History Main / FormerTeenRebel

* ''TatteredWorld'': [[spoiler:]]Nicholas Artois[[/spoiler]] is a positively portrayed example. According to their secret, they believe this phase of their life, which involved trying on many different labels, to have taught them the empathy they display today.

* If the Earthborn backstory is selected for Commander Shepard in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'', he/she was a gang member as a teenager who cleaned up and went straight before joining the military.

* ''Film/SweetHomeAlabama'': Melanie and Jake got up to a lot of antics during their teenage years to the point where the former earned the nickname "Felony Melanie" because of her antics. As adults, Jake tries to get the sheriff to remove Melanie from his house by bringing up some of her prior misdeeds including shoplifting, cow-tipping and driving a tractor into a pond.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': While not a teenager, Professor Utonium was shown to be an obnoxious, bratty prankster as an elementary school student in the episode "Get Back Jojo".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': Ms. Finster in the episode "Weekend at Muriel's".

** England was a pirate in his youth but now considers himself to be a gentleman [[ClusterFBomb (though he still curses like a sailor)]]. And everyone knows that...something happened during the '70s and England went through a punk phase. [[BerserkButton It's not really]] [[TranquilFury mentioned too much.]]

* ''Anime/RurouniKenshin'': The main character was a mild one, being rambunctious and hot-blooded as a kid. He would take this UpToEleven in the revolution, though, as an assassin against the government.

* Creator/JohnnyDepp was once a conceited, self-centered JerkAss young actor who openly dissed the Academy and Hollywood in general. After several arrests and the birth of his first child, Depp has "grown up" and become a serious and respected actor. The Academy doesn't seem willing to let him live it down, though.

* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'': Danma Ryuji, the other half of [[JapaneseDelinquents Onibaku]], is now a motorcycle repairman. Onizuka would himself apply, except that he's not that different than before. Their mutual friend Saejima turned from a delinquent into a CorruptCop.
* Reki from ''Anime/HaibaneRenmei'' was rebellious during her teens due to receiving FantasticRacism related to [[spoiler:her off-colour wings]]. She even tried to [[TheRunaway run away]]. As an adult, she's a kind-hearted TeamMom, though she keeps some old habits such as [[SmokingIsCool smoking often]]. [[spoiler:Double subverted as, while her behavior changed, she's still a BrokenBird who just learned to [[StepfordSmiler be more friendly looking]]. Her decision to become friendlier was for selfish reasons of trying to [[HeavenSeeker reach salvation]], though she ended up BecomingTheMask.]]

* Amagasa-sensei in ''Manga/{{Hyakko}}'' was feared throughout the school back when he was one of its students. Now he's a teacher.
* [[SenseiChan Sawako-Sensei]] from ''Manga/KOn'' was a Punk-Metal performer when she attended the school as a student. Very rebellious and goth-like.
* A popular hairdresser in ''Manga/IceRevolution'' fit the JapaneseDelinquents archetype to a T in her teenage years. She states her reasons for being violent and aggressive was due to being a closeted UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} woman. After transitioning she calmed down considerably.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Ash's loyal Charizard used to be quite the defiant and disobedient Charmeleon.
* Mari Katsuragi from ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'' counts as well. While she was introduced early in the series as a YamatoNadeshiko with a {{Meganekko}}, once TheGlassesComeOff, one will realize why she was previously known as the ''[[RedBaron Snow Lady of the Mountain Pass]]'': she was previously a member of a biker gang.
* Midori in ''Manga/CaseClosed'' looks like a very level-headed HouseWife, but the flashbacks in the episode we "meet" her state that she was [[JapaneseDelinquents a membress of a delinquent gang.]]
* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'':
** Kyoko Katsunuma was an infamous [[JapaneseDelinquent girl gangster]] as a teenager, but [[BrokenBird that left her emotionally broken]]. She decided to put her DarkAndTroubledPast behind, married [[HotForTeacher her handsome teacher]] Katsuya Honda (who was also [[OnlyFriend the only one who cared for her]]), and became Kyoko Honda, aka Tohru's beloved mother (well, [[MissingMom dead but much-beloved mother]]).
** Tohru's best friend Arisa Uotani was a member of a female delinquent gang in middle school, but after meeting Tohru and Kyoko, learned to clean up her act and quit her gang. By the time she's in high school, she's pretty much turned her life around, though she still keeps the look of a delinquent.
* Sentaro from ''Manga/KidsOnTheSlope'' is a gentle teenage boy but is constantly getting into fights and skipping class. The DistantFinale shows that [[spoiler:some time between running away from home and the eight-year timeskip, he began training to be a priest]].
* The main characters' homeroom teacher Akari Koumoto in ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'' used to be the legendary delinquent known as "Akari of the Hundred Visits". Nowadays her anger mostly shows up in reference to her {{Troll}}ish multi-great-grandmother Akane, who loves rubbing [[ChristmasCake Akari's singleness]] in her face, and an enraged Akari is said to be more terrifying than Godzilla. Akari herself treats her past as OldShame, mostly since [[spoiler:those "hundred visits" were her unsuccessful attempts at getting a boyfriend and flipping out when she failed. However, the story has a happy ending, since her past allowed Akari to connect with her student Sakurada and reform him into one of these, which lead to their [[HotForTeacher becoming a couple]] later on in the manga's run.]]
* Downplayed with Kaoru from ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying''. Prequel series ''Metsuko ni Yoroshiku'' shows that her high school sempais were both JapaneseDelinquents, but she never took place in any of their insane activities. Played straight by said sempais though, Akiko became the assistant to her cousin, the detective Destiny Fucker, and Yuzu became a mangaka. Akiko's friend Yuki also retired from delinquency and went on to have a successful music career (posters for his concerts can be found throughout TheVerse).
* Vol. 7 of ''Manga/HighSchoolOfTheDead'' reveals that Rei's mom used to be a girl gang leader.
* Before Youichi of ''Manga/FatherAndSon'' got married and became a teacher, he used to be in a gang. He had quite a temper, which only shows when he's really angry as Shou learns the hard way every now and then.
* Yukiko Kanzaki from ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' is a variation in that she ''still is'' a teenager, but has gotten over a rebellious phase. Her parents were incredibly strict, expecting nothing short of perfection from her, so in order to rebel against them and let off pressure, she ended up visiting arcades and dressing more provocatively. This caused her grades to slip so strongly that she ended up falling to Class 3-E.

* Principal Seymour Skinner aka Armin Tamzarian, of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' was an orphaned, purse-snatching biker in his youth, who actually assumed somebody else's identity as part of getting over his rebellion. Accidentally. He honestly intended to tell Mrs. Skinner that [[spoiler:her real son was believed to have died in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar - but she thought he was her son when he showed up at her door, and he just didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise.]] Fans ''hated'' this episode due to how crazily most of the cast was out of character in order to make the plotline work, but Lisa actually uses the plot as a threat against him in the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E9IAnnoyedGruntBot I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot]]" years later. It wasn't {{retcon}}ned until "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS21E12BoyMeetsCurl Boy Meets Curl]]" over 12 years later, which showed a flashback of Mrs. Skinner pregnant with Seymour.
* Ms. Finster from ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', in the episode "Weekend at Muriel's".

* While not a teenager, Professor Utonium from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' was shown to be an obnoxious, bratty prankster as an elementary school student in the episode "Get Back Jojo".
* In the ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' universe:
** Toph in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is TheRunaway and a ConArtist. Toph in the SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is remembered for founding Republic City's Metalbending Police Force.
** Toph's youngest daughter Suyin hung out with gangsters and was almost arrested for being a GetawayDriver. Now she's the motherly matriarch of Zaofu, although she still maintains a bit of her carefree attitude from her teen years.
* WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}} and Ingrid are not even teens yet, but otherwise fit the trope. As a throwback to a popular cliche in {{Cop Show}}s, the two used to be troublemakers until they both decided to stop. Now they're on their school's Safety Patrol.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'''s parents, Helen and Jake Morgendorffer, were '60s flower children, while in the present, Helen is a workaholic lawyer and Jake runs a successful business consulting firm. The Season 2 episode, "That was Then, This is Dumb", focuses on their old hippie friends, The Yeagers, who still haven't changed.
* Implied in a scene in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode "Naked Tommy". Tommy's mother Deedee is trying to convince Phil and Lil's mother Betty that stripping their clothes off is a phase all babies go through, but Betty isn't buying it.
-->'''Betty:''' The sixties are over, Deed, and we lost, so just get with the program!

* ''WesternAnimation/OutThere'': Wayne, the father of main character Chad, is an uptight, somewhat conservative man who works as an optometrist, but was once a drug-taking hippie of the highest order. His experiences with drugs, especially one ''really'' bad trip that almost got him killed, has made him desperate to make sure his son never experiments with drugs himself, much to Chad's confusion since he's never even considered it, being far more preoccupied with girls.

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch based on ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' depicts Beavis having gone from the dumb troublemaker he was on their show to a well-adjusted adult, at least until Butt-Head comes back into his life.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcgee'': In "The Bad Boy Bobby Daniels", Scratch and Molly try to track down Patty's old flame, a former {{Greaser Delinquent|s}} with a heart of gold named Bobby Daniels. Scratch is disappointed to find "the Bad Boy of Brighton" is now a mild-mannered librarian.
-->'''Scratch:''' This guy can't be him, he's made of ''cardigan''! He's wearing ''boat shoes''! Where's the leather jacket, the cool hog, the flagrant disregard for authority?

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Young [[StateSec Inquisitors]] are freshly indoctrinated and therefore puritanically orthodox. Those who survive to old age tend to lose their naivety and innocence to the setting's BlackAndGrayMorality, making them more radical and rebellious
(the Radicals are those willing to use Chaos against itself like daemonhosts and possessed weapons despite the obvious risks in order to achieve even short-term victories), and frequently the target of the next generation of Inquisitors.

* Subverted in ''Fanfic/{{Severance}}''. Oak remembers Delia having a HotBlooded spirit like Ash when she was younger, but he assumed that Delia calmed down with age. Delia's attitude comes to light [[MamaBear when her son is in danger]].

* ''Music/NickLowe'' "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)" is a man at an old flame's wedding.[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcgee'': In "The Bad Boy Bobby Daniels", Scratch and Molly try to track down Patty's old flame, Bobby Daniels. Scratch is disappointed to find "the Bad Boy of Brighton" is now a mild-mannered librarian.

* Principal Skinner aka Armin Tamzarian, of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', who actually assumed somebody else's identity as part of getting over his rebellion. Accidentally. He honestly intended to tell Mrs. Skinner that [[spoiler: her real son was believed to be dead - but she thought he was her son when he showed up at her door, and he just didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise.]] Fans ''hated'' this episode due to how crazily most of the cast was out of character in order to make the plotline work, but interestingly, the writers never retconned it in response--Lisa actually uses the plot as a threat against him in an episode years later.
** Though "Boy Meets Curl" eventually retconned this by flash-backing to Mrs. Skinner pregnant with Seymour.

[[/folder]]

* Kyouko Katsunuma from ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' was also an infamous [[JapaneseDelinquent girl gangster]] as a teenager, but [[BrokenBird that left her emotionally broken]]. She decided to put her DarkAndTroubledPast behind, married [[HotForTeacher her handsome teacher]] Katsuya Honda (who was also [[OnlyFriend the only one who cared for her]]), and became Kyouko Honda aka Tohru's beloved mother. (Well, [[MissingMom dead but much-beloved mother]])

Definitely TruthInTelevision. Contrast with UsedToBeASweetKid where a villainous or otherwise unpleasant character is shown to be much nicer and polite as a child. Compare ParentalHypocrisy. TeensAreMonsters is often a strong factor of why the character used to be a teen rebel, which can lead to a TeenageWasteland.

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Young [[StateSec Inquisitors]] are freshly indoctrinated and therefore puritanically orthodox. Those who survive to old age tend to lose their naivety and innocence to the setting's BlackAndGrayMorality, making them more radical and rebellious, and frequently the target of the next generation of Inquisitors.

* Midori in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' looks like a very level-headed HouseWife, but the flashbacks in the episode we "meet" her state that she was [[JapaneseDelinquents a membress of a delinquent gang.]]