Most casual fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will remember April O’Neil as the buxom reporter who somehow retained her high-profile TV news job despite never changing out of her yellow jumpsuit (perhaps her inability to button it up all the way had something to do with it, I don’t know). But in the original 1980s comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, April was quite different.
The original April was a computer programmer and research assistant working for mad scientist Baxter Stockman. She got mixed up with the Turtles when she discovered Stockman was using his “Mouser” robots to rob banks.
It’s been more than a year since I reviewed NECA’s Ninja Turtles back in April ’08. Since then, the line has been declared dead several times. But April popped up at SDCC, and soon she’ll be available in specialty stores in green or yellow outfits (the yellow outfit hopefully drawing in casual fans who only know the cartoon).
It would have made more sense to make the SDCC outfit green and release the comic-accurate blue and cartoon-style yellow ones to retail. But perhaps I’m over-estimating how much fans care about April’s outfit color (particularly the all-important casual fans).
Packaging: April comes in the standard clamshell packaging we’re used to seeing with NECA figures. The graphics are mostly from the original comics.
Design & Sculpt: Like the Turtles, April was sculpted by the Four Horsemen, and as usual, it’s excellent. As I read on a forum somewhere, the 4H managed to make her prettier than she did in the comics (particularly the earlier issues–the image at the top of the page is from the series’ second issue, but Eastman and Laird’s art improved dramatically over the series’ run) while still keeping her distinctive look from the comics.
Since the figure is done in a comic style, there’s not as much detail to show off in the sculpt, but I do want to point out the hair–it’s very well done.
Plastic & Paint: As with the Turtles, the paint work is one of the best aspects of the figure. A matte blue paint is used for most of the body, with black lines in the folds of clothing and so forth to give it that line-drawn comics appearance. The wash on the hair looks great.
Articulation: April has some interesting articulation. She has ball joints at the shoulders and hips, but no swivel joints at the hips. Her elbows are hinged and have swivels, which looks OK when moved to the side since her upper arms are fairly cylindrical. The lack of swivels at the hips limits her articulation somewhat, but since she’s not really a martial arts fighter like the Turtles it’s not too much of a problem.
She also has a ball jointed neck, a swivel waist, swivels at the wrists and the cuffs of her jumpsuit, and hinges at the knees and ankles.
Accessories: April comes with two Mousers. Both have–hallelujah!–articulated jaws. Both Mousers have a black drybrush to represent wear and tear, and the “battle damaged” Mouser’s leg is off. Unfortunately, the leg’s peg can’t be fitted into the hole in the side of the mouser, meaning you really only have one good Mouser with an articulated jaw. Fortunately, the heads pop off easily, so if you have last year’s Mouser 3-pack exclusive, you can do a head swap. [According to Poester JediCreeper, this doesn’t work because the articulated head’s peg is smaller–presumably to make room for the jaw. So no, I didn’t actually try it, I just assumed when I was able to pop the articulated one’s head off so easily. My bad.]
My favorite part of the Mousers–well, aside from the articulated jaws–is the great paint work inside the mouth. I always liked the blue glow in the Mousers’ mouths in the comics, and at the right angle it’s very easy to reproduce with the toys.
Quality Control: One of my figure’s ankle hinges was a little warped. Fortunately, a quick heat-up with a hair dryer and some pressure and I was able to fix it.
Overall:
[raven 4]
OK, so April’s not the most exciting character for the first non-Turtle figure, and the Shredder probably would have made a better choice, but I have a hunch April was further down the production pipeline when NECA decided to put the line on hiatus.
Still, she’s a great figure, and no doubt many fans will be pleased to finally have Mousers with articulated jaws.
lokicomics75
mmm probably you are right but if shredder, or the foot soldiers comes with no sidewalk base at all, for me the line ends with April. I can't believe NECA is so careful about this. the turtles are almost sold out around the world and they are saying they weren't too successful. come on. they more willing to do that twilight series shit at any cost. I want continuation!!!!
PrfktTear
a sidewalk base would have been nice, yes, but its not a make or break deal for me. if buying one april o'neil gets me one step closer to shredder, i'll gladly pay up!
lokicomics75
no sidewalk base in the package?.
no thank you. it brakes the continuation in the line
DEADPOOLISTHEMAN316
> To those want to swap mouser heads:
you have to swap the head along with the the neck joints. It's really easy to do and that's how you get the end results. Don't bother popping off the head. Just heat up and pop them off at the base of the neck
hope your review on OAFE can add this bit of info as well
Megaduce Flare
> Poe
I figured that was the case, thanks.
By any chance, do you know what angle the peg for the leg to hip joint is at? Is it at a 90 degree angle (like DCUC), or is it at a 45 degree angle (like Hulk Legends Doc Samson)?