April Could've Been Black
 

From Ciro's Instagram:

"my earliest #nicktmnt animation development notebook when April was still a black girl and Mikey's cat was named Fellini. Sept2009! I'll share more pages from this book eventually. I would love to draw a one shot comic story someday with all my pure unused TMNT ideas"

https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram...63892185_n.jpg

They have later designs of it too. In the step before the final design, she was straight-up blonde.

"Family = All doin' sh*t" :lol:

Ciro should have used that idea. It would have been a groundbreaking step in kid's animation. ( There are very few cartoons that have main characters who happen to be black women/girls.) In addition, it would have added to the show's diversity.

Shame it was never used.

Black April has a 'fro and the big round earings. Talk about stereotypes.

Why would the cat be named Pellini and not Klunk?

April is longitude and latitude, but not the circumference.
April is the elastic that holds up our socks.
April is both 12 and 8 slices of a large pizza.

Oh god, that was so obscure I could have missed the reference XD .

Thank you, ;)

Looks like Misty Knight.

I'd love to read a Ciro original comic using the early ideas.

Could also make Shaq the father

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6ynPgHHI7oo/hqdefault.jpg

Wouldn't Kirby's lines come across as really weird if they were delivered in Shaq's monotone voice?

Shaq's a brilliant actor; he can just about pronounce all the letters in the alphabet, and he seems to knows what year it is every three out of the four times you ask.

He's perfect.

I can't wait for more of these notes, not just because I'm interested in a version of April that's more than just a plot device, but also because they hint at a Mike that isn't mentally 5.

Neat. I still like what we got.

I don't think making her black would have changed her from being a plot device. She still woulda been a half Kraang with telekinesis and ninja skills that just so happens to be the key ingredient in the kraangs whole plan. And don and Casey would still be fighting over her.

Yeah, black April wouldn't be that much different than Nick's April now, other than her father also being black.

Her dialogue would probably be slightly different like saying, "I'm hollering that the Foot bots are coming this way" and after winning fights she'd say, "You ain't got no thang!" and she'd probably call Casey, "Dawg" instead of friend.

Hey, if they have Nick's Bebop saying stuff like, "Son, homie, yo, etc" I would expect the same here. Fred Wolf Bebop never said that stuff.

You're an idiot.

Have you listened to Nick Bebop's dialogue? He's constantly saying things like, "Oh snap" "Homie," "Son" etc.

I just watched one of his episodes the other day and he says all of this in the ep.

Oh sure, because all black people talk exactly like Nick Bebop, right? :roll:

Again, you're an idiot.

Well if Black Nerd and black twitter are anything to go by

My point was why would Ciro have him talk that way in the first place? Fred Wolf Bebop never spoke like that. Ciro made Bebop and Rocksteady into stereotypes, with Bebop being black and Rocksteady being the commie Russian.

Same reason Rocksteady says, "Da!" and "Its good, yes?" and other typical Russian language stereotypes.

So if April was black I'd expect something similar.

Last I checked, Xever was black, and he didn't talk like that at all. So what's your point?

You're just making up excuses just because you don't want a black April.

Xever is Brazilian and he's used slang, yes.

What slang did he use?

You bring up the fro as being a stereotype in several comments, the fact is, the fro is often the natural state of many black women's hair, it's not a stereotype, it's a common occurrence when many black women choose to go natural. Weave, sew ins, or perm would fall more under a stereotype. Natural hair, however is not as common.

Round or hoop earrings are still common types of jewelry, worn by all races not just black women.

Also, you said in another discussion that people weren't ready or wouldn't be accepting of a black April, when I think it's you personally who is not accepting to the idea. Frankly I've been a proponent of the idea for years and think it would have no real bearing on the character as a who,e, since their is no one defined April, you're not doing any previous character version a disservice.

I like to think that this show has gone the way it has due to network interference, and that if given total creative control, Ciro would have done better by April.

Of course, having talked to the man and heard his opinions regarding character design and development, you're probably 100& correct, but....let a lady dream.

Having a black April would've been a pointless change that would only make her less physically recognizable as April, I'm glad this change didn't happen.

Mikey speaks more black than Nick Bebop.... just sayin'.

As for Bebop and Rocksteady, they are completely different characters from any other version. They're no longer street punks. One's a Micheal Jackson dancin' master thief and the other is a weapon collecting Russian criminal.

Highly agree. Besides April in the Mirage comics looks like she could be any number of nationalities aside from caucasian.

http://media.tumblr.com/ac9ad3945c63...Pxf1qmks9t.jpg

Just depends on the writing and acting/voice-acting. Other than that, it wouldn't matter to me whether April was black or not.

Hell...if they did a TMNT movie in the 80s, I would have been fine to have Whoopi Goldberg ala Jumpin' Jack Flash as April.

I could picture this scene as if it April talking to the Chief (ala Chief Sterns) after being attacked (perhaps by the Foot).

Making April Black means she's often in trouble/needs saving/trying to solve a problem.

These are all things that scream white. I've never met a real sista that needs "help", or tells you she in trouble, and 9 times outta ten she's solved any mystery long before anybody else.

April has white people problems.

If anything people would accuse the show of being racist if a black April was constantly the damsel in distress and getting beaten up by Karai an Asian woman like in that Season 1 episode.

Karai's not white though, so who cares if a trained ninja whupped a whitebelt's ass?

You think an Asian girl beating up a black girl is any better? That's just asking for controversy especially in a kids show.

So if a highly trained ninja beats up a character who's black, its considered controversial.

But if said character is white instead, then no one is gonna bat an eye??? Are you really that dense to believe in that statement? :roll:

I don't think that, but if you've seen the outcry from people on various sites like tumblr, twitter, etc...you'll notice it. People are very sensitive as to how race is portrayed especially in animation for kids. There's always outcry from people on the internet over stuff like this that happens even in Disney animated films and so forth.

People don't have to go off-site to find these sorts of arguments, not when you're making them right here.

Insert clapping hands emoji.

Sorry, nope, nope. That's just digging way too deep for excuses man. If wriiten right and casted right then it could work. And it isn't even a matter of 'who's ready, who's not'. April was African American in the comics and there's thousands of African American kids (and adults) who I am sure would be thrilled about it- as well as other tmnt fans. If they can go and make April part Kraang and make Hun Asain, then they can make April black. Just sayin'.

Cubed whining about things not supposed to change again? What else is new?

As for April being black, I think it's a good idea to expand beyond the norm. Personally, I feel it just comes down to how the character looks and if it fits that particular incarnation, not forced for the heck of it. Based on Ciro's drawing though, looks like it would have been a nice addition; maybe someone can attempt it down the line or the show does an alternate reality with it.