Splinter and April's ages from version to version.
 

Is it me or are April and Splinter getting younger with each relaunch?

In the original Mirage comics it was pretty clear that Splinter was old! He mentions at the beginning that he is close to the end of his life (though, actually he lives a good 20 years after that), and aside from a few mystical tricks and nerve touches and such, he's shown to actually be less combat capable than the young, spry turtles, due to his age and health.

And, April's age is actually fairly ambiguous. But she definitely seems about late 20s/early 30s to me. At the very least she seems more like someone who's been on her own for awhile and not some "fresh out of college" young adult just starting out (aside from letting teenage boys into her apartment and offering them beer). Of course, it could just be that people aged faster and got their adult lives started sooner a couple decades ago.

Now the Fred Wolf series and 90s movies seem to follow suit with Mirage.

FW Splinter is in better health and better shape than Mirage Splinter, but he's quite clearly meant to be viewed as an elderly Grandfather figure just the same. On the other end of the spectrum is movie Splinter who's as old and geriatric as we've ever seen him. It's made clear that he's ancient and in no physical condition to fight, which is what makes his defeating Shredder (by using Shredder's own aggresion against him, not by physically overpowering him) a cool surprise.

In FW and the Movies, April is a bold career woman, devoted to journalism. At no point does it seem like she's just getting started in newscasting. She's a veteren reporter who's always on the case.

So, I think it's safe to say that during the "golden age" of the franchise it was very clear that Splinter was elderly and April was dinstinctly a "grown up".

Now we get to the 4Kids series and it seems there's been a few age changes.

Splinter is suddenly less like a geriatric grandpa and more like a middle aged Dad, which fits the father of teenage sons. It's also the start of the whole "Splinter is a more capable fighter than all the turtles put together, not just because of his greater experience and skills but also because he's still in excellent physical shape" thing.

And, 4Kids April seems much more clearly in her 20s. She's drawn in a more youthful style, wearing more youthful clothes (the bare midriff) and you get the feeling she's not completely used to being on her own yet. She seems more like someone just out of college. Her being Baxter's assistant comes across more like an internship than a steady career.

And, now with the Nickelodeon version the change is complete. April is now a full fledged teenager the same age as the turtles. And, this Splinter I'd barely call middle aged. If it weren't for the Tang Shen/Miwa thing I'm not sure I'd believe him to be in his 40s. He's more like a young dad who got started early than the middle aged Dad of the 4Kids series or the elderly wiseman of Mirage and FW.

Now, I'm not too familar with IDW TMNT (as soon as I can afford to collect regular monthly comics again it's at the top of my list, I swear). And, I haven't been able to subject myself to the potential horror of "Bay-Turtles" yet. So, if the trend extends to those versions, feel free to fill in the blanks.

While I like the way things are in the Nick version I hope they don't keep this pattern going in future reboots. A version where April is the tag-along kid sidekick and Splinter is more like a college-aged big brother to the turtles would just be bizzare.

So, any thoughts?

I definitely expect a future incarnation where April is the kid sister of the jump, and I actually think it could be interesting... and a potentially good way to avoid the "shipping" fandom. Splinter as a collegiate-esque figure would be more of a shift, but I suppose any idea can work if the execution is solid.

Boy, I really want IDW to launch a TMNT Elseworlds title!

I like variety, & Nick has shown there can be good to come of age changes. I wouldn't want that to become the norm, however, as I prefer them to be more around their Mirage or 4kids ages. IDW ran with younger Casey/April too but I think theirs have suffered for it. We just get teen angst, romance drama, college is hard!, & a bunch of crap about figuring out who they are (which is supposed to be a big part of the turtles' personality, but they've kinda forfeited that along with slice of life stories).

April was 28 in the original cartoon, (according to the Konami TMNT II Arcade game, but its probably close to that in the show too), she was 23 in the 2k3 series as said by one of those 4kids advertisement pamphlets, and she's 16 in Nick.

In IDW she's an early College student, so probably somewhere around 19-22

April is made younger because they realized having a 30 year old woman hang around teenagers felt weird. It only didn't seem that way because in Mirage the Turtles rarely acted like teens.

I don't wanna make a habit of being "that guy," but the Konami video games listed her age as 27 in both arcade titles. In "Leatherhead, Terror of the Swamp," April made the comment "I'm doomed to be a decrepit 28-year-old hag." :tcool:

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April O'Neil Profile: TMNT Arcade Game by oldmanwinters, on Flickr

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April O'Neil Profile: Turtles in Time Arcade Game by oldmanwinters, on Flickr

She's listed as 27 in Palladium's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness." She's also got a MA in computer programming.

(Also fun fact: she's not as pretty as Michaelangelo. PB:14 vs his PB: 16.
He really IS the prettiest.)

Splinter is listed as 25 years of age.

Haha! Boy, Michelangelo really did have some weird stats in that Palladium book, if I remember. I think he even received some substantial edits in the Revised Edition.
For April's listing in the revised edition, it actually mentioned her journalistic skills, which must have been a specific reference to the Fred Wolf cartoon or Playmates action figure.

Splinter at 25? Must be "rat years!" In the Konami games, he was only listed at 30, which is honestly about how old Hamato Yoshi looked in the flashback scenes of "Turtle Tracks." I never knew how long the Turtles were supposed to have trained following their mutation. If you just go by the episode, it didn't seem like they were ever "toddler mutant turtles," as they grew to man-size almost instantly.

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Splinter Profile: TMNT Arcade Game by oldmanwinters, on Flickr

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Splinter Profile: Turtles in Time Arcade Game by oldmanwinters, on Flickr

Mirage Splinter really can't be too old in human years considering he started as a rat and rats only live 2-3 years on average. Funny to think that Splinter is also likely a TEENAGE mutant ninja.

Yeah, Splinter's age never did make a whole lot of sense...

The packaging on the original Playmates line lists April's age at "A Young 25," while Splinter prefers to live more mysteriously.

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GTFO. Really?

Damn, blows my head cannon all to hell.

I like how April's weight stays the same, but her height keeps changing.
In the RPG she's 5'8" at 115lbs, but here's she's 5'5".

God, I am now older than April was in the original cartoon. I was only 3 years old when the OT began, and April was 28. So how am I now older than her?

Oh god.

How old is splinter in the 2014 and 2016 movies? Did it ever say?

In the Fred Wolf cartoon's third season, the episode Leatherhead premiered in had a moment where April comments that she's 28, which would mean she was around 26 when she first met the TMNT.

I doubt each season is a year though. For all we know the entire original cartoon just took place in 2-3 years, even if it was 10 seasons in real life.

I always assumed it was more like the Simpsons timeline, considering how contradictory it could be. Like how Sideshow Bob can a have a son older than Maggie, even though he had to be born after Maggie.

Doesn't DC call those kind of shenanigans "hypertime" or something?

Seasons 1-4 are basically one year. Starting in Summer and ending around Easter (hokum episodes).

5 and 6 pick up after that, taking us through Halloween (Super Irma). Then 7 should end around summer, making it a full 2 years. After that, I don't care enough about Red Sky to break down the timeline.

Nice attention to detail, Nines! Boy, those Turtles had no shortage of excitement during that year.

It's worth also noting that April celebrated her first anniversary at Channel 6 in Season 3's "Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers," and Michelangelo recognized a "birthday" (whatever that means for him) in Season 3. "Donatello's Degree" (Season 4) features a banner with a "Class of '94" on it, but seeing as how "Sopho U" is probably a scam school anyway... it's easily retconed, in my mind.