unubinary

I've seen people say how Rise Leo is "not a real Leo" and that he's "more of a Mikey" which is fundamentally untrue. He is as much of a Leo as any other when you look further than just surface level

First, he's not that different from other Leos and whoever says that has a fundamental missunderstanding of his character.

Leo is a naturally born leader. This is seen very early in the show. In Mystic Mayhem he's the one who steals the thingy that opens the portal to the hidden city, in Donnie's Gifts Raph is the leader but Leo is the one who rallies them up to confront Donnie, Origami Tsunami is the biggest example of Leo being a natural born leader very early in s1. He is consistently the voice of reason in the show when Raph doesnt think things through, he devices plans and strategies, he has great charisma that lifts up morale and gets the team to work together, he has amazing intuition and is able to read peoples character great and figure out if theyre villains. Another great example is Bug Busters, where Leo is able to tell Big Mama is more than she seems and that Draxum wasn't bluffing when he said he'd throw Leo off the roof, while the others were fooled

Leo is highly inteligent, which is another thing people get wrong about his character. Not only is he a natural born leader in the charisma and people smarts way, he's also a strategist and very smart. He has a goofy jokester persona, but its a persona. In Mystic Mayhem he even states that joking is how he copes; its a deflection. A lot of Leo's character is built on deflection. His quick wit is shown through jokes because a lot of smart people Are Like That. They use the power of their silver tongue to joke around and get great comebacks, and such skill only comes to those who are smart, inteligent, sharp and fast enough to be able to come with them on the spot. This skill then translates to battle by having Leo be able to think on plans on the fly and improvise, coming up with solutions on the fly

Its interesting, because this jokester attitude with bad puns is also exibited in 2003 and 2012 Leo, just to a smaller degree

Leo has Other characteristics which are seen in other Leos, such as being an absolute fucking dork. All Leos are meant to be leaders but are also dorks and losers and I love that for them. 2012 Leo, for example, is a fan of Space Heroes, Tales Leo is a batman fan, and Rise Leo has a very similar fascination with Jupiter Jim. They're dorky and dumb about their interests and its silly

Another thing Rise Leo shares with other Leos is his anxiety. Leos often have this immense weight on their shoulders from having to carry the family and doubt their position, not being sure they're really meant for the role and being scared of making a mistake. 2012 Leo has several conversations about this with Splinter, Tales Leo struggles with this in s1, and Rise Leo exibits the exact same type of behaviour in the movie. The difference is that Rise Leo hasn't been raised up to be the leader, therefore he can deflect responsability better. He dosnt see himself as worthy due to his crippling insecurities and utilizes weaponized incompetence; upping up his persona to not seem fit for the joke and try to get Raph back in charge because he doesnt see himself as worthy

Rise Leo serves as an excelent exploration of Leo as a concept because its getting him out of the controled enviroment and seeing how he reacts. If you grab the same story with the same cookie cutter character arcs and plot, you get no real character exploration because you aren't challenging the character. Rise challenges Leo conceptually, puts him under a microscope and asks the question what would happen if he wasn't given the role of leader at first? And the answer is a good one. He still has all the main characteristics of a Leo (natural born leader, sharp and quick wit, inteligence, very masterful of ninja skills, a dork, trans vibes), simply explored in a new light

Next thing I want to talk about is connected to his sharp wit and its the way he moves himself and how he interacts with people, particularly in relationship to Donnie because I have some thoughts about that

Donnie and Leo are twins, theres no doubt about it, theres textual evidence in the show. Dissaster Twins is one of, if not The most popular duo in the Rise Fandom, and its easy to see why. Donnie gets the most episodes to himself in s1 while Leo gets a lot in s2 and the movie, theyre the two most explored characters with more depth so obviously pairing them up for character studies is fun, moreso knowing they're twins. The issue is that the fanon version of the twins is different from what i've observed in the text and I wanna talk about it

In fanon, Donnie and Leo are often portrayed as the closest. They are twins, theyre always together, the fight but they have a mutual understanding of each other they simply dont have with the other siblings. They trust each other more than anything, etc.

However, in canon, this is not the case. Leo is the one who bullies and teases Donnie the most. He makes constant jabs at Donnie and his tech, moreso than the other two (Mikey makes some but his are less frequent. Raph doesnt). Some examples are seen in the episodes Smart Lair, Mystic Library, Ballad of the rat man, Stuck On You, Snow Day and Todd Scouts according to my notes. These range from minimizing/being distrustful of Donnie's tech, Insulting Donnie, blaming things on Donnie (which he didnt do) and more severely saying Donnie isnt a part of the family/wanting to kick Donnie out of the team. This CAN just be "sibling banter", Leo doesn't actually mean these things, the trouble arises from the fact that Donnie barely defends himself and doesnt bite back as often as Leo does. Their relationship is not equal and not the best; they fight, bicker and don't see themselves as equals (moreso on Donnie side, he does look up and copy Leo in a similar way than Mikey does, just to a lesser extent)

Obviously we need to talk about charcter development and how Leo grows as a character between the seasons and how, in the movie, they're more amicable towards each other which is a bonus. However, the harm that Leo has done towards Donnie and how it likely fostered his insecurities is not something often talked about or explored. This is not to vilanize or attack Leo/Leo fans, I just think this is an interesting aspect of his character. Leos a bit of an asshole and I love that for him, I really do. Adds to the charm. I think the shift happens in the switch of seasons because of how hurt Donnie gets against the Shredder and its "Leo's fault" because it was Leo's plan that got them there. Obviously not Leo's fault, but he could feel guilty. Theres also Lair Games, which explores their rivalry and power dynamic

There IS, however, a shift in s2. In s1, Leo's jabs at Donnie are more common and his attitude towards him more dismisive, but something changes when we reach s2. In s2, theres the episode The Hidden CIty Job. It opens with Leo coming to Señor Hueso wanting help to get an apology pizza for Donnie after he called him a "selfish eggheaded weirdo". Leos jabs at Donnie aren't new; whats new is Leo wanting to apologize for hurting Donnie's feelings. Thourought the episode theres other moments where Leo says how much he cares for his brothers, Donnie in particular, such as The Tooth Incident. The episode ends with them sharing the joey pouch, as Leo thought Donnie would like it. He still got him a pizza he disliked though.

Then theres also the s2 finale, where one of the crab guys insults Donnie and Leo fights for Donnie's honor. They also seem closer in Clothes Dont Make The Turtle. In general in s2, their attitude towards each other has improved quite a bit. Theres still moments, but less frequent than in s1. Theres a shift in their behaviour. I think the root of the issue with characterization is that people hold onto their s2 selves and see that as the be all of their relationship without really examining the harms Leo made in s1.

Because there IS a power dynamic. Donnie is less skilled than Leo and Leo finds pride in being better than him. When this dynamic is disturbed, shit goes down. I have SUCH a love hate relationship with the episode because it had SUCH a potential to explore their relationship even further, the ways in which they hurt each other, how theyre both extremely similar as people and how they refuse to see it but nooooooo. Because the rise writers hate me personally. However, combined with s1 finale, we can infer that they had some sort of conversation off screen that made Leo realize the harm of his ways. or maybe not and he just figured it out on his own seeing how Donnie hurt himself to beat him and felt guilty idk

Nowww lets talk about Leo's masking!

Leo uses humor as a way to cope. We know this, its stated in the show, this aint news. The thing about him is that when the lights are off and the cameras arent running, he is seen with a much more neutral expresion rather than his jokester external apreance. Back to Donnie and the twin dynamic, people say that Donnies the nonchalant one and Leos chalant but its actually the oposite. Leo is naturally nonchalant, he is much more chill go with the flow attitude, he masks very well and his loudness and flamboyancy, while part of his personality, work also as a mask and a persona. Donnie on the other hand actively puts up the oposite persona, his bad boy persona. Donnie feels very deeply and expresses many more genuine emotions than Leo does. They both mask, they both have resting bitch neutral face, but Leo masks more and better than Donnie does

This is all back to Leos deflection. The way he shields himself from things, uses humor, etc. A fun aspect i think is how fast Leo is. His portals, his electricity, his movements- Leo runs and leo is FAST. Leo runs away from his problems. When making a mistake, Leo deflects and tries to get the blame away from himself. When something goes wrong, its never his fault, he was helpless, he couldnt do anything about it, its not fair, he deflects. Like Donnie, he doesnt admit his mistakes, but while Donnie pretends they never happened, Leo says shakes off the blame. He runs from the blame and his problems, he is fast. Interesting stuff yes yes

We are 2000 words into my thoughts on Leo, i know im probably forgetting some other important points, but I wanna talk about his queerness

Leo is an aromantic gay man and there is nothing you can do about that. He is queercoded to hell and back, he just IS

In Newsworthy, even though he encourrages Mikey on with the hypo costume to catch Hypno, when they actually start flirting Donnie and Raph think its sweet while Leo thinks its gross. Later, when Splinter is recounting his relationship with Big Mama, Leo is horrified. He is the one who shows the most aversion to romance which is, dare I say, aro coded as fuck

As for his gay coding as a man, you need to understand queer coding and how it works. Its often not a set of specific things, but rather a vibe you needa pick up on. Queer coding because what it is because of censorship, where you needed to imply things in such a way that those who were In The Know would Know, but not making it explicit. I am In The Know, I am a queer person whos writen esays about queerness in the past (and gotten good grades on it), i Know what I'm talking about

"Oh but doodles in s1 finale he says he wants children-" NAY MY DEAR IMAGINARY VOICE, NAY!

In the s1 finale, Leo says "And none of us gave him(Splinter) grandchildren!" and its not a desire of Leo, its a desire of Splinter. Leo has this expectation placed upon himself that he should have kids to make Splinter happy, but its not a desire he himself holds. I dare say its amanormativity. Also i'm saying he's aro, not ace

Theres obviously Leos flamboyance. He is a flamboyant man, the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, his entonation and manerisms are reminiscent of those of a gay man. I woudlnt say he's feminine, he's not, but he does have a flamboyant air around him. An example can be bad hair day. He is not feminine in that episode, but the way he acts and carries himself... I Know What You Are. He is also a fan of glam rock which. Be so fr. That's gay. Extremely gay music genre you are fooling no one. Obviously theres Clothes Dont Make The Turtle too, a spiritually gay episode. In that one, we learn about Leo's love and fascination for magic. Which is also gay as hell. "Doodles why is magic gay-" It just is. Do you know the OG pride flag? the first one, with 8 stripes? Yea the cyan stripe was for magic. Magic, fairies, gay people just like that and you telling me LEO is the one interested in this? Thats gay. Plus the episode Hidden City Job where he finds Don Suave atractive. He just gay. I see it, you see it, we all see it and we all agree

Which is why I dislike him being shipped with Casey. I dislike that a LOT. This is a what are my thoughts on Rise Leo so I have been given permision to talk about ALL my thoughts, which includes why i'm uncomfortable with this ship

Leo is extremely queercoded. He just is, as we've discussed. Meanwhile. Casey is lesbian coded. Her energy, her makeup, her piercings, her haircut- thats a gay woman. I know a lesbian when I see one, I'm a lesbian. So the gayest turtle being shipped with this gay woman? Feels wrong. Feels spiritually homophobic, even though I try to hold good faith that people dont intend it that way. Still, it feels like it actively disregards the text, and not just the queer coding in both their characters

One of the arguments that I've seen people use for this is that Leo is Juniors parental figure in some way. Casey's Juniors mom, Leos a parental figure ergo Leos Junior dad ergo Casey and Leo end up being shipped. However this is a big fanon thing that isnt suported in the text

In the movie, Leo does NOT act as a parental figure towards Junior, and in my reading they're actually somewhat distant. For starters Leo is the leader of the resistance against the Krang bro does NOT have time to raise a child. Also not every relationship between an older character and a younger one needs to be parental they can just be sensei and student. And even there I feel like theres some disconect with the actual movie

In the movie, Junior looks up to Leo a big deal and he has an idealized version of Leo. When he meets present Leo, he is shocked and disapointed by Leos character and behaviour. Juniors idealized version of Leo probably stems from the fact they werent too close- sure, a sensei, a figure to look upto, but it borders on hero worship. If Junior really got to be close with future Leo, know him as a person, he would've seen his flaws earlier and maybe know how to handle the present version of him better. This is just my interpretation, my reading, but I think Junior didn't actually have that close of a mentorship position with Leo. My headcanon is that Juniors caregivers were moreso the Brownie Clan after Casey's death, but unfortunately thats just headcanon, not based on textual evidence

Another reason why I dislike this ship and this attitude towards future Leo is because of how it errases Casey. Casey has been neglected by the show writers, not even being awarded her own name until the end of s2. She doesnt get to exist as the prime version of Casey in the Rise universe (which she is) and often gets errased by her son. Junior gets much more attention in fandom, apears more often, is explored more, and is a man who is errasing the existance of a woman. Casey is Juniors mother, maybe she could get some fandom attention because of that, but she's not even awarded that. Instead, she is errased by Leo. People place Leo as the primary caretaker of Junior in the bad timeline, crown him as the boys father and give him all the credit, often times killing Casey off early in Juniors childhood, holding Leo as the main parental figure. This reeks of misogyny. Casey is not allowed to be herself, not allowed to exist as a character and is errased by her son and by Leo. When it was fathers day, I saw my fyp filled with art celebrating Leo as Juniors father, while there was NOTHING made for Casey and Junior during mothers day

I think it could be an interesting concept to explore. Unfortunately I cannot hold it in my heart to interact with these things because of the ways in which misogyny and heteronormativity infect fandom. If you are a fan of this ship and/or like the headcanon of Leo being a parental figure towards Junior, I aint gon stop you, aint nothin I can do about it, but I do encourrage you to think WHY and what biases might be affecting your interactions in these fandom spaces