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no this is not a reference once so ever

I feel like 2012 Donnie really appreciates and needs Mikey's optimism and bright energy. While this idea came from a few moments in the 2012 series I feel like it can be applied to any iteration of turtles. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on other versions 👀

The moments that started this theory for me are in s2ep11 when Mikey tells Donnie he's sorry about him loosing Metalhead and didn't mind when he grabbed his face.

And in s5ep16 when Donnie's hope for curing vampire Raph starts disappearing and Mikey gives him a bright side to encourage him.

The smile that Donnie gives Mikey in both of these moments looks so soft, genuine, and so so grateful. He could have dismissed him, he could have ignored him, but no, he looked at Mikey with that sweet, grateful smile and hope in his eyes. That last moment in particular got me thinking about what it would feel like being the answer and fix it guy all the time for a team constantly saving the world, and what it would it feel like to be smart enough to actually have all those answers.

We've seen that when Donnie doesn't have the solution for whatever threat the turtles are facing it stresses both him and the team out and can cause conflict. He is working hard constantly but he is a teen trying to save the world, he doesn't have all the answers even if his brothers think he does. Donnie also adds pressure on himself to be the one getting answers for his family, and when things don't go the way he plans he gets very upset as he feels responsible.

But when Mikey steps in with his unending optimism and encouragement, Donnie seems to light up even if just a little bit as he feels hope again. Even if he knows that Mikey's optimism is not based on scientific facts, those smiles tell me he really appreciates that Mikey still believes in him and manages to have hope that things will get better despite everything they've been through. Those two moments that started this whole theory show me that Mikey can break Donnie out of his negative spiral when he is struggling to see the bright side to a failed mission or invention. Maybe that is also the reason Donnie keeps letting Mikey hang out in his lab with him. Cause no matter how angry Donnie gets at him for messing with his experiments, Mikey's perspective is also the one that gives him renewed hope when his experiments fail.

I also feel that since Donnie is a scientist and has an unending desire to learn and develop his knowledge, he has an understanding of a lot of the ways the world works. And I can imagine having all those answers would cause someone to end up being pessimistic or having a very gloomy outlook on the future of the world, especially with everything the turtles see. All that information ends up making Donnie a realist, and that means he occasionally struggles to have hope or see a bright side to a situation if his knowledge is telling him what their future's reality is. Add that to having to deal with threats that put his family in actual life or death scenarios where if he doesn't have an answer he could loose them...yeah that would take a toll on the mental health.

Tus deseos son mis ordenes ˁ๑>ᴗ<๑ˀ espero te guste akjsdkajskdjakjd

The injection is spreading fast—