Give Don some love
 

Is it just me or are most of the comments made about him consist of the fact that he's physically the weakest and that Splinter ignores him and stuff like that. We all know he's smart, but there's got to be more to him than that. Give him some love.

In every series Donatello always gets a huge role. He's certainly not ignored by any of the various TMNT writers.

One could argue that Don is the most useful turtle. I'm a raph fan myself but without Don, the guys would have had a difficult time accomplishing anything no matter which medium you look at.

As for the physically weak comment. I can see why you may think that but its more a guile than a cold hard fact. I think audiences tend to equate intelligence with physical weakness. You could say that Don is the most complete turtle because he is both smart, and physically strong.

Yeah, Raph's kind of my favorite, but I do have a soft spot for Don. I know he's a major part in the writing and everything, but I feel like he's taken for granted sometimes because he's perceived to be the one who has it the most together. I thought he deserved some recognition for that.

And I totally agree about the idea that intelligence is equated with physical weakness sometimes.

Donatello's my favourite turtle. When you say "the one who has it most together" I have to disagree. I find there to be something quite dark in Don, be it him clipping fur off of Splinter at Splinter's funeral, or him keeping Stockman alive for years on end in the turtles' old lair (both vol 4).

One of my favourite moments of Don's is in vol4#1, where he rips up a TV antenna and uses it to dislodge a nut coming towards him on a snowmobile. I found that to be Don all over - using minimum amount of effort for maximum effect, thinking things through and taking the logical step - and then a page later he's joyriding on a snowmobile, tearing it up through the sewers.

He's the turtle with the bag of tricks, the tech head, and can kick ass with merely a stick. I love him for that.

I agree with ^^

Seriously, I've never thought of Don as being any weaker than any of the others physically.

I just said that because I vaguely remember somebody saying that he ranked last in strength in an RPG or something.

I think it is more from a fighting stance. That's what I have observed many fans expressing anyway. The 2k3 series is one example. I remember discussions on this board where some have conveyed their feelings that Don is the least skilled in ninjitsu. Often needing help in a fight and what not.

Agree. Love Donny. The badass with a stick.

Interesting... :tconfuse:

:blanksta: What I want to say is, "yes, it's just you". But, since I appear to be the only one who thinks this came straight outta left field... I guess then it's not just you. Still, it is reasonable that he be physically weakest of the group since his weapon is the one with the simplest operating instructions. Not "weak". Just "weakest". Someone has to be, and Don has enough other special qualities.

I do not see anything maladaptive about Donnie clipping off a bit of Splinter's fur. I think he wanted to analyze the mutagen's effects more closely.

I do think of Donnie as one of the more stable and less limbic Turtles.

He does fly under Splinter's radar since he is quiet and well-behaved. But in no way is he less important than his brothers.

I do not think he is the least skilled in Ninjitsu. He passed to the Chu'unin level without problems. He may not get to show off his skills all that much, but that does not make him the least skilled. It would have been an interesting twist if Donnie was the one who would not graduate, but that would have been highly improbable.

I wonder which martial art style does Donnie enjoy the most.

---He was always the most popular turtle on video games (his reach with Bo)

---And he is only turtle to get major star to voice in tmnt movie's (corey feldman)

stupid glitch mistake
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...utrino/don.jpg
an even worse mistake

It's because people have only seen the 4Kids cartoon and Imagi movie, and therefore love to wank over him as the sensitive Turtle that understands their shy nerdiness and unathleticism, blah blah blah, bullied in school, etc.

And so, for the second time since joining, I make the statement: fans are retarded.

Donatello is bad-ass in every version except the two mentioned above. And occasionally terrifying in the Mirage version.

He's the guy who break's Shredder's neck in the first issue right.

As Dark Don in the old cartoon he basically took down the shredder himself.

You mean he took on Shredder all by himself in the old cartoon as The Dark Turtle.

He wasn't exactly himself in that episode...or was he? :ttwisted:

Yes, that is what I mean.

He kills Shredder. He throws a goddamn bo staff through his cheek.

Why? Because "f*ck yeah!", that's why.

Another coupla classic moments:

In vol 4, can't remember what issue, when he's shrunk down he gets into a fight with a giant spider - he kinda goes nuts on the thing, like way over the top. His excuse: "I've got a touch of arachnaphobia." And in Return To New York, when he leaps over one of the Foot in a backflip, swinging his bo staff - "No one leaves!" I love that part. In fact, looking at RTNY, issues 1 & 3 are all about Raph and Leo, but issue 2 has got some classic Donnie moments. Michelangelo seems to be the one left out in said arc.

As for the Splinter and Donatello thing - after City At War, when the turtles all head back to New York, Don stays back in the farmhouse with Splinter - so some could argue that he's spent the most time with his sensei...

I'm for Donatello because of the inventions. He comes up with the Turtle Van and the Turtle Blimp--though the original ideas were compliments of Baxter Stockman. Donatello just updated them and made them useful for the turtles.


He is also famous for creating the turtle communicators.

Hehe, another ace moment is from Tristan Jones, which has Leo barking orders down the comm system to Don about checking out some sh*t on the web. Don tells him that he's not the Oracle, not some wheelchair bound lass up in a clocktower, sitting at a computer all day. Leo, quite taking aback, asks what he's doing then: next panel shows Don standing in front of the telly playing Guitar Hero. :lol: genius

Vehicles
 

I think Donatello came up with most vehicles, and even the dimensional portal from season 3.

He just copied from memory as best he could Krang's design. Actually, most if not all his vehicles are customizations, not inventions. Surely vans were preexisting before the Turtle Van came along. The writer's were just compelled to use layman's terms.

Donatello and Raphael are my two favorite Turtles but I have to say that since I started getting back into Turtles again Don has slowly been gaining more ground than Raph for me.

I love the fact that Don seems genuinely empathetic for those that they fight, I think Don has a lot of compassion even if it's toward those that are his enemies.

Maybe that is just me reading into things that aren't there but he just seems to be the least inclined toward violence and damning someone merely because of their path in life.

Not only that but I love all of his inventions and his love of things tech in general. In my mind Donatello also writes code and such.... (I'd like to think so being an aspiring programmer myself).

Airship
 

But I've never heard of airships where the baloon can be separated from the glider. It would probably prevent the Hindenburg disaster.

Don has this weird ability to easily operate alien machinery eg fix the neutrino car and get the technodrome to suck itself into demension x by reversing the chips .

Technodrome
 

Yes, even the first time he tries. :)

Yeah I have to agree. I feel that way for all 4 turtles actually. The newer incarnations seem to have butchered their personalities by over stereotyping their character. I could totally go off on this subject but it would need its own thread. In the old toon and the comics, archie, mirage, video games or what have you they were all equally bad@$$. I don't ever remember feeling that any one turtle was getting the short end of the stick till recently.

/gives Don some love.:tgrin:

Haha, thats awesome. I could always see Donny playing bass or even a Sax. He seems to have a little funk in him! lol.

That was the beauty of Don the the OT. He could make anything out of anything. I loved in turtles forever when he rigged the flashlight and the 2k3 turtles were amazed. :lol:

Irma
 

And Irma seemed to like Donatello in the 1987 TMNT cartoon.

Irma seemed to like every guy in that show... except Vernon. So, this is hardly an accomplishment.

Parabolic antenna
 

I like when Donatello points at the parabolic antenna in "Sky Turtles", but Irma first thinks it's at her.

Donatello could be one of the greatest TMNT characters, if given more screen time, back story, and a bit of a character tweak. All the other turtles are ten times more generic then Don. IMO