leorai4life

[leorai4life]

might just be me but i think it's weird that the fandom make jokes about leorai being incest when incest is actually disgusting and ruins lives. i hate how leorai haters trivialize it and make jokes about it so much

I understand your frustration. Like I've only laughed at one Leorai incest joke, but that's because it used a Weird Al song and was a rather light-hearted joke. However when underneath every Leorai post there's some douche crying "INCEST!!" it gets frustrating.

I actually covered the Leorai "incest" claims in my ship analysis of Leorai (see pinned post) and how the show subtly shows Leo trying to gage what kind of relationship Karai wants to have with him (aka, whether she sees him as family now or as a potential romantic partner).

[leorai4life]

I'm realising that my main OTPs are all characters who have never been explicitly confirmed to be together lol

Leorai - basically canon, but we never got any kisses or hugs like the other couples in 2012 did. Enemies to lovers with a purely emotionally intimate connection. They will stab you cutely if you hurt their beloved~

Zutara - enemies to lovers vibes, ferociously protective of one another, badass fighting duo. They never became canon, ofc, but their romantic chemistry and emotional intimacy was off the charts.

Shadouge - started off as 2 people only looking out for themselves and focused on one goal (revenge, jewels) but the longer they were around each other the more vulnerable they became with one another. Would trust each other with their goddamn life.

Royai - they're basically married, your honour. Know each other's body language off by heart, would follow the other to hell and back, would rather die than live in a world without one another.

They all just give off soft "I will protect you and care for you even though you could do it yourself" vibes. I guess I just love badasses who are also the most emotionally intimate pairings you'll ever meet <3

[leorai4life]

Lil Cinnamon Roll Mom????????

screenshot to see ur nickname!

[leorai4life]

Karai should have been Shredder's biological daughter

You know the more I think about, the more it would have been a better idea for Karai to be Shredder's biological daughter.

Think about it: not only does it clear up the Leorai drama, but from a storytelling standpoint it also makes the fact that Shredder killed Karai's mother 10x more fucked up and impactful. Instead of the whole "My enemy is my father?!", Karai would have to come to terms with the fact that her biological father is a deranged psychopath who not only killed her mother due to a bitter vendetta against some guy in his old clan, but that he's also never taken accountability and instead chooses to chase a giant rat and turtles as opposed to nurturing his daughter and spending every day trying to make up for his mistake. He could be a humbled father trying to make things right, but instead he pushes the responsibility of his actions - and Karai - aside and gives Splinter all the blame.

This would lead Karai to have to make the decision to go against her own father after being under his manipulative influence for almost 2 decades. Whilst this would be good in the long run for the TMNT, imagine the emotional turmoil she'd have to go through whilst assisting the people she called enemies take down her own father. Splinter could still play a nurturing role for her as the father figure she never had; he could help comfort her through the pain of her loss and take her under his wing much like he did with April. This would also probably result in her and April having a closer and sister-like bond. On top of that, he'd be able to give Karai a more transparent depiction of Tang Shen, Shredder and his relationships with one another.

As for Tang Shen's role in this, I think she'd have married Shredder, but started to develop feelings for Splinter as she sees Shredder's darkness come to the surface and Splinter's light continue to shine. This is what would have sparked jealousy in Shredder, resulting in the ambush and fire that we see in canon.

[leorai4life]

Here's the thing: it's ok to ship Leorai.

And here's the other thing: It's also ok to curse the writers for overcomplicating Karai's relationship with Leo [slowly pulls out gun and aims at whoever suggested making Leo's love interest have a connection to his sensei]

JOKES ASIDE [nervously hides gun], seriously: don't let ship haters get you down! I know what they say can be infuriatingly stupid, but that's only cuz they don't have the same Leorai brainrot we all have lol. Just ignore their bashing and Live, Laugh, Love Leorai <3

[leorai4life]

heeey idk if you're active and you may have seen this but youtube watch?v=apOGUrqIQ_M, the OFFICIAL tmnt channel put out a leo/karai moments video. the name of the video even includes the blue and black hearts. i think the writers were kinda dumb with making karai splinter's daughter but the writers' intentions were not having them be incest. they're just in a weird position where one was biologically related to splinter (karai) but not raised by him, and the other was not biologically related to splinter (leo) but raised by him.

i also think ppl trying to be so insistent on splinter being leo's biological dad is weird bc leo has BLUE eyes and even if mutation took the dna like that, he'd share it with a kids' dna or the shop keepers or some in the sewers. even though splinter and leo don't share genetics, splinter is still just as much leo's dad. it's fine ppl being uncomfy with it but attacking shippers is stupid bc it's not incest.

i think the fact that's the only thing ppl can come up with to talk shit about it shows that leorai has a lot going for it. and at least leo didn't decide to change karai's name to an artwork of a woman painted by a man which is objectifying and creepy cough cough raph/mona cough

Hi, yes still active! I did in fact see the Leorai compilation on the official channel, yeah! I was happy that they were acknowledging Leorai as a semi-canon ship (tho the actual video barely has any Leorai moments; more like Leo vs Karai moments lol).

Yes I agree that Leo and Karai were put in a awkward position by the writers whereby one is Splinter's biological child (Karai) but not raised by him, and one is his child by lifelong bond (Leo) but not by blood. However the intention wasn't incest, the writers just over-complicated Karai's backstory imo because she was introduced as Leo's love interest/rival (and arguably created the most interesting dynamic for Leo AND the best romantic pairing in the show), so revealing her as Miwa makes it harder to explain to those non-shippers, ESPECIALLY if their introduction to Leo and Karai was via Rise where they actively state that the TMNT are related to Splinter AND refer to Karai as 'gran-gran' (Rise Leo and Karai should NOT be shipped). I understand the confusion from a surface level, but it's why you really have to pay attention to Leo and Karai's interactions after she's revealed as Miwa to show that they don't view each other as siblings (peep my pinned post where I go in-depth about this). And yeah, but in all honesty people just love to talk shit about ships that they don't like or throw shade at it constantly - kiiinndaa like what you did with RaMona /lh I know some of the RaMona shippers tend to hate on Leorai cuz some (emphasis on SOME) tend to see RaMona as the superior ship (it's solid but I definitely see some flaws; such as Mona abandoning her mission to save her planet from destruction for some guy she met like THREE TIMES AND THEN NOT APPEAR AGAIN-), but don't stoop to their level - just ignore their trash talk and enjoy Leorai <3

[leorai4life]

I love your playlist for Leo and Karai <3

Omg thank you so much, that's so sweet! <3 I love my babies, and I loved making a playlist that represented their relationship throughout the series :3

[leorai4life]

Karai: You think killing people will make them like you?

Karai: It doesn’t.

Karai: I just makes them dead.

[leorai4life]

Raphael jealous of the Turtle couples.

[leorai4life]

Oh my gosh, this is the sweetest response! Yes I accept chocolates<3

Analysing Leorai - differentiating rumours from reality (a 3 part analysis)

Introduction

To this day, Leorai (2012) remains a controversial ship as many view it as incestrious and therefore taboo. I understand why many would view it as much - especially if those in question haven't watched the 2012 show - and that without proper analysis the concept of "adoptive brother and sister in love" sounds pretty bad. However, I for one can say with certainty that Leorai is not a ship that is not as simple as revolving around two adopted siblings in love - as characters, be it platonically or romantically, Leo and Karai's relationship has many layers that cannot be dulled down to being one thing or the other.

Before I start this analysis, I just want to say if you're an anti Leorai shipper or just not a big fan of shipping in general, that's cool! I'm not trying to convince you to like this ship or anything - however I do hope that in reading this you can learn to respect those who do ship it.

Aspect Analysis 1 - Siblings? So, a common argument for why Leorai is "wrong" is that it's promoting incest. Well let's look at Leo and Karai's parental relationships and discuss that:

Although they both technically share a father, Splinter is barely granted the chance to form a paternal bond with Karai due to the fact that he didn't get to raise her, nor spend time with her once the truth had been revealed. Even when she was brought back to the lair and reunited with her blood father, she still chose getting vengeance over getting to know and love her blood father. Leo on the other hand was raised by Splinter since he was a child and views him as his beloved father and sensei. He looks up to his adoptive father for guidance and emotional support; he is Leo's role model, and essentially all Leo wishes to be as the new sensei.

When we compare the bond Leo has with Splinter to Karai's, Leo had more experience being Splinter's son/ward than Karai did. Even Splinter's death had more of an impact on Leo than it did Karai; Leo was filled with anger and despair and continued to "talk" to Splinter when seeking guidance, whilst upon hearing of his death Karai's response was more reserved than distraught. This is an understandable reaction, as within a couple of weeks Karai had had her whole life exposed as a lie, became a mutant, got brainwashed and on top of all that didn't even get to form an emotional and parental connection with her one true father before he too was taken from her. So yeah, it's no wonder she wasn't able to emotionally process his death like the others did (heck, even April and Casey are more bonded with Splinter than Karai is).

So to relate back to my initial point of both Leo and Karai technically sharing a father, they each share him for a different reason: Leo is Splinter's son by a lifelong bond, whilst Karai is Splinter's daughter by blood. This difference in reasoning does not make either one of them any less of Splinter's child, but this difference does make them be less seen as siblings from each other's POV. Leo was raised with his blood-brothers by the same father/sensei, under the same roof and with a shared family dynamic - so he of course views them as siblings. This is why something like Raph x Leo differs drastically from Leorai as Raph and Leo have always treated one another as siblings because it's what they're used to - so turning that dynamic romantic would make both of them extremely uncomfortable. However, Karai enters the Turtles' lives when they're well into their teens - aka, when they're beyond extreme (emphasis on extreme) influence. On top of that, her first introduction to them was 'Shredder's daughter'/'a Foot Clan kunoichi' - so taking her home and attempting to accept her as a sister didn't really work as there was an already established family dynamic between the brothers and Splinter which Karai hadn't been around to be a part of. This is why she's mainly viewed as a close friend/distant family by the bois (although bless Mikey for at least ATTEMPTING to give her the opportunity to be their sister).

Karai even distances herself from forming any sort of familial bond with the Turtles by refusing to join their Dojo and rarely instigating missions with them unless absolutely desperate - instead she opts to rebuild the Foot Clan under her rule and take her life into her own hands. And if anything, she builds herself in the image of The Shredder - a powerful leader with an arsenal of ninjas at her disposal - but with the heart and honour of her father. When Mikey queried why Karai didn't come home with them, Leo states "Well, she's not a little kid anymore - she wants to take control of her own life"; in a way, this indicates that Karai doesn't want the burden of being a part of a family. Perhaps after living a life of lies under a tyrannical "father" she just wanted to be her own person on her own - literally (well, aside from Shini).

So to answer the query of "Aren't they technically siblings?" the answer is logically no, as they do not share a sibling bond psychologically or even biologically; Leo is literally a giant talking turtle mutant...she's a human-mutant hybrid...they literally could not be more NOT related lol.

Anyways, onto the next point:

Aspect Analysis 2 - "The Turtles are blood relatives of Splinter"

I see a lot of antis use this point in an argument, saying that the Turtles share blood with Splinter so they are blood relatives.

Now speaking specifically about the 2012 show, we never get an official confirmation that the brothers and Splinter share blood. I've even searched interviews with Ciro Nieli and the most he's said is that "All the turtles share a piece of Splinter" - though he was talking trait-wise...so...yeah.

My personal view is that since they are linked to the last thing they touched (be it the pet store owner, a bunch of curious kids or Splinter himself), I do believe they share a connection with Splinter - but not in the sense that the same blood runs through their veins. I believe that when the Turtles and Splinter mutated, the Turtles humanoid appearance was created by the shared contact of the pet store owner, curious kids, and of course Splinter. The mutagen used the fundamentals of all these humans' DNA to basically ~evolutionise~ the Turtles into their humanoid selves (think of it as though they're a combination of turtle and a dose of general human DNA).

As far as I can tell, the only thing the human interaction with Hamato Yoshi (Splinter) got them is some of his core traits - a sense of honour and leadership for Leo, a fierce and protective fighting spirit for Raph, creativity and ability to improvise when under pressure for Mikey, and ingenuity for Donnie. Physically, it seems only Donnie gained something from Splinter (his reddish-brown eyes and natural tall stature) whilst the other brothers must have gained their distinctive physical traits from the other human contacts; such as Mikey, Raph and Leo having different eye colours than Splinter, Mikey's freckles, and Donnie's overbite and gap tooth. My personal headcanon is that Mikey got his empathic traits and love for pets from the pet shop owner hehe.

So essentially Splinter's foundational pieces of DNA helped to shape their roles on the team (leader, warrior, inventor and creative-and-spontaneous-ball-of-butt-kicking).

I guess a question would be "but if they all did a blood test, would Splinter be found to be related????" - my answer to that is yes, though very distantly, as their main DNA result would be a turtle (duh...) whilst the rest is a jumble of the other humans' DNA. Think of it as though you did a DNA test and got a match with a bunch of random people - it is possible to share a small amount of DNA with someone and not be related. In other words, it's possible to share genetic material and not share a common ancestor or any identifiable genealogical connection.

Aspect Analysis 3 - "INCEST!"?

This relates back to point 1 where I discussed whether Leo and Karai see each other as siblings and whether shipping them should be considered promotion of incestrious behaviours. This answer is actually really simple: no, Leorai does not encourage incest.

Why not? Because incest, by definition means "sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other". And guess what? Not only are Leo and Karai not closely related, but they never did the deed, or even kissed. They didn't even become 'official' official in the show, so calling Leorai incest is not a fact.

In all honesty, Leorai is my favourite ship of the show because unlike the other ships they didn't need to be physical with each other (e.g. kissing, arms around each other, tight hugs, carrying in arms) to show the audience that they cared deeply for one another. They showed their love through emotional connection and the "little things". Leorai is much like Zutara for me in this sense; I'm happy with what we got because it felt more like two characters building a genuine connection that would lead to an eventual romantic relationship (be it in show or not) than having to shove it in our faces that "tHEY'rE iN LOve beCaUSe tHEy KisSed!" (*cough* Kataang).

If you as a writer can make two characters have a romantic connection without having to make them get physical then you know you've written a relationship - heck, you know you've written the characters - right. And my personal headcanon is that Leo and Karai would share an asexual relationship eventually; no smut, just wholesome love :3

To conclude: Leorai is not incest. Not biologically, not psychologically, and not even romantically. I know not everyone will agree with this as many prefer to just stick with the most popular opinion so they don't cause controversy and that's fine - but heck, I'm tired of hiding my love for this ship cuz "I'll upset someone". That someone can be offended all they want, but I'm still not gonna change myself to suit their agenda.

I'm too old to keep getting involved in anti-ship nonsense (in ANY fandom, tbh), so if you're an anti reading this I'm not gonna try fight your opinion. You can have it, and I'll respect it cuz it's your opinion. I just hope that one day we as the internet can evolve to a point where we're smart enough to just not actively search for something we despise and only focus on what makes us happy.

As for my fellow Leorai shippers- thank you for reading my ramble! I love and appreciate all of you that continue to stand by this ship, and I hope to give you more Leorai content soon! Hopefully one that isn't a ramble, haha 💙🖤

Thanks again for reading, and have a good day/evening!

[leorai4life]

Hey guys, I made a thing! <3

[leorai4life]

Me: Uh oh, I've got a lot of reblogs. Maybe the antis finally found me! 😥

[sees that everything is positive and that my analysis of Leorai is getting more reblogs and ZERO negative comments, on top of my 'Karai and Leorai: Rewritten' post being my most liked post recently on @mutantsandmemes]

Me: Wait WHAT?! THE INTERNET NOT HATING ON SOMEONE FOR LIKING A CERTAIN SHIP?!...am I dead??

Seriously though, thank you to all who have been bringing more attention to my Leorai analysis. It won't change everyone's mind, but I'm glad that there are people out there who respect and understand the analysis<3

[leorai4life]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 500 likes!

[leorai4life]

How would you feel if someone call you big nose

Congratulate them on highlighting one of my finest features.

Maybe ask if they’d like a new one just like it, depending on my mood.

[leorai4life]

I love this lmao absolutely something she'd say

Which one of the turtles are the meanest to you?

Ahahahaha this isn’t even a question–

Raphael and I are trading insults and jabs like 50% of the time and it’s great.

[leorai4life]

馬鹿だけど可愛い

[leorai4life]

i thought this was hilarious

In “The Journal” during Fast Forward, Leo was so fucking paranoid about Karai I mean my god.  I don’t remember if it was Splinter or Cody who wrote the story to mess with his head but lol it was spot on

the fuck is she doing here she’s totally up to no good

yeah she’s a bad girl i know it

i know ur gonna betray us karai u can’t hide anything from me

gonna find out her evil plan

look at that evil shit she’s doin

yeah that’s some fucked up evil shit

GOTTA STOP DEM EVIL PLANS

admit ur evil karai

ur not evil?  my bad