Nick TMNT designs, or, is Leo the vanilla turtle?
 

Raphael has a characteristic chunk out of his shell. He's also noticeably bulkier.
Don has a trademark gap in his smile, and he is noticeably scrawnier and taller.
Mike has freckles, and not only is the shortest but is noticeably smaller looking all-around.

So... what about Leo? Does he have any defining physical characteristics or am I overlooking something?

He seems to be the happy medium in all ways. He's not the tallest or shortest. He's not the bulkiest or thinnest. He doesn't have any obvious stand-out traits. He is just pretty average in all ways.

I wonder why they decided to make him so plain? On the personality level he clearly stands out from his brothers and is just as unique as they are, but physically, not so much.

Wondering what your thoughts are on this. In a way, you can see how it fits his personality. He is very reserved and tries to be the level-headed one, and his appearance kind of reflects that. But is he being shafted by having less of a design? Would he have benefited from a little something?

I guess hes the most "vanilla" because he is the all rounder, he has all the qualities as an equal, and that`s why he is leader. He`s not a power house or a weakling, hes not over smart or lacking in that department etc. So it makes sense for him to represent the happy medium.

Put it this way, he wears the best colour, and has the the best weopons!:o

This man speaks the truth. :tcool:

What would you do? I can't think of any definitive features that scream "Leonardo."

I always saw him as the vanilla turtle anyway. I think design wise he makes up for the lack of unique features by having the best belt.

He's like Mario in SMB 2. :D

I agree with Heather. Why was FW Leo oft mocked, because he was so mamby-pamby and vanilla. It's not really so much the character design as it is the character. I love that Nick is trying hard to make Leo a bit more relatable and less generic.

Agreed. This is what I'm liking the most about 2k12 Leo.

There's nothing wrong with vanilla.

Vanilla is my favourite ice cream flavor. Oh look who my turtles is.. :p

LOL that is the nerdiest analogy I've ever heard. Love it. (And you're so right.) :tgrin:

Vanilla is the flavour that bores you as a kid, but entices you as an adult.

First part, ehh, I don't think so. Second part, okay, I'll give you that.

Anyway, I don't see Leo as being 'vanilla'. Vanilla is plain, Leo seems more of a mixture. He has characteristics of all the other 3 turtles. Plus if he was plain, I don't think he would be leader.

Most leaders, in comics at least, are the most plain of plain. Look at Cyclops, Mr. Fantastic, Superman (he's the "leader" of the Justice League, right?), Captain America...

I think it suits him. When I draw the Turtles, Leo always comes out as the most "perfect" one, with no flaws or highly distinguishable physical traits because that's what I see him as striving to be like. The perfect student, the perfect ninja, whereas his brothers have interests outside of their training, and I like the idea of portraying them in a way that maybe plays out those separate interests. It makes them all a bit more unique, including Leo since he may be the "plainest", but it's still unique to him as he's the only one who looks like him.

I agree with your replies guys. I love Leo and would not change him, but I always wonder "what if..."

What if they had given Leo a scar to show how intense he trains... and sometimes fails?
What if they gave him a tattoo or birthmark?
What if he had jewelry? (A ring from a cereal box that was a promo item for that Sci-Fi show he loves?)

But yeah, in past versions of TMNT, even in most of the comics, the turtles are such "non charaters", sure they have different voices and weapons, leo is the serious leader, mike is the goof ball, don is the smart one, raph is the hot-head... we all know this... but aside from that we know very little about them as people.

The new Nick show seems to really be really trying to make them real in that way. I love how Leo is obsessed with this tv show... it's one of those touches that I find so cool.

i always saw him as the archetypical ninja turtle. no flaws physically...

I think a scar would be cool for Leo, but they gave that to Raph to show his intensity and probably to show how he loses focus sometimes in training. I don't think of Leo as "plain" at all. I think he's the rock that holds the team together. He's the leader who has all these responsibilities put on him at an early age (assuming that the Turtles are younger than fifteen in this incarnation). So, to not give him a defining physical characteristic is fine because he has other characteristics that define him.

All 4 turtles were confirmed to be 15 year olds in this series by the executive producer in the Behind the scenes video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOsfK...hannel&list=UL

I really like how Leo looks in this series, but now that you guys mention his vanilla factor I remember that on the 4 kids series Leo did lose a chunk of shell for several episodes..