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Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Difference between revisions
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** Ditto to [[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team|The08thMSTeam.]]
* ''[[Slayers]]'' has a team of regulars that involves an [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|overzealous justice freak]] who often does [[Sailor Moon]] style poses and failed acrobatics, an [[The Napoleon|overly short]] [[Pettanko]] motivated primarily by greed/gluttony/revenge, a [[Big Eater]] [[Dumb Blonde]] [[Badass Normal]], and a [[Cursed with Awesome]] [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|golem-demon-human hybrid]]. The extra characters in the party include an ex-princess who worships a monster she made up, a demon with a penchant for secret-keeping (who is also willing to sell out the entire party), and a shrine maiden with an absurd lack of skill in black magic (to the point where she casts carrot-sized fire spells that tickle people) who somehow learned the ''strongest black magic spell.''
* Both [[Justified Trope]] and [[Subverted Trope]] in ''[[
* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'''s Deimon Devil Bats. Other teams have full rosters, deep benches and long traditions. The Devil Bats only have 11 full-time team members (eight of whom were only just scraped up for this year, three by blackmail), and they all are weird in their own way.
** 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...
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* [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' novels have the Angelae Carolus, comprising among their number an ex-cop, a fanatic assassin, a cyborg who spends a lot of time contemplating the oddness of human speech patterns, a pair of Imperial Guardsmen who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Inquisitor Carolus' [[Pyrokinesis|pyrokinetic]] former girlfriend.
* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series has quite a few examples, though it's usually a mix of Badass and misfit. Perrin and his band of Two Rivers men, Cha Faile, the rebel Aes Sedai, The Kin, and especially the first band of main characters in the first book.
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''Duty Calls'', Inquisitor Vail's retinue already includes a former commissar/member of a penal regiment, and a former arbite who had, while undercover, imploded a criminal organization with a judicious murder and frame, and picks up a food vendor who had stumbled into some knowledge of the Inquisition ... and picked up a gun when cornered by a Chaos cult. ''[[Warhammer
** 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 [[Warhammer
* [[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|The Warrior's Apprentice]]''.
* In [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Otherland]]'' series, the group of protagonists that ends up infiltrating the Grail Brotherhood's private virtual reality network consists of a South African schoolteacher, a Bushman, a pair of American teenage gamers (one of whom has a [[Littlest Cancer Patient|terminal disease]]), a third teenager who's an ex drug addict, a reclusive blind French researcher, a Chinese grandmother, a German doctor and cult refugee, and an old man who's an [[Accidental Pervert]]. Their only connection is that they all know someone who's fallen victim to the mysterious comas caused by the Other and stumbled upon the clues left by [[Mysterious Informant]] Sellars.
* 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
* The cast of any story set in the [[Border Town]] [[Shared Universe]], ever.
* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': The Night's Watch consists largely of outcasts, petty criminals, and political refugees and (surprisingly) even allows the overweight to join their ranks. This makes it all the more of a combined [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when the fat Samwell Tarly slays a seemingly invincible monster.
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** ''[[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 by Natives]] [[Nature Hero]], a [[Kid Hero]] semi-pro bowler, a [[Gentle Giant]] florist, a college student, and an Air Force vet. At least the other teams came off as roughly the same age/maturity level (barring when a [[Mentor]] joins the group).
** What do you get when you put together a team comprised of a [[Standardized Leader|former Air Force pilot]]; a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] "simple mechanic" (who is [[Bonnie Scotland|SCOTTISH!]]); a former [[Rich Bitch]] who [[Took a Level
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' makes being a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits (or as [[J. Michael Straczynski]] puts it, being "community-builders") [[Humans Are Special|our]] collective [[Planet of Hats|Hat]].
** 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]].
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* Each season of ''[[Prison Break]]'' has a new band of criminals. Michael [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] it in season four:
{{quote|Let me guess. He had a ragtag band of criminals ready to pick up the slack.}}
* The Rottaran in ''[[Star Trek:
* ''[[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 ''[[Sanctuary]]'' were this, including an immortal scientist specializing in strange creatures, a genius keeping himself alive with a machine, an invisible thief, an electrical vampire/InsufferableGenius, and teleporting [[Jack the Ripper]]. The Sanctuary team itself could be considered this with the above-mentioned immortal scientist, her daughter (and {{spoiler|[[Jack the Ripper]]}}'s) with anger-management issues, a quirky forensic psychiatrist disliked by his own colleagues, a Neanderthal, and a <s>werewolf</s> [[Our Werewolves Are Different|HAP]]. After the death of {{spoiler|Helen's daughter}}, the team "acquires" a professional thief and smuggler.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Taken to an extreme, as is everything in the ''[[Warhammer
** 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.
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**** The pilot's previous superiors had unreasonably high standards and would've grounded him forever because a huge gunship shot down his unarmed shuttle -- but he's an incredibly skilled pilot whom only imbeciles would ground. He landed the shuttle safely, in a very tight space, despite the damage that meant it couldn't stay in the air. '''That's''' why Inquisitor Finurbi recruited him; to not waste that kind of ability.
* ''[[Blood Bowl]]'' gives us the Motley Horde, a Blood Bowl team that fits this description to a tee. Not even the coach knows what kind of lineup he will see each game.
* '''Every''' ''[[Dungeons
* 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.
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* 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 ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' is a walking bunch of racial stereotypes, the expansion, ''Mask of the Betrayer'', has you spend the game travelling with a wizard who is a {{spoiler|product of some other person dividing their soul}}; a hagspawn [[The Casanova|Casanova]]; an exiled half-angel crusader with plans to tear down [[Cosmic Keystone|a major feature of the foundation of the universe]]; and, depending on the choices you make, [[I Am Legion|either an undead construct of countless souls of thugs and criminals]] or a giant fuzzy spirit bear god. It's worth mentioning that the hero him/herself is the manifestation/victim of a spirit-destroying curse with the potential to devour ''gods''.
* The vast majority of Computer [[Role
** Lampshaded early in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' when, upon hearing the party introduce itself one member at a time, [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Rufus Shinra]] shrugs and replies, "What a crew."
** Also invoked in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' according to [[Word of God]], who wanted to invoke a feeling similar to ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'': Your party consists of a soldier, an airline pilot trying to save his son, a leader of a group of anarchist do-nothings turned freedom-fighters, some kid on vacation, and two girls whose reasons for being in the party are too spoilerific and complicated to post here. In fact, ''FFXIII'' can be regarded as a [[Deconstruction]] of this trope, seeing how the party members quite naturally spend over a half of the game hating each other's guts and blatantly violating the [[Never Split the Party]] principle because of that.
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** 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.
** ''[[Fallout 2]]'' demonstrates the ensemble dynamic more clearly by letting the player travel with many of them at once (instead of leaving them on display in a hotel, never to interact with each other). ''These'' include a one-eyed old man with a metal plate in his head, the son of a slaughterhouse operator who is your potential husband (regardless of your gender), his sister who is your potential wife (again, regardless of your gender), four [[Team Pet|dogs]] (two of which are cyborgs), a super-intelligent deathclaw, a ghoul former doctor, a super mutant, an obnoxious racist sexist teen drug genius, a military AI called [[Terminator (franchise)|SkyNet]] traveling in a robot body of the "[[Lost in Space|Danger, Will Robinson]]" variety, a tribal warrior with a Jamaican accent and multiple body piercings who talks to the bone in his nose, and a trader of dubiously valuable goods with a missing daughter and a habit of calling you "Boss".
* And what about the [[
** 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.
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* 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 ''[[Freelancer]]'', the Order includes a rogue captain guilty of Grant Theft Cruiser, a former security officer wanted for murder, an odd-jobs pilot wanted for murder and artifact smuggling (you), two archaeologists, and two noblemen disillusioned with their respective governments. Additionally, your alliances include a by-the-book destroyer captain, your character's father figure (an eccentric mechanic), and a gang leader.
* [[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 [[
** 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.
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* The Main Party in ''[[RPG World]]'' consists of an [[Idiot Hero]], a thief chick who's the sarcastic [[Only Sane Man]], two "[[Funny Animal|cute fuzzy things]]", a [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold|prostitute mage]], an extremely perverted [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]], an [[Wrench Wench|engineer pirate]] with two (not so helpful) robot assisants, and a [[Tagalong Kid|punk breakdancer]].
* ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'' portrays FOXHOUND (the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'') this way. It ''is'' played with a bit, as everyone, including the misfits themselves, readily acknowledge how unstable and insane the team is, but also recognize that they are able to accomplish feats that would be impossible for any other group.
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' crew certainly qualifies. Roy is pretty competent in his own right, but his band consists of a dwarf who is convinced that trees are evil, a childish bard who is completely useless in battle until he [[Took a Level
** 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."
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* The Fellowship of ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'' starts out as this: one amnesiac [[Winged Humanoid]], two elves (one of whom is an assassin), a [[Vegetarian Vampire]], a fairy, a human trapped in a dragon's body, a [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] demon, and an easily-confused pixie.
* The heroes of [[Nerdy Show|The Nerdy Show]]'s pen and paper adventure podcast, ''Dungeons & Doritos'', hurt each other and their allies or employers about as much as they hurt their enemies. However, over the course of the adventure, they learn to care for their teammates and become increasingly competent at working together. Except when they aren't, and then [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* ''[[Reflets
* 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.
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* 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
* 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).
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