[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by Aaronardo

He seemed to have a lot of good moments in the first season, but after that (maybe even after the first half of the first season), he's been thrown to the side, almost as a background character. Now, he's more the butt of every Mikey joke than anything. I'd appreciate a character arc on him, and even though we're getting a Dark Raph plot, that's too little too late for the Raph fans.

This. In season one and the first half of season 2, he had enough focus and screen time and importance for me to be satisfied, but after the WormQuake episode, I just felt as a character, he has become reductive of his formal self.

Originally Posted by GoldMutant

In total, of the 66 episodes shown so far, Raph has gotten a total of 7 episodes relating him as a major focus, 8 storyline wise when Vision Quest is counted, and 10 overall with Cockroach Terminator and the small extent of Baxter's Gambit. This is where the hothead has been downplayed to develop the other characters. While Donnie and Leo have developed well and Mikey getting most of the filler episodes, it leaves Raph out compared to his brothers. It would make sense as Raph has been a central focus in certain eras of the franchise such as the 1990 movie, TMNT, and TMNT 2014. Heck, he's been a focus since the beginning with the cartoons and comics as well the more you look at them. Remember, because he's also Kevin Eastman's favorite Turtle (I might be wrong here), he's normally going to get a lot of spotlight.

Sadly, you are wrong. Eastman said his favorite was Mikey. And I've said it before, but I will say it again, except for the 1990 and 2007 movie (which he more or less shared focus with Leo), he was not the cenrtal focus of any of the other cartoons. Fred Wolf, Mikey was the big focus, with Donnie runner up. 2k3 toon, it was easily Leonardo as the most focused, with Mikey a close second. Donnie was easily the third, and I think Raph had maybe 5 arcs in all, and either way, he was always upstaged by Leo. The comics were heavy with Leo and Donnie, at least the Mirage. Don't know much about the other versions.

Overall, I think while Raph has gotten a good amount of screen time, but I feel he should have a few more episodes (at least 3) to develop his character more. So far, it seems Ciro wants to develop the brothers into the heroes we know and love: Leo as a strong leader, Donnie as a pacifist, and maturing Mikey. Wherever the road is taken, I'm looking forward to it for my personal favorite Turtle, especially the mind-controlled episode. (assuming the plot expands until near the end of the season)

I would also like it if Ciro and co would just finally drop his anger/temper for good and concentrate on the positives of Raph, which would be his protective instinct, his street smarts and able to read people, how he is the muscle of the group and show that he is also talented with engines and other mechanical things. Maybe they could make up things where the Turtles take on jobs to help out. Kind of like they did in the 2007 movie. Mikey could have the parties, Donnie with his tech support, Raph and Casey maybe could fix up cars and start their own mechanic business, Leo and April start their own ninjitsu training center.......