Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1255374-20160509012936/@comment-995426-20160511055355

Now, following up from my previous comment.

In TMNT stories, the ninja's best friend as a ninja, is discretion. The Hamato Clan in Japan lived public lives, and they had a very locatable d&#X14D;j&#X14D;. But what were they, publicly? Martial arts practitioners? Conservators of antique weapon-making arts? At best theoretical ninja? When the whole world starts to know the things you do in the dark, it becomes a whole lot harder to do it secretly, and curious people will follow you around, as Kurtzman did.

Now what is the 2K12 general public aware of? They know about aliens, and they know about mutants, and certain mutants like Garson Grunge are even celebrities. This makes it theoretically possible for many of the other mutants in-universe to start living public lives, which is made a lot easier if there are a lot of them. Still, it seemed to me that Splinter was more upset about his sons being caught on video by Vic's smartphone and Joan Grody's camera crew when they were engaging in ninja stealth fighting activities. It's one thing to publicly practice some kind of ninjutsu-based art, but another thing entirely to be caught in violent and illegal situations.

Remember what Bradford said when Xever talked about how he survived in prison? "I'll be sure to remember that if I'm ever stupid enough to wind up in prison." His Foot Clan activities are a closely-guarded secret, so that Bradford could continue to enjoy a public life in the rest of his life where he could freely walk on the street. It is true that mutant Bradford doesn't practice nearly this much discretion, and even very publicly escorts the Shredder, like when they dined with Don Vizioso in that restaurant; but Bradford is still a wealthy celebrity martial artist with a chain of commercial d&#X14D;j&#X14D;, and that would be in jeopardy if the public knew that the human Chris Bradford were directly participating in so much organized crime, because for starters his business assets could be seized in a RICO investigation. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Bradford has been the Foot Clan's #1 donor of funds to finance all their operations, perhaps through some kind of money laundering scheme. Bradford may have even been the one who originally bought the Foot headquarters building in New York before Oroku Saki left T&#X14D;ky&#X14D;.

I think it would ultimately be nice if Splinter, turtles, Mutanimals, etc. could all find a way to live peaceful public lives as relatively ordinary people with homes, jobs, etc. But if you're a ninja involved in black operations, you're insane not to still be keeping secrets, and that means doing all you can to avoid becoming famous for those secrets.

Do I expect the writers to give things this much thought? No, very much not. In fact, the less thought they give these details, the less respect I have for their writing, which has contributed to my low opinion of later seasons. But I think that if a TMNT story wants to be a better story than not, it has to remain self-aware and at least appear like it's trying to avoid major plot holes.