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Character Name: Leonardo Hamato
Age: 16
Canon: Rise of the Ninja Turtles
Canon point: Post-film
History: General Rise wiki and Leo wiki. NEITHER ARE. Great. I can expand if mods would like.
Personality:
(-) Competitive - Leonardo is fiercely competitive. From competing with his brothers in their annual family Lair Games (a day of 16 events they all compete in, that Leo has won 5 years running before the series start), to just needing to be able to say he's The Champion Of This Pizza Place's Weird Maze Of Death Survival to helping a basketball team get a single win (with what was definitely a demonic arch that turned the players into demons but don't look too closely at that). Leonardo is competitive to the point of being blind to any and all better judgement when he's in the mindset to compete. He takes the mantra "win at all costs" to a ludicrous degree and chalks it up to finding a lucky rock one day that he's always kept with him. He needs to be the best and prove himself. It feeds into his egoism and constantly rubbing in his brothers' faces how much better he is.
(-) Egotistical / Insecure - Leo is extremely good at what he does and he is, unfortunately for everyone, very aware of it. His competitive nature outlined above along with his natural skills in athletics feeds his ego. He makes comments about not knowing the others were training in the first episode even, he doesn't take fights they're in seriously half the time by constantly making jokes to cope with what's going on. His one liners end up being most of his dialog during fights, much to the annoyance of his brothers - bad enough that early on Donatello even made a collar that shocked him each time he made a one liner pun. A lot of his development throughout the series is his refusal to take anything seriously and needing to grow into a more mature brother. But a lot of that is on account of his being insecure of his place amongst his brothers as well. He plays up the big brash ego, knows he's capable of backing it up with his skills, but it's just as much a front to hype-man himself up. Once made into the leader, he acts out even more, taking things even less seriously to try and minimize the pressure he's under to do things right. Multiple times he expresses dismay that his family doesn't trust him and his plans, asking their father why none of them have any faith in him. He also expresses several times that he knows he's nothing without his brothers and that he needs them more than they need him.
(+) Charismatic - Leo sees himself as the charismatic face-man, claiming that “comedy is [his] thing". Combined with his emotional intelligence, Leonardo often does a lot of the talking for the turtles when a situation requires it - Mikey is young and naive, Raphael gets nervous and anxious, while Donnie is more emotionally detached and doesn’t see much use in small talk like situations like that need it. So Leonardo takes the helm in those interactions - talking to the Hidden City’s crime lord Big Mama (and managed to outsmart her, a youkai who is known for being never outwitted), when trying to get information about an enemy from a chef, talking an ornery restaurant owner to help him find his brothers or (later) going on an ethical heist with said restaurateur's pirate brother against his better judgement. The man can just about do it all with the right words and a little bit of knowledge.
(+) Loving - Despite whatever front he puts up, Leonardo loves his family. He would do literally anything for them. When he thought they were taken ("Portal Jacked!"), he went to the only safe person he could think of and went through black market dealings, pirate ships, the whole shebang to get them back. When April says she just wants to have a "normal" day with her new friend, Leonardo goes with Donnie to follow and fight Foot clan dudes to make sure they don't interrupt her day, wanting her to have that normal day she's desperate for. And when the Lair is destroyed, when their great(x10) grandmother is left in the wreckage, Leonardo is the one who wants to stay behind and get her and make sure she's safe. When Raph is taken by the Krang, Leonardo almost becomes a different person, hell bent on doing whatever it takes to get their big brother back at all costs. He also just. Really loves their dad. Every Leonardo in TMNT is a daddy's boy and this Leonardo is no exception, despite his not taking their dad super seriously sometimes. He loves his family so dearly that he knows them a little too well, enough that he can guess what they'll do and use it in his plans that he makes.
(+/-) Funny man - Leo prides himself on being the comedy guy, the funny man, the joke turtle. He makes jokes at his, his brothers', their enemies' expenses to lighten moods and move things along. He can use it to break the ice of someone he's trying to get to know, to bring some levity to a situation that everyone is too stressed to function about (thus alleviating some of the stress so they can move forward), to distract when he needs it. Unfortunately, this can also be a problem when everyone is begging Leonardo to take things seriously. To stop trying to make light of a situation, as it can sometimes even get them into worse trouble. But a lot of this is also part of his insecurities, outright stating he makes jokes to cope with difficult situations. So it's really as much his pride at having Something about himself to pride himself on, as much as it is a coping mechanism.
Suitability: Leonardo (and his brothers) have gone through hiding from the world to fighting ancient demonic armor to saving the world from alien invaders that had some real nasty Corruption vibes going on. He has, unfortunately for himself, come around to knowing being a hero is important and that life isn’t just about him. He naturally feels inclined to help even if he shows off a little in the process. So he would see what’s happening and decide to get involved if it means saving some other world from destruction. On a more personal level, he would want to know as much information as he can so he can make his own plans and how he can use the information for his own needs. If it means doing a little work for someone else he may not trust himself, he’s sure it will likely pay off for his own plans in the long run.
Powers/Abilities: Rise took an interesting take on the Turtles so I’ll be dividing this up with his natural/trained skills and his mystic/magical ones.
Trained/natural: The boys are trained in ninjutsu and martial arts, with Leonardo in a specialty of kenjutsu. He’s naturally gifted with it and his sword(s), faster than the eye can track, utterly silent unless he wants to make noise. He’s held his own in a lot of fights by the time the movie comes around. Also being a mutated turtle, he’s got a lot of endurance and can take a lot of damage before his shell starts cracking. Boy here literally cracked space metal with his shell and still got up to get back in the fight. He’s adaptable to situations on the fly, has plans and contingency plans on top of that based on whatever’s going on. He’s also naturally gifted at reading people and knowing what to say to manipulate a situation to what he wants. (See below for Entity).
Mystic/Magic: There are two main sources of “magic" abilities in the turtle family in Rise:
Mystic: It’s talked about very vaguely, but mystic powers are inhuman magics sourced by an element called “empyrean" which was founded centuries ago when the Krang first landed on earth in the a Hidden City under NYC. This element is what the Youkai civilization built their city around. It powers a lot of different things? A lot of different things, depending on who’s using it. For Leonardo, his mystic powers are channeled through his swords allowing him to either make short range portals for anyone to use, or teleport himself to one of his swords. That’s it that’s all he uses that for! For as big a deal as the show makes mystic powers out to be, Leonardo's is fairly simple and versatile. He uses it a lot to get people places (moving Karai from the fight to safety, teleporting his brothers to different areas on a battlefield, himself in any which direction around an enemy for quick, fast hits) as well as just getting things randomly (opening a portal to get pizza from nearby, hell he opened one so he could scratch his own back). He doesn't use any other mystic ability despite the creators having said that if the show had not been cancelled, their powers would have evolved further.
Ninpo: His other “magic" ability is the Hamato family Ninpo. A power only of the Hamato clan that allows them to tap into an internal magical power source. This ability allows them to speak with their ancestors, enhance his speed and agility, he can make weapons from ordinary items with focus (he's only shown doing this once and I guess has never needed to again?), and occasionally summon their ancestors for an assist in a fight (rare, usually requires the entire team together). If his brothers are close by, they can also feel each other nearby and have “mind meld" which is just ninja bro telepathy. The ninpo is powered by the brothers’ trust in each other to trust them, but here it could easily be twisted a bit to tap into the Entity as well.
Entity Affinity:
Web. This would be his strongest affinity. Leonardo is a planner, a schemer. He is the turtle who can see the long-term gain of what they do, usually trying to put pieces into place even when his family thinks he’s not making any sense or even trust him to plan anything. Some of his plans end up so convoluted that even his father doesn’t fully believe it was all planned out despite Leonardo explaining the steps. That said, Leonardo hates being a pawn for someone else. He actively despises falling victim to what he assumes was an elaborate trick from a time traveler; he felt lied to and like he was being used for something else. On a superficial level, he is also mildly terrified of “icky" things, like worms and spiders getting on him.
Vast. This would be more recent, and not as strong as the Web. During his fight with the Krang, Leonardo not only had to come to terms with the reality that there are aliens out there for real, and they've been destroying civilizations for eons by this point, but that he also had to fight them. This threat was bigger than just them and NYC - it was the world and all of humanity. Add in that during the fight, he locked himself into a dimensional prison: enormous, empty save for floating debris and likely Krang skeletons, and utter silence except their fight. He was alone in there with Krang Prime for a short time, but enough that the bleak and unending expanse would haunt him still.
Inventory: Non-magical:
- belt and sword sheath
- Smoke bombs
- Personal smart phone (no company or manufacturer listed)
- Black leg and arm wraps
- Small basic first aid kit/supplies
Magical:
- Two katanas. They can act as normal swords sure but he can also channel his mystic power through them to open short range portals (See power section).
Samples: Sample 1 and Sample 2 from previous game