April and her development

[Konchadunga]

Originally Posted by Bossa Nova

I completely agree that April's development in this series is totally lacking and that's a real shame. She's always been one of my favorite characters and now...bleh. She HAS been reduced to "Donnie's crush" (and likewise I often feel Don's own development has been stunted as well as he's been transformed into the "turtle with the awkward crush") and we never see her with anyone other than him or Splinter.

I'm also not a huge fan of the whole "April training to be a ninja" either, and that's never really sat right with me in any version of her. To me, April was always that "real" person, the one the viewer could identify with who is thrown into this crazy world of ninjas and has to take care of herself the best way she knows how. This absolutely does not mean she's weak and helpless (hell, even 1st film April had some guts trying to knock some Foot out with her bag instead of running and screaming before she was knocked out), simply that she really is an average girl and not someone who can pick up fighting skills just like that. IDW April handles the issue of her fighting pretty nicely since she essentially wanted to learn to protect herself as many young women in college do, but she hasn't jumped up to become some crazy fighter which is how it should be since learning the basics and actually becoming GOOD at them takes time and diligence. Still, Nickelodeon seems adamant about turning her into some hardcore ninja, so I'm not holding my breathe that she'll be portrayed as anything less fairly soon.

Just about the only deviation this show has done from the ideal route you cited is that fight with Karai. Though April won it mostly by accident of saying something that got to her, some would argue that isn't enough. Aside from that, though, April's action scenes have played on her normalcy next to much stronger foes. As I've said before, she's effectively a horror heroine because she has to run from things a lot, and viewers are scared.

As to development as a person; not a fighter? One theory I have is that technical limitations got in the way of this. If they wanted to show April doing things around her aunt's house, then they needed to model that environment. They could do it; sure, but it would take time from them doing other things, and be one environment to develop one character.

The other issue I see with writing April in any incarnation is that she, unlike the Turtles and Splinter, doesn't have a legacy that writes itself. People know who they are and what their personalities are, and it's easy to come up with fun scenes of them teaming up or bickering. All that is a given about April is that she's female and she's not a mutant. The easy choices from there are the weak damsel route, the incentive to train in martial arts route, or the run like shell from monsters route; aside from that, nothing's obvious.

Then again, though, people always used to complain about how boring Leonardo was, and then this show made him fun by making him a Trekky. I know that if they tried, they could come up with some embarrassing-yet-endearing quirk to give April, too.

[Bossa Nova]

konchadunga, sorry if I wasn't really clear. I would prefer if April didn't have her training with Master Splinter as a ninja at ALL. There are many ninjas and skilled fighters in this show (including an already skilled female ninja, Karai), and it just feels very very odd to me to include April in that group. In IDW I like how she is actually learning self defense moves with Casey, and in that case she wasn't seeking out to be a total badass (if I recall correctly, she didn't even know the turtles yet when she decided to do this?). In the beginning of the Nick series I liked how April was willing to go undercover and use her own creative skills to try to help out the turtles, that made her feel more "real" to me. No, she wasn't a fantastic fighter, but she still proved that she's got guts and creativity where it counts, that she wants to help and is proactive and intelligent. To me, that's what April is all about, not another ninja, and I do think that may be one route of the three you mentioned in which to explore her character?

But again, that's just my view on her and why I really think Nick is watering April down with this whole ninja/love interest angle they've painted her with. But then again, I never really thought Leo was boring before this series either, so maybe my perception is just all sorts of off

[Shark_Blade]

What I've seen is enough to make her likeable imo.

Not much air time? this is not her show. Either way, we've seen tonnes of development from her, particularly her ninja training and metalic fan usage.

[Gin Rummy]

I've enjoyed April a lot in this series so far. Witch is unusual, because in most turtle media I've tended not to care about her much.

Hopefully in season 2. She'll be able to walk on her own a bit more. I'd like to see her use her fans.

Also, I think Irma will provide April a bit more balance, so she doesn't always need to be hanging with the Turtles.

[Trivia]

I agree, April need to be fleshed out more as a character.
However, I don't really want this to focus too much on April either.

Originally Posted by Timmetry

I would love to see a scene where April is laying on the couch or something and reading a magazine in the background of the turtle lair. Something to show that she is there but not attached to the turtles. Much like they show Donnie or Mikey in the background while Leo and Raph are watching Space Heroes (I think Raph secretly likes the show).

Exactly. This is how they could have developed April without giving her too much own screentime. We're talking about mere seconds in the background.

[TigerClaw]

I bet April will be more fully developed by Season 2 after the Turtles rescue her father from the Krang. Though we don't know what his fate will be, Judging from the previews I saw about Season 2, with the mutagen falling all over the city, One might think he'll become a mutant at some point.

[drgon78]

We have at least two more seasons so I am sure she will get more character development.

[BubblyShell22]

I like April the way she is, and she's essentially a big part of the plot of the series with her dad missing. And since Karai tried to capture her, the Turtles are going to be more protective of her because of that. Sure, she could get fleshed out more, but I think that where she's at now is pretty good. Even her training is more realistic than I thought it would be as she's nowhere near as skilled as the Turtles yet.

[drgon78]

I don't expert her to kick butt and take names but I would like to see her outsmart and/or outmaneuver her attackers.

[Avatar Yuffie]

Yeah, you should probably get the comic in which April and Don went to that military junkyard.

Shame it's not in the tv show itself. It was really well done and gave April some good brownie points.

As much as I am disappointed the show didn't utilize April, Splinter and Shredder much because the Kraang and the mutagen overtook the arc of season 1, I get why they didn't get the screentime.

[Atren]

Originally Posted by zkarlette

I hope she develops a better personality but for some reason I don't really care for her to become a fighter.

Agreed and in fact one of biggest deterrents for me is her becoming fighter among other. Irony of that is Karai (who is fighter) is my favourite character probably on the show. I suppose difference is that Karai makes sense with her background while April feels like forced to me. Turtles can't have constant interaction with people that are not fighters?

That is further enhanced by her being THE key of alien invasion. I am rarely fond of such developments and this is no exception. It actually felt that exchange between her and Karai was exchange between people like me and creators. Tacking some flaws to her to make it less artificial so to speak.

[drgon78]

It isn't "forced" to teach someone how to defend themselves, it's common sense, a common sense that didn't exist in other incarnations.

[BabyTurtles]

Originally Posted by Avatar Yuffie

Yeah, you should probably get the comic in which April and Don went to that military junkyard.

Shame it's not in the tv show itself. It was really well done and gave April some good brownie points.

As much as I am disappointed the show didn't utilize April, Splinter and Shredder much because the Kraang and the mutagen overtook the arc of season 1, I get why they didn't get the screentime.

I saw some of it...quite frankly...I'm tired of all the Donnie and April team up.....
but maybe there's more to it :3 I only saw the preview...

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

I bet April will be more fully developed by Season 2 after the Turtles rescue her father from the Krang. Though we don't know what his fate will be, Judging from the previews I saw about Season 2, with the mutagen falling all over the city, One might think he'll become a mutant at some point.

Originally Posted by drgon78

We have at least two more seasons so I am sure she will get more character development.

Here's the thing, though: out of all the members of the cast, April's life has gone through arguably the most changes throughout this season. She's lost her father; discovered the existence of mutants and aliens and ninjas; has been made to uproot her entire life twice--first moving in with an aunt whom we still know nothing about and who could be either a Darius Dun or another Splinter, and later with the turtles--and discovered that she's at the center of an alien plot to terraform the Earth. In theory, it's all excellent dramatic fodder, and as much as you could get without actually being a main character, and an excellent catalyst for character development.

And yet, we haven't seen how she feels about any of it. In fact, the show appears to have gone out of her way not focus on that, keeping the revelations about her as last-minute cliffhangers, and then failing to actually follow through with them in the subsequent episodes.

I've complained before about how the first episode of the cartoon seemed skewed in its priorities, making her introduction not about her, but about how Don becomes smitten with her. I was disappointed then, and I'm actually kind of shocked now at how that became the norm. We don't get to see her feelings on the turtles' botched rescue of her father, we don't get to see her react on the revelation that she's the Kraang's true target, and we don't get to see her deal with her life being forced to change twice. It makes me want to ask the writers: what the heck are you waiting for?

I mean, the 4Kids cartoon forced its April to uproot her life as well. The difference is we got to see how she feels. After she lost her job at Stocktronics, we saw her decide to pick herself up and reopen her shop until she figured out what to do with her life. When circumstances forced the turtles to live with her--and then forced her to live with Casey and then the turtles--we were shown her ambivalence, conflicted feelings, tiredness, and occasionally, anger. When her shop was burned down by the Shredder, we saw her cry, because another piece of her life was destroyed. None of these things were major--just small scenes, spread out across the season--and yet they all helped make April into a character who felt as if she had an inner life and thoughts. The younger April doesn't have that, and it shows.

[kelligrafie]

The trouble is that the episodes we see of the cartoon are literally episodes of the characters' lives. We have no real idea of how much time is passing between each episode. I mean hints are dropped ("I've been training you for a few weeks April"), but even then we don't have Big Brother style surveillance of April and the turtles so there's lots of stuff we miss out on seeing.

So she could've been training for months but to us it would literally be a week later, suddenly she's level 2000 in ninjitsu.

Plus as well, maybe stuff's obvious to the writers and show creators about what's going on in the background that they don't point out stuff because they assume we already know.

I don't really care for the Donnie-April romance thing but as I can't see anything long-term coming out of it so I put up with it mostly. She isn't interested. In the Metalhead episode she seemed pretty fed up with his gushing.

The good thing about Irma and Casey being introduced is that hopefully we will get to see April interacting with humans (that aren't her dad). And also, seeing what her 'normal' life is like and therefore her none-turtle persona.

[Raphaeline]

I think it's normal for her to learn self-defense, but I don't want her to become a badass ninja like she was in the 2007 movie, that was ridiculous. She seemed almost as good as the turtles.

I hope she won't get too strong but will use more her own abilities to help her friends, like sneaking in buildings or find information by herself talking to people (because she's human and it's easier for her), etc...

I don't want her to turn into a "good side Karai"...

[Konchadunga]

Originally Posted by drgon78

It isn't "forced" to teach someone how to defend themselves, it's common sense, a common sense that didn't exist in other incarnations.

Yeah; take a look at what sort of world she lives in. I am all for April learning to fight, because it's a smack in the face to the ridiculous load of a character she was in the Fred Wolf show, but also, because it's about the only option she has. Some people might point out she wasn't a fighter in the Mirage series, either, but here is the big difference: She wasn't in the Mirage series much; nor was she always an annoying risk-taker at the points where she was in it.

If somebody is one of the main characters in this show, around the turtles and, by extension, at risk from enemies, they should learn to fight. Not all of them have to fight as well as the Turtles, but if they're at risk, and they have someone willing to teach them, then they'd be stupid not to learn. It's just like a Navy cook learning to fight; he won't be at the level of the Marines, since he's not supposed to storm the beaches with them, but he needs some abilities on the chance an enemy boarding party attacks the ship.

[BubblyShell22]

I really like how they're handling her ninjitsu training. Even in that fight with Karai, she didn't have the upper hand until the very end and only because she remembered what Splinter was saying to Mikey about finding a way to escape, and that helped her. But I don't think she'll become as good as the Turtles yet. It'll take time, and I'm glad the writers are giving her that time.

[drgon78]

At least she learns Splinters lessens quickly unlike her "brothers" as she called them in that episode with her and Karai.

I would have liked her to have met Leatherhead before he ended up in dimension X.

If I remember correctly April hasn't met Baxter or Shredder yet, correct?

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by drgon78

I don't expert her to kick butt and take names but I would like to see her outsmart and/or outmaneuver her attackers.

Didn't she already did that? With Karai. Not mere Foot Soldiers, but Shredder's daughter. The second highest in their clan.

That's a high note in my books.