...wait A Minute...

...wait a minute...

wait just a damn fucking….

I know we all like to say ‘when Leo makes a joke it means he’s stressed’ 

But LISTENNnnnnn

He’s got it cranked up so much in the movie.

He immediately undermines Raph, runs off by himself AND tries to grab the thing even when Raph CLEARLY has it.

He’s nothing but jokes and sarcasm during the entire first act.

But this is wildly out of character for Leo. Especially the running off on his own part.

The kid does not like being separated from his team. The best examples of this are in Portal Jacked! and Man vs. Sewer.

AND in Man vs Sewer, Leo takes charge immediately!

(and of course all the little moments sprinkled throughout the show of Leo being a good Leader but I think Man vs Sewer is the best example of ‘Leo’s gonna end up the leader’)

SO WHY IS HE BEING SUCH A LITTLE SHIT IN THE MOVIE?!

BECAUSE HE’S IS TRYING TO GET RAPH TO TAKE BACK THE LEADER ROLE!

Almost every time he’s goofing off in the movie’s first act he seems to direct it to Raph the most. He is actively trying to rile Raph up, to the point Raph actually goes after him with his mystic powers.

Because he doesn’t see himself as the leader, he’s the ‘face man’

And he’s terrified he’s going to fail his family as the leader.

So he’s trying to show them that by being an absolute nightmare child and hoping Raph will get fed up and take the leader role back.

Apparently, some people still don’t know about the extended merwaine script. Below is the FULL conversation between Arthur and Gwaine while they search for Merlin in A Servant of Two Masters.

Gwaine: You know what I like about Merlin?

Arthur:

Gwaine: He never expects any praise. All these things he does, just for the good of doing them… Personally, I like to know I’ve done well. A pat on the back at least.

Arthur: Is that why you’re helping me today?

Gwaine: No. I’m helping you because we’ve got to find Merlin.

Arthur: And finding him will be reward enough?

Gwaine: Exactly.

Arthur: See, you’re not such a bad person.

Gwaine: ^-^

Gwaine:

Gwaine: Actually, I’m kind of hoping he’ll say “thank you.” Or something along the lines of “Gwaine, you must be the best knight alive. You trekked three miles of muddy swamps, you fought off countless mercenaries, you rode the fastest man has ever ridden, and you still look good.

Merlin: [bog noises]

Arthur: [shuts Gwaine up] Declare yourself!

Merlin: [staggers out of bog]

Gwaine: I declare you “Bog Man.”

Anyways, this deleted scene (which there is no video for, unfortunately) can be taken as canon since Gwaine calls Merlin “Bog Man” later on, when an enchanted Merlin is bringing Arthur his food. So, to everyone who this is new information for, have fun.

HAMLET Merlin (Merthur AU)

Not sure if this is a thing already but I haven't seen it anywhere.

Morgana is “ghost” However in relality she faked her death and is getting arthur to save magic after they both find out from numeh that arthur was born of magic

Or mother could come back and explain kinda like hamlet after sins of father AU

Gwen is girlfriend/Ohelia however instead they never dated and she is dating morgana and helped fake death.

Uther is uncle and trying to get reaction from play

Arther is Hamlet and is working to bring back magic and get revenge on father and is dating merlin

Merlin is hamlet friend who spies on uther during play

Leon and Eylan are helping as hamlets less close friend and helping with acting crazy scene and keeping our boys save.

Also Arthur being extra protective of everyone especially merlin and morgana.

Morgana and Arthur will find out or know that they are sibling and work to bring uther down.

MORGWEN Gwen and arthur fake upset together about morgana death when they know they are being watched.

I thinking a lot of focus on the play in act two or three when they spy on the reaction from the murder watching their murder.

On my like 5th watch through of ROTTMNT here’s some things I noticed

Granny CJ… 👀

The teapot shows up a LOT more than I thought it did

The reoccurring theme of Donnie actually truthfully being the Funny One and delivering actually funny and entertaining one liners

Donnie supposedly being the “smart one” while also messing up the most and being wrong almost all the time (like when he staked everything in the Raph Alone episode and lost several times in a row)

Donnie’s supposed “bad boy” image

Leo pointing out things and being right surprisingly a lot and knowing what people are going to do before they do it?? Despite his cockiness he’s very observant and has good gut instincts and it always surprises people (Probably a good reason for why they made him leader later)

Raph saying he’s bad at making plans then proceeds to solve the issue anyway with his plan of not having a plan

Mikey being the one who’s the least predictable and literally a wild card but also surprisingly the one who drops the jokes when things get serious, also the theme of his brothers supporting and loving him instead of making fun of him (like in previous iterations)

I also like that Mikey, of all people, is the one that lays down the hard truths while maintaining being the sweet and empathetic one

Mikey and Donnie hanging out all the time like they did in the 1990s live action movie

Mikey not being “clueless” (like they made him in past iterations) and working with Donnie to make plans that actually work because they’re both putting their heads together

Donnie going out of his way to protect people and putting himself in danger on purpose despite his vulnerabilities as a soft shelled turtle

Raph and Leo bickering but ultimately getting along really well and being understanding of each other like the 1990s live action movie

Donnie and Leo not getting along and picking on each other all the time

Splinter being more than a background character and being strong, funny, and a father instead of just a “teacher”

The reoccurring theme of Splinter acknowledging April as one of his kids

Despite being the “Thoughtless Jock” stereotype, Raph is very over protective and cares about his siblings well being and also seems to be actually the most level headed one out of all of them

Donnie having very extremely complex emotions that feel realistic compared to everyone else in the show

April always being the stronger, smarter older sister

Foot Recruit (CJ) listening to advice and getting help from both Draxum and Splinter, also making her a part of their family

The turtles longing desperately and deeply for the approval and validation of others so much they’ll do pretty much anything for it (it’s splinters fault mostly but he develops as a character and becomes a more loving and supportive father as the show goes on)

Splinter having Childhood Trauma and no parents from a young age which is why he’s been a not so great dad and has a lot of deep seeded issues he has to face through the series

Everyone acknowledging and respecting peoples comfort zones and boundaries and apologizing when they accidentally fuck up

All of the characters seeming like cliches but being very complicated and interesting despite it being a cartoon. They wrote all the characters to be a bit silly, sure, but when you watch and observe everyone they always subvert your expectations for how they’re going to be and I fucking LOVE IT

I haven’t finished rewatching the 2nd season or movie yet but when I do I’ll probably make another follow up post

Merlin remake where everyone’s a muppet except Leon

In 'The Clothes Don't Make The Turtle':

Leo's just casually vibing with Don while Raph was stressing out.

when Raph asks Donnie (who's still vibing) after another transformation scene if he's got any ideas on what could be going on, you can see how confused Leo is too till Donnie says "less talky talk more groovie groove", and you see it hit him,

He swiftly turns to the speaker, the dots connecting,

Where they're all looking at the box confused, worried, or a mix of both, and then you have Leo there looking at it suspiciously before realization hits him,

This also told me a lot about his character the first time I watched it, because even though they were all catching on (and did at the end) Leo was the one who felt it first, and all because he noticed how the music kept distracting his genius of a brother, because that's all Donnie talked about the whole time they were under the musical spell, how the music was basically "taking control".

It just showed me then how, even though he does good a lot, smart Leon actually is, because he does the joking (his coping mechanism), and the one liners and such, anything to make his brothers laugh

How much attention he's actually paying to everything around them.