Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1255374-20160326211319/@comment-995426-20160430001420

Again, we've been over that before, and a I said (and you never responded to when another user rudely insulted us then), first impressions mean a lot. In that first scene, Raph was shown speaking tender romantic words to another guy. (At the time, I actually wondered at the time if this could have been a ship tease for the infamous Leo/Raph turtlecest ship that has always lingered online for years.) But then came the reveal, and it was Spike. Raph's "boyfriend" was Spike. And the impression that gelled over time, was that Raph's wannabe boyfriend was Spike (in the absence of unrelated sentient beings Raph could have dated)&mdash;but Raph could never quite be Spike's boyfriend because there's only so much you can get emotionally out of a pet. So, with all those impressions already congealing, Raph's story with Slash was not just amazing, it was logical as both characters couldn't wait for the rest of their lives together to start happening. But then came insanity, conflict, hurt, betrayal, angst, longing, pining, self-reflection...you know, all the real character-building stuff in a love story. :) And it's something Donnie and April also had, and Leo was beginning to have with Karai before they kept getting separated. A good TV love story doesn't just happen&mdash;it takes a long time to unfold, with lots of little twists and turns (as long as they are twists and turns and not just recycled stagnant plot&mdash;I'm looking at you, Capritello).

And with that, I'd like to graciously drop that particular topic in this thread, since it is veering off-topic.