| “ | For many years I have lived in the shadows, training my adopted sons in the ways of Ninjutsu. I have tried to prepare them for the worst that the world has to offer - hoping it would never come. But we are running out of time. Our family is strong. I only hope that we are strong enough. | „ |
| ~ Splinter |
Hamato Yoshi, also known as Master Splinter, is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside April O'Neil) of the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series. He is both the adoptive father and sensei of all four of the Turtles. He is wise, mature, and highly trained in the art of Ninjutsu.
He was voiced by Hoon Lee who also voiced Shredder from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and his 1987 counterpart from Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, replacing the late Peter Reneday.
Biography[]
Born on 1960s in Osaka, Japan, Hamato Yoshi grew up as the son of Hamato Yuuta, the leader of a secret clan of ninjas called the Hamato Clan, alongside an adopted brother named Oroku Saki: a child born to the master of his clan's rival the Foot clan. While he did have a friendly rivalry with Saki, it soon turned to hate when a woman Tang Shen came into their lives, and while both of them loved her, Shen only returned Yoshi's feelings and he soon led an idyllic life her and they soon had a daughter they named Miwa.
Sadly, Yoshi's life was forever changed when being urged by Shen to retire from his ninja heritage & come with her to America, Saki had grown to upset with how his love life went down & it only worsened when he discovered his true heritage, prompting him to rebuild his clan and attack Yoshi for stealing Shen. Upon seeing that his adopted brother had sunk too far in his anger, Yoshi urged Shen to leave the dojo they were in so he can fight fight Saki alone without her or anyone else getting caught in the crossfire. Before long, Yoshi's battle with Saki soon caused the whole building to catch fire but Saki is still determined to kill him and Yoshi is soon backed into a corner, but just before he's killed Shen (who had foolishly went back to try & stop the fight) stepped in-between them but got killed by Saki's strike.
Completely mortified by this, Yoshi furiously shoved Saki out of the way and cradled Shen's body just before a bunch of burning remains of the roof came crumbling down on them. But just as it looked like that he would join Shen in death, Yoshi somehow found himself outside of the dojo, but is still saddened over Shen's death, which is made even worse when he couldn't find his daughter anywhere in-sight, this alongside with the fact that his father is slowly dying as well makes Yoshi decide to truly give up Ninjutsu for good.
Following the deaths of his family and believing he's got nothing left in Japan, Yoshi honored Shen's wish where he moved to America and found a home in New York where he changed his named to "Splinter" & lived his life alone, but that also changed when on one fateful day, he decided to find some companions for him and bought four pet turtles, but after leaving the pet store he noticed a a strange man walking by him. Sensing something very wrong about this, Splinter secretly followed him in an alley where he met another man & he gave him a canister filled with strange goo, but his position was soon given away and while he managed to fend them off, the canister broke and (because the last thing he touched was a rat) he was soon mutated into a half-rat man while the turtles (who touched him prior) became anthropomorphic.
Despite this crazy predicament, Splinter decided to raise the turtles as his own sons. Fifteen years later, when the Turtles are old enough and trained in ninjutsu enough to go to the surface, the threat of Saki raises its' head again, and the ancient war between the Hamato and Foot Clans begins anew. While his sons are the primary combatants, Splinter continues to train them and shelter them at home, as the mystery regarding the disappearance of his daughter begins to unravel and the flames of his own rivalry with Shredder continue to be fanned seeing as the two would fight many times.
After Raph jeopardizes a mission Splinter would tell a grumpy Raphael that anger can indeed jeopardize the people around you. Yet again, Splinter tells of his harsh past. He explains that his temper against The Shredder is what ultimately caused one of his own family members to get killed before his very eyes.
Appearance[]
As Hamato Yoshi: Yoshi is tall, lean and muscular, with dark brown eyes and black hair. He wears a red kimono with his clan's symbol when he lived in Japan. During the time that he resided in America, he wears a whitish blue polo shirt, along with brown pants.
As Splinter: Splinter has black, brown and white fur, with a droopy white beard, whiskers, a pink tail and a pink nose. He still wears the red kimono that he wore in Japan. Unlike all of his past incarnations, Splinter is taller than each of the Turtles.
Personality[]
Splinter is many things to the Turtles - A wise sensei, protective parent, loving father, stern disciplinarian, quirky master and Zen philosopher. He is determined to train and protect his new family at all costs. The fact that he has gone through decades of ninja training does not only mean that he is always fierce when he fights, but that he's also remarkably in tune with the universe.
Splinter can be very strict when it comes to training and letting his sons venture up to the surface; as seen in many episodes. At certain times, he may use harsh methods in order for them to learn a lesson, as seen in "The Pulverizer Returns!", in which he took away his sons' weapons so they could learn to fight outside of their typical environment. In "The Noxious Avenger", however, Splinter was at an unreasonable height of anger as he refused to let the Turtles defend themselves when grounding them, and worse yet, he still refused to let them off despite them fixing their mistake in the end. Nonetheless, Splinter is a loving father who only wants what is best for his sons, and will do anything that he can to protect them from harm's way.
Abilities, Skills and Powers[]
Splinter nearly overpowers Tiger Claw with his martial arts prowess.
Originally, as a human, Yoshi was a great and powerful master of Ninjutsu. He was training for his entire life when he was very young. He has mastered many skills and has great abilities, such as great strength, acrobatics, speed, stamina, and endurance greater than Olympic athletes and had pushed his body to peak physical condition. Splinter seems to be very adept in regard to the mind. For instance, when the Rat King attempted to hypnotize him, Splinter was able to defend himself from Rat King in his own dreams.
Splinter has perhaps trained in the ways of ninja for all of his life, which makes him very methodical in physical situations, and able to act easily in difficult situations that require thought. Even though his mental fight with Rat King was rather strenuous, he still easily defeated Rat King with his sons' help, showing that he had to combine his thoughts with his physical power, which ultimately led him to nearly kill The Rat King. Splinter's feelings for his former family; his daughter, Miwa, who was taken away from him by his arch-nemesis, and his deceased wife Tang Shen, who was killed in a battle, as well as his determination to hold onto his current bond with the Turtles are ultimately what give him the majority of the abilities he has today. He could also seemingly read his foes' thoughts and predict their next move, implying that he can sense the projections of opponents (and use his keen hearing). This seemed to be evident during his fight with Shredder, during which Splinter also demonstrated his ingenuity by using his natural abilities as a mutant rat in the fight (something that he had never shown before, as he focused on training the turtles in more human skills), such as catching Shredder's blade in his teeth and running on all fours.
Despite the Shredder's combat prowess, Splinter nearly defeated him, until Karai ultimately made her interference. When April O'Neil's psychic powers first became evident in her ability to sense Dr. Tyler Rockwell, Splinter revealed to her that he has similar abilities, but had to hone them over a long time through training and practice; this sets him apart from April and The Kraang (who are already natural-born psychics to begin with) and Dr. Rockwell and Dr. Victor Falco (who were augmented with psychic powers). In "Monkey Brains", Splinter has the ability to fight without thinking. In "Annihilation: Earth!, Part 2", Splinter's fighting prowess are impressive enough to defeat foes more powerful than himself like several Triceratons soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. With combination of his fighting skills and mutant abilities, Splinter was a formidable opponent and easily one of the greatest combatants on Earth.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first incarnation of Splinter to be killed onscreen in any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles media. The 2003 version of Splinter was also killed by the Shredder in the episode "Same As It Never Was", but it happened offscreen and was in an alternate timeline.
- Splinter and Tiger Claw are the only characters in the show to speak Japanese to each other.
- In the trailer for the season two finale "The Invasion, Part 1" and "The Invasion, Part 2|Part 2", Splinter says, "No, you are making a mistake", as he struggles while trying to fight Kraang Subprime off. However, in the final product, he says nothing.
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