what made rise so gay? | analyzing rise of the tmnt's queer coding

this show is pretty... y'know. let's talk about why. 🌈🐢

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00:00 - INTRO
01:07 - WHAT IS QUEER CODING?
05:42 - THIS SHOW IS PRETTY GAY
06:26 - WARREN & HYPNO
09:47 - BARON DRAXUM
12:25 - WHAT IS CAMP? / CLOTHES DON'T MAKE THE TURTLE
15:52 - LEO / HIDDEN CITY JOB
18:37 - LEO'S LOVE FOR GLAM ROCK
20:54 - OUTRO

[heybuwan]

I keep getting a lot of the same comments so let me clarify a couple things:

1.) I pointed out the "kiwi" thing is because they threatened to turn him into a smoothie, so it sounds like a double entendre. Or at least it does to someone like me who didn't know about that nickname prior to this episode.
2.) I didn't talk about the Jojo references in "Clothes Don't Make the Turtle" because uh. I forgot to write it in. I meant to. lmao Sorry.
3.) 15:43 - I made a mistake, this is actually a reference to Bowie's album _after_ Ziggy Stardust: _Aladdin Sane._ My bad!

Not mad or anything, just wanted to clear that up! Thanks for watching and I hope you have a lovely day! ❤🌈🐢

[hocuslosefocus]

I remember two quotes from Mikey:
-"we're not into labels."
-"for a big guy raph has some sweet moves, slayyyy."

[julphines]

Another instance is April with her "tries to be normal, is a weirdo magnet" thing. She's an outcast from her own society and found comfort and family with other outcasts, and she eventually accepts that. (Also Leo and Donnie trying to help protect her from weirdness in Operation Normal, rather than argue she's fine with them, they support her).

There is also the way Rise plays with gender in general. The boys, all of them, are very emotional (yes Donnie too, occasionally) and expressive. Raph is a tank and bruiser at 15, and is The Softie. And no one makes fun of him for it. He likes hugging his brothers/family, has stuffed animals, likes cute things. And he's allowed to! Leo is allowed (at times unwillingly) to be Leo, in all his glorious gayness. These are four teenage boys raised by an old action star and yet there is no toxic masculinity to be found. And again, April is a bruiser too, but no one would deny her feminity either.

[lunaschaoticcorner]

In Lair Games Leo literally has a rainbow painted on the wall behind him in his mockumentary thing. I never see anyone mention it and I laughed out loud when you said "literally written on the wall" because in this episode, it is!

[callmeh_avocado]

And let’s not forget that in the snow day episode Raph says that they should have a flag that “represents all of them” or something along those lines for their snowman to hold and it is literally the rainbow pride flag, they could’ve switched up the color order but they didn’t, they knew what they were doing

[_eddielicious]

A little something about Leo in Hidden City Job is that he is dressed like Apollo and, when pretending to be a statue, poses similarly to a statue of Dionysus. Both of these greek gods had male lovers and Apollo especially is a bit of a queer icon. Leo is wearing a laurel wreath crown which is one of, if not the most seen items in depictions of Apollo. Apollo is also pretty connected with the color gold as he is literally the god of sun and light. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I am CLINGING on the possibility that it isn't a coincidence.

[jthethizzal]

Actual New Zealander here, and yes we do call ourselves Kiwis, since that is our native bird. But using it as a way of calling Hypno gay is a great interpretation for those that didn't know about our national nickname

[freshcupofangst]

17:33 I would like to add something this if you don't mind.

I think a little detail that is VERY important to note in this scene is his eyes. The human pupil is known to expand up to 70% when looking at something/someone they consider to be attractive. Look at his pupils here, they noticeably enlarge. Obviously it's a bit difficult to determine how much this applies to Leo since he's obviously not entirely human, however, that fact alone does not entirely dismiss this.

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human-like features to a non-human subject, and is something often used to help audiences connect with fictional characters. The boys in Rise are *very* anthro, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to believe that Leo's eyes getting bigger here was meant to convey some sort of attraction.

[Berlinscott]

“To the… everything about Leo.” Made me laugh out loud, thank you 😭 couldn’t have put it better myself

[oof]

The Leo segment hit me hard, because I absolutely do try to exude confidence and bravado as a defense against Being In High School (which is, as you might know, not the most queer friendly place) but I am also just. Secretly terrified sometimes, especially when I'm interacting with new people.

ALSO, on a lighter note, the "accidental" implication that Leo's trans by having his adult self be the same color as his teen self, and by having him be so big (red eared slider males get darker as a part of turtle puberty + the female sliders are bigger than the males) and like!! Hell yeah!!! Trans gay little Leo is my everything

[aquariusquartz]

I love Leo's queerness and I don't think I'd ever be wanting it outright stated. The brothers know each other, they don't feel the need to be anyone other than themselves. It's like Donnie and his neurodivergancy, he doesn't need to state in the show at all because his brothers would already know. Leo wouldn't have to completely announce his queerness to his family because they do know him. There may have been a moment when they were kids where Leo had a crush on a guy and the others have known him from there. It ultimately feel like a deep bond between the brothers and I can really appreciate that. These brothers do seem to love each other unconditionally.

[I_fell_down_a_flight_of_stairs]

Some people believe leo is bi most belive he is gay but i'm glad we can all agree he is not straight in any way.

[Fox_ThatTrots]

bro 💀’what made rise so gay’ LMFAO 😭😭😭

[DigiWarriorCallum]

If Rise comes back and brings in Usagi, I have a feeling the gayness will be cranked to an 11. Admittedly, the (genuine) cute fanarts have got me on board with this ship.

Leo will be the Amity to Usagi's Luz, if you get me.

[CatsInATrenchcoat]

A fun fact I heard about Leo's specific species of turtle, (Red-eared Slider turtle) is that they rub faces on other turtles to flirt, and while he was being floated away with that dude after being saved, he was rubbing his cheek on him. (I apologize for forgetting the "handsome" guy's name..) Side note: Please don't take this as me "shipping" or implying that they are BOTH attracted to *each other, * just about Leo's queer attraction to the other dude(s)/dudes appearance specifically. Otherwise that'd be really gross.

[doro]

#SaveRiseTMNT I'm from pretty conservative family, in conservative country, and for first time Western "gay" theme start to get into my everyday life i was confused, but with time going i understand that gay its not only about sex, it's about lifestyle, adoption and self-knowledge. Back then i felt like gay it's something different, not normal people, and always need to be known. Now i think that's part of our society, part of our world acceptance. I'm heterosexual, and i accept world there i live.

[desolatedreamer]

CAN I JUST SAY: HUGINN AND MUNNIN! THE GARGOYLES!
Those two, every interaction I see them in it feels like they're husbands. The way they gawk at each other, spend time together, encourage one another, it's just adorable and totally feels like they're together. Just me soaking in every detail of them as possible. Actually? Y'know what? I'm totally gonna make a clips video of these two dorks!

[darkyami]

Honestly I think what I really like about it, is that it's there but also not fully expressed. Since essentially the show is technically targeted for "kids" they don't want to outright say it. Kinda like what they did with Korrasami, it became canon but they revealed it in a subtle way and the only way people found out was digging between the lines, the comics and the creator's tweet online, which is something a lot of children didn't have access to or find. And really I think that's the best way to go at times


And that's something I can appreciate about Rise, especially in terms of Leo, they're not treating him as "the gay character" but rather a character who "just happens to be gay". (at least by speculation). That's mostly stacked behind all his other qualities as a character outside of his potential sexual orientation. Because realistically that's how the LGBTQ community is, being gay or queer isn't their personality. It just happens to be a part of them outside of their depth of character. And to me, thats the perfect way to represent a LGBTQ character


but my god, if we ever get a season three, Leo needs to get a boyfriend. haha




Preferably Usagi 🤣

[choxomoxxo]

Donnies bisexual lighting is what I live for

[incognitofool]

As a 33 Year old Cis Blac dude who has loved TMNT since the early 90's, I find Rise's community to be so refreshingly inclusive. Completely different than those other TMNT fanboy communities