>>150801001
Ever since the Viacom merger and the acquisition of the TMNT IP, Paramount has become a bit more excessive with mandated diversity. Viacom usually didn't do this because they were small when compared to WB and Disney (and feared fans dropping their products), but ever since the merger and acquisition of TMNT, they've been ramping it up in an attempt to grab what little Blackrock money they can get, on top of looking good to whatever investors remain that continue to huff Larry Fink's copium towards DEI and ESG.
It's why the new Fairy Odd Parents sequel series started a black female protagonist, why the new Avatar series stars two dark-skinned female twins as the leads, and why April continues to almost always be black in newer adaptations.
In April's case, it's because the human cast of TMNT is actually pretty small when compared to the endless amount of fantasy and sci-fi characters that the turtles usually interact with. Since April is the biggest (and sole) audience surrogate, she's the only one who CAN be raceswapped. It's not an accident that the buyout of the IP coincided with the 2012 Turtles starting the push to make the Turtles act more like younger teenagers, but also to involve them interacting with the human world more. It's kinda why Rise and Mutant Mayhem were divisive with older fans. The older fans with spending money are becoming increasingly alienated by new TMNT products that seek to undermine the whole appeal of the TMNT in favor of making things mundane/domestic/emasculated/infantilized.
I don't want to see the Turtles act like middle schoolers or actual awkward teenagers. If I wanted that, I'd go work at a school.
