Alright it's been on my mind for a while now, I thought about putting this in gripes but I feel like this should be it's own discussion topic. Now I know this is an unpopular opinion right now but I did kind of like Raphael.
So with the rather recent wave of vitriol coming to him recently I've been thinking back to the first game where you encounter him. during the first kinu quest I remember Distinctly disliking not the man himself but the portrayal of his character as someone who wouldn't think twice about doing something as incredibly shitty as burning a bunch of kids alive while they slept. My kneejerk reaction to this was "what? he wouldn't do this, this seems completely out of character." and since it had been a while I went back to play the old game to make sure I'm not misremembering or looking from a rose colored perspective. but no this just looks entirely out of character.
playing through his sequence again I remembered how annoying I found him to be. the cartoonish, suave, robinhood esk character was really overblown and feels like an act (which he all but admits is an act) and the way his accent is so inconsistent switching from french, spanish, and italian at random. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people didn't like him then. That is if anyone even saw him to begin with given how incredibly picky he is. but through all of that he has some very good character moments that were fun and enjoyable, I actually did come to like him again after reading through most of his interactions. which is why it was so jarring to see him as the villain doing something so fucked up that literally everyone hated him instantly. I think this piece of a conversation with him really shows why it looks so out of character to me.
through this and a few other interactions I have a hard time believing that Raph would even see the kitsunes as demons or go so far out of his way to kill them even if he did. He was never the cruel, psychotic, zealous, lunatic who went around claiming to be a hero of the people while slaughtering every demon he could find. and if I'm not mistaken not much time has passed since the end of the first game, so how could he have become this way. I'm not saying he is incapable of doing shitty things as he was but all things considered he was a decent guy, at least not the type to attempt to slaughter and entire race of people without even getting to know any of them.
I think a conflict between two characters that I like could be a very interesting plotline if they're both represented fairly. sadly it seems that Tobs has written Raphael to be as hateable and irredeemable as possible. I wouldn't be so opposed to the questline If it had been done differently or alternatively he had used an entirely original character that I had no prior connection to for the stories villain. I am well aware that it's too late for any of that now and with things progressing as they are I think I might just not finish kinu's questline.
So with the rather recent wave of vitriol coming to him recently I've been thinking back to the first game where you encounter him. during the first kinu quest I remember Distinctly disliking not the man himself but the portrayal of his character as someone who wouldn't think twice about doing something as incredibly shitty as burning a bunch of kids alive while they slept. My kneejerk reaction to this was "what? he wouldn't do this, this seems completely out of character." and since it had been a while I went back to play the old game to make sure I'm not misremembering or looking from a rose colored perspective. but no this just looks entirely out of character.
playing through his sequence again I remembered how annoying I found him to be. the cartoonish, suave, robinhood esk character was really overblown and feels like an act (which he all but admits is an act) and the way his accent is so inconsistent switching from french, spanish, and italian at random. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people didn't like him then. That is if anyone even saw him to begin with given how incredibly picky he is. but through all of that he has some very good character moments that were fun and enjoyable, I actually did come to like him again after reading through most of his interactions. which is why it was so jarring to see him as the villain doing something so fucked up that literally everyone hated him instantly. I think this piece of a conversation with him really shows why it looks so out of character to me.
through this and a few other interactions I have a hard time believing that Raph would even see the kitsunes as demons or go so far out of his way to kill them even if he did. He was never the cruel, psychotic, zealous, lunatic who went around claiming to be a hero of the people while slaughtering every demon he could find. and if I'm not mistaken not much time has passed since the end of the first game, so how could he have become this way. I'm not saying he is incapable of doing shitty things as he was but all things considered he was a decent guy, at least not the type to attempt to slaughter and entire race of people without even getting to know any of them.
I think a conflict between two characters that I like could be a very interesting plotline if they're both represented fairly. sadly it seems that Tobs has written Raphael to be as hateable and irredeemable as possible. I wouldn't be so opposed to the questline If it had been done differently or alternatively he had used an entirely original character that I had no prior connection to for the stories villain. I am well aware that it's too late for any of that now and with things progressing as they are I think I might just not finish kinu's questline.
