The Last Ronin has been revealed by all already whether you were ready or not.
Welcome back, everybody! Well if you wanted it or not every geeky news source has already revealed to you the Identity of The Last Ronin. We come to find out The last surviving turtle is none other than Michelangelo! Hey to all the wrong guesses you had a 1/4 chance of being right. Our fun-loving goofball is all that’s left of the turtle family and is done playing games.
Instead of telling you my thoughts of the issue you can click below to check out the non-spoiler review. And what I will do is tell you why its great that it was Mikey, but also tell you how awesome it could have been if it was any of the others.
The Last Ronin is a story we all fantasized about but knew the cost of seeing it happen.
Click Here to check out review
Like I mentioned in the review the concept is a great one when thinking of this family of mutant turtles. As sad as you can feel for each of their loss, The Last Ronin could have worked for any of them individually while providing a different mindset on their revenge.
Let’s start with Donatello. This genius-level turtle has always used his smarts to contribute to his family. On many occasions, he would rely too much on his inventions and potentially causes disaster for them. Now imagine he was the Last Ronin. He would probably snap from knowing no matter all his intellect there wasn’t one thing he could do that was able to save his brothers. No invention or his ninja skills would have been enough at that time. Not to mention that he’s played the geek role for the brothers all the while. So making him seek revenge would be a fun read. Our tale would be slightly different if he was the sole survivor conflicted with failure and loss that there’s no getting them back! And all he sees that he can do is plan for revenge and not worry about his own safety.
Leonardo would have been a good fit for this role. The eldest, the protector, and the leader of this band of brothers. Leo has prided himself on his ninja ability and a cool head when for every mission Splinter sent them on. Finding out if he was the last one standing wouldn’t be much of a stretch with his skills, but then it makes for a compelling story. When a captain couldn’t keep his team alive is one of the hardest scenarios anyone would have to go through, now add in the flavor that you couldn’t save your brothers! Oh man, the guilt he would have felt from that point on. It’s easy to see he would then learn as much as possible about his enemy and wait for the best possible moment to strike.
When it comes to revenge, blind rage, and half-baked plans Raphael always comes to mind. This turtle would have been the sure-fire winner of who it would be if we would be choosing the story on brand. And not to say his Raph’s passion for the fight would make him the obvious choice. But it’s the potential that our resident hot-head would quickly blame himself for the fate his brothers faced. Not being strong enough, smart enough, fast enough. He would make sure to pummel himself into the ground for not being good enough at their time of need, and not being worthy enough to have passed on that day too. Raphael would have been the definition of survivors’ guilt and would have been a fun read as well.
Moving on to our “winner” this lovable turtle was definitely a favorite for the last turtle. Michelangelo being the Last Ronin is a total off-character choice and that’s what makes it amazing! He’s our comic relief, the heart of the team, little brother. I said through the story there are glimpses of each turtle in the mannerisms Last Ronin had. But knowing it was Mikey makes this even crazier. This is the turtle that’s a priority at each moment is to have fun and eat pizza.
This creates a story with a ton of opportunity for character growth and mindset. He feels he couldn’t do enough because of his early days, always goofing off and never taking it all seriously. He thought he was invincible, especially with his brothers around. It also safe to say it makes sense that he would regularly have conversations with his lost brothers because he’s lonely and can’t let them go, he still needs them to grow and feel safe. Seeing him less chatty and more stabby, stabby is something we would expect from Raphael. The change in morals and skill shows he has taken time to train and break his past faults to do what needs to be done. I totally can envision a scene of the brothers all sacrificing themselves one by one to save their little brother and that is heartbreaking.
Personally, I’m not angry at all with Eastman’s choice, but I kind of wish they waited for an issue or so to reveal it. Just to build some suspense and create more of a tone for the story. But that’s my opinion, I also think this is a trick. And April in her old age can’t tell which one it is which would be funny and build to the mystery. All in all, it is a fine story and no matter the direction the people all want more.
What did you all think about the reveal? Are you happy with the survivor, surprised, or disappointed it wasn’t the one you wanted? Let us know in the comments!
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