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Leonardo I would place as a Mage of Void. Mages will uniquely experience their Aspect, both good and bad. As a result, they gain a unique understanding of what their Aspect is or does. Their challenge is to become open to new insight or different perspectives than their own.
A Mage of Void would seemingly be suffering from ‘Nothing’, (Void pun lmao), and thus no one would suspect something would be bothering Leo. But, and this is my own personal headcanon territory, I’d say Leo has been repressing and avoiding his experiences with the Shredder for the last three seasons, ever since he ended up in that coma of his. Something that traumatic drastically changed his character from someone who might’ve been a bit controlling and overbearing at times, into someone who needs to be in charge of nearly everything and pushes his teammates to lengths they don’t want to be. (And Splinter passing on the mantle of leader and sensei to Leo has not helped that complex in the least.)
To avoid feeling useless, or unneeded, or like he’s failing expectations, Leo overcompensates and does his best to make his own personal doubts disappear (into the void). Underneath that though, I believe he struggles, even without realizing it, with being unnecessary or ignored. (while he’s made firm effort to be heard and listened to by his siblings, it hasn’t been a healthy coping mechanism for anyone since Leo is still just avoiding his repressed issues, and making life a lot harder for everyone around him. see my fiction These Days for more about this, when I get around to publishing the Leo chapter.)
As a Mage, Leo would probably be able to let go of all these negativities if he’d just open himself up to other options, other views and ideas. He needs a stern talking to about how a leader is actually meant to act, (Leading, not ordering around. Key difference here.), and a good long self-reflection period. If he faced his trauma, and his repressed issues, he’d be able to truly lead the team as he originally wanted to, and just be a much happier individual all around.
Donatello I would put down as a Knight of Blood. Knights hide a fear of a perceived fundamental failure with their Aspect behind a shield of confidence and obsessive effort. Their challenge is to learn to take it down a notch and to understand that they are skilled enough.
Blood can mean a lot of things; blood bonds, blood brothers, blood relations. Donnie’s whole role in the family is centered around his ability to provide support and stability to his brothers, through his continuous and never ending work to protect and build for them all. His empathy is the strongest out of all of them, reaching out to people easily and sympathizing with their struggles. Of course, this doubles back as a negative on occasion, since Donnie is attempting to give more than he should, and thus exhausting himself as he fights against his imagined failings.
Knights of Blood tend to feel deeply insecure or inadequate relating to something Flesh or Blood about them. In this case, that would be Donnie’s mutantness compared to the rest of the world, and his struggles in ninjutsu. While his brothers take to martial arts with vigor and enthusiasm, Donnie prefers to spend time in his head or lab, and while he is skilled as they are, he would likely still see himself as a lesser member of his family. He’s the odd man out, both in family, and to the rest of the world. The reasons that set him apart are never going to change, and those are heavy things to weigh on a kid, especially one as socially isolated as Donnie.
Of course, if Donnie was given mutual effort and support from his family, he’d be able to become as stable as the work he does for them all. Reassuring a Knight that they’re good enough, that their skill and work and Aspect are things that they’re able to excel at, that you do in fact love them for who they are, would probably be all Donnie needs. To move past the perceived failings he has (of not being enough, or not being accepted for who he is) he needs some good old TLC and genuine appreciation from his brothers and friends. (And his dad, who never once praised him for being himself through the whole series.)
Honestly, just give the genius the credit and attention and care he deserves, and his emotional/mental state would improve 300%. Seriously. It’s that simple.
Michelangelo I’d place as an Heir of Breath. Heirs naturally gravitate towards their Aspect or unconsciously seek it out. All Heirs so far have huge amounts of Aspect related strength. Their challenge is to not get stuck on one thing and to know when to move on and adapt.
Mikey is air and wind and other related words in a lot of senses. He’s finicky and whimsical, and tends to just do whatever the hell he feels like. When he does listen to you, it’s because he feels like it, not because someone else wants him to. This has caused a lot of trouble in canon, Mikey going off on an adventure of his own making because he caught something interesting and won’t let it go until he feels like it. His character sums up to be either hyper focused on one particular thing, or be completely distracted by ten plus ideas or events without really getting involved with any of them.
He coasts through happenings and fights without ever really letting them touch him; off in his own world rather than deal with the harshness of reality. Heirs of Breath are notorious for seeming indifferent or uncaring because of this tendency. Mikey’s go to reaction to lighten a situation, or full stop ignore it, is a fine example of how Breath players cope with traumatic events. Didn’t happen if they don’t admit it did!
It makes Mikey out to be this very callous person, since he never gives time or effort to the things other people need him to, and keeps to his own wants instead. But he is a very caring person, being the most emotionally open and connected person in his family. He simply never chooses to use that openness in the right situation, or actually come back down to earth to be a stable member of the team. Currently, the best way of getting him to focus on anything is to just throw him at the problem and let him take it apart from there. I nearly put him in a Destroyer class because of that trait in Mikey; his ability to enter any sort of situation, and tear it to pieces if he feels like it. But, in the end, his trait to avoid a situation entirely by leaving reality entirely places him better as an Heir.
To overcome this part of himself, the whimsical destruction and deliberate ignorance, Mikey would need to buckle down and actually deal with his issues, rather than pretend they’re not there for the rest of eternity. He needs to learn to keep his promises, fulfill his obligations, and be there emotionally for his family. (He is sometimes, but only when it suits him.)
Raphael is in nearly every canon, a destroyer of sorts; which is why I’ve placed him as a Prince of Doom. Princes ghost their opposite Aspects as they destroy theirs. They are violently stubborn pessimistic people that stop at nothing to reach their goals. Their challenge is to not destroy themselves along their destructive path.
Princes of Doom are reckless, full of energy, and near unstoppable when they hit their stride. Raph is a battering ram against things that get in his way, and his temper is no help in curbing his destructive tendencies. His solution to a problem is 9/10 times to just destroy it completely. Someone or something gets between him and his family’s goals, he’ll take them out. No ifs ands or buts about it.
This is both a bane and a boon, since destroying barriers or blocks can mean destroying enemies or metaphorical restrictions. Raph is a rebel, and a loud one at that, and has never been the type to let rules or threats stop him from doing something. Sometimes this works in everyone’s favor, sometimes it causes a painful fallout for everyone except Raph; the result of Raph charging ahead without hindrance or regard for others around him, or pushing and shoving until he gets his way. His go to reaction is always to force people into his view of things, even if it’s through physical violence and someone gets hurt.
Using his destructive impulses correctly, including his anger issues, would give Raph the strength and momentum to bowl down anything that attempted to hurt his family. Princes are horrifically powerful at their peaks, and at the top of that peak a Prince of Doom would be able to doom anyone who got in their path. Raph could be the warrior he’s hinted at having the potential to be, dependable and fierce and strong as bedrock, and if he got his head out of his own emotions he’d be able to realize that potential.
But as it is, Raph still stands a chance of being swallowed by his own Doom, since in canon he has yet to really grab hold of that temper of his (we’ve had what, like five episodes or something of him trying over and over to do that? bs, I tell you) and continues to physically push his siblings around whenever he doesn’t like what they’re saying/doing. (Looking at you, elevator scene, all the ones like it.)
April is a character that has grown and changed drastically over the season, and to me this screams Page of Hope. Pages start with a deficit in their Aspect that they confidently overcome through obvious overcompensation. Their challenge is to keep at it, even if they fail and the journey is slow, for they become the strongest players
April started out as the team’s weakest link; new to ninjutsu, new to espionage, new to everything. And then she hit her stride (and also got traumatized a bunch of times) and became the most powerful above all. Seriously, she’s got enough power to warp the face of the earth; she was literally designed to be the genocidal weapon that would wipe out the human race. And, her powers depend pretty much completely on her own emotions, confidence, and mental willpower. (Also, she gets glowy and floaty when she uses them, especially at her peak power, which resembles super closely Hope magic.)
In the beginning of the series, April was well-meaning and something pretty close to naïve. She depended nearly entirely on the boys for their help in things, tended to hang back when things went south. Then, because April O’Neil is no one’s damsel in distress for long, she started to take control of her life best she could and became this furious martial artist that didn’t let anyone get in her way. She tended to let people’s views influence her own at first, sometimes even believing boldfaced lies, but now no one can hide shit from her. She’s the human lie detector, and her own opinions are the ones she follows.
While the rest of the kids here have a quest or two to complete, April has already finished hers. She’s her own person, in control of her own life and beliefs, and ten times as powerful as her season 1 self. At this point, the only things holding her back is her A) restraints on her powers, which could be even stronger if she’d let go of the (already flimsy) morals she has, and B) her deference to Leo as the leader. (Leo is making one bad call after another these days; April should really just defect to the Foot clan (read as ‘Karai and Shinigami’s Murder Ladies Only Club’) and embrace the sheer deadliness of herself.)
Pages go from the weakest player on the team to the most powerful, and we heard Kravaxas say it himself. April is far more powerful than her mutant friends at this point, and will only keep getting more powerful, so long as she works for it and believes in her abilities.
Casey, because he’s a problematic little shit, ended up with the same Class as Mikey, being an Heir of Life. Once again, Heirs naturally gravitate towards their Aspect or unconsciously seek it out, etc etc etc, and their challenge is to not get stuck on one thing and to know when to move on and adapt.
An Heir of Life fits Casey perfectly, much to my annoyance about repeating Classes. They’re completely unrestricted in almost every way, having no rules, no limits and no boundaries of any kind. They’re openly dominating, reckless, and full of optimism in everything they do. They are also extremely effective at what they do and have no problem rejecting anything that they think isn’t valid or not useful to them. They have no problems sacrificing others and breaking rules in order to open up more options for themselves and make themselves even less restricted by everything. Sounds like Casey to a T, right?
Rather than how an Heir of Breath copes with their problems, ignoring them completely, Heirs of Life charge right into things and make their problems go away. Let it never be said that Casey Jones backed down from any sort of fight; he’ll just keep going until he can’t, and then push through anyways. Any problem, any obstacle, any sort of block or adversary Casey has ever faced have all been dealt with the same way: bullheaded enthusiasm and utter confidence in himself to come out the victor.
Of course, this still tends to get him into trouble, and he’s yet to learn temperance to his unfaltering attitude. Casey resilience to any situation he encounters is admirable to say the least, buuuuuut he is also usually the one to have gotten himself into said situation. He needs to learn to not tunnel focus on an obstacle, and look before he leaps. Only then will he stop getting himself into easily avoidable situations.
(And because I have a rough plot for a fic I want to write in the future, I’m throwing in Karai’s too.)
Karai I see as a Witch of Time. Witches are enthusiastic, confident and optimistic rebels. They break and change the physical and metaphysical “Rules” of their Aspect. Their challenge is to use their rule breaking powers in a morally conscious way.
Karai is a not so morally conscious individual, and is in many ways a rebel. She originally followed her (shitty fake adopted) father’s word without questions, and was fiercely loyal, but once she found out the truth… well, she’s done nothing since then but try to tear the Shredder to pieces, and I don’t blame her in the least.
She manipulates and schemes and does so with utter confidence in herself. She’s put a lot of Time and effort into seeing her false father’s downfall, and she did in a clever and brilliant manner. (And I fucking hate canon for robbing her of her own arc’s conclusion, and instead shunted the whole thing over to Leo, while Karai was written into being ‘okay’ with not getting her very well deserved vengeance. Fuck this fucking show, god.)
While Karai’s future position as a criminal empire warlord is one I fully agree with, I do think she needs to learn to mind the fallout of her actions a bit better. Yes she should continue to forge her path ahead with all the fighting and gore that comes with being a ninja, but she should watch out that she doesn’t hurt people she shouldn’t in the process. (See: the Broken Foot episode, where she brought Leo on and not the other boys, encouraged the secrecy of things from the family, and resulted in Donnie being injured badly enough he needed magical healing.)
Also: Karai would be fucking terrifying as a Time player. She could do anything she wanted to the fabric of someone’s Time (their past, present, future) and no one would be able to stop her once she’d put her mind to it. I would pay good money to see this come to be, because I do love a woman with a goal and not a lot of care how she reaches it.
and that's about it. ta-da. tell me your thoughts about my Classpect assignments if you feel like it, i'm curious to see how many folks agree/disagree.