no one can convince me that Eliot's laugh in response to Hardison saying that one of Parker's aliases had a fantastic time at her sister's wedding wasn't about the two/three of them. I know what they are
lego friends tnc characters in leverage bc im super normal (lie) about these shows (double lie). this got wayyyy longer than I expected tbh lol
whether you've watched leverage, lego friends, both, or neither, please note that all the swap assignments are based pretty much entirely on character personalities and traits, not ships from either fandom
the rest is under the cut!! minor spoilers for both shows
Nate Ford/“Mastermind” - Zac
-tbh no one realllllly fits Nate’s role but also his intelligence and perception is rivaled by 1-2 other people max in canon, and both in universe and out, people just have to trust him and god that things will work out. That being said, I do think Zac is the most observant out of the bunch- from noticing small things about other people like paisley’s singing voice and sky’s gear to using his observations in plans, like knocking over Aliya and Liann’s board of ley-la clues into a nearby puddle “accidentally”. I think he works pretty well for the mastermind role, and if you replace Nate’s ex wife and son with either zac’s family back in France or even just sky (everyone would all be adults in this swap btw), I think there’s a lot of character work you could do with him
Sophie Devereaux/“Grifter” - Olly
-this HAD to go to Olly. Sophie canonically loves outfits and shopping and theatre, and has issues with being her “true” self, bc as a grifter type of criminal she has created so many false identities and names that she doesn’t really know who *she* is anymore. taking what happened with ley-la and putting it into Olly with Sophie’s story, I think it works perfectly. Besides, they’re both dramatic little divas. It works perfectly >:)
Eliot Spencer/“Hitter” - Autumn
-ah, my favorite character from Lego friends is my favorite character from leverage. Truthfully, I’m not playing favorites- I do think autumn slots best into Eliot’s role. Unfortunately, he’s very similar to Nate in that no one in friends truly matches him (which makes sense, he kinda beats people up for a living), but I think Autumn’s stubbornness and willingness to get her hands dirty when it comes to things she cares about (animals, nature, friends/family, etc) works. Also Eliot is southern and comes from a typical (stereotypical?) southern background- high school jock, can ride horses, has family issues, and I think how Autumn wants raised kinda fits, minus the trauma that made her join the military and the siblings.
Alec Hardison/“Hacker” - Nova
-her role is immediately obvious to lego fans, but nova and hardison actually kinda clash a lot in terms of how they express themselves. Though they both want similar things (love, acceptance, trust), nova kinda crawls into herself and her hobbies and waits for people to come to her, where Hardison kinda does the opposite and learns more about people and tries to do things for them, even if it sometimes comes out the wrong way. I still put nova here bc she fits the hacker role way better than the thief role (who’s crawling through air vents and more physically involved in things), and also bc Hardison does tend to get sassy at times which fits nova.
Parker/“Thief” - Liann
-PARKER MY BELOVED WEIRDGIRL REPRESENATION. I LOVE HOU!!!
Sorry, had to get that out of my system lol. Anyway. I think Liann would adore the adventure that comes with Parker’s job- breaking into safes, crawling through the vents, taking down bad guys!! She gets a mix of everyone’s job with a focus on thievery. Parker has more trouble expressing her emotions and connecting with other people in comparison to Liann, but I think you could lean into that with Liann having been separated from average people for so long that she bases her social skills on what she remembers society liked, rather than Parker who I think just didn’t really care and leaned more into herself and her work.
Special mentions!!
I’m giving James Sterling to Candi bc I’m basic 😔 but also I literally can’t think of anyone in the main group who would fit? also sterling kinda takes credit for the things that the Leverage team does and I’m pretty sure Candi has done that in canon (science ep possibly though it could be a bit of a stretch as well). Anyway it doesn’t matter too much bc I’m putting wholesome children’s show characters into a show where (almost) everyone is a criminal and lowkey need therapy so they’re all getting a bit warped with translation.
Maggie Collins (Nate’s ex wife) is sky ofc, but I do like the idea of estranged family bc of my own ocs so I’m still keeping that on the table as a possibility where he was really close to his family and then had a falling out. Maybe his sister in particular and then their dad/mom died (for any non leverage fans, Nate’s son dies in the series and is a major driver of how/why he acts the way he does)
Tara (I’m sorry Tara I can’t remember your last name rn 😭) - IDK WHO I WOULD GIVE THIS TO, Aliya maybe?? Tara is Sophie’s grifter friend who comes in for a bit to replace her when Sophie has an identity crisis/her actress got pregnant lol. She’s very particular abt how she does things and Aliya is too so I guess it works
I’m giving Mr Quinn (or mayyyyybe chaos) to Brad of all people bc there’s just no way I can spin paisley/Leo to take his role, and I think Brad is cocky enough to fit (this works for either). Also if Brad takes Mr Quinn’s role I’m sure that the stupid arguments he has with Eliot would work with autumn (kinda)
Annnnnd I’m gonna give the FBI agents McSweeten and Taggert to Paisley and Leo respectively. Idk I just think the agents are mild enough in canon that they can easily work for paisley and Leo, and also I kinda don’t want these two to suffer any more than they have in their series so I’m gonna give the cushy(ier) job of working for the fbi and getting rid of the bad guys more passively rather than actively like, beating them up or something.
got to the part in my leverage rewatch where Nate becomes an alcoholic again and no matter how mixed my feelings on him may be, im always devastated by this moment. he was clean, he was sober, he was doing better, and the only reason he started drinking again was to help a person he cared about. It’s genuinely tragic to see someone who was making progress and beginning to heal fall back again
when I see other people make a self insert I’m like “wow! So cool! looks fun!” and then I make myself a self insert and I’m like “wow. I fucking flopped”
