The Original April O'Neil - TMNT comics

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Thanks for watching! Were you aware of April's SECRET origin?

[@lucasgibbs4050]

Her 2012 iteration was pretty good. She’s half-human, half-Kraang.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@lucasgibbs4050 The Aprils are hard to compare because each iterations gives them a different personality/motivation. I will explore the other Aprils in future videos.

[@lucasgibbs4050]

@@TheTurtleNexus But it was still inspired by Mirage, just in a Avatar The Last Airbender-ish way.

[@RCLIM-yx8gv]

Watching April...in April 📆

[@tannerprice2018]

I’m starting to see where the whole “April-being-a-mutant-and-having-superpowers” thing from the 2012 series came from, and honestly does make a lot more sense than the comic saying that she was basically a living drawing. I dunno, I kinda prefer how the April was handled in every other TMNT series, where she was just a normal person who learned how to defend herself after hanging out with Splinter and the Turtles.

[@manmeetrana388]

Really appreciate how the 90’s movie incorp both the comic and 87 cartoon

[@redred222]

her story in the last ronin is something to talk about once the series is over

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I will do a Last Ronin video once it's over

[@keshiathomas4189]

What’s the story

[@gc3k]

I want one movie or series that shows how off the wall and "indie" the Mirage comics were. 2003 is the closest, but still anchored by the 1987 cartoon portrayal and the kids appropriate rating. Won't ever happen unfortunately

[@manmeetrana388]

Great video … I am Influenced by the 87 cartoon. Learning so much

[@jbstudios3000]

She’s white in issue 4. She just gets a perm. It’s literally said in the comic.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I didn't say she wasn't white.

[@jbstudios3000]

@@TheTurtleNexus I know. That comment wasn’t directed at you. It was for the ones that reference that comic issue all the time but didn’t read it 😂

[@stevealford230]

@@TheTurtleNexus Yes you did. You said she was white in (x) instances, but "ethically ambiguous" in issue #4 as you showed black and white panels where she was drawn in shade. You were lying, probably because the new popular media narrative is the lie that she was black.

[@Nero_Eclipse]

Hate it when people say she was originally this or that, and the source clearly says otherwise.

[@jbstudios3000]

@@Nero_Eclipse same

[@scotty2317]

Hey Turtle Nexus great video. It just to see a video about her.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I'll be revisiting one of these plots in my next video (in its context).

[@RCLIM-yx8gv]

I'm watching April...in April! 🗓

[@dylansearcy3966]

the 2003 version looks like Mary Jane

[@tykamen5588]

2:32 how do you forget about getting forcibly injected with an unknown substance by a robot witu the brain of a mad scientist who tried to kill you and your friends multiple times?

[@aballofgrime7273]

Who names a kid Shadow? That's such a terrible name. I bet the other kids laughed at her for it.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Casey named her... I think that answers the question :p

[@tmrevenge]

If it makes you feel better. If instead was a boy his name would have been shade

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

They named kids hunter, soo.....😅

[@grobanworldnews4216]

The April O'Neill of the current movie has to be the WORST interpretation of April I have ever seen. Unattractive in looks and personality. i don't understand what Leonardo is attracted to. It's not really politically correct, but the 87 version and Judith Hoag are my favorite Aprils. Always will be.

[@fangofsilver5537]

I'm so curious over what was censured at the cockroach party!¿🤔😛 ..Great vid. Never knew I wanted to know more about the Turtles universe✌🏼

[@KasumiKenshirou]

IIRC, the cockroaches were mating. I had forgotten all about that until watching this video.

[@annfrank5959]

I love the art style reminds of the Timex Social Club album cover should've have kept this artstyle. It's a shame the first movie was the only one that stayed true to the comics. The other 2 movies were simply too cartoony

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

Still love that Ralph fight on the roof, the apt fire fight, leo despair, splinter appearing in fire, splinter last word to shredder, Casey Jones whistling, and of course "ninja vanish"😅

[@I-own-your-feelings]

They did April so dirty 😂🤦🏽

[@Officiallydubz]

Crazy

[@string2533]

Mas a april originalmente nos quadrinhos é negra, o primeiro desenho mudou a cor da april para a animação ser mais "aceitável para o público" e os outros desenhos só seguiram os anteriores

[@mendlests]

Stop misinforming that, they never said that or where you are based or where they get that wrong information

[@KasumiKenshirou]

You are mistaken. Her original appearance is shown in this very video. She's standing next to Baxter, who is black, and their skin looks very different, doesn't it?

[@Venserql]

wtf? The story in this comic is pretty nuts.

[@brazyfilmo3121]

How did the footclan and shredder find the turtles?

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I can't remember right now, but they probably stalked them.

[@brazyfilmo3121]

@@TheTurtleNexus yea maybe they followed shredder not sure. I always wondered how they get the drop on them.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@brazyfilmo3121 It could have been that guy spying from the window. Kevin and Peter introduced that and then forgot about it.

[@stevealford230]

She was not "ethnically ambiguous" in issue #4: she said she was going to get a perm and that is why her hair looked that way. She didn't magically switch race, despite what lying hustlers are claiming.

[@RomComs4Ever]

First off, this video's def incorrect on several points regarding her creation. (Black animosity is a real thing and downright pitiful even for vids like this) Secondly, stop speaking in denial. Her original design was made to reflect the creator's African American love interest at the time of the comics debut. Not asian whatsoever. She doesn't even look that way.

[@stevealford230]

@@RomComs4Ever I'm not " speaking in denial." Her original design phase included multiple versions, but in the actual book, she was only one, and it was white. I screamed for years that Baxter Stockman is supposed to be black, because that's a fact... and likewise, April is supposed to be white... and switching her race now (and falsely saying that she was black in the books} annoys me just as much as it annoyed me when the spinoffs made Baxter white and when the stupid Bay movie made Shredder a white guy and tried to fix it with lazy, bad reshoots and dubbing.

[@Wendy_O._Koopa]

@@stevealford230 She was half black, half Asian, everyone tends to "prove" what they already think by using screen shots of her having more screentone than Casey or Renet; _or_ pointing out that she has much less screentone than Baxter Stockman. While -everyone- most people use either the April vs Renet _or_ the April vs Stockman pics to "prove" the narrative they were already going for, this dude ignores all of the discourse that went down, and instead uses the colorized version of the comics... the ones released _after_ the cartoons white-washed her, that no sane person would count as proof.

[@stevealford230]

@@Wendy_O._Koopa The original comics were black and white INSIDE, but had colored covers... and the 1985 color cover of issue #2 shows April as clearly white. Then in the story she says she's going to get a perm... and after she returned with the perm, she had the hair that all the people pushing agendas show when they say she was black or mixed. Years before the cartoons, she was definitively white. Edit: They printed the early issues several times with alternate covers, so you need to search for the 3rd printing (1985/86) of issue #2, because the first 2 printings had a mouser as the cover, but the third was full color of April and the turtles, and I had it in 1986, before the cartoons got made. Look at it... there's no ambiguity, she was white, both in skintone and in hair. Eastman and Laird said they had her get a perm after that because it was easier and faster to draw permed hair than to draw the feathered hair she originally had, much faster to just squiggle circles. If she had been black or mixed, her hair would have been like that from the start... but it wasn't... she had to go get a perm to give her kinky hair (and "kinky hair" is not a negative description: I've dated many women with kinky hair, it's not an insult, it's the correct term for hair that kinks). Look at the cover... www.comics (dot) org/issue/875424/cover/4/

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I am just going to say that in issue four, what people consider ambiguous is her face, not her hair. However, I never said she wasn't white.

[@florianschramm1983maydayyear]

Ist ihre zweite Person prestelle ist dann schon Tod

[@troyami]

Damn I wish we’d get that original design of April O’Neil in a show or movie😅 The curly-haired light-skinned looks so good. And better yet people wouldn’t be able to just hate on it and say it’s ‘woke’ because it would be an actual design made before that white ginger yellow jumpsuit design

[@The_Punisher]

She's white

[@KasumiKenshirou]

Her original design is a white ginger in a blue jumpsuit. Later she got a perm, like a lot of women in the 1980s did.

[@riftfontain]

Asian april sounds interesting

[@dannyboy5008]

Why would a race change make it more interesting

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

​@@dannyboy5008 Because maybe it centered around Asians theme martial arts? Kind of based off all those cheesy 70s-80s movies where you had other people other t doing asain martial arts, and dominating them for "unknown " reasons. 😂

[@madelinemcmillan4020]

@@Googleisstupid-sk3hm we already have karai for that

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

@@madelinemcmillan4020 You the Asian that does Asian martial arts? Or the Casey Jones, then April oneil that does ninjustu, or has a war for it ... a daughter that does ninjustu better and with powers curiosity of Last Ronin series....

[@Burns_RED]

This is just the wikia page...

[@TheTurtleNexus]

I should probably update this video. I made it for a different channel that wasn't exactly about Turtles. Add to that that I was being charged by the word, I needed to keep the video accessible and short. This is probably why you feel this is a copy/paste of the Turtlepedia page, but it isn't. I just considered what I should and shouldn't put in it and this is what I ended up with. I expanded on April storylines in multiple videos.

[@Graywing]

I thought April was supposed to be afro-latino as she was based off of Kevin's girlfriend at the time. This was what Peter Laird told me at NYCC 08.

[@TheTurtleNexus]

Kevin's girlfriend (who he married) was afro-latina. But the character itself was supposed to be Asian. The character ended up being Caucasian and with European roots. This topic has been debated for a long time, but it was never really in question. It's just one of those confusing bits of trivia that won't die.

[@darieningram2194]

@@TheTurtleNexus lol literally look at the thumbnail for your own video "if it looks like a duck its a duck"

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@darieningram2194 While there were moments when she looked black. She looks pale here. This was a colored cover.

[@mendlests]

@@TheTurtleNexus Could you pass me a source where you are based please

[@TheTurtleNexus]

@@mendlests you can simply google "kevin eastman april o neil asian" as this has been talked about since forever. But some sources are "TMNT Entity", "Turtlepedia", "CBR" and random interviews to Kevin and Peter.

[@zeezerzam]

Wait...she's NOT a fat black lesbian?😮

[@gregoriojaro8963]

THEY DID HER CHARACTER JUSTICE IN "RISE OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" CARTOON & IT'S NETFLIX ANIMATED FILM OF THE SAME NAME! 🐢👊💥👍

[@dontknowdontknow9769]

you mean the worst version of the shittiest animated series? sure buddy

[@Impalingthorn]

"Justice"

[@gregoriojaro8963]

@@Impalingthorn SHE'S PART BLACK, PART CAUCASIAN, ALL BADASS JOURNALIST TURNED KUNOICHI WITH A TEMPORARILY TRANSFORMED INTO A TURTLE & PERMANENT TELEKINETIC POWERS, LOL! 👩🐢👊💥

[@dontknowdontknow9769]

@@gregoriojaro8963 sure buddy the important is that you believe in the lie even if the same comic say the opposite

[@thetruth45678]

@@gregoriojaro8963 That's not justice, Toby. That's cultural appropriation, Toby. Why do you people always try and steal our things, Toby? Can't get your own, Toby? Do better, Toby.

[@betsmaria486]

write story about TMNT in dragon ball super

[@rahiemhenry9711]

In real life she’s half black. He based April (her looks)off of his mixed first wife not the actual character . As you see she looks like a mixed woman. in the earlier drawings. By that being said. April wasn’t created black, she just resembled one and once again!, earlier drawings.

[@thetruth45678]

Oh look. Another mfer spreading this lie. You people won't be happy until you claim everything is yours, huh? So tired of this BS.

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

A fair assessment

[@thetruth45678]

@@Googleisstupid-sk3hm No, it's not. April was never half black. That is a lie.

[@thetruth45678]

@yougongmeatchocornbread April is white. Cry harder, racist.

[@thetruth45678]

@yougongmeatchocornbread It's called a permanent hairdo, twix for brains. It was very popular with white women in the 80's Sarah Conner had one in the original Terminator. Rosanne Barr has had one for over 1,000 years. Are they suddenly not white? Oh, who am I kidding? You're married to your hate. Go peddle your ignorance somewhere else.

[@NYCQuint]

April was a good character turned divisive. Racists made her ethnic. Racists made her divisive.

[@Googleisstupid-sk3hm]

So you agree she was white washed...cool 😅

[@dirtymarco3111]

​@@Googleisstupid-sk3hmshes a a white women with red hair. Sorry, racist

[@Iknowyoumadnow]

She was always black, stay mad haters

[@MYTHNL90]

'The character was originally planned by Peter Laird to be an Asian woman, but ended up being portrayed as Caucasian" How the f was she always black again??

[@mtume007]

They always stay mad 🤣

[@keenkingjames]

She had light skin and red hair. Must be black.

[@mrx-od3ji]

no she was never black she was asian at first and for tnmt mayhem thet ruined her chacacter and destroyed her. Shes not black race washing her not helping its destroying her as a character

[@mrx-od3ji]

@@keenkingjames no she was asian and race washing her making he black is ruining the character new tnmt is trash classic tnmt was the best one.