I Have. Mixed Feelings About 2012 Don But I Love Him When He Has Good Moments - Tumblr Posts

!!!!!

SO!

2012 TMNT… I have some words~

I figured I might as well make a post on tumblr about it since my analysis might interest a few people who are into fight sequences and action like I am or starting out animators…

FIRST OFF: THE FIGHTING IN TMNT 2012 IS INCORRECT!!!

let me start off by saying I am only talking about season 1 rn because I haven’t seen anything beyond that yet but from what I could see there were many glaring issues.

now, 3D animation has it’s limitations and that’s understandable. HOWEVER, you would think a show centered around fighting and martial arts would do a bit more research on the subject when animating 3D models doing said actions.

I’ll talk about one of the most glaring issues I saw: Donnie isn’t using his bo staff correctly in several shots

Now, I can somewhat excuse this because it’s early animation and the first season’s of any show tend to be a bit off with how they animate… but what they kept doing with him was so basic it was irritating.

1. He’s not holding his staff right.

When wielding a bo staff, there are specific positions you should always hold it at. Narrow, normal (3rds) or wide. Donnie seems to always hold his staff at the wide stance or normal stance for the most part but several times he’s swung his staff like a baseball bat and YOU NEVER DO THAT!!!

Holding a Bo staff like a bat is unstable and prone to be knocked out of the user’s hands. you loose your balance that way and it’s not something a proficient bo staff wielder would do! The ONLY time you would do that is if you were sweeping someone’s feet so they fall, never for a mid shot to the body.

It’s either the storyboard artist didn’t know how to plan out his attacks correctly or the writers didn’t do enough research and used that hand hold as an excuse to make Donnie go down easier… which is stupid.

(ALSO NEVER HOLD A STAFF WITH A BLADE LIKE THIS YOU SHOULD POSITION YOUR HAND UNDER SO YOU DON”T ACCIDENTALLY CUT YOURSELF!!!)

2. DONNIE USING AN OVERHEAD ATTACK IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA!!!

an overhead attack with ANY weapon is risky unless your opponent is prone or incapacitated. the fact that I’ve seen them animate Donnie doing that move so often is irritating enough but its even MORE infuriating because he USES IT AS HIS FIRST ATTACK AND GETS KNOCKED OUT OF THE AIR IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Donnie should be very well versed in his bo staff to know that that kind of attack is never a good idea! He’s literally supposed to be smarter than that but they keep animating him doing stupid mistakes that a beginner would constantly make!

3. Donnie hardly uses actual bo staff attacks

Sure it’s cool to see Donnie spin his bo staff around all over the place but you never use a spin in combat unless your winding up a strike. He uses it so often it literally bugs the shit out of me. You want a good example of proper bo staff form? LOOK AT DONNIE FROM RISE IN THE FIRST EPISODE AGAINST DRAXUM!

you’re supposed to use thrusts, swift movements, blocks, and in general your form should always be stable. you tend to hit your shoulders a lot with a bo staff and the fact that I’ve barely seen 2012 Donnie use literally beginner level moves….. It irritates me so much because it doesnt show off how versitile the bo staff is and how deadly it can actually be.

Just cause a weapon doesnt have a blade, doesnt mean it wont be effective against an opponent. in my opinion, its better to have a solid framework for a weapon rather than a blade, because its better to know how to block and use your opponents equilibrium against them instead of cutting them up…

Anyway my Martial Arts rant is done for now… if you guys want to hear more stuff like this from me I will gladly do so