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Just a Kid: Difference between revisions
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'''Aang:''' Well, you're just a teenager.|''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''}}
Common theme running through initial seasons of shows featuring a [[Kid Hero]]. The young hero meets a series of [[Not Now Kid|dismissive]] characters who assume ineptness because (wait for it) -- "You're just a kid." The dismissive characters can be good or bad, but will meet their comeuppance by the end of the episode (or the season, if it's a multi-episode arc).
Requires a show built around the concept of a hero who is stronger or more competent than they appear.
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** ''[[Tsukihime]]'': Nero to Shiki, who proceeds to destroy over a hundred of his beasts.
** ''[[Fate/stay night]]'': Gilgamesh to Shirou, who by then has the perfect counter-ability (Avalon or [[Field of Blades|Unlimited Blade Works]], [[Alternate Continuity|depending]])
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh lecture Ed and Al on how their youth means that they should give adults some more responsibility in the story. Of course, Ross is effectively shut down by Maes Hughes, who, [[Genre Savvy]] man that he is, knows who the main characters are.
** In the manga, though, Ed takes it quite well (despite [[Hot-Blooded|his temper]]).
* ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'': Ryoma's rivals often comment derisively on him being just 12-to-13 years old and in his first year of junior high. And they end up losing to him soon.
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* The title character from ''[[King of Bandit Jing]]'' is also a victim of this; you'd think by now the bad guys would learn that the infamous "Bandit King" is no more than 16 years old.
** His age is somewhat debatable - in the manga, due to the art style, he looks ''younger'', at least in the [[Art Evolution|beginning]].
* Daisaku gets this a lot at the beginning of ''[[Giant Robo]]: The Day the Earth Stood Still'', especially from Tetsuoko, who is jealous of Daisaku's mature manner (for a kid) but also of the close bond he shares with Ginrei.
* ''[[Gundam Wing]]''. Noin is bitter at having been defeated by "just a kid". To which Wufei retorts she underestimated him because he was young.
** Of course, he 'just a woman'ed her.
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** Talking about the Lambda Driver, episode 12 shows what happens if you think of Takuma as a harmless kid. Hint: it involves a 50-meter-tall mecha and Tokyo.
* Many warriors have this reaction to Thorfinn in ''[[Vinland Saga]]''. They mostly end up dead as a result.
* During the elimination round of the Mahora Fesival [[Tournament Arc]] of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', most of the other fighters were treating [[The Hero|Negi]], [[The Rival|Kotaro]], and [[Old Master|Evangeline]] as silly little kids that seem to have lost their way. The jokes stopped the moment people more than twice their size started getting effortlessly knocked around.
** Evangeline's opponent in the first round tried to avoid this by treating her as an equal and not to be underestimated; of course since Evangeline is one of the strongest characters in the setting even while depowered, she still took him down in a split-second with a half-hearted punch while distracted.
** The Thousand Master himself, and a bit of a sore point. When a threat level of Ala Rubra was placed, with Zect and Eishun listed as the most dangerous... then Nagi was mentioned as, "oh, and this kid is pretty good too," complete with his own picture, which is suddenly scowling. Oh, and Zect looks like an eight-year-old while Nagi was fifteen or so.
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* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|Prince Caspian]]'': Trumpkin doesn't even try to hide his initial disappointment to find that the powerful kings and queens who ruled Narnia during the Golden Age have come back as ''children'' ([[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] complicates things that way).
* In the ''[[Night World]]'' series, made vampires are frozen at whatever age they are turned at, and lamia (vampires that can eat, have children, etc.) can stop their physical aging at any time they want. This ends up meaning that several people who have to fight vampires have to silently recite something along the lines of, "They're not really kids." Amusing, considering even vampire kids who are young would still be rather dangerous to a human.
* In ''Hunger'', the second book in the ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' series, by Micheal Grant, this is the excuse of almost everyone for not working, because every character is under 15.
* [[Harry Potter]] saves the day about once a year, but the good adults, with the exception of [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Dumbledore]], treat him like a child until the sixth book or so. In particular, using this trope was [[Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher|Umbridge]]'s ''modus operandi''.
** To be fair, even disregarding the number of near-death experiences, hairs-breadth-escapes, and hideously one-sided battles Harry's had to face, you can't blame the adults for trying to prevent him from getting blown up or having his soul sucked out.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Buffy, at least during the high school years. It disappears largely after then, because everyone in Sunnydale (and beyond) has apparently heard of Buffy and is no longer surprised at her abilities. The trope was back in full swing during season seven, with the training of Dawn and the Potentials.
** Normally Dawn complains about being called a kid (to be fair, by the end of the show, she's older than Buffy was when she started Slaying), but [[Out of Character|one time she referrers to herself as just a kid]]. Nobody cares because, well:
{{quote|'''Dawn:''' [[Crowning Moment of Funny|It's like a meat party in my mouth.]] ''(pause)'' [[That Came Out Wrong|Okay, I'm just a kid and even I know that sounded wrong.]]}}
* ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]'': The premise: medical doctor who is just a kid. Faintly based on a real-life example.
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== Myths & Religion ==
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Jeremiah, from ''[[The Bible]]''.
* In the ''[[Táin Bó Cúailnge|Tain Bo Cuailnge]]'', Queen Medb writes off Cu Chulainn when he first issues a challenge against her forces. Sure, Fergus says he's an unstoppable badass that outclasses all of her men, but he's just a seventeen-year-old boy - [[Tempting Fate|what chance could a single teenager possibly have against an entire army of battle-hardened soldiers?]]
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*** Amusingly averted after Link regains his normal Hylian boy form. Children aren't allowed outside the city walls, it's too dangerous, but since Link has a sword the guards will let him do whatever he wants, despite the fact that he's ten and barely comes up to the guards' waist. The best part about that is that the guard ''apologies for treating him like a child''.
** In Link's Awakening, a pair of boys playing catch will give you tips on what to do in the game, followed by "I don't know what that means, I'm just a kid".
* ''[[Mega Man 8]]'': Tengu Man looks down (literally) on our hero and says, "It's just a kid. Don't make me laugh." in some instances in the English releases.
** Which is kind of a silly case, when you think about it. Mega Man might look and act like a child at some points, but he's actually ''older'' than every other robot in the franchise save Proto Man.
*** [[My Life as a Teenage Robot|Tengu Man was BUILT just last year, but he was DESIGNED as an adult.]]
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* Happens in the ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' games with Genis, the [[Teen Genius|Kid Genius]] [[Squishy Wizard]] of the party.
* Laharl of ''[[Disgaea]]'' has gotten quite a bit of this from both Etna and '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' Etna uses it to legitimately call him out on his [[Royal Brat|brattiness and emotional immaturity]] while He Who Has [[No Indoor Voice]] is just incapable of believing that some [[Badass Adorable|tiny little punk]] is stronger ''and'' smarter than him.
* In ''[[
** At one point, Yuna actually calls him out directly on this. She wants to communicate with the cactuars in the Cactuar Nation, but Benzo, the Al Bhed kid who understands their speech, isn't around. She asks Shinra if he can communicate with them and Shinra gives his standard excuse, to which Yuna responds that Benzo is also just a kid. Shinra seems ''very'' put out by this.
* ''[[Earthbound]]''
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** Also in ''Earthbound'', the sea captain who is ferrying the group to Scaraba exclaims that he thought that the foursome were just a group of kids upon them defeating the Kraken.
* ''[[Backyard Sports]]'': This is the way Sally Dobbs acts toward her brother Ronny.
* One of the motivating factors behind {{spoiler|Naoto's}} shadow in ''[[Persona 4]]''.
** Also seen in the Good Ending when {{spoiler|Adachi}} taunts the team by saying things along the lines of "Students should stay home and study." (As opposed to, you know, bringing him to justice.)
* A [[Running Gag]] in the fourth case of ''[[Ace Attorney]] Investigations'' was that everyone was dissing the young Miles Edgeworth and Franziska Von Karma as just kids, even though Edgeworth was already a prosecutor.
** Starts off even earlier than that in ''Apollo Justice'' where almost everyone in the cast brushes off Apollo and Trucy as kids trying to play as grown ups, which is weird for Apollo since he IS a Defense Attorney and is almost the same age Phoenix Wright was (24) when he first started and no one called Phoenix a kid then.
* In ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star
* In the non-canon ''Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Tag Force 1'', [[Big Bad|Kagemaru]] say this to the player during their second duel (after going from being stuck in a machine to being youthful, a glowing aura, and eight-pack abs) when he's losing.
* Paige tries treating the others as kids in ''[[TCTRPG|The Colour Tuesday,]]'' at which point Alex points out that she's the same age as the rest of them.
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]]: There are some children who are really, really good chess players. If you see a kid playing chess in a park, you underestimate him at your peril.
** The same could be said about kids playing the most brutal Fighting Games in arcades.
* Several notable bands who are known as extremely talented have had teen members, Primus among them.
* There were those that thought that about Charles XII. [[It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time]].
* All of Europe thought that about Maria Theresa. [[You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry|They proved mistaken]].
* No matter how old your are or how much experience or education you acquire you will always be a child in your parent's eyes.
* If you have any elder siblings, they will always think of you as the baby, even if you qualify as a genuine badass [[Crazy Awesome]].
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