Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11469381-20150831022901/@comment-995426-20151012212807

XD Well, considering how little depth 2K12 Casey has compared to some other versions, I'd be inclined to agree. :) Although Mirage Casey is depressed and alcoholic enough that he might have a deeply regrettable one-night-stand with some stranger named Irma&mdash;who knows? *promptly passes around the brain bleach*

Anyway, I need to keep reminding myself that I've been following TMNT for decades, and a lot of people here have only been following it for a few years (and indeed have not been alive for decades), so many people not be as familiar with the easter eggs, old pop culture references and memes some of us have long memories of. It's not really so irritating when someone doesn't understand Bebop and Rocksteady's associated memes and why we discuss them and point them out when we see them repeat. Someone can just say, "I don't understand what you mean by that," and they can get an explanation. What's irritating is when someone appears to feel threatened by the implication, and feels a need to assertively dispute it as if it's an unwelcome topic.

Bebop and Rocksteady aren't just characters that were recently introduced to a widely-watched Nickelodeon show. They are familiar character templates which have been around for decades. And past portrayals of them have made enough of an impression in our cultural memory that we start expecting some of the same things even from new versions of them. What made this scene in Annihilation Earth so noteworthy and discussion-worthy is that this seems to be the first real moment where Bebop and Rocksteady's affection appears mutual. And in so doing, it reminds us of their now-decades-old love meme. If Zeck and Steranko were the very first versions of Bebop and Rocksteady we'd ever seen, then their last scene might not have had the memetic impact it had. But since they're actually new versions of old familiar character templates, seeing this moment in them gave some of us a nostalgic geek-out moment. It was very, very meta.

It's frustrating, because I'm discussing this scene in the context of all the different versions of Bebop and Rocksteady. And it's completely missing the point to discuss it exclusively in the context of how Zeck and Steranko have developed on this show since 2014. That's because Bebop and Rocksteady aren't new characters&mdash;these are just new versions of them. They are older templates, with characteristics we have come to expect or anticipate from them in any version, regardless the differences.

And, in my assessment, these versions made it even more likely this scene would happen, because a savvy reference-conscious viewer knew early on that Zeck in particular was not going to be straight as an arrow, and it was quickly evident he had a special (albeit cautious) affection for Steranko, despite how abusively Steranko treats him. (Anyone remember "Baby Ivan", that casual pet name Zeck had for Steranko? XD) Steranko was very different from previous versions of Rocksteady, making him a more unpredictable quality. But this series did a good job showing Zeck and Steranko becoming more of a duo joined at the hip. It was meaningful that Steranko was the one who initiated the affectionate scene, because it was only then that we could appreciate that they shared a mutual affection. If it had been only Zeck initiating the scene, we'd still be wondering if Steranko did little more than tolerate Zeck.

So does this mean Steranko is in love with Zeck? If we look at just the two of them as Zeck and Steranko, it can be hard to tell. But if we see them as the familiar Bebop and Rocksteady, then the likelihood skyrockets. Since the idea of Bebop and Rocksteady being in love is nothing new, the creators had to be aware that older viewers might be conscious of this. And that is precisely what made us geek out over Steranko's four short words, "Hold me close, comrade." Steranko may have constantly yelled at, chewed out and threatened violence against Zeck, but when it comes down to it, Steranko not only accepted Zeck's, but liked him too. And you know what they say about couples who bicker a lot: "They're like an old married couple." :)