What About The Hardys' ages?

[Frank rules]

We are nearing 30 UBs and we don't even know how old they are. Does that say "shoddy writting" to anyone? I mean who writes a series and doesn't even tell how old the characters are?And what about Joes' hair? First, it is blond, then brown, then blond again. Which is it? 

[hardy boys fan]

i think joe is 17 and frank is 18. joe's hair is blonde

[SDLagent]

If it wans't for the other Hardy Boys series you wouldn't even know that. Who knows how old they are in the UB...

[Frank rules]

I'm with response #2. If it weren't for the oher HB series, we wouldn't even be able to assume their ages and/ or hair color. For that matter, if we didn't have the other series, we probably wouldn't even bother picking the books up. 

[tomswift2002]

In the Undercover Brothers series it seems that the Hardy Boys are as young as twelve and thirteen in one book, while in another they are sixteen and seventeen.  And I agree, it is shoddy writing. 

But you have to remember that in the other series the Hardy's are these ages:

Frank and Joe Hardy:/The Hardy Boys Are: The Clues Brothers (1997-2000): Joe 7, Frank 8

The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories (1927-1979): Joe is 15 and Frank is 16 in the 1927 Tower Treasure, and grew too 17 and 18 (possible 19), respectively by The Great Airport Mystery (1930).  In the revised texts, the boys are 16 and 17 in Tower Treasure/House On The Cliff, and then grow to 17 and 18 in the remaining volumes.

The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories (1979-2005): Joe 17, Frank 18.

The Hardy Boys Casefiles (1987-1998): 17 & 18

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery'88/Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thriller (1988-1998): Joe/Bess 17, Frank/Nancy/George/Tom 18

The Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers/Super Mystery/Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mystery'07 (2005-): Unspecified, but it seems to range from 12 & 13 to 16 & 17.

[JoeHardyRocks]

We are nearing 30 UBs and we don't even know how old they are. Does that say "shoddy writting" to anyone? I mean who writes a series and doesn't even tell how old the characters are?And what about Joes' hair? First, it is blond, then brown, then blond again. Which is it? 

I believe we've had this discussion before.....

[HB@1718]

They have to be 16 or older in the UBs because it says they both have their licenses.

[FrankJoeATAC]

In a digest that I read, it says that Joe is 17 and has blonde hair, and Frank is 18.

[SDLagent]

Yes, we know they are 17 and 18 in the Bluespines, Digests, and Casefiles. It's said that hundreds of times. But we don't know if that's how old they are in the UB, considering the Hardys are 15 and 16 in the first books, and 8 and 9 in the Clues Brothers.

[ronnydice]

Do you ever get tired of saying that?

[hardygirl847]

I haven't read that many HB books other than Casefiles. I do know though that half of what they do and say correlates with being at least a teenager. So you would think that all of these ghost writers and such would keep them at least that age or older. I have a hard time picturing a 12 yr. old or a 13 yr old in some of those situations. True, they can have different scenarios but still...late teens or early 20s even would make more sense.

That's what they should do if they ever had a GOOD movie about them.

Off topic, but I am sooo against Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller playing WAY older and WAY shorter versions of my boys!

[iheartmystery]

In a digest that I read, it says that Joe is 17 and has blonde hair, and Frank is 18.

Yep, thats what I've always heard and I'm stickin to it lol.

[MacGyver]

In a digest that I read, it says that Joe is 17 and has blonde hair, and Frank is 18.


Yep, thats what I've always heard and I'm stickin to it lol.

To me- this is the standard description for Joe and Frank Hardy. Joe at 17 with blond hair and Frank at 18 with brown hair. I know those ages have changed over the years in different books and all- but it is what was used through the Digests, Casefiles and most of the Revised Grossett & Dunlap books- and that's what I'm most familiar with- so I stick with that. But I realize that they have different ages depending on which books you're reading of course.

[Olivia]

The only exception I make is for the UBs.

I know the books aren't consistent but (and I know I've said this several times) something in a couple of the books had me assume, or come to the conclusion, that Joe is 16 and Frank is 17. I can't pinpoint it because it was probably somewhere in the first 20 books, so that was a while ago.

Unless it blatantly says somewhere that Frank is legally an adult or something and I missed it. But they aren't good with consistency, anyway.

[MacGyver]

The UB books are pretty much their own thing... kinda the way a lot of Superman fans view Smallville