TMNT #130 discussion

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

I 100% disagree, They are hear to stay, They are great additions to the series.

How are they "great" when they basically do nothing noteworthy?

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by neatoman

How are they "great" when they basically do nothing noteworthy?

Who says they have to be noteworthy?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Who says they have to be noteworthy?

The very minimal, basic writing standards since forever?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Who says they have to be noteworthy?

I'm not even sure how to respond to this, it is just a bizarre idea, so I'll just to list off as many possible responses I can think of and hope they seem appropriate:

1. In the simplest possible definition of a story, it is about characters initiating and altering events. Characters who do not do this barely have a function in the story and could potentially get cut.
   
2. In order for a character to leave an impact on the audience, they need to clear defining traits and a significant amount of focus put on them, otherwise it becomes hard to get invested in them.
   
3. If a character doesn't do much, there is very little between them and a background object, making them easy to forget.
   
4. If a character gets a lot of focus but serves very little purpose in the story, it pulls away from the events and characters that could actually interest the audience, making them largely pointless.
   
5. A character without defining traits or goals is one that lacks interesting traits and is thus a boring character.
   
6. There is such a thing as a bloated cast of characters, this can easily stretch the focus very thin and it becomes difficult to pay attention to what is going on.

I can probably think of even more but I hope you get the point.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

Leaving the Bonnie identity behind, it is like symbolism for gender identity politics.

It's pretty clear that "Venus" is supposed to be symbolic of people who have "transitioned". That's the entire point.

This book is so ass. Every decision misguided from its conception and furthermore executed horribly.

Originally Posted by neatoman

How are they "great" when they basically do nothing noteworthy?

He gets to fap to them. That's the only f*cking thing he cares about. It's ridiculous.

[mrmaczaps]

The only characters that matter in this book should be the turtles, the foot, Shredder/Splinter, Casey & April. Everyone else should be foot fodder... if they get a name, they need a function beyond crying all the time. So many wasted pages of useless, do nothing characters.... pandering.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

https://media.giphy.com/media/gzo6lUv8p8hMc/giphy.gif

lmfao ya got me



But seriously, folks, what's particularly frustrating about a lot of the stuff from the "Mutant Town" arc (as it's likely going to be known as), is that there were good ideas there, they just weren't executed very well. A lot of the ideas were terrible, too, though, and that has definitely impacted the quality of the series for the past year or so. So many characters have become pointless, functioning either as background stand-ins or plot devices, while SO FREAKING MANY new, pointless characters have been introduced, I can only imagine all the stupid wikia pages being generated for "Unnamed Ant Mutant #2" Nobody has any idea what to do with April, or Alopex, or Angel (remember her? Nobody does ), or even some of these new characters like why the fvck is Sheena on the page so goddamn much? Jesus Christ where is Tom smh I need to eat dinner

[Cloudrunner]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Who says they have to be noteworthy?

It feels like the overall resistance to your opinion on these forums has turned you into someone that just wants to be deliberately contrarian to everyone else here. I mean I don't EXACTLY blame you for it, there's an overwhelming amount of negativity here. And while I agree with those negative opinions there's only so much beating of a dead horse I can take before I get tired of it.

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by mrmaczaps

The only characters that matter in this book should be the turtles, the foot, Shredder/Splinter, Casey & April. Everyone else should be foot fodder... if they get a name, they need a function beyond crying all the time. So many wasted pages of useless, do nothing characters.... pandering.

Yes. The core characters should matter. I don't mind new characters. I think TMNT has a lot of weird, interesting characters that can be fun and entertaining. But as you said, they need a function beyond crying, and standing around... Even the core characters suck if they just cry and stand around doing nothing all the time, and they sure do in this series currently.

[mrmaczaps]

Originally Posted by superstaff

Yes. The core characters should matter. I don't mind new characters. I think TMNT has a lot of weird, interesting characters that can be fun and entertaining. But as you said, they need a function beyond crying, and standing around... Even the core characters suck if they just cry and stand around doing nothing all the time, and they sure do in this series currently.

Most of the series for the last 30 issues has been standing around & crying. Ninja aren't the standing around and crying types.

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by mrmaczaps

Most of the series for the last 30 issues has been standing around & crying. Ninja aren't the standing around and crying types.

But they aren't ordinary ninjas, they are ninja turtles, and they are allowed to cry, The turtles in this comic seem way more human then normal humans.

[mrmaczaps]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

But they aren't ordinary ninjas, they are ninja turtles, and they are allowed to cry, The turtles in this comic seem way more human then normal humans.

This series sucks. They want to keep doing this series, they should call it teenage mutant crybaby turtle furries.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by mrmaczaps

Most of the series for the last 30 issues has been standing around & crying. Ninja aren't the standing around and crying types.

Well, they say you write what you know. It turns out, eh, well...

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

But they aren't ordinary ninjas, they are ninja turtles, and they are allowed to cry, The turtles in this comic seem way more human then normal humans.

So which is it? Are they Ninja Turtles or are they more human than normal humans...? Now I know for sure you're trolling.

Absolutely forgettable issue, utter trash that closes the arc with a whimper instead of the bang it started out with in #125. There are no words for how dumb this comic has become under Campbell.

Thank goodness for Waltz coming back to wrap it up!

[Bahamut810]

Originally Posted by Leo656

It's pretty clear that "Venus" is supposed to be symbolic of people who have "transitioned". That's the entire point.

I really hope not. It would be a allegory of people peer pressured to be a transtrender individual with no hope of ever being able to recover from the 'process' she went through. She was literally being forced to transition in the comic.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Bahamut810

I really hope not. It would be a allegory of people peer pressured to be a transtrender individual with no hope of ever being able to recover from the 'process' she went through. She was literally being forced to transition in the comic.

But she can leave her old life and "deadname" behind and be whatever/whoever she wants to be!

Pretty sure that is meant to be the takeaway.

[Bahamut810]

Originally Posted by Leo656

But she can leave her old life and "deadname" behind and be whatever/whoever she wants to be!

Pretty sure that is meant to be the takeaway.

I really hope that people are looking too far into this being a potential allegory because of who wrote it. If it is intended to be a trans allegory...WOW.

[ChosenOne]

Originally Posted by Bahamut810

I really hope that people are looking too far into this being a potential allegory because of who wrote it. If it is intended to be a trans allegory...WOW.

After all this time, do you really think subtlety is Campbell's strong suit?

She's writing what she knows and sees inside her little bubble, which leaves me terrified at the amount of casual, bloodthirsty maiming featured in several of her issues.

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Bahamut810

I really hope not. It would be a allegory of people peer pressured to be a transtrender individual with no hope of ever being able to recover from the 'process' she went through. She was literally being forced to transition in the comic.

It reminds me of how people thought Gren in Cowboy Bebop was meant to be positive trans representation, even though his backstory is that he was a man in the military who was later imprisoned, and during his time in prison, was forced to take experimental drugs with side effects that increased his estrogen, and had him grow breasts. He learned to live with it, though he was clearly very bitter and angry that being imprisoned (as a result of being betrayed by his friend) and drugged altered his body permanently. The man wasn't trans... He didn't feel discomfort in his original male body...

Hell, I just went to the Bebop wiki to confirm something in Gren's backstory, and the top comment there says 'trans rights'. Omfg..............................

Anyway, Venus (and Jennika, really) is not a great allegory for transition because it's forced on her, as you said. A better idea would be that Venus willingly altered her body because she disliked being a human or a frog or whatever. Or just put in a trans human into the story? Or...something? God, the poor writing in these modern stories piss me off. People don't...seem to have a grasp on how to appropriately convey nuance. Just take Gren in my comment. 'Trans rights'... UGH. GREN WAS NOT TRANSGENDER.

[Bahamut810]

Originally Posted by superstaff

Anyway, Venus (and Jennika, really) is not a great allegory for transition because it's forced on her, as you said. A better idea would be that Venus willingly altered her body because she disliked being a human or a frog or whatever. Or just put in a trans human into the story? Or...something? God, the poor writing in these modern stories piss me off. People don't...seem to have a grasp on how to appropriately convey nuance. Just take Gren in my comment. 'Trans rights'... UGH. GREN WAS NOT TRANSGENDER.

I guess to be fair...he was in the Netflix series that bombed harder then Big Man over hiroshima.