Basic Trope: Scars last for an unusually long time, if not forever.
- Straight: Hiro gains a fairly large scar over the side of his face in the first season of the series Trope Heroes. By the time of the fifth season, where he's significantly older, the scar is still present, having not changed much in that time.
- Exaggerated: Hiro suffers numerous injuries that scar over noticeably as a child. He still has these as an extremely old man.
- Downplayed: Hiro gets a minor scarring line as a child, and it only just starts to fade away when he's in his late 20s.
- Justified:
- Truth in Television - particularly bad wounds result in the body going into overdrive to heal itself, and it does the job, albeit having the likelihood of leaving a pretty nasty scar behind in the process.
- Truth in Television - after a certain amount of time after the injury (about two years), scars rarely fade any further without the aid of plastic surgery.
- Hiro wasn't able to get the wound properly treated for whatever reason, so it healed in a way that left a mark.
- The damage that Hiro sustained was from a source that is abnormal in nature, meaning his body can't heal the wound in a clean fashion.
- Inverted: Wounds that should leave lasting scars instead don't leave a trace when they're healed.
- Subverted: The old scar turns out to be a trick of light, once Hiro is in a different light the scar is faded.
- Double Subverted: After another timeskip the scar remains the same without further fading.
- Parodied: Hiro receives a paper cut. It leaves an obnoxiously large scar on his arm and makes him the butt of jokes.
- Zig-Zagged: Some scars fade fast, others last forever.
- Averted: Hiro's wound heals without leaving a mark.
- Enforced: The author was told to give Hiro a lasting scar because he wouldn't be "impressive" without it.
- Lampshaded: "I've had this blemish since I was just a lad. I'll probably have it until the day I die. And that's fine. I like it that way."
- Invoked: Hiro's attacker was an Old Master who wounded him in a way that would leave a lasting mark on him for ages, in order to give the lesson that some actions have lasting consequences.
- Exploited: Hiro decides to keep the scar as a way of striking fear into his enemies, essentially weaponizing his Facial Horror.
- Defied: Hiro quickly tries to get the wound healed, not wanting his good looks to be ruined by battle damage.
- Discussed: "Careful, Hiro. Some of the things you fight here... they'll leave marks that will last forever."
- Conversed: "He's had that scar since the first few episodes... it's like it's etched into his entire being."
- Implied: Hiro mentions having to take time off from the public eye after losing a battle against a fierce opponent, but doesn't elaborate on why.
- Deconstructed:
- Because the scar lasts forever, Hiro looks a lot scarier and less friendly, meaning people are less likely to trust him under the assumption that Beauty Equals Goodness.
- The scar lasting for so long is a sign that something has gone majorly wrong while Hiro's body was trying to heal itself.
- Reconstructed:
- Hiro decides to associate with people who not only don't mind his scarred face, but even find it pretty awesome.
- Hiro seeks medical attention that saves his life, but he keeps the scar well into old age, seeing it as an "earned my stripes" deal.
- Played for Laughs: ???
- Played for Drama: Hiro's scar lasting for so long marks a point in the narrative where the Cerebus Syndrome has started in earnest.
- Played for Horror: Hiro's scar is on the level of Facial Horror, and with it lasting into old age, he starts to experience Sanity Slippage because of his having a Face of a Thug.
Observe the scar you've had since childhood back at Scars Are Forever.
