Hey, I'm Mitsko! She/Her. I love to draw. I'm a huge fan of musicals and cartoons. I also love animals. Enjoy my blog! deviantArt account: http://roxypuppygirl.deviantart.com/
The Complexities Of "Team A" And What It Means To Be A Leader (And A Hero) (Leo & Raph Dynamic)
... So someone pointed this scene out
And said "Do you ever think of the fact how easily he just accepted he might die here?"
And my answer is yes. I know. I'm well aware. He, in fact, has two moments like this, the one here and the final one with Krang Prime. Both times, he sacrificed his life for the exact same reason in an incredibly short amount of time and the last moment, his Big Damn Hero moment, tends to eclipse this one in scope and in size because he's saving the city, hell the planet.
However, this moment, this fight against Raph is a microcosm of it and a culmination point of the Raph & Leo dynamic that we've been shown throughout the movie, hell, throughout the series.
As everyone knows at this point, Leo did not start as the leader of the TMNT in the series. He was, in fact, born second in this iteration, meaning Raph took center stage. Raph has been the leader, the mother hen of the group from thirteen years, likely going on fifteen in the movie.
Raph has had more than enough time to internalize what leadership and being a hero means. He knows it so well, in fact, that he doesn't know how to explain it. It's meshed into who he is as a person at this point and explaining the whys and hows of your actions is extremely difficult when you can't pinpoint the moment that caused you to act the way you did.
However, in the movie, he is no longer the leader. Leo was appointed such as Splinter without any explanation. And Leo, who never wanted the job, does everything in his power to either make it so that Raph takes the lead back, something Raph has no intention of doing. In fact, he proves it extremely well here.
Listen to the argument. Does it sound like Raph wants this for Leo any more than Leo does? No. Hell no. But a decision was made that went above Raph's head and he's gotta live with it. He's going to live with it while trying to pass on the torch that Leo doesn't want. It's not a choice, it's an obligation and while this is something Raph understands and is trying to get Leo to understand, Leo doesn't want it and isn't listening.
Where does this lead? Here.
The fight. The fact that Leo screwed up so badly, it cost him his brother. At this point in the movie, though, Leo has come to half of a realization. He needs his brothers. He needs his team. He needs to listen to them. That's why he's the one who goes to get Raph back. He's hoping that whatever ties them together is still there.
And it is. You guys want to talk about the details in this movie and the fact that the animation is brilliant? Well, here's another one.
He pulls away and shakes his head, scared. This can't be happening, he can't be fighting his brother and he can't be looking like he's also fighting the Krang that's worming inside of him, right?
... Right?
In a blink and you'll miss it moment (No joke, this shot took me forever to freaking catch), Leo has a realization. Leo realizes that not only is there a chance that Raph might still be in there, but he can hear him. His big brother, the one who's passed hours trying to teach him to be a leader in the most convoluted ways, can hear him. Leo... can make amends. And this just might be the last chance he gets to do so.
Leo's world is crumbling around him. This is the culmination of his denial of leadership and heroism. It's costing him everything he's ever lived for to the point that it's not worth fighting, it's not worth running. So Leo does what he does best. He takes a gamble.
And hopes that, for once, his family hears him out as well. That someone can hear him, for once.
And that hope, that gamble leads him right here.
Whether it pays off or not doesn't matter to Leo at this point. If he loses, then his family is lost and that idea scares him more than anything in the world. Because, according to him, it's not a world worth living in.
So, he apologizes. He says he understands because he does. He doesn't want to die. He knows that, if this fails, then everything else turns into a nightmare. But, if this is what it takes, then he has to.
haha the valentine's day merch kinda destroyed me, I started this before it was released but now I wanted to actually finish it (kinda... idk I'm so out of practice for drawing)
Anywaaay happy huskerdust is canon but not yet day everyone
"I'm tired, boss."Did you know that in the original script Raph was going to suffer hallucinations about his family being zombie krang when in reality he was the one being mind-controlled?That's psychological terror on another level haha, also that of all the headcanon characters, the only one on the team who suffered from post-traumatic stress was Raph. Since they said that after the Krang incident he often has flashbacks of himself being a zombie Krang and hurting his brothers,I mean, believe it or not, the one most affected by the Krang invasion was Raph.
It's giving "I am So Fucking Tired I slept in a God Damn Office Chair for a Bloody Week and had to Manipulate Mansplain Manwife my way through Three Fucking Deals and a Throuple Therapy in a spawn of one week just to get my Stupid Fucking Stick fixed I am so Fucking Ready to take every classical substance known to a 30s man and Black The Fuck Out for at least A Month I literally Never want to hear Any Word beginning with a V ever again."
It has now officially been TEN YEARS since I drew the first Handplates comic. It's a very surreal feeling... like no time passed and so much time passed at the same time. There's so much I learned from working on it, so many people I met... the impact it had on my life was just enormous. I wasn't really sure what to do for this milestone, but I figured that it might be interesting to revisit the first comic and try and redraw it. This isn't meant to replace the original or anything, it was more meant as kind of a fun exercise. It's crazy to think that this kicked off something so huge, my life was about to change and I had no idea. We've all come so far in life since then...
Put back to back you can see all kinds of small changes, haha. I was trying to keep all the expressions and poses and placement the same, for the most part.
The fact that he can't even remember the name of his own daughter's girlfriend but he takes the energy to make a sign saying specifically ~Alastor~ is not allowed is sending me lol
Had this cute idea that April taught the turtles how to braid her hair when they were kids, and it just became a nice family thing that they like to do.
Mikey was too little when they first learned, so April and Raph would put in some orange beads for him. And when Raph’s fingers got too big to do the braids, Mikey would use include the red.
and yes they absolutely made those rubber band necklaces. I was obsessed with those as a kid
Listen. I was cringing hard at Charlie too, but I do not think she "regressed" or that her character development from season 1 has disappeared. This IS her character development! She got Pentious killed, she is losing it steadily, sinners are being sinners, she's being blasted on TV, then boom! finds out the hotel works (as far as she knows) and is ready to try ANYTHING - even going as far to almost have Husk and Angel killed - to prove (to herself) that what she's been working on for so long does bring some results.
She definitely also wants to prove herself to be a "leader" to Lucifer and, most importantly, to Lilith.
Home girl has issues and she deserves to freak out a little. Go Charlie!
