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freakadr0id · 2 years

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ROTTMNT Character Fight Style Analysis - Part 1: Leonardo

Eeeeyyyy it's finally here. This is my analysis of each character's fight style and role post that I teased about a week ago. This turned out to be a hell of a thing, so this will be split into many posts focusing on each character since I have quite a bit to say (and I think Tumblr might break if I put it all into one post). I plan to release one a day, but we'll see how it works out with school.

[Part 2: Raph] [Part 3: Mikey] [Part 4: Donnie] [Part 5: April]

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If there's one thing Rise is known for, it is the show's stellar action animation - it's the reason most people started the show to begin with. The visuals are so strong in these scenes, in fact, that Rise could have easily gotten away with having pointless fights each episode (if the budget allowed that) and still be regarded as a fairly decent show. However, Rise doesn't do that, instead chooses to give its action scenes depth by putting thought into the personality of each character and implementing that into how each of them fights, showing the growth of the protagonists over the course of the show.

After rewatching the show multiple times (seriously, so many times) I began to notice patterns in many of the show's big fights, particularly in how the turtles and April fight and how they cooperate with each other as a team.

I thought it might be fun to categorize and examine how Leo, Raph, Mikey, Donnie, and April fight by breaking it down into their unique fighting styles, their roles and strengths in battle, how they apply those roles, and how all of these demonstrate different parts of their character.

BTW: There's a reason for the order in which I examine each character - it will all make sense by the last post. There's also a bit of a TL;DR at the end, but I encourage you read the full thing (or at least skim it)

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Let's start with Leo.

Leonardo: The Strategist/Initiator

Leo was one of the easiest characters to analyze since a major focus of his character arc is the development of his fighting skills and his ability to cooperate with his team and act as a leader.

Fight Style:

Balanced/Well-rounded Fighter

Leo is the most balanced fighter on the team. He is a capable offensive and defensive fighter and has enough physical strength and acrobatics to handle many types of fighting styles. We see him fight everything from paper ninjas to the large Foot Brute and Draxum's hired goons (the dog guys) without seeming to be weak against one type of enemy. He may not necessarily be stronger than them but he is very versatile. However, this means that Leo doesn’t have a specific ability that makes him stand out in a fight (mystic and ninpo powers aside) the way his brothers do, and won’t have any inherent advantages that he can utilize when fighting a particular enemy.

Strengths and Roles in a Fight:

The Strategist:

Leo’s role as the team’s strategist is pretty obvious. He may not be given the title of “Leader” until the end of season 2, but we see throughout the show that he is a very quick thinker and is skilled at coming up with clever and effective plans. Of course, each member of the Mad Dogs supplies ideas and plans, but Leo is especially good at developing and implementing them. The most obvious example of this is his fight in the Battle Nexus in 'Many Unhappy Returns, but there are other times when he is the one to put all the pieces together (think of the big attack against Draxum in the Shredder armor in 'End Game').'

The Initiator:

Leo acts as the initiator in battle as he is either one of the first into battle or is the one to start a coordinated attack. This doesn't mean he necessarily has to attack first, but that he is usually the one to put the plan into action. This role relies the most on his mystic powers as his portal and teleportation powers give him the maneuverability needed to accommodate any plan. His abilities allow him to enter and disorient the enemy, or he can portal allies into the fight and create opportunities for a follow-up attack. This plays into his strengths as the Strategist as being the initiator can help him begin a strategic attack by maneuvering people or objects into their needed positions.

Utility:

Leo’s skills truly shine in a fight against a few number of enemies as he can better focus his strategies on a specific enemy and direct the battle in his favor. With less pieces in play, he can properly utilize his mystic powers and act as the initiator instead of bouncing around a battle with no real objective in mind. It becomes easier to coordinate attacks with his brothers and allies since they don't have to spend time fighting different enemies.

However, in a fight with multiple enemies, Leo’s skills can be easily overlooked. Sure, he can direct the fight as the Strategist, but there’s only so much he can do in the middle of the chaos. His role as the initiator isn’t all that effective in a fight with many enemies as well as he and his brothers tend to just rush into battle in those situations. However, Leo’s balanced fighting style means he could theoretically go up against every type of enemy and won’t be at a noticeable disadvantage, which is very useful in a chaotic battle.

How it Plays into His Character:

Admittedly, the show is probably the most direct in using fights to show some of Leo's character traits, since so much of his arc is centered on his fighting and use of mystic powers. However, Rise does use this in enough interesting ways to make it worth mentioning.

While his role as the Strategist plays into Leo’s strengths as a character, it also highlights Leo’s problems with team communication. When Leo plans a strategy, he often fails to inform his allies of his plans, which can result in losing the battle or frustrating those around him. The show demonstrates this by having him make strategies in a fight but leaves his allies in the dark and confusing them. Leo does this, in part, to show off, but also because the plan simply makes sense in his head, so it would be easier for him to just do it instead of having to take the time to tell everybody his plan.

The initiator is a good role for Leo’s powers and fighting style, but also feeds into his cockiness and overconfidence in a fight. Leo has a tendency to play the hero and either overestimate his abilities or underestimate his opponent. He may be the best fit for going first in a fight but Rise uses some fights to show how this can conflict with some of his character flaws. When he goes into battle first overconfident and cocky, it only conflicts with the team, but with his own role as the Strategist. He could, theoretically, bring his teammates into the fight after him, but if he thinks he has an easy win in front of him, all strategy goes out the window.

His status as a balanced fighter and lack of specialization in battle is a likely source of some of Leo’s insecurities about his place in the group. We see in 'Portal Jacked!' how Leo doesn't feel like he has a proper role on the team - that he's just the face man - which is reinforced by the way he fights in comparison to his team. Leo is well suited to fight a wide range of enemies, but when his brothers have easily identifiable skills that can give them a distinct advantage, it becomes difficult to recognize the advantages he brings to the team as a well-rounded fighter.

Working as a Team:

As mentioned earlier, Leo's strengths as a fighter make him the one best suited for the first attack in a coordinated team strike as it highlights his skills as the Initiator and the Strategist. It shows how well he can fit those roles when he plays to his strengths and overcomes the character flaws that stand in his way. While the others do have skills that may allow them to start the first attack, Leo's abilities and strengths as a fighter give him (and his team) a much stronger advantage in this position.

Leo also does well when he goes second to last in a team attack, as he can finalize a strategy and prepare for a final blow by putting all the pieces into position. However, this is more situational as there are other characters just as well suited for that second-to-last position and can fill that role when Leo needs to be the one to start a team attack.

Leo’s fighting style, however, does make him a poor fit for a follow-up attack or the final attack in a fight. His balanced fighting style means he isn’t suited for a strong final attack. While he is technically fine acting as a follow-up attacker, it doesn’t really play into his strengths and isn’t that effective when fighting with others who are more suited to that role. His balanced fighting style also prevents him from effectively dealing that final blow to an enemy since he doesn't have a specialized strength in this regard. Again, he can do it, he just isn't well suited for it.

The way Rise develops and explores Leo's fight style demonstrates one of my favorite things the show does with his character (in fact, all of its characters). At first glance, he may seem pretty one-note and predictable, but as we go through the show, we see how both his character is actually more complex than we were first led to believe. The fights Leo participates in reflect that, as not only do his skills develop over the course of the show, but we begin to see how it all ties into his personality and growth as a character - making his fights more meaningful than what they may seem.

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[Little bit of a TL;DR: Leo is the team's strategist and initiator in fights, supported by his balanced fight style and mystic powers. These roles play into his greatest strengths but they also expose some of his character flaws and insecurities. In team fights Leo is most effective as the first or second to last attacker but isn't well suited for a follow-up or final attack]

Thanks for bearing with me on this stupid long post. They're all going to be like this btw. Next up will be Raph. I plan to get that done and posted tomorrow.

#holy shit this ended up being long #way longer than I expected #I don't expect many people to read the whole thing #hopefully some people do #but this is almost too much #yes actually #it is too much #but I'm too proud of it #and spent too long on it #not too post this #you guys said this is what you wanted #so here it is #sorry not sorry #I hope this is actually coherent to other people #and not just my brain #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt movie #rise of the tmnt movie #rottmnt leo #rise leo #rottmnt leonardo #rise leonardo #I'll update each posts with links to the other ones too in case people are (somehow) still interested after reading this beast of a thing #I updated this to hopefully fix the whole crashing problem when people try to reblog this #Tumblr should pay me to stress test this hellsite #I seem to be very good at it #analysis #rottmnt analysis #character analysis

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snackugaki · 1 year

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...man, i hate squawking in the text field, but the tags cannot contain me on this

ok so i’m a normal amount of normal about this. absolutely.

however...

i am also unattended and so my actions will prove why that is probably not great.

anyway, i love monikers, nom de plumes, sobriquets, y’know, pseudonyms if you will, code names even. 8D y’wanna know how I came up with them??????//?

okay okay okay, so! I will (until someone comes for me, but no one will ‘cuz y’all are cowards, I say, knowing my childhood nostalgia is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in my affection for Next Mutation but also i love camp) acknowledge and self-impose the title of Next Mutation trash lover as a disclaimer for why I’m gonna do another quick run down of Venus’ origin again. but a quick skim because a bitch is losing against her insomnia demon rn.

now, a lot of the kids know that Venus = magic, in general. however, at least to me, intentionally or not Venus was more portrayed like a daoist... ‘magician’ of sorts, but less in a real world daoist sense and more of a cultivator in the xianxia genre sort of way. granted she wears the taijitu (yin yang symbol) and literally showed the boys her box of herbal medicine (and one dessicated vampire heart lololol). and now that I mentioned all of that, I can segue into why I gave her “White Snake” as a code name-- in that I chose it after Bai Suzhen/Bai Shejing which now that my insomnia riddled mind is typing it out... my reasoning is actually pretty shallow, they both cultivate technically speaking, both work with herbal medicine and they just wanna help people. also just ‘cuz IDW has Venus wearing white now.

wao. thassit ig welp

jennika’s I just futz around with her name like jennika jenn i ka jen nika nikaaa niko niki nike nike like the greek goddess of victory. great. ok cool now ochre? no, mustard? no, gold? yes, ok nike gold it is lolz

‘cuz I was following the formula like in the show, Purple Knight, Yellow Submarine, Red King, Orange Pawn, Blue... something, Rook? Bishop? idk lemme alone but also there’s only so many chess pieces so I kept the color coding at least

then just asked tychou for what they’d think Mona Lisa’s code name’d be for as much as Venus and Jennika are my girls, Mona Lisa’s tychou’s.

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