#of course mikey and leo are swapped lmao and donnie and raph

[baskeigh-ball]

God I love that swap au, especially with Raph. Cause like he's always the one to take the heavy hits for the team, he's used to an even encourages people to test his durability/strength at times. So to now be in a body that's suddenly the exact opposite would make me want to wrap myself in 50 layers of bubble wrap and never leave

As one of the many vocal Raph enthusiasts on this site, YES EXACTLY YOU SEE MY VISION

It was the obvious choice for Raph to be in Don's body because it has so much potential! He's has to force himself not to be the shield now!! He's going against a lifetime of Toughest Biggest Brother Instincts because he's not the toughest biggest brother anymore!!!

He figures out why Donnie is so obsessed with his tech--which, he had a basic understanding before, but now he REALLY gets it. A softshell has very few natural defenses. He can get hurt much more easily, so he uses a battle shell to pick up the slack. But I can imagine Raph becoming waay too attached to the shell. Even though it goes haywire sometimes because he has no clue how it works, it becomes his security blanket.

Not to mention his strategy in battle is completely overhauled because he's not the Punchy Guy anymore. Well, he's still a heavy hitter, but he has to rely on technology instead of his own raw mystic strength. So he's basically rendered useless, at least by his own logic, because what good is Donnie without Donnie's brain?

He never thinks that about Donnie tho, in fact he and Mikey and Leo have spent years trying to uplift their brother and make him know that his self-worth is not attached to what he can offer to the team. But, of course, Raph doesn't cut himself the same slack. I can also imagine him slightly resenting the others for having an easier time adjusting to their different weaponry, meanwhile he's left with high-tech armor that never listens to him and tries to kill him just as often as it protects him. Just saying, it's inevitable that he snaps eventually but that's another story for another day

Sorry for ranting, I have too many thoughts about the silly red turtle and it comes out in the form of word vomit since I have nowhere else to shout into the void about my obsession with him lmao

[foxovobear]

Heres another 2003 moment I loved and wanted to draw the Rise boys in lol

[angeldormante]

Hi!! Im the Leo-withdrawal anon! I didnt ask anything prior to the one you just answered, but I'm so happy you responded! I'd honestly listen to anything you write--I think you have a wonderful way of expressing yourself, and the way you write is just... *chef's kiss* I guess, a question I'd have for you is this: What sort of hobbies do you headcanon our fearless leader to have? Quirks? Both endearing and... less so? I think that'd be a fun start!

hokay.... finally getting around to this!! sorry for the wait and thank you for bearing with me, anon! (ty for the compliment, too -- i'm very flattered jfjflk i just like talking about turtles ok (•̥ ̫ •̥) )

now... lemme talk blue to ya.

if we're talking about hobbies, well. stop me if you think you've heard this before -- leo loves training. for all of the guys, ninjutsu is a way of life; it's how they survive the world, how they connect with themselves and one another; it's their entire culture that the foundations of their family is built upon. and that's super neat. but watch 2k3 for like, one episode, and you'll very quickly see that the only one that fully leans into it is leo. mikey and don have their own interests that they often can't get to quickly enough once the day's training session ends. i think raph actually enjoys training recreationally as well -- but he's more interested in the physical aspect, spending his energy, bulking up, not necessarily focusing on skill or technique. i like to imagine that growing up, leo and raph spent a lot of time in the dojo together doing their own thing, kind of "separate but together"; before casey came along and raph got into hanging out topside with him.

leo, though, he throws himself fully into training. he's incredibly dedicated to it not only because of his sense of responsibility, but because he genuinely enjoys it -- he enjoys improving his technique, his skill. he enjoys the repetition of learning, which helps to calm and center him. he enjoys meditation, which helps him focus and clear his mind. as an introvert, and precisely because his family doesn't hang around the dojo as often as he does, leo's solo training time is his time -- it's his chance to relax and decompress. i think it's exactly why he spiraled harder and harder in season 4 no matter how much training he did: at that point, it was no longer a hobby, but an obsession. leonardo normally uses training as a healthy outlet, but when he channeled his exodus trauma into it, he removed his main method of decompression and replaced it with the intent to fuel that exact trauma. (sidebar, though i've talked about it before: i also feel like this is why fast forward is so excellent at showing leo's character growth. he is extremely zen and such a huge advocate of healthy self-reflection in the way he coaches cody and his clone. my sweet boy, so proud of him in that season.)

now i know what you may be thinking. and you're right. there's more to leo than his life in the dojo... so let's talk about some other hobbies i like to think he has!

so here's the thing, and i think it's something else i've touched on before... but i think leo actually has a very strong bond with donnie. their temperaments are very similar, they feel similar burdens when it comes to protecting the family, etc... and to be honest, i think they bond a lot over the same nerdy hobbies too! i think leo is a huge freaking nerd.

i legit think that donatello has probably absorbed his brother into more than one of his hobbies, both unwillingly and not. some things click for leo, and some things don't. some things he has a hard time getting into until he discovers a certain aspect of it or views it from a different perspective. but he is very often willing to try anything.

for example, i imagine that growing up, leo and don played a lot of chess together. don used to overwhelmingly win, until they got older and older leo got deeper and deeper into the tactical aspect, and soon he was beating don quite soundly more often than he wasn't. don started getting into engineering manuals and physics books, while leo started getting into history texts and military treatises, but both shared a love for novels and would swap their favorites regularly. and they still play chess, of course.

don got into nerdy sci-fi shows. like, really into them. and leo couldn't quite pick up the thread on that one, but he was content to endure every fourth movie night when it was don's turn to pick. and slowly he began getting drawn into it, the same way anyone does -- he enjoyed the campiness of the plot, how absolutely ludicrous the fight choreography was, how sometimes there were actually deep and thoughtful moments. it was both a welcome respite from the intensity of his reality and something he could put to practical use if he had to, like, steal a spaceship one day, though the odds of that happening seemed pretty low⁽ˡᵒˡ⁾. he was never able to quote any of the episodes verbatim like donnie, but it was something they could discuss and lightly bicker about during the times when leo is mindlessly helping out around don's lab. (more on that in a sec.)

also? i can absolutely. totally. easily see leo as a tabletop game enthusiast. i think i'll refrain from getting lost in the weeds on that once, since this is already starting to run long, but i just want to put that in your mind. tmnt dnd gaming nights. let that sit for a second.

okay moving on.

i genuinely think that leo just likes existing in the general vicinity of his family and extended family. not necessarily doing anything; just being there, doing something with his hands. if don is working on a project, leo may drift in, and don will ask him to hand him certain tools or read aloud certain notes on the screen, because he knows the deal. if raph is lifting weights and leo wanders over from his own training session, raph may ask him to spot, or set up the next pair of weights, because he knows how it is. if mikey is sitting in the living room playing video games and leo appears on the couch next to him, he might toss him a controller, or he may just start blabbering about what game he's playing and what level he's on, because he's got it. if april and casey are tidying up her shop for a new shipment of merchandise and leo just randomly appears in the window, feathered duster in hand, april smiles and puts on water for tea and casey teases him and throws him a broom instead without blinking. because that's just how leo is.

the thing is, leo is one of those people who have such a strong presence that -- as long as he's not trying to hide it, of course -- you know he's there because he carries such an atmosphere with him. on the other hand, leonardo is the type of person who is genuinely content to just be in the background. which may sound totally at odds with the whole leader schtick, but i think it's just kind of this duality he has: he can be both at the forefront and in the background, depending on the situation and what is needed from him. does this mean he doesn't have his own hobbies or interests? of course not! but even canonically, throughout the series leo is shown to be just as happy with his hands off the reins so long as there's not a mission in front of him. and i think it's precisely this lack of that constant need for control that shows just how whole and rich leo's inner life is, how he feels full and complete without his leadership/big brother role completely defining him, and how season 4 rips that carpet from under his feet to show the unhealthy side of that particular coin.

so as much as a cop-out answer it may sound like -- i think that leo just enjoys doing things with his brothers. he likes rooftop runs with them. he likes pizza and cards with them. he likes movies, sports, and games with them. but he's also his own person, and he enjoys being in his head, and he has hobbies that help him make his head a healthy place to be; his family absolutely respects that quality, and leonardo is a much more well adjusted person for it.

er.... i didn't really get into quirks or bad habits, but this has run really long already and it's getting late, lmao. so i think i will stop here for now. =w= thank you for letting me ramble again about my blue boy, anon; i know i'm slow, but hopefully i rambled enough to make up for it!

[baskeigh-ball]

In terms of the movie, does the sequence of events stay the same in your AU? If not, what would change?

Ah shoot I thought I answered this one already, but I actually have a lot to say about this so I'll put it under the cut

The main beats of the movie would be the same, but the motivations behind it would be different. With Raph not being leader at any point, he wouldn't have the grounds to be harping on Leo's recklessness and would be more accepting of it. Donnie, however, was competing with Leo for the leadership position for YEARS. So, he and Leo would be more argumentative than Leo and Raph.

Of course Raphael is still involved; he's still trying to find his place in the family and ends up deciding he should be the "tank". Taking the big hits, keeping the rest of the team safe--as the biggest and toughest, it makes the most sense. Problem is, that kind of stuff used to be Leo's job. Self-appointed, of course, but for good reason (Mikey was deemed too young, Donnie is a softshell and too paranoid to jump into the fray whenever needed). So, when Raph is suddenly the one taking the big hits, Leo takes it as an insult to his leadership (it isn't) and that Raph is trying to undermine his importance (he isn't).

Essentially, Donnie and Raph kinda swap places in that sense. Raph is stuck with Mikey in between the twins' bickering, hoping that they'll work it out eventually. And yeah, Mikey's role would stay mostly the same. Although he might be more vocally against the fighting, since he's already had to listen to it back when they were trying to pick a leader and is, frankly, sick of their shit. lmao

However, I'm not 100% sure if Raph or Donnie swap as far as their roles in the plot (aka Donnie getting Krangified instead). For now it makes sense to keep it the same, since Donnie still has to be the one to "hack" the Technodrome and Raph would still have motivation to "prove himself" by taking the hit from the Krang and letting Leo escape, who would quickly realize he might have pushed Raph over the edge and made him think that was necessary.

Other tidbits might change, like the final confrontation with Krangified Raph (the apology would change due to context, obviously) or Leo's sacrificing himself to the Prison Dimension, but I couldn't say what those changes would be. Either way, I'd say I ranted long enough and covered the main things that would differ tho, so I'll leave it at that