History Main / WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld

* In the first and last Eldran series, the kids actually ''had'' to go to school in order to save the world, as that's where the local SuperRobot was normally kept.

->''"I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm in a graveyard with a strange man hunting for vampires on a *school night*."''
-->--'''Buffy Summers''', ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''

* ''ComicBook/JuiceSqueezers'': When the kids aren't barrling BigCreepyCrawlies beneath Weeville, they're dealing with [[TheBully Stampo]] or trying to get a role in the play.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'' explored what it would be like to be working as a hero by night and weekend while trying to maintain a social life, your grades and hiding your nightly activities from your father in Gotham, to the point that often "Robin"'s issues would take a backseat to Tim's. This element was dropped in the last few issues as Tim had to drop out and focus on heroics as Gotham started to descend into chaos after Bruce's death.

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1628907357050772500 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

This character will usually be a TripleShifter and the mental and social counterpart to {{Mundangerous}}. Often overlaps with SociallyAwkwardHero. Can result in ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow. Compare SleptThroughTheApocalypse.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' made some use of this, but partially subverted it, as the characters soon find that fighting a guerrilla war against an alien conspiracy/invasion is physically and emotionally taxing, and their grades start to suffer. They lose all their friends not in the know and stay in school just to keep up the pretense. Next to the enslavement of humanity, school seems kind of meaningless.
** It also helped that they gained advanced ancient androids as allies who could take their place in school for long absences thanks to their advanced hologram technology.

->''"You're right, Drakken. Boys? Dating? Oh, it's hard. But this... is easy!"'' *PUNCH!*
-->-- '''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''', ''[[WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama So the Drama]]''

When a show has a [[KidHero preteen or teen hero]], the message is usually as follows...

Beating up the BigBad, stopping some [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant monster]] from squishing [[CityOfAdventure the hometown]], protecting [[AcademyOfAdventure fellow classmates]] from the [[SealedEvilInACan creatures of darkness]], and [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed saving the universe from certain doom time and time again]]? ''Easy.''

Dealing with social pressures and crushes? ''[[SociallyAwkwardHero Hard]]!''

It's basically [[AnAesop one giant Aesop]], and can succumb to all the pratfalls and drawbacks that those things entail. Played right, it can be an effective way to communicate to the audience. Played wrong, and it can be [[TotallyRadical disastrous]].

If the work becomes a LongRunner, this could become "Wake Up, Go To Work, Save The World" as the protagonist grows up. Such shows will often result in a OneHourWorkWeek. ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' are good examples.

Juvenile version of the PartTimeHero. Usually a TripleShifter. The mental and social counterpart to {{Mundangerous}}. Often overlaps with SociallyAwkwardHero. Can result in ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow. Compare SleptThroughTheApocalypse.

[[quoteright:319:[[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/school_heroics_8_1.png]]]]

* Take Violet Parr of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Incredibles}}'', who fails to have a normal school life, but totally in her element when donning her superhero persona.

%% Image moved to SociallyAwkwardHero per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1542324710049121200
%% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1303990304035848800
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} always finds it harder to attend school and make friends than being a super-hero. ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1972 When she goes to San Francisco Vandyre University]]'', she cannot keep a boyfriend and her classmates think she is weird. When ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1982 she moves to Chicago]]'', she deals with all her enemies neatly, but she still has boyfriend troubles and her friends also think she's weird. In ''ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth'' she attends National City High School along with being a teen superhero, but she doesn't manage to fit in with her schoolmates because she isn't familiarized with human social customs and Earth's science is primitive and ancient to her. In ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'' she quickly becomes her school's ButtMonkey and has a hard time making friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': "Saving the world... before bedtime."

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': Jenny Wakeman gets the chance to go to school and experiences teenage human stuff. However, she takes on criminals and alien threats as she was originallly designed. The entire premise of this is summed up via intro song quite nicely.

* ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfBeansBaxter'' has Beans attempting to balance life as high school student with becoming a TeenSuperspy and having to save the world from the forces of U.G.L.I.
* K.C. Cooper in ''Series/KCUndercover''. K.C's role as resident ordinary schoolgirl/TeenSuperspy on the Creator/DisneyChannel as of 2015 has ''not'' [[http://www.justjaredjr.com/2015/02/20/a-kim-possible-k-c-undercover-crossover-christy-carlson-romano-says-yes/ gone unnoticed]] by Christy Carlson Romano, the voice actor who played the title role of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' and a fan of the show, who offered Creator/{{Zendaya}} on Website/{{Twitter}} to guest star on a future episode of ''Series/KCUndercover'' in tribute to this.

* Very much a part of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', as the girls need to balance their studies at Beacon Academy with thwarting the show's {{Hidden Agenda Villain}}s. {{Invoked|Trope}} in the blurb for Volume 2 on the Creator/RoosterTeeth website. [[spoiler: The end of Volume 3 [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore upends this]], with the school being overrun by Grimm, and [[BreakingTheFellowship what's]] [[CharacterDeath left]] of team RWBY and JNPR heading off to Haven to get some answers.]]

* ''TabletopGame/Champions'' has a supplement, ''Teen Champions'' where this is the premise.

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'' is set in a nameless city [[http://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/interstitial-2 whose entire society is based around this trope]], where fighting monsters by night is treated much like an after school job. While any MagicalGirl can participate in the nightly monster purge, those who [[SuperRegistrationAct register]] are afforded numerous benefits, including an exclusive private education with hours adjusted to accommodate for their {{Triple Shift|er}}ing. The darker side to this normalization of nightly monster-fighting, of course, is that these girls often end up underestimating the risks of working a side job as a {{Child Soldier|s}} -- as Anemone casually notes, part of the reason they make these girls go to school every day is to keep track of them, for when one inevitably doesn't show up.

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'' is set in a nameless city [[http://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/interstitial-2 whose entire society is based around this trope]], where fighting monsters by night is treated much like an after school job. While any MagicalGirl can participate in the nightly monster purge, those who [[SuperRegistrationAct register]] are afforded numerous benefits, including an exclusive private education with hours adjusted to accommodate for their {{Triple Shift|er}}ing. The darker side to this attitude, of course, is that these girls often end up underestimating the risks involved in working as ChildSoldiers -- as Anemone casually notes, part of the reason they make these girls go to school every day is to keep track of them, for when one inevitably doesn't show up.

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'' is set in a nameless city [[http://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/interstitial-2 where the entire society is based around this trope]] and fighting monsters is treated like an after school job. Any MagicalGirl can participate in the nightly monster purge. They also can go to a special school for magical girls that start later than normal schools to avoid having to become a TripleShifter. Registered magical girls are 70% less likely to experience serious injuries or fatalities! Gets darker when [[spoiler:Cassidy dies without leaving a body]], and Anemone casually says that part of the reason they make the girls go to school every day is to keep track of them for that sort of thing.

* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' mentioned this when describing how the GameMaster could use character backgrounds to make the game more interesting. Fighting the AncientConspiracy of wizard-scientists trying to eradicate magic from the world, the bunch of [[EvilSorcerer Evil Sotcerers]] trying to destroy everything that has ever existed, the mad mages whose very existence warps reality, and the odd elder horror from beyond the stars gets a lot harder when your mom is going to kill you for staying out past curfew.

* All but one of the Baka Rangers in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' are powerful fighters on Negi's team. Kaede and Ku Fei in particular were strong fighters even before the start of the series, yet their first major obstacle in the series was to receive adequate scores on their final exams.

* ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'' practically runs on this. Most of Sōsuke's issues involve being unable to explain distressingly common situations and failing in epic fashion. [[spoiler:In one episode, Kaname visits while Testarossa is in the shower and Sōsuke tries to explain why Kaname can't come in. Cue Testarossa sticking her head out asking if she can borrow clothes.]] He will generally sweat bullets in these situations -- and yet, when he appears to be totally screwed in a military situation, he will either find a way out of it or somehow stay calm.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has something similar to this, but it's more like [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld Wake Up, Go To School,]] TakeOverTheWorld.

* ''[[Comicbook/SpiderMan The Amazing Spider-Man]]'' may well have ''[[UrExample invented]]'' this trope, and Peter's constant struggles to keep his life on track while fighting crime shows up in almost every other incarnation of the series. In fact, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created Spider-Man around this very premise. They wanted a young superhero who, unlike the then-popular "sidekick" depiction of such a character, had to simultaneously deal with the social and emotional pressures of becoming an adult... and the parade of crazy costumed baddies.

* ''{{ComicBook/Superboy}}'' pre-Crisis was this, as Clark attended Smallville High along with being a superhero. It stays this way once he goes to Metropolis University (and changes his name to {{Franchise/Superman}}), and shifts to "Wake Up, Go to Work, Save the World" once he graduates college and starts working at the ''Daily Planet.'' In ''Comicbook/KryptonNoMore'' he thinks he is an outcast and cannot have normal relationships.
* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} always finds it harder to attend school and make friends than being a super-hero. ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1972 When she goes to San Francisco Vandyre University]]'', she cannot keep a boyfriend and her classmates think she is weird. When ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1982 she moves to Chicago]]'', she deals with all her enemies neatly, but she still has boyfriend troubles and her friends also think she's weird. In ''Comicbook/SupergirlRebirth'' she attends National City High School along with being a teen superhero, but she doesn't manage to fit in with her schoolmates because she isn't familiarized with human social customs and Earth's science is primitive and ancient to her. In ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'' she quickly becomes her school's ButtMonkey and has a hard time making friends.

* ''FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject'': The plot is kicked off by a horrific deconstruction of this trope: Akiko Yamaguchi has spent her childhood fighting evil alone. A fight that [[TraumaCongaLine has done horrendous damage to her social life and mental health]]. She is so broken, she publicly throws herself off of Tokyo Tower, only to be rescued by another MagicalGirl.
* The first arc of ''FanFic/CallOfDarkness'' seems to demonstrate so. Seika is still in Duel Academia when she has to [[spoiler:charge with a team of Psychics directly into a battle of Duel Spirits in the skies above the Neo Domino Harbour]].

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' bases both its storyline and gameplay around this concept, requiring you to balance fighting demons with [[DatingSim day-to-day activities]] to succeed. It also subverts it, to an extent -- the characters frequently admit that they find fighting Shadows much more difficult than dealing with school. Played straight in the metagame - while the actual fighting can be quite tough, as is standard for ''SMT'' games, nothing compares to the difficulty of [[GuideDangIt trying to max out all Social Links]] (as in, you can make like three mistakes at most, across '''an entire year''').\\

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' does much the same thing, though in this case, it's Wake Up, Go To School, Catch a Serial Killer. [[spoiler:Although as you find out later, catching the Serial Killer is part of saving the town, so it's actually both.]] In fact, amusingly enough, you can only go into the TV (to save the world) ''after'' school every day. You ''literally'' have the schedule of Wake up, Go to school, Save the world.
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': Your party spends their days going to school and their afternoons and nights reforming corrupt adults and trying to dismantle a criminal conspiracy. The game's original opening theme underscores this: Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->'''School administrator''': Look, I don't care if you girls are mutants or Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}s or [[Franchise/WonderWoman Wonder Women]] or what, you do not get out of having your parents called when you bring God only knows what kind of {{mon}}sters to school with you. Not to mention skipping out of class.

* In the '' Literature/ActionFigures'' universe, the teen supers of the Hero Squad still meet every night to do homework together, have to deal with classes and cliques, and face consequences when their super adventures override their real-world responsibilities. The most notable example is when [[spoiler: Carrie]] leaves Earth for eight months to fight in the Black End War and comes back to find she's been held back a year for missing so much school and also lost the great part-time job she used to have.

* In the '' Literature/ActionFigures'' universe, the teen supers of the Hero Squad still meet every night to do homework together, have to deal with classes and cliques, and face consequences when their super IDs override their real-world responsibilities. The most notable example is when [[spoiler: Carrie]] leaves Earth for eight months to fight in the Black End War and comes back to find she's been held back a year for missing so much school and also lost the great part-time job she used to have.