History Main / RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude

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* Borderline in ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer''; played straight for all the teenage characters - Yuuhi, Amamiya, Mikazuki, Tarou, and Hanako, but the age of all the Beast Knights ranges from primary schoolers to the 40-year-old detective Nagumo.
* ''Anime/MaoChan'' one-ups this. Due to publicity issues, Japanese military had to resort to getting a trio of [[{{Moe}} ridiculously cute]] little girls to stop alien invasion. And make a television show about it. Somehow it worked.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Kouji and Sayaka (and Boss) are sixteen, and they pilot giant robots to save mankind. That said, Sayaka already had mecha pilot training, so she isn't a full case of this, Kouji is the only straight example, and Boss more or less just forced himself into the team (building his own mecha with his sidekicks) later on.

** Then Doctor Strange plays it straight as an arrow in chapter 75 of the first book when he recruits them to [[spoiler:use the cover of the New Avengers' assault on HYDRA's base to sneak in and rescue Steve, Tony and Bruce]]. Nobody is particularly happy with him as a result; while he is vindicated, he's an impossibly powerful {{Seer}} who can put the right people in the right place at the right time - and while nobody (not even him) thinks he has an OmniscientMoralityLicense, it is begrudingly acknowledged to be a) a NecessaryEvil, b) impossible to stop. Other than that, he does try and mitigate the consequences (the most damaging event for the kids, ''[[DarkestHour Forever Red]]'', is when events are explicitly out of his control thanks to outside intervention) and build support structures to cope.

* In ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'', Shinji Ikari, saviour of mankind and the most powerful human in the planet thanks to his Kryptonian DNA, is fourteen. Asuka is a thirteen-year-old HumongousMecha pilot, and [[spoiler:an [[Franchise/WonderWoman Amazon]] (a Kryptonian in the redux)]]. Touji is fourteen, and he received a Franchise/GreenLantern, the most powerful weapon in the universe... the story eventually reveals that [[spoiler:there used to be more experienced superheroes, [[TwilightOfTheSupers but they are all gone now]] and SEELE (through Second Impact and [[ThePurge assassination]]) is wholly to blame.]]

* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''Series/{{The 100}}''. TheArk space station decides to send one hundred people down to the Earth's surface, ostensibly to see if the planet is livable again after the nuclear war, but really because the Ark is running out of oxygen, and sending the 100 down frees up more air for the rest of the population. Since almost everyone expects the 100 to quickly die of radiation poisoning, the plan is to only send down [[BoxedCrook expendable criminals (with the promise of a full pardon if they survive)]]. However, since [[AllCrimesAreEqual any adult who breaks the law gets an automatic death sentence]], the only criminals they have handy are their juvenile delinquents. Cue one hundred rebellious teenagers being sent to recolonize the Earth.

* ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu'' has a mostly teenage cast. While most of the group join freely when they discover the plot, and Mitsuki is a MegaCorp princess whose family are running one of the major Underground factions, the real jokers in the deck are Asuka and [[spoiler: the White Shroud, aka Jun]]. Both are elite super-operatives employed by their respective factions to clean up Eclipse-related events completely independently, and both are [[SecondYearProtagonist seventeen]], with only the justification that they're good at what they do. This eventually gets {{lampshaded}} [[spoiler: when the military get involved and Gorou tries to [[RebuffTheAmateur get them to step back and let the pros handle things]], but he realizes that he can't force them to do so when he was always telling them to shoot for the stars as their teacher]].

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' is well known for its teenage casts. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' arguably leans into this the most, as the plot revolves around a military school training teenagers with attitude [[spoiler:as they are destined to do battle with and kill an [[WickedWitch evil Sorceress]]]]. It's a DeconstructedTrope in the first disc as it's precisely their attitudes that lead them to one incompetent mistake after another, from the HotBlooded Zell jeopardizing their academy by accidentally revealing they are from Balamb Garden, to Rinoa going after the sorceress herself with an ill thought out plan and putting her life at risk just to [[WellDoneSonGuy prove something to her dad]], to their former teacher Quistis convincing her entire squad to abandon her post and nearly jeopardizing their assassination mission to apologize to Rinoa for being overly harsh about said ill thought out plan, to trained sniper Irvine getting cold feet when he actually has to do the deed. Even the protagonist and OnlySaneMan Squall proves himself less mature than he thinks as he [[NotSoStoic loses his temper and storms off]] after [[spoiler:his rival Seifer's supposed death and him dealing with the cognitive dissonance of everyone [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead refusing to speak ill of him despite their past issues.]]]] This trope is played straighter after Disc 1, however, and they do pull through in the end despite everything.

** Volume 3 goes further with the deconstruction; realizing that the villains aren't finished, Ozpin asks Pyrrha Nikos, TheAce of Beacon, to inherit the power of the Fall Maiden and become the savior of mankind. However, said inheriting relies on an experimental and dangerous machine that may destroy Pyrrha's identity, causing her much angst on whether or not she can go through with it. [[spoiler: In the end, she's unable to accept the power before Cinder steals it for herself. Pyrrha attempts to fight Cinder, but all she accomplishes is dying, which causes Ruby to awaken her own latent powers.]]
* The TropeNamer is discussed in the ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' episode between the Power Rangers and the Anime/{{Voltron}} Force as Wiz flat out calls it "asinine", yet somehow impressed that it actually worked. This was vastly different to the Voltron Force, who were already space explorers (or the last survivors of Earth, if you go by ''Anime/GoLion''), thus a lot more trained [[spoiler:and a factor into the Rangers' ultimate defeat]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' all SBURB/SGRUB players are around 13 when they enter the game, though depending on the shenanigans that happen in their session, they might grow out of the "teenager" part. [[spoiler:Caliborn]] was only 11 [[spoiler:and he definitely had the most [[OmnicidalManiac "attitude"]] out of any character]]
* Parodied in [[http://gunshowcomic.com/432 this]] ''Webcomic/{{Gunshow}}'' strip, where a group of teens foil a villain by utilising the most common teenage attitude: [[ThePowerOfApathy that of sullen apathy.]]
-->'''Villain:''' Stop! Don't! Stop loitering on my laser!

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' we have a rare villainous example: [[spoiler:supervillain Coil assembled the Undersiders from a group of teenage solo villains that would have never thought to work together otherwise.]]
* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' has three thirteen-year-old girls recruited by the supernatural creatures who inhabit the small Canadian town of Kennet to investigate the murder of the Carmine Beast, with the reasoning that they need to be able to tell outside investigators that human magical practitioners are looking into the matter, but don't want to deal with the many problems of experienced practitioners who would bind them to service.
* Justified (in an extremely handwavey way) in the ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' fan-setting ''A World Less Magical, But No Less Fantastic''. [[https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/viewtopic.php?p=155613#p155613 The Sea Dragons]] are a Japanese government superteam who wear [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman costumes that give them powers]], but which also -- for some unknown reason -- dramatically age the wearer, in ''direct proportion'' to how skilled they are otherwise. The first wearer was an Air Force veteran with multiple doctorates who died almost instantly, the second was a high school drop-out who didn't. Once this was discovered, the recruits to wear the other suits were "a number of young people of [the drop-out's] acquaintance, who often had attitude problems". (This also explains the rapid turnover of Sentai teams -- the better you get at this stuff, the more dangerous it is to keep doing it).

* Naturally any weird ''Power Rangers'' parody [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvANZRUvmWM "must include teenagers with attitude."]] At the end of that video we get a shot supposedly inside Zordon's Lab, which has been trashed to hell with graffiti. "This is why I never let teenagers with attitude into my lab!"

* Lampshades HARD in the grim-n-gritty ''[[WebVideo/PowerRangersBootlegUniverse Power/Rangers]]'' "deboot", where Rocky laments that if Zordon really WAS one of the "good guys", he would have never made ''teenagers'' fight in an intergalactic war that they couldn't possibly hope to comprehend, and that the Rangers have no right to take the moral high ground on anything after that. The former rangers' messed up and/or tragically cut-short lives are a testament to this.

* Likewise, in the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the main characters are older, being roughly 16-18 years old, but are still teens. A three-year TimeSkip for the fourth season changes this, however. ''Korra'' generally avoids this, as despite the "gang" being all teens, the older mentor characters get just as much screen time and character development. They still all fit with the creator's admission that no-one between the ages of twenty and forty is worth a damn, though.

* The {{Animesque}} ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' Think ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Series/CharliesAngels''. The spy organization known as WOOHP actually has adult agents but none of them are field agents; it's the teens who has to take on the dangerous missions, and apparently, unpaid, although with benefits such as travel and shopping expenses.
* The SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingSpiez'' is even worse since the core cast are 13 (Lee), 12 (Marc and Megan) and 11 (Tony) in the first episode (which heavily implies that they've been at it for a while).
* While most of the cast is, surprisingly, grown up in ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' the title character and protagonist, Rex is 15, and working as the top agent for a NGOSuperpower. Completely {{Justified|Trope}} thanks to his [[OneManArmy High]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction Level]] [[SuperPowerLottery Super-Powers]], the most important of which is [[DePower Permanent]] [[PowerNullifier Power Nullification]] in a world overrun by superpowered, often mindless mutants.
* The main cast in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' is entirely made of teenagers (though [[spoiler:one of them is technically in her twenties, retaining a teenager's body and personality due to being trapped in a virtual world for eleven years]]) who regularly use a highly advanced computer to go on a virtual world and fight a powerful evil A.I. The trope is justified, however: the recruiter ([[TheSmartGuy Jérémy]]) was a teenager himself (the youngest, in fact), and he has to rely on his friends because if he had gone to ask for adults' help, they would have 1) Shut down the computer without leaving him time to [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl free Aelita from it]] and 2) Probably seized the machine and used its extremely dangerous tech for unhealthy purposes. Plus, whenever the heroes try to rely on adults for help, it almost always ends up with AdultsAreUseless in application. And even when it doesn't, [[StatusQuoIsGod they always lose their memories]] thanks to the supercomputer's [[ResetButton Return to the Past program]].
* ''Franchise/Ben10'':
** Exaggerated ''and'' justified in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', where the Omnitrix, a watch-like alien device known as the most powerful weapon in this universe, was actually intended for experienced RetiredBadass Max Tennyson. However, his 10-year-old grandson Ben happened to find it first, and his DNA was close enough to Max's to have the Omnitrix take him as its owner; after that, the Omnitrix being a ClingyMacGuffin, Ben is unable to remove it and the error cannot be undone. By the time it can, Max has convinced the Omnitrix's creator [[spoiler:Azmuth]] to let Ben keep it, believing the kid has potential.
** Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', where [[TheMenInBlack the Plumbers]] actually send someone to try to arrest Ben, Gwen and Kevin when they find out a bunch of kids are using their equipment and resources of their own to fight an "[[PoliceAreUseless unproven]]" AlienInvasion.

* The Mane Six in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' certainly act the part, being a group of youngsters who get thrust head-on into a battle against Nightmare Moon and end up becoming Princess Celestia's go-to team to take on enemies the Royal Guards can't handle (which, apparently, [[MilitariesAreUseless is all of them]]). Their exact ages are vague but their ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' counterparts are only in high school.
* The ''WesternAnimation/PeppermintRose'' special had Rose and her friends as normal teenagers recruited to save the land from a group of ogreish beetles.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'':
** When [[TheChooserOfTheOne Master Fu]] finds out someone has discovered the long-lost Butterfly Miraculous and is going to use it to be a supervillain, it's shown that he is far too old to transform and fight him himself. Therefore, he covertly delivers the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses to teenagers Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste after [[OldBeggarTest they help out what seems to be a regular old man]] so they can become superheroes and battle the villain.
** BigBad Hawk Moth is an example of this trope used by a villain. His Miraculous gives him the power to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash people and turn them into supervillains]] as long as they are feeling emotions like sadness or anger, a power that was meant to create heroes instead. A small but noticeable majority of his victims are teenagers and children; it's justified in his case because teens generally have much poorer control over their emotions than adults and he doesn't exactly care about their well-being. That being said, at one point he brainwashes a baby, which goes poorly for him because the baby won’t listen to his instructions.
** When Master Fu allows Marinette to temporarily recruit more superheroes for missions where two is not enough, she chooses to lend the jewels to her friends/classmates [[SecretIdentity while disguised as Ladybug]]. Her case is justified by the fact that she'd be naturally inclined to trust people who she is intimately acquainted with.

* Justified (in an extremely handwavey way) in the ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' fan-setting ''A World Less Magical, But No Less Fantastic''. [[https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/viewtopic.php?p=155613#p155613 The Sea Dragons]] are a Japanese government superteam who wear [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman costumes that give them powers]], but which also -- for some unknown reason -- dramatically age the wearer, in ''direct proportion'' to how skilled they are otherwise. The first wearer was an Air Force veteran with multiple doctorates who died almost instantly, the second was a high school drop-out who didn't. Once this was discovered, the recruits to wear the other suits were "a number of young people of [the drop-out's] acquaintance, who often had attitude problems". (This also explains the rapid turnover of Sentai teams -- the better you get at this stuff, the more dangerous it is to keep doing it).

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Averted, mostly. Most of the Scoobies weren't exactly recruited - they were just swept up in events. Anya and Tara were genuinely recruited, but they had extensive knowledge of demons and magic, respectively (and in Anya's case, was over a thousand years old despite physically being a teenager). Also, in later seasons, they stopped being teenagers. Slayers, though, are always chosen from teenage girls, and few of them live past 18. About the only explanation for this is that the [[Creator/JossWhedon creepy old men]] who created the Slayer role in prehistoric times figured younger girls would be easier to control or [[ValuesDissonance they lived before "teenager" appeared as a concept and what is now a teenager was considered an adult]].

* In ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'', Shinji Ikari, saviour of mankind and the most powerful human in the planet thanks to his Kryptonian DNA, is fourteen. Asuka is a thirteen-year-old HumongousMecha pilot, and [[spoiler:an [[Franchise/WonderWoman Amazon]] (a Kryptonian in the redux)]]. Touji is fourteen, and he received a Franchise/GreenLantern, the most powerful weapon in the universe...

->''"Alpha, Rita's escaped! Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude!"''

So the BigBad has been unleashed, the [[LaResistance rebellion]] needs more help over-throwing the [[TheEmpire evil empire]], an AlienInvasion is destroying Planet Earth, a ZombieApocalypse has begun, [[ThePlague a deadly disease is spreading all over the world]], or it's TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Who do you get to help? A crack team of trained mercenaries? How about some expert martial artists? Maybe the existing peace-keeping forces such as the police or military? What about a team of super-scientists who have the required technology and mindsets to help stop the problem? How about an expert swordsman? Possibly a team of powerful superheroes who can stop the problem with their powers quick? Or how about a legendary warrior brought back from long ago?

* Justified in ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''. Allura wakes up from a ten-thousand year cryosleep to discover that her entire species has been wiped out and that a Garla ship is on its way to Arus to destroy what's left, so she has to settle for the RagtagBunchOfMisfits that stumbled upon her [[TheBattlestar castle-slash-spaceship]] to assemble Voltron and save the day. She is, however, wise enough to pass over the RookieRedRanger and instead appoint the [[TeamDad one responsible adult in the group]] as TheLeader, LawOfChromaticSuperiority be damned. Additionally, while four of the five Paladins are bickering teenagers, they were also military academy students prior to getting stranded on an alien planet, and thus at least have ''some'' training in aeronautics, engineering and hand-to-hand combat.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': There is never an explanation for why only 14-year-olds can be pilots.[[note]]We are told that The Mandrake Institute screens candidates and only a few people in the world have the inherent ability to become an Eva pilot. There's also the odd coincidence that Second Impact occurred 15 years ago, leading fans to speculate that Second Impact had some sort of metaphysical effect that disqualified anyone who was already alive at that time, thus leaving 14-year-olds as the oldest possible candidates.[[/note]] However, it's partially averted: Rei and Asuka have been training to be pilots their whole lives, and [[spoiler:Kaworu is a trojan horse]]. Shinji and Toji, however, are plucked right off the street with no training.

** On a villainous example, this trope applies to the Trix sisters as well, who are eighteen when the show kicks off. Since the second season, they have been recruited by the season's BigBad as his/her {{Dragon}}s either because they happen to be nearby, offer themselves, or are outright searched out.

* ''ComicBook/Champions2016'' deals with this idea as [[Characters/MarvelComicsKamalaKhan Kamala Khan]] feels that today's heroes don't work as heroes anymore and there needs to be a new set of heroes to show them how it's done. It probably helps that she was an Avenger once along with [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] and [[ComicBook/{{Nova}} Sam Alexander]].

* ''ComicBook/Champions2016'' deals with this idea as [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] feels that today's heroes don't work as heroes anymore and there needs to be a new set of heroes to show them how it's done. It probably helps that she was an Avenger once along with [[ComicBook/MilesMorales two]] [[ComicBook/{{Nova}} others]].

* The wizard Shazam grants the magic powers of the ancients to pure-hearted child Billy Batson, transforming him into the world's mightiest mortal, [[IAmNotShazam Captain Marv-]] er, I mean, [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Shazam!]]

* A literary example, the new ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' series, ''Undercover Brothers''. Frank and Joe are members of a crime group composed of teenagers, ATAC (American Teens Against Crime). The reasoning behind it is that teens can go places and ask questions that would be suspicious if asked by an adult.

* Played straight in the new ''WesternAnimation/HotWheelsBattleForce5'' animated series. When one of the six teens rather sensibly ask their holographic advisor why they alone were chosen to save the world, she replies that each one brings "something different" to the team. Which one brings ''driving experience'' to a battle for the fate of the world that involves high-speed racing is never said.[[note]]Though they ''do'' all have such skills. Given that Vert Wheeler suggested the recruitment of the rest of the initial team, he presumably explained this to the Obi-Wan offscreen.[[/note]]

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14073644/1/ The Echo Ranger]]'' plays with this. Izuku is definitely a teen when he finds the Echo Coin. The main reason it chose Izuku was because he is Quirkless; Ranger powers and Quirks don't mix. It also picked Izuku for his "goodness, your purity, your desire to be a Hero and help people" according to Tommy. But Tommy tells Izuku he wasn't the first person with those qualities to pick up the Coin, just the first without a Quirk. Melissa makes her own Power Coin (with help) but still has to be chosen by it. Which it does. [[note]]She is also Quirkless.[[/note]]

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Kyubey only recruits young and inexperienced teenage girls to fight the Witches. Most of the main characters are completely normal schoolgirls. [[spoiler:Kyubey's true goal is to [[PoweredByAForsakenChild convert their despair into energy]], suggesting he picks teenagers because they're more emotional and/or easier to manipulate. He mainly targets teens with serious emotional trauma--Mami, for example, was recruited right after a car accident killed her parents and left her mortally wounded--because they have more energy-generating potential.]]

* In The Supernaturals series, The four main characters Elizabeth, Daniel, Carlos, and Ami are all teenagers ages seventeen, sixteen, fourteen, and thirteen.

** White Base in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' are something of a passive example. A bunch of teenage refugees ''become'' the crew for advanced military vehicles simply because the intended personnel were killed, and they intended to leave as soon as they could reach safe harbor. They prove so successful, the Federation effectively drafts them and uses White Base as a major military asset.