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View Poll Results: April's ethnicity moving forward?
Irish April 19 46.34%
Black April 4 9.76%
Other Ethnicity April 0 0%
Change it up every incarnation 8 19.51%
Just give me the results 10 24.39%
Voters: 41. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 03-24-2019, 06:43 PM   #1
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April's ethnicity moving forward

With Rise of the TMNT we got our first black April and we've had plenty of debates linked here of whether she was ever black (TLDR; not really but kind of). But Rise is changing things up and I like that, it should change as much as it can to be different. But how would you want to see April in future incarnations?

I think if a movie gets made and Rise is still in the air we'll get a black April in the movie. Same thought if Rise is cancelled prematurely then likely a future incarnation won't have a black April but if it's a success it's more likely. Me personally I want red headed April back, I prefer an original character that is black who I can like instead of forcing a race on another, also all the red headed characters are always the ones being made into black and we barely had enough red headed characters.

When I saw this headline I kinda laughed and I said, "Oh, this is ridiculous. Yet another person claiming it's racist to have a white April." And by the way, for all you kids reading at home, April just is white. But these persons are maybe just arguing that we should also have a black April. But, you know, April is what she is, and just so you know, we're just debating this because someone wrote about it, kids.

Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change. You know, I mean, Santa was a white man too. He was a historical figure; that's a verifiable fact—as is April, I want you kids reading to know that—but my point is: how do you revise it, in the middle of the legacy of the story, and change April from white to black?
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Old 03-24-2019, 06:46 PM   #2
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I don't care. I prefer her as a redhead, but she's literally a non-character in most incarnations. It's not like she has any defining characteristics outside of "sometimes is a reporter".
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:00 PM   #3
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I wouldn't cry if she was made black or even Latina in other stuff.
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:01 PM   #4
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Any race, as long as she's attractive.
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The biggest villains were the censors. What they could do without being held back is my question.

Shredder could've done more than blow up the Channel Six building. I don't mean as far as murdering Splinter, but think of the possibilities if censors were not an issue.

Shredder and Krang combined had the biggest arsenal of any villains in all of the cartoons.
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:01 PM   #5
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I too prefer a redhead April, but she never was a redhead until 2012 show, and Mirage April albeit partially based of a Black person and might have had some Black coding in the art was intended to be White. Saint Nick was most likely a Moor, but Santa Clause who's a mixture of St. Nick, Father Time, the Norse God Odin so while he's usually depicted White but this fat Fey creature can be any ethnicity.

And like Santa, April can be any ethnicity (she's a blank canvas ready to be drawn). Nothing ties her down to race or job for that matter cause she's a everyday person thrown into a crazy ass adventure with the Turtles. And I doubt April will be Black forever after Rise, I'm sure after Rise we'll prob fly get a more "back to usual business" cartoon where April is white (maybe a redhead) and Leo leads with Shredder and Krang at it again.

Maybe next show has her as a Black redhead in her twenties and we all win
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:15 PM   #6
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Given the last name, I prefer the Irish route. But that doesn't mean she can't also be mixed race with Irish roots on dad's side.
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:21 PM   #7
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I know it is unlikely, given her name and history, but I would be curious to see what a Japanese April would be like.
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The biggest villains were the censors. What they could do without being held back is my question.

Shredder could've done more than blow up the Channel Six building. I don't mean as far as murdering Splinter, but think of the possibilities if censors were not an issue.

Shredder and Krang combined had the biggest arsenal of any villains in all of the cartoons.
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:29 PM   #8
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Next April could pull a Lou Jitsu and get a new name
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:38 PM   #9
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Make her white again. There's no reason to change races at all. I don't think anything Rise does will stick with any future version anyway.
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Old 03-24-2019, 07:56 PM   #10
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Make her white again. There's no reason to change races at all. I don't think anything Rise does will stick with any future version anyway.
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Old 03-24-2019, 08:25 PM   #11
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I don't like change for the sake of change either, let alone for ideological or politically motivated reasons, but April's race isn't of much importance in the big picture. Certainly not to the same extent as Hamato Yoshi, for example. Granted her last name has its geographical ties, there's no saying she couldn't be a mixed race character to zero consequence.

That said, it matters far more to me that she be handled properly. Which is to say, done in the vein of Mirage. Not a news reporter, not a ninja in training, not a sassy bitch, but a smart, tech-savvy woman, thrust into the turtles' world. One whose role is more of a sister/mother/operative, not a peer in combat or a damsel in distress, just a human link for the turtles.
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Old 03-24-2019, 08:26 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by IndigoErth View Post
Given the last name, I prefer the Irish route. But that doesn't mean she can't also be mixed race with Irish roots on dad's side.
I voted for Irish April, but this could be done as well.

Honestly I just don't like it when people change character ethnicity or race. This was done with Baxter Stockman already and *almost happened with shredder. If you want to make a cast more diverse just introduce new characters.

I think Spider-man is probably the best example of this. They have introduced two iconic characters in recent years with Myles Morales and Spider-Gwen. They could have just made Peter-Parker black, but instead they made this new amazing character in Myles Morales.

I wish Rise did this especially given how different the series is. This would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce a new female allies or protagonist or maybe even try to re-introduce Venus
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Old 03-24-2019, 09:26 PM   #13
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Old 03-24-2019, 10:01 PM   #14
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It's a Celtic surname, so she should probably be white. Being non-white or mixed-race invites too many questions and Logical Somersaults to explain away her backstory, when as others have said nobody can even really figure out who "April" even IS (or should be) as a character. Things are complicated enough without explaining why someone would have such an overwhelmingly Irish surname despite not physically looking like an "O'Neil". And it would, and does, beg an explanation. If someone can't even have a coherent Present, they shouldn't have an over-complicated Past or Pre-History.
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I'm not sure why so many people have such an aversion to April being a reporter. Perhaps it makes her "too active" in the stories, or more "glamorous" than she ought to be, but I'd personally argue that it's not only the most memorable version of April, but the only time she's ever been interesting.

Like, what else is there? In Mirage she was a lab assistant for 5 minutes, and then... ummm... the next thing I remember, there was Time Travel Shenanigans, and aside from being revealed as a Pencil Drawing Pinocchio, she got turned into a roach and f*cked other roaches, and then I stopped giving a sh*t what happened to her altogether because the story was terrible.

She's definitely in desperate need of an "Official" history. I absolutely HATE when a character has such a ludicrous mish-mash of conflicting "origin stories". If you ask someone, "Who Is ______?", there should be ONE answer, maybe two if they've been around for 5 or 6 decades, but that is IT.

April O'Neil isn't a "character", she's a visual that people remember from a cartoon show. That being said, I don't see why elements from the only memorable version shouldn't graduate into being "canon" status, to some degree.
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Old 03-24-2019, 10:19 PM   #15
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The go-to April that pops in my mind first is the OT one, and I’d wager that goes the same for the average fan as well.

She’s also got a huge rack and I feel that needs to be addressed more.
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Old 03-24-2019, 10:24 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Candy Kappa View Post
I too prefer a redhead April, but she never was a redhead until 2012 show, and Mirage April albeit partially based of a Black person and might have had some Black coding in the art was intended to be White. Saint Nick was most likely a Moor, but Santa Clause who's a mixture of St. Nick, Father Time, the Norse God Odin so while he's usually depicted White but this fat Fey creature can be any ethnicity.

And like Santa, April can be any ethnicity (she's a blank canvas ready to be drawn). Nothing ties her down to race or job for that matter cause she's a everyday person thrown into a crazy ass adventure with the Turtles. And I doubt April will be Black forever after Rise, I'm sure after Rise we'll prob fly get a more "back to usual business" cartoon where April is white (maybe a redhead) and Leo leads with Shredder and Krang at it again.

Maybe next show has her as a Black redhead in her twenties and we all win
The last two paragraphs were a reference to this:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertai...-exist/356054/
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Old 03-24-2019, 10:34 PM   #17
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I don't mind either version of April. I don't see any sort of agenda with changing her skin color. Most versions of April have been Caucasian and given her Irish surname that is sort of an expectation. So making her African American is how the production team wanted to depict her this go round. One's skin color doesn't reflect what sort of character a person has, it's usually the environment and he upbringing one grows up with that determines a person's character.

So April in this version could be white, but that still wouldn't make her any less obnoxious. Just like she could be black in one the other versions and still be the cool-headed maternal/big sister figure she is often depicted as.


As to why she would have an Irish Surname when she's anything but has two plausibilities. One when people were brought over from Africa to sold into slavery, they were given the surname of their owners.

For example, take Alex Hailey's biography "Roots" His maternal Ancestor was named Kunta Kinte, he was abducted from his home in Gambia and was bought by a man with the surname of Waller. He is then given the name of "Toby Waller" Later on he becomes the slave of a man named Raynolds so he becomes "Toby Raynolds" Then when his daughter Kizzy is sold off to a man named Thomas Lea she becomes "Kizzy Lea" ect.

So one of April's ancestors could have been a slave by someone named O'Neil and that surname was passed down through the generations following the abolition of slavery.

The other possibility is that since we have never seen April's parents in this version, she could have been adopted by an Irish-American family which is why she has the Irish Surname.

In future generations of this series, I do think that Irish American April will be a common characterization, but there will also be other incarnations where she will be depicted as African American, or maybe both races.
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Old 03-24-2019, 11:10 PM   #18
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As to why she would have an Irish Surname when she's anything but has two plausibilities. One when people were brought over from Africa to sold into slavery, they were given the surname of their owners.

For example, take Alex Hailey's biography "Roots" His maternal Ancestor was named Kunta Kinte, he was abducted from his home in Gambia and was bought by a man with the surname of Waller. He is then given the name of "Toby Waller" Later on he becomes the slave of a man named Raynolds so he becomes "Toby Raynolds" Then when his daughter Kizzy is sold off to a man named Thomas Lea she becomes "Kizzy Lea" ect.

So one of April's ancestors could have been a slave by someone named O'Neil and that surname was passed down through the generations following the abolition of slavery.

The other possibility is that since we have never seen April's parents in this version, she could have been adopted by an Irish-American family which is why she has the Irish Surname.
Again, though, WAY too much backstory and explanation before we even get to the present-day character herself. 99.9% of "O'Neils" are White Irish, it is what it is, just let it Be That. No need to force the square peg into the round hole for the sake of Diversity Points. Especially if the explanation doesn't do much more than put people to sleep. It's needless.

Likewise, if I created a character named "Darryl Jones", or "Shaniqua Johnson", I would completely forgive you for picturing a black person. I'd be kind of an idiot to make them white just so I could say, "A-HA! See? I subverted your expectations, you RACIST!" They're traditionally "black" names and there's nothing wrong with that. No need to play games with people to try and prove a point about "Well, but ONE out of like several MILLION people are an exception to that rule." No sh*t. Not all people from the Deep South hate black people, either... like ONE per every million, probably isn't racist. I still think we can safely call it A Rule. Just like most "O'Neils" are safely proven white.

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The go-to April that pops in my mind first is the OT one, and I’d wager that goes the same for the average fan as well.

She’s also got a huge rack and I feel that needs to be addressed more.
Agreed. This is a much more important topic and demands further attention.
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Old 03-25-2019, 01:30 AM   #19
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Irish April.
Talking with heavy Irish accent and swearing like a truck driver.

On serious note: redhead April. If you want your ****ing diversity - invent a new character, stop recoloring the old ones. It's creatively bankrupt.

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Certainly not to the same extent as Hamato Yoshi, for example.
It's hard to make someone named "Hamato Yoshi" anything else, but Japanese.
Unless Japanese would be considered "not diverse enough" by whiny crowd, that is.
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Old 03-25-2019, 03:32 AM   #20
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If you want your ****ing diversity - invent a new character, stop recoloring the old ones. It's creatively bankrupt.
On this we agree.
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