#leo analysis

In season 5, half of the season was “what if” / AU series. The first and second half of the season, to me, is canon. During this season, Leo was more relaxed and at times happy. I don’t know how long it’s been since Splinter died, but it seems so far, Leo is doing ok or is trying to be ok.

For this series, Leo was one, if not the most, out of the characters that had the most focus on him. This version of Leo is the leader from the beginning, which plays a big part of his character. I think the reason why Leo had the most characterization is because of 3 things.

1 the boys just start going above ground, there inexperienced about the topside. Also immediately going uptop, they witness a kidnapping.

2 Splinter plays an active role as teacher here. While also being distant. While splinter isn’t the best father, he does try to give his sons lessons and how to fight.

3 since the boys are immediately shoved into the plot. They haven’t gotten to explore New York without any pressure. Without relaxing and acting like teenagers. Unlike their Rise counterparts

During the series Leo takes his role as leader very serious. But he also simultaneously hates it. During season 1, he try to quit being leader, he says that he didn’t feel respect or that his brothers don’t even thank him. When Splinter find out, he tells Leo that it’s his responsibility. A common issue in this series is that Splinter only talks to Leo the most out of the siblings. Sure thats because Leo goes to Splinter to deal with problems/ the writers making Splinter into a wise master. But this has negative effects.

Leo is only 15 when he becomes leader. At 17-ish, he killed Shredder and became leader of the Hamato clan. As well as having to raise himself and his brothers. Three years. That how long he’s been leader and in that short span Leo has multiple times, try to sacrifice himself for his family. I’ve even say that in season 4, Leo is actively depressed and even borderline suicidal. In episode 4 Leo keeps talking to a simulator of splinter, his brothers notice that’s his not himself, and during a mission he jumps in front of rocket to save one of his brothers. In episode 14 he goes on a solo mission, after hearing that Fugitoid made the black hole machine. In that same episode, Leo died.

Leo repeatedly love and hates his role as leader. During season 2 Leo activity starts teaching his brothers in different ninja training. His training methods are complete different from Splinter’s. While Splinter has the boys fight each other or meditating, Leo turn the training into games. Learning how to fight on the light wires, base off of king of the hill. Training in the shadows by pranking Mikey. His was of training seem more hands on and even fun, while Splinter’s is more traditional.

Leo’s role is two things; the Golden Child, and the Caregiver. Splinter’ teaches Leo, Leo teaches his brothers. As the Golden Child, Leo on purpose or. not, looks down on his brothers. When Leo is stress, he takes it out on Donnie. Most of the time it’s Raph and Leo that fights. But there are times, season 4 and 5, were Leo and Donnie get into “fights”. We’re they yell at one another. Or many times Leo treats Mikey, who is the same age as leo, as a younger child. Telling him to clean his mess or no video games, telling him to stay at the lair to not get hurt. With Raph, while they have a bit of equal ground. Leo still look down on Raph and try to not make him angry and violent.

The only sibling Leo doesn’t look down on is Karai. Taking the “romance” subplot and looking at it through the lens of Leo admiring or envies of Karai help show more of Leo character. In season 1 Karai and Leo are each other’s foil. Leo wants freedom and no responsibility, Karai wants a friend, and to not be so involved with her father’s revenge. By the end of the series, the two more or less achieved their goals. But Leo is the one that activity tries to make Karai going their side. To “save her”.

Leo’s negative traits, beside the self sacrificing, is his control issues and anger. Leo doesn’t like when others take control, even if his alternative self. The only time Leo doesn’t mind this is when he lets others take the control. His anger is also a issue, while not as bad as Raph’s or Donnie’s. It’s still there, it can be seen when he’s fighting or when his brothers aren’t respecting or listen to him. Another bad trait he has is that he believes that he has to do things by himself. He don’t let people know about Karai as first, he doesn’t tell his family we’re he’s going/keeping secrets.

At the end of the series, Leo activity kills shredder. In the beginning of the show, Leo was, is, a kid that love space and heroes. While his views of heroes is a bit screwed, he believes not to hurt people. When the purple dragons were first introduced, Leo didn’t hurt them, just scared them. As the series progresses, Leo moral’s change and he is seen getting more violent and willing to cause arson or hurt something in the name of his family and what is right.

As for Leo mental and physical status. This boy canonical both died, and is disabled. He was in a 3 month coma. He died in space and had to have his heart jumped, his knee is permanently or semi-permanent damage, and his voice/throat is permanently damage. In real life, all these things can have major issues.

His throat can give him breathing problems, his knee would make him have chronic pain, him having his heart jumped can cause heart problems. He also been electrocuted many times. As for mental, many times in the series the boys experience hallucinations. And in season 5, Leo starts to hallucinate, both auditory and visibly see Splinter. Leo still goes and looks for Splinter as a guide. He also seems to have slight anxiety and depression. And implied autism.

So! Leo time. Now i really like his character. And for the very beginning of the show, you can see Leo’s leadership skills peaking out.

How? Well, in ep7, and ep21, you can see Leo having to take charge (this happens when Raph isn’t around) and he becomes serious. He plans ahead, remembers details, and observant. (Seen in ep7, ep4, ep18, and in ep10.)

The question is, why isn’t Leo the leader? I think it has to do with 2 thinks

1 Raph is the leader

And

2, Leo seems to have anxiety or low self worth.

Let me explain;

Raphael is canonical the oldest, being 15. Since he’s also the tallest and strong it seems that natural Raph would fall into the leader roll. But what about everyone else?

Well as Leo put it;

Donnie “has that emotionless passion”

Mikey is “legendary optimistic”

And Raph has a “go getter attitude”

If his brothers are all determined and positive, does that make Leo determine too? Kind of.

This leases into my 2 point.

Leo is insecure.

The thing that really stood out to be was in ep2, Donnie’s Gift. In that episode leo gets a shock collar to make him stop joking and to focus.

When the boys were complaining and being upset about their gifts, Leo was wondering if Donnie think that he(Leo) was broken.

Why would a teenage who has a wonderful family think that he’s broken? Sure it could be that their mutants and that their not close to their dad, but in an earlier episode, ep1, Leo states that he makes jokes to cope. And what happened in the next episode? He gets a shocked when he makes jokes as a gift.

That probably would make Leo feel so shitty. But in another episode, 17, Leo is by himself without his brothers. He gets Hueso help. In that episode Leo gets angry and agitated. He also told Hueso that without his brothers he’s nothing.

So Leo jokes to cope, and when he’s not with his brothers he’s panicking and agitated. Not to the level that Raph gets, but one that is noticeable.

I think as season 2 happens, Leo will get more confidence (not fake confidence) and will take more of the leader role. Or rather believe he is fit for said roll. Because right now Leo is acting like a second in command.

Leo dreamt that his leg was healed, not feeling pain, and that he could fly

Donnie dreamt that he was being chase, hiding, and someone wanted to eat him, salt.

Mikey dreamt of candy and cute stuff while having someone to play with

Raph dreamt of blue fire, rock music, and white snakes.

The symbolism:

Depending on the dream, white snakes actually can mean a lot of difference things! From wealth and prosperity, to growth, or making the wrong decisions. Here in Raph’s dream he was wrap up by the snakes while the biggest snake ate his brothers.

Dreaming of a big snake means that you are afraid of someone, or that you might have depression. Dreaming of being wrapped up by a snake means that you want freedom. Dreaming of (almost in this case) being bite means that something new will happen, a surprise.

Now snakes symbolize different things; in some cultures they represent fertility. It also respersents the Rod/Staff of Asclepius. It’s base off the God Asclepius who was the god of healing and medicine. Snakes also symbolize different religions. In Japan snakes represent a god, a messenger of god. White snake moults mean rebirth.

Blue fire in dreams can mean dangerous person, encountering challenges, honest or healing. Spiritual blue flames can mean passion, a desire to transform, or a desire to heal. blue flame is also associated with anger

Dreaming of rock music means that their a lot of energy inside you. But don’t have the right direction. It represents that you are a person, who wants to achieve everything within a short span of time. But do remember, everything in life needs persistence and hard work.

DREAM of being chased and hiding. It’s cause by stress and anxiety. Dreaming about running and hiding may reflect your desire to re-evaluate your life. Maybe things are changing too fast in your life. When you try to hide from danger, this dream is a sign of depression. Bad experiences make you too careful, and you don’t trust others. You might also experience a great misfortune and grief, due to losing someone dear. This dream can also indicate getting involved in an accident in the near future.

I find it really interesting that the dream beaver keep calling Donnie salty. I know it’s because the beaver want to eat Donnie and scare him. But salt in dreams actually have different meanings! If you dream about salt in your mouth it can mean emotional outbursts. Salty oceans can mean heartache, smelling salt and not like it means loss and destruction. While the opposite means wealth. Salt symbolize purity, taste, fidelity/faithfulness, bad thoughts, death.

As for breaking about being eaten, it mean lake of self-confidence, Dreaming about a hungry monster trying to eat you it means that something is consuming you, like an addiction or a bad habit. It also means you dislike something about yourself.

DREAM of candy means good luck, joy, and positive. It’s can also mean your pleasures that could end up harming your health, perhaps some kind of a toxic relationship that will drain positivity from your life after a certain period of time. dreaming of candy represents your wish to be rewarded for your efforts.

As for dreaming about playing games with someone signifies your attitude and confidence. You are ready to move on from the past. You have a positive outlook in life and are not limited by anything. The dream represents self-exploration and your connection with a higher power. Grace, agility, regeneration and growth.

I think this season showed how much Leo has change over the show. Here he’s more stress out, he blames himself for not have a “Nobel heart” and not getting all the heart of darkness piece to stop the triceraton.

But Leo also keep making reckless self sacrificing mission, and actually die from it. And when Karai is back, he joins her and takes out shredder’s supplies. I think did that as both a way to cope, to relives his stress, and a way to watch and protect Karai.

Now that splinter is dead, again. Leo has to take on the role as the family protector, leader, and sadly father-figure. Leo keeps think he has to do everything alone, or at least protect everyone without help. He still has to learn, or even relearn, how to let people in and not to let all the responsibilities get to him.

Season 2 Leo!

There not much to say this season. The major difference is that Leo is now training the group. He also has a fear of failure.

It’s interesting to see how Leo trains his brother vs how splinter trains them. Splinter has the boys fight one another or have them fight him. With Leo, he make it into games. I think the reason Leo does that is because 1, he think it will help his brothers focus and not be bored 2, Leo is only 15, he not use to being a teacher, so the only way he can teach is through game, to try to connect his experiences with something similar.

Leo time!

There a very clear difference between Rise Leo and 2012 Leo. That being that 2012 Leo become the leader while Rise was the leader.

How does this effect the group?

Well for starters, all of the boys are the same age, there quadruplets. Though it seems like Leo was born first while Mikey was born last. While their birth order isn’t a super big role, it does cause Leo some internal issues.

The main thing about Leo is he responsible. He didn’t choose to be that. When he become the leader, he showed skills of being a strategist, and being a powerful, determination fighter.

But he also cocky, gets anxiety, and under his cool calm persona he has anger issues. But the biggest thing to notice about Leo is his martyr/savior complex. You can see that Leo has this mind set as early as episode 10. He puts his brothers before himself. And in the late 2 episodes of season 1, Leo try to sacrifice himself to protect his family. The first time he blows up the building and is falling to his death. While he panic at first, he then accepted it.

Leo is only 15 years old. He should be accepted his death. He shouldn’t be try to sacrifice himself to protect his family and the world.

I think the reason Leo did it was for 2 reason. 1 being the Space Hero show Leo look up to the character Captian Ryan but the show clearly shows the character is flawed and a bad leader. So the fact that Leo is try to act like the character, it can be bad. The second reason, and albeit, the most important, is Splinter. Splinter told to Leo face, that it doesn’t matter what or who is sacrifice. Why would a father tell that to their son? Who’s only 15 and is trying to stop an alien invasion?

At first glance, it seems like Leo, and the rest of the turtles don’t have that much characterization to them in season 2. But if you look closer you can definitely see it.

In episode 2, Leo and splinter have to convince Big Mama to help them. Do Leo makes a deal for splinter to enter the Battle Nexus. Leo, having meet Big Mama, knows what she’s capable of and from the beginning of their deal, know what she was planning on doing and made a loophole. This kid is cunning and a planner. He also knew that Raph can handle taking care of Shredder and would already have a plan when he and splinter got back.

But if this kid is so smart, why do no one trust him? I think it’s the persona Leo puts on. He’s the “face man” the “mascot”. He’s only the leader and the planner when the time is needed. Leo is also very competitive both seen in episode 2, 5, and 7. He can also be immature, and only wants to do something if for the family, or if he can be praised. (Episode 16, and in season 1, episode 21.) he’s also a bit selfish.

So we know that Leo is confident, a bit insecure, a jokester, immature, selfish, and a strategist. While some of these traits are a bit negative, in Leo case it just adds to his person. Leo dosnt go overboard with jokes, nor does he come across as overconfident to the point of vanity.

Please keep in mind that I have been awake since 5 pm yesterday and it is currently just now noon. ANYWAY. Finally put some things together about Nepeta's character that makes her in my eyes more of a actual Leo and not the token weeabo.

Of course, everybody knows Leos for being the proud, bossy glory hogs that we can be. Yeah, I got that little quirk personally though having my moon in Virgo helps balance that out-- BUT! Hussie really has all my love now for really capturing our other, much more over looked traits. Or at least the ones I know for a fact to be true in myself and other Leos, but like hell we ever talk about it.

Personally, and I have seen other Leos I know do this as well, I LOVE to see people in love and happy and finding their counter part blah blah blah. It gives us a sense of unity and sappy togetherness within our inner circle, and we take such joy in seeing that that we might even be a little pushy and try to shove peoples' relationships along a bit too quickly just because HOLY CRAP WE KNOW THIS WILL WORK OUT TRUST US WE JUST KNOW NOW GO ON, KISS AND TELL ONE ANOTHER HOW DEEPLY YOU'RE IN LOVE AND HOW THAT'S GOING TO LAST FOREVER!!!

Hence, the shipping wall.

THE ROLEPLAYING THING ALSO MAKES A LOT OF SENSE NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT because uh. Leos. I am and know a lot of us that use story telling to project a bigger, better image of our self. And if something bad happens to us?? We make THAT part of our "personal epic saga". We repeat it over and over and twist it and shape it until we (or, maybe this is just me) can at least make the outcome of the STORY be in our favor, either as the victor, or the victim. Depends on the pity factor.

And, uh, fuck hold on one last thought here. Nepeta's lusus has two mouths, which is hilarious since Leos (or, again, maybe just me) have a habit of saying one thing but meaning something TOTALLY different.