Bratty Half-Pint



""He's basically good-hearted, but he'd like to smash that kid against a rock.""

- MST3K on Godzilla, regarding Jet Jaguar and his "sidekick"

Snarky self-important kid who's usually the youngest in the party. May be a youngest sibling or simply act like one. Talks a good game but often falls into trouble and needs to be rescued when that isn't the job of The Chick. Hates being called a kid but lacks real maturity. Often a boy but Bratty Half Pint girls are not uncommon. Doesn't always seem to get along with everyone, except the hero. They tend to hang off the hero.

If overdone and excessively obnoxious the Half Pint risks becoming The Scrappy to some of the audience. Often the party's attack magician if there isn't a Black Magician Girl. They may also use a slingshot.

See: Mouthy Kid, Tagalong Kid, and Kid Appeal Character.

Anime and Manga

 * Skuld of Ah! My Goddess.
 * Renge from Airmaster.
 * Bleach: Shinigami tend to be Really Seven Hundred Years Old. However, the child characters are biologically children nevertheless.
 * Hiyori is the queen of this trope for this story.
 * In a Played for Laughs manner, the Turn Back the Pendulum arc reveals Byakuya was this when he was young. Justified Trope: the manga has always hinted that Behind the Mask Byakuya may be Not So Stoic. It turns out he's simply very, very good at hiding his temper.
 * Dragon Ball GT: Pan the Token Loli.
 * Also Kid Trunks. Arguably even more bratty than Pan.
 * Goten can be like this at times too, especially when he's around his big brother. Or when Trunks ropes him into misbehaving with him.
 * Bat in Fist of the North Star.
 * Yuri - Sayaka's disabled cousin - from Mazinger Z.
 * Hiro from Fruits Basket, differing from the archetype in that he's especially bratty towards the heroine. In the manga, at least, he grows up a lot, though he never does come to like Tohru.
 * Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist...but try to avoid calling him that at all costs.
 * Girls Bravo: Tomoka. She is portrayed as super-irritating. In fact the only justification for her terribly annoying attitude and disposition is that she is a little girl.
 * In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, it's Satoko Houjou. She's also The Chew Toy, Morality Pet,  among other things, Higurashi is a very interesting series.
 * Shippo in Inuyasha is a partial subversion: he's bratty indeed, but sometimes he's way more mature than Inuyasha.
 * Marion from Kaleido Star, in her first episode.
 * Kurumi, Yusaku and Hikaru from Kimagure Orange Road.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima
 * Anya in occasionally falls into this, with many hints at simply behaving that way with a hidden sentimentality (likely since she appears to have a crush on The Hero).
 * Kotaro also counts, although he's capable of maturity when the situation calls for it.
 * Johji of Yu-Gi-Oh!—He is bratty and, of Yugi's party, the only one who he gets along with is Anzu... because he is a perverted baby who lusts after women
 * Yuuri of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is a brat who continually insists that she isn't a child and stomps off to go do her own thing, always failing miserably. After she leaves the cast (for the most part), Seira is introduced on the good side; she does mature, and was only selfish because she had yet to gather the facets of love (which was the original intent of the quest for her to be born; having her heart stolen complicated things).
 * Naruto:
 * Naruto Uzumaki -- played with and deconstructed, if due to his main character status.
 * Naruto's prototype was even brattier and far more of a Jerkass. In order to take revenge on a boy who spread rumors about him, he trapped him in a hole, pretended to offer him a lift out, then urinated on him, leaving a stench that lasts 10 days.
 * Konohamaru, the Third Hokage's grandson, is a more straightforward example. Although later on, we see him.
 * Mannen in Prétear, the self-proclaimed leader of the younger half of the Leafe Knights. He tends to get the group in trouble by demanding to be treated as equals with the older knights, but he seems to genuinely mean well.
 * Tomoka, Horio, and to some extent Ryoma in The Prince of Tennis.
 * Anita King of R.O.D the TV, at least partially (especially prominent in the anime's early episodes).
 * Yahiko from Rurouni Kenshin is an interesting case. He's obviously the Bratty Half Pint, and is not only fully aware of it, but doesn't want to be. His character arc is his journey from Bratty Half Pint to full-fledged Shonen hero.
 * Chibiusa of Sailor Moon, at least in her early days.
 * Komachi from Samurai 7; she does get along with most of the others, but dislikes Kyuzo. But then, no one gets along with him. It is notable that Komachi almost literally hangs off Kikuchiyo.
 * Taruto of Tokyo Mew Mew. He ends up in a Dating Catwoman relationship with the Token Loli.
 * Ten from Urusei Yatsura. One translation of his full name, Jariten, literally means "Bratty Ten". His insistence on "Ten" is for much the same reason Sakuramboo, the ugly little Buddhist priest, usually calls himself "Cherry"—Sakuramboo can mean "Cherry" (as in the fruit—Sakura refers to Cherry Blossoms), but also "Deranged Priest".
 * Axis Powers Hetalia
 * Romano was this as a child...then grew into a very fierce mix of all Tsundere Type A varieties.
 * Sealand is an even more obvious example.
 * Isidro from Berserk.
 * Dawn's Piplup from Pokémon.
 * Max occasionally fell into this as well during Advanced Generation.
 * Currently, Iris hits nearly every aspect of this trope. She's usually able to get out of a pinch on her own though.
 * Emerald from Pokémon Special also counts.
 * Rune from Kimba the White Lion.
 * Sara from Love Hina.
 * Meilin from Cardcaptor Sakura. When she isn't fawning over Syaoran, she's constantly bragging about her abilities, real or imagined, and early on, whining whenever Sakura gets a card over Syaoran and just being a general nuisance. However, she is also very determined, caring, and always ready to take action, traits which become more prominent late into her appearance in the series.
 * Uesegi Hiou from Skip Beat! threatened Moko with his family and to ditch an appearance and blame Moko. Then he acknowledges his feelings and starts to behave.
 * Maho from Please Teacher!.
 * In Saint Beast, Maya is the youngest and most immature character on the show. He tends to throw tantrums when things don't go his way, and is often a Dude in Distress.
 * Uriah from the second season of Superbook was this way to Chris at first.
 * Date Masamune from Gate 7 is a precocious and mouthy Bratty Half-Pint, luckly (or unluckly) for him and everybody else, Kujuurou is always close to him to scold him. Subverted, since he's the One-eyed dragon's Reincarnation, he's everything but a Dude in Distress.

Comic Books

 * The Modern Age Superboy (Kon-El) often played this role early on.
 * Young Justice: Superboy's team-mate Bart Allen (aka Impulse or Kid Flash). He remains very lovable in spite of his ability to drive you crazy, and his partners enjoy having him around, even if they have to smack him occationally.
 * Abdullah in the Tintin adventures.
 * Kitty Pryde falls victim to this trope in the Ultimate X-Men continuity.
 * Damian Wayne from Batman, son of Bruce and Talia ah-Ghul, starts out this way. Slowly, beginning in Batman and Robin, when he becomes Robin and sidekick to, he begins to mature.
 * Alvin from Little Lulu

Film

 * Dani in Hocus Pocus—an extreme version, who offers up various comments about her Big Brother's non-existent sex life. (She's only eight.)
 * Molly in Toy Story 3.
 * Mowgli as portrayed in The Jungle Book qualifies, despite being the main character, bratty and insisting that he possesses the necessary jungle skills when he clearly does not.

Literature

 * Gavroche of Les Misérables (the book) is an inversion of this trope - he's the one who rescues Bratty Half Pints, and is one of the most likable and mature characters. In the musical version, he's a straight example of the trope.
 * Major plot point in the Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen with Princess Elspeth, who was being raised to be this by her nurse. She gets better.
 * From the moment she poked her little fire-breathing snout of the eggshell, it was obvious that Iskierka from Temeraire was going to turn out like this.
 * Todd Lyons from The Clique.
 * Ramona Quimby
 * Willa Jean. She ages from book to book, but Ramona still can't stand her. Willa is such a spoiled brat who doesn't get in trouble for anything she does because, don'tcha know, she's just sooo cute (though she does try patience on some occasions), that you just gotta hate her.
 * Ramona herself was like this when she was younger, once forcibly breaking up a checkers game (by ramming her tricycle into the table, causing the pieces to scatter everywhere) because she found out she couldn't play too.
 * Penelope from The Serpent's Egg trilogy does this, except everyone believes her insane stories. Except, of course, the true one about that magical elf land she goes to with a Druid. She also happens to have a toy poodle which she always paints a new color each book... And yes, she does eventually wise up.

Live-Action TV

 * Dawn, Buffy's sister in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She gets in trouble so frequently that it gets a Lampshade Hanging, and gets all huffy whenever someone calls her a kid. Or, at points in the sixth season, for saying practically anything at all. She's grown out of it by Season 7.
 * Connor from Angel takes this trope Up to Eleven. He's like Dawn only even more Wangsty and with super-powers, allowing him to interact with the plot all the more.
 * Max from Power Rangers Wild Force who is in love best friends with Danny and thus hangs off him most of the time. While he doesn't suffer from needing rescues very often (he is a Power Ranger), it doesn't help that one of the two girls on the team is ex-Air Force and second-in-command, while The Chick is a responsible college student that was trained from childhood in martial arts by her sensei father, and thus both are far more capable in battle than he'll ever be.
 * That's So Raven had Corey and later Stanley.
 * Corey in the House has Sophie.
 * Hannah Montana has Rico.
 * Drake and Josh has Megan, who is a young evil genius that frequently gets the boys in trouble.
 * Damon, from Heroes. He toes the line on Complete Monster Territory when
 * Kenard from The Wire. What separates him from others is that he is really psychotic, putting lighter fluid on a cat in one scene and committing a murder in the same episode.
 * Lilith from Maddigan's Quest has Lilith, who verges on being the show's Damsel Scrappy. Her attention whoring almost gets Eden killed in Witchfinder, whilst in other episodes she does little more than get herself into trouble and whine at the people causing it until she's rescued, and despite the fact that the show's timeline undergoes two major changes in-series, she doesn't change at all.

Newspaper Comics

 * Barry from Curtis could be the Trope Codifier. When he's bored, he provokes Curtis, then runs sobbing to his mother that mean ol' Curtis is trying to hit him for no good reason at all. Then, for his sins, he is given ice cream and the opportunity to gloat over all the extra chores Curtis gets. This happens with such frequency that when Curtis assesses that the family could, in fact, be qualified as "poor", one wonders if the source of their economic troubles isn't all this damn ice cream Diane's buying for Barry.

Video Games

 * Leon in Star Ocean the Second Story.
 * Roger in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.
 * Lymle in Star Ocean: The Last Hope. The voice actress might be the real culprit on this one, not the script/characterization ... it's hard to tell. She talks slow because she's catatonic, but is otherwise played up as a Tsundere, so it's more the latter.
 * Chelsea in Tales of Destiny.
 * Genis in Tales of Symphonia was bratty at times, but was actually smarter than the main character (and pretty much every character in the game for that matter).
 * And didn't he just know it.
 * Suikoden
 * Luc in the first three games is this. He makes it clear he has no interest in participating in your righteous war, is only voluntarily helpful when he has a personal vendetta and otherwise spends most of his time baiting the rest of your party. He also happens to be the strongest magician you recruit. Even as he gets older through the games, thanks to his immaturity and immortality remains in this trope.
 * Ted in Suikoden IV is also this. Notable in that he shares the same Star of Destiny slot as Luc.
 * Mission Vao in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Subverted when Zaalbar, her Wookiee companion, is the one who ends up getting kidnapped and in need of rescuing.
 * Palom from Final Fantasy IV.
 * Relm from Final Fantasy VI is a female example.
 * Eiko from Final Fantasy IX is another female example, and one often accused of being The Scrappy.
 * Melodia from Bahamut Lagoon is another female one... Squaresoft loves this trope.
 * Nash from Lunar: The Silver Star falls into this despite being one of the older members of a party made up of young teens...
 * Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
 * Soren. Normally, his mouthiness is restricted to disapproving arguments. However, there is one notable scene where he nearly gets himself killed by hurling derogatory terms at a man who can turn into a frickin' tiger. This is subverted later after we learn on his past and his hatred of sub-hum...sorry laguz.
 * Empress Sanaki is shown to be a bratty half pint who uses her power to make cruel jokes. However, she also helps the heroes quite a bit.
 * Roan in Grandia II is a subversion. He's introduced as being a whiny brat who demands that the party go get his mommy's pendant, but when he decides to go do it himself and you run after him to rescue him, it turns out he doesn't need rescuing, though could still use more capable fighters' assistance. After he joins the party he's shown to actually be shockingly mature and Wise Beyond His Years.
 * Cody Hackins in Phoenix Wright is a snotty 7 year old fanboy who disrespects Phoenix, Edgeworth, Wendy Oldbag, and even The Judge, simply because they're "dumb adults" (Cody calls Phoenix this several times when Phoenix doesn't know the difference between the rarity of the Steel Samurai trading cards). However, if Mia talks to Cody, he'll suddenly become nice and do what she says. It probably has something to do with her obvious physical features.
 * Mercedes from Odin Sphere, but she got better.
 * Chrono Cross's Loads and Loads of Characters obviously have a few of these, including Korcha and his sister Mel.
 * This, combined with Breaking the Fourth Wall pretty well sum up Shoutaro from Flower, Sun, and Rain. His Dad is an adult version -- it's as annoying as it sounds.
 * Team Fortress 2: The Scout is the youngest member of the team—seemingly a teenager. He has a big mouth and an ego to match.
 * Ronny Dobbs of Backyard Sports.
 * Baby Amelia Earhart (no, really) in Sam and Max Freelance Police: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak. Several puzzles involve getting her to do what Sameth and Maximus want, which she never, ever does of her own volition.
 * She gets better when she grows up; Sameth and Maximus' great-grandsons Sam and Max meet baby Amelia Earheart on Easter Island, but this time she's "baby" Amelia Earheart because she's been drinking out of the fountain of youth. She's not as active in the plot, but she's not such a bitch this time.
 * Popka from Klonoa
 * Anise from Tales of the Abyss.
 * Date Masamune's characterization in Samurai Warriors (when he isn't being a Smug Snake), especially in the first game, where even his character model is hilariously tiny compared to everyone else's, including Genki Girl Oichi.

Web Comics

 * Bittersweet Candy Bowl, Lucy's pet Yashy is a prime example of this trope.
 * What do you mean, she's a "prime example?" She's the bestest, most awesomest character ever, whore!
 * Squid Row: at facepainting
 * Off White has a Bratty Half-Pint wolf pup that gives Jera a permanent scar and

Web Original

 * Marie in Erika's New Perfume is definitely this, though there's a bit more to her.

Western Animation

 * Scooby Doo
 * Scrappy-Doo. Although he never actually gets captured, the gang always has to grab him away before he is. (Although one has to wonder why they bother.)
 * Flim-Flam from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.
 * Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Though a robot instead of an actual child, XR gets into this territory.
 * Ben 10: Ben fits this bill. If only there wasn't this damn Aesop Amnesia! His cousin Gwen was like this before Alien Force, where she got a lot less irritating.
 * Jose From Cybersix. In his case, he managed to avoid being The Scrappy by being one of the major villains.
 * Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Bloo. Oh, Bloo! The problem with him is, that he's swinging around between this trope and the Jerkass trope.
 * Enzo from ReBoot is one of the better depictions of this. Part of the reason is that while he frequently gets kidnapped and bites off more then he can chew, the awesomeness of The Hero Bob is seen through his eyes. And Character Development has him rising up to the occasion to be a hero himself when Bob is stranded in the web.
 * Gorgonzola from Chowder. Gorgonzola has a Freudian Excuse. Namely, he's stuck learning a job he hates (carrying a candle on his head and not allowing it to go out), while his peers all seem happy with the paths their lives have set before them. Not really a surprise, then, that he's so intent on making their lives as hard as possible. He's not so much 'bratty' as he is just a Jerkass.
 * The Xs: Truman X. He's meant to be a combination of Bart Simpson and Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory.
 * Ash in The Fantastic Mr. Fox is actually older than his unbearably perfect cousin, Kristofferson, but he otherwise fits the character trope with his resentful ill temper. However, he dramatically matures in the story and becomes a nice kit at the end.
 * Imp from She Ra Princess of Power is another good example from Filmation.
 * Sarah of Ed Edd and Eddy, whose Catch Phrase is "I'm telling Mom!" regardless of the deed.
 * Teen Titans: Gizmo of who, in addition to his technical skill, has a very big mouth. Insults are practically all that comes out of his mouth.
 * In the comic book, Superboy's team-mate Bart Allen (aka Impulse or Kid Flash).
 * Classic Disney Shorts: Figaro, The orphan mice, Huey, Duey, and Louie, Goofy jr. from "Fathers Are People" (prototype of Max Goof), and Junior from "Bellboy Donald" (prototype of PJ) are Bratty Half Pints.
 * Amberley from The Dreamstone is a light example. By default she is a Cheerful Child and rather well adjusted, she often becomes rather rambunctious and temperamental in the face of enemies however, something that sometimes gets her into trouble.
 * Randall from Recess
 * Baby Taz from Baby Looney Tunes, hhe's one of those guy who gets what he want by throwing a fit.
 * Bogus's cousin, Brattus, from Mr. Bogus.
 * Cubbi Gummi from Adventures of the Gummi Bears is a mild example.
 * Codename: Kids Next Door contained two examples; Numbuh Two's little brother, Tommy, and Numbuh Three's little sister, Mushi, but it's not until the episode "Operation: C.L.U.E." that Mushi totally becomes a full-on emphasis of Bratty Half-Pint when she was