#i especially can't imagine any of Raph's siblings calling him 'Dad' even by accident fhdasfjk

[haematoclan]

Raph's sense of responsibility

every time i see a headcanon that Raph was the one to rise his brothers instead of Splinter or that he was forced to grow up and be The Responsible and Careful One since he was a tot i just remember the moment where small Raph took the family heirloom teapot because they couldn't find a ball, yelled to Donnie of all people to "Go long" and chucked it at him with his full strength 😭

or the whole Turtle Tots short where he basically made/encouraged them all to play with dangerous, very real weapons and the moment Splinter was off their hair he did it again!

i don't think he's that anxious and burdened by responsibility... yet, at least. like, I'm pretty sure he had a lot of space to be a kid and have fun, despite their whole situation. i mainly think in the past he just assumed the role of the leader as default due to his oldest status and just liked to take charge while playing and not because he had a deep sense of responsibility since day he was born?

in the short he's not the one to step up against Splinter, and in the flashback he isn't the one to repair the teapot that he shattered, nor to damage control the situation, which kind of shows to me Raph had some growing up to do (which is understandable he's a kid after all!) and it also shows that he's not the only one to take charge, the responsibility is not solely on him! and I don't doubt Raph kept encouraging reckless behavior in himself and his brothers through the years!

like. this boy is an adrenaline junkie and loves roughhousing with his brothers! probably more than they all combined, his Cain Instincts are honestly off the charts!

(and i think it's worth adding he doesn't seem self-conscious about his size and spikes, nor his strength, while playing/attacking them).

seriously, even Mikey isn't free from Raph's roughhousing, he might be overprotective of the youngest but that doesn't mean it will safe Mikey from Raph's wrath!

i do however think that he was forced to grow up in the span of the show very fast. just not that much as a small kid (though just to be clear, that's still tragic, being forced to grow up at the age of 15/16 is still too early). i don't think it was because of Splinter's neglectful parenting. or well, at least not completely directly because of it. as absent as he was, Splinter was still trying to keep his sons away from mystic stuff and dangers of the world.

Mad Dogs started their hero business mostly thanks to a coincidence because Raph saw Mayhem in the first episode.

thanks to that they gained their super cool weapons and saved Mayhem, which probably made Raph feel good about himself (helping other tends to make you feel that way)! not to mention he got to beat up some villain, just like heroes he grew up with! he probably felt confident, powerful, full of adrenaline and happy, which i think instilled in him this idea of becoming a Hero.

and at first he didn't really understand what he was getting himself (and others) into, or even thinking about potential dangers being a Hero could put them all in.

I don't think Raph took the role as family's protector too seriously up until Bug Busters (a.k.a. Leo being thrown off the roof). i think him unlocking his power back then could be kind of symbolic of him "growing up", being forced to really see what could happen to his family because of his idea of becoming Heroes

and then he became more serious about this stuff. (and even then, he still had moments like for example, not showing to Splinter's important mission in Insane in the Mama Train)

(the rest of Mad Dogs kept treating the hero stuff as a side hobby at most though (and honestly why shouldn't they? they were 13-15)).

in conclusion... i get where the headcanon that Raph was responsible and anxious since the very early childhood comes from, Splinter doesn't give off an aura of responsibility or being a very present parent and it seems logical that Raph would pick up Splinter's slack, but I swear we should give Splinter and the rest of Mad Dogs a little more credit! i just (personally) find it more interesting to see Raph's ascend into being the Responsible Leader as a complicated and non-linear, slow journey, because that kind of shows better the growth and character development he had to go through in the show