History Main / JustaKid

* In the 1998 movie ''Film/{{Recoil}}'', when Morgan realizes that the robber they gunned down wasn't an typical robber (who pretends to be one).

* In the 1998 movie ''Recoil'', when Morgan realizes that the robber they gunned down wasn't an typical robber (who pretends to be one).

** And then flipped around in ''VideoGame/{{Stinkoman 20X6}}'', where 1-Up ''himself'' says that he can't rescue Pan Pan alone because he's just a kid. (Maybe when he's older...)

** Despite the page quote, the show averts this in that Aang is instantly recognized as the most important person on the planet by most people he encounters, and will react to him by either giving him respect, wanting him to complete a dangerous task for them, or attacking him on sight, and will usually result in Aang's pursuers homing in on his position regardless. This aversion is a distinctly mixed blessing to say the least.
** It's simultaneously averted and played straight (by Yue and Aang respectively) in the season one finale (which, coincidentally was aptly named "TheSiege of the North").

--->'''Tenzin:''' Kai! What does he know about when you should get tattoos? The answer is "no"! You're just a little girl.
--->'''Jinora:''' [[CallingTheOldManOut I'm not a little girl anymore. I can airbend just as well as you. I know everything about our culture and history, and I have a stronger connection with the spirits that you ever will. Lead your own class!]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': Ben occasionally runs afoul of this, though never for very long: VoluntaryShapeshifting helps you escape this trope. Rather bizarrely, though, he often does find himself falling victim to this response all over again after a battle, when he changes back into his human form and the supporting character of the week realizes that he's "just" a shape-shifting, superpowered kid rather than an alien.

* * Laharl of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea|HourOfDarkness}}'' has gotten quite a bit of this from both Etna and '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' Etna uses it to legitimately call him out on his [[RoyalBrat brattiness and emotional immaturity]] while He Who Has NoIndoorVoice is just incapable of believing that some [[BadassAdorable tiny little punk]] is stronger ''and'' smarter than him.
* In ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy]]'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vaan]] thinks that the Onion Knight is way too young to be fighting with the rest of them, and elects to be his [[BigBrotherInstinct "older brother."]] This mainly consists of him trying to get Onion Knight to take it easy at every term which ''really'' ticks off the Onion Knight, who's surprisingly mature and strong for his age.

* In the NES version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', one of the villagers in Ur thinks the four Onion Kids are crazy because they want to save the world.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' the main character Zidane does this to both the children of the group Eiko and Vivi when he is going through his depression telling them they are just children, completely ignoring their own sacrifices and contributions to the good of the group, before leaving them. It should be noted that Zidane rather cruely left both said children locked in a room they couldn't get out of without help and they could have realistically died if Zidane didn't remember what he did before leaving the area.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', Shinra responds to questions he doesn't know the answer to with "I'm just a kid. At one point, Yuna actually calls him out directly on this. She wants to communicate with the cactuars in the Cactuar Nation, but Benzo, the Al Bhed kid who understands their speech, isn't around. She asks Shinra if he can communicate with them and Shinra gives his standard excuse, to which Yuna responds that Benzo is also just a kid. Shinra seems ''very'' put out by this.

** Again played straight with Ricken in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', the youngest of Chrom's Shepherds. Most of his dialogue and supports have him trying to prove he isn't.
*** Arden from ''Genealogy of the Holy War'' is shocked to see [[Really700YearsOld Nowi]] on the battlefield for this reason.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: The younger Links occasionally get this treatment. In game, the general populace of Hyrule have various reasons for 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 of and other such reasons. As a whole the series justifies people treating Link like he's not a hero in that, in real life, if you saw a kid come up to you in Robin Hood's clothes, would you believe that they're the reincarnation of Robin Hood?
** In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' manga Link also has to deal with this when he's traveling the world. He's invited to show a group of soldiers in training how to fight; the guy in charge knows that Link is a little badass, but the trainees mock him. Until he beats them up, of course. It's then commented that he fights like a man but when it comes to food, he acts like a kid. ''Majora's Mask'' itself (as well as the manga) uses this trope when Link is turned into a Deku Scrub, too.

* Both Link and Zelda get this treatment to differing degrees in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''. Zelda writes an official royal decree to the guard of the neighboring village to allow Link to go Death Mountain. The guard when finding out laughs loudly at the letter and situation, as both Link and Zelda are children he believes Zelda is just using her royal family authority to play a children's game and doesn't take Link seriously due to his age. He does open the gate but it appears to be more for his own amusement rather than listening to the princess of the land.

** In ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'', Atlas, Mega ([[ViewerGenderConfusion Wo]])Man Model F, tells young Thetis, Mega Man Model L and fellow member of a QuirkyMinibossSquad, that he's just a kid like TheHero Grey/Ashe, the new Mega Man Model A. and wonders why so many kids were chosen to be [[TheChosenMany Biomatches]]. [[note]]The [[TransformationTrinket Biometals]] are the {{Legacy Character}}s of [[VideoGame/MegaManX X, Zero]], [[VideoGame/MegaManZero X's Four Guardians, and Dr. Weil]], FYI.[[/note]] Slightly irked, Thetis is quick to mention that as a teenager, there isn't much of a gap between them age-wise.

** This trope is one of the motivating factors behind [[spoiler:Naoto's]] Shadow. No matter how much effort [[spoiler:Naoto]] put into their profession, they would always get brushed off as being "just a child", leading to no end of frustration [[spoiler:along with the sexism inherent in the law enforcement profession.]]

* As the vast majority of the female cast in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' are just teenage girls often portrayed as TheCutie in their own ways they tend to get this casted down on them hard. Special mention goes to Guile who talks down to pretty much every teenage female character when he defeats them and pretty much tells them all they are useless in combat and they should just go home.
** Ibuki in the same game invokes this herself in her win quote against Kazuya Mishima from the opposite franchise "Taking it easy on me because I am a kid? Well don't forget I am also a ninja!". Though she herself gets a rather harsh one from the aforementioned Guile in the previous game alluding to a famous "family man" quote telling her to "Go home and be a schoolgirl" and the battlefield isn't for someone like her.

* Paige tries treating the others as kids in ''[[VideoGame/{{TCT RPG}} The Colour Tuesday,]]'' at which point Alex points out that she's the same age as the rest of them.

** ''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 older than they were during their first adventure with the Digimon.

'''Sylvia:''' Little... GIRL!? You ever see a little girl with [[GagBoobs THESE!?]]

* Both Firo and Luck from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' have a history of dealing with this. Because he started in the upper ranks of TheMafia at an age no greater than [[ImprobableAge fifteen]] (and potentially as young as ''thirteen'') thanks to family connections, Luck spent much of his career [[NobleDemon building up a front more ruthless than he actually is]] to counter it. Meanwhile Firo, while attaining his position at a somewhat later age and solely through his own skill, [[OlderThanTheyLook looks quite a bit younger]] [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld than he may be]] and tends to get written off as a brat because of it.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'':

* In a ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies'' episode that guest starred ''WesternAnimation/TheHarlemGlobetrotters'', "[[Recap/TheNewScoobyDooMoviesTheGhostlyCreepFromTheDeep The Ghostly Creep From the Deep]]", the two groups decided to play basketball for fun. The Globetrotters said they would go easy on Mystery Inc since they're only kids. They change their minds when Scooby easily gets the ball and scores a basket. "Looks like these kids got tricks of their own..."

* ''LightNovel/ModernVillainessItsNotEasyBuildingACorporateEmpireBeforeTheCrash'': Even after her investments turn her into the world's youngest self-made billionaire, people still think of Runa as just a child and Tachibana and Ichijou as the brains behind her schemes. Since she's the legal owner, people talk over her head and discuss "buttering up a little girl" to get her to help them without realizing she can hear and understand them.

* OlderThanFeudalism: Jeremiah, from ''Literature/TheBible'', tried to invoke this on himself when God called him to be a prophet, claiming he was too young.
** In the book of Judges, when Gideon captured Zebah and Zalmunna, he tells his firstborn son Jether to put them to death with his sword, but the narrative says Jether refused to do it because he was still just a youth. Zebah and Zalmunna goad Gideon to [[ARealManIsAKiller show his manliness by him putting them to death himself]], and Gideon obliges.
** In 1st Samuel, David was told by King Saul that he was too young to take on Goliath the Gittite by himself. David told King Saul that he had slain a lion and a bear with God's help while still just a youth, and with God's help he will also be able to slay the Philistine giant.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': Ben occasionally runs afoul of this, though never for very long: VoluntaryShapeshifting helps you escape this trope. Rather bizarrely, though, he often does find himself falling victim to this response all over again after a battle, when he changes back into his human form and the supporting character of the week realizes that he's a "just" a shape-shifting, superpowered kid rather than an alien.

Requires a show built around the concept of a hero who is stronger or more competent than they appear.

Because the conceit of this trope wears thin after two or three years, it often quietly fades, only to reappear in another character.

When it's the villain instead of the hero whose youth is being remarked on, you might be dealing with an EnfantTerrible, in which case you're in big trouble.

See also StayInTheKitchen, where a character is as "just a woman" or "just a girl", or CantArgueWithElves, where it involves different species. Frequently found in plots based around athletics, or the MachoDisasterExpedition. Contrast KidHasAPoint.

* The protagonist Ume in SelfInsert Naruto fanfic ''Fanfic/SugarPlums'' is well aware of this despite being the driving force behind a lot of the decisions made she has Ao who is older and more established in the shinobi world present them in her stead while pretending to be a timid and damaged little girl.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Transcendence}}'', almost everyone on [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Azeroth]] who first meets [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]] tends to doubt or outright dismiss his competence because he's only a teenager, which annoys him to no end.

* ''Fanfic/BoldoresAndBoomsticks'': Gladion tried to tell Lusamine about the experiments Faba was conducting with Type: Null, but she just dismisses it. [[PoorCommunicationKills Even worse]], her response makes it seem like she already knows, so he frees the Pokémon and runs away.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus'' has Parker be ''deeply'' annoyed by this. As he's only five, he is dismissed by everyone intentionally or not and it hurts his pride. It proves to him that he's ''not'' considered important, his opinion and fears are to be ignored. He has been told that he can't do anything to stop his sister's bullies, he was dismissed by Gloria and Goh as to why Sycamore shouldn't trust Alex Shepherd and when surrounded by idiot adults screaming their heads off -- while he's in a ''wheelchair'' at this point -- he gets very '''very''' angry at how barely anyone pays attention to a child like him until it's too late.
* ''Fanfic/FateEnds'': the Cang Qiong Mountain Peak Lords are stunned and horrified when they learned one of them had been swapped with twenty-six years old Harry -- in the jianghu, it ''does'' qualify as a child, and Harry is younger than his own martial ''niece''. Harry himself doesn't appreciate and points nobody noticed the swap because he did a very good job.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby'', Tim and the Boss Baby are overlooked and get away with pretty much anything on the basis that they are both just kids and therefore not a threat. It's also likely why, at the end of the film, [[spoiler:Tim's parents have their memories erased of having adopted a baby, but Tim is given a choice and chooses to keep his memories.]]

* In ''Film/KamenRiderOOOWonderfulTheShogunAndThe21CoreMedals'', ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' was having trouble fighting the BigBad, until he gets an unexpected assistance from the new guy, ''Series/KamenRiderFourze''. When Fourze "unmasks" himself in front of OOO, the latter was pretty surprised that the new Rider is actually just a high school student.
* In a positive example of this, the train passengers of ''Film/SpiderMan2'' are shocked, impressed, and inspired when they save the unconscious and maskless Spider-Man and realize how young their city's hero actually is.
--> '''Passenger:''' He's just a kid... no older than my son...

* In ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' the veteran generals of Wu were reluctant at first to follow the orders of their new chief strategist Lu Xun because he was just "a mere young scholar". They later gave him their full support after seeing how effective the strategy was in curb-stomping the invading Shu forces.

* ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Prince Caspian]]'': Trumpkin doesn't even try to hide his initial disappointment to find that the powerful kings and queens who ruled Narnia during the Golden Age have come back as ''children'' (YearInsideHourOutside complicates things that way).
* In the ''Literature/NightWorld'' series, made vampires are frozen at whatever age they are turned at, and lamia (vampires that can eat, have children, etc.) can stop their physical aging at any time they want. This ends up meaning that several people who have to fight vampires have to silently recite something along the lines of, "They're not really kids." Amusing, considering even vampire kids who are young would still be rather dangerous to a human.
* In ''Hunger'', the second book in the ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' series by Micheal Grant, this is the excuse of almost everyone for not working, because every character is under 15.

* Appears a lot the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series, mostly used by parents. But in book 4, 14-year-old Nita uses this trope on a month-old kitten bard; the kitten is not amused, and starts lecturing....
* "A terrorist doesn't let strangers into her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place. The terrorist doesn't know that one of these kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her address book. The kid works for [[Literature/CHERUBSeries CHERUB]]."
* The frequently-underestimated eleven-year-old chemistry genius and proto-goth-chick ''Literature/FlaviaDeLuce'' solves mysteries in books like ''The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie'' and ''The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag''. In the latter, the constabulary's infuriated that she is always better informed than they are and put it down to the fact that, as a kid, people open up to her. (The fact is, she's also smarter than they are.)
* [[Literature/TheHobbit Thorin Oakenshield]] was equivalent in age to a fourth or fifth grader when he fought at Nanduhirion and earned his nickname. [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings 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[[note]]Smaug was Public Enemy Number One at the time.[[/note]] Azog''!

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' has the Baudelaire orphans who are a lot more intelligent than they are given credit for, and one of them is a ''baby''. They learn [[AdultsAreUseless not to go to adults for help]] because usually adults either wrongly assume they are idiots because they are children or [[AdultsAreUseless are idiots themselves]] (and often both).
* Literature/ArtemisFowl has had it impressed on him many times that the hardest part of being a preteen [[TheChessmaster criminal mastermind]] is getting people to take you seriously, especially when dealing with his own race. Faeries tend to respect him more, though they still get irked at being outsmarted by a [[FantasticRacism mud boy]].
* This trope is why Literature/AlexRider is so useful to [=MI6=]--people see him and don't suspect that a fourteen-year-old boy is [[TeenSuperSpy an experienced intelligence operative]] capable of doing ''a lot'' of damage should he so choose. This is a good portion of why his bringing down two of Scorpia's plans in less than a year was so damaging for them--the biggest terrorist organization in the world, beaten ''twice'' by a ''{{teen|SuperSpy}}ager''.
** This trope, combined with ReversePsychology, is used against Alex at the end of the second book. He's just escaped from the villain's headquarters--nearly dying multiple times--and has absolutely no intention of going back in, despite being the only one around who knows the layout. He also hates being told that he's useless because he's a kid, especially by people who should know better. So when he's told that he can't participate in the raid because he's a kid so he'd slow them down and get in the way, he gets mad and immediately demands to go along. Five seconds later, he realizes what just happened, but by then it's too late.

* The titular protagonist of ''Literature/VarjakPaw'' gets this treatment from his older family members. They patronize him and look down upon him for being a "weird" kitten who doesn't look or act like a Mesopotamian Blue should. His BigBrotherBully Julius snidely says that he'll always be a kitten to his family.

* In ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'', new recruit Donna hesitates in following Parker's orders to shoot a teenager who had kidnapped his baby son and is endangering both of them. Ed calls her out on it and she explains the reason she hesitated was because all she saw was a scared kid.

* In the NES version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', one of the villagers in Ur thinks the four Onion Kids are crazy because they want to save the world.
* In ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy]]'', [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vaan]] thinks that the Onion Knight is way too young to be fighting with the rest of them, and elects to be his [[BigBrotherInstinct "older brother."]] This mainly consists of him trying to get Onion Knight to take it easy at every term which ''really'' ticks off the Onion Knight, who's surprisingly mature and strong for his age.
* Mission Vao in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is constantly annoyed this trope, to the point of it being a BerserkButton. She's just fourteen and sounds like a typical teenager, except for the part that when she demands to be taken seriously, she has good reason. You can avert actually treating her like this, though.
** Seeing as she survived ''on her own'' in [[WretchedHive one of the worst slums in the galaxy]] after her brother ran off, when she is an age, gender, species, and attractiveness level (nubile, female, pretty-looking Twi'lek of uncommon coloration) that would have pigeonholed her into prostitution, slavery, or worse '''and''' frequently explores tunnels and passages in the Undercity where even the party's [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Mandalorian mercenary]] won't go without a full entourage of armed men, even ''without'' [[TheBigGuy Zaalbar]] for backup, her annoyance at being blown off as a kid is pretty justified. Mission is definitely LittleMissBadass.

** But then again, in a vague spoiler, he did [[spoiler:lose a lot through his early life at the Rippling Walls]]. DeusAngstMachina much?

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'': Tengu Man looks down (literally) on our hero and says "It's just a kid. Don't make me laugh" in some instances in the English releases.
** Which is kind of a silly case, when you think about it. Mega Man might look and act like a child at some points, but he's actually ''older'' than every other robot in the franchise save Proto Man.
*** [[WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot Tengu Man was BUILT just last year, but he was DESIGNED as an adult.]]

* A very overdone excuse in ''VideoGame/PokemonSuperMysteryDungeon'' that keeps the main characters from getting full approval of doing ''anything'' remotely dangerous. No matter if they achieved three suicidal missions with no casualties, [[spoiler:evolved using magical trinkets all the way to their late stages]], being the only ones left for support, the adults will ''continuously'' dismiss them unless they ''are'' with an adult.
** Makes it incredibly ironic when it is revealed that [[spoiler:you are playing as a hero from 1000 years ago and your partner is the reincarnation of Mew, and the two of you are the only ones who can save the entire world]].

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', Rita Mordio is well-known as the genius mage, but she's also considered by every mage in Aspio as a weirdo because of her extreme fascination for Blastia (despite all of them having just as much fascination that they are pretty ignorant about what happens in the world). Though making many breakthroughs, adults at Aspio very often dismiss her from discussions because she's too young.

* Laharl of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea|HourOfDarkness}}'' has gotten quite a bit of this from both Etna and '''Captain Gordon, Defender of Earth!''' Etna uses it to legitimately call him out on his [[RoyalBrat brattiness and emotional immaturity]] while He Who Has NoIndoorVoice is just incapable of believing that some [[BadassAdorable tiny little punk]] is stronger ''and'' smarter than him.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', Shinra responds to questions he doesn't know the answer to with "I'm just a kid."
** At one point, Yuna actually calls him out directly on this. She wants to communicate with the cactuars in the Cactuar Nation, but Benzo, the Al Bhed kid who understands their speech, isn't around. She asks Shinra if he can communicate with them and Shinra gives his standard excuse, to which Yuna responds that Benzo is also just a kid. Shinra seems ''very'' put out by this.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'':
** Considering the protagonists are all in their early teens: "At times like this, kids like you should be playing video games!"
** Also in ''[=EarthBound=]'', the sea captain who is ferrying the group to Scaraba exclaims that he thought that the foursome were just a group of kids upon them defeating the Kraken.
* ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'': This is the way Sally Dobbs acts toward her brother Ronny.
* One of the motivating factors behind [[spoiler:Naoto's]] Shadow in ''VideoGame/Persona4''.
** Also seen in the Good Ending when [[spoiler:Adachi]] taunts the team by saying things along the lines of "Students should stay home and study." (As opposed to, you know, bringing him to justice.)
* A RunningGag in the fourth case of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' was that everyone was dissing the young Miles Edgeworth and Franziska Von Karma as just kids, even though Edgeworth was already a prosecutor.
* ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney:'' Almost everyone in the cast brushes off Apollo and Trucy as kids trying to play as grown-ups, even though Apollo IS a Defense Attorney and [[OlderThanTheyLook 22 years old]].
** The same goes for Athena in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies''. When Apollo first meets her a cop thinks she's a high school student with a fake attorney's badge and tries to arrest her for trespassing, [[CuteBruiser causing her to effortlessly throw him into Apollo out of reflex]].
* In ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'', Wolf continually calls Fox a "pup". [[AllThereInTheManual Nowhere do they explain]] they {{retcon}}ned Wolf's age to be 6 years older than Fox.

* This is a serious resentment of Rahim in ''VideoGame/DyingLight'' (so much so that he angrily snaps when people tell him not to do something dangerous because people see him as a kid) as he feels that Brecken (leader of the Tower), Jade (older sister) and Crane (undercover GRE Agent / "[[SecretIdentity tourist]]") don't think he has what it takes to go out into the field as a runner. However, they all have a good reason (Brecken's a professional parkour teacher and sees that he doesn't have the skill, Jade doesn't want to see him killed because he's the last family she has since the outbreak and all of them believe that his plan to destroy a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Volatile]] nest is a bad idea. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for Rahim, they were right -- when he disobeys everyone's orders and tries to destroy the nest himself, he gets another runner killed with his incompetence and gets [[ZombieInfectee infected]] then refuses to tell Crane who's come to rescue him, then ending with Rahim being [[MercyKill killed]] by Crane. His attempt to [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] this trope only [[DoubleSubversion ends up proving everyone right]].]]
* Often PlayedForDrama throughout the seasons of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadTelltale'' when it comes to Clementine. In Season 1, Lee starts off taking the opportunity to protect her ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential at the player's discretion, anyway]]), feeling it's his duty as an adult and as her [[PapaWolf surrogate father]], but Chuck tells him that this ideal just won't work in a post-apocalyptic society, and Clementine ''will'' die if she isn't ever taught to defend herself properly. So he does, and it ends up coming in very handy shortly afterwards, [[spoiler:especially when Lee himself is bitten and doomed to either die or zombify]]. Come Season 2, Clem often shocks the people around her at just how level-headed she is for a girl of only eleven years of age, to the point that she's often thrust to the fore of a situation.
* As the vast majority of the female cast in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' are just teenage girls often portrayed as TheCutie in their own ways they tend to get this casted down on them hard. Special mention goes to Guile who talks down to pretty much every teenage female character when he defeats them and pretty much tells them all they are useless in combat and they should just go home.
** Ibuki in the same game invokes this herself in her win quote against Kazuya Mishima from the opposite franchise "Taking it easy on me because I am a kid? Well don't forget I am also a ninja!". Though she herself gets a rather harsh one from the aforementioned Guile in the previous game alluding to a famous "family man" quote telling her to "Go home and be a schoolgirl" and the battlefield isn't for someone like her.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' the main character Zidane does this to both the children of the group Eiko and Vivi when he is going through his depression telling them they are just children, completely ignoring their own sacrifices and contributions to the good of the group, before leaving them. It should be noted that Zidane rather cruely left both said children locked in a room they couldn't get out of without help and they could have realistically died if Zidane didn't remember what he did before leaving the area.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'': Pretty much the Prince of Cannock's reason to his younger sister on why she can't come with your party. Given that the party is only about 16 or so, she can be assumed to be rather young. She likely didn't have any formal training either, which would have made her The Load in your group.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'': Getting dismissed due to his youth naturally doesn't go over well with Zev.
* ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'': In both the outdated backstory and the final game, Arizona's father didn't want her to go out to become The Prairie's Champion because she was too young (about 1-year-old in the original Book of Lore) and that it was too dangerous. Throughout her quest, other characters tell Arizona to just go home for similar reasons.
* Done with the ladybug siblings Leby and Dib in ''VideoGame/BugFables''. Leby refuses to allow Dib to take care of her, seeing him just as a kid and believing he can't help her the same way she helps him. This culminates in Dib running away in hopes of trying to prove himself by finding something for her birthday.

* Lampshaded in [[http://www.superstupor.com/sust04092008.shtml this]] ''Webcomic/SuperStupor'' strip. The BigBad thinks the trope, but his GenreSavvy henchman quits on the spot. Of course, the BigBad [[GenreBlindness doesn't believe him]] and gets roasted.

* A rather [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IcZbluiA1s vulgar example]] brought to you by the WebVideo/TheTourettesGuy. Apparently, asking for Captain Crunch cereal is enough to get the "Just A Kid" treatment ''and'' some very blue-mouthed put downs if you're Danny's son.

-->'''Aang:''' I must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships, but there's just too many of them. I can't fight them all.\\

'''Aang:''' I'm just one kid. ''(buries his head in his arms)''

-->'''Tenzin:''' Kai! What does he know about when you should get tattoos? The answer is "no"! You're just a little girl.
-->'''Jinora:''' [[CallingTheOldManOut I'm not a little girl anymore. I can airbend just as well as you. I know everything about our culture and history, and I have a stronger connection with the spirits that you ever will. Lead your own class!]]

* ''Anime/TengaToppaGurrenLagann'': Allies and enemies alike underestimate 14-year-old Simon due to his age and the fact he initially doesn't think much of himself either. Despite all this, he's the driving force that leads the heroes to victory.

* Nue of ''Manga/AirGear'' is the Thunder King, making him one of the top riders of the series, and is also one of the youngest of the Kings.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': [[KidHero Ezra Bridger]] gets this from time to time, most notably in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E07StealthStrike "Stealth Strike"]], when he's underestimated by both Commander Sato and Admiral Titus. (Agent Kallus, on the other hand, warns Titus not to underestimate Ezra, [[CassandraTruth but his warnings go unheeded]].) Ezra proves himself by escaping capture and helping to rescue Sato.

* ''Lightnovel/FullMetalPanic'':

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* In ''LightNovel/TheAdventOfDeathsDaughter'', Madea Naoko gets constantly confused with a 12-year-old child, despite being 17 and gets seriously underestimated as a result. At best, this results in CrossPoppingVeins. At worst, a grisly death is coming your way.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

-->'''Green Goblin:''' ''[thinking to himself]'' It's incredible! He's just a kid--can't be more than nineteen or twenty! I'd never have guessed!

* Often PlayedForDrama throughout the seasons of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' when it comes to Clementine. In Season 1, Lee starts off taking the opportunity to protect her ([[VideoGameCrueltyPotential at the player's discretion, anyway]]), feeling it's his duty as an adult and as her [[PapaWolf surrogate father]], but Chuck tells him that this ideal just won't work in a post-apocalyptic society, and Clementine ''will'' die if she isn't ever taught to defend herself properly. So he does, and it ends up coming in very handy shortly afterwards, [[spoiler:especially when Lee himself is bitten and doomed to either die or zombify]]. Come Season 2, Clem often shocks the people around her at just how level-headed she is for a girl of only eleven years of age, to the point that she's often thrust to the fore of a situation.

* A theme on ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': the team initially formed when the original sidekicks felt their mentors weren't giving them as much respect as they deserved. The Justice League agreed to accommodate them (albeit with issues continued to be hammered out throughout the first season). And of course, it sometimes comes up with villains too; [[BlowYouAway Mister Twister]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards actually claims to be disturbed to fight children]] and asks if they have any adult supervision.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: The younger Links occasionally get this treatment. In game, the general populace of Hyrule have various reasons for 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 of and other such reasons. As a whole the series justifies people treating Link like he's not a hero in that, in real life, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome if you saw a kid come up to you in Robin Hood's clothes, would you believe that they're the reincarnation of Robin Hood]]?

* In a positive example of this, the train passengers of ''Film/SpiderMan2'' are shocked, impressed, and inspired when they save the unconscious and maskless Spider Man and realize how young their city's hero actually is.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'':

* Lampshaded by almost all the villains Gohan fights in one-on-one battle in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Goku also suffered from this in the ''Manga/DragonBall'' series and in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', which annoyed him even more, as he was reaching his sixties and was one of the strongest beings in the universe.

** 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.

* In the anime/manga of ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'', despite his many achievements at his young age, Arslan is still a fourteen year old boy. Daryun is concerned for him after Narsus revealed to Arslan that [[spoiler: his cousin Hilmes is after the throne after his uncle Andragoras murdered his father.]]

* ''Fanfic/MirrorsTLOZ'': Ganondorf reacts this way when he's challenged and later defeated by the 17-year old Link. He derides Link as being just a boy and refuses to believe he can defeated by someone his age.

* ''Fanfic/BoldoresAndBoomsticks'': Gladion tried to tell Lusamine about the expirements Faba was conducting with Type: Null, but she just dismisses it. [[PoorCommunicationKills Even worse]], her response makes it seem like she already knows, so he frees the Pokémon and runs away.

* Done with the ladybug siblings Leby and Dib in ''VideoGame/BugFables''. Leby refuses to allow Dib to take care of
her, seeing him just as a kid and believing he can't help her the same way she helps him. This culminates in Dib running away in hopes of trying to prove himself by finding something for her birthday.

** Ibuki in the same game invokes this herself in her win quote against Kazuya Mishima from the opposite franchise "Taking it easy on me because I am a kid? Well don't forget I am also a ninja!". Though she herself gets a rather harsh one from the afore mentioned Guile in the previous game alluding to a famous "family man" quote telling her to "Go home and be a schoolgirl" and the battlefield isn't for someone like her.

* Done with the ladybug siblings Leby and Dib in ''VideoGame/BugFables''. Leby refuses to allow Dib to take care of her, seeing him just as a kid and believing he can't help her the same way she helps him. This culminates in Dib running away in hopes of trying to prove himself by finding something for her birthday.

** Apparently this runs in familes, as Aang's granddaughter [[ChildProdigy Jinora]] goes through this in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. Tenzin virtually says this verbatium when she asks about whether she is ready for her tatoos, after Kai convinces her that she should have them.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/DragonBooster'', where not only are the main cast all 16 or under (Moordryd being debatably 17), no one even mentions that Artha's 10 year old brother is going on the adventures with the group. Possibly explained by the only adults we see being Artha and Moordryd's fathers, and officials that are presumably upper class, but it's strange to only see adults in situations that simply could not be done by children (security heads and teachers), and no one thinks it's strange for the Down City racers to be primarily under 20.

** Which still doesn't excuse no one being shocked that Lance (the above mentioned 10 year old) went on all the missions with Artha's team and the only person to even say "he's just a little kid" was Artha's AntiVillain rival Moordryd, and even then only after Lance was attacked. Other than that, people only refer to him as short. Clearly the standards are different in Dragon City.

* No matter how old your are or how much experience or education you acquire you will always be a child in your parent's eyes.

* ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan The Amazing Spider-Man]]'': Spidey gets unmasked by Dr. Octopus in an early issue, but thanks to Peter Parker's youth (and Spidey's poor performance in the proceeding fight) [[YourCostumeNeedsWork neither Ock nor the assembled crowd believe Parker is really Spidey]], assuming that Peter just donned a Spider-Man costume to play the hero. Years later, when Spidey unmasks on national TV, Doc Ock goes on a rampage fueled by the humiliation of being constantly beaten by a high-schooler.
** Subverted a lot in ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', where Spider-Man is normally a well-respected threat to the bad guys until he begins to quip. His talking points normally date him (making pop-culture references or naïve assumptions), prompting the bad guy to reply along the lines of "Wait, how old are you?"

** Also played straight with Rolf in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' (less so in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' since [[TimeSkip he does get older]]) by his brother Boyd, and the majority of the people on his support list, excluding the [[IllBoy sickly priest Rhys]] and his mentor [[TallDarkAndSnarky Shinon]], for the most part. Some of his support conversations basically begin with someone telling him that he's too young to be on a battlefield, [[BerserkButton while he denies it vehemently]], and later proves them wrong at the A support level.