#chatacter study

Prime and Leo have waaaaay too much in common. In fact, it's kinda crazy how many similarities they have.

1- Both use strategy to keep their siblings safe without ever pointing it out

Leo knows what all his family is capable of and how to keep them out of trouble;

“Yeah, go home on a stretcher.”

“And you promised to stop eating our Halloween candy!”

“I knew we couldn't trust spider lady!”

“Hero moves are totally your style.”

And the list goes on and on. Point is- Leo knows his family and actively tries to keep them out of danger and trouble, and his family has no clue.

The same way Prime knows his siblings' capabilities and actively tries to keep them out of danger and trouble, and they definitely got no clue;

He keeps Three by his side nearly the entire length of the movie or close by

He never sends either Two or Three off to fight by themselves, in fact, the one time he has is after their super powerful ship has gotten through and his sister is in a powerful mech suit

It seems like he makes them retreat when they get injured; Two is brought back after her eye is screwed up, and he allows her to fight again only after she's got a giant army with her or her mech

He only let them fight in the first place after sealing off the boys Ninpō and fought them himself

In the bad timeline, you see this;

Look closely!! Two very distinct mech suits out there. Two and Three are out fighting while surrounded by other troops, beneath the Technodrome and victory is absolutely guaranteed.

(There's also a lot more of the three being evil/laughing together in scrapped story boards, but it's too early for me to go searching for them.)

It's something they both try to hide from them/keep under cover.

Cause if they find out? How much they care. . .

What would that mean then?

In Prime's case; A sign of weakness, a way to exploit him.

In Leo's case; What if they don't trust me? What if they expect more from me?

2- Both hide behind a mask of arrogance/ego

Now, it's a bit different for them.

Leo fakes most of his arrogance/ego. Don't get me wrong, he definitely thinks of himself as the most beautiful, but the majority of his bravado is false.

In Prime's case, the majority of his arrogance and ego is genuine, he truly believes he's the best. But when he's proven wrong- he desperately tries to hide behind his typical arrogance.

Leo hides behind witty remarks and deflection, no one sees him cry or be upset. (If I'm not wrong, I think one of the only times you ever see him genuinely cry is when he's alone in the prison dimension)

Prime hides behind rage and strength when he falls/is upset. (“YOU WRETCHED, LITTLE, PEST!” “WIPE THAT GRIN OFF YOUR FACE!”)

Both want to stop whatever has upset/reminds them of their failures ASAP.

Leo rushes in to try and get the key, save Raph, and stop the Kraang. He forgets any strategy in his panic and fear to fix his failure.

Prime rushes in with ruthless blows and sharp words. Desperate to crush the pest that ruined his plans, that caused his downfall, that he was too cocky to take seriously.

Both fail because they were too arrogant.

But here's the difference- Leo stops his arrogance which leads to him succeeding, Prime's so arrogant he fails. Which is where the foil between them comes through;

Prime lost because he was too cocky to stop the sword. You can not convince me that wasn't on purpose/to mock his sword throw.

Leo lost because he was too cocky (or at least trying to seem that way) to not rush in and try to get the key himself/to listen to his team

The foil between them stems from Leo learning and being willing to change, whereas Prime attempts to double down on things.

And now for a comparison that's gonna rock your world :,)

3- They react the EXACT same way when they get upset/have hit their limit.

Both of them freeze when they've realized they've messed up/something goes wrong/it all becomes too much

Look at that. Both just. . .froze. They both look a mix of horrified and stunned. Both just freeze to process everything, the fact that they both failed.

And when that freeze is over, they react the same way too;

That shock, that disbelief, that fear, that misery is promptly replaced by rage.

They both immediately lash out at whoever they believe caused that problem, or reminds them of it, despite BOTH knowing that they only have themselves to blame.

In Leo's case- He rushed in, but immediately goes after Casey (you can't convince me that if Donnie and Mikey weren't there that he wouldn't have hurt him in some way)

In Prime's case- He took them all as a joke/let his arrogance keep him from just defeating them (He toyed with them/mocked them/watched them fight the entire time instead of stepping in and taking it seriously)

They both freeze when things go wrong, and immediately switch to rage when it's been processed that they've failed/messed up.

Some more parallels, that I found interesting!!! ;)

1- Prime only locks away their powers after fighting Leo. He fought all of them at once, but only locked their powers away after fighting Leo specifically. He also seemed to be the only one he actively struggled with fighting

2- In discarded storyboards, Prime is missing a tentacle (it's definitely implied to be because of Leo) and future Leo is missing an arm

3- Both of them get the red glowy glow to their eyes;

I know that's more stylistic, but I thought it was cool.

All in all, they both have a lot of similarities to each other. They share their worst traits, yet also share their best ones; strategy, being cunning, smart, speed, etc.

Some real good angst opportunity then, on either side, just with the simple;