Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31255465-20170923034221/@comment-33165688-20171116194334

Asfaloth12 wrote: Well,  glad to hear she has support. I don't know her, but please let her know that I wish her the best anyway :)

You are right about stories that are dark or depressing. Might as well read a newspaper or history book. It would certainly be more worthwhile than a piss-poor attempt at a "realistic" ending that makes no sense within the context of the story. It's disturbing how some people seem to take some sadistic glee in dark/downer endings stories. Apparently, they don't think there is enough suffering in real life? And their reactions to people bothered by those stories are a little creepy, frankly. Do they think it's "childish" to have empathy? Do they think it's funny that people suffer from depression and may be adversely affected by things like that?

The easy answer would be to tell her to think for herself. To ask herself whether this arc makes sense in the overall context of the series. But I realize that sometimes may be easier said than done. I'm sure that certain toxic parts of the fandom aren't helping. Personally, I refuse (ABSOLUTELY refuse) to let one extraordinarily poorly written arc ruin my enjoyment of something that has accompanied me through my post-graduate medical training (some of which was during a time when my husband and I were forced to live apart). Not to mention this is part of  a franchise I have enjoyed since I was a little girl. I told her about it, and she's very grateful.

Usually the excuse is that MA is "Mirage-style" as if everyone who likes TMNT likes the Mirage comic books (I don't, neither does she) or that that it's "childish" to want good things for characters you have come to care about. It's very edgelord. And no, I don't think it occurs to them that when people are tortured by feelings of hopelessness and misery, then contemplating half a century of it for characters they love is very painful.

She is finding it difficult to make her own stance on the canonicity of it, just because there are so many people with differing opinions, including the producers versus Nickelodeon. It's hard for her to know what to think, and the uncertainty is screwing with her head even more. I'm going to ask her to revisit it at some future date and try to decide for herself when her mind has settled down and her wounds have healed a little, and see if it's worth it then.

In the meantime, I'm having her watch the 2003 series, so she can bond with characters who definitely, absolutely have a good end that nobody can deny.