Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-34129530-20140923205051/@comment-995426-20141109041029

The 2012 series seems to be shrugging when it comes to time, which is a shame since the Mirage series was so good at marking the passage of time and the impermanence of all things. They really should have let the characters age, just as their audience is aging; but I suppose that's harder to make the target audience really appreciate that when they are half the turtles' age.

(I think it was always a mistake to try to kiddify the franchise as they started doing in 1987 just so they could market and sell profitable toys in the name of capitalism. TMNT was...never really for little kids.  And many of the elements that appealed uniquely to adults are consistently watered down or lost in the attempt.  Also, adults were made to feel awkward for liking what people started to consider a "little kid" franchise that never really was one.  Too adult for the kids, and yet made to seem too kiddie for the adults.  But rambling in parentheses can be bad, so I digress. XD)

Though, who knows&mdash;perhaps the writers goofed and Mikey is seventeen.