Preorders for the Nightwing and Red Hood plushies are now open! Preorders will run until the 20th of August.
Please note that each design needs at least 25 sales each to fund. If the goal isn't reached by the end of the preorder date, the project will be cancelled and these won't be able to get made. In this case, everyone who ordered will get a full refund.
I will be using my bigcartel store this time, as etsy only gives 10 weeks to process an order :') I will also be ordering extras along with the preorders but they will be very limited in quantity!
I'm going to write a cringe RiseTMNT AU/fan continuation of the show.
These are thoughts I've had for a looong while, which include a lot of OCs, fan interpretations, reimaginings of other TMNT character iterations, etc.
I'm just going to get right into sharing one of these thoughts/concepts:
Remember how Big Mama has an assistant and that assistant has a shell (Frida, if I'm not mistaken)? Ever heard that RoTTMNT had ideas for two older sisters for the turtles?
Let me introduce you to Venus & Milo!
But also some context:
I knew about the assistant maybe being a turtle, which got me sooo flippin excited for a Venus de Milo, and that also got me brainstorming possible concepts and backstories for her, including adding an 'older brother'.
I did noooot know about the two* sisters* thing. But like, wuw, I was close :D (okay, I saw the wiki, and apparently it is a brother?? "FAMILY MEMBERS: Unnamed turtle (human mutation brother through Yoshi)"??? DONT QUOTE MEEE)
Another point I wanna add: my idea for 'Milo' was actually from this art I saw yeeeeeaaaars back in my 2012 phase. There was this artist that drew really cool Venus de Milo art in the 2007 style, and I later on found art of a turtle with a brown mask. Can't remember his name, so my brain went "Milo." Venus and Milo, a duo!
...And then later becoming a distant "duo" when it came to me making up their backstories in this RoTTMNT AU.
(If you find the art/artist, pls tell me, because I need confirmation that my brain didn't just make up a false memory.)
For their backstories, first of all, I wanna credit this author and their fic, Silver-Tongue by Dante Kreisler on FanFiction.net, because this was where I got my inspiration from! A fic rec too, if you wanna read. It's an SI Young Justice fic on the idea of Cadmus's first successful human clone and her life as a villain (and the usual SI-OC trope; I eat that sht uuup).
Lemme pull up the inspirational bunnies (a paragraph/prose/quote) from this fic:
"Cade had mixed feelings about this place. Cadmus, her… birthplace. The scientists here at first had adored her; she was their living proof of their scientific breakthrough in the history of biology. And because they had achieved the landmark of cloning a human, they went on to the next goal of aliens. Soon enough, she wasn't of interest anymore; they knew how to successfully clone humans and could do it anytime now. She became an old project, a finished experiment. She didn't have more use to the scientists who had to meet their next deadline of copying Kryptonian DNA. Cade would have been stuck in Sublevel 38, imprisoned to stay below ground level for the rest of her life without seeing an inch of sunlight if Luthor hadn't taken an interest in her."
There was also this line in the same chapter that Cade got a liver transplant and had had 3 other organs replaced in the past? That had me thinking: "What if Cade's organ-failing thing is a recurring problem?"
So from these two ideas, we have Milo, Draxum's finished experiment, and Venus, the failed soldier (her story/dynamic with Draxum is both unintentionally and intentionally mirroring Dabi's from MHA that made me go oh, noice, cool :o ).
Their stories center around neglect: Milo being dismissed at the get-go, while Venus having been abandoned/neglected later on.
🐢🟫Milo🍰🧁🩺🔫
Starting with Milo, I'm just getting straight into their characters and profile:
Milo is a full-on civilian with a human disguise, a career, and medical knowledge.
I haven't decided on what career specifically. I've thought of him as a shopkeeper, a barista, a café owner, cake shop, bakery, a vet, a nurse, etc. None's stuck yet, but I'll put this: Medic with a gun. He's NOT a fighter, but he can damn well protect himself with a glock or a shotgun. Ever seen those security camera video clips of a shopkeeper pulling out a gun? That!
His character is the kind, polite straight man who minds his own business, and bakes. With RoTTMNT being a crazy and eccentric cast, here's the most normal and sane guy you'll ever meet! The... sincere-realistic-encouraging-experienced-friend-slash-older-brother-who-listens-to-all-your-problems-and-makes-great-advice-when-really-he-doesn't-know-either-half-the-time-but-hey-apparently-he-makes-good-advice.
The "minds-his-own-business" part goes heavily with his civilian identity. He is uninvolved, no drama, not his business, no nothings. He gets confused, weirded out, maybe silently judges you, but tries not to let it faze him or have it be a problem.
A polite "Moving on," "Not my problem" type of guy, so then his character arc would be from a "don't get involved" and holding-people-at-arms-length mentality turning to "Sht, I do care" and willingly/actively entangling himself with turtle action, drama, and shenanigans.
I love playing with this idea that Milo knows exactly who these darn turtles are while the rest of the cast doesn't as they continue to interact:
Here are the turtles going, "Omigosh, ur a cool human, let's be friends" -> "Omigosh, ur yokai, a TURTLE yokai, let's be friends," and getting attached to Milo, while Milo's going, "Sure thing, strangers, acquaintances, I dunno a Draxum."
The reveal would be after he gets himself involved to help/save the turtles or smth and so he inevitably comes in contact with Draxum.
His dynamic with Draxum, to put it simply, is that they both see each other as strangers. Milo feels a tad bitter while Draxum feels a tad guilty.
For Milo, I wanna add that as part of his character/personality, he doesn't hold grudges. He can and does feel bitter, anger, sadness, etc., but he's learned early on that it's better to just move on and not get hung up on things.
This'd be another cool thing to explore: like, yeah, "don't get hung up on it" is very mature and good, but the "just move on" part? Sounds like bottling up his feelings, no? Would be good for him to finally address and have a proper conversation about those gripes. Be another part of his character arc!
Passive & Reserved → Active & Open :D
I have an idea of how the backstory of him and Draxum (and Venus) plays out, but that's gonna be a lot and would be better in a different post that I make no promises on making.
But to summarize: he reach adulthood, he leff, independent boyyyy, no need go no contact cause no contact to begin with 👍
🐢⏹️Venus🗡🏍🥡
Venus is Draxum's first successful modified* mutation. His first attempt at a soldier. Heightened senses, strength, healing factor, speed, reflexes—the whole shebang. However, Draxum later realizes that all those modifications are backfiring on her.
Imagine sudden muscle spasms or organs tearing themselves apart and healing at the same time. What if that healing factor is also incredibly painful? What if when she gets sick or hurt, it's twice or ten times the pain? And since this is "her DNA/her very nature" problem, there's no cure, and so she's entirely dependent on something Draxum made to relieve the pain. (Yes, this is me pouring out the angst bucket on her).
Soooo (here's the part that mirrors Dabi), Venus started as a little girl that Draxum trained and taught, and that little girl is very attached to Draxum, wanting to make him proud. But when those problems (muscle spasms and pain) start to get worse/keep happening, Draxum gets further and further distant, moving on to other projects.
Hey! Let's make it even more complicated: Draxum does care and actually grew to care/love her, wants her stop the training thing as it is obviously hurting her and at the same time choosing his work/goal above all else.
Then later, when she sees Draxum decide to work on four other turtles? What's she gonna feel? Hatred at the new babies taking away her parents attention, yeah? Even worse when the neglect is getting worse!
What if she has a hand in the escape? (Well, the idea I had involves her more in an attempted indirect murder-accident of the turtles, while Milo had a hand in Splinter's escape, so together, the Splinter and the turtles' escape).
What if then she started acting out to get Draxum's attention? What if she ran away only to find Draxum doesn't notice and/or isn't looking for her?
So there goes her road to living independently and making bad decisions :D . I'm picturing her becoming a mercenary before getting hired by Big Mama. For that smth Draxum made that she needs to relieve her pain, two options: a) She learns to make it herself, b) She has someone who makes it for her.
For a, it'd be a good showcase of her having a sciency side after being taught by and helping Draxum (also good dynamic with Donny). For b, we have more options (decisions) whether it's a friend or foe/someone keeping her on a leash. (I'm kinda leaning on A.)
Then when she stumbles on the turtles (her being Big Mama's assistant): ignore, ignore, ignore. But when she finds out that Draxum is playing family with the turtles?
Spiral.💞
Venus is going to spiral. And that’s gonna lead her to an active murder attempt on the "perfect" turtles to get back at Draxum.
She wants to hurt him, but she also can't hurt him. She hates that she still wants him to love and be proud of her—she already gave that idea up, so seeing that with him to the turtles is heartbreaking. What do you meaaaan Baron fucking Draxum has given up on his entire life's work goal? The very that led to their creation and neglect? Que?
She wants to prove her worth to him, but why should she care about what he thought of her worth? Except she does care about what Draxum thought of her worth, and she hates that. She hates him.
Venus gonna have a lotta ✨️self-worth issues✨️
And this, I think, pairs so well with Milo. Impassive vs Emotional. Bottling in vs Lashing out.
I’ll get onto their dynamics, but first, Venus character arc! I think that arc would be the classic foe-to-ally: the turtles grow on her like fungus, she realizes she doesn’t actually want to kill them, she needs to let go of all that grief and anger, not in that order.
Later, she gets that conversation with Draxum—not forgiving him, but coming to terms and finally able to ease that ache. Still hating Draxum with, “I'm kinda happy that you've changed, but I still hate you and I hate that I can't hate you as much anymore because you've changed,” while Draxum has to live the rest of his life giving olive branches to Venus and Milo if he wants to have a relationship with them.
Milo is more accepting, but Venus either never will, or won’t go beyond keeping things civil and polite for the sake of her relationship with the turtles.
Venus's character & personality:
Venus is The Soldier. Muscle spasms and pain aside, she’s the strongest of the turtles. Venus is the strongest, fastest, most reflexive, instinctual (spidey sense :D ), most skilled, and has the fastest/strongest healing factor. Draxum learned he had to tone it down and made the other turtles with the needed adaptations/alterations that support those modifications (which Venus doesn’t have). On top of that, she’s learned to use weapons, is science-smart, and whatever else she’s picked up as a mercenary and from living independently. Venus is both talented and hard-working.
Also sad minimalist, has no personal things/decor, apartment. Sad cook. Take out food. Broke food noodles fav. (Started as broke, later as mercenary made a name/high demand, n later working for Big Mama. She gud. She okay. She hav muneyyy.)
Her dynamic with the turtles is: “The Really Really Cool Older Sister They Really Want To Impress.” Same as Milo, another straight man, except she’s more blunt with a mean streak. Put away her issues with Draxum and the turtles for a moment; her character (following what we saw in glimpses of RoTTMNT Big Mama's assistant) is that she’s a professional. She gets the job done, quick and efficient, and wastes no time. Cut the small talk typa gal.
Similar to Milo again, she’s reserved—an antisocial kind of reserved. Milo’s actually pretty social, he just doesn’t want to get too personal (following the bottling up problems). They both keep others at arm’s length (Milo a little less) and even to each other.
They’re both the cool older siblings, and I think I’ve said enough for you guys to picture how else they are similar and different from each other.
Venus & Milo dynamic
Their dynamic with each other is distant. Sure, they’re "close" in a way—they lived in the same house, saw what the other dealt with, have similar opinions—but I’m picturing that when Venus saw Draxum not acknowledge Milo's presence (and vice-versa), Venus chooses not to associate with him either.
But Milo is a mature soul and is aware that Venus has nothing to do with his problems, so he greets her, helps, and is kind and polite. Venus warms up to him, and thus they have a very civil and polite relationship. On a personal level though? It’s complicated, especially when they’re older. Again, they keep each other at arm’s length, but they do know what the other has dealt and is dealing with.
Imma throw in she that likes sweets. He make sweets, she like sweets 🐢🧁🐢
Hm.
Just thought of an idea. I have this dynamic in mind that I really wanna see explored/play out but havent found any (if u know this dynamic let me know, why not, also may deserves its own post, hmmmmmm, decisions, decisions).
This dynamic might fit them as what it becomes later. Not sure if it works but imma explain the dynamic in dialogue:
Glass of water on the table
Milo: this glass is half full
Venus: no it's fucking not
Milo: the whole point of this exercise is that you're supposed to pretend with me
Huginn & Muninn
Where do Huginn and Muninn come in? They’re the only good memories Milo and Venus have when they were living under Draxum. They treat the two as kids, talk and play with them, and at times advocate and speak on Draxum's behalf—which doesn’t really mean anything, especially after a while. Overall average babysitters, but they didn’t talk down on them and had honest conversations, so they’re all cool.
Turtle dynamics
For the turtles, this is already so long, so I’m gonna speed this up and you can imagine yourself what their dynamics would be.
On the across-the-board level: "supportive cool older brother who listens and gives great advice" and "cool older sister they want to impress" is already self-explanatory. I’d just imagine each turtle doing it their own way that's fitting their character/personality:
Milo:
• Raph gets an older brother figure.
• Leo gets someone who’s incredibly patient with him and knows when to dig under when he puts up a front.
• Mikey gets someone who shares his interests, appreciates his ted talks, and treats him as a mature individual.
• Donny gets someone he can vent and complain to without interruption.
Venus:
While she’s the one with the biggest issues with Draxum, she’s also the most similar to him, so her relationships with the turtles would mirror his, but “better than Draxum” and she embodies what each turtle values.
• Raph: “I'll be civil for civility’s sake and Mikey’s sake” while being awed by her strength and fighting prowess.
• Leo: Similar to Raph, with a “you tried to kill me” to the “you threw me off a roof” he has with Draxum, but she’s cool, smooth with strategy, weapons, and dealing with clients/enemies/people. (I’m picturing her coaching Leo on his katanas and other weapons.)
• Donnie: She’s good at sciency stuff like Draxum and maybe has some engineering and tech knowledge, so she can keep up with Donnie’s rants and even give input. (Bike girlieee! Venus is a bike girlie!)
• Mikey: They’re the closest. He hammers her walls down. The naive/reckless optimist dragging the jaded/cautious pessimist dynamic in full shine. It’s almost exactly like Mikey’s dynamic with Draxum and mirroring how much he pushes Splinter and Draxum to get along, he wants Venus and Draxum to get along too.
✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️💃💃🪟🚗💨✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️
Wow. Okay. So I’m gonna stop here. I cannot believe I wrote all this down. I’ve had this concept/imagining since RoTTMNT got cancelled, and this is the first time I’m putting these thoughts on paper (text) instead of keeping them in my head. Maybe I mentioned it to someone briefly, but err, pretty brief, and posting online—aaah, new. Kinda wanted to post this with art, but I’m sht at drawing turtles man, so I’m just posting and moving on.
If u wondering Splinter's and April's dynamics. Uhhhhhhhhh. Wtv u think it is! :D
learning that self deprecation isnt cool and just makes the people around you uncomfortable unironically improved my mental health a lot. like if you just stop saying negative shit about yourself you will genuinely like yourself more and other people wont be repulsed by your attitude and you will have more friends. it's true.
is there a way to recieve tracking on our packages? i'd like to know when to expect mine and was wondering if it could be requested.
Hello! That's strange, because I always attach the tracking number to each order after marking them as shipped. Can you please send me your order number, so I can do another check? There's also a chance your order might be one of the 10 pre-orders I have yet to send.
They're currently with me and i'm in the process of shipping them out. I have a lot of orders to fulfill, so it'll most likely take me a week to get all of them out to everyone. Thank you all for your incredible patience 💕
RED-HOOD AND NIGHTWING PLUSH PREORDER MAJOR UPDATE:
hello everyone. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I just contacted Australia post and unfortunately, due to the holidays, there will be another delay and the plushies aren't expected to arrive before the new year :( So far, i've only received Red hood's jackets because they were ordered separately and were sent using the express system.
The main problem is that by that point, i will be overseas taking care of personal matters and I won't be returning until the 6th of February. Because of that, i'll have no other options but to delay shipping all the orders out until the day after that. I'm so sorry for all of the trouble, and if anyone would rather cancel their order and get a full refund, feel free to send me an email.
hello! I understand how important timely delivery is and I sincerely apologize, but unfortunately there's going to be a shipping delay with the preorders.
I've been having some issues with my manufacturer, because for some reason, they didn't ship out my order in time and they weren't honest about it. They had agreed to ship everything out by the 24th of October and they even sent me the postage label on the 4th of November to confirm that it had been shipped out when I asked, but I just found out that they weren't dropped off until the 20th of November :(
The plushies had arrived at Australia's port on the 2nd of December, but since then, they've been stored at a warehouse to prepare for the final-mile delivery. I think the holiday rush also plays a part, because it usually doesn't take this long for the packages to be scanned and sent to a courier.
I just received the tracking number from Australia Post, so it should be sent to my address very soon. Hopefully, by the 23th of December. Once everything arrives, i promise to have all of the orders shipped within the next 2-3 days. Again, i apologise for the delay!
I just found your plushies and am devastated that I'm so late. Is there any possibility of extra stock/leftover orders or a re-release in the future?
hi! don't worry, i ordered extras along with the preorders, so you'll still have a chance to get one! They'll be up on my etsy store after I have all of the current orders sent out ^^
Yo, we briefly talked in 2020 and I found you again while going over everyone I'm following. I just wanted to say it's super awesome you've gotten to the point that you're selling plushies for the fandoms you like. I hope you continue being successful and if the Sam plushies come back I'm gonna heavily consider buying one cause they're really cute
hello!! It's really cool to hear from you again, even if it's anonymously. Thank you so much for your kind words, it seriously means a lot to me! ;V;
