Any reason why Raph kept the red?

[Coola Yagami]

Any particular reason why Raph was the lucky turtle to keep his bandana color?

Also, why did Raph suffer the most drastic personality change? I mean, of course he couldn't be the violent one in the 80's kiddy show, but he could have still been the 'bad-ass' or the most eager to start a fight, without being so violent. Even Wolverine in the 90's show was toned down where he would never kill anything, never smoke and never drink beer. Why the complete personality overhaul on Raph?

[Kendamu]

I don't know if anybody knows for sure. My guess would be that they were just being extra careful to make sure it stayed kid friendly.

[Sage Ninja]

Any particular reason why Raph was the lucky turtle to keep his bandana color?

Also, why did Raph suffer the most drastic personality change? I mean, of course he couldn't be the violent one in the 80's kiddy show, but he could have still been the 'bad-ass' or the most eager to start a fight, without being so violent. Even Wolverine in the 90's show was toned down where he would never kill anything, never smoke and never drink beer. Why the complete personality overhaul on Raph?

my guess is because of the complete personality over haul they gave him that deviated so much from his comic book orgins they decided to at least let him keep the orginal bandanna color as compensation I guess.

Oh, and watch the X-Men more closely, Wolverine may not have actually killed any one but there where times where he tried to. One episode has him thrusting his claws into the gut of this really fat mutant named Blob (I think) with the attention of tearing his belly open, but it got stuck because this Blob mutant was indestructable or something. :P

[Scandia]

Even in the 1987 cartoon, Raphael is certainly the most pugnacious one. He may use his tongue more than his fists- but he certainly is the one that goes around picking fights the most.

Regarding the color, red is traditionally associated with anger as well as passion. And Raphael has quite a bit of both in him.

[Coola Yagami]

Oh, and watch the X-Men more closely, Wolverine may not have actually killed any one but there where times where he tried to. One episode has him thrusting his claws into the gut of this really fat mutant named Blob (I think) with the attention of tearing his belly open, but it got stuck because this Blob mutant was indestructable or something. :P

True, but again, the only reason they (the writers and censors)let him do that was cause Blob couldn't be killed that way. Like the first TMNT episode, they let Leo and Raph take out Foot Soldiers in cold blood, only because it was revealed seconds later that were just robots. Even the new toon, only reason Leo was allowed to behead Shredder was cause moments later we found out that Shredder was somehow still alive anyways.

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Even in the 1987 cartoon, Raphael is certainly the most pugnacious one. He may use his tongue more than his fists- but he certainly is the one that goes around picking fights the most.

Regarding the color, red is traditionally associated with anger as well as passion. And Raphael has quite a bit of both in him.


I agree with Scandia here, someone had to keep red and based on Raph throughout the TMNT Universe it is fitting it would be him.

I think it was easier to make Raph witty and comical, even the 80's bad guys like Shredder and Krang were comically bad. Raph would have stood way out if he acted in that series how he does in the comics or 2K3 or the movies or really any other TMNT Universe.

Comparing it to Xmen is tough because I think right from the get go X-men was meant to be the comic based cartoon that raised the bar. Look at Batman the animated series too, they came out around the same time and I think it was just the next step in cartoons.
We did get the "Red sky" eppys toward the end there, the characters didn't change drastically but the look and feel of the series did, it was an attempt to bring turtles closer to what other series were doing.

[Buslady]

Any particular reason why Raph was the lucky turtle to keep his bandana color?

Also, why did Raph suffer the most drastic personality change? I mean, of course he couldn't be the violent one in the 80's kiddy show, but he could have still been the 'bad-ass' or the most eager to start a fight, without being so violent. Even Wolverine in the 90's show was toned down where he would never kill anything, never smoke and never drink beer. Why the complete personality overhaul on Raph?


Red is passion, Raph's a passionate personality; about life in general.

They had to dumb him down for the widdy kiddies and insult his character back in the 80s...cos it was a kiddie show then.
At least it's matured since then.

Raph doesn't smoke.(At least I don't remember him chugging on a smoke) But he likes his beer.

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

I figured they just thought red would be a good color for one of the turtles. I mean, as far as bandanna colors, red and blue are primary colors so I guess it makes sense to give them to the turtles. I guess they thought yellow wouldn't look good, so they decided on orange for Michelangelo. Or maybe they thought orange was a color that fit his character. Green doesn't really make sense as a bandanna color, since they are already green.

Maybe there should be a thread: come up with alternate bandanna colors for the turtles.:D

[Scandia]

Alternate mask colors?

Raphael would be black because he is so grim.

Leonardo would be white because he has such pure morals and high ideals.

Donatello would be gray because he is quite intelligent and realizes that the world has many shades of gray and few absolutes.

And Michelangelo would be yellow because he is so cheerful and upbeat.

[Coola Yagami]

Mikey's mask was yellow in the first 5 eps... and then turned orange in the rest of the series...

And who's idea was to give one of the turtles a purple bandana??

[Kendamu]

Mikey's mask was yellow in the first 5 eps... and then turned orange in the rest of the series...

And who's idea was to give one of the turtles a purple bandana??
I always saw it as a yellow-ish orange as opposed to just a plain ol' yellow in those episodes.

[ToTheNines]

whatever color it was, it was meant to be orange: look at the toy and the opening sequnce... clearly orange.

[oldmanwinters]

Even in the 1987 cartoon, Raphael is certainly the most pugnacious one. He may use his tongue more than his fists- but he certainly is the one that goes around picking fights the most.

Regarding the color, red is traditionally associated with anger as well as passion. And Raphael has quite a bit of both in him.

Yeah, I remember Casey Jones saying "When do we get to break something?" and Raph started to express his twisted appreciation for Casey's enthusiasm.

[ToTheNines]

Yeah, I remember Casey Jones saying "When do we get to break something?" and Raph started to express his twisted appreciation for Casey's enthusiasm.

If you nitpick you can find all kinds of things that point at Raph being the violent and agressive one.

[Revan]

Well if you're going to nitpick you can find details that would point to each turtle as being violent.

[Coola Yagami]

True. Raph did like Casey's attitude in the premiere episode. That's why I felt it was odd when they suggested contacting Casey in 'Coporate Raiders in Dimension X' and he was like 'aww man, you mean the nutball that thinks he's a crimefighter? Are we in BIG trouble.."

But then again, the old toon was never very consistent... like how Mikey and Kala suddenly stopped crushing on each other in the CBS episodes...

[Andrew NDB]

My guess is it was rather simple. The cartoon people color-coded the Turtles, and red is closely associated with Anger. Raphael is pigeon-holed as "The Angry One"... ergo, he gets the red.

[Sage Ninja]

I figured they just thought red would be a good color for one of the turtles. I mean, as far as bandanna colors, red and blue are primary colors so I guess it makes sense to give them to the turtles. I guess they thought yellow wouldn't look good, so they decided on orange for Michelangelo. Or maybe they thought orange was a color that fit his character. Green doesn't really make sense as a bandanna color, since they are already green.

Maybe there should be a thread: come up with alternate bandanna colors for the turtles.:D

I had a thread about why the turtles where given what color bandanna and how it reflected their personalites, we also speculated on what diffrent colors would fit the turtles. right here:

http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=13298

[oldmanwinters]

Well if you're going to nitpick you can find details that would point to each turtle as being violent.

That reminds me of this scholarly analysis of Donatello as a repressed evil genius of capitalism:
http://www.geocities.com/tmntdissected/don.htm:lol:

Gee, I really love TMNT Dissected!:evilgrin:

[Raph The Angry]

I think it was just his personality quirk so kids could remember and distinguish each character, Leo lead but beyond that didnt really have much character development, Donatello was the brainiac of the bunch, Mikey was the goof off, and Raph was the angry fight ready smart alec

[sdp]

Raphael did kind of keep his personality from the comic book. Instead of the violent rebellious hot head he is a rebellious wise guy. Still the "rebellious" of the group I guess.

And yeah the turtles started in the 80s even if they continued through the 90s, they were held to a different standard than X-Men that started in the 90s. Not to mention X-Men was probably Y7 for a slightly older audience while TMNT started as a kids cartoon.

[Raven]

I always thought Raph had red because of the association with his hotheaded personality?

I think they kept him in red because of his personality traits, really who was more likely going to get angry out of the bunch or be a wise ass?

[Sage Ninja]

I don't get why so many people balk so much that Raphael was given the sarcastic "smartass" persona in the old toon. It's not like being a sarcastic smart ass isn't apart of Raphael's character in mirage or the new toon. Heck, in the new toon I would say that Raph is just as much a wise ass as he was in the old toon. Except Raph from the NT is more sardonic about it.

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

I don't get why so many people balk so much that Raphael was given the sarcastic "smartass" persona in the old toon. It's not like being a sarcastic smart ass isn't apart of Raphael's character in mirage or the new toon. Heck, in the new toon I would say that Raph is just as much a wise ass as he was in the old toon. Except Raph from the NT is more sardonic about it.

The difference is that everywhere else aside from the sarcasm Raphael also has all that anger and angst, too. So Raphael doesn't come off as a smartass so much, because the sarcasm aspect is a part of his overall character of being the team's token guy with a short fuse.

As opposed to the old toon, where aside from the sarcasm he seems to have a brighter personality, so he seems like a smartass instead of someone who says the things he does out of anger.

[Rooish]

Raph was always pretty funny, at least if the old Mirage issues, especially the earlier ones, tell you anything. I don't think it was much of a stretch to make him the smart aleck in the old toon. In the new toon, I definitely agree that he still is a smart aleck.

When they picked the colours for the bandannas, I wonder if the television personalities had even been really established yet. Eastman and Laird knew Raph was the impulsive one with the temper, so they let him keep the bandanna.

I have no idea why they gave one of the Turtles a purple bandanna. It looks good with the others, but it's just ... really a feminine colour. Like, more than orange. It suits Don, but I wonder if little boys like him less because they think it's a feminine colour? Whatever the case, new toon Don is kind of hard not to like.

Oldmanwinters, I love TMNT Dissected, too. She should write an update for the new toon.

[TurtleManiac]

Raphael was always the true leader. I believe back in the comics he always had the upper hand over Leonardo. Mike and Don were just standins in the comics but in the '87 cartoon, Leo and Don pretty much run the show.