Raphael is a mutant snapping turtle, and the oldest and leader of the Ninja Turtles. His weapons are a pair of tonfās, which helps him tap into the power of "smash-jutsu".
Physical Appearance
Raphael is large and muscular, with bright green skin, a yellow-orange plastron with a jagged top edge and a spiked dark green carapace. He also has small spikes protruding from his shoulders, black eyes, a small sharp tooth hanging from his upper right jaw, three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. His physical profile is similar to various versions of Slash, most versions of whom are also snapping turtles.
Raph wears a red mask that covers the top of his head (with long jagged mask tails about the same length as Leo's), red elbow pads with a large spike at the joint, off-white bandages around his wrists, hands and ankles, and small bandages on his right side of his plastron and left forearm. He also wears red boxer-briefs and a red belt with a Turtle emblem.
Personality
Raph has a boisterous and brash personality, preferring to act first and think later when confronted by enemies. However, he can be made anxious by pressure, which is made worse when he becomes self-conscious about it. He has hard time being mean to people, especially his brothers, shown when he didn't want to make Donnie upset about not liking his gifts, but he will fight with them if they are arguing- such as when he fought Leo over dethroning his wrestling idol Ghost Bear.
Raph appears to have a soft spot for animals, as shown in "Mystic Mayhem", when he saw Mayhem lost and scared on a construction site. He also seem to be an extreme eater, as shown in Origami Tsunami when he ate a large amount of the salami (including the salami ninja).
History
Bio
As the biggest and oldest brother, Raphael is the self-appointed leader of the group. He thinks he can use his fists to get himself out of any situation. But while Raph's muscles are bigger than his brain, his heart is bigger than his muscles.
Abilities
- Strength (Due To Mutation & Species)
- Speed (Due To Mutation)
- Durability
- Acrobatics
- Stealth
- Smash-jutsu
- Ninjutsu
Relationships
Family
Friends
Enemies
- Baron Draxum:
- Meat Sweats:
- Warren Stone:
- Hypnopotamus:
- Albearto:
- Foot Clan:
- Ghostbear: Originally, Raph idolized Ghostbear, but after the wrestler revealed that he cheated to get his winning streak, Raph now hates him.
Quotes
- “Go big or go home!” - Raphael to his brothers
- "Stop talking about my fear stink!"
- "Let's take the glowy ones."
- "If I’ve learned anything from “Jupiter Jim” movies, glowing green usually equals bad." - Mystic Mayhem
Trivia
- In the 2018 series, each one of the Turtles comes from a different turtle subspecies.
- As a snapping turtle, Raphael is sensibly the largest turtle, with a large mouth to match his species (though unlike Raphael, real snapping turtles lack spikes and teeth and they have long tails).
- Additionally, his attack first approach matches the real snapper's defense: a pain attack on the enemy.
- Unlike previous incarnations of the Turtles, this version of Raphael is both the oldest turtle and the leader of the team, instead of Leonardo.
- This version of Raphael is not the first to wield tonfās or wear a headscarf instead of a headband. The first such appearance of either was in the 1986 Mirage TMNT story The Passing, which takes place when the Mirage Turtles are still preteens in ninja training, all wearing headscarves, and Raphael's primary weapons were tonfās rather than the sais he would wield later on.
- According to the Rise of the TMNT concept art reveal live stream, Raph and Leo will have a brotherly rivalry, much like other incarnations.
- When describing his leadership role on live stream, Raph was described as the "reactionary-type leader".
- According to a behind the scenes video, the only reason that Raph is the leader is because he is the oldest.
- Raph is also considered to be a "figure it out as he goes" type of leader.
- In "Mystic Mayhem", it is revealed that Raph chokes under pressure, and that he's even more self conscious when someone talks about it. This proves that Raph may not be fit to be leader.
- In "Donnie's Gifts", he confesses he is terrible at planning, which is another reason he might not be fit to be leader.
- Donnie reveals in "Mascot Melee", that Raph is allergic to peanut butter.