Raphael or Raph is the "hot-headed muscle" of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He often lets his impulsiveness get in the way instead of using rational thinking. He has a soft side, but only reveals it to his pet turtle Spike (however, he occasionally does so to his brothers and Splinter). Like all his other appearances in the past, Raphael's weapon of choice is his twin Sai.
Personality[]
Always acting before he thinks things through, Raphael is the muscle of the team. He is catty, sarcastic, tough, and at times, mean; but he is known to have a soft side when caring for his pet turtle. It is also shown that he loves his brothers very much, and shows his nurturing side at times, mostly to his younger brother Michelangelo. However, he often feels that his family doesn't understand or accept him so he doesn't usually open up to them.
As seen in New Girl in Town, Leonardo and Raphael begin to argue. When this happens, Leonardo decides that Raphael should lead the team, if he can do better, to which Raphael agrees. During this, they battled Snakeweed, and Michelangelo ended up injured. Raphael said he 'froze up seeing Michelangelo like that'. He told Splinter he needs Leonardo. He also said, "I don't mind risking my own life, but risking my brothers'..." This shows us how much he cares about his brothers.
As far as humor goes, Raphael (like most of his incarnations) is very cynical and sarcastic, sometimes making jokes at the others' expense, but usually just making 'witty remarks'. He also deadpans a lot—for example, when Donatello sees April for the first time, and says "she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen" Raphael then asks "isn't she the only girl you've ever seen?" Humor is generally when he is most amiable to his brothers too. For example; he will tease one, and another will usually agree or join in—these jokes are often at Michelangelo's expense, (but he rarely minds) or at Donatello's if April is mentioned (occasionally, Raphael and Michelangelo make kissing noises when Donatello mentions her).
As far as Raphael's flaws go, the biggest, and most obvious would be his temper. Not only is his temper formidable, but it is also very quick to ignite. He starts to deal with his anger issues in Turtle Temper, after being told by Master Splinter that anger can be very destructive (via a story that explained why the Shredder killed Tang Shen). Throughout the rest of the series, he is slightly less impulsive; however he is still the most aggressive of his brothers, and always becomes extremely angry when one or more of his brothers are hurt. Raphael is less vicious to his brothers after this, but still hits them when they are being annoying. Raphael is also very quick to judge people, like Karai.
Abilities[]
Raphael is the strongest and toughest among his brothers, being able to take on much larger opponents quicker and more easily.
- Anger: As seen multiple times through the series, Raphael's greatest weakness has been his anger. However, when properly focused, his temper can be used as his greatest strength, increasing his fighting abilities.
- Kobudō and Sai Proficiency: Raphael was trained by Splinter in the use of sais. Although Raph can use his sais for their intentional purpose of trapping his enemies weapons within their prongs, he also uses them in the same manner a daggers, stabbing and piercing his opponents. When holding them in a reverse grip between his fingers, Raph can use the pommel of his sais to increase the effect of his punches.
- Kyūjutsu: Raphael also posses aptitude in archery and uses a yumi and arrow to fight long-ranged.
- Shurikenjutsu: Raphael can throw shiruken with remarkable accuracy.
- Tegaki Profiency: In Vision Quest, Raphael forged his own custom-made Tegaki, which resembled a pair of Tekkō-kagi but with only two blades. He wielded them as though they were gauntlets.
- Strength: Raphael is the strongest of the turtles. He is able to lift grown humans over his head and battle larger opponents of greater strength such as Slash and Super Shredder.
- Speed: Raphael is able to move at great speed, able to free run on rooftops without losing momentum. He also possesses great reaction speed, allowing him to dodge projectiles such as lasers the Kraang's blasters, and enemy attacks. He can also spin his sais at incredible speed.
- Stealth: Being taught by Splinter, Leonardo, as well as his brothers, are able to be one with darkness and hide and move within the shadows without being noticed.
- Pressure Point Intuition: As shown in Slash and Destroy, Raphael is able to use the famous Pressure Point technique which he uses to defeat Slash.
- Artistry: Return to New York showed that Raphael has some skill as a painter, from when he painted a "Venus de Milo" artwork on the side of the Party Wagon. One of the walls of his bedroom is also covered with splotches of different colors of paint, but without any clear illustration.
Weapons[]
During most of the series, Raphael wields twin Sai, with which, like his brothers and their chosen weapons, he is highly skilled. In Pulverizer Returns, Master Splinter says that the boys are relying too heavily on their own weapons and makes them swap. After this process, Raphael is left with Michelangelo's Nunchakus. His Sai are given to Donatello. Despite their best efforts, none of them are particularly successful (mostly Donatello, who manages to prick himself with the Sai) however, Raphael only hits himself twice with the nun-chucks, meaning he is at least somewhat competent with them (most likely because they are of a similar design, ie: two, small handheld weapons).
However, during a more difficult fight, the turtles are still uncooperative with their new weapons and swap back. When Splinter finds out, he confiscates all weapons, stating that anything can be useful. When he and his brothers are trying to save Timothy, Raphael uses two planks of wood, holding and fighting with them in a style similar to his Sai. In The Gauntlet, he used a Yumi bow and like his other brothers wielded Shuriken (throwing stars). In Showdown, Part 1, Raphael armed himself with Kama scythes, Shuriken, Kunai, Tonfa and Brass Knuckles.
During his time in space, Raphael used laser sais and a laser blaster created by Fugitoid as his main weapons.
In a possible future of the Turtles, an older and weathered Raphael still used his sai, however he also used a red blaster.
Appearance[]
Raphael's character design was updated, giving him green eyes as well as a small, lightning shaped chip cut out of his plastron across his left shoulder. His shell shows distinct battle damage, and the tails of his mask are tattered and worn. On the new ninjaturtles.com, Raphael says that he usually uses his Sai as a pair of pizza forks.
Relationships[]
Family:[]
Donatello - Raphael's second-youngest brother. He fights with Donnie the least, in physical terms, but in verbal terms, he makes fun of Donnie's intelligence and his huge crush on April a great deal. As far as Raph's treatment of his brothers goes, his behavior to Donnie is the closest he comes to full on bullying. However, like all his brothers, Raph cares for Donnie deeply and is incredibly protective of him. In A Foot Too Big, he tried to console Donnie about his feelings for April, telling Donnie to give up because he was a mutant and she was human and that he should get used to it sooner so the pain would be less.
Casey Jones - Raphael initially fought Casey the first time they met, and then became close friends and rivals, having a lot in common. They are both shown patrolling together frequently. Since season 3, they have become more like family, and Splinter and Mikey specifically consider April and Casey part of their family.
Leonardo - Raphael's only older brother. He and Leo tend to fight about who would be a better leader of the Turtles, but Leo always comes first, making Raph jealous. They seem to fight the most out of all their brothers, but they still care about each other. The two are shown to trust each other more in the family as they are often discussing things privately away from the others such as Leo's relationship with Karai. Raph often expresses annoyance at Leo's constant attempts at 'hero speak', especially in season 1 when Leo is most influenced by Space Heroes. However, Raphael does gain some sort of respect for Leo after being the leader himself for a while, and finding it very difficult. After the Kraang Invasion of New York, Leo was severely injured to the point he was in a temporary coma. Raph was the one who watched over Leo day and night until he got better. While Leo was still healing from his wounds, Raph appeared to have become the de facto leader as he was the one to lead the training sessions with his brothers and the one giving orders when Leo could not.
Michelangelo - Raphael's youngest brother. Mikey teases Raph the most of the four brothers, and Raph often retaliates physically (usually by a slap or punch). However, when other people start beating up Mikey, Raph stands up for his little brother. Raph seems to be the most protective of Mikey. Though he doesn't show it very often, Raph deeply cares about him. Raph seems closest to Mikey out of all his brothers, sometimes joking with him (usually at Donnie or Leo's expense). For example, in Panic in the Sewers, Donnie starts rattling on about frost, and Mikey asks Raph if "He [Donnie] maybe has an off switch somewhere]" Raph slaps Donnie on the back of the head, causing Donnie to yell "OW!" and shut up. Raph then turns back to Mikey and says "Found it!" and the two share a laugh.
April O'Neil - Raphael's first human friend. He and April don't interact that much. He got a little defensive when the Purple Dragons tried to mug her, but he also laughed at her when they thought Pigeon Pete attacked her. He was also impressed that she escaped from Karai. He and April are good friends. Since season 3, they have become more like family, and Splinter and Mikey specifically consider April and Casey part of their family.
Spike / Slash - Raph's relationship with Slash is complicated, to say the least, as a pet love that turned into a conflicted ambiguous love between two fully-grown sentient mutant turtles. Slash was originally Raph's pet turtle Spike, and one of the only individuals Raph showed love and affection to, Raph usually speaking to him as if to another person rather than to a pet; indeed, Spike's first scene in Rise of the Turtles, Part 2 showed Raph sharing solemn tender words of love to another unseen male character, only for the scene to reveal the recipient to be his non-verbal pet turtle Spike. In the same scene, Raph was deeply embarrassed that Michelangelo witnessed this exchange, implying that Raph prefers not to show tenderness to Spike when others are watching. This kind of tenderness occasionally carried over to Raph and Slash as mutants, as shown in a scene in Clash of the Mutanimals when Raph worriedly rushed to see if Slash was okay. When Spike became the mutant Slash in Slash and Destroy, he demonstrated that he really had been listening to Raph all those years, finally requiting the love Raph had shown him. The two planned to become their own ninja team, but Slash proved unstable, possessive, and ax-crazy when he tried to kill Raph's brothers to have Raph all to himself. Raph rejected what Slash had become, and Slash escaped feeling betrayed by the only person he'd ever loved. Raph was so aggrieved by Slash's loss that Splinter had to teach him how to cope with the loss of loved ones. Slash and Raph did not interact much when they met again in Metalhead Rewired, but Slash protected Raph from harm, demonstrating he still cared about him. Raph and Slash finally fully reconciled in Newtralized!, when Slash's stabilizing conscience steadily alienated him from his then-ally, the Newtralizer, and Slash eventually turned against the Newtralizer to defend Raph, his brothers and Casey Jones. Raph invited Slash to come back home, but Slash declined, choosing to remain alone for the time. In The Invasion, Part 1, when the turtles were permanently evacuating the Turtle Lair, Raph revealed his most cherished personal possession to be his photograph of Spike, expressing how much he still worried about Slash. After an exile in North Hampton, Raph and Slash met again in Battle for New York, Part 1, immediately re-establishing their ties. Raph trusted Slash even while his brothers (particularly Leonardo) still doubted him. From this point on, their relationship is more casual, with Raph and Slash appearing as loyal friends but sharing far less affection, except for one scene in Clash of the Mutanimals. Slash is one of the few close friends or family who consistently addresses Raph by his three-syllable name, "Raphael," except for two utterances of "Raph" in Slash and Destroy.
Hamato Miwa / Karai - Raphael's adoptive sister, by virtue of her being Splinter's biological daughter. Raph was by far the most distrustful of Karai for season 1 and 2, being highly cynical of Leo's infatuation with her, and verbally catfighting with Karai in person. But since Karai mutated, Raph has been more sympathetic to her like the rest of his siblings.
Hamato Yoshi / Splinter - Raphael's adoptive father. He tends to show a lot of stubbornness towards Splinter's advice, but Raphael still listens to his sensei and trains well under him. He is almost certainly the most rebellious of Splinter's sons, and Splinter's guidance is usually to show restraint or mercy in combat, as well as force and power. Despite this, he loves Splinter as much as his brothers and will rush to his help if Splinter is in danger.
Allies:[]
Leatherhead - Raphael never directly interacted with Leatherhead, but he did disagree with Michelangelo about befriending him.
Timothy / The Pulverizer / Mutagen Man - Raphael finds him plain annoying and didn't really care about his safety, but he did try to help save him in The Pulverizer Returns!.
Y’Gythgba (Mona Lisa) - Raphael first met her after crash landing on an icy moon in The Moons of Thalos 3. When she demonstrated how tough and skilled she is, Raph develops a crush on Ik'thba whom he later renamed her "Mona Lisa". She bonds with Raph after saving her and G'Throkka (a.k.a. Sal Commando) from a few ice dragons. Then they shared their feelings for each other as she kissed him. As of The War for Dimension X, Mona and Raphael are an official couple. Despite his romantic feelings for her, after her brief betrayal in The Evil of Dregg Raphael is shown later in The Insecta Trifecta to have deep-suited issues involving her. But at the same time it shows that he really misses her.
Ryuko Matoi - Raphael and Ryuko always fight each other because of their hotheaded personality. But Ryuko had proved to Raph time and time again that she is stronger than he is so they have a rivalry going on.
Akane Owari - Akane is one of Raph's rivals when it comes to being the strongest. They always train together while Nekomaru watches. She is just as strong as Raph and it always ended up as a tie.
Mako Mankanshoku - Raphael finds Mako as being "Mikey if he was a human female" because she acts like Mikey in terms of personality. But like his youngest brother, Raph has a soft spot for her and he always protect her from danger.
Fluttershy - Fluttershy helps Raph learn how to stay calm. Even though he intimidates her and always calling her weak and pathetic he respects her when she proves that she isn't as nice as she seems.
Enemies:[]
Oroku Saki / The Shredder - Due to Shredder being Splinter's arch nemesis, Raphael hates the Shredder as well.
The Kraang - Raphael dislikes the Kraang, and will do anything he can to stop their invasion plots. The Kraang also hate the Turtles due to them being the only force powerful enough to stop them. This rivalry is far more personal to the Turtles than their rivalry with the Foot Clan.
Victor / Spider Bytez - Raphael and Spider Bytez really hated each other from the moment they first met. Raphael despises him because he insulted him, while Spider Bytez, as Vic, took pleasure in tormenting and insulting Raphael. When he caught the Turtles on tape, Raphael wanted to really break his face. Vic hates them, because he and his brothers broke his phone and satellite dish. Vic also blames Raphael and his brothers for turning him into a mutant spider, and attempted to kill Raphael's brothers, but Raphael managed to control his temper and defeat him. For some reason, Spider Bytez calls them "kung-fu frogs". Spider Bytez is one of the three villains that Raphael hates the most; The others are Chong and Fishface.
Baxter Stockman - Raphael dislikes him, and takes pleasure in throwing him in the trash.
Xever Montes / Fishface - One of Raphael's archenemies. He fights him every chance he gets, and the two seem evenly matched, as they were the most powerful fighters in their groups (besides their masters). However, unlike Spider Bytez and Chong, Raphael and Fishface share a mutual respect for each other, and share many similarities. In Baxter's Gambit, they work together really well, and seem to be alike due to their aggression and willingness to fight until the end. Fishface even tells Raphael about his past. Raphael and Fishface also saved each other once during this episode and later Raphael was able to detect an attack on Leonardo from Fishface before it caused any damage. Despite them being alike in many ways, Raphael and Fishface are fierce enemies.
Chris Bradford / Dogpound / Rahzar - One of Raphael's enemies. He dislikes him, but their rivalry is far less aggressive than that of Raphael and Fishface.
Spy-roach - Due to his fear of cockroaches, Raphael both hates and fears Chong. Chong also hates Raph because Raph tried to kill him when he was a normal cockroach. During the whole episode Cockroach Terminator, Chong stopped at nothing to kill Raph using Raph's fear of him to his advantage, along with his mutation. Raph spent the whole episode trying to get away from him, but was forced to confront his fear when Chong kidnapped Mikey. Raph managed to save Mikey with the Stealth Bike and faced his fear, fighting the mutant roach, and flattened his face with the Stealth Bike wheel. Chong came back for round two, but Raph beat him in hand to hand combat and destroyed him with the Kraang's drill, though he doesn't know about the eggs Chong had laid with the mutant cockroaches, shortly after Chong was defeated.
Snake / Snakeweed - He made his debut in the first episode of the series Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, before he mutates into a mutated weed, he was a henchman for the Kraang. His name was previously Snake, so Michelangelo renamed him Snakeweed after his mutation.
Victor Falco / The Rat King - Raphael really hates the Rat King, but his rivalry with him isn't as big compared to most of his other enemies.
The Newtralizer - Another of Raphael's enemies.
Ivan Steranko / Rocksteady - Raphael's enemy
Trivia[]
- Raphael is named for the famous Renaissance master, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.
- Raphael's name is Hebrew, meaning "God has Healed". Raphael is also the only brother to have a Hebrew name, whilst all three of his brothers' names are Italian. He is the only turtle to not have an o sound at the end of his name. These things are because the Turtles were named after the common English names for the four Renaissance artists, and unlike the others, the artist Raphael is not usually called by his Italian name Raffaello.
- In Katakana, Raphael's name is spelled: ラファエル (Rafaeru).
- Given the fact that he was adopted by Hamato Yoshi/Splinter, Raphael's full name would be "Hamato Raphael", or "Raphael Hamato" in Western naming order.
- His mastery of Ninjutsu includes: Taijustu, Qigong, Shurikenjustu, Kobudō, Kayajustu, Shinobi-iri, Boyaku, Sui-ren, Archery, and Intonjustu.
- Raphael is the second oldest of his brothers; Leonardo being the oldest while he's older than Donatello & Michelangelo.
- Raphael has a bolt-shaped chip missing at the upper, left side of his plastron. His shell, and body in general are by far the most scarred of his brothers'.
- His mask has the longest tails, and by far the most tattered.
- Raphael is often called "meat-head" by Donatello.
- In Cockroach Terminator, Raphael is revealed to have katsaridaphobia (irrational fear of cockroaches), and is terrified of Donatello's pet SpyRoach (or called "Chong"). The origins of his katsaridaphobia has yet to be explored, but apparently Raphael was able to keep it quiet, as his brothers never knew of his phobia until that episode.
- It is revealed in Parasitica that Raphael gets nausea after seeing body parts from bugs.
- Raphael had a pet turtle named Spike, who later turned into Slash.
- Raphael is shown to care a lot about his youngest brother Michelangelo, as he didn't know what to do anymore when Michelangelo got hurt.
- Raphael also cares about his other brothers as he said: "I don't mind risking my own life, but my brothers'..."
- It is seen in New Girl in Town, when Raphael gets under so much pressure being the leader for a short time, he freezes up with anxiety.
- Though he is the second oldest, Raphael is the third tallest/second shortest of the turtles. However, his stocky build often makes him seem shorter.
- In the first season of the show he has three big rivals Fishface, Spider Bytez and Spy-roach.
- Raphael is the second Turtle to hide completely in his shell as seen in The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones.
- Raphael's personality has traits of a Tsundere, in Japan a tsundere is a person that acts hostile and cold towards others but has a much more softer side to them that they reveal over time.
- It is revealed in "Lone Rat and Cubs", that Raph got the lighting bolt like scar on his plastron when he was run over by a shopping cart as a child.
Quotes[]
- "All right! An all you can beat buffet!" - Rise Of The Turtles Part 2.
- (after the turtles are caught fighting Kraang on a video phone) "You better hand over the phone, or so help me, I'll kick your hairy butt all the way to New Jersey!" - Turtle Temper.
- "We're not Kung Fu frogs, We're Ninja Turtles!" - Turtle Temper
- (exhaling) "Like a river, over stone..." - Turtle Temper
- (after Leo ironically crashes down a fire escape, just after telling his brothers to be silent, like ninjas are supposed to be) "That wasn't very silent, Leo!" - I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman .
- (when Leo says to Stockman that the turtles don't want to hurt him) "We don't? Did I miss some meeting?" - I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman .
- (after Donatello points out that, technically, failure is always an option in battle) "You know what else is an option? Slapping you!" - Metalhead
- "Boy, I sure hope this argument goes on for another four minutes and fifteen seconds!" - The Gauntlet
- "Booyakasha!" - New Girl in Town
- (about Spider Bytez) "Man, I didn't think this guy could get any uglier." - Turtle Temper
- "And the award for worst leader goes to..." - New Girl In Town .
- "I said I'm SORRY!" - New Girl in Town.
- (hiding behind the van) "Why did it have to be a cockroach? Why did it have to be a cockroach?" - Cockroach Terminator
- "I knew this day would come... we ran out of butts to kick." - Pulverizer Returns
- "HE HAS A SAW?!?!? The cockroach has a SAW!" - Cockroach Terminator
- "Hey! Nobody hits Mikey except ME!" - I, Monster
- (under the influence of Fishface's venom) "Donnie? Why are there fingers on my feet?" - The Pulverizer
- (about Fishface) "Important safety tip: Avoid the legs!" - The Pulverizer
- "This is either going to be really cool or really painful... (moment later) Okay, it was both." - Cockroach Terminator
- "I think his name is Baxter Stockman." - I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman
- "Lets go whack some piñatas."- It Came From The Depths
- "Where were we? Oh, yeah, I was turning you into fish sticks." - Baxter's Gambit
- (Raph to Leo) "You really think Mikey and Donnie wouldn't understand-" (pauses to think) "you really think Donnie wouldn't understand?" - Karai's Vendetta
- "Ugh, i-it's in my guts! I-I can feel it and they're munching on the popcorn I ate! IT'S FREAKING ME OUT, MAN!" - Invasion of the Squirrelanoids
- "Meditate on THIS!" (hits a pressure point on Slash's arm) - Slash and Destroy
- "That guy's out of control." - The Good, The Bad and Casey Jones
- "I'm freaking out, I'm freaking out, I'M FREAKING OUT!" - Fungus Humungous
- Raphael: "I can't believe I'm going to say this...(imitates character from Space Heroes) Get it together, captain. You're our leader, so act like one!"
- Leonardo: "You're right, Raph. That was the anxiety ray talking."
- 'Raphael: "That's it? You're not gonna slap yourself?" - 'Panic in the Sewers
- Splinter: "Daimyo of the 16th century once said, in times of peace, never forget the possibility of war."
- Raphael: "I'm guessing that guy lost a lot of wars." - Never Say Xever
- "This time I'm gonna beat you, Ryuko! (charges) -few seconds later- (groans) Darn it! I lost again!" - Raph after being defeated by Ryuko
- "Akane, you don't have the skills of a kunoichi! Let me show you the true power of a ninja!" - Raph training with Akane Owari
- "(sighs) And here comes Female Mikey." - Raph referring to Mako Mankanshoku
- "Fluttershy, don't get in my way! I don't need your help!" - Raph scolding Fluttershy