[Vicky82]

Originally Posted by JH24

After seeing your last post in the season 5 thread I was immediately reminded of this picture.

Spoiler:

I have a couple of ideas why he looks like that.

Mikey was captured and tortured, his tormentors starved him and due to being staved, he may have a vitamin deficiency.
Mikey may have an illness that a normal turtle can get.
Due to changes in the environment (as it seems to be mostly desert now ) Mikey might be dehydrated and if a normal turtle is dehydrated, they become skinny.

I think you're spot on with this prediction. I had to look it up as I had no idea turtles would get skinny and lose muscle/weight when dehydrated. It would make sense if it was Mikey in that picture. He already looks smaller in there as well.

If he was captured, he may have tried to escape and ended up in the desert. Or maybe he was left behind in the burning sun.

Yeah i'm starting to think that. The 2nd episode is called the impossible Desert so it could be about him surviving in the desert until Donnie finds him.