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Raphael is an alligator snapping turtle who was mutated to become part human. He is one of the main protagonists of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is the eldest Turtle and the former leader of the Mad Dogs. He wielded a pair of tonfā that generated mystic energy until they were destroyed and replaced by his sai.

Physical appearance

Raphael is a mutant alligator snapping turtle with bright green skin, an orange plastron with forked top edges, a dark green carapace with three dorsal ridges, and a large, muscular figure. He has spikes on his shoulders and elbows, yellow sclerae and teeth, a sharp tooth protruding from the right side of his upper jaw, three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. He wears a red bandana that covers the top of his head with long, torn bandana tails. His bandana has a tear underneath his right eye. Raph wears red cloth around his elbows, white bandages around his hands and ankles, and red shorts. There are white adhesive bandages on his plastron, left forearm and right calf, and a red belt with the Turtle emblem placed on the left. In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, Raph gains a a hole on the top left part of his plastron when taking a blow from Krang One in a successful attempt to protect Leonardo.

Personality

Raph is exuberant, and passionate, known for his valiant attitude and impulsive streak. Acutely aware of his self-appointed status as the leader, he always makes decisions—some with better results than others—with positive intent and hope for the team. While Raph isn’t adept at quickly thinking of witty remarks as shown in “Stuck on You”, he is skilled in quickly revising ineffective strategies and his bold, steadfast nature makes him willing to try a wide array of tactics, unorthodox or otherwise.

In spite of often being foolish, Raph has his own organic wisdom and in general sees a lot of potential in the Mad Dogs. However, Raph can find it difficult to admit he is wrong such as when he tries to enact his own plan despite agreeing to allow Donatello and Michelangelo execute theirs in "One Man's Junk" and can take credit for others' ideas as seen in "Newsworthy" when he congratulates himself for using Donnie's plan, but has steadily improved on both fronts.

Raph is imaginative, known for coming to absurd conclusions and assumptions about situations such as when he was unable to recall whether the consequence of returning a DVD late was being fined or the Earth being overrun by zombies in “Late Fee”.

Raph is unabashedly tender and kind, hesitant to say potentially hurtful things such as when he apologizes to Franken-Foot for making him feel disliked in “Sparring Partner”, but is not above teasing others either. Often being the strongest and largest in a room, it is easy for Raph to see the vulnerability in others and as such he feels a duty to use his strength to protect others. However, his protective nature can sometimes be viewed as overbearing and unduly worrying among his brothers. Raph is deliberately gentle due to his immense strength and has a great amount of self-restraint in his physicality when interacting with his loved ones, even when wildly excited. Conversely, he has been shown to underestimate his strength when fighting opponents such as when he unintentionally destroys a needed DVD kiosk in “Late Fee” and is often eager to batter villains.

Raph is fair-minded, often exhibiting a degree of responsibility and having a desire to right his wrongs when it comes to something important or a loved one. He usually must remind his brothers of mission objectives and redirect their frequently derailed focus. While Raph is undeniably playful and silly, he also possesses maturity unmatched by his brothers and makes an effort to not insult others who haven’t maliciously caused him trouble. He is able to straighten his brothers out and change their inappropriately-lax attitudes when the time calls for it such as in “Insane in the Mama Train” when Raph recognizes that after indulging in a pranking competition, they should take time to train for an upcoming mission.

While Raph is quite loving, he doesn’t extend his sympathy to everyone and can be wary of those who have wronged him in the past as seen in his reluctance to help Warren Stone in “Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree” and his difficulty trusting and callousness towards Baron Draxum in “Repairin’ the Baron”. He can get angry when others are ignorant or demeaning towards things he likes such as in “The Longest Fight” when Foot Brute asks Raph who Sydney Allen is or when Sergeant Woodpecker mocks Teddy Bear Town in “Mascot Melee”, causing Raph to violently retaliate.

Raph harbors an intense aversion to solitude due to how close he is to his brothers.[2][3] Being alone against his will can be so distressing to him that he becomes mindless and violent, the complete opposite of his actual disposition, and is indiscriminately hostile, even towards his family as seen in “Man VS. Sewer”. He and his brothers are very aware this thus Raph tries to prevent isolation to stop his “Savage Raph” state from surfacing.

Though he tries to exercise patience with his brothers, Raph snaps when they are continuously disruptive and willfully foolish in potentially dangerous situations. In some cases, his outbursts stem from annoyance of things not going his way. Raph is also relatively easily overwhelmed seen when he tries to silence his brothers’ barrage of questions and remarks after accidentally losing his money in “Mascot Melee” and it is revealed that Raph chokes under pressure and that drawing attention to it only makes him more self-conscious in "Mystic Mayhem".

Raph's relationship with his brothers is strained at times due to his status as the oldest brother. He is prone to viewing them as little kids he has to take care of, which can cause his attitude towards them to be unintentionally patronizing as shown in "Pizza Puffs". In turn, his brothers often expect him to handle many responsibilities and fix problems that they can't be bothered to deal with themselves, much to Raph's frustration. This creates a cycle where Raph wants his brothers to be more responsible and reliable while he also indirectly enables their attitudes through his caretaking behavior.

History

Raph began life as a juvenile turtle in Draxum's laboratory. Wishing to create a mutant army with formidable combat capabilities, Draxum used Lou Jitsu's DNA paired with his ooze to turn Raph from an ordinary turtle into a mutant. He and his brothers were then stolen from Draxum's laboratory by Lou Jitsu promptly after their mutation and Raph went on to be raised in the sewers of New York City alongside his brothers by Splinter. Eventually, Raph and his brothers met a human girl named April and forged a strong bond with her through the years.

Biography

As the biggest and oldest brother, Raph is the self-appointed leader of the group. He thinks he can use his fists to get himself out of any situation. But while Raph's muscles are bigger than his brain, his heart is bigger than his muscles.

Paramount Consumer Products biography

As the biggest and oldest brother, Raph is the self-appointed leader of the group. He thinks he can use his fists to get himself out of any situation, which is usually why he's pretty much always covered in bandages. But while Raph's muscles are bigger than his brain, his heart is bigger than his muscles. He's not an angry guy. He's just determined. He never backs down from a fight and always tries his best to save the day.[4]

Abilities

  • Mystic energy manipulation: Raph wields mystic energy-generating tonfā. Often activated by striking the heads of his tonfā together, he can utilize their energy offensively and defensively in a variety of ways.
    • Energy constructs: Raph is capable of manifesting a mystic energy constructs in the shape of his body. He can alter the construct in its entirety to giant sizes and also independently alter the size of its appendages to take down physically large or exceptionally powerful opponents. He can add additional limbs to his construct as well as shown in "Shreddy or Not" and form a more traditional energetic shield to block attacks as shown in "Sparring Partner".
    • Power Smash Jutsu: The speed in which Raph can move his energetic fists is increased, allowing him to strike with immense swiftness alongside the mystic energy's innate magnified power.
    • Tonfā Power Jutsu: Raph can create giant fists to attack and grapple opponents with, powerful enough to create craters in surfaces. He can dictate the number of fists to generate and the length, creating a construct the full length of his arm or only up to his wrist.
    • Mystic Punch Jutsu: By enveloping his natural fists in mystic energy, the power behind Raph's strikes is significantly magnified.
    • Power Punch Jutsu: Raph can create a large fist from his mystic force-field, capable of extending it to great lengths.
    • Power Tickle Jutsu: After activating his tonfā, Raph can detach his energetic fists from his own body and manipulate them as additional limbs.
  • Strategic analysis: Raph's position as Mad Dogs leader has allowed him to develop tactical thinking. Although devising plans doesn't come naturally to him, he has shown to be able to quickly improve originally ineffective plans and has acquired more caution when approaching potentially dangerous situations, preventing hasty missteps, as time has passed.
  • Mind Raph: By verbally asking himself a question, Raph can summon a mental image of himself to aid him in problem solving.[5] Both him and Mind Raph can physically interact with one another and Mind Raph retains Raph's personality and memories. Mind Raph seems to have autonomy as he can vanish at will and doesn't always react to stimuli as Raph reacts to it. He isn't beholden to appearing after a verbal question, also appearing when Raph merely intends to speak with him. However, Mind Raph can only assist one summoner at any given time as only one of him exists.
  • Ninjutsu: Raph is skilled in basic ninjutsu, but due to Splinter’s initial reluctance to advance their training and the Turtles’ own lack of focus on learning the art, he and his brothers’ skills aren’t honed.
    • Stealth: As a practitioner of ninjutsu, Raph can slip in and out of areas undetected. These skills significantly improved after additional instruction in "The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek". However, Raph's stinks can jeopardize his ability to be covert as they can be detected by anyone.
      • Slow Motion Jutsu: By moving exceptionally slow, Raph's body movements are unable to be perceived by opponents, allowing him to execute very close range contact with opponents unnoticed.
    • Speed: Raph possesses a great amount of speed, capable of moving in bursts faster than the eye can follow.
    • Agility: Despite his size, Raph is quite agile, allowing him to successfully dodge attacks and perform sharp twists and flips.
    • Superhuman strength: Raph possesses immense strength unparalleled by the average human and the other Mad Dogs, capable of launching six Evil League of Mutants members far into the air with ease using an ordinary ladder in "The Evil League of Mutants" and breaking the legs of a water tower by stomping repeatedly on the roof it stood on in "The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek". In fact, Raph is unable to spar normally against his brothers due to the harm that could be dealt from the large difference between his strength and theirs.
      • Hamato Ninpō: As a member of the Hamato Clan, Raph is capable of tapping into his clan's energy to unleash his own mystic might.
        • Weapon generation: Raph can use random objects to form weaponry, namely sai.
        • Self-replication: Raph can manifest duplicates of himself at an undefined limit. Each clone shows no decrease in strength or speed. However, these clones are frail, and if damaged enough, will disappear, briefly leaving behind a red silhouette of where they first disappeared at before completely dissipating.
  • Ninja mind meld: Raph is capable of telepathically exchanging strategies with Leo, heightening team coordination.
  • Pheromone generation: Raph involuntarily secretes various scents when stressed, referred to by his family as "stinks" as they often smell offensive. Each inducing situation has its own identifiable scent tied to it such as his fear stink, amazement stink, victory stink, and sneaking-up-on-people stink.
  • Enhanced durability: Raph’s body can sustain physical trauma that would be surely lethal for a human and severely injure the other Turtles. Compared to his brothers, his shell is especially tough, featuring three columns of dorsal ridges capable of cutting through material such as Big Mama's silk.
  • Skateboarding: Raph is a seasoned skateboarder and enjoys it as one of his hobbies.

Relationships

Family

  • Raphael's parent(s)
    • Hamato Yoshi / Lou Jitsu / Splinter: Splinter is Raph's father. Raph has great affection for him and he trusts his father to help him during dire times, even more so than his brothers sometimes as seen in "The Evil League of Mutants" and "Mrs. Cuddles". Raph is typically the one who must bite the bullet and ask Splinter for things for him and his brothers ("Mystic Mayhem", "The Longest Fight", "The Evil League of Mutants"). Out of his brothers, Raph knows the most about his father's life prior to parenthood and his film career, having witnessed one of the most formative memories of his childhood. However, he can be disappointed in his father's behavior at times.
    • Baron Draxum: Draxum is Raph's father. Draxum was Raph's enemy throughout the first season and was naturally hostile towards him upon encountering him again in "Repairin' the Baron". He accompanied Draxum on Mikey's visit to Albearto Land, but found it difficult to see his potential for positive change. However, Raph became more hopeful after listening to Mikey's reasoning for his seemingly foolish faith in Draxum and chose to defend him alongside Mikey against his arrest ordered by the Council of Heads. Raph has come to accept him as a member of the family.
  • Leonardo: Raph and Leo typically get along, but sometimes they come into conflict over subjects ranging from wrestling to Raph's leadership skills. Even so, Raph is quite similar to Leo, both being fun-loving in character though Raph knows when to dial this back while Leo is typically lighthearted through serious times and non-serious times alike, which can frustrate him. While Leo isn't always dependable, Raph trusts him to come through when necessary. Raph even sacrificed himself to save Leo from being captured by the Krang and Leo was the one who was able to bring Raph back after Raph was turned into a Krang zombie.
  • Donatello: Raph is conscious of Donnie's somewhat sensitive nature and as such is often reluctant to tell him off in lieu of hurting his feelings. He highly respects Donnie's intellect and creativity and trusts him to support the Mad Dogs. However, he can be irritated by his lack of focus on missions as Donnie is at times too busy entertaining himself and his propensity to cause additional problems for the family due to his faulty inventions.
  • Michelangelo: While Raph is protective of all of his family, he is even more so when it comes to Mikey. Raph is easily enraged when Mikey is demeaned or injured by others and while he believes in and respects Mikey's combat capabilities, his worry about his safety can hinder his progress as a ninja and as a maturing teenager. They are very close to each other so it is common to see Mikey hanging on his back in various episodes.
  • April O'Neil: Raph deeply cares for April, shown to be willing to do things outside of his comfort zone to make her happy such as trying to ensure she has a pleasant birthday by assisting villains in "Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree". They can be competitive with one another and there seems to be an unspoken understanding between them as the two eldest Mad Dogs and they support one another thoroughly.
  • Piebald: Piebald is technically Raph's sister. A year prior to the start of the series, Raph accidentally flushed unmutated Piebald down the toilet and wanted to continue to lie to Splinter about it. When she returned as a mutant, Raph was very afraid of her and was eventually captured by her to be flushed down the sewer, but discovered that it was a prank.
  • Hamato Karai: Karai is Raph's ancestral grandmother. Raph deeply respects Karai and embraces her affection, taking her advice to heart as shown in "Anatawa Hitorijanai".

Friends and allies

  • Stanley / Bullhop: Though Raph tried to capture Draxum's Oozesquitoes in "Bug Busters" before Stanley could get mutated, his plan failed and Stanley was mutated in the end. When he reappeared in "Bullhop", Raph invited him to stay at his family's lair to make up for partly causing his mutation. However, Raph's hospitality waned as time with Bullhop wore on due to his inconsiderate behavior and Raph was reluctant to extend the invitation again after Bullhop's fiasco with Big Mama and her staff in the Grand Nexus Hotel.
  • Mayhem: Raph was the one who noticed Mayhem in "Mystic Mayhem" and encouraged the other Mad Dogs to assist him. He has loved Mayhem since he first saw him, often referring to him as his "little buddy" and sometimes tries to be physically affectionate towards him. While Mayhem typically attacks Raph instead of returning his affection, it doesn't deter Raph's love for him.
  • Franken-Foot: Raph created Franken-Foot at some point to have the perfect partner to practice fighting with. With him, Raph can properly spar without needing to hold back due to Franken-Foot's durability, something that he is deprived of with the other Mad Dogs due to the intense difference in their strength. He often affectionately refers to Franken-Foot as "buddy" and lovingly repairs the damage he deals to him. Raph calls Franken-Foot his "best friend" in "Sparring Partner".
  • Todd Capybara: Raph respects Todd and while he wasn't particularly enthused to be taught wilderness survival training in "Todd Scouts", he was polite through his boredom and was the only Turtle who didn't attempt to run back to the lair when Splinter left them in the forest. Eventually, Raph chose to abandon Todd, but later apologized to and saved him from Doctor Noe.
  • DIGG: Raph tried to stop DIGG from destroying New York pizza parlors in "Pizza Pit", but was friendly towards them when he realized that they merely wanted to perform their music publicly.
  • S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.: Raph initially appreciated S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.'s butler function, but reprogrammed him to be more like him after realizing he held favoritism towards Donnie in "Smart Lair". This alteration backfired on Raph in particular as S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. has the other Turtles' immaturity and carefree attitudes, a trait that sometimes frustrates Raph while on missions as they aren't as helpful as they could be. This is seen in Raph's irritation with S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. in "The Purple Game" when he is very nonchalant about defeating the Purple Dragon's mech, unlike Raph.
  • Sunita: Raph has not been shown interacting with Sunita, but as a dear friend of April's, Raph most likely has little issue with her.
  • Marcus Moncrief: Being a fan of the Jupiter Jim franchise, Raph was initially very receptive and excited to meet Marcus Moncrief at Galaxy Con. Once the events of "Jupiter Jim Ahoy!" took place, however, that changed. He became disillusioned with Marcus Moncrief and finds his zany antics exasperating and is generally guarded around him, viewing him as crazy. He definitely doesn't despise him though as being made his sidekick had Raph overjoyed and very willing to go on a mission with him.
  • Red Fox: Marcus Moncrief appointed Raph as his sidekick in replacement of Red Fox in "Sidekick Ahoy!". Once her and Marcus Moncrief reunited, however, she took back her role. Raph seems to respect Red Fox and although he was immensely excited about being Marcus Moncrief's sidekick, he harbors no resentment towards her about the loss of position.
  • John: Raph encountered John in "The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle" bound alongside two other magicians in the Magic Town House, but didn't free him, choosing to pursue Hypno instead.
  • Cassandra Jones / Foot Recruit: Raph faced off with Foot Recruit in a train car in "Insane in the Mama Train", but was outmaneuvered by her as she successfully prevented him from accessing his desired area of the train. However, he captured her and Foot Lieutenant later in the episode and they were quickly thrown off Big Mama's train by another passenger. Once Foot Recruit betrayed the Shredder in "Rise", she ceased being an enemy to the Hamato Clan and became its ally.
  • Casey Jones II: Raph first met Casey in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie after April brought him to the lair to be questioned, but soon realized he was a friend. Raph later invaded the Foot's hideout with Casey to try to prevent the Krang from leaving their prison dimension.

Enemies

  • Rupert Swaggart / Meat Sweats: Raph is the one who gave mutated Rupert Swaggart the name "Meat Sweats" upon first seeing him in "Donnie's Gifts". Raph fought and defeated Meat Sweats during the Evil League of Mutants' ambush against him and his brothers in "The Evil League of Mutants".
  • Atomic Lass: Raph was intimidated by Atomic Lass in "Mascot Melee" when he up-staged her in Times Square as a relevant internet meme and he had his wallet stolen by her.
  • Joey the Junkyard Dog: Raph was harassed by Joey in Times Square in "Mascot Melee", struck in the knee with a crowbar by him, and was challenged to a dance fight against him.
  • Sergeant Woodpecker: Raph was harassed by Sergeant Woodpecker in Times Square and Raph's Teddy Bear Town coupon was destroyed by him. He knocked off the head of his costume after Atomic Lass' costume head was detached and Raph was able to finally defeat him when he attempted to run off with his money.
  • Warren Stone: Raph finds Warren to be uninteresting and never remembers who he is or past experiences he has had with him like most people.
  • Mutant silverfish: Raph first encountered mutant silverfish in "Donnie's Gifts" on the streets of New York City and has fought them multiple times since.
  • Guardsmen: Raph fought Garm and Freki to defend Mayhem when he was being pursued by them in "Mystic Mayhem" and encountered them again in "Insane in the Mama Train" as they tried to prevent him from reaching the train car holding the Kuroi Yōroi.
  • Mezmer-Ron / Hypno-Potamus: Raph worked with Leo and Mayhem to stop Hypno from obliterating April's high school in "Hypno! Part Deux", hitting him through the wall of the school's theatre.
  • Albearto: Raph fought Albearto in Albearto's when he was unintentionally turned evil by Donnie's upgrades in "War and Pizza" and later in Albearto Land during he and his brothers' band debut.
  • The Foot Clan: The Foot Clan are the sworn enemy of the Hamato Clan.
    • Foot Lieutenant: Due to the Mystic Library's noise restrictions, Raph had to fight Foot Lieutenant as quietly as possible when him and Foot Brute decided to disrupt he and Leo's mission to save Mayhem.
    • Foot Brute: Raph often gets into physical confrontations with Foot Brute as he is bigger than even Raph himself. He became enraged when he heard him call Mikey a "little pipsqueak" in "Hot Soup: The Game" and initiated a fight that severely injured him to protect Mikey's pride. Later in "Mystic Library", due to the Mystic Library's noise restrictions, Raph had to fight Foot Lieutenant as quietly as possible when him and Foot Brute decided to disrupt he and Leo's mission to save Mayhem.
    • Oroku Saki / The Shredder: Saki is technically Raph's human ancestor as he is the ancestor of the Hamato bloodline through Karai.
  • Ghostbear: Raph used to idolize Ghostbear, calling himself his biggest fan. However, after he revealed that he cheated to achieve his winning streak, Raph began to reconsider. Raph still looks up to him (to some extent), despite Ghostbear having threatened him and his family multiple times through the series. Ghostbear was later Raph's Battle Nexus Wizbang teammate in "Battle Nexus: New York" where they faced a troll Yōkai. He found it difficult to work with Ghostbear's self-centered attitude, but was able to convince him to use the Hibernator on the troll, though, ultimately, the move proved ineffective.
  • Mrs. Cuddles: At first, Raph had a fear of Mrs. Cuddles as a "kid-friendly" mascot, but it wasn't until the events of "Mrs. Cuddles" that Raph faced that fear. Upon discovering her abduction of the Mad Dogs, Raph called her out as a bully and and worked to successfully defeat her with Splinter.
  • Huginn & Muninn: Raph was often in conflict with Huginn and Muninn as henchmen to Draxum as they helped him fulfill his goals.
  • Big Mama: Raph initially felt quite warm towards Big Mama during their first encounter in "Bug Busters", encouraging his brothers to trust her and disagreeing with Leo's unwavering suspicion. However, Raph realized that he was wrong about Big Mama's intentions and she became his enemy after her betrayal. In "Raph's Ride-Along", he unfortunately encountered her at her Battle Nexus via the Mud Dogs bringing him there and was quickly recognized by Big Mama where she then revealed his identity and ordered the Mud Dogs and Heinous Green to kill him.
  • Mutant magpie: Raph and his brothers tried to rescue Donnie from the grasp of a mutant magpie in "Shadow of Evil" and struggled to subdue it, but eventually succeeded by stripping it of its feathers and rendering it unable to fly.
  • The Sando Brothers: Raph came upon the Sando Brothers in "Man VS. Sewer" when they confronted him while he was wandering the sewers, threatening to eat him. Their insistence on Raph's indefinite isolation triggered his Savage Raph state and he attacked the Sando Brothers. He eventually restrained them and laid them over a fire, seemingly intending to cook them. He was prevented from doing so by Donnie, Mikey, and Leo, and the Sando Brothers managed to escape.
  • Repo Mantis: Raph trespassed onto Repo's salvage lot with Leo in search for a piece of the Kuroi Yōroi in "One Man's Junk". However, he unknowingly released Repo's mutated pet cat, Mrs. Nubbins, from her enclosure, but was able to trap her back inside with the help of his brothers. Raph tried to persuade Repo into giving him the Kuroi Yōroi in exchange for saving him from Mrs. Nubbins, but learned Repo had already sold the piece to a client.
  • Mrs. Nubbins: Raph mistakenly unlocked the door of Mrs. Nubbins' cage on Repo's salvage lot in "One Man's Junk" and managed to sequester her again afterward.
  • Harold / Stinkbomb: Raph met Stinkbomb when he and his brothers broke into a New York botanical garden for fun in "How to Make Enemies and Bend People to Your Will". Raph was seemingly unable to defeat him, overwhelmed by his noxious spit.
  • Scor-Pion: Raph teamed up with Marcus Moncrief as Red Fox 2 in "Sidekick Ahoy!" to track down Scor-Pion at New York zoos and eventually found him, much to Raph's surprise. He didn't initially believe that Scor-Pion was an actual villain and thus put himself in a dangerous situation he wouldn't have otherwise if he hadn't doubted Marcus Moncrief. He was restrained by Scor-Pion alongside Marcus Moncrief and suspended over a pit of acid, however, he was rescued by Red Fox and his brothers.
  • The Daves: Raph opposed the Daves in a game of basketball in "Air Turtle" in order to turn them from demon to human and succeeded.
    • Tim Dunkman: Raph defeated Tim in a basketball game in "Air Turtle" to revert him and the rest of his team back to their human forms after they were turned into demons by the Arch of Aquinnah.
  • The Mud Dogs: Raph was mistaken for a Yōkai criminal named Heinous Green by the Hidden City police in "Raph's Ride-Along" and when he was in their custody traveling in the same transport as the Mud Dogs, Raph pretended to actually be Heinous Green in order to prevent getting harassed by them.
    • Loathsome Leonard: Raph didn't seem to notice Leonard's aloof, sullen attitude towards him after being demoted from leader and gave him the same polite treatment as Raph gave the other Mud Dogs.
    • Dastardly Danny: Raph was swiftly promoted to Mud Dogs leader by Danny once he and Malicious Mickey believed he was Heinous Green.
  • Heinous Green: Raph was mistaken by the Hidden City police as notorious criminal Heinous Green due to their resemblance and was consequently detained by them. Later, after he was freed by the Mud Dogs, he finally met Heinous Green himself and was absolutely terrified of him. After reuniting with his tonfā, he punched Heinous Green unconscious for the police to arrest him. Raph did concede, however, that they have a few similarities between each other.
  • Alex Noe: Raph snuck into Alex Noe's camp when he and his Tooth Fairies abducted Todd in "Todd Scouts". As he fled his camp accompanied by Todd, Raph was pursued by them and was struck with their numbing darts.
  • Baxter Stockboy: Raph convinced his brothers to complete public service around New York in when he heard that Baxter was labeling him and his brothers as menaces to society in order to combat that negative image in "The Mutant Menace". He was continually frustrated with Baxter's increasing control of the Turtle Tank, but was able to keep his identity safe from the public in the end due to Mikey's use of his kusari-fundō.
  • The Purple Dragons: Raph had to fight the Purple Dragons' rampaging Giant Mech when they tricked Donnie into remotely piloting it in "The Purple Game", but was unable to defeat it despite his efforts.
  • Troll: Raph fought a troll Yōkai as his opponent in "Battle Nexus: New York" alongside Ghostbear. Raph struggled to make progress on defeating the troll with its relentless attacks and the lack of cooperation from his partner, but eventually he resolved to use Ghostbear's signature Hibernator technique against his foe. However, the attack was intercepted by the troll's club and Raph and Ghostbear lost the match.
  • The Krang: Raph rallied his family on a mission to prevent the Foot from unleashing the Krang upon Earth after learning of their threat in Rise of the TMNT: The Movie. Unable to escape the Foot's hideout after he used his own Donnie Pod to send Leo back to the lair, Raph was abducted and altered into a Krang zombie by the Krang.
    • Krang One: While in captivity, Raph's mind was read by Krang One when he refused to reveal where the Krang prison dimension key was located. He was ordered by Krang One as a Krang zombie to attack Leo once he made his way into the Technodrome to rescue him. Eventually, he was able to defy the influence of his zombie transformation and regained access to his Hamato Ninpō and fought Krang One alongside his brothers.

Quotes

  • "You're flying too close to the bull and you're gonna get stung." ("Shell in a Cell")
  • "Nice punch, hoss. Too bad I snagged the ring." ("The Longest Fight")
  • "We are so good we don't even have to play for people to go crazy, baby." ("Al Be Back")
  • "Laddering like a boss." ("The Evil League of Mutants")
  • "I wasn't sure they knew what a week was." ("Pizza Pit")
  • "Write it down, I said, but no. "The brain is nature's notepad."" ("Mystic Library")
  • "We're gonna smash our way in and keep smashing until we smash that armor piece right into our smashy little hands." ("One Man's Junk")
  • "Prepare for Operation Fire-Hanky-Tickle-Collar!" ("Many Unhappy Returns")
  • "Those guys are gonna whoop the Daves." ("Air Turtle")
  • "Ha! Look at you guys! Fake whining over clearly fake acid." ("Sidekick Ahoy!")
  • "Oh, yeah. Some say I'm an expert, but I say you could always learn more." ("Raph's Ride Along")

Trivia

  • Unlike previous incarnations of the Turtles, this version of Raph is both the eldest Turtle and the leader of the team as opposed to Leo.
    • If the lyrics to the song Turtle Power are considered, this is the second time Raph is the leader of the Turtles.
  • Raph's weapon of choice is the tonfā instead of his usual weapon, the sai, using them during early events of "Mystic Mayhem" prior to breaking them.
Raphael in The Passing
  • This version of Raph is not the first to wield tonfā. The first depiction of which being the 1986 Mirage TMNT story The Passing, which takes place when the Mirage Turtles are still preteens in ninja training, Raphael's primary weapons were tonfā rather than the sai that he would wield later on.
  • In this iteration, Raph is an alligator snapping turtle, known in real-life as being not only the largest species of snapping turtle, but also the largest species of freshwater turtle in North America[6], hence his large figure.
    • In this version, Raph's physical profile is also similar to various incarnations of Slash, most versions of whom are also snapping turtles.
    • He also resembles Raphael from the 2014 film series.
  • One of Raph's catchphrases is "Like a boss".
  • Raph regularly speaks in the third person.
  • Raph tends to only read books partway through as revealed in "The Mutant Menace".
  • According to Rise of the TMNT executive producer Andy Suriano in a behind the scenes video, the reason that Raph is the leader of the Mad Dogs is because he is the oldest.[7] This is also iterated by April in the Junior Novel Ninja Power, stating, "Because [Raph's] the biggest and the oldest, he's the leader."
    • according to Leo, Raph is also considered to be a "figure it out as he goes" type of leader.
    • When describing his leadership role on a livestream, Raph was described as the "reactionary-type leader".
    • As described by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Russ Carney in a Tweet, "Raph is all heart, all loyalty, all smash, but he's maybe not as strong with tactics?"[8]
  • Donnie reveals in "Mascot Melee" that Raph is allergic to peanuts.
  • Raph's surprise exclamation, "Jumpin' Jack Flash!", may be a reference to the Rolling Stones' song of the same name or the 1986 film starring Whoopi Goldberg.
  • A running gag is when Raph is on the phone with his brothers he speaks in a gentle, unintentionally patronizing voice.
  • As mentioned in "Mind Meld", Raph apparently has a social media account that he posts on.
  • Raph's favorite music genre is R&B ("Al Be Back").[9][10][11]
  • Despite Raph's affection for animals, they usually fear or hate him, most likely due to his giant figure.
  • Raph wears a retainer headset with his pajamas as seen in "Flushed, but Never Forgotten".
  • Raph claims he can shove his entire fist in his mouth in "Lair Games".
  • As said by Donnie in "Snow Day", Raph gets stuck in a pirate voice whenever he watches Jupiter Jim Sails the Seven Galaxies.
  • Raph has a habit of impulsively pushing big red buttons as shown in "Cloak and Swaggart".
  • According to Leo in "Mind Meld", Raph is "terrible at [taking] pictures".
  • It is not unusual for Raph to get into physical fights with himself. He is shown doing this multiple times throughout the series such as in "Pizza Puffs".
  • In "Cloak and Swaggart", Raph confesses that he is "tank-aphobic".

Gallery

References

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