Should Donatello have upgraded from a bo-staff to a naginata?

[Candy Kappa]

did anyone say upgrade?



Feel lucky punk?

[CyberCubed]

He did this in the 2012 cartoon. Apparently your 2009 self was heard.

[Donnie]

I was reading the original posts as if they were new until I realized the date. This thread is so old...

[IndigoErth]

Frequent ancient thread bumping; above average interest in the passage of time... I'm becoming convinced that Cubed is a secret time traveler.

[victory_angel]

Originally Posted by triplexxx

That pacifist stuff is a real overstatement I think, he can use sharp weapons if he had to and he's been very vicious on numerous occasions.

Pacifists aren't completely no violence. Pacifism can very from person to person. The spectrom ranges from extream pacifists who are absolutely no violence all the way to I will kill if I have to, but not in this manner. (I.E. I will never use a fire arm mind set)

In the middle range a pacifist will fight if it's required, but more often then not will find solutions where a battle can be avoided. And if battle can't be avoided to find solutions to disarm or incapacitate an enemy quickly. If they are forced into a direct kill they become strongly affected by what they have done and that has an emotional backlash.

Yes, Donnie kills the Shredder and Stockman with no qualms, but in that regard, the Shredder and Stockman were too evil to be considered as human. After all the Shredder was given a chance to die honorably, and instead, he chooses to pull out a granade and says "If I go, I'm taking you with me." So knocking the Shredder off the roof was Split-second decision at that moment.

With Stockman, Donnie keeps him alive as a disembodied brain for years in a secret lab. At one point he goes to that lab and says "If my brothers knew I had you here, they would be cross with me. But I've kept you alive all this time because I felt there was something I could learn from you, that there was something you could offer me. Now I see you are just evil through and through." And then he kills Stockman with a triceraton blaster.

But there are moments where Donnie does experience an emotional backlash after being forced to kill someone, there was that one storyline where they encounter a militia group who have a nuke in their possession. Raph says that Donnie would handle the nuke, but Donnie says "No we should run, I've never handled a weapon like that before and I can't guarantee I can disarm it."

Raph at first starts to call Donnie out as a coward, but Splinter says Donnie's assertions are not wrong.

Later after the whole ordeal is over and the leader of the Militia is killed with his own explosive. It's revealed that Donnie had removed the radioactive core of the nuke so it just acted like a regular bomb. But still, Donnie is heavily affected by having a hand in taking a person's life. He does admit this person had a flawed mindset, but still, all that person truly fighting for was change.

And then there is a point during City of War where Donnie sees Karai being attacked by a foot elite. Not wanting to lose a possible ally, he picks up a nearby gun and shoots that foot elite dead. He then tosses the gun away as though horrified by what he has just done.

So yes, while Donnie depending on the version is violent and cocky, he isn't as involved in the direct kills as his brothers.

Even the 2k12 version he only pulls out his Naginata if they are in moments where it's necessary, which isn't all that often so it's easy to forget he even has a hidden naginata blade, to begin with.

Ironically, the naginata blade as a spear weapon that women are often trained to use in combat. So, they also may not show the Naginata blade all that often unless they want sexist jokes where Raph is essentually calling Donnie a girl.

Also, the 2k12 version does play up the pacifist angle somewhat, but in that version, Donnie doesn't seem to like or want to acknowledge he is a pacifist. After all, he gets relentlessly teased about being a weaker fighter, by his brothers. Raph in particular. So it comes across that if he is more open about being a pacifist it would be like saying he has no place on the team. When in reality he does prove himself as a fighter when he does acknowledge that part of himself.

And later in Tales of the TMNT, there is a moment where Donnie is about to kill Vizioso, and Leo yells out "Donnie, don't lose sight of who you are!" And that statement gets Donnie to see that he's becoming no different than their greatest enemy and that is something that scares him.

I wouldn't put it past Leo to maybe have always known that Donnie was a pacifist, but just never realized it until they met the Fugitoid, or maybe he was just waiting for Donnie to just come out and say it rather than calling his brother out on it.

[Donnie]

There's absolutely no doubt that Donatello is the Turtle that prefers killing the least. Michelangelo is probably right behind him. But as others have noted here in the past, and no doubt I've touched on in past posts on this subject, Donatello prefers to ponder and tinker rather than fight. That's been his personality since 1984, read any detailed biography of Donatello in the early years and you'll find some example that he is the least aggressive Turtle.

[neatoman]

Is a spear better than a stick? Yes.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Donnie

There's absolutely no doubt that Donatello is the Turtle that prefers killing the least.

Don might prefer killing the least but he's always the best to use in a Konami TMNT video game.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Donnie

There's absolutely no doubt that Donatello is the Turtle that prefers killing the least.

I don't think there's "no doubt" in that. If anything, Raphael might enjoy him a little killing, while all the other three have an equal amount of, "Eh, I'd prefer not to kill but I have no problem doing so if need be."

[Hockey Boy]

Maybe if things get REALLY serious, like a final battle with shredder, but Good ol’ Don doesn’t have the heart to regularly wield something like that.

[Peter Palmer]

Donatello has been brutal a fair number of times in the comics. As someone mentioned (years ago), he took his broken bo staff and impaled a triceraton with it in the arena. Don was also the turtle that knocked the Shredder off the roof in their first encounter, killing him. He didn't hesitate to knock a drunk Casey into a river when Casey started getting aggressive with him. He even used a machine gun to brutally kill a member of the Foot Elite in issue 61.

Make no mistake, Donatello was raised to be a proficient killer and we all know he's an excellent student.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Peter Palmer

Donatello has been brutal a fair number of times in the comics. As someone mentioned (years ago), he took his broken bo staff and impaled a triceraton with it in the arena. Don was also the turtle that knocked the Shredder off the roof in their first encounter, killing him. He didn't hesitate to knock a drunk Casey into a river when Casey started getting aggressive with him. He even used a machine gun to brutally kill a member of the Foot Elite in issue 61.

Make no mistake, Donatello was raised to be a proficient killer and we all know he's an excellent student.

I love posts like these. It's important we remind people not to define these characters by the iterations chasing kids' lunch money. In Mirage, they were incredibly deep characters, who suffered depression, fits of rage, PTSD, etc. Products of being raised as militant freaks in isolation.

[Andrew NDB]

As Peter Said, in the very first appearance of the Turtles anywhere -- TMNT Vol. 1, #1 -- it's Donatello himself that murders Shredder.

[Technogeek29]

People more or less brought up the points I would've.

But yeah Don may be the least likely to kill but is no less capable and certainly doesn't shy from spilling blood.