Characters' Ages in Your Headcanon

[That Duckfan]

Jul 2, 2021 10:48:41 GMT LP said:

But if HDL still mentally develop, why wouldn't they be able to graduate until after they physically continue the aging process?

The physical aging process is a bit of a red herring, and something that happens 'off-screen' anyway. In fact, the only glimpse we get of the nephews in college (Return to Duckburg Place) still shows them at a young age. It doesn't necessarily preclude them from going to college, they'd still have to reach college age first, which would be in the early '60s. Given how little time we see them in school, it might have taken them a few years extra before they could enter university.

Anyway, it's more of an excuse to have more stories where Donald lives home alone.

And if they are really adults in children's bodies during "the later years", it would be a bit odd if they were to fall in love with someone who is a *real* child. (Although, I'm not sure if there actually are any stories where HDL fall in love during that era.)

Ah, but they don't. If it doesn't happen on the page, it doesn't happen.

(If you want to get real finicky about it, I guess I could whip something up about their social and hormonal development being paused while they still mature through wisdom and experience. It's a bit 13 going on 30 but it'll have to make do.)

Also, if the other adults still age, Grandma Duck would be something like 110+ years by the end. She didn't drink from the fountain, did she? I don't know during what years Barks used April, May, and June, but I don't think they drank either, so that could potentially pose a problem for the theory too.

They don't appear often enough for there to be a noticeable difference. Grandma is long-lived no matter how you put it. I think her latest appearance in my timeline is in the flashback to The Fantastic River Race, which occurs some time after the opening of Disneyland. Blackheart Beagle is actually worse in this regard, but that's Rosa's own doing!
April, May, and June don't appear nearly enough for this to be a problem --- I've had more trouble fitting Pluto in!

[juicymcduck]

Jul 2, 2021 15:58:23 GMT That Duckfan said:

Jul 2, 2021 10:48:41 GMT LP said:

But if HDL still mentally develop, why wouldn't they be able to graduate until after they physically continue the aging process?

The physical aging process is a bit of a red herring, and something that happens 'off-screen' anyway. In fact, the only glimpse we get of the nephews in college (Return to Duckburg Place) still shows them at a young age.

Do you... actually take Duckburg Place into account? I only read it once, but I wish I hadn't. It's so... mean-spirited. Thankfully, it's just a parody, so I don't have to live with it.

[sim]

Donald is almost thirty in this 1990 strip and this is the best age for him to me.

My take is that he is less than 20 in Gottfredson's, in 1930s William Ward's stories he is considered a "kid" if I remember correctly and he is about 20/20something to me in Pedrocchi's stories.

Scrooge is somewhere between 75 (I remember this from a Barks one-pager) and 85
Grandma is more than 80
Gyro is 5-10 years older than Donald
Gladstone/Daisy/Fethry are all about Donald's age
Gus is younger
Rockerduck is 70/75
Flintheart is at least 75/80
Jubal Pomp is around 50/55
Brigitta is 60/65 at least
HDL are like 5/7 in the '30/early 40s production, but they can reach 10/12 sometimes
Horace and Clarabelle are older to me, but they are said to have been at high school with Donald and Daisy in some W stories
Beagle Boys are 30/35
Emil Eagle is 45/50

Edit: Scrooge oddly states to be sixty in this 1978 strip.

[Daniel Maline]

We have some information about when Donald was born:

- Donald Duck was born on March 13th (Donald's Happy Birthday / According to Carl Barks)

- Donald Duck's birthday was Friday the 13th when he was born (According to Walt Disney)

- In March 24, 1941, Donald Duck is (possibly) old enough to be drafted into the U.S. Army (Donald gets drafted)

- Donald Duck was born between 1909 and 1930 and met his uncle for the first time in 1930 (According to Don Rosa)

- During the five specific years, Friday was March 13th; in 1908, 1914, 1925, 1931 and 1936

Based on this data, the years 1908 and 1914 are too early and the years 1931 and 1936 are too late. The only possible year when Donald was born then was 1925. That would mean Donald is 5 years old in 1930, 9 years old in 1934, 16 years old in 1941 (maybe Donald successfully lied about his age to become an aviator), 22 years old in 1947 and 26 years old in 1951.

[sim]

Nov 15, 2021 4:18:09 GMT Daniel Maline said:

We have some information about when Donald was born:

- Donald Duck was born on March 13th (Donald's Happy Birthday / According to Carl Barks)

- Donald Duck's birthday was Friday the 13th when he was born (According to Walt Disney)

- In March 24, 1941, Donald Duck is (possibly) old enough to be drafted into the U.S. Army (Donald gets drafted)

- Donald Duck was born between 1909 and 1930 and met his uncle for the first time in 1930 (According to Don Rosa)

- During the five specific years, Friday was March 13th; in 1908, 1914, 1925, 1931 and 1936

Based on this data, the years 1908 and 1914 are too early and the years 1931 and 1936 are too late. The only possible year when Donald was born then was 1925. That would mean Donald is 5 years old in 1930, 9 years old in 1934, 16 years old in 1941 (maybe Donald successfully lied about his age to become an aviator), 22 years old in 1947 and 26 years old in 1951.

I think your post is slightly OT, I mean we are supposed to say what we feel the characters are when we read the stories, not to calculate their age on the basis of some data contained in stories in order to establish some kind of continuity.

Anyway, if you prefer considering evidences (though contradictory):

- in I TL  377-A, Donald is said to be born on Friday the 5th of May (1922? 1933? 1939?)
- in YD 80-03-19, Donald is said to be a scorpio, therefore he should be born between October the 23rd and November the 22nd

Pretty hard to conciliate, huh?

I deem that the aim of this topic is not to look for evidences on birth dates and such, but to say what you feel about the character's ages based on their behavior... at least that's what I did, posting the two strips only because: 1. the Donald one shared my idea and 2. the Scrooge one was quite impossible to my headcanon (but not because Rosa, or whoever else, said that Scrooge is older than sixty)

[Daniel Maline]

Nov 15, 2021 10:48:50 GMT sim said:

Nov 15, 2021 4:18:09 GMT Daniel Maline said:

We have some information about when Donald was born:

- Donald Duck was born on March 13th (Donald's Happy Birthday / According to Carl Barks)

- Donald Duck's birthday was Friday the 13th when he was born (According to Walt Disney)

- In March 24, 1941, Donald Duck is (possibly) old enough to be drafted into the U.S. Army (Donald gets drafted)

- Donald Duck was born between 1909 and 1930 and met his uncle for the first time in 1930 (According to Don Rosa)

- During the five specific years, Friday was March 13th; in 1908, 1914, 1925, 1931 and 1936

Based on this data, the years 1908 and 1914 are too early and the years 1931 and 1936 are too late. The only possible year when Donald was born then was 1925. That would mean Donald is 5 years old in 1930, 9 years old in 1934, 16 years old in 1941 (maybe Donald successfully lied about his age to become an aviator), 22 years old in 1947 and 26 years old in 1951.

I think your post is slightly OT, I mean we are supposed to say what we feel the characters are when we read the stories, not to calculate their age on the basis of some data contained in stories in order to establish some kind of continuity.

Anyway, if you prefer considering evidences (though contradictory):

- in I TL  377-A, Donald is said to be born on Friday the 5th of May (1922? 1933? 1939?)
- in YD 80-03-19, Donald is said to be a scorpio, therefore he should be born between October the 23rd and November the 22nd

Pretty hard to conciliate, huh?

I deem that the aim of this topic is not to look for evidences on birth dates and such, but to say what you feel about the character's ages based on their behavior... at least that's what I did, posting the two strips only because: 1. the Donald one shared my idea and 2. the Scrooge one was quite impossible to my headcanon (but not because Rosa, or whoever else, said that Scrooge is older than sixty)

OP asked what the age of the character is in my headcanon and I also explained how I count my headcanon age of Donald. But that is only my own opinion and not a scientific fact. To make it simple, I have to rule out some contradictions. But my headcanon is just one opinion among others. And you have the right to your own opinion and headcanon age of the characters. Just because I have an opinion doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your own opinion.

[sim]

Jul 2, 2017 15:28:02 GMT drakeborough said:

As for Ratchet, I'll add a piece of info to this discussion: Rosa never gave him a birth date, but in the extra material related to the Fanomius series Ratchet is said to be born in 1863, which would put his age as 17-19 in Lo$ part 2, 19 in the Barks story, and 20 in Lo$ part 3b.

I don't know if you still browse this forum, but I am wondering where this info comes from. I am reading Copernico's chronology in the third volume of the Definitive Collection and it just says that in 1863 he starts his career as an inventor. No mention of Ratchet...

[alquackskey]

Jun 22, 2023 17:31:56 GMT sim said:

Jul 2, 2017 15:28:02 GMT drakeborough said:

As for Ratchet, I'll add a piece of info to this discussion: Rosa never gave him a birth date, but in the extra material related to the Fanomius series Ratchet is said to be born in 1863, which would put his age as 17-19 in Lo$ part 2, 19 in the Barks story, and 20 in Lo$ part 3b.

I don't know if you still browse this forum, but I am wondering where this info comes from. I am reading Copernico's chronology in the third volume of the Definitive Collection and it just says that in 1863 he starts his career as an inventor. No mention of Ratchet...

It may have come from this website?

www.salimbeti.com/paperinik/en/fantomallard.htm

There's a section here that says the following:
"In 1864 Copernicus married the ballerina Anastasia Anatryn and they have a son Ratchet Gearloose. A few years after some mysterious events his wife disappeared and the young Ratchet leaves Duckburg to look for her."

According to the website "In the third volume of the special PANINI COMICS; Fantomius-LADRO GENTILUOMO- is instead presented a card with the biography of Copernicus Gearloose and his family:"
however a lot of the information present is not in the volume itself
So maybe it was some kind of additional item or something?

[sim]

Jun 22, 2023 17:51:35 GMT alquackskey said:

Jun 22, 2023 17:31:56 GMT sim said:

I don't know if you still browse this forum, but I am wondering where this info comes from. I am reading Copernico's chronology in the third volume of the Definitive Collection and it just says that in 1863 he starts his career as an inventor. No mention of Ratchet...

It may have come from this website?

www.salimbeti.com/paperinik/en/fantomallard.htm

There's a section here that says the following:
"In 1864 Copernicus married the ballerina Anastasia Anatryn and they have a son Ratchet Gearloose. A few years after some mysterious events his wife disappeared and the young Ratchet leaves Duckburg to look for her."

According to the website "In the third volume of the special PANINI COMICS; Fantomius-LADRO GENTILUOMO- is instead presented a card with the biography of Copernicus Gearloose and his family:"
however a lot of the information present is not in the volume itself
So maybe it was some kind of additional item or something?

Oh, thanks, now I see... Salimbeti and Gervasio are personally connected, so it might just be that they discussed it privately (as for Samantha Gander being Gladstone's great-aunt). Might send a PM to Andrea tomorrow.

[sim]

Jun 22, 2023 17:51:35 GMT alquackskey said:

Jun 22, 2023 17:31:56 GMT sim said:

I don't know if you still browse this forum, but I am wondering where this info comes from. I am reading Copernico's chronology in the third volume of the Definitive Collection and it just says that in 1863 he starts his career as an inventor. No mention of Ratchet...

It may have come from this website?

www.salimbeti.com/paperinik/en/fantomallard.htm

There's a section here that says the following:
"In 1864 Copernicus married the ballerina Anastasia Anatryn and they have a son Ratchet Gearloose. A few years after some mysterious events his wife disappeared and the young Ratchet leaves Duckburg to look for her."

According to the website "In the third volume of the special PANINI COMICS; Fantomius-LADRO GENTILUOMO- is instead presented a card with the biography of Copernicus Gearloose and his family:"
however a lot of the information present is not in the volume itself
So maybe it was some kind of additional item or something?

Okay so, I asked Salimbeti and he told me that most of the things written on his site, though not officially published, comes from brainstorming sessions between Gervasio and himself.

[whitewater]

One thing that is quite odd is the age of Max Goof compared to Huey, Dewey, and Louie, if you believe in the comic versions of Huey, Dewey, and Louie they would have been born ca. 1935-1940, while Max apparently could have been born as early as 1950, or as late as 1981. Either way, it appears Max Goof is older, so I'm going to assume Goofy was born in the early 1900s to early 1910s.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Oct 8, 2024 3:27:06 GMT whitewater said:

One thing that is quite odd is the age of Max Goof compared to Huey, Dewey, and Louie, if you believe in the comic versions of Huey, Dewey, and Louie they would have been born ca. 1935-1940, while Max apparently could have been born as early as 1950, or as late as 1981. Either way, it appears Max Goof is older, so I'm going to assume Goofy was born in the early 1900s to early 1910s.

And that my friend is why we must separate the universes! The Huey, Dewey, and Louie who live in the same universe as Max Goof must not be the same Huey, Dewey, and Louie who were born in 1940. Nay, Max shares a universe with a Huey, Dewey, and Louie who are likewise "Gen Xers" born in the late 1970s/early 1980s, with their teenage years in Quack Pack transpiring roughly the same time as Max's own teenage angst depicted in A Goofy Movie. The Huey, Dewey, and Louie who were born in the late 1930s/early 1940s do not share a universe with any son of Goofy, and if they do, it's "George, Junior," who, as you say, was probably born in the late 1940s/early 1950s, making him much younger than the Duck triplets.

[jhv81]

Donald - 32
Scrooge - 85
HDL - 12
Mickey - 35
Goofy - 40
Gyro - 21
Daisy - 27
Grandma - 92

[sim]

Oct 18, 2024 9:12:24 GMT jhv81 said:

Donald - 32
Scrooge - 85
HDL - 12
Mickey - 35
Goofy - 40
Gyro - 21
Daisy - 27
Grandma - 92

Why would Gyro be so young? I've always seen him as older than Donald (except in Mastantuono's stories).

[jhv81]

Don Rosa's story Gyro's first invention