Why would a reporter wear a jumpsuit?

[Coola Yagami]

Eh, it's a cartoon thing. Might as well ask why Bart will always wear the same orange shirt and blue shorts. Even in the DC cartoons, the heroes were given default outfits that they would always [I]always[I] wear whenever they were in their civilian outfits. So giving April the yellow jumpsuit in episode 1 basically doomed her to wear that for most of the series.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

I remember him. Hush cured him then killed him. RIP Bat-Mechanic.

Aw, no, it wasn't this Mechanic, was it?
http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/The_Mechanic

[lonewarrior20]

you know it might simply be that it was her way of standing out among the other reporters. that and it was the 80's. also please no one take offense to this but it also really showed off her cleavage.

[Leo656]

Hah, I'mma pour out a 40 for my dawg Harold. I remember that dude.

That was the only part of "Hush" I kinda didn't like.

[Wolfie65]

The original comic book April - Dexter Stockboy's assistant - wears a jumpsuit, which was en vogue in the late 70's/80's. It's the New York (cold weather) version of the spandex shorts & sports bra of Jane Fonda's Venice Beach.
To get the best of all worlds, it would have to be a hot summer in NYC, and Megan O'Neil breaks out her California beachwear !!!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Eh, it's a cartoon thing. Might as well ask why Bart will always wear the same orange shirt and blue shorts. Even in the DC cartoons, the heroes were given default outfits that they would always [I]always[I] wear whenever they were in their civilian outfits. So giving April the yellow jumpsuit in episode 1 basically doomed her to wear that for most of the series.

Just look at Irma, she wears the same clothes all the time too (except when something else's required).

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Leo656

That was the only part of "Hush" I kinda didn't like.

Oh, so this is the guy:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Harold_Alln...870.1410587735

Hate that I hadn't heard of him before. How long had he been a recurring character in the comics before they killed him off?

[Leo656]

It says right there Harold was introduced in 1989.

I remember him being kind of in and out, though. He wasn't in all the books and some writers didn't use him. He had kind of disappeared from the books with no explanation for a few years before they brought him back in "Hush", as I recall.

I didn't really buy the heel turn right before he died. The explanation felt weak. But yeah, he was basically created because someone figured out that Alfred probably wasn't THAT good a mechanic/technician to work on ALL of Batman's vehicles, and that even if he and Bruce both did it there'd still only be 24 hours in a day, and with all the sh*t there is to do in the Batcave, that's ALL they'd ever do.

So they created a hunchback mute who had no reason to ever leave the Batcave for any reason, to just live down there and be Bruce's full-time mechanic and such. Like, "What? It's not 'slavery', the guy has no place else to go! He just lives here for free and gets three square meals and plenty of exercise, in exchange for doing various chores and jobs and, you know what, Alfred, I'm gonna shut right the f*ck up because this all sounded a lot better in my head."

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Leo656

It says right there Harold was introduced in 1989.

I remember him being kind of in and out, though. He wasn't in all the books and some writers didn't use him. He had kind of disappeared from the books with no explanation for a few years before they brought him back in "Hush", as I recall.

I didn't really buy the heel turn right before he died. The explanation felt weak. But yeah, he was basically created because someone figured out that Alfred probably wasn't THAT good a mechanic/technician to work on ALL of Batman's vehicles, and that even if he and Bruce both did it there'd still only be 24 hours in a day, and with all the sh*t there is to do in the Batcave, that's ALL they'd ever do.

So they created a hunchback mute who had no reason to ever leave the Batcave for any reason, to just live down there and be Bruce's full-time mechanic and such. Like, "What? It's not 'slavery', the guy has no place else to go! He just lives here for free and gets three square meals and plenty of exercise, in exchange for doing various chores and jobs and, you know what, Alfred, I'm gonna shut right the f*ck up because this all sounded a lot better in my head."

Interesting! So the HUSH storyline pretty much reintroduced him just to murder him. Ah, comics...

Was Harold present at all during the Knightfall and Knightsend sagas?

[Leo656]

Yeah, but as Jean-Paul took over, Harold, like Robin and Alfred, kind of abandoned "Team Batman". One of the characters during (I wanna say) "KnightQuest" had a throwaway line where they mentioned Harold hadn't been around for a long time since Jean-Paul took over. I'm not sure if they ever used Harold again until "Hush", actually, because I had to drop the books for a few years.

And yeah, they brought him back to kill him off, I guess just to show that Hush could get to *anyone* close to Bruce. But it didn't really ring true, in my opinion. "Here's a character from 8 years ago most of you may not remember. Here's an explanation of why they've betrayed Batman. Here's him getting shot." Wow, what a punch in the gut.

Good story but that part, in particular, just felt like they were trying too hard.

[IndigoErth]

Why would a reporter wear a jumpsuit?

The American TLC channel's makeover reality show "What Not to Wear" would not start until 2003. The same year the second TMNT series began and she gave up the jumpsuit. Coincidence, April?

April just did not have good taste or time for that.

[Shark_Blade]

Because it's sexy.

[Groovy]

Originally Posted by neatoman

... What power does a writer have over the animation models? I remember some other interview where he claims the Technodrome and Krang's body looks nothing like he imagined they would. And even if if did have that power, it contradicts the fact that April's design in issue 2 (released long before the cartoon was put into production) is very similar to the cartoon design.

There are a lot of holes in David Wise's claims, so don't trust what he says without digging a little deeper first. It's more likely one of the animators watched Lupin III and redesigned April as a nod when they noticed the similarity between April and Fujiko, rather than David Wise just coming up with it on his own.

I never made that connection, pretty cool. Two of my fav characters.

We here in my town call it a "banana raincoat", at least in the original live action flick it looks more like a raincoat ha. Granted it is a jumpsuit in the cartoon. It's excellent that's for sure.

[Shark_Blade]

You can read all about it in TMNT Visual History book. April got her outfit inspired from other jap show like Lupin.

[oldmanwinters]

In the context of the show, the jumpsuit often came in handy for April's profession since he could store notepads, cameras, or tape recorders in many pockets. I think she had her purse hanging off the back of her belt in most episodes.

[turtle1237]

I like the look for well, reasons I wont say .


Cartoons just don't change there clothes. I watch say Inspector Gadget, and if they were real, they may smell since Penny wears her strip shirt and brown patch jeans, and Inspector Gadget wears his trench coat outfit all day. They never change clothes.

I loved the change up in The Legend of Prince Valiant, They always change clothes, Valiant was never wearing just his blue tunic, sometimes it was yellow or brown, King Arthur even wore his chess set outfit from time to time, I admired that show because they at least wore other outfits.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by turtle1237

I like the look for well, reasons I wont say .


Cartoons just don't change there clothes. I watch say Inspector Gadget, and if they were real, they may smell since Penny wears her strip shirt and brown patch jeans, and Inspector Gadget wears his trench coat outfit all day. They never change clothes.

I loved the change up in The Legend of Prince Valiant, They always change clothes, Valiant was never wearing just his blue tunic, sometimes it was yellow or brown, King Arthur even wore his chess set outfit from time to time, I admired that show because they at least wore other outfits.

Ironically enough, April in the 4Kids toon had a variety of casual and occasional outfits during the show's run. I'm guessing she had the greatest number of model sheet variations of any character on the show.

[Shark_Blade]

Yeah I especially love her easter egg OT April jumpsuit outfit.



The turtles are so short and small, it's like they're her little children...

Casey’s holding hands with Raph though…

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Shark_Blade

Casey’s holding hands with Raph though…

Holy cow, I never noticed that!

Ugh, more fodder for the fan "shippers"..

[snake]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah, but as Jean-Paul took over, Harold, like Robin and Alfred, kind of abandoned "Team Batman". One of the characters during (I wanna say) "KnightQuest" had a throwaway line where they mentioned Harold hadn't been around for a long time since Jean-Paul took over. I'm not sure if they ever used Harold again until "Hush", actually, because I had to drop the books for a few years.

And yeah, they brought him back to kill him off, I guess just to show that Hush could get to *anyone* close to Bruce. But it didn't really ring true, in my opinion. "Here's a character from 8 years ago most of you may not remember. Here's an explanation of why they've betrayed Batman. Here's him getting shot." Wow, what a punch in the gut.

Good story but that part, in particular, just felt like they were trying too hard.

Harold was mentioned in Knightfall, I think when Jean and Alfred are nursing Bruce back to health.