god honest, ejen ali is my favourite local cartoon (other than boboiboy)
ejen ali is actually darker than you’d expect and the world building is fucking splendid. the character development is amazing and noticeable throughout the show and movie. the character designs are fucking phenomenal and the flavour of the weapon designs are *chef kiss*. the movie made me cry and the animation of it is absolutely stunning (i wonder if there’s an artbook, i would love one).
of course there’s some cliches here and there but overall it’s such a beautiful show to watch as both a kid and an adult now.
if there’s someone out there interested in malaysian animation, ejen ali is a good start. (puteri and boboiboy are close seconds)
AU where Leo is trapped in the Prison Dimension for months instead of minutes and the only way he gets by with his sanity intact is through recording himself talking to his wrist comm.
When they finally manage to get Leo back and make him rest up to heal, Donnie can’t help but listen to the recordings left behind.
He’s not sure what exactly he’s expecting, only that his subconscious is screaming at him that it has to be heartbreaking, that it has to be torturous.
Instead, what Donnie is subject to is a full thousand hours’ worth of Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu crossover fanfiction. More than one part in the series. Spanning well over a million words.
"did you ever have a moment
realizing you're loved?"
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this scene has been on my mind since the conception of LM. you'll see this scene and its context soon~ it just means a lot to me and is one i revisit a lot for comfort uwu✨️
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( 🌿 please do NOT repost, edit, trace, use, and/or sell 😴 )
The Cupid scene but it’s Leo’s crush on Jason getting outed with Nico as the witness. and then they bond over unrequited crushes on heroes with perfect girlfriends.
I'm tired of the Virtual Singers being the only ones who change from world to world. We barely know how Sekai actually work or how the kids magically teleport there. For all we know they could all be holograms upon entering the virtual world.
Let's get creative about it!
Imagine that upon entering Sekai the characters' bodies shift to fit in the world better, much like the virtual singers.
Imagine that, upon entering Wonderland Sekai, Tsukasa isn't only baffled by the presence of Hatsune Miku and talking plushies, but that he too has acquired some plushie-like stitches. Imagine that upon inviting Rui onto his stage, he actually begins to glow like a real star, no longer an illusion.
Imagine Mafuyu watching over the strings attached to her body like a marionette, only ever visible in this world, origin known a little too well. Soon enough Miku and other virtual singers join her, the Kagamines gingerly playing with the strings. She ignores them, the presence makes her ice grow warmer.
Imagine Kohane, mesmerized, looking upon the graffiti-like markings painted all over her, glowing vividly even through the darkest nights. Each song, each victory, creates a newer composition. All her teammates have similar ones, all resembling Vivid Street's own graffiti. After all, aren't they one and the same with the street that shaped them?
Imagine Minori vehemently retelling Miku how the little wings behind her back made her jump higher than usual during today's practice, how they grow bigger and bigger each time More More Jump reaches another person. Miku listens intently.
Imagine Ichika slowly guiding her friends' hands while they trace the blue constellations staining her back, scars of heartbreaks and whatnot, lessons learnt the hard way. They decide to show theirs too, all radiant colours of the night sky and ever-glowling stars. They hold each other close. They all know better now.
his anger manifests in the form of self-sabotage and self harm. he asks donnie to sound proof his room when they get to the new lair so he can wreck it without concerning everyone else. before that he'd sneak to the surface and wreck an already messy alleyway
his self harm is recklessness. he gets hurt in fights as much as he can and still get away with just a "please be more careful" lecture from raph
speaking of raph, his oldest brother is his favorite person. so when raph starts to brush him to the side and distrust him, he doesnt take it well. when he does something to impress raph and all he gets is "finally..." thats when he disappears for hours and comes back home with sore arms and usually some scrapes and many bruises
he becomes a medic because they can't ignore him if he helps them. plus he can get better at hiding his breakdowns if he can take care of his own injuries
he wants to be in the spotlight so bad until the spotlight shines on him and suddenly his skin fits wrong
splinter and raph brush it off as teenage hormones. donnie shuts it out. mikey is the first person to realize leo's moods aren't normal, but he doesnt want to confront the fact the bpd comes from trauma, so he tries to support leo as best he can
april doesnt realize how much leo's mood shifts until she spends a night in the lair and realizes that leo isn't as hyper as he presents himself. he tries to mask, but he's too tired and the sudden silence from leo throws april off. it creates a rift between them. even when leo is happier around april, she knows somethings wrong- knows its not quite as genuine as she thought.
she spends more time around donnie than leo and leo thinks its for the best. eventually all his brothers- all his family prefer spending time with someone thats not him. he tells himself its for the better- the less time they spend around him, the less likely he'll be upset around them and end up making them upset
leo convinces himself he's meant to be alone and puts his all into being the team medic and spends the rest of his time alone and dissociating. he hates being the leader- having everyones eyes on him all the time. watching him. waiting for him to mess up- to act out- to prove they were right not to trust him
wakasa throws the “i’m sorry ms. imaushi” or “so sorry mama” whenever you’re mad at him and it works, the little shit knows that as soon as he says either of those things you’re no longer mad at him i hate him so much
wakasa has such a grip on you and he fucking knows it. ugh.
he won't even be phased by you when you get all up in his face shouting and calling him names. he'll just stand there smirking at you because the only thing he can focus on is how god damn pretty you look when you're angry
shit, sometimes, he pisses you off just to see you all hot and bothered like this -- eyes pointed and brows drawn, accusatory finger pointed at his chest.
he's already thinking of the 30 different positions he would have you in right fucking now if he could -- god, he just wants to fuck that little attitude right out of you. (yes, I head canon that waka is a brat tamer and no one can tell me otherwise.)
"Are you even fucking listening?" You would ask.
"Mhm," he would say, but he would never want you to feel like he didn't care about what you have to say, so he would add, "I'm listening, mama, keep going."
you hope he doesn't catch the way you stammer as you continue your ramble. he does -- and his smirk only widens at it.
he knows you could never stay mad at him.
when he decides he's had his fun, he'll slide his arm around you, lips dripping with those sweet nothings he knows you love to hear.
"I'm sorry, mama," He croons softly, pressing a kiss to your cheek. "I won't do it again."
he knows you're not really that angry at him. Rather, that you're angry at a situation and you want to be heard by him.
"Promise?" you would ask him.
"'Course, mama," he adds. "don't want my future wife crying' over something I did. y'er too damn pretty. ain't that right, mrs. imaushi?"
then your gaze would soften, your anger would weaken, and he would know he had won. he knew he had your pretty ass wrapped around his finger. no one else could handle his princess the way he could.
So as you guys know, one occurring phrase in the show between the boys and April is “This whole situation.” Although vague, and used in many other contexts, sometimes the family uses the phrase to refer to their mutations.
However, once finishing the series it’s hard to miss that Donnie never says the phrase. Now, I could be wrong (and If I am, just comment and let me know!) but I have a theory as to why Donnie doesn’t say it…
Donnie never says “this whole situation” because in his mind, there IS no situation.
The Evidence:
I started noticing something interesting about Donnie’s state of mind about himself.
He never really expresses that he’s different from other people, he’s just…him. Obviously, he knows that he’s a mutant, but it’s not something at the front of his mind. I associate it to if someone has a certain attribute, that person is just that, a person first. I believe it’s the same for Donnie. He’s a person, that just so happens to be a mutant turtle, and I live for it.
What made me solidify my theory was the use of disguises in Rise, specifically the use of disguises in April’s school.
All of the boys have visited April’s school, and all of them decided to wear disguises, except Donnie.
He just shows up in his regular clothing. One could argue that the hoodie is his disguise, but then why did the rest of the boys wear actual (silly) disguises while our boy Donnie is just like, “Hoodie? Check.” And not only that, but for the whole episode, all eyes are on him, and he just. Doesn’t. Care. It’s glorious!
Later, in the episode Donnie vs. Witch Town, we see that Donnie showing up all willy-nilly pell-mell at April’s school was not a one-time thing. It’s literally been happening for years!
Therefore, I believe that canonically Donnie doesn’t care about “this whole situation.” And if someone does, as far as he’s concerned that’s their problem, not his.
Love when people play with the idea that one of Leo’s katana could have accidentally been left in the Prison Dimension and furthermore I love when that idea has Consequences™️.
Oh a chunk of your soul is in a place nothing can escape unless by means of ripping a hole through dimensions? Good luck with that.
Imagine Leo doesn’t realize it at first, and just assumes that this off, empty feeling is just “depression kicking it up a notch haha.” Later, he thinks it’s “probably just the ✨trauma✨, that’s what Mikey’s pamphlet said, I guess.”
And then, his body heals, and the brothers go out on the first mission they’d had in a while.
Leo goes to teleport and-
He’d never known what the in-between state of teleportation felt like until then. Seeing the world in a state of everything and nothing, simultaneously. To witness reality as a mass of molecules, just an infinite well of things put together to make a whole, and he, too, is broken into pieces yet he feels it all. He doesn’t know what’s happening, and it doesn’t really hurt but it’s-
In a blink, he’s at his katana, his teleport successful.
if they ever make a hoo series i will spontaneously combust bc i know the luke castellan pandemic will happen w leo. like you guys don’t get it. i’ve been in love with leo valdez since i was NINE years old. he was the first man i ever gatekept. if a hoo series comes out it’ll def be in a good few years which means that at that point leo has been my babygirl for over a DECADEEEE like you guys will genuinely not get it.