Kid Appeal Character: Difference between revisions
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{{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-
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
Depending on how young he is, how nice he is, or how old his father/brother figure is, the
# 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.
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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
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}}▼
▲{{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
* ...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.
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* 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
** While until the [[Time Skip]] and several [[Took a Level
** [[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:
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== Film ==
* Quite obviously, Jar Jar Binks from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[
** 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
** 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]]''.
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** 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
* ''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.
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** 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
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== [[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.
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** [[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
** 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).
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* [[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
** 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).
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** 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:
*** 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 ''[[
* 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.
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* 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
* 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 ''[[
* 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]]
* 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 ''[[
* 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.
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[[Category:Youngsters]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
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