Why do some people refer to Splinter as an old rat?

Originally Posted by Berserker

Because of the Jungian wise old man archetype.

With emphasis on "The wise old man can be a profound philosopher distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment.". That is splinter.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It's like this:

The Core Stuff:

Mirage/Source material: He's an old rat in the twilight of his life that gets mutated and becomes humanoid. Even though he becomes humanoid he is, of course, still an old rat, with a big question mark over his lifespan. As it turns out, he lived about 30 years in a mutated state before dying of natural causes.

Movie-verse: Same as Mirage, pretty much.

4Kids cartoon: Same as Mirage, pretty much.

IDW Universe:

He's a normal rat -- maybe old, maybe young, who knows -- who is mutated into humanoid form. In terms of being old or young, he can really be whatever the story dictates him to be, going forward.

The Nonsense Mutagen Universes:

Fred Wolf Cartoon: No, he's not that old. He's Hamato Yoshi himself, who was probably in his 30s when he was mutated. That a rat's DNA merges with his own is irrelevant to his human age -- he's still a relatively young guy.

Nickelodeon Cartoon: Same as above.

Though he seemed younger and more powerful in the 2K3 version. Then when the fighting stops, he reverts back to 'old man needs a rest' Splinter.

[JakeSully]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It's like this:

The Core Stuff:

Mirage/Source material: He's an old rat in the twilight of his life that gets mutated and becomes humanoid. Even though he becomes humanoid he is, of course, still an old rat, with a big question mark over his lifespan. As it turns out, he lived about 30 years in a mutated state before dying of natural causes.

Movie-verse: Same as Mirage, pretty much.

4Kids cartoon: Same as Mirage, pretty much.

IDW Universe:

He's a normal rat -- maybe old, maybe young, who knows -- who is mutated into humanoid form. In terms of being old or young, he can really be whatever the story dictates him to be, going forward.

The Nonsense Mutagen Universes:

Fred Wolf Cartoon: No, he's not that old. He's Hamato Yoshi himself, who was probably in his 30s when he was mutated. That a rat's DNA merges with his own is irrelevant to his human age -- he's still a relatively young guy.

Nickelodeon Cartoon: Same as above.

Preciously! you hit the nail on the head with those examples as he doesn't seem that old.

[Shredded]

New Splinter definetely seems younger than any past incarnations, and I think that has pros and cons to it.


What I initially said about this decision, and why I was hesitant about it, is that when you have an old Splinter, you also have a sense of warm.
The turtles has to be careful and respectful around the guy, he is old. So there is a bit of tenderness there.

Making Splinter younger, bigger and stronger, you remove that bit of tenderness, about the turtles having to be more careful.
Now they can be free to just tumble around, there's no way they are going to hurt or exhaust Splinter now.

At first I was hesitant about that, but now I realised it actually gives them the room to be actual careless teenagers, and in the nick show that really works.

As for the cane.. I suspect his complexion has some-thing to do with that! absolutely, I mean try and take a look.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Both in the TOS show and the 2k3 show, does Splinter have bend legs, like a Rat, legs that are designed, not to walk upright with, but to be on four legs with.
The way his legs are, he is forced to constantly bow forward, and even though he is able to walk without his stick, I am going to say it's a lot easier and less taxing for him to walk with it.

And I always thought 2k3 Splinter were around sixty some-thing. So yeah, kind of old.
All though not really sixty, only the equaliant of sixty as rats ages a lot more, he was an older rat when he got mutated, so possible around ten-eleven years (rats don't life longer mates.) Then got mutated, while being old and spend fifteen years raising turtles.

New Splinter I would say, late Fourtish? I'm just guessing he was in his thirties when he moved to New york, after he had gotten wife and child and been in the army and became a nin-jutsu master and all of that. Then spend fifteen years training turtles, so late fourtish?


That being said, I keep on wondering how the hell new Splinters complexion works, it's like the animators don't even know and uses that robe to hide his complexion, because they honestly don't know how to animate it.

He walks extremely up-right, unlike any former counterparts, so he can't have the usual bended rat legs, but then what does he have? He has feet's and hands like a rat, only four fingers.
I know it's a nit-pick, but it keeps coming up in my mind every-time I actually see him being a bit more physical.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It's like this:


The Nonsense Mutagen Universes:

Fred Wolf Cartoon: No, he's not that old. He's Hamato Yoshi himself, who was probably in his 30s when he was mutated. That a rat's DNA merges with his own is irrelevant to his human age -- he's still a relatively young guy.

Nickelodeon Cartoon: Same as above.

Except for the fact that Shredder refered to Splinter as "Old man." on several occasions, indicating that Splinter is a good deal older than Shredder.
There was also a slight indication that Splinter might had trained Shredders ones, and was definetely ranking higher than him originally at the foot-clan.

[miru]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

The Nonsense Mutagen Universes:

Fred Wolf Cartoon: No, he's not that old. He's Hamato Yoshi himself, who was probably in his 30s when he was mutated. That a rat's DNA merges with his own is irrelevant to his human age -- he's still a relatively young guy.

Nickelodeon Cartoon: Same as above.

"Nonsense Mutagen Universes" lol.

What about Next Mutation and Image.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by miru

"Nonsense Mutagen Universes" lol.

What about Next Mutation and Image.

Next Mutation was an extension of the movieverse.

Image was an extension of the Mirageverse.