Leonardo

Leonardo (レオナルド, Reonarudo) or Leo (レオ, Reo) is the de facto leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the oldest of the brothers. At the start of the series, he doesn't really know how to be that guy and thinks that he's just a little bit better than his brothers. He is mostly serious, but he does have a perchance for joviality. Due to his excessive dedication towards ninjutsu, (and partly because he asked for it), Splinter choose him to be the leader of the turtles. He wields twin katana, indicated in the series as Niten Ryu.

Appearance

 * Voice Actor: Will Friedle (English), Not Known (Japanese)

Leo is the oldest of his brothers who has darker shade of blue eyes. His height is 5"7 (170 cm.) and weight is 70 kg. (155 lbs.).

Personality
Leonardo is the most serious and focused of the team. Being the designated leader of the group, Leonardo is very enthusiastic about his role. He is also a big science-fiction fan (or "nerd" as referred to by Raphael). His favorite series is Space Heroes while his favorite character from the show is Captain Ryan. Leo has a habit of memorizing Captain Ryan's best lines from the show and repeating them during battle. Leo is so caught up with Space Heroes that he relies on Ryan's character traits more than on his own intuition which often causes his brothers (especially Raphael) to question his leadership.

For the most part, he tries to be the mature and responsible sibling, but there are times where he can be as childish as his brothers, such as teasing Donnie for losing to a mutant monkey and trying to be like an unrealistic TV character, although Leonardo often tries to comfort his brothers when they are scared or upset, mostly Mikey. He comes up with most of the plans and strategies while he and his brothers are fighting bad-guys or training in their Lair. It is also shown that he has a crush on Karai, but loves his brothers more. In one episode, Leo told Karai if she wanted to fight, she should fight him. He also said if she went after his brothers he'd go after her and kill her himself.

Leonardo is shown to be quite selfless when it counts. Especially shown in Booyaka-Showdown Part 1 and 2. During these episodes he almost sacrifices himself twice to save his brothers and the world.

Friends/Allies

 * Space Heroes
 * Commander Grundch
 * Captain Ryan
 * Crankshaw
 * Dr. Mindstrong
 * Celestial
 * Spider-Man
 * May Parker
 * April O'Neil
 * Kirby O'Neil
 * Mr. Murakami
 * Liz Allen
 * Gwen Stacy
 * Rand Robertson
 * Sally Avril
 * Mary Jane Watson
 * Harry Osborn
 * Angel Bridge
 * Leatherhead
 * The Pulverizer
 * Casey Jones
 * Justice Force
 * Silver Sentury
 * Nobody
 * Amanda
 * Metal Head
 * Chrysalis
 * Tsunami
 * Raptarr
 * Nano
 * Green Mantle
 * Boomerang
 * Stainless Steel Steve
 * Joey Lastic
 * Zippy Lad
 * Ultimate Daimyo
 * Miyamoto Usagi
 * Gennosuke
 * Renet Tilly
 * Ancient One

Family

 * Splinter (adoptive father and sensei)
 * Raphael (young brother)
 * Donatello (younger brother)
 * Michelangelo (youngest brother)
 * Spike (pet turtle)
 * Klunk (pet cat)
 * Karai (adopted big sister)

Neutral

 * The Daily Bugle
 * J. Jonah Jameson
 * Frederick Foswell
 * Tyler Rockwell
 * Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe
 * Joan Grody
 * Lizard
 * Flash Thompson
 * Metalhead
 * Pete
 * Black Cat
 * Miles Warren
 * Earth Protection Force
 * John Bishop

Rivals

 * Karai

Enemies

 * Kraang
 * Kraang Prime
 * Mrs. Campbell
 * Traag
 * Snakeweed
 * Spider-Bytez
 * Justin
 * Chong
 * Foot Clan
 * Shredder
 * Khan
 * Karai
 * Dogpound
 * Fishface
 * Baxter Stockman
 * Foot Ninjas
 * OsCorp
 * Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
 * Rat King
 * Sinister Six
 * Doctor Octopus
 * Vulture
 * Electro
 * Shocker
 * Sandman
 * Rhino
 * Mysterio
 * Kraven the Hunter
 * Purple Dragons
 * Hun
 * Hammerhead
 * Fong
 * Tsoi
 * Sid
 * Calypso
 * Gulyadkin
 * Symbiote
 * Venom
 * Tombstone
 * Molten Man
 * Chameleon
 * Silvermane
 * Silver Sable
 * Hobgoblin
 * Tinkerer
 * Cletus Kasady

Powers and Abilities
Leo's bravery, determination, and will-power makes him a great leader. He often tends to fight in a more traditional japanese martial art style. Leo is stealthy like all his brothers, and like them he can hide in the shadows, sneak around without beind detected, and use hand to hand combat. Leo's more balanced though, being fast, strong, smart, and skilled. He is highly skilled in the fighting style Niten Ichi-ryū.

To date, his only real flaws as a leader are lack of experience and his teenager status- causing him to occasionally make impulsive decisions that might make the situation worse, as well as his brothers sometimes not obeying his orders-, and a desire to be cool that results in him making rather poor taunts in battle, such as introducing the team as the 'Mighty Mutants' or 'Turtles of Justice', or telling a scientist experimenting with a monkey that they'd had enough of him 'monkeying around'

Weapons
During most of the series, Leonardo wields a pair of twin katanas which, like his brothers with their chosen wepons, he is highly skilled with. In Pulverizer Returns, Splinter says that the boys are getting too reliable on their own weapons are makes them swap. After this process, Leo is left with Donnie's staff. During a fight, the turtles become un co-oprative with their new weapons and swap back. When Splinter finds out, he take away all weapons, stating that anything can be useful. When he and his brothers are trying to save Timothy, Leo uses a pipe and holds and fights with it in a style similar to his Katanas.

History
Fifteen years before the Rise of the Ninjas, Part 1, Leonardo was a pet turtle bought by a young boy along with three others, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. The boy was waiting at the crosswalk when a teenager noticed a blind old man crossing the street while a truck sped toward him. The teenager bumped into the boy with the turtles, causing him to drop the bowl in which he held them. The turtles fell into the sewer. Meanwhile, the teenager had successfully saved the old man's life, and while the truck veered away from the scene, the doors flew open and a canister fell right into the sewer with the turtles, covering them with an odd substance. A rat by the name of Splinter was passing by and picked up the turtles, touching the odd chemical as well. When Splinter woke up one morning some point later, he found he and the turtles had grown taller, and slightly more intelligent.

Splinter than raised the turtles as his own children and thought it wise to train them in ninjutsu, just as his Master Yoshi had unknowingly done for him.

Trivia

 * Niten Ryu is described as Leonardo's weapons, but it is in fact a fighting style, and not a weapon. A two-sword setup is properly known as a daisho. Niten Ryu, instead, is short for Niten-ichi Ryu (二天一流), a two-sword style developed by legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi.
 * Tales from the Turtle Lair
 * Leo seems to be the most educated (out of the four brothers) about Japanese culture and etiquette:
 * He understands Japanese when spoken to and is able to speak in this language to some extend
 * He knows, at least basics, of Japanese etiquette (i.e. he bows to master Splinter)
 * He uses chopsticks correctly and deftly
 * He is depicted as having blue eyes, like his brother, Mikey, but Leo;'s eyes are a darker shade of blue.
 * His Niten Ryu means "the strategy of two heavens in one fight."
 * His caller ID on April's phone is "ichiban turtle", which means "number one turtle".
 * He develops an obvious crush on Karai in the episode New Girl in Town. He talks about her to April who is supportive; that is, until she finds out Karai is a part of the Foot Clan. He's the second Turtle to develop feelings for a girl, the first being Donatello (of course).
 * Of all four turtles, Leonardo seems to be the most loyal and respectful to Splinter.
 * He is the oldest of the four turtles.