Raphael (1987 TV series)

Raphael is one of the four main characters of the 1987 animated series and is considered to be "cool but (c)rude". He wields a pair of sai and has a red bandanna.

Background
Raphael's personality in the 1987 animated series is entirely different from other variations and has a far less confrontational relationship with his friends and brothers. He’s not a hot head that gets angry when upset. Raphael is a sarcastic turtle with a smart aleck attitude. He frequently makes jokes that break the fourth wall.He providing the wittiest of the cartoon's jokes, being the most humorous turtle of the group.

Unlike the later versions, Raphael is not a scene stealing turtle and is happy that Leonardo is the leader of the team. Sometimes when Leonardo shouts a heroic line, Raphael would quickly add in a sarcastic retort. Sometimes if Leonardo's plan failed, he would challenge Leonardo to reconsider and re-evaluate the plan by saying "Now what, fearless leader" rather than saying this to steal Leonardo's role as leader. However, Raphael did challenge Leonardo's leadership once in season 8's "Turtle Trek", when he suggested that they might need a new leader and nearly provoked Leonardo into a fight.

In the Season 4 episode Raphael Knocks 'em Dead, Raphael was being a comedian for a comedy club while investigating, but he gets kidnapped and the Turtles later rescue him.

In the Season 4 episode Raphael Meets His Match, Raphael was paired off with a mysterious female mutant lizard named Mona Lisa, who in the eyes of some fans, might have been considered as a potential girlfriend for Raphael. Despite following the Turtles back to New York City, Mona Lisa was never seen again. His Archie Comics counterpart had a girlfriend named Ninjara, who was generally regarded as Raphael's girlfriend.

In the season 5 episode Raphael Versus the Volcano, due to a malfunction in Donatello's Health-o-meter, Raphael was convinced that he soon was going to die and decided to end his life as a hero named the "Green Defender," saving people from dangers and stopping criminals when he thought he had nothing to lose. When the Health-o-meter malfunction was discovered, the other Turtles found his farewell note, and they tracked him down to tell him he wasn't going to die.

Raphael was voiced by Rob Paulsen throughout the series and for two episodes in Season 3, he was replaced by Thom Pinto in Episode "The Ninja Sword of Nowhere" and "The Turtle Terminator". And in the final season Raphael was voiced by Michael Gough. In Turtles Forever, Rob Paulsen did not reprise his role as Raphael due to it being too expensive based on the logistics of 4Kids being in NYC and Paulsen residing elsewhere, and was replaced by Sebastian Arcelus. Throughout most of Season Seven, the early episodes and the Vacation Season, Raphael was voiced by Hal Rayle. One of his memorable lines was "A mind like a steel trap" which he says to April O'Neil in the very first episode "Turtle Tracks" and again in Turtles Forever to Hun.

He and the other members appear in the 2012 series, first making a brief cameo in Wormquake! and The Wrath of Tiger Claw. Unlike Turtles Forever, he and the other characters are voiced by their original voice actors. However in the Polish version he's voiced by his 2012 self VA, Otar Saralidze. He and the others also appear in Trans-Dimensional Turtles and in Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady.

Trivia

 * Unlike other incarnations, this version of Raphael is the intelligent wisecracker of the group rather than the hothead.
 * In this incarnation, Raphael is the friend and roommate of the other Turtles, not their brother. Similarly, Splinter serves as his sensei alone.
 * It is shown in "Turtle Tracks (1987 TV series)" and "Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X" that Raph sleeps with one of his sai in his hand.

Gallery
Raphael (1987 TV series)/Gallery

Raphael Raphael_(serial_1987)