Rise of TMNT

Raph is exuberant, and passionate, known for his valiant attitude and impulsive streak. Acutely aware of his self-appointed status as the leader, he always makes decisions—some with better results than others—with positive intent and hope for the team. While Raph isn’t adept at quickly thinking of witty remarks as shown in “Stuck on You”, he is skilled in quickly revising ineffective strategies and his bold, steadfast nature makes him willing to try a wide array of tactics, unorthodox or otherwise.

Raphael is often impulsive, not rationalizing before making a decision that can have varying levels of success. Raphael is the former leader, not taking account for whenever his brothers would come up with plans other than his own. Even after Leonardo is given the title of leader, he still feels the responsibly of being the oldest and the glue that holds the team together.

Raphael is a very kind and passionate person, often hesitant to say potentially mean things to others. Because of his responsible nature, Raph can sometimes come across as over bearing to his brothers, making sure they stay out of danger, specifically Michelangelo for being the youngest out of his brothers.

Raph is imaginative, known for coming to absurd conclusions and assumptions about situations such as when he was unable to recall whether the consequence of returning a DVD late was being fined or the Earth being overrun by zombies in “Late Fee”.

Raph is unabashedly tender and kind, hesitant to say potentially hurtful things such as when he apologizes to Franken-Foot for making him feel disliked in “Sparring Partner”, but is not above teasing others either. Often being the strongest and largest in a room, it is easy for Raph to see the vulnerability in others and as such he feels a duty to use his strength to protect others. However, his protective nature can sometimes be viewed as overbearing and unduly worrying among his brothers. Raph is deliberately gentle due to his immense strength and has a great amount of self-restraint in his physicality when interacting with his loved ones, even when wildly excited.

In spite of often being foolish, Raph has his own organic wisdom and in general sees a lot of potential in the Mad Dogs. However, Raph can find it difficult to admit he is wrong such as when he tries to enact his own plan despite agreeing to allow Donatello and Michelangelo execute theirs in "One Man's Junk" and can take credit for others' ideas as seen in "Newsworthy" when he congratulates himself for using Donnie's plan, but has steadily improved on both fronts.

Raph is fair-minded, often exhibiting a degree of responsibility and having a desire to right his wrongs when it comes to something important or a loved one. He usually must remind his brothers of mission objectives and redirect their frequently derailed focus. While Raph is undeniably playful and silly, he also possesses maturity unmatched by his brothers and makes an effort to not insult others who haven’t maliciously caused him trouble. He is able to straighten his brothers out and change their inappropriately-lax attitudes when the time calls for it such as in “Insane in the Mama Train” when Raph recognizes that after indulging in a pranking competition, they should take time to train for an upcoming mission.

While Raph is quite loving, he doesn’t extend his sympathy to everyone and can be wary of those who have wronged him in the past as seen in his reluctance to help Warren Stone in “Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree” and his difficulty trusting and callousness towards Baron Draxum in “Repairin’ the Baron”. He can get angry when others are ignorant or demeaning towards things he likes such as in “The Longest Fight” when Foot Brute asks Raph who Sydney Allen is or when Sergeant Woodpecker mocks Teddy Bear Town in “Mascot Melee”, causing Raph to violently retaliate.

Raph harbors an intense aversion to solitude due to how close he is to his brothers. Being alone against his will can be so distressing to him that he becomes mindless and violent, the complete opposite of his actual disposition, and is indiscriminately hostile, even towards his family as seen in “Man VS. Sewer”. He and his brothers are very aware this thus Raph tries to prevent isolation to stop his “Savage Raph” state from surfacing.

Though he tries to exercise patience with his brothers, Raph snaps when they are continuously disruptive and willfully foolish in potentially dangerous situations. In some cases, his outbursts stem from annoyance of things not going his way. Raph is also relatively easily overwhelmed seen when he tries to silence his brothers’ barrage of questions and remarks after accidentally losing his money in “Mascot Melee” and it is revealed that Raph chokes under pressure and that drawing attention to it only makes him more self-conscious in "Mystic Mayhem".

Raph's relationship with his brothers is strained at times due to his status as the oldest brother. He is prone to viewing them as little kids he has to take care of, which can cause his attitude towards them to be paternal or unintentionally patronizing as shown in "Pizza Puffs". In turn, his brothers often expect him to handle many responsibilities and fix problems that they can't be bothered to deal with themselves, much to Raph's frustration. This creates a cycle where Raph wants his brothers to be more responsible and reliable while he also indirectly enables their attitudes through his parental behavior.

While he is very adept when it comes to intellectual studies, Donatello is autistic, as confirmed by the creator, and demonstrates low Emotional Intelligence. This means that he struggles with understanding certain basic human emotions, in reacting appropriately to those emotions in others, and in controlling and managing his own emotions. This does not mean he feels nothing, but that his emotional experiences are very different from the average person.

Donnie values blunt honesty, and hardly ever lies. When he does lie, he's uncomfortable with doing so, being a very poor liar. And while not as innocently naïve as Mikey, he takes people and their actions at face value, which makes him easy to manipulate. If somebody is saying and doing nice things, then that means they must be a nice person, such as in "Bug Busters" when Big Mama flatters him - he knows she is deliberately flattering him to get him to make the web-shooter, but because she is polite and helpful to him and his brothers, he does not consider she may have ulterior motives, even though Leo is suspicious. Also, his initial meeting with the Purple Dragons went poorly, and they took advantage of his trust. He has also been manipulated by his own family repeatedly, but he doesn't really hold grudges.

Despite that, Donnie has a passive-aggressive streak (often seen in people with self-esteem issues) that takes people off-guard. While he clearly loves his brothers, he also finds them annoyingly predictable in their behaviours as expressed in "The Longest Fight" and "One Man's Junk", and struggles to deal with this in an emotionally healthy way. Instead of directly confronting his brothers about their bad fighting habits in “Donnie's Gifts”, he creates personalized gifts that he hopes would teach them to change for the better. And when he grew tired of them picking on him in "Smart Lair", he reconstructed the entire lair to be remote controlled for the family's convenience, with the catch that S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N would play favorites with him. He is often sarcastic and has a penchant for cynical humor and deadpan insults.

Donnie often brags to his brothers of his high intelligence, much to their annoyance. He will describe his latest inventions at length, not realizing he may be boring them. He hunts for praise anywhere he can get it, whether from parental figures or his own creations. However, he has confessed the fear that without his brains and tech, he'd mean nothing to his family and friends; as such he often invents extravagant technological gifts with personal touches without being requested, such as the Turtle Tank, and then talks them up even more. To some it may seem like boasting, but Donnie is effectively saying "I love you THIIIIS much." The presents in "Donnie's Gifts" were created with the misguided aim of protecting them, and he strives to use his intelligence to benefit and protect the whole team. He had also installed a Donnie Blocker on April's phone in “Hypno! Part Deux”, so she wouldn’t get hacked, get a virus, or find anything sketchy. Despite April being upset about this, the blocker is still Donnie’s thoughtful gift, and something that he obviously made to protect April, just like he protects his brothers. This shows that while Donnie is confident in his intelligence being his greatest asset, and yearns for his family's approval and love, he still has a low self-value.

Because he's so desperate to prove his intelligence (and by extension his value), Donnie has difficulty drawing the line of where to stop when it comes to science and technology, examples that suffice; constant upgrades in Albearto to impress April, installing lasers in the roombas in "Smart Lair", and creating the Donnie Podsand installing trackers in his brothers' shells to protect them without telling them first in the Movie.

While Donnie believes he has an image of an emotionally unavailable bad-boy, in reality he struggles with emotional outbursts, especially when he percieves insults against his intelligence or immature behaviour. He's excitable to the point of distraction such as when he sees Atomic Lass in Times Square and loses focus on the mission in “Mascot Melee”, or in "Mystic Library", where he loses track of himself and starts rapping loudly, despite familiarity with library rules. Of all the turtles, Donnie shows by far the most distress upon being emotionally manipulated, on the verge of tears when Splinter lied to him and Michelangelo in “Turtle-dega Nights: Ballad of Rat Man”, and enraged with the Purple Dragons for using him in "The Purple Jacket".

Despite his aforementioned emotionality, Donnie does have a tendency to seem aloof. He can be stubborn, refusing to budge his point unless he feels honestly convinced otherwise. He is especially staunch in his opinions on the sciences. However in Donnie vs Witch Town, he admitted that in truth he feared if mystic powers can do all he can, then his family won't need him, and even voiced his frustration that his brothers seemed to unlock and use their mystical powers without even trying, while he could not understand them at all. He feels the need to reinforce others’ faith in him, leading him to consequently panic if his tech goes awry such as when he is more concerned with the Turtle Tank working improperly being his fault in “The Mutant Menace” rather than the fact that it is working improperly.

Donnie seems unapologetic for his mistakes, but the truth is he refuses to make fake apologies just to gloss over a matter. He would rather avoid the issue altogether, such as in “Al Be Back” where he claims to Leo to have no memory of accidentally making Albearto evil just so they won't argue about it. However he still recognises when he is in the wrong, and makes a genuine apology to S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. for treating him unfairly in "Breaking Purple". Becoming a 'dad' toS.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. seems to have improved Donnie's understanding of others, in a way.

Donnie is still uncomfortable with being touched unless he is given warning, and still finds managing his emotions difficult. In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, Raph insists that him catching Donnie (and Mikey) after being launched out of the Technodrome is a rescue, and not a hug. Then, after seeing Leo getting trapped in the Prison Dimension, Donnie is shocked to realize that it's made him cry, since he generally does not cry impulsively as his brothers do.

Leo is prone to make jokes and sarcastic remarks, often during inappropriate times, which can sometimes leave his brothers annoyed and frustrated towards him. Leo has a tough time taking things seriously, especially during the times he puts his full faith on himself rather than his team.

Leo has confidence that usually turns into arrogance and his brothers are often annoyed by his lack of humility, making him difficult to play games with such as in "Lair Games".

Leo is at times rational and skeptical, denying the existence of things like ghosts and wanting to search for a logical answer as opposed to accrediting it to unexplainable phenomena. Despite this, he is delighted by magic and mystic powers as seen in “Hypno! Part Deux”. He also seems to be the least naïve out of the Mad Dogs as his brothers trust Big Mama almost instantly, though Leo has his doubts about her intentions. However, Leo's tendency to be easily impressed and incessant need for attention can hamper his caution.

Leo is very strategic with his plans and formulating ideas, noticing when Raph's leadership fails, he comes from the background to show everyone how its really done. While Leo has merit, his utilization of his skills often needs to be spurred by a dire situation or a lack of options as opposed to Leo trying his best when he can. When he does decide to be serious and sensible, as in the events of "Origami Tsunami", he uses his charisma and relaxed, flexible nature to sway his brothers into listening to him.

Leo is irresponsible and known to be generally unreliable among his family due to how flippant he can be even in grave situations and finds it very difficult to take responsibility for his actions while also being boastful about his positive or impressive actions. Although he has been shown to try to reconcile his mistakes and be sympathetic towards others’ plights such as in “Bullhop” by inviting Bullhop to live with his family and trying to gather the Mad Dogs' continued support for him despite their own reservations for accidentally causing his mutation.

Leo demonstrates forte in analytical thinking as shown in “Many Unhappy Returns”, able to plan several steps ahead of Big Mama, but he can be so determined to successfully execute his plans while also having glory that he uses his allies instead of working with them and is comfortable misleading his allies and opponents alike to his achieve goals such as in “Air Turtle”.

Mikey is playful and lighthearted. He is intuitive, able to adopt new skills quickly, determine others' problems, and at times accurately predict situational outcomes.

Mikey is very creative at heart, usually caught using his creativity in a various of ways including but not limited to, illustration, music and cooking. He is attuned to pop culture shown by some of his word choices and his knowledge of relevant celebrities such as Rupert Swaggart. However, Mikey has mixed appreciation for certain retro/old school icons as he is disappointed with the dated graphics in Hot Soup: The Game ("Hot Soup: The Game").

Mikey can also be easily frightened, usually retreating into his shell when provoked or nervous. He's also very forgiving, welcoming Baron Draxum into his family after his defeat by the Mad Dogs, creating much tension.

While Mikey will lie, he has a disdain for it as he is increasingly frustrated with Leonardo's lying behavior in "Flushed, but Never Forgotten" and insists on him and his brothers revealing the truth to Splinter. Mikey finds it hard to cope with the guilt of lying and thus doesn't keep secrets reliably.

Mikey is competitive as seen in "You Got Served" when he is determined to win a one-sided competition against Leo and boasts about his previous victory, labeling himself as the "all-time champ of today".

Mikey is family-oriented and compassionate as in "Repairin' the Baron" he helps Baron Draxum recover from wearing the Kuroi Yōroi unprompted. He prefers to see the good in others, a quality that can border on naiveté such as when he tries to rationalize Foot Recruit's suspicious attitude to himself during their first encounter in "Hot Soup: The Game".

Mikey is openly sentimental and encourages others' emotional vulnerability as well. He highly values intimacy and tries to cultivate it in his relationships (sometimes to the point of insistence). This openness can make him excitable, acting hastily and injuring himself as a result. It also leads to Mikey being rude just as often as he is kind such as when he snaps at his brothers for not reacting appropriately to a restaurant he liked being destroyed in "Pizza Pit" or expresses how he wishes to expel Donatello from the Mad Dogs right in front of him in "Bullhop".

Mikey has three personas he created: Doctor Delicate Touch, Doctor Feelings, and Doctor Positive. To deliver a harsh truth in his "Doctor Delicate Touch" method, Mikey often starts off being sweet, but quickly becomes angry and frank. Doctor Feelings uses his emotional intelligence to advise others, and Mikey faces issues with determined optimism as Doctor Positive.

While Mikey calls Leo his favourite brother, his most balanced relationship is with Donnie, as they often come up with good results thanks to Donnie's hyperfocus meshing well with Mikey's hyperempathy, as seen first in "Repo Mantis". Mikey is extremely forgiving of Donnie's difficulties with empathy. Likewise Donnie is surprisingly patient with Mikey despite him being easily distracted. This is accurate to real life where Autistic and ADHD people often get along well despite stark differences.

Mikey doesn't allow others to diminish his contributions or take him for granted and will sharply correct attempts to ("Mystery Meat"). He can also be insulted when others regard him as dependent such as in "Hot Soup: The Game" when he is eager to complete a mission without his brothers' aid. Mikey's confidence in his capacity to be independent isn't always shared by the other Mad Dogs due to him being the youngest, much to his frustration.

Mikey is also the one who never gives up and has faith in himself and his brothers. In "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie", Mikey had faith in Leo breaking Donnie's pizza box stack record and in himself to create a gateway to rescue Leo after many failed attempts to do so during the course of the film