Leo's Misunderstood Ego | A Rise of the TMNT Character Analysis

I love Leo's character a lot and it drives me up the walls crazy to see him disliked so much for his supposed 1-Dimensional arrogance. He's a 16-year-old kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders, so I think it'd be extremely unrealistic for him to not be riddled with insecurity. I was 16 once and I went to high school.. it sure is a time, to say the least.

To be completely honest, the end of this video is a mindset I have to reiterate to myself a lot. I was not joking about struggling with it too. I guess that's why I love his character so much.

Sorry this took so long! I really want to try to get at least one video out per month, but I have been really busy with college and have a few other personal things going on in my life that make it difficult to get out videos.

SOCIAL MEDIA

MUSIC CREDITS
Korok Forest - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild OST
Hidden Land - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of the Sky OST
Lake Harami - Okami OST
Reset (Thank You) - Okami OST
Stella’s Departure - Spiritfarer OST

PROGRAMS & EQUIPMENT
Wondershare Filmora (video editor)
Premiere Pro (video editor)
Audacity (audio editor)
Fifine Studio Condensor (microphone)
The Sheer Willpower it took for me to make a 30-minute video essay while I’m barely passing 3 of my classes

0:00 Leo’s Insecurities
4:56 Leo’s Insecurities (but this time he’s the leader)
13:35 Inferiority Complex
18:00 Overcoming an Inferiority Complex

#rottmnt #tmnt #leo #riseoftheteenagemutantninjaturtles #leonardo #videoessay #characteranalysis #characterstudy #psychoanalysis #riseofthetmnt #saverottmnt #unpauseriseofthetmnt

[DragonStar]

This shows that Leo is not as shallow as he appears. While Donnie had his insecurity about his place on the team and eventually finds that he is invaluable even without mystic powers, Leo goes on a series and movie long journey to overcome a similar insecurity and maturing while still maintaining the core of who he is and learning to take responsibility for his actions and dealing with the consequences.

[PachJllyfsh]

Rise writers: Leo is officially Leader! you know what that means!
fans: we get to see leo showcase his awesome strategizing and teamwork skills?
Rise writers: TRAUMA
fans: oh…

[thegraphitemoose]

One thing I love about this show is it strips away the turtles main “thing” and shows us what’s underneath. Raph’s more then just “the angry one”, Mikey’s more then just “the chill one”, Donnie’s more then just “the smart one”, and my favorite, Leo’s personality is not just “the leader”.

[runlikewater]

Something that my boyfriend noticed: He covers Splinter's face every time he looks at that photo EXCEPT for the scene where he's stuck in the prison dimension. One could say that he couldn't look his father in the eyes because of the disappointment he felt in himself until he finally realized that he didn't have to be perfect and took responsibility for his actions in a way that was both heroic and humble all at once.

[agent_bumblebee]

If Nick ever decided to bring back Rise for a 3rd season, I would love to see Leo’s duties and responsibilities he has to overcome as the newly appointed Leader of the team, cuz honestly seeing him rise up to be the leader of the team is honestly something that I was hoping for the series to explore.

[DEMO]

What's kinda sad though is that despite Leo understanding that he doesnt have to do things alone, he still seemingly puts emotional barriers and doesn't allow himself to be openly insecure (the only thing close we got was his talk with infected!Raph). His role as the face-man and leader really doesnt allow him to express his emotions and it's made worse by the fact that he doesn't like to show his emotions by proxy (the whole "i cope by making jokes" thing). The only time he ever cries and shows true weakness is when he is completely alone, truly believing that he will never see his family again. He doesn't even allow himself to be open when he gets rescued, immediatly going back to his persona.

There is also a very sad implication with his sacrifice. Of course it was the heroic thing to do, however it's clear that it was driven by Leo's view of himself. It wasn't his normal insecurity which led him to wanting to prove himself at the cost of others. This time his insecurity (and mostly guilt in this instance) is targetting himself, devaluing his own life because he thinks its the only way he can truly make up for everything.

This sacrifice led to him suffering the worst punishement he could ever think for himself. Being completely isolated from his brothers, being completely useless. You can even see in Leo's expression and maneurism when he is trapped in the prison dimention. He is completely lifeless, his eyes not even being visible. He doesnt even try to fight the Krang or try to get out...because he is useless without his brothers. It's clear that he didnt think he would make it out either.

Like it was said earlier, Leo thinks he is nothing without his brothers but he never shares that same thought towards people around him. He thinks he is useless without his brothers but he doesnt think his brothers are useless on their own or without him. Perhaps the reason why Leo sacrificed himself so easily was because he truly believed that his brothers could do great without him.

He may have realised that he needed his brother but it's truly unknown if he also realised that his family needs him too.

This movie isn't the full end of Leo's character arc and it shows. I think the reason why it's this way however is mainly in case of a season 3. If Leo's character was completely fixed by the movie then the writers would have a very tough time making Leo's character interesting for a possible season 3. So that's why there are still a lot of holes in Leo's character still. He is still putting on emotional barriers, he is still deeply insecure and it's very possible that the movie gave him a lot of guilt (and trauma because I doubt that almost being trapped in a place where you would be forced to die alone wouldn't make someone traumatised ESPECIALLY at Leo's age).

However the movie is a great stepping stone for Leo's character arc

[JB__Edits]

11:29
Don’t forget.... Leo heard an escape pod go off behind him right before this. He probably thought both his dad and Raph left. He waited until he thought he was alone, until he thought none of his family would get hurt by his actions, before going after the key.

[tv.girl.loverrr]

Leo is such a realistic teenager. His ego is so big it hides his insecurities which sometimes shows (especially in the movie) which is really realistic. I kin him really much because of this, even when he’s insecure he quickly hides it and goes back to his laid back attitude, he needs therapy💔

[Vivigreeny]

Something else that plays a massive factor into all of this: Leo is super self centred. Doesn’t mean he’s selfish or a bad person, just that… he doesn’t bother to look at things from other peoples perspectives.

His insecurities come from this idea that his brothers would be better off without him, that he doesn’t bring enough to the team and he constantly has to prove his value. But he never really considers that maybe they could possibly care about him enough to, oh I don’t know, appreciate his inherent value as a living and breathing person?? As their brother?? As a person with so many qualities only really limited by how he views himself???

And he starts to see that they don’t hate him by the end of it the movie, Leo realizes Raph was mad at him because he was worried, he realizes he should accept their help, that he doesn’t have to prove himself, and that’s all great but. Well I can only really guess, but I find it hard to believe that Leo realized what was really wrong and what the actual consequences of his sacrifice would have been.

Because I mean, yeah he knew he was going to have a horrible, horrible and painful death. He knew he’d save the world. But did he know the agony his family would be in? The years of grief they’d suffer? Does he understand that his family could never be better off without him because even if he were a liability in a fight he means so much to them?

And this is why him being so self centered is so crucial: He THINKS he knows what it means to not make everything about him, but to get there he has to understand he DOES mean something to the people he cares about, and the reason he doesn’t have to prove himself isn’t that trying to prove yourself is selfish and could get people hurt, (well, that too), but that HE ALREADY HAS WORTH. If he wants to be truly selfless and be at his best, he needs to finally get it through his thick skull that people CARE about him, and acting as if they DON’T fucking *hurts, * and might put them through more pain than any chewed up him stick alien ever could.

[ImSent]

Loved this analysis!!!! It reminded me of a throw away joke in season one, where Leo tells Splinter “I’m your least favorite!” when Splinter is feverish and trying to give him affection. It’s an example of the inferiority he feels with his dad as well as his family, to the point he actually believes Splinter loves him the least. Splinter is loving, but a super flawed parent and I love that characterization.

Hope for season 3. 😭

[arearon]

“A strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others”

— Ben

[Kestrelbee]

Leo's the entire fandom's comfort character for a REASON, he's well written and often painfully relatable. I love all the points made in this video, it sums up everything that's been lingering in the back of my head that I couldn't put into words.

[molly_parker_]

I guarantee that if all we saw of Leo’s character was how he acted at the beginning of this movie then we would have hated him until he eventually got his character development but since we see all of his other competent and likable personalities in the show when he is not trying to prove himself considering Leo actually has a cult following within the fandom because of his iconic one liners, his storylines of insecurities that we can relate to on some level, and of course the fact that he is fruity as hell we are physically incapable of hating Leo. We know him and we get a since of why he is acting the way he is.

[speckledorf]

Leo has trouble with interdependence. I love Leo, but I kinda got annoyed by his ego. I truly understand why he acts that way though. Also, when Leo got mad in the movie, I analyzed his face so much because it's just pure rage. He was about to go all up on Casey. You never see Leo that mad.

[jordanloux]

Let's not forget the time Splinter gets sick and gets all gooey and fatherly with Leo, and Leo's panicked response is 'I'm your least favorite.'

[toastingpasta]

I really like Leo's character, and your video on Donnie was really well made, so excited to see this one!

[strelitziamystery]

You know, I have always thought all variations of Leo had some level of insecurity.
E.g. In '03 Leo got trauma, insecurity, and some rage from Shredder and Karai almost killing him and his family. Leo got freaking stabbed and got a permanent injury on his shell (Until the show went REALLY kid friendly).
He felt like he wasn't enough, which hurt more because he was a leader.

2012 Leo also has leader insecurity issues too.

It's been awhile since I watched both shows.

[bruhmcbro]

Usually, when people do long essays like this, it's just them constantly hitting the point over and over again without adding onto it. But this whole video essay does a really good job at continuously adding depth to the topic. Also it made me like Leo more, so that's a plus. Awesome job!! Cool video!!!

[freshcupofangst]

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HYPED I AM FOR THIS!! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO DO THIS FOR SO LONG

For context, blue-coded comedic relief characters (not as specific as a description as it may appear) have pretty much ALWAYS been my favorite in anything, cause they're usually the ones with the most potential (especially when it comes to angst, which, like, look at my user, I love that shit) but mannn 9 times out of 10 they get done dirty by the writers (I'm looking at you, Lance from Voltron)

So when I tell you I felt more and more vindicated in my love for this extremely specific character archetype the more I saw Leo in Rise? As extreme as it may sound, I mean it with every cell in my body.

I'm so fucking excited for this!!!!

[getheidea]

I'm so excited for this!

I enjoyed the movie a lot, but the writers were really limited in how much they could reference actual events from the show (since execs wanted new viewers to be able to watch the movie) and as a result it felt like they kind of had to dance around Leo's actual character arc in the show, which is a shame. He's such a complex character, and when I watched the movie, what I saw wasn't arrogance, but a kid who was defensive and nervous and desperate to prove himself. There are SO many little moments in the movie where you can see Leo's facade drop--the way his face drops when Raph is lecturing him in his room, his grim determination right before he goes after the key at Foot HQ to try to fix his mistake, when Casey is telling him how great Master Leonardo is and he replies with obvious doubt on his face "yeah, that sounds like me, " etc. Leo has always been a character who covers insecurity with bravado, and I feel like taking him at face value is doing him disservice.

It's really a bummer that the team was limited in what parts of the show they could bring up in the movie, because I feel like, as a result, we had to speedrun Leo's character arc. The movie is kind of its own (fantastic) entity in my mind, and not a complete wrap-up of the ROTTMNT story. If they ever bring the show back for a s3, I really hope that they add to Leo's storyline and explore those layers of his personality more. He's one of my favorite characters in this series (along with Raph), and it's a shame that some people walked away from the movie not seeing just how complex and great he is.