Talk:Raphael (Rise of the TMNT)/@comment-30325285-20180211233029/@comment-995426-20180213192137

I can think of two different things that may have changed to change from sais to tonfas.

In the 2012 TV series episodes Showdown, Part 1 and Showdown, Part 2, carries a pair of tonfas into battle, though he is not seen actually using them.

And the other possible influence is Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden, which, contrary to an earlier assumption we used to make at Turtlepedia, official TMNT creators can and do read if they please like any other work of fanfiction that may interest them. In that continuity, a gives his ninjutsu student (and possible biological son)  a pair of tonfas as a Christmas present, and they become Renoir's primary weapons.