History Main / TheKidwiththeRemoteControl

* In ''VideoGame/{{Panic}}, Slap (and his dog, Stick) are tasked with many, many remotes to destroy the virus. Unfortunately, [[InvertedTrope their remotes aren't labelled]], and more often than not the buttons aren't exactly helpful to their goal. HilarityEnsues.

->''"Wow, my own giant robot! I am now the luckiest kid in America!\\
This must be the biggest discovery since, I don't know, television or something!"''

* ''Anime/{{Raideen}}'': Raideen is both a Physical God, EmpathicWeapon and HumongousMecha. Only TheChosenOne Akira hibiki can control it, since Raideen shall not accept another pilot.

* Personas in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'' are GuardianEntities which are almost fully under the control of their summoners. They generally only manifest when called, and most often appear when the user is a teenager (though the age has been known to go as low as six and as high as the early twenties). The Persona is an aspect of someone's inner self, but they sometimes express a mind of their own, and focus is needed to keep control of the remote. [[spoiler:Losing the remote can end extremely badly, as [[BigBad Takahisa Kandori]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Jun Kurosu]] and [[MyGreatestFailure Shinjiro Aragaki]] all learn the hard way.]]

* Hiro is this to Baymax in ''Disney/BigHero6'', though the only control he has is Baymax's programmer prerogative to look after Hiro's well-being. It's unclear if there was a way for someone else to have overridden Hiro's control.

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* New ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' character [[BenevolentAI Orisa]] is this, being a guardian robot built by an 11-year-old [[ChildProdigy tech whiz.]]

* The ''Anime/{{Kirby|OfTheStars}}'' anime has a variant -- since Kirby is incredibly powerful but has the mind of a toddler, Fumu frequently has to tell him when to inhale, and she is also the only one who can summon the Warp Star for Kirby to use. However, once he copies an ability, Kirby seems to [[LetsGetDangerous become much more competent]] and rarely needs direction from that point onwards.

** His ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' spoof counterpart had an army of Jehovah's Witnesses. They foiled un-christian activities and then handed out leaflets.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Bran has control over Summer and Hodor, too. Later taken to its logical extreme when Robb leaves for war and Bran becomes the acting lord of Winterfell.

* Personas in ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' are GuardianEntities which are almost fully under the control of their summoners. They generally only manifest when called, and most often appear when the user is a teenager (though the age has been known to go as low as six and as high as the early twenties). The Persona is an aspect of someone's inner self, but they sometimes express a mind of their own, and focus is needed to keep control of the remote. [[spoiler:Losing the remote can end extremely badly, as [[BigBad Takahisa Kandori]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Jun Kurosu]] and [[MyGreatestFailure Shinjiro Aragaki]] all learn the hard way.]]

* Most ''[[{{Mons}} mon]]'' shows, including ''{{Pokemon}}'', ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'', etc.

* ''General Jumbo'': Jumbo was the eponymous hero of a long-running story appearing intermittently in ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', in command of a sizeable army (and occasionally navy and air force) built by his friend Professor Carter. A low-achieving hero by modern standards, he mainly foiled minor nuisances and petty criminals, but since even this entailed independently controlling dozens of models using a wrist controller with only a few buttons, it would be churlish to deride his efforts.

* Jason from the short-lived Oni press series "Jason & The Argobots."

-->-- '''Hogarth''', ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''.

If the partner is an [[AntiHero Anti-Hero]] or even TokenEvilTeammate this trope becomes the KidWithTheLeash

[[quoteright:200:[[VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cit_utawarerumono_-_Aruruu_and_tiger.jpg]]]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Bran has control over Summer and to Hodor, too. Later taken to its logical extreme when Robb leaves for war and Bran becomes the acting lord of Winterfell.

* In ''{{Utawarerumono}}'' Aruruu raises a tiger-like dragon/god-cub to giant proportions and later rides on it into battle.

Sometimes the remote control is literal -- as in the watch used in ''GiantRobo'' by Johnny Sokko/Daisaku Kusama to transmit orders to Giant Robo. Sometimes it is figurative or metaphorical, in the sense that the mecha or creature [[EmpathicWeapon considers the child its sole master]] and obeys only him. [[AndroclesLion Helping said creatures]] or [[PetBabyWildAnimal raising them from birth]] are reliable ways to recruit the free-willed variants.

* ''Manga/{{Heroman}}'' has Joey Jones, the series itself is pretty much Creator/StanLee's take on shows like GiantRobo and this trope in general.

* The heroine of ''Gearz'', after receiving a coterie of robot bodyguards due to a postal error. As a GenreSavvy pop culture junkie, she specifically compares herself to Johnny Sokko (Daisaku Kusama's name in the English version of the live-action ''GiantRobo'' show called ''Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot''.)

It can sometimes be difficult to tell whether the kid is his partners [[{{Sidekick}} sidekick]] or vice versa especially if the partner is capable of human speech, but if they are main characters one is probably the [[{{Deuteragonist}} Deuteragonist]] and the other the Protagonist. The trope originated in dawn-time Anime and Manga and is still strongest in those genres.