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Master Splinter or simply Splinter is a mutant rat. He trained all of The Turtles.

Mirage

1987 series and Archie comics

In the 1987 series, Splinter was changed to be Yoshi himself, and was framed by his rival, Oroku Saki (who would eventually turn into his future arch-enemy, The Shredder), for trying to murder their common dojo master. Being unable to prove his innocence, he ran away to New York, where he lived as a hermit in its sewers and befriended the rats.

One day, he came across four baby turtles which were accidentally dropped by a boy through a grate of the sewers. He kept them as pets and treated them like his sons. But later, he found the turtles venturing near broken barrels that were oozing glowing pink chemical liquid. As he tried to recover them from danger and attempted to clean them with his bare hands, they were all affected by the chemical which was a special mutagen. This mutagen transformed any living being into a mutant whose body became mixed with the DNA of any other living being it was last in contact with. The turtles, being touched by Yoshi Hamato, turned into young anthropomorphic humanoid turtles. Hamato himself, having lived in rat-infested sewers for so long, turned into an anthropomorphic humanoid rat.

Since then, Hamato brought the turtles up, and gave them the names of his favorite Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, who were to be distinguished by their personality and headband color. He also taught them the art of ninjutsu in order to protect themselves and help to confront the Shredder and his hordes from the Foot Clan.

Hamato was given the nickname of "Splinter" by his adoptive sons, due to the way he easily splinters his enemies. (In the cartoon, the nickname comes from his proficiency at breaking wooden boards)

He is portrayed as a light brown-grey rat in a pink kimono, wearing white bands on his feet.

In the Archie comic series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Splinter is the same as in the 1987 series, because the first issues of the Archie comics follow the cartoon.

In Japanese dub of 1987 series, his true name is "Takeshi Yoshihama:タケシ・ヨシハマ(吉浜武士)".

Movies

The movie origin followed more closely to the original Image Comics then the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series). Splinter was the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi in Japan who followed the teachings of his owner from his cage. When forced to America and after his masters death, Splinter found himself in the sewers of New York where he found four turtles.

One morning Splinter awoke to find the turtles playing in a glowing green goo spilling out of a broken canister. Soon, he noticed that not only were the turtles changing, so was he. Eventually, he grew to his full mutated form and began to teach his adoptive sons the ways of honor and the path of the ninja.

Where in the first film Splinter was a dignified father figure for the Turtles, in the subsequent sequels he became more of the "hip" elderly person offering more and more one-liners with each sequel.

Finally, in the TMNT (2007 film) he had once again reverted back to his origins of the dignified master, and father with only a handful of humorous scenes in his role.

Image Comics

The Next Mutation

2003 series

Master Splinter

Splinter in the 2003 series

Splinter started his life as an ordinary rat in Japan who found his way into a home owned by the Ancient One. When he was discovered, his life was spared by Tang Shen, the Ancient One's adopted daughter, who took him as a pet. As in previous versions, Tang Shen became tragically caught up between Hamato Yoshi and a jealous rival, this time Yukio Mashimi, a childhood friend of Yoshi's. The two of them eventually joined the Utroms and became Guardians. But Mashimi's jealousy of Yoshi, both for his advancement as a Guardian, and the love of Tang Shen, led him to murder Shen and betray the Utroms to The Shredder. Yoshi killed Mashimi in revenge and went to America with the Utroms, taking Tang Shen's pet with him, and giving him the name Splinter. Later, Yoshi would be tracked down and killed by the Shredder, who tried to force him to reveal the Utrom's location. In this continuity, it was Hun that Splinter scratched as his master Yoshi was attacked, and not the Shredder.

He is portrayed as a dark gray rat in monks robes. He is also referred to during the Battle Nexus story arc as 'Hamato Splinter', indicating that in this series, Hamato was the surname, not the given name, of Splinter's master. Splinter also had an opponent in the Battle Nexus named Drako, who would prove to be a dangerous adversary of the Turtles.

Lost Season

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