Leo & Donnie-Should they butt heads?

[victory_angel]

Originally Posted by ssjup81

If there's a foot in mouth moment for Leo, maybe I could see him saying something harsh regarding Timothy, putting Karai's welfare ahead of his. Maybe he could say something like he chose to be mutated, Karai didn't. I dunno...I just couldn't see him saying something harsh regarding Kirby.

That's possible. The reason felt Leo would say something that harsh regarding Kirby, is because he was the only person they've used the retromutagen on.

When Donnie had made only two vials of retromutagen one for Kirby and one for Splinter. The first vial was broken in a struggle against Baxter Stockman, and the second one successfully restored Kirby by way of mcguffin. And with the upcoming Kraang invasion Donnie's going to be focused on preparing for that and not so much Karai. So he's not going to be preparing retromutagen any time soon.

And saying something like that even as a foot in the mouth statement would get everyone telling Leo he is out of line.

Then again, Donnie in many incarnations has also been the most loyal of the Turtle's. Raph is loyal to the team, but his temper makes him irrational and that impulsiveness does make him harder to trust. And Mikey is erratic and childish much of the time.

Donnie is generally the most loyal towards Leo. He is usually the one asking Leo what they should do in serious situations such as when Slash and the Newtralizer are going after the Kraang. And there are times he questions Leo's plans but that is only done as a way of verifying them. Also there are moments when it feels like Donnie can read Leo better then Raph or Mikey can. Such as Parasitica Donnie seems to sense something is wrong with Leo but he isn't sure what. And in Showdown when Leo intends to destroy the Power Cell so the Kraang can't use it again. Donnie's reaction of "Whoa Leo, please tell me you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking?!" is along the lines of "Leo, please tell me it doesn't have to come this?"

Leo also seems to acknowledge Donnie's loyalty as well such as when they are playing "King of the Mountain". When Donnie joins him on the wire Leo smiles as if saying "I know this brother will obey me."

But the difference between this incarnation of Donnie and the other incarnations is that Leo has earned Donnie's loyalty in those incarnations for the most part. In this incarnation, Donnie's loyalty has been straining quite a bit in the latter parts of this series.

As Splinter did state in Follow the Leader "A "True Leader" doesn't impose his will on his followers, but helps them to flourish."

Perhaps the conflict wouldn't be a foot in mouth statement, but it could be something like Leo lashing out and punching or maybe slapping Donnie when he's trying to reason with him.

However it is possible the conflict could show how Donnie becomes leader of the team.

That too, but the fact that he didn't say anything speaks volumes to me. He chose to do so because it was the right thing to do, not because he seemed to agree fully with Leo's leadership authority, like Raph. To me, it's like he was questioning it....just internally. I just get the impression that he doesn't fully see him as leader.

In New Girl in Town, Raph was given the role of leader because he was going on and on about how would be better leader then Leo. And Leo in turn got fed up and said "Fine, you're leader."

Then when he tells Splinter what he did. Splinter essentially says "You can't give up leadership just because you don't like the role you were given."

On the flip-side however it is the right of any member of the team to challenge the leader for the leadership role. Normally the challenge to unseat the leader is if the leader is doing actions that his followers find questionable, or could potentially put the team at risk.

But this in itself is also a big risk because such a challenge can not be posed unless there is legit concrete evidence to back it up. If the challenger is wrong, then they are viewed as being usurpers and that will have it's own consequences.