Rottmnt Headcanons - Tumblr Posts

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.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

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.

Since he didn't even know the other four turtles were alive, I highly doubt he could possibly know that Big Mama has one as her assistant. Furthermore, he hasn't shown any indication of considering the lost siblings of the turtles to be alive and nearby after meeting the main group. My man just took Mikey's hand and went to high school.

Something that I think is kind of funny about the possibility that Big Mama’s Assistant is one of the missing Turtle siblings (other than the idea of Big Mama keeping one of the kids in the break up without Splinter even really knowing) is that it also kind of means that Big Mama also kind of took custody of one of the Turtles from Draxum.

Splinter took four & Big Mama took one, though I do kind of wonder if Draxum knows that Big Mama’s Assistant is one of the Turtles that he created.

new headcanon: casey jones jr. has terrible eyesight but hasn't ever gotten it corrected bc my boy grew up in the apocalypse

SOMEONE GET MY BOY SOME GLASSES ASAP

Doesn't Donnie have a line against geologists in the show I swear I remember that in any case I raise you the headcanon of Leo's main stereotypically nerdy fascination being rocks and gemstones. He likes them. A lot. Has a collection of geodes because when he was a kid he found one and impulse threw it at Raph's back and it broke and he saw the inside and fell in love.

Something something pretty boy who thinks he's ugly inside loving geodes because he sees them as ugly on the outside and pretty on the inside.

I noticed some parallels, and decided to spend hours and way more effort than necessary turning them into a drawing! Because of course I did

Thinking about how these two had probably been arguing for the past few months and this scene in the movie is the first time we see Raph joking with Leo

And Leo looks so surprised at first but then he gets happy

if we accept the theory that casey was a dumpster baby whos parents died in the krang invasion, wouldnt that mean theres a casey jr in the saved timeline w other parents, other friends, another life? what if...

just an interestung scenario imo

extra: aftermath

not Casey copying his hairstyle sklfslkslsksll i'm so well. (she lied)

Ok but what if Leo did grow hair in the future

Like

And it’s like gorgeous and long for most of the apocalypse till he shaves it all off for stupid reasons (/lh), ie

MDLEKFM,RSGFGFDMGDGMG,

where tf were draxum and mayhem in the rottmnt movie??

did they just dip??

jelgjdskgjskgjskgjksfjgksjhkfjskgtdjshk /vvvvvpos

If Donnie shares a space with you for a long time, this is the highest form of affection☝️

I’m in too deep- and no one can stop me… ANATOMY OF THE TURTLES! You are 100% allowed to use this as reference or add on if you think there is something I may have missed. Please credit me if you repost this anywhere thats not a simple reblog. I worked hard on this and I hope it shows! 

if the boys were to be able actually go to school, what kind of student would each of them be?(Most/least popular , best/worst grades, biggest criminal record(skipping, pranks, etc), pays the most/least attention in class, etc etc)

...the boys are able to go to school in Rise though.

If not in New York, then definitely in the Hidden City. 😁

In general, I think Donnie would be the most studious (obviously) but I don't think any of them would be particularly bad students. Leo might pretend to be nonchalant and a slacker but, in reality, I believe he'd be just at studious as Donnie albeit behind closed doors.

As far as details about what they would study and how they would be in school, that I can't say...mostly because it would be spoilers for my "Don the Fashionista" comic!

It takes place in the "Good Future," so naturally all of the boy's escapades will be lumped into the background of Donnie's main plot. 👀

Thanks for the ask! 💜😊

In Mikey's words: "Time Travel is Confusing! :("

I am. So confused about the story Casey Junior told the team in the movie, I thought about it too hard a while back and it hasn't left me alone. He said: "From atop their perch on New York City, the Krang ripped open the sky itself. What came out was terror, and what rained down was worse than death"

Which tells us a couple things about the Bad Future Timeline, as far as I can see:

The Krang were the one to 'rip open the sky itself'. They opened the portal according to the survivors of the Invasion. There's no mention of the Foot opening the portal at all. This implies that, much like the movie, in the BFT the Krang were released by the Foot during the ritual but the Technodrome came later.

This leads into my next point, which is that Casey says 'from atop New York City'. In the BFT, the Mad Dogz wouldn't have gotten there in time to stop the ritual bc they were too busy having a Raph vs Leo nightly special, and Leo wouldn't have gotten the Key. So the Krang would have no reason to relocate to a higher position than the island they were released from.

Unless of course, they couldn't stop the Krang from escaping, but they stole the Key and managed to escape without losing Raph (Casey said that didn't happen in his time, and I'm inclined to believe him) before the Technodrome was released. Without Casey to impose upon them the Horrors of the BFT though, they'd still lose the Key and then the Krang might've been able to go about their plan unhindered- leading straight into the other events of the timeline unhindered.

If you guys have any other theories about what happened in the Bad Future timeline, I'd love to hear about it! I've been thinking about what Casey said and what it might mean for way too long.

jiksfjkagjfkadgjs Reblogging for the image of the turtle tots all looming of Draxums bed in the middle of the night with their eyes glowing, just like... i would crap myself if i saw that at night

Splinter’s lax parenting style makes a lot more sense once you learn that Draxum created the turtles for the express purpose of waging a war. Our boys are good boys, but they can also be kind of… unnerving. They must have been little TERRORS before they developed morality and impulse control. It’s possible Splinter plain wore himself out in the early years of caring for them and now he’s fucking Tired™.

I think at one point he was just like, “Okay it’s been a few years since any of you have tried to eat each other please for the love of God let me rest I’ve forgotten what REM sleep feels like.”

So a little while ago me and my friend @latersgayt0rs kinda realized something about the ROTTMNT movie.

Leo’s plan at the end made perfect sense.

And I don’t mean that from a writing standpoint— of course that made sense for plot purposes— I mean from an in-universe perspective. Leo’s perspective.

People say it was suicidal, or say he didn’t have to do it that way, which is a totally valid interpretation! But me and Ferr saw it a little differently.

So, let's look at all the facts of the situation. After regaining their ninpo, the turtles all fought Krang Prime (or, Krang One) with everything they had. EVERYTHING.

Donnie fired that big barrage of missiles, Mikey threw an entire goddamn SKYSCRAPER at him! Everyone gave it their all, but when they combined their powers and tried to punch Krang Prime with ALL of that—

He stopped them by simply flicking his fingers. He knocked Donnie and Mikey off the building, both unable to catch themselves so Raph of course had to go save them.

And Leo was left alone.

With all of that prior information, what else was Leo really supposed to do in that situation? 

Sure, he could ask where the others landed and form a portal to get them back up there, but again; Everything. They threw EVERYTHING they had at Krang Prime, and he flung them away like it was nothing. Who’s to say he wouldn’t just do that again? Or kill someone?

Not to mention Leo had to be exhausted. It was nighttime when the movie began, then daytime in the middle, then it looked pretty dark when everything was going on at the end. Maybe that was just dust and debris kicked up by the Technodrome, but hours had passed with no sleep, no rest, only action. Only fighting.

Leo went from the first fight to the Krang to the subway tunnels fight, to the stuff that happened in Metro Tower, to his 1v1 with Raph, to this fight with little to no breaks in between. Physically at least; again, he did not sleep between these times. And emotions had to be going INSANE after Raph was taken.

How do we know he even had the energy to make enough portals to get everyone back up there then be able to portal them/himself around during the fight? 

So, Leo was tired. Leo knew how strong Prime was. And most importantly, he knew the stakes.

If Krang Prime was not stopped here, then the entire world would be destroyed. His family would be killed. Everyone would die.

Leo had NO choice. There was no other choice, no other option for him. No other route to take. 

He HAD to lock Krang Prime back in the Prison Dimension. And the only way for him to do that and keep him inside was to teleport them both.

There was no other alternative that would have worked.

Leo Analysis

There’s a popular reading in the Rise fandom that Leo is the strategist of his brothers, but I’d like to propose a counter-theory that, while Leo can be strategic, his actual skillset is in deception, manipulation, and perception. In other words, Leo is good at things involving people.

(Hey, uh, this is pretty long)

In the show, Leo shows a preference to following others’ leads rather than strategize himself. In One Man’s Junk, Leo is the only brother that doesn’t actually think up a plan to find more mystic metal, instead picking sides on who’s plan he thinks is better. This is seen again in Late Fee, where Raph and Donnie being the ones who formulate a plan to return the DVD. Again, in the season 2 finale, E-Turtle Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (god that is long), Leo doesn’t come up with a plan to defeat the Shredder, he instead made everyone turn to Raph for one [2:15]. This all follows a pattern that Leo admits in Battle Nexus: New York, "And we'll do it with our special brand of teamwork: where my brothers do the work but we share equal credit" [1:10]. He’s very lazy (I mean this affectionately), and prefers to follow someone else’s lead. The final nail in the coffin is the movie, where Leo is very distinctly not the one who comes up with the plan to lock away the Kraang. While admittedly that moment is from him learning to build others up rather than try to do everything himself, Leo is clearly characterized to not tend to strategize.

However, there are episodes where he does plan. A notable example being Many Unhappy Returns, where Leo planned ahead around Big Mama to trick her into giving them the mystic collar. Another is The Hidden City Job, where Leo pretended to be a statue to get into Big Mama’s vault in her auction. There’s also Origami Tsunami, where Leo briefly took the leader position, and planned the fake paper shop to catch the paper thieves. Smaller examples include, Man Vs Sewer (two attempts of snapping Raph out of his savage state), Bug Busters (freeing his brothers), and the movie (teleporting Kraang Prime into the portal). However, one commonality in all those schemes is that they’re all deceptions (okay, except for Man Vs Sewer but I have a whole other reason for that). In Many Unhappy Returns, Leo isn’t so much as being strategic but manipulative, understanding who Big Mama is, foreseeing that she’ll shove him in the arena with his dad, and planning around that by appearing stupid. He tricked her into cutting a deal in his favor (allowing him to have a weapon in the arena [17:25]). In The Hidden City Job, Leo’s plan is basically tricking Big Mama again, pretending to be something valuable enough to belong in her vault (almost worked too well there). Origami Tsunami, Leo surmised that the bad guys would want more paper and created the fake paper store. All of those plans involved tricking the opponent based on what Leo understood of them, and they worked. Of course, planning moves around an opponent could be qualified as strategic, but these events highlighted Leo’s skill in reading and manipulating others, not as a tactician.

Again, I’m not saying Leo can’t be strategic. In Flushed But Never Forgotten, Leo’s plan to fighting Piebald is to camouflage himself with sewer sludge (gross). That’s strategic. In Bug Busters, Leo distracting the guards with an empty laundry bin to trip them into a portal he created behind them is strategic. Leo’s whole stunt with Kraang Prime and teleporting them both into the portal was sick as shit, and strategic. Hell, his whole power with the teleporting/portals requires Leo to think tactically. But, in comparison with his brothers, particularly Raph, Leo doesn’t seem that much better than them at strategizing.

What Leo is characterized to be, is manipulative. Two main examples are Air Turtle and the infamous Lair Games, where, in both, poor Donnie gets tricked by Leo to do something for Leo’s benefit. In both stunts, the emphasis was put on to Leo’s deceptive nature. In the Lair Games, Leo intentionally put his room up as a prize with the knowledge that his brothers wanted to take something important away from him, hiding the fact that that was exactly what he wanted [12:45]. In Air Turtle, he lied to Donnie’s face that he could make the last shot in order to get his own opening/spotlight [10:16, and 11:14]. Unlike with strategizing, these events are made out to be points of distinction for Leo. He’s also shown to be extremely perceptive, as @/our-happygirl500-fan user pointed out in their post of him realizing Splinter had some history with Big Mama. And being the only one to suspect Raph throwing his fight with Donnie in Sparring Partner [9:54]. This all lines up with Leo's role as a faceman, somebody who's good with people. Combined with his performance in Many Unhappy Returns, Leo is shown to be someone extremely skilled in deception, and reading others.

Tldr, I think Raph is the strategist of the group, closely followed by Donnie. And Leo’s actual strength lies in his ability with people, his perception and manipulation. He’s not a strategist, but a trickster. A lying liar who lies (I love him).

Of course, I could be extremely wrong so I would love any input or commentary, especially regarding Leo's strategist status, because I could be glaringly missing something. Thanks.

Raph Is A Great Strategist

Numerous times in the show Raph has shown to have a preference for straightforwardly punching his problems away rather than think up a more complex solution. Like how his immediate fix to getting Mayhem out of the mirror in Mystic Library was to punch everything in the bathroom but the mirror. However, when Raph understands the situation requires more in depth strategy, he’s shown to be an incredibly capable tactician.

(long post ahead!)

In nearly all the plot heavy episodes like Shadow of Evil, Many Unhappy Returns, and the season finales, Raph gets moments where he’s highlighted for his strategic thinking. In Insane in the Mama Train, he’s the one who figures out which eyeball-button goes to the front car with the dark armor, because “‘it was the only button [the Foot Clan] didn’t want me to press!’” [21:05]. He’s also the one who came up with the scheme to defeat all the (known) combatants in the train, with Leo specifically attributing Raph as the deviser during their mind meld [19:46]. In Many Unhappy Returns, after spending a single night waylaying the Shredder, Raph formulated a plan using all the tricks the team learned, seamlessly transitioning the mystic collar Leo acquired into it [19:53], to defeating the Shredder. Additionally, he’s repeatedly called for a retreat during fights, like in Shadow of Evil, Shreddy or Not (Finale pt 2), and the movie, when he can tactically recognize that a battle couldn’t be won. Each time, the show/movie implied that that was the right call, for the family to lose the fight but win the war.

And it’s not just that Raph is good at strategy when he’s pushed to be more serious; the show characterizes him as passionate about creating plans, he enjoys doing it. Literally in the first episode, Mystic Mayhem, after the turtles’ initial plan failed of getting Splinter out of the living room to touch his Do-Not-Touch Cabinet, Raph immediately started devising a new plan that involved “ten chickens [and] a gallon of rubber cement” [9:35]. It was convoluted, sure, and they didn’t end up using it, but it was inventive and the opposite of reluctant. This is also shown in Bug Busters, where Raph planned out dousing Mikey in honey to attract the oozequitoes [2:52]; Snow Day, with the idea to freeze Ghost Bear like in Jupiter Jim Pluto Vacation 4; and Raph’s Ride-Along (and also Bad Hair Day), where Mind Raph created multiple schemes to get the criminals arrested. The show wouldn’t have made Raph be so creative with his plans if they were trying to characterize him as someone who didn’t like strategizing.

So does why Raph do stupid shit sometimes where he doesn’t think things through at all? Well, even though Raph is good at strategy and enjoys doing it, it’s clear his immediate impulse is still “punch the problem in the face”. In fact, all the turtle boys contain the fascinating dichotomy of being incredibly smart in some areas, and the dumbest teenagers alive in others. Just look at Donnie. It’s also how Raph is a loving protective older brother, and the guy who shoved Leo into a wall so hard he disappeared in one frame for shits and giggles (The Mutant Menace x). None of this means that Raph is bad at strategy though.

tldr: Yeah, Raph has a lot of dumb and, frankly, insane moments in the show, but he’s still an incredible tactician who’s plans consistently saved his family and sometimes the world. He's a great strategist.

Writing rottmnt Headcanons because I have a whole folder on my notes app and I’m digging my claws into this show I will not lose hyperfixation on this.

Beware it is VERY LONG and some won’t make sense unless seeing other versions of the brothers first but I’m posting raph first

Raph (she/him) bi transfem

- used to chew everything or bite as a kid

- Had a big ass tail he uses to throw enemies

- Laughs/ smiles when he’s mad

- Once when they were younger, Raph changed his headband to like Leo and mikey and Donnie cried rlly loud because he wasn’t matching w Raph anymore

- Turtle food trash can

- Would often accidentally cut himself with his snaggletooth because he has a habit of biting his lips

- LOVES LOVES LOVES turtle plies

- Loves cats but bad with them (takes cat pics from a reasonable distance)

- Doesn’t like nuts

- Had a peanut allergy (I think this is in the show)

- Watched the pjo movie with mikey and listened to him rant about how bad it is

- Actually likes his human form (sometimes he puts on his cloaking brooch and stands in front of the mirror staring at himself) - mikey once walked in on him and they both got startled

- Sometimes his left eye will loose his vision and he’ll panic but it always comes back after a few hours

- Likes to doodle along with mikey

- Makes fun of Donnie for his obsession with the frozen soundtrack

- Puts on eyeliner cause then he looks pretty

- Eats guacamole straight from the jar

- Drinks milk from the carton and then sprinkles cereal into his mouth and chews

- Likes wedges

- Stress relief crochet with mikey

- Likes to tie his strings in a bow

- Churrs when happy (REAL)

- Once asked Donnie to install his own Shelldon in his room (Donnie said no)

- Once got rlly excited during Pictionary and threw a plate and it broke (if you get the ref can we be friends)

- When in arguments he can’t make eye contact properly so he settles on concentrating on something else - usually any object in front of him, the background or the floor

- Every once in a while he’ll drop the most dubious call out ever to one of their brothers just to laugh at their facial expression

- Started sobbing at the finale of Steven universe despite not watching the whole series before

- ^^ due to this he watched the movie and cried even more but decided not to watch the series in fear of just straight up crying every episode

- Listens to jazz to calm down

- Once raph went on all fours at 4am cause he couldn’t sleep and wanted to try out how an actual snapping turtle would walk and he scared the living Jesus out of Leo

- Each of them got a jellycat for raph and he felt so touched he cried

- She likes to chew on salad for the crunch (she just goes CRNBGGGCHH CRUNCCHZHHH it’s amazing )

- Scared of dogs (just a bit)

- Likes making random noises with his mouth whenever he’s bored or just doing anything menial

- Once he was hanging out with Donnie and meowed really loud which scared the fuck out of him

- “Lalalala” to most of his friends and family and everyone loves him for it (that one See You Again trend)

- Doesn’t like to be reminded that the meat he eats used to be alive

I think the concept of Mikey getting the others into different types of art is silly like I think Donnie get into photoshop and digital art maybe even 3d printing (or some kind of carving w his head bust), Leo does basic digital shit but also goes spraypainting, and Raph gets into sculpting w clay and carving w wood because Mikey has made them do craft nights. It's not their main hobby, but they do enjoy it, and sometimes when they want a change of pace they end up working on little projects.

casey jr headcanons- food

has no sense of what tastes good or bad for a long time, though the majority of new foods he’s trying tastes better than his normal rations or scavenged rats and leaves. he will gleefully try anything once. the apocalypse has taught him not to be a picky eater.

it can all be a bit much. if he’s ordering food at restaurants, he’ll often pick whatever the person next to him is having or let someone else order for him. even after learning about all the different kinds of foods and developing preferences, restaurants are still overwhelming with all the different choices and options. it’s easier to just let someone else choose.

first few months were a little rough with introducing new foods. even though he liked these things, his stomach would often disagree. or flavors would be too intense some days so he’d stick to “familiar foods” (nothing sandwiches, plain dry crackers, minimally seasoned soups)

it took a long time to tone down the habit of hoarding and hiding his food. he can be very possessive over his plate (you’ll lose a finger if you try stealing a guy’s rations. that’s just bad etiquette in the apocalypse! he never let that slide in his time and he won’t let it slide now) but when he shares his food with someone it means he really really cares.

he does develop a sweet tooth over time. he will often carry bits of various candies for himself in his bag. he’s the self-designated food guy. he will always have something on him- random fruits, granola bars, jerky, hard candy. you can catch him crouch on the ledge of a building popping a soda he pulled out from nowhere.