April O'Neil's character design
 

Has it ever been explained anywhere what the artists were thinking when they came up with the design for the original April O'Neil?

I know it was the 80's, but the yellow jumpsuit still seems kind of strange. Were jumpsuits really that popular in the 80's? They just as easily could have designed an April that wore one of those tops that looked like football shoulder pads. Or had her with the sweater with one shoulder (maybe not when she was reporting, but in her casual scenes).

If I was on the TMNT creative team, and they said, "design a reporter character", I have to admit, I'd probably make her look like Lois Lane: blouse, skirt, high heels. Maybe since it was the 80's, they would be wacky colors, and her hair would be really big.

I'm not saying that April's character design was bad. Obviously it's memorable considering the cosplays you see at conventions. I just find it bizarre that out of all the possibilities and choices, that's what they ended up with.

I know she wore a jumpsuit in the Mirage comics, but that was one issue, and she was a lab assistant, not a reporter.

Her design was based entirely off of Mirage #2. Even her hairstyle is the same.

Obviously, the jumpsuit idea came from the second issue of the Mirage comics, but the yellow jumpsuit and white boots were probably a product of either Playmates or Fred Wolf Films input.

I'm really surprised nobody has drawn attention to the similarities between Old Toon April and Mel Bush from the 1986-1987 seasons of Doctor Who.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...shillpages.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...ielangford.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...NT/mel-012.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...NT/mel-011.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...NT/mel-002.jpg

I know David Wise has been a huge Doctor Who fan over the years, so it wouldn't surprise me if he somehow influenced the design process for the pilot episodes. I guess somebody could probably ask him on his Facebook page or something.

Like I said though, that's one issue. Once she's no longer a lab assistant, the jumpsuit makes less sense.

Wow, I don't know much about Doctor Who, so that took me by surprise. If I didn't know where those middle screen captures came from, I would think it was some live action Turtles thing.

Her yellow jumpsuit seemed to derive from the late '70s anime "Lupin the 3rd", based on the character Fujiko. I have no idea where the red hair for the OT came from, even though O'Neil is a Scottish/Irish surname where red hair is most common.
http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...earlyapril.png

I'm not a Dr. Who fan either (guess I'm not nerdy enough for British Sci-Fi comedy?), but I stumbled upon the character design while looking up info on the show out of curiosity a few months back. I figured some other TMNT fans might find it interesting, but I decided to keep it to myself.

Here's a clip from the episode where Mel first appeared, sporting her April O'Neil outfit.
Terror of the Vervoids:


I don't know if Wise ever watched any Lupin the 3rd back in the 70s, but considering the fact that he almost certainly watched Dr. Who during 1986-1987 and wrote the pilot episodes sometime in '87... the connection just seems to be too uncanny to be coincidental.

I just assumed they chose that outfit for April because it was easy to color and animate.

Would not surprise me.

Blouse Irma
 

I don't know what news reporters wear when not being on TV, but one thing that has made me wonder is Irma. Working as a secretary girl, wouldn't she usually be required by her employer to wear something better-looking than a sweater to work, something like a blouse and a skirt. Actually, Irma usually sits just where visitors open the front door, and it's her they usually talk to when they arrive and wonder where someone is, so that would make more sense.

I think 80's APril is probably the prettiest design out there.

The Doctor Who connection is an interesting one, especially considering the Utroms/Krang are very reminiscent of the aliens inside the Dalek armor.

Well, this question got to bugging me enough that I actually asked David Wise about it. It turns out (to my absolute shock) that OT April was indeed based off that Lupin III character pannoni suggested. Furthermore, Wise had never even seen the Dr. Who episode in question on account of his local PBS station not having broadcast those episodes yet! So the Mel Bush thing really was just an amazing coincidence!

Here's our exchange:

Thats pretty cool you received a response. Wherever it was created I always thought it was cool and gave April her own "color" identity like the turtles in the cartoon had.

Thank you for clearing that up, as that's been on my mind for a while. The Lupin design does make sense, per Season 1's anime influences. Still, that Mel Bush coincidence was very eerie.

Maybe we should do a thread about "things we should ask David Wise about the 87 series," since now we can. Hmm.

I'm no Lupin fan, but apparently that franchise has had a long run that is comparable to Scooby-Doo. I haven't found any clear screencaps on the net that show the character in a comparable outfit.

Any idea which incarnation of the character he might have gotten the yellow jumpsuit and mini-cam idea from?

While David Wise seems like he's one of the few creative minds who doesn't mind talking in detail about his work on the classic series, I wouldn't recommend we starting flooding his inbox(s) with oodles of TMNT questions. It just seems a little rude; hence, why I waited so long to actually contact him in the first place. So... I guess that just means use discretion.

My anime knowledge is primarily Pokemon,Digimon,and Dragonball. With that and the fact I am away from a computer the rest of the night so would someone post a picture of of this Lupin The Third design?Thanks and thanks Mr. Winters and one of my two favorite cartoon writers of all time.

[QUOTE=mikeandraph87;926194 With that and the fact I am away from a computer the rest of the night so would someone post a picture of of this Lupin The Third design?Thanks and thanks Mr. Winters and one of my two favorite cartoon writers of all time.[/QUOTE]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3tN491hHHk...s400/lupin.jpg

It's a tad surprising, as was Lupin popular back in 1987? Anime didn't make its true mainstream popularity in America until the mid 90's with the rise of Sailor Moon and DBZ. (And the same can be said for Who in the mid 2000's with the rise of BBC America.) Still, it's a nice tidbit to include it, and good for Wise to put it in.

Of course, your point to not flood his inbox with all these fan questions is well taken. I didn't imply that we should, but was thinking outloud with "if you could." Actually, in my top 5 questions for him, April's character design isn't one of them, but very good to know.

In his contributions with the 25th anniversary DVD documentary, he was rather open and affable. Nice to see that confirmed, as, frankly, he didn't have to answer you. Last I checked, wasn't he the head of a manga or anime company? Either way, he clearly has more important things to do with his time, so, again, discretion to be used at best or worst.

That's so cool of David Wise to answer this. Many thanks.

Thanks,Turtle Titan97. I could have looked it up but I have been away from a computer several hours and iPhones are much harder to navigate. :tgrin:

No problem dude. Glad I could help.:tcool:

I always figured her design was primarily based off her jumpsuit appearance in issue 2 of Mirage vol.1, but it's interesting to hear about another influence. Thanks for looking into this oldmanwinters!

oh my gosh, April O'Neil was modeled after Fujiko! That is something because whenever I draw April O'Neil's body I always use Fujiko as a body model.


http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs46/i/20...y_patou244.jpg

When I drew these drawings of April I used these shots of Fujiko to get the body figure and bust right:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-EBIHYkqOW...ine+Fujiko.jpg http://cs.dogpile.com/ClickHandler.a...1088E4EFE6BDDB

Interesting observations, Sage Ninja!

I'm surprised at how similar Fujiko's posture is to April's style guide model in that last picture you posted:

http://cs.dogpile.com/ClickHandler.a...1088E4EFE6BDDBhttp://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56...prilreport.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/JQ4c8Pel.jpg

during the April O'Neil remodel contest I was going to submit an updated April O'Neil with longer hair in the same style as Fujiko's from the Red Jacket series:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...earlyapril.png http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3tN491hHHk...s400/lupin.jpg

but it never came to fruitation because I couldn't get her to look right and after several attempts the contest was over and I shelved the idea. It's too bad, if I had only gotten it to look right in time I think it would have been good. The prototypes looked like they could have been awsomne I but I trouble with the body and getting the longer hair to look right and still look like April. I'm not as good as some other people on here who can make April's face look indentical to her character design in the show, and I'm anal over things like that. I prefere to draw characters so that they actually look like the characters, so that they can be more believable as an up graded version.

Contest over or not I am sure that we all would like to see it still to see what you had in mind. Some fan ideas are right up there with cannon material and designs.

Hey thanks so much! Maybe when my semester is over I'll take another crack at it. I think one of my problems is that I attempt things that maybe too comiplicated or out of my skill range before I'm ready and I get frustrated when I can't get it right. Back in the day before entering high School I used to to draw all the time and I was pretty decent at it, then I got busy and dropped it for a while and unfortunatley my skill suffered as well and I'm not as profient as I used to be.

A brand new Fujiko-centric Lupin show just started airing a few days ago, if this thread is making anyone interested in checking out Lupin that would be a decent place to start. Know that it has a lot of nudity in it's first episode, although it's overall pretty tasteful and logical to the theme and scene.

I'm not sure exactly which episode/movie they saw that had Fujiko wearing yellow with a camera, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is one. She doesn't tend to stick to any one outfit, disguises herself a lot, and there's over 40 years of material for that appearance to have occurred in. If I were to guess though, it's mostly likely an episode of the second TV series. If I happen upon the scene in question when I get around to watching more, I'll take some screenshots and post em in here.

are you sure it's a new series or is it just another annual Lupin the 3rd movie special?

It's a new show. There's already a second episode.

Any chance David Wise would share his pilot scripts with us? It would sure be fun to read how he describes the characters and their personalities.

Maybe he could sell his old script copies on ebay like Francis Moss is doing.

So does this mean we where wrong all these years on calling April a red head?

no she's a red head. Her hair was mostly depicted as being a softer, muted orange-red color. Only on certain ocassions did her hair look brown, or auburn. Besides I prefere her as red head any way. Makes her seem more interesting.

Amazing!!!! I didnt know it!!! Thanks a lot for sharing this info! :o :tgrin::tgrin::tgrin: :tgrin: :tcool:

why is April's head pointy here?

She's jersey shoring it with a hair bump.

Cabs are here!

that was a mistake on my part. However you'll notice if you look at the April O'Neil picture OMW posted her head is kind of pointy. I blame the 80's for that one.

The sweater part was probably ok (the receptionist I work with wears them, tho they are more flattering and professional-looking). It's the ugly skirt I never understood.

One other thing that bugged me about April's attire, why didn't she ever wear casual clothing? She was always in the yellow jumpsuit. In real life, she'd never wear that thing around all over, she'd look weird, like some construction worker or something. Only in one or two eps did I EVER see her wear casual clothes.

In general, jumpsuits weren't worn by reporters, even in the 80s I don't think. I agree with the other poster about how most reporters look more like Lois Lane with a button-up blouse, jacket and short skirt. Not to say I didn't like her yellow jumpsuit, but it was pretty "loud" and gawdy for a reporter's uniform.

Sorry to bump this old thread (there's not a rule against it here, is there? I know of a few forums where it is is why I ask), but after I found out about this in another thread, I went poking around, and I found this.

http://chocolatesyrupywaffles.com/wp...27-494x277.jpg

This is from that newer Lupin the 3rd show about Fujiko herself, but it kind of looks like a reference to that outfit as well doesn't it?

Found this one as well. She definitely looks April-ish here.

http://i.imgur.com/b9yDX.jpg

Nice finds, Gyt Kaliba! Those yellow shirts really are a blast-from-the-past.

I've not yet figured out what episodes Wise must have watched to inspire April O'Neil's original look, but the closet thing I can identify is a late scene from the fantastic (seriously, I'm not even a Lupin fan and I love it) Castle of Cagliostro movie.

Fujiko masquerades as a number of different professions in order to pull off a theft from the Castle, but near the end of the movie she pretends to be a reporter in a pink jumpsuit.
http://i.imgur.com/7XlGWsHl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gBlUhHXl.jpg

After she takes off her pink jumpsuit disguise, she runs around in camo-pattern jumpsuit with some knee-high boots:
http://i.imgur.com/ZBMGiIFl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RsH4Ymtl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zoobdcQl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eGgbvhwl.jpg

And... because I just happened to see this somewhere (can't remember the reference) and thought it might be more than just a coincidence:
http://i.imgur.com/8RP8JKel.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/drNkmg2l.jpg

I don't know much about the early broadcast history of Lupin III in America, but my guess would be that Wise wouldn't have had access to too many episodes. I don't even know that he saw Castle of Cagliostro before 1987. Maybe Fujiko wore a yellow jumpsuit in an early episode or maybe Wise just forgot the colors on the jumpsuit in Castle of Cagliostro?