TMNT and the Sai Drawing

I finally remade the drawing for the Sai, complete with Raphael of the Ninja Turtles. It's not as pretty as the one I posted originally with the blog, but it's one of my better drawings. Here's the drawing, and if you want to read up on the Sai, check out the original post on the Sai. I saved this one for the new release of the Ninja Turtles movie.

Art by TL Jeffcoat

There seems to be a lot of hostility towards Michael Bay and his version. After seeing the movie, all I can say is, he did not go with the Turtle Alien route, which was a huge relief to me, and although the movie didn't hold to a lot of the TMNT lore, it wasn't a horrible movie at all. It was a typical Bay movie with all of the high octane chaotic action sequences, blatant use of stereotyped characters, and the cardboard eye candy female character who has to be rescued by men throughout the movie. However, the silliness actually works well with the Ninja Turtle personalities, much better than it did with the Transformers, who generally have no personality.

Weapons & Warriors: The Sai of the Ninja

This is a very popular weapon around the world, only made more famous by its use in films such as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Xena, Daredevil and Elektra. Children everywhere became obsessed with the Sai after the red banded Raphael jumped onto the big screen, kicking butt with his half shell and his trusty pair of Sai.

Art by TL Jeffcoat

Like many of the weapons of the ninja, this was once a farming tool used in Okinawa. The weapon actually originated from a similar style of weapon in southern Asia, called a tjabang, which originated from the Indian trisula (trident). Contrary to what most people believe, the tip of the Sai is not sharp. It is actually a rounded smooth rod from tip to handle. The bottom of the handle is exposed steel and sometimes diamond shaped. The ninja often used the weapons backwards with the blades of the Sai running along their forearms to deflect attacks and then punched with the ends of the handles. The force of that kind of punch would probably be equivalent to being hit with brass knuckles.