Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Difference between revisions

== Advertising ==

* The Charlestown Cougars, a fake women's high school basketball team assembled for the purpose of Nike commercials.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Sanzo's team and Kougaiji's team in ''[[Saiyuki]]'' both fit. "Ragtag team" is even used to describe the Sanzo-ikkou at one point.

* In ''[[High School DxD]]'', the members of the Occult Research Club include: [[Badass Princess|the club leader who's also the younger sister of one of the four lords of hell]] {{spoiler|who apparently loves anything Japanese related}}, [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|the vice-club leader who's a half-human half-fallen angel turned devil who's also a]] [[Miko]] and a sadist, three very [[Cloudcuckoolander|ditzy]] believers of God (the first being a former nun turned devil who's also [[The Ditz|the ditziest]] of the three, the second being a former exorcist turned devil who has [[No Social Skills]], and the third being a reborn angel who has her priorities mixed up), a quiet [[Catgirl]] turned devil and the resident [[Little Miss Snarker]], a [[Wholesome Crossdresser|cross dressing]] [[Dhampyr|half vampire-half human]], [[Bishonen|the most handsome guy on the school campus]] and is [[The Ace]] of the group, a former [[Valkyries]] turned devil who has a lot of [[Money Fetish]], a [[Mad Scientist]] leader of the fallen angel faction, a phoenix who can bake [[Sweet Tooth|cakes]], [[And Zoidberg|and last]], the [[Chivalrous Pervert]] [[Lovable Sex Maniac]] protagonist who's a human turned dragon-devil. Not exactly the group who can keep the peace between the three factions, but they're the most elite group of the three factions.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The [[New Avengers]] are a team more or less thrown together by circumstance (they were on the "losing" side of ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''). Even now that they can work openly, they remain a group without a great deal in common except that the team is a sort of refuge where they can get themselves back together and get on with their lives.

* Justified in [[Les Legendaires]], since the titular Protaginist's [[Five-Man Band]] wasn't exactly assembled by the government or anything; the two founding members merely decided to create a group of independent heroes of their own by recruiting anyone who would be interested. This result in the group including a former [[The Knight|Elite Knight]] from the King's personal army, a [[Badass Princess]] [[Magical Girl]], a formerly enslaved [[Beast Man]], a [[Barbarian Hero]] [[The Atoner|who used to work for the series']] [[Big Bad]] and an [[Our Elves Are Better|Elf]] granted with [[Elemental Powers]].

 

== Fan Works ==

* The main group from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'': a [[Book Dumb]] [[Gadgeteer Genius]], a [[Cowardly Lion]], a [[The Prankster|prankster]] [[Cloudcuckoolander]], a [[Jerkass]] [[Bungling Inventor]], and finally the [[Only Sane Man]].

 

== Film ==

** In all fairness, those were their actual orders, in a manner of speaking (i.e. "think like a pirate"). Then a lower-ranking admiral tries to override those orders in order to win at any cost.

** The crew of the USS ''Stingray'' includes a captain with a tattoo on his penis, a jittery [[Number Two]] with [[No Indoor Voice]], a female diving officer (actually, the most normal of the group), a washed-out basketball player, a compulsive gambler, a sonar technician with a ridiculously good hearing (he knows what ''eating an Oreo'' sounds like), a cook with few cooking skills and acidic flatulence, an admiral's son who wants to get kicked off the boat, an electrician who ignores simple safety instructions, and a crazy old mechanic who pours scotch into the engine to boost its power.

* ''[[Shaolin Soccer]]'' provides an interesting twist with a rag-tag soccer team full of washed-up ''Shaolin monks''. Despite their shabby appearance and total lack of soccer experience, they harness martial arts superpowers to defeat the reigning champions.

* Both ''[[The Bad News Bears]]'' and ''[[The Mighty Ducks (film)|The Mighty Ducks]]'' play out this formula with kids.

* The '70s cult comedy ''Steelyard Blues'' centers around a group of this type.

* In a rare non battle/sports example, the groomsmen from ''[[I Love You, Man|I Love You Man]]'' consist of a the groom's father, brother, a few guys he went on "man dates" with,...and Lou Ferragino

 

== Literature ==

* The group designed to free Ciri in Witcher was ultimately formed from a aged and mostly retired monster hunter, elder vampire, amazon bowwoman, perverted bard, teenager with villainous background and friend-turned soldier/secret agent/noble from the hostile empire. Also, few times a half dozen or so dwarves were thrown in.

* [[Hells Children]] by Andrew Boland, features the Damned, who are made up of a [[Humanoid Abomination]], an [[Eldritch Abomination]], and a floating torso. And did I mention that there the protagonists?

** The Monstrous Regiment's survival is a little more believable when you take into account that several of their number have super(natural) powers and their commanding officer (in fact if not name) is a [[Magnificent Bastard]] who knows everyone on both sides of the conflict and carries a bit more pull than you'd expect a sergeant to have.

*** It may have helped a bit that the enemy's senior commander (Vimes) was gunning for them.

*** Vimes was not the enemy commander, Ankh-Morpork was not directly part of the fight, and Vimes is very pointedly not military; he is a policeman. But his help was very helpful.

** The witches are also somewhat of a bunch of misfits.

* For a non-Discworld [[Terry Pratchett]] example, the titular group in ''[[Nation]]'', made up of the remnants of many different Polynesian tribes who have managed to survive a tsunami and attacks by the Raiders, led by a [[Flat Earth Atheist]] teenager whose tribe was eliminated before his initiation ritual into adulthood could be completed, meaning that to the others (except Daphne) view him as basically having no soul and being possessed by a demon.

* The investigating team in [[The Alienist]] matches this description.

* The fellowship in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is about half [[Badass]], half misfit.

* In [[Dale Brown]]'s ''[[Act of War]]'', Task Force TALON starts as a mish-mash of FBI agents, "lab-bound mavericks" and actual combat-hardened personnel.

* The only defense the human race has against a race of parasitic aliens who take over their hosts' brains and render them completely helpless? [[Animorphs|Five teenagers and an alien cadet.]]

* The central study group characters of ''[[Community]]'' are a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] disbarred lawyer; an ex-anarchist high school dropout; a [[Meta Guy]] who sees everything as tropes; a high school jock-turned-goofball nerd; a recovering alcoholic Evangelical Christian housewife; a unpopular girl-turned-hottie who had a mental breakdown; a conniving, somewhat racist old man with [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]; and a crazed Chinese ex-professor who lied about knowing his subject. It's hard to find a group this crazy and yet a coherent whole.

* The ''[[Danger 5]]'' team, particularly in the online prequel. In fact, the reason the team exists is because when Tucker, Jackson, and Pierre were sent on a mission to Hitler, their total failure was met with such scorn that two women - the abrasive, alcoholic Russian Isla, and the calm but uptight [[English Rose]] Claire - were added to the team. Thus, in the midst of a satire of old-fashioned sexism, the Danger 5 team was born.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* A lot of Solar, Abyssal and Infernal circles in ''[[Exalted]]'' would qualify. For Solars, if you're a reborn god-king with about half the world gunning for him, you tend to associate with others who can help you punch that half the world in the face. Infernals and Abyssals tend to end up in these through a mix of that desperation and the details of the assignments they receive from their bosses.

 

* The employees at Maraczek's Parfumerie in ''She Loves Me'' could qualify.

* Comedy musical ''[[Starship]]'' features a crew including a robot that wants to kill all humans but can't, a battle-scarred emotionally unstable Commander with a mortal fear of robots, his [[Action Girl|violent]] and [[No Sympathy|unsympathetic]] second-in-command, a [[Non-Action Guy]] [[Hollywood Nerd|nerd]], a hyperactive [[Butt Monkey|idiotic]] recruit, a recruit from [[Farm Boy]] [[Southern-Fried Private|Planet]], a science officer whose [[The Ditz|relevant skills]] don't even extend to the [[Dumb Blonde|ability to pronounce 'science']], and the bratty son of the company boss. At first it seems to just be [[Played for Laughs]] in a parody of the sci-fi genre, but it is revealed later that {{spoiler|Junior is evil and he needed the crew to be dysfunctional enough that they would notice his evil plan}}.

 

== Toys ==

* In one of the 2008 [[Bionicle]] web serials, Federation of Fear, the [[The Knights Templar|Order of Mata Nui]] send out a [[Boxed Crook]] [[We Have Reserves|suicide team]] to bring back a [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] with a grudge to fight the [[Big Bad|Makuta]]. The team consists of two mutated ex-warlords/ex-prisoners, a disgraced scientist/ruler whose name has become a byword for "failure," a [[Manipulative Bastard|Manipulative Bitch]] whose name has become a byword of "treachery," a [[Knife Nut]] [[Bounty Hunter]], a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] who is actually half of another being, and an Order member stuck in a [[Heel Face Revolving Door]].

** Interestingly, this can also be true when it comes to the players behind the screen in a MMORPG. No matter what everyone does for a living in [[Real Life]], together you still managed to bring down that big dragon.

 

== Video Games ==

** Both games take some effort to justify such choices in crew. In ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'', Shepard is a Spectre, a self-sufficient field agent flying a ship that is technically on loan from the Alliance. The situation with Saren isn't seen as that much of a threat, and Shepard simply picks anyone who offers to tag along; these six are the best Shepard could gather on such a short notice. In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the authorities outright ignore the problem and don't provide any help, and Shepard is forced to seek out criminals and social outcasts who are nevertheless stated to be the best at their fields.

** Basically, this trope is what you'll see just from browsing through the War Assets list of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''. Even by the franchise's standard, there are groups that you'd never imagine to fight on the same side before ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' hit shelf.

* ''[[Disgaea]]'' certainly qualifies, even if the 'heroes' aren't very heroic. You have the orphaned son of the demon king, his sidekick of debatable loyalty, an assassin angel (don't ask), '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth''' and his two sidekicks, the gorgeous scientist and the funky robot, various defeated enemies, and don't forget the souls sewn into demonic penguin bodies in the Prinny Squad.

** [[Nippon Ichi]] loves this trope. Even in the shockingly [[Darker and Edgier|dark and edgy]] ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' {{spoiler|which gives you two sets. The traditional version in the normal route and a completely [[Ax Crazy]] set in the Demon route}}.

* Subverted in ''[[Pathologic]]''. The first scene in the game shows the three healers meeting up, arguing with each other, then deciding to strike out separately to fight the plague. Throughout the game, they never really team up, and occasionally work against each other.

* No love for the ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' games? In the first we have [[The Hero]] destined to [[Save the World]], a [[Badass Princess]] [[Winged Humanoid|with wings]], a [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-wolf]] hunter, the world's best thief who can somehow [[Fusion Dance|fuse with other people]], a greedy fish-man, a literally bull-headed [[The Big Guy|strong man]], the world's most powerful sorceress and a mole-man. The other games have similar line-ups. Did I mention that in the first two games, they are all [[Petting Zoo People]] of different species?

* ''[[Airforce Delta]] Strike'': Delta Squadron is where all the EDAF losers are assigned.

* Pretty much describes everyone part of S.E.E.S. in ''[[Persona 3]]'' or the Investigation Team in ''[[Persona 4]]'', but it's what allows them to summon Personas.

** The sequel adds a half-dead widower, a guy who ''really'' loves his [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], the daughter of a powerful sheikh, an Aztec god in a teenage body, a British inventor with a penchant for poisonous cards, a French fencing champion, and an actor with a jetpack.

* ''[[Monster Girl Quest Paradox]]'': Just at the end of the first chapter, the party is likely to consist of: a Nephilim hero, either the Monster Lord or the goddess who created humans and angels, a club-wielding priestess, a boomerang-loving slime, a mysterious tentacled being that looks like a young scylla, an angel Mad Scientist, the leader of the human faith, a gynoid, the spirit of wind, a former princess, an alchemist with worms for arms, the spirit of earth, and a second gynoid... and that's just some of the major characters!

 

== Web Comics ==

* [[A Girl and Her Fed]] has a main cast consisting of a hyperactive martial artist (the Girl) a 6'5 cyborg secret agent (her Fed), the ghost of Benjamin Franklin, and a talking koala.

* ''[[Last Res0rt|Last Res 0 rt]]'' sees this and raises you a [[Reality Show]]. Of course, they don't really DO anything of worldly importance (yet), but still, there they are.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and subverted in ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'', especially with the second party of worthy warriors always arriving too late to do any good or be hired for the quest.

''' Lomylith''': That would be the definition of the word "adventurers", flayer. }}

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209185606/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4279 Tangerine looks to be ready to form one.]

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[Reflets d'Acide]]'' starts with Wrandrall, a [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half-]][[Our Demons Are Different|Demon]] warrior, trying to assemble comrades for a quest. He ends up with a group including a [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|Dwarf]], an [[Our Elves Are Different|Elven]] [[Magic Music|Barb]], a [[Playing with Fire|Fire Elemental]] and a female [[Barbarian Hero]] (the latter being soon replaced by a [[Dirty Old Monk]]).

* The members of "Team Templar" from ''[[Shadow of the Templar]]'' are the first type of this, all the way. Extremely talented [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|but mostly crazy]], their general rule of thumb seems to be that "standard procedure" is a good Plan B. All the same, they have a reputation for getting things done.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The 2010 [[Baseball|World Series]] champion [http://www.sfgiants.com San Francisco Giants], a team literally described in the media as "a bunch of castoffs and misfits", as the roster was cobbled together throughout the year with an ever-changing lineup playing the games. Affectionately dubbed The Scrapheap Gang, these Giants were a group of inexperienced, but [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|talented and sometimes eccentric youngsters]] backed up by some aging veterans and a few guys [[Rescued from the Scrappy Heap|signed and given another chance to play]] when [[Picked Last|no other team wanted them]]. Late in the regular season, when they looked like they would miss the playoffs for the sixth straight year, their general manager [[Save Our Team|held a private meeting with the pitchers]] to break them out of a slump. At the same time, their first baseman [[Misfit Mobilization Moment|acquired a red thong that he claimed would lead them to victory]]. And did [[Team Spirit|they ever rise to the challenge]], with one of the strongest final pushes in MLB history. Leaning heavily on the strength of their pitching, particularly that of the starters and of their "unique" closer [[Badass Beard|Brian Wilson]] (no, not [[The Beach Boys|that]] Brian Wilson), the Giants eventually notched enough wins in September to qualify for the playoffs on the last game of the regular season. The postseason would be even more dramatic, as most of their games, in sport movie fashion, would go [[Down to the Last Play]]. To boot, almost each game they won would feature an [[Unlikely Hero]], and very often it was someone playing better than they ever had before [[The Power of Friendship|to make up for a slumping teammate's play.]] To cite two prominent examples: the MVP of the League Championship Series was Cody Ross, who had been released by the third-place Florida Marlins with six weeks to go in the season. The MVP of the World Series was Edgar Renteria, an aging, injury-prone shortstop who for much of the season slumped so badly that he was reduced to being a part-time starter.

* NFL example: If documentaries by NFL Films (such as the ''America's Game'' series) are anything to go by, the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders are likely a good example of this, at least the teams from the 70s and 80s under head coaches John Madden and Tom Flores. Featuring many castoffs from other NFL teams, players who were considered washed up, and some colorful personalities with chips on their shoulders, the Raiders were a bunch of misfits who became the "bad guys" of the NFL because of their highly aggressive play (especially players like George Atkinson and Jack Tatum). They were also a successful bunch of misfits, winning Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII.

* The rebels in the Libyan Civil war. Very few of them were actual soldiers.

* The Oakland A's in the early 2000s, as seen in the book and film [[Moneyball]], were deliberately assembled as a championship team that the club could actually afford. This entailed culling players from "the Island of Misfit Toys", standouts in one area who flounder in others.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Index Team]]

[[Category:More Than Meets the Eye]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Sports Story Tropes]]