History Main / JustAKid

* This was part of the real reason JoanOfArc's ability to lead an army was questioned. Women soldiers were not unheard of (especially as all the men were getting killed), some had even commanded, and it was not the first time someone had reported being asked by God to fight the English. It was the first time someone did all these things ''at the age of seventeen.''

** Starts off even earlier than that in ''Apollo Justice'' where almost everyone in the cast brushes off Apollo and Trucy as kids trying to play as grown ups, which is weird for Apollo since he IS a Defense Attorney and is almost the same age Phoenix Wright was (24) when he first started and no one called Phoenix a kid then.
*** To be honest, Apollo's entire aura is a lot less focused and serious then Phoenix's. It's not unreasonable to assume that Apollo just comes off as more "kiddy" due to how much he tries to build up his defense attorney persona, therefore forcing it out as seeming fake, when to Phoenix it comes more naturally.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: The younger Links occasionally get this treatment. In game, the general populace of Hyrule have various reasons why they don't believe Link, despite him wearing the clothes of the hero, ranging from "nice fancy dress" to "you playing let's-pretend-we're-the-hero-of-time" to having it become tradition in various places that children wear the same clothes as the legends tell off and also other such reasons. As a whole the series justifies people treating Link like he's not a hero in that, in real life, [[RealityEnsues if you saw a kid come up to you in Robin Hood clothes, would you believe that they're a hero?]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: The younger Links occasionally get this treatment. In game, the general populace of Hyrule have various reasons why they don't believe Link, despite him wearing the clothes of the hero, ranging from "nice fancy dress" to "you playing let's-pretend-we're-the-hero-of-time" to having it become tradition in various places that children wear the same clothes as the legends tell off and also other such reasons. As a whole the series justifies people treating Link like he's not a hero in that, in real life, [[RealityEnsues if you saw a kid come up robin hood clothes, would you believe that they're a hero?]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: The younger Links occasionally get this treatment. In game, the general populace of Hyrule have various reasons why they don't believe Link, despite him wearing the clothes of the hero, ranging from "nice fancy dress" to "you playing let's-pretend-we're-the-hero-of-time" to having it become tradition in various places that children wear the same clothes as the legends tell off and also other such reasons. As a whole the series justifies people treating Link like he's not a hero in that, [[RealityEnsues if you saw a kid come up robin hood clothes, would you believe that they're a hero?]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: The younger Links occasionally get this treatment. Apparently, even after thousands of years of legends about boys in green saving the world, [[GenreBlindness nobody has realized]] that you should ''let boys in green do what they want''.
** In the defense of the general populace of Hyrule, wearing the Hero's clothes doesn't necessarily make someone the Hero -- they could just have strange fashion sense or be obsessed fanboys. And it's not exactly unusual for children to dress up as heroes from old stories. Even Adult Link isn't immune to such skepticism -- there's a scene in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' where several people seem to think that Link is just dressing up as the Hero to make himself seem tougher.
*** Or, put another way, letting boys in green do what they want could lead to a Tingle-shaped nightmare.
** Or the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' example: EVERY kid HAS TO wear the green clothes of the hero when they reach certain age, usually on their birthday. Now, would you let them do what they wanted?

* "Just A Boy" from the Music/{{Kiss}} album ''Music From THE ELDER''.

* Literature/HarryPotter saves the day about once a year, but the good adults, with the exception of [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Dumbledore]], treat him like a child until the sixth book or so. In particular, using this trope was [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher Umbridge]]'s ''modus operandi''.
** To be fair, even disregarding the number of near-death experiences, hairs-breadth-escapes, and hideously one-sided battles Harry's had to face, you can't blame the adults for trying to prevent him from getting blown up or having his soul sucked out.

* DannyPhantom gets this a few times; twice from Vlad, once from Clockwork, although the latter is justified since he was trying to explain (in short) the nature of time to someone who's probably barely passing pre-algebra.

* [[Literature/TheHobbit Thorin Oakenshield]] was equivalent in age to a fourth or fifth grader when he fought at Nanduhirion and earned his nickname. [[LordOfTheRings Dáin Ironfoot]] was even younger at that battle, where he slew an orc-chieftan. And not just any orc chieftain but ''Public Enemy Number Two[[hottip:*:Smaug was Public Enemy Number One at the time.]] Azog''!

** In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'', Atlas, the Mega ([[ViewerGenderConfusion Wo]])Man of Fire, tells young Thetis, Mega Man of Ice and fellow member of a QuirkyMinibossSquad that he's just a kid and wonders why he was picked to be Model L's [[TheChosenOne Biomatch]] [[hottip:* :The [[TransformationTrinket Biometals]] are the {{Legacy Character}}s of [[VideoGame/MegaManX X, Zero]], [[VideoGame/MegaManZero X's Four Guardians, and Dr. Weil]], FYI.]] Slightly irked, Thetis is quick to mention that as a teenager, there isn't much of a gap between them age-wise.

* [[Literature/TheHobbit Thorin Oakenshield]] was equivalent in age to a fourth or fifth grader when he fought at Nanduhirion and earned his nickname. [[LordOfTheRings Daín Ironfoot]] was even younger at that battle, where he slew an orc-chieftan. And not just any orc chieftain but ''Public Enemy Number Two[[hottip:*:Smaug was Public Enemy Number One at the time.]] Azog''!

* HarryPotter saves the day about once a year, but the good adults, with the exception of [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Dumbledore]], treat him like a child until the sixth book or so. In particular, using this trope was [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher Umbridge]]'s ''modus operandi''.

* The {{Runaways}} have to deal with this kind of treatment all the time from adult superheroes. This doesn't mesh well with the runaways' ingrained belief that AdultsAreUseless ''at best'' thanks to the whole "parents are evil supervillains plotting to wipe out humanity" thing that shattered their ability to trust adults. In their well-meaning efforts to look out for the kids' well-being, the adult heroes are just reinforcing the idea that the runaways can't ever trust adult authority figures.

* Throughout the ''FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' episode "Frankie My Dear", Bloo uses this as his excuse as to why he thinks he's better for Frankie than Mac is.

** In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'', Atlas, the Mega ([[ViewerGenderConfusion Wo]])Man of Fire, tells young Thetis, Mega Man of Ice and fellow member of a QuirkyMinibossSquad that he's just a kid and wonders why he was picked to be Model L's [[TheChosenOne Biomatch]] [[hottip:* :The [[TransformationTrinket Biometals]] are the {{Legacy Character}}s of [[VideoGame/MegaManX X, Zero]], [[VideoGame/MegaManZero X's Four Guardians, and Dr. Weil]], FYI.]]. Slightly irked, Thetis is quick to mention that as a teenager, there isn't much of a gap between them age-wise.

* ''TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'': "So yeah, I'm a kid. And I'm also a goofball, and a wingnut, and a Knucklehead [=McSpazatron=]! But most of all... I'm a GOOFY GOOBER!" [[PowerOfRock ROCK!]]

* This was the main plot of ''TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie''. [=SpongeBob=] got this from nearly everyone in the movie as a reason he's not capable of doing what he sets out to do. Of course, he does prove himself.
** This trope name is also the name of the third song on the movie's OST, performed by {{Wilco}}.

** Which was PlayedForLaughs in [[ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Linking Up with Linkara's]] [[TheStinger Stinger]], [[spoiler:where WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick and MarzGurl pretended to have slept with (a presumably aged up) Ma-Ti.]]

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'': Asuna seems to have trouble seeing Negi as anything other the [[BigSisterInstinct sweet little brother she has to protect.]] Even after getting taken down in a few ''seconds'' by him in a sparring match, she still worries about him far too much.

** ''[[DigimonTamers Tamers]'' wasn't the only season to have a JustAKid situation. Iori/Cody got this treatment from his older teammates, two of whom (T.K./Takeru and Kari/Hikari) conveniently forgot that Iori/Cody is two full years older than they were during their first adventure with the Digimon (at least that's the age gap in the American version. Correct me if that isn't universal).

** [[DigimonTamers "Tamers"]] wasn't the only season to have a JustAKid situation. Iori/Cody got this treatment from his older teammates, two of whom (T.K./Takeru and Kari/Hikari) conveniently forgot that Iori/Cody is two full years older than they were during their first adventure with the Digimon (at least that's the age gap in the American version. Correct me if that isn't universal).

* During the elimination round of the Mahora Fesival TournamentArc of ''MahouSenseiNegima'', most of the other fighters were treating [[TheHero Negi]], [[TheRival Kotaro]], and [[OldMaster Evangeline]] as silly little kids that seem to have lost their way. The jokes stopped the moment people more than twice their size started getting effortlessly knocked around.
** Evangeline's opponent in the first round tried to avoid this by treating her as an equal and not to be underestimated; of course since Evangeline is one of the strongest characters in the setting even while depowered, she still took him down in a split-second with a half-hearted punch while distracted.

[[folder:Web Animation]]

* Prevalent in {{Nasuverse}} works. Then again, the one saying it is usually [[OurVampiresAreDifferent far]] [[AllMythsAreTrue beyond]] mere humans.
** ''{{Tsukihime}}'': Nero to Shiki, who proceeds to destroy over a hundred of his beasts.
** ''FateStayNight'': Gilgamesh to Shirou, who by then has the perfect counter-ability (Avalon or [[FieldOfBlades Unlimited Blade Works]], [[AlternateContinuity depending]])

* This was the main plot of ''TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. [=SpongeBob=] got this from nearly everyone in the movie as a reason he's not capable of doing what he sets out to do. Of course, he does prove himself.

* This was the main plot of ''TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. SpongeBob got this from nearly everyone in the movie as a reason he's not capable of doing what he sets out to do. Of course, he does prove himself.
** This trope name is also the name of the third song on the movie's OST.