Children of the Machine

[kathaynesart]

"You've slain your own king! You surrender! We are victorious!"

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Oof! Guess Donnie finally won against Leo... kind of? He certainly won at the mind game Leo was playing at least (whether Omega meant to or not.) Short Arc, but we're getting close to the ending of the first book finally! I'm really excited to show the next update, but it might take a while. Please be patient with me in the meantime!

PATREON for more Replica Stories

[kathaynesart]

Arc 7 begins! Wow a Replica update that did not take me months to do?? Unheard of!

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I've had this headcanon for Leo being a better chess player than Donnie for YEARS. It's actually an idea that I've planted and has done its rounds in the fandom in the years leading up to this. I'm glad I finally get to dive into it properly. This is going to be a much shorter story like my early Arcs for Replica but I just love little character studies such as these so please indulge me!

PATREON for more Replica Stories.

[kathaynesart]

We will never know.

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But at least we now have an explanation for how both Raph's shell and Donnie's battleshell got up on the wall haha. So glad to finally get to this part of the story and start wrapping up this arc! This is one of the few times I will fully color a panel but it felt necessary to capture the feel of the moment and Mikey's artwork! We do have ONE more update for this arc that will be from a completely different perspective... I'm very much looking forward to sharing it with you guys!

I also wanted to share a special song I had meant to post along with the earlier updates when Mind Raph and Leo are chatting. I have it in my Replica playlist but I'm adding it here because I feel like it captures the relationship between those two perfectly. The strings feel like a somber Leo while the wind instruments are more like a hopeful, almost ethereal Raph, ending with the strings trying to replicate the wonderful energy and joy the winds gave off even after the winds have been silenced entirely. It just feels like them to me and I would highly recommend rereading Leo and mind Raph's conversation with this song if you're in the mood for some feels.

Overall I don't have too much to add to this update considering how well Mikey states it... but I do think there's something to be said for the different ways people deal with loss depending on their relationship to the departed. Ghostbear and many of the survivors saw Raphael as a hero first and a friend/person second. I see this a lot in how people can put their heroes or even movie stars/influencers on a pedestal, but then lose sight of the humanity in those people and how their methods of praise might hurt those closest to the person or even the person themself. I think the best thing we can do is just remember that we are all human, we are all imperfect, and we are all deserving of love and respect both in life and death.

As always, thank you for joining me on this journey!

[gothiclynovi]

The ‘Incident’ - Part 4

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(Click for better quality)

[hatekawa]

Unhelpful Part 12

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Masterpost

[mkthedingus]

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles (Part 21)

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Kids can't resist making futile attempts at cheering their siblings up with shenanigans and candy

[cacartoon]

So after epsiode 7

All in favor of sentencing Caine to the blender say yay or nay

Or raise you hand ✋

(I’m saying yes because that was just cruel Caine)

[mkthedingus]

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles (Part 15)

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Got a bit carried away with the shading. I was having too much fun with the colors

[kdpartworks]

Cloudysseus AU ch. 3 ep. 11

A little reminder that those are Neal-illustrator's designs and this story is from Epic the musical's universe, and it's readable all on @thisisfanon's site! Hope you enjoyed it <3 And remember to vote Cloudysseus AU for Cleos' awards!

[kathaynesart]

I like that Leo and Mikey both kept their promise. 

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Whew we're finally done with our emotional chats on top of Lady Liberty. Just one more update and then we will be moving onto the next arc which I'm quite excited for!

In the meantime, I think it's time for another little TED Talk below the cut:

One of my favorite things from the opening of the Rise movie (and something that was missing from the cut movie opening) was the interaction between Leo and Mikey.  A majority of the communication that goes on between these two is actually silent, through glances and inferred statements as they're having a conversation that Casey can barely understand. Working backwards to find the meaning in that communication has been interesting and fun but also left me a little barren emotionally as I've been dealing with death and my own mortality this year with loss of family friends and personal health issues.  

One detail I wanted to point out: when I first saw Mikey's death sequence I had assumed Mikey was winking primarily at Casey, if only because Casey was the one to step into the previous shot and call out to draw Mikey’s attention. However, I found it interesting how the perspective of this shot is obviously a first-person view.  He’s looking directly at the camera and the only other first person POV we have in this whole sequence is primarily from Leo’s perspective.  

Because of that I strongly feel that the wink was at least intended not just for Casey, but for Leo as well. To Casey the message was clear: “Don’t be scared.  You got this, kid.”  The same message he gave in the cut version.  But to Leo, it’s something deeper as he gives him that assurance while reminding him of their promise.  They both kept smiling to the end and would see each other again soon. 

[an-artistic-failure]

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Villain Mikey AU

Uhhh yippee plot development?

Sorry this took so long 😔

[an-artistic-failure]

CW: some blood, brief descriptions of torture

Yo, that's crazy

[mkthedingus]

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles (Part 8)

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Plan Barry to the rescue! (I decided to give Draxum hair color because he looked sad without it last chapter)

[kathaynesart]

"You are not alone."

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So happy to finally get this part out. The overall message of Rise has always meant a lot to me and making sure to incorporate part of it into Replica was essential! I really wanted to show the outcome of what happened in the flashback at the beginning of this chapter, so it's nice to have it come around full circle. The keen of eye might notice that I make a point of never letting Leo look directly at Mind Raph even while they're conversing. There were a lot of reasons for this, but it sort of boils down to this scene symbolizing how Mind Raph is more of an inner voice, rather than a physical manifestation and also Leo's own refusal in allowing himself to be vulnerable. ...Getting a little glowy though, Mind Raph...

As always thank you everyone for your patience with my slow updates!

[kathaynesart]

What happens in Shanghai stays in Shanghai.

In continued celebration of the ROTTMNT Open the Floodgates, here are a few out of context images from my Patreon, specifically around the "What Happened in Shanghai?" story that people keep asking me about in Replica! It's mostly a written story with each short chapter including an image to capture the scene and these are some of my favorites. It has been loads of fun seeing Replica Donnie and Kendra interact when left to their own chaotic devices and I'm excited to continue it!

[kathaynesart]

Oh hey, Mind Raph!

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I'm sure some of you might be very confused, but don't worry hopefully it should make sense in the next update. I was initially going to end this chapter when Leo left April, but felt he need to speed things a long a bit more in the story since we still have a lot of ground to cover!

[kathaynesart]

Seems like there might be a bit more to Ghostbear than anticipated... though whether or not that makes what he did okay is still very much up for debate.

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Also, hello little Portal Chopper! As the astute reader may remember, this is not the first time we've seen one of Leo's patented Portal Choppers. You can see them in action in THIS CHAPTER. BIG BONUS points if anyone can figure out what the little hunk of metal is being used for it...

Don't worry, we'll go into more detail about it in the next update. Sorry I know the post is a bit short. It has been a busy busy month for me, but I'm excited to be finally getting to this part!