View source for Kid Appeal Character

{{trope}}
{{quote|'''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]]''': It's Cream and Cheese!
'''Chris''': Friends of yours?
'''Sonic''': More like obligatory kid appeal characters.
|''[[Sonic F]]''}}

[[File:250px-Bumblebee anim toy.jpg|link=Transformers Animated|frame| Little. Yellow. 'Special'. Kids love him!]]

The [[Kid Appeal Character]] is typically the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|character designed to appeal to a younger demographic]]. Cute, popular, tiny, likely to be [[Totally Radical]], and almost always the youngest character on the team, he's invariably obnoxious and thinks he's so totally cool, in a frantic effort to convince viewers that this is a family friendly show.

As well as that, the Kid Appeal Character is all too often portrayed as seeing [[The Hero]] and [[The Captain|leader]] of the Good Guys as his Father Figure. If the Leader is also quite young, chances are he'll see him as his Big Brother. In the same regard, he may look at [[The Lancer]] as being his uncle. Oh, and being {{color|goldenrod|yellow}} is not compulsory—but many kid-appeal characters are oddly brightly colored...

Depending on how young he is, how nice he is, or how old his father/brother figure is, the '''Kid Appeal Character''' will usually take one of these roles:

# Clown. Not just any clown either, this is the Kid Clown, who hurls humor at every available point. He may be funny, he may be clumsy (the former trope name was not called The '''[[A Worldwide Punomenon|Bumble]]'''bee for nothing), or he may just be the joker of the team, playing pranks, making wisecracks and sometimes just whining about all the problems that are going on. Usually played for laughs but may have a serious side.
# Weak but Lovable. Often getting into trouble, whether it's with the enemies or with the [[Badass]] members of the good team. He's still kid-appeal heavy, but less of a prankster. Their bravery as a [[Reckless Sidekick]] often backfires on them, but they have just enough nobility or good intentions to avoid being written off as [[Damsel Scrappy|useless]].
# Ankle Biter. Mega-brave young character who's awfully gutsy for his (or her) puny age, puny height, or puny strength. They may be swatted aside by the more powerful enemies, but their [[The Determinator|determination]] will not let them stay down. Sometimes they'll make them a [[Cute Bruiser]] so he can match the big guys, or a [[Fragile Speedster]] in combat.
# [[The Smart Guy]] ([[Teen Genius]]) in the [[Five-Man Band]]. The Gen-X type who is more tech savvy than the older generation.
# Some combination of all of the above.

The Kid Appeal Character tends to stand out, especially in a story largely involving adult characters. Because of this any version can become [[The Scrappy]], which is fitting since the '''original''' [[Scooby Doo|Scrappy]] was one of these. The ways this can happen is: The Clown is obnoxious as well as a [[Karma Houdini]], the Weak But Lovable one [[The Load|never shows any real sign of helpfulness]], the Ankle Biter slowly takes up prominence in the story over the primary characters, and as for the [[Teen Genius]]... two words: [[Creator's Pet|Wesley]] [[Star Trek|Crusher]]. Slightly more common is for the character to acquire a [[Periphery Hatedom]]: loved by those the producers intended, hated by everyone else.

In a [[Five-Man Band]], if there isn't a definitive [[The Chick|Chick]] in the band, the Kid Appeal Character can take over her duties by being the [[The Heart|moral center]] of the team, always considering the little guys. A smart leader is often fully aware that the kid appeal character is not a strong front line warrior and will assign them roles better suited towards their skills, such as being a scout (like [[Transformers|Optimus Prime]] did with the former [[Trope Namer]], Bumblebee).

Kids love to purchase his [[Toys]]. [[Fanfic]] writers love to give them [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|massive sex roles]] and [[Slash Fic|pair them up with their father figure.]]

See also [[Tagalong Kid]], [[Bratty Half-Pint]], [[Kid Sidekick]], [[Plucky Comic Relief]]. The kid appeal character is not quite the same as the Tagalong. The Kid Appeal Character is an official full member of the team while the Tagalong is either not a member or holds some sort of secondary membership status like team [[Mascot]]. They will likely be great friends, though. A Tagalong that [[Took a Level in Badass|takes a level in badass]] can be promoted to the Kid Appeal Character. If the kid appeal character has been a father, he becomes a [[Bumbling Dad]]. If he has been a sidekick, he becomes a [[Bumbling Sidekick]]. Compare [[Cousin Oliver]].  

When the character is a robot or an actual child, and is in a [[Science Fiction]] series, the Kid Appeal Character may well be an example of [[Kids and Cute Robots]], to which this is a [[Super-Trope]].

{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': Ed, being the youngest and most playful plays Kid Appeal Character to Spike Spiegel's Hero, Jet Black's Lancer.
* Seira, the [[Token Loli]] of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'', pumps up the kid appeal and has a whole season revolving around her...
* ...though not as much as Sailor Chibimoon of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', who became a one-girl [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]] in season four after two seasons with her hanging around the older girls and playing with sparkly wands to match [[Kid From the Future|her mom's]].
* [[Mascot|Pikachu]] of ''[[Pokémon]]''. Very much a Type 3. Its species is extremely weak (though the [[Status Buff|Light Ball]] makes this debatable), and particularly in the first season, it got beaten by pretty much every Gym Leader at least once, but it always got back up. It's far and away the most popular character, and it's {{color|yellow|yellow}}.
** A [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511213259/http://homepage1.nifty.com/rally43/Models/Complete/misc/pika-f1.jpg Volkswagen Beetle] was modeled after him. Hmmm...
** Also, it's the [[Mascot]] of the [[Cash Cow Franchise|franchise]]. Somewhere a [[What Could Have Been|Clefairy]] cries.
** Max and Piplup could also qualify, with the former being Type 4 and the latter being Type 3.
*** Yet both teeter on the lines of [[The Scrappy]].
* Marcia Mouse of ''[[Blinky Bill]]'' easily fits the ankle biter type, being a fiery [[Plucky Girl]] of the bunch.
* Chopper from ''[[One Piece]]''.
* Hwang Bu-ling/Mew Pudding of ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' fits here: eight years old, wears bright {{color|yellow|yellow}}, equal member of the team, and dove right into danger even before she or anyone knew she had any powers. Even her [[Verbal Tic]] (nano da!) screams cute exuberance.
* [[Naruto]] is a rare occasion where the Kid Appeal Character is the main character. Brightly colored, often obnoxious and alternatively very weak and ridiculously strong, and to top it all off, his leader [https://web.archive.org/web/20101003194515/http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/File:Kakashi2.jpg wears a mask over] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130523064854/http://images.wikia.com/naruto/images/e/e0/Kakashi9.jpg the lower part of his face].
** While until the [[Time Skip]] and several [[Took a Level in Badass|power ups]] made took place.
** [[Blood Knight|Gaara]] is a rather interesting case, being a [[Defeat Means Friendship|former]] [[Ax Crazy]] antagonist, he becomes a [[The Stoic|stoic]] variation of this trope among the 5 kages once he takes up the mantle of kazekage, becoming the youngest to hold the title.
* Nearly all of the seasons in ''[[Digimon]]'' have at least one of these:
** The original ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' have Takeru (T.K.).
** ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' has Terriermon, Calumon and Suzie.
** ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' has Tomoki (Tommy).
** Before his evolutions kick in, Agumon fits the bill very nicely in ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', while his tamer is [[The Hero]] and his "Big Brother".
* Arguably, [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Simon,]] in the first half of his series.
* Gohan, Goten and Trunks in ''[[Dragonball Z]]''. Also, Krillin due to all his panicking.
* In ''[[GoLion]]'', Hiroshi "Chibi/Shorty" Suzuishi is the youngest at 12, plus he's always trying to prove himself and gets excited so easily.
* Yahiko in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]''.
* Happy from ''[[Fairy Tail]]''
* Jinpei from ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'' is often boastful, sometimes capable of taking out bad guys and sometimes not, and makes stupid jokes. He has occasionally felt the need to prove himself, and gone to deal with the villains. The various derived characters in adapted versions of the show have the same characteristics.
* Kon from [[Bleach]].
* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', in comparison to the rest of the cast Gai is younger, more energetic, less mature, fun and inquisitive, and to top it off has yellow and dark brown hair.


== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' usually has one of these characters, though sometimes it's less bright-coloured and more fuzzy. Either that, or Wolverine's young, female spunky sidekick. Whichever one he has at the time. They're usually female, the order for the main team was Iceman, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Cannonball, Husk, Armor, and now Oya.
** Lest we forget, Jubilee ''actually wore a lot of {{color|gold|yellow}}.''
** In ''New X-Men'', Pixie was one of the youngest, had brightly coloured wings, and was otherwise comic relief. For the few issues that focused on her before [[Break the Cutie]] (Which really didn't break her very much at all).
* Jolt was this in the early years of ''[[Thunderbolts]]''.
* Impulse in ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'' and Kid Flash in ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'', perhaps. Bart's mostly type 1 with bits of type 4 thrown in when necessary.
* [[Transformers Generation 1|The original Bumblebee]] is usually portrayed in comics as being the sort who keeps trying to "prove himself" to his bigger, stronger teammates, and usually gets into trouble because of it. (Prime, for his part, thinks Bumblebee has proven himself well enough in his given role of a spy that he shouldn't feel like this.)
* [[Robin]] was originally an obvious Type 2, and even has the {{color|gold|yellow}} cape. In fact, most comic-book sidekicks in the Golden and Silver Ages were created specifically to give readers a character to identify with.
* The Human Torch in the [[Fantastic Four]] was the teenager in a cast of adults. Early on in the series, he was extremely popular and was the [[Breakout Character]] with his own [[Spin-Off]] within a year after the series started. His popularity was one of the reasons why Marvel created other teen superheroes like [[Spider-Man]] and the [[X-Men]].
* Speaking of Spider-Man, when he is put into a team dynamic, such as [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], he usually fits this [[Trope]] as a combination of the Type 1 Clown and the Type 4 Smart Guy, in fact there have been team-ups where he has out and out ''stolen'' this role from Johnny Storm, {{spoiler|to the point where he's taken Johnny's place on the FF!}}


== Film ==
* Quite obviously, Jar Jar Binks from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[prequel]]s was meant to be this. Being out of place in the story however, caused the attempt to [[The Scrappy|backfire miserably]]. Reasons why people hate him range from more plausible to [[Fan Dumb|outright preposterous]], but one thing is for certain. Admitting to liking him is a death warrant.
** He fills basically the same "funny personality" role as R2-D2 and C3-PO. But both Artoo and Threepio had valuable technical skills compared to Jar Jar's [[Spanner in the Works|convenient clumsiness]]. Still, Threepio fits this trope more than Artoo because he's always complaining.
*** And of course, let's not forget that Artoo and Threepio were still present in the films that Jar Jar appeared in, making Jar Jar somewhat redundant.
** Jar-Jar's position is further weakened by the fact that ''The Phantom Menace'' had Anakin himself as a child. That brought us to the absurd critical mass of ''four'' Kid Appeal Characters in the movie: one useful multitool, one chatty throwback to the original trilogy, one [[The Chosen One|chosen one]]... and Jar-Jar. That's a lot of kid appeal for a series with so many adult fans, so dislike for the least plot-critical of them was inevitable, even if Jar-Jar wasn't totally obnoxious and often offensive (and he was). Fortunately, the second and third prequels both toned him down and reduced his role.
* The twins in ''[[Revenge of the Fallen]]'', as [[Michael Bay]] [[Word of God|states]], were meant to be this (hell, they're even stuck with Bumblebee for much of the movie)... in spite of being violent [[Jive Turkey]]s who keep beating up each other. Their toy bios essentially say that being among the few Autobots who made it to Earth made them living their dream of working directly alongside Optimus Prime, which is certainly a common trait for this type of character. Their immature wrestling and talking about being "quiet like a ninja" also highlights their relative youth.
** In the third film, Bumblebee's kid-friendly nature gets taken advantage of by {{spoiler|Laserbeak}}, who turns into a mini pink Bumblebee to convince a little girl to let him in {{spoiler|so that he can assassinate her father}}.
** In ''Dark of the Moon'' the character type is also embodied by the duo of Wheelie and Brains, who are small robots and basically act like kids during the course of the movie. Unlike Skids and Mudflap, though, they have relatively little screen time and would rather be chilling at Sam's home watching TV instead of being involved with the [[Robot War]].
* Skippy Rabbit from [[Disney]]'s ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'' falls into the Ankle Biter category.
* Weak but lovable type in Olivia from ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]''.
* Chip from ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''.


== Literature ==
* Gavin Darklighter plays this role in the first four books of the [[X Wing Series]]. Well, sort of. He starts out as a sixteen-year-old [[Farm Boy]] from Tatooine who is utterly naive and gets taunted by the rudest of his fellow Rogues, who for the most part are five to ten years older than he is. So he serves to be the newbie trying to find his place and being surprised by things that the older pilots find commonplace. While his subplots are pretty much in the background, he does go through [[Character Development]] and grow and mature. Eventually, by the [[New Jedi Order]], he's the leader of Rogue Squadron.
* Gavroche, from ''[[Les Misérables]]'', of the plucky ankle-biting variety. His reaction to getting shot at by the military is to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|make up on the spot a song insulting French intellectuals!]] Then, this being [[Les Misérables]], [[Reality Ensues]].
* In Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom is the kid appeal character due to his panicking. He turns brave later, though.


== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* While several ''[[Power Rangers]]'' have Kid Appeal elements, few really seem to go so far as to be a viewpoint character kids are "supposed" to identify with. One that definitely does, though, is Justin from ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'', currently the only one who was a Ranger as a kid when most are in their late teens or early twenties. Other good candidates include:
** Kelsey from ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]''. A quintessential Type 3 -- an extreme daredevil who always loved to show off. (Also a {{color|gold|Yellow}} Ranger.)
** Max from ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]''. The definite kid of the group (high school age when the others were in college at a minimum) and had childlike enthusiasm to match, but got a lot less focus than your standard example.
** Ziggy from ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'', fitting Type 2: a [[Lovable Coward]], the weakest fighter on the team (he became a Ranger [[Falling Into the Cockpit|by accident]]), best buds with and sidekick to the [[Troubled but Cute]] [[Lancer]], and something of a viewpoint character as a [[Meta Guy]]. However, he was the same age as the other Rangers and didn't come off as all that "childlike" in comparison, being in trouble with [[The Family for the Whole Family|organized crime]] and showing hints of being a [[Chivalrous Pervert]].
*** Also from ''RPM'', [[Sixth Ranger]]s Gem and Gemma, who ''were'' extremely childlike (even seeming to be developmentally a year or two ''behind'' the target audience). They're more of a subversion, really; rather than being audience surrogates for kids, their immaturity came off as them being [[Creepy Twins|very]] [[Stepford Smiler|very]] [[Cute and Psycho|screwed]] [[Psychopathic Manchild|up]].
* ''Power Rangers'' ' parent series, ''[[Super Sentai]]'', has this [[Trope]] recurring because of the [[Five-Man Band]] layout. There's several kinds of Kid Appeal Characters, whether they are eccentric geniuses ([[Mirai Sentai Timeranger|Sion / TimeGreen]], [[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger|Sen-chan / DekaGreen]] or [[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger|Don / GokaiGreen]]), immature pranksters ([[Choushinsei Flashman|Bun / Blue Flash]], [[Seijuu Sentai Gingaman|Hikaru / GingaYellow]] or [[Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger|Kai / GaoBlue]]), scatterbrains ([[Ninja Sentai Kakuranger|Saizou / Ninja Blue]], [[Juken Sentai Gekiranger|Ken / GekiChopper]] or [[Engine Sentai Go-onger|Hant / Go-On Green]]), or reckless hotheads ([[Himitsu Sentai Goranger|Kenji / MidoRanger]], [[Chouriki Sentai Ohranger|Yuuji / Oh Blue]] or [[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger|Chiaki / ShinkenGreen]]). [[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger|Gai / GokaiSilver]] is a special case because, while he doesn't quite fit into any of the previous categories, he is a [[Genre Savvy]] [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] whose idea of a Super Sentai is to serve as role models for children in their endeavors to protect the world.
** More commonly, when the [[The Hero|other]] [[The Lancer|main]] [[The Big Guy|four]] [[The Chick|roles]] except [[The Smart Guy]] is taken... and this Smart Guy isn't really as SMART, then this is the place of the kid appeal character. In older times, this trope can also be applied for the youngest (mostly) male character ([[Dai Sentai Goggle Five|Aoyama / Goggle Blue]], [[Dengeki Sentai Changeman|Yuuma / Change Pegasus]], [[Hikari Sentai Maskman|Akira / Blue Mask]], [[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger|Boi / Tiger Ranger]], [[Gekisou Sentai Carranger|Naoki / Blue Racer]]) as due to their youth, they seem to appeal more for kids. Note that even if she's female and the youngest, [[Choujin Sentai Jetman|Ako / Blue Swallow]] would've also fit in.
** There are a few Super Sentai teams where [[The Hero]] (like [[Mahou Sentai Magiranger|Kai Ozu / Magi Red]]) or [[Sixth Ranger]] (like [[Gosei Sentai Dairanger|Ko / Kibaranger]]) has kid appeal.
* Matthew in [[News Radio]]
* Mark McCain in ''[[The Rifleman]]'' definitely falls into this trope. He's sweet'n'innocent, but he can be pretty scrappy if the situation calls for it. But usually, he's there to provide a kid's perspective of the situation and to allow Lucas to become Mr. Exposition.
* Jimmy, the thirteen-year-old resistance fighter in [[Falling Skies]], looks as if he may shape up to be one of these. However, he is currently off the main fighting team after panicing in combat, so it is unceartain if he will develop into one or not.


== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]] isn't the youngest in WWE and isn't (too) obnoxious, but he fulfills every other requirement as the Ankle Biter subset. He's tiny, wildly popular with kids, frequently wears ridiculously bright clothes, and gets picked on by the bad guys a lot. He's even had several of the bigger faces in WWE (Dave [[Batista]] most noticeably) in a big brother role at one point or another.
** Rey plays directly to very little fans on his ring entrance. If there are kids on the sides next to the ramp during his entrance wearing merch masks, he'll walk right over and touch his forehead to theirs. One special kid will actually get Rey to take off his peel off part of his mask and put it on them, ala when Bret Hart used to take off his sunglasses and put them on a child in the front row.
* Hornswoggle's a recent example, fitting many of the same characteristics Mysterio does except he's much less competent, actually is either the youngest man on the roster or close to it, and is about a foot smaller than Mysterio is. And Mysterio's 5'3".
* Command Bolshoi of All Japan Wrestling, also known as Piko. She stands at only 125&nbsp;cm has a mask with a clown nose but has a successful career as an ankle biter.


== Toys ==
* Takua in the first years of ''[[Bionicle]]''. While the Toa were the main heroes - and the ones that actually got the action figures - Takua started out as the [[Featureless Protagonist]] of the first few video games (one before the Toa arrived, and the other as the [[Hero of Another Story]]). After the games he remained a major character and his character was developed as adventurous and loving to explore, but knowing to leave the real fights to the Toa. All this culminated in the ''Mask of Light'' movie, where he was the main character and became a Toa himself (renaming himself "Takanuva").


== [[Video Games]] ==
* Imoen in ''[[Baldur's Gate]]''. Nothing like as sexy as other female characters, Imoen is certainly the most innocent, and one of the best (and nicest) thieves you'll find. Pretty much a sister figure to the main character. {{spoiler|And it turns out you're right, by the way.}}
* Tails from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' is probably the first Kid Appeal character [[Sega]] made, featuring in just about every cartoon as Sonic's best friend.
** Also Charmy.
** Cream and Cheese.
* Pal-18 from ''[[Anachronox]]'' is a toy robot (though his owner has upgraded him with weapons and hacking systems) with a squeaky voice and a hip personality. You actually obtain his best weapon by letting him play in a playground for four hours (real time). Also, his theme color (relevant to the magic system) is yellow...
* Relm from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is an extremely sassy ten-year-old girl who despite her grandfather's best efforts, keeps insisting on jumping into the fray. And [[Cute Bruiser|she holds her own]]!
** [[Final Fantasy III|Onion Knight]] in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]''.
* The Scout is one of these that stopped trying to convince people that ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' is a family-friendly game. He's all the better for it.
** After his weapon pack came out, it could be said he [[Took a Level in Badass]] and became one of the heaviest hitters around, to the point of needing a nerf.
** Wait, when was the Scout trying to convince people that TF2 is kid-friendly? He's loud-mouthed, swears (albeit mildly) more than any other member of the team, and makes jokes about beating people to death with a baseball bat.
*** He's fills all the criteria: the youngest, a [[Fragile Speedster]], loudmouthed, clownish and obnoxious (in a good way).
* Sakura Kusagano from the ''[[Street Fighter Alpha]]'' series. She was always out to prove herself against older, better-trained, and often bigger fighters.
* Akari Ichijou in ''[[Last Blade]]''.
* Kurara in the ''[[Power Instinct]]'' series.
* Bao in the ''[[King of Fighters]]'' series.
* [[Genki Girl|Luste Teuber]] and [[Cute Bruiser|Dolis Warmind]] of ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]''. Luste portrays herself as a hero of justice despite smashing everything in sight and likes playing with Tia, and Dolis is the leader of RKS's special ops division, being calm in the heat of battle, very intelligent despite knowing little about the outside world, and easily jealous and reacting rather badly to being called small.
* The Blue Bird from ''[[Angry Birds]]'', who also doubled as [[The Lancer]].
* Many [[Pokémon]] qualify as this, but none more so than the series mascot, Pikachu. In fact, every generation releases an [[Expy]] based on it.
** Clefairy and Jigglypuff are also appealing to children (specifically girls), and like Pikachu, they've also received various expies based on them (Togepi, Skitty, Buneary and Minccino to name a few).


== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Bumblebee from ''[[Transformers]]''. Down to originally transforming into a Volkswagen. Every single version of him - ever - is a kid-appeal character. They even partnered him with the ''human'' kid on the show. (Weirdly enough, despite his being bright yellow, his function was ''[[Highly-Visible Ninja|espionage]]''.)
** Given how ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetles were at the time, he's actually pretty well disguised for espionage. Even to this day, the VW Beetle is ''still'' among the most common cars on the planet. Some 22 million were made, and most of them are still on the roads.
** After the [[Transformers: The Movie|animated movie]], the kid appeal role was taken on by [[The Scrappy|Wheelie]] for the third series of ''Generation 1'' (which paired ''him'' with the ''son'' of Bumblebee's partner, though not quite as often) and all of ''[[Transformers Headmasters]]'', who was much more type 1.
** This role was then taken over by Holi in ''[[Transformers Victory]]'', who was blue but otherwise a combination of all this trope's aspects.
** Cheetor from ''[[Beast Wars]]'' is also yellow, fast and the youngest one on the Maximal Team. And if that weren't enough to tell that he's the kid of the team, he's got ''freckles''. Unlike Bumblebee however, he is actually quite a competent warrior and [[Character Development|later became]] [[The Lancer]] to Optimus Primal.
** Hot Shot, from ''[[Transformers Armada]]'', also yellow, falls under the third version. A bit of a goofball but [[Let's Get Dangerous|surprisingly competent in battle]].
** Wedge, from ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise|Robots in Disguise]]'', is small, orange and gutsy, but where the typical Bumblebee-type in Transformers is fast, Wedge's assets are strength and engineering know-how. (that, and being the leader of a team that forms a [[Combining Mecha]].)
*** Side Burn also fills the role, a type 1 clown who [[Running Gag|constantly tries to hit on non-sentient red sports cars]] driven by the [[Butt Monkey]] bystander.
** This is all parodied in the [[Transformers: TransTech|Botcon script reading]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rUveSq7vg "Bee in the City,"] where Bumblebee from ''Animated'' is identified as the kid-appeal character and is asked if he's a Bumblebee or a Hot Shot (also referencing how he was originally supposed to be a new Hot Shot). Over the course of the program various characters also called him Wheelie, Side Burn, Cheetor, and even [[M.A.S.K.|T-Bob]], much to his annoyance.
*** And amusingly, it was ''Beast''-era Megatron who called ''Animated'' Bumblebee "Cheetor," given that he never actually referred to Cheetor by his name during ''[[Beast Wars]]'' or ''[[Beast Machines]]''.
** In [[Transformers Prime]] this is sort of true, with Bumblebee based on his film counterpart and partnered with the youngest of the human characters.
** [http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75783&pid=1725359&mode=threaded&start=0#entry1725359 According to] [[Word of God]], in [[Bizarro Universe]] ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass|Shattered Glass]]'', Soundwave is intended as filling the Kid Appeal Character role, and has a personality that's mostly #1 with a little of #2 and #5.
* And on that note, T-Bob from ''[[M.A.S.K.]]'' fits here as well.
* Scooter from ''[[Challenge of the Go Bots]]''
* Flash from ''[[Justice League]]''. Though he's also quite popular with the older fanbase.
** The original pitch had a modified [[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]] consisting of Robin, Impulse and a [[Gender Swapped]] version of Cyborg acting as sidekicks to the League. This was when the show was being pitched to [[Kids WB]], and the writers thought the execs would pass on the series unless it had kid superheroes for the audience to identify with.[https://web.archive.org/web/20180209112704/http://jl.toonzone.net/pilot/pilot.htm]
* Kid Flash serves as this in ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]].''
** Robin is the youngest of the team and serves as a bit of a Type 4.
* Scrappy-Doo from ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' was a [[The Scrappy|famously unpopular one]].
* Jade from ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' is a type 3. She's not powerful enough to be a solo hero and regularly ends up getting into trouble, but she's adventurous and determined and usually finds a way to be useful.
* Beast Boy from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' is a clown type. He's always trying to be funny and is clearly the least mature, and he usually seems to be the weakest fighter on the team.
* Tuck from ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]''.
* Chameleon Boy from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''' [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]''. Funny that they're both shapeshifters.
* ''[[Thundercats]]'' and ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'': Wilykat and Kit. in the latter they are, as a [[Brother-Sister Team]] of [[Trickster Twins]], a combination of 1 and 3, Clowns and Ankle-biters. As [[Artful Dodger]]s, teasing, trickery and theft ''are'' their forms of attack, from baiting monsters into tripwire to stealing others' weapons.
* Orko from ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''. He didn't exist in the original toyline, [[Filmation]] created him to appeal to younger kids.
* Buji from ''Mi Familia es un Dibujo'' (originally introduced in the movie ''Dibu: La [[Pel Ã]]cula'').
* Upita from ''Patoruzito''. In the original comic book, there was no such character, there was only Upa.
* Wasabi from ''[[Sushi Pack]]''.
* Enzo from ''[[ReBoot]]'' was [[Annoying Younger Sibling|written in specifically for this purpose]]. The producers of the show admitted that during pre-production they were instructed to put a kid in the show by the execs and they were against having a kid "mess up our kick-ass action show." But they came to love the character, feeling he was the heart and soul of the show, and after he received a [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]] they worked to bring back [[Cloning Blues|the original kid (for a certain value of "original")]] because they missed him.
* Ahsoka from ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' was to give the show a kid-perspective in a series filled with adults.
* Richie Foley in ''[[Static Shock]]''. He replaces Frieda Goren as Static's best friend because the show was geared towards a younger audience than the comics were. He's the second definition of Kid Appeal Character. He was also given superpowers because the writers were having a hard time keeping him in the episodes, but often his attempts at defeating the enemy don't work. He's been kidnapped at least four times and he's been turned into a mind slave twice.
* In ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'', android Buzzwang is the Rangers' [[Plucky Comic Relief]] [[Robot Buddy]]—and a substantial portion of the fanbase will never forgive him for it.
* Rusty the Boy Robot in ''[[Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (animation)|Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot]]'' is type 3. He's seriously determined to be a hero and actually has enormous powers, but his inexperience is always getting in the way.
* Ironically enough, [[The Wasp]] from ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]''. Incidentally, she's quite popular with the older fanbase and the show's [[Ensemble Darkhorse]].
* Snap from ''[[ChalkZone]]''
* The Cutie Mark Crusaders in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', itself a kids' show, but the main cast are young adults([[Vague Age|ish]]). The CMC are closer to the age of the target demographic, and thusly are easier for said audience to relate with.
** And the first member introduced to the viewers, Apple Bloom? {{color|yellow|Yellow}} coat.
** Oh, and Pinkie Pie also has kid appeal.
* Gus Griswald from ''[[Recess]]'', the small, cute [[Sixth Ranger]] to the main group of kids, and is weak and cowardly, but warmhearted and lovable. While not as obnoxious as most examples, he's still a [[Base Breaker]] among the fandom.
* Michelangelo of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'' is a combination of roles 1 and 2, and thanks to his reception, became a [[Breakout Character]] amongst the brothers.
* Nibbles (or Tuffy depending on the short), the little gray mouse Jerry adopts in some shorts, filled this role in ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'', though the series itself was originally meant to appeal to a more general audience.
* Jay in [[Ninjago]] is the least series character on the team and makes constant jokes and seems a bit younger then the others.
* Cody and Cowarado Kid seem to [[Depending on the Writer|take turns]] filling this role in Wild West C.O.W Boys of Moo Mesa.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Youngsters]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]