The Secrets We Inherit ♡ Donatello X Stockman's Niece!Reader 《 Part 2 》

hey guys have you ever heard of THE CHARACTER. i’m thinking about THE CHARACTER. honestly can’t even get shit done because i’m thinking about THE CHARACTER. i’m listening to a song and imagining THE CHARACTER. all i know and love is THE CHARACTER

Me: this idea will be a short fic, something to get me back into doing some writing quick

Also me: *immediately writes 9k words*

Part 2 of my fic is almost finished but I have to actually edit things because I write like a madman on speed, oh my god....

You can't tell me this isn't their dynamic a majority of the show- Donnie / Raph are also 5 seconds away from losing their shit and Mikey / Casey are always the victims of their wrath (While Leo and April either just exist in the back or try to "mediate" the situation-). 💀 LMAO || To be honest, I originally made this video at Mikey and Casey's expense, since it was meant to demonstrate Donnie and Raph's similarites and why I love 2012 Brawn + Brain even though we barely got any real content for them in canon,, 😔 🫶 🧪🔭🔬 / 💪💥🤬

Wow, this video is super old,, I haven't drawn like this in ages- 😭 Lmao

(Old Content)

“But if you forget to reblog Madame Zeroni, you and your family will be cursed for always and eternity.”

The Secrets We Inherit ♡ Donatello x Stockman's Niece!Reader

A/N: Soo apparently I'm incapable of writing short chapters hahah, this was originally much longer but I decided to keep the first part as a prologue or you guys would have to read through 8k words of my ramblings

This was originally supposed to be only around 5k words at most but it uh, sort of got out of hand, good news is next chapter is mostly done and it will be around 7k words

Summary: After your eccentric uncle, Baxter Stockman, vanishes without a trace, you're the only one who can investigate his sudden disappearance.

But your life takes a dramatic turn when your search leads yoi into the underbelly of the city and you stumble into a world of mutants, ninjas and crime syndicates that controls the city.

Armed with nothing but stubbornness, determination, and a few gadgets you built yourself, you find yourself tangled in a world far stranger— and much more dangerous— than anything you could have ever imagined.

Context: This story starts in Season 1, Episode 11: Mousers Attack! And goes from there.

The reader is Baxter Stockman's niece. Whenever I watched this show, I thought Baxter Stockman had so much Girl Dad™ or Girl Uncle™ energy. I mean, LOOK at him he has such dorky uncle energy, and you can't convince me he wouldn't teach his niece how to weld and create little robots—OF DOOM— while he tells her his world-domination plans.

Content Warnings: There is only a vague phantom of proofreading in between drafts, read at your own caution, mentions of blood, some minor injuries, reader is a certified nerd and a bit dorky, swearing

Word Count: Around 2k words

----

You stared down at your phone, the little red dot pulsing on the screen. That was it—your uncle’s current location.

After weeks of unanswered voicemails, fruitless visits to his apartment, and even showing up at his old job only to be told he was fired after breaking the copy machine and then terrorizing his coworkers not once, byt twice— you’d had enough. If he wasn’t going to call, fine. You’d find him yourself. It wasn’t even that hard. All it took was a little signal triangulation—a trick he’d taught you himself. He’d probably be weirdly proud.

But what didn’t make sense was where the signal led: not to some dingy apartment or cheap motel, but to a run-down warehouse on the edge of the city.

You'd tried the main doors to no avail. You circled the building, looking for a different way in. No windows. No cracks. Nothing. Your gaze drifted up. Maybe the roof? If only you could reach it…

You deflated until you saw a different building with a fire escape and a garbage dumpster close by. You could reach the fire escape with it. But you'd have to jump from one building to the next.

You shifted nervously on your feet. Maybe you could make the jump, maybe.

"This is so stupid," you muttered, walking over and clambering onto the dumpster. Your hand scraped by something sticky and wet, and you gagged, wiping it off on the wall before you pulled yourself up toward the fire escape. "This better be worth it."

With a grunt, you hoisted yourself up and jumped for the fire escape. It creaked violently under your weight and dipped down with a sharp *clank.* You shrieked, clutching it tight.

"Okay… okay…" you breathed, heart thudding. Slowly, you climbed the stairs, hearing your dad’s voice in your head with every step: *This is not something you got from my side of the family.*

At the rooftop edge, you glanced between buildings. It wasn’t a massive gap—but it was enough to make your stomach drop.

"Oh boy…" You hold on and take in a deep breath. Thankfully, you wore regular sneakers today.

You paced nervously in circles, bouncing on your feet and shaking your hands.

"Okay, okay, I'm doing this. I'm really doing this."

You hyped yourself up with little jumps and then sprinted, legs pumping, and leapt—only to hit the edge hard. Pain shot through your ribs as your hands scrambled to catch the ledge. You shrieked as you dangled for a second, kicking, and with one final heave, hauled yourself up.

You flopped onto the roof with a wheeze, the cold concrete soothing your scraped palms.

"Oh, sweet mother of God," you laughed breathlessly, staring at the stars. "Uncle Baxter is so gonna hear about this when I find him."

You rolled to your knees and crawled toward the warehouse skylight. You expected to have to pry it open but instead found a neat, circular hole in the glass—like someone had already cut their way in. A wad of gum was stuck to the discarded glass near the edge.

"…Weird."

You slipped through the opening and dropped onto the catwalk inside. Voices echoed just call out for your uncle. What if they were dangerous?

You crept forward, heart pounding, and tucked yourself behind a stack of rusted crates. Carefully, you peered over the edge—and your jaw dropped.

There was your uncle, hunched over a computer, typing furiously. Looming beside him was a hulking, monstrous dog-man, all claws and snarls. An asian looking man stood at his side. The dog growled something low and threatening, gesturing sharply at your uncle to hurry up—apparently to crack some encrypted phone. Your uncle winced and nodded, typing faster.

To the right, chained against the wall, were two turtle-shaped figures. Humanoid. Green-skinned. Wearing differently colored bandanas around their eyes. Bound by heavy steel restraints. You stared in disbelief. What the hell was going on here?

I must have fallen off the building, I hit my head and now I'm in some kind of hallucinatory coma. That's got to be it. You think, it was the most logical explanation.

You pinch yourself to test the theory. The sharp pain travels up your arm and you flinch, rubbing it to ease the pain.

This is a very realistic hallucination.

"Almost done," You peer up as you hear your uncle's voice. The faint light of the computer reflecting in his glasses. "Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, yes! One hundred percent! And processing, processing... C'mon... And finished!"

You crouch lower behind the rusted crate just as glass rains from above—a shattering explosion of light and sound. You raise your head slightly in order to get a better look at whatever just crashed through the ceiling.

The two figures that drop through the ceiling land hard and fast. And they're not just anyone.

They're— More turtles?

"The turtles!" The hulking dog mutant growls, lip curling in fury.

The newcomers straighten—one clad in blue, the other in red. Twin katanas in hand as the one in blue points directly at the chaos unfolding.

"Not so fast, Dogpound! And... Dexter Spackman?" he accuses, voice sharp.

"Baxter Stockman!" the scientist shrieks in frustration.

The mutant dog— or Dogpound as the turtle had called him, doesn’t wait—he charges, massive claws swinging. But Blue is faster. He sidesteps with practiced ease and dashes for the desk. Dogpound snarls— but before he can run after blue, the turtle with the red bandana charges and lands a kick to his muzzle.

You can see Baxter run towards his desk, but before he can swipe the phone off the table, the turtle in blue slams his katana and grabs the phone.

"How did you escape my mousers?" Stockman snarls.

"We didn't." Blue replies, and as soon as he does, dozens of mechanical robots crash through the ceiling, a screech of whirring metal following suit.

The red turtle dashes forward, slashing the chains that held the other turtles. "We’re here to save the day, as usual," he smirks.

"Oh yeah, looks like you guys were doing great." Replied the one in purple with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"You try fighting two thousand robots!" Red snaps back, pointing at the chaos unfolding behind them.

Your jaw is slightly ajar. You can't believe your own eyes and ears, and you're barely breathing. Your fingers scramble for the phone in your pocket. You clutch it tightly and hit record, trying to capture what you can from the safety of your hiding spot.

"Mikey!" Blue shouts. The orange-masked turtle looks up, and Blue tosses the phone to him in a perfect arc. "Keep away!"

Mikey bolts as the dog mutant lunges after him, tearing through crates and cables in a frenzy.

You sink deeper into the tiny corner of your hiding spot as both of them run past you at full speed. You take a deep gulp and pray to whatever gods there are that you don't get found right now.

"Wow! A gamma camera!" You hear a different voice and peak through the space between the crates to see the tallest turtle, the one with the purple bandana analyzing a small piece of tech from one of the mousers. "It detects radio isotopes. That must be what he's tagged you with."

"How do we get it off?!" The red one screams, slicing a mouser in half.

"You can't. It wears off gradually. But if someone else got sprayed, they'd give off a stronger signal."

Suddenly, a startled yelp echoes through the warehouse as the orange-masked turtle crashes down from the second floor in a tangle of limbs and momentum, hitting the ground with a painful thud. Above him, Dogpound lunges—his massive, misshapen hands raised high, jagged claws glinting under the flickering light as he prepares to bring them down like sledgehammers.

But before the blow can land, a blur of motion cuts through the chaos.

A sharp crack splits the air as the purple-masked turtle vaults in from the side, his bo staff whipping through the space between them with precise, practiced force. The impact slams into Dogpound’s side, knocking him off balance and forcing him to stagger back with a furious snarl. The orange turtle blinks up in wide-eyed relief just as his friend plants himself protectively in front of him, staff raised and ready.

"We've got to get Stockman's spray. It controls the mousers!"

"You mean that thing?" Orange asks, pointing at your uncle holding some kind of spray.

"I'll handle this, dog-man! One spritz and they'll be mouser chow!" Your uncle is ready to spritz the turtles with the sttange looking spray, and your stomach drops. What is he going to do? But before you can even process it, the red turtle comes from nowhere, throwing two precise ninja stars at the spray, which explodes on top of your uncle and the mutant.

Without warning, the mousers halt mid-lunge—just as they’re about to shred the shell-backed brothers to pieces. Their glowing eyes flicker, their heads twitching in eerie unison. Then, like a switch flipped, they swivel toward Dogpound and Stockman.

The warehouse erupts into fresh chaos.

With metallic snarls and snapping jaws, the robotic swarm descends on Dogpound, clamping down on his tail and clawed legs. He howls in rage and pain, swatting them away as sparks fly. In the confusion, your uncle bolts—arms flailing, coat streaming behind him—only to promptly trip over one of his own creations and faceplant hard into the concrete.

You facepalm slowly and drag your fingers across your face at the scene.

Dogpound snarls and yanks him upright, holding him with a clawed hand. Just as the brute starts to drag him off, a sharp ring cuts through the chaos.

Ring. Ring.

Dogpound sees the phone on the ground, lost in the chaos. He smiles as he picks it up in between his claws, but his win is short lived.

Thunk! A precisely aimed blade whistles through the air, embedding itself dead-center in the phone. Sparks sputter as the device falls in pieces.

"Hang it up, Dogpound," the turtle in purple calls. "Your call just got dropped!"

Dogpound growls, baring teeth like cracked concrete. Without another word, he barrels forward—and straight through the literal wall—leaving a man-shaped hole in the warehouse as he drags your uncle out into the night, mousers nipping at their heels.

"Nice job, guys!" The blue-masked turtle cheers as the mutant and your uncle run away.

"Yeah!" Red whoops, throwing his arms around his two friends with an exaggerated grin."From here on out, you're the A- team!"

"That’s probably the best we're gonna get out of 'em."

Silence finally settles over the warehouse, the last echoes of battle fading. You hold your breath. Count to ten. Then, slowly, cautiously, you peek out from your hiding spot.

Silence finally settles over the warehouse, the last echoes of battle fading. You hold your breath. Count to ten. Then, slowly, cautiously, you peek out from your hiding spot.

Nothing. Just a wrecked warehouse and your thudding heartbeat.

You try to take the stairs down—but your legs betray you halfway. You tumble with a grunt, landing hard. The impact sends a jolt of pain through your body, and when your hand touches your forehead, it comes away wet. You lay your head on the dirty floor and breathe in deeply, remembering the way your uncle tripped over his own feet just moments before.

"Runs in the family, I guess..." You mutter, dragging yourself upright with a wince. Every step toward your uncle’s desk is a limp, your sprained ankle screaming with each movement.

You reach the desk and stop. Really look around.

The scorched floor. Shattered windows. Broken robots twitching in piles. Gouges in the walls. Your uncle’s half-melted laptop still glowing faintly. Somewhere, a mouser drags itself in a slow circle, one leg sparking.

You limp closer to one of the walls and see a ninja star buried in a metal beam. Cautiously, you grab it and pull it from the beam, looking at the small indent it leaves behind. Your mouth hangs open slightly.

"What the fuck?"

Welcome back to a re-written 2012 Donatello analysis!

I have posted a 2012 Donnie analysis here previously discussing his obsessional behaviour, and it was quite well received. However, it is not as put together as I would've liked it to be. Vague ideas were mashed into a post after I ranted about aspects of his character to an online friend.

But, I've had some more time to think - this will be a bit longer, and cover some different scenes and ideas, as well as repeating some of the things in my previous analysis - in general, hopefully a more concise and enjoyable analysis of his character.

: IMPORTANT NOTE : To make it clear, I do not support stalking/obsessive behaviour - whatever the reason behind it may be - and I do not want to make it seem like I am infantilizing Donnie in this analysis.

The whole point of this analysis is that I like to be aware of characters' less-than-ideal traits and discuss what the root cause of them might be. The possible/suggested causes does not excuse this behaviour, rather explains it. And people should still be held accountable if they have made another person upset/uncomfortable.

Without further ado, onto the analysis.

I think Donnie's biggest issue is how he looks.

In the 2012 iteration, we never really see any of the turtles have a strong desire to be human, to change how they already are. Mikey sometimes doesn't understand that humans will be scared of him, (Like when he tries to return a cat to its owner, dismissing his brothers when they warn him the owner would be scared of him) but Mikey never has a big moment and lashes out like, ‘I want to be a human so I can make more friends!’

We also see Mikey wonder what he'd look like as a human in an episode after Donnie creates retro-mutagen, in which Mikey assumes he'd turn into a human instead of a regular turtle if he were to use retro-mutagen on himself. It is played as a joke though, as he is seen smiling in the scene following and doesn't seem to show any true disappointment/distress etc towards being how he already is - a mutant.

Raph openly declares himself as ‘handsome’ in Season 1, Episode 2 - so that rules out Raphael, and I don't remember any scenes with Leo being upset or having a negative view attached to being a mutant but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Interestingly enough, Donatello seems to have the most trouble coming-to-terms with the fact that he's a mutant and can't change that out of his brothers.

Outside of being a mutant, it is implied that Donnie already has a fragile self-image anyway.

Remember the episode Turtle Temper? I think it's the third episode of the first season. But at one point, the other turtles are instructed to shoot arrows at Raphael while he has to try and avoid them - Splinter makes it clear, however - that the others are allowed to insult Raphael.

I've seen a content creator say that the insults they throw at Raphael could be more internalised opinions they have on themselves rather than genuinely thinking these crude things about their own brother - think of it like bullying, in the sense that you're often told ‘bullies like to make fun of others because they're insecure themselves’.

People often take out their anger about their insecurities and place them onto other people if given the chance.

Leo says, ‘And you're always whining, poor me, nobody understands me.’ While this is easily applicable to Raph as an insult from Leo, Leo has also had his own fair share of moments where he has gone to Splinter complaining that the others aren't respecting or listening to him, that they don't understand the burden he holds as leader.

Mikey tells Raph he moves like a bloated buffalo. In other words, you're slow. You can't keep up.

And Donnie says, ‘Oh! You can't keep your back straight during Omote Kote Gyaku! And you're ugly!’ I think the first part of this insult is what really hints this is more so them projecting views of themselves than genuinely insulting Raphael. Donnie, out of all of them, is most likely to feel insecure about his height, a lot of teenagers can feel awkward or uncomfortable as a result of their growth spurts, tall individuals are also more prone to slouching.

Donnie also probably spends quite a lot of time hunched at his lab desk, which could also contribute to his posture. I'm pretty sure he is also called ‘scrawny’ in an episode by Karai, but if not Karai, some other character, and Donnie responds, ‘And I'm not scrawny! I'm svelte!’

Raph has also insulted Donnie's looks before, and, although it is unclear if it's a common occurrence, knowing Raph's character it has most likely happened on more than one occasion.

Donnie : And why do you keep grabbing me by the face? What is wrong with my face?!

Raph : Do you want me to list the reasons alphabetically or in descending order of grossness?

So regardless of being mutated or not, it seems like Donnie just has a generalised lack of confidence and some issues surrounding how tall he is.

But onto his issues regarding being mutated.

Donnie might’ve previously not had any issues with being a mutant. Before, it might’ve been just a general lack of confidence, as I have already said. Before April, his brothers would've been the only thing to compare himself to. He lived in a home with only mutants for fifteen years of his life - so had normal teenage issues of going through puberty and insecurities. Tons of people dislike their growth spurts, which is why Donnie's issues at first might seem like normal things for a teenager to worry about. Donnies biggest issue was how scrawny and lanky he saw himself.

But when they meet April, there is a glaring difference.

Suddenly, there is somebody in his life who isn't a mutant like him. It becomes abundantly clear to Donnie that from somebody else's viewpoint, their biggest issue with him wouldn't be his tooth gap or his height, but the plain fact that he's so different. Inhuman. Out of the ordinary. A mutant.

In ‘Mutagen Man Unleashed!’ Donnie says, ‘I'm worse than a nerd - I'm a freak! We're all total and complete freaks-’ This shows that Donnie went from having individual and relatable insecurities to believing that simply being a mutant inherently means you are ugly.

Especially when you consider the fact that, individual-traits-wise, Donnie and Casey both share the same traits, they both have issues with their teeth, and they’re both scrawny and fairly tall - realistically Donnie should believe they're on somewhat equal grounds of ‘unattractive’ qualities, but Donnie seems to believe Casey is naturally at an unfair advantage because he’s human.

As I said, Donnie has begun to associate his very being with ugliness, and so sees Casey as a threat thinking April will lean more towards Casey for the sole fact he's human. Donnie doesn't think that perhaps Casey's behaviour or the way he treats April is what might potentially win her over - when Donnie is ranting to Mutagen Man about why April might be hanging out with some punk kid (Casey) the conclusion he comes to is ‘because he's human, that's why.’

With a smile on his face and a look of anger in his eyes, the way he phrases it and his expression almost comes across as, ‘I knew it.’ It's like he's self-validating his presumptions at this moment.

Donnie tends to get scarily territorial over April, even going as far to try and forcibly push the two apart when April and Casey hug at the beginning of ‘A China-Town Ghost Story’, seemingly oblivious to the fact he could also possibly harm April in his shoving.

If he genuinely loved and cared about April as a person, he'd be more concerned about the fact he could hurt her - instead his eyes are on Casey this whole scene - his competition, the threat, the thing that might make his fears a reality.

Looks are a very important part of gaining a partner in society, Donnie might not love April as a person. Rather, he sees her as a piece of evidence that could potentially soothe his insecurities. If he wins her like some prize, it'd be like saying, ‘Look! I'm not ugly after all because someone wanted to be my girlfriend!’

If he loses April to Casey, it’d be confirming his idea that mutants, as a whole, are ugly.

This whole root cause of his obsessive and almost protective nature over April and wanting to keep her away from Casey really comes to light in the Season 2 episode, ‘Fungus Humungous’ where mutated fungi spreading across the sewers make our heroes hallucinate their worst fears.

Donnie has two scenes displaying his fears. The first is one of April, with sharp teeth and white eyes, and is a lot bigger than him. Which creates a feeling of inferiority, ‘Levels’ is a technique used in theatre. It refers to the use of different heights and positions to convey certain messages. It's often used to indicate status or communicate character relationships.

Here, it's a perceived relationship that Donnie has between himself and April. Donnie doesn't think mutants and humans are equal, Donnie truly believes that mutants are smaller or not as important as humans and his fear represents that visually by the way his vision of April quite literally looms over him.

Donnie doesn't think mutants are good enough. It's like the nerd not being good enough to hook up with the pretty, popular girl - reflecting back on what Donnie said earlier - ‘I'm worse than a nerd, I'm a freak.’ If we think of it on a ladder of ‘not being good enough’ he thinks being nerdy puts him below on that ladder, but right at the bottom, worse than being a nerd, is being a mutant. And that's why his vision of April is so ginormous. She's right at the top of that perceived hierarchy that Donnie has built up.

This vision of April calls Donnie an ‘ugly mutant freak’ it's unlikely April actually thinks this, but it's what Donnie thinks she does.

The next scene we see is a vision of a bunch of tiny April's kissing Casey.

I think it's noteworthy that the ‘ugly mutant freak’ part comes before the kissing Casey part. The two scenes are quite literally split into ‘Words’ and ‘Actions’. In the first scene, April has a sharp tongue that is used like a whip, going through Donnie's heart and subsequently breaking it.

‘To have a sharp tongue’ means being critical of someone, speaking in a way that is unkind though often clever. I think this shows that, over anything, it is April's words that break his heart more than her actions like kissing Casey. Mutants being seen as freaks is his actual biggest fear. He just doesn't want those fears to be confirmed - which is why that scene of April kissing Casey comes after.

This fear of humanities' dislike and rejection towards mutants existed before Casey came into the picture, he just became a threat and therefore added to Donnie's worries which is why Casey makes an appearance, but he isn't the main problem.

The first scene is what truly makes Donnie crack, he starts screaming, runs away, and shouts that he ‘doesn't want to hear anymore.’

-

In Season 3, an episode titled, ‘A Foot Too Big’ when Donnie starts to apologise for his behaviour, he says ‘I'm just… a mutant.’ The word ‘just’ implies that being a mutant is all Donnie has boiled himself down to, he doesn't think his other traits are worthwhile, like him being loyal, inventive, and funny because at the end of the day he thinks nobody will be able to see him outside of being a freak and therefore doesn’t care about other aspects of himself.

When April kisses Donnie at the end of this episode, he doesn't even seem to enjoy it like he usually does. Which is odd for Donnie, as he normally gets excited or gloats about being kissed by April to Casey. I know people say he's confused because April has a habit of leading both Donnie and Casey on, but I think the words she says right before she kisses him is what confuses him.

‘You're not just a mutant, Donnie, you're my mutant.’

The whole point of the episode is that Donnie is supposed to get a taste of his own medicine, where Bigfoot is following Donnie around. But Bigfoot is a monster. Donnie’s behaviour is being parallelled in a monster.

When Donnie is told, ‘now you know how April feels’ by Raph, he partly comes to the realisation that April feels like he is clingy and love bombs her with gifts, (Like how Bigfoot follows Donnie around and consistently makes Donnie soup) but Donnie also acknowledges that April is being followed around by something inhuman and that might play a part in making her uncomfortable.

If we, as the audience, are meant to look at Bigfoot as a parallel to Donnie, that should also include Bigfoot's other traits and the way other characters act toward her that prove Donnie feels ugly.

Bigfoot wants to look better and feels ugly. When she believes she is not good enough for Donnie, she asks April to help her give herself a ‘makeover’ before trying to show Donnie affection again.

Other characters, such as Leo and Casey, also make fun of how Bigfoot looks, with Casey asking, ‘You think she's his type?’ As a crude joke. Donnie has had his looks made fun of before, and his brothers seem to share similar sentiments that Donnie doesn't have a shot with April and thinks of his crush to be a waste of time - the other characters react the same way to Bigfoot's crush on Donnie.

And so when Donnie apologises to April, he not only feels the need to acknowledge his overbearing nature, but also to apologise for simply being the way he is, knowing she might feel embarrassed or uncomfortable that a ‘creature’ that has no shot with her is drooling over her and following her around.

After all, Donnie felt embarrassed when Bigfoot kissed him, and all of his peers laughed at him.

When Donnie was kissed in Target: April O’ Neil, it was directly after Donnie was thanked for his actions in saving April, and it made him feel good about himself in general, shouting ‘I looooove being a turtle!’ which is a rare instance of Donnie showing a positive attitude towards being how he is. Being loved in itself and being thanked for something understandable made him feel confident.

Donnie believes April likes Casey for being human, so when April says she likes him because he's mutant - for what he is, not who he is, it confuses him. Donnie thinks April doesn't care about who Casey is either, but Donnie thought he'd never be on equal grounds with Casey in terms of what he is, again, because he thinks mutants are lesser than.

He believes and everyone else around him believes that because he is a mutant he had no chance, at the beginning of the episode Raph said, ‘She's a girl, you're a giant talking turtle.’

Donnie believed who he was didn't matter because he thought what he was would make people dislike him.

And in April's words, who he is still doesn't matter, but she's showing a positive attitude towards him being a mutant. That's what confuses him so much.

April doesn't forgive Donnie’s apology for his obsessive behaviour, she forgives his apology for being different. April doesn’t say something like, ‘But you’re smart, loyal, determined,’ before kissing him, she says, ‘You’re my mutant’ before kissing him.

Donnie has never received positive comments from April about good aspects of his personality, or even comments about enjoying spending time with him - times Donnie has been kissed, hugged, and/or received comments of praise from April has been directly after acts of service where Donnie puts himself in danger for her wants/needs;

(Operation: Breakout, Season 1, in which Donnie goes on a solo mission to rescue April's father) When Donnie works tirelessly to resolve her wants/needs, (Donnie's several attempts to make retro-mutagen for her father) or when Donnie has literally almost died, (waking up after Donnie came close to dying in Dream Beavers, and after coming back post being molecularly scattered in ‘The Power Inside Her’)

This creates an extremely negative correlation in which receiving affection comes after self-sacrificing behaviour, putting her needs over his, or near death experiences, especially when you consider how Donnie's more tame and realistic attempts at affection are met with abandonment, dismissal, or odd looks.

When Donnie tries to offer hugs to April, she looks at him oddly, and Donnie quickly switches to ruffling her hair, and he seems to go stiff and looks anxious/awkward after. When Donnie calls her a nickname she agrees to ignore what was just said. When Donnie makes her a music box at the beginning of ‘A Foot Too Big’ she makes the excuse of needing to train and leaves Donnie by himself instead of addressing the issue if she didn't like the gift.

Hugs, nicknames, and gift-giving are met with negative responses that create negative feelings in himself as well.

Self sacrificing behaviour is met with positive reactions from April, as well as positive reactions from those around him as the action usually resolves some sort of problem (like Donnie rescuing April's father, the creation of Retro-mutagen) and even Splinter telling Donnie to ‘never give up hope’ in regards to pursuing April.

So Donnie now has two things to associate kisses/hugs with:

Self sacrificing behaviour.

Being a mutant.

And he doesn't understand.

-

I honestly think Don Vizioso is a physical manifestation of how Donnie feels. I always thought it to be a bit weird that a villain and a main character shared similar names, as Donnie has also been called ‘Don’ in the series as a nickname before.

Don Vizioso believed that mutants are freaks of nature that don't belong, a scientific mystery to be studied, which is scarily the same ideas that Donnie has about mutants.

Don Vizioso’s restaurant is the only building we see in the whole series with a ‘No Mutants’ sign. Donnie has a preconceived notion that the whole world is against mutants, in truth, barely anybody knows about them to say that’s true. All that hatred for what mutants are and the belief that mutants shouldn’t be accepted anywhere is all contained within Don Vizioso’s restaurant. Contained in Donnie’s mind.

I find it no coincidence that Donnie is the one to be put into a dehumanising situation and almost be dissected by Don Vizioso.

‘Vizioso’ translated into English, means things like depraved, vicious, immoral, and the next time Donnie has a run in with Vizioso, how is his actions perceived? Immoral. Vicious. He's quite literally going on a killing spree to face his own ideas, to confront Don Vizioso, his own anger and violence.

When Donnie is about to kill off Vizioso, Leo tells him to not lose sight of who he is, which makes Donnie pause.

Donnie believes mutants aren't ever going to be accepted by humans, that they're freaks. And nobody wants to believe that, he wants to erase those violent thoughts toward himself and other mutants by killing Don Vizioso, a manifestation of his own opinions - but if he kills, he is just going to prove what he thinks humans assume mutants are. Vicious monsters.

And that isn't who Donnie is, Leo reminds him of that. Maybe those negative thoughts of him being a freak won't go away, and maybe humans would actually think they're monsters if they ever got exposed - but if Donnie feeds into violent behaviours he's making those thoughts into true statements.

Donnie knows a killer isn't who he is, and in that moment Leo reminds him of that, he comes to terms with his mindset and realises he has the power to change how he thinks in a more healthy way, deciding not to kill Don Vizioso.

If you're part of a minority/marginalised group, you may struggle with things like internalised homophobia, racism, and ableism because of the way the society around you has built negative stereotypes around those groups. You may hate your own thoughts and hate the world for making you think that way.

It can be hard. If you act out in violence, unlike white, or straight, or able-bodied people, you are more likely to have your differences blamed for your violent behaviours. You feed into people’s stereotypes and negative ideas of certain groups unintentionally. If you struggle with internalised ableism, racism, homophobia/transphobia, the first step is coming to terms with your mindset, and finding a healthy way to accept who you are, and know that stereotypes and preconceived notions don't change you.

Never lose sight of who you are.

-

END SUMMARY:

2012 Donatello is a character with a complex and negative perception of who he is, with many things contributing to that fact.

At the end of the day, Donnie doesn’t seem to actively be after love or April as a person, rather simply a feeling of equality and confidence in general.

He wants to prove his thoughts that mutants are ugly wrong by gaining April as a girlfriend, aware that in society looks heavily contribute to having a romantic partner. Donnie seems to be afraid of humans rejecting mutants in general, but because April is the first human he has a personal relationship with, it’s shown through her.

As for equality, in relationships it's expected that you are treated equally and that no one is superior or inferior to the other, you both have equal say. Donnie is shown to feel that mutants are inferior and not good enough for humans, as shown by how much larger April is than him in his hallucination, and may also crave some sort of feeling of equality by getting into a relationship with someone he deems to be superior than him.

Donnie has also claimed April as some sort of thing to own, in the episode, ‘The Gauntlet’ by saying ‘There's a creature out there trying to hurt my April’ but apologetically changes it to just ‘April’ after he notices April's raised eyebrow at the choice of words. However, when April calls him ‘my mutant’ in ‘A Foot Too Big’ she doesn't stick around to see if he even likes it, or still wants to be in a potential relationship with her after the apology, quickly walking away.

And Donnie definitely doesn't seem to like it, being left confused and upset.

LEAVING NOTE : Thank you for reading, and I hope it was a bit more in - depth and well explained than the last analysis! I just want to say this isn't an attack on April’s character either - the writing isn't great in 2012, each character has noteworthy flaws and I don't think one character's behaviour is ultimately worse than another, including April's. Both her and Donnie are flawed, just like other characters, and I love them both.

Donnie while saying 'Because he's human, that's why.'

Donnie, at the end of 'A Foot Too Big.'

Master splinter be looking kind of different :0 lol can't believe he used to voice 2012 splinter haha

Aaaa I love this so much and I can totally see the resemblance, it would have been so good if this was explored in the show, especially considering how at times Chris Bradford/Dogpound seemed to be a loose parallel to Leo and Fishface clearly was very similar to Raph and even seemed to have a redemption arc being foreshadowed, especially in Baxter's gambit and him helping the turtle's when TigerClaw starts Shredder's cult.

I would have loved to see that kind of dynamic explored more.

I think it would have been really funny for the main 2012 Shredder villains to have a similar dynamic to the 2012 Turtles- Where they're constantly doing goofy stuff as group or getting in each other's way during missions but in a really dumb way? I don't know how else to explain that- Lmao

(I missed a lot of little details + I was going to color it but I didn't, I'm sorry- I'm super tired and I got my blood drawn today which sucked ass, so I just wasn't feelin it- 😭)

Donnie would be a fool to think his older Sister wouldn't be as much of a threat as his brothers- LMAO

I was originally gonna do something different, since my goal was to draw some sibling dynamics with Karai, but then this idea popped in my head and it made me laugh- I was gonna include Raph laughing hysterically in the background and even making a comment about how any of them (siblings wise) could ask April out better than Donnie could, but I didn't have enough time since I promised to start up Shredder's Revenge- 😔👍✨