Oh My Gosh I Love This So So Much!!!

So true 🥲

Okay maybe today wasn’t that terrible

🖤🩷🖤🩷

awwwwwwwww <3

teetles

In Defense of Donnie's Gifts

I'm ngl I sorta think the shock collar was still just an odd writing decision but as far as PREMISE:

It CANNOT be a coincidence that this is the first time (and one of VERY few times) that Donnie's soft shell is referenced. Once, when Raph is hesitating to tell Donnie his gifts suck ass, and he uses the soft shell metaphor, and after that with Meat Sweats and his paprika, describing it as not just soft, but delicate. Weird, but he is a cannibal, so. (Side note, Meat Sweats never removed his battle shell? How does he know? Or did he take it off and replace it after the pound of butter? Is he using it to facilitate steaming and tenderness? Is it broken? I feel like it should have something in there that could break him out of the sausage links)

Then in that last little scene- "Forget it. You guys are great the way you are!" - we get the shot of Donnie from behind pre group hug, with his brothers facing the camera. (Idk if I'm making shit up, but I feel like this is a staple for Donnie episodes? It def happens in the Purple Game, maybe Smart Lair.) The framing draws attention to his battle shell. The battle shell even kinda matches the gifts, compared to the rest of their gear and even Donnie's tech, color coded and way more streamlined than stuff like the tech bo.

Donnie's soft shell is an innate, unchangeable part of him, a feature of his species, that he treats as a handicap. Probably MORE unchangeable than the character traits he sees as holding his brothers back, which they do sorta... not mature out of, but refine, rather, over the course of the show. Donnie's shell can't experience a character arc, but he sees it as holding him back. So he FIXES it.

The Mad Dogs don't really have a motivation for beating stuff up besides "Hero Time!!!" at this point. That's why it's so interesting how EARLY this happens, unlike with Mind Meld, he isn't trying to change his brothers to make them better at a task that he actually CARES about. Donnie in particular never gets a super intense moral compass besides stuff that threatens people he already cares about, and he doesn't have any grudges (no Purple Dragons) at this point in the series. Hero Goals are largely devices for him to hang out with his dum dum brothers. I'm not diagnosed or anything but my vibes are certainly... Spectrum-Adjacent, I definitely have trouble with literal thinking and reading people. One thing that happens sometimes is people will be using "task" as "reason to hang," and I will get a lot more fixated on completing said task than I really should, to the point of annoying people. I confuse "Successful Task Completion" with "Successful Social Interaction." It makes me come across as bossy and controlling without realizing it.

So, we got a Donnie who thinks Arbitrary Goals are essential to Hero Bonding, who has been treating his life like an mmorpg - armor upgrades, skill trees, grinding, sometimes fighting through random dungeons to hang out with his bros. He's probably even slightly better at Fighting Stuff than his brothers atp, he isn't dealing with a mystic learning curve and his special interest has been Weapons of Mild Destruction for years already. His brothers want to level up, take harder missions, he tries to get them there with his access to High Level Loot.

Of course, his brothers are all min-maxing, not trying to multiclass their purple ass out of squishy glass cannon town. So, it doesn't go well. Unfortunately, the lesson Donnie learns (besides brotherly affection) is that his brothers don't NEED fixing like he does. Mind Meld and Donnie vs. Witch Town sorta finish this arc out as best as the series can.

Where I would have liked to see this go:

A S2 Donnie's Gifts or Mind Meld style episode (Donnie tries to improve his brothers, to their dismay) where the motivator isn't goal completion, but protectiveness. We see a bit of the fear in Purple Game, a bit of the contingency planning with the escape pods in the movie. Maybe a more upfront "training montage" type scenario, a high tech robo dojo to develop their mad skills, or just a tense moment after a skin of their teeth Genius Built rescue.

The brothers confront Donnie eventually-- not just the passive conflict resolution of Donnie's Gifts. They get mad. Push Donnie to the point he's at in Turtle-Dega Nights. They get a rant about not wanting them to get hurt, of course, but also that he's already done so much to FIX himself, make sure he's not a LIABILITY, why can't they at least try to stay SAFE? The dangers are real now, and as far as Donnie knows he REALLY can't do anything about threats like the Shredder. His tech did nothing the first time. His brothers are the ones with the mystic mojo, and they don't even realize how SERIOUS things could get.

Anyway. Protective Donatello my Beloved. Let my boy go apeshit.

//I REALLY Like the 2003 episode where Leo is hurt and Donnie is fucking PISSED at Usagi. All Donnies should be allowed to enter a feral protective rage, as a treat.

//If anyone knows of any Purple Game Aftermath fics lmk. Like, going home, getting donnie out of the evil gamer chair, guilt, whatever. or just good Purple Dragons being Assholes content.

How it feels to find a fanfic where your favorite character is going through literally the worst horrors you can imagine

Y'know, I've really come to appreciate the fact that Leo doesn't give in and surrender his room to Mikey here.

Leo's no push over. He's not weak to the youngest's pleading. He's not going to give up what's his just because his brother was pouting.

Don't get me wrong - I love the 'Leo can't say no to his little brothers' trope. But the 03 version especially has always felt like a team of 4 equals, to me. Sure, Leo's the leader. But there's no rank, no seniority. Not like we see in other versions, anyway. *Cough. 07 and Bayverse. Cough*

They're quadruplets. No one's the oldest, no one's the youngest. They'll all go full Papa Wolf mode to protect each other from genuine threats. But they're also all on the same level as siblings.

No Little Brother Privileges.

No Big Brother Duties.

They're just Brothers. 4 Brothers.

lol iykyk

what real suffering looks like

UM……. YES PLEASE?!?!

🥸

💯💯💯

Headcanon that even though Donnie is bad with feelings/physical touch, his brothers still seek him out for comfort because he's always there for them.

Leo wants to talk with someone about the argument he just had with Raph? Well, Donnie might be a bit awkward with emotions, but he's sure a good listener. He gives very honest advice; he'll tell Leo when he needs to go apologise, but he doesn't judge Leo or pry on the situation. Donnie's very calm about everything, and Leo gets very comfy just confiding in him about things.

Raph needs to not be alone because Savage Raph is acting up? Donnie is consistently in his lab. Sure, Donnie kicks his brothers out a lot, but that's mostly when Leo drops by to annoy him. Raph doesn't annoy Donnie, he doesn't necessarily want any kind of touch or special attention. He just needs to be around someone sometimes, and Donnie is perfectly fine to provide that.

Mikey is anxious/worried about something? Donnie is great at rationalizing stuff! He can and will spend twenty minutes explaining why the things Mikey is anxious about will never happen. Plus, Donnie is... surprisingly good at managing stress? His "data collection" is basically just an easy way for him to ground himself. Donnie has little tricks for when things get Too Much, and Mikey starts to pick up on these habits/use them to make himself feel better.

At first, I think Donnie is kinda oblivious to this, but once he realizes what's happening, he starts leaning into it? Like, he starts paying more attention when Leo wants to talk with him about stuff, instead of constantly dismissing his brother. He notices that Raph will come to his lair nearing a Savage episode, so he sets aside simple tasks for Raph to distract himself and feel useful. He realizes that Mikey is imitating him, so he keeps track of which coping mechanisms Mikey finds helpful.

Just... Donnie supporting his family, in his own way.

Me: Ugh, I had such a bad day! I can’t believe that person would be so cruel… *spies computer*

My MC: Please don’t.

Me: *sits down at desk* We suffer together.