Raphael Hamato - Blog Posts

OKAY SO I cannot make a comic to save a life, BUT I really needed to get this idea out so here we go!

kid me hated 2012 raph with all her passion and yet now I just want to hug the shell out of him, cause I'm sorry but this poor kid- is just a kid ffs

late at night i was listening to this one song and it made me think,

what if raphael lost his brothers at a maybe somewhat young age and it turns him insane, like in Man Vs. Sewer he was scared to be alone and starts like, cooking the sandos twins or…something,

like he goes full on insane because he thought he was all alone. so up the stakes, he loses his brothers in some kind of accident and its like jinx from arcane, makes plushies of them and pretends like they’re actually there and slowly drives himself insane, especially when he considers himself their leader/protecter.

my mind runs

rottmnt family photo :Oc

2012 Raph is so skrunkly I wanna eat him /pos

Normal CSP test hehe :^)

hope and sacrifice.

I need to expand on this more on here because I'm going insane thinking about this.

the main themes in the rise movie center around hope and sacrifice. hope, being a ninjas greatest weapon and what leo ultimately uses to get the team motivated, and sacrifice which leo actively uses. these two concepts are interchangeable and are used to develop this unhealthy view of being a hero.

leo being the prime example of this.

leo is notorious for being a martyr in the movie not because he wants to be self sacrificial and thinks he deserves it (although a small part of him might think that) but because thats what he's been taught and grown up to think. of taking responsibility. of allowing to take hold of the "burden" of caring for his team, for his brothers. he must sacrifice a part of himself in order to be a worthy leader. no more immature pizza stacking competitions, no, leo must sacrifice that part in order to mold into being a leader. he must sacrifice his childhood.

its no surprise leo wants nothing to do with this idea, its no surprise he's constantly rebelling against this notion and not taking it seriously because as much as we have seen leo act dumb and immature, we know that he is smarter than he acts. he knows that being a leader is sacrificing the part of freedom he loves so much. the part that can joke around with his brothers and can allow himself to easily fight off bad guys without worrying because thats not his job. he's just leo.

thats raphs job.

raph has sacrificed this part of himself. his identity is surrounded by being the oldest, being the responsible one, having the "raph chasm", being the leader. raph was born as the eldest son to take the responsibility and with little to no help from splinter (because lets be honest raphs relationship with his brothers is also very parental), raph has had to create this idea of what being a leader is not only to himself but for his brothers. he has created the mold of being a leader from shows, from experiences, from being the oldest. he must sacrifice a part of himself, a part of his freedom, a part of his childhood, in order for his brothers to be safe.

and now his younger brother is being pushed into this with little to no warning.

(now I could go on and on about how the season 2 finale was the catalyst for raph and leos bond and brotherhood to slowly unravel BUT thats another thread.)

the rejection of the leader position from leos perspective makes so much sense. leo is still a kid. this responsibility isn't for him, he's not equipped to make these decisions. thats for raph. thats for the oldest.

which makes why raph is so upset with leo in the beginning of the movie so much more real. all he's known is this great weight of carrying the burden and guilt of his brothers and the actions that could cause them to get hurt, he has taken the fall, taken the blame, and has done so without faltering (kind of). although leo is the "faceman", all of the brothers show some sort of mask to hide behind in an unhealthy way. donnie hides behind his science and his title of being the "smart one", mikey hides behind the fact that he is the youngest and his many dr. personas. leo and raph both hide behind some form of bravado that masks the fear they have for their brothers and their safety. raph uses his anger while leo uses his laid back attitude. both are hiding their fear. their both scared.

this is where hope and sacrifice begin to blur.

casey jr. introduces us to the idea of hope because he essentially is the human personified version of hope. he is future leos last hope. he is what is left of an entire civilization that has now been destroyed. but what is hope without sacrifice. casey jr. has witnessed both future mikey and future leo sacrifice themselves for the greater good. for hope. since this is all casey jr. has ever known, especially with how he grew up (another major theme but ill talk about that another time) the idea of sacrifice is hand in hand with hope. with winning. with being a hero.

so when leo comes back after raph sacrifices himself so leo can escape, casey jr. is more thrilled than anything that they have the key. because they "won", because raph sacrificed himself, because hope is nothing without sacrifice.

and this is again another reason why leo begins to put the two together and create his own warped idea of being a leader.

being a hero.

learning about his future self, of how much casey jr. idolizes him and calls him "the greatest ninja the worlds ever seen", of how he was a leader and led the entire revolution. of how he saved the world by sacrificing himself. its only until raph does the same does the gears begin to turn.

being a leader is about sacrifice.

and so getting thrown into the prison dimension is the responsible thing to do. its the right thing. its the sacrifice that someone like leo believes is what a leader would do because yeah leos the leader now and leaders do whatever they can to make sure their team is safe.

that their brothers are safe.

the words "its not about me" play into this mindset and although by the end it helps leo learn that he needs to put more trust in his brothers and allow the burden of being a leader to fall on more than his shoulders, "its not about you" is exactly the mindset that raph had in the beginning of the movie. and because of this, raph and leo both are stuck in this cycle of responsibility and freedom. of having to navigate between wanting to sacrifice their future of being heroes in order to just live like normal people for a few minutes or sacrifice their own individuality to bare the weight of the world on their shoulders. and with their situation of being literal mutated turtles created only to become super soldiers, they automatically are deemed special and were brought into this world in hopes of fighting against humanity.

A ninjas greatest weapon is hope after all.

Raph!! From rottmnt :D

My design of Raphael from ROTTMNT + human designs

I hc him as; Aroflux panromantic asexual and a trans man who uses he/him and Raph/Raphself pronouns >:)

(they just headcannons it's ok if u disagree)

Dynamics: Part 1, <Next!>

(Warning for word vomit ahead!)

I did say I have more storyish/lore stuff planned XD

.

.

So in this Au, F!Raph died when Cj was 5. So there’s not much to say future wise. Cuz Cj rmbs zilch

Present wise: there was inital awkwardness for Cj meeting someone he’s only ever heard stories off plus that awkwardness of meeting someone new. But it was a breath of fresh air for Case, cuz surrounded by these reminders and unfamiliarity, Raph hurts the least. In the first few days post invasion, Cj hung out a lot with Raph cuz everyone was kinda down for the count. April couldn’t be around 24/7 cuz she had to check in with her human family, Mikey was spending the first 3-5 days sleeping alot cuz mystic exhaustion plus his hands. Donnie was in his lab a lot trying to process all the events, plus fix everything the Krang broke and Leo was in his week long coma. And Splints who decided to get off the couch for once was stretched thin trying to look out for everyone and so as a result the two were kinda just smushed tgt allowing them to bond.

.

Overall I picture their dynamic as the most laidback (drama free). Largely in part cuz; A)Cj has less emotional hang ups cuz he doesn’t have to expand mental energy to manage his expectations or manage * cough push down cough * any crushing grief/feelings of abandonment/anger cuz said feelings of abandonment cuz he doesn’t rmb F!Raph to have an attachment, tho he does occasionally feel a bit guilty sometimes for hanging out with Raph but that’s a comic for another time.

B) while Cj is a menace. He’s also a sensible and kind (everyone say thank you F!Mikey) menace who sees how stressed Raph gets trying to wrangle all 3 brothers and feels bad about adding more to his plate. And plus is also very much aware of his mortality and others mortality cuz apocalypse. So the menace only comes out during chill time. Not on missions. Misson wise he’s just like he is in the movie trying to get everyone to stay on track. Which Raph rlly appreciates. But even during chill time Cj is arguably the “calmer” one cuz that’s just how he is as a person. Tho that calmer is debatable cuz it’s by Raph’s skewed standards of his other siblings not normal ppl standards to normal ppl Case still looks unhinged lmao.

.

but generally if they’re hanging out 1 on 1 (in a group setting it’s a whole diff story) Cj tries his best to not stress Raph too much. Unless the menace/cain instinct is hitting hard that day. Cuz he’s a sweet boy liek that. 😂. so they’re usually doing typical chill friend things, watching movies, sparring, sharing bout their day, . causally wandering around topside/Hidden city. With the undercurrent of Raph trade mark mother-henning and Cj depending on the circumstances either goes along with it or tries to get Raph to back off cuz it worries/irritates Cj. All in all they’re just your typical very wholesome older- younger brother dynamic

.

Side note: Raph and Cj are honestly lowkey relieved their hangouts/dynamic are so chill. They love their family but man do they both need a break sometimes XD. For Junior it’s cuz seeing the dead not dead version of family plus struggle of grief/ juggling his expectations for said family is exhausting and having someone whose removed from that whole situation is like phew thank god. For Raph he’s just so glad he has a little brother/sibling/friend who doesn’t have a 95% chance of turning anything (even fricking ice) into a grease fire when left unsupervised unintentionally or not. Tho tbh causal theft, looser morals and gratuitous use of blackmail and occasional pranks may not be much better. Cj is truly his fathers son 😂

Gift for @biconic-disaster25 ! Based off her amazing fic: “Who says nostalgia can’t solve anything?”Her fics are amazing and I highly recommend ppl read it

.

Sophie if you’re see this, I just want to say thank you. Your fics been such a huge source of comfort to me during trying times and inspiration to me ( heck your fic, “Where the Cherry Blossoms bloom (that’s where I’ll be)” is what literally inspired me to make Healer!Cj’s Ninpo teal). I don’t know what I did for you to regularly comment on my Healer!Cj posts but I just want you to know that such acknowledgment is so very encouraging and it means so much to me. Esp when it comes from someone whose stories I love/admire so much. Your ability to write such nuanced, realistic and wholesome dynamics and emotions in such a raw but organic way is incredible to me. But that’s enough mushiness for now. Hope you like this gift heheh and I hope my silly little au was able to bring you just a fraction of the joy I felt reading your stories and I hope you have an awesome day! Now see ya~😜

.

Also ngl low lighting pieces are rlly not common for so hope it turned out ok 😅

This is generally set over the course of a few days to maybe a few months post-invasion. Generally speaking, Casey has always struck me as a doer not a thinker. He can never sit still, And coupled with a new environment, unsettled by lack of familiarity, insecurity over not having anywhere else to go, not wanting to be a burden/wanting to help his family (even if they’re different) and fueled by a need to manage (*cough ignore *cough) his crushing grief and general anxiety. Casey does what he does best and moves… to an unhealthy degree.