History Main / SpinOffBabies

Cartoons have a tendency to get [[{{Spinoff}} spun off]] into new shows with younger versions of the original characters. No one is quite sure why producers do this, aside from the opportunity to make a new franchise for a new demographic out of an older, successful property. Often the concept of the original show is dropped entirely and replaced, but sometimes it's adapted to an elementary- or middle-school setting. Frequently parodied, due to the absurdity of some of the examples. This trope is named after ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies|1984}}''.

* Andy Lane has written a series of ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' novels, unrelated to the movie.

* Seemingly to make a version appropriate for younger viewers, 1991 saw the release of ''WesternAnimation/JamesBondJr'', about the '''nephew''' of [[Franchise/JamesBond the famous superspy]], who also foils evil spies with the help of fellow descendents of well-known characters from the ''Bond'' series, but while trying to get his homework done on time too.

* ''Fanfic/TotalDramaKids'', a fancomic by Deviantart user Kika-ila that has the teenage contestants of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Island'', ''World Tour'', and ''Revenge of the Island'' as children attending elementary school together. With the debut of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaRama'', the whole thing becomes HilariousInHindsight.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/BoonieBears'' has a spin-off called ''Animation/BoonieCubs'' where a younger version of the main cast learn about various topics in Pine Tree Kindergarten.
* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' has a spin-off called ''Animation/PleasantGoatFunClass'', which makes the characters younger and cuter and is an EdutainmentShow where the characters learn all about the world around them.
[[/folder]]

* [[Webcomic/DinosaurComics T-Rex and Utahraptor]] disagree on how good an idea [[http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001058.html "Dino babies"]] is.

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/gallery/sketch.php?date=20070624 This sketch]] from the makers of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' parodies the concept with a litte Agatha, Krosp and Gil..and [[EmperorScientist Klaus]] who unlike the other three is is usual age but has been hit with a shrink ray. The title text proclaims ''"Shamless Marketing Presents:"''.
** Note that when the main characters are shown as younger, it's more "backstory", less "lil' mad scientists".

[[folder:Web Original]]

* For AprilFoolsDay 2018, Franchise/TheMuppets fansite ''Tough Pigs: For Muppet Fans Who Grew Up'' celebrated ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies2018'' by reinventing itself as ''[[http://www.toughpigs.com/toughpigs-babies/ Tough Pigs Babies: For Muppet Fans Who Didn't Grow Up]]'', and reviewed such never completed (or begun) cartoons as ''Series/SamAndFriends Babies'' and ''Advertising/WilkinsCoffee Babies'' (turns out babies shouldn't drink coffee). They even inverted the trope with "Muppet Elders", depicting the characters of the original show as elderly people living in a retirement home.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', in which most of the featured characters are re-imagined as [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld teenagers attending]] [[HighSchoolAU high school]]. This wouldn't completely count considering that many of the characters in the show were teenagers when first introduced in the comics (especially the original five), and some of the older characters (Professor X, Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, etc.) retained their canon ages.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho Adventures'' kids' magazine has a strip called "Alien Babies" with main characters Blun the Slitheen, Simon the Cyberman, Strup the Sontaran, Eldast the Silurian and Chas and Chelsea the Weeping Angels. Other babies come and go, often a baby version of the monster in the previous week's episode. (This was taken to a ridiculous extreme in the issue following [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten "The Rings of Akhaten"]], which featured a character actually called "Baby Grandfather.")

** In 1950 Superboy's own comic then introduced Super''baby'' - the adventures of Clark Kent when he was a super-powered toddler.
* In the late 1970s, Creator/DCComics introduced the "Super Juniors," baby versions of the ComicBook/JusticeLeague. While these characters only appeared in comics once (a digest-sized one-shot), they appeared on a considerable number of licensed products (toys, linens, nursery furnishings, etc.) in the early 1980s.

* The Grim Darkness of the future has just skewed to the 8 - 12 set with ''Literature/WarhammerAdventures''. It's more heroic Rogue Traders and Space Marines with [[KidHero kid heroes]] and less cleansing heretics with fire and steel. ''Warhammer Adventures'' has books for ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' and ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar.''

* Creator/AntAndDec's Saturday Night Takeaway had a segment featuring "Little Ant And Dec". Thankfully not an UnusualEuphemism, this featured a pair of kids who ''slightly'' resembled Big Ant And Dec interviewing somebody in a faintly rude fashion.

* The aforementioned ''DC Super Hero Girls'' spawned two animated continuities: the [[WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls web series]] where the protagonists go to ]]SuperheroSchool Super Hero High]] and the [[WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019 television series]] in which core groups of heroes and villians maintain secret identities while studying at Metropolis High School.

* Disney' ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'':

* The WWE's previous animated series, ''WesternAnimation/HulkHogansRockNWrestling'', had a one-off episode, "Small But Mighty," where the wrestlers were transformed into kids, thanks to Hillbilly Jim's secret chili recipe and granny's magical herbs. The kids wreak havoc, of course, but end up foiling a car-stripping ring by episode's end.

* ''Little Rosie,'' NotQuiteStarring an animated [[Series/{{Roseanne}} Roseanne Barr]] and featuring, in one episode, an animated John Goodman.

** By contrast, ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' is a but of a subversion. While it was originally conceived as such, over the creative process the cast were eventually split off into [[{{Expy}} Similar but original characters]] who were ''taught'' by the original LooneyTunes cast in school.

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'', with [[http://www.insecticons.com/insecticomics/v4/390.html "Michael Baybies,"]] featuring a combination of kids-friendly action and huge explosions in an obvious jab at Creator/MichaelBay.

* ''Mini-Jon's Experiments'' is a particularly odd example, as it is a spin-off for the Canadian comic ''ComicBook/SuperAgentJonLeBon'', which revolves around a kid clone of Jon having experiments while [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter making life hard for Henry]]. [[AllThereInTheManual As it turns out, he was born from Tiberius' attempt to make super soldier clones of Jon, so Mini-Jon was adopted by the Agency after destroying the lab.]]

* The ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' short "The Lil' Dics" parodied this by having a time traveler named Tim attempt to [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct kill Adolf Hitler and other notorious dictators during their infancy]], ultimately deciding to instead adopt them and rear them himself in hopes that doing so will make them better people in adulthood. The sketch ends with Tim answering the door to see his aged future self, who glumly informs his past self that his efforts didn't work before [[TemporalSuicide shooting him in the head]] and proceeding to set the house on fire with his past self's corpse and the baby dictators still inside.

* The ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' short "The Lil' Dics" parodied this by having a time traveler named Tim attempt to [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct kill Adolf Hitler and other notorious dictators during their infancy]], ultimately deciding to instead adopt them and rear them himself in hopes that doing so will make them better people in adulthood. The sketch ends with Tim answering the door to see his aged future self, who glumly informs his past self that his efforts didn't work before [[TemporalSuicide shooting him in the head]] [[HarmfulToMinors right in front of the infant dictators]].

* The aforementioned ''DC Super Hero Girls'' spawned two animated continuities: the [[WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls web series]] where the protagonists go to Super Hero High and the [[WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019 television series]] in which core groups of heroes and villians maintain secret identities while studying at Metropolis High School.

* ''Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog'' had ''WesternAnimation/CliffordsPuppyDays''. As a grown up, he was bigger than a house but as a pup he was so small that fits inside a cup of tea. This is likely because of the death of Creator/JohnRitter, the voice of Clifford, that this show was created.