My Magnificent Idea

[Michelangelo]

Post my idea, you fool! My long thought out idea!

[Raphael]

You post it, you fooool!

[Raphael]

Alright, I'm posting it to the best of my recollection.

Since the last movie (TMNT 2007) was both so awesome and so lame (Monsters and Winters FTL..and that hurts me to say because who doesn't love Patrick Stewart?) Mike (and I) thought that a prequel/re-imagining/sequel was in order. For instance, what exactly prompted Master Splinter to send Leonardo off into the jungle? What events led up to that? Was there some horrendous failure on their part that could have been averted with a leader who could have brought them together as more of a team?

While, the movie was excellent in characterization for Raphael and Leonardo (and do we need anything more, seriously?) the plot was convoluted and Mikey and Don were just cast to the wayside. We'd like to remedy that. There's so much more that could be done pertaining to their jobs, to Donatello's reluctant leadership in Leonardo's absence. We saw a hint that he was taking the brunt of Raph's anger as Leonardo had, but not really what all came of it.

Then Leo's return. What started out as a study in the dynamic of the family and their need to come together got cast aside in favor of the monster plot. We'd much rather see a plot where the four are trying to get used to one another again, and get back into the swing of things. How would Leo feel about his brothers working? We saw his reaction to Raphael's Nightwatcher act, but watched Leo spirited away to Winter's building in lieu of the fallout after the clash of the titans.

Working with the basic characters and plot the movie gave us (sans the monsters, NOOOO MONSTERS EEEVAAAH) we'd like to rework the thing, starting from before Leo leaves and continuing past his return where Karai could enter the picture in earnest and we could see what she only hinted at.

[Karai]

That is a pretty magnificent idea, if worked out beforehand. Like, what would replace Winters and the monsters, what exactly Karai is hinting about etc. There's potential for loads of fun scenes there.

[Raphael]

I don't think we're necessarily do the movie verbatim so much as take the idea of the intro scenes and go from there. As to what Karai hinted at, weeeeell I suppose that's up to you missy, though I'm not opposed at all to working out some of the details beforehand. Weeee.

[seasons]

I always figured that Leo leaving was due to something that happened following the defeat of the Shredder, though of course the movie implies the events of Turtles III occurred, which was post-Shredder as well. Its been so long since I saw III that I can't recall if anything happened in there to justify him being sent off.

[Michelangelo]

So here is what my idea was originally, where it connected to some story we had written:

My ideas were:

1)So the Foot have no head to lead them(get it? ha, I crack myself up), the Shredder is no longer around, and they no longer have direction (they're lost feet! aimlessly wandering little feet!). Anyway, so there can be gang disputes between the remaining Foot over control and power, but the one front they are all united in is defeating the turtles.

2) This means the Turtles are consumed with fighting off the Foot and trying to put down their increasing violent threat as well as protecting themselves.

3) Eventually, end game would be to get to the point where the Foot have been quelled, and thus ends with Splinter telling Leo to get lost... in the jungle.

4)BUT! See there's more! Right now in the story, Splinter is going to reprimand Don for his impoliteness. This type of thing can build where Splinter expects more from Don, as he's trying to brush Don up and check out his ability to be a leader for when Leo is gone. Just none of the turtles know yet, of course. Don is gonna have to step up his game! Step up 2 da streets.

5) And Raph is all yay killing and bathes in blood at night. This can lead to his love for violence and why he becomes the Nightwatcher.

6) Versus Mikey who is not loving the killing and death and goes into working with kids sort of as a reprieve from it and as a repentance for the death he's caused.

7) And maybe there's some fight the turtles have trouble with because Leo somehow drops the ball on leading and he's all, oh I must train. Leading him to agree with Splinter for his vacation to hell.


AAAAAAAAAAAND!

This connected to another story where Leo returned from Brazil or wherever and is a jerk and the bros are all kinda falling apart like how in the movie they were not even brotherly or such.

We could continue the problems we were exploring in Lots of Killing! Like, Raph could be too violent, esp with his now unrestrained Nightwatcher days, and Mikey could be too resistant to killing (is this kinda oxymoronic in a way!) And Don resentful of both Splinter and Leo for leaving him in a leadership position he sort of failed at. FAILBOAT!
And Leo is all having difficulty resuming leadership. Possibly if we could, because he did fail at something beforehand that caused him to go training.

[Leonardo]

This is huge and could potentially keep us occupied for the next three years. : D

I mean, at the rate that we usually RP. Can we split this up into separate games? Then we wouldn't necessarily have to plod through one ginormous game in sequence, if we didn't want to. And if some people are on and not others, it might give options for the RP: for example, if Leo's not on but Don, Mike, Raph, and (Splinter?) want to RP, they can go ahead and do the Don's Leadership one. If Raph and Mike are on, they could play out a Violence vs. Not Violence scene. If Karai and Casey are on, then Casey can conveniently cheat on April.

...What?

Anyway.

How about something like this (and feel free to mess with it, change it, do anything you want, this is just an idea):

• The One Where They Battle the Foot
  
  (This would be a great opportunity for OCs to come in--foot soldiers, innocent bystanders, etc. We could either puppet them or invite more players on board. Another thought: would this game be better off in the Forum RP rather than the Chat? Considering time zone differences and the potential length of this game? We could play out parts of it in chat as well, but it's just a thought.)
  
  
• The One With the Event that Sends Leo Packing
  
  (This would be very suitable for Chat RP; we'd need a Splinter I think, or someone to puppet him.)
  
  
• The One With Lots of Conflict Between Raph, Mike, and Don
  
  (Again, we'd need a Splinter here. I have played Splinter before--I could puppet him if you wish. Or someone else could give him a try--whatever works)
  
  
• A Nightwatcher-focused One
  
  (Here's a chance to focus on Mike, Raph, and Don again: could there be a single situation or crime that they are perhaps all trying to deal with in their own ways? Is this where we'd want to bring in the focus on their jobs? How they deal without Leo's leadership?)
  
  
• The One Where Leo Returns
  
  (We could do a total rewrite of the one we started before. I'd like to start it fresh, personally.)
  

If a game does not involve Leo, I'd be happy to come in as a puppet or an OC as needed.

EDITED TO ADD:

I was also thinking it might be good to play out a game in which the turtles first meet Karai. While the 2k3 series gives us a pretty good idea of Karai and how she interacts with the turtles, the 2k7 movie does not. The movie either wants us to assume that Karai has the same background with the turtles as the cartoon!Karai, or else it wants to leave their past interactions totally up to our conjecture. All we know is that they have a past, and that Karai isn't completely against working with the turtles if it serves her interests. We also know that she holds honor--or her sense of what honor is--in high regard. Maybe we could work a lot of this stuff out in another prequel game that I would propose:

• The One Where the Turtles Meet Karai
  

ETA THE SECOND:

Repeatedly using the word "puppet" as a verb has made me feel dirty inside. I'ma go shower now.

[Karai]

Puppet....

We all know Casey secretly covets Karai. Who wouldn't? Sexy, kickass, ninja bitch or mild, ginger, antiques-dealer gal?

I think it'd be interesting to do a new turtles meet Karai thing. Very interesting indeed.

[Leonardo]

Uhm....I'm curious as to where you got the notion that April is "mild". Let's just hope she overlooks this little comment....

[Karai]

Allow me my bias.

[Raphael]

Yeah....I'm waiting for April to come at you, purse swinging.

[April O'Neil]

"YEAH. Okay, you guys know I hate it when you talk about me behind my back. And SECONDLY...I don't carry a purse!" April lifted up what looked like the offspring of a laptop case and a Honeywell fire safe. "I carry THIS. And I load it with ROCKS AND ANGER!" She cast a threatening look at Karai, although never in her wildest dreams would she be able to best the woman in a fight.

[Karai]

Rocks and anger. Truly never before has there been a weapon of such deadly potential. I might just have to purchase the copyright and start manufacturing it to be used exclusively by the Foot clan. The day the turtles fall to the might of a woman's purse is the day I give up being a part of the Foot clan and set up home in Hawaii.

[April O'Neil]

"Okay, so it's not deadly. It'll still take a few teeth out of that smart mouth of yours, missy!"

...

Sometimes, April doesn't choose the wise course of keeping her mouth shut.



Okay, most of the time.