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Write a Review link for that item. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mirage Comics (Neca)NECA's initial TMNT Mirage line put out the best figures the license had at the time, but it ended up cut short due to what I assume was Playmates' unwillingness to share, so all we got until a couple of years later were the four bros, an SDCC-exclusive set of Mousers, and another exclusive in April O'Neil. Many more years later, the Turtles received all-new figures, and there’s been a new Mouser here and there, so that left April to get remade, fittingly billed as "version 2." The first NECA April, sculpted by Four Horsemen Studios, was based off how she appeared in her debut in issue #2, but Richard Force's sculpt reflects her subsequent appearances, and it's quite the improvement. The Mirage run had an inconsistent style due to its variety of illustrators, though April here resembles Kevin Eastman's style, more specifically his illustrations for the packaging, which give her a less blocky head than how she appeared in later stores. April has a wide-eyed expression, fitting for someone who finds herself in all sorts of strange escapades, and the curly brown hair makes her stand out from later, red-headed versions of the character. The paint is very clean on the face, and the skin is a browner complexion which suggests that April is part African-American (and you all complained when Mutant Mayhem made her black… and plus-sized). April stands about 6 1/4" tall, and rather than wearing a blue jumpsuit like her original NECA figure, she's dressed more casually here. O'Neil sports a brown coat over a red top, blue jeans, light purple sneakers, and a necklace with what appears to be a little ring. The necklace is sculpted as part of the neck, but the paint on it is very clean, as is the rest of the figure, though the sneakers have some uneven edges here and there. As expected of the comic figures, April has a lot of painted outlines to bring out the various details and wrinkles, and they're all very clean. Great work as always from Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo, as well as Holly Knevelbaard, a name I don't think we've seen before with this line. NECA's first April came out about 25 years before this one, and during that time, their articulation has improved greatly. New April has a barbell head and chest, swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, and ankles, ball-jointed hips, double-hinged elbows and knees, and swivel biceps, thighs, and calves. Her long hair and the design of the socket restrict head movement, but everything else works fine, and they blend in with the sculpt just as well, thanks to her coming after NECA began doing pinless elbows and knees. There's not much in the way of accessories for her, just having three pairs of hands: relaxed, closed, and gripping. To make up for the lack of accessories, April comes with a pack-in figure in Professor Obligado. Don't recognize him? That's because he comes from the later Mirage years, Tales of the TMNT's second run from the 2000s, specifically. Sculpted by Tim Miller, Obligado is an old-looking Utrom wearing a fedora, and while not the most complex design, he has a good amount of detail in terms of both sculpt and paint, and the work is very clean. He has a more neutral and somewhat weary expression than April, and his mouth has a hole right above the line for his pipe (be careful with it, I dropped it on the floor after I first opened her and it took me a while to find it). His longer tentacles both swivel and have different poses, one to reach for his hat and another to hold a brush or a tiny pickaxe. He also has an extra right tentacle to hold a canister, and an extra left with a bottle of bug spray sculpted as part of it. You may not be getting Mousers this time, but getting a character who's never gotten merch before (namely because I don't think anybody remembers him) is just as good. With all the other major players in TMNT's Mirage run getting new (or at least rereleased and slightly retooled) figures, a new April was inevitable. Although she's light on accessories to her name and has to rely on a pack-in with extras of its own to maintain a good value, she’s still a very well-made figure, and no doubt an improvement over what came out years prior. - 4/17/26   by Toasted Brains |
| April O' Neil (The Fifth Turtle) |  | Submission Order |  | Grammy April, Baby Yi & Moja |
| Chote | | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mirage Comics Series | | None |
| April O' Neil (The Fifth Turtle) | | Written by Toasted Brains | | Grammy April, Baby Yi & Moja |
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