#turtlecage26

In BLUE we the amazing LEONARDO! Known to his brothers as their Fearless Leader, this fighter has a history of coming through when no one else can, often achieving feats that other characters state you'd have to be the greatest ninja to even think of trying. Leonardo fights with HONOR and for FUN. He loves his swords, his brothers, and his community. He's never afraid to give something new a try, and adjusts quickly to unexpected variables as long as his brothers are nearby--which they are!

I give him high points for Acrobatics, Courage, Flexibility, Focus, Durability, and TURTLE POWER! This is one Leonardo who's actually scarily balanced between discipline, skill, and pure cartoon logic. He is canonically a fierce fighter who has trained hard and brought his team through terrifying experiences with daunting odds. He is also able to claim the literally comical resilience granted by the tone of the story he's in. He's a very tough turtle to beat!

Some weaknesses: sometimes he can get overzealous and overlook simpler solutions, ie climbing the wall to go through the window because it looks cooler than using the door.

In ORANGE we have MICHELANGELO! He loves pizza, he does great impersonations, and you should see him dance! This is one turtle who won't wear out easily. He's full of energy, and let it be known he is able to direct it. He's clever about people, something he learned from watching his brothers interact. I want to point out that, while he is sort of the lead jokester in his and Donnie's dynamic, he takes his turns being the one to cut off the jokes when it's time to be serious. This Mikey understands time and place, and this is the time and place for a butt kicking!

I give him high points for Creativity, Patience, Grace, and Stamina! He also has some cartoonish protection, though he's not as durable as Leonardo.

Some weaknesses: he is observant, but definitely doesn't have the strategic mind or bold quick decision making that Leonardo has. He's more likely to just go with the flow till the fight happens to end than to look for an opportunity to end it

COOTS Raph takes more of a leadership role with his brothers! ... Onstage. He writes the music Mikey writes the words. Also it seems like it was him coming home upset that inspired Master Splinter to pivot from ninja training to music training. He's really at the heart of it all.

And we assume that he can fight. I mean, I gave him high body awareness and high discipline based on his dancing and singing. And they are enemies with Shredder and definitely will still fight if it comes to it. I just don't have much to say about his actual fighting style because,, he's busy putting on a show--

So overall I'd say, well-trained, nice footwork, possibly a little out of practice but definitely still in good shape.

2003 Leo even at his healthiest is like, obsessive about training. I'd say he outranks Raph in terms of discipline, determination, stealth for sure (stealth is definitely the least transferrable skill in Raph's new line of work). From his canon fights we see a great strategic mind that understands opponents' motivations, always ready for the unexpected, that kind of thing. His moves are highly varied. He likes his swords but he has other skills, he can do bare fists and he can also hold people hanging off of buildings. He's great at using his environment.

I have to say something in Raph's favor at least to keep things interesting, and I can say this: Turtle Cage fights are also a performance. Leo has done that kind of thing before, but well he did get poisoned right away. But if he hadn't he would've done a great job. Raph, however, does performance for every day. It's his thing. So there is that to consider.

The COOTS turtles are tough because I do actually think they're good ninjas. It's just, they've pivoted and the others didn't pivot. No matter how great you used to be, it doesn't quite match up with continued daily practice.

2003 Leo came very close to winning last year and he has a competitive streak. He wants this real bad. As for Raph, he got out in Round 1 and he lost to Next Mutation 'You Break The Bricks With Your Will' Leonardo. So uh. He also wants this real bad.

polls will be posted in the evening in my timezone and active for 24 hours, so for example, for polls posted today, tomorrow will also be a big voting day

Note: no polls posted on Sundays

June 11 (today!)

Batman Leo vs Mutant Mayhem Mikey

Bayverse Mikey vs COOTS Donnie

2012 Donnie vs IDW Jennika

Rise Raph vs 2007 Leo

June 12

COOTS Raph vs 2003 Leo

CDH Mikey vs 2003 Raph

CDH Raph vs NM Venus

Rise Leon vs 90s Donnie

June 13

2007 Donnie vs NM Donnie

2003 Donny vs IDW Leo

Batman Donnie vs Mutant Mayhem Raph

Batman Raph vs Rise Mikey

June 15

1987 Leonardo vs 90s Mikey

Mutant Mayhem Donnie vs CDH Donnie

2012 Leo vs Mirage Raphael

90s Raph vs 2012 Mikey

June 16

Mirage Donatello vs Bayverse Leo

NM Mikey vs COOTS Leo

CDH Leo vs 90s Leo

COOTS Mikey vs Archie Michelangelo

June 17

NM Raph vs Batman Mikey

1987 Donatello vs 2007 Mikey

Bayverse Raph vs Archie Leonardo

IDW Raph vs Archie Donatello

June 18

Mutant Mayhem Leo vs IDW Donnie

Mirage Leonardo vs IDW Mikey

2007 Raph vs 1987 Raphael

NM Leo vs Mirage Michelangelo

June 19

1987 Michelangelo vs Archie Raphael

2003 Mikey vs Rise Donnie

Bayverse Donnie vs IDW Venus

2012 Raph has no one to fight and thusly will advance automatically, except in the case of a tie in which case he may be on standby for a rematch with one of the winners while the other fights in a bonus challenge

Oh holy crow I am not prepared for this

Okay, so! Initial impression, IDW Leo is the better fighter. They both have lots of experience with opponents that are mystic, robotic, alien, and/or technically supposed to be cosmically undefeatable. Leo has been through some very dark periods and faced the worst in himself. Donny has the world on his shoulders at all times. If these two were facing off in a real battle, I don't think either of them nor very many others would survive.

That said! This is a for fun battle and 03 Donny is known to underperform when the stakes are low. That certainly must be considered.

On the other hand, the 03 team has been working hard to prepare to defend their title as the full team to stay in the longest.

As for IDW Leo... he technically didn't lose last year. He got to be the little brother for a change and let his opponent take him out for ice cream. I think he is not taking this too seriously... and I'm not sure how that will play into things. Might he try to pay it forward? Or is he just more relaxed and ready for a friendly spar and most likely a victory?

Donny also faced Mirage Leo last year, and he didn't get to have the same fun times as IDW Leo and 2007 Mikey. I don't think this would bother him terribly much but I do kinda think it might bother IDW Leo

Let's gooo!!!!

At this moment Raphael is intensely focused on preparing for his upcoming fight with 1987 Michelangelo--by which I mean he is choosing the perfect outfit

(this is about to be a lot of my blog for a good month or so, follow or block the tag #turtlecage26 according to your preference)

See below the cut for a brief summary of last year's tournament and an overview of how it works! Please consider our one and extremely important rule: let's not send each other hate over this. If someone is harassing you over something that happens in any event I'm hosting, use your own wisdom to block and report, but also let me know what's going on so that I can block if necessary to prevent them voting in future polls.

Oh shoot this is gonna be intense

Last year

" Mirage Raphael is one to watch next year; this time he happened to be paired first against a turtle who not only had specific strengths that made him a challenge for Raphael specifically, but is also just an extremely hard turtle to beat all around. In turtlecage26 we'll definitely have to factor in Raphael's wounded pride, he isn't one to just let things sit... Some of his fiercest moments come after his defeats. "

Y'all, this a huge factor. Shredder hath no fury like a Raphael scorned.

2012 Leo has a very versatile fighting style, and a lot of fire once he gets going. Most turtles I would not give them much of a chance against Mirage Raphael in this kind of mood. 2012 Leo, though... he's not easy to intimidate. And if notices Raph's emotion-driven single-minded determination, he himself might become more determined as he'd see it as his responsibility to teach his wayward somewhat-brother not to fight for the wrong reasons.

They're both very strong contenders, let's take a look at weaknesses

Raph: rash decisions at times, tends to go off on his own

Leo: rash decisions at times, tends to... go off on his own.....

Huh... I never thought about that before.

I'm so excited for this one! Eldest brother showdown!!

Very different fighting styles. Let's take a look

Leo will try to get in close. He has a few tricks to make this happen--he will start a conversation and play some mind games. He may actually start with a long range approach in order to get his opponent to chase him. What I'm seeing based on the on screen fights we get is that he wants to lure them in as close range as he can and get them to strike first. He's very good at redirecting force, identifying an opponent's weaknesses, waiting for the proper moment.

He's kind of bad about underestimating his opponents. I'm basing this on his rooftop fight with Raph, and on his.. audition? with the Ninja Tribunal. In both cases he really should have known his opponent better than to get cocky. I think he is deeply insecure about his fighting (he's very very skilled but he wants perfection) and he knows insecurity could make him hesitate and be his downfall, so he tries to lean the other way. Sometimes he overcorrects. He doesn't have an Uncle Iroh to teach him that pride is not the opposite of shame.

Raph also wants close range, because he wants to smash. Listen. Rise Raph has more than one trick up his sleeve. He can be sneaky, he can be subtle. He is capable. But he won't unless he absolutely has to. He just so very loves a straightforward brawl. This could be a problem since Leo wants him in close--but Raph is also very strong, and very tough, and I think he can keep in long enough to notice that close range is exactly what Leo wants. So then it becomes a bit of a standoff. They're circling. They're trash talking. Leo knows Raph has the strength and durability advantage. Raph knows Leo has the stealth and strategy advantage. Raph's best bet is to get his opponent to underestimate him, let his guard down even just for a second, and then go full smash mode. Leo's best bet is to wear Raph out, not so much physically but mentally. If he can get him bored and unfocused, he can end this pretty quickly. It'll just take patience and some clever talking to get into Raph's head.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Who's watching Rise Donnie?

It looks like Leo and Mikey have him under control--though it's hard to tell who he's actually rooting for? He and 2007 Leo bonded last year. 2007 Leo may have accidentally encouraged him to break the rules, thus endearing him to Mirage Leonardo who annoys him, which makes it 07 Leo's fault that he has to deal with this annoying new friend. On the other hand, his older brother was in charge of preventing him from interfering last year and has been given exclusive rights to give advantages when he so desires because of that (yeah if Rise Raph likes somebody he can just, give them an extra weapon or something. Interference rules don't apply to him because we rely on him to enforce them. He hasn't used this privilege yet but I'd be surprised if he hasn't gloated about it).

So I don't know if Rise Donnie has any plans for this match... I think we're probably safe as he is both annoyed by and attached to both of them... but he may be thinking ahead about who will be more helpful to him if they win, or lose. And last year, 2007 Leo was a very helpful loser....

Well who knows what could happen! What do you all think?