Val's Kinky Column: April Showers

Hello kinksters!

How is everyone doing? I hope you all had a kinky April Fool's Day...

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Since it's April, I decided to use this month's column to chat about a certain damsel who shares a name with this month, April O'Neil! 

April is one of those "formative damsels" as I call them, which means that if you ask someone what started their damsel in distess/bondage fetish, April O'Neil in the original Ninja Turtles cartoon is usually one of the most common names you'll hear, alongside Daphne Blake or Penny Gadget. Personally, I've always credited April as the damsel that started my bondage fetish, but to this day I don't know if that's true. Truth be told, I've found the image of a woman bound and gagged alluring for as far back as I could remember, and I've only blamed April for it because I watched Ninja Turtles cartoons at a young age and remember always getting excited whenever April would get tied up by a the bad guys. Fetishes have always fascinated me, mostly because I've wanted to understand my own and how it originated. One thing that I read is that psychologists still don't quite know how people develop fetishes, but their best theory is that something happens to a person during early development that causes them to associate a certain thing with sex, hence a fetish is born. So like I said, for that reason, I've always guessed that April and her constant peril in TMNT is why I've always had a bondage fetish, but I also grew up watching old VHS tapes of the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons, and Lois Lane finds herself bound and gagged in those almost as much as April does so either way, it was probably a nosy reporter that set me along this path. 

There are many things about April that make her an appealing damsel. The "nosy reporter" is a classic damsel archetype for a reason. Often times this character is warned multiple times not to go sticking her nose someplace or she'll get in trouble. The excitement comes from this damsel ignoring multiple warnings, only to end up snooping, getting caught, and usually having to be rescued. There's an air of innocence around April that separates her from other nosy reporter archetypes like Lois Lane. While April has that stubbornness that we expect from the nosy reporter archetype, there's a childlike sense of wanting to do good and naivety about her that always seems to land her in trouble, and adds to her appeal. 

Another thing that makes April interesting is that much like another perpetual damsel, Daphne, April originally wasn't created to be a damsel in distress, but now is associated with it. In the original comics, April wasn't a reporter, but a lab assistant to Baxter Stockman. Though her relationship with the Turtles started with them having to rescue her, she was more of a supporting, human POV character. The animated series changed her to a nosy reporter character, most likely as a way of getting her into trouble so that the Turtles had an excuse to clash with the bad guys, and this image has been associated with her ever since. 

April has had a myriad of scenes to her name, but a few of her DiD scenes have had a profound effect on me. One of the most interesting examples is from the very first TMNT episode, Turtle Tracks.

For most of my life, I had a Mandela Effect type memory of this scene. I always vividly remember the Foot Clan abducting April from the phone booth and handgagging her, and then remember the Turtles finding her bound and gagged on the rooftop as bait for a trap. Imagine my surprise as a teen when I sought this scene out only to find that April was only handgagged, and not actually gagged. No doubt part of my confusion stemmed from a TMNT comic adaptation I had in which April is actually bound and gagged in this scene. The comic book I had even came with an audio adaptation, complete with some nice gag-talk from the actress playing April. The scene starts around the 14-15 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptSbjku2mX0

There's no telling how many times I listened to this cassette that came with the comic, as well as poured over the images of April bound and gagged as bait for the Turtles. There's even a coloring book adaptation (which I also had as a child) of this scene that also has April bound and gagged, unlike in the original cartoon. No doubt both of these helped contribute to my mis-remembering of the original scene, and it's an interesting case of how supplemental media actually improved upon the original scene. Having April be gagged would make sense story wise, since it would prevent her from calling for help or shouting a warning to the Turtles about the trap, so it's strange that she isn't gagged in the actual cartoon. The only reason I can think of for this omission is laziness or just an oversight on the animator's part, seeing how the original TMNT cartoon isn't known for having the best standards, animation wise.

Another scene that has always stuck with me is the scene from the episode "Plan 6 From Outer-Space". Taking it's title cue from one of the worst movies ever made, "Plan 6" is also considered one of the worst episodes of the show, with many of the animation flaws that I mentioned above on display. The plot of the episode revolves around Bebop and Rocksteady trying to launch the Channel 6 building into space, and at one point they capture April and force her to guide them to the building's basement. We only see April from behind, but the knot from the gag around her mouth is visible before Bebop and Rocksteady stuff her in a locker. Later, the Turtles show up and inquire as to April's whereabouts, only to hear her gag-talking and banging on the locker door. Later, as the building is jettisoned into space, April tumbles out of the locker and we get a quick look at her bound, gagged, and disorientated before the Turtles rush to untie her. 

This scene sticks with me only because I remember being young and putting on TV only to catch this episode as a re-run. It was one of those rare "catching a scene in the wild" moments where you were hoping for a bondage scene but not expecting one, but then it happens. It's a brief scene, but what I like about is how it teases you. You only see April gagged in profile, and then hear her gag talk, but for me, sometimes there's a thrill to the tease and implication of it all. Filling in the gaps with your imagination can be sexier than any real bondage scene, and there's lots of room to fill in gaps with this one. I actually homage this scene in Damsels Anonymous Volume 2 when Jack breaks into the police station, ties and gags Caitlyn, and then has her show him the evidence room before he stuffs her in a locker. To me, this is a great example of how sometimes less can be more in a DiD scene with the off-screen gag and implied struggling and gag talk. Much like in a horror movie where the scariest thing an audience can think of is in their imagination, sometimes the sexiest thing a writer can use against their audience is also their imagination.

The character of April O'Neil has changed and evolved over the years, like every character has, but her legacy as a damsel still has a lasting, ripple effect. Though I'm still not sure if she's the reason why I have my DiD fetish, her formative effect on my sexuality, psychology, and writing has been profound, and for that, she'll always be one of my favorite damsels.