History Main / ImprobableAge

* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGxCMyLm6js this]] ''Creator/ProZD'' skit.

* Barring Robotnik, an old man, and Shadow, who was in stasis for a few decades, the characters in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games are almost all in their mid-to-late teens, and a few are even younger. In fact, assume they're around 15 if you don't see them here: Charmy and Cream (6), Marine (7), Tails (8), Amy (12), Sonic (15), Knuckles (16), Rouge and Big (18), Vector (20), and Vanilla (unknown, mother of Cream). And almost every last one of these guys has contributed to saving the world at least twice, with the exception of Marine, who only showed up in ''[[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries Sonic Rush Adventure]]'', and Vanilla, who doesn't really do much. Especially Tails, who has been absent from a grand total of two games since his first appearance. Most of these ages at least make some sense in the context of their first appearances, but the idea that they haven't aged at all over the course of the series is, er... [[ComicBookTime questionable.]]

* ''Series/PerryMason'': A comparitively rare example of a character being improbably too ''old'': Ray Collins was 67 (and looked even older -- he could have passed for 77) when he began playing Perry's friendly police adversary Lt. Arthur Tragg. Producer Gail Patrick Jackson was completely aware of the improbability, but didn't care, stating "He was such a wonderful actor -- beautiful voice, trained in radio's Mercury productions. We overlooked the fact that on an actual police force, he would probably be long retired." (The mean retirement age for police personnel at the time was 54.) Collins continued in the role of Tragg for 7 seasons, through the age of 74.

*** Megan makes Rockford's lawyer Beth Davenport look like a comparitive slacker, although Beth is still ''somewhat'' improbably young for her position. Though Beth's age wasn't explicitly stated, when she first appeared, Beth's portrayer Gretchen Corbett was a youthful-looking 27 years old. 27 is the average age of a freshly-minted law school graduate -- but Beth was already a firmly established lawyer with a fancy office at a big, well-respected firm (though not a full partner).

* The point of the ''LightNovel/{{Oreimo}}'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7330418/1/My_Life_Cant_Lose_Its_Normality My Life Can't Lose Its Normality]]'' is to make the main character of the series, Kousaka Kyousuke, [[AdaptationalBadass cooler than he is in canon]]. It goes about this by having him and several other characters be part of a team of vigilantes who are just as badass as most special operatives, if not more. They're in high school.

* ''Music/Kate Bush'' wrote her first debut single "Wuthering Heights" at 19, and wrote her second single "The Man with a Child in his Eyes" at 13(!) and recorded it at 16 for her debut album, The Kick Inside. Dusty Springfield herself covered it and proclaimed it, "One of the prettiest songs ever written". An astounding achievement for any musical artist, much less a British teenager.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', [[TheHero Cecil]] and [[TheLancer Kain]] lead the dark knights and the dragoons, respectively, at the ages of twenty and twenty-one, respectively. Even taking into account the fact that both of them were likely trained from early childhood, that's still very, very young for their positions. One wonders what the older soldiers think...

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', main character Bartz is all of twenty, though at least he's nothing more than a vagabond. Faris, however, is the same age and master of a pirate ship.

*** In ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', Zack becomes a hotshot [[SuperSoldier SOLDIER First Class]] at age 17, while veteran uber-[=SOLDIERs=] Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis are all only in their early twenties during the majority of the events.

** Top of the list has to be Eiko from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' -- she's only 6 years old and knows how to cook and take care of herself. Zidane and Garnet are both 16 and Freya is 21. If you weren't told this, you would never know it. They act much older, and have histories and experiences that imply they can't be that young, for example Freya being a member of the Dragon Knights ''several years ago'' and Zidane having years of experience as a thief. [[spoiler:May be justified in that both Freya and Zidane aren't human and hence may age and reach maturity differently.]] Vivi looks to be about 9, [[spoiler:but the official ultimania guidebook confirms that he was activated SIX MONTHS before the start of the game!. The age of 9 is likely a guess by his adoptive grandfather.]] Kuja is only slightly better in this regard, being a famed "weapons dealer", rich Treno personality, proprietor of a massive desert palace, and doing all his villain accomplishments at the tender age of 24. Beatrix thankfully is a little more plausible; she's captain of Alexandria's AmazonBrigade and a feared and respected soldier, aged about 27.

** Ocelot, who was a GRU major at 20. (Not entirely implausible... if there was a war going on.) He was [[spoiler:raised as a spy by the Philosophers]], which makes it a bit more believable. And either way, this seems perfectly normal compared to most of the other examples on this page.
** This is either [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], [[JustifiedTrope justified]], or [[TakeAThirdOption just discussed]] in a radio conversation at one point. Apparently it has something to do with his parents, as well.
** Yes, because his parents are in fact [[spoiler:The Boss and The Sorrow,]] meaning that the fame of his parents earned him special privileges.

** Meanwhile, Firo's old friend Luck Gandor was acting as an executive of the Gandor [[TheMafia family business]] at ''fifteen,'' if not younger. Luck didn't get the position because he was spectacularly gifted, but because he's the son of a Mafia boss and (along with his two older brothers) inherited the turf when his father died -- and he's ''very'' aware of it. A good deal of his ruthless MagnificentBastard persona is [[NobleDemon a front that he puts up]] [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask in fear of not being taken seriously in his position]] (and thus targeted).

* ''Film/{{Flashdance}}'': Many reviewers found it highly implausible that an 18-year-old girl would be allowed to work full-time as a welder. This was another thing pointed out by Magazine/MAD!

* ''Film/DarlingLili'' has a similar example. Bill Larrabee is an AcePilot in his prime, played by the mid-40s Rock Hudson.
* ''Film/{{Flashdance}}'': Many reviewers found it highly implausible that an 18-year-old girl would be allowed to work full-time as a welder. This was another thing pointed out by MAD!

* In ''Webcomic/{{Morphe}}'', the 19-year-old Amical is a Master-level mage and a high-ranking member of MagicalSociety with a huge manor house, lots of wealth, and some extremely valuable magical assets. WordOfGod reveals that [[spoiler:he's actually well over 100 years old, thanks to a DealWithTheDevil preserving his youth, and raised his OldRetainer from boyhood]].

** Ed and Al are noted child prodigies and were able to perform human transmutation before they were ten. Through some finagling, Ed uses this feat to become a Major in their country's military.

A character whose age seems inappropriate with their occupation or position given the amount of experience they would need, [[NotDrawnToScale whether or not their age is actually important]] within the storyline. Tends to lean to the younger side, resulting in the TeenGenius, KidHero. Sometimes, a disproportionate amount of the ([[ChristmasCake especially female]]) cast is inexplicably under thirty. In benign cases, it's because the writers assume the audience better identifies with characters their own age.

** Also notable are the character's appearances after a TimeSkip between seasons. Chrono's [[ChristmasCake vaguely-forties]] mother is the only normal character who doesn't appear older.

* ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'' pulls a similar thing, where Suguru's teacher, a comedically-perverted teacher nearing ChristmasCake status, appears in a DistantFinale yet looks exactly the same.

* UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington became a Colonel when he was 22. This could be seen as a deconstruction of the usual portrayal of the trope, however, since Washington got this post through connections rather than merit. And he [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jumonville_Glen botched an assignment so badly]] that it started a war between France and Britian that eventually became the Seven Years War.

* ''Manga/Doraemon'': Many times in the franchise, Nobita and his friends meet children around their age who hold high ranking jobs such as law enforcements, national football players and even king or president.

-> ''“So let me recap: Amy is evidently a millionaire, dresses up in a fancy dinner dress, she's a globe trotter, high school drop out, ex-terrorist, highly ranked military official, ghost hunter, a potential gold medal winner in 3 different Olympics of at least 4 disciples each... and not one parent or child service agent in sight. Look at this list. Is there ONE part of Amy's character that makes you point and go, 'Yup! That's a 12-year-old girl alright!'”''
-->-- '''Luke the Fox''', Webvideo/SonicDissected [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBiSX3lNGrg Episode 6]]

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has quite a bit of this, much of which is justified in one way or another.

* Inversion in ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'': Scrooge is explicitly more than a century old, but remarkably active for someone that age, ''and'' his immediate relatives are far younger than makes sense for this to be true.[[note]]It's not the writers' fault; they wanted to keep Scrooge's backstory from the comics, which was perfectly plotted to have him live through numerous historical events and be merely very old, but which was written twenty years before the show.[[/note]] His life is explicitly artificially extended by supernatural means.

* In ''Film/TheGhostWriter'', 56-year-old Creator/PierceBrosnan plays a former prime minister. 41-year-old Creator/OliviaWilliams, looking even younger, was cast to play his wife. We could assume that the character married a significantly younger woman, if it weren't specifically stated in the story that they went to college together. Neither is exactly an improbable age for the part, but they're definitely not believable as contemporaries. Creator/TildaSwinton, seven years younger than Brosnan, was originally cast and would have been more believable.

* Creater/Kate Bush wrote her first debut single "Wuthering Heights" at 19, and wrote her second single "The Man with a Child in his Eyes" at 13(!) and recorded it at 16 for her debut album, The Kick Inside. Dusty Springfield herself covered it and proclaimed it, "One of the prettiest songs ever written". An astounding achievement for any musical artist, much less a British teenager.

* British Musician Kate Bush wrote her first debut single "Wuthering Heights" at 19, and wrote her second single "The Man with a Child in his Eyes" at 13(!) and recorded it at 16 for her debut album, The Kick Inside. Dusty Springfield herself covered it and proclaimed it, "One of the prettiest songs ever written". An astounding achievement for any musical artist, much less a British teenager.