redstringraven | tmnt enneagram meta [1/5]

an excruciatingly long ramble about the '03 turtles and the enneagram 🐢 pt1

this is the first of a 5-part series i shared back in 2023 where i analyzed the 2003 turtles through an enneagram lens. thought i'd cross-post/share them here, too; i'm proud of them, spent well over a year researching/writing them, and wanna ensure they're kept for archiving purposes. i might tidy a thing or two while cross-posting but, for the most part, these will be in the original state i posted them in.

i'll share them over the next week instead of dropping them all at once.

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i’ve been working on this ‘project’ on/off for a year, and i need to get it out of my system. this is me posting the first part to force myself to stop fidgeting and hit the ground running.

i love the enneagram. i think it’s a useful tool not only for self-growth but also for character-writing and understanding. since 'typing' the boys, i've referred back to this tool while writing them or rewatching the series, and it's infuriating how much sense certain things start to make. to me, anyway!

as a heads up? this is going to be a big analysis over a series of posts. i have a lot to say fldjsfkl (i'm so sorry). i will try to keep it organized and understandable.

consider this the introductory post!
posts will be linked below as i finish them.
[ raph ], [ leo ], [ don ], [ mikey ]

some small disclaimers before we get started:

this is concerning the 2k3 incarnations of the boys only, and seasons 1-4 are given the most weight.

i don’t take “”birth order”” into consideration. no one--not even them--knows the order they were born/hatched in. i won’t be referring to leo as ‘the oldest child’ nor mikey as ‘the youngest’, etc. when it comes to ‘filling a role’, sure, they do that just fine, but i tend to avoid referring to them in an actual birth order or approaching them from a birth order mindset. they step into roles rather than there being an established order. the 03 boys will frequently ‘switch roles’ depending on their circumstances and company.

these are also, obviously, my own thoughts/observations, and i’m not any sort of professional. I’ve just done reading and research and thinking. whether you agree or not is up to you, i’m not your mom, go--do whatever you want, it’s fine it’s good, i don’t care, blah blah blah, etc.

OKAY. an introduction and briefing:

we’ll start with some ground-work since the enneagram seems to be unfamiliar territory to a lot of folks i’ve spoken to. feel free to skip over the next two paragraphs if you’re already in the know. i’m not going to spend too long on it, but i feel like i need to spend some time or everything else that follows might get muddy.

an edit after initially posting: while there were a few books i read in preparation for this, it was careless and neglectful of me not to mention the two i referenced and pulled from in the more enneagram-focused sections of this project (the parts where the enneagram itself is explained rather than how it applies to the turtles) to aid in creating a baseline. i went into this excited to analyze and discuss the turtles specifically, but i should have treated both the sources and my own posting with more respect. i apologize for that massive oversight. i feel pretty damn stupid since i usually consider myself good at that sort of thing, but i'll continue trying to do better! the two books i referred from were:

the wisdom of the enneagram by don richard riso & russ hudson
the road back to you by ian morgan cron & suzanne stabile

and i recommend them if you have any interest in exploring the enneagram further! (edit end)

the enneagram is a tool used to develop self-knowledge, self-understanding, and to grow beyond self-defeating aspects of our personalities, as well as improve the relationships with those around us and to grow in compassion.

one of my books uses colors to illustrate how the nine enneagram types work: there are an infinite number of variations of the color ‘red’, but they are all still variations of the same hue. similarly, there are an infinite number of ways a person may express their enneagram type. another thing to keep in mind: your number is not determined by how you behave, moreso why you behave. It’s less reliant on traits and focuses more on the motivation that drives you.

i also feel it’d be a breach in etiquette if i didn't say the enneagram should be used to type yourself, not others. these are fictional characters; please don’t go trying to type the people around you. don’t use it to justify your own questionable behavior, and please don't feel the need to adopt a more rigid personality if you see yourself in a type. again: this is a tool, not a rule book.

if you want my opinions immediately, and without further exploration or analysis, here they are:

Raph is an 8 and has a 7 wing
Leo is a 1 and has a 2 wing
Don is a 5 and has a 4 wing
Mikey is a 7 and has a 6 wing

but if you want more details (including what the heck a ‘wing’ is), come along with me while i do some giant ass posts on the boys and how they align with their core numbers.

i'm especially excited to talk about "City at War" from the perspectives of an 8 and a 1, how mikey is a complicated combination of a lotta moving parts and almost stupidly self-aware, as well as "Same as it Never Was" and don's 5 and the fact this boy never talks about his goddamn horrors. like i warned: these are gonna be quite lengthy, but i’ll be breaking it up as neatly and in the most digestible way possible. as well as keep the meme-ing to a minimum. …but i make no promises.

i have an order i'm going in, and raph's up first.