#from showing Mikey’s innate talent for mysticism

[turtleblogatlast]

One of the earliest examples of Leo’s “I’ll do my own thing to accomplish our goal without discussing it with my team first” is in episode one. It’s super, super quick, and ultimately inconsequential, but it subtly sets up a great precedent that I think is very interesting.

When the boys need to grab the medallion from Splinter without Splinter noticing, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie huddle together with Raph taking the lead in trying to devise a plan to get the mystic device. Meanwhile, Leo slinks away and grabs the device by clocking the situation (by knowing his father well enough to predict his actions - something he does with each family member multiple times in the series) and making a move on his own.

It works out perfectly fine, and is ultimately the best move, and it’s honestly okay that he didn’t consult everyone for something so small when it’s such a non issue to get it, but it nicely sets up how this tends to go in the series, including how it goes in the movie.

To be honest episode one is actually really good at setting up a lot of things for each character in the long run, this is just one example that caught my attention, as small and unassuming as it is.

[thedawningofthehour]

I stumbled upon this post again

Fai, please stop coming out with these kind of scenarios, they are depressing!!! And of the kind that I eat up!!!!

I would like to know more!

Many- if not all- leo's Sep AU's with Draxum have Draxum being abusive to varying degrees, that it would be interesting to see one with a Draxum who at least tries to love his son and be a good father and still fails.

Leo would be his usual self, wich annoy Draxum, and causes self estem issues, but that's okay, in the end they only have each other and Leo doesn't really have competition, until he does, because his Long Lost missing Brothers show up and it turns out Draxum likes them more, which would be much more mess up because this Leo doesn't really have connections outside of Draxum. It all be complicated and 'll Will eat it with fries.

I mean, I've never really thought out how he'd be raising each of the boys alone, really just all together or just with Donnie. Donnie, I feel like is such a perfect parallel to Draxum that it just makes sense for a separated AU Draxum to get Donnie in the divorce. Like, Splinter and Big Mama, you could make an argument that pairing them up with any of the other three would fit in a unique and interesting way, but Draxum was just meant to have Donnie. (also I love how all separated AUs are like "hokay, obviously three of the parents are Draxum, Big Mama, and Splinter, and the fourth is...fuck, I dunno, the Foot? Hueso?") Not that I don't like other separated AUs where Donnie is raised by someone else, (Little Prince my beloved) but Donatello Draxum is just poetic.

But, going along this line of thinking, with the 'doth Draxum actually raises Galois from a hatchling' fantasy set of events except it's not Donnie he ended up with but another turtle...hmm.

(I'm going to use Donnie and Galois interchangeably for this post deal with it)

Well, for starters, he'd be less protective over the other boys than he is with Gale right now. (honestly, he'd be less protective of Galois too if he'd raised him for sixteen years, but that's for another post) He still would be overprotective, and he'd do the same isolating thing with any of the other boys and hide their existence until he was ready to move forward with his domination plans. Mikey, he would still be more protective of, considering his innate mystical ability surpassing his potential as the warrior he was designed as. Not to the same extent as Donnie though, since most of Mikey's abilities would still require him to be present on the battlefield, verses Donnie who could fulfill his usefulness 100% from an underground bunker.

Raph and Leo, however, were made for war and their greatest talents still lie in combat. If he is to make use of them then there's no way of getting around it, they'll end up on the front lines at some point. Draxum would have to train them to be able to survive that, to fulfill the purposes they were made for-and he would have to steel himself for the very, very real possibility that they may die.

(That's kind of present in his current relationship with Raph, he's aware that this might end with Raph dying from a bullet meant for Gale. And if Raph betrays Draxum, or he's forced to choose between Raph and Galois, he needs to be able to sacrifice Raph without hesitation. He really doesn't want to start seeing Raph as his son and complicate matters-the revolution needs Galois more than it needs Raph or even Draxum, there can be no room for choice between them)

Another thing is that Draxum and Donnie have similar interests, so they'd naturally have a stronger friendship than the other three anyway. He'd still find things to bond over with Mikey and Raph, they're both pretty versatile and easy to get along with. With Leo? Maybe history? Medicine? Like, yes he could impart upon Leo all his medical knowledge, (oh my god, so many dissections would take place in that house) but I feel like Leo's joking nature would make Draxum feel like Leo isn't giving the subject the attention it deserves and it would always end in a screaming match. Not to mention Leo's sense of humor is exactly what irritates Draxum's ego most efficiently.

And then there's the areas Leo actually excels at verses his brothers, namely 1) his charisma and leadership skills, and 2) his strategic mind.

Leo is smart. Doth Draxum is learning to his great displeasure how smart, but a Draxum who raised Leo from birth would know he's smart. And it's not the simple fact that his child can be smarter than The Great Baron Draxum that bothers him, no. Galois is smarter than him in many ways, and Draxum delights in that. He loves having someone he can intellectually spar with, whose arguments actually pose a challenge, and he feels immense pride that his creation is so brilliant he's outpacing his creator.

It wouldn't be the same for Leo. Because while Leo absolutely could outsmart Draxum, (or is getting smart enough that he's getting close) it's in a way he absolutely doesn't understand. When Donnie wins an argument Draxum is practically giddy over it, because what Donnie's saying or doing makes sense. Yes, Draxum didn't think of it first, but now that's he laid out the situation this way he can totally see what he's talking about and wow his son's brilliance takes his breath away, he can't believe this is the same turtle he fed with a bottle and rocked to sleep after a nightmare-who, less than two decades ago, bit his hand, cried, and then bit his other hand to see if that one hurt too.

Leo's brain does not work the same way. When he outsmarts Draxum, he does it in such a convoluted, weird-ass way that Draxum is like "???!!!!!!!?? How????!!!" And this infuriates him. Baron Draxum is one of the world's greatest minds. He's hundreds of years old. He will not be bamboozled by his teenage son working off the seat of his pants!

And it just frustrates him immensely, that Leo can be so smart in a way Draxum absolutely cannot follow. He can accept that he's perceptive and good at talking to people, yes, Draxum knows his social skills are lacking and he's accepted that there's a piece of the puzzle there that most people have and he just lacks-but how in the world can Leo out-strategize him?

Oh yeah, there would absolutely be self-esteem issues when Draxum is mooning over how talented his other sons are, when he gets along with Leo's brothers so much easier than he does with the kid he's raised for over a decade. And Drax probably wouldn't realize it until Huginn and Muninn pointed it out or Leo had a breakdown in front of him. But he would make a point to tell Leo-in his own awkward, roundabout way-how talented he truly was, and he's sorry that he's never been able to understand him.

And since I know you like my bird, an Angel update: along with having to deal with this molt, (he looks scruffy, the casing his feathers have when they come in is super hot and itchy, and he's hungry and tired all the time because growing a bird's worth of feathers is a lot of work!) my sister was home sick yesterday. His sleeping cage is in her bedroom, but she was long asleep by the time he goes to bed. So we just locked him in his downstairs cage, which he pretty much just uses as a playground/eating area. He did a few confused peeps, but then he settled down and went to bed-a very good bird! He was thanked for his compliance and got extra pets today, and was so excited to get his room back. He had to do a full inspection of his cage first, but he's happily snoozing away now. We're very proud of him for not being a dick about it.

[whattraintracks]

#im just ranting at this point feel free to ignore me I’m tired lol#anyway#Leo constantly just goes off and does his own thing#and yeah honestly his own thing often works??? but he alienates his brothers/team in the process#BUT also this isn’t necessarily a one way street#when Leo DOES try to consult his brothers or give his thoughts on matters he’s not really taken seriously#best example here is bug busters where he CONSTANTLY makes his worries and suspicions known only to have them ignored#so it’s almost understandable that he doesn’t often open up about his thought process when it’s easier to just do it#than to try and fail to justify it#after all it almost always works out for him when he does so why not?#and then the movie happens#and that line of thinking doesn’t quite hold up does it?#BUT ON ANOTHER NOTE#like I said episode one is super good at setting characters up#from showing off Donnie’s preference for tech vs magic/mystic#from showing Mikey’s innate talent for mysticism#from showing Raph’s anxieties and how easily they can stack up#there’s more but I’d have to do a closer deep dive on the ep and man am I tired#so off the head rambles it is for now#sorry everyone for my constant spam of Too Many Words into things that are prob Not That Deep#it’s honestly just fun haha#EDIT: bc I saw someone mention it! yeah all the boys have communication issues through the series and it’s super interesting and realistic#Leo in particular stands out to me here because his communication issues are a constant theme that pop up much more often#but each of them experiences this in some form

One of the earliest examples of Leo’s “I’ll do my own thing to accomplish our goal without discussing it with my team first” is in episode one. It’s super, super quick, and ultimately inconsequential, but it subtly sets up a great precedent that I think is very interesting.

When the boys need to grab the medallion from Splinter without Splinter noticing, Raph, Mikey, and Donnie huddle together with Raph taking the lead in trying to devise a plan to get the mystic device. Meanwhile, Leo slinks away and grabs the device by clocking the situation (by knowing his father well enough to predict his actions - something he does with each family member multiple times in the series) and making a move on his own.

It works out perfectly fine, and is ultimately the best move, and it’s honestly okay that he didn’t consult everyone for something so small when it’s such a non issue to get it, but it nicely sets up how this tends to go in the series, including how it goes in the movie.

To be honest episode one is actually really good at setting up a lot of things for each character in the long run, this is just one example that caught my attention, as small and unassuming as it is.