13:2 - Atom (Ray Palmer) vs. Donatello (1987)

[UMPIRE]

SEASON 13, ROUND 2

Atom (Ray Palmer)

Slot: The Team's Scientist
Season Wins: 0
Season Losses: 0
Fantasy Team Page
Read more about Atom (Ray Palmer) at this Wiki
Official Site: D.C. Comics

Donatello (1987)

Slot: The Team's Scientist
Season Wins: 0
Season Losses: 0
Fantasy Team Page
Read more about Donatello (1987) at this Wiki
Official Site: Nickelodeon

Battle Terrain
Team Scientist Challenge: Science Fair

[Twogunkid]

Donny can show a little flashier stuff than Ray. Plus giant turtle is naturally more eye catching than tiny guy

[RakaiThwei]

Considering that 1987 Donatello created an interdimensional gateway from junk found lying around junkyards and the sewer which we see in the early episodes of the 1987 TMNT show... Yeah, Donatello definitely has this.

Imagine what he could do with top of the line stuff.

Hell, in Turtles Forever, he helped 2003 Donatello create an interdimensional wand from a flashlight that allow them to travel through universes!

[Macklemore]

On the other hand, Atom has the ability to become very, very small and also travel through telephone. That technology, for me at least, would be very useful. Get a call from a friend, friend says "Dude where are you, you're missing out" (It's my Life by Bon Jovi was the inspiration for this quote), and I just jump through my phone to get to where my friend is. So practical. So needed.

[RakaiThwei]

Did I mention that Donatello also invented a portable portal projector?

 

[Magnamax]

So the Atom is definitely the smarter/more accomplished scientist of the two. His work is in dwarf star power, which is how he became super powered in the first place. He’s renowned as one of the best physicists in the DCU as well. Given that, I think he has the ability to pull off something very innovative in a science fair format.

 

Donatello’s inventions always strike me as very functional but sort of toony. Ray is more likely to come up with, say, a renewable energy source or some such. I also don’t think Donatello is well suited for the showmanship part of this, given that he’s the least outgoing of the group. Ray has some better flash (literally able to shrink to go through phones, etc) and I think would be able to sell another group of scientists better than Donatello.

 

Ray served as the science liaison to SHADE, and developed a full Coty shrunk down to three inches to operate out of. He’s essentially the scientist the Justice League calls upon.

 

he’s also developed technology and been able to travel between worlds at a quantum level. I think Ray just has a pedigree that is higher than Donatello when we’re looking at potential to develop something truly exciting in a scientific community.

[RakaiThwei]

I think Donatello might be sold a little short here, especially this version of Donatello.

While Palmer is indeed an accomplished scientist, I would think that Donatello is the more impressive considering the fact that he's developed interdimensional gateways to go through different dimensions, and even universes in the TMNT multiverse quite early in the Fred-Wolf TMNT series. And this equipment is made from nothing more than junk that he's found either in junkyards in New York, or somewhere lying around in the sewer. And keep in mind, Donatello has to be somewhere in the 15 to 16 year age range when the Fred-Wolf TMNT series began. The fact that an adolescent Turtle, who's seemingly had no formal education as he was already an adolescent when we see him and his brothers mutate in the first episode, Turtle Tracks, is nothing short of MIND BLOWING considering the fact that he's BUILT interdimensional gateways at such a young age with equipment that he had to scrap together.

Also, Donatello is quite familiar with intraterrestrial (as in aliens who are from other dimensions as opposed to extraterrestrials who are interplanetary) technology and even has incorporated into many of his inventions as seen in the TMNT canon. Donatello is so well versed in technology, that somehow he's able to operate alien tech with little to no instructional familiarity (although this does SOMETIMES results in unintended consequences such as breaching his universe into the 2003 4Kids TMNT Universe via Krang's technodrome).

Also, in the Red Sky season, episode "The Day the Earth Disappeared" Donatello even so much as managed to stop planet Earth from being absorbed into a black hole which Lord Dregg created as a means of to attempt to bring it to another Dimension.

So if anything, I would expect Donatello to use some Neutrino or Dimension X tech in some of his inventions.

[C.T.]

Yeah, for impressing others at a science fair, feel Atom’s got this.

[Magnamax]

I think the key here is that they are securing funding. Both have the capability of inventing things like multiversal travel, but Atom is going to be better at getting scientists to work alongside him. Something like shrinking functioning cities down can solve so many issues: overcrowding, food shortages. Throw in something like Dwarf Star studies, and that is going to catch scientists’ eyes more than strict inventions designed to solve specific problems.

 

Atom works as a liaison to the UN, so he’s already used to this sort of role of having to sell people on his science. Overall, I still feel Palmer has an advantage in terms of completing a project that will have far-ranging use and appeal.

[RakaiThwei]

So I found a list of Donatello's inventions as far as the 1987 Fred-Wolf series is concerned. I don't think it's a complete list though.

https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Donatello's_inventions_(1987_TV_series)

A lot of his inventions range from the reasonable to outright bizarre and ridiculous (BECAUSE TOYS!) as this is the cartoon version of Donatello. As mentioned, this list doesn't really have ALL of his inventions listed, as hes' also invented de-mutation rays, a cloning and refining machine (episode Donatello's Duplicate), and many other inventions which I cannot even recall (I have the 1987 TMNT Complete DVD set-- and I'm STILL watching the set).

I do recall that Donatello did have some friends in the scientific community, and he even rescued one in the earlier seasons. So it's not unreasonable for him to also have help in the realm of the scientific community as well.

As for solving World Hunger... Donatello's ATTEMPTED that and SUCCEEDED...

https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Food_Revivifier

However, this ultimately backfired because of Michelangelo's BUMBLING when Michelangelo accidentally used the machine to revert Leonardo and Raphael to a de-aged infant state.

Also more info on Donatello's Interdimensional Gateway which he built in SEASON 3... which he later upgraded and refined with various versions as the series went on.

https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Portable_Portal_Generator

[DSkillz]

Hmmm ... 

Donatello may have the edge in imagination and inventing on-the-fly, but Atom has more practicality and experience. In a science fair, I might give the slight edge to Palmer.  

[UMPIRE]

Match Final Results

Atom (Ray Palmer): 11
Donatello (1987): 7