| “ | Name's Raph. If there's a brawl, count me in. Leo loves to plan, but me? I'd rather fight first and ask questions later. If any shellbrains try to mess with me and my brothers, they won't know what hit 'em! Oh yeah, they will... ME! You bad guys heard me! If you guys ever mess with me and my brothers, you'll get it! I know that Leo and I have been fighting a lot but... we're brothers and brothers do fight. But we protect each other and that's what counts the most in my life. | „ |
| ~ Raphael |
| “ | Slash! You see? That's what real friends do! They stand up for each other! I'd rather be my like my brothers than you any day. | „ |
| ~ Raphael, standing up to Slash, in what could be one of his most admirable moments. |
Raphael (nicknamed Raph) is one of the four titular main protagonists of the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is the adoptive son of Splinter, the adoptive brother of Karai, and the brother of Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo. He is also the former caretaker of Spike (now known as Slash), and the current owner of Chompy Picasso. He is the muscle of the Turtles.
Like all incarnations, Raphael wears a red bandana and carries a pair of twin sais as his main weapons. Like most versions of the character, he is notorious for his bad temper and his violent streak and is known to bully and argue with his brothers from time to time. But despite this, he cares for them very much and is always willing to protect them. He also has a crack on his shell which he got as a baby turtle during a fight between his sensei Hamato Yoshi and the Kraang.
He was voiced by Sean Astin.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
In General[]
- Cares deeply for his family and friends such as his brothers Leo, Donnie and Mikey, his sensei/adopted father Splinter, his pet turtles Spike (later known as Slash) and Chompy Picasso, and his allies April O'Neil and Casey Jones though he may not show it at times.
- Has protected New York City and the Earth from various threats such as the Kraang and the Foot Clan and fought dangerous villains such as Shredder, the Rat King, and Lord Dregg alongside his brothers and allies multiple times.
- Is remorseful for most of his jerkish behavior.
- While he has butted heads with Leo on some occasions in the first two seasons, he has subverted this by Season 3 and begins to respect him as a leader, especially after Leo was left in a coma and severely injured following his defeat at the hands of the Shredder and his henchmen, and when he took on the role as leader of the Hamato Clan after Splinter's death.
- While he was somewhat arrogant and competitive and looked down as Donnie and Mikey as inferior fighters to himself and Leo, this was subverted later on.
- While most of his admirable deeds are shared with his brothers, he has fewer resources than them due to Leo being the leader of the team, Donnie having advanced technology at his disposal and Mikey gaining access to powerful tools on several occasions. Not to mention, he has deeds that make him stand out like saving New York from being flooded with lava or saving the world by promising to look after Chompy.
- Is usually the second in command to Leo and takes his place as leader whenever Leo is absent. The most prominent examples of this are the first couple episodes of Season 3, where he took on the roles of leader and sensei and trained his brothers Donnie and Mikey as well as his allies April and Casey in fighting sessions while Leo was recovering from his injuries following his bout with Shredder and the Foot Clan and Splinter was presumed deceased following his one-on-one battle with Shredder.
Season 1[]
- He and the other Turtles rescued April O'Neil from being held captive by the Kraang, although they failed to rescue her father.
- Helps his brothers defeat Spider Bytez after learning to control his anger upon hearing Splinter's story about how he let his anger get the better of him.
- He, Leo and Donnie rescue Mikey from being held captive by Chris Bradford after learning that Bradford is Shredder's protégé. Afterwards, he comforts Mikey and tells him he deserves way better friends than Bradford.
- Defeats Baxter Stockman, stops him from causing havoc at TCRI and destroys the Stockman-Pod.
- Rescues Murakami from being held hostage by Xever and the Purple Dragons.
- Although he initially chews out Leo for showing mercy to a Purple Dragon when he first attacks Murakami, he subverts it by the end of the episode and learns the value of mercy and admits Leo was right after the same Purple Dragon Leo spared helped him in rescuing Murakami.
- Stops a Mutagen bomb created by the Kraang from going off in New York City and prevented the mutations of millions of New Yorkers.
- Stops Chris Bradford (now known as Dogpound) from destroying the Turtles' lair with a dangerous explosive.
- He and Leo help Donnie and Mikey fight off Baxter Stockman's Mousers.
- Tries to lead Donnie and Mikey in their battle against Snakeweed, though it results in Mikey getting hurt, which he shows remorse for.
- Helps Leo defeat Snakeweed and apologizes to him for second-guessing his orders once he admits that being leader of the team isn't all that is cracked up to be.
- Attempts to shut down the portal to prevent the Kraang from launching their invasion of Earth.
- Saves Mikey from being eaten by the Cockroach Terminator (formerly known as Spy-Roach) despite his fear of cockroaches, while saving New York from being flooded with lava from the earth’s core.
- Works with Fishface to escape Baxter Stockman's Maze of Doom despite them being archenemies.
- Stops the Kraang from converting Earth's water into Kraang water.
- Succeeds in rescuing April O'Neil's father Kirby from being held captive by the Kraang after failing to do so the first time.
- Although he and his brothers destroy the TCRI headquarters building, it was the only way to shut down the Kraang's portal and prevent them from invading New York City.
- Rescues April O'Neil and helps defeat Kraang Prime.
Season 2[]
- Though it resulted in failure and countless canisters of mutagen being scattered all over New York City, he and his brothers attempt to stop the Kraang from delivering a shipment of mutagen to the Shredder. They also try to contain the mutagen outbreak to the best of their ability.
- Saves Mikey from being flushed into another part of the sewers and drowning.
- Leads Donnie and Mikey on a rescue mission to save Leo from being held captive by Karai and the Foot Clan.
- Retrieves the centrifuge from Baxter Stockman and Dogpound (now known as Rahzar) in order for Donnie to cure Mikey of his shellacne.
- Saves April O'Neil from being attacked by Karai's Footbots and Chrome Dome.
- Stands up to Slash, rejects his offer to become partners, and stops him from murdering his brothers.
- While he once called Slash "pure evil", Slash literally tried to murder his brothers, so Raph calling him that was absolutely justified, not to mention this is exactly what Shredder succeeded in doing to Splinter since he was adopted by the Hamato Clan as Oroku Saki, and it was treated as a Moral Event Horizon cross. Not to mention, he and Slash buried the hatchet after their second encounter.
- Puts his differences with Casey Jones aside after their previous battle and teams up with him to stop the Footbots from revealing the Turtles' location.
- Rescues April O'Neil from being vivisected by the Kraang.
- Although he didn't want to rescue Spider Bytez at first, it's understandable given how much of a huge jerk he was in his first appearance.
- Rescued all of the captive mutants from the Kraang's chambers (including Slash despite him trying to murder his brothers in his first appearance) with Metalhead.
- Stops the Rat King from taking over New York City with his giant mutant rats.
- He, Leo and Mikey rescue Splinter from the clutches of Shredder, Tiger Claw and Karai.
- He and the other Turtles accept Sir Malachi's challenge and make it through his maze, defeat the dragon (who is actually a brainwashed Leatherhead), and rescue Princess April. It is Raph who truly gets them out of Sir Malachi's challenge.
- He and Mikey distract Kirby Bat while Leo and Don rescue April and try to get back the retromutagen from Baxter Stockman.
- He and Casey stop the Newtralizer from using the Kraang's newest weapon to destroy New York City.
- Saves Slash from being killed by Newtralizer and later forgives him for his past actions and offers him a chance to join the Hamato Clan, which Slash turns down, thus redeeming him. This redemption is significant because Slash would later form the Mighty Mutanimals, who are important allies of the Turtles who would later aid them in the battles against the Kraang and the Foot Clan in their subsequential appearances.
- Attempted to rescue Karai from her imprisonment by the Shredder despite initially not trusting her.
- When he accidentally swaps minds with that of a Kraang droid, he uncovered the Kraang's plot known as "Plan 10", which involves swapping minds with world leaders in order to stage a full-scale invasion of Earth.
- Foiled the Kraang's terraforming plot and rescued Leatherhead.
- Although they failed, he led his brothers, April and Casey in an attempt to thwart the Kraang's full-scale invasion of New York while Leo was off on his own battling the Foot Clan and Shredder's henchmen.
Season 3[]
- For the first couple episodes, he takes Leo and Splinter's place as the leader and sensei of the Turtles respectively while Leo recovers from his injuries following his defeat at the hands of Shredder and the Foot Clan and when Splinter is believed to have died following his battle with the Shredder, and trains his brothers to prepare for the next battle against the Kraang and the Foot Clan.
- He and the other Turtles protect Bigfoot from being pursued by a crazed hunter known as The Finger.
- Convinced Donnie to get over his obsession with April O'Neil once he compared it to Bigfoot's crush over Donnie.
- He, Casey, and April try to save his brothers after they have been swallowed by Mom-Thing, though he and Casey also end up getting swallowed, and April is the one who saves them in the end.
- Helps the Punk Frogs evacuate from their burning village despite the frogs hating humans and the Turtles for having human allies.
- Helps Donnie build a new and improved version of the Shell Raiser, which the latter renames as the Party Wagon.
- Rescues Master Splinter from Baxter Stockman.
- Helps fix up the Hamato Clan's temporary home at an abandoned Antonio's Pizza.
- Saved Karai from being hunted by two of Shredder's goons named Anton Zeck and Ivan Steranko (who would later become Bebop and Rocksteady).
- Stops Bebop and Rocksteady from stealing the retromutagen needed to cure Karai of her mutation.
- Helps his brothers stop the Kraang from launching a mutagen missile that would transform Earth into another Dimension X and travelled to the real Dimension X to save the enslaved people of New York and returned them back to their normal unmutated selves.
- Saves Casey from being jumped by Fishface and Rahzar and rightfully calls him out on his arrogance and recklessness for trying to take on Don Vizioso's mafia and the Purple Dragons on his own. They also later retrieve a briefcase that was intended to be used by Shredder’s henchmen to steal chemicals needed to create a mind control serum.
- Convinces Muckman that he and his brothers were the good guys and Bebop and Rocksteady were using him to steal chemicals for Shredder. Although he and his brothers snuck out of the lair while being grounded by Splinter for accidentally getting caught by Joan Grody on camera, it was necessary as they were only trying to fix their mistake.
- Them being exposed on live TV was through no fault of their own to begin with, as they were blinded by Muckman's toxic puke, thus preventing them from making a proper escape.
- Attempted to stop the Foot from stealing chemicals for Shredder's mind control serum.
- Saves Dr. Rockwell and Slash from being held captive by Baxter Stockman.
- Aids Renet in stopping Savanti Romero from taking over time and space.
- Convinces Tang Shen that Hamato Yoshi is the right man for her. Although his brothers also do the same thing, it was Raph’s words that had the most effect on her, thus indirectly thus saving the present day from being destroyed.
- Stops the Mega Shredder from destroying New York City while also capturing one of Shredder's brainworms in the process.
- Stops Creepweed (an analgam of the Creep and Son of Snakeweed) from terrorizing New York City.
- Destroyed the beacon in an attempt to stop Zog from alerting the Triceratons so that they can destroy Earth.
- Infiltrates the Technodrome in an attempt to thwart the Kraang's invasion of Earth.
- Attempts to stop the Triceraton army from destroying the Earth but fails.
Season 4[]
- Goes back in time 6 months to prevent the Triceratons' invasion and destruction of Earth by attempting to stop the Triceratons from retrieving all of the pieces of the Black Hole Generator.
- Tries to apologize to Lord Dregg for accidentally bumping into him and causing him to break an expensive item, but unfortunately Dregg rejects his apology.
- Saves Mona Lisa from being killed by Ice Dragons and later allies himself with the Salamandarians to thaw out Sal Commander.
- Shows remorse for wasting the third wish on an anti-Wyrm gun despite one of Wyrm's rules stating that they can't harm Wyrm.
- Saves Mikey's mind from being wiped by Neutrinos. More specifically, he convinces Lil Mikey to conquer his fears, thus giving him the courage to defeat the Neutrinos.
- He and his brothers inspire Zeno to stand up to the tyrannical Emperor Zanmoran.
- Aids the Utroms in their war against the Kraang and rescues the Utrom Queen from Kraang Subprime's headquarters along with Mikey, Mona Lisa and Sal Commander.
- Defeats Lord Dregg to save Mona Lisa. He later forgives her and Sal Commander for selling him and his brothers out to Lord Dregg and Armaggon.
- Saves a baby turtle from falling into a volcano and decides to look after him after its mother Tokka is believed to be destroyed, naming him Chompy Picasso.
- Goes back in time to warn Splinter of the Shredder's plan to betray him and break their temporary alliance, thus undoing the former's death as well as undoing the Triceraton's destruction of Earth.
- Although he initially wanted to become a vigilante named Nightwatcher, he later decided against it with encouragement from Leo.
- Overcomes his fear of cockroaches and rescues Leo, Casey, April and Karai from the clutches of Stockman-Fly and his minions.
- Rightfully calls out Splinter over his favoritism over Leo.
- Saves Donnie and Mondo Gecko from being killed by Don Vizioso's goons and helps the two mutants stop them from committing genocide against mutants.
- Apologizes to Leo for violently attacking him during a sparring session.
- He, his brothers, April and Karai aid Splinter in battling the Super Shredder.
- Single-handedly saves Earth from destruction at the hands of Tokka when he agrees to look after her son Chompy.
- While him severing Fish Face's breathing apparatus is rather brutal, it was done in self-defense because Fish Face was trying to drown him. It also helps that Fish Face is shown to have survived this encounter in Season 5.
- Aids his brothers in the final battle against the Super Shredder. This might be considered a lethal act, but considering how Shredder would stop at nothing until every Hamato Clan member is dead, it can count as a righteous kill.
Season 5[]
- He and his brothers try to stop Tiger Claw and the Foot Clan from using Kavaxas to resurrect the deceased Shredder.
- Helps his brothers stop Kavaxas from unleashing his demon army onto the world and taking over the 10 dimensions.
- Stops Newtralizer from committing genocide against the Utroms.
- Stops Lord Dregg and his Vreen army from invading Earth and kidnapping all of humanity, and later, personally defeats Lord Dregg himself by electrocuting him with a severed powered cord, knocking him out cold.
- Helps Miyamoto Usagi battle Jei.
- He, his brothers and and Miyamoto Usagi help Kintaro fulfill his destiny as the bearer of divine powers which would help out the inhabitants of his world.
- He and his brothers aid Renet Tilley in stopping Savanti Romero from taking over the world with his army of monsters.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He can be a bully to his brothers every so often, mainly Mikey, whom he constantly beats up for so much as teasing him or saying or doing something stupid or annoying. While he has a right to be annoyed by Mikey's mischief, it is mostly harmless pranks and playful teasing, and there is no reason for Raph to retaliate in this fashion, and sometimes he beats him up and/or insults him for no reason at all. While this has lessened as the series progressed, this corrupting quality is never truly subverted and too much in line with his overall character for him to be Near Pure Good.
- This also makes him a hypocrite since he also mocks and taunts his brothers, often coming up with rude and snide remarks (i.e. Leo's fascination with the show Space Heroes and Donnie's crush on April).
- He can also be disrespectful towards Splinter as well, but those moments are extremely rare.
- He also has moments where he can be a jerk to others as well, such as him lamenting over the fact that Pigeon Pete wasn’t captured instead of Slash and Dr. Rockwell and when he insults Renet, calling her "the worst time traveler ever".
- His hypocrisy of his treatment of his brothers is more shown when Fugitoid slaps him just to calm him down, and Raph acted like the slap was a heinous crime.
- Although Mikey messed up the house, the way Raphael treated him was very harsh, shouting at him, demanding no mess when they come back, and in a Kick the Dog moment, he calls Mikey a screwup in earshot. Once they get back, Raph tries to deflect blame for the act after April mostly calls him out on it, only to be interrupted on Mikey’s location, showing no remorse for what he did.
- Like most versions of the character (not counting his 1987 and RotTMNT counterparts), he is notorious for his anger issues and violent streak. He is the most likely to use violence against his enemies as a first resort and his ferocity makes him a deadly fighter. This also makes him reckless and impulsive, which causes problems not only for himself, but his brothers and allies as well. Much like his bullying behavior, these corrupting qualites are never truly subverted and are too much in line with his character to be Near Pure Good. Several examples include:
- The two-parter pilot episode "Rise of the Turtles" where he destroys the lock to the cell holding April O'Neil with his sai instead of simply letting Donnie take his time trying to hack it, which allowed the Kraang to escape and make off with her father Kirby. In the same episode, he rips off the arm of a Kraang android and uses it to barricade the doors, prompting Leo to call him out. But to be fair, the latter moment isn't that bad considering this is an android we're talking about.
- The episode "Turtle Temper" where he lets his anger get the better of him TWICE while getting into heated arguments with a cranky and ill-mannered man named Vic, which alerts the Kraang and results in an alien gun-fight between them and the Turtles and allows Vic to escape with the video footage of the battle. He even threatens to smash Vic's head before Leo cuts him off. While Vic is a huge jerk, this is way too lethal even for him.
- The episode "Cockroach Terminator" where he attempts to kill Spy-Roach due to his fear of cockroaches before Donnie stops him. That same cockroach later falls into a vat of mutagen and becomes hell-bent on revenge as a result.
- The episode "Slash and Destroy" where he confiscates Donnie's canister of mutagen out of anger and takes it in his room with Spike, which causes the latter to mutate into Slash. When Donnie apologizes to Raph for endangering Spike's life, Raph rudely rejects his apology and blames him for putting Spike in danger, although it could be argued that he is equally at fault because if he had just left Spike in his room while complaining to Mikey about getting pizza stains all over his Modern Ninja Magazine issue, which is a very petty reason for him to get angry, the events of the episode would have never happened.
- The episode "The Good, The Bad and the Casey Jones" where during a fight with Casey Jones, he nearly stabs him through the eye with his sai before coming to his senses.
- The episode "Plan 10" where he pins a Kraang droid down near a machine and brutally attacks him with his sai, which inadvertently damages the machine and as a result, Raph's mind is swapped with that of the Kraang droid. Though, this would eventually come in handy in uncovering the Kraang's plot to swap their minds with those of world leaders in the end.
- The episode "Tale of the Youkai" where he expressed a desire to take on the past version of Oroku Saki despite the negative implications that it might have on the present day, only stopped when Donnie tells him of the consequences.
- The episode "Clash of the Mutanimals" where he lashes out at Leo and Mikey and attacks them for rightfully calling him out on his impulsive, overemotional and hot-headed state.
- The episode "Beyond the Known Universe" where he beheads an innocent robot vendor. While it was done by accident and he showed remorse for it, it led to him and Casey being chased by drones.
- His plan to stop Lord Dregg from taking over New York City in the two-parter episode "When Worlds Collide", which involves blowing up his ship with a naval submarine with a rocket strapped onto it and killing the remaining Vreen in rather brutal fashion. Even Mona Lisa, who is also a lethal hero, says this is excessive. Not to mention, him blowing up Lord Dregg's ship would've also killed Leo since he was being held captive there at the time.
- Near the end of the aforementioned episode, he beheads Bishop for no reason and shows no remorse for it. Though, to be fair, Bishop is actually an Utrom in an android body and it is not made clear whether he was actually killed.
- He can be quite sadistic, as shown in the episode “TCRI” where he shouts “Boom!” to mess with Mikey and Donnie while they’re trying to diffuse a bomb and in the episode "The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman" where he jokes about feeding Mikey to Kirby-Bat, saying "Maybe I'll just give him a little taste.”
- There's also a rather infamous moment in the two-parter pilot episode "Rise of the Turtles" where he plays a game called "Mutation Roulette" in which he threatens to pour mutagen on Snake during his interrogation. While it can be justified as necessary as it was the only way to get Snake to reveal information on the whereabouts of the Kraang and Raph walks back that threat after getting the information the Turtles wanted, he clearly took sadistic pleasure in scaring Snake with the vial of mutagen.
- It should also be worth noting that being mutated has been demonstrated to be extremely painful on several occasions in this incarnation of the franchise, as shown with Timothy who turned into Mutagen Man in the episode "Pulverizer Returns" and Chris Bradford who double mutated from Dogpound into Rahzar in "Mikey Gets Shellacne". And unlike Mikey, who only kicked Dogpound into the vat of mutagen out of self-defense and saw that he had no other option as the latter was trying to kill him (not to mention that both of them were standing on a wooden plank at the time), Raph showed willingness to put Snake into an extremely painful process and showed sadism in doing so.
- There's also a rather infamous moment in the two-parter pilot episode "Rise of the Turtles" where he plays a game called "Mutation Roulette" in which he threatens to pour mutagen on Snake during his interrogation. While it can be justified as necessary as it was the only way to get Snake to reveal information on the whereabouts of the Kraang and Raph walks back that threat after getting the information the Turtles wanted, he clearly took sadistic pleasure in scaring Snake with the vial of mutagen.
- He quit the team 27 times. To be fair, he quit the team the 27th time was only because Donnie unnecessarily mocked him and Splinter called Donnie out for making the problem worse, and they both apologize to each other at the end, making this a minor prevention.
Trivia[]
- So far, he is the only version of Raphael to be Inconsistently Admirable.
- On top of that, he is the only member of the Turtles in the 2012 version to be IA.
External Links[]
- Raphael on the Heroes Wiki
- Raphael on the VS Battles Wiki
- Raphael on the Turtlepedia Wiki
- Raphael on the Nickelodeon Wiki
- Raphael on the Love Exalted Wiki
[]
 Inconsistently Admirable
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