#captain ryan

*TMNT 2012 spoiler ahead*

We are gathered here today, to discuss the weirdly beautifully and potentially problematic relationship between Leonardo.................and Captain Ryan :p

I love all the cartoon spoofs the 2012 series has, but as a Star Trek fan Space Heros will always have a special place in my heart. And the more I re-watch the series the more I over analyze things, and that has led me to examining the relationship between Leonardo's development as a leader and Captain Ryan's influence on that.

I think most 2012 fans can agree that Leo's leadership in the first season was....not great, which is good! Hear me out, Leo was 15 when he was made the leader of his team of brothers, maybe he often took charge as they grew up but he wasn't given the actual title until he was 15. He's not supposed to know how to lead them yet. He was a kid who was obsessed with comics and sci-fi shows, and idolized the designated heros within those stories. Of course he isn't gonna know how to lead without talking like a typical comic book hero. Which thankfully Raph called him out on every single time. Maybe that talk worked for the teams in the comics he was reading, but when it comes to leading your brothers? Oh no, they will not let that slide. In addition to the comics he also idolized a very problematic leader in Space Heroes, the one and only Captain Ryan!

Leo is an absolute geek for this show which I love, but his love for it I think has caused him to view Captain Ryan with rose colored glasses. Almost every clip we see of Space Heroes shows the Captain doing something morally and ethically questionable, getting tricked, slapping poor Crankshaw, starting rebellions on other planets, or sacrificing his team and not being bothered by their deaths. That guy, is the guy the guy Leo has looked up to for years, who he idolized so much that he said "someday, I am gonna be just like him"......oh dear 😅 Leo quite literally spends the majority of the first season quoting Captain Ryan during their missions and models his leadership style after him. In the cartoon all the other characters pretty much follow the Captain's orders without question, which I believe causes Leo to also try and lead his brothers with the same mindset. He expects them to listen to him no matter what, no questions asked because he is the leader and gets very frustrated and pouty when they don't. (He's the order guy you know?) But unfortunately for him, that's not how siblings work. 😁

He learns throughout the first season that his brothers actually respect his authority less when he tries to be like Captain Ryan. Every time he quotes him or starts talking like a hero his brothers call him out or don't listen. I think the only time I can say quoting the show actually helped the mission was when Raph quoted it to Leo: "Get it together Captain! You're our leader, so act like one!" "You're right Raph, that was the anxiety ray talking." It snapped Leo out of his panic, Leo remembered he's supposed to be a hero like his beloved Captain Ryan, and they got back to the mission. But that is genuinely the one and only time I can think of it helping. Thanks to the pushback from his brothers as the 1st season progresses Leo ends up branching away from his Captain Ryan persona, and along with all the advice he gets from Splinter he slowly starts to develop his own leadership style. I think this culminates in the S1 finale when Leo does something I don't think Captain Ryan would ever do, sacrifice himself for his family and the world. Maybe Leo thinks Captian Ryan would do that, but based on the clips of the cartoon we've seen I don't think he would. That moment is key in showing how Leo is developing as a leader, because any TMNT fan knows being self-sacrificial is a requirement for the Leo style of leadership. Cause guess what? After that finale he keeps. Sacrificing. Himself!

I think that was the moment the brother's perspective of Leo as their leader changed as well. They weren't seeing their brother playing Captain Ryan, they saw Leonardo. They saw him truly leading and saw a glimpse of the great leader he could become, and gained a different level of respect for him that made them want to follow his orders as the series progresses. Of course thinking they lost him also helped change that perspective. And obviously they are still gonna push back against his orders, cause you can't be true siblings if you don't argue with the sibling telling you what to do. But I think over time Leo learns how to accept their questioning and criticism or ignore it when he can tell they are just arguing to argue. *coughraphcough*

Art Fight 2024! Team Stardust!