"Shellshock" takes on a whole new meaning.
A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fancomic with a Darker and Edgier story, in many ways closer to the original comics than the cartoons, started in 2004 by an aspiring artist known going by the name of Tigerfog. The entire comic can be found on Tigerfog's DeviantArt page
, or its own fan wiki.
The story begins when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were indeed teenagers. Master Splinter receives a package from an unknown sender, but leaves it hidden as he teaches Leonardo an old technique. As this happens, the ever-curious Michelangelo recruits Raphael so they could find out what Splinter received. They both find an old, broken katana and, from then on, certain characters begin to act strangely out-of-character. The conclusion of the Prologue leaves the four brothers psychologically traumatized.
Cut to seventeen years later, when the Ninja Turtles are adults. A mysterious fifth turtle shows up on the news, causing the older Raphael and Donatello to resurface once more in an attempt to recruit them. However, the fifth turtle, whom Raphael names Renoir, knows nothing about how he became a turtle. All he remembers are his memories as a human named Augustus Amherst. Despite this, Raphael takes Renoir under his wing, making Renoir his student and establishing the set-up of the main story.
As of 2018, the webcomic is on hiatus and it has not been updated since.
This comic provides examples of:
- Animesque: MNT Gaiden is drawn in a shounen manga art style.
- Anyone Can Die: Master Splinter's Heroic Sacrifice was merely the first death, and death is a serious threat that hangs over everyone.
- Art Evolution: There's a considerable jump in the artists skill between the prologue and Chapter 1.
- Art Shift: A rather jarring one during chapter 20. Pages 2-9 are drawn in a radically different art style than the rest of the comic. It looks more fluid and cartoony while loosing a lot of detail, minus shading. Both Raph and Leo are slimmed down and look like they could be teens again. In fact, you wouldn't be blamed if you thought it was a flashback despite Leo's kimono and Raph's scars and eye-patch. It then switches back to its usual, more detailed style on Page 10. It's almost like the author decided to switch styles but changed his mind before he even finished the chapter.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Donatello in the prologue.
- But Thou Must!: Leonardo being forced to allow Karai and her Foot ninjas to assassinate the Morinagas to prevent the Yamata-no-Orochi from being reborn.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The whole point of the prologue. And chapter 17 could very well be a new one...
- Character Development: By serving as Renoir's mentor, Raphael is slowly brought out of his self destructive behavior and finally starts to overcome the trauma of the past.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Renoir. He steals Shadow's panties, but according to Davianna, he would not kiss her before she turned 18 even if she *asked* him to.
- Comedic Sociopathy: The Bakabakashii comic is made of this.
- Corner of Woe: In the Bakabakashii (4KOMA) comic, Mona Lisa and 80s Mikey go through this.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: This is the driving force behind the plot; the cast didn't die they were just left mentally scarred.
- Darker and Edgier: Tigerfog's MNT Gaiden universe is loosely based off the original TMNT comic book universe.
- Demonic Possession: Yamato-no-Orochi to the Totsuka left behind by Susano'o, which became the source of the Curse.
- Dirty Business: The Foot Clan have been killing the Morinaga bloodline to prevent the return of Yamata no Orochi because an ancestor failed to completely exorcise the demon from himself, thus every member of his bloodline contains part of the curse. Even the Foot consider this a Necessary Evil with many of the killers of entire families being Driven to Suicide over their actions. Worst part? Leonardo is helping them do it.
- Dysfunctional Family: The MNT after the events in the prologue...could ya really blame 'em.
- Eye Scream: Raphael, Renoir, and now Tony.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Foot Commander stops one of his underlings from raping Davianna because such acts are beneath them. Subverted when it turns out this is because the Foot Ninja should focus on the needs of the Clan over their own desires, and not out of any concern for her.
- Played straight with the Foot Ninjas involved with killing the Morinaga descendants being driven to despair over murdering innocent families, often to the point of ending their own lives.
- Evil Weapon: The katana from the beginning of the story. As soon as the turtles touched it, they fell under its dark power and tried to kill each other, forcing Master Splinter's Heroic Sacrifice. The katana was Totsuka, the original sword of the god Susano'o who abandoned it for the Kusanagi. The soul of Yamato-no-Orochi latched onto the sword, turning it into a force of corruption.
- Flashback: The prologue takes place seventeen years before the main plot.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Sound effects and action effects are represented by Japanese symbols, rather than English onomatopoeia. For example.
- Harmful to Minors: Kids are not exposed to violence here... they're SUBJECTED to it.
- Shadow almost drowned twice. First when she was a kid, then as a plan of the Foot Clan to lure and kill Michelangelo. And before that, she got a VERY ugly beating from a ninja she kicked in the groin.
- Her best friend Davianna was also kidnapped. She had to watch Shadow being punished, and then she was almost raped.
- Being the newest turtle, Renoir is in the line of fire. And that meant losing his eye and falling from a building, after a scrape with a ninja. Good thing he could heal...
- Maybe Augustus was transformed into Renoir, maybe not. Either case, there is no way this could have been pleasant to him...
- Maybe Augustus was transformed into Renoir, maybe not. Either case, there is no way this
- Carole Amherst was taken hostage by Donatello, of all turtles, when he was being chased by police, and ended up in hospital.
- Chapter 18 introduced (HUGE SPOILERS) a young, cloned turtle made by Donatello as a test to clone Splinter. His main uses for him? Guinea pig and punching bag.
- Honorary Uncle: The MNT are all uncles to Shadow.
- Information Wants to Be Free: A reporter is upset after receiving word that she needs to report the mysterious deaths done by Foot ninjas as emigrations abroad. She is pissed out and leaves in protest while the cameras are rolling, saying that the deaths are done because of a conspiracy.
- Mysterious Past: Davianna; possibly Renoir. If Renoir is Augusts Amherst then his past would be less mysterious.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mike comforting and reassuring Donatello, unaware that Donatello wants said reassurance because he's doubtful about his crazy-ass plans.
- Official Couple: April and Casey. Over a decade later and they're married and have a daughter.
- Off with His Head!: Decapitation is very frequent in this series.
- Playing with Syringes: Donatello.
- Poor Communication Kills: The prologue revolves around this.
- Pure Is Not Good: Oroku Saki, the Shredder, was one of the only people immune to Orochi's curse because he was already pure evil.
- Sanity Slippage: Donatello, still under the influence of Orochi's curse, has become a full blown Mad Scientist guided by what he thinks is the voice of Master Splinter in his head.
- Science Is Bad: Genetic sciences have only caused harm in the comics, from the turtle creature that murdered a high school boy to Donatello's cloning experiments while under the influence of the Curse of Orochi. Donny's clones are used for him to abuse as he practices to create a clone of Master Splinter as a Replacement Goldfish.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Holy crap. If your only experience with the Turtles is that goofy cartoon series you watched when you were six, with defanged baddies and wise-crackin' youngsters, you are not gonna be prepared for the level of violence and gore this piece dishes out. As for the statement this makes about the world, check out this page directly contrasting the idealism of a child with the psychotic actions we've just witnessed from one of the "heroes".People like that are called heroes, right? And heroes, they don't do bad things, right?
- Take That!: This Kakabakashii delivers jabs at the 1987 incarnation of Michelangelo, particularly having his nunchucks replaced with a grappling hook in the show's later episodes and speaking like a California surfer.
- Time Skip: To a time where the turtles are in their mid-30s.
- Wham Episode: Orignally Chapter 17, but was split into three chapters (17, 18, 19) due to its size. Now Chapter 18 is the aforementioned Wham Episode.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Renoir tells off Nobody for allowing him to enter his home and possibly endanger his sister on the grounds that if Renoir did attack his family, Nobody would know for certain that he was still a feral mutant and put him down.
