Line #40 Main/BreakfastClub


1	!!!'''For the trope-naming 1985 teen film, see ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''.'''
2	----
3	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheBreakfastClub https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/breakfast_club_9.jpg]]]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:Meet the original {{Trope Namer}}s.]]
5
6	Misery loves company.
7
8	A gang of misfits whom no-one likes and/or don't like themselves (and perhaps each other by extension) get together, or an elder, often a ZenSurvivor, brings them together. A circle of TrueCompanions forms out of everyone's lives sucking so much they ended up stuck with each other. If they actually want to stick together because otherwise they would be alone, they are LonelyTogether.
9
10	Very common in superhero teams who, while, fighting evil, tend not to have flashy headquarters or get a lot of public support or respect. Also could be used for villains, when they're not qualified to be a QuirkyMinibossSquad. The villain version is usually led by a StrawNihilist.
11
12	A concise way of saying it: most, if not all of the cast, in the group count as TheWoobie (or at least have a lot of {{Angst}}) in their own individual way, even if it may not seem so at first.
13
14	Compare RagtagBunchOfMisfits. See also TheBreakfastPlot.
15	----
16	!!Examples:
17
18	[[foldercontrol]]
19
20	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
21	* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':
22	** The main characters themselves. Yusuke and Kuwabara are two juvenile delinquents who aren't liked or trusted all that much by authority figures or their fellow classmates, and Hiei and Kurama are a pair of demon criminals forced to work for the spirit world as punishment for their crimes.
23	** Villainous example: The Seven. They're all pretty troubled people...
24	* The Sinners from ''Manga/ChronoCrusade''. [[spoiler:Disowned by their people, and dwindled down to frighteningly small numbers,]] this group of demons formed together around Aion to carry out his plans, while becoming an [[TrueCompanions odd sort of family]].
25	* The Creator/KyotoAnimation adaptation of ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', thanks to its refusal to just toss the haremettes after their story arcs were over, seems to have the harem grow into something like this in the end.
26	* In ''Manga/Brave10'', the Braves are a bunch of lonely [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits misfits]] with [[DarkAndTroubledPast Dark and Troubled Pasts]] slowly recruited by [[MysteriousEmployer Yukimura]] who end up forming a FamilyOfChoice.
27	* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': In school, Ichigo is part of a group of misfits with Sado, Mizuiro and Keigo. Ichigo is considered a scary delinquent because of his scowling face and his unusual red hair; Sado is a huge half-Mexican and regarded as being just as scary. Mizuiro is small and angelic-looking, but has his own dark secrets. Keigo is the ButtMonkey of the group, who brings Mizuiro out of his shell and keeps the gang cheerful. After Ichigo and Uryuu cross paths, Ichigo brings [[AloofAlly Uryuu]] into the group, much to the initial consternation of both the group and Uryuu himself. Tatsuki and Orihime are also part of this group as the belligerent Tatsuki is Ichigo's oldest friend and Orihime is her {{protectorate}}; Rukia also joins the group during her stay in Karakura Town. All the kids end up with the ability to see and interact with the spirit world, but Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo remain peripheral to most of the dangerous activities until the Battle of Karakura Town, which leads to them finally being fully updated on how the spirit world works and the powers their friends possess. The epilogue shows that they're all still friends as adults, ten years after the manga has ended.
28	* In ''Manga/SpyXFamily'', the [[GenreRoulette Heartwarming Domestic Cold War Spy Comedy]], a cold and handsome ConsummateLiar Super-Spy named Loid must pretend to the patriarch of respectable family to gain intelligence on an enemy nation's politician who only ever appears in public during Parent Teacher Interviews of a wealthy private school. To this end, he agrees to a MarriageOfConvenience to a eccentric but kind-hearted office lady, who also grew up as an orphan of the previous World War... who unbeknownst to him is a deadly assassin who needs the cover of [[OldMaid being married at 27 to not rouse suspicion]] of the country's SecretPolice. They both become the adoptive parents to an unusually clever orphaned girl called Anya, who unbeknownst to ''both'' of them is a Mind-Reading Psychic who ''knows'' their true identities, and a BigFriendlyDog called Bond who can see into the future later completes their band. Meet the Forgers; An adorable little family comprised of two professional murderers and two science experiments, all oprhans of war, outsiders banding together to survive in a deadly and paranoid ColdWar world that would reject them otherwise. ''Spy X Family'' however differs from most "Breakfast Club Plots" in that whereas most other bands of this sort cannot stand each other, and refuse to change or compromise, the Forgers are bound together in love as they show each other nothing but their best, human and ''genuine'' selves to each other.
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Audio Plays]]
32	* ''AudioPlay/TheElysiumProject'' has the group of escaped test subjects that the story centers around. They've all been lied to and experimented on for years and now they're constantly running for their lives, but their shared trauma has brought them together.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* Creator/DCComics:
37	%%** ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol''.
38	%%** ''ComicBook/MetalMen''.
39	** The ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', both the original team (through ret-cons and CharacterDevelopment) and especially the ''ComicBook/NewTeenTitans''.
40	** For a villainous version — most of ComicBook/TheFlash's RoguesGallery have formed a tight little group (actually referred to as "the Rogues"), and they come off this way.
41	* Creator/MarvelComics:
42	** ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'', especially in the Steve Gerber era.
43	** The ''ComicBook/XMen'' started out this way, but it's softened tremendously in recent years.
44	** ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', to the power of ten.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
48	* ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' is the TropeNamer and are seen in the above image.
49	* Creator/JohnFord's acclaimed Western film ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'' did this trope way back in 1939, making the trope OlderThanTelevision. The seven passengers on the stage to Lordsburg, New Mexico, include [[Creator/JohnWayne an outlaw]], a prostitute, an alcoholic, and [[StillFightingTheCivilWar an ex-Confederate who isn't shy about expressing his political views]]. [[note]] The "alienation from society" theme, while not overt, is certainly there: the alcoholic refers to himself and the prostitute as "victims of social prejudice" - and they are, although the prostitute has a little more self-respect. [[/note]] In the end, however, they have all developed respect for each other, largely as a result of [[FireForgedFriends cooperating to fight off a war party of Apaches]] - [[spoiler: except for the ex-Confederate, who is killed by the Apaches]].
50	* ''Film/TheFaculty'' is basically ''The Breakfast Club'' as a sci-fi horror movie with [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic aliens]], with the protagonists' personalities and roles mapping fairly closely to their counterparts in that film. (Stan --> Andy, Delilah --> Claire, Casey --> Brian, Zeke --> Bender, and Stokely --> Allison.) [[spoiler:The fact that Marybeth doesn't have an obvious counterpart from ''The Breakfast Club'' is, in fact, a pretty early clue that she's actually the BigBad.]]
51	* The characters in ''Film/TheBoysInTheBand'' are a Breakfast Club of [[DysfunctionJunction dysfunctional]] [[CastFullOfGay gay men]].
52	* Michael Mann's early action flick ''Film/BandOfTheHand'' is about turning the [[TookALevelInBadass Breakfast Club into a bunch of badasses]].
53	* The characters in ''Film/UnaccompaniedMinors'' are young versions of this.
54	* The main characters who become a herd in the Original ''WesternAnimation/IceAge1'' are a form of this.
55	* ''Film/LemonadeMouth'' is ''The Breakfast Club'' [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace except a musical]].
56	** Two ''Lemonade Mouth'' stars were in other ''Breakfast Club'' movies. Creator/NaomiScott was in ''The Breakfast Club'' [[Film/PowerRangers2017 with superheroes]] and Music/HayleyKiyoko was in ''[[Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins The Breakfast Club]]'' [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo with Scooby-Doo]].
57	* The group of teenagers in ''Film/TheBabysitter2017'' are a villainous example. The JerkJock Max, the PerkyGoth [[TheFashionista fashionista]] Sonia, the ClassClown John, the CruelCheerleader Allison, and their leader, the sexy blonde babysitter Bee, are carrying out a HumanSacrifice of the nerd Samuel and try to kill the protagonist Cole once he catches them in the act.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Literature]]
61	* ''Literature/{{Haganai}}'' is a comical take on the trope, featuring seven [[DysfunctionJunction friendless, attractive-looking teens with not-so-attractive quirks and personalities]] LonelyTogether under the banner of the "Neighbors Club", whose ostensible goal is to help its members make friends: Kodaka -- a boy who happens to be [[OnlySaneMan the sanest of the lot]], whose solitude stems mostly from [[FaceOfAThug his intimidating appearance]]; Yozora -- an [[ByronicHero abrasive loner]] with a hobby of talking to {{Imaginary Friend}}s; Sena -- the [[MsFanservice ridiculously hot]] daughter of their school's chairman with a [[RichBitch snobby attitude]]; Yukimura -- a highly-effeminate, gullible WholesomeCrossdresser[[spoiler:/[[RecursiveCrossdressing Recursive Crossdresser]]]]; Rika -- a TeenGenius with an [[LovableSexManiac incredibly dirty mind]]; Kobato -- Kodaka's little sister under a constant [[{{Chuunibyou}} self-delusion]] of being a [[VampireLolitaArchetype vampire-loli]]; and Maria -- a ten-year-old [[HollywoodNuns Hollywood Nun]] with severe [[CloudCuckoolander reality-testing issues]].
62	* The Culture Club from ''Literature/KokoroConnect'' is a group of five students who, for various reasons, didn't fit in with Yamahoshi Academy's available clubs. Taichi, Aoki, and Yui wanted to join clubs that didn't exist, Inaba left the Computer Club because she didn't like the president, and Iori let her homeroom teacher choose for her.
63	* ''Literature/TheSunAlsoRises'' is about a Breakfast Club of American expatriates living in France in TheRoaringTwenties. The group consists of a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI veteran (who is impotent due to an injury sustained during the war), a jaded OldMaid [[LadyDrunk party girl]], and a shy guy who just wants everyone to get along. However, the book [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] the trope, showing how each person's problems actually annoys and alienates the others to where many of them [[TheFriendNobodyLikes can't stand each other]]. If anything, everybody (save [[OnlySaneMan Bill]]) ends up more miserable than they started out.
64	* The book ''Literature/{{Clean}}'' even lampshades this, with Chris saying, "We're kind of like a fucked-up version of that movie ''The Breakfast Club''."
65	* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
66	** The victors lean towards this, because only other tributes can understand what they've gone through. At least, the ones who aren't trying to kill each other. [[spoiler: Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and sort of Johanna, for the most part, and also Wiress and Beetee at first and Annie later.]] They're implied to have been more like this before the twist of the Quarter Quell (i.e., that they'd be competing to kill ''each other'' now) was announced. Katniss notes they (both competing victors and the victors mentoring them) are much more social than the usual pack of brand-new scared kids are every year. Haymitch in particular is seriously bothered by the whole thing, at one point telling Katniss and Peeta that he didn't want to be responsible for them getting his friends killed off.
67	** In ''Mockingjay'', there's a vote between the Tributes about whether or not to send high-ranking Capitol officials' children into a last Hunger Game; Katniss and Haymitch vote to do it. It seems almost certain that Katniss votes that way only in order to fool Coin into thinking she's on her side, and the fact that Haymitch understood that and voted with her makes Katniss realize how much they really understand each other.
68	* The Losers Club in ''Literature/{{It}}'' are a particularly messed up version of this, as they are a group of youths (later adults) who are brought together by an omnipresent being known as the other to battle-shapeshifting MonsterClown Pennywise. For two brief periods of time, they rely on each other, only to move away and forget about each other. The casting of a girl who looks a little like Creator/MollyRingwald in ''Film/It2017'' only makes it more obvious.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
72	* ''Series/DeadLikeMe''. The main cast regularly eat breakfast together at a GreasySpoon, as well, making them a ''literal'' example of the trope name.
73	%%* ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' (separate groups)
74	%%* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''
75	%%* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''
76	* Most definitely the cast of ''{{Series/Lexx}}'', though the robot head guy would not qualify as TheWoobie.
77	* The members of the [[Series/{{MASH}} 4077th M* A* S* H]]. It's not so much that no one liked them at home (except maybe for [[{{Jerkass}} Frank]] [[ButtMonkey Burns]]) and more like they all happen to be stuck in a war zone together (they hate it). In one episode, Hawkeye compares it to people who crowd under building overhangs during a rain storm.
78	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' . Even the theme song is about this.
79	* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': The gang of Paddy's Pub could be a {{Deconstruction}}. They are all [[DysfunctionJunction barely-functional alcoholics who are riddled with personality flaws and psychological disorders]], they [[TheFriendNobodyLikes all hate each other to a certain degree]], and aren't above [[WithFriendsLikeThese sabotaging each other when they can]], but they have such a level of toxic co-dependency that they are the only people who can stand to be around them.
80	--> '''Charlie''': ''We'll just go back to the bar. We'll hide from the world in the bar.''
81	* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', ''oh'' so much. Five low-grade criminal teens find themselves united by social alienation, superpowers, and the accidental murder of their rampaging AxCrazy zombie probation worker.
82	* ''Series/{{Community}}''. Lampshaded mercilessly in the pilot.
83	* Deconstructed on ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun''. Harry goes to night classes to get his GED. He takes advice from Tommy on how to act like the BigManOnCampus, but eventually comes to realize everyone there is from disparate age groups and backgrounds and that trying to act cool is completely pointless. Eventually, he finds a study group like this.
84	* The four mains of ''Series/GossipGirl'', Nate, Chuck, Blair, and Serena, call themselves the Non-Judging Breakfast Club. The foursome grew close as kids when none of them had reliable parents and it's been mentioned that they more or less raised each other.
85	* ''Series/TheInbetweeners'': The four friends at times seem like they have little reason to be friends due to their contrasting personalities. At the same time, their misfit status in school means that they're the only people who can stand each other.
86	* ''{{Chickens}}'': Cecil, George, and Bert. The only similarity they have is that they're the only men left in their after WWI has started. As a result, they end up being forced to bond.
87	* ''Series/RedBandSociety'': A group of kids who have nothing in common except for being in hospital together? Big tick.
88	* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Five self-proclaimed loners discover that their whole is more than the sum of their parts, at first professionally, but increasingly emotionally as the series progresses.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Music]]
92	* Music/BillyJoel's "Piano Man". The bar is full of lonely, sad people [[DrowningMySorrows drowning their sorrows]] "sharing a drink they call Loneliness, but it's better than drinking alone".
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Roleplay]]
96	* This is how Daigo created his gang of delinquents in ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', by gathering together fellow teenagers who were ostracized or bullied by their peers. While they were originally eager to follow Daigo in his rebellion against those who put them down, some of the members grew increasingly wary as Daigo experienced a huge uptick in violence after gaining superpowers, to the point that a couple of them broke ties with the gang completely.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Video Games]]
100	* The companions of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' could be called the Breakfast Club of [=RPGs=] without being much of a stretch. Suffice it to say they ''all'' have massive issues, shaky self-worth, questionable social skills at best, and no-one looking out for them but each other. The glue holding this motley crew together is a FightMagnet refugee who can be anything from diplomat to SadClown to highwayman. They stay together for ''six years'' (although a lot of that's covered by time-jumps), and meet up for drinks and card games when they're not out killing people. Unlike the average RagtagBunchOfMisfits, there's no overriding mission that keeps them all together - they all have their personal ambitions, and stick together out of choice.
101	* Hell, ''any'' Creator/BioWare game is going to end up with a crew like this.
102	** [[Franchise/MassEffect Shepard's]] crew includes a thousand year old mercenary, an archaeologist, a CowboyCop, a WrenchWench, a gruff soldier with a spiritual side and a gentle soldier who went through a special kind of TrainingFromHell... and that's just the ''first'' game.
103	** The [[VideoGame/JadeEmpire Spirit Monk]] ends up with a childhood friend [[spoiler: and long-lost princess]], a former Lotus Assassin, a thief, a CreepyChild possessed by ''two'' demons, a RebelliousPrincess, a former arena fighter who's willing to do ''anything'' to avoid his wife, a nutcase mercenary, and ''at least two minor deities.''
104	** [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic The Ebon Hawk]]? Star Padawan of the Jedi Order, ProperlyParanoid (and possibly Force Sensitive) Republic soldier, a Mandalorian mercenary fallen on hard times, Twi'lek street kid and her ''big'' Wookiee BFF, Cathar Jedi with anger management issues, Cranky ex-Jedi who was slumming it in the Kashyyyk shadowlands, troublemaking astromech droid, gleefully homicidal assassin droid with a ''long'' string of dead masters...Oh, and [[spoiler: you - the mind-wiped, ex-Sith Lord]].
105	* Of all the protagonist ensembles in the series, the cast of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' fits this trope best.
106	* The protagonists of ''VideoGame/ObsCure'' are all conspicuously modeled on those of ''The Breakfast Club'', as part of its homage to '90s teen horror movies. Like in ''Film/TheFaculty'', one of its main inspirations, the main characters are high school students -- after the athlete Kenny (the game's analogue to Andy) disappears following basketball practice, Kenny's cheerleader girlfriend Ashley (Claire), the nerdy photographer Josh (Brian), the [[TheStoner pot-smoking slacker]] Stan (Bender), and Kenny's GirlNextDoor sister Shannon (an imperfect analogue to Allison, though in the sequel she gets a full-blown {{goth}} makeover) come together to search the school grounds after hours to find out what happened to him.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Webcomics]]
110	* ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt''. What else did you expect to happen when you throw a bunch of condemned criminals into a RealityShow together?
111	* The main cast of ''Webcomic/MiraclesOfNeksenziPoint'' end up hanging out mainly because everyone else is scared of them.
112	* A lot of the main group in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' come from {{Friendless Background}}s or [[StepfordSmiler deep-seated emotional issues]] before fitting in with each other. It happens often enough that Marten [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2298 jokes]] about "adopting another one".
113	-->'''Marten:''' [[BrokenBird You]] [[ObsessivelyOrganized two]] befriended me via bullying and stalking, respectively. If we extrapolate from there, Marigold is going to stab me in the face.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Web Original]]
117	* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'':
118	** Team Kimba; they get together because they are put together on their first day since they all have a secret that makes them outsiders. [[ItWasHisSled They are all transgender, most of them against their will.]] Subversion: they rapidly become well-liked and considered heroic, after they happen to defeat a band of superpowered ninjas before the first day of school.
119	** Outcast Corner {{exaggerate\|dtrope}}s this. It's as though the only reason they haven't demolished the school yet is because they have each other. Everyone on the team is either a rager, a devisor, insane or ''all of the above'', and even Diamondback and Jericho, the most sane of the bunch, have some major issues.
120	** Faction Three, the support group which [[DraconicHumanoid Thuban]] created for the students who have GSD (mutations which cause BodyHorror transformations) is ''meant'' to be something along these lines, or at least give them a way to [[ASharedSuffering share their pain]], but it doesn't always work out as intended. Still, while it was mentioned that similar groups had always broken up in the past, Faction Three has managed to survive into the Gen 2 series, so Stephen must have done something right.
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Western Animation]]
124	* The Planet Express crew in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is composed entirely of individuals who don't fit into their future society, particularly the main characters, FishOutOfTemporalWater Fry, RoboticPsychopath Bender[[note]]Fun fact, Bender Bending Rodriguez was named after John Bender from the Breakfast Club. The similarities are not unintentional.[[/note]], [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming who was programmed to bend girders]], and Leela, a one-eyed DoorstopBaby who for most of the original run doesn't even know her own species [[spoiler: and then turns out to be part of an ostracized race forced to dwell in Earth's sewers]]. It's acknowledged several times, most memorably by Fry in "The Cyber House Rules," after Leela gets surgery to appear "normal" and begins dating her aggressively normal plastic surgeon:
125	-->'''Fry:''' What's so wonderful about Leela being normal? The rest of us aren't normal, and that's what makes us great. Like [[AmusingAlien Dr. Zoidberg!]] [[ButtMonkey He's a weird monster who smells like he eats garbage, and does!]]\
126	'''Zoidberg:''' Damn right!\
127	'''Fry:''' And TheProfessor's a senile, [[MadScientist amoral crackpot]]—\
128	'''Farnsworth:''' Ohhhea.\
129	'''Fry:''' —Hermes is a rastafarian accountant—\
130	'''Hermes:''' Tally me banana!\
131	'''Fry:''' —Amy's a [[CuteClumsyGirl klutz]] from Mars—\
132	'''Amy:''' ''[drops wine glass]'' [[FutureSlang Spl'oops]]!\
133	'''Farnsworth:''' And Fry, you've got [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} that brain thing]]!\
134	'''Fry:''' [[TheDitz I already did]]! So Leela — do you wanna be like us, or do you wanna be like Adelai... with no severe mental or social problems whatsoever?
135	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BreakfastClub