In retrospect, LARGE swaths of this event don't really make ANY sense unless you're pretty familiar with the Archie run. They technically introduce the ideas in here, but it only really means anything if you know different things are 100% a reference to those old comics.
The Fake Turtles were a completely wasted tease. They didn't really mean anything in the end.
The Pantheon didn't deserve to go out like that. I was REALLY hoping for a more epic story with these guys. They've been building them up for YEARS...and then they get taken out in one issue...BOO! And the art is...a little hard to parse at times. I guess Chi-You blew them all up...while they were trapped inside a sun?
MAN the stuff with the Four Winds coming back...REALLY happened in the background, didn't it? It feels like they WANTED this to be a big moment...but it happening off screen was a weird choice. With Shredder ruling a alien planet, though, we COULD see that tie up in a pretty fun "Shredder...IN SPACE!" miniseries.
And then there's the Future Shark in the room. I guess Armaggon is coming...later? I expected them to do more with the Time-Shark, the way they were building him up. It's weird he was even introduced in this story, in retrospect.
Metalhead coming back is...okay. I'm not against it, but I'm not hyped, either.
So, yeah, this event was a complete jumble. I was waiting to see if it managed to tie everything together at the end, but they didn't manage to do that. It feels like this was just Tom Waltz using what notes he had left for the comic, before he handed it over completely to Sophie.
I did finally get to read that issue I was saving for half a month, though! It was...more Mutant Town. The characters fighting with each other almost sounds like it could be a behind-the-scenes look at where the writers and owners want to take the comic going forward, though. I wonder how meta that fight was? Raphael getting arrested by the cops is a visual, though. What is WITH characters ending up in prison right now, though? Goliath over in the Gargoyles comic is arrested, and now Raph! The cops are coming for our childhoods!