Who is the eldest among the brothers?

[Shark_Blade]

Is there any official info on this?

Donnie seems the tallest. Does that makes him the eldest because he's grown more? That couldn't be necessarily true since even I'm a tad shorter than my little brother. Mikey seems the youngest.

Just because Leo leads, does that necessarily makes him the eldest? Does the way they act and think hints to their birth order?

My guess in order:

1. Raph
2. Leo
3. Donnie
4. Mikey

Normally I put Leo as the eldest, but now I thought that if anyone's able to be hot temper and went berserk at anytime, it's usually the eldest. Me being the example. In addition, Leo elected himself to be the leader in Nick's show, and not because he's the eldest. Usually being the eldest, you're automatically elected to lead just like what my parents do.

[Slade]

I actually agree with you, but I'm sure you will get a bunch of they're all 15 answers.

[gobo]

In at least a couple incarnations, Leo is the oldest.

[BabyTurtles]

I thought it was

1) Leo---cause he's the most responsible, level-headed, leader
2) Raph----cause he's the toughest, very protective....but has a bad temper
3) Donnie---cause he's smart....but kinda wimpy XD
4) Mikey---he's the shortest most immature and very dependent on the others

Donnie and Raph could be the same.....but since Raph seems to be alpha over Donnie...I put him as older lol

as for Leo...I always thought he was the big brother....cause in the 2007 movie Raph called him big brother

[Jester]

Some theories abound that Leo and Raph are the same age, making Raph's angry rebellious streak more of a "Why's Leo so great? I could be the leader too!" attitude.

[DonatelloNinja82]

I look at it as Leo, Raph, Don, then Mike.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Hasn't this been done before? In this version it appears they're all the "same age", at least from Splinter celebrating their "Mutatuion Day" in the first ep as if it was a birthday. But in other incarnations, it's always seemed to be Leo, then Raph, then Don, and Mike as the youngest.

[TurtleTitan97]

In the motion comic on Nick, Splinter says Leo's the oldest, followed by Raph, Donnie, then Mikey.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Hasn't this been done before?

A thousand times. Just wait for the 15,000th "Who is your favorite Turtle?" thread.

[gobo]

I always figured Donatello to be second-oldest in the OT. Of course, they weren't brothers in that iteration.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Lol! Yeah, right?! To quote Mikey- "It was a JOKE!" I've seen this question so many times I've lost count. To be honest, I'm more curious about their actual "birthdays" than who's supposedly older. We've heard that line often enough to know the order, so I'd be more interested in what actual dates they were "born"(hatched). I have a tentative set of birthdays picked for them, but I'd like to see what b-days others would give them. Zodiac signs and elemental afilliations/personal birth-numbers played a big part in how I did it, but I'd like to know if there are any official canon dates around. I saw a thread for that somewhere, but it didn't seem to have any difinitive answers.

[Jester]

It's occasionally referenced that they were brothers in the FW toon. There's Splinter mentioning Donatello's "Brother Turtles", there's the babyized Turtles calling the normal ones "Big Brother." (Although they called Splinter Uncle...)
The only Turtle series to completely undo the Brotherhood was Next Mutation.
I never saw them as biological brothers, anyway, but rather a family by adoption.

EDIT: I think the only definitive dates were on the old Playmates card backs. Or did the RPG guide have birthdays?
EDIT the 2nd: Not dates...just ages on Playmates packaging. Leo's 16, Mikey's 15 1/2, and Don and Raph are 15.

[gobo]

Exactly. But, a handful of suggestions out of 192 eps doesn't make it so. Remmber Splinter once called April "my child"? It's a pretty safe bet that they aren't related.

[Pterobat]

As screwy as continuity and things can get, wouldn't four baby turtles being sold at the same time be from the same clutch of eggs?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Huh. That would make Mikey older than both of them, if true. He sure don't ACT like it, though!

Honestly, I'd be surprised if they WEREN'T biologically related. Pet stores get most of their stock from breeding farms or private breeders, and especially with fish or reptiles, they are usually sold in batches of animals from the same hatching or from several clutches that hatch around the same time- mostly because that's how they're kept/raised until shipped to the shop. This is so that older and larger animals don't crowd out or attack the smaller and younger ones (or eat all the food). And since turtles can lay fairly large clutches of eggs at one time, or even several in one season, it would be likely that one female could supply the eggs for several shops in just one or two layings. Which would mean that all those eggs would have been incubated together. Also, most breeders work with a limited amount of space, and thus a small breeding stock- usually just a few breeding-age animals. Large-scale farms are mostly a thing of the past, as the industry cracked down on farms decades ago for animal safety reasons.

Chances are, they probably WERE all from the same mother (even if she mated with more than one male and they hatched out at slightly different times). At least that's how I've always seen them. It helps to know a bit about how the pet industry works. (Thanks mom, for raising all those hamsters!!!) I even tried getting into it myself once- but failed miserably when the male Bettas I was breeding would EAT the eggs they were supposed to be gaurding.... Or get too rough with the females and end up killing them trying to mate. I gave up after just a few tries.

Edit: And yes, what Pterobat said is true. They most likely would be.

[chrisdude]

I can see how, by traits, people guess that Leo the oldest, and Mikey is the youngest. I don't, however, see why people seem to think Raph is older than Donnie.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Competetive middle-child syndrome? Just a guess. It makes more sense if he's second-oldest, instead of second-youngest. Donnie's got the comfortable spot of not having to compete with the other two, and get left alone to do his own thing. It's the logical choice.

[Gwydion]

Originally Posted by TurtleTitan97

In the motion comic on Nick, Splinter says Leo's the oldest, followed by Raph, Donnie, then Mikey.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I'm unaware if it's ever mentioned in any other versions of TMNT, but for the Nick show, this is actually the official order (so long as the online comic is considered "canon", I suppose - who knows, the cartoon could undo this down the road).

[chrisdude]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Competetive middle-child syndrome? Just a guess. It makes more sense if he's second-oldest, instead of second-youngest. Donnie's got the comfortable spot of not having to compete with the other two, and get left alone to do his own thing. It's the logical choice.

Makes sense, in the general TMNT multiverse.

Originally Posted by Gwydion

Yeah, I noticed that too. I'm unaware if it's ever mentioned in any other versions of TMNT, but for the Nick show, this is actually the official order (so long as the online comic is considered "canon", I suppose - who knows, the cartoon could undo this down the road).

And I'll buy this as, 'canon until overwritten.'

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Huh. That would make Mikey older than both of them, if true. He sure don't ACT like it, though!

Honestly, I'd be surprised if they WEREN'T biologically related. Pet stores get most of their stock from breeding farms or private breeders, and especially with fish or reptiles, they are usually sold in batches of animals from the same hatching or from several clutches that hatch around the same time- mostly because that's how they're kept/raised until shipped to the shop. This is so that older and larger animals don't crowd out or attack the smaller and younger ones (or eat all the food). And since turtles can lay fairly large clutches of eggs at one time, or even several in one season, it would be likely that one female could supply the eggs for several shops in just one or two layings. Which would mean that all those eggs would have been incubated together. Also, most breeders work with a limited amount of space, and thus a small breeding stock- usually just a few breeding-age animals. Large-scale farms are mostly a thing of the past, as the industry cracked down on farms decades ago for animal safety reasons.

Chances are, they probably WERE all from the same mother (even if she mated with more than one male and they hatched out at slightly different times). At least that's how I've always seen them. It helps to know a bit about how the pet industry works. (Thanks mom, for raising all those hamsters!!!) I even tried getting into it myself once- but failed miserably when the male Bettas I was breeding would EAT the eggs they were supposed to be gaurding.... Or get too rough with the females and end up killing them trying to mate. I gave up after just a few tries.

Edit: And yes, what Pterobat said is true. They most likely would be.

Although made just for comedy, the 1988 toys bio cards lists the turtles from different pet stores.