April Rules Day: The Best Fictional Aprils

April Fools Day?  Not in this ongoing catastrophe known as reality. Today we are celebrating April RULES Day. 

Here’s a short list of Aprils who rule.  These Aprils all have something special about them, whether it’s their character longevity, unique backstory, or importance in media history.  Outstanding April characters appear in comics, TV shows, games, and so much more.  They’re spies, students, computer programmers, and we even have a duck on this list.  Aprils are everywhere.  There might even be one behind you right now.

If we’ve missed your favorite April, let us know in the comments.  Let’s celebrate April Rules Day properly!

April Ludgate – Parks and Recreation

My personal favorite April – from Parks and Recreation, played by the ever sardonically delightful Aubrey Plaza.  She has been the source of many fantastic reaction gifs and memes for many years.  Even if you’ve never seen the show, you’ve probably seen her used as a response to something online at some point.

The character was specifically written for Aubrey Plaza and I am forever grateful that this show brought this uniquely talented actress into the main stream.  She’s gone on to do many wonderful things since then, including Legion, Child’s Play, and the upcoming second season of White Lotus. 

She’s one of the core characters of the show, and her arc begins at the pilot and stretches all the way to the end of the series (including the COVID-19 special).  Her arc begins as her being an apathetic student intern, but then grows into an apathetic adult with a purpose.

That kind of longevity of a character rules.

April Dancer – The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

We’re going way back for this one, all the way to 1966 to a spy thriller show that aired on ABC.

April Dancer was the protagonist of the show The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., which was a spinoff of the spy thriller series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  The show only lasted one season, unfortunately, and didn’t find its footing in the same way the original series did.  It was a bit campier than the original and had to compete against the new Batman series.  Neither of these things did the show any favors.

It did, however, inspire several novels, so there’s sort of an extended canon of this little-known ’60s spin off.  These are kind of obscure and hard to find, though.  The mystery of it all kind of makes her more intriguing, honestly.

To put it simply, spies rule (even if their shows get cancelled quickly).  

April O’Neil – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Probably the most well known April in the geek world, April O’Neil is the first human ally of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She’s appeared in the comics, TV show, and several films, so wherever you’ve consumed TMNT content, she’s likely right there alongside them doing her thing.

She’s been through several iterations over the years, including being played by Megan Fox in the 2014 film adaption.  She was first introduced as a computer programmer, then a reporter, and has sort of flowed through several variations as the occasion required.

That kind of adaptability totally rules.

April Wexler – Sharknado

For those of you who are new here, the Geekiary has a long history of supporting Sharknado unabashedly.   So of course April Wexler is on our list.

Wexler, played by Tara Reid, is a protagonist of this strange and campy series.  The character goes through a lot of things, including becoming a cyborg (no, really) and resetting time.  And, of course, there are the Sharknados.  Who can forget those.

Honestly, any character in any of the Sharknado films rules by simply being in those films.

April – Daisy Duck’s Niece in Disney Canon

April, May, and June are Daisy Duck’s nieces (in most adaptions), and Disney’s answer to duck gender equality.  If Donald can have three nephews, Daisy can have three nieces.  It just makes sense.

As the counterpoints to Huey, Dewey, and Louie, the three are identifiable by their unique colored aesthetic.  Unfortunately the color aesthetics change depending on the adaption, and sometimes certain colors are missing entirely, so it’s somewhat hard to remember who is who unless you are a Duck Enthusiast.  April was originally the one in yellow, and sometimes she’s the one in red, but she’s recently been the one in purple.

Look, these ducks are confusing, okay? My apologies for not being able to track the ever changing color schemes of these tertiary Disney characters.

The 2017 Duck Tales reboot gave them a whole new origin story involving genetic experiments from a terrorist organization. (I don’t know man.  It’s wild.)  No really.  The character was originally introduced as ‘Webby’ and her name wasn’t revealed until May and June burst onto the scene.  In this one, she’s definitely the one in purple.  Pretty sure.

I’m sure a Duck Enthusiast is going to swing by in the comments and delightfully help me sort this out.  Welcome to Duck Discourse.  But anyway, she rules.  Whichever one she is.

April Ryan – The Longest Journey (Video Game)

April Ryan may be a bit more obscure to modern audiences (though perhaps not as obscure as April Dancer).  The first The Longest Journey game was released in 1999 and the sequel came in 2006, so it’s been a while since we’ve had new content for her. 

That said, her adventure has been compare to Frodo’s, which is one of the more classic adventure characters out there, so that’s pretty neat.  She’s also been compared to Lara Croft.  If you’re into classic adventure stories, perhaps you’ll dig up a copy and give it a play because it’s pretty classic.

Despite not having any new content in 16 years, she’s one of the “most memorable” characters in adventure gaming,  Ryan has been on so many lists it’s almost hard to name them all.  As recently as 2013 she was ranked as one of the top woman video game characters of all time by Complex. 

That rules.

Who is your favorite?

Did we miss your favorite April?  I’m sure there are more out there.  Unfortunately I have not consumed every piece of content in existence.  Let us know in the comments!

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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