- "An aspiring costume designer and self proclaimed fashionista, Rafa is the resident BFF to 'Malibu' and 'Brooklyn'. He can get stressed easily, but is also great at giving good advice to others."
- - Official Description[1]
Rafa is a character from the animated series Barbie: It Takes Two. He is voiced by Nicolas Roye.
Story[]
Pre-It Takes Two[]
In Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams, Barbie went to New York for a summer program at Handler Arts Academy. She met another girl with the same name as her, so they nicknamed each other based on where they are from. Barbie is nicknamed Malibu, and the other Barbie is nicknamed Brooklyn. Rafa met them while also doing a summer program at Handler, and they become best friends. Rafa was a costume student, so he designed costumes for Malibu and Brooklyn to wear during a big performance in Times Square.
It Takes Two[]
In "It Takes Two", Rafa, Malibu and Brooklyn get accepted for the fall semester at Handler. However, Malibu's parents want her to go to school in California, and Brooklyn's parents don't want her to stay at the dorms. Malibu and Brooklyn want to perform a song about how much it means to them to stay together, so Rafa says his grandmother's advice would be to stall for as long as possible. Rafa helps the girls to stall while they write and rehearse a song. Their performance convinces their parents to let Malibu attend Handler for another semester with Rafa and Brooklyn, with the girls staying at Brooklyn's house instead of the dorms.
In "We've Got Magic to Do", Rafa books The Barbies a paid gig as assistants for a magician named Magnifico. Rafa's cousin Izzy watches Rafa work as The Barbies' manager to get learning experience, since she wants to be a CEO one day. They go to meetings together to try and book gigs for The Barbies, but Rafa keeps getting nervous. Izzy is charming enough to secure the gigs, so Rafa thinks Izzy should be the girls' manager instead. Izzy tells Rafa to believe in himself, so he has more confidence during the next meeting. Rafa offers to let Izzy co-manage The Barbies with him, but she declines because she is too young.
In "Cut It Out", The Dash wants to make a film for Handler's annual film festival, and he wants Malibu and Brooklyn to be his subjects. Rafa thinks it will be good publicity for them, so they agree. The Dash edits the film in a way that makes them look bad, so Malibu and Brooklyn want him to re-edit it. The Dash initially refuses to re-edit the film, so Rafa thinks they should steal The Dash's laptop so he can't premiere the film. The Dash eventually decides to re-edit the film after being inspired by Stefan's miming.
In "Studio Sleuths", Rafa accompanies The Barbies to a recording session at Blown Speaker Studios. Things go missing around the studio. The Barbies treat everyone in the building as suspects, including Rafa. After interrogating Rafa, Malibu and Brooklyn think he honestly didn't steal anything. Malibu's sister Chelsea concludes out that Gato must have stolen the objects, and Rafa is shocked when they catch Gato stealing. It turns out Gato stole the objects as romantic gifts for the new studio dog, Guinevere.
In "Knock It Off", Malibu and Brooklyn start their own business selling plants. Rafa offers them help but they decline. This is his first free afternoon in months, so Rafa is bored. He offers to design a costume for Epiphany. Stefan looks at Rafa's designs with Epiphany and he mimes to show his thoughts on them. Epiphany interprets Stefan's mimes correctly and they agree that Rafa's designs don't suit Epiphany. Stefan mimes making a costume for Epiphany and it's perfect for her. Rafa stops trying to compete with Stefan and comes up with a unique design. Epiphany loves the costume. Malibu and Brooklyn need help getting customers so Rafa designs a banner for their plant booth.
In "Costumed Capers", Rafa books Malibu and Brooklyn a gig as mascots for a costume company. They have to hand out flyers in Times Square. At the same time, two men wear the same mascot costumes while they prank people. The pranksters go to a restaurant that Simone and Kel are dining at, and Simone and Kel take a selfie with them, thinking they are Brooklyn and Malibu. A woman that was pranked accuses Simone and Kel of being accomplices, and then confronts Malibu and Brooklyn. They see the pranksters and everyone chases Malibu, Brooklyn and the pranksters until they catch them. Rafa says that the situation was such good publicity for the costume store that the owner doesn't care that not all the flyers were handed out.
In "Cupid Shuffle", Handler Arts Academy is having a Spring Dance. Malibu, Brooklyn and Rafa go as friends. The girls meet Rafa there and plan on dancing all night.
In "Team No Screens", Epiphany points out that Rafa, Daisy, Malibu and Brooklyn are glued to their phones, so they give her their phones and try to spend 24 hours without them. They take Gato for a walk, but Brooklyn finds it hard to be in the city without her phone, so they all go camping. Rafa dislikes that he doesn't have a camping outfit, collecting firewood, building his tent, and the bugs. Epiphany and Stefan find everyone to tell them that someone called Rafa about securing a gig for The Barbies. He has to phone back or they will lose their spot at the California Music & Food Festival. Everybody forms a human tower so Rafa can stand on top and climb a tree to get a phone signal. After securing the gig, everyone forgets Rafa in the tree. After Rafa gets down from the tree, everyone relaxes at camp, but Rafa gets so frustrated with the bugs that he takes a cab home with Gato.
In "Festival Fiasco", Malibu and Brooklyn are going to perform at the California Music & Food Festival. Brooklyn says Rafa did a great job booking the gig for them. Rafa texts the girls that he wishes he could be there, but since he can't, he sends them a checklist to make sure they're are ready for the show.
In "Buddy's Is Booming", Buddy is struggling to pay the rent for his cafe due to low sales. Brooklyn phones Emmie for help. Emmie goes to the cafe and tells her fans she'll be there all day signing autographs and taking selfies. They make it a rule that customers must buy a pastry before meeting Emmie. Rafa thinks he overhears Malibu and Brooklyn saying they love Emmie's manager and want a meeting with them. Rafa tries to be a bad manager on purpose so the girls won't feel guilty about firing him. When they run out of pastries, Brooklyn, Malibu and Stefan try to make more, but they are not used to professional kitchens. Malibu and Brooklyn confront Rafa over his behavior and tell him they loved Emmie's manicure, not her manager. They say they would never replace him and have a group hug. Rafa invents a pastry called puffins (puffy muffins) and it helps to popularize the cafe.
In "To Dye For", Rafa books Malibu and Brooklyn a commercial audition with Gourmet Popcorn, a company which sells pickle popcorn. The girls don't need costumes, but Rafa makes them costumes anyway to help them stand out. The costumes are green like pickles and use a green dye recipe his grandmother gave him. Rafa includes organic spinach in the dye because he wants the best for his friends. Rafa has to leave to fix a costume issue for someone in Handler's modern dance troupe. The girls can't find the recipe so they don't dry the costumes for long enough. The dye turns their skin green so they go to the audition with green skin. Malibu and Brooklyn improvise a performance instead of following the script. Later, Rafa updates them that he fixed the modern dance troupe's costume issue in time, and the girls have a call-back audition with Gourmet Popcorn.
In "Game On!, Rafa is stressed because he is busy with costume finals and helping The Barbies with their demo. He wants to relax with self-care using a mud mask his grandmother sent him. Malibu and Brooklyn compete in a game show in hopes of winning money for studio time. Rafa cheers them on from the audience. The girls' competitors anger Rafa when they say the girls have no chance of winning. Malibu and Brooklyn win and the prize is $1000 worth of potatoes. Their parents buy the potatoes from them to reward them for their hard work in school and on their music. Rafa is excited that the girls will finally get to finish their demo.
In "Race to the Finish", the West Coast Roberts go to New York to bring Malibu and Brooklyn to California for the summer. The girls try to give their finished demo to Otto Phoenix. Rafa is excited to meet Pandora, but quickly realizes the girls' "horrifying stories" about her were correct. He still likes Pandora's outfit. Otto is out of his office and won't be back until after they've left for California. Malibu, Brooklyn and Rafa contact many people they know to detour Otto's limo to Brooklyn Bridge Park, where The Barbies perform for him and deliver their demo. Rafa says a lot of people helped them in return for how much the girls helped people during the year. When the West Coast Roberts leave with Brooklyn, Rafa and Gato sneak onto the camper because Rafa isn't ready to say goodbye. Malibu says they will need to take a detour through Queens.
Physical Appearance[]
Rafa is a Puerto Rican teenage boy. He has brown skin, brown eyes and brown hair. His hair is short on the sides and dyed lighter brown on the top.
In "Cupid Shuffle", he wears a different outfit when he attends the Handler Arts Academy Spring Dance. The outfit consists of a gray and black checker print jacket with white swirly pattern on one side, a white t-shirt, dark jeans and black sneakers.
Personality[]
Rafa loves fashion, designing costumes, and his dog Gato. He often gives advice to his friends and his cousin Izzy. Rafa feels stressed easily and can be prideful sometimes. As The Barbies' manager, Rafa goes out of his way as their manager to help them succeed.