Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Difference between revisions

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A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Overnight Age-Up]]. See also [[Time Skip]], where it's the show that jumps ahead, not a character.
 
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
 
== Anime ==
 
* In ''[[Gunbuster]]'', they make use of a more or less realistic interpretation of time dilation as they get closer to the speed of light. This resulted in one of the characters going from sixteen to mid-40's while the main heroine, Noriko Takaya, aged a mere year or two.
* In ''[[RahXephon]]'', {{spoiler|Haruka and Ayato were the same age in the past; at the time of the series, Ayato is 17 and Haruka is 29 due to time passing differently inside and outside of Tokyo}}
* Hotaru in the final season of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', after suffering a [[Fountain of Youth|plot-relevant age-]]''[[Fountain of Youth|down'']]'' more than a season before.
** Chibi -Usa also goes through this when Wiseman transforms her into the [[Dark Magical Girl]] villainess Black Lady. She is healed at the end of Sailormoon''Sailor Moon R'' and becomes a child again. It then happens ''again'' in both the manga's Dream Arc and a single episode of the ''SuperS'' anime, where she and Usagi actually swapped ages. The anime and the manga have different reasons and solutions for this problem.
* ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' has enough [[Techno Babble]] about sub-lightspeed travel that you never know [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|just how old anybody is]], although they all feel the age that they appear to be. {{spoiler|The ending also ages up the entire Space Squadron save Sara herself.}}
* Also happens to Chris Thorndyke in ''[[Sonic X]]''. Unfortunately when he travels to Sonic's world an inconvenient time warp sticks him back in his twelve year old body. This left the audience dealing with a more mature and useful Chris while keeping his more familiar body, making it easier for animators who had been drawing him as twelve for a couple of years now. There were certainly [[Rescued Fromfrom the Scrappy Heap|fewer complaints about him afterwards]].
* Hana-chan does this in the first episode of ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]] Dokkan'', turning from a baby to an 11-year-old girl.
* In ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', Ascot ages fast with ''sheer willpower'' because of a crush on the significantly older Umi. Having a entire world run on willpower can be useful sometimes.
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** When she gets older, she gets the ability to switch to "adult mode" at will.
* {{spoiler|Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck}}, formerly {{spoiler|Nel}}, of ''[[Bleach]]''
** After some rigorous offscreenoff-screen training in the dangai, where time passes exorbitantly fast, {{spoiler|Ichigo}} returns looking [[She's All Grown Up|all grown up.]]
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has pills that allow one to increase or decrease your age at will. They see quite a lot of use.
** There's also a more subtle version going on in regard to Negi's constant use of various [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] items; he's aged himself up by at least a year, if not more, in less than six months. It mirrors his [[Wise Beyond Their Years|ever-growing maturity]].
* Instead of 8 year old [[Katekyo Hitman Reborn|Futa]] also being involved in the Future Arc, his 18 year old self stays to be a competent supporting cast. Doesn't happen with Lambo and I-pin, though.
* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', Piccolo grows from a small child to an adult in a span of three years, probably because it would be a little strange for Goku to fight a little kid who wants to take over the world.
** This is made even more obvious by the fact that Goku himself [[Not Allowed to Grow Up|doesn't age]] at all until a [[Time Skip]] that is setting up [[Dragonball Z|the next series]].
* Kon from ''[[Amatsuki]]'' spends two years in the virtual world before his classmate Toki arrives there, allowing him to grow into a [[Big Brother Mentor]] figure for the latter.
 
 
== Comic Books ==
 
* Marvel really has a lot of these:
** Illyana "Magik" Rasputin of ''[[New Mutants]]'' went from five to fifteen ''in the middle of a rescue attempt'', due to a [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|time rate differential]] between Earth and the hell-dimension in which she was trapped.
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** From X-Factor: {{spoiler|Layla Miller}}'s ''barelylegalification'' has her going to the future and coming back.
** For a while even [[Fantastic Four|Reed and Sue Richards']] son Franklin fell victim to this trope, being kidnapped into the future and coming back as the teenage ''Psi-Lord''. Silly, yes, but it did give young Franklin's tremendous mental powers a break from [[Deus Ex Machina]] and/or [[Puberty Superpower]] duty - his older self was in control of them. It was, of course, later reversed.
** [[Captain America (comics)]]|Captain America's]] [[Arch Enemy]] the [[Red Skull]] used his [[Deus Ex Machina]] to age his daughter [[Daddy's Little Villain]] Sin from a 13 year old [[Creepy Child]] [[Enfant Terrible]] into a 23 year old [[Axe Crazy]] [[Dark Action Girl]] that makes her father look sane by comparison.
** [[Incredible Hulk|The Hulk's]] sons Skaar and Hiro-Kala are physically young teens, but chronologically only a couple of years old, partly thanks to their mother being one of the alien Shadow People, who have an accelerated maturation rate. Skaar actually has a "puny" (human) form that is at least still a child.
*** When you consider Skaar's the first Hulk "person" to grow up from birth on-screen, his growth, muscle tone and mental development rate may be the norm. To give reference, in Son of Hulk #1 even as a newborn Skaar appeared to be nearly as large as one of Miek and the Brood's offspring and stronger than them.
* Alexander Luthor, Jr. in ''[[Crisis Crossover|Crisis on Infinite Earths]]''.
* Right before the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic Adventure]]'' arc of the [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Archie comics]], Amy Rose does this to herself with a wish to justify her joining the party; otherwise, the rest of the gang would've forbidden her from joining for being too young, and the whole game tie-in thing would fall apart.
** Apparently the same thing happened to her [[Evil Twin|negative-dimension counterpart]], [[Yandere (disambiguation)|Rosy Rascal]], although her reasons for wanting to be older [[Love Makes You Evil|weren't quite so noble.]] [[Love Makes You Crazy|It had the side effect of breaking her brain]], turning her into a [[Ax Crazy|dangerous psychopath.]] And you thought ''Amy'' [[Clingy Jealous Girl|was possessive...]]
* Arisia from ''[[Green Lantern]]'' physically ages herself from about 13 Earth years to at least 18 Earth years so she can pursue a crush on Hal Jordan. Later, to make Hal Jordan not look like a skeeve, this was subject to several [[Retcon]]s, and, in current continuity, 13 years on her world are equivalent to 240 on Earth.
* Jenny Quantum of ''[[The Authority]]'' does this to herself. After meeting the incarnations of centuries past and becoming aware of the current problem, Jenny uses her quantum powers to go from six years old to high school age.
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* While the [[Phantom Zone]] normally suspends aging, [[Superman]]'s son Chris emerges from its imprisonment as a teenager.
* [[The Mighty Thor]] inverted this, giving Loki a Plot Relevant Age ''Down'' where he was reincarnated as his child self after dying. It avoided being [[Narm]] or too heavy-handed when an echo of the older Loki revealed his reasons for having it happen. Preteen Loki has been hugely popular, making it work very well.
 
 
== Film ==
 
* Saphira in the [[The Movie|film version]] of ''[[The Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]''. In the span of exactly one minute, she goes from a cute baby/child dragon to a fully grown adult capable of speaking telepathically (in [[Rachel Weisz|an audibly adult female voice]]) and carrying Eragon on her back. This effect comes complete with flashing lights, sound effects, and a generous smoke screen to hide the actual transformation.
** Eragon blessed a baby who grows to about four years old in her next appearance. It turns out he actually cursed her, forcing her to eat huge amounts of food, making her mature mentally and physically at a rate far faster than normal. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].
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* Used in [[Douglas Adams]]' novel ''Mostly Harmless''; Trillian's daughter Random goes into an intergalactic daycare as a preteen and comes out past puberty. It turns out the daycare was also temporally displaced, and the time you come back is random.
* This is the main plot of [[William Sleator]]'s ''[[Singularity (novel)|Singularity]]''. One twin locks himself inside a [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] device, so that he'll be a year older than his twin and thus no longer a twin.
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]''. A three-year-old Rightful King is useless, but an 18-year-old Lost Prince is generally pretty reliable when it comes to overthrowing the Usurper. So the titular witches send the Prince away, then move ''the entire kingdom'' 15 years into the future, so the people won't have to suffer under the mad duke.
* In the last of [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Apprentice Adept]]'' books [[The Scrappy|Wunderkinds]] Flach and Nepe age a decade between chapters. {{spoiler|A good chunk of the cast is hiding out in a hidden underground stronghold, magically gimmicked to speed up time twenty-fold}}.
* In ''The Gap Series'' by [[Stephen R Donaldson]], Davies Hyland is force-grown from a fetus to a 16 year old teen. Of course, he's also implanted with the mind of his 22 year old ''mother''.
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* In ''Darke'', the sixth book of ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', Jenna and Septimus have gone from 12 years in the preceding book ''Syren'' to 14 years, where he will have to have the Darke Week {{spoiler|and she will become Queen}}.
 
== Live -Action TV ==
 
* ''[[Angel]]''
** In season 3 when Angel's son was born, kidnapped, sucked into another dimension where time moves faster, he comes back as a 16 year old.
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* Percy goes from a teenager to an adult in between the two seasons of ''[[Starhunter]]'', despite supposedly being trapped where she couldn't age at all. This is likely due to [[Dawson Casting]]: Percy was played by 25-year-old Tanya Allen, and, since the second season was filmed 3 years later, couldn't pass for a teenager anymore.
* Isabelle in ''[[The 4400]]'', later doing the reverse and temporarily de-aging for plot relevant reasons.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'', from ''[[The Next Generation]]'' on, uses this a lot, almost always in the form of using [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] to [[Hand Wave]] [[SORASSoap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome]]:
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' actually did a one-shot of this trope, where the O'BriensBrien's toddler daughter Molly is aged to adolescence by some [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. Thankfully, they find a way to make her young again by the end of the episode.
** They also did this with Worf's son Alexander, justifying it by establishing that Klingon children mature very fast. Alexander was played by several different actors and always behaved about as old as he looked. ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' really pushed it by making him physically and mentally a young adult at the chronological age of, oh, seven. (The fast aging is especially odd if you consider that Klingons also live longer than humans, a fact established so Klingons from [[The Original Series]] could show up.)
*** This troper had a good [[Fridge Logic]] explanation for why Klingons live so long. Klingon medical tech expressly ignores things like surgery or any procedure that would otherwise save a warrior dying from battle wounds. This is because Klingons believe that dying in battle is an awesome thing that should be devoutly wished for and that dying of natural causes is viewed the same way Catholicism views suicide (an abhorrent one-way ticket to hell). Therefore the Klingons must have developed some kind of medical technology to keep their warriors healthy and able to fight well into old age so that they retained a chance to die an honourable death in battle. A natural side effect of this is that their lifespans would also be increased.
**** And to anyone who says Klingons wouldn't stoop to genetic manipulation to taint their natural form, [[Noodle Incident|remember the smooth forehead incident]]...
**** This also may be a natural factor: Q'onos was probably an extremely harsh world where infant mortality might be extremely high due to natural predators, etc. Klingons living longer and retaining their strength and vigor into old age, thus being fertile for much longer in their lifespan might have been a natural adaptation to keep the species alive. It would also explain their extremely short maturity period.
** Klingons aren't alone in this, by the way. The most extreme example is ''[[Voyager]]''{{'}}s Kes, whose race has a nine-year lifespan. In one alternate future episode, Kes had a daughter with Tom Paris ... and that daughter was old enough to marry Harry Kim within a year or two.
*** ''Deep Space 9'' also has the Jem'Hadar, who age incredibly fast b/cbecause of special genetic modifications.
** Voyager also has Naomi Wildman who is 1/2½ Human - 1/2½ Ktarian. At age 2 chronologically, she looks and acts like an 8-year-old Human. Like Alexander, this is justifiedhandwaved that she's half an alien.
** Another ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' example: At the start of season two, Troi goes from newly pregnant to having a baby in a few days. The kid then grows from babyhood to about ten years old in a similar space of time, before "dying". {{spoiler|Turns out the "kid" was a benign energy-based alien who wanted to experience corporeal existence, and was grateful for all the affection Troi showed "him".}} This was actually one of the first episodes to [[GoodA TroiDay Episodein the Limelight|really cement Troi's position on the show and make her something other than a walking plot device to read minds.]] This may be explained, however, by the fact that the episode was one of those originally written for ''Star Trek: Phase II'' before that series was scrapped and replaced by the first movie. The original script centered around Lt. Ilia.
* In the final season of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', cast-member Vala gives birth to Adria, who is introduced as a plot point. Adria is an engineered leader of the bad guys who grows to adulthood in just a handful of episodes.
** Adult character Teal'c was also aged to middle age for his species due to [[Time Travel]]. He had to go back in time to prevent the problem they'd spent the last fifty years on, so his change is for keeps, carrying over to ''The Ark of Truth'' and his ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' guest appearance.
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** Inverted later when Xena and Gabrielle [[Suspended Animation|go to sleep for thirty years in coffins of ice]] and awake to find Xena's daughter Eve has aged to adulthood.
* Examine the case of Walt from ''[[Lost]]'': he began the series as a 10 year-old. However, because the first three years of the show covered only the last three months of 2004, actor Malcolm David Kelley quickly grew older than his character. Thus the character was written out in season 2. When the series time-jumped three years after the rescue of the Oceanic 6, Walt returned in a few appearances, having aged appropriately. However, in the season 3 finale, Walt appears to Locke in December 2004, looking as the actor did in 2007. This appearance was referred to in-show as "taller ghost Walt."
* Arguably this is what happened to Trance in the second season of ''[[Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda|Andromeda]]'', where her future self convinced her younger self to trade places in time. At one point in a later season she mentions that she misses being as young as she once was. Of course since she's actually the avatar of a missing sun, she qualifies as [[Really 700 Years Old|Really 700]] ''[[Really 700 Years Old|Million]]'' [[Really 700 Years Old|Years Old]].
* One of the more [[Egregious]] examples is ''[[V (TV series)|V]]'', in which Elizabeth goes from newborn to toddler to sexually active teen in record time.
* ''[[Ultraman]]'' Mebius takes place 20 years "real time" after the last monster attacked and brings back everyone except Taro's actor.
* In ''[[Hex]]'', Malachi does this, going from an infant to a teenager in a year, due to being half-demon.
* Used in ''[[Doctor Who]]''; The newly regenerated Doctor meets the little girl Amelia Pond, who asks to travel in the TARDIS, and the Doctor accepts. Of course, having a little girl around in a show where there's usually at least [[Red Shirt|one death]] every episode would be a bit dark - and besides, a eight-year-old can't do [[Fan Service]]. So having the Doctor accidentally jump 12 years into the future means that we can now have an all -grown -up Amy travel with him.
** ''Doctor Who'' also has the fastest age-up yet seen. {{spoiler|River Song is introduced as an adult (s04e08) three years before she is born (s06e07) and two years before her parents joined the cast.}}
* In ''[[V-2009]]'', Ryan's daughter is aged up from a baby to a 7-year-old because she is used to test the rapid aging treatment that is used for Lisa's replacement.
** The original ''V'' did this with Elizabeth (twice!), supposedly because of her [[Half-Human Hybrid]] status.
* {{spoiler|Liam Kincaid}} from [[Earth: Final Conflict]] grows from a newborn to adulthood during the first part of the first episode of the second season. Explained by his being {{spoiler|one-third}} alien.
* ''[[The West Wing]]'' has an [[Inversion]]: when Zoey Bartlet was introduced in the first season, she was stated to be 19. In season 2 they decided that she was actually 17 so to add drama to the MS storyline.
* The ''[[Space: 1999]]'' episode "Alpha Child" is built around this trope, with the first child born on Moonbase Alpha going from infant to tween to adult in the course of a week. Since the series was episodic in nature, the [[Reset Button]] applies here.
 
 
== Video Games ==
%<!-- The Zelda Ocarina of Time example actually goes in Time Skip, not here% -->
 
%The Zelda Ocarina of Time example actually goes in Time Skip, not here%
* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', Rydia, a young girl when the party first encounters her, is swallowed by the Leviathan and carried into the Eidolons' land of Feymarch. When she is reunited with the party, presumably no more than a few weeks later, she has aged into her early twenties because [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|time passes ''much'' more quickly in the Feymarch]].
** Notably, [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|when you actually travel there, you don't get any older.]]
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== Web Comics ==
 
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' has the unusual situation of {{spoiler|1=two characters having their ''souls'' aged by having them experience the normal lives of [[Alternate Universe]] versions of themselves during their dreams. It is [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-05-03 explained later] that this was done to prevent insanity caused by them having been [[Cloning Blues|created with adult bodies and minds but newly-formed souls]], by giving them their own childhood memories.}}
** Also in EGS, the ''in''ability to rapidly age the Lycanthropes plays a part small but important in Grace's [[Backstory]].
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* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' Molly, Galatea, and Djali are species that age from babyhood to vague teenagerdom in the span of one month.
* Done repeatedly and then reversed in ''[[The Wotch]]'' to Evan/Lily. It's not actually relevant to the plot a lot of the time, but it has been used for a few story lines.
* {{spoiler|Ranu}} from ''One Question''.
* One of the many effects of the [[Timey-Wimey Ball]] in ''[[Enjuhneer]]'' is that characters stay the same age for an entire year, then suddenly change in a manner comparative to [[Level Up|levelling up]]. This can cause [[Little Bit Beastly|drastic effects]], or can be as simple as suddenly acquiring a pair of [[White Gloves]] with no idea where they came from.
 
 
== Web Original ==
* Sarah Swanson of ''[[Erikas New Perfume|Erika's New Perfume]]'' goes from three to sixteen complete with [[Fake Memories]]. Only her two once-older sisters Erika and Marie remember her ever being younger.
 
* Sarah Swanson of ''[[Erikas New Perfume|Erika's New Perfume]]'' goes from three to sixteen complete with [[Fake Memories]]. Only her two once-older sisters Erika and Marie remember her ever being younger.
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* Lion-o from ''[[Thundercats]]'', due to [[Human Popsicle|stasis failure.]]
* Enzo and AndrAIa from ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' age from children into adults while trapped inside a game due to time flowing faster there.
** Then the writers missed the young Enzo. So they cloned him and made the copy younger.
* {{spoiler|Sari}} from ''[[Transformers Animated]]''
* The Tweebs in the fourth season of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' are an interesting variation: although their art makes them look older, they are not acknowledged as such, but merely advance-placed into Kim's high school during the [[Post Script Season]]).
* Professor Farnsworth had his crew go out and get "chronotons" for the purpose of doing this to a team of super-mutant babies in ''[[Futurama]]''.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Aging Tropes]]
[[Category:Youngsters]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Plot-Relevant Age-Up]]