Thread:Sonicisawesome2448/@comment-995426-20160128044156/@comment-995426-20160131063810

I suppose it's possible that they may have wanted to portray Raph and Slash drifting apart, but just did a really ungraceful job doing it. The problem is, compared to how much attention their emotions, angsts and interactions were given in season 2, season 3 seemed to sweep much of it under the carpet.

In retrospect, I have a good idea of what might have happened. There was a reason the Legend of Korra's creators didn't reveal the lesbian relationship until after the series finale already aired on Nickelodeon: They'd actually been sneaking it under the radar for two years, and didn't want to risk the network's standards & practices department interfering with it. Though of course there's nothing wrong with gay people, this kind of thing is still called "getting crap past the radar," and writers have been doing it since before William Shakespeare. (For example, Shakespeare's play "Much Ado About Nothing" was one big stealth joke, since "nothing" was slang for "sex" at the time. Writing it the way he did gave him plausible deniability.)

Anyway, if Korra and Asami's relationship really was snuck under the radar, that means its announcement after the show's end likely took the network by surprise. It embarrassed them, making them fear a negative backlash in market regions where most people still don't approve of that kind of thing. It is likely they didn't want any of their other shows to embarrass them in a similar way. Then came TMNT season 3 and the very noticeable shift in its treatment of Raph and Slash's relationship.

Anyway, that's just a theory. I can't prove it. I just consider it probable. I'm not without my own biases, but I try to consider all logical options.

As for Raph rubbing it in with Leo, it's in his face and eyes. More cold reading of body language. It helps if you have the episodes on file and watch them repeatedly, and watch scenes repeatedly. (That's also why I made so many GIFs of just body language&mdash;check out my galleries.) While body language is often a matter of imperfect interpretation, Raph still has somewhat sadistic and impish nature to him&mdash;the difference from Karai or insane Slash was that he used it to tease and make fun, and didn't use it so much for malice or inflicting harm. Raph had a razor sharp wit in season 1, and I've even been trying to compile a private video clip collection of his best moments&mdash;there are so many! Raph won't do grave harm to his brothers, but he will verbally cut his brothers just enough to make his point sink in like salt on a wound. The fun part is, when Karai was working with the turtles in "Enemy of My Enemy", she too used this Raph-like sharp wit in the same less harmful way&mdash;against Raph himself. "You brought her in? She'll see all our gear!" "Yeah, because if Shredder found out you have an ice cream lamp, It. Is.  Over." So deliciously funny when the tables are turned.