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Since there's only one other fix-it fic with Baxter that I can find, I quite naturally keep comparing and contrasting theirs and mine. The one major difference that I'm thinking of now is how we each portray Baxter.
Theirs is probably closer to what's actually shown in canon in season 2: If you do something nice/helpful for Baxter, he will be endlessly grateful and loyal to you. Shredder busted him out of the insane asylum and Baxter seemed to idolize him for that (until he got fed-up with the abuse). In the fix-it fic, the Turtles deliberately try to help him become human again in the hopes that he will join them in their fight against Shredder. He is so grateful to them that he fully agrees. I admittedly didn't read the whole fic because I didn't want to end up unduly influenced by it into wanting to copy some of their ideas, but it looked like Baxter was immediately fine, no after-effects from the long cross-fusion or the increasing instability.
Mine almost seems to turn all the concepts in theirs on its head, but not deliberately. I started writing mine before I found theirs. Mine takes the increasing mental lapses into account and assumes that Baxter would be much more broken upon finally being free. It's taking him longer to figure out how to put his life back together and there are lingering fly-like impulses from the cross-fusion that he'll have to fight against, such as snatching fruit off April's table. He also turned himself human again, albeit Leonardo kind of helped when he knocked the retro-mutagen ray gun away from them and pointed it at Baxter instead. And while he's grateful to the Turtles for taking care of him during his delirium, he's been so beat-down by life and people by this point that he doesn't want to blindly pledge his loyalty to anyone just because they threw him a bone. Definitely darker than most of the 1987 series, but I felt it fit better with the way Baxter deteriorated during the cross-fusion.
Theirs also assumes that Baxter was the one who betrayed Barney, while I have it just the opposite. Technically, that could work either way, but I wanted it the way I did it because to me it felt more logical considering that Baxter wanted to be honest in season 1, whereas the sole time we see Barney, he's working for a crook. I'm assuming the differences in what they wanted out of life probably separated them, and I have it that Barney scoffed at Baxter wanting to be honest. Barney was the cynical one to start with. Theirs has it that Baxter left to make it on his own, I believe. And maybe he did if Barney didn't want to go honest with him, but their story sort of implied that Baxter was the one in the wrong for leaving. If what split them up was whether to go honest or not, then to follow canon it's more likely that Barney was in the wrong. Of course, on the other hand, maybe they both wanted to be honest at first and each went down criminal paths eventually. There's so little canon information on Barney that almost anything goes for their backstory.
I also mused on how Baxter and April have had some interesting interaction in my fic, while Baxter and Irma haven't even met yet. I still don't want any romance in the fic at all, but I ended up dreaming about a Baxter/April pairing. Only the creepy thing is, it was the 2003 Baxter. Um yeah. Evil unrepentant genius and April? So not happening. I don't really think April would ever be interested in the 1987 Baxter either, even one trying to turn his life around. At least not as anything other than a friend.
Then I wasn't sure the fic would end with the first invention Barney made for Shredder being defeated, as I had last planned. But if I decide to make this entire fic a "season" of the series, that could go on and on indefinitely and I really didn't want that, either. I wanted the fic as more of a "pilot" for a "season." I guess I'll have to decide on that when I get that far, though. Maybe it won't look like a good ending place and I'll need to keep going. I really hope that doesn't happen, though. The longer it is, the more it could scare people away. Plus, I always think about this long, long story about Fang the Sniper that someone wanted me to read, and oyyy, it just kept going on and on and on.... I think it got to 35 chapters eventually, and most of the events were honestly not connected to each other. The person could have easily split the multi-chapter off at an earlier point and wrote oneshots for the other stuff.
Theirs is probably closer to what's actually shown in canon in season 2: If you do something nice/helpful for Baxter, he will be endlessly grateful and loyal to you. Shredder busted him out of the insane asylum and Baxter seemed to idolize him for that (until he got fed-up with the abuse). In the fix-it fic, the Turtles deliberately try to help him become human again in the hopes that he will join them in their fight against Shredder. He is so grateful to them that he fully agrees. I admittedly didn't read the whole fic because I didn't want to end up unduly influenced by it into wanting to copy some of their ideas, but it looked like Baxter was immediately fine, no after-effects from the long cross-fusion or the increasing instability.
Mine almost seems to turn all the concepts in theirs on its head, but not deliberately. I started writing mine before I found theirs. Mine takes the increasing mental lapses into account and assumes that Baxter would be much more broken upon finally being free. It's taking him longer to figure out how to put his life back together and there are lingering fly-like impulses from the cross-fusion that he'll have to fight against, such as snatching fruit off April's table. He also turned himself human again, albeit Leonardo kind of helped when he knocked the retro-mutagen ray gun away from them and pointed it at Baxter instead. And while he's grateful to the Turtles for taking care of him during his delirium, he's been so beat-down by life and people by this point that he doesn't want to blindly pledge his loyalty to anyone just because they threw him a bone. Definitely darker than most of the 1987 series, but I felt it fit better with the way Baxter deteriorated during the cross-fusion.
Theirs also assumes that Baxter was the one who betrayed Barney, while I have it just the opposite. Technically, that could work either way, but I wanted it the way I did it because to me it felt more logical considering that Baxter wanted to be honest in season 1, whereas the sole time we see Barney, he's working for a crook. I'm assuming the differences in what they wanted out of life probably separated them, and I have it that Barney scoffed at Baxter wanting to be honest. Barney was the cynical one to start with. Theirs has it that Baxter left to make it on his own, I believe. And maybe he did if Barney didn't want to go honest with him, but their story sort of implied that Baxter was the one in the wrong for leaving. If what split them up was whether to go honest or not, then to follow canon it's more likely that Barney was in the wrong. Of course, on the other hand, maybe they both wanted to be honest at first and each went down criminal paths eventually. There's so little canon information on Barney that almost anything goes for their backstory.
I also mused on how Baxter and April have had some interesting interaction in my fic, while Baxter and Irma haven't even met yet. I still don't want any romance in the fic at all, but I ended up dreaming about a Baxter/April pairing. Only the creepy thing is, it was the 2003 Baxter. Um yeah. Evil unrepentant genius and April? So not happening. I don't really think April would ever be interested in the 1987 Baxter either, even one trying to turn his life around. At least not as anything other than a friend.
Then I wasn't sure the fic would end with the first invention Barney made for Shredder being defeated, as I had last planned. But if I decide to make this entire fic a "season" of the series, that could go on and on indefinitely and I really didn't want that, either. I wanted the fic as more of a "pilot" for a "season." I guess I'll have to decide on that when I get that far, though. Maybe it won't look like a good ending place and I'll need to keep going. I really hope that doesn't happen, though. The longer it is, the more it could scare people away. Plus, I always think about this long, long story about Fang the Sniper that someone wanted me to read, and oyyy, it just kept going on and on and on.... I think it got to 35 chapters eventually, and most of the events were honestly not connected to each other. The person could have easily split the multi-chapter off at an earlier point and wrote oneshots for the other stuff.
