Donatello is is a member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and is generally depicted as the genius of the group who has a tendency to confuse his brothers with his overly-detailed scientific observations and thinking - he wears a purple bandanna and utilitized a bo-staff in battle. He's one of the inventors on the team. In his horse form, he wears a purple feather headdress and purple saddle on his back. Unlike his normal form, he doesn't say any words at all.
Info
Personality
Donatello is most extremely intelligent and technical, always working on a strategy, whether it's building machines and gadgets or battling villains; the complete opposite to his free-flowing brother, Michelangelo. Donatello talks a lot in order to describe or explain a situation or theory in full, sometimes even when in the face of danger which can be a problem. He sometimes can be short-tempered, or in other words, high-strung, (but not nearly like Raphael), getting frustrated easily, and shouting when angry, although Donatello is usually kind, caring, and compassionate. He is very protective and complimentary of April (Who is also in teenage years in this adaptation), whom he has a large crush on. Donatello has a more prominent role in this series compared to the original 1987 series, being more active and purpose-driven, but at times, does not understand and/or has quite a hard time assimilating the lectures of Master Splinter. He is the second-youngest turtle, despite being the tallest.
Abilities
Donatello may not be the strongest, experienced, or most talented fighter, but his tactical skills and intelligence definitely makes up for it. He has a good line of defense, and is the best at planning strategies. Donatello's intelligence helps him plan out strategies, and be able to build, fix, take apart, and hack into machines. Though Donatello avoids using much hand-to-hand combat, he is strong when it comes to defense and counterattacks and he seems to mainly prefers kicks over punches. In Follow the Leader, it is revealed that Donatello is able to use impressively quick logical thinking and mathematical calculations while in combat. For example, he is able throw shurikens at nearby objects and/or surfaces, in order to make them bounce off objects again and again in the exact directions he calculated previously. Like his brothers, Donatello is stealthy, can hide in the shadows, sneak around without being detected, and use decent hand-to-hand combat skills.
Biography
Fifteen years before "the Rise of the Turtles, Part 1", the benevolent Hamato Yoshi purchased the four turtles. Yoshi came into contact with a rat and had to fight against a couple of Kraang. The aliens dropped their mutagen causing the mutation of Yoshi and the turtles . Yoshi raised the turtles as his own children and continues to train them in ninjutsu. Donatello's character design was also updated, giving him a gap in his teeth and a taller, leaner appearance than his brothers.
Weapons
During most of the series, Donatello wields a Bo Staff which, like his brothers with their individually chosen weapons, he is highly skilled with. His bo staff can convert into a Naginata.
However, in battle, his staff is often broken or destroyed, which implies he has several. Several examples occur in Metalhead - and a great deal of the episode being dedicated to Donatello's annoyance with this. i.e: Donatello hits a Kraang robot with his staff, which does absolutely nothing. Donatello exclaims in frustration at his staff (furious at how useless it seems to be against the robots) just before Raphael destroys the same robot by throwing one of his sai through it's head. Raphael then turns to Donatello and says that "When we're done here, there's a matching band who needs a majorette." implying that he isn't particularly impressed with Donatello's bo staff either. Soon after this, half of Donatello's staff is burnt away by an energy canon, once again causing him to exclaim angrily at the apparent ineffectveness of his weapon. Donatello dives behind a crate to avoid the canon, and screams, "How am I supposed to fight advanced alien technology, with a stupid stick?!" Later in the episode, Raphael is tending to Spike and says, "Look Spike, Donatello got another stick to break." just as Master Splinter is handing Donatello another bo staff. (Donatello then tells the Sensei that he wishes to upgrade it with modern technoology, to make it more effective, and the rest of the episode follows his endevours, and eventually, he does fight anlien technology - and win - by using the so-called "stupid stick".)
In Pulverizer Returns, Splinter says that the boys are getting too reliant on their own weapons, telling them to swap for once. After this exercise, Donatello is left with Raphael's sai. During a later, more serious fight, the turtles become way too uncooperative with their new weapons and in the end decides to swap back. Afterwards, when Splinter finds out, he take away all their weapons, stating that anything can be useful for true fighters. When Donatello and his brothers are trying to save Timothy, Donatello uses a broom holding and fighting with it in a style similar style to his regular bo staff. In Turtle Temper and The Gauntlet, he also used a Yumi bow and like the rest of his brothers wields shurikens.
In TMNT (2012 series)
Family Members
Leonardo - Donatello's oldest brother. He and Leonardo rarely fight, unless absolutely necessary. They do tend to tease each other often, but never try to hurt each other physically. Although, there are points in the series where Leonardo tends to stress out Donatello while he fixes or opens bombs, locks, etc., as seen in The Gauntlet and It Came From The Depths. Donatello, in return, questions Leonardo occasionally about his plans to see if they're accurate or safe. Leonardo feels like Donatello worries too much, and Donatello feels the same way about him, but they share a strong brother/best-friend relationship and show compassion and always have each other's backs.
Raphael - Donatello's second-oldest brother. He and Raphael do fight occasionally, but tease and taunt each other more. Raphael tends to tease and taunt Donatello about his "dorkiness" and smarts, while Donatello does the same to Raphael about his "meatheadedness" and temper. Overall, they still have each other's backs and care about each other, as they are brothers, but they hardly show that kind of affection.
Michelangelo - Donatello's only younger brother. He and Michelangelo fight the most out of all his brothers, but they seem very close as brothers. Donatello tends to be the actual big brother to Michelangelo, whereas his other brothers just plan out what they're going to do, and just use Michelangelo as a sidekick. Donatello hates it whenever Michelangelo doesn't use his common sense or whenever he goofs off too much, but Donatello still loves him, as he is his little brother and best friend. Michelangelo, on the other hand, looks up to Donatello, and teases him about his huge crush on April, but he always tries helping Donatello; trying to impress him with his nunchuck skills.
Splinter - Donatello's adoptive father and sensei. Donatello tries his best to listen to Splinter's advice, but most of Splinter's words tend to confuse him, which is ironic, because Donatello is never confused once it comes to words. It is shown that Donatello questions Splinter's advice the most, despite being the smartest.
Friends/Allies
April O'Neil - Donatello's best friend and crush. Donatello instantly developed a crush on her when he first saw her, despite her sometimes not knowing how to react, to his immense attraction towards her. There are several episodes where Donatello actually shows his feelings for her, but he quickly takes it back or makes up an excuse, fearing that she'll not accept him and their friendship will go awry. When she discovers that the turtles caused her father's mutation and becomes furious at them (in The Mutation Situation), he is devastated. However, after he and his brothers save her from Karai and her talk with Casey, April reconciles with the turtles and she gives Donatello a hug and a kiss on the cheek as an apology. After it becomes clear that Casey is also in love with April, Donatello's attempts to earn April's heart become even bolder than before, as he keeps trying to one-up Casey's attempts to impress her. In Fungus Humungous, it's revealed that his worst fear is April hating him and leaving him for Casey. In The Invasion, Part 1, as the Kraang are invading New York City and the world seems to be ending, the Turtles have sought cover in the O'Neils' apartment, and April is in the process of tying off an injury to Donatello's arm, Donatello finally tells April that he wants to tell her his feelings. April, who was almost certainly never ignorant of Donatello's feelings towards her, quickly shuts him up before he can speak, telling him to stop talking as it will only make things hurt more, while trying to make it look like she's referring to Donatello's injury. In The Invasion, Part 2 (which picks up immediately after the events of the previous episode), Casey arrives at April's apartment, and April embraces Casey and tells him "I was scared I'd lost you forever," in front of Donatello. Donatello is briefly fazed by this display, but quickly shrugs it off as their crisis isn't over yet. By Within the Woods, Donatello has become paranoid of April and Casey spending any time alone together. In A Foot Too Big, Donatello still tries to keep earning April's heart, but is increasingly frustrated. After Raph tells him that Bigfoot's one-sided obsessive crush on Donatello is just like Donatello's crush on April, Donatello confronts April. He tells her that he intends to give up on seeking her heart, and that he's "just a mutant". To his surprise (and extreme confusion), April calls Donatello her mutant, and gives him a very affectionate kiss.
Leatherhead - Donatello has neutral feelings about Leatherhead. While he sees him as a valuable ally, Donatello's very terrified of Leatherhead; mostly because the running gag where whenever Leatherhead looses control, he grabs Donatello by the face and shakes him like a rag doll. Leatherhead has regretted this action though and he see's Donatello as a good friend like he does all the turtles. After Leatherhead is rescued from Dimension X during Into Dimension X, Leatherhead appears amicable to all of the Turtles, and does not attack Donnie again after this.
Timothy - At first, Donatello was annoyed by Timothy as the Pulverizer in The Pulverizer, but in Pulverizer Returns, Donatello develops a friendship with him. He thought Timothy was a hopeless guy in over his head at first, but then he realized there was more to him. Timothy tries to mutate himself, hoping that he'll turn out to be like Donatello and his brothers. Fortunately, Donatello tries his best to stop him, warning Timothy that the mutagen is dangerous, and could even kill the Timothy if he came in contact with it. Unfortunately, Timothy doesn't listen to him, and optimistically exposes himself to mutagen. Donatello then promises that he'll find a cure for Timothy. Donatello puts the mutated Timothy inside a body tank and indefinitely parks the tank in Donatello's lab in the Garage. From then, Donatello would frequently talk with Timothy about how much he loves April; but this only causes Timothy to develop a crush on April as well. In Mutagen Man Unleashed, Donatello's friendship with Timothy rapidly disintegrates as Timothy siphons entire canisters of mutagen into his tank (becoming Mutagen Man), his tank becomes mobile, and he breaks out of Donatello's lab and returns to the surface, obsessively seeking out April. When Donatello and the other turtles confront him, he fights them, declaring they are no longer his friends. Timothy as Mutagen Man is finally subdued, and Donatello has Timothy's tank indefinitely frozen, putting Timothy into suspended animation. In The Invasion, Part 1, the Kraang discover and partially destroy the Turtle Lair, which must be abandoned. In The Invasion, Part 2, Donnie is briefly returning to his lab for what may be the very last time, and is unable to take the still-frozen Timothy with him. He tells Timothy that he'll try to come back for him later, but that if he can't, that his frozen tank will thaw in about 70 years, hopefully to meet a better world.
Casey Jones - Even though he didn't officially meet Casey until The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones, Donatello didn't like what he observed of Casey with April. He is jealous of how close Casey is with April and doesn't like him because of it (the feeling is mutual). In Fungus Humungous, he gets upset with him when he tells the turtles that he lost April on their way over to the lair. When he and Raphael pinned Casey to the wall, he admitted he enjoyed it, proving how much he doesn't like him. In addition to April hating him, Donatello's worst fear involves her falling for Casey. He does view him as an ally and occasionally friend, but their rivalry gets in the way. After the events of The Invasion, Part 2 when it became clear that there was a real possibility April was falling in love with Casey, Donatello started to treat Casey with even greater hostility and spite. In Within the Woods, a normal training session at the O'Neil Farm saw Donatello and Casey drop their discipline and start brawling, for which April said the two were acting like "caged animals". Donatello was also paranoidly opposed to letting April and Casey spend any time alone together. In Race with the Demon, his relationship with Casey improves after they work together to build the Turtle Racer and take down Speed Demon.
Enemies
Shredder - Donatello's archnemesis. Donatello has heard a lot about the Shredder from Splinter ever since he and his brothers were younger. Even though he never met him until The Gauntlet, he knew the Shredder was dangerous. When he does officially meet him, he is rightfully afraid of him and tries his best to fight him. This encounter does make him and his brothers realize how inexperienced they are in contrast to the Shredder. However, when they encounter the Shredder in Enemy of My Enemy, he, Raphael and Michelangelo are able to stand their ground against him much better.
The Kraang - Donatello's targeted archnemesis. From their Dimension X, the Kraang are partially aware of Donatello's inventions spying on them for information, but never focus on them. Meanwhile, he invents gadgets to spy on the Kraang to gather the exact information that he and his brothers need in order to get rid of them. Donatello is very impressed with their technology. Donatello also has a strong crush on April, and they both discover in The Kraang Conspiracy that she is actually a half-Kraang mutant.
Rahzar - One of Donatello's enemies.
Fishface - One of Donatello's enemies.
Dr. Falco / Rat King - One of Donatello's enemies. Falco is an enemy Donatello was able to defeat on his own.
Newtralizer - He is the Kraang prisoner who escaped with Donatello's help. Also he is the first and only enemy of the turtles whose name was given by Donatello, and not by Michelangelo.
Snakeweed - Snake made his debut in the first episode of the series Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, before he mutated into a mutated weed he was a henchman for the Kraang. Michelangelo then named him Snakeweed.
Spider Bytez - Yet another of Donatello's enemies.
Story of Joining Sora's Team
After the Turtles and the Mighty Mutanimals beaten the Kraang again, Mikey notices a shadow following him, and tried to catch it. Once he followed the shadow to where it was headed, he found a group of pods with monsters and humans. After he destroyed the shadow, and other 6 Heartless, Mikey released the 7 that were in the pods. Sora, Donald, Jinafire, Riku, Goofy, Raven, and Maddy were surprised to see a talking Turtle. After they told each other what happened, Mikey's bothers were shocked at him for bringing strangers into the lair. Before Raphael could pound Mikey, he told them that he already signed up as a member to join them on their adventure and told them that the Kraang already teamed up with the team's enemies and plan to make an ultimate super mega mutant Heartless. After Master Splinter meditated on this decision, he decide for his sons to join and prevent the Kraang from mutating other creatures from other worlds.