CLASSIFICATION: KITBASH
BASE FIGURE: APRIL O'NEIL
MATERIALS USED: SCULPEY MODELING COMPOUND, ACRYLIC PAINTS
FIRST APPEARANCE: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #2 (MIRAGE COMICS)

"Oh, come now, April...why would the mousers dig holes in bank vaults?  You helped program them, remember?"

Preamble:  Most Ninja Turtles fans know that April O'Neil, as originally conceived for the comic book, was quite different from the character she ended up becoming in the cartoon show.  Instead of being a news reporter, as per the cartoon show and live action theatrical films, April was originally Baxter Stockman's lab assistant, helping him create the rat-hunting Mouser robots, which Baxter planned to use to rob banks and commit other crimes.  After April refused to go along with his plans, she was targeted by the Mousers herself, later to be rescued by the Turtles, who helped her shut down Baxter's operation.  (The new er TMNT cartoon show  by 4Kids! Entertainment adheres pretty closely to April's comic book origins, too.)

The first action figure version of April O'Neil I ever owned was that horrible repainted version with the fluorescent orange boots.  I got into collecting TMNT about a year too late, so I was never able to find the original version of the figure at retail.  I did come across the original sculpt some years later in a second-hand toy shop, but she was very loose and the paint was coming off her outfit.  Well, years later, the miracle of eBay afforded me the opportunity to replace the toy with one still in the package, so after a while I started thinking about possible kitbashing ideas for the old one.  I finally decided it would be fun to create a Mirage Comics version of April, since there are almost no figures in existence based in that universe.

Construction:  Like so many of my projects, this started out as a simple repaints that somehow turned into a full-fledged kitbash.  The jumpsuit the April toy is wearing is quite similar to the one she's got in the comics, so at first I was content to just paint the outfit blue and be done with it.  Being the stickler for details that I am, though, I couldn't help but make some slight changes to the sculpt, getting rid of the breast pockets as well as the ones on the sleeves and pant legs, and changing her boots into those little slip-on shoes she's got in the comic.  I also cut off her sleeve cuffs and reattached them lower on her arms to create long sleeves.  Other than cutting away a little at her collar to create more definition to the sculpt, that was pretty much all she needed.  Right?

Hmm, not quite.  No matter how much I wanted to pretend otherwise, her hair just didn't look right at all, even after I treated it with a paint wash.  So, I built her a wig out of Sculpey, shaping it first and then making some cuts with a knife to simulate that frizzy-looking rat's nest she's got.  I had some concerns about baking the whole figure in the oven since I'd already painted her, so I decided to cut my losses, literally, and cut her head off.  I stuck her head in the oven for only a few minutes at a time; thankfully, the paint didn't melt off her face as I was expecting it to.  All I had to do was paint the hair (a thorough coat of black first, and then a less thorough coat of brown, intentionally missing the grooves I'd cut with my knife) and then glue the head back in place.

Comments:  I'd thought about painting some sludgy spots on her outfit since she was decorated with them throughout most of her first issue, until I remembered that this was exactly the sort of thing that I hated when Playmates Toys did it with their figures, so I opted to leave her as is.  (Of course, now I'm wondering whether I should go back and add it anyway.)

I also wrote up a ridiculous little Playmates Toys style biography.  Read and enjoy.

PORTRAIT OF APRIL O'NEIL
Baxter's Beautiful and Brainy Assistant!

VITAL SCIENTISTICS:
Accessories: Laptop Computer, Hideaway Holster with Bite-Size Blaster; Munchin' Mousers; Birthplace: The Valley;  Height:  5' 5";  Weight: 115 lbs. (without sewer sludge); Favorite City: New York; Favorite Saying: "Build a better mouse trap, and the world will beat a path to your door."

     April O'Neil never thought she'd be stomping through the sludgy sewers, fleeing the monstrous mechanical mousers that she helped Baxter Stockman bring to life.  But then again, she also never thought she'd run into four giant Turtles who saved her from the rat-catching robots!  Now she's best buds with the bodacious foursome, serving as their link to the outside world, using her Laptop Computer to keep the green team informed.  She keeps her Hideaway Holster on hand with a Bite-Size Blaster just the right size to turn any remaining Munchin' Mousers into scraps of silicon shrapnel.