History OlderThanTheyLook / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/TheChocolix'': Chocolyne, Chocomark, and Max are the same age, despite Max not being as tall as either Chocolix, leading the Chocolix to believe that Max is younger than them when they first meet him. Max explains that there was a big avalanche of chocolate balls in the Chocolate Kingdom when he was born, causing his shortness.

* ''WesternAnimatiom/PhineasAndFerb'': Lawrence looks like he's about 45, yet he is implied to be in his late 50s ''at least'' as he apparently spent almost the entire 1980s working as an anthropologist in Africa, and apparently he was acquainted with the Beatles back in the early 60s.

** [[Characters/GravityFallsDipperPines Dipper Pines]] and [[Characters/GravityFallsMabelPines Mabel Pines]] are 12 (and turn 13 near the show's finale) years old but are shorter than the average 12- to 13-year-old, being more around the size of a 7-year-old. It's not just compared to Wendy (who is 15 years old), but also compared to all the adult characters on the show who dwarf them in height. Mabel's childlike personality, interests and Cloudcuckoolander status doesn't help either. It's also not just the twins: Candy, Pacifica, Gabe, all the girls in the "Roadside Attraction" episode... they're all rather short and look much younger than 12-13. In the twins' case, it could also be a visual way of indicating how the kids and the teens are different from each other and inhabit two different worlds, which ties into the theme of growing up—specifically Dipper wanting something that he’s not ready for yet. In the original pilot, they looked more of a normal preteen height.

* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Taken to an extreme with [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', who, thanks to a century spent as a HumanPopsicle, is technically 112 years old. He's still not the longest-lived Avatar, though; Avatar Kyoshi lived to [[Really700YearsOld the ripe old age of 230]] without needing to go into a deep freeze, and while never looking any older than 40 any of the times she appears onscreen.
*** Unfortunately for Aang, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' reveals that the time he spent in suspended animation came to bite him later in life, as he only lived to be 66.

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': [[Characters/InvaderZimZim Zim]] is described by Creator/JhonenVasquez as "older than any human alive". Whether that puts him into Really700YearsOld territory or just OlderThanTheyLook is the subject of much fan speculation.

** [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessCelestia Princess Celestia]] and [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessLuna Princess Luna]] take this to the extreme, being at least [[Really700YearsOld several thousand years old]] in spite of their youthful appearances.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder": Lord Dominator, especially in her debut appearance, looks and sounds like a teenage girl, and Craig actually had to come out and confirm she is NOT one after 'The Greater Hater' aired. However, she definitely has the personality of one, being a hyperactive [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]] who gets her kicks from being a [[TheBully sadistic bully]] on the scale of an OmnicidalManiac.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode, "The Vault", Finn sees a vision of his past life, a girl named Shoko, who encountered [[Really700YearsOld Princess Bubblegum]] during the early days of the Candy Kingdom. Bubblegum looks exactly the same then as she does now, suggesting she is far older than the nineteen she claims. She only laughs nervously when Finn points out this discrepancy at the end of the episode.

** Taken to an extreme with Aang in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', who, thanks to a century spent as a HumanPopsicle, is technically 112 years old. He's still not the longest-lived Avatar, though; Avatar Kyoshi lived to [[Really700YearsOld the ripe old age of 230]] without needing to go into a deep freeze, and while never looking any older than 40 any of the times she appears onscreen.
** Unfortunately for Aang, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' reveals that the time he spent in suspended animation came to bite him later in life, as he only lived to be 66.

** By the time of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', a case could be made for Batman himself being a more downplayed version of this: he's in his early forties at this point, but his appearance and physical abilities are still relatively unchanged from ''TAS''. Justified because his entire lifestyle is tailored towards keeping himself in absolute top shape.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS3E10E11TheCall The Call]]", Superman (thanks to his Kryptonian DNA) is revealed to look like he's in his fifties even though he's around Bruce's age (late seventies to early eighties).

** Quagmire, who looks about 40 at most, has a driver's license that indicates he's 61. His secret is carrots.

** Fry is 1000 years older than he looks, thanks to being a HumanPopsicle.

** Dipper and Mabel Pines are 12 (and turn 13 near the show's finale) years old but are shorter than the average 12- to 13-year-old, being more around the size of a 7-year-old. It's not just compared to Wendy (who is 15 years old), but also compared to all the adult characters on the show who dwarf them in height. Mabel's childlike personality, interests and Cloudcuckoolander status doesn't help either. It's also not just the twins: Candy, Pacifica, Gabe, all the girls in the "Roadside Attraction" episode... they're all rather short and look much younger than 12-13. In the twins' case, it could also be a visual way of indicating how the kids and the teens are different from each other and inhabit two different worlds, which ties into the theme of growing up—specifically Dipper wanting something that he’s not ready for yet. In the original pilot, they looked more of a normal preteen height.

* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is described by Creator/JhonenVasquez as "older than any human alive". Whether that puts him into Really700YearsOld territory or just OlderThanTheyLook is the subject of much fan speculation.

** Played with between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Many might assume Fluttershy to be the youngest of the Mane Six given her shy demeanor and childlike innocence (though Pinkie is also very childish), and Pinkie even jokingly tells Fluttershy in season one to think of her as "auntie"... but Fluttershy replies, a bit petulantly, that she's actually ''a year older'' than Pinkie Pie. In the flashback to their youth, Fluttershy looks taller and more lanky/gawky than the rest of the cast, indicating she may actually be the oldest.
** Princess Celestia and Princess Luna take this to the extreme, being at least [[Really700YearsOld several thousand years old]] in spite of their youthful appearances.

* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' is 33 as of July 2019, though with his youthful appearance and childlike demeanor he could easily pass for being in his late teens.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': Despite her fellow ensigns thinking that she is the same age as them (i.e., early 20s), Mariner's service history implies that she is considerably older than that. One of her academy classmates has made it to captain, making her late 20s at the youngest but more likely early 30s. She doesn't really act her age though.
* Thanks to the events of "Running with Scissors" having him reside in a [[YearOutsideHourInside time-accelerated dimension]] called the Neverzone for several years, Marco from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' is chronologically in his early 30s, despite still being physically and emotionally a teenager. It's only when he returns to the Neverzone does he look and act older.
* The Crystal Gems from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' all appear to be in their twenties-thirties, but are all thousands of years old. [[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] himself looks like a pre-adolescent, but celebrated his fourteenth birthday late in the second season--according to a photo album, he hasn't grown since age eight. The episode "So Many Birthdays" shows that Steven can age depending on the age that he ''feels.'' Steven actually looks his age by the time we rejoin him in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'', in which [[TimeSkip two years had passed since the events of the fifth season]], indirectly telling us he started feeling like he was older.