It's important to take the time to establish a character's personality early on. Likewise, if we return to a character after a long Time Skip, it's important to establish their character again — either to show what's changed, or show what hasn't.
This is common in sequels, showing how the heroes and villains from the previous work have changed. Prequels often do the same thing, showing a known character pre-development, less skilled and confident. If the character already had an Establishing Character Moment, it's common to mirror the scenes directly to make the comparison more clear.
Even when the work itself does not involve a Time Skip, if the character is Put on a Bus for long enough, once they come back their character will often need to be re-established like this. Might involve Look What I Can Do Now!, to really show off any new abilities.
See also Kid Hero All Grown Up, Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up, Future Loser, A Minor Kidroduction, and (sometimes) He's Back! or "All Grown Up" Remark.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- A meta example in Part 2 of Chainsaw Man, which began serialization after a two-year hiatus: the earliest chapters are devoted to setting up the story's new co-protagonist Asa, with the titular Chainsaw Man not physically reappearing until five chapters in. This is achieved through a battle with the Cockroach Devil, who taunts Chainsaw Man by forcing him to choose between two groups of people to save; our "hero" chooses neither, instead rescuing a cat that got caught up in the fracas and leaving the imperiled people in danger as he kills the devil. One chapter later, Denji is formally reintroduced as well during a series of Vox Pops interviews about Chainsaw Man, where he tries to play up the latter's good qualities.
- Dragon Ball:
- After a three year time skip between the King Piccolo and Piccolo Jr. arcs, Goku returns to the Tenkaichi Budokai now much taller and broader as an adult. At first, none of his friends recognize him because he's wearing a turban. It's only when he removes the turban to show his unique Shōnen Hair that his friends start to piece things together. Bulma is still unsure if it's really him but before she can ask, Goku points out her red lips and thinks she's bleeding. Bulma angrily corrects him that it's lipstick, and immediately realizes that only Goku would say something so naive, and all doubt is gone.
- During the Android Arc in Dragon Ball Z, there is a roughly three-year Time Skip from when Trunks first comes to the past (killing Frieza, giving medicine to Goku, and warning of the coming androids) to when Androids 19 and 20 show up. After the Z Fighters initially struggle with the androids, Vegeta arrives for the first time following the time skip. He has learned to go Super Saiyan and effortlessly takes down 19 in a Curb-Stomp Battle to show off his new strength.
- Lutecia's first scene in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid is her hamming it up while boasting to her familiar about all the modifications they've made to their house in anticipation for her friends coming to visit (complete with maniacal laughter and Milking the Giant Cow), letting us know very quickly that she is not the same Emotionless Dark Magical Girl she was four years prior.
- Pokémon the Series:
- Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon:
- After having split ways with Ash, Brock and Misty both make their grand return to act as special guest teachers for Principal Oak's Kanto Tour for Ash's school. Brock is still the same Chivalrous Pervert he was in the original series, chasing after every pretty girl he sees, but he's now on his way to become a Pokémon Doctor, and his Steelix is capable of Mega Evolving after years of it suffering The Worf Effect as an Onix. And he's been working out. Misty, meanwhile, has gotten much stronger herself and turned the previously average Cerulean Gym into a full-sized facility with its own mega pool, and her Gyarados can Mega Evolve itself. She also adores her Psyduck instead of treating him like an idiot.
- Ash's Bulbasaur makes his return after several years of absence, this time attempting to break up a feud between warring Pokémon before lovingly jumping into his owner's arms as soon as he sees him.
- Pokémon Journeys: The Series:
- Dawn, Ash's traveling companion from Diamond and Pearl, returns after over 9 years to show that's she no longer the overconfident, perfectionistic Pokémon Coordinator she started out as, but has become a go-with-the-flow type of girl who's living life at her own pace with little worry about rushing.
- Iris, Ash's traveling companion from Black and White, was a wannabe Dragon Master whose own attempts at mocking Ash for his immaturity paled in comparison to her own, having failed to establish connections with her most stubborn Pokémon. Now, she's the Champion of Unova, and later returns as one of the Masters Eight just ranked ahead of Ash at Number 7.
- Serena, Ash's traveling companion from X and Y, returns after a 5 year absence in "Reuniting For The First Time!" When last seen, she had just left for the Hoenn region to starting bringing strength to others in the same way that Ash did for her, and has lived up to that goal, maturing both physically and emotionally into the woman she promised Ash she would become. In this new role, she helps mentor Chloe Cerise by helping her partake in a contest.
- In Diamond and Pearl, Paul was Ash's rival, known for being The Social Darwinist who believed in pure strength and strategy no matter what harm it caused his Pokémon, releasing those who he believed weak and thinking Ash was a fool for just scooting by on The Power of Friendship. In his return appearance as a Stealth Mentor to train Ash for the Masters Eight, Paul's upped his game by not only being able to perfectly replicate the strategies of Champions, but he's much more respectful to his old Infernape. It's even revealed by Oak that Paul has been offered a prestigious Gym Leader position.
- Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon:
Comic Books
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) is set directly after Sonic Forces, and its Establishing Character Moments serve to both introduce new fans to the cast and reassure old fans of Character Rerailment.
- Tails is introduced in the first issue as a competent Kid Hero who teams up with Sonic to effortlessly defeat a group of robots, as opposed to his infamous cowering before Chaos 0 in his previous appearance.
- Amy shows off both her fighting and leadership skills in the second issue, and while she's overbearing towards Sonic, it's to get him to join the Resistance full-time. Once he makes it clear he's not interested in returning, Amy confesses that his free lifestyle is exactly why she loves him and she wouldn't want to change that. This establishes that, while her crush on Sonic still exists, she's learned to respect his independence and boundaries since the 2000's.
Fan Works
- My Brother Cain, My Brother Abel: When the Wittebane brothers are little, Philip is shown as a nervous kid who doesn't trust people who are different (natives and witches), as he grows he becomes more zealous and interested in witch-hunting, but he still shows a soft side like being scared of thunderstorms and crying when his brother is in danger, but every time we see him after Caleb disappears he is shown to have spiraled further into madness: switching from simply executing witches to torturing them for information and turning his back on the adult who helped raise him.
Films — Animation
- Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender: All the members of the Gaang get these for their reintroductions:
- Aang has a nightmare about the airbenders' genocide, showing he still has Survivor Guilt after all this time.
- Katara is giving a speech at Republic City. She also kisses Aang when he sees her, establishing their relationship.
- Zuko is attending to his duties as Fire Lord when he gets the letter from Aang. He gets visibly annoyed when Aang's letter refer to him as "flameo hotman".
- Sokka is showing off his plans for a new invention meant for non benders to a bunch of kids. He also exaggerates his stories about his time with Aang (specifically the parts about himself).
- Toph is in the middle of a sparring match with the rest of her metalbending students, challenging them to at least make her use her hands (they don't). Once she wins, she declares she's still the best and also bored.
- The Incredibles: Before Mr. Incredible got married, he worked alone. Well, tried to work alone, as he had the Heroic Wannabe Buddy tagging along. Mr. Incredible had to let Buddy down hard for his interference. After Mr. Incredible is married, he encounters Buddy again. But Buddy has become wealthy by selling military munitions and bears a vicious grudge against Mr. Incredible. Mr. Incredible gets yanked forcibly from a meeting room by the Killer Robot Omnidroid and discovers it's the creation of Buddy, who now goes by the moniker Syndrome.
- Joseph: King of Dreams: After Joseph's older brothers sold him into slavery and lied to their father that he had died, when the brothers show up in Egypt years later—the first thing that we see is one of them picking up a little girl's doll and returning it to her. This shows the audience that they Took a Level in Kindness and stands in contrast to the Scare Chord representing Joseph's shock at seeing them.
- Toy Story:
- Toy Story 3: The Andy Davis that audiences had met in the first two films was a very happy, imaginative kid who loved his toys. In the 11 years since then, he's grown up as much as the audience, now being an adult who's off to college, and having long stopped playing with his toys, but still cherishing them.
- Toy Story 4: Bo Peep was Woody's love interest in the first two films, and is reintroduced in this one during a flashback sequence to the night she was donated, being perfectly in sync with Woody in trying to retrieve a lost toy. When he reencounters her in the present, Bo has ditched much of her old frilly outfit and is a full-fledged Action Girl, living more carefree in trying to help other toys find owners.
- Zootopia (2016): In the beginning of the movie, featuring Judy Hopps as a child, it's shown that she had a bully named Gideon Grey, who ridiculed and even attacked her because of her interest in becoming a police officer. Later in the movie, Judy and Gideon encounter each other again as adults, and Gideon sincerely apologizes for how he acted when he was a kid, showing that he's now a friendly pastry chef who even does business with Judy's parents.
Films — Live-Action
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): In the prologue with Peter Quill as a child, he's shown as a tearful young boy overwhelmed emotionally by witnessing his mother die and then being abducted by aliens. The time skip to Peter Quill as a grown man shows him cheerfully adventuring through an abandoned temple while amusing himself singing "Come and Get Your Love", showing he's now thriving in interstellar space.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home: As a Crisis Crossover with the previous two Spider-Man film series, the five villains — Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Lizard, and Electro — are brought into the MCU, three of them moments before their deaths, to wreak havoc on Earth-199999. However, Goblin's alter ego Norman Osborn is terrified of the monster within, Doc Ock is frustratingly trapped at the mercy of his tentacles, Sandman tries to be an active ally to Peter, Lizard just wants to turn people into lizards, and Electro is rendered into a more handsome human form with better control of his powers, eager to make a name for himself on this new world. The previous two Spider-Men are also brought into the mix; Tobey Maguire's Peter is Older and Wiser and more at peace with himself while Andrew Garfield's Peter is miserable over losing Gwen Stacy and has devoted himself to the role of Spider-Man full time.
- Star Wars:
- In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Saw Gerrera is featured as one of the first characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars to make the jump to live action. On that show, he was a freedom fighter working with his sister to liberate his home planet, being cocky, arrogant, and more aggressive in his approach. Now, he's older, more beaten up (and barely alive), and infamous amongst the Rebellion for his Partisan faction using whatever tactics he can to wipe out The Empire, civilian casualties be damned. He knows he's not long for this world, but he has no regrets in what he had to do to take the fight to Palpatine.
- The Empire Strikes Back is this for Darth Vader and the Empire in general. Even without the Death Star, the Empire is still a nightmarish force that would make the Rebels start evacuating the moment they feel they've been discovered, just as they did with their base on Yavin, as the opening crawl states. And then we cut to the Imperial fleet, where we see a Star Destroyer bigger than the Mile-Long Ship that blew the audiences' minds last time. And who's at the head of this fleet? Darth Vader. Last time, despite his far scarier look and having superpowers no other Imperial in the movie had, while also being the smartest and most hands-on in the room, he was ostensibly Tarkin's lackey. Now? He's clearly the one in charge and everyone obeys and fears him while also still being the smartest in the room. All set to the Iconic Sequel Song, "The Imperial March", replacing the brassy sting that served as the Empire's Leitmotif last time.
- In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker is introduced entering Jabba's palace wearing a black hooded cloak and easily dealing with his guards with Force chokes and a Jedi mind trick. His effortless entrance demonstrates that he's grown more skilled since his defeat in The Empire Strikes Back, but also, by using the signature power of Darth Vader, that he's grown closer to the Dark Side.
- The Force Awakens ends with Rey finding the elderly Luke Skywalker and holding out his father's lightsaber. The Last Jedi shows what he does next: he tosses it over his shoulder, revealing that he's become disillusioned with the Jedi and has no interest in continuing the Order.
- The Rise of Skywalker brings Palpatine back, and though he's still the same hammy, manipulative Big Bad he always was in the previous films, he's become a Dark Lord on Life Support, having spent 30 years since his apparent demise rebuilding his order to ensure the demise of his enemies.
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day: In The Terminator, Sarah Connor is a very ordinary young woman who is a complete stranger to violence, has never even fired a gun, and is almost paralyzed with terror by her first encounter with the Terminator. In the sequel, she is reintroduced as an inmate in an asylum for the criminally insane after an attempt to bomb the Cyberdyne Company headquarters. She's older, tougher, and emotionally much colder, clearly a victim of severe PTSD, always looking for a way of escape so that she can get back to her son and try again to prevent the Bad Future that Kyle Reese warned her about.
Literature
- Constance Verity Saves the World opens to Connie wrestling an alligator woman minutes before her boyfriend Byron was supposed to arrive for their date, Connie more concerned that she hasn't picked out what she wanted to wear than she is about the more immediate threat. As a refresher for those who haven't read the last book in a while, this tells us that Connie is a badass who has Seen It All and is more concerned with normal problems than the more fantastical stuff.
- The first book in the The Heroes of Olympus, The Lost Hero, reintroduces the reader to Annabeth Chase, with an unknowing perspective character. This introduction focuses much more on her anxiety regarding the search for her missing boyfriend, a major plot point in the first two books of the series.
- Lion: Son of the Forest: It becomes clear that the Lion is changing his attitude when he starts to acknowledge his own failures from before and during the Horus Heresy and then forgives Zabriel after he swears he has always been loyal to the Emperor and humanity. Jonson even swears too when the Fallen demands from him to do so, admitting to himself he would have no reason to refuse to answer him except his own stubborness and pride, and that he has seen how that can end tearing a galaxy apart.
- The Chalice of the Gods in the sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Senior Year Adventures reintroduces the protagonist, Percy Jackson, with a callback to the beginning of the first book in the series.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Volume 7 does this with several returning characters who didn't appear in the year 2 books:
- Necromancer Cyrus Rivermoore is reintroduced in the prologue and is up to his old tricks of preying on other students in the labyrinth. This foreshadows him backstabbing Alvin Godfrey at the climax of the book and stealing his sternum out of his body, setting up his promotion to Arc Villain for volume 8.
- Richard Andrews and Joseph Albright, rivals to the Sword Roses from the year 1 books, return for a rematch in the Tournament Arc (teaming up with Tullio Rossi, who unlike them had stuck around for year 2) after taking several levels in badass. To show off their growth, they easily defeat the team of Katie, Guy, and Pete and a team of second-years led by the secretly hypercompetent Teresa Carste without taking a single casualty of their own.
Live-Action TV
- Ahsoka:
- Former Phoenix Squad leader General Hera Syndulla is still committed to ensuring the galaxy is at peace, having been able to find peace over the death of Kanan Jarrus and being able to raise her son, Jacen. She's also the Only Sane Woman who's taking the threat of Thrawn's possible return seriously, even if the Obstructive Bureaucrats in the Republic Senate smugly refuse to heed her warnings.
- Sabine Wren is brought into live-action still carrying a torch for the long-missing Ezra Bridger, having lost all hope in attempting to find him and desparate to bring him back when the opportunity arises. She was also receiving force training under Ahsoka, but it failed because of her family being killed during the Empire's genocide of Mandalore, as well as Ahsoka's fears she would turn into the next Vader if she kept it up.
- Chopper is still a grouchy astromech who isn't afraid to disregard civilian casualties or nearly killed a Republic Senator over an insult, but he's protective and fond of Jacen. When Ezra makes it home, Chopper is the first to happily greet him — a far cry for how he would often prank the boy.
- Ezra himself is alive and far more tuned with the Force after spending 10 years in exile on Peridia, able to fight off enemy forces with his Force abilities alone.
- Thrawn is still alive and well, and no less The Chessmaster than he was a decade ago, using varying Xanatos Gambits and tactical plays to buy time for his escape. The season ends with him returning home, having narrowly stopped Ahsoka and the others from preventing his escape without even meeting her face-to-face.
- Anakin also appears before Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds after his redemption. This time, he's at peace for the actions he took as Vader, and tries to teach his apprentice to forgive herself and him for what transpired between her leaving the Order and the last time they fought on Malachor. He can also channel Vader's rage and power fully, though he only uses it to help Ahsoka overcome her guilt.
- Andor: In Rogue One, Cassian Andor was an experienced spy and Rebel agent, who quickly kills an informant who proves to be a liability. In the prequel series, Cassian's first scene is him bungling through an attempt to get information which nets him almost nothing, attracts the attention of corrupt guards who aren't even looking for him, and then he accidentally kills one of them and has to kill the other to cover his tracks. While he clearly has the seeds of his later character, he also clearly has a long way to go.
- House of the Dragon: Season 1 covers about 20 years, with frequent Time Skips and lots of Time-Shifted Actors. The characters frequently need to be reestablished.
- Episode 1.06 "The Princess and the Queen" begins after a 10-year Time Skip, and the leads have Time-Shifted Actors.
- Rhaenyra: After initially knowing her as a teenager who was very afraid of childbirth, we're reintroduced to Rhaenyra in the midst of giving birth to her third son. She's a mother now, and contrary to her adolescent fears, she seems content with it and adores her sons.
- Alicent: In stark contrast to the Shrinking Violet of her adolescence, Alicent Grew a Spine and now is not afraid to make demands (such as making Rhaenyra come to her right after giving birth) or speak her mind (in veiled jabs at baby Joff's appearance).
- Episode 1.08 "The Lord of the Tides" begins after a 6-year Time Skip, and the kids of last episode are now young adults with Time-Shifted Actors.
- Jacaerys: We meet him while he's practicing his High Valyrian. He regards this skill as important for him as prince and heir, showing he has a sense of duty. But he's not fluent, despite spending the last 6 years being raised by a couple who speaks Valyrian. This suggests the adults in his life aren't doing as much as they could to prepare him.
- Aegon: He was a Hormone-Addled Teenager last episode. He's reintroduced being berated for having recently raped a serving girl.
- Aemond: Last we saw Aemond, he had just been maimed. We first see him again sparing with his trainer and winning, demonstrating that he's grown into a Handicapped Badass.
- Episode 1.06 "The Princess and the Queen" begins after a 10-year Time Skip, and the leads have Time-Shifted Actors.
- In Kamen Rider Build, Gentoku Himuro is such a Dynamic Character that he actually gets four different moments for each of the stages his character goes through.
- During the first episode, he sends his troops after Sento and Ryuga to capture them, dead or alive. When his aide questions him about killing them, he angrily retorts that "we don't need toys that break easily." Unsurprisingly, he turns out to be Night Rogue, leader of Faust.
- Gentoku's second moment comes after a long absence. We're first introduced to a new villainous Kamen Rider with a terrifying Transformation Sequence and enough power to deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to the heroes, only speaking at the end to introduce himself as Kamen Rider Rogue. The heroes immediately recognize the similar alias, which he confirms by canceling his transformation, revealing both his grown-out hair and Thousand-Yard Stare. Whatever happened to him during his absence, it's changed him into a completely different person from the original maniacal tyrant we knew.
- The third moment occurs some episodes later. In the previous episode Gentoku passed on vital information about Nanba performing a Kill and Replace on Seito Prime Minister Mido and helped them get through by throwing his fight, claiming that he couldn't help more because he has a kill-chip installed in his heart. There's a lot of reason to doubt whether any of the spoiler was genuine, but he proves it in this episode by sparing Kazumi's hostage friends from an execution and letting them escape, even at risk of his kill-chip activating (which it does, shocking him into immobility).
- The last moment occurs as the show enters its final arc, after Gentoku cements a Heel–Face Turn. Said moment is showing up in an incredibly hideous Rumage Sale Reject outfit that he honestly believes is fashionable, demonstrating that he's just as silly as the rest of the heroes. While his more serious traits are still present, he does become the main comic relief for the next few episodes.
- The Mandalorian:
- For a planetary example, Tatooine is still the same desert waste it's always been, only the death of Jabba the Hutt and the collapse of the Empire have dried up business further, to the point it's more of a ghost town.
- In Season 2, Mando is rescued Bo-Katan Kryze from The Clone Wars, who is trying to retake Mandalore after the Empire glassed it. Despite her less-than-honorable tact, her dismissal of Mando's beliefs, and still being very picky about what being a "true" Mandalorian really means, she still intends to ensure her people can return home.
- Later in the season, Mando is sent to find Ahsoka Tano, who's been wandering the galaxy as a Rōnin in search of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Though she is a deadly warrior in battle and in tune with the Force, her fears of bringing rise to another Vader lead her to refuse training Grogu in the ways of the Jedi.
- The next episode brings Boba Fett Back from the Dead so he can reclaim his armor, wanting to reclaim the last connection he has to his father. Despite going out like a punk in Return of the Jedi, he decimates a group of Stormtroopers without his suit, and then utterly annihilates them when he gets it back.
- Last, but certainly not least, Luke Skywalker shows up in "The Rescue" to save Mando and his allies from Moff Gideon's Darktroopers, showing what a Jedi Master can do in his prime and scaring the previously smug Gideon shitless upon seeing his arrival.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi: As a sequel to Revenge of the Sith, it marks the first time that Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen have played Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader since that movie. With both back in their iconic roles, Obi-Wan is a broken man, cut off from the Force and cynical about the state of the galaxy he blames himself for having played a role in creating, while Vader is a man fueled only by a deep-rooted hatred to see Kenobi pay for leaving him to burn on Mustafar.
- Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger:
- In #27 after the Time Skip, Gira is shown leading a meeting of the leaders of the Six-Nation Alliance, showing how he's grown into his role as the king of Shugoddam.
- The other countries, however, are represented by the retainers due to the monarchs having gotten themselves imprisoned in Gokkan due to over-indulging their vices (though in Rita's case, they put themselves into jail as a way to use up their accumulated leaves).
- Jeramie, however, is shown as having barely survived a Curb-Stomp Battle, indicating his plan to integrate the Bognaarok as Tikyu's newest kingdom have hit a big snag — and that a new enemy is coming on the horizon.
- When we see the Kyoryugers ten years after their series during the crossover episodes, we catch up with them as well. Souji is still a Master Swordsman and leads the team in Daigo's absence, Nobuharu still serves as the team muscle while spewing his puns, and Ian is as quick to hit on Hymeno as he is to work on an archaeological site.
- Star Trek: Discovery:
- As the show starts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1 ends with the appearance of none other than the Enterprise herself, updated with a more modern rendition of her classic design. Leading into Season 2, this brings Captain Christopher Pike (now played by Anson Mount) into the picture, being a warm, friendly, charming, sociable, and all-around approachable Captain who's managed to overcome the pain of Rigel VII and the experiences of Talos IV to ease Discovery's crew into working together with him when the Enterprise is knocked out of service. He works closely with the crew to investigate the mysterious Red Angel, though he's shown to be pretty skeptical about working with the morally dubious Section 31, which tests his legendary patience.
- Spock also makes his return to the Prime Reality in Season 2, where he's become lost and mentally unhinged after receiving a vision from the Red Angel. Despite his mind being healed, he's still young enough that his human side is not as under control as it would be under Kirk's command, refusing to make amends with his sister for her earlier insults of him as a child, seeing it as a selfish and misguided attempt to carry burdens she was not meant to bear.
- Star Trek: Picard: The series, being the last appearances of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and even Star Trek: Voyager, would eventually reintroduce these iconic characters bit-by-bit as having changed over the last 30 years since the end of Star Trek: Nemesis.
- Jean Luc Picard was previously the honorable Captain of the Enterprise-D and E, having been known for his stately demeanor and a slow allowance of bonding much closer with his crew, but one who nevertheless believed in Starfleet and its ideals. In his first scene, he's an Admiral who has since retired to his vineyard, but has lost his faith in Starfleet when they abandoned an evacuation effort of Romulus 14 years ago, and has become embittered, cut off from his friends, and left only with the dreams of the deceased Data and the long-thought destroyed Enterprise-D.
- Will Riker, the former First Officer, was a charming, suave, but nevertheless cunning and tactically gifted officer and Renaissance Man, known for being equally loyal and friendly as he was unpredictable in battle. He had since retired with his wife, former Councilor Deanna Troi, to Nepenthe, where his charm and observational skills hadn't dulled in the slightest. However, when he does rejoin the cast full-time in Season 3, it turns out that he's become a lot more cautious due to the death of his young son Thaddeus, and he's a lot more nihilistic about the ordeal. Deanna herself was a lot more eager to get out there and explore, but she too was gravely affected by the loss of her son and is in notable pain about it.
- Dr. Beverly Crusher was a compassionate Chief Medical Officer who had a very troubled romantic history with Picard. When she returns in Season 3, she's since left Starfleet to further fuel her efforts to help others in trouble, cutting off ties with her old friends, and becoming a full-fledged Combat Medic. Oh, and she has a son with Picard.
- Worf, the former tactical officer and Chief of Security, was the first Klingon in Starfleet that adhered to a code of honor, though found himself torn between his human upbringing and Klingon heritage due to folks on both sides having trouble accepting him. He returns in Season 3 having tempered himself from a Blood Knight into a Martial Pacifist, being more at peace with himself. However, thanks to the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he's also a Shell-Shocked Veteran troubled by his experiences in the Dominion War, which fueled his pacifistic turn when (according to a deleted scene) he killed a woman during a hunt for Changeling infiltrators, and she turned out to be innocent.
- Geordi LaForge was the former Chief Engineer on both Enterprises, being eager, friendly, and very handy with any engineering equipment he could get his hands on. When he returns in Season 3, he's not so eager to chart out the Final Frontier like he used to, having gotten married and becoming a father to two daughters he's fiercely protective of. Instead, he's become Chief Curator of the Fleet Museum, restoring iconic Starfleet relics (including the Enterprise-D), not keen on adventuring. It's later implied in "Dominion" that losing his best friend, Data, is what changed his mindset.
- Speaking of Data, he was always the Android who sought to become human. While Season 1 does feature the last remaining bit of him, Picard shuts him off to let him pass. But Season 3 reveals he and his brother Lore, along with aspects of B-4 and Dr. Soong, had been put into a new android called Daystrom M-5-10, which initially partitioned them off. Removing it allows Data to merge with Lore (after a Battle in the Center of the Mind) and give himself Data's morals with Lore's more mischievous (though thankfully not evil) traits.
- The other main character in the series is Voyager's resident ex-Borg, Seven of Nine. While out in the Delta Quadrant, she was cold, stoic, emotionless, and struggling to break free of the many years she was stuck as a Borg Drone. Back in Federation Space, she no longer has her family from Voyager, and the anti-Borg sentiment expressed against her that kept Starfleet from accepting her, combined with the death of her adopted son Icheb, has left her bitter, cynical, but longing for a new family.
- Season 3 also brings a few familiar faces back after so many years. Among them is Ro Laren, who had survived the purging of the Maquis and rejoined Starfleet, though with conflicting feelings about her actions; Tuvok, who's still the same Vulcan audiences know and love from Voyager until it's revealed he's been replaced by a shapeshifter; Admiral Elizabeth Shelby, who's risen the ranks and is temporarily commanding the Enterprise-F for her final flight; and last and certainly not least, the Enterprise-D, Back from the Dead after a restoration by Geordi and able to rush back into battle to save the galaxy from the Borg one last time.
- The Umbrella Academy (2019): The Hargreeves siblings each get a new establishing moment at the start of the fourth season after the universe reset and having lived six years without their powers:
- Luther is now working as a stripper — sorry; professional dancer — in a spacesuit costume during the lunch hour, with hardly an audience.
- Diego is working as a delivery driver, carelessly tossing items out of the truck (including through a window) and pissing in a bottle while his boss screams at him through the CB. Meanwhile, Lila isn't thrilled raising three children.
- Allison is walking the red carpet, appearing to have once again become a successful actress. This becomes a Bait-and-Switch as they are really filming a laundry detergent commercial.
- Meanwhile, Klaus is living in Allison's basement (Ray has long since left the building) and has a close relationship with the now teenaged Claire, but he has also become a germiphobe and wears a safety vest while out walking, a helmet in Allison's car, and covers her house in bubble wrap. At least he's been sober for three years.
- We see what appears to be a very dressed-down Five in a "support group" about time-traveling and sporting a mustache. Then it is revealed that he is working undercover for the CIA investigating the Seekers cult, and his manner of dress and fake mustache are part of his disguise.
- Ben has just been released from a four-year prison term for crypto currency fraud.
- Viktor is running a successful bar in Nova Scotia, but it's implied that he Really Gets Around with the ladies.
Video Games
- Donkey Kong Bananza: King K. Rool's reappearance after many years is sure to make it clear how awful he truly is. The first thing he does upon waking up is to give Void Kong a Megaton Punch near-instantly, before he quickly confronts Donkey Kong and Pauline before insulting his own missing crew and then immediately making a beeline for the Banadium Root he was already seeking out. Notably, DK is far more aggressive and angry than he ever was in the game prior the moment he sees K. Rool, recognizing his Arch-Nemesis as such a threat even years after.
- Devil May Cry 5: The last time any of these characters were seen outside of spin-offs before the release of this game was Devil May Cry 4. Discounting the Special Edition re-release of the fourth game, there was a pretty big gap in-universe and out-of-universe between these entries, with the legacy characters getting some ways to re-establish their personalities after a long absence.
- Nero, after being an angry, brash, cocky, and emotional kid from the previous game, arrives in this game even more cocky and hot-headed than before, almost similar to Dante's DMC3 self. While the prologue would have shades of this, he is unceremoniously beaten by Urizen and forced to retreat. This is best seen after the first chapter (which also takes place a month after the prologue) where he arrives in Red Grave City with Nico. Now equipped with the cybernetic Devil Breaker, he proceeds to kick all sorts of demon ass while taunting his enemies.
- The game's true antagonist had been gone for several years after his last chronological appearance and only made scant appearances since, with 5 giving them a lot of moments to really come to the forefront while showcasing their development. Vergil was last seen as Mundus' servant, Nelo Angelo, in the first game, and only made a brief appearance in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition as an extra character with some cutscenes to show where he was before the series started. His big return after V and Urizen fuse together has him effortlessly counter Dante's attacks, then tells him to heal his wounds so that he'll be strong enough to fight properly. He then leaves, thanks Nero for his help, and then climbs to the top of the Qliphoth tree and wait for Dante for their fated duel. This demonstrates how Vergil's skill and rivalry over Dante hasn't changed a bit, and shows shades of his humanity that he experienced as V, thanking his son (that he didn't know at the time) for his help, when initially he was all about power that he coveted for himself back in DMC3.
- In Final Fantasy X, Yuna is very stiff, the weight of the world on her shoulders as a summoner tasked with bringing relief to the world of Spira from Sin by summoning the final aeon. Final Fantasy X-2 opens with her, her cousin Rikku and new edition Paine infiltrating a concert being held by an imposter, Leblanc, posing as Yuna. This culminates with the three of them confronting Leblanc and her gang in style, complete with a Charlie's Angels-style pose, to show that Yuna has finally let down her hair. And then you spend most of the rest of the game learning this isn't nearly as true as she would like to believe.
- Fire Emblem: Three Houses: In the first two-thirds of the Blue Lions route, Dimitri is a pretty stereotypical "noble prince" archetype being incredibly kind and always putting his people first. However, after Edelgard, Dimitri's step-sister and former friend, turns out to be the Flame Emperor, the Big Bad for most of the pre-timeskip, it triggers an extreme Sanity Slippage in Dimitri that continues to corrupt him throughout the Time Skip. When Byleth first sees him after the time skip, Dimitri is a complete wreck and a shell of his former self. His clothes are ruined, his hair is unkempt, and he's wearing an eyepatch. Upon seeing Byleth, the first thing that Dimitri tells them is to just go away, a far cry from his younger self.
- Kratos gets one in God of War (PS4), which takes place many years after the original trilogy. When his son Atreus jumps the gun and scares off a deer he is hunting, Kratos begins angrily screaming at him, but then catches himself, takes a deep breath to regain his composure, and finishes berating him in a more reasonable tone. This shows that Kratos is A. Older and Wiser and B. still Kratos.
- In Jak II: Renegade, Jak, Daxter, and their friends travel through a portal into a strange city, and almost as soon as they arrive, Jak gets captured by the guards of Baron Praxis, the ruler of this city. Praxis then uses Jak as a test subject for Dark Eco experiments for the next two years until one day when Daxter finally finds him. Jak is at the moment of discovery unconscious, and Daxter tells his buddy to say something, which Jak does, and what he says is a far cry from who he was in The Precursor Legacy.
Jak: I'm gonna kill Praxis!
- OMORI: When the player meets Sunny's friends in the Faraway Town portion of the game, there is a short cutscene showing off their new designs and demeanors.
- Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse: The protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei IV, Flynn, is revered as a hero from the start of Apocalypse and a shining hope for the people of Tokyo, however he is only spoken of and never seen. Not long into the game the protagonist Nanashi and their partner Asahi respond to a distress call and are barely able to fend off a the most basic angel enemy before an endgame angel Aniel arrives that you can barely scratch. Just as Asahi begins to lose hope Flynn appears and joins the fight, dealing triple digit damage while you can barely manage double digits, effortlessly overwhelms Aniel to the point the angel cannot retaliate for the rest of the battle. Once the battle is done, he helps the wounded and coming to Nanashi's defence when Asahi's father scolds them for endangering their lives and even praising Nanashi's courage, establishing Flynn as a powerful but compassionate young man worthy of the respect and awe placed on his shoulders.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 start Miles "Tails" Prower's part of the story by having him fly a plane; however, whereas Adventure has Tails fly an unassuming biplane which he loses control of and ends up needing Sonic to come help him, carrying over his character traits from the Genesis games and setting him at the start of his character arc, Adventure 2 has him flying an experimental vehicle of his own design, which he has full control of, as part of a mission to rescue Sonic from prison, signifying that his Character Development from Adventure has stuck. He even remembered the landing gear this time.
- The ending of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) involved a Cosmic Retcon that prevented most of the game from happening in the revised timeline. However, Sega didn't want to get rid of the new character, Silver. The next game, Sonic Rivals, gave a new introduction for him to show his rude but well meaning attitude and new reasons to change the future, wanting to fight against "Dr. Eggman", but telling other characters to not get in his way.
- After the critical failure of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic Team decided to move away from Sonic's friends and focus on the blue blur himself, demoting other characters to NPCs if they even got to appear. With the financial failure of Sonic Rush Adventure and mixed reception of the Sonic Rivals games, handheld adventures were also off the table in favor of adaptations of home console games (and even those wouldn't last for long). Because of this, most of Sonic's ensemble remained on the back burner for years. While seeds of bringing these characters back to importance appeared in Sonic Forces' DLC and Team Sonic Racing, the 2022 release of Sonic Frontiers started the trend of games that bring characters back to importance. With almost a decade of new fans, the games that followed would include several moments to set up the characters for these new fans.
- Sonic Frontiers: While the original trio of Tails, Amy and Knuckles never truly went away, their roles in the game were much smaller than previously. While only NPCs in the base game, they received several cutscenes showing off their personalities. Amy being concerned with a Koco trying to reunite with its lover showed her empathy that contrasts with Sonic's "save and move on" routine. Knuckles finding connections with his home island showed how he had a duty, but has curiosity for the secrets of his long lost clan. Tails, while the most important of the three in previous games, puts him closer to his Adventure appearances where he is trying to step out of Sonic's shadow by questioning his recent failures. The game even has one for Big. While not important to the plot like the other examples and later being revealed to not be the real one, his fishing mini game shows him in a secluded fishing hole away from the action filled story, showcasing him as a more relaxed friend that doesn't care for adventures like Sonic's other friends and is content just spending his days fishing.
- Sonic Dream Team: Eggman's plot involves capturing Cream in order to gain the powers of the Dreamscapes to make his wish come true, as he needs someone with an already pure heart. Cream being unsure of why someone would create nightmares shows her incorruptible personality, and her initial interactions with Amy paralleling Tails and Sonic show her as being to Amy what Tails is to Sonic. To a lesser extent, Rouge helping the others by intercepting data shows off her abilities as a spy and her interactions with Knuckles shows her flirty behavior.
- Shadow Generations: Unlike the previous games, this game focuses exclusively on Shadow, rather than tying in with an adventure for Sonic. Shadow's focus on Black Doom and anger shown at meeting him reaffirms his one track mind towards his goals and more vengeful style of justice than Sonic. His moments with Maria show how, despite being more merciless, he is a complex character with his own motivations.note The prequel short, Sonic × Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings, also reestablishes Rouge as having no allegiance, helping Shadow break into a G.U.N. base despite being hired for a mission by them, as well as Omega's pride in destroying Eggman robots showing off his disdain for Dr. Eggman and belief he is the ultimate robot.
- A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky: After the time skip, the player party changed to someone who hadn't been conceived yet, who eventually meets up with the kids who made up the Player Party pre-skip and had ended up going their separate ways.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3: In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Kid Hero Rex was a small boy with a big heart, often mistaken for a child even younger than he actually was, but determined to save everyone even from the very start. In Future Redeemed, he's introduced deflecting a giant laser blast that was about to hit a girl and the boy protecting her, complimenting the boy on his guts, and then joining the fight with no further questions. After the fight, when he realizes the girl is his daughter, he gives her some rather harsh fatherly advice... which doesn't go over well, because she doesn't know she's his daughter. He's also fully twice the size he used to be, and it seems to be all muscle.
Visual Novels
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney:
- Throughout the original Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy, Phoenix Wright is portrayed unambiguously as a Lawful Good Crusading Lawyer. After a 7-year time skip, he is reestablished as a disgraced former lawyer who had been stripped of his badge. He then solidifies this new morally ambiguous perception by knowingly giving Apollo forged evidence to expose a murderer, a tactic which would have been unthinkable before his disbarment.
- Klavier Gavin in the present turns out to be a Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: one of the rare prosecutors in the series to not be an Amoral Attorney but instead a Friendly Enemy. The flashback to Phoenix's disbarment in the final case has him going up against a younger Klavier, who is considerably more cocky and arrogant.
Web Animation
- Half Life: Side Story: Gaiden: HUNT DOWN FREE MAN: In Part 2, when Moint Pan is reintroduced following the 17-year Time Skip from the first part, he is shown to have become much less cheerful, now being closer in depiction to his game counterpart Mitchell.
- Sonic × Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings: The series revisits a number of characters from Shadow the Hedgehog's past, especially ones who have been gone from the franchise for almost two decades out-of-universe. As such, Dark Beginnings has a few of these moments that help show how Shadow remembers them, or re-establishing how they fit into the franchise's present:
- Maria Robotnik, who has exclusively been a Posthumous Character that only appeared in flashbacks of Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, is introduced running with Shadow down a hallway, mirroring how fans first saw her, except this time, she's excited and cheerful instead of panicked. This establishes Maria as not only as a source of positivity within Shadow's past, but also emphasizes her hopeful optimism about Earth and her goal of living there. This scene also includes a moment where she briefly faints, firmly showing how her illness affects her and why she's been kept aboard the Space Colony ARK for treatment.
- The G.U.N. Commander's sole canonical mainline game appearance was back in Shadow the Hedgehog, where he held a grudge against the titular character for being responsible behind the ARK's shutdown and the deaths of his family. His grudge as a young child is first established in Episode 2 of Dark Beginnings, calling Shadow a "freak" while running awaynote . This contrasts with how the character is in the present, as he calls off the automated defenses targeting a vulnerable, airborne Shadow, later saying he would have helped him and Team Dark had they asked for it instead of needing to go behind his back. This shows his Character Development from G.U.N.'s General Ripper with a deep-seated hatred of Shadow to a Reasonable Authority Figure for Team Dark.
- E-123 Omega, having mostly been Demoted to Extra in the mainline games since Sonic Generations, gets a slightly bigger focus as Team Dark's resident powerhouse. He's introduced in Episode 2 firing upon a group of Egg Pawns, claiming his superiority over the "inferior models" and later calling dibs on the big boss of Hidden Base, the Egg Breaker, whipping out his gatling cannons, ready to fight.
Web Video
- Slimecicle's return in Dream SMP, following his death and dormancy. He returns very different than he was before, both physically and mentally, brushing off an attempt at manipulation from Purpled and Punz, in direct contrast to his earlier appearances being so focused on him being easy to use as a pawn.
Western Animation
- Avatar Legends:
- Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender: All the members of the Gaang get these for their reintroductions:
- Aang has a nightmare about the airbenders' genocide, showing he still has Survivor Guilt after all this time.
- Katara is giving a speech at Republic City. She also kisses Aang when he sees her, establishing their relationship.
- Zuko is attending to his duties as Fire Lord when he gets the letter from Aang. He gets visibly annoyed when Aang's letter refer to him as "flameo hotman".
- Sokka is showing off his plans for a new invention meant for non benders to a bunch of kids. He also exaggerates his stories about his time with Aang (specifically the parts about himself).
- The Legend of Korra: In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Toph Beifong was a small blind girl who was also a Boisterous Bruiser with a propensity for giving out stupid nicknames. When Korra finds her in the swamp, she greets her using the nickname she had for Korra's previous incarnation, then proceeds to spend the day kicking her around the swamp as "training" and laughing her ass off about it. However, she's become so world weary of the seemingly endless struggle of evil she's spent years fighting, that she gave up heroics altogether, questioning if there's even a point.
- Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender: All the members of the Gaang get these for their reintroductions:
- Batman Beyond:
- When we meet Bruce Wayne twenty years after his final battle as Batman, he has withdrawn to Wayne Manor with no company except his dog, Ace. He still has his old martial arts skills (supplemented by Cane Fu), but he no longer has the stamina for an extended fight.
- The series also introduced an Older and Wiser version of Superman as the leader of the Justice League. He's still as charming a Boy Scout as ever, but is clad in a black and white outfit instead of his familiar red and blues. He's also unknowingly under the control of an alien life form.
- Bluey (2018): The first time Judo has a speaking role after "Seesaw" she has completely dropped her bratty Attention Whore personality, and is now much kinder and more empathetic. Notably, she decides to get her long, beautiful fur cut off so she can play with Bluey and Bingo in the mud instead of choosing the simpler option of just staying away from them.
- The Dragon Prince: With the two-year Time Skip between Book 3 and 4 (and the three-year gap between seasons) we're brought up to speed on the characters.
- Callum is now High Mage, and is more confident with greater mastery over magic. But while he's still Endearingly Dorky, Callum is also given a couple scenes to contrast him with his predecessor. Unlike Viren, he's humble about his title and upfront with others when it comes to potential threats, while also demonstrating that with his new confidence has also come ferocity when he thinks his brother is in danger.
- Soren was originally introduced as a Jerk Jock who used his superior skills to humiliate Callum in sword practice, in Book 4 he's seen joking around with Callum and is generally a more friendly individual after getting away from his father's influence.
- Ezran remains a kindhearted Animal Lover (letting Bait, his pet Glowtoad, sit with him on his council) but now ruling as king he's shown making the effort to heal the rift between Humanity and the Elves and Dragons of Xadia.
- At the start of the show, Rayla was a reluctant assassin, trying to steel herself to carry out her mission by burying her feelings while skillfully sneaking into Katolis castle. In Book 4 she slips into Katolis again, to reunite with Callum this time, and while the reunion is tense Rayla is now more emotionally outgoing, has adopted a Cuddlemonkey as a companion, and wants to focus on repairing her relationship with Callum.
- Claudia started off as a Perky Goth, who didn't seem all that aware of how disturbing Dark Magic was. Two years of having Aaravos whispering in her ear has resulted in her becoming ever more single minded about keeping her father alive, regardless of his own wishes, out of fear of being left alone.
- Gargoyles: The three-episode Avalon story arc reintroduced Tom, Princess Katharine, and the Magus, who were last (chronologically) seen in the Five-Episode Pilot. After forty (from their perspective) years, Tom was no longer a friendly eager child, but a middle-aged warrior with a hardened exterior. Princess Katharine and the Magus were no longer haughty Fantastic Racists, she was warm and motherly, and he was sad and filled with regret.
- Star Trek: Prodigy: Having last been seen in Star Trek: Nemesis, Voyager's former Captain, Kathryn Janeway, was one of Starfleet's most exemplary officers — a bold, science-loving Captain who was A Mother to Her Men as much as she was equally willing to raise hell to keep them alive. Now a Vice Admiral in Starfleet and in command of the Dauntless, she's still very much that same person, though her new crew does have to rein her in a bit since her efforts to rescue the missing Chakotay aren't as viable to fly with Starfleet than it did in the Delta Quadrant. And her doctor isn't letting her have her coffee for the sake of her health.
- The Venture Bros.: After failing to kill even a defenseless Dr. Venture in season four's "Bright Lights, Dean City", the Revenge Society is shown in The Stinger of season five's "Bot Seeks Bot" working with noted Ace and Evil Mentor Dr. Killinger. In a Training Montage at the start of the pre-season six special "All This and Gargantua-2", he is shown helping them to greatly improve their powers, like helping Prof. Impossible to use his Rubber Man powers as Voluntary Shapeshifting to impersonate others and Fat Chance to control what he pulls out of his belly button "Enigma Hole", ahead of their planned assault on the episode's eponymous space station.