Line #14 Main/NeverGrewUp


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4	[[quoteright:274:[[Franchise/PeterPan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3e0ac81b_a6fd_4cc9_8381_9eb80ad1c626.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:274:Yes, Peter, people grow up outside of Neverland.[[labelnote:*]]Top: ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'', Bottom: ''WesternAnimation/ReturnToNeverLand''[[/labelnote]]]]
6
7	->''"But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,\
8	So I think I'll be six for ever and ever."''
9	-->-- '''Creator/AAMilne''', ''Now We Are Six''
10
11	As you know, GrowingUpSucks. Some children, however, have found a way to halt their aging at childhood via AppliedPhlebotinum or some supernatural means. Most of the time they'll have the mind, emotional maturity, and/or sensibilities of a child as well as a prepubescent body; adults in children's bodies are more likely to find it inconvenient or downright sucky, which is the SubTrope, NotGrowingUpSucks.
12
13	Note that this must happen in-universe to count. If characters in a long runner series stay forever in a given age simply to keep the setting the way it is (like WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons all being the same age for any time longer than a period of say, roughly three to five years - as has been the case in RealLife since the show's debut - despite how differences, such as children's' growth, would be noticeable by then), that's ComicBookTime.
14
15	OlderThanTheyLook is the SuperTrope of this.
16
17	Compare NotAllowedToGrowUp, and ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. Compare also with ImmortalityInducer, which tends to include "anti-aging" as part of the package. Contrast RapidAging.
18
19	JustForFun/NotToBeConfusedWith OneOfTheKids. Do not confuse with ManChild.
20	----
21	!!Examples:
22
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26	* This is part of the reason Dr. Tenma [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] Astro in ''Manga/AstroBoy''. He created Astro Boy as a ReplacementGoldfish for his deceased son Tobio however Astro, being a RobotKid, cannot age. What makes this especially odd, is that Astro's "little sister" Uran, also a robot, actually did grow up! She went from being a short, chubby preschooler in her first appearance, to being able to impersonate Astro with a simple costume change, to the point where she looked more grown up than her "big brother", as a slender young woman in the later stories, complete with superfluous (though modest) artificial breasts! Tezuka also experimented with drawing Astro looking more like the teenage adventure heroes that were popular at the time, but apparently his readers didn't go for it. They didn't complain about Uran nearly as much, though. Then there's the Astro's Been Stolen story, where an attempt is made to give Astro an adult body, but it turns out to be a piece of junk that only has the same power level as his original despite being much bigger. The story ends with him musing that GrowingUpSucks and if you can avoid it you probably should.
27	* In ''Manga/BlackJack'', Pinoko is mentally eighteen years old but never grew past being a fetus due to being trapped inside of her twin sister as a parasite. After being surgically removed by Black Jack she is placed in an artificial body that looks like a preteen.
28	* The ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession6SympathyForTheDevil Sympathy for the Devil]]" features a CreepyChild. The Hyperspace Gate explosion that stopped his aging also made him bullet- and explosion-proof.
29	* Kaori Yuki's ''[[Manga/CountCain Cain Saga]]'' manga series features an extremely sympathetically-presented member of the NebulousEvilOrganization, Cassian, a middle-aged man in the body of a prepubescent boy, formerly employed as a [[KnifeThrowingAct knife-thrower in a circus]]. He joined the organization because they have weird, futuristic occult-medical hybrid technology in development which might [[WorkingForABodyUpgrade give him some way to get an adult body]]. He's assigned to be the primary minion of a high-up member of the organization, [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Doctor]] [[MadScientist Jizabel Disraeli]], who's around twenty and [[spoiler: as we get his backstory, increasingly pitiful.]] Dealt with well in that Cassian, even though all visual cues are against it, sees Disraeli as a kid. [[spoiler: Cassian is fatally wounded about as soon as his pseudo-paternal attachment to Disraeli is properly developed, and Jizabel transplants his brain into the head of a fellow villain they both hate who was recently thwarted by hubris and idiocy. (And the hero, in one of the hero's few success stories.) Cassian goes on the lam, and reappears as a handy plot device toward the end of the series' climax. Disraeli eventually [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in his arms]], lamenting the fact that he spent all this time trying to please the wrong father, Alexis, the twisted ManBehindTheMan, when he should have been looking up to Cassian.]] Cassian has many levels in awesome.
30	* [[spoiler:Eriol Hiiragizawa]] in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' is mostly this with a bit of NotGrowingUpSucks. He specifically chose to halt his aging, but while he looks like a child, he's mentally an adult. He doesn't have any angst over his age dissonance shown, but [[spoiler:since he only stopped his aging so he could blend in with Sakura's classmates better, it would probably make his life after the series more complicated and restricted if he can't restart his aging]].
31	* In ''Literature/FateZero'', [[spoiler: Ilya]], Kiritsugu's daughter with [[spoiler:Irisviel von Einzbern]], is absolutely tiny despite being eight. She's actually growing more than most [[ArtificialHuman homunculi]] of her type do but he thinks there's a 90% chance she'll stop growing before hitting puberty. [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight In the next Grail War ten years later]] she's slightly older than Shirou yet is still the game's TokenMiniMoe.
32	* The cyborgs in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' are implied to be physically stunted by their conditioning. They're preteen and teenage girls who have been given cybernetic implants and medicine to make them ChildSoldiers. None of the first generation [[AnyoneCanDie lived long enough]] to see if they could grow into adults.
33	* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', despite the fact that it is well over three years old, X's baby Kangaskhan never grew nor left its mother's pouch, mirroring its trainer's {{Hikikomori}} lifestyle.
34	* In a completely unexpected move, ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 3.0'' has Shinji wake up from stasis [[TimeSkip 14 years after the end of the previous film]] and confronted by a 28 year old Asuka who still looks very much like her 14 year old self plus an EyepatchOfPower. Asuka mentions that it happened because of the "Curse of Eva"; personality-wise, she's considerably less bratty and [[NotGrowingUpSucks quite bitter]]. Mari also appears to be affected but Rei isn't, considering that it's not the same one Shinji knew.
35	* [[spoiler:Akio, Anthy, and possibly Mikage]] from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' all have some form of this, with the former two are implied to have been at Ohtori Academy for centuries. At the very end of the series [[spoiler:Anthy]] decides to leave by "graduating" as a metaphor for growing up.
36	* A bit of a supernatural occurrence happens in ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', where it's implied that Yubaba's overly coddling of her son Boh made him stay physically and mentally a baby.
37	* The ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' anime [[spoiler: reinterpreted Zazie the Beast this way, apparently. Since the eternally-respawning humanoid avatar of the sand-worms' group intelligence would have been too complicated to deal with in one episode. Hell, the manga doesn't really deal with it completely.]]
38	* Deconstructed in ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms''. When kings are chosen to rule their nation they are granted immortality, along with their families. Princess Shoukei was 13 when her father became king, so she is locked at that age. However, her parents keep her sheltered and spoiled and do not allow her to grow up both physically and in maturity, so when her tyrannical father is overthrown decades later, she still looks and acts like a RoyalBrat despite being chronologically in her forties. Learning to grow up and get past her stunted maturity is the major part of her CharacterDevelopment.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Comic Books]]
42	* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' has Matilda "Tillie" Armstrong, a ten-year-old girl [[spoiler:who uses her psychic powers]] to stay young forever. She ''could'' grow older if she wanted to, but then she would no longer be able to [[spoiler:manifest the dapper hero The Gentleman]].
43	* ''ComicBook/TheChildrensCrusadeVertigo'' revolves around a ChildrensCovertCoterie called Free Country, a magical realm intended to serve as a safe haven for children who have been harmed and abused and is run by children who have never aged.
44	* In ''Comicbook/IHateFairyland'', Gert gets [[TrappedInAnotherWorld sent to Fairyland]] at the age of six and remains in the body of a child for the next 27 years. The fact that she's been stuck on a SnipeHunt for decades without aging is one of the reasons why she's so violently psychotic by the time of the story. This is averted in the sequel, which takes place after she returns to Earth and thus has physically grown into a woman.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Fan Works]]
48	* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13383522/1/Alien-Nemesis Alien- Nemesis]]" is a sequel to ''Film/AlienResurrection'' that sees Hicks, Newt and Bishop being revived in the present. At the fic's conclusion, [[spoiler:damage and illnesses Newt has suffered as a result of her revival force a doctor to inject her with xenomorph DNA taken from Ripley 8 and Hicks (who was revived using some xenomorph samples himself), with the combination of the injuries and the treatment leaving Newt with minor brain damage that will prevent her from growing beyond her current emotional level while her body will essentially be frozen at its current age]].
49	* ''Fanfic/HardBeingPure'': Dr. Emilly is stuck at the appearance of a 10-year-old girl, and hates how she gets treated like a child even though she is mentally a 27-year-old.
50	* ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'': Children can become loopers. Depending on how long the their baseline loop lasts, this might mean they are stuck as children for a ''long'' time. In ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops'', Spike has an extra problem when he gets married. He and his wife are thousands of years old and he has age-shifting magic to easily transform into a form more appropriate for his wife, but as far as non-loopers are concerned he's still a child, and certainly not of legal age to marry. With the exception of lucky variant loops where he's older, they have to keep their relationship secret.
51	* ''Fanfic/LostStormsStormysForgottenPast'': In Rainbow Land, people don't age. Stormy has hardly grown an inch since she was six. She's currently [[Really700YearsOld over seven hundred]].
52	* ''Fanfic/MikesNewGhostlyFamily'': Due to being [[UndeadChild ghosts]], the ghost kids are incapable of aging and stay the same physical age no matter how much time would pass. That being said, they ''are'' able to grow up, with their ghost bodies' physical age appearances changing to reflect their newfound maturity, as shown with Charlie being able to [[PlotRelevantAgeUp become a teenager]] due to the maturity she had to develop due to tons of responsibility. The ghosts don't age because they [[GrowingUpSucks don't want to]].
53	* In the series ''Fanfic/OperationSoulmate'', this is the result of being vaccinated against adulthood virus. During the story ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14134541/1/Eternal-Youth Eternal Youth]]'', as Wally and Kuki are about to be vaccinated, they encounter Numbuh 2.35:1, who has been vaccinated 20 years ago, and is stuck at 10 years old forever despite being 30.
54	* In ''Fanfic/RainbowBriteAndTheWarOfDarkness'', Rainbow and the other Color Kids are several ''million'' years old but have the bodies of little kids. They're at least more mature than normal children.
55	* ''Blog/TinySapientUngulates'':
56	** Spike's growth is stunted and he is stuck in his infant size due to his incomplete diet.
57	** The changelings' "evil" forms are interpreted as their juvenile form, and Chrysalis prevented them from reaching adulthood.
58	* In ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls''' DarkFic ''Fanfic/TheUtoniumTrials'', the girls are permanently stuck looking five years old due to being {{Artificial Human}}s. They're nine years old (five chronologically) but still look five. Their young looks cause them to be [[KidsAreCruel bullied by their classmates]] and causes even worse problems once the government takes note of them.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
62	* In ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', Dr. Nash figures out that his hallucinations are exactly that, when he realizes that Marcee has not aged a day in the years that he has "known" her.
63	* The imaginary friends in ''Film/DropDeadFred'' don't grow up. It is implied that those who do not grow out of needing their imaginary friends are ultimately prescribed pills that hurt or kill the imaginary friends.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Literature]]
67	* [[spoiler: The Gull]] of "The Age of Five" trilogy by Creator/TrudiCanavan is sort of an example of this trope. Whilst his body is that of a seven or eight year old child, he has the knowledge and maturity that he has acquired over thousands of years of life [[spoiler: (he's also the oldest of the surviving immortals, a fact which, when revealed, causes his fellow immortals to lapse into a thoughtful silence as they wonder just how old he is.)]]
68	* The story ''Child of All Ages'' is about a child who regularly drinks a potion which keeps her young (it also lets her live for hundreds of years, so she isn't about to stop, even though there are many disadvantages to being a kid).
69	* Just like in the [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan original Disney adaptation]], Peter Pan doesn't age in ''Franchise/DisneyFairies''. In the first book however, Mother Dove starts to slowly die and all the magical elements of Neverland begin dying with her. Peter begins growing and losing all his baby teeth. When Mother Dove is saved, Peter de-ages back to his original age.
70	* Creator/HarlanEllison's short story "Jeffty is Five" is about a kid who is always five. Not only that, but he is also seemingly an unconscious RealityWarper; he continually gets to see new movies starring actors who've been dead for years, new episodes of radio shows that have been off the air for decades, and read new issues of comics that don't exist anymore. This leads the narrating character, who's highly nostalgic for his boyhood days, to spend a lot of time with him... until, as usually happens in an Ellison story, it all goes horribly awry.
71	* Claudia from ''Literature/InterviewWithTheVampire'' is a literal case of a little girl who is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. She was a five year-old girl who was bitten by Lestat to save her from the plague and being part of Lestat's "family". Ultimately, the denial of adulthood drives her to insanity.
72	* Invoked in the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books. A person can only age in Oz if they so wish to. Thus, Dorothy can stay a KidHero forever if she wants. In one book she is sent back to America and turns from a [[VagueAge 5-12 year old]] to a ''middle aged woman''.
73	* InUniverse in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', where Ysabell has been kept at 16 years old for 35 years because of living in Death's domain as his adopted daughter, because of Death's mistaken belief that that would be the easiest option. She is allowed to age normally when she leaves with Mort back into the real world.
74	* ''Literature/NowhereStars'': Children who become [[MagicalGirl Keepers]] physically cease to age, remaining at whatever age they were when they made the Promise, and ''only'' children and young teenagers are elligible. Iona Fianata, the oldest Keeper in New Claris, looks like a teenage girl but is well into her nineties.
75	* The TropeNamer is ''Literature/PeterPan, or The Boy Who Never Grew Up'', which has the Lost Boys as well as Peter Pan himself. Peter Pan is a young boy who refuses to age. He and his group of Lost Boys live on Neverland, a magical island where no kid has to grow up. The novel actually plays with this; the Lost Boys arrive as infants and age into children. Peter is also known to weed out (which [[AmbiguousInnocence may or may not]] mean he kills them) any Lost Boys who age.
76	%%* Book example no one's going to recognize: ''The Meq'' (by Steve Cash). Also a spectacular example of a non-ending.
77	* Invoked by ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'', who, in the end of the last novel, takes a pill together with Tommy and Annika, which together with a rhyme, allegedly stops aging.
78	* {{Defied\|Trope}} in the Creator/GregEgan story "Singleton": To help their ArtificialIntelligence daughter mature, the main characters start her out in an infant-like chassis and transfer her core into progressively older bodies to parallel human development.
79	* There's a SF short story called "Start the Clock" that features this. Basically, one day everyone on Earth stops aging, and stays in whatever "state" they were at the time... little kids have it the best, in a way, because their brains stay in the "good at learning" state... and at the point in time the story's set, they've gotten the same rights as adults (they can hold jobs and live on their own and such). Anyone going through puberty got the worst deal, since it just ''keeps going'', deforming them and giving them health problems. Infants tend to get cybernetics, and are ''scary'' and powerful.
80	** Although by the time the story is set treatments to allow people to continue to age have been developed.
81	* Oskar, the protagonist of Günter Grass's novel ''Literature/TheTinDrum'', deliberately stunts his growth at age three, by hurling himself down the stairs, so that he can avoid being part of the [[CrapsackWorld horrific adult world]] around him. He attempts to shield himself further from adult horrors by [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation drowning them out with his titular drum]]. In the end, however, [[spoiler:a blow to the head ages him instantly]].
82	* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'': Vampirism halts someone's development, locking them into their current state forever, but enhancing their natural characteristics. If it happens to young children, they become utterly adorable, causing people to fall in love with them at first sight, but they never learn self-control; they could slaughter entire villages whenever they became thirsty, and they would never grow out of it. The Volturi studied them for a while, but eventually decided that there was nothing to be done, executing them all and making the creation of more a capital crime.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
86	* Creator/TomBaker's incarnation of the Doctor on ''Series/DoctorWho'' lampshades this at the end of the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]" when Sarah Jane says he's acting childish:
87	-->'''Doctor:''' Well, of course I am! There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
88	* ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'': In contrast to her counterpart in [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol the source material]] being a young teenager who ultimately was TakenOffLifeSupport after being comatose for four years, this continuity's Dorothy Spinner is established to be over 100 years old while still retaining the appearance of a young girl. By the season two episode "Dad Patrol", she gets her first period and finally has puberty catch up to her after accepting that she can't remain a child forever so she can confront the Candlemaker, with appearances after that point showing that she is visibly maturing.
89	* The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E8Miri Miri]]" revolves around a planet where an anti-aging drug led to a society of 300-year-old children, and no adults. (Although technically the children ''are'' growing up, just incredibly slowly.)
90	* The first episode of ''Series/EerieIndiana'' involves two identical twins called Bert and Ernie who never got older than twelve and had to repeat seventh grade for thirty years because their mother locked them inside age-retarding Foreverware each night. As they state in unison, "It's a living hell". [[spoiler:The main character pops their Foreverware open at the end of the episode, and they in turn do it to their mother, who used the same trick to stay youthful; [[NoImmortalInertia the next morning, the twins are happily in their forties, and their mother is now an old woman]].]]
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
94	* Several ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strips have stated that the cute kitten Nermal is actually OlderThanTheyLook. He never outgrew looking and acting like a kitten.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Music]]
98	* Music/HeatherDale's "Changeling Child" is a ChangelingTale about a woman who couldn't have children of her own. She bargained for TheFairFolk to give her a baby but, being LiteralMinded, the fairies give her a ''baby'', not a normal child who can age:
99	-->''How their home was joyful with a son to call their own''\
100	''But soon, they saw the years that passed would never make him grow''
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
104	* Juvenat treatments in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' allow a person to fix themselves at the age they want to look like (some people go for eternal youth, others in positions of authority go for ThePatriarch look) in addition to prolonging their lives by a century or two.
105	* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'': One of the character templates in the White Howler tribebook is a Metis woman whose deformity leaves her human form similar to a prepubescent girl (and her natural War Form no larger than an ordinary human adult). She serves as a spy and infiltrator.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Video Games]]
109	* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' has an entire ''town'' of these; the town of Chek is entirely populated by what appear to be kids but are actually people in their teens on up to elderly people. [[spoiler: It's also a town entirely populated by summoners and shamans, and it's outright stated in the game that it's their proximity to the summoning temple for the gods in that universe that keeps them young.]]
110	* Seere from ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'', who sacrificed his ability to age as part of his Pact with his Golem. It is more apparent in the sequel which takes place eighteen years later.
111	* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', there's a radio advertisement for the [[ShowWithinAShow fictional sitcom]] ''Just the Five Of Us'', in which one character is a 42-year-old investment banker with a rare disease that makes him look 10 years old.
112	* [[spoiler:Rika]] from ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' is stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop where she is the only one who remembers each universe. She is [[spoiler:[[VagueAge between nine and thirteen]]]] but has been stuck in the cycle for hundreds of years.
113	* Theresa Apocalypse from ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' is an experimental clone that cannot physically develop beyond roughly 12 years of age. Though chronologically in her 50s or older, she doesn't mind her stunted body and instead delights in playing up the "cuteness" of her appearance as the "world's #1 cutie Teri-Teri". In spite of her childlike appearance, Theresa commands respect as a senior Valkyrie and the Principal of St. Freya Academy.
114	* [[spoiler:Fecto Forgo]], the BigBad of ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', is a variation. [[spoiler:After separating from [[EnemyWithout Elfilin]], the embodiment of their compassionate side, Fecto Forgo reverted to their immature [[BizarreAlienBiology larval form]] and lost the ability to survive outside of the [[TailorMadePrison Eternal Capsule]].]]
115	* The Kokiri from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' are given life by the Great Deku Tree and automatically stop aging at around 10. But as seen in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', they can have their form changed by the Deku Tree in order to protect them (in this case, [[spoiler:the great flood]]) so the tree may have given them this attribute.
116	* ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Gears of Destiny'' has Yuri Eberwein, [[spoiler:[[WasOnceAMan the formerly human]] Unbreakable Darkness]] who achieved CompleteImmortality when she became what she is now. [[spoiler:[[AudioAdaptation The Sound Stages]] set after the game mention that, now that she could control her unlimited powers, she could let herself grow up as normal again]].
117	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' has an interesting case of this trope being fuelled by ImmortalImmaturity: according to WordOfGod, resident [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] sisters Remilia and Flandre Scarlet have forfeited their growth and maturity in exchange for eternal life. In other words, the sisters have the appearance and mentality of ten-year-old children because one of them is a RoyalBrat, and the other confined herself to their basement for 500 years, which stunted her mental and emotional growth.
118	* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'': [[spoiler:Rubedo, who's an artificially created human with the power to slow down cellular growth, stopped his own aging at around age 12. This means while he's technically older than Guignan, he presents himself as Guignan's son, Guignan Jr. or just plain Jr.]]
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Webcomics]]
122	* Philippe from ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}'' also seems like he will always be five, especially if [[http://m.assetbar.com/achewood/uua1pghHz this strip]] is canon...
123	* In ''Webcomic/TheGodOfHighSchool'', [[spoiler:Taejin Park]] was born with myriad physical deformities that have prevented her from growing up past the age of 5 or 6. She struggles to fit in with anyone her apparent age as a result and she's constantly ridiculed for her resemblance to [[spoiler:Mubong/Mujin Park, her biological father]].
124	* Some characters in ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'' play adult roles in spite of looking like children or teenagers. Anaak Jahad is an obvious example -- she's implied not to be half as young as she looks (which is something like barely in puberty), is one of the most powerful fighters among the Regulars, and doesn't much change in terms of looks during a TimeSkip of years. [[AllThereInTheManual It's revealed in the wiki]] that some people in the Tower just don't physically grow up. It's also said that they are considered as having childish personalities as well, though how true this is isn't clear. Anaak, for example, gives little clue: does her emotional coldness reflect a secretly damaged child or secretly damaged adult? The wiki also reveals that a character with a permanently childish appearance (in this case, Eurasia Blossom) can be in a relationship and have a child with an adult-looking adult (Po Bidau Gustang).
125	* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': All Senet Beasts are {{Time Abyss}}es from the [[TheTimeOfMyths First World]], created before the Gods even came up with the concept of growing up and aging. The [[ElementalEmbodiment waterwomen]] appear to be of all ages, but the [[http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch13/ch13_21.html baby ones]] are as [[TheAgeless ageless]] and unchanging as the others.
126	-->'''Minnow:''' Don't let them take advantage of you. They've been babies longer than the moon's been round.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Web Original]]
130	* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Generator is 14-15, but has looked like she's 11 from since she was that actual age.
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Western Animation]]
134	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Actress Mary Louise Dahl from "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE11BabyDoll Baby-Doll]]" suffers from a very rare disease that prevents her from physically aging past the age of about 6 or so. She was a sitcom star for a while, playing a little girl named Baby Doll. Eventually, she quit and tried to become a serious actress, with less than no success. After a series of failures, she resorts to kidnapping her old castmates in an attempt to relive her glory years and drawing the attention of Batman.
135	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': An ugly girl at Gallagar Elementary has been secretly using the FountainOfYouth hidden in a cave underneath the school to sustain her youth and has managed to stay a child for hundreds of years.
136	* Timmy from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' seems to be stuck in the common trap of [[NotAllowedToGrowUp cartoon children never aging]]. The episode "Timmy's Secret Wish" deconstructs this. It turns out that Timmy actually wished that nobody could ever age. In real-world time, the show was under ten years old, but in-series, 50 years have passed (meaning the show takes place [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the 2050s]]). At the end of the episode, Timmy reverses the wish so that everyone can age again.
137	* The imaginary friends from ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' are real, and childlike, but never grow up, which becomes tragic when their creators grow out of them and eventually abandon them. Some, however, are likely needed for life, such as an imaginary friend created to help his blind creator. Other few get the luxury to be passed down to their creators' children.
138	* PlayedForLaughs in a non-canon ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode in which they are depicted as AnimatedActors. In order to keep Bart and Lisa [[NotAllowedToGrowUp kids forever]], Homer gives them anti-aging hormones.
139	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E26StevensBirthday Steven's Birthday]]" reveals that Steven seems to have stopped aging at 8 years old. However, the end hints that he ''is'' growing old somewhat, and earlier episode showed his body's maturity depends on his mental state. By [[TimeSkip two years]] after the original series, he has grown noticeably older.
140	* It's implied that the AmbiguouslyHuman Color Kids from ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite'' are much older than they seem. Rainbow used to be a normal human but she's way smaller than normal now and also seems to not age.
141	* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', Superboy still looks the same after a five-year TimeSkip. One of the side effects of the cloning process that created him is that he will always look sixteen. He still ages internally, so he's not immortal.
142	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NeverGrewUp