Kid Appeal Character: Difference between revisions

'''Sonic''': More like obligatory kid appeal characters.|''[[Sonic F]]''}}

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.

# 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.

* 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.

** 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.

== Film ==

** 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.

** 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]].

** 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]].

* ''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.

** 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".

* 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.

* 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'').

* 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.

* 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]].