User blog:Gilgameshkun/Edit question (TMNT issue 80 spoiler alert!)

There's spoilers! I warned you!

...Really, lots of spoilers!

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...Still there?

I'm serious&mdash;it's spoilerific!

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...Okay, you made it this far.

Since reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) issue #80: Invasion of the Triceratons, part 5, there's been an unmistakable change in the protagonists' dynamic.

has gone full anti-villain. His desires are noble, and he wants to protect, but now he believes he's protecting them from their own stubbornness, and he's prepared to commit ethically-fraught acts to do it, like make temporary alliances with Agent and kill Commander Zom.

Spoiler alert (yes, I know, that ship has sailed), the Triceratons (IDW) were not completely wiped out, and Zom is not dead, and the Turtles are still Triceraton allies, and Bishop's alien targets are now outside his reach on Burnow Island. What may be dead however, is the trust between father and sons. Even the one whom Splinter has acknowledged in the past as their strongest moral voice,, could not peacefully talk his father out of his course of action. And Splinter has acknowledged that the old lifestyle he once thought they were free of, is one he may never escape&mdash;he was, has been and will be a killer by nature.

So, editorial question.

How do we categorize Splinter now? Category:Villains (IDW) Category:Former Allies? If ever there was an anti-villain, Splinter has become one. And if ever there was a former ally directly opposing the protagonists' activities, he is one. As it is, he's already been in Category:Crime bosses since Chasing Phantoms.

Even so, I think Jennika's status has not really changed. She's still in the, and she's still Splinter's chūnin, but when it came down to it, she did not betray the turtles. Whether Splinter will go home and decide she betrayed him is another matter for a future story.