Thread:Sonicisawesome2448/@comment-995426-20160128044156/@comment-995426-20160204083223

It is true that Spike mostly only had Raphael. But it still was what it was. A very affectionate relationship that involved very romantic body language after Slash mutated. I think, in Slash's mind, he and Raph had already been together for a long time&mdash;but mutating and gaining sentience and humanoid form presented Slash with new opportunities.

To be honest, when I first saw Raph's monologue to Spike in the first episode, I thought it was a subtle easter egg making fun of the extremely abundant turtlecest fanart and fanfiction on the internet, the most popular of which (by far) pairs Leo with Raph&mdash;specifically, the idea of Raph pulling aside Leo (or another brother) to speak to them like a lover, is just plain hilarious. XD But at the same time, the scene established a lot about Raph's emotional bond with Spike&mdash;a kind of intimacy he doesn't really have with his brothers. Raph and Slash might be "brother" (just as Slash and Newtralizer or Slash and Leatherhead have been "brother"), but Raph and Slash were still not siblings. Raph's relationship with Spike functioned in part as a stress valve, where he could relax in the perfect comfort of Spike's company, and unwind and talk about his day&mdash;and you rarely see this except between lovers, or perhaps in Victorian-era romantic friendships. I believe Raph really wanted this kind of perfect trust and perfect rapport with someone, and could only have it with Spike (and then, briefly, with Slash).

One thing you have to consider, is that there are different ways to portray romantic relationships in fiction. There's the show-don't-tell, where chemistry is explored and deconstructed in a sincere, realistic manner that audiences can relate to their own life experiences. And then there's the lazier tell-don't-show, where characters are shown to love each other just because the story says so, but denying the audience an opportunity see a developed relationship. It is often easy for the inexperienced to assume that romantic relationships are first and foremost about a desire to have sex, but this isn't necessarily the case&mdash;it's about an exceptionally close love, general intimacy, and people feeling like they are closer to each other than they are to anyone else. It's about real chemistry&mdash;and one of the reasons relationships often break down is because of disagreements, irreconcilable differences, or just plain falling out of love. Sometimes it's mostly one person's fault, or both people's fault, or nobody's fault.

As shown in episodes following Slash and Destroy, having enough love was never the problem&mdash;Raph still loved Slash, and Slash still loved Raph. In Newtralized, Raph was initially standoffish to Slash because of what Slash had done before, and Slash both loved and hated Raph&mdash;and people who feel betrayed by the one they love most can outwardly behave in lots of different ways&mdash;indifference, coldness, spite, venom. This is because when love and hate are combined, the outcome is pain, and people can't hate someone for betraying them unless they also had positive feelings for them, making that sense of betrayal especially painful. At the end of that episode, Raph was shown to be the more forgiving type, eagerly craving for Slash to come home with him, but you could tell in Slash's words, face, body language&mdash;he was still conflicted. Love had prevailed over hate, but things were still complicated as hell, and there's no quick instant fix for what they went through.

The Invasion's scene with Raph choosing Spike's photo as his most cherished possession, was interpreted by me and all my friends as Raph still overwhelmingly loving and caring about Slash. And sometimes that's how things are&mdash;the bond never really goes away, and it never really gets easier, but you just learn to live with it.

Which made Battle for New York feel...a tad illogical in how relaxed and aloof they both were toward each other. I was like, "Ninja please. The man deserves a hug." One of my friends suggested the two of them just valued their privacy (remember how offended Raph was that Mikey eavesdropped on him talking to Spike?), and would probably be more affectionate in private, except in situations where they were truly scared for each other, in which case they would be more openly affectionate like they were in that one scene in Clash of the Mutanimals. And I was willing to accept that hypothesis.

Thing is, in retrospect, I think the showrunners deliberately tried to kill their chemistry. Shows are planned and produced months in advance, so when a new episode errors, the next 8 to 13 episodes (or more) are already being produced in the pipeline. Since they made a decision to pair Raph with Mona Lisa to please the 1987 TV series fans who had been demanding it for years, Raph and Slash's chemistry came to an unceremonious end with its conspicuous absence in Dinosaur Seen in Sewers, which aired only 4 episodes before The Moons of Thalos 3. And that makes me mad, because they were one of the best, deepest, more complex developed relationships I'd ever seen in cartoons, and the fact that they were two guys (and that's especially rare in cartoons even in 2016) made their derailment all the more painful to witness, especially considering Raphael and Y'gythgba are one of the shallowest, fastest, easiest, cheapest relationships, as bad as Mikey and Renet. By the time of The Moons of Thalos 3, it was clear that there were no more characters&mdash;only caricatures&mdash;and it's hard to root for a caricature with such artificial depth.

As for Amazing Adventures, I can't say that the 2012 TV series and Amazing Adventures aren't going to influence each other to some degree. Even the 1987 TV series and the Archie comic kept influencing each other in small ways after their continuities permanently split, especially in the introduction of characters like Slash and Wingnut to the cartoon at the time (albeit not nearly as mature or well-written). For example, the from Slash and Destroy has since been named in Amazing Adventures, and her name is, and they further developed her friendship with , and it's not entirely unreasonable to think Chloe's new story Tea-Time for a Turtle may be how things would have developed if given more attention on the show&mdash;Chloe, Stockman and Tiger Claw are minor enough characters, after all. But I'm skeptical that the major new villain Tetsumi Onamota will appear in the TV series, because the story Zodiac went to the effort of giving him a backstory that also added to the backstories of Hamato Yoshi, Oroku Saki and the Hamato Clan (which all three characters were once members of), and I'm skeptical the TV showrunners will make too many more alterations to Hamato Clan history than what they've already portrayed or already decided to write. Tetsumi Onamota is an IDW brainchild, and he will probably remain one.

At this point, if Karai returns, I'm only interested in how she does so in an Amazing Adventures storyline. The 2012 TV series has burned too many bridges with me, and I no longer really care what happens to the characters caricatures. It's a failed universe, and my headcanon only accepts earlier parts of it that don't completely insult my intelligence. XD