The Spotlight Effect
Maybe someone else has pointed this out before but I'd still like to talk about it!! Something really interesting to me about Leo (rottmnt) as a character is his inherent charisma, and how he draws in people with grand and dramatic speeches. Visually this is shown by something I like to call the "spotlight effect".
Season 1 Episode 2 "Origami Tsunami"
Originally the mentioned effect was used as a bit/gag. Here Leo is trying to hype up the boys to go on a junior-level "safe" hero adventure, and does succeed in getting them excited. Throughout the episode he's shown to drag them place to place, one inspirational speech after the other.
Season 2 Episode 1 "Many Unhappy Returns"
In season 2 we see this effect return. In "Many Unhappy Returns", in which Leo is initially a figure of comedic relief to ease tension in the return of the Shredder. This backfires a little bit, as it mostly annoys his family despite good intentions (which are not clearly communicated). It's not until he proves that he's taking this situation seriously--and ramping the team up with another one of his on-point speeches about everyone's strength of character--that he becomes a point of inspiration. The scene above takes place after Raph questions Leo, who in turn responds with "trust me".
Season 2 Episode 2 "Todd Scouts"
Again we see the "spotlight effect" used as a gag; however, there is still an interesting point here made in this scene. Leo calls himself something along the lines of the master at apologies, and something I believe that contributes to the effectiveness of such apologies is that charisma that draws people in. Which is shown visually for us via this effect!!
Season 2 Episode 5 "Air Turtle"
Another apology of Leo's after his dismissive and competitive behavior when playing basketball with his brothers. It also serves as a motivation point in this episode, for them to go against the mysticly beefed up basketball players.
Season 2 Episode 9 "Bad Hair Day"
I'm tentatively counting this as part of the phenomenon I've pointed out because while Leo is Put under the spotlight as a potential suspect to the thieving in this episode, Leo takes full advantage of it to wrap people around his finger. The hair doesn't not help either.
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And now for one of the most Blatant and emotionally impacting examples.
The Rise Movie, the moment when they think their brother is lost, and when Leo begins to finally start listening to his team.
He unites them under his hope and confidence. I mentioned in this post that Raph is their center of responsibility, well in comparison Leo would be their center of inspiration. His competitiveness rubs off on his brothers (encouraging to put their all in the silliest of things), his playful encouragement keeps the baby of the team from being too babied, and his speeches tie everyone together to one goal. Hope is a ninja's greatest weapon, and while he may not realize it until Casey Jr. quotes that famous phrase, he's been using it this entire time.
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One thing I absolutely love about Rise is that it just might be the best version at portraying the family part of the characters. They have petty arguments that they get over really quickly, they say "I love you", and we have so many instances of them just hugging. But my absolute favorite part of it is how in this show, April is just treated like another one of the siblings. She participates in family events, calls when she needs them, and they even refer to her as family sometimes.
Here in Lair Games, she's the one filming the event. Not only is she the camera person for this annual family tradition for the turtles, but she's implied to have been the one who filmed all of the Lair Games, meaning she's also an integral part of this family event.
In Fist of the Furry, Splinter decides to take one of them to check up on his dojos, and when the boys all beat each other, April cheers because that means she gets to go. Not only does she not hesitate and assume Splinter will choose someone else, she's also completely correct in her cheers, as Splinter responds to her by saying "Wonderful!" and proceeding to show her the map.
In this same episode, Splinter teaches her his top secret super powerful move, gives her a surprisingly heartfelt pep talk, and she even calls him Sensei at one point (which at this point in TMNT canon is pretty much like calling him dad {to my knowledge the only other April to call him that is 2012 April}).
On top of that, April is in the center of this photo Leo carries with him in the Rise movie, and there's this picture Mikey draws for Karai that he says "really represents our togetherness as a family".
And that's only a few examples.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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what if Karai was mutated into a turtle instead of a snake?
Ramblings about '12 Karai if you keep reading.
I was talking about Karai with my sister and came up with this idea.
I don't think it's a secret that I have a few problems with 2012, and one of them is how the girls are treated, Karai especially. I really liked her in season 1, but after that it went down hill. Post mutation she's treated like a damsel in distress, and is used mostly for other character's plots. Karai wasn't treated like the self motivated character that had drawn me to her in the first place. I thought that it was odd that they went through all of this trouble making her related to Splinter and the turtles but never really did anything with it. She never really embraces her identity as a member of the Hamato clan, which just doesn't sit right with me.
Since adding a 5th turtle has precedent, and she is their sister after all, what if she was added to the team as a 5th? Kinda like Jennika or Venus. Coulda been pretty interesting an unique to have that kinda turnaround for her character.
I imagine that after her mutation she would go by Miwa instead of Karai: since it's the name Splinter gave her. And she'd officially become a member of the ninja turtle crew. I'm not exactly sure what her weapon would be at this point, this idea isn't fully fleshed out, but I do think it's interesting!
(I also gave her an extra finger/toe to hint at the fact that she has a different origin from her brothers.)
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