Do you read TMNT fanfic? Do you want to encourage more discussion around fanfic? Do you want to yell from the rooftops how good this one fanfic you read is?
Then do it more--
But also, maybe check out some of these nominated fics!
>>Nominations Spreadsheet<<
There will be a full month to read fics you're interested in if you would like to vote come July 1st!
All nominations have been put into a big chart of fanfics regardless of votes or nominations! Also fanfics will win digital ribbons that can be put on profiles or on AO3 pages. Hooray!
I'm so happy to see the TMNT Fanfic awards back! There are so many absolutely STELLAR authors and fics out there. I've been collecting them in my head like shiny pebbles for years - I'm so happy they get to be shared this way! Big thanks to those running the competition.
And thank you to whoever nominated "The Baby" for Mikey-centric fic! I'm so excited to be a part of this. ❤️
Do you read TMNT fanfic? Do you want to encourage more discussion around fanfic? Do you want to yell from the rooftops how good this one fanfic you read is?
Then do it more--
But also if you would like, you can nominate some fanfics!
The rules are included in the survey. The survey will be open until the 1st of June! Then voting will begin!
For the TMNT Fanfic Reader's Choice Awards 2026.
All nominations must:
Have updated between January 1, 2022 and present day
Must be a fanfic
All nominations will be put into a big chart of fanfics regardless of votes or nominations! Also fanfics will win digital ribbons that can be put on profiles or on AO3 pages. Hooray!
**UPDATE** May 19, 2025
We've heard you on the time restrictions! That will now be updated. Any fanfics between January 1, 2022 and present day now qualify! Also, some categories have changed, or been added!
All nominated fics will still be kept but you are allowed to submit again with older fics if you like. This will be a one-time thing, since it's been such a long time since there's been any sort of fic awards. We plan to do this yearly (hopefully again in February), so this is a chance for fics that aren't yet 5+ years old but are in that sweet spot of 2022-2024 to shine.
Sorry about all the messiness, we're figuring things out as we go! Like I said, next year should be a little more organized now that we're settling everything.
Categories can now be found in the quick rule post, linked above! It also includes some more in-depth rules so you can know ahead of time what counts and what can get you disqualified. Some categories have changed, so be sure to double check!
Five months after the first Turtle Wri-Mo will be Turtle Com-Mo... an event for all readers to participate in! Maybe you just enjoy the TMNT fandom, perhaps you're an artist, or possibly you're a writer who was so focused on writing you didn't get to stop and enjoy reading too! Regardless, this event is for everyone to help build community and support others!
To participate is simple... just leave a comment on a fic, be it one-shot or a chapter, to let the writer know they are not alone and others are reading their stories!
Are there Participant Badges?
Of course! Choose your favorite turtle!
Any milestones or goals?
1st day, 3 days in a row, 1-week streak, 2-weeks streak, 3-weeks streak, 4-week streak, and All 30 Days!
Are there any other Badges?
One for every day you participate! Also... while this is on the honor system, sometimes real-life gets in the way. As long as you comment on average at least once daily, go ahead and grab yourself a badge! (For example... if you're busy with Easter on April 5th, feel free to comment on two fics the next day and reclaim both 5th and 6th! The main point is that comments are being left and, besides, timezones are a thing!)
(Which apparently I have to put in a different post since Tumblr limits up to 30 images!)
We encourage folks to not only post comments, but to screen cap your comment and link to the fics that excite you on all your TMNT-friendly social media accounts.
complimented a cashier on her turtle pin this morning and she said "oh thanks, I am a little bit of a Turtle Person" with the carefully contained energy of Cookie Monster telling you he's mildly fond of chocolate chips
I hope she and the multiple tons of turtle merch she definitely has at home are having a wonderful day
Welcome back to Writing Gems, where I share some of my favourite TMNT fanfics that I've read.
We're back to pure fluff for this next fic
🐢The Baby by Vorticella🐢
03 Mikey has always been the baby of the family. And he knows how to use it to it's maximum advantage.
I always adore fics that genuinely feel so in character that I can hear the VAs saying every line of the dialogue, and this story meets that mark beautifully. It also wonderfully captures 03 Mikey's expert observational skills, as well as his ability to wrap every member of his family around his little finger with ease :)
@blazichu! Hope it's alright if I pull out your tags on the Leo & Don post because I've been chewing on some extra thoughts on this topic and you're speaking right to them:
Because - yeah, I agree, there's definitely a thing where Leo (and the rest of the family too, honestly) have a tonne of faith that when Don puts forward a solution it's going to be a viable option even if they don't understand all the mechanics involved, partly because of the exact track record and general self-awareness you've highlighted! He actually has a leg up on many of his screen counterparts in this area because 2k3 plays the genius thing uncommonly straight: the vast majority of his inventions are practical, useful, and safe; his family is openly encouraging and appreciative of his work; he's cheerfully confident in his abilities ("yes! I love it when I'm right") without showing signs of getting too high off his own supply ("yeah... that might have been a mistake"). There's thus not a lot of the ego / insecurity / social blindness / in-your-face wacky mad scientist impulsiveness that is the main flaw counterbalance for other Donatellos.
At the same time, though? Don is still a kid like the rest of them. He very much still has his flaws, and I would actually argue he hasn't escaped the Donatello Confidence Trap as entirely as it sometimes seems. There are segments of his track record that kind of get brushed over by Leo, in part because there is a level of surrounding familial 'noise' that drowns them out, and there's an argument to be made that some of Leo's trust is given a little too blindly, and that Don has his own share of blind spots for Leo in return.
Like, alright, rolling back to the first season and putting the Leo Vision goggles on: you're fifteen years old, you've unlocked a fun new stepping stone on your leadership journey called "people keep trying to kill you", and you're faced with a sibling unit 2/3rds comprised of “Poor Choice” Raphael and “For The Love Of God Focus” Michelangelo. Thank goodness then for Donatello! Sweet, level-headed, intelligent Donnie, who knows his limits, who will always be real with you, who would never do something irresponsible like field test a glider by flinging himself off a bridge, or hop into the back of a shady van without assessing it for traps first, or wander into a pocket dimension without so much as leaving a note (TWICE), or go haring off after a nuclear bomb without pausing to alert the rest of the family to the situation, or get so distracted by the mechanics of a new technology in the middle of a fight that Karai has to put him back on task, or-
Hmm. Wait a second.
Don insists a few times that any and all trust is well-earned - he's the sensible one, the smart one, not inclined to crazy stunts - and I think he genuinely believes this, as per the above discussion of his casual confidence in himself. He certainly comes across as the most peacefully on-task member in a family of strong personalities. Raph is reckless and prefers action over analysis. Mikey is distractible and a stimulus seeker. They both have a habit of straying under certain circumstances, and a visible part of Leo's growth into his leadership role is understanding when that actually constitutes a problem and how best to check it without stifling the rest of what they bring to the table.
When you tally it all up, though? Don… well, Donnie's a peacefully on-task guy who also kind of just does what he wants a lot of the time. He does not actually pose that much less of a risk of straying in his own way.
Raph's all loud arguments and dramatic gestures about wanting to go bust up Stockman's lab, and subsequently he draws all the quelling attention from Splinter and Leo; Don quietly goes ahead and fixes a Mouser and runs off after it literally right past Leo who is in the middle of fighting Raph about not leaving the Lair. Don wants to save the people trapped in the underground city, and he wants to do it post-haste; Leo all but admits that sometimes there's not much he can do to stop Don when he's on a tear. Don wants to churn out an endless armada of vehicles and outfits and gadgets, and his entire family shrugs and embraces the reality that their brother runs a one-turtle military-grade secret projects factory floor rivalling Bishop.
As much as Don will be open about gaps in his expertise, he can be damn selective about what he shares in general. Most of the time it's played as a fairly harmless affectation - for example, the privacy he maintains around many of his creations during their development phase seems to be because he just genuinely enjoys having his big reveal moments - but there's an unavoidable darker side to the habit when it comes to his major arcs. The King happens, and (in the ending that actually follows him outside the room) he goes and stands silently alone at the window about it, despite his whole family being available to provide immediate comfort. SAINW happens, and he appears to keep a number of key details to himself (since otherwise they'd surely be insufferably paranoid about Don doing anything ever). He continually brushes off and downplays his ill health over the course of the Good Genes arc until he physically cannot keep going. It leaves one wondering if some of the devastation wrought by the alternate Donatello's disappearance might have been mitigated if he hadn't taken so many of his works and plans and thoughts into the dark with him.
None of which is to say Don is especially untrustworthy. All of them have side adventures and moments they keep to themselves, and obviously there are any number of discussions and interactions happening offscreen that we in the audience are not privvy to. I do think there's a level of calculation involved in when he chooses to bring his thoughts openly to the table, though, and when he decides forgiveness will be easier to wheedle out than the permission he doesn't particularly see himself as needing anyway. Leo trusts Don, and Don trusts Leo, but more than that, I think Don trusts himself - the smart one, the sensible one, the one whose stunts are totally well-considered, totally backed by his own rationales, never crazy or risky beyond what he can deal with. A common personal flaw, and not one his brothers escape either, but it can be a little more dangerous in Don, because it's not as well-recognised and accounted for as it is with the others. Because he's not extroverted about it the way Raph and Mikey are, because he doesn't get up in Leo's face in a way that draws all his attention, because Leo is making assumptions based on his own biases. In the first six episodes alone, there are three separate occasions where Leo automatically moves to shut Raph down on a course of action (in each case defying or bending Splinter's wishes), only to cave the moment Don pitches in on Raph's side. While I'm sure that's partly because he's officially outnumbered in those instances, there is nonetheless a noticeable discrepancy in how Leo responds to Don disagreeing with or ducking around him. He has a big bloody blind spot for his fellow quiet(er) one.
It works in reverse too. Don's casual comment that Leo's the last turtle any of them need to worry about is, of course, darkly ironic given Leo is at that exact moment being pursued by the entire Foot Clan - but it's also not even true in a general sense. That very same morning, Splinter had pulled Leo up because he could tell the boy was about to do something ill-considered and risky behind everyone's backs. A couple months ago, he nearly got duped by the Shredder into contemplating partnering with the Foot because it appealed to high ideals that hadn't yet been tempered by sufficient real life experience, and a similar cause leads him to stand in open opposition to Splinter's wishes in “City at War”! “Good son Leonardo who would never misbehave” isn't any more a real person than "sensible Donatello who would never fall prey to arrogance or impulsivity"; it's just a skewed image that comes sliding out of the sibling psyche (and theme song) sometimes.
All of which is to say that yes, Don and Leo really like each other and trust each other and work incredibly well together in a fun parallel way, and subsequently they don't seem to get a lot of pointed narrative focus turned on their relationship. But it's not this uncomplicated "oh, we're just the sensible ones together" dynamic either. I think there are a number of subtle moments where they kind of take each other by surprise like whoa, that's not the image of you I had in my head, and plenty of good narrative juice to be had in exploring just how much they don't necessarily communicate as well as they both think they do, and what sort of deeper understanding develops over time as they grow up and experience all these new challenges together.
(Also a great example of how important it is to have Raph and Mikey around to shove things to the foreground, tbh.)
There's this curious thing in 2k3 where... Don is pretty much the only family member Leo never gets truly sharp with at least once? And I think there's a fair case to be made for it having a lot to do with their particular relationship.
Leo works hard at his iron core of self-control, but it's an open secret that he has a temper, and over the course of the series most of the family cops a lashing at some point, usually when he's stressed or anxious. Leo and Raph have their own occasionally vitriolic love language that leads to them outright throwing down more than once, Mikey earns a couple of sharp dressing downs, and even Splinter takes both a verbal and physical beating during Leo's extended mental breakdown.
At the same time, I've been plumbing the archives over this point specifically and I still can't find a moment where Leo hits Don as an individual with anything heavier than exasperation or a silent Look. He kind of bites at Donnie at the end of Dragons Rising, but even then his anger is spread across the whole team, not aimed at Don alone.
It's all the more interesting because this restraint doesn't quite go both ways! Don's mild-mannered overall, but he absolutely lets it be known when he's tilted into the realms of genuine annoyance: whapping Mikey for messing with the Battleshell, rounding on Raph with a dangerous glint in his eye upon being judged 'cranky', grousing at Splinter about being forced to train on a supposed vacation - and scorching Leo with the sulky underside of Don's injured pride during the same. "There goes Leo, making us look bad again."
(Which is also, incidentally, one of those moments that will always have me arguing for a subtle mean streak being part of 2k3 Don's characterisation. Like, ouch buddy, you know that's a collective sore point.)
It's not favouritism, exactly, but Leo definitely seems to find it easier to extend a measure of grace to Donnie that he really struggles to extend to Raph and himself, and even somewhat to Mikey. Part of it is that Don isn't a 1:1 competitor in the ninja family hierarchy scene; leader isn't a role anyone's expecting of Don, Don himself isn't interested in challenging Leo most of the time, and he so obviously contributes through his tech speciality that he gets cut a fair bit of slack on the ninja front - being excused from training to focus on the crystal problem, copping mild exasperation from Leo at worst for cheating at ninja hide and seek, not getting chewed out by even Angsty Mode Leo (TM) for accidentally bringing an entire spaceship down on their heads.
On top of that, Leo clearly regards Don as the next most 'sensible' brother, especially in those early seasons where Raph's still working through the worst of his impulsive tendencies and they're all still pretty green when it comes to real combat. It's not that he's never anxious about Don (and certainly not like Don never makes a bad call), but he generally just... trusts Don, even beyond the obvious trust earned by being their technical specialist. From where Leo's standing, Don's not going to launch himself into ill-advised fights, and he's probably not going to thoughtlessly poke buttons or goof around at the wrong moment, so he doesn't need to be 'managed' as actively as the other two. He's not quite as serious as Leo, but he's introverted and thoughtful in a way that meshes well with Leo's own tendencies, so Leo just sort of seems to automatically expect that Don's assessments will generally be correct and his decisions sound, because he naturally gels with how Don's forming them. (Of course, this has its own pitfalls - Don insists it's just a cold, so Leo lets it go, and, well... he should have pressed Donnie much harder on that whole situation, as it turns out.)
So yeah, Don gets a lot of grace. And, as noted above, he's not always completely gracious in return: there are a few snide comments, a few unkind laughs and more than a few moments of figuring that asking for permission seems like a lot of hassle when he could just go ahead and check out that blackout or duck off with April into a dangerous side dimension. At the same time, I actually think Don - more than Raph or Mikey - takes Leo's steady shelter for granted. He laughingly remarks in The Shredder Strikes Back that Leo's the one turtle they don't have to worry about; after that's proven rather dramatically incorrect, he tells an unconscious Leo that "you're going to pull through this, I know you are - you have to". Over two months into Leo being sent away to the Ancient One, Don's the one who keeps forgetting he's not there. Leo relies on Don as a veritable fountain of tech and knowledge, but it's partly because Leo's busy doing what he does that Don's been given the space to develop those skills in the first place. Don's often quite taken-aback any time Leo goes down, and always full of wide-eyed relief once his brother's fighting fit again.
It's an understated symbiosis compared the other match-ups you get between the brothers, and the show is strangely reluctant to show the two of them spending much time together as just a pair, but it ends up forming the critical spine of how and why the family makes a successful field team. It helps that we get to see how things go when one or the other is taken out of the picture, and the answer is pretty universally "not well". (Not to say I think it would go much better were either Raph or Mikey removed under similar circumstances, but there's something to be said for the particular practical scaffolding Leo and Don provide in both the day-to-day and in field operations.)
As a final sidenote, I think it's therefore very fitting that Leo's the only brother to distinctly preference the name Don over Donnie! I don't think Don dislikes 'Donnie' at all, but he only uses 'Don' or 'Donatello' when referring to himself, so it's kind of a cute nod to their particular partnership within the family.
It's interesting also that, although the fandom likes to portray Mikey as able to wrap his big bro Leo around his little finger, in canon it's Don that breaks out the pleading to get his way.
Compare that to Mikey's pleading when he wanted to dress up as the Turtle Titan on a mission, and Leo firmly shut him down
Sure, you could argue they're very different circumstances – one is just keeping a salvaged vehicle (something Don does a LOT), while the other is in the middle of a high stakes mission.
But both have Leo falling heavily into that responsible sibling/leader role. (You can also absolutely see where the fandom gets the "Mama-Nardo" nickname from, when he has lines like these! 😅).
What's interesting is that he doesn't compromise and let Mikey wear even part of his costume, but he does indulge Don (and his brothers know he will – Mikey says Don "has a shiny new train car", not he might 'get' one if Leo lets him keep it. It's already a done deal as far as Mikey sees it).
Then there's how both Leo and Don go into full protector mode when the other is down. Sure, they jump to the aid of their other brothers, too. But there's something almost desperate about how intense they get when either of this duo is seriously hurt.
You've already mentioned The Shredder Strikes Back - Tales of Leo arc. If I might also add to it, Don's the most outwardly concerned about Leo at the farmhouse. That doesn't mean the others aren't worried about him: it's just that Don abandons all pretense and lets his concern show openly.
No jokes. No quips. No funny anecdotes. No hiding his feelings behind humour or anger. He's just all worry for his bro this episode. Maybe that's just who Don is, but I also think Leo's beating shook him to his core, to the point he couldn't distance himself with jokes or temper like the others.
Then you get Leo's poisoning in The Big Brawl, and Donnie's iconic Protectiveness™️ coming through so wonderfully.
And on the other side, you have Leo going full "No matter what it takes" when Don double mutates in S4. Yes, I believe he'd do the same for any of his family in that situation, but Leo is visibly lost without Donnie at the lair.
His stoic facade cracks, and he can't keep the despair from bleeding through, just a little
They're both so lost when the other is incapacitated.
Yes this is a real thing that happened yesterday and you cannot change my mind that Donnie wasn't the winner of that auction!!
I know this is a little early for a Christmas post, but I had to hop on this delicious bit of news before someone else did! You can read all about the actual toy and auction: HERE
