Kirby Conspiracy

[victory_angel]

It's been a while since we've seen or had any mention of Kirby O'Neil.

While chatting on facebook with Tarris Vaal, we came to an interesting realization. What if Kirby is not the man he makes himself out to be?

What if April's missing mother doesn't really exist...I mean yes we do see a photo with Mrs. O'Niel holding April as a baby. And in a way she may have been April's mother, but there are still some things that don't check out.


First off take the Farm House, in this incarnation the farmhouse is called the "O'Neil Farmhouse". And it was owned by April's maternal family.

Typically when a woman is married she takes her husband's surname as her own. There are exceptions, but often the wife takes her spouse's name.

Second, it seems far too convenient that the Kraang happened to come across the one family that had the DNA strand they needed.

April also mentioned in the Buried Secrets episode that Kirby didn't really talk about her mother's disappearance.

And when they were being abducted during "Rise of the Turtles" Kirby doesn't seem all that surprised about what's going on.

And Kirby doesn't look like he is suffering all that much while in the Kraang prison facility. I know it's a kids show, but a human in those conditions would be pale, gaunt and rather unkempt.

It's also rather odd the Kraang would keep Kirby alive when the Kraang didn't really need him. Once they had April and Kirby, Kirby easily could have been killed off because he wasn't needed.

Also it's mentioned in "Rise of the Turtles" that the Kraang were kidnapping scientists all over the city, and we never see any of them. In TCRI April's father is a psychologist, which is pointed out as being odd since the Kraang were trying to perfect the Mutagen. And thats where it is revealed that they were't after Kirby, they were after April.

So what if Kirby originally worked for the Kraang. Kirby could have been partnered with a nameless female scientist creating a human/kraang hybrid. In other words a test tube baby, it is possible the memories of her mother are implanted.

Kirby being a psycologist would study thought and behavior. So while some of his DNA could have been used in April's creation, his main job was to over see and monitor her until she was ready to be delivered to the Kraang.

Since he would have some training in medicine, he could prevent people from learning that April wasn't human by forging medical information for when she entered school or went to summer camp or something like that.

Over the course of looking after her, he may have developed honest paternal feelings for April .

Then when he and April are out walking that night (supposedly returning home from Dinner or a movie.) they are confronted by the Kraang. Kirby allows himself to be captured and is in the cell with her to make it seem like the Kraang were only after him and April was abducted because she was there.

After the Kraang partner with the Shredder, they use Kirby to draw Donatello to the prison facility so that the Turtles would bring him back to their lair. During the invasion he realizes what the Kraang intended to do with April and he becomes very protective of her because he knows the Kraang would return. And he doesn't want to lose April as a possible bargaining chip if the Kraang attack again.

[miru]

THIS! Totally suspected this from "Buried Secrets"

[Donatello19]

I don't think the creators themselves even know what's going on with April's whole story, it honestly seems like it's being made up as they go along.

[Tarris Vaal]

I think the creators have a bad (or good depending on your perspective) habit of deliberately leaving plot threads open and hints scattered about the place so that they could theoretically pick up on them later down the line if they wanted to.

Kirby is a good example of this.

Throughout the series we get weird little lines and glimpses that sort of make sense, but seem oddly out of place; a good example being the way his phone has his own daughters name listed as 'April O Neil' rather than say 'April', and the oddly specific point made that he is a psychologist rather than a normal scientist. Thinking about that for a moment - why bother making that specification as a writer? You could argue its just so that he isn't the go to answer for that episode, but then why deliver that in such a weirdly pointed way? Its as though the writer 'wants' you to know this specific point.


I think whats happened over time is that Kirby has had the groundwork laid for a potential reveal later down the line that he is - in some way - a traitor.

Personally I suspect this will come about as a means of triggering the final stages of the Dark April plot line; in that April will discover that her dad was actively collaborating with the Kraang to create her, that her real mother never existed, and that he was assigned as a specialist in psychology to monitor her development until she was ready for the Kraang to use.

I also suspect it will be revealed that he eventually did get paternal feelings for her and ran off to NYC in an attempt to hide himself and her from them. While in captivity he survives because he agrees to help the Kraang find her again - and the brain control device was simply a means to ensure the loyalty of an unreliable human 'ally'.

Later on, he becomes more protective of her partly because she is still his 'bargaining chip' in case of the return of the Kraang - so the idea of her becoming more independent and more reliant on friends and/or potential boyfriends means a loss of control and influence he has over her.


Anyway I think eventually this will all come to light as April discovers the truth, Kirby tries to explain that, that was the case at first, but that he has since truly seen her as a daughter.
April however isn't listening and goes off the handle (largely due to the crystals influence). If she were to destroy Kirby (say similar to how Phoenix kills Cyclops in X3), then it cements her as a villain - while still giving some audience understanding for her action.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, I definitely think there's more to Kirby than we know, so I can definitely see this as a good theory.

[Splinter the boss]

I love the theory, it's genius. I'd be happy if it were to happen.

[victory_angel]

While the series is over, we curiously see Kirby less and less following season 2. In season 3 we see him returned to being human and meeting up with April following the Kraangs defeat. As well as the following episode where April and Kirby are handing out soup to the people who are displaced due to the destruction that was caused by the Kraang during the invasion. Kirby's only major appearance was in Deadly Venom where he brings April to the Turtles after she is bitten by Karai. And during the video announcement from Mozar declaring that the Earth would be destroyed, there is only one moment where Kirby is shown having a panic attack.

After that Kirby isn't seen in the fourth season with the exception of being one of the mourners at Splinter's funeral. It largely feels the showrunners really didn't know what to do with this character after the invasion arc. After all was mutated not once but twice, doing it again would only have been lazy writing. And he was killed off-screen by the 'Heart of Darkness' so it would have made sense to have it be casually mentioned that Kirby left the city to live with his sister because he couldn't take the crazy of New York anymore.

Given how neurotic he was in the second season following his experience with the Kraang, he still could have taken a villainous route. In his mind, he wouldn't be doing anything wrong, he only wants to protect his daughter and he would do anything to do it. Not realizing that what he is doing is only causing April to resent him.

For example, in Deadly Venom we do see one moment where he glances out of the window at Casey and April as they return home from the movie theater. This suggests he doesn't have a particular fondness for Casey and is suspicious of the punk boy's motives or maybe what sort of influence he has on April.

For the Turtles, he is okay with them...but only so long as they were just friends with April. Take that moment where Donnie attempts to confess his feelings for her. While she is well aware of his feelings her, April herself wasn't ready to hear them at that moment in time. That and there is also a common trope where a character confesses his feelings for someone before a major battle only for it to end tragically for one of the two involved if not both.

So yes his confession can be interpreted as "Since we're going to die anyway, I might as well tell you how I feel."

But, April's dad was also in the room at that time. Hearing a mutant turtle confessing his feelings to his daughter in the middle of an invasion would have been too much for the older man. And even if there wasn't an invasion going on, Kirby would still try to keep April as far away from the Turtles, Donatello in particular if he learned he really did have feelings for April.

April also apparently never told Kirby she is being trained as a Kunoichi. She may have told her father that she was being trained by Splinter and Kirby could have assumed it was self-defense, not Ninjitsu. But I doubt he would take to kindly to learning she has been trained to be a ninja, which would give Kirby all the more reason to prevent April from seeing the Turtles again. I could even see him threatening to inform the authorities where they live if they came near his daughter again.

[victory_angel]

This is a bit of an essay I wrote on this topic. I used information discussed here and also came up with a head-cannon at to what could have happened.

Let’s start with what we know in the show about Kirby in particular. He is first introduced in the pilot episode “Rise of the Turtles” along with his daughter April as they are walking together. This is conveniently the same night the Turtles visit the surface for the first time. The two of them are suddenly confronted by a group of Kraang Norman-bots who are there to kidnap them. The Turtles see the abduction taking place and jump in to help. Unfortunately, the abductors getaway taking the father and daughter with them.

The Turtle’s learn where April and her father were taken and launch a plan to rescue them. They manage to save April, while the Kraang flies away with Kirby as their captive. After befriending the red-head and returning her safely back home, the Turtles vow to reunite her with her father once again.

The turtles attempt to rescue Kirby in ‘The Gauntlet’. However, during the firefight, as they escape a Kraang blaster lands near Dr. O’Neil. He immediately picks it up and tells the Turtles to protect his daughter and save the city before he allows himself to be taken back into the custody of the Kraang.

After this point, there is very little mention or thought about Kirby. In ‘TCRI’ It is revealed that he was actually a psychologist and wouldn’t know anything about how to help perfect the Mutagen. At that same moment Donatello -with the help of a Kraang data stick- reveals the Kraang actually weren’t after Kirby, they were after April.

Finally during “Operation: Break Out” Donatello deciphers a secret message from Kirby sent to April informing him about where the older man was located. The tech-savvy turtle then takes it upon himself to rescue Dr. O’Neil once and for all. This, however, was all a planned trap by the Kraang and the Shredder. A mind-control device was noticeably implanted into the back of Kirby’s neck which would force him to hand over April to the Shredder and by proxy the Kraang, thus drawing Splinter out of hiding. When the Turtles return to the lair to regroup after the appearance of the technodrome. Kirby attacks Michelangelo but is quickly overpowered by the other turtles. Donnie then points out and removes the mind control device from Kirby’s neck. Once he regains consciousness Kirby reveals to the Turtles their two greatest enemies have allied themselves and that April was in their clutches. He later is shown celebrating the victory against the Technodrome with the Turtles, April, and Splinter.

In the next season, Kirby appears to have developed PTSD due to everything he experienced from the Kraang. This makes him neurotically protective of April to the point where he doesn’t even let her visit the Turtles because he is so worried the Kraang would attempt to take his daughter away again. Between April and the Turtles, they are able to convince him that she would be safe in the lair. The Kraang communication orb that April found during “Operation: Break Out” activates revealing a shipment of Mutagen was being brought into the city. The Turtles and April go out to stop it, enlisting Kirby to assist by controlling a radar device. Events quickly go awry and all the mutagen canisters are scattered around the city. One of these canisters splashes all over Kirby when he shielding April. This ends up mutating him into a feral minded mutant bat.

After the Turtles get him captured and contained, Mikey reveals to a distressed April that they are actually responsible for Kirby’s mutation not the Kraang. This makes Kirby angry enough to break loose from his cage and fly off. April is also rather upset with the Turtles and tells them (Donnie in particular) that she never wanted to see them again.

Kirby is shown as a mutant in two episodes following this, though both are after April had forgiven the Turtles for her father's mutation. The first is in “Metalhead Rewired” when the Turtles see Kirby Bat trapped in a containment unit by the Kraang along with other mutants. When the mutants are escaping, Kirby is being incapacitated by a few Kraang droids. Leo and Donnie take out the Kraang attacking him before Donnie tells him to escape and find April. Kirby Bat isn’t seen again until “The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman” when Donnie has finally created Retromutagen and Kirby is restored to human.

He is shown briefly in “Wrath of Tiger Claw” when Donnie and Leo are looking for April so she wouldn’t be targeted by Karai or Tiger Claw. Kirby tells them she isn’t answering her phone and that she had said she was going to the movie theater with a couple of friends.

Kirby isn’t seen again until the season finale where he is stressing about the invasion. While the Turtles, April, and Kirby are escaping April’s apartment with a heavily wounded Leo, he offers them his old party wagon as a means of escape. Seconds afterward he is doused with perfected mutagen and mutated into a Kraang slave much to April’s distress.

In the third season, he is briefly mentioned in “Buried Secrets” when April mentions that her father wouldn’t really talk about what happened to her mother. And also by Mrs. O’Neil AKA “Mom-thing” when she asks where “Kirby” was.

He has a small appearance following his return to human at the end of “Battle for New York”. He and April also created a small soup kitchen for the people displaced by the Kraang Invasion in ‘Casey Jones vs. The Underworld’.

Next Kirby makes a small appearance in “Deadly Venom” when he looks suspiciously out the window as April and Casey return from the movies together. Then after April is bitten by Karai’s snakes, he brings her to the lair so Donatello and later Splinter could revive her. During the events, he is understandably distressed about Donatello’s inability to save his daughter. He also hostilely states that April is the only thing they should worry about after Leo receives a call from Karai tauntingly informing him that Raph, Mikey, and Casey would die if Donatello and himself didn’t come to their aid.

Following this episode, he is no longer a character within the series. There is only one shot of him freaking out during the Triceraton invasion when Captain Mozar announces that his fleet would destroy the Planet Earth. While his final appearance in the series is when he is shown as one of the mourners during Splinter’s funeral.

This concept came up a couple of years back during a talk on Facebook with a friend on the Technodrome Forum. While we were chatting Kirby O’Neil came up in our conversation and we both agreed that there were some things about Kirby that did feel sinister.

With numerous tv and film series, the writers have a tendency to bring up points and hints as hanging plot threads in their work. The plot threads add to the overall mystery of the story, but it also offers points that can be picked up later by another writer if desired. Unfortunately, not all these plot points are resolved and quite often are left forgotten. There is also tropes involving big reveals or event with certain characters. To accommodate or build-up to this event, writers would do one of two things.

1. Have the said character become less of a focal point in the storyline. Hints can be dropped here and there so the big reveal doesn’t completely come out of nowhere. Still, the lack of focus character gives the reveal or event some sense of surprise.

A good example of this would be Karai. We learn off and on that Splinter had a daughter who had supposedly died in the same event where Tang Shen had perished. When Karai was introduced she was only used in four episodes following her debut appearance in Episode 14 “New Girl in Town”. Following Episode 21 “Karai’s Vendetta” she completely disappears as a character. Even with such little introduced with the character, there were plenty of hints that got fans to speculate on Karai being Splinter’s lost daughter. It was only in the final episode of the first season that is actually revealed that Karai is, in fact, Hamato Miwa, and that the Shredder had abducted her and raised her as his own as an agent of his vengeance towards Hamato Yoshi

2. Have more focus on the character leading into a big payoff.

An example for this is also found in the 2012 series when April was entering the Dark April storyline. She receives a piece of the soul star in ‘Riddle of the Ancient Aeons’ as thanks for healing them of their corruption. At the end of the Episode, Donnie remarks that it feels anyone could become corrupt with the last shot of the episode being April focusing on the crystal. Following that there is no real focus on the crystal itself though there are some veiled hints that the crystal is starting to become corrupt. Such as that moment in the “Evil of Dregg” where the Fugitoid and April are carrying an injured Donatello back to the Ulixes. Mikey briefly appears to watch his departing companions as though sensing something that is making him feel somewhat uncomfortable but isn't certain as to what it is or how to approach it. Following the return to Earth, there are some moments that suggest that the crystal April had received is not the blessing that it was originally intended to be. She is also warned by both Mikey and Splinter that the crystal was negatively affecting her wellbeing on at least a couple occasions. Warnings April chooses to ignore because she thinks of the Aeon inside the crystal as a mentor who was there to help her channel and control her latent psychic powers and feels dependant on the power boost the crystal gives her. Also, the times where April is separated from the crystal she appears crazed and almost psychotic, all this eventually culminated in her mind being engulfed by the Aeon that exists within the crystal

[victory_angel]

When it comes to Kirby there was certainly groundwork laid for him to possibly be revealed as a traitor, or at the very least enter a more antagonistic role. I’m not saying he becomes evil like the Shredder. In actuality, he would have April’s best interests in mind because he is only wanting to protect her as any caring father would. However, he wouldn’t be taking April herself as an individual into account which would only end up causing her to resent him.

Some things that could trigger him or motivate him in an antagonistic role could be

Jealousy over how Splinter had become more of a father figure to April over the small number of years she had known him. When Kirby himself was April’s real father for the 16-19 years she had been alive.

Lapsing into a “None of this crazy stuff would have happened if we hadn’t met the Turtles” mentality.

Dr. O’Neil learning that Donnie does have romantic feelings for his daughter which would only escalate further if April returns them.

As I have stated before, this incarnation of the series does have moments that suggest Kirby may not actually be the man being presented to his friends and family.

First off, in season 1, everything from “Rise of the Turtles” to “TCRI” suggests that Kirby was the one being targeted. It was mentioned on a couple of occasions that scientists were being abducted by the Kraang to perfect the mutagen. Even the way he and April were attacked, it suggested they were specifically after Dr. O’Neil. The only reason April was being attacked as well was that she was there, and the Kraang could use her as a means to force Dr. O’Neil to submit to their demands.

When the abduction was taking place, he doesn’t put up much resistance against them either. Now granted Kirby isn’t really a fighter, but that still wouldn’t have stopped him from telling April to run for it. Yet, when the van pulled up he doesn’t appear to be surprised about what was happening. It looked as though he actually knew who their attackers were and seemed to expect them.

In TCRI, however, April points out that her father is a psychologist and wouldn’t be able to do what the Kraang wanted. This would be the first major red flag when it came to Kirby. If April had been the target the entire time, there would have been no reason for the Kraang keep Kirby. Even if they were just keeping him around as something to force April into obeisance. Once the Turtle’s rescued April in “Rise of the Turtles”, Kirby would have just been a moot point and eliminated. The only reason the Kraang would have kept Dr. O’Neil alive at all is if he was working for them somehow.

Just look at it this way, as a psychologist Kirby would not be able to do anything to perfect the mutagen. However, he would be able to monitor thought and behavior which would be important if the Kraang had planned April to be a living weapon from the start.

Second, we do see Kirby being a loving and protective father to April. He even willingly sacrifices himself so the Turtles could protect April from the Kraang forces, with the final words of “Protect my Daughter; save this city.” Yet at the beginning of the next season, Kirby is a shell of the man he once had been and his mindset only wants to know April is nowhere near the Kraang. This in itself is understandable since he is afraid for her safety. However, he also is well aware the Turtles Secret lair is a safe place and if he could trust April’s well being with anyone, it would be the Turtles and Splinter. The only plausible explanation for his neurotic protectiveness is that he is afraid of April being taken away from *him* in general.

For example in “Operation: Break Out”. When April is hugging her father at the end of the episode, we do see him look up with a rather cold and sinister expression. We as the audience know he has a mind-control device in the back of his neck since we do see it in a few shots. Plus there are some moments in that episode where there just appears to be something off about him.

However, the mind control device itself isn’t active in that moment since we don’t see it activate until “Showdown part 1” when he is spying on the Turtles during their meeting about the Kraang message regarding the arrival of the Technodrome.

So that makes a fan wonder what that evil expression was about. It is plausible that the Shredder convinces Kirby that if he assisted in capturing the Turtles and their Sensei he would stop the Kraang from trying to capture his daughter. Kirby agrees to it because the Turtles and their Teacher don’t mean anything to him, and he only wants to protect his daughter and do what he feels is right for her sake.

Another possible idea is that the Shredder convinces Kirby that the Turtles and their Sensei are actually putting April in danger. Since she is blindly convinced they are her friends, April won’t believe they are truly evil if she is told outright. To add proof to these claims the Shredder shows Kirby his scars and says he received them at the hands of their teacher, while the woman he loved was murdered leaving his own daughter motherless. He also might go so far as to point out how it had taken the Turtles months to even attempt at rescuing him. After everything, he experienced at the hands of the Kraang and numerous weeks where he and April were separated. Kirby would certainly be in a state where he would believe and agree to anything if it meant he could get April back.

So in that regard when he gets the Kraang mind-control device he is told it is a tracking device that would help lead the Foot to the Turtles Secret Lair. We do see Kirby gasp in horror when the device activates, so that could be the thing that made him realize that he was just being played.

Another thing of note is the fact that April is being trained as a Kunoichi. We never see Kirby during the ceremony where she is being inducted into the Hamato Clan as a fully trained Kunoichi. Also in ‘Mutation Situation’ April makes up a cover story for why she’s assisting the Turtles in their mission to stop the Mutagen shipment. This could be because her father was distressed by the mere mention of the Kraang. So saying the reason she needed his help was for a school project could have been intended to keep his mind at ease at least until the mission was over.

However, I get the feeling he was deliberately left out of the loop as far as April’s martial arts training.

As I suggested above, Kirby could have been convinced into believing the Turtles and their Sensei did not have April’s best interests at heart. If April had told her father that she was training her in Ninjutsu, Kirby could have taken that as proof that the Turtles and their Sensei were actively trying to hurt his daughter or involving her in situations where she could be hurt or killed. Even if April didn’t tell him that she was being trained as a kunoichi, Kirby still would have taken her active participation in missions as the Turtles deliberately putting her in danger despite their assurances of keeping her safe.

Another possibility is that April just says that Splinter was teaching her, and just didn’t go into details as to what she was actually being trained in. In that regard, Kirby could have just assumed she was being trained in self-defense or less combative forms of martial arts.

Then during the second invasion, Kirby spends much of the time stressing over about what is happening and at point breaks down and cries out “My poor, April.” Then when April says she is going to brave going outside to find Raph and Leo. Kirby responds by saying “You’re supposed to remain here with me, I’m scared.”

This seemed off to me as April already has two mutant turtles with her who would do everything within their power to keep her safe. Even if Donnie couldn't fight because of that Kraang Lazer graze on his arm, Mikey at the very least would have gone with her to make sure she wasn’t harmed by the Kraang. The very fact that Kirby tells April she’s supposed to stay with him because he’s scared really felt like he had an ulterior reason for keeping her within sight. Such as keeping her close as a possible bargaining chip in order to avoid losing his life or avoid being mutated.

Now in the episode “Kraang Conspiracy”, we receive some information that brings up a few questions into Kirby’s motives. During that episode, it’s revealed that the reason the Kraang wanted April is that her DNA is the key to perfecting the mutagen. At the end of the episode, Donnie analyzes some of April’s blood and notices that in addition to Human DNA she also had Kraang DNA.

The reason this is suspicious is that one of the requirements when attending things such as school or summer camp is that the participants must have a current medical record. There is no way a medical doctor would not have noticed the oddities in April’s bloodstream during medical check-ups and reported them as something to be concerned about.

However, as a psychologist part of Kirby’s study in that field would have involved at least some medical practice. Because of this he more than likely would have been able to falsify any medical records that April would need for school and other purposes. It is plausible that this was done in order to make sure the Kraang don’t find her, as I do recall it was briefly mentioned that April had to move around a lot. This is also something that begins to flesh out the plausibility of making Kirby a possible antagonist.

[victory_angel]

It’s revealed in the third season, that the Northampton Farmhouse in this incarnation is known as the O’Neil Farmhouse. However, this house is actually the property of April’s Mother’s family, which meant her mother's maiden name was O’Neil. This in itself doesn’t mean anything as O’Neil is a fairly common surname, so it’s possible that both Kirby and his wife could have possibly shared the same last name. It’s also just as plausible that Kirby took Mrs. O’Neil’s surname as his when they were trying to protect April since his true surname could have been easier to trace.

It’s also never actually confirmed that Kirby is actually married to Mrs. O’Neil, so it could have been just as likely that Kirby and Mrs. O'Neil were never married. They could have had a common-law relationship at best our or they just could have played the roles of parents to April, all the while the two of them would maintain a platonic bond.

During buried secrets, Mrs. O’Neil does explain that April’s great-grandfather unknowingly built a house over a crashed Kraang ship. When he came across the ship the Kraang respond by experimenting on him and all his bloodline because they discovered his family had the one DNA strand needed to perfect their mutagen. Further news of Mrs. O’Neil is never revealed beyond this. All we have is April suspecting that perhaps her mother really is gone, and Leo tells her not to give up hope.

My friend and I surmised that perhaps Kirby may have been originally working with the Kraang before April was born. The following is a plausible explanation as to what could have been put into Kirby’s character if he was to be revealed to be an antagonist. Bear in mind much of this is essentually fanfiction, but it is a plausible explanation as to some of April's backstory from the 2012 series.

What my friend and I speculated as a probability was Kirby was invited to work at TCRI as a psychologist and be involved in an experiment that was being performed. Kurtzman does reveal in “Kraang Conspiracy” that the Kraang experimented on Mrs. O’Neil before April was born. So this moment would be where Kirby meets, Mrs. O’Neil who is there as an experiment...or rather as a vessel for a test tube baby that Kraang were creating. When April was born, the Kraang would have wanted Kirby to monitor her physical and mental development as that would be key to their plans.

Kirby goes along with everything he’s told to do with little question as to what the Kraang are planning. He is just eager to prove himself in this experiment so he can advance his career. At some point, Mrs. O’Neil informs him that the Kraang intends to use April as a living weapon that would destroy the Earth. At first, Kirby doesn’t know how to believe her, even when Mrs. O’Neil explains that her family had the DNA strand the Kraang needed to perfect their mutagen and April was going to be the catalyst to unleash it. After some thought and explorations of his own, he begins to wonder why he was really studying this child for the Kraang and why she was created. One day he catches, Mrs. O’Neil trying to escape with April. She tells him she wouldn’t let the Kraang use an innocent child for their own ends. Knowing he was risking a lot Kirby helps them escape. He also forges a new identity for himself taking on the surname of O’Neil with the hope that it would be harder for them to be traced.

The two of them raise April as their child. When April begins school, Kirby falsifies her medical information so there isn’t anything the Kraang could trace to them. Unfortunately for April, she finds difficulty in making friends because her awakening sensitivity would cause people to become uncomfortable around her or see her as weird. These psychic episodes also force April and her parents to move frequently so the Kraang won’t discover where they are hiding. During summers, the three of them would stay at the O’Neil farmhouse since it was in the middle of nowhere and it was the one place April could have a relatively normal life.

While Kirby has been going along with protecting April and had developed paternal feelings for her. He hasn’t completely bought the story that she is meant to be a living weapon for the Kraang. So he still maintains correspondence with them about her development. Mrs. O’Neil eventually learns that Kirby and has been communicating with the Kraang about April and that leads into an argument between them. Kirby insists that he wants to protect April, but his job was to monitor her development. Mrs. O’Neil, on the other hand, loses all trust for Kirby and plans to leave with April as soon as she is asleep.

Unfortunately for Kirby, the Kraang had been tracing his correspondence so they could obtain the then six-year-old April for themselves. Realizing they have been discovered Kirby and Mrs. O’Neil carry April to Kirby’s van. In a desperate act to protect her daughter, Mrs. O’Neil sacrifices herself to the Kraang so Kirby and April could escape. She is subsequently interrogated and tortured over where Kirby has taken April, but she doesn’t offer any satisfactory answers. While her ultimate fate wasn’t revealed in the show, the showrunners did explain after the series finale that April’s mother was indeed killed when she was recaptured. So ultimately the Kraang kill Mrs. O’Neil after they create a clone of her that was programmed to capture April and bring her to the Kraang. However, this clone was too difficult to control so the Kraang put her in frozen stasis.

Meanwhile, In New York City, April wakes up and asks Kirby where her mother was. Dr. O’Neil just tells her that her mother could no longer be with them. In the city, Kirby is able to set up a home for them with some help from his sister. He makes a cover story that he secretly eloped with someone and his wife had passed away recently.

Ten years later Kirby and April are spending the evening together, as they are returning home a van pulls up and some Kraang Norman bots accost them.

The Turtles who are out experiencing the surface for the first time see the abduction taking place and interfere with it. Ultimately, they fail in preventing the capture of the father and daughter. The two of them are put in a Kraang detention center until they could be transferred to another location. The Turtles arrive to save them, in the end, Donnie succeeds in only rescuing April while the Kraang continues on with Kirby as their prisoner.

[IMJ]

Wow.
Super interesting thread about what is arguably the most watchable iteration of the Turtles. Nice work!

[victory_angel]

Kirby is interrogated by the Kraang for his failure to deliver April. He convinces them that the Turtles were an unexpected setback, but assures them that April will be delivered as promised. It’s here he learns the Kraang intends to detonate a mutagen bomb in the city. Not knowing how April will be affected by the mutagen due to her heritage, he records a message on his phone warning her to escape while she still could and has Pigeon Pete deliver it to her.

The turtles use that information to attempt to rescue Kirby, but during their escape, he picks up a blaster that fell near him and tells the turtles to “Protect his daughter and save the city.” The Turtles are reluctant about leaving him behind but accept they have no choice. Kirby is taken back into custody and interrogated for his actions. Dr. O’Neil informs the Kraang that the turtles are too close to April and wouldn’t surrender her so easily. They would need to have a way to separate her from the four of them. He also informs them they have things they still need to obtain such as the “Power Cell” before they can implement April into their plan. The Kraang do see the logic in Kirby’s words, but they are reluctant about trusting him as he has proven himself to be questionable.

The Kraang and Shredder conclude they have a shared goal in seeing the Turtle’s eliminated and agree to a partnership. The Kraang then informs the Shredder the Turtle’s have made attempts to rescue a prisoner named Kirby O’Neil the father of April O’Neil, and Donatello, in particular, seems to be the most determined in this goal. The Shredder demands to have an audience with Kirby to convince him to assist in capturing the Splinter and the Turtles.

Kirby goes along with the plan to capture the Turtles and their sensei. But when the mind control device installed in the back of his neck was activated that's when he realized that he had been tricked and that the Shredder is working with the Kraang.

Following this Kirby is uncharacteristically and neurotically protective of April to the point he refuses to even let her see the turtles. He knows the Kraang may have been defeated, but he knows they are still out there.

My friend from facebook suggested that he could have been protective of April because while he does love her as his daughter. He still wants to have her around as a bargaining chip as a means of self-preservation should the Kraang return. Having her become more independent or reliant on her companions...possibly even find love, that spells out that all control and influence he has over April is dwindling.

It’s also possible that much like Mrs. O’Neil in Buried Secrets, the Kirby O’Neil we see from Operation: Breakout and beyond is not the real Kirby but a clone or a construct of the Kraang.

There are loads of possibilities that could have been done since it’s clear there was more to Kirby O’ Neil than meets the eye. Sadly, this incarnation has come to an end without them being explored. Still, it is always fun to consider what could have happened any of this was the case.