History Main / CompetenceZone

''Every television show has its own average age-range of competence. Only people inside that range, whatever it is, are likely to be competent at anything relevant to the show.''

[[SubTrope Subtropes]] include AdultsAreUseless and TeensAreMonsters. SisterTrope of GenderIncompetence, which is the same concept but tied to the characters' gender rather than their age. See also ImprobableAge, where the Competence Zone is imbalanced enough for viewers to notice. When subverted, it's MustHaveLotsOfFreeTime (a character spends a lot of time with protagonists outside their own age or social group, which often implies that they are competent despite their age).

Subtropes include AdultsAreUseless and TeensAreMonsters. See also ImprobableAge, where the Competence Zone is imbalanced enough for viewers to notice. In a TeenageWasteland, the characters may or may not have reached the self-governance Competence Zone. Can overlap with ProtagonistCenteredMorality. SisterTrope of GenderIncompetence, which is the same concept but tied to the characters' gender rather than their age.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' plays it straight with Raven, 35 years old, being called an "old man" and constantly whining about his age.
** Similarly, Malik is a 40-year old travelling with a bunch of kids mostly in their late teens. Nobody else his age is shown to be doing all that much to help avert the end of the world.
** And way before all of the above, there was 29-year-old Klarth in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia.'' Many old man jokes were had.

Subtropes include AdultsAreUseless and TeensAreMonsters. See also ImprobableAge, where the Competence Zone is imbalanced enough for viewers to notice. In a TeenageWasteland, the characters may or may not have reached the self-governance Competence Zone. Can overlap with ProtagonistCenteredMorality. SisterTrope of GenderIncompetence.

'''Note: Aversions, Subversions, Inversions, or cases where there is both a "too young" and "too old" may be put in either category, or whichever seems more fitting'''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Subverted with the Tower-climbing Regulars from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''. They all appear to be in their late teens and early twenties, but in a weird case of aging, a 300 year-old girl can be the niece of a 18 year-old princess, yet they have about the [[VitriolicBestBuds same level of maturity]].

* Arguably all the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' series is this trope. Except perhaps Anime/DigimonDataSquad.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Frenzy}}'', Sonic doesn't want to wake up Cream at six in the morning because she's only six years old, but he's fine with going over to eight year old Tails' house. He even guesses that Tails is already probably awake toiling with some electronics early in the morning.

* Subverted with the Tower-climbing Regulars from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''. They all appear to be in their late teens and early twenties, but in a weir case of aging, a 300 year-old girl can be the niece of a 18 year-old princess, yet they have about the [[VitriolicBestBuds same level of maturity]].

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. The main protagonists are teens (early twenties by Season 2), and are clearly shown to be nowhere near as strong and skilled as the adults in the Justice League, suggesting that they're barely not "too young". Despite this, the kids are the ones who deal with the Light's plans, and most of the time the AdultsAreUseless, amidst the machinations of the villains. The protagonists point this out in the Season 2 finale, as [[spoiler: Aqualad]] tells the Light that everything that Young Justice accomplished was because the Light [[BeneathNotice dismissed the team]] as being the younger, weaker, less competent sidekicks of the Justice League.