#Splinter

[midwesternvibes]

Alright people, it's time for more Villain Leo lore!!!

Today we are diving into Leo and Splinter's relationship!!!

Read under the cut because this got so LONG, these two have so many issues and there was so much to work with.

Alright, so it's no secret that Leo and Splinter have a....less than ideal relationship. You can see throughout all of TMNT history that Leo looks up to Splinter an insane amount, and Rise Leo is no different.

This boy looked up to Lou Jitsu his whole life, and we can often see him doing the same movements and catchphrases that Lou did. Granted, all the boys do, but Leo seems particularly attached to Lou

And we've all seen the smile comparisons, it's insane how similar his grandiose smile is to Lou Jistu's.

The point is, Leo really looks up to his dad, and we can see this in his actions and attitudes towards not only Lou Jitsu, but also Splinter in canon.

"Trust me pops!"

I mean, just look at how happy he is to be there with his dad, in his element. This episode is Leo at his peak, outsmarting everyone and predicting his family's moments to the letter.

Also, idk about you, but that smile seems incredibly genuine. That's not even a Lou Jitsu smile, that's a 100% Hamato Leonardo smile at his dad whom he looks up to so much.

And what does Splinter say to his son's ask for trust?

"I knew I should have brought Purple!"

....what.

That is his SON. His 14, maybe 15 year old son, who is asking for his father to trust him.

....and he responds by saying that he wishes he had brought his more intelligent twin brother instead, who he has already shown an implied favoritism towards in the past

"And I thought Purple was the funny one!"

"Told you guys I was the funniest."

This is a pretty harmless comment tbh, but Leo takes so much pride in his quips, one-liners and puns that this had to sting a little bit.

There's such a huge amount of content to sift through when it comes to these two, and that fact actually saddens me because I had SO MUCH to pick from when making this post, but here's some highlights.

One thing that I noticed while watching a Splinter and Leo compilation is that during the memory episode, Leo is the only one Splinter directly hits

NONE of the other three were directly hit like this is any point in the episode and yeah, this could totally be played off as a bit or just a case of wrong place, wrong time, but we'll get to my theory later, right now I'm just laying out the facts.

An important detail I'd like to point out here too is Leo's face after the first hit.

Guys, he looks HURT. Donnie and Raph are looking at him, checking that he's okay, but he is looking right past them at the shadow Splinter, who is dressed and looks just like his childhood idol, who just hit him specifically right in the face.

Not only his idol even. No, the most pure and unfiltered representation of his father, the man who's raised him his whole life.

And he just got hit in the face.

Ouch. For a kid as emotive as Leo (who I honestly think feels his emotions even more intensely than Mikey when he lets them out), this is a devastating blow. Literally.

Then, let's talk about this scene, you all knew it was coming.

"Can someone tell my son I am NOT TALKING TO HIM!!"

"You got this pops! I love you!"

Guys this scene hurts my heart. Like, once again, he can't be older than 15 at this point. Yeah he's being a badass stratigiser this whole episode, but you cannot convince me that he wasn't at least a little excited to see his dad, his HERO in action, and wearing a matching outfit as well, and show his dad, his idol and hero, exactly what he's capable of. Leo absolutely worships the ground Splinter walks on and what does his father have to say to his son"s encouragement??

"NO!"

GAHHHH like yes, Leo was kinda being a little shit this whole episode and could have clued his dad in on the plan a little bit, but honestly that could have ruined everything if Splinter had any holdbacks.

Not to mention, this is the only Leo and Splinter episode we get. Donnie gets the derby, Mikey gets the Hidden City bonding, even Raph gets the ending of the memory episode, and in each, they have a genuine moment of bonding with Splinter.

Splinter never ONCE apologized for his actions in this episode. Not once. RAPH is the one who tells Leo in this episode later on that he trusts Leo, something he's been begging Splinter for the entire time.

All of a sudden, this moment doesn't seem so out of place.....

"I love you soooo much!" "No, no you don't, I'm your least favorite!!"

This line could totally just be a throwaway line, but as it was pointed out to me by the wonderful @nardos-primetime, the alarms that the boys did for Google home have a REALLY upsetting one for Leo

Go to about 1:57 and listen to that one and just......cry.

NOW that line in "Rat Flu" makes a LOT more sense. Splinter LAUGHED at Leo when he asked if he was his favorite. LAUGHED at him.

But wait, you may ask. What about the ending? Splinter made Leo the leader, obviously he trusts him!

....yeah, just take a look at their faces here.

Donnie and Mikey are basically horrified beyond belief and in complete shock

Raph is.....blue screening, honestly

And Leo looks completely taken aback and shocked and scared and honestly, I don't blame him. There is absolutely NO precedence for Splinter to do this. He has proved time and time again that he does NOT trust Leo, he never ONCE tells Leo that he trusts him even though he asks for that trust during the entirety of "Unhappy Returns". NONE of them look happy about this new change.

You could see this as Splinter finally giving Leo a chance, but I see this a lot more as one of the more popular Fandom interpretations of Splinter wanting to give Raph a break. Raph had a huge breakdown during the finale and I don't think it's unreasonable for Splinter to have heard of that and decide that his beloved eldest needed a chance to recover.

Who better to pass this burden on to than his least favorite son!

We also see in the movie that this shift in power dynamics really doesn't do much other than create a lot of interpersonal conflict between Leo and Raph, something Splinter does absolutely nothing to help out with, other than telling them to quiet down.

Now that we have all of our evidence (and I put more work into getting evidence for this than for the English project I'm supposed to be doing right now can I just cite this as a source for me being capable of gathering evidence???) we can actually get into the analysis of how this all would affect him.

First of all, I mentioned that I would discuss the repercussions of the memory episode. This analysis is more for Splinter, but I feel like it's still important. We've seen time and time again that Leo is very similar to how Splinter was as a young teen in both looks and attitude. If Splinter truly resents his younger self and how he acted, it would make a lot of sense for him to also subconsciously resent his son who acts a lot like himself at that age. This would cause him to lash out at Leo in his subconscious, the one place where his true thoughts and feelings are on full display.

I just wanna point out his face again here, Leo looks so hurt. He definitely already knows that he's not anywhere near Splinter's favorites at this point, but it still hurts him to see that get confirmed.

This brings me to my next point of Leo's psyche. He is a very confident, witty, smart teenager, but he's still just that. A teenager. He's anxious, insecure, and very self-reliant. He looks to others for praise often and rarely receives it, usually having to hype himself up. His relationship with Splinter only emphasizes these qualities about him and makes Leo look so much worse in Splinter's eyes because his son is just a modern-day representation of his past self.

Now let's put this into perspective of Leo's decent into villainy.

If Leo is hurting and under the impression that his brothers are maybe starting to dislike him, even hate him, adding Splinter on to this can only make it worse.

Maybe he goes to his dad for tips on how to lead when he feels like he can't talk to Raph anymore and needs his father's advice.

Maybe he sets up a dinner for him and Splinter to just chat and bond instead of sitting at the dinner table with another one of Mikey's meals that he feels too sick with anxiety from his little brother's disappointed looks to eat.

Maybe he goes to his father crying from another nightmare after not feeling welcomed in Donnie's lab anymore after they fought for an hour the day before.

And maybe, just maybe, Splinter waves him off every time.

Forgets.

Laughs at him.

I mean, this is a kid who relys on others to build him up, to praise him and love him because after all....

Who is he without his family?

Maybe it's time to find out.

First // Previous // Next

#rottmnt #rottmnt leo #rise of the tmnt #leonardo #tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #villain leo au #master splinter #Splinter #leonardo hamato #hamato yoshi #lou jitsu #Rise analysis #rise of tmnt #rise tmnt #rise leo #teenage mutant ninja turtles

[my--moon]

❝ ROTTMNT! ❞

[RETRIEVING FILES...]

╰ ➤ Leonardo:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Donatello:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Raphael:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Michelangelo:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ April O'Neil:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Cassandra Jones:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Casey Jones Jr:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Lou Jitsu:

[No files were found]

╰ ➤ Multiple:

[No files were found]

[PLEASE ADD FILES BY REQUESTING !]

#rottmnt #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt au #tmnt 2018 #rottmnt fanart #rise of the tmnt #tmnt x reader #tmnt x y/n #tmnt x you #tmnt x oc #rise donnie x reader #rottmnt donatello #leo rottmnt #rottmnt donnie x reader #donnie x reader #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt x y/n #rottmnt x oc #rottmnt x you #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt fan comic #rottmnt fandom #fandom #TMNT fandom #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt rise #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #leonardo hamato #tmnt #splinter

[balkanbitch]

I just love the idea that the reason that Leo is Splinters least favorite in rise is because he reminds him to much of himself when he was Lou Jitsu in and before the battle nexus

#leonardo #leo #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #save rise of the tmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles season 3 #rise of the turtles #rise leo #rottmnt leo #tmnt splinter #splinter

[towerofluin]

Hes home :]

#art #fanart #digital art #extended stay au #tmnt #tmnt 2003 #tmnt au #gijinka #donatello #2003 donatello #raphael #2003 raphael #leonardo #2003 leonardo #Michelangelo #2003 Michelangelo #splinter #2003 splinter #comic #CURSE THAT I CAN DRAW FURRIES (KINDA) BUT NOT THE TURTLES

[tistic-hellspwn]

so fun fact, turtles (from the minimal research ive done) are lactose intolerant. Rats, also, are sometimes lactose intolerant.

Meaning, IN THEORY, the ninja turtles will be in pain any time they consume pizza due to the cheese

am i going to be doing more research? no. do with this what you will

#digital art #rottmnt #donatello #rise donnie #save rottmnt #tmnt #leonardo rottmnt #leonardo #tmnt leonardo #leonardo hamato #master splinter #splinter #rise leonardo #michelangelo #michaelangelo #rise leo #rise mikey #rise of the tmnt #rise raph #rise tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #i fucking hate drawing perspective #im tired

[a-really-cool-blog-name]

Thinking about how messed up Splinter's backstory is in rise. Especially his relationship with Big Mama, I feel like we don't acknowledge the fact that Splinter was literally in an abusive relationship enough in this fandom. Like he loved this woman so much that he was willing to spend the rest of his life with her and she turned around and forced him into a literal death fighting ring for ten whole freaking years and at the end of it he was so done with it all that he was willing to accept the proposition of being experimented on as long as he didn't have to fight anything.

How did Big Mama treat him while he was fighting for ten years? Did she still treat him all lovey-dovey as she talks to him in the future using pet names? Was she more violent with him? How much manipulation did Splinter go through?

All of that on top of his whole childhood of constantly being told to sacrifice his life to prevent some old tale he didn't even believe in as well as constantly training, and that's not even talking about the whole situation with his mother.

Not to mention the fact that he was literally mutated into a rat as a Japanese man which is probably the worst thing a Japanese man could be mutated into. Also him needing to shun himself and his newly acquired sons out of society for his and their safety immediately after finally getting out of the death ring after ten years. (Seriously, ten years. That is such a long time, that is 3 years shorter than Mikey's entire life at the start of the series.) And especially the fact that after being in the Battle Nexus for ten years (Seriously, he missed so much, he missed multiple presidents, the Y2K panic, the 9/11 attack, and the fricking turn of the millennia.) he immediately gets thrown into Parenthood (Of FOUR children, might I add.) and having to survive off the streets.

Splinter's definitely not the best parent (pretty neglectful as the got older not going to lie) but looking at all the stuff that's happened to him yeah pretty much explains why he's that way, he's very depressed and probably has PTSD.

Man, I started ranting there. But Splinter is just such an interesting character in Rise, I'd say one of the most interesting takes on his character throughout the TMNT series (don't get me wrong there are plenty of other good ones) and I feel like it's talked about, but rarely truly acknowledged within this fandom.

#thinking about how messed up splinters backstory is in rise especially #His relationship with big mama #The funny thing is I originally was just going to keep this at but nope the rant started coming and it wouldn't stop coming #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #Splinter #lou jitsu #hamato yoshi #rise splinter #Big mama #tmnt #rottmnt #a rare original post #tmnt splinter #splinter tmnt

[fubar9x]

#my art #splinter #art #artist #ocs #blood #cw blood #guns

[somerandomdudelmao]

Part 1!

This is it. I’m throwing all these turtles at each other haha

Previous episode Masterpost Next

#cass apocalyptic series #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #riseofthetmnt #casey jones #casey jr #leonardo #future leonardo #splinter

[delhe-dalim]

You know?

I'm really havin' an hyperfixation with this show

#artists on tumblr #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt donatello #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt leonardo #tmnt raphael #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt 2012 splinter #splinter #ice cream kitty #srsly my brain wants me to draw them again and again #and who I am to deny those wishes

[tizeline]

So, when Leo's around 10-ish, he accidentally stumbles accross a box filled with a bunch of Lou Jitsu movies (there's even some merch in there!) Which confuses him, considering Draxum had banned anything Lou Jitsu related in their household. He'd shown them some footage from Lou's Battle Nexus fights for research purposes, but his movies were appearently "nothing but human propaganda" so they were strictly off limits..... so why did Draxum even have these?

Leo knew that he'd definitely get in trouble if he watched them and his dad found out but.... if this is the guy who appearently kidnapped his Long Lost Brother, then he should know more about him, right? If Leo was gonna save the softshell from the evil clutches of Lou Jitsu one day, he needs to prepare. So he decides to watch the movies, y'know, for research purposes.

So he does that and uh-

Okay, so in this AU, Leo is a HUGE Lou Jitsu fanboy, and he hates himself for it. Cuz on one hand, he's clearly evil and responsible for taking his softshell brother away from them, but DAMMIT he's just so cool! And Leo appearently has this guy's DNA!? How awesome is that!?

He manages to hide his Lou Jitsu obsession from his family, and being introduced to his movies led to Leo seeking out other human media as well. There are a couple of different reasons why Leo is the first to go against Draxums evil plan and one of those is that, unlike his brothers, Leo is quite familiar with human society and culture. Him being able to teleport also leads to him sneaking to the surface sometimes find out more about humans. All of this leads him to eventually realize that humans really aren't that different from yokai, uh oh, are we the baddies?

#every leonardo need to admire splinter at least somewhat that is THE LAW #Tiz Sep AU #tizel art #my art #tizel talk #digital art #illustration #tmnt #rottmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt fanart #rottmnt au #leonardo #rottmnt leo #lou jitsu #rottmnt lou jitsu #splinter #rottmnt splinter

[soranatus]

Richard Chen’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Part I

#Richard Chen #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #leonardo #raphael #donatello #michelangelo #Leo #Raph #Donnie #Mikey #splinter #hamato yoshi #art #concept art #I’ll upload more of Mr. Chen’s amazing art in the future #also these ones are out of order on purpose and I’ll order them more correctly in the future #chenverse

[rhinocio]

want you to want me

#behold the WIP that's been sitting unfinished for nine months. the perfect amount of time to cook up twins. I'm a genius #I just wanted to practice drawing splinter. and then drawing tots. and somehow we got here #disaster twins #ROTTMNT #TMNT #leonardo #donatello #raphael #michelangelo #splinter #turtle tots #rhinociart #featuring a magically disappearing dishcloth #the image with the most detail got scrunched down the most too........... tunglr plz I have a fandom to feed #save ROTTMNT #unpause ROTTMNT

[notsotinyblob]

lou jitsu’s transition from babygirl to single mother

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #splinter #leo #donnie #raph #mikey #my art

[artofrottmnt]

storyboard style expressions + poses I love the style of the storyboards they're so cute gvbvhjn

#🐢storyboards #🐢mad dogs #🐢hamato clan #rottmnt #save rottmnt #unpause rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #raphael #leonardo #donatello #michelangelo #splinter #april o'neil #baron draxum #huginn and muninn

[untitled-tmnt-blog]

Rise August Art Challenge

-- Day 24: Lou Jitsu --

Day 24 of @sariphantom's Rise August Art Challenge! Leo's resemblance to Lou Jitsu is the most immediately apparent, but each of the turtles really do take after their dad in their own ways.

Rise August 2023 Masterpost

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #art #my art #rise august #rise august art challenge #day 24 #lou jitsu #gif #my gif #my post #digital art #alt text #splinter #master splinter #hamato yoshi #rise splinter #leo #rise leo #leonardo hamato #raph #rise raph #raphael hamato #donnie #rise donnie #donatello hamato #mikey #rise mikey #michelangelo hamato

[wenzie76aster]

Turtle tot rise raph was definitely the kind of toddler who’d eat ANYTHING in his way lmao

#rottmnt #riseofthetmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #unpause rottmnt #save rise of the tmnt #riseseason3 #rottmnt raph #turtle tot raph #tmnt #tmnt2018 #splinter #rottmnt splinter #master splinter #rottmnt fanart