This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Germaholic: The X-Files example isn't accurate for Agent Scully as there would not have been any way that she could possibly have been 25 at the beginning of the series and there is no way for her to be any younger than 27 or 28 during the pilot episode. In the second season episode entitled One Breath, when they believe Scully is going to die, her tombstone says 1964 - 1994, which means in that episode she would have been 30. The pilot episode is dated March 1992, though other episodes may have retconed this date: In the latter half of Season 4, which was in 1997, Scully has stated that she and Mulder had been working together for 4 years, which would have meant they started working together in 1993, which would make Scully 29 at the beginning of the series. Anytime they state how long they had been working together, when one does the math for how many years had been mentioned, it always goes back to 1993. In the season 7 finale which acts as a sequel to the story in the pilot, Mulder and Scully had been working together for 7 years, and that episode is set in 2000, so therefore that episode also corroborates the start of their partnership as being in 1993, when Scully would have been 29. Even if the 1992 date of the pilot hadn't been retconned to 1993, then Scully have still been 28 in 1992, or at the absolute youngest 27 if her birthday was later in the year.
Ununnilium: I don't think the Digimon example goes; this trope is less maturity of personality and more having an oddly high level of experience, or an oddly high-ranking job. That said, we need a trope for kids-who-act-like-adults.
Servbot: Digimon Tamers example have been moved to Wise Beyond Their Years.
Scrounge: Would Chiyo-Chan count? She's a ten-year-old girl and in high school.
Charred Knight: I would say it was, you don't see a lot of 10 year olds as smart as a high schooler, and I would consider going to school to be a job.
Not sure but would Ender's Game count? The kids (I think Ender's supposed to be about 10 at the end of the book) are commanders of humanities only fleet of ships. Handwaved by explaining that they were all child geniuses and that children were purposefully chosen but still a bit of Improbably Age.
Charred Knight: Deleted this: And don't hold your breath waiting for a female hero of that age, ever.
Play Final Fantasy X-2, and XII. In Final Fantasy X-2 all three playable characters are females in their 20's (and Rikku is 17). While the main character of Final Fantasy XII is male the leader is a female. The male lead just follows her around.
jstaik1043: The Harry Kim of Voyager inversion example might not qualify. Harry remaining an ensign despite 7 years in grade might be because of a "grade-freeze" - keeping the same number of ranks inside a military unit for administrative reasons. After all, trapped several decades from home, there aren't that many replacement personnel at the lower ranks. In 7 years, if one kept promoting due to seniority, the Voyager would be a ship of the Oz Space Navy - all command-grade officers with maybe one lowly rank. (Of course Star Trek seems to do this anyway ... but that's another topic.) Summary: This example might not qualify as a true inversion of the trope.
That Other 1 Dude: OK Mc Max, I'll agree that Avatar is an example, but that is not how you write that.
Servbot: Slightly altered on the addendum of the Nanoha example. First, unless if I'm going crazy or this was recently revealed in the manga, I'm fairly sure Chrono's one of the characters in Nanoha that isn't adopted. Second, Lindy being anything less than late-twenties when Chrono's 14 means that she gave birth to Chrono when she's around 10.
Charred Knight: Nagi dissapeared 10 years ago (right before Negi was born) and was 25 years old.
Vampire Buddha: removed this because it's irrelevant and nattery.
- ** In their defense, most of these characters are ta'veren, which roughly translates as "Mary Sue", or less harshly as "main character". Aside from that, Mat Cauthon got most of his military skills by having them downloaded into his brain, via an Upgrade Artifact, and Rand is suggested to be the reincarnation of a leader from way back in the day, if he isn't just insane. Yah. It's still a little jarring, but there're good reasons for it.** Such as that as the Chosen One of several different prophecies for several different regions and people's Rand was pracically gifted an enormous deadly army which comes with age appropriate commanders so that even though he regards himself as no great general he is able to swiftly force other nations to heel and convince good commanders to serve him. Perrin was chosen as a leader among his village in part because he was one of only a few who had any experience whatsoever (though, granted, not the only one) and only commanded more than that as he is a good friend of Rand, who put him in charge of a bigger army. Egwene has proven inexplicably talented at leading the Aes Sedai, but was only chosen in the first place as a puppet the factions of the rebels unable to decide on a candidate could control. Though as mentioned previously some of it is still jarring, most of it makes reasonable sense.
Vampire Buddha: Removed this:
- * Avatar The Last Airbender: While Aang at least has the excuse of being the Avatar, the series also has 12-year-old Toph, 14-year-old Katara and 15-year-old Sokka, and the villains have 16-year-old Zuko and 14-year-old Azula, Mai and Ty Lee, all of whom are formidable warriors that defeat professional soldiers with ease. In the other direction, King Bumi is well over 100 and the most powerful Earthbender in the world.
This trope is about people having authority beyond what is reasonable for one with that age and experience. None of the characters mentioned have any form of authority or power over anyone else (well, OK, Zuko and Azula are royalty, but that's entirely due to heredity, not age).
Yes, they regularly beat up experienced soldiers, but it's also established that the kids are unusually strong benders (tee-hee) or fighters for their respective ages.
CA Lieber: Cut this:
- Justified by Lifespan Dissonance. You could be dead of "old age" by 50 back then.
... because it's a common misconception that annoys me and the alternative was to respond on the main page. A Psalmist obviously thought people lived to be 70 or 80, and once you made it to puberty, at the latest, this was actually a pretty good guess for a man. So people did die at 50, but not of old age exactly; it's like dying in your 70s or maybe your 60s in the First World today.
