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RAPH

The reason I making this post is Raph because the way he aproaches people and relationships interests me and caught my eye

During the first arc of S1, he meets the purple dragons, who kidnap him, tie him up, injure him, try to trafic him and almost cut one of his fingers off. Completely and Absolutely awful and traumatic experience. He has one (1) good moment with them which is basically just them fighting the mechazoid together before Raph goes and steals Angels bike, but like- Thats it

However, in Raph's arc in s2, he's excited when he sees the purple dragons at the mutant fighting ring. Like. Angels sneaking on him, Raph turns around and has the biggest smile on his face and he says "dude! You guys come here too :D!? Isnt this place awesome?? Wait- dont tell me purple dragons run this place. Angel, Hun, this is the best day of my life! I want in" and hugs/holds Angel and Hun, one on each side

And its like... Raph, sweetheart, what are you doing? As far as he knows, these guys could still be wanting to kidnap and trafic him. However, this doesnt seem to cross his mind at all

It DOES, however, come back to him the second he sees Kitsune. When intracting with Angel and Hun, he's friendly and familiar, guard down, but when faced with Kitsune he gets his sai out. However he lets his guard down immediately. Like, in less than 5 minutes he's already in on the deal and ready to start fighting

This gives us one very important piece of information about Raph: he forgives extremely quickly and doesnt hold grudges. At all, seemingly. These people are the ones he would most reasonably hate and want to stay away from, but that is far from the case. And I think theres an important reason why:

Raph desperately craves for connection and understanding

i've already made a post about Raph's autistic coding and this is partially tied to it. First imma talk about how it ties to the autistic coding but then I'll go into more general thoughts

If we take into account Raph's other autistic traits, his desire for connection and understanding makes a lot of sense. Being autistic is an extremely isolating experience, specially if you dont Know you're autistic. People around you are different and they dont understand you and you dont know Why, which can make a lot of people desperate for connection and cling to it whenever its presented to them. It can also make it harder to read people and gauge their intentions, which is something that Raph definetevely struggles with

Even without taking into account the autistic coding and how it may relate to this, Raph is still shown to struggle connecting with his peers (aka his brothers). Half the conflict in his arc in s2 is his brothers telling him that his love for fighting is bad, that his anger issues are a problem and he has to fundamentally change himself to be "normal" and accepted in general society (the autism coding goes deep bro). And sure, in all the arcs of s2 the main turtle has an issue of "my brothers dont understand me", but theres a slight different angle with each one. With Donnie, he's frustrated they dont share his interests; Leo wishes his brothers had his same sense of justice; Mikey wants them to accept Rod. However, they dont have the same issue that Raph has, which is this perception that theres something Wrong with him that needs changing

Raph still cares a lot and depends a lot on his brothers; they're all have a lot of atachment issues, we see this clearly in s1. In Raph's arc we see it too when he walks into the Lair while Bebop and Rocksteady are fighting, and later when he has an argument with his brothers and is left alone in the dark. Raph loves his brothers and suffers when he's lonley; however, yet again, theres this lack of understanding between them when it comes to Raph's love of fighting and his character overall

Which leads Raph to seek it out wherever he can. Raph clings and he clings heavily at any glimpse of connection he finds. We see this with Hun, Angel and the purple dragons, but also with Todd in Mikey's arc (saying they must be soulmates because they share like, two interests) and his conversations with the mutanimals. In Raph's episode in the second arc of s1, he's paired up with Scumbug and Ray, neither of which really talk. However, Raph still forms atachments with them by basically talking to himself and projecting answers from them. This is blatantly obvious in his arc in S2, where Bebop and Rocksteady are both hypnotized, cannot speak, and Raph doesn't notice. Raph just vents about his issues at them, they're not listening, but Raph still feels like he's made a connection with them. Praises them for being good listeners

And thats what Raph needs; he Needs someone to listen and understand him. His brothers dont, so he searches and looks and clings to it whenever he finds the smallest bit. This is why he's so easily manipulated by Spuds and the purple dragons; he craves for understanding and connection where his brothers fail

DONNIE

Donnie is interesting, because he has sort a similar but oposite issue to Raph

Raph lacks connection to his brothers, so he seeks it out in other people. Donnie has a lot of connections with other people, but craves to do so with his brothers over them

Donnie is quite social in this iteration. He is friends with both Wingnut and Leatherhead, and shares anime interests with them. Then he has Irma and the robotics club, and he's clearly good friends with Irma, as he shared the location of the Lair with her. And then he also has his e-sports team. Donnie has a lot of friends and connections, all of which fill niches that his brothers do not

And yet, those they're not enough. Donnie doesnt want conections with these people, he doesnt seek out their understanding because they already do; he wants that from his brothers. In Donnie's arc in S2, his main thing is wanting his brothers to engage in his interests and understand him on a deeper level

Donnie is very insecure, we see this on his episode in the frist arc of s1. He thinks that his brothers think he's a bad fighter, lame, and that they expect more from him, expect him to do things he thinks he cannot do. I want to note that Donnie says he cannot open the robots up and reprogram them when he's doing his recap, but later in the episode he literally opens a robot up and reprogams it. Donnie doubts and cannot estimate his own abilities properly, he has imposter syndrom and confidence issues

Donnie believes that his brothers think he's not good enough. They expect things from him which he feels like he cannot deliver, and therefore Donnie thinks he's constantly dissapointing his brothers. To cope, he puts up walls, complaining to them and being furstrated that his percieved value is placed upon his tech skills (which he doesnt believe hit the mark) while his brothers simultaneously belittle and ignore his actual tech and robotic achievements

This is why Donnie wants the aproval of his brothers deep down, even if he tries to hide it. He already has it from his cousins, robotics team, e-sports team and other friends. His brothers are whats missing; he wants to impress them and make them understand him and find connection in the one place he's missing it. He's already found it elsewhere and with a lot of ease, which is why the situation with his brothers frustrates him so much

Actually in the movie and S1 Donnie's softer and more babier while in s2 he's grown more sarcastic, and that may be in response to his new friendships. The new friendships give Donnie a new perspective on life and connection, making him realize the percieved lack of it with his brothers, and that makes him bitter. Or maybe its just regular trauma who knows

MIKEY

Mikey has a literal dream sequence about the fear that his brothers look down on him and dont respect him or his craft like this is quite easy lmao

or is it?

Anyways lets see. Mikey has placed upon himself the label of the "funny one", and wears it as a mask, which is why his love for theater and improv is important for us here. Mikey is an easy going happy guy who sees the best in others and i'm not fully saying its a performance, because it isnt, but he Is projecting this image of who he Wants to be, rather than just fully being himself. Mikey Wants to be funny and loved and easy going, so he acts like it. These are all personality traits he already has, but he plays them out and increases their intensity for aproval. However, Mikey believes he's not good enough; not funny enough not smart enough not interesting enough not good a fighter, too much of a mess, which leads to his exageration of comedy and friendliness

Mikeys frienship with Rod is very interesting from this perspective. At the end of Mikey's arc in s2, he confesses how part of the reason he sticks by Rod is because he's doing what he percieves his brothers do to him; stick by his side, even when he fucks up, and be patient with him. Which LOOKS sweet, but is actually fucking devastating because it means Mikey truly sees himself as being sequals with Rod. Not equals in the sense of friends on the same level, but in the sense that he's as good of a person as Rod

Rod, who, need I remind you, has been extremely rude to Mikey and his friends, worked with Bishop, tried to manipulate Mikey for his blood, has repeatedly tried to kidnap Mikey and his brothers for blood, is selfish, anoying, obnoxious, an asshole, has no real ambitions in life, and is an adult who is grooming a teenager (Mikey). Rod is horrible and toxic and abusive towards Mikey and he does not truly see Mikey as an equal due to the way he treats and uses him

Meanwhile, Mikey does see himself at par with Rod, and thats just. So Sad. He wants to stay by Rods side and help him become a better person... or fix him. Maybe, in a way, Mikey feels like if he can fix Rod and make him a better person, Mikey himself can become better and beat his own insecurities, become the person he wants to be, the one he projects out onto the world

Thats why he holds onto this connection with Rod and values it over his peers at improv and the judgement of his brothers; he seems himself on par with Rod, and if he can save Rod, then theres hope for himself

LEO

Leo's actually the most normal out of the four of them as of s2 when it comes to his connections within his family and outside of it. Leo loves his brothers and values all of them, and he feels valued by them in return for the most part

Leo also has his relationship with April. They handled that surprisignly well, particularly compared to Donnie's crush on April in 2012 or Mikey's crush on April in bayverse. Leo has a crush on her, but values her deeply as a friend, so he's content with what they have. He wants more, obviously, and gets flustered around her and wants to impress her, but their bond is quite healthy as he's not harrasing her or projecting feelings onto her or anthing. He's just an awkward kid with a crush on his friend who he obviously values and respects deeply

The thing about Leo is that he doesnt seem to have conections outside of his main circle. Raph is shown to connect with Scumbug, Ray, Bebop, Rocksteady and the purple dragons. Donnie has Leatherhead, Wingnut, the robotics club and the e-sports team. Mikey has Mondo, Rod and his improv group. Leo has his brothers and April

During the second arc of S1, Leo's paired up with Pigeon Pete, but he doesnt seem to form much of a connection with him the same way Raph does with the other mutanimals under similar circumstances. Then, during his arc in s2, where all other three brothers are shown exploring their relationships outside the family, Leo is stuck with his four friends. He's probably not too popular at school either, seeing as he's the hall monitor and brags about it

Leo's been shown to be insecure about his position as a leader, and he's generally very anxious. This probably leads him to focus on his close circle of friends, aka the people he's meant to lead. He seems content with this, maybe because he sees it as part of his duty to ensure his relationships with his team are good. He apears to be the more secure in his current relationships, and doesnt seek out new ones- unless you count him talking to the lady in the subway

Leo's a more introspective person, you can also see it with his comic books and diary. He doesnt really expernalize his issues with to other people, he journals. He is very anxious, but his confidence has shown a great improvement between seaons one and two. When it comes to relationships, Leo apears to focus on quality over quantity, and seems content with the quality of the ones he has