Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of the best-known franchise in the world. Why? Well, it has turtles who can talk, who can fight and who are trying to save the Earth from crime and from evil. The characters in the franchise are responsible for its popularity, and there are numerous interesting characters that marked the franchise not only in comics but also in cartoons and films that were made. One of the most interesting characters is Raphael. We would try to give a deeper insight into this character.
Raphael
First of all, it should be mentioned that he is a turtle who wears a red mask over his eyes and he is most recognized for this. It should be also noted that he uses sai as the weapon in his combats. He is pretty skilled with his weapon. Many people like him because he is the unofficial bad boy of the entire group who is ready to take initiative and action. It should be also noted that his temperament is somewhat a bad thing since it also gets him into a lot of trouble. Along with this, he can also be considered a bit rebellious since he is the one questioning everything and doing things on his own and as impulses lead him. He does not like authority and he is the only one questioning Leonardo’s unofficial leadership of the group.
TV appearances
The first portrayal of Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took place in the animated series which was released in 1987. The series portrays and gives importance to his violent and rebellious spirit. However, this series gives something that we are not used to: he has a harmonious and great relationship with Leonardo. The second appearance took place in 2003 animated series and it should be noted that there is a decent relationship among Raphael and Leonardo. However, the fights and quarrels among them appear now and then. It should be noted that this series brought him crying when Leonardo was wounded. 2012 series brings us a bit of a muscular Raphael who is now even more rebellious and willing to take matters into his own hands. We now see the dysfunctional relationship that he has with Leonardo since Raphael does not like authority and is rebelling whenever Leonardo is trying to be and act as the leader of the group. The 2018 animated series portrays him as the brother who is the biggest, he is also the oldest one and he is the one who leads the entire group. The difference here can also be found in the fact that he is no longer uses sais and he started to use Tonfa in combat.
Even though he is not always the main character, Raphael is an integral part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a very important one since he is the one who shows that there are those vigilantes who can save the world but be bad boys themselves.