Alright nerds I'm back with more ROTTMNT content and this time we're talking about turtles being left alone
Spoilers ahead for seasons 1 & 2 and the movie
On yet another Monday evening I was thinking about the season 1 episode 'Man vs. Sewer' (which they really should have been called Turtle vs. Sewer c'mon now) and Raph's reaction to being left alone.
So naturally my mind wandered down the path of how the other three turtles would react to being left all alone. So I am here to present my headcanony thoughts similar to my other post about the turtles rankings of fav brother which I'll link here.
This post is going to be very long. I apologize now.
Now in the episode 'Man vs. Sewer' (btw I understand this is supposed to be a play on how every story is one of four or something story types, e.g. Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature etc.) I'm rambling again!
In 'Man vs. Sewer' the other turtles make it seem like Raph is the only one who has a reaction to being left alone, and while I'm sure Raph is the only one with such a... dramatic reaction we'll say. I feel that the other three would likely still have a reaction to being left alone given the fact that all four of these turtles have been raised in an EXTREMTLY close knit family. I mean prior to meeting April their only friends were each other and were likely the only other living beings they saw. After all in the episode 'Hot Soup: The Game' it's said that Raph was 13 when he got to go on his first solo topside mission. Now while it is possible the boys went topside prior to this as a group it wouldn't surprise me if this was the first time any of them were allowed to leave the sewers given their likely overall lack of um... stealth at such a young age since they barely have stealth as teenagers lol.
I'm getting off track though! My point is that because this family is practically always together I find it hard to believe that if any of them were left alone they'd be perfectly fine and so I will now present my headcanons/ hypothesis' about each turtles reaction to being alone.
Now Raph has already been cannonically shown in his reaction to being alone. He goes savage caveman brain, thinks everything is a threat and believes he'll die alone.
Now I know you could point to the movie for examples of Leo being alone but that is such an extreme situation in comparison to Raph getting lost in a sewer for like an hour or so that I don't feel the movie is a great comparison for "being left alone" so for this post when I'm talking about "being alone" I don't mean the others are dead, or kidnapped or anything really angsty. Think more lost in the sewers, or some of the family went to visit Todd for the weekend and one stayed at the lair alone and realized that was a mistake because separation anxiety and codependency lmao.
Now Leo is arguably also left alone in the episode 'Portal Jacked' (portal jacked is such a good episode for Leo character analysis I'm telling you) Now I know what you're thinking "Lily he literally is with Senor Hueso practically the entire episode" and you're right. Leo is technically only alone for maybe ten seconds between him exiting his portal outside Run of the Mill Pizza and entering the restaurant to find Senor Hueso but he's left without any of his family with him almost the entire episode and it leads to a lot of discussion about them and him being without them so I feel it will help support my argument.
In 'Portal Jacked' Leo whilst still being himself starts to show some of his insecurity in the episode. He admits to "being nothing" without his brothers and continuously brings up how he's better with his brothers. I feel based on these comments and this episode as a whole that if Leo were left alone for likely a longer period of time than Raph (let's say a day or two at the minimum for an effect to really set in) he'd likely let his insecurities get the best of him. As without his brothers as an audience to entertain, taunt, and distract himself from his own insecurities he's left with only himself to be his hype man and back up.
If you don't agree that Leo has insecurities I'll point you in the direction of the episode 'Minotaur Maze' and Leo's reoccurring need to prove himself to others and have them see him as important.
This insecurity is also what plays into Leo's behavior as leader in the film as he clearly doesn't view himself as worthy/ready for the title of "leader" at the start of the film.
Using these points I feel that without his brothers to back him up and perhaps cover for areas Leo lacks in he'd quickly spiral and become very unsure of himself and his actions. As Leo (prior to the movie especially) comes across as someone who does not want to take credit for something until it has already happened and succeeded. (e.g the episode 'One Man's Junk' where Leo literally waits to pick a side on the mystic meatal shop idea until after it fails and sides with Raph) Leo needs to be able to shift blame and "hide in the crowd" if you will in order to not feel like he's failing during a mission (which most the time he's actually succeeding just maybe not how he envisions himself doing so). So if he were to be left all alone with only himself to blame if a mistake was made I feel he'd become very unsure of himself and perhaps rather nervous his portals perhaps become more unreliable than normal (if we are setting this post season 2 finale then it would probably more like him earlier in the show where his portals don't always work. If we're pre-season 2 finale where his portals barely work on a good day then he'd likely cease making useful portals all together lol) and is continuously cracking jokes to whoever is around to listen (even if it's just himself) because to quote Leo: "That's how I cope!"
Final analysis of Leo alone: Very insecure, Nervous, desperately trying to find someone to hang around so he can throw his one liners to try to cope, and anxious to have his brothers back to back up him and his crazy ideas.
Whew! That was a very long research paper I just gave you and that's only the first one!
Again I am so sorry for the length of this post lmao I enjoy doing character analysis too much I'm so sorry.
Moving on to my favorite turtle we have:
While it seems that Donnie enjoys being alone I find that because of this close knit family upbringing he'd still be affected by being alone. After all there's a difference between:
choosing to be alone and being left alone.
Donnie has plenty of hobbies that prompt him to be alone e.g. he has a video game addiction; or want to be alone e.g. He's the family genius/inventor whose in his lab for extended periods of time to try an accomplish something and anyone disturbing him is an unwelcomed distraction.
An example of this is the episode 'Mind Meld' when Donnie-fied Leo, Raph and Mikey try to get rid of Donnie when he asks them to come eat pizza with him. To quote Donnie "Hey wait! You're trying to get rid of me! That's what I do but... but to you!"
'Mind Meld' is a great episode for Donnie character analysis since there are basically 4 of him in this episode and we get to see how Donnie's character isn't just the smart inventor guy but also a normal teenager who likes to do normal teen things
While Donnie likes being alone and working in his lab, when he wants to see people he wants to see them and not be alone. This is shown in an earlier scene in 'Mind Meld' when Donnie excitedly asks if his brothers are ready for their game of skateboard ball. His Donnie-fied brothers give a very Donnie response and shrug him off saying they have better things to do and Donnie is left really disappointed. Leo, Raph and Mikey are acting like Donnie when he's in "genius tech guy mode" rather than "I'm ready to have fun with my brothers mode" like actual Donnie is in this scene.
Honestly the whole episode is a great example of how Donnie is a well rounded character and how he'd be very different if he only had one facet to his personality. With Leo, Raph, and Mikey all Donnie-fied but seemingly only to possess Donnie's intellect you see that Donnie is more than his brain and has other sides to his personality. That was a side tangent sorry! I really love the writing of this show!
Back to my actual point!!
When Donnie wants to work on something people are a nuisance but when he wants to have fun then people better be around or Donnie will be sad.
Now that I have prefaced the circumstances, I will dive into my headcanon/hypothesis about how Donnie would react to being alone.
Now Donnie's reaction is entirely hinged on what mode he is currently in. If he is in work mode it would probably go something like this:
Like I have just stated Donnie is in his lab a lot working on various projects, be it improving his battleshells, working on his drill, working on the Turtletank etc. And based on Donnie's character he seems the type to hyper-focus on his work and not realize how much time has passed *cough* me on any passion project *cough* With this being said I feel that Donnie probably wouldn't notice he's been left alone at first lol. He'd probably hyper-focus for an entire day, forget to eat, maybe remember to go to sleep in a bed or just pass out in his lab, wake up and repeat the process until he finished his project or remembered to take a break. This would likely cause a decline in Donnie's overall well being and is why I think Donnie shouldn't be left unsupervised for extended periods of time lmao. So his family would likely have to be gone at least a week for Donnie to notice if I'm being honest. But that is only if Donnie were in work mode!
If Donnie was left alone in the lair and he was in social mode, I feel that he'd likely be pretty bummed that no one was around to bug him. Between Leo razzing him, Mikey always coming around to cuddle/get affection from each of them and just Raph's overall presence and dumb ideas like trying to shove something up his nose. Donnie would likely feel like he's actually alone. Like entirely alone. There's no hum of energy from his brothers, no slight annoyance just silence and emptiness. And he might relish it for a moment but after a few minutes of uninterrupted silence he'd realize that he can't take it and needs the energy to fill the space again. And knowing Donnie (and depending on how long the fam was gone for) he'd try to substitute it with tech. Causing a new start of work mode that was trying to fix the lack of socializing he craves.
Final analysis of Donnie alone: He doesn't immediately notice that he's alone but once he's made aware of the growing silence and actual solitude with no disruption it starts to get to him and makes him anxious for some social stimulation from others specifically from his family because turtle fam is best fam
Alright! We have made it through two turtle boys and only have one left! you know him you love him! He's the sunshine baby iiiiiiiiiiiittttttt'sssssss:
Now Mikey is a lil bit more difficult for me to figure out how he'd react to being alone and this is mainly because I find it hard to imagine a normal situation that would cause him to be left alone. If we went with my everyone went away for the weekend idea I said at the start I find it highly unlikely they'd let Mikey of all people stay home alone. Simply because he's the baby and they don't like to leave him without supervision/back up (I mean just look at the episode 'Hot Soup: The Game' they literally watch him on security cameras like new parents watching a baby monitor) Like hell he's being intentionally left to his own devices for a whole weekend.
Which makes me think Mikey being alone would have to be accidental like Raph's in 'Man vs. Sewer' be it he got lost in the sewers, or like a proper younger sibling wandered off without paying attention and lost the group in: the Hidden City, Big Mama's building, the Sewers, New York City itself or whatever setting the boys are currently in.
Mikey likely wouldn't be alone for long since you know Raph will be on a rampage to find his baby brother, unless Mikey got hella lost and Donnie couldn't just track him lol.
So for this hypothetical scenario we'll say Mikey wanders off and Raph notices after several minutes and in classic turtles fashion hijinks ensues. Since this alone time will likely be brief and accidental I imagine Mikey's reaction (since he's played as the very emotional one -in a good way- and also for a little bit of comedic purposes) to be similar to a toddler who get's lost in a store.
Everything's fine before he realizes he's lost then he looks around doesn't recognize where he is or see his brothers he starts to freak out a bit and maybe get a bit teary eyed thinking he's been abandoned when really it's his own fault for getting lost. Y'know just normal baby sibling who's constantly supervised things ✌️
It's a lot of meekly wandering around calling out his brother's names hoping they'll magically appear before him and getting scared by anyone who approaches him, because even though he could definitely kill you since Mikey can throw a whole ass cargo ship around, now that he's scared he can't even lift his weapon high enough to seem like a threat.
This line of reasoning is mainly coming from the episode 'The Gumbus' where when frightened Mikey would rather hide and escape even if he has more than enough skill to defend himself from a normal threat lol.
Final analysis of Mikey alone: He's a frightened baby ready for his big brothers to come charging in to take him home and shower him with affection because while Mikey acts like he's big man on campus he is still bebe
And with that I conclude my long monologue about these turtle boys for another night! I will likely return with another thought soon as Rise has taken up every space square inch of my brain lately lol! Anyways as always these are just my opinions you are free to disagree with me this has just been rattling around in my brain for the past week and I had to share! I love all of these characters and I think Rise did a great job at revitalizing them to a new generation. With that I bid you all farewell! Until next post!
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