The Many Faces of April O'Neil

Well, I didn't put all of them, just the most memorable.  April and the Turtles have been re-interpreted so many times in the past 30 years.  I noticed a common theme with her, though.  Most often she was portrayed as a redhead with yellow somewhere in her clothes (could you think of a worse color for redheads to wear?) 

This is from left to right.

April 1: How she [sort of] looked in the comics & the late 80s/early 90s cartoons.  I don't know how anyone could take a tv reporter seriously in a yellow jumpsuit.  It's sooo ugly and not figure-flattering at all.  And no, I don't believe it was an accident they drew her with a low neckline and size D-cups.

April 2: This was how she looked in the early 90s movies.  I just put in the April from the very first movie.  For some reason, they kept casting girls with light brown hair, rather than giving her red hair .  Not sure why they did that, though her clothing style was more realistic.  She actually looked like a tv news reporter (at least for 1990).  In fact, she only wore a yellow raincoat like, once in the whole first movie.  I didn't bother making the Aprils from the 2nd or 3rd movie because in Secret of the Ooze, she looked a lot like the April from the first movie; and in TMNT III, she had this awful short hairdo and spent most of the movie running around in samurai robes in ancient Japan (long story, you can read about it on IMDB).

April 3: I didn't really watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons in the late 90s or early 2000s, though I did find what April looked like in those.  In fact, it was probably the first time I'd seen her cartoon self not wearing yellow (yay! ).  I think the people who drew X-Men: Evolution did work on this particular series, because April in it looks similar to Jean Grey from that cartoon. 

April 4: Now this April O'Neil was really kick-ass .  This was how she was in the 2007 TMNT.  Rather than a tv news reporter, she was an archeologist instead, as well as having been trained in Japan on how to fight.  She looked so odd in this cartoon that it took me a few minutes to realize who she was when she first came on the screen.  While they kept up the tradition of having her wear yellow at least once in the movie, most of the time she was not in yellow. 
The animation for this movie was very beautifully done for a CGI cartoon.  What was funny was, when my brother and I went to see it, I looked around the theater and did not see one kid in the audience .  All the people watching were in my brother's and my age range! 

April 5: This is the most recent incarnation of April O'Neil, played by Megan Fox in the 2014 movie.  I think she did an okay job as April, though I'm afraid she mostly there as eye-candy for any boys or men watching.  I think they were trying to keep April's wardrobe realistic and up-to-date like in the early 90s movies, and even kept up tradition of something yellow for her to wear.  At least here, she was an action girl with jeans and boots to run around in, rather than skirts and heels.
Problem was, the movie wasn't that great, and it should have been .  I mean, they had all these awesome special-effects and 30 years worth of a fun kiddie franchise to work with, and they blew it!  Oh well. 

I made this collage using the X-Girl game on Doll Divine www.dolldivine.com/x-girl.php It is an awesome game and lots of fun to work with.