Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-11469381-20150831022901/@comment-995426-20150921034813

Yes! Remember how sassy he was? He was such a [bleep], and we loved him for it. :D It's notable that the pilot episode so gingerly set up the impression that he's gay...until it revealed he was talking to Spike. But they continued showering those gems all over the season. And it wasn't just that&mdash;it was how they showed Raph always understanding what goes on in a woman's mind and acting in such natural camaraderie with April, but having such personal indifference for women even in close physical proximity. (Not even the briefest sexual tension. Just nothing.)  He couldn't even off-handedly comment on a woman's appearance without making it seem like he was actually teasing his brothers. The icing on the cake was Raph vogue-dancing like a prima donna. Vogue is a very famous dance...if you're a gay guy from Manhattan.

Season 2 still gave him some catty and big sister moments, but gave him so much more depth and substance in his lasting love and angst for Slash. And just like that, they become the single most interesting thing about the entire series.

And then season 3 came, and it was all but unceremoniously ignored. The first sign should have been that the North Hampton episodes (starting with Within the Woods) didn't really capitalize on the heart-wrenching Invasion episode, but quickly degraded into "The Real World: North Hampton" where they treated it like a frathouse/vacation. I mean, yeah, the show has comedy elements, but if it's written well, it knows when and how to still take itself seriously. Season 3 has been terrible in general like this, and characters like Raph have been some of the worst casualties.

I miss tomboy sister Raph. I miss angsty heartsick Raph. I have no affection for cold fish Raph, and I'm definitely not looking forward to a retooled somehow-suddenly-not-indifferent-to-women Raph. It's breaking the character we came to know and love. Most other versions of Raphael already have designated girlfriends. They shouldn't retool this Raphael just for nostalgia's sake, especially after they went to the trouble of making him such an interesting unique characterization. Generically angry Raphael is such a long-established stock character by now. But 2K12 season 1 & 2 Raph was different and fun!

Yeah... I'm sad. :(