2018 Leo - Tumblr Posts
In the spirit of the Rottmnt movies release, have a doodle dump of some of the drawings I’ve done since it’s release! I’m not extremely proud of them but wanted to post them somewhere :]
And yes leo has the trans flag on his nails
My headcanon about Leo - which is also shared by half of the RiseFandom - is that he has ADHD. I believe that he actually plans for every situation his family encounters faster than anyone else, but the only reason his plans don't come to fruition is because instead of speaking out loud and providing an actual explanation, he believes that his brothers can read his actions and mind as well as he can read theirs. This leads to frustration when things don't go as planned.
The thing is, his struggles with communication are partly, if not completely, due to his ADHD. Things can be very clear in his mind, but when he tries to explain them to others, his system malfunctions, and he is left with nothing but useless rambling or jokes that lead nowhere. Leo has the brain to make plans and be a great leader for the team - a thing that only Splinter has been able to see. It is for this reason that in the movie, Leo is doing his best to force the leader role onto Raph again. My man is in denial; he is scared, and for me, the script going on in his head is "No one has ever understood me before. My plans always end in disaster for my brothers, and I've never been able to explain them to others. How am I supposed to be a leader if I can't guide?"
I say this because something that happens a lot to people with ADHD or autism is that they have been misunderstood all their lives. So, when it comes to explaining things, we tend to over-explain a "simple" topic to the point where it is both confusing and useless. Leo is scared of failing his family in every sense. He feels like nothing without them, and he has said this before to Hueso in season one.
I know everyone is obsessed with the "It wasn't about me" line from the movie, but it's not in the Leo-centric way that everyone likes so much. It's about his brothers and how the pressure of being a leader for the team and the lack of trust from his brothers is scaring Leo so much. In the movie, when Leo makes Raph-Kraang hear him and then his brothers fight the Kraangs, it's also him showing how much of a leader he can be when he is left with no options but to throw his fears away and get in the first line.
This is also why Future Leo was the greatest ninja. He didn't have any more options than to keep on trying and leading not just his siblings but the whole resistance. Leo has trapped himself with his insecurities in the back of his brain and fights every day to be better. Excuse me, but that's what a leader does.
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I apologize if I'm a disaster at explaining things. I hope my point was clear enough. I really love them and wanted to share this with other people who could appreciate it.
THIS. people think he's so dumb and I think that is truly proof of just how smart he is. He puts up a facade of being this silly guy who acts stupid and knows nothing, but truthfully, he is incredibly intelligent. He WANTS people to think he's dumb because if you think he's dumb, he can easily carry out any plan he has by simply outsmarting you. You see it in the movie as well. He purposefully misses Kraang Prime when he throws his sword to grab Prime's attention for a long enough period of time so that when he portals himself and Prime, they're in the prison dimension.
Can we all just agree Leo ain't some dumbass idiot some people typically depict him as? I mean he literally outsmarted Big Mama and that's because people tend to underestimate him for what they usually see him from the outside. We need more Manipulative/cunning/two-faced/gaslighter!2018Leo...only towards his enemy though, but maybe a tinny bit towards his family, for good reasons.
Not to cause any misunderstanding, the art belongs to my friend, no worries I got their permission to post it.