Floating timeline

A floating timeline (also known as a sliding timescale) is a device used in fiction, particularly in long-running serials in comics and animation as well as other media, to explain why characters age little or not at all over a period of time—despite real-world markers like notable events, people and technology appearing in the works and correlating with the real world. The term "floating timeline" is used in the comics community to refer to series that take place in a "continuous present". This timeline is due to the fact that the authors have no need to accommodate the aging of their characters, which is also typical of most animated television shows. It is used as a plot device to "explain or explain away inconsistencies in the way that events and characters exist within a world".