‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Character Designer James A. Castillo Says April O’Neil Intended To Look “Relatable And Grounded In The Real World”
Spencer Baculi
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In what may go down as one of the most insulting attempts at ‘inclusivity’ in the history of Western entertainment, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem character designer James. A Castillo has revealed that the film’s widely-panned take on April O’Neil was intended to make her character more relatable to modern audiences.
April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) makes her debut in the first trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), Paramount Pictures
As seen in the film, rather than resembling any of her fan favorite, pre-Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles incarnations, Mutant Mayhem‘s version of April bears appearance more in line with her reptilian allies.
Rather than looking like the white, fit, and curly brown/red-haired heroine many had come to know and love, this latest April is instead black, slightly frumpy, and wears her reddish-brown hair in short dreadlocks.
April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) takes notes in the first trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), Paramount Pictures
And according to the aforementioned Castillo, despite her appearance being so stereotypical of the various identity-politics-fueled character design philosophies that have taken root in modern Hollywood that it could genuninely be considerd a parody, every single aspect of it was genuninely meant to champion the concept of representation.
Sharing a number of her design sheets to Twitter on August 4th, the character designer explained, “When I joined #MutantMayhem my first assigment was to work on April O’neil. NO PRESSURE.”
“We tried making her relatable and grounded in the real world while keeping some of the details that make her so iconic,” he added. “I personally love her in the film.”
Archive Link James A. Castillo via Twitter
Notably, it seems the only “details” the Mutant Mayhem team considered so visually “iconic” to April’s character were her name, hair color, and association with the color yellow.
(In the interest of fairness, despite his obvious desire to give April dreads, the middle design on Castillo’s ‘early concept art’ sheet does attempt to retain her curly hair.)
While three of the four sheets shared by Castillo depicted various test work for the version of April who made it into the film, most notable among them is the one depicting a trio of her early concept art.
To this end, given the insight he provided in the very same tweet regarding his approach to her design, the dumpy, frazzled, potato-esque nature of these initial approaches raises curious questions as to just what qualities Castillo considers to be ‘reltable’ to wide audiences.
Archive Link James A. Castillo via Twitter
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Following its publication, Castillo’s tweet was unsurprisingly met with mixed reactions, with fans of the film expressing appreciation for his contributions and critics pushing back against the unnecessary alterating of an iconic character’s appearance.
Engaging with both sides, the designer would address his supporters by retweeting a handful of their compliments. Turning to his critics, Castillo would simply retweet @STRANGE_PARTYZ, who had exclaimed, “The reply’s are a free block list oh my god. Wtf is wrong with some people”.
Archive Link @STRANGE_PARTYZ via Twitter
As noted above, though Mutant Mayhem‘s April bears little in common with most of her predecessors, she is the second version of the character to be portrayed as a ‘nerdy’, bespectacled young black woman.
In the Turtles’ 2018-2020 animated outing for Nickeldoeon, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, April was similarly reimagined as a teenaged, quick-to-quip black girl who, rather than a reporter, was a martial artist on par with the Turtles themselves.
Master Splinter (Eric Bauza) and April O’Neil (Kat Graham) make a surprise delivery in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022), Netflix
Further, though many defenders of April’s race-swapping in both Rise and Mutant Mayhem’s have long attempted to claim that she was initially depicted as black in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, this is nothing more than a misconception that has taken on a life of its own.
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