Dreamer´s Universe

To start, I love both Cassandra and Junior and have used them in equal parts in Replica. Cassandra is such a great example of a female character that is both chaotic and hilarious, qualities normally saved for male characters who tend to have their female counterparts be more subdued or intelligent (even April falls into this habit with the boys). Cassandra is a fantastic character and it's a shame she was not given more time to shine in the series. A shortcoming of it being ended so quickly. I do not fault the fandom for not really knowing what to do with her since she's such a wild card who never really got her footing after a very rushed redemption arc. It's why I strive to show more of how she grew into adulthood in Replica where she still has that hint of chaos and swing of intensity, but in a more grounded and controlled sense. I've known a lot of Cassandras in my life and it's always interesting to see them grow into their own.

But we're here to talk about Junior. I LOVE Junior because he is everything I wouldn't expect a tough guy sent back from an apocalyptic future to be. It's interesting because by looking back at what Junior COULD have been, we get to understand better who he ended up becoming in the final version of the film. So let's do that first.

VERSION 1:

Originally in the early storyboards from the movie he was depicted as an older, hardened war hero. Very confident, very cool, very stereotypical in your face Casey Jones energy. This version would have worked... fine. But one thing I love about Rise is how it has always gone against the grain of what's normally expected of these characters and their previous depictions. Cassandra pulled this off beautifully and her son does this now in his own, special way. I'm especially glad he was nothing like a typical Casey Jones because then it REALLY would have felt like he was made simply to replace Cassandra and that she was simply a means to an end. So props on them for not going that route.

VERSION 2:

Then they decided to make him younger, more in line age-wise with the turtles. However, he initially had a strong desire to prove himself. You can see this in the cut movie opening where he's arguing with Future Leo about how he's ready to fight. I'll be honest I found this version of him annoying. He's a punk ass kid that Leo doesn't trust to handle missions on his own. It's only when EVERYONE dies that Leo finally allows him to go to the past because he's all they got left. Now while this story would have allowed Junior to have a more defined character arc, in the end we're not watching this movie for Junior. We're watching it for the turtles and THEIR story arc, so it makes sense why his attitude was toned down to be more of a supportive role rather than a leading role. But just because he doesn't have some obvious character development does not mean he is without character.

FINAL VERSION:

I'll be honest, Junior is one of the best additions to the Rise movie. Not because he steals the show, but because he is our one link to the future we are trying to avoid. He is the mouthpiece of Future Leo, echoing the wisdom of his sensei through time so that they might resonate with present day Leo and help jump start the young leader in a way that probably took his future self YEARS to learn.

I love how down to earth and realistic Junior is compared to the bombastic cast as well. It makes sense because in a post-apocalyptic world, being some badass hero isn't what keeps you alive. Instead it's learning to work together with your fellow survivors to support each other in troubled times. He's not trying to prove himself to anyone. The fact that he has survived this long already is proof in itself. He cares more about keeping everyone alive than looking cool. Junior exudes these lessons in a way his previous versions did not and they act as a wonderful foil to younger Leo. He is also a firm believer in his sensei and even though he is young he has proven himself to where future Leo has come to respect and depend upon him just as he would any super-powered adult.

Junior is caring, reliable, and is very skilled in handling emotional loss while keeping focused on the mission. A trait he was forced to learn in his timeline. However, he has never been in a role of leadership, and it shows with how quickly he is willing to follow younger Leo and the turtles into battle. He's never had to call the shots before on his own... it's a heavy burden to bear. However, he has more than enough sense to know when someone needs to be called out and he is all too willing to do that for Leo.

That scene where he tells off Leo is, in my opinion, the best and most poignant moment in the film and is not only the scene that made me fall in love with Junior but the movie as a whole. Junior is far more than a nice boy out of his element. He is someone who will call out people's bullshit, but only when he feels it is necessary... because he's still chill like that.

In fact, if anything he reminds me a lot of one of my other favorite characters that's also from the future whose difficult past never robbed him of his kindness and earnest heart who ALSO had a father figure that lost an arm.

Oops maybe I'm seeing a pattern in my favorites here.

REGARDLESS.

Now for your last batch of questions about TIME TRAVEL. It's a sticky subject that requires a lot of personal interpretation, but the way I see it is that Junior's doomed timeline still does exist (and is the reason why I created Replica in the first place). It wasn't like Back to the Future where he ceases to exist (which also doesn't make sense because if he ceases to exist he won't exist to help change the timeline).

I also am pretty sure he probably is not going to be born in this new timeline, so there won't ever be two of him running around. Even if by some miracle his parents hook up around the same time (or he's designed in a test tube or whatever your head canon of his birth is) there's no guarantee that what will be produced will be another little him. It'll probably be someone else entirely (more of a sibling than a clone). I do love the idea of Renet coming in to fix the anomaly and have considered that possibility in the past. It would lead to some interesting stories I'm sure!

Either way, Junior is now trapped in the good timeline scenario, which is in fact what I think Future Leo and Mikey wanted for Junior. He deserved to live a happy normal life, but what even is that for someone who never got the opportunity to live a normal life? That is the beauty of seeing where Junior can go from here. A poor kid with tons of PTSD who now lives in a world where he is not doomed or on edge 24/7. It's a hard subject to tackle and one that admittedly I think some writers are not yet mentally equipped to understand completely and include within their stories, so he's often stuck in the "nice guy" trope because that is the mask he had been forced to wear most of the movie since he was basically in "mission mode" the whole time. It's only going to get harder for him now that he lives in a far more peaceful world that does not understand what he's been through and I think that would be an inspiring and heartbreaking story to tell.

I do not fault people for not being able to fully grasp some of these deep and serious character issues... in fact one thing I love about fandoms is it's an opportunity for young creatives to play with the building blocks given to them and become better writers and artist because of it!

At the end though, I can totally understand why someone might not like Junior or how he has been handled as a character in the fandom. He and his mom both are quite the unlikely duo, but I think that's kind of what makes it so fun! Hope that helps at least!

MWAHAHAHAHHAAA!!!! LETS GOOOOOO