39,327
edits
m (categories and general cleanup) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:rudolph-red-nosed-reindeer7.jpg|link=Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
{{quote|''"Are you a rag-tag band of adventurers with unclear goals and good hearts? ...[[Genre Savvy|Yeah, you people are my biggest threat]]."''|'''Galgarion''', ''[[
This mission is important. The fate of the battle, nay, the war, nay, the ''entire world'' rests on the outcome. Who has the capability to stick it out, to give the good guys the victory they desperately need? This calls for a special team. The group of experienced, highly skilled, professional, team-oriented experts? Not them. The assorted group of ex-con lowlife inexperienced [[Jerkass|jerkasses]] who are trying to off their [[Officer and
'''This is usually [[Justified Trope]] in one or more of several ways:'''
Line 23:
** Conversely, the man in the know can be such an annoying bully that no one would work with him, and such a control freak that he [[Divided We Fall|can not give his knowledge]] to a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]].
* The authorities haven't actually noticed (or ''[[Mole in Charge|are]]'') the problem, and the heroes have to gather whoever they can.
* There was a better first choice that DID get sent, but [[The World's Expert
* They need them to do something untoward or outright illegal, and they know these folks will keep quiet about it.
* They're the only ones [[Crazy Enough to Work|crazy enough to even try]].
Line 30:
Your [[Seen It a Million Times|basic]] Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits consists of a [[The Hero|Hero]], a [[The Lancer|Sidekick]], a [[The Big Guy|Big Guy]], a [[The Smart Guy|Smart Guy]], an [[The Obi-Wan|Old Guy]], a [[Naive Newcomer|Young Guy]], and a [[Plucky Comic Relief|Funny Guy]] - But you can call them [[The Magnificent Seven Samurai]].
Of course, the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits will eventually have a [[Misfit Mobilization Moment]] to get their act together and win the day. Most often it produces casualties: typically, the guy forced to go on the mission despite being the [[Clear My Name|Convicted Innocent]], or the [[Officer and
If the characters were not forced on the team -- [[Condemned Contestant]], [[Boxed Crook]] -- they often join to be [[Lonely Together]]. [[Foil|To contrast]] their diversity, their enemies will likely be [[Alike and Antithetical Adversaries|all homogenous in one way,]] typically by being highly collaborative professionals.
Line 36:
Compare with [[Character-Magnetic Team]], [[Cosmic Comic Story]], and [[Hitchhiker Heroes]].
In the world of sports, this trope counts double. Last year's Super Bowl champions don't stand a chance against a random group of ex-cons, couch potatoes, and [[Animal Athlete Loophole|farm animals]], with [[Improvised Training]], who are almost guaranteed to pull out [[Down to
See also [[Army of Thieves and Whores]] for when this trope is magnified to the size of an army.
Line 46:
== Anime & Manga ==
* The team Ichigo gets together during Soul Society in ''[[
* The Dollars gang in ''[[
* ''[[
* And then there's ''[[
** In the Soyokaze's case, the reason it's a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] is because the aging, broken-down destroyer has been assigned as the official dumping ground for all the lunatics, incompetents and misfits of the UPSF. In other words, every trouble-maker or disruptive element that accidentally manages to get into the military is invariably assigned here, so they'll be out of the way. The doctor is an alcoholic who's been drinking since he was three years old, the marines are all violent slobs, [[The Ace]] is arrogant and full of himself, as is the navigator, and the captain is, as far as the military higher-ups are concerned, either [[The Fool|an absurdly lucky moron]] or [[Genius Ditz|possessed of genuine great insight but limited common sense]]. The only outright military and competent crewmembers are Lieutenants Yamamoto (who was assigned as the First Officer in the hopes he could somehow cover for Tylor) and Yuriko (who volunteered to join the Soyokaze in the hopes that she could somehow reform the crew).
* The crew of ''White Base'' in the original ''[[
** Ditto to [[Mobile Suit Gundam The 08th MS Team
* ''[[
* Both [[Justified Trope]] and [[Subverted Trope]] in ''[[
* ''[[
** The three helpers are also quirky. The two basketball players lent to the team and the miniature sumo wrestler. Though it feels like I'm forgetting someone...
* Quite literally in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
* [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
* Division 2, the main cast of ''[[
* The Yang Fleet from ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** To be more specific: the protagonist crew consists of members who are noted as being the best at their respective roles, but who otherwise don't really mesh in a uniform way like most other crews in the series. The crew currently consists of a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Rubber Man]], a [[Blood Knight]], a [[Classy Cat Burglar]], a [[Blatant Lies|blatant liar]], a [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking|chain-smoking]] [[Chivalrous Pervert]], a [[Voluntary Shapeshifter|form-changing]] [[Talking Animal|talking reindeer]], a [[All of the Other Reindeer|global pariah]], an eccentric [[Cyborg]], and [[Dem Bones|an undead skeleton]].
* ''[[
* ''[[
* The {{spoiler|Muto Extermination Squad}} in ''[[
* The Varia in ''[[
* [[Captain Harlock]] commands a spaceship full of 'em.
* ''[[D
* Sanzo's team and Kougaiji's team in ''[[
* In ''[[High School
Line 90:
** Later additions only enhance this image; Mad Ronn the bomb disposal expert (whose skill at his profession is uncertain because he kind of dies the first and only time he actually tries to defuse a bomb), Hitaki the warrior with samurai programming, Morrigun the waitress whose combat skills come from secondary bouncer software, and Ro-Jaws, who is honestly more of a mascot than anything else. Morrigun was the result of a [[Terrible Interviewees Montage]]; you should see the guys they turned down.
* [[The Defenders]], comprised of heroes who don't work well with others, and who often get into fights in the middle of their missions, still manage to be successful because they are comprised of some of the most powerful heroes in the [[Marvel Universe]]. They're even famously known as a "non-team", because the concept of teamwork is completely alien to them. This is all in spite of the fact that the founding Defenders ([[Doctor Strange]], the [[Silver Surfer]], [[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|the Hulk]], and [[Sub-Mariner|Namor the Sub-Mariner]]) are among the most powerful Marvel heroes of all.
* The Champions were a team consisting of Iceman, Angel, [[Black Widow (
* The second team of [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]], especially in comparison to the original team. The first group were five white, American teenagers, recruited by Professor X as students for his school, given matching uniforms, and trained to work as a group before their first mission. The second team<ref> even going just by what was known at the time, and ignoring things that wouldn't be revealed - or even [[Retcon|thought up]] until later, like [[Wolverine]] being [[Older Than They Look|over 100 years old]] or [[Storm]] having been born in America</ref> each came from a different country, including no members who were both white and American (and one that was ''blue''); varied from their teens to middle age; came from backgrounds ranging from law-enforcement to former supervillain (including one that was both); ranged in education level from college graduate to "raised on the streets"; were all given unique uniforms (or just wore what they showed up in); and barely had time to learn each others names before being sent off to risk their lives.
* The [[Great Lakes Avengers]] is a team comprised of some of the weirdest superheroes in Marvel's catalog, including Flatman, Big Bertha, and most popularly, [[Squirrel Girl]] (whose superpower is . . . squirrels). It doesn't hurt that ''[[Deadpool]]'' is considered one of their reserve members.
* In both ''[[
* The [[
* Justified in [[
== Fan Fic ==
* The main group from ''[[
Line 106:
* ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]''. The team sent in to blow up the Nazi R&R chateau is made up entirely of men facing either execution or life sentences in military prisons. Except for Magot <ref>who is an out-and-out psycho, serial killer</ref>, though, most of them are implied to be not-such-bad guys who simply were pushed too far, or never should have been allowed in the military at all.
* In ''The Devil's Brigade'', the Americans are an example, while the Canadians are more serious about it. The real First Special Service Force recruited its American members by asking for volunteers, not forcing the dregs of the Army into it, though plenty of troublemakers got "volunteered" by their commanding officers to get rid of them. The SSF weeded out a lot of the worst, but it was still a pretty motley bunch.
* ''[[
* The Massachusetts 54th Infantry, a regiment of Black soldiers as seen in ''[[
* The crew of the Stingray in ''[[Down Periscope]]'' is the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits played for comedy. In this case, they are ''intended to fail'', and it's their complete willingness to ignore regulations, common sense, and sanity are key to their victory.
** 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 (
** ''[[Little Giants]]'' and ''The Big Green'' would [[Follow the Leader]].
* ''[[Major League]]'' is basically ''The Bad News Bears'' with a Major League team. Also, unlike the Bears, the Indians [[Down to
* ''[[
** They're made up of an apathetic gym owner, a man who thinks he's a pirate, a high school loser who wants to be a cheerleader to impress a girl (think about that one for a second), a man who thinks his mail-order bride loves him, and two of the gym employees who consider the gym better than their previous job at the airport. The only normal person on their team is a female lawyer (who happens to be {{spoiler|[[Bi the Way]]}}). They are led by a paraplegic coach who loves throwing heavy objects at his players and making them dodge highway traffic.
* ''[[WALL-E]]'' has the titular character, his girlfriend and a bunch of <s> insane</s> broken robots, HANS in particular.
* In ''[[The Last Castle]]'', a convicted army general gathers up an army of inmates at a military jail. One would think his army is a Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits, but since they all used to be soldiers, they're as disciplined and well-coordinated as any official battalion.
* The ''[[
* The replacement Washington Sentinels in ''[[The Replacements (
* Colette from ''[[
* You'll be hard pressed to find a bunch more rag-tag or misfit than the one being asked to save the Earth in ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'': a bug-headed [[Mad Scientist]]; an over-the-hill [[Fish Person]]; a brainless, sentient glob of [[Future Food Is Artificial|Soylent Soy]]; a fuzzy baby [[Kaiju]]; and leading them all, a [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]] (albeit a [[Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever|very tall one]].)
* The Diggers who join up with Dr. Noah after one of them is killed by Ecoban soldiers in ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* The kids relegated to being just "Hero Support"(sidekicks) in the titular high school for superheroes, ''[[Sky High (
* The Cutters in ''Breaking Away''.
* The cheap ''[[Charlie's Angels
* The 2009 ''[[Star Trek (
* [[Wes Anderson]]'s ''[[The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou]]'': At one point Steve Zissou proudly declares "We're a pack of strays!"
* ''[[
* The American team in [[Broken Lizard]]'s ''[[Beerfest]]''. To give you an idea, one of their members is a homeless male prostitute.
* The five 'main' pirates from ''[[The Pirates!
** Appropriately, the film's [[Market-Based Title]] is ''The Pirates: Band of Misfits''.
* The Charlestown Chiefs in ''[[Slap Shot]]''.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Mortal Kombat (
* The eponymous group in ''[[
* The titular heroes in ''[[Mystery Men]]'' certainly qualify. The Shoveler's legendary [[Rousing Speech|sandwich speech]] even calls it out:
{{quote| "There's no use waiting for the cavalry, because as of this moment, the cavalry is us. This is our fight, whether we like it or not. Just we few. We're not your classic superheroes. We're not the favorites. We're the other guys. We're the guys nobody ever bets on."}}
* The core protagonists of ''[[
* In ''[[
* 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
== Literature ==
* ''[[
** And in the fourth book, Billy Ray Sanguine actually refers to the protagonists as a "Motley Bunch of Misfits" or something along those lines, but of course, the writer is [[One of Us]].
* 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 [[
** 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.
** And of course, the early City Watch novels. The change occurs after ''[[Discworld
*** Just as big a bunch of misfits are the night watch in [[Discworld
** The witches are also somewhat of a bunch of misfits.
* For a non-Discworld [[
* Knowingly enacted by a [[Genre Savvy]] warrior in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms]]'' series. An ambient magical force in the land (The Tradition) likes to have events work out like they do in stories. The warrior assembles a group of untrained teenage girls, equips them to look suitably ragged, and leads them into battle. The Tradition then ensures that they fight like expert soldiers, because they are a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] and [[Underdogs Never Lose]].
* The ''[[X Wing Series (Comic Book)|Wraith Squadron]]'' novels in the [[
** After Wraith Squadron's initial success, though, several new members explained that they signed up because of the squadron's success rate, unaware of their initial reputation. That being said, they are either as charmingly wacky or as deeply scarred as the original squad, and, soon fit right in. The Wraiths are eventually considered competent...if unpredictable, unorthodox, and hardly military disciplined. Appropriately, they're recommissioned as an Intelligence unit.
** Rogue Squadron isn't exactly what you'd call orthodox either, although they're not as wide out as the Wraiths, they sit somewhere between the Wraiths and the regular military.
Line 168:
* The ''[[Phules Company]]'' novels have this as their premise; The "Omega Company" is a dumping ground for troops that no commander wanted to deal with, and Phule is given command as a punishment for strafing a ''peace treaty'' signing.
** Naturally, the Omega Company just need a leader with charisma, patience, flexible ethics, and loads of money, which is what they get in Phule. The rest goes splendidly.
* Justified in Eve Forward's ''[[Villains
* The 27th Penal Panzer Regiment of the [[Sven Hassel]] novels is made up of ex-convicts and court-martialed soldiers who have been 'pardoned' and sent off to die for Nazi Germany.
* ''The Zone'' series of [[World War III]] novels by James Rouch is about the Special Combat Group, made up of soldiers picked up on their various assignments from the US, British, and Dutch forces, and deserters from the Soviet army and East German border police. The established special forces units despise such ad-hoc groups and are exerting political pressure to shut them down.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Eisenhorn]]'' novels, Inquisitor Eisenhorn's retinue includes in their number: a gunslinging pilot, an aging scholar who's literally addicted to knowledge, an ex-cop, an anti-psychic prostitute, and a flamboyant {{spoiler|cyborg}} starship captain. And that's just the first novel.
** In his [[Ravenor]] novels, Inquisitor Ravenor, though starting with a retinue, adds a [[Street Urchin]], an arbite who was targeted by the Chaos forces for knowing too much, and a [[The Medic|doctor]] who is working illegally because of having lost his license by caring for people not allowed to be treated and falsifying records to get the supplies he needs.
* [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[
* ''[[
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[
** In ''Death or Glory'', Cain whips together "Cain's Liberators" from the tattered remnants of the PDF armies and civilians on the continent overrun by orks. Including getting all their [[The Medic|medical attention]] from [[Closest Thing We Got|a vet]].
** In ''For the Emperor'', the ragtag band of court-martialed soldiers offered amnesty in exchange for their services function as a well trained military unit. So much so that even two of them who were specifically court-martialed for trying to kill one another were able to work together without incident... [[Dangerous Deserter|at least between each other]].
* Gav Thorpe's [[
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[Operation Chaos]]'' ends with the narrator considering the [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] that had literally gone [[To Hell and Back]]. He concludes that it's the devil who has no sense of humor; God must love to laugh.
* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s Dendarii Mercenaries were a pretty ragtag bunch when Miles first created them in ''[[Vorkosigan Saga
* In [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[
* In ''[[Temeraire]]'' book five Victory of Eagles, the title character forges one of these from {{spoiler|the collection of renegades, retirees, and rejected experimental crossbreeds [[Our Dragons Are Different|Dragons]] that were in the breeding grounds he was exiled to, after getting word that [[Bond Creatures|his captain]] had been killed and Napoleon had invaded Britain}}.
* The five central characters in Douglas Hill's ''[[The Col Sec Trilogy]]'' are a group of juvenile delinquents who have been exiled to an alien planet by the [[Dystopia|world government]]. Of course, they end up as recruiters for [[La Résistance]] when one of its leaders falls in with them...apparently, because they're "tough, smart, lucky, and ''survivors''." (Bear in mind that this group consists of a [[Barbarian Hero]]—in a [[Space Opera]], no less—an [[The Empath|empathic]] [[Wrench Wench]], a [[Tsundere]] with super night vision, a [[Keet]], and a [[Deadpan Snarker]]...oh, hell, it's actually [[Better Than It Sounds]].)
* The cast of any story set in the [[Border Town]] [[Shared Universe]], ever.
* ''[[
** The defense of The Wall in ''A Storm of Swords'' takes the [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] trope [[Up to Eleven]]. Since {{spoiler|most of the Watch's best men have been killed, and the best of the rest are engaged in fighting elsewhere}}, only the very bottom of the barrel and some volunteers from a nearby town are left to fight the Wildling horde.
** The Brave Companions, a band of sellswords made up of [[Psycho for Hire|the most bloodthirsty and amoral fighters from all over the world]], are an evil version of the concept.
** The Brotherhood Without Banners, made up of the remnants of a royal mission for a now very dead king, as well as a collection of miscellaneous stranded soldiers, armed peasants, petty bandits, and the like. It's telling that both of their leaders have been Westeros' equivalent of zombies
* There are two in Michelle West's Sun Sword/House War series. The first is the army of the Kalakar, the Ospreys. The second is Jewel's den, which are the much more ragtag bunch of misfits that are significantly more badass. Granted, they have an overlapping character who provides a liberal dose of overkill, but both fit this trope.
* In the [[
* The investigating team in [[The Alienist]] matches this description.
* The fellowship in ''[[
* 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
** ''[[
* The Chosen Men under Sharpe in the [[Sharpe]] series of books by Bernard Cornwell. They are not vastly different from most infantrymen (teh recruitment procedure was very loose back then) but their flamboyant personalities and [[Mildly Military|lackluster approach to discipline]] makes them this very trope. They are scorned by officers but tolerated by pragmatic commanders like Wellington or Hogan who tend to highly value the unit's combat prowess and experience.
* In ''Romance of the Snob Squad'' by Julie Anne Peters, the Snob Squad is one of these. Jenny is overweight, Lydia talks too much, Max is big for her age, and Prairie only has one leg. They end up together in a P.E. class competition. They end up subverting the [[Underdogs Never Lose]] trope and losing the competition anyway, and Jenny even comments on this, saying that "if you think we pulled ourselves together and won this thing, you've OD'd on Disney".
* Implied in the ''[[Percy Jackson
* [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s Shadow of a Dark Queen book of [[The Riftwar Cycle|The Serpentwar Saga]] has a bunch of convicts sentenced to death by hanging, given express (but effective) military training and sent on a suicide mission across the ocean, on the condition, that they may be given pardon, if they succeed and come back alive.
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', any time Harry brings along more than one or two people to help take on the book's bad guy, it's this. The biggest so far {{spoiler|involves his assult on the Red Court at the Chichen Itza}}. Aside from a snarky wizard, his attack force consisted of {{spoiler|his teenage neuroamncer apprentice}}, an agnostic paladin wielding a holy sword, a Chicago PD lieutenant {{spoiler|also using a holy sword}}, a spirit of intellect locked away in a skull, a half-vampire journalist, a White Court vampire, a fairy noble, a vampire hunter, and a temple dog.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
** The leader of the outfit is addicted to his own adrenaline. The mechanic and [[The Big Guy|Big Guy]] is in desperate need of anger management classes and has to be knocked out every time they need to travel by airplane. The con-man is, shall we say, very easily distracted by the presence of pretty women. As soon as he breaks the team pilot and in-house medical advisor out of the psychiatric ward, they're on their way. Aren't you glad you just hired ''[[
* One could certainly expect the crew of the Federation Starship ''[[Star Trek: Voyager
** B'ellana Torres and Tom Paris, still manage to appear somewhat out of the norm. Torres has a temper that could power the ships engines, and Tom Paris is an ex-con. Given that he actually runs cons during the shows run, the 'ex' part is exaggerated.
* ''[[Black Sheep Squadron]]'' (originally titled ''Baa Baa Black Sheep'') is about the exploits of a squadron of misfit pilots fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific during [[World War II]]. One pilot has crashed so many times he's technically a Japanese ace. Others are drunks, insubordinate brawlers, Japanese-American pacifist mystics, or just plain crazy. Their commander is a drunk, insubordinate, over-the-hill ex-Flying Tiger who whips them into shape and turns them into the terrors of the South Pacific. It's based on a true story, and while the misfit tendencies of the squadron members themselves are highly exaggerated, Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, the squadron commander, was if anything MORE of a drunken misfit [[Magnificent Bastard]] than the one in the TV series.
* ''[[
* ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven]]'' makes ''Torchwood'' look like a haven of unity and competence.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** And muppets!
*** Rigel XVI may be a muppet, but don't make the mistake of underestimating him. Being stuck on a prison ship for nearly 100 cycles while being physically and emotionally tortured will harden you. Remember the guy who spent cycles torturing Rigel? Remember his fate? That's right, Rigel gleefully carried his head around on a pike. Hynerians may be physically frail compared to humanoids, but that's only because they're amphibians. And yet they've managed to carve out an empire of "600 billion loyal subjects", including humanoids. And after Rigel deposes his backstabbing cousin in the follow-up comic, he actually becomes a competent and beloved ruler thanks to his experiences. Now imagine someone like Rigel in charge of an empire.
Line 223:
** ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' is a stowaway, a security officer, a mechanic, a scientist, and a [[Jungle Princess]].
** ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' is a jock, a nerd, a rocker girl, an artist, and their [[Memetic Badass]] teacher.
** But the king is probably ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'', which is a [[Raised
** What do you get when you put together a team comprised of a [[Standardized Leader|former Air Force pilot]]; a [[Wide
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' makes being a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] (or as [[J.
** Mostly averted in the ''[[Crusade]]'' spin-off, where the only "misfits" are Dureena, a professional thief, and [[Bald of Awesome|Galen]], a rogue [[Magic From Technology|technomage]].
* ''[[
** Lampshaded in Journey to Regionals, with Olivia Newton John saying that the whole [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] trope is overused and that everyone expects the underdogs to win. {{spoiler|Not this time.}}
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': The entire subculture of [[The Hunter|hunters]]. They're all just a bunch of emotionally scarred people who make it their (non-paying) job to hunt and kill supernatural beings, most likely because someone they were close to was killed by one. Considering how rampant these paranormal attacks seem to be, you'd think the government would set up a [[The Men in Black|secret agency]] to fight them. But no, it's left entirely up to these people, who will break as many laws and [[Walking the Earth|wander the earth]] as much as they have to in order to get the job done, with no thanks or pay to show for it?
** From ''The Song Remains The Same'', with Heaven and Hell both threatening to destroy the earth and the apocalypse underway:
{{quote| '''Dean:''' This is it.<br />
'''Sam:''' This is what?<br />
'''Dean:''' Team Free Will. One ex-blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, and Mr. Comatose over there. }}
* [[Stargate SG-1
** ''[[
** ''[[
*** [[Insufferable Genius]] [[Manipulative Bastard]] widower Dr. Rush who is more fit to be a supervillain than a hero
*** A commander who isn't really fit to command anyone, has problems making hard decisions and was about to retire
Line 244:
*** Greer, who had an abusive war veteran father and has anger management issues.
*** And this was only the main cast...
* As the title of the show may suggest, this is pretty much the whole premise of 2009 sci-fi drama ''[[
** And ~15 years earlier, the ''[[Misfits of Science]]''.
* ''[[
** As seasons passed, you could add an immortal [[Badass Spaniard]], a [[Deadpan Snarker]] pilot, a [[Magnificent Bastard]], a [[Handicapped Badass]] who has always been an [[Unwitting Pawn]], {{spoiler|a puff of smoke transformed into the previous [[Unwitting Pawn]] and another immortal who had the job to keep this puff of smoke on the island and who might be a God}}. [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] indeed.
*** Don't forget a [[Con Man]] / [[Jerk
* ''[[
*** Or in Season 4 in comparison to the Initiative.
** Ditto for Team [[
* The outlaws from ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' included a disinherited nobleman, his manservant, a con-artist/pick-pocket/thief, a carpenter, a woodsman, and a Arabic female doctor. The third season added a monk and a potter, who were admittedly, pretty useless.
* ''[[Eureka]]'' is basically an entire town of misfits, albeit not necessarily ragtag.
* The Major Crimes Unit in ''[[The Wire]]'' plays this trope straight.
* Each season of ''[[
{{quote| Let me guess. He had a ragtag band of criminals ready to pick up the slack.}}
* The Rottaran in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' uses this. At the end of season 1 a group containing a cheerleader, a male nurse, a cop, an internet stripper, a boy genius, a politician, a Japanese Otaku, his sidekick, an escaped con and the professor are all present
* The Five in ''[[
* ''[[Primeval]]''. Lester is well aware that he's in charge of a Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits and would gladly fire the lot of them and bring in professionals instead, were he not such a fundamentally decent chap.
{{quote| '''James Lester''': Repeat that disgraceful slander, and you'll be hearing from my laywers.}}
* The [[Warehouse 13]] team could certainly apply: two former Secret Service agents (one of whom gets psychic hunches), a disgraced former NSA analyst who was convicted of treason, an aura-reading B&B operator, a former mental patient and [[Teen Genius]], an [[Anti-Villain]] female HG Wells, and a gay ATF agent who's a living lie detector. Not to mention their boss, who is a mysterious teleporting and apparently immortal woman.
* The central study group characters of ''[[
* The ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* Taken to an extreme, as is everything in the ''[[
** Hell, the entire 597th could be considered a ragtag bunch of misfits. Of course, given the 40k universe's casually lethal nature, it's a good thing that they get constant reinforcements from Valhalla...
** Colonel Schaeffer's Last Chancers. Recruited from penal planets and given the opportunity to redeem themselves by dying for the Emperor.
Line 275:
*** It should also be noted that the people they recruit can be of any social status or have any kind of occupation, too. For instance, one member of Amberley Vail's retinue used to be a former fast food seller.
**** Mordechai Horst ends up temporarily recruiting a prostitute desperate to escape from the societal role she was forced into as a guide. And his boss inducted a pair of Guardsmen simply because they were eyewitnesses to a major breach of security, and the pilot whose shuttle they were shot down in just because.
* ''[[
* '''Every''' ''[[
* A lot of Solar, Abyssal and Infernal circles in ''[[
Line 286:
== Toys ==
* In one of the 2008 [[
** 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 ==
* [[Because Destiny Says So]], the hero of the various ''[[
** Lampshaded in the [[Gaiden Game]] ''[[
* ''[[
** ''Especially'' the kobold. The [[Big Bad]] tries to persuade your allies to turn on you. Most of them wil stay if you're nice to them at various points, or discovered certain things about them. Deekin will stay [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|no matter what]].
* The full party in ''[[A Dance With Rogues]]'' definitely qualifies. You have a deposed princess leading a group that (depending on your choices and your persuasiveness) consists of (at various points) a [[The Pollyanna|sweet, innocent female bard]]; a [[Lawful Good|chivalrous ranger]]; a [[Token Evil Teammate|psychotic mercenary/assassin]]; a pair of barbarians out to hunt down the guy who killed their entire tribe; an [[Defector From Decadence|exiled Drow]]; a heavily-stereotyped alcoholic dwarf; and a [[Gender Bender|gender-flipped dead paladin]].
* The defenders of Kosigan in the Bastard of Kosigan can consist of a bastard half-orc trying to reclaim his heritage, an elf taking revenge for her abuse at the hands of the heir to the county, a prepubescent boy appointed second-in-command of the Grey Guard for no good reason, and an extremely loyal career soldier in charge of the army, all led by whatever you decide the player character is. You even get to [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] this if you side with Mordred and Alex at the end of the second module, wondering if "two bastards and a little elf" stand a chance against the might of Burgundy.
* While the team in ''[[
* The vast majority of Computer [[Role Playing Game|Role Playing Games]], for that matter. Who's going to defeat the world destroying monster? Why, [[Chrono Trigger
** Lampshaded early in ''[[
** Also invoked in ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
* The crew who ends up saving the world from being Porky's oyster in ''[[
* In ''[[
** The ''[[Paper Mario (
*** And {{spoiler|a flirty mouse thief in high heels.}}
**** In ''[[
** The original ''[[
* ''[[
** Or any ''[[
* Like ''[[
* [[Rogue Galaxy]] could also qualify. By the middle of the game the super-elite [[Pirate|pirate ship]]'s crew consists in: a legendary [[Pirate]], a Second-in-command ''cat'' with a bad attitude, [[Tsundere|a bad-tempered]] jungle girl, [[The Hero|a clueless young boy mistaken for a skillful hunter]], an ''actual'' skillful hunter, [[The Chick|a cheerful girl]], an extremely polite fighting-machine robot with {{spoiler|the spirit of a dead child inside}}, a depressed Ex-soldier, a police-wanted, fired-from-his-job [[Nerd|computer genius]], and a... ''something'' that can fire missiles from his back and speaks with a weird accent, plus a couple of normal human pirates adn a talking frog who eats weapons. Insanity ensues.
* Delta Squad in ''[[
** It is stated by several of the characters however, that Marcus's trial was a sham and that before it he was an extremely skilled soldier.
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. An amnesiac immortal trying to find out who he is and to die while he still can; a flying talking skull with the libido and vocabulary of a frisky teenager; the last warrior of an ancient order who wield blades attuned to their minds, capable of destroying anything; a fiendblooded thief and corpse-collector; a chaste succubus; a perpetually burning man who loves it; a being embodying geometric order cut off from the [[Hive Mind]] of its brethren, accompanied by a pair of semi-sentient spirits who have shaped themselves into its crossbows; and a haunted suit of armor kept together by its refusal to abandon its duty to Justice.
** Justified in that {{spoiler|the Mark of Torment etched into the Nameless One's flesh draws troubled souls to him}}. Furthermore, {{spoiler|sometimes past incarnations of the Nameless One helped make them that way.}}
*** Considering most of the game (sort of) takes place in Sigil, it would have been weird if the group was NOT a bunch of randomly selected and mismatched people and other creatures.
* This is pretty much the entire point of ''Battlefield: Bad Company''. B Company is apparently a dumping ground for anyone the Army deems a troublemaker, making them expendable. Plus, the squad featured pretty much qualifies in and of itself: a demolitions man who blew up the wrong latrine and loves to go in depth on his philosophical non-sequiturs, a cowardly comm specialist who looked up porn and wound up giving the Department of Defense network a nasty virus, a chopper pilot whose boredom and subsequent recreational drug use led to an accident that then led to his reassignment, and a weary sergeant who just wants to get out as soon as possible and is willing to take a transfer to the highest mortality rate company in the Army to get it.
* Depending on whom you recruit in your pack, ''[[
* In ''[[
** ''[[
*** Specifically, the party includes : a quaint scientist with ethical issues, a psychotic test subject with psychic powers and childhood issues, {{spoiler|the [[Cowboy Cop|angry cop]] from the first game who has become}} [[The Punisher (Comic Book)|a vigilante who takes the war on crime to the heart of darkness]] and [[Survivor Guilt]]/revenge issues, a berserk alien supersoldier with daddy/existential issues, a cynical ex-Marine with daddy issues (who is the [[Only Sane Man]], mind you), a human-supremacist femme fatale with daddy issues, a quasi-hive minded robot motivated by religious zeal (with no issues!), a guilt-ridden holy warrior with family issues, {{spoiler|the same}} an alien mechanic with strained relations with her own race, a [[Death Seeker]] alien assassin with familial issues, and, in downloadable content, a sociopathic mercenary with revenge issues and a galactic-class thief with love issues. In a subversion, you can get a total party kill - yes, ''[[The Hero Dies|including Shepard]]'' - if you don't do any of these characters' side missions, [[Playing
** And Shepard is not immune: depending on which past you choose, s/he either grew up without a family and was raised by gangs and violence (Earthborn) or is the sole survivor of a pirate raid on his/her home planet (Colonist) and either watched his/her whole platoon except for him/her being annihilated by an alien monster (Sole Survivor) or send the 3/4 of hi/hers platoon to death to capture a bunker (Ruthless).
** Both games take some effort to justify such choices in crew. In ''[[Mass Effect
** Basically, this trope is what you'll see just from browsing through the War Assets list of ''[[
* ''[[
** [[
* [[BioWare
* How about ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
* ''[[
** The Gallian Militia from ''[[
** And then we have the 'Edy Attachment' in the DLC which is the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits OF a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
** ''[[
** And then ''[[
* Hiro and the gang from ''[[Lunar Eternal Blue]]'' qualify as they, strangely except for the main character Hiro, have some problems hidden from others. In fact, [[Big Bad]] Zophar explicitly refers to them as [[Lampshade Hanging|"the ragtag party of misfits."]]
* Boots and his buddies from ''[[
* The Wasteland crew in ''[[Tony Hawks Pro Skater
** Don't forget the most "normal" of the crew: a punk-rock chick with a penchant for exceptional art.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Agatio in ''[[
* Every team in ''[[
* While Raze's group in ''[[Mana Khemia 2 Fall of Alchemy]]'' is more-or-less a well-oiled group, Ulrika's group fits this precisely, consisting of a fairy(?) larger than Ulrika and far more timid, a guy in an animal suit/ball which said suit carries who can switch at will, a young boy with a machine obsession (and an abusive sister, but that's on Raze's side), a girl who believes curses are "incantations", and finally, Ulrika herself. In-battle, Ulrika's side is a bit more powerful than Raze's, due to tactical considerations and better overall abilities.
* In ''[[Mercenaries]] 2'', a five-person team composed of a revenge-driven merc, a snarky computer geek, a lecherous helicopter pilot, a perpetually drunken jet pilot, and a snarky mechanic, destroys the Venezuelan government, and defeats a ''superpower''-backed army as nothing more than a means to that end.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** To elaborate, said prince was actually a bastard shipped off to a convent to keep him away from the throne, the witch had a rough and isolated childhood and so has [[No Social Skills]], bard in this context means spy and assassin who sings, the you free the qunari from prison after he murdered eight innocent people, the dwarf joins you after you help him find his {{spoiler|[[Complete Monster]] wife who abandoned him searching for an [[Artifact of Doom]]}}, and the elven assassin was hired to kill ''you''.
** ''Dragon Age: Awakening'' continues this. The alcoholic dwarven berzerker returns, and the new members are an [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] rogue mage with an obsessive Templar out for his blood, a murderous elven hippie, a rogue whose father is the noble who killed the Human Noble's family in the first game, [[Perky Goth|a member of the Dwarven Legion of the Dead]], a Fade spirit of justice trapped in the body of a dead man, and a very nice Grey Warden recruit who {{spoiler|dies the second she takes her Joining}}.
** ''[[
** A DLC gives you a temporary companion who isn't much better than the others - a female Qunari elf with a penchant to either kill or flirt with any man (especially human) that she sees.
* The survivors from either ''Left 4 Dead'' game count. In [[Left 4 Dead
* Your group in ''[[Drakengard]]'' is led by an [[Ax Crazy]] "[[Sociopathic Hero|hero]]", a useless bard friend deeply in the friend zone with the hero's sister, a conflicted pedophile, a batshit crazy [[Eats Babies|child eating]] [[Our Elves Are Better|elf]], and an old man [[Mad Oracle|making ominous prophecies]]. Not to mention most have [[Bond Creatures|pact partners]], which include a [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon]] and a [[The Fair Folk|hilariously sociopathic fairy]].
** ...but it has been noted that since this party contains a child killer, a child eater and a child molester, they are ''the perfect team'' for taking on {{spoiler|[[Humanoid Abomination|the Watchers]].}}
* ''[[Infinite Space]]'' starts out rather normally: a boy who seeks to unravel the mystery of the [[MacGuffin|Epitaphs]], his little sister, a "launcher", and an ex-thug. As the game progresses, you can hire mercenaries and have some normal citizens on board, which don't seem too bad, but later on, you can also have military officers (who join you for various reasons), ex-[[Space Pirates|pirates]], and even ''[[Everything's Better
* The ''[[
** Perhaps even more so in ''[[Fallout
** The quest "Flags of our Foul-Ups" consists of the player trying to make such a squad (called The Misfits!) actually combat effective. They consist of a small team of NCR troops with a severe attitude and discipline problems; an ambitious young woman who washed out of the Rangers but is still desperate for glory, a bloodthirsty former raider who'll recommend the squad dose up with the in-universe equivalent of PCP, a lazy and immoral snob, and a huge but soft-spoken and pacifistic hick. They can be properly mobilised with the right choices and skills, demonstrated during {{spoiler|the final attack by the Legion on the Dam, when your Misfits ''defeat a Legion assault.''}}
** The First Recon Sniper Team also qualifies. Professional leader, [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]], [[Naive Newcomer]], [[Butch Lesbian]] and a traumatized tribal. They are also the best snipers and scouts in the whole NCR army.
** ''[[
* And what about the [[Starcraft II
** Raynor actually refers to them as a ragtag bunch of misfits at one point.
* 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 ''[[
* Somewhat subverted in ''[[Baldur's Gate
* ''[[
* Pretty much describes everyone part of S.E.E.S. in ''[[
* Most parties in ''[[
* ''[[
* The main cast of ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]]'' consists of eight people at the same diner when the outbreak happened, not highly trained police officers as in the others.
* By the end of ''[[
* [[Freedom Force]], being a typical superhero team, consist of unlikely people brought together by extraordinary circumstances... and [[Super Serum|Energy X]]. These include an alien fugitive with [[Psychic Powers]], a nuclear physicist obsessed with patriotic ideas, a hot-headed Latino from the barrio, a playboy [[The Atoner|atoner]] forever trapped in a metal suit, a [[Southern Belle]]/witch, a "Shcottish" fisherman with scales, two teens, a reprogrammed [[AI Is a Crapshoot|evil robot]] from an alternate future, a high-school nerd with an insect obsession, a former Air Force pilot now a [[Super Speed|Speedster]], a rookie cop and a blind witness joined into a single being, a strange plant lady with a bikini made of leaves, a washed-up British boxer, an ex-thief, and one who is either an alien or an experiment.
** The sequel adds a half-dead widower, a guy who ''really'' loves his [[William Shakespeare
== Web Comics ==
* [[
* ''[http://www.davidcsimon.com/crimsondark/ Crimson Dark]'' also has the Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits IN SPACE!
* ''[[Last Res0rt
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and subverted in ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|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.
** And again in Episode 1163 'Semantics' when they face Sarda. Red Mage confronts him and The Wizard Who Did It says "You and what ragtag band of adventurers with humorously conflicting personalities who learn the true meaning of friendship?" RM points behind him. They ran off.
* The Main Party in ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** And for that matter, pretty much all of the comics in the fan comic section of the forum do this too.
** Roy at one point refers to his team as trained professionals before adding "Well, semi-trained, quasi-professionals."
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
* The main cast of ''[[
** And if something doesn't turn up to endanger the world, one of them will usually end up endangering it themselves.
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* [[
* ''Mindflayed'' even [http://mindflayed.0nyx.com/comic037.jpg had it discussed]:
{{quote| '''Mindflayer''': Adventurers? I thought we were a bunch of outcasts banded together in hopes of increasing our odds of surviving to the next day.<br />
Line 402:
== Web Original ==
* The five protagonists from the web fiction serial ''[[Dimension Heroes]]'', despite their increase in power and skill over the course of the series, have yet to fully separate themselves from this trope.
* The main characters of ''[[
** With the exception of [[Badass|Tex]], who is pretty much confirmed to be the single best fighter in the series.
*** Not that she's without her own very special issues, however, as season 8 reveals. {{spoiler|She's essentially cursed to ultimately fail at everything she tries to do.}} The most normal person they meet (Wash) ''still'' has issues, what with {{spoiler|Epsilon's memories being beamed directly into his mind}} and all.
* Say, does [[
* Team Kimba of the ''[[
* The characters in ''[[A Game of Gods (Roleplay)|A Game of Gods]]'' come off as this. Justified in that they were taking from their home worlds by [[The Powers That Be|the Nomads]].
* The Fellowship of ''[[
* The heroes of [[Nerdy Show
* ''[[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
* 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 ==
* [[Playing
** Similarly invoked in ''[[
* Parodied with the elementary school dodgeball team in the ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* Referenced and Parodied in ''[[
** The Planet Express crew in general; the main delivery crew is a goofball from the 20th century (Now known as 'The Stupid Ages'), a selfish robot who spends his time drinking booze and making wisecracks, and a social outcast cyclops who tries to be professional, maybe a little too much. The rest of the company is a century-and-a-half-old mad scientist, a Jamaican paper-pusher who likes to limbo and fill out forms, a ditzy chinese girl from Mars, and a lobster alien who lacks neither social graces or an accurate idea of what the human body is, despite being the company doctor.
* The ''[[
{{quote| '''Reporter''': Don't we have highly trained astronauts?<br />
'''Senator''': Oh, that's something of a myth. }}
* ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades
* The ThunderCats, both [[Thundercats
* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force
{{quote| '''Gwen Tennyson''': We're too late! <br />
'''Ben Tennyson''': It's never too late. New plan!... Working on it. <br />
Line 435:
'''Ben Tennyson''': Hey, how many times have I beaten you? <br />
'''Darkstar''': Twice. But just at this moment, I don't see how. }}
* In the ''[[
* The quirky [[
Line 462:
* The Battle of New Orleans shortly after the end of (but still part of) the war of 1812 was basically won by one very good leader ([[Andrew Jackson]]) with a ragtag bunch of misfits. And [[Pirate|pirates]]!
* [[Real Life]] sports victory example, [[British Footy Teams|Wimbeldon FC's]] "Crazy Gang," with a reputation for pulling an assortment of practical jokes on each other and their manager as well as for playing [[The Beautiful Game]] with a very unsophisticated and amateurish style, were able to beat the much more skilled Liverpool squad in the 1988 FA Cup Final against all expectations.
* [[Jesus]] and his disciples. They include an anarchist, a tax collector, a traitor, someone who denied even being with him, and two "sons of thunder," i.e. revolutionaries.(Although Jesus is admittedly not your traditional [[The A-Team
* The French Foreign Legion, at least according to all those romantic novelists...
* Israel actually subverts this trope by taking said misfits, and organizing them into settlers and soldiers. They started out as misfits, but due to the unifying and organizing force that was the Zionist movement quickly lost that designation. Most of the country's accomplishments are due to having its [[Misfit Mobilization Moment]] very early, and most importantly, before getting involved in any war.
Line 468:
* Brutally averted by the Canadian rebellions led by William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada (later Ontario) and Louis-Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada (later Quebec), who were both rebelling against the nepotism and corruption of the British colonial governments of the time. Papineau and Mackenzie's "soldiers", if you could call them that, were mostly common farmers and labourers who were poorly trained and disciplined. Needless to say, the trained British troops mopped the floor with them.
* Bolivar's army was a subversion at first (to put it simple: everybody wanted to be the leader by having [[Indy Ploy|indy ploys]] every three seconds instead of the ones they were planning for months before...), since they spent around twenty years of 'we did it!...oh, sorry, the spanish beated us again...' before deciding it was easier to free Colombia and then, with the support of a whole nation, get Venezuela free. It worked.
* 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
* 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.
* ''[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).
Line 475:
* Many of the NHL's "Cinderella" teams can be described as this. The 2003/2004 Calgary Flames and 2005/2006 Edmonton Oilers could be best described as a group of talentless players (minus one or two) that played their hearts out, sacrificing their bodies to outplay everyone. By the time the dust settled, the teams had little, if any, players healthy enough to play the last games of the playoffs.
* The 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks were branded this by the media. While the 2001 World Series team feature a group of proven veterans, the 2011 team featured only Justin Upton as the only star. But coming off a miserable 2010 they managed to grab two pitchers for players of lesser value. They also featured [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|a pitcher that throws a baseball like a tomahawk]] and the player with the most tattoos in the majors. They managed to unseat the 2010 Giants as division champions, against them no less before losing in the first round of the playoffs.
* [[Reddit]] and [[Image Boards|4chan's /v/ board]] had a competition in ''[[Starsiege: Tribes|Tribes: Ascend]]''. Team Reddit was a well-coordinated, heavily practiced team with high-end computers; Team 4chan was a hastily-gathered team of /v/irgins run by a [[Furry Fandom|furry]] with a tripcode and a Brazilian sniper with 140 ping playing on toasters. 4chan won 3-2.
{{quote| "WE WINNERS NOW"}}
* The army of [[Useful Notes/Chad|Chad]] counts as this in the [[wikipedia:Toyota War|Toyota War]] it fought against [[Useful Notes/Libya|Libya]] in the late 1980s. Chad's army was a cobbled-together alliance of rebel and government forces who until very recently had been at each others' throats, was outnumbered and outgunned by their Libyan opponents, and was so underequipped that it had to use Toyota transport trucks to ferry its troops. Despite this, they still managed to win against the Libyans, in no small part because [[Muammar Gaddafi]] was a cross between a [[Modern Major-General]] and a [[General Failure]].
|