#there’s also Tim Dunkman

[turtleblogatlast]

Sometimes I wonder if Leo’s instant latching onto Señor Hueso is due to the fact that Hueso is an older adult man (specifically a father at that) who, while fed up with Leo a lot of the time, still deigns to give him a modicum of attention.

Considering Leo’s a Leo, he craves that attention from a father figure, even if said attention isn’t positive. As long as he’s acknowledged, that’s enough for him, since he’s already used to being his own biggest (and often only) fan as is.

Luckily, Hueso does come around and (reluctantly) forms a connection with Leo as well, but again, I have to wonder if Leo picked out Hueso for a reason.

[bambiraptorx]

Part One

Draxum and Mikey:

Similarly to Raph, Draxum struggles quite a bit at first with adjusting to Mikey's nigh-on ridiculous learning speed. However, Mikey's main 'barrier', so to speak, is that scheduling specific times for lessons as Draxum prefers to do doesn't work well for him. Sometimes it works out, and Mikey progresses in leaps and bounds, but other times when his focus is exhausted? Sure, he can kind of force himself to pay attention during their lessons, but that only works so well and for so long. It is not, by any means, an effective way to learn.

The real issue isn't Mikey's ability or potential to learn, but that he's never really had to learn how to consistently engage with something even when he doesn't feel like it. He's never really had to force himself to keep working on something when he isn't really feeling it. Which isn't inherently a negative trait, but it makes it harder for Draxum to teach him, as Draxum has most definitely learned how to force himself to do things and doesn't immediately realize that that's not a universal thing.

The problem Draxum has here isn't so much about getting Mikey to focus, but rather not only figuring out how to create an environment that is continually engaging enough that Mikey can focus, but also knowing when to just call it quits. Some days are fantastic, others just don't work out for training, and there's nothing wrong with that. He might end up kinda just showing Mikey a wide range of the ways that mystic powers can be used and hoping that some of it sticks.

Draxum and Leo:

This might seem a be counter intuitive, but Leo is actually the one who Draxum can train most effectively (at least, given the specific context of Minor Interference). See, based on the point in time that this story diverges from canon, Leo is still struggling to figure out how his powers work and, although he doesn't want to admit it, deeply insecure about his place on the team because of that.

That, combined with his tendency to latch onto paternal figures (see: Jupiter Jim and Tim Dunkman) means that Leo actually really does want to learn from Draxum and sort of starts looking up to him. "Sort of" being the key phrase here, as Leo doesn't want to admit to himself that he craves the approval Draxum happens to be offering. So Leo wants to learn from Draxum, but at the same time, he doesn't want to get too close, if that makes sense.

On Draxum's end, Leo's training is the easiest (at least in terms of technique) because Draxum is teaching him a skill set that he himself actively uses: portals. Draxum knows from first hand experience how tricky portals can be to use and how hard they are to learn, so he actually has more reasonable expectations for Leo than Leo himself does.

However, what makes training Leo difficult is that Leo continually ignores the safety rules Draxum tries to teach him. This is partly because Leo's already broken most of those rules with little to no consequences and doesn't see why it's such a big deal, but also because he can tell it's extremely frustrating for Draxum when he breaks those rules.

What Leo doesn't really realize is that Draxum's frustration comes from a place of concern about his wellbeing, because portals can be very, very dangerous, especially when you're as reckless with them as Leo is. You can get lost somewhere, you can get portal-jacked, you could portal chop yourself, etc. Portals are not a form of magic to be taken lightly, and Leo's a bit too cavalier about how he uses them.

[sundere1181]

unraveled au master post because I'm bored and I don't want to do school (also known as me info dumping about my silly little separated turtles for an ungodly amount of time)

After Draxum’s lab exploded, Splinter grabbed the turtles, just like in the show, but he dropped Raph on the outskirts of the Hidden City, who ended up being found by Malicious Mickey and raised by the Mud Dogs. Splinter gets to the surface and places the three remaining turtles in a box and goes to find food but gets recaptured by Big Mama. (wandered a little close to the lion's den [her hotel]) Mikey and Leo escape the box and wander off, (Donnie is asleep so he doesn't follow them) being found by Tim Dunkman, (the crazy basketball billionaire from the Air Turtle episode) who sells Mikey to Jessica Jacyln (the referee from the wrestling episode) and keeps Leo for himself. Eventually Alex Noe (The dentist from the todd scouts episode) finds Donnie alone in a box crying his tiny little heart out and brings him home to raise him.

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Personalities:

Leo was raised with little worth other than publicity and as a money maker, which had Leo end up as not only a rich kid, but an insecure people pleasing anxious rich kid who hides behind money, ego, and his stupid fucking sunglasses. he's (and Mikey, tbh) big with always trying to keep his image up, so he doesn't get mauled by media. This means that while Raph and Donnie are totally okay with breaking the law on the surface (No consequences, Donnie lives in the woods and Raph lives in the hidden city), Leo is strongly against it.

Raph was raised as a ruthless criminal, but he still has his morals and high empathy. He won't rob orphanages or schools with his dads and likely tried to adopt stray animals a lot (didn't really work out most of the time) He's the only one who really remembers his brothers, but it's a really faint memory, more like "I feel like there's other things like me out there" then "I have brothers." He's constantly on the lookout for other turtles (And used to attend the battle nexus regularly, but the feeling of recognition he got from looking at the rat-man champion freaked him out and he stopped)

Donnie is like, actually insane with the dentists. He really embraced his evil scientist side growing up, but more evil dentist. A lot of experiments and accidents with his teeth happened when he was younger, and now his teeth are all fucked up and weird, so he wears a facemask 24/7 to hide it. He's my insane little blorbo, on instinct he checks everyone's mouth the SECOND he meets them and has absolutely zero qualms about just stickin his hands in there (He always has clean three fingered gloves and hand sanitizer handy). He also has no qualms about anesthetizing and kidnapping anyone he meets that has unique teeth. (This is how he meets Raph for the first time)

Mikey is similar to Leo in a lot of ways, except since he's the huge champion of Jessica's ring, he relies more on his fighting/wrestling skills. It's basically what he's built his whole personality on. he will attack anyone on sight if they give the slightest sign of attacking. (this is how him and Donnie's first meeting goes)

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Since I thought it was kind of an impossible coincidence that all the turtles in this au would get the same Renaissance names, I gave them all different ones and tbh I think this coincidence is funnier.

Leo: Tim literally just named him after the basketball team. His given name is Viper. He nicknamed himself Leo and likes it better and usually introduces himself as it with certain new people, but his billboards and media and other shit call him Viper. (Including Tim)

Mikey: Given name is Micheal, but stage/wrestling name is Divino and he’s so attached to it that he just introduces himself as Divino most of the time. 

Raph: Given name is Ruthless Raphael, and when he meets Donnie and tells him that Donnie’s like “Well that's way too long what If I just call you Raph” and Raph’s like “But :(((( The ruthless part :((((“ and donnie’s like “Okay compromise what if I call you Raph and it sounds the same but if you spell it out it’s RRaph with two r’s” and then RRaph’s cool with it

Donnie: Only one where his actual given name is Donatello, but he has a lot more titles. Since dentists are technically doctors he calls himself “Dr Donnie” (Even though he’s 1. Two young for any kind of certificate or doctorate 2. Wouldn’t be able to get one anyway (turtle) but it doesn’t really matter the whole dentist gang is super illegal anyway no one really cares) and he has a whole rehearsed introduction that he says every time he meets someone that goes kind of like “My name is Donatello, Dr Donnie, or Dentitello, but you can just call me Donnie” or something stupid like that. And the first time he meets Leo Leo interrupts him in the middle of it and Donnie is REALLY offended. (Dentitello is a nickname given to him by his little nephew)(I could ramble about his nephew and the relations between everyone in the dentist gang[although its more like a coven] but this is not the place)

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Designs (Because I can't draw very well yet and I'm much better at describing things anyway):

Leo: Literally just a mini Dunkman (same sunglasses/gold rings n shit). He wears a similar outfit that he does in the Air Turtle episode but with a letterman jacket over it and without those stupid ugly ass fucking goggles.

RRaph: He has wrappings on his hands like HG and a red jacket like LL. He has a red bandana, but it’s tattered and dirty because 1. It was a gift from MM and he hardly ever takes it off and 2. It was ripped from an old t-shirt so it looks a little wonky and you can see some of the seams and the faded design that used to be on it. He wears it around his neck like a scarf, and has a red hat like Danny has on his head. He has a bunch of scars all over his arms and. Well. everywhere tbh (he lives on the streets with some of the most notorious criminals in the hidden city he’s gotta have gotten hurt multiple times) He also probably has parts of his shell broken or chipped off. Overall just very battle worn but he’s still a softie even though he won’t hesitate to kill you (As long as you’re not a child and have done something worth being killed) <3

Mikey: He really leans into the wrestler persona, to the point he wears his costume almost 24/7. His mask and gloves look a little something like these:

Except yk. a little more high quality and fitted to his unique turble body. (the gloves being more orange). He probably puts a bunch of gold and orange stickers on his shell and plastron to match the theme.

Donnie: His battle shell and all of his weapons are tooth/mouth themed. He got way into SFX makeup at one point when he was a kid and his magnum opus project he made while in that stage was his main battle shell that he wears around the dentists. he designed it basically to look like teeth are just growing out of his back while also giving significant protection. He has others but they're mostly plain purple or white. His goggles are more the same that they are in canon except less crooked and whiter.

I think that's it for now. i might add to this (Thank god Tumblr posts are editable)

Thank you for reading :)

[iztarshi]

Leo in Season 2

In the back end of season 1 Leo's actually pretty well behaved. Maybe Portal Jacked and accidentally sending his family to Tahiti through a portal they didn't want to enter scared him out of showing off for a bit. It's still Leo, and he's still loud and silly, but the only real trouble he causes is in You Got Served where he's being baited by Mikey and Jupiter Jim Ahoy where he's still a disaster about favourite actor-slash-father figures.

Then there's the attempt at acting like proper Hamatos and maybe Leo took the decision that it didn't work for them and they should be themselves a bit too much to heart. He really dives into season 2 and he's definitely being himself but he's also being a nightmare.

Many Unhappy Returns is a good episode for Leo. It shows what he's capable of when he tries. But it's also an episode in which he fails to communicate with... anyone. He knows that he's leaving them because they've got the skills to stall Shredder, but he thinks "trust me, you've got this" is all he needs to say about it. He's upset that no one in the family has any faith in him, but he's said "trust me" in too many situations where they objectively shouldn't and maybe he's only now realising how much good will he's been burning through.

Raph ends the episode with a better idea of Leo's abilities and more trust in him, but Leo seems to come out of it some combination of riding high from defeating Big Mamma and upset with his family. Perhaps especially with Splinter. At least, that's one explanation for why there are three episodes about how terrible Leo can be and a few more where he makes some extremely dubious choices.

Flushed Away presents the second situation after Minotaur Maze where Leo overrules his brothers, pushes things too far, and only realises how much danger he's put them in too late. Both times he tries to take the punishment on himself in the end, but also both times the consequences don't actually happen. Splinter says here that they "only learn things the hard way" and the movie makes me a bit more sympathetic to what his aims were in frightening Leo half to death, because Leo doesn't really learn this lesson until the movie itself and learns it the very hard way.

(Also a situation where Leo's response to Piebald being back initially seems to be to kill her and hide the body "deal with her" and never let Splinter find out. His morality has taken a definite downturn this season.)

Lair Games is very WTF, Leo? It's left ambiguous exactly what he did. Did he fall on Donnie on purpose? Did he throw the games on purpose? But he definitely pulled something and he pulled it on Donnie. He's just generally being hostile and smug.

Air Turtle is Leo at his worst and messiest. Pretty much all his issues coalesce into an episode about why even when Leo is on your side it's sometimes just a pain in the ass to work with him.

Leo's desperate search for a father figure, which leads to him getting too invested in Tim Dunkman - who actually acknowledges him as a "surrogate son".

Leo's tendency to ignore red flags when he doesn't want to see them leading to him refusing to see the problem with the arch.

Leo's willingness to do anything to win. Bouncing a basketball off Donnie instead of throwing it to him is a neat encapsulation of something Leo does way too often. He manipulates and predicts his team instead of talking to them - he does it in Many Unhappy Returns too.

Leo apologising as soon as his family excludes him from anything but - while he seems to think he's sincere and says something he's literally struggling to get out - he also doesn't change and simply does the emotional equivalent of bouncing a ball off Donnie instead of the physical one. He doesn't seem to realise he hasn't changed, either.

On top of those episodes we have. Leo running off to the Hidden City for an "ethically acceptable heist". Leo lying about the pizza puffs he has stashed away (as well as repeatedly eating poison but he was not alone in that). Leo stealing Houdini's journals.

And possibly Bad Hair Day but while Leo seems to think he's a celebrity (as a battle nexus champion) most of what happens there isn't his fault. He makes a bad call about trusting a mad scientist squid, but he's mostly being taken advantage of.

Then in the finale he's taking things a lot more seriously and not causing trouble, but he's also depending on Raph to know what they're doing. I think Shredder's return and Karai's death shook him pretty badly and emotionally hiding behind Raph is what he always does when frightened.

...all of which makes Splinter's decision to make him leader just baffling and also unfair. Mostly unfair to Raph who has spent the finale stepping up and learning to trust his brothers. But also unfair to Leo who is not handling anything remotely well and hasn't been for a while.

The only logic I can see here is wanting to force Leo to step up and take some responsibility because waiting for him to do it on his own is never going to happen. (And with Shredder recently defeated it should have been an okay time for growing pains - the Kraang arriving a few months later was not projected.)

[fanfic-inator795]

Speculation on the new eps:

Sidekick Ahoy!: Sooo, I guess they’re going with Jim just being a bit off his rocker and not straight up evil, which is nice. Like other people have said, pretty much EVERY idol the boys and April have had have turned out to be evil, so it’d be nice if Jim was still a decent guy, if a bit unhinged, and didn’t just try to kill or use them all the time. If anything, maybe the Turtles interacting with him more will help bring him back to reality a bit, since he’s pretty isolated. Plus between Dr. Noe, The Purple Dragons, Baxter Stockboi, Tim Dunkman and now whoever is selling the brownies in the next ep, the Turtles could reaaaally use some more human allies. So, yeah, please don’t make him evil

Anyway, as for the plot, I could see it being another sort of Brother VS Brother thing like in ‘Lair Games’ since they all wanna be his sidekick, and in the end we get that classic “I wanna win but not if it means giving up my family” moral - which is fine! Nothing wrong with a familiar story or lesson, and I’m sure the animation and jokes will help keep the ep entertaining

The Hidden City Job: YAAAAAY MORE HIDDEN CITY! Also SENOR HUESO! I feel like we haven’t seen him OR Run of the Mill in ages (which is funny cause in season 1 we had like three eps in a row of Run of the Mill, lol). Anyway, I have no doubt that Piel’s ‘redemption’ is just a scam to get his skele-bro’s help, and I have a feeling that it’s gonna sort of parallel the Draxum storyline where Hueso’s mindset ends up kinda being like Mikey’s, where you should try to help family when you can. However, this ep will add to that mindset “yes, you can try to help family, but you can’t change them - not unless they want to change too.” And it kinda ends ambiguously, hinting at both a Draxum relapse and redemption, where Leo’s not sure which Draxum’s going to choose, but remaining cautious nonetheless.

OR maybe Piel wants to change but is struggling, and it becomes a question of “do you make this person’s problems your own because you care about them/they’re family, even when those problems can cause other issues?” and “can someone really change their ways?” Maybe seeing Piel struggle and eventually make a choice for the better convinces Leo that there’s a chance Draxum could feel the same - that there’s a part of him that would be willing to change and start to be better. Either way, I’m excited! ^v^

Always Be Brownies: OKAY CAN I JUST SAY SOMETHING? I just... It was already great seeing the turtles treat April as an equal/their big sis, but seeing Splinter treat her like a daughter and a partner in crime is just an absolute treat ^v^ They’ve got a great dynamic, work together really well, and I love how much they care about and trust each other, having each other’s backs while still snarking at one another. 

Anyway, I have no idea who these “dangerous middle school brownie sellers” could be. Like, are they gonna be actual girl scouts selling brownies *thinks of that one iCarly subplot with Spencer and the fudge balls* or is it going to be a bunch of rogue bake sale moms who’ve gotten their hands on mystic ingredients? Honestly, I don’t know which one would be funnier, so either way this ep will probably be a good time ^v^

Mystery Meat: When I saw that Draxum would be living and working near April, this was EXACTLY what I was hoping for ^v^ Also I’m glad that April can get a spotlight ep without any of the turtles - I think that kinda proves what a strong character she is, that you can just throw her into any situation and it’s still interesting and fun. 

Anyway, I’m wondering if this ep will actually further or develop Draxum’s character any or if it’ll just be a farce. ...Honestly, as much as I’m on TeamDadxumRedemption, I’m fine with either. It’s still early in the season, and after only getting 8 Draxum appearances last season, I’m just happy to see him getting more screentime ^v^ Though I wonder if the mystery meat monster will be done on accident or on purpose, what motives he had behind creating it if it WAS on purpose, and if seeing human kids scared/at risk of getting hurt up close will kinda get him to see that “okay maybe this is kinda messed up”. 

He always talks about humans either in a past tense or in an ‘in general’ way, like they’re some giant force or giant army. So, seeing their day-to-day lives up close and kinda humanizing them (pun unintended) in his mind could help in the long run of making him see that yeah, though humans are awful sometimes and yokai should be allowed to live on the surface, maybe you shouldn’t just go around killing/mutating them either because they’re still alive too, and they aren’t too different from the kids of the Hidden City. 

Anywho, those are just my thoughts. I’m excited about The Hidden City Job and Mystery Meat the most, but they should all be pretty fun and enjoyable, I would think. The only thing that’s missing is an update on the Foot which, I’ll admit, is starting to feel just a liiiiiittle bit overdue at this point... But Rise is usually pretty good at picking up plot points and not letting them hang too long, and we saw that one screenshot of Raph and Foot Lt. on DVE’s twitter, so I’m guessing we’ll finally see the Foot again and learn what they’ve been up to in episode 8 or 9.

[tmngoose]

100% THIS But also -- can we talk about how Tim Dunkman is posing with Todd’s puppies on the cover of a magazine? Talk about connections!

I am going to SCREAM

I just want @viacom-blog and @netflix to bring back Rise already!!!

PLS GUYS THATS ALL I ASK

[whattraintracks]

#there’s also Tim Dunkman#even Marcus Moncrief too#like how Donnie is easily influenced by words of praise from parent aged adults#I find that Leo is influenced by attention from father aged men#unless these men are Baron Draxum who Leo met as a villain first#side note but sometimes I think about how Leo never had a true heartfelt moment with Splinter that wasn’t in a group setting#sure he and Splinter have time together in Many Unhappy Returns but that does more to help Splinter see Leo’s abilities than Leo himself#with how dismissive Splinter is (especially to Leo in that episode) and with how much Leo as a Leo is an ultimate Daddy’s Boy…#well I can imagine how much he longs for that attention#again - even negative#poor kid’s got Daddy Issues galore#they all do really#this is partially why I don’t think Leo reacts much at all to the negative things said about him in Many Unhappy Returns#partially because he’s likely heard it before#and partially because well…even negative that’s still attention#that’s still time he gets to spend with his dad one on one#so it’s not shocking that Leo basically imprints on Hueso#keep in mind that we meet Hueso in the Maze of Death episode#so Hueso at least loosely knows of one of Leo’s lowest moments#and still hasn’t kicked him away soooo congrats boneman you have a lifelong nephew now

Sometimes I wonder if Leo’s instant latching onto Señor Hueso is due to the fact that Hueso is an older adult man (specifically a father at that) who, while fed up with Leo a lot of the time, still deigns to give him a modicum of attention.

Considering Leo’s a Leo, he craves that attention from a father figure, even if said attention isn’t positive. As long as he’s acknowledged, that’s enough for him, since he’s already used to being his own biggest (and often only) fan as is.

Luckily, Hueso does come around and (reluctantly) forms a connection with Leo as well, but again, I have to wonder if Leo picked out Hueso for a reason.

[scribbly-somethings]

#rottmnt#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#rottmnt leo#rottmnt hueso#rottmnt headcanons#rise leo#rise hueso#there’s also Tim Dunkman#even Marcus Moncrief too#like how Donnie is easily influenced by words of praise from parent aged adults#I find that Leo is influenced by attention from father aged men#unless these men are Baron Draxum who Leo met as a villain first#side note but sometimes I think about how Leo never had a true heartfelt moment with Splinter that wasn’t in a group setting#sure he and Splinter have time together in Many Unhappy Returns but that does more to help Splinter see Leo’s abilities than Leo himself#with how dismissive Splinter is (especially to Leo in that episode) and with how much Leo as a Leo is an ultimate Daddy’s Boy…#well I can imagine how much he longs for that attention#again - even negative#poor kid’s got Daddy Issues galore#they all do really#this is partially why I don’t think Leo reacts much at all to the negative things said about him in Many Unhappy Returns#partially because he’s likely heard it before#and partially because well…even negative that’s still attention#that’s still time he gets to spend with his dad one on one#so it’s not shocking that Leo basically imprints on Hueso#keep in mind that we meet Hueso in the Maze of Death episode#so Hueso at least loosely knows of one of Leo’s lowest moments#and still hasn’t kicked him away soooo congrats boneman you have a lifelong nephew now

<- prev tags

Sometimes I wonder if Leo’s instant latching onto Señor Hueso is due to the fact that Hueso is an older adult man (specifically a father at that) who, while fed up with Leo a lot of the time, still deigns to give him a modicum of attention.

Considering Leo’s a Leo, he craves that attention from a father figure, even if said attention isn’t positive. As long as he’s acknowledged, that’s enough for him, since he’s already used to being his own biggest (and often only) fan as is.

Luckily, Hueso does come around and (reluctantly) forms a connection with Leo as well, but again, I have to wonder if Leo picked out Hueso for a reason.