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The Many Faces of the Face Man Part 2
Ooooooh, @marchaprilmayhem, you have no idea what you've just hit upon. You have no idea what can of worms you've just opened.
Before addressing any of this, I would like to say that Donnie, Mikey, and Raph have their own things. They all have their own specialty, a way to provide that is uniquely theirs.
Donnie is the genius. The utilitarian. The biggest provider to the point that if you take him out, they don't have a home. As stated here, Donatello was working at a very, very young age, to the point that it's how he defines himself. Hell, the fact that he feels comfortable to do this:
Says a lot about his character and the relationship they have with their dad.
Raph is the leader in this iteration along with the muscle. He's the defender, the protector, the older brother. He's the actual father and he's trying his best.
Mikey, on the other hand, is the artist, the cook. He's the one who feeds them all. You can't tell me that this isn't an indication of what Mikey does all while being silly.
My point? They're all useful. Specialized. No matter how little they think of themselves (especially Donnie with the fact that he might render himself obsolete with his machinery or that mystic powers might make his tech, therefore him useless, but that'll be a talk for another time.)
So where does that put Leo? Leo who is not a specialist, but a jack of all trades that can never outshine his brothers in any of their specialties?
NOWHERE.
Look at the Rise series again and ask yourself this question. When does Leo ever have anything for himself? When does the boy in blue ever have anything going for him? Lou Jitsu? That's a family thing, his dad's thing that he wants so badly to emulate because he wants to belong. Jupiter Jim? Not even. He might be the biggest fan in his family, but it's still something he shares. The only thing that's all his is magic and illusion and his family, Raph specifically, ridicules him twice in the same episode.
RAPH: *Takes ticket from Leo's hand* "I never seen Leo this excited for a book so it must be something, or it would be stupid so we can make fun of him. Either way, Win-Win! Let's get ready."
-xxx-
RAPH: "Alright, let's return those journals. You got 'em, right Leo?"
LEO: "Yes, right already returned them safe and sound in the vault, let's go home."
RAPH: "Leo...what are you doing?"
LEO: "I wasn't gonna read them, I just wanna keep’ em, and maybe snuggle them a little bit."
-xxx-
Leo has nothing going for him. He is useless. His specialty in strategizing? It provides nothing. No matter how much time he passes honing it, it's not directly useful, so he can't do anything. (I am not counting the fact that so many people, including myself, view Leo as the medic of the team.) So what does he do? He keeps quiet. He sometimes interjects with responsible thoughts (The blinds line coming from Leo of all people has significance, not to mention this:
LEO: "Any votes for staying home during the anti-mutant Panic? No? Okay, let's go!"
So, what's left? The cocky mess we see and something that I think gets forgotten all too easily.
Leo doesn't just hype his brothers up. He knows them. Inside and, if you want to take the medic approach, out. He is the best in position to take the lead and make sure his family always gets home safe.
But he is so undervalued, so underplayed that when he is finally given that ounce of recognition...
He panics.
Splinter recognizes Leo's potential? Yes. But, at this point, Leo has long accepted he isn't worth anything. The recognition comes far too late and Leo doesn't want the responsibility without realizing that he already has partially shouldered it through years of learning how to read his brothers and knowing how they behave to best hype them up. I would even dare to say that Leo is the one who values his family the most, if only because he knows what being undervalued feels like.
In short? Yes, Leo has learned to make his mind work that fast. He had to. Else he would have left a long, long time ago.
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