#which did it better

[bluecryptic]

Velma (2023) vs. April O'Neil (2020) - Which Race Swap was done better?

Instead of hate-watching and writing a rant on how "terrible" the new Velma show is, I thought I'd simply watch the first episode of Velma and then watch the first episode of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to observe and compare how each of these shows handles race swapping established characters who previously were white.

(I'd give a spoiler warning but I'll only be referring to the first episode of each series so I don't think a warning is warranted for that. Though I will give a warning that this is just my opinion, so take what I say with a grain of salt.)

Round 1 - Moment of Introduction and First Impressions

Let's start with Velma who in her introduction scene involves physically assaulting a naked girl (who happens to be Daphne) in the shower, calling said girl a b*tch all the while talking about race-swapping in media. No, I am not joking. Said scene also occurs in front of other naked teenage girls aaaaaannnnddd my takeaway on Velma just from this scene is that she is calling kettle to the pot because she too is b*tch and that her being called a weirdo later on the episode is actually warranted.

For April, we first see her getting drenched in water as a result of the Turtles cannonball jumping into a pool at the same time and causing a massive splash. She doesn't get upset about being wet but rather cheers for her friends and exclaims how awesome the stunt was. Then we find out that the rooftop cannonball diving that they were doing was April's idea and then they decide to go have fun somewhere else and before leaving, April leave a "wet floor" and "dry pool" side. A wild first introduction with a lot of water like with Velma but with less nudity and violence. I also forgot to mention that Velma's introduction also made it clear that there was intense animosity between Velma and Daphne which is kind of ironic when comparing it to the scene where we first meet April and the Turtles, where we can clearly see that they are friends that enjoy hanging out together and having fun. So far, this version of April has been shown to be an energetic teenager that enjoys having fun with her friends.

I suppose it would come downs down to having a character attack another in the shower or having a character cheering at their friends cannonball diving to the pool as the first introduction scene.

Yeah, I think I prefer the scene that involves cannonball diving on rooftop pools.

April: 1 , Velma: 0

Round 2 - Interacting with other characters

For this round, I'll start with April on account that there's less in terms on character interactions like we have April's interactions with the Turtles as a whole (individual bonds are explored in later episodes), with the teleporting yokai and the bad guys if we want to stretch it a little. That is less than what we get from the Velma side which also is more messy when you go through how Velma acts and treats the other characters and I just want to take the simpler route first.

Back to April, let's start with her relationship with the Turtles. As the their first scene together has shown, they are friends. One of the Turltes, even calls April their "best friend." Yeah, she's probably their only friend at this point but it's clear that the Turtles hold her to a high degree. And the level of care that they have for her is shown when they are willing to jumo through a magic portal to who knows where to save her. On her side, April is shown to care about the Turtles as well. She stands up for Raph who is standing up for her to two bounty hunters and to avoid confusion, she basically isn't afraid to stick up beside her friends even if a scary bug monster on a hellhound is standing before her. There's also the scene where the Turtles get to the underground city and find April and the five of them have a group hug, happy to see each other.

Then there's the plot device of the episodein the form of teleporting dog/cat thing that will be called Mayhem so let's stick with that. Upon first meeting April, Mayhem takes a liking to her and April, despite not knowing what Mayhem is exactly, is quite affectionate to it. Fast forward to when Mayhem gets captured and taken away by the bounty hunters, April doesn't hesitate to chase after them in an attempt to save them. Mind you, this is all the while chasing the two bounty hunters into a magic portal that leads to who knows where at the time. April doesn't know what Mayhem is and yet she goes out of her way to save them despite the potential danger. By the end of the episode, April gives Mayhem their name and decides to keep it as a pet.

Not much to say about April's interactions with the villains within the episode aside from the fact that April was ready to throw hands at the scary monster-looking bad guys for hurting her friends. The girl literally threw herself at Baron Draxum to give him a good smack for Mayhem, a yokai creature she barely knew.

With Velma on the other hand...

Gonna try to be as positive as I can be or at least neutral but I'm going to call it as I see it.

Let's start with the first relationship shown in the episode, which is Velma's relationship with Daphne...and it started with Velma attacking a naked Daphne in the shower...

...and calling Daphne a b*itch, we get it, they don't like each other. And apparently the two were once friends but apparently Daphne became beautiful and started hanging out with popular kids, leaving Velma in the behind? Like that's almost the exact explanation they give in the show! Both are being shown being mean to each other throughout the episode and I'm leaving it at that.

The other relationships and interactions within the episode aren't much better with Velma being pretty rude towards the two lesbian cops interrogating her (who also happen to be Daphne's moms) and Velma's actually mean towards her dad, though that guy isn't doing himself any favors, and to her dad's pregnant girlfriend (I think so???) whom Velma showed that she would be happy to have the latter thrown away to prison if given the chance. I think Velma's opinion on her potential stepmother may have changed later in the episode but I don't know, it's hard to tell. Velma is also shown to be attracted to Fred but isn't completely gaga towards as she does get annoyed by the privileged white attitude this version of Fred has.

The most positive relationship, for Velma at least, is her mom but I don't think counts since we only get to see it from Velma's point of view and it also later turns out that Velma was something of a little shit towards her mom and that's kind of why the mom left though that plotline is still open to being resolved at later on? (Maybe the missing mom is the serial killer that is trying frame Velma for the murders?) So that leaves us with Velma's questionable friendship to Norville, where the later has a crush on Velma and she is very oblivious to it. To the point where Velma sees Norville's confession as a joke. Other than that, Norville is the one Velma goes to when she needs help though since he's her only friend and almost everyone else thinks she committed murder, not like she has a lot of options.

I get the impression that Velma has a mean streak to pretty much every character she talks to, intentional or not. Then there's the exposition dumps of dialogue on who's who to who in the show and maybe I'm overreacting but all these character interactions, especially the first five minutes and I actually start to understand why Velma is treated the way she is on the show. Aside from Norville that is but that boy is his own basket case of problems.

I actually want to be fair and try to give Velma a chance but no, the writers want to pull of a charming mean girl type of thing and the end result is an unlikeable gnat.

April: 2; Velma: 0

Final Round - Overall characterization (though at this point, I think it's obvious which I think is better)

Gonna start with Velma on this one since I actually want to end this post on as much of a positive note as I can.

Throughout the years and in previous incarnations, Velma has been portrayed as the smartest member in the Gang. A walking encyclopedia of knowledge and with a love for solving mysteries, Velma was often the one to piece a lot of the clues together and figure out the mystery. Not always she was usually the one to figure some of the more intricate clues in the mysteries. She would also be clumsy to the point of always losing her glasses as a running gag and while variations would vary, Velma had always been consistent when it came to her character.

Until now.

I tried to keep and open mind when watching Velma. I tried to forget all the criticism I heard before watching the first episode and at least try to at least give it a chance. And I somehow made it through the first episode without rage quitting at any point but thinking about the show and it's writing and it's characters and it all played out...

...it just makes me mad. I don't like it and it makes me more mad how the creators only used the names of the Scooby-Doo characters for the attention and recognition because otherwise, no one would bat an eye. This is like that Wolverine movie where they had Deadpool's mouth sewn shut. You can't take away what makes the character who they are and say it's the same character. Original Velma had her moments of snarkiness and cynicism but that Velma wouldn't go assaulting naked girls in the shower. Serously, even if this stupid version of Velma was white, I still wouldn't like her on account how horrible she is and nothing like the one from Scooby-Doo.

Okay, with that meltdown out of the way, it's now April's turn and while it's clear that April is a much better written character in my opinion, I still want to go into how despite the many differences between the RoTMNT April and the Original April, they're still in a way the same character. The character of April O-Neil has pretty much always been portrayed as the first human friend of the Turtles, a link to the outside world beyond the sewers they call home. Though she first appeared as an adult working as a reporter, more recent incarnations made April a teenager, and Ninja Turtles did it before Rise and I heard there were "strong reactions" to that creative decision though I think that the change to make April a teenager was a bigger shock than a change of skin color and that's why I don't anyone batted an eye when that character design was revealed but that's just my opinion.

Back to April in RoTMNT, I didn't have a problem with her because she was actually fun to watch. Just based on the first episode, I enjoyed watching this version of April and her friendship with the Turtles. They all had this energy that synced to the pacing and comedy to the show that that wanted viewers to have a good time watching. Sure it was different from the old but it was the kind of different that can be thought of as a refreshing change.

So between a snarky version of Velma that is being mean to almost everyone she talks to and a spunky April O'Neil that goes feral on tiny gargoyle minions for picking on magic cat she only met a hour prior.

With no doubts from my side, RoTMNT April wins as a shining example of when race-swapping a character can be done decently without destroying what made the character unique (and likeable) and without replacing it with woke cringe.

Many thanks to any and those who have read through my comparison turned rant to the end. Also sorry for saying this wouldn't be a rant on how bad the Velma show is but the doing it anyway. Was thinking if I should write more but I have some RoTMNT I want to make in the future and I want to be finished on the topic of the Velma show because it's just that bad...