April O'Neil as THE FIFTH TURTLE!

TMNT (Archie) - April O'Neil as the Fifth Turtle (and Customization) - NECA 2025

When I first started collecting action figures seriously (about 25 years ago), I was obsessed with finding female characters from all the iconic properties of my youth. I was especially intent on finding a female Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. This is when I discovered Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. But I also learned about this infamous 1994 issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Special #11 wherein April O'Neil became the Fifth Turtle for a single 26-page story. April had infiltrated a lab to get some Anti-mutagen for Splinter's birthday (she wrongly assumed he wanted to return to his human form). But she was captured and turned into a turtle by the aliens secretly running the lab. In the end, there was only enough Anti-mutagen to return her to human form (and defeat the mutated alien enemy). It was a simple one-off story, but it notably had the first female turtle (three years before Venus). The comic issue is notoriously hard to come by, regularly fetching hundreds on eBay in good condition.

I had distorted memories of April having a body identical to the main four Turtles, but with some feminine characteristics to her face that made her stand out. I don't know if I was looking at fan art or if my memory is just deceiving me, but I just read the story (via scans I found online), and there is not a single feminine detail about her design. When I first saw this toy I was a bit stunned that all four heads looked so masculine, but now I realize that is actually comic-accurate. That said, I couldn't resist taking one of the four heads and customizing it to match my (faulty) memory. Pics of that custom job at the bottom.

 

Note that the illustrations on the box appear to be original designs by NECA. 

Those images do not appear in the comic issue (and they appear way more feminine than she did in the story). 

Also, I see the boxfront says "Issue #14" instead of "Issue #11" where she actually appeared.

 

 

  

April comes with four head sculpts. All of them are pretty masculine looking (in accordance with the source material). You might think that these are re-used sculpts for the main male turtles, but they are not. These have a more pronounced beak shape than the other turtles have and so far the only Archie Comics turtles we have are from the Stump Wrestling box set (none of which look like these heads).

She also comes with three sets of hands (the hands have claws, unlike the boys), a sword and sheath, and the tails of her bandana which need to be swapped out for each head.

  

 

  

  

 

 

I was inspired by the box art to feminize this figure a bit by repainting the eyes in a cat-eye fashion.

This may not be comic-accurate like I had assumed, but I'm very happy with the results.

Here is what I did:. I took the closed-mouth head and used a Magic Eraser to gently remove the black lines from her nose and forehead. You have to be gentle here because the green can be accidentally removed as well. Then I used a bead reamer to carefully sand the outer edge of each eye into a cat-like point (and eliminate the rounded edge of the mask). and then I just painted some black, white, and powder blue.. and voila! I think she still has the Archie Comics aesthetic but now looks a lot more female.

(Or at least more like a drag queen).

 

 

 

Time for a Comparison Pic!

Cheers!