Black April

[Commenter 42]

Ginger is the N word for People with Orange hair.

I read it on the internet once.

[ToTheNines]

Shame on a Ginga.

[Commenter 42]

Fire crotch.

[CyberCubed]

We already have two major black characters in the TMNT universe: Baxter Stockman and Bebop.

We have many Asians in the TMNT universe, Shredder, Karai, half the Foot Clan, etc. For hispanics we have some Purple Dragon members, Angel, etc.

Casey and April being white is fine. If you want other races you have other characters.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

We already have two major black characters in the TMNT universe: Baxter Stockman and Bebop.

We have many Asians in the TMNT universe, Shredder, Karai, half the Foot Clan, etc. For hispanics we have some Purple Dragon members, Angel, etc.

Casey and April being white is fine. If you want other races you have other characters.

CC saying something 100% logic for a change.

[plastroncafe]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

We already have two major black characters in the TMNT universe: Baxter Stockman and Bebop.

We have many Asians in the TMNT universe, Shredder, Karai, half the Foot Clan, etc. For hispanics we have some Purple Dragon members, Angel, etc.

Casey and April being white is fine. If you want other races you have other characters.

And just like in real life most of them are badguys.
That is the message you're trying to get across, right?

Here's what I don't get, people fall all over themselves to talk about how they have no problem what so ever identifying with a character that is a different ethnicity that they are, right up to the point where someone makes a suggestion of changing a character's ethnicity...and then they freak out.

There's nothing in April's backstory that says she has to be white.
Nothing.

You could easily shift her ethnicity and not dramatically change her story in the slightest.
So...what's the harm in people doing that?

[CyberCubed]

The thing is most of the TMNT characters are mutant animals or aliens. Many of the humans are side characters as it is. Turtles has more mutants/aliens than humans in most incarnations, and whatever human characters there are tend to be villains because well...the TMNT need someone to fight.

You're talking about a franchise where most of the cast are talking animals or aliens. Of course what few humans there are represent decent diversity.

[plastroncafe]

We don't agree on the meaning of the phrase "decent diversity."
We probably never will.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

And just like in real life most of them are badguys.
That is the message you're trying to get across, right?

Here's what I don't get, people fall all over themselves to talk about how they have no problem what so ever identifying with a character that is a different ethnicity that they are, right up to the point where someone makes a suggestion of changing a character's ethnicity...and then they freak out.

There's nothing in April's backstory that says she has to be white.
Nothing.

You could easily shift her ethnicity and not dramatically change her story in the slightest.
So...what's the harm in people doing that?

Yeah, when I was a kid I thought all black people were bad because Bebop was a bad guy in the Fred Wolf series. Also thought Japanese people were bad because the main villain of the show, Shredder, was a Japanese man. I know kids can be gullible and dumb, but they're not that dumb.

It's stupid to change an established character's race. I was livid when they tried to make Shredder white in the Bay films, per example.

If you want more black, asian, purple, wtv. characters in TMNT then let the creators make original characters instead of racially washing already existing ones. That just comes across as trying too hard to be PC.

And how would April being black instead of white make her character better? The whole "because diversity" thing is a BS argument, so don't give me that.

It's funny how people who bitch the most about this sort of thing are the ones that actually obsess about race the most.

[plastroncafe]

How would such a change make her worse?
It wouldn't.

[Commenter 42]

April's white. Laird was pretty adamant about it. He specified Irish.

There used to be a time when being Irish had it's own set of problems and stereotypes.

But if you want diversity, she's the ONLY Ginger, so, leave it ****ing be.

Unless you have something against Orange folks.

[plastroncafe]

Funny, most of this board doesn't see her as a redhead.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Funny, most of this board doesn't see her as a redhead.

Most of me doesn't care.

[plastroncafe]

That's pretty much how I feel about Laird's opinion on the matter. He lost his authority on the property when he cashed in.

[Coola Yagami]

Might as well turn Bebop white. Nowhere in his history does it say he has to be black. Rocksteady is white and is as much of a thug as he is, so they both could have been white for the few seconds before they mutated into the animals we mostly care about and it wouldn't have made a difference.

I hate racial changing, wether it's whitewashing or the reverse. Just make more character of different race, like when they created Angel. The IDW version of her is pretty bad ass and she isn't some pre-existing character that was suddenly changed Latina. She was an all new character.

[Utrommaniac]

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

April's white. Laird was pretty adamant about it. He specified Irish.

There used to be a time when being Irish had it's own set of problems and stereotypes.

But if you want diversity, she's the ONLY Ginger, so, leave it ****ing be.

Unless you have something against Orange folks.

YES. And anti-Irish sentiments still exist in small corners of the world. Mostly in Europe. There's a lot of patches of Europe that have white people scrutinized by other white people (the Romani being a well-known example-or are technically white, just on the tan side). This is why Annie had curly red hair and freckles in the original movie. Because when it was first made, in 1982, red haired and freckled children were "undesirable" in the world of adopting children. Since this no longer exists (sort of), it made sense to transfer that to a black girl in the remake.
It would make sense for Laird to want April to be Irish because in his schooldays, Irish people would have been on the same level as black people in terms of prejudice. Or at least at the end of that period in the US.

I find it amazing how few white people there are in TMNT. April and Casey are the only two in the "major character" category. Maybe Rocksteady counts too. But other than that? Japanese or mutants that were originally animals. Granted, FW also had Vernon and Bern, and maybe Irma (though she could also be ethnically Jewish considering her last name).

[Commenter 42]

Naw, y'all can't have Bebop. Nope. He's ours.
Baxter too.

Speaking of, if you a'int seen The people vs O.J. Simpson
check it out, and tell me Courtney B. Vance wouldn't have made a damn fine Mirage Baxter.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Might as well turn Bebop white. Nowhere in his history does it say he has to be black. Rocksteady is white and is as much of a thug as he is, so they both could have been white for the few seconds before they mutated into the animals we mostly care about and it wouldn't have made a difference.r.

No, Bebop HAS to be black. If he's white that ruins everything.

Bebop has been black in every incarnation:

- Original cartoon
- Archie comics
- Nick cartoon
- IDW comics
- Platinum Dunes movies

That's 5 versions of human Bebop we've seen and he's the same black guy with a purple mohawk in shades in all of them. Bebop being black is iconic.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

YES. And anti-Irish sentiments still exist in small corners of the world. Mostly in Europe. There's a lot of patches of Europe that have white people scrutinized by other white people (the Romani being a well-known example-or are technically white, just on the tan side). This is why Annie had curly red hair and freckles in the original movie. Because when it was first made, in 1982, red haired and freckled children were "undesirable" in the world of adopting children. Since this no longer exists (sort of), it made sense to transfer that to a black girl in the remake.
It would make sense for Laird to want April to be Irish because in his schooldays, Irish people would have been on the same level as black people in terms of prejudice. Or at least at the end of that period in the US.

I find it amazing how few white people there are in TMNT. April and Casey are the only two in the "major character" category. Maybe Rocksteady counts too. But other than that? Japanese or mutants that were originally animals. Granted, FW also had Vernon and Bern, and maybe Irma (though she could also be ethnically Jewish considering her last name).

Yeah, I've said before, There was a kid at our school, used to get beat hard just for the orange hair. Didn't help that he was kinda fuggly, but it happened a helluva lot.

At least we had crew. Little man had nobody.

[plastroncafe]

Annie was based on a comic strip character from the 1930s