Brainy Baby: Difference between revisions
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'''Stewie:''' ... it most certainly does NOT.|From [[Family Guy]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}LDyXdAf3LR0 (see here for context)]}}
Genius is a very rare thing, and it often takes years of education, study and work to attain it. But genius can begin to show itself at a very young age, resulting in [[Teen Genius]]es and [[Child Prodigy|Child Prodigies]]. But what happens if it shows up even sooner than that? The result is the '''Brainy Baby'''.
The Brainy Baby is any infant with the intelligence of a rocket scientist. Not only can
This is most commonly [[Played for Laughs]], especially when the baby's hypercompetent in areas that would call for some amount of physical prowess, rather than just intellect; having a baby be [[The Ace]], besting grown men and women at everything they do, is inherently funny. However, it can also be played straight if the intent is to show that the character has such an exceptional brain that they are to a
Some cases of this trope are actually smart adults or teenagers who've been subjected to [[Fountain of Youth|reverse]] [[Merlin Sickness|aging]]. Others are some variety of [[Immortality|immortal]], and [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|age much slower physically]] than mentally.
{{examples}}
==
* Ads for baby formulas abuses this trope, especially in Hong Kong, with play-school age children demonstrating remarkable vocabularies, problem-solving abilities, and mathematical skills. An egregious example, courtesy of Abbott Laboratories, is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cWp7VTEPTs this]
** Parodied in the UK by an advert which showed a baby of about six months who had arranged his alphabet blocks to spell "PAEDIATRICIAN".<ref>If you're confused, ''paediatrician'' is the British spelling of ''pediatrician''.</ref>
* Ivan Whisky/Cyborg 001 of ''[[Cyborg 009]]'' plays the trope straight, but in the 2001
▲== Anime & Manga ==
▲* Ivan Whisky/Cyborg 001 of ''[[Cyborg 009]]'' plays the trope straight, but in the 2001 one he's a subversion. He's a very powerful telepath and telekinetic with the intelligence level of an adult, but also is trapped in the body of a baby since he was (unwillingly) given all of this through cyborg enhancements. This means, poor 001 cannot grow up and, unless he's given a new mechanical body, he will remain as a Brainy Baby ''forever''.
* Pulmo Allen of ''[[Amuri in Star Ocean]]'' is the commanding officer of a [[Space Station]], wears make-up and high-heels, and is called 'Professor' by her elders, all at the tender age of 3. The fact that she is an [[Mutants|Adapter]] probably has something to do with it.
* Turbo
* In [[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]], there the Alcobaleno, who are known to be the 7 strongest babies in the world. They are one of the cases of reverse aging, as they were cursed in the past.
▲== Comic Books ==
* Baby Brain in the ''[[Seven Soldiers]]: The Manhattan Guardian'' flashbacks to the Newsboy Army.
* Valeria "Val" Richards, the second child of [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Reed and Susan Richards]], was revealed to be a genius... as an '''''infant'''''. She takes after her good old [[Teen Genius]] dad, a borderline [[Child Prodigy]] himself, who privately speculated that she would start playing chess by the time she reaches '''''age 2'''''.
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{{quote|'''Zodon''': Once upon a time, there was a child [[Super Intelligence|whose intellect was to the average person like the Empire State Building is to a tool shed]]. Nobody appreciated his gift, talent, or the fact that bored children tend to ''act out''.}}
==
* The premise of the movie ''[[Baby Geniuses]]'' is that all babies are like this until just before they learn to speak, at which point their intelligence collapses.
* In the [[Robert Rodriguez]] movie ''[[Shorts]]'', two brothers use a wishing rock to wish one of them were super smart. The wish is granted to their baby sister, who informs them through telepathy.
* In ''[[Sky High]]'', the super-genius professor becomes one of these after
* ''The
▲== Folklore and Mythology ==
▲* The eponymous character of the medieval Jewish satirical work ''The Alphabet of Ben Sira'', from the moment of birth, is both fully capable of speech and much more intelligent than the adults he encounters (and [[Smug Snake|never lets them forget it]], either).
* Taliesin, the legendary bard of Medieval Wales, was not only able to speak at birth but compose poetry and song. This is because he was reborn from Gwion Bach, the poor slave who accidentally drank some of the witch Ceridwen's potion of inspiration.
* Jake and Zoe's daughter Erin, from the ''[[Callahan's
▲== Literature ==
▲* Jake and Zoe's daughter Erin, from the ''[[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon|Callahans Crosstime Saloon]]'' series.
* Sunny from ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''.
* A rare serious version is Bean in ''[[
* [[Ubermensch|John Wainwright]] of ''Odd John'' by Olaf Stapledon is also a serious version.
* Jon 'Jack' Remillard in ''[[Jack The Bodiless]]'', by Julian May.
*
* [[No Name Given|The unnamed abbot]] in ''[[Discworld/Thief of Time|Thief Of Time]]'', who retains his personality and memories when he [[Reincarnation|reincarnates]] and is currently in the body of a toddler.
▲== Music ==
* MC Frontalot's song "Bizarro Genius Baby".
* Baby Amelia Earhart in the ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max:
▲== Video Games ==
* Dr. Fetus from ''[[Meat Boy]]'' series takes this to the next level.<!--In what way?-->▼
▲* Baby Amelia Earhart in the ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' episode, "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak". As the series has a tendency to reuse characters, Baby Amelia was present in Season 2, but they're not the same character: in season 2, it was the adult Earhart who had gotten in [[The Bermuda Triangle]] and drunk too much from the Fountain of Youth, where in Season 3 it was actually the young Earhart as a baby. Either way, both of them are very eloquent, and the one who ''wasn't'' an adult goes on tomb-raiding adventures in Egypt.
▲* Dr. Fetus from ''[[Meat Boy]]'' series takes this to the next level.
* Baby Head/Hoover from ''[[Captain Commando]]''.
▲== Western Animation ==
* A minor character of ''[[The Proud Family]]'' is a super-intelligent infant who
▲** Although he [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTgYIonBg0s still gets confused by the peek-a-boo thing].
▲* A minor character of ''[[The Proud Family]]'' is a super-intelligent infant who always seems to enjoy pestering Oscar. He speaks in a deep voice and is always outsmarting and embarrassing Oscar Proud. He also doesn't seem to reveal his intelligence to anybody but Oscar.
* "Baby Weems", a segment in [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[The Reluctant Dragon]]'', is about a baby who can speak eloquently from birth. He becomes a celebrity and confers with some of the most eminent minds of the day, but all that fame separates him from his parents, who can only see him from afar.
* Diaper Man,
* [[Dexter's Laboratory|Dexter]], as seen in
* Maggie [[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpson]] certainly qualifies. She's led a revolt in daycare, successfully driven a car for miles (albeit into a prison wall), and sniped mobsters without being seen... with a shotgun. And she's the '''''ONLY ONE''''' bold enough to shoot [[Karma Houdini|Mr.]] [[Big Bad|Burns]] {{spoiler|with his own gun after he stole her candy}}!
** {{spoiler|Candy nothing, it's heavily implied that Maggie knew well beforehand that Burns deserved to get shot. At the town hall meeting, when everyone else was yelling about [[Kick the Dog|various things Burns had done]], when Marge added that Burns was "causing us all to yell" you could see on Maggie's face that she shared Marge's anger.}}
** She's saved Homer's life ''how'' many times now? And where did she learn how to swim and fence?
* At the ripe old age of ''one month'', Pound and Pumpkin Cake from ''[[My Little Pony:
* Pebbles and Bam-Bam from ''[[The Flintstones]]'' may or may not qualify on their own
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Babies Babies Everywhere]]
[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]
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