Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Difference between revisions

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* 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
* The ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy (film)|Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' are a collection of convicts ([[In Space]]) who happen to be all of different races and, for the most part, initially tolerate each other for the sake of money or revenge. We have [[Large Ham]] Quill, [[Big Guy]] Drax, [[Smart Guy]] Rocket, [[Naive Newcomer|Young Guy]] Groot (especially in the sequel) and [[Hot Chick with a Sword]] Gamora - who doubles as the [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane One]].
 
== Literature ==
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* The investigating team in [[The Alienist]] matches this description.
* The fellowship in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is about half [[Badass]], half misfit.
** The fact that it includes members of most of the free races adds to the misfit feel and is lampshaded by Elrond.
* 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.]]
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* 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.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131102072849/http://outcastsunited.com/ Outcasts United]'' by Warren St. John is a real life example of this. It is the story of a bunch of refugees who ended up living in Clarkston, Georgia (a small suburb of [[Atlanta]]), which became a resettlement center for refugees from war zones in Liberia, Congo, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan. These kids eventually start a soccer team, the Fugees, with the help of Luma Mufleh, an American educated Jordanian woman. It tthe prejudice they endured and the money struggles they have, and the culture clashes (such as how in Georgia soccer is a sport associated with rich people).
* 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.