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Raphael

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"Like a boss!"

―Raph's repeated catchphrase

Hamato Raphael, otherwise referred to Raph or (presumably) Red by Splinter is an alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) who was mutated to become part human from mutant alchemist Baron Draxum, before being taken in with three other turtles from a man named Hamato Yoshi. He is the eldest brother and former leader-turned-current member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, causing him to be the most responsible out of his brothers, much to their shock, especially Leonardo. He is one of the two main protagonists (alongside his younger brother, Leo) of the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, serving as the main protagonist of the series and one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Casey Jones) of the film.

Physical appearance[]

Raphael is presented to be a large fern green skinned freshwater turtle mutant/yokai who possesses the features of an alligator snapper. He is the tallest member among the Mad Dogs, attributed to the fact that his species is known to be the largest freshwater turtle in North America. He, unlike his brothers, seems to be tilting more towards his terrapin DNA rather than his human side in terms of physical appearance.

Raph sports a large, slightly worn, and bulky-figured physique. Having large and muscular legs and arms that consist of three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. He has a sizable goldenrod plastron that has spiked top edges protruding outward, his carapace is a dark blueish-black intertwined with a tint of green, with three dorsal ridges running down it. Followed by matching spikes residing on the tops of his shoulders. With one spike jutting out on both his elbows. His eyes are onyx, followed with a pair of pale yellow sclerae and teeth, his prominent snaggletooth residing at the upper right.

Over his head is a durag-like bandana colored a bright Cinnabar red, with two torn bandana tails reaching out the back. Alongside matching compression cuffs atop his elbows, shorts, and belt. The turtle emblem attached to it adjusted straight in the middle. Additionally, Raph's body sports a few bandages here and there. Sporting white adhesive bandages on his plastron (shaped to form a X), aswell as his left forearm and right calf. Finished by longer bandages wrapped around his wrists and ankles.


When his Hamato Ninpō is unlocked and since the film, his belt and shorts are black and he dons matching fingerless gloves and knee-high socks. One of the white adhesive bandages remains on his plastron, and he lacks the rest of his bandages afterward.

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.

Raphael is often impulsive, not rationalizing before making a decision that can have varying levels of success. Raphael is the former leader, not taking account for whenever his brothers would come up with plans other than his own. Even after Leonardo is given the title of leader, he still feels the responsibly of being the oldest and the glue that holds the team together.

Raphael is a very kind and passionate person, often hesitant to say potentially mean things to others. Because of his responsible nature, Raph can sometimes come across as over bearing to his brothers, making sure they stay out of danger, specifically Michelangelo for being the youngest out of his brothers.

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.

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 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. 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 paternal or 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 parental behavior.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Hamato Ninpō: As a member of the Hamato Clan, Raphael has the ability to tap into his clan's energy to unleash his own mystic powers.
    • Weapon generation: Raphael can use ordinary objects to form his own weapons, specifically sai.
    • Self-replication: Raph can create duplicates of himself at a unedifying limit, usually using them to confuse enemies as to who is the real one.
    • 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, including defense and offense.
    • Force-field constructs: Raph has the ability to construct force-fields in the shape of his own body, able to alter the size.
    • 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 force behind Raph's strikes are significantly magnified.
    • Power Punch Jutsu: Raph can create a large fists 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.

Abilities[]

  • Strategic analysis: Raphael's former position as leader allowed him to develop tactical thinking. However, he can sometimes have trouble making plans and isn't the most natural for the leader position, leaving his brothers confused at times.
  • Mind Raph: By verbally asking himself a question, Raph can summon a mental image of himself in order to think things through.
  • Ninjitsu: Raphael is skilled in ninjutsu, making him a competent foe to fight against.
    • Stealth: Raph is able to slip in and out of areas, unnoticed. However, Raph's stinks can risk him being discovered by enemies.
    • Speed: Raph is able to move quickly without being seen.
    • Enhanced strength: Raph posses immense strength greater than the average human, and even the other Mad Dogs.
  • Agility: Despite his size, Raph is quite agile, allowing him to successfully dodge attacks and perform sharp twists and flips.
  • 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.
  • Durability: Due to his mutation, Raph is able to handle increased levels of pain and physical trauma, even more to the extreme than his brothers.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Allies[]

Enemies[]

Quotes[]

  • "Lemme try. Magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon, magic weapon! Oh, yeah! Magic weapon!" - Raph tests his new weapons
  • "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
  • "Cowa-bummer. I can't believe he grounded us." - The Evil League of Mutants
  • "WHAT?!?! We called ourselves the Mutant Menace as a joke! That's why we used the 'just kidding' quotes and the 'just kidding' winky-face!" - The Mutant Menace
  • "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
  • "Knuckle sandwich!" - War and Pizza
  • "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
  • "You just don't get it, Leo. I'm the oldest here. I'm responsible for keeping us safe and making sure we can handle anything that comes our way. Cause If I don't you could all end up dead." - Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
  • "No, we're not. Because we know who has the key. The Foot Clan. OK, team, we gotta find it before that happens, and this time, we do it together!" - Raph ordering the others to help Casey find the key and they do it together to Leo
  • "My tonfā!" - Raph in dismay as Shredder chomps on his weapons
  • "Jumping jack flash!" - Mystic Mayhem

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.
  • 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, 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 bares resemblance to his 2014 film series incarnation.
    • Raph could not hide in his shell due to his species.
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Raph to Foot Brute, Foot Lieutenant and Foot Recruit

  • 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 a behind the scenes video, the reason that Raph is the leader of the Mad Dogs is because he is the oldest.
  • 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 writer Russ Carney in a Tweet, "Raph is all heart, all loyalty, all smash, but he's maybe not as strong with tactics?".
  • 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.
  • 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", and has won the 'Mallow Mouth' event five years running.
  • 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[]

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