History Main / RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'': After the events of ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' devastated the AEUG and Federation, [[TheCaptain Bright Noa]] and the ''Argama'' had no choice other than to recruit Judau and his barely teenage friends to be the primary force against Neo Zeon. Lucky for the Argama these kids proved to be powerful [[PsychicPowers Newtypes]].

* After ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', [[TheCaptain Bright Noa]] and the ''Argama'' had no choice other than to recruit Judau and his barely teenage friends to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ defeat the entire Neo Zeon]]. Lucky for the Argama these kids proved to be powerful [[PsychicPowers Newtypes]].

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? No? Then how about those kids standing over there? Yeah? Okay, cool, go for it.

* ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound}}'''s four main characters are teens (and possibly even younger in the Japanese version), though they were chosen by a prophecy. Unlike many examples, though, the trope is [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]], since what the characters have to go through at the end of the game is meant to signify a loss of innocence.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Kouji and Sayaka (and Boss) are sixteen, and they pilot giant robots to save mankind.

** Subverted -- Harry and his friends are a group of young teens who end up in phenomenally dangerous situations, but they tend to be either caught up in them entirely by accident or pretty much recruit themselves. Notably, their parents/[[ParentalSubstitute parental figures]] are decidedly unhappy about this -- and it has to be said that the kids aren't always that happy about it either.
** Then Doctor Strange plays it straight as an arrow in chapter 75 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.]]

** 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.

** ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman'' does both play this trope's spirit partly straight while deconstructing it, as while [[TheLeader Commander Aya Odagiri]] certainly was part of the military unit that developed the powers, the villain organization, Vyram pulling an AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs scattered the remaining four powers into random civilians (one of whom was an actual high school girl) who could barely function as fighters, let alone a team and had to be trained with much difficulty. [[TheLancer Gai]] in particular refused to play ball during much of the early episodes, leading to much drama between him, [[TheLeader Ryu]], and [[TheChick Kaori]], but eventually, all five grew into a perfectly competent and coherent team (of friends), even outclassing a later group of attempted and supposedly superior replacements, the Neo Jetman, with their experience against the Vyram.

* ''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[[note]]though the deconstruction is downplayed afterwards[[/note]] as the party makes 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.]]]] They do pull through in the end, however.

* ''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[[note]]though the deconstruction is downplayed afterwards[[/note]] as the party makes 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.]]]]

* ''Series/Class2016'': [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] trusts a bunch of six-formers to look after a rift in time at their school ([[NiceJobBreakingItHero which is largely due to him dropping in there too often]]). Deconstructed as the psychological strain has some realistically traumatic effects on the characters, and [[spoiler:they end up committing a genocide that might have been justifiable to them (the aliens in question were by all experience AlwaysChaoticEvil and implacably hostile to humanity and them in particular) but would probably horrify the Doctor if he found out about 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]] [[ArtisticLicenseHistory who created the Slayer role 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.]]

** The rest of the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' franchise downplays this, however. Many seasons do have teen heroes, but justify them by either having them already in training as members of an ancient order (''[[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm Ninja Storm]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersJungleFury Jungle Fury]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersSamurai Samurai]]'') or the only ones in the vicinity to receive powers to begin with (''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Dino Thunder]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersMysticForce Mystic Force]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge Dino Charge]]''). The remaining entries narrowly avert this trope, as there the Rangers are usually (but not always) twentysomething adults and either ''are'' a genuine military unit of some kind (''[[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce Time Force]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersSPD SPD]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersRPM RPM]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers Beast Morphers]]'') or are specifically recruited for the skills that they've already demonstrated in their careers (''[[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Lightspeed Rescue]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersWildForce Wild Force]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive Operation Overdrive]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoFury Dino Fury]]'').

*** ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersBoomStudios'', set in its own continuity inspired by the series, presents a justification for this trope, at least with regards to the teens themselves: Prior to the 1993 team, Zordon had recruited a team back in 1969. This time, they were all capable adults, but they had to be pulled from different parts of the world and walks of life. The end result is that while sufficiently skilled to be combatants, they hardly got along, for the most part. Two of them were at odds for having different opinions about the Vietnam War, and one was a KGB specialist, a proud Soviet, and thus, displeased at the notion of following the orders of an American. Worse than that, [[spoiler:the team is simply thrown into the fray on the moon without much in the way of team building exercises or the like, and thus, when confronted with the awakened [[OriginalGeneration Psycho Green]], two die horribly, and the KGB specialist dies taking out Psycho Green, although he at least makes peace with Red before passing]]. Zordon realized his folly, especially after being chewed out by [[spoiler:the surviving two]], and thus, when he recruits the present team, he would choose a group of close friends, high schoolers as they may be, who had the strong capacity for teamwork over skills that could simply be developed with training and time.

** The rest of the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' franchise downplays this, however. Many seasons do have teen heroes, but justify them by either having them already in training as members of an ancient order (''[[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm Ninja Storm]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersJungleFury Jungle Fury]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersSamurai Samurai]]'') or the only ones in the vicinity to have powers to begin with (''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Dino Thunder]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersMysticForce Mystic Force]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge Dino Charge]]''). The remaining entries narrowly avert this trope, as there the Rangers are usually (but not always) twentysomething adults and either ''are'' a genuine military unit of some kind (''[[Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy Lost Galaxy]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce Time Force]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersSPD SPD]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersRPM RPM]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers Beast Morphers]]'') or are specifically recruited for the skills that they've already demonstrated in their careers (''[[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Lightspeed Rescue]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersWildForce Wild Force]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive Operation Overdrive]]'', ''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoFury Dino Fury]]'').

* Purposefully invoked in ''Manga/SevenSeeds''. The Teams are made up of people who were specifically chosen to be healthy, have no history of hereditary diseases, malformations or any kind of disadvantage like poor eyesight or similar, so they can repopulate the earth, meaning that majority of them are in their late teen-years with a few 20-year-old here and there, not counting the guides. Done on purpose by ''raising them that way'' with Team Summer A.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': It seems like all the girls are picked at random, but as it turns out, they're all {{Reincarnation}}s of their old selves from the Silver Millenium.
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' seemed to pick 5 random girls who were just in the wrong place and wrong time. They just happened to have DNA that was compatible with the chosen animals.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Kouji and Sayaka (and Boss) are sixteen, and they pilot giant robots to save mankind.

* ''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.
* ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'': With the exception of Jinpei, all Gatchaman team's members are teenagers. In a scene of the 2002 comic-book series, Ken says that everybody expect that they act like immature teenagers but he won't give them the satisfaction of proving them right.
* ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'': The main characters were very young children, for a reason. [[spoiler: It's stated that younger pilots are ideal because they provide more life energy than adults]].
* ''Manga/{{Pretear}}''. Granted, it's justified in the case of the Leafe Knights--they're literally born into the role and not exactly human, so they've been training for this their entire lives. (Plus, the four older knights only look as if they're in their late teens or early twenties, but they're actually at least [[OlderThanTheyLook twice that]].) However, this trope is played ''completely'' straight in the case of the eponymous MagicalGirl--Himeno is about 15, has no formal training besides an interest in martial arts (that she doesn't even seem to use in battle) and is completely mentally unprepared for her role as world savior. This is dealt with in-series during her constant battles with self doubt, [[spoiler: as well as Takako/Fenrir's backstory--she was also a teen unprepared for battle, and focused obsessively on Hayate to give her the confidence to continue, which was why his rejection of her was [[LoveMakesYouEvil so earth-shattering]]]].
* ''Anime/RoninWarriors'': It was so bad that in the first episode they almost lost due to what was basically a pissing contest, and they spent the rest of the season paying for it.
* The ''Eldoran'' sries (''Anime/ZettaiMutekiRaijinOh'', ''Anime/GenkiBakuhatsuGanbaruger'', ''Anime/NekketsuSaikyoGosaurer'') does something like this, except that "teenagers" is replaced with "A class of elementary school kids".
* ''Animation/RobotTaekwonV'' combines this with a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, and the BigBad is defeated by a teenage boy, his ActionGirlfriend and his friends.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Dr. Gero [[WrongGenreSavvy tries]] doing this to defeat [[IdiotHero Son Goku]], turning a runaway brother and sister into [[{{Cyborg}} super-powered cyborgs]]. [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters It doesn't end well.]] Averted in the case of his other androids, who were built from scratch.

* The ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise does this virtually all the time. ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' had Nozomi personally choose who was gonna be a Pretty Cure (with the general formula being that they would blow it off, new monster show up, realize she couldn't abandon the others, come back and become a Pretty Cure). ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' is probably the only one who doesn't follow this formula.
* Sort of done all throughout ''Franchise/{{Digimon}},'' though they're more of the tween-age in most of the shows - all apart from ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'', which stars a HotBlooded [[{{Delinquent}} street punk]] that's recruited by a secretive government organisation when he forms a partnership with and Agumon.
* 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.
* In the first season of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', the kids were fighting for personal reasons. However, as the series went on, they got increasingly roped into "save the world" situations, despite being high school students. Justified, by the fact that Yugi, as the ChosenOne and the world's best duelist in a world where card games [[SeriousBusiness can destroy worlds and damn souls]], was often the only one qualified to deal with the situations and the rest of the gang got involved simply because of the PowerOfFriendship.
* Played with in one episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''. Although the LDS trio is sent out as bait to catch a serial soul-stealer, it's because they've met him before and he's more likely to target them. Also, they spend the entire mission being watched by their superiors and the dialogue implies that the moment they found the criminal, an elite team of agents was sent to their location to capture him. The teenagers still get to duel the criminal, but only because they chose to engage him instead of stalling for time until help arrived.
* After ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', [[TheCaptain Bright Noa]] and the ''Argama'' had no choice other than to recruit Judau and his barely teenage friends to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ defeat the entire Neo Zeon]]. Lucky for the Argama these kids proved to be powerful [[PsychicPowers Newtypes]].
* Played with in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', as for a good chunk of the series the adults refuse to work with the kids and even at the end make several good arguments why using them as frontline soldiers is unethical.
* ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'': At the start of the series, a ridiculously powerful magus decides to have teenagers Rin Tohsaka and Luvia Edelfelt collect the Class Cards using the Kaleidoscope Sticks that turn them into {{Magical Girl}}s. It's not clear why he didn't have someone else do it; in fact, a competent adult ''was'' doing it, before the duty got taken from her and handed to Rin and Luvia instead. It seems there were political maneuverings going on behind the scenes. Deconstructed when Rin and Luvia prove to be so unstable, spending more time fighting each other than doing their jobs, that the Kaleidoscope Sticks abandon them and find other girls to empower instead. Pre-teens Illya and Miyu are left as the {{Magical Girl}}s, with Rin and Luvia as their mentors.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Though in this case, the X-Men ''did'' receive combat training prior to their first mission. It bears mentioning that the team's youngest member was only 13. Justified in that mutant powers manifest at puberty, and Xavier started a school for "gifted youngsters" to train them in their potentially uncontrollable and deadly mutations.
** In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', the team barely has time to be assembled and forced into tight leather pants before being sent to rescue a young mutant from 50-foot killer robots.

* ''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]].
* In ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' both the current and the previous team of Guardians of Kandrakar were chosen as teenagers (Cornelia actually [[LampshadeHanging wonders why them]]). {{Justified}} because they were selected by the Heart of Kandrakar itself, a magical artifact that reasons in a different way than humans do and is implied to have selected the best five for the job ''out of the whole planet Earth''--no matter their previous relationships (of the five, only Irma and Hay Lin are shown to be already friends when selected a year before the series) or where they lived (Will and Taranee are from two different cities, and the prequel issue shows the Heart's magic subtly leading to them moving to Heatherfield).
* 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!]]

* After the [[KillEmAll bloodbath]] that is ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', [[TheCaptain Bright Noa]] and the ''Argama'' had no choice other than to recruit Judau and his barely teenage friends to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ defeat the entire Neo Zeon]]. Lucky for the Argama these kids proved to be powerful [[PsychicPowers Newtypes]].

* Mocked in ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'' [[http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/merry-200th-strip here]], where the Commander delivers to Zordon teenagers with the modern definition of attitude instead of the 90's upbeat and "can do" attitude Zordon actually asked for (the definition of "attitude" as pertains to teens having shifted back and forward rapidly ever since the end of UsefulNotes/WW2).

* In ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'', Shinji, Asuka and Rei are teenagers, HumongousMecha pilots... and pretty psychotic.

* In ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'':
** Played straight with Rei, who is a fourteen-year-old mecha pilot.
** Subverted with Shinji and Asuka. Everyone believes that they're teenagers, but due to time-travel shenanigans, they're in their early twenties.
* ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide'': Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Touji and [[spoiler:Keiko]] are all fourteen-years-old HumongousMecha pilots.

* Partially subverted in ''Fanfic/PowerRangersOceania''. Unlike ''Fanfic/PowerRangersGPX'', though, Kanohi basically empowers the first few that come to his temple: a fisherman, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, a lifeguard, a doctor, and a college student[=/=]hula teacher. Only one of these ''may'' be a teenager, but not all.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainCrownOfThorns'' has the Ultra Rangers, this story's version of the Ultra Guardians, who are gathered to help deal with the supernatural threats in Alola. Lusamine even namedrops the trope while explaining why she created the team.

** When the Animorphs gain the ability to increase their numbers, they seek out more teenagers. Because they figured teenagers adapt to new situations [[WeirdnessCensor more quickly than adults]], and that teenagers would listen to them and be happier to let them take the lead [[NotNowKiddo than adults would]]; in addition they deliberately seek out disabled kids as there's no way the Yeerks would be using them as hosts (and the morphing technology allows most of them to be healed of their otherwise irreparable injuries).

* ''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.

* ''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, 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.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': There is never an explanation for why only 14-year-olds can be pilots. However, it's partially averted: Rei and Asuka have been training to be pilots their whole lives, and Kaworu is a trojan horse. Shinji and Toji, however, are plucked right off the street with no training.

* The ''Eldoran'' sries (''Anime/NekketsuSaikyoGosaurer'', ''Anime/ZettaiMutekiRaijinOh'', ''Anime/GenkiBakuhatsuGanbaruger'') does something like this, except that "teenagers" is replaced with "A class of elementary school kids".