How does it feel to be significantly older than the Turtles?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by srmff

I don't have much of an issue with the turtles' ages but I'm still in my early 20s so it might hit me eventually. I found it weird when I sat down and watched the shows about pre-teens teenagers and realised that I was older than the cast. It felt like the teenagers in those shows dealing with dating, etc. would always be older than me. There was an Australian soap that I used to watch just because it used to air right before The Simpsons. I found it really strange that I was older than the teen cast of the show. Love Island was another show where it seemed crazy that these people were younger than me.

Just as an anecdote, I remember that I was by myself at a pub for a while when I was 18. There was a 30 year old sitting beside me and he started up a conversation. I just naively assumed that he was being friendly since I was by myself. Even when he bought me a drink, I didn't think anything of it. I was caught totally off guard when he asked me out. He was quite persistant but I was hesitant to say that he was too old for me in case I'd offend him. I just said that I was focusing on college at the moment and not looking to date as an excuse and that I like to stay in. I had enough when he said that we could stay in together. So yeah, I found it a bit weird that a 30 year old was looking to date me when I would obviously have so much less life experience than him.

There was this comic strip series I really liked when I was around 15. It was called Zits. It was about a teenage boy named Jeremy Duncan and the struggles of his teenage years. There was another comic strip with teenage characters that I loved which as called Foxtrot, but that one didn't focus on teenagers and their problems. It focused on a family of 5 peculiar individuals and the relationship between the. So Zits brought something new to the table at the time by having things like Jeremy being embarrassed of being seen in public with his parents, for example.

Fast forward to 15 years later and Zits no longer resonates much with me. But I still love Foxtrot. You know why? Because I no longer relate to the premise of Zits and the teenage problems of Jeremy Duncan. Meanwhile, Peter Fox and Paige Fox are still pretty funny to me, even if they're both HS students.

It really depends on the series and what its themes and where its focus is on. I mean, Calvin is 6 years old and yet Calvin and Hobbes is still great to me because Calvin is not an ordinary 6 year old boy.

I guess it's easier to relate to younger characters in media when the focus isn't so much on their age or the struggles and issues typically associated with people of their age bracket. A HS sports anime series like Haikyuu is more enjoyable and relatable to my 30 year old self than, let's say, the first two American Pie movies.

[CyberCubed]

Sailor Moon is only 14 when the anime starts and she is saving the world. A 14 year old girl should not be fighting monsters and saving the planet.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Sailor Moon is only 14 when the anime starts and she is saving the world. A 14 year old girl should not be fighting monsters and saving the planet.

Yeah, but destiny is a bitch like that. Fourteen or not, if the powers that be says you gotta fight alien demons and horseshit like that, you damn well better do it.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Sailor Moon is only 14 when the anime starts and she is saving the world. A 14 year old girl should not be fighting monsters and saving the planet.

What about Link who's only 10 years old in some of the Zelda games such as Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker etc?

A lot of the heroes in video games and anime are kids/teenagers because that's the main audience of the series. Kids will relate better to Sailor Moon or Naruto than to a 30+ year old protagonist, I suppose.

Part of the appeal of Sonic over Mario for a lot of kids back in the early 90s was probably the fact Sonic was much younger than Mario who's closer to middle age. Sure, that wasn't the only factor, but I'm sure it helped make the hedgehog look cooler and more relatable to kids than Mario.

[CyberCubed]

I'm actually watching Sailor Moon Crystal right now, the 2014 remake, and it's kinda baffling Usagi is 14 as well as the others yet they're all drawn like 18 year olds and the camera constantly pans their legs and ass making them look even older. Not to mention Usagi has a pretty large chest for a 14 year old and it's noticeable when she wears that dress in the fourth episode.

I never understood why anime doesn't make characters look their age. Does nobody writing/animating these shows know what teens look like in real life?

[Prowler]

I haven't watched Crystal yet. Heard it's a more faithful adaptation of the manga l. The original anime series had a lot of stuff that wasn't in the manga like more downtime and humour to get to know the characters better. The manga was more serious.

I've heard mixed opinions about Crystal. People miss the downtime and humour of the 90s anime series and people have also criticised the quality of the animation sometimes.

[CyberCubed]

It's only 39 eps long, so each series is condensed to basically the manga plotlines. But there's still humor/funny character interactions in most episodes. The animation was improved on the DVD releases over the TV airings fixing the animation errors, Toei did the same with Dragon Ball Super.

[Prowler]

As for the way the Senshi are designed, Naoko Takeuchi, the woman who created the series, said the reason she gave the girls those sailor skirts to show off their legs was to make them sex symbols in addition to being heroines.

Sailor Moon is obviously primarily aimed at girls. But one can also tell Naoko came up with ways to attract some male audience to the series as well. Mako/Jupiter being quite busty and Rei/Mars being very pretty isn't a coincidence. Nor is Minako/Venus flirtatious nature.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

30 isn't old anymore.

But 40 is definitely old. I hate 40+ year olds. When I eventually hit 40 I'm just going to always say, "I am 32" and leave it at that. 40 year olds are creepy, they're like that weird interval between being young in your 30's and before you hit middle age at 50.

Bite me, Cubed. I can safely say that at 44, I'm healthier and have a fuller life than you do, middle-aged or not. And yes, 40's is "mid-life", but it's by no means "old"!

[Prowler]

Some people still feel young as ever in their 80s. They tend to be the healthier kind of 80 year olds who still don't need any help to get up and move, though. But at that age, you can suddenly be 100% one day and next day you can end up in a wheelchair forever because you slipped and fell in the ground and broke a leg. And when you're that old, breaking a bone can basically change everything. It's never going back to normal.

[Last Ronin]

I want to be at CyberCubed's 40th birthday but I guess since he's gonna always be 30 I'll be dead by then.

[PurpleMusic]

I always considered Mirage to be the status quo, so I'm pretty much comfortable with picturing the turtles as early-30s right alongside me. Then in time I can just choose to identify with the older future turtles when I'm living alone in a swamp like Raph or something... (Also Sailor Mercury is clearly where it's at)

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by PurpleMusic

I always considered Mirage to be the status quo, so I'm pretty much comfortable with picturing the turtles as early-30s right alongside me. Then in time I can just choose to identify with the older future turtles when I'm living alone in a swamp like Raph or something... (Also Sailor Mercury is clearly where it's at)

LOL nice mention of Mercury there.

When I first watched Sailor Moon as a kid, Mars clearly became my favourite and still is to this day. I also liked Jupiter and Mercury. Venus and Moon a little less because I found them a little too obnoxious and stupid at times. But Venus is fine in the manga and the PGSM live action series.

[Coola Yagami]

The funny thing though is, for being cowardly and crying all the time, Usagi does act pretty like any normal 14 year old would that is suddenly thrown into a world where she now has to fight monsters and such. It's the other girls that surprise me because other than being 14 (or 15? I always felt Usagi looked and acted a year younger than the others) they seem to somehow quickly embrace the superheroine role without much fear and whatnot.

But yeah Japan loves to make their main characters young. It always surprised me how Seiya and Ichigo are kids, especially Ichigo who seems to be considerably older as the series goes on, but it's more like art evolution and not that years have actually gone by.

Another thing I notice is that characters like Ichigo and Sailor Jupiter seem to look like young adults on their own until they're sharing the screen with actual adults, then you can see the difference.



Being in my 40's, I don't feel that different than when I was younger, except now I can actually afford the stuff I want and there's no one that can tell me what to do.

I guess the only downside is age is finally starting to catch up to me. While I might not look 40, I don't exactly look 25 like I used to. I do try to mind my own business and keep to myself. It only sucks back in the day when we were still in the building and the 20-somethings would start talking about anime or superheroes. Part of me holds back from jumping in cause I don't want to come off as the 'weird creepy old guy' or whatever.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

It only sucks back in the day when we were still in the building and the 20-somethings would start talking about anime or superheroes. Part of me holds back from jumping in cause I don't want to come off as the 'weird creepy old guy' or whatever.

Don't worry, you were probably already coming off as weird & creepy when you were young.

[Zulithe]

It's weird to think about. But it's a lot weirder to think about how ages applies to other things, Like music for example.

Like how about Kurt Cobain had 3 solid studio albums, with a lot more live albums, countless concert performances and interviews, all of which I still listen to and feel are relevant and occasionally even glean more insight from... all while being in his 20s (died at 27) and yet I'm quite a bit older than that now.

You spend so much of your younger life looking up to things. As a kid, maybe it was TMNT. You get a little older, and maybe it's a band or some other artist. Eventually you get to an age where you're older than so many of your influences and heroes. Some might say, you are supposed to shed those skins and move on as you grow, but I haven't found it that simple.

[CyberCubed]

Eh, liking superheroes or anime or videogames is a lot more socially acceptable now than it was in the early 2000's or 90's. Back then the "comic book nerd" stereotype was true because it seemed most "normal people' did not read comics or watch cartoons, and most didn't play videogames. I remember back in the 90's if you were a teenager and still played videogames you were viewed as some sort of social outcast. It's so weird because nobody would ever say that today.

Nowadays it seems everyone, including females, are into anime, superheroes, videogames, etc. It definitely didn't used to be this way if you grew up in the 90's or even the very early 2000's. You used to be considered, "a loser with no life who lives in your parents basement" if you were say older than 17 and still did these things.

[sdp]

This is a 14 year old in anime , artists just draw the characters as they want and give them arbitrary ages, I never think much of fictional character ages and find it creepy how people become obsessed about it.

[ABrown]

Thank the lord that today it's socially acceptable to be into TMNT at the age of 40 (as I'll be in two months).

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

The funny thing though is, for being cowardly and crying all the time, Usagi does act pretty like any normal 14 year old would that is suddenly thrown into a world where she now has to fight monsters and such. It's the other girls that surprise me because other than being 14 (or 15? I always felt Usagi looked and acted a year younger than the others) they seem to somehow quickly embrace the superheroine role without much fear and whatnot.

But yeah Japan loves to make their main characters young. It always surprised me how Seiya and Ichigo are kids, especially Ichigo who seems to be considerably older as the series goes on, but it's more like art evolution and not that years have actually gone by.

Another thing I notice is that characters like Ichigo and Sailor Jupiter seem to look like young adults on their own until they're sharing the screen with actual adults, then you can see the difference.



Being in my 40's, I don't feel that different than when I was younger, except now I can actually afford the stuff I want and there's no one that can tell me what to do.

I guess the only downside is age is finally starting to catch up to me. While I might not look 40, I don't exactly look 25 like I used to. I do try to mind my own business and keep to myself. It only sucks back in the day when we were still in the building and the 20-somethings would start talking about anime or superheroes. Part of me holds back from jumping in cause I don't want to come off as the 'weird creepy old guy' or whatever.

You're right. Usagi being immature and taking a while to fully accept her heroine role is actually rather realistic. Kids don't want to bear such a big responsibility.

Well, on the Internet you're never too sure how old someone is at first unless they tell you or have their photo as their pfp. On these forums alone you've most likely discussed turtles and movies with people old enough to be your kids and it didn't come across as strange.

Originally Posted by Zulithe

It's weird to think about. But it's a lot weirder to think about how ages applies to other things, Like music for example.

Like how about Kurt Cobain had 3 solid studio albums, with a lot more live albums, countless concert performances and interviews, all of which I still listen to and feel are relevant and occasionally even glean more insight from... all while being in his 20s (died at 27) and yet I'm quite a bit older than that now.

You spend so much of your younger life looking up to things. As a kid, maybe it was TMNT. You get a little older, and maybe it's a band or some other artist. Eventually you get to an age where you're older than so many of your influences and heroes. Some might say, you are supposed to shed those skins and move on as you grow, but I haven't found it that simple.

I don't feel that way because I don't think any musician has ever been my hero. And some of my favourite musicians are twice my age, so I don't run into that problem.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Eh, liking superheroes or anime or videogames is a lot more socially acceptable now than it was in the early 2000's or 90's. Back then the "comic book nerd" stereotype was true because it seemed most "normal people' did not read comics or watch cartoons, and most didn't play videogames. I remember back in the 90's if you were a teenager and still played videogames you were viewed as some sort of social outcast. It's so weird because nobody would ever say that today.

Nowadays it seems everyone, including females, are into anime, superheroes, videogames, etc. It definitely didn't used to be this way if you grew up in the 90's or even the very early 2000's. You used to be considered, "a loser with no life who lives in your parents basement" if you were say older than 17 and still did these things.

In the 90s teenagers playing videogames wasn't socially accepted? That's not true. My brother was bron in 1983 and was playing on his N64 in the late 90s and his Game Boy Color as well and he never struggled at making friends in school. Pretty sure most of his peers were into games too.

What was different back then and until social media and smartphones took over around 2010-2012 was that it was less socially acceptable to spend all your free time at home playing games and/or browsing the Internet. When I was a teenager in the mid-late 2000s I felt the disapproval from my peers when I told them I spent my weekends and such browsing the Internet all day instead of going outside to meet up with my friends or something. And liking videogames too much also wasn't seen as cool. Playing games itself was fine, but not when it was your only hobby. If you didn't have friends and didn't party or drink you were deemed uncool and a "geek".