Zines by 23-punnybee! News regarding any and all fanzines I'm involved in. Check out the pinned post for specific zines to check out. Header art by our graphics mod, @bluezeri :)
🔧Moderator Spotlight!🌎 Get to know the team behind the Transform and Sustain zine! Be sure to keep an eye out on this space for sign ups (coming soon!)
Check out our mods here —> @nuclearjacks @23-punnybee @vicdraws @white-tailed-rabbit
🔧Moderator Spotlight!🌎 Get to know the team behind the Transform and Sustain zine! Be sure to keep an eye out on this space for sign ups (coming soon!)
Check out our mods here —> @nuclearjacks @23-punnybee @vicdraws @white-tailed-rabbit
discord's new terms of service DO have a mandatory arbitration clause for the United States and Canada, you have 30 days to opt out by emailing an opt out notice to [email protected]. this has been your standard "for the love of god do not waive your right to a jury trial under any circumstances" notice
🔧Moderator Spotlight!🌎 Get to know the team behind the Transform and Sustain zine! Be sure to keep an eye out on this space for sign ups (coming soon!)
Check out our mods here —> @nuclearjacks @23-punnybee @vicdraws @white-tailed-rabbit
i have been helping the Turtles & Turnips discord server with their bots and moderation, and am helping to host the T&T 1 year anniversary zine! you can join if you’d like (the link expires on May 12, so PM me if you’d like to join after that)
this is just a fun little project that will be published by July 25 (digital only, completely free) but y’all are welcome to come join!
the zine theme is “cozy game vibes” and anyone entering will be accepted (provided they follow the server rules)
this year, i got my own car and a puppy, so i’ve been adjusting and had to take up more hours at work to pay for these new expenses. i’m hoping i’ll find a good routine so i’ll be able to do more zines soon!
in the meantime, feel free to add your email to the mikey interest check if you’d like to be notified when applications open :)
Hello, are you still planning on doing the Mikey zine?? /genq
hello, yes i am! as of right now, life is pretty busy, so i likely won’t get the time to devote to a mikey zine until next year :/ it is something i still really wanna do though!
i’m leaving the interest check open for people to sign up to get notified when we open applications.
and available to purchase! For just $5, you'll get 110 pages of Raph and Mikey from Rise of the TMNT, and the best part? All of your money goes toward Sea Turtle Conservancy!
Here's my main contribution to the Sunset Duo Zine hosted by @punnybee-zines! I'm very proud of this angsty lil thing and very happy for the experience in the zine. You can find on ao3, if you'd rather!
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This is an evening like many others.
A breeze is blowing between the skyscrapers, the streets are bathed in the sun’s last hours.
Raphael likes this time of the day.
It reminds him of old habits and childish plays, an aftertaste of an era that’s been left to decay. A memory of the years he shared with his brothers.
They used to venture outside around this time, escape from the lair and find buildings to climb. Raphael’s steps take him somewhere he knows by heart: a street where once stood brick walls covered in grime. All that’s left today is a reconstruction site - and his shattered hopes for some kind of new start.
Each step he takes there feels like falling apart.
He doesn’t know why he still comes. What are the odds he’ll find his brother here? Raphael is aware he’s always been the nostalgic one. When he goes back to places he finds meaning in, he usually stays lonely until the morning.
A faint movement in the sky draws his attention. At the top of the crane looming over him, a cape is lazily dancing with the wind, its fabric catching the sunset light. Raphael would recognize its owner anywhere.
It doesn’t take long for him to go up. The crane’s metal skeleton is sturdy enough to bear his full weight with nothing more than a few creaks of protestation, but settling in between the crossbars asks for more delicacy. He twists, shifts, tries to make himself small until he finds a sitting position he feels mostly comfortable in.
On his left, Michelangelo doesn’t stir.
Raphael’s throat feels tight as he realizes his brother is almost within arm’s reach. It’s been years since they’ve been this close. He finds himself stealing sideway glances as subtly as he can, which is not very.
If his math is right, Michelangelo must be about forty-two now, but he looks older. There are a few too many wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, a few too many gray strands in his dark hair. Signs of restlessness or side effects of his powers, Raphael can’t really tell; either way, he can’t help but frown at the feeling that his little brother is growing older than him.
He stays silent for a couple of seconds before gathering the courage to speak.
"It's good to see you."
Michelangelo gives a noncommittal hum.
“It’s been, what…” Raphael starts and trails off as his gaze wanders over the building site.
He already regrets this sentence. He’s sure they both remember the date. Michelangelo had been all over the news that day he'd finally caught the criminal he’d been after for months - although the titles weren't talking about his success as much as the way he got there. The damage he’d left in his wake. The demolition Raphael had seen with his own two eyes.
“... it’s been a while,” he finishes evasively.
“I suppose so,” Michelangelo huffs, and doesn’t add anything.
They sit awkwardly for a while. Well, Raphael thinks it’s awkward. Their feet are dangling in the air, the sun is nearing the end of its slow race down behind them, and try as he might, he can’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t come off as sad or reproachful.
He almost startles when Michelangelo speaks.
“You couldn’t help it, could you.”
Raphael tears his eyes from the outline of the city and sends a confused sideway glance to Michelangelo, who’s staring numbly downwards. Far below, the shadow of the crane is spreading over the reconstruction site.
There is no escaping that talk, apparently.
“I had to jump in," Raphael sighs. "That building was about to crumble.”
“I would’ve caught it.”
“You can’t catch a build-”
“Yes! I can!” Michelangelo snaps, his voice colored with anger. “You would know that if you just let me do my thing and didn’t interrupt like -”
“I know, I know! I've seen you fight against the Shredder - shit, we were just kids when I saw you give hell to the Krang. But there's launching an empty tower in the middle of the sky and then there’s keeping a city building from crushing hundreds of people!”
“You just don’t trust me!”
“This ain’t nothing to do with trust and you know it.”
“Do I?” Michelangelo laughs, but it sounds cold and sarcastic.
Raphael knows that tone. This conversation isn't going anywhere and he doesn't feel like indulging it, so he just shrugs and goes straight to the point.
“Look, if you’ve got something to say, just say it.”
Michelangelo hesitates for a moment. He bends his legs, grabs his knees close to his chest and rests his chin there. There’s a frown on his face when he speaks again, his voice firm.
“I’m still mad that you left us.”
Raphael snorts in disbelief before he can help it. “I left you?”
“You could’ve stayed with us. Nothing had to change at all. We used to live together, things used to be simple, but you just had to leave and go play hero on your own.” Michelangelo’s stare to the ruins below them turns into a glare. “You couldn’t help it.”
“Oh, for - I came back!” Raphael exclaims, throwing his hands in front of him. “Yes, I’d grown up, and I needed some space, but I came back as often as I could. I was there for everyone’s birthday, I was there for the Lair Games, heck, I was there for your goldfish's funeral -"
“How thoughtful,” Michelangelo hisses.
“- and when they grew up and went their own way,” Raphael continues, ignoring him, “Donnie and Leo still came back, too! We weren’t living together anymore, but we were all back home for big moments, we were there for each other -”
“It wasn’t the same -”
“You disappeared, Mikey!” To Raphael’s frustration, the words come out almost as a shout. He sighs, shakes his head and levels his voice. “When you decided to move out, you knew you wouldn’t stick around like we did. You barely even answered your phone. We've been worried sick."
Michelangelo throws him a bland look without lifting his chin from his knees. “You’ve always worried too much about me.”
“Well, are we wrong?” Raphael shoots back. “All I learn about you these days, I hear it from the news. Do you have any idea how that feels?”
Michelangelo gives an incredulous chuckle. “So you all leave but I’m the one who should feel guilty that you’re not there?”
“Is that your excuse? Your brothers become their own people and you erase yourself from the family, act all reckless and hot-headed -”
“The way I handle things is mine to deal with.”
“Look where it gets you! After what happened here,” Raphael gestures towards the construction side, “they’re debating if they should still call you a hero.”
“Oh, is this what you’re so upset about?” Michelangelo says slowly, purposely, and if voices could kill, his tone would definitely be poisonous. “Am I tarnishing the reputation of the family?”
There is a familiar rush of adrenaline coursing through Raphael’s veins in that instant, the telltale feeling of his own heartbeat getting louder. He is starting to lose his patience. It baffles him, the way that even after all these years spent apart, his little brother still knows how to get on his nerves.
“Doing the right thing was never about fame,” Raphael grumbles in an effort to keep his cool.
“How can you say that with a straight face,” Michelangelo deadpans.
“You’re just trying to push my buttons, but you know what? I won’t apologize for not being a teenager anymore.” He must be onto something, because Michelangelo stays quiet and looks away. “Yes, I moved out of the lair first,” he goes on. “Kids grow up and leave the nest. That’s what families do! That’s what they do literally everywhere on the planet.”
“Normal families, maybe.”
“We’ve been over this already. What we are doesn’t make us any different from -”
“Yeah, yeah, spare me that argument, alright?” Michelangelo interrupts, sighing and rubbing at his forehead tiredly before getting up on his feet. His movements aren’t as swift as they were in the past, Raphael notices, but he’s confident enough in his body that he doesn’t grab the metal to stabilize himself. Michelangelo locks gazes with him, a strange look on his face. “I don’t care that it happens to other families. I didn’t want it to happen to us. All I ever wanted was to keep us all together. That can’t be that hard to understand, even to you - especially to you.”
The words find an echo in Raphael’s mind, but it’s distorted, like it’s been twisted and cut to fit into a box too tiny to accommodate it. He feels like they are having two separate conversations, like they are talking about different things entirely, like whatever he has to say won’t even make its way to his brother’s ears. He feels like they are running circles.
He stays silent.
Michelangelo hums and lifts his chin up. He stretches his fingers, and chains that seem made of golden light appear in his fists. “Well, I think that’s enough small talk for today,” he says. “Or for this year.”
And, with that, Raphael watches Michelangelo jump off the crane. His chains anchor themselves to the metal a few feet down, then a few more, and in a matter of seconds, there is only one turtle left in the area.
---------
This is a story like many others.
The premise of a pointless encounter; a missed reunion with a long lost brother.
Michelangelo hates that he feels upset.
He thinks of loneliness and anger and regret, of many memories he would rather forget. Of the hopes he has so fiercely tried to smother.
He used to believe time would somehow rewind, bring him back to an age when life still felt kind. Michelangelo tries to keep his thoughts at bay, searches for a solace he knows he won’t find. He wanders the rooftops drowned in the sun’s last ray, lets his memory fly back to brighter days.
i did this a lil while ago for the sunset duo zine (@punnybee-zines ) that i got to be a part of, and i still kinda like it!! if i had to do it again, id definitely make some changes, but i still think it's pretty cute :)) got to throw in a lot from my own childhood in here which was fun
The GF Seasons Zine Interest Check is now officially live! The form will be open for two weeks (from the 23rd Feb to March 8th at 11:59 EST).
Seasons is a Gravity Falls zine themed around the Pines family hanging out in the different seasons of the year. It will have four sections-
The zine will focus on the Pines family hanging out and enjoying the four seasons of the year together. Do you want to see who would win in a snowball fight between Stan and Ford? What the Pines family would get up to on a rainy spring day? Or perhaps you want to see the Mystery Twins jumping in piles of autumn leaves? Whatever you’re thinking, fill out the form and let us know!
This zine will be looking for moderators, artists, writers, and merch artists to come together and depict our favourite family having fun! The amount of contributors we accept and whether the zine is digital or physical will be determined after the interest check closes. More information can be found on our Carrd.
Please fill out our form and reblog this post if you’re interested!
We would love to make this zine a reality but can't do it without your help.
Alternative link: https://forms.gle/WZJuzpESfX24rkbf9
Disclaimer: We are not affiliated with Disney in any way. The zine will be a charity zine will all surplus going to charity- no one will profit from this zine.
