Line #62 Main/MouthyKid


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fatigue_blog_uk_1.png]]
3	[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.petit-fernand.co.uk/blog/humour-kid-comebacks Spare the rod, the child whips you!]]]]
4	->'''Marge Simpson:''' This town is a part of who you are. This is a Springfield Isotopes cap; when you wear it, you're wearing Springfield. When you eat a fish from our river, you're eating Springfield. When you make lemonade from our trees, you're drinking Springfield...\
5	'''Bart Simpson:''' Mom, when you give that lecture, you're boring Springfield.
6	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E24LemonOfTroy Lemon of Troy]]"
7
8	What do you get when a child believes they know better than adults? This time, they can prove it.
9
10	Almost always on the side of good, most likely belonging to the ChaoticGood category, this character isn't an indiscriminate back-answerer like the BrattyHalfPint but rather steps up when an unreasonable or outright abusive authority figure tries to do something stupid or horrible (or just simply when adults do something he or she finds stupid), instead of submitting quietly to their authority. What separates them from your average KidHero is their [[DeadpanSnarker snarkiness]] about it, at least at first.
11
12	Unlike the BrattyHalfPint, who is almost always proudly and shamelessly antagonistic and mostly exists to make TheHero's life miserable, the Mouthy Kid is almost always the protagonist and / or close to TheHero (while being a DownplayedTrope).
13
14	In the '50s the Mouthy Kid would have been [[{{ValuesDissonance}} slapped upside]] [[{{DisproportionateRetribution}} the head and shipped off to the]] MilitarySchool. Children were perfect little angels, and were definitely expected to be (''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'', ''Series/MyThreeSons'', ''Series/FamilyAffair''). That all changed with Arnold on ''Series/DiffrentStrokes''. Television parents have been dealing with attitude ever since.
15
16	Likely started out as a subversion of the ChildrenAreInnocent attitude that had prevailed since Victorian times.
17
18	See also: PluckyGirl, LittleMissSnarker, AffectionHatingKid, and WiseBeyondTheirYears. Contrast ConstantlyCurious, who talks as much but has less sass.
19
20	----
21	!!Examples:
22
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
26	* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'': Shinnosuke "Shin-chan" Nohara, although he is a five year old whose dialogue is pretty much [[ToiletHumour "farty poop fartfart"]], he crosses the realism line once he calls his mom flat-chested (in both the original and the GagDub).
27	%%* ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'': Jinpei "The Swallow".
28	* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Edward Elric gets called out for it at one point. "An Edward who can't use alchemy is just another kid with a foul mouth."
29	* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Shiro Kabuto. He is a DeadpanSnarker who has no trouble telling exactly what he thinks. His older brother, Kouji Kabuto finds them annoying sometimes because Shiro often thinks his actions or plans are dumb. He also appeared in ''Anime/GreatMazinger''.
30	** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Goro Makiba, ActionGirl and Love Interest Hikaru Makiba's AnnoyingYoungerSibling. He is nosy and loud-mouthed, and loves teasing or taunting his sister.
31	* ''Manga/GetterRobo'': Genki Saotome is another example of a child who often tells what he thinks; a trait that is not appreciated by the adults and teenagers he meets.
32	* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'':
33	** Thanks to being OlderThanHeLooks even ''before'' {{Immortality}}, as well as an all-around smartass, Firo Prochainezo gives off this impression to nearly everyone he meets even between the ages of nineteen and ''ninety''.
34	** The odd case of Czeslaw Meyer, who has been ten years old for a couple hundred years. While he had a pretty rough time of things, someone decided to ThrowTheDogABone and give him a normal life. He spends the next seventy years in the novels invoking this trope, particularly while WalkingTheEarth.
35	* ''Anime/SuperMilkChan'': The title character is this. In the Creator/AdultSwim dub she regularly calls her friends dumbasses.
36	* Yuuki from ''Manga/BabySteps'', the youngest member of LoveInterest Natsu's tennis club who originally thought the protagonist Eiichirou was either a spy for another club or a "degenerate old stalker". Since then, he never misses an opportunity to give E-chan a hard time.
37	* ''Anime/AyanesHighKick'' has Ayane's [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling annoying younger brother]] Kenta, who we first see butting into an argument between Ayane and her mother about Ayane skipping school to attend a pro-wrestling tryout.
38	--> "There's no choice. Big sis isn't very bright, so she has to ''make a living with her body''!"
39	* Bikky in ''Manga/{{FAKE}}'' is a particularly mouthy BrattyHalfPint. Especially when he's mouthing off at ChivalrousPervert Dee whom he sees as nothing more than a HandsomeLech chasing after his adoptive father Ryo.
40	* The titular self-proclaimed master thief of ''Manga/{{Dororo}}'' avoids becoming a complete BrattyHalfPint by A) actually being as good a thief as he thinks he is, and B) being lively and energetic in a setting where that's in genuine danger of dying out.
41	* Shippo from ''Manga/InuYasha'' is this in his wiser moments.
42	* Pat from ''Anime/MischievousTwinsTheTalesOfStClares'' doesn't hide her disdain for St. Clare's at all. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't make her popular amongst the other girls, even her sister Isabel.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	%%[[folder:Comic Books]]
46	%%* Calvin of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''
47	%%[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
50	* Mouth in ''Film/TheGoonies'' is appropriately nicknamed. "Shut up, Mouth!"
51	%%* ''Film/IpMan2'' has [[spoiler: the young Bruce Lee]].
52	* Ronnie, a middle schooler of hilarious retorts and apparently vast cinematographic knowledge, in ''Film/RoleModels''
53	-->'''Danny:''' Pick us up in two hours.\
54	'''Ronnie:''' Fuck you, Miss Daisy.
55	* ''Film/WatchTheBirdie'', an early Bob Hope ShortFilm, has a mouthy little girl.
56	%%* ThePhiladelphiaStory/[[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations High Society]] has Dinah.
57	%%* ''Film/TrueGrit'' has Mattie Ross, a much more serious example.
58	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The young Anakin Skywalker from ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' was given this characterization. He may be a kid with an attitude, but he's still well-meaning and have a reputation to build and repair anything. He's also willing to risk his own well-being to help others in need.
59	** In fact, a deleted scene implies he gets into fights. The scene shows Anakin fighting another young Rodian[[note]]Greedo[[/note]] who accused him of cheating in the Pod Race.
60	* Mouthing off is the ''least'' of the various mischevious behavior Addie Loggins from ''Film/PaperMoon'' gets into -- she also smokes, runs con rackets, and sets up an embarrassing bedroom encounter with GoldDigger Miss Trixie.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Literature]]
64	%%* ''Literature/{{IT}}'' by Creator/StephenKing: Richie Tozier.
65	%%* ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'': Karen.
66	* In ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'', protagonist Lazarus Long [[TimeTravel travels back in time]] to meet his family in 1917 Kansas City, Missouri. There he encounters his [[MyFutureSelfAndMe past self]], Woody, who is already an up-and-comer, about as shrewd, stubborn, and mouthy as it's possible for a five-year old to be, and kept in line only with generous application of paddle to arse. His (and Lazarus') grandfather Ira remarks -- in unknowing irony -- that the kid is going somewhere, if he somehow makes it to adulthood without being murdered by his parents. He has no idea.
67	* Matteo Ta'anari in ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar''. But only to kids his own age--never to adults or small children. And he doesn't get shipped off to military school so much as shipped off [[ChildSoldiers to the military]].
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
71	* Cory Matthews in ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' was this in the first season. Subverted in that he often doesn't know better than the adults which is the entire point of each episodes with him admitting he doesn't know better by the end of each episode.
72	* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'': La Chilindrina seems to know better than the adults, and most of the time, she actually does.
73	* ''Series/DennisTheMenace'': Seymour Williams, to John Wilson in the final season.
74	* ''Series/ModernFamily'': Alex, the middle child. She does little else on the show than make snarky comments.
75	* ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'': Exception that defines the rule: Eddie Haskell -- bratty around his peers, but with a nice phony front of shallow flattery while he was around adults.
76	* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': All of the boys. Francis is sent off. His advice helps keep Malcolm from the same fate.
77	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Teenager Walter Denton. This is one of the reasons the Madison High principal, Mr. Conklin, dislikes him. For example, in the radio episode "Non-Fraternization Policy", Walter Denton calls Conklin's new rule demanding the separation of the sexes at school "medieval tyranny". In one television episode, "The Novelist", Mr. Conklin describes former student Terence Layton as "the Walter Denton of his day".
78	* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily'': Danny Bonaduce's character is bratty around his peers but puts on a nice front around adults.
79	* Darlene Connor of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' epitomizes this trope in the early seasons until she grows into quite the DeadpanSnarker as the show focuses more on her. DJ also sometimes fell into this trope as well.
80	* ''Series/{{Skins}}'': James Fitch (Katie and Emily's kid brother), most likely due to the influence of his (unseen) friend Gordon [=MacPherson=].
81	-->"I want fish and chips! This tastes like bollocky wankshite!"
82	-->"Gordon [=MacPherson=] says you call them dykes, because you have to stick your finger in them."
83	-->"I want to fuck Naomi [beat] I do, get over it."
84	* ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'': While the Sweathogs are considerably older than the usual Mouthy Kid, they form an obvious precedent.
85	* ''Series/BadBoy'': Moon Won In in this KoreanDrama, as she sneaks beers from her sister, tries to buy cigarettes even though she's underage, and in one episode steals money from an apparently unconscious man.
86	%%* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'': Nathan Young
87	%%* Series/GoodLuckCharlie: Gabe Duncan is this trope.
88	* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': Damien Trotter.
89	* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' / ''Series/ArchieBunkersPlace'': Stephanie, added to the cast in season 9 of the former show, was often one of these around Archie.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Radio]]
93	* Possibly the UrExample, Fanny Brice's Baby Snooks was somewhere in between this and ConstantlyCurious. Her sole reason for existence appeared to be to drive her father to the very brink of insanity, but she did it without apparent malice -- just pure innocent mischief. And given that the character was created in 1912, and continued to be wildly popular until Brice's death in 1951, it shows that Arnold from ''Series/DiffrentStrokes'' far from created the trope -- he just incarnated it for a new, more relaxed generation.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	%%[[folder:Theater]]
97	%%* Moth from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/LovesLaboursLost.''
98	%%[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Video Games]]
101	* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' there's a town called Little Lamplight, which banishes its residents when they turn 16. Because of this, the town is filled with kids who walk around swearing because there's no [[{{ParentalHypocrisy}} adults to tell them not to]]. In fact, the mayor's greeting to you is basically "who the fuck are you?".
102	* [[spoiler:Nall's human form]] in ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'', at least that's what he seems like at first...
103	* ChildProdigy Mizuki in ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'' is essentially Date's adoptive daughter who, despite being 12, acts as though she's in her late teens and never fails to deliver a snarky insult while [[AffectionHatingKid resisting his attempts to bond with her]], even while [[HealTheCutie recovering from discovering her parents' bodies]].
104	-->'''Mizuki:''' [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior I knew you were a pedo Date]], but I didn't think you were a cougar hunter too.
105	* Loki from ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'' has an extremely snarky demeanor and swears quite a lot whenever he's on screen, getting him into a few [[SnarkToSnarkCombat sarcasm duels]] with [[AntiHero Bayonetta]]. He's so mouthy, for that matter, that he isn't afraid to snark off to the [[MalevolentMaskedMan Masked]] [[NoNonsenseNemesis Lumen]].
106	-->'''Loki (to the Sage):''' You again? Listen mate. One, the mask is shit. OK? And two, get out of my way.
107	* ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseWorldEdition'' has Elliot Clayton, a 17-year-old smart alecky member of the Bureau who constantly finds new ways to mock the other team members' intelligence.
108	* In the WebVideo/{{Jacksepticeye}} fan game ''VideoGame/{{The BOSS\|AJacksepticeyeFanGame}}'', [[spoiler:Billy]] definitely qualifies, as he constantly snarks at Jack.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Webcomics]]
112	* Amber from ''Webcomic/TheFreeWillies'' always responds to virtually anything the antagonistic teacher Mrs. Setzer says with an insult. Or a string of insults.
113	* Pretty much every child on ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' is as snarky as the adults, and usually shut down whatever strawman they're facing with a well-aimed barb.
114	* Cedric, the protagonist's son in ''Webcomic/ThatDeafGuy'' tends to deliver [[GagPerDayWebcomics punch lines]] and begins more jokes than his parents do together. The sharp edge of his wit gets turned against rude kids and useless adults alike.
115	-->'''Shop guy''': He doesn't look deaf.\
116	'''Cedric''': And you don't look ignorant.
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Web Original]]
120	* Sylvester, from ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', enjoys his backtalk as much as the next twelve-year-old science experiment, but his friend Lillian, TheTeamNormal who is responsible for keeping Sylvester and his fellow experiments working in the field, also loves to interrupt older and more experienced doctors to show them up with her greater field experience.
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Western Animation]]
124	* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'': Mike Judge said that dialogue is a better reflection of the real-life Mouthy Kid -- not too clever, relies heavily on toilet humor -- because in reality, a lot of kids aren't as smart as a roomful of Harvard-graduate writers.
125	* Toph Beifong from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is not afraid to speak her mind or tell someone off, no matter their position or title in life.
126	* Helga in ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold''. She's a StepfordSnarker who uses insults, sarcasm and threats to cover up her insecurities. Since everyone around her treats her like crap, she's got plenty of reason to be mouthy.
127	%%* Artie Smarty in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''.
128	* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart and Lisa Simpson]] both qualify. While Bart is more of a classic BrattyHalfPint, he can provide a shrewd counter to Homer's inanity DependingOnTheWriter.
129	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': has Ahsoka "[[AffectionateNickname Snips]]" Tano as a very odd example, seeing as [[MasterApprenticeChain Jedi Padawans]] are encouraged to be respectful. Although considering her master was [[DeadpanSnarker Anakin Skywalker, who was in turn trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi]], it's possible the Council knew they'd be a perfect match for each other.
130	%%* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' has the title character's adopted daughter, Gosalyn, who is quite a handful (while also often helping to save the day).
131	%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}''.
132	%%* Marcia the marsupial mouse from ''BlinkyBill''.
133	* Russell from ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'', being Bill's little brother, was the youngest one in the group. He also had the biggest mouth as a majority of his dialogue was something sarcastic or insulting. Rudy was usually his favorite target, granted Rudy was usually asking for it.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'':
135	** Mitchell is a very abrasive and snarky little nerd with a need to be condescending and sassy towards others.
136	** [[BirdsOfAFeather Like Mitchell]], Mindy can very snarky and sassy for such a young age. Especially towards [[JerkassToOne Sean]].
137	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MouthyKid