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"You've been portal chopped."
— Leonardo, Rise of the TMNT: The Movie

Leonardo is a red-eared slider who was mutated to become part human. He is one of the main protagonists of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the current leader of the Mad Dogs. He wielded a portal-generating mystic ōdachi until it was destroyed and replaced by his katana.

Physical appearance

Leonardo is a mutant red-eared slider with lime green skin, a mustard yellow plastron, and a green-blue carapace with a teal pattern. He has two red crescent-like stripes over his eyes, yellow stripes on his upper arms and thighs, black eyes, three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. He wears a blue bandana with long bandana tails, bluish grey fingerless gloves with blue trim that extend nearly to his elbows, and matching knee-high toeless footwear. He also wears a blue belt with a strap that goes over his right shoulder. Attached to his belt are a pair of blue pouches (one on the side and one on the back) and the Turtle emblem placed on the left.

Personality

Leo is cheerful, prone to making jokes—sometimes at inappropriate times—and uttering quips he believes "fire up the team" as expressed in “Donnie's Gifts”. His persistently carefree nature causes him to possess an airy quality and he enjoys spontaneity. It's also said in the first episode of the series that humor is how he manages to cope.

Leo has confidence that usually turns into arrogance and his brothers are often annoyed by his lack of humility, making him difficult to play games with such as in "Lair Games".

Leo is known to be a compulsive liar as seen in "Flushed, but Never Forgotten". He doesn't like being in trouble so he makes his brothers promise not to tell Splinter about Piebald’s fate, even willing to hurt Michelangelo if he tries to tell the truth to Splinter. Leo can be disingenuous as it is not unusual for his charisma to take the form of false flattery just to get into someone’s good graces as seen in “Todd Scouts” and “Bad Hair Day”. His family is aware of this and as such occasionally disbelieves Leo’s compliments.

Leo is at times rational and skeptical, denying the existence of things like ghosts and wanting to search for a logical answer as opposed to accrediting it to unexplainable phenomena. Despite this, he is delighted by magic and mystic powers as seen in “Hypno! Part Deux”. He also seems to be the least naïve out of the Mad Dogs as his brothers trust Big Mama almost instantly, though Leo has his doubts about her intentions. However, Leo's tendency to be easily impressed and incessant need for attention can hamper his caution.

Leo often prioritizes his own entertainment over disrupting the plans of villains as seen in his interactions with Hypno-Potamus in “Hypno! Part Deux”. Among the Mad Dogs, he isn’t the most altruistic and can be reluctant to help strangers, especially if he knows no gratitude will be shown towards him or his family such as in “The Mutant Menace” when Leo expressed he doesn’t find doing kind acts for the citizens of New York to be worth the hassle or when he doesn’t combat the evil Albeartos in “Al Be Back” due to them terrorizing Albearto Land attendees, but because they are ruining him and his brothers’ band debut.

Leo tends to be lazy and would rather play games and values downtime. Consequently, he highly values convenience, suggesting that instead of focusing on their training they should acquire more powerful mystic weapons in “The Evil League of Mutants”. However, because of this Leo can be clever, finding quick, unconventional ways to solve problems, but this can also be detrimental as he can adopt or encourage dangerous or unhelpful manners of problem-solving such as in “Air Turtle” where he is nonchalant about turning the Daves into demons in order to initiate a winning streak for them.

Though sometimes clever in a pinch, Leo isn’t very bright nor interested when it comes to academic disciplines and rarely reads educational content as shown in “Flushed, but Never Forgotten”.

While Leo has merit, his utilization of his skills often needs to be spurred by a dire situation or a lack of options as opposed to Leo trying his best when he can. When he does decide to be serious and sensible, as in the events of "Origami Tsunami", he uses his charisma and relaxed, flexible nature to sway his brothers into listening to him.

Leo is irresponsible and known to be generally unreliable among his family due to how flippant he can be even in grave situations and finds it very difficult to take responsibility for his actions while also being boastful about his positive or impressive actions. Although he has been shown to try to reconcile his mistakes and be sympathetic towards others’ plights such as in “Bullhop” by inviting Bullhop to live with his family and trying to gather the Mad Dogs' continued support for him despite their own reservations for accidentally causing his mutation.

Leo demonstrates forte in analytical thinking as shown in “Many Unhappy Returns”, able to plan several steps ahead of Big Mama, but he can be so determined to successfully execute his plans while also having glory that he uses his allies instead of working with them and is comfortable misleading his allies and opponents alike to his achieve goals such as in “Air Turtle”.

Upon the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, Leo's character flaws are put to the test where his overall immaturity allows the Foot Clan to steal the Mystic Key and unleash the Krang. This leads him to be berated by Raph for his senselessness and his student-from-the-future, Casey Jones II for failing to be the responsible master he always looked up to. Leo finally accepts his own faults with humility when he confronts a zombified Raph and acknowledges the true meaning of teamwork, responsibility of a leader, and family, even willing to sacrifice himself if it means his family and the world are safe.

It is also revealed in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie that this arrogant personality may be a façade to hide Leo's deeper insecurities. This was lightly foreshadowed in "Portal Jacked!", where he states that he is nothing without his brothers, "Minotaur Maze", where he calls himself useless, and when he asks Splinter why no one seems to trust him.

History

Leo began life as a juvenile turtle in Baron Draxum's laboratory. Wishing to create a mutant army with formidable combat capabilities, Draxum used Lou Jitsu's DNA paired with his ooze to turn Leo from an ordinary turtle into a mutant. He and his brothers were then stolen from Draxum's laboratory by Lou Jitsu promptly after their mutation and Leo went on to be raised in the sewers of New York City alongside his brothers by Splinter. Eventually, Leo and his brothers met a human girl named April and forged a strong bond with her through the years.

Biography

Leo is intelligent and quick-witted. He uses his sharp skills to beat opponents, find shortcuts around obstacles, and always knows the perfect time to land one of his many one-liners.

Paramount Consumer Products biography

Leonardo is intelligent, quick-witted and clever. He can easily assess any situation and use his sharp skills to best his opponent, find a shortcut around an obstacle or spot the perfect time to land one of his many one-liners. Leo likes to think of himself as the "cool guy" on the team - a rascal with a wink in his eye and a sly grin. He's got a rebel's heart and isn't afraid to break the rules when he thinks he's right. He could be a strong leader, but he'd rather go for the hi-jinx than the high road.[2]

Abilities

  • Kenjutsu: Leo is trained in wielding katana and the ōdachi. He makes use of his ōdachi for skilled offense and defense, allowing him to slice through sturdy material.
  • Power Portal Jutsu: Leo wields a mystic ōdachi that can create portals when its blade is swiped through the air to teleport people/objects from one location to another.
  • Ōdachi Bomb: A technique where Leo falls from a portal of his creation at a high elevation to attack an opponent from above, using his momentum to knock them to the ground.
  • Ninjutsu: Leo is skilled in basic ninjutsu, but due to Splinter’s reluctance to advance their training and the Turtles’ own lack of focus on learning the art, he and his brothers’ skills aren’t honed.
    • Stealth: As a practitioner of ninjutsu, Leo can slip in and out of areas undetected. These skills significantly improved after additional instruction in "The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek", Leo now being capable of blending in with his environment to the point where he can seamlessly pose as objects.
    • Speed: Leo possesses a great amount of speed, capable of moving in bursts faster than the eye can follow.
    • Agility: Leo's agility allows him to successfully dodge attacks and perform sharp twists and flips.
    • Strength: Leo possesses strength greater than the average human.
      • Hamato Ninpō: As a member of the Hamato Clan, Leo is capable of tapping into his clan's energy to unleash his own mystic might.
        • Weapon generation: Leo can use random objects to form weaponry, namely katana.
        • Blade teleportation: Using his sword as a point of focus, Leo can teleport himself or anyone holding one of his swords to the location of the other. This teleportation ability is restricted to relatively short distances, especially as compared to Mikey's Hamato Ninpō time gateway creation ability which is powerful enough to span through all of time and space.[3]
  • Ninja Mind Meld: Leo is capable of telepathically exchanging strategies with Raph, heightening team coordination.
  • Strategy adaptation: Leo is able to formulate plans that take into account his opponent's disposition and weaknesses as well as his allies', incorporating potential trickery and vulnerability from his opponents ahead of time in his strategies to bypass them or use them to his advantage.
  • Durability: Due to his mutation, Leo's body can experience a higher threshold of physical trauma without lasting repercussions than the average human.
  • Shell retraction: Leo is able to fully retreat into his shell.
  • Cooking: Leo's culinary skills are rough as he is seen creating quality dishes while also being unable to make unburnt toast in "You Got Served".
  • Skateboarding: Leo is a seasoned skateboarder and enjoys it as one of his hobbies.

Relationships

Family

  • Leonardo's parent(s)
    • Hamato Yoshi / Lou Jitsu / Splinter: Splinter is Leo's father. Unlike the other eras, he has a rocky relationship with Splinter as he deeply loves him, calling him his hero in "Jupiter Jim Ahoy!" while also regularly talking badly about him and feels little inclination to listen to him. Leo is quite casual towards Splinter and is unafraid to tease and be rude to him. Leo claims he is his father's least favorite son ("Down with the Sickness"). How serious he was in his comment remains unclear, however. Nevertheless, it was Leo who Splinter assigned as the Mad Dogs' new team leader in "Rise".
    • Baron Draxum: Draxum is Leo's creator. Leo and him were enemies throughout the first season as he and the Mad Dogs tried to foil his plans repeatedly. However, after the events of "End Game", Mikey insisted that Draxum should be embraced as a member of the family. Despite now being family members, Leo doesn't get along with Draxum as he resents him for throwing him off a roof in "Bug Busters" and seemingly has yet to forgive him.
  • Raphael: Leo typically gets along well with Raph and they can both get carried away in fun, indulgent ideas and activities together. Leo's easy-going nature allows him to accept that Raph doesn't perform well under pressure and he appreciates the fact that he refrains from using his full strength against him and the other Mad Dogs in an act of consideration. Though they sometimes bicker, whether it is over wrestling or Raph's leadership. At times their squabbles stem from Leo just wanting to be impish towards him for his own amusement like in "Shell in a Cell". However, it is not unusual for them to align themselves with each other in episodes like "One Man's Junk". Leo relies on Raph to fix problems and take initiative in handling situations because he trusts him, but also because Leo can be too lackadaisical to help or do it himself. Raph and Leo were butting heads more after Splinter made Leo leader of the Mad Dogs. They eventually make amends after Leo saves Raph from the Krang in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie.
  • Donatello: Leo's relationship with Donnie is fraught with sibling rivalry thanks to clashing personalities. Leo thinks Donnie should loosen up, while Donnie with his deadpan humour and dedication to logic finds Leo's rapid-fire puns and showboating annoying. The two compete most over whose plan will work the best and both have an ego to satisfy. When competing, Leo knows that Donnie will use logic and science to one-up him, and concocts more eccentric strategies to counter. However the two still love each other deeply. Leo understands his brother sees the world a little differently to others, and is protective of him when it comes to this. When they share a common goal Leo's cunning improvisations can be taken in unexpected directions by the highly focused Donnie. It is implied that they often visit Hueso's Run of the Mill Pizza together.
  • Michelangelo: Leo and Mikey have a cool older brother and little brother dynamic. They both share similar lighthearted, jokey personalities and as such get along very well. Leo loves Mikey deeply, but he rarely babies him, unlike his brothers. Though this also means that Leo is not merciful towards him in competitions. He encourages Mikey to be independent and liberally allows him to do as he pleases and typically doesn't feel compelled to scold him. Leo loves the wild, creative way Mikey approaches situations and regularly praises his efforts such as in "The Mutant Menace". However, he does get irritated by Mikey's competitive side and will participate if egged on enough as seen in "Mrs. Cuddles" and "You Got Served".
  • April O'Neil: Leo loves April and as such is not above teasing her as he does his brothers as seen in "Mystic Mayhem" when Leo taunts her with her keys and in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree" where he states that April's standards on what constitutes as a happy birthday for her should be greater. Leo was concerned she may mess up when hanging out with Sunita in "Operation: Normal" and tried to help her. By "Anatawa Hitorijanai", it is clear that April is actually more like a sister to him and his brothers.
  • Piebald: Piebald is technically Leo's sister, as Splinter is father to both of them. Before Piebald mutated, she was Splinter's pet goldfish, but Leo accidentally flushed her down the toilet and coerced his brothers into keeping silent about her fate. Later, Piebald mutated and secretly reunited with Splinter, and two of them schemed with Franken-Foot to play an elaborate prank on Leo and his brothers in "Flushed, but Never Forgotten".
  • Hamato Karai: Karai is Leo's ancestral grandmother. After meeting her Leo and his brothers spent time with Karai in the lair in "Shreddy or Not". He loves her dearly and attempted to go after her after the Shredder mortally wounded her.

Friends and allies

  • Todd Capybara: Leo was taught wilderness survival by Todd in "Todd Scouts". Leo makes it clear he likes Todd, but finds his teaching boring ("Todd Scouts").
  • Franken-Foot: Leo easily accepted Franken-Foot as his friend once he understood he is Raph's friend and defends him for the rest of his debut episode. Later in "Flushed, but Never Forgotten", Franken-Foot secretly cooperated with Piebald and Splinter to play an educational prank on Leo and his brothers.
  • S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.: Leo initially appreciated S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.'s butler function, but suggested he, Mikey, and Raph reprogram him to be more like them after realizing he held favoritism towards Donnie in "Smart Lair". After his second incarnation, Leo trusts him much more, even assigning S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. to protect Karai when the Shredder attacked in "Shreddy or Not".
  • Señor Hueso: Leo's friendship grew with Hueso after helping him in "Portal Jacked!" and "The Hidden City Job". However, Leo tends to annoy Hueso with his persistence and by disrupting his day. He seems to feel compelled to involve himself in Hueso's personal life, uninvited or not and calls him "Bone man".
  • DIGG: Leo tried to stop DIGG from destroying New York pizza parlors, but was friendly towards them when he realized that they merely wanted to perform their music publicly.
  • Marcus Moncrief: Leo deeply admires Marcus Moncrief's work in the Jupiter Jim franchise and is often thrilled to interact with him. Leo swiftly forgave him for using his once-thought-to-be-fictional nerve pinch on him and Mikey to imprison them in "Jupiter Jim Ahoy!". He labels Marcus Moncrief as "the greatest actor in the history of low-budget sci-fi".
  • Red Fox: Leo seems to have respect for Red Fox and sought her out to reunite her with Marcus Moncrief in "Sidekick Ahoy!".
  • Capitán Piel: Piel was initially Leo's enemy after he kidnapped Leo's brothers in "Portal Jacked!", but the two became friends after the events of "The Hidden City Job". Leo was willing to give Piel a chance to redeem himself to Hueso, despite Hueso's reluctance.
  • Tamed simurgh: In "The Hidden City Job", Leo helped Hueso and Piel tame a wild simurgh, who was thereafter their ally. Leo particularly enjoyed the sensation of being inside the simurgh's joey pouch.
  • Stanley / Bullhop: Feeling guilty for putting him in a situation to get mutated in "Bug Busters", Leo invited him to live at the lair to make up for it. He wrestled with his growing irritation for Bullhop's messy and inconsiderate behavior as a guest and his still lingering guilt about his mutation. Even still, Leo encouraged Raph to continue to extend the offer to stay with them if he needs to and supports Bullhop's dream to be a Canadian ballet dancer.
  • Don Suave: Before they met in "The Hidden City Job", Leo had already befriended both Hueso and Piel who together comprise Don Suave as a mystic fusion. Upon seeing him for the first time at Big Mama's auction house, he immediately found him attractive, Suave advising Leo to avert his gaze as to not be impacted by his ability. He used a mystic power weaponizing his beauty to incapacitate Big Mama and her guards so he and Leo could escape after they were surrounded. As they fled on their tamed simurgh, Leo sat in his arms rubbing his face against him with eyes still shut. Suave was heroically stoic meanwhile and the affection remained definitively one-sided. Leo resumed his friendship with Hueso and Piel after Suave returned to being two separate individuals.
  • Sunita: Leo likes and trusts Sunita as he thanks her for house sitting when he and his brothers leave for wilderness survival training in "Cloak and Swaggart" and encourages her and April's friendship.
  • John: Leo is a fan of John and discovered him at the Magic Town House when he was restrained with other magicians in "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle". However, Leo didn't free him from his restraints before venturing elsewhere in the Town House in pursuit of Hypno.
  • Cassandra Jones / Foot Recruit: Leo often got into physical confrontations with Foot Recruit when she was in the Foot Clan, but she became his family's ally when she finally turned against the Shredder in "Rise".
  • Casey Jones II: Leo was frightened upon meeting Casey in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie, but was quite flattered by Casey's admiration for him. He heeded Casey's urgent desire to deprive the Krang of the Mystic Key and ran to grab it against Raph's orders. It was because of Casey's honesty involving his failed mission to rescue Raph from his captors that Leo was able to gain perspective on his leadership and realize he wasn't taking his family's suggestions into account.

Enemies

  • Albearto: Leo fought against Albearto's robot army when he gave them sentience in "Al Be Back" and performed a song with his brothers to prompt the Albeartos' widespread destruction.
  • Huginn & Muninn: Leo was often in opposition to Huginn and Muninn as they aided Draxum as his henchmen.
  • Joey the Junkyard Dog: Leo engaged in a dance fight against Joey in "Mascot Melee" in order to repossess the money intended to be used on Splinter and was able to defeat him.
  • Atomic Lass: Leo was challenged by Atomic Lass in a dance fight in "Mascot Melee" and he was surprised by her proficiency, but didn't get the chance to counter.
  • Mutant silverfish: Leo first encountered mutant silverfish in "Donnie's Gifts" on the streets of New York City and has fought them multiple times since.
  • Mrs. Cuddles: Leo didn't believe that Mrs. Cuddles was sentient despite Raph's vehement warnings and was captured by her while skateboarding with Mikey.
  • Baxter Stockboy: Leo broke into Baxter's family grocery store in "The Gumbus" to prove to Mikey that the Gumbus was fictional and ended up exposing Baxter's haunting hoax. Later in "The Mutant Menace", Leo attempted to complete kind favors for New Yorkers when Baxter was telling the public that he and his brothers were malicious threats.
  • Big Mama: In "Bug Busters", Leo was the only one of the brothers to intuit that Big Mama was actually evil before she betrayed them. Later in "Many Unhappy Returns", Leo very shrewdly outwitted Big Mama at her own game, even predicting the ways that she would alter the terms of their agreement.
  • Guardsmen: Leo fought Garm and Freki to defend Mayhem when he was being pursued by them in "Mystic Mayhem" and encountered them again in "Insane in the Mama Train" as they tried to prevent him from reaching the train car holding the Kuroi Yōroi.
  • The Foot Clan: The Foot Clan are the sworn enemy of the Hamato Clan.
  • Ghostbear: Leo accidentally defeated Ghostbear in "Shell in a Cell" and broke his undefeated wrestling streak. Leo later engaged in a vehicular chase on the Shell Hogs to reclaim his and his brothers' stolen DVD from Ghostbear in "Late Fee", deceiving him into returning it on-time. His family day-out at a park was ruined by Ghostbear in "Snow Day" and he worked to defeat him alongside the other Mad Dogs.
  • Harold / Stinkbomb: Leo met Stinkbomb when he and his brothers broke into a New York botanical garden for fun in "How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will". Leo was seemingly unable to defeat him, overwhelmed by his noxious spit.
  • The Purple Dragons: Leo had to fight the Purple Dragon's rampaging Giant Mech unknowingly piloted by Donnie in "The Purple Game", but was unable to take it down in the end.
  • Repo Mantis: Leo trespassed onto Repo's salvage lot with Raph in search for a piece of the Kuroi Yōroi in "One Man's Junk". However, him and Raph unknowingly released Repo's mutated pet cat, Mrs. Nubbins, from her enclosure, but was able to trap her back inside with the help of his brothers.
  • Mrs. Nubbins: When Raph mistakenly unlocked the door of Mrs. Nubbins' cage on Repo's salvage lot in "One Man's Junk", Leo was pursued and nearly eaten by her, but managed to sequester her again afterward.
  • Gus: Leo was hunted by Gus when he fled from Big Mama and his brothers in "Bug Busters", but was able to evade his grasp due to Mikey. He later succeeded in stealing his ID tag from his collar in "The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek".
  • Mutant magpie: Leo and his brothers tried to rescue Donnie from the grasp of a mutant magpie in "Shadow of Evil" and struggled to subdue it, but eventually succeeded by stripping it of its feathers and rendering it unable to fly.
  • The Evil Six: Leo was pitted against the Evil Six in Big Mama's Battle Nexus in "Many Unhappy Returns" and defeated them using several portals from his ōdachi.
  • Mezmer-Ron / Hypno-Potamus: Leo likes Hypno's sense of fashion and fought him alongside Raph when he planned to eradicate April's high school in "Hypno! Part Deux". He was enraged by Hypno's thievery of Harry Houdini's journals from the Magic Town House in "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle" and worked with his brothers the seize them from his possession.
  • Hush-Bats: Leo was forcibly taken to the Mystic Library's kiddie room by Hush-Bats in "Mystic Library" for his violation of the Library's noise restrictions.
  • The Daves: Leo opposed the Daves in a game of basketball in "Air Turtle" in order to turn them from demon to human and succeeded.
    • Tim Dunkman: Leo was hired by Tim to work as a mascot for the Daves and Leo deeply admires him, even stating he sees him as a surrogate father figure in "Air Turtle". However, Leo faced him in a basketball game when Tim transformed himself into a demon using the Arch of Aquinnah and successfully defeated him.
  • Warren Stone: Leo never remembers who Warren Stone is and doesn't understand his regenerative abilities as expressed in "Newsworthy". He did once slice him in half in a panic though to his brothers' disgust in "Newsworthy".
  • The Sando Brothers: Leo sought to fight the Sando Brothers after him and his brothers discovered they were disrupting a school field trip in "The Evil League of Mutants", but was unable to defeat them. Despite being enemies, he later saved the Sando Brothers in "Man VS. Sewer" from being cooked by Raph in his Savage Raph state.
    • Carl Sando: Leo was partnered with Carl in "Battle Nexus: New York" for Big Mama's Battle Nexus Wizbang. He found it quite difficult to work with Carl as they had conflicting ideas of entertaining comedy, but Leo ultimately used him to perform physical comedy to provoke their foe into laughing.
  • Rupert Swaggart / Meat Sweats: Leo encountered Meat Sweats in "Donnie's Gifts" as he was cooking mutant silverfish. Once he and his brothers realized that Meat Sweats had captured Donnie, intending to eat him, he successfully defeated him. Leo later fought him in "The Fast and the Furriest", countering his corrosive acid with a portal.
  • Alex Noe: Leo snuck into Alex Noe's camp when he and his Tooth Fairies abducted Todd in "Todd Scouts". As he fled his camp accompanied by Todd, Leo was pursued by them and was struck with their numbing darts.
  • The Masters of Barbarianism: Leo served the Masters of Barbarianism as as favor to Hueso when his staff abandoned their shifts in "You Got Served".
    • Boss Bruce: Leo was offered a hundred unicorns by Bruce to hurt Hueso after he dropped his and the Makers of Brutality's cake and Leo found it difficult to refuse, though he managed to in the end. He fended off Bruce when he attacked him, Mikey, and Hueso.
  • Scor-Pion: When Marcus Moncrief and Raph were threatened by Scor-Pion in "Sidekick Ahoy!", Leo staunchly deactivated his explosives and eventually caused him to flee the fight.
  • Sprite: Leo's designated opponent in "Battle Nexus: New York" was a sprite Yōkai who he was tasked with making laugh in order to win the Battle Nexus match and eventually succeeded utilizing physical comedy.
  • The Krang: Leo met the Krang in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie and worked with his family to stop their plot to take over the Earth.
    • Krang One: Leo was attacked by Krang One once he made a hasty dash for the Mystic Key after his family tried to retreat from their first battle against the Krang, but was spared from injury by Raph. He tried to attack Krang One after discovering he had transformed Raph into a Krang zombie, but was unable to due to Krang reinforcements arriving on the scene and later resolved to trap himself within the Krang prison dimension with Krang One after he and his brothers failed to defeat him.

Quotes

  • "Dude, you gotta make it to rehearsal." - After Donatello's failed masquerade.
  • "So... You guys from Jersey?" - When faced with the just-transformed Jogger Guys.
  • "You had to ruin Cannonball Day." - Before his Katanas were destroyed.
  • "Get- me- off- this- ride!" - Falling into the portal created by his sword.
  • "And who doesn't love my one-liners- they fire up the team, right guys?" - During Donnie's Gifts.
  • "You'd think as a birthday bot- you'd be a little more chill at a birthday party." - While fighting Albearto
  • "Okay which one of you made Raph angry?" - Shell in a Cell
  • "Time to go to obedience school." - Mascot Melee
  • "¡Vamonos, hermanos!" - Hot Soup: The Game
  • "Why do you always make us dress up as old ladies?" - To Donnie during Operation: Normal
  • "Wow you guys are handsome." - To Don Suave in The Hidden City Job
  • "You've been portal chopped!" - Leo's catchphrase in the movie
  • "And what you fail to understand is that I missed on purpose!" - Leo to Krang One in the movie

Trivia

  • Unlike previous incarnations, this version of Leo is rebellious and the self-proclaimed coolest Turtle as opposed to Raph, who takes over as both the eldest Turtle and the leader of the team, with Leo being the second oldest.
    • Leo does not become the Mad Dogs leader until the last part of the season 2 finale ("Rise"), a deviation which was a deliberate attempt by the writers to explore Leo's character without a leadership role, which is furthered in the 2022 Netflix movie.
    • Writers have elaborated Leo is difficult to write for, which contributed to the decision to heavily tweak his character for this version.[4][5][6][7]
  • Leo's red and yellow stripes are also found on real-life red-eared sliders and is part of where the species' name originates.[8][9]
  • According to a behind the scenes video, Leo's main flaw as a potential leader is lacking maturity as he is more interested in enjoying life[10], a trait he ironically shares with this iteration's version of Splinter, and compared to Raph who is generally more mature than Leo in this iteration.
  • Leo's favorite music genre is glam rock ("Al Be Back").[11][12][13]
  • It was revealed in 2018 by Rise of the TMNT executive producer Ant Ward that Leo's personality is inspired by Han Solo and Star-Lord.[14]
  • A running gag with Leo is that he is regularly seen dabbing.
  • As said by Raph in "Bug Busters", whenever Leo says "indubitably" he is scheming.
  • Leo has an interest in basketball as seen in "Hypno! Part Deux" and "Late Fee". This is confirmed in "Air Turtle".
  • Leo can be heard speaking Spanish occasionally throughout the series.
    • It was revealed in December 2019 in a Tweet that this incarnation of Leo speaking basic Spanish was ideated by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Russ Carney.[15]
    • It was revealed in May 2020 by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Carney in a Tweet that Leo learned Spanish from the Nuyorican (portmanteau of "New York" and "Puerto Rican") population in New York City.[16]
      • When asked how Leo learned Spanish in August 2022, Rise of the TMNT staff writer Ron Corcillo answered, "The turtles learned all of their languages from TV and movies, of course. After all, for a long time they didn't get much interaction with people. I guess Leo must have liked Univision and Telemundo."[17]
  • Leo has been the Lair Olympics champion for five consecutive years.
  • Leo does not care for the team name "Mad Dogs" that is suggested by Raph in "Mystic Mayhem", but has not made a serious attempt to change it.
  • Both Leo and Mikey sport a stylized square-shaped pattern on their carapaces, Leo having three and Mikey having two.

Gallery

References

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9507qFesCo
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxNNP9kifNg
  3. http://ew.com/tv/rise-of-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/amp/
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWh2_RFAPZo
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r7lVa0Irsg
  6. https://www.facebook.com/teenagemutantninjaturtles/videos/17002950300094
  7. http://wx4.sinaimg.cn/large/71269e53ly1fsn9e8ofzej20t80ggnns.jpg
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