She's All Grown Up/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Character reunites with a childhood friend to discover that she's now really pretty.

  • Straight: Bob meets up with Alice again after ten years and is surprised at how beautiful she is now.
  • Exaggerated: Alice used to be utterly hideous, but now she's grown up so hot that Even the Girls Want Her
  • Downplayed: Alice was a short Shrinking Violet 14-year girl before, but after a year later, she developed nicely.
  • Justified: Alice got some plastic surgery.
    • Alice grew up.
    • Alice used to live a very unhealthy lifestyle which caused her to look unattractive, but after she quitted that...
  • Inverted: Alice used to be a cute kid, but when she and Bob meet again ten years later, she's ugly or disfigured, or just plain-looking.
    • Alternately, Alice was a beautiful woman but was hit with some age-regression Phlebotinum that made her ten years old by the time Bob sees her again.
  • Subverted: Bob meets up with Alice after ten years, expecting that she will have grown up to be beautiful. Instead, she's kind of ugly.
  • Double Subverted: Instead of growing up to be beautiful, Alice is still plain and unnoticeable...Oh wait, that's Alicia. Alice grew up smoking hot.
  • Parodied: Alice's features are exaggerated past attractiveness and into the Uncanny Valley, but everyone in-universe thinks she's still hot.
    • Alternately: Alice grew up to be hideous, and most of the characters can tell...except Bob, who has some sort of facial hair/drool fetish.
  • Deconstructed: We see that Alice spent years of her life on plastic surgery and other measures to become pretty for her "return," but the experience leaves her hollow and unfulfilled after all.
  • Reconstructed: We see that Alice spent years of her life on plastic surgery and other measures to become pretty for her "return," but the experience leaves her hollow and unfulfilled after all. However, Bob falls in love with the person behind all that plastic surgery, which helps Alice recover and feel better about who she is now.
    • We see that Alice spent years of her life being fit and healthy as well as undergoing Character Development. She also had friends and loved ones to support her, and she learns tips on becoming pretty the safe, yet efficient way. By the time Bob returns, he finds Alice dazzling, even when she forgot to put makeup on that day.
  • Zig Zagged: Bob expected Alice to be beautiful, but she's plain and unnoticeable... but wait! Who's that hot girl Bob just ran into? Is it really Alice? Yes... but she's wearing a lot of makeup. She stops doing so, and she's back to being plain and unnoticeable... but then Bob takes a closer look at her and realizes she's rather cute after all. (And just to seal the deal, a school dance comes along and She Cleans Up Nicely.)
  • Averted: Alice didn't change much in terms of looks.
  • Enforced: "We need to make Alice and Bob's reunion a bit more dramatic. Maybe Bob finds her really attractive now?"
    • "Bob knew Alice before she was pretty, so that the viewers know that he's not shallow, but we don't want anyone ugly in the role.
  • Lampshaded: Bob meets up with the now beautiful Alice after ten years and says, "You know, I always knew you were going to grow up hot."
  • Invoked: "Maybe this blind date with Alice won't be so bad after all. She probably grew up really hot."
    • See Justified.
  • Defied: Alice uses clothing and makeup to downplay her looks.
  • Discussed: "I know we remember Alice as a dorky girl, but that was ten years ago. There's a good chance she'll be much prettier when we see her again."
  • Conversed: "Is this gonna be another anime where he meets a hot girl, then finds out it was his childhood friend?"

Well, that's a nice looking trope, and... wait, was that She's All Grown Up? I haven't seen her since grade school! Wow...

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