#fearless au asks

[gothiclynovi]

How much of Leo's actual personality is in leo?

Hes a very performative person, and I'd be a shame if he's just Mr face man

I’m assuming you’re talking about my Fearless au so here’s a bit of an info dump:

Most of the memories Donnie used and uploaded to Fearless are from before the apocalypse.

This means that he tends to act like pre-apocalypse Leo. Younger, and more immature.

In a way, this is even more heartbreaking because he ends up serving as a reminder of what they had before the apocalypse started. The times when they got to be young and naive, and not have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Donnie makes frequent tweaks to get Fearless to act as much like Leo as possible. He’s never quite right though. This is mostly due to the fact that Leo wasn’t as open about his feelings as he led his brothers to believe. Donnie’s not trying to get Fearless to act like the real Leo, but instead as the version of Leo he created in his mind. When Donnie starts to realize this, it hurts all the more. It causes him to question how well he really knew his brother, and also, what else was he hiding?

While Donnie processes these new revelations, Fearless starts to come to his own realizations about his identity. He starts to gain his own sense of sentience, similar to S. H. E. L. L. D. O. N.

Initially, Fearless believed he was the real Leo. He knows that he is a robot, but never really questioned it. He sees Leo’s memories as his own, and grows confused when the others start to treat him differently. He doesn’t recognize the fact that the real Leo is dead, and fails to see himself as his own person -not Leo.

When he does start to realize this, it leads to a lot of identity issues for him. He starts to come to terms with the fact that he isn’t alive. He has no blood, heart, body outside of the robotic one created for him. He’s not like the others. Not in the way he thought, and not in the way he so desperately wishes he was.

Over time, he has to figure out who he is. He ends up growing a bit resentful of the real Leo, but also of himself. He can’t understand why he’s not him.

Just to sum up, it’s sort of a Fern from Adventure Time type of situation.

[gothiclynovi]

hii I really love your Fearless au and had a question or two about it, I was wondering if Donnie constructed the bot to replicate Leo even to the touch or is he just steel? Because in a few sketches of bot Leo and Usagi they’re really close but I thought it’d be a bit uncanny for usagi if it would be cold steel or feel exactly like Leo? Anyways thanks (in advance) for reading this hope you’re doing greatt :D

He’s just metal. The AU takes place during the Krang apocalypse so I don’t think Donnie would waste resources to make him feel like Leo.

It would be way too uncanny. Feeling someone and seeing them, but knowing they aren’t actually there… touching them, but they lack the steady rise and fall of a breathing being, or a heartbeat… it’d be like diving in a lake traumatic memories.

Plus, Fearless can also be used in combat so I think it would be easier for Donnie to make upgrades or fix damages if he was just metal.

Thanks for the ask and I hope you’re doing great too! :)

[gothiclynovi]

Poor Usagi :( and F!Leo respects what Usagi says?

He does. He doesn’t really understand why Usagi feels that way towards him though. Fearless has all of Leo’s memories, and so he struggles to understand why Usagi refuses to treat him like he did Leo. Fearless thinks he IS LEO.

It kinda leads to an identity crisis later on tbh…

Donnie really pushes everyone to treat Fearless as if he were the real Leo. He constantly makes tweaks to Fearless to get him to act more and more like the real Leo but it’s never really right. He’s deep in denial 😬

[gothiclynovi]

How is Usagi feeling right now? Does he feel uncomfortable talking to F!Leo?

Here’s some stuff from my notes app I wrote about it :P

Overall though yes. He doesn’t like that Fearless’ job is to fill the gap Leo left because that’s impossible. He doesn’t want Fearless to try to be Leo, because Leo is gone. Fearless is just a reminder for him of what’s missing.

[gothiclynovi]

Is Leo really dead in your fearless au? I’ve just found your au and I’m so interested in still trying to catch up

Yeah he’s really dead :(

He dies in about 2030 (about 25-26 yrs old) when Casey Jr. is 5.

Afterwards, Raph has to step back up as leader again.

[gothiclynovi]

Would you ever do a Fearless AU but reversed so it’s Donnie being a robot instead? Idk I think it would be neat to see what Leo would feel like in that scenario. Would he also be in denial like Donnie or more resentful like Usagi?

Hmm probably not. I just don’t think it would work out. In my Fearless au, Leo doesn’t even make it to his 30s. If it was the other way around and Donnie didn’t make it that late into the apocalypse, I genuinely think they would have lost to the krangg way sooner.

I also just can’t see Donnie making a robot of himself. I feel like he’d see that as a not permanent-enough replacement for himself. Like, if the robot blows up or smth, then what? There’s no Donnie around to repair it :(

If I did do a version with Donnie, I think he’d probably be like an ai instead. Connected to the computers and security maybe? Like what @kathaynesart ‘s did in their Replica comic here (which you should totally read btw)

As for how Leo would react, I feel it would be very much like how he reacted when Raph was taken by the krangg in the movie. Lots of anger and probably a bit revenge-driven. I think if he lost Donnie, he’d lose a bit of himself as well.

[gothiclynovi]

So Leo is like an animatronic?

No. Fearless is though. Fearless is a robot modeled after Leo following his death. They are two separate beings.