What sort of time continuum do the Turtles exist?
 

We know the Turtles have been going for a year and yes they have stated in the finally that yes they have been fighting the Shredder/Kraang for the past year.

But as we have not received a happy mutation day since the beginning of season one. Have they truly celebrated their 16th year or is time following it's own continuity?

A year is still a year. So if they say they've been fighting Shredder/Kraang for a year then a year has passed "in show". So either they are now 16 and we just didn't see their "Mutation Day" or it's been nearly a year and we'll see one soon.

That said, I imagine time is being treated pretty fluidly and 1 year passing in real time definitely doesn't mean it passes in show. Just because that's been (roughly) the case with Season 1/early Season 2 doesn't mean it will continue to do so.

It was off-screen.

I don't expect them to reference their birthday every year.

I think to do seasonal episodes, whether it's just marking real time or deliberately dedicated to a seasonal event like Thanksgiving or Christmas is pretty hard with the time constraints the animators have.

I mean how much time would snow or falling leaves take to render etc. ?

And seeing as the turtles work by night, we can't really do a summer episode because... they always work by night and the sun's in! :lol:

I'd like to see Splinter's birthday or the turtles in disguise during daytime for when April graduates, which would be either this season or next if it's real time storylining.

I don't really think a year has passed since season 1 and 2.... and everything seems to take place rather quickly. Everything kinda feels like 'just another day' without anything indicating a month or so takes place between episodes.

Only time I can think of is when Slash put Don's arm in a sling. That doesn't heal right away and obviously the next episode is gonna take place with him back at 100%.

What sort of language do you speak?

Well, I do remember in the first episode of season 2, Don did mention that the Kraang communication orb had been silent for weeks, so my guess is that it's been weeks since the finale and not a whole year yet.

In what episode did they say a year has passed?

Ciro has said that season 2 starts a couple months after the finally.

Okay, then there's your answer. It's been a few months and a year hasn't passed yet, so they're still fifteen.

In The Gauntlet, ep. NINE, Leo mentioned all the stuff they had done in the last few months. Then in Panic in the Sewers, the beginning of the ep and the rest happen in more like days than hours since Donnie says they've been training for weeks. So I think more time passes than we think.

So based upon what we know, as little as six months have passed but possibly as much as real time. Of course when the Turtles hit 20 the show will likely be ending if it hasn't already. The Simpsons of course has its own weird continuum, since while current events are addressed, its possible that Springfield is its own universe with its own time system. The OT and 4kids time continuums seemed to vary, but definitely took place in a slowed down continuum. There hasn't been any winter episodes yet and quite frankly I've only seen trees with leaves on them so far. Perhaps this break were going through now will allow us to skip winter if necessary?

Mutagen Man Unleashed, April says, "This is it April, a new start." Possibly starting a new school year.

Hm. Given the tone and general feel of the show, while I see and imagine we'll continue to see some very general sense of the passage of time in weeks and months there won't be any actual aging of the Turtles. Though we'll probably see at least one "birthday" episode by the time the show has run its course.