This troper recently visited her elementary school. It took several tries to convince her ex-home room teacher from the fourth grade that she is exactly who she said she is. Likewise with classmates. Being the chubby girl with glasses, acne and braces who was constantly bullied for well, being ugly, it was a very gratifying feeling.

This troper knew a girl in 8th grade who was curly haired as all heck, wore glasses, and talked really funny. on top of all this, i also really didnt look at girls a whole lot back then. bout 5 years later i find her again on FB, the first thoughts that pop into my head were: whoa, shes hot now

When this troper was about four, he had a short, thin, kinda weird best friend. Now, ten years later, I met her again, and she's tall, blonde, slim and with err... you know. Needless to say I have a crush on her. The worst thing is that 10 years ago, she had a crush on me, and I didn't even saw her with that eyes, and now, she keeps turning me down. Who knew that such a weird girl would become SMOKING HOT. Oh boy, if only I saw that coming...

This troper shocked himself at Thanksgiving when he realized he was...um...reacting to his cousin while talking with her about how they both matured(she's 14 and I'm sixteen). The strangest thing is that we used to kiss each other when we were around ten. I also have a first cousin once removed that I've had rather...interesting(read: erotic) dreams about. Have I mentioned this troper lives in a family that despises incest?

Well, it makes for a great story. I hope that you find a person you love who ISN'T family so you two may have a happy life.

This troper is not in the habit of lusting after his cousins, but met a younger one he hadn't seen in four years at a family gathering, and his first thought was, "Where the hell did ''those'' come from?!"

This troper walked in on his cousin having sex with her boyfriend...while at a family reunion. The cousin was 16...this troper was 27. The worst part? Not the fact that I'd known her since she was born. That was bad enough. No. It was the fact that she was incredibly, "keep the image for later" ''hot''.

When this troper was in elementary and middle school, she dressed like a boy, wore (frequently taped) glasses, had braces, an expander, and a sort of mini-headgear type appliance, and was one of the first kids to develop acne in her grade. Naturally, she was the target of much teasing. Flash forward to the present day, and this troper has updated her wardrobe, gotten contacts, has perfect teeth and has outgrown her acne. She considers it a personal CrowningMomentOfAwesome every time she gleefully rejects her ex-tormentors when they hit on her.

Recently, this same troper was utterly surprised to notice that her once short and rather effeminate best guy friend is now nearly a head taller than her and looks shockingly like his rugged and manly father. When did this happen????

This troper has a habit of noticing most that some of his female friends, whom he has known since childhood, have suddenly got boobs and stuff. Most of the female friends he knows from church. His brain tends to, for want of a better word, "segfault" whenever he notices it, presumably to keep him from thinking about it.

This troper has had the same thing happen to him. His family is close family friends with a family with 3 daughters. You grow up with them and they're like sisters until you collectively hit high school, then all of a sudden it's VA-VOOM!

This female troper had a male family friend who is two years older than her. I moved away when I was seven. Are families met up for old times sake. We shook hands, made small talk then I dragged my mum into another room: #QUOTE# Me: that is not Elliot!?! #QUOTE# Mum. It is, sweety (knowing grin). #QUOTE# Me: Bloody Hell!

I knew a boy, H, in 6th grade who was pudgy and liked wearing somewhat girly clothing(before that was in style). He liked to chew on his pens and was generally not liked. I just found him on Facebook. Now, well DAMN! He can chew my pen any day!

...would your middle school have anywhere been near hillsdale?

This troper just experienced this. A girl that I had known back in middle school was pretty much the only girl that showed any interest in me, though I ignored or, when she once confronted me with some of her friends in a Target store, ran from her. This was because I wasn't... er... entirely normal around other people at that time, and I was interested in another girl as well- though looking back I regret not being nicer to her. This was compounded when, four years later and out of the blue, she friended me on Facebook, and taking a look at her pictures and comparing her back then to now I realized this trope was in full effect. My first thought upon seeing her currently: "aw, son of a ''bitch''." Hindsight really is 20/20.

This troper recently got a great story about this. Apparently, at a town event, my mother and sister ran into one of my old high school friends. He didn't recognize my sister at first, and when told who it was, the look on his face suggested that this was going on. For reference, said friend graduated high school when my sister was 11. She's 16 now.

Male example: This troper came across pictures of himself from 6 years ago, when he was a sophomore in high school. His 14-year-old self had an ugly hairstyle, and his face wasn't the best looking either. Then he looked at himself in the mirror and noticed that his 20-year-old self looks much more attractive than he was at age 14.

How nice for you. Hard to imagine that you hadn't looked at yourself once in that six-year gap, or that nobody else noticed, but...

Actually, he ''did'' look at himself throughout the years, as for why nobody including him seemed to notice? It's because it all happened little by little over six years - If it happened all at once, ''then'' they'd notice. Ever read that book ''TheTwits'', where Mr. Twit gradually puts more wood onto Mrs. Twit's cane to make her think she's gradually shrinking, and didn't put too much on at once so she wouldn't notice? It's like that.

The same happened with this troper, but it was with his sister. and trust me, she has some big, um, you know.

Another male example,and quite fast one : this troper used to go for small game conventions with group of guys from internet forum.There was one young guy who looked pretty fragile by his frame and glasses on.But she had fun joking around with him.Fast forward only 5 months and when she aproached said group in bus to another con,one nice looking,tall and well build guy greet her.Her inner reaction was 'WTF how does that handsome guy knows my nickname?!'.She had to ask friend for it and her jaw dropped when he told her who he is.

This Troper ''hoped'' this would happen with Andy's sister, Molly, in Toy Story 3, but she's only about the age Andy was in the first two movies. Of course, I'm sure that some people are inevitably still excited.

For some female viewers, including this troper, this actually happened with Andy himself though. Really. Right now she is already blushing.

This troper won't ever forget being reunited with his cousin Celine at a family gathering - he'd last seen her when she was nine.

This female troper has had this happen recently with a guy she'd known since elementary. Randomly, she suddenly realized, "Hey, he's gotten really cute since then!" and being on good friends/like brother and sister terms with him, decided to mention it casually to him. She was...surprised when her friend repeated the phrase right back at her, genderswapped. They decided to accept the compliments and never bring up the subject again, as both were rather squicked by their revelations.

AWWWWW!that's sweet from both of you.Don't worry I'm sure you two will laught about it in few years

This troper joined the Air Force at 19, and his pastor's daughter was a fairly cute, typical prepubescent girl. Several years later he came back to his hometown to find that she'd grown 6 inches and 3 cup sizes(read: AA #QUOTE# C), and that cute face was now drop-dead gorgeous. Bonus points for the ''pastor'' pointing out that she had a crush on me.

I have a cousin, who's the same age as me and who I haven't seen in about 10 years. Back then we were 8 and she was a typical 8 year old girl (as seen through the eyes of her cousin). During the summer I saw a picture of her at my grandma's house and was amazed at how good she looked (speaking as someone who, had my grandma not told me who she was, wouldn't have recognized her).

This editor remembered having a friend from when he was around 3 who he played with a lot. Said friend later moved to England. Skip to the present day, where this editor is 13 and saw the Christmas card sent by that friend's family (not having seen a picture of her for 10 years). Needless to say, I was totally stunned when I saw that she was completely gorgeous.

This Troper was a cute little girl many years ago. Family friends who've not seen me for 7 years all remark on how I grew up to be a beautiful young woman.

This Male troper has a female second cousin, sixteen months younger, ''who keeps on doing this''. It's unnerving as hell when one of the best-looking girls you know is related to you.

When this troper was in the swim team at the age of 12, he had a little stalker that was 10, now she's 16 and he really regrets not listening to her.

I'm not sure how all the kids I babysat in church suddenly shot up a foot. No, I don't have a thing for them, but damn, the years go fast. Makes me feel old. On the upside, they're not adorable enough for me to cave into treating them to ice cream anymore.

This troper used to be a scrawny, awkward nerdy kid with messy hair and bad glasses. After a few years of regular exercize, growing hair out, and a change of style, he is still rail-thin, but has a good amount of muscle, smaller not-chunky glasses, long ringlet-ed hair, and attracts a fair amount of interest from both genders.

This troper used this in a arc of a story series he was writing. When the main character and an old, also female, friend meet up again for the first time in 7 years (Last time they met, both where about 11 years old), the main character quickly takes notice that the girl he teamed up with years ago now has the MostCommonSuperpower.

This Troper's female cousin was around 10 when he saw her last (He's a year older), but DAMN, its been eight years and BOY does it make one hell of a difference. Yes, he's lusting after his cousin, but if you were to see why, you'd understand perfectly... (And apparently, a friend of his did, considering he asked this Troper for her number..).

This Troper had this happen last year at her graduation. Granted, it had only been a few weeks since we'd seen each other, but... this troper's best friend -- who was male -- told her upon seeing her in a suit that he'd never seen her looking that way before, and that, "you're all grown up!"

This troper's first real crush fitted the bill. He and she were childhood friends who weren't exactly in good terms with each other (in fact he thought of her as a total brat and a crybaby and wanted to stay the hell clear of her back then). Her family moved away for awhile before coming back, and by then the teen years came. Wow.

This troper hadn't seen his favourite cousin for six years. He is now twenty, and I am eighteen, so sorta inverted maybe? He's still shorter than me, whatever. But very ''very'' pretty. Last Christmas, we met each other again, and we got very, um, close. No, not quite ''that'' close but there was some SleepCute and lots and lots of HoYay.

This troper hadn't seen her youngest cousin in almost fourteen years. She was a little kid back then. Now? Well, let's just say I wish I was half as pretty!

This troper has... kind of a "cousin" (her parents are friends of mine), who has an older sister who used to be the cute one. A long time without seeing her... when we meet again, she's as beautiful, if not prettier, as her sister.

This troper met the younger brother of her best friend when he was in 4th grade. Having not seen much of him until his first year of high school, she was... shall we say ''pleasantly surprised''. And let's just say this troper's best friend won't be hearing about it.

This Troper has had two moments like this. One concerning the daughter of an old family friend. Aged 15 she was all knees, elbows and awkward adolesence, at 18 she was confident, pleasantly slim, and had a rack that plowed through GagBoobs territory and out the other side. The other was at a party, when I'd had a few drinks and was chatting up a good-looking blonde. Mid-conversation she suddenly blurts out: "You're X, right? Y's brother?" Turns out her big brother was in my little brothers class in primary school. Cue cold shower.

This troper has a very strange story involving this. The sister of a friend of mine in last year's GCSE Physics class was...slightly annoying when I first met her (in fairness, I was nine at the time and she was about five). Skip forward two years since I last met her (coincidentally, at a rehearsal for a play I was in back in April) and I met a girl who I kept thinking to myself, "Why do you look familiar?" I only realised who it was when she confirmed her name on the register and recognised me. I had barely changed. She had changed A LOT.

This troper has this childhood friend. We grew up together, had fun, explored as much as we could in our small neighborhood. Around 9, she and I started to drift apart. Skip forward 4 years and I noticed, erm, something had changed since he had seen her.

Once while I was at a bookstore, I saw one of my old classmates having trouble picking out a manga. Being the ''[[InsistentTerminology manga connoisseur'' I am, I decided to help him out. After he made his purchase and I was preparing to leave, he finally asked my name. "Oh, I'm [=***=]. From Blah High. Remember? We were in the same class for two years." First came the realization. Then, the JawDrop. See, when I was in high school, I had pimples, excema, a twitchy walk and a Jheri curl. Let's just say, nine years later, that no longer applies.

This troper befriended a girl in primary school ''out of pity'' (And, to be honest, a fair bit of fellow feeling) for her being somewhat of an outcast. Plumpish, not very attractive, etc.. While I was working backstage at a school play (By now in high school, four years later), she wanders in through the dressing room door and immediately says "Are you X from Y?" This tropers starts to say "Yes", realises halfway through who she is, and shuts up completely for like five seconds before finishing the word in order to get control of the various blasphemies and exclamations rattling around his head.

Happened to This Troper between 8th and 9th grade with a friend in the year below me, mostly because she actually hadn't hit puberty before. When she was in 7th and I was in 8th, there was such a visible age gap that the thought of anything between us made me feel like a creeper (although we're actually very close in age) and reach for BrainBleach. When we saw each other again for the first time at the beginning of the new year, she looked like a curly-haired and slightly more {{Adorkable}} version of Lindsey Ellis. Not as extreme as most, but still...

I have a few stories myself. In 7th grade, I knew this girl who, while never unattractive per se, was tomboyish, had a bulldog personality, and was never nice to me. Cue the next year, and she grows a spectacular (well, in a 13-year old's mind) rack and somehow transforms into a sweet-natured YamatoNadeshiko who was very friendly to me the whole year and into high school. Then we get to high school, and I notice every single guy checking her out every time she walks by them, a mind-blowing experience considering this is all happening in a three-year span.

Probably the squickiest experience was when I got to college and kept seeing this one girl who'd always been very pretty growing up and turned into a major hottie by the time we graduated. I was never on any kind of speaking terms with her, it's just that she was very distinctive looking. Any way, first year of college, I pass her walking the opposite direction, and as she does, I start hearing two older dudes (they had to be in their 40s) making lewd remarks about her and what they'd like to do with a girl like that. Just blew my mind that I actually saw a girl I grew up with objectified like that.

This troper went from having budding breats at age 10 to having D cups at age 12. My breasts are still D cups. Anyone who hadn't seen me in a year or more in that time probably got this impression.

Has happened three times to people this troper knows. Two of her cousins apply, for a start. The older one used to be very...err...plump and the younger one was more cute than pretty. Fast forward a couple of years and the older one has lost weight and looks amazing, and the younger one looks glamorous and sophisticated, while I still look the same after all those years ._. The third example happened to a friend I've known since I was four and is a year older than me. He used to be shorter than me, skinny, and have a high voice. I saw him recently and he's taller than me, his voice has broken, he's quite well-built and he's really quite good-looking. Fortunately, this hasn't impacted our friendship...yet.

I was friends with this nice girl when we were both in primary school and aged 9. She offered to fold origami dinosaurs with me during art class, and subscribed to National Geographic Kids magazine after I showed it to her. I developed a small crush on her, but the next year we were in separate classes, and soon after that she left for Hong Kong with her family. I found her on Facebook again after about seven years, and hot damn! She was still cute, but now she was ''sexy'' cute. I talked to her, confessed that my crush on her had been renewed and was a lovesick puppy for several months. She still keeps in contact, though it will be hard to see her again in person.

This troper had a bit of a crush on a classmate in junior high. Her friends teased him for being short and geeky, and she joined in on the teasing to fit in. Years later, she looked him up on Facebook to find out that he is a fit and jaw-droppingly sexy MIT student.

This troper has had this experience twice. He spent the first 15 years of his life in another country before moving to the US.

Upon one vacation, he decided to meet up with an old friend from grade school he hadn't seen since he was ten. His first reaction upon seeing her was "My God... she got hot." He proceeded to have dinner and a movie with her, but has not had the chance to see her or talk to her again. UST much?

His second time was again meeting up with an old friend from high school this time around. Not really being attracted to her around 13, despite being good friends, he again thought the same thought. He basically turned the reunion to a date. This troper ended up getting a little drunk and getting taken back to his hotel by her. Due to certain other circumstances, it ended up again as some serious UST.

Funnily enough, this girl goes to a uni with the acronym UST.

This is the normal reaction I get from showing pictures of myself as a kid. Until I was 12, I looked more like Gollum than a real human: All bone and skin despite healthy eating habits, bad posture and teeth and scraggy mess of a hair drooping lifelessly from the top of my head. One puberty, teeth braces, and a good haircut later I've turned into a young woman who, according to my friend's words, could melt the snow around herself in a matter of seconds.

This is always my reaction when I meet some of my former female classmates from elementary school. Some of them friends, some of them just people who I barely knew, one of them a girl who used to bully me, (though I'd become friends with her years later), and even some of my cousins. Since my mom knew most of the moms of my childhood female friends, she assures me that some of them had a crush on me, which certainly makes me feel angry and sad realizing what I lost when I saw them again, years later.

A rather...different subversion. So on Ventrilo, someone tells me that my voice sounds familiar and asked if I ever played on the Bloodscalp server of ''WorldOfWarcraft''. My response is "Yep, alliance side". Their reponse is something along the lines of "...Whoa shit! what are the odds of running into ''YOU''?!? How old are you now? 22?" They hadn't heard me since I was 17.

This Troper met a young girl a couple of years ago. Said girl was an ordinary twelve year old- small, mousy haired and bespectacled. Flash forward two years. That average girl transformed into an incredibly sexy, curvy young PaleSkinnedBrunette. At fourteen. Now for the JailBaitWait.

This troper was an awkward, violent-tempered preteen in middle school who cut her own bangs and often did a bad job of it. In addition to being rather strange, she was also a bit of a ButtMonkey (still is, but it doesn't bother her anymore). In the end, she invoked this trope with herself, saying she'd either be smokin' hot or a cold fish. Turns out, a few of her former classmates happen to think the former is true. Said troper feels rather pleased that she now outshines the boy she used to have a crush on...BY FAR...even if she's got PetitePride.

This gay troper and his also gay friend knew someone a couple of years back who hadn't hit puberty yet and was rather chubby. Just recently we decided to see what he's been up to since then, and, well...dayyuhm!

About nine months ago (May 2010), at his college graduation, this troper was several old boyhood friends he hadn't seen in times ranging from eight to ten years. One friend's little sister was in elementary school the last time this troper saw her. This troper didn't recognize her until she named herself. She was smiling the entire time. Despite her only being in high school and having a slight BigBrotherInstinct toward her by association of her being his once-closest friend's little sister, his first (completely non-sexual) thought was that she'd become very beautiful.

This male troper is an uncle and has a niece by an older sister he has known since the day she was born. I was 8 then. I'm 22 now and the niece is a sporty and athletic 13 year old. Even at 13 she's filling out. I used to find her annoying, now I'm seeing her grow up and am trying to identify with and mentor her.

If you were friends with kids a few years lower than you at school, being reunited with them years later can be a very surprising experience. In this troper's former grammar school all the sweet, innocent 13 year olds are now 16 year old badasses.

This troper was a rather scrawny, brainy kid in Middle School and all the way up into high school. Nowadays, weight lifting has made me look much more mature, given me a face described by an old female friend as "rugged", and then I wound up with PermaStubble. Its annoying sure, but some old friends do seem quite surprised to see me like this.

I'm certain every troper has a cousin or second cousin that they only see every 4-6 years and therefore remember a sweet 13 year old and are bothered by either physical desirability or decidedly adult behavior -- or both -- of the now-nineteen-year-old.

This troper had this reaction when he saw a girl he went to primary school with as a fashion model in a Sunday paper. The change was so pronounced he didn't even notice until his parents noticed her name in the credits.

Inverted, if not in the usual way, by a... friend... of mine, who is quite attractive now (I met her about a year ago), but used to be... well, this trope would definitely apply if I'd met her back in junior high. Awkwardness ensued.

This happens to Kaim, Alty, Limone, and Rotraemon in ''{{Simoun}}'', ''hard'', while most everyone else just look a little older. Yun, Neverille, and Aer avoid this.

In ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}'', 12-year-old Rei/Blair sneaks into the dorms dressed up as a boy to meet her idol, Kaiser Ryo/Zane. Her gender is revealed and after a duel with Judai/Jaden, she has to go back home. She reappears some months (or seasons) later, now a bit older and quite pretty.

In the anime version of ''{{Inuyasha}}'', Koga met Ayame as a little girl, saving her from some demonic birds and promising to marry her if she's got serious problems. Years later, she comes back as an all-grown and absolutely gorgeous lady to tell Koga she still remembers his ChildhoodMarriagePromise and intends to have him fulfill it... much to Koga's shock and borderline horror, since he's now all over Kagome (who is pissed off at ''him'' for treating Ayame badly).

In the end of the anime, though, she manages to turn it around and marries him.

Done in ''{{Bleach}}'', when it's revealed that the little Arrancar girl Nell Tu is actually Neliel, the previous 3rd Espada and a busty beauty whose boobs are in par with [[GagBoobs Matsumoto's or Orihime's]].

After the one-and-a-half year TimeSkip following the Arrancar/HM arcs, ''several'' characters have been hit with this. Specifically: Karin, Yuzu, Ururu and Jinta.

Sanpeita's childhood friend from ''KemekoDeluxe!'', who undoubtedly resembles apparent newcomer M.M. All fine and well, except that she insists on packing herself into Kemeko.

in 666 Satan last timeskip... Well, pretty much all of the younger characters. Specially Cross. Oh, yeah, that same bratty, just slightly cute kid. Got heavily {{Lampshaded}} and anything...

Remember Raki, that generally useless kid that Claire let tag along with her? Well, he grew up. Holy shit, did he grow up...

Since ComicBookTime is not in effect in the world of ''PokemonSpecial'', all the fans enjoy the what the years have done to the Dex Holders. Red's Shirtless Scenes are very much appreciated. As of right now, with the HGSS arc, many a fangirl is squeeing over a sixteen year old Gold and Silver.

In the final episode of {{GoDannar}} this happens to Lu. She apparently was so busy spending her childhood fighting evil space monsters, she never bothered to get a different combat suit than what she had before puberty. * Natsumi of {{Keroro Gunso}} will apparently grow up into quite the looker, with a body rivialing her {{Hot mom}} Aki if the age ray is any indicator.

This trope was the fandom's collective reaction upon seeing sixteen-year-old Gohan. They almost didn't care that a lot of his early stuff was {{filler}}.

In ''GreenLantern: Secret Origins'', Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris first meet when they're both cute lil' kids. About twenty years later, they meet again, she bosses him around, he discovers her father never got over causing the death of his, they fall in love. And of course, in her first appearance in the story as an adult, she is a HotChickInABadassSuit.

In ''TheDarkness'', Jackie's childhood annoyance Nicoletta comes back as a hot babe.

Kitty Pryde. Full Stop

And now she's off across the universe in a giant bullet. Damn you, Joss Whedon! Like most Joss Whedon [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer heroines, she gets better.]]

Gender-swapped in the ''StarWars'' prequel movies, where Anakin is all grown up when he reunites with Amidala/Padme at the start of the ''Attack of the Clones''.

Players of ''Star Wars Galaxies'' are subjected to this as well, when they encounter Padme's neice Pooja Naberrie. During her movie appearance, Pooja looked like this. Now she looks like this.

The "ColonyDrop puberty" version happens to Hermione Granger (EmmaWatson) in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' movies.

Spoofed in a Saturday Night Live skit featuring LindsayLohan as Hermione, all grown up and unaware of her cleavage or the effect it has on the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio. (note: Harry is played by a woman in the skit)

Hermione "changing over the summer" was a cliché in FanFiction circles long before this. The phrase "curves in all the right places" was extensively used and parodied.

On the subject of Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley is also given this trope's treatment. As far as the reader knows, Harry had always seen her as Ron's Little Sister, even when he personally saved her life in book 2. It isn't until he notices her blossoming, grownup appearance AND until she starts dating Dean Thomas in book 6 that he decides to pursue her, making her this trope's prime example.

Hermione goes through this in the books too; she's implied to be quite plain in the early books, but in ''Goblet of Fire'' Harry and especially Ron suddenly notice that she's not plain at all anymore...

Averted in the film version of the books, however, when the decision was made early on to not make Emma Watson look like the book version of the character (no frizzy hair or large overbite). They compensated by giving her a tomboy look in the third film, opening the door to her "reveal" in ''Goblet of Fire'', after which point the fact Hermione was a babe became a given and her suddenly becoming "all grown up" was no longer an issue in the film version of the final book.

''FireEmblem: Path of Radiance'' has several: Sothe, a small child often regarded as deadweight. Fast forward to ''Radiant Dawn'' and... queue the "falling in love" montage; Jill; Mist; Mia; and Apostle Sanaki, even thugh she's ''still'' only 13 -- (Compare this to this.)

Hardly the first time this has happened in the Fire Emblem series. Compare Shanan (at left) and Oifaye with Shanan and Oifaye.

Numerous counts of the second variation occur in ''FinalFantasy'' sequels. Compare:

Penelo in ''FFXII'' to Penelo in ''Revenant Wings''. [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:FFTA2Penelo.jpg

Vaan in FinalFantasyTacticsA2, anyone? Especially since he seems to have raided Balthier's wardrobe btween games.

Yuffie in ''FFVII'' and Yuffie in ''Dirge of Cerberus''. [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:YuffieCG.jpg

Arguably occurs in the opposite direction in ''FFX''. There are those who would argue that Rikku in ''FFX'' is...bigger in the first game than in the sequel. It's a bit of a trade-off, since she's significantly more scantily-clad in the sequel as well.

In FFIV, Porom compared to Porom [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:After_Porom.png in FFIV: The After Years.

FinalFantasyIV sort of uses this trope with Rydia, who is lost at sea as a child only to return as a well-developed young woman - but she grew up while the rest of the cast stayed the same age. While she doesn't suddenly appeal to any member of the original cast, it's ironically its newest member, Edge, who'd never met her before, who seems to fall for her.

Kairi between ''KingdomHearts'' and ''KingdomHeartsII''.

A male version, TokugawaIeyasu, of all people, falls under this trope in the third game of ''Sengoku Basara''. He grows up from a (slightly) BrattyHalfPint who's constantly getting kidnapped and relies almost exclusively on Honda Tadakatsu to fight his battles in the first couple of games, to a rather sexy BoisterousBruiser capable of going toe to toe with the previous game's BigBad and kicking his ass single-handed.

In ''MassEffect'' we have Tali, who in the first game is an awkward innocent girl. Two years later in the second game and she's a confident, competent woman. Liara is still young for an Asari but she sure grows up in the sequel.

''MegaManZX'' was the first to feature human instead of robot protagonists (sort of). Its main characters return as [=NPCs=] in the sequel ''ZX Advent'' where scrawny Aile is All Grown Up, and Vent has become a certified long-haired {{Bishonen}}.

There was an instance back in ZX, too. The captain of the CoolShip, Prairie, is strongly implied all but outright stated to be Alouette, the little girl Zero would see wandering around the various bases in his own series.

Tiny Kong of the ''DonkeyKong'' series. In ''DonkeyKong 64'', Tiny Kong is a cute little monkey girl. In ''DiddyKongRacing DS'', she's been redesigned and is now furry FetishFuel.

Emeralda from ''{{Xenogears}}'' grows up right before your eyes if you take her to the Lighthouse. She'll also take a level in an appropriate class, getting stat growth afterward that's so good it borders on GameBreaker.

Gwen of ''GuildWars''. The player first meets her as an adorable (or irritating) child in the tutorial of the first game, and doesn't see her again until the expansion pack, in which she is now a corset-wearing (and justifiably angry) teenager.

Though we can't exactly hear the hero's thoughts on the matter, Bianca of ''DragonQuestV'' fits the bill. She can (if the player so decides) marry the hero (or not). But probably will.

Chronologically, Yukiko Amagi from ''{{Persona 4}}'' fits this trope. In 3}} P3P, you see her a year before she starts fighting creepy blobs in the television. Comparing the two, it's obvious that something ''really nice'' happened over that year.

The entire main cast of the first ''{{Persona 2}}'' game fits this, to some extent, especially Lisa, who was often teased about her looks as a child. . .and grows up to be the most beautiful girl in Seven Sisters. This also applies to [[spoiler:Maya]], who was cute or so-so as a little girl. . .and grows into a ''woman''.

In ''ProfessorLayton and the Unwound Future'', players are introduced to the title character's apprentice Luke from ten years in the future. He goes from a precious twelve-year-old to a certified {{bishonen}} and the fangirl squee is rampant. is actually something of a subversion, actually. The individual identifying himself as Future Luke is really the BigBad!

In-game example in HalfLife 2: Gordon Freeman has been in stasis for somewhere between 10-20 years. When he wakes up, he meets Alyx Vance, the daughter of his former coworker. She herself says "You probably don't remember me, though." Later, you can find a picture of Alyx and her parents probably taken around the time of the events of the first game, in which she was just a little girl. In the intervening time, Gordon may not have grown up at all, but she certainly has!

A few ''HarvestMoon'' games have childhood friends involved though you don't really know who untill you've built a serious relationship with them.

Ema Skye from PhoenixWright. In the first game, she's the science-loving replacement for Maya in the bonus case at the end of the game. She returns in ''Apollo Justice'', nine years older, with all her science-love intact...but, since she failed the test to become a forensic scientist like she wanted, she's stuck as the game's main detective. A fact that she's ''very'' unhappy about, which leads to her much more irritable personality. Ema looks ''EXACTLY the same'' as she did in the first game--only taller, a sour expression and different coloured eyes.

The seven-year timeskip in TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime were extremely kind to Malon. And Princess Zelda herself, who was precious as a little girl but grew into a beautiful, regal blonde woman. And Ruto, who gets engaged to Link as a kid. Guess what she looks like as an adult. Unfortunately, she can't keep the promise since she's a Sage now.

Notably averted with Saria.

Maria Renard goes from TokenLoli in ''Rondo of Blood'' to smoking hot grown-up (but still jail bait in some parts of the world) in ''Symphony of the Night''--a five-year span.

YourMileageMayVary as to which side of this she falls on in ''Judgment'', where her story is set 3 years after the former and therefore two before the latter. She's taller, and she certainly dresses the part, but still looks like a kid in some ways.

The opening cutscene of ''TombRaider: Legend'' features Lara Croft at, uh, nine years old. Cue a lot of fanboys feeling really terrible for having lusted after Lara their whole life.

{{Pokemon Gold and Silver}} take place three years after the original games. This means when you're given the chance to battle the classic Kanto gym leaders, they are all a bit older, most strikingly Misty.

Misty, Red, and Blue are fourteen years old too. So there change is quite striking; from prepubescent to mid-puberty.

{{Pokemon Black and White}} take place an unknown amount of time after the second and fourth generation games. Caitlin has...changed quite a bit. addition to the physical changes, she's gained enough control over her psychic powers that she no longer needs Darach to battle in her stead...and is now a member of the Elite Four.

Teenaged baddie Kevin never noticed ten-year-old Gwen in the original ''{{Ben 10}}'' series. Five years later in ''Alien Force'', her beauty is a major motivation for his HeelFaceTurn.)

YMMV with this. Others see it as being the same way as every other thing in that series; it exchanged unique awesomeness for a boring standard.

Bonnie Lapton in ''BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' was a little girl when Buzz last saw her ten years ago. She's also the daughter of a former Star Command scientist.

Oddly a bit of a subversion, as Buzz still has trouble envisioning her as an adult woman (much as she has ''no trouble at all'' with the concept, hoping to start a relationship with Buzz.)

Male example: in the first two ''ToyStory'' movies, Andy was just that little boy who owned Woody, Buzz and most of the other main toys. Cue ''Toy Story 3'', which is nearly a decade after the original, and OH WOW.

Pebbles from ''TheFlintstones'' became a cute teenager in ''The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show'' even if you didn't like Sally Struthers.

Soleil Moon Frye, with or without the breast reduction surgery

Child stars are often prone to this:

Valerie Bertinelli as Barbara Cooper Royal(bottom), and for Jenny Craig(2009).

Keisha Knight-Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable(bottom center), from ''TheCosbyShow'', and herself, 2008.

Keisha's ''Cosby"" co-star Raven-Symone, especially if you're into Big Beautiful Women.

Shia [=LaBeouf=].

MirandaCosgrove. Just compare her SchoolOfRock days to how she fares in {{iCarly}}.

On the same note, {{Jennette McCurdy}} has matured. So much.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Alyssa Milano was a cute teenager on ''WhosTheBoss''. Then came ''{{Charmed}}''...

She is attacked by a LesbianVampire in ''Embrace of the Vampire''.

SarahJessicaParker on ''SquarePegs''. Sarah Jessica Parker on ''SexAndTheCity''.

DrewBarrymore as ''Gertie'' in ''{{ET}}'' and Drew Barrymore in jeans.

Amber Scott, the little girl in the movie ''Hook'' went from ''this'' to ''THIS!''

EmmaWatson as ''Hermione'' in ''Film/HarryPotter'' and EmmaWatson as, um, ''Hermione'' in ''Film/HarryPotter''.

How about this link and subsequent pages?

''PrivateEye'' did a great cartoon on this: #QUOTE#'''2001:''' (Girl looks longingly at poster of Hermione while her brother and mother watch) Aw, look, she's totally besotted with Hermione! #QUOTE#'''2009:''' (Boy looks longingly at poster of Hermione while his sister and mother watch) Aw, look, he's totally besotted with Hermione!

In a similar vein, Bonnie Wright when she first started playing Ginny and today.

Not to mention the boys -- Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Tom Felton have all grown up ''beautifully''.

This troper is offended after finding no mention of Matthew Lewis. Yes, little and awkward Neville is a man right now - and what a man!

Holy crap, Michelle Trachtenberg...

Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams and today or at Sleepy hollow.

Hayden Panettiere for anyone who saw her in ''Remember The Titans''.

LaceyChabert; This photo shows her appearance when she was in ''{{Party of Five}}'' and what she looks like now.

MileyCyrus has been attempting to do this, to shed the old HannahMontana thing and be recognized as a legitimate adult singer/actor. Hasn't been going too well, though. The media still explodes whenever she does something remotely "adult". Because teenagers in real life always act like the ones in children's TV shows. Admit it: even if you hate her music, you still have to pity her to some extent.

This seems to happen a LOT to DisneyChannel stars. They get on a TV show, and usually sing, with music and programming aimed at children. They become extremely popular for a few years, with high TV ratings and lots of concert and CD sales. Then, their show is gone and they start to slowly fade out. Whenever they try to do some more mature work, there is often a heavy MediaBacklash, because for so long they were "perfect" role models for young children, and people just expect them to stay that way.

Hilary Duff is one of the few DisneyChannel stars who has managed to go from a TeenIdol to a mature adult singer.

An interesting one is Georgie Henley from ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' films. We're used to seeing her as a nine-year-old so she looks like she has grown up a lot in the third film, even though she still is just 15.

Her Narnia co-star, Skandar Keynes is an exellent male example. He was adorable in the first movie, then comes ''Prince Caspian'' and ''damn''

ScarlettJohansson has certainly come a long way from all that horse whispering.

Madeline Zima. Just look at this pic.

Danica [=McKellar=]

One of the most disturbing things about getting older is watching ''Dakota fucking Fanning'' blossom.

A rare male example: ChristianBale was such a cute little boy in ''{{Empire of the Sun}}'' ... This troper's mother was probably not the only one who was more than a little surprised by his appearance as Batman.

Another notable male example, Anthony Michael Hall. Farmer Ted, became quite the hunk.

What about ElijahWood? He was a RealLife CuteShotaroBoy as a child, and now as Frodo he's still adorable.

Annette Funicello was this before everyone on this list (and most Tropers) was even born.

Chelsea Clinton has endured many jokes about her looks in the media when her father was in office (A downright cruel thing to do to a teenage girl growing into her new body, regardless of her parents. Bad media!), but I doubt anyone's joking now.

You know that little girl that got attacked by chicken sized dinosaurs in the beginning of ''TheLostWorld: JurassicPark''? That was Camilla Belle, who now looks like this.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He was always a cute kid , but now... umm, yeah.

Sort of lampshaded by JGL himself during his appearance on SaturdayNightLive, in regards to his days on ThirdRockFromTheSun: "Wasn't I a cute little girl?"

JodieFoster: started as a Coppertone Girl, now a {{hot mom}}.

Natalie Wood: A little girl in ''Miracle on 34th Street''; less than a decade later she was playing opposite JamesDean in ''RebelWithoutACause''.

Another famous Natalie, NataliePortman was a spunky, determined, and funny little girl in ''Leon: TheProfessional'', starring opposite JeanReno. She's turning into quite the classical beauty, see her latest incarnation in the upcoming Thor live-action adaptation of the comic from, um, Marvel Comics.

Kaley Cuoco, resident hottie of ''TheBigBangTheory''. Here she is circa the Denzel Washington film ''Virtuosity'', and here she is now.

I predict this happening sooner than anyone knows it for Chloe Grace-Moretz.

It looks like she's trying to get there a little too soon.

Remember Ritchie, the adorable little kid from ''FamilyMatters''? Well, here's Bryton [=McClure=] as an adult.

Daniel Logan, who played the young Boba Fett in ''AttackOfTheClones'', can hunt me down anyday

This is Nozomi Sasaki, age 10. And '''this''' is gravure (bikini) model Nozomi Sasaki, age 20. Wow!

The baby on the cover of {{Nirvana}}'s classic album ''Nevermind'' is now 20 years old. While Spencer Elden is fairly average looks-wise, seeing him as an adult is still a great way to make 90's grunge fans feel old as dirt.

Noah Segan

Andrew Lawrence

Freddie Highmore

Many of the HollywoodHomely girls from this troper's school days, although some weren't so lucky.