[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Mainly because Mikey had those weird dreams that prophesised the future in one of the final episodes of the original series, second sight characters have always fascinated me and for it to happen to the most laid back of all the Turtles made for compelling development, as if Mikey is somewhat destined for greater things down the line.

Not only in season 10, but also in the Mondo Gecko episode, Michelangelo has dreams that have some weight of importance. Good observation Zarius!

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Fun Fact Time There was a conversation between the two of them in earlier drafts, but I decided Titanus wouldnt have had anything to explain to Don or Carter, who are portals for the audience, to have them learn as the heroes learn etc. Just trying to make it feel more Saturday morning where the hero learns of the diabolical plan and it's full scale.

I can see that. If there was a discussion between Titanus and Mung earlier in the story, it would have ruined the shock/surprise factor for the reader of having Titanus appear again.

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

And nobody instructs Saw Boss on anything...he follows his own lead and the EDX plan was his from the outset, but I'll explain that a bit better when we get back to him in another book.

Hmmm.... that's good suspense to hear about Saw Boss' character and about him appearing again.

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Hmm...that's strange of you to think that, considering the story is packed with more familiar villains threatning the Turtles and everything is more focused on their contribuitions where as the alternative players like Saw Boss and Rebecca play small (but still important) parts in pockets of the story. I'm sorry you were expecting something more high-scale from the characters you mentioned, but that's just the way the story came together and I didnt want to follow a shopping list of who to keep using beyond their neccessity to the plot.

Well... I guess since the 7th story was dealing with the mind, that I should have expected more abstract forms of conflict. But I guess I was itching to see some form of a permanent twist on things (Mung's time traveling technology being destroyed) that would prevent Mung from re-editing the good series of events done by Donatello and Carter. (... That's why time travel is kind of a dicey topic to bring up when I read it.)

I guess I felt in these last two stories there was a lot of elaboration on the OC characters (Martin, Rebecca, Leopold; and in the sixth story, about Professor Kim Sagan) that overshadowed the main villains in a way. I'm not against OC's but I just felt that I knew more about them than say what developments transpired with the villains. Unlike with Professor Kim Sagan that interacted with the OT characters (with Irma) in the sixth story, Martin and Rebecca were farther away from the OT characters and only Martin had a small interview with April. In "Mutants and Miracles" there was more of an emphasis on the main OT villain, the Rat King came across as more engaging, and the reader saw his character transform. ...Do you kinda get what I mean?

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Sorry about that, I figured since I was packing this so full of red sky era villains, from Titanus to Dregg, to Carter etc, they just became a victim of keeping things coherant and to deliver the most straight-forward story I could possibly write within the confines of my novella paremeters. The book is already one of the longest in terms of chapter. I wanted it to be a straight-forward mission for Donatello and Carter. Flip flopping over time periods wouldnt have good for pacing purposes.

Yeah... the story did seem to be packed with a lot of Red Sky characters, but I guess as I mentioned above, I was kind of anticipating to see how the Red Sky villains transformed their personality and ambitions rather than a "shout out" or reference to them.

In seasons 9 and 10, we observed how Dregg was slipping more into insanity as his revenge against the Turtles was consuming him while Mung at last defected from Dregg in the last episode by calling Dregg "mad" and pointing out Dregg's obsession. I was sorta hoping that defection would be brought up again, and in your fanfic, maybe even Dregg taunting how he can read Mung's mind (if Mung inadvertently spilled some of the EDX on himself) as payback for deserting him in the series finale episode. That could have had some juicy implications...

I guess what I'm trying to convey is that a lot of the anticipation in reading sequel fanfics (for me to a degree), is seeing how things change and evolve from when the show ended, and as such, with the characters as well. In your fanfics so far, we've definitely seen that with Michelangelo with April and Donatello with Irma, but with the villains (Baxter, Mung, and Hi-Tech)... they seem to be getting the "short end of the stick" in terms of development (excluding Dregg since we saw his existential form change dramatically). In contrast to "Mutants and Miracles", where the reader saw the Rat King transform his viewpoint of humanity (ever so slightly) by not lumping in children with the spiteful humans.


As always, please don't misinterpret these detailed points as harsh criticism... You know that my extensive discussion on your great fanfics is a reflection of my enthusiasm for them!
Your meticulous thought process into the characters, themes, pacing, and plot development shows in your work, and thus makes your stories far exceed most TMNT fanfics out there!