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| “ | "My name is Donatello, and as long as I can remember, I've always liked to tinker with stuff. I started building my own toys when I was just a little hatchling. And now that I've grown up... well, the toys just got bigger. Some of my particular faves are the Battle Shell; handy for quick assaults and getaways; the Sewer Slider: a subterranean Muscle-Mobile, and the Shell Cycle; as speedy as it is stylish. But when it comes to crunch time...I found the simplest gadget is still the most effective." | „ |
| ~ Donatello's bio |
Donatello Splinterson is one of the four titular main protagonists of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 cartoon series. He is the younger brother of Leonardo, Raphael, the older brother of Michelangelo, and the third eldest/second youngest adoptive son of Splinter.
He was voiced by Sam Riegel, who also voiced Phoenix Wright from the Ace Attorney games, Viral from the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, "Tennessee Kid" Cooper from the Sly Cooper games, Kudamon from Digimon Data Squad, Mephisto Pheles from Blue Exorcist, Shino Aburame from Naruto episodes 23-24, and Tristan Taylor from Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes 1-10.
Appearance[]
Donatello has the same appearance as his brothers, except he wears a purple mask and favors a traditional bo staff as his weapon.
Personality[]
Donatello is analytical, introverted, and has a complex personality like in the Mirage comics. He typically has a very close, however platonic, relationship with April. (It's possible that he has a slight crush on her, as shown when she hugged him and said "I could kiss you" in the first episode of "Space Invaders", and he happily replied "Really?"). Even more pacifistic than his other incarnations, Donatello shows a greater interest in technology than his ninjutsu training. Still, he always defends his brothers and frequently assists them through his technology, mostly vehicles and communication devices. He also tries the best to prepare for any situation like Leonardo.
He even sometimes outsmarts and tricks his enemies like when Torbin Zixx tried to con him and his brothers into stealing a transmitter to destroy an asteroid that is said to be made of Dark Matter will destroy the Earth, Don grew suspicious and knew he was up to no good. He outsmarted him by giving him a coffee machine that look like the Transmitter.
Donatello is generally well-liked by all of his brothers, never engaging in major confrontations with them and is in fact the one who holds them in peace, best shown in the episode "Same As It Never Was" where after he disappeared, the other brothers drifted apart. Leatherhead also considers him one of the most gentle-natured people he's ever met.
History[]
Past[]
Like his brothers, Donatello was once an ordinary pet turtle bought by a young boy, until an accident caused the boy to drop them all into the sewer. The mutagen from the truck in the accident dropped into the sewer as well, covered them and the passing-by Splinter who adopted them afterwards. The mutagen mutated them all into being anthropomorphic. Splinter would ever since train them ninjutsu to protect them from the outside world.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[]
Donatello and his brothers would then fight criminals and thwart their plans in the night. During this time, they also befriend April O'Neil and Casey Jones. However, their effort attracts the attention of Oroku Saki, the leader of the Foot Clan and the mastermind behind those crimes. He invites Leonardo to join him, but Splinter then tells the Turtles about Saki's true identity, the Shredder, thus Leonardo refuses and the Turtles become the Shredder's archenemies, especially after the reveal of his true identity as the Utrom criminal Ch'rell, who caused the Utrom spaceship to crash on Earth a millennium ago, thus set up a chain of events that led to the turtles and Splinter's mutation. Throughout the series, Donatello would assist the team via his technology.
Through much of the fourth season, Donatello and his brothers, save for Leonardo, are fully healed and recovered from their battle with the Shredder. When Leonardo is away to train with the Ancient One, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Splinter are seemingly killed by Karai, now the new Shredder. Thankfully, they survive and find a new lair. Leonardo then returns and battles Karai before telling her that he's giving her one last chance to leave his family alone.
In the fifth season, Donatello and his brothers become the Ninja Tribunal's acolytes, and he is the first one to focus his energy through his Amulet of the Acolytes. He and his brothers train themselves to fight against the Tengu Shredder, of whom the Utrom Shredder stole identity from. In the Fast Forward season, he and his brothers alongside Splinter are accidentally transported to a hundred years in the future, befriending Cody Jones, Casey and April's descendant, and Serling, while battling evil forces like Cody's uncle Darius Dun, Sk'Okanabo and Viral. They return to the present in the Back to the Sewer season and fight against a cybernetic copy of the Utrom Shredder, dubbed the Cyber Shredder. They then attend Casey and April's wedding. The Turtles also return in Turtles Forever, teaming up with their 1987 and later also Mirage counterparts to take down the Utrom Shredder, who was revived by the 1987 Shredder and Krang, once and for all.
Trivia[]
- His favorite color is purple which could be a reference to how he wears a purple bandana.
- According to the sourcebook called The Way of the Warrior, his nickname is spelled "Donny".
