Application

[sureisaguy]

Player Information:
Name: Otana
Age: Old enough to buy my own booze
Contact: flingintoalake @ AIM, revotana @ Gmail
Game Cast: N/A

Character Information:
Name: Michelangelo (AKA Mikey, Mike, Dr. Prankenstein, Dr. Flipenstein, Shell-Brain, Shut Up Already, Don't Touch That, Put It Down You Don't Know Where It's Been, etc)
Canon: TMNT 2012
Canon Point: S1E21 Karai's Vendetta, when the turtles get back to the lair but before meeting up with April again
Age: 15; all the turtles are 15 in this series, but Michelangelo is once again considered (and treated as) the youngest, though likely only by a matter of minutes
Reference: BOOYAKASHA! The spelling's a little wonky, but this is a really good, in-depth guide.

Setting: Michelangelo and his family live in New York City in the sewers beneath Chinatown. It's a whole lot like the NYC we all know and love, except for in the numerous places it's extremely different. Helpful, isn't it?

Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)! The Kraang are a species of aliens that look like brains with tentacles, from a place known as Dimension X. They came to the turtles' world (a world very similar to ours) and brought with them a strange, goopy chemical known as mutagen, which mutates any organism it touches, changing them into a mixture of their own DNA and the properties of the last creature they touched.

Hamato Yoshi was a Japanese ninjutsu master who had a wife and daughter that he adored. Rivalry for the affections of his wife blossomed into a bloody challenge from Oroku Saki, and when Yoshi's home was burned down, his wife killed and his daughter abducted, he relocated to America. Once there, he adopted four pet turtles and was carrying them home when he accidentally stumbled upon a group of androids disguised as humans, being controlled by Kraang aliens in their torsos. He and the turtles were splashed with mutagen; as the turtles were handled by the pet store clerk they become half-human, and as Yoshi brushed against a rat on his way into the alley, he became half-rat.

Understanding that they wouldn't be readily accepted by the world at large, Yoshi renamed himself Splinter and took the baby turtles down to the sewers beneath China Town, where they lived and trained in ninjutsu for fifteen years in seclusion. Splinter gave them each their own weapon specialty and also made sure they were well versed in the use of kunai, shuriken and other weapons so that they would be able to defend themselves in a world that would likely reject them fiercely. On their fifteenth Mutation Day, they begged Splinter to let them go topside and he reluctantly agreed.

While exploring the city, they come across April O'Neill and her scientist father, two humans kidnapped right in front of their eyes by the Kraang and a human cohort called Snake, who spills his guts and tells them everything he knows with a little light persuasion. This information enables them to rescue April, but not her father. Once she gets over her shock, April becomes a valuable ally to the turtles, eventually training under Splinter to become a kunoichi (female ninja) using a tessen, a beautiful fan made of razor-sharp metal. April is incredibly smart, fearless, capable and a good friend for the boys, especially Donatello who has a crush on her the size of Leonardo's ego.

Along with April, another of the turtles' allies includes Leatherhead, a pet alligator flushed down the toilet and found in the sewers by the Kraang, taken to Dimension X and mutated into an enormous creature. He has pretty severe PTSD and absolutely freaks out at the slightest provocation, but Michelangelo saw straight through that and insisted that they give him a chance (even giving Leatherhead his name). Sure enough, Leatherhead responded well to Mikey's gentle naivety and innocence and did his best to keep his temper under control. Sadly, he sacrificed himself by dragging the monster Traag through a portal to Dimension X to prevent him from destroying New York and is presumably trapped there.

April introduces the boys to a local Japanese restaurant whose owner is a kindly old blind man called Murakami. They save him from being shoved around by the Purple Dragons gang (more on them later), and in return he cooks them pizza gyoza. He reveals that he is quite aware of them being mutant turtles and doesn't care because they saved his life several times (Mikey's impressive stink was one way he figured it out).

Now, as far as antagonists go, the turtles have many. Their main foe is The Shredder, AKA Oroku Saki. He still considers Hamato Yoshi an arch rival, and having been badly burned in the fire that destroyed Yoshi's home and family pursues him through New York relentlessly. His subordinates include Xever (a Brazilian street urchin rescued by Shredder), Chris Bradford (a martial arts expert modeled heavily on Chuck Norris), Baxter Stockman (a slightly nutty scientist who would really rather be his own master and resents Shredder's control), the Foot Clan (an army of ninjas) and Karai (his daughter).

Ah, Chris Bradford. One of Mikey's heroes. At least, he was. A well-respected martial artist, he responds positively to Mikey's social media friend request, not realizing that this would confuse Mikey into thinking that they were suddenly best friends and that Bradford (or Rad Brad as Mike calls him) would accept his mutation. He does, but only because he realizes he can use Mike's innocence and stupidity to lead him to his brothers. He agrees to teach Mikey his Death Dragon kata as a peace offering under the condition that he keep it a secret, so naturally Mikey shows his brothers the moment he gets home. Mercifully, Splinter sees them practicing the kata and explains that it's one of the Shredder's moves. Bradford brings Xever and a dozen Foot with him to trail the turtles, but they're soundly whipped by the brothers' ingenuity and ability to work together. Dejected after finding out his hero only used him, Mikey gets a reassuring pep-talk from Raphael and soon gets over it (he's nothing if not resilient).

As for Karai, it seems pretty undeniable that she is actually Miwa, Yoshi's daughter (she introduces herself to April under a fake name "Harmony", which is the translation of Miwa) however none of the characters (except perhaps The Shredder) are aware of this yet and it hasn't been highlighted canonically. Either way, she is incredibly loyal to The Shredder and while she does have something of a fondness for Leonardo and his puppy crush on her, she would sell them out in an instant if it came down to it. She even went out of her way to drag a half-destroyed Kraang bot complete with internal alien to convince her adoptive father that something worth paying attention to was going on.

The Purple Dragons are a gang that rules Chinatown, shaking down businesses for protection money. They will occasionally cooperate with Xever and Bradford when it's to their benefit, but have also helped the turtles out of gratitude for showing them mercy, so while they are technically bad guys, they're not likely to go picking fights with the turtles if they can help it.

Probably the biggest difference between our world and theirs is the effects that mutagen has on the people of NYC. Yoshi and the turtles were not the first and definitely not the last to be mutated, accidentally or not, and the list only gets longer the closer they get to the Kraang's secrets. Xever was mutated into a fish-man (nicknamed Fishface by Mikey), Bradford into a giant dog-like creature (Dogpound), Snake into a giant living plant (Snakeweed), Vic was an average New Yorker who got turned into a spiderlike creature (Spider Bytez) and Pete was a pigeon mutated into a half-human by Shredder. Dr. Victor Falco and Dr. Tyler Rockwell were also affected when performing experiments on mutagen and neuro-chemicals. Rockwell was changed into a monkey with psychic abilities by Falco, who then took the mixture himself and gained the same powers while retaining his humanity. Later, Falco becomes splattered with his experimental mixture and becomes able to communicate telepathically with his lab rats, changing his name to the Rat King.

Iiiii think that's about it! Other than the mutants, ninjas, aliens and amazing technology, it's a lot like our NYC!

Personality: Meet Mikey:

Mikey is characterized as the fun brother, the silly one, the goofy one, the lazy one, the innocent one, the stupid one and the baby. He can be seen skateboarding around the sewers even when Splinter has forbidden it and is frequently sitting in the background while Leo watches TV, settled happily on his beanbag reading comics or playing handheld video games. His catchphrase is "BOOKAYASHA", rather than the "cowabunga" battle cry he used in his 80s and 2K3 incarnations.

He's incredibly proud of the fact that he names all their enemies and technical equipment (including such thrillingly original names as the T-Phone and T-Pod) and is generally pretty enthusiastic and excited about their missions. He's very, very talented when it comes to ninjutsu and his ability to fight without thinking makes him excellent at adapting to his enemy at the drop of a hat, naturally picking up new moves and combos faster than his brothers. He even learned the complex and infamous Death Dragon kata in just an afternoon and was able to teach it to his brothers perfectly.

Unfortunately for all his talent, he is incredibly lazy. When sparring with his brothers, he taps out pretty quickly and has a habit of giving in when really he could have won if he'd put in a little more effort. So while he's got a lot of skill, he also has a terrible habit of letting it go to waste. He and Donnie are dismissively referred to as "The B-Team" by Leo and Raph, since they are the weakest brothers (comparably), though they prove they have their own worth in battle. He also tends to flaunt his occasional wins in the most obnoxious way, taunting his brothers and rubbing his victory in (which usually ends with him getting his ass kicked again).

As the youngest turtle, Mikey is also the smallest, most childlike and most naively optimistic of the brothers. Leo and Raph don't exactly encourage him to change; as much as they complain, they really do enjoy fussing over him (when he's not being an annoying little brat) and go out of their way to protect him, especially Raphael. Donnie gives the impression that he wishes Mike would retain his science lectures, but he seems somewhat resigned that it will never happen at this point. Michelangelo's innocence really shines when first talking to Leatherhead; when they first encountered the hulking beast, he grabbed Donatello by the head and shook him around until the others could subdue him. Yet when Mikey sat down to talk to him later, he honestly thought Leatherhead had meant to shake his hand and got his head instead.

It should also be noted that Michelangelo is the only brother that Splinter would never have considered as leader of the brothers, admitting that "that would be wrong". Mikey follows orders mostly without question; when Raphael was left in charge and Leo was absent, Mike continued to use the same failing attack over and over just because his brother said it was the right thing to do. It ended up with him getting a serious head injury, but if the clock rewound he'd probably do it all over again.

Mikey genuinely believes that the turtles can be friends with humans if they just got the chance to know them, and his brothers chide him for being so stupid as to think they could be accepted; it's harsh, but they just want to protect him from the cruelty of the world at large. Time and time again they're proven right, but Mike doesn't give in; he keeps trying until he finds someone who'll accept him, like gentle old Murakami. Making friends in Tu Shanshu (especially superheroes!) will make him a very, very happy turtle.

Mikey is... not the sharpest tool in the shed. He tries (occasionally), but mostly he's happy to just go on in his own little world. The others try to explain things to him, but generally it's easier to tell him "we're breaking into the lab because he's a bad guy" than "we're breaking into the lab because of the genetic experiments being conducted and combined with this particular genetic sequence will result in catastrophic blah blah". He has also named all of his toes (Stubby, Joey Nails and the Stinky Triplets are a few of them) and this is common enough knowledge that even Raphael knows which one is which.

That said, he is somewhat self-aware, protesting when his brothers rib him too much for saying the wrong thing, or misunderstand him and dismiss him outright. When Raphael chastises him for celebrating victory before they've actually won, Mikey explains with frustration that he thought they had already won. Essentially, Mike has his own logic for how and why to do things and while it may seem ridiculous or unnecessary to his brothers, it's not always as useless as they think. Splinter seems to understand this, showing remarkable patience for Michelangelo and asking his reasoning during training.

In summary, he has a very deep loyal streak and will defend innocents to the death, even if they aren't grateful for it and are terrified of his weird appearance. He's not too smart, his manners need some work and naïve sometimes seems like too subtle a word to use, but his talents are undeniable. It should also be noted that he adores pizza in a way that words cannot describe.

As for how Mike will react to being told about being in Tu Shanshu? He'll probably think it's incredibly cool at first, since despite it being intimidating and a little scary to think he's in an entirely different world, all these dealings with aliens and ninja clans and mutated creatures has taken most of the shock out of weird goings-on. However, it won't take long for it to sink in that he's far away from home and presumably his family, and that'll be his entire world until he finds his bros. He tends to adapt very quickly, even to something as startling as finding out he stuck somewhere in limbo, so while it may be a shock and take a few hours to process, he'll bounce back before many could even realize he was upset.

Appearance:

Mikey is the smallest, youngest and most wide-eyed of the turtles. He's a paler green than his brothers and wears an orange bandana with short, stubby tails. His shell is scratched and dinged up in places from fighting and training and he's reasonably well built compared to his brothers. Usually smiling and laughing, he's cheerful, approachable and very cute.

Abilities: Trained in ninjutsu since he was able to walk, Mikey is an incredibly accomplished martial artist and very, very fast; speed and adaptability are his advantage over his enemies. He's skilled with nunchaku, kusarigama, shuriken, kunai, smoke bombs and many other ninja weapons. He's also an avid skateboarder, performs parkour pretty much everywhere he goes, and is a reasonably accomplished cook, seen preparing ramen, omelets, shakes, worms and algae (before they discovered pizza), cakes and other foodstuffs for his family.

Inventory: Orange bandana, nunchaku with hidden kusarigama, knee and elbow pads and hand and feet wraps.

Suite: Wood, just to freak his brothers out since they won't be able to keep an eye on him. He also loves the idea of living in a real tree house. The more space he has, the more likely he is to create (or rather, whine until Donnie creates) a pretty kickass skate course; whether that's a good thing or the worst idea ever, I will let you decide.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person: Waking up? Was so not cool. Actually, it was pretty much the polar opposite of cool. It reminded Michelangelo of the times he fell asleep hanging upside down out of his beanbag chair after eating too much old squid and mayonnaise pizza, ending up dizzy and spaced out and a little nauseous when he got up, stumbling around the lair like a drunken frat boy until his brain came back online.

It was pretty clear right away though that this wasn't the lair, and the appearance of the kedan proved his point rather succinctly.

He'd like to say he retained everything they kedan told him, sitting with rapt attention and sensibly filing it all away to use when forming an escape plan. In reality though, he was way too excited about the fact that they weren't freaking out about him being a giant turtle to actually absorb the explanation, sitting with his feet together and gripping his ankles, rocking back and forth with wide-eyes and a huge grin.

True enough the kedan looked a little off to him in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on but hell, Mikey was a teenage mutant turtle that moonlighted as a ninja; who was he to judge based on appearances? He might even have hugged one of them, to their malodorous poor luck.

Mikey kept up a constant chatter on the long cart ride to Keeliai, completely ignoring the fact that kedan seemed to have stopped listening to him a long time ago. He excitedly pointed out interesting plants and small animals scurrying through the underbrush, and considering he grew up underground in the concrete jungle of New York, that meant he ended up highlighting almost every single example of flora and fauna that he saw.

This place was awesome, as far as Mikey was concerned.

Luckily for the kedan he'd thoroughly worn himself out by the time they reached his accommodations, so the brief settling in period was significantly less excitable and annoying than his arrival. His dwelling was amazing, carved out of a real tree and completely his own! No junk repurposed from dumpsters, no crappy old furniture and roaches skittering around.

But then it sank in for real, bringing with it an uncomfortable knot of dread in his stomach; Mikey was alone.

No brothers to hassle him, no father to chide him for his posture, no April to bring him new comic books.

Just Michelangelo, completely by himself in a place very, very far away from New York.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he chewed his lip and tugged at his hand-wrap until his gaze snagged on the computer. Maybe he could email Donnie, just to let him know he was okay and looking for a way home.

Then he'd write himself a personal note to never, ever eat day-old squid and mayo pizza ever again.

Network: [ The video feed loads and Mikey comes into view, frowning in concentration with his tongue sticking out. Computers are not his best subject. After about ten seconds he seems to realize that he's broadcasting and leans in, grabbing the console screen as if he can see everyone if he just gets close enough. ]

Uhhh... hello? This thing on?

[ He waves a two-fingered hand in front of the camera and sits back slightly. ]

So um, anyone know if this turtle gets DSL? 'Cause I gotta send a word back to my bros and I can't find the internet thingy on this computer.

[ Squinting at the console, a look of understanding dawns on his face. ]

Ohhhh what if I press--