Franklin Delano Donut

This article is about the original character. You may be looking for the Epsilon created double.

Donut
Statistics
Name:	Donut
Affiliation(s):	Red Team Blood Gulch Crew Federal Army of Chorus UNSC (formerly)
Status:	Active
First Appearance:	The Rookies
Armor Color(s):	Pink (with Sapphire detail since Recreation) Red (originally)
Occupation(s):	Private
Weapon(s):	Battle Rifle, Magnum, SMG, Plasma Grenade
Relative(s):	Unknown
Armor Enhancement(s):	None
Voice Actor(s):	Dan Godwin

"It's not pink, it's light-ish red!"

—Donut referring to his armor in A Slightly Crueler Cruller

Private Franklin Delano Donut is a main character in Red vs. Blue and rookie of the Blood Gulch Red Team. He is voiced by Dan Godwin and first appears in Episode 3 of Season 1 as a new recruit, whose garrulous personality tends to annoy other members of the Blood Gulch Red Team, a group of soldiers engaged in a futuristic civil war against the Blue Team. He serves as the tritagonist of the Red Team's half of the series.

Overview

"Look I wanna show you guys the bunny hop I was working on!"

When the series first began, Donut was shown to be logical, asking decent questions and was willing to participate in the war. However, when changing Donut's armor color to pink in the latter part of Season 1, the producers also made his sexual orientation a running gag, and fully developed his personality during Season 2. Donut has since been portrayed as a fun-loving, questionable rookie, displaying somewhat novice-level fighting ability while also showing feminine traits.

He also seems to be liked greatly on both Red and Blue teams, as his teammates were sad when they thought he was dead and even Church, at one point, stated he was his favorite Red. According to Wilma Jandoc, who reviewed Red vs. Blue for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Donut's personality is developed more thoroughly as season 2 progresses, and he begins to act less sane. Such examples include Donut becoming friends with Caboose, despite being on opposite teams, liking Lopez's love song, and pretending to be a secret agent named "Double-O Donut".

Role in Plot

Misadventures in Blood Gulch

Donut as he first arrives in Blood Gulch.

Donut is alluded to indirectly in Episode 2, when Sarge, the leader of the Red Team, tells his subordinates that a "new recruit will be here within the week." The next episode introduces Donut, who appears wearing "standard-issue" red armor. Grif and Simmons, his new teammates, immediately send him on a fool's errand for elbow grease and "headlight fluid." According to Nick Werner, who noted the contrast between Donut and the other characters in his review of this episode, "seeing such a serious and cocky young recruit being thrown in with the cynical, lazy, and pretty much bored pair of Simmons and Grif was wonderful."

On his way, Donut mistakes the Blue Base for a store and takes the Blue flag in order to avoid returning empty-handed. In response, the Blues attempt to retrieve the flag from Donut (who at the time was thought to be Sarge due to his armor color), but are foiled by Grif and Simmons. The Reds then hold off the Blue's long enough for the now very confused Donut to get back to Red Base with the flag. After the Reds won the battle, the Blues retreat and call Command for help. Blue Command hires Tex who is then sent in by the Blues to retrieve the flag and take care of the Reds.

Donut in his pink armor for the first time.

During the her surprise attack on Red Base, Donut is incapacitated by a well placed plasma grenade and is rushed to command for surgery. When Donut returns from Red Command in Episode 16, he appears in pink armor, which he insists is 'lightish red'. The change in armor color attracts attention from both teams. When Tex attacks the Red Base a second time in Last One Out, Hit the Lights, Donut miraculously manages to kill her with a plasma grenade, in revenge for her previous attack. In Season 2, Donut attacks the Blues with the Reds, being the first to fire and disarm Doc.

After negotiating with the Blues, the Reds witness the warthog come "alive" and nearly kill Sarge. The Reds then discover that Lopez is helping the Blues, where Donut makes an accurate guess that Church is possessing him, which caused Sarge to go "insane" and the jeep to go on a rampage, but the Reds don't believe it. This causes the team to vote for someone to be a cyborg: either Simmons, being so loyal and trusting, or Donut, who's too dumb to ever betray them, but he brings up the fact that it was someone else's turn to suffer. Donut and Grif are then seen outside when Tucker, Sheila, and Lopez "attack", during which Grif is ran over as Donut warns Sarge and Simmons.

Into the "Future"

Donut becomes Sarge's nurse and stays with Grif, making sure Grif would survive. When the Reds need Lopez back, he along with Grif are sent to spy on the Blues, and while alone discovers Doc talking to himself about his plan. He goes to warn his team mates but is captured by the Blues. During his captivity, he befriends Caboose and explains his feelings to him before being traded back to the Reds in the season finale. Doc/O'Malley then attacks all parties and kidnaps Lopez, each team leaves one member behind to keep guard while the others pursue their common enemy.

In what he considers an imbalance, Donut is left with Sheila, the Blue Team's tank in order to prevent either team from "claiming" Blood Gulch. After most of the other Reds and Blues teleport out of Blood Gulch, Tex, who, after returning as a ghost, had suddenly disappeared at the end of Episode 33, returns to the gulch and recognizes Donut as her killer, thus ending the season with a cliffhanger.In Season 3, Donut eventually joins everyone on Sidewinder to confront O'Malley with the aid of Simmons, who tells him how to fix the teleporter. However, a bomb inside Church's robot body blasts most of the characters forward in time.

He ultimately tries to explain to Tucker how it happened through a play he makes, but fails. Donut, along with Caboose then discover a jeep that the group fixes. Afterward, the group reunite with Tex to aid her in defeating O'Malley. However, O'Malley escapes their assault and the crew is nearly killed by a bomb created by Tex, until Church rescues them. In Episode 53, Donut distracts the Blues with a convoluted story so that the Reds can discreetly investigate a distress signal. When they leave Donut behind in pursuit of this signal, Donut manages to steal a Ghost dubbed "The Motorcycle" from O'Malley and rejoin them, but discover they have gone back to Blood Gulch.

Return to Blood Gulch

In Season 4, Donut replaces Simmons as Sarge's right-hand man when Sarge declares Simmons insane for insisting that Sheila still roams the gulch in the future. Donut begins enjoying his new rank and showboated, which caused Simmons to finally snap and join Blue team. After Simmons captured Grif, Donut and Sarge attempted to rescue Grif but was prevented when Church arrived. Donut, not even realizing Simmons as he painted his armor mostly blue, was able to trade all the Red team vehicles for Sarge and Grif, but lied to them about how he got them back.

When Simmons tried to rejoin Red Team, Donut refused to allow him back until he realized it was Simmons before he turned his armor back to maroon. Donut later finds Lopez, so the team took Andy from Caboose to translate an important message Lopez had, only to discover it was worthless. In a cliffhanger at the end of the season, Episode 77, when Donut tries to go see Tucker's alien baby, a large ship drops into the gulch and lands on top of Donut. Donut plays only a minor role in Season 5. He does not appear until Episode 81 where it is revealed that the impact forced him into a previously unseen underground cavern, where he finds two armored bodies. He later finds Sarge in the cavern and helps him regroup with Simmons and Grif, after Sarge makes contact with them. 

Later, Donut gives Sarge the idea to take over the Blue Base after witnessing the Blues infiltrate Red base. When the Reds emerge from the caves they take control of Blue base. While there, they notice the Blues being ambushed by Wyoming. As a result, the Reds (excluding Donut) use the Warthog and eliminate numerous Wyoming clones. Unfortunately, the Reds are infected by Omega, Donut included. He is knocked down by Tex and the latter takes Omega and leaves Blood Gulch. Afterwards, the Reds return to their base, where Sarge and Donut call down Grif and Simmons to name the new vehicle.

Later Adventures

Donut being debriefed.

After his employment at Blood Gulch, Donut was interviewed by the Counselor in Catching Up. Because most of Donut's answers make little or no sense to the Counselor, he cut the interview short and redeployed Donut. At his new base, Donut finds a message from Tucker insisting that he needs Church immediately. Donut then sets out to find the new location of the original Blue and Red teams in order to relay the message. He reappears in Relocated: Part Four, where he begged for water and then muttered something about the sand and Tucker before passing out from dehydration.

In Free Refills, Donut is still unconscious outside the base. However, after Sarge goes down to the holo-room to get Simmons for their staff meeting, Donut was in the Blue Base with Caboose, telling Caboose that he needs to deliver a message to Church. Caboose then tries to explain the events of Reconstruction to Donut, making very little sense. 

Donut tells Caboose that Tucker needs help, muttering something about the sand before passing out. He wakes up later when Caboose steps on his hand. In Catching Up, Donut explains his entire situation to Caboose, including his redeployment, and asks if Agent Washington can help with the situation. Donut, Simmons, and Lopez stay behind in Valhalla while Grif and Sarge decide to go with Caboose to help find Tucker, while

Fighting the Meta

Donut meets the Meta.

After Sarge and Grif leave with Caboose, Simmons decides to blow-up Blue Base. When Simmons takes too long trying to blow up Blue Base, Donut decides to go check on him. Donut finds Simmons staring at the items Caboose collected in Blue Base. Donut tells Simmons that Caboose has Epsilon, which causes Simmons to go frantic because Caboose was supposed to return it in exchange for their new bases. When Simmons can't contact Sarge by radio, he decides he has to go find them, leaving Donut at Blue Base. Lopez builds Simmons mongooses for transportation, and before he goes, Simmons goes back to Donut.

 Donut is cleaning the Blue Base when the Meta walks in. Donut mistakes him for a new "Blue Team" soldier. The Meta tries several times to kill Donut, but Donut avoids his attacks by dumb luck, and thinks the Meta is trying to help him. When Simmons drives to Blue Base, Donut tells him the "the Blues have a new soldier." Simmons sees the Meta and yells as he runs away, leaving Donut alone with Meta. After the Meta chases Simmons back to Red Base, Donut reappears in the base acting casually saying that he didn't know who the Meta was and thought that the Meta was a friend of Simmons.

After Simmons explains what the Meta is, Donut, Simmons, and Lopez plan to escape with a vehicle. The trio then makes a run across Valhalla towards the Blue Base. When the Reds find the Meta's vehicle, they find that the starter has been removed. The Meta sees them and begins to attack until Agent Washington tells him to stand down. Washington asks the Reds where Epsilon is, and when they don't answer, Washington shoots Lopez in the head and Donut in the chest. Donut then collapses to the ground and passes out. Simmons frantically yells at Donut to breathe and wake up.

Recovery

Donut recovered.

By the time of Red vs. Blue: Revelation, Donut is seemingly confirmed KIA by Doc. His body is left where he fell, as the rest of his team is forced to flee from Valhalla. He is not mentioned or heard from again until the closing moments of the sponsor version of Battle of the Exes, when Epsilon-Church orders F.I.L.S.S. to end Recovery Mode for all units. This frees Donut from an apparent armor stasis lock, and he inexplicably revives. His injuries seem minor at first, as he is instead complaining that blood had gotten on his "nice shoes". At some point, Doc returned to Valhalla, found Donut, and began treating his injuries.

While investigating the crash site in Valhalla, Simmons and Sarge go looking for Lopez to bring him back online. They find him strung up as a scarecrow, and come across Donut and Doc living together in a shack next door. Simmons comments on how they thought he was dead, while Donut is only concerned about how hard it was to get blood out of his armor. He later joins the Reds and Blues to go and help Carolina and Epsilon by hijacking a trio of Hornets from the UNSC Police. During their departure, Donut asks Simmons who the blue soldier with the yellow accents is, unaware that the soldier is Washington, the "guy who shot him."

When the group arrive at the Director's secret location at the Freelancer Offsite Storage Facility, Donut manages to rescue Carolina by taking out three Tex drones with plasma grenades. The Reds and Blues then proceed to fight the drones, where Donut is saved from being hit by Washington. As the group becomes overwhelmed, Epsilon shuts down the drones by speaking with the real Tex. He then tells everyone that he and Carolina must complete the rest of the mission alone. After the two do so by confronting the Director, both teams are pardoned for their success.

Stranded on Chorus

In Season 11, Donut is contacted via radio in S.O.S., by the stranded Reds and Blues. Washington and Sarge explain the group's situation to Donut and Donut agrees to rescue them. When Donut arrives with Doc and Lopez, he reveals that their pilot dropped them off and departed afterwards, leaving them stranded with the group. As a result, the teams attack Donut in anger. After Doc heals Donut's wounds, he, Grif and Sarge search the shipwreck while Donut guards Red base. When the three return with dismantled Mantis parts, Donut informs them of the newly created "Basebook shows Doc the capabilities of the website.

After Sarge completes construction on the Mantis, which states its name to be Cyclops, the robot threatens Red Team. Luckily, Cyclops shuts down due to being run by diesel fuel. Donut brings up the fact that Cyclops detected '16' total enemies in the canyon rather than the present 11, prompting the Reds to rush over to Blue base when gunfire is heard. Once regrouped with the Blues, two mercenaries, Felix and Locus, appear before them. Locus tells the crew to come with him, but they refuse and attack him.

When Locus escapes, the group interrogate Felix, who tells them that they have crash landed on the planet Chorus, whose society is currently undergoing a civil war between the New Republic and the Federal Army of Chorus. Felix asks for the crew's help but they decline, only wanting to leave the planet. Nonetheless, they help Felix fend off an attack. After the Reds and Blues fortify their bases, Lopez 2.0 attacks them while in control of C.C. In addition, Locus and the Federal Army appear before the teams, forcing them to engage.

During the battle, Donut saves Freckles from C.C./Lopez 2.0 by sending them through a "future cube" and throwing another near Simmons' landmines, destroying Cyclops/Lopez 2.0. Afterwards, he goes to the top of Blue base and kills several federal soldiers with frag grenades. However, Locus snipes a grenade behind him, knocking Donut unconscious. Despite their efforts, Simmons, Grif, Tucker, Caboose, and Felix are soon forced to retreat, with Donut, Lopez, Wash and Sarge being taken by the Feds.

Battling the Space Pirates

After the Feds treat their wounds, Donut, Wash, Sarge, and Lopez are sent to F.A.C. Outpost 37 and meet General Donald Doyle. Doyle reveals that the Feds are not the enemy and are fighting the New Republic for their acts of terrorism on the planet. He then promises that he will allow them to leave Chorus if they help the Feds defeat the rebels and rescue their friends, which the group agree with. Weeks later, however, Donut and the others unexpectedly run into Tucker, Simmons, Grif, and Caboose at the compound.

They tell each other the truth behind why the two armies are fighting each other and devise a plan to end the war between them. Suddenly, the compound is attacked by Locus and a group of mercenaries, who force the crew to stand down. Felix suddenly arrives and betrays the crew, revealing that he and Locus used them as a means to cause further conflict in the Civil War, all due to their superior wanting the planet free of its inhabitants. Fortunately, Carolina emerges from hiding, disguised as a mercenary, and uses a Teleportation Cube to escape with the group.

Arriving at a secret Forest Base, Carolina as well as Epsilon explain that their ship was purposely crashed on Chorus by the Space Pirates, who are mass-producing advanced versions of the ship's Freelancer equipment. Because of this, the crew analyze Grif's Suppressor and discover a connection between it and the Teleportation Grenades. In order to know who supplied the grenades, the Reds search the ship's manifest at Crash Site Bravo while the Blues search the other half of the ship at Crash Site Alpha. When both teams return, with the Reds obtaining the manifest, the group interrogate a space pirate named Zachary Miller, who teleported back with the Blues.

After Wash and Carolina gain info from Zachary more space pirates attack the base, forcing Wash to teleport the group to a fueling station, where he reveals that Freckles' storage unit contains a tracking device. After Epsilon removes the tracker, Felix and Locus contact the crew and offer them a choice to leave Chorus. Distrustful of the two, the crew execute a sneak attack on the mercs at Radio Jammer Station 1C. There, Donut and Lopez battle a Space Pirate, who shoots Lopez's head off. Luckily, Lopez, still having control over his body, knocks out the mercenary just before he attacks Donut.

Going to War

After Felix reveals the Pirates' plans to Tucker, the Reds and Blues disable the radio jammer, allowing Epsilon to send footage of Felix to the Feds and Rebels at Armonia, who finally learn secret behind the Pirates' involvement in the war. Because of this, Felix and Locus teleport away. After the Feds and Rebels form a truce, they pick up the crew from the radio jammer and thank them for their efforts. Regrouping at the New Republic HQ, the crew learn the true identity of Control: Chairman Malcom Hargrove. When the Chairman declares war on Chorus, the Blood Gulch Crew, Federal Army, and New Republic, accept.

A month later, Donut and the Reds take charge of the armory at Armonia. When Simmons and Grif bring back a collection of Charon weaponry, Donut messes with a plasma rifle that was amongst the weapons until it quickly begins firing by itself, alarming him. This event is due to Tucker accidentally reactivating an alien temple, which destroyed all of Charon's hybrid weapons. After Carolina, Sarge, Dr. Grey and the Blues inform the others at Armonia of the incident the group decide to split up and overtake the pirates while they're down.

Kimball leads Wash, the Chorusans, and the Reds - bar Lopez and Donut - on an attack on Crash Site Alpha while Carolina, Grey, and the Blues follow coordinates the temple emitted. Lopez and Donut, in the meantime, agree to defend Armonia with Doyle. However, after Doyle gets distress calls from both Carolina and Kimball, he decides to send squads to both of their positions while Lopez and Donut drop him off at the east mountains to obtain Chorus' key. When Doyle gets the key, Lopez and Donut land their Pelican to search for him and encounter Grey, Tucker, Caboose, and Doc.

The two Blues join Donut and Lopez in searching for Doyle but, upon finding him, discover that Felix has stolen the key from him. After Felix escapes with Locus on a Falcon, the crew return to Armonia. After Donut brings Doc up to speed on the events that have happened since his disappearance, the crew have Doc hold a counseling session for Kimball and Doyle, in order to improve their relationship. After little cooperation and much arguing, Doyle ends up complimenting Kimball and expressing a desire to work together.

Charon's Final Assault

Unfortunately, the session is abruptly cut off when the Space Pirates attack the city. In order to survive, Epsilon suggests eradicating the pirates by overloading the city's nuclear reactor, with Wash, Carolina, and Kimball being sent to overload it. Meanwhile, Doyle and the other Reds and Blues head towards the Armory to escape on a Pelican, but soon discover that Lopez is stuck inside. After Simmons removes Lopez from the engine, the crew to escape. Doyle, however, stays behind and incites the Pirates into chasing him. After dropping the Blues off in a safe area, the Reds return to the city and pick up Wash, Kimball, Epsilon, and Carolina.

Meanwhile, Doyle ignites the city's reactor in an act of self sacrifice, killing a majority of the pirates and destroying the city. As the blast reaches the Pelican, Carolina uses her bubble shield to protect the crew. The crew then regroups at Crash Site Bravo with the armies, who mourn over the loss of Doyle. Kimball then delivers a speech to the armies that motivates them to fight as one. After obtaining alien artillery from the Temple of Arms, the Reds and Blues assist the armies in attacking the pirates at the Comm Temple, with Carolina and Wash soon joining them after they destroy the Purge.

The pirates then release several Mantises, forcing the Freelancers and Chorusans to fight the droids outside. The crew, meanwhile, enter the temple's control room and encounter Felix and Locus. Surprisingly, however, Locus betrays Felix and assists the crew in killing him. After obtaining Felix's sword, Locus activates the Temple for the crew and disappears, allowing them to broadcast their message. The message transmits to numerous comm devices across the galaxy, revealing Hargrove's crimes. Because of this, Hargrove flies the Staff of Charon to Chorus and releases more Mantises around the temple to kill the remaining inhabitants.

As a result, the Reds and Blues infiltrate the ship and shut down the robots with F.I.L.S.S.'s help. Unfortunately, they end up trapped inside Hargrove's trophy room when his forces attack them. As Hargrove's forces breach their way into the room, the crew prepare themselves for the impending attack, with Donut saying his goodbyes to the others. However, what the crew doesn't know is that Epsilon deconstructed himself from his memories of the other fragments in order to help them, resulting in his death.

Personality

Although smarter, Donut seems to act similar to Caboose, acting childish and gullible. He is commonly shown to display feminine traits and say strange things, which usually makes his teammates feel uncomfortable. However, Donut is shown to be very social, which has earned him to be liked by members of both teams, such as Church and Caboose. Along with this, Donut has shown to be understanding and kind, often caring for his team and helping them.

Relationships

Main article: Donut's Relationships

Donut has developed many strange relationships with other characters.

Themes

Armor Color and Sexuality

Full Cavity Search

A recurring theme involving Donut centers on his armor color and gender. Even though the producers had a plan from the outset to put Donut in pink armor, he initially appears in red so that they could use him in scenes involving the Blue flag, which only appears when playing capture the flag. Initially, they slotted the joke involving pink armor for the last episode of a six- to eight-part series, but Red vs. Blue fleshed out more than expected, and the joke was consequently delayed. Although the delay was unexpected, Werner thought that the early Episode 3 reference to the gag made the eventual punchline "all the sweeter" when it arrives later. When the armor change does occur, it sparks some sexuality confusion. The Reds immediately prod Donut with jokes about his sexuality; when Donut incredulously asks why he would be given pink armor, Grif responds, "Don't ask, don't tell."a saying Marines use when talking about homosexuality.

"Look at it, it's not pink. It's like, uh.. a lightish red."

Originally, Rooster Teeth was going to create a love triangle in which Donut and a mistaken Caboose were two of three participants. However, the armor color change was delayed so much that the creators forgot about this development.Burns mentioned that they tried to exercise some restraint with the armor color jokes when the gag first appeared. In season 2, however, Matt Hullum became more involved as a writer for the series, and, as Godwin noted in an August 2005 interview: "Matt loves a joke, so he definitely ran with it from there but it worked out really well... as Caboose got dumber... they have the two rookies, so the teams mirror each other, but having the character developments go the same direction would be kinda dumb... and to balance it out Donut has to have something." Donut is known for saying ambiguously sexual things, adding to the confusion about his sexuality. Donut often says these things when he is given orders, with his responses either hinting that he is stereotypically homosexual or that he will just carry out the order in a strange way. For example, when told to tie up a prisoner, Donut said he would use his "new handcuffs," and when Doc suggested that they roleplay as a way to resolve conflict, Donut asked to be the police officer. Donut has also embodied some other stereotypes of gay men, such as greatly caring about wardrobe and interior decorating, and scolding people for wearing colors that "don't match."

"I laid there forever wondering how I was going to get all that dark red outta this light red."

The armor color gag also appears outside the series proper. In an audio and video test on the Red vs. Blue Season 2 DVD, Donut advises the viewer to adjust the color until his armor appears "perfectly light red". Acting in-character during an interview segment with Godwin that aired on G4techTV, Donut warns, "If your cameras are messed up, and you show my armor as pink to all your viewers, I'm gonna sue." The armor color confusion has also been featured on Red vs. Blue merchandise; a zipper hoodie sold by Rooster Teeth reads, "It's not pink. It's lightish red." Outside Red vs. Blue, Burns and Hullum joked about red and light red in extra material created for the Season 1 DVD of The Strangerhood, another Machinima series created by Rooster Teeth.

Sense of Direction and Annoyance of Others

"Maybe it's an open invitation to some formal ball!"

According to Burns, another running gag involving Donut is that he "never knows where he's going". The first instance of this occurs when Donut leaves on his fool's errand in episode 3; he initially heads away from the exit of the base, and Grif has to correct him. On his way back from the Blue Base in episode 6, Grif tells Donut to head to the base and wait. Donut begins to head the wrong way again, and an annoyed Grif yells, "Back to our base, dumbass!"

The other characters are also often annoyed by Donut's tendency to talk incessantly about non-consequential matters. For example, during a repairing on the teleporter in Episode 42, he annoys Tucker by remarking, "I never knew a Phillips screwdriver was the X one. Do you think it's named after a guy named Phillip? That guy Phillip must have a fucked-up-shaped head!"

When Grif and Simmons call shotgun for their Warthog in Episode 57, Donut instead calls for "shotgun's lap". As Sarge's right-hand man during Season 4, Donut annoys his leader with various proposals, which include the incorporation of more positive reinforcement and the redecoration of the Red Base.In Recreation, while Simmons & Lopez are trying to hold off the Meta, Donut walks in. Lopez points out the Meta can change color and suggests they shoot him, bury him outback and no one would have to know about it. Despite this, it is hinted that Donut may be the most liked member of both teams.

Near-Deaths

Donut has experienced 6 near-death experiences (and an additional non-canon instance) and came out alive where most would think impossible. Sarge has even acknowledged that they have a tendency to assume Donut's fate too soon.

• The first time was in Episode 11 when Tex stuck a grenade to his head and it exploded. It rendered him unconscious and he had to be evacuated and receive medical attention, but he miraculously survived.
• The second time was in Episode 77, when a ship landed on him.
• Immediately thereafter, the third near-death experience occurred directly after Donut was crushed, with him surviving after falling several stories, when the ship's weight actually forced Donut through the ground and into a huge cavern.
• Donut's fourth near-death experience was when he was rendered comatose from severe dehydration for three days. The events involving this near-death took place over a number of consecutive episodes.
• Donut's fifth near-death experience was in Think You Know Someone when Washington fired his pistol on him, resulting in a through-and-through shot through Donut's chest. Again, he survived when his armor's recovery mode had activated, in addition to Doc assisting his wounds.
• The sixth time was in Fire, where after he reveals that the image he's downloading on Basebook is diverting all the ships power supply to his computer, Locus snipes a plasma grenade near Donut, which knocks him unconscious.
• In the non-canon story The Brick Gulch Chronicles, Donut is dropped into a vat of hydrochloric acid, which instantly dissolves him. Although Simmons is visibly distressed by his teammates' death, Grif is unfazed, mentioning Donut's track record of false deaths. True to form, Donut inexplicably reappears alive and well later.

Skills and Abilities

Grenades

"Is it a spider? Get it off!"

His most impressive feat by far was his amazing plasma grenade throw in Season 1, when he hurled a plasma grenade halfway across Blood Gulch with exceptional accuracy to hit Sheila and Tex. In season 5, when Simmons asks Sarge why Donut gets to stay far away from the battle, Sarge says it is because he is the best grenadier on red team, and probably all of Blood Gulch.

He also appears to be somewhat of a connoisseur with grenades, asking each Red team member what grenade type, frag or sticky, they would like him to bring in case they are captured and need to kill themselves. Donut claims his amazing skills with grenades come from "Years of tossing." In True Colors, he is capable of throwing three plasma grenades at the same time. During the battle at Crash Site Bravo, Donut uses his several types of grenades to dispatch multiple enemies. 

It is possible that Donut's skill with grenades stems from him simply having a high level of accuracy, as in The End Is Near, he capably shot Felix's gun from his hand from several meters away. 

Spanish

He tells Simmons and Lopez that he took High School Spanish and can understand everything Lopez is saying. This fact is quickly proven false, however, as Donut can't translate anything Lopez says. In Think You Know Someone, as Simmons tries to fire the warthog chaingun, Lopez says "[Sarcastic] Maybe you could ask him to stand in front of it" and when Simmons asks what he said, Donut repeats it, but without the sarcasm, ; so he apparently only has a very small Spanish vocabulary.

Although, in Season 3 when Omega questions Lopez as to how to pronounce 'faster' and 'evil' in spanish, Lopez tells Omega to say self-insulting sentences, and Donut appears to understand the overall meaning of what Omega is saying in Spanish. This leads to Donut's comment in Spanish, "How strange" as he wonders why Omega is insulting himself. In Season 11, it seems that Donut's Spanish has improved, as he understands Lopez 2.0 and speaks it more fluently, though he acknowledges his communication in it is still flawed.

Kills

Despite only being a rookie, Donut has in fact killed at least three Tex-drones with plasma grenades and some others with his battle rifle in n+1. Donut also claims that he ran over one of the robots from Lopez's Robot Army that was in pursuit of him. In Fire, Donut uses the teleportation cubes to destroy Lopez 2.0/C.C. and frag grenades to kill several Feds. 

1 Robot

Several Tex-drones

Lopez 2.0 and C.C.

Several Federal Army soldiers

Behind the Scenes

Voice Acting

Rooster Teeth had a plan for Donut from the outset. Early in season 1, fans reacted well to Donut; as a result, Burnie Burns, the main writer for Red vs. Blue, focused the storyline on Donut and Caboose (Joel Heyman), the Blue Team's rookie. Dan Godwin, who recorded his lines alone in his home instead of in the Rooster Teeth studio, contributed to some of the jokes involving Donut's personality by ad-libbing, to the approval of other Rooster Teeth personnel. For example, when Donut accidentally injures himself in Episode 35, he exclaims, "Simmons, I need your ovaries!" The initial script mentioned "bones" instead of "ovaries"; Godwin improvised the change, with positive feedback from the staff. When Donut pretends to be a secret agent in the next episode, Godwin ad-libbed sound effects while recording dialogue involving a "super-spy jet pack".

Episode 37's plot requires Church to possess Donut; during production, it was decided that Burns, the voice actor for Church, would voice Donut during the possession. Burns recalled in audio commentary that he made sure to retain an element of Donut's stupidity by confusing pronouns. Later, he stated that Godwin made a unique voice effect to mark the end of Church's possession. As such, Burns used a different visual effect to indicate this transition. Instead of visually dissolving the two characters, as was the normal practice, he flashed Church and Donut back and forth quickly. Another example of Godwin's improvisation occurs near the end of Episode 56. According to Burns, "In the script, all it said was, 'Donut screams like a woman.'… Dan just turned it into the funny thing… that we turned into… Donut running in the background."

Reception

Donut has been well-received by both Rooster Teeth personnel and viewers. Gustavo Sorola, who voices the character Simmons, noted that Godwin's voice acting "began to pick up" around episode 32 and that "Donut was probably [his] favorite character for season 2.… Dan did a great job." Season 2 co-writer Hullum agreed that episode 32 contained "some of Dan's best acting". In a February 2006 interview, Burnie Burns noted that, early in season 1, fans responded so well to Caboose and Donut that he decided to abandon the idea of an extra character, who would have acted as a journalist, in favor of more storyline involving the rookies. In light of the focus on the personalities of Donut and Caboose in season 2, Jandoc noted that "by season's end the rookies talk and act more like lunatic-asylum escapees than army soldiers. (Perhaps that says something?)" Godwin stated that much of the intended humor involving Donut derives from "gay jokes", but that Rooster Teeth has never received complaints about the theme of homosexuality.

Gallery

Sarge's cardboard cutout of Donut.

Donut revealing he's alive in a PSA.

Washington saves Donut.

Donut and his friend Caboose.

Donut Artwork (1)

Donut Artwork (2)

Trivia

• On Bungie.net, if you go to a Halo 3 Gamertag, look up the kill/weapon ratio, and scroll over the description of the flag, it reads, "It's next to the headlight fluid." This is a reference to the season one episode when Simmons and Grif send Donut on a fool's errand to go pick up "two quarts of elbow grease" and some "headlight fluid for the Puma".
• In the game Gears of War, the achievement for performing 100 grenade stick kills is called "Is it a spider?" a reference to Donut's statement in Knock, knock. Who's there? Pain.
• Donut grew up on a farm in Iowa.
• In the Mother's Day PSA, Sarge notes "you only have one mother, unless you come from a progressive home like Donut's". It is unclear whether this means Donut had no mother (which would go against a few running gags about repressing his sexuality), or more than one mother.
• Donut is the first character to be seen in the Halo 2 engine.
• In the Halo 4 engine, Donut's emblem is sapphire, similar to his sapphire detail from the Halo 3 engine.
• According to one of the "Where Are They Now?" endings, Donut married an exotic dancer named Tiffany and they had 12 children. This would imply that Donut is metrosexual.
• The name Franklin Delano Donut is a reference to former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• According to Caboose, Donut is known as Private Biscuit, Lieutenant McMuffin, Admiral Butter Crust, Commander Pop 'n' Fresh, Major Cinnamon Bun and Muffin Man.
• Donut is missing an unknown amount from one of his hands. This happens in episode 45 as a result of, according to Donut, "I was just petting the bunny, and then it went into the soup can... and part of my hand went with it."
• According to Sarge in Drink Your Ovaltine, every day at 17:30 (5:30 PM) Donut has a "Daily wine and cheese hour".
• Donut is an expert grenadier, due to "years of tossing". Tossing is also a vulgar slang for masturbation, which is likely intentional due to his common use of sexual innuendos.
• Jack Pattilo references the gag "lightish red" in Let's Play - GTA IV Destruction Derby at 33:35 until the end of the episode because of his pink car.
• Mentioned in the episode The Federal Army of Chorus, Donut says his safe word is "Chrysanthemum". This could be a Halo reference to the Spartan III project, known as "Project Chrysanthemum."
• According to the RvB Ultimate Fan Guide book, Donut washes his underwear every Tuesday. Donut also mentions this in Me, Myself, and You.