefront I-II (Xbox): They were alright but it really wasn't my kind of game.
Games I Hated
When it comes to others, I didn't like The Force Unleashed at all, instead of continuing to work on KOTOR-III, they wasted their time on TFU and its sequel. It was a God of War rip-off in the game-play (I didn't like that game either), the storyline didn't make any sense and the main character was a nothing-special skinhead. Bringing down a Star destroy has to be one of the most frustrating things to do in a video game. In the novel and comic book, that Star destroy was already falling to the planet, he just redirected it and was barely able to get out of the way when it crashed. In the comic he was screaming his head off, to the point where it looked like his head was going to explode because of how much power it took from him just to do that.
He and his clone just comes across as a Gary Stu that's written as if it's a fan fiction that can do anything and take on anyone at anytime. He had no personality, in both games he accomplishes nothing except he somehow kills Jedi Masters, but because he switches side in a heartbeat (after years of being brainwashed by Vader), he doesn't even get a slap on the wrist. He beats Vader, had the chance to kill the Emperor (he's even told that killing Palpatine is not worth it for some dumb unexplained reason), he captures Vader in the sequel (this alone contradicts Lucas philosophy of "the chosen one")... but still, he doesn't kill him... because killing him would be falling to the dark side......... talk about shootty writing... and I thought the prequels were bad. They literally wrote themselves into a corner with that one.
They did the same thing that Metal Gear: Sons of Liberty did, you play the character that everyone wants to play as (Vader), but only for the first level, your then stuck with an unknown punk for the rest of the game. Give me Bendak Starkiller from Knights of the Old Republic any day, he's someone who actually lived up to have a name like that.]]>Skitty #CompareYourselfToAPokemon by a-drawer-4everurn:uuid:3a486670-f9e7-2f18-e516-555be370b8002016-09-20T14:42:47-07:00Contestant Kitty won the Cute Contest with her Skitty! I adored playing the contests introduced in Hoenn, so I ran with that concept here
My DeviantART • Tumblr • Twitter • Instagram • Vine • Twitch • YouTube]]>Vaporeon #CompareYourselfToAPokemon by a-drawer-4everurn:uuid:3e2562da-80a0-5ded-df05-e7380eb84c282016-09-19T13:57:15-07:00This is my friend Claire with her favorite pokemon Vaporeon, inspired by the #CompareYourselfToAPokemon tag that went around this summer. I asked friends if they wanted to be drawn with their favs to practice my digital drawing
My DeviantART • Tumblr • Twitter • Instagram • Vine • Twitch • YouTube]]>Eevee #CompareYourselfToAPokemon by a-drawer-4everurn:uuid:bf927bb7-9c65-9422-cb4c-2423a071f62c2016-08-12T12:12:08-07:00So there's been this tag going around Twitter and the photos of trainers and pokemon were so freaking cute that I wanted to use this to practice digital drawing with friends.
This one is for one of my oldest and dearest internet friends Shiva who asked to be drawn with Eevee! I gave this one a little extra TLC since they are one of my oldest and dearest internet friends, I met Shiva in the Hunter x Hunter guild ages ago in Gaia Online!
My DeviantART • Tumblr • Twitter • Instagram • Vine • Twitch • YouTube]]>Avril skirt by MJWOODurn:uuid:52070dc3-cc69-2d72-2c69-b18ecac1e2262016-06-07T09:05:05-07:00Avril Skirt]]>Kage/Sarah: Please Forever Me by VampireWarithurn:uuid:43a62201-245f-de0d-d0c9-6efed89134f42015-12-07T04:57:33-08:00Virtua Fighter Kage-Maru and Sarah Bryant from Virtua Fighter Anime. When it comes to VF fan art and fan fiction... it's pretty small when you compare it to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. When it comes to fans of this couple from the anime series, it's really only myself and two others who really support this couple. There are a few others who support it (barely a handful) but that's it. Virtua Fighter is far more popular in Japan than in the US.
Picture
I wanted to come as close as possible to the anime style that was used, it has a simple look with not that much detail. This picture is set a little after the events of the series.
For a Kage/Sarah picture I didn't want them to kiss, I didn't want them to hug or just stand a few feet from each other, but I wanted them to be close to each other after everything that had happen. In this picture, Kage asks Sarah for forgiveness for what he did. But Sarah being the kind and gentle person that she is, would pretty much say that he doesn't have to ask.
2015 Update: I wanted to redraw this picture, it's not so dark, Kage's face is a bit wider, his mouth isn't going down and the top of his head is not cut off. Sarah's lips are more visible, her left eye is a little further back, her fingers look more realistic, she's wearing her black fingerless gloves, her hair style now has bangs and the end of her ponytail doesn't look like a banana peel.
I wouldn't call it the greatest anime series at all which is probably why it didn't sell so well and maybe due to poor advertisement; I only knew about it when I saw an ad in a magazine back in the 90s. But it's not that bad and I have to agree with a few of the critics that the show had a clear, non-confusing plot, along with good characterization and background music. The fights don't drag on like other anime films such as Street Fighter: The Animated Movie Fatal Fury (the anime films)
And that it doesn't resort to repetitive tournament crap like Tekken: The Motion Picture
Although Virtua Fighter anime does suffer from something that always seems to go on in all martial art games and films... and that's having thin skin characters that are so easily offended that they end up fighting each other... there so dumb and clueless that they can't tell who is actually a good guy or a bad guy. It's a poor excuse to show off a character's fighting style.
Kage/Sarah
In this short series Kage-Maru and Sarah Bryant slowly develop feelings for each other, although that's not what happen in the video game. In the anime series Sarah is a very sweet young woman and Kage is a mercenary Ninja, but deep down inside he's of course a good guy with a conscience and a heart to the point where he seeks redemption. Because of the kindness he received from Sarah, Kage-Maru decided to fight for the things that are worth protecting, mainly Sarah.
Kage-Maru is hired to kidnap Sarah (he wasn't told what for) and at one point she tries to get away, but she finds out that she's several stories high on a skyscraper and falls, using his Ninja skills Kage-Maru catches her, but Sarah can see that during their struggle Kage's arm was cut. Being the kind and sweet person that Sarah is, she helps him and bandages his arm. Episode 7 - Fate's Twosome (English audio) Kage-Maru: "Why?" Sarah Bryant: "You... you saved my life." Kage-Maru: "Yes." Sarah Bryant: "Who... are you?" Kage-Maru: "... No one........."
Kage and Sarah look at each for a moment but then Kage knocks her out with a sleep needle Kage-Maru: "Please forgive me... if I've hurt you." (Japanese audio) Kage-Maru: "I had to use the sleep needle, forgive me... I didn't mean to hurt you..."
Kage picks up Sarah and he can't help but look at her. https://aniwave.to/watch/virtua-fighter.9j2x/ep-7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwYVYRvaNu8
Sarah is being brainwashed and Kage-Maru can't stand to see her in pain, he becomes his own man and breaks off from his clan. Episode 16 - The Sea Warrior (English audio) Kage-Maru: "There is a conflict of interest."
Caller: "Conflict?" Kage-Maru: "Yes, I cannot continue."
Caller: "What are you talking?" Kage-Maru: "I did not agree to any of this, my heart speaks louder than my professional conscience."
Caller: "I warn you Kage-Maru, you better watch your step." Kage-Maru: "I'm sorry but no man controls me, I must follow the voice of my heart!"
He tries to get her out but she's already changed, so Kage-Maru then decides to help the others to bring her back. Throughout the series Kage-Maru shows a concern for her, at the end of the episodes you hear one of the characters talk about what's going to happen next, half the time it's Akira who's the funny guy of the group. When Kage-Maru starts to speak, Akira interrupts and says that Kage has a thing for Sarah... and he doesn't know how to answer. Kage-Maru: "I am Kagemaru, 10th generation Hagakure Ninja." Akira: "Hey Kage-Maru, you don't really like to talk a lot do you?" Kage-Maru: "Well I--" Akira: "Well anyways, here I am running all over the place and you come along and rescue Sarah, what's up with that?" Kage-Maru: "Well it's--" Akira: "You got a thing with her or something?" Kage-Maru: "Actually I--" Akira: "Oh come on, admit it!" Kage-Maru: "I am Kage-Maru, 10th generation Hagakure Ninja, tune into the next episode of Virtua Fighter. A young noble appears--" Akira: "Kage-Maru and Sarah sitting in a tree!" Kage-Maru: "Don't interrupt me!" https://aniwave.to/watch/virtua-fighter.9j2x/ep-16
When Sarah is back to normal, she at one point gets caught by a biker gang but Kage shows up. Episode 22 - Evil City Hong Kong (English audio) Sarah Bryant: "It's you!" Kage-Maru: "I've come to help you!" Sarah Bryant: "Thank you but... but why would you help me?" Kage-Maru: "It's simple, I've decided to fight for the things that are worth protecting, that's all."
Sarah smiles after hearing this. https://aniwave.to/watch/virtua-fighter.9j2x/ep-22
There was a few more things they said too each other, but after episode 24, the rest were not translated into English, nor do they have any English subtitles, so I don't know what they're all saying. But I did find out that what Kage and Sarah said to each other in Episode 34 - Golden-Dural, A New Threat and to be accurate, this is what they say in the Italian audio.
Kage saves Sarah from a giant falling steel axe. Sarah Bryant: "Thank you, Kage-Maru." Kage-Maru: "Be careful! This place is full of traps." Sarah Bryant: "Once again... you saved my life..." Kage-Maru: "And forever will it be this way, Sarah. I said it once, I have a mission to accomplish, that is to watch over you." Sarah Bryant: "Kage-Maru..."
She notices that he's trigged a trap Sarah Bryant: "You stepped on something weird! Watch out!"
Sarah saves Kage-Maru from another giant falling steel axe by pushing him aside. Landing on top of him, she smiles and says Sarah Bryant: "Know what, Kage-Maru? I love to save you too!"
Even though he's wearing his mask, Kage-Maru gives a small laugh, smiles and thanks her. Kage-Maru: "Hehehe! Thank you." Sarah Bryant: "We have to hurry up!"
Season 3?
If the series had continued, I of course would have liked to have seen more of them together. The way their backgrounds were written and what they ended up doing in the storyline, we only got to see Kage's personality as a mercenary Ninja and not really as the person that he was going to be or wanted to be after rescuing Sarah. The series was focused on Akira, Pai, Jacky and Sarah, so we only got to see a little bit of character development from Kage in the last few episodes of season 1 and 2.
If we did see more of it... he would still be that silent Ninja, but a very nice and polite person and I can only see him opening up to Sarah since she touched him in a way that no one ever did. The series had them growing up and maturing in their own ways and who knows, we could have seen more of that had there been a 3rd season.
The Anime version of Kage-Maru and Sarah Bryant
As user MadameShi said, "These two are of course exceptionally skilled and noble fighters and are alike in more ways than one. They are people who have been raised along a certain line of following; in Kage’s case, he was the tenth-generation Shadow Warrior of the Hagakure, while Sarah initially grew up under the hawk-like care of her prodigiously rich parents, then went on to pursue Jacky's desired path in life, not her own and as the events in the anime indicated, they are both actually very selfless people, willing to make sacrifices for those they love."
As user Ligthingtooth said, "I wanted to make a video to the two heroes of the Virtua Fighter anime that stood out, at least to me it did. So it's a video to the bond between Kagemaru and Sarah. I picked this song since well in their own way they are each other's heroes. Kagemaru spends most of the amine trying to keep Sarah safe and save her and yet… to me it really seemed like Sarah's kindness saved Kagemaru from how cold and distant he was. He only did the missions nothing more, but after meeting Sarah he seemed to get something to really fight for."
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/ZHONA76305&prev=search
But that's the anime version of Kage and Sarah. I'm not sure if it's just a drawing of them or if someone actually made a short comic story about them.]]>girl portrait Ashlyn by MJWOODurn:uuid:64067128-b05d-9a49-7f23-e63a1519128b2014-12-12T10:14:13-08:00Ashlyn]]>Glasgow Police Box by MJWOODurn:uuid:3e01d47c-14da-d271-0c9f-b06f33f895f12014-12-12T10:06:23-08:00Glasgow Police Box 3D]]>Police Box by MJWOODurn:uuid:8b5a7d4f-a75a-f42f-3fd9-c77b297042bc2014-12-12T10:03:53-08:00Police Box 3D model]]>Coy Mathis by MJWOODurn:uuid:3175e4db-839f-366e-9a70-c728acf056592014-08-08T09:22:50-07:00Coy Mathis]]>Vincent Valentine - Transcedere by NanjoKojiurn:uuid:9cab2fb5-1fb9-5893-9350-dcd639fd06552014-06-07T15:15:18-07:00The ice is thin come on dive in
underneath my lucid skin
the cold is lost, forgotten
Hours pass days pass time stands still
light gets dark and darkness fills
my secret heart forbidden.
Me as Vincent Valentine
Final Fantasy VII / Advent Children
Photo by Raven]]>Vincent Valentine - From The Mists by NanjoKojiurn:uuid:241b3660-3ab1-b62b-d885-bccd07a3e60a2014-06-07T15:15:16-07:00The ice is thin come on dive in
underneath my lucid skin
the cold is lost, forgotten
Hours pass days pass time stands still
light gets dark and darkness fills
my secret heart forbidden.
Me as Vincent Valentine
Final Fantasy VII / Advent Children
Photo by Raven
]]>Carla Dr Who by MJWOODurn:uuid:4f1864cc-ee53-03aa-e6aa-a18b95cc99dd2014-05-28T09:06:06-07:00Carla Dr Who]]>Felicia Day. by MJWOODurn:uuid:d3a308fa-bbdc-4976-337b-41d1f9e751f62014-05-14T10:12:40-07:00Felicia Day]]>Rinor Avdiu by Getyurn:uuid:977d8b2d-1d68-63a3-2133-59e3ec2270172014-03-27T21:26:58-07:00Hey guys! how is it going? :>
sorry I've been so inactive, but I was working on my own horror rpg, called Konstandin.
This is the main protagonist of the game, Rinor Avdiu.
We have released the demo today, so please check it out if you're interested!
Here is our tumblr: http://konstandin-rpg.tumblr.com/]]>Beau-Berdhal by MJWOODurn:uuid:86dd7a25-dc9f-3cb0-ca8e-a80889e670972014-03-21T09:52:58-07:00Beau-Berdhal]]>Classic Superman by VampireWarithurn:uuid:5e9675b6-4866-ee97-e859-f48ccbda66722014-02-25T05:59:42-08:00At first I didn't want to do his old classic look, the tighter spandex costume with… the belt and trunks (pointless)... but then I thought… ok, what the hell. But I was going to give him somewhat longer sleeves and a collar.]]>Beau Berdhal former starlet by MJWOODurn:uuid:a6d4b62f-410d-c787-bc7a-7fe533005b802014-02-17T09:55:49-08:00Beau Berdhal former starlet]]>Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) by MJWOODurn:uuid:eb3f3f54-a4bb-b871-d8bc-126b5741818b2014-02-17T09:53:45-08:00Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell)]]>Agnieszka-Radwanska Tennis player by MJWOODurn:uuid:bc90e3ea-fc68-2b24-4ee8-7de11475c1e02014-02-17T09:51:11-08:00Agnieszka-Radwanska Tennis player]]>Stefi Graf by MJWOODurn:uuid:344058bf-5261-d751-6804-ce5ade9f416f2013-11-30T05:17:25-08:00Stefi Graf]]>Kendall Payne by MJWOODurn:uuid:079f149b-3fcd-996f-a3bc-b2d6622dbcf42013-09-18T10:27:34-07:00Kendall Pyne]]>Casey Jones/April O'Neil (1987) by VampireWarithurn:uuid:5963c779-f015-6b0f-86a5-6e9c71cf36a82013-08-06T23:26:31-07:00Picture Moments before the scene: With Shredder no longer in possession of the Hyper stones, the Turtles were able to bring back the city of Manhattan and the statue of Library. April began reporting on the event as everything unfolded right in front of everyone, however she didn't notice Casey Jones walking up behind her.
April: "The evil villain, Shredder, has been defeated. And our city has been returned to its normal size. Who is really responsible for saving this city? The true answer is shrouded in mystery. This has been April O'Neil, reporting for Channel 6 Happy Hour Ne--"
But before she could even finish, Casey Jones pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Irma Langinstein, who was not only April's best friend and colleague, but was holding the channel 6 news camera and made sure to distort Casey's face when he took off his mask. She knew how important it was for Casey not to be identified.
April: "I hate it when he does this!"
The hockey mask vigilante Casey Jones with the Channel 6 News reporter April O'Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… making out of course. Nothing at all happen between them in the 80s cartoon, it would have been very difficult to pull off due to the fact that the 87 Casey Jones just wanted to fight crime and April was focused on her career. In the cartoon, we never saw Casey's face, he never took off the mask. In the comics his face looked pretty normal so I can't imagine the 87-version looking any different. http://comiconlinefree.net/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-color-classics-raphael-micro-series-one-shot/issue-Full/10
His golf bag full of weapons should be a little more to the left, but I wanted to have a clearer view of it. The short story in Bold dialog above that I used is the ending from TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist on the Sega Genesis, except for the Casey Jones part. I based their looks off from the 1987 cartoon since that was the series, I grew up watching, but I didn't copy Fred Wolf's artwork style exactly, but I did base Casey's hair style from season 8. It was more under control, less spiky and it didn't look like Wolverine's hairstyle. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/6/67602/2071145-4.png
They team up with others in Season 7, episode 161, "Night of the Rogues" in 1993
The Shredder recruits several enemies of the Turtles from past seasons and Master Splinter must get their allies (just two for some reason) to help them.
Splinter: "You have any way of reaching Casey Jones?"
April: "Yeah, I've got his phone number but-"
Master Splinter: "Call him at once." https://kimcartoon.to/Cartoon/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-1987/Season-07-Episode-019-Night-of-the-Rogues?id=17022
I don't think we were told anywhere in the series when and how April got Casey's phone number... but whatever, it makes sense that she has it. We don't need to know all the details.
The two didn't really have a team-up of just the two of them until Season8, episode 176,"Cyber-Turtles" (Red Sky Season) in 1994.
Aliens have captured the Turtles and April has to get help. I love the fact that the first person she thinks of is Casey Jones. The two really have some funny moments together and I wish they had more team-ups.
He comes up behind April and startles her.
April: "Gasps!"
Casey: "You called for help April?"
April: "Oh, I wish you didn't do that Casey Jones!"
Casey: "What's happen to the Turtles?"
April: "They're being held captive aboard that alien ship."
Casey: "Alright, let's bash our way in there and get'em out!"
He's about to get up and fight, but April puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
April: "No Casey! Something was stolen from the aliens called the Fire Star. We gotta find it and trade it to them for the Turtles."
Casey: "Sounds like kind of a wimpy plan."
April: "And we'll find it by following those tracks."
Casey: "Ok, but if I don't see some action soon, I'm gonna bust a gut."
The tracks lead them to a building with a giant green ray shooting into the sky.
April: "I knew Shredder and Krang were behind this!"
Casey: "Yeah, but what's that?"
April: "I don't know, but the other side of that hole looks like… Dimension X! I better tell the guys."
April: "We've got to get in there and shut down that ray somehow!"
Casey: "So let's just bash our way in."
April: "Casey no, that place is loaded with all sorts of automatic defenses."
Casey: "Then we'll have to find another way in."
They go up a latter on an abandon water tower in order to get to the rooftop where the ray is.
April: "Ah, Casey, what are we doing?"
Casey: "Getting the jump on those geeks."
From his golf bag Casey uses a harpoon spear with a rope to get to the roof.
Casey: "Ok, I've got us here, now what?"
April: "We head inside, and we get that fire star somehow."
But right at that moment, they encounter the Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady.
Shredder: "You'll have to get past us first!"
Casey: "Now that's my idea of fun."
Rocksteady shoots one of his wooden hockey sticks to pieces, so he grabs a sword.
Casey: "Sinking Rhino!"
After cutting his laser gun in half, he easily knocks him down. Then for the first and only time ever, Casey fights the Shredder and there just about evenly matched.
Shredder: "So, you match steal with me, you pathetic excuse for a vigilante!" https://kimcartoon.to/Cartoon/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-1987/Season-08-Episode-007-Cyber-Turtles?id=17037
That was his last appearance, but this is just how I picture these two interacting with each other in this series. They make a pretty good team, they were able to get along and April is capable of calming Casey Jones down or holding him back… well, somewhat. Unlike the 03 series, they were not bickering with each other as if they were brother and sister, nor was either of them always having to pick up the slack for the other just to show how better the other one is. Once again, Casey really shows his stuff and takes down Rocksteady, he was able to hold his own against the Shredder in a sword battle and knocks down Krang before he can do anything to them. Although by then, Krang wasn't in his famous robotic human suit anymore, he's in what was called a bubble walker.
TMNT 1987 and 1990
I of course love the 87 series and the first film... but I'm not a fan of the sequels, the 2003, the CGI film, the 2012 or the reboot films whatsoever. I tried to give the 03 series a chance... but the show took itself way too seriously, with such a weak retarded Casey Jones who ended up as a useless love interest, an over-the-top April, the 03 Turtles were ok but I didn't find them very funny when they were trying to be, "What the shell" makes no sense and after that whole mess with TMNT Forever that inaccurately portaged the 80s character... I gave-up on that series.
Casey/April
They got together in the Mirage comics, but I hated how they handled his character and his relationship with April. Casey accidentally kills a teenager who tried to mug him, the incident sent him into a drunken spiral, damaging his relationship with April. During City at War, Casey leaves the farmhouse and begins to drive to Los Angeles, planning to find April, but instead meets a pregnant woman named Gabrielle with whom he falls in love and marries......... it's like, I want to find April... but frack it, I'll just be with this chick instead... and who the frack names their kid Shadow??? Well, that woman is killed off and he gets back together with April, as if she's the "second choice/sloppy seconds"... a door mate just waiting for him to come back. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kjJNjUhYVig/USEI68nLKNI/AAAAAAAAKK0/HbmfMeMxNAw/s1600/61-3.jpg
They get married but April ends up leaving them because of his bad habits with drinking.
They were a couple in the Image Comics version, which was the third chapter to the Mirage comics, but the whole storyline became non-canon and for good reason.
The CGI film from 2007, which is a sequel to the third live action film, has them still together and April wants to get married.
In the 2011 fan film, Casey Jones The Movie, the actress who played April (Savannah Welch) said "You heard it here first folks, these streets have a new protector, who is this masked vigilante? Well, this reporter for one is determine to find out." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LWrEDkzaF4
April O'Neil
The 87 version of April is the reporter who's pretty fearless in her line of work, she was sarcastic and spunky but not over the top, she wasn't dumb, but she was a bit of a nosey reporter who could be a little greedy and reckless at times, but that at least made her a little more normal and flawed but it didn't make her unlikable. The 80s April wasn't the center of attention, she didn't have some lovesick puppy become obsessed with her, as if she's the only thing in that person's life. The 87 and the 90s film version actually had a reason for being around the Turtles... their job of course, they didn't need to have some kind of convenient connection to them and everything else.
She didn't need to have so many skills like the other animated versions which pretty much made them into the definition of a Mary Sue. They didn't have any flaws as characters, there's nothing they can't do. I'm not saying that a character can't have several skills and I'm not trying to make it sound like the 87 April is thy best version, or that she's a very deep complex character, but she takes too much crap from people who seem to think that the only way to be a useful character is to be the Messiah.
Mary Sues / Gary Stus are the Norm
To name a few
Legolas (LOTR films)
Alice (Resident Evil films)
Kratos (God of War)
Balian de Ibelin (Kingdom of Heaven)
Ben (Ben 10)
Naruto (Naruto)
Shepard (Mass Effect)
Galen Marek (Star Wars)
Bella (Twilight)
Edward (Twilight)
Sam Fylnn (Tron)
Korra (The Legend of Korra)
Elizabeth (BioShock Infinite)
Tauriel (The Hobbit films)
Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)
Riri Williams (Iron Man)
Rey (Star Wars)
Jaylah (Star Trek)
Jyn Erso (Star Wars)
Michael Burnham (Star Trek)
Mera (Aquaman 2018 film)
Carol (Captain Marvel 2019 film)
Alita (Alita: Battle Angel 2019 film)
Molly (Men In Black International)
Dolores Abernathy (Westworld 2016 TV series)
Maeve Millay (Westworld 2016 TV series)
Mulan (Mulan 2020 film)
Carol Freeman (Star Trek)
Valkyrie (Thor Ragnarok)
Teela (Masters of the Universe: Revelation)
La'an Noonien-Singh (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
Naru (Prey 2022 film)
She-Hulk (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law)
Riri Willams (Wakanda Forever)
Cassie (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania)
Janus (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania)
Helena Shaw (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny)
It seems that so many characters in animation, video games, and live action these days will pretty much have one or more of the following traits: 1.They're loved and praised by all 2.No flaws 3.Have dozens of skills they pick up instantly with hardly any training or none at all 4.They can do anything better 5.Beat anyone 6.They're smarter than everyone 7.Have knowledge of everything 8.Achievements before there 30 or even 20 years old and by not earning any of it 9.Face no real consequences for their actions https://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-most-notable-Mary-Sue-characters-in-books-and-literature http://sickslickman.tumblr.com/post/49310481611/bioshock-infinite
During the last few seasons, April began spending less and less time with the Turtles, she wanted to get her life back on track (good for her). Like I said with TMNT Forever, it was inaccurate to the 80s turtle, for one thing they made it seem that the only thing the turtles ever do is save April... she's not Princess Peach or Lois Lane, the running gag was that April never knew what was going on, not that they had to save her in every single episode.
Other Versions
The 1990 film version... there's really nothing bad I can say about her, she was normal, but she was a well written interesting and likable character.
The 2003 series version was little miss perfect, bland, had a weak and awkward personality. She pretty much ended up replacing Casey Jones to the point where he wasn't even needed. She ended up looking gangly and way too thin, they look like dumb Disney characters, the lighting or the coloring on her sometimes made her look like an albino. https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/April_O%27Neil_(2003_TV_series)/Gallery
Baggy pants... really???
The 2012 series version turned her into a CGI anime child where nearly every plot revolves around her, she picks up skills instantly, she became the surrogate daughter to Splinter and gets his special fan that he was going to give his daughter. She had 3 guys instantly falling for her and 2 were fighting over her. She's the key to destroying Earth, global domination, the cure to mutagen and Deus ex machina abilities... another empty vessel for the average shallow teenage fan girls to imagine themselves as while dating a turtle... the only flaws she had just made her unbearable.
The 2018 series version is bland and another character to be brown washed for the PC SJW woke audience who will never watch or buy anything they complain about.
The 2023 series version is truly thy ugliest April there has ever been at this point…
Profession and relationship
Throughout the years she's gone from Mirage Comics: Injection crisis - Drawing twist: A genius with computers, technology, and a crime fighter who might possible be non-human since her father made her from a magic pen. Archie Comics: A Ninja who is the descendant of a sorceress. 2003 series: A scientist, hacker, jungle girl and martial artist with a psionically link. 2007 CGI film: An archaeologist and a Kung-Fu warrior. 2012 series: A Ninja half-human half-Kraang hybrid with telepathic powers and a Ninja. IDW Publishing/Parallel Universe: A superhero mutagen bug. Boom! Studios/IDW Publishing: A reporter who instantly becomes a Pink Ranger, despite having no pervious fighting skills or experience.
Are these writers so lazy, so talentless, that they have no idea how to make a character interesting, smart and strong without giving that person conveniently magical powers and having every set of skills?? Whatever happen to just being a normal character that has limits to what you can do??? Does April really need to have so many abilities, have special DNA from a super race or a power suit???? Is that the only way she can be of any use to the turtles?????
"Ugh! Where do they come up with this stuff?" --Raphael
The 1980s cartoon and the 1990s film version seemed far more realistic in terms of her character and profession, they didn't need to throw all this crap on her to make them interesting, they were just normal characters. Also, in the 90s film, she and Casey weren't so obsessed with one another like what the writers did with them in the original comics and in the 2003 cartoon. There wasn't a love at first sight (which is bullshoot!) or an attraction, at least not from April at first. I'm not against Casey and April being together, but it was just done somewhat better in the first movie. I say somewhat because it does fall under that whole thing where at first, they hate each other, they calm down a bit, and then they fall in love each other... it happens a little too fast.
Starting a love triangle in the 2012 series didn't do Donatello or Casey Jones's character any favors. This series was aimed towards 5-year-olds because the audience for it sure acted as if they were. In the end I didn't find any of them interesting or entertaining at all, they were irritating and unlikable. Who ends up with who in that version became a distraction, at least the 87 series didn't waste our time with that type of crap, to think there a time when kids didn't want to watch other kids in cartoons.
(5:46) "No, when I was a kid, I loved reading about Batman. Robin was a pain in the butt." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSZBoyY_tCQ
(3:47) "They're the kid repeatable element that they wanted to do. If you're a kid watching this, you're supposed to be able to fantasize that this is you with the Ghostbusters."
"Which is flawed thinking because if you can remember back to when you were a kid, were you interested in being like the kid who talked to the Lone Ranger or were you interested in being the Long Ranger?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_PpOP5h7n0
The April and... Donnie (troll) fans would have you believe that they've always had a thing for each other in every version of TMNT (comics / animations / films) and that Casey Jones always comes in-between them and ruins it... and that's not true at all. In the 03 series, Don has a crush on her, even when she was already dating Casey. The writers and the producers of the 2012 version idiotically thought that this was a good idea to continue, to the point where they made Donny look like a pathetic obsessive creep... the turtles always end up having a crush on her, but it never went beyond that and over time, she became more of a sister figure to them and not someone they imagine fracking in the sewers. Anyone saying that Don or any of the turtles had a thing or that there were hints of a relationship with April, even in the 87 series, don't be surprised if they don't list any episodes, don't describe any scenes or state any dialog to explain any of that. It's just fans who are bias against Casey and taking things completely out of context, they desperately want April to be with one of the turtles, so they'll just exaggerate and lie whatever they can.
They had the 2012 April wearing the yellow jumpsuit in an episode, but I'm sorry, when you lack an adult female body like breasts, thighs and an @$$... it doesn't work on a skinny little underage kid or teen, it doesn't make her look attractive at all. It doesn't help given the fact that the CGI character body designs were not made to look realistic. Also, most 2012 fans hate the 87 series, so it's pretty pointless, why give nods to a series that your audience doesn't like??? I've seen enough Youtube, fan art, fan fic, message board, voting polls, and meme comments to know that both the 03 and 2012 fans pretty much despise TMNT from 1987. There are some who don't, but they're few and far between.
Character Design
Animation style for TV has of course changed since the 80s and 90s and not for the better. Characters look so badly drawn and distorted that it just comes across as cheap and lazy. At one point during the late 90s or early 2000s, women in animation who had a good-looking body, being hot and sexy, became a bad thing. But somehow looking skinny as hell, as if you're starving yourself to death, or being overweight, as if you have an eating disorder, became acceptable. There are a few acceptations or at least where the animation style is better, where the characters actually look human and fit like the DC and Marvel animated films from the late 2000s and 2010s, who don't look as if they suffer from anorexia or bulimia.
A lot of female news reporters for the past several decades have a body like April from the 80s. Now I'm not saying that all women in fiction need to look like super models, but there's nothing wrong with having a good-looking body. With Marvel and DC comics, video games like Mass Effect Andromeda and other things, the woke SJWs/feminist are having their way, thankfully people are not buying them but not just because of character design.
Self-defense
In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic produced by Archie Comics, April began as a carbon copy of her animated counterpart, but the writers developed her into a warrior after training with Splinter. Because of her frequent adventures with the Turtles, she lost her job at Channel 6 and became a freelance reporter. April received Ninja and katana training from Splinter, and gradually became highly proficient at fighting skills. But they ruined the storyline when... her remarkably quick progress was explained as being a result of her unique genetic lineage, having been a descendant of the malevolent sorceress, May East... I'm going to stop right there... there's more to that but it's too idiotic... it's a fictional comic book world, but this is just way too convenient that she's related to a great powerful being from centuries ago.
This generation of SJWs, feminist and leftist liberal woke writers and developers have made the very idea of rescuing a female out to be such a terrible thing to do to women in fiction. But there's nothing wrong with that type of story. Looking back, I actually like and appreciate the fact that the 1987 version of April wasn't turned into a super tough chick, she acted like a woman, she wasn't turned into acting like a guy, never acted like she didn't need help from anyone and wasn't taught martial arts because she's only
5' 8'' and 115 lbs. (Konami video games)
5' 5'' and 115 lbs. or 105 lbs. (1988 action figures)
Ninjutsu is not somehow going to make her be able to take on multiple people, mutants, aliens or whatever that are 2 or 3 or 4 times her size since women are biologically weaker. Again, I know the world of TMNT is pretty much a mix of Science Fiction and Fantasy, but there has to be some limits to that, otherwise it gets ridiculous. Although in most versions, the turtles themselves are pretty short (shorter than April), don't weigh that much, but from what most versions show the mutation gave them enhanced abilities from speed, strength, endurance, and so on.
Even if April was given super abilities (which would be lazy writing), I would hope that she would have limits, flaws, that her fighting ability wouldn't be her main focus, she wouldn't just be the "human female warrior of the group" that's unbeatable (the turtles were not invincible, they had to find different ways of defeating certain enemies at times), that she would be stronger in other areas of her character. Or perhaps she would use some type of gun, since that's pretty much the only thing that gives women any sort of advantage.
Final thoughts
One of the reasons why I say all this is because ever since the 2003 and 2012 TMNT series, anything that has to do with the Turtles from 1987, 1990, or about Casey/April... I always see the 03 and 2012 fans acting like pathetic little trolls, always having to tell the 80s fans that they suck and that there better in every single way and hardly anyone defends it from these dumbass little brats who don't have anything better to do. Now this is nothing new, this pretty much happens to every fan base that has different versions of a series. I don't expect the 03 and 2012 fans to know or understand what I'm talking about or that they even care... they don't. But I can only hope that those people grow up and mature, they'll learn to appreciate it for what it was and the decade it came from.]]>Dominic: Bishi Shot by Pocky_PixieSticks_Animeurn:uuid:51ab142a-61be-68dd-8692-b587063b78a02013-07-21T00:46:07-07:00so i've been watching Eureka Seven on Toonami lately (well taping it and watching it later >.>). anyway, i was wataching the latest episode i'd taped and i discovered the most amazing thing... a super bishi moment of Dominic! :o i mean he's cute and all most of the time but in a boyish way. but when i saw this moment in the episode i couldn't help but have to draw it. he looked super bishi!
so yes, i had a reference. and so i tried my hand at a little shading. hope i captured the bishi-ness. enjoy! =^_^=]]>