April O'Neil

Personality: April was normally portrayed as a capable woman. Her most important contribution to the Turtles was her experience in doing research on the Channel 6 computers and alerting the Turtles to trouble and possible case leads.

Appearance: April has chin-length auburn hair. Her body is athletic in build, and her eyes are either dark brown, black, blue, or green. She could usually be found wearing a distinctive yellow jumpsuit with a white belt, a watch, and white boots. When at the beach, she wears a yellow bikini with matching flip-flops.

In the 1987 TV series, having been employed at Channel 6 for less than a year, April was reporting on a series of thefts of high-tech scientific equipment, apparently by a ninja (ostensibly components Shredder was securing for use in the Technodrome), when she came under attack by a gang of punks. Thinking quickly, she managed to squeeze into a storm drain and ran from the mob until she hit a dead end. As it happens, the Ninja Turtles were nearby and soundly defeated the punks for her. They took her back to their sewer lair for rest and recovery where they explained their origins to her. At first, she believed them to be responsible for the equipment thefts, but they agreed to provide her with the true culprits if she provided her assistance. April quickly became the Turtles' link to the outside world, since their unusual appearance effectively precluded them from functioning above ground without some sort of disguise.

April's friendship with the Turtles resulted in the opportunity to film exclusive footage of their encounters with Shredder, but despite her intimate knowledge of the details of their lives, she tended to keep her professional news reports about them impersonal and mysterious. She was a vocal champion of their cause, despite the opinion of Burne Thompson that the Turtles were a menace to the city, and most episodes generally showed her attempting to convince Burne and the New Yorkers that the Turtles are not the criminals he is convinced they are; by the episode "Doomquest", she finally succeeds by exposing Lord Dregg's propaganda campaign and plans to take over the Earth to the public. April was frequently kidnapped by Shredder, quite often as bait in order to lure the Turtles out of hiding in order to unleash his latest attempt at destruction upon them. Turtles Forever exploited this plot device to comic effect when the 2003 Turtles arrived in the "1987" Turtles' dimension, with 1987 Donatello commenting that they saved April at least once a day to the extent that watches could be set by it.

April underwent multiple brief mutations over the course of the series, though each of these mutations was reversed by the episode's conclusion:

In 1988 in "The Catwoman from Channel Six", an accident with Shredder's Matter Transporter transmutated her with an alley cat.

Playmates Toys released a "Mutatin' April" figure in the second wave of their "Mutations" line, homaging this transformation.

In 1990 in "Rebel Without a Fin", Dr. Polidorius, in a failed attempt to turn all humanity into aquatic hybrids, mutated her into a fish woman, giving her sonar powers. In 1993 in "Revenge of the Fly", Baxter Stockman shot April with a mutagen gun, which transformed her into a giant wasp.

Later in the "Red Sky" seasons of the series, Shredder succeeded in destroying the Channel 6 building, forcing everyone to relocate. In the eighth season April continued to work for Channel 6, but by the ninth season rather than stay working for Channel 6, April became a freelance news reporter for reasons never specified, but which were probably related to her increasingly rocky relationship with Burne. Now she was wearing a brown jacket with a green shirt and a pair of khakis. She continued to help the Turtles, even after the defeat of Shredder and his subsequent exile to Dimension X.

During the final seasons, April began to distance herself from the Turtles, even once rigorously badgering them in the press when they were framed in "State of Shock", though she apologized when the Turtles proved their innocence. Despite still loving the Turtles, she maintained this character change for the remainder of the series, calling on the Turtles if she was in need of rescue or in over her head, but admitting that she had left her once adventurous life behind her and was trying to put her life back on track.

Twenty years after the events of the series, April was fated to save the father of Krakus, and would be quite famous, although he never got around to telling her how or when.