What's your favorite version of April O'Neil?

[TheUltimateBum]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

The only time she was ever motherly was when they were sick in Making of Metalhead, and she was taking care of them VERY begrudgingly. Couldn’t wait to get back to work.

FW April was career-obsessed and generally pretty callous.

Yeah I know that yellow suit is “iconic” or whatever. But who the hell dresses like that? lol

Again, Red Sky. In the season ten three-parter, April actually takes good care of the Turtles when their energy is drained by Dregg, and she actually sticks out her
neck for them a lot (which I can't quite recall in the regular seasons, because even though they're enjoyable, a lot of episodes do tend to blend together, but in the Red Sky ones, she gathered evidence to release the Turtles from the Dark Water facility despite having her doubts earlier, she basically starts losing favor in Channel 6 due to protecting the Turtles and she's pretty much working in a new place in seasons nine and ten while researching stuff for the Turtles, so yeah, she was impulsive, but not callous in the Red Sky stuff).

And yeah, I know there are things that are iconic, but they're not always the best, and April's jumpsuit falls under that category.

[Snowglare]

'87 has the look, but Archie April is my favorite version of the character. She gets to grow out of her original role in a better way than 2012 April did. Ninja training, but no superpowers or weird backstory. I loved how that series took the boys' adventures on the road and brought April along in a believable way.

[Jephael]

I went with 2003 for this poll, though she's actually my second favorite. My main favorite iteration is the Archie comics adaptation of her, specifically when Splinter starts training her to be a ninja.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

This is a WILD take.

The only time she was ever motherly was when they were sick in Making of Metalhead, and she was taking care of them VERY begrudgingly. Couldn’t wait to get back to work.

FW April was career-obsessed and generally pretty callous.

Hold up now... the two episodes where she has to play "Auntie April" to de-aged Turtles. And she has to baby-sit Princess Tribble while at work in "Four Turtles and a Baby." Those should count too.

And if you wanna get a little weird, that brief moment when she babies (genuine compassion for his well-being) Vernon after fishing him out of the water in "Donatello's Degree" and he even suggests she give him "Mouth-to-Mouth" resuscitation.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Hold up now... the two episodes where she has to play "Auntie April" to de-aged Turtles. And she has to baby-sit Princess Tribble while at work in "Four Turtles and a Baby." Those should count too.

I don't remember her being particularly enthused in any of these instances. And we only have 5 examples out of 193 episodes so far lol

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

I don't remember her being particularly enthused in any of these instances. And we only have 5 examples out of 193 episodes so far lol

I agree her character wasn't written that way at all, but I think the "motherly" sense probably has a lot to do with the way Renae Jacobs played the part in particular moments.

[ticktack]

I'd lean more on 1987 April.
Adding her more into a story was a good touch. A career that would make her be included more into story and a mix to a main hero of an anime, so she could be as much important. Plus her existence was an "our-human-perspective" for us to ninja, mutant deal.
Would omit the damsel-in-distress trope and feminine fainting.
Could rework her and Irma, for a more female, feminist perspective and support and stuff. Make her more progressive and better.
__________________________
April from 2003 was a decent character, she trained in martial arts and was in an equal footings with intellectual erudites. She was fine and a female-forward, good, ambitious role model.
Back to April 1987, I like that she is an adult. Maybe for variety, you could add smb like her with a different name for other interpretation of tmnt. And from tmnt 2012 SEASON 1, April could have a hard, tough teenhood. Be a little gloomy, less talkative. More open to close ones. Not popular. Be eager to self-defence, martial arts. Maybe she was about like Harry Potter, where audience would go like "aww, so relatable, I stick to her or smth".
__________________________
To recent black Aprils of 2018 and 2024, they are also good, and I don't mind more experiments and representation on their part, in their versions, variations.

[ticktack]

I want to mention Kat Graham (Tmnt 2018 voice actress). A black actress. I have checked her bio. She looks mixed, and she also has a rich acting background.
Tmnt 2018 stepped in, and Kat Graham gave acting range for April 2018. She fixed, recovered and added dimension to what was in tmnt 2012 waste-mess (Where a generation of fans grew up thinking the dysfunctional relationships, those tmnt 2012 characters had, were normal and because "tey ar e teen", which wasn't).

We can mention that a character like April's role was upgraded in '87 by adding a career and some similarity to Fujiko that centered her story much more around her. Up until year 2012 some "tmnt" male stuff, who were raised on anime and horror porn fetish. And we immediately find out the glaring differences in different versions of Aprils. That they really can't handle female characters, and she wasn't really important anymore aside from lusting-crushing aspect in a terrible taste. It wasn't majorly about April, but how they handle women and form false opinions about them in their daily lives.

____________________________

I immediately wrote about 2 black Aprils at the same sentence before, because I support a new, black teen voice actress, Ayo Edebiri. Her character is cautious, analytical, informed and values narrative integrity.

[KROW]

'03 April for me; a decent and fairly well-rounded character.

[Barkworm]

Originally Posted by KROW

'03 April for me; a decent and fairly well-rounded character.

Despite the terrible voice acting?

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

Despite the terrible voice acting?

What? 4kids April had excellent voice acting.

[ToTheNines]

Voice acting is the weakest part of 4kids, aside from the couple of nonsense plot holes. All the voices are so forced and inorganic.

I never noticed this back in the day, but rewatching now it’s super obvious.

[TheUltimateBum]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Voice acting is the weakest part of 4kids, aside from the couple of nonsense plot holes. All the voices are so forced and inorganic.

I never noticed this back in the day, but rewatching now it’s super obvious.

Splinter was the worst one. It just sounds like a young guy forcing an old man's voice.

[ToTheNines]

Yeah, Darren Dunstan was like 30 when they recorded season 1 lol

[TheUltimateBum]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Yeah, Darren Dunstan was like 30 when they recorded season 1 lol

Yeah, it's just not good at all. Whenever I hear his take, it feels like he's trying to ape Peter Renaday, Kevin Clash and James Murray all in one, and completely fails at it. Hell, even Townsend Coleman in the one episode where he filled-in for Peter Renaday sounded better than this guy.

[Donnie]

“A Leg-O-Rama”

[Zog The Magnificent]

I definitely notice the forced nature of the voice acting, but I kind of got used to it not very long into the show, so it doesn't tend to bother me. For me, besides the last two seasons, the weakest part of the 2003 show is the overly expositional dialogue. The overarching writing is pretty good, but the moment to moment writing is not great in many areas, mostly due to the highly expositional nature of it.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Zog The Magnificent

I definitely notice the forced nature of the voice acting, but I kind of got used to it not very long into the show, so it doesn't tend to bother me. For me, besides the last two seasons, the weakest part of the 2003 show is the overly expositional dialogue. The overarching writing is pretty good, but the moment to moment writing is not great in many areas, mostly due to the highly expositional nature of it.

I totally agree. Although…as fun as all the interconnected plots and world-building could be, there’s too many plot holes and contrivances for me to call that aspect of the writing “good”. Even in the early seasons.