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| “ | Name's Raph. If there's a brawl, count me in. Leo loves to plan, but me? I'd rather fight first and ask questions later. If any shellbrains try to mess with me and my brothers, they won't know what hit 'em! Oh yeah, they will... ME! You bad guys heard me! If you guys ever mess with me and my brothers, you'll get it! I know that Leo and I have been fighting a lot but... we're brothers and brothers do fight. But we protect each other and that's what counts the most in my life. | „ |
| ~ Raphael. |
Raphael is one of the four titular main protagonists of the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
He is the adoptive son and third child of Master Splinter, adoptive younger brother of Miwa/Karai, the younger brother of Leonardo, and the older brother of Donatello, and Michelangelo. Raphael is "The Muscle" of the sibling team.
He is voiced by Sean Astin, who also played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Chester from Bunnicula, Kodi in Balto III: Wings of Change, Oso in Special Agent Oso, Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, and Bob Newby in Stranger Things.
Description[]
Raphael is the most violent of the four brothers. He’s strong willed and he is bodily-kinesthetically intelligent especially with strength and athletics. While he's fiercely loyal to his brothers, he also can get annoyed with them. Raphael is also the one who would erupt and lash out when upset. His closest confidante was his pet turtle named Spike. Raphael's temper can get the better of him, causing him to get into situations over his head.
History[]
Raphael and his brothers were once ordinary turtles; when they were infants, they were adopted from a pet store by Hamoto Yoshi. When their soon to be father walked passed a strange man, a Kraangdroid, he felt something odd about him and followed. Unfortunately, Yoshi gave away his position when he accidentally stepped on a rat's tail. The Kraang found him and attempted to kill him, but Yoshi fought back hard. In the end, the Kraang dropped the canister of Mutagen they were holding, causing the turtles and Yoshi to mutate. Yoshi came in contact with a rat last, thus mutated into a humanoid brown rat by the name of "Splinter", while Raph and his brothers, after coming in contact with Splinter when he was human, mutated into humanoid turtles. Splinter knew they would never be accepted in society, so he took them to the sewers, made a home down there, and made the four turtles his children. Knowing the world would be dangerous and there would be a time where they want to explore the outside world, Splinter trained the boys in the art of Ninjitsu. Raph and his brothers were named after great Renaissance artists from a book Splinter fished out of the storm drain.
Appearance[]
Raph is a kelly green mutant, ninja turtle, with emerald green eye color. Like Leo, Raph doesn't have any changes to his physical appearance beyond the style of animation. He is much more like his other incarnations. There are several scratches and chips on his shell; a lightening bolt shaped crack/missing-chunk on the top-left corner of his plastron (He got it when a shopping cart ran him over as a baby); and his crimson red mask is very worn with long, tattered tails - all of which indicating his reckless side. He is "ruggedly handsome" as turtles go. Raph is the third tallest turtle. His eyes are bright green, but like all of the turtles when they're fighting, the pupils and irises vanish, leaving his eyes white, similar to those in the majority of the 2003 incarnation.
Under the name "Red Stripe" Raphael has developed into a fierce fighter for whom only survival has become important. He can no longer remember certain parts of his past life, probably due to a side effect of the mutagen disaster. Only the reunion with the surviving members of his family wakes up this buried part of his life again.
Personality[]
Raphael “Raph” is handsome, athletically intelligent, strong willed, and brave. However he can be incredibly aggressive and violent as he punches and wrestles Mikey. He has a really nasty attitude. Raphael could be incredibly rude to Leo as Raphael himself gets jealous of Leo being leader and he isn’t (although they get along mostly). He also could be impatient at times as he (and sometimes Leo) rushes Donatello on his experiments causing Donatello himself to snap at Raphael.
Despite all this, Raph does have a soft side, (though it is rarely, if ever, displayed). Though he would never admit it, he is very kind-hearted and loves his brothers and Sensei dearly. he would do anything to protect them, but he would never admit it in order to stay "hardcore" and to protect his pride. He tends to have a soft side for his pet turtles, Spike (before he turned into Slash) and Chompy (he got in season 4) and he adores them. On rare occasions he even has a soft side towards Mikey, as seen in "New Friend, Old Enemy" and "New Girl in Town." And also in "The Wrath of Tiger Claw." he even hugs Mikey, considering he is the youngest, and therefore his baby brother.
His temper, in a way, gives him a boost in his skills which helps him out in battle. However his explosive behavior often causes problems, not only for the team, but for himself. He is fiercely loyal to those he cares about, and will not give up on them.
Powers, Abilities, Weaponry and Skills[]
- Ninjutsu: Like his brothers, he has a great sense of balance and agility. He can jump farther and higher than a human, as well as move quicker and more easily on narrow surfaces. He is the strongest fighter of the group (this is certainly true when training) Raphael has beaten his brothers including Donatello before in fights, both with and without weapons.
- Enhanced Strength: He is the strongest turtle, lifting people over his head. He is also the most violent, and so he can deal harder blows - though this is not a question of strength, more of morals, his brothers would most likely not hit someone as hard as Raphael would. He was able to tackle Slash away from his brother Mikey. His greater strength may be do in part to his ferocious temper.
- Enhanced Speed: He and his brothers are very fast. They can easily run faster than most humans, however, April seems to manage it somewhat (this may be due to the turtles running slower for her benefit). Raphael is the fastest of his brothers, and this is probably due to his temper.
- Stealth: Like his brothers, he is stealthy, can hide in the shadows, sneak around without being detected, and use hand to hand combat like a real ninja.
- Sai: He normally uses sai as sharpened fist-held stabbing knives ("sharpened" is specified because sai are usually used for defense rather than offense). However, he does have a large collection of other weapons.
- Shell: He has the normal ability of a turtle to go into his shell.
- Healing Factor: As shown that he took damage from his enemy's and plenty of wounds like his brothers could heal much faster than an average person.
- Stamina and Endurance: He is able to take many attacks from his enemy's. Cause of his training and hard-earned blocking and fighting skills.
Trivia[]
- This is the first time that Raphael has ever had a pet in the franchise let alone two.
- It is revealed in the episode "Cockroach Terminator" that he has katsaridaphobia (fear of cockroaches).
- It is implied Raph likes art especially modern and renaissance as he nicknamed Y’Gythgba Mona Lisa and named one of his pets Chompy Picasso.
- Raph has great skill as a painter as he painted a Venus De Milo artwork on the side of the Party Wagon in “Return to New York”.
- In the episode "Broken Foot", Raphael mentions that he initially wanted to become a vigilante named Nightwatcher, but was talked out of by Leonardo. This is a nod to the 2007 animated film, where he became the Nightwatcher in Leo's absence.
- Raphael's voice actor: Sean Asten along with Slash's voice actor: Corey Feldman had previously starred together in "The Goonies".
External Links[]
- Raphael on TurtlePedia.
- Raphael on Nickipedia.
- Raphael on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki.
