Splinter Splinter is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles minifigure released in 2013 . He is the sensei of the turtles . Appearance . Splinter has a new head mould made for his figure . It has two brown ears sticking up with the insides being dark cream - coloured . His eyebrows are white as well as his beard and the bridge of his nose . The top of his head is black as well , as is his beard that stretches along each side of his face . Splinter ' s dark red torso piece has printing on both sides , with the front bearing a long collar and lapel that is bound up in a brown belt . The reverse side of the torso has the back of his belt and a black flower in a circle of the same colour . Instead of legs , Splinter has a sloping brick to depict a kimono . It is dark red with black flowers in a vertical pattern on the left side . Background . 2012 Animated series . Born in 1962 in the outskirts of Tokyo , Hamato Yoshi was heir to his father Yūta ' s place as leader of the peacekeeping Hamato Clan , whose conflict with the infamous Foot Clan came to an end when he was 2 years old . It was this victory that welcomed Oroku Saki , the Foot Clan leader Oroku Kaiji ' s infant son , into the Hamato family , and the two grew up as close brothers and very good friends , maintaining a peaceful intelect throughout their ninjutsu training . One day , however , their brotherhood suffered a huge strain when both men fell for a young woman of Chinese ancestry named Tang Shen , whose decision to marry Yoshi drove Saki into learning his true heritage and turn against the entire clan , corrupting few of it ninja into defecting as his first Foot ninja and attacking his adoptive brother in the house of Hamato . Their battle was long and hard . In their rage , they destroyed the Hamato clan Dojo , and Shredder accidentally caused the death of Tang Shen . Saki , now called the Shredder , moved to Tokyo , taking Yoshi ' s daughter Miwa with him and renaming her Karai . Believing his daughter to be dead , Yoshi , now an outcast called Splinter , moved to New York City to start a new life . One day , Hamato became lonely , living alone , so he bought four baby turtles at a pet store . On his way home , a man accidentally bumped into him . Hamato thought something was " off " about the person , so he decided to investigate . While listening to the man have a conversation with another one , he stepped on a rat , causing the men ( who are later revealed to be disguised Kraang ) to hear him . The men then fought Yoshi , and one of them dropped a canister of mutagen , which spilled . Yoshi lost balance during the fight , causing him to fall and drop the baby turtles . All 5 of them fell into the mutagen . Splinter mutated into a large humanoid rat because of his recent contact with one . The baby turtles became more humanoid and intelligent , due to having Splinter ' s human DNA on them prior to the mutation . Splinter raised the turtles as sons and trained them in the art of Ninjitsu as their sensei . Unfortunately , after the Turtles met April O ' Neil and saved her from a Kraang plot , one of their shurikens was discovered and shown on the news , revealing to Shredder that his nemesis Splinter was still alive . Having already established operations in the city through his protege Chris Bradford , Shredder soon arrived himself seeking to eliminate Splinter . Splinter would remain in the Turtles ' Lair during much of the ensuing conflict between the Foot Clan and the Turtles , as well as the Turtles ' battles with the Kraang , typically only serving as an advisor . After April was abducted by the Shredder , however , Splinter emerged from the lair and confronted his old nemesis , only to learn the truth about his lost daughter . Faced with Miwa , who had been raised believing that Shredder was her father and that Splinter had murdered her mother , Splinter fled . Eventually Splinter revealed the truth about Karai to the Turtles to mixed reactions ; Raph still refused to trust her while the others had hope to bring her to their side . Eventually Karai was convinced of the truth , and after being held prisoner by Shredder for a time was finally reunited with her father , only to be recaptured and then mutated into a mindless snake - human hybrid . Some time later , during the Kraang ' s second invasion of New York , Splinter faced Shredder in a battle with the aid of Leatherhead , only to be thrown into the sewer ' s depths , where he was rescued by Karai . Unfortunately , the experience left Splinter ' s mind and body separated , with his body behaving like a massive rate while his mind communicated with the Turtles . Eventually the Turtles and April were able to find him and restore him to normal . Splinter was eventually forced to face Karai , who had been brainwashed into once again believing that she was Shredder ' s daughter and that Splinter had killed her mother . Capturing the Turtles , she lured Splinter into a trap , and the two faced off after he dispatched Fishface and others protecting her . Using an ancient ninja healing technique , Splinter was able to free her from Shredder ' s control , only for her to flee the city prior to the Triceraton invasion . Faced with that alien menace , Splinter reluctantly formed an alliance with the Shredder in order to try and save the Earth , only to be murdered by Shredder during the ensuing battle . However , an alternate timeline created by the Turtles being taken into the past resulted in Splinter being warned about Shredder ' s treacherous attack and surviving it .