Basic Trope: Characters in a Long Runner meet themselves the way they looked when the run first began.
- Straight: In The Ballad of the Brawlerz (which started its run in The '80s and is now currently in the Turn of the Millennium), the main characters, Billy T. Finnigan, Flash Young, Clay T. Finnigan, Alicia P. Navarro, Ulysses Smalls, Harry Oswalt, Eddie Roque, Pete Perkins, Gwynn Tracey, and Marian J. Wickermann decide to look back and reminisce about the past for a throwback episode. The find out that a lot has changed; 80s Billy was still heavily depressed over the loss of his (implied boy)friend Harold Young (Flash's dad) whereas 2000s Billy has gotten over the loss, 80s Flash was still in his "bully anyone and anything within line of sight" phase whereas 2000s Flash had at least held back on his bullying, only hamming up his thuggish ways for show, 80s Clay was a flatter character who was mostly just The Pollyanna whereas 2000s Clay had grown past that and become more weary of the world as well as having a more rounded character, 80s Alicia was a little more like Flash, just more of a pervert than him, whereas 2000s Alicia is now still a pretty promiscuous girl, just more of a Covert Pervert who hangs around Flash most of the time, 80s Ulysses was still bitter over having to deal with his ostracized family the von Mikrovs (especially with the Big Brother Bully Arnold von Mikrov), whereas 2000s Ulysses had him get over the ordeal and be more at peace with his situation with the von Mikrovs, 80s Harry was a much wilder party animal back then, tending to squander his father Norbert's hard earned money on ludicrous things, whereas 2000s Harry doesn't really tend to even turn his music up, opting for a more easy-going and effortless lifestyle, 80s Eddie was an even bigger egotistical jerkwad (who tended to get pummeled, along with Harry, into the dirt by an annoyed Flash), whereas 2000s Eddie had toned down his ego, but like with Flash, still plays it up for show, 80s Pete was still more naive, shy, and clumsy, being a relatively stereotypical depiction of a nerd (up until the Wham Episode during The '90s where he had been raped by Corrupt Corporate Executive Tommy Sharpe), whereas 2000s Pete is a much more confident, outgoing, and laid-back man than he used to be, also getting over the rape (though he did take quite some time to get over it), 80s Gwynn had completely lacked the "lovable" part and was just a straight up Alpha Bitch who often ordered her lackey Marian around like a pet, whereas 2000s Gwynn is now a Lovable Alpha Bitch who may be a jerk at times but she still has a Hidden Heart of Gold, and 80s Marian was still a spineless coward who only whimpered like a dog whenever Gwynn yanked her around, which, to some people, came off like Gwynn was an abusive girlfriend to Marian, whereas 2000s Marian Grew a Spine, being more assertive and occasionally butting heads with her now-girlfriend Gwynn while still retaining a healthy relationship.
- Exaggerated: Not even the Turn of the Millennium anymore; The Ballad of the Brawlerz has the throwback episode during The New '20s. To say that things have changed since then, with the original characters being in their fifties (Billy in particular pushing eighty), would be the understatement of the millennium.
- Downplayed: The throwback episode happens during The '90s. The changes aren't prominent, but they're there.
- Justified: People change, and they like comparing themselves today to themselves in the past to see how much they've changed.
- Inverted: ???
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: Some characters may have changed, but others have not.
- Averted: They don't compare themselves to their past at all.
- Enforced: It's a massive Call-Back to the first run of a Long Runner, as well as to compare the characters today to how they started out.
- Lampshaded: "Sheesh, we really did change over the years..."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Meet Your Early-Installment Weirdness! Now you can see just how much things have changed!
