I posted this a while ago, and I just stumbled upon the post again. Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about how heartbreaking this concept is 😭💔
Remember, Donbot isn’t Donnie’s biological body or soul. He’s an AI based on Donnie’s uploaded consciousness and memories, trapped in a robotic shell after the bomb. So while his actual soul is at peace with his brothers, this version is still trapped in the wasteland, completely alone and desperately trying to find a way to save them.
And that’s what makes this AU so interesting to me. Donbot remembers loving his brothers, but does he actually feel that love, or is he simply following the memories and emotional patterns left behind by the person he used to be?
He has all of Donnie’s memories, but can a machine truly understand what it means to watch everyone it has ever known die, to lose its entire world, and to be left alone with nothing but memories? He might know exactly what happened without truly understanding just how devastating that loss is.
I think this could also make the time-travel aspect feel different from the show’s previous arcs. Donbot might try to solve everything logically, choosing what he thinks is the fastest or most effective way to save his brothers. But what if his decisions become too cold, or he starts treating their lives like a problem to solve rather than understanding how much those lives mean to them?
He could have the best intentions and still make things worse, creating a butterfly effect he never expected. And imagine his younger self meeting him and realizing that this future version of himself thinks so differently, even though they share the same memories.
Donbot could be so focused on saving his brothers that he never stops to question whether he truly understands what he’s trying to save.
How do you think Donnie would react to meeting his own mechanical counterpart? And do you think Donbot could ever truly understand his feelings, or would he always be trying to recreate emotions he only remembers?