How Old Are The Cutie Mark Crusaders?

[Ganondox 899]

Unlike the Mane Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are notable because they are meant to stand in as surrogates for the target audience. I think people have a severe tendency to underestimate the age of the intended audience. While there is definitely 2 year olds watching the show, they aren't the target, the actual intended audience is much older. Based on the complexity of the plot and other traits, the intended audience is clearly older childhood, pre-adolescent, but fully operational (it's Piaget's term). That corresponds with roughly 6-10 years old. The question is where exactly in that rage the CMC were supposed to fall in earlier seasons, and if that still applies now. 

I think the CMC have always been supposed to be significantly older than most of us thought. There very first episode centered around Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera, which is obviously a parody quinceañera. Those parties are held at 15 years old, however, the CMC were obviously not supposed to be that old at that point. So here is what it really means: the quinceañera is one of many variations of coming of age rituals, which for girls were originally marked by the start of menstruation. 15 is just used as the year because most girls have had their first menses by then. The cute-ceañera works closer to a menstruation-celebration than a quinceañera based on the variable time factor, and indeed the moral of the episode was a veiled message that all kids go through puberty at different times and that's okay. Still, menstruation is a bit old for the target audience, I think the timing they were thinking of was the development of breasts as that occurs earlier and is more noticeable, which places the arrange of the CMC at around 8-13 as far as that metaphor is concerned. It's an imperfect metaphor, sure, but the audience is still supposed to be able to relate, and it's probably easier for the younger end of the audience to relate to someone a bit older than them than visa versa. That's places the CMC as corresponding to the upper-part of the target demographic, maybe roughly 9 years. 

Now, the CMC are clearly much older. Sweetie Belle's interests in Season 7 confirm that she's an older teenager now, as even younger teenagers wouldn't like black box theater unless they're REALLY advanced, but they still aren't adults yet. It's the last episode though that really struct me how old the CMC have grown. The young six appear to have replaced the CMC as the surrogates for the target audience, but they don't come across as being as nearly young as the CMC originally did, for example they kinda come across as being in a highschool setting, Sanbar comes across as being fairly mature, but he's still there, and Smolder went through dragon-puberty before Spike did even though he's probably the most mature of the younger cast. The most important thing is this episode established that the CMC are SIGNIFICANTLY more mature than the Young Six are. As such, there isn't really much room to place the CMC other than as upper classmen. Now I'd place them as being roughly 17. 

I noticed that when using these ages, the CMC have pretty much aged in real time with their target audience. I don't think the showtime is quite in real time, I think it's a bit slower, but that also works. Also, due to the CMC's role as the original audience surrogate, I think it makes perfect sense for them to age in roughly real time, so they continue to be relatable with the people who originally bonded with them. This contrasts to something like Harry Potter, where the characters ended up aging much slower so the people who were there from the start grew up before they did. By adding the Student Six, they also solved the problem of the CMC getting to old for the target audience, though I think the show has also matured as it went along, just as a deliberately slower rate. 

This leads to the last point, the ages of the student six. I think their supposed to be younger teenagers, just very immature for their age (except for Sandbar, in which case the only thing the CMC have over him is age). Internally this is because they come from backwards cultures (except Silverstream, who is just really immature :P), but the real reason is so the target audience can better relate with them. Smolder might be an exception, but dragon biology is weird. Mentally, Spike is probably supposed an emerging adult at this point, and even if he's biologically younger than Smolder (though he might not be, who knows, maybe he's just a slower grower, maybe Twilight accidentally slowed his growth through malnourishment ) he's significantly more mature, and I'd place him as snarky teen in season 1. That guy is an odd guy to place, but I think he was always supposed to be a bit more mature than the CMC as he's not as much of a surrogate as they are. 

Agree with my assessment? Please comment.  

[heavens-champion 1,893]

At this point, it's probably futile to know how old the main characters are.

[StrawCherry 1,673]

I always imagined them to be something like 11-12 year old. It does make sense that they get older as time passes since birthdays are a thing in Equestria, so perhaps they are indeed nearing young adulthood.

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Whatever age they are (or were at the beginning), it doesn't make any sense (in universe) that they hadn't gone through a change of design and physically show they're teenagers by now.

[SharpWit 2,472]

They've bumped them up from like age 9 up to 12 or 13 when they should really be closer to 15. I don't think the show staff are too concerned with the passage of time. I mean look at Flurry Heart. Upon first appearance she looked older than Pumpkin and Pound Cake who were born prior to a Canterlot Wedding. Since the show is animated they just keep using the same pony bases because it's easier, whereas in a show like the original Full House, they had live actors and you can only attempt to make it look like a child character isn't aging for so long.

[Pr0m4NV14 837]

The show came out in 2007, right?

[Mortar 143]

I havent' seen S8 yet (come on, Netfiix!), so I just have the first seven to go by, but based on their behavior, I would definitely say they aren't in the teen years yet.  And you can't judge it be changes in interests.  That happens even at sub-teen years.  In fact, it happens quite rapidly sometimes.. I got four nephews who seemed to changed their interests almost on a monthly basis; soccer one month, karate the next... If I had to guess, I'd say they were around 10.

Another thing to consider is the lifespan of each group of ponies.  Celestia is over a thousand years old, though this may be an alicorn thing.  Unicorns and Pegasi are unknown, but since they are considered "magical" creatures, it's probably longer than Earth ponies.  Speaking of which, Earth ponies (equiv. to our ponies) live an average of 25-30 years.  Course, we don't know how long a year is on their world. 

[Nightfall Thunder 1,937]

3 minutes ago, Pr0m4NV14 said:

The show came out in 2007, right?

This generation came out in 2010, so close enough.

 

I always imagined that they were around 8/9 at the start, but they grew to be 12/13 by this point.

[Truffles 2,033]

11 hours ago, Ganondox said:

The most important thing is this episode established that the CMC are SIGNIFICANTLY more mature than the Young Six are. As such, there isn't really much room to place the CMC other than as upper classmen. Now I'd place them as being roughly 17.

They're only more mature when it comes to knowledge of friendship. Sandbar is definitely physically older than the CMC. Until we get the S6's backstories, we don't really know why they were enrolled in the school in the first place. Seeing the new character in the latest episode indicates the school take students from all ages, so it wouldn't surprise me if Sandbar was in his late teens.

But if he is, then it's unlikely the CMC can also be in their late teens due to the size difference. Also, they have yet to go through the spindly-legged adolescent form that we see with Snails and young Fluttershy at flight camp.

One thing we do know is what Sweetie Belle looked like at 5:

On the left is her looking back at herself on her 5th birthday. On the right is her very first appearance in the show in S1. Not much difference between her older forms, is there? XD

Yeah, the show is cheating by not making any physical changes to the CMC. But if we must accept there is a physical difference between her at age 5 and how she appeared back in S1, then we would have to accept there should be a physical difference between S1 and S8 since at least 3 years + another 9 months of the school existing must have gone by. (And, that amount of time will increase to 4+ years after we get the next HWE episode.)

So my point is until we see them move to the next form ponies take (spindly adolescent) then I can't really put them above age 14 at most, and I'm more inclined to leave them at age 13, which would make sense if they started out as 10-year olds - geared right for the tween market when the show premiered. Why 10? Doing the math and backtracking the amount of time that seems to have passed in the series is where I get that number.

As for Spike, this is why I cannot accept the Word of Faust that he was supposed to be 8 in S1. He's been more mature than the CMC in almost every instance of comparison. If the CMC started out as 10, then I would have started him at 12. It makes more sense he'd be 15 or 16 now, anyway, (it could be 16 due to the S2 birthday - that's a +1 aging effect between S1 and S4) just from observing the duties he's expected to perform at the school.

 

12 hours ago, Ganondox said:

Now, the CMC are clearly much older. Sweetie Belle's interests in Season 7 confirm that she's an older teenager now, as even younger teenagers wouldn't like black box theater unless they're REALLY advanced,

It may well be Sweetie Belle is in fact culturally advanced for her age - after all - look who she has for a sister. Certainly some of that knowledge and interest may rub off on her.

[Lunar Glow 674]

Off the top of my head I still view the CMC's at around 12-13 years old, even though they've obviously grown from that, but I can't imagine them being any older than 14. They still look exactly the same as they did when they were first introduced to FIM and still talk and interact basically the same way. I do admit it does make me a little antsy waiting for the animators to finally revise their look to fit their appropriate age.

[Ganondox 899]

3 hours ago, Mortar said:

I havent' seen S8 yet (come on, Netfiix!), so I just have the first seven to go by, but based on their behavior, I would definitely say they aren't in the teen years yet.  And you can't judge it be changes in interests.  That happens even at sub-teen years.  In fact, it happens quite rapidly sometimes.. I got four nephews who seemed to changed their interests almost on a monthly basis; soccer one month, karate the next... If I had to guess, I'd say they were around 10.

Another thing to consider is the lifespan of each group of ponies.  Celestia is over a thousand years old, though this may be an alicorn thing.  Unicorns and Pegasi are unknown, but since they are considered "magical" creatures, it's probably longer than Earth ponies.  Speaking of which, Earth ponies (equiv. to our ponies) live an average of 25-30 years.  Course, we don't know how long a year is on their world. 

It’s not the fact her interests changed, it’s what her new interests are. I’m guessing you don’t know what black box theater is. They are definitely past 10 at this point. 

No, we can’t assume pony aging matched exactly with human aging, but it’s supposed to be roughly analogous. 

2 hours ago, Truffles said:

They're only more mature when it comes to knowledge of friendship. Sandbar is definitely physically older than the CMC. Until we get the S6's backstories, we don't really know why they were enrolled in the school in the first place. Seeing the new character in the latest episode indicates the school take students from all ages, so it wouldn't surprise me if Sandbar was in his late teens.

But if he is, then it's unlikely the CMC can also be in their late teens due to the size difference. Also, they have yet to go through the spindly-legged adolescent form that we see with Snails and young Fluttershy at flight camp.

One thing we do know is what Sweetie Belle looked like at 5:

On the left is her looking back at herself on her 5th birthday. On the right is her very first appearance in the show in S1. Not much difference between her older forms, is there? XD

Yeah, the show is cheating by not making any physical changes to the CMC. But if we must accept there is a physical difference between her at age 5 and how she appeared back in S1, then we would have to accept there should be a physical difference between S1 and S8 since at least 3 years + another 9 months of the school existing must have gone by. (And, that amount of time will increase to 4+ years after we get the next HWE episode.)

So my point is until we see them move to the next form ponies take (spindly adolescent) then I can't really put them above age 14 at most, and I'm more inclined to leave them at age 13, which would make sense if they started out as 10-year olds - geared right for the tween market when the show premiered. Why 10? Doing the math and backtracking the amount of time that seems to have passed in the series is where I get that number.

As for Spike, this is why I cannot accept the Word of Faust that he was supposed to be 8 in S1. He's been more mature than the CMC in almost every instance of comparison. If the CMC started out as 10, then I would have started him at 12. It makes more sense he'd be 15 or 16 now, anyway, (it could be 16 due to the S2 birthday - that's a +1 aging effect between S1 and S4) just from observing the duties he's expected to perform at the school.

 

It may well be Sweetie Belle is in fact culturally advanced for her age - after all - look who she has for a sister. Certainly some of that knowledge and interest may rub off on her.

First, this post was made before the confirmation that the school was all ages, I just assumed the student group was around the same age. I don’t see how Sandbar is any less advanced than the CMC friendship wise, which is why I was assuming that someone there were just further in education.

Second, I’m not relying on their models at all because I don’t think they’d update their models. A gradual change is too hard, and a sudden change doesn’t make sense unless it’s in response to something like getting their cutie marks. 

Without my assumptions about the main six being older than the student six and assuming the showtime has passed at roughly half real your age range does make sense though.

Well, even if it did rub off from Rarity she wasn’t the direct cause as she didn’t even notice. I’d also assume it would take significant cognitive and emotional maturity to understand some of those plays, but I guess it depends on the performance and it’s not a strict requirement.

 

 

[Kadeda 178]

They gotta be teenagers at this point at minimum. I thought they were teenagers in season 7 and i damn sure think they are in season 8. .. expecially considering it's already been nine months since the school was opened a few episodes ago. They are just still using the same models for some reason...cause anything under like 14 or 15 is asinine at this point.

What i think is telling is how the other characters treat them lately. They treat them like high school students or young adults.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Kadeda

[starrymiss 114]

Yyyyeah, no. They behave like young children. Under 10, for sure. I'm watching Stare Master now, where Fluttershy has to babysit them, and there's noooo way someone 10 years or older acts the way the Crusaders do in that episode. They're young enough to have a babysitter, have a bedtime, and play dress-up/play with their imagination. Trying to justify them as 15+ years old is creepy, in my opinion. They're young children, not teenagers. Not by a long shot. Just because the show is episodic and has existed for years in real-life time, doesn't mean the in-show universe progresses in years as well. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by starrymiss

[TBD 17,228]

12 will be my best guess.

[Kadeda 178]

On 8/29/2018 at 4:38 PM, starrymiss said:

Yyyyeah, no. They behave like young children. Under 10, for sure. I'm watching Stare Master now, where Fluttershy has to babysit them, and there's noooo way someone 10 years or older acts the way the Crusaders do in that episode. They're young enough to have a babysitter, have a bedtime, and play dress-up/play with their imagination. Trying to justify them as 15+ years old is creepy, in my opinion. They're young children, not teenagers. Not by a long shot. Just because the show is episodic and has existed for years in real-life time, doesn't mean the in-show universe progresses in years as well. 

But there is proof all over that years have went by since the show started. That episode you speaking of happened in season one... YEARS and Years ago (at minimum five since there has been five heartswarming canonically). About a year (and most likely more) went by already just in season 8... and it's not even finished. The CMCs act like teenagers or young adults now... They even help teach at the friendship school. I think it's completely logical to think they are at least teenagers at this point.  They just haven't changed into an older body yet.

Trying to keep them to stay kids ignoring all of this is a bit creepy as well imo...

Edited September 1, 2018 by Kadeda

[sweetolebob18 724]

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 10:55 AM, Pr0m4NV14 said:

The show came out in 2007, right?

No, 2010

As to the Crusaders age, based on AJs part in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, AJs parents were already gone by the time of the first Rainboom

So, Apple Bloom must have already been born by then. IMO, that was 11 years before the pilot (too long to post why here).

IMO, they were about 12 during the pilot